We Love NYC Teachers!

This video was made by a friend of mine...Watch it..!

A short video put together by NYC public school students and parents opposed to the planned layoff of over 4,100 teachers

Momentum Builds in Fight to Restore Child Care Cuts

Parents and Kids Confront Mayor on Cuts and Release Report on Impact of Lack of Child Care Options on Families

Elected Officials Spend Day as Child Care Providers

Less than a week after a super majority of Council members wrote to the Mayor decrying his so-called "solution" to child care in the City, which would leave thousands of kids without care, and days after 30,000 petitions were delivered to City Hall calling on the Council and Mayor to restore the money for child care, dozens of parents and children descended on the Mayor's house to ask "What should we do with our kids if there is no child care?" and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Borough President Scott Stringer spent the day as a child care provider to show their support for the issue.

Also, today, the Center for Children’s Initiatives, a nonprofit focusing on early care and learning, issued a report along with Wachs Family Fund of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, with findings on what happens to New York City working families that lose child care.

The report is based on 83 interviews with NYC families eligible for a child care subsidy but unable to obtain one because of capacity cuts over the last 3 years. Strikingly, it finds that several parents reported that 311, NYC’s information line, informed them that the surest route to a child care subsidy was applying for public assistance [Executive Summary and Page 8].

Other report highlights:

• Parents interviewed see care not only as necessary so they can work – but they increasingly cite the educational value of high quality early learning programs. Several cited how unfair it was that only families earning “six figures” have access to excellent care. [Report Executive Summary and Page 9].
• A parent anecdote from Claudette, a home health aide earning $7.75 an hour providing care for elderly clients and the sole supporter for her 15 month old baby. When the center closed that provided care for her 15 month old while she worked full time, she desperately searched for a new caregiver. She couldn’t afford full-time care, so settled for part-time care out of her neighborhood. Claudette now has more than 45 minute commute to her part-time provider. She’s often late for work – threatening her future employment. She knows that going on public assistance would give her higher priority for care - but she’s trying to avoid that. [Report Page 3 - Sidebar]

“Without child care, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Kim Sandy, a single mother whose 3-year old son attends The Educational Alliance’s Lillian Wald Day Care Center. “I won’t be able to keep my job and provide for my family. So many parents depend on this care – for the Mayor to continue to cut child care just doesn’t make sense.”

“With the Mayor’s cuts, 7,000 fewer children from low income working families will have access to child care next year,” said David Nocenti, Executive Director of Union Settlement Association. “These children are more than just numbers – they are our city’s future, and they deserve safe, affordable, educational care that will set them on a path to success.”

Also, today, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer took part in the United Federation of Teachers “Daycare Provider for a Day” program by visiting home daycare sites where providers educate and care for pre-school children.

"Seeing firsthand how childcare providers help our children learn and grow is all the evidence you need that the Mayor's budget has the wrong priorities," said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. "Today I was proud to spend a morning walking in the shoes of Linnette Ebanks and tomorrow I will continue to fight for her and the thousands of working families that depend on child care."

“New York must never balance its budget on the backs of children and family, but that’s exactly what these cuts to child care and early education accomplish,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. “Despite the Mayor’s restorations, the child care system at large is still under siege, and next year 7,000 fewer children from low-income families will be able to access care. This administration has worked to gradually dismantle such a critical social safety net; in total, the city has lost 14,000 child care slots in the past four years due to cuts of this nature. New Yorkers deserve more than a half-a-loaf response from City Hall on an issue that impacts our most vulnerable constituents and their children.”

Children Deliver 30,000 Petitions in Little Red Wagon

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OVER 50 EDUCATION PROFESSORS SIGN LETTER SAYING CHILD CARE FUNDING IS IMPORTANT FOR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

CHILDREN DELIVER PETITIONS IN A LITTLE RED WAGON; ADVOCATES SAY IT IS TIME FOR MAYOR AND COUNCIL TO REALLY SAVE CHILD CARE & STOP PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH CHILD CARE MONEY

Today hundreds of NYC Children, Parents, and Advocates delivered nearly 30,000 petitions via “Little Red Wagon” to City Hall calling on Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to fully restore money to child care and after school programs in the final budget. Over 50 education professors also released a letter to the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council calling on them to protect child care funding because of its importance in children’s readiness for further education. The Mayor’s Executive Budget released on May 6 makes significant cuts to child care, leaving thousands of low-income children without access to care.

“We need to be committed as a City to preparing our kids to learn on that first day of school. That’s something every parent knows and certainly something an ‘Education Mayor’ should understand,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who today delivered 3,773 signatures to City Hall from parents opposing childcare cuts. “This budget consigns an entire generation of New York City kids to inferior childcare—and in some cases no childcare at all—during those first critical years of their development. The parents of this city cannot let that happen.”

“The fact that we delivered nearly 30,000 petitions today shows just how much child care means to New York City’s communities,” said Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson, Executive Director of Children’s Defense Fund-NY. “The Mayor and the City Council must restore funding to child care so that no child is deprived of care, no parent is forced to choose between child care and going to work, and no child care providers lose their jobs.”

Last week, a supermajority of the City Council sent a letter to the Mayor urging him to take immediate action to support working parents and their children by restoring funding to vital youth programs and services. “The dramatic cuts in funding to both the Out-of-School-Time (OST) and subsidized child-care systems will wreak havoc on the lives of those low-income working families who rely on these services for survival,” the letter said. And advocates maintain that the poorest neighborhoods with the highest unemployment rates, lowest median income levels, and the most students not meeting state and city reading standards are hit the hardest.

“We have not given up this fight because child care has not been saved,” said Chair of the City Council General Welfare Committee Annabel Palma. “Every child deserves an early education and every parent deserves safe, affordable options – that’s why the final budget must restore all cuts to child care.”

“I send my children to a day care center that I trust, a center that I myself attended as a child, and where the providers are like family to me,” said Elizabeth Villafane, a nurse’s aide and mother of 3 from Coney Island. “I was devastated when I got a letter that this center would close in June. They told me not to worry, ACS would find a solution. ACS told me to enroll the children in another center, but all the centers in Coney Island have waiting lists. What no one can tell me is, what am I supposed to do?”

“To address the achievement gap, the city should be working to strengthen quality early childhood education opportunities, not eliminating them,” said Education Professor Beverly Falk. “Research on the impact of quality early childhood programs on young children, especially those from low-income backgrounds, demonstrates that these programs are the best possible investment in children's futures. Depriving low-income children of the opportunity to participate in child care programs will move the city in the wrong direction and leave a lasting mark. We strongly urge you to reconsider this plan and fully restore child care.”

ABOUT CHILD CARE

Despite what some are saying, child care has not yet been saved. The Executive Budget still contains significant cuts to child care. New York’s children deserve more than a game of musical chairs. In this budget, 7,000 fewer children from low income working families will have access to child care next year, estimates the Emergency Coalition to Save Child Care. If these cuts are implemented, there will be 29% less child care and after school slots for working families in this coming Fiscal Year than there were in 2007. These cuts are a dramatic reversal of the City’s promise to expand early learning opportunities for our children.

IMPACT ON CHILDREN

Children will pay the biggest price for this cut in child care services. According to many studies, including The Productivity Argument for Investing In Young Children, early childhood learning opportunities lead to more positive outcomes later in life. Children who attend quality early childhood programs are more likely to graduate from high school, less likely to be involved in crime and less likely to become teen parents.

IMPACT ON WORKING PARENTS

Child care is the single most important factor keeping single mothers in the workforce. Research has shown that child care subsidy programs increase employment rates for single mothers. Federal welfare reform was accompanied by a massive ramp up in support for child care which was a key part in moving more New Yorkers from welfare to work. Many parents, especially single mothers, have reported that they would be unable to work without child care assistance. The costs of child care are prohibitive and for many, without a subsidy, it does not pay to work. Despite all of the rhetoric about helping people become employed and stay self-sufficient, these cuts will lead to many parents leaving the workforce and becoming more reliant on government supports, such as health insurance, food stamps, unemployment or public assistance.

IMPACT ON NEW YORK ECONOMY

Studies have shown that every $1 cut from child care leads to a $1.86 loss in economic activity, and that child care and early learning programs save hundreds of millions of dollars in future costs for remedial education and lowered high school graduation rates.

These cuts will lead to a higher need for other government programs such as health insurance, food stamps, public assistance and unemployment benefits. Many parents determine that the high cost of child care exceeds their income, and they are unable to go to work because they have nowhere safe for their children during the day. More than a thousand early childhood professionals will lose their jobs and the availability of employment in this sector will be drastically reduced.

Coalition Launches With Impact Report: Mayor's Child Care Cuts Devastate Struggling Communities

NEW REPORT SHOWS THAT MAYOR’S CHILD CARE CUTS WOULD FURTHER DEVASTATE COMMUNITIES WITH HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND LOW EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE

EMERGENCY COALITION TO SAVE CHILD CARE LAUNCHES EFFORT TO RESTORE CHILD CARE TO 17,000 CHILDREN; SLAMS MAYOR FOR TURNING HIS BACK ON WORKING NEW YORKERS WHO DEPEND ON AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE

Cuts Undermine Mayor’s Welfare-to-Work Legacy

The newly-formed  Emergency Coalition to Save Child Care, made up of dozens of organizations and religious institutions, launched an effort to restore child care to the 17,000 children who are about to lose care under the Mayor’s plan to cut child care for working families. This cut combined with 14,000 slots lost since 2006 add up to a 50% cut in child care for working families.

These cuts will lead to:

• Lower graduation rates from high school
• More working parents leaving the workforce

The new report finds that the impact of these cuts is not shared equally and will hit some of the city’s most struggling communities the hardest.

• Communities with a high unmet need for child care will lose significant numbers of subsidies, including Washington Heights where 370 children will lose subsidies and Unionport/Soundview in the Bronx where 486 children will lose their subsidies.
• Communities with unemployment rates over 16 percent will be hit hard, including Bedford-Stuyvesant where 684 children will lose subsidies and Mott Haven where 502 children will lose their subsidies.
• Communities where less than half of the students are meeting state and city reading standards will bear a large burden of these cuts, including East New York where 972 children will lose their subsidies, and Brownsville where 543 children will lose their subsidies.

“Cutting child care for 17,000 children in working families is penny-wise and pound-foolish,” said Fatima Goldman, Executive Director/CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. “These cuts will devastate areas throughout the City that already have high unemployment and low performance on state education tests.”

“The Mayor’s plan to cut child care subsidies for nearly 17,000 children will have a dire effect on thousands of working families in our City, forcing parents to scramble for alternative care and preventing tens of thousands of children from getting the early education opportunities they deserve,” said Council Member Annabel Palma, Chair of the General Welfare Committee. “It is unconscionable that the Mayor continues to preach about the merits of upward social mobility while simultaneously denying working New Yorkers the resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Our children and families deserve better from their Mayor.”

The child care system is already under serving the people who need it most. The City’s own Community Needs Assessment released in 2008 found that the city was serving only 27 percent of eligible children in city-funded programs, and only 37 percent of all children under the age of six were being served in any early childhood setting.

Studies have shown that every $1 cut from child care leads to a $1.86 loss in economic activity, and that child care and early learning programs save up to a billion dollars in future costs for remedial education and lowered high school graduation rates.

“Our City already has high unemployment,” said Raglan George, Executive Director of AFSCME District Council 1707. “Why would the Mayor want to cut 17,000 child care slots – leaving parents at risk of losing their jobs because they cannot find a safe place for their child while they are at work and leaving child care providers at risk of having to lay off the people who work for them?”

These cuts will lead to a higher need for other government programs such as health insurance, food stamps, public assistance and unemployment benefits. Many parents determine that the high cost of child care exceeds their income, and they are unable to go to work because they have nowhere safe for their children during the day. More than a thousand early childhood professionals will lose their jobs and the availability of employment in this sector will be drastically reduced.

"These cuts should never even be an option for the City" said Rev. Lisa D. Jenkins of Blessed Trinity Baptist Church in Harlem. "These cuts are unacceptable at any time. Children and hard-working parents should not be paying the price for the city's budget shortfalls. Our leaders should not cut programs that allow hard-working parents to care for their children while they're at work. Without child care, these parents will be forced to make drastic choices."

IMPACT ON CHILDREN

Children will pay the biggest price for this cut in child care services. It is well documented that positive early childhood learning opportunities lead to more positive outcomes later in life. Children who attend quality early childhood programs are more likely to graduate from high school, less likely to be involved in crime and less likely to become teen parents.

“Our centers provide safe, affordable and educational child care,” said Margarita Rosa, Executive Director, of Grand Street Settlement which has child care centers in Bushwick and the Lower East Side. “If the Mayor cuts these 17,000 child care slots, many of these parents will have no option except to turn to unsafe options that don’t provide kids with the education they need to succeed in school later on. That makes no sense.”

IMPACT ON WORKING PARENTS

Working parents who lose their subsidy will need to make the difficult decision between making alternative, less stable arrangements for their children and leaving the workforce. 

Child care is one of the most important factors for a working parent. Many parents, especially single mothers, have reported that they would be unable to work without child care assistance. 

The costs of child care are prohibitive and for many, without a subsidy, it does not pay to work. Despite all of the rhetoric about helping people become employed and stay self-sufficient, these cuts will lead to many parents leaving the workforce and becoming more reliant on government supports, such as health insurance, food stamps, unemployment or public assistance.

“The City’s plan makes no sense to cut child care for 17,000 children,” said Nassha Norton,a working mother from East New York whose daughter is losing child care. “For years, the city has encouraged people to a job and work. But without child care, how am I supposed to work?”

ABOUT THE CUTS

The Mayor’s plan cuts child care subsidies for almost 17,000 children this year. 14,000 child care slots have already been lost since 2006. 47,887 low-income children from working families are getting subsidized child care right now. The City is only serving 27% of eligible children. The Mayor’s proposal would cut 17,000 subsidized slots for children, adding to the problem. 300 classrooms with capacity for5,440 kids are at risk of closure. Click here to read the full report.

2011-01-17 Interview with David M. Quintana on Parents Piece - Queens Public Access TV

Click here to view these pictures larger

Back on January 17th,  I had the pleasure of appearing with Le-Nora McBeth (photos above) on her Queens Public Access TV show, "Parents Piece" to discuss the movie "Waiting for Superman", Schools Chancellor Cathie Black (now former Chancellor) and many other education issues facing New York City...The show is scheduled to be aired tonite and on Wednesday on Time-Warner Channel 56:

April 11th,  2011  9pm  Channel 56

April 13th,  2011 11am Channel 56

City’s School-Liaison Office Is Said to Seek Supportive Parents By Fernanda Santos & Sharon Otterman - NYTimes.com

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In 2007, the New York City Department of Education created an office to help families navigate the school system and to make sure their grievances got to the right ears.

Known then as the Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, it was set up as a bridge between parents and the department’s central office, and was intended to address complaints that parents had lost their voice when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of the schools.

But lately, according to people who have had dealings with the office, the role has been expanded in a way that has made some of them uncomfortable.

In January, at a meeting of parent coordinators from a number of schools, employees of the office asked them to forge relationships with parents who they thought might speak out in support of the department’s policies, including its controversial push to close failing schools. The employees at one point used a nickname to describe the type of parents they were looking for: “Happy Harrys,” and not “Angry Sallys,” as two coordinators recalled it.

And on Tuesday, an employee at the office circulated a petition among nearly 400 coordinators citywide, asking them to round up parents’ signatures. The petition was in support of one of the mayor’s most concerted political efforts of the year: to persuade the Legislature to end the law protecting the most senior teachers in the event of layoffs.

The unions representing teachers and parent coordinators — city employees who work inside schools and act as points of contact for families — have called for an investigation, charging that the Education Department used public money and civil servants to advance a political cause.

“Seniority has been and is a political issue,” said Santos Crespo, the president of District Council 37, Local 372, which represents the city’s roughly 1,200 parent coordinators. “They were asked to do a political function, out of the purview of their job scope, let alone the conflicts of using public employees to do political work.”

In an interview, the city’s deputy mayor for education, Dennis M. Walcott, said, “What happened around the petition should not have happened.” But he made no excuses for the Education Department’s broader attempts at mobilizing parents.

“There are parents who aren’t satisfied with what’s going on in the schools and there are parents who are,” Mr. Walcott said. “That’s what we work on: to improve our abilities to engage them.”

There has always been a political gray area embedded in the mission of the family engagement office, a division of about 20 employees. Among its roles are running elections to citywide parent councils and organizing an annual lobbying trip for parents to Albany to advocate state financing for city schools, two relatively noncontroversial efforts.

But after Mr. Bloomberg only narrowly won a third term in 2009, there was a growing realization among some in his inner circle that the city had not done enough to win the support of public school parents for the mayor’s education agenda. There was also a sense that the office of family engagement offered a great deal of untapped potential for organizing through its existing network of parent coordinators, said a person who was familiar with the discussions within the Bloomberg administration at the time, but declined to be named so as not to anger City Hall.

One change was to appoint Maura Keaney, a top aide from Mr. Bloomberg’s re-election campaign, to head the Department of Education’s office of external affairs, which organizes all political lobbying and communications work for the department. She appointed a new executive director for the office of family engagement, Ojeda Hall, a dynamic youth minister and community organizer from Queens. Ms. Keaney, who is on maternity leave, did not return calls for comment.

In the effort to reshape the office, one of the first moves was to give it a new name: the Office of Family Information and Action.

There was little discussion, the person said, about whether there might be a conflict about taking on a more political role. “I think the feeling is you are not asking someone to do something they don’t want to do, and parents who disagree with you, it’s not like you are going to give them worse services,” the person said. “You are just trying to identify parents who do support parts of your agenda, and if they want to, why not enlist them?”

On Jan. 11, at a public library branch in Midtown, at least 40 parent coordinators got together for what had been billed as a training session. After workshops on social media and the technological shift in schools, representatives from the family engagement office made their pitch.

“They asked us to get parents to lobby,” said one coordinator at a Manhattan elementary school, who, like others who discussed the meeting, insisted on anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could cost them their jobs. The content of the meeting was reported this week by Gothamschools, an education blog.

Another coordinator, also assigned to a Manhattan elementary school, said the representatives noted that “only complainers come out” to protest to the Panel for Educational Policy, where school closings are decided. The meetings are often dominated by loud protests, often organized by the teachers’ union.

With a vote on 22 school closings scheduled for early February, the coordinators said they were urged to drum up allies among parents in their schools, saying the parents would be more likely to come if they were invited by someone they knew.

The room fell silent, the coordinators recalled. One of them said that when a woman tried to talk about some issues she was having with the principal at her school, one of the office’s representatives said, “No negatives, only positives.”

The phrase would become like a mantra, repeated over and over during the meeting, the coordinators said.

According to the coordinators, the family office representatives also said that because of the city’s financial straits, principals would be allowed to fire parent coordinators to free up money for other staff members and programs in their schools.

“It didn’t feel right for them to do that to us, to tell us that our jobs are in danger and then asking for our help,” one of the coordinators said.

Some principals said they had also become skeptical of the office, and after word got out of the tone of the meeting on Jan. 11, they advised the parent coordinators in their schools against attending future meetings.

In a statement, Ms. Hall acknowledged that circulating the petition this week was improper. “I regret that it happened, because it is not reflective of the day-to-day work that OFIA does to help families navigate the school system,” she said.

And city officials maintained that their efforts to get parents to meetings were not improper. “Our bottom-line goal is to make sure parents are respected stakeholders,” said Mr. Walcott, the deputy mayor.

Black Marks for Schools Chancellor on Trip to Williamsburg by Aaron Short • The Brooklyn Paper

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Hours after Mayor Bloomberg announced on Monday that 4,600 teachers would be laid off due to budget cuts, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black took her roadshow to Williamsburg, where she was verbally assaulted by nearly 200 seething Williamsburg parents and teachers.

Speaker after speaker took issue with Black over virtually all of her and Mayor Bloomberg’s educational agenda:

• On layoffs: “Our teachers — they’re not from Teach for America — these people grew up in this neighborhood, went to school here, and stayed here when on one else would,” said Brian DeVale, principal of PS 257 in Bushwick. He argued that good principals know how to get rid of bad teachers without layoffs from on high.

• On priorities: “This is an agency with a $22 billion budget — we should be trying to find savings in there somewhere,” said Councilman Steve Levin (D–Greenpoint).

• On charter schools: “I’m upset by the lack of community schools,” said Williamsburg parent David Dobosz. “We now have a mayoral dictatorship of schools. This is not what the law intended.”

To her critics, Black repeated what she has often said when under fire: “I will work day in and day out as your chancellor,” she said in her opening statements at the “town hall” meeting at JHS 71 on Rutledge Street. “We will work with the best of our abilities to solve our financial problems.”

DeVale had another problem with Black — she wouldn’t take his teddy bear.

Yes, the principal showed up with a gift for Black: a bear that he said was in honor of President Teddy Roosevelt’s dedication towards civil service.

“It’s ironic that [mayoral control of schools] is now trying to destroy civil service,” said DeVale. “She wouldn’t take the bear.”

The Kids Need Good, Experienced Teachers by Gabe Pressman - | NBC New York

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A battle is going on across the country for the soul of public education.

I went to public schools in the Bronx. They provided a pretty good education. The public school system has experienced ups and downs since then--but basic principles have remained intact: that every child deserves a good, free education, that teachers with experience are cherished, that parents should be invited into the educational process to work with teachers and administrators for the good of their children, that politicians and other outsiders have no business meddling with our educational system.

Today’s assault on public education is led by politicians across the country. Here in New York, Mayor Bloomberg and his advisers have far-reaching control over public schools. The mayor’s motives may be good but he is not an educator. And his main goals now appear to be to save money by eliminating veteran teachers [they get higher salaries than their juniors] and breaking the power of the teachers union.

Listening to members of the Bloomberg team talk, one might get the idea that the union members are horrible people who value their salaries more than the children they teach. As a reporter who has covered the public schools for many decades, I find that notion absurd. I also confess to a bias based on my life experience. I had three aunts who were teachers and I remember how dedicated they were to the kids and how they pursued courses to improve their ability to teach. And how they never lost their sensitivity to children nor their love of the teaching profession.

City Hall’s actions are somewhat sneaky: helping charter schools in their competition with public schools, without letting citizens know about it. The Independent Budget Office has just disclosed that, in the last year, charter schools received $649 more per student than regular public schools. The Daily News reports that charter schools are getting a windfall increase of 9 percent in New York City even as public schools are cut by more than 4 percent. Clearly the point seems to be: help the charter schools by starving the public schools.

The people of New York have not voted for such a policy. Do the taxpayers count for nothing?

Leonie Haimson, a parent leader, is angry at the way matters are unfolding. “Parents count for nothing in the way our leaders are handling the educational issues,” she told me. “We’ve been completely left out of major educational policy decisions.” Recently, she attended a Congressional hearing on education and, she says, “four parents testified and not one was for public schools.”

Haimson and other parents are organizing a group called Parents Across America, “to represent mothers and fathers in many school districts across this country. I don’t think it benefits our kids to create a system where there are so few incentives to make teaching a life’s work.

It’s interesting that this debate is not going on in Scarsdale or on Long Island. They’re looking to get rid of senior teachers in our most congested urban areas. The twin objectives are solely to destroy unions and save money.”

What is so sad, as this debate continues, is that our political leaders seem to place so little value on the wisdom of experienced teachers. Good teachers are essential to educating our most valuable resource, our children. The politicians seem to think that saving money is more important than saving children.

After Hearing Lawyers Optimistic Cathie Black’s Waiver to be Overturned by Michael A. Harris - New York Government | Examiner.com

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Watch Part 2, Watch Part 3, Watch Part 4, Watch Part 5

A lawyer for parents challenging the appointment of Cathleen P. Black to be the next city schools chancellor says he’s optimistic his client’s will emerge victorious.

Lawyers for the parents appeared in court in an Albany court room yesterday arguing that Black lacks the required educational experience or academic credentials to serve as head of the nation’s largest schools system.

Judge Gerald Connolly did not immediately indicate when the court might rule, but Attorney Norman Siegel said he and other attorneys received an E-mail from the judge last night asking for cell phone numbers where they could be reached over the holidays. He said that makes him think that a ruling is likely to come next week, before January 3, when Black is scheduled to take over the reins.

Under state law and related regulations, school superintendents have to have a master's degree or higher, 60 hours of graduate work, a professional certification and three years of teaching experience. However, the education commissioner can grant a waiver to the "exceptionally qualified" candidate that has "training and experience that are the substantial equivalent of such requirements."

Lawyers argued that Education Commissioner David M. Steiner’s waiver of requisite education and experience was “arbitrary and capricious” and therefore unlawful. Siegel acknowledged that Steiner has discretion, but that such discretion must be in compliance with the law.

Attorneys for parents and teachers say that there are two key legal issues in play – first that Black lacks a graduate degree, a requirement that he believes can’t be waived and second that the basis for the waiver was flawed because Steiner relied on the skills of others in deciding to grant the waiver.

“One of the overriding clouds over the court room was the right of public officials to act independently,” Siegel told Examiner.com. “We’re not asking the court to second guess a public official; rather we’re simply saying that they have to act within the bounds of the law – when they fail to do so it’s the role of the judiciary to intervene.”

Siegel said he is optimistic that his side will emerge victorious, especially because the defendants conceded his key legal argument.

“Not only did David Steiner’s waiver say that Cathie Black would be relying heavily upon staff, but when asked about that by the judge, [Deputy Attorney General] Kelly Munkwitz conceded that point,” he said. “That alone could mean victory for us.”

Munkwitz, representing Steiner and the state, countered that Black has exceptional experience in dealing with large organizations, collaborating, leading, engaging diverse stakeholders, building relationships and managing facilities and money.

"What Ms. Black didn't get in the classroom, she got in the scope of her career," Munkwitz said.

Siegel, one of four lawyers fighting Black's waiver says that regardless of which side wins, he expects an appeal to be filed.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman (Movie Trailer) - Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC)...

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Parents and teachers on the front lines fighting for Real Education Reform.


A group of parents and educators with Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC) are responding to the "Waiting for Superman" film with a film of their own. They are the real reformers. As one patent activist says, "Are you waiting for Superman? YOU are the Real Heroes." This is the trailer. The film is expected to be released in late October.


For more info visit:


The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman


Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC)

DOE's Ron Barfield Probed for Allegedly Dropping N-Word Repeatedly During PTA Meeting by Edgar Sandoval and Meredith Kolodner - NY Daily News

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The Education Department is investigating an employee who allegedly used the N-word repeatedly during a PTA meeting - and doled out advice on how to keep parents from getting involved.

Ron Barfield, an African-American who is the district's paid parent advocate responsible for helping public school families in northeast Queens, reportedly was caught on tape during a May PTA meeting for Public School 134.

During a discussion of when to hold meetings, Barfield allegedly said: "Do it Fridays, cause n-----s don't like to come out on Fridays," according to a partial transcript published by the Queens Tribune.

"That's the truth, 'cause I ain't coming out to nothing," he continued.
School District 29, where Barfield works, is 70% black. The student population at PS 134 is 84% black.

Barfield's job is to assist parents who can't get issues resolved by school staff.

"I'm surprised," said Alicia Hyndman, president of the parent council in District 29. "I've never heard him use those words. He's always been respectful. If he is using those words, [the Education Department] should do whatever's necessary to remove him, as long as the tape is authenticated."

Barfield, who was paid $52,322 last year, has worked for the Education Department since 2003, and has been the family advocate in District 29 since October 2007.

He could not be reached Sunday for comment. Education Department spokesman Matthew Mittenthal said the investigation is ongoing and no action would be taken until it is complete.

"Hurtful, offensive language has no place in our schools," Mittenthal said.

DOE Family Advocate Drops ‘N’ Bomb by Sasha Austrie - Queens Tribune

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This is a composite recording of a meeting of the PS 134 PTA Executive Board as they met with District 29 Family Advocate Ron Barfield to discuss changing over to a PA and adopting bylaws.

In the recording, they are reviewing a template from the Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy, and setting up the new PA’s bylaws with Barfield’s assistance.

:05 – When discussing when to hold PA executive board meetings, Barfield suggests days that would discourage parental involvement:
“Do it Fridays, cause niggers don’t like to come out on Fridays... That’s the truth, cause I ain’t coming out to nothing.”

In the second section, which starts at :20, the Executive Board is discussing what standing committees (pronounced communities on the recording) should be established. Standing committee chairs would have a vote on the Executive Board.

:53 – Barfield suggests not having standing committees in order to reduce the number of voting members.

“No community liaison. No standing committees... Just vote em in. Keep the niggers out… All them niggers are going to be voting and getting y’all to debate and dividing up the board. “

In the third section, which starts at 1:11, the board is voting to adopt the by-laws, which is supposed to be done by the full membership, and is not.

1:44 – Barfield suggests making t harder for parents to be involved:
“Please make sure that I get a copy, you keep a copy and let everybody else beg you for a copy.”

2:06 – After the vote, on his way out, Barfield give a word of encouragement to the people present:
“Keep niggers out the house.”

By The Department of Education has initiated an investigation into the Family District Advocate of District 29 after a recording of him using the “N Word” and other derogatory statements at a PA organizational meeting surfaced.

Ron Barfield was recorded on May 27 at a parent association executive board meeting at PS 134 in Hollis, using the word “nigger” on a number of occasions. The meeting was held to craft bylaws per Chancellor Joel Klein’s regulations.

Barfield has held his post since October 2007 and he is one of 32 family district advocates throughout the City. A family district advocate’s responsibility is to assist parents if they still have questions after consulting with their parent coordinators or principals.

While the executive board was discussing the implementation of standing committees, Barfield dismissed the concept as a divisive measure.

“We don’t want no community liaison, no ‘standing’ voting on your board; keep the niggers out,” the recording states. “All those niggers ain’t going to be voting and y’all going to debate and divide up the board.”

Felicia Galy, former vice president of the PA and Frances Vicioso, former recording secretary, confirm that the voice on the tape is Barfield.

“I actually was shocked when he said it,” said Galy. “He is a black man in a high position. I was just shocked.”

Vicioso, who had not attended the meeting, said she was “dumbfounded” when she heard the recording.

Barfield makes numerous references to “niggers” during the almost hour long recording.

At one point, the board is discussing when to host executive and general membership meetings. One board member said to continue the meetings on Wednesday, but Barfield suggests Friday.

“Hold it on Thursday or Friday,” Barfield said. “Hold it on Fridays because niggers don’t like to come out on Fridays. That’s the truth, cause I ain’t coming out to nothing.”

After Barfield’s statement, a chuckle rises from some in the room.

Matthew Mittenthal, a DOE spokesman, said Barfield’s alleged statements could land him on probation, transferred or demoted. He said the most extreme would be termination.

“Hurtful, offensive language has no place in our schools,” Mittenthal said. “We are referring these allegations to the Special Commissioner of Investigation.”

Galy said she has no faith in the DOE’s investigation.

“They basically cover for each other,” she said. Galy said her previous complaints to the DOE about the PA’s dysfunction had fallen on deaf ears.

“It’s a buddy system,” she said. “They cover for each other.”

Though Galy has a total lack of faith, she is hopeful that Barfield is disciplined, but not fired.

“What would be hopeful is that we don’t have these types of people in our schools,” she said.

In the recording, after the overhaul of the bylaws, the executive board unanimously votes to adopt the new amended version, without the vote of the general membership. According to the chancellor’s regulations “PAs must adopt a set of bylaws by a vote of the parent members.”

“Please make sure that I get a copy, you keep a copy and let everybody else beg you for a copy,” Barfield said.

Chancellor’s regulation requires the bylaws to be available at every meeting and to members upon reasonable request.

Just after the school bell rings signifying the end of a period, Barfield closes the meeting with “Keep the niggers out.”