Thanks to Janine Sopp of the Grassroots Education Movement!
On Thursday, Feb. 9th, at 6pm, the NYC Panel for Education Policy (PEP)will vote to approve/reject proposed phaseout of PS19, the Roberto Clemente School. Join us at Brooklyn Technical High School 29 Fort Greene Place Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Original video and article on Ed Notes Online: )
El Puente Leader Savages Moskowitz/Success Invasion of MS 50 as Eva Rallies Her Troops
Los Sures (Southside Williamsburg, Brooklyn) Town Hall.
Frances Lucerna, Executive Director & Founding Principal of El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, raises many of the push-button charter school and co-location issues.
We still need for as many community members as possible to sign the online Petition asking the DOE to stop the colocation of Success Academy Williamsburg into MS50.
The public comment period (written or oral) for the March 1st Panel for Education Policy meeting is open from now until 6pm on Weds. Feb. 29th.
EVERYONE should email d14Proposals@schools.nyc.gov and tell them “WE DO NOT SUPPORT the colocation of Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School 4 (84KTBD) with Existing School J.H.S. 050 John D. Wells (14K050) in Building K050.”
You can also call Toby Shepherd of the DOE: (212) 374-0208 and tell him the same thing.
Tomorrow, Feb. 9 (Thurs) is the Panel for Education Policy Meeting that will call for a vote to close or phaseout approximately 60 schools. A concern for the Southside Community Schools Coalition, of course, is the future of PS 19, the Roberto Clemente School, which is slated for ‘phaseout’. SCSC members and the community are mobilizing to attend the PEP.
But let us not forget that our District 14 Community Education Council is bound by protocol to continue with their regularly scheduled Monthly Meeting tomorrow. We encourage those D-14 parents, PA/PTA officers, school staff and community members to attend the CEC meeting, if they cannot attend the PEP Meeting in Ft. Greene.
There’s even a special Guest for the evening:Carrie Marlin, of the DOE Office of Portfolio [they are the DOE department that brings us new schools, school phaseouts and co-locations].
WHEN: Thurs, Feb. 9, 2012
TIME: 6pm-8pm
WHERE: Juan Morel Campos School, 215 Heyward (btw. Harrison & Marcy)
According to NY1 Education reporter Lindsey Christ, the NYC Department of Education has taken 2 schools off chopping block on the eve of the PEP vote: Harlem’s Wadleigh won’t lose it’s middle school and KAPPA VII (Brooklyn) won’t close.
How will other schools fare before tomorrow’s PEP vote?
UPDATE: For those who have been working hard with the Southside Community Schools Coalition, consider the analysis provided by gothamschools.org on the reprieve for these 2 schools:
City reverses plans to close Wadleigh middle school, KAPPA VII
Two schools that had faced closure votes this week are being taken off the chopping block.
The Department of Education said today it would no longer seek to close the middle grades of Wadleigh Secondary School of Performing and Visual Arts or the KAPPA VII middle school in Brooklyn. Teachers reported getting the news at the end of the day today, one day before the citywide school board was set to vote ont he closure proposals.
Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the department had made the decision after listening to community input at public meetings and behind the scenes.
“While these two schools continue to struggle, what we learned is that they are also poised to quickly improve,” he said in a statement.
In today’s NY Times Education Blog, “SchoolBook” is an article about the disconnect between the will of the people of Staten Island, and how the Staten Island borough rep (mis?)represents the people in her votes on the PEP.
“There’s a saying, ‘you cannot serve two gods,’ ” Ms. Caminiti said. “If you’re appointed by the borough president, you can’t serve the people.”
At issue is the proposed closing of PS14, which is up for PEP vote TOMORROW, Feb. 9th, along with Williamsburg’s PS19 and about 60 other schools facing closure or phaseout.
WHAT IS THE PANEL FOR EDUCATION POLICY?
The Panel for Education Policy is a 13-member body that is entrusted to oversee decision making about NYC public schools (this body replaced what used to be called the NYC Board of Education). Each borough president appoints a representative to the PEP, and the Mayor appoints 8 representatives
The Mayor has direct influence over 8 of 13 members. Just how much influence? Well according to the PEP’s own Bylaws:
All members serve at the pleasure of the official who appointed them.
Do you know who YOUR borough’s representative to the PEP is?
Community members from Los Sures and beyond are UNITING in the struggle against the NYC Department of Education’s co-location of a Success Academy Charter School into MS50.
The community will not let the DOE paint this struggle as a Southside vs. Northside struggle, or as a Black/Latino vs. White struggle. This is a community coming together, fighting for self-determination in how our institutions represent us, and in turn shape our neighborhoods. Our children are not a business. Our schools are not for sale.
(Spanish translation of petition coming soon!)
For a teacher’s perspective, check out the updates to the “Inside Colocation“ blog, on the Success Academy Charter’s takeover of a Cobble Hill School.
For a policy perspective, take the time to read Consensus for Reform: A Plan for Collaborative School Co-Locations. This report by NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio (July 2011) expands upon two case studies that highlight persistent shortcomings in the NYC Department of Education’s processes for co-locating schools. It concludes by outlining eight concrete steps the State and City should take to reform co-location policies.
(Originally published in Spanish in El Diario, 02/06/2012: http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/noticias/2012/2/6/ps19-roberto-clemente-bastion–293806-1.html)
(Click link below for the English translation available at gothamschools.org)
Latinos lament likely loss of Clemente name if P.S. 19 is closed .
On Thursday, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy is expected to approve the closure of P.S. 19. The Department of Education has categorized it as a low-performing school. A number of heated protests and meetings have taken place around the proposed closure.
Aside from stirring debates, the shuttering of schools also seems to do away with their names. P.S. 19 could disappear and be replaced with another school, all in the same building on 325 South 3rd St, in Brooklyn.
But the Roberto Clemente name would not necessarily transfer over.
Southside Community Schools Coalition 