Grassroots Education Movement
The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman
Notice of hearing Wed., Sept. 23rd
Here’s the announcement of tomorrow’s governance hearing, which of course teachers can’t attend, at least for the first few hours of the meeting. I am curious about the amendments passed by the Senate (underlined sentences below), because they do not become law until both houses pass them and I haven’t heard whether the Assembly did … Continue reading
PS 15 and PAVE duke it out at the CEC hearing
UPDATE: The Daily News finally steps in to comment on Sept. 27th.I wonder if they’re reading the blogs. Important videos on the Sept. 17th CEC hearing in Red Hook over the continued occupation of public school space by the PAVE Academy Charter School. After a vigorous defense of the charter’s occupation of the building by … Continue reading
Bloomberg to lay off children services workers this month
A message from Faye Moore, President of AFSCME Local 371 — Childcare Services — which another aspect of the struggle to get children in this city the services they need. All teachers know that when I child is hungry, ill, abandoned, and abused, he can never reach his or her full potential in school, no … Continue reading
On the scene and telling it like it is
“My school is bursting with students, and Tweed is to blame.” A must-read article by chapter leader Arthur Goldstein (Francis Lewis HS, Queens) in the Daily News. Overcrowding.More overcrowding.Still more overcrowding. Goldstein reports: “Our building, initially designed for 1,800 students, broke 4,700 this year.”
CAPE & the CEC meeting they attended last night
UPDATENorm Scott alerts us to another description of this event over at Gotham Schools and the “pretty incendiary comments” that follow it. What it boils down to is this: A. Some teachers in public schools are fighting hard for their space, supplies, lower class size and all the essentials of a good learning environment. B. … Continue reading
Last Wednesday’s protest at PS 123
UPDATE: SEE THE VIDEO and GET READY TO BE SHOCKED Parents speak out, see pictures of the rooms. One telling moment at around 6:32-6:45 — The charter schools kids are being lined up against the wall of the building. They’re obviously a little frightened in the hubbub and it is not clear why they have … Continue reading
Parents form the "NYC Kids PAC"
More developments in grassroots ed activism. Here’s what Ann Kjellberg sent around two days ago regarding a new Political Action Committee parents have been setting up “to work for the changes we demand in our schools”: Parents learned from the school governance battle in Albany last spring, and the struggle in the City Council for … Continue reading
Comptroller Thompson TOMORROW, on overcrowding report in NYC
Notice: THOMPSON TO RELEASE REPORT FINDING THAT DOE IS LEAVING STUDENTS IN OVERCROWDED SCHOOLS New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. will release a comprehensive study finding that new schools being built or planned by the Department of Education will leave tens of thousands of students in overcrowded facilities on Sunday, September 13th at … Continue reading
A formal welcome to the CPE and CAPE blogs
It’s one thing to fight on the streets together and a whole other thing to enter to the education blogosphere. You kind of go national in a nanosecond. GEM is late in formally welcoming two blogs to this growing community of activists fighting for the soul of public education. We probably all wish there weren’t … Continue reading
Annenberg small schools conference
Another ed conference scheduled for this month, this time on small schools placed inside big high schools. Here’s how it’s described: Nowhere has the approach of restructuring large comprehensive high schools been implemented as broadly as in New York City. Since 2000, 27 large comprehensive high schools have been closed and reopened as campuses of … Continue reading
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