The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman

July 20 – July 23: A week of CHARTER SCHOOL DEMONSTRATIONS

PS 375 set for Tuesday, the 21st has been canceled. From the organizers: “GEM Organizers, united with the Charter-Invaded Harlem Public School Communities and ACORN, encourage everyone to bring signs, banners and leaflets as we organize to educate our Harlem community about the injustices of Charter Schools, dictatorial mayoral control & the DOE.” Contact person: … Continue reading →

Today, Sun., July 19th: Press Conference at City Hall

From the organizers: The Senate’s vote on mayoral control: On Thursday night, the Senate brought S5576, the Better Schools Act to the floor, which would create moderate curbs on the Mayor’s dictatorial control, including set terms for PEP members and one less than a mayoral majority on the board. The legislation was defeated, 15-40, mostly … Continue reading →

August 3rd — Charter School hearing in Staten Island

GEM news reported in Ednotes

Important reports on GEM’s work in the fight against Corporatization. Are Charters Beginning to Run Out of Kids to Cream? (July 17)EXCERPT: Last night at Shellbank, Brooklyn Dreams came off as looking pathetic as they search through south Brooklyn for the right sweet spot. Asked to define what they offer that public schools don’t, the … Continue reading →

The Truth about Charter Schools

A study on charter schools released on June 15, 2009 by Stanford University (sponsored by PRO-CHARTER groups: Walton Family and Susan Dell Foundation) studying 15 states and District of Columbia found that: • 80 % of charter schools performed the same or worse than traditional public schools: (37% that did significantly worse and 46% that … Continue reading →

Councilman Fidler: "We don’t want it, we don’t need it!"

UPDATED: THERE ARE VIDEO CLIPS of this meeting at Ednotes. This just in about Councilman Lew Fidler and the fight going on over the charter school pushing into Shell Bank JHS in District 22. Councilman Lew Fidler is bristling at Brooklyn Dreams Charter School’s push into our ‘hood. Though he’s against charter schools in general, … Continue reading →

"Get Bloomberg out of our schools"

That’s the title of John Yanno’s report of the demonstration at Tweed last Tuesday (July 8th) in the Socialist Worker. NEW YORK–A multiracial group of 200 parents, teachers, students and community members descended on “Tweed,” the New York City Department of Education building, to demand an end to mayoral control of the city’s public schools. … Continue reading →

What’s Stringer really after: Transparency or Justice?

We were able to transcribe 99% of what Borough Prez Scott Stringer had to say at the PS 123 rally last Friday morning (see the whole video clip over at Ednotes). When a guy talks about “transparency” 3 times in 3 minutes, I guess he means it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the issue this time. What … Continue reading →

Tony Avella at P.S.123 on Friday, July 10th

Here’s the video of the Councilman saying what we’re saying.And here’s a press release on the same story: Avella Stands with Victims of the Charter School Takeover of PS 123 Harlem — City Councilmember and Mayoral candidate Tony Avella joined with parents and teachers from PS 123 this morning to resist the downsizing of their … Continue reading →

Gonzalez, Schmidt (and Scott) at PS 123

UPDATED: More GEM commentary on video clips from PS 123 protests — Councilman Tony Avella here and Manhattan Borugh Prez Scott Stringer here. A word about the second PS 123 protest against the sneak attack on the school by Moskowitz’s Harlem Success Academy. GEM was there, and here’s how Ednotes reports it: Gem started receiving … Continue reading →