Parents at PS 15, an "A" school, ask state to intervene in PAVE charter invasion.

[madfloridian]

The mantra has been in NY that they are going to close "bad" schools with "bad" teachers. This school has a "A" grade, so there goes that reasoning.

PAVE charter is moving into a public school, PS 15...a common occurrence now during the hostile takeovers of public schools.

Some parents decided to fight back.

From Gotham Schools:

P.S. 15 parents ask Steiner to intervene in charter siting dispute

Two parents at a Brooklyn district school who have strongly resisted the city’s plan to let a charter school extend its stay in the district school building are appealing to State Education Commissioner David Steiner to halt the plan.

The parents, John Battis and Lydia Bellahcene, allege that the city of violating state education law in its plan to allow PAVE Academy charter school remain in the same building as P.S. 15 until 2013. The citywide school board voted to approve that plan in its January meeting.

The appeal, which parents filed to the city today and expect to deliver to the state education department in Albany on Monday, claims that vote should be nullified because the city revised its timeframe for PAVE’s stay without having a second public hearing, as required if the city changes a plan for how a building will be used. It also argues that the city failed to give enough information about how the plan would affect students at both the schools.

Here is some background on PS 15 and its fight to save the school.


The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan
Parents at PS 15, an elementary school on Sullivan Street in Red Hook, are fighting a city plan to house a charter school inside their building.

DOE proposes to let PAVE stay in P.S. 15 an additional five years

The Department of Education released details of a controversial space-sharing proposal for a Brooklyn charter and district school today, and it would allow the charter to remain in the building until 2015 and add five more grades of students.

The plan follows months of controversy about whether PAVE Academy Charter School should be allowed to continue to share space with Red Hook’s P.S. 15, and if so, whether the charter should be allowed more classrooms in the building.

PAVE originally agreed to leave the P.S. 15 building at the end of this school year. Its request earlier this year to extend its stay sparked worries among P.S. 15 parents and teachers that the charter school would stay indefinitely, squeezing the district school.

Those concerns about staying indefinitely might be very real. Shoving public schools aside seems to be becoming a habit. The NYC education leaders are making sure that the charters get moved right in. More and more public schools are having endure this...some being forced from their library, some moved into the lunchroom for classes.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Law and Order tonight

had a story about a kid at a charter school who was murdered. The cops went to interview kids at the public school and the principal wasn't cooperating so they told her they would report her and she would see her school be given to the charters.

Thought of you, Mad. Are you now writing scripts for Law and Order? :)

[madfloridian]

2. Heh heh...I recorded that but have not watched it yet.

Don't you just love the propaganda?

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I need the distraction. Here's what's going on here:

Final school closings proposal spares five schools

Kansas City Superintendent John Covington pressed forward with a massive school closings proposal Monday, sending board members a revised list of 26 schools, plus the district’s downtown administration building.

The new proposal, pared down from an original plan for 31 closings, would still stand among the most audacious school closing efforts ever seen across the nation and be the largest in Kansas City’s history.

more . . . http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/01/1783107/final-school-closings-proposal.html

[madfloridian]

4. "Audacious" is a mild word indeed. Closing public schools...

with ease under a Democratic administration.

It is shocking.

[madfloridian]

5. Quote about financial and political scandals that will erupt...

as charters are allowed and encouraged to grow without regulation. From a previous supporter of those schools:

"...I have a prediction to make: As hundreds and possibly thousands more charter schools open, we will see many financial and political scandals. We will see corrupt politicians and investors putting their hands into the cashbox. We will see corrupt deals where public school space is handed over to entrepreneurs who have made contributions to the politicians making the decisions. We will see many more charter operators pulling in $400,000-500,000 a year for their role, not as principals, but as 'rainmakers' who build warm relationships with politicians and investors.... "

—Diane Ravitch, Education Week blog, Feb. 23, 2010"

[joeglow3]

6. I am confused

So, has the charter been there for a while or are they moving in NOW? If it is the former, I would be interested in knowing how long they have been there and what kind of turnaround, if any, took place while they were in charge. If it is the latter, then it is f***ing stupid.

[madfloridian]

7. PAVE has been in the public school....but they were taking it over.

and going to stay for at least 5 years, increasing the number of grades. It was in effect a takeover.

[MadHound]

8. And Obama and Duncan probably approve of this move as well

Seeing as they can't stand to see any school remain in the public arena.

[tonysam]

9. Of course. University of Chicago neoliberalism is at work here.

And it will fail, like ALL "reform" efforts because those who peddle them have NO clue about public education.

[MadHound]

10. Yes, but the sad thing about this kind of fail is that it effects and entire generation

Worse, our entire country.

[Starry Messenger]

11. Back to the top

[Overseas]

12. I sadly K&R these stories, horrified by the privatization of public education.

We could be forming public private partnerships to introduce innovations into our existing schools instead of stripping them and giving charters so much power, even over well-performing schools.

[Confusious]

13. Well, Wall Street needs more

Ain't getting much from the middle class anymore.

Got to get it from somewhere, why not take from the kids and give them a substandard education, all in the name of profit?

The last sentence was :sarcasm:

[saracat]

14. And just think, this is the kind of thing our prez is praising!

Jiminy Christmas, I am so tired of this.When did we adopt so many GOP ideas?

[Jefferson23]

15. I have to admit, I never saw this coming from Obama, and I can't stand

Arnie Duncan. That Obama is supportive of perpetuating the screaming meme about teachers is a shock to me.

What was in his political background in Chicago that would explain this??