Harlem charter school in public school building gets soccer field. Public school parents not told.

[madfloridian]

On edit: The parents and students did not know until the digging began. I edited the subject line because it was too broad.

My original line: From Juan Gonzalez at the NY Daily News. Seems the public school parents and students did not know until the digging began behind their school. (Goes to my purpose, not edited.)

(I am going to write more about how Klein is allowing charter schools to take over public schools, even taking their libraries in part and forcing students into the lunchroom in some cases. It shows the lack of respect for public schools.)

Charter school's soccer field sparks Harlem turf war


Costanza for News
Soccer field under construction on the grounds of the Harlem Success Academy.

"A few weeks ago, parent leaders at Public School/Middle School 149 in Harlem suddenly discovered workmen digging up part of their schoolyard. That's the first they learned that Harlem Success Academy, a charter school sharing space in the W. 117th St. building, was paying to install a small artificial turf soccer field inside the schoolyard.

"This was never brought to our attention and we weren't even consulted," parent Tania Jones, a member of the school's leadership team, said Tuesday.

What made the soccer project even more surprising was the sparkling new soccer field that opened last fall next door at the Dunlevy Milbank Children's Center.

So how did one Harlem block end up with two new soccer fields - and why are some parents upset about this? Welcome to the world of bitter space wars between charter schools and regular public schools."

I wonder if all the special things awarded to the Harlem Success Academy are because of the special close relationship of its head, Eva Moskowitz, to the chancellor of schools, Joel Klein?

Harlem charter school head emails show very special access to NY school chancellor


Lombard for News
Success Charter Network founder Eva Moskowitz and NYC Chancellor Joel Klein sharing a laugh during an event.

"On Oct. 3, 2008, Eva Moskowitz, a former city councilwoman and head of four charter schools in Harlem, e-mailed schools Chancellor Joel Klein for help. Moskowitz wanted more space to expand her Harlem Success academies and she had two specific public school buildings in mind.

"Those schools are ps194 and ps241," she wrote to Klein. "It would be extremely helpful to move quickly on."

Less than two months later, the Department of Education announced plans to phase out those schools and use the space to expand two Harlem Success academies."

..."The note was among 125 e-mails between Moskowitz and the chancellor the Daily News obtained under a Freedom of Information request. The e-mails - first reported in The News yesterday - show close ties between the two and prompted state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem) to announce he will hold a public hearing next month to review DOE policy toward charters

And the school is treated favorably in many other ways. In fact the principal of the Harlem Success was able to publicly state that he did not believe in special education. Gee, wonder if that is why they can get higher scores?

Harlem Success Charter leader: “I’m not a big believer in special ed"

"At Harlem Success, disability is a dirty word. “I’m not a big believer in special ed,” Fucaloro says. For many children who arrive with individualized education programs, or IEPs, he goes on, the real issues are “maturity and undoing what the parents allow the kids to do in the house—usually mama—and I reverse that right away.” When remediation falls short, according to sources in and around the network, families are counseled out. “Eva told us that the school is not a social-service agency,” says the Harlem Success teacher. “That was an actual quote.”

In one case, says a teacher at P.S. 241, a set of twins started kindergarten at the co-located HSA 4 last fall. One of them proved difficult and was placed on a part-time schedule, “so the mom took both of them out and put them in our school. She has since put the calm sister twin back in Harlem Success, but they wouldn’t take the boy back. We have the harder, troubled one; they have the easier one.”

And while taking over a public school building with the permission of the city, they get the soccer field. And the public school is not even told about it.

Priorities out of order.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. What is happening in NYPS is criminal

There is so much it's hard to keep up with.

Here's a blog I get a daily email update from and I have a hard time keeping up with all the crap. I met this guy in Seattle. He's all over this nonsense in NY. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

[msanthrope]

7. How is two schools sharing a soccer field criminal? n/t

[Luminous Animal]

21. "Our children can't...play with their children at recess... I'll believe it when I see it."

"Our children can't use the Harlem Success bathrooms, they can't share the lunchroom with them at the same time, or play with their children at recess," Hampton said. "Now they claim they want to play soccer together? I'll believe it when I see it."

[msanthrope]

24. If that parent doesn't believe it, she should take it up with her public

school principal.

The project, for which Harlem Success is footing the $65,000 bill, "initially was approved about January of this year," Feinberg said, after 149's principal, Kayrol Burgess-Harper, and Harlem Success founder Eva Moskowitz met and agreed to it.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/18/2010-08-18_charters_soccer_field_pitches_harlem_turf_war.html#ixzz0x7JgTnht

[Luminous Animal]

27. Is Harlem Success a public school? Is it in her district? Shouldn't the parents have oversight...

with schools in their district?

[msanthrope]

30. Did you miss that the public school parents are complaining?

Therefore, they should go to their principal.

Why would they go to Harlem Success? It's a different school.

[Luminous Animal]

44. If charters were truly public, they should be able to make their case to the democratically elected

school board. Charter systems bar them from doing this.

You never answered my question. Is Harlem Success a public school? If it is, it should transparently present its intentions to the publicly elected school board and the parents would be able to democratically express and influence their desires BEFORE a decision was made.

[madfloridian]

50. You make a very good point.

Thanks.

[Luminous Animal]

51. You are welcome. You are one of the best on this board. I wish I had more time to support you.

[erodriguez]

74. There is no democratically elected school board in NYC because of mayoral control

There is only a mayoral appointed board that can make decisions. Should any member look like they are going to vote against the mayor, he fires and replaces them on the spot.

[msanthrope]

78. And the teacher's union supports that.

Bloomberg and the Teachers' Union
It's (almost) summertime, and the Mayor's campaigning is easy. So easy, he can roll over the union this time—and should.
Comments (10) By Wayne Barrett Wednesday, May 13 2009

SNIP
The mayor understands this well. In 2005, he cut a generous contract with UFT President Randi Weingarten weeks before the election, keeping the union neutral and denying its phone banks, troops, and money to Fernando Ferrer, his Democratic opponent. Ferrer tells the Voice now that he was a "realist," and didn't push Weingarten, noting that she and Bloomberg were "negotiating a contract, and everybody knows the value of that transaction," especially "City Hall and a union president."

SNIP

Bloomberg's three previous contracts with Weingarten have resulted in a 43 percent cumulative salary hike, a record for city teachers that tops every other major urban system in the country since 2002. But Bloomberg has handed out those raises without materially changing the work-rule and job-security provisions that are so onerous, they've helped spark an alternative universe of 78 highly popular public charter schools in the city. (Charter schools can opt out of the 165-page, micro-managing union contract.) In the coming months, Bloomberg will be negotiating a new contract, having approved over the years previous versions that fueled the charter rebellion he now champions.

SNIP
Neutral in the 1993, 1997, and 2005 mayoral elections, the UFT has learned that it can reap its grandest rewards at the bargaining table when it does nothing to help the Democratic loser, even an incumbent like David Dinkins. Unsurprisingly, its electoral choices are more commercial than ideological decisions, a function of transactional relationships: The union likes a winner who does deals.


http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-05-13/news/bloomberg-and-the-teachers-union/

[Hannah Bell]

87. Randi Weingarten, the Broad mole, is not "the teachers' union". She's a collaborationist mole.

And Bloomberg is a rich criminal gangster.

[Luminous Animal]

90. It appears that that is only true for high school...

"School Board Elections
School Board Elections are held in New York City every three (3) years, at which time nine (9) member Community School Boards are chosen in all 32 Community School Districts. The nine member Boards are responsible for running the elementary through junior high schools (grades Pre K - 8) in their districts.

You may vote in this election if you are:

1. a registered voter
2. a parent or guardian of a child attending a Public School. (Note: U.S. citizenship is not required in this election.)

If your child attends a school outside of the district you live in, you may register as a parent voter in the district where your child attends school."

http://vote.nyc.ny.us/votersguide.html

[madfloridian]

94. Check this out. It appears Bloomberg controls the school board.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/nyregion/07control.html

"“With its top-down approach, the Bloomberg administration has sought to avoid public debate and scrutiny, while fundamental decisions regarding education policy have been made by central administrators with very little education background,” Mr. Thompson said. “I hope that the governance structure established by this new legislation will ensure that there is transparency, accountability and meaningful parental participation in decision-making.”

The city’s powerful teachers’ union, which has criticized many of Mr. Bloomberg’s changes but whose members have been the recipients of hefty pay raises, eventually provided key support in his bid to renew control over the schools. And that support comes in the same year that the city prepares to negotiate contract renewal with the union, the United Federation of Teachers.

Under the bill, the Panel for Educational Policy, the oversight board that replaced the old Board of Education and is controlled by the mayor, will decide on every contract of more than $1 million, and the city will be required to hold hearings in local communities before shutting down a school. The city’s Independent Budget Office, which has long monitored City Hall and City Council programs, will also have the ability to oversee Education Department spending."

At least it looks that way.

[erodriguez]

101. That is the board that I was speaking of.

I should have put in some links for the DUers. Thanks for taking the time MF.


BTW The parents of NYC have had enough of this group of yes men.


http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/08/parents-close-down-pep-commentary-and.html

[mrmpa]

79. I don't think Harlem Success is footing the $65,000 bill

The money they receive is money allocated from money that would have gone to public schools. In essence the taxpayer is footing the bill.

[sulphurdunn]

102. Think about this for a moment.

There's a small matter of representation to consider. We're talking about public property here. I don't know by whose authority these two women were allowed to make this decision (probably Klein and Bloomberg}, but this is what you can expect when a school system is managed by politicians and corporate CEOs rather than an elected school board. Regarding the $65k. Is that public money or private money? Which raises the question: Is Harlem Success Academy a public or a private corporation? Why is this such a good deal for poor minority kids? Follow the money!

[msongs]

2. wrong. priorities are IN order...corporate priorities. race to the top indeed nt

[LWolf]

3. Can we put the argument that charters don't filter their enrollment to rest now?

Don't respect IEPs, disability is a "dirty word," special ed is all about discipline and bad parenting, and if that doesn't work, they are "counseled out."

Why is this not criminal? Where's the lawsuit for special ed kids?

[NYC_SKP]

4. Both schools can use the soccer field, both principals agreed, the charter foot the bill...

Reading just the article and setting aside all the other controversy, I don't see the problem except that a few parents feel left out of the decision to build this, for use by all students, agreed by both principals.

(snip)...City Education Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg says students from Harlem Success and PS/MS 149 will be able to use the school's new soccer field.

The project, for which Harlem Success is footing the $65,000 bill, "initially was approved about January of this year," Feinberg said, after 149's principal, Kayrol Burgess-Harper, and Harlem Success founder Eva Moskowitz met and agreed to it.

A new soccer field "was mentioned," says Burgess-Harper, but she was "trying to get settled in" as a new principal and didn't devote much attention to it then.

It is an "an enhancement to our school," Burgess-Harper said, especially because her school recently started a sixth-grade soccer team.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/18/2010-08-18_charters_soccer_field_pitches_harlem_turf_war.html#ixzz0x7EuAtSm

:shrug:

[msanthrope]

5. Please, the facts just interfere with the poutrage and Obama-bashing.

Both schools get to use the field??? OMG!!!!!!!11111!!!!!

[madfloridian]

6. You don't see the problem?

Are you aware of how many public schools are fighting to keep room enough for themselves in their buildings...which apparently no longer belong to them.

The only way this can not matter to someone is if they feel public schools are inferior to charter schools. Then it would not matter much at all.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

67. That's because there IS NO PROBLEM

Both schools have joint use of the soccer field, and both principals agreed to it. It sounds like the public school principal didn't communicate this very clearly to a parents' group, and they're the ones who are pissed off.

This is a non-issue.

[madfloridian]

76. No, it is not a non-issue at all. It is lack of respect for public schools.

The fact that it happened this way. The taking over of buildings against the wishes of the public schools.

As I said before, the only reason someone would think it is a non-issue is if the feelings and concerns of the ones in the public school are considered less important than those of the charter.

That is an excuse for what should not have happened.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

80. A "public school" is a bricks-and-mortar building....

The person IN CHARGE OF THAT PARTICULAR PUBLIC SCHOOL (i.e., the Principal) was aware of the arrangment and agreed to it.

If the parents are pissed off because of a lack of communication, then it's the fault of the principal at the "public school" and not (I repeat - NOT) an issue of concern for the Charter School next door.

[madfloridian]

83. Read it again. The charter school is expanding in the public school bldg

I don't think you read it before you ranted.

Not my problem.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

93. What I didn't do...

is navigate through three layers of your own journal to get at the source material. Linking to your own material can cause premature blindness, ya know...

What the actual newspaper reports is more of the same. It appears that four schools (three Charter and one Public are sharing space until one of the Charters can get its own building). Rather than give up classroom space to the expanding Charter Schools, the Principal of the Public School opted to give the Charters more library space as a temporary measure.

Once again, this is a case of some parents being pissed off at the principal of a Public School for doing something they didn't like.

Not the fault of the Charter schools.

[madfloridian]

99. Then if you choose not to read it, you don't have a viable argument.

The charter schools are being allowed by Klein and Bloomberg move into and often take over existing buildings. It is a fact.

[Hannah Bell]

97. last time i checked, principals couldn't convert city property to new uses by fiat.

it sounds like you don't know what you're talking about.

[Radical Activist]

55. It's another misleading post in the fear campaign?

[NJmaverick]

59. Thanks for providing the missing facts. I think DUers should know all the facts

not just carefully selected ones.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. Have you not been following the way parents are being treated in NY

How their children's schools are being divided so they have to share space with charters? Charters that have selective enrollment, so some of the children being forced to share space are not accepted for admission into the charter school?

This is a lot bigger problem than just a few parents being left out of a decision to build a soccer field.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AtomicKitten]

10. Thanks for posting this. nt

[msanthrope]

16. You're welcome. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

88. whatever "this" was, it's now deleted.

[Luminous Animal]

47. What the principals agreed to means squat. Where is the democratic oversight?

If both are public schools, then they should be subject to school board hearings.

[erodriguez]

75. NYC schools ruled by a dictatorship. Whatever the mayor wants the mayor gets.

[PufPuf23]

11. There are likely to be real estate scams associated with

school privatization.

I expect patterns like public school to corporate private charter to failed school site to privatized prime real estate.

[rucky]

85. That's one way they make cash.

The other is by cutting corners - usually with special ed. At least that's how it was at the one I taught at.

[madfloridian]

12. Already being accused of not telling the truth? Interesting indeed.

My OP said the public school did not KNOW until the digging started. I did not say anything about the use, just the way they left the public school out of the loop about it.

That is showing a lack of respect to the public school.

I expect disagreement. After all this is the policy of this administration and some think we must defend it to the end.

I can not do that.

So I guess you just go for it.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Luminous Animal]

17. Just because the principal agreed does not mean that the parents knew about it.

[msanthrope]

19. Then I suggest you hold the public school principal accountable

for that--not the charter school, or the charter school system.

It's misleading of the OP to suggest that this is somehow the fault of the charter school system.

[Luminous Animal]

23. The charter school power brokers (and campaign donors) are calling the shots in NYC.

They've got city and federal govt. on their side. They are akin to K Street lobbyists who have rigged the system into favoring them despite the concerns of public school parents their children and teachers.

[msanthrope]

26. So what do you think of the parents who send their kids to charters in NYC?

Are they part of rigging the system?

[Luminous Animal]

29. They are being sold a pig in a poke. And the money men are salivating at turning parent against...

parent.

[msanthrope]

32. And they are all too stupid to realize that?

They are all being manipulated?

[Luminous Animal]

45. Apparently, they are. Because charters more often do worse than better at

educating our children.

[msanthrope]

52. And that is precisely why these education threads are so valuable.

Because, inevitably, the sheer contempt that so many who post on education have for the parents in the system comes out.

Sailing forth with the attitude that parents who have their kids in charters are being willingly duped is guaranteed to erode popular support for teacher's unions and their allies.

Keep digging.

[Luminous Animal]

53. Are parents presented with the facts that most charters do no better and often worse?

Where is that information presented? Because it is a fact. Are you on the side of truth or truthiness presented with glossy advertising funded by venture capitalists? Democratically publicly funded schools do not have the budgets to advertise their statistically proven success over un-democratic publicly funded charter schools. Charter schools, backed by private testing corporations and curriculum designers, and real estate and venture capitalists, can spit out compelling promotions with zero accountability. They can, like FOX News, tell any lie they want to in order to induce public funds into their private ventures with zero democratic oversight.

And where is your advocacy for the parents of the public school system to exercise their democratic influence over their own system? You seem to have contempt for them. You have contempt for them to know the truth. You have contempt for THESE parents at THIS school to exercise their democratic control over THEIR public school.

[Luminous Animal]

54. The sheer contempt that charter school advocates have for the democratic system...

is indeed illuminating. We elect school boards, that have meetings so that parents and the community can have a say over these kind of decisions. Administrators and principals aren't elected. A principal of a democratically run public school and a principal of a un-democratic publicly funded charter school have no right to make unitary executive decisions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. The sheer contempt that charters have for a democratic public school system is appalling

[proud2BlibKansan]

64. The contempt for parents comes from the top

As Parents Protest, Chancellor and Panel Leave

[Whisp]

13. misleading OP

[msanthrope]

15. You are being more generous than I. n/t

[madfloridian]

18. My original second line. Shows I was not trying to mislead.

"From Juan Gonzalez at the NY Daily News. Seems the public school parents and students did not know until the digging began behind their school."

I have learned that folks are tired of my education posts and will challenge them early and often.

That's fine. But sometimes it is getting like overkill.

It's one way to try to shut someone up and discourage them.

[msanthrope]

20. If this is obviously the fault of the public school employee, (the principal)

then why are you even mentioning the charter school? Why the screed against them? Why the diatribe against Moskowitz and Klien?

I think you posted a deliberately misleading headline, and you got caught.

[Luminous Animal]

25. I thought that charter schools were public schools? Isn't this what pro-charter people tell us?

So, if, as pro-charter folks claim, that charters are public, then isn't the fault of both public employees?

[msanthrope]

28. Um, the parent complaining has a kid at PS 149. Why would the charter school

principal deal with the parents of the different school?

[Luminous Animal]

42. If the charter school was reallly a public school the parents would be able to complain

to the school board. You know, those elected officials who are beholden to the public. In a PUBLIC school system, ALL public schools have to deal with parents of a different schools. The hideous beauty of the charter schools system is to remove them from public oversight. They can bully the parents of any school with no accountability to the public.

[Hannah Bell]

89. i see you agree that charter schools *aren't* public schools.

[madfloridian]

22. I am not going to be discouraged on this issue.

I understand there will be consequences, but that is rather sad.

It is a vital issue when public school buildings are being hijacked by companies running charters, and the children are going to pay a dear price for it.

[Starry Messenger]

34. Your work is so valuable.

Please, just put the pettifoggers who can't be moved to educate themselves on "ignore". It's obvious what is going on here. It's a hostile takeover of the public commons. Anyone who wishes to deny it at this point is just a willing stooge. The neoliberal path of this country and several others is a matter of public record and easily found on other places on the web. DU is just in "bat country".

[msanthrope]

38. I agree. Threads like this one are an invaluable service.

Just not in the way I suspect the OP wishes.

[girl gone mad]

68. You certainly have made a poor showing in this thread.

I find the discussions illuminating, if only because they provide a glimpse at the absurd leaps of reasoning which are necessary to defend such egregious acts by unaccountable privateers.

[madfloridian]

41. It doesn't matter, though. The education deed is done.

And when I post it won't be pleasant my sources say. Oh, well.

[Starry Messenger]

43. It matters because it needs to be recorded.

We will do what we can to resist, but you keeping the record is also action. This will be an archive. I know that's not a lot of comfort, but I really do think what you do is important.

[madfloridian]

48. Thanks for that.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

31. Klein had to back down on moving autistic children for a charter...

to expand. That's good.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703960004575427944040787912.html

"In the case of Girls Prep, advocates for special-education students from P.S. 94 who are taught in the building—which also houses P.S. 188—filed a complaint regarding the DOE's plans to let the charter school grow, alleging that the department failed to adequately explain the effects on the P.S. 94 students, most of whom are autistic. The DOE noted that not a single special-education student would be moved under its plan, and that the building had more than adequate space to accommodate all students.

The state's education commissioner two weeks ago sided with the special-education advocacy group that filed the case on behalf of parents, Advocates for Children. In his ruling, the commissioner seemed to invite the chancellor to move forward anyway: "Nothing herein shall be construed as preventing the chancellor from determining that the DOE's proposal is immediately necessary for the preservation of student health, safety or general welfare, and from invoking the emergency provisions" afforded by the law.

When the chancellor suggested last week that he would use those very powers so that Girls Prep could expand to the sixth grade, as planned, elected officials voiced opposition. In the past few days, Mr. Klein has backed off, "given the threats of litigation and continuing uncertainty," he said in a statement."

Other sources disagree on the harm to the autistic students:

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/08/05/2010-08-05_forget_ruling_i_can_move_school_joel.html#ixzz0vsrd3c1F

"Chancellor Joel Klein is claiming "emergency powers" will allow him to move a Manhattan school for autistic children, despite a ruling this week that blocked the maneuver.

Parents at Public School 94 had fought for months to keep the school on the lower East Side intact.

The move would allow Girls Preparatory Charter School to expand in the building they shared.

"We are going to use the chancellor's emergency powers, granted by the state's education law, to ensure ... students are accommodated at Girls Prep in the fall," said Education Department spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/08/05/2010-08-05_forget_ruling_i_can_move_school_joel.html#ixzz0x7Tkju81

[msanthrope]

36. I'm sorry, but how did we get to autistic children? Are they using the soccer field?

Or do you think that raising something completely irrelevant to your OP will distract posters from the fact that you had to change your OP?

As the mother of an autistic child, I don't appreciate the use of autistic children as a 'bright shiny object.'

That issue deserves its own thread.

[Luminous Animal]

49. We get there because students of a democratic public school system are being pushed around

by oligarchs of an un-democratic publicly funded system.

[proud2BlibKansan]

60. As the mother of an autistic child, do you approve of autistic kids being moved out of a school

to meet the needs of a charter school?

Because that is what happened in NY, which is the same district where this soccer field was built.

That issue has had DOZENS of its own threads. MF has been following that story and keeping us updated for weeks now.

It's also not the least bit irrelevant to the topic of this thread.

[Name removed]

65. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[msanthrope]

77. Not a single autistic child was going to be, or will be moved.

From the local press, lauding the decsion of Klien to move forward...


Putting the kids first: Klein was right to use emergency powers in school fight

To accommodate Girls Prep, DOE planned to phase the autistic program out of the building over the next few years by allowing its pupils to graduate and enrolling fresh classes at another location. No student would be transferred.

The UFT and, perversely, Advocates for Children objected. Among the complaints was that DOE had failed to describe how the change could, possibly, someday, affect youngsters who may join the autistic program.

State Education Commissioner David Steiner bought the argument that the law requires fantasizing about the unknowable futures of children who have yet to be identified. He also rejected the DOE argument that the issues raised were "de minimus." That's legal Latin for baloney.

SNIP

The insanity is plain - and Steiner must have recognized it. He all but invited Klein to ram through the Girls Prep plan under a provision of the law that gives the chancellor power to act on an emergency basis to protect "the general welfare" of students.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/09/2010-08-09_putting_the_kids_first.html#ixzz0xAeZ0419


I don't like it when the teacher's unions like to use my kid's autism for political point-scoring, or distraction.

[Hannah Bell]

84. Of course they were going to be moved. That's why Klein backed down when it went public.

[proud2BlibKansan]

96. Bingo

Not at all hard to connect the dots on that one.

[POAS]

33. So which is it?

You say; "And while taking over a public school building with the permission of the city, they get the soccer field. And the public school is not even told about it. "

But others here are saying that the principals of both schools agreed. It cannot be both ways.

[madfloridian]

35. I edited and made it clear. Very clear.

[POAS]

46. I'm sorry but you didn't, at least not to me and not

as long as the sentence that I quoted above stands. It is still in the OP and it clearly states that the public school was not told.

If the public school was not told then the other posters claiming that the principals agreed on the soccer field must be wrong.

[madfloridian]

37. PS 123 and JHS 126.....fighting to keep their building from charters.

Pushed aside

"They are calling it the invasion of the charter schools.

It seems to work this way: Parents at a neighborhood public school suddenly learn Chancellor Joel Klein has decreed they must surrender scarce classroom space in their building for a new charter school. No parent or faculty meeting to gauge whether anyone wants the new school. No official vote of the local Community Education Council.

Some young bureaucrat from the city Education Department's Office of Portfolio Development arrives one day with a bunch of maps under his arm and promptly orders a new allocation of rooms.

Boom. Done. All part of Klein's rush to create 100,000 new charter school seats over the next few years.

Well, yesterday afternoon at Public School 123 in Harlem, a bunch of angry parents staged a noisy protest against the charter invasion."

More:

"The tensions began when the charter school first moved into the building, but increased this year when P.S. 123 lost its computer room to the charter school, as well as part of its teachers’ lounge and half its library, now devoted to Harlem Success Academy office space, said Hargraves.

P.S. 123 was offered basement rooms to replace some of the space Harlem Success Academy has commandeered, but “there’s no way a kid can learn in that environment,” Hargraves said, describing the basement as “no more than a storage area.” The school squeezed in classes elsewhere in the building."

And from JHS 126:

"Students and parents at a Brooklyn middle school are fuming after they were pushed out of their newly spruced-up library by an expanding charter school.

Junior High School 126 kids have severely limited access to the cozy, mural-painted reading spot this year so the three charters sharing the Greenpoint building can use the space for planning, meetings and small classes.

..."Access to the library for more than 400 middle schoolers will be restricted to one side of the space for less than two hours each day, with an extra hour on Wednesdays. Eddie Calderon-Melendez, founder of the Believe High School Network, which runs the charters, said the use of shared space is negotiated every year."

[msanthrope]

40. Are they using the soccer field? Are we off the autistic kids now? n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

63. You are obviously having trouble keeping up

Perhaps you should read madfloridian's journal to bring yourself up to date on all of this that is going on in NY. She's been posting about it for months now.

[msanthrope]

69. I'm sure Madfloridian's journal is a font of knowledge.

And it certainly would be easier, wouldn't it, if DUers read her journal, and didn't read the local news sources and articles on the issues.

Because maybe then she could get farther than 4 posts in a thread before impertinent posters pointed out that actual news stories disagree with her reality.

[Born_A_Truman]

39. Oh for crying out loud!

[SoCalDem]

56. The perfect business plan

Taxpayers pay to build a school
Politicians choke off money to support the school
When it's in disrepair, it's sold on the cheap to "charter-investors"
They lease-back to tax-funded school districts & hire non-union teachers on the cheap & pretend to be part of the public school system
Media kisses their asses for "renovating" a run down school, and readily accepts their propaganda at face value

When the higher-ups have skimmed enough money off the top and before their methods become suspect, they move on to the next venture.

[madfloridian]

71. Good point. Amid controversy of who owns the building now.

White Hat owners did that.

[SunsetDreams]

57. "And the public school is not even told about it"

The Principals of both schools agreed. They both will share the soccer field.
If the parents were not told at the Public School, it is the fault of the Public Principal
Likewise
If the Parents were not told at the Charter School, it is the fault of the Charter School Principal.

OR

It could be that a paper(flyer) was sent home, and the parents didn't get it. Kids lose stuff all the time.

[Hannah Bell]

91. lol. yeah, every kid in the school lost the flyer.

The charter won't share bathrooms, why would they share *their* soccer field.

BloomKlein are systematically taking space from public schools. Systematically. Leak of Klein's emails shows charter school leaders TELLING HIM WHICH SCHOOLS TO CLOSE SO THEY CAN TAKE THEM.

The defenders of BloomKlein are pitiful.

[ejpoeta]

95. that's the part that gets me. even if the principals agreed to share it, i tend to believe the

parents of the public school kids. if they don't even let them use the bathrooms, then i doubt they'll let them use the soccer field. or maybe they'll give them an hour a week or something.

charter schools may have their place. but it seems that the fact that they are popping up like weeds choking off funding for the public schools that are already hurting. some may see it as a good thing, but how is it any different than when bush wanted to cyphon money from social security to private accounts? it's not. and what happens when we have no more public schools? we need to fix the public school systems. unfortunately that is not what is happening.

[Fumesucker]

58. K&R, thanks for posting..

[Stinky The Clown]

66. Rec back to 5

[madfloridian]

70. heh heh

Looks like 4 to me now.

:evilgrin:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

72. Proud to make it 5 --

Thank you for the work you do on this and many issues. :hi: And thank yo for your persistence -- you have a much stronger stomach than I for all the bullshit. :D

[fogonthelake]

73. K and R. onto the Greatest. Thanks for the post.

[JackDragna]

81. If schools aren't social service agencies, then what are they?

I went to a well-funded public school system in a suburb of a big city. We had counselors for each grade, speech therapists and all kinds of other support personnel who reached out to kids. I credit one such individual with helping me overcome a speech impediment others missed during my youth. Of course, there are also many schools where the things they catch before anyone else are even more serious: physical or sexual abuse at home, malnutrition, behavioral and emotional disorders, you name it.

That such an individual, who bears a responsibility to our youth, would make such a statement speaks volumes as to his mindset. Here's one teacher who sure as hell wishes the "modern" thinking in education wasn't some veiled attempt to give over our schools to private interests.

[madfloridian]

82. Read this part....gives a clue. Pretty sad.

From the article about Harlem Success Charters:

http://nymag.com/news/features/65614/index4.html

"New students are initiated at “kindergarten boot camp,” where they get drilled for two weeks on how to behave in the “zero noise” corridors (straight lines, mouths shut, arms at one’s sides) and the art of active listening (legs crossed, hands folded, eyes tracking the speaker). Life at Harlem Success, the teacher says, is “very, very structured,” even the twenty-minute recess. Lunches are rushed and hushed, leaving little downtime to build social skills. Many children appear fried by two o’clock, particularly in weeks with heavy testing. “We test constantly, all grades,” the teacher says. During the TerraNova, a mini-SAT bubble test over four consecutive mornings, three students threw up. “I just don’t feel that kids have a chance to be kids,” she laments.

Noguera, too, has reservations about the “punitive” approach at Harlem Success and other high-performing charter networks. He thinks it grooms conformists, and that middle-class parents would find it anathema. “What concerns me are the race/class assumptions built into this,” he says. “If you’re serious about preparing kids to be leaders, you have to realize that leaders have to think for themselves.”

[rucky]

86. I see your rushed lunch & recess, and raise you:

A SILENT lunch and NO recess:

http://www.daytonleadershipacademies.com/

Courtesy of Edison Learning, or whatever they changed their name to.

[Starry Messenger]

92. omfg

And people accuse *public schools* of producing corporate cannon-fodder...

[rucky]

100. After 2 pm, there wasn't much education happening.

The kids were coming out of their skin.

[KakistocracyHater]

98. notice the pattern of just doing things without permission or consulting

very familiar now. Why doens't the Left's leaders do the same only for good? They are undoing public education to restart child labor, these charter schools are just the intermediate step, the camoflauge. It explains why the Billionaire Boys Club is running this, Walmart wants serfs not educated people.