NY public school students get limited use of school library so 3 charter schools can use it.

[madfloridian]

Yesterday I read this post by proud2BlibKansan in the education forum.

It really upset me to see a library that the librarian and community had worked so hard to expand was now being in effect turned over to 3 charter schools. The students of JHS 126 have to wait their turn, and their time is quite limited.

Someone posted a video at You Tube about the remodeling of their library. They took great pride in it.

From New York Daily News.

Brooklyn middle school students squeezed out of study space by 3 charter schools sharing building

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.

Adams for News
At JHS 126 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, memo grants its three charter schools the lion's share of access to the library (below), which got an overhaul just last year.

"It's unfair," said JHS 126 parent association President Janeen Echevarria. "Kids need to get in there to get books out to do their reports, to read, to further their education."

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.

"We figure out what's in the best interest of all the children in the building," Calderon-Melendez said.

Makes it sound like Calderon-Melendez is boss of the public school, doesn't it?

Actually, Bloomberg is in charge of the public schools, and we have Arne Duncan to thank for that.

One of Arne's goals is to make big city mayors in charge of the public school system. He worked to get that for Bloomberg.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan grew up in a school system dominated by mayoral control. He's said he loses sleep at night over Detroit Public Schools. And he's weighed in on New York City's governance structure, declaring that the city's public schools are best left in the mayor's hands.

Now, as if the education secretary doesn't have enough going on, he's wading even further—and more dramatically—into the thorny issue of local control and school governance by declaring that more big-city mayors need to take over school districts. And if the numbers don't rise, he said according to Libby Quaid's Associated Press story, he "will have failed as secretary."

..."The New York Post patted its own back today, hard, for helping the state renew the mayor’s control of the public schools. The surprising thing is that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined in, thanking the newspaper, owned by the ambitious Rupert Murdoch, for its “leadership” and “thoughtfulness.”

New York City newspapers have a proud tradition of waging campaigns both on and off the editorial page, and then congratulating themselves when they hit their marks. But having a cabinet member for a sitting president join the cheering is more unusual.

“I think that must be out of context, that Arne Duncan is giving the Post credit for mayoral control,” the president of the principals’ union, Ernest Logan, said when I called to ask his impression.

So if it sounds a little like a takeover of a public school library....that is because it is just that. And since the students and librarian of JHS 126 are unhappy, we can add the word "hostile" to takeover.

[fascisthunter]

1. disgusting

[Brickbat]

2. This is a goddamn shame. It's an excellent metaphor for the creeping undermining of public

education. Those poor kids. Oh, this makes me mad. Thanks for posting it.

[madfloridian]

29. Good description.

"creeping undermining" that started with Reagan and will come to fruition under the Obama administration.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

3. Out with the old, in with the nouveau...

[madfloridian]

4. Public school parents volunteered their time.

"The space scuffle comes as Mayor Bloomberg vows to double the number of charter schools in the city to 200.

Last year, the library got an overhaul, with volunteers painting the walls with a castle motif. Now, the 13 donated computers, comfy recliners and futon have been removed.

"It's a beautiful library; 126 should have first priority, and the charter school should wait or get their own building already," lamented parent Doreen Sudano.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/10/06/2009-10-06_kids_slam_library_land_grab_jhs_126_squeezed_out_of_study_space_by_3_charter_sch.html#ixzz0UakS0uSE

Full speed ahead. Forget America's long time tradition of public education.

[madfloridian]

5. Unrecs begin.

I guess some support charter schools even if they steamroll public school students in the process.

[Iggo]

8. AUFWAU.

:P

[madfloridian]

12. You said:

It means Auto Unrec For Whining About Unrec.

[Iggo]

19. Just kiddin, man.

B-)

[madfloridian]

21. You aren't far off base, actually.

[Iggo]

24. I know, but I normally do that to OP's about unrec...

...not to just an observation way downthread.

[BolivarianHero]

9. Yep...

Guess the Freepturds are out in full force.

[wildeyed]

13. Or maybe it is because our children were not well served by the public schools.

Mine weren't. They are doing well at the charter we switched to. If the local public school was willing to examine what we are doing at our wildly popular and successful charter (it serves a special needs population) and attempt to duplicate it, we might go back. But they don't. Or maybe they are trying, but the change won't come quickly enough for my kids.

For what it is worth, our local public system isn't awful, but it is geared very much toward the middle. If your kid is either on the very high end, very low end or just really quirky (mine manage to be all three at the same time), they don't extend themselves to find a fit. So people with kids like that leave rather than watch their children suffer and fail. It is not some huge conspiracy to steamroll public education. I support the public schools and advocate strongly for them because I recognize that most children are going to be in that system. If they aren't served, then the community isn't served and won't thrive long term. But I object to mindless bashing of charter school. They serve a niche in our community.

[madfloridian]

16. Maybe it is because they are being defunded??

And left without proper resources, then said to be failing?

[wildeyed]

25. Nope.

Just narrow and bureaucratic mindsets. Not a money problem at all. For what it is worth, I see some positive changes in the public system. I like to think that the success of my children's school is helping to inspire them. But they will come to slowly for my kids. They will be aged out by the time the system improves.

[madfloridian]

28. They are taking funding from public schools.

They are giving it to unregulated charter schools. Even some who call themselves "public" charters are simply "private" companies running a school with public money but without very many controls.

[wildeyed]

38. I consider my children's charter school a public school.

We are free to anyone in the community. Our student body is diverse racially, economically and culturally. Also a non-profit. I don't believe in public education for profit either, but many charter schools are started by parents and run on a non-profit basis.

[madfloridian]

40. And unregulated and taking money from the public schools.

My classes were "diverse racially, economically and culturally."

We had special teachers and special classes for those who needed them. There were high standards for teachers.

Now those things are missing as the money is divided up between vouchers to private schools and charter school students.

It is the destruction of public schools so corporations can profit.

[Jakes Progress]

51. Good luck MadF.

Keep telling them what they should know. You have more patience than I.

[alstephenson]

54. What percentage of charter schools are operated by for-profits vs. non-profits???

I am curious, because you paint charter schools with a very, very broad stroke. Many of us have personal experiences with non-profit charter schools that are totally contrary to the way you portray all charter schools to be. As far as I know, all charter schools ARE public schools and many provide an excellent education to at-risk and/or under served students - what would you do with these students and other students who aren't able to learn in the typical public school environment? Students who would otherwise drop out.

Do you really think that eliminating charter schools is the key to education reform? Are charter schools really the reason public schools are under-funded?

[madfloridian]

62. I think I am very fair. I think there needs to be openness and honesty.

I criticize charter schools because they take public money and won't be held accountable. I have written about many cases like that.

I criticize them in the context that they are taking away resources that public schools desperately need.

There is nothing wrong with a group of people getting together to form their own school. In fact that can work quite well. That is their right. But I don't want my taxes going to them unless they are regulated and have oversight. I don't have percentages of those who say they are public, but really are not quite. Imagine schools have claimed to be public, but they really are run like a tight ship by their corporation founded by Dennis and Eileen Bakke. In fact they fire principals who inquire too closely about the real estate arm of their company which gets public money.

I believe our party should be upfront and honest. If you keep forming more charter schools which is the goal of this administration....if you keep giving them more public money...then you will most definitely have a network of unregulated charter schools. AND we will have more failing public schools who are having their resources stripped.

[csziggy]

82. It's not just the money that the charter schools take away

When there were few private schools, parents who were unhappy with the quality of the public schools worked to get them improved. They lobbied their elected representatives - school boards or whoever administered the schools - and involved themselves in the PTA to get more resources for their children's schools.

Now if parents are unhappy with the public schools, they simply remove their children not only taking tax monies from the public school but taking the advocacy for improvement away. This can make a huge difference in the quality of the school and the education in both the short and the long run.

I watched this happen in Central Florida in the 60s. My parents elected to not take us out of the public schools when full integration went through. They were active in the PTA and with pushing the school board to have extras in our education. When the new school that was built to accommodate the increased number of students lacked some supplies and equipment, my parents helped put on fund raising events to provide the things they wanted us to have - art supplies, musical scores, etc. Our town was not large enough or maybe not prosperous enough - or maybe not prejudiced enough, though I doubt that - but there were not the private church associated schools opened there.

In a neighboring town where my cousins lived, my aunt and uncle sent their children to "church schools" which were completely segregated. Their efforts went into paying for the extras in those private classes. Apparently a lot of parents in did the same thing in that town. By the time I graduated from high school, it was known that the schools in that town were not as good as the schools in ours. The school I graduated from still is recognized as being a quality school and known for its International Baccalaureate School, which annually finishes in the top five in composite SAT scores in the United States. The schools in the town my cousins called home have no such distinction.

My parents were not the only ones in my home town that involved themselves in the schools - many parents have over the years. They have kept those schools in that little town at the top level. We need the parents who care to stay involved in the public school system to keep it up to par, not use our tax money to allow them to bail out and support a private system that is not accountable to any one.

[BrklynLiberal]

70. For every child that goes to a charter school, the public schools lose funding from local, state

and federal agencies.....so the answer to your question is yes.

[BrklynLiberal]

68. Well said MadFla....

[SoCalDem]

47. "Free" and "public" are not the same

charters & magnets "choose" their students, and usually do not have to provide transportation (very costly to a school district), adjunct facilities...like libraries, sports venues.. so their loose "connection" to public system allows them access to those things, while still giving them the freedom to not have to take ALL students..

It's like old timey rich parents who handed off the stinky baby to a nanny to clean him up, and when the baby cried the nanny got him again. It's easy to love a clean happy baby, but someone else is doing the messy parts..

[madfloridian]

48. Kudos

for a very true and most descriptive post.

:applause:

[alstephenson]

56. Wow. That's a whole lot of generalization. In California and most states

a charter school can not "choose" their students. No tuition can be charged and if enrollment exceeds capacity students are put on a waiting list under a lottery system.

[SoCalDem]

58. never said anything about tuition

:hi:

and they do "choose" by virtue of not using geographic boundary lines, like other public schools..

only the most determined of parents can get their kids in those schools..

I never thought I would live to see the day where just sending the kiddies to school would get so "complicated"

SCD-------> very glad to have grown children

[madfloridian]

64. Nor did I mention tuition. They get public school money, don't need tuitition.

It is hard to get into one, even if they are by lottery. It is hard to get to stay in one as the rules are not uniform.

I have taught those who did not get to stay. Their egos are harmed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

59. They choose their kids here

and they kick them out whenever they want.

[BrklynLiberal]

67. Of course! That is what is happening everywherje...

Privatization of EVERYTHING!!

[Hannah Bell]

33. They're no better served by charters, on average, per the most comprehensive study of the matter.

Mindless bashing of public schools seems ok with you.

Sorry, it *is* a conspiracy to undermine public ed, you have only to follow the money to know.

[wildeyed]

36. Perhaps, but in this individual case, that is not true.

We are a non-profit. I have issues with for-profit charters, too. I am totally not bashing public schools. Read my other posts.

[madfloridian]

37. But your charter school is paying money to a private school...

and that is money coming from taxpayers.

It's really a mess when where is no oversight.

[Hannah Bell]

44. in individual cases, it's also true that giving 90% of the money to 1% of the people can be good.

but for the 99%, it's bad.

the fact is, the research shows charters don't improve student outcomes; a few do better, a few do worse, most = the same.

if the purpose were to improve student outcomes or make schools more responsive to individual needs, it could be done within the public system.

but the purpose is to break the public system & privatise, regardless of your apologetics.

[jinto86]

55. Nice to see someone else that KNOWS that not all kids are served adequately by public schools

I tried talking about my friend Z who got an insane amount of money from the school district to serve his needs... didn't do a bit of good, his mom moved him to a private school for kids with special needs... and he is like a totally different goofball (face it most special needs kids are quite goofy!), happy all the time, socializing, learning more, learning his way (if its not hands-on with him he tends to drift off), etc. People like we see all too often here don't get that it isn't to kill the public school system that people send their kids to charter schools, it is so they can get their kids needs best served. Its hard for them to believe that the school district ever lets any kids down, though I could list all the famous names one at a time... then add so many of the special needs kids I worked with, then add myself and several of my former coworkers. Its sad.

P.S. I take it you have an aspie kid, feel free to message me, I used to be known as the parent helper aspie on one of my own message boards because I am always helping aspie moms out, I would just post my IM address here but I have a feeling I would get several pieces of hate messaging and cyber bullying if I did... some people don't grow up.

[alstephenson]

53. Charter schools are public schools. Right?

[madfloridian]

63. Not necessarily.

Some are EMOs, you know like HMOs. They use the word public, but they really are not.

[BrklynLiberal]

72. Define "public"

[wildeyed]

6. Is the charter paying rent for the space?

In NC where I live, charters are funded differently that regular public schools. Both my kids go to a charter school. We get the same per pupil funding as public schools, but no start up money for a building and no bond money. We have no library, instead busing the kids to the public library every other week. We share space with a private school, but pay them rent, of course. So if the NY system is anything similar, this is a negotiated agreement that involves payment from the charter school to the public school. If someone in the local government negotiated a bad agreement, they should be held responsible but is hardly seems the charter school's fault.

[madfloridian]

10. Doesn't sound as though the public school had any say in it.

Charter schools get public taxpayer money, so what they do is important to me.

I would resent it if a school where I taught were shoved aside to make room for 3 charter schools.

The charter school head is the one who sounds like he is in charge. Why is that?

It is the fault of an administration pushing so fast for privatizing schools that they are not even caring about learning and teaching and caring for students in the public schools.

[wildeyed]

15. Clearly the charter school is not in charge.

This is a New York Post article, right? They tend to be lurid, but rather short on facts. Someone made this decision in the public system. I am not defending the decision, simply pointing out that the parents of the public school kids should figure out who is actually responsible and demand accountability. Simply characterizing the charter school as evil and bad doesn't accomplish much.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my kids go to a charter with no library. That is fine with me. I recognize that I made an unconventional decision for my kid's education and now bear the responsibility of providing them certain things that would be provided automatically through a public school. So I make sure they get to the library on weeks that they aren't bused by their school to the regular public library. We are not all evil, trying to steal from the regular public school students :shrug:

[madfloridian]

18. No it is not a New York Post article. Why would you think that?

If I post from the New York Post I would qualify it.

[wildeyed]

20. My bad.

But it is still a badly written and sensationalist piece.

[madfloridian]

22. Actually it is very good article. Written fairly.

You just happen to disagree.

That is your right. It is my right to continue to point out how taxpayer money is being used to privatize schools.

[wildeyed]

27. Or it is a badly written article and you just happen to disagree.

:crazy:

[Hannah Bell]

45. maybe your reading skills are the problem; i thought it was just fine,

& was able to see it wasn't from the Post immediately.

[madfloridian]

11. Wait, you say your charter school pays rent to a private school?

Isn't that being done with public taxpayer money?

[wildeyed]

14. We pay rent for the space.

But we are in no way associated with the private school. :shrug: Some taxpayer money and some raise independently.

[madfloridian]

17. But it is still taxpayer money going to private schools.

And not a regulated expenditure.

[wildeyed]

23. Whatever.

But we are not a private school and in no way associated with the school we rent from. It is a landlord tenant relationship only. They are very snooty and upscale, prolly can't wait to be rid of us next year when the lease expires.

I know of another charter school that rents a building from a now defunct public school building. That is taxpayer money going back to the taxpayers (which is what is probably going on with the schools in the article you posted). Are they now a regular public school in your eyes?

[madfloridian]

26. Public education is just about over.

I may not like it, but the deregulation that hurt our country financially is now becoming our educational system.

Your charter school is the winner in that respect. I think America is the loser, but then Obama and Arne don't care what I think. I am only a retired teacher, and I was union.

[wildeyed]

30. My kids are the winners.

The charter school they attend is not meant as competition. It is simply a response to a system that was not working for us and for a bunch of other families in the community. We work our asses off to make the charter work. We get less funding than our public counter parts so parents fundraise and volunteer like demons to make it work. I would LOVE to send my kids to the local public school down the street. I moved to my current house with that specifically in mind. But it didn't work out. Nice school, some great teachers, I loved the principal, but my kids didn't fit. There was no plan in place for them at all since their issues are fairly unique. Every day was a struggle for all of us, teachers (who made a wonderful effort, BTW) included. My older daughter's teacher AGREED that my kids didn't fit and TOLD me to send her to the school she is at if we could get a spot. And she was right, it is great. But I wish the regular public school had worked out. I still advocate as best I can for the public schools. They are so important.

[madfloridian]

31. There are no winners in this whole mess.

There simply are no winners when a Democratic administration is making Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich gloriously happy. I am happy your children are finding a special place. But there is a danger in undermining public education. A great danger.

Video:

Jeb Bush is delighted that Obama is taking on teachers' unions.

Video:

Arne's "listening tour" with Gingrich and Sharpton.

"Just a couple more views of Gingrich on education.

Support charters; insist on change for failing schools

We should encourage the spread of public charter schools--one of the happiest new developments on the education scene--so parents, educators, & students working together can enjoy the maximum freedom to explore options and innovations until every child has a genuine opportunity to learn. As a corollary of this, we must identify the worst schools. We should insist on immediate change for bad schools. To start with, there should be no tenure and no binding contracts in the worst 20% of schools.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.208 Jul 2, 1998

Private scholarships for students at hopeless schools

If there were families left without an acceptable public school, scholarships should be available for them to find a private one. I am a graduate of a public school, as are my wife and two daughters. All of us remain committed to the idea of public education. However, if the available public school is one that gives parents legitimate worry for their children’s future, there ought to be alternative to having to stand helplessly watching an incompetent bureaucracy destroy their children’s lives.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.209 Jul 2, 1998"

[wildeyed]

41. Anyone who says there is a silver bullet for the education mess in this country

is full of it. Charter schools are not going to solve the mess. But eliminating them won't either. Bottom line, if kids aren't getting their needs met in the traditional public schools, a certain percentage of parents are going to put them elsewhere. We can argue about WHY the children aren't getting needs met, but it is clear that we are failing at public education. Personally, I find the idea of for profit public education repugnant. But I also think that conservatives AND liberals bear responsibility for the mess we are in. Conservatives for their general hatred of critical thinking and anti-intellectualism, liberals for insisting that all children have identical capacities. But whatever. I guess it is easier to paint this as a black and white problem and blame the other side for our failures.

[madfloridian]

42. It was a planned deliberate tearing down of confidence in teachers and education.

It started with Ronald Reagan in the 80s

William Bennett, the President's demagogic Secretary of Education, took the lead in this. He toured the nation making unprecedented and unprincipled attacks on most aspects of public education including teacher certification, teacher's unions and the "multi-layered, self-perpetuating, bureaucracy of administrators that weighs down most school systems." "The Blob" was what Bennett dismissively called them.

Three years into his first term Mr. Reagan's criticism of public education reached a crescendo when he hand picked a "blue ribbon" commission that wrote a remarkably critical and far-reaching denunciation of public education. Called "A Nation At Risk," this document charged that the US risked losing the economic competition among nations due to a "... rising tide of (educational) mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people." (The commissioners did not consider the possibility that US firms were uncompetitive because of corporate mismanagement, greed and short sightedness.)After "A Nation At Risk" the nation's public schools were fair game for every ambitious politician or self-important business boss in the country. Its publication prompted a flood of follow-up criticism of public education as "blue ribbon" and "high level" national commissions plus literally hundreds of state panels wrote a flood of reform reports. Most presupposed that the charges made by Mr. Reagan's handpicked panel were true. Oddly though, throughout this entire clamor, parental confidence in the school's their children attended remained remarkably high. Meanwhile Mr. Reagan was quietly halving federal aid to education.

That sums up Mr. Reagan's educational legacy. As governor and president he demagogically fanned discontent with public education, then made political hay of it. As governor and president he bashed educators and slashed education spending while professing to valued it. And as governor and president he left the nation's educators dispirited and demoralized.

Then our Democrats picked up Reagan's mantra of how bad public schools are....with the DLC espousing charter schools for years now. They have won the battle.

Al From called for charter schools in 2000

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) is now calling for reforms including school choice and merit pay for teachers.....America is a tale of two public school systems: one that works reasonably well, although it could certainly be better, and one that is by almost any standard a disaster," says From.

.."From argues that the public school system too often serves the interests of teachers and administrators at the expense of the students themselves. It is a "monopolistic" system that "offers a 'one-size-fits-hardly-anyone' model that strangles excellence and innovation" he says.

Characterizing charter schools as "oases of innovation," From writes, "The time has come to bring life to the rest of the desert-by introducing the same forces of choice and competition to every public school in America."

From also says Democrats should work to redefine the very notion of public education itself.

That is exactly what Obama and Arne Duncan are doing. It is the long time desire of Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich.

They are not listening to teachers, they are ridiculing unions, and they are making Republicans happy.

[jinto86]

60. Can I ask you why my education sucked during the 90s in Iowa

I don't think their was a charter school within a 100 miles of me... so it can't all be siphoning of funding can it? Beyond that I generally went to the best magnet school for me... so it can't all be that can it. Maybe you will just have to face it that the school system does fail some kids.

[BrklynLiberal]

75. Or maybe the standards were low. Or maybe the people did not want to pay real estate taxes to fund

better schools. Or maybe they did not want to fund a raise in pay for teachers so as to attract better teachers.

How much did your school system spend per student? What percentage of the budget went to school funding?

[jinto86]

77. LOL Its Iowa not Arkansas or inner city Chicago

Low per pupil expeniture, but Iowa has been able to do a lot with a little, not to mention cost of living is low. Beyond that with it also not being Chicago most of it went to the schools, not a lot of overhead in suburban Iowa. Beyond that I have seen this happening to kids in every state (Wyatt from Autism: the Musical is a good caes in point here), and even a couple foreign countries (look at Luke Jackson) its more then just one public school or one area.

[BrklynLiberal]

74. Absoutely true.

An ignorant public is better for the repukes....and if you HAVE to educate the people, at least someone should be making money off it...

[alstephenson]

61. Amen.

[fascisthunter]

34. yeah... what about everyone else's kids?

nobody wins from this...

[Raineyb]

50. I guess they got their so to hell with the rest?

It's what I'm gathering from what I'm reading.

[jinto86]

57. I guess as long as everyone else is served...

to hell with special needs kids?

[Raineyb]

86. Isn't that exactly what I said their argument was?

What's your beef with me? *I* am not the one espousing that attitude.

[jinto86]

87. Her kid wasn't being served in the public education system

So she removed him to a place where he would be served... and you are condemning her for doing that... basically what your saying is that as long as every other kid is being served who cares what happens to special needs kids like hers, because trust me, its not a one time thing.

[BrklynLiberal]

76. Hey...as long as they got theirs..screw everyone else.

[jinto86]

78. Whats wrong with wanting their kid to be served adequately?

One size fits all isn't best for all, if her kid is struggling in a one size fits all system, she not only has a right but an obligation to remove kids from said system. Beyond that the government should have a responsibility fund it.

[BrklynLiberal]

73. Aha! Unions!! That is just one more thing that charter schools do not have to deal with!!!!

People defending these charter schools remind me of the people who fought against whistleblowers in certain industries because they were more worried about their jobs than their own safety and health and that of their families who lived nearby.

As long as they got their immediate needs satisfied, they did not give a damn about anyone else.

The end of public education does not matter as long as my child is being educated...

[lostnfound]

7. K&R nt

[philly_bob]

32. REC'd to point out abuse by charter school advocates.

Fix public education first.

[fascisthunter]

35. here's another kick!

corporate America's corporate mentality strikes again... expensive and dumb.

"I got mine... screw the rest!"

[madfloridian]

39. "An expendable library in Brooklyn"....interesting take on this topic.

Using a public school library for classes and meetings while the kids go without. The battle is on, I fear. Obama, Arne and Bloomberg are on the side of the charters. No one I know of is taking up for public schools.

http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/2009/10/expendable-library-in-brooklyn.html

"We were following this story last week about the unjustifiable conversion of great middle school library in Brooklyn into a room for planning, meetings and small classes. That's because the three charter schools sharing the building with JHS 126 have the clout under BloomKlein's charterization campaign to get what they want when they want it.

According to Daily News staff writer Elizabeth Lazarowitz,

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.

Why they think that a room full of bookshelves is the best use of that space for meetings or classes is beyond me, particularly when such care went into creating that library for kids doing their first research projects and having a place to get themselves lost in a world of literature and dreams.

Last year, the library got an overhaul, with volunteers painting the walls with a castle motif. Now, the 13 donated computers, comfy recliners and futon have been removed.

What else is wrong with this picture?"

[yourguide]

43. I live so close to here that if I had kids this is where they would go...

and it's infuriating to no end that the local kids in the neighborhood dont have the access to this that they should when I'm sure my tax dollars and their parents went to help upgrade it.

[madfloridian]

65. It is infuriating. The library work was done by volunteers.

It is like a takeover.

[blondeatlast]

46. Grrrrr.... I worked at a public library for years, saw the charter schools come in and use it

repeatedly, while my son's school had to have a major book drive after some water damage occurred.

Did I mention, :mad:

[Gabi Hayes]

52. ''look at the butt:

P**** strut.''

love that album

http://www.rhapsody.com/the-waitresses/tracks.html

you can play it for free: track number 37

hate what they're doing to public education

they ought to do a Sit in at the school library. wonder if anyone has mentioned this to the parents. totally outrageous usurpation

[Raineyb]

49. Bloomberg's a piece of shit.

I've been saying this for years. Make no mistake this is Bloomberg's doing. He's in charge of the schools and they don't want parental (or even teacher) input. This does not surprise me one whit.

[BrklynLiberal]

66. Disgusting is also the word that jumped to my lips...This is part of the attack on free

public education.

I will be damned if my tax money is going to pay for what amounts to private schools!!!!
They select their students and are given all the advantages..and then claim victory because their students do better. What a crock of crapola!!

[lonestarnot]

69. WTF

:wtf: How are they getting away with this?

[AuntPatsy]

71. Thank you for doing so much to bring the problems in our educational system to light...

it is horrific...

[BrklynLiberal]

79. BTW..It is not just the library that is being taken ove by the Charter School

It seems that the CEO of the charter schools is in charge of what is best even for the public school students.
And..the Believe HIGH SCHOOL Network is for high school age children...and they are operating in a Middle School.

http://www.susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=8900

<snip>

Eddie Calderon-Melendez founder of the Believe High School Network, which runs the charters, said the use of shared space is negotiated every year.

"We figure out what's in the best interest of all the children in the building," Calderon-Melendez said.

While the charters are using the auditorium and the library this year, they gave up their half of the gym space, he said.

That's of little comfort to JHS 126 eighth-grader Ashley, who said she's been stuck with a fifth-grade-level independent reading book because she hasn't been able to get into the library yet. She's also worried about completing final projects required for graduation.

"We have no way of researching," said the 14-year-old student. The area near the library in her Bushwick neighborhood is dangerous, she said.

"There's this whole library full of new books bought for our school, and we can't even use it," Ashley said.

<snip>

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6702684.html

Students at a middle school in Brooklyn, NY, recently had their library chopped and hours reduced when two new charter schools launched this fall in the same building.

John Ericsson Middle School 126 already shared its building with Williamsburg Charter High School—part of the Believe High Schools Network (BHSN)—and approximately 800 of its ninth through 12th graders.

Then the New York City Department of Education came up with a plan to launch two new charter schools and move an additional 200 ninth graders into the same building, while moving 600 of Williamsburg’s students out.

However, space for the Williamsburg students never materialized in time—and with the new children set to move in, the charter schools took over part of Ericsson’s school library, with futons, computers, and recliners removed by the school librarian, says Ann Forte, spokesperson for New York City’s DOE
<snip>

But unlike regular public schools, charter schools often require lengthy applications, a more difficult process and one without guarantees. Graduating eighth graders from John Ericsson Middle School, for example, who now share a space with three charter high schools, may not be able to matriculate into a spot in one of these schools next fall.

“They’ll have to be selected,” says Forte. “There is a lottery process.”

[madfloridian]

80. The battle is beginning in earnest...the charter schools are on the move.

There are 250 in CA being turned over to outside bidders...charter schools. They will no longer be publicly governed at all.

It is a battleground now at the schools in the name of privatization.

[BrklynLiberal]

81. I hope that we do not lose our public education system...

x(

[amborin]

83. California charter schls are exempt from the Calif eduction code

[amborin]

84. "sobering" finding:

"The most authoritative study of charter schools was conducted by the Center Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University in 2009.

The report is the first detailed national assessment of charter schools. it analyzed 70% of the nation's students attending charter schools and compared those students with demographically matched students in nearby public schools.

The report found that 17% of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools; 46% showed no difference from public schools; and 37% were significantly worse than their traditional public school counterparts.

The authors of the report considering this a "sobering" finding about the quality of charter schools in the US.<44"[br />
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school

[madfloridian]

90. "46% showed no difference from public schools; and 37% were significantly worse "

Thanks for sharing that.

[BobTheSubgenius]

85. This is beyond outrageous.

"See!?! Look how public schools are failing our children!"

This kind of thing doesn't REALLY happen, does it? It's a dystopian novel, right?

[madfloridian]

88. New video out telling about the dismantling of the library, removal of furniture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJCdIx_n0U

It appears to be by the librarian.

[madfloridian]

89. PAVE charters sharing building with PS 15. Charter mother says it is their right.

Their right to take over public school buildings? She says it is their right to have a "choice". Choice has become the key word, the code word.

This is a takeover.

Here is a link to the building sharing with the letter from administrators, etc.

http://gothamschools.org/2009/10/19/pave-academy-charter-to-continue-sharing-space-with-ps-15/

Here is the mother's letter in the comments. It sounds as though she has contempt for the public school students and feels superior.

"New York Charter Parents Association is pleased to hear that the families in Red Hook will continue to have a choice in which public school their children attend. Charter Schools are Public Schools and have every right to share space in a public school building.

As parents, we all want to provide our children with a quality education. We don’t care if it’s a charter, district, magnet or specialized school. All the aforementioned schools are Public Schools! We want our children to be educated and we want to have options in choosing which public schools our precious children attend.

After all, we are the parents and it’s Our Children - Our Choice!

Mona Davids
President
NY Charter Parents Association"

They have taken over the rhetoric, made it sound like public schools were depriving their children.

Public schools have little chance of fighting back.

[madfloridian]

91. More about the parents fighting back about their library being taken from them.

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=942§ion=Article



"Teachers, parents, and community leaders in New York City have been growing a major movement against the invasion of the city's public schools by the growing number of charter schools in New York. Because most of the land in the five boroughs in New York City has been developed, New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein under the direction of Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been placing charter schools inside existing public schools, then allowing the charters to slowly take over the public school. It's much like an infection, New York activists have said. Like the school described in the article, New York's PS 123 (in Manhattan) has been fighting to save its public school from an internal charter infection. On July 9, 2009 (above), teachers, parents, students and community activists joined in front of PS 123 in Harlem to protest the expansion of a charter school that had been placed inside the building. The banner behind the speaker (who is wearing a tee shirt that reads "Harlem is not for sale") reads "Fix our public schools, don't privatize" and was produced by New York City's GEM coalition. Substance photo and caption by George N. Schmidt."

[XanaDUer]

92. As a librarian

This REALLY pisses me off.