Here's one of several video clips from the CAPE meeting at the Red Hook library on 6/17/09

Fwd:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cec15 D15 <CEC15@schools.nyc.gov>
Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:42 AM
Subject:
To:




District 15 Community Education Council

"Empowering Parents to Claim Excellent Education for All Students"

131 Livingston Street, room 301, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Phone: 718 935-4267     Fax: 718 935-4356

CEC15@schools.nyc.gov

www.cec15.org <http://www.cec15.org/>




MONTHLY MEETING

PARENT RECOGNITION CEREMONY



JOIN US TO THANK OUR DISTRICT 15 PARENT VOLUNTEERS & SUPPORTERS!












Thursday, June 18, 2009


7:00 PM - 9:00 PM


M.S. 51


350 Fifth Avenue (between 4th and 5th Streets)

Subway: R to Union Street

Bus: B63, B41 to B63, B65 to B63, B71 to 5th Ave.

--
"Never underestimate the power of a small, dedicated group of people to change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Fwd: CEC 15 Parent Recognition Ceremony - Thursday June 18th

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cec15 D15 <CEC15@schools.nyc.gov>
Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Subject: CEC 15 Parent Recognition Ceremony - Thursday June 18th
To:






District 15 Community Education Council

"Empowering Parents to Claim Excellent Education for All Students"

131 Livingston Street, room 301, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Phone: 718 935-4267     Fax: 718 935-4356

CEC15@schools.nyc.gov

www.cec15.org <http://www.cec15.org/>




MONTHLY MEETING

PARENT RECOGNITION CEREMONY



JOIN US TO THANK OUR DISTRICT 15 PARENT VOLUNTEERS & SUPPORTERS!












Thursday, June 18, 2009


7:00 PM - 9:00 PM


M.S. 51


350 Fifth Avenue (between 4th and 5th Streets)

Subway: R to Union Street

Bus: B63, B41 to B63, B65 to B63, B71 to 5th Ave.

--
"Never underestimate the power of a small, dedicated group of people to change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Educators and Parents Organize to Protect and Preserve Public Education

Educators and Parents Organize to Protect and Preserve Public Education “The Bloomberg administration’s long-term goal is to cut the number of public schools in half and double the number of charter schools.” This claim was recently made in a Helen Zelon article quoting long time administrators and DOE officials. It is a claim that is quite disturbing and has motivated a group of educators and parents to organize for the protection and preservation of public schools and public education. This group, Concerned Advocates for Public Education, seeks to lend their voice to the education policy and reform debate, a voice that has been marginalized and silenced, a trend that we will stand for no longer. We see public education and public schools as a civic practice, a human right, and the pillar of our democracy. Any policy or ideology that threatens our ability and our right to provide free, fair, and quality public education for our children must be addressed. All too often, especially during the tenure of the Bloomberg administration, parent and educator voices have been silenced in the education reform movement and in terms of policy in general. This silencing has subordinated the voices of the stakeholders in education in favor of the voices of lawyers, corporations, and those most privileged in our society. The perspectives of those whom these policies impact the most are absent and there is no substitute for our perspective. If our voices are not welcomed in the current climate of education reform and policy, we will not be complicit nor will we fight against it, instead we will fight for what we know to be best for our children and we will not be intimidated or undermined by an ideology or administration who insults and threatens those who disagree with them. At the center of the fight to protect and preserve public education is the Bloomberg administration’s obsession with charter schools. This is not simply a discussion about the merit of charter schools; there is a place in education for any school possibility that opens a door for children. However, we do not believe that this administration’s charter school agenda serves children in any other capacity other than to divert money away from public schools and strain and stress public schools by forcing them to share space with charter schools setting up unfair and unbalanced corporate-style competition. Furthermore, the kinds of charter schools this administration promotes deprofessionalizes the teaching profession through its privilege of prescriptive programs and inexperienced teachers, their militaristic style of discipline and procedures, the silencing and victimization of parents and communities by forcing these schools into areas without due process and community involvement, and the racial implications of targeting minority areas therefore weakening community public schools and marginalizing those who are already most marginalized in our society. This agenda does not promote critical thinking. This agenda does not promote the whole child. This agenda does not promote thoughtful, democratic citizenry. This agenda does promote the systematic deterioration of our public school system in favor of a system that will segregate and underserve our neediest students. The Bloomberg administration will argue that public schools have been failing our neediest children for years and that teachers and unions do not want competition and simply want to avoid change. Parents and educators are frankly insulted by these claims. While it is true that some public schools have been failing our students, blanket claims are erroneous and dangerous and are the kind of propaganda that promotes extreme executive control and power and disempowers citizen voice and perspective. There are many examples of exemplary public schools that serve underserved populations and have been doing it for years. If the intention is to improve education in the neediest areas, why not access existing successful schools and use their models, techniques, and expertise in a real reform agenda? This administration promotes claims of the success of charter schools, often using test scores as evidence. The scores are not comparable to public schools as they represent a lower number of students in special education, English Language Learners, and our most challenging students who charter schools often discharge at will and send back to public schools. This is a shell game aimed at privatizing education. It comes from a free market mentality that serves the capitalist agenda, but when did capitalism move from an economic philosophy to a social philosophy? There is no place in education, the largest and most important social policy and structure we have in this country, for this kind of corporate ideology that we have seen frankly fail economically in the last year and will certainly fail when it comes to educating our most valuable asset in a democracy: our children. The second claim, again political propaganda, that seeks to subvert teachers’ unions is simply a power grab and flatly false. Teachers and their unions are by no means a perfect body, but the large majority dedicate their lives fighting for what is best for children and schools and to insinuate that they only want to protect themselves, at the expense of children, is cynical and disingenuous. To further suggest that the solution is to insert business minded folks and inexperienced teachers as a means to best educate our students is simply ridiculous. The Bloomberg administration has an expertise in marketing, but even the best marketing cannot continue to sell a product that is faulty and based on a premise that defies truth and logic. If you want solid evidence for all of the above claims, make the trip to Red Hook, Brooklyn. There you will find a gem of a school, P.S. 15, nestled in one the largest housing projects in Brooklyn that is a AAA school, has some of the highest test scores in the city, offers a wide range of intervention, enrichment, and health and social services, and has some of the most dedicated administrators, teachers, and staff you could ever hope to find. This school, a successful, well established, corner stone in one our most needy communities is being threatened with a takeover from one of Bloomberg’s hand selected charter schools, PAVE Academy. This charter was placed in P.S. 15’s building, is crippling their ability to best serve their children, and has announced plans to stay put for years to come even though the community, who fought against them coming in the first place, was guaranteed that they would only stay two years. The intent here is clear, push out a successful public school and replace it with a charter school. This does not support an agenda that supposedly addresses claims of what is best for children and communities by closing unsuccessful schools. It does support and highlights an agenda rooted in a clear obsession charter schools as a way to undermine and destroy our public education system. Concerned Advocates for Public Education seeks to bring an authentic voice to the current policy and reform movement in education. To contact us please email us at CAPEducation@gmail.com or visit us on Facebook and Twitter. For Immediate Release: Any information provided here may be published on behalf of CAPE. ###

Breaking News....

June 17, 2009 / News / Carroll Gardens–Cobble Hill

Un-charter-ed territory at PS 15
By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper
Enlarge this image

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.
Similar stories
Red Hook: ‘PAVE’ the way for Hook charter school
Parenting: Parents win: Education Department agrees not to add charter school to Red Hook’s PS 15
Parenting: Fort Greene charter school is tougher than Harvard
Parenting: ‘Charter’ effort
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A second schoolyard fight is underway between a new Red Hook charter school, which needs at least an extra year in PS 15 until its own facility is built, and the public school’s parents and teachers who want total control of the entire Sullivan Street elementary building.
The PAVE Academy, which opened last fall with two grades inside PS 15, agreed to be out of the Patrick Daly School building for the 2010-11 school year, but it has not found a permanent site, let alone begun construction on its own K-8 school.
“There’s a fear that we’re never gong to leave, and I hope we can put that anxiety to rest once we purchase a facility,” said Spencer Robertson, the school’s founder. Robertson said a deal could be imminent.

“And then, at that point, there will be some peace of mind.”
But until then, the controversy continues to roil.
In its first year, PAVE took four classrooms, two offices and another room. It will add two more classes this fall for incoming kindergarteners.
PS 15, the host, has only 377 students in a building designed for 835 pupils — a rarity in a district where many schools exceed capacity.
Still, its teachers were eager to regain classrooms they used for a science lab, performing art space and a special education office. Some said the co-habitation has been tough.
“The issue is the same old issue. They came in here and it’s really difficult. We don’t have separate wings,” said a teacher who did not want to be identified.
The renewed controversy is similar to the conflict that erupted last year when parents and teachers first learned that the building would be split between the two schools.
The Department of Education said the sharing has gone relatively smoothly and that if the PAVE Academy asks for an extension of its time in the Daly School — named for its former principal killed in a gang shootout 16 years ago — the city would review the amount of space available.
“We haven’t made any determination about the school staying or growing,” said Melody Meyer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education.
©2009 The Brooklyn Paper

Help Support Insideschools.com

I've recently heard that due to decreased funding, the wonderful website Insideschools.com may have to shut down. Check their website for more details, and if you can, help support an excellent tool for researching the city's schools.

Not exactly a charter school issue, but related....

This seems to be another symptom of how the city shoves plans through without paying attention to what communities really want. Sound familiar? Remember the meeting we had at PS15 where community members opposed having PAVE stuck in our school, and the DOE decided to go through with it anyway because there wasn't enough (according to them) community opposition to the plan?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Eric McClure <eric@parkslopeneighbors.org>
Date: Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 2:50 PM
Subject: [PSN] PS 133: The City's Troubling Plan for a New Park Slope School
To: PSN Email Updates <updates@parkslopeneighbors.org>

In This Issue:

PS 133: The City's Troubling Plan for a New Park Slope School

Dear Park Slope Neighbor,

We've written several times in the past three months about the plan being rammed through by the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) and Department of Education (DOE) to demolish Public School 133, and to replace it with a much larger facility.  We've criticized the process and lack of transparency, and questioned whether demolishing an existing (and historic) building is environmentally sound practice, but we have refrained from taking a position on the overall plan.

Until now.

The more that comes to light about the plan, the worse it appears.  While providing additional seats in District 15, and upgrading the facilities for PS 133 (which is a District 13 school), are laudable goals, the current SCA/DOE plan is rife with problems, and it needs to be sent back to the drawing board.

Background

PS 133, which opened its doors in 1901, was designed by CBJ Snyder, an architect responsible for some 400 New York City public school buildings, some 270 of which are still in use today, and several of which are protected as New York City landmarks.  The Gothic-style, 46,000-square-foot building is located along the east side of 4th Avenue, bordered by Butler and Baltic Streets, in the north Slope.  The building is eligible for both the State and National Registers of Historic Places.  Robert A. M. Stern, Dean of the School of Architecture at Yale, has called Snyder's buildings "among the great glories of our city... people's palaces, not factories for learning... architecture in the service of democracy."

The PS 133 site is also home to a three-decades-old community garden.

Sometime last year, the SCA issued a request for proposals, seeking a developer who would be willing to build a new school as part of a larger mixed-use project on the PS 133 site.  However, the SCA received only one response to the RFP, which they found underwhelming, and that plan was scrapped.

At that juncture, the SCA and DOE apparently decided to move forward on their own.  The first public meeting regarding the SCA's plans to replace PS 133 with a new school occurred on January 22nd,  with scant public notice, and while the school is located in the north end of Park Slope, the meeting has held in Sunset Park, at 4th Avenue and 40th Street.  Park Slope Neighbors first learned of the proposal for a new school around that time, from an activist and resident of Butler Street, who reported that only three PS 133 parents attended that first meeting.

The next public meeting on the plans occurred on March 26th, at a meeting of CB6's Youth, Human Services and Education committee.  The Park Slope Courier covered the meeting, and reported on it here:

Just too big for a school-Critics oppose P.S. 133 growth

SCA apparently provided CB6 with only a one-page site plan, a copy of the "Notice of Filing" for site selection, and a one-page summary of "Alternate Site Analyses" (which said, essentially, that no other site had been considered), in advance of that meeting.

SCA then issued a "Notice of Completion" of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and a Notice of Public Hearing on April 24th, kicking of a public comment period that ended on May 26th.  The required public hearing, however, was not held until May 14th (a Thursday, at 4 p.m., less than ideal for working parents), leaving only 12 days for submission of comments.  Those of you who have ever waded through an Environmental Impact Statement, with their hundreds and hundreds of pages and sometimes-confusing, often-technical language, know how difficult it would be for anyone, let alone otherwise busy neighborhood residents and parents, to respond meaningfully in just 12 days.

Furthermore, only two days after the DEIS hearing, and ten days before the conclusion of the comment period, SCA began conducting test borings at the school site, early on a Saturday morning.  Several residents who live on the blocks adjacent to the school site confirm they received no advance notice about the work.

Other Media Coverage

In addition to the Park Slope Courier story cited above, here are links to other media coverage, which has been limited, as far as we know, to Brownstoner and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

SCA To Build New P.S. 133, Tear Down Old Building

New PS 133 Plans Revealed

PS 133's Most Desperate Hour

Campaign Hopes To Save Century-Old Slope School

And here's a link to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), which the SCA issued just a little more than two weeks after the conclusion of the comment period, virtually unchanged from the Draft form.  We're not sure why the SCA and DOE are in such a hurry to move forward, but the project was apparently put out to bid before the FEIS was even complete.   Claims that the funding for a new school would disappear if contracts are not assigned by June 30th have been refuted by people with knowledge of the SCA plans.

Community Opposition to the School Plan

Though City Council Member David Yassky, who represents the district in which PS 133 sits, has not taken a concrete position for or against the project, all of the candidates running to replace Council Member Yassky in the 33rd District in the election this fall have voiced opposition to the SCA plan:

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, PLANS TO DEMOLISH PS 133 ON FOURTH AVENUE

All of the candidates oppose the demolition off PS 133. Diamondstone attacked the SCA and the way that it "operates in secret with no oversight...Their process is unknown to us, to all of you...the planning of new schools has be be determined by the folks in this room."

The Fifth Avenue Committee, the Park Slope Civic Council, the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society and a significant number of residents near the school have all taken positions opposing the plan put forth by the SCA.  And Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who represents the district in which PS 133 is located, has written a strongly worded letter to the DOE and SCA, criticizing the lack of outreach to parents and the community and the rush to demolish the historic building.

Why the Current Plan for PS 133 is Unacceptable

The SCA plan for PS 133 is problematic for a number of reasons, just some of which are outlined below.

1) The process has been badly lacking in transparency and openness, and has not provided the community with adequate information or opportunity for input.

Meetings held with little notice, meetings held miles away from the school site, fewer than two weeks between the DEIS public hearing and the close of the comment period -- all of this is cause for concern.

In addition, the SCA has stonewalled residents seeking more information about potentially harmful substances that might be leaching into the PS 133 site.  Residents on May 28th requested copies of several environmental studies that were cited in the EIS; SCA acknowledged the request, said they'd work on it, but did nothing; the residents followed up again, and were told again that the SCA was working on the request, and finally, this past Friday, after 5 p.m., the SCA informed the residents that they would have to file a Freedom of Information Law request for the studies.  This is nothing short of outrageous; if the studies helped form the basis of the EIS, they should be made available readily, not shrouded in secrecy and hidden from public scrutiny by red tape.

2) The PS 133 building is a preservation-worthy example of turn-of-the century New York City school architecture.  Any deterioration to the existing building is the result of city neglect, and rehabilitation should be explored, both for preservation and environmental reasons.

3) The current building plan would uproot, and reduce in size by more than half, a three-decades-old community garden on the site, and would reduce neighborhood open space.

4) The SCA has not seriously considered any alternatives to demolition, nor has it explored alternative sites, while the SCA's own DEIS indicates that there are four public schools near PS 133 (two each in Districts 13 and 15) that have significant extra capacity.

In addition, a reasonable plan put forth by community members suggesting the preservation of the existing building and the building of an annex was ignored by the SCA.

5) The potential effects of the project, including an increase in local traffic, a reduction of open space, significant construction impacts, complications from hazardous materials and numerous other issues have not, of course, received adequate consideration in the DEIS.

Separate but Equal?

Finally, and most troubling of all, is the physical plan for the new building, which would actually house two separate schools under one roof.

As proposed, the SCA's plan would create two starkly disparate schools on the site.  The new PS 133 replacement school, serving District 13, would have about the same number of students that it does currently, between 250 and 300 kids.  District 13 is about 90% non-white, and according to InsideSchools.org, as of 2007, PS 133 was 97% non-white.  The school has a significant number of disadvantaged students, with the majority eligible for Title 1 funding.

The new District 15 school, on the other hand,  would house about 600 students, and it would be largely white, with a far more affluent socio-economic profile.  The two schools would have entrances on opposite sides of the building, one on Butler, the other on Baltic.

While SCA officials say that the program for the school is years away from being determined, the  blueprint calls for separate buildings-within-a-building.  That problem needs to be rectified now - not in the "programming."

Such a configuration is patently unacceptable.  55 years ago, the Supreme Court put an end to "separate but equal" schooling in its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision.  Separate is inherently not equal, and cloaking it under the guise of separate school districts is merely subterfuge.  Any school plan for the 133 site must result in a fully integrated school.  It's shocking to us that the plan has progressed this far without being scrapped or attracting greater outcry, and we residents of Park Slope, which prides itself on its progressiveness, need to make sure this plan goes no further.

What You Can Do

First off, please take a minute to sign this petition created by groups opposing the current SCA plan:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/4thAveLandmark/index.html

Secondly, please contact Council Member David Yassky and urge him to oppose the SCA plan.

Phone: (718) 875-5200

Email: yassky@council.nyc.ny.us

You can also contact the three other Council Members whose districts overlap with School Districts 13 and 15:

Council Member Bill de Blasio

Phone: (718) 854-9791

Email: deblasio@council.nyc.ny.us

Council Member Sara Gonzalez

Phone: (718) 439-9012

Email: gonzalez@council.nyc.ny.us

Council Member Letitia James

Phone: (718) 260-9191

Email: ljames@council.nyc.gov

Third, please try to attend the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses (yes, they have oversight of the SCA) hearing scheduled for Tuesday, June 23rd, at 11 a.m., and voice your opposition to the plan.  The hearing will take place in the Committee Room at City Hall, and you can sign up when you get there to speak (testimony will be limited to three minutes per person).

The bottom line is that this rushed, misguided plan needs to go back to the drawing board; parent and community stakeholders need to be brought into the process; and the city needs to conduct a proper and comprehensive analysis of alternatives to demolition of the existing school.  Process and accountability are important, and the prospect of two schools in our neighborhood, united under one roof but divided along racial and socioeconomic lines, should be abhorrent to all of us.

Sincerely,

Eric McClure

Campaign Coordinator

Park Slope Neighbors

_______________________________________________
updates mailing list
updates@parkslopeneighbors.org
http://lists.interactivist.net/mailman/listinfo/updates

--
"Never underestimate the power of a small, dedicated group of people to change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

New Meeting re: PAVE Updates

There will be a meeting on Wednesday, June 17 at 3:30 p.m. at the Red Hook branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to discuss the PAVE Academy's plans for expansion in the coming year. I don't have details at the moment, but if you're interested in finding out more, try to attend. I believe the phone number for the Red Hook Library is 718-935-0203.