From the Grassroots - Gem Newsletter Oct 2010
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Transcript of From the Grassroots - Gem Newsletter Oct 2010
8/8/2019 From the Grassroots - Gem Newsletter Oct 2010
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Fall into the Gap: High Stakes Testing, Mayor Bloomberg, and the
Dismantling of Public EducationThe release of the 2010 New York State test scores exposed the failures of Mayor Bloomberg’s and Joel Klein’s education reforms. While they braggedabout closing the achievement gap, it was actually widening. A deceptivefocus on high-stakes testing has undermined public education and led oureducation system astray, with all signs pointing to this being their intentionall along.
From limiting and, in many cases, ignoring parental and community inputin decisions to hand out large contracts to private corporations, the currentadministration has done great harm to the public schools. The entire publiceducation system is in great danger of being swallowed up by the forces of privatization.
This administration created and promoted an agenda built on high-stakestesting and accountability standards rooted in illusionary and corporatecompetitive practices. The public was told students were improving; that theachievement gap was narrowing; that closing neighborhood public schoolsand replacing them with small schools or charter schools was the magicbullet; that teachers, principals, schools and students should have their meritand livelihoods tied to standardized tests; that tests results were the onlyproof of learning.
They wove a web of lies and spun it as truth, all based on an inatedstream of manipulatedstatistics, bunkcorrelations, and high-priced PR packaged topull at our heart stringswhile pitting educationworkers against eachother, the public againstteachers, and neighboragainst neighbor.
The truth is that todaythe self-proclaimedEducation Mayorcannot use test scores to show that children in New York City are faring anybetter since he took control of the schools.
From the Grassroots Vol. 2, No. 1 Grassroots Education Movement [email protected] October, 2010
To Eva Moskowitz,
a former city council
member who rose
to prominence via
hearings decrying
the perdy of public
school teachers.
After losing her
bid for Manhattan
Borough President,she became CEO of
a chain of non-union
charters, paying
herself $380,000,
50% higher than the
Chancellor who she
tells which schools
to close, which
spaces she needs,
and offers various
and sundry advice
on the undermining
and privatizationof public schools.
She enthusiastically
supported Klein’s
8-page contract
proposal, which
essentially ignored
every gain working
people had made
during the twentieth
century.
To Karen Lewis,
whose election as
president of the
Chicago Teachers
Union, along with
her entire Caucus
of Rank & File
Educators has
raised the hopes of
teachers seeking trueeducation and union
reform nationwide.
In the few short
months since her
election, Lewis and
two and a half year
old CORE have
become eloquent
spokespersons and
representatives
for a new teacher
voice, combining
a strong defenseof teachers rights
along with building
strong alliances with
parents, communities
and students.
continued on page 4
GEMNYC: WHO WE ARE Inform, Support, Inspire: Promoting Policies for a Fully Funded and Effective Public School System
The Grassroots Education Movement (GEMNYC) educates, organizes, and mobilizes educators, parents, students and communities to
defend public education. Too many current corporate and government policies seek to underfund, undermine and privatize our public
school system. GEM advocates around issues dealing with the equality and quality of public educational services as well as the rights
of teachers and school workers. These issues include the incessant push for charter schools, the attack on union rights, the focus on
high-stakes standardized testing, school closures, and the failure to address the racism and inequality that exists within our schools. As
the attacks on public education and teachers grow more vicious, the collective organization of those who directly face these attacks at
the grassroots level becomes all the more essential, and in fact constitutes the most effective potential resistance. GEM advocates for a
positive vision of education reform by building alliances with other activist groups and organizing and helping coordinate the struggle
at the grassroots school and community level, with a focus on school-level organizing. Join us. See our meeting schedule on Page 4.
Contact GEM: [email protected] Blog: http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com
A GEM Coal A GEM Diamond
GEM at AFT Convention
Seattle- July 2010
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Access to a high quality public education is not something
that should not be won in a lottery — it is a most basic human
and civil right. Yet, in May, the Legislature voted to raise the
charter school cap, allowing 460 charters in the state, 200 in
the ve boroughs. 125 will already be open this September.
What do these charter schools really represent? Are they the
innovation and reform we need in education as our president
and his education secretary so frequently proclaim? In eachnewsletter, we will explore the issue: Are charter schools
improving education? Or are they destabilizing, threatening and
hindering the public education of our children? By privatizing
and outsourcing public education, are charter schools dividing
communities in New York City and around the country? Read
on to discover the myths and truths about charter schools. Then,
please join our ght to improve and preserve public education
for all.
Charter School Myth #1: Charter Schools Are Public
Charter Schools: Myths and Truths
Truth: “Public” means open to all
members of a community. Charter schools
conduct lotteries to select students.
They do not accept just any student who
wishes to register during the school year
(as public schools do). Charter schools
currently only educate less than three
percent of our city’s children, yet the
mayor and chancellor grant them superior
attention and power to do as they please.
While the lottery is supposedly conducted
blind, many charter schools have been
found to counsel out students who presentbehavioral challenges or need services
such as counseling, ESL, small class sizes,
occupational or physical therapy. East
New York Preparatory discharged 48% of
their students just before state exams last
year. KIPP, Harlem Success Academy,
and Harlem Children’s Zone (all charter
school chains) have been found guilty of
the same practice. What kind of school
gets rid of students in need? Not a public
school. In addition, many charter schools
require parents to sign contracts in order
for their children to be enrolled. Thesecontracts often include basic behavioral
and uniform codes, but can also include
strict requirements about volunteer hours
and participation in meetings/workshops.
If parents cannot live up to their end of
this bargain, their children will no longer
be allowed to attend the school. These
are not the practices of
public schools. While
it would be optimal to
have parents in school
volunteering, to make it a strict mandate
infantilises parents. The great genius
of our public school system is that it is
inclusive—regardless of your family’s
situation, you are guaranteed access to a
free education.
Truth: According to the NY State Charter
Act of 1998, a charter school is dened,
not as a public entity, but as an “education
corporation.” Furthermore, the law states
that charter schools are exempt from all
state and local laws, rules, regulations
and policies typically applying to public
and private schools. Should the education
of our children be outsourced to private
corporations who are free from regulation
and oversight? Our nation’s current
nancial crisis is due, in part, to these
same practices.
Truth: Charter schools are not governed
democratically, often limiting the input
and voice of parents, students and
teachers. If our children are to grow
up to be functional members of our
democracy, they need to be witnesses
to and participants in the democratic
process. Signicant documentation exists
about the authoritarian practices charter
schools use when it comes to discipline,
conduct, and even instruction. For
example, at Harlem Success Academies,
kindergartners are put through a two-week
“boot camp,” in which they learn how to
walk, sit and eat in silence. Social skills
are often overlooked, as charter schools
push their students to achieve higher
and higher marks on state-mandated
assessments. KIPP schools have been
accused of micro-managing students and
even resorting to public humiliation as a
form of punishment. Should schools only
be focused on telling children to do as
they are told, to the exclusion of learning
to question, to challenge ideas, and most
importantly to think for themselves? Most
charter schools appear preoccupied, not
with meeting the needs of their students,
but rather, pushing their students to meet
the needs of the school (high-test scores
for good publicity), an “adult needs before
children” mentality.
In Our Next Issue:
Charter School Myth #2: Charter Schools
serve the same student populations as
public schools.
ATTEND GEM MEETINGS: SEPT. 28: IMPACT OF TESTING, OCT. 26: SCHOOL CLOSINGS
Page 2
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June 4th, 2010 — A perfect spring morning. Over 25 public schools were buzzing with unusual energy. A boisterous
mix of parents, staff and students gathered in front of their schools to speak out against the devastating attacks on public
schools. The nearly 1000 protesters were opposing massive budget cuts, charter school invasions, school closings and a
testing regime gone mad. The coordinated actions of the schools involved will lead to the growth of future organizing ef-
forts and the continued city-wide ght for a just and equitable school system.
While the independent voices and goals of each school community were maintained, all of the protests were united as they
built parent-teacher-student cooperation and trust. Protesters held signs with slogans such as “Banks Bailed Out, SchoolsSold Out” and led chants, “Mike the Mayor, Public School Slayer.” Nearly 2000 petitions directed to the mayor were
signed as many passersby joined the protesters in demanding immediate reinstatement of funds cut from school budgets
for the 2010-2011 school year.
The June 4th day of action culminated
at 4pm, when 100 people descended
on the Tweed Courthouse (DOE head-
quarters) for a spirited rally which at-
tracted print and press coverage (ABC,
Channel 5). Chambers Street drivers
honked their horns and shouted words
of support as a variety of speakersaddressed the crowd. At some schools,
the June 4th actions turned into “Fight
Back Fridays” as schools continued
protesting through the close of the
school year.
On June 4th, PS 24 in Sunset Park
Brooklyn had one of the largest
turnouts of both staff and parents. PS
24’s success was due, in large part, to
their sustained school-based parent
and teacher organizing, staff politi-cal education groups, and meaningful
inclusion of parents in their organizing
efforts.
Throughout the 2009-2010 school
year, a group of parents and teachers
worked together on a campaign
to inform their school community
about the DOE’s plan to introduce
standardized testing into K-2
classrooms. Several forums with
various workshops co-led by staff and parents were held in an effort
to establish an on-going dialogue
about the problems with high stakes
testing and the possibilities of
alternative assessments. PS 24 is in
a predominantly Latino immigrant
neighborhood and all of the workshops
were conducted in Spanish and
English to make participation possible
for all of the families. Through these
workshops a core of active parents and
teachers began to form. Meanwhile,
for the few months leading up to June
4th, staff members at PS 24 gathered
during lunch every other week to
read articles and discuss the many
important issues affecting schools and
public education in general. It wasthis group of educators that originally
came up with the idea for the June 4th
protests. The parents who had been
working on the K-2 testing issue were
already interested and involved in
educational politics and were eager to
help promote the protest.
Parents of PS 24 students felt valued
as part of the school community. The
150 parents that had attended the three
forums already knew that they werebeing taken seriously as partners in
their children’s education and that
their participation was a priority of
the school community. After hearing
teachers and other parents speak about
resisting policies and decisions that
were harmful to students, the parents
were eager and ready to mobilize
when there was a call to action.
The issue based, collaborative organiz-
ing and educating work that occurredat PS 24 is an important model for
building a base of active and informed
parents and staff, as well as a for
identifying and nurturing new leaders.
As the community of parents, school
workers and students actively building
the resistance to the assault on public
education grows, and, as a coher-
ent vision for a democratically run,
liberating and equitably funded public
school system emerges, the kind of
grassroots, collaborative organizing
that took place on June 4th needs to be
improved upon and replicated.
The citywide, schools-based collabo-
ration that made June 4th so success-
ful should to be repeated in order to
keep building the city-wide movement
to put control of our schools in the
hands of those who have the most at
stake: the parents, the students and the
educators. Growing and strengthening
this movement by drawing on both
our collective anger and frustration at
what we see, as well as our commit-
ment to building the kind of education
system that we as parents, students
and educators know is possible, will
depend upon genuinely unifying thesegroups through collaborative, respect-
ful dialogue and hands on action.
Organizing groups on June 4th
NYCORE: www.nycore.org
CAPE: capeducation.blogspot.com
GEM: http://grassrootseducationmovement.
blogspot.com/, plus independent teacher and par-
ent activists.
For assistance in organizing in your school work
with the GEM/CAPE school organizing commit-
tee: Contact [email protected]
Parents, Teachers Rally at Twenty Schools Page 3
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Prole of a GEM member: Sam ColemanSixth year classroom teacher in a Spanish/English dual language
program at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Why are you teaching?
I love kids and I nd being a part
of their lives and their families
lives extremely rewarding. I also
believe that education is a nerve
center, a place in our society
through which power ows in all
directions. I want to interrupt and
redirect that power through my
teaching and organizing in order
to change the many inequitable
structures that exist.
Why activism- how involved, Why are you a part of NYCORE
and GEM? I got involved in organized activism after I had been
teaching for two years. The goals I mentioned before cannot be met
by working alone, and I nd that by working with both NYCORE
and GEM I am able to reach more people and I have a community
of like minded teachers that I can think, act and create change with.
What do you do in your school beyond the classroom?
Educational roles, organizing? I am the UFT delegate at my
school and I am on the school leadership team. Through both of
these roles I have been able to help mobilize the staff and parents
to organize against the use of standardized tests in K-2 classrooms,
and I began hosting bi-weekly voluntary lunch meetings for staff to
get together and read about and discuss issues in education. Both of
these efforts paid off when my school turned out 100 people on a
Friday morning to protest the budget cuts. In what ways are you active outside the school environment?
Outside of school I am active with both GEM and NYCoRE. Much
of my work with NYCoRE involves running political education
workshops for teachers, and through GEM I help plan actions,
coordinate outreach among teachers and write leaets to get the
word out about things that are going on in education.
Can you name a positive school reform enacted so far and if not
which one would you like to see most? I got involved in activism,
in part, because in my rst few years I watched testing become
more and more of the focus of education, while funding and class
size were ignored. I watched privatization, through things like
charter schools and vouchers, become the elite’s silver bullet to x
all that was wrong in education. In my mind the entire “reform”
charade is built on the illusory foundation of standardized testing
as a way to create accountability. The rst change that I would
like to see is a complete over-hall of the way we assess students,
and the way we hold ourselves as educators and the politicians
and the wealthy accountable for what goes on in schools in poor
communities and communities of color in our society.
Upcoming GEM Meeting Dates
How is high-stakes testing being used to
dismantle/undermine public education and what
we can do about it? What do the changes in test
scores really mean for parents and teachers?
An open panel and follow-up analysis anddiscussion focusing on solutions.
September 28, 4:30-7pm
CUNY Grad Center
34th St. & 5th Ave. Rm 5414
(Bring id)
Oct. 26: Help build a movement to stop school
closures. 4:30-7, CUNY, Rm 5409.
Nov: Addressing the ATR Issue. Join the GEM
ATR Committee: [email protected]
According to their widely touted tests, the achievementgaps amongst our neediest students are wider than theywere in 2003. Neither the tests themselves, nor therevelation about the way the numbers were manipulatedprovide any real clue about how or what students havebeen learning or what is happening inside classrooms.We do know that the DOE has spent untold millionson testing. We know students’ futures are being basedon these tests. And, we know teachers, schools, and
administrators are being judged by these same testresults. If BloomKlein subscribed to the same meritbased philosophies they have for our schools, studentsand teachers, they would be out of their jobs.
It seems that accountability standards and practicesare only meant for those at the bottom — to keep themcompliant and complacent in a system that was reformedto mirror the free-market system ideology of privilegeand subordination.
We call on our state legislators immediately to endMayoral Control. We call for the termination of Joel Klein as schools’ Chancellor. And, we call on
education chair of the City Council, CouncilmanRobert Jackson, Public Advocate Bill diBlassio, andComptroller John Lu to open an investigation as tohow these lies were spun into truth at the expense of our children and millions in taxpayer dollars. Finally,we demand an end to the charade that is high stakestesting.
We should be investing the millions that are wastedon testing and accountability into what is proven towork: smaller class sizes, increased student and familyservices and intervention, professional development,and incentives to professionalize and retain qualied,experienced teachers. We can no longer stand by andwatch our children fall through the cracks created bythe devastating policies of Mayor Bloomberg. Thetime is now for parents and teachers to rise up and say,“Enough!” to the BloomKlein education deform agenda.
Testing continued, from page 1 Page 4