Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: August 2011

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Parents Take the Lead Summer Institute Ends On a High Note Of Activist Commitment

Some of the Members of La Union who came to all six sessions....

The Coalition for Public Education/Coalicion por La Educacion Publica (CPE-CEP) just completed its first Parent Take the Lead Summer Institute to help mobilize for the Big FightBack Against Mayoral Control & Privatization this coming school year.

A summation of the Institute's power-filled work will be posted shortly here and on our listserv (pubedco@googlegroups.com).

Meanwhile, here a few fotos of the lively and informative last session!

Serious discussion in which everyone participated.

Sister Sharitza making a point while all listen intently.

Brother Rodrigo Receiving his Certificate from CPE-CEP CoChair Brother Akinlabi.

Happy to receive their Certificates of Completion, La Union members celebrate.

Preparing to leave the Last Parent Take the Lead Institute Session that was packed with useful information, analysis and strategy-talk.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Moments in America for All Children

Every second a public school student is suspended.*
Every 8 seconds a high school student drops out.*
Every 18 seconds a baby is born to an unmarried mother.
Every 20 seconds a public school student is corporally punished.*
Every 21 seconds a child is arrested.
Every 34 seconds a child is born into poverty.
Every 42 seconds a baby is born without health insurance
Every 42 seconds a child is confirmed as abused or neglected.
Every minute a baby is born to a teen mother.
Every 2 minutes a child is born at low birthweight.
Every 4 minutes a child is arrested for a drug offense.
Every 8 minutes a child is arrested for a violent offense.
Every 18 minutes a baby dies before his or her first birthday.
Every 45 minutes a child or teen dies from an accident.
Every 3 hours a child or teen is killed by a firearm.
Every 5 hours a child or teen commits suicide.
Every 5 hours a child is killed by abuse or neglect.
Every 16 hours a mother dies from complications of childbirth or pregnancies.
* Based on calculations per school day (180 days of seven hours each)
State
=====================================================

How America Ranks Among Industrialized Countries in
Investing in and Protecting Children
1st in gross domestic product
1st in number of billionaires
1st in number of persons incarcerated
1st in health expenditures
1st in student expenditures
1st in military technology
1st in defense expenditures
1st in military weapons exports
17th in reading scores
22nd in low birthweight rates
23rd in science scores
30th in infant mortality rates
31st in math scores
31st in the gap between the rich and the poor
Last in relative child poverty
Last in adolescent birth rates (ages 15 to 19)
Last in protecting our children against gun violence

The United States and Somalia (which has no legally constituted government) are the only two
United Nations members that have failed to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

If we compare just Black child well-being in America to child well-being in other nations,
according to UNICEF:

• 70 nations have lower infant mortality rates including Cuba, Thailand and Costa Rica.
• 144 nations have a lower incidence of low birthweight, including the Dominican
Republic, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.
• Black women in the United States are more likely to die due to pregnancy complications
than women in 54 other nations, including Iran and Albania.
-------------------

Each day in America

2 mothers die in childbirth.
5 children are killed by abuse or neglect.
5 children or teens commit suicide.
8 children or teens are killed by firearms.
32 children or teens die from accidents.
80 babies die before their first birthdays.
186 children are arrested for violent offenses.
368 children are arrested for drug offenses.
949 babies are born at low birthweight.
1,204 babies are born to teen mothers.
1,240 public school students are corporally punished.*
2,058 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
2,163 babies are born without health insurance.
2,573 babies are born into poverty.
3,312 high school students drop out.*
4,133 children are arrested.
4,717 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
18,493 public school students are suspended.
* Based on 180 school days a year

Each day in America for White children

1 mother dies in childbirth.
1 child is killed by abuse or neglect.
3 children or teens commit suicide.
4 children or teens are killed by firearms.
25 children or teens die from accidents.
52 babies die before their first birthdays.
86 children are arrested for violent offenses.
266 children are arrested for drug offenses.
447 babies are born at low birthweight.
663 public school students are corporally punished.*
735 babies are born without health insurance.
811 babies are born into poverty.
823 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
846 babies are born to teen mothers.
1,270 high school students drop out.*
1,776 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
2,722 children are arrested.
7,236 public school students are suspended.*
* Based on 180 school days a year

Each day in America for Black children

1 child is killed by abuse or neglect.
4 children or teens are killed by firearms.
5 children or teens die from accidents.
25 babies die before their first birthdays.
94 children are arrested for drug offenses.
96 children are arrested for violent offenses.
233 babies are born at low birthweight.
312 babies are born to teen mothers.
332 babies are born without health insurance.
417 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
442 public school students are corporally punished.*
607 babies are born into poverty.
936 high school students drop out.*
1,296 children are arrested.
1,317 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
6,916 public school students are suspended.
* Based on 180 school days a year

Each day in America for Hispanic children

2 children or teens are killed by firearms.
5 children or teens die from accidents.
103 public school students are corporally punished.*
198 babies are born at low birthweight.
387 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
402 babies are born to teen mothers.
944 babies are born without health insurance.
945 high school students drop out.*
955 babies are born into poverty.
1,495 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
3,726 public school students are suspended.*
* Based on 180 school days a year

Each day in America for Asian and Pacific Islander children

2 children are arrested for violent offenses.
2 public school students are corporally punished.*
4 children are arrested for drug offenses.
21 babies are born to teen mothers.
21 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
57 babies are born into poverty.
64 children are arrested.
98 high school students drop out.*
117 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
351 public school students are suspended.
* Based on 180 school days a year

Each day in America for American Indian and Alaska Native children

1 child is arrested for violent offenses.
3 children are arrested for drug offenses.
20 children are confirmed as abused or neglected.
23 babies are born into poverty.
24 babies are born to teen mothers.
29 public school students are corporally punished.*
51 children are arrested.
62 high school students drop out.*
89 babies are born to unmarried mothers.
264 public school students are suspended.
* Based on 180 school days a year

SOURCE: http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-of-americas-2011.pdf

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Late George Carlin on Why US Education Sucks

WARNING! STRONG PROFANE & PROFOUND LANGUAGE!

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The Coalition for
Public Education

Coalición por la
Educación
Pública

Who We Are
What We
Want

The Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública is an independent, non-sectarian, and non-governmental organization with short, middle and long-term educational and social goals. We believe that education is a human right and we want to ensure that New York City public schools are places of learning in which all stakeholders (parents, students, educators, non-pedagogical staff, administrators and the community) are engaged in a democratic process to provide a free and quality education to all its students, from Pre-school to College.

Our coalition is based on antiracist/antisexist democratic grassroots organizing concepts and not based on the idea that any one individual, politician, union leader, or political messiah will save us.

Our coalition will participate in election campaigns but will focus on mass action as a primary vehicle for social change.

Therefore, we will organize the distribution of leaflets, mass rallies, forums, civil disobedience, petitions, referendums, web-based actions, economic boycotts, and other grassroots tactics. We also understand that we are not alone in struggle and that we must unite with other groups and individuals who support democracy, self-determination and the empowerment of our communities.

What We Want:

I. A Peoples' Board of Education

II. Local control of our Public Schools not Mayoral Dictatorship!

III. Better Public Schools not Charter Schools!

IV. Power to Parents, Students and Educators!

V. Implementation of a mandatory Antiracist Curriculum!

VI. Recruiting educators from our neighborhoods to achieve racial parity!

VII.Money for Education Not War!

VIII. OUR Schools = Neighborhood School Control!

NYC EDSTATS You Can Use

New York City Schools by the Numbers

By John Tarleton
www.indypendent.org

$12.5 billion: Annual New York City Department of Education (DOE) budget (2002)

$21 billion: Annual New York City DOE budget (2009)

1,719: Number officials employed by the DOE central administration in June 2002

2,442: Number of officials employed by the central administration as of November 2008

2: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2004.

22: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2007.

5: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2003.

23: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2008.

944: Number of contracts approved by DOE in 2008, at a total cost of $1.9 billion.

20: Percentage of contracts that exceeded estimated cost by at least 25 percent.

$67.5 million: Annual budget of Project Arts, a decade-old program that was the sole source of dedicated funding for arts education. It was eliminated in 2007.

86: Percentage of principals who said in a 2008 poll that they were unable to provide a quality education because of excessive class sizes in their schools.

100,000: Number of seats DOE plans to provide for charter school students by 2012.

25,000: Number of seats DOE plans to build under 2010 to 2014 capital plan.

66,895: Number of K-3 school-children in classes of 25 or more during the 2008-09 school year.

15,440: Average number of seats per year built during the last six years of the Rudolph Giuliani administration.

10,895: Average number of seats per year built during the first six years of the Bloomberg administration.

27.2: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were Black.

14.1: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were Black.

53.3: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were white.

65.5: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were white.

76: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Latino students in 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) in 2003.

75: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic students in 8th grade ELA in 2008.

77: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2003.

81: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2008.

54: Percentage of New York City public school parents who disapproved of Mayor Bloomberg’s handling of education, according to a March 2009 Quinnipiac poll.

Sources: New York City Council, New York City Comptroller’s Office, New York Daily News, New York Post, Eduwonkette, Quinnipiac Institute, Black Educator, Class Size Matters, New York City Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein.