Tuesday, February 17, 2015

CHARTERSCHOOL WARS: LEARNING FROM THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF NEW ORLEANS SCHOOLS

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools

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from Phoebe Ferguson PRO

A Perfect Storm: The Takeover of New Orleans Public Schools is the first in series of short videos, that reveals the real story behind the creation of the nation's first all charter school district.

For the past seven years, state education officials and corporate school reformers have touted the dramatic turnaround of New Orleans public schools. National media outlets have published numerous articles and TV news stories of the miracle in New Orleans citing unprecedented academic achievement where parents finally had School Choice. However, according to the Louisiana Department of Education, more than 80% of the Recovery School District schools in New Orleans are performing below the state average.

This first 5 minute video focuses on the illegal takeover and the academic failure of The Recovery School District.

The first Perfect Storm video focuses on the illegal takeover and the academic failure of the Recovery School District. Part 2 explores the reality of an all charter district where parents no longer have neighborhood schools.

The film features interviews with leaders in the New Orleans education community who were faced with the daunting task of reopening schools immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

We are looking to fund more short videos, followed by an hour long documentary which will chronologically tell the story from 2005 - 2015 and will end at the tenth anniversary of the storm.

Directed by
Phoebe Ferguson
Dr. Raynard Sanders

Produced by
Phoebe Ferguson
Dr. Raynard Sanders

Cinematography by
Phoebe Ferguson
Tobias Arturi
Lily Keber

Editor
Tobias Arturi

Graphic Designers
Noël Anderson
Tobias Arturi

Production Assistants
Kelsey Noble
Kendrick Royal
Researchers
Charles Hatfield
Barbara Ferguson
Karran Harper Royal
Kari Harden
Adrienne Dixon
Kristen Buras
Raynard Sanders

Interviews
In order of appearance
Louella Givens
Rev. Torin Sanders
Dr. Barbara Ferguson
Karran Harper Royal

2 comments:

redhenexploringFebruary 20, 2015 at 1:38 AM
Thanks so much for sharing this very important documentation of how our public schools are being destroyed. I reside in Philadelphia Pa. and there are several of us documenting the mass destruction going here. I posted this documentary and will contiue to post, hopeing that people wake up and stop attacking the most vulnerable in our society and international communities!! Will there be a tour and panel discussion of the film?
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UnknownFebruary 26, 2015 at 1:02 AM
It really seems like it is not going to end. I am so tired of hearing about the situation with public and charter schools. Instead of focusing on teaching kids to write custom research essay papers or whatever else is needed for their successful education, we are going through these debates over and over again. It has to stop. I believe that charter schools aren’t any useful. We need to focus our attention on public schools. It is time to increase their efficiency as they have a really high potential.
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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.