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On-Line EDTrial Registration Forms
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Billionaire Bloomberg Fires 800
Public School Workers!
Public School Workers!
A Massive FightBack is Building!
Towards The People's Hearing On Educational Crimes & Violations-- 9AM Saturday 15 October 2011 at DC37
Department of Education layoffs hit poor areas hardest
BY JUAN GONZALEZ - NEWSDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, August 26, 2011
The city's plan to lay off nearly 800 nonteaching public school employees this fall will hit the poorest districts the hardest - and spare the more affluent ones.
The disparate nature of the cuts - the biggest layoffs at any agency in the Bloomberg era - became apparent yesterday, when officials gave Local 372, which represents nonprofessional school employees, a detailed hit list.
Under the plan, District 5 in Harlem and District 6 in Washington Heights will lose almost 8% of their school aides, parent coordinators and community workers - 77 out of a total of 998.
At the same time, only five of 942 similar workers in Staten Island's District 31 - less than 1% - will get pink slips.
Likewise, three school districts in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville, East Flatbush and East New York will lose 4.4% of their nonprofessional workers.
But three more middle class districts in South Brooklyn that include Dyker Heights, Borough Park, Bensonhurst, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay and Mill Basin, will lose only 11 of 1,900 employees - less than 1%.
Those who could lose their jobs are some of the lowest-paid workers in the city and overwhelmingly black and Hispanic. School aides, the biggest group targeted, average about $11,000 a year for part-time work. Even with health insurance and pension costs factored in, the city pays about $27,000 annually for each of these workers.
"We've been trying for weeks to meet with Chancellor [Dennis] Walcott and each time they canceled . . . at the last moment," said Santos Crespo, president of Local 372.
"On Monday, they just called us in and hit us with these cuts," Crespo said. "They didn't even want to discuss ways we could cooperate to reduce costs."
At a time when the school system is spending hundreds of millions of dollars for more outside contractors and consultants, it's crazy to cut the most vulnerable workers.
DOE officials say Crespo's parent union, District Council 37, is to blame.
"During the budget negotiations this June, the chancellor called Lillian Roberts [executive director of DC 37] . . . to work . . . to avert DOE layoffs," agency spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said.
"Unfortunately, the union would not agree to any real savings . . . so schools took a larger budget cut than might have otherwise been necessary."
In other words, if you don't do what Bloomberg wants, you and your members will suffer the consequences.
But why hit poor districts so heavily?
It could be just a coincidence, but some of the biggest cuts occurred in neighborhoods where City Council members were vocal critics of the mayor.
Ravitz said principals made all the decisions on cuts.
"Schools received their budgets at the end of June and made school level decisions about which staff they were keeping and which staff to excess," she said.
Several principals I spoke to yesterday disputed that version. They say budget officials from Tweed encouraged them to look to their nonprofessional staff for cuts.
Nevertheless, one thing seems clear: if these layoffs take effect, the poorest districts will suffer most.
jgonzalez@nydailynews.com
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
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
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Connecticut State Ed Dept Bumrushes Bridgeport School Board
This news report shows that the CPE Parent Leadership Institute is VITAL for NYC parents to become a central PowerForce to save and improve public education. If it is happening in Bridgeport, CT., it definitely can happen in New York City!
Takeover Is About More Than Bridgeport: Malloy Must Address Real Problem: Suburban Kids Learn, Poor Kids Fail
By RICK GREENThe Hartford Courant
July 7, 2011
Bridgeport's forlorn plea for a state takeover of its schools isn't about another dysfunctional school board. It's about our abject failure to deal with the problem that, year in, year out, never fails to go away.
Suburban kids learn. Poor kids fail. It's a problem we won't, or can't, fix. Is it any surprise that an inept school board devolves into a squabbling mess?
One fourth-grader in four in Bridgeport reaches state goals for reading. The number is about the same — or worse — in Hartford, New Britain and New London. It's only slightly better in New Haven. All this has barely changed in decades of hand-wringing, commissions and studies.
No company or college wants graduates like this. We are talking tens of thousands of young people.
This is about Gov. Dannel P. Malloy deciding to make our greatest shame, the failure of city schools, his priority. Whether Malloy takes the lead here will tell us much about the success of his administration and the growth of Connecticut's economy. His office, not surprisingly, has been discussing the proposed takeover with Bridgeport officials for months.
The future of our state very much depends on whether cities like Bridgeport and its 20,000 students figure out a way to succeed. Because if it's not Bridgeport, it's New Britain or East Hartford, New Haven and Hartford. This is where our future workforce is coming from.
Cynics tell me the real problem is the raw material — poor children from dysfunctional families arrive in kindergarten years behind their counterparts. It certainly is. But I'd rather look to the striking success of the Achievement First schools in Hartford and New Haven and other public school programs for a glimpse of what can happen.
At least Hartford and New Haven have a clear schools strategy and strong leadership. Malloy, who showed no reluctance to jump in and pick a favorite in the Hartford mayoral primary last week, must provide the muscle to make sure Bridgeport also gets on track.
"He is not afraid to tackle big problems,'' Malloy's adviser, Roy Occhiogrosso, assured me. "Bridgeport has thrown up its hands and said, 'We can't do this.' "
Unfortunately for Malloy, this sticky mess comes at the wrong time and long before his promised legislative session devoted to education reform next year. He doesn't even have a permanent commissioner for the agency that will assist the Bridgeport schools, the state Department of Education. That department is facing a 20 percent cut in staff.
At the meeting Tuesday night where the Bridgeport board voted to ask for state intervention, a lot of folks in the audience of a couple hundred were slamming Mayor Bill Finch, who has little control over city schools and nothing to gain through his support of a takeover just 90 days before a tough primary.
"This is a state of the suburbs, by the suburbs and for the suburbs,'' Finch told me Wednesday before heading into a State Board of Education meeting where a takeover was approved by a 5-4 vote. "That leaves mayors to run quarantine zones for poverty."
Finch wisely thinks Bridgeport ought to be open to a range of solutions: more public school choice for parents, more charter schools, hiring better-trained teachers, and even private school vouchers for children trapped in persistently failing schools.
To make change, Bridgeport will need a strong new leader to replace its underwhelming superintendent of schools, John Ramos, who didn't even attend the board meeting this week where members voted 6-3 to ask for state control. Eventually, the city will probably need an appointed board of education that gives the mayor real authority.
And Bridgeport, which receives thousands of dollars less per pupil than Hartford, will also need more money.
At the top of the list to temporarily take charge in Bridgeport is Steve Adamowski, the highly regarded former superintendent in Hartford. Adamowski isn't perfect (teacher unions loathe him) but he would bring strong leadership, direction and immediately restore confidence of parents and taxpayers.
Just remember, this isn't merely about Bridgeport. It's about whether there is someone in all of Connecticut's government who can step up and finally make sure we address the problems of urban education. We're waiting, governor.
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