Eva HSA Hearings in Harlem and Williamsburg Tonight

Harlem- from Noah Gotbaum

Please join us tonight at the Harlem PS149/Harlem Success I charter expansion hearing at 41 W 117^th St. at 6 pm.  The parents, students, and teachers at PS 149/The Sojourner Truth School are phenomenally eloquent and remain passionate and resolute after 5+ years of fighting Eva Moskowitz and the DOE. 

Please come out to support them, to hear their stories, and to bolster them and the NAACP against the continuing PR storm.

IS 33 Old Building - 

I'm covering this one as I monitor the extent of opposition in District 14 towards Moskowitz invasion. She has no foothold with parents there yet though I imagine some will come out tonight. IS 33 is in the middle of housing projects and has always been viewed as one of the least safe environments. The last time I was in IS 33 there were gunshots. No, not from the UFT directed at me.

Significant Changes in School Utilization - June Vote - 2010-2011 - New York City Department of Education

Date, time and place of joint public hearings for this proposal.
June 16, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.Foundations / Urban Environment / P368K@I033K
70 Tompkins Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Questions about the proposal can be directed as indicated in section IV above.
Speaker sign-up will begin 30 minutes before the hearing and will close 15 minutes after the start. Interpretation services will be provided in Spanish. To request interpretation services in another language, please contact Mr. Taylor at the e-mail address or telephone number above.
VI. Date, time and place of the Panel for Educational Policy meeting at which the Panel will vote on the proposed item.
June 27, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.
Prospect Heights Campus
883 Classon Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Summary of all public comment received to date.The following comments and remarks were made at the joint public hearing on February 17, 2011, regarding the co-location proposal:
1. The CEC 14 representative stated that the DOE’s engagement process moved too quickly. Specifically, she stated that the CEC was not able to meet with the Success Academy Charter Network or to spread information to their community about the proposal. She also stated that the signatures supporting the proposed school came from the Bronx, not from the District 14 community.

MORE:



2. A representative of the P369K@I033K SLT stated that the school organizations currently in building K033 have a great relationship and expressed concern that this relationship would be negatively affected by the co-location of Brooklyn Success in the building. Additionally, she asked whether charter schools are given more money than traditional schools. Finally, she said the co-location will cause overcrowding that will push the other schools out.
3. A representative of the Foundations Academy SLT questioned what Brooklyn Success would add to the building and expressed concern about the impact of co-locating an elementary school with a middle school and a high school on all students. She asked if Brooklyn Success is expecting to enroll students from a specific demographic. Moreover, she cited a Stanford study that says only 17% of charter schools outperform traditional schools while 83% perform worse. Finally, she questioned how shared resources in the building would be allocated and whether any school’s instructional programming would be impacted by the co-location.
4. New York City Council Member Albert Vann disagreed with the DOE’s assessment that the co-location would not have negative impact on students enrolled in the schools that are currently sited in the building. He stated that he opposed this proposal because there is no space in the building and because he was concerned about the siting elementary school students in the same building with middle and high school students. Additionally, he contended that comments made at the joint public hearing would not impact the final decision. He also stated that the DOE’s engagement process moved too quickly.
5. A representative of the Urban Assembly School for Urban Environment SLT stated that it was inappropriate to co-locate elementary and middle and high school students together. She stated that the building is underutilized, but she also stated that the space would be better used by the school organizations already in the building or another school organization that would serve students of a similar age as the school organizations currently in the building.
6. The principal of Urban Assembly School for Urban Environment stated her belief that Brooklyn Success would not be a good fit with the other school organizations in the building because they serve high school students, autistic students, and students at the ALC, while Brooklyn Success would enroll elementary students.
7. Multiple commenters stated that they support the proposal because:
a. They’ve had positive experiences with their children in Success Charter Network schools. (These were Harlem Success parents who have come to Brooklyn to plug HSA.  They come to every meeting.  I wonder what they get from Eva? - Pat)
52 Chambers Street Room 320 New York, NY 10007
Telephone: 212-374-0209 Fax: 212-374-5588
b. Charter schools that are working well should be given a chance to grow because the DOE is failing children.
8. A commenter stated that the engagement process did not effectively engage the community. He also asked whether it is legal for Success Charter Network to be asking for applications already, which he said do not say anything about a lottery and seem to suggest the program is screened.
9. A commenter said charter schools have inequitable access to resources and school spaces. He also stated that charter schools often exhibit a lack of collaboration with their co-located schools.
10. Multiple commenters expressed opposition for the proposal because:
a. The current schools have worked hard.
b. The extra space in the building should be used for schools that currently exist.
c. The new school should be placed somewhere like Greenpoint where people want this type of school.
d. There are already enough elementary schools in the area.
e. The community has not expressed a desire for this school. Signatures supporting the school were obtained from the Bronx, not Brooklyn.
f. Younger students should not be sited in a building older students.
g. Charters are run like corporations. The charter school process destroys the rights of the people and community because it is only through public schooling and public comment that the community has democracy.
h. The building is a public building, and charter schools should not be taking away public funds from public schools.
i. Charter schools create racial segregation.
j. Good results have come from public schools, so charters are not needed.
11. A commenter said it is problematic that charter schools are only put into neighborhoods with high minority populations.
No comments were received through the DOE’s dedicated written and oral comment mechanisms.

II. Information regarding where the full text of the proposed item may be obtained.
The revised EIS and revised BUP can be found on the Department of Education’s Web site:
http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/2010-2011/June2011Proposals
Copies of the revised EIS and revised BUP are also available in the main offices of Urban Environment, Foundations, and P368K@I033K.
III. Submission of public comment.
Written comments can be sent to D14Proposals@schools.nyc.gov.
Oral comments can be left at 212-374-0208.
IV. The name, office, address, email and telephone number of the city district representative, knowledgeable on the item under consideration, from whom information may be obtained concerning the item.
Name: Benjamin Taylor
Office: Division of Portfolio Planning
Address: 52 Chambers St
Email: D14Proposals@schools.nyc.gov

A Teacher in EvaLand- Part 1

by Anonymous


I would like to share my experience from the Harlem Success Academy Recruitment Hiring Fair at Eva Moskowitz's headquarters. First of all, I received an invitation to Ms. Moskowitz' Recruitment Event from a head hunter at Execu Search. (This particular headhunter found my name and profile on Linkedin).

  After my experience at 310 Lenox Avenue (Eva Moscowitz's headquarters), John Dewey is probably rolling over in his grave if he witnessed what was said and observed at the recruitment event. I was also extremely offended in how Eva used the word 'Sped' to describe  special needs students. As a teacher and as an individual who has a disability, I find this offensive. Also as a parent, I would not want my child in a school setting  where administrators and teachers call children 'sped' kids.  Second, her headquarters looks extremely sterile and cold, all white, blue and orange with a modern appearance. There are many cubicles with HR assistants working all over the second floor of her office. (Ms. Moskowitz has the entire second floor in the building for her network).

When I first arrived at HSA Headquarters, I was greeted by the receptionist who gave me my ID tag and was then escorted into the small conference room. In the conference room, there were already prospective employees (teachers, administrators). We were getting ready to watch the HSA  promo video.  The promo video involved many statistics about Ms. Moskowitz's network about HSA, for example:
MORE BELOW THE FOLD
a)Success  at HSA is because children read 2 hours a day, 26 books a month, and their program is 'rigorous'  and , they are also deeply involved in the arts

b) In the promo, it  was stated that every 7 students apply for 1 seat in Ms. Moskowitz's school. The goal at HSA  is to eventually make  it up to 40 students.

After the promo video,  we were all told to go back into the HR recruiter office area to mingle with the other prospective employees and HR assistants. I asked 1 HR assistant, Victory "If HSA was ever considering constructing their own schools since they co-locate with New York City public schools". Victory's response was , "We are not interested in constructing our own building because it takes 5 or 6 years to construct a building and  the children will no longer  be there. It takes too long and more energy to construct a building and we know that the public schools are not holding at full capacity anyway. So this is why we co-locate. 

My commentary and thoughts : I was biting my tongue during my conversation with Victory. I felt like I was infiltrating a cult while listening to this inaccurate and falsified statements. I really wanted to share my thoughts and give accurate and realistic statistics but remembered that I was in Ms. Moskowitz's office and I did not want to blow my cover.

I also asked Victory about  HSA's specific curriculum choices at HSA  but she was not able to give me a clear and descriptive response. She just mumbled off jargon from the promo video I just watched, nothing really specific and detailed.  After I spoke with Victory, I met with 2 new principals from Bronx SA1 and Bronx  SA2 who are very young. They look like they could be my age or younger (I happen to look probably about 10 years younger than my actual age, so this is basically how young they look).

The Bronx schools are fairly new, only K- 1 and they are in the phase of expanding. Since I am an early childhood educator,  I asked many questions about the curricular for young children. I inquired if children get a chance to move around and learn through movement. BSA Principal 1 said it is very difficult to follow this kind of authentic curriculum with the current standards for education. I mentioned that even though the current standards are a challenge, there are many engaging, interactive ways to get children to learn their sight words or learn how to read through movement. BSA 1 principal  also mentioned to me about the new  block program which was brought into HSA this year. The kindergarten and first grade children are guided by a block consultant on how to construct and play with blocks for about 50 minutes throughout the week.

End Part 1

PART 2

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Video: The NAACP Strikes Back

Recently, the charter school lobby helped orchestrate a rally at the NAACP NYC offices protesting the law suit on closing schools. Charter schools closed down for a few hours in the morning, making blatant use of children and parents for political purposes. On June 3, the NAACP held a press conference in front of the headquarters of Success Charter School Network to emphasize the law suit is about bringing equality to ALL children, not just a favored few.

This is unedited video of the press conference called by the NAACP in front of Eva Moskowitz' headquarters. There is a lot of powerful stuff packed into these 54 minutes. I will attempt to edit it a bit and put up an abridged version if I find time. This is definitely worth watching even if you scroll through it. Mulgrew is near the end and he does very well. Mona Davids was a bit late but got to say here piece at the very end - and she makes a powerful comparison to apartheid in her native South Africa.

Go to directly to vimeo for faster play. http://vimeo.com/24644676

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Today's Truths: The TRUTH vs. Distortion - I support the NAACP Rally Friday at Eva HQ

“Because of the NAACP’s stand for all children, they are being criticized by those who seek to only divide our community, pitting parent against parent, and distorting the facts about the lawsuit against the NYC DOE.” - NAACP Press Release

UPDATE: UNCF Receives $1.6 Billion Grant From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation(see story below on UNCF leader co-writing anti NAACP piece with Michelle Rhee)

Support NAACP Rally/Press Conference Friday at Success Charter Offices (posted at Norms Notes)

NAACP and Community Rally/Press Conference at Success Charter Offices at 310 Lenox, between 125^th and 126^th.   Time is still slightly in flux – 8:30/9 am.

Call EVA MOSKOWITZ and tell her

You are STANDING WITH THE NAACP

(646) 597-4641 

This one should be fun. WOW! Is the worm turning on charters or what? Some major Harlem politicians are supporting this: Rangel, Wright, Dickens, and of course, Bill Perkins, the dean of politicians challenging the charter lobby.

Two years ago (end of school year 2009) when GEM (only a few months old) went up to Eva invaded PS 123 there were few political forces willing to take on charters. Even Bill Perkins at that time seemed ambivalent (I remember having a conversation with one of his aides). But the PS 123 situation woke him up and he began to take a stand. Throughout the summer of 2009 he invited us to take part in discussion at his office. His hearings in March 2010 created a storm (I still have many hours of tape) and led to a charter supported primary challenge which Perkins beat back easily. That was a moment where the supposed parent "support" for charters in Harlem was exposed.

Now the charter lobby has tried to bully the NAACP into withdrawing from the law suit with the UFT to stop the closing of schools and charter co-locations as Gotham reported:

Parents visited the NAACP’s local offices to ask the group to exit the school closure suit. (GS, Post)
One of the parent spokespersons - Valerie Babb, a parent at Harlem Link (always makes me chuckle when I see this school mentioned) - was quoted. Leonie pointed out that she works for the New York Charter Center. I also had a communication from Babb as I mentioned in this comment I left at Gotham's report on a visit by 20 "parents" to NAACP head Hazel Dukes' office:

So I'm beginning to get it. "“We’re not going away,” said Valerie Babb, mother of a first-grader at Harlem Link Charter School." Valerie Babb is an employee of the NYC Charter Center. Babb sent out an email to charter school parents to attend the recent Brooklyn Premiere of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" sponsored by Mona Davids' competing charter school parent org. (I printed the email at ed notes: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/to-charter-school-operators-you-want.html).
So, it's all about the children, eh? Politics and jobs don't enter into it I guess. How many other charter school parent activists have jobs connected to the charter school machine? Reminds me of the day when principals helped get jobs for certain parents who supported them. Link to comment: http://disq.us/24qbfb

I'm going to try to get up and shlep my way to this event with trusty camera. Here are some recent items I've been posting - just a select few.

 Rich White Woman Tells Poor Black People to Rally ...

A Jamaica HS Student's Outrage Puts Dennis Walcott...

Report from the Field: Is Harlem Success Academy P...
The Harlem Success Tries to Turn White as the Worm...

To Charter School Operators: You Want the Truth? Y...

Gotham has a link on this story. Kitchen Sink is at it again - I left a comment - go leave yours.

It's actually a sad day for charter school interests looking to glom onto free real estate. I guess you were too busy planning your exit from the public schools to set up your own shop, but those of us who remained and fought that system would never classify what we did as failing black and brown kids by condemning an entire racial group.

In my school we had great success with a number of students (I can give you a tour of the colleges they went to) and also failures. It is the former group that you are all bragging about succeeding with - just like we did over the last 40 years. Instead of focusing all out efforts on reaching those kids, you have opted for a dual school system that makes conditions worse for the very kids who need the most help. And the charter school lobby has supported the onslaught by the DOE due to narrow self-interest - the self-interest of the adults I might add.  Nice work!

But the charter lobby is out in force. This just came through:

United Negro College Fund head attacks lawsuit/NAACP

- an article Michael Lomax (a charter puppet) co-wrote with - DRUMROLL - Michelle Rhee, the Sarah Palin of ed deform as someone dubbed her.

Noguera Punts on HSA
The NY State Ed Dept, which Fred Smith exposes on their politically tainted testing procedures has also been complicent in the charter school invasions. John King who is taking over when Steiner leaves is 100% charter school. It really is invasion of the body snatchers. But HSA is chartered by SUNY and here is some back and forth on the NYCEd News Listserve regarding Pedro Noguera related to this item I posted yesterday - Success/Brandeis co-location comments due BY NOON ...

Leonie Haimson asked: Has Pedro Noguera (Chair of SUNY Charter Schools Institute) expressed an opinion on this co-location? Has he visited any of the co-located charters in D3, to your knowledge?


Here was the response:

Months ago, at the meeting where SUNY granted the charter (without a specific D3
location), Dr. Noguera did say that he wanted to look carefully at the site that
got chosen before approving it. I am told he didn't want SUNY to be a "rubber
stamp." That said, if he now has an opinion on this specific co-location, I have
not heard it, nor of any Success-related visit by Dr. Noguera to the Brandeis
complex.

It is so odd to me, now that SUNY held this hearing to do a final site
evaluation, that the SUNY Charter Schools Institute is responsible for receiving
public comments and making a recommendation to the SUNY Board about approval. As
far as I know, there were no Board members at the location hearing this week.
The CSI would seem to be in the business of supporting charters, and I find it
weird that they are the buffer between the overwhelming community opposition and
Dr. Noguera/the SUNY Board.

And, oh year, it is a good time to bring back one of our favorites about Meryll Tisch, who is the leader of the pack.

Click on photo to link to an article on K12 and Tisch Family

The Harlem Success Tries to Turn White as the Worm Keeps Turning - Eva's Hubby Gets Into the Act

Gotham: Eric Grannis, charter board member and Eva Moskowitz’s husband:
Charters should integrate. (Daily News)

Michael Fiorillo

Grannis' piece in the Daily News is nothing more than transparent attempt to justify his wife's invasion of the Brandeis HS building on the Upper West Side. In other words, the usual charter operator's dissembling and deceptive use of civil rights rhetoric in service of privatization.

I go further than Michael. HSA is ready to move to the white middle class where test scores come easy. My racism detector has been activated. Just like I reported the other day when Eva (rich white woman) organized poor Black people to oppose the NAACP law suit against closing schools and charter co-locos. (Eric Grannis supposedly reads ed notes so he should be happy to see his name in print.)

Maybe we'd serve minority students better if, instead of creating good schools for minorities to make up for the bad schools minorities have had for so long, we just created good schools for everyone. As the Supreme Court has said, "he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Gee, Eric, how disingenuous of you. If you wanted to integrate your charter schools why don't you offer buses to all those white parents who want to attend HSA and bus them into Harlem at your local HSA schools there. Let's see how attractive the white parents consider your schools then. Or is it just about Brandeis or Bust?

I posted a video over the weekend where you can see the new (white) faces HSA is looking for snickering at the Brandeis HS press conference where parents and community opposed the HSA takeover of whole sections of public real estate. What next Eric, HSA condos?

Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011
A PS 241 teacher describes the impact on her school from having a Harlem Success Academy school in her building. I challenged and captured some comments from HSA future parents, the face of the attempt to gentrify charter schools on the upper west side.

http://youtu.be/iYhH-hsztn4

Also this video of Julie Cavanagh savaging charters:

http://youtu.be/frIajrQfgUo 

For those of you who don't read the comments, here is a very valuable follow-up:

Michael Fiorillo said...
Norm, you are are absolutely right: one of the unspoken dynamics in charter expansion in NYC is that they are a real estate play. Whether it is the expropriating of public school facilities, or as a prelude and anchor for further gentrification of communities (i.e. Gideon Stein, Success Charter Network Board member, and head of Argyle Holdings, "Developers of premier properties in Northern Manhattan").

As with Geoffrey Canada's incursion into the St. Nicolas Houses, while public housing units all over the city are being allowed to become run-down and (reputedly) units are being warehoused, the people pushing these schools are also tightly aligned with real estate and urban redevelopment interests in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. It's possible that, rhetoric and PR aside, this is what Grannis has in mind when he writes about "integrating" charters schools: at current rates of demographic change, Harlem and Bed-Stuy will be increasingly white neighborhoods. Maybe the black families being recruited are just placeholders until the neighborhood "tips" sufficiently. Of course, even then you will still see the faces of adorable black children on all the 4-color, glossy promotional materials.

Finance and real estate, the twin electromagnetic poles of urban political juice, see mutual benefits from charter expansion. They continue to grow because, despite the fact that they are educationally inferior to public schools and an economic drain and diversion away from them, they represent a coalition of powerful interests.

Remember "synergy," a Wall Street/consultant/B-School buzz word from a decade or more ago? The idea was that assembling disparate companies would lead to new opportunities and dynamism within the whole.

That's some of what's going on with elite support for charter schools, the hoped-for synergy of corporate control of school management, curriculum, instruction, labor relations and infrastructure. It's a gold mine for them, and cold, watery soup for everyone else.

It's happening right now. And it's accelerating.

Two Videos: Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011

 Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011
A PS 241 teacher describes the impact on her school from having a Harlem Success Academy school in her building. I challenged and captured some comments from HSA future parents, the face of the attempt to gentrify charter schools on the upper west side.
Make sure to watch the companion video below posted by Angel: Moskowitz Charter Takeover @ Brandeis HS - Ms Rackmill Speaks

http://youtu.be/iYhH-hsztn4


Moskowitz Charter Takeover @ Brandeis HS - Ms Rackmill Speaks

http://youtu.be/wuAWHc4QQBQ

Powerful Video: Charter vs. Public School Inequities - HSA Spent $1.3 Million on Advertizing

Last Update: May 30, 2011, 7am

On May 21, 2011 Community Board 12 in upper Manhattan convened a panel to discuss charter schools. Dennis Walcott was supposed to be on that panel but never showed up. Chair, SUNY Charter Schools Committee Pedro Noguera and NY Charter School and James Merriman CEO of the NYC Charter School Center said their piece and left before Julie Cavanagh and Mona Davids said their piece.

Here are two videos I made.

Julie in 21 minutes presents a comprehensive case against the charter school movement.


http://youtu.be/frIajrQfgUo


Here I extracted a 5 minute piece out of the above if you don't have time now focusing on just some statistics. Like Eva spent $1.3 million over a 2 year period to create demand. Julie breaks down how much money that comes out to if divided up amongst the public school children her schools displace.

http://youtu.be/z3XSm3b64Gk

I have a lot of good footage of the back and forth between Mona and the head of the SUNY Charter School Authorizers - forgot her name.

But here is a short clip of Noguera taking off at a teacher who talked about how out of control the kids were in his school.


http://youtu.be/ZTC798WjIik

Rich White Woman Tells Poor Black People to Rally Against NAACP While Shutting Their Children Out of Their Schools for Hours

'Nuff said!


Cheers
Norm Scott
Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Grassroots Education Movement
Education Editor, The Wave
www.rockawave.com
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Bold Fast Lies

By: MAB

On April 14^th, I attended a District 14 Community Education Council meeting where Eva Moskowitz, the CEO of the Success Academy Charter School Network, was supposed do a small presentation about her plans to open three more Brooklyn Success Academies. She was also expected to field questions from the public. I have written about charter schools and this particular charter chain on more than one occasion, but I continue to be shocked by its approach and steadfast commitment to shirking the truth. For those who don't know, Success Academies is a network of charter schools in New York City. There are currently seven Success Academies open and all are co-located inside public school buildings. Moskowitz's schools have a track record of under-serving the neediest students and counseling out students who have significant academic and behavioral needs. In addition, Moskowitz's schools have received preferential treatment from the Department of Education and she has been allowed to open school after school despite mounting public opposition. (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-25/local/27057283_1_e-mails-charter-space-in-school-buildings)

There are many who believe that Eva Moskowitz’s schools represent the kind of change we need in education, and this is certainly the message Moskowitz spends millions to market. However, the reality is far different. At this CEC meeting I witnessed two Success Academy staff members avoid answering community member's questions and make numerous false statements—all in the hopes of preserving their image.

Before the CEC meeting began, we received word that Moskowitz would not actually be present at the meeting—she would instead be sending a couple of her marketing staff members to field questions and give her presentation. The meeting began with a small crowd seated in the auditorium of I.S. 71. After a rousing performance by the P.S. 257 marching band and a few CEC announcements, the microphone was given to a Success Academies employee, Nicole Foster. As she took the microphone, parents, teachers and principals in the crowd held up large signs expressing their opposition to Success Academy schools coming in to District 14. Before Foster even began speaking, the CEC president brought forth some concerns about the way in which this meeting was scheduled and pointed out some glaring errors on the part of the Success Academies staff. Right from the start, it was clear that this was going to be a tough crowd for the two, young Success Academies staff members.

Ms. Foster began by thanking us all for being there and stressed how excited Success Academies was to be coming to District 14. They were, she claimed, attending this meeting in order to start a "respectful dialogue" with the community. Yet, she did not address Moskowitz's absence. How important is dialogue with the community to your organization if your own CEO doesn't show up to meet the community? She talked briefly about her background, the Success Academies philosophy and their plans to open more charter schools in District 14. Next, she called upon two Harlem Success Academy parents to speak to the audience. They told brief stories about why they believed so strongly in their school. The two parents certainly seemed excited about their schools; however, they didn't refer to anything very specific about why their schools were so extraordinary. It seemed an odd move bringing in these parents. If there was, in fact, such a high demand for these Success Academies (as their staff members claimed), why bring parents in from Harlem to convince us?

Soon after the parents finished their presentations, the crowd had a chance to ask some powerful and critical questions. Throughout this back and forth, the Success Academies employees tried to make nice and appear gracious and respectful, but they were challenged by the community's questions and struggled to communicate anything more than half-truths.

One of the first questions was about why Success Academies felt any need to come to District 14. Foster responded that there was "demand" for their charter school. When asked to explain this demand, Jenny Sedlis (Director of External Affairs) joined her colleague at the front. She claimed there was a demand because 1,400 families had entered the lottery for the 168 spots available at their school slated to open in District 14. When probed further and asked repeatedly how many of these applicants were actually from District 14, Sedlis became flustered and said that all the applicants were from "Brooklyn." Success Academies is claiming a false demand for their schools. It is not accurate to say that there is a demand in District 14 for this school, if the applicants do not actually live in the district. Success Academies choose District 14; the district did not choose them.

There are some serious questions, too, as to how Success Academies got parents to enter their Brooklyn lottery. A special education teacher from PS 147 testified that during his school’s parent-teacher conferences, a man stood outside handing out Success Academy advertisements to the PS 147 parents. When questioned, the man admitted he was being paid ten dollars an hour to solicit parents for Success Academies. The PS 147 teacher challenged the consistent Success Academies line about parent choice: "When advertisements are given in the face of people, when they put them in front of them, without dialogue beforehand…that is not choice! That is ‘this is what you should do.’” He shared how parents at his school came in asking, “Should we be worried about our school?”

Foster’s response was evasive at best. She spoke lightheartedly about how their network has reached out to the community and daycare centers in the past. She failed to address any of the teacher’s concerns, but instead kept referring to how Success Academies is trying to engage, now, in a dialogue with the community. (Let’s not forget that the lottery for their school closed on April 1^st. Seems like it might be a little late to be starting this dialogue.) While Foster put on a smile to respond to this public school educator, the outright disrespect her organization showed towards PS 147 (and so many other public schools where they do the same kind of soliciting after/before school) cannot be denied. While his school is in the midst of doing something positive and productive--conducting meetings between teachers and families--Success Academies shows up to tell these parents they should consider another school, creating confusion and sowing seeds of doubt.

Another educator from PS 147 challenged the Success Academies model. He spoke of high teacher turnover rates in their schools, and cited a case in which one Harlem Success Academy went through four principals in just five years. He asked Ms. Foster, “How can your school be a replicable model?” as they so often proclaim. He spoke also of their contradictory statements about testing and test prep. While they claim not to be a "test-prep" factory, their teachers don orange t-shirts with the words, “Slammin’ Exam Teacher!” Furthermore, the PS 147 teacher alleged, the schools’ CEO, Ms. Moskowitz, has openly advocated for rewarding teachers monetarily for high student test scores.

When Ms. Foster took back the microphone she began again with her previous tactic, to sound nice, but communicate little substance or truth. She made general statements about the Success Academies philosophy—“The tests are not our end-all…but they are our moral obligation. We have to ensure our students do well on these exams…So, we try to get the students excited about the tests.” While Foster seemed to be communicating the message the Success Academies schools are not unilaterally focused on testing and test-prep, a former HSA teacher tells a different story: "There is a one word focus at any HSA school: testing." (Anonymous comment left: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/04/harlembrooklyn-success-academy-video.html)

Foster's response to teacher turnover was even more misleading. She said that many of the teachers at Success Academies don’t leave, they simply move on to other positions within the network. She didn’t exactly specify what jobs these teachers took up, aside from mentioning a few school leaders who were former teachers. Surely the 50% turnover rate at Harlem Success Academy 1 (see for yourself on the State’s Accountability and Overview Report) is not due entirely to teachers becoming principals. Some teachers likely do move up, but what happened to the rest of them?

Throughout the evening, Foster and Sedlis continued to use three phrases repetitiously: “partnership, respectful dialogue and parent choice.” An educator from Harlem, whose public school has been forced to share space with a Harlem Success Academy, spoke strongly about how these empty phrases are tossed around by Success Academy employees. He spoke of how Moskowitz brought parents into his school for a co-location hearing and how they aggressively called his school, “a failure.” There was no basis for this accusation--Moskowitz had been pining for this school building and used this public hearing as an opportunity to attack and overwhelm this public school. (See http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxueWRuZG9jc3xneDoyMjFlOTliYmVlNjUxMmIw&pli=1 for access to the emails between Moskowitz and Klein. See pages 47 to 50.)

He spoke also of the numerous injustices his school and students have been subject too since the co-location began. Each year, Harlem Success Academy has taken more and more space away from his public school. Kindergarten, first and second grade students at his public school have been forced into classrooms in a sub-level basement—all to make room for Harlem Success Academy. Foster attempted to respond, explaining that in each co-location there is a team of people who work together within the building to divide space equally and fairly. The Harlem educator responded and shared how his school community consistently and opening opposed the move to basement classrooms, and how, in the end, they were not allowed to be a part of this decision. They were told to move their classes into the basement. Foster continued to stress how her schools work in partnership with their public school neighbors. It is easy to say you partner with a community or a school, but to actually do it requires a degree of honesty and consideration Success Academies have not shown themselves to possess. Partnership requires a give and take; Success Academies only know how to take.

As the evening continued, a consistent pattern revealed itself. The community raised concerns. Then, Sedlis and Foster deflected and attempted to minimize what the community brought forth. The most glaring untruths came later in the evening. Someone from the audience mentioned her concern that Success Academies fail to enroll equitable numbers of students with special needs and English language learners. Nicole Foster actually said that the new District 14 Success Academy school will have 25% English Language Learners. She then went on to say that Success Academies enroll more special education students and more ELL’s than the public schools with whom they share space. Her statements could not be further from the truth.

Let’s look first at English Language Learner enrollment. New York State complies information on all schools and creates an “Accountability and Overview Report” for most schools in the city. The 2008-2009 reports can be found online. See the chart below to see the enrollment of English Language Learners at three Success Academies and their co-located neighbors.

For some reason, “Accountability and Overview Reports” do not yet exist for the other Success Academies schools. Most likely, this is due to their youth—some have only been open a year or two. However, the public schools they share space with enroll significant numbers of ELL students.

English Language Learners in other Public Schools co-located with Success Academies
P.S. 241, co-located with HSA 4	24%
P.S. 123, co-located with HSA 5	20%
P.S. 30 Wilton, co-located with Bronx Success 1	28%
P.S. 146 Edward Collins, co-located with Bronx Success 2	16%

Foster also claimed that her schools enroll higher numbers of special education students, but the numbers just don’t add up. On the Department of Education website (schools.nyc.gov) you can view all kinds of statistics for each public school in our city. Statistics for charter schools are not as easily accessed. In the beginning of February, I came across a new link with enrollment data on each school’s page. It was titled, “CEP School Demographics and Accountability Snapshot, 2010-2011.” This was, at the time, a snapshot available for all schools—public and charter. I recorded the data for the Success Academy schools, as well as the public schools that have been forced to share their space with this charter chain. Within a couple of weeks, this link was removed from all of the charter school web pages, however it is still available on public school pages. (It is listed near the bottom of each school's “Statistics” page.) The data used in the graphs below comes from these snapshots. If the Success Academies schools would like to provide updated and detailed enrollment information, I would love to see it.

The first graph shows the percentage of students enrolled in special education classes, both Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) and self-contained classes.

While it is undoubtedly clear that our public schools serve more students in need of special services, the differences are even more glaring if you examine the number of students in self-contained classes alone. Students who need self-contained classes typically have the highest needs.

The Success Academies Network is not interested in serving high-needs students and have counseled out many students when they felt overwhelmed by their needs. Go into any of the schools co-located with a Success Academy and you will find former Success Academy students—students who “won” the lottery, but were then asked to leave. Success Academies seem to have adopted an attitude now shared by many charter schools—it is accepted practice to exclude students instead of giving them the support they need to succeed. (The NY Post just ran an article about these exclusionary practices, "Charters Nix 23% of kids: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/charters_nix_of_kids_jXEEhJtQx9eQiGUiD3vInN)

The job of a public school is to work with all of the students who enroll, regardless of their strengths, weaknesses, needs or shortcomings. When a student presents with a need, it is up to the school to help meet that need. Although they receive substantial public funds, charter schools are not public schools and easily avoid doing the true and hard work of educating our neediest children.

As the CEC meeting ended around 8:15 pm, two tired and weary Success Academies employees exited I.S. 71. I wondered, how they do it every day? How do they work for an organization that, in the name of educational equity, creates division, tension and inequality in our communities? Moskowitz invests extraordinary resources in the presentation and preservation of her organization's image. But as one community member said at the end of his testimony, "Imagine if that money went to kids!"

In advertising and marketing, truth is usually obscured or manipulated in an attempt to convince people (consumers) of something--to buy a product, to take a trip, to take a drug, to buy a kind of food, to go to a school. McDonald's spends millions of dollars every year marketing and promoting its food. It fills its advertisements with images of seemingly healthy people stuffing their faces with unbelievably unhealthy food. It slaps up joyous slogans and avoids including the information about their food's damaging nutritional content that might dissuade people from buying it. McDonald's advertising campaigns are not focused on sharing any truths. Rather, they hide the truth in the name of increasing profit. The Success Academies Charter School Network is guilty of similar practices. Moskowitz wants us to believe what her organization says and ignore what it does. But if we ignore what is happening, our children are the ones who will pay the price. They deserve honesty and integrity, not lies and deceit. What is it going to take for more people, especially parents, to see through the empty slogans of Success Academies?

CEC District !4 Meets Harlem Success Academy - Principal Brian DeVale

April 26, 2011

Diane Ravitch commented on yesterday's post:

Something I have puzzled over: why do hundreds of charter school parents and students show up for public hearings to demand more charter schools? The children are already enrolled in a charter school. They can only attend one school. How will it help them if there are more? They can't enroll in two schools. For whose benefit are they there? What would happen to a regular public school principal if she or he hired buses to send children and parents to demonstrate at a PEP meeting?

Diane 

Yes, Diane. In District 14 we saw 2 HSA Harlem parents shlep to Williamsburg to "sell" HSA. They are being used as a political force. I'd love to see Eva bring buses full of parents in to District 14. They will get some reception.

And another comment:

Just finished watching the D14 CEC meeting video on your blogspot.  It is wonderful to see principals and teachers speak up on behalf of their schools.  Why wasn't that auditorium filled with D14 parents and community members??

Amazing how HSA reps side stepped questions asked by the former school board president.  One of the most important questions I have been asking for years as a D6 parent, former D3 employee and now a D4 employee and am still waiting for an answer is WHO asked HSA to come into the district???  Answer: NOT parents or the community as they claim, but the DOE.  Deceiving parents and communities by presenting HSA as the "great white hope" has done nothing but caused parents to loose faith in and discredit many of the wonderful traditional public schools in our communities.  One of the HSA reps (I cant remember her name) at the D14 meeting talked about the wonderful partnership and relationship HSA has in Harlem with PS 241 and Opportunity Charter School.  I can tell you as first hand that her statement is so far from the truth and a down right lie!  Children at PS 241 have now been pushed into the basement of the building and are not allowed to use the main entrance which is reserved for use by HSA students and their parents only.  There is nothing but infighting between HSA, Opportunity Charter ans PS241 in that building.   The same goes in other buildings in Central and East Harlem where HSA is co-located with other schools.

 

The reality is that decisions about co-locations with charters in traditional public school buildings are being negotiated and made way before the proposals are presented to CEC and to parents.  Parents and communities are not involved in the decision making process.  For the sake of our children, this has got to change.

 

That's all for now.

 

All the best,

N.

For today's video:
Brian DeVale compliments parents from HSA for being concerned. But why are they coming to Brooklyn to sell their school? He isn't going up to Harlem to tell them where to go to school. Choice? "If you built a crack house people would come."  And lots more. 



http://youtu.be/m-8zAvtY814

Previous posts:
Monday, April 25: Harlem/Brooklyn Success Academy Video Week

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Harlem/Brooklyn Success Academy Video Week

April 25, 2011

HSA ad from Williamsburg subway stop, slightly altered

I will be sharing a batch of videos this week that I extracted from the District 14 Community Education Council meeting with Harlem Success Academy reps on April 14. It really was a remarkable meeting as HSA faced a unified pushback from all parts of the district. Their tactic of divide and conquer did not work - they didn't bring busloads of parents from Harlem as they are able to do at PEP meetings.

This may be the first time HSA is facing organized resistance as District 13 and 14 passed joint resolutions opposing more HSA charters. Of course with sugar daddy WalBloom on their side it may not make a difference, but they will not find the process very comfortable - as you can see in this video.

They brag about the 1400 people on the waiting list - all that after months of advertizing all over a wide area of Brooklyn. Now they are using these signatures to justify adding two more schools. Once they get capacity, they then use these parents as political shock troops to steam roller local public schools.

I will be putting up an individual segment every day. You will find this 18 minute video worth watching as I culled and edited various interactions between audience members and HSA reps. I repeated a few segments to make a point. Princpal Brian DeVale tells the HSA parents he is happy they love their school in Harlem, but he doesn't go up to Harlem to tell people where to send their children. And lots more. At times the normally cool and collected HSA spokesperson Jenny Sedlis seemed a bit shaken as she was forced to leave her seat to defend HSA.

Here is the blurb from Vimeo I put up:

Harlem Success Academy's attempt to push into District 14 in Brooklyn meets with fierce resistance at the Community Education Council (CEC) meeting held on April 14. Principals, parents, and teachers raise fundamental questions about HSA's tactics in inundating wide areas of Brooklyn with slick literature in an attempt to create "demand" they then use to justify pushing their schools into public school spaces. "You may have 1400 signatures but none of them are from District 14," says one speaker. Another challenges HSA to produce their lists. A teacher talks about how HSA paid someone $10 an hour to hand out lit to parents on open school night. CSA leaders say they were lied too. And an educator from Harlem shares the negative experience in his school with HSA as his kids are forced into the basement.

Gotham's Anna Philips was present for most of the meeting but for some reason chose not to write about it.

Excuse the bad and uneven sound as the amplified echo was heavy duty.

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http://vimeo.com/22828003