The New York Post ran an editorial yesterday (March 21) called "Potemkin Protesters," claiming that parent opposition to the city's latest reorganization plan has been manufactured by the UFT and "the far-left Working Families Party" so as to "derail school reform." The gist of the editorial is that real parents support Chancellor Klein's agenda. The protesters who showed up at Monday's hearings, says the editorial, were not real New York City parents.
Did the editorial writers of the New York Post read the latest Quinnipiac poll? Do they know that 58% of the voters in New York City want an end to mayoral control and a return to an independent Board of Education? Do they know that after 4 plus years of mayoral control, 2/3 of New Yorkers say they are dissatisfied with the public schools? Do they know that 45% of public school parents say that Mayor Bloomberg's takeover of the public schools has been a failure? Do they know that 52% of public school parents told the pollsters that they disapprove of the way Joel Klein is handling his job as chancellor?
Since the New York Post did not bother to report the poll to their readers, perhaps they don't know about it. And that's why their editorial writers think that anyone who questions the latest reorganization of the reorganization is a shill from New Jersey, not a real public school parent.
Diane Ravitch.
Update: See Diane's piece on the Huffington Post
5 comments:
Of course it makes no difference whether the Post knows about it. They've been pushing the same narrow agenda since Murdoch took over, there is rarely, if ever, an alternative point of view, and lack of results (not to mention abject failures) by Bloomberg and company has meant nothing to those who wish to hold his practices up as a model.
This just shows the stupidity of the Post. Not real NYC Parents, thats right it was New Jersey parents with nothing better to do with their spare time.
Also did you hear the graduation rates have increased ten fold?
The Post is quite far off on their assessment of parent sentiment. PTA officers elect the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, which is mandated by the Chancellor's regulations to advise him. We posted their agenda earlier:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2007/03/public-school-parents-lobby-state.html
Keep in mind that Murdoch,Sulzberger and Zimmerman are all corporate buddies of bloomberg and have not been very critical of this administration. It is a credit to parents, WFP, the blogs and smart insiders like Ravitch that all of these failures in NYC schools have been brought to light and are being kept on the front burner. We have to keep shining the light on this gigantic management failure that is hurting our children at the DOE.
Over on the nyceducationnews group, CPAC President Tim Johnson reports that only one person from his District (Manhattan CSD 2), has volunteered to join the DoE when they lobby Albany next week. That contrasts with four busloads who went in support of the CPAC agenda, every point of which was opposed by Klein and Bloomberg.
Perhaps the reality is that nobody in Manhattan reads NY Post editorials.
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