East Harlem: Schools Closed and Replaced With No Input From Parents

Hector Nazario, President of D4's Community Education Council sent a long letter of protest today to senior DOE officials including Chancellor Klein, over their unlawful refusal to properly consult with the CEC in decisions over school closings and replacement with new schools, including charters.

Here is an excerpt:

...Although there is value in conversation there is greater value in conversations that are part of consultation. The recent series of conversations are about a year too late. The Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy (OFEA) took on the responsibility of organizing the discussions that have taken place thus far. As the department directly in charge of parent involvement, OFEA needs to get to know our district in depth and our parents in particular. It is clear to us that they are unaware of the key players in District 4. For example, 1) some community based organizations, with a long history of serving our schools, were left out of the discussion, 2) to date, there has been no parent representation from affected schools at the meetings, 3) meetings are poorly promoted, 4) some members of the District Leadership Team were not invited, 5) OFEA representatives were inexperienced, lacked interest and comprehension on the significance of the discussion, and lastly, 6) parent coordinators and district family advocates need to be kept informed on matters relating to the proposed school closures in order to address the concerns of parents.

Today, at what was literally the 11th hour, a member of the Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy called me and offered a breakdown of incoming schools. This disjointed effort at communicating is not working. CEC members and parents are not being served like this.

For the full text, click here.