Norman Siegel at the emergency conference on school closings

On Saturday, our emergency parent conference on the proposed school closings and charter school sitings was terrific.

About 150 parents turned out from throughout the city to hear eloquent and informative presentations from teachers and students at some of the affected schools, including Christine Rowland and Klodian Simoni from Columbus HS in the Bronx, James Eterno and Rachael Ali from Jamaica HS in Queens, and Seung Ok from Maxwell HS in Brooklyn.

Then we heard from Lisa Donlan of District 1, Jim Devor of District 15, Khem Irby of District 13, and Julie Cavanagh of PS 15K about how parents can navigate the DOE website, participate in the public hearings, and challenge the DOE's Educational Impact Statements.

Finally, Norman Siegel spoke about our victory in court on Friday, in which New Yorkers won the right to protest the closings and the charter school expansions outside the mayor's home this Thursday, Jan. 21. Norman also spoke stirringly about his own background and beliefs, as a former NYC public school student and civil rights activist.

Check out an excerpt below.