Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Why the school closings cannot be legally approved tonight

The Dept. of Education's summaries and response to public comments on the proposed school closings has now been posted on the Panel for Educational Policy public comment webpage.

They remain hugely inadequate, and do not sufficiently respond to any of the issues highlighted in our critique, as regards the likely effect on class size or overcrowding; nor as regards the fiscal impact of these proposals.

They do reveal that at the public hearings, hundreds spoke in opposition to these proposals, and at most of them, not a single person spoke in support.

One more point. The PEP bylaws, in compliance with the new governance law, say the following:
"Following the public review process, the Secretary shall make available to the
public, including via the Panel’s official internet web site, an assessment of
the public comments concerning the item under consideration prior to 24 hours
before the Panel vote on such item. The Secretary shall conduct such assessment
in accordance with Education Law 2590-g(8)(c). "

Yet none of these summaries were posted on the DOE website until after 10 AM this morning; and by 1:45 PM only half were up.

So unless the Panel for Educational Panel vote occurs after 10 AM tomorrow morning, these proposals cannot legally be approved.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have yet to see Klein follow any of the Education Laws. He has skirted, ignored, changed or broken them. Why would this time be any different? There are no repercussions for Klein when he breaks or ignores education laws!

I was on the school governance committee and I stated that a penalty section must be in the school governance law if Klein does not follow the law. If I'm not mistaken, it's in there. But who will hold the mayor and Klein accountable to follow it or punish them. They must be in the witness protection program

All these hearings were all a SHAM!!! I went to them and I knew exactly what the outcome would be CLOSE THE SCHOOLS!

When they closed the first 10 high schools in 2000-2002, the union should have fought then, should have come up with a plan, should have had endorsed politicians that would be on the side of the community, and should NOT have allowed mayoral control.

Now look at this mess. Twenty schools will close; the communities will be in disarray. Student deflection will be everywhere. Schools will cheat profusely so they can get a B or higher out of fear that they'll be axed! The mayor will get the notoriety of his shameless act - under his control schools work.

I am not a union leader; I am not a genius. But, I knew that this was going to happen.

NOW WHAT! More rallies??? More protests??? More hearings??? It didn't work. All the public did was spin their wheels and lose alot of tread.

We now need to be aggressive! It's time to come up with some boycotts, not strikes, but some solid boycotts. Any ideas?

Pete Zucker said...

I have a very simple statement. Isn't it time someone takes the DOE to court? I know it is easier said then done, but I am just shocked that this has not happened yet.

Anonymous said...

teacher in the bronx:
According the union leadership, they are planning to take the DoE to court based on some stipulation in the state education law that was not adhered to.

There's also some interesting facts in the following blog:
http://nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/

All I know that the communities cannot sit back in defeat because this means fight, fight, fight!

Pete Zucker said...

Anonymous-

HAHAHA!! Screw Mulgrew and my union. They don't have the cajones to do it.