Powerful video with Johanna Garcia and Fatima Geidi speaking about charter abuses & DOE collusion

Perhaps the most moving of the panel discussions at our Parent Action Conference on Jan. 27 was the one that was held after the showing of the documentary Backpack full of Cash -- a must see film by the way.  Though Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa sent her regrets as she had a bad case of the flu, the conversation was powerful and important.

Public school parent and CEC District 6 President Johanna Garcia spoke about how our public school students are still being cheated of the education they deserve and their schools underfunded, while more and more space and funding is being peeled away by charter schools.  She also told how the DOE is illegally colluding with charters by making public school student personal information available to them for recruiting purposes, without parental consent.  Here's more about the FERPA complaint she filed in November.  She also spoke about how the only one of her three children to be recruited by charter schools was the one who tested gifted and did not have an IEP.  This puts at doubt the DOE claims that they only make student names, addresses and grade levels accessible to charter schools for their mailings. Others in the audience expressed similar experiences of their children being selectively recruited by charter schools.

Fatima Geidi spoke about the abuse her son suffered when he was enrolled at Success Academy charter school, abuse that he still has not fully recovered from, including being suspended  more than 30 times when he was in the first grade.  After Fatima was interviewed on the PBS News Hour about how her son was treated, Eva Moskowitz, Success CEO, retaliated against her and her son by releasing his disciplinary file to the public, full of trumped up charges.  (Just recently Fatima was informed that Success charter schools is now being investigated by the US Department of Education for violating federal privacy laws.)  Fatima became understandably emotional recounting her experiences,  and we did too.  Take a look.  (video thanks to Norm Scott.)

KidsPac Class Size Matters Conf Afternoon Panel Jan 27 2018 from MORE-UFT/GEM on Vimeo.