The Chancellor says no final decision has yet been made on the issue of providing student information to charters for marketing purposes

More on this fast-developing if infuriating story in the Daily News here.

This morning at Tweed, Chancellor Carranza spoke about his opposition to the long-standing DOE practice of allowing charter schools to use the DOE mailing lists.  He said no final decision has yet been made to change this practice– contrary to what reporters had already been told about this as late as last night and parents this morning.  He asked for parents to make their voices heard about whether they wanted this practice to continue or not.

For more on this issue, see our press release here, with quotes from parent leaders, which among other things points out that DOE is the ONLY school district in the country that provides this info to charters voluntarily, helping them recruit their students, take their space and their funding, which is now costing our schools more than $2.1 billion per year.  See also Diane Ravitch's blog, which hypothesizes that the Mayor chickened out when the news leaked out prematurely and he got blowback from the wealthy and powerful charter lobby.

Grace Lovaglio streamed Carranza's remarks to CPAC on Facebook live.  He addressed the student privacy and charter school recruitment issue for about ten minutes at 36.25 minutes in.  A rough transcript of his remarks follows:

Carranza says that he has not gone to any parent meetings where he has not heard about the “predatory nature” of charters and all the mailings.   He tells the story of one parent who told him that only one of her children not to get the mailings is the one who tested gifted and not the ones w/ IEPs.  The Mayor has spoken that this is not okay. …now somehow this has become that the district is going to cut this off. I cannot speak to whether or not this is going to happen.

The charter organizations are going to the media saying that this is unfair….I want parents to have all the info they need to make an informed decision. I do not believe that it is  the responsibility of the DOE to provide this info to charters and help in some cases to  destroy our public schools.

Then he talks about co-located charters with millions in private funding to ramp up their programs…. So they should use some of those millions to do your own recruitment.

It’s a fundamental fairness issue, I cannot tell you what’s going to happen.  If parents feel strongly about that it is not ok and that your child’s personal info  should not be subject to corporate charter organizations out to recruit your kids, this  should not be painted as big bad mayor or big bad chancellor wants to take away parent choice. [clapping]

Important that parent voices I’ve heard all across the city are speaking up about how you feel about this issue. It’s going to be critically important now is the time as conversations are already happening.  What we’re going to release about supervision we are going to do and about access. . We are not announcing anything today…But the conversation should absolutely start today.

A parent says something…

Then Carranza talks about asking for possibly requiring affirmative parent consent –I’ve heard from parents, the mayor has heard from parents.  I have to get on a call about this very issue….

Parent asks a question about schools and funding –

A lot of issues.  I want to speak transparently, unvarnished.  I personally as an educator I’m not  anti-charter b/c I can’t tell you that every one of 1800 schools I’d be comfortable sending my child to, but that drives me every day to make sure they are.  But how can I support any system structure or practice that denigrates the very work we’re trying to -  how can I help someone load up a moving van and give him the gas for the van and steal my furniture.

I have responsibility as chancellor of DOE to call this out.  But what you’re going to hear, they’re going to characterize this that I’m fighting with charter schools and its going to get  personal that I’m trying to destroy charters.  That doesn’t bother me but what bothers me is this… is that it gets confused.

When I’m in Harlem and D3 and they show me how they’re doing the hard work to improve their schools and recruiting families and yet about the saturation of charters in that district, we fight it in Albany but Suny approves it.  At some point you have to take care of your own..

[parent, says that’s right, finally, finally]

Parent Grace Lovaglio ends the session by saying to her phone: Thank you so much! You heard it heard first that the charter school issue is going to be addressed finally after years of abuse and getting funds…getting student info because Bloomberg sold out. I’m just so happy that Chancellor going to address this issue.

Elected and parent leaders urge the Mayor to fully fund need for school seats in soon-to-be released capital plan

Mayor promising to fully fund need for seats in next five-year Capital plan

For immediate release: October 26, 2018

Contact: Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329; leonie@classsizematters.org

Elected and parent leaders urge the Mayor to fully fund need for school seats in soon-to-be released capital plan

They warn that school overcrowding will worsen without a focused effort to expand capacity

The new five-year capital plan for schools for 2020-2024 is expected to be released next month. Earlier this week, a letter was sent to the Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza, asking them to fulfill the promise the Mayor made last year that the new plan would fully fund new school space according to the Department of Education’s own estimate of need. At that time, the need was projected by DOE to be 38,000 seats in addition to the 44,000 seats in the current plan, to alleviate school overcrowding and accommodate projected enrollment growth.

The letter was signed by Public Advocate Letitia James, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, newly-elected State Senator Robert Jackson, along with leaders of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council, many Presidents of President Councils and Community Education Councils, the Education Council Consortium, and Class Size Matters.

“We know that when our schools are overcrowded, our children are deprived of the attention they deserve,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “Supporting our schools and ensuring our children have the resources they need to succeed should always be top priority and that starts with fully funding this capital plan to accommodate the growing number of students in New York City. Every child deserves access to a quality education and we cannot wait to act.”

As Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters explained, “According to the DOE’s data, about 575,000 students are crammed into overcrowded NYC schools. The current capital plan is only about half-funded in terms of new school capacity compared to the need identified by the DOE. Meanwhile, the city’s population is growing fast, there’s a residential building boom in every borough, and thousands more 3K and UPK students are enrolled in our district’s schools. All this is contributing to worsening school overcrowding, especially in elementary schools which average 104% utilization citywide.”

Shino Tanikawa, co-President of the Education Council Consortium, composed of Citywide and Community Education Council members, pointed out, “The ECC unanimously voted to sign on to this letter, because too many kids have lost their art rooms, access to gyms and cafeterias at reasonable times, and are subjected to excessive class sizes. We know that as it is, the DOE’s estimate of need is too low. For one thing, the school utilization formula is not aligned to the smaller classes required for a truly equitable chance to learn, despite the recommendations made by the Blue Book Working Group which I co-chaired. The Mayor should fulfill his promise to fund and build at least the schools that the DOE admits are required.”

The letter also urged the Mayor and the Chancellor to accelerate the process of school siting and construction so that the additional seats are built within five years, rather than trailing years behind enrollment, as occurs now.

Naila Rosario, President of the NYC Kids PAC, explained: “Too often, even those school seats that are funded take twenty years or more to site and build. Meanwhile, class sizes swell out of control, as high rises and new developments sprout up all over the city. Most of the seats funded in the current capital plan won’t be built until 2020 or later, long after the plan is over. We need to accelerate this process of school planning and construction and make it far more efficient.”

Concluded Celia Green, newly-elected President of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council and a parent of special needs students, pointed out, “Students with disabilities have repeatedly been forced into too-small rooms, shunted aside in trailers, and often receive their mandated services in hallways or closets. This is unacceptable, especially in the richest city in the country in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Parents know that their children’s opportunities are partly shaped by the environment in which they are educated, and it is past time that the city acknowledge that fact, by providing them with the space they deserve.”

A copy of the letter is posted here.

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Video: de Blasio refuses to allow parent input in the choice of a new Chancellor; and Sen. Hoylman's letter in response

Three weeks ago, NYC parent leaders, including the co-chairs of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council and the leaders of the elected Community Education Councils,  asked Mayor de Blasio for a meeting to discuss how they could provide input towards the choice of a new Chancellor.  The Mayor still has not even responded to their letter, undercutting his claim that he respects parents and believes in real communication and collaboration.

See de Blasio's response to Sen. Brad Hoylman's questions in the video below,  about the Governor's proposal to increase charter school costs to NYC, and then about the Chancellor selection process.  Below that, Brad's follow-up letter to the Mayor about the latter issue.

Senator Brad Hoylman questioning Mayor de Blasio on Education from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

HOYLMAN URGES “OPEN AND INCLUSIVE PROCESS” TO SELECT NEW CHANCELLOR OF NYC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

NEW YORK, NY – State Senator Brad Hoylman (D/WF–Manhattan) sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio today urging an “open and inclusive” selection process for the next Chancellor of New York City’s school system that gives parents a “substantive role in the selection,” and calling on the Mayor to meet with members of the Citywide and Community Education Councils (CEC). Hoylman’s request follows a January 13, 2018, letter by CEC members to the Mayor requesting a meeting to discuss the selection process.

Senator Brad Hoylman said: “Under the leadership of Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña, New York City’s public schools have made marked progress. The search for a new Chancellor offers a unique opportunity to build on progress by giving parents a substantive role in the selection process. We cannot let this opportunity go to waste. As an elected official and a public school parent, I urge Mayor de Blasio to meet with representatives of New York’s 1 million public school parents to ensure they have a voice in choosing the next Chancellor.”'

In addition to calling for a more transparent selection process, Hoylman, who represents more than 60 public schools as representative for the 27^th State Senate District, endorsed a number of qualifications for the next Chancellor proffered by the citywide CECs:

• An educator with experience teaching in classrooms and serving as a school leader and someone who does not require a waiver;
• Experience managing or working in an administrative position in a large school district with diverse students and families;
• Track record in collaborating with parent leaders … in development of policies, initiatives and programs;
• Demonstrated commitment to and a good track record working with students with disabilities and English Language Learners.

A copy of Senator Hoylman’s letter can be found below.

February 8, 2018

Hon. Bill de Blasio

Mayor

City Hall

New York, NY 10007

Dear Mayor de Blasio:

I am writing in connection with the January 13, 2018 letter (the “Letter”) to you from members of the Citywide and Community Education Councils representing public school parents urging you to select the next Chancellor of the NYC School System through an open and inclusive process. 

I strongly agree with the sentiment of the Letter requesting you create an opportunity for parents and other stakeholders to interview the candidates for Chancellor. I endorse the qualifications and characteristics put forth in the letter for candidates of Chancellor, including:

• An educator with experience teaching in classrooms and serving as a school leader and someone who does not require a waiver;
• Experience managing or working in an administrative position in a large school district with diverse students and families;
• Track record in collaborating with parent leaders like us in development of policies, initiatives and programs;
• An innovator who can work the bureaucracy to develop creative solutions;
• Ability to use resources efficiently, equitably and creatively to maximize benefits for students;
• Demonstrated commitment to and a good track record working with students with disabilities and English Language Learners;
• Commitment to traditional public schools and to fighting privatization of our schools; and
• Strong motivation to tackle challenging issues including school segregation, charter school accountability and transparency, and supporting our highest need schools.

As a State Senator and a public school parent, I believe we should embrace every opportunity to increase parent engagement. It is essential that our next Chancellor inspire confidence from parents and guardians through a transparent and inclusive selection process. At the same time, we have a new and exciting opportunity to deepen parent involvement by giving parents a substantive role in the selection of the next Chancellor.

I urge your administration to meet with members of the Citywide and Community Education Councils as soon as possible to discuss ways to include parent input in the Chancellor selection process. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely yours,

Brad Hoylman

New York State Senator

District 27

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News & video of yesterday's press conference, where NYC parent leaders demand a voice in selecting the next Chancellor, and the mayor's response (so far)

Yesterday's press conference where parent leaders from the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council and the Community and Citywide Education Councils demanded that the Mayor give them a seat at the table in selecting a new Chancellor was covered by the Daily News, the Wall Street Journal, Chalkbeat, and NY1.  (The WSJ article is posted in the comment section below.)

The Mayor's response, according to the Daily News?

"While parent and community input is an important part of our chancellor search, the decision is ultimately the Mayor's, who is a proud parent of former NYC public school students,” said De Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie."

What?  How is parent or community input part of the Mayor's search, when the search has been undertaken in complete secrecy, no one has been asked their views and potential candidates don't even know how to apply?  And the suggestion here appears to justify excluding parents , because de Blasio was once a public school parent himself, is very curious.  By the same token, one might argue that he shouldn't have had to be elected by voters for a second term, because he was once a voter himself.

Lindsey Christ of NY1 dug up the 2012 video showing when de Blasio ran for office originally, he described how he would select a Chancellor this way: 

"With a serious serious public screening. Cathy Black was pushed down our throats because of mayoral control gone to an undemocratic level.  No one said mayoral control meant a mayoral narrow inability to communicate, to give the public a role, to air ideas and decisions before they were made.  We need a more democratic small "d" version of mayoral control and we need a chancellor who is presented to the public not just forced down their throat."

Here is Lindsey's tweet today, with a response from Kim Watkins, CEC 3 President:

"A serious, serious public screening" is what @NYCMayor said in 2012 should happen with a Chancellor search. Now he says search will be secretive. We found the video of his 2012 comments. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/AuNDVYzxWt

— Lindsey Christ (@LindseyChrist) January 24, 2018

Great find, not just on the hiring of next Chancellor but on mayoral control across a wide array of school issues - see @CEC3NYC opinion @GothamGazette https://t.co/t3k8E34fq1 1.1 mil children system needs checks & balances not autocratic rule.

— kimwatkinsnyc (@kimwatkinsnyc) January 24, 2018

The Mayor's argument now seems to be that holding a public screening with parent input would discourage potential candidates .  But as David Bloomfield pointed out yesterday in Chalkbeat, this sort of public vetting goes on all the time in other districts across the country:

In those districts, community consensus is usually reached on a job description with desired qualifications. The post is widely advertised, often by a specialized superintendent search firm that conducts an initial review of confidential applications. A list of qualified candidates is presented to the Board of Education, which further culls the still-private list to arrive at three to five finalists.\\


After the candidates are given a chance to inform their current employers, they are publicly announced and interviews scheduled. In the ensuing weeks, the public and press explore finalists’ records. Members of the screening committee may even visit their home districts. Candidate interviews are often televised or streamed online. The position is then offered after a period of post-interview public comment and board deliberation.

Right now a similar process is occurring in Massachusetts, where three finalists who applied to be appointed State Education Commissioner are about to appear in public to answer questions:

The candidates were selected among 18 applicants by the preliminary screening committee made up of five board members who are voting members of the committee and 10 non-voting members from the public.  The education board will interview the finalists at a public meeting on Jan. 26, 2018 at the Omni Parker House in Boston.

This is far better than the haphazard process that brought us such Chancellors as Cathy Black in the recent past.  If candidates have the gumption to run the nation's largest school district, they should also have the confidence to appear before the public and explain what they would do in the job.

As David Bloomfield concludes,

A thoughtful, transparent process would be a win-win for the mayor, enhancing his progressive credentials while allowing him to remain in the driver’s seat. A public search would also be a win for the city and the next chancellor, who would arrive with more of a popular mandate than if she or he was vetted and hired behind closed doors...A public process makes sense, and the moment is now.

A video of  yesterday's entire press conference is below, thanks to Norm Scott. 

Parents Demand de Blasio Give Them Role in Chancellor Selection from MORE-UFT/GEM on Vimeo.

Parent leaders demand NYC Mayor give parents a voice in choice of a new schools Chancellor

Jessamyn Lee,Co-Chair, Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (credit S. Ochshorn)

For immediate release: January 23, 2018

For more information: Leonie Haimson, leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, leaders of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council (CPAC), representing all the PTAs and Parent Associations in NYC public schools, along with the leaders of the Education Council Consortium, representing the elected and appointed members of the Community and Citywide Education Councils, along with about 30 other parent leaders,  gathered on the steps of Tweed

Marco Batistella, CPAC co-chair (credit S. Ochshorn)

Courthouse, the NYC Department of Education headquarters.  As representatives of more than one million public school parents, they demanded that Mayor de Blasio implement a transparent selection process for a new Chancellor, and give parents a voice in this process, as he promised to do when he first ran for Mayor, instead of the quiet, internal decision that he currently plans.  

If there is a public vetting that includes the input of parents and community members, the likelihood will be that the individual selected will work well with parents and be responsive to their concerns.  As the first step in devising  this process, they asked to meet with the Mayor as soon as possible.

Shino Tanikawa, Co-Chair ECC, President NYC Kids PAC (credit S.Ochshorn)

Jessamyn Lee, the Co-Chair of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory said: “The Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC) urges Mayor de Blasio to honor Chancellor Farina's commitment to parent engagement by including parents in the selection of the new Schools Chancellor. We are partners in the education of our children. The city trusts parents to participate as partners in the hiring of our school principals and local superintendents. The 1.1 million students in our school system are wholly disenfranchised, represented only by the voices and activism of their parents. For the Mayor to deny parents the opportunity to represent the interests of our children in this critical decision is to ignore the voices of our most vulnerable, underrepresented New Yorkers. CPAC insists that parents be included in the hiring of the Department of Education's new leader. “

NeQuan McLean, Co-chair, ECC (credit S. Ochshorn)

Shino Tanikawa, the Co-Chair of NYC Kids PAC and the co-President of the Education Council Consortium said, “I sincerely hope the Mayor considers an open and public selection process that includes parent leaders.  This is an opportunity to ensure that the next Chancellor has the qualities and qualifications necessary to run the nation's largest public school system and is someone who can truly collaborate with all stakeholders including parents.”

NeQuan McLean, the Co-Chair of the Education Council Consortium said: “The next chancellor will need to address the challenge of ‘separate is not equal’ in NYC’s highly segregated school system.  NYC students deserve a chancellor who will work to stop the well- documented harm done to the majority of students who attend our public schools. These students are children with disabilities, English Language Learners and children from economically disadvantaged communities. They are our most vulnerable students with the most to gain as educated and career-ready citizens. Our next chancellor needs to be a champion for these children and all children in our public school system.”

Pam Stewart,  CCHS (credit: S. Ochshorn)

Eduardo Hernandez, CEC 8 (credit S. Ochshorn)

Marco Batistella, CPAC Co-Char, Pam Stewart of the Citywide Council of High Schools, Eduardo Hernandez of the Community Education Council in District 8, Nancy Northrup of the Queens High School Presidents Council, and many other parent leaders explained why it was critical for parents to have a real voice in the selection process, to ensure that the next Chancellor will be successful in collaborating with parents for the benefit of  NYC children. 

For more information, see the CPAC letter here:  https://tinyurl.com/y8r5y7pu ; 

ECC letter here: https://tinyurl.com/y739q5yk

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