Chancellor's Regs and School Changes for Vote at November PEP

Six public notices were released by DOE tonight for votes on the agenda for the November 12th PEP meeting. Three are Chancellor's regulations and three are changes in school configuration / utilization.

Links to all are below and on the PEP web site here It looks like we have a location for the November meeting as well: PS 128 in Queens, located at 69-10 65th Drive, Queens, NY 11379

Text below from the DOE site:

PUBLIC COMMENT

The following regulations have been posted for the 45 day public comment period. The Panel will vote on the regulations listed below at the November 12, 2009 Panel meeting. The meeting will take place at 6:00 PM at PS 128 in Queens, located at 69-10 65th Drive, Queens, NY 11379.

1. Public Notice: C-30 Regulation Governing the Selection, Assignment and Appointment of Principals and Assistant Principals
   
   a. C-30 Regulation Governing the Selection, Assignment and Appointment of Principals and Assistant Principals
   
   
2. Public Notice: C-37 Selection of Community Superintendents
   
   a. C-37 Selection of Community Superintendents
   
   
3. Public Notice: A-190 Regulation on Significant changes in School Utilization
   
   a. A-190 Regulation on Significant Changes in School Utilization
   
   
4. Public Notice: A-501 Regulation on Promotion Standards
   
   a. A-501 Regulation on Promotion Standards

PUBLIC COMMENT

The following educational impact statements have been posted for the 45 day public comment period. The Panel will vote on the statements listed below at the November 12, 2009 Panel meeting. The meeting will take place at 6:00 PM at PS 128 in Queens, located at 69-10 65th Drive, Queens, NY 11379.

1. Public Notice: PS 46M
   
   a. Educational Impact Statement for PS 46M
   
   
2. Public Notice: Greenwich Village Middle School
   
   a. Educational Impact Statement for Greenwich Village Middle School
   
   
3. Public Notice: Mott Hall V (12X242)
   
   a. Educational Impact Statement for Mott Hall V (12X242)

Restore parent power: send a message to Commissioner Mills today!

On Dec. 31, Marie Pollicino, a parent and Community Education Council member from Queens, filed a class action complaint with the State Education Department on behalf of all NYC public school parents. Her petition says that the new regulations adopted by DOE that strip away the rights and responsibilities of School Leadership Teams to decide on school-based budgets and Comprehensive Education plans are unlawful and unwarranted, and should be reversed.

She also points out that the process of amending these regs was contrary to state law by not involving CECs or any other official parent group, and she asked for a stay, so that the previous regulations that provided real decision-making authority to SLTs should be retained until the Commissioner determines the propriety of the amendments.

Her petition is posted here; it makes a very compelling case. It follows an earlier letter to the Commissioner from the NY State Assembly Education Chair Cathy Nolan, who made several of the same points.

Given more resources and authority delegated to the school level, and the huge pressure put on principals by this administration to raise test scores and spend nearly all their discretionary funds on data analysis and test prep, to the exclusion of nearly everything else, it is more crucial than ever before that parents be able to provide a countervailing force to see that resources are invested properly – on reducing class size and improving learning conditions in our classrooms.

This regulation is yet another insidious way in which the administration is systematically trying to strip any ability for parents to have a voice in the way their children are educated.

Please contact the Commissioner Richard Mills, with a copy of your email to the Regents, Assembly Member Nolan, City Council Member Robert Jackson, Chancellor Klein and the Mayor, as well as your own elected reps in the Legislature and City Council – whose emails you can easily gather by plugging in your address here. A sample message along with email addresses is below; feel free to add anything relevant to your situation or that of your child.

To: richard.mills@mail.nysed.gov; djohnson@mail.nysed.gov;
CC: jackson@council.nyc.ny.us; JKlein@schools.nyc.gov; mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov; nolanc@ assembly.state.ny.us (and your state and city council reps)

Dear Commissioner Mills and the Board of Regents:

I urge you to support the class action petition by Marie Pollicino of the District 26 Community Education Council, on behalf of all NYC parents, and reverse the unauthorized and illegal action of the NYC Department of Education to eliminate the authority of School Leadership Teams to collectively determine each school’s budget and Comprehensive Education Plan. This amendment to the regulations governing the rights and responsibilities of SLTs would remove the ability of parents to help determine the spending priorities of their children’s schools, and was done without consulting Community Education Councils and/or any official parent group, contrary to state law and regulation.

I urge you to restore the regulation to its previous version, which properly recognized the rights of parents to be full partners along with the principal and staff in decision-making at the school level.

Yours, [Name, home address, school, and leadership position if any.]

Tweed's refusal to listen to our views as to CECs, etc.

From Lisa Donlan, CEC member from District 1 in Manhattan:

One of the immediate, if relatively minor, consequences of the re-organization has been the suspension of several key parent engagement activities as the DoE tardily contemplates the effect on parents of kicking over the anthill to see what crawls out, once again.

Missing in action are the A-660 (Chancellor’s Regs that govern/define PTAs and Presidents’ Councils) the A-655 (regulations on School and District Leadership Teams), the CEP (Comprehensive Education Plan that is to align school goals with budgets, structures and actions) for each school, and the DCEP (CEP for community districts) to name a few of the casualties.

Each of these documents is in the midst of a major rewrite to accommodate the restructuring, and thus are not accessible for parents to use.

This year the individual school budgets, the first ones under the (watered down) revolutionary new funding scheme will be released in “early May.” CEC’s are to hold public hearings, reporting back parent input by May 31, as the Panel on Educational Policy is to rubber stamp the budget in the June meeting.

The Citywide Education Councils for High Schools and Special Education are based on the current region structure that will disappear on June 30, affecting the formation of the councils as the elections go forward.

In any case, the DoE has refused for three years to follow through on suggestions from parent leaders and elected officials to improve the council election process, legislation that governs the councils, or the training and operations of the councils.

It is clear that while the Mayor and Chancellor are willing to commit enormous energy into making bold new changes to our public education system, their implementation is often sloppy and poorly thought out. Instead of leaving parents limited opportunities for input in the wake of their reforms, the DoE would be wise to include us as partners in the planning and design of changes that affect us, our children and their schools.

I am sure we could contribute much to counter the negative effects of the culture of group think and yes-men that the consultants and lawyers have brought to the policymaking table.