Showing posts with label Danny Dromm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danny Dromm. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Live tweeting Chancellor Carranza's testimony before the City Council today : how did he do?

The City Council Finance and Education Committees held a joint budget hearing today on the city's education budget.   The Council budget summary is here, which among other things, shows that next year the city is projected to spend $2.1B per year on charter schools, nearly 10% of the entire DOE budget.

It was the first Council hearing at which Chancellor Carranza testified.  Though I was disappointed that more of the questions weren't focused on the big picture of class size (how can you have equity or excellence without addressing this issue?), in response to a question from CM Treyger, Chancellor Carranza did say that he understood the importance of class size and school overcrowding in being able to deliver a quality education.  He recounted that as a teacher,  he knew he could do so much better for his students when he had a class of 20 to 25 instead of 45, which he had one year.

He made no promises to fully address either class size or overcrowding, however, and implied that these problems would have to wait for the state to increase its funding to the city -- which I think is a cop-out.  When de Blasio wanted to expand preK, he aggressively argued for a tax increase, which then Cuomo countered by offering him the funds instead.  Since his election the Mayor has never expressed the same interest in lowering class size, or indeed in any program to improve education for K12 students, either funded through a city tax surcharge or by aggressively advocating for it at the state level.  Councilmember Mark Gjonaj noted the disparity in the focus of the DOE in expanding preK vs addressing overcrowding for K12 students, in particular, in making enough space to eliminate trailers.

In response to a question from CM Barron,  Carranza forthrightly said he would do what he could to improve the admissions system at the specialized high schools, and to make them based upon multiple measures whether than a single standardized test.  He implied he knew that the city had that authority for at least some of the schools (actually this is true of four out of the seven specialized schools ). 

He ended by saying DOE should be celebrating its successful schools rather than allowing them to be denigrated, by corporate CEOs etc., and had seen some terrific teaching at Bed Stuy public schools, for example.

If so, as I tweeted below, they should be celebrating PS 25 in Bed Stuy -- which according to the DOE's own metrics, outperforms all but one charter school in the entire city, and all but three out of 633 public elementary schools,  rather than shutting it down.

In short, Carranza seems to be the smartest, most progressive and articulate Chancellor  in my nearly twenty years as a public school parent and advocate; as well as the most politically adept. Here are my tweets about today's hearings:































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Monday, April 23, 2018

Hearings on NYC's dysfunctional school planning and siting process begins with DOE saying there is no negative impact of school overcrowding on students

Elizabeth Rose, Deputy Chancellor of NYC DOE and Lorraine Grillo, President, School Construction Authority
On Wednesday there were joint hearings at the City Council of the Education, Finance and Land Use committees on their comprehensive new report, Planning to Learn: The School Building Challenge, as well as five bills introduced to address the school overcrowding crisis which has led to more than 575,000 students crammed into overutilized schools according to the DOE's own data.  Here is the overcrowding by type of school, as included in the report -with elementary schools at 106% overutilizaiton, and the citywide average at 96%:

From Planning to Learn: The School Building Challenge

Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Rose and School Construction Authority President Lorraine Grillo testified on behalf of the city.  Rose refused to admit that school overcrowding was a problem or disadvantaged students in any way, and claimed that "some of our more successful schools are overcrowded."

Rose remained obdurate on this point even in the face of repeated questioning from Council
Council Member Mark Treyger
Education Chair Mark Treyger, who pointed out that overcrowding leads to huge class sizes, loss of art and music rooms, and other evidence of a substandard education.  Using closets for intervention services  and increasing class size does have an impact on opportunities for kids, he pointed out. Moreover, educators aren’t robots and need working space too. But Rose refused to budge.

(One can only imagine the scandal that would ensue if a Department of Health Commissioner testified that hospital overcrowding, with patients receiving treatment in hallways or closets, had no effect on the quality of care provided.  Yet to my knowledge, no media outlet reported on Rose's claims.) 

Lorraine Grillo admitted that the SCA has only four real estate brokers on retainer in the entire city to help them find sites for schools, and yet claimed "we’ve had enormous success with our brokers" and didn't need any more help locating sites.  Yet Council Members Vanessa Gibson and Danny Dromm pointed out how it was they who had recently identified sites for new schools in the Bronx and in Queens and had forwarded them on to the SCA. In fact,  when asked, Grillo couldn't name one school site that had been located by their brokers.

As to the SCA's enrollment projections, Grillo repeatedly claimed that they were accurate within 1-2 percent citywide.  However, that claim cannot be verified since neither the DOE nor the SCA release these projections publicly, and even if true, it could still mean that from district to district, neighborhood to neighborhood the projections were completely off.  Finally, given how many schools are at or near 100% capacity, the difference of only a few students could bring many of them above the tipping point.

Dromm also pointed out that the majority of seats funded in current five year capital plan won’t be ready till after 2022- wouldn't it be better to do rolling ten year plan instead? By 2022, it is likely that school construction will have fallen even further behind the need.  Grillo said that "we're mandated only to do a five year plan", implying that they couldn't go beyond that.
 
Will you include preK seats in future seats projections? Dromm asked.  The SCA doesn't apparently include preK in its seats need projections, even though many thousands more preK students are now in our schools, contributing to even worse overcrowding. Grillo said no,  those figures come from a separate department at DOE.  (what?)

Council Member Danny Dromm
Dromm: There's a huge development planned for Willis Point with 5000 housing units; but only one elementary school planned for the area.  Why not include a middle and a high school in the project?  Grillo responded: Queens high schools are already  overcrowded (This of course doesn't explain why they won't site on there.) What about a middle school, asked Dromm? Grillo said she didn't know.  

The reality is that the school planning process uses a formula that is based on census figures twenty year old, and doesn't take into account either the increased numbers of preK students or charter school students in DOE buildings.

The planning process also requires very high thresholds of increased overcrowding to be predicted by this inadequate formula to consider building a new school, even in neighborhoods where the schools are already overcapacity.  (One of the bills we proposed in our testimony is that the City Planning be required to update the formula based upon the latest Census figures, to include preK students, and to eliminate all thresholds so that the city builds schools where the schools are already overcrowded or likely to become so when the project is built.)
CM Rafael Salamanca, head of the Land Use Committee, also asked a series of good questions:  Why does the SCA use housing data in its seat needs analyses that includes so few units  built between 2019-2024, despite the current construction boom?  Grillo didn't know what he meant.
See this chart, with data drawn directly from the current SCA website - which reveals that for the purpose of projecting enrollment, the city predicts that not a single housing unit will be built in the entire borough of Brooklyn between 2019-2024, and only 184 units in the Bronx -- both experiencing huge building booms:

Council Member Salamanca
Salamanca then asked, Why is there only one multiplier used per borough to project the need for schools, given how the birth rate and immigration differs widely from one neighborhood to the next?   Grillo responded, this is only one piece of puzzle.

Salamanca also questioned why there was no effort made by the City Planning to address these issues: City Planning comes to us and says, we want 4000 new units in my district, but they have NEVER mentioned the need to build any new schools for the new families living there.  Why?  In many districts school overcrowding has existed for decades; and as we expand preK and 3K, and available land gets scarce and the population grows, the challenges increase to provide enough schools.   We must revise our methodologies to ensure all students have the maximum chance of success.

But perhaps the biggest revelation came when Council Member Treyger asked representatives from City Planning and DCAS (Department of Citywide Administrative Services) to join the DOE and the SCA at the witness table.

He then questioned them if they regularly communicate with the DOE about the need for new schools.  While they didn't answer the question directly, it soon became clear that there was no ongoing collaboration between these city agencies on the issue of school overcrowding, and that they are only involved when it came to major rezonings (City Planning) or when identifying available city-owned or other buildings for expanded preK and 3K (DCAS).

After the questioning of government officials was over, I testified, followed by disability advocates who spoke on the need to retrofit schools for better access.  Then CM Treyger asked if we felt that there was any real coordination between city agencies on tackling school overcrowding.

I answered that there was no effective collaboration that I could see, and that city agencies responded
Leonie Haimson at NYC Council hearings
only to the Mayor's top priorities, which up to now have been expanding preK, implementing 3K and building more housing, all of which actually contribute to worse school overcrowding rather than counteract it. Meanwhile, the only schools that are built are those where there is a tremendous grassroots effort undertaken from parents and their elected officials to demand this.

An example of what it requires occurred in the hugely overcrowded community of Sunset Park last year.  There have been five additional schools for Sunset Park funded in the capital plan for over 20 years without a single one built or even sited, with the DOE claiming there was simply no room in the neighborhood for new schools.  Then last year, four sites were acquired by the SCA for schools but only as a result of a tremendous organizing effort of parents, community organizations, and CM Menchaca, who identified these sites and pressed for their acquisition.

Not every community can do this, of course, and with the capital plan for school construction only half funded, many children will be left out.  Without the active involvement of the Mayor to prioritize this issue, and without a substantial boost in spending in the capital plan, along with systemic reforms to the process of school planning and siting, the problem of school overcrowding will likely grow even more severe, and NYC children will suffer the consequences.

Our testimony is posted below and here; and includes suggestions for strengthening the five bills already introduced.  It also proposes four additional bills:

  • A bill to to ensure that the CEQR formula used by City Planning is based upon the latest census data –  and that it includes enrollment projections for UPK and 3K students as well as charter schools already co-located in DOE buildings.
  • A bill to reform the ULURP process, so that proposed residential projects in areas where the schools are already overcrowded or likely to become so would require the building or leasing of new schools to provide sufficient seats to keep the schools below 100% utilization.  Right now the thresholds are far too high, even in areas where the schools are already overcrowded.
  • Any large-scale development project or rezoning should also be referred to the district Community Education Council for their comments. Often CECs are more aware of specific issues related to school capacity and overcrowding than local Community Boards. Like Community Boards, the CECs should hold public hearings and vote on whether to recommend approval, modification or rejection to the proposed project, based upon its likely impact on schools.
  • DOE should be also obligated to report each year on how many schools seats have been added and lost, whether through lapsed leases, elimination of TCUs, annexes or for other reasons. Right now, they only report on the number of seats added rather than lost each year, which gives a highly inaccurate picture of the progress made towards alleviating school overcrowding.


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Friday, June 19, 2015

With videos: Press Conference on school overcrowding and the need for an expanded capital plan

Council Members Stephen Levin and Danny Dromm
Yesterday, Class Size Matters hosted a press conference on the steps of City Hall about the need to address school overcrowding by expanding the capital plan and appoint a Commission to improve school planning and the efficiency of school siting.

Speakers included NYC Council Member Danny Dromm, Chair of the Education committee, David Greenfield, chair of the Land Use Committee, and Council Members Mark Levine, Inez Barron, and Stephen Levin, along with many parent leaders.

I introduced the press conference by releasing a letter from the Public Advocate to the Mayor and the Chancellor, co-signed by 22 Council Members and many parent leaders, urging them to double the seats in the capital plan and appoint a Commission to make recommendations on how school planning and siting could be improved.   

Then I pointed out that when the Mayor ran for office he promised that he would support a more ambitious capital plan that would provide the space necessary to eliminate overcrowding and allow for smaller classes.  He also pledged to reform the Blue Book formula so that it more accurately reflected overcrowding and incorporated the need for smaller classes.  Yet the opposite has happened; the city cut $5B for schools compared to the last ten year capital plan under Bloomberg, and $2B compared to the preliminary ten year plan released just a few months ago. 

This is despite the fact that about half a million students are enrolled in extremely overcrowded schools and the problem is getting worse.  NYC is the fastest growing large city in the country, according to recent Census data, and yet the city has no realistic proposal to address the exploding student population.   The current school construction capital plan will meet less than half the need, given DOE’s own enrollment projections and utilization figures.

Moreover, the mayor has proposed the creation of 160,000 market rate housing units and 200,000 affordable units, without any plan for where the additional students will attend school.  The Blue Book working group also came up with recommendations to improve the accuracy of the school overcrowding formula in December that have yet to be released.

The result of this dysfunctional lack of planning is that hundreds of schools have lost their cluster rooms; thousands of students are assigned to lunch as early as 10 a.m., and/or have no access to the gym. Many special needs students are forced to receive their services in hallways and/or closets rather than in dedicated spaces, and class sizes in the early grades have reached a 15-year high.



CSM press conference 6.18.15 Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Then Council Member Danny Dromm talked about damaging impact of overcrowding at the school in Queens where he once taught, with rampant overcrowding and class sizes as high as 38: “The problem in my school we had no place to put the students. …One day they opened the maintenance closet, took out the rakes and shovels and turned it into a speech classroom, without windows, so small you could barely get through the door, it was unbelievable to see that happen.  This is happening in many schools throughout the city…   With the expansion of affordable housing, the situation is only going to become worse with the influx of new students.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Council Member Daniel Dromm, chair of the NYC Council Education Committee from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Council Member Stephen Levin spoke of the need for responsible planning with huge development occurring in downtown Brooklyn, with residential high rises springing up rapidly:  “What we’re seeing in downtown Brooklyn and in a lot of neighborhoods in NYC is that our schools will continue to be overtaxed.  There has not been appropriate planning.  We are always playing catch up, we’re building well after the impact has already been felt…  We need to recognize that when we’re seeing these housing starts, we need to be pro-active, we need to put the money up front, and ensure the schools are ready when the housing comes online and not the other way around.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Councilmember Stephen Levin, Brooklyn from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

CM Mark Levine pointed out how the DOE's Blue Book formula wrongly identifies many of the schools in his area of Washington Heights and West Harlem as underutilized,  “where schools bear the scars of decades of overcrowding.  They have lost their computer rooms, their music rooms, have no gyms or cafeterias, because it’s all been reclaimed for classroom space.  They have trailers comically referred to temporary structures even though they’ve been in place for a decade or more. For years the DOE has accounted for capacity by claiming these schools are not overcrowded, but only because we’ve lost all the space needed for a truly enriching education …  There is virtually no construction planned in Northern Manhattan and they are going to leave in place a status quo that is unacceptable. We are here to say, we need to correct the wrongs of the previous era and build in upper Manhattan and give our kids the space they need.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Council Member Mark Levine, Northern Manhattan from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Then CM David Greenfield spoke as the chair of the Land Use Committee: “We approve all zoning changes; when you you’re submitting a development project, there has to be coordination with the DOE and the Mayor’s office to make sure that the resources are there for schools for kids.  You can squeeze another person on a bus or in a park, but squeezing an extra child in a classroom has a lifelong impact on many of these children, and it is not fair.  We need to think about development holistically; not just about housing, or quality jobs; it’s also about infrastructure, and #1 in infrastructure has to be school seats for our children. “


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Council Member David Greenfield, Chair of the Land Use Committee from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

CM Inez Barron spoke as a former principal and teacher:  “I spent 18 years as teacher, and 18 years as an administrator.  One year I had 34 students, which was very challenging.  The capital plan is not adequate of allocation for construction of new school buildings.  In the Mayor’s plan for expanding housing in East NY, he hasn’t included even one new school.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Council Member Inez Barron, Brooklyn from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Fe Florimon, chair of the CB12 Youth and Education Committee in Washington Heights and a member of the Community Education Council in District 6:   “We don’t need 38 kids in a classroom.  A budget of $25B [the city’s education budget] should be sufficient to reduce class size; this needs to be a top priority but we’re continuing the same pattern.  As much as I love you and voted for you, I beg you, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina, to pay close attention to this matter, we need small classes, it’s for our kids.” 


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Part II: Fe Florimon, CEC 6 member & Chair CB12M's Youth & Education Committee- Washington Heights from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Eduardo Hernandez of CEC 8 in the Bronx spoke about how it has been thirty years since District 8 got a new school: “Finally we’re getting a new school, even if it's right near a highway. School construction has been neglected for many years; also co-locations which take away classrooms have exacerbated this problem.  Hopefully this mayor will take notice and finally do the right thing.”  


CSM press conference 6.18.15 CEC 8 Treasurer Eduardo Hernandez of the Bronx from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Mario Aguila VP of the CEC in District 14 described how the high schools were hugely overcrowded, with up to forty students in a classroom.


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Mario Aguila, VP, CEC 14 in Brooklyn from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Kristin Gorman reported that there had been a Kindergarten waiting list of 70 children at her zoned school in Queens.  The waiting list was finally brought down when the preK program was eliminated, but “this is only a band-aid.  Why is a Democratic mayor, who many of us voted for, removing funds from education? I’m concerned about my children’s future.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Parent Kristin Gorman of Queens from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Wendy Chapman, co-founder of the organization Build Schools Now, dedicated to expanding school seats in the rapidly growing neighborhood of Tribeca, discussed the fact that even when funding is allotted for a school, the DOE often seems incapable of finding a site:  “There has been a school for this neighborhood in the capital budget for over a year; we’ve identified 11 possible sites for the school but it’s still not sited.  It’s very personal for us, every building that goes up just means more pressure that’s coming.”


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Wendy Chapman of Build Schools Now in Lower Manhattan from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

Zakiyah Ansari of AQE spoke about how the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit was brought in part to address the need to reducing class size “Our children would learn better, our teachers will be able to teach better if only they had smaller classes.“


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Zakiyah Ansari of the Alliance for Quality Education from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

MC Sweeney, a parent at PS 196 in Queens, decried the fact that the DOE refuses to use real population data to properly plan for schools, and the result has been growing Kindergarten waiting lists, the loss of art rooms, and special needs students receiving their services in hallways and closets.  She said that parents are going to demand the doubling of seats in the capital plan to be voted on at the PEP meeting on June 23. 


CSM press conference 6.18.15 MC Sweeney, Queens parent from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.


Beth Eisgrau-Heller, a new parent at PS 8 in Brooklyn, also described the huge Kindergarten waiting list at her school, and how real birth rate data should be used and the capital plan expanded to prevent the disruption and divisiveness created by waiting lists and school overcrowding.


CSM press conference 6.18.15 Beth Eisgrau-Heller from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.


Also, here is a DNAinfo news article about parents'  demands for a doubling of the seats in the capital plan .
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