Ellen McHugh on the report of the Space-Sharing Taskforce

Here are comments from Ellen McHugh of the Citywide Council on Special Education about the just-released report of the Space Sharing taskforce.

This is Mom and apple pie.  Who can disagree with giving vulnerable students an opportunity to succeed?  When have we as a society ever, publicly, denied these students their rightful places in schools? The proof is in the pudding...to carry the food analogy.

One big issue is ignored:

"By state law, charter schools are generally exempt from laws, rules, regulations or policies governing public or private schools other than those requirements relating to health and safety, civil rights, and student assessment requirements.  It is the working group’s hope that all schools work together to implement these recommendations."

There's the loop hole that the schools in question will use to escape as many issues as is possible.  We will watch folks wringing hands and wrangling concessions.  What's new about that, except that we are in a two tier, twice funded, twisted system.  The Chancellor and the Mayor can say all they want about their dedication to and conviction that all students should have opportunity.  They join a chorus of many other Mayors and Chancellors.  This chorus has had a good deal of practice but no impact, none, on the issue of appropriate space for students with special needs.  Why not, you ask? 

Buildings don't change unless added to, most buildings were not built at a time when students with special needs attended school.  Since many of the students require smaller class sizes in order to have the necessary attention from teachers, the DOE needs to commit to lower class sizes.  A class of 26 students, with 40% of them having IEPs or 504 plans that are disparate and require different methodologies, is a burden that no two teachers can support.  No private school...Dalton, Hackley, etc.etc...has that number of students in a class, yet the fact that we, public school parents, are supposed to be glad or happy that we even have a class is a mockery of education philosophy and policy.

"It's difficult to manage all of the moving parts involved in sharing spaces within a physical plant, including cost sharing, staffing, managing equipment and repairs, and scheduling. As a result, resources may be used inefficiently and inequitably on many campuses."

Parents and community members have been commenting and complaining about this since the co-locations began.  A panel had to be convened to bring this to the attention of the DOE?

"Beginning in 2010, State law requires that in all co-located buildings where more than $5,000 is spent on capital improvements or facility upgrades to accommodate a charter school co-location, improvements or upgrades in an equal amount must be made for each non-charter school within the public school building"

Where is the documentation that this has occurred in a timely and efficient manner? If this has occurred in co-located schools then why are we still hearing about students with special needs getting services in hall ways and under stair cases?

"Engage the office of enrollment in work with middle and high school principals to develop and enforce reasonable caps on enrollment. These caps should work to mitigate overcrowding, which negatively impacts students, and prevent schools from receiving inappropriately high concentrations of high-need students."

This sentence scares the living daylights out of me.  Capping means that kids with special needs will be frozen out of the schools.  Adding trailers was not a solution.  Segregating students in separate schools was not a solution. Sending students all over the city to schools with space was not a solution.  Educating students with special needs in their home school, with their peers, their siblings and their neighbors, learning both age appropriate academics and age appropriate social skills is a solution.  

While I believe that high concentrations of high needs students is not a solution, who defines high needs?  Having an IEP or a 504 plan already determines a high needs student.  How easy would that be to identify and then arbitrarily limit access by knowing a child has an IEP.  Parents are already wary of the IEP process and now we are handing schools an easy way to identify, and deny access to high needs students. 

More on the invasion of S. Williamsburg by Success Academy charter school

Check out the video below by Darren Marelli, along with Ellen McHugh's account of the hearings to co-locate yet another branch of Eva Moskowitz' charter chain in PS 50 in South Williamburg Brooklyn. 

South Williamsburg is largely Latino, but Moskowitz has spent millions in advertising, recruiting and plastering the subways in the north section -- the gentrified part of district  -- with ads for her charter school, featuring mostly little white faces.  This, combined with the fact that her charter chain enrolls very few English Language Learners, and the community was never asked if they wanted her charter in their midst, has enraged many elected officials, activists, clergy and residents.

And we're back; another public school, another charter. This is getting monotonous, repetitive, scary, demeaning, pick a descriptor. There are co-location hearings such as this at least once a week in NYC and they run under the radar. Large scale newspapers never send reporters, small ethnic papers send young Jimmy Olsen type cub reporters, fresh from school and without knowledge.

We were in the well-lit auditorium of IS 50, in Los Sures, the beating heart of Williamsburgh. Nine people were on the dais: two from the local CEC District 14, two from the SLT, two from the CCSE, the principal from the high school, a representative from the DOE Division of Portfolio Planning and a representative of the SUNY Board of Trustees. There were a requisite number of assistants from the DOE sitting attentively in the front row. And next to them were two men with camera in hand, microphone extended, catching every word, filming every member of the panel on the stage or speaker in the well. Whispers in the audience let me know they were from Eva's Success Academy public relations shop. 

The DOE rep began the meeting intoning the standard speech about the reasons we were here. None of us were surprised. We could read too. That's an issue with the DOE. Most of their employees think we (the public) only come with stupid. Not a brain among us.

He introduced the panel and began the public period of the meeting. While we were listening to him there was some action among the members of the panel. The principal of the high school heaved a sigh and whispered that she was glad she'd be out of the building in the fall.  The SUNY rep busily scribbled notes, rarely lifting his head and startled when asked a question.

Over fifty individuals had signed up to speak. Many of the speakers were long time residents of the area. They spoke English and Spanish to a sympathetic crowd. There were cheers. There were standing ovations. There are four elementary schools within walking distance of PS 50, but there was no high-performing junior high school. This plan would lead to further polarization in the community.

Progress Inc. produced 1,000 signatures protesting the charter school. Councilwoman Reyna received a standing ovation when she told the crowd that she would work to oppose the move. Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez sent a representative who promised that Congress would be looking at this co-location plan. A young man read a poem blasting the plan. Many asked hard questions: "What does it take?" What does it take for the DOE to hear us? What does it take for the DOE to hear the neighborhood and not Eva? Only one person favored the proposal for the charter school: one young, woman who was a resident of Williamsburg for about three years. It was heartbreaking.

Then a shiver of excitement went through the room. Occupy was outside. The people's mic made an appearance. In the back there was a bit of scuffle between two burly members of the security team the DOE folks travel with and some protestors. Quickly a huge banner on three poles was unfurled : "Success Academy = Vampires". The security people wanted the banner down. The poles were dangerous. To keep the peace, and keep the banner up, the poles were removed and some protesters held the banner.

But hanging in the air, over all of the excitement and between all of the shouts, were ugly strings of words. "We will take over the school." "We will go to jail." It's come to that. Threats, not plans: not plans that include the community, not plans that end social inequalities, not plans that build a school.

What does it take? -- Ellen McHugh of Parent to Parent and the Citywide Council on Special Education

Note: a mistake in the published EIS requires another meeting on this co-location. The vote by the PEP has been delayed until March 1, 2012

Ellen McHugh: nothing dark but the intent of the DOE

Here is Ellen McHugh's account of the controversial Cobble Hill charter co-location hearing, more description and video of which is here.  Ellen is head of Parent to Parent - NYS, and a member of the Citywide Council for Special Education:

Another hearing another show. (with apologies to Cole Porter).

Outside it really was a dark and rainy night but the sharp lightning flash of argument chased the gloom from the corners of the auditorium at 293 in District 15.  Here, at the hearing on a co-location of a Success charter with three other schools, there was nothing dark but the intent of the DOE.  As the room was filling up it was obvious that one thing was missing: there were no tee-shirted, cap wearing, sign carrying devotees of Success Academy.  Having participated at many of these co-location hearings, the lack of devotees signaled only one thing: a change in strategy.  That, or the ridicule these tactics engendered had caused a shuffle in the war rooms at Success, Inc

Occupy Wall Street came with the people's mic. Students from the affected schools were clustered to right of the panel.  The charters folks were on the left, huddled and lacking in cohesion.  Parents and community members were rapidly filling seats throughout the auditorium. Elected officials or their representatives were here.  On the right near students and administrators were staff members from the schools. DOE staffers trotted back and forth whispering to various DOE representatives, carrying water for the thirsty. B.I.T.s (Bureaucrats in Training*) clattered up and down the aisle.(*my thanks to Mark K for that turn of phrase)

Two armed police officers were in the back and a clique of school safety officers watched the crowd.  This was District 15, home of brownstone Brooklyn and gentrification.  Were they expecting a riot? 

Right on time, at 6:20, Jim Devor, the Chair of CEC 15, began the meeting.  He introduced the members of the panel, about 14 people from the SLT teams, CCSE, CCHS, SUNY and the DOE, as well as the Brooklyn High School Superintendent.  The SUNY representative made a statement. The DOE Deputy
Chancellor Marc Sternberg read the proposal to the audience and a CCSE member [Ellen herself] made a short statement of concerns: the educational impact statement or EIS made no reference to actual education programs or the sharing of best practices between and among schools, lack of appropriate space for specialized services for students with IEPs, an artificial growth limit for all of the schools and programs currently in the building.

Then the questioning, by the Chair of the D 15 CEC, began.  If the purpose of charter schools is to offer choice to parents of students in failing schools, why was the DOE proposing this co-location in an area with high performing schools?  Originally the charter application submitted was approved for D 13 or D 14.  Why the sudden move to D 15?  Why had there been no preliminary discussion with the D 15 CEC or the Community Planning Board, as required by the law?  Why had CUNY ignored its own guidelines of
community involvement?  Why was it appropriate to plan for a school building utilization of 108%?  

Another CEC member asked why, when Sunset Park had many underperforming schools, it was considered appropriate to site the charter in this neighborhood?  Students who have high needs and who were at risk were being ignored by a charter school founder who professed to provide choice for those very parents and students.  It was a very tough half hour of questioning, with only a cursory attempt to provide answers.

But, in the audience there was a little bit of theater.  The Chancellor had come in.  He was sitting in the corner, in the last row of seats, away from the action and slouched down  to avoid recognition.  And, quietly slipping
into a seat on the opposite side of the auditorium, but with enough hustle and bustle to attract attention, was Eva Moskowitz.

As we approached the public comments part of the evening, elected officials were permitted to speak first.  Among the officials to speak, all in opposition to the proposal were Assemblyman Jim Brennan. Assemblywman Joan Millman , Oscar Jones representing State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, City
Councilman Brad Lander,  Councilman Steve Levin, and District leader Joanne Simon. 

Assemblywoman Millman offered an alternative proposal: establish a much needed early childhood program at the site.  The Assemblywoman also noted that, of the 90 or so calls her office had received about the co-location, not one call had been in support of the plan.  Assemblymember Brennan referred to the plan as an attempt to "sever, fragment and divide the community".

While the Deputy Chancellor attempted to justify the plan chants of "Shame, shame, shame" erupted.  He had tried to defend the proposed utilization rate of 108% percent, explain the lack of community involvement, and let it be known that Success could expand to 8th grade. 

Proponents of the charter assured the audience that they were members of the community, some for as long as five years, and had a right to demand excellence and choice.  One or two mentioned the high cost of private school as a reason for their support of charters.  Some of their comments caused hoots of derision from  the audience.  A few times the Chair had to call for quiet and a quality audience.  At one point an irate individual was removed from the building by the security for swearing at speakers.

Students talked about the issues of crowding and asked why the charter school, with only kindergarten and first grade students, would have 10 hours a week of gym time at the cost of  limiting access to the gym for the other three schools.  A community member commented on the lack of electives and wondered if the "efficient" use of the school building would damage the well regarded culinary program. 

Speakers described the history of high staff turnover at charters and the counseling out of students with IEPs or who are English Language Learners. Questions were asked of the SUNY representative.  Why weren't the charter schools paying a fair rent for the facilities they occupied? In all of the 32 speakers I heard only handful supported the co-location. 

In the mean time, as speaker after speaker took the microphone, we noticed that Walcott and Moskowitz had disappeared.  Interesting that they didn't stay to the end, but I guess when you are plotting it's better not to be
blatant.

As school begins: resources for families with children with disabilities from Parent to Parent

Helpful information from Ellen McHugh of Parent to Parent NY State:

As school begins ………New lunch boxes, new clothes, back packs, bus schedules and drivers and new classrooms. These are all part of the start of a school year. For families who have a child with disabilities or special health care needs, fears and concerns seem to multiply as the `first day' comes closer.

Below are some resources provided by Parent to Parent of NYS that may be a help to families as they prepare for another year of special education services and school bus transportation.

Transportation: 

As of July 1, 2009, NYS School Bus transporters are mandated under PJ's Law to train staff in disability awareness. The State Education Dept has provided the training curriculum for School Bus Driver Instructors (SBDIs). The need for the law comes after the horrific abuse of then 7 year-old PJ, a student who exhibited some behaviors on his bus that both the driver and monitor 'enjoyed' and encouraged. The law is intended to prevent abuse. A link to the PJ's Law training slides with notes.  

Special Education Law

Families should be acquainted with the Regulations related to Special Education Law in NY State.  Also: Special Education in Plain Language created and provided by the Special Education Task Force of NYS.

What Am I Looking For? Observing a Child, Looking At a School

Observing a Child: Some Questions To Ask Yourself :  As parents we can see/observe many things about our children that can help us when professionals ask us questions about a child's development. Here are some questions you might ask yourself about your child's growth and development.

Ellen McHugh on last night's meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy

Last night............My apologies to Billy Joel as well.

It was 6 o'clock on a Tuesday and there were plenty of police to watch  as the irregular crowed hustled into the auditorium at Prospect Heights High School.  Here were the charter school folks in yellow hats, being herded over to the front left of the auditorium.  Here, on the right side of the auditorium, were the card waving public school parents.  Competing signs read "Stop Privatization" or "My Child has Rights Too".  In the front, seated on the aisle was Hazel Dukes of the NAACP, ready for all comers, amid others wearing yellow coats and hats emblazoned with NAACP.  

In the back, pacing and seemingly alone was Eva Moskowitz.  Scattered throughout the  auditorium were various CEC members, camera men and reporters, interested observers from the Comptroller's office, City Council and Borough Presidents offices and others, returning for the expected debacle.  On the side, in the back, under an overhead light was the new guy from Gotham Schools.  Lindsey Christ from NY 1, ran up and down the aisles in a bright yellow dress.  Another night in NYC at yet another PEP meeting.

From my point of view, the PEP members weren't in any rush to get on the stage.  In fact the meeting started late.  It was closer to 6:20 when the panel began to sit.  Hours later, I would understand their reluctance to begin the long night.  No matter how well padded  you are, and I am, it hurts to sit for that long.  As the role call began, various members of the DOE staff took their seats and then the Chancellor descended from the stage to talk in the well of the auditorium. He had a little mike trouble but overcame that quickly.  He gave his report with high lights about the new date for the start of the school year in September and a few remarks about the positive affects of seeing so many graduations and being so proud of the schools he is working for every day in this great honor of the Chancellor-ship.

A questioner on the PEP [Patrick Sullivan] asked about the recent CEC elections and inquired about new run offs.  The Chancellor deferred to Ms Hall, who gave an answer..I think.  It was hard to hear her over the snickers and snorts of audience and it had been announced that she did have laryngitis.  But, it is my understanding that there will be run offs on Tuesday and Wednesday June 28 and 29 and results will be announced on or before Friday, July 1, the date the CECs officially take office.  

On we went to the reading of the proposed co-locations.  It seemed to be a chore for Best; he seemed bored and exasperated by the long and detailed list of schools.  Then the floor was opened up to comments.  Speakers were directed to one of two mikes on the floor, one with green tape and one with yellow tape around the stem, and called up by number.  The first speaker began the evening by asking why these co-locations were being re-introduced when there had already been votes.  Didn't that violate the law?  Others got up and protested the co-locations, decrying the squeeze on the public schools.  Parents and teachers and CEC members  were passionate in their dismay at the number and type of co-locations.  Schools were loosing libraries and play-yards.  A few, such as the co-location of P 188 m and Girls Prep, were praised for the work put in by the entire community surrounding the school.  It was, for a while, a crowd without controversy.  

Then came  Hurricane Hazel.  As the honored representative of the NAACP and a member of the law suit opposing the co-locations proposed, she was adamant that the issue was equality in education for all students, not some, not the 4% of students who attend charter schools but the 96% of students who attend the other, forgotten, public schools.  We were to educate all children, not some of the children.  The place erupted. ...with applause and with cat calls.  In the back of the auditorium, someone started  yelling at Hazel and there was a brief moment of hustle, bustle and confusion.

As the evening wore on, more and more people were asking the PEP to vote NO on these proposals.  Students from one alternative school were eloquent in their requests to keep the school untouched by charter school controversy.  A principal of another school asked why her school had been chosen when a year ago they were denied the right to expand because there was no room....and by the very same Office of Portfolio Development
 
A few folks from charters got up and talked about the NAACP again.  Hazel tracked them down to the back of the auditorium.  Eva, in the meantime, had disappeared from sight.  Police came into the audience and threatened to remove one young man who had called out.  All of sudden, the Chancellor called for a 5 minute break.  Folks drifted around the auditorium and eventually out the doors.  Many never came back and the crowd was noticeably thinner. 

Having been at other co-location hearings, the night was beginning to seem odd to me.  At 9:20 PM there were, as yet, no rush of pro-charter school parents or staff at the mikes.  One CEC member had accused the UFT of manipulation in the lawsuit against charters.  Another person had supported the proposals, but this was totally unlike any other charter/public school location hearing I had ever been to before.  Then, at close to 9:30, three hours into the meeting, I realized what was happening.   All of a sudden parents from the charter schools began to appear at the mikes.  The strategy became oh so clear:  talk last and leave the PEP with the sounds of  support for co-locations ringing in their ears.  But a few of the more resilient public school supporters also realized the strategy and began to speak out at the mikes.  

Once the PEP members reappeared on the stage, more speakers were called to the mikes.  Some speakers had their mikes cut off at two minutes, no matter where they were in their comments.  There were a few tense moments when a parent from one of the charters starting yelling..."How dare you? How dare you?"  She called out a few times but her objections were drowned in cat calls.  Finally, after six hours the vote was called.  But, wait, there were questions from the panel members.  An exasperated sigh from  the Chair of the meeting was heard by all.    

He grumpily permitted questions: why are you crowding out the library in one school?  why can't another expand to 8th grade if there is room for a charter school?  why are we voting on amended proposals when they were in violation of the time lines set by law?  Mark Sternberg, Deputy Chancellor for Portfolio Planning , 6th grade teacher for three years and principal of a high school for one year, thought every question was a good question, but never  gave a good answer.  He rambled, he quoted regs, he obfuscated and then he wanted to talk off line (what is it with these catch phrases:  let's talk off line, what's the ask? beginning any answer with So...)  

The vote proceeded: 8 for, 4 against; 8 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions; 8 for, 4 against; 8 for, 2 against, 2 abstentions....monotony began to set in, some folks began to yell Puppet!  Puppet!....and then Michael Best announced, in a tired but triumphant voice, the resolutions pass.  It was anticlimactic.It was also late, my backside was sore, my legs were trembly, my head hurt.  Had I developed diabetes while I was there?  
Then I realized that they were about to discuss the budget and play the power point.  I never left any place so fast!

Good night Prospect Heights.  Good night police men.  Good night PEP.  Good night reporters.  Good night Hazel.  Good night guys and gals.  I'm outta here. --- Ellen Mc Hugh, Citywide Council on Special Education