Victory at last! NY Appellate Court Affirms School Leadership Team Meetings are Open to the Public

Another big win for parents and the public interest!  After a long wait, the NY Appellate Court ruled that School Leadership Team meetings must be open to the public, and decisively countered the DOE claim that SLT's are only "advisory" bodies.  Check out our press release below and the Court's unanimous decision here.

For Immediate Release

Date: October 25, 2016
Contact: Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329; leoniehaimson@gmail.com

In a rebuke to the NYC Department of Education, which began closing School Leadership Team (SLT) meetings to the public in 2013, a New York appellate court has found that closing the meetings violates the state’s Open Meetings Law.  In a decision released today, the New York Appellate Division, First Department found for the petitioner, Michael P. Thomas, and the intervenors, Public Advocate Letitia James and Class Size Matters, that SLT meetings must be open to the public. 

Contrary to the DOE’s claims, the Court held that SLTs are governmental bodies that have decision-making authority under state law.  The SLT helps formulate "school-based educational policies" and ensure that "resources are aligned to implement those policies,” wrote the Court.  Thus, SLT meetings must be subject to the Open Meetings Law.  The Court rejected DOE’s contention that SLTs, composed half of school staff and half parents, have only advisory powers and thus their meetings could be closed.

On March 17, 2014, retired teacher Michael P. Thomas asked the Chair of the SLT and the Principal Linda Hill of IS 49 on Staten Island to attend their meeting.   The Chair invited him but later rescinded her invitation, and barred him from entering the meeting when he arrived at the school on April 1, 2014.  On May 17, 2014, Mr. Thomas commenced an article 78 proceeding, and the Public Advocate and Class Size Matters subsequently intervened on behalf of parents and the public at large, represented pro bono by Advocates for Justice and New York Lawyers for Public Interest.

On April 21, 2015,  Supreme Court Judge Peter Moulton ruled that "SLT meetings entail a public body performing governmental functions," and thus are "subject to the Open Meetings Law."  He concluded that “the proper functioning of public schools is a public concern, not a private concern limited to the families who attend a given public school."  Chancellor Carmen Farina instructed principals to ignore this decision, and filed a Notice of Appeal on May 22, 2015.  The Appellate Court heard arguments from both sides on January 21, 2016.

Upon learning today that he had won the case, Michael P. Thomas said, "It was a long wait, but well worthwhile to read the court’s decision. Opening SLT meetings will allow the public to observe first-hand the effects of problems plaguing our schools, including underfunding, overcrowding, and poor budgetary priorities.  The Court's affirming that SLTs are more than advisory in nature demonstrates that these bodies have real decision-making power. Unfortunately, in too many cases, principals have improperly usurped the power given to SLTs in state law. Hopefully, the Court's decision will be the first step in helping to resolve the many problems in our public schools."

“Today’s ruling is a victory for parents, students, educators and all of us who believe in transparency and accountability at the Department of Education,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “After years of having their voices drowned out in the school system, parents are being heard again. Important decisions about our schools must be made in sunlight with input from parents and teachers.”

 “We are delighted that the First Department confirmed in a unanimous opinion the public’s right to attend these very important School Leadership Team meetings,” said Laura D. Barbieri, of counsel to Advocates for Justice Legal Foundation, representing the Public Advocate Letitia James, and Class Size Matters. “The Department of Education must comply with the Open Meetings Law and can no longer exclude the media or concerned citizens who have a right to know what is going on in their neighborhood public schools.”

Said Rachel Spector, Director of the Environmental Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which represented Class Size Matters: “The court’s decision affirms that when public schools make decisions, they must be transparent: public schools cannot act in secret. We are pleased that members of the public can now attend School Leadership Team meetings without fear of being turned away at the door. This is an important step forward and serves as a reminder to the Department of Education that community participation is crucial to the success of New York City public schools."

 “The law is crystal clear that School Leadership Teams are public bodies, with an important governmental role to play.  Parents and the public have a crucial stake in SLT decisions, when it comes to class size, the use of technology, or any other school-based policies.  Both the Supreme Court and now the Appellate Court have ruled that these meetings must be open to the community at large.  Any attempt by the DOE or principals to ignore this decision, subvert it or appeal to a higher court would be unwise, would further delay the public interest and would waste precious taxpayer funds that are far better used in improving our schools,” concluded Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.

The Appellate Court’s decision is posted here: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_06989.htm

Additional background on School Leadership Teams, along with a timeline and links to legal briefs and news articles, is posted here: http://www.classsizematters.org/parent-empowerment/

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Federal Civil Rights Complaint vs Success Charter Academy's Systematic Violation of Disabled Students' Rights

credit: NY Times

Success Charter Network, founded by Eva Moskowitz, is now facing another investigation. We firsta FERPA complaint by Fatima Geidi to the US Department of Education on Eva Moskowitz's violation of student privacy by releasing a student's disciplinary records in October. Yesterday, it was announced that SUNY, the charter chain's authorizer, is investigating the Success Network's disciplinary and suspension practices, including the infamous "Got to Go" list first reported by the NY Times.
reported on

Now  parents of 13 special needs students,. along with Public Advocate Letitia James and City Council Education Committee chair Danny Dromm, have filed a formal complaint with the Civil Rights division of the US Department of Education..

Some of the claims include refusing disability services required by law to the students, and harassing parents to force their children to transfer out of the charter chain into public schools. You can read more in this article by Juan Gonzalez here.

From the complaint, it is apparent that Success Academy's systemic violations include pushing students out via repeated suspensions, many times without due process and without reporting them as such, holding them back, denying them services, and shaming them.

You can read the full complaint below.

A, And Parent of a Et Al. 1-20-16

Urgent! Please call your Council Member today about need to address school overcrowding

UPDATE: 6/12/15.  As of this afternoon at 6:00 PM, 22 Council members have now signed onto the letter:  Council Members Barron, Chin, Cornegy, Cumbo, Dromm, Garodnick, Gentile, Johnson, Kallos, Koslowitz, King, Lander, Levin, Levine, Menchaca, Mendez, Reynoso, Rodriguez, Rosenthal, Torres, Treygar, and Vallone. If your CM has NOT signed please call him/her TODAY and ask why not!  You can find their contact info here. 

As you know, NYC public schools are badly overcrowded and becoming more so every day. The city's capital plan for schools is underfunded by DOE's own admission, and if not expanded will likely lead to even worse overcrowding. The need for more schools is especially true as the Mayor is rapidly expanding preK and has a plan to encourage the building of 160,000 market rate housing units and 200,000 affordable units, which will further accelerate enrollment growth.


To address this crisis, Public Advocate Letitia James has written a letter to the Chancellor and the Mayor, urging them to double the school seats in the capital plan and to appoint a Commission to improve the efficiency of school planning and siting. Class Size Matters and many CEC leaders have signed onto this letter, as well as Daniel Dromm, Chair of the NYC Council Education Committee and Michael Mulgrew, UFT President. The letter is posted here. Here is a fact sheet about this issue. Since that letter was sent yesterday, four more Council Members have signed on: CMs Barron, Gentile, Johnson and King.

If your Council Members are not listed above, please call them TODAY, and ask them if they will sign onto the letter from the Public Advocate and Class Size Matters, urging the Mayor and Chancellor to alleviate the school overcrowding crisis by expanding the capital plan. You can easily find their phone numbers by entering your address here. If the city fails to expand the plan, your children and thousands of others are likely to suffer even worse overcrowding and larger class sizes in the future.

And please, whatever message you hear back, whether positive or negative, let me know by responding to this message. The Council will vote on the capital plan by the end of this month, so this is an urgent issue.

Thanks as ever for your support!

060215 - PA Ltr to Chancellor Farina Re Capital Plan (3)

City Hall rally: Our Schools, our Voice and the Governor's Missed Opportunity Agenda

On Sunday at City Hall Park a rally was held hosted by Public Advocate Letitia James about the need to fight for fair funding for our schools and against the Governor's damaging education proposals. Tish was terrific as usual about the need to support and protect our schools and listen to parents and teachers but that instead, the Governor has put forward a "Missed Opportunity Agenda." .  

Other electeds and advocates who spoke eloquently included AM David Weprin and Joanne Simon, former Councilmember and lead plaintiff  in the CFE education funding lawsuit Robert Jackson, and Zakiyah Ansari of AQE.  Here is a news story; below is my speech: 

On Thursday there were a beautiful series of rallies at more than 100 schools throughout NYC in all the five boroughs.  Parents, students, and teachers held hands and surrounded their schools, in a peaceful, and even joyful symbolic action to protect their schools.  They were out there to show they are united in spirit and determined to defend against the Governor’s destructive proposals to defund, disrupt, dismantle and privatize our public school system.  Parents do love their public schools; they just want them properly supported and funded, with smaller classes and a well-rounded education, full of arts, music and science and all the things that children need to flourish.

And what was the Governor’s response?  According to his spokesperson, he called our peaceful protests “a tantrum of special interests”.  Then he said, “Frankly, the louder special interests scream — and today they were screaming at the top of their lungs — the more we know we’re right.”

Well, Governor, parents are NOT a special interest – at least in the way you meant it.  Parents have one special interest – their children, and you need to recognize that parents in NYC are fed up with the agenda of test prep, budget cuts, and punitive sanctions on our schools and teachers that we had for 12 years under Michael Bloomberg – and that failed utterly to improve our schools.  Instead we demand that you give us the support that they need – and that the state’s highest courts said was your constitutional obligation. 

I also want to warn you, the last time a state leader called parents a special interest was John King – and he was run out of the state on a rail for his arrogance and refusal to listen to our concerns.

Now the Governor has put forward many outrageous proposals as part of his budget but I want to focus on just one - his proposal to raise the charter cap– which could send 250 more charters to NYC.  This could truly be disastrous for our schools and drain even more resources and space from our already underfunded and overcrowded public schools.

Why?  Because last year in the budget, he included a clause in the law that obligates the city to provide space to new charters within our already overcrowded school buildings going forward – or pay for their rent in private spaces. 

There are severely overcrowded communities in NYC that have waited a generation to see a school built in their neighborhoods – and not to have to bus their Kindergarten children miles away.  But from now on, every new charter school can get free space on demand – at the taxpayer’s expense. 

NYC is the only district in the state, indeed the only district in the country that is required to pay for facilities for charters – whether we want them or not.  

If the cap is lifted, and 250 more charters are sent to NYC, as the Governor has proposed, it could cost taxpayers more than $800M a year in charter rent alone – money that instead should go to building more neighborhood public schools – that are not overcrowded and can offer small classes, which is the #1 choice of NYC parents.

So we ask you to fight the Governor’s destructive proposals by calling his office and your legislators as well as Speaker Heastie with four simple demands:

  1- give us the funding our schools deserve  2- Say NO to tying test scores to teacher evaluation; 3- No to giving tax credits to millions for private school tuition; and  4- NO to raising the cap on charter schools.  

We cannot allow our precious resources to be siphoned off to allow Cuomo and his billionaire hedgefund cronies  to attain their goal of privatizing our public schools.

Is the company due to receive a $2 billion contract from the DOE the same as implicated in a huge 2011 scandal?

UPDATE and CORRECTION: A sharp eyed friend just noted that this contract is really for five years, with an option to renew at four more years, so it is potentially worth over $2 Billion!  I have corrected the text and the headline accordingly.  I have also gotten confirmation that this indeed the same company as involved in the Lanham kick-back scheme.

Last week Public Advocate Letitia James, City Council Education Chair Danny Dromm and Class Size Matters sent a letter to the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, with a copy to Chancellor Fariña, urging them to release the details of a contract with a company called "Custom Computer Specialist" which they are supposed to vote on at their February 25 meeting. (Click on image to enlarge.)

 

This company is due to receive a five year contract for "IT networking hardware and installation services" at $224.8 million per year, with two options to renew, each for another two years, potentially totaling almost more than $2 billion, as noted in the brief summary posted above and on the DOE website.

In addition, the PEP is supposed to vote on a one year contract for Verizon, costing $42.6 million for telephone services and data network connectivity. 

 

In response to an earlier letter from CM Helen Rosenthal, chair of the Contracts Committee, the DOE stubbornly refused  to release any details of its contracts to the public until the day before the vote, including whether they had been competitively bid or involved companies that had been investigated for improper or illegal behavior. Actually, the full documentation for the contracts approved at last month's PEP meeting was only posted several days after the vote, and only following an email to DOE from CM Rosenthal's chief of staff, Marisa Maack.

Not until today, when I had a chance to reread my 2011 testimony before the City Council Contracts Committee that I was reminded how Verizon and Custom Computer Specialists were implicated in a 2011 massive kick-back scheme to benefit then-DOE consultant Ross Lanham, who oversaw “Project Connect," a billion dollar IT contract, according to a report from the office of Special Investigator Condon.  Both vendors overcharged DOE by millions of dollars, and in turn they enriched Lanham by hiring his consulting company at hugely inflated rates.

 

Without more information, it is impossible to know whether Custom Computer Specialists is the same company as the "Custom Computer Specialist" due to receive a $2 billion contract on Wednesday, as listed on the DOE document above, but it seems quite possible. This lack of information only reinforces the importance of the request in our letter that the DOE or the PEP members should reveal the details of this contract immediately, and in the future, every contract at least ten days ahead of any vote.

The IT "Project Connect" scandal became big news, and Lanham was sentenced to 37 months in prison, as well as pay $1.7 million in restitution to DOE, according to the prosecutor on the case, Preet Bahara. Judge George Daniels criticized the DOE for allowing so much money to be stolen from both the city and the feds, since the internet wiring was partially paid for by the federal E-Rate program: "There was absolutely no checks and balances, no procedure to identify and prevent the overbilling that went undetected at DOE,” Daniels said. “It was a crime waiting to happen." 

 

I am unaware as to  whether either company, Verizon or Custom Computer Specialists, have repaid DOE for these overcharges, which amounted to millions of dollars.  Yet in November 2014,  according to the NY Times, Comptroller Stringer wrote a letter to the Chancellor, revealing how the city was still being investigated by the feds and had been suspended from the E-Rate program because of the Lanham scandal, losing as much as $120 million in the process.   

Perhaps the DOE has now been reinstated since the brief description of this new contract says it will be paid with "Tax levy, Capital and E-Rate funds."

Below are relevant excerpts from Condon's 2011 report:

An investigation conducted by this office has substantiated that Ross Lanham (“Lanham”), while employed as a consultant for the Department of Education (“DOE”) to oversee “Project Connect,” billed millions of dollars to the DOE for five consultants whom he employed through his company, Lanham Enterprises, Inc., without the knowledge and/or agreement of the DOE….. All of the vendors profited, to some extent, from Lanham’s scheme.   The investigation also established that Verizon, in order to be awarded a multi-million dollar contract, agreed to Lanham’s demand that Verizon use subcontractor Custom Computer Specialists (“CCS”) at a higher cost to the DOE than Verizon would have charged for the same services. …

Custom Computer Specialists

In an interview with SCI investigators, a Senior Manager at CCS, which was a subcontractor to IBM on Project Connect, stated that Lanham approached him in April 2002, and asked him to hire two consultants, Michael Ginzburg at $70 per hour and Jennifer Thornton at $30 per hour, and to pay them directly. The Senior Manager stated that CCS would then bill Lanham Enterprises, a consulting company owned by Lanham and his wife, Laura, at $75 and $35 per hour respectively for their services. The Senior Manager stated that in April 2002, service agreements were executed between CCS and Lanham Enterprises and CCS and each of the consultants. The CCS Senior Manager told investigators that, at some point, Consultant Tamika Stevenson “came on board.”

When investigators asked the Senior Manager whether he contacted anyone at the DOE regarding CCS hiring the consultants, the Senior Manager indicated that he did not and added that he also did not know whether anyone else from CCS ever contacted the DOE about this matter. …Iacoviello [DOE Director of Deployment and Implementation] recalled that Lanham had in formed him that the DOE did a lot of business through IBM and CCS, and had said that CCS will “become your best friends, because without them nothing gets done around here.”…. Iacoviello stated that he then began to question Lanham about the price that CCS was charging for construction and integration costs which averaged approximately $75,000 per school, and sometimes higher.  Iacoviello recalled that when he asked the Business Account Manager why the DOE was paying so much money, he replied that Lanham told Verizon that Verizon had to use CCS if they wanted to get the work.  Iacoviello told investigators that when Lanham directed Verizon to use CCS, he acted on his own and bypassed both the Verizon and City bidding processes. ….

Lanham subsequently added three more consultants, Lanham’s brother, Robert Lanham, Tamika Stevenson, and Karen Tempio, using a similar pass-through arrangement, but using Verizon instead of IBM. Although these consultants were being paid $60 to $70 an hour, Lanham billed CDC $225 per hour for each of these consultants.  CDC then either billed Verizon $247.50 an hour for the consultants, or submitted their invoices to CCS, who in turn billed Verizon $247.50 an hour. The DOE was subsequently billed at least $290 an hour by Verizon….

CCS facilitated Lanham’s concealment of the employment of the consultants.   CCS also benefited by Lanham’s threat to Verizon that they would lose millions of dollars in business if they did not hire CCS. SCI was not able to determine the extent of the relationship between Lanham and CCS....

Verizon concealed from the DOE and law enforcement that they got millions of dollars in contracts through Lanham only after agreeing to hire CCS as a subcontractor. All of the subcontractors named in this report, except Bayview, facilitated the concealment of the fact that Lanham was profiting from the DOE while he was being paid to represent the DOE….[emphasis added.]

It is the recommendation of this office that the DOE recover all the money paid to IBM and Verizon for the Lanham consultants. It is further recommended that the DOE bring in outside auditors to determine any additional cost to the DOE and the Federal government engendered by Verizon’s use of CCS as a subcontractor on work that Verizon could have done at a lower cost.