"School's out"; great examination of the Bloomberg education record

Lynnell Hancock has written a terrific piece for the Nation laying out the way in which this administration has autocratically ignored the views of parents and other stakeholders in our public schools, leading to the failures of the small schools initiative, the bus route fiasco, the obsession with testing, the lack of financial accountability and more.

It is the most comprehensive look yet at Bloomberg's education record. The article is called "School's Out"; but it's only available to subscribers. It was also radically shortened for publication.

Thankfully, Lynnell has sent us the original unedited version -- which we've posted here. It is well worth reading.

An excerpt:

Another parent shut out from the meeting that night had waited outside the Hostos Annex for a chance to ask the exiting chancellor a question. The mother emigrated from Mexico more than a dozen years earlier. She had come so her kids could get a decent education. "But there are 32 kids in my son's classroom," said Esperanza Vasquez. She never got a chance to ask Klein about the overcrowding. He left the Bronx that evening in a hurry, without giving an email address.

Boy Ruled Ineligible for School Bus Hit on Way to School

Today's Daily News tells the story of an 10-year old Bronx boy, Eliseo Oler, who was struck by a commuter bus on his way to school. Eliseo had previously taken a yellow bus from a stop close to his home but was told he was not eligible this year because he lived too close to school.

His mother blamed the accident on the DoE:

"If they hadn't taken him off the bus, none of this would've happened," Miriam DeJesus told the Daily News from her son's bedside. "I told the principal, how could you make a 10-year-old child take the [city] bus to school?"

Eliseo was one of many children thrown off buses by high-priced consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal and issued half-price Metro cards. His path to the city bus took him through the busy intersection of Jerome Avenue and Mosholu Parkway South. It was there he was struck yesterday.

Full story here.

Rumsfeld Named NYC School Bus Chief

March 14, 2007 (GBN News): Stung by criticism of cuts in school bus service, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced today that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be the new head of the DOE's embattled Office of Pupil Transportation. Klein cited Rumsfeld's experience in parrying press and public allegations of insufficient planning and resources. The former Defense Secretary's legendary PR abilities were immediately tested. In a press conference, the new transportation chief was asked how he felt about children being denied bus service due to the recent cuts. In a remark eerily reminiscent of a statement he once made about Iraq, Rumsfeld responded, "You go to school with the buses you have, not the buses you'd like to have."

In a related story, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today that the Education Department will be looking into charges that the recent school bus cuts may be in violation of the No Child Left Behind act. She said in a statement that the Department was responding to reports that hundreds, if not thousands of children were "left behind" in the first two days of the new bus schedules.

as written by Gary Babad

Joel Klein, why do you send our kids to schools you wouldn't send your own to?

See this interview with Joel Klein from Fortune magazine in which he talks about the importance of treating schools like a business:

“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this who have retail outlets, banks, bookstores or what have you."

To bad he hasn't bothered to talk to any parents or educators.

He also says: “The hardest part of the job is answering this question: Chancellor, how could you send my kid to a school you wouldn't send your kids to?”

Hmm. Joel Klein's stepdaughter went to Miss Porter’s, a boarding school in Connecticut: average class size of 11.

Bloomberg sent his daughters to Spence; middle and high school classes average 13-14 students.

Yet our kids get class sizes of 28-34 in these grades -- which is just fine with them.

Also, FYI: here is what I found on the Spence website:

Is public transportation is available for the younger students?

The Atlantic Express is a free bus service for students in grades Kindergarten to 6 offered by the City of New York Board of Education and coordinated through the Spence Parents Association. It is available only in Manhattan to families who live within a five-mile radius of the school. Buses pick up and drop off at designated stops.