Amazing evening - parents and teacher sit in at CPE I demanding principal's removal

Update:  Apparently on the Brian Lehrer show this morning, Mayor de Blasio said he would meet with the parents at CPE I.  Let's hope he follows through and removes the principal post-haste.

Yesterday afternoon I attended an amazing School Leadership Team meeting at Central Park East I, the renowned East Harlem progressive elementary school founded in 1974 by Debbie Meier. Since Monica Garg was appointed the principal last year, the school has devolved into angry accusations by parents, teachers and alumnae that she is intent on undermining the morale and democratic spirit of the school and destroy its progressive traditions.

School Leadership Team meetings are now open to the public since we won our lawsuit in October vs. the DOE and Chancellor Farina in a unanimous decision by the NY Appellate Court. 

More than 100 people crowded into the music room at CPE 1 to watch the meeting- advocates, parents and teachers from throughout the city, UFT reps, newly elected City Council Member Bill Perkins and former CM Robert Jackson.

At the meeting the CPE parents repeatedly brought up how the principal, Monica Garg, had repeatedly lied to them, had ruled the school in an authoritarian manner, had victimized children by her actions, and had removed at least two teachers who opposed her and put them in the rubber room -- the latest one the UFT chapter leader Marilyn Martinez.

A teacher on the SLT said that every single teacher who challenged her were put under investigation one by one by the DOE. One parent on the SLT, K.A. Dilday, made the point that not a single teacher said they trusted the principal on last year's DOE survey, and the majority of parents at the school have signed a petition asking for her removal. The principal, Monica Garg, then said that many of those teachers have since left the school -- and the audience erupted - of course they did -- you pushed them out!

Finally, parent and SLT member K.A. Dilday read a letter signed by many other members of the SLT, asking her to resign. Garg said she refused to resign and that she answers only to her superiors, the Superintendent Alexander Estrella and Chancellor Farina.

There were so many people crowding the room that the meeting they had to move it to the auditorium. At that point, one after another parent stood up and passionately spoke out how the principal had lied to them, had refused to respond to their concerns about events that had happened at the school, and one parent stood up in tears to say that Garg had grilled her child without her present, and tried to make her admit that her teacher had abused her.

The latest outrage was putting beloved teacher Marilyn Martinez in the rubber room with charges DOE has refused to make public. Only one parent at the school spoke in support of the principal. LeRoy Barr of the UFT spoke and said that Carmen Farina was responsible for this problem and she needs to fix it.

Finally, when the meeting was over and everyone had their say, a bunch of parents and a teacher on the SLT held up a banner and said they wouldn't leave until the principal resigned or was removed.

They explained that they had attended every PEP meeting for the last year, directly urging the Chancellor to take action, where she had responded with a dismissive shrug to their concerns.They had sent letters to the Mayor and had petitions signed with over 2000 people asking for him to intervene, with no success.

They then began to sing, we will not be moved, and this little light of mine. They even sang in honor of Debbie Meier's birthday, the renowned founder of the school, who has also tried to intercede on their behalf. The custodian asked for them to leave and said he was going to turn the lights out, and they refused.

Ten to twenty police were there and outside, where a rally for CPE I was taking place, along with Marilyn Martinez, the chapter leader who had tape over her mouth.

The police were constantly on their radio, and apparently, someone in the Police Department or the Mayor's office decided it would not look good to arrest parents, especially in an election year.

The parents and teacher spent the night in the auditorium, with the heat off and temperatures fell to the 30's, according to Jen Roesch, one of the parents sitting in. Their press release is below.

Whatever side you are on, whether you believe the principal or the parents, the reality is that the principal must be removed for the school's survival.Below is a video from Deb Meier and a press release from parents at the school this morning.

The truth is despite all his promises and talk about how unlike Bloomberg, he would listen to parents, our supposedly progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina have been just as high-handed and dismissive of their concerns.

From: Jennifer Roesch <jenroesch@gmail.com>
Date: April 7, 2017 at 7:51:08 AM EDT
To: "jenroesch@gmail.com" <jenroesch@gmail.com>
Subject: Parents Occupy East Harlem School Overnight Demanding Principal's Removal

***Breaking Update: Following a meeting of more than 100 parents, teachers and community members, families have been occupying their school at CPE1 since 6:30pm on Thursday, April 6th. The DOE has promised to send someone to meet with occupying families at 8am. Parents are asking Mayor de Blasio to step in and resolve the crisis at CPE1 by removing Principal Garg immediately. Supporters and families will be holding a press conference and rally at 8:30am to explain their demands and next steps in their struggle.***

BREAKING NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT: Jen Roesch (917) 319-7008 or jenroesch@gmail.com

Kaliris Salas-Ramirez (718) 704-7387

Kenya Dilday, kdilday@gmail.com

Parents Sitting In at Central Park East 1 to Demand Principal’s Removal

Letter Sent to Mayor DeBlasio asking him to personally intervene after DOE’s failure to address long-standing issues

Majority of Families Want ‘Worst Principal’ in NYC Out; Retaliation Against Teachers, Abuse of Parents, Children Must Stop

Afternoon of April 6th, Central Park East 1 at 1573 Madison Avenue: Parents, including members of the Parents’ Association leadership and School Leadership Team, are currently refusing to leave their school until their principal, Monika Garg, either resigns or is removed. They say they represent a majority of parents who have signed a statement of “no confidence” in the principal. This letter was presented at the School Leadership Team immediately preceding the sit-in. Other parents and supporters are holding a solidarity rally outside.

Parents say they have appealed to the DOE for over a year about significant concerns but have not had their needs adequately addressed. Garg is statistically the WORST principal in NYC: she has had the greatest drop in ratings from parents and teachers on the 2016 DOE school survey of any principal in the city and oversaw the city’s largest drop in test scores after her traumatic first year at the helm (2016). NYC has approximately 1800 public schools. They are refusing to leave until Mayor De Blasio intervenes. They cite his claim that his administration will make parent voice and building trust in our schools a top priority.

Parents cite serious concerns about Principal Garg’s leadership, including abuse of teachers, children and families. Two teachers have been removed from the school for investigations that parents consider retaliatory in nature. The investigations come in the wake of an open letter signed by tenured staff expressing concerns. Another third of the teaching staff left at the end of last year. All tenured teachers have faced investigations and disciplinary action under Garg’s tenure.

Parents say that children have been harmed as a result of these investigations. Garg interviewed very young children without parents’ knowledge or consent. Many only found out as a result of other parents whose children had told them. In one instance, a 7-year old child had documented emotional issues and was being assisted by the school guidance counselor. This child was interviewed without his parent or his guidance counselor being informed. He was asked about 2-year old incidents and told that his cooperation was necessary in order to keep his school safe. This parent failed to receive an answer to her concerns from either Garg or the DOE. More than 55 parents filed complaints with the DOE without any response. Children in the classes with teachers removed are suffering emotional and social distress and have not received proper support.

Since her appointment in 2015, which came via a questionable process, Garg has deliberately fomented division, mistrust and turmoil at the iconic public progressive elementary school. With the support of District 4 Superintendent Alexandra Estrella, Garg has harassed and retaliated against teachers, mistreated students and families, and undermined the school’s successful practices.

Update on the state budget!: Call the Governor and your Senator today

An informed source from Albany says: The state budget is deadlocked over charter school funding vs. foundation aid for our public schools. The Governor and the Senate want to double charter funding while minimizing foundation aid, and the Assembly is fighting back hard. See this video of Speaker Carl Heastie. Keep the pressure on the Governor and Senate Republicans and the Democrats in the IDC who caucus with the Republicans.  Call Gov. Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 and as soon as you get a message, hit 1 to get his voicemail. Alternatively you can send him a fax at 518-474-1513 via https://faxzero.com/ You can find your Senator’s phone number by filling out the form here.  The IDC is led by Jeffrey D. Klein, and includes David J. Valesky, David Carlucci, Diane Savino, Tony Avella, Jose Peralta, Jesse Hamilton, and Marisol Alcantara. Sample message: Stop favoring charter schools over public schools!  I urge you to fully fund foundation aid & minimize the increase in charter funding, which drain resources and space from our public schools. Thanks, name and address  Photos from yesterday's rally outside Cuomo's midtown office.

Governor Cuomo, don't Devos-state our Schools! And how the charter lobby uses DOE charter collaboration in their push to raise the cap

Tomorrow Wed. April 5 at 4:30 PM we will rally outside Governor Cuomo's office at 633 3rd Ave. (40th/41st), to protest his refusal to adequately fund our public schools and his insistence on expanding charters and raising their funding.  Please join us; come with your kids and bring signs!

The NY state budget is deadlocked with one of the main sticking points related to whether the cap on charters will be lifted statewide, as the GOP-dominated State Senate have proposed, lifted only in NYC as Gov. Cuomo wants, or not at all as the Democratic majority in the Assembly insists.

There are already 264 charter schools in the state, and 212 of them are in NYC, according to the NY Charter Center.  131 more charter schools are allowable outside NYC – and 30 more here in NYC.  For some reason, the hedge fund/charter lobby is most intent on expanding charters inside the city, even though we already have the lion's share.

At the same time, the Governor is also pushing proposals to boost charter funding while cutting state reimbursement that will cost the city up to $220 million more, while losing $52 million in state reimbursement. At the same time, he refuses to provide our public schools with the nearly $2 billion owed them according to the Foundation formula.  Instead he wants to totally ditch the formula, developed as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision which ruled that more state education funding should go to high-needs districts, rather than be based on political deal-making by three men in a room, as it was in the past and would be in the future if Cuomo gets his way.

Why is there such an obsession on the part of the Republican leaders in the State Senate and the Governor to favor charter schools? Not because of pressure from constituents or any alleged charter school waiting lists which no one ever audits, but because of the vast sums of money the Governor and the NY State Republican party receives in campaign money from the NYC hedgefund/charter lobby.

As reported by Politico, the pro-charter group New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, managed by StudentsFirstNY. spent $5.2 million on Republican candidates running for the State Senate, more than a third of the total spent by super PACs as a whole.  Gov. Cuomo has also received vast amounts of money from pro-charter hedge funders and billionaires – as reported here by George Joseph in the Nation,  and Juan Gonzalez in the Daily News .

This year, $1.7 billion was drained from the DOE budget by charter schools; this amount will certainly increase even without the Legislature approving the proposals to lift the cap or boost their funding, as many of the 212 NYC charters already authorized are rapidly growing in enrollment and expanding to new grade levels..  Not to mention the hugely negative impact of co-located charters on our public schools, squeezing them of space– or the approximately $40 million a year the DOE is paying in rent for charters not co-located in public schools.

Meanwhile, for inexplicable reasons, the DOE is spending close to $ 3 million this year on their district-charter “partnership” program -- which will increase to $5 million next year..  The ostensible goal of this initiative is for districts to learn from the “best practices” of charter schools, whatever they may be.   One of the charter chains participating in this program that our public schools are supposed to emulate is Uncommon charters, known for having uncommonly high suspension rates.

Even as the Mayor is on the record as opposing the lifting of the cap or increasing their funding, the NYC charter center is also using this "partnership" program in their propaganda campaign to advocate for the cap to be lifted.

See  three different ads from the NYC Charter Center inserted into Politico and City and State newsletters every single day since March 20.  (In Politico, the ads are prefaced with these words: ** A message from New York City Charter School Center, words missing in City and State.) 

Ad #1: New York City’s charter schools are committed to helping all public schools improve. In fact, one charter network is training new teachers from over 40 district schools throughout Brooklyn as part of the Department of Education’s district-charter partnership program. New York needs more quality public schools – charters are part of the solution. Support Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget and lift the cap on charters in NYC!  Learn More

Ad #2: Chancellor Fariña recently stated that charter schools are not the problem; they are part of the solution. It's time to stop worrying about school governance structures and focus on more quality public school options for all New York families. Lift the arbitrary cap on charters! Learn More. ** 

Ad #3: Charter schools are a vital part of New York's public education system. NYC charter schools are not only working to ensure their students are achieving at their full potential, but several charter leaders are helping to improve district schools through the NYC Department of Education's district-charter partnership programs. Problem is, there still aren't enough great public schools to serve the tens of thousands of students who need them now. Charter schools have proven their commitment to and success in supporting high need and at-risk students. That's why families are applying in droves and wait lists are 44,000 students long. Charter schools provide proven opportunities for opening quality schools quickly. Potential school leaders should not be discouraged from planning a great public school just because of an arbitrary cap. Support Governor Cuomo's Executive Budget and lift the cap on charters in NYC! Learn more. **
************

While Mayor de Blasio has spoken out against lifting the cap, Chancellor Farina has not opposed any single NYC charter school under consideration by the Regents or SUNY for authorization or renewal as far as I know – though Superintendents of other districts regularly do so when charters are proposed for their districts.

I was speaking in Yonkers before their Council of PTAs last night about the threat of privatization from the federal government and the state --and they informed me that there is only one charter school that has ever been authorized in Yonkers, perhaps because of the organized, unified opposition by district leadership and elected officials when they are proposed.  What a shame.  My Yonkers PTA presentation is below.  thanks Leonie

Yonkers Pta vs Privatization 4.3.17 Final by Leonie Haimson on Scribd

Update on state budget deadlock & College Board threat to student privacy

1.  The NY state budget is stalled and will be late for the first time in years. The deadlock appears to be related to education funding for our public schools vs. charter schools, and whether the cap on charter schools will be lifted.

As usual, the Assembly Democratic majority wants to fully fund Foundation Aid to high-needs districts, as required by the CFE court decision, while the Governor and the Senate, led by the GOP and their allies in the Independent Democratic Caucus, are more interested in supporting charter schools – by raising the cap on these privately-run schools and increasing their funding.
Please call your Senators, Assemblymembers and the Governor today. Tell them they should fully fund Foundation Aid, and NOT raise the cap on charters.

Call Gov. Cuomo at (518) 474-8390 and as soon as you get a message, hit 1 to get his voicemail.
You can find your Senator’s phone number by filling out the form here and your your Assemblymember here.

There will also be a rally on Wed. April 5 at 4:30 PM outside the Governor’s office at 633 3rd Ave in Midtown Manhattan (between 40-41 St) – please come! More information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1666013403704013/
 
2.       Three years ago yesterday, we won a huge victory for student privacy when the NY State Legislature passed a law blocking the Education Department from disclosing personal student data with inBloom Inc., which closed its doors two weeks later.  Yet there are still huge threats to student privacy – in part, because NYSED has not enforced other provisions of the student privacy law approved at that time.

For example, the College Board is still unethically if not illegally amassing a huge amount of personal student information through the administration of the PSAT and SAT exams, and selling or “licensing” this data at 42 cents per student name.

Among the data they collect from students and disclose to third parties includes their race, religion, citizenship, GPA, their high school courses and their intended college majors, as well as their parents’ education level and income.

They offer up this information to many institutions and companies, including the Department of Defense, for marketing and recruiting purposes.

The PSAT/SAT will be given in schools this week on Wednesday April 5 in many New York districts and elsewhere in the nation.  Please warn your children that much of the personal information they will be asked to fill out is PURELY voluntary and may be sold.   Unless they and you want this to happen, they should only provide the minimal personal information necessary, including their name, address, gender and date of birth.  

For more on this issue, see last week’s article in the Washington Post Answer Sheet and my response to the College Board’s claims in that article.

Thanks,  Leonie

Warning to Parents: College Board’s Evasions about Collecting and Selling Your Child’s Personal Data

Warning to parents: PSAT/SAT day is Wednesday, April 5 in NYC and in many other schools around the state and the country.  Yesterday's Washington Post Answer Sheet had a piece by Cheri Kiesecker, describing the practice of the College Board of collecting personal student data via the administration of these exams, and selling it without parental consent.  The College Board sent in a response that is included at the end of her article.

Interestingly,  they did not deny that they sell students’ personal data – or in their words, “license” the data for a fee to institutions, for-profit corporations, and the military.  You can see how they admit this on their website — at the cost of 42 cents per name.  Selling this data is a violation of law in many states including NY and Colorado, and also a violation of the Student Privacy Pledge, which the College Board has signed.

And despite their claims to the Washington Post that “When students take the SAT and PSAT, the proctor instructions make clear that some items on the questionnaire are optional, and they may skip if they prefer not to answer,” nothing could be further from the truth.

First, there is nothing on the PSAT student answer sheet to let students know which questions they do not have to answer.

And if you read the script for proctors, as specified in the 2017 PSAT supervisors manual  on pp. 10-12, you can see how evasive, confusing and ambiguous are the instructions that are supposed to be read aloud to students.

After asking students to fill out  their (obligatory) names and addresses, this is what the proctor is then supposed to say:

There is nothing in this script indicating that providing information about high school course work is purely voluntary and may be shared with third parties for a fee.Then come some really dicey questions, prefaced this way:

Though this part of the script does indicate that participating in the School Search program is voluntary, it does not mention which personal information aside from test scores or telephone numbers will NOT be shared with third parties and no indication that this data will be sold to various institutions and corporations and even the military at 42 cents per name.

Then, as a separate question come the doozies— with nothing in the script to suggest that answering these questions are voluntary.  Worse yet, students have already been asked to check off the box as to whether they want to participate in the Student Search, without having yet seen the information that may be shared.

There is one mention above that students “may leave”  questions blank related to their racial and ethnic backgrounds – but this is not part of the script that proctors are asked to read aloud.

Now are other even more personal questions, with no hint at all either in the read-aloud script or otherwise that answering these questions are optional:

Above are questions about the students’ religion, potential major and grade point average, the education level of their parents or guardians, and if their parents have a military background.   The latter information is probably very valuable to the Department of Defense, which according to the NYCLU, purchases this information from the College Board for military recruiting purposes.

Not only is nothing mentioned about the voluntary nature of these questions, but the instructions tell the proctor to encourage students to fill in the question asking their potential college major, and help them identify the “code” for their religion if they have trouble seeing it.

To make things even more confusing, the College Board then mixes in questions asking the student’s birth date and gender — which are required to be filled out, with no indication of any change in the nature of these questions.

Then they ask for the student ID number or social security number, even though the latter is considered very sensitive.

So you can see that this script for proctors is written in the most ambiguous way possible, with voluntary questions mixed in with required ones, and no clear indication which is which or that much of this personal data will be shared with third parties for a fee.

I have yet to see the script or the answer sheet for the SAT — as opposed to the PSAT.  If anyone has a copy please send it to leonie@classsizematters.org

I have heard that the questions include the now politically sensitive question about their citizenship, which may be the reason that in NYC,  principals have been told not to include the Student Data Questionnaires as part of their administration of the SAT or PSAT exams — and to skip #11 on the answer sheet, which relates to religion, but not any of the other questions.  Indeed, the online Student Search questionnaire has questions about citizenship and more.  But there may be other personal questions on the answer sheet and in the proctor’s instructions so beware.

If your child has already filled out these questions, either online or in a previous administration of the exams, you can still opt out of further disclosures.  According to the College Board,

“If at any time you change your mind and want to stop participating, please contact us via email or at (866) 825-8051. Please note that any eligible participating organizations that have already received your name and other data may continue to send you information, but your information will not be included going forward from the time you elect to opt out.”  There is also an opt-out form here.

How the College Board gets away with this, year after year is really a scandal — especially since all the new state laws have been passed banning the selling of student data.  Perhaps they are relying on the distinction without a difference of “licensing” the data vs selling it.

In any case, be sure if your child is taking the PSAT or the SAT, tell them to only fill out their name, address, gender and date of birth.  Even their student ID # is unnecessary, according to the College Board.

The rest is literally more cash in the pocket of the College Board — which as we have seen, is eager to trade away your child’s privacy for profit.