Mike Schirtzer’s additions
As we learn from CORE and continue to build upon social justice unionism we must also have student/parent centric issues on our platform that will resonate with the greater community.
11. Classsize- this has been the main educational discussion in the presidential election
12. Schools staying open later as community centers- before Arne Duncan became tea party he spoke of schools staying open late and weekends
13. Budget cuts- have a disproportionate effect on children in poverty, cuts to arts, musicals, drama, school newspapers/yearbooks . These afterschool programs keeps our children safe in schools with adult supervision, where as the wealthy can afford to send children to private classes
14. Cuts to afterschool programs-budget cuts have also meanr cuts to SAT prep and literacy coaches, honework help after school- again hurting the poor
15. Special ed/esl Are our school doing enough for our students with special needs- do we as a union need to speak for them
16. Layoffs of DC 37 school support staff, has meant a decrease in adult supervision in our buildings
17. 4 years of stem (science technology engineering math)- every high school students deserves 4 full years of classes including science math foreign language and electives. We should push for a change in state standards to represent this view in credit requirements
18. Rich elementary school curriculum- due to test prep there has been cuts to amount of time spent in Physical ed (1 day a week), history, civics, arts
19. School infrastructure- Equality of opporrunity vs equality of condition- new charter schools have beautiful buildings that are fully tech equipped (internet, laptop carts, smart boards) and air conditioned- MORE must fight for equal resources and learning conditions for all our students. All buildings have to be in best condition and equipped for 21st century learning

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I went to the “public hearing” on two proposed charter schools in District (13).   Only 2 people showed up that were not charter school people…..myself and a representative from City Councilwoman Letitia James’ office.  I started off saying that having these public hearings at this time of the summer cannot be “public” hearings, as the public did not show up.  Also the place of the hearing is NOT even in District 13! (Ms James rep also spoke to these issues).  The DOE rep said that it was the state’s regulations that forced them to be held now and that the D13 CEC offices were under construction (new school being placed there).

I spoke to fact that the two charter school proposals sounded great and the people working to bring them to District 13 seemed genuinely  interested in helping the students in District 13.  The problem is that many of the public schools in District 13 are in great need of resources, not competition from other schools.   If these schools are approved to share a neighborhood public school, it will only HURT the many students already in that school.  Those students will have to share the gym, lunchroom, library, etc. Also taking students to fill up the charter schools means that the neighborhood school lose the funding.  Then that school has less money for arts, music, and partnerships with community groups.  The money to set-up these charter schools should be used to give our public schools more resources.  I told them that they should be confronting/pushing the DOE to allow groups of people to start regular public schools, not charter schools.

I also spoke about the fact that when you control for ELL, special education (especially those that need more services), free lunch (not just reduced lunch), and the students that are pushed out, charter schools do NO better than our public schools. Why not put the resources and your ideas to work in our District 13 schools?

I also asked (during the question period) about how they were both going to fund a longer school day and about the fact that most charter schools only keep teachers for a few years.  There was a discussion about this also.

Unity Preparatory Charter School of Brooklyn, is being started mostly by former teachers (some from Brandeis HS).  Many live in Ft Greene (District 13).  They are young and want to make a difference.  They wanted to talk afterwards and we discussed the issue of charter schools being used to privatize ALL education here in the US.  I told them by participating in this charter school they have to know that they are basically part of the problem.  I said you have to see the BIG picture, not just wanting to start a great school for students and teachers.  They didn’t want to look at that, and then I said…..people wanted to have blinders on about global warming…….and now many cannot deny that it is happening.  You must see the implications of your current actions.

Letitia James’ rep said that I had said most of what she wanted to say, then she also discussed some of the issues.   Everyone thanked me for coming!!…..A rep from the NYC Charter School Center came up after and asked why NO UFT reps EVER come to these meetings!  As I was walking away I realized it was because they can’t talk against charters as they SUPPORT them!

I think it is time for the UFT to have a different position on charter schools.  They could  say that they have run their own charter schools.  From that experience they have learned that there is NO silver bullet to improve student learning.  It takes resources to help struggling students like smaller class sizes, programs for parents, social supports for students and families, in school intervention programs, and high quality after school and summer programs, to name just a few.  The UFT could call for a stop to all new charters and instead for the resources to be used for our struggling public schools.  No one is blaming the current charter school teachers who mostly want to help students, it is just that the charter school experiment has NOT worked.