Black’s “Slip” at Meeting is Slap Across the Face of Millions — Every Student in NYC Public Schools and Their Parents

For the Sake of the Children, Cathie Black Must Go

The latest Freudian juxtapositions of school’s Chancellor Cathie Black — on the even of Martin Luther King Jr. anniversary celebrations –were “more fuel for the fire” in the growing effort to oust Ms. Black from her position, said Councilman Charles Barron in a press conference held  this past Tuesday, outside the Tweed Building, home of the Department of Education, and it’s chancellor, Cathie Black.
Attorney Roger Wareham and Freedom Party candidate for Attorney General, Ramon Jimenez, the legal team that challenged the appointment of Cathie Black as chancellor of New York City public schools, joined Barron in denouncing Chancellor Black.
Wareham said that the lawsuit they had brought in the context of a movement to stop Cathie Black as New York City Chancellor, had been rejected by an Albany court.  “We’ve been reviewing the judge’s decision, and find there are grounds for us to appeal, and we will be filing and pushing this as far as we can.”
Attorney Wareham said that the court decision “deferred to the expertise of the administrator”, in this case, Dr. David Steiner  Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education.  “We think Mr. Steiner’s opinion (to waive education requirements allowing Ms. Black to take the office) was arbitrary and capricious and that the statements made by Cathie Black subsequent to assuming office, are proof positive that she is unqualified, and we maintain that we are correct” in that assessment.  We will follow every means possible to stop this.”
The statements that Wareham is referring to were made at a Daily News editorial meeting.  “Overcrowding is throughout the entire school system.  My understanding is that someone told her ‘We just have class sizes that are unmanageable,’ and Black replied, ‘Well, can’t you just use birth control?’”    Barron said that people were stunned and gave a “nervous chuckle.”
“Not only did she offend people of color, but in her statement about Sophie’s Choice, she offended the Jewish community.  Sophie’s Choice was a film about a Jewish mother who had to determine which one of her children was going to be killed by the Nazis.”
Speaking of the meaning of Chancellor Black’s statements, Barron said,  “For her to bring up Sophie’s Choice when she’s talking about prioritizing spending in the school system and to bring up birth control when alking about oversized classes, was incredibly outrageous and incompetent, ignorant and unacceptable.   Afterwards, even some of the white parents said the were outraged and called it an insult.  She should have offered solutions.  And even now after she’s apologized and said ‘I was joking’,” and the mayor’s apologized, they still haven’t gotten any solutions.”
Barron called this latest blunder more fuel for the “Cathie Black Must Go, Movement,” saying   She’s a danger to the education of our children, and the Mayor should be ashamed of himself, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration, to be supporting Cathie Black.”

At Wit’s End

Parents and Teachers Express Outrage at Mayor’s Choice of Chancellor

At Wit’s End: Two Moguls Talk Turkey About Diversity and Education

By Stephen Witt
Mike Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch would make great street hustlers.   Especially with the three-card monte game these two media moguls are playing with the Department of Education’s chancellor job.
The old “watch the green pea” trick comes after Joel Klein stepped down as chancellor two weeks ago and was replaced by Cathie Black, an executive at Hearst Publishing. Klein, a corporate lawyer, quit the $250,000-a-year post to work for Murdoch and head his new educational product division – most probably at a considerable raise. Black had previously worked for Murdoch when he owned New York Magazine.
Now I’m not sure if the two billionaires ever discussed the transaction before the announcement, but if they did, the telephone conversation may have gone something like this.
“Hey Mate. Rupert here.  How’s the business of government?”
“Heh, heh, it’s good to be king. So what can I do you for?”
“I’d like to discuss your boy, Joel Klein.”
“Yes. Joel’s a good man. Doing a bang up job heading the Department of Education. What about him?”
“He’s coming over to work for me in our new educational product division. I reckon now that Joel’s been seasoned in the educational game he could get us some of that $26 billion that the you are throwing at those kids.’
“I feel you Rupert. Every penny counts. But it does leave me in a pickle in finding Joel’s replacement.”
“Not to worry, Mike.  I have the perfect replacement.  Cathie Black.  She used to work for me when I owned New York Magazine.”
“Great idea, Rupert, I’ve known Cathie for years. She throws the best Park Avenue parties. I’ll have to get her a waiver like Joel, but they’ll form a committee to get it done.”
“But isn’t a committee dangerous?”
“Come on Rupert. We’ll round up the usual suspects. Of course that still leads me with the diversity issue.”
“What diversity issue?”
“You know Rupert. I can hear it now. People of color, yada, yada, yada. Seventy-one percent cent of the students being black and Hispanic. Yada, yada, yada. I hear this all the time.”
“People of color…. Hmm, I don’t know how you work like this, Mike.. Wait a minute. Her name is black. How black does she have to be?”
“Just black enough, Rupert. Just black enough.”

John Liu takes aim at Bloomberg’s DOE Contracts

By Andrew J. Hawkins
Much like his predecessor, Comptroller John Liu has focused on contracts with the city’s school system as a way to check Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s wide-ranging power.
The war began in early October, with news reports that the Department of Education was blaming the comptroller for delaying contract approval that would allow over $500,000 in profits from new health food vending machines from being transferred to schools. Liu’s office said it was probing possible “collusion” between the vending machine companies.
The dispute soon escalated over insurance contracts between the comptroller’s office and DOE, which still has the potential to leave hundreds of school buses without insurance coverage after December.
Under the revised mayoral control law, DOE must register contracts with the comptroller’s office before finalizing them. But a contract between insurance broker Willis Group and DOE to insure city school buses expired June 30 and has yet to be registered by Liu’s office. Liu’s office is refusing to approve the contract, arguing that, as it is currently written, it “usurped” the comptroller’s responsibility under the City Charter to adjudicate insurance claims.
Cathie Black’s replacement of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is unlikely to ease the tension between DOE and the comptroller’s office. If anything, some experts predict that Black’s ascendancy to the top position could heighten the perception of DOE as an agency unchecked.
“Generally, executives like to keep the power they think they inherited,” said Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at New York University. “She would see this as a power loss of some of her authority, especially because she’s coming from the corporate world. With only the mayor for her to report to, it really leaves no room for checks and balances.”
Bloomberg has always pushed back against the idea of increased oversight by the city comptroller, arguing that DOE is more a state agency than a city one, answerable to the State Education Department. This stance led to friction between the mayor and then-Comptroller Bill Thompson, compounded by Thompson’s political ambitions to run for mayor himself. Though this was exacerbated after the term limits extension, which set the two up to run against each other, Bloomberg aides felt even before the fall of 2008 that Thompson occasionally hit the education record to help lay the foundation for his own mayoral run.
Barring some massive change of heart in the referendum electorate and another recalibration of the political world from the mayor, Liu will not be running against Bloomberg at any point. But he is seen as a likely candidate for the 2013 race, when having some burnished credentials and additional exposure would be important for sticking out of a crowded field.
“There’s always been tension, political and administrative, between the comptroller’s office and the mayor’s office,” said David Bloomfield, an education professor at the City University of New York. “So it’s not unusual for the comptroller, in his role as auditor and oversight manager, to hold things up, doing his due diligence, and take advantage in that situation perhaps to bring the mayor up short, to not steamroll his program through the contracting process.”
After the Legislature reauthorized mayoral control in the summer of 2009, the city comptroller was given new powers to regulate and manage DOE’s contracting process. Problems with the new protocol were evident almost right out of the gate.
In July, Liu’s office got word that the Panel on Education Policy would seek to approve a resolution that would allow DOE to make contract purchases without the panel’s approval. Liu fired off a letter arguing that the resolution would not only be in violation of state law, but was also not put up for public review, as required. The panel eventually pulled the resolution from its agenda.
But a few months later, DOE and the comptroller were back at it. With the vending machines, Liu’s office refrained from approving the contracts, holding up hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthy snack profits until concluding that there was nothing improper in how the contracts were awarded. But DOE installed the vending machines anyways, before the contracts were registered by Liu’s office.
The flap over school bus insurance appears to be more severe. Willis, the insurance broker, threatened to terminate the contract by Nov. 5 if it still had not been approved by Liu’s office. The deadlock would have left thousands of children without rides to school had the deadline not been extended at the last moment to Dec. 31 to allow added time to work out a claims protocol with DOE and, more importantly, avoid a potential public relations nightmare.
Alan Van Capelle, deputy comptroller for public affairs, said that this is a systemic problem with DOE that needs to be addressed.
“We hope that the Department of Education uses this increased time to work with us and find a resolution to all the outstanding issues,” Van Capelle said. “But I think DOE needs a study hall on procurement. And they need to understand that mayoral control of schools does not mean they control everything. There still is a procurement policy and they’re required to follow it.”
A DOE spokesperson declined to answer questions about the status of the insurance contract, preferring instead to highlight the procedural issue between the agency and Liu’s office.
“Yellow bus service will continue to serve our children,” said DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg. “The comptroller has 30 days to register the contract and the time period is not yet over. As we do with many of our contracts, we have had discussions with the comptroller during the registration period, and we expect all issues will be addressed and that the contract will be registered.”

P.S. 20 Parents Oppose Arts & Letters Expansion

Eliza Ronalds-Hannon, CUNY J-School
(Publishers Note: This article first appeared October 28) Tensions ran high at Tuesday night’s crowded District 13 schools meeting, as parents continued to fume over news they got at last week’s P.S. 20 PTA meeting, which featured screaming and an allusion to overcrowded slave ships.
Many parents found out last week that an application to expand the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts & Letters – a middle school in the same building as P.S. 20, an elementary school – had advanced further than they had realized. The proposal would expand Arts & Letters, which currently serves grades 6 through 8, into a Kindergarten-through-8th-grade school.
Topping the list of P.S. 20 parent concerns was a shortage of space in the building at 225 Adelphi Street that houses both schools. As of October 15, 309 students were enrolled at Arts & Letters and 342 were enrolled at P.S. 20, which serves children from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade.
“They’re already overcrowding classrooms,” said Joanne C., a P.S. 20 parent, who was one of several who gave the Local accounts of last week’s PTA meeting. She noted that students have to eat lunch in shifts, some as early as 10:30 a.m., because of the cafeteria’s limited capacity.
“They’re saying if it becomes too crowded they’ll look at other options,” she said. “Why not start with another option?”
But space isn’t the only issue. Some P.S. 20 parents said they worry that their children will become second-class students alongside a better-funded and more stable school in the same building.
“Arts & Letters has a long history of foundation support, has bake sales, will have classes capped at 25,” said Derek Stroup, a P.S. 20 parent. “This school will have hand-picked faculty.” He pointed out that P.S. 20, on the other hand, has lost funding and staff in recent years.
“That looks like separate and unequal public accommodations,” Mr. Stroup said. “It’s like a scientific experiment.”
P.S. 20 parents also worry that children who are not in the new Arts & Letters elementary school may lose the opportunity to attend middle school at Arts & Letters.
“It kind of takes Arts & Letters off the table completely for kids in the district,” said Mr. Stroup. “If you don’t get in starting at Kindergarten, it’s pretty much not going to happen.”
The Academy of Arts & Letters is one of a crop of specialized public schools run as a partnership between the Department of Education and The Urban Assembly, a nonprofit organization supported by corporate partners like The Gates Foundation and Time Warner, as well as individual donors. The Urban Assembly’s schools are heavily focused on college preparation, and up until now have been limited to high schools and middle schools. The Arts and Letters expansion would represent The Urban Assembly’s first foray into primary education.
“The desire to create a K-through-8 school came out of a desire to have more time with our students and their families,” said Allison Gaines Pell, the principal at Arts & Letters.
This proposal comes at a shaky time in P.S. 20′s history, as the school has only recently begun to regain momentum after losing its principal and a chunk of its students at the end of the 2008-2009 school year. P.S. 20′s new principal, Lena Barbera, declined to comment.
Eliza Ronalds-Hannon Parents and students packed Tuesday night’s District 13 schools meeting.
The PTA meeting on October 20 was the first to bring together P.S. 20 parents and faculty with representatives from the Department of Education. Also present were officials from the President’s Council and the Community Education Council for District 13. Courtney McNally, from the DOE’s Office of Portfolio Planning, announced that the outline had reached “stage two” in the planning process, according to parents present at the meeting. Ms. McNally told parents that studies indicate the building is large enough to accommodate both schools.
Some parents were skeptical, and expressed it at the meeting.
“We are all familiar with the very famous ‘blueprint’ of the hull of a slave ship, that says it can fit bodies packed on top of each other,” said P.S. 20 parent Jylani Brown, who was present at the meeting and said she made the same comparison there. “That doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Reached by phone, Joyce Szuflita, who runs NYC School Help and guides Brooklyn parents through school choice, didn’t go that far. But she did say that the DOE is famously liberal in its evaluation of capacity. “It’s kind of the equivalent of counting a closet in the square footage,” she said.
Ms. McNally invited parents to voice their concerns and provided email addresses and fax numbers to do so, but many parents called that an empty gesture.
“It became transparent to everyone there that it was sort of Robert Moses-style planning. You get it all rigged up and then once it’s a done deal you have this meaningless public exchange,” said Stroup.
DOE spokesperson Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld said yesterday that the opinion of parents would be considered and that the expansion is not a done deal.
“If there is, eventually, a formal proposal, then we would have a joint public hearing at the school,” he said. “We’ll continue to solicit feedback before we post a formal proposal.”
Although many Arts & Letters parents supported the application submitted in July, the concern over space isn’t limited to the P.S. 20 community.
“I really admire Ms. Pell for what she’s thinking, philosophy-wise,” said Vasilla Caldeira, who has had children in both P.S. 20 and Arts & Letters. “But Arts & Letters doesn’t even have room for lockers. They carry their bags on their backs, their coats in the wintertime, everything, from class to class.”
“I would love if Arts & Letters were to expand,” Ms. Caldeira said. “But expand in another location that gives them the opportunity to have that great science lab, that great dance studio, that great gym.”

Revised date, time and place of joint public hearings for expansion proposal.
December 8, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
P.S. 20/Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters
225 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11205
Speaker sign-up will begin 30 minutes before the hearing and will close 15 minutes after the start.

Parks Commish Jack Linn Halts Soil Dump In Charlie’s Place Court as Area Residents Play Hardball Against Unsanctioned “Green” Effort

“You’re telling me, someone came to our community, took a pile of dirt, didn’t bother to come to us, and just dumped it on a playground’s handball court?” that was the question local architect Michael McCaw raised at a meeting called by CB3 chair Henry Butler, yesterday at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration community room. “Are they crazy?”
The site is the handball court at Charlie’s Place playground on Hopkins Avenue, between Tompkins and Throop. The player is a wealthy funding organization that has a long history of good works in and intentions for the area, the Parks Department and the Department of Education.
There’s CB3 and very vocal residents of the North Brooklyn neighborhood, occupants of houses and apartments near and around the park. The CBO and the enclave were left out of the picture. One day, the handball court was there, as it always has been since the playground’s naming, in 1957, after Charles Lubin, founder of Sara Lee company. The next day the handball court was under ground, beneath a generous attempt to create a small farm or garden in the space.
This green initiative elicited big groans that increased in intensity yesterday when the residents – mostly strong, focused and able young men – and CB3 officers met with Parks Assistant Commissioner/Senior Counselor Jack T. Linn and a Mr. Hunte, representing the greening agency “to design a plan relative to the community’s needs.”
“Not enough,” said a community member buoyed by CB3 member Beatrice P. Jones’ remarks. She said, to applause: “We’re not opposed to gardens. We love gardens. We love fruit, vegetables and flowers.
“But the community will not allow a garden to be established in that handball court. So I think we need to take our shovels and remove it. I need manure for my garden, anyway. Somebody in your agency . maybe not you, but someone, made a big mistake. Our young people are here trying to resolve this. Give them back their handball court. If you don’t have the manpower, we will get it.”
Butler, staunch community advocate, stated that the Community Board should have been approached about the project or plans for potential projects before they even come into the neighborhood. “Not informed of what already has been done.”
And although a few residents were willing to compromise on a half court; half garden arrangement, most everyone came to the conclusion – with Butler and Linn in agreement -the process had to start all over and done the correct way.
So, Next steps: The community has called for a tour of Charlie’s Place, Wednesday, July 7 at 6pm to find a more appropriate site for the garden, other than on the 50-plus year old handball court.
Meanwhile, Linn stated that in the interests of the community, “Mr. Hunte will stop work; a decision will be made on where he should move the work; and on how it will be moved.” With the involvement of the Board and the community at every decision-making level.
CB3′s Parks, Arts & culture chair Marion Little assured residents the park is being is placed at the top of the Board’s priority list, and he will be working with Mr. Butler to have some Board meetings in the North Bedford Stuyvesant area. He said, “That the handball court, used daily, is shut down at the start of summer.. now that’s a big problem.”
Manager Charlene Phillips, CB3 District Manager, closed with a reminder to everyone in the room: “Anyone who pays taxes should be kept informed of what’s going on where they pay taxes, and they should have a say in where those taxes go. You have rights, you need to exercise them.”
Ultimately, “it’s about respect,” said both Nilo Jordan and Rafael Dominguez who frequent the park, and exercise there.
Jordan, Dominguez and Anthony Mercado strongly urge the public to come out and see community empowerment in action and to wrap their thoughts around, yet, another Charlie’s Place pressing situation they’re tackling: the parking lot and people who should not be parking there- mostly teachers and hospital personnel. Stay tuned.

Our Time Press will follow this story. – BGreen