CATCHING UP ON A BUSY TWO WEEKS

It has been very busy since our last post. We had Jamaica's Joint Public Hearing on January 20th. While our school has been shrunk by the DOE, the crowd at this year's hearing was as enthusiastic as last year's and Deputy Chancellor John White was once again not permitted to tell his tales unchallenged. Hearings went on at other schools also and we have links to coverage below.

Speakers at Jamaica included UFT Secretary Michael Mendel, District Rep James Vasquez, State Senator Tony Avella (he stayed until 10 p.m.), Assemblyman David Weprin, parents, alumni, teachers, community activists Jackie, Kevin and Kathy Forrestal and most importantly the students. All spoke passionately on behalf of Jamaica.

In addition, last week the City Council Education Committee held hearings on school closings and we were there. Four students and I spoke. Kevin Gonzalez, Tiffany Borja, Kwaja Ali, Vasudeo Ramsroop were very well received by the Committee. Several groups also held a rally on the snow day (January 27) by City Hall to protest school closings.

Next up are two Panel for Educational Policy meetings this week at Brooklyn Tech where the fates of 25 schools will be voted on by the PEP. Tuesday, February 1 at 4:30 p.m. the UFT will be holding a rally at Brooklyn Tech before the PEP meeting at 6:00 p.m. where proposals to phase out a number of schools including Paul Robeson HS will be voted on.

Then on Thursday, February 3, the PEP will again meet at Brooklyn Tech to vote on many schools including Jamaica. This meeting will also start at 6:00 p.m. but people should show up earlier to sign up for speaking time.

Below are links to media coverage of our Joint Public Hearing, the City Council Hearings and the rally and then there is my editorial on why everyone needs to be at Brooklyn Tech on Tuesday and Thursday. Hope to see all of you on Tuesday and Thursday.

http://gothamschools.org/2011/01/24/scenes-from-three-hearings-jamaica-columbus-and-robeson/

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/01/eterno-jamaica-diploma-is-real-and-its.html

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/132828/council-holds-hearing-on-impending-school-closures-vote/?ap=1&Flash

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/132963/group-protests-plan-to-close-underperforming-schools/

WHY BOTHER WITH BLOOMBERG DOMINATED PEP?
Some members have told me that it is a waste of time to go to the PEP because they don’t listen to a word we say. I agree that the majority of the PEP and Chancellor do not hear what we tell them and I would add that I will be totally shocked on Thursday if we win the PEP vote on the proposal to close us. Then why bother going is the next logical question to ask.

The answer is simple. While a good turnout at the PEP meeting probably won’t sway any votes on the Panel, the judgment of the court of public opinion matters greatly. If there weren’t the huge groundswell of protest against last year’s closings, I very much doubt the NAACP, the Alliance for Quality Education and politicians would have gone out on the limb and joined the UFT in successfully suing to keep the schools open. The same holds true for this year.

Even though we won the lawsuit and our school still exists, I understand that our freshmen class was shrunk and our budget decimated because two new small schools were allowed to co-locate in Jamaica. The conditions are significantly worse compared to last year so that the public has taken notice. Jamaica’s support from the community, the politicians and the press has been just as strong, if not stronger, this year compared to last.

Hopefully the coalition that sued last year will sue again. Also, maybe the State Education Department that oversees the city will have reason to intervene on behalf of the students in the closing schools who are being cheated out of a sound basic education, a constitutional right in New York State. Without continued public pressure from the impacted schools and others, the chance of bringing successful legal action probably would diminish greatly. We can win again if we all stand up for our schools. Let’s do everything we can to stop Bloomberg from building his bridge to the separate and unequal schools of the nineteenth century.