NYC Coalition for Educational Justice

By Melinda Martinez, Daily News

Over the past few months, parents in my corner of Brooklyn have felt suddenly under assault. Despite having what we consider excellent public schools — and a successful community-based approach to educating our young people — we are fending off an unwanted charter school in Cobble Hill. So far, our concerns seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Wednesday night, the citywide Panel for Educational Policy is expected to vote to allow the charter school to share the K293 building where my four daughters go to school.

I’m not against parents having options, but I’m against giving valuable space to charter schools in a way that makes life harder for traditional district schools. I fear that is what’s happening here. Continue reading →

By Lindsey Christ, NY1

The Department of Education says dozens of schools are failing, but on Tuesday, outside the DOE headquarters in Downtown Manhattan, protesting parents said education officials have failed the struggling schools.

Chanting “Go get your F! Go get your F,” the parents said the 47 schools named in late September for being in danger of closing for poor performance deserve a second chance.

“We’re devastated that our school’s on the list of at-risk for closing,” said one parent.

“We’re asking the DOE as parents to give our school a chance,” said another.

Since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the schools, 117 have been closed for poor performance and 528 new schools have replaced them. Continue reading →

By Erin E. Evans, NY Times

Holding up an oversize report card on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse on Chambers Street, parents and elected officials on Tuesday gave an F to the city’s Department of Education in a protest to prevent the possible closing of several schools.

“This F represents the failure of this administration,” said City Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn. “We have come here to the streets to say, ‘Mr. Mayor, you get an F on education.’ ”

Students and parents from the city’s most underserved communities have been holding weekly protests, accusing the Education Department of abandoning their schools by cutting budgets. The parents also object to the city’s policy of merging charter schools into their buildings. Continue reading →

By Philissa Cramer, Gotham Schools

Parents from schools the city has deemed failing issued their own grade to the Department of Education today: an F.

About three dozen parents from schools the department might close gathered on the steps of Tweed Courthouse to decry the department’s policy of shuttering schools instead of offering them additional aid. They said the department has failed at everything from providing resources to struggling schools to engaging parents — even to showing compassion to schools and families working under difficult conditions to help children. Continue reading →