NYTimes.com: Education Secretary Steps Into a Minefield in Brooklyn

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: May 18, 2010

It was meant to be a cheerful visit to put the spotlight on successful teachers and charter schools — an event that more-cynical observers tend to call a dog and pony show. But when Arne Duncan, the federal education secretary, arrived in Brooklyn on Tuesday for a tour of some of its schools, he was stepping into a sensitive moment in New York education politics. News releases and rejoinders flew during the day, and even deciding which schools he would visit provoked a squabble.
Mr. Duncan is prodding states to overhaul their education laws with the carrot of millions of dollars in competitive federal grants, under a program known as Race to the Top.

Among other changes, states can score points by raising the number of charter schools. The New York Senate has passed a bill to do just that, but the teachers’ unions are fighting efforts to pass the same bill in the Assembly. The second round of Race to the Top applications is due June 1.

When word circulated that Mr. Duncan planned to visit Kings Collegiate Charter School in Brownsville and Public School 65 in East New York, Randi Weingarten, the former head of the city’s teachers union, who is now president of the American Federation of Teachers, called him to express her disapproval. The principal of P.S. 65, Daysi Garcia, is one of only a few principals who have managed to have a teacher fired for incompetence. Several teachers have left since she took over several years ago, in part, union officials said, because they felt Ms. Garcia had treated them disrespectfully.  So at the union’s request, Mr. Duncan’s aides added a third school, Public School 241 in Crown Heights, to his itinerary.
And it was there that he stood with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, pleading with Congress to pass legislation that he said would save thousands of teaching jobs. Mr. Bloomberg echoed the plea but focused his demand on the Assembly, calling on the Democrats there to raise the cap on charter schools.

“A number of reform ideas are under consideration by the State Legislature, and while I can’t talk about the specifics of any of them, I can say we share many of the underlying values they propose,” Mr. Duncan said. “The president has called on states to allow good charter schools to flourish while ensuring that there is real and equal accountability.”

As Mr. Duncan spoke at P.S. 241, he was flanked by Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, on his far left and Lauren Harris, the principal of Kings Collegiate, on his far right. Neither of the two spoke during the news conference, but their supporters were battling from the sidelines. Hours before the event at the charter school, the teachers’ union’s press secretary sent reporters a fact sheet titled “A Tale of Two Schools.”

Like many charter schools in the city, Kings Collegiate, widely praised for its high test scores, shares a building with a traditional public school, Intermediate School 588, which does not score as well. The union was trying to point out that students who arrived at I.S. 588 were not as well prepared as their peers at Collegiate.
It also asserted that nearly one-third of the approximately 80 Kings students who entered in fifth grade had left the school by the next year.

Ms. Harris told reporters that approximately 18 students who began fifth grade were held back to repeat the grade and that less than a handful of them left the school. Education Department officials later said that the rate of students who left the school was closer to 20 percent. But documents the school filed with the state show that 11 percent of the students left the school between their first and second years.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 19, 2010, on page A22 of the New York edition.

Deductive Reasoning

This morning, being a usual morning, found "team Flete" involved in mega rush mode as we dressed, scarfed down breakfast and raced to the car. Jordan and Julia counted down to "take-off" as I wrestled the Landcruiser from the tight parking spot where it had been nestled and I somehow managed to avoid hitting all the meteorites (vehicles) and aliens (people) on my way to the Third Avenue bridge.

The kids had finally settled into reading the assortment of shop signs, billboards and street signs on my way down Lexington Avenue on the way to HSA3. Suddenly Julia tapped me on the shoulder and asks in a clear and unwavering voice, "Mommy, what's a nuva-ring?" Now, my inclination was to turn the radio up louder and pretend that I didn't hear my five-year-old ask me about a method of birth control but decided against my better judgement and opted for the standard hard-of-hearing mother response, "What was that, dear?" Julia is the type of child that every parent covets and fears having at the same time. She is energetic, articulate, bright, assertive and stubborn as a bull. She is relentless in her pursuit of answers and this, I was afraid, was about to turn into one of those dreaded question and answer periods. Luckily, by this time we were approaching 122nd street and Lexington Avenue and would not have much time for this discussion.

"Nuva-ring, mommy... what's a nuva-ring?", she repeated.

"What makes you ask? What do you think it is?", I responded shakily. Sweat beads were forming along my brow and I heard Jordan snicker. He'd obviously seen this scene play out between us many times before.

I caught a glimpse of Julia in the rear view mirror. Her brow was furrowed and she was obviously trying to frame her question so that she received a straight answer, as I'm sure she sensed my obvious avoidance. "I don't know what the nuva-ring is. That's why I asked. I saw it on a sign at the bus stop and was wondering what it was."

I saw my out! We were already on 115th and Lexington and had only 4 blocks to go. I was certain that she wasn't able to read the entire advertisement as we whizzed by, much less understand it and surely 4 blocks wasn't enough time to explain it. I made my strategic move. "What did the sign say?" Check.

Right at this time, a big, yellow school bus proceeded to slowly flip out the octagonal, red-flashing stop sign. I was caught. Julia and I met eyes in the rear view mirror. She flashed her winning smile and said, "The sign said the nuva-ring was 99.7% effective at preventing pregnancy if used properly. I don't now what the nuva-ring is, but I know it does something. If you tell me what the word preventing is, then I can probably figure out what it is. Deal?" Check mate.

I was floored! My 5-year-old not only read the advertisement but was attempting to use deductive reasoning to understand it. She could care less what the nuvo-ring was! All's well that ends well. I explained the word "preventing" and she was able to deduce that the nuva -ring "stops" pregnancy. She went Beyond Z this morning and this was all before 7:45am!

ps... The follow-up discussion of how this nuva-ring actually works is bound to be a winner.

Next Steps

So the screening of The Lottery was a success and many of you may be wondering what you can do to help all children get a free, excellent education.  The answer is contact your representatives!  Let's all go Beyond Z today and let our voices be heard!

Leave a voicemail for these four Harlem elected officials to let them know you support parent choice and want the charter cap lifted.  Adam Clayton Powell supports charters, so please make sure to let him know you appreciate his position!  The others do not support parent choice.
Note: you will not reach a live person when you make these calls. Your call will go straight to a voicemail box that will send your messages to the elected officials.

• Adriano Espaillat: (718) 874-1470
• Denny Farrell: (718) 928-9587
• Bill Perkins: (718) 989-2705
• Adam Clayton Powell: (718) 989-2706

Suggested voicemail messages are as follows:

• Assemblymembers Adriano Espaillat and Herman Denny Farrell should hear:  "Hello this is (your name) calling to leave a message for Assemblymember Espaillat (or Farrell. I am calling to urge you to support our public charter schools. Please help us raise the cap on charter schools in New York State by voting for A.10928 and vote against the funding freeze for charter schools in this year's budget. Both of these votes will help our kids and put us in the best position to win $700 million in Race to the Top Funding."

• Senator Bill Perkins should hear:  "Hello this is (your name) calling to leave a message for Senator Perkins. I am calling to ask you to reconsider your position on public charter schools. Please help us raise the cap on charter schools in New York State and vote against the funding freeze for charter schools in this year's budget. Both of these votes will help our kids and put us in the best position to win $700 million in Race to the Top Funding."

• Assemblymember Adam Clayton Powell should hear:  "Thank you Assemblymember Powell for supporting parent choice.  This is (your name) calling to say I would like to thank you for your support of public charter schools. Please continue to support legislation raising the cap and ending the funding freeze. Thank you for supporting our kids and putting us in the best position to win $700 million in Race to the Top funding."

Remember these are OUR elected officials and they need to hear from US. Have a Way Beyond Z day!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Panel Discussion

A panel discussion took place immediately following the screening. The panelists were: Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Harlem Success Academy; Jim Manley (Deuce), founding Principal of HSA2; Ny Whitaker, parent of HSA3 scholar and Candice Frier, founding teacher at HSA2.
There was a lively discussion regarding the movie, personal experiences and challenges working within the public charter school system. Questions from the floor were taken.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Lottery Film facts

As if those weren't disheartening enough:

* Spacing for prisons built in America is based on the school failure rate of black 4th and 5th grade boys.
* It costs $250,000 taxpayer dollars to fire 1 NYC unionized teacher.
* The teacher's union spends more money lobbying Albany than any other entity.
* In this April's lottery, there were 1000 available slots in the Harlem Success Academy schools and over 7000 applicants for these slots.



Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Live from The Apollo

Okay! Here we are at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem awaiting the general screening of the documentary, The Lottery! The house is PACKED! Stay tuned for prospective parent interviews and reviews!





Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Lottery comes to The Apollo

Tonight the documentary, The Lottery will be shown at the world famous Apollo Theatre! Doors open at 5:00pm and show time is at 6:00pm.
For those of you who didn't have the opportunity to screen the documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, here's your chance! It's a riveting film and I encourage you all to come out to the Apollo tonight.
The Lottery Film highlights various opinions on the debate regarding the provision of a quality, public education. Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone, NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein, Susan Taylor the Editor of Essence magazine, Newark's Mayor Cory Booker, and Betsey Gotbaum the former NYC Public Advocate sound off in the film.
For more details please visit: http://thelotteryfilm.com/.
Hope to see you all tonight at the Apollo!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Teacher's Appreciation Week at HSA3

We parents at the Harlem Success Academy love, love, love our teachers! Last week was Teacher's Appreciation Week. It began on Monday, May 3rd, with breakfast for all of our teachers, spiraled through the week with an assortment of fun activities and ended on Friday, May 7th, in a bang with a barbecue! All the activities were expertly organized by our HSA3 parent council. They bought supplies, coordinated contributions, crafted gifts and essentially, performed magic to rival the instructors at Hogwarts! The following photos are highlights from our barbecue.

My Letter to the Editor

The following is a letter I wrote to the editor of the UFT's newspaper, New York Teacher. The editor's email address is: nytletters@uft.org in the event that you'd like write your own letter. The submission has to be a maximum of 250 words and have a name, address and telephone number attached to be considered for submission in their paper. I've deleted mine from this post for obvious reasons.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: gandersonflete@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 18:14:37
To: <nytletters@uft.org>
Subject: UFT radio commercial

Dear Editor:

I am dismayed by tactics that the UFT has employed, as of late, in terms of the slander campaign aimed at public charter schools. A radio commercial aired on an urban music radio station this morning was, unfortunately, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back and encouraged me to send this letter. This commercial hooked me by playing on my general interest in children and specific concern for NY's ailing school system. It began by speaking of overcrowded classrooms, cuts in funding and teacher layoffs. The commercial then took a left turn and began to rail against public charters insisting that they were to blame for the ills of the city's educational system.

I am the parent of two Harlem Success Charter scholars and am outraged that the UFT continues to pit traditional public schools against public charter schools. I have no fight with traditional public schools or parents who send their children to them. My decision to go charter came about as a result of my children's unfortunate zip code which tethers them to a failing zone school.

I wish that all traditional public schools were able to provide an environment where all children are afforded the opportunity to receive an excellent, free education; however, that is not the case at this time. I respectfully ask that you pull the radio commercial and stop playing political games with the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable members of our citizenry. Stop making excuses and placing blame. NY traditional public schools have failed a large number of our children for generations. Do our grade schoolers have even one more year to wait for a real change? I say NO... parent choice now!

Gloria Anderson-Flete

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

UFT Radio Commercial

Good old Michael Mulgrew and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) are at it again. This time, they're running negative radio commercials alleging that public charter schools are all about making money at the "expense" of the children. This particular commercial was aired on New York's 98.7 KISS-FM, an urban music radio station with a traditionally black and latino listenership. This is especially damaging since these are the parents whose children are likely within the catchment area of the Harlem Success Charter Schools and probably most in need of an excellent and free education.
The UFT is encouraging people to visit their web site to learn how to stop charters. I challenge you all to visit their website, email the editor, call their main offices and encourage them to pull the commercial! Tell them that you support the growth of charter schools! Let's all go Beyond Z today and let your voices be heard!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Senate votes to lift the cap!

The state Senate voted 45-15, Monday, in favor of lifting the cap on the number of public charter schools statewide! There's just one more hurdle folks. The Assembly has to vote to pass the bill and then it's on Paterson's desk. No worries there... Paterson is a supporter! The bill, however, faces a dismal fate in the Assembly, where Speaker Sheldon Silver and the teacher's union oppose the measure.

The passing of this bill will boost New York's chances of winning federal Race to The Top funding. The Race to the Top Fund provides competitive grants to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform. Delaware and Tennessee won the first Race to the Top this March, winning $100 million and $500 million respectively over the next four years. Kudos to them!

New York was eliminated due to the requirement of state legislative action related to Charter schools (raising the cap) and opposition of Charter schools by teacher's unions. New York lost out on $700 million in education dollars, much needed in the midst of our current fiscal crisis. Hopefully we are now on the right track as Phase 2 applications are due on June 1, 2010.

A good education is the only guaranteed ticket to success! Keep the pressure on your local politicians. They need to hear from us! Education reform NOW or else your reelection is in peril!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Complicated

Complicated (adjective) \ˈkäm-plə-ˌkā-təd\ Consisting of parts intricately combined.

If you are wondering what my life is really like as the parent of two Harlem Success Academy (HSA) students, the only adjective that comes to mind is: Complicated. In the beginning of the school year you are asked to sign “The Contract”.  The contract is an agreement between you and the Harlem Success Academy that says, essentially, if your child is to be a HSA scholar, you are committing your life to HSA. You sign on the dotted line and marry HSA until death (or graduation) do you part!  In sickness and in health this commitment includes the understanding that an HSA parent is an active participant in his/her child’s education.  Uniform compliance, on-time arrival and 100% attendance are MANDATORY and non-negotiable!

The life of a HSA parent is a seemingly endless mélange of shuffling papers, homework packets, rubrics, mandatory meetings, chess games and soccer tournaments… examples of the manageable aspects of parenting a HSA scholar.  The harder to manage aspects involve visiting libraries and bookstores searching for books that have never been read before, having to be constantly mindful of my integrity and exhibiting a perpetual sense of agency.  It’s less than pleasant to have your kid shake their head at you in a judgmental way when you just want to sleep, there’s more [insert chore of choice] to be done and your kid feels you need to try and try.  The unmanageable aspects have to do with reassuring my children that they will do well on a never-ending hamster wheel of standardized tests. Gone are the days of sitting alone in a comfy chair reading a book of my choosing that has more than 100 pages and no pictures.  Gone are the days when I could sleep soundly beyond 5:30am on any given weekday because HSA scholars are expected at school before 7:45.  Gone are the days when my summers were free to romp, frolic and island hop with out a HSA summer reading list and backpack of summer assignments.

The feelings get really complicated when the super inconvenient parts are juxtaposed with the joy I feel when my 5-year-old, kindergartener, who reads on a second grade level, reads to me from her Junie B. Jones series of chapter books.  The awe I’m in when my 2nd grader does rudimentary algebraic formulas without even realizing it… and rejoices in his accomplishment!  I’m amazed when I hear what I believe is arguing and realize it’s only a spirited debate over a chess game.  I’m inspired when I see the pride my scholars have in their appearance and the confidence they exude when they speak to adults.  I’m exuberant at the prospects of them belonging to the next generation of American leaders.  Their enthusiasm for learning is infectious!  I’m proud to be a HSA parent but being married requires a great deal of dedication and commitment and living with the Harlem Success Academy “ain’t easy”!