fightback friday info fliers forjan21

8/8/2019 Fightback Friday Info Fliers forJan21

1/5

Whats up with School closings?Instead of supporting the teachers, students, families or administrators inschools that are struggling, the DOEs policy has been to close them.

90 schools have been closed since Bloomberg took office.

26 are on the chopping block this year; and dozens more are on lists to be

transformed with little or no teacher or community input. The students most affected by these closings are those who struggle

academically or behaviorally. These students are overwhelmingly studentsof color from high-poverty areas. Many of these students are shuffled tothe next struggling school. They end up in over-crowded classes with analready overwhelmed and unsupported staff.

Due to school closings, many students are forced to travel much farther toattend school, reducing their ability to arrive on time, participate in extra-curricular activities, or have their parents be involved in their schoolcommunity.

The political agenda of the mayor, and many so-called educationreformers, includes diminishing the role of parents and teachers indecision making at the school, district or city level, increasing the use ofstandardized tests as the focus of curriculum, and putting publicschools inthe hands ofprivate entities. Closing schools is one way of achieving theirgoals.

We demand that the teachers, parents and students of strugglingschools be allowed to decide how to improve their school. We demandthat the DOE actually put children first by providing the extra

resources a struggling school needs in order to serve its student andsupport its staff.

Join our school community for a rally to call for:

Restoration of the more than _________ already cut from thePS ____ budget!

An end to school closings.

Real support for public school teachers, students and families.

No budget cuts, no teacher lay-offs.

Jan 21st

City Wide Fight Back Friday!


2/5

Whats up with Charter Schools?Charter schools receive public funding but are run privately. All over the city,charter schools are taking precious space and resources from public schoolsby taking over space in their buildings.

Charters often receive large private donations that public schools do not.Despite public funding, there is little or no financial oversight over charterschools.

Most charters do not have a parent association.

Teacher turn over in charters is double that of public schools. (VanderbuitUniversity, 2010)

Contrary to claims in the media, the majority of charter schools haveacademic results equal or below public schools. (Stanford University, June2009).

Despite calling themselves public schools, charters are not required toeducate all public school students. Students who struggle academicallyreport being asked to leave in the middle of the year, before state tests are

given. Families of students with behavior issues also report being asked toleave. On the whole, charter schools serve many fewer English languagelearners and students with special needs than public schools.

The political agenda of the mayor, and many so-called educationreformers, includes diminishing the role of parents and teachers indecision making at the school, district or city level, increasing the use ofstandardized tests as the focus of curriculum, and putting public schools inthe hands of private entities. Expanding the role of charter schools is oneway of achieving their goals.

We demand well-funded, high quality public schools for ALL students.



An end to charter take-overs city-wide.



Jan 21st



3/5

Whats up with Budget Cuts?Cuts to public school budgets have, and will continue to decimate schools

across the city. Many schools have lost teachers and other school staff leading toincreases in class size and unsafe conditions for students. Public schools lose outon after-school and other extra curricular programs, materials and other crucialelements needed to provide a sound education.

These cuts always hit schools in high-poverty areas hardest since theschools cannot raise funds in the community. Meanwhile those are the

schools that need more resources in order to combat the effects of povertyon students.

The department of education continually chooses to spend its resourceson more standardized tests, more data collection systems and highsalaries for DOE employees who provide no direct or useful services tostudents or schools.

Despite being mayor of one of the wealthiest cities, in one of the wealthiestnations in the world, Bloomberg has repeatedly chosen to ask our studentsand teachers to bear the brunt of budget shortfalls instead of forcing the

wealthy to pay their fair share through taxation. The political agenda of the mayor, and many so-called education

reformers, includes diminishing the role of parents and teachers indecision making at the school, district or city level, increasing the use ofstandardized tests as the focus of curriculum, and putting public schools inthe hands of private entities. Cutting school budgets is one way ofachieving their goals.

We demand fully funded public schools. We demand an equitable fundingsystem which ensures that more funding goes to the schools with the highestrates pf poverty. We demand that the wealthy pay their fare share; that in hardeconomic times those with the most, like Wall Street executives, pay moretaxes.Join our school community for a rally to call for:




Jan 21stCity Wide Fight Back Friday!


4/5

Whats up with Mayoral control?

From 1969 until 2002, there was an elected body called the Board of Education thatran the NYC pubic school system, independent of the mayors office. No one wouldargue that this system was perfect. It was not. Now however, instead of trusting inthe intelligence, dedication and collective knowledge of parents, students andeducators, instead of increasing democracy and looking to include more voices in anattempt to make the system better, the entire NYC public school system is run bythe mayor and the mayors office alone.

This change has proven disastrous for all students:

1. Despite an increase in funding during the early years of mayoral control, classsize has increased and test prep for standardized tests has become the normfor everyday instruction in many schools. And yet, as seen in the recentscandal over test scores, academic achievement has not improved.

2. Community, parent, teacher and student voices have been consistently shutout of educational decision-making. It is a mistake to have one person makingall educational decisions for 1.1 million students. Its even worse if that oneperson is NOT qualified for the job. In a system serving largely working classfamilies of color, to have a non-educator, super-wealthy white man making alleducational decisions is a travesty.

Mayoral control of schools gave us Joel Klein and Cathie Black.

Mayoral control gave us the testing craze.

Mayoral control gave us larger classes, and fewer teachers.

We demand community control of schools.



Ending mayoral control of schools.



Jan 21st



5/5

Why is Tenure for Teachers Important?In recent months a national debate has sprung up over the question of tenure for

teachers. The mayor and the so-called education reformers want to end tenure, orat least tie a teachers tenure to the results of their students test scores. Here aresome things to consider:

FACT: Tenure does NOT MEAN a job for life. Tenured teachers CAN be removedfrom the classroom.

FACT: Tenure simply means that teachers are protected from arbitrary firing througha system of due process; the same as firemen, cops, nurses or anyone else in aunion.

FACT: Basing tenure on test scores leads to more test prep and less real teaching.

FACT: In addition to ensuring that teachers are protected from the whims ofadministrators, and providing job security so teachers can provide for their families...

...TENURE IS GOOD FOR STUDENTS.

A tenured teacher can raise concerns about unsafe, un-fair or disrespectfulpractices towards students or families without fear of reprisal.

Tenured teachers are advocates for children!

Tenured teachers will stay longer in the position allowing them to accrueextremely valuable experience. Experience makes teachers better!

The debate around teacher tenure is a way to blame teachers for the failure ofpoliticians to adequately fund and support public schools. It is a way to attack theunion, which is the only entity standing in the way of complete privatization of publicschools

We demand support for teachers and their students, especially in the schools that

are struggling the most. We demand an end to blaming teachers for the effects ofpoverty and the failure of politicians.Join our school community for a rally to call for:


An end to teacher bashing and tying tenure to test scores.



Jan 21st


fightback friday info fliers forjan21

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