Community Activists Save The Spruce Street Middle School

Save Spruce Street Middle School

1. 1. 
    
   2. Petition by
      Spruce Street School PTA
      New York, NY
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PETITION

Move Forward with Planned Middle School Seats at Spruce!

The Lower Manhattan community was thrilled and proud when The Spruce
Street School opened its doors in September 2011.  As a symbol of downtown revitalization, it was particularly poignant that we moved into the Gehry Building blocks from Ground Zero and within days of the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  Even at this happy event though, the growing downtown population
and concerns about school capacity were in the minds of families and DOE officials.  To address these concerns, then Chancellor Dennis Walcott said, 
"There will be a middle school."  "You have my guarantee:  This will be a pre-K to 8 school.” (http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20110603/downtown/peek-inside-downtowns-sparkling-new-spruce-street-school)

From recent comments made by Chancellor Carmen Farina (http://tribecatrib.com/content/chancellor-downtown-schools-may-need-grow-different-way), however, Spruce Street School families and the downtown community have been alarmed to learn that the DOE is questioning whether the planned middle school will go forward at Spruce.  We appreciate Chancellor Farina’s recognition that there are not enough elementary school seats in Lower Manhattan, and indeed, there should be a critical evaluation and plan to address the issue as Lower Manhattan has some of the fastest growing neighborhoods in America.  But the lack of capacity in Lower Manhattan extends past elementary grades to middle school as well.  Over the past two years especially, the District 2 middle school admission process has been a stressful and unhappy one for many families because there are just not enough middle school seats in District 2.   Eliminating the planned Spruce middle school seats to expand lower grades does not address the overall lack of capacity and does not make sense for District 2.  

The newly raised uncertainty over our middle school seats is particularly stressful at this time, as our first fifth grade class will open this September, and we are preparing our students and our school for middle school.  We have already started planning for our middle school with the formation of a middle school envisioning subcommittee.  We ask that we be able to continue with this planning with assurance that our middle school will open in 2015 as intended.

Chancellor Farina has made increasing family engagement a priority and said in her comments questioning the current planned school structure that she would not make any decisions without community input.  We, Spruce Street families, and the Lower Manhattan community need to answer Chancellor Farina’s call for input by coming together and showing our resounding support for the planned middle school seats at Spruce.

Here’s what you can to do to make our voices heard and get out our message Move forward with planned middle school seats at Spruce!

ATTEND THE CB1 MEETING

Tuesday, June 24 - Full Board Meeting - 6:00 PM 280 Broadway

Gibney Dance, enter from 53 Chambers Street.

Media will be there to cover this event. They are expecting a big turnout and we want to give them one. The public session starts at 6pm so you don’t need to stay for the entire meeting. Children are welcome so no need to get babysitting. MAKE SURE YOU SIGN IN. We need you there! Numbers count!

JOIN THE PROTEST RALLY AT SPRUCE STREET PLAZA 

Wednesday, June 25 – 8:15 – 8:40 am

Media will be at this event as well.  Let your voice be heard loud and clear!!!  

ATTEND THE DISTRICT 2 COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL (CEC) MEETING

Wednesday, July 9^th 6:30 pm – Sign up and speak during the Calendar Meeting public session (usually about 7pm)

WRITE A LETTER TO OUR CHANCELLOR and DOE Officials.

Every letter makes a difference.  Make your individual voice heard! See thesample letter below. 

DOE Contacts

·         Carmen Farina - Chancellor NYC Department of Education, 212-374-0200 :       

          CGFarina@schools.nyc.gov or use this link Contact Chancellor Carmen Fariña here 

·         Mariano Guzman District 2 Superintendent (212) 356-3815 mguzman6@schools.nyc.gov

·         Jesse Mojica - Executive Director, Office of Family and Community Engagement, 212-374-4118: jmojica@schools.nyc.gov

·         Nancy Baez - Special Assistant to the Executive Director at NYC Department of Education, Division of Family and Community Engagement: nbaez7@schools.nyc.gov

·         Jennifer Greenblatt District 2 Family Advocate Jgreenblatt@schools.nyc.gov(212) 356-3789

·         Drew Patterson - Director of Strategy for South Manhattan at NYC Department of Education: APatterson7@schools.nyc.gov 

City Government

·         Contact Mayor Bill de Blasio here 

·         Morris S.H. Chan - Community Liaison for Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer: mchan@manhattanbp.nyc.gov

·         Margaret Chin - City Council Member: chin@council.nyc.gov

·         Yume Kitasei - Office of Council Member Margaret S. Chin.ykitasei@council.nyc.gov

State Government Contacts

·         Sheldon Silver - Assembly Speaker,  212-312-1420 :  silvers@nysa.us

·         Paul Goldstein - District Office Director at Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,goldstp@assembly.state.ny.us

·         Deborah Glick - Assembly Member 212-674-5153 glickd@nysa.us

·         Daniel Squadron - State Senator 212-298-5565 : squadron@nysenate.gov

US Government Contacts

·         Contact Us Senator Charles Schumer here

Community Board Contacts

·         Community Board 1 general email man01@cb.nyc.gov

CALL THE CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE 

Let her know you support the Spruce Middle School.

Chancellor Farina: 212-374-0200

CALL THE OFFICE OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (FACE)

Let them know you want the planned Spruce Middle School and you are dismayed with the lack of community engagement around this issue.  

FACE : 212-374-4118

Dear Chancellor Farina: 
I am a member of the Spruce Street School community and Lower Manhattan, and write to express my concern over your recent comments about re-evaluating downtown school structures including the potential elimination of the planned middle school seats at Spruce Street School. I would like to express my strong support of the planned Spruce Street middle school. I appreciate your recognition of the lack of school seats in our community, but I do not believe reconfiguring the school will appropriately address the issue since the lack of capacity in Lower Manhattan extends past elementary grades to middle school as well. Indeed, the lack of middle school seats is a problem throughout District 2, not just in Lower Manhattan. We were very happy and looking forward to working with you when at the start of your administration you stated your priority to increase parent engagement. You also stated that you would not make any decisions regarding downtown school configurations without community input, so I want you to know that I along with my community strongly support the opening of the Spruce Middle School in 2015 as planned. 
As you probably recall our school, which is just a few blocks from Ground Zero, opened its doors just days short of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and for many families, the school symbolizes the successful revitalization of the community. We are all proud of our community and how far it has come and are thrilled that so many families want to be here. The uncertainty over Spruce Street’s middle school seats is particularly stressful at this time, as our first fifth grade class will open this September, and we are preparing our students and our school for middle school. We have already started planning for our middle school with the formation of a middle school envisioning subcommittee and know it will continue the superb education and bonding with our dynamic community that makes our school so special. We know the excellent schools are a reason that many families are drawn to the community, so it would be a shame if, after so much and having had many reassurances from the DOE about the middle school, there is uncertainty about the middle school at this late date.

Sincerely, 
[Your name]

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1. Thank you Tribeca Tribune's reporter Carl Glassman!

   
   

   by Spruce Street School PTA

   Petition Organizer

   Many of us would not have realized our middle school might be in jeopardy without Tribeca Tribune reporter Carl Glassman. His article (http://tribecatrib.com/content/chancellor-downtown-schools-may-need-grow-different-way) highlighted Chancellor Farina’s comments that made the opening of the middle school in doubt. He came to our school to hear what the parents had to say. He also tried to get to know families so he could write a better article that explored all the issues. We would not have mobilized so quickly without Carl’s help and we are indebted.

   http://www.tribecatrib.com/

   
   

   Chancellor: Downtown Schools May Need to 'Grow In a Different Way'
   

   In an effort to ease the crowding crunch in Downtown elementary schools, Chancellor Carmen Fariña said on June 10 that "everything is on the table." The chancellor declined to rule out eliminating the planned 6th-to-8th grades at the Spruce Street School, now a schoolyear away from opening its 6th grade classes.

2. Spruce Street Middle School will open in 2015!

   
   

   by Spruce Street School PTA

   Petition Organizer

   Thanks to all who signed and supported the Spruce Street School’s petition to let Chancellor Farina, Mayor de Blasio, and the DOE know the community overwhelmingly wants to move forward with the Spruce Street Middle School and open in 2015. 
   
   We collected an astounding 412 signatures on our online petition in just 7 days and more than 700 names on our paper petition in just 3 days! 
   
   We would like to thank Principal Nancy Harris, Chancellor Farina, and Mayor de Blasio for making it clear that family engagement and community input is indeed a priority in the DOE with the current administration. We know that Superintendent Mariano Guzman and Drew Patterson from the Office of Portfolio Management met with our principal resulting in swift clarification and rapid communication to the families and we are very grateful they recognized and acted upon the distress of the community. 
   
   Many officials have shown unwavering support since Spruce Street School was just an idea and in particular, we would like to acknowledge Speaker Sheldon Silver for always making it clear that he would do everything he could to fulfill the promise of a K-8 school. Many thanks to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Member Margaret Chin, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, and Senator Daniel Squadron for their support of the Spruce Street Middle School and their ongoing advocacy to address the shortage of public school seats in Lower Manhattan. The recent passage of the school overcrowding legislation sponsored by Speaker Silver and Senator Squadron is an encouraging and important step in addressing the ongoing problem of school overcrowding in Lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City. 
   
   Community Board 1’s Youth and Education Committee Co-Chairs Paul Hovitz and Tricia Joyce’s leadership in advocating for the students in Lower Manhattan was the inspiration for many who decided to become an active member of the community and participate. We would like to give a special thanks to Paul Hovitz for his extraordinary dedication to the students in the Community Board 1 area throughout the years. 
   
   Thank you to Build Schools Now, an organization created by downtown parent leaders to draw attention and address the problem of Lower Manhattan overcrowding, for practical advice and promoting a positive and community building approach to advocating for our school. 
   
   Finally, we would like to thank the downtown community and especially the Spruce families who in some way participated or provided support. We are not going to name any particular person because every person was vital and helped provide the fuel for our incredible momentum. Because we came together as a community we were successful in getting our voices heard.

Less 

 

Once Again, The Teacher Tenure Debate: It's About Who Will Get the Billions In Public Money, not Teacher Effectiveness

I wrote a short post on my view of tenure after one of my daughters' teachers disappeared without a trace when she was in the 11th grade at NEST+M. The Principal, Dr. Olga Livanis, who had followed me to NEST after I spent 8 years at Stuyvesant High School with 2 of my daughters and hoped never to be in the same building with her again, didn't like English teacher Adam Miller, for reasons known only to her. My daughter and all of her friends thought that Adam was the most amazing teacher ever, and he was going to write their college recommendations for them, until he just wasn't there anymore. He sued and won his job back, at NEST, but my daughter had started college by then.

What happened when Adam left? Dr. Livanis had substitutes, one replacement (for 2 days) came from Bronx Science, and the last was a young guy that was just starting out in a career of teaching. The kids liked him a lot, so decided that he was ok, and he stayed until the end of the year.

I went to parent visiting day, and the teacher from Bronx Science tried to teach the students, and she was probably an excellent teacher. But the students wanted her to bring Dr. Livanis to the classroom and tell them what happened to Adam. Finally, she went to get Dr. Livanis, who eventually came into the classroom with Superintendent Alexis Penzell, who I knew quite well from the theft of money at Stuyvesant HS. Dr. Livanis and Ms. Penzell tried to explain that there are decisions that had to be made, and that was that. This insufficient response pleased no one. The teacher in place that day resigned her position at NEST+M and, I heard, went back to her former position.

I watched all the mini-tenure advocates with first, amazement; and then admiration. They wanted Adam Miller back, and stood up for what they wanted.

Unfortunately, all the students did not learn what they could have learned, academically, but they all did well on their Regents and SAT tests, because they were all G&T, which masked the fact that the curriculum was interrupted permanently by Dr. Livanis' game-playing.

 The debate over teacher tenure is a debate about politics in education and who is going to get paid the $billions in public money, not about teacher effectiveness. See Good Teachers Denied Tenure: Harris Lirtzman

and: 

Chronicles of (the conceptually incoherent & empirically invalid world of) VergarNYa

Betsy Combier


The Teacher Tenure Debate
NYC Rubber Room Reporter 2010

Theresa Europe, Director of The Administrative Trials Unit, NYC Board of Education (pictured at right)

Is holding onto a tenured teacher a policy of the past that has no value for the present?

I've read alot about tenure, especially after being involved in the rubber room process for seven years as a journalist/paralegal/educator, yet I am a parent, too, of four daughters.

I dont hear very often about how children see "teacher effectiveness", or how a child feels when a teacher disappears, so I asked my youngest daughter, Marielle, who is now 17 and heading off to college in September. She recalled the day two years ago that a teacher she liked suddenly disappeared without explanation. She remembered every detail, and she told me that all of her friends were tormented by the disappearance. She and her friends valued the way this teacher listened to their statements in class, and how this teacher respected their answers, telling each of them that there was value in every perspective. This was a social studies teacher who also was funny at times, serious with his aim to focus on the lesson, but always respectful of each student and his/her contribution to the daily conversation.

One day he was there and the next day a substitute sat at his desk. Marielle and her friends were insulted at the Principal's lack of concern for their feelings, and never totally forgave her (the Principal).

I'm going to continue to ask the kids what they think, because isnt all the talk about teacher tenure really about educating young people to become the best they can be? We all must listen to all voices, no matter what age and/or training he/she has in the biography.

Is Teacher Tenure Necessary?
LINK

Tenure is under attack. The century-old system of protecting experienced teachers from arbitrary dismissal — long viewed as sacred — has triggered hot political debates in several states.

"Teacher effectiveness" has emerged as the biggest buzz phrase in education policy circles. Because teachers have such potential for affecting the quality of children's education, some people are starting to argue that it must become easier to get bad teachers out of the classroom.

"There seems to be a lot of drive to do away with tenure," says Sandy Kress, who helped write federal and state education laws as an adviser to George W. Bush and other policymakers. "Tenure has proved to be just a horrible barrier to getting rid of that small percentage of teachers who are just not effective."

Action All Over

This is not merely an academic debate. A bill in Colorado that would change tenure rules and tie them to student performance passed out of a Senate committee last week and has the support of Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter. A Florida bill to abolish tenure was vetoed this month by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, but a similar bill is pending in Louisiana.

Debates about tenure rules are happening at the local level as well, notably in Washington, D.C., where a proposal to eliminate tenure and seniority rules in exchange for higher pay led to protracted arguments over the local teachers' contract.

Washington state, meanwhile, along with Maryland and Ohio, has recently lengthened the number of years teachers have to wait before becoming eligible for tenure. Elementary and secondary school teachers can become eligible for tenure after as little as two years on the job, although the time frame varies by state.

"What's become so problematic about tenure is that it's awarded almost automatically, without regard to performance in student learning," says Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, which advocates changes to the teaching profession.

A Matter Of Due Process

Unlike tenure for university professors, tenure for K-12 teachers does not, in theory, shield them from dismissal. Instead, it's simply a guarantee of due process — that if a teacher is fired, it will be for cause.

The advent of tenure, which coincided roughly with World War I and the suffragist movement, was meant to protect teachers, who, in olden days, were often fired for reasons that had nothing to do with their work, including race.

Teachers were often let go when a new political party came to power locally, or if the principal wanted to hand out jobs to his friends, or even if a teacher got pregnant.

"These laws were passed in state after state to protect good teachers from arbitrary actions," says Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, which is the country's largest teachers union.

"Due process is necessary in order to avoid the type of abuses of the past," he says. "It's very upsetting that in 2010, under the guise of improving schools, we suddenly get rid of protections from firing teachers for inadequate or wrong reasons."

Are Protections Still Needed?

Advocates of overhauling tenure say they favor due process. But they point out that tenure predates subsequent labor laws that guard against discrimination or other employer abuses. "So much has changed about our larger legal framework," says Tim Daly, president of The New Teacher Project, which helps place teachers in urban schools. "A law about teacher tenure, by far, is not the only thing that would protect you."

This point now is commonly made, but Susan Moore Johnson, who teaches at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, says, "I'm not really convinced there are more protections now. You continue to hear stories about how favoritism is alive and well in public schools."

For his part, Daly doesn't advocate the abolition of tenure, but he does believe it needs to be changed. Dismissals should be job related, he says. But the problem he sees is that there are so many legal and managerial hurdles involved in dismissing a teacher that tenure has become a de facto shield against firing even the worst teachers.

"Tenure says you can't be dismissed unless you are shown to be incompetent through the evaluation process," Daly says. "But the evaluation process doesn't work at all, so tenure is seen as an ironclad guarantee of a job."

Change May Be Coming

That's where policy advocates have spotted an opening. It's clear that the way teachers are evaluated will undergo change. The federal Race to the Top program, a $4 billion pot of money meant to encourage states to pursue innovative educational strategies, insists on tying teacher evaluation to student performance.

The ins and outs of how student scores on standardized tests are weighted in evaluating teachers can quickly turn into a topic of interest only to insiders. In contrast, the public can understand and respond to the idea that a lifetime job guarantee has become anachronistic in today's economy.

Getting rid of tenure is still going to be a tough sell. Teachers unions are generally considered among the strongest lobbies in most states, and job protection for their members goes to the heart of their mission.

Johnson, the Harvard professor, says that unions make convenient targets for blame in such matters, noting that even teachers without tenure are rarely dismissed. She has studied some of the few districts where teachers are regularly let go — which are those where joint panels set up by unions and administrators sit together in judgment.

"Principals will say, 'The reason I don't dismiss anyone is because the union will stand in the way,' " Johnson says. "But where teachers are dismissed, it's through a peer review that guarantees due process."

Less Than 1 Percent Fired

Firing teachers is hard. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles have each fired fewer than 1 out of 1,000 of their tenured teachers in recent years. Those numbers are not unusual.

Administrators complain that the process is too draining. Reviews of dismissal cases can take years to make their way through the system, costing tens of thousands of dollars each.

Teachers say that administrators are themselves at fault for performing perfunctory, "drive-by" evaluations. One study of selected districts in four states found that 99 percent of teachers receive "satisfactory" ratings.

Sometimes, bad publicity can curb the worst abuses on either side. The Los Angeles Times found last December that L.A. schools deny tenure to fewer than 2 percent of probationary hires, with evaluations often amounting to nothing more than a single, pre-announced classroom visit lasting 30 minutes or less.

Following the report, Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines pledged greater scrutiny. In February, the district announced it would fire more than 110 nontenured teachers for performance -— three times the annual rate in recent years.

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers announced the city would close the district's "rubber rooms," where teachers are paid to sit and do no work, often for years, while awaiting the outcome of dismissal hearings.

Newspaper and magazine articles about the rubber rooms — which Bloomberg labeled "study hall for teachers" — had embarrassed both the city and the union. Now, teachers will be assigned to administrative or nonclassroom duties while cases are pending, with the city hiring more arbitrators to speed up the process.