By Colin Campbell 11:25am

co-locate this!

(Photo: Wikimedia)

Barron and James Blast Co-location Proposals [Video]

The issue of co-locating charter and public schools in the same building is a contentious one, and at an education hearing discussing the topic yesterday afternoon, the first two Council Members to speak thoroughly attacked the proposals in their districts.

“Co-location has been nothing but chaos,” East New York Councilman Charles Barron declared while criticizing the poor graduation rate among black and Latino students. “If you go into some of the schools in our district, you will see that the battles around co-location are taking away from serious educational approaches to our children.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 1/17/12 3:18pm

school fight

Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Wikimedia)

Parents Union: Cuomo ‘Violated the Memory’ of MLK With Education Remarks [Updated]

NYC Parents Union, a public-education advocacy organization strongly, condemned Governor Andrew Cuomo’s education remarks that invoked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memory.

“Yesterday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo violated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by exploiting and manipulating Dr. King’s legacy of empowerment to promote a cynical political agenda that victimizes public school students, their parents and the teachers who are the foundation of public education,” the Parents Union’s statement began, calling on the Governor immediately change course on the issue.

Governor Cuomo announced at an event commemorating Dr. King’s legacy that he’d force the creation of a teacher evaluation systems in order to secure $700 million in federal aid from the Race to the Top program. He also said before the largely African-American audience that current public education policies have become “the great discriminator.”

The statement employed charged language against Governor Cuomo on charter schools in particular, saying that “Dr. King would never support bamboozling parents,” and that “Dr. King would never support pitting African-American and Latino parents against teachers and other unionized workers in the public education system.” Read More

By David Freedlander 7/25/11 5:01pm

The education debate

Jeffries Hits Back At Education Critics

This afternoon, Assemblyman (and maybe Congressional candidate) Hakeem Jeffries responded to allegations made on his Facebook page that he was cozying up to well-heeled charter school supporters in an effort to raise campaign cash.

“There is no more important issue to the community than improving the quality of public education,” he said. “And regardless of Read More

By Azi Paybarah 6/02/11 2:45pm

education

How the NAACP Will Respond to Charter School Parents

The NAACP is looking for parents to participate in a rally tomorrow, in order to respond to a pro-charter school rally that “assaulted” the organization’s office in Harlem earlier this week. A reader passed along this email from the NAACP, detailing the group’s effort.

The author of the email, Ken Cohen, referred calls to the NAACP, which did not respond to inquiries. Read More