Christine Quinn posing with charter school kids outside the forum Tuesday night.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson both pulled out of a mayoral forum hosted by charter school advocates at the last minute Tuesday--earning the ire of audience members who accused them of being too scared of crossing the powerful teachers' union a week before their endorsement vote.

Mr. de Blasio dropped out less than an hour before he was supposed to appear on stage, and Mr. Thompson pulled his RSVP Tuesday afternoon, according to an event organizer.

"We are disappointed that the more than 800 families who came from across the City tonight didn't get to hear a diversity of opinions because some candidates weren't able to talk about where they agree and disagree with school reform," Jeremiah Kittredge, the Executive Director of Families for Excellent Schools, the group that hosted the forum, said in a statement.

Parents in the audience booed when they heard the news.

"I think they showed a lack of courage. And it's also insulting to the people who organized this," said fellow candidate and former City Councilman Sal Albanese, who called the cancellation showed a "lack of class."

"Unless there's real extenuating circumstances ... I think they're afraid of facing charter school parents because they may alienate the United Federation of Teachers that is going to make an endorsement very soon,"  he concluded.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Thompson, who has attended the vast majority of this year's many forums, blamed his cancellation on a scheduling conflict. Mr. de Blasio, usually a diligent attendee (minus a Crain's New York Business forum), did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But both men have been heavily courting the UFT, which is set to endorse next week.

While the two are often darlings at traditional public school forums where their attacks on charter school founders and calls for a moratorium for co-locations win loud applause, Tuesday's forum was a very different world.

There, in a Salvation Army auditorium on West 14th Street, the crowd applauded loudly for the more moderate approaches of ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was mobbed after she spoke by little girls eager for autographs and hoping to pose for photos with the woman who, if elected, would become the city's first female mayor.

On stage, Ms. Quinn seemed relaxed and friendly (as if she were chatting with friends over coffee, as one attendee described), mostly stuck to touting her education accomplishments, including a new pilot program that will lengthen the school day at some schools, and previously announced ideas like replacing textbooks with tablets. She also chided the current mayor, a close ally, for failing to make parents feel engaged

As Council speaker and candidate, she said she's heard from too many parent who "feel like their voice not only isn't heard, isn't wanted." She added, "I don't just want to hear it. I need to hear it," arguing that parents should have a direct line into the mayors office.

"You know, there's not a lot I miss about Rudy Giuiani. But he used to go out and have all these town halls in communities, which were a good thing, 'cause people got an opportunity to speak directly to the mayor," said Ms. Quinn who herself recently came under fire for skipping another education forum hosted by a group extremely hostile to the current administration.

Anthony Weiner on stage at the charter school forum.

The reception was also positive for Mr. Weiner, who appeared perfectly at home on the grand red-draped stage, standing and gesturing with his arms as he answered questions about how to deal with failing schools, co-locations (an option) and whether charter schools should have to pay rent (no).

Mr. Weiner, for his part, called on both charter advocates and their opponents to ratchet down the rhetoric, which has often placed charter schools and traditional public schools at odds.

"The fight and the choice between quality public schools and the charter movement is a false one that I think has been perpetuated too long ... It's also been perpetuated too long by the people in this room," said Mr. Weiner, who noted charters comprise only about five percent of the city's 1.1 million students. "I am gonna try to turn down the temperature on this conversation to get a place that it's less us against them."

But the son a school teacher did make one revelation: that he failed freshman math in high school. ("I was forced to walk with my tail behind my legs and ask my mother for help," he recalled.)

Still, he also declined to jump into the fray over the Bills' absences.

"None of us can make it to everything. All I can do is be accountable for my own schedule," he said.

(Photo: Wikimedia)

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."

He concluded his speech by saying, “I just want overall to say in my last five seconds, you've been a dismal failure no matter how much you want to come here with this kind of nonsense. Failure. Failure."

For her part, Councilwoman Tish James took a more measured approach in her objections, supporting co-locations in some situations while objecting to the philosophy of sprinkling them around throughout New York City.

"In your statement you said co-location is a fact of life in our city," Ms. James said to the Board of Education officials. "I will argue co-location should only be a fact of life when a school is underutilized."

She proceeded to make a passionate case against adding charter schools to two particular public school buildings in her district.

"We're finally getting stability in that one school, that's 596," she said about one of the locations, "And now you just want to add another 5th school. This is not co-location, this is cramming, and I categorically oppose it. ... You know I'm going to oppose this with every fiber of my being. That includes but is not limited to a lawsuit, I've already hired some high-powered attorneys, and we will see you in court."

Watch the exchange below:

Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Wikimedia)

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."

However, not every education advocacy organization is upset with Governor Cuomo at the moment. The Alliance for Quality Education praised his education efforts just today, although on a different set of issues than the Parents Union.

Update: Governor Cuomo's office passes along praise for their education policies from multiple advocacy organizations and the State Education Department.

From Educators 4 Excellence:

"Applying more pressure on unions and local districts to finally implement a more effective teacher evaluation system is a wise move by Governor Cuomo, especially with nearly $1 billion in much-needed state aid and federal Race to the Top dollars now at stake. Even more important than the funding is the support and feedback a well-implemented multi-measure teacher evaluation system will provide to educators. In our work with over 3,500 teachers in New York State, we consistently hear that educators are willing to be held accountable for results, but want to know their voices are included in the creation of this system. We hope the Governor will continue to seek valuable input directly from the classroom."

And from the State Education Department:

State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. today said he and the Board of Regents welcome Governor Cuomo's leadership on the issue of teacher and principal evaluations. King said he’s hopeful the Governor’s actions spur negotiations resulting in a rigorous, transparent, and fair evaluation system as envisioned in the State's Race to the Top application. King said the State Education Department (SED) regulations issued last year were a good starting point for public negotiations.

"The Governor is right to be frustrated," King said. "So far, there’s hasn’t been much progress. Earlier this month, I suspended School Improvement Grants because participating districts had failed to meet the deadline for acceptable agreements on evaluations. Now, the Governor has given SED and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) 30 days to resolve this issue definitively. We should use those 30 days to have a healthy public debate on evaluations. We’re ready to sit down and start talking.

Read the full NYC Parents Union press release below:

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. Governor Cuomo is wrong to do this and we, as public school parents, call upon him to immediately stop and reassess his approach.

Governor Cuomo stated that he sees school reform as a continuation of Dr. King’s struggle. We agree with the Governor completely. However, rather than committing his administration to fully supporting education in the state’s public schools – support that would include compliance with court decisions mandating increased funding for New York City’s schools in particular – Governor Cuomo has chosen the well-financed drumbeat of so-called “reformers” who see the privatization of public education as an acceptable outcome. We know that Dr. King would not agree with this divisive and deceptive approach.

We know that Dr. King would never support bamboozling parents to accept a so-called “parent trigger” law that, in reality, manipulates parents into converting their schools to charter schools – charter schools that, in turn, will greatly diminish parental rights compared to those in place for non-charter school parents.

We know that Dr. King would never support a public education approach that promotes segregation between perceived “haves” and “have nots” through the co-location of charter schools within operating public school buildings.

We know that Dr. King would never support pitting African-American and Latino parents against teachers and other unionized workers in the public education system. The legacy of Dr. King and the struggles of organized labor are intertwined. It is Governor Cuomo who forgets that Dr. King supported organized labor here in New York State and that he died while in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting striking sanitation workers.

We are, unfortunately, not surprised by the Governor’s callousness. Mr. Cuomo also said in his State of the State address on January 4 that there is nobody lobbying for students. We strongly disagree because we, the parents, lobby for our children's education every day.

We, the parents, have to endure the rhetoric and destructive plans of hedge-fund financed front organizations who applaud the closing of schools, the replacement of qualified veteran teachers with well-meaning under-trained rookies, and the abandonment of children with special needs and English Language Learners. These outcomes are not happening to Mr. Cuomo’s children or those of the hedge-funders; they are happening to Black, Latino and Asian children in overcrowded and under-resourced schools.

We, the parents, have to endure the co-location of charter schools that pay no rent for space in buildings where our children were denied small class sizes, music and art programs, quality libraries, adequate space for special needs students, and a reasonable and safe lunch hours.

Maybe Governor Cuomo’s Education Commissioner, Dr. John King, is comfortable -- or must be comfortable -- with the attack on public education. But the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would support true parent empowerment and would be standing with the real stakeholders—students and parents and teachers and the community.

New York’s parents -- real parents untainted by well-financed organizers -- want education legislation that truly empowers parents, not privatizers. We hear the real drumbeat of the civil rights movement. Therefore, the NYCPU Legislative Agenda for 2012 is our first step in the ongoing struggle to fulfill Dr. King’s dream. This agenda includes a parent empowerment policy that provides parents with choices for taking over failing schools -- choices that don't enrich privatizers. We welcome Governor Cuomo's support for our Legislative Agenda

"There is no more important issue to the community than improving the quality of public education," he said. "And regardless of the presence of shrill voices in some corners of the debate, we must all continue to search for common ground and do what is right on behalf of our children."

The issue came to the fore after we reported earlier today that charter school advocates at Democrats for Education Reform have started a fundraising page for Jeffries, a move that set off an unhappy response by an anti-charter, pro-union group.

This whole episode reveals two things--how influential charter school money has become in politics, and how much local education remain a lightning rod for a large segment of the electorate. If Jeffries goes through with his expected campaign against incumbent Congressman Ed Towns, it will be interesting to see how much these issues come to the fore.

In the statement, Jeffries said that he has always pushed for charter schools and been in favor of education reform, but touted his criticism of some of the Bloomberg administration's pro-charter education department.

“The co-location issue is a complex one, and as we stated in the NY Daily News op-ed, the Department of Education has not historically managed the process well. That said, I have been a consistent voice in the legislature on the issue of education reform and charter schools as an alternative for some of the most disadvantaged black and Latino students in the public school system.

“In this regard, I co-sponsored the legislation in 2010 that lifted the charter school cap in New York State as part of our successful Race to the Top application that secured approximately $700 million in education funding from the federal government. That money will largely be used to help poor, urban school districts. I also introduced a moratorium bill on school closures, but excluded co-locations from the legislation given the complexity of the issue.

“Of course, I have worked closely with some of the Department of Education’s fiercest critics, many of whom were co-plaintiffs with me in the lawsuit Jeffries v. Steiner that challenged the legitimacy of Cathie Black’s appointment as schools chancellor. I also voted no on the extension of mayoral control given the inadequate checks and balances in the system.

“There is no more important issue to the community than improving the quality of public education. And regardless of the presence of shrill voices in some corners of the debate, we must all continue to search for common ground and do what is right on behalf of our children.”

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

-----Original Message-----

From: William McDonald <#### @ gmail.com>

To: William McDonald <#### @ gmail.com>

Sent: Sat, May 28, 2011 9:12 am

Subject: URGENT: IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED - Emergency Mobilization Meeting for NAACP Press Conference

To ALL Education Chairs,

Please note the letter below sent by our regional director

to the Branch Presidents. There will be a full Mobilization

on Friday, June 3, 2011.

Time and place to be announced.

William H. McDonald

718-### -####

To All Presidents

As you all know the NAACP was assaulted yesterday at 125 Street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. by Charter Schools. The schools used parents and children to publicly ridicule the NAACP and our NYS President Hazel N. Dukes. It has been decided by our State Conference President Hazel N. Dukes, President Ben Jealous, and the Legal Staff of the Association to hold series of actions. The first will be a letter that will appear in the Amsterdam News. The second will be a Press Conference to be held Friday, June 3, 2011 time and location to be announced. The National Association is taking the actions and responses of the past 10 days as a direct attack on the integrity of the NAACP. Therefore President Dukes has ask that Presidents from each Branch in the Metropolitan Council meet on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 6:00 PM 1065 Avenue of the Americas Suite 300. There are several actions we have been asked to do. The first is PARENTS, we are to find a parent that is working closely with each Branch that could speak at the press conference, that parent should NOT be a member preferably. We need parents to stand with us preferably women, but we will take male parents. Finally we are to mobilize our Branches and bring a list on Tuesday as to who in your Branch can attend. This meeting is of the utmost importance the National Legal staff will be in New York City, as well as our National Leadership on Friday. We need to have our act together. Please confirm receipt of email and confirm your attendance at Tuesday's meeting.

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend

Ken Cohen

646-###-####

Main messages:

We sued to make schools better for all children.

We’re fighting for all the students to have a great education, not just the lucky few.

We have an order from a judge saying we should make these schools better rather

than closing them down and co-locating well-resourced schools across from those that are being starved.

We’re looking at an old-school Brown problem in a new way. This is the new separate and unequal.

20% of charters give a better opportunity, 80% will do the same or worse. We want a consistently better

system for all our kids.

We represent all the parents, and are expanding opportunity for all.

 

Beth Glenn

Education Director

NAACP National Office