Emotions are running high this month as parents, teachers, students and local legislators battle a host of drastic changes proposed for many New York City high schools.
The Department of Education (DOE) plans to close eight Queens high schools and reopen them virtually under new management through a reform model known as “turnaround.” The final determination on their fate will be made by the Panel for Educational Policy on Apr. 26.
Schools slated for closing are judged by the DOE to be low performing based on a variety of factors, including test scores, graduation rates and attendance rates. Critics say that the DOE relied too heavily on statistics and ignored other factors that affect these rates, including English language learners, poverty levels, students with special needs and budget cutbacks at schools which reduced resources for teachers.
At public hearings at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood on Monday night, Apr. 2, and William Cullen Bryant High School in Woodside the next evening, the message from the large crowds to the DOE was overwhelming: “Leave our schools alone.”
However, the underlying current behind the turnaround proposals put forth by the DOE-backed by the Bloomberg administration- is the all-encompassing search and eligibility for federal funding and the never-ending tug-of-war between the Mayor’s office and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
The mayor wants merit pay, teacher evalations and a large increase in charter school creation. The union rejects the mayor’s ideas since they believe every teacher should make the same pay within their union structure. They argue that teacher evaluations are not a true picture of ability, and that charter schools undermine the union’s strength.
The turnaround model calls for the elimination of at least half of an existing school’s faculty. Every teacher at a turnaround school would need to reapply for their jobs; those who are not accepted will be thrown into the DOE substitute teacher pool- at the same full-time salaries they currently earn.
Undoubtedly, this turnaround plan-if enacted-will greatly diminish the strength of the UFT. It will also be costly to taxpayers; while a school like Grover Cleveland stands to receive up to $2 million annually in new federal funds through this plan, millions more will be spent to pay former teachers demoted to per diem jobs.
Whoever thought this was a fiscally sound idea must have flunked their math classes.
In the real world, however, politicians play games, teachers are rewarded regardless of performance and many parents could care less about how their sons or daughters perform in class. That, more than anything, has to change.
The children at all of these endangered schools are lost in this power struggle. Education is the key to the future, and in a fantasy world, all students would want to learn, all teachers would be of the highest quality and all parents would be supportive of both.
The DOE’s motto, published on its website, is “Children first. Always.” It’s about time that everyone involved in public education live up to that standard and stop the bickering.
