By Patrick Donachie
The Queens Parent Advisory Board welcomed United Federation for Teachers President Michael Mulgrew to Borough Hall Tuesday for a wide-ranging discussion of school overcrowding, the Common Core and punishment for abusive teachers.
“We really are at a crossroads at this moment,” he said, standing behind a podium before a capacity crowd packed primarily with parents and teachers.
He criticized what he considered to be the federal government’s top-down approach in the passage of nationwide education legislation like No Child Left Behind, and he criticized the impact that Common Core State Standards had on students.
“There was too much interference from above,” he said. “You may have had a good intention, but when it goes down through all the bureaucracies, there’s unintended consequences.”
Mulgrew said new federal legislation would offer seven states the opportunity to use project-based assessments, which ask students to complete more detailed projects and problems, in lieu of standardized testing. The state would have to fund new assessments, but Mulgrew said it was worthwhile for New York to vie for a spot.
“We get to do so much more with children when we do it in a holistic manner,” he said.
Mulgrew noted that Queens is the most overcrowded borough in terms of its schools, and he criticized the approach the city takes to determining school capacity. The city makes those decisions based on its annual Enrollment, Capacity and Utilization Report, which critics contend artificially inflates enrollment capacity. He said the city needed to consider more construction.
“You go to a district and look at K through three,” he said. “If they’re overcrowded, build middle schools. It’s not that difficult.”
Soumaly King, a member of District 28’s Community Education Council, asked Mulgrew how the UFT could work with the Department of Education to remove teachers accused of abuse or violence from the classroom.
Mulgrew said the UFT had pushed for mandatory termination for abusive teachers and that the union hoped to strike a balance between the dual needs for due process and safety in classrooms.
“We want a fast and fair process,” he said. “That’s all we ask for.”
After the meeting, King asserted that it was difficult for districts to get abusive teachers out of the classroom, saying that the onus was on districts to both prove the allegations and offer rehabilitation before a teacher could be removed. She said parents had little voice in the process.
“We have no recourse within the system,” she said.
Reach reporter Patrick Donachie by e-mail at pdona
