Support our schools, don’t close them!

The NYC Department of Education refuses to help struggling schools, and thousands of children are being hurt as a result of this neglect. In February 2012, the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) voted to close another 18 schools and truncate five. The mayor and the DOE continue to have no strategy for struggling schools other than to shut them down.

There is no positive agenda for improving education: providing resources that schools need, especially schools educating big populations of high-needs learners; focusing on curriculum and instruction; helping teachers develop and retaining good teachers; working with parents and communities to address the many needs that children step into school with every day. There is only an agenda of destruction centered on closing schools.

In January 2012 the mayor abruptly halted the work the DOE and UFT were doing together with the 33 restart and transformation schools and announced that instead, he would close these schools and remove half their staffs. These 33 schools included schools that according to the DOE’s own data are doing well; they are not “failing” by any measure and targeting them for closure is proof of the complete educational bankruptcy of the closing schools agenda.

After holding these schools hostage for more than 80 days, the Department of Education abruptly announced that it would not proceed with plans to shutter the seven schools that had received an A or a B on their most recent School Progress Reports.

Hours before the city’s Panel for Educational Policy meeting to determine the fates of the remaining 26 schools, the city removed two more schools from the list. The panel voted to close the remaining 24.

UFT members and school communities are fighting back.

Take action

1. "Like" the Closing Schools Is Not the Answer page on Facebook. There’s a a comprehensive calendar of these events, a “Fact Check” page that shines light on the DOE’s failed strategy, news articles about the closing schools fight and other resources. “Like” the page to get regular updates in your Facebook news feed, and spread the word to your friends, family and colleagues.
2. Support the blue ribbon campaign of the 26 restart and transformation schools. The UFT has prepared blue ribbons, yellow buttons and placards demanding that Mayor Bloomberg “stop holding our schools hostage.” The goal is to create visibility and to involve neighborhood communities. The placards, for instance, can go in car windows as well as local business windows. The ribbons can go on fences. Talk to your chapter leader about getting active in this campaign and asking community members to display the materials.
3. Sign the petition started by the 23 schools the PEP voted to close in Feb. 2012. Sign the petition online, or download a copy to circulate in your school.

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