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Charter supporters pack PEP meeting
Mar 4, 2010 12:11 PM
Charter school parents and students pack the PEP meeting and express their strong support.
At the Feb. 24 Panel for Educational Policy public hearing, Harlem Success Academy 2 got the green light to move into PS 30 in Harlem. Fifteen additional schools, including 12 other charter schools, also got the go-ahead to move into or expand within existing district school buildings.
In only one instance did the panel fail to approve a charter school move — the all-boys Eagle Academy fell short by one vote of its wish to move into IS 59 in Queens [see “Don’t squeeze us out”].
The vote was essentially a foregone conclusion, with mayoral appointees dominating the panel.
What was unexpected, however, was that the chancellor (a nonvoting member of the panel) had worked to pack the auditorium at the HS of Fashion Industries with charter supporters.
During the public comment period, Robert Jackson, chair of the City Council education committee, expressed his outrage.
“What we really need are more classrooms for our children citywide,” he said. “Shame on you, Chancellor Klein, for splitting public school parents and charter school parents!”
Jackson brandished an e-mail that he received which was sent to Achievement First (AF) charter school parents urging them to attend the PEP hearing.
It read, in part, “The chancellor has asked AF specifically to step up, help turn the tide and to have a big turnout for the citywide hearing. … He views it as one of the biggest battles to date in New York City’s overall school reform movement.”
At Harlem Success Academy 2, leaflets were passed out with the heading, “PEP Hearing Today! All Parents Need To Go.” The school day was shortened, with students gathering at 1:50 p.m. in their auditorium and boarding buses at 2:30 p.m.
To further enhance turnout, the leaflet promises “no homework on Wednesday,” and “lateness on Thursday morning will be excused.”
Charter students and parents arrived early and filled the auditorium. Parents went up and down the aisles handing out pizza (the meeting ran from 6 p.m. to nearly midnight). And speaker after speaker took the microphone to defend their charter school and ask for more space.
In a typical comment, Delinda Davis, a Harlem Success Academy 2 parent, said, “My tax dollars pay for the same public school buildings and I have a right to use them.”
Surveying the auditorium filled with boisterous charter school supporters, Harlem’s PS 30 Chapter Leader Douglas LaPierre said, “Undoubtedly, the chancellor is in favor of charter schools and we’re something less than stepchildren.”
