A group of school superintendents in New York banded together in late February to form The Alliance to Save Public Education. They currently number 30 superintendents from Nassau County, Suffolk County, Westchester County, and Monroe County. They invite other superintendents from across the state to join them in signing their Declaration below. They welcome the signatures of school board presidents and leaders of parent associations as well.
Please contact your Superintendent, Board President, or PTA President to sign:
Print it, then sign the printout with a dark flair-type pen in a blank spot
You can download the letter to print here.
Here is the text of the letter:
March X, 2015
Dear Lawmaker:
Every day, nearly three million children and adolescents attend New York State’s public schools: upstate and downstate, rural, urban and suburban, small, medium and large. The variety is immense. It may be painfully true that 109,000 students attend failing schools in New York State, but it also means that between 2.8 and 2.9 million students are attending successful schools. Even in successful schools, we are familiar with a certain percentage of our children who fail. We are constantly looking for ways within those systems to discover new and better methods to teach those struggling students and eliminate failure from the landscape of our public schools. However, we must continue to support the segments of our systems that can create success. In fact, they should be celebrated and replicated where possible. The current effort at State reform, rather than focusing on our success and supporting what works effectively, appears to focus only on the State’s failures. Failures can never be ignored, and do in fact need to be fixed, but not at the expense of damaging what creates our successful schools.
The Governor’s agenda is connecting the politics of State aid to education policy … AT WHAT COST?
The Governor’s agenda is removing control of our schools from our local communities … AT WHAT COST?
At what cost do we over test our students? It must not be at the cost of our children, and our communities.
New York’s public schools include many that sustain student learning at high levels, and also some schools that fall below everyone’s expectations. We believe the best use of our resources allows schools that work to continue to do so, and, at the same time, to support schools that need help to engage their students at the level we expect for all children. In a state as varied as New York, a one-size-fits-all approach to school improvement is bound to damage schools that already engender students success, while dissipating the focused support that failing school require, to meet the needs of their students.
We urge the legislature to refrain from enacting the Governor’s proposals without a thoughtful debate.
Sincerely,
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé.
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“They invite other superintendents from across the state to join them in signing their Declaration below. They welcome the signatures of school board presidents and leaders of parent associations as well.”
Can’t have the peon teachers signing anything, eh?!?!? Only “leaders”. Maybe they can take the time to make one for anyone including students.
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Bravo your suggestion, Senior Swacker.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. On other note, each leader signature represents for all peon teachers, students, and parents in that region. It may be okay to be less busy on paper in that way.
I have never felt this good since I participated in this website after I read this post.
Thank you very much for Dr. Ravitch’s and all hard core conscientious VETERAN teachers’ dedication that relentlessly and successfully advocates for PRESERVING PUBLIC EDUCATION. May
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I have to strongly disagree with one clause in the declaration: “It may be painfully true that 109,000 students attend failing schools in New York State,” We certainly have students who do not succeed in school. We also have failing communities, failing families and failing economics. That does not necessarily mean that the school are failing.
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2015 16:01:20 +0000 To: billnech@msn.com
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That was my reaction, too. Those “failing” schools may be serving their communities to the best of their ability with the limited resources both in the school and the community at large. Those school are often the center of a community and as we all know cannot be adequately or fairly judged by test scores.
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Why should charter schools with assets like these get to drain funds from public schools as the governor cuts public school budgets?http://www.nysut.org/~/media/files/nysut/nysut-united/flipbooks/2015/march/index.html#p=11
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School deemed “failing” based on non-standardized, faulty tests are probably not, actually, failing. The tests, themselves, failed, not the kids & teachers.
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Our education system is totally inferior not in quality, but in concept. This system fails to address individual’s needs and abilities. Not everyone will continue to the higher education. Guys who want to be a mechanics or girls who wants to be a hair stylist do not need half of the required subjects. Basic education should stop on the level of 8th grade. For those who have plans for higher education, the high school should be the logical choice. For others, vocational training program combined with basic high school required curriculum should be offered. Vacation education will be longer that “high school” choice.
Would it be nice instead of drop outs young people will graduate with licenses of plumber, electrician, mechanic, refrigeration technician and so on. The professional license will give them incentive to find a job.
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Will you update the signatures. The Jericho (Long Island) School District superintendent emailed me that he would sign.
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