Time is running out on the Bloomberg administration, so his compliant board will vote at its next meeting in October on a record giveaway of public school space to privately managed charters.
The panel, which has a majority of members appointed by the mayor, will consider more than 40 proposals for co-locating schools at two meetings next month. More than 30 of these plans are for new schools.
Communities will debate the proposals, but the mayor’s “Panel on Education Policy” never listens to what communities want. If the past is any guide, there will be cries from parents and students not to force another school into their building, but they will be ignored. The board will follow the mayor’s orders.
Voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the mayor’s education policies–polls show only 22-26% approve of closing schools and opening schools, closing schools and opening schools, again and again-but it’s full speed ahead for the failed policies of Mayor Bloomberg.
Why so many “failing schools” after more than a decade of mayoral control?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If you’re a parent at one of the affected schools, show up at the PEP with every other parent and make yourself heard. The PEP probably won’t listen, but go ahead and create the record.
And parents upset about this should use that record and make themselves heard to De Blasio, right now. Push him hard to pledge to have a newly constituted PEP reconsider any co-location plans approved at the October meeting. If co-locations and Bloomberg’s ed policy are as unpopular as polls suggest, then there shouldn’t be any political downside for him. And worst case, if De Blasio won’t make that pledge, then at least you’ll get a better picture of what De Blasio’s about.
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Much the same rape of our taxpayer funding of sites for schools was the goal of the former LA Mayor Villaraigosa, who publicly, and repeatedly. promised to shut down as many schools as possible before the end of his last term, and of course, embed charters, while praising his mayoral colleague and calling him his good friend, Bloomberg, who gave over $1 M to influence our LA school board elections this year.
Hope de Blasio stays strong with his belief in public schools.
We now have a very smart and dedicated new Mayor Garcetti whom I respect in most areas of his actions, but who very sadly, has appointed/hired some big charter supporters to manage his education department. He chose last Tuesday to publicly support the Broad Academy Supt. Deasy over the LAUSD School Board in a rather contentious budget stand off.
After seeing how Mayors can input their personal corporatist beliefs into public school board decisions, I have become a believer that mayors should not be influencing public schools. The philosophy of school boards close to communities, and members as taxpayers in their own communities, is a wiser way to represent the goals of the community.
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I looked at the PEP agendas, and while many of the co-locations involve charter schools, many involve public schools, too. There are also a lot of proposals to expand schools (e.g., from 6-8 to 6-12) and “re-site” (re-locate) them. My daughter will be going to middle-school next year, which means this fall I’ll be touring middle schools. And I noticed that one of the schools I’ll be touring is the subject of a re-siting proposal — a relocation that would move it from two blocks from my home to the other side of town. I understand that from an overall management perspective, there may be good reasons for this. But it’s so typical of the DOE to give public notice of the proposal in mid-September ahead of an October vote.
Re: De Blasio, he’s been getting a real kid-glove treatment so far. Reminds me a bit of Obama in 2008. Hopefully NYers will kick the tires a bit before November. His friends and supporters won’t do it — nobody wants to p!$$ off the incoming mayor, at least not if they have and hope to maintain access to him — but the rest of us have nothing to lose.
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“Reminds me a bit of Obama in 2008.”
Yes, that scares me too.
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Garcetti has shown his hand in education, the billionaires and stupidity. He has no power on the district. Luckily for us we have lifetime teachers in the 5-2 now. However, the billionaires are increasing the attacks and we are countering them easily as their arguments fail. With a public process for the replacement of Aquino and later Deasy they are finished with their control. Guess what someone dropped in my lap recently. Aquino and Apple both stated in public at the board on the agenda of the $30 million purchase of I-Pads that they were the equivalent of $1,000 each, up from $200, had a 3 year guarantee which included theft, it was for 5 years.
Now, I have a document dated August 19,2013 From Jaime Aquino to superintendent Deasy and board members. Subject: COMMON CORE TECHNOLOGY PROJECT QUESTIONS
Question 2: what notification are parents receiving? What is their accountability?
Answer: Current District policy, Bulletin 5509 titled, “Restitution Procedures for the Loss or Damage of School Property.” In other words we told you you would not pay if they were stolen or lost but really we are going to charge you and give Apple a free ride on the guarantee just like with the elevators in our district offices which needed millions to fix.
This is how the game currently works in most school districts, especially those the billionaires have taken over. This is also how you stop them. Next project, scanning and sending out this wonderful information some nice person said “Put this to good use as usual.” People do not do this unless they trust you for a long time. Trust is earned not given.
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Insofar as the post title–looks like a “fire sale,” in which case those in charge are attempting to make as much money as they can for their chartered-up fiends–er–typo!–friends before the site is cleared away (in this case, the sweeping out of
Bloomberg & his cronie$).
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