Parents, educators, and other concerned citizens petitioned in opposition to adding a charter school representative to their school board.
PETITION: RCSD United Against Privatization
Sign the petition against charter school affiliates being appointed to the Board of Ed here: https://forms.gle/uFScKtgxwk1SNo1N9
Write to the Board and tell them what you learned:
Van Henri White – van.white@thelegalbrief.com
This is the petition:
RCSD United Against Privatization
In response to the announcement that Walter Larkin, current CEO of U Prep Charter School is a finalist for the open board of education seat:
We, the educators, parents, and citizens of the Rochester City School District stand united against the continued attacks on our public school system. We are opposed to the appointment of any charter school employees or affiliates to the board. Not only is this a conflict of interest, but the students and educators of the Rochester City School District deserve board members who trust and value PUBLIC education. Any affiliation with a charter school is a conflict of interest, and can only lead to the further privatization of our school district.
These attacks go beyond the appointment of a single board member. Our newest Superintendent has hired charter school executives such as Dr. Kathleen Black, as our new Chief Academic Officer.
We are also seeing gross inequity between what charter schools are able to offer, as they scoop up 6 times more CARES act funding than the RCSD was able to. Currently the students of the RCSD are being deprived of their right to a sound and basic education, while charter schools are able to offer in person schooling because they have access to funding that the RCSD does not.
The writing is on the wall, the Rochester City School District, which serves 80% of the students of this city, is being defunded and dismantled. Charter schools are being handed cash and are expanding exponentially. Not only have charter schools been shown to show NO better performance than traditional public schools, but they are also contributing to the immediate starvation of the RCSD, with over 80 million dollars coming from the RCSD budget to charter schools last year alone.
We demand a pro-public education replacement be chosen for the open board of education seat. We need someone who has shown a lifelong dedication to the success of public schools, and who has a vested interest in their continued success. Nothing else will be acceptable to the students, educators, and community members of the RCSD.
Open the link to see the names of the signatories.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Everywhere privatization is attempting to takeover boards of education, there must be push back against this anti-democratic incursion. Local communities are going to have fight the hostile takeover of their public schools by billionaire interests. The future of public education depends on it. When politicians talk about charter schools, many of them act as though decisions are simply made by choice. There is no discussion at all about the billionaire dark money that flows into communities to influence local decisions. Billionaire interest in local school board races is an example of anti-democratic weaponized wealth.
The “soft form” of privatization is also a problem in public schools today. When districts purchase and mandate the use of computer assisted instruction without any evidence to support its value, it is another way to privatize education. I think it will take members of communities to push back against the use of Chrome Books, blended and other computer assisted models. Parents and community members are going to have to fight for limits on cyber instruction and demand in person instruction that they know is better for the health, well-being and academic achievement of young people. If parents understand that cyber instruction is tedious, rote with continuous data mining and monetizing of their children, they would object to the cyber incursion in public education. The main objective in cyber instruction is to save money, a billionaire goal, not a parent or student goal. There is far more evidence showing the harmful impact of too much technology than its benefit.
What you said.
“rote with continuous data mining….” Five very harsh words telling a huge story.
“soft form”: a sledge hammer draped in velvet.
Rochester was 90 mis north of my hometown. A number of our relatives lived there. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents [‘50’s-‘60’s], so had childhood friends there, and attended their local schools when my parents were away. “Brighton schools.” But nobody said “I live in Brighton”; my grandparents lived in Rochester, not the old-money suburb Fairport where we visited grandpa’s Kodak colleague, nor the new/ big-housed suburb Pittsford to which cousins had moved. [60 yrs later I looked it up: sure enough, Brighton is a suburb with its own school system.]
I was dimly aware my grandparents turned their nose up at Rochester proper, which lay just beyond their back fence. But it looked no different, and no one stopped my friends & me from wandering further in to downtown candy stores etc. Grandma did all her smallbiz & dept-store shopping there. You had to cross through it to get to the lake, where we went every weekend, but the highway system skirted what must have been stark residential segregation and poverty. No doubt far worse since the demise of Kodak, & the relocation of Xerox & Bausch&Lomb hdqtrs.
Ironically, “metro Rochester” is considered one of the most livable areas in the country. Map shows the charters are clustered downtown. I found this one year old article on the same controversy:
https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/education/2019/10/21/suburban-and-charter-schools-pushing-special-ed-students-rcsd-rochester-ny/2375144001/
Having lived within the City of Rochester (proper) for the last 12 years, and living most of my life in Greece, I will say this: MOST schools do a poor job with SPED students…my oldest son was attending Greece schools when I pulled him (some 15 years ago) to attend Hope Hall. When we moved from Greece to RCSD, there was no way in HELL my kids were attending public schools. I paid tuition for private schools and when charters became available they attended with various levels of satisfaction (loved Rochester Prep and U Prep, Rochester Academy, not so much)
Point being, PARENTS deserve choice. The RCSD simply needs to be scrapped and redone. It is rotten to the core. When I see kids graduating from High School that can barely read and write…don’t TELL ME standards are high. What is happened is they have been shoved through and somehow, managed to flub their way through a Regents Exam.
I have taught in a wide variety of settings, INCLUDING the RCSD. I have no words for the CRIMINALITY of keeping kids out of school that is happening right now…and they have the NERVE to worry about CHARTERS?
Let me just say, my sons read Animal Farm in 7th grade at Rochester Prep. I doubt that is anywhere, much LESS 7th grade at any RCSD school
When you cherry pick students, you can read Animal Farm in 7th grade. Public schools don’t have that luxury.