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April 11, 2011

Plea to end classroom closures

By  / New York Post


Dennis Walcott's first assignment as schools chancellor should be reversing the policy of shutting down struggling schools, said the teachers union and other groups yesterday. Leaders from the Urban Youth Collaborative, the Coalition for Educational Justice and the powerful United Federation of Teachers [and members of Make the Road New York] called on him to enact reforms to help bad schools make the grade.

"The change in leadership at the [Department of Education] gives the city a chance to fix the mistakes made in the past, including the DOE's habit of walking away from struggling schools rather than trying to fix them," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Mulgrew joined forces with students from the Urban Youth Collaborative, which released a report that outlined dangers of closing failing schools.

According to the study, many of the 33,000 students transferred to new schools after closures have either dropped out, failed to graduate or were thrown out. The report, which cites statistics available since 2000, also showed that the closed high schools had disproportionately high percentages of low-income students from minority communities.

It also said the schools had much larger populations of high-needs students such as English-language learners, special-ed students, overage students and others who enter high school below grade level.

"The morale of the students has been hit hard," said Nijel Hill, a senior at Paul Robeson HS in Brooklyn, which is slated for closure.


For the original article, please click here.


More on: Public Education 

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Victory for Immigrant Families: Preventing Unjust Deportations in NYC

On March 18, 2013, Mayor Bloomberg signed new legislation to stop federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using NYC’s criminal justice system to deport thousands of New Yorkers.

Building on legislation we helped to win just over a year ago, Local Laws 21 and 22 prohibit not only the Department of Correction but now also the NYPD from spending millions of city taxpayer dollars to hold individuals on behalf of ICE agents for detention and deportation. Each year, thousands of New York families will stay together who would otherwise have been torn apart by overly aggressive, indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

At a moment when the country is debating immigration reform, with these laws, New York City sends a clear message to Washington that tearing apart thousands of immigrant families is bad policy.

With your support, we look forward to winning national reform that keeps families together. We thank our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy, the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic and the bills’ sponsors, NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Council Member Mark-Viverito, for their courageous leadership.


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