Friday, July 3, 2009

G.E.M.'s Action Calendar July 09


UPDATED (July 18th, 10:15 a.m.)

When GEM receives notices of protests and demonstrations, we make it our business to let people know and encourage them to show up.

No excuses!!



COMPLETED — Mon., July 6th


From the organizers:
Two teachers from the Teacher Reassignment Centers (TRCs) will also speak.
Bring signs, banners, and flyers.



COMPLETED — Mon., July 6th:
New from David Bellel: "The Puppet Master"



From the organizers:
We are calling all Registered Voters, Community Leaders, Politicians, Parents, Teachers, Students and all Educational Professionals to come out and Rally for Public Education!

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . ?

On July 1, Bloomberg-Klein created a bogus Department of Education with his Deputy Mayor as its President.

1,000+ teachers are sitting in detention “Rubber Rooms” daily doing absolutely nothing at an expense to taxpayers in an amount over $100 million dollars per year.

Teachers who blow the Whistle on School Corruption get “U” ratings & are subjected to a hostile work environment.

Standardized Test Score data on children from poor neighborhoods are being used to feed the “School to Prison Pipeline.”

No Bid Contracts are given to fortune 500 businesses that are personally affiliated with the Mayor.

Special Education Students & English Language Learners are not receiving a FREE and APPROPRIATE Education. SCHOOLS MUST BE A MODEL OF AND – FOR – DEMOCRACY:

GIVE HS STUDENTS A REAL VOICE

Support Guidance Services, Career and Youth Development Programs in our Public Schools!

COME OUT, RECLAIM & SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS!

For more info, Call: NYCNSC at (718) 857-1427 NEW YORK COALITION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL CONTROL
Click here for the full-size flyer in pdf.


COMPLETED — Tues., July 7th:


(poster on the right by David Bellel)

From the organizers:
P.S. 123 was featured in today's Daily News!

You can reach Ernestine August
Publish Post
us at 646-262-9052 or contact the school at 212-690-5925. You can ask for Doretha MacDonald or Antoniette Hardgrove. [140th St. and Fr. Douglass Blvd]
And here's how Juan Gonzalez starts his report in the News:
"They are calling it the invasion of the charter schools.

It seems to work this way:Parents at a neighborhood public school suddenly learn Chancellor Joel Klein has decreed they must surrender scarce classroom space in their building for a new charter school.

No parent or faculty meeting to gauge whether anyone wants the new school.

No official vote of the local Community Education Council.

Some young bureaucrat from the city Education Department's Office of Portfolio Development arrives one day with a bunch of maps under his arm and promptly orders a new allocation of rooms.

Boom. Done. All part of Klein's rush to create 100,000 new charter school seats over the next few years.

Well, yesterday afternoon at Public School 123 in Harlem, a bunch of angry parents staged a noisy protest against the charter invasion. [continued....]





COMPLETED — Fri., July 10th

EMERGENCY PROTEST at P.S. 123

Fri., July 10th, 8:30 A.M.
PS 123: 301 West 140th St.
(betw. Edgecomb & Frederick Douglass Blvd)

From the organizers:
PARENTS HAVE CALLED THIS PROTEST/
Dictatorship-DoE rules in favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School
taking over more space at P.S. 123!

Tomorrow movers, sent by the $370K - Eva Moskowitz, will arrive again to remove
materials from P.S. 123 teachers' classrooms as she invades more Public School Space
for her charter school!

Stop this drive to privatize!
Defend our Public School Space!

Be there! Spread the word.



COMPLETED — Fri., July 10th:

OPEN MEETING — follow-up to 7/6 protest
COALITION for COMMUNITY CONTROL

Fri., July 10th, 6 p.m.
at DC37, 125 Barclay St., 4th fl.
Manhattan


From the organizers:
Agenda
1. Evaluation of "A Day of Action"
2. Strategies and Planning for the future
3. Update on Albany
4. All groups showing solidarity for the common goal (changes in school governance
5. Questions and concerns

Feel free to add topics to be discussed at the meeting.


Dear Friends,

A number of local groups who have been lobbying in Albany and advocating for an end to mayoral control are meeting on Friday, July 10, at 6 PM, at DC 37 Headquarters, 125 Barclay Street (off the West Side Highway, near Chambers on the ACE and 123) to collaborate on a strategy going forward. These include the organizers of last Monday's rally, listed below.

This is a great opportunity for parents, teachers, and concerned citizens to combine forces with others from throughout the city. We encourage CECs, Presidents Councils, PTAs/PAs, CB Education Committees, and other local groups concerned with education to send representatives and to spread the word. A vote on mayoral control in the Senate may be immanent, and nationally people are looking to NYC as an example on school governance. Concerned citizens must make our voices heard, lest the message be monopolized by those with the most money and institutional organization.

This is also a great opportunity to reach across the racial and social barriers that DOE uses to divide us and speak with one voice. I feel it is our obligation, as public school parents, teachers, staff, and other constituents, to listen and learn from each other, and to stand up for each other's interests, and to represent the wealth of perspectives that makes a great city great.

I especially extend a hand to our friends who struggle against incursions by charter schools into their local schools, and to parents of students in new schools who have been issued false promises and struggle to establish themselves. Your experience must by all means be part of our message.

I hope I will see you there.

Ann




COMPLETED — Wed., July 15th:

FOLLOW-UP to the PS 123 protest on 7/7

Wed., July 15th, 5:30 pm
at P.S. 123
301 W. 140th St. (betw. Edgecomb and Fr. Douglass Blvd)
Manhattan

From the organizers:
A Meeting of concerned citizens & groups for equal education to follow up the 7/7 protest. Contact person: William Hargraves 718-812-1102


COMPLETED — Thurs., July 16th:



From the organizers:
PLEASE ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT HEARING. IT SEEMS THE DOE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE TRYING TO FORCE A CHARTER SCHOOL INTO ONE OF OUR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS!

Included on the agenda will be time for public comment on a newly proposed charter school in New York City. The following schools will briefly present: "Brooklyn Dreams"

Pursuant to Education Law 2857(1), the New York City Department of Education is required to hold a public hearing to solicit comment from the Community in connection with any proposal for a charter school



COMPLETED — Fri., July 17th:

Local Control of our Public Schools not Mayoral Dictatorship!
Parent, Student and Educator Power!
Better Public Schools not Charter Schools!
Money for Education not for War!
Whose Schools, Our Schools!

From the organizers:
What: Meeting of the Coalition for Public Education/Coalicion por la Educacion Publica
When: Friday July 17, 2009
Time: 6pm-8pm
Where: District Council (DC-37), 125 Barclay Street, 1st Floor
Trains: 1,2,3 to Chambers Street; 4,5,6 to Brooklyn Bridge; A,C, to Chambers Street; or R,W to City Hall

Proposed Agenda:
I. Welcome and Introductions
II. State Senate Update
III. Bloomberg Watch
IV. Harlem Schools on the Move
V. City-wide Public Schools Conference
VI. Questions and Answers
VII. Next Meeting
IIX. Adjourn

For more information please contact Mark A. Torres at (646) 372-7289 or harlem120@msn.com


Mon., July 20th thru Thurs., July 23rd:


A week of Charter School demonstrations:
Monday, July 20th — at PS 123
Time: Gather at 12:30pm / Start at 1:00pm
Location: 301 West 140th Street ( 8th ave) NY, NY 10030

Tuesday, July 21st — at PS 375
Time: Gather at 12:30pm / Start at 1:00pm
Location: 141 East 111 Street ( Between Lexington and Madison) NY, NY 10029

Wednesday, July 22nd — PS 197
Time: Gather at 12:30pm / Start at 1:00pm
Location: 2230 5th Avenue (136th Street) NY, NY 10037

Wednesday, July 22nd — at Senator Bill Perkins Office
Time: Starts at 5:30 pm
Location: 163 West 125th Street (9th Floor) NY, NY 10025

Thursday, July 23rd — Tweed Courthouse
Time: Gather at 1:00pm/ Start at 2:00pm
Location: 52 Chambers Street NY, NY 10007


From the organizers:
"GEM Organizers, united with the Charter-Invaded Harlem Public School Communities and ACORN, encourage everyone to bring signs, banners and leaflets as we organize to educate our Harlem community about the injustices of Charter Schools, dictatorial mayoral control & the DOE."

Contact person: Angel Gonzalez

Thurs., July 23rd


From the organizers:
This came about because I questioned whether public notice was given to the community at-large.

We need as many people as possible to show up. District 13 does not need another charter school. We already have the following:

Communty Roots Charter School
Leadership Bedord-Stuyvesant Prep Charter School
Community Partnership Charter School
Achievement First Endeavors Middle School- pushed into our district because they built a school in our district. They were suppose to serve District 14. They haven't done so well lately.

The other schools haven't had a graduation as yet. Leadership in which my daughter is a former student just had their first year of testing 3rd grade.

Community Partnership is not doing well.

We have Bedford Academy in our district who graduated 96% of their students this year in 4 years.

Khem Irby
718-452-0146

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Attached (and below) is the public hearing notice for Bedford Preparatory Charter School. Please share with families in your community.

Jacqui

Jacqui Lipson
CEC Administrative Coordinator
Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy
NYC Department of Education
49 Chambers Street, room 503
New York NY 10007
(212) 374-2425
(212) 374-0076 (fax)
jlipson@schools.nyc.gov



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