Saturday, November 21, 2009

Fighting for public education



"Charter schools are being used as a wedge to undermine the public school system."


That was the way Norm Scott, founding member of ICE, began his dynamite analysis of the charter school infestation at a public hearing at PS 120 on the Lower East Side last Wednesday evening.

"Charter schools are created to grow. . .

"A charter school is not a public school, I don't care what they say. If they hire a company to fix your road and give them public money, that is not a public company. It's a private company."


See the whole speech over on YouTube, and more commentary on Ednotes.



ICE's platform can be accessed through the sidebar links of this blog. Its position on charter schools is Part VII:

VII. ICE supports local neighborhood public schools and is against privatization and school closings


Diverting money to private schools through vouchers, hiring private companies to run public schools, and creating charter schools that operate on the DoE budget but free of union contracts and other restrictions that apply to public schools do great harm in polarizing our educational system and our society. Charters and schools infused with private money get preferential treatment, particularly in class size (smaller), the selection of students, and appurtenances. The DoE’s agenda to privatize the system is done through unilateral decisions and in secret. Targets for the influx of private money have been the minority areas of the city, where many large schools have been broken up into smaller ones and where public schools are being forced to absorb charters.

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