City schools' classrooms and the students in them are under fire, caught up in a fierce political battle between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio. Pictured are Principal Kevyn Bowles (left) and Dean of teaching and learning Isabella Sperduto (right) escorting City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña (center) as she visits New Bridges Elementary.
City schools by the numbers.
Gov. Cuomo threw down the gauntlet in his January State-of-the-State address, demanding a series of radical changes or else he’ll withhold more than $1 billion in school funds across the state.
Meanwhile, de Blasio and city Chancellor Carmen Fariña are focusing on longer school days and expanded social services in city schools.
De Blasio and Fariña (pictured) want to retain control of all the city schools, and say that their efforts to fix troubled schools are already yielding results.
Some 50,000 New York City students are stuck in schools where less than half the students graduated and fewer than 1 in 10 were proficient in either English or math, according to a report from the governor’s office. Pictured is Colette Stroude, who struggled in her search for a school for 8-year-old daughter Heaven Stroude.
Their future hangs in the balance.
More than 1.1 million kids are enrolled in city schools across the five boroughs, depending on a quality public education for the promise of a better tomorrow.
Those schools, roughly 1,800 of them, offer the greatest opportunity for equality — with the power to transform society for generations to come.
FIGHT FOR THEIR FUTURE: COMPLETE COVERAGE OF NYC'S SCHOOLS IN CRISIS
But now those classrooms and the students in them are under fire, caught up in a fierce political battle between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.
Gov. Cuomo threw down the gauntlet in his January State-of-the-State address, demanding a series of radical changes or else he’ll withhold more than $1 billion in school funds across the state. He wants more charter schools, tougher teacher evaluations, better teacher training — and he wants the state to take control of more than two dozen city schools that have been struggling for years.
“This is the year to roll up our sleeves and take on the dramatic challenge that has eluded us,” Cuomo said in his fiery address.
Meanwhile, de Blasio and city Chancellor Carmen Fariña are focusing on longer school days and expanded social services in city schools. Although Fariña moved to fire fewer teachers this year than last year, she insists she’s taking tough steps to turn the schools around — and she’s getting firm support from de Blasio.
“The status quo is unacceptable. That’s why we are taking on schools that have struggled for decades with new tools that have never been tried before,” de Blasio told the Daily News. “And we’re holding superintendents, principals and teachers accountable for results. We have demanded full staff turnovers, changed school leaders, moved 291 teachers out of the profession, and all options are on the table to turn around historically struggling schools.”
De Blasio said he’s prepared to take full responsibility for the success or failure of troubled schools.
“The buck stops with me,” he said.
Some 50,000 New York City students are stuck in schools where less than half the students graduated and fewer than 1 in 10 were proficient in either English or math, according to a report from the governor’s office. Those kids are languishing in the city’s 91 failing schools — 40 of which have struggled to make the grade for at least a decade.
More than 90% of the students attending the low-rated schools were minorities or from poor households, the governor’s office found.
But city officials have already taken action by closing some schools, and they plan to shutter 18 in total by 2017. They’ve provided additional resources to another 53 in the form of expanded social services for kids, longer school days, increased tutoring and more teacher training. And five of the schools identified by Cuomo had graduation rates in 2014 that exceeded the city’s average.
State and city teachers unions oppose Cuomo’s efforts at reforms, especially the new teacher evaluations and the expansion of charter schools. They are spending millions and mobilizing thousands of people to block his efforts.
“I’ve been pretty vocal on the governor’s plan. I see a bunch of ideas that have research or absolute evidence where they’ve been implemented that they just don’t work,” said United Federation of Teachers’ president Michael Mulgrew.
As the battle rages on, pro-charter school groups have coughed up millions to help Cuomo and other politicians pushing education reforms.
The News reported last week that 570 hedge fund managers shelled out more than $40 million in political contributions since 2000, according to Hedge Clippers, a union-backed research group. Cuomo got the biggest share — a cool $4.8 million. Like the governor, several of the deep-pocketed donors are longtime supporters of charter schools.
Cuomo says a critical mass of bad teachers is ruining many schools. One-third of New York’s aspiring teachers failed to meet 12th-grade reading standards on a certification test in 2014.
State Education officials say just one teacher out of more than 150,000 across the state has been fired for incompetence since the latest teacher evaluation system was enacted two years ago.
De Blasio and Fariña want to retain control of all the city schools, and say that their efforts to fix troubled schools are already yielding results.
Among some parents, Cuomo’s hard line on teachers is welcome news.
“I realized at a certain point that my daughter was not learning anything. She never had any homework. She was not being taught,” said Colette Stroude, who lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with her 8-year-old daughter, Heaven.
Stroude was unhappy with teachers at Public School 289 from Heaven’s kindergarten days. One afternoon in late 2011, she claims she walked in to pick up her daughter and saw the teacher yanking Heaven by her jacket collar.
“I was very upset, and I admit I cursed at her,” Stroude told The News. “But I was really shocked to see her restraining Heaven, and at the same time she was yelling at all the other kids to get in their seats. It was out of control.”
Stroude complained and was told she could have a sitdown with the district superintendent, but the meeting never happened, she said.
Heaven moved on to first grade the next school year. But her mom noticed that the girl — who needs large type because she suffers from a genetic eye condition — never had any homework.
“Heaven could never tell me what she’d done that day in school, and I gradually realized the teachers over there weren’t actually teaching her anything,” Stroude said.
But switching to a different school wasn’t easy. Stroude visited all those in her neighborhood, she said.
“They were all too busy to talk, or they were overwhelmed with keeping the kids out of the hallway when they should have been in class. It was like a nightmare,” she said.
Stroude was about to give up when she happened to walk by New Bridges on Eastern Parkway. The school was about to close for the day, but a security guard screamed and got the attention of Principal Kevin Bowles, who had just crossed the street.
“He came back, and he spoke to me about Heaven, and he listened to what I had to say, and he said, ‘Come on Monday and we’ll register you,’” Stroude recalled.
Stroude is so happy with the new school, her sister enrolled her twin 6-year-old girls there too.
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While the realities can be brutal, by some measures, the city and state schools are not as dire as Cuomo’s office says. Students in New York state are right in the middle of national averages on fourth-and-eighth-grade math and reading scores. And 77% of the state’s students graduate from high school, compared to a national average of 81%.
Nonetheless, Cuomo has moved decisively to enact his agenda, pitching two different potential state education aid increases for the coming year — one for $1.1 billion if his reforms are enacted, and one for $377 million if they are not.
His other reforms include having the state cover the full SUNY or CUNY tuition for “top” graduates who commit to teaching in New York schools for five years, and rewarding high-performing teachers with a $20,000 bonus, with improvement plans for those who score poorly.
For Stroude, whose child is a decade away from college, it’s never too early to dream.
“Heaven is finally starting to like school,” she said. “She’s catching up, and I just want her to get the best education she can.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/city-students-caught-cuomo-de-blasio-battle-education-article-1.2148715
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