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MEMORANDUM
TO:Interested PartiesFR:Carly LindauerCommunications Director, Bill Thompson for MayorDT:July 21,2009RE:Our City, Our Schools
OUR CITY, OUR SCHOOLS: A NEW VISION FOR NEW YORK CITY’S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEMBill will put the focus on education during the second week of his five-week, five-borough, “Our City,Our Future” tour.
Bill will host a series of roundtable discussions across the City –meeting with parents,educators,and studentsto hear their opinions, get theirfeedback, and present his vision for our City’spublic education system.Bill, a long-time supporter of mayoralcontrol,recently said:
“Mayoral control of the schools, when exercised wisely, is a means of bringingefficiency, transparency,and accountability to decision-making—but it was neverintended to be a green light for unchecked executive power.With greater authority and control also comes greater responsibility —responsibility to parents, responsibility to the taxpayers who help fund ourschools, and finally —and most importantly —responsibility to our kids, whoseeducational achievement and advancement are directly tied to the futureeconomic growth and prosperity of our City.”
The biggest issue with mayoral control is the current Mayor.
 
BILL’S VISIONFOR NYC’S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEMTHE REALITYUNDER MIKE BLOOMBERG
TELL THE TRUTHThere must be an honest accounting of performanceboth inside and outside the classroom –and it has tobe done with integrity.
The schools should undergo anaccreditations type review every two years so that wecan restore and maintain credibility in our schoolsystem. The findings of the review must be made public.
NUMBERS ARE BEING PADDED“If all these investmentbanks were cooking the books,it's becoming clearer to me that this is also happening inthe education world.”
[Sol Stern, Manhattan Institute, CityLimits Weekly, 6/1/2009]
The City’s graduation rates have also been paddedby various methods like “credit recovery,” in whichstudents who fail a course can get full credit if they agree to take a three-day makeup program orturn in an independent project.
[The New YorkTimes, 4/9/2009]
In addition, the Citycounts as graduates thestudents who dropped out and obtained agraduate-equivalency degree.
[The New YorkTimes, 4/9/2009]
To further raise the graduation rate, the City doesnot include as dropouts any of the students whowere “discharged” during their high-school years.
[The New York Times, 4/9/2009]
FIRE JOEL KLEINNew York City needs a Chancellor who is aneducational leader and who cares about children andwhat goes on in the classroom.
It’s time to bring backan educator to our schools who can lay out aneducational vision that goes beyond taking tests andcreates opportunities for our children to be successful inlife.
WHERE ARE THE EDUCATORS?Historically, educators lead departments of education.But of the 16 individuals on Klein’s leadership team, onlytwo are educators.
[City Limits Weekly, 6/1/2009]
“Klein’s vision of the public schools is not one of alifetime career, where you work with children allyour professional life,” says UFT Vice President LeoCasey. “It’s a Peace Corps mentality –you spendtwo years teaching, then you’re off to your ‘real’career.” [City Limits Weekly, 6/1/2009]
“[Klein] is so enraptured with…Report Cards, anddriving the test scores up that he’s forgotten thatthe primal scene for all education reform is in theclassroom,” said Manhattan Institute senior fellowSol Stern. “It matters what you do in a classroom.Teacher quality and a curriculum stressing strongcontent knowledge are the keys to raisingachievement.” [City Limits Weekly, 6/1/2009]
 
“Teachers are viewed by the chancellor as theproblem, not the solution,” said a former Kleincabinet member. “He’s always been averse tohaving people with education experience aroundhim.” [City Limits Weekly, 6/1/2009]
GET BACK TO BASICSWe need to fix the curriculum so that we are not justteaching to the test but teaching the whole child.
Students have become expert test takers, but cannotretain or apply what they know in a context other thanthe test environment. We must teach math, reading,and writing –but we must also teach science, civics,history, arts, music, geography,and physical education.
THE FOCUS IS ON TEACHING TO THE TESTTeaching to the test is leaving New York City schoolstudents grossly unprepared for the future.
Three-quarters of [NYC]graduates fail theirplacement examinations at the City University of New York’s community colleges and requireremediation in basic skills.
[The New York Times,4/9/2009
]
“Many students come in very poorly prepared, sowe have to remediate them with workthat is notcollege work.”[CUNY Chancellor MatthewGoldstein, Center for an Urban Future]And…
According to the head of the New York Board of Regents Merryl Tisch, “[A]system whereproficiency means you have at best even odds of not graduating, and will probably need remedialeducation, this is not a victory that we are definingin New YorkState."
[New York Daily News, 6/2/09]
I am appalled that schooling in this City hasdegenerated into little more than testing andpreparing for more testing. This isdecidedly notgreat education! [Diane Ravitch, researchprofessor of education at New York University anda senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and theHoover Institution in the
New York Post
,11/1/2007]
PUT THE PUBLIC BACK IN PUBLIC EDUCATIONParents must have a voice in their children’s educationand future.
It is has been well-established that wherethere are strong school-home-child partnerships,children succeed. Parents should notbe shut out andmust have a place to go when they have questions or
PARENTS HAVE BEEN SHUT OUT
“The DOE has ignored parents, community leadersand others who have a valid stake in the ways andmeans of educating New York kids. Virtually shutout of the decision-making process, thesestakeholders have been unable to provide
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