COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL DISTRICT 15
Department of Education of the City of New York
Telephone: (718) 935-4267 Fax: (718) 935-4536 E-mail: cec15@schools.nyc.gov
131 Livingston Street, Room 301, Brooklyn, New York 11201
Whereas in July 2013, while campaigning to become Mayor, Bill de Blasio promised that he would be more collaborative and respectful of the input of parents and community members than the previous administration; Whereas in his responses to the NYC KidsPAC survey, he promised that Community
Education Councils would be urged to vote on “
major school utilization changes in their
communities”
and that “
This vote will influence and provide insight to the Panel for Education Policy
.”
Whereas in the same survey, he pledged that as Mayor he would “
raise the level of significance of the CEC's
” and that “
The Panel for Educational Policy must address the PEP's vote on major school utilization changes in their PEP meetings. They must state why
they disagree with the local CEC and work with the local CEC for alternative solutions.”
Whereas the Community Education Council 15 is opposed to the expansion of success academy, to be voted on at the PEP meeting on June 10 for for the following reasons
With a growing school population, this co-location make the problem worse by the need to duplicate administrative offices and cluster/special spaces, and also b/c Success Charter often draw students from outside the district;
Success Academy has been known to enroll far fewer ELLS and special needs students which then become even more concentrated in district public schools, with fewer resources and space to address their needs;
There is a crisis of overcrowding in D15 schools, the EIS projects a utilization rate of up to 103% for 2017-2018 if this proposal is adopted, which signals overcrowding, especially as the consensus is that the DOE current formula for calculating utilization has been widely criticized for underestimating the actual level of l overcrowding, by failing to take into account the need for reasonable class sizes, sufficient cluster rooms, and dedicated space for all students with IEPs or who need intervention to receive their mandated services: Be it resolved that the CEC in District 15 is opposed to the expansion for the reasons stated above; Be it resolved that we will send this resolution to the Mayor, the Chancellor and to the members of the PEP who will vote on this proposal on June 10th 2015; Be it resolved that if any PEP member should vote in favor of this proposed expansion and in
opposition to this resolution, they should state why they disagree with the CEC’s position, as
the Mayor promised in response to the NYC KidsPAC survey; And finally be it resolved that the PEP should work with the CEC on alternative solutions, as the Mayor also pledged.
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