[ProgressiveEd] Report on Friday's NYS Senate Majority Task Force 4/4 Pub...

[Victor Weiss]

First of all, I'm surprised that an educator such as yourself is not 
appalled by these non-educator businessmen running a school system. Just 
like the "businessman" we have running our country, I believe the ultimate 
goal of these people (Republicans) is to destroy the public schools along 
with Head Start (where I'm currently teaching), social security, 
environmental laws, voting rights, and anything else that is good in this 
country.
Also, how can you call abolishing community boards and centralizing 
everything including curriculum getting rid of bureacracy?
Victor Weiss
>From: ShaelP@aol.com
>To: progressiveed@altschools.org
>Subject: Re: [ProgressiveEd] Report on Friday's NYS Senate Majority Task 
>Force 4/4 Pub...
>Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 16:00:32 EDT

>Dear Colleagues:
>
>I want to publicly express my concern and dismay over the positions
>articulated by the speakers at the NYS Senate Majority Task force meeting.
>
>As the Principal of a small progressive high school in the Bronx, I would
>argue that Klein's re-organization and reform proposals represent the first
>attempt in thirty years to change the focus in New York's education
>bureacracy from political patronage and monitoring of schools to a system
>that focusses on instruction and has the capacity to support teaching and
>learning.
>
>Progressive small schools have fought this bureaucracy tooth and nail for
>years to carve out spaces where we could do meaningful work with kids in
>spite of the larger system's goals and requirements.  I believe Klein's 
>plan
>represents an opportunity to expand and deepen our work.  Our goal should 
>not
>be to throw up road blocks to protect bureaucratic structures that never 
>had
>the capacity to serve kids or support teachers.  Our goal should be to 
>become
>active partners in this process and help the larger community of educators
>understand the depth and value of our work.
>
>Klein and his team have made mistakes but they have also shown a 
>flexibility
>and thoughtfulness that makes me believe we can work with them.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Shael Suransky
>Principal, Bronx International High School

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