Maybe I'm a "UFT hack" (I'm not - I'm just a mother of two public school children!) but I don't see anything wrong with teachers having a lounge - isn't that a place they can go on their prep periods to put together lesson plans? In fact, every new school is also required to have a PTA room, though many old, overcrowded schools probably don't have them. It's one thing if a lounge or PTA room has to be sacrificed because a zoned school is overcrowded - it's quite another when such amenities are lost because a school is forced to accommodate a charter school.
I will continue to argue that charter schools should find their own space and the DOE - which is supposed to be concerned with regular DOE schools - shouldn't be incubating charters. I believe that charter schools should arise organically from the community or from educators who have a particular vision... and they shouldn't be created so former elected officials can pay themselves $370K a year as Eva Moskowitz does.
Marge Kolb
P.S. Accusing parents of being UFT drones seems to be the new tactic of those who don't think parents should express a point of view... In D24, those of us parents who supported a new high school in Maspeth were also accused of blindly following our UFT masters (and the UFT was accused of wanting a new HS to create jobs - as if the teaching jobs don't already exist in the overcrowded, split-session high schools nearby). It seems that the opinons of older, retired folks with no kids are the only ones which should count in some of these matters...
From: Leonie Haimson <leonie@att.net>
Subject: [nyceducationnews] Harlem Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz in school rumble with Manhattan borough president
To: nyceducationnews@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 1:34 PM
Harlem Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz in school rumble with Manhattan borough president
Saturday, July 11th 2009, 4:00 AM
http://www.nydailyn ews.com/ny_ local/education/ 2009/07/11/ 2009-07-11_ expol_in_ school_rumble_ with_beep. html
Watts/News
Natasha Shannon with her daughters, students at the Harlem Success Academy , a charter school.
Related News
Articles
- Harlem charter school blocks public school from expanding, say parents
- Gonzalez: Charter school expands further into P.S. 123
Harlem Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz swapped scathing verbal blows Friday with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer after he toured a public school her charter plans to share space with.
In an incendiary press release, Moskowitz branded Stringer a teachers union "hack," while Stringer accused the former city councilwoman of using "thug tactics."
Parents and teachers at PS 123 have been fighting this fall's plan for a Success charter to expand the space it already shares with the school.
"The United Federation of Teachers isn't comfortable defending the indefensible, so they enlist UFT hacks like Stringer and ACORN to do their dirty work for them," said Moskowitz in the press release, titled "No Lounge Chair Left Behind."
The conflict over space - which includes the fate of the teachers' lounge - erupted anew last week after Moskowitz sent movers in, as reported exclusively by columnist Juan Gonzalez in the Daily News.
Locks on former PS 123 classroom doors were removed, police were called to stop the packing, and movers left the boxes of teachers' materials in the hallways and in the gym.
Department of Education officials said they hadn't approved the move yet and cited communication mistakes.
Moskowitz's unexpected move was "thug tactics" from "a failed politician," Stringer charged. He defeated her for the beep slot in 2005.
"This is a political real estate grab from someone who wants to create a political situation," added Stringer, who has called for a probe into the debacle.
UFT Chief Operating Officer Michael Mulgrew offered Moskowitz lessons in "civility and decorum" should she choose to accept them, noting the union had been approached by parents for help.
Moskowitz also called PS 123 a "failure" because only 57% of third-graders are reading at grade level.
But the city Department of Education has given PS 123 two consecutive B's on school report cards.
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