MARTY'S PEP RALLY

BP MARKOWITZ JOINS RALLY OUTSIDE PANEL FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICY MEETING; BROOKLYN REP TO INTRODUCE RESOLUTION CALLING FOR TABLING OF SCHOOL CLOSINGS, WILL VOTE NO ON EXTENDING PAVE CHARTER SCHOOL STAY AT PS 15

On Tuesday, January 26, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz addressed a rally outside the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) monthly meeting at Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene, and called on the panel to table the proposed closing of selected city public schools until more analysis is conducted. 

"I am not in favor of keeping failing schools open, but I am in favor of giving failing schools the appropriate resources they need to succeed," said BP Markowitz. "I have listened to the community--I wholeheartedly support the community, and I say we must create public schools that reflect the needs and wishes of the community."

In addition to introducing a resolution to put off the proposed school closures, Brooklyn's PEP representative, Gbubemi Okotieuro, will vote against a proposal to extend the PAVE Academy Charter School's temporary stay at PS 15 in Red Hook.

"I have received more than a thousand signatures from the PS 15 community asking that the DOE live up to the original agreement, yet the DOE continues to change the ground rules whenever they want," said BP Markowitz. "The agreement arranged between PAVE and PS 15 is a textbook example of how not to go about placing a charter school in an existing school." 

Resolution Regarding Significant Changes in School Utilization 

WHEREAS, pursuant to Educational Law § 2590-g the Panel for Educational Policy has the power and duty to approve proposals for all school closures or significant changes in utilization including the phaseout, grade reconfiguration, re-siting, or co-location of schools; and 

WHEREAS, the Chancellor recommends that the Panel for Educational Policy approve the phaseout of twenty schools listed in Appendix A, attached hereto; and 

WHEREAS, the mandated Proposals for Significant Changes in School Utilization for each of the twenty schools listed in Appendix A use different sets of school closing criteria; and 

WHEREAS, year-to-year comparisons of school Progress Reports have been rendered impossible due to changes in scale score cutoffs from 2007-08 to 2008-09; now therefore be it  

RESOLVED, that the Panel for Educational Policy table the aforementioned twenty school phaseout resolutions until the Chancellor provides the Independent Budget Office with the phaseout criteria and description of  efforts to help these schools avoid closure, at least three months prior to requesting Panel for Educational Policy vote; and be it further  

RESOLVED that in accordance with Education Law Section § 402-a, the Independent Budget Office be appointed to serve as an Advisory Committee on School Utilization to the Panel for Educational Policy and provide a report analyzing the Chancellor's recommendations according to the statutory factors including but not limited to whether these schools meet the requisite school closing criteria, whether they received the resources necessary to avoid closure, and the possible impact of such action on other schools. 

Photo by Kathryn Kirk