NYC Public School Parents Silenced

After last year's struggle to keep the public schools open, this year the DOE took the same steps but more thoroughly.  They certainly dotted their i's and crossed their t's this time around.

Out of my own morbid curiosity, I sat in on the public hearing at Stevenson High School where the public hearing for the phase out of the School for Community Research and Learning by 2014 was officially announced to parents.  I can remember last year when the auditorium was filled with hundreds of people who had a lot to say about the DOE's actions.  They had a lot to say about the DOE's lack of support and their draconian methodology of school improvement.

This time around, there were no protests outside the school.  There were no signs being waved by the crowd. There were no reporters or cameras.  There were 2 parents, 1 teacher, 2 UFT representatives, and a couple of politicians (one of whom had nothing better to say than to acknowledge that the legal steps were being taken in closing the school).

The meeting lasted no more than 26 minutes (including public comment, and question and answer sessions, and even an introductory speech by a deputy chancellor).  I don't know to what "public" this hearing was meant for, but as I recall, the school represents more than 385 students who have families and are either too disheartened or too fed up with the DOE to even bother showing up to put in their two cents at this meeting. If the DOE's obligation is fulfilled by simply opening a forum for discussion where no parents are willing to participate because they realize that their voice doesn't matter, then it really isn't a "public" hearing.  Nothing that the public says will change the outcome of this decision.

I would hope that someone of actual importance like Michelle Obama would make an appearance at these PEP or public hearings to watch how the DOE silences public opinion by relentlessly pursuing its own politically driven agendas.

Education is an arena of social injustice.  And sitting in on public hearings like this is evidence of the lack of community involvement and engagement that has been silenced by the bureaucracy that has become the DOE.

If you are unfamiliar with the events of last year's PEP meetings, here's a clip from a student who was at the meeting last year.  This meeting was the deciding vote to close schools.  The state supreme courts overturned this decision citing that the DOE did not follow the necessary steps to involve the communities in the decision-making process... But it looks like the DOE will face little resistance this year.