Another month, another round of school closures. If everyone associated with this knows it's a sham, just close them all at once. Why bother renting the auditorium and paying the custodian! I seriously hope the next mayor is paying attention.

Early this morning, the Panel for Educational Policy voted to close another 22 struggling schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. The vote followed an emotional hearing where parents pleaded with officials to support the schools, not shut them down. More than 150 schools have been closed in recent years, only to later re-open with new names and many new teachers.

A majority of PEP members are Mayor Bloomberg's appointees, and it's never voted against a Department of Education proposal. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said today the system is working and student performance improves after new schools open. Walcott added, "We want to continue that track record." What do you say?

What's your reaction to the phasing out of these 22 schools? Is this the best way to help low-performing schools? If not, what is? What's your opinion on the Panel for Educational Policy?

Send your thoughts using the link above.

This just doesn't stop. I believe the mayor etc want to get rid of the public school system altogether.

Rosalie of Brooklyn

Walcott will say anything, and just follows orders from little dictator Bloomberg, the fact is when you shutter schools you hurt the kids, parents and educators in that community, and when Bloomberg finally leaves office we will know exactly how much damage he has done to public education in this city.

Felix
Bay Ridge

John,

Another shell game by his DisHonor Bloomberg. He and Walcott should be removed from office and schools privatized. Government should be out of the schools and parent organizations should be in.

Joe
Port Richmond, SI

Hi John,

When exactly is it going to be enough with this mayor that has his nose in things he knows nothing about. He just continues to provoke us time after time. He's a control freak and by taking over everything and anything that gives him complete control.
He looked like a damn fool to go on Letterman's who is nothing but another damn fool himself. Who would even watch that garbage TV. So maybe now since he's leaving the people feel a little more freedom to challenge him because he is a tyrant. How many chances does one get before they realize that something in his decision making is a failure.

GIVE IT UP ALREADY!

Thank you John,
maxxiee
mp

If as one caller said the problem is parents not helping their kids how is closing schools addressing that? Also unless Bloomberg is perfect it's impossible that panel has NEVER disagreed with him.

Bernard

Lay people blame mostly the teachers and sometimes Administration. I'm an ATR and traveling across many schools over the past year and a half. Across district 5 students and entire classes are out of control. Students don't want to behave appropriately (or don't know how to behave appropriately.) Although there is a "blue book" with consequences for inappropriate behavior they are rarely applied. Principal's don't want to apply the consequences because the statistics will make their school look bad. They also put pressure on teachers, requiring endless paperwork in order to have consequences applied, even when its an open secret tthat these students continually STOP teaching and learning. Teachers feel too overwhelmed to follow=up with the masses of paperwork (multiple times for the same students) especially when they NOW nothing will be done. sOL, THE PROBLEM GOES ON AND ON. closing and opening new schools won't solve these problems.

THE STUDENTS WHO ACT UP IN KINDERGARTEN WILL DO THE SAME IN FIRST, SECOND, AND ON THE YEARS. THE PROBLEM JUST GETS PUSHED ALONG TO THE NEXT TEACHER.

annonymous

If you close a school you are not removing the students you're removing the teachers. The teachers are being blamed for failing students. Would you blame Derek Jeter for a poor batting average if you sent him to the plate without a bat of course not.. Lets put the blame on the guilty. The administrators / principles which repeatedly change curriculums spend funds on trips or office furniture, instead of books or supplies which are needed. This is just an attempt make education a profitable business.

Ramon

Bloomberg's education policies allow oppressors to get rich off privatizing public education and turn already poorly performing traditional public schools into a wasteland for kids whose parents aren't present, don't care or couldn't find better so that it can become a school to prison pipeline and the oppressors kids won't attend these schools anyway because they can afford private school with the money they're making off low-middle income families who are primarily black or Latino.

Carmen

KIDS ARE SUFFERING!KIDS LOVE THEIR TEACHERS AND THE SCHOOL !KIDS SUFFERING,TEACHERS SUFFERING,PARENTS SUFFERING ..CAOS! MONEY TALKS !SAD MOMENT ! SCHOOLS NEEDS HELP NO PUNISHMENT !

Marga

If education is part of your family values, then it is a value instilled in you. A child can learn in any given environment when education is an importance. Read to your children, don't quiet them.down with a tv or video game....speak to your children, ask questions....be as involved in your child's education as much as I am!

Brooklyn teacher

I am a parent of a seventh grader, attending a chartered school. I was very surprise to hear that my old HS, James Madison will be closing. I think this is happening to mainly black kids. My child has been in a chartered school since kindergarten. I think she is getting a lower standard of educstion than I did at Madison. At her chartered school she had very very, very limited resources No foreign language No computer program No text books She is thaught like a prisoner She has develop absolutely no intra personal skills She is not taught to be responsible She had developed nervous habbits. She is taught not to stand up for herself. Unfortunately, the black kids are at a disadvantage, and are getting pushed over.

Moya

I agree that changes need to be made to provide our children with more effective school environments to succeed in. I do not agree that teachers should be targeted as the sole reason why schools are failing. Education budgets are constantly getting cut and that makes it more difficult to attract quality teachers in NYC. Our children spend the better part of their day in school and should be surrounded by quality facilities with teachers that are supported by the system. Teachers need to be focused on teaching our children rather than worrying about cuts and how they are going to acquire necessary tools to facilitate a positive learning environment. There definitely needs to be oversight of school progress, using a panel of educators, administrators, and the community to work together towards common goals. Teachers are the best source to ask what is needed in the classroom. The administrators can work with those ideas, developing a rational realistic plan that can implement those ideas. The parents can add to this plan by explaining what they want their kids to learn, what they would like their children to have the opportunity to experience with enrichment programs, and demanding open dialogue with the school itself. It’s only through a collective effort that any type of plan will succeed within our NYC schools.

Sincerely,
Claudia
of Manhattan

I'm a special education teacher in southern queens. What is going on with the system is a complete atrocity. The mayor has too much control with what goes on and he is out of touch with reality of what children need. The mayor is all about going after teachers because we have summers off. No one in the education system knows the curriculum and how it sets our children up for failure. The mayor and the chancellor are expecting children to fail or have lower test scores. No one has stopped to make parents accountable. Why aren't the parents accountable for helping with education? Most of these children come to school not knowing how to read but educators are expected to them to pass the state tests. Teachers are educators not miracle workers.

Kelly

I can't wait until this egregious chapter in our city's chapter is over. A billionair should not ne a mayor--conflict of interest! Get rid of mayoral control and pep puppets

Shel

These school closures have gone on for a decade. These closures are just a way to get rid of teachers, principals and of course open up Charter Schools -- Mayor Bloomberg's real agenda. Mayor Bloomberg is solely responsible for these school closures as the majority of the PEP members are all his appointees -- do you need anymore proof than that? These school closures will continue to go on for years regardless of the voices of the parents, children or to our voices if the UFT stands aside in this election like they did in 2009 or if they back Democratic Candidate Ms. Quinn. She has never objected to any of Mayor Bloomberg's educational policies!

Lisa
UES

The mayor has turned the school system into a business. He allowed principals to run their own school budget. Therefore, instead of hiring more experience teachers, school principals prefer to hire new teachers for less money.

Dave
Sunset park

It's frustrating that we keep placing the interests of adults ahead of those of children. Why is it acceptable that children remain in learning environments where they are not demonstrating proficiency? I am a second year principal and the average teacher has been working at my school for 25 years with performance rates on last year's ELA below 30%. Of course they blame the mayor, chancellor and parents (even my leadership). The majority of students who leave my school never graduate. I fight for my kids and would love to have people who are invested in making positive changes. Although I am stuck trying to figure out a way to convince them to leave or just go after their jobs. Please stop making the argument that experience = success.

Name withheld
Hell's Kitchen

I'm a public school teacher and I'm just getting home from parent teacher meetings...
Mayor Bloomberg needs to stop pointing fingers and blaming teachers. I would like to see him come in and do a teacher's job. There needs to be a revamp to the system and parent responsibility plays a large role as well...there's only so much a teacher can do at school. But when a child gets home, the value if education, parental involvement needs to be continued.

Christina

What is the city doing with schools? I am a high school student myself. The students aren't to blame if we're doing our part. Scaring teachers and making teachers hand out passing grades, and it gives undeserving grades to students who barely show up to class. Administration of the schools must be changed! If schools are getting hammered by Bloomberg, then Bloomberg should give them the resources achieve. If you were look at my principal, you would think he's the janitor. But when the state or city comes to visit, all the teachers, are nice, the school is cleaned, the principal dresses up and act like he cares Some of my teachers, don't even give lessons, some of the teachers at that school barley speak English, but yet they teach, math, science, etc. I wanted to become a teacher but all this keeps excellent teachers away. Bloomberg's term has to come to an end fast!

Brian, Washington Heights

Please ask each of the callers that oppose the school closures,

1) where their kids go to school?
2) how that school is doing?
3) if they would voluntarily send their kids to a failing school?
4) which of the city school they would like to send their kids to (if they answer yes to "3") if they had a choice?

jb
Manhattan

Mayor Bloomberg insists that the DOE is supporting schools because the Department has a $22 billion budget. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The DOE staff is very top-heavy with many highly paid deputy chancellors and other useless titles. Further, the Legal Department of the DOE has expanded to its largest size ever, so much of that money is paid to lawyers. There is no citywide curriculum (though there are new, more rigorous learning standards), so schools are making curriculum up as they go along. Discipline problems run rampant at all levels (I am an elementary school teacher and have been assaulted and spit at in the face), but they are not addressed because the DOE penalizes principals for reporting incidents. Even the new schools that were created in the Bloomberg-Klein era face these problems. What Chancellor Walcott fails to mention, however, is that lots of these new schools that were created during Bloomberg's own era have been deemed low-performing and subsequently closed. How is this a solution?

Janelle
Washington Heights

Mayor Bloomberg, took over Public Schools; that makes him the failer. He failed PS while he promotes Charter Schools. Ten years from now there will be a big backlash of mis-educated job seekers.

Juanita

Mayor Bloomberg wants to close schools so that he can replace them with Charter Schools and other schools where he can place his new graduates of the DOE's Principal Academy

David from Brooklyn

Closing a school, replacing the principal and 50% of staff, and having it reopen with a new name and the same students, is an exercise in futility.

James (Educator)
Middle Village, Queens

Mayor Bloomberg wants to close what the DOE calls low performing schools to make room for more charter schools. That is what is really going on. We will not be fooled. Check out the mayoral candidates' positions on school closings and charter schools before you endorse a candidate. Support the moratorium on school closings and co-locations of charter schools!

Lizabeth
Upper Westside

EVERYONE IS FOCUSED ON THE WRONG THING. THE CLOSING OF THE SCHOOLS IS ABOUT GETTING THOSE BUILDINGS AND TURNING THEM INTO HIGH END CONDO'S. THEY DID THE SAME THING IN HARLEM. LETS NOT CHOKE ON SMOKE SCREENS

A.R. MOE

Another tactical move...
Could this just be a manipulative to improve overall NYC DOE national ranking??
MAybe if the "old" school records are no longer in existence and a "new" school is put into the exact same location, but it now has no history of ratings/rankings is "improves" the "quality/ranking" of the school system...! This kind of action seems rampant...We have no money as a city and services right an left are diminishing that truly do affect our quality of living and life. Yet. all of the redoing of the street medians creating parking lanes in the middle of a street causing more accidents than we know of and a major increase in traffic and travel time and noise pollution have financing!

LL
The Village