Reply #71: There are concerns about Canada's schools. Obama plans them around the country. [View All]

[madfloridian]

Arne and Obama are spending hundreds of millions building Canada's schools around the country, even though a NY neighborhood is fighting back. I also address your civil rights' statement.


First, the 7 civil rights groups which lodged a complaint against Arne's ideas, pulled back from a press conference because the president and Arne shoved the press meeting by taking it over.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/6516

"What's even more interesting is that a big event planned to release the framework this morning in conjunction with the National Urban League's annual conference was mysteriously cancelled (or postponed, depending on whom you ask) after a lot of press releases went out last week trying to drum up interest. The official explanation is that there was a "conflict in schedules." However, I can't help but wonder if the facts that President Obama has agreed to deliver a major education reform speech at the conference on Thursday, and that Duncan is scheduled to address the conference on Wednesday, had something to do with it. Surely the Obama administration was none too pleased to see that these groups planned to criticize his education reform agenda.

In addition, the National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, was listed on the press releases that went out late last week announcing the event as a supporter of the new framework, but in the framework released today, the group is conspicuously missing.

The groups that signed on to the framework want Duncan to dial back his enthusiasm for and "extensive reliance" on charter schools as a solution for turning around persistently struggling schools in urban areas. They also object to core components of his four models for turning around the nation's worst schools, saying that school closure and wholesale changes in school staff should only be used as a last resort. And they take sharp issue with the Race to the Top program, declaring that a reliance on competitive funding and hand-picking winners means the majority of low-income and minority kids, who may reside in the losing states, will not benefit from additional federal funds."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/22/harlem-childrens-zone-to-_n_735017.html

"In 1997, Geoffrey Canada founded Harlem Children's Zone, a comprehensive system of programs and charter schools designed to help Harlem children succeed. Children enter the program as infants and graduate college-bound. In just over 10 years, Canada revolutionized a broken education system in a community where poverty and drop out rates ran high.

The program's incredible success has made Canada one of the nation's leading advocates in education reform. Canada is profiled in Davis Guggenheim's education documentary, "Waiting For 'Superman.' "

Now, the federal government has announced Canada's program will be reproduced in 20 communities across America.

The New York Post reports,

President Obama has requested $200 million in his fiscal 2011 budget to help implement the 21 projects that are being planned this year, along with $10 million for additional planning grants."



http://dnainfo.com/20100904/harlem/residents-group-fights-plan-build-charter-school-st-nicholas-houses-park-space

"HARLEM— A plan by the Harlem Children's Zone and the New York City Housing Authority to build a charter school on open space at the St Nicholas Houses has sparked opposition from some residents.

Under the current proposal, 93,000 square feet of open space at St. Nicholas Houses, between West 127th and West 131st streets and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass boulevards, would be sold to build a charter school for 1,300 students. West 129th Street, which now ends in a cul-de-sac before Frederick Douglass Boulevard, would also be opened up to through traffic. Construction is slated to start this year.

The president of the tenants association supports the $100 million plan, but residents William Danzy and Sandra Thomas say their group, Citizens for the Preservation of St. Nicholas Houses, has gathered 700 signatures from the more than 3,300 residents of the complex in opposition. At least one other opposition group has been formed.

Residents have not been fully consulted about the proposal, they say, and they are concerned about the future of public housing. More than 60 residents attended a Community Board 10 meeting earlier this week to express their concerns about the project.
Read more: http://dnainfo.com/20100904/harlem/residents-group-fights-plan-build-charter-school-st-nicholas-houses-park-space#ixzz10YhJjqkG