Tweed Protesters Denounce ‘Privatization’ of Schools
They may not have been a big crowd, but they were spirited. A group calling itself Occupy the DOE — an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street — gathered on the steps Tweed Hall on Monday evening with a litany of complaints against the Department of Education.
Police officers ushered the crowd of more than 150 parents, students, teachers, aides and educators up the stairs and toward the center of the steps as voices chanted and echoed one another. Their grievances were many, including a unified call against mayoral control of the school system and the privatization of New York City public schools.
After the Oct. 25 meeting of the Panel for Education Policy, where about 200 parents and teachers protested against Department of Education leadership, it was time to take a different approach, said Leia Petty, an Occupy the DOE organizer.
She said the grass-roots group started as a grade-in last month in Zuccotti Park to address a growing list of
