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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

NYC Public School Parents: Parents give a thumbs down to NY-CAN and the "Parent Trigger"

NYC Public School Parents: Parents give a thumbs down to NY-CAN and the "Parent Trigger":

Parents give a thumbs down to NY-CAN and the "Parent Trigger"

For immediate release:
January 11, 2012

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters,leonie@classsizematters.org, 917-435-9329
Caroline Grannan, Parents Across America,cgrannan@gmail.com, 415-412-5758

Today, a pro-charter school organization launched in New York called NY-CAN, and announced they will be advocating for a version of the so-called "Parent Trigger" legislation to be passed in New York State. The organization is headed by Christina Grant, former deputy director of NYC Department of Education's Office of Charter Schools.

The Parent Trigger law was first passed in California in 2010, the creation of by an astroturf group based in Los Angeles called the Parent Revolution. Since then, model legislation based on the Parent Trigger has beenwritten and promoted by ALEC, the shadowy organization backed by the Koch brothers that has a radical right-




NYC Principal Hall of Shame: Why does DOE protect abusive principals?


There was a rally yesterday at Bronxdale High School to protest the DOE's refusal to remove its principal John Chase, despite his horrific record of sexually harassment; this follows last week's rally at Bronx Science, of former students protesting the egregious behavior of principal Valerie Reidy, which has led to a steady exodus of teachers leaving the school. (See also the NY Magazine article about Reidy's mismanagement of the school, especially the hundreds of comments from former students and teachers.)  Below are the comments of Lynne Winderbaum, former Bronx UFT HS district leader, about how DOE protecting abusive principals is standard operating procedure:

John Chase
Chancellor Walcott was quoted in the Daily News: “I’m not going to remove him, but he knows he cannot have any similar type of comments. He is on a very stri