Mayor de Blasio’s school ‘values’ : a union label (NY Post - 9/07/14) #Harlem, #ElBarrio, #HarlemEd, Amber Charter School EXCERPT: De Blasio did praise one charter: the Amber Charter School in Manhattan, where he was speaking. This school, he said, “really exemplifies our values” and “is a great example of what a charter can do.” Huh? Last year at Amber, only 12 percent of fifth-graders (i.e., the kids about to graduate to middle school) passed the reading test and only 37 percent passed math. They delivered these dismal results even though only 5 percent of its students aren’t primarily English speakers, well below the district average of 12 percent. So why is de Blasio so enamored? Because Amber is one of the city’s few charters where teachers belong to the union. So now we know what de Blasio means by the “values” he wants from schools: It’s not whether the students perform but whether their workforce is unionized.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 12:07:43 +0000