Shameless at the DOE--NOT!

This is straight from the UFT's blog, taking a shot at a letter to NYC DOE is circulating, asking for support of its spot-on, powerful and innovative Children First program.  What this incoherent rant fails to address is a SINGLE element of the letter on its merits.  Where do I sign?!

Wait ’til you read this. The DOE’s Office of Public and Community Affairs is sending around a draft letter (below) supporting Children First, the mayor and the chancellor. They are asking for signatures from major civic and community groups, and presumably plan to publish the letter and signatures somewhere. So far, it seems, few groups have signed, maybe because no prominent organization in the city that knows anything about the schools could agree to its message. Here is the draft letter in full:

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April 4, 2007

Shameless at the DOE

Filed under: General — Maisie @ 1:50 pm

http://edwize.org/shameless-at-the-doe

Wait ’til you read this. The DOE’s Office of Public and Community Affairs is sending around a draft letter (below) supporting Children First, the mayor and the chancellor. They are asking for signatures from major civic and community groups, and presumably plan to publish the letter and signatures somewhere. So far, it seems, few groups have signed, maybe because no prominent organization in the city that knows anything about the schools could agree to its message. Here is the draft letter in full:

“Dear New Yorkers,

“Until Mayor Bloomberg took charge of the city’s schools, student performance had been all but stagnant for decades. Now, because of the first phase of the Children First school reforms the Mayor and the Chancellor have enacted, New York City’s students are making real progress. Thousands more students are graduating and the New York City graduation rate is higher than it’s been in more than 20 years. Students’ progress in reading and math is now outpacing gains in the rest of New York State.

“But our schools are still not serving all New York City children as they must.

“For the sake of our children, we need to act. And we need to act now. If we don’t take the smart next steps the Bloomberg Administration has outlined, we risk failing the children of New York City. That’s a price that we are not willing to pay.

“The reforms make sense. Schools need the authority and the resources to build the right educational program for every child, and to ensure that they’re getting the job done, they must be held accountable for their students’ academic success. Schools also must be funded fairly.

“Our students and their families, indeed all New Yorkers, deserve the kind of schools and the kind of school system that our Mayor and our Chancellor are creating. We can’t put special interests ahead of the interests of children. This Mayor has it right–we need to put our students’ interests first. We urge all New Yorkers to join together to support these reform efforts. These reforms have real promise and will make schools better for the people who matter most: Our children.

“Sincerely,” etc.

Oh gag me.

If patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, then surely “the interests of children” is the last refuge of politicians, as demonstrated so amply in this bleating letter. At least one organization told DOE that they hadn’t been consulted or even had their calls returned throughout Children First, and were surely not signing such a letter now. Surely other groups will see it the same way.