November 2001

In the last academic year, Nyack PIE provided free:

one-on-one tutoring to ten low-income, minority students

a Saturday morning Reading Circle where volunteers helped approximately a dozen children - mostly Spanish-speaking - with reading while their parents received free tutoring in English

reading pamphlets - for kindergarten, first and second grades - to 750 parents Nyack public school students and more than 800 parents of Head Start students throughout Rockland

weekly, after school 8^{th grade Writing Workshops to 30 of Nyack’s lowest testing 8th graders}

cultural trips for about 25 parents and children to a local production of the Nutcracker ballet, the musical “Into the Woods,” and the Big Apple Circus

On October 1st, Nyack PIE, Head Start of Rockland, and the local branch of the NAACP co-sponsored a forum called “What Makes Our Schools Safe?” -- the first of several planned Community Dialogues. Students, parents, and other community members heard alternatives to the “lockdown” mentality put forth by the State Education Department.

Two NYC public school principals cited research that showed that the key to school safety was the relationships established between adults and students in the building. Specifically, they talked about how, at their high schools, they had regular family advisory meetings: time set aside for teachers to meet with a small group of students (around twenty) and act as advisors, confidantes, mentors, etc. Their schools had among the best safety records in New York City, an achievement they attributed to this family advisory model.

Further, the two principals cited research which shows that metal detectors, id tags, etc. not only don't make schools safe but actually create an environment that serves to "dare" the students to make trouble. Nyack students at the meeting confirmed this reaction in our district.

“Part of the problem,” writes Bob Lubetsky, an Upper Nyack resident and principal of City-As-School High School in NYC, “is the misguided attempt to anticipate every possible unpleasant or dangerous occurrence. Furthermore, [Nyack’s proposed] plan presumes that individuals will be adversaries and addresses them as such. While untoward events do occur, and students will behave from time to time (as adults do) in unpleasant (or even dangerous) ways, it is simply not possible to anticipate every possible occurrence, closely define this occurrence and plan a response.
“True safety,” Lubetsky continues, “lies in the kind of environment a school nurtures and protects. It begins, of course, with how the adults in a building relate and deal with interpersonal conflict. Students learn much more from the way we are than from what we tell them. It seems to me, therefore, that a ‘safety plan’ should contain lots of alternative dispute methodologies and approaches, rather than traditional ‘do’s and don'ts.’
Principal Deborah Harris’ University Heights Secondary School in the Bronx offers a menu of steps to deal with a crisis. These include students settling their own disputes, family group resolution, and peer mediation. “Administrative intervention” is listed as the last resort.

“This, I believe is the approach that schools should take,” Lubetsky adds: “more guide than disciplinarian; more concerned with the underlying issues than with the outer behavior; more focused on the invitation for discussion than on punitive measures.”

If this line of thinking makes sense to you, we urge that you contact the Nyack School Board, which is currently reviewing the district’s safety plan and code of conduct: the deadline for public input is November 6. As Mrs. Mary B. Whatley wrote in a letter to the board this summer, “SAFETY SHOULDN’T HARM ANYONE.”

Tests stop learning.
The new standardized curriculum requires more teachers to spend more time in an environment in which they cover more and more information on a shallower level.

Tests separate students by their parent's income.
Today's exams are more likely to reveal parent's paycheck than a student's potential to master concepts and work hard. Studies from the College Board show that people taking the SAT will, on average, score an extra 30 points for every $10,000 in their parents income.

Test companies are inaccurate and insecure.
Flaws and dangers are popping up around the nation in the already overloaded scoring companies.

Tests don't solve any of education's problems.
Issues such as school funding, student participation, and creative curriculum design are taking a back seat to the great standardizing of our classrooms.

Tests hurt the poor and people of color.
The results of recent standardized tests reveal a distinct bias against poor and minority students.

On October 9th, Nyack PIE took part in a protest against standardized testing. Organized by Students Against Testing, the protest took place near the Palisades IBM Center where national leaders advocated piling federal tests on top of the state and local tests already in place.

We support reasonable standards for all students; who doesn’t? But last year, Nyack’s 8th graders faced so many tests in the spring of their year that finals were cancelled! That’s right: a good month and a half at the end of the school year was devoted exclusively to preparing for state tests and local exams were dropped.

What do we learn from these tests? The results from Regents testing done last June have just come back. 94% of Nyack’s students passed the English Regents. That’s compared to 97% in North Rockland and 91% at Clarkstown South. Does that mean Nyack’s program is better or worse? Does it mean our students can all write clear sentences and understand what they read? Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mary Anne Evangelist’s reaction is that the scores show the district is “making progress; we’re getting there.” Getting where?

Or, take our less successful results. On the Chemistry Regents, 78% of Nyack’s students passed compared to 85% the year before. Did the teachers or the teaching change? (Obviously, the students did.) According to Assistant Superintendent Evangelist, “students did poorly on questions about topics covered early in the year.” As the administrator in charge of curriculum, she’s going to include more review “so students don’t forget earlier lessons.” In other words, by June, kids have forgotten what they learned in October. The proposed solution is to teach to the test, then review just before the test, so the test results look better. But why won’t the students forget the information all over again by August?

Nyack continues to advocate shaping our curriculum based on state tests because these are “good tests.” But what gets lost in the process? Tests can’t measure many important areas of learning (not to mention critical thinking) and too often focus on trivia. The Nyack School administration is going along with state government in forcing teachers to put more emphasis on how your child does for two hours on a standardized test than a year of projects, reports, and classroom discussion.

Nyack PIE is pleased that the district invited assessment expert Grant Wiggins to give workshops to our teachers at this year’s curriculum day. Mr. Wiggins is very clear on this issue:

The trouble is that, in too many cases, Nyack’s local curriculum is the state tests. That takes away the teacher’s chance to teach and the student’s ability to learn.

Nyack PIE is planning a Community Forum this winter on the issue of testing. Please come. More, we hope you’ll declare that your children (and their teachers) can’t be measured by standardized tests. Does a boycott of state tests make sense?

For the second year, Nyack PIE took part in the district’s ReadyFest festival organized by the Nyack Family Resource center. PIE’s booth was crowded all afternoon with kids devouring free pizzas, banging out tin decorations, and taking apart everything from computers to old telephones. The turn-out was great, and the hands-on approach at the whole event celebrated how much fun learning can and should be.

Head Start of Rockland * ^{85 Depew Ave. * Nyack * 6 - 8 p.m.}

^{Food and Childcare on request}

845-358-2033

Clarkstown police are investigating a complaint of a racial bias/hate crime at Valley Cottage Elementary School in the Nyack School District.

The incident occurred September 5 when the mother of a student met with Brenda Grier, principal, to discuss her daughter’s class placement. Dissatisfied with the principal’s response, the parent returned with her husband that afternoon.

The father of the student entered Ms. Grier’s office in an agitated state and behaved in a threatening manner. He called her a “liar,” a “n----r,” and “black low life.” Pounding on her desk, he shouted that he would have her “n----r ass fired,” and threatened to sue, using racial slurs repeatedly.

Ms. Grier immediately notified Roberta Zampolin, superintendent of Nyack School District, who happened to be in the building at the time. Ms. Zampolin took no action other than advising Ms. Grier to call the Clarkstown police if she felt she was in danger. She provided no further directives, indications of concern, or support.

Executive members of the NAACP called for a meeting with Ms. Grier, Ms. Zampolin, and Nyack School Board President Bryan Burrell. At that meeting on September 13th, the facts were confirmed, including Ms. Zampolin’s failure to intervene on Ms. Grier’s behalf regarding this incident. At the same meeting, Mr. Burrell stated that the district had no written policies regarding parent-to-staff harassment and that such a policy would become a matter for the school board.

Ms. Grier stated that five months earlier she had notified Ms. Zampolin in writing of an incident in which the same parent had made racial comments to African American teachers at a parent/teacher conference. Mr. Burrell said that no written repot had been received, and no action had been taken by the Superintendent or the school board to address these concerns.

NAACP representatives pointed out that the superintendent of a school district is obligated to respond to a possible hate crime and threat against a principal regardless of whether there were written policies. Therefore, Ms. Zampolin had neglected her responsibilities regarding the safety and welfare of a building principal. Shifting the focus to policies and procedures dehumanizes not only the issue but one of the major groups of people in our district.

NAACP members also expressed anger and disappointment that the top administrator of our racially diverse school district would not, first and foremost, take a zero tolerance stance when a building principal is being attacked with verbal hatred. Ms. Zampolin gave Principal Grier no assurance that Nyack’s central administration had attempted to create a safe working environment for one of its own administrators.

Once again, the district’s leadership missed a prime opportunity to coalesce our community around fighting racism.

APOLOGIES IN ORDER

A piece in the last PIE newsletter made an unfortunate reference to Italian Americans.
The piece was designed to provoke questions about the district's hiring policies through the use of humor. It was not intended to degrade any ethnic group.
At issue for us, is that the current School Board and Administration
consistently state that, "We don't care if a person is black, white, blue or green - we just want the best person for the job." This is a noble sounding position. Unfortunately, the "best person for the job" (or fast tenure
track, higher salary or desirable assignment) is NEVER blue or green -- but IS often white.
Thus, we are not issuing a retraction - the problem of hiring talented people of color to work in positions of authority in Nyack still stands.

ADMINISTRATION SHREDS “DUPLICATE” FILES

Nyack PIE has learned that the Nyack administration has shred personal files of some special education students, claiming that they were “duplicates.”

This fall, the administration retrieved special education files from Nyack High School, brought them to central administration, and, under the guidance of Pupil Personnel Director Linda Greene, reviewed the information and shredded those deemed unnecessary.

This event occurred as the Nyack District was under investigation by the federal Office of Civil Rights for, among other things, a possible violation of the civil rights acts due to a disproportionate number of students of color assigned to special education. New York State is also looking into Nyack’s conduct of its special education program.

The files of special education students contain not only the current recommendations for appropriate services but a history of classifications and resulting actions taken by the district. Parents and teachers who contacted Nyack PIE were concerned that the destruction of special education files might make it more difficult for investigators to determine what services were and weren’t provided by the district.

Nyack PIE contacted the school board, and Dr. Greene told the board that information was “shredded,” but that was because it duplicated files already at central office.

If you are concerned and/or want more information, contact Tracy Mann at 348-0472.