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NATIONAL NEWSLETTER

The fall newsletter of the Center for Community Change – a national organization based in Washington, D.C. – included a feature article on the repercussions that followed the 1997 Nyack PIE/NAACP report on the district’s achievement gap.

For the complete text of the article, go to www.communitychange.org.

But here are the four quotes from community members that end the article:

Fred Frelow: “What you don’t see in Nyack is a commitment to work at it [the achievement gap]. It really points to the need for leadership on the School Board and in the Administration. Someone has to step to the plate. That’s not happening in Nyack.”

Mary Whatley: “I don’t think the Board cares about the OCR. [Office of Civil Rights, which is investigating civil rights violations in the district.] The Board members have been there too long to be proactive. Even the OCR won’t be able to budge them.”

Daniel Wolff: “I don’t know what I’d say to other community groups about this. Our going to the OCR clearly applied pressure in a way that we weren’t able to do locally. But I can’t swear to the fact that it will change anything here. It’s been two years and we’re still waiting.”

Oscar Cohen: “Public institutions have rarely delivered to people of color in their community. They say we’re dividing the community. But all we’ve asked is that they acknowledge this problem, and engage in finding a solution. If we hadn’t gone to the press, if we’d let this problem remain behind closed doors and affect another generation of kids, then who are we, and whose side are we on?”

MIDDLE SCHOOL REFORM: DO WE HAVE THE WILL TO CHANGE?

This past October 16^th, Hayes Mizell, Director of the Program for Student Achievement at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, spoke to a group of Nyack residents on Middle School Reform. The event was organized by Nyack PIE and co-sponsored by the NAACP, Head Start of Rockland, the Rockland 21^st Century Collaborative for Children and Youth, Brenda Ross, and the Nyack Public Schools.

Here are a few excerpts from Mr. Mizell’s presentation, What Parents Need to Know About Middle School Reform:

“The fact is that we know how to make middle schools function effectively for the students they serve. There is more than 30 years of experience in creating and operating middle schools…. There are middle schools that serve their students well and earn the approval of parents.

If this is true, you might ask, why are so many people disappointed with the performance of so many middle schools?… The answer is that while there are thousands of schools whose names include the words ‘middle school,’ too few of them are engaged in the focused, demanding work necessary to serve all their students well.”

Mr. Mizell recommended that Nyack consider using a simple, parent-friendly survey put out by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. It asks if parents have evidence that their Middle School students, for example, can get extra help and support if they need it, if the topics covered in class are relevant to students’ lives and interests, and if students’ families are partners in making sure students succeed.

“What do parents need to know about middle school reform?” Mr. Mizell asked at the conclusion of his speech. “They need to know it is necessary. They need to know it is possible. They need to know that in advocating and working for middle school reform it is okay for them to trust their better instincts about that is good for their children.”

WE GET WHAT WE GET

The Bottom Line on Parent Accountability

[excerpts from an article by Bill Page first printed at Teachers.Net Gazette]

…. Whether students have four, two, one or no parents; whether they are reared by grandparents, relatives, siblings or others; whether they have 16 brothers and sisters, plus halves and live-in cousins; whether they live in a house, apartment, project, shelter or station wagon; whether they have clean clothes, good hygienic habits, and good manners; whether they speak English, sign language, foreign language, or no language; whether they are challenged visually, physically, socially, or mentally; whether they have good interpersonal skills, social skills or study skills; whether they are underachievers, over achievers or non-achievers; whether their personality, character, religious beliefs are to our liking; whether their parents are literate, retarded or English speaking; Makes no difference to educators.

…. It can all be summed up in five words: We get what we get!

Parents get the kids they get. Kids get the parents they get (or the life they get without parents.) School districts get the families they get. Individual schools get the families they get. Teachers get the students they get. And, students get the teachers they get. The way it is, is the way it is.

…. Within the politics, mandates, mission, goals, strategic planning, curriculum, and educational policies, we take kids where they are and we teach them. We teach them whatever is required by those rules and within that structure. We Teach Unconditionally -- no excuses, no exceptions! If they lack manners we teach them manners; if they lack study skills and prerequisite knowledge, or interpersonal skills, we teach them what they lack. If they lack home resources, materials or breakfast, we provide it. If they lack adequate visual and auditory or physical capability; if they don't fit our structure; we change to accommodate them. We offer alternative methods and procedures. Our job is to teach the kids we have!

Our job is to teach the kids we have. Not the kids we used to have, not the kids we would like to have, not the kids we dream about, not the kids who were like us when we were students, not the kids who wear clean clothes, not the kids who speak English. Our job is to teach the kids we have -- each and every one. Not just the kids who have responsible parents. The bottom line: We get what we get!

And An Afterword… It is natural for teachers (who themselves have probably had parental support in school all the way through college) to see that their students would learn if they had parents to help, to supervise and to tutor their own kids. But to force the issue of parental help after a certain point is futile. Our energies should be spent helping kids, rather than worrying about parents who have shown they are of little help.

Actually, if you are still with me, there is a bottom line to the bottom line: Each kid is living the only life s/he has -- the only life s/he will ever have. The least we can do is not demean it or diminish it with our evaluations, actions and attitudes; not relegate him/her to marginal status; not beat him/her over the head with his/her weaknesses and past history. We can accept him/her unconditionally and teach him/her whatever s/he lacks. Is there any viable alternative?

SEPTA

A parents group focused on special education is an idea PIE has long advocated, and we’re delighted that a Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) has started this year.

With a few meetings under its belt, SEPTA is already focusing on the issues that parents of classified students care about: what “special” means in special education, how to get appropriate services to their children, what parents can teach each other.

For more information on SEPTA, call Kim Tyndall at 268-8503 or Lori Barth at 358-3849.

PIE’S VISION: FUTURE AND PAST

For the last ten years, Nyack PIE has put forward an alternative vision for Nyack’s schools, underlined inequities in the present system, and tried to help parents and children through various tutoring programs, educational speakers, etc.

Sometimes we feel like we’ve only accomplished a fraction of what we’ve dreamed. Then we remember that PIE was among the first to support many current district programs, including block scheduling, teacher recruiting and support, elementary language programs, parent involvement in hiring/decision making, and data-driven intervention to right our achievement gap. Those are just a few.

And, still, there’s no doubt that our larger vision has not been put in place.

When it comes to elections and other important district decisions, PIE is (as our critics would say) a vocal minority.

It appears that the majority supports the educational status quo. But it’s worth remembering that they, too, are actually a minority.

The over-whelming numbers of taxpayers who fund the district don’t vote. Of the approximately 23,000 residents in the Nyack district, about 2500 people voted in the last board/budget election.

To say that the public endorses the present educational system is to assume that silence equals approval. We think most people simply aren’t paying attention.

We believe that if they did, they might want their educational system to reach more children more effectively; they might oppose the test-crazy environment placed on our schools because it limits what and how teachers can teach; they might support a broader, more varied curriculum that was adjusted to the child’s needs, not the state’s.

It’s in this spirit that we re-print [see reverse] the original minutes of a meeting that occurred in 1992. This was before Nyack Partners in Education had a name, as many of us were trying to figure out the school system and what we could do to make it better.

Ten years later, many of these issues still ring a bell. Which we take as an indication not of despair but of hope: that we were and are on the right track for a brighter future.

Thursday July 22, 1992

It was a beautiful, cool summer evening. While the kids ran shouting through the playground, their parents sat under the big silver beech tree and talked about education.

"One first-grade teacher told me 40% of her class didn't pass the end of the year reading test."

"You feel stupid. My kid feels stupid. Seems to me we're right back where we started: labeling kids fast or slow."

"I think it's because there's no vision. No idea of how the whole school works."

One of the children came up, and the parents quieted. He asked for a slice of watermelon. It wasn't quite ripe, about the pink of the sky where the sunset was. But it tasted fine.

"They say they don't have a schedule for learning, then they test you at the end of the year!"

"I know lots of parents - lots - who've hired private reading tutors. They don't think this whole language way of teaching works."

"That's the kind of thing we're not allowed to talk about. If you just go in a classroom to see how things are, you make everyone nervous."

"My oldest had her; learned absolutely nothing. But I know a girl in the same class who had a great year. Go figure."

Out in the dusk, some little body fell and started to cry. A parent got up to cope.

"Shouldn't the school have some overall program or curriculum so the kids keep learning even if they get a bad teacher?"

"What about master teachers? What about recognizing the good ones and getting them time to teach other teachers?"

"First people have to want to change the school. They have to come forward and say what a lot of us think: that Upper Nyack isn't a great school. And our kids deserve the best."

"I think the rote learning, the work sheets, disciplining kids by missing recess.... People go along with those 'cause they don't know what else is out there."

"I visited this school where kindergarten through second grade were combined. There wasn't this push to read by a certain age; they had team-teaching; and different aged kids got to work together."

"I saw this TV show about a school that was like a mini-city. The kids played banker and lawyer and cop, and all the learning followed from that: the math, reading, everything."

"Or setting up classrooms in circles or something. I think a lot of what my son learned in first grade was how to sit in a row and stand in line."

"Can anybody tell me why Upper Nyack isn't trying this stuff? Instead of being on the cutting edge, we get 'happy face.'"

Now it was getting darker. The first fireflies were threading their way across the lawn, down by the basketball court, up by the picnic tables.

"How do we begin talking about this? You saw the letter the principal sent out: clearly just us getting together worries people."

"I think we should get together as parents first. Read some stuff about education and talk more about what kind of school we want."

Now the children were shadows, chasing the fireflies across the dark field. There were more cries and more skinned knees. It was getting to be time to go.

"I'm optimistic. I think when people get together and talk about this kind of thing, it starts to change."

"Let's write up what happened tonight and distribute it to see if anyone else is interested."

Somebody kicked a ball up on the school roof and shouted for a parent to come help. It was almost too dark to see.

This newsletter was written, reviewed and edited by: Rich Guay, Bob Lubetsky, Tracy Mann, Rusty & Donna Pedersen, Marta Renzi, Lynn Temple, Janey Tannenbaum, Daniel Wolff and others!

Saturday Morning Reading Circle

One-on-One Tutor Program

SEPTA

Thursday July 22, 1992