Only this time they say the failure notice letters were a "mistake":
Thousands of city public school parents mistakenly received a letter earlier this week that their child's school was failing so badly they could transfer out.
The letters offering transfers under the federal No Child Left Behind law were accidentally sent to parents at 16 schools, including popular Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn.
"When I received the package in the mail, it really made me panic," said Ada Blazer, of Kensington, whose eighth-grade son Henry, 14, turned down specialized high schools LaGuardia and Brooklyn Tech to attend Murrow's drama program.
"Besides the letter, there was the booklet of schools to pick from. None of them I would have selected."
The letters also went to William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens, Tottenville High School and Richmond Hill High School in Staten Island and others.
How is it this "mistake" was made?
Did a NYCDOE computer go rogue and write up the letters, stuff them in envelopes and mail them out to students?
Or are some of the schools that were targeted by this "mistake" on the target list for eventual closure.
As we have seen since Bloomberg took over the system, school closures involve a multi-year process.
First you close schools around the school you want closed and dump as many at-risk students into that school as possible.
Next you send out notices that the school is "persistently dangerous" or "failing" so that as many students as possible transfer from the school.
Then you note how nobody wants to attend that school, that the crime rate is too high and grad rates and test scores too low, and then you slate it for closure.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Eva Moskowitz or some other charter operator has his/her predatory eye on the buildings those schools are housed in and the DOE just sent out the failure letters a year or two too early.
Don't worry - they'll get around to it eventually.
And if Bloomberg and Klein don't get around to closing them, Obama and Duncan will.
So I say to John Liu, here is one more audit to put on your already busy list of things to do.
Who wrote those letters? Who approved them? Who sent them out? And why were they sent?
The DOE failed. They should get the failure letter.
ReplyDeleteMr. Klein signed the letter. Is he not accountable as the person that wrote, approved and sent out the letter? This is not an inter-office memo we are talking about - this letter went to thousands of families causing anxiety and confusion for parents and a huge public relations problem for the principals of these schools. The only question left is why and that's a job for a journalist.
ReplyDeleteKlein and Bloomberg should get fail letters - and subpoenas.
ReplyDeleteAnon, Mr. Klein is not accountable, Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Obama are not accountable - only teachers are accountable. At least, that's what it looks like to me.