New York Collective of Radical Educators
…the struggle for justice does not end when the school bell rings.
Join educators, parents, students, activists, and community members from across the city and beyond for a one-day conference focused on exploring the connections between education and social justice. This conference is an opportunity to network, inspire one another, and build a movement. Join us to share your thoughts, lesson plans, questions, or to facilitate a workshop.
Check out the conference page for more information: www.nycore.org/conference/
January 27th 4:30 – 6:30 PMTrains: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, A, C, R
A Call to Action from from the Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings & Charter Takeovers
Parents, Educators, Community Members, Council Members:
The NYC Department of Education is refusing to help our struggling schools. Many are being closed. When schools are closed, other schools in the neighborhood become overcrowded which in turn tends to lower their performance making them targets for closure. Others are being invaded by corporate sponsored, non-union, non-public organizations. Teaching and learning are being crippled by the reliance on standardized tests to make high stakes decisions about students, teachers and schools. We can’t sit back any longer and allow the DOE and Mayor Bloomberg to dismantle, destroy and undermine OUR public schools! Our schools cannot be successful and shine as funds are stripped away and CEOs who have little or no educational background are put in charge. Parents and teachers are pitted against each other so that we become divided. Public school students, children of color in the vast majority, are being used to further the goal of privatizing and controlling public education for the benefit of corporate interests.
We need to take back ownership of OUR schools and demand an enriched education for every child in NYC. No one person or group can do this alone. There has to be solidarity, cooperation and mutual support among those of us fighting for a truly democratic, equitable and just system of public education. We may not all agree on all of the issues facing education today, but we can agree that closing schools, “transforming” them or replacing them with charters, in a punitive, uninformed and undemocratic manner, will only result in catastrophe for students. And we can agree that the business model, which has failed our entire economy, is not the one we should use to run our schools.
Help stop school closings and charter invasions. Let your voices be heard. Say no to privatization. Demand equitable funding and democratic governance for our schools, not closures. Tell Mayor Bloomberg and the DOE that we will not allow OUR children to be hurt any longer!
Rally January 27th – STOP School Closings! STOP Charter Takovers!
NYCoRE is pleased to announce a monthly popular education series called “What’s race got to do with it?” The goal is to open a space for educators and educational activists to make connections between race and local and national school reform. What role does race play in school closings? High stakes testing? The proliferation of charter schools? Each session will focus on a specific current trend in neoliberal school reform through the lens of race and racism. By examining theoretical readings, mainstream media articles as well as local grassroots responses, session participants will discuss and uncover the complexities of these issues. Together, we will work to create tools that can be used by activists to insert race into our ongoing campaigns on educational justice.
The meetings will take place the 2nd Thursday of the month and will be facilitated by NYCoRE members Edwin Mayorga and Bree Picower. Edwin is a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center whose research focuses on the social construction of Latinos and its impact on their educational experiences in New York City. Bree is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University whose research has examined the role that race plays in how White teachers conceptualize students of Color and their communities.
THESE SESSIONS ARE FULL! THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!
Schedule:
Locations TBD
Thursday, February 10th, 2011-Session 1: What’s race got to do with SCHOOL CLOSINGS?
Thursday, March 10th, 2011-Session 2: What’s race got to do with HIGH STAKES TESTING?
Thursday, April 14th, 2011-Session 3: Topic to be determined by session participants
Thursday, May 12th, 2011-Session 4: Topic to be determined by session participants
Thursday, June 9th, 2011-Session 5: Pulling it all together
THESE SESSIONS ARE FULL! THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!