Thursday, October 1, 2009
The things that keep me up at night
The Ithaca City School Board- messing with the lives of young people. Why did they take on 10 new people this year? Why is it that almost of all eco-village has gotten into the school. Hmmm. makes you think. Whywas the New Roots allocation of funding written on top of the School Board budget so that it looked like, NR was responsible for the increase in funding. Why is the bussing at NR set up so that the school has to go until 4:30pm, and theirfore have a longer school day? What is next from this public board? When will the mischief stop?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
CSS actions not in the best interest of students
The opening of New Roots Charter School is now complete. The first classes has begun and this new venture in education in Ithaca has leaped from planning, constructing stage to being a reality. The New Roots Charter school has been a vision in our community to create a school that responds to the many complex and growing needs of our society, and to the demand for greater school choice at the high school level.
The school has stimulated a healthy and educational debate in the community over how charter schools work unfortunately it has not always been a civil debate. I am deeply dismayed and saddened by the actions of a few who have not kept the best interest of the community at heart and have placed personal vendetta's above our children's best interest. Its time for Corinne Frantz and Pat Ehrich and the so called Coalition for Sustainable Schools to stop their rhetoric, antagonism and misinformation campaign, and leave New Roots alone to pursue it's social and educational goals.
CSS's intentions are seriously in question. CSS doesn't have any real issues of substance and has been throwing out criticism left and right hoping that something will latch on. The criticism have ranged from busing to historic preservation, to the wait list at ACS to the number of enrolled students. Again and again their allegations have been lacking substance. They have stood up in front of the community and called the New Roots founders liars, and have publicly attributed all manors of ill will to the New Roots, board, staff, volunteers, and supporters. They have not contributed to the debate or offered alternatives. Their stated goal is to undermine the school. So why, has this been reported in the paper and given attention, despite the fact that the claims are baseless and their goals.
Earlier in this debate when it became clear that New Roots had followed all the correct legal channels and that there was nothing CSS could do to stop the school from a legal point of view. Corinne Frantz was quoted as saying that their plan would be to try to stop students from enrolling in New Roots! They have done this through harassing New Roots staff and volunteers at Parent/Teen outreach nights, at open houses and other community events that New Roots has sponsored. They have also created inflammatory and misleading Op Ed pieces, news bites and press conferences. They have created an atmosphere of tension and hostility at many of NR events and have turned what should be a joyous time for the NR community into one of bitterness. Their constant FOIL requests have taken away precious resources from a staff that has been trying to do the impossible task of opening a new school. Their constant FOIL requests have amounted to a huge waste of staff time and tax payer dollars.
Their biggest claims is that NR's process is undemocratic, not transparent and doesn't have proper accountability. But, NR did not create the process that governs charter schools. The NY state legislature did. NR has followed the letter of the law as it applies to Charter schools in NY State in setting up their school. If Corrine Frantz and Pat Ehrich or any other citizen is not happy about those rules then their beef is with the NY State legislature and not with New Roots Charter School. I believe that these two women are smart enough to know this, and yet they continue there attacks on the school.
Recently they leveled there most serious allegations at New Roots charter school. They filed a complaint saying that NR was misleading the public in how many student were enrolled at the school. They argue that only 86 students were enrolled in New Roots the day before the school was to open. Despite all the information that they have received from the NR FOIL's the school opened the next day with 107. So how can this be? The Coalition has gone so far as to criticize the school for taking the full amount of time under the law necessary for completing the FOIL. Well it just so happens that in addition to working to please the Coalition the staff at NR were trying to open up a new high school. It is clear that the intentions of CSS is to attack NR on everything. To what end? This is sad. NR has gone through enough in its public opposition. It is time to lay down the gauntlet or at least agree to a more civil debate.
Corinne Frantz, Pat Ehrich and CSS's actions have been harmful to the kids enrolled at the school. They should be ashamed of creating an environment of tension and distrust around and issue that involves educating our children. Their actions are NOT in the best interest of the community and our children. They are serving there own interests and agenda with this continued campaign of lies and miss information. There are over a 100 kids, with more to come in the future, who are depending on NR staff to guide them into adulthood and society. They need our support, or at least our civility. What do you say? How about stopping the rhetoric and letting NR's get on with it's mission.
The school has stimulated a healthy and educational debate in the community over how charter schools work unfortunately it has not always been a civil debate. I am deeply dismayed and saddened by the actions of a few who have not kept the best interest of the community at heart and have placed personal vendetta's above our children's best interest. Its time for Corinne Frantz and Pat Ehrich and the so called Coalition for Sustainable Schools to stop their rhetoric, antagonism and misinformation campaign, and leave New Roots alone to pursue it's social and educational goals.
CSS's intentions are seriously in question. CSS doesn't have any real issues of substance and has been throwing out criticism left and right hoping that something will latch on. The criticism have ranged from busing to historic preservation, to the wait list at ACS to the number of enrolled students. Again and again their allegations have been lacking substance. They have stood up in front of the community and called the New Roots founders liars, and have publicly attributed all manors of ill will to the New Roots, board, staff, volunteers, and supporters. They have not contributed to the debate or offered alternatives. Their stated goal is to undermine the school. So why, has this been reported in the paper and given attention, despite the fact that the claims are baseless and their goals.
Earlier in this debate when it became clear that New Roots had followed all the correct legal channels and that there was nothing CSS could do to stop the school from a legal point of view. Corinne Frantz was quoted as saying that their plan would be to try to stop students from enrolling in New Roots! They have done this through harassing New Roots staff and volunteers at Parent/Teen outreach nights, at open houses and other community events that New Roots has sponsored. They have also created inflammatory and misleading Op Ed pieces, news bites and press conferences. They have created an atmosphere of tension and hostility at many of NR events and have turned what should be a joyous time for the NR community into one of bitterness. Their constant FOIL requests have taken away precious resources from a staff that has been trying to do the impossible task of opening a new school. Their constant FOIL requests have amounted to a huge waste of staff time and tax payer dollars.
Their biggest claims is that NR's process is undemocratic, not transparent and doesn't have proper accountability. But, NR did not create the process that governs charter schools. The NY state legislature did. NR has followed the letter of the law as it applies to Charter schools in NY State in setting up their school. If Corrine Frantz and Pat Ehrich or any other citizen is not happy about those rules then their beef is with the NY State legislature and not with New Roots Charter School. I believe that these two women are smart enough to know this, and yet they continue there attacks on the school.
Recently they leveled there most serious allegations at New Roots charter school. They filed a complaint saying that NR was misleading the public in how many student were enrolled at the school. They argue that only 86 students were enrolled in New Roots the day before the school was to open. Despite all the information that they have received from the NR FOIL's the school opened the next day with 107. So how can this be? The Coalition has gone so far as to criticize the school for taking the full amount of time under the law necessary for completing the FOIL. Well it just so happens that in addition to working to please the Coalition the staff at NR were trying to open up a new high school. It is clear that the intentions of CSS is to attack NR on everything. To what end? This is sad. NR has gone through enough in its public opposition. It is time to lay down the gauntlet or at least agree to a more civil debate.
Corinne Frantz, Pat Ehrich and CSS's actions have been harmful to the kids enrolled at the school. They should be ashamed of creating an environment of tension and distrust around and issue that involves educating our children. Their actions are NOT in the best interest of the community and our children. They are serving there own interests and agenda with this continued campaign of lies and miss information. There are over a 100 kids, with more to come in the future, who are depending on NR staff to guide them into adulthood and society. They need our support, or at least our civility. What do you say? How about stopping the rhetoric and letting NR's get on with it's mission.
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