Petition to Expand Arts and Letters
This one just dropped into the inbox…a group of parents in Fort Greene and Clinton is urging the DOE to expand the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters, currently a middle school at P.S. 20, to include grades K-5. If you’d like to learn more about it or sign the petition, click here. Update:…
This one just dropped into the inbox…a group of parents in Fort Greene and Clinton is urging the DOE to expand the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters, currently a middle school at P.S. 20, to include grades K-5. If you’d like to learn more about it or sign the petition, click here. Update: As a commenter points out, not everyone is in favor or the proposed expansion. The Local ran a story on Thursday about it.
“Discipline and order at PS 11? How so, wasder? Because I toured them too and didn’t get that impression at all.”
This was the impression I got from my tour of 11 Heather and has been confirmed by parents with children there. A lot of emphasis placed on physical control of the children and lots of yelling at those who disobey. I get the need for discipline in a large setting like a school but perhaps its not exactly the atmosphere I picture for the education of my children. All that being said, I have not written 11 off my list of possibilities and I agree that if all of the parents who are itching for a new option banded together and all sent their kids to 11 they could be a positive force for change in that school. The issue is that the change that we would bring would not be a welcome change for some. Its a tough situation either way as people have very different notions of what an elementary school education should be about.
By the way, opposition to the expansion of Arts and Letters is not limited to PS 20 parents.
If you want to know more about how school choice is destroying public education in this country, read “The Death and Life of American Schools” by Diane Ravitch.
Seriously, lottery schools are bad news.
Why should one school be full of students with parents who have the wherewithal to fill out applications, while the school next door takes everyone else?
Look at Community Roots and PS 67. Community Roots has only 30% of its students qualifying for free lunch while 67 (with which it shares a building) has 99% of students qualifying for free lunch. Why? Because Community Roots is a charter school. Every child at that school has a parent who is in the know. These schools are happy to shove most of the students who don’t speak English, or don’t have anyone at home encouraging them to go to school, or whatever else makes it harder for a person to learn–onto other schools. This is a system which hurts the neediest kids the most.
If you insist on having your child educated in an exclusive environment, pay for it. Go to private school. Don’t use public funds to to create schools which will be, in reality, available only to those with means.
I don’t think the fact that I am an opinionated, ill-mannered bitch is a surprise to anyone on Brownstoner, Luther. But honestly, the discussion frustrates me, because, as I’ve stated, the reasons why this school seems so necessary to some seem extremely questionable to me. Despite what you might think, I have nothing against yoga, or extra-special snowflakes. However, I do think it’s depressing, again, that here PS 20 is, with a new principal and its way forward, and the response that half of its community is to segregate their kids from the rest, all in the name of “choice.” Give the school a chance, don’t gut it! Is that so hard?
And because, frankly, I go to one of those schools every weekday, and the kids are great, the community is great, and the fact that some people seem scared of it for vague and nebulous reasons strikes me as not so great. It strikes me as depressing, divisive, and pretty sad.
Please. I know I’m tactless, but I’m not the only one raising objections. Dismiss me as a loon, but listen to the others.
actually heather, there are 2 petitions, and over a hundred and fifty parents have signed. and I really question your agenda – your insults i.e. “mom in your yoga class” and “snowflake” are definitely showing us all a few things about you, and how little respect you have for the rest of the community having this discussion.
for the rest following this thread – the school is part of a larger group of Urban Arts and Letters school, who have a base philosophy that follows a small school model – meaning they could not expand their middle school and still maintain the other programs that they have. the way the schools function is to have around 2 classes per grade in order to maintain the intimate hands on approach they have found so successful.
there is an information meeting about the school on tuesday november 16th, so hopefully many people will come to educate themselves about what the school offers instead of relying on hearsay and misinformation.
happy halloween
Yes, Putnamsleaze, I’m sure the mom at your yoga class who told you all that was like, totally right. Sure, sign it twice. It only has 28 signatures now, despite its coverage in the NY Times.
It seems to me that the opposition to Arts and Letters is a group of PS 20 Parents who don’t want “their” PS20 space– so isn’t it contradictory to encourage Arts and Letters to expand their Middle School into this exact same space?
This whole argument, led by Parents of PS11 and PS20 make me even more turned off by those two schools– now I certainly don’t want my kids to go to those two particular schools, and why their enrollment is down so much.
Can I sign the petition twice?!!! I feel twice as sure that we need other alternatives exactly LIKE Arts & Letters!
Did I mention that thing about words and how amazingly depressing this all is? The biggest problem I’ve seen with 20 and 11 is there’s a whole subset of parents who seem to be against sending their kids there for vague and ill-defined reasons. That and they have no money. Discipline and order at PS 11? How so, wasder? Because I toured them too and didn’t get that impression at all.
Also, since there are crap for options in middle school, (something the ENTIRE community seems to agree upon), why not expand the Arts and Letters program for that? Double it in size?
One final thing about schools — why does every parent I meet seem to be an expert on educational models? Was there some kind of reading on Bank Street and Teacher’s College methods I was supposed to have done at some point? Because this whole, “oh, well we focus on an educational system that’s based on learning-driven learning, with an emphasis on questions and solving problems…” Well, to me, it sounds like — you know, what education basically is. I am not getting it.
Possibly, this is due to my progressive seventies “Little Red Schoolhouse” education.
Late to this discussion but I signed the petition already. As somebody who almost certainly will be sending my children to district 13 public schools, I am very excited about another quality option. I have toured 11 and plan on touring 20 and I certainly may end of sending my children to one of them. Heather, at least for me, having a choice means being able to send my kids to a place that has an educational model I am comfortable with and nothing else. At PS 11 it did feel like there was a big emphasis on discipline and order, but perhaps not as much on creativity and problem solving. That being said, I do know parents who are happy with the education they are getting at 11 and for that reason it remains in the running for me. But having another option like ARts and Letters is very much appreciated.