Private Religion In Public Schools

Advocates for "religious fairness" are pushing to add two Muslim holidays to the school calendar. The holidays being recommended for observance are Eid Ul-Fitr and Eid Ul-Adha. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) is the chief sponsor of this religious resolution. Reportedly, NYC officials are not in favor of the change. City Hall meeting officials said that the matter must first be addressed by New York State officials before they can act. An estimated 10-12% of New York City’s student population is now Muslim, so Jackson’s proposal is reasonable. However, in light of generally low academic scores in our public schools, do we need more holidays? Additionally, this matter brings up several unreasonable issues regarding religious holidays for consideration. To be fair and to respect ALL religions, perhaps NO religious holidays should be permitted in the public school system. Maybe days that honor great Americans or historic events in our shared American history should replace them. If religious observance is not permitted in classrooms, public schools should not be closed for religious observance. Strange as it may seem, an across-the-board ban on ALL holidays shows the greatest respect for everyone's religion.

School Safety Study Smells After Seven

How many years does it take to review traffic outside our schools? Well, there’s a study in Queens that’s ongoing for seven years! The Department of Transportation took responsibility for an important pedestrian and traffic study back in 2001. It had funding of $2.5 million. To date, only 10% of new schools have been studied. According to New York Councilman Eric Gioia, at this pace, it’ll take another twenty years for DOT to complete their research! He correctly states that traffic patterns and population vary over extended periods of time. Long-term studies have "little to no value" to resolve any immediate dangers for our children. "Little to no value?" Kind of like the DOT and city government personnel who permit things like this to take place during their stewardship.

School Locker Limbo

Here's another Board of Education plan that didn’t go ... according to plan. Not surprised, are you? It’s over a year now that they decided to install guarded mobile phone storage systems in 16 New York City schools, for both intermediate and high school grades. To date, "0" of the planned "5,600" lockers have been setup. First, there was a delay regarding who would monitor these coin-operated lockers. Then Celstor, the company chosen to handle the project demanded a longer contract. Kids don't like the plan. Parents aren't crazy about the idea. There's no end in sight to the delays. Demanding that kids give up their cell phones in school and requiring them to pay “locker fees” for storage are bad ideas. Let’s end it all now before we waste more money for a bad plan that has as much of a future as those who work for the Board of Education … were they not Board of Ed employees.

Schools May Have New Ruler And Rules

The school year for NYC’s 1.1 million students has started and will end in June of 2009. Coincidentally, Mayor Bloomberg’s control of the school system which began in 2002 ends June 30, 2009. Groups are forming on both sides now to present their cases to the state legislature over who should have authority over city schools on July 1, 2009; the mayor or the original seven-member Board of Education. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will push to retain mayoral control. Klein (who was appointed by Bloomberg) is one of the 13 current board members. Many parents are upset with the lack of say they have in important school decisions. New York City’s 32 Community Education Councils (CEC’s) believe they’re powerless on major issues too. Many in the CEC’s believe that a Chancellor should be more independent of the mayor than Klein. The other side argues that since Bloomberg took over school control in 2002, per-student spending has risen from $10,694 to $15,110. Graduations have risen from 51% to 62%. Major crimes have fallen from 1,577 (2000-2001) to 1,047 (2007-2008). Before anyone looks to take the mayor out of the equation, they should offer very detailed plans on how they intend to improve upon his results. As it seems to students every September, "June will never get here!" For parties on both sides of this issue however, the time to come up with ideas that benefit our children is already running out.

Charter Schools Should Change The Rules

New York City has 24,000 students enrolled in 78 charter schools. That’s only 3% of the total school enrollment; though 8 times more pupils than when Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002. Bloomberg believes in the charter school concept. He cites their success as a reason public schools have gotten better. Give parents the option to place their kids in better schools and they will. Competition is a great thing. However, 3% of anything isn’t much. Certainly 3% after six years isn’t a significant number when charters have proven to be the better option of educating our children. We should increase the pace at which charter schools can be established and chartered. Additionally, the Board of Education should immediately adopt successful guidelines and approaches from the charters and incorporate them in public schools now. Why should millions of kids in the coming years receive a lesser education because they’re not fortunate enough to be in a better school?

The Grad Glass Remains Half Empty

New York City high school graduation rates have risen from 46.5% in 2005, to 49.8% in 2006 to 52.2% in 2007. To be fair, GED’s add a bit more to each statistic. Unfortunately, "a bit” isn’t nearly enough to do justice for our kids. Some proudly point to these increases as “progress.” I think it points to the continued failure of those we entrust to educate our children. Special needs children who need even more of our attention graduated at a significantly lower rate; 19.8%. Despite these low numbers, local politicians applaud themselves. Board of Education school officials applaud themselves. Next year though, over a third of our kids probably won't receive diplomas. Why all the celebration then? Mayor Bloomberg said, “I don’t think you can overstate the value of a high school diploma.” I agree, but in today’s marketplace, a college education should be stressed ... not a high school education. Regardless of the rhetoric, much more needs to be done NOW to graduate a higher % of our kids in 2009; higher still in the years to come. Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem. That’s not the answer. Parents must take charge of ensuring their children’s education. Good people with foresight and proven principles need to be responsible for our children’s scholastic future too. From top to bottom, the school system needs to be revamped. Who then is qualified, courageous and independent enough to take on this school of hard knocks?

Mayor Does The Job For Trade Schools

Reading, writing and arithmetic will now be stressed at the city’s 21 technical training schools. This policy will make New York’s young craftspeople better scholars upon graduation. Along with this new emphasis, Mayor Bloomberg will ask various business trade corporations and industries to better support local business trade schools. This is his two-prong plan to improving vocational schools. Good for students. Good for business. Good for New York City.

New Schools With The Same Rules

This September, the city plans to open 52 new public schools for children in kindergarten through high school. 20 in Brooklyn, 14 in Queens, 8 in The Bronx, 7 in Manhattan and 3 on Staten Island. Half of these will replace failing schools. (Question: Do schools fail or do policies and people?) Pay close attention class. New school R-chitecture won’t impact our kids as much as ensuring that all students learn the "3 R’s." Reading. Writing. Arithmetic. When will anyone (students, parents or politicians) ever learn?