Every student deserves a good school

NEW YORK--Some 60 parents, teachers, students and community activists, chanting "Save our school!" rallied at elementary school P.S. 30 in Harlem on February 22. Protesters gathered to show support for the school before a public hearing where the Department of Education would discuss plans to move Harlem Success Academy II (HSA-2)--a charter school--into the top floors of P.S. 30's building.

Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, HSA-2 would enroll students in grades K-4, directly competing with P.S. 30, which enrolls students in grades pre-K to 5th.

Protesters marched in the front of the school and around the block, and held up colorful signs stating, "Fix Our Public Schools!" "P.S. 30 Is an 'A' School!" and "Don't Privatize!" They were joined by at least a dozen members of Construction and General Building Laborers Local 79, who came to show solidarity with union teachers and oppose the handover of public resources to a private institution.

After half an hour of rallying and marching, the group moved into the auditorium to prepare for the hearing by putting up their signs in front of the room, taking seats and signing up to speak in support of their school.

This isn't the first time that HSA-2 has occupied space in a public school building. HSA-2 is currently housed in the same building as P.S. 123, another public school in Harlem. During the summer of 2009, HSA-2 took over more of P.S. 123's classrooms without consulting teachers or administrators. Teachers showed up at the end of the summer to set up their classrooms only to find all of their teaching materials piled in the hallway.

AT ABOUT 6 p.m., HSA-2 parents and students descended on P.S. 30 in what can only be described as a sea of orange. Roughly 200 parents and students all dressed in bright orange shirts and caps with "Harlem Success Academy: Charter School" emblazoned on them arrived in chartered buses and walked into the meeting with signs in support of the charter school relocation to P.S. 30.

Their signs read, "Don't Kill Good Schools!" and "Stop Picking on Charter Schools!" One should wonder who's picking on whom when 200 people are bused into a public school that's performing superbly, despite a shrinking budget, and demand space in their school.

Charter school supporters began chanting and exuded an air of hostility that lasted until well after the hearing was over. Members of the orange mass loudly snickered and made rude outbursts while others were speaking.

In response, P.S. 30 supporters stressed repeatedly that the hostility between charter and public school supporters was misdirected and unnecessary. Many public school teachers and parents acknowledged that a good education is a right, and that all children should receive a quality education.

In the case of P.S. 30, it was undisputed that the school performed at an "A" level, according to Department of Education standards, and had shown improvement from year to year. Instead of a charter school in the building, P.S. 30 supporters demanded that their school be extended to eighth grade so that students could continue their high-quality public education.

Some HSA-2 supporters held up signs asking for "Equal Funding for Charter Schools!" but charter schools seem to be doing quite well. P.S. 30 teacher Brian Jones held up one of HSA-2's glossy orange brochures and pointed out, "HSA-2 is able to send these brochures to every parent in Harlem so that they get 10 a year! There is no way P.S. 30 could afford to print or send even one!"

Charter schools like HSA-2 rake in millions of dollars from private donations. Public schools rarely see this kind of money and are under the constant threat of budget cuts. In an article by Juan Gonzales in the New York Daily News, HSA-2 leader Eva Moskowitz is shown to have a cozy relationship with New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein.

In an e-mail exchange, Moskowitz asked Klein for help obtaining a million-dollar donation for HSA from Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad. Klein was more than happy to help out! It is doubtful that Klein does the same kind of fund-raising for public schools.

Charter school supporters cite higher test scores, but the New York City Department of Education's accountability report show that those students were already scoring high in public schools. By comparison, public schools have shown improvement in scores and don't have selective enrollment.

A P.S. 30 supporter and mother of a special-needs student asked, "Where do the children who no one wants go?" in reference to charter schools' lower rate of special education enrollment at 9 percent compared to 16 percent at public schools.

One speaker who elicited substantial booing from the orange-clad throng of HSA-2 supporters was a man who had attended P.S. 30 during his childhood. He likened the current debate to the debates in 1954 about whether education could be separate and equal.

If HSA-2 relocates to P.S. 30, there will be two schools in the same building supposedly offering equal education to K-4 students. At the same time, Chancellor Klein has all but vowed his support to the expansion of charter schools while public schools struggle to do more with less every year.

Addressing the unruly crowd, the man managed to ask a question that we should all be asking: "Why should a kid have to win a lottery ticket to get a bona fide education?"