This week on City Watch, June 17, '09 – 10:00 – 11:00 am, WBAI, NY radio, 99.5 fm

City Watch is a watchdog for social, economic, political and cultural issues in New York City.

Executive Producer: Deena Kolbert; Hosts: Bich Ha Pham and Brooke Richie

This week’s show is an educational forum. “In 2002, the New York State Legislature enacted legislation giving control of the NYC public schools to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At the time, the mayor promised that the legislation would inaugurate an era of accountability, transparency, and effectiveness... Mayor Bloomberg selected a non-educator, attorney Joel Klein as his Chancellor of schools, and the two of them launched a sweeping effort to remake the school system from top to bottom."

In two weeks, the NY State legislature must vote to renew, change or reject this legislation. What do you know about the effectiveness of these reforms? Should the Mayor remain in control of the DOE?

We will be introducing a new book of essays by educators, professors, elected officials, (past/present), teachers, advocates, activists, parents and organizations impacted by the Department of Education:

“NYC Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers, and Policymakers Need to Know”.  Guests:

·         Councilmember Robert Jackson, (D) District #7, Chair of Education Committee in the NYC Council. Lead plaintiff as CSB6 President with CSB6 Attorney Michael Rebell founded the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE). CFE successfully sued the State of New York for failing to properly fund NYC's public schools. The trial court agreed with CFE, finding the State's funding formula unconstitutional. The suit and the decision have been hailed as a landmark.

·         Diane Ravitch is a Research Professor of Education at NYU, and author of many books: “The Great School Wars: A History of NYC Public Schools”. She is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

·         Deborah Meier spent more than four decades working in public education as a teacher, writer and advocate. She was the founder of many schools: Central Park East, Central Park East Secondary School, Coalition Campus Project and redesigned two large failing high schools and dozens of small public schools. She is currently a senior scholar at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education and serves on the board of The Coalition of Essential Schools. She is an author of many books and articles on education reform.  

·         Patrick J. Sullivan is the Manhattan member of the Panel For Educational Policy, appointed by Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer in June 2007.

Andrew Breslau, Executive Director of City Futures and the Center for an Urban Future, the home of City Limits will provide a news update at the beginning of the show.

The MP3 download of this week’s show is available at www.wbai.org. Go to archives and look for City Watch. The show will be available 10 minutes after show time and will remain available for the next 90 days.

For general information about City Watch, email dkolbert@...

 

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