By Dustin Brown
Parents and school employees rallied outside School District 24 offices last Thursday to show their opposition to the mayor's reform of the school system, which they contend is plowing forward while they are left in the dark.
The district's recently created Special Education Parents' Panel organized the protest to target Mayor Bloomberg's changes to the special education program, which he billed as a fix to a broken system but they claim will tear down a necessary support structure for the students.
Parents also fear the closing of the district office at 80-00 Cooper Ave. in Glendale – slated to move into a regional center in Long Island City by July – will limit their ability to communicate with school officials.
“It's all about the children not getting the services that they should get,” said Irene Rank, 37, of Maspeth, a paraprofessional at PS 229 in Woodside.
But a city Department of Education spokesman stood by the special education reforms as an improvement that will refocus attention on classroom learning.
“For special education we're replacing the old version with a much more sophisticated instructional approach,” said Education Department spokesman Paul Rose. “What we've done is take the money out of the supervisory structure and put it into the teaching and learning function.”
That came as little consolation to a number of special education supervisors who said they had received word from their union they would lose their jobs by the start of summer as a consequence of the restructuring.
The staff members, who asked that their names not be used for fear of reprisals, criticized the mayor for overhauling the system with little input from the educators who work in the trenches.
“They don't know what they're doing and they haven't spoken to people who know what they're doing and have been doing it,” said one supervisor in the district as he rallied outside the offices. “It's top down, and there's more levels of bureaucracy than there's ever been in this system.”
“He broke up a structure that had checks and balances within it and he said he's just going to do away with these people,” another supervisor said. “He's going to fix it by eliminating it, but he hasn't put anything in its place.”
Not knowing who or what would replace them prompted the supervisors to question whether the work they now do would get done once the new school year begins.
“There may be books on the table, but a lot of these children won't have the services they need to get to school in September,” said one administrator who coordinated equipment and assistance for children with special health needs. “He's never polled the people who actually do the job to find out at this level what goes on.”
Rose said the structure was changed to place greater emphasis on classroom teaching and strip away the bureaucracy.
“The old system was too process-oriented,” he said. “They had layers of complicated rules and there was just not enough emphasis on teaching and learning. And that's the thing we're changing.”
Many of the people whose positions are eliminated will still have an opportunity to work in the school system, Rose said.
“There's a lot of different positions we're making available that they can apply for,” he said.
Parents also questioned the decision to close down the offices for the 32 community school districts, which will be consolidated into 10 regions with 13 learning support centers citywide parents can visit when they have concerns.
The new system also creates a parent coordinator position at every school to field questions and concerns.
“It's another layer to block you from getting to the principal, as opposed to setting up an appointment with the principal and seeing him face to face,” said JoAnne Scichilone, a parent who helped organize the rally. “A lot of times things have to be resolved in a day. Every single day is precious in a child's education.”
But Rose disputed her characterization of the parent coordinator.
“It's not another layer of bureaucracy,” Rose said. “It's another option, basically.”
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
