Res 0635-2015

By Council Members Dromm, Chin, Constantinides, Barron, Ferreras, Treyger, Lander, Johnson, Miller, Rosenthal, Levine, Richards, Kallos, Levin and Rose Whereas, The Mayor of New York City is directly accountable for the performance of New York City public schools through the mayoral control model; and Whereas, In November 2014 the New York City Department of Education (DOE) designated 94 schools as Renewal Schools; and Whereas, The Renewal Schools program is a massive, $150 million investment to improve struggling schools; and Whereas, The City DOE is holding these schools accountable for meeting aggressive improvement goals and benchmarks, Whereas, Each Renewal School will become a community school with powerful interventions to eliminate barriers to learning; and Whereas, Every Renewal School will have the proven reform of extended learning time available for each student, every day; and Whereas, Furthermore, the DOE plans to have each Renewal School undergo a top to bottom review of staff, curriculum, and support structures, with targeted, evidence-based interventions developed for each school, including in some cases school-wide re-staffing plans; and Whereas, Renewal Schools that do not make sufficient progress shall face a DOE-ordered re-organization, including closure; and Whereas, The New York City Chancellor of the DOE has already replaced several principals mid-year; and Whereas, The Renewal Schools program is already showing early results, such as at the Boys and Girls High School where they have seen positive indicators of increased attendance and higher credit accumulation, and where there has been a decrease in suspensions; and Whereas, There has been an increase in the percentage of 9th graders who are on track to earn the necessary credits to graduate at Automotive High School; and Whereas, The Governor's Executive Budget proposal includes a plan wherein the Commissioner of the State Education Department (SED) can designate for receivership districts in the lowest achieving 2.5% statewide and schools in the lowest achieving 5%, as defined by State tests, graduation rates and other performance data; and Whereas, Under this proposal, the SED Commissioner can appoint a person, another district, or a non-profit entity to take over the school or district; and Whereas, Additionally, under this proposal, the receiver can convert a struggling school to charter status without a vote of the parents; and Whereas, Furthermore, under this proposal, the receiver will have the power to unilaterally change budgets, curriculum, collective bargaining agreements, school schedules, and staffing; and Whereas, The receivership model has no consistent evidence of efficacy in improving school performance; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to eliminate the Governor's receivership proposal in the executive budget for New York City. LS 4417 3/11/2015