Community Education Council for District 13 Department of Education of the City of New York David Goldsmith President
Ed Brown First Vice President
Council Members:
Vascilla Caldeira Margaret Spillane
Benjamin Greene Second Vice President
Horace Allison Recording Secretary
Renee Burke Treasurer
Council Members:
Community Superintendent
Amy Shire Carla Lorenzana Robert Underwood
Ms. Barbara Freeman
CEC13 Resolution Resolution: Implement an Immediate Moratorium on Success Academy Co-location Applications in District 13 Whereas, a recent New York Times article exposed a practice at Success Academy Fort Greene, located within District 13, of school administrators and staff identifying certain students -- specifically, those with special needs and potential behavioral issues -- to pressure them to withdraw from the school; Whereas, this same article included commentary from multiple Success Academy Fort Greene representatives defending the sentiment apparently behind the practice, i.e., that it is acceptable for Success Academy Fort Greene to decide it is not a “good fit” for a child, and to use methods such as repeated suspensions, threatening 911 calls, inappropriate special needs designations, and forced parental attendance at multiple conferences in an attempt to convince the family to remove their child from Success Academy Fort Greene; Whereas, the Community Education Council for District 13 is concerned about the welfare of all children in District 13; Whereas, due to families having had to leave Success Academy Fort Greene of their own will or not, District 13 public schools have assumed responsibility for some of those students considered a “poor fit” at Success Academy Fort Greene; Whereas, the Community Education Council of District 13 invited Success Academy’s CEO and/or delegate to attend our working session on December 8th but they chose not to attend our meeting - instead sending a letter on the afternoon of Dec. 8th which failed to address many of our concerns and which because of its timing (just prior to our meeting) did not permit dialogue about it; Whereas, at our December 8th meeting three Success Academy parents, including two from Success Academy Fort Greene, provided testimony to the CEC validating the examples cited in the NY Times article; Be It Resolved: Community Education Council 13 does not believe that Success Academy Fort Greene is presently acting in the best interest of the families, parents, and students of District 13. We Say to the Department of Education: *Implement a moratorium on any further co-locations of Success Academy schools in District 13 (and we further urge the DOE to make this moratorium city-wide until such time that Success Academy can meet with CEC leaders and other parent leaders citywide to assuage concerns about suspension policies).
*Require all charter school operators applying to co-locate in District 13 to present a detailed plan for how they handle discipline, suspensions, and expulsions, including and especially the role of parents in their escalated discipline process - which is subject to review by the CEC and other parent leaders.
*Together with SUNY, perform a full quality review of Fort Greene Success Academy and, if deemed necessary, request SUNY to revoke its charter to operate.
Submitted by: Horace Allison, Recording Secretary
Resolution adopted by roll call vote of Community Education Council 13 on December 15, 2015 by a vote of:
9 YES 0 NO ___ABSTAIN
Submitted by: Horace Allison of CEC13 On: December 15, 2015
Approved & voted on December 15, 2015 by: CEC13 members: H. Allison, V. Caldeira, E. Brown, R. Burke, D. Goldsmith, B. Greene, C. Lorenzaza, A.Shire, M. Spillane, R. Underwood
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