(New York, NY) At Richmond Hill High School on Thursday, Mayor de Blasio said that his Renewal Schools program would borrow from the NYPD’s crime reporting tool, CompStat, in an effort to turn failing schools around.
“We’re going to hold every one of the principals to the same kind of standards that our precinct commanders are held to via CompStat,” Mr. de Blasio said today at Richmond Hill High School.
At weekly meetings, the NYPD uses CompStat data to track crime by pinpointing hot spots and holding precinct commanders directly responsible for devising strategies to combat those crimes.
The DOE’s new executive superintendent in charge of the Renewal Schools program, Aimee Horowitz appears to be going to “war” against failing schools.
Horowitz said that she and two aides recently observed the CompStat process and had spoken with the police officials who run CompStat so the DOE can “put together our war room.”
In response to the Mayor’s announcement, Joe Herrera, a Parent and Organizer with Families for Excellent Schools, released a terse statement:
“Our schools are not our streets. Mayor de Blasio’s approach for fixing New York’s failing schools by using a crime reporting tool is wrongheaded. The real crime is the Mayor’s neglect of our failing schools crisis.”
Mayor de Blasio is under the gun since Governor Cuomo has advanced a plan for the state to takeover chronically failing city schools.
Disagreeing the Mayor said, “I think the notion of a group of bureaucrats 150 miles away trying to determine the fate of our children sounds like a formula for a disaster.”
When asked if the leaders of the teachers and principals unions were consulted about the CompStat approach to holding leaders of Renewal Schools responsible for implementing turnaround strategies, DOE did not provide a response.
Members of Clergy Join #DontStealPossible Movement to End New York’s Failing Schools Crisis
Earlier on Thursday, maverick Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. and Rev. Dr. Johnnie Green gathered an extraordinary coalition of nearly 100 religious leaders in New York’s Black and Hispanic communities on the steps of New York City Hall to declare the passage of bold, structural change to fix a statewide failing schools crisis a “moral” imperative. The clergy were members of the New York Hispanic Clergy Association and Mobilizing Preachers and Communities, which together represent 650 Black and Hispanic churches across New York.
“We have come together today to tell state leaders that it is a moral imperative to take bold action to end the crisis of failing schools,” said Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. “Albany must realize that this isn’t just about education–this crisis is denying the future for our Black and Hispanic children.”
Sen. Diaz Sr., Rev. Johnnie Green, and other religious leaders called for bold, structural change that dramatically expands high-quality charter and district school options for parents and their children.
“The number in this failing schools crisis have a face to them–the faces of Black and Hispanic children across New York,” said Rev. Dr. Johnnie Green. “All of New York’s eyes are on Albany right now to step up and fix this injustice.”
With nearly 800,000 students failing to read at grade level in New York, members of the clergy on Thursday spoke of a moral crisis that predominantly trapped Black and Hispanic children in major cities blanketed by persistently failing schools.
“No child should be trapped in a failing school,” said Bishop Mitchell Taylor. “We must expand access to excellent schools, district or charter, and the time for change is now.”
Families For Excellent Schools cited in a new report that 96% of the 143,000 students in failing NYC public schools are Black or Hispanic, and 93% come from families near or below the poverty line. In 90 of the city’s schools, not a single Black or a single Hispanic student met proficiency passed state exams.
“This is an urgent moral crisis that demands bold change in education to help 143,000 students in failing schools,” said Pastor Pat Young.
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