Alliance for Quality Education and parents gather as Regents prepare to vote on regulations
(Long Island, NY) Parents from New York City to Buffalo gathered on the steps of the New York State Education Building to ask the New York State Board of Regents to hear them when deciding on the fate of struggling schools that could be placed under receivership. Parents sought to ensure the schools will be set up for success, not failure, and that they have a real voice in their schools.
This was the latest effort by parents to persuade the Regents of the vital role parents can and should play in the regulations on the governing of struggling schools and receivership.
“The schools in Rochester that are being singled out have a high concentration of minority students and students with disabilities,” said Ana Casserly, a parent advocate from Rochester. “The Regents must consider this before they make rules for receivership. We need services to help these special needs students. Otherwise, these schools can’t improve, even with under receivership.
“As a parent of a student, I believe that my voice should be heard when it comes to my child’s school, especially if it were being threatened by receivership,” said Ivette Alfonso, an Albany parent. “We are closest to the situation that affect our school and our children. The Regents need to hear our voices before making a decision on receivership.”
“I teach in a struggling school in Buffalo,” said Eve Shippens, a public school teacher and member of Citizen Action of New York. “Over 90% of my students live in poverty. The effects of this are overwhelming. We need to stop short-changing my students. We are demanding the time and money to create quality community schools that provide the wrap around services that are needed to address the health, social and emotional issues that come from living in poverty. We need to set our schools and our children up for success, not failure.”
“Parents must have a voice in this process if this is really about creating sustainable change in these schools for students,” said Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director with the Alliance for Quality Education. “It’s parents who are bolstering their children as they go through years in a struggling school and it’s the parents who can and should have input into what would make a difference in their children’s school. The Regents need to hear and respect the voice of parents in Rochester and Buffalo the same way they do for the parents in Scarsdale and Riverdale. If the Regents aren’t setting expectations of the importance of parents being engaged, neither will our districts.”
“The Regents must look beyond the regulations and consider the needs of students in struggling schools across New York State,” said Billy Easton, the Executive Director for the Alliance of Quality Education. “The Board of Regents’ vote today is critical to the future of these schools and thus the future of these students. They would be wise to listen to parents because they are speaking for these students. While the regulations make a good start they miss key elements that our needed to set these schools up for success.”
