DOE’s new concept: charter zones
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A funny thing is happening in school districts around the city: the Department of Education is trying to pioneer our town’s first Charter Zones.
The DOE recently announced that it will close four neighborhood schools—PS 241 in District 3, PS 194 in District 5, PS 150 in District 23, and PS 72 in District 19—and then announced proposals to replace each of the schools with new charters, rather than new neighborhood schools. Now here is a question: does emptying a zone of all zoned schools constitute a change in the zone?
According to New York State Education Law, authority to approve changes in zoning lines rests in the hands of Community District Education Councils. In addition, the Legislature expressly required DOE to consult with a CDEC before the closing of any school in that district. With these provisions, the Legislature intended to protect parents’ rights and voices in decisions that directly impact their children’s schools, and to ensure parents’ engagement on issues that affect the quality of their children’s education.
Numerous organizations and elected officials, including the Alliance for Quality Education, as well as CDECs from various parts of the city, are starting to come together over the DOE’s practice of ignoring state law. A number of CDECs have passed resolutions, which is what CDECs do when they get mad. Here’s one from CDEC3 jointly with the District 3 President’s Council, one from CDEC26, and another from CDEC15.
On WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show yesterday, Chancellor Klein said of District 3 “we work closely with them, actually we did a rezoning up there with them that I think was very successful.” (Maybe Brian will bring on some District 3 parent leaders to tell their own stories next time.) Personally, I wonder why the Chancellor decided, within days after that “very successful” zoning process was concluded, to slam the door shut on legally mandated parent involvement.
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