The Department of Education has decided to back down on its planned closing of three neighborhood schools and creation of charter zones without Community Education Council approval, the subject of a recent lawsuit filed by the United Federation of Teachers and the New York Civil Liberties Union. (Details and analysis here.)
This is a great first step toward better DOE compliance with parent engagement laws in the future. But more than that, the DOE should be curious: why do so many parent leaders think that there are problems with how charters are sited? Might there be something legitimate to our concerns? Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out, by holding a public discussion (whether or not such a discussion is mandated by law)?
I look forward to seeing some signs that the DOE is prepared to be a better listener, because it’s not very efficient to play out our disagreements in court.
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