Here is an excerpt from Michele Madigan Somerville’s Huffington Post searing piece titled Separate But Not Equal in Brooklyn about the plan to bring Millenium 2, a replicate of Millenium 1, a successful Manhattan public high school, into the John Jay high school complex in Park Slope (where there are already three other new schools).
“This feature article, which appeared in the December 3, 2010 edition of a Brooklyn newspaper the Spirit Gazette brought tears to my eyes:
There are many negatives to this so-called “proposal” but some positives. When M2 does arrive, the building will get the repairs it needs. However, the majority of the money will be given to M2 because they are a new school and need that money to start up. This also includes an extra $120,000. That extra money will be used for their purposes only. This also goes deeper than money. Think about the feedback that this school will be getting from this neighborhood. They are obviously going to prefer this “elite high school” (as said in the Daily News) than the schools that have been here for many years with a “checkered reputation”.
“In this piece, Cheidy Perez a reporter for The Spirit Gazette, the school newspaper for the Secondary School for Research, which is housed in the John Jay building in the heart of Park Slope, Brooklyn, comments on the DOE plan (Department of Education) to establish a new school. Millennium 2, within the building in which she attends classes. Although just recently announced to the community of John Jay schools, this clandestine plan has been in the making for some time.
“Read the article in its entirety. Out of the mouths of babes. In this case, out of the mouth of one very thoughtful and intelligent student who offers a rather chilling portrait of the NYC DOE at its most venal.
“I wrote a piece last week using the Cathie Black appointment as a means for discussing my concerns about the way the education “system” crushes innovation and rewards mediocrity in students and teachers. Some misinterpreted –or I was not sufficiently clear. Good teachers are never the problem. Education hacks are the problem. They go backwards when they should go forward. They crush good teachers. In my opinion, there is no one smarter than a really good teacher. The only problem with good teachers is that Education “system” likes to eat them alive. It punishes the best and rewards the political panderers. Further complicating this educational malpractice is that many of the finest teachers are drawn to struggling schools — because that’s where the need is greatest. That’s where the teaching is most challenging and exciting. Too often teachers in struggling schools are not given time and support adequate to enable them to bring about change….”