| Releases & Statements
For immediate release: Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Contact: Frank Sobrino, Press Secretary
O: (212) 669-4193
Testimony
of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum for Department of Education Hearing
on Changes in Standards of Discipline for City Schools, 8/9/06
Thank you for this opportunity to
testify.
Unfortunately, this hearing is late
in the game. The DOE has already drafted its revised standards
of discipline, once again undertaking major policy changes without
consulting parents, educators, or its partners in the community
in any substantive way.
The lack of consultation is particularly
galling when you consider how many school safety plans this administration
has burned through in the past four years. The DOE needs our help,
but it’s still stubbornly refusing to give us a real seat
at the table.
That stubbornness is clear in its
insistence on sticking with a cell phone policy that is unacceptable
to many parents.
In a City Council hearing earlier
this summer, I testified that my office has heard from many parents
who are justifiably upset because an important line of communication
to their children is being cut off. They want to know why the
DOE absolutely refuses to acknowledge that they rely on cell phones
to keep in touch with their children in the post-9/11 world.
Three months have passed, and they
still don’t have an answer. The DOE is still ignoring their
concerns.
My main concern is for the students
with special needs whose safety depends on being able to call
their parents when they need help. The DOE says that students
with special needs can get a waiver, but again, three months have
passed, and parents are still waiting for clear instructions on
how to get a waiver for their children.
Cell phone policy isn’t the
only aspect of the revised standards of discipline that would
have been better if the DOE had finally consulted with stakeholders.
For too long now, I’ve been
urging the DOE to carefully consider the difference between disobedience
in the classroom and crime on the street. Instead, the DOE has
tried to make the NYPD the answer to its discipline problems,
treating students like criminals and freezing out teachers and
principals who disagree with its approach.
Now, for the first time, the standards of discipline include not
only the punishment for each type of discipline infraction but
also a range of possible guidance interventions that teach conflict
resolution and alternatives to violence.
That’s a good sign. We should
be teaching our kids how to avoid getting into trouble instead
of treating them like criminals once they do. It’s a more
effective way to lower the number of safety incidents in schools,
and it creates a more positive learning environment for all students.
But the new guidelines don’t
go far enough, and the DOE has a long way to go to get this right.
Guidance interventions should be required,
not optional. They should be a part of students’ education
before they break the rules. And the DOE should be working more
closely with the Community Based Organizations and grass roots
groups that provide these services to make sure they are effectively
coordinated with—not contradicted by—its other policies.
When it comes to school safety, this
administration has made mistake after mistake, and it’s
running out of do-overs. The next two years will be its last chance
to consult in a substantive way with parents, educators, and its
partners in the community.
Lip service isn’t enough. We
expect the DOE to listen to what we have to say and respond with
meaningful, positive action.
Thank you.
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