charter v. public school: public meeting red hook

[Hannah Bell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1R_b4VOnI4&NR=1



reading between the lines in this article, i bet mona davids (the charter advocate in the video above) got bought off.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/charter_ex_foe_convert_YZQHtDqzj6elkmTclMxefM.


edit: yep, looks like it.

PS 15 Teacher Calls on "Moaning" Mona Davids, Self-Proclaimed President of the NY Charter Parents Association, to Apologize for Race Baiting Remarks
I'm posting a letter from a teacher at the Patrick Daly School (PS 15) in Red Hook, Brooklyn to "Moaning" Mona Davids, self-proclaimed president of the NY Charter Parents Association over the outrageous comments she made at Gotham Schools blog where she tried to pull the divisive race card. (These "Parent Associations" are often funded by the same philanthropists backing the privatization movement. See the work of the Perimeter Primate cited at the end of this posting.)

It is worth checking out all the comments on the Sept. 18 posting at Gotham.

Davids apparently created an organization, got an office on Water St. in Brooklyn, and made herself president. Nice work if you can get it.

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2009/10/ps-15-teacher-calls-on-moaning-mona.html



...a quick bit of research shows that she is the head of Azania Holdings, which is describes itself as involved in "business development," "strategic investment," "marketing" and "branding." Which is exactly what the push for charters is all about. Azania Holding focuses on South Africa, which has endured the widespread privatization of public resources that is one of the hallmarks of neo-liberalism. Some people recognize a great business opportunity when they it, I
guess, and are investing accordingly.

CAPE also commented on Davids' business connections to the Bloomberg administration:

This Bronx parent advocate has way deeper ties to the Bloomberg Administration and the business world than her role as President of Charter School Parents Association, or she, reveals. We love how this article states that she just decided to start this group up, and mentions nothing about the money and support behind her, let alone her business dealings.

It reminds us of the new trend in politics; astroturf movements as opposed to true grassroots movements. Here is a woman, who came from the Bronx into Red Hook to scream at a crowd of concerned educators and parents and tried to divide them with racial undertones and vicious attacks on teachers. This same woman runs a company that is the only bridge to new development in South Africa and NYC, which the Bloomberg Administration is seeking investment with.

Let us be clear, the goals of business investment and commerce between the United States, specifically NYC, and African nations is a good one; what is questionable is the ties and connections and the 'back-scratching' nature of it all; not to mention the fact that Mona presents herself as a neighborhood parent advocate, which apparently according to her, white people and teachers can't be, when really she is a very savvy, very organized, very funded, and very connected business woman. This is certainly does not negate her role as an active parent, we just ask for truth and transparency. When one hides or misrepresents who they are or what their interests are, it makes you wonder...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/charter_ex_foe_convert_YZQHtDqzj6elkmTclMxefM


The founder of a Brooklyn charter school locked in a battle for space with a district school announced yesterday that the school has signed a contract for its own building site.

But Spencer Robertson, founder of the PAVE Academy Charter School, declined to reveal the new location. Nor would he give a date for when the school would move there, instead re-iterating his request for a two-year extension to the school’s contentious site-sharing agreement with P.S. 15 in Red Hook....

Adding to the dispute were concerns that the education department is doling out preferential treatment to the charter school because of Robertson’s connections to the Bloomberg administration. Robertson’s father Julian’s grant foundation has donated more than $10 million to Bloomberg’s school initiatives.


http://gothamschools.org/2009/09/18/red-hook-charter-paves-way-out-of-ps-15-but-cant-say-when/comment-page-1/

[Hannah Bell]

1. what's with the unrec? if you feel that strongly about it, you might comment.

[donco6]

2. Sure looks like she's a bought-and-paid-for mouthpiece.

And then add the millions in grant funds - of which a percentage gets skimmed off for "indirect costs." What a racket.