NY Times: In Harlem, Epicenter for Charter Schools, a Senator Wars Against Them

[marmar]

In Harlem, Epicenter for Charter Schools, a Senator Wars Against Them

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: March 6, 2010


When hundreds of parents went to Albany last month to rally for charter schools, they were greeted by a parade of politicians offering encouragement and promises.

But when Bill Perkins, the state senator from Harlem who represents many of the parents, took the stage, they drowned him out with boos.

Some parents confronted him later in the vestibule outside the Senate chamber, demanding that he meet with them that afternoon and chanting “Move Bill, get out the way, get out the way,” before he could even speak.

As advocates of charter schools, including the Bloomberg administration, try to persuade legislators to lift the limit on the number of such schools in the state, no one is as likely to stand in their way as Mr. Perkins, whose district encompasses nearly 20 charter schools. Several more are planned next year. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/nyregion/07perkins.html?hpw

[Starry Messenger]

1. Finally, a Dem who gets it.

I was starting to think they'd all inhaled spores.

But Mr. Perkins’s stance on charters has turned him into something of a polarizing figure himself. He says he opposes an increase in charter schools, even though many of his constituents seem to want more of them, because he believes they have allowed the mayor and the schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, to abdicate their responsibility to improve Harlem’s regular elementary schools, which have shrunk as more parents have chosen charters.

“If there are people fleeing from something, it is cause for alarm,” he said in an interview in his office. Using an analogy he favors when talking about charter schools, he said: “That should tell you there is a fire, and those who are responsible should find out what is causing that fire, not just create a new place for those who flee and leave the rest inside to burn there.”

Mr. Perkins, whose dapper style and booming voice make him hard to ignore, seems to relish conflict, eager to organize protests or appear at them. He often invokes civil rights as a reason to criticize charter schools, saying that they are a way for public officials to create segregated private schools meant only for blacks and Latinos.

Yes!