www.EDUCATIONUPDATE.com Award Volume IX, No. 2 • New York City • OCTOBER 2003 Winner FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS 8 th Anniversary Issue U.S. POSTAGE PAID U.S. POSTAGE VOORHEES, NJ Permit No.500 PRSRT STD. THE BATTLE FOR LITERACY 2 Award EDUCATION UPDATE ■ FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS ■ OCTOBER 2003 Winner OCTOBER 2003 ■ EDUCATION UPDATE ■ EDUCATION UPDATE Award 3 Winner EDUCATION UPDATE GUEST EDITORIAL Mailing Address: 17 Lexington Avenue School Reorganization tiating fringe benefits and a percentage increase Box A1207 package, to be allocated on the basis of merit New York, NY 10010 By STUART DUNN will be busy running for reelection, and that is by the school administration. Email: [email protected] When the NYS Legislature eliminated the a notoriously difficult time to initiate change. Well, maybe it is not too late. The mayor www.EducationUpdate.com Board of Education and made the school sys- More immediate, he is now negotiating a new should eliminate the instructional superintend- Tel: 212-477-5600 tem into a Mayoralty Agency, they handed contract with the UFT. This contract should ents that stand in between the regional superin- Fax: 212-477-5893 Mayor Bloomberg a once in a lifetime opportu- incorporate the necessary changes to permit tendents and the principals. These people water PUBLISHER AND EDITOR: nity to address the long-term failure of the sweeping changes in work rules and compensa- down the role of the principals. He should Pola Rosen, Ed.D. NYC public schools. Yes, there are many fac- tion methodology. assign additional assistant principals to the ASSOCIATE EDITORS: tors outside of the schools that contribute to the The mayor has been too concerned about schools that need them to help with administra- Heather Rosen, Adam Sugerman, problem of educating the inner city children. maintaining strong centralized control. His tion and supervision. He should delegate the Rob Wertheimer But if we continue to blame these, and wait for biggest mistake was failing to institute school- running of the schools to the principals making them to change rather than fix the school sys- based management, which would make the them responsible for all personnel working ASSISTANT EDITOR: tem itself, we are never going to bring about principal, the teachers and the parents responsi- within their schools, for their supervision, eval- Michelle Accorso improvement. The schools are the only agency ble for the success of their school. Had he done uation, hiring, firing and salary. He should GUEST COLUMNISTS: that by law gets the children five days a week, this, the rule changes suggested by UFT make the principals directly responsible for Martin Benante, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, six hours a day, nine months year. (This can, President Weingarten would be an excellent parent involvement. And then he should hold Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Sr. Kathleen Fagan, and ought to be extended, but that’s another starting point in simplifying the contract and the principals responsible for the performance Dr. Carole G. Hankin, Jill Levy, Martha subject.) So, it is within the school system that introducing the flexibility needed by the of their schools as measured by student per- McCarthy, Ph.D., Nancy Mintz, Ph.D., the problem must be addressed. schools and their principals. He could then formance. Scott Noppe-Brandon, Randi T. Sachs, Some people have criticized the Mayor for have coupled this with a pay-for-performance Mayor Bloomberg’s plans have been bold. Karen T. Schlesinger, Curtis Sliwa, moving too fast and going to far in reorganiz- plan in which the principals would be responsi- But, he needs to be even more courageous if he Assemblyman Steven Sanders, ing the schools. I think they are wrong. I think ble for evaluating teacher performance and is to bring about a significant change where it Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., he has not gone far enough. He may already allocating salary increases to the best perform- counts—in the performance of the schools and Marcie Wolfe, Ph.D. have missed his opportunity. By next year he ers. The union role would become one of nego- the children.# STAFF WRITERS: Jacob Appel, Joan Baum, Ph.D., IN THIS ISSUE LETTERS Tom Kertes, Mitchell Levine, Sarah Lynch, Sybil Maimin, Merri Rosenberg, Editorial & Letters. 3 Response to: Free Daytime English Classes stream population. Do you actually have a Chris Rowan Spotlight on Schools . 3-12 Offered at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Special Ed Curriculum, one where the inclu- To the Editor: sion setting is all laid out for the general ed and BOOK REVIEWERS: Quote of the Month . 10 Harris Healy, III, Lillian Shapiro, I thank god for people like you that help oth- special ed teachers? Or, are all the mods & Selene Vasquez Colleges/Grad Schools . 13-17, 30 ers...good luck and god bless you. adaptations IEP driven? Elena Maslowski Mrs. Anna K. D’Antonio & the kids of the MEDICAL EDITOR: Special Education. 18-19, 22 Queens, NY Newark Public Schools Herman Rosen, M.D. COVER STORY. 20-21 MODERN LANGUAGE EDITOR: Response to: Facts On Teenage Response to: Unrest in Education in Adam Sugerman MetroBEAT . 23 Depression From “More Than Moody” France: Teachers on Strike To the Editor: To the Editor: MOVIE & THEATER REVIEWS: Medical Update . 24-25 Wow. I didn’t know all this and found this I am in complete agreement with you. I am Jan Aaron Technology & Education . 26-28 interesting. I really enjoyed reading this a schoolteacher in the United States. MUSIC EDITOR: Museums as Educators . 29 because it gave me information I did not know. Privatization and regional controls often lead to Irving M. Spitz Thank you! ulterior monetary motives and provincial influ- Books . 30-31 POLITICAL COMMENTARY: Crystal Elowsky ences antithetical to a more broad-based pan-o- Stuart Dunn Children’s Corner . 32 Berrien Springs, MD centric education. The discipline problems experienced in public schools in America (and a SPORTS EDITOR: Music, Art & Dance . 33-35 Response to: total dearth of free health care for children and Mike Cohen Homeschooling. 36-38 Guaspari Makes Music in Harlem teachers) may be just one reflection of the PRODUCTION MANAGER: To the Editor: chaotic mish-mash arising from regionalization. Rick Sulz Resource & Reference Guide . 39 I just saw the documentary “Small Wonders.” Doug Cameron This was so inspiring and beautiful that I had to Houston, TX Movies & Theater . 40 ART DIRECTOR: look up more about this instructor and where Neil Schuldiner she teaches. I found that information in Response to: Life on the Color Line, by GRAPHIC DESIGN: Education Update. It would be nice to hear Gregory Howard Williams Karan Kim more stories about her and her students—espe- To the Editor: Manhattan Chamber cially on where they will be playing in the As an employee of City College I have had ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT: future. the opportunity to meet Mr. Williams personal- Martin Lieberman, Manager. of Commerce Magda, Jersey City, NJ ly. He is an incredible human being and Steve Bailey, Joanna Leefer, extremely intelligent. His book deeply touched Mitchell Levine, Nancy Kontos Board Member of the Year Response to: Inclusion Program at Francis me. He is truly an inspiration and living proof ACCOUNTING MANAGER: 2001 Lewis HS that anyone, no matter where they come from Nadia Veliz To the Editor: or what they are faced with, can achieve their Your article was most informative and leaves goals and dreams if they really want to. WEB ADMINISTRATORS: Dr. Pola Rosen me to think you truly believe in the Special Ed Maribel Morua Neil Schuldiner, Rick Sulz child as a contributing member of the main- New York, NY Education Update is published monthly by Education Update, Inc. All material is copy- righted and may not be printed without TO express consent of the publisher. POSTMASTER: Education Update Send address changes to: Education Update P.O. Box 1588 FROM Winner NY, NY 10159 Subscription: Annual $30. Copyright © 2003 Education Update Silver Hill Hospital of the Excellence in Education Journalism, Mental Health Best 1999—2000 Media Award EDUCATION UPDATE Columbia University 2000 Business is an Teachers College, Phi Delta Kappa independent newspaper. Dr. Pola Rosen Award ■ ■ 4 SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS EDUCATION UPDATE OCTOBER 2003 Foreign Born US Residents Increased 5% Last Year Internet Censorship: United States By POLA ROSEN, Ed.D. join her husband. She then had two children and v. American Library Association The US Census Bureau released a report brought her six sisters and brothers and parents to recently which sited a 5% increase in the US res- New York. Her son James, is a student at a chi- By MARTHA McCARTHY, Ph.D. activity. The Court concluded that CIPA does ident foreign-born population from 2001 to 2002 ropractic school; daughter Olivia graduated from With the mind-boggling growth of the not prescribe a condition that would be uncon- to a total of 33 mil- college and works Internet, policy makers have become increas- stitutional if performed by libraries themselves, lion people, equal to for IBM. ingly concerned about protecting children from noting that a number of libraries were using fil- the total population Lin became a citi- viewing pornographic and other harmful mate- ers prior to CIPA. of Canada. “These zen in 1982 and rials via cyberspace. Since 1996, Congress has The Court further held that Internet access in data provide a mov- lives in Flushing, made several attempts to enact legislation to public libraries does not convert the libraries into ing picture of one of New York along shield children from access to certain materials, a public forum, because a library does not the fastest growing with the 55 mem- but only the most recent law, the Children’s acquire Internet terminals to create a forum for population segments bers of her family Internet Protection Act (CIPA), has received web publishers to express themselves.