Politics & Government

UFT Suing City To Prevent Closure Of Failing Schools

New Schools Chancellor Walcott plans to fight the suit.

The United Federation of Teachers filed a law suit against the city yesterday to stop the closure of 22 failing schools, and Dennis Walcott, the schools’ chancellor, says the city plans to fight the suit tooth and nail.

This is the second time UFT has sued the city for closing failing schools. The union filed a similar suit last year and won. Yesterday’s suit included 15 of the 22 schools that were saved last year and that are once again on the chopping block. But this year, the City does not plan to go down without a fight.

The union has long argued the Department of Education has not done enough to support the current infrastructure of struggling schools, thereby failing thousands of New York City parents who struggle for equal educational opportunities for their children.

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"Schools should not be teaching a lesson to children when they're walking in the door about what inequality is and what it looks like," UFT President Michael Mulgrew said.

But the DOE sees it differently. It says if a school is failing, it robs children of their right to a fair education. And so it should be phased out and replaced with a new educational model that better meets a child’s needs.

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"It is outrageous that the UFT has today taken steps to try to keep students in failing schools and block families from access to better options in the fall," Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.

"This shameful lawsuit is about one thing — protecting jobs for adults at the expense of what is best for our children. Over the past several years, we have had enormous success replacing some of our lowest-performing schools with new schools that are serving our students far better."

The UFT pointed out that last year, the DOE said it would help the schools on the closure list with things such as add extra teachers, institute more professional development, and review the curriculum. But the DOE neglected to do any of those things, the UFT said.

Also named in the UFT suit are the co-locations of 18 charter schools. The UFT says the co-location of charter schools inside of existing public schools will take away needed space and resources from the public schools that are already there.

"Today we find ourselves it appropriate that just one day after the 57th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark suit, we return to file suit in a similar fashion," said Ken Cohen of the NAACP.

Walcott, baffled at the NAACP's participation in the suit, stated he would personally ask the NAACP president his reasons for getting the organization behind it: "I heard [Cohen] mentioned Brown v. Board of Education and then try to justify what legitimizes their reason for being part of the lawsuit. For me, it's just the opposite," said the chancellor.


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