Parents should never feel helpless

For the past 8 months, criminal and abusive activity has once again taken root in my children's educational existence. Normally I am blogging about the inequity the student with disabilities faces. But today I am writing about an issue that every family needs to keep themselves alert for.

A school board is put in place for a reason. A Community Education Council is formed for a specific reason. A School Leadership team has a serious and important role in our school system.

In New York City, there is a Chancellor in place to oversee the entire school system and he/she is aided by Superintendents in place to oversee every school district.

There is a set of Chancellor's regulations in place to guide students, parents, teachers and staff on how the system is to work. Rules are important. From Day one when a child enters the school system, they are presented with rules. As we grow into adults, they become regulations and laws.

What is troubling to me and many others in our school system is that somehow the regulations and rules have become inconsistent and basically only for a select few.

Last summer, a new administration was placed as an Interim governing power in my daughter's PUBLIC High School. I capitalize public because Public schools are paid for by our taxes. I will continue from here....stick that in the back of your mind.

At any rate, the administrators, both the Interim Principal and the Assistant Principal have proven to be a poor fit for this particular school. The Assistant principal who just arrived in July, has little or no contact with the students, although her position should have her guiding them, she seems to have taken the role of other duties that are not part of her job description. Perhaps it is because in her former role as Interim acting Principal herself, she was asked to step down since she could not manage that role properly as noted in two online news stories open to one and all. The IA Principal, comes with her own set of pros and cons, as does anyone else, but what is unfortunately most note able is that she has engaged in a very close relationship with a vendor that she hired for her school. They supplied her with a very large gratuity, whether it be a personal favor, a gift of love, a thank you gift, one does not know. It certainly could have been a very innocent presentation or favor however it is far from appropriate in the circumstance since the Chancellor's regulations as well as NYC regulations do not allow such a thing under conflict of interest rules. This was reported in a New York Post news story this past Fall. She corrected this issue by making one change and apparently by the word of one local government official, all is well now. This and many other investigations have been launched but they did not change any status of leadership. I mention only one transgression, to mention all that have been made public would be to send this blog from being a blog to a novel. It is a list that long.

So my guess is that the messages we are sending to our children is that we can have numerous investigations and numerous violations against us and that it is all well if one in great power says that it is.

As an educator,a parent as well as a law abiding citizen, I am seriously confused, and offended. The "who you know" policy that we have all turned the other way on for our own convenience may have actually reached a limit. We have gone over board in all areas in this area. I am simply discussing an education issue but we all know that this problem is far reaching. By these definitions, as one parent put it " I can go into a grocery store, take something. Bring it back after I was outed and then all is well" This is the message that our local politician and our school is sending our children. Truth is, if I break a plate, I cannot put the pieces back together even if I say that I am sorry about breaking the plate. My actions have spoken as to what my character really is.

Martin Luther King Jr had a dream. That one day his four children would be judged by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin. I agree with this dream. This should not even be a dream. This should be reality. It is 2018, we are aware, we are enlightened, or we should be. Another issue we have with this inappropriate placement is that whatever regulation that is broken, whatever, rule that is cast aside, whatever LAW has been disregarded, the treatment of engaged and dedicated volunteers and employees that has occurred it cannot be reported. It cannot be discussed. We cannot come to a proper solution. Simply because there is blame of race here. Said person is guilty of a great many poor and inappropriate activities but is simply untouchable because she is claiming, as are her followers, that it is all about her skin color.

No, I am sorry my dear. That is incredibly false and terribly cowardice of all who are claiming this. On behalf of the many great educators and professionals who do not have the same skin color as I do, who have not behaved as you have to further their careers, I vehemently disagree. You are being judged by the content of your character as every single person should be in the year 2018 and should have always been.

In your former post, where parents and staff felt the same as we do, you did not make this claim because they shared the same color skin as you. Why are we making the same complaints and the same observations than, if it is about ethnicity and not who you really are? Because it is the truth. When administrators who have not been successful in working well with families and the community move on to create the same mirror image, is it not the circumstances or the community, it is you the administrator.

In addition, your assistant is not of the same color skin as you and she is also a poor placement for this particular post. She has added no positives to this school and is a continued source of conflict. Is she being judged the same as you? By the same standards? Yes she is. Yet she does not "look" the same as you.

As a person who has lived her entire life in a highly diverse community, and chose to send TWO of my children to the most diverse school in my part of the city, I am offended that such a defense to inappropriate behavior is being employed and accepted. Our Superintendent has backed this claim and every single broken regulation and fractured rule as well making this about race rather than character and proper leadership. He has not placed the needs of the entire student body ahead of what his own personal needs are.

This part aside, the parents of a public school have a bill of rights. This bill has been seriously ignored. As I am finding out, not just in our school but in most schools these days that have poor administrators.

Parents should never feel powerless. These are our children. The most precious and important investment of our lives. We pay for the system to be run with our tax dollars. If it is not to be run correctly and without our input then perhaps our tax dollars should cease to be collected for such use.

In short, the push for anti bullying is a farce since the worst bullies I have ever seen are at the helm of the school system. They threaten, they push back. They retaliate against your children in subtle ways. Your child is not taken on a team, or suddenly benched. Your child's name is left off of a program in an important event. Your child's name is left out of articles, they do not get the part in a school play they should have gotten...it goes on and on and on. You cannot prove these things They say your child is not good enough, it was an oversight, and on and on. I know this. two of my children have suffered through my activism. I take big chances speaking out now, I pray for the safety of my child and hope that others will continue to protect her and assist her so that she is able to enjoy the educational experience that is promised to her and that she and all children deserve. This is the truth and it happens. I know that the parents who speak out are often afraid and it is understandable and real.

In fact, it is very sad to see how afraid everyone is. No one will speak out and if they do, they sit in fear. How is it possible that we cannot advocate for the good of our children in a system that is paid for and supposed to be run with the assistance of us and is supposed to be for OUR CHILDREN?

Sadly, it is no longer for our children. It is for pushing agendas. It is for earning money, big money anyway possible. For assuring funding, which is why our children waste away in hours of test preparations and testing themselves. While our experienced teachers are micromanaged, many poor administrators sit and collect large salaries simply because they made a deal. It is argued away by high priced lawyers if anyone tries to expose it.

I am very sad, hurt and angry because I am an educator. I love children. I am truly engaged in the idea that great educators make a huge difference in the lives of their students. It is a fact.

I listened to a young girl who is very well spoken stumble over a prepared speech handed to her to push an agenda the other night. Quite obvious that there was a promise attached to her reading something she could not explain when questioned after she read "her words". This is our future. Pushing students through quickly with Saturday school and credit recovery online classes which do not prepare them for the real world, rather help the statistics so that administrators can earn bonuses and public praise. Numbers and money far outweigh the needs of our children.

At one time education was considered a calling. It was never a profession for getting rich. Therefore when you see someone earning an administrator's salary, as a single person or a double income as two administrators, driving expensive cars and wearing all high priced named brand clothing or living in affluent areas, we stop to think of what is truly going on? The salaries reported to the general public are nice ones but certainly not the type of money needed to live this way in a place like New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world.

When did we lose our say? When did the parent's bill of rights become a mute document? When did many of our unions become entities of name only? How has the common citizen become so powerless and so vulnerable?

So many in the political world will jump on the internet and blame the election of President Trump. Sorry folks, as a parent of a person with a disability I can tell you all that this mentality and treatment has been in place for far longer than the short period that Trump has been in office, far longer than he was contemplating it as well. This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue. This is a human issue.

The United States is supposed to be run by WE the people. Our school system is suppose to be an entity where parents have a say in advocating for their children. Transparency is a huge part of what we are supposed to experience and I will say first hand that in many cases, this is not true.

Parents concerns should not be ignored, dismissed and made into accusations of bigotry rather than what they are truly about. This is bullying to the highest degree. And as we watch student after student commit suicide and shoot up schools basically because they could not stand the bullying, we have to pause and think about how school bullying will never end. It will never end simply because it is practiced and condoned right at the very top.

Why is it that our teachers, our police officers and other city workers are under scrutiny for anything considered inappropriate but our administrators are exempt? Our public leaders are exempt?

Why is it that constituents can write emails begging their council person for help with city issues pertaining to their safety and neighborhood and she does not answer or offer help to life long residents, even elderly disabled persons, but is the first to stand for someone who just took residence in the community less than a year ago because that person looks like her.

People who read the bible will look at us as a whole and shake their heads. The corruption is hurting the children. There is no where to go from here but up or completely down to the lowest of low which looks to be the road we are traveling.

BE AWARE. We have been rendered powerless by the system. Unless you "know the right person" are willing to do favors of some sort and sell your soul, there is no help. Working hard means nothing. Following the rules means nothing. The only hope for our future are the few homes where parents try to explain that although no one else has to follow the rules, we are good people and we would rather be of good character than no character.

If you are part of the school system, please write to the Chancellor. Tell him that tax paying public school parents have a right. Have a say and we need that to be respected. Our local governing boards needs to stop dismissing our concerns and ignoring information that our School Leadership teams have gathered from the school population to help guide and build our schools.

We need to tell him that we shouldn't feel frightened of speaking up and advocating for our children because bully tactics are employed against us by staff in the building especially administrators. We need to stop being complacent and be strong. It is our money, it is our system, it is our children, it is their future. This is important. Step up and speak out. There is power in numbers. This may not be happening in your school today, or your neighborhood, But it will someday. You can today be part of the solution and part of the prevention of future issues for our schools.

Write. Tell him that we need him to get schools to uphold his regulations.

In writing Education Plans, in hiring practices, in discipline situations, in how parents are treated. Among other things We need our opinions valued. We need our School Leadership teams to be heard. We need the C 30 process to be respected. We need our children to be safer in schools as far as the threat of active shooters among other things.

We have the ability to start with a clean slate here. New Chancellor, new start. Following rules, showing our children that they matter. Showing transparency. Helping our parents to be more involved.

rcarranza@schools.nyc.gov Please write to him and help all of us.