Pearson, the corporation that scores the citywide Gifted and Talented tests for children entering kindergarten, recently made a mistake in the grading process that led to certain students being qualified for the Gifted and Talented programs when they should not have, and vice versa, impacting 146 students citywide. Pearson has apologized, and students took the test all over again.

But this is not the first time that Pearson, which has only been grading the city’s tests for a few years, has flubbed. In fact, this is the fourth time this year that New York City students were on the receiving end of scoring errors. The first error incorrectly calculated students’ ages, and the second and third errors resulted in incorrect score conversion tables.

Last year, they had to remove a certain reading passage from an eighth grade reading test where the moral of the story was “pineapples don’t have sleeves.” This nonsensical passage was the subject of ridicule. Following this latest passage, Pearson had reportedly launched an investigation to determine the cause of the error.

“There’s no excuse for the scoring errors made on the assessments used to determine eligibility for the New York City Gifted and Talented programs,” said Scott Smith, the president of learning assessment at Pearson. “We have already begun to implement the multiple program changes requested by the New York City Department of Education, and Pearson is taking all necessary measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Each time Pearson has made a mistake, the Department of Education has reportedly docked them a certain percentage off their paycheck.

But the Upper West Side community is concerned that this is not enough. Ann Binstock, the parent coordinator of P.S. 87, who has a child in fourth grade, said that if it could happen to kindergarten students, it could happen in any grade.

“Parents of fourth graders are going to be spending next fall applying to middle school, they need to know that the test scores will be accurate,” said Binstock. “It makes even the most calm rational parent nervous.”

The Department of Education is considering other options following this latest error.
“This failure to complete the basic quality assurance checks Pearson confirmed that they had completed is deeply disturbing,” said School Chancellor Walcott. “For this reason, the Department of Education is reviewing a variety of options including terminating Pearson’s contract.”

Noah Gotbaum, candidate for City Council in District 6, said that it’s too little, too late on the part of the Department of Education. He said that parents, teachers and students in his district are already worried about passing the mountains of tests, but now they don’t even know if these tests will be accurate. He said that Pearson’s contract should have been terminated after the first or even second mistake.

“Where’s the accountability? How many chances are they going to get? The whole testing regime is a disaster,” said Gotbaum. “We should not be contracting out work to private companies with no accountability. It’s all about money. They’re turning our schools into casinos.”

As a result of the latest scoring error with Pearson and the re-assessment, more students now qualify to be considered for Gifted and Talented programs. In fact, after the re-assessment, 82 more students who had not previously qualified for G&T now qualify. The problem with this, said Gotbaum, is that many of these high-scoring children, who would have normally been placed into Gifted and Talented programs, will not be because of a shortage of seats.

One of the other issues that parents on the Upper West Side and citywide have had with Pearson is that they do not have to release their test scores. In fact, Binstock had to contact Senator Brad Hoylman’s office to get Pearson to release the test scores. In the past, said Gotbaum, the previous company before Pearson had always released scores and questions following the exam. Now, said Binstock, parents are going to have to wait six months to even know how their child was assessed.

“All we know is parents is we’ve been reading the news on this and you can’t help but be nervous about our kids tested on this material and then you read that it hasn’t been scored properly,” she said. “It doesn’t instill confidence in our school system.”

By Beth Mellow

In a crowded upstairs room at Council House on West 72nd Street last Thursday evening, six Democratic candidates, and one Green party candidate for City Council, debated and discussed hotbed issues ranging from affordable housing to city taxes. The candidates are vying for an opportunity to secure the District 6 City Council seat vacated by Gale Brewer when she announced that she would run for Manhattan Borough President earlier this year. The Democratic primary for City Council will take place in September.
Candidates participating in last week’s meeting included (in alphabetical order) Ken Biberiaj, Debra Cooper, Noah Gotbaum, Marc Landis, Helen Rosenthal, Tom Siracuse, who is a Green Party member, and Mel Wymore. Although there were many nuanced differences, and a few larger divides, in the way candidates viewed topics, a belief that the community needed to secure more control over its destiny emerged as the central thesis of the evening. Time and time again, in regards to various municipal issues including education and housing, the candidates declared that the state government, or mayoral appointees, hold too much of the power in policy making.

In addition, each of the candidates also debated issues not only relevant to the Upper West Side community, but also the city at large, including Hurricane Sandy recovery. As one candidate, Debra Cooper, stated, “The Upper West Side is a specific geographic space but we have always been the leader on progressive issues affecting the rest of the city, state, and country.”

Last week’s event was hosted by the Social Action Committee of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York, West Side Federation of Neighborhood & Block Associations, and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development. Here is a summary of how candidates weighed in on various topics.

Housing
While all seven candidates expressed concerned over rising rents on the Upper West Side and throughout New York City, each came to the topic with varying opinions on how to cap increasing housing costs. Some of the candidates mentioned problems surrounding the Urstadt law, which enables state government, instead of New York City, to set parameters for rent regulation, while others talked about the need to bring Mitchell-Lama style housing back for the middle class. See their opinions below:

Tom Siracuse: “I live in a rent control apartment, and if it weren’t for rent control, I wouldn’t be here today. Rent regulated apartments form the bedrock of working class and middle class people living in the city.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to repeal the Urstadt law. We can’t accomplish this without getting the Republicans out of control of the state senate. That will require some political organizing.”

Helen Rosenthal: “We have to work harder to connect with the community [on housing issues]. I worked with residents of Trinity House (a Mitchell-Lama building located on West 92nd street) to fend off a purchaser. They are now hoping to have a tenant buyout.”

Ken Biberiaj: “We have to support the young families that are living here and we have to hold HPD accountable to make sure that rent stabilized units are not deregulated.”

Mel Wymore: “Housing is a broken system in New York City because there are so many different programs between the city and the state working at odds with each other.”

Education
From overcrowded classrooms to free tuition at CUNY, all the candidates felt passionately about the state of education on the Upper West Side and throughout the city. Many of the candidates had personal experience with the New York City public school system, including Siracuse, who spent 29 years as a high school teacher; Landis, who helped establish Frank McCourt High School; and Gotbaum, who has been part of school boards and parent organizations over the past several years. Read what some of the candidates had to say about the current school system and how to improve it.

Marc Landis: “We need to give families options that don’t cost $40,000 a year.” He also stated, “I want to make sure the city council has more of a say on educational policies. It shouldn’t be only up to mayoral appointees.”

Noah Gotbaum: “I have fought against charter schools, high stakes testing, and demonizing teachers. The DOE right now doesn’t listen to parents and communities and are out to privatize our schools.”

Tom Siracuse: “We must restore free tuition at CUNY for students who graduate from New York City public schools.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to improve access to early childhood education. When you prepare kids as preschoolers, they do better once they get to grade school.” She added, “We need to work on classroom overcrowding too. The current elementary school bulge, will become a middle school bulge, which will in turn become a high school bulge.”

Ken Biberiaj: He believes it’s important to provide children with access to their local schools rather than sending them to other neighborhoods. “We’re zoned for P.S. 87 and we only have a four percent chance of getting our child into preschool there. When a school is right there, it doesn’t make sense that they won’t enroll your child.”

Mel Wymore: “We need to make sure that our resources are shared more effectively. There are some PTAs with million dollar budgets, while others have only $20,000.”

City Council and the Mayor’s Office
All seven candidates agreed that there was a need for reform, or at least some improvement, in the functioning of City Hall and City Council. In fact, certain candidates believed that Speaker Christine Quinn’s relationship with Mayor Bloomberg had become too friendly, and as a result, is affecting proceedings at City Council. Additionally, others felt that Quinn’s leadership is skewed, claiming that she favors districts where council members are most helpful in pushing forth her agenda.

Noah Gotbaum: “City Council has become a lap dog. Christine Quinn and Bloomberg have gone together like this (shows crossed fingers to the audience). We need a strong City Council.”

Ken Biberiaj: “While I don’t agree with Bloomberg on everything that he has done, I believe that we have made progress on many fronts over the past few years.”

Marc Landis: “We need to break ties that bind in the council. I will only support a next speaker who will work on creating those reforms.”

Debra Cooper: She believes that Quinn favors some council members, and by extension, their communities, based on their loyalty to her. Cooper explained, “You shouldn’t have the power to punish those who do not support you.”

Tom Siracuse: “We need a city council that is not dominated by one party.”

City Taxation
The candidates also weighed in on city income tax. All believed that there were issues with the current system, with many citing the fact that the current tax laws impose the same percentage on all residents who earn more than $60,000 annually.
Ken Biberiaj: “We don’t have control of our destiny. We have a 70 billion dollar budget in New York City, but so much, including taxation, lies beyond our control.”

Marc Landis: “As a member of the Democratic party, I have been a proponent of the progressive tax through and through.”

Noah Gotbaum: “It was our own Democratic party that took a pass on the millionaire’s tax.”

Recovery from Super Storm Sandy
Although District 6 was minimally affected by the hurricane, recovery and future preparation was still important to many of the candidates.

Mel Wymore: “We need to re-design our drainage system because currently our drainage system and sewage system are connected [which creates a whole host of problems during and after a major storm].”

Helen Rosenthal: “We need to demand from the government that they issue bonds [to help with the recovery].”

Noah Gotbaum: “There was a shortsightedness in excluding the community from preparation. We had 20,000 New York Cares volunteers interested in helping out, but no way to get involved.”

By Joanna Fantozzi

Noah Gotbaum, former president of District 3’s Community Education Council, has announced that he is pulling out of the race for public advocate, and is instead running for the City Council seat in District 6 to replace Gale Brewer The decision, he said, was one rooted in a desire to create change on a more local level.

“This is my home and my neighborhood, this is my district, being able to live and work here, make a difference here is great,” said Gotbaum.

Gotbaum began his career in the private sector, working in real estate and finance for over two decades. He co-founded New York Cares, one of New York’s largest volunteer service organizations. He had always been interested in politics, and in 2007, when his wife died, he took the opportunity to become more involved.

“My children and I were so taken in and so nurtured by this community, that I wanted to give some back,” he said.

Gotbaum is well known for his work in education over the past five years. He rose through the ranks from his children’s PTAs, to becoming a member and president of the Community Education Council. Naturally, reforming and shaping the schools on the Upper West Side is an important part of his platform as city council candidate.

“We have over a dozen schools and we have not added a single new seat despite our school population growing by double digits, and that is really hurting us,” said Gotbaum.

Gotbaum wants to create responsible community development that would require developers to create structures that the community actually needs.

“We have to stand up and say, ‘you want to build luxury high rises? Then they have to be in scale, and if they don’t make sense for our community then you’re out of luck.”

It is also very important, according to Gotbaum, to be able to stand up to corruption and questionable policies like those that resulted in the emergency homeless shelters being placed on West 95th Street.

“These shelters are bad policy, dangerous, wasting millions of dollars,” he said. “We have to have leadership and the courage to say this is wrong, corrupt and unethical and unsafe.”

By Noah E. Gotbaum

Concerns that the Department of Education has offered P.S. 199 (West 70th St) and P.S. 191 (West 61st St) as development sites to be demolished and then rebuilt inside of luxury apartment towers have spread like wildfire through our community. And with good reason. DOE’s consultants drafted and distributed a detailed 80-page “Request for Expressions of Interest” memorandum for developers interested in the sites – and subsequently received dozens of draft plans – which could hugely and negatively impact thousands of children, families and community members without so much as a phone call to our elected officials, Community Board 7, Community Education Council (CEC3), and the affected school communities.

And while ensuring multiple and attractive “benefits” to the prospective developers – including “markets starved of luxury housing” – the DOE memorandum is far less concerned with the negative impacts on our schools and community. The memorandum neither requests nor proposes a definitive and clear plan or discussion of the developers’ (or the DOE’s) responsibilities to our children and families during construction or even where those students will go. Equally troubling, the proposal expects that the new schools will be no larger than the current schools. This despite significant overcrowding district-wide – including at 199 as well as 191 – and a district-wide push for new seats, especially at the middle school level. Incredibly, the DOE proposal doesn’t even require developers to provide additional space for the influx of hundreds of additional school-age families who inevitably will be drawn to the new developments which actively market our schools as a key amenity.

But perhaps the most concerning issue is a developer’s ability to undertake the projects “as of right,” outside of the ULURP process and without community board review or City Council approval that might rectify the project’s shortcomings or scuttle it completely. In fact, the documents provided by the DOE to developers cite this avoidance of local input and accountability as “an important element to the…program…which specifically benefits developers.”

When called out on these and a range of other issues by Borough President Stringer and City Council Member Brewer in strongly-worded letters to Chancellor Walcott, the DOE’s point person on the projects, Jamie Smarr, commenced meetings with elected officials, school officials and the CEC. He claimed that our fears were unfounded, dismissed many of the most contentious points in the offering plan, and promised us written confirmation that the projects WILL indeed be subject to ULURP’s detailed community planning review.

Unfortunately, Mr. Smarr has now left the DOE and no written confirmation of any formal (or informal) community review role – including ULURP – has been received by the CEC or other officials as far as we know.

Some counsel patience and an open-mind in regard to these proposals. I certainly believe that we need to seek creative public/private solutions to build more schools, to strengthen our tax base and to provide more affordable housing. But we have been told that the funding provided under these schemes will simply go to plug operating budgets rather than solve our massive overcrowding and class size issues. And having witnessed the Mayor’s and his DOE’s disdain for parent, community and elected official input over the past seven years as a public school parent and an elected parent leader – and the lack of any real checks and balances inherent in the current system of Mayoral Control over our schools – parents, elected officials and community members must be incredibly skeptical and vigilant during the last 10 months of this administration, and not just in regard to these proposed projects.

This community must fight tooth and nail for our kids, schools and community at P.S. 199 and P.S. 191 and beyond, as we did four years ago in conjunction with Borough President Stringer’s “War Rooms” to get the DOE to admit that its planning process is completely flawed, and set up P.S. 452 to relieve overcrowding at P.S. 87 and P.S. 199. We must bond together to demand that developers take greater responsibility for the increased burdens they put on our schools and infrastructure as we were able to do in large part at Riverside Center in conjunction with CB7 and a range of elected officials; and we must ensure that all kids and communities count equally as this community did so beautifully in fighting the eviction of Innovation Diploma Plus High School from the Brandeis Campus. Ours is strong and principled community with great elected representatives. We will need to all pull together to ensure that the needs of our community and our children, are met.

Noah E. Gotbaum is a member of Community Education Council District 3 and a candidate for City Council on the Upper West Side.

When the Department of Education proposed this move, they said the new Washington Heights location would provide Innovation students with their own space and would be a shorter commute for many of them.

But the idea sparked outrage among the Brandeis community, which consists of three other high schools and a charter elementary school, and within Community Board 7. Opponents argued that moving the high school would make the already disadvantaged students lose access to facilities in and around Brandeis like internships, extracurricular activities, a gym and child care for the school’s many teenaged parents. Apparently, their arguments were heard.

“We actively engage with and respond to the needs of the community,” said Department of Education representative David Pena. “Based on additional input from students, parents and community leaders, Innovation Diploma Plus High School will remain at the Brandeis Campus.”
Noah Gotbaum, a former president of the Community Education Council district that includes the Upper West Side schools, said the Department of Education had no justification for the proposal in the first place. He had organized a rally to protest it right before the hearing on Dec. 4, attended by over half of the student body, parents, elected officials and community members.

“They were basically destroying this incredible program,” Gotbaum said. “And that’s why you had 100 students come out to the rally and hearing.”

At the hearing, students presented a video explaining why they want to stay at Brandeis. It was an educational experience for them.

“I actually spoke at the hearing, and the Department of Education people weren’t even paying attention,” said Maria Henriquez, 18, a senior at Innovation Diploma Plus, whose daughter attends the Brandeis daycare. “If we had moved to Washington Heights, everyone would have dropped out. If you take away my education, you take away my child’s future!”

Among her concerns, she said, were issues of safety. “It’s dangerous because there are gangs in that area,” Henriquez said.

Gotbaum said he thought the Department of Education probably decided to drop the proposal because of pressure from the community, not the testimony of Innovation students.

“I am still unhappy that our community and school had to take to the streets to prevent something so egregious,” he said.

IDP’s move apparently did not really suit the Washington Heights community either, said Community Board 7 Chair Mark Diller, who said the neighborhood had wanted a science and technical high school in the space.

When the proposal to relocate IDP was first floated, many members of the community assumed the program was getting the boot to make room for the Upper West Success Academy Charter School to expand from early elementary to include a middle school. Upper West Success Academy refused to comment.

But the idea did not come from nowhere. During the October Community Education Council District 3 meeting, Yael Kalban, a representative with the Department of Education, said that they were planning on making room in Brandeis for an Upper West Success Middle School after IDP moved to Washington Heights.

“I don’t think IDP is given much priority at all,” Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal said. “It’s like a sick child. I don’t think they anticipated so much community outcry.”

Rosenthal did say that it is in the Success Academy contract to expand after a certain number of years, and that the community does need another middle school. Gotbaum said that the most likely option would be to open up a middle school when Beacon High School on West on 61st Street moves in two years’ time.

Sen. Dan Squadron’s grassroots campaign for public advocate paying dividends

When it comes to financing his still unofficial campaign for New York City’s public advocate post, Manhattan/Brooklyn Sen. Daniel Squadron is in many ways taking the road less traveled.
With a decidedly grassroots approach to fundraising which favors dainty donations from a diverse field mostly made up of city residents, Squadron, now serving his third term in the city’s 26th Senate District, is getting the biggest bang for the buck out of the five likely candidates.

According to his campaign, Squadron has raised a total of $1.75 million in direct contributions and expected public matching funds, but he has spent only $150,000, leaving $1.6 million in contributions and matching funds to spend on the race between now and the Democratic primary.
The city’s campaign finance board confirms that Squadron has raised more money than any of his four competitors, of whom only one, Cathy Guerriero, a business consultant and teacher, has formally announced her candidacy.

Squadron’s other likely competitors for the office of public advocate are Reshma Saujani, a former deputy public advocate under Bill de Blasio; Brooklyn Council member Letitia James; and Noah Gotbaum, an education activist on the Upper West Side and also the stepson of former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

In a recent press release, Betsy Gotbaum stated she would endorse Squadron instead of her stepson Noah. News reports said that Gotbaum had committed to Squadron’s campaign months before her stepson decided to shoot for the public advocate’s office.

“Daniel Squadron has the passion and the experience to be a great public advocate for all New Yorkers,” Gotbaum, who held the office from 2002 to 2009, said in a release from Squadron’s campaign. “He has always fought for families and those left out and left behind.”

The position of public advocate has only been in existence since 1994 and has been held by just three people: Mark Green from 1994-2001, Betsy Gotbaum from 2002-2009 and, since 2010, Bill de Blasio, who is now a candidate for mayor.

As a voice for all the residents of New York City, the public advocate is similar to the role of watchdog, ensuring that all residents get the services, rights and protections they are entitled to.
“I want to make this a city for more families,” Squadron said. “The advocate is a role really about giving a voice to individuals who need one.” Among the key issues Squadron says he’ll address as advocate are transportation, public housing and development of small business.

“Daniel radiates the kind of energy, smarts and guts that are a perfect fit with the office of public advocate,” said Green, the city’s first public advocate, in a statement.

“He knows when to bring people together and when to stand up to a mayor on behalf of those left behind or out. His record on child care, housing, guns and money in politics reflect the values that the office and city need.”

And Squadron, who prides himself on having never taken corporate or special interest PAC money, has maximized his grassroots support to the tune of nearly 1,500 individual contributors, of whom nearly 90 percent contributed less than $250. In addition, he said that 150 supporters hosted private, small fundraisers.

Most recently, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand attended a dim sum fundraiser in Chinatown in support of Squadron’s campaign. Other small fundraisers were hosted by Paul Newell, Democratic district leader for New York’s 65th Assembly district, and David Gruber, chair of Community Board 1.
“2013 will be a pivotal year of transition for our city—and New York families need a fighter who is ready and willing to stand up for them,” Squadron said. “I’m incredibly honored by this show of support from New Yorkers around our city, and it’s clear we will have the resources to run an aggressive, five-borough campaign.”

Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance, said that seeking out many, smaller donations instead of just a few lavish ones, was productive on many levels.

“Strategically, it’s a smart idea to get many smaller donations because that way, you build a base,” he said.

Discussing campaign finance reform, Squadron said the state should emulate the city. “The city’s system is what the state should be using,” he said. “The state system, now and for some time, has been about special interests giving extraordinarily large sums.”

Squadron added that the city system is more about getting thousands of people involved at whatever level of giving they’re comfortable with. “In New York City, the way to be successful is to get lots and lots of people involved.”

Fairway responded by calling the incident “unconscionable” and launching a rodent investigation along with renovations that the store says are costing them thousands of dollars. Management has suggested that the nearby construction is the source of the rat problem. Upper West Side shoppers may have some sympathy for Fairway, as residents have been dealing with an influx of the furry pests throughout the neighborhood.

LOCAL PARENT GRILLS ROMNEY
Upper West Side parent and vocal public education advocate Noah Gotbaum attended an Education Nation forum with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week and was one of the few audience members able to ask him a question about his education policy ideas. After asking Romney about choice in public schools, Gotbaum said, “The parents here support the union to protect our kids three-to-one over the mayor and the chancellor. That’s a recent poll. So, to say that the unions are holding back our kids, as a parent and as parents in polls said, it’s the opposite.”

Gotbaum was citing a Quinnipiac poll released in February. The poll asked New Yorkers whether Mayor Bloomberg or the teachers’ union could be trusted more to protect the interests of public school students. Sixty-nine percent of respondents who have children in public school chose the teachers’ union, versus 22 percent who picked Blooomberg.
But Romney wasn’t interested in the poll numbers, apparently, and told Gotbaum, “I don’t believe it for a minute,” suggesting that the poll numbers could be manipulated.
“Having looked at schools, I know that the teachers’ union has a responsibility to care for the interests of the teachers,” Romney continued.

Gotbaum said in an email after the event that he felt Romney’s attitude was indicative of the bigger problems in public education.

“Romney’s dismissal of parents’ views and inability to handle the truth reflects the much larger problem in which education policy in this country is made largely by a small group of businessmen and corporate-backed elected officials and foundations who mostly send their kids to private schools yet brook no dissent whatsoever from public school parents, teachers, principals, students and educators who live in the system,” Gotbaum wrote.
GARODNICK PROPOSES SICK LEAVE COMPROMISE
Upper West Side City Council Member Gale Brewer has been pushing to pass the paid sick leave bill that she authored, but has been thwarted thus far by Speaker Christine Quinn’s refusal to bring the bill to a vote. Mayor Bloomberg has made it clear that he would veto it, citing a negative effect on small businesses. But now a new version may make its way to the floor of the council and could win over critics. Council Member Dan Garodnick proposed four amendments to the bill that so far have been well received, as the New York Times reported last week.

The biggest change would be to lower the number of paid sick days required for businesses with 20 or more employees. Currently, the bill requires businesses with more than five employees to provide five paid sick days annually, and businesses with 20 or more employees to provide nine paid sick days. Garodnick’s amendment to “remove the cliff” and simply require all businesses with over five employees to give five days quells small businesses’ concerns that the higher number would keep businesses from hiring more workers to avoid bumping up to nine days. Garodnick also proposed exempting seasonal employees, allowing employees in the service sector to swap shifts if they’re sick without having to utilize a paid sick day, and limit the time in which an employee could sue for paid sick leave benefits.

While the neighborhood, part of Community Education Council District 3, enjoys some top-notch public schools, overcrowding and budget tightening are constantly threatening the balance.

The biggest concern in the district is the lack of middle school space for future classes. All last year, parents pushed to get the Department of Education to look at projections that show severe middle school overcrowding in just a few years, adding 1,500 names to a petition asking for a middle school in the district, but so far the DOE has no plans to create one.

“District 3 needs middle school space to meet the needs of the growing numbers of students entering middle school starting from the class of 2013, and the increased need for schools that have a curriculum to meet the growing needs of students who are scoring at proficient levels,” said Christine Annechino, president of the district’s CEC, which encompasses the Upper West Side as well as parts of West and Central Harlem.

Council Member Gale Brewer also said middle school space is the biggest concern for Upper West Side parents.

“There are so many kids that there’s going to be no place for them,” said Brewer. “The school at Riverside is not going to be able to handle all of them, and it’s not going to be ready in time. People worry.”

The new K-8 school will be P.S. 342, slated to be built over the next several years at the Extell Riverside Center development on West 61st Street and West End Avenue. It is expected to teach 600 elementary and middle school students when it reaches its full capacity, but that will also be accounting for the influx of children moving into the new development, and won’t necessarily solve in the overcrowding problem. Still, it will help, and advocates agree that a new school is a positive step.

“It was an incredible process that led to an incredibly valuable asset for the community,” said Mel Wymore, who was the chairperson of Community Board 7 when the board negotiated with Extell to agree to build the school. “From here, we as a community should continue to work with the DOE, the [School Construction Authority] and the developer to ensure that the school built best serves the community as a whole.”

But while the prospect of a new school is a bright spot for parents, there are still more immediate realities to contend with. Many Upper West Siders still feel they are pitted against charter schools in the district, and that the placement of charters within traditional school buildings is adding to overcrowding problems.

Charters are public schools that are privately run.

“When the DOE cheers for schools like Success Charter, don’t they see that they are not cheering for any public schools? Is this fair if they don’t work with the schools who are not charter schools and try to make them better?” said Annechino. “The disparity within the public, free school system is alarming, and District 3, which has been assaulted by this disparity, will continue to correct it. And it doesn’t mean that we are fighting against charters, we are fighting for all of these kids who are not getting the education they need in the schools they attend.”

Noah Gotbaum, an outspoken critic of charter school co-location and a member of the CEC, also said that it’s an increasingly severe problem for traditional public schools.

“Charters basically get the run of the building and the public schools are the stepchildren. It really is separate but unequal,” said Gotbaum. “It’s overtaxing not just the public school but the entire system.”

Gotbaum added that a lack of resources and budget cuts are making it more difficult for teachers and principals to do their jobs. “We’ve had 15 to 20 percent cuts to the classroom over the past five years, and our schools have had to make do with less, and they’re basically cut to the bone,” he said.

“The DOE is spending more and more on testing, assessment, charter schools, large scale tech projects, but parents don’t want that. We want our kids to have teachers in the classrooms, gym, special programs.”

One special program that was recently cut but quickly reinstated, giving parents a small victory, is the Wellness in the Schools program, which pairs professional chefs with public school cafeterias to create healthy, scratch-made menus for the kids. Earlier this week, DOE officials said that they would have to cut the program to ensure that all schools would be able to meet more stringent federal school lunch regulations or risk losing federal money.

Thanks to an immediate outcry from parents and elected officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Brewer, the DOE announced that it would keep the program and work with the schools and chefs on keeping the menus within guidelines.

For the Upper West Side community, all agree that despite some seemingly uphill battles between parents and the DOE, it’s a good thing to have such an involved community.

“The ray of light is that we have amazing parents in this district, involved and active parents, and we have phenomenal educators, principals and teachers who really, really care,” said Gotbaum. “They are making do and they’re picking up the slack where administrators are putting roadblocks in the way.”

The NYC Council will hold an oversight hearing on problems in the Rangel-Espaillat race.

The straight owner of a gay bar is running for Sen. Tom Duane’s seat – typically thought to be a “gay” seat.

Bronx

Gustavo Rivera slammed the socially conservative positions of his opponent, Manny Tavarez.

Public Advocate

Noah Gotbaum elaborated on his plans to possibly run for the office.

Brooklyn

Hakeem Jeffries’ congressional campaign has raised more than $1.2 million.

Elsewhere

Another candidate has jumped in the GOP primary against Republican State Sen. Roy McDonald.

Steve Saland’s primary challenger has struggled to fundraise.

Greg Ball’s opponent has $210K.

Nan Hayworth’s first TV ad contained a not-so-subtle swipe at Sean Patrick Maloney.

To read more from City & State click here.

As a father of three children in local public schools and a member of District 3’s Community Education Council (CEC), Gotbaum has led a charge against the co-location of charter schools and has been an outspoken critic of the Department of Education’s policies. He’s also been involved in making the CEC a unified voice for parents from a diverse district that encompasses the Upper West Side as well as Manhattan Valley and parts of Central and West Harlem.

Now Gotbaum has formed a campaign committee and said that he’ll be spending the next six to nine months raising money and garnering support for a potential run, one he will base on his experience as an education advocate.

“I come from a labor family, but I’ve worked for 25 years in the private sector. Public service has always been in my blood,” Gotbaum said in an interview, acknowledging the influence of his father, Victor Gotbaum, a prominent labor leader, and his stepmother, former Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, as well as his family’s history of teaching in public schools.

“I see the public advocate position as a way to really stand up and speak up for those who feel disenfranchised, and that’s really expanded, unfortunately, under Bloomberg,” Gotbaum said. He wants to encourage grassroots and community involvement in local decision-making and would point to some of the collaborative successes of the Upper West Side community as models for other neighborhoods.

Education reform will be the cornerstone of any campaign, he said.

“One in every three New Yorkers is involved in the public school system in one way or another. We don’t really have effective advocates for us as parents and for our kids,” said Gotbaum. “We waste money when it’s not being watched. We are wasting literally billions on no-bid contracts, on services that aren’t being delivered, on funds that aren’t even being collected. We have $600 million in special education fees that Bloomberg has not collected that are owed [from the state and federal governments]. While we’re not getting our fair share, we’re threatening to lay off teachers; we need to hire more.”

He said that neither Mayor Bloomberg nor Chancellor Dennis Walcott have done enough to ensure that every student gets a quality education, and is critical of mayoral control of the school system.

“The office of the public advocate is about ensuring that the services of the city are being delivered properly and efficiently and that they work for our communities, for everyone. When you have essentially close to a dictatorship at the top, that doesn’t happen,” Gotbaum said.

He also said that the lack of services applies to other sectors, like the economy and jobs, and that the public advocate should be watching those areas closely.

“In terms of the middle class and working class, we’re not providing the services that we need. We’re not investing properly in education, which is huge—in training our students and our work force adequately,” Gotbaum said. “We’re also not providing the services that enable people to get into the workforce: child care, after-school programs, job training programs.”

Gotbaum said he will wait for current public advocate Bill de Blasio to declare his 2013 plans—he is likely to run for mayor—before making an ultimate decision on whether to run. City & State reported last week that other likely contenders in the race will be City Council Member Letitia James of Brooklyn and Reshma Saujani, who challenged Upper East Side Rep. Carolyn Maloney in 2010 and has been working for de Blasio’s office since. Manhattan-Brooklyn State Sen. Daniel Squadron is also reported to be considering a run.