At last, the truth

Dear Editor (Queens Chronicle):

Thank you for printing an article that reveals what is really going on in the schools under Mike Bloomberg and Joel Klein (“Teachers pressured to change grades,” Oct. 1).

Teachers have been trying to get the real story out about the supposed academic reform that has been going on under this mayor. We have written editors of the established media, we have sent documentation to the education reporters of the established media, yet, we cannot get our voice heard.

Teachers in the high schools are demoralized by the academic fraud that makes a mockery of their professionalism and their academic degrees, which fraud produces the “higher graduation rates” touted by this administration. Elementary school teachers no longer can teach but are buried under ridiculous paperwork and the demands of teaching to the test.

Teachers do not ask the media to accept what we say. We simply implore them to investigate. Talk to teachers, go into the schools unannounced and observe, investigate and question the press releases given out by Klein, attend the monthly Panel for Educational Policy meetings and witness the outrage of teachers and parents. And ask the question: Who is being served by this academic fraud? Not the students who are being sent into the world unprepared, not society, which will realize and bear the burden of this fraud after the present administration leaves office, not the teachers who are being terrified, harassed and intimidated by principals who profit from this academic charade.

This only serves the political ambitions of the mayor, this chancellor, the career ambitions of principals and those who profit from the destruction of the public school system and the creation of the charter school system. Parents and all concerned individuals, we ask only that you investigate.

Angela de Souza
Director, Teacher Advocacy Group NYC
Manhattan