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for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information It's My Turn Joyce Bunch is the Parent Association President at PS 106 and a concerned parent. This is her response to the column written by reading specialist M. Baum. It is with a heavy heart that this has to be done but here it goes… In response to Ms. Baum's question of where do we go from here, let me begin by saying that I have one suggestion: the teachers and administration of PS 106 need to stop their petty nonsense and, as Baum correctly stated, "Put the children first." But this is not what is taking place in PS 106. In fact, the situation has become quite political, and the children are being used as pawns in this dangerous game. We can see from Baum's column that she cannot agree with Principal Sills on any issues. She had to point out the fact that it is DOE policy that everyone sign-in upon entering the school building; however, she failed to say that Principal Sills was clearly right, and [UFT President Randi] Weingarten was wrong because she believed that she was somehow above the rest of us, and did not want to sign in. Instead, she chose to channel her ire at the admittedly wrong assertion that the meeting took place in one space as opposed to another. The semantics are irrelevant. Baum also asserted in that same column, "I was fed up with rumors about the sabotaging of test scores." Well, I was also told that Sills was allegedly called a "bitch" and "crazy" by Weingarten. It's funny how Baum suggested that I should question the lack of integrity of one who spreads such untruths, as opposed to the integrity of hardworking educators, when the "hardworking educators" of PS 106, are the very ones that came out of the meeting completely disgusted by the rhetoric that was spewed and told my board what was said. Ms. Baum, we have never challenged the integrity of our teachers, but if that is your intention, let it be stated… we disagree. There are four members of the school's consultation committee that are teachers, voted in as teachers to represent all of the teachers in the school community. One of the members of this committee told me and two other parents what was said, and another member of this very same committee confirmed it by saying, "Well that wasn't supposed to get out because it was a private meeting." The members of that committee are Barbara Rappaport, Dee- Dee Matt, Joann Hopkins and Barbara Berger. We maintain, whether it is a rumor or not is irrelevant. It came from your teachers and we as parents don't have the ability to decipher its validity, but we are left to try to protect our children in case a teacher is just vicious enough to implement it. How are we wrong for that? These very same women were gracious enough to sit down with me and my executive committee, and the principal and agree to "wipe the slate clean," yet Baum apparently wrote an article without consulting with anyone in school, and imposed conditions for wiping the slate clean. At this very same meeting, I agreed not to make any statements to any "outsiders" (including The Wave), because it was agreed at this meeting we were going to resolve the issue ourselves, and yet I get challenged by Miriam Baum, a woman I don't know, but I'll get back to that later. And so, here is the million-dollar question, WHAT IS GOING ON? Well, not one teacher in PS 106 is able or willing to articulate the problem, except to say that Ms. Sills is "mean." She's not violating your contract, she's just mean. Then we hear slanderous comments about Sills allegedly forging documents, which have not been proved as fact, and Baum wants to talk about integrity. In fact, instead of tending to our children's education, they wasted a day and put it to a vote, as Sills has not been deemed a "Principal in need of improvement." Also, she needs to explain whose brain trust it was to post a previous Wave article disparaging the principal in the early childhood development building for our children to see. I say to that, how dare you people, and who do you think you are? Clearly some of you need to question your own integrity! You have not shared with the parents what you deem her alleged "inept abilities," nor are we allowed to vote on it. These are our children; what gives you the right to make decisions about their education without consulting us? Well readers, I can certainly answer that question; it's because Baum and some other teachers believe that we are "low income minorities," and in her mind teaching our child is a gift to us. Ms. Baum, I am an attorney and partner in my firm and I am proud to say that I am not the only one in the school. While we obviously have lower income families utilizing our school, we also are comprised of doctors, registered nurses, police officers, members of the United States military, business owners, as well as a myriad of other professions; and yes Ms. Baum, we even have families who do well enough to have a parent stay home to raise their children. We even have a few people in education on the parent roster. And if someone receives a welfare check, so what. Does that mean that his or her child should be deprived of a certain level of education? If there is now division between the teachers and parents, it is clearly because of teachers like Miriam Baum. She expresses statements like "bringing core knowledge to narrow the gap in the education of minorities and lower income populations is indeed commendable." That STATEMENT clearly shows her lack of knowledge or interest in the families with which she is working. If Baum is implying that we are just some poor, uneducated black folk who are too ignorant to understand then you, Ms. Baum, are severely out of touch! Your theory, that race plays a part in teaching this curriculum, is absurd and just tacky. You and others who share your views are setting our kids up for failure. And let me just make this loud and clear, WE HAVE LOTS OF EXCEPTIONAL TEACHERS AT PS 106. And those teachers know who they are. However, there are teachers that are terrible at teaching, and do not want to embrace the Core Knowledge Curriculum. Let me make another issue loud and clear: ANY PHYSICAL ACT BETWEEN A TEACHER AND A CHILD THAT I HAVE REPORTED, I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED AND FILED A REPORT. No one has fed me any "hooey," and no one is making up rumors. I in no way dispute that there are children in PS 106 who have learning disabilities and behavioral problems, but you can't put a child under a desk or lock him out of his classroom for throwing pencils or disrupting class, and when that child gets angry and begins to shout and kick at whomever is in his path, YOU CANNOT SNATCH HIM UP BY HIS WRIST AND JERK HIM AROUND AND YOU CANNOT PUT HIM IN A HEADLOCK. Parents are not being jerked around here and your statement that reports of assaults on children by teachers is also false and unsubstantiated, needs to be explained to the parents who filed grievances, because according to you, this is all a figment of their imaginations. Our question is, how do those bad apples get reprimanded? To make matters worse, now we hear that teachers can't even keep their hands off each other! There are real issues at PS 106. In our parent meetings we discuss the physical and verbal abuse of both children and teachers; we discuss the security issues surrounding the building and the lack of communication with parents concerning the children's education. And we already had our answer to the scaffolding issues, "We parents prefer to have scaffolding, as opposed to having bricks fall on our children's heads." I do agree that our library is outdated, but we were working on that, and teachers have had more supplies and professional development with Principal Sills than ever before. All of our cards have been laid on the table. So here is another suggestion, for those teachers who do not want to teach at PS 106, because the principal is mean, and the children are bad, and they can't handle the "corporate America," go find a job somewhere else. But you will not continue to physically and verbally abuse the children and the principal, as a tool to further the UFT's political agenda. Oh, and for Baum, please let the public know the real reason why you remain without an assignment in your "specialty area," because trust indeed readers, the academic services are alive and kicking at PS 106, it's just Baum isn't a part of them. Now that's honesty and integrity at its best. Please remember, parents, teachers, principals and administrators, it is the responsibility and in this case the honor of a parents association to inform and enlighten our parent body and see to it that our children are provided with a safe and calm environment conducive to better learning. We assumed after hearing about all of the problems that have assailed our school this year from all concerned, we could help to facilitate some peace for the sake of our kids. We were sadly mistaken! Clearly there can be no resolution, because despite the many times we sat down with both sides to try to move forward, there seems to be a small group that is more intent on being right than doing right. For any teacher or administrator to imply that parents have no business sharing information is simply negating the importance of parents and the association. Maybe in this case… that is the goal. But as responsible parents we say NO MORE INFIGHTING!!
And lastly, you made two comments about the way reporter Miriam Rosenberg reported on this mess. Rosenberg reported on what she was told as per the interview with our parents, like reporters do. Nothing she said was taken out of context or in her words, so to attack her is just silly and pathetic. No surprise there! On the other hand… while we found Norman Scott's commentary entertaining, we had to remember it was just that, commentary and very little was based in a whole reality. While he seems compelled to support the teachers at all expense, he never mentioned our kids and how they might be affected and clearly has a bee in his bonnet over Principal Sills. It would be nice if he had been interested enough to come sit with the P.A. Association he made baseless allegations against and try to help our school come together instead of being a part of the problem. But if he is interested and thinks he can help… our door is always open.
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