Jamaica HS Play and Discussion- Declassified: Struggle for Existence (We Used to Eat Lunch Together)

Getting two schools co-located in one school building, especially when one school is being closed and viewed as being replaced and favored by the other can be akin to putting Palestinians and Israelis on the same project. But teacher/facilitator Brian Pickett has accomplished it.

I've been waiting to get this organized since I taped it on February 22. I had to wait to make sure it was OK with the people involved. I taped this performance at an off-Broadway theater. The follow-up Q&A with the students has as much impact as the play itself. They talk about being told they couldn't perform and the follow-up. The entire video is over an hour - I did no editing but just tried to let the camera capture it. It is scrollable so you can watch it in segments if you don't have time for one sitting. The students are so damned articulate from both schools involved.

Note the interesting question from a Wingate HS campus student at around the 48th minute about why not phase out certain schools - and the response.

Here is a note from Brian Pickett, the teacher who worked with the students:

On February 22, 2011 students from Queens Collegiate and Jamaica High Schools performed an encore performance of "Declassified: Struggle for Existence (We Used to Eat Lunch Together" at the off-Broadway Abingdon Theater. The play, an adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy "Antigone", was written by the students in a class at Queensborough Community College.


It had been initially banned by the students' principals for fear it was too critical of the Department of Education's decision to close JamaicaHigh school. The performance is followed by a discussion with the audience.
----Brian Pickett

Here is the direct vimeo link


Jamaica HS- Declassified: Struggle for Existence (We Used to Eat Lunch Together) from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

Eterno: A Jamaica Diploma is Real and It's Earned

James made a fantastic presentation along with the student (pointing out the loss of services to Jamaica including AP classes and the parent at the Jamaica HS closing hearing on Jan. 20.  The presentation points out how the DOE targets schools for closing. James compares the Jamaica data with other schools. Powerful stuff. James points out they could have used the "make all kids pass" like Tapsco to raise grad rates and  to make the school look better but "Jamaica doesn't subscribe to any phony scams. A Jamaica diploma is real and it's earned."

The entire video is just short of a half hour. I didn't have time to do any editing - I just grabbed a chunk of film - let me know if I said anything dirty off camera.

It begins with a piece from John White- note Queens HS Supt Juan Mendez and the smug look on his face.

(I was riled up enough to go after Mendez later on - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLTpfJiAmg?)

I did this all hand held so there will be some sea sickness. The camera settles down (it must have a mind of its own) after James starts speaking - about 4 minutes in.

Jamaica HS Closing Hearing: James Eterno Presents the Real Data

"Eterno points to the lies and distortions perpetrated by the NYC Department of Education as represented by John White as Queens HS Supt Juan Mendez looks smugly on."

You can watch it here:
http://vimeo.com/19125497

Jamaica HS Closing School Hearing - Lots of Passion - But Directed at Bloodless John White

Just got back from the hearing, loaded with hours of tape. That after hours of tape from last night's PEP. I just can't process it fast enough.

Really. I've never seen John White in the daytime. I would check the coffin. Maybe hold a mirror in front of his face. Or wave a cross. Then again, there's always the stake.


White, the DOE company slug, represented Tweed and Juan Mendez was there as the Queens HS Supt, the 5th I believe in the last 2 years. Good school support, Joel. Mendez is supposed to be a professional educator, unlike White whose profession when he lived in Transylvania is unknown.

White presented so-called facts which Chapter leader James Eterno ripped to shreds with a powerful Powerpoint presentation. The UFT Queens borough hierarchy came out in support along with UFT Secretary (2nd highest officer) Michael Mendel.

State Senator Tony Avella was there all night and I invited him to the Jan. 27 rally. David Weprin also made an appearance.

A key point made all was showing how Jamaica was starved of resources. I'll try to get James' presentation, along with some strong student comments up on you tube over the next few days.

The only press I recognized was Maura Walz from Gotham who was also covering for WNYC. She was still there interviewing some students when I left.

Jamaica HS: The Play WAS The Thing

Jamaica HS Chapter Leader James Eterno posted this at the ICE blog. See the zines I posted that the students produced: YOU'RE INVITED TO SEE THE BANNED PLAY AT JAMAICA HS.
We are hoping to get some of the performers down to the Jan. 21 4:30 press conference at Tweed and/or the Jan. 27 rally.

ALSO - COME TO THE JAMAICA HEARING ON THURSDAY JAN. 20 TO SHOW SUPPORT. HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE SOME PERFORMANCE ART GOING ON. I HOPE TO GET THERE TO TAPE.

Note: If you have no access to Facebook, we will post the link when it goes up on you tube.

PREMIRE DAY AT JAMAICA!

Kids performed their play criticizing school closings at Jamaica yesterday. Take out the word Jamaica from the script and replace it with John F Kennedy HS or Norman Thomas or Beach Channel or Tilden, or Lane or Canarsie or many others and you could perform this piece all over the city. In fact you could show it in many cities across the country.

Below is a facebook link to a pretty good quality recording that one of the students made. I hope it works so you can judge for yourself what all of the fuss was about. Also, here are links to the current Daily News and NY1 stories on the play.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1747656686320&comments

In addition to the News and NY 1, there were a number of other media people in attendance at Jamaica yesterday including the NY Teacher and Anna Gustafson from the Jamaica Times. Councilman Leroy Comrie, a representative from Mark Weprin's office, Ken Cohen from NAACP and his wife, John Lawhead and Joan Seedorf from ICE, my wife, mother in law and daughter, plenty of Jamaica teachers as well as retirees and hundreds of students and free speech lovers were all in the audience. I guess it is the closest we will get to an opening night on Broadway at Jamaica. There was a great buzz in the place.

I hope all of you can see the play. Maybe the students and their teacher from CUNY, Brian Pickett, will put on more performances in other venues.

On a related note, January 20 at 6:00 p.m. is this year's Joint Public Hearing for Jamaica. Come on out as we are easy to get to (F train to 169th Street; exit at back of station and walk up the hill two blocks on 168th Street.)

TODAY: YOU'RE INVITED TO SEE THE BANNED PLAY AT JAMAICA HS

Jamaica HS chapter leader James Eterno reports on the ICE blog:

Friday at 4:00p.m. at 167-01 Gothic Drive is the time and place to see "Declassified; Struggle for Existence; We Used to Eat Lunch Together" The link below is to a Jamaica Times story on the play.

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2011/01/13/queens/qns_jamaica_high_folo_20110113.txt

I went to the Beach Channel Joint Public Hearing tonight. It was worse than last year's.

One of the kids at Jamaica was talking to me today and he said that they should not call these hearings because the DOE people don't hear anything we say. Can't argue with that.

The students have a Zine that can be downloaded as a pdf in 2 versions.

Here is the read version:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46651868/Antigone-Declassified-READ

Antigone Declassified READ

For print - fold for use. at http://www.scribd.com/full/46651798?access_key=key-16co463vnu6wsi6ca5kl (Below)

Antigone Declassified at Jamaica HS

Banned in Jamaica (HS)

Jamaica HS, long on the target list of the DOE for closing, has a story to tell. And here the students tell it in a play exposing educational apartheid in the building. Ironic given yesterday's PBS Newshour report on how Joel Klein has chopped the large schools. The report partially told the other side about how kids not accepted to the small schools went on to the nearest large one but left out the story of how small and large co-exist in the same building with one school clearly favored over the other.

What's interesting is that the students from both ends of the stick wrote this play and were stopped from performing it. I hope we can get people to sponsor performances around the city - maybe as one person suggested, on the steps of Tweed or in front of City Hall.

The ICE blog where Jamaica HS chapter leader James Eterno often blogs about the situation at the school (STUDENT PLAY BANNED) and Valerie Strauss at WAPO had details.

A student play blasting N.Y. school reform is banned

By Valerie Strauss

Fourteen students from two New York City schools -- Jamaica High and Queens Collegiate -- wrote an impressive play about school reform under Chancellor Joel Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, based on the classic play “Antigone.” They were rehearsing to perform the play -- complete with music, visual projections and lights -- when they were told that their principals had decided not to allow them stage it. The play, titled “Declassified: Struggle for Existence (We Used to Eat Lunch Together,” was banned.
According to a teacher who was working on the project with the students, the principals sent word that they were uncomfortable with criticism of Klein and Bloomberg, and they would not allow the Dec. 17 scheduled performance to go on in the Jamaica High auditorium.
It's hard to even fathom the thinking that went into the decision to stop the kids from performing a clever work that they created and that expresses their opinion of school reform that has affected their lives.
Eight years of business-driven reform under Klein were centered around standardized tests used to grade schools, and many of the troubled ones were either broken up into smaller schools or closed. Klein repeatedly pointed to rising test scores as evidence of his achievement, but recent revelations that the scores rose because the tests got increasingly easy to pass burst that success bubble.
The decision to ban the play shows a fear of upsetting authority -- not exactly the civics lesson you'd want kids to learn in an American school.
The students were inspired to write the play in part by a blog post by Jamaica High School teacher Marc Epstein, called "The Triumph of Academic Apartheid." It details how Jamaica High, a storied school, was slated to be closed (along with dozens of other schools) based on what Epstein explains were faulty data and assumptions.
For those interested in reading the work the kids wrote, here it is. It's not too long, and worth reading.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/school-turnaroundsreform/a-student-play-criticizing-sch.html#more

The Teacher's Side of the Banned Play

Huffington Post has printed Brian Pickett's account of the banned play at Jamaica High School. He is the teacher of the after school drama course that included students from both Queens Collegiate and Jamaica HS.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-pickett/student-play-censored-for_b_801032.html

DEPARTMENT OF ED STARVES JAMAICA AND THEN SENDS REVIEWERS TO CRITICIZE US FOR BEING MALNOURISHED: Eterno Slams Klein and DOE Over Jamaica HS

I compare our plight to being in a prison where the warden cuts our food ration by 30% and then complains that we are too skinny. - James Eterno

NOTE: COME TO THE Panel for Educational Policy AT BROOKLYN TECH ON TUESDAY, NOV. 16 to tell Joel Klein to his face what you think of his closing schools policies

 - JOIN THE REAL REFORMERS AT 5:30- (Rehearsal at 4:30) - LOOK FOR MORE DETAILS AT ED NOTES AND GEM BLOGS.

James hits the bullseye in this excerpt from his chapter newsletter posted on the ICE blog.
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/

TAKE THE JAMAICA CHALLENGE

by James Eterno, Jamaica HS chapter leader

This post is extracted from Jamaica's weekly Chapter Newsletter and it is strictly my opinion. The story concerns Jamaica but is applicable to any school that is struggling and is reviewed by the DOE and State in the process.

DEPARTMENT OF ED STARVES JAMAICA AND THEN SENDS REVIEWERS TO CRITICIZE US FOR BEING MALNOURISHED

 

Jamaica High School has been denied resources by the Department of Education over the last few years since we started downsizing but that does not stop DOE officials from coming to our school to tell us how we need to improve.

 

I ask any school in the world to take the Jamaica challenge: Cut 30% of the teaching staff (student enrollment drop is less than half of that) and take away roughly half of the school’s space, raise class sizes beyond what the union contract calls for in scores of classes, replace an excellent Programmer and Guidance Coordinator with assistant principals who are untrained in these areas and must still also do their previous jobs, while continuing to permit unlicensed non-secretaries to perform secretarial duties. 

 

Then, place new schools in the corners of the building and equip those schools with up to date technology and provide their teachers with lower class sizes and a beautiful makeover for their parts of the building while students and staff of the old school that includes many at risk pupils are shoved into the middle of the building in obsolete rooms. Do all of this to the old school and then ask it to raise the graduation rate and promotion rate. Even set up the lunch schedule to favor the new schools. Their kids eat lunch during normal lunch hours between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. while the old school’s kids are eating lunch starting at 10:00 a.m. or after 1:00 p.m.

We at Jamaica challenge any school to thrive under these teaching and learning conditions. A Quality Review or Joint Intervention Team visit under these circumstances is a setup for failure. Separate and unequal schools are unfair and it is time for the DOE to be held accountable for mismanaging the education of our kids.

Last week Jamaica had a Quality Review-Joint Intervention Team (city-state) visit and it was a farce on a major scale. (I do not know the score we received on the QR.) I will say that the state people were quite professional in their review. From all reports they were very personable and listened to what we had to say. They did not call in the Chapter Leader for a formal discussion but we did exchange some pleasantries. It was the two quality reviewers from the city that interviewed me in one of the most bizarre interactions I have ever experienced.

I was trying to explain to these officials what we do in the Advanced Placement United States History class and how we have revived the program in the last three years and now have pupils scoring the top grades of 5 and 4 on the rigorous examination. We built up the program without the supports other schools have. The male quality reviewer cut me off in mid sentence and told me how we have an English Advanced Placement class that has 34 students in it and this is educationally unsound. He seemed to be criticizing me for this situation. I told him that I couldn’t agree more that it was unwise to have 34 in a college level class in a high school but that in actuality the class had 37 and as Chapter Leader I grieved it and 82 other oversize classes at Jamaica this fall. He would not even admit that we have oversize classes. I said the principal and DOE lawyer used the half class exception to justify them. 

 

At this point, the two reviewers looked at me like I was from Mars and would not talk about the half class size exception.

What stunned me was that they seemed to be trying to put me on the spot for the oversize classes. Were they kidding? We were truly coming from two different worlds. I mentioned the Quality Review from two years back that said we need new technology but we have lost so much funding that we can barely afford a piece of chalk in this school while the new schools in the building have modern equipment and lower class sizes. I said the education in this building is separate and unequal and our kids deserve an equal education.

I compare our plight to being in a prison where the warden cuts our food ration by 30% and then complains that we are too skinny.

THE DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD FOR JAMAICA

There is no way around the conclusion that we believe strong forces from outside would like to destroy Jamaica High School. We clearly are being set up to fail by the Department of Education and our union’s response has not exactly been tough.

I read yesterday’s NY Post article about Jamaica High School giving away credits very closely. Even by adding over 1,000 credits to student transcripts, we still couldn’t get enough points on the DOE Progress Report for this year to get a C grade. That is hard to believe. Of course when administration took those credits away our grade became a lower D but I am still forced to conclude that they would have found a way to give us a D even if all of our students graduated in a week. 

 

Isn’t it strange how Jamaica for at least two years in a row didn’t receive any credit on our progress report in a category called Additional Points even though our internal review shows that we have moved along English Language Learners who are obtaining Regents Diplomas? Where are our points? If DOE reviewed us fairly, they would have to admit we are performing miracles on a daily basis even with all of the obstacles they have placed in our way.

 

It looks like the DOE also undercounted our graduation rate just like they did last year. Therefore, it’s déjà vu or Ground Hog Day as we repeat the same scenario as last year. We must admit that many of us are tired of fighting with an employer that in my opinion does not play fair. However, we learned from last year’s experience and now is the time to wage another battle to keep going by exposing the truth. Hopefully, this blog piece will get the ball rolling.

 

As for the extra credit probe of jamaica High School for adding questionable credits to student transcripts that the NY Post is reporting on, I agree with Leonie Haimson that principals are cutting corners all over because of pressure to boost promotion and graduation rates.

 

High stakes decisions based on student progress are ridiculous when the school plays only a small part in determing student performance. Outside factors are far more important according to scholarly research and common sense. Hopefully, there will be a time when sanity returns to our schools.

-------------------------------

Another Queens chapter leader with another brilliant piece.

(How come all these smart people have been opposed to the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership? Please show me anything comparable to these posts by the geniuses who run our union.)

Arthur Goldstein at HufPo: No Leeches Left Behind

If I were a doctor, and Bill Gates suggested the use of bloodletting to improve medicine, I'd be skeptical. Still, Gates has all that money, so he must know something. He gives it away freely, and asks only that everyone follow the programs he starts (and pay to sustain them in perpetuity once his seed money runs out). Oh, and that institutions that don't meet his expectations be closed and replaced by others that more closely follow his methods.
Bloodletting is of no medical value, so it's understandably unpopular with modern medical practitioners. On the other hand, "value-added" evaluations, or judging teachers by scores of their students, is also highly questionable. Day by day, it appears as dubious as bloodletting.

MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-goldstein/no-leeches-left-behind_b_780026.html

Million dollar ravioli

Amazing piece by Arthur Goldstein, teacher at Francis Lewis HS at Gotham Schools about the last week's Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

Excerpt: So city kids can't have regular teachers. They can't have reasonable class sizes, or even legal ones. They can't have decent classrooms, or adequate gymnasium space. They can't have lunch at a reasonable hour. Still, as a result of this meeting, whenever they do get lunch, city kids will finally get the million-dollar ravioli they deserve.

See also James Eterno's comments at the PEP about what's happened due to budget cuts at Jamaica HS.