ARTICLES
Public Advocate Gotbaum Survey: Parent Coordinators Fail to Communicate
Results Show Coordinators Extremely Difficult to Reach, Unlikely To Ever Return Calls
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MANHATTAN – Five years after Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum's office first surveyed the Department of Education's (DOE) school-based parent coordinators, the Public Advocate discovered in a survey of 100 parent coordinators that they are more difficult to reach now and less likely than ever to respond to calls from parents. "The fact that the parent coordinator position - five years after the Department of Education created it and my office first surveyed it - is increasingly ineffective is just mind boggling," said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. "Despite several reports from my office that found that many parent coordinators are basically unreachable, the DOE has done nothing to improve the responsiveness of parent coordinators."Key findings from the survey include:
• 78% of parent coordinators surveyed did not answer calls
• 71% of messages left for parent coordinators were not returned
• 13% of parent coordinators could not receive phone messages at all because of full voicemail boxes, no voicemail, or non-working phone numbers
• DOE failed to provide any contact information on its website for 12% of parent coordinators The DOE created the parent coordinator position in 2003 claiming that the job would help parents navigate the school system and answer their questions. To cover the initial cost of the positions, the DOE eliminated 800 full-time classroom aides and thousands of full-time and part-time hall and cafeteria monitors. There are about 1,200 parent coordinators in the city. Their average pay is $38,138 and they each receive a cell phone so they are accessible to parents after school hours and receive an additional $500 per year to cover expenses. The Public Advocate is issuing the following recommendations to the DOE:
• Enforce parent coordinator after-school hours;
• Ensure that coordinators return calls from parents in a timely manner;
• Maintain & publicize accurate contact information for all parent coordinators on the DOE website; and,
• Publish up-to-date information on parent coordinator vacanciesThe previous surveys of parent coordinators conducted by the Public Advocate found:
• 77% of parent coordinators surveyed did not answer calls in 2004, up from 68% in 2003
• 62% of messages left for parent coordinators were not returned in 2004, up from 51% in 2003Parents with questions or education-related problems can call the Public Advocate's office at 212-669-7200.
The parent coordinator position was created by Mayor Bloomberg after he assumed control of New York City public schools in 2002. Public Advocate Gotbaum, at the request of the State Legislature, convened the Commission on School Governance to conduct an independent study of mayoral control before it expires in 2009. The Commission will present a report with recommendations to the State Legislature in early Fall of 2008. For more information on the Commission on School Governance: http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/advocacy/schools/index.html
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GREAT MATH BOOK for PEOPLE with MATHPHOBIA
The book discusses the prejudices against women when they choose to pursue Math as a field of study. She discussed this issue and others on a radio show called, Women, Girls, and Math http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200709214 As written at the web site:
The looks at the progress American girls are making in mathematics. First up, we'll talk to actress Danica McKellar, who also has a degree in mathematics and graduated summa cum laude from UCLA. She says being smart and good at math is very cool, and she's just published a book on math for middle school girls. Plus, a team of U.S. girls recently traveled to China to compete in the China Girls Mathematical Olympiad and held their own, with one team member tying for first place. We'll talk with one of the team's coaches, and a member of the U.S. girls team. And we'll ask a mathematician and college president about the best ways to boost the number of girls and women who succeed in mathematics. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection
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BY CARRIE MELAGO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, February 23rd 2008, 4:00 AM Money previously earmarked for the state's public schools will instead go to race track operators under the bailout struck last week.The fine print of the agreement designed to help the bankrupt New York Racing Association will give "racinos" a larger cut of the revenue from video lottery terminals - cash originally slated for education. Although officials contend the struggling tracks will use the money for marketing and therefore pump up profits, critics say schools shouldn't have to take the hit, which one analysis puts at $86 million. "The fact is that, unfortunately, education always gets cheated and shortchanged, and we have never been able to figure out the distorted system," said state Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn). The video lottery terminals were approved for use at race tracks seven years ago but came with a complicated revenue-sharing system. More than 90% of the money that customers sink into the terminals is paid back to them in winnings, and the rest is divided among the horsemen, the tracks and state education. Under the new plan, the eight tracks will receive a larger percentage of the cut depending on how much money they take in, the number of machines they have and other factors. State Operations Director Paul Francis said the changes were necessary to prevent some tracks from closing and could create more money for education in the long run. But some advocates say the loss - coming as Gov. Spitzer shaves $350 million off basic classroom funding in next year's budget - still stings. "The lottery funds are supposed to be a locked box for education," said Billy Easton, executive director for the Alliance for Quality Education. cmelago@nydailynews.com
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