Key to 'Holdback' Plan
Urge Improvements In Middle Schools

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A coalition of United Federation of Teacher officials, parents, and education experts spoke out against the Mayor's plan to hold back failing eighth graders, charging that ending social promotion without making improvements in the middle schools was destined to fail.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James IF YOU HOLD 'EM, YOU GOTTA SUPPORT 'EM: United Federation of Teachers Vice President Richard Farkas argued that holding back struggling eighth graders only makes sense if other reforms are implemented, such as decreasing class size, adding guidance counselors and providing after-school programs.

UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Farkas stressed that the UFT supported ending social promotion for eighth graders, but argued that it had to be implemented alongside changes proposed in the Mayor's Middle Schools Task Force report. Those proposals included reducing class sizes, increasing the number of guidance counselors and providing after-school activities.

'Cart Before the Horse'

"This plan is simply putting the cart before the horse," Mr. Farkas said during a Feb. 26 press conference. "We believe that ending it without implementing the recommendations that are contained in the Middle Schools Task Force report and providing the supports that it spells out is unfair to our students."

The event was sponsored by the parents' group Coalition for Educational Justice and held in lower Manhattan outside the first of five Department of Education public forums on the new proposal.

Mr. Bloomberg first announced the plan in his January State of the City address. It would mirror policies currently in place for third-, fifth-, and seventh-graders, mandating that students who scored at the lowest level on state exams and failed any of their four core classes attend summer school. Those students who did not meet the standards after the summer would be held back.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz proposed bringing back retired "Master Teachers" to the middle schools to improve learning. "After they retire, a lot of Teachers are bored out of their minds," he told the dozens of parents who assembled in the lobby of Fashion Industries High School, "and I think this would give them a great opportunity to come back and be assigned to those middle schools."

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Mr. Markowitz also suggested that senior citizens who "have nothing better to do" could be called upon to work one-on-one with struggling middle-school students.

Prior to asserting that those students needed extra resources before being held back, the mayoral hopeful took pains to praise Mr. Bloomberg. "We may not always agree with each other on policy," Mr. Markowitz said, "but one thing I have to say is that I salute him and his administration for working to put public education front and center, and for that he deserves all the credit."

Hurts Schools More

After the Borough President spoke, Mr. Farkas noted that the Mayor's proposed budget cuts would only harm schools further. He argued that after six months of research and testimony by experts, the city should take to heart the recommendations of its own task force, of which Mr. Farkas was a member. In addition to lowering class sizes, the task force recommended more incentives for certified and highly-qualified Teachers, improved school safety and more authority for Teachers and administrators over school discipline.

"Now we're faced with budget cuts, and if these budget cuts are enacted without a real commitment by the Department of Education to the task-force recommendations," he argued, "this 8th grade promotional policy can't be successfully implemented." A week later, Mayor Bloomberg said further cuts would be needed if Governor Spitzer's budget cutting $350 million in aid to city schools was approved by the State Legislature.

The chair of that task force, New York University professor Pedro Noguera, also criticized the Mayor's move. "No one tonight is in favor of sending children to high school unprepared," he said. "The question is, how do we make sure the greatest number of students possible are not going to high school unprepared? The only reasonable response is to make sure the schools they attend meet their needs."

The parents group CEJ recently released a report showing that only 30 percent of black and Latino eighth-grade students in the city are reading at grade level. The group proposed increased mentor programs for new Teachers, more counselors, and lengthening the school day to allow for tutoring and after-school enrichment programs. CEJ members predicted that 18,000 eighth-graders would not advance to high school in September if the Mayor's proposal was implemented on its own.

'Outrageous'

"It is outrageous and unacceptable for the Mayor to propose holding back children," said CEJ leader and Bronx parent Ocynthia Williams, "without offering a comprehensive plan that will improve the education they are receiving."