Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On The Prize 20151011

Schools. This is the very first event shell be doing. Shell be doing a series of programs and interviews as she travels across the country to introduce her book across the public, so we are really honored to be the first, and also honored to be the venue where Community Conversation will be taking place tonight. After all, a Critical Role of libraries engage in issues important oh to that community. But not only our city, cities across the country. There will be many questions, there are many questions but i would bet there will be some answers e emerging from tonights discussion as well. I want to thank two people in particular to organize the program. I would like them to stand up. The first is our president of the north Public Library, timothy chris, please, stand. [applause] the other a newer member. Please stand up. [applause] and there are other members here on our board, i wish they would stand up too, i see sandi king in the back, Vice President , johnny johnson. Charles is here as well and i thank you all for your tremendous support. [applause] and to our staff, because its really a job to pull Something Like this together, so i have to say thank you to heidi kramer and all of our l npl staff for making this come together. [applause] and a very special thank you to the wonderful Victoria Foundation for 100 free books to educators. [applause] some of you have asked if additional books will be available and dale will be available to sign them. I have the pleasure of introducing richard who has agreed to moderate tonight. Few people know as much about or have been involved and public issues in new jersey as a whole, a graduate with the city of new york, the state of new jersey and the federal government. Hes also taught at princeton university. Here among his many, many roles he has been a deacon. He also serves on directors board of university of governors. [applause] now that new york is revitalizing the traffic at this time is impossible but thats the good thing, i think, so while im apologizing, im happy that i got caught up in overflow traffic tonight. Its my role to lay out the ground rules for our conversation, we will begin with the author making a presentation. She will then be followed by the three panelists who have joined us to in effect we comment on what dayle has written and what she will say to us tonight. Comments will be about about 15 minutes, that means that the panelists will each get about ten minutes to respond. Is that all right, panel . Okay. We can have ongoing conversations after those initial remarks have been made. After they have made their presentations, then we will open the floor for comments, questions from the audience and i think we have a microphone here, we may have another mic somewhere in the room but i dont see it. Folks that are interesting in posing questions, should approach the microphone and your questions will be entertained either by the author or members of the panel. So lets get into this conversation as quickly as we can given the timeline wasted getting here. I spent eight years and i assume most of you have read somewhere, did i say 28 or 20 years . 28 years. Not eight years. Forgive me. She worked for four years on the price which is her first book, i have to make a comment about this, frequent academic guest on Melissa House of perry homes. Efforts to reform american education. Its not simply a compelling story, it is a met fore for metaphor of american institutions, with that dale. [applause] thanks to everyone for coming tonight. It began for me literally the day that the zuckerberg gift was announced. I had never watched oprah in my life. I was absolutely lek tri electrified to pledge Million Dollars to New York Schools and using the money to transform the education in new york to do what so many people agreed, to make Public Education work for the nations poorest children. To me a hundred Million Dollars sounded like all the money in the world, beginning with education secretary on behalf of president obama sounded so sure of themselves, we know what works, was their phrase, they would take the best ideas of the education Reform Movement, bring them all to new york and they would flip a district. I didnt believe they would aachieve change but i did expect to see dramatic advances and i wanted to get as close to this process as i possibly could because this is exactly what has fascinated me through my almost 40 years of reporter, the process by which public ideas translate into actual changes in peoples lives and trying to understand why or why not. I always thought it was an opportunity to look at ground level at furious debate under way over the shape of education nationally. When i started there were two dualing websites online. One called superman superman. Ore other not superman. Org. [laughter] impassion National Debate has a huge hole in the middle of it and the majority of the city in new york and cities around the country were standed in that hole. I will give you two illustrations early on, if you remember for most of the first year after the gift was announced anderson had not arrived to become the superin superintentent. They did some very important work in particular getting the handle on the tenyear process, which are the districts schools to close to make way Charter Schools one of their primary goal. One school was 15th avenue barely 20 of children had been reading at grade level. Very little was going right for kids at this school, so they designated it to close and North Star Academy one of the highest performing charters in the state was to move in. Would grow one grade each year so no one in fifth avenue would be eligible to go there. Grades k7 would be transferred to a k8 school just across West Side Park. If you were looking at the map that made perfectly sense. It had plenty of room, if you knew the neighborhood at the ground level, which the consultants did not, you would know that West Side Park is a hangout for drug dealers and children should not be walking through it every day to get through and from school. Parents were terrified. They wanted to know how people who profess such concern for their children will come up with such a plan. Moreover, one father said, they are not solving the problem, they are just taking it and moving it across the park. The reform has had a powerful diagnosis with all thats wrong with the system, they didnt have a formula without causing tremendous stress in schools while the majority of kids. Being educated. One thing i lairned about education is an ecosystem, changes in one area have consequences in another, many of them unintended. Okay, scene two, i attended a publish forum on a new alternative graduation test. Students who failed regular test had taken alternative test and was graded by their own teachers so almost one who took it passed. The test would use the new bar and they argued against the new test. They had calculated that some 3,000 students who would have passed the test under the old system would fail under the new one, as they put it, one of the most consequential things to do to students is to deny them a High School Diploma. This is undoubtedly true by i also found myself wondering, how about denying them a high school education. If they couldnt pass very basic test, what did High School Diploma mean. Important voice in the education debate, talking past some of the big problems children navigated every day in new york and cities like it. It seemed clear opportunity for journalism to write both story and scats status quo and i wanted to see education from every perspective in the debate but most importantly from the eye view of children and teachers who worked every day to reach them against incredible odds. If i could write a story, a book about education in new york that was true and thorough, essentially filling in the hole it existed, i hoped that it could spur a most Honest Exchange about what students and schools in new york need to succeed. I have a suggestion. New york and cities like it desperately need to get more resources to classrooms to support students and their teachers. It goes poverty is an excuse for failure in District Schools in new york and across the country. That is unquestions bli true for some people in some questions. Poverty is a root cause of failure who children are traumatized from growing up in violence, family strive and constant instability. Avon avenue is one of the poorest parts in new york. There are 26 children of whom had welfare cases open. 15 out of 26. Alleged neglect, exposure to violence, exposure to drugs, so many kids were so angry at age five and would hit other children and would throe chairs at other children. They fight in some classmates that they couldnt learn either. That class had one of the best teachers but in some days her skills werent enough to overcome challenges. She did not need excuses, she needed help. I also spent time in spark academy, spark had some students, although not as many who were equally troubled. They also had way more resources. Two teachers in classrooms to kindergarten to grade 3. They had three social workers who did therapy with a total of 70 children a week while avon had equivalent of one social worker. Avon had one teacher per classroom and if they had a tutor they had one for the whole school and spark had a dean of students whose job it was to make sure there was an adult in every childs life to support the learning, if not a parent, family friend, a god parent, a neighbor. Principal at spark said it would not have results it did without resources, in other words avon could not compete. 12,000 per student to spark in Elementary School whereas the new York Public Schools got 8,000 pursuant to avon. The newer districts those in many Old Industrial cities have been used for generations to do more than educate children. They have variously been pit for local political bosses and also an Employment Agency to counter poverty and instability in the city. The districts has jobs and deals with contractors that no longer serve the schools and education of the children if they ever did. Every strike holder and education to stake to union, politicians, local community, ought to figure out how to get resources to children and principals who know their needs best. Secondly, at if the state actively support charters in new york, it should share responsibility for stress placed on District Schools, which still educate the majority of New York School children today. A prominent education reform actually said to me she believes there should be potterybarn rule. You broke it, you bought it. There are lots of other issues to discuss and others on the panel will raise them. I will touch on one, thats the rule of private, foundations deceived early 20th century has damaged but living billionaires has displaced them. Bill gates of microsoft, the Walton Family of the walmart fortune. They are making targeted very large donations in hope of disrupting the existing Education System which they say unequal to the task of educating the next generation. Thats the context in which Mark Zuckerberg placed 20 million to a city he never visited. The richest millennial on the planet and he hoped to transform Public Education on the same scale that he had transformed Global Communications from his harvard dorm at age 19. Like many he came to the cause of education through personal experience. His girlfriend now his wife per precilla chang that they treated her as she was doing charity work. Teaching was one of the most important jobs in society. First in new york and then in america. His hope was to pay very large bonuses to the very best teachers, up to 50 over and above their basal ri. These were the kind of rewards paid to facebook and he believed that a similar system would attract best College Graduates much as he was attracting them to facebook. They thought they would arrive within five years at a model, prove point that could take to cities across the countries soling the education process in urban america. As we all know, that did not happen. He end up spending a 100 million in new york and Charter Schools have groan to serve 40 of new York Children and more than a third of new York District schools have been closed, renewed, relocated, faced or taken over by charters, the stres on stress on District Schools are enormous. One of the least Democratic Institutions in life. Wealthy donors decide where the money goes. If people are unhappy with the bill gates or walmart hiers they can vote them out. Theres no boycott. Tried hard to bring more voices to the table. Zuckerberg are learning that its disrespectful. There are even local foundations who have worked in education for decades. All of these people in organizations know intimately what children need to improve schools. Regardless on view of education, hope the next chapter of change in the city draws deeply from accumulated wisdom that new york has to offer. Thank you. [applause] okay, okay, okay. We are running. We have three panelists, the first of whom is shanay. Serves as Vice President of Corporate Giving at the credential foundation request he oversees 50 million in grants and charitable contributions. Prior to joining credential in 2004, new Jersey Devils organizations, before that, director of Community Schools in new york where she was responsible for broker and Community Resources to key schools in the new York Public Schools. Serves on the board of trusty of jersey, statewide Education Organization and is also chairperson of the new york trust for education. Thank you. [applause] can everyone hear me . So when i was asked to do this panel i had to pause a bit because its in many ways i think, you know, the last four years has been a real opportunity to reflect on a National Conversation that is happening about Public Education, and from where i sit and the experiences that ive had as a native, someone who started the career working in the norc Public Schools. Nonprofit lidar that provide model. Its very interesting to see kind of the multiple perspective and the complexity of this problem. But before i give my reflections on the role of philantropy and the observations that she experienced, i want to thank the Public Library for hosting such an important convening, diverse stakeholders in this room demonstrates that there hasnt been a lot of opportunities to have conversation. We are all accountable to ensuring that our children have what they need no terms of what the best opportunity and the best preparation from our Public School. So in terms of the book, the book outline in a very clear way the committeesty of this problem, the Community Needs, the challenges facing [laughter] i forget we are double mic. But the challenges of addressing in these children and highpoverty areas and specially the limits of what schools could do and the need to really look more holistically to really look at solutions for the problem. And it also, again, talks about the role of philantropy and acting as we do in many ways to Many Community people in the room, i think that its an important conversation to have about what are the limits and how it can be utah liced effectively to advance change and advance outcomes and we can debate the approach, but i think theres still is a Critical Role that philantropy does play. I think it does play a role in catalyzing change. It cannot replace public dollars and the kind of things that the public system needs to do but can encourage and support and really advocate for changes but equally important to what it can do in this phase, the approaches to be one voice, one member in this important conversation, but requires a broad set op pa participants. Ill just highlight on reflections. I know theres going to be a good q a and thinking about the last four years, i think the first lesson that would be important for all of us to learn is that one, i think early on philantropy could help with problem. We are not happy with the outcomes that were getting in our Education System, i dont think there has been enough investment of time and conversation and discussion on having a complete shared understanding of the problem, you know, there hasnt been a tremendous amount of transparency in sharing information. There hasnt been tremendous amount of trust that the collective community could receive that information and have a real dialogue about these issues, and unfortunately that was a missed opportunity and one that i think we could reflect on and really learn in terms of how we move on forward in this chapter. Better alignment within the philasophic community. Dale has talked about the community really changes in terms of actors and players and in many way its its very diverse, its made up of you know, i can think of number of National Funders and locals funders. When you look very broadly of people who are donating time and resources to kind of help support an effort, its not a singular monoliphic voice and that played early on in the conversation of understanding what this 100 milliondollar commitment from startup education, Mark Zuckerberg would mean to the conversation in the community here in the city and i will say that, you know, there originally wasnt a lot of communication happening within the community let alone the broader community. That was a missed opportunity, one i think that each sector that i outlined as it relates to people who are giving money and representing institutions that are donating money have different competencies. Theyve developed deep partnerships and can really look at a problem from a multifaceted approach, and thats something that many of us including credential, i think tried to share very early on and while there was conversation, there was an alignment in terms of action and how we could move the bar forward collectively, but i would say conversely, National Funders and even, you know, many of the players and actors that were supportive of the foundation of north future came to this with a diverse understanding of how this work played out in other communities. As a say in newark, we could have benefited from the intelligence, dialogue that came from it and benefited from the problem solving that could have been developed and generated from that and we didnt do enough of that, and i think that, you know, there was a missed opportunity for us to really leverage competencies and could have avoided some of the missteps that may have occurred and was outlined. And but the i think the positive thing is im starting to see a shift in that. So there is many more dialogue. I think its important as we think about how do we solve this problem collectively, and i also feel like a number of the National Funders and particularly foundation for newa rks future, broadening solutions and what they invest in in terms of having multifaceted approach to solving this problem. While in some ways wirr we could have started very early on, there is a progression and theres an opportunity to shape the next phase of this conversation. And then i just want to say lastly in my reflection that, you know, one of the challenges of kind of setting up this commitment that was so publicly kind of communicated with this idea of having a fiveyear time frame to flip the districts or turn things around is one in the works that had happened years prior and all the efforts folks have collectively made but also think set up an unrealistic expectation that these problems that were deep and systemic would keep change in a very short period of time. I think its an unrealistic expectation to have as a community. These problems didnt start in a very short period of time. Its going to take a lot of work to collectively move the bar on creating improvements within the district and really figuring out what systems and Service Delivery for Public Education do we need as a community and and how do we build that. And it will take more than just one sector, one body calling the shots and ultimately it will require our collective voices, really working to develop the shared understanding of the problems but also a shared vision of what we want for our children and really developing a collective action process and how we start to solve these problems, and in many ways for all of the challenges, for all of the dialogue and debate that has occurred over the few years, im pretty optimistic that we can learn from this opportunity, that we have actually the benefit of having someone make an account of what has occurred, some people my argue whether its the full story, you know, if the story is accurate. In many ways it aligns with my recollection of some of the events, but because we have this opportunity to review and to reflect, how does that inform the past forward because the work is not done and those of us, given how crowded this room is and how committed everyone here has been in working at this issue for many, many years, how do we collectively move forward because one of the things that i worry about is the National Conversation concluding that this work has found and, you know, the chapter is closed, and i dont think thats the case, i think that that is a chapter but the question is how do we write what the next chapter is going to be in our efforts to improve educational outcomes here in the city of newark, thank you. [applause] thank you shaney. Mary attended douglas she returned and taught english and language attar and then became an assistant principal at both west side and malcolm x high school. Captured distinguishing by serving 10 years, since retiring, mary has continueed for newark students, sponsored nearly 1,000newark High School Students in achieving their goal of attending college. Mary bennett. [applause] i should warn you in advance that im too collected with the local community so be forewarned. [applause] i want to thank dale who i have gotten to know over the last six months and i believe this is book one, she said she doesnt know what shes going to do next, well see from my perspective there has to be a book two. [applause] there has to be a book two. And you say why does there have to be a book two, because there are children who have been harmed. There are children who have been harmed. Theyve been harmed as a result of very bad decisions by adults, theyve been harmed by people who are very selfserving. Theyve been harmed by people to took into no account who they are, who their parents are and what this community is. [applause] you know, when you go to military encounter, and im thinking about our president obama, for whoam i whom i voted twice, even though i dont agree with policy in education but i vote for him twice. He knows that theres going to be casualties, somebody is not coming hope. Now that maybe acceptable in a military situation but from where i sit with 42 Years Experience it is not acceptable in education. [applause] there was an opportunity here that was missed and is criminal that it was missed. So much more could have been done to help newark, no group of schools targeted that there were people in those buildings that they werent top priority. Public schools should not have been pitted against Charter Schools. Charter schools were here and they should have followed the law and grown naturally over time. [applause] people should have been talked with. It doesnt have the answers. There are people who are coming together can find the answers. That is not the opportunity the city of newark was given and that is criminal. We have harmed children, we have taken students from k12 who come through difficult circumstances just living every day because they live in a large urban city thats struggling with the lack of resources, Economic Resources in some of their homes theres towbleses troubles where in every school, they talk about princess williams and avon britt. There was a princess williams in the city of newark. [applause] there are good programs in our schools. There was a lot that was positive, however, i will say time and time again, there was and continues to be great need for improvement. Thats where the ground work should have been done building by build to go make the school that everyone would send our child or grandchild to. We did not get that opportunity. So we now need to be in a recovery mode, the damage has been done, we cannot change what happened yesterday so we kernel cannot help what has happened in the last four years but we can stop now, because as i said, there are children who are not hell and theyre still in our schools. We have a moral legal obligations to pick ourselves up, roll it up and what do we get to do next because children are counting on us. I feel like i was speaking to a dear friend and she said im weary, i said yes, the voice is crying in the wilderness. People told us we were crazy. If one more person said, jumping up and down, i may reach out and touch somebody. Thats not what it was about. It was about we need all children to be taken care of. All children. I have met and dealt with thousands of parents throughout my career, many of them face major, major challenges and not doing what i thought they should be doing as parents. The one thing that i knew i never met a parent that doesnt want the best for their child. [applause] weve missed an opportunity but we need to move forward. And after 20 years, july 1995, today is september 10th, 2015, now is the time. We cant blame people because people dont want to make it real. People do not want to make it real. Its incumbent upon us to look at the situation and to for everyone to come together, i can tell you why it was hard to get people to the table, because didnt want to get labeled as going to the other side, because you know who those people are. Thats just the truth. You know, there are some people who try there were conversations, dont you go to that meeting because you know what theyre going to do because truth has not been a part of what we have been dealing for four years, weve been dealing with spin, distrust, disenfran chasment, people could leave newark and people would talk about so and so came to our city and walk on water and i said bring them back to newark and we will drown them in that water. [applause] we need to attend to what we need to do here, all of us, we need to stop working i got this little group over here, you got that group over there. We need to bring all the groups together because the children are not well. We are obligated to do better, we thank you for your dollars, we need your dollars, we really, really do need your dollars, but just because you have the dollars dont think you have all the answers, bring us into the conversation, when somebody comes to you with a proposal if it sounds too good to be truth, it probably is. Mark zuckerberg did not know, 26 years old, more money than god and Oprah Winfrey talking to him in one ear, he didnt know what to do. Take the money, take the money. Okay. Come on now. Somebody ought to tell the truth some time. I do not think for an instant that he had any illintent. He did not know, he dranked the koolaid. We know what happened to those people who dranked the koolaid, dont we. That experience having been had, now what do we do . What do we do . You know, we have we have found because money is unfortunately issues, charter versus the public. All children deserve the best, but we find ourselves in a situation where newark public School Children have been stripped. Yes [applause] Elementary Schools this year that will not have an art teacher. Thats right. Will not have a music teacher. Thats right. The money is gone. When the former superintentent came, there was a 40 milliondollar reserve, its gone. Where did it go . Who benefited . Whatever we do from this point forward, we need to be able to stand in the daylight and tell it all because people have become so distrustful because weve not been told, we had questions we didnt get answers. I gave the woman six months, maybe itll be okay, but when judy drug me to three meetings with her and we asked the same questions over and over and got nothing, i said you go to the next meeting by yourself. Thats right. By the end of six months we knew it was not going to be a collaborative process. Thats right. If youre doing the right thing for the right reason, you should be able to take the heat. Thats right. Youre a public servant, youre being paid the public dollars, you should be answerable to that public. So we need to now pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, hold the new superintentents feet to the hot fire and find a way to move forward because the children are not well, thank you. [applause] network of Public Schools in newark, power program, runs eight Charter Schools, graduate of the university of wisconsin. The chair of the Advisory Board of democrats for education reform in the new jersey region. Ryan. [applause] well, i get to follow mary bennett, great. Anybody want an intermission or anything . So i think in the book dale did an incredible job in general and also speaking for the chapter of one of our schools of telling a story thats way more complex than the story thats usually told and out there, the district versus charter story or any reformer versus status quo, stories that are way too simplistic, i for one appreciate that about the book because its frustrating to us at new jersey to get lumped in with ideas or people who we dont always agree with. Just to give a sense of where we come from, since i was a founder of kip new jersey, first principal back when we started 14 years ago, 13 years ago in 2002, i had been i was a brand new teacher in new york a few years before that in the District School in Washington Heights on 164 rd street, i got there from wisconsin, my dad has been a teacher for 30 years, retired, and very different circumstances from what i saw when i got to new york, what i felt when i got to that school was so different than the education i had gotten or anybody i knew had gotten that sort of shocked my system, so i tried to figure out why and there were a lot of Great Teachers, but they werent getting the support they needed, they werent getting the resources and they couldnt do simple things like tut orchids after school. The principal was getting in the way of the Great Teachers trying to the to do what they wanted to do. The only school that didnt have a basketball team, so i tried to get a principal to start a team, she wouldnt let us and asked the district and eventually we did. Its the only place in the building where you could have kids, teachers,working folks who wanted whats best to their kids who would have to bring kids to tutor them around the sidelines. That was my experience with the District School in new york city. So at that time i just said, okay, we have to find a better way, our Basketball Program was set up to help the kids who had no fun in school all day, had nothing to look forward to, we wanted to do something within that school and the prip principal is getting in our way, a group of teachers and i started looking for alternative programs. You have to look at kipp, they have a good school at houston and new york. At the time kipp had only two schools. I called the founders of kipp, i heard all things of Charter Schools, i heard you only serve the kids who have the most invested parents, i heard you kick out all the kids who give you any trouble, i heard this and this. I actually want to start the opposite kind of school but i want to learn how to start a school and they said, those are myths, come check us out and see if you like us, we are training principals right now to open new schools. I want to the kipp school in the bronx and the one in houston and i was like, i have a lot to learn. So i spent a year of training and i came to newark in 2002 and started with four other teachers, school for ad kids, fifth graders and and as we do we grew one grade level at the time, and over the years the academy 58 about 300 students, now about 400. And parents have come to us and say, you know, we start to accumulate a waiting list, when are you going to open another high school, what are we going to do in high school, what are we i have a daughter, shes 5 years old. Eventually we did all that, as we mentioned eight schools with 3,000 schools in newark, a huge frustration for us over the years has been the schools that dont serve the represented Cross Section of newark kids. Theres been progress on that front over the last few years. And weve been a a huge frustration for us that people dont understand, people use to look at poverty doesnt matter, these are kids in poverty who are doing well, as you see in the book, poverty matters a lot as youve seen in your life or teaching, poverty matters a on the and you have to get resources, these are the lessons we learned because through our experience you have to get resources over the classroom. You have to. We get 90 of what the district gets in pupil district. Its something that i didnt understand, we get so much more money in classrooms than districts often do. How can you address all the needs of our students, all the needs cost by poverty, all the needs cost by being kids without that kind of funding, you have to get Great Teachers. The teachers i want to put them in one place and get out of the way and be better in the school that i was at the time. You have to have Great Teachers who is an amazing teachers and amazing teachers that exist throughout the city. They have to be empowered to do their job. That wasnt often not the case. That wasnt the case where i thought. A critical lesson i didnt understand sorry until three years ago, another lesson that i learned now three and a half ago, i became a parent. Maybe im hoping when they get to fifth grade something will kick in and i will be better, but anyways, one thing i learned was you look my daughter pent to prek this last tuesday, she started prek and for the first three and a half years we have been looking for the right school for her and we would go anywhere and do anything, and thats one thing that i learned more than a lesson that i learned that hit home when i had when my wife and i had zoey, parents know best, its not going to be the same thing at every school with every kid. Theres not a onesizefitsall model and every parent in newark, i do believe when folks ask me why i believe in choice, Charter Schools, whatever, its because i get to exercise choice for zoey and i would do anything to exercise the right choice for zeoy and i think not i think, i know that every parent in newark as mary said would do anything to get their kid the best education they can. I think that i think that now is an opportunity for the healing that we need in in the city. I think we have the right people in the city to get the work. Its certainly not a 5year job to get the kids the education they deserve, but we have People Like Us who have been here 14 years and we have people like mary who have been here much longer and we have a lot of people in the city who can who can put the as much as we can put the last years behind us and move forward to a new day. [applause] thank you, ryan, thank you panel, thank you dale. Its now time for the audience to step to the microphone and pose questions. Please put your remarks in the form of a question. We have a lot of people and a lot of folks would want to get involved in the conversation, so lets keep ourselves focused on questions. The mic is there and theres a gentleman already. Yes, sir, could i have your attention please. Born in newark in 1946, they actually served their lives out, but dale has written some book, a father said you take a book and digest you eat it, her words. Sir, would you pose her question. But i would like to say this book is amazing. Ask the question. Here is the idea or question, the idea or question of dale is this, newark was gifted with great corporations, college and universities, we are not on the same page, you can deal with what zuckerberg offers, you have to have corporations back us because if they dont i will bring goats to visit the ghost of his past so that they could see the light, we are disgrace. We have a Great American city but we are not on the same page, i worked over 30 years in school sir, would you please ask your question. What do you think about this feeling that newrak could do so much as a Great National city if all of our corporations were backing us for full programs at 3 00 oclock using our newark youngsters at the college or universities . How about creating jobs in factories because poverty as mayor said we have a tough time convincing. We are in World War Three and we dont even know. What do you say to this and what can we do to encourage Corporate Responsibility in full . Thank you. Dale. [laughter] yes, i think there should be lots of Corporate Responsibility, i mean, i guess youre talking about trying to answer the issues of poverty and it seems that the corporations that are here are not as much a part of the problem as those who arent here and hopefully there will be a lot more of them and a lot more development so that everybody could have more job opportunities. All right, thank you. Yes. Linda. Its on. My question has to do with the things that are never discussed, as product of the newark public system i never hear i want to get the response if possible. The impact of caucasian flight, forced black people to remain in urban areas, impact of the caucasian flight from the city in reaction to the grate migration of black people from the south and Puerto Ricans to the urban areas, the systematic stripping of Public Schools. Im not talking about now, im talking about people when i was in school. The depletion of urban financial resulting from certain flights. Historical impact and consequences of decades of intentional and purposeful heroin and crack cocaine epidemic in reaction to black and puerto rican power movement. The history impacting consequences of both drug epidemics on the socialization of the parents who were less than 40 years old. Whoever control your childrens minds, control your communities your culture and economic. The profits derived from assessment. The fact that people are not learning how to take tests, they are being tested. Failure to engage and teaching black and brown children. History of Public Education particularly the Oldest University are known existed in africa. People never have take in consideration that the concept of universities comes and came with slavery. Linda. This is the last one. All right, lets get to my question. I just want to know why its never discussed. And how it has just been pared down and it has become much, much, much too much about the common core state standards, et cetera, et cetera. If you are doing curriculum the right way, you would embrace in whatever content area you are planning and developing the curriculum, you would be looking to integrate as much as possible and you would definitely make every effort to have components of your curriculum reflect the faces in front of you. That is if youre doing curriculum planning the way the Research Says it should be done. Unfortunately, in this community during these recent two decades is not necessarily all the way through come and a special in the last five or six years, then the we curriculum has been looked at. Go ahead, brian. The sort of most basic sense, the answer to your question, the question is so silly if i could paraphrase why dont we talk about the racism that has caused a lot of the problems that we face . The entity that is because its uncomfortable. Its especially uncomfortable for people in power who are often not record acted by that, and thats the real reason why but its a conversation that needs to happen. Anybody else want to comment . Yes . Your question . Good evening. Im presently a member of the north board of education. I grew up in the city, went to the schools here and i have two questions. I just want to preface it by saying that a doubly what has happened here in newark is a series of mistakes. I believe that it is a well orchestrated disaster that has befallen us. Given all of that [applause] two questions i would like any of the panelists or dale who like to address our, the situation that we are in now where the newark Public Schools district has been basically stripped is in the worst financial crisis that i can ever remember. Now we are in the present situation where school after being cut and cut again, that the schools have now been told they can only spend 25 of the budget that they have left for operations, not salaries or anything like that about them to actually spend on the students, that they can only spend 25 of it and there is no one who can say where anymore might come from during this school year, and thats leaving out a lot of the details. So i think there are two conversations that i would like to see all of the folks who say that theyre interested in these conversations engage in, and what is not as mary bennett said, we must recover, but who is willing to sit down and actually talked about this recovery, because this crisis is immediate. Thats my first question. And my second question is, who is, what do you think about the fact that in all of this that there is only really been one type of reform that has been allowed to be at the table. That theres another type of reform, and yes, it is a report but it is a reform that has been proven to be very successful nationally in communities with the same demographics, similar demographics to newark but never discussed that newark, never allowed to bring to the table, that people who are involved in education and newark through our own research at our own desperation reached out and found out about, and that is fullservice communities schools. Anyone, if you just google it as they say, theres a wealth of information. Its an option we need to be talking about. Id like to know who is willing to actually engage in that, those two conversations . One, how do we recover. Be, can we put communities schools which have been proven to work in our type of communities on the table . Thank you. Who wants to be first . Ill start. So how do we recover . I think its starting with having civil discussions. Like were having now, and building the Civic Infrastructure to do so. For many years, editing many of you around the world and i think many of you around the room have participated in something that was done in reaction to the state taking over School Districts that allowed Civic Leaders to have a dialogue about current day issues, on the way platform for the superintendent of the times to have a dialogue with the community. And i think that we have to get back to the. I think that the our institutions who have tried to fill that role. We, many of us in this room are collectively involved with an Organization Called and newark trust or education. And we are hopeful that as you start to get multiple stakeholders at the table in safe places to have real dialogue, that there will be a broader, more nuanced approach to solving these issues. I think the issue of Community Schools, some of which credential has supported for many years and there have been Community School models here in the city of newark, is a great idea. Its a great solution and it has had a proven track record i dont think theres an either or proposition, and while i think that there a number of conversation are happening at the Community Level about how do we scale Community Schools in the city, and theres a willingness from their current district, the administration to have that dialogue, i think that we have to learn from what worked in the past and what didnt work and how do we create a model that is sustainable. But if you believe that theres a willingness to have that dialogue and engaged in that is happening right now. Anybody else on the panel want to respond . I am a member of the alliance for newark Public Schools and i served as the chair for the coalition for Public Schools which preceded the alliance. And so wheres and Deborah Smith the gregory . So if youre a part of an organization, im giving you were, sorry about that, girlfriend. If youre part of an organization, and institution that would like to be a part of this dialogue, i would say before you leave tonight, see deborah. Give her your contact information. Shane may be referring to the new superintendent and his living around the committee trying to get to know people, but we know that there people who have concerns. So that being the case, theres an alternate route to getting to be part of the conversation so you dont feel youve been vetted out some outcome and im not saying thats necessarily something he would do, but i do respect that this trust as clem price, may he rest in peace, says theres a lot of distrust because a long history people giving people reason to be distrustful. So if youre serious about wanting to be a part of the conversation, we need your contact information, and then we convene and the conversation begins and look at some structure, and we then will work with the other side of the street, shall we say, to see we can possibly meet in the street and nobody get run over. The next question, please. I want to say hi to ryan. High, right. I am one of his original pairs 14 academy. I also want to say hi to mary bennett get on a rough rider, born and raised in newark, educate and newark. My question is, in your experience, my question is that team into norstar, you can buy a curriculum and you can implement their curriculum. I want to know if this Reform Movement and theres one more plan was really a one newark plan to come into newark and to save our children so that they learn . Because if that was what the true one newark plan was and is ryan said, choice our prayers, we kept a limited a north star plan curriculum because all that is a curriculum that they teach. We could have implemented the kipp curriculum into our album neighborhood schools. And took the zuckerberg 100 million in those schools evaluated the children that were failing our head trauma or crisis, and implemented services into our Community Schools and not shut down our Community Schools, lose 5000 children, still right here today we have special Needs Children that need to be placed that is not placed in school. Where children on waiting lists to get in school, and school has started. So i want to understand in your travels in that book, do you understand why if kipp in north star are such Great Schools with great curriculum, why we didnt buy any of those curriculums and bring our teachers on for 12 months instead of the 11 months, trained them in the curriculum, partner with the team and norstar switch in addition with the team in north star switching it to shut them out of school and displaced our children . Thank you. [applause] i dont think that there was a coherent plan for the District Schools as part of this process. But if you think that, i mean, i think that in order to raise up with a performance by the District Schools, its not just ricky long. Its having enough teachers and aides and tutors and social workers to support excellent teaching. So i dont think the curriculum, even if they had implemented it, what a change the situation in the schools. But the issue was that we save our failing schools. And what was the true issue of one newark plan . Was a to make sure that charters got fully funded and students in them come our was the true plan through your experience was to shut down our Public Schools . Because everything you say we already have. She laid off counselors. She laid off social workers. She laid off guidance counselors. She laid off. Liaisons. We had all of those things already in our school, and they took those services out of our schools and then said, and gave a misperception to the public that knows Public Schools was failing to honor graduate of north Public Schools are either to greet an education the i have integrated with me who is all over the place. My son graduate from was on a fulbright scholarship at ncc right now. Basketball scholarship. To our kids graduate from all of the schools in newark about on scholarship, academic and other scholarships, so our schools were not failing but we were failing some and we needed a new curriculum to implement, and we need resource put into our schools, not shutting our Community Schools down. Thank you. Next. [applause] my daughter is a product of the montessori curriculum for prek, and from there she would sing phillips academy. After graduating from saint though she did two years into boarding school only come back to the Newark Public School system. She attended American History high. While at the Masters School they taught the harkness method of teaching. We come back to newark and shes at a Magnet School, and the advanced french book that the use in american is the book that she had in the sixth grade at Saint Phillips academy. To give a talk about creating a sustainable model and look the best practices and you would with a prominent gay schools and Party Schools are doing across the country, our children cannot compete and become global citizens. So when you look at, looking at best practices i would strongly suggest that you research the harkness method. Are the things we can pull from that end create a curriculum that allows our students to complete competed globally in a sense that they can just compete globally . Thank you. I want to ask a question about the conversation. Dale, and i think shane can unplug him is that turning . Yes. You both referenced on a broader conversation, and i think that what is happening in newark is bigger than was happening, incredibly important to whats happening to people who live here and to the children and the families who live here but this is not the only place where we have failing schools. I would really like to know how we can get a National Conversation going, and i would like to say that as a dedicated subscriber to the new york times, the paper of record, i actually did a search and discovered it had been nothing on the newark Public Schools, pretty much intel your book. So i would really like to see they are to be National News organizations, National Newspapers and so forth talking about this and getting into what we can do to take what weve learned about school reform, the good, the bad, and the ugly come and bring it up more nationally. Thank you. Dale, you want to try that . Im not sure what the question is though. [inaudible] well, im hoping is going to be a lot more coverage nationally in newspapers and on television and blogs and radio. Because theres so many things happening right now. Ideal, ive been kind of amazed the reaction to the book and i think its because all over the country education is much more contentious, a much hotter issue that its been and its been building for years. And i believe if you look at come into pennsylvania schools, some of them didnt have enough money to open this year. Theres a problem with state funding, during the recession, the states cut back and now that the money is flowing again there is a increase in most states, and you probably saw this seattle schools went on strike and an open this week. Thats again about the state funding to i do feel its a National Conversation at a help, i want to keep writing about it but i think its evident to me theres a real appetite for people to read about it and write about it and try to challenge some of the trends that are going on right now. Does anyone else want to respond to . In terms of schools or three people back around newark, i think what we have to be canned about because if were going to try to have a dialogue and we dont want to dwell on the past but if we dont look at the past we are doomed to repeat it. There was not in the plan from the very beginning any content to save the newark Public Schools in total. Theres a quote that says, newark will become a Charter Capital of the nation. So if you come out of the gate with that premise, youre not looking at schools and what is working. Youre looking at the process youre going to use, the resources you going to systematically remove, that just takes the schools that are struggling and wiggles them down to nothing and, therefore, the best opportunity for the children is to go elsewhere. So thats one thing that there was never a plan. And i think theyll deserves credit for capturing almost in the first chapter, that there was no plan to save the Public Schools. And so the funding across the country [applause] is the other issue. We know in this state that districts have not been funded to the level that theyre supposed to be for consecutive years. So in addition to needing more resources, we are not even getting the resources we are entitled to by law. All right, thank you. The next questioner, please. Im a music teacher. Im a product of the trim the Public School system, and we always had a question clinton. We had a question and the streets in which i think i asked myself, i want to ask of it, which is in general what i going to do about it was thats it, what i going to do about it . I hear a lot of this and that, but thats like off. Whats happened to the arts in newark Public Schools is incredible. And since i came here, i came in 1988, and it started on a path, im not going to give the whole history, but since the facebook thing started its really gotten ridiculous. Not that what i going to do about it, maybe to write about it or whatever. Something needs to be done about it, i think, because you talk about parents want the best for their kids. I can tell you every kid that i seem to wants to place an instrument, and i can tuggers thousands of incidents throughout the Public Schools are just sitting there, and its not because the money is not there. Its because the time isnt there. Which brings me to my real question yes, please. How can you talk all the schools come and we havent heard the word test at all which is the testing is at the bottom of everything. Utah but actually schools. What you talk about the schools that do well on the tests, right . Actually teachers are teachers who teach students to do on this test. What is your question, please . How is he of this discussion and testing is not even mentioned . Very good. Thats the question. Im not sure the panelists are prepared to address this question unless you want to try as a former teacher. Your apps of the right that the focus is much too much on the tests and test prep and thats why we have seen the pushback with the opt out for park. We know weve gone through one regime or another in this state around testing and right now we are still one of the few states tied into the park. I said earlier about a few were really designing a curriculum and if you are really getting are teachers good tv and you trusted your children could learn, you would not have to spend the three months before the testing begins, which goes on for three more months, so instead of teaching children and encouraging them to learn to think and use the content, we have shifted and we have abandoned the arts and weve abandoned integrated education for the sake of testing, which is totally wrong. Totally wrong. Ryan, do you want to Say Something speak with one of the challenge we have, not just in newark but at work on in newark but edward gomez does not a current definition of what a good school is. What i. S. Actually school i dont mean highperforming autotest exclusively. I mean a school send my daughter to. And i would not send my daughter to a Higher Performing School essence to hold your test prepping. I wouldnt. I would send her to one that didnt have the arts. And i dont think most people would, right . So we do need a more robust definition but we cant abandoned testing either because one of the things that almost every. We put on their lives is that they do want a school that is adding value academically in a way that they can confirm somehow, and thats what the tests provide. But you dont want school to overfocus audit. The next questioner, please. Yes, go ahead. Hello, everybody. I dont speak english very well but i do speak english, for those who dont understand them there with me, i dont understand, too, please. Speak slowly and we will understand. My question is, did or do you, your area, have a partial, part in education to educate a younger human, children, about Human Trafficking . Number one. Number two, what is your agency or your area can do more to contribute or participate on the Human Trafficking children to make them aware, understood about that . Number three, what this country, its the country, your area, your agency, whatever your name is, can do more to help them, the children, to be better understanding, understand about the Human Trafficking speak was okay, thats three questions. We will go with the three questions. Anyone want to respond to any of the three questions . Im not done. Last night theres two more questions last night spent im not sure we fully understood we heard of the question the Human Trafficking but im not sure this panel is adept at responding to the issue giunta usher thats an issue that the book addresses. What are your other two questions speak was okay. Human trafficking can happen to anybody any country any but what is your question about Human Trafficking . I question is, can you add in your area of educating the minority of Human Trafficking so they dont become a victim of . All right, thank you. Very good, very good. [applause] so whats the answer but im still here and waiting for the answer. We are going to get to it. Can you give a shot at that . [laughter] spent i said i was very connected to the committee decidedid idid i was the only pe community. And so if im understanding your concern, it would seem it goes back to that curriculum peace about instructional piece, that in the course, for example, of a social studies class, but that would be a topic that could be included, explained to help children understand, because your first question was are you teaching him if i understood, are you teaching of the Human Trafficking . So its a curricular question if you are saying how do we get that information into schools. [inaudible] spirit so that given our busy your concern about the problem, and women always look at her own context and the good reverend heroes shared the ethics is a committee what it has instead in some concern commission deadly be included in the curriculum somewhere. If you are doing, ginny for doing Curriculum Development the way it is researched to be done. Shane come in your experience has to come up during the course of your work in education . In terms of Human Trafficking, yes. No. Of late it hasnt come up, but i do acknowledge the importance of the issue and they need to make sure that were protecting children and i think ultimately the level of concern about and their action that is, from the book and i think aligns a lot with marys comments about children have been harmed is just another example of why we need to have a real dialogue about how schools can prepare our young people and set up for the best possible outcomes. And i think Human Trafficking and other things would fall into that dimension. And i am you dont answer my question. Am i right . Im impatient that you didnt answer my question. So i want to make it clear one more time spirit no, no, no. We got your question. We got your question. So they said no education in america to educate the younger about, but awareness about the Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is not about Human Trafficking to another country but it is about more slavery. I just want to make sure. In this area in what let me try to reiterate. I agree with you wholeheartedly that it should be taught. Yes, thats what im saying. What im saying to you is if the curricular work is done well, it would be anticurriculum, probably in the area of social studies. It could even be touched upon to some degree with facts and information in health classes. It should be there. I cannot tell you that it is there but i do agree that it definitely should be there. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next questioner. Thank you, mary. Unified school. One more time. And i see our former superintendent here. There was a time when you had an office of curriculum and instruction and that individual had staff with individuals responsible for each of the eight key content areas, and so no matter which of the five you listed in, there was a curriculum that reached across the city, east, north, west, et cetera, so if you moved and we know theres high mobility rates because children have different home situations, when you got from when you went from shabazz and taking the same classes you were being taught the same curriculum. Correct. That used to exist. I cannot speak to what exists now because all the turmoil thats going on. That should be a focal point to fixing the problems. Thank you, thank you, the next question, please. Good evening, my name is martha, im a born and raised in newark, educated in newark, has worked for the Public School for the past 24 years and the changes that i see go on its like you said, have completely been stripped, the city has been stripped, the Education System itself has been stripped, but i noticed on your book you have those four faces and we want dialogue, we want to talk about what we can do next and reform it, but its really kind of hard to say we have to change things and come together and have this conversation when people should be tired of having this conversation because thats all we are doing is talking about and its not changing. Its been a plan, they sat down and they decided, yes, we are going to put the charter against the public, we are going to close newark Public Schools and we are really not going to educate the children and community because we dont care about them. People dont want to talk about it because i appreciate all the faces in this room, but now do we have vested interest in these children because i do, i teach them and i love them and i work with them as if they were my own and my put my own children through the system, so now i want to dialogue, i want to talk about it but i want to know what action its going to do because we need to change. [applause] thank you, thank you. To your question, i think our mayor has tried to put a stake in the ground to start that shift and to be able to move from just all the talk and all the anger to say that after 20 years things need to come back to putting back us in control of our district, and i believe that while many people have criticized them he has stepped out in an opportunity that was presented, whether it was presented genuinely or not it was presented and it was public, it was incumbent to try to make that happen in this governors watch. Thank you, mary. Next questioner, please. Good evening, my question is kind of simple, essentially i would like to ask all of the panelists what is your what do you think the purpose of education is and what is your assess rent as to whether we are meeting those goals or not and being an active participant, you know, i observed a lot of rhetoric, spin, but we never really dived deep into what we see the purpose of education to be, so if you can talk about that. Thank you. Id appreciate. Ryan, why dont you start out and give mary a break . [laughter] its a great question and for me the i think the purpose of education is to prepare our kids, meaning all of our kids for active and meaningful participation if our american democracy and what that means is they have to have knowledge of their history, knowledge of history in general and they have been to be active critical thinkers, they have to not just take whats given to them and i think they have to be rounded, well rounded students. And in terms of whether were doing that, i think the answer is meaning, we as a community or even as a country, i think the answer is une unequivocally no. I think theres room for optimism, there are schools where you see great things in newark and elsewhere, i think the Community Schools model has a lot of promise but but i dont think theres any way we could say that we are doing this consistently for everybody. Lets skip over the dale. You want to comment on this . I actually agree with what he said. You want to answer . The only thing that i would add is the reason why we think its so important to invest in education and really focus on pro serving Public Education is that it becomes a vehicle for equity, it becomes a pass that allows particularly families of in hipoverty situations to change their outcomes and the outcome of that family in one generation. It becomes the vehicle to allow to compete and to fully participate in society. I think thats why thats so critical, i think thats why its important for us to have the conversation on what is the best way to sustain Public Education and ensure the promise of it, which was to ensure equity and everyone having a fair chance to to excel. And mary, do you want to add anything . I yield. [laughter] the next question, please. And then we will take a couple more because i think dale wants to sign some books before she gets out of here tonight. Good evening, i am a senior and i got the pleasure of reading your prelude to the book and you said that experiences at home and neighborhoods are far more influence on children academic achievement than that happens in the classroom and things that are thought in the classroom, through my school being private a prep school that serves predominantly minoritylowincome students what capacity do Public Schools have . Yeah. Well, i think that i know i sound like a onenote song, i think thats why the public needs more resources at school level. Im just judging with what i saw in spark, they had the staff available and other crises in their lives and because they had enough extra teachers and extra social workers and tutors to keep kids, to keep addressing the issues that came up daily because kids lived in difficult neighborhoods and po poverty who otherwise may have fallen off the track get back on track. It just wasnt possible for one classroom teacher to do all of that because the school wasnt equipped to help that classroom teacher address all the issues that every kid had. Its a varying thing, situations change, crisis comes and crisis goes. Anyone else want to respond . You talk about the opportunities that you had or that students at st. Benedict had been afforded and the difference it makes in the lives of the students, i have the good fortune for two years to serve executive director and it was a funded for us for a couple of years and primarily we were working with central and malcolm x shabazz, we started with the class, its not the money in the world, if you meet all the criteria, when you graduate from high school, you get 6,000 going out the door to help you with complej expenses, but what we did starting was get students on the college campuses, expose them to higher and have them begin to see themselves in a different mind set and in different setting and walking about those campuses, being in those classes, we asked college professor, rather than teacher assistance be there so we believe, father believeses, hes an institution into himself, we believe that exposing those young people as they were moving through high school we kept them in high school, a person, it needs to be, you need post secondary work and can join arms and see that theres more than living in their Immediate Community that may have a whole host of problems and they can become productive contributing members to their own themselves, their community. Thank you, mary. Before i started high school i had been in the Newark Public School most of my public life and i have been in the charter system for two years. I was at 18th Avenue School at the time that Mark Zuckerberg, theres not much things that donateing can change, you guys talk about having can i civic t, if you were given the money back again, what would you do with it . Thats a good question. [laughter] lets give the panel a chance to respond, all right . I have a little bit more. [laughter] i believe, that you can give 100 million to School System but if theres no incentive to complete 180 in the School System whats the point. Thats my question. All right, good enough. Thats a very good question, young man and dale is going to answer it for us right now. The first question what would you do if you had the money and start all over, i would have try today put as much time and energy into figuring how to get more resource into the Central Office into the classroom. It seems to me that [applause] there are a lot of i mean ui to tell you the truth, i think it would have been another whole book to try to understand where the money is going in the district. I tried very hard but i dont have a budget in finance background and i couldnt you think tangle it myself but i really think that this is something that needs to be almost like a national enterprise. So much is tied up in the Central Office. I actually felt that its clear that this needs to happen and its clear that its going to be a very challenging political struggle to decide what money youre not going to spend anymore and the way youre spending it and how youre going to put it somewhere else and Community Meetings where they spent 2. 8 million, 1. 8 million facilitating and they didnt give the public any information because they didnt intend to, had hay really try today figure out what is it going to take to get money from the Central Office to the classrooms and have the public decide, these are tough choices but which once are we going to make. Thank you, dale. Any other comments . I think the only thing i would add is theres a difference between collective and engagement action. One thing we need is to have collective action process to discus how we move forward. I think understanding the problem and i still believe that we do not fully understand the problem and we havent had a civil conversation about problem and and one thing that says, we need to get more money out of the Central District but there are inherent tradeoffs and choice that is we have to make as a community in order to make that happen and that conversation and that dialogue was not allowed. Those decisions were made not with all the stakeholders at the table but understand that even when we give local control we as a community have more control over the decisions that need to be made for pub Public Education, there are tough decisions that need to be made, i think the community has the ability tradeoffs and make those decisions, but we have to make tradeoffs and i think thats going to be the challenge but understanding that theres going to be painpoints given the legacy of this investment in Public Education that didnt start in 2010. Thank you. The next question. Gentleman in the white shirt will be the last questioner, please, please. This conversation and the book has been waves of emotion, i did have an opportunity to read before today and i think its a great piece of work and as mary said in the beginning, it is testimony that youre not and so i really appreciate it, as the question about testing came up and mary was answering it, a couple of things topped into my mind and i do have a question, you were talking about instructional and assessment points of the Testing Industry and its profitable, right, and its tied to all of this, tied to privatization, tied to how we train credential teachers and tied to a whole industry that came to newark and embedded and the mayor, governor and superintendent and there was this policy block that you cant breakthrough. As you said, our children are not well and there are winners and losers and i think about the price and question about testing and what has happened here, it comes back to money and to power. This young mans point about 00 million doesnt really do something strug structurally but mobilized things so things could be organized so that we are where we are today. My question to you is alongterm educator, how do we go Going Forward organize ourselves as a community so that our power is not taken from us and we are accountable for making sure that it is not possible to come here and to destabilize a district, take the resources and leave our children not well and from every point of view theres a response to that question and you dont have to answer it now but i really ask you to think about that because that is the task that lies ahead of us as we move forward. Thank you very much. [applause] i didnt have a first day i didnt have a i have been in private school, Magnet School in newark so i have seen a lot. You mentioned that youre a parent now and it was enlightening to me as i had found on my own terms of being in the process that it took for you to be a parent to see the process of the parent because we have been locked out but my question is with teach for america to me its kind of a peace corps project because you have 20yearolds that dont get and kids are under the pension the way it doesnt matter anymore because they didnt address the speaker or im sorry. You mentioned the services that arent there, the social workers and the seasoned teachers, my question to you is how can that change so that they are benefiting the children and the children dont feel hopeless and helpless and they are a big part of they have no voice because they shut down. Ryan, why dont you give a shot at that one in. I definitely have a clue, so youre right about that. [laughter] and its probably debatable whether i have one now, that said, there are i know teacher of america has that reputation, i think they are Getting Better in keeping people in the core, i also think that we have a lot of Great Teachers in teacher america. [applause] and we have Great Teachers who did not go through that program. I dont think its beneficial to sort of cast teacher america in one light or the other. I think what we need is great educators who are committed to our kids and committed to staying here and doing the hard work for a long time. This is not a twoyear project, this is not a 5year project. Yes, sir, your question. Good evening. Okay, my name is charles love, nowark resident. I was ms. Bennett was my principal. I remember walking into ms. Ms. Bennetts office, she said youre not doing too well and she transferred me to central high school. People didnt realize that i was living in my grandmothers one bedroom apartment, my mother was in and out of situations, drugs and alcohol, my father was in and out of situations. I was living with three brothers, well, two brothers, my grandmother was born in 1910 from bloam and she taught me that life was about working hard and going to schools. I had kids driving bmws, drug appear epidemic, i lost so many people. I lost 200 of my closest friends in a 5block radius. Whats your question young man . I taught in the Public School for 15 years and now i am a parent. I dont see charter, i dont see public, i see norwark, where is the collaboration tool, when are we going to come together and put kids first, playing political games as kids are suffering thank you. In my experience i want to know whats going to happen after this . You know, everybody is in the room yeah, but whats next . Thank you, sir. Collaborate. Lets answer your question. Collaborate. [applause] and and take one further, who is going to take the first step because we already know that theres a whole, you know, the whole board is lined up, but whats going to happen when these kids come out, like these kids they dont just need teachers, listen, ryan hill, i salute that dude coming to doing what hes doing, at least hes doing something. [applause] all right, lets answer your question. God bless you. Who wants to try. I saw dr. Jackson from who is at George Washington sitting next to joanna who was the principal of spark and they shared a building together and have one of the most collaborative relationships i have ever seen educators have and i think that and i think thats a model, i dont think its the only model, but i do this that steps have been taken and i think that whether its when you talk about Community Schools for instance, a lot of getting them resources and connecting with schools to the families in meaningful ways, those are a lot of things that Charter Schools do to and a place where we can learn from from each other. I dont know what the very next step is but i think those are some ways we can do it. Anyone else want to comment . I think again i go back to my first reflection of the opportunity of having the last four years captured in the book, so one, i would encourage everyone and those of us who have not yet read the book to read it and reflect and then also how do we come together and at least have a starting point develop a shared vision of what we want the citys Education System to look like. I think if we even as a community have done that, and i think as we do that work, then we can backwards map on what are the right strategies that we need as a Community Need to take in order to reach their goal, and thats something that we are committed to continuing to do and really looking for solutions to build the infrastructure to allow that to happen. Thank you, shaney. I want to thank dale for a very accessible treaty on what has been going on in the Public Education sector over the last several years. Her book is a very interesting read and i think the opportunity to meet her here and to hear her talk about her book was also very, very important, i have a lot out of the book and i think you will get a lot of the book when you can take it over and read it as well. So with that said, lets thank our panelists. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] hi, there, how are you . Dale will be signing in the gallery. There are refreshments. The book is for sale, 25, dale will be signing in the gallery, so if you line up on the righthand side youll be in line for the book, for the book signing. [inaudible conversations] youre watching book tv, television for serious readers. You can watch any program you see here on line at booktv. Org. This is book tv on cspan2, television for serious readers. Tonight at 7 00 eastern reports on military top research agency. Then at 8 00 senator smith time in prison for fraud. At 11 15 talks about the book once upon a time in russia. That all happens tonight on cspan2 book tv. Political science professor martha kumar is on afterwards, looks at transition, transfer of office between president s bush and obama. Professor kumar welcome to after words. Transition of george w. Bush and barack obama and how they managed a transition of power. Certainly this transition period is an important period not real well known by the broad public and you pulled back the curtain on the interworkings of this particular transition and referred to it as a model and a