It must have been quite an event, last night's storm-tossed public meeting of New York City's Panel for Education Policy, a Bloomberg created group that makes recommendations to the mayor on key education issues.?According to Elizabeth Green of Gotham Schools, the PEP ?unsurprisingly? gave its approval to closing ten schools and allowing four ?co-locations,? putting charters in buildings with traditional public schools.
One of the highlights of the evening ? this at about 11 pm ? was, according to Green, when ?teachers union activists ? including [United Federation of Teachers] president Michael Mulgrew, not necessarily teachers ? heckled speakers.
After a mother says, ?My local school is pathetic,? she gets a round of boos. ?Jerk!? somebody from the UFT group says.
Another great moment,?as the meeting ended, at 1:30 a.m.,
`Mulgrew joined the UFT hecklers at the end,' Anna [Philips] reports. As voting began, audience members hurled shouts at the stage. A NY1 Noticias reporter tells Anna that Mulgrew was one of the first to yell. ?Puppets!? he shouted.
What's this about collaboration?
?Peter Meyer, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
