Education is Supposed to be About the Kids,

but does anybody seriously believe anything will happen when the kids DO speak out?

The story:

The Bloomberg-Klein machine that runs, and is destroying, the New York City public school system has made some powerful enemies, including the students from University Heights High School in the Bronx. These teenagers may not prevent New York City Mayor Moneybags and School Chancellor King Klein from moving their school off of the Bronx Community College campus and exiling it to the south Bronx, but in their struggle to save the school, they have learned how to be organizers and agents for change. Bloomberg, Klein, and their wealthy friends better watch out. Their attack on this school has provided these students with the best education they could possibly receive and has have helped to create a new generation committed to the struggle for social justice.

Moneybags and King Klein think the fight is over, but to paraphrase the immortal words of American Naval hero John Paul Jones, the student of University Heights High School "have just begun to fight." The students are exploring the possibility of getting a court injunction against the move. They claim that they and their parents selected this school because of its affiliation with a college and that Bloomberg, Klein, the Department of Education, and BCC are violating that contract.

On Tuesday over 240 University Heights High School students and about 20 parents attended DOE a meeting in Staten Island that was held there to make it difficult for the students to mobilize and attend. The teachers' union supplied them with a bus and a community organization supplied two smaller buses to transport people. The rest of the students traveled to the hearing with their teacher, Pablo Muriel, by subway, ferry, and a long walk up to the school. Many of the students spoke eloquently, and King Klein was forced to acknowledge their presence.

Pablo challenged Klein, who that morning in a radio interview claimed to be concerned about underperforming schools serving minorities communities. He wanted to know why they were effectively destroying a minority school that had such a strong track record and had a student body that was willing to travel for hours to defend their school. Pablo demanded that the Panel for Educational Policy vote "no" on the move and send a message to students that the democratic process works.