Creating a “Surveillance State” in the New York Public Schools
by Mark Naison | special to NewBlackMan
Last spring, a former Bronx teacher named Janet Mayer published a wonderful book about her experiences called As Bad As They Say: Three Decades of Teaching in Bronx Schools. Most of the book was a tribute to the heroic students she had taught at Grace Dodge High School in the Bronx, who overcame incredible obstacles to achieve their goals; the last chapter was a devastating critique of “No Child Left Behind”, “Race to the Top” and Mayoral Control of Schools in New York City.
Teachers at Grace Dodge High School, whose unsung labors were honored, along with Dodge students, in Mayer’s book, tried to organize a book party for As Bad as They Say. Their efforts were vetoed by the principal, who was afraid that she and the school, would face retaliation from DOE officials if the Dodge community gave public recognition to a book which was critical of DOE policies.
Such is the state of Free Speech in the era of Mayor Control of New York’s public schools. But wait as minute you say. Isn’t the principal a member of a union? Aren’t the teachers? Won’t their unions support them if they hold a public event which takes a position critical of DOE policies, especially if it is done in a way that allow for expression of conflicting opinions? The answer, unfortunately is “No!”
In the last six years, an atmosphere of intimidation has been created in the New York City public schools, as the Department of Education, in the name of “accountability,” has created what amounts to a Surveillance State, if not an actual Police State, in which every teacher, school and principal, are being rated, and evaluated on the basis of student test scores. Instead of spies and informers, the DOE has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on information systems and consultants, which track student performance on the growing number of standardized tests the schools are being deluged with.
And these evaluations are not just informational, Based on the information accumulated, scores of schools have been closed, principals removed, and thousands of teachers reassigned, often against the protests of students, parents and community members in the schools targeted for such action.
These actions, and the arrogant, dictatorial spirit with which they have been enforced, have placed teachers and administrators under incredible stress, especially those working in schools which serve immigrants and children of the poor. With the threat of school closings and reassignment-- if not actual loss of employment-- hanging over their head, and with Big Brother Style Data systems quantifying every minute variation on every test they administer, few teachers or principals dare to question the overall policies which have swept creativity, initiative, and critical thinking out of their classrooms. The result is that the Department of Education, having smothered all internal opposition, has had carte blanche to spend expend extraordinary sums of money on consultants, data systems, and hiring of new administrators, that could have been used to reduce class size throughout the system.
Now, after six years of Mayoral Control, the public is finally waking up to how democracy has been smothered in the nation’s largest public school system, and how favored groups ( charter school administrators, test companies, information system providers) have been allowed to cash in during the creation of the DOE’s Surveillance State.
The gloves are off. All important stakeholders—teachers, students, parents, community leaders- must fight to insure that the free exchange of ideas, inside the classroom and out, is encouraged in the New York City public schools, and that a Police State atmosphere imposed in the name of “accountability” is an unacceptable violation of our liberties, and a terrible example to provide to our youth.
***
Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He is the author of two books, Communists in Harlem During the Depression and White Boy: A Memoir. Naison is also co-director of the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP). Research from the BAAHP will be published in a forthcoming collection of oral histories Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life From the 1930’s to the 1960’s.
