ICE PAC (Parent Action/Education Advocacy Committee

Mark your calendars for these upcoming education policy events!

DIANE RAVITCH BOOK TOUR. Tuesday January 21, Park Slope. Carol Burris, the director of the Network for Public Education, will be conversing with noted education historian Ravitch about her latest, Slaying Goliath: the Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools. Come learn and see for yourself why a historian has over 100,000 followers onTwitter! Details here.

OPT OUT FORUM. Thursday January 30, Harlem. State Senator Robert Jackson, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, and candidate for City Council Johanna Garcia are hosting this event, along with grassroots parent and educator groups (which include some ICE parents). We speak openly about test refusal rights at ICE, but that is not the case in many, many schools. Let your networks know about this event, open to parents and students with Spanish interpretation available. Details here.

WHAT SHOULD NY DO ABOUT REGENTS EXAMS? Wednesday Feb 12, Bronx. (Go to the AM session bc our PTA meeting conflicts with the PM session.) At this past Wednesday's PTA meeting, a question was asked about whether there is pushback against the Regents exams (like there is for state 3rd-8th grade tests). ICE is one of a handful of schools statewide that has a waiver from (most) of these exams, but for other students they are unavoidable graduation requirements. HOWEVER, the Board of Regents (the state's governing body for all things education) is doing a "review" of the Regents exams which includes a statewide tour to hear what people think of these tests. The NYC event is on Feb 12 in the Bronx. Details are in this link. You might want to encourage families of children in non-Consortium high schools to attend this meeting and speak up. Among other things, exit exams like the Regents correlate with higher rates of incarceration. Although they have been around for a long time in NY state, they are an anomaly; our state is one of only about 12 that requires them. 

Last but not least: ICE PAC is hosting the Feb 12 PTA Meeting. We will have at least one special guest: Ann Cook of the New York Performance Standards Consortium. Ann is whip smart, a font of knowledge, and very engaging. Don't miss it! More details (including possible other guests) to come. If you would like to help plan this meeting or participate in ICE PAC generally, please get in touch with 10th grade parent Kemala Karmen.