Inside Schools

An excerpt from insideschools.org concerning PS20: "The day of our visit, the gym of PS 20 had been transformed to resemble the school's surrounding community. Instead of leading to storefronts, however, hand-constructed street signs and sidewalks led to class projects celebrating the Lower East Side's history and diversity. Class representatives, from kindergartners to 6th graders, eagerly showed off their projects to visitors, guiding them through laptop computer presentations made using PowerPoint business software. A 3rd grade class had created telephone booth-shaped time machines that transported users to Delancey Street, circa 1983; a 6th grade class had documented examples of neighborhood street art and created a mural reflecting a message they wanted to convey, peace; Chinese bilingual students displayed a history of Chinatown's Mott Street. This bubbly "learning fair" was a project characteristic of PS 20, a school that emphasizes both art and a strong sense of community. Thanks to grants secured by principal Leonard Golubchick, professionals from the Henry Street Settlement, a venerable Lower East Side social service organization, work on all kinds of activities with the kids. The day we visited, for example, 5th graders were learning fundamentals of architecture and split up into teams to propose plans for redesigning part of the school building. Another instructor had first graders doing warm up exercises, allowing them to move around the room and use up excess energy before they began composing a story together. In classrooms of the younger grades, we heard a lot of music. Students read from genuine literature, not textbooks, but the school also places emphasis on phonics. A full-time staff developer for literacy told us that teachers were trained in the Orton-Gillingham method of reading instruction, which relies on structured lessons in phonics and encourages children to see, hear, and even touch letters.

The above was written about PS20 in 2003. I am proud to say that I had a lot to do with the technology aspect of PS20's learning fair over the last several years. I submitted this entry, my name included, to inside schools two weeks ago. So far it has not been posted. "Mindful of the fact that I am a "disgruntled" former staff member, (a part-time retired, mostly pro bono, technology and social studies specialist who was asked to leave for whistle blowing) a visit to this school today would find a place stripped of many of the special things mentioned above. With the retirement of the maverick Dr. Golubchick, the inexperienced and untenured administration is at the mercy of a regional leadership that forces a lock step approach to literacy, i.e. teacher's college reading writing workshop.The "jewel" of the lower east side that Mr. Winerip describes, has probably the most up to date technology equipment in the city. Yet that equipment is used now primarily for programmed fluency instruction instead of constructivist projects. The famed annual learning fair in the gym has had its over ten year history ended.