The New York City Parents Union is a student rights advocacy organization, formed in 2011 by President Mona Davids. According to its mission statement, the group seeks to make high-quality public education available to the children of New York, through "empowering parents, supporting school choice, advocacy, legislation and lawsuits."[2] It has been at the center of a number of high-profile lawsuits, most notably the case now known as Davids v. New York, which was closely patterned after a similar case, Vergara v. California. Davids v. New York was eventually consolidated with a similar suit known as Wright v. New York that fellow school reformer Campbell Brown, head of Partnership for Educational Justice, had announced she would file on behalf of seven New York parents. The Davids v. New York lawsuit aims to invalidate New York State teacher-tenure laws,[3][4] but has since stalled after a California Court of Appeal ruled in April 2016 that "plaintiffs failed to establish that the state's tenure laws violate students' constitutional rights to equal protection".[5]
 Logo | |
| Abbreviation | NYCPU |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2011 |
| Type | Education advocacy group |
| Legal status | Unofficial/unlisted[1] |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Location |
|
Region | New York City |
| Methods | Empowering parents, supporting school choice, advocacy, legislation and lawsuits |
Membership | 9,000 (unverified)[1] |
President | Mona Davids |
Vice-President | Sam Pirozzolo |
| Website | www |
President Mona Davids and Vice President Sam Pirozzolo are frequent commentators on current events in New York education, and are vocal critics of the mayor,[6] the New York City Department of Education's leadership, and the public school system.[7] In addition to their opposition to certain tenure protections, their commentaries have been published widely regarding a number of other contentious issues, including opposition to the use of bathrooms by transgender students,[8] criticism of credit recovery programs intended to boost graduation rates,[9] and expressing concern for the situation of minority students and teachers, including the controversial firing of two untenured African American teachers and alleged discrimination against a third black teacher by a principal at a Queens high school.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b Ford, Ruth (17 August 2015). "Who Exactly is the New York City Parents Union?". City Limits. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ^ NYCPU. "Mission". Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ^ Brown, Stephen Rex. "Lawsuit challenging teacher tenure filed by parents' reform group". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ Ferrante, Keith J. "NYSUT allowed to intervene in tenure case". Legislative Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ United Federation of Teachers (14 April 2016). "Appeals court reverses ruling in California's anti-tenure lawsuit". UFT. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ^ Associated Press. "De Blasio calls for more early literacy and computer science programs in classrooms". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ Chapman, Ben. "NYC schools chancellor vows to improve classroom diversity". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ Algar, Selim (17 May 2016). "Parents fear 'predatory' kids will take advantage of trans bathroom policy". New York Post. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ Davids, Mona (7 August 2015). "The great diploma scam robs all city schoolkids — including mine". New York Post. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ Chapman, Ben. "Elected officials call for firing of racist Queens principal". Retrieved 2 August 2016.
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