UFT's Receives Criticism Over Lawsuit Over Charter School Co-Location
On Thursday, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) filed a lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education to halt the city's plans for charter school colocations after Mayor Mike Bloomberg leaves office. Currently, the Bloomberg administration is planning charter school co-locations into 2015.
According to GothamSchools, charter school groups and parental choice organizations blasted the lawsuit as a way to halt the growth of charter schools until a more union-friendly mayor enters City Hall next year. StudentsFirstNY's Interim Executive Director Glen Weiner said the lawsuit could trap students at failing public schools with no other alternatives:
"With this lawsuit, the UFT is telling the tens of thousands of parents looking for a better option for their children that the doors of public school buildings are closed to them," said Glen Weiner, interim executive director of StudentsFirstNY, in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to ensure that the judicial process is informed by the view of parents who do not want to see the clock rolled back on their kids."
