Submitted by Pat Watkins, Nov 6, 2006 20:08

In response to the above article I must take issue with interviewing one parent who seems to be vaguely informed of any changes that have taken place and with the articles overall representation of the exiting PTA as being some group of crazed and irrational war mongers. There is a middle ground and I would like to represent that to you. As a pioneer parent of this school and one with an ear to the ground, I can assure you that the overall parent body was ready to welcome a new principal and continue moving forward with our mission, which is a seamless curriculum and connected culture of learning for grades K-12. We didn't assume that a new administration would have any other goal than celebrating and working with a community that by all accounts was thriving (see test scores). The experiment of NEST+M was a success. Why then would a principal be appointed that would have anything less than the qualificaions needed to run this K-12 (three schools). That is now what many parents are asking and it is not a small percentage of the parent or student body. Dr. Livanis has been an assistant principal of a department of Stuyvesant High School. NEST+M needs a principal who has led at the very least as a full and effective principal in order to have the training and where with all to hold together and shepard 3 separate schools under one roof. But most importantly, the person in charge of NEST+M must be a master communicator if the standards previously set are to remain in tact. A leader who cannot use what the parents have to offer but instead seems to see a PTA as a possible threat to questioning the authority of the DOE, is missing the point. Because of limited resources and mismanagement of the same, public schools cannot set the bar higher without relying on the help of parents to not only offer their time, but their money as well. NEST+M has done that, buying our own brilliant Singapore Math program. These are model changes that the DOE and principals should be learning from, not threatend by. I can only interpret that to be the case when siting the cacellation of a meeting that Dr. Livanis scheduled to address these concerns. Parents were asked to go through the process of submitting questions and concerns in writing and then after making necessary arrangements to attend this very important meeting, had it cancelled without a firm date offered as a make up. If a PTA meeting was so disorderly that it had to be ended the week before, you would think a qualified leader would know what steps were necessary to set her record straight. This did not happen. This is a fact, not an opinion. I cannot understand any parent who at this point would not be concerned about the state of affairs at our school. We need communication from a leader who stands up against all odds. That kind of strength is an absolute must to shepard a school of our magnitude. I hope that we will find the DOE to be prudent enough to reexamine their initial choice and let our school start over with someone who has the passion for such a wonderful opportunity.

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