11th anniversary book 114 FINAL online - Flipbook - Page 33
Gil Bernardino and Sarah Brewster waited anxiously for the week of December 8th, 2008 to arrive. During
that week, new charter schools were added to the Board of Regents agenda for approval for the Monday and
Tuesday, December 15th and 16th meetings. Despite confirmation from the Office of Public School Choice
that they had submitted Evergreen’s name for inclusion on the agenda, Evergreen’s name was notably absent
from the list of schools that had been approved for consideration and included in the agenda. By 5:00 p.m. on
Friday, December 12th, Evergreen’s name was still not included on the agenda for approval for the December
Board of Regents meetings.
In private conversations with representatives from the Office of Public School Choice, it became apparent
that there were individuals in high positions of political power that were working to keep Evergreen Charter
School off the agenda. If Evergreen was not on the agenda, it could not be voted on and would not get a
charter to operate.
Círculo’s holiday party was on the calendar for December 12th. It was supposed to be a night of celebration.
Sarah Brewster stayed in the office late that evening preparing a draft letter to send to political leaders and
making phones calls before finally arriving near the end of the party. At the holiday party, Gil asked for
support and we shared what had transpired. We told our Círculo family and supporters that we would fight to
have justice for our school. That weekend Gil and Sarah worked to finalize a letter that was faxed and emailed
to over forty political leaders and individuals in positions of power including the Governor, the Commissioner
of the Department of Education, and many others. The question Círculo wanted an answer for was why
our school was being kept off the agenda when every other school recommended by the Office of Public
School Choice for the December Board of Regents meetings was included.
Gil and Sarah drove up to Albany very early Monday, December 15th, together with our friend, Welquis
López. At 8:00 in the morning, while on the road, they received a call from a representative in the Office of
Public School Choice who informed them that the advocacy efforts over the weekend worked. Evergreen
was back on the agenda! That person indicated that a call had been received from the Commissioner and he
wanted to know personally why Evergreen was kept off the agenda as per our correspondence.
Someday we will publicize the name of the person in the Commissioner’s office who was in charge of the
agenda and kept Evergreen out. There were also significant protests by union representatives and others
who did not want to have another charter school on Long Island, especially one sponsored by a Hispanic
organization.
Later that same day, we met with members of the Board of Regents to discuss the situation. It was apparent that
even though we were put back on the agenda, there were strong political forces at work that were determined
that our school was not going to be approved. We consulted with several Regents who agreed to meet with us
after the scheduled meetings for the day. They explained that unless we had sufficient votes for the December
16th meeting, our best strategy was to postpone a vote on our school until the January meeting. Voting was
scheduled for Tuesday, December 16th. Gil, Sarah and Welquis drove to Albany again early Tuesday morning
for the vote. Gil received word that because some Regents who supported our application were absent that
day, a recommendation would be made to postpone Evergreen’s vote until the January 2009 meeting. Only
the vote for Evergreen was tabled and postponed until January; all the other schools were approved without
opposition. It was certainly an eye-opening experience to understand the power of people in political positions
and the power of teacher unions who kept our school off the agenda and had the ability to nearly stop our
school from ever getting approved.
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