You may know Debbie Meier as the central figure in the recent Amy Valens documentary Good Morning Mission Hill. It is about an innovative public alternative in the Boston area that Debbie started after leaving the New York City schools. I first met Debbie when I saw her at Central Park East Alternative School decades ago. The school still stands as a testament to what is possible in the public schools. In 2007 Debbie and I went to Russia to participate in the memorial of Alexander Tubelsky, who had started the experimental public school called The School of Self Determination. While there we had hours of communication and discussion to find common ground. Her approach is focused on empowering teachers. My approach is more focused on empowering students. Subsequently Debbie has keynoted several AERO conferences, most recently in 2014 in at LIU Post in New York. Here is her statement about the most recent conflict at CPE.
-Jerry
Here is Debbie's Statement
"Well you know where I stand:
With the majority of parents and staff. It's hard to sustain a school for democracy in a system committed to hierarchy. But CPE survived a lot of indifferent and hostile administrators – in part because it's had friends even in high places. The CPE community needs to unite under interim leadership while it recommits to its original dreams – a school in East Harlem that offers all children what they need to be powerful members of the ruling class–which everyone by right belongs to. 42 years after it was founded is a good moment for such a recommitment. We can't let one more progressive school succumb."
