The ACORN HS for Social Justice?

You would think at a time when ACORN has as much credibility as the climate change hoaxers there would be a rush in education circles to distance themselves from the notorious crime syndicate. But no, as it turns out there exist at least three high schools in New York City associated with ACORN, and two of them have ACORN in their names. It makes you wonder if Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein are even aware of all the problems involving ACORN of late.

As long as Mayor Bloomberg is rolling up his sleeves for a brawl over the new teach ers-union contract, it's time for him to take a swing at another problem that's festered too long: the radicalization of New York's public schools.

A growing number of city schools aim to foster resentment and rage among the most uneducated students. Under the guise of "social justice," the fomenting of racial and socio-economic grievances has supplanted the teaching of basic skills. The result is an even wider gap in learning between the poorest minorities and other students.

The corruption of the curriculum is getting harder to conceal. In the wake of the ACORN scandals, it's more obviously problematic that ACORN is affiliated with three city schools -- including two in Brooklyn bearing the group's name: ACORN Community HS and the ACORN HS for Social Justice.

Karen Watts, the principal of the ACORN HS for Social Justice in Bushwick, seems sensitive to the group's bad publicity: She says ACORN no longer has any involvement with the school. But that's news to Debra Burgess, the school's parent coordinator -- who told me the school's "philosophy" is based around ACORN: "We do have to follow their philosophy, and their philosophy is 'reform and change.' "

There you go: Reform and change. I wonder if reform and change involves arranging for teenage girls to be sold into prostitution and dumping incriminating files?

But teacher activism goes far beyond ACORN. Social justice is the guiding academic principle of more than a dozen city high schools, particularly in the newer crop of smaller schools started by community groups.

* On the home page of Bushwick Community HS, you'll find a large illustration of Che Guevara wearing a graduation cap.

* Last year, the principal of Vanguard HS in Manhattan hosted a "radical math" conference at his school. The event, according to the program, featured a presentation by a teacher at Performing Arts & Technology HS about "how to use the history of the Black Panther Party to fuel an algebraic curriculum."

* The city honors Columbus Day by closing its schools, but at the Bushwick School for Social Justice, students are taught a . . . different perspective. "Our commitment to providing a high-quality, college-preparatory education for our students is critical to our social-justice mission, which is alive in so many ways in our classes. For example, during a unit on the Age of Exploration, our global-history students put Christopher Columbus on trial for his crimes against humanity," wrote a senior Bushwick teacher in a recent job posting.

* At Banana Kelly HS in The Bronx, the social-justice agenda has extended into its discipline policy. The school is experimenting with "restorative justice" techniques -- in which misbehaving or truant students aren't punished but instead asked to participate in trust-building exercises to help them "acknowledge their feelings."

How well is that going? Well, one Banana Kelly student recently posted a YouTube video titled "OnePeriodinBananaKelly." Recording what appears to be a stroll around the school during the middle of the day, the nine-minute continuous clip offers a glimpse into a school utterly lacking in supervision. Bedlam reigns in the hallways, while students play dominoes in the classroom. At no point does a teacher or administrator intervene.

Here's a look at that video, which comes with this description: thiss is uh typical day in banana kelly high school (: . Needless to say, beware the foul language and casual use of the n-word.



If that's a typical day at Banana Kelly you can expect a bleak future for those kids.

By the way, Banana Kelly was not a person. For some background, go here.

Update: A little further look at Banana Kelly led us to none other than ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis. What a surprise. Seems like in some Bronx neighborhoods this group of community organizers known as Banana Kelly isn't too popular. Apparently rife with corruption throughout the 1990s, theirs was a very disorganized community.

As Banana Kelly rebuilds, it now also faces the challenge of reconstructing relations with community residents. It may have a task ahead of it every bit as challenging as its original effort to reclaim the neighborhood. "Yolanda Rivera says: 'It's a new era, you're going to have to give me a chance.' But Banana Kelly has been in transition for a decade," says Marta Rivera. "You mention Banana Kelly and people want to kill you."

Meanwhile, as to the aformentioned ACORN HS for Social Justice, it worth noting their extracurricular activities page.

Our Extra Curricula Activities are endless and effective in the developemnt of our students.

Considering that's a NYC DoE page, maybe someone there could help with their grammar.