By Joe Bendel. In New York City, parents who want their children to receive a decent education have to rely on chance. For this sad state of affairs, they can thank the local teachers’ union, the UFT, which consistently places its own special interests above those of New York’s children at every opportunity. Indeed, one can draw no other conclusion after screening Madeleine Sackler’s documentary The Lottery (trailer above), opening today in the city perhaps most in need of its reformist message: New York.
Eva Moskowitz was one of the few relatively moderate Democrats in the New York City Council (and my local council person). After earning union enmity for holding hearings on the teachers’ contract, she was defeated by a vastly less talented candidate for the Manhattan Borough Presidency. Supporting her opponent might have been the union’s biggest mistake. After the election, she moved back up-town, where she opened the Harlem Success Academies, a series of public charter schools that dramatically out-perform the local zip-code schools. Much to the embarrassment of the union and local administrators, over five thousand parents attended the legally mandated lottery to enroll their children in Harlem Success. The Lottery tells their story.
There are many differences between the parents featured in Lottery. Some are single parents, some are immigrants, and some are union members themselves. However, they have two things in common: they all want their children to have greater opportunities in life than they did, but they do not think that is possible if their children attend their failing zip code-zoned public school. In order for their children to be successful, they will have to be lucky in the Harlem Success lottery.
As a charter school, Harlem Success cannot choose its students. There is no skimming cream off the top. By law, if total demand exceeds their total registration, they must hold a lottery for all new incoming students. Of course, that demand is enormous, overflowing the cavernous Harlem Armory Center.
None of this pleases the union, though they declined to explain why on-camera. The only interview participant willing to shill for the UFT is former New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, but she does not make a good spokesman for their interests. Appropriately, we also see the “community organizers” formerly known as ACORN show up to intimidate Harlem Success parents and staff at public hearings. (Karma seems to have caught up with them.)
While Sackler scrupulously avoids the “V” word (‘vouchers’), she leaves no doubt which side the union is on regarding reform. However, as a clear attempt for bipartisan support in Navy Blue New York, she frequently stresses Obama’s ostensive support for charter schools. How that has manifested in tangible benefits for the charter school movement is conspicuously unaddressed throughout the film. Still, Moskowitz and Newark Mayor Cory Booker (also seen in Lottery) are certainly Democrats and deserve tremendous credit for embracing meaningful educational reform. In fact, watching Moskowitz face the current city council’s education committee is some of the most disgusting low comedy you will ever see on film.
While Lottery does not go as far as Bob Bowdon’s The Cartel in advocating reforms for our broken educational system, it is definitely an important companion film. Its profiles of engaged but geographically (and economically) disadvantaged parents are heartbreaking and its depiction of union-inspired demagoguery is truly scandalous. Perhaps even more importantly, it is also a real tribute to Harlem Success’s educators and their students’ academic achievements. A highlight of this year’s recently concluded Tribeca Film Festival, The Lottery is a worthy film that deserves a wide audience. Now playing in New York at the Big Cinemas Manhattan, it opens at Cinema Village this Friday (6/18).
Posted on June 16th, 2010 at 11:37am.
It’s heartbreaking that children today have to enter a lottery to get into a decent school. They deserve so much better than that. How dare the corrupt teacher’s unions try to bully and intimidate those who wish to start better schools that will actually serve their community’s children and allow them to have successful futures?
This trailer was very revealing – just look at the angry looks on the faces of the teachers unions as they try to prevent students from enrolling in this charter school. And look at the anxious and hopeful faces of the parents and their children as they wait to see if they will win a spot in the charter school through the lottery. What’s sad is, most of these Black and Latino families will just continue to vote for the Democrats who support the teacher’s unions and preside over this completely failing education system. Yes, I know, the woman who started this new charter school is a Democrat, but she seems to be very much the exception, not the norm. A lot more Democrats (and Republicans) need to step up to the plate and play hard ball with these teacher’s unions and tell them they can’t just keep neglecting their students while they line their own pockets and stop anyone else from creating better schools. Just throwing more money at public schools won’t solve the problem until these teacher’s unions are reformed.
This is an incredible-looking documentary. These kids should get way better than this. What a scandal that the teacher’s unions would behave this way after all the complaining they do about their salaries, and yet they are getting raises all the time while their students are failing.
I would like to see this but can’t make it to the screenings. Is there any way it will be on Netflix or Amazon VOD soon?