So rather than cross the lines, they set up informal schools with the help of parents. Many of these same teachers had previously supported school boycotts in favor of integration and had gone South during the Civil Rights Movement where they helped establish the famous Freedom Schools. In these settings, for the first time, many teachers were exercising their professional responsibilities in determining curriculum and social behavior and they were free to be creative, without restriction, from a bureaucratic administration.
In 1968 another teacher strike unfolded, this one directed against the movement for community control, which emerged because the Board of Education failed to integrate schools. With the cooperation of two-thirds of the students, half the faculty, and many parents who maintained the school around the clock, P.S. 84 was a beehive for the duration of the strike. We learned that we could work together harmoniously in an atmosphere of of mutual respect which we saw as basic to a better education for our children.
Sid Morison Principal P.S. 84
In the fall of 1968, the New York City School System was hit by a teacher strike. P.S. 75, along with other schools in the district, elected to remain open. Our parents took over the administrative duties of running the school, helped in classrooms, contributed money, and "slept-in" to keep the doors open. Most important, they began to involve themselves deeply in their children's education. About half of the children and teachers attended everyday. Weekly meetings were held between parents and teachers to discuss problems and goals. Classes became more relaxed and informal, and lesson covered a broader scope. When the strike ended, the group that had been active during the strike continued its investigation into changing the system in order to offfer an enriched and more personal educational experience for every child.
We began working with Lillian Weber's Open Corridor program and an Open Corridor Committee was formed as a parent support group. Through the years, involved parents have been most active in bringing the comfortable sofas, chairs, rugs, lamps and bookcases with which Corridor Classrooms are now equipped. We all learned to walk the streets with an eye out for the rubbish bins and to search our own and friend's apartments for likely discards. Parents have helped make many games and materials for classroom use. They built and painted storage units, painted classrooms, and provided pots, pans, measuring utensils, tools for workbenches, typewriters - all those items never before found in classrooms. Wardrobe trunks were fitted with casters and filled with colorful costumes. Incubators, sandboxes and indoor ponds were built. Animal cages and feed were donated.
Parents with media background have worked with classes in doing films and filmstrips. Musicians have shared their talents. Actors and dancers have taught in their fields. The skills of sewing, cooking, carpentry work and teaching have been utilized. One class was helped by a parent in setting up its own "Wall Street" area where they bought insurance, bought and sold stocks and studied banking. A mini-market was set up in the school where children do comparison shopping, go to the wholesale market to buy food, and run their own co-op, all aided by a number of parents.
Nancy Nilson Co-Chairperson Open Corridor Committee of the Parents Association P.S. 75 Manhattan.
