Barring a miraculous turnaround in voting today, Edison Schools Inc. will get trounced in its bid to take over five failing schools in Harlem, The Bronx and Brooklyn.
To win, Edison needs a majority of all eligible parents to vote “yes.” But many parents have yet to vote, and those who sit out the election are counted as “no” votes.
The vote so far has been abysmal. “It’s slow, very slow,” admitted one Edison source.
After nine days of balloting by mail, phone, the Internet and in person, just 36 percent of parents at the five schools had voted.
Final voting occurs today from 7-10 a.m. and 4-8 p.m. Results will be released Monday.
Problems for Edison surfaced early yesterday at PS 66 in The Bronx, a school the for-profit firm believed was winnable.
Schools Chancellor Harold Levy was greeted by more protesters than parent voters when he arrived at about 8 a.m.
“No one can argue that this issue hasn’t been fully debated,” said Levy, who defended giving parents veto power on privatization.
“Parents have to make the choice – not me, not the politicians, not the advocates.”
Six of nine parents interviewed there said they had voted against Edison.
“The Board of Education is just passing the buck to someone else,” said Rick Roebuck, who has a son in kindergarten.
“The board should apply more money to provide better teachers and to lower class sizes.”
Kenneth Wilson, who has two children in the school, said “we hate Edison because they’re going to come in here as a business.”
There were Edison supporters – just not enough of them.
School aide Minerva Beltran, whose daughter is a third-grader at PS 66, said she voted for Edison because of proposals to bolster art and music programs.
Anti-Edison sentiment was strong at PS 161 in Harlem, particularly among longtime residents.
“Edison just didn’t make a good case . . . They also promised new reading programs and a longer school day – we already have that,” said Juana Gomez, who has two kids in the school.