Saturday, July 4, 2009

David (Bellel) Does Tony (Avella)

Our ICE/GEM spies at the mayoral candidate forum the other day came away pretty impressed with Tony Avella. Some guy named David (he is ubiquitous) did a tape. NY Times article here.

http://dbellel.blogspot.com/2009/07/tony-avella-on-education.html

3 comments:

JW said...: I've written to Avella to let us know of any ed forums, press conferences, or events we could attend.

I also heard that he gets matching contributions 6:1, in case anyone wants to throw him some bucks. Magnified six times.; 12:19 PM, July 04, 2009
Gary Babad said...: I've dealt with Tony a fair amount through my work. I've found him to be extraordinarily committed, honest and ethical, especially for a politician. I've spoken to him a few times about educational issues, and I think he's as genuinely outraged at the BloomKlein mess as most people I know. I'm glad to see him finally getting some press coverage. His race seemed somewhat quixotic from the start, but he could actually end up being a viable alternative to Thompson if he can garner enough coverage and get better known outside his home district.; 2:21 PM, July 04, 2009
Anonymous said...: FIRE JOEL KLEIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!; 12:57 PM, July 05, 2009

YAY! RBE IS BACK

Reality Based Educator is back blogging at a new blog he is calling "Pedido Street School."

RBE had his own blog and then joined NYC Educator for a time as a co-blogger. WE met once when we attended a funeral for a fellow blogger's relative. In a few hours we touched on just about every topic you could think of from rock 'n roll to Rockaway. His economic, political and educational analysis is always spot on. He gives me some credit for helping drag him back in, but he was clearly ready to jump all on his own.

You can see his opening salvo at http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/

Norman Thomas Protests Closing, Thurs. Jan. 17, 4pm

Nick Licari to Seung Ok

I just wanted to let you know ---if you can inform your staff that we at Thomas are in full solidarity with your struggle. As you know we are also in the same boat. Please inform your staff that we are having two demonstrations against school closings. It will be Thursday, December 17 at 4 PM and building for the Monday, Jan 11 public hearing. Norman Thomas HS is located at 33rd St and Park Ave.

-In Solidarity, Nick Licari.

PS I heard your turnout was great we hope to build on that. Thanks again Nick

MEETINGS IN NYC, PROTESTS, RALLIES, DEMONSTRATIONS

Full descriptions of these events are updated almost daily.

NOTE TO ALL CLOSING SCHOOLS:
Send reps as GEM Meets Monday, Dec. 14, 4:30pm at CUNY. Bring id. Rm 5409 or 5414

While the UFT helps one school at a time, they refuse to recognize this is a citywide battle. We may not win individual battles but we have to make the cost for Tweed a high one in terms of public perception of their actions. That translated to boots on the ground.

Join us at GEM as we figure out a strategy that will make Tweed pay for their actions and might make them think twice before announcing the closing of schools.

Beach Channel HS staff gathers: Tues Dec. 15

UFT Delegate Assembly, Wed. Dec. 16, 4pm at 52 Broadway
Closing of schools will be discussed.
Also that day, Meeting at Jamaica HS
Eterno is in the HOUSE!

Norman Thomas HS Protest, Thurs. Dec. 17. 4pm
(33st and Park Ave.)
Everyone should go to this one as it's in a central location. Let's make this one count in the eyes of the public.

Dec PEP Meeting: Thurs Dec. 17 6pm in the Bronx. Check DOE web site. UFT expects to have a presence.

Organizing activity
PEP Meeting: PAVE extension at PS 15 (Redhook) on agenda
Jan. 26, 2010. In Staten Island at Petrides.

Newcomer HS on Top 10 HS List

Hi Norm!

I thought you'd be interested in this one: Although Newcomers High School has failed to make NCLB's "adequate yearly progress" long enough to put it on the NYC "needs improvement" list, it actually made #6 on "U.S. News & World Report's" top 10 high schools in the U.S. list! Apparently, the magazine uses criteria that actually MATTER!

Amazing! Take THAT, BloomKlein! Check it out at:

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/108337/americas-best-high-schools-2010?mod=edu-k12_education

From a teacher at Newcomers

Portland Schools Go BIG: Reverse Small School Movement

Portland Public Schools wants every high school student to have access to band, choir, career pathways and at least 10 college credit courses. Those opportunities don't exist for all students today.

But to implement this new core program, the state's largest school district is going big, making a 180-degree turn from the small school programs it began just five years ago. Article by Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian, December 07, 2009:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/print.html?entry=/2009/12/portland_pushing_big-school_mo.html

ICE/TJC Pres Candidate James Eterno School to Be Closed

JAMAICA HS SLATED FOR PHASE OUT

We've been worried about it for a long time but it still was a shock today when the DOE announced to us that the 117 year old Jamaica High School would be phasing out.

I spent the afternoon meeting with the Chapter, union officials and the press to make the case for our school.

We hope the readers of this blog will join us and all of the other schools that are on the chopping block to work to organize to oppose these crazy school closings.

Read a previous James Eterno report on Jamaica HS: Separate and Unequal

"New York State Education Department reported that our school was allocated out of Contract for Excellence funds -- $530,123, while our school budget only shows $337,184 in C4E funding. Where is the rest of that money?"

"In grade twelve social studies (participation in government and economics), average class size was 29 in the fall and was projected to be lowered to 27 for the spring. However, with the elimination of one class, class size is now up to 35."

"Furthermore, here at Jamaica High School, two additional classes for students who previously failed social studies have been eliminated thus decreasing student opportunities to make up credits in a proper classroom setting. Instead, three day make-up sessions called “Credit Recovery” have been created where students receive a full class credit for three days of attendance and completion of a project."

Another Open Letter to the State

Arthur Goldstein, ICE/TJC Candidate for UFT High School Executive Board, Columns at Gotham Schools

How to Fix a Trailer in 17 Easy Steps (NEW)

The UFT Contract — Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Chef Boyardee Meets PEP

Compra Uno, Paga Dos (Buy One, Pay For Two)

Overcrowded, Oversized, and Overlooked

On Tuesday morning bright and early, I drove to Forest Hills, Queens, and took the E train all the way down to the American Arbitration Association. I had to go there because Francis Lewis High School has 73 oversized classes.

How to Lower Class Size Without Lowering Class Size

One Hot Blog Post from CAPE

Another one slammed out of the park by the CAPErs.

Commentary on the NY Times article on shared space in public schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/education/30space.html

What can money buy you in New York City? Apparently not your own real estate. Instead, these corporate backed, millionaire and billionaire donor driven private companies and organizations, use public money and public resources to fund their school experiments.
----
Their money buys fancy computers, paint, and new furniture. It buys them glossy flyers, robo-calls, mailers, and t-shirts. It can buy them press coverage, even the final say in the New York Times!
----
Money can buy you power, and in NYC, money and power go a long way. What our neo-liberal and conservative friends fail to see however, because their money blinds them, is the ultimate consequence of their race to the top, their greed, their pestilence; the undermining of our society, the destruction of our democracy, the ruin of what it is that makes us great; an ideal that in this country all are created equal, that we have rights, and among them, we decided long ago, is the right to a free and fair public education that rejects separate but equal and seeks to prepare thoughtful citizens of the world.

Money can buy you a school in New York City. It can buy you stolen goods off the backs of our children and their schools and it can place you on the front lines of a movement to dismantle public education. Luckily for us, the parents of teachers of CAPE, we don't have money. All we have is our integrity, truth, and honor. We have our voices and together we call for the protection and preservation of public education and our community public schools.

READ IT ALL AT:

What Your Money Can and Cannot Buy

Rhee Redux

Read Bryon York's follow-up to the story of Chancellor Michelle Rhee's involvement as a fixer to cover up accusations against her current fiance, Kevin Johnson, of sexual misconduct against minors in his charter school, http://tinyurl.com/y9yehjv. This is a major story. Rhee was a board member of Johnson's school, and she's now Chancellor of a school system. If it's proven that she tried to cover up sexual advances to minors by a school official with whom she was romantically involved, she should be disqualified from working in any responsible position with any school system.

Gary Imhoff, themail@dcwatch.com

Charter Redux: The Continuing Education of Mrs. Ross at NY Magazine

The charter school comedy act gets more and more bizarre.

I once read a bio of Courtney Ross' deceased husband Steve, who used his first wife's family mortuary business (he was a poor kid from Newkirk Ave.) to build the Time-Warner empire. Courtney Ross is his third wife and a self-proclaimed educator (you can learn so much home-schooling your kid and spending millions).

Ross caused a major dustup at NEST which led to the principal founder losing her head, was placed at Tweed where they were not exactly well-loved, and are now in another school.

Read all about it at: http://nymag.com/news/features/29724/

Help Build A Progressive Movement in the UFT

Get involved with the ICE/TJC slate in the upcoming election season starting in January. ICE is actively recruiting candidates to run. ICE needs people in the schools to distribute literature and advocate for the slate in your schools to counter the massive Unity Caucus machine which has people placed in every school and uses your dues money which pays all the salaries to electioneer. ICE needs people to get out the vote (a mail-in ballot), check the ICE/TJC slate and send it in. In the last election in 2007, only 22% of the working teachers voted.

ICE blog ICE main site

Read the full ICE platform at UFT Elections 2010

Sick of Unity Caucus controlling the UFT for 45 years?
The UFT leadership is the true Manchurian Candidate, the enemy within.

Help to build a base that can become an alternative to Unity.

Make sure to check out sections of the dynamic and progressive platform at the new ICE election blog: UFT Elections 2010

MUST READS ON CHARTERS- Last Updated Oct. 1

Two GEM NYC Teachers on "The Charter School Invasion of Harlem"

Duncan Donuts with Arne!

Gingrich, Sharpton, and Duncan Do Education

DANNY WEIL LAYS OUT THE PLAN: 75% OF ALL SCHOOLS TO BE CHARTERED
by Danny Weil / September 19th, 2009

http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/duncan-donuts-with-arne/comment-page-1/

The Charter Schools Gamble

Speculating on Education

By DANIEL WOLFF

"We’re not speculators. We’re investors.” So says the CEO of a real estate trust that recently sunk some $170 million into 22 charter schools.

http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/2009/09/charter-schools-gamble.html

Articles of Interest (Check Norms Notes for numerous articles of interest)

Schools Matter reports

A big piece of the corporate reform model for urban American schools requires a permanent stream of Teach for America 2 year temps to fill the vacant positions that no teacher wants when your status and salary are determined by results on standardized tests that your impoverished students are sure to fail in large numbers.

TFAers learn everything they need to know about teaching in a five-week miracle summer course, and then are handed teacher-proof scripted programs built on behavior modification and parrot learning. This is the preferred solution for "highly-qualified" teachers for poor children, particularly if they can be placed in charter schools that are not bound by collective bargaining agreements. (As a Mass. DESE Factsheet states, a charter school "has the freedom to organize around a core mission, curriculum, theme, and/or teaching method and to control its own budget and hire (and fire) teachers and staff.")

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that TFa's entry into Massachusetts schools this year has been accompanied by some special considerations for the Yale and Brown grads who have decided to do some resume building while the Depression lasts:

TFA's Ivy League Missionaries Get Preferential Contracts in Boston

The Caroline Hoxby Charter School Study and the State of Education Reporting

Capitalism and Social Policy

A wonderful piece at the CAPE blog that puts the ed deform movement in a nutshell:

"We cannot mention enough the concern we have that those that believe in the free-market, to the extent that capitalism has become an ideology rather than an economic system, have taken over the education reform movement."

It's a short but very effective piece that shouldn't be missed.

NEW YORK REGION | October 07, 2009
About New York: A Last Batch at a Bakery in the Bronx
By JIM DWYER
The Stella D'oro bakery in Kingsbridge is scheduled to close within the next week or so, costing 155 jobs and ending a business started in 1932 that had a devoted following.

From an observer in Rheeland: It is not calm in DC actually

Students were protesting and I have a feeling this is just the beginning. It gets even worse. I forgot to tell you this little tidbit. I don't know if it hit the news in NYC but... the contracted company that supplies the DC school system with its guards in the high schools wasn't getting paid in a timely fashion from DC so much so that the company went "belly up" and suddenly told its employees they no longer had jobs. So there were high schools all over the city without guards. Rhee tells the principals that the teachers need to fill in as this is an emergency situation. So all these teachers do not get lunch or preps and find themselves being forced to act as school security guards. Yipes!!! Then it was on the news that the DC police were going to try and step in until a new security firm could be hired. DC is definitely a mess.

Why are Chapter Leaders denied access to full budget sharing informantion?

See an update on this issue from Jeff Kaufman:

Sharing Budget Information with Your UFT Chapter Leader: A Tale of Two Spins

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "UFT Loses Budget Sharing Arbitration":

The full view budget from the galaxy provides a great deal of information. For instance, in the persession and Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS) you will see two columns on the right-hand side. One column shows the amount of money allocated for each category and the column to the left of it shows the amount of money committed or the amount already spent. It also shows the job ID for each line in the budget and the allocation funding line. It is more comprehensive than the SLT view. Trust me you will see a BIG difference.

Ed Note: principals always had too much power. Under Bloomklein it is ridiculous. Many manipulate things to create jobs for certain associates. Teachers and parents should be able to have full access to the budget info.

How Unity Controls the Delegate Assembly

A Brooklyn chapter leader writes:

You have to understand how they "pack" and control the DA. Most people sit with their District Representative. They are afraid to vote against the person who is helping them. Most of us are not experts on the contract and regulations. We depend on the DR's for information. (I have learned to find my information elsewhere....I know who to call for para issues, licensing, etc...to bypass my DR). Also there is a bit of the "mob" mentality working in the DA. Unity places their people at the ends of almost every other isle. They start the cheers and groans going and everyone joins in.

Ed Note: full-time UFT staffers often catcall and boo. One in particular at the Sept. DA was observed repeatedly booing speakers critical of the union position.

George Schmidt on the Upcoming Chicago Union Elections at Substance News

Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE)

Concerned Advocates: We are a group of parents and educators, rising up from Red Hook, Brooklyn. We have come together to bring our voices and our experiences to the education reform debate. We are members of an educational community in Red Hook, Brooklyn and seek to share our successes and offer grave warnings and reservations about charter schools and the privatization movement, based on our first hand experiences as an AAA school who has been forced to building share with a charter school.

CAPE will be blogging at
http://www.capeducation.blogspot.com/

Seattle Ed Blog Loaded With Resources

http://seattle-ed.blogspot.com/

This blog represents a compilation of information that has been gathered over the last year by concerned parents and educators who are a part of the Seattle Public School system.

There will be recommended web site readings on a variety of subjects but our initial focus will be on charter schools, the presence of the Broad Foundation within SPS and alternative school programs in Seattle.

Due to the amount of information that has been found, articles will be uploaded on a daily basis.

Our goal is to have an informed public on issues that affect us in Seattle as it relates to public school education.

Sue Peters
Dora Taylor
seattle.ed2009@gmail.com

Thanks to Susan Ohanian for the tip.

Diane Ravitch on The Charter School Invasion in Los Angeles

Diane Ravitch in the LA Times
The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District is opening 50 schools over the next few years and considering a proposal to allow some or all to be privately managed. Before taking this step, the board should take a hard look at the evidence about charter schools and privately managed schools.

And Ralph Shaffer in the Daily News, says:
"Has Green Dot really tamed the Locke students? There is a mistaken assumption that the same kids who previously caused disruptions are still on campus. Since Green Dot didn't want them, they either dropped out or are causing problems at another traditional school."

Read it at: http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_12985055?source=rss

The biased LA Times series on Green Dot takeover of Locke HS in LAUSD reveals more than intended. This comment was left at the Perimeter Primate:

"Clearly, throughout the series, the writer is spinning for Locke the whole time, but has enough honesty (or carelessness) in this section to let some tellingly truthful details of actual student behavior slip out."

http://www.latimes.com/la-ed-locke25-2009jun25-test,0,2545367.story

Lackluster test results for Mayor Villaraigosa's high-profile schools and Locke High
"The two highest-profile school-reform efforts in Los Angeles — the mayor’s schools and the conversion of Locke High into six charter schools — achieved lackluster results in state test scores released this morning.

The picture was mixed for 10 schools overseen by appointees of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. At one school, Markham Middle School in Watts, test scores declined slightly. On the brighter side, test scores bumped up strongly at 99th Street Elementary.

Overall, scores at these schools rose, but so did scores at most other district schools, and the mayor’s schools did not ostensibly separate themselves from the pack."

Charter Schools and Tracking

Lisa has left a new comment on your post "What's wrong with charter schools?":

Thanks for getting this posting some of the air it deserves, Norm.
I think ceolaf is right about a great number of things, and particularly appreciate his systemic, meta-view of these hot button issues.

I want to substantiate a few of the points raised in this post:

1. "Charterness" is not a condition for school innovation.

Just as the reverse is not true(a a charter school is by definition innovative), public schools that are NOT charters can be innovative.
The original small schools movement of the late 80's and early 90's (now coopted and transformed by Gates/DoE)spawned a number of pedagogically innovative schools.
In District One, educators, administrators and community members started a handful of still popular and sucessful small schools within schools to pull back the fleeing local residents into public schools.
Those Dewey-based, child-centered schools offered curriculae based on whole language, constructivist math, mixed age groupings, integrated curriuculum projects and portfolio evaluation

2. Tracking on a large scale does indeed exist.
Gifted and Talented and CTT programs are used as sorting hats that are increasing racial isolation in many schools and communities.
I would like to be able to substantiate this trend in the latest round of admissions, but as usual, have no access to that data from DoE yet (believe me I try)!

3. Special Ed service availability is, as ceolaf suspects, one more way to segregate and track:
The two (soon to be 3) charter schools serving the District One community offer NO CTT or self contained classes.
The "other public" district schools operate with plenty of both (w/ the exception of a few elite schools- a citywide K-12th G and T , a "dual language" Manadarin pre-k through 8th grade program and an elite selective HS), yet the charters offer no more than SETTS services to students.
Despite the rhetoric of least restrictive environments and innovative methods for servicing students with special needs that you may hear from the OCS patricians, parents with kids with IEPs that require more services or more restrictive environments know that they need not apply to these schools.

I'd be happy to share more information on or off line on any of this.

Related:
NYC Educator:
Charter School Deems Kid Too Dangerous to Be Around Students or Faculty, Sends Him to Public School

Quotable Quotes

Let's talk about...

... a Chancellor with real "Education Credentials"!

... term limits for members of the PEP!

... a CEC for each district with authority to influence policy!

... a two year suset for the bill!

... the No Bid Contracts!

... the Unfair Labor Practices(U ratings and Rubber Rooms)!

... the Independent Auditor and Inspector General to check the books!

... about Union Busting!

... a Commission for Public Education!

See links for videos of the press conference at City Hall, Tuesday, July 28th posted on youtube (thanks to David Bellel):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjXgO7kdQkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGhzdPJh3S4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjRThS4D4nw

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

Charter School Watch in NYC

Charter Schools Debated after Arthur Goldstein article on PS123/Harlem Success - at Gotham Schools
http://gothamschools.org/2009/07/14/a-question-i-have-heard-of-the-success-of-charter-schools/#comments

_______________

Do Charters Cream? Try The Intake Game
proofoflife has left a new comment on your post "Why Black and Latino Parents Need To Be Leery of C...":

I recently had a conversation with a friend ( teacher) who works at a charter. She is doing the intake. This means a group of teachers go to the house of the "choosen" few to read them the "riot" act on expectations for behavior and for academics. She said that several of the parents lied about their child having an IEP to get their foot in the door. Once in, the school is unable to provide the services mandated on the IEP. I asked if the school would then "kick" the kids out. She said they weren't allowed to do that , but they would then send the "troops" back into the home to convince the parents that their child was in the wrong setting. In this sense I smell segregation, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
___________

From Sheepshead Bay Bites
Fidler on Brooklyn Dreams Charter: We Don't Want It!

_____________
Posted Aug. 4
Join the debate at Gotham on the PS 123/HSA controversy
______________

July 28, 2009
Using the crisis to push charters

Gillian Russom, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles, describes how budget cuts are being used to push the charter school agenda. We got to hang out with Gillian in LA at the MultiCityTeacherConf. from July 29-31, 2009.

____________________

Do Charter Schools Cream? Does Gravity Exist?

Read the report of a rally at PS 123 at the GEM blog.
PS 123 and Harlem Success: not separate, not equal.

This follows the Daily News report about charters tossing certain kids back into the public schools:

Charter schools pawn off flunking students, says public school principal

There were principals speaking up at the Brooklyn Dreams charter school hearing. They seems as disturbed as anyone at the charter school invasion.

DOE Press chief David Cantor again jumped into the fray at the NYC Ed listserve and the back and forth over there has been fun to watch, as usual.

Wash DC Blog: Teachers and Parents for Real Education Reform

An initiative of teachers and parents in the DC Public Schools aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning. We aim to get the administration and the union focused on what matters -- support for high quality teaching.

http://realeducationreformdc.blogspot.com/

Remember how Rhee/Klein et al always say how until they came along schools were for adults and not children. So, eat this (from Bill Turque on the Washington Post as reported at Schools Matter.)

Critics call Saturday Scholars and programs like it "educational triage" that focuses disproportionate attention on students who require the least help.

Kerry Sylvia, a social studies teacher at Cardozo High School, said Saturday Scholars was less about serving children and more about making the adults who run the school system look good.

Teachers Unite is doing what the UFT has failed to do

CORE member Jackson Potter spoke on the closing panel

UFT Brochure: How to Run a Chapter Election

UFT Brochure: How to Run a Chapter Election

Click on link to download pdf from the ICE web site.

WARNING: FOLLOW EVERY RULE, PARTICULARLY IF YOU ARE NOT UNITY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE VIEWED AS SUSPECTED OF DABBLING WITH THE OPPOSITION. THEY WILL RULE AGAINST YOU FOR SPITTING ON THE SIDEWALK.

proofoflife said...

Having held elections already, I caution everyone to go exactly by the book. My victory is being challenged by one ass kissing principal's puppet on the fact that I did not put the notice of elections in everyone's school mailboxes. It didn't matter that I emailed everyone on several ocassions, spoke at numerous Chapter meetings, posted the pull- out with instructions on two bulletin boards, and have been under constant attack and threats from the principal's and her cronies. NO, none of this matters.Not to mention I won by a landslide. Are there any risks to your career?? YES, YES, YES and to your SANITY!!!Good luck!

UNITY PREFERS AN ASS-KISSING SUCK-UP TO THE PRINCIPAL ANY DAY OVER A CL WHO WILL RIGOROUSLY DEFEND THE MEMBERS.

Eduwonkette on the New Teacher Project Report

A point of clarification on this point from the New Teacher Project’s report that you cited, i.e. “By September 2007, unselected excessed teachers from 2006 were six times as likely to have received a prior “Unsatisfactory” rating as other New York City teachers.”

If you read the footnotes in their report, 81 percent of teachers in the ATR have never received an Unsatisfactory rating. Only 6 percent of all teachers in the ATR - about 14 teachers - have received an unsatisfactory rating more than once in their careers.

Beyond these facts, I have no idea to what extent this pool represents great or terrible teachers, and the important point to remember is that no one really knows. It’s not reasonable or fair to indict the entire group based on the very misleading “six times” TNTP sound bite. If someone else applied this kind of statistical discrimination to other groups - for example, by establishing the probability of an outcome like incarceration or welfare receipt by gender, class, or race and characterizing the entire group - we would all be up in arms.

posted at Gotham Schools

Letter from a NYC School Supervisor

A reminder to King Bloomberg who claims "the professionals support my educational policies":

Arne Duncan was a professional BASKETBALL PLAYER
and Joel Klein a professional LAWYER. The only thing either of these two has ever tried to do with Public education is privatize it, because neither one of them has ever been a successful teacher or school leader and thus, has no idea of how to improve public schools.

Ask yourself why there are no Charter schools in the suburbs. It is because the parents would not allow their schools to be taken over by a bunch of privateers.

Enough already! Give New York City parents the same quality Public Schools they are entitled to instead of trying to give their schools to private companies who get rich off of our kids .

Tracking the Charter School Debates

We've reached the bizzarro stage where Eva Moskowitz, miffed that her real estate grab for publicly funded NYC school buildings went awry, incites parents in Harlem to demand the DOE close the local zoned school when the DOE rescinded its plan to close PS 241 after the NYCLU and UFT filed suit.

In preparation for the upcoming conference on charter schools to be held in NYC on April 27, we are listing some useful resources.

Olson Online: They don't serve the common good. They benefit some students --usually the more advantaged-- at the expense of others. Bite the bullet: get rid of school choice.More pros and cons for charters and choice

Perimeter Primate: Comparing parent education backgrounds in charter and public schools opens a window on creaming.

Charter School Tactics

Charter Schools and the Attack on Public Education
LA teacher Sarah Knopp nails it.

Sara Mosle at Slate with a balanced view of KIPP
"What the Knowledge Is Power Program has yet to prove." http://www.slate.com/id/2214253/

MORE ON CHARTERS:
http://aplacetorespond.blogspot.com/2009/02/public-schools-outperform-private.html

Bloomberg to Host Charter School in Living Room

Hey Oakland, you’re being duped!

http://education.change.org/blog/view/the_case_for_charter_schools_part_three

DEFEND PUBLIC EDUCATION, COUNTER THE EDUCATION DEFORMERS

Educational “reforms” which exclude some students from the process, focus heavily on standardized testing and attack teachers unions and teachers’ rights, while not addressing the fundamental problems of apartheid-like school segregation and school overcrowding are not reforms at all. We believe in fighting for a quality, well-rounded education for all regardless of socioeconomic or racial background. Quality education will require the democratic input of parents, students and educators.

NYC is at the center of these proposals for "reform". What we do in NYC will help to set the educational agenda for the rest of the country.

SEE MY VIDEO ON HARLEM SUCCESS RALLY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp7rg_L5JI

The Myth of the Powerful Teachers' Union
A must read!
http://www.counterpunch.org/macaray03202009.html

A Tale of Two Rallies

Watch the rank & file hold their own spirited rally while the UFT staff holds a wine and cheese infomercial.

See Randi Weingarten scream, "Norman, put down that camera!"

Hear her approach me near Tweed and ask me to hand over the tape.

No wonder she pushed through a gag-rule resolution at the Jan. 28 Delegate Assembly (read James Eterno's account at the ICE blog.)

See the two-part video:

The Video the UFT Doesn't Want You To See: The ATR Rally

Related: Accountable Talk's brilliant critique of Randi's recent job fair letter. Break A Leg, ATRs

NYC Schools Protest Closings

The UFT calls school closings a fait accompli.

We are going to have to try to stop the insanity on our own.

ICE has been distrtibuting leaflets at the schools slated to close. If you are at one of these schools contact us.

School closings and the ATR situation are obviously related.

Now we have added the issues of teacher data reports and high stakes testing. We are holding our next committee meeting jointly with Justice Not Just Tests on Tues. Mar 10 at CUNY, 5th Ave and 34th st, rm 5414 from 4:30-6:30 (ok to come late.) Open to all interested parties as we try to develop a strategy to force the UFT to act in our interests.

Rallies at PS/IS 72
Brandeis HS
IS 399X are covered at:

Can the UFT Be Forced to Act on School Closings?

MS 399 had a previous rally on Dec 17 -
MS399 Protest against closing/phase out designation
ICE's Angel Gonzalez made a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqGPK_kK3MA&feature=channel_page

Brandeis HS rally video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ66wzQIWUk

Thanks to the great effort of the Brandeis Staff, Students, Parents and Community. Let's organize citywide and put the pressure on the powers that be to stop this government assault on education.

Chapter leaders and teachers from other non-closing schools came out in support.

History/structure of the UFT

One of the fun things about doing this organizing thing is meeting young teachers who are interested in how the UFT operates. The tough thing is knowing where to start and putting it all in context.

I did a presentation for the NYCORE Labor Study ITAG, part of a 6 week examination of the role of teacher unions and labor in general. There was just to much material to spill out in 2 hours as I tried to cover the entire history of the union from the 1920's (thanks to Bruce Markens for his superb memory.)

I am developing materials for further refinement which will be posted at Norms Notes. I'm starting with a flow chart and will add text later. This is a work in progress that will be refined to hopefully make it useful to use with teachers who want to know more about the union.

The first chart is a monster on the formal structures of the UFT: AdCom, Ex. Bd., DA and how they all get chosen. Sitting on top of it all is an institution not mentioned in any formal UFT materials: Unity Caucus.

UFT Primer

50 Excellent Blogs About Education Reform

From Online Schools

Education Notes Online. Covering educational issues important to New York and nationally, this blog features news and events to help readers become a part of the solution.

Ok. Whitney Tilson, Joe Williams –- gag, gag– and other ed deformers are also listed. But we're proud to be in the company of these friends.

NYC Educator. This New York educator blogs about educational politics and policy as they related to New York and education in general.

Bridging Differences. This blog offers the perspective of two women often at odds, but united on changing education policy for the best.

GothamSchools. Written by two education reporters, this blog focuses on what is working and what needs to be changed in New York schools.

Fiction Writing

Vinoad Senguttuvan
Vinny is part of the fiction writers group I work with and is a superb writer. He just had this story published at:

http://pequin.org/archives/2008/vinoadsenguttuvan/pet.php

and this one is at

http://johnnyamerica.net

Vinny's story "Still Life" got published,
http://www.ducts.org/content/still-life

A new short story got published online, http://www.wordriot.org/template_2.php?ID=1976

Also, Vinny wrote a long article for an Indian magazine called the Caravan. It reviews an Iraqi-Kurdish film Turtles Can Fly and also talks about the socio-political aspects. The current issue is online, http://caravanmagazine.delhipress.in/.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

3 comments:

Do these people have no shame?

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