Ed Notes Extended

Friday, November 23, 2007

Sullivan and Liebman Jousting Match at PEP


Manhattan appointee Patrick Sullivan and Tweed Chief Accountability Officer James Liebman joust at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting in September over the interpretation of parent surveys - do parents want more or less test prep? Were desires for lower class size purposely minimized?

Some of the looks on Patrick's face are priceless as Liebman dissembles.
Are you surprised to see te fog roll in and out as Klein and Liebman talk?
And note Klein's usual attention to his Blackberry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11q3uZtePCE

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing that. Patrick is fantastic. I really enjoyed watching Klein play with his blackberry during the precedings.

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  2. Amazing that Tweed dumps all that stuff together to minimize class size. Amazing that the chancellor plays with his Blackberry during these meetings.

    Great film.

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  3. Re: "Amazing that the Chancellor plays with his Blackberry during these meetings"

    What's the surprise? Throughout my first 3020-a Kangaroo Trial, the Hearing Officer, Martin Scheinman, Esq. never stopped using his Blackberry.

    Maybe the Great Pretender-Joel Klein, Esq. was sending the Hearing Officer his daily marching orders. Or asking his advice on a new addition to his 565 Park Ave. co-op.

    It would be interesting to have a respected Psychiatrist do a study on the psychological dynamics that make people, especially men like Klein more addicted to their Blackberry's than an addict is to his needle. Or a hunter to his hunting rifle. Of course we know what that's about. Maybe the addiction of certain mid-life crisis, age men to their Blackberries has the same Psychological roots.

    Remind me to ask Dr. Ruth about that next time I bump into her.

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  4. As one of the "outside experts" that Liebman invokes, I can tell you that the city ignored much of the advice we offered about the technical aspects of the survey. So I'm not happy to hear him invoking us to justify a poorly-constructed survey item and dubious interpretation of the results.

    As for Klein and the Blackberry, it's characteristic of much of the Tweed team to check their e-mail constantly ... it's always more interesting and important to them than whatever else they are doing. I'd *like* to think that it's because the work they do involves "putting out fires," but my suspicion is that it's primarily about damage control, and wanting to "spin" the way in which the DOE is being perceived by outsiders.

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  5. Oh and Randi isn't addicted to her blackberry?

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