Two Press Conferences, a 3020 Hearing, a Brooklyn GEM Meeting and a Bloomberg Watch Meeting

There are lots of activities to check out today.

First up will be the continuation of the ridiculous attempt to terminate David Pakter at his 3020a hearing over his giving kids with 90 averages expensive watches from his own watch company and his buying of artificial plants for his school. Hearing date after hearing date. Paying a hearing officer and lawyers and taking principals and APs out of their schools for days at a time. Across the street from Tweed. (See David's note below.)

If you noted the comment in the side bar on Frank McCourt, he would be as likely to have been sent to a 3020a hearing as David. Imagine the hearing. "You mean you tell kids stories? How will THAT close the achievement gap?) In the world of BloomKlein, there is no room for iconoclastic teachers.

Then at 12:30 there will be a press conference at City Hall with the state senators who Bloomberg compared to Chamberlain (Neville or Jaba?) or Nazis or something like that. For the best summary out there of what has transpired so far, read Jason Horowitz at http://www.politickerny.com/4593/bloomberg-dives-steaming-pile-alban

Following that will be a rally/demo at Tweed over the charter school invasions in schools in Harlem. 1:30.

See, I never have to leave the area. Up to this point.

Then it's off to a meeting in Brooklyn of the brand new Brooklyn GEM committee which is meeting with the crew from CAPE at 5pm.

The final event is the Fed UP NY Bloomberg Watch meeting where they will be distributing news letters. See Mike Dang's comment below. 6pm

Leonie writes about the City Hall and Tweed events and has some comments on other issues.

There will be a press conference tomorrow, Thursday July 23, at 12:30 PM with the Senators who are fighting for changes in the Padavan/Silver bill that would rubber stamp mayoral control. Please stand up for those who are standing up for a better school system, one that’s based on listening to parents, teachers, and actually improving classroom conditions rather than based on expensive and wasteful private contracts and inflated test score results.

At 1:30 P.M. tomorrow, there will be a rally with the parents and staff from PS 123/PS 197/PS 375 on the steps of Tweed, where charter schools are being forcibly inserted into their buildings – creating adverse learning conditions for the children in those schools.

Come join us at these two events!

In recent days there have been two important audits from the City Comptroller’s office as regards the manipulation of graduation rates, and lax monitoring of the test score results. For the graduation rate story, read this article in today’s Daily News, and check out the audit itself here; http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/audit/07-21-09_ME09-065A.shtm

The audit found that in the cases of 20% of the students sampled who were reported as having graduated, they did not have the required attendance rate of 90%. In 30% of cases, their transcripts had at least one change made in their original grades or credits.

The changes generally reflected improvements in students’ grades; some of them resulted in students passing classes that they were previously recorded as having failed,” the audit said. The DOE does not dispute any of the above findings, but claims that in most cases of changes in grades or credits, students performed “make up work” or “independent study” after failing the course, as solely verified by the principal’s statement.

When a principal’s bonus or continued employment depends upon rising graduation rates, this should not be considered sufficient proof. In fact, this audit reveals that the practice of credit recovery is far more widespread than originally suspected. More than 20% of the students had changes in their transcripts within a month of graduation — sometimes for courses taken in previous years. Some of these changes were made after the student had already graduated!
For today’s test score audit, check it out here: http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/audit/07-22-09_MD08_102A.shtm

I haven’t had a chance to read it carefully yet, but one finding is especially interesting. The DOE refuses to do any computer analysis to track and identify possible cases of systemic cheating at schools. Moreover, the old BOE testing unit under Bob Tobias used to regularly do erasure analysis, also to identify possible cases of cheating; but apparently stopped this routine practice in 2002 – just when Bloomberg came into office. And they claim heightened accountability under Mayoral control!

Leonie Haimson


Mike Dang of Bloomberg watch
Just a reminder that we are holding our next grassroots meeting tomorrow:

What: Second Meeting to Organize Against Bloomberg
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: The LGBT Community Center — 208 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011 (13th St and 7th Ave). Kaplan Assembly Room 101.

Several people will be speaking for 2-3 minutes on how the Bloomberg administration has affected our communities in a range of issues. If you intend to speak, but haven't notified me, please let me know. We'll be having these stories recorded, uploaded and shared via YouTube.

Thanks,

Mike Dang
mike@bloombergwatch.com
bloombergwatch.com



David Pakter writes
The Trial continues Thursday, July 23 and then on Wed and Thurs August 5 & 6

Location: 49 Chambers Street, 6 th Floor at 10 AM on all Trial Days.

Request Hearing Room of the Hon. Douglas J. Bantle, Esq.

I have several Federal Lawsuits pending against Chancellor Joel Klein, Esq. in the Federal Court for the Southern District which include 14 other DEFENDANTS.

They can run but they cannot hide.The Wheels of Justice turn slowly but they grind exceeding small. In time the DOE will lose the present battle.But far more seriously and significantly. former Federal Prosecutor Joel Klein, Esq. is going to lose a far larger war. However it is a war he chose to initiate. He will rue he did so.

David Pakter