A Day Off - But still gotta duck from the incoming

I played hooky from the Oct. 7 rallies and protests and the PEP somewhere in the Bronx today after getting wiped by hot yoga this morning. A nice cigar, the NY Times, starting a novel, a batch of gardening, dinner with lots of wine and retirement to my man cave for some serious Yankee baseball, though my 19 year old female cat Pinky is allowed in and is watching the Giant/Brave game with me right now, though she is a Tigers fan.

Here is a gaggle of stuff coming in like mortars - and I'm just grazing the surface. I urge you to check out the active blog roll for some additional wonderful stuff. They are ordered by the latest updates on top. I can't keep up with it all myself.

This stuff is better than Gotham's Nightcaps.
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A quick report from tonight's PEP:
This place is sick. Klein went on a diatribe about how charters must b doing something right bc of the long waiting lists even if they r substandard by his own accountability reports

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Ed Deformer Jay Matthews loves Randi - now it's over her lovely Baltimore contract

(Former Tweedie Andres Alonso is another Kleinite placed in charge of a school system - it's like the invasion of the body snatchers.)

Baltimore teachers contract could be great

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten called me last week full of excitement over her Baltimore local's new teachers contract. Education leaders often exaggerate when talking to journalists, but Weingarten has taken some bold steps in Colorado and D.C. that were not popular with all of her members, so she is very credible, at least to me.
The contract between the Baltimore Teachers Union, led by Marietta English, and the Baltimore city schools, led by Andres Alonso, embraces the new Maryland state requirement that 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation be based on student achievement. That is not something union leaders welcomed, so the AFT decision to go with it suggests Weingarten and English are willing to meet school officials half way.

Sure, it's not something Randi welcomed. One day Jay and others will listen to me - watch what she does not what she says. Read it all and weep - for the Baltimore teachers.

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Louis Black on John Stewart in a hilarious bit on the public and charter schools. Best bet: Ripping NBC Educashon Nashon, especially when David Gregory has the brilliant idea for how to support public schools.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-5-2010/back-in-black---education-crisis

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Mona Davids sent this
Ross Global Academy Charter School wants help recruiting students/victims to their failing charter school and get more money!!  Could they be under-enrolled?

This is the "official" worst school in NYC.

RGA is up for renewal. They should be shut down! Let's see if their authorizers, the DOE and SED finally hold this school accountable for their performance. Bad charters MUST be shut down.

Click here to learn the truth about this school.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2010/10/were-still-waiting-for-superman-here-in.html

SHUT IT DOWN! Our kids are more than dollar bills.

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Perdido Street School is always on the case

Bloomberg/Cuomo Are Coming For Your Pension

Here is one of the reasons Bloomberg endorsed Cuomo:

Charter School Steals Money From Teacher

This is why teachers at charter schools need work protections:

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Here's a fun one from the NY Post. My principal used to try to hide me away when visitors came.

'Hidden' teachers

By YOAV GONEN, Education Reporter

Last Updated: 6:06 AM, October 7, 2010

Posted: 12:32 AM, October 7, 2010

They were cast out like the crazy uncle.

Three teachers who have sparred with their principal said she banished them from their Brooklyn school for the day solely to keep them away during a visit by top education brass.

The PS 282 educators said they were handed 11th-hour letters from Principal Magalie Alexis, telling them to report elsewhere yesterday for "instructional support" -- on the same day State Education Commissioner David Steiner and city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein were coming.

Ironically, the officials were visiting to honor great teaching.

"I think [the principal] singled us out because we will tell the truth -- [that] we need the money to be in the classroom, not for show-and-tell," said Norman Rollock, who questioned spending school funds to paint the gym before the visit rather than to replace broken computers and old textbooks.

Rollock, who has butted heads with Alexis since becoming the union chapter leader in March, said he spent the day observing teachers at a Queens elementary school.

His colleague, veteran social-studies teacher David Canty, passed the time similarly. The name of the third teacher was not immediately available.

"With the chancellor and [commissioner] touring the building . . . maybe she felt as though I would not give a response that would be favorable to her or favorable about the running or management of the school," Rollock said.

"It wasn't a coincidence that I would be taken out of there."

Alexis, who oversaw the day's main event, at which teacher Natasha Cooke-Nieves was awarded $25,000 from the Milken Family Foundation, did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

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Finally, here is one great letter to Summit charter school parents. Click to enlarge.