SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL posted this poster at this link:
Spring Cleaning at the NYCDOE
Our pal at Raginghorseblog did a great job in framing this.
A Rally to End the Fourth Term of Michael R. Bloomberg 4:30 at Tweed -
Five months have passed since Carmen Farina assumed the job of Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education following 12 years of the sadistic reign of Michael R. Bloomberg. And while, unlike her three predecessors, Farina is indeed an educator, little at Tweed, other than the tone and rhetoric, has really changed. The institutions and the policies remain eerily similar to that of Walcott and Klein.
To wit: Tweed remains bulging with lawyers charged with advising principals how best to fire tenured teachers. The loathed and exorbitantly expensive networks are still running around pretending that they are actually working and actually know what they’re doing. Sociopathic principals are still ruining the careers of new teachers without a second thought, while the cases of hundreds of unfairly U rated or discontinued teachers remain wholly unexamined. The Leadership Academy continues to churn out new business model principals by the sackful.
And the newly ratified UFT contract goes near none of this.
In many ways, teachers are struggling through what can rightfully be called Bloomberg’s fourth term.
The first real volley to demand an end to the Reign of Bloomberg will be a rally to take place tomorrow on the steps of Tweed from 4:30 -5:00, organized by the newly created Don’t Tread on Educators. (http://dtoe.org/)
All those who can attend should attend. Nothing will change until we make it change and we have no one to depend on but ourselves.
9 comments:
I get people why are skeptical and dubious in the past 5 months expecting the changes to come quickly. In reality, aren't we expecting too much to happen all at once? There are enormous problems in which the De Blasio/Farina administration are faced with, and they are not simple fixes with the easiest solutions.
Tamar, how much time should we give her. 6 months, 9 months, 12 months 24 months? In 5 months we can see she has not taken complaints against abusive principals seriously enough to fire anyone. New boss. Same as the old boss. Nothing has actually changed. Roseanne PS 8x.
Roseanne,
She is in a high level position who walked into the city school system with mounds of problems. How would you want people to respond and react to you if you were put into a situation where you had fix every single problem and screw up from the last administration right then and there? I am sure she is aware that she needs to get to everything, but can not because its too much. Just thinking about the thousands of problems Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott created overwhelms me by just thinking about it.
Tamara,
So I ask you again....how much time should we give her? I say 5 months is enough. Im not overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning up BloomKleins mess. No one put a gun to Farina's head and forced her to assume this responsibility. If she can't handle it, she should resign. I know plenty of smart decent people who would happily take her place and make positive changes within 5 months. Of course the people I am speaking of are still on the front lines and teaching full classes. Paper pushers make lousy leaders. I'm not cutting Farina any slack bc it's only been 5 months. That's long enough to investigate and fire abusive principals .... Which is something Farina will NEVER do within 5 months or 5 years or 5 decades. Roseanne
If the NYCDOE is going to change there must be an immediate removal of David Brodsky, Jackson-Chase, Solimando and the directors of personnel (who many are forgetting is part of the problem). There will be no change at all in culture or policy with these representatives in place. They are devastating and crushing and destroying the principals, firing them without ground, forcing them to fire teachers with out ground and bullying them with intimidation tactics. If the end of July 2014 comes around and they are still in place you can best believe nothing but HELL is on its way for the DOE staff. Put pressure on Senator Shummer and De Blasio and demand they be removed. Shummer can get them removed!!! March in front of their offices not the DOE offices. The DOE could care less if you picket . If there are no MAJOR rallies you can forget any change will take place. Get an on-line petition to the mayor and shummer going asking for change. Ask the UFT to do a letter and ask all the teachers and principal to sign that they be removed. What are the principals doing about CSA and the removal of Ernie Logan. The principals union is a fake farce and when you go to them about being forced to do things like firing teachers they do nothing to help. Instead they sell you out to the DOE lawyers. Logan must be removed as the principal union leader. Keep up the rallies but know that Brodsky, Grimm and Jackson-Chase will strategize with their process to BLOCK you so that you do not get media coverage of the desire of staff to remove them. Has anyone wondered why any stories or press/media pressure is not being focused on asking them to leave.
More than half of the decent people who left Tweed Hall from Klein and Walcott are being brought back by Carmen herself.. example... former ELA/
Gifted and Talented Director Anna Comitante, Former Math/Science Director Linda Curtis Bey.... all good people.. .
Tons of people are coming back... and tons will probably leave.. .I do not think its necessarily fair to oust people after a few months just because they don't agree with your philosophies. From a teacher, who got ousted by an insane principal because mixed like oil and water, I am not going to be a hypocrite on this one..
And this is Tamar ... I just did not sign into my gmail account when I read this..
Tamar - I respect your point of view. From my contact with Anna Comitante she did a good job. Llloyd-Bey should have been fired for covering for Marcella Sills and other transgressions. So you are one for two. I really think we need to consider the fact that these people sat by while crimes were being committed by BloomKleinCott for 12 years. They have no excuses. I do know that you can't fire them all. But DOE Legal consists of criminals for the way they conduct business.
Norm
Michelle Lloyd - Bey and Linda Curtis Bey are 2 different people. Linda was the former science and math director and comes from a great pedigree of teaching. Michelle Lloyd Bey is the district 27 superintendent and former principal in the Marcella Sills school.
If a chancellor's philosophy includes respect for teachers then the chancellor should fire those who partook in the disrespect or those who enabled it by their silence. Put the philosophy into action or it's not one I can take seriously. Farina's credibility must be earned. I'm still waiting...
Roseanne PS 8
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