Did Mona serve the best interests of her own daughter by keeping her in a lousy charter school so she could further her political aims? When Moaning Mona and Sam use their kids for their own political advantage and put them in the public eye in this way can that be termed child abuse? Doing worse to your own kids than any tenured bad teacher could do.Why isn't the press looking at the real story behind Mona Davids and her antics? So many long-time ed reporters either roll their eyes or break into outright laughter when Mona Davids' name comes up. All know she is just a PR hound.
What can one say when people like Mona Davids and Sam Pirozzollo use their own kids for blatant political purposes? I focus on these two (and not the other parents who I consider being duped by Mona) because these two know better. But I also consider Sam Mona's dupe - or just a dope.
But especially Mona, who I once knew well - she understands that Bloomberg put in numerous bully principals who run rampant over the rights of parents, students and teachers -- yet she is suing to give more power to these principals so they can fire any teacher they don't like and then run over parents even more.
That is what makes this suit worse than Campbell Brown and Vergara - it is people who know how the NYC system works and are cynically trying to use this suit for personal gain -- the idea is trying to draw funding.
One must ask why they were so willing to put their children in the eye of the storm given there is so little to gain for their kids? We know that Mona's daughter was accepted to Brooklyn Tech (but chose not to go there) so charges that she was negatively affected by tenured teachers is irrelevant. Mona's son is too young for him to have been impacted. I don't know about Sam's kids but I would imagine if their test scores were made public we might find that the impact of their (probably mostly tenured) teachers would not be negative.
This is not the first time Mona has used her own children to promote her interests. She had her daughter in a charter school that she told us was pretty bad but didn't want to pull her out because that would negate her claims to be leading charter school parents. Did Mona serve the best interests of her own daughter by keeping her in a lousy charter school so she could further her political aims?
When her daughter went to a public high school (loaded with tenured teachers) she had to switch from calling herself a charter school parent org and created the faux NYC Parents Union. Ask Mona to call her "people" out and see how many actually show. That is why she issues press releases since few people will touch her even with a 10 foot pole (you can see the mark on her forehead from all those poles. )
But the press loves to use Mona for their political purposes even though reporters know all about her games. Al Baker at The Times seemed to get it in his story but people like Ben Chapman at The News salivates whenever he can use Mona. As he did over the Portelos tweets.
The Daily News and NY Post jumped on Francesco Portelos tweets trying to make a point about the so-called parents union's kids. We know that when you survive years of harassment trying to protect yourself, and the kids and teachers in your school you can get emotional when people like Moaning Mona Davids and Sam Pirozzolo are advocating for your being fired before you ever got to defend yourself. So it is understandable that survivors like Portelos will strike out.
RBE at Perdido defends him: How Is This Tweet Harassment?
Once you put your children into the public sphere in this manner they will have to be examined in public to see just how "damaged" they have been by their tenured teachers. To me, given that they full well know their own kids are successful in school, that verges on child abuse.
I don't place blame on the parents, other than Sam, Mona is using in her suit -- they will learn in due time what it means to lie down with a snake like Mona.
When Moaning Mona and Sam use their kids for their own political advantage and put them in the public eye in this way can that be termed child abuse?
Here are some of Portelos' tweets from yesterday.
Francesco Portelos
Unfortunate story, but child is now a plaintiff in the teacher tenure lawsuit. Teacher's fault? Mother Escapes Abuse, Only to End Up in Shelters With Her Weary Son http://ow.ly/yQeCM
Francesco Portelos
Did Franklin have a sub par education at PS 69 Sam? Was Ms. Silva an incompetent teacher that should be fired?
In Our Schools: PS 69 students write their hero, Army Spc. James Lee, wounded in Afghanistanhttp://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/post_772.html
Francesco Portelos
Are there people who shouldn't be teaching? Yes and they should go. Tenure is not a job for life, but allows for due process. I spoke up in December 2011 and January 2012 and was attacked by Principal Linda Hill of IS 49 and former Superintendent Erminia Claudio. Hill made $40,000 in overtime, including days she was sick and while working a second program. Claudio's signature was missing from from every single document.
They spent 826 days and over $600,000 to try and fire me. I came to you at the CEC several times and sent over 50 emails to you. Safety issues...ignored...theft of services..ignored.
Today is 892 days that the investigation on IS 49 and double dipping is open. Must be those lousy and lazy teachers.
Ignored Misconduct http://protectportelos.org/all-down-hill/
I wonder what your kid's past and present teachers are thinking, If you are reading this teachers, please email me at mrportelos@gmail.com
Francesco Portelos
Fellow parents, you NEED us teachers to be protected. See what happened to me after I spoke up for your children and your tax dollars. http://protectportelos.org/a-case-for-tenure/
Francesco Portelos
You have to love the fact that three of the plaintiff's mother called her children's teachers "wonderful" two years ago and is now suing. Angela Peralta, who I am sure is a great mother, just pushed her daughters onto the front line of the wrong battle.
PolarExpressions
Wow. After reading that website, I fear for my child's teachers even more. I WILL consider joining the PTA, though. My son & his school deserve my collaboration, not my litigation.
Norm-Right or wrong, I told you that Portelos could not keep his mouth shut!! Guy doesn't know enough to "stay low" for awhile. You need to speak with him. Not saying that he is wrong , but now two other folks are "after" him {remember the Sanitation Dept.]. He needs to be quiet and go away for some time.
ReplyDeleteNorm....I have to agree with 5:15....Francesco needs to chill out.....his bad press will do him some serious harm. The functional reality is this...no principal will hire him...not one. He will be an ATR for the rest of his career unless a judge puts him back in the classroom. And he is not doing himself any favors being a martyr.
ReplyDeleteWould I have standing in a lawsuit purporting that I have been emotionally abused by children cursing at me and calling me unflattering names? I have suffered irreparable damage to my self esteem. I am going to call Campbell to see if she can hook me up with some one percenters to cough up some cash for my team of attorneys.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5:15 and 10:58. I gave a speech at Sam's CEC meeting on Monday. In that speech I made reference to the American Flag that was in front of the council and the 60+ teachers that jammed the room. Why? It was a gentle reminder that we live in the United States.
ReplyDeleteStay Low? Chill out? THEY ARE GUNNING FOR OUR CAREERS AND CHILDREN'S EDUCATION!!! MY CHILDREN'S EDUCATION....YOURS.
I would have been on a real vacation this summer had we had real union leadership. I don't fight battles others are more than capable of fighting. Instead we have Mulgrew and Farina in happy hug photo ops bragging about the "new tone."
ATR for Life? You mean being sent to 54 schools around District 31 while educating thousands of kids in the field of science and engineering, while learning and sharing best practices from every school and bringing it to the next AND assisting UFT members who recognize me from the press? Where do I sign up?
If I was to "go away for some time", when would you recommend I resurface? When the last public school in NYC is shut down like they did in New Orleans? When thousands more teachers are discontinued and terminated?
Maybe you are right and my momentum has skewed my vision. However that tweet was harmless.
Perception is reality, Francesco....that tweet may have been harmless looking through your lens....but it wasn't seen that way through the lens of others....and that is the problem that you have....your sarcasm....it makes you more of a pariah and makes you look extremely arrogant....you are not going to win this "war" intimidating and going after EVERYONE.
DeleteBe very careful....please....freedom of speech does have a price....choose your words carefully........best of luck to you.
anon 10:58
Don't forget that the publisher of the New York Daily News and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the U.S. News and World Report is Mortimer Zuckerman. He has been on the Broad Foundation board along with Michelle Rhee, Wendy Kopp, and Arne Duncan (when he was Superintendent of Chicago schools).
ReplyDelete2009-2010 Broad Foundation Annual Report (page 25) http://tinyurl.com/6w5sps2