Marcia Kramer is on the Elvin case, confronting a shameless Farina the other day.
We have been on the Elvin case for well over a year.
John Dewey Scandal as Farina Protects Principal and Video: Norm at the April PEP confronts Carmen Farina on double standard and describes Success Charter Schools
I confronted Farina about her double standard for teachers and principals like Elvin when she pulled David Rosen out of his classroom and sent him to the rubber rooms (they still exist) because his kids protested at a city council hearing.Fifteen months later, the schools chancellor hasn't addressed massive grade fixing at Brooklyn's John Dewey High School...
https://youtu.be/eH8YblzFbSM
Farina says an investigation = lasting a lifetime - is on tap -- but actually Elvin is doing exactly what Farina wants - and needs - keeping up with the phony grad rates from the Bloomberg/Klein years. Imagine if the grad rates fell - equivalent to the crime rate going up -- and the next thing you will see is the very same NY Post hammering de Blasio for being a failure at running the school system and therefore mayoral control should not be in effect - until a mayor like, say Eva Moskowitz, is in charge.
As for the crime rate - I still think there were way more murders under Bloomberg and he is just stashing the bodies somewhere.
NYC HS teachers: Principal gave us bad ratings as retaliation
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Poorly rated teachers are battling against a supposedly grade-inflating principal at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn. Photo: Gregory P. Mango
A Post analysis found that half of the teachers at the school were given failing grades from Principal Kathleen Elvin, even though the graduation rate has been soaring.
State education records show that out of 101 teachers, 16 earned “ineffective” ratings and 35 got “developing” ratings last year, a failure rate of 50 percent.
Only 8 percent of teachers citywide received marks that low, leading some Dewey teachers to claim that the game is being rigged by the administration to get back at educators who object to alleged grade inflation.
“This doesn’t make sense. Something is wrong here,” said one teacher, who was rated “ineffective.”
Part of the reason the teachers are blaming the principal is that they had been rated “effective” based on their students’ improvement on state exams.
But when subjective observations by Elvin and her fellow administrators were factored in, their grades sank.
“She has a personal vendetta,” the teacher said. “She’s using the teacher observations as a weapon against teachers. It’s her way to force teachers to leave or retire.”
He said some of the teachers who got the bad reviews were the same teachers who would not alter grades to pass failing students.
The school is under investigation for fixing grades with easy extra credit so it could post higher graduation rates. Students derisively call the system “Easy Pass.”
“I have integrity,” the teacher said. “I refused to give kids credit who didn’t deserve it.”
Only 49 percent of Dewey teachers surveyed by the city agreed that Elvin is an effective manager. She declined to comment and directed inquiries to the Department of Education.
Department spokeswoman Devora Kaye said “Principals must rate teachers fairly and accurately,” but did not address the dispute at Dewey.
United Federation of Teachers grievance director Ellen Gallin Procida called the poor ratings a “red flag.”
“This is the first year we have had this process, but the fact that one school stands out the way it does is noteworthy,” she said.
In Newark principals made it known that no one is to receive grades below 50 regardless of whether students submitted any work. A colleague advised me not to input any grades for students who did nothing. As a result those students would receive no grades whatsoever for that class. Students who successfully complete all assignments are in a minority. Most of the students are reading many grades below level. Many seventh graders are reading on a first or second grade level making it virtually impossible for those students to function. Everyone passes happily along to the next grade and nothing is being done to rectify the situation.
ReplyDeleteCan you file a grievance if you think your principal rated you poorly on purpose?
ReplyDeleteYou have been on to this scheme all along, Norm, and doing a great job keeping it in the public eye. Your post came up, ironically, just as I finished replying to a couple of John Dewey HS Parent Association members, one who worried about the bad "tainting" the media coverage is giving hard-working students, and the other who claimed to be "appalled" at the "so-called" teachers who he holds responsible for the cheating!!! I wrote to them not to blame the teachers, who are the victims in this case, but blame the true culprit,Kathleen Elvin, who has victimized teachers and students by her crimes, and brought a "taint" on the legacy of the school. Amazing how so-called "active parents" buy into Management's lies, and are so quick to find fault with the teachers, instead of believing those who are risking their careers and their reputations to blow the whistle on the true "perp"!
ReplyDeleteThe grade fixing scheme is pervasive, and clearly guided from the top through a series of chancellors. Teachers and administrators with backbones suddenly find themselves in rubber rooms in jeopardy for their lives and health. Teachers and counselors who cooperate in the dirty business are rewarded with ten or twenty thousand dollars added to their paychecks by corrupt principals. Principals seem to be getting bounties for every high school diploma they manufacture and the diplomas are not worth the paper they are written on. CSA is part of the collusion as is the UFT.
ReplyDeleteDewey needs to be blow open...it is just one of many...