Tributes Pour in For Blogger Chaz - Another DOE Covid Virus Loss

May 5, 2020 - The entire NYC education blogging world is saddened by the passing of Eric (Chaz the blogger) Chasanoff who we learned died earlier today, announced by his son: Many of the original NYC ed bloggers began at the same time - 2005 - I see tributes from Arthur, Jonathan and Jose Vilson has left some comments -- we all met for the first time in person at a blogger party - I think there were about 15 of us there.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69

I am the son of Chaz and like to inform you that he passed away this afternoon from the COVID virus. My father passed in peace beside his loved ones. We are hoping to have a memorial service for him once we are able to, but for now we are going to have a small private family funeral. Thank you all for reading his blog, following him all these years, and the support you gave him. Thank you.

Chaz's School Daze:

An Independent Voice That Advocates For The Classroom Educator Without The Corrupting Politics Tied To Our Union And DOE Leadership

has been around forever and everyone involved in education in some way in NYC (and beyond) were readers for his honesty and truth. We didn't always agree politically - Chaz was on the conservative end - but he had everyone's respect, especially when it came to passionate defense of ATRS, of which he was one for many years.

I think I only met him a few times. The first time was when I and Angel Gonzalez put out a call for ATRs to gather at the Skylight Diner. ATRs filled the diner with about 50 people - it was overwhelming. Chaz was always there for ATRS.

A few years ago when the ICEUFT crew were still with MORE James and Arthur suggested we do a Saturday afternoon session for ATRS at CUNY with Chaz as the key speaker. I think about 30 ATRs showed and Chaz held center stage for hours answering every question with expertise. I remember thinking - if the UFT wasn't what it was they should hire him in a minute. Believe me - if they allowed a truth teller like Chaz to communicate with ATRS they would be in a much more popular position.

Here are the first tributes out from Arthur, James and Jonathon and I will add more to this space as they come in. They are much more eloquent than mine --- I seem to have lost the gift of gab, a combination of age and waiting for the apocalypse - wait - I think it's knocking on my door right now.

I hate to say RIP. Chaz at 69 was too young to go - the virus has taken it sad toll. Read the wonderful comments.

NYC Educator

RIP Eric "Chaz" Chasanoff - I'm very sad to read that science teacher and blogger Eric Chasanoff has died of Covid. He was 69 years old, older than I thought. Of course that's no con...

• JD2718

  Chaz - Eric Chasanoff blogged. About New York City schools. About Queens schools. About high schools. About pensions. About teaching science. About being in the A...
  

  4 hours ago 

  James seemed to know him best as they taught together and he fills in some of the history:
• ICEUFT Blog
  BLOGGER CHAZ PASSES AWAY - There is very sad news to report. Our friend, blogger and long time colleague at Jamaica High School Eric Chasanoff (Chaz) has passed away. From his blog: ... 

   
  I'd like to express my deepest sympathies to Eric's family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Eric and I go back many years. He was a longtime Earth Science Teacher at Jamaica High School. Not only was he a successful teacher, Eric was also a strong union activist. He stood up for what he believed in.
  
  We served together for a number of years on Jamaica High School's School Leadership Team. Eric was a supporter of empowering the students and the parents. On the issue of school safety, he was able to help us establish school policies that ensured a safe building while still maintaining student rights. When it came to standing up for teachers, Eric was a staunch defender of the ability of the classroom teacher to have real autonomy in his/her classroom.
  
  That robust defense of teachers sometimes put him in the crosshairs of the Principal who charged him unfairly. Eric was the first teacher to win a probable cause hearing. He defended himself and other falsely accused teachers brilliantly while waiting for his 3020-a hearing to take place. At that time, he became a Queens Liaison with the UFT. When his hearing came around, it was my pleasure to go and testify on his behalf.  I was able to tell the arbitrator how after Eric was pulled from Jamaica, the Earth Science Regents scores plummeted drastically. Our friend Francine Kaalund also testified about Eric's abilities in the classroom. He moved on after he won his hearing but we stayed in touch right up through the first part of 2020.
  
  I encouraged him with his blog and he kept pushing me to keep this one going. We would sometimes run ideas passed each other on the phone. One idea was to have a real meeting of Absent Teacher Reserves where we could listen and talk to each other as regular teachers. We wouldn't talk down to ATRs as the UFT is often accused of doing.  Eric ran that forum in Manhattan; I mostly sat and watched. The workshop he led for ATR's was nothing like an official UFT ATR meeting. Eric ran it like a good Chapter Meeting. It was really interactive. He never once told an ATR that they were lucky to have a job.
  
  Both the Jamaica High School family and the blogger community have suffered a big loss with Eric's passing. Rest in peace.  

And one just added from South Bronx Peter Zucker -

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL  --- RIP and Thank You Chaz the Blogger

Chaz' final posts are below, right on target, as usual.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

The DOE Must Reduce Their Administrative Costs And Not School Budgets

There is no doubt that the DOE must reduce their administrative costs but don't be surprised if the majority of cuts come from the schools and classrooms. Susan Edelman of the New York Post wrote a very insightful article that explains where the cuts should come from.  However, look for the majority of education budget cuts to come from the schools.

The latest update (Sunday) of the covid-19 count can be found below.


Region........Infected...........Deaths.........Percentage

Global........3,004,121.....207.256...............7.0%
Nation..........983,000.........55,186..............5.6%.
State...........288,045.........19,317...............6.9%
NYC.............158,258.........16,863..............10.5%
UFT.................?...................52

Friday, April 24, 2020

The DOE Has Loopholes In The Hiring Freeze

The DOE has quietly informed principals that the hiring freeze has loopholes and they can still hire Special Education, Bilingual, and shortage areas like Math and Science.  Look for principals to hire "newbies" by falsely claiming that all the hires are either certified in those fields or in the process of attaining such certification.

As for ATRs?  Look for principals to try their hardest to carve out exceptions to the hiring freeze so as not to hire an ATR for their vacancies.  Will the union leadership make sure that principals follow the rules?  Based on past performance by our union leadership I highly doubt it since they get double dues.by keeping the ATR and the "newbie" they hire.