Carranzavirus: Sue Edelman, NY Post: DOE, DeB Blood on their hands - Where was UFT?

One after another, sick Brooklyn Technical High School teachers called union chapter leader Nate Bonheimer last week, to tell him they’d tested positive for COVID-19. By Friday, five of them had shared the devastating news. But after being notified about each one, the city Department of Education still ordered the 6,000-student school’s 350 staffers to show up for work last week, saying the building had been cleaned... NY Post,  ‘Blood on their hands:’ Teachers say de Blasio and Carranza helped spread coronavirus

By Susan Edelman

March 21, 2020 |https://nypost.com/2020/03/21/blood-on-their-hands-teachers-say-de-blasio-and-carranza-helped-spread-coronavirus/

How far did the virus spread due to de Blasio and Caranza?

UPDATE: Read Eterno's take which goes way further than I do:

WHERE OH WHERE WAS THE UFT LAST WEEK WHEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS WEREN'T SAFE?

I'm very proud of Nate Bonheimer who last year took on the massive task of chapter leadership of the largest school in the city. Nate has put himself on the line publicly when it should have been the UFT doing this and protecting Nate from reprisals.

In fact Nate approached me at the March 11 UFT Del Ass and hinted at what was going on and asked me to put him in touch with Sue Edelman of the NY Post who has become the go-to reporter for teachers who have a story. In some ways Sue has replaced the UFT leadership which seems to go along with the code of silence.

“The DOE did not close the school for any of the cases,” said Bonheimer, who worries that inaction exposed others to the dreaded infection.

The city failed to follow a March 9 directive by the state Education Department that “requires an initial 24-hour closure, in order to begin an investigation to determine the contacts that the individual may have had within the school environment.”

DOE did not attempt to identify close contacts, Bonheimer said. “They did not alert the people who needed to know the most to protect themselves, their families and everyone else they came into contact with.”

One infected teacher was so torn by the secrecy he took it upon himself to personally let all his students know his condition.

Does the UFT also have blood on its hands?
I mean, why does Nate feel he has to go to the NY Post to expose a story like this? Mulgrew should have immediately demanded Tech and other schools be closed.

The information freeze started March 10, when Carranza, in an email obtained by The Post, told administrators not to alert city health officials about COVID-19 cases among students or staff.
“At the moment, there is no reason for any school to call [the Health Department] to report potential or confirmed cases,” Carranza wrote, repeating the statement later in the same email.
Carranza said DOH would get test results from labs, and school personnel should help “by keeping their phones clear.”

March 10? Wait a minute. There was a UFT Del Ass on March 11. I was upstairs watching on TV and many not have paid enough attention but did anyone here Mulgrew talk about this information freeze from the DOE? And it's not only Brooklyn Tech:

At the Grand Street campus in Williamsburg, which houses three high schools, a teacher returned from a trip to China over the February break. Despite reports of the outbreak, the teacher did not self-quarantine, but returned to teach kids in all three schools Feb. 26 through Feb. 29, a staffer said.
The teacher then became sick and stopped working. The school was not closed, and employees were not notified, insiders said.
Up to four other staffers have since become sick, they said.
The teacher did not return a message, but a relative said Friday, “He’s very ill, and so is his entire staff,” before declining to comment further.

Grand Street campus is not far from PS 147 where I taught.

Last Thursday — after Grand Street teachers worked three days in a row in the building — the principals sent a joint letter saying that “members of our school community” had self-reported positive COVID-19 tests. It did not say how many members or give other details. “Unfortunately, the DOE suspended keeping track of positive cases,” a teachers’ union official told a staffer on Tuesday. The DOE would not comment on the Grand Street or other cases.

A teachers' union anonymous official? The no guts no glory UFT which should have blasted this news and demanded the closing and told teachers to stay out for their own safety instead of whining about the Taylor Law.

Another school:

At the Jamaica High School campus, which houses three schools, Carlos Borrero, principal of the High School for Community Leadership, blasted a robocall to parents the Sunday before schools closed for students, reporting the school had “one confirmed” case and another “preliminary positive” case identified over the prior two days — while students attended. One was a teacher, Borrero said. Asked about the announcement last week, the DOE would not give details.
“The city is no longer confirming information about individual cases due to the volume, but we support any school that wants to notify their community of a self-confirmed case,” said DOE spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.

And another - which I heard about on FB - maybe the most outrageous of all:

At the Grace Dodge High School campus in the Bronx, a teacher self-reported a positive COVID-19 test on Thursday, March 12, staffers said. The DOE did not close the school the next day, when kids still attended before de Blasio announced that all schools would close for students starting March 16.

Teachers received a form letter from Carranza confirming a staffer had tested positive, saying the building was “disinfected.” The school was not closed while teachers worked last week.
“We asked when students and parents would get notification, and they still haven’t gotten it,” a teacher said. The DOE had no comment.

At the Bronx’s Alfred E. Smith campus which houses three high schools, teachers reported for three days of training on remote-teaching to begin next week.

“Ten minutes before the end of the last day, the union rep walked through the hall and said, ‘You’re free to leave,’” a teacher said. She asked why.
As custodians arrived in Hazmat suits, the union rep replied, “There’s coronavirus in the building.”

Hazmat suits while teachers were left in the building all day.
I'm sorry and I know there are many people at the UFT who are trying their best. But when in this article alone we have 4 schools where orders to close upon reports of positive tests were ignored, there is no escaping a failure of leadership where teachers and chapter leaders should know that their reports to the union would be made public to put pressure on the city to do the right thing. I love Sue Edelman and cheer her on but the UFT leadership should take the lead and not tail - put Sue out of business - don't worry Sue - I know they won't because covering for De Blasio and Caranza is never off the table.

The full article below:

Ding Dong! Swinton is gone from Port Richmond HS

Can't believe Port Richmond did in a year what Law couldn't do in 7. Good for them.... Former teacher at Swinton's old school

Port Richmond parents, staffers and students have complained about Swinton’s management, charging that she de-funded popular programs and spent $400,000 to hire friends.... NY Post

You see, the DOE doesn't give a crap if she spent 400G to hire her friends or de-fund programs or treat teachers, kids and parents like crap. They were about to appoint her permanently.

This was sent from a contact at the school:

https://m.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/school-principal-busted-for-interstate-insurance-scam-104128.aspx

NY Post's Susan Edelman:

Alleged insurance scammer principal finally ousted from job

The Staten Island principal charged with felony insurance fraud has been bounced from her job, The Post has learned.
Oneatha Swinton, interim acting principal of Port Richmond HS, was caught registering her luxury cars at the Pennsylvania home of a city vendor she had hired — a scheme first exposed by The Post in November.

“The decision to remove Ms. Swinton was made in the best interest of the school community,” said city Department of Education spokesman Doug Cohen.
Swinton was a no-show at Monday’s commencement ceremony for 394 graduating seniors.
“She wanted today to be about you, the graduates, and didn’t want anything to take away from your special day,” Assistant Principal Andrew Greenfield told the crowd.
Swinton’s name was mentioned a few times during the ceremony, but there was little reaction, said parent Joann Nellis: “There was no cheering, there were no boos.”
Greenfield, a Port Richmond assistant principal since 2001, will take over as acting principal until a new leader is chosen, the DOE said.
Port Richmond parents, staffers and students have complained about Swinton’s management, charging that she de-funded popular programs and spent $400,000 to hire friends.
After release of criminal charges against Swinton by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, a group of school leaders sent a letter to Chancellor Richard Carranza demanding her “immediate removal.”
The DOE would not say whether Swinton, who remains on the city payroll, has been assigned to a new post.

Video: Parent Activist on Abusive Principal Oneatha Swinton, Arrested Yesterday

"She will remain as interim acting principal at the school while we review the charges," said a spokesman for the Department of Education.  "We treat these matters with the utmost seriousness and will ensure it's appropriately addressed." ... Staten Island Advance, June 22, 2018

Today is Port Richmond HS interim acting principal Oneatha Swinton day at Ed Notes as we put up a series of reports on the breaking story. Swinton, who was arrested yesterday in Pennsylvania for insurance fraud, came to Port Richmond as a principal who abused teachers and parents at her old school in Brooklyn's John Jay campus at the School of Journalism, didn't change her stripes at Port Richmond.

One of the founders of MORE and GEM, a strong fighter against racism in his political work, was the chapter leader at the Brooklyn school and posted this response:

I had the “pleasure“ of teaching at her school for five years. Can’t cheat karma :)

I mention racism because Staten Island politician Debbie Rose has defended Swinton by charging the critics were racist.

A leading parent from Swinton's old school -- the PTA President was Annette Renaud. As a black woman abused and physically assaulted by Swinton and put in the hospital in 2016, Renaud rejects these charges of racism. (We will have more details of this assault which was ignored by OSI - until this past month when the DOE probably learned that something was going on that would take Swinton down and is trying to cover its ass.)

Here is the first video I posted on FB of Annette outside the Delegate Assembly where she handed out a leaflet to raise the issue in the hope the UFT leadership would take strong action.



Later, I will put up another video of Annette in front of the DA and in Brooklyn at the location of the PEP meeting which seemed to have been moved - with more news stories.

Here is a short video I made of a large group of parents and teachers who attended the April PEP meeting:

Video: PEP April 25, 2018 - Port Richmond HS Protest Principal

https://vimeo.com/267774737



And here is the Staten Island Advance story from yesterday:

https://www.silive.com/news/2018/06/interim_port_richmond_hs_princ.html

Interim Port Richmond High School Principal Oneatha Swinton was arrested for insurance fraud, authorities said. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

By Mira Wassef

mwassef@siadvance.com

UFT and DOE Indifference to Gotcha Culture at OSI Lead to Investigator Lies and Distortions in Debra Fisher Case

A crime was committed so let's call it what it is. Today's NY Times had a story by Jim Dywer on the OSI fatally flawed investigation and 30 day suspension of Debra Fischer we reported (Corrupt DOE's OSI Exposed) based on the work of Leonie Haimson who pointed the arrow of blame directly at Farina:  

"For years, people have complained about the unfair and biased work of OSI as regards the incompetent or corrupt Contracts and Legal staff. Yet Carmen Farina has kept all the same people in charge of these offices – severely undermining the reputation of the DOE as a whole."

From the principal on the front line, to Chancellor Fariña, to the United Federation of Teachers, every person in authority who had a chance to stop a reckless process either rubber-stamped false charges, or waved them on without vigorous objection...NY Times

I'm so glad Dwyer included the UFT in his list of faulty groups. If any organization should have stepped in to "stop this reckless process" and not "rubber-stamped false charges, or waved them on without vigorous objection" it should be the UFT. But we all know they don't and they won't.

The investigator’s report was jammed with mistakes, omitted context — for instance, you would never have known from the report that the school principal had directly approved the fund-raising and other worthy activities of Ms. Fisher — and twisted statements made by people at the museum to create an illusion of conflict in entirely innocent circumstances. In fact, parents had nothing to do with Ms. Fisher’s hiring there. Still, a report that was untrue in every significant detail led to her suspension. 

Any word on what happened to the investigator or any of the other investigators who have lied and distorted and taken things out of context? Do you think they are suspended or fired? In fact this is not an anomaly but embedded in the very culture of OSI which must feed the massive DOE legal team monster. It's about jobs - their jobs -- stupid -- and if teachers must be chopped to feed that monster, so be it.

On Monday, the city’s Department of Investigation said those findings were factually wrong and the result of unprofessional work, and recommended wholesale changes to the branch of the Education Department that allowed such shoddy work to be issued. The new report noted that the person who conducted the investigation had no meaningful supervision, and had even recommended that Ms. Fisher be fired. Most egregious, the student writing the book said the investigator pressed him not to be protective of Ms. Fisher and told him not to speak with his father about the interview.

“The findings of an investigation which recommends the termination of someone’s employment should be subjected to an oversight and review process that includes more than checking for grammar and punctuation,” said the new report, which was written by Regina A. Loughran, who works in the office of Richard J. Condon, a special commissioner with authority over the Education Department.

What a load of bullshit - as if Farina is  shocked, just shocked - when in fact we have video after video of people getting up at PEPs to tell her what OSI is doing -- though we did note attempts to muzzle people who wanted to tell their stories publicly as being "personnel" issues not subject to public comment. Farina is and has always been a cog in the gotcha culture.

What of Ms. Fisher, who was summarily ordered out of her school for 30 days — without a word of explanation to the students she worked with — and lost her pay and health insurance for that period?

“The suspension of Debra Fisher is under review,” Ms. Kaye said.

As well it should be.

WTF - under review? They need time to review? A real union would be out there screaming for immediate justice and a revamping of DOE legal which controls OSI - in name or behind the scenes. Debra Fisher is owed a lot more than restitution of lost pay - and I hope she sues everyone's ass off.

As for Farina's pals at the UFT, double bullshit.

====

Major Flaws Found in Inquiry That Led to Suspension of Public-School Therapist

For sheer bureaucratic folly, it would be hard to top the suspension last year of a devoted occupational therapist in the public school system who showed children in wheelchairs how to get places.

The therapist, Debra Fisher, created an art therapy program for disabled children....  But last year, Ms. Fisher was suspended for 30 days without pay, charged with “theft of services” and conflict of interest.

What did the “theft” involve? Supposedly sending fund-raising emails on school time to help the boy raise money for his book. And the conflict of interest? Ms. Fisher had a weekend job at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, guiding its staff members on how children with limited use of their arms or legs could take part in museum art projects. As it happened, some families from her school were also involved with the museum, and an investigator with a disciplinary arm of New York City’s Department of Education concluded that they must have put in the fix for Ms. Fisher to be hired there.

Yet the suspension of Ms. Fisher was not simply the work of one obsessive Javert, or one broken arm of the bureaucracy. “I took the mandate of Chancellor Carmen Fariña to heart — to put the needs of the children first,” Ms. Fisher said on Monday. “Somewhere along the way, I was sure that people’s better angels would prevail. But no one said this person is trying her best, and has no infractions.”

What does the Education Department make of this new narrative?

It is overhauling the division and procedures that produced the flawed charges against Ms. Fisher, according to Devora Kaye, the department’s spokeswoman.

“This was a thoroughly botched investigation by a thoroughly dysfunctional system that resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” said Joel Kurtzberg, a former teacher who is now a partner in the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He represented Ms. Fisher in a court case to overturn the suspension. “We’re hoping the city will react appropriately.”

Continue reading the main story

PEP Boys (and Girls) December Meeting: Cracks Show in the Bloomberg/Klein Monolith

That was some meeting last night and as usual, there is so much to say and so little time. At least three reporters were there: Gotham's Anna Philips, the Times' Jennifer Medina, and the Daily News' Rachel Monahan so we will be getting reports from them I assume. Thanks to all three for helping guide and escort this old man partway home after the meeting on the #2 train from so far north in the Bronx I thought I was in Canada. They really need to hold a PEP meeting in Alaska where Klein can declare, "I can see data from here!"

One interesting thing was the number of young teachers, some from TFA and the TF programs who stood up for their schools. It wasn't just the older teachers who are outraged. These are the very people the ed deformers were counting on to be their shock troops. I was with some of the reporters on the way home and we ran into one of the teachers, a 3rd year TFA who remained after her commitment to stay at her school. Her school in the first year also closed. She said she wanted to stay in the NYC system and now that is doubtful. BloomKlein first went after the older teachers and now are eating their own young.

There is a lot more to report. The crooked bus company contract. The contract for professional development. And the space allocation bull. Patrick Sullivan was even more magnificent than usual, joined at times by Bronx rep Anna Santos. For the first time we saw the Bloomberg/Klein rubber stamps crack a bit as they tabled some of the issues. The Jan. 26 PEP will be a doozie as the passions and anger are running rampant. No more easy street for this gang.

The number of people defending their schools was awesome. Even Leo Casey wasn't bad, though he always sounds like one big whine. I do find it disingenuous for Casey to complain that closing schools is just a real estate grab (Ed Notes, ICE and GEM should have copyrighted the idea) when the UFT is engaging in its own real estate grab with two charter schools occupying space in public schools.

There was one candidate for UFT president present and it wasn't Mulgrew. James Eterno was there. He didn't bring his 6 month old last night as he did to the Jamaica HS rally the night before. Kara is becoming one serious activist. (See the link on the sidebar to the pics posted on the GEM blog.)

The piece resistance goes to GEM's Angel Gonzalez who took over the meeting as James Eterno and another ICE member held up the ICE/NYCORE banner we used in a demo last year. That video will be coming soon.

GEM and CAPE and others are discussing holding a rally at chez Bloomberg or City Hall on Jan. 21 as a warm-up to the rubber stamps on the PEP. Imagine staff and students from all the closing schools paying Bloomie a personal visit! Let's hope it happens.

Here is the first video I made of a student, teacher and the principal giving a magnificent defense of Columbus HS. Go get em gang!




Leonie put up this video made by the staff of Columbus on the NYC Education News blog.

A wonderful piece of work and I urge other schools on the closing list to do the same.

Save Columbus High School!

Leonie writes:
I hope everyone reads Christine Rowland's excellent piece on the unfair and destructive proposal to close Columbus HS at GothamSchools and then joins the Facebook group to Save Columbus.

Read DOE's totally inadequate "education impact statement" calling for the school's closure, and send in your comments to the DOE. Be sure to email them as well to all the PEP members (their addresses are to the right).

Then come to the PEP meeting where the school's closure will be voted on, along with more than thirty other closings and changes in school utilization, at Brooklyn Tech on Jan. 26, and make your voices heard!

"You Mean He Would Tape a Meeting?" A Termination Hearing Experience

You hear an awful lot about how hard it is to terminate a tenured teacher and how much it costs. You only get the horror stories from the perspective of the anti-tenure crowd. What is often neglected is the issue of why a school system would choose to take a route to terminate in spite of the costs. The David Pakter case is a prime exhibit. I dropped in on David's 3020a hearing yesterday. You could write a book.

There were the lawyers - NYSUT for David and someone from the DOE. The arbitrator down from upstate. And the principal who had to be pulled from the school for two days. At least. Maybe more. And at least 12 days of trial. All to fire a teacher who has been in the system for 40 years. And not one word has ever been uttered negatively about his teaching.

What was yesterday all about? David had given watches from his watch company to students as an incentive for getting 90 averages on their report cards. Five watches. And one to a school aide for assisting him. That makes six.

David certainly knows how to get noticed. He started at the school on Oct. 18, 2006 upon release from slavery in the rubber room for years and was sent back on Nov. 25. Mostly over the watches. (There were more charges for which he was exonerated by the investigators.) That they are going forth with 3020a hearing sat extraordinary expenses to terminate him is bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.

When I left they hadn't even gotten to the large potted plants he brought as a donation to the school and placed in front of the auditorium. They deemed them a fire hazard and had them removed. Twenty lashes. The school puts on lots of shows. I bet they could have found some use for them. But I'll get more info later on this caper.

There was lots of discussion on the visit UFT's NY Teacher reporter Jim Calahan made to the school when he was writing an article on David. And David's offer of a $10,000 donation to the school. David is a well-known artist and owns watch companies and he is not doing any of this for the money.

The key questioning in a superb cross examination of the principal by the NYSUT attorney was about a meeting held on Nov. 3 to discuss the issue. The principal's memory was sketchy. But on direct examination she indicated that David was trying to market his watches in the classes he taught by giving out catalogues and his web site. On cross it came out that he was giving the kids a place to go to choose the watches they wanted. The arbitrator, one of the most respected I hear, perked up. Not marketing, but offering choices of watches. An ah-ha moment.

There was a lot of detail that I'd love to go into in the future as the process is very enlightening as to the thought process administrators go through. There came a point when after repeated questionning about the details of the things that were said at the Nov. 3 meeting were raised - things that David said there that would go a long way towards exonerating him– the principal said, "This seems like you are reading from a transcript."

The NYSUT attorney smiled and nodded. The principal issued a gasp. "He taped the meeting," she said incredulously? "Why would he tape an innocuous meeting called to discuss the issue," she asked in shock?

The NYSUT attorney smiled and said, "Well, we are at a 3020 hearing looking to terminate him."

The DOE attorney quickly asked for a few minutes to discuss the issue outside.

Ramifications of The IS 278 Victory

There are a lot of angles to study in the recent rare victory of the IS 278 community in fighting off the insertion of a charter school into their building in the Marine Park area of Brooklyn. Contrasts to other protests like the one in Co-op City in the Bronx are stark in terms of the numbers, if not the spirit. School closing rallies can be spirited, as they were at PS 72 in East NY, Brandeis HS or at PS 150 in Brownsville.

There were certainly some unique circumstances:

• The ability to pull out a thousand people.
• The politicians jumping on board, including Anthony Weiner and Bill Thompson.
• The community is mostly white (and Irish Catholic.)

It is rare that charter schools are inserted into schools in white communities. Many speakers pointed to the fact that the charter school law calls for them to be placed in areas where there are "failing" schools and that in that context the Hebrew Language Academy charter school makes no sense. I mean, don't expect HLA to go to Bed-Stuy, despite the fact that there are thousands of parents who want their kids to learn Hebrew.

But you know something, if they did place it there people would line up for the two teachers in the room, the low class sizes and the other goodies. But we know that will never happen because the true purpose of HLA was to serve the Russian Jewish population in southern Brooklyn and the so-called diversity their speakers bragged about was not in evidence other than some token speakers and they have been unwilling to provide exact figures.

Now, I don't agree with the argument that charters should go into only certain areas of the city. I and another GEM speaker were the only ones who opposed the concept of charters as undermining the public schools and challenged Steinhardt's daughter Sara Berman and her supporters to fight for low class sizes and two teachers in a room for every child in the city.

Where was the UFT?
One thing was very clear in the IS 278 situation: The UFT played no role. How could they oppose the placing of a charter in a middle school when they did exactly that at George Gershwin MS in East NY - IS 166 - (my Alma Mata)? And they also have one in an elementary school. Ed Notes and ICE have opposed the UFT charter schools.


Commenters touched on issues race and power.

Ira Goldfine
The scary part of this is that it may be a victory for IS 278 but its going to be a defeat for some other school when they try to dump this charter elsewhere. I hope the people in the long neglected poorer part of Distict 22 are watching out for their schools because I wonder if those same politicians will defend them the same way they defended IS 278.

Anonymous
The politics of this is very uncomfortable. Although this is a great victory for IS 278. Why haven't other schools been able to win this kind of battle? Why all know the answer to this question & it is very disturbing.

LQuinlan replied

First off, HLA will now be leasing their space, most likely from the Diocese of Brooklyn, so no other public school will have to fight. This is what they should have been doing from the beginning but they no doubt preferred the free ride they were getting from the DOE.


Secondly, I don't know what anonymous was implying about why this campaign was so successful. I tend to think it was the outpouring of the community: Nearly 1000 people attended the hearing, thousands of calls were received by 311 and over 6000 signatures were collected on petitions from the community. Show me another school that put forth that kind of effort and maybe then you can compare the outcome. I think we succeeded because it was a well thought out, well-executed plan and believe me when I tell you, more was planned for the future. Don't turn it into something it's not.

HLA was wise to make the decision that they did. I wish them luck even though I do not believe in their mission. I hope Klein and the DOE will recognize that this community deserves a voice in the future of 278 and that we'll never have to deal with that smug, condescending John White ever again.

There's a load of implications in this interchange. Do politicians favor white communities or do they respond to the numbers? LQuinlan points to a remarkable organizing effort. I was told 200 press releases were sent out. Only Ed Notes and Channel 5 responded and you saw almost no press coverage of the event. And there still seems to be news blackout of what I think was one of the most remarkable outpourings of opposition to the arrogance and power of BloomKlein.


HLA may have been the trigger - there are some whispers that if it was not a Hebrew charter the opposition would not have been as great - but I do not get the impression that anti-semitism was at play and there would have been vigorous opposition to any charter.


Calls of "This is America"
There were other issues. When a translator got up to announce in Spanish that translation was available, there were shouts of "Speak English" and "This is America." You could just imagine what was going through the minds of the HLA supporters and the DOE officials. And the progressive ed reformers who came out in support. This certainly didn't come from a majority of people, but that was not a pretty sight. Someone with guts (not me) should have asked for a Hebrew translation.

Certainly this was a volatile crowd and when the HLA people got up to speak it was raucous at times. The DOE people got a taste of what teachers face running an auditorium program. It was the organizers who kept the crowd under control. They not only knew what they were doing in organizing this event but their political instincts are right on.

Would they support other schools in other neighborhoods or even schools in Marine Park that are forced to take a charter? GEM tried to make the connection when we spoke. When people came over to thank us for speaking, we did raise the issue that people in Harlem are in the same position and we hoped they would be there for them.

I do think some of the organizers are part of the bigger battles on mayoral control now that they have seen the power exercised and fought off "successfully."

Did the DOE lose?
I put "successfully" in quotes for a reason. When people asked at the meeting if it was a done deal, the response was that Klein would hear what people said and make a decision. Sure. I told the DOE guy I would bet him it was a done deal and no matter what happened that night, BloomKlein wouldn't back down.

Raymond commented:

Happy to hear that HLA is withdrawing its request for a charter school at IS 278 This is Great news the middle class Marine Park neighborhood finally wins one for the community and the kids. Cheers for all that showed up at the meetings and showed their support. Great Job everyone. PS I was wrong the decision was not made. Glad to be wrong on this one.

I'm sorry to bust the balloon.

The decision was made. Klein would have ruled in their favor. The DOE did not back off. HLA withdrew. You just had to watch the look on their faces (I did take video of their reactions but the weather has been too nice for me to get to it) to see that they realized that if they went into the school in September, these kinds of protests would never end and it would all end in a fiasco of unimaginable proportions. Give them credit for understanding that much.

The DOE still holds the cards

Remember, John White from the DOE was suddenly offering IS 278 the high school they were fighting for for the past few years in exchange for accepting the charter school. Will that deal be pulled off the table? Will there be other ways to retaliate against the IS 278 community so the fever doesn't spread? (In some other schools that resisted the DOE, the principal came under attack later on. Remember,in DOE-ville, the school leader is supposed to put a stop to these things.) The standard tactic of totalitarian mentalities is to punish as a lesson for others.

There were enough speakers who went beyond the charter school issue to attack the mayor's control of the school system in a community that he counted on for votes and support. That is a warning sign to BloomKlein that even after they get mayoral control renewed, there will be another sunset provision and the battle will continue.

People are inspired

Triple3 said

This is amazing. I am so happy for this community and applaud the huge efforts that were made. My name is Elva Croston and I am a concerned parent with a child who attends PS 160 in Co-op City in the Bronx. The DOE has already approved a middle school/high school charter to be housed in this "tiny" elementary school. Although, some parents are divided on this issue, the majority of parents are saying "NO". We had a march today to oppose this which can be seen on Bronx news 12. Another hearing is set for June due to a technicality on the charters original application. Apparently, the charter was already approved and set to open in District 12 but then the DOE decided to place them in District 11 without notifying the community first. The biggest mistake we made as a community is listening to those who think this move would be a good idea. The DOE is standing their ground to open the charter in September. But guess what.... so will the parents!

LQuinlan said...

Elva, I wish you and your community the best of luck. It's time to wrest the power away from the mayor and get it back where it belongs- the educators and the parents.

See excellent videos and comments at http://www.gerritsenbeach.net/

DOE Stealth Reorganization Has Impact

An old post on Gotham about another stealth DOE reorganization is still getting comments. The title is misleading, as it is not unions that are nervous but advocates for children and parents.

A DOE plan to personalize bureaucracy is making unions nervous".
http://gothamschools.org/2009/03/10/a-doe-plan-to-personalize-bureaucracy-is-making-unions-nervous/

Author: Mark

I dont know how this is not called a Reorganization. Half my ISC contacts were told they would be laid off. As i finally became comfortable with my ISC contacts now everything is being reshuffled again. The D.O.E will NEVER retain top talent . The poor staff (which we rely on so often)are constantly being thrown around not knowing if they will have a job. Granted there are some staff that are a waste the majority are very professional and helpful. One ISC rep told me she has been with the DOE 6 years and every year she had to worry about keeping her job, while top management just continues collecting there $180,000 a year. Obviously they are the ones not doing a good job if every change they made does not seem to work.

See all comments on this post here.

Nolan and Odonnell Toss the Ball in Klein's Court

Following the machinations of Joel Klein and the NYCDOE last week turned out to be more fun than a dull Final Four end to March Madness.

Klein responded to the UFT/NYCLU law suit on closing zoned schools in Brooklyn's Brownsville -PS 150 and Harlem's PS 241 with a letter to parents saying the schools will remain open, while openly urging them NOT to send their kids to these schools. Call it closing by starving them of kids. (See my posting of Klein's letters- Tweed Undermines Law Suit "Win" on Zoned Schools,
Klein Letter to PS 150 Brownsville Parents)

While it is OK to go to court if you have the resources, if that is all you do, you can only win a moral victory but lose the battle - and the war. But that is the way of the UFT.

We know what the DOE game is: force struggling schools that you are responsible for into closing by shifting the blame on them and open up charter schools in those buildings that will cream off the best kids, while forcing the struggling kids into neighboring schools which will then fall in a domino effect. By the time they all fall and the majority kids are under served, you will be out of office – and responsibility.

Use the Harlem Success charter school political operation (some of them will even admit this is all about politics, not education) to make it look like parents want the zoned schools shut. (Harlem parents say they want their local schools shut down)

NYC parent Steve Koss made a powerful indictment on the NYC Parent blog:

Why is this rush toward charters not seen for what it really is: a broad-scale indictment of Chancellor Klein’s failed tenure? If after seven years at the DOE’s helm, the best he can offer is an escape from the very schools he has failed to improve, isn’t that effectively a statement of surrender on his part? Or is failure the goal, part of a localized “shock doctrine” program that paves the way for a back door public school privatization program that would never have been approved by public referendum?

Read it all: What's Wrong with This Picture?


NY State Assembly members Nolan and Odonnell, two of the most responsive and critical of the DOE members of that often corrupt body, sent Klein a letter in response:

Obviously the support offered by DOE prior to this point has been insufficient for a school with such high percentages of English Language Learners (22.2%), students receiving special education services (22.8%), and students who qualify for Title 1 funding (80.9%).

Although it is not entirely clear from the above mentioned letter, we hope that DOE’s goals are to strengthen P.S. 241, improve its ability to prepare students, and prevent future phasing out. We would like you to specifically describe how DOE will increase its support of P.S. 241, including a targeted strategy to increase achievement, allocation of additional resources, and meaningful consultation with the school community about its needs.

Read it in full: Letter to Klein from O'Donnell and Nolan re PS 241

Angel Gonzalez of ICE and the new coalition of groups being formed, now known as the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) wrote in response:

Definitely an excellent letter to Mr. Klein. However, those insidious machinations of BloomKlein, who undermine our neighborhood schools and who cloak themselves in progressive civil rights rhetoric, need to be countered by increased pressure from below. We will continue to support the efforts of the Harlem & District 3 community as well as those of other school communities of our city. Our organization(GEM) believes that this campaign to defend and improve neighborhood schools must be a citywide effort. The DOE by installing the smaller schools & charters with smaller class sizes & greater resources creates these disparate situations in the neighborhood schools that precipitate tensions and a downward spiral in school performance.

This DOE sabotage of public education continues in all our communities, particularly in our Black and Latino communities. We are committed toward building that necessary groundswell of pressure to force the DOE to heed our demands. In the process, we will be pushing our UFT to take up to demonstrate aggressive leadership on our community/teacher/student/parent demands.

Some of our demands: Stop the School Closings - Fully Support Quality Neighborhood Schools. Smaller Class Size Now(in our UFT contract). Stop High Stakes Testing. Guarantee excessed (1700+) ATR Teachers their seniority right to permanent jobs. No Mayoral Control - Democracy Now.

We also invite the PS 241 and the District 3 community to join us on our May 14 Protest Against NYC School Closings. The planning is in the works and soon you will receive more info. Our next planning meeting for May 14 is April 21, Tues at the CUNY Grad Center(34& 5thAv) - Rm 5409, 5pm.

Keep us posted on your next meetings so that we too can attend and support D3 efforts.

In unity,
Angel Gonzalez,
Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)

Breaking News: New Grassroots Education Coalition to hold Save Our Public Schools rally and march up Broadway to Tweed on May 14 at 4:30 PM. We will pass by UFT headquarters and ask them to come out and play.

Make sure to check the side panel for updates and other important information.

DOE Tech Reorganization All About HAL-er -ARIS

As we reported yesterday (Yet Another Reorganization From Tweed) Tweed has instituted another reorganization of technology. Now we are getting a clue as to what's behind it all.

It is all about ARIS.

About a week ago, some members of Office of Instructional Technology were "observed" by officials of the Office of Accountability giving an ARIS workshop for teachers. Soon after, the Office of Instructional Technology was folded into James Leibman's Office of Accountability. Was their workshop an audition for their being chewed up by HAL - er - ARIS?

Yes, it's all about ARIS training for teachers and possibly parents. (See a bunch of Elizabeth Green's postings on ARIS at Gotham Schools.)

Now let's make it clear. The purpose of OIT has always been to train teachers to deliver tech services to children by developing programs that will increase computer literacy.

Amongst all the other gaps, one of the keys is the technology gap that poor urban kids seem to face. Can they use word processing and spreadsheets? Can they even use a keyboard effectively? Can they make effective use of the internet? I can go on.

As I said yesterday, the ability of the schools to deliver these services to kids is at a significantly lower level than it was 6 years ago when I left the system. In fact, it has suffered a steady erosion as they moved from a district to a region to a borough and now to a citywide level.

This growing tech gap is apparently not a civil rights issue of our times for people like Al Sharpton and Joel Klein.

All studies have shown that to just put hardware into schools is not enough. Estimates are that 35% of the money should be spent on support. Most of the money for this support under BloomKlein has come in the form of federal Title IID grants, not from city money.

Managing these millions of dollars of grants effectively is a big job and as it migrated from district to region to borough under BloomKlein, the ability to deliver effective services to schools has eroded. Until today, these grants have been managed by the OIT head in each borough. Now all grants will supposedly be managed by one person and a small staff at the citywide level. Someone at the fed and state level should take a good look at how effective this will be.

Now it looks like instead of delivering services to kids, OIT personnel will be used in the service of a flawed system like ARIS.

So, on top of the $80 million tag for the ARIS data system, add these costs of training and support. Soon to be added? The other multi-million dollar special ed compter system. The data munchers at the DOE have consumed the education of an entire generation of kids.

One day, like Colonel Nicolson in Bridge on the River Kwai, Jim Leibman will scream out in pain, "What have I done?"


Leibman leads his new troops from the Office of Instructional Technology over the bridge to nowhere.

Top graphic by David B

Related

New Visions warns principals not to trust ARIS data warehouse

UPDATED: DOE Press Release on ATR Agreement With UFT

UPDATE:
RALLY IS ON!

READ THE ENTIRE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT AT NORMS NOTES.
ICE CONTACT EXPERTS WILL DO ANALYSIS LATER.

Look for follow-up posts from Marjorie Stamberg.

Department of Education AND United Federation of Teachers Reach Agreement on Absent Teacher Reserves (ATRs)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 18, 2008

New Measures Create Financial Incentives To Hire ATRs

United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Randi Weingarten and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today finalized an agreement designed to improve the placement processes and procedures for teachers and other UFT personnel in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR). Teachers whose positions have been eliminated—for example, when a school closes—and who are not able to find regular positions are placed in the ATR pool and work as full-time substitutes. The agreement, which was approved unanimously by the UFT Executive Board on November 18, creates substantial financial incentives for schools to hire teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and attendance teachers from the ATR pool. In addition, Chancellor Klein will urge principals to fill vacancies with personnel from the ATR pool before considering other candidates. This agreement does not call for the forced placement of any personnel.

“This is a terrific agreement,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “These experienced and qualified people have essentially seen their careers put in a holding pattern due to student enrollment patterns or the closing of schools. They have been struggling to find permanent jobs in large part because schools have been opting for less experienced personnel at lower salaries. By eliminating the financial obstacles, we should see more ATRs being permanently placed, which will be good for children and save the school district money. This is an agreement worth trying, particularly with these troubling economic times.”

“Today’s agreement with the UFT creates incentives that encourage principals to voluntarily hire qualified teachers in the ATR pool to fill school vacancies, thereby reducing the cost to the City of maintaining excessed teachers on the payroll,” Chancellor Klein said. “This agreement is part of our very serious effort to minimize cuts to schools and classrooms during these hard economic times. At worst, if no additional teachers are hired from the ATR pool, it’s cost neutral. At best, if principals find qualified teachers in the ATR pool to fill vacancies in their schools, it could save us millions of dollars. And, importantly, it preserves principals’ right to choose the teachers in their schools. While we continue to believe that teachers in the ATR pool should not be permitted to stay on the payroll indefinitely, this agreement represents a needed step forward.”

Under the terms of the agreement, schools that hire one of the educators in the ATR pool after November 1 of each calendar year will receive two subsidies. The Department of Education (DOE) will pay the difference between the ATR’s actual salary and the salary of a starting teacher, and then, in subsequent years, will continue to pay the difference between the actual salary and the subsequent steps on the salary scale. This subsidy will terminate once the excessed employee has been in the position for eight years. The DOE will also give schools that hire an ATR an additional lump sum equal to half of a new hire’s salary.

Principals who are willing to hire ATRs but not permanently place them can instead hire ATRs on a provisional basis. In those cases, schools will pay the educators’ actual salaries. If a principal and ATR decide the ATR should be placed permanently, the school will receive the subsidies. If the ATR is not permanently placed, the ATR will return to the ATR pool at the end of the school year.

After one year, the DOE and UFT will evaluate whether this agreement is benefiting schools.

“I am pleased that the DOE and the UFT were able to work together and find common ground on this critical issue of reducing the number of unplaced excessed teachers,” Chancellor Klein said. “I expect principals will actively and in good faith first consider qualified candidates in the ATR pool when filling open positions.”

“I want to thank the ATRs who have continued to press this issue and all of the teachers who took part in the ‘Let Us Teach’ campaign,” said Weingarten. “By using the ATR pool to fill vacancies, millions of dollars can be saved and thousands of kids get the benefit of these great educators. This is a solution that works for everyone.”

Teaching Fellow RTRs Rally at Tweed

Despite a driving drizzle a hardy band of NYC first year Teaching Fellows who have not yet been appointed and are threatened with being fired, losing their provisional teaching certification and being tossed from the Masters degree grad program, attempted to meet with DOE officials at Tweed yesterday afternoon. Marjorie Stamberg from the Ad Hoc ATR committee and Michael Fiorillo from ICE were there to show support. No one from UFT officialdom showed, But they only show if there might be press around. The RTRs do not seem to expect much help from the UFT in defending their jobs.

Kelly Vaughan from Gotham Schools was there to report. (Photo by Kelly)

According to DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte, 115 new Teaching Fellows are still without jobs, down from 139 in mid-October. Teachers tonight told me they are working as substitutes and assistants while they seek permanent positions

Read Kelly's full report here. I'm borrowing Kelly's excellent photo as I only had a video camera. I will put the interviews up if they came out ok.

Robert from ICE posted this on ICE mail:

Although the numbers were modest, the RTR rally today in the rain at Tweed was spirited. We had signs supporting the RTRs and ATRs. Several RTRs were there, including concerned relatives of the one of the RTRs. Members of the Ad Hoc Committee to support the ATRs were also there, as well as members of other groups. Passersby were engaged, and several stopped to talk and get more information. Dan, the coordinator of the RTR group, dressed in the prison suit of a condemned man, gave a speech on the steps movingly pleading the case for a reprieve of the RTRs. Then the entire body ascended the steps of Tweed in an effort to go inside and talk someone in Chancellor Klein's office. Although Tweed is a public building, it is managed by a city agency and Tweed is a tenant of this entity, and security personnel of the management barred the way. A DOE representative was fetched, however, and took material to bring to the Chancellor's office. A reporter for the Gotham Schools blog took interviews.

We must keep up the pressure on the DOE not to fire the RTRs and work to ensure a maximum turnout for the ATR rally on the behalf of the ATRs on November 24.

Robert

Ethics (and the lack there of)

(For The Wave, June 13, 2008: www.rockawave.com)

by Norman Scott

Defining ethics can be more elusive than holding onto to a wet bar of soap, but one general view is it has to do with right and wrong. Some say there is no such thing as ethics. That right and wrong is based on your point of view. Or the majority point of view. Would this mean that if the majority of people decide to kill off the minority, they were acting ethically? Most people (sadly, not all) think genocide is not ethical. It seems that some things are obvious right and wrong, but when it comes to the NYC Department of Education under Joel Klein and his boss Michael Bloomberg, all bets are off.

The BloomKlein “regressive education reform” has more to do with the ideology of a corporate/privatization agenda than with kids.

I received a report that at a recent Panel for Educational Policy meeting (the monthly show for the public) parents and teachers were protesting the constant shoving of semi-private charter schools into public school space, the greatest land grab since the Nebraska territory was opened.

Joel Klein responded that he was concerned with all the children in NYC. What exactly does that mean? Screwing Peter to pay Paul? Causing more overcrowding in increasingly beleaguered public schools, while giving a charter in the same building frills and smaller class sizes? What he really means is he is concerned with his “let’s steal the public school system and put it in private hands” constituency.

A parent asked, somewhat naively, why charter schools were needed at all. Why couldn’t Klein do the same thing in public schools? Not having a real answer, he again talked about his concern for all kids.

At this point, Manhattan borough PEP rep Patrick Sullivan said, “Isn’t your support for charters an admission of failure since you have had control of the public schools for six years?” Duhh!! Somehow, this is a point the NY Times doesn’t get. Or doesn’t want to get. My correspondent said that Klein had as sick a look on his face as she’d seen. The walls are closing in. Once they are gone, oh, the stuff that will come out.

Five years ago, I spoke at one of the early contentious meetings Klein was holding and said that the school systems of Baghdad and Kabul would recover sooner than NYC public schools after the BloomKlein terror. Maybe we should add western China to the list.

Klein wants to expand teacher bonus pay by 20% while school budgets are cut
Tweed wants to use $25 M of public funds to expand the program from 230 to 270 schools, which was privately funded. Bonuses are based on the same formula that led to the ridiculous school grading system, almost completely dependent on one year’s gains or losses in scores. Since the program has not yet been evaluated, one would think you would wait to see the results. But when the agenda is ideological and self-serving, why wait for results? Ahhh, ethics.

Speaking of which –
“Randi Weingarten said the bonus program was meant to encourage collaboration between teachers and administrators, not to improve teacher quality.” – NY Sun. This one has to go on Letterman's Top Ten funniest list of Randiisms.

The Sun reported that Weingarten...Was a partner to the city in conceiving the program last year. … she said that, given the proposed budget cuts, the bonus-pay program falls into the category of an extra that should not be expanded if it means less money will go to core services. "I like this program. I wanted it," Ms. Weingarten said. "But not at the expense of cutting schools."

Asking the ethical question - Well, Randi, if it is at the expense of the schools now, why wasn't it at the expense of the schools before?

One of the thousands of DOE spokespersons said:
...The program was a clear example of one of the Contracts for Excellence categories: improving teacher performance.

The code words "improve teacher performance” really mean “raise test scores by hook or crook so we can claim we had a major impact on closing the achievement gap and we can use that to advance our political careers." The real “expense” to the schools, teachers, students, and parents is the attempt to bribe teachers into putting their entire focus on high scores on one or two tests, to the detriment of the rest of the educational process.

Can't you see the thought flashing through teachers' minds: Gee! For the extra 3 grand, I'll REALLY teach. The entire process is an insult to teachers, but the UFT wore its (lack of) ethics on its sleeve in supporting the program.

The teachers at each school get to vote on the program and the UFT pushed hard to get them to say “Yes,” though miraculously, over 30 schools said “No.” Klein has urged school committees to give out bonuses according to the size of test-score gains made by each teacher's students, rather than equal distribution. Teach gym or library or computers or science? Sorry folks, out-a-luck. Until there’s a test. How about a bonus to a gym teacher for every kid who can finish a race?

If you want to read more on how attaching high stakes to test scores make the results highly suspect – check this blog by Steve Koss (http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2007/12/campbells-law-no-its-not-soup.html) where he says, “the more you base decisions like promotions, firings, or bonuses on a particular number or set of numbers, the more likely it is people will either cheat or otherwise try to game the system.”

What should Randi Weingarten's response have been?
Dear Joel,
Since you insist on playing games with the budget, we are joining ICE, TJC, Teachers Unite, Justice Not Just Tests, NYCORE, Time Out for Testing and other educational groups around the city in urging UFT members on the compensation committees in all 270 schools to reject the bonus pay plan in the future and use the money saved towards reducing the cuts you are imposing on the schools despite a large budget surplus.
Your (ex) pal
Randi

Ahhh! Just a dream on a hot summer day!

Los Angeles teachers march during first period; UFT Does a Survey
Ninety percent of the teachers in LA spent the first period on June 6 marching around 900 schools while in New York the UFT called a secret meeting of chapter leaders on June 9 to hand out surveys for teachers to fill out rating Joel Klein’s performance. I’m not opposed to doing this since it will show Klein has basically zero support from the very people who are expected to implement his programs. But with BloomKlein being lame ducks, this is merely another public relations gimmick to make teachers and the public think the UFT is really doing something. It will have zero impact.

Does something strike you odd about the vast difference in union activism between the left and right coasts? Some think it’s the teachers. I think it is the union leadership.

Nominate Tweed's greatest foul-ups!
Famed educational historian Diane Ravitch has been a major voice in exposing the BloomKlein follies. She is holding court over at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com where Diane says:

Six years into mayoral control, it is time for an accounting. For the sake of history and memory, can we begin to compile a Directory of Tweed's Greatest Foul-Ups? Parents and others; please contribute your nominees for this distinction by posting them on the comment section of this blog. The decision of the judge will be final.

So many to choose from, so little time. Oodles of them are posted on my blog where I write this kind of crap every day.
Got some ed news? norsmco@gmail.com
Blog: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Bad Teaching Leads to Death Row Says James Liebman in NY Times

Shaping the System That Grades City Schools - New York Times

Guest article submitted by Alice to ICE-mail
Nov. 19, 2007

The November 18, 2007 issue of Ed Notes Online's article, "Hunting Down Bad Teachers" observes that "The nation wide focus on quality teaching is curious when compared to lack of focus on quality of physicians where mistakes lead to people dying."

Apparently, the DOE is attempting to make just that connection by hiring James Liebman, a death row litigation expert,to be the chief accountability officer in rating schools.

The Times writes that Mr. Liebman "...would like to think fewer people might end up on death row had they received a basic education tailored to encouraging their strengths."

Thus, the connection between poor education and death has been made.

This article is filled with propaganda techniques from the folksy, plain folks tone, to the reframing techniques deployed in such statements as these: "We're not measuring kids, we're measuring schools."

I really suggest that everyone read this article several times looking for examples such as these.

If looked at closely, the reasoning is obviously ludicrous.

If read quickly, the subliminal message is "Bad Teaching Leads To Death".

As I've said in a number of posts, it would be suicidal to mount any public campaign without studying propaganda techniques.

George Lakoff, an expert in linguistics, writes in his article "What Orwell Didn't Know About The Brain, The Mind and Language,"

"Probably 98% of your reasoning is unconscious...Thought is structured, in large measure, in terms of 'frames' - brain structures that control mental stimulation and hence reasoning."

Lakoff contends that we think in terms of frames. Such a frame is "Failing schools." The catch is that once the frame is wired into the circuitry of the brain. Lakoff writes, "...the new neural structure cannot just be erased. In other words, if teachers try to negate the concept of "bad teachers, failing schools, etc" using those words, they just reinforce the frame.

Lakoff writes that repeating those words just ..."activates the metaphor and strengthens what you're against." (pgs. 70 -71,) Saying that the schools aren't failing, in other words, reinforces the concept that the schools ARE failing. An example of reframing this concept would be, "The schools aren't failing to provide for students, The DOE is failing to provide for schools."

The DOE has their PR experts and the media. In the above article, they're created an insidious frame equating poor teaching with death row.

Any truths told will be spun. If we don't know what we're doing linguistically, we will just provide ammunition to be used against us.

If we do know what we're doing, we can reframe their propaganda and use it against them.
Above Submitted by Alice

Ed Note:
In an interesting anomaly, John Lawhead, one of the ICE founders and one of the most astute analysts and critics of high stakes testing and just about everything James Liebman has advocated since he's been at the DOE, spent many years as Liebman's administrative Assistant at Columbia before John began his teaching career. John should have spiked the coffee machine with truth serum. Currently an ESL teacher at soon-to-be closed Tilden HS after being being forced out of the closed Bushwick HS, we have to wonder if Liebman is closing every school John teaches at because he's short of help.

SPECIFICATION 6

SPECIFICATION 6: Respondent's actions caused widespread negative publicity and notoriety to the High School of Fashion Industries and the New York City Department of Education in general when his unprofessional behavior was referenced in a UFT Newspaper.

Thus reports David Pakter on one of the charges against him by the DOE. David asks Randi Weingarten in an open letter (read it in full here at Norm's Notes.)

David asks:

Did you or I or any of the millions of other citizens of this great city ever think in our wildest imagination that a day would arrive when a former Federal Prosecutor, appointed by a NYC Mayor would, while in control of the largest school system in America, decide that the United States Constitution applied to everyone but him. But that stunning fact has now come to pass. For despite the fact that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution specifically guarantees freedom of speech and more important in this instance, freedom of the press, a decorated educator and loyal UFT member of 37 years is now being charged with the crime of having the long and ruthless vendetta perpetrated against him, reported in the UFT Newspaper, The New York Teacher.

Ed Notes will watch the response of the UFT, in an era of Tweed/UFT collaboration, on an issue that, if allowed to pass, will put any teacher who is quoted in the NY Teacher in jeopardy. Maybe a "Dear Joel" note to the chancellor?

NOTE: David sent me a note asking me to publish an open letter to me as he wanted to make it clear he received a lot of help and support from the UFT and Randi Weingarten. I did so at norms notes at this link.

Transfers Lead to Teacher Turmoil

Meredith Kolodner's article on District 79 in The Chief can be viewed at Norms' Notes.

The UFT negotiated with Tweed and they did not follow through in good faith. Gee Wiz! Why are we not surprised? What else could they have done? Maybe expend some political capital? I don't know enough to say.

Some interesting quotes on the UFT role (emphasis is mine):

The UFT negotiated a hiring process with the city that included specific criteria by which hiring decisions would be made. Those criteria included attendance records, job performance and licensing, and varied by position.

A committee composed of DOE and UFT officials made decisions about whether Teachers who applied met the criteria, although Mr. Mulgrew advised any Teacher who believed the process was unfair to file a grievance.

She has some interesting quotes from Jeff Kaufman:


Some Teachers did not want to take a chance with the District 79 process and found jobs in other parts of the city. "I went crazy looking for a job," said Jeff Kauffman, who taught at District 79 Second Opportunity School and this week will start at a high school in Brooklyn. "I didn't trust how it would all work." The hiring process was supposed to commence after July 4, but the interviews didn't begin until August. Some Teachers, who say they were committed to staying in District 79, were interviewed as late as last week. When they were turned down, it left them little time to seek other jobs.

Mr. Kauffman said that he is happy with his new placement, preferring it to his old school where he said most of the staff had ongoing problems with the administrators. But he said he was concerned that all of the changes, coming as late as they did, would have an adverse impact on District 79 students.

"These kids don't need another disincentive to not come to school," he said. "They see a disorganized classroom and school, and they're gone."

I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Jeff on this issue. And good luck to him in his new school. The teachers (and students) at Rikers sorely miss him. Now that he is no longer on the UFT Executive Board to raise these issues, we can expect a lower level of activity. But then that is what Unity Caucus wanted as a result of the UFT elections. They got what they wished for. NYC teachers will be the worse for it.

What's the Real Difference Marcia Lyles?

Marcia Lyles, Joel Klein's deputy chancellor for teaching and learning, following on the heels of Diana Lam, Carmen Farina (Lyles took over for Farina when she left Region 8) and Andres Alonso (now chief of the Baltimore school system) gave a revealing interview to Jennifer Medina in today's NY Times (posted at Norm's Notes.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked in a 2-day a week F-status job for one of Lyles' top assistants during the 2003-04 school year and have many contacts in Region 8, so I have a bit of an inside view of how the region was run under her tenure, plus some knowledge of how she ran District 16 before the age of BloomKlein. I never met her during all that time but she seems to be a very nice lady and no one had anything bad to say about her, so I won't go there at this time. One of the 4 superintendents chosen in the latest reorganization, about 12% of the schools signed up with her, which put her 2nd to Judy Chin's 27%.

Her story is that she went to public schools in Harlem and spent her entire career as a teacher and supervisor in the NYC schools. Long-time observers of the ed/political scene see her (and her predecessors) as figureheads for the MBA types looking for bottom-line narrow test results who are really driving teaching and learning. Lyles almost admits as much when she says:

"When the music changes, so does the dance.”
“I learned all the new steps,” she said. “I just moved with the changes, that’s what you have to do.”

Medina writes:

While some teachers and principals say the Klein administration desperately needs an educator’s voice in a headquarters packed with lawyers and consultants who have little patience for the city’s education establishment, they question whether Ms. Lyles is aggressive enough to be heard.

But the most revealing part of the interview was her own childhood experiences. As a high school student at the dreadful Benjamin Franklin HS she cut school regularly until an aunt found out.

Convinced that the school was too easy, her aunt, who was raising her, forced her to transfer from Benjamin Franklin High School to Jamaica High School, making an hourlong trip to and from Queens near the end of her sophomore year. There, Ms. Lyles was shocked to learn that after being in the top of her class at Franklin, which was largely black and Hispanic, and finding school so easy that she could skip out, she was struggling to keep up at what was then a largely white Jamaica High.

It was her first lesson in the problem that still preoccupies the nation’s largest school system — the racial achievement gap.

Joel Klein (and Bloomberg) have seized on this issue, trying to play the race card by turning it into a civil rights struggle and calling the inability to close this gap "the shame of this nation."

Ironically, Jamaica HS was recently placed in the list of most dangerous schools. Knowing Chapter Leader James Eterno from ICE, I know that picture is misleading. But what has changed at Jamaica from Lyles' student days? Analyzing how that school is turning into what Benjamin Franklin was would provide some interesting data for Aris and the MBA's at Tweed to crunch.

Lyles, who had found school so easy now had to struggle and ended up flourishing.

“I just thought, wow, what’s the difference?” she recalled of Jamaica High. “What’s going on, now I have to play catch up? That’s when I saw about inequity, that’s when I saw about low expectations.”

There it is. She was just a victim of the low expectations by the teachers at Franklin while she somehow escaped the low expectations of teachers at Jamaica. In other words, racism. Next she'll be telling us that if the teachers at Benjamin Franklin had gotten merit pay things would have been different.

What was the impact of the role Lyles' aunt played?
Did the fact that Lyles had an aunt who acted in a way that made the crucial difference in her life play no role at all? Did the fact that she was now in a better learning environment without being surrounded by other students who were struggling make a bit of a difference? Did the fact that the students at Benjamin Franklin clearly needed so many more resources than the white students at Jamaica - more guidance counsellors, lower class sizes, etc. to make up the racial gap mean anything at all? Does she really agree with people like Chris Cerf and Joel Klein that if they had swapped the entire staffs of Jamaica and Franklin at that time things would have been much different?

If Lyles publicly recognized all these issues, that would be an admission that no matter how many times BloomKlein reorganize, or manipulate test scores, things will not change until there is a will to spend the money needed to make a real difference rather than rely on gimmicks. The refusal of BloomKlein to take any of these factors into account and just close down schools while blaming the teachers is the true shame of their administration.

Marcia Lyles won't go there. She has learned to dance to whatever tune is playing.