Norm Gets Interviewed by Daniel Alicea on Talk Out of School - Part 1 and The Skinny Awards - Contribute to Leonie

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

 

I was a guest for a two hour interview about my teaching and activist career in the NYC public schools as a student and teacher on the June 9th edition of Talk Out of School which Daniel Alicea hosts along with Leonie Haimson - a dynamic duo. I've been a UFT member since 1967 and participated in 3 strike. I became active in the UFT in 1970. In part 1 I recount the years through the 1995 contract. For me it was a good way to review and recall 57 years of work in the union and defending public education through groups like

 

Here is the link:  https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=50740

Part 2 will be on in a few weeks.

 

By the way, June 12 is Leonie's annual Skinny Awards. I haven't missed one yet over a dozen years and I won't miss this one either. I was a recipient of the Award, as were so many other UFT activists like James Eterno, Arthur Goldstein and Julie Cavanagh. 

 

Support Class Size Matters even if you can't attend.

 

  This year’s annual Skinny awards will be held on Wed. June 12 at 6 pm.   Come celebrate and honor six independent parent members of the Panel for Educational Policy, who have valiantly spoken up for the interests of our students, and who despite great odds, have maintained their eloquence,  intelligence and persistence in striving for better policies in our public schools. Not to mention, Class Size Matters really needs your support! Food and wine will be served. Here is the link for more information and to purchase your tickets..

 

Skinny Awards Honor Jamaal Bowman June 28 - support Leonie Haimson Class Size Matters

Leonie sure knows how to put on a party. Imagine: Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier (one of my ed idols since the early 70's) bridging their differences in person with Eduwonkette Jennifer Jennings. And her mentor and co-blogger Aaron Pallas, alias Skoolboy, also present. With superb satirist Gary Babad (who read us an "email" from Klein). And Patrick Sullivan. And of course, that force of nature, as Diane put it, Leonie Haimson....

Ed Notes on First Skinny Award, May, 2009, Class Size Skinny Awards Attracts Rock Stars of Education

 

Leonie has been our champion for class size, way more than our own union. I do not believe there would even be a class size law - even if ignored by Adams - if not for Leonie's work. Even if you can't make it consider a contribution. And despite sniping from the anti-squad left which is almost right wing, I'm very happy Jamaal Bowman is the only person I actually know who is in Congress. The only one to actually get the evils of standardized testing. And Leonie informs me that Eduwonkette, Jennifer Jennings, a first year recipient, may be attending. 

I've attended every dinner.

 

I was honored in 2018: I'm a Skinny: Honored to be honored by Leonie Haimson along with the Great Danny Dromm and Fred Smith

 

2011: Julie Cavanagh and James Eterno

2013: Arthur Goldstein, Gary Rubinstein

2015: Class Size Matters Celebrates Opt Out, Proponents of Real Reform at Skinnies

Please come to our Skinny Award Dinner on June 28!

June 20, 2023

Eight days from now, on Wed. June 28th, we will be holding our annual Skinny dinner in honor of Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a former NYC principal and a great force for change in the US Congress.

Rep. Bowman has sponsored two terrific bills that would change the face of education in NYC and nationwide: The Green New Deal for Schools, and the Less Testing, More Teaching Act. Moreover, he has spoken out eloquently and forcefully against the right-wing groups who are promoting censorship in our schools, enabling the continuation of gun violence and school shootings, and undermining our freedoms and our democracy in so many ways.

If you appreciate what Jamaal Bowman is fighting for, as well as our advocacy in helping to get the new class size law passed and now pushing DOE to follow through and implement it correctly, please purchase a ticket today to the Skinny Awards. If you cannot attend, please contribute to our organization instead.

It will be a great evening and you don’t want to miss it!

Thanks — Leonie

 

UFT/Unity Caucus Absent from fight against budget cuts -- no support for Parent/teacher law suit, AWOL at Demos, Video of Monday Rally

Laura D. Barbieri, Special Counsel for Advocates for Justice, stated: “The explicit language of State law requires that these egregious budget cuts be halted and reconsidered by the Mayor and the Council, because the law was not followed. The State Legislature enacted an explicit budget review and voting process by the Board of Education that was eviscerated by the Chancellor’s abuse of authority. No emergency justified the Chancellor’s ignoring the proper procedure.”

Someone called me today wanting to know why the UFT was not part of the suit. I LOLed -- no way -- they are not in the habit of being bold. They'd rather negotiate behind the table where they are given a little stool to sit on.  I posted the press release on the suit minutes after it was announced. Parents/Teachers Sue DOE Over Budget Cuts

They certainly won't try to rile up the members to fight. That leaves it up to the activist element in the UFT to engage in a fight.

I am proposing a campaign to get members to sign a letter of support for the law suit. A letter that can be submitted to the court.  My sense is that, in the hope of waking up the UFT, there may be an unwillingness to embarrass them publicly by some. So it's up to UFT members to create enough of a stir to become a problem for the leadership.  Here is video of the rally, followed by more info from Leonie Haimson.

 

https://vimeo.com/731110220

 

 

Rally to Restore the Budget Cuts - 7.18.2022 from Class Size Matters on Vimeo.

 

Monday, July 18, 2022

Lawsuit and rally to restore the budget cuts to schools, which the Mayor calls "a rumor"

Update: the lawsuit was covered by the Daily News, AM New York, Chalkbeat, and CBS radio.

Also much thanks to Laura Barbieri and the crew at Advocates for Justice, for working so hard on this lawsuit pro bono and doing it so quickly! 

This morning we filed a lawsuit on behalf of four parents and teachers to halt the Mayor's budget cuts to schools, and to require that the City Council has another opportunity to vote.  

The lawsuit is based on serious procedural errors committed by the Mayor and Chancellor, by allowing the City Council to adopt the education budget before the Panel for Educational Policy had an opportunity to hold a hearing on the cuts and vote on the education budget, which state law requires must happen first.

Instead, the Chancellor declared an emergency to immediately send the diminished funds to schools,  before either of the Council or the PEP had a chance to vote on them.  In this way, he attempted to short circuit the legally mandated process.  

We found that in twelve out of the last thirteen years, several Chancellors have invoked the same bogus "emergency" with the same boilerplate language -- without detailing what actual emergency existed.  Here is a press release with more detail and quotes from the plaintiffs; and here are the legal documents.

Even earlier in the day, there was a rally to protest the rally in front of Tweed, organized by the Progressive Caucus of the NYC Council, where many parents, advocates and Council Members spoke about the havoc these cuts would cause to schools and students' lives. 

Among the speakers were CM Alexa Aviles, who voted against the budget, as well as five CMs who had voted to approve the budget:  CM Shahana Hanif, Lincoln Restler, Jennifer Guttierez, Shekar Krishnan and Carmen de la Rosa all apologized for their votes, and promised that going forward, they would not approve any more budget cuts to schools.  They also said they were demanding action by the Mayor by August 1 to restore the cuts.  

In the afternoon, a bunch of parents including Reyhan Mehran buttonholed the Mayor outside an event in Brooklyn, where the mayor called the cuts a "rumor."  

They later met with the Mayor at City Hall,  where he was surrounded by a bunch of aides. After they described the awful effect these cuts would have on their schools and the system as a whole, the Mayor apparently said he couldn't say much about the issue because of the lawsuit, but that they had no idea how hard he works to benefit NYC children and how hard these choices are.  

Reyhan responded with, "Just don't make these choices then.  Restore the cuts now." 

Support Class Size Matters: "Skinny award" dinner June 27, 2022

I've been to almost every one and was a proud recipient a few years ago. There is no more consistent fighter for the public education community than Leonie Haimson.
See you there!

 

 

lso news update on city budget

Dear folks-

Class Size Matters would like to invite you to our “Skinny Award” dinner to be held Monday, June 27 at 6 PM. This our first fundraiser in three years, and especially important this year as we have something really momentous to celebrate: the passage of a new state law that will require NYC schools to lower class size to much smaller levels.

We are honoring the groups and individuals who made this happen, and thus gave us the real “Skinny” on NYC schools:

• The Alliance for Quality Education, for leading the successful battle to provide full Foundation aid to NYC schools at last;
• State Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, for introducing the original bills requiring our schools to lower class size;
• Assembly Education Chair Michael Benedetto and NYC Senate Education Chair John Liu, for shepherding the class size bill to passage this session;
• A special "Parent Visionary" award to Johanna Garcia, education advocate and Chief of Staff to Sen. Jackson, for her persistent and passionate advocacy over many years to achieve the goal of fully equitable class sizes for NYC children.

Wine and light food will be served!

For more information and to purchase tickets to attend either in person or remotely, please click here. If you’d like to contribute to the organization without attending, you can do so here.

2. Sadly, despite all our advocacy, briefings and testimony, and all your emails and calls, the City Council agreed to a budget deal with the Mayor that did not restore any of the $215 million cuts to school budgets for next year; a deal that will be voted on tomorrow night. It is likely that in many schools, this will force class sizes higher and/or cause the loss of critical services, and I urge you to work with your School Leadership Teams to try to ensure that your school's core teaching staff is protected as much as possible.

Clearly, Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks have no intention of obeying the will of the Legislature to require them to lower class size, and instead are thumbing their nose at them, as I say here. Which makes it even more critical that Governor Hochul to sign the class size bill as soon as possible, which will give us legal leverage to stop these cuts or at least minimize their damage.

So please, call the Governor at 518-474-8390 , and message her here. Tell her: Please sign the class size bill as soon as possible so that NYC class sizes do not increase and instead, our students are provided with the same smaller classes that kids in the rest of the state already receive. We have also posted a petition that you can sign here.

I’ll be in Albany on Thursday, and if we get enough signatures, I’ll try to deliver it personally to her and/or her staff.

Hope to see you on June 27!

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
leonie@classsizematters.org
www.classsizematters.org
Follow on twitter @leoniehaimson
Subscribe to the Class Size Matters newsletter for regular updates at http://tinyurl.com/kj5y5co
Subscribe to the NYC Education list serv by emailing NYCeducationnews+subscribe@groups.io

Norm Scott and Shanker Inst Head Leo Casey - Inside the History and Politics of the UFT - First Decades - Talk Out of School -

How did the UFT get so old so fast? --- NYC Board of Ed official c. 1970

There were no fisticuffs or even enormous disagreements when Leo and I appeared on the Leonie Haimson WBAI show now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea of Educators of NYC. Daniel and Leonie are alternating programs and make a great team from a parent/comunity activist and current 25 year teacher and activist in the UFT point of view.

I was a guest on the Leonie Haimson WBAI radio program, now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea, this past Saturday along with a former sparring partner, Randi assistant and now head of the Shanker Institute Leo Casey. That was part 1 of a history of the UFT. Part 2 is in two weeks and I hope we can get our (the retiree healthcare) situation discussed as an outcome of lack of democracy in the UFT. We are hoping to get a well-known voice of opposition to Unity for decades but he'd kill me if I revealed his name because he hasn't agreed yet.

But I had a lot more to say about UFT history and the moves made to restrict democracy as Shanker took over in 1964. The leading quote above is a theme I wanted to flesh out further. How the UFT changed from a pretty democratic organization in its first years under the leadership if first president Charlie Cogan who was pretty conservative and non militant but believe in the will of the members - so he was opposed to the first strikes in 1960 and 1962 but the  militant Del Ass voted to strike and he supported them. Shanker began his power move in 1962 and Unity caucus became his instrument and he would have challenged Cogan in 1964 if Dave Seldin hadn't managed to convince Cogan to get out of the way. The late 60s disasters may be tied to the restricted democracy and one man rule under Shanker.

The other issue not explored was the Shanker support for the Vietnam War and the successful attempts to stifle opposition, which was considerable. Shanker didn't want to ruin is chances for advancement in the AFL and right wing mentor George Meany. Maybe in Part 2.

https://talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com/episodes/inside-uft-politics-and-history-part-1-how-the-nations-most-powerful-teachers-union-impacted-nyc-public-schools-x7yfuvOR

Episode Summary

Daniel Alicea was joined by two lifelong and beloved UFT union activists and leaders, Leo Casey and Norm Scott. They took us through a decade by decade overview of the significant developments within the United Federation of Teachers union and how these impacted public education of NYC schools, from 1960 to 1980. This is part 1 of a three part series entitled: Inside UFT politics and history: How The Nation’s Most Powerful Teachers Union Impacted NYC Public Schools Part 1 took us through the 1960s and 1970's. Parts 2 and 3 will likely be broadcast in August or in the fall. Leo Casey is the Assistant to the AFT president, Randi Weingarten. He is also the former executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute. Leo, is a lifelong educator whose career spans his tenure as a high school teacher to being a past UFT Vice-President. Casey has recently published a book called The Teacher Insurgency: A Strategic and Organizing Perspective. In this book, Leo Casey addresses how the unexpected wave of recent teacher strikes has had a dramatic impact on American public education, teacher unions, and the larger labor movement. Casey explains how this uprising was not only born out of opposition to government policies that underfunded public schools and deprofessionalized teaching, but was also rooted in deep-seated changes in the economic climate, social movements, and, most importantly, educational politics. Norm Scott, has been a dissident voice within the UFT, who served as an outspoking union activist, chapter leader, and delegate during his 35 year NYC elementary school teaching career and, even now, as a retiree. In 1997, he launched an independent publication, Education Notes, a newsletter for NYC teachers which he turned into the EdNotes blog, in 2006. He is a founding member of various UFT caucuses such as, Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), to the now defunct, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM).

Episode Notes

-------------------

Resources:

- UFT: 50 Years:  https://www.uft.org/files/attachments/uft-50-years-book.pdf

- The Teacher Rebellion by David Selden

https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Rebellion-David-Selden/dp/0882582356

- Schools Against Children: The Case for Community Control by Anne Rubenstein

https://www.amazon.com/Schools-Against-Children-Community-Control/dp/0853451621

- Blackboard Unions  by Marjorie Murphy

https://www.amazon.com/Blackboard-Unions-AFT-NEA-1900-1980/dp/0801423651/

- City Unions: Managing Discontent in New York City  by Mark Meir

https://www.amazon.com/City-Unions-Managing-Discontent-York/dp/0813512298

- Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy by Richard Kahlenberg

https://www.amazon.com/Tough-Liberal-Democracy-Columbia-Contemporary/dp/0231134975

- The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis by Jerald E. Podair

https://www.amazon.com/Strike-That-Changed-York-Hill-Brownsville/dp/0300109407

Here is James' report on ICE blog:

NORM SCOTT AND LEO CASEY DISCUSS UFT HISTORY ON THE RADIO

Daniel Alicea is a New York City middle school teacher. He has formed a UFT group called Educators of NYC. Daniel is now one of the hosts of WBAI's Talk out of School. He alternates weekly with Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters. The program is live on the radio every Saturday at 1:00 P.M. In addition, every show is archived and available as a podcast. 

Please take an hour out of your day and listen closely to Saturday's show as past UFT High School Vice President and now AFT leader Leo Casey discusses the history of the UFT with our own Norm Scott. They cover the 1960s and 70's. Believe it or not, there is a great deal of agreement between the two longtime activists, Casey from the inside and Norm as a dissident but there is real disagreement on the roots of the anti-democratic nature of the UFT.

Norm at ICE email:

I was a guest on the Leonie Haimson WBAI radio program, now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea, this past Saturday along with a former sparring partner, Randi assistant and now head of the Shanker Institute Leo Casey. That was part 1 of a history of the UFT. Part 2 is in two weeks and I hope we can get our (the retiree healthcare) situation discussed as an outcome of lack of democracy in the UFT. We are hoping to get a well-known voice of opposition to Unity for decades but he'd kill me if I revealed his name because he hasn't agreed yet.

I think I know who that person is (definitely not me) and if this individual does the show, it will be just as good if not better than the first one. I wonder who Unity puts up next, if anyone.

On another note, Thursday, July 22, ICEUFT will be meeting via Zoom at noon. More details will follow.

Skinny Awards - Wednesday June 19 - Support the important work

Last year I was joined by Fred Smith and Danny Dromm as winners of the award.  I'm a Skinny: Honored to be honored by Leonie...The year has gone by very fast. I expect to attend this year's event - I haven't missed one since Leonie began giving out Skinny's as an antidote to the Broad Awards.

Save the date! On Wednesday June 19 we will hold our annual Skinny award dinner at Casa La Femme on 140 Charles St. The honorees will be Attorney General Tish James for her steadfast and courageous leadership in supporting public school students and parents over many years; and NYC Kids PAC, the only political action committee that rates candidates on their positions on public education. Please reserve your ticket now — for a delicious three course dinner with wine and great company besides!

June 19 - I'm a Skinny: Honored to be honored by Leonie Haimson along with the Great Danny Dromm and Fred Smith

Hey folks -- here is your chance to see me be Skinny - and to contribute to the amazing work Leonie Haimson does for all of us.

And I can't think of better people to be honored with than Danny Dromm and Fred Smith. And the anticipation of the mystery honoree. Past award winners have been James Eterno, Arthur Goldstein, Julie Cavanagh, Diane Ravitch, Patrick Sullivan and so many others.

Last year our pals from CPE1 were honored. It was a wonderful evening and I'm thrilled to be included this year. 

Former teacher Danny Dromm has been a force for change on the city council. 

 

And Fred Smith -- who has done so much work for the opt-out movement. I remember hearing from Fred about 10 years ago, asking to come to an ICEUFT meeting to talk about the tests and trying to enlist people. Fred was there when GEM took positions on testing and was one of the founders of Change the Stakes. His research has been crucial. And let's not forget his other job as a statistician for the NY Jets, which and turn out to be more frustrating than dealing with the DOE.

Ten years of skinny awards and a way for Leonie to continue her amazing work. So even if you can't come, consider contributing to class size matters.

I've attended very one of Leonie's Skinny (Not (Eli) BROAD) Awards. It is always the most fun events of the year where the major people battling ed deform gather -- sshhhhhhh - don't tell or they will drop a bunker bomb on us.

Even my wife, who should be sick of ed talk after almost 50 years of it, wants to go.

If any of you Ed Notes readers are going let me know at normsco@gmail.com.

From Leonie's announcement.

Please reserve your seat now for our Annual Skinny Award dinner on Tuesday June 19. We will be honoring four tremendous individuals who have given us the "real skinny" on NYC public schools:

• Council Member Danny Dromm, Chair of the Finance Committee & former Education Chair

• Norm Scott, retired teacher and blogger/videographer extraordinaire

• Fred Smith, testing expert and critic

• And a surprise honoree who will be announced at the event!

Join us on June 19, 2018 at 6 PM at Casa La Femme, 140 Charles St. in Greenwich Village, for a delicious three course meal with a glass of wine and great company! 


This is always one of the most joyous events of the year, where we celebrate our victories and gain strength for the challenges to come. Buy your tickets today.  


Even if you can't make it, please consider making a contribution at the above link in honor of these terrific awardees, and to support our work going forward. 
 

2. Starting on June 8, the State Education Department will hold hearings on student privacy, to hear from parents how they would like their children's sensitive data to be protected and what an expanded Parents Bill of Privacy Rights should include. NYC DOE chronically violates student privacy by making children's contact information available to charter schools without parental consent. Also, contrary to state law, the DOE does not post the current Parents Bill of Privacy Rights on its website nor does it include it in the contracts it signs with vendors when they are provided access to personal student information. The full schedule of hearings is here, starting on June 8 in the Bronx, June 11 in Brooklyn, June 12 in Manhattan and June 18 in Queens. Here are some additional talking points you can use in your testimony.

Hope to see you at the Skinnies, and thanks! Leonie 
 
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011

Leonie Haimson Mashes ChalkBleat's Elizabeth Green Bias

Leonie and Elizabeth used to be pretty friendly - I was also friendly with her.

Chalkbeat “Roundtable” discussion on Eliz. Green controversial piece in which she called Success charters a model educational system.  See what I just tweeted  about it below. 

https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/01/16/a-chalkbeat-roundtable-the-promise-and-perils-of-charter-networks-like-success-academy/

The incredible bias of this piece in responding to critiques that the original piece was too biased makes me think that Chalkbeat editors must be trapped in a bubble w/o any awareness of how isolated they are. 

	leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson)
1/17/18, 8:15 PM Egregiously biased discussion fr/ 3 charter school founders, 2 who say district schools can be as good as charters (!), 1 parent criticizing both, and not a single charter critic. Biased selection exacerbates problems in @elizwgreen superficial encomium to Success. @carolburris twitter.com/chalkbeat/stat…

Leonie Haimson on Loss of Thousands of Classrooms: What Role Did Charter Influx Play? Where is UFT, Chalkbeat?

Leonie Haimson:  Unfortunately, very few news outlets carried stories about the report, including those that repeatedly report on the non-newsworthy complaints from the charter lobby every time they hold a press conference or send out a press release.  The Walton Foundation and hedge-funder backed charter including Families for Excellent Schools, Students First, and other astroturf organizations, constantly and erroneously repeat the refrain that charters are unfairly deprived of their fair share of space. Why this lack of interest on the part of NYC reporters?  I could speculate but choose not to.... Leonie Haimson

Leonie doesn't name names and reporters but we know she is talking about astro-turf journalism from Chalkbeat which given its other reporting leaves this one alone.

I dare anyone from the press to show this chart

Astute observers of the NYC ed scene know that Leonie Haimson through Class Size Matters has often done the work the UFT should be doing. Here is another example of the wonderful work Leonie has been doing for the past 15 years. Did Bloomberg et al funnel most available seats to charters? Hell yes - don't need no stinkn data to tell us that.

NYC Public School Parents  
How many thousands of school seats were lost during the past decade, how did this contribute to overcrowding and how many went to charter school students? - 

Last  week Class Size Matters released a new report entitled Seats Gained and Lost in NYC Schools: The Untold Story.  For the first time, this study documented that more than 50,000 NYC public school seats were eliminated during the decade of 2004 to 2013.

These seat losses, mostly because of lapsed leases, the removal of trailers and the elimination of annexes, were identified using data from the annual DOE School Capacity and Utilization Reports, known more familiarly as the Blue Books.

Rather than creating net 100,000 seats during this period, as former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Mayor's Management Report claimed, the real figure was less than half that number — only about 45,000, when seat loss is taken into account.

Moreover, of these net seats, the vast majority were filled by charter school students in public school buildings, with only 2,357 net seats filled by district public school students during this decade.

 

These findings help explain the worsening overcrowding that has plagued New York City schools, especially in the elementary grades, with the number of overcrowded elementary school buildings increasing by 17 percent and the number of students in these buildings increasing by 29 percent between 2004 and 2012. 

Meanwhile, the total number of students last year in overcrowded school buildings of all kinds was more than 575,000 --- according to the DOE's own "target" methodology.
In fully half of all districts, elementary school buildings lost net capacity during this period.  Of the 19 districts that experience growth in elementary school enrollment, in only three districts did the net new capacity exceed growth: in districts 2, 11, and 22.  If you'd like to see how many seats your district lost during this period, check out the report here or below.
The report also points out several factors that may make seat loss an even more important concern in the future.  This includes the DOE’s plan to accelerate the planned removal of TCUs or trailers, and the fact that there are no funds allocated in the five-year capital plan towards replacing their classrooms.  Moreover, the amount of funding in the capital plan dedicated to replacing lost leases has sharply declined since 2009.
We suggested some  proposals that the DOE could use to stem the loss of seats and to make the process of school planning more transparent and efficient, so that the problem of overcrowding doesn't worsen,  given the boom in residential development throughout the city and the Mayor's focus on increasing the number of affordable and market-rate housing units.
We also urged an end to any further co-locations, which exacerbate overcrowding; and our figures showing that the vast majority of net new seats went to charter school students over this decade provides an important factual counterbalance to the constant demand from the charter school lobby for more space within our already overcrowded school buildings, and the claim that they have been deprived of their fair share of classrooms. 
Unfortunately, very few news outlets carried stories about the report, including those that repeatedly report on the non-newsworthy complaints from the charter lobby every time they hold a press conference or send out a press release.  The Walton Foundation and hedge-funder backed charter including Families for Excellent Schools, Students First, and other astroturf organizations, constantly and erroneously repeat the refrain that charters are unfairly deprived of their fair share of space. Why this lack of interest on the part of NYC reporters?  I could speculate but choose not to.
Instead, please take a look at the report yourselves, and please let me know what you think in the comments below.  thanks!

See the report at Leonie's blog:

https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-many-thousands-of-school-seats-were.html

 

Here's the Skinny - Where World Class Ed Deform Resisters Gather

Yesterday I was walking east on 43rd Street on the way back from seeing a matinee performance of the soon to close Sweat -- a wonderful play that pretty much explains the Trump victory -- when I felt a tap on my shoulder. The guy looked familiar. "Thanks for all your help," he said. And I realized he was one of the amazing CPE1 parents who were honored Tuesday night at the Skinny Awards dinner (he wasn't there so I at first had a hard time placing him but he was at most of the hearings for Marilyn Martinez). It was the 9th Skinny Awards event and I've been at every one. Just a random slice of the remarkable crew from CPE1.

Arthur Goldstein has an excellent comprehensive report on the Skinny Awards run by Leonie Haimson to raise money for Class Size Matters. So I won't repeat all the honorees he lists but you should read his report: At the Skinnies.

And note that the draft beers we had were at a Happy Hour and all 3 beers (Fred Smith was with us) cost the same as that $14 beer Arthur bought me at the Hilton during the 2014 NYSUT convention. Maybe I'll get to buy him what will probably be a $20 beer at 2019 NYSUT.

We planned to sit together but since Leonie had to find a new restaurant 3 days before the event, sitting was a bit convoluted. Gloria Brandman and I ended up at the table with the CPE1 parents and teachers and had a blast. Catlin Preston, freed rubber room detainee after a year and a half, was at the table. I sat next to a young lady who just completed her first year of teaching at CPE1. She was one of the teachers hired by deposed principal Garg who stood with the teachers and parents who fought her, thus risking her career if Garg had remained. The vet teachers at CPE1 say she is developing into a super teacher.

Partying with the CPE1 crew made the evening even more special than usual.

Leonie of course is the heroine of so much of the resistance to ed deform over the past 15 years and though not publicized enough, her husband and major backer, Michael Oppenheimer, is one of the leading voices on climate change, often appearing on PBS and quoted in the NY Times. Read his Wiki and imagine what a power couple he and Leonie are. It is always great to touch base with Michael, even if once a year. (I did invite him to come visit Rockaway while it's still there.)

Lawyer Arthur Schwartz who was one of the honorees had a previous engagement but did make it there near the end of the evening, just as the belly dancer came out --- you sly guy Arthur.

The Townsend Harris super student journalists were award winners too -- how interesting that 2 of the 4 winners were related to abusive principals.

Dianne Ravitch was there as usual and she told me about her joke tweet urging Trump to drop a super bomb on North Korea and how seriously some took it. So she took it down. Jeez. Sometimes I get the annoyance over political correctness and how it riles people.

Regent Chancellor Betty Rosa was there and just think of that --- Meryl Tisch's successor came to the Skinnies -- she was honored a few years ago, along with Cathy Cashin.

Here are a few pics I took. I do have video of the belly dancer but I leave that for private viewing.

Photos below

On SLTs: UFT/Unity Back Farina Over Rank and File and Leonie

UFT bear in hibernation on SLTs

Theoretically, School Leadership Teams had the potential to curb the power of principals. In reality, SLTs enhance their power and the UFT in its zeal to back the Farina admin, after supporting a parent lawsuit under BloomKlein, have gone dormant on the issue.

In a recent post I asked: Why Does DOE Fight Open Meetings? What is Farina Hiding?

Also see Leonie Haimson's blog:

A busy day: Protesting billionaires pushing charter schools & then winning our lawsuit vs the DOE on School Leadership Team meetings

Michael Fiorillo had the answer:

The DOE fought this because it doesn't want the public to see that SLT meetings are a sham, a way for the Principal to work her/his will on the school, with the ostensible (but largely meaningless) participation of parents, students and teachers.

And James Eterno ties the UFT eternal support for whatever Carmen wants Carmen gets:

The UFT, in its recent "We don't publicly take on de Blasio-Farina-CSA" incarnation, did not join the parents in the 2014 lawsuit. However, the Union should now use its resources to teach parents and teachers on SLT's how to use their authority as part of the governance structure of schools.

Good luck with that.

James continued:

As for the city-DOE, they can appeal again but their chances of prevailing cannot be that great now that five judges have ruled against them. We'll let Leonie have the last word:

"The law is crystal clear that School Leadership Teams are public bodies, with an important governmental role to play. Parents and the public have a crucial stake in SLT decisions, when it comes to class size, the use of technology, or any other school-based policies. Both the Supreme Court and now the Appellate Court have ruled that these meetings must be open to the community at large. Any attmpt by the DOE or principals to ignore this decision, subvert it or appeal it to a higher court would be unwise, would further delay the public interest and would waste precious taxpayer funds that are far better used in improving our schools," concluded Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.

I'm waiting for the day when Leonie has had enough of the UFT bullshit and slams them publicly.

Skinny Awards, June 9: Support Leonie's Work and the Leaders of Opt Out - and go to a great party too

If there is one event you should support, this is it. I've been to every single

Skinny (Not Broad) award dinner. I intend to be there to celebrate with my colleagues in Change the Stakes and NYC Opt Out and our allies in NYSAPE. And a freak'n 4 course dinner too.

Class Size Matters 7th Annual “Skinny” Award Dinner

Leonie Haimson and Diane Ravitch,

Patrick Sullivan and Monica Major

Emily Horowitz, and Cynthia Wachtell

invite you to

Class Size Matters 7th Annual “Skinny” Awards Dinner

When: Tuesday, June 9 at 6:30 PM
Where: Il Bastardo/Bocca Di Bacco
191 7th Ave (21st St)
New York, NY 10011

A fundraiser for Class Size Matters

This year we are honoring the NY leaders of the Opt-Out movement:

Change the Stakes

NYC Opt Out

New York State Allies for Public Education

Please join us for an opportunity to enjoy a four course dinner to celebrate three organizations that led a historic movement resulting in 200,000 students refusing to take the NY state tests this year.

Ticket Information:

http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=8217

$250 – Defender of Public Education

$150 – Patron

$75 – Supporter

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you there!

If you can’t attend, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters, to help support our work

Parents Rate de Blasio (and Farina) Poorly - and they were being nice - Is Farina making us miss Joel Klein? And Leo Casey goes wild at daring to crit de B

Media outlets that reported on our report card include News 12-TV, Wall St. Journal, NY Post, WCBS radio, and Epoch Times (in Chinese).  Please take a look at the grades we awarded the mayor on education issues below, and leave a comment on the blog.  thanks, Leonie 

Photo by Norm Scott for Ednotesonline

I attended the press conference on Sunday and taped it - but luckily pro Michael Elliott was there to cover and did the video below. One of the fascinating conversations I had with some people was just how bad Farina is in so many ways in relation to parents - even a few words of comparison to Joel Klein. He didn't bother to try to hide his disdain for parents and other voices. She has the de Blasio rhetoric - backed by the UFT.

I'll do a follow up with Leo Casey's attack on Leonie and KidsPAC for daring to be critical of de Blasio --- he and Mikey will punch you in the face. Casey said that by criticizing De Blasio we are supporting Eva and the hedgehogs. It makes you want to punch yourself in the face.

NYC Public School Parents

[VIDEO] NYC KidsPAC Education report card for the Mayor press conference - Video taken by Michael Elliot at our NYC KidsPAC press conference on April 19 where we released our education report card for Mayor de Blasio.

ON the steps of TWEED, NYC KidsPac held a press conference to deliver a report card on Mayor De Blasio's first year in office and how his initiatives stacked up against the promises he made during the election. Lets just say that there's lots of room for improvement!

https://youtu.be/mSq9pMj3J3U

Class Size Matters

Updates on opt out and NYC KidsPAC releases Mayor de Blasio’s education report card - April 20, 2015 Dear Friends, As you may have heard, a huge number of kids opted out of the ELA exams last week throughout NY State; the unofficial count so... 

Chaz thinks the parents marked too easy. I agree

Chaz's School Daze

What The NYC KidsPAC Report Omitted. - With much fanfare and great hopes, the De Blasio Administration would make real change to the NYC public schools. Even our UFT President, M... 

According to the organization Bill de Blasio and his disappointing Chancellor, Carmen Farina, gets an "F" for failing to reduce class sizes, despite promises to do so.  Moreover, they received a "F" for the lack of transparency on funding and contracts that was the hallmark of the Bloomberg years.  Finally, they get another "F" for their failure to allow for the segregation of too many schools in the City without a diversity plan to correct this.

The De Blasio Administration does little better when it comes to parent engagement, receiving a "D" for not providing enough parent outreach.  Further, the De Blasio Administration was given a "D" on how it handled busing and Special Education services.  Finally, their failure to adequately handle the co-location issue deserves another "D" rating.

What was left out of the report was the continuation of other Bloomberg policies that has not been corrected by the De Blasio Administration or his disappointing Chancellor, they are:

Fair Student Funding:  The continuation of fair student funding has resulted in principals selecting "the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their schools, while allowing teaching talent to waste away as glorified babysitters in the ATR pool at a cost of $150 million dollars annually.

Frozen School Budgets:  Despite the increase in the overall DOE budget, Chancellor Carmen Farina froze the school budgets at last year's levels which was 14% below the 2008 level for the schools.

Teachers Teaching A Sixth Class:  Too many schools, trying to meet their unrealistically tight budgets are requiring teachers to pick up a sixth class to save on teachers,  This is especially true in shortage areas where the DOE picks up the tab for the sixth class not the school.

There are other "education on the cheap" issues like Science and AP classes being shortened, teachers not certified to teach in their content specialty, resources like paper and school supplies not being sent to the classroom, and special education students not being given their mandated services.  All of these issues were omitted by the KidsPAC report but are still going on despite the demise of the Bloomberg Administration as the Mayor and his disappointing Chancellor has failed to make the changes necessary for our public schools to succeed.