Is Bloomberg Buying the DNC? If So, What Does He Plan to Do With It?

From Naked Capitalism - and Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report

World behavior (and reader in better run emerging economies will no doubt say that that’s not a feature of their political landscape). But the US crossed that Rubicon with the intel-security state acting as if it has the authority to approve who sits in the White House. 

By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at DownWithTyranny!

Paradise lost. One misstep is all it takes to take the proud down low.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make proud.
—With apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is a small point that leads to a larger one. Consider what Mike Bloomberg is building within the Democratic Party, within the DNC. According to the following analysis he’s turning the DNC into an anti-Sanders machine, a force loyal to himself, that will operate even after Sanders is nominated, even after Sanders is elected, if he so chooses.

With that he hopes to limit and control what Sanders and his rebellion can do. It’s the ultimate billionaire counter-rebellion — own the Party machine that the president normally controls, then use it against him.

Our source for this thought is Glen Ford at Black Agenda Report. Ford is one of the more vitriolic defenders of radical change in America, but in this analysis I don’t think he’s wrong, at least in making the case that Bloomberg is giving himself that option. But do decide for yourself.

Here’s his case:

Bloomberg Wants to Swallow the Democrats and Spit Out the Sandernistas

If, somehow, Bernie Sanders is allowed to win the nomination, Michael Bloomberg and other plutocrats will have created a Democratic Party machinery purpose-built to defy Sanders — as nominee, and even as president.

The details of his argument are here (emphasis added):

Bloomberg has already laid the groundwork to directly seize the party machinery, the old fashioned way: by buying it and stacking it with his own, paid operatives, with a war-against-the-left budget far bigger than the existing Democratic operation. Bloomberg’s participation in Wednesday’s debate, against all the rules, is proof-of-purchase.

In addition to the nearly million dollar down payment to the party in November that sealed the deal for the debate rules change, Bloomberg has already pledged to pay the full salaries of 500 political staffers for the Democratic National Committee all the way through the November election, no matter who wins the nomination. Essentially, Bloomberg will be running the election for the corporate wing of the party, even if Sanders is the nominee.

In an interview with PBS’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday night, senior Bloomberg advisor Timothy O’Brien made it clear that the DNC is in no condition to refuse being devoured by Bloomberg, even if they wanted to. O’brien predicted the Republicans will spend at least $900 million on the election, while the DNC has only about $8 million on hand. Even the oligarch’s underlings are telegraphing the takeover game plan.

Bloomberg is not so much running for president as making sure that the Democrats don’t go “rogue” anti-corporate to accommodate the Sandernistas. He is ensuring that the Democratic Party will be an even more hostile environment for anti-austerity politics than in the past – not in spite of the phenomenal success of the Sanders project, but because of it.

Ford has not much love for Bernie Sanders, as he finds Sanders (and his supporters) weak for sticking with the Democrats. Ford thinks Sanders should go “third party” in his opposition to the corrupt duopoly that owns our politics. That’s a point on which we can disagree without disagreeing that the duopoly is indeed corrupt, or that Bloomberg is setting himself up for post-electoral mischief.

Ford also thinks the Party will split in the face of this anti-Sanders resistance, especially if the counter-resistance continues after a President Sanders is inaugurated.

We’ll see about all that. Ford may be right in his estimate of Bloomberg’s intentions. He may also be right in Bloomberg’s ability to carry through if his intentions are indeed as Machiavellian as he says.

On the other hand, Sanders may gather to himself enough control of the DNC and other Party machinery that he does indeed transform it, and with it, slowly, the Party itself. That’s certainly been his game plan, and if he does indeed have a movement behind him — a really big one — I wouldn’t bet against him being right. I myself don’t see a way for a third party to succeed in the U.S. unless it’s a “virtual third party” — but more on that at another time.

The Larger Point

So this is our smaller point, that Mike Bloomberg may be positioning himself to “own” the DNC, and with it enough of the Democratic Party, so that he can himself rein in a President Sanders. Is that his goal? It certainly seems possible. “Mini-Mike” is certainly Machiavellian.

Which leads to the larger point: How much rebellion, within the DNC and elsewhere, with or without Bloomberg’s interference, will someone like President Sanders encounter and how long will it last? If it lasts throughout his presidency, that’s a horse of a different color — a much darker one.

In fact, the dark horse of today’s American politics is the entrenched, corrupt (and frankly, pathological) über-rich and their death grip on all of our governing institutions, including the press. Will that death grip tighten as the Sanders movement grows? And will they continue to squeeze the throats of the working class, even as the victims find their own throats and tighten in response?

Would you bet, in other words, that the rich who rule us wouldn’t kill the country that feeds their wealth — wouldn’t spark such a confused and violent rebellion that even they would be forced at last to flee — won’t do all all this out of animus, pique and world-historical hubris?

That bet is even money all the way. They just might try it, just might be willing to strangle the body itself, the political body, just to see how far it they can get by doing it.

Whom the gods would destroy…

Leonie Haimson on Michael Bloomberg’s Disastrous Public Education Legacy - The Indypendent

No one has their hand on the Bloomberg years than Leonie. I wish the people on the debate would challenge some of his claims based on this article.

Michael Bloomberg’s Disastrous Public Education Legacy

 https://indypendent.org/2020/02/michael-bloombergs-disastrous-public-education-legacy/

As of mid-February, Michael Bloomberg has spent over $400 million on his presidential campaign, including blanketing the air waves with ads and is on track to spend more than a billion dollars. As a result, he has risen sharply in the polls, and in turn, begun to receive critical attention regarding his record on certain issues, such as racial profiling and his stop-and-frisk policies.

When I heard that he was running for president, it felt like the return of a bad dream.

However, Bloomberg’s record on education has been glossed over. When it is mentioned at all, he has been vaguely praised, as in a recent Thomas Friedman column, for championing  “virtually every progressive cause” including “education reform for predominantly minority schools.”

MORE Analysis of Non-Deal and Commentary on Yesterday

The future of school reform is here. It is the democratic voice of the true stakeholders in the education system...

Unfortunately, the same forces that have given rise to dictatorial mayoral control schemes around the country are also responsible for our own union’s lack of democracy. Since these education reform policies are wholly unpopular, and since our union leaders do not want to be seen as obstacles to “progress”, they have been forced to take a “conciliation” approach with “reformer” mayors who run school districts. In turn, they have been required to turn to increasingly un-democratic means to silence their members who understand that these reforms are harmful to our schools... Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE)

I didn't get home until 10:30 last night after a few hours at a bar with some MOREs where I had a pastrami rueben and beer - urp! - and then getting lost in the dark downtown -- which way is Broadway? --- and then B and Q train problems which was a problem since my car was at Newkirk and forced me to take a long walk after taking the IRT to Brooklyn College - something I haven't done since c. 1965 when I was still living in East NY and taking the New Lots train to Franklin Ave and change to the Flatbush line, a trip that made getting a driving license the single most important thing in my life when I was 18. Oh, did I digress?

I actually did some processing of video I took of the great MORE led rally outside the DA before falling asleep at the keyboard. So I had a lot of catching up to do this morning and in the midst of taking my daily trips to various Home Depots, working on electrifying part of my basement (I heard Mulgrew was putting sheet rock up in his home and he is welcome to stop buy and help) and maybe catching a movie at the Sheepshead (Django Unchained) and being home for my wife's return later this afternoon from her big mahjong gig at Mother Kelly's restaurant, I may actually do some work updating -- but the blogroll is full of stuff anyway.

Below is the MORE official statement, written by a chapter leader who was stuck in school and couldn't make the DA. This was being written on the fly as soon we heard the NO DEAL news while another MORE stuck at home with childcare handled the input from tweets and email, while other MORES did countless things yesterday, like the chapter leader in the Bronx who wrote up an instant leaflet taking into account the new info, to the MORE who took his cell phone to Staples down the block and started printing copies, to the MOREs who took concerted action at the DA in the most effective manner for any opposition group to Unity that I've seen (or heard in this case) since the 1970's.

I will blog more about how proud I was of MORE, which to me had its coming out party yesterday as people came from all over to join in the rally which was aimed originally at a VOTE NO and then managed to shift gears to urge opposition to the use of testing as part of the corporate agenda to privatize schools and destroy teacher unions.  People kept coming up to me to ask what we should do and I was so happy to be able to tell them that I am just a cog and a good soldier. What a relief! I don't have to be accountable for anything, unlike the position the teachers have been put in.

Here is the statement from MORE even though I disagree with applauding a UFT leadership that was ready to cave the night before, even willing to give Bloomberg an extra year more than other districts were doing and were saved by Bloomberg's idiocy, especially given that Ernie Logan has backed up the UFT and I will give Mulgrew credit for calling Bloomberg an out and out liar, which even the press is seeing is true.

But for Mulgrew to spend the entire meeting defending voodoo science outraged many non-Unity delegates. Mulgrew's stand should help solidify his standing in the election -- and for conspiracy theorists - really, would Bloomberg prefer a CORE-like group like MORE and having to deal with a real teacher like Julie Cavanagh or the current UFT leadership which until yesterday was the gift to ed deform that just kept giving?

Yes, there are some cultural differences within MORE between the older ICEers with years of battling the Unity machine --- see James Eterno at ICE --- MULGREW TELLS DELEGATES SCUTTLED NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM WOULD BE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD
and the newer MORE activists who have to go through this process themselves. 

One thing you should note -- the full-time UFT employee Unity trolls are out commenting on the blogs while getting their 150k plus salaries and double pensions to leave snarky comments. Lucky there are no teachers in trouble due to their policies of neglect to deflect them from their true occupation.

------------
From MORE - http://morecaucusnyc.org/

Post-Mortem: The Non-Deal Between the UFT and DOE

18 Jan The passing of the January 17 deadline for a new evaluation agreement is not an ending but a beginning. Now the DOE will work overtime to spin doctor the failure to reach an agreement on new teacher evaluations, mandated by New York State’s version of Race to the Top, as the fault of Michael Mulgrew and union leadership. This despite the fact that every indication shows it was Bloomberg who failed to negotiate in good faith.

While we applaud the UFT leadership for standing their ground, the MORE Caucus has no intention of giving up the fight to prevent our teachers and students from being given over to the standardized testing regime. We know there will be efforts in the future to convert our schools into low-level thinking factories and our teachers into low-skilled, low-paid bureaucratic functionaries.

So, why did the evaluation deal fall through? We believe there is no one particular reason. Instead, there were a variety of reasons all working in concert to torpedo this deal. Understanding these reasons will help us understand what the post-non-evaluation DOE will look like:

Reason #1: Race to the Top is Bad Policy
Probably the most fundamental reason why there was no deal is because Race to the Top is bad policy. This goes beyond anything the UFT, city or state did. This has to do with the Obama Administration’s embrace of standardized testing as a way to measure teacher effectiveness. Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, often describe themselves as leaders bent on rolling back the Bush-era No Child Left Behind system of testing. However, their RTTT program merely means more testing and, in many ways, an expansion of the NCLB system. Students, parents and teachers have been steadily crushed by high-stakes tests over the past 12 years that are turning education into a stultifying affair. Both NCLB and RTTT erode creativity, free-thinking and openness in our public schools. This fact leads into the second reason why the deal fell through:

Reason #2: A Growing Backlash against Education Reform
PBS recently ran an hour Frontline special on Michelle Rhee. Despite the fact that Frontline barely scratched the surface on criticizing Rhee’s tenure as D.C.’s school chancellor, the fact that a major national media outlet was critical of her to any degree is quite a development. We have come a long way from the days of when she graced the cover of Time Magazine as the hero education reformer.

At the start of the current school year, the Chicago Teacher’s Union went out on strike against Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s Obama-inspired school reform agenda. They took to the streets to call for a better school day for children and work day for staff. By all indications, the parents of Chicago stood on the side of the teachers and against Emmanuel’s leadership of the Chicago school system. Again, this represented a change in previous actions by the CTU, whose previous leadership stressed compromise and conciliation with so-called reformers like Emmanuel.

Most recently, the teachers of several Seattle schools opted out of that state’s MAP exam to protest the high-stakes testing regime that has rolled over every school system in the land. Just like the Frontline story and the CTU strike, any type of organized opt-out of an exam would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

People across the country are beginning to realize that the so-called education “reformers” are really the status quo. They have had their way for over a decade and the backlash seems to be afoot.

Reason #3: High-Handed and Un-Democratic School Leadership
Both Michael Mulgrew and Leo Casey have stated that the evaluation deal fell through because of Mayor Bloomberg’s “my way or the highway” approach. This is the type of approach Bloomberg used when he demolished the Board of Education which, for all of its faults, was at least subject to a democratic process. In place of the BOE, Bloomberg created a Panel for Educational Policy whose votes he largely controls. The PEP has been the body that has decided to close over 100 city schools at the behest of the mayor. They have done so over massive protests of parents and community leaders who know how devastating school closures can be to a community. When UFT leaders say the mayor has a “my way or the highway” approach at the negotiating table, we are inclined to believe them.

Unfortunately, the same forces that have given rise to dictatorial mayoral control schemes around the country are also responsible for our own union’s lack of democracy. Since these education reform policies are wholly unpopular, and since our union leaders do not want to be seen as obstacles to “progress”, they have been forced to take a “conciliation” approach with “reformer” mayors who run school districts. In turn, they have been required to turn to increasingly un-democratic means to silence their members who understand that these reforms are harmful to our schools.

Therefore, while we applaud and stick by our union leaders in their resistance to the RTTT evaluation deal, we also understand that most of the work lies ahead of us. This rejection of school “reform” is part and parcel of a wider nationwide backlash against what has passed as “improvement” in education over the past 10 years. This is a backlash that has taken place as a popular movement, not a top-down one.

MORE is on the frontlines of this popular backlash. Our goal is to appropriate the title of “reformer” from those that have it now: Rhee, Bloomberg, Duncan, Emmanuel. The people are beginning to see that these reformers are actually some of the most retrograde and centralizing forces in education today.

The future of school reform is here. It is the democratic voice of the true stakeholders in the education system.

=======
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Remarkable Video From Railroaded Rubber Room Teacher Exposes Bloomberg Claim on Quality Teachers

Let's not discount the role, or lack of, that UFT/Unity Caucus played at IS 49 SI where one of their own, Richard Candia, not only sold out to the principal Linda Hill, but worked with her to go after Portelos supporters. That Portelos is in a supposedly defunct rubber room for almost 2 months on unspecified charges should be a major embarrassment for both the UFT and DOE.

Has the DOE picked the wrong victim or not?

Here is a wonderful video Francesco Portelos made of his work. The DOE will probably make this video one of the charges against him. Can't wait to peruse all the other videos of schools and kids at work. So take a look and see what the children of IS 49 SI are being denied by the DOE, Mayor Bloomberg, Dennis Walcott and all Tweedies who claim they want quality teachers.

Just a few clips of my accomplishments before I asked about the school's finances. That question began a 5 month saga filled with hostility, harassment, betrayal, investigations, defamation of character, slander and more retaliation that eventually caused me to be removed from school. What am I charged with? That is a good question, but it has been over 45 days since I was sent to a small Rubber Room (that doesn't exist) and I still have no clue as to why I was removed. The only clue lies in some documentation I obtained that shows financial misconduct by the administration. Good call on removing me as I seem to be the biggest threat to uncovering who has their hand in the student's cookie jar. Can you hear me now?

See Portelos lessons for students and teachers:

Francesco Portelos is awaiting unspecified charges and if you read his blog you will see just how trumped up there are whatever they may be. He is luckily tenured and entitled to a hearing before being fired. Otherwise he would be long gone.

Time clock at Network HQ in Ozone Pk

Does anyone in the press think that paying a qualified teacher to sit in a rubber room while getting full pay while there is a long-drawn out investigation --- possibly to be followed by charges and a 3020a dismissal hearing that will cost the DOE hundreds of thousands of dollars --- all because Portelos exposed one of "theirs" -- a principal - and we know they are sacrosanct.

The fact that Portelos won the chapter leadership from the isolation of the rubber room -- and not just a rubber room in Staten Island, but in Ozone Park at the corrupt Network
See: Winning the Union Chapter Leader position from the Rubber Room.

See story of photo at left: “Stay away from him….he’s a “Blogger”!


While in the rubber room in Ozone Park he has begun to expose the farce of the network that supports Linda Hill -- another set of high paid rats.

Let's not discount the role, or lack of, that UFT/Unity Caucus played at IS 49 SI where one of their own, Richard Candia, not only sold out to the principal Linda Hill, but worked with her to go after Portelos supporters. (See Portelos Story). Until Portelos blew the story wide open, the UFT will allow a principal to get away with murder. A lone teacher fighting back and paying the consequences did more than the entire union to open up this can or worms.

UFT borough leaders urged Portelos not to run for chapter leader. Worried he was too independent? He insisted they follow the rules in running the chapter election and he won. I'm sure they also urged  him not to go public, but he did and is getting results. If the DOE dares to file 3020A charges in an attempt to fire him he will open the hearings to the public and press and we will see the trial of the century which will expose the DOE.

Where is the press on this story of railroading? Would the public be supportive of attempts to fire tenured teachers if stories like this were actually made the press?

When Portelos requested the right to go back to school to collect his personal items he was denied and told to make a list. Instead of demanding he be allowed into the school -- even after school --- after all, he is such a danger --- the UFT told him to just make a list despite this has never happened before. So he did:

I checked and have not found any reassigned educator ever being prevented from getting their personal belongings. I totally forgot that I was a threat to national security. They continue to break the mold with me and I’m flattered yet again. I was told “this is the first time I have seen DOE prevent a reassigned employee from making arrangements to pick up personal belongings in person.” Am I a threat to national security OR a threat to the security of some skeletons in the closet (A closet I might have a key to).
Here it goes….

Mr. Portelos’ Incomplete List of things he brought to the lab in 5 years

1. 1 Set of silver magnetic pens from Brookstone
2. Painting of a frog splashing into water in suspended animation
3. Painting from Salvadore Dali “The Persistence of Memory”
4. 2 white battery chargers
5. 1 White PVC trajectory air pump prototype I was designing to teach trajectory (priceless)
6. 1 microwave
7. 1 refrigerator
8. 1 tuppeware with red lid of 1/4 full of Nescafe
9. 1 tupperware with red lid with some sugar in it
10. 1 Staples “That was easy!” Button
11. 1 Rii wireless mini keyboard
12. 1 larger wireless keyboard with string
13. About 6 chips of Ram DDR 512 and 1GB
14. 1 Hammer with gray and yellow handle
15. 1 Ratchet screwdriver (black)
16. 2 screw drivers Phillips and Flathead
17. 1 Logitech webcam blue not black
18. 2 robotics team shirts
19. 1 IS 49 white polo
20. 1 set of eyeglasses in black case
21. 4 AA rechargeable batteries
22. 2 AA rechargeable batteries
23. 1 Philadendron plant..alive!
24. 2 Boxes of straws ( about 300)
25. 2 boxes of pipe cleaners
26. About 15 styrofoam pipe insulation covers
27. 1 blue sign on door with quote from  Portelos
28. 1 broken digital camera
29. 1 broken Roomba
30. 1 broken xbox
31. 1 large paper airplane that says Aerodynamics on it.
32. 1 hydro car that runs on water
33. 1 large gray collapsable laundry mesh basket
34. 3 cable covers
35. 1 white mirror
36. 1 Gray foam nerf USB missile launcher
37. One Desktop PC with sticker that says MV on it. No DOE parts in it.
38. 2 DigiPort to HDMI connectors
39. 2-3 finger LED flash lights (experiment I was working on with infrared sensors)
40. One bag of Green felt pieces (about 30)
41. 4 Renuzit deodorizers
42. 1 approx 7″ diameter tupperware with blue lid. May still have food in it, but my mother in law has been asking for it.
43. 2 Water bottles
44. One black stapler. Swingline I believe
45. My son Alexander’s Birth Announcement
46. An old AOL 56K Turbo CD (funny right? 56K was called Turbo) I show it to the kids and compare to the 50Megabits/sec connection… a staggering 892.85% increase in residential download speed.
47. A box of 100 nerf darts (don’t ask, but science and engineering were involved)

Portelos has done the following since he was placed in the rubber room:

…since April 26, 2012:

1. I had an article published in the NY Teacher paper
2. I brought to light that rubber rooms (the process) still exist
3. I filed for a US Patent on our website faceshop.me
4. I refused to bend to pressure from additional harassment from DOE employees
5. Found hard evidence showing heavy financial misconduct at my school
6. Registered for additional courses for my Leadership in Education program.
7. Continued revamping and testing my educational social media site fridgework.com
8. Made some really good contacts. I mean really, really good contacts.
9. Made some really bad enemies. I mean really, really bad enemies. (not really an accomplishment)
10. Filed for Whistle Blower Protection and gave a 2 hr testimony to SCI on my saga
11. Put in a run for UFT Chapter Leader in my school.

If you need to catch up on this story, check the Portelos blog. http://protectportelos.wordpress.com/

Also here are the previous Ed Notes posts on the case:

Portelos Wins Chapter Leader Election from ...

Jun 14, 2012

Portelos Wins Chapter Leader Election from Rubber Room. What could be more embarrassing for a principal who railroaded a teacher into the rubber room than to put up a candidate to oppose him and lose? The old sell-out ...

Catching Up: ATRs, Portelos Story, GEM Film ...

May 17, 2012

Lurking behind all this is the perfidious behavior of IS 49 Chapter leader Richard Candia who, his cozy relationship with principal Linda Hill and the threat posed by Portelos' run for chapter leader, conspired to undermine ...

Francesco Portelos: Teacher Under Assault by ...

Mar 20, 2012

Sunday at the robotics tournament at the Javits Convention Center I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Staten Island teacher and coach Francesco Portelos of the IS 49 SI team. He is the father of a 10 month old with ...

IT'S TIME TO OCCUPY THE PEP THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH, 5:30PM

Just off a conference call. Activity around this has been intense. I'm not sure what I can write about but there's lots to say at some point. What has emerged are 3 strands: The UFT, CEJ and ODOE and some coalition-building going on between them --- things have still not been hammered out but post Feb. 9, depending on what the UFT decides to do (lots of mixed signals) I will have a few things to say.

Tweed has a backup plan in case of disruption where the meeting cannot continue. They will retire to a reserve room in Brooklyn Tech and hold the meeting there we have learned. Maybe invite a few slugs to join them to make it "public." Does that violate the Open Meeting Law? Hmmmm.

If I say more I will have to kill you. This came from ODOE which has been drawing 50 people to every Sunday meeting.

IT'S TIME TO OCCUPY THE PEP 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH, 5:30PM

Brooklyn Technical High School, 29 Fort Greene Pl (between Fulton and Dekalb) in Brooklyn

Near the Nevins 2/3/4/5 or the Dekalb B/D/N/Q/R 

https://www.facebook.com/events/104521729674642/ 

Background
On Thursday, February 9th, the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) will hold an open meeting and then a vote to close down dozens more schools. The PEP is an un-elected 13-member body (the majority of whom are appointed by Mayor 1% Bloomberg) whose decisions dramatically affect the lives of the 99%. Every time a vote for school closings has come before the panel, they have voted on behalf of their puppeteer, Mayor Bloomberg. No matter what impassioned students, parents, educators or elected officials have said in the past, the PEP has ALWAYS voted against the people. PEP meetings are open to the public. 

We, students, parents and educators from the 99%, invite you to join us in having our OUR OWN VOTE on the fate of our schools. 

If you don't believe Mayor 1%'s puppet board should be empowered to make decisions about our schools, come help us OPEN THE MEETING UP! In October, the panel walked out of their meeting and we held our own meeting. Click here to see how it went down. Now, let's do it with thousands!

Ways YOU can Occupy the PEP:

 Option A: Are you a student, parent, educator or elected official from a school that the PEP has targeted for closure? Members of your school community should plan to use THE PEOPLE'S MIC to speak out about the mayor's policies and about your school! To see how the people's mic works, click here.

EXAMPLE: I am here because the panel shouldn't be voting without the community's consent to close down schools. In my school...

EXAMPLE: I am here because the mayor has it all wrong, and because he wants to take over space in our public schools to hand it over to charter schools. Our school is an amazing community...

EXAMPLE: I am here because what is happening here is wrong! Because the people have spoken and they say enough is enough!...

Or you can plan a song, performance, or skit. Every school that the PEP plans to vote on will have a chance to speak out and use the people's mic. Please practice! The people's mic can be tricky and you have to speak in short phrases of three to seven words and wait for people to respond. But it's a powerful tool that can change the balance of power in the room! Let's use it!

Then the PEOPLE (not the puppet panel) will vote on the state of your school!

Option B: Not from a closing school? Well then we need your help to support the occupation of this undemocratic meeting! There are definitely ways you can participate. We need your voice to help amplify the voices of those speaking on behalf of their schools. We also need folks to sit near the aisle to protect the people's mic. And we're asking folks to wear shirts or stickers that identify who the occupiers are and what we stand for. For example, you might consider wearing a shirt or sticker that says "Student Against School Closings" or "Parent for Community Control of Schools", etc. There will be speeches, performances, skits, signs to hold, and more! Join us.

Please contact occupythedoe@gmail.com with any questions. Let's open up the PEP and put the decision making power where it belongs—with the people!

Mulgrew Agrees With Cuomo on Evals

Today's NY Times:

Mr. Mulgrew, noting that his union had “no disagreement with the governor over the evaluations,” did not object to Mr. Cuomo’s tying the increase in education aid to the creation of the evaluation system.

“We’re just as frustrated as he is, and I publicly came out and asked him to get involved,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/nyregion/cuomo-and-bloomberg-on-attack-on-teacher-evaluations.html

Some people seem astounded by this statement of Mulgrew. Not me. You see, it's Bloomberg who is the problem. A few years ago Bloomberg was the good guy and Klein was the problem. Walcott is really OK. And so is Merryl Tisch and John King. And, Obama and Duncan will be just fine after the UFT/AFT endorses them in July.

But is NYSUT on the same page or just sending up confusing smoke signals?

Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers, said that while the union shared “the governor’s frustration over the implementation of the law,” tying teacher evaluations to state education aid was the “wrong approach.”

“We think supporting teachers and unions in their work is a much better approach,” Mr. Korn said.

Exposing Bloomberg's Education Lies in Today's State of the City Address at Morris HS

UPDATE: Union busting is Theme of Bloomberg State of the City

I know it's a busy day and this is my 3rd post (make sure to check out the others) and it's only 1PM, just in time for Bloomberg's lying State of the City address. I was going to go to the protest at 12:30 but looked at directions and saw the word "Bruckner Expressway --- the use of the word "express" is a knee-slapper --- and I thought there is no way on a day it rained. So I am just going to head up to Williamsburg later for the CEC 14 meeting where D. 14 long-time Superintendent James Quail whom I've known for 40 years will be making his last appearance before retiring on Jan. 31. I will attempt to worm some ugliness towards Tweed out of him if I can.

Breaking: Just saw my childhood pal Marty Needelman in NY1 on another Bloomberg scuzzy operation in Williamsburg/Bushwick to create discriminatory housing --- they went to court and won against him -- another slap at the leagacy. David and Pat Dobosz from GEM who are neighborhood residents have been involved in this story.

Leonie initial take:

Bloomberg’s State of City Address |
He wants to re-introduce teacher merit pay (What? didn't we try that already?)
& bring Rocketship charter to NYC http://goo.gl/4cXq7 
see also http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/12/bloomberg-unveils-ambitious-proposals-for-schools/
50 more charters over the next 2 yrs.
streaming live (if you can stand it) at
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/12/bloomberg-unveils-ambitious-proposals-for-schools/

Gotham reports:

Mayor’s address comes against evaluations impasse backdrop

In education-packed speech, Bloomberg vows to bypass UFT


------

Public School Parents from Across NYC to Protest “Mayor 13%” Today Outside State of the City Address

Site of address – Morris HS – likely to be touted by mayor as success;

but “new” Morris actually made gains by neglecting the highest-needs special ed students

After a decade of school closures and other failed school reform policies, only 13% of Black and Latino students are graduating prepared for college under Bloomberg

Poll after poll has shown a strong majority of New Yorkers reject Bloomberg’s education platform and want a new direction

Parents and education advocates from across New York City will protest today outside the mayor’s State of the City Address, decrying the man they call “Mayor 13%” for his failed education policies—which only prepare 13 percent of Black and Latino public school students for college.

Protesters will also draw attention to the dubious selection of Morris High School in the Bronx as the site of the address, and, apparently, a symbol to the administration of its success.  Indeed, Morris’s graduation rates have improved since it was closed and re-opened under the Bloomberg Administration—but at the expense of high-needs (self-contained) special education students who were forced to attend other schools.  The old Morris HS had a 14 percent rate of self-contained special education students; the new Morris HS campus schools have an average of just two percent. [FACT SHEET ON MORRIS HS AND BLOOMBERG POLICIES ATTACHED.]

Advocates and parents will also point to the Bronx neighborhood surrounding Morris as a microcosm of Bloomberg’s failed education policies across the City, where high-needs students who typically score lower on standardized exams are “warehoused” in a few schools to inflate scores in others.  In the neighborhood around Morris, for example, only three percent of students are in high-needs special education classes at the “A” schools, while the closing schools average nine percent high-needs special education.

The federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial Urban District Assessment (NAEP TUDA) test results in December showed that City scores have plateaued since 2009 and the large racial achievement gap persists between students of color and their white peers has not budged.  More than one-third of all City schools are now considered failing by the State.  Earlier this fall, we learned that adjusted state scores showed a deepening crisis in our middle and elementary schools, and that higher graduation rates were masking the fact that just one-in-four high school seniors were actually prepared for college.  In response, poll after poll has shown a strong majority of New Yorkers reject Bloomberg’s education platform and want a new direction.  

WHEN:           Thursday, January 12^th – 12:30 PM

WHERE:         Outside Morris High School – 1100 Boston Road, the Bronx

WHO:             Parents and advocates from across the City.

This also available as fact sheet on the CSM website here: http://www.classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Morris-HS-fact-sheet-final-final.pdf


For immediate release:
January 11, 2012

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters, leonie@classsizematters.org; 917-435-9329
Mili Bonilla, Coalition for Education Justice, mili_bonilla@brown.edu; 347-901-1049

Don’t Believe the Hype!

The Real Deal on Morris High School  

& Bloomberg’s Failed Education Policies

May His Legacy Be: Bloomberg, Book Destroyer

Submitted by Justin Wedes:

Friends-

Today, librarians from The People's Library at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) held a press conference with renowned civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to denounce the destruction and disappearance of thousands of books during the midnight raid last week on Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park). Staff and patrons at the people-powered library gave heartfelt testimony about the city's trashing of the library, which at the height of its operation had over 5,000 books, newspapers, zines, digital media and rare documents housed under a half-cylindrical covering donated by Patti Smith. 

At the conference, hundreds of severely-damaged books were presented as evidence that the Bloomberg administration lied about its treatment of the People's Library during the raid. They claimed, through the Mayor's twitter feed, that the library items were "safely stored at the 57th St Sanitation Garage". In fact, thousands of books and other media remain unaccounted for and requests for information and comment from the City have not been returned. 

[Ed Note: They say OWS have no demands. Here are a few simple ones]

These are the immediate demands of the OWS People's Library:

~The Bloomberg administration must replace every single book missing or damaged, about 3161 books.

~The Bloomberg administration needs to acknowledge that a wrong was committed and this can never happen again.

~We need a space to recreate the People's Library (12% of city storefronts are vacant right now.)

The OWS People's Library remains committed to rebuilding itself in the coming weeks, with the support of the broader #occupy movement. But in the meantime, the sad reality is that 'Banks got bailed out. Books got thrown out.'

There is a formal press release coming in the next few hours on the OWS People's Library website.

Video from the event is forthcoming, but preliminary (low-res) video available here and here.

Ed Note: Let me remind you of the intentional destrucion of laptops that look as if smashed with a bat.

 ==============
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Sunday 2PM: 24 Hour Drum Circle at Bloomberg's Mansion

UPDATE: Sunday, Nov. 20, 9PM

From Leonie Haimson:

This afternoon, I went to see the drummers who, after being kicked out of Zuccotti Park, decided to protest outside Bloomberg's townhouse on E. 79 St.  Sadly, the police blocked off the street, but the drummers gathered anyway on 5th avenue next to Central Park instead.

As you will see in the video posted on the blog,I bumped into my hero, Norman Siegel, who told us that barring the drummers from E. 79 St. was a violation of their first amendment rights.  In fact, in January 2010, Norman sued the city on behalf of teachers and parents, and we gained the right to march on the south side of 79 St, to protest school closings and charter co-locations.

Off camera, Norman also said that the arrests of reporters that I videotaped a week ago were illegal , and that he had sent a letter written with Sen. Eric Adams to Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly to that effect. Because of Norman's work, NYC press credentials now require that reporters have to right to cross any barriers, along with police lines etc. During the course of his conversation with a reporter who had been assaulted by the police, we also found out that tomorrow Norman Siegel will turn 68 years young. Happy Birthday Norman!

For more see:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-drummers-from-occupy-wall-st-and.html
 

Video below by Casey Neistat of NYC as police state sung to Sinatra's New York, New York. Casey writes: 

My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the Park was reopened at 6pm on November 15, 2011. The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mhQCpXM-Sm4

FB page: http://www.facebook.com/events/285128768194258/ 24 hours of drumming! 

If Bloomberg is not there (how about Bermuda) his next door neighbor Merryl Tisch can enjoy!

Bloomberg Drum Circle

By Andy Bichlbaum

Project: Occupy Wall Street actions

Word on the street is that Bloomberg loves hippies. So now, finally, a drum circle you don't have to be high to enjoy: this Sunday at 2pm, for 24 hours, bring the love to Mayor Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Tie-dye, didgeridoo, hackeysack welcome! No shirt, no shoes, no problem! And if you don't have talent, don't worry: FREE DRUM LESSONS offered! Also on offer: collaborative drumming with the police!
Even though this is a 24-hour drum circle, don't be late! The mayor loves evictions. Who knows what'll happen? But no matter how long it lasts, there'll be an afterparty and love-in in world-famous Central Park just next door.
Please spread this announcement (www.yeslab.org/drumcircle) as far and fast as you can!

==============
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Foundation/Philanthropy Scamming re "Bloomberg donating $30M to minority youth"

Updated: Thurs, Aug. 11, 10pm
Add this link from Democracy in Education blog.

Why Michael Bloomberg’s Plan to ‘Aid Minority Youth’ Is a Terrible Idea

I got a call from a 4th year ATR yesterday. We talked about a lot of things - mostly Yankee baseball - but I was taken aback a bit given the destruction his career suffered under Bloomberg, when he praised Bloomberg for his recent philanthropy towards students of color. I don't give robber barons credit for anything, esp since Bloomberg ties his giving to political favors.


Here is a piece of a discussion going on on list serves to put some of that into perspective - aside from some of the openly racist remarks Bloomberg made.

This conversation on the ednews listserve (related to Bloomberg's "30 million dollar gift to minority youth") was really valuable (below, begin at the bottom with Paola's comments and work your way up).  Many of us understand that philanthropy, particularly in regards to education, has a dark side, but it is hard) to articulate exactly why on a deeper level.  We know it is about control, we know it is about isolating and controlling wealth; the conversation below explains how foundations and charities both use the tax code to protect and shelter the wealth of some while giving the appearance of "giving" to others.  If everyone paid their fair share, if there weren't major loop-holes and benefits for corporations and wealthy individuals, such as those described below, would we need wealthy folks to give to those who are not, or could our government have the resources to provide equitable systems and services for ALL?  Most or all of you probably already know this stuff, but what they wrote below helped me understand the fundamentals and specifics better.

In Chicago they have begun to "follow the money" and educate on these issues, when some of us were there last month we did a march from the Board of Trade to the Banks to the DOE and CORE had informational materials highlighting the financial injustices between these three groups.  We heard from parents in Florida who are doing this across their state in a myriad of ways in a workshop at SOS.  I spoke with a woman from St. Louis yesterday, they are beginning to do this (including a rally to encourage folks to withdraw their money from Bank of America this weekend).   I know some of this is happening here - Wall Street actions and Bloombergville.

The issue of corporate, foundation, and charity tax loop-holes and benefits, as well as campaign finance reform, are issues that directly and negatively impact our public education system, and collectively these foundations, wealthy individuals and corporations are what/who are driving the DEforms our kids and our schools are facing, but it is not something we have spent any/significant time on in terms of the education and organizing work we have done because we have been so focused on the local and immediate attacks such as co-locations, charters, closings, budgets etc. 
 
 

From Leonie: 

Besides the obvious tax advantages (and the political  PR gains) this sort of campaign may yield, we should remember that the Bloomberg Foundation has parked its investments in tax havens throughout the world – in Cayman Islands and elsewhere:

http://gawker.com/5521105/the-bloomberg-foundation-loves-offshore-tax-havens

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/11/mike_bloombergs_5.php

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-16/nyc-mayor-s-09-tax-forms-show-more-offshore-money.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12165497


http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/bloomberg%E2%80%99s-offshore-millions?page=0


By the end of 2008, the Bloomberg Family Foundation had transferred almost $300 million into various offshore destinations—some of them notorious tax-dodge hideouts. The Caymans and Cyprus. Bermuda and Brazil. Even Mauritius, a speck of an island in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Madagascar. Other investments were spread around disparate locations, from Japan to Luxembourg to Romania. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s about as opaque set of investments as you can find,’ said Rich Cohen, who covers foundations and charities for Nonprofit Quarterly.
 
From Richard:

a related aspect of what Paola writes below: 

A billionaire like David Koch -- who has poured funding into the organizations which got the anti-tax tea party movement going -- chooses to give $100 million for a vanity project, the renovation of the N.Y. State Theater at Lincoln Center, and

-gets the theater re-named after him (when probably far more City and State taxpayer funds were expended on it over the years) and

--gets to avoid all taxes on that $100 million.  This deprives the federal, state and local governments of any access to collecting a portion of  the money, which they might have elected to use for more pressing societal needs, if they had it to use.

RB 

From Paola:

Bloomberg’s  (and Gates’ and Zuckerberg’s and the donors who rescued the January regents) “generosity” is partly funded by the taxpayers—through forgone federal, state and local tax revenue to the tune of about 40 cents  on every donated dollar.     

The inefficiency of carrying out social policy through charitable giving excites only extreme wonks, and only once in a while at that.  For example, a Harvard Business Review article, nicely discussed here, made a splash 10 years ago—but changed nothing.  The authors took aim specifically at foundation giving: "When a donor gives money to a social enterprise, all of the money goes to work creating social benefits. When a donor gives money to a foundation, most of the gift sits on the sidelines. On average, foundations donate only 5.5 percent of their assets to charity each year, a number slightly above the legal minimum of 5 percent. The rest is invested to create financial, not social, returns.”  They argued that because foundations pay out a small portion of their total assets each year, their contributions to society do not equal the taxes forgone: "When an individual contributes $100 to a charity, the nation loses about $40 in tax revenue, but the charity gets $100, which it uses to provide services to society. The immediate social benefit, then, is 250 percent of the lost tax revenue. When $100 is contributed to a foundation, the nation loses the same $40. But the immediate social benefit is only the $5.50 per year that the foundation gives away — that is, less than 14 percent of the forgone tax revenue.”   Actually, as the GIA Reader article points out, public charities (aka 501(c)3’s) do not create as much social benefit as the HBR authors give them credit for since they don’t re-distribute anywhere near 100% of donations in social benefits once operating expenses, including salaries, are taken into account (see, e.g., the recent NY Times  expose of the Young Adult Institute Network)
            If all this makes your eyes glaze over, think of the bottom line: we (the voters, who elect the legislators who ultimately write the tax code) allow obscenely rich people to opt out of paying taxes—already relatively low--on large chunks of their income so that they can then turn around, fund whatever projects tickle their fancy, and be praised by all for their “generous giving.”.  To put it another way, what is the difference between Bloomberg et al. and the Ancien Régime nobleman who paid no taxes but gave coppers to the poor to save his soul?
Paola de Kock

Added link at Democracy in Education: 

Why Michael Bloomberg’s Plan to ‘Aid Minority Youth’ Is a Terrible Idea

 ========

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

LIFO Math

Last Update: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 9:30am
 
I remember Joel Klein's first words in his attack on seniority: the schools in the poorest neighborhoods can't attract the same level of experienced teachers that schools in wealthier neighborhoods do. As a matter of fact that was a standard of the Ed deform early attacks on teacher seniority rules. Now of course this line has ceased and been replaced by "we need the young blood in the poorest schools."

Before I go on, I must remind you of something Leonie Haimson and Julie Cavanagh say at every presentation: teacher experience and class size are the only two in class factors that have been proven by research to impact on students in a positive way.

There was another article in the NY Times the other day about how some schools will lose piles of newer teachers who will be replaced by senior teachers forced to transfer to fill their vacant positions if LIFO rules are followed. We can expect these articles daily with sad interviews about how much these teachers love teaching and their kids. Expect the NY Post to devote entire editions to these stories.

So let's do some math on the pro LIFO vs. the whiny "we need to keep excellent teachers" argument. I'm going to use the 5-year benchmark based on the idea that 50% of all teachers leave after 5 years. I picked the 5-year number because the layoffs will probably not go that deep and pretty much anyone in this category will have a job (other than license areas like art and music that can be chopped completely).

So assume Bloomberg's extortion attempt works and there is no LIFO and they go after ATRs, the higher salaried, the U-rated and people who wear spotted ties. All the Teach for America people stay because they are, well, TFAs. Now we know that the attrition rates of TFAs are even higher than the normal rate of 50% over 5 years. Much higher. So even if these "excellent teachers" stay while 25 year horrible and ugly teachers go, the reality is that more than half won't stay past three years and over 5 years the number will be more like 70-80% who leave. No one seems to be crying over losing these "superb" teachers whether there are or are not layoffs.

So if we end LIFO we will still lose half of all the teachers spared in WalBloom fantasyland anyway. And many more who stay may well gravitate out of the classroom anyway. What kind of investment even in a business sense it that?

But if we still have LIFO and the layoffs (meaning Bloomberg's game of chicken didn't work) let's look at those over 5 year slugs that are ruining the lives of children and munching at the public teat. They are the 50% who did not leave after 5 years. And they are not among the people who were denied tenure (an increasing number over the last few years). So this group has undergone a double weeding out process. In the worst case scenario, many may have to move to schools where newer teachers were laid off (to be recalled under LIFO in an orderly fashion - and as we know with 1500-2000 teachers leaving every year through retirement or that 50% who leave anyway they are pretty much guaranteed to be recalled at worst within a year or two, negating the argument that they are lost to the system.)

So what's so bad about replacing a 3 year or under - even if a good teacher – with a 5 year or over teacher? In some cases there might be a loss in talent but if we just take the experience factor into account over the long run doing layoffs under LIFO is a win for the schools that lost people. The replacement group will not leave in anywhere the same numbers as the people they replaced. And they bring vastly more experience to the table than the people who were laid off. Plus by staying, they have already proven they are more likely to be career teachers.

Taken as a whole, which group should we invest in when considering building an effective and consistent, well-trained teaching force? We know WalBloom's answer. But why expect rationality from that source? Lucky for us they are not using their concept to staff nuclear reactors.
--------------
AFTERBURN
 

 http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/uft_vows_wisconsin_protest_over_13KLdJlXJIZvCcefLdSbGK

UFT vows 'Wisconsin' protest over teacher cuts

Political Maltent: WalBloom's Dilemma

Has Bloomberg put himself and his factotum Dennis into a corner by continuing to push for a loss of 6000 teachers while gilding all sorts of lilies - consultants, etc. - AND having a budget surplus?

Well at least I make out well in this fiasco:

The Bloomberg administration plans to announce that it will open 10 new senior centers, each serving 250 to 300 people.
 
It is pretty obvious to even the lamest observers that this is all about the politics of ending last in first out and Bloomberg is trying to browbeat the state legislature into giving him what he wants. Will the UFT refuse to panic and hold firm despite the foaming at the mouth of the NY Post, Wall Street Journal and other press sycophants?


What does WalBloom do if LIFO still exists and thousands of their newbies are forced out of the system? Can't you see the crying outrage from the E4E crowd about how the excellent teachers are being chopped? Could WalBloom actually chop the new TFA and Teaching Fellow class along with so many other people they hope to use as shock troops to undermine the union? As expected, one of E4E's funders had this to say:

Joe Williams, Education Reform Now: "No one wants to lay off teachers -- or any layoffs for that matter -- but it will be doubly cruel to our students if those layoffs remove some of the most effective teachers from the classroom because of an outdated and poorly considered law. For months, New Yorkers have called for Albany to take action on 'Last In, First Out,' and now time has run out. It's time for state leaders to act to end the practice of LIFO and help ensure the best teachers stay in the classroom during this difficult time. That's what reform means -- giving the taxpayers more for their money, in this case, the best teachers we have.  The ball is now in Albany's court."

Yes, that's the line. We don't want layoffs but the main fight is not against layoffs but against LIFO.

Can Bloomberg really ask Walcott to run a school system with 6000 less teachers?

Bloomberg's believability quotient is low, so many assume he is playing chicken. Let's say he gets LIFO killed. We know that these cuts will suddenly disappear. He doesn't care that we would say "told you so" because teachers would be screwed for eternity.

If he doesn't get LIFO done in, he has a problem. Imagine the chaos of the opening of school and the shifting of teachers all over the city? He will blame the union. But there would be massive shifting even if LIFO ended. So if LIFO still exists, what does he do? If he pulls the trigger on the layoffs, even he knows that any shred of legitimacy as an education mayor will be gone and probably mayoral control too.

There is still time for a deal to screw LIFO given this disturbing comment From NY Mag Daily Intel

Bloomberg insists he means it this time, that the money isn’t there, and that he isn’t laying off teachers to prove a point about LIFO. But if this isn’t the usual shell game, in which city tax revenues spike and Bloomberg saves thousands of jobs just before the July 1 deadline, he really is going to need an assist from Albany. There’s not much chance of the state suddenly coughing up more cash; a compromise on seniority rules or state mandates, though, should be possible. Two weeks ago the mayor and the governor had a long dinner on the Upper West Side. Perhaps today’s quieter tone at City Hall is the next step in trying to get Cuomo to pick up part of a much bigger check.

Here are the link:
Gotham: Bloomberg’s budget suggests cutting 1 of every 12 teachers; criticism is rampant. (AP, GS, NYT, DN)
And the outrage in the NY Times comments.
Leonie's update: The mayor's choice: a budget which puts children last
Urban Teacher's Nightmare: Bloomberg's New Budget Proposal along with his links: (See stories and commentary here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

GEM Statement on Cathleen Black, David Steiner, and the Appointment of Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott

Posted at the GEM blog.
(Last modified, Friday, April 8, 11PM)

It is Time to Break the Cycle

Since 2003, public school parents, children, educators, and community members have endured a dictatorial public education reform agenda that has ignored and marginalized their voices and has undermined and destabilized the schools they depend on, love, and serve. The departure of Cathleen Black highlights the incompetence, arrogance, and political nature of Bloomberg’s educational agenda; this is not about children first, but rather a blind belief in the corporate reform movement propelled by a centralized, top down system that has been destructive for our schools and our children.


It is time for a break in the power structure that has a strangle hold on our public education system; it is time for parents, children, educators and communities to have a say in the education of their 1.2 million school children.

The departure of four Deputy Chancellors in the last 100 days along with the admission by Mayor Bloomberg that the appointment of Black as Chancellor was a mistake, followed by the announced departure of the State Commissioner of Education on Thursday, makes it clear that the almost decade long mayoral control and corporate reform experiment that has ignored the voices of parents, teachers and community has been a failure for the entire educational community. The growing movements against school closings and the privatization of education have helped to expose these failures.

In the coming months our schools face severe cuts, testing is raging out of control, charter schools will attempt to expand by invading more schools, a campaign to close schools continues, dedicated educators are under attack, and our children’s education is at stake. Decisions about the lives of children, like the choice of leaders of the school system, should not be made without their parents, their communities and their teachers. We have little confidence that newly appointed Chancellor Dennis Walcott will be any more than the extension of the same policies with a different face. It is time for Mr. Bloomberg and the Department of Education to engage with parents, treat them as partners and provide the leadership and policies that truly do put children first.

The Grassroots Education Movement supports the Deny Waiver Coalition in their preference for a transparent and nationwide search process for a qualified Chancellor to run our school system. We believe that Mr. Bloomberg and our future Chancellor should fight for real reforms that will transform our public education system. They could begin with a moratorium on school closings, turnarounds, and charter co-locations. Reforms should include parent and teacher empowerment, more teaching, less testing, and the equitable funding needed to make sure our schools are responsive to, and the centers of, the communities they serve.

The Bloomberg ship is sinking. The last nine years under Mayor Bloomberg has been a sea of destructive and misguided educational policies. It is time for our children to be thrown a life raft. It is time for Bloomberg to be held accountable. It is time for a sea change.

______________
See Leonie Haimson on Walcott  posted on Norms Notes where she says:

unless Walcott (and the Mayor) change course, show that they are willing to follow the law, listen to parents and other stakeholders, and alter the policies that are damaging our kids, I do not  believe that the mayor’s abysmal approval ratings will increase substantially.  I hope that this appointment means a real shift in direction, rather than simply a PR move, but we will have to see.

AfterBurn
While I agree with the tone of both Leonie's and GEM's statement, I have a different slant and won't wait and see if it's not simply a PR move because no one changes teams in the middle of the game and Walcott is on the wrong side and will not change. I don't want Bloomberg to have a final say in choosing a Chancellor or if possible, any say at all. We need separation of politics and education. Mayoral control must end ASAP. Better no chancellor than one appointed by Bloomberg. Our old friends at the UFT, which took no stand opposing Black - as outrageous as the appointment itself from my point of view – support and will continue to support mayoral control forever - with just some tweaks added. We are fighting a 2-front war. Ed deformers on one side and the UFT/AFT at our backs. Really, a 3-front war - corporate, government and our own union. We need more air support than the Libyan rebels.

Oh, and good ridence to that Meryl Tisch suck-up David Steiner. The day he was appointed I attacked him and people chastised me for not giving him a chance. They don't get that the person doing the appointing is the key, not the appointee themselves. No one appoints someone who will change the direction they want to go in. Tisch is Bloomberg's next door neighbor and had Joel Klein ask the 4 Questions at her Passover sedars. Guess which side she is on?

Ravitch debates Canada on NY1 - Oh, what a bullshitter he is.

Andy Wolfe nails them in a piece at the Daily News.
"Bloomberg seems to believe that those who toil at the hard business of educating children are the problem. He is wrong."

____________
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.