School Scope: Will NYC Students Join Global Climate Walkout?

Since I wrote this on Tuesday, the DOE has announced that students will be excused to attend the rally.

'Holy Smokes, This Thing Could Get HUGE': NYC Public Schools to Let Students #ClimateStrike ---

Common Dreams

City school
students have
permission to miss
school for climate strike

NY Daily News

15 hours ago

School Scope

Will NYC Students Join Global Climate Walkout?

The Wave | on September 12, 2019

By Norm Scott

https://www.rockawave.com/articles/school-scope-320/

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg blew into town and is making waves over the threats from climate change and leading a global strike on Friday, Sept. 20 with a rally and march starting at noon at Foley Square in lower Manhattan. If the word has caught on, we may see disruptions in schools where there are student leaders promoting a walkout. It will be interesting to see if students in Rockaway, one of the more endangered areas of the city by climate change, take part. Let me know if you hear of anything brewing.

Author Jonathan Franzen in this week’s The New Yorker says that the people fighting climate change are in essence misleading us just as much as the Republican deniers – giving us hope that we still have a chance. Greta is offering hope but he thinks we should be preparing for the consequences. He points out that “we’ve made essentially no progress toward reaching [the target of keeping below 2 degrees Centigrade]. Today, the scientific evidence verges on irrefutable. If you’re younger than sixty, you have a good chance of witnessing the radical destabilization of life on earth—massive crop failures, apocalyptic fires, imploding economies, epic flooding, hundreds of millions of refugees fleeing regions made uninhabitable by extreme heat or permanent drought. If you’re under thirty, you’re all but guaranteed to witness it.” Phew! I’m out of that zone and have no direct descendants to worry about. But if I did—- well, I do wonder about the proud Republican parents in Rockaway, one of the first places to go in what Franzen calls The Climate Apocalypse.

I wonder how one would teach children about climate change and risk scaring them to the extent we children of the 50s were frightened about the coming nuclear wars by hiding under our school desks during drills?
In the good news department, I attended the Labor Day Parade celebrating unionism on the first Saturday after Labor Day. It was thrilling to see the streets thronged with thousands of unionists proudly wearing their teeshirts. Construction workers and teachers marching together. I of course marched with the UFT contingent and didn’t get much of a chance to engage people from other unions. Given that there are about 200 thousand UFT members, 99 percent stayed home and those who showed were among the most committed. Yes, there is a gap between what I call the 1 percent committed and the rest and closing this gap should be a goal of UFT leaders, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Unionists from both sides of the political divide were marching together. Even the divide between UFT members and their bosses in the Council of Supervisor Associates (CSA) – the principals and assistant principals. Former CSA leader Ernie Logan was the Grand Marshal of a Labor Day parade? The very same people who have made so many teacher lives miserable? How we are all unionists when one is the boss is beyond me. But the UFT leaders often use “we are all unionists” as a reason not to attack mad dog principals.

Norm is a mad dog when he blogs at ednotesonline.com

School Scope: The Politics of Newsies

I have two columns in The WAVE this week, both related to Newsies.

[Memo From The RTC: The Oldies But Goodies]

School Scope 

The Politics of Newsies

The Wave  | on August 15, 2019 

By Norm Scott

OK - So it's an old photo

I was so excited to be part of the recent Newsies production at the Rockaway Theatre Company. Much of the play follows the real 1899 strike which inspired a 1992 Disney film which was turned into a 2012 Broadway musical. The story follows a citywide strike by newsboys who were the key distributors of newspapers in the streets of New York. The newsie strike is described in detail in the 2003 non-fiction book Kids on Strike! This was before child labor laws.

The lead character, Jack Kelly, (played to perfection by Sam Kelley) is possibly based on a real character, 18- year old Louis “Kid Blink” Baletti. The play makes publisher Joseph Pulitzer into the main villain but in the real story his competitor William Randolph Hearst was also responsible. I played the part of the evil Snyder who ran a “refuge” – really prison – for boys. The Refuge reminded me of recent stories of the century old Florida state-run Dozier School for Boys in the Panhandle town of Marianna, where boys were abused in every way possible, including being murdered. The school was closed in 2011. Colsen Whitehead based his recent wellreceived novel, The Nickel Boys, on the school.

Snyder’s refuge is funded by the city and he clearly does Pultizer’s bidding, including leading a group of goons to beat up the newsies when they go on strike, fundamentally shutting down the entire city newspaper distribution system. A telling moment comes when a newsie, after being beaten, runs to a cop for help and he clubs the newsie. Police forces from their very origin have been instruments of controlling unions and workers and siding with the owner class.

The newsies are very poor and most are living on the streets or on rooftops. Exceptions are Davey and his little brother Les, who have parents (and are mocked by their fellow newsies – “where do I get myself a mudder?”), but have been forced to leave school and sell newspapers to support the family after their father suffers an on the job accident and can’t work. The charismatic vagabond and emotional firebrand leader, Jack Kelly, also a talented artist, has won the hearts and minds of the newsies (and Katherine, a rare female reporter).

But it is Davey who has an education and knows stuff Jack doesn’t, who provides the blueprint for forming a union and the strike. Yet when they are on the verge, the more conservative Davey, who has more to lose suggests holding back. Jack retorts: if your father was in a union he would have been protected when he got hurt on the job and you wouldn’t have to sell newspapers. That wins Davey over. Naturally, as in real life, the bosses hire scabs and pay them more. The majority of newsies want to use violence against scabs, but Davey says they lose unless they stand together and Jack and he convince the scabs to join them.

The fictionalized romance between street fighter Jack and the educated Katherine who turns out to be (spoiler alert) Pulitzer’s daughter adds the romantic element, but also a political one. Here’s where we enter fantasyland, but after all, this is a Disney production. When the newsies are demoralized after they are beat up by the goons led by Snyder (me) who smashed the cripple Crutchie with his own crutch and he is dragged off to the refuge, it is Katherine who rallies them, not Jack, (a lead in to the showstopper tap dancing “King of New York”). Jack’s spirit is revived but when he saunters into Pulitzer’s office and discovers who Katherine is, he is arrested and bitter and takes a bribe to sell out the strike, which has some basis since Kid Blink and Davey in real life also supposedly were bribed and had to step down as union leaders: a really important point about how some union leaders are sell-outs (as a UFT member, no comment).

I had been wondering why the historically anti-union Disney would create such a seemingly pro-union work of art. But the current corporate Disney does have some unions. But again it is Katherine who wins Jack and the boys over and her upper class friends (including the son of Hearst) help the newsies put out their own newspaper written by her which wins over the city.

Once again, the upper class kids come to the rescue. The final straw is the intervention of Governor Theodore Roosevelt on the side of the newsies. Wiki reports that in the actual strike, Theodore Roosevelt didn’t do anything. In real life the newsies won some victories due to their own efforts, but here, left on their own, would have failed. It took the intervention of powerful politicians and noble wealthy people to save them. Seemingly, Disney fantasyland, but touching on some truths. Like the goon character I play, Snyder, is the only one to take a fall while the politicians and corporate chiefs escape. And I might even have committed suicide while in jail. 

Norm is always in fantasyland when he blogs at ednotesonline.com. And see his Memo from the RTC column.

The WAVE: SRO at Jackson Heights Education Forum with Ravitch, AOC and others

Published March 22, 2019, www.rockawave.com

(See videos at: Videos: Jackson Heights Ed Forum - From Michael Elliot.)

School Scope: SRO at Jackson Heights Education Forum with Ravitch, AOC and others

By Norm Scott

A star-studded education forum organized by the Jackson Heights People for Public Schools was held on March 16. Among the speakers were Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the district in Congress, NY Senators Jessica Ramos and Assembly member Catalina Cruz, who represent the district in the Legislature, as well as Senators Robert Jackson and John Liu. Among the terrific education advocates who spoke were Johanna Garcia of NYC Opt out, Maria Bautista of AQE, Carol Burris of Network for Public Education, the great education true reformer Diane Ravitch, Kate Menken of the NYS Association for Bilingual Education and Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters.

What would be a normal educational forum turned into a major event due to the star power of AOC and Ravitch. The Jackson Heights People for Public Schools were among AOC’s first supporters. Their mission is: “We work to educate the community about the public schools in Jackson Heights and to support parents and members of the community who wish to make our schools even better.” How great to see grassroots groups springing up to organize resistance to ed deform and offer a progressive alternative.

One of the founders and leaders of the group is parent activist Amanda Vender, currently a NYC high school teacher. I first met Amanda over a decade ago - I think she was working with the newspaper Indy Kids and I was distributing some of them to some people in the schools. Eventually Amanda became a teacher and parent. I distinctly remember her bringing her few weeks old child to some forum we were running. She and her group are bringing a pro-public school, pro opt-out, progressive vision of education to her own community. Thinking about her work made me realize that the work inside a union opposition I’ve been doing begins to look meaningless compared to the organizing work Amanda and others have done in their communities. If I had done similar work in Rockaway - (and of course if I had kids I might have), I would have been much more useful than I was pushing the boulder uphill in UFT opposition politics. Maybe next life. Amanda Vender is a model for educational organizing. Amanda not only talks the talk, she walks the walk.

Last week I wrote about the March 9 Parent Action Conference sponsored by NYC Kids PAC, Class Size Matters and Community Education Council District 2 (CECD2) which was attended by progressive politicians. There were workshops on class size, how to opt out of testing, how to run for office, advocating for children with special needs in English and Spanish, protecting student privacy, school integration, fighting charters. We also watched a film called Testing about the culture around taking the controversial SHSAT for specialized high schools like Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech and Bronx HS of Science. NYC Kids PAC and Class Size Matters have formed their legislative agenda for 2019 around these and other issues: Amending mayoral control to provide for more oversight over the dictatorship over the schools held by the mayor, funding for class size reduction, a moratorium on new charters and stronger accountability and transparency, fees on developers to go into a fund for new school construction, a pied-a-terre tax for homes worth over $5 million, and an explicit law giving parents the right to opt out of 3-8th grade standardized tests. Politicians who want Kids Pac endorsement are being asked to sign on to this agenda. I wonder how many Rockaway politicians would agree: Eric, Stacey, Joe, Donovan, Michele, James, Melinda? Lou?

Music recommendation: Good Citizen by Mighty Sparrow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ps20yaVyro

Norm blog mindlessly about education and politics at ednotesonline.com.

School Scope: Democratic Party Needs Reform – Start Locally with New Queens Dems

In this column, submitted for Sept. 14, 2018 publication to The WAVE www.rockawave.com) I go from pre-civil war slavery to the current situation in the Queens Democratic Party, an example of my irrational response to a looming deadline, where I throw stuff against a wall and see what sticks.


School Scope: Democratic Party Needs Reform – Start Locally with New Queens Dems
By Norm Scott

Slavery was recognized in our original constitution. Remember the good old days when slavery was legal and you could be arrested for protesting the law? I think of that when I hear complaints about protests.

In the pre-civil war mid-19th century, as the anti-slavery movement grew in power in the north from a smallish protest movement in the early part of the century into a moral imperative by the 1850s, the United States Congress became a physical battleground, with canings and duels, as many southern “gentleman” members of Congress took any attack on slavery as a personal and political insult. This story, “The Violence at the Heart of Our Politics” was chronicled in the Sept. 9th Sunday NY Times and talked about the 1830s through the breakout of the Civil War where political debates turned violent. Many of the elected were often packing heat, most from the south where gun culture was embedded more deeply than in the more industrial north. Some things don’t change all that much. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/sunday/violence-politics-congress.html)

Some of the issues separating people today are similar to then, with race at the top. There were 4 million slaves in 1860 and most southerners felt that was OK. (I think there are still people who lament the end of slavery.) I don’t follow the right or alt-right but I’ve heard fragments of comments saying we were less bad than others. I wonder when the newly encouraged anti-Semites will argue Jews were better off under the Pharaohs and Moses made a mistake when he opened up the Red Sea.

Studying the evolution of both parties over the past 160 years is a fascinating exercise. Two-party system was solidified by the mid-late 1850s, with the newly formed Republican Party standing for anti-slavery. The pro-slavery Democratic Party was shaped in the 1820s by Andrew Jackson, a noted racist.

Switching gears to local Democrats: They say all politics is local and our little sliver of paradise here in Rockaway would certainly make for an interesting study of party politics, especially given the outcomes of the 2016 Presidential election on the peninsula where the west end went overwhelming for Trump while as you move east the vote switched to Democrats.

A couple of things caught my eye recently. A NY Times piece uncovered the seemingly corrupt Queens Democratic Party machine which focused on the Queens County Committee and how membership has been manipulated as progressives seeking to be members were denied entry. How Party Bosses, Not Voters, Pick Candidates in New York – a must read if you are interested in reforming a corrupt system. (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/nyregion/new-york-politics-party-bosses.html).

The way party business is done is not the way to take on Trump and the Republicans. Is our county Dem party machine still headed by Joe Crowley whose defeat by a democratic socialist has resulted in international attention? Is the machine shutting out Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez types as a way to keep control? Crowley may be gone from Congress, but the machine he runs seems to live on.

There were two letters in the Sept. 7 WAVE addressing the local Democratic Party situation. Norman Silverman made a plea to the local party clubs to broaden the base. “The party that preaches democracy must actually practice democracy.” The other letter was from the The New Queens Democrats, who describe themselves as “a progressive, grassroots organization advocating for transparency, inclusionary democracy, and accountability within the Queens Democratic Party. NQD serves as an encouraging environment for those looking to become more engaged. NQD hopes to foster a new generation of elected Queens Democratic leaders.” I went to their web site and signed up for their newsletter and hope to do more reporting on them in the future. https://www.newqueensdems.org.

And speaking of corrupt, education superstar Diane Ravitch reported: Cuomo Campaign Smears Cynthia Nixon as an Anti-Semite, Which is Demonstrably False. (https://dianeravitch.net/2018/09/10/new-york-cuomo-campaign-smears-cynthia-nixon-as-an-anti-semite-which-is-demonstrably-false/).

Since you will be reading this after the primary, I won’t get deep into this story but the slime will keep oozing out of the Democratic Party machine and until we see massive reforms, the even slimier Republicans will continue their own oozing.

Norm tosses his own slime at phony ed reformers at ednotesonline.com.

School Scope: DOE Decisions on Shutting Down Schools Political, Not Educational

Publishing date: Friday, Jan. 26, 2018

School Scope:  DOE Decisions on Shutting Down Schools Political, Not Educational

By Norm Scott

I reported on the magnificent PS 42 closing school info session in a recent column (the hearing is Feb. 13 at the school and I urge anyone who actually reads this column to come see how a school fights back) and followed up by attending the IS 53 session (not as exuberant but still significant – their hearing in Feb. 7 which I cannot attend) the next night where I had a chance to join the students, teachers and parents who defended the school in speaking. Many valid points were made at both schools about the seeming arbitrary nature of  the decisions to close down schools that are branded as “failing” whereas the criteria being used seem to be moving targets with the outcomes influenced more by political than educational issues.

Charters coveting space is often a factor, as is gentrification, both seeming to be operating factors in the decision to close the two Rockaway schools. In 12 years Bloomberg and his Chancellor agents Joel Klein and Dennis Walcott (yes the same guy running Queens libraries -   one of the political outrages since his boss Bloomberg did more harm to the library systems of this city than any mayor in decades) closed 150 schools and opened scads of new ones, with some of them ending up on failing lists. De Blasio and Chancellor Farina promised something better. While the numbers of closings are far less, they still have the same negative impact on micro communities.

The so-called “Renewal” schools – those branded as failing but given three years to improve – have come under severe attack by the forces of privatization funded by numerous hedge fund billionaires who would like to see entire public school systems turn into non-union privatized charters drinking at the trough of public money. They did that in New Orleans to disastrous effect. Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has used her billions to create another disaster in the state of Michigan while nearby Ohio suffers one charter scandal after another. Well, actually so does Arizona, California, Florida  – well I could go on but I will spare you the dirt. If interested, Google “charter school scandals” and watch the stuff spill out of your screen, like this lovely headline from the May 8, 2017 edition of Business Insider, “Are charter schools the new Enron scandal?” Oh, what fun!

You might see commercials from an astroturf group like Families for Excellent Schools – FES – I refer to them as FEH!!!! They are oh so concerned with the poor children in these renewal schools and also love to attack the teachers who are forced to reapply for their jobs or else get tossed into the permanent substitute ATR pool. Of course let’s blame the teachers, as if the people running the DOE from the top to middle management have played no role. No one’s head rolls for putting in lousy administrators to run schools or the many awful Superintendents appointed under Farina who are supposed to supervise them. I watched District 27 Supt. Mary Barton sit there stone-faced at both Rockaway hearings while children and parents pleaded for their schools.

Last week I taped an amazing event in East Harlem (District 4) – not the outright closing but the combination of two schools in one building – an elementary school, PS 7 and Global Tech Prep, a middle school. GTP was set up as a special school focused on tech in the very poor East Harlem community. The founding principal left and a teacher trusted by everyone in the school was supposed to take over to continue the vision of the school. But last April he was denied tenure and left – he is now at Harvard – and chaos reigned. Thus Farina and her Dist. 4 Supt agent of destruction, Alexandra Estrella, doomed both schools to a death spiral so they could execute a naked power play. I have loads of videos on my blog of the remarkable students challenging the DOE reps at a hearing and calling them “monsters.” Monsters indeed!

If you still think these decisions are educational and not political, check this out. Some renewal schools have been rescued and are now in a program called “RISE.” JHS 80 in the Bronx is one such school spared the ax despite repeated reports that its principal, Emmanuel Polanco, is a horror story but is being protected. Sue Edelman, one of the top education reporters in the city despite working for the often despicable NY Post, reported that JHS 80  “is an educational hellhole. Despite receiving millions in extra dollars and services, the 655-student Norwood school suffers from out-of-control students, filthy, unsafe conditions and thuggish administrators who try to keep the horrors under wraps, insiders have told authorities.” ... NY Post, Jan. 6, 2018.

Sue is by the way the niece of my former next door neighbor, Jean Mirkin, of Mirkin Vision Care fame on Beach 116^th St. So Sue comes from good genes. Or Jeans.

Norm’s genes are always on display at his blog, ednotesonline.com.