Does Gotham Schools Have an Agenda?- UPDATE

UPDATED

Elizabeth Green says "we really do not have 'an agenda,' besides good journalism."

NYC Educator and JD2718 think they do have an agenda. (And an added piece from NYCEducator.)

Good journalism is in the eye of the beholder. While the journalism of what gets covered can be great, what doesn't get covered is indicative of selective journalism.

To her credit, Elizabeth posted these links herself and often posts links to Ed Notes and the teacher blogger world. No one is more informed on the players from top to bottom in NYC Ed, as she ran rings around almost every other ed reporter in NYC at the NY Sun. For one of her first stories, she actually called me and quoted ICE's Jeff Kaufman in an article that got the dander of the UFT. Working in the belly of the conservative anti-union NY Sun, she did some great work in exposing the DOE and made many fans among NYC teachers.

Have things changed at Gotham? I have detected bias at times. Elizabeth recently had a story where she compared the ease with which Eva Moskowitz can get things done with the difficulty faced by the principal of PS 194 due to those nasty union contracts. Call it the "light bulbs to oranges" comparison. There was so much bias dripping out of that story, I had to wipe down my keyboard.

And the current lead side panel quote from Kitchen Sink, (supposedly a charter school principal who has a hell of a lot of time to blog at times one would expect someone to be working at running a school) a noted charter school defender, just might be viewed as bias.

I miss the idea of having a teacher's voice on Gotham. I know people who disagree, but I felt that Kelly Vaughan - former blogger Ms. Frizzle - at least brought the sense of a teacher to Gotham Schools. Now as a Teach for America alum, Kelly did bring some of those biases to the table, but her 7 years of teaching in NYC public middle schools gave her some perspective. She wasn't a hard news person, but she popped up at all kinds of events like ATR rallies, that are not being covered very well at Gotham at this time. Her leaving to go back to teaching, albeit at a charter school, was a loss for Gotham - and us.

Behind Gotham Schools is Mark Gorton. Wiki says:

The financial engine behind many of Gorton's business and civic interests is Tower Research Capital LLC, a financial services firm Gorton owns that he started in 1998, following a 4 1/2 year stint in the proprietary trading department of Credit Suisse First Boston (now Credit Suisse). At Credit Suisse Gorton traded stocks and built sophisticated hedging tools used to analyze markets. Tower evolved these models and specializes in quantitative trading and investment strategies based on proprietary trading algorithms using statistical methodology to identify non-random patterns in the stock markets. Buying and selling is done through an automated trade execution infrastructure, with many of trades placed through another affiliate, Lime Brokerage LLC.

Let's see now, a hedge fund kind of guy. Any chance of bias there?

One thing we would hope from Gotham Schools is a realistic picture of what is occurring in many NYC schools. I love that they have Aaron Pallas from Columbia, alias Skoolboy of Eduwonkette fame, but Ken Hirsch? With about a thousand teacher bloggers out there on the front lines, this is where they get commentary from?

Or how about the coverage of Arne Duncan without ever really examining the awful performance of Chicago schools under his 7 years there? Or the general failure of mayoral control in Chicago after 14 years of mayoral control? Or Paul Vallas following up Chicago with failure in Philly, followed up by the privatization of the New Orleans school system, making Vallas a 3-time loser?

But the UFT cue card case? WOW! What a scoop! Talk about elevating the trivial.

Related:
See Daily News reporter Meredith Kolodner's report on the UFT cue card caper with some perspective. Meredith may not be flashy, but since her days at The Chief, she has exhibited a nuanced understanding of major education issues – and without bias.

the City Council Cue Card Fiasco: Mulgrew was in charge

.... bet some lower species will get the blame as the Pres cannot publicly lambaste her hand picked successor. -- an anonymous comment.

Not ready for prime time
Hey Randi, that's just Mike being Mike. He went from school level Unity Caucus goon to union COO goon. Oh, please Randi, don't leave us in his hands. You just have to run for president again in next year's elections.

See Randi talk about it at Gotham Schools. Her changes in the union will amount to picking out a few new deck chairs.

Actually, I think the cue cards was a good thing. I changed my mind. Nice work Mike.
Good for UFT Cue Cards

Will the Real Jackass Rise? Charles Barron, Whitney Tilson, or Ben Chavis?

It's a tie between Whitney Tilson and Ben Chavis (not the same Ben Chavis who headed the NAACP. We've dealt with Tilson, who fancies himself an expert on education since he once went to kindergarten, when Ed Notes News reported

Whitney Tilson Chooses Ed Notes Editor to Manage Hedge Fund

This comment was left by someone named Andrew on our post linking to Angel Gonzalez' film:

Barron, Klein, Spellings, Sharpton Confrontation

One of KIPP's drooling mouth-breathing fans who blogs under the heading "Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog" recently posted on an event which apparently occurred subsequent to Mr. Barron's brilliant dissection of mayoral control and the promotion of charter schools.

It points up that a sociopath is loose and running charters in the Oakland, CA area. Keep in mind that Ben Chavis would be in jail in a healthy society but wealthy people in this society have put him in charge of poor and working people's children.

Here's Tilson's idiotic blog entry:

"I owe NY City Council member Robert Jackson an apology for a case of mistaken identity. After I heard he spoke out against mayoral control during the morning panel of the Eq Equality Day on Friday, when I saw a City Council member go off on a rant on the same topic during the lunch panel, I naturally assumed it was Jackson. In fact, it was another City Council member, Charles Barron (I've never seen or met either of them).

Barron, by all accounts, is a true jackass -- he actually said during his rant that inner-city kids should be focusing on home ec and woodworking (this article by Elizabeth Green of GothamSchools.org on the idiotic things he had to say: http://gothamschools.org/2009/04/03/sharpton-cedes-time-to-barron-who-calls-for-klein-to-be-fired).

Barron is also a bully and, like most bullies, a coward. Here's more on the confrontation between he and Ben Chavis that I mentioned in yesterday's email, as recounted to me by Chavis and multiple witnesses:

Chavis observed Barron berating one of the conference organizers, bringing that person to tears, and didn't like it one bit -- he thought Barron was being a bully, so and went up to him and, face only inches from Barron's, started RIPPING him, saying (I'm not making this up): "You're a mother f-ing black pimp, you're f-ing our kids. Come to the reservation and I'll beat your ass. You want our kids to take Home Ec? YOU should wear a dress!"

Barron replied, "Well we're here, so let's do it right now." Chavis said OK and started heading for the exit. Barron, seeing Chavis was dead serious about fighting him, quickly wimped out and instead threatened to having Chavis kicked out of the hotel. They shouted obscenities at each other, with Chavis getting the last words as they separated, saying "You're a pimp! You're a pimp!"

I LIKE this guy!

Here's another story I heard about Chavis: when he became principal of the first American Indian Charter School, he went down to the street corner where the drug dealers were hanging out. They said, "What the hell are you doing here, white man." To which he replied, "I'm not white, I'm Indian -- and I'll pay you $5 if you bring back any of my students who should be in school." They said, "Hell, for $5, we'll not only bring them back, we'll beat them up for you!" "No need for that," Chavis replied. "Just bring them back."

As I said, I LIKE this guy! I'm not sure I'd recommend all of his methods, but they seem to work for him -- and, most importantly, his students!"

Wow Whitney. Ben Chavis challenging Barron to "settle it outside" is just the kind of guy we want running schools. And Barron's points about the killing of vocational education where most jobs will lie as opposed to the bullshit the ed deformers are throwing around about college jobs when we know most of them are geared for McDonald's and Walmart and data enty jobs. How much does Whitney have invested in those companies, I wonder? Keep those wages of those kids you supposedly care about real low.

Whitney, you are beyond a jackass. Try total idiot.


More on Chavis from Perimeter Primate:
Hello,

I am writing to you from Oakland, California, and hope you will pass this information to City Council Member Barron. It is about the man who approached Mr. Barron after the EEP panel last week and launched an abusive verbal attack, Ben Chavis of Oakland's American Indian Public charter schools.

I learned about the interaction here
http://edreform.blogspot.com/2009/04/apology-to-david-jackson-more-on.html

As an Oaklander who in interested in public school issues, and who has been living less than a mile from Mr. Chavis’ flagship charter school for the past 20 years, I am well acquainted with Chavis’ temperament and local shenanigans. Mr. Barron may like to read this article: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_6148011

Chavis took over the failing American Indian Public Charter School (AIPCS) in 2001-02. By his third year, a new course for the school was in place—the acquisition of more students from the higher performing subgroups and a reduction of students from the lowest performing subgroups. Here is the evidence of his demographic engineering at his award winning charter school (DataQuest at the CDE):

This is the changing percentage of the school’s students in one of the following subgroups: American Indian or Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, Filipino, Hispanic or Latino, or African American in the 13 school years from 1996-97 to 2008-09.

1996-97 = 100.0
1997-98 = 97.0
1998-99 = 93.8
1999-00 = 100.1
2000-01 = 97.0
2001-02 = 100
2002-03 = 98.7
2003-04 = 74.3
2004-05 = 55.4
2005-06 = 65.3
2006-07 = 51.1
2007-08 = 50.5
2008-09 = 42.3

The school's American Indian or Alaska Native percentage in 1996-97 was 100%. This year it is 1.1%.

And on the other hand, here is the changing percentage of the school’s students who are in either of the following subgroups: Asian or White.

1996-97 = 0.0
1997-98 = 2.9
1998-99 = 6.2
1999-00 = 0.0
2000-01 = 2.9
2001-02 = 0.0
2002-03 = 1.2
2003-04 = 25.7
2004-05 = 44.6
2005-06 = 33.7
2006-07 = 22.4
2007-08 = 38.4
2008-09 = 54.4

Of course, the demographic changes of the Oakland Unified School District are not aligned to this at all.

Around 2005, the school was starting to get a lot of press. Questions were being raised about Chavis' cherry picking tactics. Demographic reporting for 2006-07 suddenly showed an unprecedented number of students who did not specifying their subgroup (the multiple or no response category).

The percentage of students claiming to be in this subgroup had averaged 0.29 for the previous 10 years. In 2006-07 the percentage jumped to 26.4 percent. During the summer of 2007, Chavis abruptly resigned as principal of AIPCS. Most local people believe his departure was definitely connected to the incident which was reported in the article above.

Following his departure, the percentage of students in the multiple or no response category dropped to 11.1 in 2007-08. This year, it is 2.7%. The district average is 5.8%.

Although he is no longer a principal, Chavis oversees three charter schools in Oakland with the “American Indian Public” prefix. He calls his instructional program the “American Indian Method.”

Chavis' schools manage to avoid having to teach students w/disabilities. The combined enrollment in his three schools of students w/disabilities in 2007-08 was 1.3% (district average = 10%).

Chavis' schools also manage to avoid having to teach English Learners. The combined enrollment in his three schools of English learners in 2007-08 was 3% (district average = 30%).

He likes to boast how he is saving the low-performing groups, but his main technique is to seek out low-income, hardworking, high achieving students from local elementary schools.

Fortunately, Chavis' most recent charter petition was denied by the district; the denial report was quite interesting. Chavis' emotional response to learning the news about the denial is here: http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2008/10/30/denied-new-american-indian-charter-school/

That wraps it up. In my opinion, Chavis is pretty much a highly competitive, scheming nutcase as far as I can tell, but I am quite certain that City Council Member Barron has been able to determine that for himself.

Most sincerely,
Sharon Higgins
http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/

Barron, Klein, Spellings, Sharpton Confrontation: New Video by Angel Gonzalez

UPDATED Video Modified: Apr. 18

In a brilliant new video, Angel Gonzalez of ICE and the Grassroots Education Movement exposes the hypocrisy of mayoral control and the phony mantra that their critics are all about adults and they are all about children. And yes, that's Michael Fiorillo with the sign at the end. A must see.

Angel sent this along as an intro:

4-3-09 Sharpton-Klein NAN / EEP Forum with pro-mayoral control and pro-charter school panelists from across the US. Councilman Barron condemns their privatization of public schools agenda. After protests from the NO Mayoral Control Coalition, Sharpton conceded Barron's address prior to the speeches of the panelists. Barron condemns the profiteering & the educational devastation promulgated by the BloomKein Dictatorial Control of public education in NYC.

Angel Gonzalez


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2PW2iN_Yvw





Charter Schools: The Solution to the Crisis in Public Education?

All public schools in NYC are going to come up against this issue if they haven't already. This conference on May 4 is an outgrowth of the emerging coalition of grass roots activists, now known as the grass roots education movement. GEM. Circulate in the schools - email me for a pdf. Here is the text.


Do Charter Schools actually represent a genuine movement to re-establish community control, parent choice and equitable education for ALL students? Or are they part of a larger movement sweeping the country and turning the public sector of education over to hands of privately run organizations?

Do charter schools provide adequate channels for the democratic input of staff and parents? What happens when charter schools deny educators union rights, pensions and benefits?

At this forum, we invite teachers, parents, students and community members to consider the role that charter schools play in the larger national agenda to privatize education in the United States. We will discuss the validity of their popular claim to support civil rights by providing parents of “failing” schools other options. Please join us.

Charter schools are opening while public schools are closing or being placed in smaller spaces that hinder the expansion of public schools. Charter schools also have stricter admission policies. With all these “at-risk” or “failing schools” closing, where are their students going to go? Who will accept them?

Join a discussion on these important topics and more!

May 4 5:30 p.m.
Pace University Student Union 1 Pace Plaza (look for signs)
2/3 to Park Place, A/C to Broadway/Nassau, 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall

Sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) to Defend Public Education, a newly formed coalition of NYC groups and individuals dedicated to defend public education, and the parents, students and teachers affected against attempts to privatize, underfund and undermine the system. The coalition is building this forum and is also building a rally on May 14 to oppose NYC school closings.

Co-Sponsored by (list in formation) the Independent Community of Educators (ICE), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), the International Socialist Organization (ISO), Justice Not Just Tests

contact: asc.ice.uft@gmail.com, 718-601-4901

Get involved in the next planning meeting:

Tuesday, April 21 5:00 p.m.
CUNY Grad Center – Rm 5414
34th Street and 5th Ave. Bring I.D.

Seder Sidekicks

Thanks to David for this follow-up to Tisch, Tisch, Meryl as Meryl, Joel et al. celebrate the holidays.

http://dbellel.blogspot.com/2009/04/seder-sidekicks.html




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

Public Schools, Private Money

Mary Porter has left a new comment on your post: The Broad Prize for Losers:

Here's a note I sent to a member of congress who sits on the Finance Committee. I'm hoping others will take up the financial approach to rein in Arne Duncan's massive giveaway to the eduprofiteers, and save public education from Eli Broad.


Please take a moment to look this over, it points to specific hearings the Finance Committee can hold. Similar efforts by the New York City Council are underway now.

The New York City Council met April 1 to investigate education funding contracting, and they have found an excellent example of the oversight gap:
The Bloomberg administration created a "non-profit" foundation, The Fund for Public Schools, which does not need to file financial disclosure statements, submit contracts for bids, or meet public disclosure requirements in its sub-contracts, because it is a supposedly private entity. Here are the specifics, with links to other sources:

Public Schools, Private Money
April 2nd, 2009
http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2009/04/02/public-schools-private-money/

I am asking the Finance Committee to conduct hearings similar to the one in NY City, to investigate current public gifts to the edubusiness industry, and to draft legislation requiring that all foundations which are designated to receive the Education Stimulus money be required to file full financial disclosure statements. All their subsequent subcontractors must do the same, to account for who eventually receives the public money.

Nolan and Odonnell Toss the Ball in Klein's Court

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good for UFT Cue Cards

I have not followed the details but from what I've heard the questions were very pertinent ones to be asked of the doe officials who have been given so much of a pass on all the games they are playing. We know that no matter how they damage children and take away parent rights, the press' main focus will be on the doings of the UFT even if they are right for a change. That BloomKlein have gotten away with murder all these years with the city council sitting helpless due to fear of Bloomberg, etc or total ineffectiveness, to have them show some spine for a change is a good thing.

The UFT needs endless critiicsm, but certainly not the few policies of BloomKlein they oppose - for PR purposes only I might add - they are reformers - or deformers.


Sources:
From Ed Notes on Randi as reformer:

America in Labor and Parsing Randi From Gotham Schools

• The Post and Daily News pick up on GothamSchools’ scoop about the UFT’s City Council cue cards.
• Both papers say the cards show that the union cares only about politics, not kids. (Post, Daily News)

And of course BloomKlein care only about kids, not politics.

Tisch, Tisch, Meryl

We get letters from people running schools too.

Some of my sources tell me that almost every principal they meet despises Tweed and Joel Klein. And I get mail from more principals and higher placed people, even some at Tweed, than you would imagine.

This one is about the outrageous puff piece in the NY Times on Meryl Tisch, who now heads the NY State Board of Regents which must rule on waivers for "do no nuttin bout education" chancellors. Look for a follow-up piece where I'll parse the article. I've been too busy doubled up with laughter to comment now.

From a NYC school supervisor:

Norm,

I am fascinated by the detail of your research and reporting! I feel fortunate to have you "in the trenches" reporting on everything- as I find many of your opinions right on target. I am only sorry that I am not retired so I could enjoy my freedom of speech – and perhaps write more and share opinions.

I was deeply troubled by the NY Times' very flattering piece on Meryl Tisch.

Though she seems like a nice lady and I have only seen her speak once, she is in the Mayor's pocket- she once was quoted as saying "I absolutely will support Mayoral Control as long as MICHAEL is going to be in charge". Then article talks of how she has shared several Seder suppers with Joel Klein and how she and her husband go on dinner dates with JOEL and his wife".

That would be like me as an accountant sharing Christmas dinner with my auditor every year.

The entire article is full of her connections to the wealth of a very limited number of people mostly very folks from the upper east side.. Seymour Fliegel is mentioned praising her-didn't he get a contract from JOEL to run the CIE PSO??? There is too much here that does not pass the smell test.

They talk about old school board corruption (which obviously existed) but was "small potatoes" compared to this-

This is the outright hijacking of parents' rights and voice to have a filthy rich upper east side "long time friend of the mayor's" who regularly socializes with the UNLICENSED UNCERTIFIED fellow running our schools- she will be called on to testify about Mayoral Control and should perhaps be asked to step aside as her opinions are certainly BIASED!!!

Keep up the good work!

NYC Educator recently wrote about Tisch: Who's in Charge Here, Anyway?

I wrote about the ridiculous NY Post editorial her "brilliant" daughter Jessica sent supporting Bloomberg's 3rd term: "Average Citizen" Jessica Tisch Calls For Bloomberg 3rd Term.

The Politics of Venture Philanthropy in Charter School Policy

Call it vulture philanthropy

From Sharon Higgins

Here’s a scholarly and informative article to share with you: "The Politics of Venture Philanthropy in Charter School Policy and Advocacy," by Janelle Scott (Associate Professor at UC Berkeley, formerly NYU) and published by SAGE. It will take a while to read (32 pages), but I believe it will be worth your time.

Scott explains the billionaires' strategy to push charter schools onto communities and how they are maneuvering their immense foundation-giving to achieve this result. She also describes the not-always-well-intentioned, and/or misguided, history of foundation "giving" which has targeted communities of color in the past.

The foundation-giving programs of today require an important trade-off from the local communities: namely, the relinquishment of interest and power over their own public schools to the public education notions of a few immensely wealthy oligarchs. What does it tell us that the communities where this is occurring necessitated first being placed under authoritarian rule?

Scott’s article explains how the "gifts" of these foundations are going to a broad range of charter advocacy groups, pro-charter research organizations, alternative teacher and principal training programs, charter school development organizations, etc. EdVoice, Center for Education Reform, TFA, NewSchools Venture Fund, NewLeaders for New Schools, KIPP, Green Dot, Democrats for Education Reform, and the EEP are just the teeny tiny tip of the you're-going-to-have-charter-schools-if-you-want-them-or-not iceberg.

Scott describes the flow of money to these organizations with the intent to have them work as a network in unison to further the billionaires' goal. Very few of the donations go directly to individual schools and their students, but just enough to make them look a lot better than their traditional school neighbors. The majority of the dollars go toward advocacy, propaganda, and the building of a national pro-charter school structure.

I've recently learned how Broad has bought off large, important portions of PBS, and how Ms. Gates is on the board of the Washington Post. The extent to which the media has been co-opted by this force would be a good topic for someone to track. We know how heavily they have influenced the White House.

I was especially interested to learn that one of the official techniques used to push charter schools, and described in a 2004 Philanthropy Roundtable donors guide, is "...the sponsorship of efforts that put parents of color out front instead of 'rich, white Republicans.' " The technique is exactly described here and here.

This general strategy may also explain why a deeply-in-debt-to-the-IRS Al Sharpton was persuaded to join the pro-charter force.

Another small item that may be of interest to some of you is that the Broad Foundation paid the Century Foundation $100,000 (in 2004) and $29,973 (in 2007) to "support research on the late union leader Albert Shanker." You may view The Broad Foundation 990's here.

Perhaps this is the "why" it has come about that pro-charter forces mention Albert Shanker so frequently for being responsible for the idea of charter schools. They use this statement to both justify the existence of charter schools, and to attempt to disarm the teachers' union complaints about them.

The details of these maneuvers are extensive, and won’t be easily grasped by the American public, not to mention the lesser educated parents in the communities now being targeted. The word about what is really going on desperately needs to get out more broadly.

Download the article here. But you have to register first. I have the pdf. Email me if you want a copy.

Related:

Susan Ohanian reports on Broad takeover of Phi Delta Kappan

Note: These are the people Weingarten and the UFT/AFT want to partner with.

America in Labor and Parsing Randi

In today's Week in Review in the NY Times, Stephen Greenhouse wonders why American Labor Has An Unusually Long Fuse compared to European workers, who were out in the streets at the G20 meetings.

"Unlike their European counterparts, American workers have largely stayed off the streets, even as unemployment soars and companies cut wages and benefits."

At one time, in the 30's, when a powerful Communist and other socialist parties were strong in organizing the labor movement, this was not true.

General strikes paralyzed San Francisco and Minneapolis, and a six-week sit-down strike at a G.M. plant in Flint, Mich., pressured the company into recognizing the United Automobile Workers. In the decade’s ugliest showdown, a 1937 strike against Republic Steel in Chicago, 10 protesters were shot to death. That militancy helped build a powerful labor movement, which represented 35 percent of the nation’s workers by the 1950s and helped create the world’s largest and richest middle class.

Today, American workers, even those earning $20,000 a year, tend to view themselves as part of an upwardly mobile middle class. In contrast, European workers often still see themselves as proletarians in an enduring class struggle.

And American labor leaders, once up-from-the-street rabble-rousers, now often work hand-in-hand with C.E.O.’s to improve corporate competitiveness to protect jobs and pensions, and try to sideline activists who support a hard line.

“You have a general diminution of union leadership that was focused on defending workers by any means necessary,” said Jerry Tucker, a longtime U.A.W. militant. “The message from the union leadership nowadays often is, ‘We don’t have any choice, we have to go down this concessionary road to see if we can do damage control,’ ” he said.

Ahhh, there's a key. the "general diminution of union leadership" which wants to be partners with management.

Which leads us to Randi Weingarten and her speech this weekend at the NY State United Teachers conference in Buffalo.

We can be partners to 'advance the smart approach'
Don't reject reform ideas out of hand but instead "take a fresh look at some of the more divisive issues in education.

What are these "reform" - or deform- ideas Randi is talking about?

Merit pay, judging teachers and schools on narrow outcomes based on high stakes tests, charter schools that undermine public education, teachers as cogs - the whole gamut of deforms.

You see, to Randi, the partnership means she is the partner, not the rank and file teacher.

Now true progressive educator/reformers know what real reform would look like and it's a far cry from what is being pushed. Teachers who have real control of schools and their classrooms, which would require a take-down of the all-powerful principal. Like, how about teachers electing principals like they do in parts of Europe?

If teachers controlled schools, they would make the best - not perfect - but the best decisions. No teacher wants to work in a lousy school, so they are the ones with the most long-term interests in making schools work for themselves and the kids. More so than even parents, many of whom have more interest in their child than in the school overall. Besides, they are only part of the school temporarily, while teachers may spend an entire career. Oh, I forgot, part of the ed deformer package that Randi wants to partner with is a basic end to career teachers, replacing them with a Peace Corp mentality.

How does Randi benefit from that? Few teachers will be there long enough to realize her partnership = sellout.

All that’s missing is a few hookers

Aaron Pallas fact checks the Klein/Sharpton Education Equality Project over at Gotham Schools.

Leonie Haimson talks about that was the week that was in NYC with the Klein/Sharpton/Bloomberg/Duncan/Biden/Fenty caravan in town at the EEP convention, renamed, "We're Not Really Crooks, at least as long as you can't prove it."

Read this in full to get a sense of the depth of corruption in education under BloomKlein control.
Posted at Norms Notes: Leonie Haimson on: That was the week that was!

A few choice tidbits from Controller Thompson on no-bid contracts:

CTB McGraw budgeted for $1 m; spent $4.2M.
Continental Press – textbooks etc; budgeted $15 K, spent $6.5 M! an increase of 43,000%!!!!
Creative Media Agency to place ads (for what?) was contracted for $589K and yet spent $6.9 Million!!!
According to the Comptroller’s office, in FY 07 and O8, there were 372 contracts – which exceeded the contract amount by 25% or more – w/ DOE spending over $1 billion on these contracts. 127 of these contracts had little or no competition – amounting to $525 million in all.

This year (FY 09) the rate of overspending on contracts is already at 27% -- with three months yet to go.

Follow the No-Bid doins from Columbia School of Journalism Students:
No Bid Tip Sheet Public Eyes on Public Schools

Chaz has a few comments:
Tweed Just Continues To Spend More Money On Non-Educational Items While The Schools Suffer

The Broad Prize for Losers

Though we totally reject the entire Broad prize concept as a political tool to undermine public education, isn't it interesting that Arne Duncan never got the prize in Chicago. And why aren't the Chicago schools after 14 years of the kind of mayoral control being raved about by so many, being given closer scrutiny before driving the urban school systems in this nation off a cliff.

Tauna makes some excellent points on the Broad Prize at This Little Blog.

Dear Eli Broad:
Does Eli Broad's peddling half-baked market solutions to education remind you of Johnny Carson's slick pitchman selling a vegematic? Johnny used to use charts too. Only they kept falling off the stand as he hit it with his pointer. Maybe that's where Broad got the idea on data manipulation.

Dear Eli Broad:

The days of the reckoning have arrived for you. Your soul died long ago but if your decrepit physical being survives just a little further into the future the full weight of justice will be meted out to you. And it will be the sweetest justice for the harm you have done to children of color in America's urban public schools is incalculable. No system of data collection is capable of quantifying it but there are an inexhaustible parade of human exhibits to be heard. Your crimes will be proven premeditated at trial. You've known all along what you were doing but the potential payoff drove you forward anyway.

See you in the docket of a people's court soon.

Paul A. Moore
Miami, FL


Follow up from NYCEducation News Listserve
I had a personal experience with Broad housing while living in Los Angeles in the late 80s/early 90s. To make a long story short, my husband and I drove up to Pacoima to tour Broad's hugh new condo complex (which received some mighty generous CA tax rebates, allowances, incentives.) We were shocked to find this brand-new complex already showing signs of deterioration, literally coming apart at the seams! We couldn't believe how shoddy the construction was. We didn't even bother going inside, just turned around and went home.

If the quality (or the lack thereof) of these Broad condos are any indication of the man and his principles, then why in the world would we entrust our educational system to him?

Nor do I understand why GE's Jack Welch is deified for being a titan of industry when he spent half his time polluting the Hudson River and the the other half avoiding cleaning up his mess.

How NYCDOE Eats Its Young Teachers

They Call Me Teacher could be a model for many of the young idealistic teachers flooding into the system, the heroic teachers who are expected to throw their lives into the job, to feel guilt and work harder no matter how kids or parents behave.

You see, all it takes is hard work and high expectations for all the kids and there will be no achievement gap. Don't even mention class size or think about it. That's just an excuse for failure. Keep your head down and just teach and don't let the socio-economic distractions or behavior issues (your fault) or lack of parent interest or their own helplessness (you don't call them enough) get in your way.

When you are ready to have a family or just burn out, you'll be cast aside and replaced by the next batch. Sort of reminds you of those war movies when the young recruits come up to the front lines to face the carnage.

I believe I met They Call Me Teacher at a blogger's social and couldn't be more impressed. Another blogger at that social went through her own hell and is now out of teaching and much happier. This just shouldn't be happening.

I know this will sound weird to some people, but I believe the answer and career saver is to get involved in the growing teacher/social justice movement where you get perspective on the bullshit being thrown at you and find compadres you will not find in your schools. I know it worked for me when I found such a group in 1970 in my 4th year of teaching. We met almost every week for over 10 years and it saved me as a teacher. (Many of the people from that group help found ICE 5 years ago).

Who needs meetings after school when you are exhausted? Ask some of the people we've been meeting with, who leave these meetings more energized than they came in, ready to go back to the fray with a better political idea of the how social forces shape education. No, the answer is not to just keep your heads down and teach. The fight to improve the lives of the kids lies just as much outside the classroom as in it.

In these excerpts from TCMT, I extracted the parts that indicate the toll high class size takes and the relief when it drops with a few kids out. I have no doubt that a concerted effort to reduce class size would save many of these teachers. The talk about finding a quality teacher first is a red herring. TCMT was a higher quality teacher on March 13 than on March 12. Also note the growing frustration with kids who just won't do the work and parents who seem helpless. The ed deformers say it is due to TCMT's not being a good enough teacher. Remember to keep your head down and not think of the parents. Focus man.

Make sure to read the entire posts.

March 12, 2009

could it get any worse

i'm miserable. beyond miserable. i've never felt so miserable.

this job is slowly torturing me to my death... and medication may be needed in my near future.
i just couldn't zone out the hell that surrounded me today.

my stomach has been in knots more often this school year than in my whole past life combined.

my class size increased by 25% because of changes in the grade level. the students are pissed off about being put in my room and therefore defiant and miserable and sharing it with the rest of the class. not only do they bring us down in the room, but we also are officially packed in tighter than sardines.

recently, i was grabbed, jerked to a stop, and yelled at by another teacher in front of students. i couldn't believe the situation and the true disrespect that was actually shown. i'm furious that people like this even work in a school around children. i'm not used to this. i've never seen this before. it shocks me at the way some people act. i only hope i don't turn into them. i only hope i haven't alraedy turned into them.

i have two students who are completely capable of learning. they just don't care. they don't do their homework, Ever. their parents don't do anything about it
i asked them both what they did instead of doing homework... what could be so important in a 10 year old's life that they have no time for homework, ever. ... television. i told them that i forbid them from watching tv anymore. yah... because i can say that. but again, whatever. something the parents should be saying.
i'm just frustrated by the laziness of some of these kids. they don't even care. i feel like we try so hard, of course, my teaching here in this school doesn't look like teaching i know i can do... there is something about this place that holds me back (probably the behaviors... the outbreaks, the yelling, the chaos, the disruptions)

i've learned my limitations. i cannot push myself too far. i cannot let this place ruin my spirit. lucky for me there is another teacher to help, even if we are both in shambles about to fall to pieces. at least i'm not alone, suffering.

days like today make me want to move home.
i'm scared i'll forget what teaching actually looks like.
i'm scared i'll forget how to teach those willing to be taught. those willing to listen, to behave. i'm scared i'll forget how much i love teaching. i already want to go back to school, to find something different. i won't though. i won't let this school kill my dream.

three and a half weeks until spring break. god help me survive.

Friday, March 13, 2009

When You Hit Bottom...

The only way to go is up. Yesterday was as close to the bottom as I'd ever like to go. Yesterday ranks up there on the list of as one of the worst days of my life, especially in my teaching career. I was dragging, depressed, angry, upset. I was insanely mad that this place is taking teaching and turning it into something I hate, something I dread... which is Not a feeling I've felt before New York.

Today was better. As I forced myself into positive thinking this morning all the way to work... I prayed it couldn't get worse. I prayed it'd be better. I needed better. I got it. There were quite a few students gone today, not really many behavior problem students but just downsizing the number of people cramped in our room made that much of a difference. We taught. We tried some new things. Our students were learning, involved, answering questions, discussing in their groups.

Has Your Favorite Unity Caucus Hack Gone Missing?

Why they're all up in Buffalo at the annual NY State United Teachers Convention. All 800 of them - at your expense. (They were elected in the 2007 winner take all Unity sweepstakes.) And know what they're doing? They're embracing reform. Oh, you know, the usual suspects. Things like merit pay. And charter schools.

"Obama recently pushed for even more reform — rewarding teacher excellence, holding teachers more accountable and promoting innovation, such as charter schools. Rather than considering those subjects taboo, we have been speaking of the same things."- Richard Iannuzzi, NYSUT President.

Klein Letter to PS 150 Brownsville Parents

Follow-up to our previous postof Klein's letter to PS 241's Harlem parents, which should be read in full with the Ed Notes' decoder annotations.

If you are following the saga at PS 241 in Harlem we posted earlier in the day, here is the similar letter Klein sent to PS 150 undermining that school. That these acts of sabotage of schools he supposedly is in charge of, are despicable, there is no doubt. There is no clearer example than these letters of the true agenda of BloomKlein – to pick of as many public schools as possible an turn them over to private, well-connected interests. For those who look to politicians for help, consider that people like state Senate leader Malcolm Smith started two charter schools. If you look to the UFT for help, they too started two charter schools and made deals with others (Green Dot), while proclaiming this weekend at the NYSUT convention in Buffalo how much they support charters. There is only one defense teachers and parents who will be left holding the bag of a wasted public school system have: organize.

Your Union Dues at Work: $10,000 a Year to Sharpton

“Nobody is supporting us more financially than Randi Weingarten,” Mr. Sharpton said.

Ms. Weingarten said that the union had given about $10,000 a year for the last eight years to the National Action Network, Mr. Sharpton’s civil rights group.

Education’s Odd Couple Do Their Act, and Provoke Controversy

By JENNIFER MEDINA
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/education/03eep.html?_r=1&ref=education

Tweed Undermines Law Suit "Win" on Zoned Schools

The epicenter of the battle over public and charter schools is Harlem, where public schools, long denied resources have been forced into unfair competition with charter schools with sleek advertising, supported by corporations making short-term investments with a long view of profits to be made off the privatizing of public schools. Most egregious is that the DOE, the very agency that has run these public schools under attack for the past 7 years, is lining up on the side of the charters.

No sooner did I write this in my previous post-

We've reached the bizarro stage where Eva Moskowitz, miffed that her real estate grab for publicly funded NYC school buildings went temporarily awry, incites parents in Harlem to demand the DOE close the local zoned school when the DOE rescinded its plan to close PS 241 after the NYCLU and UFT filed suit.

I am all for the suit, but ultimately the DOE will figure out a way to force the "saved" schools into closing. This is all about real estate for charters, man. How about starving them of resources? Or putting in a lunatic Leadership Academy principal? A law suit has to be backed up by action. While the UFT might support individual school protests, it refuses to organize all the threatened schools into a force to demand the kinds of resources they need. When faced with yet another moratorium on school closings resolution, the UFT leadership removed the call for a meeting of all schools threatened with closing.

--than we received communications from teachers at PS 241. I thought it would take Tweed a few days to strike back. Yesterday, Moskowitz' gang struck organizing parents to demand PS 241 be closed. Today came the move by Klein to divert parents from enrolling in PS 241, the equivalency of police commissioner Raymond Kelly urging people in high crime districts to replace the NYPD with a private police force.

Before you read the letter from PS 241 and the letter Klein sent to parents, I wanted to mention the story a teacher from PS 242 in Harlem told at our conference to save public ed on Saturday. She talked about the horrors of 3 schools sharing her building, especially when PS 242 is playing the role of the unfavored step child of the DOE, forced to accept every child tossed from the charter schools in the building.


From teachers at PS 241 in Harlem:

Good Morning All-

As some off you may have heard- DOE will not be closing the school down- they have been put off by the lawsuit! This is not a true victory however.

Please read the letter being sent to the parents carefully.

Parents are still being bullied to send their students to other schools.

Harlem Success Academy will still be placed in our building.

Middle school will be phased out.

Where will there be room for HSA? We would only lose our grade 6 students. We will be attempting to get back all of our parents who were forced to apply elsewhere- but how will they all be housed? Sharing facilities with 3 schools- how? We already do not have use of our gym- and struggle to share the other common areas with another charter school in the building. We will lose classrooms, we will lose our art room, we will have to figure out lunch and breakfast times and children will be eating at all kinds of hours.

PS 242- has shown that three buildings cannot live peacefully and successfully in one facility without children suffering. Also- DOE says that if students come back to the school- and if 241 progresses well (by what standards and whose say so) we will stay open- otherwise we will still be closed. That means with HSA already in the building- they can take over. They will still have a way to rezone illegally in the future.

This must stop. This is not a victory- they have only shifted that battle.

We must come together to rethink how we will move forward.

Send this out to everyone- elected officials, the press, community organizations and let them know that this is not a victory. We are being swindled! I am sure DOE's press release will sound very different!


The letter from Klein to parents has been deciphered by Ed Notes code breakers. Here it is with annotations from our code breakers:

April 3, 2009

Dear parents of P.S. 241:

The most important thing I can do as Chancellor is to make sure that you have excellent school choices for your child [as long as they’re in schools I don’t have to run]. As you know, several months ago, the Department of Education (DOE) said that P.S. 241 had not proven [see, we don’t have to prove nuthin’] that it was preparing enough of its students for middle school, high school, and beyond. The school received a Progress Report grade of D, and only11 students are enrolled in its kindergarten class [heh, heh, heh- we made sure of that]. The DOE thus announced that P.S. 241 would phase out, not accepting kindergarten, first grade, second grade, or sixth grade students next year.

As you also know, after meetings with parents and community officials, the DOE issued a plan to provide a choice of six schools for parents whose children would be in kindergarten, first, and second grades next year. Five options were nearby DOE schools, [which we’ll get to closing down one by one in our version of dominoes] and one was Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4, which would relocate into the P.S. 241 building and would give students attending and zoned to P.S. 241 priority to attend [but only if their parents commit to attending every Harlem Success pep rally].

Already, 50 families residing in the P.S. 241 zone have signed up for Harlem Success Academy 4 and the surrounding DOE schools [after loads of slick advertising.]

Since that time, the teachers union and other parties have attempted to take legal action against the DOE for this plan. I think it’s important that we not confuse the already difficult process of choosing a school. So I’m writing to inform you of two decisions we have made that will impact your school choices for next school year:

1. Harlem Success Academy Charter School 4 will be located in the P.S. 241 building next year and will continue to give an admissions priority to families attending P.S. 241 or living in the P.S. 241 zone.

Children going into kindergarten, first grade, and second grade will also still have the opportunity to apply to P.S. 76, P.S. 149, P.S. 165, P.S. 180, and P.S. 185.

I think you should seriously consider joining the 50 other P.S. 241 zone parents who have already applied to one of these options [so we can claim no one wants to go to PS 241.]

If you do not have an application to Harlem Success Academy 4 or to the other DOE schools you are entitled to attend, you can obtain one from your guidance counselor or parent coordinator; [who are like prisoners in war camps who are made to dig the graves of their fellow prisoners] or you can find a Harlem Success application online at http://www.harlemsuccess.org/apply-to-learn.

As you know from the letters and calls you have already received, as well as the bulletins passed out around the school, the application deadline is Monday, April 6.

2. The P.S. 241 elementary school will not be phasing out starting this fall. The school will be open with all elementary school grades this fall. Rather than waiting to let the courts decide, we think you, the parents, will make the right elementary school choice for your child [meaning, no way choose PS 241, which we guarantee will be starved of resources so we can give the entire building to Eva, who has dirty pictures of me.] You can choose Harlem Success Academy 4, you can choose one of the other five DOE elementary schools, or you can choose P.S. 241. We will continue to support the school [ha, ha, ha] and will review its performance in the year to come [you know what to do Jimmy Leibman]. If zoned parents enroll in the school, and if the school serves children well, it will remain open [but watch out for the fire traps and asbestos that may be spread all over the place]. If it continues to perform at a low level [and don’t worry, we’ll make sure it does], it will not. Please also note that the P.S. 241 middle school will continue to phase out; all current 5th grade students have already applied to a District 3 middle school.

The Parent Coordinator at P.S. 241, the District 3 Family Advocate, and the Borough Enrollment Office have information about all of the schools you are entitled to attend, including Harlem Success Academy 4 and P.S. 241.

Joel I. Klein


RELATED: Report from ISO's Jeremy Sawyer on the March 28 conference
Defending public schools in NYC

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

Tracking the Charter School Debates

Everywhere we go, the debate turns to charter schools and teachers and parents are starting to feel the impact in many parts of the city. Coalitions with various points of views are emerging, from, "charters are OK, but not in public school buildings," to "absolute opposition" to charters for numerous reasons.

Ed Notes and ICE are part of an emerging "Save Public Schools" coalition that organized the conference last Saturday. Teachers Unite, NYCORE, ISO, and TJC are also involved. We are now moving on to hold a charter school conference on April 27 and a rally on May 14. The coalition is also beginning to function as a support group for teachers and parents at schools threatened with closing or schools being shoved around by politically connected charter school operatives that steal space in public schools or lobby to have public schools closed down. (Some members of the group are meeting with a group of parents in Manhattan this week to discuss the issue.)

We've reached the bizarro stage where Eva Moskowitz, miffed that her real estate grab for publicly funded NYC school buildings went temporarily awry, incites parents in Harlem to demand the DOE close the local zoned school when the DOE rescinded its plan to close PS 241 after the NYCLU and UFT filed suit.

SIDETRACK: [I am all for the suit, but ultimately the DOE will figure out a way to force the "saved" schools into closing. This is all about real estate for charters, man. How about starving them of resources? Or putting in a lunatic Leadership Academy principal? A law suit has to be backed up by action. While the UFT might support individual school protests, it refuses to organize all the threatened schools into a force to demand the kinds of resources they need. When faced with yet another moratorium on school closings resolution, the UFT leadership removed the call for a meeting of all schools threatened with closing.]

INCOMING INFO FROM PS 241: DOE ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE LAWSUIT. SEE OUR FOLLOW-UP POST

In preparation for the upcoming conference on charter schools to be held in NYC on April 27, we are listing some useful resources, which I am keeping up on the side panel, where I will add additional resources (send suggestions.)

Olson Online: They don't serve the common good. They benefit some students --usually the more advantaged-- at the expense of others. Bite the bullet: get rid of school choice.More pros and cons for charters and choice

Perimeter Primate: Comparing parent education backgrounds in charter and public schools opens a window on creaming.

Charter School Tactics

Charter Schools and the Attack on Public Education
LA teacher Sarah Knopp nails it.

Sara Mosle at Slate with a balanced view of KIPP
"What the Knowledge Is Power Program has yet to prove." http://www.slate.com/id/2214253/


MORE ON CHARTERS:
http://aplacetorespond.blogspot.com/2009/02/public-schools-outperform-private.html

Bloomberg to Host Charter School in Living Room

Hey Oakland, you’re being duped!


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