Sorting at Charter Schools

It's nice to see one of our blogging buddies The Perimeter Primate, a public school parent in Oakland, getting more recognition. I've been intending to write more about what I have termed the 35% rule. In my years of teaching, about 35% of the children I worked with were pretty much on grade level, mostly with parents who seemed more involved with their education than the other 65%. The 35% came from more 2-parent homes and generally had less poverty levels, though we had almost 100% free lunch kids. These are the kids who end up in charter school in inner city neighborhoods, leaving the other 65% to the public schools.

We used to do the sorting through homogeniously grouping classes based on reading scores and teachers rotated each year from top to middle to bottom (when the contract was followed, which it wasn't in my school). In essence, then, we had a mini charter school effect on each grade. Thus, one year I was an amazing teacher and the next year I sucked.

PP has some amazing insights into all this from a parent on the ground.

Caroline Grannan, SF Education Examiner, is focusing some attention on these insights.

http://www.examiner.com/x-356-SF-Education-Examiner~y2009m2d15-Innercity-culture-and-the-charter-school-selfsorting-effect

In the next couple of days I’m going to feature two posts from the education blog The Perimeter Primate that I think are particularly insightful. The blogger is an Oakland resident who is a veteran public school parent and a former staff member at a diverse public school.

Yesterday she blogged about a letter she wrote to Dr. Elijah Anderson, an African-American Yale sociology professor who wrote the book “Code of the Street,” about the culture that separates “street” from “decent” people in the marginalized inner-city.

Dr. Anderson called her in response to the letter, and she also reported on her conversation with him.

PP wrote:

One reason "Code of the Street" was so fascinating to me was because of your [Dr. Anderson] insights about "decent" and "street" families. I recognized the two types immediately. Here in Oakland, I suspect the charter schools are being sought out by decent-oriented families in part in an attempt to provide their children an escape from street-oriented school mates and the havoc at school which they often cause. The resulting effect is the increasing stratification of students, school by school.

My notion is that the low-income Black parents who seek out charter schools for their children are a specific type, the type who is more likely to stress the importance of education to their children and to support the mission of the school in their homes (= “decent”). I believe that their children are more likely to end up with greater academic achievement than the children who happen to have been born to parents who lack enough of that focus.

To enroll a child in a charter schools requires more forethought, effort, research and consideration on the part of the parent. This makes the population of charter school families a self-selected one. Charter schools prefer to deny this, but I know for certain it must be the case.

So, I am beginning to envision an inner-city school landscape where charter schools appear more and more successful simply because they collect and concentrate the children of “decent” families. Additionally, they become the recipients of large donations from philanthropists because they appear to be educating inner-city minority children more effectively than the regular public schools. It is rarely admitted that the charter schools and the regular schools have an increasingly different population of families.


Read every delicious morsel at The Perimeter Primate.

Loretta Prisco Testimony Before the NYS Assembly Hearings

Mayoral Control

Feb. 12, 2009

Thank you for opening this discussion. You asked for comment on the results of Mayoral Control.

I answer in one simple word:

Fear.

But you have given speakers five minutes, I will elaborate.

Children fear being tested, retained, and being identified as a “1” or a “2”.

Parents fear that once labeled by their score, their child’s career will be over, their ELL and Spec. Ed. child will not get mandated services, and fear that if their child commits a minor infraction that used to result in a call home, now means an arrest.

Communities fear the labeling and closing of their schools, and the detrimental effect it will on their neighborhoods.

Teachers fear that a tap on the shoulder to comfort a child, or the return of a hug will cause them to be sent to the rubber room. Pedagogues, who once enjoyed collegial relationships, are fearful that low scores will bring the wrath of their supervisors and peers.

Nothing grows in fear – at least nothing worth harvesting.

As an almost 47 year public school advocate, a former public school student, teacher in and out of the classroom, a district coordinator, a city graduate student and college instructor, PTA member and president, member of the parent federation, and major critic – I daresay, I doubt anyone was more pleased than I that the “old” system folded and doubt that anyone had more enthusiasm than I for a new governance.

I will not repeat the testimony about the data which was to show that schools are moving toward success has been manipulated. You have heard it from extremely reliable sources.

Allow me to share one fear that I have. As our schools have become test taking factories with children trained to select from a few possible answers on tests with as few as 34 questions, I fear that we will not have a citizenry prepared to be the scientists solving the problems of survival on this planet, the social scientists to help us navigate a more complex world, the peacemakers for nations continually at war, the artists who express ideas in creative and innovative ways and help make a more beautiful world, and urban planners to help us plan our cities for healthy living – the problem solvers of the world.

Children who entered Kindergarten in 2002 are leaving 5th grade – an entire elementary school career under this administration. Kids get one bite of the apple – and this one has been, pardon the expression, a rotten one.

I am a member of a group that met over two years on Staten Island to design a school governance system. Our plan has been reviewed and approved by the Issues Committee of our Democratic Club and a caucus of the UFT.

Attached is a detailed version, this morning I want to identify our basic core principles.

1. The system must be based on democratic participation of the community with decision making flowing from the school level to a central body.
2. The DOE must be politically neutral and not tied to any one political office. A school system cannot change/adjust according to the political aspirations, career, whim, caprice, or ideology of a politician. It must be an independent office with responsibilities to the people of the City and operate within the regulations of the NYS Ed. Department and laws of NYC.

3. Benchmarks must be established and evaluations conducted by an independent agency.

4. Inherent in the system design must be respect and support for all constituents and recognition of their expertise.

5. Funding must be fair, equitable, transparent, with budget decisions made at the school level.

6. School and District lines must be drawn to preserve and strengthen the integrity of neighborhoods and communities.

7. A system of checks and balances must be put into place to give voice to all constituents.

8. Professionals creating and implementing instructional policy must have classroom teaching experience so that they have a clear understanding of the implications of their decisions. No waivers granted.

9. Schools in distress must be supported. Closing should be the last resort.

Our children do not deserve to go back to the old, suffer under the present or have the current system “tweaked”. We would like to suggest that an appointed Task Force be assigned to govern the system for the period of one year, continue the present structure, and hold public hearings to help plan for a new system.



Video links from David Bellel:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1292364082718662287&hl=en


In this segment Loretta and Gene Prisco offer testimony. Lynda Bernstein is also questioned.

PURPOSE:
To review the impact of governance changes which granted mayoral control of the New York City school system Friday, February 12, 2009, 10:30 a.m., College of Staten Island Center for the Arts, Williamson Theater, 2800 Victory Boulevard, Building 1P, Staten Island, NY Catherine T. Nolan, Member of Assembly,Chair, Committee on Education. Other Members Present: James F. Brennan, Daniel J. O'Donnell, Michael Benedetto, Matthew Titone, Michael Cusick, Lou Tobacco

We are DROWNING in Paperwork

"Data collection" to be specific.

From the ICE Listserve - (I'm keeping the sender anon.)

It's special ed : Ieps, report cards, assessment rubrics, project logs, homework logs, log logs , BFAs and the motherlode of all paperwork sinkholes: Alternative Assessment porfolios.

I'd conservatively estimate that the job is, at this point, 10% pedagogy and 90% clerical.

The contract says this: "Committees composed equally of representatives of the Board ( sic) and the Union shall be established at the central, district and division levels to review and reduce unnecessary paperwork required of employees." (P.52)

Here's my question: where are said committees? Do they even exist? Can I participate in one?

UFT phone person says it should be addressed via chapter consultation committee. Is this true? Bad news for us if it is 'cause we don't have one, far as I know and we don't even have chapter meetings.

So... what do you suggest? Any help appreciated.

I responded:

As we've seen time and again, the UFT addresses the problem - and I use this term lightly - with words and no action.

This is an important issue for ICE to take up. There is no solution for one school but must be addressed on a wide basis. The problem is the UFT just plays footsie. Sure file a grievance if something is in the contract. But imagine what would happen if the union started organizing a boycott of some of the worst of these paperwork abuses and started a campaign for public support and also made a commitment to rigorously defend any teacher punished.

Don't hold your breath when we have a sell out union.
But that doesn't mean ice can't start creating pressure.

Anon responds:

I'm thinking along these lines as well. First things first: I'm trying to get my CL to tell me where these committees are and how I participate in them. So far - ignored two emails on the topic.

I think merely clamoring for the contract to be implemented re. paperwork is a good first step from the staff's POV. ( I.e. without filing an explicit grievance) It communicates disgruntlement to an echo chamber-type environment where the supervisory staff leaves the building at the same time as the teaching staff. They talk only to each other and have the staff cowed with the implicit threat of requiring even more paperwork. Meanwhile they couldn't care less what actually goes on in the classroom, in terms of *learning*. A more emotionally detached group I've not encountered in my [many] years but "I'll leave that to Dr. Freud along with the rest of it." Point is, I don't think they want a grievance and MAY respond to..... lets say, "persuasion".

More comments from ICE-mail:

LP says:

I was in an elementary school this week. I could not believe the assessment process that teachers are going through. They must administer, 1-1, a series of assessments, 3 times a year in ela. Then enter the results on a computer. They are not given any time to do it. Teaching time is severely cut, and management really can become an issue (this teacher has good management but I cannot imagine it in the class of a new teacher). This teacher, who is normally so smooth, gentle, easy going - was a wreck. I could not get a minute to talk to her. If it helped - well then, maybe it should be done. But I asked another teacher if she really had time to use the results of these assessments to help kids. She laughed. In addition, professional development is on how to assess, how to enter - that dreaded word - data - into the system, not on how to meet the needs of kids who are struggling. I sit here imagining all of the teachers of this city, entering any old data that they want... would anyone even know????

L says:

This is a big issue in most schools. It got a lot worse with the quality reviews. Every teacher MUST have an assessment binder now....NO ONE knows what exactly they want in it. Some principals go way over board with it. Why have a binder when you can just have folders for different student work and assessments? The new thing this year is that teachers are required to come up with individual goals for every student. The students are suppose to know their individual goal.

G says:

My principal hired a company to keep track of all data in glossy , professionally prepared booklets at a very high cost. Not sure exactly how much but I'm trying to find out. Here is some of what they say:

Schools work with us because they believe that the only way to improve student performance is to make instruction more effective. The only way to provide more effective instruction is to have data drive what is taught. It is only what students actually learn that matters; teaching methods, curriculum maps, pacing calendars and formal observations do not matter if students are not learning. In the business world if you want to improve something you must first be able to measure it.

The teachers have to collect and give all data to the administration every few months. And not only do the teachers have to write learning goals for the kids, the students have been hounded to write their own learning goals.Try asking a 2nd grader with a learning disability what their learning goals are?

The UFT Response? Do [another] survey.
You see, it gives people the impression you are doing something.

We are hearing from some districts and networks that some principals are asking teachers to set written, individualized goals for every student several times throughout the year. In some cases, the student goals must be rewritten each semester, every six weeks, or every month. They seem to be the result of both the changes that were initiated this year in the Quality Review, and training principals have received in their networks.

In order to effectively pursue this issue, we need a sense of how widespread this is, and we need that information quickly in order to avoid timeliness issues.

Can we quickly survey chapter leaders, perhaps by email, with the following questions?

1. To your knowledge are all or some of your teachers being mandated to set individualized written goals for all or most of their students?
2. Is this practice new this year?
3. Have teachers been given extra time to do this?

We would need this information by Wednesday, February, 4th.

For our documentation we need every district representative to respond with names of the schools that are impacted by goal setting.

Thank you

Aminda Gentile

One more issue: when are teachers to enter the data on computers? During the day on their "free" time? And if they could, how available are computers? Teachers are often left with no option but to put hours of useless work into data input at home.

Testimony on Mayoral Control For Assembly Education Committee

Patrick Sullivan testimony on mayoral control at the NYC Public Ed Parent blog

Patrick is the lone member of the PEP, appointed by the Manhattan borough pres Scott Stringer. All other borough presidents appoint little gnats who say nothing, proof that the UFT to let politicians appoint PEP members is a tweak to mayoral control that is much ado about nothing.

Late in the afternoon Patrick Sullivan, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s appointee to the Board testified. It was riveting!



Excerpt:

I hope today I’ve been able to provide you with insight into the functioning of the current citywide board. In its current form the Panel for Educational Policy does not make policy or even meaningfully advise the chancellor. Those roles are reserved for the chancellor's management consultants and the distant foundations of wealthy men: the Broad Foundation, Gates Foundation and Dell Foundation. But we parents know better. The real insight into the challenges of urban education lies in the communities, school leadership teams, PTAs, community councils. We will never have real improvement in our schools until we embrace parents as real partners in the education of their children. I urge you to restore balance, order and even simple decency to the governance of our schools.

Below is a testimonial from the UFT's Peter Goodman, also known as Ed in the Apple, a long-time employee and apologist for the UFT. He posted his view on his blog.


See what he says because he is an open example of the dishonesty of the UFT. He rose to oppose Michael Fiorillo and ICE's position which calls for an end to mayoral control. The UFT wants to pretend and convince people this is just a little matter of Joel Klein and not a nationwide attack on teachers and parents with dicatorial mayors.

http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/noblesse-oblige-or-the-sans-culottes-school-governance-as-an-exercise-in-democracy-as-two-views-of-governancemanagement-collide-should-governance-be-topdown-or-bottomup/

The Board is “managed” by the Chancellor: no agendas to the day before the meetings, or the day of the meeting, no minutes of meetings, vacancies on the Board abound, the Chancellor has emasculated the Board, that, in reality, has absolutely no function, and, any attempts to question any actions by Klein are rejected by Klein. The Board is a Potemkin Village

The UFT is the real Potemkin Village.

Conquering Wonkette Withdrawal

Noticing that Robert Pondiscio had some suggestions for those suffering from Eduwonkette withdrawal, I decided to go straight to the horse's mouth to get my daily data dose.

There were only a few stares at the cape and mask, not a biggie in the Manhattan mix. But I knew I should have taken them off before I got there.

'Wonkette appears to be in great health and spirits and looking forward to new adventures. I was prepared with a bunch of topics so as to get my head screwed on straight. But there is just too much to talk about. And the there were all those guys hiding behind newspapers. Looked like Tweedles to me.

Was that David Cantor lurking behind that potted plant? And was that Andy Rotherham with him?

Eighty Percent of Teachers Want Union in LA Top Charter School

LA Teachers union organizes celebrated charter school

Thanks, Vicki Bernstein

Notice how with the threat of 15,000 lost jobs they still seem to be luring people to NYC and into the TF program.

From a Teaching Fellow:

This is the email that RTR teachers received from Vicki Bernstein, the DOE's Executive Director of Teacher Recruitment and Quality as forwarded to me by a now-former Teaching Fellow:

As you have been previously advised and pursuant to an arbitrator's award, your employment as a teacher in the Teacher Reserve would extend to the end of the term (February 2, 2009) only. Unfortunately, as of this date you have not secured a position outside of the Teacher Reserve and I am writing to inform you that you are being terminated from employment as a regular substitute teacher effective the end of today.

Because you have failed to meet the requirements of the New York City Teaching Fellows program, which requires that you maintain good standing as a teacher, you are also being removed from the Fellowship effective immediately. As previously communicated to you, you may choose to reinstate with the next cohort of the program. More information about the reinstatement process will follow later this spring as details of the Cohort 18 program are finalized.

Please do not continue to report to your Teacher Reserve assignment or to your university. If you have questions regarding pay or benefits, please contact HR Connect at 718-935-4000. Information regarding continuing coverage of health benefits under COBRA can be found at
http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/DHR/DHRForms/default.htm (scroll down to look under "Health Benefits").

I am sincerely sorry you were not able to find a position at this time but hope you will consider pursuing reinstatement.

Sincerely,

Vicki Bernstein
Executive Director of Teacher Recruitment and Quality

Riots Break Out Over Threat to Bloomberg School Control

As the minority report of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE), a report opposing the UFT's minor tweaking of mayoral control and calling for its total gutting, gains wide circulation, the NYC police department has been placed on red alert over the prospect of massive rioting as it gains wide acceptance.

When asked where this rioting will be taking place, a police spokesperson said, "Obviously, in and around the Tweed Courthouse as Tweedies, high priced consultants, charter school profiteers and all the other leeches on the DOE gravy train."

Thousands of police will be surrounding Tweed on a 24-7 basis.

Related:

ICE Minority Report: UFT Takes a Seat on Mayoral Control, While ICE Offers Alternative
ICE leaflet: Mayoral Control: Bad for Teachers, Students, Parents and Communities

NY Post: MIKE'S 'RIOT' WARNING OVER SCHOOL CONTROL
By SALLY GOLDENBERG and YOAV GONEN

February 7, 2009 --
In his strongest language yet on the issue, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday warned of "riots in the streets" if state lawmakers don't renew mayoral control of the city's schools.

"If they didn't do that, I think that there'd be riots in the streets, given the improvement" to schools, Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.

Critics of Bloomberg's record on education - many of whom testified at a state Assembly hearing on the issue in Manhattan yesterday - said his dire warnings were off base.

"Bloomberg's bizarre comment only serves to underscore how completely out of touch he is with what public-school parents face every day," said Patrick Sullivan, one of 13 school policy board members whose appointments are at the heart of the mayoral-control debate.

Education Committee Chairwoman Catherine Nolan, citing her own experience as the mother of a public-school fifth-grader, said she had been hung up on by Department of Education employees tasked with assisting parents and ordered around harshly by school employees at a public event.

"The respect for parents starts at the top," Nolan said, eliciting applause from the crowd.
Full story

The Fiorillo Speech – Reclaiming Public Education and Reclaiming Democracy: Opposing the UFT’s Position on School Governance and Mayoral Control

by Michael Fiorillo, chapter leader, Newcomers HS

(Speech given at the UFT Delegate Assembly, February 4th, 2009)

Dear Delegates,

I’d like to thank Randi for the opportunity to speak at length today, and I’d like to thank Emil Pietromonaco and Carmen Alvarez for their openness during the Committee proceedings.

There has been a lot of talk about how open the Governance Committee meetings and hearings have been, and I agree that they have been open and collegial. But in spite of that openness, the process was fatally flawed. It was flawed because, rather than developing and describing a vision of public education that represents and actively models democracy, the Committee hamstrung itself at the beginning by being overly concerned with political expedience and how its report would be perceived and spun by our enemies on the editorial boards and elsewhere.

Now of course we understand that compromises would have to be made during the actual negotiating process, but by starting off this process by not demanding a full loaf, we’re guaranteed to just get crumbs.

The deeper reality of our situation is that school governance and mayoral control of the schools is not and never has been a response to the failings of the previous system, or to the needs of children, but is instead the primary vehicle for privatizing the schools.

Mayoral dictatorships of urban public school systems are a national phenomenon that has brought with it the closing and reorganizations of schools in favor of non-union charter and contract schools, and the diminution of services and opportunities for broad ranges of the public school population, particularly special education students an English language learners.

Mayoral dictatorships of the urban school systems nationwide have brought along with them attacks on tenure, seniority, working conditions and academic freedom. It has brought about a system with total disregard for parent input and the developmental needs of children.

Mayoral control of the urban school systems has been brought to us by the same people who brought us the financial crisis that now threatens massive layoffs and further cuts in services to children and families. Its has been brought to us by the same people who have sought to privatize what is called by Wall Street – in their actual words – “the Big Enchilada” – the last remaining bulwarks of public government, the schools and Social Security.

Privatization and private government. Of the schools, the highways, the water systems, the prisons. Even war-making is being privatized. And rest assured that as we speak the very same people are paying to find out how they can charge us for the air we breathe.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. This union can take a stand against the efforts to destroy public education by using its power to bring democracy back to the school system in New York.

The ICE governance plan calls for real limits to executive power over the schools. It calls for direct elections of some central board members and all district superintendents, for why should minority residents in New York City, as in the other four largest cities in the state, be denied the democratic input that citizens in every other school district enjoy?

The ICE governance plan calls for no more waivers for the Chancellor, superintendents, principals or assistant principals. It calls for a minimum of five years classroom experience for anyone who would presume to be an educational leader, so that teachers will no longer have to suffer the attacks of arrogant no-nothings who lack any background in working directly with children in urban schools.

The ICE plan calls for change. You may have noticed how the American people have recently voted for change in our country. Let’s bring that change to our schools. Let’s not vote to validate the failure of a system where teachers can’t tell where the incompetence ends and the malice begins. Vote to reaffirm democratic principals. Vote for change.

Can the UFT Be Forced to Act on School Closings?

I guess wearing blue on Tuesday, as the UFT is urging, is just not going to be enough.

The UFT calls school closings a fait accompli.

We are all going to have to try to stop the insanity on our own.

ICE has been distrtibuting leaflets at the schools slated to close.
If you are at one of these schools contact us.

School closings and the ATR situation are obviously related.

The ASC-ICE (ATR/School Closing committee will be meeting on Wed. Feb. 28 at the Skylite Diner on 9th ave and 34 st at 5 PM. Open to all interested parties as we try to develop a strategy to force the UFT to act in our interests.


"Rain, hail, lightning, thunder, 72 won't go under."
There was a demo at PS/IS 72 in the East NY section of Brooklyn, 605 Shepherd Ave on Friday, Feb. 6. The UFT had an official - Bob Astrowsky - and a PR person to observe. ICE's John Lawhead covered it and took lots of pics of this spirated protest attended by City Councilman Charles Barron.

John reports:
Speakers condemned the destruction of the well-functioning school and declared that Chancellor Klein was "unqualified" to be their judge. Parent leaders are outraged by the erratic series of evaluations that have run from a "school in good standing" in 2007 to a grade D in 2008.

See more of John's great pictures at the ICE web site: http://www.ice-uft.org


Brandeis Protest: Tuesday, Feb. 10
SAVE OUR SCHOOL

The Brandeis High School Leadership Team strongly protests the Department of Education's decision to phase out our school. WE call on all Brandeis parents, students, teachers and staff to join us in a protest rally on 84th Street, Tuesday, February 10th at 4:30 pm. Together we will speak out to explain why we believe our school should remain open as a large comprehensive high school serving the needs of New York City students. Mayor Bloomberg, Save Our School!!
Resolution Adopted by the Brandeis SLT on February 5, 2009

PROTEST AND PICKET
FEBRUARY 10th
Meet on 84th Street in front of Brandeis at 4:30 PM

Representatives of Brandeis Parents, Students, Teachers and Staff Will Speak Out On Why Brandeis High School Should Remain Open as A Large Comprehensive High School Serving New York City Students


MS 399X Protests DOE Closing Threat Thurs. Feb. 12
Blogger jd2718 has some comments and urges support.
Attend the Rally to
Save MS 399!!
February 12th at 5pm
In front of Middle School 399
120 East 184th Street
Middle School 399 is Working

MS 399 had a previous rally on Dec 17 -
MS399 Protest against closing/phase out designation
ICE's Angel Gonzalez made a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqGPK_kK3MA&feature=channel_page

Debunking the Myth - Is Mayoral Control working for the benefit of NYC school children?

I'm not sure where this came from - probably from the NYC parent listserve - but I just found it on my desktop.

Low and behold I did find out. It was written by ICE's Loretta Prisco.

Teamed with Diane Ravitch's testimony - check post below - this devastating attack on the BloomKlein tenure will be just another that will be ignored by the press.


Debunking the Myth - Is Mayoral Control working for the benefit of NYC school children?

by Loretta Prisco

After 7 years, many answer with a resounding “No!” Yet, the spin coming from Tweed, supported by the influence of Bloomberg media, is drowning out the voices of those who have first hand knowledge.

Let’s separate the promise from the reality.

Did the system rid itself of nepotism and corruption?

Promise: Tweed promised to end to corruption and nepotism.
Reality: Same corruption, different players, now corporate lined pockets.

Five employees of the DOE were hired within a year of leaving the DOE in violation of NYC’s conflict-of-interest law. One operated a tour-bus firm doing business with the DOE while employed. 2-8-08 –Goan – NY Post.

NYC agencies must send contracts out to bid. Tweed routinely contracts out, completely ignoring the bid process. One result: A contract with Snapple and teachers and students pay a quarter more for drinks.

The DOE holds multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts with outside companies ($80 million contract CTB McGraw Hill alone).

The DOE, in a no bid contract, awarded a British company approximately $6.5 million plus travel and lodging expenses to conduct school reviews.

The Fund for Public Schools launched a two-month ad campaign bolstering administration claims that scores were rising. It is not mentioned that Klein was the fund's chairman or that the mayor's friends, including the Broad Foundation, had helped pay the $1 million cost of the ad campaign. Sol Stern, columnist


Did the additional funding we received go to the classroom?

Promise : The reorganization is sending additional funding directly to the schools.
Reality: Funding to the classroom has not increased.

Although our education budget has grown by $500,000,000 there has been a loss of over $80 million for instruction. Noreen Connell, Educational Priorities Panel.

“When I asked the Chancellor on Monday why he wanted to cut budgets for these schools (low performing), he said they were over funded and that money is not that important, anyway.” Patrick Sullivan, PEP member, 6-07

Of the city employees who earn $150,000 or more, 40% work at Tweed. NY Post

The DOE’s communications office is 29-strong, four times as many employees as worked in the press office under the old BOE. And that doesn't include the city hall press operation, which often joins in promoting new education initiatives, or the substantial public-relations and marketing services that the administration has received from companies, either pro bono or paid for by third-party private contributions. Sol Stern, columnist

Tweed employees have increased by more than 500 in the last 5 years (1,832 in 2003 to 2,337 in 2008).


Has student performance improved?

Promise: Student Performance will increase.
Reality: As Mark Twain once said, there are three kinds of lies, big lies, little lies and statistics. Tests and test results reported to the public have been manipulated.

2006-2007: The scores dropped for every grade as the students moved from one grade to the next. (Grades 3-7) in ELA.

Although NYC 8th grade ELA assessments increased, they increased all of the State. The test was decidedly easier. (NYC increased 5.5 points, Roosevelt, a failing district, increased 22 points.)

The Children First program was not introduced into the schools until September 2003. The Children First reforms had nothing to do with the large gains registered between 2002 and 2003 on the federal or state tests. Any improvements in that year should be credited to the previous chancellor, Harold Levy. The NAEP reports show that New York City public school students recorded no gains on the federal tests in fourth-grade reading or eighth-grade reading or eighth-grade mathematics between 2003 and 2007. Only in fourth-grade mathematics were there significant gains. The federal report plainly says that there were no significant gains for any group of students — white, black, Hispanic, Asian, or lower-income — during this period, except in fourth grade mathematics. Diane Ravitch, NY Sun, Letter to the Editor, March 6, 2008

To say that "performance has increased" reduces children's education to test taking. It's a circular argument: you limit the definition of education to a test score, pump up the scores by various means, then claim you've increased "performance." English teacher (Michael)


Has class size been reduced with the funding earmarked for that purpose?

Promise: The successful 12 year legal battle produced funding to reduce class size.
Reality: Wrong again. Even when you win, you lose in this system. Despite declining enrollment and almost $200 million in state and federal funds dedicated to reducing class size, there has been a relatively small drop in class sizes.


The Independent Budget Office shows that 61% of New York City’s public school kindergarten to third-grade classrooms exceeded the state’s early grade class size standard of 20 students per class last year. That target is part and parcel of the early grade class size reduction initiatives approved by the state 10 years ago… - Randi Weingarten, UFT,9-25-07


Accountability is the mantra of this administration. Who is being held accountable?

Promise: The system is accountable. At the bill signing ceremony giving the Mayor control, Bloomberg said, "give the school system the one thing it fundamentally needs: accountability."

Reality: After six years of totally controlling the schools, the only people held accountable are principals who have some decision making power and teachers and students who have none. Tweed is not held accountable.

After being elected, how does one hold the Mayor accountable?

Bloomberg's suggestion: "Boo me at parades."

“The way you treat our educators is part and parcel of the way you treat our students — constantly barraging them with narrow, deadening tests and demoralizing them with meaningless scores,” Jan Carr, Parent, Salk School of Science, letter to the chancellor.

In some cases, schools receiving A’s and B’s are failing under No Child Left Behind, which largely examines the proportion of students meeting standards.


With so many teachers retiring, are certified teachers in the classroom?

Promise: 100% of the teachers are now certified.

Reality: Some truth here – all teachers are now certified, but not all are teaching in their area of certification. Harold Levy, former Chancellor, under threat of a lawsuit by the NYS Commissioner, began the Fellows program which provided certified teachers.


With leadership a key component of good schools, how are our principals doing?

Promise: Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the placement and performance of the graduates (of the Leadership Academy that he has initiated) has been strong.

Reality: The huge number of experienced leaders who have retired coupled with the addition of many principals who have limited or no teaching experience has left a serious hole.

After spending over $7 million, an average of $146,000 per graduate, one-third of graduates of Klein’s Leadership Academy are not leading our schools. Citywide, 23 percent of schools earned A's on their report cards, but only15% led by academy grads got A's. Despite a 5 year commitment letter, some were allowed to leave without penalty.

About half of the schools headed by Leadership Academy principals last year received grades of C, D or F in school report cards. PRINCIPAL TRAINING 'LEADS' NOWHERE ACADEMY GIVES CITY FLUNKIES Klein and Montefinist, Post, 11-11-07


How was this system reorganized? Who makes policy?

Promise: Teachers and parents on the committees helped reorganize the schools. Our schools will be transparent and welcome participation.

Reality: When a FOIL request was made, it was disclosed that neither teachers nor parents were on the committees. NYS law which mandates School Leadership Teams has been violated as all decision making as been given to principals.

The suddenness and number of these changes (to the school system) were purposefully made to produce “creative confusion” in the system, and “that in eight years we might finally see improvements. By doing the reorganization and actually causing some creative confusion in the system, it does make it harder for people to just rock back….I think in eight years you can expect the system will make adjustments." - Joel Klein, SI Advance Editorial Board, 12-03

Tweed instituted a grade holdover policy despite 20 years of research indicating that it is harmful to children.

Members of the PEP opposing the policy were fired on the evening of the vote.

Saved the best for last – in a category all it’s own.

A school in the Bronx is being closed because it got an F on its DOE report card and was said to be failing. At the same time each teacher and para received $3,000 because they made such “progress”. Now doesn’t that sound like a system that is working.

As much as we would like to congratulate Klein for a job well done for our students, the only job well done has been one in public relations.

Video and Written Testimony of Diane Ravitch on Mayoral Control...

.... calling for an independent board that will choose the chancellor. And an independent monitoring agency. Not quite the plan of the Independent Community of Educators, but...

See below for video and links to ICE positions.

Testimony of Diane Ravitch, Research Professor of Education, New York University, Hearings of New York State Assembly Committee on Education, February 6, 2009

I am a historian of education on the faculty of New York University. My first book was a history of the New York City public schools, entitled The Great School Wars. It was published in 1974. It is generally acknowledged to be the definitive history of the school system. Since then, I have continued to study and write about the New York City school system.

When the Legislature changed the governance of the school system in 2002, I supported the change. I supported the idea of mayoral control. I looked forward to an era of accountability and transparency. From my historical studies, I knew that mayoral control was the customary form of governance in our city’s schools for many years. From 1873 to 1969, the mayor appointed every single member of the New York City Board of Education. The decentralization of control from 1969 to 2002 was an aberration.

Having observed the current system since it was created, however, I have become convinced that it needs major changes.

It needs change because it lacks accountability. It lacks transparency. It shuts the public out of public education. It has no checks or balances. It lacks the most fundamental element of a democratic system of government, which is public oversight.

Never before in the history of NYC have the mayor and the chancellor exercised total, unlimited, unrestricted power over the daily life of the schools. No other school district in the United States is operated in this authoritarian fashion.

We have often been told by city officials that the results justify continuation of this authoritarian control. They say that test scores have dramatically improved. But no independent source verifies these assertions.

The city’s claims are contradicted by the federal testing program, called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The federal tests are the gold standard of educational testing.

New York City is one of 11 cities that participate in the federal testing program. On the NAEP tests, the city’s scores were flat from 2003-2007 in fourth-grade reading, in eighth-grade reading, and in eighth-grade math. Only in fourth-grade math did student performance improve, but those gains had washed out by eighth grade. The eighth-graders were the product of the Children First reforms, yet these students showed no achievement gains in either reading or math. The federal tests showed no significant gains for Hispanic students, African American students, white students, Asian students, or lower-income students. The federal data showed no narrowing of the achievement gap among children of different ethnic and racial groups.

The SAT is another independent measure. This past year, the city’s SAT scores fell, reaching their lowest point since 2003, at the same time that national SAT scores held steady. The students who take the SAT intend to go to college; they are presumably our better-performing students. Yet the SAT reading score for New York City was an appalling 438, which is the 28th percentile of all SAT test-takers. The state SAT reading score was 488, much closer to the national average than our city students.

Are graduation rates up? The city says they have climbed from 53% to 62% from 2003-2007. The state says they have climbed from 44% to 52% from 2004-2007. Either way, the city’s graduation rate is no better than the graduation rate for the state of Mississippi, which spends less than a third of what New York City spends per pupil.

We must wonder whether we can believe any numbers for the graduation rate, because the city has encouraged a dubious practice called “credit recovery,” which inflates the graduation rate. Under credit recovery, students who failed a course or never even showed up can still get credit for it by turning in an independent project or attending a few extra sessions. A principal told the New York Times that credit recovery is the “dirty little secret of high schools. There’s very little oversight and there are very few standards.” (NY Times, April 11, 2008). Furthermore, the city doesn’t count students who have been discharged; these are students who have been removed from the rolls but are not counted as dropouts. Their number has increased every year. Leaving out these students also inflates the graduation rate.

We have all heard that social promotion was eliminated, that students can’t be promoted from grade 3 or 5 or 7 or 8 unless they have mastered the work of the grade. Nonetheless, a majority of eighth-graders do not meet state standards in reading or math. And two-thirds of the city’s graduates who enter CUNY’s community colleges must take remedial courses in reading, writing, or mathematics. These figures suggest that social promotion continues and that many students are graduating who are not prepared for postsecondary education.

The present leadership of the Department of Education has made testing in reading and mathematics the keynote of their program. Many schools have narrowed their curriculum in hopes of raising their test scores. The Department’s own survey of arts education showed that only 4% of children in elementary schools and less than a third of those in middle schools were receiving the arts education required by the state. When the federal government tested science in 2006, two-thirds of New York City’s eighth grade students were “below basic,” the lowest possible rating. These figures suggest that our students are not getting a good education, no matter what the state test scores in reading and math may be.

The Department of Education, lacking any public accountability, has heedlessly closed scores of schools without making any sustained effort to improve them. Had they dramatically reduced class sizes, mandated a research-based curriculum, provided intensive professional development, supplied prompt technical assistance, and taken other constructive steps, they might have been able to turn around schools that were the anchor of their community. When Rudy Crew was Chancellor, he rescued many low-performing schools by using these techniques in what was then called the Chancellor’s District. Unfortunately this district—whose sole purpose was to improve low-performing schools--was abandoned in 2003. There may be times when a school must be closed, but it should be a last resort, triggered only after all other measures have been exhausted, and only after extensive community consultation.

The Legislature owes it to the people of New York City to make significant changes in the governance of the New York City public schools.

First, the governance system needs checks and balances. Having the chance to vote for the mayor once in four years is no check or balance, nor does it provide adequate accountability. The school system needs an independent board, whose members serve for a fixed-term, to review and approve the policies and budget of the school system. This board would hold public hearings before decisions are made. It would review the budget in public and give the public full opportunity to express its concerns.

Second, the performance of the school system should be regularly monitored by an independent, professional auditing agency. This agency should report to the public on student performance and graduation rates. Those in charge of the school system should not be allowed to monitor the system’s performance and to give principals and teachers bonuses for higher performance. Such an approach does not produce accountability; instead, it only encourages principals and teachers to find creative ways to boost their test scores and graduation rates.

Third, the leader of the school system should be appointed by the independent board, not by the mayor. The chancellor’s primary obligation is to protect the best interests of the students. If elected officials say that they must cut the schools’ budget, the chancellor should be the voice of the school system, fighting for the interests of the children and the schools. If the chancellor is appointed by the mayor, his first obligation is to the mayor, not the children.

There are many challenges facing the New York City school system. Many of the students that it serves are disadvantaged by poverty, are English language learners, or have special needs.

Changing the governance of the school system will not solve all the problems of educating more than one million students.

Nonetheless, the Legislature must learn from experience. It should correct the flaws in the law passed in 2002. That law went too far in centralizing all authority in the Mayor’s office and in excluding the public from any voice in decisions affecting their communities and their children. It is time to change the law.



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4617433714635450968&hl=en

Related
ICE Minority Report on School Governance Rejected at UFT Exec. Bd.

UFT Takes a Seat on Mayoral Control, While ICE Offers Alternative

What Will Diane Ravitch Say...

... Today at the NY State Assembly hearings on mayoral control?

Rumors are she will smash them to smithereens.

Will Diane's position come down closer to the UFT's tweaks or ICE's gutting?

10 AM at 250 Broadway, 19th floor

How the NYCDOE Lies? Let Me Count the Ways

Not a day goes by that we are not flooded with information on the kinds of lies and misinformation coming out of the NYC Department of Education and Mayor Bloomberg's office. That objections to the outrages are coming from both teachers and parents is worth noting, though it is ignored by the media (see report on WNYC Beth Fertig report yesterday). I'll be posting some of this when there is time, but it is only scratching the surface. Check with the NYC Public School Parents Blog for consistent updates.

That the school community is totally ignored when school closings are announced or new schools are placed or forced into existing buildings, is not in question by anyone involved. But the BloomKlein spin machine spits out lies by the second. (Today there will be a demonstration from 3-4:30 by parents and teachers at PS/IS 72 in the East NY section of Brooklyn, 605 Shepherd Ave. UFT officials will be there to assure them the closing is a fait accompli.)

Leonie Haimson sent this post:

On Monday night, at the mayoral control forum in Queens, Dina Paul Parks, Senior Policy Advisor to Deputy Mayor Walcott, insisted that parents in general and district leadership teams in particular are consulted and their input is solicited before any decision is made on where to site new schools in the district. The video with her comments are here: Debate on Mayoral control; check it out!

Parent activist Lisa Donlon from District 1 on the lower east side responded. I don't know what most of the labels she is using mean, but you'll get the gist of what Lisa is talking about.
Note in particular the role being played by Tweed's CEO of Parent Involvement, Martine Guerrier, who a long, long, time ago in a galaxy far away, was actually someone who questioned the actions of Tweed when she was the Brooklyn rep on the Panel for Education Policy. That was before B'klyn Boro Pres. Marty Markowitz signed on as a total BloomKlein flunky and Martine started to drift. Then on the day of the big anti-BloomKlein rally in Feb. 2007, she was hired for the $150,000 job by Klein. (See Ed Notes, Say It Ain't So Martine and Leonie's report on the Feb. 28, 2007 Rally to Put the Public Back in Public Education.) From what I hear, Martine has become a virtual spin machine all by herself.


Lisa

I bet someone at DoE tells her (Dina Paul Parks) that is true.
It is not.

One example- tonight was the public hearing for the OPD planned move of Ross Global Academy into Eastside Community High School in District One.

The RGA board discussed the plan in mid October, according to their minutes.
I was informed by OPD in mid November of a plan that was calibrated down to the number of classrooms needed vs the number available, yet no one at Eastside, including the principal, had at that point been told.

The matter has not to date been brought to my DLT for input of any kind although I have informed the members of the plan.

Last spring Martine told CEC members that OFEA had worked with a number of DLT's to plan school closings and new school openings.

I'd be happy to share the correspondence by which I tried to ascertain the validity of the claims; I asked for meeting agendas and attendance lists, that were never provided to back up the claim (that buck stopped at Brian Ellner).

Some of the CEC members in the districts cited by Martine as having had these conversations told me that a sort of shadow DLT was convened by OFEA and OPD to have these discussions.

DLT core membership is defined by state law and Chancellor's Regs but
I had the impressions that these other groups would pass a sniff test.

Lisa Donlon follows up in another post with these questions:

Why does everyone buy into the demonizing mythology of the "bad old days" of school boards?
Why glorify the current system which has many more serious flaws?
Why is the legislature not threatened with a close down when corruption, scandal and cronyism are revealed?
Why are only poor, urban, non-white school systems subject to "control" by autocracy?

Parent Ellen Bilofsky of Brooklyn wrote this email to Beth Fertig of WNYC after her report on the Brian Lehrer show on mayoral control yesterday. (I was on hold to talk about the drive-by diplomas and reports of teachers being pressured to not give kids level one scores after I heard Fertig repeat the DOE bull-stat that Level ones had dropped significantly under BloomKlein without considering the real reason.)

As a public school parent for 17 years, I'm disappointed at your presentation of the issues around mayoral control (although I missed the first few minutes).

For one thing, you seemed to accept the DOE's line that test scores are a solid--and the only--indication of improvement, without questioning the increased focus on those scores. If low-performing schools raise their scores, but the students learn nothing except how to take standardized tests, how much better off are these children?

You also repeated that principles have been "empowered" to control their own schools, without realizing how hamstrung they really are by the DOE's requirements for constant testing and by requiring the schools to absorb some of the services the districts formally paid for but with slashed budgets.

Finally, you dismissed parental involvement under the previous governance system as "theater" and merely "feeling listened to." Yet parent leaders in many districts, and to an extent at the city level, had considerable influence on the policies of their superintendents and had substantial information about district policies and budgets.

I personally felt my years of involvement were denigrated by that comment.

The current DOE turns the notion of "accountability" on its head by being accountable to no one for its policies--not to parents, not to the City Council, not even to the State legislature. Being able to vote the mayor out of office once every four years is not sufficient to hold him accountable for his chancellor's educational policies, when we are voting on his performance in so many other areas. And schoolchildren can't wait four years to rectify the DOE's grave mistakes.

Only a system of checks and balances, with true accountability and oversight, can fix this.

There is much, much more that could be said about the problems of mayoral control and what needs to be done to improve our system without "throwing the baby" of what was done right under the old system "out with the bathwater."

I hope future segments will give a more balanced view (well, actually, more tilted toward the parents' point of view) and will give parents some time to respond.

I'll close with this comment from NYC Parent Steve Koss

So many of us on this listserv believe fervently that the Klein regime's relentless focus on "measurable results" -- graduation rates, standardized test scores, etc. -- has utterly perverted the education process and led to all sorts of machinations to fudge the numbers (credit recovery, scaled exam scoring, discouraging participation in exams, changing student answers, etc.). This is an inevitable outcome of basing people's compensation, performance reviews, bonuses, even their jobs on those "measurable" outcomes. More than 30 years ago, this was formally identified by what is now known as Campbell's Law: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decisionmaking, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."

My point is this. WE all know this is going on, WE all believe that the system has been turned upside, leading to these behaviors, but most of the public and most of the media (especially the major NYC newspapers) either don't know, don't believe it, or simply don't care to report it. Until we can get a respectably large group of teachers and school administrators to get up and, as they say, speak the truth to power, nothing is going to change and we'll remain on this same road to well-measured ruin (although, ironically and tragically, it will look to most like a magnif icent, quantifiable success).

Perhaps we can start collecting/cataloging these stories and get the individuals who report them to also stand behind them (even if anonymously). I suppose I'm being naive, but wouldn't it be great, for example, to have a press conference where people from the classrooms told these stories? What WE all believe and know to be happening will never become common knowledge and public perception until we can get those closest to this to speak out about what they see going on every day in their schools. How can people who care about children's education stand silently by and watch this happening?

Fiorillo!

Michael Fiorillo, in his wonderful speech at the Delegate Assembly yesterday, punched numerous holes in the UFT leadership's position on mayoral control. Unfortunately, the Unity boat still floats as the body overwhelmingly endorsed a continuation of mayoral control, albeit with some checks that will do little to balance the equation the dictatorship by one person, no matter who that person is or will be, over the schools.

Michael made the point of tying the concept of removing entire schools systems from public control as being part of the national assault on teacher unions with the concurrent push toward privatization.

The UFT leaders, who know full well Michael was on target, prefer to mislead the members into believing it is all local. All about Klein and Bloomberg and if we only get rid of him them – even though we will do nothing to try to interfere with Bloomberg's 3rd term – things will improve.

I'm going to try to get some of Michael's notes so I can give a more complete report of his speech, which received great applause from all sides of the aisle, though not many seemed convinced enough to vote against the UFT/UNITY Caucus leadership plan.

I'll be back later with more on this DA, which had so many interesting angles. In the meantime, check out James Eterno's excellent report on the ICE blog.

Mayoral Control: Bad for Teachers, Students, Parents and Communities

Here is the 2-sided ICE leaflet being handed out at the UFT special Delegate Assembly today to endorse the UFT task force report on mayoral control. ICE has another view.

Bloomberg screams hysterically about these mild limits placed on his power - like he can't control the reps the borough people choose - see one Martine Guerrier the former Brooklyn rep who was hired by Klein as parent CEO. It is all much ado about nothing.

In the UFT "reform" he still gets to appoint the chancellor and the UFT doesn't even endorse the CSA call for the chancellor to be an educator. The ICE plan calls for 5 years of teaching experience, among other reforms. Even the UFT says we don't want to go back to a central board of education, which by the way has never been elected like boards of education are all over the nation. Have you seem the results of a dictatorial mayor controlling things? Teachers and parents know the phony stats are total bullshit and most kids are more poorly educated today than they ever were under the old system.

Read the view of one parent/teacher below the leaflet.

Click on images to enlarge



From a parent and teacher critical of the UFT plan:

Read some of the articles of parents who went to Washington D.C. to testify AGAINST Mayoral Control - it SEEMED like a good idea at the time to "save" the failing public schools. Type in"Mayoral Control NYC DOE" in your browser to find articles relating to this.

Change for changes' sake is NOT always a good idea- we need solid ideas, and the political will to implement these ideas, if we really want to save public education and turn the public school system to what it should be- TRUE education for all that are capable. Schools should be turning out graduates that know how to read, write, think critically- this ISN't happening.

As a parent of a NYC student and a teacher, AND resident of the city, I'm appalled by how my daughter has been miseducated all of these years. How will she be able to realistically compete for any kind of meaningful job when she graduates? For years, she hasn't had textbooks, workbooks, NOTHING to work with, to read or study from. It's not the fault of the teachers, it's the decisions that have been made from the top and pushed down to the bottom rungs.

My story is repeated by the parents of other students, I'm sure. Who loses as a result of mayoral control? The students, the very people that schools are supposed to exist for....

Chicago Teachers Organize Against Privatization

With a severely weakened union, there's a new union caucus in town in Chicago. CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) organized the protest, which is being reported by Labor Notes.

Here's on interesting note in the articlem which I posted on norms notes with links active:

As Chicago’s school district has become increasingly run by private contractors, the 31,000-strong Chicago Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, has seen its rolls plunge by 6,000.

Chicago Teachers Organize Against Privatization

See the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1v-dSTOsbc

The Core web site.

UFT Takes a Seat on Mayoral Control, While ICE Offers Alternative

UPDATED

The NY Times has an article on the UFT position on mayoral control.

The Independent Community of Educators (ICE) had members on the task force who struggled to get the committee to take a strong stand against mayoral control. But to no avail. ICE came together a little over 5 years ago partially based on the UFT's support for mayoral control and has been putting out this position over that time. (Ed Notes took a stand against in 2001.)

We'll be getting into the details later. ICE sees any continuance of mayoral control no matter how many "checks and balances" will continue to be a negative for the NYC schools.

Click on the images to enlarge

At the bottom of the Times article:
Union officials said they expected that some members of their committee would also issue a dissenting report" it is ICE being referred to.

It is the ICE members that are being referred to.

The ICE Minority report is posted at Ed Notes and other sites.

There is a lot to talk about - yesterday's UFT Exec Bd meeting and the mayoral control panel moderated by Elizabeth Green with Leonie on the panel. I was at the latter (somehow the UFT's Carmen Alvarez had a clone and was at both.) Here's one report of the Ex Bd meeting:
Reports from the Belly of the Beast: What Happened at the UFT Exec Bd Meeting

On the UFT embargo of information floating out of the task force, we received this email from a delegate this morning.

Imagine my surprise! I open up the NY Times this morning and I see an article about this report and Randi is quoted in the article! I thought we were supposed to keep this “secret” until the entire, or at least the 25% of the delegate body that can fit at 50 Broadway, can discuss this. So when Randi does it, it is news/spin. If someone else does it, it is a leak and an assault on the union and the democratic principles it "stands" for.

A particularly striking note from the Times article:

The teachers’ union did not back a proposal made by the principals’ union, which would require that the chancellor to have a background in education and could not receive a waiver from the state’s education commissioner, as both Chancellor Joel I. Klein and his predecessor had.

So, the CSA is calling for an educator as chancellor and the UFT is not.

Enough said.

Stay tuned as more analysis is coming from the ICE people who participated. They will attempt to present the ICE report at the Delegate Assembly tomorrow after having their request to have the official UFT amended turned down at the Exec Bd.

Interesting note:
Leo Casey proposed that the ICE report be printed and distributed at the DA. One inch towards democracy? Or a clever tactic to defuse ICE's demand to include the minority report? Let's give Leo credit on this one, though I am always suspicious. Will UFT copy machines break down in protest upon coming across something that says "ICE?"

Reports from the Belly of the Beast: What Happened at the UFT Exec Bd Meeting

From a correspondent attending the UFT Exec Bd meeting on Feb. 2.

Michael Fiorello from ICE got up to speak under the 10 minute open mic period. Bob Astrowsky who was running the meeting (and from all body language, seemed to not care less) told Michael that he could speak when the item of governance was on the agenda. Michael began to walk away, but then quickly returned and and asked for confirmation - good, quick move Michael. Astrowsky added that he would need a 2/3 vote of the body to speak. Michael was not about to give up the mic, when UFT Governance Task Force co-chair Emil Pietromonaco said that any member of the committee would be able to speak.

The UFT governance report, though it does put in some checks and balances, does not gut mayoral control. When Michael spoke he talked about mayoral control against the national backdrop and pointed out that it was fraught with danger, particularly privatization and charterization of public education. He also talked about how the report may be politically expedient, but not necessarily good for members, kids and communities. He asked for our minority report to be attached.

At this point, people asked for copies, which we made available, although the issue was not what was in the report, but a member's right to attach one. Randi took the mic and began to question Michael.

She may have been trying to determine if our members shared their report with ICE, which we all know to our frustration, they did not. She asked if it was written up between the time that the UFT report was written and tonight. Michael responded to her questions.

For the record, the basis for that report was written in Loretta and Gene Prisco's living room 3 years ago by a diverse group of Staten Islanders - not yesterday or even last month. It has been edited, condensed and amended after discussion with ICE and a Staten Island Democratic Club. They even discussed how could to write a minority report when the specific details of the report were not known. ICE decided to submit the entire plan.

Leo Casey put up a resolution that the UFT print our minority report for the delegates on Wednesday, in addition to that of any other caucus, and have it available at the table at the DA. This passed.

There were some who attempted to tear at everyone's heartstrings by telling us how hard they worked, how many hours they worked to get this report done and questioned why this was brought up now. Then the usual arguments: There is strength in unity, a minority report would weaken the work of the committee and we have to go to Albany united.

In fact, an organization that has diversity and can withstand diversity is much stronger than one that has all marching lockstep.

The most brilliant comment came from an executive board member who said that this wasn't from a minority - it was only from three people. Is he teaching social studies?

New Action spoke. One spoke against the official report saying it just wasn't strong enough against Mayoral control. Another attempted to amend the report by adding that the Chancellor have a background in education. Unity's Sandi March said if that were so, we wouldn't have had a Harold Levy. Does March have an education background? If she does, it doesn't show. (Levy was a Regent, by the way.) If I hear one thing from teachers, it is their disgust that those who are making decisions aren't educators.

A few things struck me - in the years that I have been going - there is never discourse - they all agree, defend, pander. 81 people are all of one mind. Another point of view will not even be entertained. I don't think I belong to any organization like that. As a matter of fact, in the organizations that I belong to, if there are 20 people in the room, there are 28 different points of view.

The other, is that New Action [with 8 members who got elected with Unity's endorsement], is a loyal opposition. They serve the purpose of saying there is opposition - makes it look oh so democratic and a deliberative body. Even their voice votes were weak and feeble - and I am not sure that there were 6 of them heard in the roll call vote. If I were one of the opposing votes, I would have wanted my vote recorded so that I could stand on that record.

It also occurred to me, that if a majority of the people on the Exec. Bd. were in the schools working under this despotic system, threatened by becoming ATRs as schools closed, harassed by principals, faced the fear of being sent to the rubber room, losing academic freedom in the classroom, and doing hours and hours of detrimental test prep in large classes - they would be shouting to gut mayoral control and teachers and parents are doing,

We are definitely on the side of the angels on this one.

ICE Minority Report on School Governance Rejected at UFT Exec. Bd.

The UFT task force report is floating around and the members of ICE who served on the comittee attempted to get the UFT Exec Bd to support their minority report. Why a minority report? Because it supports the continuance of mayoral control. albeit with some tweaks. Below is the ICE minority report.

Independent Community of Educators

Minority Report: School Governance

The imminent deadline of June 2009 does not permit time to deliberate and articulate the details of a comprehensive governance structure. A Transition Team, appointed by the NYS Ed. Department for a period of no longer that one year should be established to maintain the system on an interim basis and plan for the structure. Public hearings should be held. They should be well-publicized and held at times and places that insure maximum turnout.

We suggest the following guidelines:

1. The system must be based on democratic participation of the community with decision making flowing from the school level to a central body.

• The creation of true school leadership committees with shared decision making, as defined by NYS Law, will create a Comprehensive Education Plan which will set goals and make recommendations about improving the quality of education in each school, with reference to but not dictated by citywide policy. The administration, faculty and parents will have an equal role on the committee. In their augmented role in the school committees will be reconstituted, with special attention to making them more inclusive and accessible to teachers and parents.

• The duly elected and well trained committees appoint their principals who will maintain a collaborative relationship with the committee and the entire staff.

• Management begins at the school level, with a central organization to standardize some components, manage overall system responsibilities (licensing, payroll, contract negotiation, etc.)

• District Superintendents are selected by school leadership committees in the District in which they serve. The major function of the District Superintendents will be to provide friendly criticism and support, monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Education Plan and to advocate for the needs of their respective schools.


2. The DOE must be politically neutral and not tied to any one political office. A school system cannot change/adjust according to the whim, caprice, political aspirations, career, or ideology of a politician. It must be run as an independent office with responsibilities to the people of the City and operate within the regulations and laws of the NYS Ed. Department.

• A Central Board responsible for general and overall policy and oversight of all services that are centrally located will be made up of five elected members, one from each borough; one appointee from each of the borough presidents and three Mayoral appointees. A teacher representative will be selected by the UFT. All will be elected/appointed for set terms and removed by the Central Board by a 2/3 vote only for cause.

• The Central Board will appoint a Chancellor, who has demonstrated success as an educator.

• The Chancellor’s role will be to advocate for policy, law and funding; develop guidelines, benchmarks and tracking systems for school needs and achievement; report to all elected officials; monitor the District Superintendents; establish a human resource department; negotiate contracts, and insure that they are upheld.


3. Benchmarks are to be established and evaluations conducted by an independent agency.

• Evaluations of schools and students should be based on multiple measures and should be used for gathering information in order to provide support.

• Responsibility for the analysis and evaluation of the Dept. of Education's programs will be given to the Public Advocate. The Advocate's Office will have statutory authority to review all Dept. of Education documents and will receive all resources currently allocated to the Dept. of Education for the review and analysis of their programs.

• The Advocate's Office will be required to produce an annual report evaluating the progress of the Dept. of Education in advancing students' skills, reducing absenteeism, increasing the high school graduation rate and any other measure that would demonstrate success. The Advocate's Office would then produce reports based on an established schedule determined by when data is available.


4. Inherent in the system design must be respect and support for all constituents.

• School leadership committees, representative of their schools’ constituents, (staff, parents, students in the middle and high schools and their community) under the leadership of democratically oriented principals decide the programs and teaching strategies best suited to their students. Teachers are respected for their experience and expertise in teaching and learning.

• All schools provide a comprehensive education program including the core curricula areas, performing and visual arts, health and physical education, career and technical education, and technology.


5. Funding must be fair, equitable, transparent, with budget decisions made at the school level.

• A larger portion of the funding received by the federal, state and city will be managed by the schools. The school leadership committees will determine how funds are spent.

• Equitable funding developed by central staff and approved by the Central Board will determine how much money each school receives. Budgets and expenditures at all levels of the system will be made available for review by the public. The City Council is to be involved in this process.

• Funding and spending will be monitored by the Comptroller.

• All contracts will be put out to open bid and made public via the Internet.


6. School and District lines must be drawn in a way to preserve and strengthen the integrity of neighborhoods and communities.

• In the creation of district lines, consideration can be given to existing community planning boards/combining boards.

• All registered voters and parents are eligible to vote for district councils.

• Non-registered parents can vote on separate voting machines at each poll site dedicated solely for the purpose of electing the councils or with a mail in ballot. While this will necessitate an additional eligible voters list, the input of the public is necessary in a democratic society that must take responsibility for schools.

• District councils will serve as a public forum for parents and community and serve as a liaison between the District and the Central Organization.


7. A system of checks and balances will be put into place to give voice to all constituents.

• Parents and Students will have access to an Education Council within the Office of the Public Advocate to provide assistance and guarantee its rights. School staff will be represented by their unions.

• The City Council will have non-voting representation on the Central Board.


8. Professionals creating and implementing instructional policy should have classroom teaching experience so that they have a clear understanding of the implications of their decisions.

• The Chancellor, principals, assistant principals and other pedagogical supervisors must be experienced educators, with a minimum of five years of classroom experience; no waivers will be granted.

February, 2009

Tweed and Learn NY Scaredy Cats

The DOE and Learn NY (the Mayor's front group pushing mayoral control) are afraid to come to an open and honest debate. Thus won't be at the

Queens Civic Congress Forum on Education: Mayoral Control of NYC Schools: Extend it? End it? Change it?

At Queens County Farm Museum, 72-50 Little Neck Parkway, 1/4 mile north of Union Turnpike.
Featuring a panel, including Dina Paul Parks, Senior Policy Advisor to Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development; Phyliss Bullion, Council of Supervisors & Administrators; Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters; April Humphrey, Campaign for Better School; and Rob Caloras, President, District 26 Community Education Council. Moderated by Liz Green, Gotham Schools.

David and I will be there to tape.

The UFT Report on Mayoral Control...

... has been released to members of the Executive Board and the Delegate Assembly. Tonight the EB votes and the DA votes Weds.

ICE members have a lot to say about it and will be doing so.Will the UFT reject recommendations that are much better for kids, teachers and parents? I'll leave you in suspense as I will honor the UFT request to keep the report out of the hands of the press until after tonight's pre-determined vote. Look for commentary tonight.

Here is a section of a the Education Notes handed out at last week's Delegate Assembly:

One of the major planks in the corporate agenda for education is to put large urban school systems under dictatorial mayors who are free to shut out parent and teacher input while undermining the union at the school level.

From the day Randi Weingarten announced her support for mayoral control in May 2001, Ed Notes has stood against this policy, pointing to the Chicago model which began in 1995. Indeed, the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) came together in 2003 based on people opposed to the UFT’s going along, getting along policies.

So, now as we come to the possible sun set of the law, which would force us back to the what, today, looks like the good old days of local district boards.

If a referendum were held, I bet 75% or more of the people who work in the schools would vote to end mayoral control.

The UFT leadership is in a bind. How to continue to support mayoral control in practice while giving the members the opposite impression.

Thus, the creation of a governance committee, open to all, but packed with Unity people.

Meetings were held on all boroughs, but I have always felt the positions the UFT will take is predetermined and all this is about finding the right language that will play well. Now there are ICE people on the committee but they can’t tell us what is going on because there is some kind of gag rule and they will be water boarded if they talk. Or sent to GITMO.

Abandoning seniority rules, accepting school closings as a fait accompli, joining in on the influx of charter schools, accepting the CEO model, tacit acceptance of non-educators as chancellors, supporting the Gates and other private interest onslaught on public schools, signing on to the testing mania by supporting merit pay and individual teacher report cards based on these tests – I won’t give you any more of the laundry list – has led to the worst working conditions for teachers in decades and a deterioration in learning conditions for many children, no matter what the fudged numbers might show.

For a union whose members have been so ravaged under mayoral control to in any manner to support this policy even with supposed tweaks, is to abandon any hint of support for the kinds of progressive change our schools so desperately need.