Whither Beach Channel: some politics is local, but not all

Tonight there will be a school closing meeting at Beach Channel HS. I just submitted this for my Wave column which includes yesterday's post (revised - "My guess is the UFT's strategy is to try to save 2 or 3 schools and pull a Bush by having Mulgrew land a jet, exit and declare, "Mission accomplished.")

With the Panel for Educational Policy, the Bloomberg rubber stamp poor excuse for a NYC board of education due to vote on each of the 22 closing schools at the January 26 meeting (6PM, sign up to speak at 5:30), which was moved from Staten Island to Brooklyn Tech, expect lots of action. The UFT is organizing an action and has gotten a permit for the park across the street from Tech for a rally at 4:30.

The new mayoral control law passed this summer forces Tweed to go through a process before closing schools, so there are meetings taking place at all 22 schools during the first two weeks of January. The one at Beach Channel was held on the evening of Jan. 6, after this column was submitted. I'm taping it for you tube but don't expect much more than some venting. Hopefully the Beach Channel staff/student/parent nexus will turn out for the Jan. 21 and Jan. 26 demos where there is some chance to make a dent en masse.

It is important to be aware of the big picture and the Education deform plan: use any means to move as much of the public education system into private hands. Beach Channel is a victim of that plan. The elimination of neighborhood, zoned schools under the so-called – "doesn't everyone have the right to have choice" propaganda – is a way to destroy attachment to local schools and community and open them up to charter franchises to run the schools. It is as close to their cherished voucher system as they can get. And bet that someone is making money on these schemes.

These fights have to go beyond Beach Channel and tie in with struggles of other schools. Without a citywide fight back for all schools, something the UFT refuses to take on – preferring to let each school fight it out on their own – one school at a time will be picked off until there are few schools left under public management. This is truly a citywide, indeed, a nationwide, fight to maintain what will become an endangered species –schools under the oversight of taxpaying citizens.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Politicians: Watch what they do, not what they say.

Given the above, there are still battles to fight on the local level. Audrey Pheffer, Eric Ulrich and Lew Simon all spoke up at the first Beach Channel meeting in December, but will they put themselves on the line to keep the school open? Lew in his Wave column spoke about "our wonderful superintendent Michelle Lloyd-Bey," who clearly drinks out of the Tweed Kool-aid trough and put on a shameless performance - and it was a performance - at the Dec. meeting. I know you're a politician Lew, but give me a break! The UFT did send out a local email urging teachers to go to the Jan. 6 meeting and asked them to call politicians to support the school. Pheffer is at (718) 945-9550 and Ulrich at (718) 318-6411.

There are a few politicians who have been missing in action. First and foremost is Queens Borough President Helen Marshall (718) 286-3000 who appointed Dmytro Fedkowskyj (pepofqueens@yahoo.com) as the Queens rep to the PEP. He has been as big a rubber stamp as any Bloomberg flunky. It is time he stand up at the Jan. 26 and vote NO on closing Beach Channel and Jamaica HS and he should support the schools struggling to stay open in other boroughs. There is talk about holding demos at the businesses and homes of the PEP members along with the borough presidents who control them who won't stand up for their communities. Marshall and Brooklyn's Marty Markowitz are particular targets (the Bronx and Manhattan Borough Presidents have appointed people who resist BloomKlein).

In case you forget, we have our own Geraldine D. Chapey, the elder, who has been silent as a member of the State Board of Regents. Her reappointment in 2008 after 20 mute years on the Regents left a lot of people scratching their heads. Let's hear her speak up to save the last neighborhood high school left in Rockaway. Send her a love note at RegentChapey@mail.nysed.gov

Finally, there's State Senator Malcolm A. Smith at (718) 528-4290 who has his own charter school just salivating for the Beach Channel building. There has been speculation that is one of the reasons for BCHS being closed. I know, I know, you've been hearing for years that Peninsula Prep is getting its own building. All charter schools have that line. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on PPA occupying space in BCHS within two years. By the way, PPA is connected to the Victory Charter school national chain, which takes chunks of money out for "services." Victory's CEO is Peg Harrington, who was in charge of all the high schools in pre-BloomKlein days. You know, those schools she ran that are being dubbed as dismal failures. Go figure. Everyone manages to get on the gravy train.

Our schools are being McDonaldized, which is appropriate since McDonald's is one of the largest employers in the nation and all that test prep going on is not about getting kids to go to college, but to train them to work the cash registers and not overfill the milk shake containers.

Resistance is NOT Futile: Paying Bloomberg a Visit on Jan. 21, 4-6:30

Revised Jan. 6 for The Wave

People involved in education as parents, teachers and even students have been so outraged at the actions of BloomKlein and the Tweed Toadies, and their anger has barely been contained. In recent weeks an outlet for these passions has opened up with the idea that a rally at Bloomberg's residence on Thursday afternoon from 4-6:30 pm would be an excellent way to a) demonstrate to the city and the nation that there is a growing resistance to the education deform movement, with a focus on the school closings and the charter school invasion of public school spaces and b) give participants a sense of unity and purpose for future struggles by having one big party in the streets near Bloomberg's residence (17 East 79th St).

And future struggles there will be, with the next one coming just days later on Jan. 26 at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting where all 22 announced school closings will be voted on. The meeting will be held at Brooklyn Tech HS.

One major difference in the two rallies is that the UFT is organizing the PEP rally and ignoring and actively discouraging the Jan. 21 event, which has groups like the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), the Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) amongst a growing list backing the rally at Bloomies.

In addition, schools are signing on. Parents and teachers at PS 15 in Red Hook and Jamaica HS have endorsed the rally and some of the closing schools may form committees to support it - if they don't get scared off by the UFT, which has the ability to use less than subtle blackmail - "we won't help you fight if you support this." But people have seen the UFT do nothing, absolutely nothing to save schools from closing in the past, though this outrage of throwing 22 schools in their face by the DOE seems to have forced them to act. My guess is the UFT's strategy is to try to save 2 or 3 schools and pull a Bush by having Mulgrew land a jet, exit and declare, "Mission accomplished."

The Jan. 21 rally is significant in that people often waited for the UFT, the elephant in the room to act first. This time parents and teachers have been saying, "Screw the UFT. They hold their big, boring rallies with boring speakers and then go home without accomplishing anything other than use the event for narrow PR purposes" instead of building a strategy to fighter over the long run.

CAPE, GEM, ICE, and TJC are also organizing around the Jan. 26 PEP rally, but felt that something had to be done in advance of the PEP meeting when the rubber stamp panel will undoubtedly vote in favor of closing the schools. Bloomberg's residence as opposed to the same old City Hall/Tweed rallies seems to be capturing people's imagination. As Jamaica's chapter leader James Eterno told me, "The students want to go to Bloomberg's house."

That students are getting involved can turn out to be BloomKlein's biggest nightmare. You have to watch them react when students get up at meetings (see the video I put up of BCHS student leader Chris Petrillo) and criticize them (as opposed to the disdain they show to teachers). They sit up and pay rapt attention in an attempt to demonstrate that they are interested in "children first." A famous power house attorney is providing legal assistance since the police are violating First Amendment rights by trying to shift demos at Bloomies' to 5th Ave by Central Park where there might less people impacted. Some people worry about numbers. The organizers are not. They see this as a start, the first in a series of actions that may begin to make the case against the education deformers.

What can you do?

BE THERE. And not alone. Bring every teacher and parent and student you know who is plain fed up.

Download the pdf below and hand it out in your schools. Contact me directly at normsco@gmail.com if you have questions.

Note: Come to the GEM organizing meeting for both the Jan. 21 and Jan. 26 rallies today at CUNY at 4:30, rm 5414 or 5409.Bring id.

Jan 21 Rally

Michele Rhee to Close the Washington Redskins Due to Lack of Improvement

Since being declared a TINI - Team In Need of Improvement 3 years ago, the Washington Redskins have been steadily declining despite numerous leadership changes (Spurrier, Gibbs, and the recent scorn of Zorn). With Tweed in NYC proving that leadership change is not the preferred option to closing schools, DC school Supe Michelle Rhee, who has made closing schools an art, has invoked her extraordinary powers and decided to close down the Redskins completely and replace it with a charter football team. "Everyone should have choice when it comes to rooting for teams," said a spokesperson for Rhee, who will be playing quarterback for the new charter team. The team, to be called the Rhee-Jets, will only be drafting players who have never been injured and who score a 3 or 4 on an intelligence test. The Gates Foundation will pay the salaries and Eli Broad will become team president. He declared that the 50 percent of the cheer leaders would be able to apply for the new team, but only if they were qualified.

Panel for Educational Policy, Dec. 2009: Teachers Defend Their Schools

The last in a series of videos from the Dec. PEP meeting, here are a variety of teachers, many of them on the younger side, expressing their outrage at the closing of their schools.

In the past we had seen more senior teachers (ahem) expressing their outrage at Tweed policies, so I view this video as a sort of watershed as these seem to be the very people the DOE was courting and senior teachers were lamenting how they would never stand up. Well, here they go. Inevitable. More will do so until there is a real movement. You doubt it? The ed deformers have so little resistance they will just keep deforming until people can't take it anymore and will act. See CORE in Chicago as a model of what's coming to NYC.

We met one of the teachers who spoke on the subway platform after the meeting. She is a TFA alum. Her first school in her first year was closed. She felt she found a home in her new school and now this school is being closed. "They say TFA's won't stay but I expected to keep teaching here. But with this happening so often I don't know if I will. I want to teach but probably not here." She is a much needed math teacher. The other teachers were equally impressive in defending their schools. The URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEYJsrUVo1s or watch it here:

Vanguard is the company that gives the charter schools the lists of children

A teacher writes:

We learned at a recent faculty meeting that Vanguard is the company that gives the charter schools the lists of children to contact. This was discovered after one of our families was contacted shortly after they enrolled at our school.

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DF1BA404-927F-47FE-8EE1-74D6245F7C99/70288/ContractItemsforNovember122009PEPAgenda.pdf


See also at Norms Notes

DOE’s response to Jim Devor, head of CEC D 15 –

saying that the joint hearings on changes in school utilization and closings do not preclude questioning – contrary to what the DOE public notices may say. Hope other parents, CECs and SLTs take heed.

DEC PEP Meeting on Logan Bus Contract

Attorney Steven Shore asks a few questions and Patrick has a few things to say. They are handing a no-bid contract to people who got the contract by paying bribes. Ana Santos raised some good questions about where are the ratings of the company and there was a response. I had to turn off the camera to save battery and tape so I missed some stuff. The DOE guy talking gave the bus company a B rating (Logan rated 11th in safety out of 24 companies) and the entire audience broke into laughter. This bus contract story is not going away.

Stage Struck

Today I completed a 10 week acting course at the Rockaway Theatre Company with actor/director Frank Caiati with my first acting performance in front of an audience. Thank goodness that is over. My monologue was a major rant from "Talk Radio" where I did 2 pages of yelling at the radio audience.

I'd been walking around my house ranting and fuming over my lines. And in my car, screaming at the radio. And in the bathroom - I won't go there. On the subway – in a silent mutter, or I don't think I would have survived.

Frank is about 23 years old and it is already my third class with Frank. I love learning stuff from someone young enough to be my grandchild. The first class I took with Frank two years ago consisted of short 2 person vignettes. In the second class we did a scene with a partner. I played a totalitarian cop who has to intimidate a prisoner, played by a strapping 21 year old. When it wasn't working, Frank handed my a large kitchen knife to wave as I did the interrogation and it did the trick. The kid still runs away when he sees me on ths street. That's what makes Frank a great director, in addition to a great actor.

This class was different. All eight of us did monologues. Frank created a little half hour show, with lighting and stage cues, etc. For the first time I felt a real part of a theater production. Then he told us to invite friends and relatives. I could have lived with that. But then he invited the entire Rockway Theatre Company world. Gulp!

I've been the videographer for the RTC for a few years and have been able to see up close and personal just how incredibly talented so many of the participants are. And these participants cover actors from 6 to 70. And wonderful sound and lighting and stage designers and all kinds of theater talent. I and my fellow classmates were expected to go in front of these almost (and in some cases actual) pros and perform? Double Gulp!!

No one ever has accused me of being shy. I've gotten up to speak in front of large audiences numerous times, though rarely to make a speech or anything like that. And what more critical audience can you find than 30 sixth graders? All day, every day, for an entire year?

But even though teachers do a lot of acting, I found preparing a piece - and mine was pretty long, lasting between 5 and 7 minutes depending on how panicky I was – for a live audience was a very intimidating thing to do. I've always been fascinated by what it took to do live theater and could never imagine myself doing it. Until today.

The class was supposed to end two weeks ago but we were snowed out. A reprieve. I really hadn't nailed my lines. So I spent the last two weeks really working at it. And though I pretty much got them all, I always managed to miss a few every time I practiced. But the good thing about a monologue is that you don't have to worry about flubbing your lines and mess someone else up. You can always cover up.

And that is what I had to do today. There were over a hundred people in the audience, including my Jets football buddies, who were only there because the Jets game was moved to tonight (YEA JETS!) The Priscos from Staten Island braved the icy winds (the theater is out at Fort Tilden where icicles form as you go from the parking lot to the building). And my wife and some friends. And many of the actors I had been watching with such admiration were looking up at me as I took hold of the phony mic simulating a radio show.

Motivation was easy. I imagined Michael Bloomberg was the audience. I was pretty much sailing along, ranting and raving. With lines like, "You're pathetic, I despise each and every one of you" I could have been speaking at a PEP meeting (except you Patrick.)

At the end, there is a sequence of epithets that I had to spit out - yellow-bellied, spineless, disgusting, etc. I had nailed them in both dress rehearsals earlier in the day. But this time I lost my way in the middle - somewhere around "quivering" and "drunken." So I just said anything that came to mind. I thought I really messed up. But people said it wasn't noticeable.

What a relief to get this over with. People were asking me if I was going to audition for a play. I'm not ready. And the time involved is almost incomprehensible, (though with people like Angel Gonzalez being retired and willing to race around the city organizing, I have plenty of time now). One of the directors did say she has a good role for me as one of the card players in the "Odd Couple" next November. Better start brushing up on my poker game.

(I have some video and will put up the link in this spot later so those masochists who want to see it can judge my rant on a scale from 1-10.)

When has a governmental agency before financed a study, as DOE has done in this case, to publicize its own relative incompetence?

Here is a follow-up to our last post Study Commissioned by Tweed Demonstrates They Can't Run Schools as Effectively as Charter Managers

UPDATE:
Make sure to check out Caroline from SF comments on that post and this post as she adds some interesting info and in fact casts some doubts on the truth of the press release. Caroline blogged about it at: http://tinyurl.com/yaxmheq


I posted the piece to Leonie's NYC Ed New listserve and there was a rousing debate that included Leonie, Steve Koss, Diane Ravitch, Deb Meier and others (a pretty good crew- and for those who support the ed deformers, consider the quality of the opposition). Diane compared it to Macy's telling people to go to Gimbels (I suggested a better comparison for the DOE would be Crazy Eddie). There were questions as to whether this was the Caroline Hoxby study.

Steve Koss says:

I don't believe [this is] the Hoxby study. Further down in the email thread is something sent to Norm from the P.R. firm (Larson Communications) that apparently works for Stanford/CREDO announcing a conference call on January 5 for their new report from a study that, it is explicitly stated, was commissioned by the NYCDOE. This appears to be a study directed specifically at NYC schools, charter and public, and (oh surprise of surprises) that the charter schools are better. I guess they (CREDO) doesn't intend to release the study for anyone to read or critique until after they've had their own chance to spin its findings -- maybe after that, it'll be available for those of us who haven't already sold out.

At this point, I don't see why Klein doesn't just throw in the towel, declare all of the public school real estate up for grabs, and "auction" it off to whomever wants to run charter schools. That's their consistent message -- it's not about choice, it's just about privatizing and de-unionizing. Then they could close down the DOE entirely and just leave a skeleton crew to oversee buying and selling of the rights to run a 100% charter/privatized school system.

Steve Koss


Leonie adds

I'd like to know who funded the CREDO study; is it also coming out of our taxpayer dollars?

DOE not only gives space for free to charter schools, but a host of other financial subsidies, some of them on a purely voluntary basis, and some preferentially to charter schools students (like transportation, which every charter school student has a matter of right.)

The other services that NYC charters receive for free are summarized on our blog at http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2008/09/charter-school-funding-per-child-much.html

School facility
Utilities- heat/electricity
Student transportation
Food services
District for Committee on Special Educations (CSE) Evaluations & Referrals
Assessment & testing accommodations
Safety & health services
Technology integration and infrastructure
Student placement and transitional services
Human resources (limited)
Integration policy (e.g. such as middle & HS choice process, promotion, shared space, etc..)
Public hearings
Serve as authorizing entity


There may be more as well as this list came from Michael Duffy of DOE and we know how forthcoming they are with transparent financial info.

Yet even this list caused Patrick Sullivan among others to estimate that charter schools probably receive a higher per student share of city funding than regular public school students, since the average amount that our schools receive for each gened student is about $8000, while charter schools receive more than $12,000 per student. They also are immune to mid-year cuts, as far as I know, which many principals say are the most damaging of all.

None of this financial analysis, of course, includes the hefty additional funding that most charter schools receive from private donors and foundations.

Charter schools receive more proportional space in buildings as the DOE instructional footprint admits. They are also allowed to cap enrollment and class size at any level they want-- which is the biggest advantage of all, in my mind. I have spoken to charter school teachers who said they left DOE-run schools specifically because they were provided with much smaller classes.

Though the NYC charter school lobby continually grouses about being unfairly underfunded, in the Tom Toch piece for Education Sector on charter management orgs, (that was partially censored to omit the most critical information, leading Toch to leave the organization that he had co-founded) a NYC charter school operator admitted that the financial subsidies they receive in NYC are very helpful:

http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/Growing_Pains.pdf

With the annual funding that they get in New York City (some $12,440 per student, plus additional local and federal monies, a sum that Achievement First estimates to be between 80 percent and 95 percent of the funding that the city’s traditional schools receive), Achievement First’s New York schools are able to operate without philanthropic subsidies once they are fully enrolled, says chief financial officer Max Polaner—in sharp contrast to Amistad in New Haven. Says CEO Toll: “We expanded into New York because of Klein and because the dollars are doable.” But such partnerships have been rare, because school districts are wary of losing students and revenue to CMOs, and charter networks have wanted to preserve their independence.

In NYC they have put charter schools, supposedly temporarily, into newly constructed school buildings like Sunset Park HS, which is of questionable legality because these schools were built with 50% state matching funds -- funds that by law cannot be spent on charter school construction.

I have also looked at the financial statements of charter schools that do not include any estimate of the value of these myriad "in kind" contributions or subsidies from DOE -- which is contrary to good accounting practices that demand such estimates.

Ironically, the only NYC schools to really benefit from the CFE decision may in the end be the charter schools; because they can use the extra per pupil funding to provide the conditions that the court said would be necessary to afford children their constitutional right to an adequate education, including smaller classes. In contrast, since 2007, when the state granted additional aid to settle the CFE case, class sizes have significantly increased in our regular public schools, due to the malfeasance and mismanagement of Bloomberg and Klein.

This leads me to Steve's point: when has a governmental agency before financed a study, as DOE has done in this case, to publicize its own relative incompetence? Or in this case, their malignant failure to remediate the conditions that the state's highest court said would be necessary to provide a sound basic education?


Leonie Haimson

Study Commissioned by Tweed Demonstrates They Can't Run Schools as Effectively as Charter Managers

That's my spin on this story.

The NYCDOE commissions a study that shows how bad the schools they manage are doing relative to charter schools. We must be stuck in the TV show "The Prisoner."

Subject: Media Advisory: New Stanford Study Finds Success at NYC Charter Schools

Dear Norman:

A new report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University commissioned by the New York City Department of Education found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their traditional public school counterparts. New York City charter schools are demonstrating better results for students overall, and for several key groups, including Blacks and Hispanics in both reading and math, for students who had not previously done well in traditional public schools, for students in poverty in reading, for students enrolled for at least two years or more in reading, and for all students in math regardless of how long they were enrolled.

CREDO director Dr. Macke Raymond will be participating in a conference call on January 5 to discuss the specifics of the report and what their results mean for policymakers considering changes in education policy.

Below is information about the call. Please take a moment to respond to this email or call me at (916) 273-9559 if you have questions or plan on participating on the call.

Best regards,

Chris Bertelli

Larson Communications for CREDO at Stanford

Media Advisory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 1, 2010

Contact: Chris Bertelli

LarsonCommunications

(916) 273-9559 (o)

(916) 216-1705 (m)

NEW STANFORD STUDY FINDS NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOLS PROVIDING SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER RESULTS IN READING, MATH

WHAT: A new report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found that charter schools in New York City are demonstrating significantly better results for their students in reading and in math than their traditional public school counterparts.

The CREDO at Stanford report was commissioned at the request of the New York City Department of Education in July, 2009, following CREDO’s national report released in June, 2009, entitled, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States.” That report was the first detailed national assessment of charter school impacts.

CREDO and NYC Department of Education officials will discuss the report on a conference call for media.

WHO: Dr. Macke Raymond – Director, CREDO at Stanford

WHEN: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 11:30 a.m. EST

WHERE: Via conference call, 888-645-4404 or 201-604-0169, no password required

About CREDO at Stanford University

CREDO at Stanford University was established to improve empirical evidence about education reform and student performance at the primary and secondary levels. CREDO at Stanford University supports education organizations and policymakers in using reliable research and program evaluation to assess the performance of education initiatives. CREDO's valuable insight helps educators and policymakers strengthen their focus on the results from innovative programs, curricula, policies or accountability practices. http://credo.stanford.edu

Happy New Year, UFT Elections, UFT Survey and a Chilling Klein Interview

This morning I sent out an email to the Ed Notes email list as a follow-up to a recent post (Ignore the UFT Elections At Your Own Peril) on the UFT elections where I tie the percentage of votes the ICE/TJC slate receives to the amount of fightback we will see from the UFT.

Now I am not a big fan of UFT elections because the process is so tainted. Nothing much will change until there is an uprising of the rank and file. Small caucuses cannot really do it on their own. But if Unity, as usual gets over 80% of the vote, they will see it as carte blanche to sell out more of what little is left.

Note a few responses from long-time chapter leaders.

First, one tells us of a survey from what seems to be the UFT checking on just what people would be willing to give back.

The second talks about Joel Klein's interview with NY 1 where he goes after rubber room and ATR people. The solution for him to end the ATR impasse is legislation. So their strategy if the UFT shows spine is an end run, just like Michelle Rhee did in DC.

Don't put it past them and don't put it past our so-called friends in Albany to sell us out (with UFT complicity) due to the budget crisis. It happened in 1975 and could easily happen again.

Here's what I wrote:

Happy New Year! I hope your vacations have been restful.

I've been meaning to send this commentary out to the Ed Notes mailing list, but the school closings and charter school invasions of public schools has taken priority. So let me remind you that UFT election season is at hand and ICE/TJC is running against Unity Caucus and their partners New Action.

The UFT has been the handmaiden of the BloomKlein administration. The seminal 2005 contract opened the door to a privatization and anti-union scheme which the UFT, with its own charter schools, has been incapable of reacting to in an effective way.

I believe that a significant vote for ICE/TJC in the UFT elections could inject some militancy into the spine of the leadership. If not, they will face the growth of a stronger movement that may eventually threaten their gravy train.

If you are not yet an ATR or feel that is not in your future, think again. In Chicago, over 6000 teachers out of 35,000 have disappeared. The pressure on the UFT to give up the ATRs will be intense.

I hear from so many of you how terrible conditions in the schools are and how ineffectual if not outright complicit the UFT has been.

Now is the time to step up.

What can you do?

Run on the ICE/TJC slate.
Many beg off saying they don't have time. The reality is that there is little to do other than putting your name on the ballot. We can run your for a position that has little chance of winning in case you are worried about obligations if you should win.

Help with the petitioning campaign.
We need help in getting petitions signed. It will not take a lot of time for you to pass them out in your schools.

Hand out the literature
We will be sending out to people in your schools and to your email lists.

Remind people to vote by mailing in their ballots
In March when ballots go out, remind people to vote and check the ICE/TJC box on the ballot - that is all they should check as other marks on the paper can invalidate the vote. Some people want to vote for people they know individually but then also check the slate box. Voting for individuals AND a slate invalidates the ballot and last time well over a thousand ballots were tossed.

I received some chilling responses.

From an elementary school chapter leader who signed up to run:

I got a telephone Market Research Survey about a week ago that was clearly a UFT survey seeing what we were willing to negotiate. Some of the questions were would you give up seniority for a raise and do you think it's ok for the state to double the cap on Charter Schools. Very scary and I think you're right that these are issues that can lead to us all losing our jobs.

A recently retired middle school chapter leader sends along segments from Joel Klein's interview with NY 1 ed beat reporter Lindsay Christ which he terms "chilling":

Lindsey Christ: But the state of New York is the one that's competing and there are some state laws that could potentially get in the way. The first deadline is January 19. Do you think New York will make change in the next couple of weeks?

Klein: I hope so. Obviously, that is up to the Legislature. It now costs our city almost $50 million a year to keep teachers in the "rubber room."

Christ: So these are teachers [in the "rubber room"] who have been accused of potential wrongdoing, there is a very long process before they can either be acquitted or dismissed.

Klein: A very long process. Sometime it takes seven years. I mean, it is a ridiculous process. We need a quick process, one that gets people evaluated in a meaningfully way, and either out of the system or back in the classroom, but not a process where for five or six years someone doesn't work and they are getting paid by the taxpayers. That's ridiculous.

Christ: There is also another group of teachers who are getting paid full salary who don't have permanent teaching positions. Those are teachers who have lost their jobs because their schools have closed down or because of budget cuts but have not actually been fired and are just waiting for a new job in the system. With all of these school closures announced this year, there are going to be a lot more, potentially, of these teachers. How do you see that pool of teachers going forward? Is the city going to keep supporting it, even though they don't have permanent positions?

Klein: I hope not. Some of those teachers doing incredibly good work, most of them get rehired. Those that don't, I think there ought to be a time period where teachers either find a job or have to leave the system. I think it will put a real incentive on these teachers to look for a job. Quite a few of them really don't look for a job. And it will also enable us in a meaningful way to say to people, "Okay, a reasonable time has come and you haven't been able to find a job in the system."

Christ: What's a reasonable time?

Klein: Well, the number the mayor used was a year, and that sounds reasonable to me.

Christ: This is something you have to get in the union contract?

Klein: I think it should be done by legislation. This is important to us, to make sure that if someone isn't rehired then they must exit the system. We can't afford to pay for teachers, particularly in tight budget times, for teachers who aren't fully and gainfully employed at a school.

Whipping up a Delicious Souffle of The Resistance

Even though I can't cook, one of the fun things of this "job" is gathering together the ingredients to make a delicious souffle. A people souffle, of course.

Yesterday I took part in as tasty a meal as I've had in a long time.

I whipped this lunch up for a visit to New York by parent activist Sharon Higgins -Perimeter Primate and The Broad Report blogs. I've never met Sharon, but she has been a blogging buddy. Originally the two of us were going to meet for lunch, but I figured this was a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the break and gather a selection of activists and defenders of public education in the NYC area.

The resistance LIVES!!!

Add a quart of major NYC parent activists.

Toss in a bunch of teachers from some of the active groups in the Resistance:

A dash of ICE

A pinch of NYCORE

A pint of GEM

And for dessert, CAPE.

We were limited to 8-10 people due to the space in the restaurant - Karavas in the Village, which is where we often end up at these small political events. Security was tight. If BloomKlein got wind, an entire swath of resistance fighters refusing to accept their mantra that "resistance is futile" could have been compromised.

Conversation was sharp and tart as I sat there swiveling my head as if I were at a tennis match.

Sharon told us about a salon she hosted for Bay area resisters. (It reminded me of a few parties I had held out here a couple of times.) It's a great idea. People need to get together outside meetings and rallies just to talk. Oakland teacher/activist/writer Jack Gerson attended. Jack was in Another View, the first activist group I ever joined, for a while in the early 70's when he taught in NYC.

Sharon filled us in on doings in Oakland and how she got started trying to take back her daughter's school from the invaders. She talked about what they had done to the Oakland schools (read more on her blog.) Did you think the first through 200th Klein reorganizations were ludicrous (like why drive out experienced educators and replace them with people who know nothing). Well after hearing Sharon's story, it is clear more than ever that this is a national plan. Ahhh, the value of show and tell.

We brought her up to speed on The Resistance in NYC. The parents talked about a national network, just as we are looking to develop one among teachers. We all talked about the actions we have planned here.

I realized on the way home that even though I knew almost everybody there real well, a surprising number of them hadn't met each other. And parents and teachers don't often get to sit down for 3 hours in a non-meeting setting and just talk. And talk. And talk. Three hours wasn't enough. Talk with an action plan takes some time.

My swiveling neck hurts but my brain is exploding from the stimulation.

I can't repeat much of the classified conversation. But Tweed better start battening down the hatches.

Rally to save Paul Robeson High School

I received this email from Adele Pham, who made a very professional video for Robeson:

Hi Norm,

I made this video about the rally to save robeson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kyh3h1lr_w

I am interested in helping kids organize their own documentation of what is happening but in an organized way that connects students from all of the closing schools. There would need to be some kind of united front if you will on video production.

Best,
adele

Student Calls for Help in Making a Video to Defend His School

I received a call from a 10th grader at the Academy of Environmental Science asking for assistance in making a video. So far he and his crew have been trying to do it with a cell phone and that has been tough. They want to borrow a video camera or get some help with their video on Jan. 4, the first day back. They plan to show it at the Jan. 5 meeting at their school, which is at 410 East 100 street, Manhattan. If anyone out there is interested in helping them get their video together contact me at normsco@gmail.com.

NYC Murder Rate Down? Where Did Bloomberg Bury the Bodies?

Today's good news was that this year NYC will have the lowest number of murders since record keeping began. Bloomberg is crowing. But those of us in education who know how Bloomberg jukes the stats, cannot help but be skeptical.

But how can he juke the number of murders, you might ask? When you're dead, you're dead.

If you are a fan of The Wire, you will remember how Marlo Stanfield's hit crew somehow managed to do over 20 people and leave no bodies by sealing them up in abandoned housing? Don't bet against Bloomberg's having a couple of hundred missing persons being "housed" on empty city property.

Marlo Stanfield and his crew Chris and Snoop hired as consultants by Bloomberg to "keep" murder rate down.

SAVE JAMAICA HS

January 7, 2010, Jamaica High School - 6 PM - Sharp!!

Calling all Alumni and friends of Jamaica High School!

Join the Hundreds of others there showing the passion ---this has just begun. - Save Jamaica High School - Calling all Jamaica High School alumni! Calling all those tired of the politicians lying to us and making horrible decisions!

Council member Leroy Comrie told us to e-mail every day Joel Klein,jklein@nycboe.net and Mike Bloomberg at mbloomberg@Bloomberg.com and say that the people will not let them close Jamaica High School. That they cannot justify this action.

The funding for Jamaica HS went to other schools. Keeping the school open didn’t mesh with the plans to revitalize Jamaica and its shopping district…. so this grand and one time glorious institution will be shuttered forever and this was decided a long time ago.

Help keep JHS alive and return it to the crowning jewel it once was. Help ensure that the funds are spent here instead of closing it down and opening up 2 other smaller schools. JHS will not accept 9th graders in 2010 and those who are there will still graduate….but, with what funding? What skills will they graduate with? What attention will these students receive? It is apparent that not only to these decision-makers not care about these students but they have deceived us by planning this move a long time ago and keeping silent about it.

The building is land marked. If the bulldozers come to take it down, I would not be alone in lying in front of the machines daring them to move.

Check out the Save Jamaica High School on facebook and see the momentum.

PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND BARRAGE THESE ELITISTS WITH EMAILS, CALLS AND LETTERS DEMANDING THAT THEY KEEP OUR SCHOOL OPEN.

ED NOTE: DO NOT EXCLUDE QUEENS BOROUGH PRES HELEN MARSHALL AND HER PEP APPOINTEE. Here are the PEP emails:

PBerry5@schools.nyc.gov; LLausellBryant@schools.nyc.gov; jchan@dbpartnership.org; DChang6@schools.nyc.gov; JCorreale2@schools.nyc.gov; pepofqueens@yahoo.com; TMorales4@schools.nyc.gov; Gokotieuro@schools.nyc.gov; Gpeng@schools.nyc.gov; asantos104@hotmail.com; PSullivan7@schools.nyc.gov; THernandez5@schools.nyc.gov; JWhelan@Muss.com

Steve Koss comments on PTAs to be neutered under new policy

Auctions, raffles would be banned; Dept. of Education employees forbidden to hold offices

From Staten Island Advance, posted on Norms Notes: PTAs to be neutered under new policy


Steve Koss responds:

This is beyond insane, reflecting a power-crazed school administration gone completely delusional. They are apparently so paranoid, they cannot tolerate the notion of an independent, well-functioning parent body seeking to help their children's schools recover from the non-stop educational and budgetary knee-capping being administered from Tweed.

I'm truly sorry that I'm no longer a PA officer, as I had been for the previous two years. Were I still President of my son's school's PA, I (and my board) would deliberately act in opposition to every one of these "policies" and dare the DOE to do something about it. I'm sure their P.R. machine would love the publicity of seeing a parent being "fired" from his son's school on the grounds that he was trying to sell cupcakes or organize an auction. That would look great in the Daily News, NY1, and probably Rachel Maddow or Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

When will parents finally wake up and say, "Enough is enough!" to this nonsense? There's only one acceptable response to all this, and that's to ignore it entirely and dare the DOE to do something about it. If I still could, I'd not only do so, I'd rub it in their faces. I've never seen anything so outrageous -- lucky for Klein he's the superintendent of the parent/sheep of NYC public schools and not a district in Long Island or Westchester. If he tried something like this in a community with real parent involvement, he'd be run out of town on a rail in a matter of weeks, if not days or hours.

Steve Koss

Tweed to Place Entire Schools on MTA

Tweed has changed the locations of schools (ie, Bronx parents who got their kids into a school fairly convenient travel wise and expected them to spend their 4 years there just love it when they are told the school is moving to Brooklyn) on the fly. But there is a solution. Following up on a recent Ed Notes scoop (Tweed Solves Problem of ATR/Student Nomads), we have learned that these schools will now be placed in the last car of the A train on its Washington Heights to Rockaway run - and back.

"It's a win-win," said new Tweed spokesperson David Cant. "Instead of building schools we use current infrastructure in underutilized cars and will pay the MTA for the use of these cars and the installation of portable Smart Boards." Tweed will also contribute to the upgrade of the speaker systems in the subway cars so the constant announcements of principals can be heard more clearly.

SOS (Schools on Subways) will start at 10am after the rush hour and end at 3pm before the evening rush. An extension of the program set to run from 12 midnight to 4AM is being negotiated with the MTA.

Tweed Solves Problem of ATR/Student Nomads

With the announced closing of 20 schools about to create an enormous number of ATRs, teachers without positions and students with no nearby schools to attend, the high priced consultants at Tweed have shown their worth by coming up with a brilliant solution.

"We know that both ATR teachers and students will be spending many hours on the subway looking for a school," said TJ Pimplish, a Tweed spokesperson. "All they have to do is meet in a subway car and learn while travelling the subway system. Subway cars can hold up to 200 people, but class sizes will be limited to 100."

The DOE will sign a contract worth $2 billion with IBM for ARIS Eight, a computer system that will keep track of the moving trains and its passengers.

ED NOTE: Make sure to check out some fun comments.

"Everybody Must Get Assessed"

Posted on Facebook by Mark Naison:

"Everybody Must Get Assessed" To Be Sung to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women"

“Everybody Must Get Assessed”
To be Sung to Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women”

Well, they'll assess you when you're trying to be so good
They'll assess you just like they said they would
They'll assess you when trying to go home
And they'll assess you when you're there all alone
Their obsession, is teaching to the test
Everybody must get assessed

Well, they'll assess you when you're walking on the street
They'll assess you when you're trying to keep your seat
They'll assess you when you're walking on the floor
They'll assess you when you're walking through the door
Their obsession is teaching to the test
Everybody must get assessed


They’ll assess you on the day you enter school
They’ll asses you till you feel just like fool
They’ll asses you when you’re trying to teach your class
They’ll asses you whether it’s History or Math
Their obsession, is teaching to the test
Everybody must get assessed


They’ll assess you to get you to assess others
They’ll assess you until you become Big Brother
They'll assess you and then say they are brave
They'll assess you when you're sent down in your grave
Their obsession, is teaching to the test
Everybody must get Assessed

The WAVE on Beach Channel HS, updated

Here are reports from Wave editor Howard Schwach in the Dec. 25 edition. It is worth putting the comments of BCHS student Chris Petrillo up first. He was scheduled to meet with Joel Klein on Weds. but reports came in that he was dissed. You can see Chris challenge Dist. 27 Supt, Michelle Lloyd-Bey at the Dec. 15 meeting here. Chris appears around 1:40 seconds into the video.


Truth from the mouth of a student

Chris Petrillo, who will be 18 shortly after the present school break, says that, for him and his fellow Voyager Learning Community students, the problems began with last year’s cuts to the school budget.

Petrillo, who has been in the learning community for all of his BCHS career, told The Wave on Monday that the program was really good for the first three years he was in it.

“We had 20 students in a class and a group of teachers assigned just to the learning community,” he said. “Each of the four learning communities were themed. We could zero in on one area – like Science – and we really got a good education.”

Then, at the end of his sophomore year, the DOE made massive budget cuts in the school, excessing 32 staff members.

A number of teachers who taught the learning communities were cut. Class sizes went to 35 from 20 and some classes were cut entirely.

“We now have learning communities in name only,” Petrillo, who is leading the student drive to keep the school open, said.

WAVE EDITORIAL

DOE’s Own Facts Don’t Support BCHS Closing

Towards the end of the 2008-2009 school year the Department of Education issued on its website a “Quality Review” for Beach Channel High School. That report was the final assessment by a team of “experts” who spent a few days in the school. That review rated the school as “Proficient,” clearly not the top rating possible, but not the bottom either. The Quality Review report commented on how the school had gone from “academic poverty” to proficiency, mostly by instituting four “learning communities,” each focused on a single theme and each taught by a discrete staff of caring educators. Shortly after the report was released, the DOE cut 32 staff members from the school’s budget – most of them young teachers in the learning community program. The cuts forced class size in those critical classes to 35 from 20 and took away many of the support personnel assigned to the program.

There are many students and staff members who believe that the school was set up to fail by a city agency that has other ideas for the building – a charter school owned by State Senator Malcolm Smith and backed by former Representative Floyd Flake, two of the most powerful politicians in the state. They may well be right. In the past few years, two new schools began drawing the more educationally motivated students – the brightest — from Beach Channel. The Channel View School for Research began a high school organization and the Scholars’ Academy, a gifted magnet middle school, began a high school as well.

That left only those who could not go elsewhere at Beach Channel. Of its 1,330 students, nearly one-third are special needs students – a very high number for any comprehensive high sch ool. In specifying why the school needed to be closed down, District 27 Superintendent Michelle Lloyd-Bay said that the school no longer served its students and that the parents were unhappy with the school as well. Yet the last school survey showed that 85 percent of those parents responding said that they were happy with the edu cation their student was getting at the school.

There is something not quite right about the closing of the only comprehensive high school on our isolated peninsula. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done before the Educational Priorities Panel [Panel for Educational Policy], beholden to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, makes its final decision on January 26. It is probably already a done deal, but once the vote is taken, it is written in stone. We can’t allow that to happen.

BCHS Quality Review: ‘Proficient’

By Howard Schwach

Shortly before the city’s Department of Education decided to phase out and close Beach Channel High School, the Rockaway Park school earned a “Proficient” rating on its 2008-2009 Quality Review,” records show.

Superintendent Michelle Lloyd-Bay and Ewel Napier from the DOE address the crowd early in the meeting that was held at the school last week. “Beach Channel is a large comprehensive high school that through leadership, vision and resource management skills of its principal is starting to emerge from a period of academic poverty,” the DOE’s own report says. “The road has been long and challenging but one which the entire staff appreciates, is beginning to reap the rewards for their endeavors and sustainability. The students respond by attending more regularly, participating more fully in the life of the school and leaving many of their personal issues at the gates of the building.”

A group of students wait to speak at last week’s meeting. A number of them challenged the superintendent about her contention that the school no longer addresses student needs and that parents have lost confidence in the school. The nine-page report, which calls the school “Proficient,” says that “much of this transition [from academic poverty to proficiency] is due to the formation of a number of small learning communities within the large school.”

“Establishing the school’s small learning communities is a major factor in raising attendance and in the development of a safe and secure environment for learning,” the Quality Review report says.

Yet, it is these very learning communities that the DOE “imploded” last year by cutting staff and increasing the number of students in each class, some of the school’s senior students charge.

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, BCHS UFT chairperson Dave Pecoraro and student Chris Petrillo wait to speak to the DOE officials present at the meeting. Chris Petrillo, who will be 18 shortly after the present school break, says that, for him and his fellow Voyager Learning Community students, the problems began with last year’s cuts to the school budget.

Petrillo, who has been in the learning community for all of his BCHS career, told The Wave on Monday that the program was really good for the first three years he was in it.

“We had 20 students in a class and a group of teachers assigned just to the learning community,” he said. “Each of the four learning communities were themed. We could zero in on one area – like Science – and we really got a good education.”

Then, at the end of his sophomore year, the DOE made massive budget cuts in the school, excessing 32 staff members.

A number of teachers who taught the learning communities were cut. Class sizes went to 35 from 20 and some classes were cut entirely.

“We now have learning communities in name only,” Petrillo, who is leading the student drive to keep the school open, said.

Gerlisa Hills, 18, another senior in the same learning community agrees.

“All the good education ended,” she said. “The school did not have money for the number of teachers the program needed, and most of the teachers who left were from the learning communities. I have a stake in this building. My parents went here and my sisters. This is really going to impact the kids who want to come [to BCHS].”

“When the budget was cut, Beach Channel did not have enough money to sustain the small learning communities, which had been working so well,” Petrillo added. “The students lost the structured, nurturing environment that these communities provided.”

Opponents of the closing say that the school lost all of the better students to both the Channel View School for Research, which shares the same building with BCHS, and the Scholars’ Academy, the district’s gifted magnet school, which is right across the street.

The DOE website says that the school houses 1,330 students. Of those, 240 receive English as a Second Language services and 239 have In - dividual Education Plans denoting special education services. That means more than one-third of the students at the comprehensive high school have special needs.

The DOE held a public meeting to announce the closing and to address questions from the school community and local residents.

At that meeting, held at the school on December 15, District Superintendent Michelle Lloyd-Bay told the 125 participants that the school had to close because it was no longer serving its students.

Lloyd-Bay told the meeting, “We are only messengers here. This is done, and the question is, how do we move forward?”

“The statistics show that this school is no longer equipped to help students move ahead,” she added. “The parents have expressed their dissatisfaction and it is time to phase out and close the school.”

Yet, according to the results of the last school survey, completed in the 2008-2009 school year, statistics on the DOE’s own website show that, while less than half of the parents completed the survey, of those who responded, 81 percent of the parents said that they were “happy” with the education their children were getting at BCHS.

In addition, 83 percent of those parents who responded said that they had an adequate opportunity to be involved in their child’s educational experience.

Why then, if the parents are not unhappy with the school and it re - ceived a “proficient” rating, is the school being closed?

Lloyd-Bay, who is not responsible for the district’s high school, but was the only local school official present at the last meeting, did not return calls for clarification.

It seems, however, that the DOE is sending a mixed message by closing a school that the agency itself says is improving.

One of the areas in which the school is doing well, the Quality review says, is working with fewer teachers and less money.

“The school’s use of a diminishing array of resources does not affect student learning,” the report says.

The Education Priorities Panel [Panel for Educational Policy], which has to vote on January 26 whether or not to phase out and close the school, will host a community meeting in the school auditorium at 6 p.m. on January 6.

At that meeting, three commissioners will hear community comments, but there will be no questions allowed.

Columbus HS: In Defense of Closing Schools, Victims of Charter Invasion - a Rally

There are lots of meetings coming up for closing schools. If you have more info or videos of your schools or need assistance in posting videos, contact me at normsco@gmail.com. See below for the list of schools (thanks to Seung OK for compiling the info. Excuse the formatting as I don't have the time to fiddle with the html.)

ALL CLOSING SCHOOLS- STUDENTS, TEACHERS, ALUMNI AND PARENTS
ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS INVADED BY CHARTERS
ALL ATRs
ALL RUBBER ROOM VICTIMS
ALL TEACHERS BESET BY INSANE PAPER WORK

NOTE THE DATE FOR AN UPCOMING PROTEST TO TELL BLOOMBERG WE'VE HAD ENOUGH:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 4-7PM.

EXACT LOCATION WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON. GEM, CAPE AND OTHERS ARE HELPING TO PLAN THIS PROTEST. COME TO THE JAN. 5 GEM MEETING TO GET INVOLVED.


Details of Columbus HS defense: Meeting Jan. 7, check time - 8pm seems late.

Reads Christine Rowland's piece in GS on Columbus HS here:

http://gothamschools.org/2009/12/11/christopher-columbus-high-school-a-context-for-accountability

And then joins the Facebook page to Save Columbus here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=223571430305&ref=search&sid=1000133.1825572327..1

Columbus student, teacher and principal defend their school in Ed Notes video of the Dec. '09 PEP meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfHgtknQb9

Date Time Closing hearings-rallies-conferences-meetings Forum location

5-Jan 6pm school for community research and learning hs 1980 lafayette ave, bronx
5-Jan 6pm academy of environmental science and Renaissance Charter 410 East 100 street, manhattan
5-Jan 4:30 PM GEM= joint planning meeting Rally 21st Cuny grad center
6-Jan 6pm Frederick Douglas Academy III (6 -8) 3630 3rd ave, bronx
6-Jan 6pm beach channel HS at Beach Channel HS
7-Jan 8pm Columbus HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 5pm global enterprise hs 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 6pm Paul Robeson hs 150 Albany Ave, Bklyn
7-Jan 6pm jamaica high school 16701 Gothic Drive, Queens
8-Jan 6pm choir academy of harlem hs 2005 madison ave, manhattan
11-Jan 6pm norman thomas hs 111 E 33st, manhattan
11-Jan 6pm Kappa II (6-8) 144-176 East 128 st, manh
11-Jan 6pm alfred e smith HS 333 East 151st, Bronx
12-Jan 6pm william h. maxwell vocation hs 145 pennsylvania ave, brooklyn
12-Jan 6pm business, computer applications and enetrepe hs 207-01 116 ave, Queens
13-Jan 6pm academy of collaborative education (6-8) 222 west 134 st, manhattan
13-Jan 6pm ps 332 (k-8) 51 christopher ave, bklyn
13-Jan 6pm School for academic and social excellence (6-8) 1224 park place, Brooklyn
13-Jan 5-7pm Forum: The challence of Charter Schools: by NYCORE Cuny GRAD Center
14-Jan 6pm New Day Academy Hs 800 Home St, Bronx
14-Jan 6pm metropolitan corporate academy 362 schermerhorn st, bklyn
16-Jan 10am Citywide parent conference: Leonie Haimson (Norm Siegel -guest spk) School of future- 127 E 22nd st, Manh
19-Jan 6pm Pave Charter invasion of PS 15 71 sullivan st, Bklyn
19-Jan 6pm monroe academy of business law HS 1300 boynton ave, bronx

26-Jan 6pm PEP meeting Brooklyn Tech High School
28-Jan 4:30pm-7pm Charter School Forum/Discussion Polytechnic Institute - Downtown Brooklyn

The Utter Farce of the Beach Channel HS Closing (and the other 19 schools) Part 1

This column for The Wave was submitted today but was delayed until the Jan 1 edition. It may need some updating by then depending on reports of the meeting between Beach Channel student Chris Petrillo who was supposed to meet with Klein and possibly Bloomberg today. I spoke to Chris yesterday and he said he would defend his school from being closed. (You can see Chris on tape from the Dec. 15 meeting here.)

by Norman Scott

It's been a busy two weeks and my blog has been humming with activity since so many school closings were announced by Tweed. With the holidays coming, I'll keep this report shorter than usual and urge those who want more in depth coverage to read Howie Schwach's reports and check out my blog.

I videotaped much of the meeting held at Beach Channel on Dec. 15. The star of the meeting was student Chris Petrillo who challenged Michelle Lloyd-Bey, the DOE hit woman sent in to lead the sheep to slaughter. "Were we set up to fail," Chris asked, pointing to the placement of Scholars Academy and Channel View to drain away the better performing students? "Why are you closing us? Why not just fix us?"

Lloyd-Bey's pathetic response to Chris was, "Yes you should have been fixed. But for whatever reason it didn't happen." Sure. "For whatever reason" was the best she could do. Lloyd-Bey said she was not the superintendent for high schools and the current superintendent just became superintendent of District 20 and a new person was coming in as Tweed moves deck chairs on a ship sinking faster than the Titanic. The outrage of closing so many of the schools may prove to be Tweed's iceberg. (And do not forget the creation of so many teachers without positions who still have to be paid, known as the ATR conundrum. Some see the massive school closings as a political move to create pressure on the UFT to give up the ATRs, but I will follow up with more on this on the blog.)

Chris made such an impression that as we went to deadline he was supposed to meet with Joel Klein and possibly Bloomberg on the afternoon of Dec. 23. We hope to get some reports for the next column in two weeks. We are efforting to get Chris together with student leaders at Jamaica HS and Maxwell HS to build a united front of students defending their schools. (A recent student led demo against the rescinding of free MTA cards may be a precursor.) If a student activist network grows, this will be more than an iceberg for Tweed. Think "fast moving glacier."

Lloyd-Bey spent the entire meeting absolving herself and the DOE of responsibility and having almost no answers for Chris or the other speakers. "Why didn't they send someone who actually know something," people incredulously repeated over and over? Lloyd-Bey has been a major fixture in District 27 and Rockaway schools for a long time and played a role in the closing of Far Rockaway High School, one of the reasons for the influx of so many students that led to the destabilization of Beach Channel. Lloyd-Bey (one day we'll explore more of her history) is a typical Kool-aid-drinking agent of Tweed who only talks about one-way accountability in blaming the schools and teachers. She and another Tweedie repeatedly stated that only 50% of the teachers had the "right" to apply for jobs at the new schools if they were "qualified." Howie Schwach asked how they could not be qualified if they are already teaching at BCHS?

By the way, the one thing that Lloyd-Bey said at the meeting that was completely true was in responding to a teacher who questioned why teachers had to look for new jobs with this rejoinder: "It is in your contract." BCHS Unity Caucus Chapter Leader Dave Pecoraro, who is known as a good CL was standing on line at the time waiting to speak as I gave him the high sign because he supported the 2005 contract.

Clearly Lloyd-Bey agreed with the decision to close Beach Channel and said so openly. When I raised questions as to whether BCHS was given the resources to succeed, she recited the usual litany of options that have not worked at other schools and pretty much said, "Ask your administration where those resources went," in effect throwing the principal under the bus.

It was pointed out repeatedly that one of the options Tweed has before closing a school is leadership change, something they no longer seem to be opting for since almost all principals working today have come under the BloomKlein era and would entail an admission of failure. Another of Tweed's icebergs. Is the DOE so devoid of leaders that this option is not to be considered? It is interesting that BC's principal Dr. David Morris remained out of the auditorium for most of the meeting. "The apathy and inaction since the announcement by Dr. Morris speaks volumes," said a commenter on my blog. Morris must have been promised a safe haven if he doesn't lead a battle to keep the school open (there do not seem to be ATR principals). Contrast his actions to the principal of Columbus HS in the Bronx who led her school's teachers, parents and students at the PEP meeting two days later to stand up for her school. The principals of Jamaica HS and Maxwell are also encouraging teachers and students and parents to fight to keep their schools open.

Under the new governance law passed this summer, all school closings must be voted on at a Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting. Tweed ran into another iceberg by scheduling all 20 closings and lots of other business for the Jan. 26 meeting which was scheduled to be held in Staten Island. Manhattan PEP member Patrick Sullivan requested a change in venue as outrage poured out at this farce and Tweed backed away and moved the meeting to Brooklyn Tech HS.

Three politicians, Lew Simon, Erich Ulrich and Audrey Pfeiffer made strong statements at the Dec. 15 BCHS meeting. But they are just words without action. The entire control of the school system has been handed over to madmen and women by the politicians and making nice at a public meeting does nothing to change things. Ulrich did take some follow-up action with a petition that expressed his outrage at not being informed by Tweed of the closing of a major school in his district. But will he make a strong stand to save Beach Channel? As a Bloomberg supporter don't bet on it.

Oh, were you wondering where our own PEP rep from Queens stands on the closing of large Queens schools like Beach Channel HS and Jamaica HS? There is talk about putting pressure on the Queens PEP member Dmytro Fedkowskyj. We'll see how he votes on Jan. 26. He is clearly a puppet of Borough President Helen Marshall, who in a sea of suck-up to Bloomberg borough presidents (excluding Scott Stringer who appointed Patrick Sullivan) leads the pack. She even has less respect than Brooklyn Bloomberg lackey Marty Markowitz. If Fedkowskyi goes along and votes to close schools in his constituency he should be called on to resign and we can only hope thousands of students from Beach Channel and Jamaica HS show up at Helen Marshall's door. The next meeting at Beach Channel will be on Jan. 6. (To be continued.)

See my blog for video of the Beach Channel meeting and reports of the raucous December PEP meeting held so far up in the north Bronx I thought I was in Canada. They really need to hold a PEP meeting in Alaska where Joel Klein can declare: "I can see data from here!"

Ignore the UFT Elections At Your Own Peril

The closing of schools and the invasion of charter schools seems to have put the UFT elections, which begin in earnest in early January, on the back burner.

With James Eterno, the ICE/TJC candidate for UFT president to oppose Mulgrew being in the awkward position of having to put his main energy into leading the defense of his closing Jamaica High School (and having to work with Mulgrew to accomplish that) the campaign has not been a priority. I have been racing around covering charter and closing school issues and certainly have neglected my responsibility in discussing the election. Thanks to ICE's Ellen Fox who has kept her nose to the grindstone, and Joan Seedorf, who has done amazing work as the Manhattan rubber room rep, I have been reminded about my responsibilities. We met last night to work on our candidate list.

More teachers and even students have been activated than ever. Even the UFT is being moved to a higher level of activity. The closing schools ties into the creation of ATRs. Unless Tweed gets the UFT to give up on ATRs through public pressure and the use of the state legislature to do something there will be lots of instability. Imagine a floating crew of thousands of dislocated teachers and students. Closing 20 schools was done intentionally and there is no clearer sign that this is a political not an educational agenda that may come back to bite them.

Rumors are floating that Bloomberg will issue an order to give no teachers tenure that is not tied to test scores. Expect some vicious attack as a follow-up to the closing schools to force the issue. There will not be a UFT contract for years unless the UFT gives on these issues, something they cannot afford to do, especially with a UFT election coming up. But if Unity wins by the usual 80% margin all bets are off.

That is why the larger the vote for ICE/TJC the more that will stiffen the spine of the leadership.
Readers of this blog often rail against the UFT but when it comes time to sign up to run against Unity many back off. There is fear out there that the UFT will leave you hanging if you end up under attack or in the rubber room if you are openly with the opposition when in reality, the UFT often bends over backwards to assist activists who they fear have the ability to spread the word.

It is important for people to see this election as part of the fightback against BloomKlein. I don't expect to win much in actual positions but just as the high Thompson totals has made Bloomberg less able to do his thing, a high vote total for ICE/TJC will accomplish the same thing. Even if you don't want to run, ICE/TJC needs lots of help in getting petitions signed and turning out the vote and making sure people don't screw up their ballots. Ignore this election at your own peril.

What do you have to do? Contact me to let me know how you can help. If I don't hear from too many of you, you're all goners.