A Teacher in EvaLand- Part 1

by Anonymous


I would like to share my experience from the Harlem Success Academy Recruitment Hiring Fair at Eva Moskowitz's headquarters. First of all, I received an invitation to Ms. Moskowitz' Recruitment Event from a head hunter at Execu Search. (This particular headhunter found my name and profile on Linkedin).

  After my experience at 310 Lenox Avenue (Eva Moscowitz's headquarters), John Dewey is probably rolling over in his grave if he witnessed what was said and observed at the recruitment event. I was also extremely offended in how Eva used the word 'Sped' to describe  special needs students. As a teacher and as an individual who has a disability, I find this offensive. Also as a parent, I would not want my child in a school setting  where administrators and teachers call children 'sped' kids.  Second, her headquarters looks extremely sterile and cold, all white, blue and orange with a modern appearance. There are many cubicles with HR assistants working all over the second floor of her office. (Ms. Moskowitz has the entire second floor in the building for her network).

When I first arrived at HSA Headquarters, I was greeted by the receptionist who gave me my ID tag and was then escorted into the small conference room. In the conference room, there were already prospective employees (teachers, administrators). We were getting ready to watch the HSA  promo video.  The promo video involved many statistics about Ms. Moskowitz's network about HSA, for example:
MORE BELOW THE FOLD

Press Release 6/10/11: School Communities Across the City to Participate in Fight Back Friday, The City Council Must Hold Bloomberg Accountable

PRESS RELEASE

Date:  Friday, June 10, 2011     

Contact:

Sam Coleman, Teacher, PS 24, NYCORE/GEM:  646-354-9362

Lisa Donlan, Parent, President CEC1:  917-848-5873

School Communities Across the City to Participate in Fight Back Friday

The City Council must hold Bloomberg and the DOE Accountable: 

No school-based budget cuts and no educator lay-offs!

Cut middle and upper management, outside contracts, technology, legal and public relations budgets,  the charter school budget, which is set to increase by $139 million next year, and a portion of the monies spent on standardized high-stakes testing instead.

On Friday, June 10^th, school communities across the city will take differentiated actions to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s destructive education policies, including the elimination of 6,000 teaching positions, 4,700 through lay-offs.  Individual schools will hold rallies, sign postcards directed at City Council representatives, disseminate flyers to spread awareness about where Mr. Bloomberg’s spending priorities lie, and they will wear black to, “take our schools back” as well as stickers proclaiming the Real Reforms our Mayor should be fighting for.

According to Yelena Siwinski PS 193, “will be protesting the destructive practices of the New York City Department of Education including the proposed layoffs of thousands of teachers (in addition to failure to replace teachers lost through attrition), the inadequate funding for intervention services for students, after school programs, and arts programs and the narrowing of the curriculum through increased emphasis on testing.  We will be handing out literature and having informational picketing on Friday, June 10th and June 17th.  Our action on June 17th will also include forming a human chain around our school building.”

Educators at the Pan American International High School have been taking their anger at Mayor Bloomberg's impending layoffs out into their Elmhurst neighborhood, asking parents and other community members to sign postcards against Bloomberg's budget.  "Response from parents has been amazing," said Math teacher Peter Lamphere, "They really understand the impact that reduced services and higher class sizes will have on their students, especially for the English Language Learners we serve.  Despite Bloomberg's comments to the contrary, these parents very much understand what it takes to provide a good education for their children, and that means they know we need the resources that the Mayor would like to cut."

Representatives from at least ten of the participating schools will visit Christine Quinn’s office located at 30^th Street between 7^th and 8^th Avenues at 5:00 PM on Friday.  Parents and educators will deliver some of the more than 5,000 postcards collected at city-wide Fight Back Fridays over the last three weeks and will hold a press conference demanding the City Council reject any budget that includes  further cuts to school-based budgets and teacher lay-offs.

“We are participating in Fight Back Friday because the Mayor's proposed budget cuts will directly hit the most vulnerable New Yorkers while millionaires continue to profit,” said Ariela Rothstein, Teacher at East Brooklyn Community High School.  “Some of our school's greatest teachers could lose their jobs to the severe detriment of my students. My job is on the line just as I am seriously considering a long career in teaching.  The political maneuvering around lay-offs is damaging to our children and could mean that I and more than 4,000 educators cannot stay in the profession.  Given the steady increases in class sizes over the last nine years and the high teacher attrition rates, lay-offs should be off the table if we really want to put children first.”

Joanna Rich from PS 503 continued, "Our school community is participating in Fight Back Friday because the budget cuts would derail so many of our efforts to provide the children in this neighborhood with a rigorous and thorough elementary education. Under the proposed budget, PS 503 would lose over ten percent of its teaching staff, all of whom have been teaching for at least three years. These layoffs are unnecessary, and threaten to diminish the intervention and enrichment opportunities we currently provide our students."

$350 Million dollars is needed to prevent educator lay-offs and prevent disastrous consequences for our children including increased class sizes and loss of programming.  Mayor Bloomberg’s budget allocates $700 million for charter schools, $542 million in new technology, and hundreds of millions on testing. Parents, educators, children, and community members stand united in demanding our City Council reject the Mayor’s budget and call on Mr. Bloomberg to stop wasting our money and start to prioritize public education and local community public schools.  Added Steve Quester, “The mayor continues to prioritize tax breaks for Wall Street while class sizes balloon all over the city. At our school, we have a full-inclusion program in which 25% of the students are dyslexic, while 2/3 of our Reading Department is on the mayor's layoff list. How does Bloomberg dare call himself 'The Education Mayor'?”

Fight Back Friday began just over a year ago as a campaign effort to bring to life school-community-based education, organization and mobilization.  According to Michael Solo, a teacher at John Dewey High School, “Fight Back Fridays allow teachers, parents and students  to have a voice in the pushback against the ongoing attack against public education. The John Dewey High School community is greatly concerned with the continued attacks against our schools, our students, our colleagues in the teaching profession, and our unions. John Dewey’s basic premise, that a quality education is necessary to perpetuate our democracy, is under attack. Mayor Bloomberg’s threat of budget cuts and teacher layoffs is unnecessary and unfair. They say budget cuts, we say fight back !”

Sam Coleman, whose school held the first ever Fight Back Friday and launched the city-wide campaign concluded, “Fight Back Friday is about people power.  The time has come for us to collectively say, "Enough!"  Our children deserve the same quality education that Bloomberg chose for his daughters.  We must come together and demand equitable and just learning conditions for all children.  This begins with prioritizing the school budget to reflect an emphasis on teaching and learning rather than a budget that favors millionaires and billionaires and overemphasizes testing and technology.”

Additional Contacts:

Steve Quester, Teacher, PS 372:  347-683-6188

Ariela Rothstein, Teacher, East Brooklyn Community High School, 781-412-4084

Yelena Siwinski, Teacher, PS 193, 917-628-3588

Liza Campbell, Teacher, Academy for Environmental Leadership, 518-852-2337

Joanna Rich, Teacher, PS 503, 973-632-2476                                                                                                                                                             Michael Solo, Teacher, John Dewey High School, 917 750-7510                                                                                                                                 Peter Lamphere, Teacher, Pan American International High School, 917-969-5658

Some Fight Back Friday participants include: 

El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, Brooklyn

Felisa Rincon de Gautier Inst. of Law & Public Policy HS Bronx

PS 15, Brooklyn

PS 157, Brooklyn

Academy for Environmental Leadership, Brooklyn

East Brooklyn Community High School in Canarsie, Brooklyn

Pan American International HS - Elmhurst Queens

Sunset Park High School, Brooklyn

PS 306, Queens

PS 69, Queens

PS 503, Brooklyn

Facing History, Manhattan

Lehman High School, Bronx

MS 136, Brooklyn

PS 94, Brooklyn

PS 193, Brooklyn

Green School Brooklyn

Goldstein High School, Brooklyn

Lyons School, Brooklyn

PS 3, Brooklyn

PS 307, Brooklyn

Bronx international HS, Bronx

James Baldwin High School, Manhattan

Humanities Prep, Manhattan

PS 261, Brooklyn

International School, Prospect heights, Brooklyn

Neighborhood School, Manhattan

Earth School, Manhattan

Children's Workshop School, Manhattan

John Dewey High School Brooklyn

Brooklyn New School

PS 24, Brooklyn

PS 368, Manhattan

Bronx International High School, Morris Campus

IS 218, East New York

Endorsers include: Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), Teachers Unite (TU), People Power Movement (PPM), Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE)

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For Immediate Release: June 6, 2011

Media Advisory

Contact: Anne Looser Herbert H. Lehman High School, UFT Chapter Leader (718) 904-4292 annelooser@gmail.com

HERBERT H. LEHMAN HIGH SCHOOL TO RALLY AGAINST BUDGET CUTS

Herbert H. Lehman High School has a long tradition of excellence. Within just this academic year, students have earned 7.2 million dollars in scholarship money, and teachers have been featured nationally and internationally despite an “F” rating from the NYC Department of Education.

Bronx, New York—over the last several years New York City cut funding to school dramatically. Lehman High School has lost approximately 6 million dollars over the course of the last 3 years. The NYC Council is proposing budget cuts that will continue to slash our programs – the very programs that have produced national and international recognition.

Speakers will include Dr. Mark Naison, Fordham University Professor and Bronx Historian and Council Member James Vacca.

What: Speakers:

When: Where:

A Rally to Support Lehman High School Dr. Mark Naison, Fordham University Council Member James Vacca, District 13 Friday, June 10, 2011 at 3:00 pm

3000 East Tremont, Bronx, NY 10461

Teacher Confronts Walcott On Class Size and Charters at CEC Meeting: Walcott Doesn't Know Class Size Limits

Dennis Walcott wasn't laughing after Yelena's questions

Here is a perfect case for seniority rules and tenure. Yelena Siwinski, a teacher, chapter leader and member of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) feels free to challenge Dennis Walcott, her ultimate boss at a public meeting over class size and charter schools. And boy does she challenge him. (Funny how I've met so many tenured, "safe" teachers over the years who were afraid to stand up for even the simplest things.) Isn't it time for more teachers like Yelena to go the public events that Walcott and other Tweedies go to and challenge them? Now I know that every attempt is made to keep this from happening - like the E4E tactic of handing out index cards for questions so they get to choose. I believe when the people running events try to protect public officials from having to face the music, more aggressive actions are necessary. By the way, where is the UFT in making these challenges? 


Here is Yelena's report she wrote up last night after the meeting.

I walked into a moderately attended CEC 22 meeting where Walcott spoke for a few minutes with the usual rhetoric which I couldn't even write down because it was so meaningless.  Then came time for questions and answers.  The first woman asked about charter schools and how could we give public schools equal money.  Walcott said that he was trying to calm down the divisiveness between charter schools and public schools and that he believed parents should have a choice and charter could be  more flexible since many of them weren't unionized, etc. etc.  He said that the UFT law suit just brought all that up again. 

Walcott talks bupkis

He also mentioned that charters shared the building equitably and that they used the BUP (Building Utilization Plan) to decide where the charters could go. There was another person before me and then it was my turn.  First I mentioned that I had been to the CDEC meeting last week and had shown a portion of the film "The Inconvenient..." and that I would be back in September to show the film in its entirety.  I said that it was produced by the Grassroots Education Movement and that it would be good for the chancellor to view it because he wasn't telling all the facts such as the BUP doesn't take into account all the services the children are mandated and that kids were receiving them in hallways, closets, and stairwells.  Also equity might seem like 50-50 between the charter and the public school but there might be 300 kids in the charter and 600 kids in the public school.  I told the audience to find out the facts that went beyond the smooth rhetoric they were being told.

Then I mentioned that I had 2 college educated daughters and that the chancellor had mentioned that we need to get our kids "college ready".  I said that one of the main questions that are asked when looking at college was how big the class sizes were.  At a good college it is usually 1:16 or 1:18 but definitely less than 1:20.  By now I was really addressing the audience.  Then I stressed that this was for an 18, 19 20 year old and that we have 5 year olds with bigger class sizes!  Then I mentioned that Walcott was recently asked the class size limits and that he didn't know them.  I asked if he could tell them to us now.  He proceeded to harp on when he had been asked the question. I actually forgot but knew that I had read it recently and that the point was what was his answer today. 

He refused to answer saying that if I was going to make a statement I should be able to tell him when. I looked at the audience and pointed out that he was not answering my question.  Since he kept going on I said that I might as well sit down since I wasn't going to get an answer.  I sat down and he called me up again saying that we should finish.  I came up again and he struggled to answer and asked me if I knew the limits.  I said  of course I did since I was a chapter leader.  He wanted me to tell him and I said that he leads our school system and that he should know them and that if he couldn't even tell us that then how could we trust him.  He then struggled and said that the class size limit for kindergarten was 23.  I told him he was wrong and sat down.

Great work Yelena! This is after TWO city council hearings when Walcott was asked what the class size limits were and he could not answer the question. What a travesty!

Leonie Haimson

Walcott then, Walcott now.

 

When he was head of the NYC Urban League, he sued over disparate racial impact of MTA fare increases -- Years later, when he was Deputy Mayor for Bloomberg, and the UFT sued over disparate racial impact of laying off paraprofessionals in the schools, he said it was divisive to bring race into the matter.

 

When he was head of the Urban League, he AND the NAACP pushed Chancellor Rudy Crew to use the Discovery Program to help kids who just missed the cut-off on the test for admission to Stuyvesant and Bronx Science to get another chance at passing, in order to increase diversity at those schools.  Now that the schools stopped using the program, and, as reported in a recent 3-part newspaper joint series by the Amsterdam News and the Manhattan Media weeklies, Black and Latino enrollment has declined at the schools, and he is the Chancellor working for Bloomberg, he responded to the series by saying that bringing back the program would do absolutely nothing to increase diversity of enrollment.

 

And now, he says,  his one-time ally in pushing for change in the schools, the NAACP, is divisive because they are suing over separate-but-unequal co-locations and closing of schools serving high-minority populations.  I bet he would have been part of the lawsuit if he were operating the way he used to.

More oped trash in the Daily news re the NAACP trying to tear them down, this from Walcott.  Separate and unequal indeed. 

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

True Confessions: Anthony Weiner's Weiner is My Congressman

One summer day a few years ago, Anthony Weiner stopped by our little teacher crew at the beach while campaigning to commiserate with us. "My mother taught at Midwood," he told us. He was standing there in a shirt with sleeves rolled up. His pants were also rolled up above his knees. He came across as earnest and direct. We offered him water and told him to sit down and relax a while. But campaigning has to go on and he left after about 10 minutes.

I generally don't care for many politicians. Though I began to suspect he was a closet ed deformer who supported mayoral control I still always voted for Anthony Weiner and I was rooting for him to become mayor, not the least reason was the fact that the UFT seemed to despise him (how much fun would the 2013 mayoral race have been as we watched the UFT dance over an endorsement?)

Choose any one: they all point to the same place

But who knew we were  really voting for Weiner's weiner, which obviously has control over the operation over there. I mean, this is a smart guy who did as dumb a thing as possible. "What was he thinking," everyone is asking? Well, it wasn't Weiner doing the thinking. It was Weiner's weiner. Women have pointed a basic fact out to me over the years (when you are a male working in an elementary school you get a lot of things pointed out by women) when it looked like I was going to get frisky (and not the cat food) by asking the following question:

Why do men wear ties?

Because they point to their brains.


NOTE: My wife won't vote for Weiner because she was not included on his "special" Tweet list. She is claiming age discrimination.
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Get the Skinny From Leonie

So many people have thanked Leonie Haimson for 10 years of spectacular work in exposing the ed deformers with on target research and thoughtful analysis. Now it's payback time. She is having a fundraiser next week on June 15 and giving the Skinny (not Broad) award to some of our favorite people and allies: Julie Cavanagh who was a major cog in creating our film along with all her other amazign work in defense of public education and Jamaica HS Chapter Leader and former presidential candidate in the UFT James Eterno. I'll be there. Will you?

We are holding our annual “Skinny Award” Dinner a week from today, June 15 at 6 PM, honoring four teacher-warriors.  The dinner will be co-hosted by Diane Ravitch and other parent leaders.

Please check it out and RVSP on our FB page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173774066009105

Diane will be making an exciting announcement at the dinner that concerns Class Size Matters.

Class Size Matters works hard trying to ensure that in NYC and throughout the country, children get the smaller classes they need for a better chance to learn. 

The four teachers we are honoring have done stellar work, defending their schools and all NYC schools from damaging closures and co-locations that threaten to make things worse.

Please come and show your support.

For more information or to buy tickets, go to http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3672

A Skinny Awards invitation you can forward to your friends and colleagues is below.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks, Leonie

Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters

124 Waverly Pl.

New York, NY 10011

212-674-7320

leonie@classsizematters.org

www.classsizematters.org

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

Leonie Haimson, Diane Ravitch, Patrick Sullivan, Monica Major, Khem Irby and

Emily Horowitz invite you to the third annual Skinny Awards

A fundraiser for Class Size Matters

Please join us for a special evening where we will honor four stellar teachers fighting to save our schools:

Jackie Bennett of Edwize

Julie Cavanagh of PS 15K and a producer of “The Inconvenient Truth behind Waiting for Superman”

James Eterno of Jamaica HS in Queens

Christine Rowland of Columbus HS in the Bronx

A rare opportunity to enjoy a three course dinner with wine while celebrating four heroes, battling to defend our public schools .

Please RSVP on the FB page here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=173774066009105

For more information or to buy tickets, go to http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=3672

Thanks!  

Next Fight Back Friday is June 10th

We began the idea of Fight Back Friday as a way to brand an action that many schools could easily plug into. We feel it builds from the ground up and allows each school to reach out to the local community with issues THAT school feels are important. These decentralized actions are important but the citywide branding and coordination from a central body is also important, along with culminating actions in the afternoon after school. Some schools have begun to reach out to their neighboring schools, thus growing small neighborhood cores. This Friday is the last one of this school year. There is still time to join in - even if it's just a small informational morning picket with a few teachers. We have tool kits for you to use. Email Julie Cavanaugh (juliereed15@hotmail.com) with any questions. Shee will send you the tool kit with all the fliers and stickers and such. We are happy to help you think through all the steps.
 
That's my spiel. Here is the official one.

Next Fight Back Friday is June 10th

From the FBF blog:

FBF gives every school community a chance to stand up and say NO to the cuts and lay-offs at whatever level the community can be organized.

• Everyone wears black (Wear black, take our schools back!).  It can be as simple as just that.
• We have stickers people can print out with messages about the cuts and the kinds of changes we would all like to see in education that folks can wear and give out. 
• We have fliers that you can adjust to fit your school, which you can use on the day of.
• Many schools have a picket outside of school either before or after the school day. We have fliers you can use to publicize the picket during the week leading up to the 20th.
• The fliers will be in at least English and Spanish, and if we can, Chinese.
• We have post cards that we are asking people to get signed that will then be delivered en-masse to city council members. You can print those out, or come get them at a couple of different locations.
• We ask everyone to take pictures to send in that then go on our fight back friday blog and face book page.

We will be putting out a press release and press statement and pushing the press to cover as many school events as we can. And the more schools participating the more coverage we will get.

Please, even if it sounds hard or overwhelming, consider pushing your school community to join in. Email Julie Cavanaugh (juliereed15@hotmail.com) with any questions. We will send you the tool kit with all the fliers and stickers and such. We are happy to help you think through all the steps.

This is a way for your whole community to work together, parents, students and staff, to build solidarity within and across schools. These actions are great for training ourselves to do the organizing that we need if we are to turn the tide of the destruction of public education. In order to fight for the transformations we all want to see in our education system, we need to do the grassroots educating, organizing and mobilizing that it takes to move whole communities.

Photographs from the May 20th Fight Back Friday

https://picasaweb.google.com/108122375451944539262/FightBackFriday52011?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCKyYvbr9GTpgE

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Though some of the schools below are not officially branded as a FBF school, all are holding some action this Friday.

Participating Schools

PS 261, Brooklyn

PS 321, Brooklyn

Sunset Park High School, Brooklyn

PS 306, Queens,

PS 69, Queens

PS 503, Brooklyn

PS 254, Brooklyn

Facing History School, Manhattan

International School for Liberal Arts

Lehman High School, Bronx

PS 368, Bronx

PS 230, Brooklyn

Paul Robeson High School, Brooklyn

PS 24, Brooklyn

MS 136, Brooklyn

PS 193, Brooklyn

Bushwick School for Social Justice

Academy for Urban Planning

John Dewey High School, Brooklyn

PS 157, Brooklyn

Green School, Brooklyn

PS 123, Manhattan

Frederick Douglass Academy 5, Bronx

El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice

PS 15, Brooklyn

East Brooklyn Community High School in Canarsie

PAIHS, Queens

Neighborhood School, Manhattan

Childrens' Workshop School, Manhattan

James Baldwin School, Manhattan

Humanitites Prep, Manhattan

Lyons High School, Brooklyn

FDR High School, Brooklyn

Goldstein High School, Brooklyn

Jamaica High School, Queens

Bronx International HS, Morris Campus

High School for Excellence, Morris Campus

Alfred E Smith High School, Bronx 

If your school is not taking part let me know your feelings why.

Ravitch Vs. Alter/ NAACP Responds to Attacks

Don't miss debate between DianeRavitch and JonathanAlter tomorrow am on DavidSirota radio show.

Diane Ravitch will debate Jonathan Alter on David Sirota's Denver radio show, at 7 am Denver time, 9 am Eastern time, on the morning of Wednesday, June 8. You can listen live online here, or catch the podcast later here.

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Susan Ohanian comments on review of our film:

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman' and One Teacher's Two Cents

Ohanian Comment: Maybe a review of the new film The Inconvenient Truth about Waiting for 'Superman' should be filed under "good news," but because it directly addresses such outrages I put it here.

Here is the order form for getting your own copy of the film. They ask for a donation to help them cover the cost of this grassroots effort.

I have just one quibble with this review: I wish people would stop saying that the poverty rate for US children is 20%, because clouds the really dire situation in pubic schools. The 20% figure is the official US poverty rate which includes all children, including the rich kids in private schools. The poverty rate in urban public schools is 50% and higher.

I've seen this movie. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

Read the review: — Liz Hoelzle
Arts and Humanities, Teachers College
2011-06-06
http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/the-inconvenient-truth

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NAACP Organizes resistance to charter attacks:

New York City has become the latest battleground in the national fight for education equality.

In some schools, hallways serve as a stark dividing line. Classrooms with peeling paint and insufficient resources sit on one side, while new computers, smartboards and up-to-date textbooks live on the other. One group of students will be taught in hallways and basements while others under the same roof make use of fully functional classrooms.

New York schools have increasingly co-located charter schools inside existing public schools as a cost cutting measure. Handled improperly, co-locations can lead to disparities, division and tension among students, which can impede learning.

In many instances, traditional students are forced into shorter playground periods than their charter school counterparts, or served lunch at 10 am so that charter students can eat at noon. The inequity could not be more glaring. And similar proposals are being considered in other states and counties nationwide.

Throughout our history, the NAACP has fought for equal educational opportunities for all Americans. When we have seen inequality in school districts from Los Angeles, California to Topeka, Kansas, we have never hesitated to fight for what is right. Today the fight continues in the nation's largest school district.

_You can help shed light on this inequality by signing the NAACP petition today and supporting New York City students._
(http://action.naacp.org/page/m/474a375d/799fb262/7f0a7185/2f6150c9/216649664/VEsE/)

Last month, after a year of attempts to negotiate with the New York City Department of Education to correct these inequalities after they lost to us in court, the NAACP was forced to go to court again to compel them to comply with state law.

Our return to court has triggered a smear campaign against the NAACP.

In recent days we have faced a coordinated media attack backed by funds from right wing opponents of public schools. Unable to dispute the facts of the case, they've chosen to cast aspersions on the NAACP, to question our motivations, and to sling mud at our legacy.

This is a tactic meant to silence the NAACP, but with your help, we will not be silenced.

Will you join us in speaking out? Stand alongside the NAACP, New York City parents and students to let the Department of Education know that all students deserve a quality education.

_Sign the Petition now and let New York know that those who believe in justice will not back down._
(http://action.naacp.org/page/m/474a375d/799fb262/7f0a7185/2f6150c9/216649664/VEsF/)

The NAACP will always work for the day when all students can access high-quality public education. We will not tolerate the neglect of the hundreds of thousands of families depending on traditional public schools, nor will we stand by as public schools are illegally closed, communities are ignored
in defiance of the law and student success is left to chance.

And we will never be silenced by right wing attacks on our reputation.

The NAACP has always believed that educating children in a separate and unequal system that provides a quality education to the lucky few at the expense of the many is the wrong kind of education, and we will continue to fight, as we always have, for equal opportunity for all.

Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,

Ben

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

(http://action.naacp.org/page/m/474a375d/799fb262/7f0a7185/2f6150c8/216649664/VEsH/)

Did UFT Undermine Chapter Leader at MS 216Q by Sending in Incompetent Rep to Hold SBO Vote?

UFT ineffectiveness in defending chapter leaders a growing sore with teachers. On Friday, I published this story as a lead-in to the one below:

Does the UFT Bury Stories Exposing How Weak It Really Is When It Comes to Defending Chapter Leaders?

Should the UFT warn potential chapter leaders of the pitfalls? In Rachel Montagano's case they told her they had her back. They didn't.

Rachel Montaganao, Chapter Leader, IS 216 facing 3020 charges

I've been reporting on the situation at MS 216 in Queens where Principal Reginald Landeau Jr has railroaded and removed chapter leader Rachel Montagano (one of many CLs chopped by Landeau) who is under 3020a charges for supposedly being incompetent, causing teachers and students and parents to shake their heads in disbelief. Landeau brought Montagano into the school due to her impeccable record as an educator but turned on her when she took the CL job at the behest of union higher ups who have seemingly abandoned her despite telling her they would have her back. Sure, with a knife out.

Today I heard that UFT Queens rep Washington Sanchez, who earns the distinction of never having had a good word said about him (see my report from the AFT Convention in Seattle) was going into MS 216 to hold an SBO vote, a vote that should only have been conducted by Montagano and something the UFT should have insisted upon. But Sanchez by going in and holding a vote is helping Landeau undercut the legitimacy of Montagano who is still the elected chapter leader.Some teachers at the school are livid at the UFT reps they have been dealing with, with UFT VP Richard Farkas coming in for special condemnation.

Here are our previous posts:

Reggie Landeau Faces Student Protest Over Treatment of Teacher (Chapter Leader)

Reginald Landeau, Jr. - Triple Principal From Hell

The student who put up the facebook page was called in Landeau's office along with the parents and  made no graduation threats and even threatened them with police unless it was taken down. There is a new facebook page supporting Montagano which you should go and support:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-Bring-Back-Ms-Montagano/202363379805777

where a student left this comment:

i really hope this page takes off ... i cant really share this page cause my dad don't want me to be involved at all anymore cause of what happened to the principal.. but please ppl share this page. i havn't forgotten about our great teacher.. i don't care how many days there are of school left

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

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for ‘Superman’ and One Teacher’s Two Cents | Arts & Humanities

An extremely thought-provoking article by 6th year teacher Liz Hoelzle  that goes well beyond a movie review comparing WFS and ITBWFS. We should interview her for our next film.

http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/the-inconvenient-truth

Press Ignores Inequality Issue and Charter School Political Manipulation of Parents and Students in NAACP Reports

Below are the links at Gotham this morning to stories regarding the NAACP suit. Most of them compare the numbers who turned out to the charter school protest compared with the much lower numbers who came to the press conference on Friday. Not one mentions that Harlem charter schools closed down for hours on the day of their rally and organized the parents and children who had no school to go to and were politically organized to attend the protest against the NAACP. A serious sign of omission in any story comparing numbers.

But worst of all, the massive testimony at the Friday press conference in front of Eva Moskowitz' Success Charter HQ pointing to the enormous unequal treatment of children was also ignored, receiving some mention only by NY1's Lindsey Christ.

The press should check out the video tape I put up - http://vimeo.com/24644676 - at the very least scroll through the 55 minutes and see how children are treated differently in charter co-locos, the main point of why the NAACP is involved.

UFT has TWO co-loco charters
Also note how the UFT is vilified as being against charters and co-locos but not one story mentions that the UFT has TWO charter schools in the East NY section of Brooklyn that are occupying space in public school buildings. Yes, the UFT has taken the hyprocritic oath. But where is the press on that angle?

Also note national NAACP head Benjamin Jealous defending the suit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-naacp-is-suing-new-york/2011/06/03/AG1W5PIH_story.html

Good piece except for: To spur the changes needed to help students succeed, we even stood with many of these critics when a Rhode Island district fired all the teachers at Central Falls High School.

• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
• State Sen. Eric Adams voted to increase charter schools but this year is suing to stop their growth. (Post)
• The Post says low attendance at the NAACP rally shows that its lawsuit involvement has little support.
• Stanley Crouch: The lawsuit shows the NAACP “has fallen” since its civil rights heyday. (Daily News)
• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
 

AFTERBURN
NYC EDUCATOR TAKES A SHOT AT JONATHAN ALTER:

Alter's been thoroughly refuted at the Public School Parents blog, both here and here, in Accountable Talk,  Salon, and in the ceaselessly observant Schools Matter.

READ IT ALL: In Good Company

Another "Miracle" Debunked: Jacobs, Vander Ark praise grad rate of school that loses 51% + of its students

You know the drill. Ed Deformers find ONE highly successful school that has the same demographics as most inner city schools and they start shouting from the rooftops: na, na, na, na - you see, stop making excuses about poverty - blah, blah, blah, blah! Remember that school that won the contest to have Obama make the commencement speech because it had the biggest change in grad rates? That change exactly matched the percentage of kids who disappeared between grades 9 and 12. Can't they even find one school in the entire nation to beat us over the heads with? I guess there are no miracles.

Jonathan Alter, now a lapdog for Bloomberg, had his underwear all twisted in a knot over Diane Ravitch pointing out these anomalies in a NY Times op ed.

The Reflective Educator has a very thoughtful open letter to Alter.

An Urban Teacher's Education: Dear Jonathan Alter (Again)

 TRE is a saint in trying to reach out to Alter, who is a warrior for the ed defomers. It would be like them trying to reach out to, well, me.

Here are some important links at Leonie's blog related to the Alter assault on Ravitch:

K. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schools

Douglas Massey on Diane Ravitch and Jonathan Alter's attack

In defense of Diane Ravitch (not that she needs it!)

and some humor from Gary

From Twittergate to Altergate

Here is another:

Great piece; great line: “teachers … understand that every time their kids take another test, some politician is either going to take credit for high scores or point fingers for lower ones.”

http://www.schooltechconnect.com/2011/06/thank-you-mr-alter.html

Thank You, Mr. Alter

Jonathan Alter's ill-conceived Bloomberg piece has triggered an avalanche of scathing public rebukes of the Duncan/Gates administration. Alter carries buckets of water for Duncan in the piece: “Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day,” [Duncan] said when I asked about Ravitch this week.

 Alter is part of the disconnected-from-public-education cadre of experts in public education, and like others before him, he basically repeats the company line about charter schools and blah blah blah. It's all so nauseating. I have yet to run into a single teacher who has read Ravitch and disagrees with her, except perhaps some ed-tech people, who worry that she's not in love enough with technology. Nobody's insulted by her, particularly urban teachers who understand that every time their kids take another test, some politician is either going to take credit for high scores or point fingers for lower ones.

Caroline Grannan, a parent activist in San Francisco who exposed KIPP attrition rates, sent this one along.

Joanne Jacobs' blog -- a post about a miracle school, my response pointing out its attrition, another post pointing out its low test scores (I don't know who that poster is).

Small school changes lives
http://www.joannejacobs.com/2011/06/small-school-changes-lives/#comments

June 5, 2011 By Joanne 3 Comments

Downtown College Prep changes lives, writes Tom Vander Ark after a visit to the San Jose charter high school. Most students come from Mexican immigrant families and enter ninth grade with fifth-grade reading and math skills.  All graduates in the class of 2011 will go on to  college, including Mount Holyoke, University of California at Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State. The school’s counselor helps graduates cope with college challenges, including transferring from community college to a four-year university.

Read all about it in Our School.
tim-10-ber says:

June 5, 2011 at 10:23 am

Wow! Joanne…do you know the stats on this year’s graduating class? How many entered the school in 9th grade, what actual grade level were they when entered, how many dropped out? Just curious…thank you.

Cal says:

June 5, 2011 at 7:30 pm

They might be going to college, but they’re all going to remedial ed for a long, long time.
EAP Results

88% did not demonstrate readiness in English, and 94% didn’t demonstrate readiness in math–and the other 6% were only conditionally ready.
Their test scores are abysmal. But hey, they’ll be able to go to college and pay a ton for education they weren’t able to understand the first time. We’re supposed to celebrate this?

CarolineSF says:

June 5, 2011 at 7:38 pm

The Downtown College Prep class of 2011 lost 51.8 of its students (in hard numbers) between enrollment in 9th grade and the beginning of senior year — publicly available information doesn’t show how many actually graduated.
67 seniors were enrolled at DCP in the 2010-11 school year.
The same class in junior year (09-10) had 83 students.
The same class in sophomore year (08-09) had 119 students.
The same class in freshman year (07-08) had 139 students.

If You Could Do One Thing to Improve the Schools, What Would It Be?

That was a question asked by a parent at the Community Education Council 13 sponsored showing of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" at PS 3 in Bed-Stuy yesterday.

Julie Cavanagh responded: Get rid of Tweed.

Yes. Tweed, the black hole of education where billions of dollars fall in, never to be seen again – certainly not in the classroom.

We have had lots of discussions recently comparing the current state of administration after a decade of mayoral control of schools and what existed before. More and more people who were familiar with the old neighborhood based administration of grades k-8 (high schools were always centralized) that existed from 1969-2002 are coming down on the side of "the old days" even with all the problems (which the ed deformers disparage with the fervor of religious fanatics - hey, there would be NO charter schools if the old district system were in effect.)

Remember: Klein first took apart the districts and created regions and then took apart the regions and created Children First Networks as Tweed implemented reorganization after reorganization. We haven't done enough to examine the CFNs which many say are total wastes. Here are some thoughts from some of the respondents to these questions sent out on a listserve:

What are you feelings about the helpfulness or not of the CFN networks and clusters? Where could be cut without affecting the classroom?

A  NYC principal responds with great insight: ELIMINATE TWEED

Networks were created as an alternative to District Offices which were eliminated under Mayoral Control. The Districts simply made sense as they were community based. If there was some corruption – and there was – it pales in comparison to the large scale theft of public funds by the new system. Look at City Time alone and all of the money spent on no bid contracts. The entire point of mayoral control was to dictate where the money would go and it is sure not the classroom: The public networks and private corporations that run some of them simply grew too large and are not based in the communities they serve. Some networks have schools in different boroughs. It was a devious but brilliant divide and conquer technique. Our District stayed together. In unity there is strength.


What would I cut? Well to start with: Eliminate Tweed itself. SELL IT OFF TO A DEVELOPER.... I have never been there nor had anything but bureaucracy directed at me from there. Eliminate the Office of Portfolio Development – what does it say about an administration that views the school buildings as real estate? I never thought of our buildings as holdings in a"portfolio" but that's why I am an educator not a billionaire.Then get rid of the office of accountability, a hiring hall for twenty something non educators who care nothing about schools but can't find work on Wall street which many of their daddies ruined....


As to networks some are good some bad. I am in nice one (had to join something). I think they are oversized and should be scaled down substantially. That said, some schools with newer principals may rely on them more. This is the problem: does anyone think for a
moment a NY wealthy white suburban district would put up with a "network" running their schools? Local control is good enough for Scarsdale and Great Neck. NYC should have it too. We need local school boards with full powers as stated under state education law, not a rubber stamp, loaded panel for educational policy with an 8 out of 13 mayoral majority who he can fire if they vote against him.


I believe most money should be in schools. Now this next piece may be controversial, BUT I don't even see why we need a Federal Dept of Education. More waste and Red tape that does not do anything for my school but tie us up with testing and paperwork. If I could give back my federal dollars and be removed from federal testing requirements I would do so and write grants to make up the difference. The big secret is that many of the big shots Klein hired ran schools that used portfolio assessment. In fact Richard Mills (former NY State Ed Comm) hated standardized testing when he ran Vermont (overwhelmingly white) but when he came to NY he could not find a test he did not want to give the children- a hypocrite and corporate puppet.

Our problem is that the Democrat party has been taken over by Democrats for Education Reform via their Wall street dollars.. real parent protest will have to happen but it is hard as the charter movement has great media outreach and brainwashing ability via the major money it receives...


Our only blessing here in NYC is that folks are starting to see through the long lie after 8 tears. In the words of the Rolling Stones:
"Tiiiiiiiiiime is on my side"

A  college professor adds:

These are some great points. Bloomberg took over the school system with the idea that application of business principles to education would eliminate corruption, increase efficiency and produce "results" in terms of higher test scores and better graduation rates. At the time, few chose to question whether the business principles applied might make the school system MORE corrupt and less efficient. Now we know better. We have seen how those responsible for "accountability" in the financial system-ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poor's- gave AAA ratings to bundles of worthless mortgages, leading to the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars and the collapse of some of the nation's largest banks. On their watch, executives of banks and hedge funds enriched themselves on a scale no neighborhood politician could even imagine, while millions of working people lost their jobs and homes. This same ilbegotten wealth is now flowing into the charter school movement and into efforts to create complex rating systems for schools teachers and principals. But teachers, parents and even students are starting to wake up and see that the people now taking over their schools are the same ones who, through their corruption and greed, triggered the worst economic crisis in American history. They are taking to the streets, and in NYC at least, some members of the City Council are starting to listen.

COMMENTARY
I don't necessarily agree that time is on our side. Will the local ed world take a united stand and oppose mayoral control? Mulgrew attacked the Panel for Educational Policy at the NAACP press conference, but carefully avoided attacking mayoral control. And a leading parent organization, and I heart that a rep of a leading and influential parent organization made a statement recently that the problem is not mayoral control by the mayor. That is very dangerous ground considering the mayor for 20 years in a row will be Giuliani and Bloomberg. And the 12 years of Koch were not golden for education either. And I would probably throw in the 4 years under Dinkins too. So why will the UFT and other orgs try to sell the idea that when we get "our" mayor, things will be rosy? (I remember when we had our mayor - Abe Beame in the early 70's and he laid off 15,000 teachers.) I'm betting the  UFT will stick with mayoral control no matter how they try to disguise their position because to them the alternative of a community based system is as much bigger threat.

In future posts we'll get into why the UFT has always and will always support the most centralized system they can get.


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

Video: The NAACP Strikes Back

Recently, the charter school lobby helped orchestrate a rally at the NAACP NYC offices protesting the law suit on closing schools. Charter schools closed down for a few hours in the morning, making blatant use of children and parents for political purposes. On June 3, the NAACP held a press conference in front of the headquarters of Success Charter School Network to emphasize the law suit is about bringing equality to ALL children, not just a favored few.

This is unedited video of the press conference called by the NAACP in front of Eva Moskowitz' headquarters. There is a lot of powerful stuff packed into these 54 minutes. I will attempt to edit it a bit and put up an abridged version if I find time. This is definitely worth watching even if you scroll through it. Mulgrew is near the end and he does very well. Mona Davids was a bit late but got to say here piece at the very end - and she makes a powerful comparison to apartheid in her native South Africa.

Go to directly to vimeo for faster play. http://vimeo.com/24644676

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

600 students walk out at Goldstein HS against budget cuts

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=283130&position=1&news_type=news


The walkout got good coverage on channel 12 news (above). A small group of students planned it meticulously entirely by themselves. Students assigned marshalls to avoid conflicts with the police.They assigned people to each floor to spread the word at the exact time (after 2nd period). They gave out written instructions on both how to exit the building and how to avoid conflict with the security and administration. The students were thrilled. - Reported by a teacher at the school

CEC 13 in Bed-Stuy to Screen Inconvenient Truth Behind WFS: Saturday June 4 - and a Barbecue Too

Weiner's Weiner Signs E4E Loyalty Oath

E4E continues to grow as member expands

• Leads to massive E4E member growth. 
• Gotham Schools report of 2500 members expected to expand.
• Weiner's weiner to appear on next E4E panel along with Shael Polokow-Suransky and Leo Casey as part of a trio.