Calling all future Occupiers of the Department of Education!

Occupy the DOE will meet on the steps of the Department of Education to remind the public that 1% that crashed our economy, have have also hijacked and systematically destroyed our public schools through mayoral control. We will also remind the DOE, chancellor, and mayor, that we will no longer standby while resources are bled out of our schools and the right for all students to receive a quality, equal, and fair education are stripped away. Our voices, no longer silent, will continue to be heard in the fight to take back control of our schools.

When: 4:30 - 7:00

Where: New York City Department of Education (Tweed)

52 Chambers St.

NYC, NY

(look for the Occupy the DOE banner in case we are not on

the steps!)

This call is for educators to gather as part of the more massive demo and march together.

This event was planned for a long time.  The breakup at Zuccotti Park will only fuel this. But we have had many of these before - see May 12. Usually people demonstrate, feel good about it and go home. That has certainly been the  mantra of the UFT, which is strongly supporting this event: Demonstrate and go home.

So what makes this different? I'm focused on the growth of the Occupy DOE movement which has sprung out of OWS and has started meeting every Sunday in the Wall Street Ave in an indoor public space. (I wonder how long before the Bloomberg thugs work on the people who own that space to get them to put restrictions? Well, there are lots of public spaces and resourceful people will find a way.)

I don't think change can come until masses of teachers are activated as organizers in their schools and school communities. Activated in the context of building a democratic movement where people have a say in making policy, not only at the educational policy level but within their own union.  I wonder, do you think the UFT leadership really wants to see a growing number of people who look at how the 1% make decisions for the 99% generally in this country and increasingly in education policy (Arne Gives Gates a Contract to Microsoft - Surprise, Surprise), put the lens on how policy is made in their own union?

Here is the full announcement:

You are cordially invited to join Occupy the Department of Education in afternoon of mass demonstrations in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When: 4:30 - 7:00

Where: New York City Department of Education

52 Chamber St.

NYC, NY

(look for the Occupy the DOE banner in case we are not on

the steps!)

Why:
Even though the mayor and the other 1% think that they can break the movement of the 99% by clearing Zucotti Park, this Thursday we, the 99% will show them that they ARE WRONG!


As scheduled, Nov. 17th will be a full day of non-violent mass demonstrations throughout the city to celebrate Occupy Wall Street's two month anniversary, and the birth of a movement that has inspired people locally and globally.


In honor of the occasion we will be gathering again on the steps of the Department of Education to celebrate our growing movement to reclaim our democracy and rights, while continuing our fight for economic and social justice.


Occupy the DOE will meet on the steps of the Department of Education to remind the public that 1% that crashed our economy, have have also hijacked and systematically destroyed our public schools through mayoral control. We will also remind the DOE, chancellor, and mayor, that we will no longer standby while resources are bled out of our schools and the right for all students to receive a quality, equal, and fair education are stripped away. Our voices, no longer silent, will continue to be heard in the fight to take back control of our schools.


We will celebrate this historic day through sign making, speak outs, teach ins, and a march across the Brooklyn bridge. This will be a family friendly event, with activities for children. Feel free to bring cupcakes, art supplies, and a whole lotta noise!


A better future on the horizon and we celebrate it this Thursday. Why? Because we are unstoppable and another future is possible!!!!!


ALSO, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!! Resend this email spread our Facebook event @ https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=164709760292053!

UFT and DC 37 Should Provide Sleeping Space to OWS

With the threat OWS is facing, two major city unions, the UFT and DC 37, which are claiming to support the movement in various manners, should step up to the plate and provide sleeping quarters so the protesters can go back to the park every day.

Can you imagine an OWS General Assembly taking place in the same space where the UFT Delegate Assembly and Executive Board meets regularly to affirm that they are a rubber stamp of the Unity Caucus?

 ---------------------
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 the right for important bits.

GEMATR Meeting Nov. 16, 5PM - YES, We ATRs Know What to Do

Today was the first time I felt like a teacher and would gladly stay with this class for as long as it takes, even though I was warned they are really bad from the other teachers ----Posted by an ATR taking pride in his abilities

I just came home from parent/teacher conferences. The regular teacher has been out for weeks with a few more coming. The Principal has hired day to day subs instead of an ATR like myself for the entire time. I was asked to do the conferences because a sub couldn't handle the report cards, parents and explanations of the standardized tests. Well, the parents were really upset that their kids at are not learning with different subs in every day. they seemed to like me cause their kids were excited about working in class with me and having fun. Yes, we ATRs know what we do.
 

No kidding! It took me two hours to get control of this class which has been partying for 3 weeks. I had them doing real work for the first time. And they liked it after they realized I am a teacher not a sub. I went to the chapter leader --- said admin will claim they are to busy to deal with it. Too busy to run their school? You can see
their priorities. what a shame, blame the DoE....your article infers that we like week to week. Today was the first time i felt like a teacher and would gladly stay with this class for as long as it takes, even though I was warned they are really bad from the other teachers, I said two weeks with me and they will be the best class in the
school!

The GEM ATR committee sent out this email tonight.


 Welcome to new ATR additions to this list,

A must read piece on ATRs at NYC Educator: http://nyceducator.com/2011/11/dignity-gap.html#disqus_thread
Leave a comment.

See the text of the leaflet below and the attachment if you want to share with others.

A reminder that we are holding our second meeting tomorrow at the diner at 9th ave and 34th St. at 5PM. Depending on how many people show we will avoid the situation of the last meeting by breaking up into work groups at different tables.

So far we have the following groups:
Legal
Publicity/outreach - to the general public, the non-atr teacher corps and right now most importantly so we can build - to other ATRs - and to closing schools.
UFT liaison
Anyone with another group send it along.

Other agenda items- building some structure into this group.

If you saw a recent TJC response to the report of what happened at the Delegate Assembly, this point was made:
"It's still possible for ATRs to organize themselves  and supporters to hold an action, and ask UFT to endorse and build, the way that  was done in 2008.  This cannot be done overnight, but needs to be carefully  planned and given adequate time to be organized sufficiently to make it  effective."

ATRs are too isolated to organize without setting up some structure. That is why GEM took action to jump start a group, which has begun. But we need to move to the next phase which is to make the GEMATR group self-governing (think of the Occupy movements) with some structure. Thus we hope we can move towards a steering committee - maybe even come up with a temporary committee at the meeting with the idea of having one elected at some point.

The most important outreach we need is to other ATRs and also get into schools on the closing list since the teachers there are the future ATRs.

Another thing to do it expose what is going on in the schools you are traveling to.

One ATR was told to do clerical work with the secretary. She refused saying she was  a teacher and wanted to teach. The principal called her "lazy" and said that was why she wouldn't get a job. You mean there isn't one child in that school who could not use some one on one tutoring?

Same situation at another school where a licensed math teacher was told to sit in the hallway all day. Not one child needs tutoring in math?

Another school - the ATR was told to go through the scanner and refused. I won't go into details but if she is at the meeting tomorrow we may hear all the details.

Another ATR ran into a union rep and he ran away to hide in the bathroom.

Maybe we have a "sharing table" tomorrow - but have these stories chronicled for publication.

TEXT OF OUR LEAFLET

Dear Delegates: PLEASE SHARE WITH ATRS IN YOUR SCHOOL! EVERY TEACHER IS A POTENTIAL ATR!

ATRs will gather Nov. 16 at 5PM at the Skylight Diner (34th St and 9th Avenue)               

On Oct. 22, almost 40 ATRs gathered at the first meeting called by the GEMATR committee, exhilarated at the opportunity to share their stories and strategies with others, something they felt they had not been able to do at the UFT borough ATR meetings. There was discussion of forming committees - publicity, legal, UFT liaison, etc. and a call for a follow-up meeting. Since then, ATRs have shuffled to different schools each week and have been issuing great reports on the blogs. While 10% have been offered provisional jobs, there are still an estimated 1200 left and with 49 schools on the DOE (don't fix schools, close them) chopping block, we can expect a massive influx of new ATRs next year.

It was clear to everyone in the room that only by organizing ATRs into an effective force could their interests be defended. And that could only happen by reaching out to other ATRs and the rest of the teaching corps to educate them – the forty must grow into 400. Since then, the GEMATR committee has received daily requests asking to join the GEMATR Google group. If your only sources of information are the D.O.E dispatches from Tweed, the UFT newspaper or the compliant mass media, you are not getting the whole picture.

Some amazing blogs by ATR are out there: nycatr.blogspot.com, chaz11.blogspot.com, travatr.blogspot.com (each week the ATR brilliantly issues his own rating of the school he was at), iceuftblog.blogspot.com, and ednotesonline.com. The amount of information about the schools ATRs visit offers a snapshot of the school system that is proving embarrassing for Bloomberg.

Help fight off the destructive actions of the DOE done in the name of "school reform", as well as the poor decisions of the UFT leadership resulting in the loss of job protections and the unwarranted closure of over 100 of high schools (& middle schools) over the objections of parents, students, alumni, teachers, community, etc.
·       Ask ATRs to sign up for the GEMATR google group at gematr@googlegroups.com.
·       Support the resolution on ATRs co-sponsored by TJC and GEM during the new motion period.
·       Pass the word to ATRs: Attend the Nov. 16 meeting, 5PM, at the Skylight Diner (34th St and 9th Ave.)

The Grassroots Education Movement ATR Committee: gemnyc@gmail.com

Here are some interesting links from key ATR supporting blogs:

The Traveling ATR  http://travatr.blogspot.com/
My Adventures As A Gypsy ATR . School #6

From NYCATR: http://nycatr.blogspot.com/
The UFT 1% turns a deaf ear
Michael Mendel's "Hissy Fit"
Once again, the New York Teacher fails to report on the ATR
"Demagogic Rant" by Michael Mendel
Business as usual at the UFT Delegate Assembly

DOE and UFT claim that weekly rotation is peachy keen: New York Times
No ATR teacher on ATR Joint Oversight Committee: Chaz's School Daze
The Dignity Gap: NYC Educator
How reformers alienate teachers: Joanne Jacobs

http://chaz11.blogspot.com/
Who Are The People On The Joint Oversight Committe...
The Disgraceful Disconnect Between The DOE's Schoo...
The "Numb Nuts" At The DOE Adds More Responsibilit...
The "Restart/Transformation" Schools Are Shortchan...
If You Don't Believe That Principals Are Trying To...
Is This Really Something To Cheer About As One Out...

Google Group
We are still having some issues with the google group we set up. It does weird stuff. We have 47 people signed up and 60 pending. The problem is that once a person is invited we can't re-invite them. We will keep trying. Also some people seem to be able to get mail but when they try to send something it gets rejected.
Thus I am sending this out to both the email listserve and the Google group to be sure everyone gets it. If you get this twice then you are in the google group.

I'm resending some posts so those not in the google group can be up to date.

Insulting Article below - posted by an ATR

New Policy on Substitutes Leads to More in Permanent Slots


Nov. 14, 2011, 10:58 a.m.

By Beth Fertig

Further Cracks in Ed Deform No Excuses Mantra

“A teacher who works in a community like this and thinks that these children can leave their issues at the door and come in and perform is dreaming.”  NY Times, Nov. 15, 2011

This statement by Dr. Pamela Cantor the non-profit Turnaround for Children, is a dagger to the heart of the Teach for America and general ed deform "no excuses- the classroom teacher hero just needs better lesson plans - if a child disrupts it is YOUR fault" concept.

My principal used to claim that in a school with 15 regular ed and 15 special ed classes, 40% of her time was taken up by maybe 10-15 kids.

Anna Philips' piece in today's NY Times, "Calming Schools by Focusing on Well-Being of Troubled Students" about schools dealing with the most difficult students, students that you won't find in charter schools, has some interesting nuggets.

In focusing on students’ psychological and emotional well-being, in addition to academics, Turnaround occupies a middle ground between the educators and politicians who believe schools should be more like community centers, and the education-reform movement, with its no-excuses mantra. Over the past decade, the movement has argued that schools should concentrate on what high-quality, well-trained teachers can achieve in classrooms, rather than on the sociological challenges beyond their doors.

For schools in tough neighborhoods where many principals say they can barely see their teachers’ work through the fog of students’ extreme behavior, Turnaround offers a whole-child model that requires the hiring of social workers and the training of teachers in how to respond to outbursts in ways other than sending children to the principal’s office.

Turnaround’s approach is based on the premise that teaching can be made easier if schools confront the 5 percent of students who behave the worst. When they do not, Dr. Cantor said, those 5 percent often pull down the next 10 percent to 15 percent of troublesome students in an academic riptide. 

At a panel discussion in New York City last month, James Shelton, the federal Education Department’s assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement, said programs like Turnaround were often overlooked as “so much kumbaya.”

“The research for what Pam is doing is significant and growing,” he said, “and for us to ignore that is not only at our peril, it’s just stupid.”

So, poverty and dysfunctional families does make a difference.

============
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 the right for important bits.

OWS Tweets and More - Judge Restraining Order - Eviction illegal

Last Update - 8:30AM

Hearing for TEMP restraining order -at 11:30AM.


http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

DEMOCRACY NOW - live stream - http://www.democracynow.org/

BorowitzReport Andy Borowitz

BREAKING: Libya Warns NYPD to Exercise Restraint #OWS #OccupyWallSt #OccupyWallStreet

MORE BELOW THE FOLD

Occupying Andrew Cuomo: NYC Office Election Day Protest

A short 7 minute video I made to try to capture the spirit of the demo - I would have had even more stuff if I had remembered to press the "record" button.





Watch directly on you tube: http://youtu.be/NCCQ-qzqyq0

Read the full excellent Sunday NY Times Nov. 13 piece by Gina Bellafonte exceprts of which I used in the video.


Also read Children March on Governor Cuomo’s Office

below the fold

Public Education is Under Attack!: GEM Public Meeting November 14, 2011

GEM: PUBLIC MEETING!
Public Education is Under Attack!

Learn how you can get involved with the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) and the CITY-WIDE FIGHTBACK to:

• End high stakes testing!
• Demand a REAL Parent Voice in Education!
• Stop charter co-locations and school closings!
• Occupy the PEP to make it a true democratic forum!
• Support those in the Absent Teacher Reserve!

Join GEM and the
FIGHT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION.
 November 14
5:00-7:00 Room: 5414
CUNY Grad Center
365 Fifth Avenue
(between 34th and 35th streets)

The Grassroots Education Movement to Defend Public Education educates and mobilizes educators, parents, students and our communities against the corporate and government policies that underfund, undermine and privatize our public school system. GEM advocates both within and outside the UFT for the equality and quality of public education services and the rights of school workers.

Parents, Teachers, Students:
Join Our Struggle!

The People's University in Washington Square Park presents Education for the 99%

ODOE WILL MEET SUNDAY AT NOON IN ATRIUM AT 60 WALL ST.


Thanks to Pat Dobosz for the following:


Here are some photos from today's People's University. All the speakers were excellent, but the most moving was Melissa Garcia speaking about the undocumented students and her own situation. She is working with the New York State Youth Leadership Council and is hoping for legislation that will help undocumented students be able to receive TAP grants. She was passionate and "unafraid" to speak out. Bravo! 

Gabriel People's University

 

Megan Behrent,

               Leonie Haimson,Class Size Matters

Melissa Garcia, keeping the

Dream Act Alive

Kelly Wolcott, Teacher OWS

                                    

Fred Smith, retired

    organizer teacher, writer

        

NYC activists, teachers, parents, and students speak on the fight for public education in New York City and around the nation.

Saturday, Nov 12th, 1:30pm
Washington Square Park

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters / Parents Across America 

[how the 1% are controlling education policy in this country and wrecking our public schools]

Latoshia Wheeler, PTA President, K634, District 23
[parents and students face school closings in a broken education system]

Megan Behrent, NYC Public School Teacher
[perspectives from the classroom on Bloomberg's policies]

Melissa Garcia, New York State Youth Leadership Council
[keeping the DREAM Act alive]

Organizers from Occupy the DOE and the Student Week of Action in Defense of Education, Nov. 14-21

More info on http://peoplesu.tumblr.com
http://www.facebook.com/NYU4OWS

=====
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 the right for important bits.

Benita Rivera on

Chaz' report

The "Numb Nuts" At The DOE Adds More Responsibility & Paperwork To Teachers By Now Requiring Them To Report Child Abuse Directly To ACS.

has caused some interesting comments. Chaz argues teachers are not trained and trained guidance counselors should continue to do the reporting. Jeff Kaufman points out that this is state law and the DOE was violating it and in fact this puts them in compliance, making this additional point:

  I for one think we should mandatorally report. If college football coaches were mandatory reporters perhaps the abuse would have ended 15 years ago at Penn State and Joe Paterno could still be a coach.

Chaz counters with:

Joe Paterno has a private office and a telephone, teachers don't. To dump us with the responsibility and paperwork is unfair to the teachers. Also if we fail to see any abuse then you could be brought up on disciplinary charges by the DOE. Change the law.

Benita Rivera, parent activist (and superb graphic designer) is concerned about the seriousness of contacting ACS for parents who could wrongly have a child removed from the home. I know of cases where a vindictive principal and one case of a vindictive teacher called ACS on a parent for reasons that had nothing to do with the welfare of the children. So be careful - and sure - out there but also remember Penn State.

Of tremendous concern is that this regulation (is it city or state?) puts another boulder in the way of parents and teacher becoming the natural allies they ought to be.  

Bloomberg's model of control, either carried out by the Tweedie birds, Networks, Principals, UFT or the NYPD refuses to recognize the essential factors that racism, classism, cross-cultural misunderstandings and lack of TRUST play in educational outcomes for our children.  As a parent and activist, I can speak authentically of the atmosphere of distrust and fear between school administrators and parents who are all espousing care for the well being of children. 

I agree that teachers should report if they have seen something suspicious, but being responsible for direct contact with ACS is OUTRAGEOUS!  Social workers, guidance counselors and the "trained" team of money-grubbers from the Networks should take the teacher's report, do an emergency assessment, intervene as a team with the parents, and be responsible for contacting ACS if it's warranted. 

I make no excuses for bad parents.  Those that abuse and neglect their offspring are despicable.  Their behavior needs to be spotted as soon as possible so the children are rescued, the family held accountable, and helped.     

The sad fact is, teachers and schools also abuse and neglect.  

Maybe not in the same way parents do, but horrible things DO happen inside schools.  The lasting effect of educational neglect or abuse by teachers--(not in a sexual way because that does seem to get attention) but in the not-so-subtle forms of abuse like bias and prejudice, or constantly screaming, demeaning, exhibiting emotionally destructive language, unfairness, favoritism, etc. is hurtful, especially to majority poor and children of color who may not have the support systems they need to overcome it from a teacher / authority figure.  What happens to too many of kids in our NYC schools is almost as terrible to their futures as is coming from abusive homes. 

A few years back, I was informed that my 10th grade son was constantly late for school even though he was leaving the house on time.  I found out that he was delaying going there because of the demoralizing atmosphere-- and the fact that he felt his teachers HATED him.  He said they made snarky remarks if he answered wrong and made unwanted comments about him bringing a cooked lunch from home (he has food allergies).  They made inappropriate mention of my attendance at SLT meetings, and they did not like that he spoke up in defense of some of his “slower” classmates when made fun of by teachers as a way to show their power.  The principal was guilty of replacing iPods when stolen, just to keep peace with her favored students.  She rewarded bad behavior by taking kids out to lunch with her or giving them special tasks in school where they could earn money, but the good kids got no recognition.  When I heard these complaints from my 14 year old-- what could I do about it?  No teacher would admit that they were guilty of such horrible behavior.  As if my job as a single mom wasn't hard enough, what was allowed to go on in that school actually made my parenting work even harder. It took a ton of effort to get my son to go to school on time, do well once there, and get out by graduating-- by any means necessary—which included offers of bribery gifts and extra privileges on my part.    

Grieving a complaint to the DoE or the police is not so easy a thing for a parent who recognizes teacher abuse or school neglect.  And all things being equal, since there is ACS to call on parents, there should also be a “trigger” agency to call on teachers and the schools.  But no teacher would want that—just as we parents don’t want teachers calling ACS on us!      

Contacting ACS is a wickedly powerful tool in the wrong hands.  All too often it can be used as a weapon against “problem” parents who are strongly opposed to a school's policies, or may be having trouble with their kid's teacher.   It’s wrong on so many levels to make teachers spy on parents as part of their job, especially since so many are cultural foreigners in the communities where they work.  The Anglo standard of "good parenting" does not one-size-fit all.  I have come across many parents in my community of color who are afraid to discipline their own children because of ACS.  As early as kindergarten, children are talking back to their parents after being told in school what their parents can't do.  Little angry munchkins are actually threatening to tell on Mommie or Daddy so that the teacher will call ACS on them.  What may look or sound like neglect or abuse in the home may be nothing of the sort, yet once ACS is called-- the parent can lose their job because of court dates and social service investigations, all to find nothing.  That just makes matters worse-- both at home, and between parents and teachers. 

Fear and humiliation are tactical weapons of the system of educational control we live under.  But they are NO WAY to change the status quo of bad parent/teacher relationships and terrible learning outcomes.  Yet ACS is to Parents what the Rubber Room was to Teachers. 

Surely, TOGETHER, all of us smart and caring adults can up with a better method of protecting children, their homes and educations from abuse and neglect than making teachers and parents any more distrustful of one another.

If anyone is willing to work with The Mothers' Agenda NY on a better solution for protecting children than what the DoE is forcing on teachers, please contact us thru our website:  www.wearethemany.org

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 the right for important bits.

The Convenient Truth About My Road Trip to SUNY Cortland, Part 2

11/11/11 -11:11 PM - Don't you love it?

In Part 1 I laid out the background of my road trip to SUNY Cortland – which was really an air trip – to the Syracuse neck of the woods. I forgot to describe the tiny plane which seated 2 across on one side and had only one seat on the other side. One of the smallest planes I've been on. I prayed the rubber band wouldn't break.

Before getting to the panel itself, I want to give you some of my impressions of a day spent in the bowels of academia.

Cortland is the 8th largest teacher training school in the nation. So I spent the day interfacing with two groups of people: higher education professors who train teachers and college and grad students who are becoming teachers, pretty much all of them in their early twenties and under.

Though I got to hang with the loveliest people all day, I have to say that that my comfort level with education academics has never been great since I started teaching. You see as a history major in college I was one of those who looked down on people becoming teachers, on ed courses and on the people who teach them. I certainly changed my mind about those (mostly) women teaching elementary school after my first week when many of them saved my ass.

Even in my brief 6 week summer of '67 TFA-like training program for men looking to get out of the draft by teaching elementary school in hard to staff areas the best instructors I had were NYCDOE supervisors. OK, I never liked them much either but in those years you didn't become a supervisor unless you spent a number of years teaching in the trenches.

Now meeting all the academics on Wednesday, I felt they knew what they were doing and some of them even did teach for a while before moving up to higher ed. But my contact the future teacher students  made me feel I connected with some of them - at least from the ones who came up to touch base after the panel. The same thing happened at the Oct. 27 panel at NYU where the experience as a teacher who didn't leave the classroom for 30 years seemed to resonate with some future educators while sometimes I feel higher ed people are thinking - dumb, dumb, dumb.

Let me get to the panel. 

The hall was not fully occupied but I'm guessing 100+ people, mostly students.

Sandra Vergari who has done extensive research on charter schools was the first speaker. While putting on a face of neutrality on charters and pointing to the positive and negatives of both WFS and TITBWFS, I felt the way she presented the material was somewhat simplistic: that there were 2 opposing sides - one led by reformers and the other by the old stakeholders (teacher unions, school boards, supervisors - the old guard defending the status quo - though she didn't actually use that poisoned term - which I would have countered with " the ed deformers are the new status quo after 16 years in Chicago and a decade in NYC and charters all over the nation screwing up as bad or worse than public school in greater numbers. She also presented school choice as a positive factor. In her critique of the films she declared them both one-sided propaganda pieces, not addressing the fact that our film was a response to WFS that focused on the deficiencies of that truly propaganda piece. We did not make our film to show both sides of the charter or union debate. I do not consider our film propaganda but the truth.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz went next and started out taking a middle position between where Sandra and I were coming from. But she clearly was lining up against the ed deformers (as was most of the audience it seemed, especially the instructors. But is was her climax where the read a letter from a teacher at a well-known charter school who resigned in frustration that blew everyone away.

My presentation, after showing a short clip of our movie, was a hybrid between my personal experience as a teacher and activist (I connected the two, pointing out fighting for better conditions for students and teachers outside the classroom was a major component of my satisfaction as a teacher) and an assault on ed deform. I was working from some notes but ended up digressing, yet felt much more confident than I did at Hofstra and felt I got a better response - I could tell by the expressions on people's faces.

The question and answer period was dynamic though it seemed few questions were coming from the students. But a number of them came up at the end to say hello and thank me. I invited them all to join us one Sunday at 12 noon at 60 Wall St. at Occupy the DOE.

The Convenient Truth About My Road Trip to SUNY Cortland, Part 1

11/11/11 - Been waiting  a hundred years to write that.

Happy Armistice Day everyone. That was what we called it when I was a kid. Just read that 116,000 Americans died in the Great War - most over a very short period of time. We visited the War Memorial Museum in London not long ago and I had to be torn away - just trying to imagine what being part of that was like.

I realize I have too much to say so I am making this a 2-parter. (See part 2 here.)

Last Update: 5:30pm

Part 1
I got back Thursday from my overnight trip to SUNY Cortland, a small state school not far from Syracuse. I was representing the Grassroots Education Movement film "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." The surprising demand for our film as a counter to WFS in colleges has been amazing. (See the note I attached at the end of this post as an example of the kind of email we get every day.) Of course need I remind you that the UFT continues to boycott our film while failing to come up with an adequate response to the ed deformers - but then again when they try to straddle the line how can they? At the TC panel when an audience member attempted to brand the union as opposing standardized testing, Julie pointed out that union has basically supported high stakes testing (though you hear whimpers now and then about how awful it is.)

This was the 4th panel I have been on over the past 2 weeks. Up to now I have backed off these panels, deferring to so many of our great young spokespeople who are so facile with the issues. But with all our classroom people so busy, the the 3rd string is going in - me.

Let's see now, I was at Hofstra, NYU, Teachers College and Cortland. All in 2 weeks. Whereas NYU and TC were post screening QandAs, at Hofstra and Cortland I was expected to speak for 15 minutes.

Yikes! A speech. I really have never done much of that so I had to do a lot of thinking, a dangerous thing, continuously worried I would have a Rick Perry moment.

The speaking events did not follow a screening so the audience did not necessarily see our film. Both had a focus of sorts on charters - at Hofstra I was in a debate of sorts with a NYC Charter School Center rep. I did OK but felt me remarks should have been tighter but I had trouble putting the case against ed deform into 15 minutes. That experience helped me organize a better presentation at Cortland which I hope to further refine just in case I have to do it again.

I did have some trepidation about heading into the land of academia where I am not that comfortable. I did not leave the classroom and I believe that no matter what people say deep down those who did leave must be wondering what was wrong with me.

But as you'll see, the experience at Cortland was A+ all the way.

I want to thank Alexis Abramo of the Teacher Professional Development Network at SUNY Cortland for organizing the event and taking great care of us. She got us plane tickets and hotel rooms and even picked us up at the airport. She arranged a full day for us including lunch, dinner and a conference room for us to work in preparing our remarks, also treating us to lunch and organizing a dinner with much of the faculty before the panel. And she brought us chocolate snacks.

Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz

By "us" I mean Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz a professor at Teachers College, Columbia who I flew up with. I  briefly met Yolanda at one of the New Teacher Underground meetings this past summer where she was a guest speaker. As we went around the room announcing how many years the teachers were in the system, we heard numbers from one to four - until they came to me. My "35 years" blew some people away. She came over to thank me for my years of service and gave me a big hug. We chatted and realized we were both on the same panel in Cortland.

So when we met again as we were boarding the plane and found we were sitting next to each other, we began a rich conversation about education that went on - except for a some breaks during the day - until we closed down the restaurant in the hotel later that night after a delicious late post dinner snack. We would have kept going except Yolanda had to catch a 5:30AM flight back.

I found out on this trip that Yolanda is one of those incredibly supportive people who expresses appreciation to everyone for what they do - really always thinking of others - one of those Teach for America alum who really gets it.

After lunch we went to a bag lunch seminar run by Lalitha Vasudevan, another Teachers College Prof and a good buddy of Yolanda's. There was a small group of future teachers in the room and I was impressed by their fervor and commitment to teaching. I was thinking whether these fully trained teachers preparing for a career who were not Teach For America 6 week short-term wonders would go the way of the Dodo bird.

Many of you  may remember the anti-Teachers College frenzy that went on in the early years of BloomKlein during the Lucy Calkins craze where teachers felt that the TC method was being forced down their throats. Well, being exposed to these ladies for an entire day certainly had a positive impact on me.

After dinner, we went over to the lecture hall. Both films had been screened

Sandra Vergari

3 times over the last week but I was concerned that people in the audience may not have seen the film. So I asked for a brief segment to be shown.

In addition to Yolanda and myself the panel also included Sandra Vergari who has done extensive research on charter schools. Sandra was there to provide a neutral perspective on charter schools to counter my rabid anti-charter stance while Yolanda was taking a position somewhere between Sandra and I.

In Part 2 I will talk about the panel, the audience (mostly students with a batch of professors) reaction and my impressions of a day spent in the bowels of academia.

---------------------
Afterburns
In our movie, Sam Coleman from GEM and NYCORE, a teacher at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, makes some powerful statements about how high stakes testing has affected his school, which services so any English language learners. He says when asked why his school doesn't do as well on the tests Sam says, "You're asking the wrong question. What's wrong with your tests?" Here is a great piece on Sam's school, which by the way has a number of activist young teachers working with NYCORE. (Thanks to Gotham Schools for the link). It is noteworthy that the DOE offered reams of support for the principal and the work the school is doing.

A look into a dual-language program at Brooklyn’s P.S. 24. (Feet in Two Worlds)
-------------------------
Our Film at UNM

Hi there,
I am part of the Peace Studies Program here at the University of New Mexico and we are interested in doing a large scale (hopefully!) screening of the movie at the start of next year where we plan to try to raise some money for your work and local education reform efforts.  In the meantime - we would like to show it to a small group of students and faculty this coming Monday (Nov. 14) in order to figure out a specific set of talking points and how to prep. classes and the public in advance of the film and to better prepare for a post film discussion. Last semester we did the same with 'Waiting for Superman' and were able to quite successfully debunk the film...  We hope to take as good of a look at your film in order to highlight its attributes...When we showed 'Waiting for Superman' last semester (to an audience of about 100+ people), we had invited the New Mexico Secretary of Education - Hannah Skandera (formerly of Florida fame) to engage in a debate with our in state NEA Union President.  She cancelled at the last second when she realized that the crowd on campus might be critical of her - so we had a great time deconstructing the film without her!

Walcott Visits District 6: A Parent Report

I used to praise Joel Klein for his ability to alienate people - he really was our best organizer. At the very least I thought Walcott would have the ability to deflect people. But it is turning out he has that old Klein magic touch.

UPDATED Friday, 11/11, 6PM
Leonie posted Tory's email on the NYCParent blog with links, etc.

Dennis Walcott infuriates parents once again, this time in District 6

On Thursday November 10, the Community Education Council in Northern Manhattan hosted a Town Hall meeting with Chancellor Dennis Walcott.  The CEC prepared an excellent power point containing key data about the district, along with specific questions for the Chancellor.  It was a contentious meeting, according to all reports; see the Gotham Schools story.  Unfortunately, despite lots of PR spin about "partnering with parents," there is no evidence that Walcott is willing to listen to parents and shift away from the wrong-headed and damaging policies of his predecessor, Joel Klein, including repeated budget cuts, class size increases, worsening overcrowding, preferential treatment of charter schools with continued co-locations , and incessant testing. Here is the account of the meeting from Victoria Frye, CEC 6 member and public school parent:  

We described the issues facing our schools: too little resources to provide a quality education; overcrowded schools; disgraceful school conditions; budget cuts; co-locations; THE LIST GOES ON!

Tonight the District 6 CEC hosted a Town Hall with Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
We described the issues facing our schools: too little resources to provide a quality education; overcrowded schools; disgraceful school conditions; budget cuts; co-locations; THE LIST GOES ON! 

With each, Dennis Walcott got up and...spouted the party line:

• "The reality is that in this economy there will be mid-year budget cuts."
• "With shrinking budgets, leaders must be creative."
• "By creating school choice we are allowing the market place to drive the issues."
• "I respect Joel Klein tremendously. I think the world of Joel Klein."
• "There are no plans in our capital budget for a new facility for Mott Hall*."
• And then something along the lines of: "your D6 schools are so bad that we will not replicate or grow them; we will simply bring in [charters that really know how to educate your D6 children."

What to say?
OCCUPY. IT IS THE ONLY WAY.
* The only program for gifted D6 IS students and a national model. 

Victoria (Tory) Frye, member CEC6

Educators use Occupy Movement to Empower Students, Defend Public Education

UPDATE: 2PM

NY Times Schoolbook coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/11/08/tweed-protesters-decry-privatization-of-schools

 

Another video from Jaisal Noor on yesterday's ODOE- that one of GEM's amazing parent activists Janine Sopp with her daughter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z3_oGsFGyU&feature=channel_video_title




If you saw my post last night of the action on the steps of Tweed (OCCUPY The DOE)
you can see a whole new generation of teachers taking charge of the movement. You'll note that this is an independent movement of NYC teachers not controlled by the UFT. While mildly critical of the UFT, whenever they mention the union is it not with the kind of critical eye I turn on them - I guess it takes about 40 years of dealing with Unity Caucus before you give up - but they talk about pushing the UFT leaders to take action in defense of public education. Good luck!

One of the exciting things for me is the expansion of video coverage of education events by independent professional or semi-professional videographers and reporters - people who really know how to tell a story. This takes a lot of pressure off me to be there to film every event. But without adequate editing skills or working with more than one camera, or without the time to really work up a piece, I am often left to throw up the entire unedited video.

I really need to learn how to do what Meerkat Media or Jaisal Noor at The Real News does in this great video story featuring some of the movement's fabulous teacher/organizers.

http://youtu.be/LLox1bQ47Vs




Filmaker Michael Galinsky whose "Battle for Brooklyn" resonated with so many people has gotten involved in the Battle for Public Ed since the school his child attends was co-located. Here is a piece he wrote connecting the OWS to the ODOE movement that in just a few weeks has taken off.
http://www.rumur.com/news/occupying-the-institutions/

NEWS

Occupying the Institutions.

Posted by Michael on October 29th, 2011 Filed in Rumur

Last week on buzzflash I wrote about the connection between our film “Battle for Brooklyn” and OWS. Last year, as we completed Battle, we started to make a film about education in NY. We saw intense similarities between the way in which parents were shut out of the education process and the way in which communities were shut out of the development process. Our daughters’ school felt under attack by the DOE, and we heard rumors that they planned on putting a charter school in our building. We started to examine the way in which decisions were made and information flowed, and we found a thoroughly corrupted system that was gamed to shut out parent and community involvement. It was once again, a top down management style that did not take into consideration the voices of those most affected by decision makers.

The process, of housing one school inside another has a tendency to pit neighbor against neighbor, forcing them to fight over scarce resources in the guise of fostering competition. If the community is divided, those in power have a much easier time of doing what they want. We witnessed both development fights and school fights using sham public forums to create the impression of public involvement. However these public meetings were almost always overrun by division. We saw this time and time again in the Atlantic Yards fight, and it was clearly taking place in the schools fight. In fact democratic leader Jo Ann Simon made this direct point at a meeting about inserting one charter school in another public school

Last year I wrote a piece about our process of starting a film about education in NY. The times they have a changed in an unbelievable way. Last year the people accepted the fact that they would have to fight each other for scraps. In the following video there is anger at the DOE from all sides, but a lot of that anger is also based around communities fighting each other. Charter schools brought their supporters and the threatened schools brought theirs. In the end the vast majority of people walked out. The charter supporters stayed, and they got their schools. People walked out en masse because they knew that they weren’t going to be listened to and they were fed up. The public meeting was a sham, and people knew it.

This year the people took over the PEP meeting using consensus techniques learned at Occupy Wall Street, rendering those in power essentially useless. Thankfully it was captured by meerkat media collectiveso that we have direct evidence that the occupy movement has moved from anger to rage to action.

From the first moments of my first visit to occupy wall street I had a sense that something momentous was taking place. This morning, when I saw this video by meerkat media that cinematically captures the people taking control in a consensus model it was clear that the movement has powerful legs to carry it.

OCCUPY The DOE

We headed over the try to catch a piece of the action at the Occupy DOE General Assembly on the steps of Tweed after the screening of our film at Teachers College and managed to catch the last 10 minutes. The steps of Tweed were still loaded with people. The GA will continue every Sunday at 12 noon in the atrium at 60 Broadway where further decisions on actions to take will be made.

The event was live streamed by techs from OWS. Look for link coming up.

Reminder - tomorrow -Occupy Cuomo: Tuesday, Nov. 8

Also - amazing at Liberty Plaza - David Crosby and Graham Nash doing a concert at 3-4PM.

Here is the Facebook page.

Great NYC1 story from Lindsay Christ who counted a couple of hundred protesters.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/150375/teachers--children-s-advocates-bring-education-demands-to-doe-s-steps?ap=1&

Gotham also reported - they counted just over a hundred.
http://gothamschools.org/2011/11/07/occupy-protesters-join-teachers-and-parents-on-tweed-steps/


Real Reformer Beats Ed Deformer

Patrick Sullivan, Manhattan member of the PEP, won a well-deserved award from Advocates for Justice Friday night for “Standing With Our Children”,  and today ran his first marathon at an exception 3:48.
 Dennis Walcott ran the Marathon at 4:24

The Enemy Within

With all the problems facing NYC public schools perhaps the biggest is the enemy within - the very people running the system are anti-public school ed deformers who favor certain politically connected charters (hint: a touch of evil). District 3 (upper west side) CEC President Noah Gotbaum illuminates us.


Question: What do the three schools being targeted for closure in District 3 – Wadleigh Secondary, Frederick Douglass Academy II Middle School, and Opportunity Charter School – have in common? 
If you answered failing schools on the most recent progress reports you would be wrong.

The correct answer is that they are all being proposed for closure solely to provide Eva Moskowitz and two of her Harlem Success Charter schools with additional co-located space.

Given their past performance and the populations which Wadleigh, FDAII, and Opportunity Charter serve, these schools should be lauded and supported rather than threatened with closure.  Instead, the DOE has been starving the 6-12 public schools Wadleigh and FDAII, which traditionally have received strong progress reports and have seen both their programs enrollment improving.  Despite this, and a first time poor progress report grade this year, the DOE is recommending them for closure.  Same holds true for Opportunity Charter which, while no paragon for having tried to prevent its teachers from unionizing and also having had some disciplinary problems, consistently has received high progress report grades and for years has been held up as a model by the DOE for charters since it educates predominantly special needs kids.  On no account is OCS failing, and received a B on its last 3 progress reports including this year. The DOE even went so far as to recommend last year to SUNY that Opportunity Charter get its charter renewed.  Now, however, they are calling for its closure because it is failing?!  Please explain DOE…

I will provide much more detail in the coming days on this incredibly sad and sordid example of how the DOE is undermining the 99.5% of schools which serve all students simply to advantage and provide phony examples of Eva's "high performing" charter schools "beating the odds."   Unfortunately, however, we are scrambling at the moment to plan for the DOE's "Pre-engagement" meeting with FDAII parents scheduled for 5:30 today – which we first found out about on Friday afternoon!

Again, more to come on this but in the interim anyone who can break away from the Occupy the DOE meeting at 5 to join us please do:  Wadleigh/FDAII Auditorium, 114th between 7th and 8th Avenues.  5:30 pm tonight.  Thank you!

noah

Subject: [nyceducationnews] 21 NYC HS and 6 charters on possible closure list
In addition to 20 elem & middle schools already identified; some of them did not get the low grades thought to trigger the process.

Meanwhile, at least 2 charters w/ failing grades authorized by DOE but are NOT on poss. closure list: Bronx Lighthouse and Fahari Academy; http://goo.gl/qbFRe.

The high schools  include three schools receiving federal "transformation" funding; http://gothamschools.org/2011/11/02/city-adds-high-schools-charter-schools-to-possible-closure-list/
Many new small schools, including 2 "College Board" schools also on list: Academy For Scholarship And Entrepreneurship: A College Board School (Bronx) Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School (Brooklyn).

Whole list (exc. Charters) are here: http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/150076/doe-officials-mark-total-of-47-schools-for-closure
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/11/02/21-high-schools-identified-as-struggling

On the Dreaded D's and U's: Discontinued and Unsatisfactory

Many people are not aware of the total power handed to principals to kill an untenured teacher's career by giving them not only a U rating but also a Discontinue which blacklists the person in the computer system and prevents even a principal who wants to hire that person from doing so.

Do you think there are psychotic - or worse- principals in this system who might D someone because of prejudice against a person's sexual orientation or religion (I know a wonderful teacher who is a Muslim and also a friend of the chapter leader who was D's and can't work)? The DOE has handed all too many people a loaded career-killing gun while the UFT hides under the rug (go ask the UFT which will "represent" a teacher with a D at a hearing that even they will tell you they never win).

I mean why give one person the power to stop another principal from hiring them? Even if you think a person should get a U why not let them work elsewhere? What can account for this other than pure vindictiveness? I know of cases where the teacher did not know enough to bow and scrape properly (in one case the CL asked the teacher to beg but she just couldn't do it - I know, some of you are saying do anything - I guess that is the mentality wanted in today's teachers - the ability to lose all self-respect while also trying to get kids to respect them - sorry, I believe they don't go together.)

Let me point out that tenured teachers cannot get a D. But with so many untenured being extended to a 4th and even a 5th year (can they do this indefinitely? I hear YES!)  the D can hang over their heads for all those years. Last year around 50% of the teachers did not get their tenure. I'll bet the numbers are up this year as principals want to demonstrate how tough they are - can't you see their stats being examined? In other cases we saw the district superintendent over ruling principals. Funny how principals who are ogres, psychos and losers get support for chopping teachers but not when they support teachers.

On ICE-mail there was a question asked about the U vs Blacklist though it is not clear whether the writer understands the impact of the Dreaded D which is a real blacklist. Given Jeff's response below I want to point out that D's are not given for disciplinary reasons but for any reason the principal wants to come up with - like not liking the color of a person's tie - which will be backed by the DOE hearing officers - I mean why should a principal be subjected to having to look at an ugly tie?

Perry Mason writes:

Is there an official policy of U-Rating= Blacklisted? If so... is it in writing somewhere?
Has any court passed on the legality of this?!? Would this be the case for probationers only?
Say, for example, a tenured teacher got a single U-rating and then retired. Would he/she be eligible for further employment... for instance: to come back as a substitute? Or is one banned for life?
If so, does the ban extend to the state? Or just the city? And again: this is *legal*?
Hard to believe.

Jeff Kaufman clarified.

There seems to be a little confusion over U ratings and licensing (and/or certification). First there is nothing automatic about U ratings leading to anything except loss of salary step (if below step 8) and per session eligibility (although this doesn't seem to be universally enforced). License
revocation can only take place after a hearing (3020a for tenured or probation dismissal for non-tenured). I have never heard of a blacklist although there is an ineligible list which prevents new employment in the NYCDOE system after separation from DOE for disciplinary reasons.

If, after a 3020-a hearing you are dismissed your license (New York City) and certification (New York State) will prevent rehiring as a certified teacher. Dismissal on probation will not necessarily provide a state-wide ban unless you are provided a hearing. The DOE takes the position that placement on the ineligible list does not require a hearing since there is an appeal mechanism.

Remember dismissals on probation are appealable to both the DOE and the Courts but the standards of appeal and time limits are very different.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

=============
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 the right for important bits.

Upcoming The Week of November 6-12, 2011

Another busy week coming up. Note how many screenings of the film made by NYC teachers that the UFT refuses to acknowledge. First take a look at the graphic by Rob Rendo:

On Monday, November 7, I will be on a panel along with Leonie Haimson, Julie Cavanagh and Darren Marelli at Teacher’s College, 525 West 120th St., after a free screening of the movie, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,  at 4 PM, more info and to RSVP here.



Also on Monday, Occupy the DOE will be holding a General Assembly meeting at 5 PM-7PM on the steps of Tweed, to help create a People’s Agenda for our schools.  More info on our FB page here, where you can also add your suggestions and/or vote on what this agenda should include.

I attended a planning meeting for this event today that had 40 people. The meeting was run like a general assembly and an attempt to hold a democratic GA on the steps of Tweed will be made tomorrow - probably the first instance of democracy at Tweed in a hundred and forty years. See my post: It's the Time of the Season for Mic Check

For Planning Purposes Only:                                    Contacts:  Justin Wedes:    (646)392-6163 

November 7th, 2011                                                                Kelley Wolcott: (201)344-0382

MEDIA ADVISORY

After introducing catastrophic budget cuts to education that have left New York City schools overcrowded, under-staffed and sorely lacking in resources – despite an  estimated budget surplus in 2011 of more than $3 billion – Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues his attack on teachers, students and schools.

Educators, parents and other stakeholders impacted by failed educational and economic policy in city schools will be holding a People’s General Assembly on the steps of the Department of Education. The chancellor, members of the Panel for Educational Policy, and union leaders have been invited to attend and to participate in a democratic and open discussion about the state of education in New York City with stakeholders in public schools.

                       What:              Teachers, students, parents and education advocates from Occupy Wall Street will occupy the steps of the Department of                                             

                                              Education and hold their own democratic meeting on the state of public education in New York City

                       When:             5:00PM, Monday November 7^th, 2011

                       Where:            NYC Department of Education

                      52 Chambers St.

                                            New York, NY

Who:              Public school teachers, students, parents, education advocates and activists from Occupy Wall Street

On Wed. Nov. 9, there will be another free screening of the film, followed by a panel discussion about how charter co-locations are undermining our public schools,  at PS 261 in Brooklyn, at 314 Pacific Ave.  More info and a flyer here.

Also on Wed. I will be flying up to SUNY Cortland for a panel that evening that will discuss both Waiting for Superman and the GEM response. Both films have been screening over the last week. 




The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman'
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10th 6:30PM
BRONX RIVER ARTS CENTER (BRAC)

305 East 140 St #1A

check out the event on Facebook for a report about the film on GRITtv click here: GRITtv Report

A group of New York City public school teachers and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement wrote and produced this documentary in response to Davis Guggenheim's highly misleading film Waiting for 'Superman.' The film Waiting for 'Superman' would have audiences believe that free-market competition, standardized tests, destroying teacher unions, and above all, the proliferation of charter schools are just what this country needs to create great schools.

The film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman' highlights the real life experiences of public school parents and educators to show how these so-called reforms are actually hurting education. The film talks about the kinds of real reforms --inside school and in society as a whole--that we urgently need to genuinely transform education in this country. Running time 65 minutes.

For more information on the film contact: The Grassroots Education Movement.
www.gemnyc.org
gemnyc@gmail.com

Hosted by the International Socialist Organization: Bronx Branch

inconvenient_superman_BX_a.jpg 119K   View   Download

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC8gXZ-0OUc&feature=youtu.be