CUNY Students Occupy

Hi All,

I attended the CUNY GA at the Graduate Center last night and they are looking for our support on November 28th.

Below is an email sent out through GEM and NYCORE. Please forward info below widely to educators and parents. Apologies if it's repeat info for you.

In solidarity,

Heather

Dear fellow educators,



The Occupy CUNY GA met last night, with about 90 people in attendance, representing most CUNY schools, undergrads, grads and faculty, as well as a PSC staff rep. The GA called for a mass action on Monday, November 28 at the Board of Trustees hearing at Baruch College, on

25th Street and Lexington Ave, at 4:30 pm. The focus is to be on the intensifying police attacks on university students and protests in general, while also denouncing tuition increases. The exact time and place of the action will be decided at a CUNY-wide GA on Sunday, November 27. The GA also resolved to request that the PSC mobilize its membership for this action. I'll forward the formal statement when it is released. I hope it can be used to gain support from other teacher unions, as well.

This call should be of great concern to all NYC teachers, students and parents. Beyond the implications of growing police repression for our democratic right to peacefully protest, many of you studied in CUNY schools and many of your students will go on to study at CUNY schools. Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Goldstein's actions will close this door to most NYC students and render them voiceless to protest. We hope you will respond in force.

I would also like to suggest that Occupy the DOE and other groups defending education attend the 3rd CUNY wide General Assembly, on Sunday, November 27 at 3:00pm at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Harlem.


Video:  Police Charge Club CUNY Students at Baruch College 


CUNYt:  Peaceful Assembly (1 of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkBGMULZKxY

CUNY (2 of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMS5G3gxq8

CUNY (3 of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGvO8TQSLQk

CUNY (4 of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSeNS77XJd0

CUNY (5 of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klsh3YlhEg8
 
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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 the right for important bits.

May His Legacy Be: Bloomberg, Book Destroyer

Submitted by Justin Wedes:

Friends-

Today, librarians from The People's Library at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) held a press conference with renowned civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to denounce the destruction and disappearance of thousands of books during the midnight raid last week on Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park). Staff and patrons at the people-powered library gave heartfelt testimony about the city's trashing of the library, which at the height of its operation had over 5,000 books, newspapers, zines, digital media and rare documents housed under a half-cylindrical covering donated by Patti Smith. 

At the conference, hundreds of severely-damaged books were presented as evidence that the Bloomberg administration lied about its treatment of the People's Library during the raid. They claimed, through the Mayor's twitter feed, that the library items were "safely stored at the 57th St Sanitation Garage". In fact, thousands of books and other media remain unaccounted for and requests for information and comment from the City have not been returned. 

[Ed Note: They say OWS have no demands. Here are a few simple ones]

These are the immediate demands of the OWS People's Library:

~The Bloomberg administration must replace every single book missing or damaged, about 3161 books.

~The Bloomberg administration needs to acknowledge that a wrong was committed and this can never happen again.

~We need a space to recreate the People's Library (12% of city storefronts are vacant right now.)

The OWS People's Library remains committed to rebuilding itself in the coming weeks, with the support of the broader #occupy movement. But in the meantime, the sad reality is that 'Banks got bailed out. Books got thrown out.'

There is a formal press release coming in the next few hours on the OWS People's Library website.

Video from the event is forthcoming, but preliminary (low-res) video available here and here.

Ed Note: Let me remind you of the intentional destrucion of laptops that look as if smashed with a bat.

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Help Stop Eva Moskowitz Invasion of Brooklyn on Nov. 29th

Hi everyone!

We are less than one week away from the DOE hearing on the co-location of the Cobble Hill Success Academy, and we need ALL hands on deck to make sure we can pack the auditorium. Now is the time to fight for an Early Childhood Center in Cobble Hill and against Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy. (below is an email flyer you can forward).

Join us on Nov. 29th at 5:30, at 284 Baltic St. (btwn Smith and Court St.) to stand up for our community schools. Here is a facebook event for the 29th! Please share as WIDELY as possible! Also, please use the hashtag #NoSuccess on twitter to promote the hearing...

     http://www.facebook.com/events/268718893180043

Can people share this on listserves and your contacts? Flood 'em with the FB page, on twitter and the flyer, its better if people hear about it 20 times.

Also, here are the attachments from last time to help you with outreach...

1) a flyer for the 29th (we can make different ones to adapt to your specific school)

2) the petition that we've been using to build a list we can call to come out on the 29th

3) The proposal for an early childhood center in the Global Studies building. The idea has been gaining a lot of support, so please circulate for feedback. There is also a second "Real School Choice" document that compares the Early Childhood Center with the Success Academy.

COME FIGHT FOR QUALITY EDUCATION IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

Community leaders and educators are proposing a free public Early Childhood Center in the K293 building that would offer pre-K and kindergarten to children in local school zones.

BUT

The Department of Education wants to give the space to Eva Moskowitz to open a Success Academy Charter School that would bus in students from across the district. 

Which would better serve the needs of neighborhood families?

Come tell the Department of Education what our neighborhood families need and come defend PUBLIC EDUCATION

Tuesday, Nov. 29th at 5:30 pm

284 Baltic Street
(between Smith and Court Street)

Success Academy Charter School = DOE’s Choice

Early Childhood Center = Parent’s Choice!

Julian at 203.313.2479 or julian@aqeny.org for more information

Julian Vinocur 
NYC OrganizerAlliance for Quality Education
www.aqeny.org
(212) 328-9268 

Bloomberg's Fahrenheit 451 Moment: Occupy Wall Street Librarians Address Bloomberg for Destroying Books

Bloomberg fits the Fahrenheit 451 book burning mode.

Library Press Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                        CONTACT: press@occupywallst.org

For this event: William Scott, 412-390-6510

Occupy Wall Street Librarians Address Bloomberg for Destroying Books
Over 4k Books, Documents, Were Trashed by NYPD & Dept. of Sanitation in Raid

OWS Library Staff Recovers Books and Supplies, Less Than One-Fifth is Usable

What: Press conference to address the destruction of the OWS People’s Library by Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the 11/15 raid.

*Photo Opportunity* All of the recovered, destroyed books will be at the press conference.

Where: 260 Madison Ave, 20th Floor, between 38th and 39th St
When: Wednesday, November 23, at 12:00 noon
Who: Norman Siegel will host and moderate. Speakers: Gideon Oliver of the National Lawyers Guild, Hawa Allan a Fellow at Columbia Law School, and Occupy Wall Street Librarians from the People’s Library. Law professors from Columbia, members of the American Library Association, various writers and others have been invited.

So far, the People’s Library has received 1,099 books back from the Dept. of Sanitation after last week’s raid (some of which were not library books to begin with), and out of these, about 800 are still usable. About 2,900 books are still unaccounted for, and less than one-fifth of the original collection is still usable. These numbers may change slightly when the People’s Library gets an exact count of the recent (and final) retrievals from Sanitation, but not considerably.

“The People’s Library was destroyed by NYPD acting on the authority of Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the night of the raid. In addition to all our supplies, laptops, and tent, they threw roughly 4,000 books into garbage trucks and dumpsters that were adjacent to the park, as well as assorted rare documents that were associated with OWS,” says William Scott, an Occupy Wall Street Librarian.

Watch video of the NYPD and Dept. of Sanitation destroying the OWS People’s Library tent and throwing away all the books.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTkUjQwHf4I

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to more than 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. For more visit www.occupywallst.org

Leonie Requests: Please send a message today about class size!

Please send a message to contractsforexcellence@schools.nyc.gov  today; protesting the failure of the DOE to reduce class size and have allowed class sizes to increase to levels that  are damaging our children’s education and chance at success.   The deadline for comment on the city’s defective Contracts for Excellence plan is tomorrow night, Wednesday, Nov. 23. 

Class sizes are now the largest they have been since 2007 in grades K-3, and are larger than they were when the state’s highest court said our children were denied their constitutional right to an adequate education in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, in large part because of excessive class sizes.   In addition, we believe that there is $180 million missing from the city’s CFE plan, compared to the $531 million allocated by the state for this purpose.

We now have powerpoints showing  the rise in class size in your district’s schools, as well as other information  how the city has failed our children.  (If you don’t see your district, just email me at info@classsizematters.org and we will send it to you.) 

So far, four different Community Education Councils have passed resolution, protesting the increase in class sizes and DOE’s violations of law: District 1 in Manhattan, Districts 20 and 21 in Brooklyn, and District 30 in Queens.  Some of these call for City Council hearings and others for State hearings on the matter.  If you would like a sample resolution for your CEC or PTA, let me know; the one just passed by CEC 21 is here; CEC 1 is here.  

Again, the deadline for comment is tomorrow night Wednesday, Nov. 23, and DOE is supposed to send all the comments to the State Education department along with its proposed C4E plan. It is important that the state Commissioner know how dissatisfied parents are with the Bloomberg administration’s dereliction of duty to our children.  

A sample email is below; feel free to change it in any way you would like. Do it for your child, and/or all NYC public school children.

And then have a happy Thanksgiving. 

Thanks, Leonie

To: contractsforexcellence@schools.nyc.gov

 As a parent, I would like to protest that class sizes have now increased four years in a row, citywide and in my child’s school, despite the fact that the city was mandated to reduce class size in all grades starting in 2007.  This is the final year of the city’s five year class size reduction plan, and class sizes in the early grades are now the largest in eleven years.

DOE has failed to allocate a single penny specifically towards class size reduction and instead has cut repeatedly cut school budgets, even when they received millions more from the state in C4E funding and overall education aid.  The city’s refusal to reduce class size has severely damaged my child’s opportunity to learn.   

  

[optional: My child is in  [ fill in name]  school, in district  [fill in number], with  a class size of x in [fill in] grade. ]

 The state should immediately force the city to revise its Contract for Excellence proposal, by allocating the $180 million missing from the plan that the state provided,  and use it to hire more teachers.  The state should also implement a corrective action plan that would require the city exercise proper oversight and start reducing class size, instead of continuing to slash school budgets, eliminating thousands of teaching positions and wasting precious education dollars on failed programs that do not help our children learn, like more testing, technology, consultants and bureaucrats.  

Otherwise, the state as well as the city will have failed to do its duty by NYC’s children.

 Yours sincerely,

 You name, child’s school and district

Email address

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Nov. 22 - Queens Metropolitan HS Update

The story at QMHS exposes many of the ills of the Bloomberg/ed deform takeover of our public schools.

If you need to catch up on this story here are our previous posts:
Growing Scandal at Queens Metro Tech Exposes All t...
Queens Metro HS Update - DOE Swarms In, Programs A...

As predicted the swarm from Tweed and the Network descended on QMHS. It was not clear what they were doing but they did question some teachers and made surprise visits into classrooms. As if the tension in the school was tight enough. Still no programs but an elaborate plan was divulged to inform different parts of the school about the changed programs with students, of course being the last to know on Wednesday before vacation. The Gotham site is being used as a community board where there are personal attacks on parents and others.

Late word is a rally against Levy-Maguire and the DOE on Tuesday after school.

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Sunday in the Park Zuccotti - A New Phase

Groups were meeting all over the downtown area where they could find space.

Occupy Wall Street, the Second Stage

Revolutions always begin, he wrote, by making impossible demands that if the government met would mean the end of the old configurations of power. The second stage, the one we have entered now, is the unsuccessful attempt by the power elite to quell the unrest and discontent through physical acts of repression.

Chris Hedges in his article This is What Revolution Looks Like. - thanks to Seattle Education 2010

The recent attacks on the Occupy movement - both physical and ideological along with the press emphasizing whatever negatives they could find - lots of people are thinking of the next phase now that there is on longer the need to run a small mini-city.

Repression didn't stop the Arab spring and it won't stop OWS - why? because all the issues that spawned it will only get worse - the 1% will get even more - more money, more bought politicians - and more people will get screwed and see the only answer is in grassroots political action.

The lasting effects of OWS will be felt in the actions of the people who have been taking part - people who never would have met without OWS. There are so many subgroups on so many different issues it is hard to keep count.

Today I saw lots of signs of where we are heading: groups being formed dedicated to developing a democratic bottom-up decision making process to keep the maximum number of people involved, something so antithetical to the operation of unions, especially the UFT, which is trying to glom onto the movement - I should say coopt it (Monday they are holding a 10:30AM "dialogue" with OWS where they will probably try to convince them the most important thing they can do is go to Albany for lobby day.

I went into the city for the 12 noon meeting of the Occupy DOE group which has been meeting in the atrium at 60 Wall St. only to find the sudden cleaning bug has bitten there too. With half the atrium closed the meeting had to be moved to Zuccotti Park where we met at the notorious west end where the drummers used to hang out. They had things to do with a visit to Bloomberg's neighborhood (Sunday 2PM: 24 Hour Drum Circle at Bloomberg's Mansion).

When I got there I asked a cop how to get in since it looked all fenced in and he had the nerve to say, "I'm not sure if we're letting people in." I usually don't get nasty with cops but that ticked me off - a sign of how much good will towards cops has been worn away. I found my way in - and noticed lots of Brookfield properties private security guards in yellow vests walking around.

Zuccotti was having holiday decorations put up and there was also some noisy cleaning going on. Most of the action was on the east (Broadway) end so we were able to find a space in the northwest corner of the park. It was a smaller group than usual. We had people from ICE, GEM, NYCORE, GEM and Teachers Unite along with non-affiliated people. I won't get into the details of the meeting - the group will try to meet every Sunday - next week it will be at 4 or 5PM with an attempt to try 60 Wall Street again.

Which is where Gloria and I headed over to hold a short meeting about GEM stuff after the ODOE meeting. The north end of the atrium was not being cleaned. We noticed at least 2 fairly large groups meeting - we didn't find out what their focus was. And right outside another group was meeting on the sidewalk - everyone standing and waggling fingers.

If there is any sign that the Bloomberg invasion of Zuccotti has not made a dent in the activities going on behind the scenes this was it. People gathering all over the place to start doing the real hard work of educating, organizing and mobilizing - and no mater how much the press and 1% try to brand the people who are taking their Sundays - and probably many other days - to do grassroots political work - they cannot stop this movement. Having had a brief dose of the Obama mania in 2008 where all kinds of people were racing around to work for Obama, that work came to an end with the election. The 1% will continue to get a bigger share of the pie and continue to buy their politicians and this movement will see that lobbying people who are bought will get them nowhere. My mantra is to show up at their offices with a thousand people. We may be pockets of 20-50 but I saw lots of these pockets today - the continued growth of the movement no amount of billy clubs, pepper spray, or smashed computers with hammers will stop.

See Raging Horse blog for some great pics: Occupy Wall Street Is Alive and Well at Zucotti Park

Want a little fuel for your fire?  See this post from Perdido Street School:

Somebody From The City Smashed OWS Laptops With Bats

This is what some of the laptops the NYPD confiscated from OWS protesters last Tuesday look like.

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A Report on the Brooklyn Success Charter School Information Session

-the untruths and the lies. 
by Pat Dobosz

It will be important for as many as can to attend the hearings at K293 on 11/29 in cobble Hill and PS 59K on 12/6 in Williamsgurg/Bushwick), both at 6 PM.


November 19, 2011 2 PM


Caribou Baby, 272 Driggs Ave (between Leonard and Eckford Streets), Brooklyn, NY 11222
Eva Moskowitz was advertised to speak at this 'discussion" session." She never showed. But her representatives who come to most of these sessions did because Eva can't take the heat. Jenny Sedlis, Sean and two unidentified others were present with their smiles and handshakes.
Before we began David and I spoke with Jenny about what school(s) BSA was planning to go into. She said it wasn't PS 59 (as they knew they are going in there). She spoke of that invasion as a done deal. She mentioned Cobble Hill, but said this discussion was about another school to go into the Williamsburg area. She mentioned that they were aware of what schools were 'underutilized," but would not say which schools they were (as if we didn't know - PS 19 and PS 84 for starters). She would not say again what school and claimed ignorance of having not been told by the DOE yet later on in the question session. She also knows that the schools near the meeting site (PS 31, PS 34 and PS 110) are overcrowded. What a perfect community to cream and skim because parents have difficulty getting into these "good' schools. She claimed the relationship with the co-located schools at the IS 33 campus was good. We have not heard anything in the community about BSA there. We also have no contacts at the IS 33 campus and the school seems to keep a low profile (at least outside the building - no signs or banners advertising the school).


She recognized David after a few minutes and remembered him from the CEC meeting held a while back. Disturbingly, she referred to his connection to the UFT all throughout the question period. She blamed the UFT : they do not like our schools and do not want them to exist. I had to stop her to let her know that we were not there representing the UFT, but we were there as interested parents, community members and teachers in the community. After the session, David spoke privately with her and warned her not to do that to him in public again. Out of the 13 people there, three of us were teachers (one from PS 34) and two or three parents from the PS 34 community. The others did not identify themselves publicly.


Jenny spoke of how Harlem Success Academies are "progressive and traditional." She spoke about how the reading program emphasizes comprehension and "the robust writing program." Both of these are based on the Balanced Literacy model. She mentioned the math, science, art programs as well as the trips children take to "fuel their writing." She never mentioned a social studies program. The school also offers soccer and basketball.


She spoke about the school structure and the longer day. She claimed that they have 57,000 applications for teaching positions and that most of them come from NYC and from teachers disillusioned with the public school system She explained how principals for their schools are trained and how new schools are staffed. She was emphatic that they "only go into space where existing schools can maintain their programs."


Then the question period began and Ms. Sedlis had to be on her toes. Most people were not buying her line. Some folks had to be reminded that the reason they could not get Pre-K or K seats for their children was because the DOE chose to reduce those programs in many of our District 14 schools.


HSA/BSA can only set up K-4 schools at first. They have to "ask" for space for grades 4-8 (Hmmmm I wonder which schools they will invade then or will they push out the schools they are in and expand?)


She spoke about the lottery system and the priorities.


There will be 190 K and grade 1 students, but there is flexibility in the number of classes set up according to registration numbers for each grade. Class sizes are 25-26 children. Asked about the large class size (when we have smaller class sizes in the district), she replied that the "quality of the teacher determines the quality of the education despite the class size."


People wanted to know why we (the city/DOE) are not combining resources for our children and schools. Why are we separating them? "This school is a cultural diversion," said one parent.


Jenny's answer was that a group of parents approached HSA. They heard there was a need. Parents should have a "choice." Our goal is to be an integrated school. Then she quoted statistics about HSA:


65% are Black and Latino


35% are White


40% live at the poverty level


Why are the tours up on the Upper West Side and not at the new school over at IS 33? "We will do other schools, but we are a target of the teachers' union. It goes after Eva." We also operate out of Harlem. " We are not for profit. We want to be a positive force for education." She said there is nothing bad with getting private funding. If they want to give us money, we'll take it. She claims they take in no private funding after three years. (Just FYI Sean kept peering over my shoulder to see what I was writing down, but never said a word.)


Several people kept saying we need to make our neighborhood schools successful by providing the resources they need. The DOE is not resourcing the "underutilized space" if they are taking classes away from the bottom (Pre-K and K)


The students of HSA?BSA are kept separate from the public school children except for "structured large sharing times: parades, assemblies etc.


The question was raised about how charters can ask students to leave while public schools cannot. Jenny bristled when David mentioned the Matthew Sprowel expulsion. There is concern with what was going on in his large kindergarten class that allowed for this and where his needs were not met, as well as not recognizing that he was gifted. "He was NOT expelled. The UFT does not like our schools, it doesn't want them to exist. She was coached by the UFT. The child was not kicked out. That's not the truth." Jenny also mentioned the incident of the large number of teachers that left one school. She couldn't give a clear answer. She mentioned that the schools don't have the city pension system, but have a 401K and that the schools tend to attract teachers with less than 15 years experience.


Children have to take the state tests. The school has to prove how the curriculum aligns to the CCLS.


Ms. Sedlis was asked about High Stakes Testing in the HSA networks and about whether they thought about going with project based assessment as an alternative to the tests and whether they planned to seek an exemption as some other schools have from HST. She answered that they do have project based learning in the "later grades." But that they need objective measures (tests) "and they are worthwhile." The state math test is low bar. The ELA is a better measure. We Want to make sure our children can pass the tests for competitive high schools. Tests are not necessarily the focus. The longer school day provides for the science and arts.


The fact that the state tests are not aligned with authentic instruction was discussed. Jenny retorted with, "Our oldest children are in sixth grade (this is the first year for 6) We'll have to look further as we go toward grade 8."


The teacher from PS 34 said, " I haven't heard the innovation. What are you offering that is different from our neighborhood schools?" She really couldn't answer this except that they provide a "choice." They attract teachers with 3 or less years experience who are discouraged with the public school system.


Will you be subject to following the Danielson Frameworks? (She had to be told what they were.) No they would not have to follow these for evaluations. Principals are instructional leaders. There are other people who take care of the outside business. Teachers are observed each day under a non punishing evaluation system.


One father said he could feel the tension present and he asked how this tension would affect the people in the school building and the parents. He expressed the fact that parents often sacrifice to have their children in a safe, non-violent environment. He feared that the children would be put in between the tension. Jenny's answer to him was that there was a lot of "nuance, an us vs. them." She did admit there were many good things going on in the Public school system. Then she brought up that only 54% of the PS children are passing. Several people said that tests should not be used as the standard of success.


Someone mentioned that the public schools have not been allowed to expand and the conflict agenda has been created by design. Sedlis admitted that we don't like the conflict. She told us that HSA experiences the fight before they go in, but once the principals sit down, they work together and "there is no conflict." if there were, "we would address any conflict immediately."


On this comment, the meeting was ended. The HSA reps stayed around for questions. I was able to hand out several of the GEM Truth About Charter School pamphlets to some of the parents there and the PS 34 teacher. David spoke further privately with Sedlis. One thing she told him was that HSA was also relegated to the basement in one of the schools.

Follow-up from a teacher at PS 241M

Just some clear info on HSA students being "relegated" to the basement in one of their schools-
The students in PS 241 were "relegated" to the basement for two years in order to provide HSA with prime space in the building. Preference was given to HSA students at then expense of PS 241 students. Only after much press on this issue- including a segment on it in the highly acclaimed and widely viewed "Inconvenient Truth About Waiting For Superman"- as well as a visit to the school to view the situation from Walcott himself, did the HSA students get "their turn" in the basement of the school. But do not feel badly for them, it was space taken away from the PS 241 students (not swapped out) as HSA pushes them out of more and more space in the building AND HSA put tens of thousands of dollars of renovations into the space that DOE did not feel necessary for the PS 241 students when they occupied the space-including a brand new, renovated bathroom that Walcott promised they would NOT be allowed to renovate!!!!

Sunday 2PM: 24 Hour Drum Circle at Bloomberg's Mansion

UPDATE: Sunday, Nov. 20, 9PM

From Leonie Haimson:

This afternoon, I went to see the drummers who, after being kicked out of Zuccotti Park, decided to protest outside Bloomberg's townhouse on E. 79 St.  Sadly, the police blocked off the street, but the drummers gathered anyway on 5th avenue next to Central Park instead.

As you will see in the video posted on the blog,I bumped into my hero, Norman Siegel, who told us that barring the drummers from E. 79 St. was a violation of their first amendment rights.  In fact, in January 2010, Norman sued the city on behalf of teachers and parents, and we gained the right to march on the south side of 79 St, to protest school closings and charter co-locations.

Off camera, Norman also said that the arrests of reporters that I videotaped a week ago were illegal , and that he had sent a letter written with Sen. Eric Adams to Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly to that effect. Because of Norman's work, NYC press credentials now require that reporters have to right to cross any barriers, along with police lines etc. During the course of his conversation with a reporter who had been assaulted by the police, we also found out that tomorrow Norman Siegel will turn 68 years young. Happy Birthday Norman!

For more see:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-drummers-from-occupy-wall-st-and.html
 

Video below by Casey Neistat of NYC as police state sung to Sinatra's New York, New York. Casey writes: 

My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the Park was reopened at 6pm on November 15, 2011. The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mhQCpXM-Sm4

FB page: http://www.facebook.com/events/285128768194258/ 24 hours of drumming! 

If Bloomberg is not there (how about Bermuda) his next door neighbor Merryl Tisch can enjoy!

Bloomberg Drum Circle

By Andy Bichlbaum

Project: Occupy Wall Street actions

Word on the street is that Bloomberg loves hippies. So now, finally, a drum circle you don't have to be high to enjoy: this Sunday at 2pm, for 24 hours, bring the love to Mayor Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Tie-dye, didgeridoo, hackeysack welcome! No shirt, no shoes, no problem! And if you don't have talent, don't worry: FREE DRUM LESSONS offered! Also on offer: collaborative drumming with the police!
Even though this is a 24-hour drum circle, don't be late! The mayor loves evictions. Who knows what'll happen? But no matter how long it lasts, there'll be an afterparty and love-in in world-famous Central Park just next door.
Please spread this announcement (www.yeslab.org/drumcircle) as far and fast as you can!

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Queens Metro HS Update - DOE Swarms In, Programs After Thanksgiving

Breaking: The principal “can’t find” a physics teacher so she is using a special ed teacher to teach physics with packets prepared by another physics teacher. Parents don’t know this.

There has been some action since yesterday on this story: Growing Scandal at Queens Metro Tech that illustrates that Tweed couldn't give a crap until a story break in the press.

I really think I broke the news that Walcott's daughter teaches gym at this school where the kids don't get gym - I even got a call from a reporter asking me if that was true.

I've gotten some email and comments and there is so much that is indicative about the failures of ed deform in this one school alone. Unfortunately, teachers  - both young and not as young are getting some of the splash from administrative incompetence. But as the parent letter I posted on Norms Notes indicates, the lack of accountability goes right to the top. If I were running a school system and even 2 weeks into the school year I heard of these scheduling problems I would send in as many people needed to straighten it out. But the WalBlackBloomKlein is hands off the schools they are supposed to run, managing from looking at data from afar and limiting their managing to closing schools and opening others, especially charters - my facetious line yesterday that in their world the solution lies in offering choice.

UPDATES
The pressure since the story broke about the City Councilwoman’s children at the school and the Chancellor’s daughter proved too much for the DOE and the network and Tweed types swarmed the building. They allegedly completed student programs and there is a special plan to disseminate it with scripted statements read by each teacher to their students explaining why the programs had to be changed again. The principal is feeling the effects of the pressure; lost weight, keeps to herself behind her office door.

The program rollout will not take effect until after Thanksgiving. There will be three days where administration will answer parent questions after school. Next Tuesday is PTA meeting where much of this will be announced.

After tabulating seat time it was determined by the network that many students will have to attend classes during vacation to receive credit for their classes. Also the teacher schedules were so screwed up the principal will have to hire 3 new teachers to make up for the extra classes assigned to many teachers without compensation.

The principal had ideas that theoretically may have been good but in practicality ended up with some teachers teaching extra long periods while others sat around with less to do. Did this cause some resentment? Maybe a bit. The UFT Queens HS District Rep was told that the teacher schedules were too long a year ago and did nothing about it, supposedly saying "the principal is new, give her a chance." According to sources, no sign of him today.

Letter from a parent:

Good Morning Mr. Scott, 

I read your blog this morning about QMHS and I am writing to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. As a parent of a 10th grader at QMHS I appreciate what you are doing for our children. These issues have been going on at this school since day 1 and nothing has been resolved. I've personally discussed half the issues you talk about in your blog with the principal, the assistant principals, advisers and get no "real" answers, nothing is done to solve ANY of the problems. This is my son's first year in the public school system as he has attended private school since 1st grade and I can not tell you how disappointed I am. I had to take him out of private school last year because I simply could not afford it, and it really saddens me to have to now send my son to a school that is basically not teaching him anything. 

10th grade is an extremely important grade, the students need to prepare for the SAT exam, regents...and unfortunately this school is doing nothing to help them in those areas. At this point they can barely teach the basic classes let alone prepare the students for any future exams.

I am willing to help in any way possible to try and resolve this issue or bring it more to light. Feel free to contact me and again thank you for your time. 

 a concerned parent!   

And to show that the top people at the DOE were informed about problems with the principal:

I raised red flags about the Queens Metro principal beginning months before the school opened in September, 2010 - to Marc Sternberg of Portfolio and Chancellor Klein, among others. I thought she was too pie-in-the-sky about the Physics First curriculum for 9th graders and using on-line only teaching of foreign languages with Rosetta Stone software. (Correction though about her background - at a public meeting she stated she taught for 5 or 7 years at Packer, a private school, so I'm not sure about the business background Norm claims she comes from - she seemed pretty young to me to have had 14 years of business/teaching experience.)

After the school's first year, apparently only a handful of students (out of 400-plus 9th graders) were able to take the Physics Regents and the Rosetta Stone language instruction was abandoned (after the software was received, I believe, a couple or several months into the last school year). I have been told that this year's 9th graders are not getting foreign language instruction at all, though since I don't have a kid in the school, this is hard to confirm.

Another point: this is supposed to be a 1,000 seat school (250 students per grade), but last year it had well over 400 9th graders which was a surprise to the administrators and caused some havoc last year as well. I would agree with the comment that there have been failures at many levels by DOE. If you have a brand new school with someone who has never been a principal before, it seems to me the network leader should be all over the situation to make sure things were going well. I even accused Portfolio of not taking any responsibility - how do you approve a theme and a school leader and then not take stock of how that works out?

This year another large new high school opened in the same Metro facility - Maspeth High School (which will move into new construction next September). I have no idea how that school is doing, but wonder if we'll be hearing of similar problems there come this time next year...

MK

P.S. City Councilmember Liz Crowley has one or both of her kids at Queens Metro, so I agree that this school will most likely get attention (which it needs) while many other schools with similar problems will not. So sad...

Another story about scheduling problems at a Queens High School this year
http://origin.ny1.com/content/top_stories/150243/federal-program-blamed-for-long-island-city-high-school-scheduling-chaos
 
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DOE Networks, Especially New Visions, at the Center of Increasing System Failures

Last Update: Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, 9pm.
NOTE: If you arrived here from a link at Gotham Schools, the link was supposed to be here.

My post on Queens Metro Tech yesterday (Growing Scandal at Queens Metro Tech Exposes All the Ills of Bloomberg Ed Deform - Another Leadership Acad Principal Set to Take Fall) where we broke the story that Walcott's daughter was a gym teacher there even though the kids never really got to do gym type stuff (not her fault my spies tell me) touched on the role (often negative) that the 'noying networks play.

In Joel Klein's continuous reorganizations of the NYC school system, the goal of which was to ultimately remove any real accountability and management responsibility for running the system at the top, we went from district (32 form k-8 plus HS and a few others) to regions (10 plus one or 2 others) to some cockamamie system that I can't even name to non-geographically organized networks. Of course, Bloomberg and Walcott were privy and part and parcel of all these changes.

Insiders have been warning me about these networks from their earliest days - that the people they were bringing in to run things and supposedly offer schools important services often didn't have a clue. But networks serve the function of allowing WalBloom to say, "heads will roll" when things go sour (as they have a Queens Metro Tech which I reported on yesterday.

Here is a comment from a recently retired teacher on that post that is worth putting up:

The role of the network organizations MUST be investigated! New Visions, one of the biggest, I believe, of the Children First networks, also runs charter schools in NYC and advertises constantly for new teachers with no credentials in a program that looks just like Teach for America. This is a clear conflict of interest. I taught at a small school in a poor minority neighborhood and even though students were without mandated classes or teachers (don't get me started on how the special ed kids were shafted)nothing was done to correct the situation. The school is still being run by a totally incompetent Leadership Academy principal with little teaching and no administrative experience. He was backed totally by New Visions. We banded together as a staff, grieved everything we could, got OSI to investigate, filed a formal "No Confidence" petition that went all the way up to City Hall, but still nothing was done to help those kids, whose parents were either not aware or unable to do anything. If a middle class (i.e. white) parent body can't get satisfaction, our kids can't either. I am constantly frustrated by the fact that the public is totally unaware of these network organizations, that bleed funds from the system and are actually trying to turn their schools into charters with no regard for union contracts, students' rights, students' needs, etc. The network people that deal directly with teachers are retired administrators who are getting full pensions and then being paid by the networks to circumvent the double dipping rules. My "assistant principal" (really just a consultant with administrative powers) only came into my building one day a week for meetings and had no clue what the students needed or who they are. He only pushed the robotic agenda of the network. All of this pushed me into an early retirement, lest I suffer the same fate as some of my colleagues, being targeted, U'd unfairly, being forced to teach out of license, etc.

There is going to be some interesting stuff coming out, including possibly networks that condoned high level cheating - and would we expect anything less with bonuses to earn in the world of corporate ed deform?

More on Queens Metro Tech tonight.

Afterburn
Check out Phil Kovacs video questioning TFA performance -
http://youtu.be/8p2yAsnVTNw

UFT Wastes Member Money as Jim Callaghan Forced to Take UFT to Small Claims Over $400

Today at 6PM in Small Claims Staten Island - 927 Castleton Ave.

Categorize this story as Occupy the UFT.

I've been tracking this story since last spring. When Mulgrew fired NY Teacher ace reporter in July 2010 (here, and here) he refused to reimburse Jim for expenses incurred over the use of car service to cover certain stories.

So Jim took them to small claims court.

Today is the 4th time in this court on this issue and the UFT is apparently using their law firm - Stroock and Lavan, that wonderful law firm that spat out Randi like one of those tee-shirt shooting guns at ball games into the bowels of the UFT over 20 years ago.

Strook bills at $500 to $1000 an hour. Let's do the math even at the lower end: they leave Manhattan at 5-billing clock running- spend 6 to 9 pm in the court room-billing clock running and get home lets say at 10 pm -billing clock still running.

5 hours times 4 appearances is 20 hours even at the low end of $500 per hour --has cost the members $10,000 already. Well, maybe they're giving a hometown discount.

In addition there are reports they will have CFO Dave Hickey who makes $230,000 and staff lawyer Adam Ross (Jeff Zahler's nephew) at around $180 grand to argue with Jim over $400, most of which they are not disputing? They are claiming Jim didn't list the  exact mileage from his home to a chapter leader retreat in Connecticut.

In addition to the big march today the UFT is  preparing their appeal on releasing teacher data.

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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 the right for important bits.

Growing Scandal at Queens Metro Tech Exposes All the Ills of Bloomberg Ed Deform - Another Leadership Acad Principal Set to Take Fall

Last Update: Sunday, Nov. 20, 11:30 PM

See our follow-up article:  Queens Metro HS Update - DOE Swarms In, Programs After Thanksgiving where we reveal:

Breaking: The principal “can’t find” a physics teacher so she is using a special ed teacher to teach physics with packets prepared by another physics teacher. Parents don’t know this.

See Patrick Sullivan report on the PEP meeting of Nov. 17. Bloomberg DOE Mismanagement of Queens High School at November PEP Meeting

"Although the children are getting Gym, they are not having a gym lesson.  Instead they sit in the gym without changing into uniforms and do nothing."

Guess who the gym teacher is? Chancellor Walcott's daughter. This is not her fault according to sources but you think he doesn't know what's going on?

Read the story at Gotham (and the comments) which focused on the scheduling issue. Oh, it goes so much further than there.

Rumor: There was a special faculty conf scheduled (I think for today)  but word is it has been cancelled due to issues raised about whether teachers are expected to attend on their own time or get paid.

Ed Notes Exclusive
See a dynamic parent letter I posted at Norms Notes exposing Queens HS Supt. Juan Mendez and network incompetency. Shael supposedly now involved - not because things were wrong there but because of the Gotham article and the bad PR the DOE will be getting. You know the real problem to the DOE is that there is not enough "choice". I know, shove a charter school in the building.

Where to start on this one? The principal is Leadership Acad from business background with no clue on how to run a school - put this in the "you mean there's gambling going on here" category.

Now Queens Metro is a white middle class school so the stuff that happened there is getting out while this goes on in some neighborhoods forever.

Teachers of course, mostly younger - you know Lead Acad people want to hire people they can control - are afraid to speak out publicly but complaints to the union have gone nowhere (see my note at the end of this post about the union response) - but the main focus here is on DOE incompetency and lack of accountability from the principal - who sources says lies continuously and is so over her head she is about to drown - there might even be a leadership change. But the HS Queens Supt. Juan Mendez and the Network Leader Gillian Smith - more disasters.

Some noted excerpts:

"Many parents were speaking out to Principal Levy-Mcguire and no one was happy with her responses to the various questions.  She either denied knowledge of said issue or she blatantly lied."

Supposedly she lies all the time. But she is in the process of melting down so let's be kind - though the arrogance of people with these visions of how schools should be run but have no clue is galling.

The letter from the parent has a response from Mendez' assist:

"After two weeks of no reply back I followed up with her to be told “The claims are being investigated by the Network leader. All allegations are being addressed at this time.”  There is no evidence of this and I asked her for further details and she has declined to respond."  

(I confronted Mendez at the Beach Channel closing school hearing a year ago where he spouted nonsense about failing schools and how as principal he raised grad rates - but didn't mention he did it by creaming. The ultimate hypocrite.)

Another quote:

"When I voiced my concerns with Vice Principal Lambert, upset that I took off of work to attend, I was given an indigent reply that Kim’s e-mail was self explanatory.  Her tone implied that I was stupid to think I would meet with teachers during Parent-Teacher Conferences."

And the network? Jeez.

"From what I understand, Gillian Smith - the network leader- from the Children's First Network was brought in the week of November 7th to work on fixing the schedules.  The schedules Gillian arrange were just as full of errors as all of the other schedules that have been produced thus far."

And one more thing about newer, younger teachers: note how they can't and won't speak publicly - even tenured teachers often don't do that - but tenure at least gives them the protection to do so. When teachers speak out it is often to defend students. That is the penalty when we have mostly young staffs, not necessarily bad teaching. More experienced teachers feel competent to take charge of situations when the administration falters in schools with a teaching body with experience not only in the classroom but in how a school should be run.* The loss of that knowledge in so many schools, esp with Lead Acad principals without much experience themselves will be one of the many negative legacies of the Wal/Bloom/Blacl/Klein years.

One more thing: the UFT. Where has it been? When complaints were received from teachers the Queens HS District Rep. would respond: The principal is new, give her a chance. When some teachers were being given outrageous assignments the complaints were ignored/ Grievances? Always the response was - we missed a deadline.

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*Afterburn
I can remember a few times where we had no supervisors in our school for health and other reasons and we just all pitched in and ran the school - mostly due to great secretaries. I knew more secretaries who could run a great school than principals.

In Case You Missed it - Keith Olberman Compares Bloomberg to....

.....well, he didn't include Stalin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoG9PmdGaT8&feature=email

And then head over to The Awl for Dana Goldstein's piece, not all of which I agree with but with lots of food for thought.

Why Not Occupy The Schools? The Failures Of Bloomberg's School Reform Agenda

http://www.theawl.com/2011/11/why-not-occupy-the-schools-the-failures-of-bloombergs-school-reform-agenda

(Brian Jones and I have her a copy of our movie at Education Nation when we sat with her in the press section for the screening of American Teacher and I do know she moderated a discussion of our movie at The Nation recently which from some reports was looked at as just a counter propagand film to WFS - I don't agree but no time to get into that now.)

And great news - Perdido School rejoins the fray - I knew I was right to leave PS on my blog roll.

Perdido Street School

Wasted Away In Cuomoville...
================
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International Day of Action - Nov. 17

OccupyWallStreet

The revolution continues worldwide!

International Day of Action

On Thursday November 17th, the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, we call upon the 99% to participate in a national day of direct action and celebration!

Calling All Parents and Children!!!



November 17 is a a national day of action in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The Children's Brigade will join with parents, teachers, and community members from around NYC at 4:30pm in Union Square.



Come out and help us EDUCATE the 1% on OUR demands:



ALL children must have the RIGHT to a FREE, QUALITY EDUCATION!

"We are marching today for a better tomorrow." - 5th Grader from PS 261

BRING SIGNS, PLACARDS, SCHOOL BANNERS, THOUGHTS FOR A MIC CHECK, VIDEO CAMERAS 

New York City

BREAKFAST: Shut Down Wall Street - 7:00 a.m.

Enough of this economy that exploits and divides us. It's time we put an end to Wall Street's reign of terror and begin building an economy that works for all. We will gather in Liberty Square at 7:00 a.m., before the ring of the Trading Floor Bell, to prepare to confront Wall Street with the stories of people on the frontlines of economic injustice. There, before the Stock Exchange, we will exchange stories rather than stocks.

LUNCH: Occupy The Subways - 3:00 p.m.

We will start by Occupying Our Blocks! Then throughout the five boroughs, we will gather at 16 central subway hubs and take our own stories to the trains, using the "People's Mic".

• Bronx
  • Fordham Rd
  • 3rd Ave, 138th Street
  • 163rd and Southern Blvd
  • 161st and River - Yankee Stadium
• Brooklyn
  • Broadway Junction
  • Borough Hall
  • 301 Grove Street
  • St Jose Patron Church,185 Suydam St, Bushwick
• Queens
  • Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave.
  • Jamaica Center/Parsons/Archer
  • 92-10 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights
• Manhattan
  • 125th St. A,B,C,D
    
  • Union Sq. (Mass student strike)
  • 23rd St and 8th Ave
• Staten Island
  • St. George, Staten Island Ferry Terminal
    
  • 479 Port Richmond Avenue, Port Richmond

DINNER: Take The Square - 5:00 p.m.

At 5 pm, tens of thousands of people will gather at Foley Square (just across from City Hall) in solidarity with laborers demanding jobs to rebuild this country's infrastructure and economy. A gospel choir and a marching band will also be performing.
Afterwards we will march to our bridges. Let's make it as musical a march as possible - bring your songs, your voice, your spirit! Our "Musical" on the bridge will culminate in a festival of light as we mark the two-month anniversary of the #occupy movement, and our commitment to shining light into our broken economic and political system.
Resist austerity. Rebuild the economy. Reclaim our democracy.

Portland

• Occupying steelbridge in morning
• Rally afterwards
• Subsequently occupying banks

International Actions

Spain

General Strike

A general strike of university students will be taking place in the following cities: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Palma, Sevilla, Santiago de Compostela, Murcia, Madrid, Valencia, Castello, Alicante, Zaragoza

17:00: Demonstration in Madrid

Place: From Nuevos Ministerios to Puerta del Sol Square
Call: Assembly UAM-CSIC / 15M
http://tomalafacultad.net
http://madrid.tomalaplaza.net/2011/11/08/17n-manifestacion-estatal-por-los-servicios-publicos/

Belgium

Occupy University and School

Germany

Massive student strikes, flash mobs, rallies, and other actions will be taking place in dozens of cities: http://ism-global.net/germany_education_strike_nov17

Posters

High-quality, print-ready versions (11x17, 15x24, 23x36) are available as a freely downloadable .zip file.
Let's get these posters everywhere! The artist's only stipulation is that they cannot be sold, only given away. Props to r.black for his amazing work!

Video Report: Eviction Reinforces OWS Determination

20,000 people marched on Wall St. on May 12 and no one noticed. At OWS a few hundred people camping in has captured the attention of the world.

This is a great point made by Nathan Schneider in Jaisal Noor's video summing up the actions yesterday (one reason I no longer feel it necessary to race around to every event to film is because of real film makers like Jaisal.)

Nathan points out to the disruptive nature of OWS which is so different than the non-disruptive actions of the unions like the UFT which often wants to partner (collaboration it is called) with the very powers they are supposedly protesting against. You know, that seat at the table they so hunger for.

In the video Justin Wedes talks about the big demo tomorrow which on the surface may look like the May 12 event which was mainly under the control of unions like the UFT. They are also involved in the event tomorrow but are they any longer in a position to control the direction of the movement? One aspect to watch will be the Occupy DOE group that meets up on the steps of Tweed at 4:30. See my report earlier today: Calling all future Occupiers of the Department of Education!

This is the OWS ed spin-off that disrupted Walcott's PEP Common Core standards scam a few weeks ago followed by the General Assembly on the steps of Tweed on Nov. 7, both events ignored by the UFT leaders - similar to their boycott of our movie. When it comes to educators applying the lessons of OWS, they UFT is not interested.

I think if you watch carefully over the next few months as the DOE escalates the closing of schools and co-locos of charters and pushes teacher evals and common standards down our throats - and if the ODOE teachers can really build something - you will see the UFT leaders in a quandary as to how to react - of course co-opting the movement would a major part of their strategy and they may succeed as they have in the past - I see all too many people who still hunger to partner with the UFT even when they understand exactly what they are doing.

ODOE will meet again on Sunday at noon at 60 Wall Street if you are interested in moving that forward - in case you can't make the 4:30 meet-up at Tweed tomorrow.

The Real News Report on OWS protestor eviction, protestors' return!
http://youtu.be/iL6HgtwWrTA




Also video from Tues. AM arrests at Canal and 6 on her blog from Leonie.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/11/video-of-arrests-this-morning-of-occupy.html