Tweed Assault Continues: Another List of School Closings

Stories are floating around about an as yet unannounced list of schools slated for closure – Persistently Lowest-Achieving (PLA) schools. We have learned from a reliable source that Brooklyn Automotive and MS 126 in Williamsburg/Greenpoint are on the list.

These could be as many as 60 schools in addition to the current list of 25 plus the announced closing of the 33 SIG schools on June 30 and their reopening on July 1 with at least 50% teacher turnover. Thus we may be talking about over a hundred reorganizations with tremendous teacher relocations and a massive influx of ATR next year that could cost a hundred million dollars --- which clearly negates some of the money they claim they are losing.

But we know this is all a shell game though how they will figure out how get ATRs who are subbing into the evaluation based on test scores into the mix is a mystery. But they must have a plan to get around any union resistance. Or, the plan is to get the union to bargain away more of the ATR protections like they did last June. The creation of the ATRs in the 2005 contract was a partial victory for Tweed. The rest will be the ability to fire them within a year if they don't get a job, as was done in Chicago years ago.

As a matter of fact, I would attribute the loss of the union to the opposition in Chicago to this situation. And the UFT/Unity leadership certainly saw what happened there. Is that why there is a constitutional amendment being voted on at the DA tomorrow that will further cement the control of Unity and make it absolutely impossible for an opposition to win an election? (I will go into the details in future posts.) Is this a prep to protect the leadership if/when they sell out?

For those of you who think an opposition can win with a better campaign or better candidates or a better platform I will tell you this much.

Even before the constitutional change tomorrow (which requires a 2/3 vote - expect Unity to call out the troops), if the opposition were to win an overwhelming majority of votes in the elementary and middle and high schools they would win a maximum of 22 seats on the UFT Executive Board out of 89. That is today. In the future it will be worse. The opposition in Myanmar/Berma has a better chance.

Mulgrew Agrees With Cuomo on Evals

Today's NY Times:

Mr. Mulgrew, noting that his union had “no disagreement with the governor over the evaluations,” did not object to Mr. Cuomo’s tying the increase in education aid to the creation of the evaluation system.

“We’re just as frustrated as he is, and I publicly came out and asked him to get involved,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/nyregion/cuomo-and-bloomberg-on-attack-on-teacher-evaluations.html

Some people seem astounded by this statement of Mulgrew. Not me. You see, it's Bloomberg who is the problem. A few years ago Bloomberg was the good guy and Klein was the problem. Walcott is really OK. And so is Merryl Tisch and John King. And, Obama and Duncan will be just fine after the UFT/AFT endorses them in July.

But is NYSUT on the same page or just sending up confusing smoke signals?

Carl Korn, a spokesman for New York State United Teachers, said that while the union shared “the governor’s frustration over the implementation of the law,” tying teacher evaluations to state education aid was the “wrong approach.”

“We think supporting teachers and unions in their work is a much better approach,” Mr. Korn said.

The Williamsburg Community Strikes Back Against Eva Invasion

Occupy Williamsburg is in the house - for those who think that the Occupy movement is dead.

Sign the petition to keep Eva out:

http://www.change.org/petitions/nyc-department-of-education-stop-success-academy-williamsburg

--
Keep the PUBLIC in public education! Occupy Williamsburg!


Standing up to Eva Invasion at MS 50 in District 14. Success Charter may get what it wants anyway with the PEP voting on Wed. but there may be a critical mass of growing opposition that will not make life easy.

I know some of the players in the area for decades and Eva will not find it so easy to establish a political beachhead here on the Southside as opposed to further south closer to Bed-Stuy in Dist. 14 at MS 33 and PS 59 where there may be less unity.

The closing hearing for PS 19 on Weds. is not far away -  on the other side of the expressway from MS 50 is Weds and they are mobilized because they think over the long run Moskowitz wants that building too. But my information is that there is a different dynamic in terms of the school coming in though I can't go into details yet.

This is a very busy week for action with multiple events on each day. I know it's tough out there for teachers with all you do but bodies are needed if you can lend your support to any of the events. I will be posting follow-ups.

Tues Jan. 17: See above

Weds Jan. 18 - 3 events
      4-6PM UFT Delegate Assembly -- there may be some folks from Occupy DOE distributing leaflets and possibly doing more than that.
      6-whenever - Panel for Educational Policy - Bklyn Tech HS -- not much action anticipated but never underestimate the power of the Occupy movement to pull some surprises.
     6-8 PS 19k closing school hearing - 325 South 3 Street Brooklyn NY 11211

January screenings of our film:

•Thursday, January 19th at 7:00PM. The Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Discussion to follow. Sponsored by Occupy Brooklyn!
•Saturday, January 21st at 12:00 PM. PSC-CUNY office, 61 Broadway, 16th Floor, NYC: Labor Goes to the Movies.
•Sunday, January 22nd at 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Spectacle Theater, 124 S. 3rd Street (near Bedford Avenue), Brooklyn, NY. Sponsored by Occupy Williamsburg!
Thursday, January 26th at 6:00PM. PS 84, 250 Berry Street, Brooklyn, NY. Sponsored by Community Education Council 14.

Walcott/Blooomberg Booed on MLK Day at BAM

Video: http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/01/video-bloomberg-facing-protests-boos-on.html

Daily News: January 16, 2012 6:04 PM 

Bloomberg And His Ed Plan Booed At MLK Event

BY Celeste Katz

Mayor Bloomberg got booed and heckled as he made the rounds at African-American groups touting his new education initiatives.
Our Monahan, Cunningham and Blau report:
At the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Hizzoner was jeered Monday as he introduced Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, highlighting his administration’s successes with education policy.
“The civil rights movement transformed America for the better, and now it is up [to us] to continue the work, especially in education, Every day for the past ten years, improving the city schools has been hands-down my number one priority, and it’s going to remain my priority,” he said, receiving boos from the crowd and even calls of “You suck!” from protesters critical of the mayor’s policy of closing schools.
Later in the day, Bloomberg was met with more of the same.
His face flushed red when he was heckled by a Harlem crowd after being introduced by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

BAM PROTEST

Dear Parents and Students,

On Monday January 16, 2012, Chancellor Dennis Walcott will be the keynote speaker at BAM's Martin Luther King's Day Celebration. The parents and students from Satellite lll and the Academy for Business and Community Development (ABCD) have decided to come together and have a protest around school closings outside of BAM.

We are inviting you to join forces with the parents and community  from Sat lll and ABCD in order to let Chancellor Dennis Walcott know that, just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for quality education for all children, we as parents and students will do the same.

 ===============
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.

Will the UFT/Unity Leadership Cave to Pressure on Evals While Claiming Victory to Members?

UPDATED: Monday Jan. 16, 9AM - expanded section in green

REGISTER FOR FEB. 4 STATE OF THE UNION CONFERENCE:

http://stateoftheunionconference.eventbrite.com

Find us on Facebook: State of the Union 

If the UFT won't allow these debates to take place within the official halls like the Exec Bd and the DA, people will look for forums outside the official UFT to engage in these debates.

The ad above has a lot to do with what is to come below.


This week at the UFT Delegate Assembly, in the midst of teacher evaluation crisis, the Unity leadership will call for a constitutional amendment that will increase the voting power of retirees in union elections and expand the executive board to further dilute the influence of classroom teachers. If you don't make the connection between these two events, you are seriously missing what the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership is all about: give ground  to ed deform -- as slowly as possible -- while selling "victory" (it could have been much worse) and tightening up the almost 60-year one party control of the UFT and AFT to keep internal critical voices at a minimum.

A drastic escalation in attacks on a union that has been cooperative in the past
With a full court press by the Obama, Cuomo and Bloomberg administrations to force the UFT into an agreement on teacher evaluations, is the end of resistance coming?

The report in the Daily News that Duncan/Obama are threatening to withhold $1 billion in money (New York State faces losing $1 billion in federal education funds over teacher evaluation issue: Figure is $300 million more than previously thought) if the UFT doesn't cave in, the pressure will be intense, especially with the politicians and the media placing the blame on the union.

Senior members of U.S. Education Secretary Arnie Duncan’s office warned Gov. Cuomo’s team Friday that New York would lose the staggering sum — at least $300 million more than previously thought — if the state made no progress on a system to grade teachers, a source with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
“They will take the money away,” the source added.
A Cuomo administration official said the governor has vowed to protect the money. “(He ) will do everything he can to see that this money is not taken away from us,” he said, declining to elaborate further.
The endangered money includes $700 million in federal Race to the Top money. Now the feds have tacked on $100 million in School Improvement Grants and nearly $200 million in teacher incentive funds.

The UFT supported closing of schools until recently

There is no question all the forces have plotted this removal of funds (which can be restored on a whim) as a way to pressure the UFT to say "give". Will they agree to basically end tenure and seniority protections? Tough territory to go and even weathered UFT critics find it hard to believe they will go there without a fight. But what kind of fight is the UFT capable of engaging in with a non-involved membership (and I claim a lot of this non-involvement can be laid at the feet of the one-party system that disengages the membership).

There is no question the UFT will fight this in court. But what is the backup plan if they lose? The court may be able to delay the move to close these schools June 30 and reopen them the next day but by getting rid of at least half the teachers. This may force the deadlines the DOE needs (6 months) into default and in fact may be the major strategy. But what beyond that?

Ed Notes has been saying from the very beginning a decade ago that the policy of closing schools  under Bloomberg is about removing teachers for political and economic reasons and the latest ploy of closing a school one day and reopening the next but leaving everything in place but getting rid of at least half the teachers lays The Plan out in the open.

The UFT supported closing schools until they were hit with the 19 at one shot two years ago. Remember Randi Weingarten's "Lafayette High School should be closed" while it was clear to all Principal Academy hack/incompetent Jolanta Rohloff was sent in as a closer? It was clear that John Dewey HS would be destabilized as part of the Domino Effect that was experienced in the Bronx years before. And so that has come to pass as Dewey is not now on the list of 33 schools.

All along the way, instead of informing the members of the dangers of this policy --- the leadership had the Chicago example --- they tried to distract the members and give the impression they had everything under control. At no point have they admitted that by agreeing to the Open Market System and an end to many seniority protections in the 2005 contract which they continue to defend (though now very quietly) they opened the door to a massive closing of the schools. The UFT may have figured that Bloomberg wouldn't want to take the hit of paying for ATRs while Bloomberg saw that as a long-term investment in destroying the backbone of the union. Neither the UFT nor Bloomberg seemed to care about the fact that many senior ATRs would just give up and retire.

What strategy now for the UFT?
Some people see the latest Bloomberg ploy as a desperate attempt to save his education legacy before it is too late. Some see it as a negotiation ploy. Others see it as a hard and fast policy from which he will not waiver.

Whatever the motivation, the end result will be some loss for the UFT. Maybe not the whole ball of wax but certainly a move in that direction, with further attacks and further givebacks to come-- maybe after the next UFT election in March 2013.

Under any circumstances, the key issue for the leadership is how to save face and present the final outcome as a victory. The key issue for Bloomberg/Cuomo etc. is to what extent they will be willing to allow the union some face-saving measures -- they also want teachers under control and not rebelling against a leadership they have worked with. Don't think that both parties are not scared to death of another Chicago, so look for Cuomo to play a role in this aspect.

Unity Caucus has successfully held off the internal wolves
The other day I tweeted that since ed deformers are pushing the line that the most vital factor is an effective teacher along with the totally contradictory line that online learning is the future of effective education, why not fire every teacher in the nation and find the 2 most effective teachers to teach 50,000,000 kids on line?

The follow-up tweet is that the AFT/UFT calls this a victory - "they only wanted one teacher and we won this one by getting 2, a 100% increase in the number of teachers."


I know even many of the major critics of the UFT leadership have given Mulgrew credit for standing firm so far (though it was interesting to see an article in I think the Times mention that Mulgrew is not as politically adroit as Weingarten was -- the major reason a lot more people - internal and external - like him better). Of course I see it differently. Mulgrew's response has been more along the lines "we are willing to deal but WalBloom walked out and left us at the table - we are willing to go to mediation" (which splits the baby and gives WalBloom at least half of what they want).

In other words, the UFT is engaging in a rear-guard action to minimize the damage (especially to public relations) but most importantly, to reduce the hit the Unity Caucus leadership may take from an increasingly upset membership --- in the closing schools, schools targeted for co-location and now in the SIG schools. By (smartly) sending in UFT officials to give moral support and offer some logistical support, the union leadership has successfully manage to control the outrage and point it at Bloomberg –– who they used to tout as the good guy vs. the Joel Klein bad boy.

But changing the political line to suit the time is part of successful damage control. It helps when you control all the means of internal communication to the members. Will there come a day when the membership begins to turn against the leadership? Some point to the over 90% vote Mulgrew received just 2 years ago, the adroit use of a phony opposition party - New Action - which is given 8 seats on the Exec Bd to give the appearance of an opposition - as a sign that there is little chance of a serious challenge to Unity. But Unity takes no chances -- thus the constitutional amendment which while needed a 2/3 vote at the Jan. 18 Delegate Assembly, is sure to get passed -- watch how many retirees and Unity Caucus people who rarely attend meetings will show up that day.

Leadership covers up past mistakes
Now, we know their highest level of skill they have shown is in convincing the membership that none of this is their fault (look for them to send their minions into the schools to enforce the "who me" argument) despite a past of collaboration on numerous ed deform issues: the 2005 contract, mayoral control, selling evals and Danielson to the members, joining in the Gates/Obama/etc. push for common core standards-- add your own to a pretty large list).

Here is a perfect example of UFT leadership duplicity reported by Nikki Dowling at the Riverdale Press, who interviewed me for the article. Even Nikki seemed astounded. I didn't have time to tell her the UFT does support the charter but did a law suit they knew they would lose for internal consumption to give the impression they support the public school. I did tell Nikki that the UFT has two charter co-locos occupying space in public schools - so will we see the UFT suing themselves?

UFT head sued charters while on their board


The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit on May 18, 2011, seeking to prevent charter school co-location in public school buildings.
But UFT President Michael Mulgrew [and Randi Weingarten] sits on the board of the very organization — New Visions for Public Schools — responsible for opening two charter schools on the Kennedy campus.
The suit, which ultimately failed, sought to prevent the New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities and the New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science, as well as 16 other charters from across the city, from opening in a building that already housed another school (also known as co-locating).
The two charters are now located on the Kennedy campus in a mammoth building that houses six other schools, including John F. Kennedy High School, which the DOE is phasing out due to poor performance.
The UFT suit had charged that when they are co-located, disproportionate resources are given to charter schools, while larger schools, like JFK, get less.
“A school building should not be a lesson for a child on what inequality is and that is clearly what we now have. All children should have equal access to facilities inside a school building,” Mr. Mulgrew said in a May 26 press release.
While those interviewed agreed that Mr. Mulgrew’s position on the board is not a legal issue, they found it strange that a union leader who has come out publicly against charter school co-locations would sit on the board of an organization that has, to date, opened two charters in a multi-school building and is seeking to open more.
“They try and play both sides of the fence,” Norm Scott, a vocal critic of the UFT and DOE who runs Ed Notes Online, said.
District 10 Community Education President Marvin Shelton called Mr. Mulgrew’s position on the board a “head scratcher.”
“[If you’re] sitting on the board of an organization … one would believe that you are in support of that organization,” he said.
The two New Visions charters are not yet unionized and thus do not have to abide by UFT rules.
“The process of unionizing these two schools, which is up to the educators in the schools, is underway,” a UFT spokesperson said in a statement.
Mr. Shelton pointed out that though charter teachers may form their own union, it is in the UFT’s interest to solicit more members because they pay membership dues.
UFT spokesman Peter Kadushin and New Visions spokesman Timothy Farrell declined to comment on Mr. Mulgrew’s position on the board.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also sits on New Visions’ board.

 If there was democracy in the UFT Mulgrew would have to answer to the members at a DA or an Exec Bd meeting (don't expect New Action to bring this up). As a matter of fact, I will pin the astounding errors the UFT has made over the last decade to the very idea that their initiatives are never debated and vetted but instead imposed on the members. If there were vibrant critical voices in the halls of power in the UFT and issues debated openly, the union might be in a very different place.

Which brings me to the State of the Union conference coming up on Feb. 4 which is aimed at examining the role of the union from many angles. I'll talk more about this conference (and why all of you should attend) over the next few weeks. I think this conference reflects the increasing view that if the UFT won't allow these debates to take place within the official halls like the Exec Bd and the DA, people will look for forums outside the official UFT to engage in these debates.

What is very interesting about the people working on putting this together is the number of new faces, most of them young, but also including some long-time teachers who have not been activists before suddenly feeling that it is time to do something. They include individuals from many of the activist groups plus people unaffiliated with organizations.

Film Jan. 18: Creating Good Schools for Our Children

From our good pal Donna Nevel at Center for Immigrant Families.

Join us for a screening and discussion of

180 Days Well Spent:

Creating Good Schools for Our Children

January 18th, 2012 from 5:30 PM until 7:00 PM

at PS 75, 96th Street and West End Avenue

Reception to follow program

Childcare provided

Bloomberg Declares War

Will Bloomberg's actions spur greater teacher and student activism and resistance?

Its seems clear to everyone, mainstream media included, that the situation around education in our city has shifted radically in the last 72 hours with the Mayor's State of the City speech.

Basically, the mayor has declared war on the UFT, abandoning any pretense of negotiating and instead trying an end-run around the union at the 33 Transformation and Restart schools (where negotiations around an evaluation system collapsed over the new year). For those of you who aren't following it, it involves closing the schools and reopening them, with the same students, but forcing the teaching staff to reapply for their jobs and only hiring half of them back (the rest forced to find another job, or wander their district as itinerant ATR subs).

This is basically a desperate escalation on the part of a Mayor who is trying to regain momentum after the Cathy Black debacle and claw back something of an "education legacy" for himself in his last year in office.---- comment from a teacher activist.

 I began receiving calls at home Friday afternoon even before I left for a meeting from teachers livid with rage regarding the actions of WalBloom. Teachers at these schools, kept in the dark all day, were handed piles of notices to give their students - a letter from Walcott to their parents blaming the union for the loss of the $60 million and announcing that the schools would be closed on June 30 and reopened the next day as a new school. Everything remains the same - except that all teachers must reapply for their jobs and only half can come back.

Now technically, they cannot be fired but become ATRs instead - and this is where the Bloomberg strategy become interesting. If they go through with it they will be faced with a massive influx of ATRs -- especially if you add the people from the other schools being closed. The costs to pay teachers who are functioning as day-to-say subs can turn out to be massive. Thus the attempt to make the lives of ATRs miserable by moving them from school to school every week (which the UFT signed on to) and now assigning special supervisors -- at what cost? --- to monitor them. If the BloomCrap gambit flies watch for massive escalation of war on ATRs to try to cut those costs. Look for a media barrage as part of a campaign to vilify ATRs --"Those awful teachers who failed at closing schools who cannot be hires." Try to imagine headlines in The Post.


Some students more outraged than teachers
One caller told me it was not the teachers who seemed most upset, but the students, who often take the attacks on their school and their teachers personally. He said a bunch of kids came to his door and wanted to know what he was going to do about it. "Fight" he said. The kids patted him on the back saying they would help. I'm not sure the level of organizing going on amongst students --- teachers take a great risk and thus the students have to do it themselves --- though there are some advocacy groups doing some work with student. If students join teachers in enough force by walking out of schools or better, go on strike, that would do more to unsettle Bloomberg than just about anything the UFT can and will do.


What will the UFT do?
Will the UFT go beyond legal action? They will probably sell legal action as the way to go. But if teachers begin to take actions outside the bounds of the union structure, I can see the leadership, fearing the loss of their ability to keep things under their control, might be forced to take more militant action, though what that might look like is hard to say. Ad hoc groups of teachers are already calling for restarting the Fight Back Friday campaigns of last year, especially if they can make it happen in as many of the schools under attack as possible.


Teacher activists spurred to greater action
I was at a meeting with a bunch of teachers late Friday afternoon - all long-time activists. One is from one of the 33 schools under attack and another teaches at the Morris HS Campus where Bloomberg made his speech. Both were seething - and whatever level of being an activist takes part of your life away and can become a drag at times - both seemed spurred on to even greater activity by events over the last few days.

What happened on Friday afternoon inflamed teachers. They were told to give out a letter from Walcott to take home to parents blaming the union. I bet a hell of a lot of these letters got trashed.

We also heard the story from the Morris campus where Bloomberg spoke on Thursday and how it was turned into an armed camp with hordes of police invading the school. Teachers were even threatened that if they went out during lunch to join some of the rallies protesting Bloomberg the police might not allow them back in. There were reports that police were trying to get info on teacher activity from security guards.

The reason Bloomberg went to Morris was because it was one of the early large schools closed and stuffed with small schools. While Bloomberg touted Morris as a success, Leonie Haimson was raining on his parade at the NYC Parent blog by pointing out that there was no success.

The Real Deal on Morris High School & Bloomberg’s Failed Education Policies

 And the blog followed up with:

Bloomberg's State of the City address: an administration that has run out of education ideas -- even bad ones

Bloomberg's damaging education proposals to cost $350 million per year

In the meantime, other groups have been organizing protests, rallies. Boy will the copes be kept busy chasing after each of these.

Parents and students from the schools that are currently on the 2012 SCHOOLS CLOSING LISThave decided to join together and support each other in the fight to save their schools.  Listed below are just a few of the actions that will be taking place in the upcoming weeks. Please come out and support our parents and students in their fight.  NUMBERS EQUAL POWER!

FIX SCHOOLS, DON'T JUST CLOSE THEM!

 

JANUARY 16: 9:30 AM:  BAM In Brooklyn.  Support parents from Satellite Three, from Brooklyn, who will be protesting school closures before Chancellor Walcott gives his education speech at MLK event. See attached flyer for details

JANUARY 18: 4:30 pm:  233 Broadway- Rm 720.                                Plan parent & student action for Feb 1. Also planning what to do on Feb 9- day of the PEP vote!

FEBRUARY 1:  4:00 pm - 6:00 pm-- Union Square. Students & Parents from closing and failing schools/ Mayor 13% (percentage of Black & Latino students prepared for college).  More details later.

FEBRUARY 9:  4:00pm onwards. PEP Votes on School Closings-- Brooklyn Tech H.S.  

Remember to join this facebook page on school closings:

Www.facebook.com/closingschoolsisnottheanswer

Support Legacy High School students who organized an "occupy your ears" event making hundreds of calls to DOE, PEP, Elected Officials, etc.

http://www.facebook.com/events/323146817716488/ 

Many parents/students will be having local actions at DOE hearings at their schools-- from boycotting to protesting.  Please let us know what you're planning & post to this email list!

Please call me with any questions.

Fight, fight, fight-- a great education is a Right!

 

mili

Mili Bonilla

Coalition for Educational Justice

Annenberg Institute for School Reform

  Cell: 347-901-1049

www.nyccej.org

www.edvox.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.

Sticker Caper Bandit Brands Eva's Million Dollar Advertizing Campaign With the Truth

Updated: Sat. Jan. 14, 7AM: Stickers, Stickers, We Got Stickers

I'm sure all the other NYC blogs will be dealing with the BloomCrap so I'll just pop these puppies about the reactions to closing schools and Success Charter co-locos. Eva wanted gentrification neighborhoods and she's got them along with a load of activists. Really, for people who have been doing organizing without getting much response for years, Eva and BloomCrap are like godsends.

Gotham reports on the sticker caper:
http://gothamschools.org/2012/01/13/critical-stickers-added-to-success-academys-new-subway-ads/

There are so many people in Williamsburg willing to take credit for this you could fill the house of detention. Watch Bloomberg spend a million of public money to put cameras every 2 feet in the subway stations with Eva's ads.

Leonie reports on protests at PS 19 which is on the closing school list and on MS 50 which is being invaded by Eva.

The Williamsburg Latino community fights back against Success charter expansion

Here are some leaflets being circulated: 

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.

Walcott letter to parents being distributed in 33 schools today in unilateral action bypassing union

Just got a call from a teacher -- they may be invoking some rule that limits union rights to being on panel that hires teachers -- forcing all teachers to reapply for jobs -- with high schools new term starting in 2 weeks -- are they aiming to do this now or wait till Sept?

UFT DA is Weds. Some people want to go there to show the UFT they will support them in any action the union is willing to take. Others are talking about disrupting PEP meeting later that evening. Is this the spark that ignites a fire?

There are calls for the union to get the 33 schools together to fight this instead of leaving it to individual chapters. Waiting to see how UFT which often sees these actions as internal threats responds. But can the UFT act like it normally does now?

More later.

Robotics Brooklyn FIRST LEGO League Tournament for Kids 9-14 at NYU/Poly Saturday Jan. 14

Free and open to the public. NYU/Poly is on Jay Street at Metrotech.

Tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 14) is the opening of the NYC robotics competition season with the qualifying tournament with over 40 teams from Brooklyn competing for the opportunity to go on to the finals at the Javits Convention Center in March where 80 teams winnowed from all the borough qualifiers will compete for the opportunity to go to the finals at the World Tournament with teams from around the globe in St. Louis in April.

Attending these events -- bring your kids --- is a great way to get your school involved next year. I will be manning the registration desk in the morning.

Yesterday I finished building the Field Set Up Kit just in time for the tournament. I had LEGO parts all over my man cave for weeks as each night I built another model. If you think that was easy check out the models on Facebook. 

I've been involved with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) since retiring in 2002. FIRST puts on various tournaments for kids from age 6-high school all over the world.

My focus has been the FIRST LEGO League, where teams of kids from age 9-14 (which includes elementary, middle and high schools) build and program robots out of LEGO materials. That makes for an interesting competition with 4th/5th graders competing on the same playing level as 9th graders. (And they do pretty well.) There are over 16,000 teams world wide with 8000 in the states.

Here in NYC we had around 180 teams register in September. We expect around 150 to take part in the borough qualifiers

The teams had over these months to prepare their robots for 4 shots throughout the day at completing a number of tasks within two and a half minutes. In addition, the teams have to do presentations in front of a panel of judges.

Each year there is a theme. This year it is Food Factor.

Some Food Factor Links

1. 2011 Food Factor Challenge | FIRST LEGO League

   firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2011foodfactor

   The FLL Core Values are the fundamental elements that ... In the 2011 Food Factor Challenge, over 200000 9-16* year olds from over 55 countries will explore ...

2. FLL 2011 "Food Factor" Robot Game EN - YouTube
   ► 8:21► 8:21	www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvdTbTf4G0kSep 5, 2011 - 8 min - Uploaded by FLLHot This film explains missions and points of FLL Robot-Game 2011 "Food Factor - Keeping Food Safe". Please ...

3. FLL 2011 Food Factor Missions - YouTube
   ► 8:21► 8:21	www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf_bQbPYLT8Sep 3, 2011 - 8 min - Uploaded by bgcalbanyor These are the missions for this year's Lego Robotics Tournament.

4. FLL Project DVD - Food Factor season - YouTube
   ► 20:44► 20:44	www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBBnyz8syMJun 27, 2011 - 21 min - Uploaded by FLLGlobal The OFFICIAL FLL Project DVD for the 2011 Food Factor season. A rookie team's guide to the FLL Project ...

   More videos for food factor fll »

Check my robotics blog for updates and links: http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/

NYC Qualifiers Begin: Volunteers Needed

Hello, FLL FOOD FACTOR SEASON is in FULL EFFECT. We are holding Borough Tournaments all over the Tri-state area and we NEED YOUR HELP.  Below are the DATES/LOCATIONS/ SITE COORDINATOR info for you to choose from. I beg you to please respond to the specific SITE COORDINATOR and copy me at ealmonte311@gmail.com with the following info: Name, Email address, Telephone
FLL Volunteer Position – 1^st & 2^nd Choices. Note:
You need to have been TRAINED for REFEREE or JUDGE in order to be able to volunteer in any of the these two positions. We need PLENTY OF VOLUNTEERS, please spread the news and have your friends and family join us if they can.
BOROUGH TOURNAMENT DATES BELOW:

Saturday Jan. 14th Brooklyn Qualifier @ NYU-Poly
Coordinator: Susan Hermon - shermon@poly.edu

Saturday Jan.21st Bronx Qualifier @ Lehman HS
Coordinator: Bernie DiCristofalo – bdicrist@optonline.net

Saturday Jan. 21st Manhattan Qualifier @ CCNY
Coordinator: Elizabeth Vilchis – Vilchis.elizabeth@gmail.com

Saturday Jan. 28th Queens Qualifier @ George Ryan JHS 216
Coordinator: Peter Xanthus – ptx79@aol.com

Staten Island Qualifier : Feb 5 is Super Bowl - Target date is Feb. 12 if venue can be found.
Coordinator: Thomas Smolka – thomasjsmolka@gmail.com
List of teams competing in Brooklyn

Team [x] Object (home schooled)

St. Edmunds Elementary School

PS 94 K

PS 94 K

PS 321K

Packer Collegiate Inst.

Packer Collegiate Inst.

PS 8 K

PS 8 K

YWCA-NYC

MS 366K

Community Partnership Charter School

MS 354 School of Integrated Learning

PS 270 K The Dekalb School

Brooklyn Brownstone School

Mott Hall Bridges Academy

PS 3K The Bedford Village School

PS 256K Benjamin Banneker Elementary

PS 9K Teunis G. Bergen

PS 399 K Stanley Eugene Clarke

PS 233K  Langston Hughes

PS 11K  Purvis J Behan School

MS 113K Ronald Edmonds Learning Center

PS 636 K Young Scholars’ Academy for Discovery and

Urban Assembly Institute of Math & Science for Young Women

Ocean Hill Collegiate Charter School

The Young Womens’ Leadership School TYWLS BK

Benjamin Banneker Academy K

PS 58 The Carroll School

PS 58 The Carroll School

PS 58 The Carroll School

Salve Regina Catholic Academy

PS 261K

PS 321K

Sunset Park Prep MS 821K

IS 383 K Philippa Schuyler MS

MS 354 School of Integrated Learning

PS 372 K

PS 372 K

Brooklyn School for Global Studies

Fort Green Prep Academy

PS 147k

Exposing Bloomberg's Education Lies in Today's State of the City Address at Morris HS

UPDATE: Union busting is Theme of Bloomberg State of the City

I know it's a busy day and this is my 3rd post (make sure to check out the others) and it's only 1PM, just in time for Bloomberg's lying State of the City address. I was going to go to the protest at 12:30 but looked at directions and saw the word "Bruckner Expressway --- the use of the word "express" is a knee-slapper --- and I thought there is no way on a day it rained. So I am just going to head up to Williamsburg later for the CEC 14 meeting where D. 14 long-time Superintendent James Quail whom I've known for 40 years will be making his last appearance before retiring on Jan. 31. I will attempt to worm some ugliness towards Tweed out of him if I can.

Breaking: Just saw my childhood pal Marty Needelman in NY1 on another Bloomberg scuzzy operation in Williamsburg/Bushwick to create discriminatory housing --- they went to court and won against him -- another slap at the leagacy. David and Pat Dobosz from GEM who are neighborhood residents have been involved in this story.

Leonie initial take:

Bloomberg’s State of City Address |
He wants to re-introduce teacher merit pay (What? didn't we try that already?)
& bring Rocketship charter to NYC http://goo.gl/4cXq7 
see also http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/12/bloomberg-unveils-ambitious-proposals-for-schools/
50 more charters over the next 2 yrs.
streaming live (if you can stand it) at
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/12/bloomberg-unveils-ambitious-proposals-for-schools/

Gotham reports:

Mayor’s address comes against evaluations impasse backdrop

In education-packed speech, Bloomberg vows to bypass UFT


------

Public School Parents from Across NYC to Protest “Mayor 13%” Today Outside State of the City Address

Site of address – Morris HS – likely to be touted by mayor as success;

but “new” Morris actually made gains by neglecting the highest-needs special ed students

After a decade of school closures and other failed school reform policies, only 13% of Black and Latino students are graduating prepared for college under Bloomberg

Poll after poll has shown a strong majority of New Yorkers reject Bloomberg’s education platform and want a new direction

Parents and education advocates from across New York City will protest today outside the mayor’s State of the City Address, decrying the man they call “Mayor 13%” for his failed education policies—which only prepare 13 percent of Black and Latino public school students for college.

Protesters will also draw attention to the dubious selection of Morris High School in the Bronx as the site of the address, and, apparently, a symbol to the administration of its success.  Indeed, Morris’s graduation rates have improved since it was closed and re-opened under the Bloomberg Administration—but at the expense of high-needs (self-contained) special education students who were forced to attend other schools.  The old Morris HS had a 14 percent rate of self-contained special education students; the new Morris HS campus schools have an average of just two percent. [FACT SHEET ON MORRIS HS AND BLOOMBERG POLICIES ATTACHED.]

Advocates and parents will also point to the Bronx neighborhood surrounding Morris as a microcosm of Bloomberg’s failed education policies across the City, where high-needs students who typically score lower on standardized exams are “warehoused” in a few schools to inflate scores in others.  In the neighborhood around Morris, for example, only three percent of students are in high-needs special education classes at the “A” schools, while the closing schools average nine percent high-needs special education.

The federal government’s National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial Urban District Assessment (NAEP TUDA) test results in December showed that City scores have plateaued since 2009 and the large racial achievement gap persists between students of color and their white peers has not budged.  More than one-third of all City schools are now considered failing by the State.  Earlier this fall, we learned that adjusted state scores showed a deepening crisis in our middle and elementary schools, and that higher graduation rates were masking the fact that just one-in-four high school seniors were actually prepared for college.  In response, poll after poll has shown a strong majority of New Yorkers reject Bloomberg’s education platform and want a new direction.  

WHEN:           Thursday, January 12^th – 12:30 PM

WHERE:         Outside Morris High School – 1100 Boston Road, the Bronx

WHO:             Parents and advocates from across the City.

This also available as fact sheet on the CSM website here: http://www.classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Morris-HS-fact-sheet-final-final.pdf


For immediate release:
January 11, 2012

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters, leonie@classsizematters.org; 917-435-9329
Mili Bonilla, Coalition for Education Justice, mili_bonilla@brown.edu; 347-901-1049

Don’t Believe the Hype!

The Real Deal on Morris High School  

& Bloomberg’s Failed Education Policies

Peninsula Prep Charter Closing Follow-Up From Leonie

This is an important supplement filling in some gaps on my previous post where I forgot all about Victory's role -- they pulled out loads of money from the school (and our wallets) for management fees.

And a comment came in on the previous post making another important connection to the location of the charter and how it was connected to the massive Arverne by the Sea which I believe owned the trailers where the school was located.

Just as shady, is the issue of locating the school close to Arverne By the Sea as a selling perk for Smith's real estate buddy. Wonder how many buyers that lured?!?!?!

Leonie Haimson, who takes a good shot at Michael Duffy (and Anna Philips for quoting him but leaving out how much money his company made off Peninsula Prep) who was a Tweed Troll for years and used his position to get a job paying him a lot of money (let's make a ban on this as an addition to ed law) to nycednews listserve:

I really have no idea what the underlying motivation of DOE might be here; but according to their own (unreliable) accountability system, a school like Peninsula Prep w/ three "Cs" is vulnerable to closing -- and I believe other regular public schools in that category have been closed.

In Oct. I made a list and and discussed the various charters vulnerable to closing on the basis of their grades on the progress reports:

Note the five charters in light yellow; these are authorized by the NYC Chancellor, and thus can be closed by DOE. Who knows why they picked on Peninsula but did not close the others?

The DOE's decisionmaking remains totally obscure to me, but remember also that 

Peninsula Prep paid large management fees to Victory -- 23% of per pupil funding acc. to GS --  and has been involved in lots of scandals, as Norm notes -- though none of this is mentioned in the DOE report that advised against renewing its charter. 

My question is this: why did Anna Phillips of the NYT quote Michael Duffy, former head of the DOE charter office, who now works at Victory, as an independent observer on the implications of the school's closing, w/out mentioning the financial connection between the Victory & Peninsula Prep?  Did they dissolve their relationship?  In any case, this should have been mentioned.

Or did I miss something?  I have read through the article twice now and don't see the connection mentioned.