Hamburg, NY, Another Holdout from NYSED Extortion on Ed Evals

Yes Commissioner King, “the clock is ticking”- on my children’s education.  How many years of their schooling will be ruined by the high-stakes testing mania that results from the policies you advocate?  Who benefits? Not the children....  Chris Cerrone, who I had the pleasure of hanging with at SOS in DC last August. Oh, those one dollar margaritas.

UFT members,

My district, Hamburg, is in the same situation as you folks- no APPR agreement yet. 

Since my school is the only one left in Western New York without an agreement, we have been inundated with NYSED propaganda.
Please give this a read:
http://atthechalkface.com/2013/01/06/education-propagandists-do-it-for-the-children/

Regards, Chris Cerrone
http://nystoptesting.com/

http://atthechalkface.com/author/nystoptesting/

http://twitter.com/#!/Stoptesting15

Education propagandists: Do it for the children

January 6, 2013 by Chris Cerrone

In New York, school districts across the state have been scrambling to complete and revise their agreements to a new teacher evaluation system.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a wannabe Presidential Candidate, has used the now common carrot and stick approach to education policy by threatening to withhold a district’s state aid increase for this year unless a new teacher evaluation plan is approved by January 17th.  Of the approximately seven hundred districts in New York, only nine have not submitted their plans as of January 2nd.  A press release about the evaluation deadline which appeared on NYSED’s website and made print and television media reports contains so much nonsense that it shows the ignorance of state education officials or just proves the leaders have clear anti-teacher motives.

“Teacher evaluations are vital to help identify struggling teachers and provide them with the professional development they need.  And they help identify excellent teachers who can serve as mentors and role models. These plans are a critical tool to ensure all of our kids have a high quality teacher at the front of the classroom.  ~Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch

Yes, Ms. Tisch, we need quality educators in every classroom but the evaluation plan you support will not accomplish that goal.  The random invalid results that will occur because of the emphasis on test scores will not determine who is a quality educator.  Many districts around the state(and country) have tremendous models of teacher evaluation that contribute to maintaining high-quality educators in our classrooms, but you ignore those facts and perpetuate the myth of widespread teacher incompetence. The growth and VAM models that the New York plans emphasize are prone to wild swings from year to year and will not produce accurate determinations of teacher effectiveness.

“It is urgent that those districts that have not submitted evaluation plans or need to resubmit plans do so immediately.  Our students are waiting.” ~Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch

“Our students are waiting“? Seriously? Our students want more test prep and high-stakes tests?  The madness of test preparation may reach a new level now that educators are being directly judged by assessment results.  When the “ed deformers” try to spew their nonsense, they resort to saying “it is for the children”.

“This is not just about the increase in aid.  It’s about helping students.  APPR plans focus on effective teaching.  The plans will help principals and teachers improve their practice and help students graduate ready for college and careers.  But the clock is ticking.”  ~State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr.

Does Commissioner King base this statement on any research? How exactly do the vague results teachers receive from state assessment help improve their practice? If I had a dime for every time I hear oft repeated mantra of”college and career ready” we could fund schools properly.  The sad irony is the policy of using high-stakes tests to evaluate our teachers will not prepare our children for either post graduate goal.

Commissioner King says it is not just about the state aid, but that is why most districts approved the plans.  Many schools reluctantly approved their evaluation plans for fear of losing money in an era of scarce funding. Some districts that have complied with the evaluation plan are holding out hope that the ridiculous evaluation policies coming from Albany would fall apart in short order. Failure is possible, but I would not count on the current ed reformers backing down even when proven wrong. The profit and power motives are too high for the use of high-stakes assessment to end easily.   Testing companies are making millions and the anti-union forces are using the new evaluation systems to chip away at teacher rights.

Yes Commissioner King, “the clock is ticking”- on my children’s education.  How many years of their schooling will be ruined by the high-stakes testing mania that results from the policies you advocate?  Who benefits? Not the children.

Follow the author on twitter at http://twitter.com/Stoptesting15

NYC and DC Charters Expel Students at Higher Rates Than Public Schools --

Wait a min -- pub schls can't expel kids.

Holy shit. Even the NY Post is reporting this:

Here it says in NYS, “charter schools set their own suspension rules and don't report expulsion data -- although experts believe thousands of difficult students are dumped every year to public schools.”
This is repeated here: http://insideschools.org/blog/item/1000359-vanishing-students-at-harlem-success
 
Harlem Success also has a high suspension rate -- 15 percent in the 2009-10 school year. (The state report cards do not list expulsions.)

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/charters_nix_of_kids_jXEEhJtQx9eQiGUiD3vInN

Charters 'nix 23%' of kids

MORE Memo: Was the SESIS Decision a Victory?

A great sign for MORE Media, led by its intrepid leader Mike Schirtzer, is the newly constituted MORE Response Team with the 4 bloggers of the Apocalypse leading the way to help put together the MORE statement on SESIS.

Read a great post at DOENUTS that pretty much says what I would.

How, exactly, is winning the right to force teachers into overtime a good thing? Because that happened with this 'victory'....the arbitration process went on for two long years before it was finally "resolved". How exactly is it a victory if I get to abuse you for two long years without being stopped?

Actually, I wouldn't call for 20,000 teachers to march but give me 5000 teachers, parents and special ed kids marching and that changes the game. I also would at least explore job actions -- let the UFT be creative -- look at the Chicago crew and how they are constantly on the offensive.

And, YES, I want my pound of flesh.
A pet peeve over the last 40 years has been the UFT's cavaliere, "Do what they say and file a grievance." So I have to eat the crap and even if I win there is no loss for the supervisor who knowingly violated the contract figured a) most likely I would lose and 2) even if I won nothing happens to them for violating the contract. That was why the groups I was with in the 70s called for penalties for administrators when you win.

I also take issue with the non-proactive use of legal mechanisms that slowly wind their way through the system. This is a fight that should have been taken to the public as doing harm to kids given that teachers had little time to manage this broken system incompetently implemented. I would gladly have congratulated the UFT for spending millions of dollars on commercials.

The MORE statement below, while congratulating the union leaders on winning the money, goes further into what I would classify as a social justice angle by framing the issue more broadly than the focus on money. Look at the impact on teachers and kids.

Yes, the right thing should be that workers get paid overtime for this labor, however, money was never the issue. It was the forced labor that we had to do on our own time IN ADDITION TO the other tasks we have always done largely after school hours including lesson planning and IEP writing (which takes more time on SESIS then on prior paper IEP's). If we gain additional workers to do the data entry tasks required by SESIS, that would be a victory because it would allow more time for intervention and counseling with students.

Here is the MORE statement with a link

MORE congratulates the UFT for the financial compensation they’ve earned our Special Education colleagues across the city. The SESIS case is another example of UFT leadership pursuing the same bureaucratic, top-down strategy it always pursues. Sometimes that strategy yields small victories. Nonetheless, because of this strategy the UFT is losing the war on several fronts.

First, the UFT did not involve rank and file members in this effort any more than it normally does. It issued surveys and asked chapter leaders to report abuses to district representatives. The UFT compiled the survey data and used it as evidence in the arbitration case. Members were not organized to respond collectively or actively in any way. There were no membership meetings, no mobilizations, no involvement of members in strategy discussions. The UFT strategy was purely legalistic and involved only the grievance department, some officers, and some lawyers. And this time they won  an arbitration case. Can we expect more cases against the DOE: Teachers are currently being evaluated with the Danielson Rubric, educators are being compelled to spend hours upon hours writing curriculum in the form of Common Core Units of Study and are grading on Acuity well into the night, high school teachers are being forced to change schools during Regents Week, creating traveling and childcare hazards for our colleagues all across the city.

Many special education workers including Related Service Providers, SETSS Teachers, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Guidance Counselors have been forced to do excessive amounts of Data Entry work. This is certainly not in our contract.

Continue reading at MORE blog →

Other blogs on this issue:

James and Jeff at ICE: WILL SESIS VICTORY BE A TURNAROUND MOMENT FOR DOE/UFT?

[For those who want to know how the ICE blog can congratulate the UFT while I disagree, we are all free agents -- note the word "Independent".]

Chaz (Why My Union Is Important)  where I left a few comments regarding the social justice angle. My tactical take is that if teachers only scream about not getting paid it feeds into the ed deform attack on teachers and unions and public education (see, our charter school teachers will stay up all night doing this for no money -- when in fact my sources say all too many charter schools just ignore IEP type work knowing there is no penalty) and gun-shy passive UFT.

If I were running things I would have held rallies with teachers, parents and kids and do what they did in Chicago -- demand more people to do the work as the MORE response points out --- it is not about money for us but about the kids.

Now I know this offends traditional unionists but we live in a different world now where the very institutions teachers work in and the unions are under severe assault. And our "products" are not widgets or cars so let's now compare ourselves to auto workers. Teacher unions need to unlock the door to parent activism.

In fact, MORE is working with some parents to establish some kind of kindred parent group. And at a recent meeting with 5 MOREs every single one of them have kids under the age of 4 -- except me, unless you count Bernie and Penny --- YES, teachers are parents too. Wish I took a picture.

All of these MOREs are going to send their kids to a public school and that is a theme MORE will develop over time.

I Love the Sound of Vichy in the Morning

As one who has tried to brand the UFT/AFT leadership as having a Vichy mentality, this was a fun read from Naked Capitalism sent over by Michael Fiorillo. This piece on how Obama is selling out the middle class to the wealthy refers to the Obama apologists, which includes the UFT/AFT in this way:

With the Vichy Left now trying to soften up the public for Social Security and Medicare “reform,” it’s particularly important to keep an accurate scorecard on what has already gone down.

Here is more:

Yes, Virginia, The Rich Did Very Well With the Fiscal Cliff Deal

The Real News Network has conducted a series of interviews on the fiscal cliff deal, and the two most recent are worthwhile in and of themselves, and are also good tools for persuading those who fallen for the idea that Obama got a good deal to reexamine their view. With the Vichy Left now trying to soften up the public for Social Security and Medicare “reform,” it’s particularly important to keep an accurate scorecard on what has already gone down.

The newest chat, with economist James Henry, focuses on how the deal on estate taxes allows the rich to pass on wealth to their children, allowing inequality to persist across generations. And he reminds us that a lot of Congressmen are rich enough that this provision will benefit their families.

Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/01/yes-virginia-the-rich-did-very-well-with-the-fiscal-cliff-deal.html#BftMCK4F8xwsGMjX.99

Change the Stakes, My Favorite Meeting

On a late Friday afternoon once a month, 15-20 parents, principals, teachers --- public and college level, gather to plan strategies and tactics in the war against high stakes testing. With the testing season about to begin and more and more parents talking about opting out, today's  meeting was the kickoff of what should prove to be an active period right through June.

The idea of shlepping to the city on a day I took hot yoga in the morning and a long afternoon nap was not appetizing but if there is one meeting I try not to miss it is this one. Why? Because I don't know of many, or any, true parent teacher partnership groups and having regular contact with parents in a setting like this is important. We had 4 new people show up today, one a PTA president in Harlem who immediately felt comfortable enough to take an active role.

Brian Jones, Pedro Noguera, Shael Polokow-Suransky at CTS sponsored event

Under tonight's leadership of Diana Zavala, a parent and former NYC teacher (and MORE member), we tried something different by breaking into groups based on topics. I decided to work with the common core group given that MORE needs to address this issue and hasn't gotten to it so far. One of the benefits of this cross fertilizing of smallish orgs (there were at least 4 MORE members there, including two elementary school exectutive board candidates) is that each group can carve up the work. MORE can support and adopt some of the positions coming out of CTS.

Check out the change the stakes website run by Diana.

The next meeting is Friday, Feb. 1 at CUNY, 34th St and 5th Ave, rm 5414 or 5409.

Sandy Dairies: What Were We Thinking, Part 2: Living in the middle of an ocean

Read Part 1.

By Norm Scott

I last left you at around 4:30 on October 29 as the waters from the ocean three and a half blocks away started coming up the bay block I live on. Knowing high tide was around 9 PM, this was not a good sign. The earlier morning tide had the waters over the curb and lapping at my garage door where I had placed two rows, of what turned out to be, paltry, 12 bright yellow sand bags we had laboriously filled the day before.

Seeing a neighbor, who in the morning had said we would be on our porches toasting bloody marys during the storm, leave in a hurry around 4PM certainly didn’t give me confidence. I went down to a basement so full of stuff there was almost no path to walk to see what I could get off the floor. I raised a few things – putting tools on a table -- but every ounce of space seemed filled and I gave up fairly quickly. Oh, I did take my deceased aunt’s ratty mink coat and stole out of the closet and hang them from the rafters. (The next morning they would look like soggy, dead rats.) Then I went up to the ground level garage/laundry room/bathroom/den, an area which was used mostly for storage. Again, barely space to move. I grabbed an expensive video camera but in the rush forgot the audio equipment.

So what can one add at this point about the next ten hours that everyone in Rockaway experienced as some of the seminal moments of their lives? I don’t remember which came first, the beginning of about 10 blackouts – return to power, blackout, etc. or the sound of the water coming in. We ran downstairs to the garage that is at the entrance to our house (we have a split level) and saw the water coming in around the sand bags. We grabbed some towels – sure, go ahead, laugh. Then we heard the water coming into the den through the back door, which is about a foot below ground level. And I mean gushing. My wife had placed barriers against the basement door to keep the water out of the den – I don’t know what we were thinking about where water would come from. I guess I had a vision of 3 or 4 feet of water seeping in my basement.

Who thought the first entry into the living area would be through the ground level living space? As the water gushed into the den and the power went out for good, my wife suggested I get the ice chest and the bags of ice I had put in the small freezer. Good thinking on her part as we ended up spending 3 weeks eating out of that ice chest. I saw the ice chest floating by, along with a pair of boots which I grabbed and tossed upstairs. There was no time to grab much else. I ran back upstairs and dried off. Did I shut the power off in the control panel in the garage? Too late.

As we watched the water rise incredibly quickly – I think is was only 7PM – my wife suggested I go back down down by this time thigh high water to try to pry the basement door open to let the water flow down there. (Have another laugh on me.)

I can’t believe how little idea we had about all this. Of course with the amount of water pressing against it the door wouldn’t budge (though in the morning I would find it pushed wide open from the push of all the water in the basement rushing out into the den). So I was locked out of my basement --- one of the lucky breaks of the night given what happened to so many people. The water was too high to get the basement door open. Best that I didn’t see it or even worse, given what happened to others, venture down there to see what else I could have saved ¬– the chop saw or the mink coat? Being locked out was one of many lucky happenstances for us that night.
This was about 6:30PM.

We knew we had to get to high tide at 9PM and at least we had some portable radios working to give us news. From the earlier morning high tide where we saw the water totally recede back to the ocean gave me some confidence we could ride this out. Even if the water reached our main living area, about 5 feet high, we could always get to the bedrooms another 5 feet up. (One of the defining issue for people in terms of post storm home livability was whether water got to this level and that turned out to vary by inches).

We had 3 locations to watch the water come up from– front window, back window and the door to the den where we could see it rise one step at a time. And up it came from all 3 directions. I looked in wonder as the waters rose, led by the slimy looking foam. When it reached deck height with chairs floating the house was standing in the middle of the ocean, like watching a monsoon movie taking place in south Asia. When water reached above the hood level of the car parked in the driveway across the street I knew both of our cars were probably cooked.

All sorts of stuff was floating. Benches – heavy benches – beams, heavy pots with plants, garbage cans, sections of fence. Our big patio bench with a heavy pot on it floated 20 feet away and landed upright to a perfectly located section of the garden – as if the ocean were a landscape architect. By 8PM the water was two steps away from our main floor and we started moving things upstairs and placing towels by the 3 doors where we expected the water to come from. But we knew we could ride this out and did not I think our lives were threatened. Until I smelled the smoke.
---------------

I'm a happy woman. I'm a happy woman, tra-la, tra-la, tra-la.

I heard this song wafting down to the basement through the fumes of the mold spray. Ahhh, such joy from my wife after 41 years of marriage. Could it be the effects of the raw ginseng roots I've been munching on? Alas, no. My wife had just ordered a replacement washer/dryer for the one month old ones we lost in Sandy and was told they were finally in stock and would be delivered this week.

I'm a happy man. I'm a happy man, tra-la, tra-la, tra-la.

No more traipsing to Brooklyn to sit in Laundromats or going begging at the homes of friends. And being able to take hot yoga without having the wet clothes tossed outside on the deck by you know who. Tra-la.

Ed Deformer Biddle Muddles While Randi Fiddles

Declared Weingarten on Twitter: “retirees do not sway local elections”.

Really, Randi should think twice before she tweets. Thanks to Jeff Kaufman for digging this up from dropout nation's RiShawn Biddle, my new fave ed deformer for the material he provides us, in this follow-up piece to his attack on Randi when she called for more teacher voice (which means SHE gets to talk and no one else). Here is the Ed Notes link (Irony: Randi's Call for Teacher Voices to Be Heard...) to the first piece where Biddle while going after Randi does an assault on Karen Lewis, the real enemy of ed deformers.

Clueless - or propagandist - Biddle and Randi ought to walk off into the sunset together. Even a blind squirrel finds a chestnut once in a while. At least he got the impact of the retirees in UFT elections right (he ought to check them out at a Delegate Assembly) though he misses by a mile in attributing their voting patterns to support for the UFT's so-called resistance to Bloomberg.

What a lame explanation as to why retirees vote in so much higher percentage than working teachers -- they want to prop up the union in its resistance to Bloomberg reform -- like they haven't voted this way since Bloomberg was poor.

Biddle, mentions E4E and MORE in the same paragrah. Read my last piece E4E Mauled in Chapter Election by ICE Candidate to see how inconsequential E4E is. But Biddle has the E4E horse in the race.

I'm trying to decide on the funniest parts of Biddle's piece. I choose this:

Yet the growing legion of groups representing younger, more reform-minded teachers such Educators 4 Excellence (which is working within AFT affiliates to push for a reform [SELLOUT] agenda) — along with the complaints from more-radical elements of the traditionalist ranks such as Norm Scott (a longtime critic of Weingarten and Mulgrew) and Movement of Rank-and-File Educators  – offer a different reason for why voter participation is so low: Apathy and discontent, especially among younger teachers, over how the AFT local (and the national union itself) ignores their concerns.

RiShawn should check out how many teachers (over a thousand) have signed the MORE petition both online and in their schools for a membership vote on any eval agreement, which the UFT leadership and I bet E4E oppose because they both know it would be turned down.

Hey, RiShawn, attend an E4E closed bund where there is no debate and only people who sign a pledge of fealty are allowed to attend and compare with the totally open MORE events where all are invited to participate and other than me and a few others you will not find a room full of baby boomers. More funnies from RiShawn.

After all, unlike participation in Movement of Rank-and-File Educators or Educators 4 Excellence, AFT membership isn’t voluntary; even those teachers who don’t want to join the union are still  forced to pay dues in the form of so-called agency fees). Simply put, it may be time for teachers of all philosophies to move away from the AFT (as well as the NEA) and embrace a different form of professional representation. [Hmmm. what could that be? Bet the word "union" is not included.]

As you would expect, more-radical traditionalists, most of which are Baby Boomers, are frustrated with Mulgrew’s willingness to occasionally [Biddle MUST check out the 05 contract but that was Randi, right, as if MulGarten are not a tag team] give in to Bloomberg on some issues, and with Weingarten’s longstanding efforts to triangulate the school reform movement (which began during her tenure as head of the New York City local). Looking toward the union’s elections this coming April, they are backing challengers to Mulgrew who will embrace the more-pugnacious approach of Chicago affiliate boss Karen Lewis. At the same time, the traditionalists also have truly legitimate concerns about the lack of input they have in shaping the AFT affiliate’s direction. From where they sit, Mulgrew (and Weingarten) have not been any more willing to listen to them than the school reformers they mutually oppose [Sorry Biddle, Randi doesn't oppose school reformers, she's one of them hiding in the closet]. And this lack of democracy has been seen in Unity’s successful efforts to squelch rival, more-progressive factions within AFT politics at the Big Apple level, including New Action (now a de-facto affiliate of Unity) [New Action is not progressive but regressive] , and Independent Coalition of Educators (which unsuccessfully challenged Mulgrew back in 2010), as well as Unity’s threats to anyone within its caucus who dares to disagree with its agenda. [Well he got that right.]
For younger teachers, who now make up the majority of AFT affiliate members, their issues with Mulgrew are different [BULLSHIT - see above ICE defeat E4E] , and yet similar to those of their more-radical traditionalist counterparts. They are frustrated with the AFT’s continued embrace of an obsolete industrial union-style model that values seniority over professionalism.. [MORE BULLSHIT - TAKE A POLL OF YOUNGER TEACHERS WHO ARE STAYING IN THE PROFESSION AND ASK NUMBER ONE CONCERN: GETTING TENURE].

By the way, seniority = professionalism. TFA= amateur dabblers. In fact Randi has done cartwheels to overturn seniority. Again -- see 2005 contract.

Here it is in full glory below
When Retirees Count Most (or More on Randi Weingarten and Listening to Teachers)

January 2, 2013

by RiShawn Biddle

MORE Press Release on Cuomo's report

UFT Presidential candidate Julie Cavanagh said, "We hoped the Commission would place a greater emphasis on giving schools and teachers the tools they need to truly put children first. This would mean lowering class sizes,  accepting parents as stakeholders in public education, listening to the perspective of career educators, and equitable funding for our schools. Unfortunately, it is precisely these issues the Commission has largely ignored."--- MORE press release

I'm sure the UFT leaders also had something to say. Ho-hum

 

MORE on Governor Cuomo’s Education Commission Report

 

Excerpts

The Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (MORE) is pleased that Governor 

It is unfortunate to note, however, that the report released today says nothing about lowering class size. It says nothing about ensuring that a fair amount of funding reaches New York City's classrooms. The report is silent on the need to provide fair funding for urban districts in general, where the overwhelming majority of impoverished students live.  

Further, its recommendations regarding technology and teacher recruitment and retention are untested and unsupported. These are, essentially, corporate-minded reforms that we believe are not in the best interest of our children, our schools and our profession.

Rather than experimenting with other people's children and tax dollars, education funding should be spent on what we know works: small class sizes and supporting and retaining experienced educators.  

Read full presser

More commentary:
perdidostreetschool
NYC Parents blog 

E4E Mauled in Chapter Election by ICE Candidate and at Raging Horse

Here is an E4E story Gotham won't report. I forgot to tell you the story of how one of the most extreme ICEers -- a 23 year hard-bitten militant anti-Unity candidate --- a guy who makes me look like a pussycat and even scares me -- defeated an E4Eer in a chapter election in a small high school in the Bronx this past fall, an indication of the outrage of so many teachers. When I heard the news I said, "Holy shit," at the idea that in a school with younger teachers this guy would get their votes. So much for E4E having any traction in the schools. Even young teachers view them as a 5th Column. 

I pointed out the other day that E4E is not only a shill for BloomCott, Gates,  and other corp deformers, but also for the Moskowitz charter machine (E4E at Dec PEP Exposes Ties to Eva and Success).

E4Eer and friends frolicking at the PEP

Patrick Walsh, a chapter leader in Harlem -- and a candidate on the MORE elementary Exec Bd slate -- mauled E4E on his raging horse blog where he refers to the pathetic rally E4E held not long ago on a Sunday afternoon -- their first and last rally apparently, given they cannot control who can attend like they do at their bund meetings. Sieg Sydney.

Educator 4 Excellence and the Strings They Pull

January 3, 2013

Once again the farce that calls itself Educators for Excellence, a minuscule organization existing solely to implement the will of its hubristic and anti-democratic billionaire backers, most prominently Bill Gates and the hedge fund gang that calls itself Democrats for Education Reform, have managed to land yet another editorial in a major New York paper, this time the New York Daily News.

There is, of course, no sane reason that as microscopic an organization as is E4E would be treated with such respect and prominence other than the fact that the same people who have ponied up over two million dollars for the two year old propaganda group paid other people to make   some serious phone calls to the honchos at the DN and the heroes of the “Liberal Media” found it advantageous to do their bidding. Hence, another editorial for E4E.
It is more than ironic that these people have the gall to speak of merit.

The editorial, like Educators 4 Excellence itself, is pathetic.   And, like all the times I have actually encountered this deceptive little group, I was almost initially disarmed by pathos.  The last time was a few weeks back at a tiny and tinny E4E rally for the same cause in which head shill Evan Stone, with characteristic humility, bellowed idiotically into a microphone to his 30 or so followers, “ I am not satisfactory!  I am excellent!” with all the energy and passion of a lonely salamander.

For a moment I could not help but pity the poor fool who was trying so hard to please his ultra-wealthy employers who have removed him from the hard work of teaching so as to allow him to play dummy to their ventriloquist.     What else can one feel but pathos?

For a moment, anyway.

Read More

Back to Brooklyn College with Julie and Jack

Recently Julie Cavanagh (and Jack) and I were invited by professor Charisa Kiyô Smith as GEMers to speak to a class at Brooklyn College that had watched our movie in class the week before.  She wanted us to talk about activism. She described the class, Children and The Law, this way:

90% of my students are either already paras or teacher's aides, or seek to go into teaching full time. They would like to learn about becoming more involved in combating some of the destructive politics around education in this city. My students are frustrated at the purported lack of resources for traditional public schools, as well as the over-vigilance on certain aspects of performance and testing...

This was back in November. (I started to write about it but never finished.) I guess I assumed after seeing our film and being connected to the schools they would be receptive to our anti-charter message. Boy was I wrong. We actually did not find a sense of this activism, but rather a pro-charter point of view.

I learned a hell of a lot in this return to my alma mata - twice over -- undergrad - BA History, 66 and MA computer science c. 87. (Actually, almost a 3rd degree if I had completed those 2 missing papers for my abandoned MA in history c. 68.)

I dug up a 25 year old Brooklyn College sweatshirt that I could still squeeze into for this occasion. It didn't seem to impress anyone.

The most vocal students - some were parents - were pro-charter and trashed their local public schools. Rather than merely defend a position critical of charters was non-public, privately managed entities feeding off public money we were able to engage in a rich discussion of the nuances of why we stand where we do while also supporting the choices they are making for their children. We made sure to point out that the deterioration in their local public school was intentional given the fact that the people running the system want to make privatized charters the favored choice.

We fully understand that if a local public school was truly awful we have no right to tell parents to go in and fight, especially since they have been so marginalized. But we did talk about the unregulated aspect of charters, their marginalizing certain children by counseling them out -- which to some of these parents was a good thing. My insight here was that when we tracked in public schools the less poor of the poor and more highly motivated had a ready made sorting mechanism and were able to get their kids into the top classes and thus segregated from the worst trouble makers.

Under Tweed, they supposedly ended tracking which mixed classes but also has driven these former top class parents right into the arms of charters, which has become the new sorting mechanism, replacing the top class.

I know we talk about how charters often don't allow PTAs and also marginalize parents but I've been witness to how public school principals often do the same, and in fact often control the PTAs to their benefit. (I knew of many PTA presidents in poor communities who ended up with jobs for themselves or family members in the good old days of local patronage --- of course under Bloomberg the corruption is at a much higher level.)

What we said, and this seemed to resonate, was that in the long run, the attack is on the very concept of a neighborhood school and that at some point there would be mostly charters of one or more large chains controlled by outsiders offering little choice.

I came across this Nancy Flanagan tweet that touches on how choice eventually equals less choice:

@nancyflanagan

Irony of “school choice movement:” parents get far less “choice” than promised, many struggle to even find a school. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/21/the-future-of-d-c-public-schools/ …

This was not an easy concept to get across in the limited time we spent answering questions though we tried to point to New Orleans as a model of charterizing/privatizing turning into less choice.

But we found this mini-debate extremely clarifying for us and how we need to refine our message.

E4E at Dec PEP Exposes Ties to Eva and Success

When I got on the speakers' line at the Dec. 20 PEP at 5PM, low and behold there were a bunch of E4E staffers and other E4E slugs already on line in front of me. Was E4E going to use the occasion to push their anti-UFT agenda calling for giving up the fight for a fair evaluation agreement?

Not at all. In fact they were there as placeholders so Eva's crew could get to speak. These are the people calling on the UFT to give up the rights of teachers by signing on to an evaluation agreement based on junk science. And of course they support handing over entire public school buildings to Eva's growing real estate empire.

Here are the real people at the PEP.

Keeping a Woman Happy

I'm a happy woman. I'm a happy woman, tra-la, tra-la, tra-la

I heard this song wafting down from upstairs into the basement through the fumes of the mold spray. Joyfull after 41 years of marriage? Could it be the effects of the raw ginsing roots I've been munching on? Alas, no. My wife had just ordered a replacement washer/dryer for the one month old ones we lost in Sandy and was told they were finally in stock and would be delivered this Thursday.

I'm a happy man. I'm a happy man, tra-la, tra-la, tra-la. 

No more traipsing to Brooklyn to sit in laundromats or going begging at the homes of friends. And being able to take hot yoga without having the wet clothes tossed outside on the deck by yiu know who. Tra-la.

Why Police Don't Belong in the Schools Except in the Most Extreme Cases

ICE took an early stand from its first days in late 2003-4 on police in the schools during the UFT elections that year. Here Loretta Prisco, a founding member, in addition to being part of the groups I belonged to in the 70s -- Another View in District 14 and Coalition of NYC School Workers --- make a point, followed by the ICE official position in the 2004 election. I hear voices saying MORE should not take a stand so as not to alienate the pro-police teachers in the schools in the election. I absolutely disagree - no police unless in the most dire circumstances even with the Sandy Hook story still hot.

On a SURR visit to a Brooklyn HS that was labeled "impact", I witnessed an incident that made it clear to me that police don't belong in schools. Perhaps an isolated incident but it had quite an impact on me.

During change of classes, teachers, deans and other support staff asked kids to "move on", "get to class", "you are going to be late". And the kids moved, no push back, no arguments, just compliance. We know how to talk to kids and not back them in a corner. A cop got wise with a kid, I didn't hear the remark, only the facial expressions on the kids and his friends. He responded in like manner as we would expect any 17-18 year old to do. In a split second, the kid was taken to the ground, face down, hands behind his back, cuffed and led out of school. And there his record began as an adult in the justice system.

Yes, smaller class sizes, training for teachers (I have seen new fellows successfully calming kids going thru a melt down), guidance services beginning early in a child's career, etc. We know how to do it, but no one listens to the experts-the teachers.

Loretta Prisco

Here is the ICE statement, published in Ed Notes, March, 2004:

It’s no surprise that school security is making all the headlines. It’s a major concern for staff, students and parents, and at the same time Bloomberg and Weingarten use it to play politics. Our mayor and UFT president have presented themselves as saving the day through their plan to send teams of uniformed, armed police into the “most dangerous” schools in the city. While this plan may appeal to many teachers and students who feel vulnerable and helpless in the face of an escalating breakdown of discipline and constant threat of danger, it fails to address the years of neglect and poor policy toward troubled students that have led to our present circumstances. Since the quick-fix remedies by themselves can create additional problems, our school system must address both our immediate concerns and their fundamental causes.

Emphasis should be on preventing problems rather than reacting to a never-ending series of emergencies. Within our schools we must create and maintain calm, peaceful and mutually respectful classroom environments with clearly spelled-out consequences and alternatives for disruptive students. School discipline efforts should focus on those children with a history of problems, and schools must be given the resources they need to deal with the needs these children have. This includes supportive services and small classes, especially for children who cannot function in a regular classroom setting. Although these measures are costly they will pay off in the long run by giving children the academic and social skills they need to succeed in school.

Consequences to children for their inappropriate, disruptive, potentially harmful and dangerous behavior must be effective. If the consequences are too little, too late, destructive behavior will not be deterred. If the consequences are too severe, school staff will want to minimize the problems and not report incidents.

Law enforcement measures should be viewed as a sometimes necessary but last resort and only in response to actual criminal activity. If there is unwarranted, widespread criminalization of student behavior, this will not only mark student lives but will exacerbate an already faulty and underfunded approach which doesn’t address the roots of the problem.

Within a generally accepted citywide framework, school committees of teachers, supervisors, parents, and students should come to a consensus concerning the rules and procedures and in-school structures that are appropriate for each school. The citywide framework itself should be based on input from these school committees. The recommendations of these committees should reflect an honest assessment of practices that have worked and failed in each school. In addition, the Department of Education should undertake a thorough effort to research successful programs throughout the country.

The shuffling of children with low achievement levels and a history of poor behavior from school to school and their increased concentration in certain schools, the inadequate number of staff (guidance counselors and deans) to deal with problems, the intimidation of teachers through the use of the redefined corporal  punishment rule (which is often abused by principals against teachers  they don’t like), and the tearing down of the suspension structure, coupled with the total ineffectiveness of the in-house suspension program has exacerbated the problems of discipline and security in many schools.

The DOE and school administrations must be responsible for discipline and security in the schools. School suspensions, rather than in-house suspensions must be restored for all principal’s suspensions. But the key is to deal with the children at an early age before attitudes and  behavior have developed to the point where they are much more difficult to deal with. If funds are allocated for staff and programs that focus on preventing problems in the early grades, if needy and troubled children are given the appropriate services and placed in smaller classes and, if necessary, alternate educational settings as they progress through the system, we believe that there will be a marked change in the atmosphere and security of all our schools.

PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz)

The Eva/Success scam exposed. Watch resources in the Success network flow to the rich white kids whose parents want to use public funds instead of paying for private school. Really, a brilliant business model to drain funding from public schools and remove those pesky kids of color from neighborhoods where they are not wanted. One day the parents in Harlem will see that very clearly.

Great work by Thomas Hasler, chapter leaders of Intl HS on the Irving campus in shooting and editing. He has been one of the leading lights in the struggle against Eva's invasion of Washington Irving -- a foothold in tony Grammercy Park, which indicates that the poor kids are no longer on the table for Success Charter.

PEP Hearing, 12/20/2012 by SOSfromEVA (Save our Students from Eva Moskowitz) from SOSfromEVA on Vimeo.

The NYC Department of Education's PEP decided to ignore the public input and opinion of all the affected communities, teachers, principals and students. They approved ALL proposals and hand Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy Charter School Corporation numerous public school spaces so she can operate her schools inside our public schools.

When Chancellor Walcott says that he is for "CHOICE" he means that he wants to open more charter schools.

We ask why they don't support our public schools, so nobody needs that "choice"?

"SOSfromEva" is a movement to highlight the attack on public schools spearheaded by Success Academy Charter Schools as well as by other Charter School operators.

SOSfromEva can be contacted at Alex.Binda@yahoo.com

https://vimeo.com/56497602

Candidates for Public Advocates Take a Stand Against Eva

Noah Gotbaum
 http://youtu.be/zBY0UmP79NU



Tish James full 8 minute rousing speech: http://youtu.be/9tURc0tBGXw

Rob Rendo Doesn't Like Unity

See Rob's other cartoons: Education Reform: a Blog of Cartoons by a Nationally Board Certified Teacher

Irony: Randi's Call for Teacher Voices to Be Heard Attacked by Ed Deformer

Groups like E4E which bans any dissenting view gives teachers more of a voice? And Randi arguing for teacher voice when she and her crew deny rank and file teacher voices all the time -- like at the recent Del Ass where they argued against allowing teachers to vote on any eval agree even though it is a contract item and required by UFT by-laws.

the views of our [self-declared] good-and-great teachers should matter more than those of colleagues [higher priced with seniority] who don’t make the grade. More importantly, the views of teachers cannot be the only ones [how about them billionaires] that predominate in education decision-making.

Both Randi and the author are sipping something with side effects.

Randi Weingarten’s Misguided Lament (or Why the Voices of Teachers Aren’t the Only Ones that Matter)

Chicago Public Schools Sued by Teachers Union for discrimination against black teachers

Statement and documents of Chicago Teachers Union on the suit charging CPS with racial discrimination.

by Fred Klonsky

1. The oft-maligned Chicago Public Schools (CPS) policy of subjecting neighborhood schools to “turnaround” discriminates against African-American teachers and staff according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and three public school educators. More than half of the 347 tenured teachers who were terminated by CPS as a result of the most recent turnarounds are African-American. This is the second major legal action on this matter taken by the union.
2. The Dec. 26 lawsuit alleges that the process for selecting schools for turnaround results in schools being selected that have a high percentage of African-American teachers, compared to schools that performed similarly but are not selected for any school action. More than 50 percent of the tenured teachers terminated as a result of the most recent turnarounds were African American, despite making up less than 30 percent of the tenured teaching staff at CPS, and 35 percent of the tenured teacher population in the poor performing schools.
3. The complaint, a potential class action first filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August by the CTU and teachers Donald L. Garrett Jr., Robert Green and Vivonell Brown Jr., challenges 

MORE Retreat Friday 12/28 Harlem NYC- Join us

Let’s make it happen...

TOGETHER

building more, training leaders

OPEN MEETING

Friday, Dec. 28 - 10a.m - 4 p.m Come for Part or All of Day

10:00-12:00pm Discussion-The Importance of Social Justice Unionism & Preparing for Political Attacks

12:00-1:00pm Lunch - Get to know MORE members (suggested $5 donation)

1:00-3:00pm Workshops, Breakout Groups on Leadership & Fighting Back for Public Education & Building MORE 

3:00-4:00pm Committee on Structure and Organization of MORE

Morningside Garden Cooperative Apartments - 80 LaSalle Street , The Thurgood Marshall Room Harlem NYC (btwn. Broadway and Amterdam AVE, 1 block south of W. 125st)

FEATURING LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS ON• Delegate Assembly Training: Writing, Raising, & Motivating Resolutions. DA Rules of Order

• Chapter Building: Speaking about MORE to educators and parents

MORE (Movement of Rank and File Educators) invites you to a day long retreat on the nuts and bolts of creating a strong social justice union by mobilizing our chapters. Work with MORE on creating a democratic, bottom up organization that reflects our vision for a member driven UFT. Participate in discussions and workshops on building MORE leaders to stand up to the attacks on teachers, students and communities of New York City.

RSVP @ facebook.com/morecaucusnyc/events

or More@morecaucusnyc.org 

I'm going for the pizza.

PS 138 Eva Invasion: Speculation on going to court to question DOE giveaway to Success?

the DOE specifically has earlier said that there would not be sufficient space for a similar projected enrollment - good evidence, though subject to argument. PS 138 would also have an advantage if they filed right now, before the SCN lottery takes place ---anon

After seeing the video of the PS 138 princpal at the PEP (see below), when the question in the title of this post was asked on the NYCEducationNews listserve, here was one response:

With a strong legal team, PS 138 would probably have a better case than anyone else right now. My understanding of prior co-location cases is that the plaintiffs, in the first instance, could not prove that the potential for overcrowding exists. Here the DOE specifically has earlier said that there would not be sufficient space for a similar projected enrollment - good evidence, though subject to argument. PS 138 would also have an advantage if they filed right now, before the SCN lottery takes place. Courts in the past have found that the enrolled charter students stand greater risk of harm if a co-location is blocked compared to what the existing school students would face from the various potential harms of co-location. Since this Success would be a new school, there are no existing Success students whose interests the court typically would consider on an application for injunctive relief. If a case arrives - either to the Commissioner or ultimately the Courts, I will be interested to see whether the court will hear any evidence of what actually happens in schools that are co-located with this particular charter chain. At this point, there are enough schools in this network that existing co-located students, teachers, etc. should be able to provide evidence of what likely will happen in a proposed new co-location.

As a matter of background to this particular co-location, SCN's initial application was to site three new charter schools in the heart of gentrifying Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill, 2 in District 13 and one in District 17. The pitch was presumably built upon their successful move into Cobble Hill, but this time premised explicitly on luring the acknowledged minority of such families in D13/D17 to create a majority of them in their schools by siting them in prime locations. That is to say, they hoped to poach middle school families from the many traditional public schools (that are already integrated despite being undermined by the DOE, its co-locations and new "choice" schools on a regular basis), and concentrate them in three charters.

I have no idea the discussions, strategy or logic, but the DOE instead is co-locating these charters not in Success's desired areas but instead in the Navy Yards, in Crown Heights, and in Brownsville. SCN has strained to market these locations as gentrifying neighborhoods, in accordance with their current "mission," but in reality all three co-locations are on a VERY slow, if any, path to gentrification. E.g., 265 (Navy Yards) is located in a triangle of the Whitman Houses, the Ingersoll Houses and the BQE, PS 138's population (Crown Heights) is still 96% FRPL, etc. That's not to say that the current schools aren't doing valuable work and doing it well with whomever they serve -- just pointing out that SCN does not appear in this instance to be poised to carry out its stated purpose of creating integrated schools simply by getting shoe-horned into rich neighborhoods a la the Cobble Hill plan. Interested to see what the next round of applications brings --

Here's hoping that we see the day this happens.

Christmas & Chanukah/ Letter to Santa

An oldie, but appropriate to the season.

Just in case anyone asks you what the difference is between Christmas and Chanukah, you will know what and how to answer.

Fred Smith Celebrates The Night Before…

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the state

Tisch was telling the Regents that she couldn’t wait.

The new year was coming, surely bringing the best;

Every school overflowing with test after test.

The Common Core Standards would arrive any day,

Educational nirvana was well on its way.

And in the Tweed Courthouse joy was also in season.

Tests, yet more tests on top of tests were the reason.

Dasher Klein passed the torch to Walcott, the Dancer;

Year-round testing, K-12 was the obvious answer.

On Bloomberg’s A team was no reindeer named Cupid,

But Polakow-Suransky was left to play stupid,

Explaining how tests were mere all-purpose tools

For holding back kids, judging teachers and schools:

If test prep and drilling took the entire school day,

Such a sacrifice was but a small price to pay.

If History was lost and Music and Art,

Well, you know everybody has to do their part.

If kids are nervous and are sick or are stressed,

That’s kinda sad, but the state and Fed say we must test.

When tests make special need and ELL kids feel dumb and sob,

Again, blame the Fed, we’re only doing our job.

If teachers feel pressured and are tempted to cheat,

We’re sure that’s so rare it’s not worth a tweet.

When teachers are rated by tests that won’t let them teach,

Hmm. I’ll get back to you soon. That’s not part of my speech.

If teachers don’t add value and their names make the press,

I really don’t like that either, I must confess.

When teachers quit because they can’t stand the grinding,

We’ve not done a survey that proves what you’re finding.

And so on and so forth on this Christmas Eve.

Here’s a list to check twice of things I believe:

If children come first, then parents come second.

That’s a clear truth that never gets to be reckoned.

So Albany and Tweed, you must let in the sun;

You and the privateers are not Number 1.

And that goes for Pearson and all of the charters;

We’ll call you if we need you! How’s that for starters.

Don’t keep parents in the dark about testing you’ve planned.

And spring tests on our children with your high hand.

Inform us of field tests and all other exams;

We’re not here to be led around like little lambs.

Let us decide to opt out or give our consent,

If we think taking these tests is time that’s well spent.

Be sure to assess what’s important to measure,

The work kids can do and the growth that we treasure.

Not the bubble sheet tests sold by grubby green vendors

To the grinches on Tweed Street—education’s pretenders.

That’s the kind of New Year that I hope will be seen;

Merry Christmas to all and Happy 2013.

Ed Notes Exclusive: NRA Solves Fiscal Cliff Problem

The only thing that stops a bad Democrat from heading us over the cliff is a good Republican with a gun. There is only way to avoid going over the fiscal cliff.  Give every good tea party member of Congress an assault rifle. "---Wayne LaPierre

LaPierre called for the federal program implementing the NRA's solution to the fiscal cliff issue to be headed by Dick Cheney. He also called for armed guards in every row of every movie complex, theater, sports stadium, supermarket (especially the meat aisles), deli, bodega, and ice cream parlor. "I love banana rocky road," LaPierre said.

Arms for Congress - as long as you're Republican

Sunday Funnies

------------

Have a Very Rephormy Christmas!

Posted on December 22, 2012

1

And an excellent and innovative new year…
Still looking for the purrfect gift for that extra excellent and innovative someone in your life? Not to worry. EduShyster has assembled an assembly of offerings guaranteed to send test scores soaring all through the holidays and into 2013. So from my rephorm family to yours: ¡feliz navidad and a very prospero año! Continue reading →

http://edushyster.com/?p=1627

Yesterday They Called Me a Union Thug...

Now they want me to carry an assault rifle.

Video: Paulie Z Does Rounding Numbers With Brooklyn Class

My friend, a teacher in Williamsburg, Brooklyn - District 14, sent along this video:

Paulie Z has been working with kids at my school.  They made a video about rounding numbers.  Please watch and pass it on!

Thanks,

Beth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqBJBMEqrZc

Sandy Diaries - What Were We Thinking? Day of Sandy, Part 1

Published in print edition Friday, December 21, 2012, www.rockawave.com

By Norm Scott

Here’s hoping everyone is recovering as best they can. I’m so glad The Wave has come through this. Seeing it out again is a clear sign we are moving towards the new normal.

Monday morning, October 29, at 10:30, I posted a piece on my blog about the education evaluation negotiations and the January deadline imposed by Cuomo and how it might tie into a UFT contract, plus other issues all coming together at the same time. I lightheartedly titled it “The Perfect Storm.”

What was I thinking? We had decided not to leave Rockaway, though when I had looked out the window at around 8AM there was water coming up my bay block street from the ocean. And when I saw my neighbors across the street come racing out of the house around 10AM with a suitcase it got me thinking. Some of my other neighbors had already left.

Last year we left because of Irene and I remember the night of anxiety worried if the house would be there. Not this time. We wanted to be there on sight to clean up the next day. Who knew cleanup would take months. I went outside and saw other neighbors who said they were staying the course – we were taking picture of the water, which was lapping at my garage door until the tide began to go down and the waters began to recede.

Hey, we were ready. I was on a long line at Brown’s Sunday morning -- the always amazing crew there went to Pennsylvania Saturday to pick up 6000 sand bags – and my wife and I went to the beach and almost died from carrying the bags full of wet sand to my car. Boy was I glad that I only had to fill 12 bags. Later Sunday I tucked my wife’s car into the garage (we live in a split level with the garage, laundry room, den and bathroom on the ground level) and carefully placed them in front of my garage door, covering about 18 inches. There, that ought to do it. Well, if it goes to 2 feet some water might get in. I proudly took a picture showing off all my work, really one of the funniest photos I have ever taken.

At 4:30 PM I posted another piece I called: The Real Perfect Storm. Here is a slightly edited version to give you some idea of some dumb, lighthearted thinking even at that late time.

“Thanks for all the concerns and invitations for us and the cats to come stay. No, we have not left. As soon as I tell everyone that due to probable loss of power and/or storm damage we would probably have to stay for 3 months I could hear the enthusiasm begin to wane. My friend and I took a walk to the beach at noon and I took some photos and video. The water had totally receded and people were walking on the beach. The rain was beginning to hit hard. We stopped at someone's house who was worried about her car in her driveway and wanted to know if it would be better on her lawn. I started to panic over my 3 month old car in my driveway. Realizing my next door neighbors had left I had the brilliant idea to put my car in their garage which seemed higher than mine. Well it is tucked away but if the surge gets in there we are in big trouble -- in terms of our house which could take a long time to be back to normal. I'm as worried about the bay a half block away as the ocean 4 blocks away. We have a sea wall about 5 feet high. In Hurricane Donna in 1960 the wall wasn't there and the ocean met the bay. It could still happen tonight at high tide, around 9PM, the big one where we expect to take in some water. The idea is to turn my basement into a swimming pool. One seeming good thing is that the storm is moving faster and should hit land a few hours before high tide. But we still do have a full moon. I will be howling at it as my basement and possibly higher levels fill with water. The video is posted at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUt4Y0L9oTg&feature=youtu.be”
After I posted this piece at 4:30PM, I looked out the window and saw another neighbor racing out of the house as the water started coming down the street. “You think we should have left,” my wife asked?

My garage at around noon- water came up to the bags this morning at high tide

Monday, Oct. 29 high tide around 9AM - My new car - water receded around 10:30AM,

Same Old PEP Except When PS 138 Principal Gives Tweed and Eva Tongue-Lashing Over Co-loco

"Now you want to take my school and say Success Academy will give them choice when the choice is PS 138 ... I am a choice too."

There wasn't much different at the PEP yesterday other than a somewhat rare event -- the outrage of the principal of a school (PS 138) that has a good rep but is in an increasingly gentrifying zone and thus became a target for an Eva invasion. She was following Success clones who kept talking about the high achievement of their schools (which I am always skeptical about) as an excuse to give them the right to invade any place they deem proper knowing that their SUNY and DOE servants will hand over the plumpest real estate. I have a few more videos to show later from the meeting, including speeches from 2 contenders for Public Advocate, Tish James and Noah Gotbaum.