Movement of Rank & File Educators
Weekly Update #63 - August 4, 2013
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Monday, August 5, 2013
MORE Update 63: How Do We Fight For a New Contract? Summer Series Thursday 4PM
Movement of Rank & File Educators
Sunday, August 4, 2013
NY1 Coverage - Today: Last Chance to See Amazing Rockaway Cafe at Fort Tilden - 3PM
Finally some press outside The Wave. NY1 was out to cover last night and here is a link to the NY1 report at one of the wonderful performers, Jacquie Caruana's facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/jacquiedollycaruana?fref=ts
The clips I put up the other day (The Little Theater That Could: Rockaway Cafe: The Comeback) also features Jacquie singing the custom lyrics to I Will Survive.
My former colleague Mary Hoffman trekked out Friday and loved it and just got a call from an old pal who saw the NY1 reports and is heading out this afternoon. I think I am being lured into going a 4th time.
Here's the piece I wrote this past week for The Wave.
https://www.facebook.com/jacquiedollycaruana?fref=ts
My former colleague Mary Hoffman trekked out Friday and loved it and just got a call from an old pal who saw the NY1 reports and is heading out this afternoon. I think I am being lured into going a 4th time.
Here's the piece I wrote this past week for The Wave.
Rockaway Theatre Company Update
By Norm Scott
The little theater company that could came roaring back to life over the past two weeks, bringing a good chunk of Rockaway comeback spirit with it with its opening production “Rockaway Café – The Comeback” at its refurbished theater which sustained serious Sandy damage. Susan Hartenstein in last week’s Wave (Hallelujah Rockaway Theatre Company! http://www.rockawave.com/news/2013-07-26/Columnists/From_The_Artists_Studio.html ) captured the spirit of the RTC and its unique Fort Tilden WWII vintage theater. “Rockaway Café is our story,” Hartenstein wrote. “A story told with great humor and poignancy. Cleverly weaving contemporary rock and pop songs and standards with original choreography, and based on an original concept by Susan Jasper and John Gilleece, we are taken from disaster to aftermath to daunting struggles to hard-fought triumphs and exuberant hope for the future. Opening night the waves of emotion and pleasure flowing back and forth between the talented cast and the highly receptive audience and the bonds within those groups were palpable.”
For an all-volunteer operation - from carpentry, set design, costumes, music, acting, dancing, singing, management, creativity – just think of an applicable word and apply to RTC – to not only come back so soon, but to do it with such verve and vigor while also rebuilding the theater is beyond remarkable. And the great band lead by Jeff Arsberger does not get mentioned often enough. They can play at my Bar Mitzvah in my next life anytime. Never forget the amazing local talent we have here in Rockaway and our extension in South Brooklyn where between the areas most performers seem to come from.
Nancy Re Cregan in a letter last week said, “The show features great "storm" songs like "Umbrella," "Bad Moon Rising," and "Let the River Run" just to name a few. There is also an original version of "I Will Survive" that recaps the strong character of Rockaway, Breezy, and Broad Channel.” The words were written by RTC stalwart Susan Jasper.
Here are links to some video I shot at the Friday and Saturday performances last weekend featuring some of the dynamic talent (young, teen, young adult, adult, and my generation – old.)
https://vimeo.com/71167899, https://vimeo.com/71311581.
I dare you to watch them and not come to one of the 3 performances left this weekend: Fri., Sat at 8PM, Sunday at 3PM.
Reserve tickets at: www.rockawaytheatrecompany.org.
Soon after Sunday’s performance, new sets will be built and rehearsals will begin for the next show, Boeing, Boeing, opening September 20.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Video: State Senator Tony Avella Calls for Removal of Jennifer Jones Rogers as PS 29Q Principal
Despite the oncoming rain, a spirited crowd of parents, teachers and supporters turned out to join Tony Avella in calling for the removal of PS 29Q Principal Jennifer Jones Rogers, a Leadership Academy principal who fits the mold of feral grads from that institution.Here is the video of the press conference. I have some interviews on tape that are not included.
https://vimeo.com/71555440
Daily News
Angry teachers and parents are demanding the city fire a College Point principal they claim harasses and humiliates staffers. About two dozen people — including teachers and state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) — rallied outside Public School 29 Thursday to complain that Principal Jennifer Jones-Rogers is so abusive that 25 of 45 teachers have left or been forced out since she took the helm in 2010.
http://www.nydailynews.com/
Several parents and teachers in College Point want the city to end what they claim is an elementary school principal’s terror-driven reign. They said Jennifer Jones-Rogers of P.S. 29 has wrongfully placed a handful of students in special education classes without notifying parents. Critics also say the administrator’s “hostile environment” has driven away droves of teachers and has caused parents to pull their kids from the school. “It is a shame that one person can do so much harm,” said parent Linda Briones, who has since transferred her child out of the school....Educators say she has not provided a copy of the school’s budget to the United Federation of Teachers chapter president for the past two years as required.South Bx School posted. Check out those comments.
Queens Courier -- MORE
MoreRally and Presser On August 1 For Removal of Jennifer Rogers, Principal at PS 29 in Queens
Jennifer Rogers, probably one of the least qualified people ever to hold the job of principal, is totally
in over her head and unqualified. Her job, which in all probability got do to her connections of her mother, Carolyn Jones (and the Leadership Academy) former principal at PS 23 in District 10 in the Bronx.
But as with being a principal in NYC, one can do anything short of murder and still retain their position. Or just read the comments here.
The students are afraid of her, the parents are afraid of her, the community is afraid of her, and so are the teachers (except the sycophants).
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Network for Public Education Update: Tony Bennett Left His Heart in Tallahassee
Lots of good stuff in this update on Tony Bennett, the Chicago Teachers Union protest against ALEC on Aug. 8 (darn, we're not getting into town until the 9th), and Diane Ravitch's new book.
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NYC Supervisor: Barbara Morgan is getting what she deserves
I said "Ms. Morgan you work for the DOE what the hell are you doing here defending [Moskwitz]?! She steals money from our public schools by opening non-unionized charter schools which profit off our kids." ... NYC Principal
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| Oops! Did it again. Don't open your twitter. |
This just in from a school principal in response to our Weiner press chief Barbara Morgan post (Unflappable Weiner Press Spokesperson Barbara Morgan Flaps)
I was happy to see her get her comeuppance. She is an arrogant, mouthpiece for the neo-liberal deformers (and perverts) she represents.
She got upset that they say she had a thin resume? She never did anything of substance but talk the party line whatever the marching orders – Klein, Cerf, Weiner...
I met her at a rally against Moskowitz.
I asked Moskowitz:
"How do you justify paying yourself half a million dollars a year to run 3 schools when I am a principal and don't make that and when my sup't has dozens of schools and only makes 170,000?"
Eva just made a bored annoyed face and then Barbara Morgan who was observing everything runs over, jumps in and says "I will answer that!! She does not take a pension like you and the sup't so it is just another way of looking at compensation."
I asked her "Why are you answering for her? Who are you?"
She says "I am Barbara Morgan. I work for the DOE Press Office."
That really pissed me off as I was there as part of a Community Rally AGAINST the unwanted $ucce$$ Charter vultures.
I said "Ms. Morgan you work for the DOE what the hell are you doing here defending her?! She steals money from our public schools by opening non unionized charter schools which profit off our kids."
Look at this crowd-
FROM THIS COMMUNITY, not the twenty folks bussed in from harlem by Eva Moskowitz -
THEY DONT WANT THE SCHOOL.HERE IN THIS DISTRICT.
The parents are against it, the unions are against it and most importantly the CEC is against it.
I asked Ms Moskowitz a question and you jump to her defense.
Why would you do that as a n employee of the DOE? Are you here as an apologist for $UCCE$$ ? If so it shows a serious bias in favor of Charter schools over Public Schools which we have been alleging all along. You should be speaking up for me as a NYC PUBLIC SCHOOL principal not this corporate raider/privateer.
Ms Moskowitz walked off during this exchange as she knew full well the City was merely holding the Mandated Community hearing and that the City's decision was predetermined...
When she was gone Ms Morgan changed faces and says "well I understand that you are a union Rep and I respect that. I am from New Jersey and have a brother who is in a union"...
Two-faced foul-mouthed hypocrite. I don't wish ill on people. Life is too short. But when her brother can't get work or medical benefits he can thank soul-less empty-vessel spokespeople like his sister.
SFA, Scabs for America: How Much Heat Will Chicago Newbie TFAs Be Facing?
...when faux Democrat/ Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fires thousands of teachers and hires TFA grads to teach kids, that's something else altogether. In fact, TFA is now enabling the unemployment of working people. They are making their likely idealistic young college grads into scab labor. Their insane defense, that the jobs were eliminated and they are taking newly created jobs, is nothing more than a semantic game, unworthy of anyone capable of serious discourse. ...NYC Educator: TFA Becomes Scab for America
SFA. I like it. Has a beat and oh so true. I'm so happy there are people like NYC Educator writing about issues I thought of writing about but was just too lazy. So, as usual, NYC says things in a few words that would take me 10 times as long. Glad this is not paper.
I think Walton Foundation gave another 20 million to SFA in LA and Newark (Walton foundation donates $2 million to Newark Teach For America), in addition to the $3 mil Randi Weingarten pal Bill Gates gave to our pals at E4E, a branch of Scabs for America.
I am wondering how the laid off teachers of Chicago who will not have new jobs, will react. I know these SFAs will be new members of the Chicago Teachers Union so the CTU itself is in an awkward position, but will wildcat groups of laid-off teachers and the parents and communities that support them target these 5-week trained teachers in the communities where they teach with an information campaign asking if their kids are better off with teachers with scant training while their former veteran teachers are on the unemployment line.
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On another TFA front, Leonie Haimson takes them to task for putting their barely-trained teachers in so many special ed classrooms, where the most difficult kids to teach are located.
The biggest scandal of Teach for America?
There has been much discussion and debate about how Teach for America undermines our public schools by encouraging the deprofessionalization of the teaching force, and “perpetuates systemic inequalities” especially in urban schools. In many districts, TFA has used its political clout to get its recruits hired, as in Chicago, while thousands of experienced teachers are being laid off. Gary Rubinstein, a former TFA corps member, has been a fierce critic of the inadequate training that the organization provides. Edushyster recently wrote that the TFA has become a primarily a “placement agency” to staff charter schools rather than public schools – and in the process is fueling the privatization movement.
All the above is true; but in my mind, the most shocking aspect of the organization is how in many districts, including NYC, raw TFA recruits are assigned to special education classrooms almost exclusively --because this is the biggest shortage area. See the recent Independent Budget Office report on p. 24 – showing that 80 percent of TFA recruits in NYC public schools in 2010-11 were working as special education teachers; and 68 percent of Teaching Fellows (a similar program for mid-career recruits, run by TNTP).
That to me is the biggest scandal. Instead of doing something to stanch the outflow of special education teachers assigned to those children who clearly need teachers with the MOST training and experience, TFA and TNTP fill in the gap, year after year, with the least-trained recruits, who only stay one or two years and perpetuate the problem.
Read more: The biggest scandal of Teach for America?
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Chicago teacher Katie Osgood has been hammering TFA and her letter to new recruits got a lot of play. Here is her follow-up at Schools Matter/The Chalkface
More at: http://atthechalkface.com/2013/07/24/why-my-students-do-not-need-teach-for-america/Why My Students Do Not Need Teach for America
July 24, 2013 ByWow, there has been such a flurry of stories and discussions in regards to Teach for America and its destructive role in education today. I suppose my letter to new recruits played an important part in calling into question this organization, striking a chord of truth. TFA has gone into full-time PR mode with a blur of speeches and blogs from the co-CEOs, puff pieces from TFA alums, and even a Q&A from TFA Chicago’s Executive Director. I am glad this dangerous organization is finally getting real scrutiny, and I have much more to add to the discussion at a later date, but today I want to speak from the heart.
Well, that's it for TFA bashing today. On the positive front, a 4 year TFAer who has begun to attend MORE events said at our meeting yesterday, "I've been looking for a group like MORE for 4 years." Hey, TFA, keep recruiting sharp people like her who, even though a minority of teachers who will stay in the classroom, will find their way to MORE and help us build.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
E4E Gets Another $3 million from Gates Foundation
They just got $3M more from Gates
http://www.gatesfoundation.
Great news for NYC teachers. Now you can invite E4E to buy your school lunch and order caviar.
http://www.gatesfoundation.
Great news for NYC teachers. Now you can invite E4E to buy your school lunch and order caviar.
Date: July 2013
Purpose: to support teachers to be leaders in policy development and implementation.
Amount: $3,000,695
Term: 36
Topic: College-Ready
Regions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA
Program: United States
Grantee Location: New York, New York
Grantee Website: http://www.educators4excellence.org
Unflappable Weiner Press Spokesperson Barbara Morgan Flaps
After repping Klein, Chris Cerf, and Corrie Booker, Barbara just might have been better off at Ed Notes. (I pay in cookies.)
She was my favorite Tweedie, always friendly and calm no matter how heated things became. She was at so many meetings that I videotaped you'd think she was really on my staff. I loved how the numerous Klein flacks twitted around at meetings massaging the ed press (except me) -- and how massage-able they seemed to be. Barbara was one of the best masseuses.
Now she is all over the local and national news. Oy!
Read her rant.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/top-weiner-aide-trashes-intern.php
She went ballistic -- not it seems over the internal stuff the intern leaked – but over the attack on her for having a thin resume. Klein, Booker, Cerf, Weiner -- maybe not thin but certainly slimy.
Of course, Barbara is a PR person and her own PR is the most important thing, so the attack on her by the intern cut deepest. But some commented that she was doing a great job in a very difficult situation. Now she may be toast, not just as Weiner's press chief but her career will take a serious hit. But not to worry. Barbara has backers in high places. My suggestion: she use them to get her a job teaching 3rd grade in the South Bronx.
I'm thinking of tweeting her a pic of my junk.
I'm pretty sure she won't be upset.
Principal From Hell Jennifer Rogers: Parents Call for Her Ouster at Press Conf Aug. 1, 11AM
Press Conference
Aug 1st
11 am
PS 29
125-10 23rd Ave
College Point
Principal : Jennifer Rogers
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
What Next From FOX? Challenging a Jew for Daring to Write About Jesus?
“You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” Ms. Green asked..... FOX Newsreaders of a fundamentalist/Evangelical persuasion are furious that a Muslim published a book about Christianity’s origins.”... NY Times
Today's NY Times business section has an interesting article, which in the context of my spending the past month reading Jeremy Scahill's "Dirty Wars" makes some interesting connections run through my brain.
I heard a fascinating hour long interview with Reza Aslan on NPR last week about Jesus the man. Aslan pointed out that Jesus the man was never a God and in fact, coming from a poor working class family, was probably fairly lowbrow and in fact a Jewish fundamentalist radical, which is the way he died. Not a Christian, but one of a long line of Jewish radicals like Marx. Trotsky, et al. Not that he actually said that, but it is great to see fundamentalists -- be they Christian, Jew or Muslim, sweat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/business/media/odd-fox-news-interview-lifts-reza-aslans-biography-on-jesus.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Odd Fox News Interview Lifts Reza Aslan’s Biography on Jesus
By JULIE BOSMAN
Reza Aslan, the author of “Zealot,” a provocative new biography of Jesus, has found an inadvertent ally in generating book publicity: Fox News.In an interview on Friday that was by turns bizarre and uncomfortable, Lauren Green, a host from “Spirited Debate,” a weekly Fox News webcast, pressed Mr. Aslan on the question of why, as a Muslim, he would choose Jesus as his subject.“You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” Ms. Green asked.“Well, to be clear,” Mr. Aslan said, his eyebrows lifting up in surprise, “I am a scholar of religions with four degrees, including one in the New Testament, and fluency in biblical Greek, who has been studying the origins of Christianity for two decades, who also just happens to be a Muslim.”The nearly 10-minute video clip quickly entered the Internet bloodstream on Saturday after it was posted on Buzzfeed with the irresistibly clickable headline, “Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?”Since then, the Buzzfeed page featuring the video has been viewed nearly four million times. Mr. Aslan quickly amassed an additional 5,000 Twitter followers. On Monday, Random House, Mr. Aslan’s publisher, said the interview had clearly helped the book: in two days, sales increased 35 percent.On Friday, “Zealot” was in the No. 8 spot on Amazon.com, the nation’s biggest seller of books; by Sunday, it had hit No. 1.Random House is rushing to meet the surge in demand for the book. On Monday, the publisher ordered 50,000 copies, bringing the total to 150,000 copies in print by the end of the week.An investigation of the historical Jesus, “Zealot” has been praised by many reviewers since its publication on July 16. In a review in Tablet magazine, Adam Kirsch called “Zealot” a “coherent and often convincing portrait of who Jesus was and what he wanted.”But some conservative critics have suggested that the book is not a work of scholarship, but merely “an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East,” as John S. Dickerson, an opinion columnist, wrote on FoxNews.com last week.The reaction to the book has spread to Mr. Aslan’s Amazon page: on The Atlantic Wire, Alexander Nazaryan pointed out that browsing through dozens of one-star reviews on Amazon revealed that “plenty of readers of what seems to be a fundamentalist/Evangelical persuasion are furious that a Muslim published a book about Christianity’s origins.”The book was already selling steadily before the FoxNews.com interview on Friday. Since the release of “Zealot,” Mr. Aslan has hit the publicity circuit, discussing the book on “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and “Weekend Edition” on NPR. “Zealot” had its debut at No. 4 on the New York Times print hardcover best-seller list that will appear in print on Aug. 4.In a telephone interview, Mr. Aslan said that in three weeks of his book tour, he had received an “overwhelmingly positive” response to his work, and that it was anything but an attack on Christianity.“I hope that people recognize that your faith, as Jesus said, is supposed to be built on a rock, not on sand,” he said. “I guess my message is: Relax.”Mr. Aslan was born in Iran, moved to the United States with his family as a child and later earned degrees from Santa Clara University, Harvard and the University of Iowa. He is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.Book Passage, a bookstore with two outlets in the Bay Area, hosted Mr. Aslan for a signing last week. Karen West, the director of events, said more than 250 people attended it. But the Fox News interview, she said, has exposed the book to consumers who aren’t regular book buyers.“It’s moved now out of the NPR realm and it’s gotten into the broader culture,” she said.A spokeswoman for Fox News did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.Mr. Aslan said that after reading Mr. Dickerson’s essay on FoxNews.com, he was prepared for a similar line of attack from Ms. Green.He was so eager to promote the book on Fox News that his publisher tried — in vain — to secure an interview spot on “Fox & Friends,” a morning show.“I’ll be perfectly honest — I’m thrilled at the response that people have had to the interview,” Mr. Aslan said. “You can’t buy this kind of publicity.”
Perdido Street on Thompson: Political Hack And Walking Conflict Of Interest
After a closer look at Thompson's political record and associations, he is no less a crook and a hack than Quinn herself. And to be honest, I'm not so sure he isn't worse than Quinn. .... RBE
Councilman Jumaane Williams explained mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson‘s race relations speech by musing about his poll numbers among black voters. “I think he originally felt that certain segments of the population were going to go with him automatically. He started looking at polls and seeing that wasn’t happening,” he said. “Thompson’s trying to have it both ways without putting any skin in the game.”
Reality-Based Educator nails it. Remember how the UFT first endorsement in 2001 was one Alan Hevesi?
This is so good I am printing it and adding it to my sandwich for lunch.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Bill Thompson - Political Hack And Walking Conflict Of Interest
With the Anthony Weiner poll plummet made official by yesterday's Quinnipiac poll release (Weiner dropped to fourth in the race; 53% of New Yorkers say he should drop out), I am starting to turn my attention back to the candidate whose policies I can live with who will be most effective at taking on Christine Quinn in a runoff.
The Marist poll from last week and yesterday's Quinnipiac poll release show us that the two candidates with a good chance to make the runoff against Quinn are Bill Thompson, the former NYC comptroller, and Bill de Blasio, the current Public Advocate.
Read it all: http://perdidostreetschool.
Though many teachers I know favor Liu or even Sal Albanese, the default position will be Thompson or de Blasio, who I don't particularly love either. But if I were voting today that is where my vote would go. Just don't ask me what I think tomorrow.
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