Brooklyn Dreams Charter School Update

According to a Sheepshead (Bay) Bites update, the information on Brooklyn Dreams Charter School was inaccurate.

Some excerpts:

Officials overseeing the application process for the school told us that the BDCS is not planning on using public school facilities at Shell Bank J.H.S. or any other in any district. In the application details and executive summary we received in a pdf file from the NYC Department of Education Chancellor's office, the BDCS stated, "The founding group anticipates leasing renovated space for the school through NHA in CSD 21, and do not intend to seek space through the New York City Department of Education."

We were told that applications could take two to three years to write up and even more time to be approved, so it is difficult for a school to establish an address or physical facility before the application is submitted for approval. We were reminded that all charter schools are public schools that do not charge any tuition, and as such these schools, once approved, do have a right to use public school facilities -- so long as there is a justified need and permission is granted by the community's school district.

We found that although the school has listed as their educational service provider the National Heritage Academies -- a Grand Rapids, Michigan,-based group that advocates teaching Creationism as scientific theory -- a representative we spoke with on the phone at the NHA was not aware of this relationship with the BDCS. Still, the BDCS's Board of Directors has officially stated that, if approved, the school will be under the NHA's administration. The school's application summary also states this.

Hmmm. Does anyone smell a creationism rat? Or other duplicity? Charters routinely declare they will be seeking space, only to come back after getting approval saying they had no luck (see one Hebrew Language Academy). and one minute it's District 22 (where Shell bank is located) and the next they are looking in Dist. 21. Wherever the path of least resistance, I guess.

There will still be a public hearing at Shellbank MS on July 16

Charter Applicant Hearing
I.S. 14 – Shellbank MS 2424 Batchelder St.
Brooklyn, New York 11235
(Between Avenue Y & X)

The original article at SBB are here and at E.Notes here.

Staten Island CEC Takes Stand on Charter Schools

Staten Island is getting its first charter school. And there has been a reaction. This reso from the Staten Island Community Education Council (what used to be the local school board) is really worth checking out for its call for limits on what charter schools can pay and lots of other goodies. Thus Eva Moskowitz would lose her charter if she wants to make $375,000 a year. The argument that the money did not come from public funds is bogus. If they had the money to pay her, then why are we the public being forced to subsidize her schools by giving her space in public schools?

The following resolution was presented to the public at the Community Education Council 31 Calendar Meeting held on July 6, 2009 at the Petrides Educational Complex, Staten Island, New York. A vote was taken and the resolution approved unanimously by voice-vote of the CEC members present, as reflected in the Minutes.

RESOLUTION # 55 ~ CEC 31 REQUESTS THAT DOE & SUNY-BOARD OF REGENTS DENY CHARTER INCORPORATION TO ANY APPLICANT THAT DOES NOT: LIMIT SALARIES & SALARY INCENTIVES FOR CHARTER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS; AND FOLLOW STANDARDS OF CONDUCT THAT ALL PUBLIC EMPLOYEES MUST FOLLOW REGARDING USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS

WHEREAS, there are currently 78 NYC charter schools, with a total of 24,000 students, and at least 20 additional charter schools have been approved to open in fall 2009; and

WHEREAS, every NYC charter school receives taxpayer money for each student it educates - for the 2008-2009 school year, the per pupil allocation (PPA) for charter schools in New York State is $12,432 – in addition to several state and federal grants; the vast majority of funding that charter schools receive — more than 95 percent — is from public school districts – approximately $150 million statewide and growing; and

WHEREAS the NY State Charter Schools Act of 1998 (Education Law § 2850-2857) clearly states that charter schools are considered to be “within the public school system” but also states that charter schools “operate independently of existing schools and school districts” (Article 56, § 2850, 2ff); and

WHEREAS the NY State Charter Schools Act of 1998 further describes a charter school in the following manner:
· As an “education corporation” (§ 2853, 1a); and
· For purposes of local zoning, land use regulation and building code compliance, “a charter school shall be deemed a nonpublic school” (§ 2853, 3a and 4a); while at the same time
· “Employees of a charter school may be deemed employees of the local school district for the purpose of providing retirement benefits, membership in the teachers’ retirement system and other retirement systems open to employees of public schools” (§ 2854 3c); however
· “An employee of a charter school shall be an employee of the education corporation and not an employee of the local school district” (§ 2854, 3a); and
· “A charter school shall be subject to the provisions of the public officers law” (§ 2854, 1e); but
· Aside from public schools’ health and safety, civil rights and student assessment requirements, “a charter school shall be exempt from all other state and local laws, rules, regulations or policies governing public or private schools, boards of education and school districts, including those relating to school personnel and students, except as provided in the school’s charter” (§ 2854, 1b); and
· Each charter school may create its own “code of ethics” in its application for incorporation (§ 2851, 2v); and

WHEREAS it is obvious to the Community Education Council of District 31 (CEC 31) that the NY State Charter Schools Act of 1998 is inconsistent in regard to whether a charter school is treated as a public or nonpublic school, private corporation or city employer, all of which seems entirely dependent on whatever designation is most convenient for charter schools’ boards of trustees; and

WHEREAS CEC 31 believes that the lack of consistency in the law governing charter schools results in the board of trustees of these schools being allowed to establish their own policies and manage their schools’ finances as they see fit, and that their decisions allow them to flaunt NYC Department of Education regulations and NY state laws regarding conflicts-of-interest, use of public taxpayer funds and codes-of-ethics; and

WHEREAS CEC 31 believes that the carte blanche given to charter schools has led to situations such as:
· Misuse of taxpayer funds by a Bronx charter school rewarding its teachers with all-expenses-paid “staff retreats” to the Caribbean, Cancun and the Dominican Republic from a bank account that mixes public taxpayer dollars with privately raised donations
· A former director of a Brooklyn nonprofit charter-school management organization that oversees 2 charter schools was paid nearly $700,000 in her last year on the job -- almost triple the salary of the NYC schools chancellor
· The current chief executive of a fast-growing chain of Harlem charter schools – currently overseeing 4 schools with plans to eventually have 40 such schools within 10 years – received compensation of $310,000 last year - $250,000 in salary and $60,000 as a bonus as the “director”, chief executive officer’ and “independent contractor” for the same 4 charter schools. By managing the 4 charter schools she earned more than the NYC schools chancellor, who gets $250,000 to run 1,400 schools. She even surpassed the former SUNY chancellor, who manages 70 campuses with nearly 300,000 students.
· A Bronx charter school paid $400,000 to lease space in a building owned by its founder, whose director is a trustee of the school and whose wife is the school’s principal
· At the same Bronx charter school, a another trustee’s wife earned $55,000 in salary as a paid consultant helping set up a school fund-raising operation
· A NYC charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights with plans to offer significantly higher pay for teachers, $125,000 per year, plus a potential bonus based on schoolwide performance
· The NYS Court of Appeals currently hearing arguments in a lawsuit brought by charter schools associations to prevent the NYS Comptroller from being able to perform audits of public charter schools, on the basis that that “the Comptroller’s audits of charter schools are duplicative and unfair”

Education Law § 2850-2857 clearly stipulates that the charter authorizer (DoE and/or NYS Education Department) and the Board of Regents provide oversight of charter schools, including fiscal accountability; however charters, which are publicly financed but independently operated, face less oversight from school districts and fiscal authorities such as the NYS Comptroller’s Office; THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED, that CEC 31 hereby requests that the NYC Department of Education and the SUNY Board of Regents withhold granting of incorporation as a “charter” to any school that seeks to pay a charter school administrator, principal or teacher an annual salary - including salary incentives such as bonuses – in an amount which exceeds the current salary of a comparable public elementary school or middle school administrator, principal or teacher. The annual salary, including bonuses, for charter school elementary school administrators should not exceed $140,000 per year and $175,000 per year for middle school administrators; and BE IT

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NYC Department of Education and the SUNY Board of Regents withhold granting of incorporation as a “charter” to any school that does not adhere to standard conflicts-of-interest regulations and codes-of-ethics rules that apply to all NY city and NY state employees and elected officials.

Explanation: We believe that since charter schools receive taxpayer money, they should be required to follow standards of conduct that all public employees must follow regarding use of public funds. Charter schools’ trustees should not be allowed to pay whatever salaries and bonuses they wish, nor do business with relatives and friends if taxpayer money is involved. Charter schools’ financial records should be subject to audit by the NYS Comptroller, in addition to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute on a regular basis. If any charter school applicant does not wish to adhere to these stipulations, their “charter” should be denied. We do not believe that we should seek to improve schools at any price. We do not believe that anything should be allowed in exchange for improved student performance and scores. Honest standards, fairness, and transparency must exist when public funding is given to any organization.

APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY by roll call vote of all members present: 9 YES; 0 NO; (Absent for vote: Harrison)

PASSED and ADOPTED this 6th Day of July, 2009.

/s/ Kathy Baldassano
Kathy Baldassano
Administrative Assistant, CEC 31

Stringer and Avella Speak at PS 123 Protest of Harlem Success Takeover Attempt

July 10, 2009
Stringer speaks before entering the school on a tour. See the follow-up video of what he has to say when he comes out. Avella as usual says good stuff. The Master of Ceremonies is William Hargraves, an former parent at the school. The wonderful GEM crew came out on very short notice and did some notable chanting (still to come in upcoming video.)



See previous ed notes reports:
Angel Gonzalez and George Schmidt at PS 123 Protest of Harlem Success Takeover Take 2 - July 10, 2009

Rally Fri July 10 as DOE Rules In Favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School taking over more space at PS 123!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsRDSDGSmK0

TQ and Class SIze

John Thompson has made some great comments at this debate at Gotham:

"I written about the mess four years ago when we became The Wire. How did we
solve it? We just hired more teachers the next year. All of a sudden, problems
that seemed impossible seemed manageable. Then when we we back to the normal
allotment, problems increased again."

I responded:
Just hire more teachers to solve basic problems, the notorious "throwing cash at the problem" we see debunked by the ed deformers. I wonder where you guys got these teachers from? Were they vetted for quality? This is what the deformers say- teacher quality is more important than class size. But what you did was raise the quality of all teachers because TQ does not exist in a vacuum.

When I raised this issue at a forum with Rotherham and Russo, Jennifer Medina from the NY Times, and Richard Colvin of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University. Colvin was incensed when I compared class size in urban areas to suburban schools, saying how the cost was astronomical. "Some people drive Mercedes but not everyone needs to drive a Mercedes," he said. "You can still get around in a Toyota."

Of course, when the financial crisis hit and Bear Sterns and AIG needed enormous funding, all the money that would have enable urban kids to sit in a Mercedes magically appeared.

In NYC they supposedly cut crime by putting lots more police on the streets. They were not vetted for quality first. Some were good and some were bad, but their very presence as a resource had an impact. I say instead of using that stimulus money to reward school systems that kill tenure or expand charter schools, try a few experiments by inundating the very worst schools with masses of teachers, social workers and other services - sort of an expansion of the Harlem Children's Zone. But no one wants to try that. Better to target teachers and unions by using the "it's so hard to get rid of bad teachers" sob story as an excuse not to reduce class size.

What if NEA and AFT stop caring what other people think?

Antonucci asks the right question and we have the answer. Let's try to stop worrying what other people think and start organizing the counter revolution.

Leo Casey claims there is an ed reform - deform- train heading down the tracks and the AFT/UFT needs to get ahead of it and jump on board. We say there is a counter reactive train of teacher/parent true progressive ed reformers coming from the other direction. And we are helping to drive it.

Intercepts

---

Bad News, Bob; Even the Center Cannot Hold Posted: 10 Jul 2009 12:31 PM PDT Mickey Kaus points us to the latest report from the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, titled “National Teachers’ Unions and the Struggle Over School Reform.” I thought about excerpting the stinging barbs from CCCR’s absolute flaying of NEA and AFT, but it’s really worth your time to read the entire 36-page report, then head over to this page for a list of the organization’s commissioners. Not a conservative right-wing bastard in the bunch. The public perception battle is over, and the teachers’ unions have lost. But will it have any effect on Congress and state legislatures? The NRA, tobacco companies, PETA, the ACLU and Big Oil all have negative public images they can’t shed, yet they are still effective in getting their way. What if NEA and AFT stop caring what other people think?

Angel Gonzalez and George Schmidt at PS 123 Protest of Harlem Success Takeover Take 2 - July 10, 2009

Gem began receiving calls on Thursday evening from PS 123 parents and teachers that the DOE had ruled in favor of Eva Moskowtiz and the movers and painters were coming Friday morning. They asked us to be there and we were. That all press reports ignored our strong presence is not surprising. We'll comment more on this in a follow-up as we post more video of Scott Stringer and Tony Avella. See our earlier video of the protest on July 7 as teachers and parents tried to stop Harlem Success from squeezing them out of their space. Here are a powerful six minutes of Angel and George making the case against charter schools.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_2vwEn_zQ

Randi Goes to Portland As AFT Threatens Local Considering Disaffiliation

Members of local discuss disaffiliation, AFT responds with phony charges and will attempt to put them in trusteeship.

Unity Caucus hackism goes national. Why are we not surprised? Shades of Puerto Rico six years ago. (We did lots on that situation. Search the blog for FMPR.) Time for a national opposition movement in the AFT? I foresee road trips in my future, though Randi jokingly invited me to go to Oregon with her at the Ex Bd meeting the other day. My bags are packed, Randi.

July 10, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OFNHP Local 5017 Relations with AFT National

Portland OR--At 9am Tuesday July 7, approximately 20 representatives from American Federation of Teachers Healthcare national offices arrived at Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5017 and put the health care union under trusteeship, suspending the officers of the executive board including President Kathy Geroux.

Local 5017's three thousand members are part of AFT's Healthcare Division. In June, the Portland local's executive board began to discuss the possibility of Local 5017 disaffiliating from the national organization, an issue that has arisen more than once over the last fifteen years. A membership meeting was scheduled for the evening of July 7.

“The purpose of the membership meeting was to provide a democratic forum for discussion of whether we should refer the question of disaffiliation to our members for a vote,” said Theo Harper, Local 5017 executive board member. Instead, the meeting was led by the new trustees of the local and the agenda focused on the trusteeship.

AFT Healthcare National issued a statement that said the Executive Board misappropriated funds and violated the bylaws of the local constitution. The executive board members have not seen the formal charges. The board believes that the allegations refer to Local 5017 funds which were spent on expenses related to the July 7 membership meeting. Room rental and other meeting expenses were paid for out of a budget line item specifically for membership meetings. While membership meetings are not ordinarily scheduled in July, as specified in the local bylaws, the constitution also says that special meetings can be called.

The Executive Board is working on a resolution that is acceptable to both parties. AFT National President Randi Weingarten has committed to meeting with Local 5017 President Kathy Geroux in Portland on July 20.

“We believe that everyone on the executive board will be vindicated of all the charges made,” said Kathy Geroux. “We are looking forward to leading our local again after this misunderstanding is cleared up.”

CONTACT:

Kathy Geroux, RN

OFNHP Local 5017 Executive President

Email: Kathyg7170@gmail.com

Bing Wong

OFNHP Local 5017 Vice President of Legislation

Email: bswong33@msn.com

Obama Admin Hits New Low on Ed Deform as it Seeks to Gut NY State Tenure

UPDATE: Obama addresses NAACP in NYC at Hilton Thurs. at 7PM. There's some buzz about a protest outside over his education policies.

A must read article at Gotham.

"The Obama administration official in charge of an educational innovation fund yesterday issued a warning to a New York audience: Unless the state legislature revises a law now on the books about teacher tenure, the state could lose out on the $4.35 billion fund she controls."

The official is Joanne Weiss, "who worked at the New Schools Venture Fund before heading to Washington..." Think she has a dog in the race? Talk about rating teachers based on value added assessment when there is no system proved to work is like saying we should start mining the moon with a shovel. Gee, has anyone been working on systems rating doctors, lawyers and even politicians on value added systems?

"Weiss was in town to discuss The New Teacher Project’s report “The Widget Effect,” which was released last month and urged districts to overhaul their teacher performance evaluations."

Ho-ho-ho. The unbiased NTP being taken seriously by an Obama official. This country is in real trouble.

The Gotham article is linked here:

Obama official to New York: Change your tenure law or else

And make sure to read Pissed Off Teacher's and Ceolaf comments. But John Thompson's bears repeating:

Call her bluff.

If moderate reformers in the AFT don’t have the guts to stand firm on this, the backlash will be awful.

If a state as powerful as NY doesn’t have the guts to stand firm on this, others will crumble. OK, a “reformer” has had her say. Obama has bigger fish to fry, but there is a natural compromise that should be a no-brainer to him. The firewall on teacher indicators will be dropped when a firewall is created to keep test data from being used in evaluations. We could still move ahead with the Denver Plan and the Toledo Plan and similar approaches.

After all, it makes sense to use test scores when appropriate as in performance incentives. But it doesn’t make sense where it is not appropriate, as in evaluations where it could destroy the career of good and effective teachers.

I want the AFT to support Obama, regardless. But I’d like my union to be willing to announce the formation of a major litigation fund to destroy any schemes for using test scores for evaluation. I want districts to know that they will lose more in legal fees than they will gain in Race to the Top Funds if they go down that path.

Then when we drive a stake through the hearts of that mentality, I want my union to go back to being as moderate and willing to compromise as possible. If we want sustainable progress for kids, we can’t get punked on this.

If we lose this one, what self-respecting person would make a career teaching in high-poverty schools? We owe this to our profession.

Sorry, John. Don't expect the AFT to do much more than cheer lead. The attack on tenure by the Obama administration is just the cover the UFT and NYSUT need to duck out of the way as tenure law in NYS is gutted.

As a matter of fact, the dysfunctional state leg doesn't even have to be involved. Watch the upcoming UFT contract, which takes precedence over tenure law, as the UFT will trade money for what will appear to be minor modifications but over time turn out to be disaster.

UFT Exec Bd Nominates Mulgrew As Lone Candidate for Pres as ICE Attempt to Nominate Eterno is Rejected

Putin, Ahmadinejad, Kim Il Jong Jealous of Model of Undemocratic Precedure

Continuing a 25 year tradition, the UFT executive board again rubber stamped a hand-picked successor as the lone nominee to fill out a term of office. Given that Unity Caucus controls all the seats on the Board, Mulgrew is expected to win with 100% of the vote. Saddam Hussein is rolling over in his grave with consternation over how he could never figure out a way to get more than 98% of the vote. Even Ahmadinejad got only 2/3 of the vote. (The Mullahs are having the UFT Constitution translated into Farsi.)

A large group of ICEers, who have no seats on the Board, attended in the hope they would get an opportunity to speak and nominate James Eterno from the floor (read Anna Philips profile of James at Gotham). The vote on July 29 will still result in 100% for Mulgrew and having a 2nd candidate would only be symbolic, but ICE figured, why not try? Worse case scenario, get a few cookies and some fruit (that giant chocolate chip was fab).

James Eterno, a member of ICE, is running for president of the UFT. (Photo via GothamSchools' Flickr)

Figuring to use the EB rule giving any union member speaking time before the meeting as an opportunity to point out the lack of democratic procedure, I called ahead and asked for speaking time and was not told this was not allowed. I was recovering from my Bikram Yoga class, but I dropped my cigar and left the beach in Rockaway and schlepped over, but I was told by Michael Mendel that I would not be allowed to speak, as the speaking rule was suspended for these types of meetings. Former EB member (when she was with New Action) Ellen Fox of ICE also attempted to speak, but was turned away.

We were armed with the UFT Constitution, which has some of the more ambiguous language than credit default swap explanations. ICE's interpretation was that the Mulgew nomination was illegal, as the Constitution says an officer cannot run for another office unless he/she resigned as of July 1. It also says anyone can make a nomination without specifying that only applies to EB members. But if you read the Constitution backwardsor standing on your head, it is all legal.

I had the most fun watching the New Action EB crew, all elected with Unity support, sit there and blandly accept the situation without attempting to nominate anyone. Their fearless leader, Michael Shulman, even got up to ask why there was a need to hold the pro forma election on July 29 if there was one candidate and why not just put on the crown immediately? Mendel said the Constitution calls for two separate meetings. Hey Mike, nice to see the Constitution being followed at times. (Actually, Unity has made the Constitution ironclad undemocratic with few if any loopholes.)

New Action is praying Mulgrew will give them a quarter of the attention Weingarten gave them. ICE expects New Action to run another bogus slate in 2010, with a small group of candidates endorsed by Unity in an attempt to claim there is bipartisanship and to keep any ICE/TJC people off the board.

For the record, in the last election (2007) ICE/TJC received 5500 votes while New Action got 3500, yet NA got 8 seats and ICE/TJC got none. Ahhhh, that fresh air of democracy.

George Schmidt, editor of the widely read Chicago-based resistance newspaper and web site, Substance, joined ICE at the meeting as an observer. "At least you can attend EB meetings even though you are gagged," Schmidt said. "The Chicago TU EB meetings are closed." Ah, more fresh air of UFT democracy, with the reigning theme being, "You can attend, as long as you eat your cookies and fruit and shut up."

Related:
Eterno Comments on Mulgrew Nomination at the ICE blog
MULGREW CORONATION: MEET THE NEW BOSS SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Rally Fri July 10 as DOE Rules In Favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School taking over more space at PS 123!

URGENT!

Dictatorship - DOE Rules In Favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School taking over more space at PS 123!

On the morning of July 10 movers, sent by the $370K - Eva Moskowitz, will arrive again to remove materials from PS 123 Teachers' classrooms as she invades more Public School Space for her charter school!

Emergency Protest

Friday, July 10

8:30 AM

PS 123

301 West 140th St.

(bet. Edgecombe & Frederick Douglas)

Stop this drive to privatize!

Defend our Public School Space!

Be there! Spread the word.

Angel Gonzalez

UPDATE: Man borough Pres Scott Stringer is expected and this "rally" may turn into a press conf.

UPDATE: PS 123 Harlem Parents Make Their Case Against Harlem Success

7/10/09
Two days after this rally, the DOE ruled Harlem Success could go in and take over a swath of PS 123. Another event was held this morning that drew Man. boro pres Scott Stringer and mayoral candidate Tony Avella.

Harlem parents make a powerful statement defending their public school against the invasion of public schools by charters, in this case Eva Moskowitz' Harlem Success. They talk about the space their kids are denied, the favoritism shown to charters by the NYCDOE, the creaming, where even in the same family, only the higher scoring kids get recruited. And it's happening all over the city. They go beyond to talk about how they feel about public education in general. One of the most eloquent statements parents have yet made as they refute the charge that only white upper class parents oppose Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.

Members of GEM and ICE were there to support them, as were reps from PS 15 in Red Hook who are undergoing a similar experience.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_aGF9n8sE8

The UFT Hundred Thousand Dollar Plus Club

And I stopped at the B's.
Have your own party with the rest of the alphabet with a look at the 2008 LM-2 report.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/rrlo/lmrda.htm
Send us what you dig up.

UFT file number is 063-924

B C

SUSAN AMLUNG COMMUNICATIONS N/A

$160,007

$0

$2,312

$200

$162,519

AMY ARUNDELL SPECIAL REP. N/A

$129,796

$0

$2,676

$0

$132,472

ROBERT ASTROWSKY SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$162,424

$0

$1,586

$0

$164,010

MARY ATKINSON SPECIAL REP. N/A

$138,623

$0

$5,498

$0

$144,121

JACQUELINE BENNETT SPECIAL REP. N/A

$133,866

$0

$4,464

$0

$138,330

MICHELLE BODDEN SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$129,502

$0

$0

$0

$129,502

KLAUS BORNEMANN SPECIAL REP. N/A

$129,796

$0

$6,863

$0

$136,659

THOMAS BROWN SPECIAL REP. N/A

$120,351

$0

$2,531

$0

$122,882

JACQUES BYCINTHE SPECIAL ASST. N/A

$97,896

$0

$5,869

$0

$103,765

Just one more note: Let's give special kudos to the husband/wife/son Goldman family for pulling a cool $350 G's.

A B C

ANNE GOLDMAN SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$136,532

$0

$8,500

$0

$145,032

A B C

JEROME GOLDMAN BORO REP. NYSUT

$159,755

$0

$6,252

$0

$166,007

A B C

JASON GOLDMAN LEGISLATION N/A

$60,983

$0

$574

$0

$61,557

A Memorable Evening with General Bela Kiraly

I knew it had to happen at some point soon, but reading of the death of Bela Kiraly, my former history professor at Brooklyn College, in today's NY Times. was still a shock despite the fact Kiraly was 97. As the obit points out he was an historic figure in Hungary.

As a member of the Hungarian army, he was forced to fight with the Nazi collaborators in Hungry, thought the Times points out "he had tried to join the Russian side in the war rather than serve with Hungary’s fascist forces, but was unable to do so. During the war, Mr. Kiraly commanded a battalion of 400 Jewish slave laborers at the Ukrainian front. Disobeying orders from his superiors, as The Jerusalem Post wrote in 1993, he “put the 400 men under his command into Hungarian uniforms and treated them humanely.” For his actions, he was honored in 1993 as a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial authority in Jerusalem."

As a general, he was sentenced to a Stalinist death camp in 1951 for 5 years before being freed just as the Hungarian Revolution was breaking out in October, 1956. He was in a hospital room recuperating when he was asked to lead the forces opposing the Soviets, escaping to Vienna after the Soviet invasion.

He came to America, with some support from the CIA, which used the Hungarian ex-pat community to keep the resistance movement alive. He got his degree in history and started teaching at Brooklyn College in 1964, where I was a history major. He was one of the best college teachers I and many of others ever had.

Bringing an old world charm along with his military bearing, Kiraly made an instant mark on the students and other professors at Brooklyn College when he arrived. Not knowing anything about him, I registered for his 20th Century European history course and had my eyes opened to many new facets of history.

While one would expect Kiraly's experiences to make him a virulent anti-communist (he certainly was an anti-Stalinist), he allowed us to see all sides and make our own judgements. This approach was different from the American born teachers, also anti-communist, but didactic about it. Brooklyn College, which had been a hotbed of radicalism in the 30's was purged by the reactionary president Harry Gideonse. Kiraly brought a sense of balance to the issues.

Unfortunately, I never was able to take his legendary military history course, one of the big regrets of my academic life, but did take a research seminar with him in the spring of 1966. We used to meet every two weeks in his small apartment down the block from the campus. It was my final course before graduating and I produced an 80 page paper on the relationship between the Soviet Union and the Eastern European nations in the Soviet block.

I was teaching computer courses at Brooklyn College in the late 80's and early 90's and one of the history professors told me he had gone back for the first time since 1956 and was, surprisingly, elected to the new parliament.

My wife and I had a unique view of this history when we visited Budapest in October, 1956 a few days before the 50th anniversary of the revolution. With a big celebration with representatives from around the world expected, there were massive protests going on around Parliament, which sits on the Pest side of the Danube and is modeled on the British Parliament building in London.

I was curious about Kiraly but found no information on the computer in the hotel and had just about given up hope.

We were buying some pottery in a shop on the Danube on the Buda side where the owner, George Krall, spoke perfect English and had visited the states many times. I mentioned Kiraly and he said he knew of him and thought he was still alive. Just at that moment, an elderly gentleman was entering the building and George said he had served under Kiraly and called him over. He said that Kiraly was still alive and doing well and lived in Budapest. George began to call all the people named Bela Kiraly in the phone book and sure enough we reached him.

He didn't remember me but asked if I would like to come over to his house for a visit that evening. "Who is with you," he asked? "My wife," I said. "Bring the voman," he ordered. And bring the voman I did. And as you can see in the picture, he still had an eye for the ladies. He certainly charmed my wife.

The cab ride was about an hour on the outskirts of the city. We were ushered into the living room by Kiraly's nephew (I believe) and there he was standing, as straight as ever. The same charm, mesmerizing us, he proceeded to give us a two hour history lesson on every aspect of the Hungarian revolution, his time in the death camp, his escape and many of his experiences in the states. It would take pages to recall it all, but the most vivid was his accounts of the negotiations he engaged in with the Soviets, especially Yuri Anropov the Soviet ambassador who was the key to suppressing the revolution. Kiraly has one of the 12 hot line numbers and was privy to much information.

Kiraly's hero was Imre Nagy, the Hungarian leader, who was executed not long after the revolution, and his eyes misted just a bit when talking about Nagy. Kiraly swore he would not set foot in Hungary again until Nagy was given an honored place of burial and so it was done.

I asked him what he thought of the current demos, from what I read, expecting he might offer them some support since the party in power they were criticizing had communist influences. "They are right wing agitators," he said, "not trying to make the situation more democratic. Democracy is what is important." And that was the essence of Bela Kiraly. Neither pro or anti communist, but pro-democracy. (He should see the UFT.)

He was part of the committee settign up the 50th annivesay party and was going to play a major role in the celebration on

We could have listened all night, but at some point, feeling guilty we were taking up the time of this great man and concerned about keeping him up, I said something about leaving. "Am I boring you," he barked at me? The spell was broken. But he handed over a stack of books he had written, some of them autographed by him.

One of the most memorable evenings we ever had.

I'll post more photos from the trip at Facebook or Norms notes soon.

$4 Million: What the UFT Gave the Glover Park Group

Find out what your union spends its dues on.
Download the UFT LM-2 2008 report.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/rrlo/lmrda.htm

UFT file number is 063-924

Thanks to Jeff Kaufman. If you find more nuggets send them along. The Glover Park Group has people like Howard Wolfson, a major UFT consultant. Wolfson is a major player in the Bloomberg 3rd term campaign.

THE GLOVER PARK GROUP 3299 K STREET NW WASHINGTON DC 20007

Type or Classification (B)

CONSULTANT

Purpose (C)	Date (D)	Amount (E)
Total Itemized Transactions		$4,042,778
Total Non-Itemized Transactions		$7,823
Total of All Transactions		$4,050,601

Storming Tweed

July 6 rally photos by John Lawhead posted on Facebook.

Councilman Charles Barron at the gates of Tweed

Crowd surges up steps of Tweed as Barron urges people to take back "our" building since mayoral control has expired.

State Assemblywoman Inez Barron tells crowd she opposes mayoral control


Sam Coleman of GEM and NYCORE speaks eloquently about the impact of high stakes testing

Some guys never know when to take off their hat. ICE's Sean Ahern taking notes and Lisa North (in green shirt.)

Rally at Tweed Protests Mayoral Control

They came from all over. Black, white, Latino/a, old, young, teachers, parents, communuity activists, students, ICE, GEM, Parents Commission, ISO, independents. There were hundreds. On five days notice and people were away for vacation. It is only the beginning. I have video. More reports tomorrow before heading up to PS 123 for the 1 PM protest against that breaking and entering public school thief, Eva Moskowitz. (See the July 4 posting: Moskowitz B&E at 123: Rally on Tues July 7).

Diane Ravitch on "The Partnership for 19th Century Skills"

This one from Diane is just brilliant.

The Partnership for 19th Century Skills

Published by Diane Ravitch on July 6, 2009

I for one have heard quite enough about the 21^st century skills that are sweeping the nation. Now, for the first time, children will be taught to think critically (never heard a word about that in the 20^th century, did you?), to work in groups (I remember getting a grade on that very skill when I was in third grade a century ago), to solve problems (a brand new idea in education), and so on.

Let me suggest that it is time to have done with this unnecessary conflict about 21^st century skills. Let us agree that we need all those forenamed skills, plus lots others, in addition to a deep understanding of history, literature, the arts, geography, civics, the sciences, and foreign languages.

But allow me also to propose a new entity that will advance a different set of skills and understandings that are just as important as what are now called 21^st century skills. I propose a Partnership for 19^th Century Skills.

This partnership will advocate for such skills, values, and understandings as:

• The love of learning
• The pursuit of knowledge
• The ability to think for 20 oneself (individualism)
• The ability to stand alone against the crowd (courage)
• The ability to work persistently at a difficult task until it is finished (industriousness, self-discipline)
• The ability to think through the consequences of one’s actions on others (respect for others)
• The ability to consider the consequences of one’s actions on one’s well-being (self-respect)
• The recognition of higher ends than self-interest (honor)
• The ability to comport oneself appropriately in all situations (dignity)
• The recognition that civilized society requires certain kinds of behavior by individuals and groups (good manners, civility)
• The willingness to ask questions when puzzled (curiosity)
• The readiness to dream about other worlds, other ways of doing things (imagination)
• The ability to believe that one can improve one’s life and the lives of others (optimism)
• The ability to believe in principles larger than one’s own self-interest (idealism)
• The ability to speak well and write grammatically, using standard English

I invite readers to submit other 19^th century skills that we should cultivate assiduously among the rising generation, on the belief that doing so will lead to happier lives and a better world.

(Ed’s Note: Diane Ravitch wrote the above for the blog of Common Core, which advocates for comprehensive education in the liberal arts and sciences. She is the organization’s co-chair. It is published here as well, with her permission.)

REMINDER: PROTEST MAYORAL DICTATORSHIP IN OUR SCHOOLS! MONDAY JULY 6, 5PM

Didn’t the SUN SET on Mayoral Control?

DENOUNCE THE PHONY BOARD! NON EDUCATORS SELECTED

PROTEST MAYORAL

DICTATORSHIP IN OUR SCHOOLS!

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT PARENT AND STUDENT UNIONS

MONDAY, JULY 6, 2009

at 5 pm

TWEED - 52 Chambers Street

PUBLIC EDUCATION IS AT RISK

STOP THE NO BID CONTRACTS

STOP the SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPE LINE

We are calling all Registered Voters,Community Leaders, Politicians, Parents,

Teachers, Students and all Educational Professionals

to come out and Rally for Public Education!

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . ?

On July 1, Bloomberg-Klein created a bogus Department

of Education with his Deputy Mayor as its President.

1,000+ teachers are sitting in detention “Rubber Rooms”

daily doing absolutely nothing at an expense to taxpayers

in an amount over $100 million dollars per year.

Teachers who blow the Whistle on School Corruption get

“U” ratings & are subjected to a hostile work environment.

Standardized Test Score data on children from poor

neighborhoods are being used to feed the “School to

Prison Pipeline.”

No Bid Contracts are given to fortune 500 businesses that

are personally affiliated with the Mayor.

Special Education Students & English Language Learners

are not receiving a FREE and APPROPRIATE Education.

SCHOOLS MUST BE A MODEL OF AND – FOR – DEMOCRACY:

GIVE HS STUDENTS A REAL VOICE

Support Guidance Services, Career and

Youth Development Programs in our Public Schools!

COME OUT, RECLAIM & SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS!

For more info, Call: NYCNSC at (718) 857-1427 NEW YORK COALITION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL CONTROL

NY Times damns the entire Calif. school system -- and gets it dead wrong

Caroline Grannan slams NY Times at the Examiner as she goes after the current Sunday magazine article about the California gubernatorial race, which states:

"Test scores in (California) public schools are plummeting” – in the reporter’s voice, without attribution or elaboration.

Caroline says that all indications are that California test scores have been moving upward (not that we give any credence to any testing results in the age of testing steroids. She says:

It’s an ongoing issue to public education advocates who view ourselves as resisters against efforts to “run schools like a business” that the privatization faction insists on portraying our schools in a far worse light than they deserve. Why would the Times leap into that with a flat-out inaccuracy – stated in an authoritative tone implying that no backup is even needed for such an obvious truth?

Now I love this one:

And speaking of troubled institutions, does the Times staff not realize that its survival is as fragile as the California economy? Sorry to repeat myself, but here's my message, again, to my colleagues in the press: Your existence is fragile. Your credibility is what you have left. Please try to take care of it.

Sorry Caroline, I wouldn't expect much credibility from the paper of record on weapons of mass destruction and BloomKlein are wonderful.

The Taking of PS 123

Thanks for the idea to anonymous commenter at
UPDATE on Moskowitz B&E at 123: Rally on Tues July 7

Executed to perfection by David Bellel.