Blood on Their Hands

Last Updated: Monday, Sept. 27, 6:55 am

LA Teacher Dead of Suicide: Was One of LA Times' Victims

Here is a news report

Earlier today this email came across from a teacher in LA:

Rigoberto Ruelas is missing.  He is one of our own, a long-time teacher and TA at Miramonte Elementary in South Los Angeles.  With all of my heart, I hope he is well and will make contact soon with his family.  I know all of us feel the same way and will keep him in our hearts untill he is safe again. He called the sub desk on Sunday night to request a substitute for Monday and Tuesday.  He talked to his brother on Sunday and his father on Monday.  He didn't return to school this week and no one has heard from him.  Reports are that he was stressed out from work.  In particular, Mr. Ruelas had been called less than effective(or however they put it) by the L.A. Times valueless "value-added" data base. This for a teacher who had always enjoyed a great reputation at the school.

Of course there could be many, many reasons for his disappearance.  How much of a role the Times played is pure conjecture at this point.  I do not fault those that would say to bring it up for discussion without the facts is perhaps irresponsible or self-serving.  I would ask us to consider the deeper ramifications before leaving it at that.  The UTLA home page calls the Times use of "value-added" data "reckless,destructive."  I do not want to imagine how destructive in the matter of Mr. Ruelas.  Do we really have to wait any longer to point out how awful, not just this latest attack on teachers is, but the entire immoral climate brought on by a well-financed campaign to scapegoat and discredit teachers?

I sincerely pray that the unthinkable does not have to happen before those behind the blame-the-teacher barrage stop and assess the damage.  The wounds to teachers' reputations pale in comparison to the harm already done to thousands of our students. Their stress endured, the blame assigned imprints not just them but their families. These are flesh and blood human beings.  Schools designated low-performing because of the tyranny of testing do, in fact, feel shame. A culture of hate and fear serves no positive purpose. To those who seek to privatize and charterize, however, the instability is key to their tactics.  Simply put, Mr. Gates, Mr.Walmart, Mr. Broad, Mayor Villaragosa, Mr. Cortines(and too many others to list), when is enough, enough?


Mat Taylor English teacher, Elizebeth Learning Center  UTLA South Area Chair

Rest Peacefully, Mr. Ruelas. (Or, #NBCFail, Part II) 

Awesome ubber blogger Sabrina at Colorado-based Failing Schools reports:

September 26, 2010

by Sabrina

I could talk here about my frustration with being subjected to yet another hour of conversation dominated by the same people who hog the normal conversation about ed reform– Michelle Rhee, Geoffrey Canada (in whom I’m sincerely disappointed as of late), and Randi Weingarten.

I could talk about my frustration over the irresponsible “journalism” NBC is practicing by creating a public forum just participatory enough to include rapid-fire snippets of a useful conversation, but not participatory enough to ensure proportionate representation of those whose futures depend on the outcome of this conversation.

I could talk about my frustration at watching a network  wonder aloud about “why shouldn’t we use money to inspire teachers?”. (ETA: Apologies for language, I’m just so angry about this…)
 
I just learned about this a little while ago, and obviously I don’t know all of the circumstances of this man’s life. But it bothers me profoundly that when this man went missing, the first thing his family thought of were his complaints about his stress at work.


To the spectators and grand-standers in this conversation, especially those who make six- and seven figures a year while teachers toil in some of the toughest places in our country for a mere fraction of that; who send their kids to tony private schools while poor, hungry children sit 35 to a room in public schools that are falling down; who have the leisure time and disposable income to show their children the world, or hire others to help them when they’re unavailable; who can’t imagine why more money couldn’t inspire someone to work harder; who can find a sympathetic ear when they complain of their troubles at work and  beyond, and don’t know what it’s like to be accused of not caring when you give your ALL at a job for which you receive little to no appreciation; who casually reduce children and teachers to test scores, and blame poor parents for not making more hours in the day to read to their children after coming home from scrubbing their floors; who can’t imagine the kind of desperation regular people feel when facing the prospect of losing their life’s work– in any field:


Is this just a game to you, or what? For those of us in the trenches, it most certainly isn’t. Enough is enough. Deal with the real issues, approach us from a place of humility and respect, and offer genuine support. Put up, or SHUT UP.


My heart goes out to Mr. Ruelas and his family. I hope he finds some peace, wherever he is, and that he’s no longer suffering the kind of pain and turmoil that would drive someone to such a desperate act. May you be the last to suffer so.

South Bronx School reports on the breaking news in LA:

There is sadness in education today. Unfortunately, this day was all too inevitable. It had to happen, it had to come to fruition. What is sad it was all too avoidable. Today, Rigoberto Ruelas killed himself. According to KABC-TV, Ruelas was found dead about 9 a.m. Sunday in the Angeles National Forest, and a teacher ratings report by the Los Angeles Times did not score Ruelas well. Family members said the teacher evaluation scores may have caused him to go missing.

There is a whole list of people SBS charges with having blood on their hands. Check out the list.
Blood On The Hands Of Jason Felcha And Richard Buddin

This great piece came in overnight:

Dear Norm, A short while back, I sent your post about stoning teachers with low test scores to our union rep...thought it was amusing, then... I will be teaching kindergarten tomorrow, and I am blessed and so fond of my students this year, each one...but I can't sleep for thinking about Rigoberto Ruelas, a young man, obviously conscientious, fighting the odds in the LA Public Schools for fourteen years with almost perfect attendance, taking what must've seemed like the weight of the world upon his shoulders, teaching 5th grade, when kids are really developing a strong sense of autonomy.  Probably to many of them, he was someone stable and constant, perhaps even a father figure.  He must've made many sacrifices throughout the years, as all conscientious teachers do...and then to have his life and reputation sullied by questionable "value-added" standardized test scores surely was stressful, painful, humiliating.  What if the tables were turned and the Billionaire Boys, the hedge fund managers, the privatizeers and education deformers were suddenly to be appraised based on their sense of humanity, of loyalty to country, of devotion to democracy?  Would they dare for one night to take down their guard and unlock their doors?  How must it feel to always have to hide from the people you are destroying?  What if the greater picture were to be seen by looking at the families affected by outsourcing and job loss, by foreclosure and lowered wages?  Would there be any links found between the pain of families, the struggles of students and their teachers, and the policies promoted by WalMarts and the rest of the business world?  What if we were to give them multiple choice, bubble-in tests to measure their knowledge and understanding of the masses they mean to manipulate, for example: 1.  Mark the BEST definition of a teacher:  O  Interchangeable widget, same as any worker O  Dedicated, educated public servant   O   Bad, commie unionist criminal O  Stupid person, most likely female 2.  What is a Parent?   O  Someone who a company we invest in has probably laid off O  A consumer of educational programs  O  Another cog in the big machine of capitalism O  All of the above. 3.  What is a Student?   O  A sentient, growing human being with unlimited potential O  A person who is learning and working toward self-development  O  another brick in the wall   O  Anywhere from $5 to $15K per head. 4.  What is Democracy?   O  Something to be erradicated ASAP  O  One voice, one vote per person  O  Equal opportunity for participation   O  Our biggest threat and nightmare. 5.  Who was Rigoberto Ruelas?   O  A conscientious 5th grade teacher  O  A father figure to kids who needed one  O  a 14 year veteran educator with nearly perfect attendance O  Just another irrelevant nobody to us, same as everybody. Rest in peace, Mr. Ruelas.  The LA Times is not the final judge!

What's in a Not? An Ed Deform Knothead

Some ed deform blogger named Kyle came across our rally at the WFS film the other night and called it a union organized event. Poor foolish Kyle. He also didn't like the GEM pamphlet we gave out called The Truth About Charters. Oh my GOD! He found a typo, which means all public school teachers are idiots, you know. I left this comment on his posting. Go over and day "hello."

I was one of the organizers of the Friday event and if you ask anyone in the UFT hierarchy I have been one of their biggest critics for 40 years. And many of the rallying Real Reformers have run with the opposition to the UFT leaders for many years.

Your misreading of this rally as being union instigated is a sign of just how out of touch you are. The reform train crashed in Fenty/Rheeville about 10 seconds after leaving the station and is coming apart as the very people you all are trying to manipulated into privatizing the public schools for your fun and profit are increasingly rejecting the deformers. You guys are the new status quo.

Congratulations on your great discovery, clearly along the lines of making you the new Columbus, of an extra "not" in a pamphlet of two thousand words. I take responsibility for that "not" due the failing eyesight of a  proud retired public school/unionized teacher who spent 35 years teaching elementary school in the inner city in Brooklyn, NY.

What's your excuse?

To one of the commenters: Oh, and exactly what was the class size in that private school you went to where your parents obviously wasted an enormous amount of money? You better thank them.

Paul Moore: Wishing On A Star Now?

Miami teacher Moore's response to Klein's Huffington Post piece on Waiting for Superman:

Chancellor Joel Klink*, I sincerely want you to enjoy your warm fuzzy delusions about "Waiting For Superman" because they may not last very long. I mean, did you hear what happened to Michelle Rhee? She's plays a "chancellor" just like you right? And she was one of the stars of your movie right?

Excuse my French, but damn Joel, she didn't even make to the big premier yesterday in NYC and LA, before she was turned into a quivering bowl of jello standing next to the man who will fire her soon in DC. If you haven't heard about Sept. 14th in Washington, that mayor that Bill Gates put in charge of the public school system, Adrian Fenty, got stomped in a re-election bid. I mean he got beat like a hedge fund manager trying to steal something from Sen. Perkins there in the city! Go figure. Rhee, the "warrior woman", campaigned for him and everything.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she like to mouth the same hypocritical blather you do about education being "the Civil Rights struggle of our generation" while overseeing a thoroughly racist public school system. You may want to retool that Newt Gingrich-ish slogan, paragon of the Civil Rights Movement that he is. It looks like people may be on to you folks. Rhee kind of made it easy. Just before the election she entertained her new teachers with a story about taping the mouths of Black children shut to keep them quiet. According to her, there was blood when the tape came off, but for some reason she wasn't arrested. Would have been off to the rubber room under your leadership right? And I know you are slicker than Michelle, all that CEO training, and you don't have any classroom stories to tell, because you've never set foot in a classroom, except to visit one of your precious charter schools and say hello to Eva or Geoff.

But I digress, because I just have to tell you the most startling thing of all. As a civil rights crusader, you need to really put your ear up close to this essay now. D.C. is broken up into eight or nine wards for purposes of voting. In the wards where white voters are concentrated, four out of five supported Adrian Fenty. I mean Joel, those people love themselves some Bill Gates, some quisling mayor, and a chancellor who will tape those Black kids mouths shut and take a broom to the teachers. But listen, in the African-American wards, where parents actually have their children in the DC public schools, and where the Black teachers replaced by white Teach For America missionaries live, voted four out of five to run Michelle Rhee out of town!

Joel, you do know that Superman is fictional character? Ironically, he was a D.C. Comics creation. Seems like an omen maybe. You might want to check and see if there's a seat for you on Bloomberg's plane to Bermuda when Superman doesn't show up.

* The misspelling of CEO of Bertelsmann Inc. Joel Klein's name was an intentional act of ridicule and an homage to the long running TV series Hogan's Heroes. My apologies to the family of the late actor Werner Klemperer and his memory for associating him with an unaccomplished bureaucrat like Klein.

Fab Faux, Faux Fox

I'm waiting for the appearance on Fox and Friends of a Real Reformer. Supposed to be on at 7:50.

Watching Faux News on Fox for the first time may be appropriate since I was at last night's salute to John Lennon by the Fab Faux, the incredible Beattles cover band, at Radio City. Imagine, 2 hours plus of Lennin music done to perfection.

Segment about to begin so hold on. Back in a few.

I'm back. So it was CAPE/GEM's Julie Cavanagh and charter school parent activist Mona Davids.

Here is link: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4350208/film-analyzes-education-system-failures

Each had maybe 30 seconds. Julie got in a defense of tenure and mentionned our web site for our film "The Absolute Truth About Waiting for Superman"* and Mona got in the class size issue (Leonie will be doing cartwheels) before they were both cut off. Think of it: Fox sent a car for each of them. They had hair and makeup done - not that they needed it —They both looked gorgeous. All for a few minutes when they had an opportunity for a substantial discussion. But this is Faux Fox.

Not that the NBC network with their big education week coming up is any better. They stacked every forum. Faux NBC. Back with more on THAT issue, later.

After even a few minutes of Faux Fox, gotta go and take a shower.


Afterburn: 
Julie just called and said she and Mona felt pretty good about their appearance. The web site (created by Mona, by the way) will be posted on Fox and there seemed to be an interest in our film. We'll see.

*http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/

On Waiting for Superman: A Real Reformer on Fox and Friends Sunday at 7:50 AM

I was asked as a GEM rep to appear but a) hadn't seen the film - though I could have - ugh!- ran out today  b) am scheduled to edit the footage of last night and c) there is someone much better than me at articulating the issues - a real reformer/classroom teacher with a great finger on the pulse of the ed deform movement with personal experience - watch it and see.

Details to follow tomorrow

Waiting for Superman, Oprah--Message to staff of FLHS from CL

Arthur Goldstein is chapter leader of Francis Lewis HS, one of the most overcrowded schools in the city.

From: Arthur Goldstein

Date: September 24, 2010 6:03:07 PM EDT

Subject: Waiting for Superman, Oprah

Dear Colleagues,

It's a tough PR week for teachers.  Oprah has decided to feature folks like Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates, and the maker of the new film sociologist Aaron Pallas dubs, "An Inconvenient Truthiness," Waiting for Superman.   Here are some stats about what Oprah presented.  Note that voices of reason, like Diane Ravitch, were not invited.  There's a petition on Facebook to get Oprah to invite Diane.  I urge you to sign it if you frequent Facebook.

I'd like to introduce you to a variety of voices that give a different message than the one mainstream media will be pummeling you with in weeks to come.  Links are below.  Remember that oft-touted statistics are achieved by preposterous means, often by outright fraud, and that we teach everyone, all comers, be they special ed., ESL, or whomever.  Know that when Superman hero Geoff Canada could not achieve the test scores he was "Waiting" for, he dismissed an entire cohort of kids from his charter school.  Can you imagine the sort of stats we could rack up if we had options like that?  Not that we would resort to such nonsense.

Charter schools account for approximately 3% of American schools.  Few do better than we do, one in five if you believe the documentary.  We are the ones doing the heavy lifting.  We are the ones who educate everyone.  And we are the ones who take every single child turned away by the charter schools--who don't count them in their statistics and attribute the failures of those kids to us.   If they were as miraculous as the media says they are they'd take these kids and run with them, but ultimately that's our job.  Be proud of all you do for kids and be proud to be union.   As you can see below, there are plenty of people out there who know nonsense when they see it, and some who know what we really do every day of our lives.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/09/27/100927taco_talk_lemann

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2010/09/why_michelle_rhee_and_adrian_f.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-ayers-/an-inconvenient-superman-_b_716420.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-brown/yes-we-need-great-teachers_b_707665.html

http://eyeoned.org/content/an-inconvenient-truthiness_120/

http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/waiting-superman-inspiring-call-arms-

http://cutshurtkids.blogspot.com/2010/09/humor-waiting-for-superman.html

http://teacherrevised.org/2010/06/30/movie-review-waiting-for-superman-or-just-another-clark-kent-playing-dress-up/

Best regards,

Arthur

Real Reformers Also Wear Capes- and they ran into Michael Moore too

This is going to be a quickie because I have all day commitments to our FIRST LEGO League Kickoff at NYU/Poly in downtown Brooklyn (come on down).

Before I get to the rally, make sure to check out the video I took of Diane Ravitch and Eva Moskowitz at the Economist Forum last week.  I got exclusive Ed Notes interviews with both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oREkNH2_Z8M

Yesterday's rally sponsored by GEM at the opening of "Waiting for Superman" was highly successful.
One of the interesting sidelights:

They met at the fountain at Lincoln Center to rehearse their rap song "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?" and ran into Michael Moore who was there for the NY Film Festival opening. The irony is too delicious since people have been trying to reach Moore to do a documentary on the ed deform scam. Since he wasn't responding, we decided to do our own film. We have some tape of the RRs talking to Moore and his response it is a shame they are scapegoating teachers.

Here is a Fox report where they naturally spent more time talking to pro movie people and ignored all the people wearing Real Reformer capes.

 http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/education/teachers-protest-waiting-for-superman-20100924

I hear I am quoted in today's NY Post but don't know what I said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/protesting_teachers_give_it_an_2wHWfAa38YOjPzpdYYotJO



A booker for Fox Friends saw me quoted and invited me on for tomorrow morning to discuss the film but since I didn't see it yet and have a full day and won't be able to catch it today, I may have to decline. We are trying to get one of the people involved in our response to WFS - The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman - to confirm. Still waiting.


Make sure to go to:  www.waitingforsupermantruth.org to view the trailer for the grassroots documentary response to "Waiting for Superman"...

Tomorrow we are editing the footage from our rally and should have some good stuff up by Sunday night.

In the meantime here are some quick pics I took. The people I am working with are so brilliant. Note the tags they were wearing to engage people in conversation.

Katie Couric Assistant Comes Calling- Be at Lincoln Square Today at 6PM to See Real Reformers

I watched holding my sides laughing as Katie Couric interviewed WFS' Davis Guggenheim, who seems more pathetic every time I see him. (He loves unions by the way. Only not teachers unions.) If you read the review in today's Times they make the point that Randi Weingarten comes off as the villain in the film. What a joke when the Real Reformers also see her as a villain, but for entirely different reasons - like her abandonment of the fight for education equality - no matter what she says - remember the mantra - watch what she does - like appease the deformers on just about every single issue - and she was part of the deal with Rhee in DC. And Detroit - Oh, My! And Gates in Seattle.

So presenting Randi as our rep is beyond a joke.

Then there was that awful teacher who wants to give up tenure for money. Doubly pathetic. And they didn't exactly have a lot of screen time even if they had more to say.

So when I got this email from Erica Anderson who works at CBS with Katie urging me to promote her interviews with Guggenheim, I resisted the urge to delete.

Norm,

I read your post (http://bit.ly/9l9rjb) on Waiting for Superman in Education News Online. You brought up some very thoughtful points which is why I want to share with you the just-released interview on @KatieCouric today. Today Katie interviewed Davis Guggenheim and brought on a panel of educators from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College to pose questions to him.

I hope you will consider watching the videos and sharing with the readers of Education News Online. The only request I have is that you provide a credit to @KatieCouric on CBSNews.com.

Kind Regards,

Erica Anderson
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS | @KATIECOURIC

Hi Erica,
Thanks for getting in touch. I would be interested in promoting Katie's interview with Davis Guggenheim but am ambivalent when there are so few voices in those videos. The people you had up there representing "our side" were fairly pathetic. It is not about salary to many teachers like the one you talked to.

For an educator like me who spent 35 years working in a high risk neighborhood in Brooklyn, mostly teaching elementary school, the things Davis Guggenheim has to say are almost laughable. Notice how he uses the term "status quo" for the old guard when in fact the new status quo has been the very "reforms", or deforms as we are referring to them, that have been in effect in places like Chicago for 16 years and in NYC for 7 years and have proven to be a failure. He talks about the 20% of charter schools that are doing great things. You don't think that 20% of the public schools are also doing great things? With unionized teachers with tenure yet.

It is no accident that Michelle Rhee has gone down in flames in DC. To call her a hero when the very community that she was supposed to be "saving" undermines Guggenheim's film.

We have a group of young dynamic teachers here in NYC who call themselves Real Reformers. I am working on a film with them called "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" and you can see the trailer at http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/. I urge you and Katie to watch it.

Today at the opening of Waiting for Superman" at the Loews 68th st theater, these teachers will be there to perform their rap version of Eminem's "Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?". We are calling it "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?"

Many will be wearing homemade Superman capes and other logos. They include former Teach for America teachers who are staying in the classroom. Twenty and Thirty year old teachers who are committed to their students and also to saving the public school system from the charter school onslaught and market bases solutions (like merit pay - believe me these teachers would get merit pay because many of them are so good - ask them why they are against it)  that have brought the US economy down in flames. Many have had their students negatively affected by the charter school invasion of their schools.

Read a fabulous review of Waiting for Superman by one of these teachers I posted on my blog:
http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/09/reviewing-waiting-for-superman-real.html

So if you want to talk to Real Reformers, send a crew over to the theater today or we can arrange for them to be available to talk at Katie's convenience. I'm betting she will walk away with a whole new point of view and see Davis Guggenheim's film for what it is.

Here is the press advisory.


Press Advisory                         

Date:  Thursday, September 23, 2010   

Contact:

Norm Scott: 917-992-3734

Parents and Teachers, the Real Reformers, Organize Response to “Waiting for Superman”

When:  Friday, September 24^th, 6:00 P.M.

Where: Lincoln Square 13 Movie Theater, NY, NY

On Friday, September 24^th, parents and teachers will participate in a demonstration outside of the premier of “Waiting for Superman”.  The film, which has garnered significant publicity in recent days, has taken the lead in framing the conversation about education reform.  The Real Reformers reject this framework and intend to offer an alternative voice to the conversation.

Parents and teachers will be located outside of the Loews Lincoln Square movie theater at 6:00 P.M. The Real Reformers will stand up and present their demands and vision for real education reform.  The Grassroots Education Movement will provide literature, a special feature, and will be releasing the trailer for their upcoming documentary, “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”, which will be shown in New York City neighborhoods, and across the country, beginning in late October. 

Together, parents and teachers are united in calling for Real Reform Right Now:  Smaller Class Size, Excellent Community Schools for ALL, More Teaching- Less Testing, Parent Empowerment and Leadership, Equitable Funding for ALL Schools, Anti-Racist Education Policies, Culturally Relevant Curriculum, Expanded Pre Kindergarten and Early Intervention Programs.

View the Trailer for GEM’s upcoming documentary at:  www.waitingforsupermantruth.org or www.grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com

Additional Contacts:

Lisa Donlan, Parent: 917-848-5873

Mona Davids, Parent: 917-340-8987

Sam Coleman, Teacher:  646-354-9362

Julie Cavanagh, Teacher: 917-836-6465

From the Grassroots - GEMNYC October Newsletter Available

It's a beaut.

Diamonds to Karen Lewis, Coals to Eva Moskowitz. 

Fall into the Gap:
High Stakes Testing, Mayor Bloomberg, and the Dismantling of Public Education

Charter Schools:  Myths and Truths

Parents, Teachers Rally at Twenty Schools

Profile of a GEM member: Sam Coleman

Upcoming GEM Events: 

How is high-stakes testing being used to dismantle/undermine public education and what we can do about it? What do the changes in test scores really mean for parents and teachers?

An open panel and follow-up analysis and discussion focusing on solutions.

September 28, 4:30-7pm

CUNY Grad Center

34th St. & 5th Ave. Rm 5414

(Bring id)

Hard copy is a one page folded booklet. Downloaded it is a 4 pager.

Ask and ye shall receive. Contact gemnyc@gmail.com for copies.

Reviewing Waiting for Superman: A Real Reformer Stands Up

The following review was written by a teacher with a decade of experience teaching special ed who got to see an advance screening of "Waiting for Superman" the other night. The teacher is one of the GEM people working on the response: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. See the trailer at: http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/

Still Waiting

by RR (Real Reformer)

Sept. 22, 2010

I had the opportunity to attend an advanced screening of “Waiting for Superman” tonight.  I fully expected to be nauseated by what I perceived to be corporate-backed propaganda, with the predictable message of teacher unions as the villain and so-called reformers as heroes.  The film’s premise and claims are uninformed and drastically miss the boat in terms of creating a narrative regarding the real issues our public school system faces.  Further, the film completely neglects to engage in any meaningful discussion of the real reforms needed to improve educational opportunity for our children. 

Some highlights (or lowlights if you will)… 

Claims vs. Truth 

Claim:  “We know that it is possible to give every child a great education,” (based on the success of charter schools).   

Truth: Charters in general, and in particular the ones featured in this film, sort and select students, serve far less ELL students, students receiving special education services, and students who qualify for reduced and free lunch compared with their neighboring public schools.  The truth is, charters do not outperform public schools, even with every advantage, including smaller student to teacher ratios, the ability to discharge students at will, and increased autonomy.

========

Claim:  “There is usually only one mainstream school in every school district in America that is above average.”   

Truth:  I do not presume to know the stats on this, but the claim is completely unsupported in the film and would venture to say untrue.  As a perfect example, District 15 in Brooklyn has many schools that are above average.

========

Claim:  “If you don’t go to college, you are screwed in America.”   

Truth:  One of the purveyors of this claim in the film is Bill Gates who says we cannot have American innovation without our kids going to college.  This from one of the most significant innovators of our time, who, that’s right, didn’t get a college degree.

========

Claim:  “KIPP schools are better schools because they won’t let kids fail.”  “You can’t argue with KIPP’s data.” 

Truth:  KIPP students and parents sign a “Contract for Excellence” and if the contract is not followed, they can be dismissed from the school.

========

Claim: “Even progressive educators believed that the achievement gaps in our education system could not be closed.”   

Truth:  As a progressive educator, I am horrified by this claim made as a general and factual statement, and can personally attest that it is untrue.

========

Claim:  “Kids that go to charter schools (featured in this film I believe is the context) do not just do better than poor kids, they do better than everyone.” 

Truth:  Some charter schools do better than public schools, some do worse, the majority, do the same.

========

Claim:  “If we replace bad teachers with average teachers we can catch up to Finland in just a few years.” “Unions are a menace and an impediment to reform.”  “Teacher union contracts say you can’t fire them.” “Good teachers teach 150% of curriculum in a year, bad teachers only teach 50% of curriculum in a year.” “Teachers get tenure if they just breathe.”  “It should be simple, put teachers in a school house where they fill children’s heads with knowledge, but we have made it more complicated.” 

Truth:  The simple blame game, painting teachers and teacher unions as villains is a completely unsupported claim.  Virginia, a right to work state, has some of the worst educational outcomes in the country.  Finland, touted with some of the best educational outcomes in the film, is a pro-union system.  Teachers do matter, but their tenure is not decided by them, it is decided by principals.  Teachers do matter, but we do not write the standards, curriculum, and tests.  Teachers do matter, but we live in a climate of extreme external pressure that prevents us from actually teaching.  Teachers do matter, but so do parents, principals, education officials, economic opportunity, school and community programs. The list goes on and on.  The fact is, the vast majority of teachers are good teachers, who work hard, and whose ability to speak out with parents and advocate for children is protected only by their tenure. Imagine a system where teachers could not advocate with parents for children!

There are many more claims I could refute in the film, but this has already served as a spoiler for anyone who actually wants to see the film, and frankly, I’m tired.   

I taught all day, met after school with parents and educators working on an initiative for our school, and then went and saw a film that basically said:  ‘Teachers and their unions bad.  Charters good.’  I’ve had enough for one day!

 I will end this with one final note…

One of the children in the movie, the story I found to be most touching and compelling, lived with his grandparents, never really knew his mother, and his father died at a young age because of drugs.  The tenderness of this child, the wisdom he shared well beyond his years, and the hopes he has for his time at SEED ( he dramatically finds out he has been accepted at the very end of the film after being on a waiting list), quite literally moved me to tears.  One of the last scenes in the film is him on his bunk bed at SEED; he leans over, and tacks up a picture of him with his father from years ago.

I have known countless children who share his story, I have had the privilege to teach many, to love them all, and one of them, who I’ll call Junior (who is now nineteen), came to visit me last week.  At first he talked about how he was looking for a college to go to. He clearly wanted me to be proud of him. But then put his head in his hands and said, “I can’t lie to you, you was my best teacher, I dropped out of school before I finished.”  

My heart sank. All of the deformer attacks on teachers rushed through my mind.  Does this make me a bad teacher?   Through my tear filled eyes, I asked him why.  He told me that his parents had been in and out of jail, on and off drugs, and in and out of shelters from the time he left me in fifth grade.  He explained that it became too difficult to keep up. He said he had been waiting for a transfer from a high school in the Bronx. He waited for the DOE to take care of his paperwork for two months, and eventually he gave up.  I checked with a few contacts, found him a program that will support him with getting his GED and job training, and reminded him, as I do with all of my students, that I am always here, whenever and if ever you need me. 

I have worked in one of the neediest communities in Brooklyn for over ten years as a teacher of children with learning differences.  I have students in jail.  Students I have never heard from again.  Students who come to see me regularly.  Students who got scholarships to private schools.  Students who scored high on tests.  Students who scored low.  Students who are tickled with their job pushing shopping carts at a local store.  Students who shed their special education label and navigate or navigated their way through general education programs. 

What is the measure of my success as an educator?  Is my worth narrowly tied to student outcomes like test scores and graduation rates?  Is an educator only successful, if his/her students are successful?  What is the definition of successful?  Junior may not be a success in the so-called reformers eyes, but given the insurmountable odds he has faced and the countless adults who have disappointed him in his life, the fact that he found me again after all of this years and felt safe enough to tell me the truth, to make himself vulnerable, and to ask for help to improve his life highlights the narrow lens with which this film, and we as a people, view education in our society.   

It’s complicated.  There are no easy answers.  Charters are not a panacea.  Teachers and their unions are not villains, nor are we superheroes.   It is true Junior is a “drop-out”, but I do not consider him to be a failure, nor do I consider myself to be a failure.  As a teacher, there are many factors I cannot control.  While I cannot be superman, my students have shown me year after year that to the vast majority of them I am their hero, and they are mine.  That is all the ‘data’ I need.

If we want to begin to have a real dialogue about real reform, we must address the economic benefits for some that come by excluding large portions of our population from economic access via equitable educational opportunities.   If I believed for one second that the current reform agenda held the promise of equalizing educational opportunities for all, I would embrace it, and would be the first standing on the front lines fighting for it.  Instead I find myself firmly planted on the other side; the side of real reform with the belief that we can have great community public schools for ALL children if only we stopped waiting and started taking authentic action.  We allocate on average $33,000 a year per prison inmate while we allocate an average of $9,000 a year per pupil in our public schools.  Something is gravely wrong with these numbers.  If we can hold teachers accountable to data, shouldn’t we hold our policy makers to the same standard?  It is time to take the long view.  Will the Real Reformers please stand up?

Trailer for The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman Released

There's a new web site for the film GEM is doing (Thanks Mona):

http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/

Here is the trailer.



Press advisory coming tomorrow.

Movie Trailer to be Released- The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman

There's been lots of excitement in GEMville over the last few days. We finally finished the trailer for our film last night and expect to release it within the next 48 hours. We are also working on our performance art and will announce a rehearsal and follow-up performance tomorrow of our song "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?"

I got a call from a teacher going home on the bus yesterday who said she was so excited when she saw the lyrics. We hope people can join us as we announce the dates. Imagine a performance of hundreds of people on the steps of Tweed? Maybe only a dream but not impossible.

As for the film, now that the trailer is done we have to start editing the massive amount of footage we have accumulated. There is a story line being developed. We expect the film to run about 28 minutes and hope to make it available to schools and groups that request it - would be a great lunchtime event. We're aiming for an end of October release but since all the other people involved other than me are working educators, we will see how it shapes up. And then I also got a part as Vinnie the whinney, whimp, henpecked card player in Rockaway Theatre Company's upcoming production of The Odd Couple and rehearsals are starting - and all the other actors have been in scads of shows and this is my first. So why do I feel that I never retired?

I'm going to be at the UFT Chapter Leader meeting today passing out the new GEM newsletter and more info about the film and performances so stop by and say hello if you will be there.


Here is what I posted the other day.

Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?

Real Reformers have been working to counter the Waiting for Superman and MSNBC Education Nation (see NYC Educator today: Ship of Fools.)

GEM has been organizing around this and working with parents and teachers around the city to produce out own movie. Look for the trailer to be released at the GEMNYC blog and Ed Notes in a few days. GEM will also be organizing performances at various locations in the city of the eminem song "Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?" with lyrics rewritten by the GEM crew. While singing, some people will stand up for Real Reform with these signs:

7 "real reforms" 

     

Real Reform #1:  Smaller class size

Real Reform #2:  Excellent community school for ALL

Real Reform #3:  More teaching less testing

           

Real Reform #4:  Parent empowerment and leadership

Real Reform #5:  Equitable funding for all schools

Real Reform #6:  Anti-racist education policies

Real Reform #7:  Culturally relevant curriculum

Here are the lyrics. Start warbling (and if you want to know when and where these "surprise" performances will be taking place, email me off line.)

May, I have your attention please?

May, I have your attention please?

Will the real reformers please stand up?

I repeat, will the real reformers please stand up?

We might have a problem here…

These deformers don’t gotta real plan in their pack, but we do

We reject their agenda and you should too!

You think they have ideas for real reform?

Half them been looking for ways to make cash since they were born.

“But guys, what if its not lies, wouldn’t it be great?” (nerdy voice)

Why, so these guys can sell their charter plate?

Mess with our kids’ future fate?

Naw, Superman is here and not too late. (sarcastic)

Klein, Rhee and Duncan better switch us jobs,

So we can put an end to those hedge fund hogs.

They put teachers on blast in the newspaper?

“ all you need is quality teachers…. deerrrr!” (mocking voice)

We will expose their agenda and open your eyes

And show the world their drive to privatize… (yell:  ahhhhhhh)

sick of the law and pr groups all you do harms kids

So we have been sent here to expose you,

And there’s a million reformers just like us,

Who teach like us, who have kids like us,

who care like us, real reformers for just’us

just trust us, parents and teachers unite like us…

Cause we the real reformers, yes the real reformers

All you other deformers are just speculating

So won’t the real reformers please stand up,

Please stand up, please stand up? (reapeat 2x)

GEM Meets September 28: High-Stakes Testing and The Attack on Public Education

Join GEMers in this rousing discussion at the first general meeting of the new school year

High-Stakes Testing and The Attack on Public Education

• In NYC, test scores have made the headlines once again.  Last year, test scores were bandied about by Michael Bloomberg as evidence of his effective "stewardship" over NYC schools.  This summer, ELA and Math test scores dropped precipitously due to re-scaling of the tests, causing widespread parent outrage.

• In NYC and across the country, new systems of teacher evaluation are based more and more on student scores on a single high-stakes test.  Dozens of schools are closed on the basis of low test scores leaving these communities without neighborhood schools and displacing experienced teachers, thereby adding to the ATR pool. Teachers, students and parents are now being told to judge the basis of a quality education on these dubious test scores.

• What do the changes in test scores mean for NYC teachers and students?
• How is high-stakes testing being used to dismantle and undermine the public education system?
• What is the effect of incessant testing on our educational system?
• What can we do about it?

Bring your experiences and ideas to a discussion with the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM).  Join with others in attempting to counter the effects of high-stakes testing mania.

September 28 4:30 - 7 p.m.
CUNY Graduate Center
34th and 5th Ave. Room 5409
(Bring ID)
Trains:  N, R, D, F, Q, B, W, V, 6, 1/2/3

Stuart Varney Show on Faux Business Network Invites South Bronx Teacher After Evan Stone Appearance

AD: Listen to South Bronx School internet broadcast on Evan Stone and Faux Educators 4 Excellence  at 9pm tonight: The Mind of a Bronx Teacher
Take part and get a gift certificate.

Okay. I'll admit it. Sometimes even I am afraid to look into the mind of a Bronx teacher, who runs the South Bronx School blog, never sure exactly what will fly out. But I love the guy. And not just because he joined the ICE/TJC slate in the UFT election. Some people find him a little rough at the edges, but it works for me. So follow these developments and don't forget to listen tonight.

The Evan Stone/Sydney Morris faux anti-union E4E group with the Missing 700 have been publicized by the faux press at the Wall St. Journal and Fox - from now on to be known as Faux - News.

Real teacher/blogger South Bronx Teacher, who took exception (Little Evan Stone Unfair And Unbalanced).

So did other bloggers:

NYC Educator: Ship of Fools
Miss Eyre (Educators 4 Actually Being Educators)
I took my shots too in these posts: 
She's Coming For The Ed Deformers - and ... 

The Stuart Varney show on Faux Business Network, so wants to work over teachers, they gave Evan a nice long slot to spout his position. He does have time on his hands after leaving teaching after 3 (or is it 2) years. Children first, you know. Interesting how Faux Business Network doesn't seem to be using value added for all the analysts in the business world who failed to call the financial crisis. Ahhh, that business world version of tenure. And how about that Alan Greenspan?

Well South Bronx's diatribe led to an invitation from the Varney show:

Would you be willing to come on our show next week and tell us why Evan Stone is a “dog?” We want the other side of his argument and you seem quite passionate about it. Feel free to email me anytime. We’d love to do this Wednesday, Thursday or Friday next week.

Jake Novak
Senior Producer
Varney & Company
Fox Business Network
212 601 7991

Now lots of people would jump at the chance. But SBS has a few issues. First he is anonymous and a target of the DOE. At one point he used his blog to expose his school admins for covering up their own abuse of children. They sent him away for awhile but he as exonerated and they are gone while he is still there. A rare win for the good guys. Do you think the Varney show is really interested in a veteran teacher who put his career on the line to protect children?

SBS replies:
Hmmmm. Interesting. First thing that comes to my mind is what General Ackbar said as the Rebel Alliance came out of hyperspace.*

Will Stuart Varney climb into my colon as deep as he did for Stone?

SBS asked a bunch of fellow bloggers for advice:
Here's some Advice from the advisers:

1. They want you not to be vulgar but to defend what they term vulgarity. That's a no-win.
2. No way would I take that bait... Publicity is great, but fox news? What is the point of going on- its not news, its not even real debate- its all manufactured, scripted, and preplanned. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction
3. even if he has facts and arguments prepped they won't let him go there. They will use this as an assault because he has been so graphic. They will flash stuff on the screen about past even if he did good by exposing his admin and was punished for it. They have an agenda and want him because it fits their agenda.
4. I think it's a trap. They will bait you by extracting some of the most outrageous stuff you wrote and will try to make you look bad as a way to smear all teachers. I think Arthur Goldstein or Michael Fiorillo or Leonie. But I bet they wouldn't go for a sub which would reveal their true intention.

What did South Bronx School Decide to do?

Not taking any bait. Rule #1 is control the message. And that is how I plan to proceed. Their request will be honored but instead of doing it on FAUX News it will be honored on my internet radio show Tuesday night at 9PM. It will be an hour of rebuttal. Forthright, lucid, intriguing, yet delightfully and blissfully tasteful. If any wishes to join me in the deconstructing please feel free. I am offering a $5 gift card for Dairy Queen.

Earlier this week in my blog; http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com/2010/09/little-evan-stone-unfair-and-unbalanced.html I wrote about an artificial turf organizer Evan Stone appearance on FOX Business Channel https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wzwn2b25lwkt77/FBN_09-14-2010_10.16.47.wmv Evan and Educators4Excellence bill themselves as an alternative for teachers. An alternative for what should be asked. In this broadcast, I will discuss why I think Evan and his cohorts are not good for education, and most importantly students. The call in # is (917) 932-8721
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher 

I'm going to take that Dairy Queen offer and add a few shekels and go get myself a Dairy Queen Blizzard.

But I'll offer my Blizzard to Jake Novak if he shows some balls and invites Goldstein and Fiorillo (both of whom also ran against the Unity Caucus leadership - so they have some chops as critics of the UFT - on the show.

*It's a trap!!!!!!

Has education reform jumped the shark? A teacher says 'yes'

We are all excited at the Grassroots Edcuation Movement here in NYC (GEMNYC) as we prepare to release out trailer for out movie: The Absolute Truth About Waiting for Superman, which we hope to have ready by the end of October. Not bad for a bunch of NYC teachers and an old fart retiree doing a movie that so far cost about 8 bucks.

Our movie has Real Reformers - parent and teacher voices - the real heroes -  along with some ed policy people. And original music and lyrics written and performed by pros just for our movie.

Later I will post the lyrics of a Slim Shady song that was rewritten by our crew - Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up?

Oh, Valerie, how do I love thee?

In today's Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss at WAPO, we have more of the sense that the ed deform movement has hit the wall.

This post was written by Anthony Cody, a science teacher in inner-city Oakland for 18 years who now works with a team of experienced science teacher-coaches who support the many novice teachers in his school district. It originally appeared on the Teacher Magazine’s website, here. Cody is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. You can read more by Cody at his website, Teachers Lead. 
 
By Anthony Cody

Education reformers have invested billions of dollars in numerous ventures that promote their vision, and we'll see them in the next few weeks. The release of the documentary Waiting for Superman, NBC’s Education Nation specials and teacher town hall, and D.C. Schools Superintendent Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates on The Oprah Winfrey Show -- all will create a crescendo of voices, images and the master narrative that has been carefully developed over the past decade

That narrative goes like this: Our schools are failing. The only way to save them is to expand charters, remove due process for teachers so they can be fired, and further raise the stakes on standardized test scores.

But ideologically driven projects like this have a way of over reaching, over-promising, and overestimating their strength. And the moment that they reach their apex is actually the moment they begin to collapse. Education reform has finally jumped the shark.

The signs of its imminent collapse are all around us.
Continue reading this post »

Harlem Village Academy Retained Only 4 Full-Time Teachers While Losing 75%

This piece came in over the transom tonight. While exposing the disregard some charter schools hold for their own teaching staffs, this piece also exposes the shameful NY Post reporting on the phony grad rate. And of course the exposure of the force-outs and other manipulatives.

Last year Mayor Bloomberg visited Harlem Village Academy high school and called it "the poster child for this country."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_qM5tLTxv4VD6iAzd2A8pcJ;jsessionid=B6F2EB5549FF300018C58001CDD43800

Here is a selection from the Post piece:
Another student offered a stark comparison between her experience at Harlem Village and her former public school. "The teachers didn't care (in the public school)," she said. Asked by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein how many planned to attend college, every hand shot up. Harlem Village achieved national prominence last year when 100 percent of its eighth-graders passed the state math exam.

Nice to see her teachers cared more than her public school teachers even though most of them left.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_qM5tLTxv4VD6iAzd2A8pcJ;jsessionid=B6F2EB5549FF300018C58001CDD43800#ixzz102Qc7dI3

Can a school that can't retain 75% of its teaching staff be considered a poster child?

This year Harlem Village Academy opened its doors with only 4 full time teachers returning, a turnover of more than 75%. There are office staff, department heads and and administrators that returned (some of them teach one period) but only four full time teachers returned.  Teachers were told they would be working 9 hour days when they were hired, but the week before school started they were told they would be working 12 hour days. School starts at 7:30 so teachers arrive around 7.  School ends for children at 4:15 and there is a mandatory meeting for teachers from 5-7pm from Monday-Thursday.  Can be called a model that can't retain 75% of its teaching staff. The school sent a letter home addressing parents' concerns over the turnover without saying what caused it or how it will be fixed.

The Post article also references a 100% passing rate on the state math exam in 8th grade.  In order to be promoted in middle school you must have an 80% in each class (I am not sure if this practice is legal.) A number of students that do not have an 80 in each class choose to leave the school rather than be held back or go to summer school. In fact DOE numbers show that they lose 32% of their students between 6th and 8th grades (See the link below.) Under standing their standards for promotion, it is easy to see that the 32% of students that leave are almost all the lowest performing students. If traditional public schools withheld students that got less than an 80 it would be easy to have high passing rates, but we would have to build 30% more schools. Essentially HVA dumps its lowest third of students back into public school system.

http://gothamschools.org/2010/06/09/left-behind-but-not-gone-forever-augmenting-the-ufts-vanishing-students-report/

E4E: The Missing 700

The Wall St. Journal's Barbara Martinez fawns and Stuart Varney and Fox News are jumping up and down. All of Rupert's gnomes and trolls have been drooling over the prospect of a 5th column within the UFT to undermine the union.

They talk in wonder at the 700 people, many of whom are not NYC teachers, have signed up on their web site to get updates. Gee, I am one of those 700. Whooopdeedo. Show me the money. I want to see what they've really got. Like real NY teachers with a few more than 2 or 3 years in the classroom.

To their credit NYC Educator, Miss Eyre (Educators 4 Actually Being Educators) and Michaal Fiorillo have been on the Evan and Sydney and their bogus Educators 4 Excellence for quite some time. The fact that Miss Eyre is of the Evan and Sydney generation that E4E us trying to attract and is so outraged is a bad sign for Rupert's game plan. The fact that Evan and Sydney have abandoned the children they love so much to build an anti-teacher union organization seems to be rubbing real reformers just a tad bit the wrong way, expecially those from their generation.

Here is an excerpt from NYC Ed:

Who Funds Ex-Educators 4 Excellence?

After reading the WSJ piece on the union-busting young ex-teachers, I had to wonder--how the hell do they pay the rent?  They aren't teaching, but rather spreading their new gospel.  What happens when that electric bill shows up?

It's remarkable that seems not to have occurred to the reporter.

Do they live with Mom and Dad?  Do they get an allowance?  Or do they get money from Whitney Tilson and DFER?  If so, is that really any way to run a "grassroots" movement?

Hey, NYC, the reporter works for Rupert. A lot doesn't occur to them.

Here at Ed Notes have tried to chip in when we can also.

The Ballad of Evan and Sidney

She's Coming For The Ed Deformers - and ...

In the latter piece we talked about the Real Reformers from the Evan/Sydney gen, people who are pro-union but also critical of the current UFT/AFT leadership, many of who ran against the Unity Caucus machine in the last election. Makes it tough to brand them as union flunkies.

No one has been more on the case more than South Bronx School, who rumor has it also ran on the ICE/TJC slate. So charges he is a Unity hack won't fly.

Here is an excerpt of his latest upset over the appearance of Evan on the Stuart Varney Fox Business News show. Evan is getting over exposed and beginning to look like one of those bad reverse negatives.

Little Evan Stone Unfair And Unbalanced

What a day. I was look forward to a nice relaxing evening at home. First day this week without some scheduled event. I plan on making dinner for my family, do the laundry, and then watch segue into watching The First 48. I was not planning on blogging tonight.

That changed when in my email inbox I got yet another newsletter from that "grass roots" organization, Educators4Excellence. And what is it that got my skin to crawl? Yes, Little Evan Stone appeared on Fox Business Channel's Varney & Co. Check it out here.It is amazing what a 26 year old boy can accomplish all by himself. How does he get himself on such shows?

Doesn't Evan know that he, just like Mongo, is a pawn in the game of life? That Little Evan is like a dog. Leashed and owned by the hedge fund gnomes and ed deformers?

The interview by Stuart Varney stating to Little Evan that E4E has 700 members. Wow! Impressive. I am one of those 700 members. In fact you can count me twice. I seriously doubt Little Evan that all 700 support what you and the Princess do. It's kind of like driving by the scene of a car wreck. You don't want to look, but you feel you must and you do. E4E is that car wreck.

Read SBS's entire piece which parses the entire Evan appearance.

There is some back story to this that I need to talk to South Bronx about before revealing. A back story that if it pans out will show just how low down and dirty Fox and the Varney people are in their attempts to promote their anti-union agenda.

Aftereburn
The Real Reformers will be up and running on some issues within the next week, with a lot more support from the same age group as E4E claims. Watch them get zero coverage.