Poison Pep Pills

The good thing about print journalism and writing a regular column is that you have to get your thoughts together in some orderly way, as opposed to ranting and doing stream of consciousness on the blog. The deadline for my semi-monthly Rockaway newspaper Wave columns is Wednesday at 9am. How to summarize last night's PEP in a thousand words? I began at 7:30am and just about hit the deadline - ok, so I missed by 10 minutes. (Boy, I think back to those 350 word compositions we had to write in school and how painful pulling every word was.)

I have a lot more to say about the UFT and Moskowitz strategies. Maybe after breakfast. Or lunch. Or the gym. Jealous? You can retire after 35 years. Or if it's up to Cuomo and Bloomberg, maybe not.

I copied the Gotham Schools links to stories about the meeting:
The city school board voted to close 10 schools. (GothamSchools, Times, Daily News, Post, WNYC, NY1)

Poison Pep Pills

by Norm Scott

February 2, 2011

With so many schools being closed this year by the Department of Education – 26 at last count ­– and charter co-locations – the word the DOE uses while I use "invasion" (one commentator compared them to bed bugs) there seems to be a Panel for Educational Policy meeting every day. Actually, there are two this month and two in March. Memories of last January's marathon ten hour horror story meeting where 19 schools were being closed still haunts people. So  now will we have two 5-hour marathon horror story meetings? Not so fast.

The Feb. 1 started at 6pm and ended at 1am. I gave up by 10:30 and headed home (which might explain some wobbly grammar in this column). This meeting was billed as a big confrontation between the UFT, which had called a pre-hearing rally akin to the one last January that packed Brooklyn Tech and led to a massive round of booing during Joel Klein's speech and Eva Moskowitz' Harlem Success Academy machine which followed up the next month with busloads of parents who cheered Joel Klein while spending the evening talking about how they need charters because the school Uncle Joel ran were so awful. But Eva loved Joel because he gave her whatever she wanted. Rumors she had him locked up in her basement with a ball in his mouth have not been confirmed but I suspect the real reason he left the DOE to earn millions as a propagandist for Rupert Murdoch was to get out from under Eva.

Well, the UFT decided to postpone their rally supposedly because the weather report was bad from Feb. 1 to the Feb. 3rd PEP (where the final nail is expected to be driven into the coffins of Beach Channel and Jamaica High Schools, among others). I don't think it was the weather but a strategy to avoid a major confrontation with the HSA parents. One of my colleagues in the Grassroots Education Movement commented: "I think their moving the rally date from the 1st to the 3rd is a tactical  disaster (compounding the fiasco of their wider strategy).  Moskowitz will able to dominate the hearing (hopefully the D3 parents will out mobilize them), the vote will happen and the result will dominate the news cycle - leading to demoralization and decreasing turnout for Thursday."

Eva didn't postpone anything and showed up, depending on the reports, with either hundreds or thousands of busloads and food for them all. How many buses does that take and what did this all cost? Money that could have gone towards getting her own buildings instead of take overs of public school space. But she has a political, not an educational agenda. She is pushing into white middle class areas where public schools are overcrowded and the massive Brandeis HS campus, which already has four high schools in it, is her target. There was a lot of pushback from just about every upper West Side politician and parent leader. The community board voted 40-0 against Eva and every single PTA lined up against her. But the final outcome of the Bloomberg-dominated PEP was a foregone conclusion (Egypt's Hosni Mubarek often complains he allows way more democracy than Michael Bloomberg does) and Eva prevailed again, but leaving in her wake another neighborhood of people filled with outrage. This time she picked the wrong neighborhood and look for some severe hostility from parents who want more high school space at Brandeis but will be denied as Eva expands her school grade by grade and pushes out some of the existing high schools - which I predict at least two will be set up for failure so they can be closed and have their space given over to Eva over the next few years.

The UFT did show, but mostly with staffers. At times it seems there are almost enough of those to fill a few busloads. I didn't see food for them but then again many of them have UFT credit cards. They did have blue tee shirts to counter Eva's orange ones. The UFT shirts said, "Chancellor Black Do Your Homework" on the front and "Fix Schools = A+, Close Schools = F". Okay, a little lame but at least there was a sense of some pushback at the charter juggernaut.

One of the highlights of the evening occurred when my pals in the Grassroots Education Movement ­– who term themselves the "Real Reformers" – did their usual thing, wearing their red capes with a big "RR" on the back and this month singing "What a Wonderful World This Could Be" with lyrics like "They don't know much about history....but they do know how to close down schools..."

Battle over public schools escalates with civil disobedience

Joel Klein called the misnamed "achievement gap" the "civil rights issue of our time." Fighting back against the ed deformer strategy of forcing the closure of many inner city schools to make way for favored privately controlled charters is the real civil rights issue of the time. On Monday January 31, I attended a rally of mostly NYC  high school students near City Hall  and Tweed focused on the forced closing of schools as part of the drive to privatize by short-changing these schools of resources. Shouting “Fix Schools, Not Just Close Them" and "What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like" two New York City Council Members and dozens of parents and youth were arrested for blocking traffic at Chambers and Centre Street following the rally. Council Members Jumaane Williams and Charles Barron were among those arrested. 

Students began a march to the precinct but on the way they were told that the police, to curtail the march, took the arrested to another precinct. The event was organized by the Coalition for Educational Justice, consisting of community-based organizations, and the Urban Youth Collaborative. I put up a 14 minute edited video of the rally, excerpts from speakers, the push into Chambers St., the arrests and the follow-up march to the police station. Fabulous stuff from a great bunch of students who did us all proud.  You can view the video at

http://vimeo.com/19443862

I'm loading up the camera for the next PEP meeting on Feb. 3rd where the UFT promises to come out in force. By the time you read this you might be hearing about a major disruption of the PEP at that meeting to attempt to stop the vote to close the schools. Or not.

Above blackout due to CIA censorship of sensitive material. B

When Norm is not spending his life videotaping PEP meetings, he blogs at ednotesonline.blogspot.com

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

More PEP

Got back home around 11. They were still going at 12AM. More Thursday.
I got in right at the beginning and got to watch the HSA captains give out food and check their scripts. Most of the parents seem OK - not all though. Some I know from previous events - we know where we stand but can talk.

Meeting went right to the public comments without a chancellor report - keeping chattie cathie quiet. You have to use a telephoto and take a good look at her face during these meetings. Really a hostage tape.

I found an extra bag of HSA food and some GEMers and I broke into it and held up each item - I have video - no one wanted to eat HSA food.

I ran into my fave HSA PR person - Jenny Sedlis at the back of the room - even got a hug - shhhh! I can't decide whether to hire Jenny or David Cantor do be Ed Notes' PR person. I had nice chats with both at the Gotham party. Actually found some interesting common ground with Jenny. No matter how provocative I get she is always calm. I guess you get that way working for Eva. I shoulda married her - my wife has the exact opposite reaction when I get provocative - which she says is all the time.

Jenny was with a parent and left me with her and we got into a good discussion - she's a flight attendant who hopes to get into HSA - says her zoned school is too crowded and also claims one west side school is rigged to keep black people out. I told her I don't blame her for trying to do what's best for her kid but the end game is destruction of the public schools which in the long run will be bad for her and her children. Says she will home school if she doesn't get into HSA.

Got so side-tracked, almost missed a GEMer make a great speech - but got it for the archives.

A white west side parent who hungers for HSA spoke and said she wasn't sure if she will make the lottery and get into HSA- I told Leonie I bet she will - HSA will figure out how to get a white parent in. Wait till the day when most of Eva's schools are loaded with white middle and upper class kids- though it will be interesting to see how they react to the world of charters schooldom which is not exactly a progressive private school-type education even if they are trying to sell it that way,

The UFT? Well, they were there - seemed like a lot of staff and Unity people. They were loud though and it wasn't as uneven as you would think from the orange HSA tee-shirts, tough HSA also had a bunch of blue tee-shirts, as the UFT did.

The GEM/Real reformers led by Lisa Donlan and Jeremy Sawyer were awesome, as were the steppers from Robson.

'nuff for now.

Check Gotham's gavel to gavel coverage.

There are lots of comments. Here was mine:

Congrats to Anna for outlasting me. I left after taping Leonie’s speech. Lots of UFT officialdom there tonight - but they gave me a tee-shirt so they’re may pals - for tonight.
Anna is right on about the reactions of some HSA parents of color who had mixed feelings when students from closing schools spoke so passionately. A bit of Eva’s strategy backfiring? A look at the HSA overseers has hints of —I better not go there.
Lisa Donlan just didn’t sing - she said repeatedly “SHAME on the PEP for …. list the reasons.
It wasn’t only Lisa Donlan up there - she really doesn’t sing like a bird- it was a Jeremy, a teacher from Brooklyn wearing the red cape with the RR - Real Reform on the back who led the singing with about a dozen Real Reformer/GEM people standing behind him - they were joined by people in the audience and the gang made sure to give the UFT honchos copies of the song for Thursday so they can practice - they really weren’t following too well - see, we all can get along. Look for a real GEM/UFT songfest on Thursday.
Important to point out - every single west side politician and most Harlem politicians came out against HSA. The community board voted 40-0 against. Every singe PTA came out against HSA. So has the community spoken? But it will be ignored - which will lead to more civil disobedience as we saw at Tweed on Monday - see the video I made running at ed notes.
I was getting ready to tape Leonie after a break when she pointed out there was an altercation between Patrick Sullivan and another PEP member. I swung the camera around and just caught Patrick making a motion to adjourn the meeting due to the weather - there were 4 votes.
He did say something about being taunted by a mayoral PEPie.
Some people who are on our side and didn’t seem to know who Patrick was or his motives started agitating that he was trying to shut them down - not understanding the strategy- hold all the votes till Thursday when HSA won’t be organizing and the UFT will. At least how I interpret it.
Patrick scared me with that ice storm talk and I left since I had a long walk to my car. Picked up a bag of chips and a snickers for the ride home. Started the car and get a call - “Did you tape the fight?” Drat!

One more thing: Every PEP meeting it opens with a chancellor report - but not tonight. No words of wisdom from Unchattie Cathie. Boy is the muzzle on - Dennis Walcott was racing around the place to keep lids on when people got hot over having the mic turned off. Might as well make him chancellor.

 Anna got an HSA script and put it up at Gotham - I got this from a GEMer:

Literally a brainwashing script read to HSA families (who were bused, fed, clothed and god knows what else)... it makes your stomach turn!

Leonie made this speech addressing the phony choice issue - tape is being processed now:

Choice is not real choice if someone else’s child is being squeezed out into hallways, closets or basement rooms.  Choice is not real choice if someone else’s child is being forced into larger classes or you are closing their school, against their will.   Every time you close or co-locate a school you are creating more overcrowding and more disruption of someone else’s education.  Every time you close or co-locate a school, you are undermining choices for all parents and their children, and imposing your own will on a community.  Clearly the people whose lives are most affected oppose these proposed closing and co-locations.  I urge you to listen to their choices, and to vote against these proposals.

PEP Report

Eva with big crew. Food being served. Parents wear orange tee shirts, staff blue tee-shirts. Talk about a racial divide. But under Klein public schools suffer same with so many tfa. Wait till HSA parents see how Eva abandons them for the rich vein of white people she is aiming for at Brandeis.

Numerous elected off and reps all opposed to HSA on west side.
Mulgrew charged them with malfeasance for targeting schools for closing. will follow procedures carefully and if they screw up will see them in court.
Uft is here. Not in force as expected but still vocal.

Kids from some closing schools very eloquent. Also cec 3 peoople opposing Brandeis has coloco.
HSApeople weren't sure weather to cheer or boo on closing school issue.
Some HSAparents beginning to slip away.
Real Reformers with Lisa Donlan leading with "shame on you" followed by singing. Wild scene. Will try to get that piece of tape up tomorrow. If I ever get home.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Exclusive Video of CEJ Rally and Civil Disobedience at Tweed

A rally of mostly NYC students near City Hall in NYC focused on the forced closing of schools as part of the drive to privatize by short-changing these schools of resources. Over 20 people blocked Chambers Street near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge and were arrested. Students began a march to the precinct but on the way they were told the police to avoid the march were taking the arrested to another precinct. The event was organized by the Coalition for Educational Justice, consisting of community based organizations.

We have heard for weeks that this rally called by CEJ (Coalition for Educational Justice) would ramp up the protests into civil disobedience. Originally scheduled for last Weds, the day before the Stop School Closing Rally but postponed by the snow it was held on Monday, Jan. 31.

Why two rallies? Complex, but the simple answer is two different messages and approaches between GEM and CEJ but we are communicating and supporting some efforts. We are mostly teachers and they are mostly parents and students and one day soon the train shall meet.

Joel Klein called the misnamed "achievement gap" the "civil rights issue of our time." His and the other ed deformer strategy of forcing the closure of many inner city schools to make way for favored privately controlled charters is the real civil rights issue of the time, as this video shows with students and parents declaring that their schools have been purposely set up for failure so justification can be found to shut them down and turn the valuable real estate their buildings represent over to charters.

Here is 14 minutes of edited video I shot: the rally, excerpts from speakers, the push into Chambers St., the arrests and the follow-up march to the police station. Fabulous stuff from a great bunch of students who did us all proud.

http://vimeo.com/19443862


Here is Lindsey Christ's story on (NY1)

Also check out this amazingly supportive piece from Gabe:
Gabe Pressman Supports Teacher Experience

Mulgrew Postpones Rally at PEP While Moskowitz Keeps Coming

Charter school advocates are planning to show up en masse to support the few charter school co-location votes before the Panel for Educational Policy. Last year, few charter school supporters came to the vote and many said they felt bruised by the show of anti-charter sentiment. So the following month, they arrived at the meeting in busloads to make their views heard.

Tomorrow {Feb.1}, charter school supporters may outnumber their opponents. Because of the threatening weather forecasts, the teachers union has postponed its rally — and attendant jumbotron — until Thursday.

 Gotham Schools preview of tonight's PEP meeting at Brooklyn Tech

We heard weeks ago that Bloomberg had told Joe Williams from DFER to bring people out to this meeting to support Moskowitz and Cathie Black I guess. The UFT decided on a show of strength of its own by organizing a rally at 4 today. GEM and the Real Reformers were looking forward to supporting the UFT in its efforts, but it looks like we will have to battle the Moskowitz meanies on our own.

What was billed tonight as a possible confrontation between Moskowitz busloads and the UFT has been punted - due to the weather the UFT claims. The UFT will hold its rally before this Thursday's PEP meeting. Maybe it shows who is tougher: Moskowitz or Mulgrew.


Let me take you back to last January when the UFT packed Brooklyn Tech and Joel Klein was booed throughout his speech. But after that the UFT folded up their militant tent and went to court, leaving the February meeting to Moskowitz' hordes cheering and praising Klein - except when they trashed the schools he was supposedly running as a reason why they needed charters - as we sat there watching in frustration and asking, "Where was the UFT?" I guess tonight be a repeat.

The Gotham Schools report is a good summary of what is/was to go on tonight at the PEP meeting and what happened last January at the 10 hour marathon meeting.

Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Success Charter Network of schools, is bringing parents of students at her school. A spokeswoman for the network said that 2,100 parents had signed up to make the trip to Brooklyn Tech High School for the meeting. Last year, this swell of charter school supporters would have been matched by turnout from the teachers union, but the union has postponed its rally until Thursday because of the snow predictions.

Don't expect the place to be devoid of public school teachers, parents and students - unless the weather interferes - no hedge fund money to get buses and pizza like Eva has - due to the number of closing and co-location schools on the agenda. Real Reformers will be there with capes and song.
Here is the list from the Gotham article:

Closure:
Metropolitan Corporate Academy
Paul Robeson High School
School for Community Research and Learning
Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men
New Day Academy
Monroe Academy for Business/Law High School
Academy of Environmental Science Secondary School
I.S. 195 Roberto Clemente
KAPPA II
Academy of Collaborative Education
I.S. 231 Magnetech

Co-location (nee - INVASION):
New high school 12X521 to replace Monroe Academy for Business/Law High School (12X690)
New middle schools I.S. 355 and I.S. 356 to replace I.S. 231 Magnetech
Harlem Success Academy 1 (grades 5-8) with Wadleigh Secondary School and the Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School in 2012-13
Success Academy Charter School with Brandeis High School

Grade Expansion / Truncation: (Shrink a public school, expand a charter)
Harlem Success Academy 1 (from K-5 to K-6) with M149/M209 in 2011-12
P.S. 40 Samuel Huntington (from K-6 to K-5)



Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

The Failure of the DOE at PS 114 in Canarsie

I've been intending to write about the PS 114 story for a few weeks. It is one of the more outrageous examples exposing the ed deform plan to undermine public schools. Basically, they put in an incompetent and vicious principal and despite pleas from teachers and parents the DOE kept here there for 5 years as she ruined the school. Now they want to close it as a failing school and put in a charter to take over. They finally remove her over something trivial and give her a job as an AP in the Bronx. Talk about no accountability. PS 114 parent Crystal King spoke at the rally we held on the snow day on Jan. 27:




An article in the Brooklyn Eagle: http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=40834 says:

In Brooklyn, besides Robeson, five other schools are planned for phase-out and replacement: P.S. 114 Ryder Elementary; P.S. 260 Breuckelen; P.S. 332 Charles H. Houston; M.S. 571; and Metropolitan Corporate Academy High School.
At P.S. 114, the Ryder School in Canarsie, parents and teachers complained for years about the former principal. Now that principal is gone, but the city plans to close down P.S. 114 and replace it with a charter school and a new District 18 public school.
P.S. 114 “had been a terrific school in the past,” said Councilman Lew Fidler, “until it was shot in both feet by a DOE principal. This school should succeed. I know this city’s agenda is charter schools — but they sent one principal in to wreck it, one to chronicle it and one to close it.”

See Gotham Schools article: City officials confront blame for a Brooklyn school’s fall


Like we've been saying for years - the DOE deliberately chooses inept principals they know will be destructive to undermine schools and alienate teachers and parents - no matter what they do, Tweed supports them all the way as they wend their way through their path of destruction.

Lindsey Christ of NY1 (a former teacher who "gets" it) reported on the story. Some excerpts from her 3 part series:

Teachers begged the DOE for help and even chartered buses from Brooklyn to Manhattan to stage a rally. But Penaherrera was removed only because one day when she failed to show up to work, a carbon monoxide alarm went off and students were kept in class. This, because the school had no safety plan and she had left no one in charge. She also left the school $180,000 in debt. 
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PS 114 is $180,000 in debt and hasn't been able to get back on track after former principal Maria Penaherrera was removed two years ago. Teachers say they've had to abolish programs, counselors and support staff. Yet the DOE knew about Penaherrera's mismanagement. "They knew this was going on for years, but I guess with the unions and all that it took time. But now the one's who are suffering are the children," said PS 114 Parent Michael Hall. The DOE won't say why Penaherrera remained principal for five years, but it wasn't because of her union. And it wasn't for lack of evidence.
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If all goes according to Department of Education plans, PS 114 will slowly close over the next few years. A new charter school will take over part of the building along with many of the first, second and third graders currently in PS 114 -- a first for the city. All charters use a lottery system to fill their classrooms. The Explore Charter Network says it wants to give kids in a failing school a better shot at getting in.

See all 3 parts:

1/18/2011 The Failure Of PS 114, Part 1

1/19/2011 The Failure Of PS 114, Part 2

1/20/2011 The Failure Of PS 114, Part 3

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

A Principal Responds to Bloomberg Attack on Teacher Seniority

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says unless teacher seniority rules are changed, the city may have to layoff nearly every teacher hired in the last five years. Speaking at the Christian Cultural Center in Canarsie, Brooklyn on Sunday, the mayor warned that the state budget will probably contain deep cuts, especially to schools. Under state law, the most recently hired teachers must be laid off first, but Bloomberg wants merit taken into account.- NY1 report
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/?ArID=133094 .

Story in NY Times: http://nyti.ms/htmP3J

Brian De Vale, Chairman, Council of Supervisors and Administrators, Community School District # 14 

RESPONDS:

As a practicing Catholic and proud union man I find it despicable that Bloomberg stoops to showing up regularly at Christian churches to speak lies about the Teacher's union. Let him spill that nonsense somewhere other than in the House of God.

With over 20 years experience as both a teacher and principal I have the developed the greatest respect for the teachers who work in my school and District. If teachers do a poor job it is the job of their principals to write them up, get them the proper support and training and if they do not work out: get rid of them through progressive discipline.

It is not half as difficult for a competent principal to get rid of incompetent teachers as the media would have you believe. This entire campaign against teachers, printed in the major media outlets each and every day is part of the anti-union agenda pushed by billionaires like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Bloomberg and others from the billionaire hedge fund sector who want to totally do away with public education in order to eliminate public sector pensions.

They increase Charter schools so public school enrollment declines eliminate tenure so nobody can become a veteran and lobby to keep newly hired, cheaper teachers who usually leave within 5 years. It has nothing to do with children, quality education or anything else. Tenure is necessary and Last in-First Out is the only fair way to protect employees from vindictive, sexist, homophobic and/or racist termination and the very real possibility of political retribution from their employers.

Why do you suppose so few principals venture to speak up? They are afraid! To my young brethren starting out as teachers -We have been where you are, and understand your predicament. The budget situation the City confronts was created by the man managing this City for the past too many years-not your colleagues. I would be sorry to see you lose your jobs, but LIFO is the only fair way to determine layoffs.

[To Educators for Excellence]: Get off your high horses-who said you are "better" teachers anyway? Bill Gates who paid for your organization to get started up? The only way workers will ever overcome the current administration's onslaught against seniority is if ALL Municipal Unions stay united in support of LIFO protections.

Wishing you the Peace of God and the blessing of Unity,

Brian De Vale
Chairman
Council of Supervisors and Administrators
Community School District # 14
60 Cook Street
Brooklyn, NY 11206

Challenger Memories

The 25th anniversary of The Challenger shuttle disaster with teacher/astronaut Christa McCauliffe on board has brought back memories. I was one of the 16,000 teachers who had applied to be on that shuttle flight. I had to get my principal to sign the form. She couldn't get her pen out fast enough.

Two teachers from each state would be chosen as finalists and flown to Washington where the winners would be chosen. McCauliffe was the winner and Barbara Morgan was the backup. Ironically, Morgan was slated to go into space on the flight after the doomed Columbia (Feb. 2007) {and as a commenter pointed out did fly on the Enterprise}. Are teachers never to go into space? Though we know if it was up to Bloomberg, every senior teacher would be sent to the moon.

I was fascinated by astronomy since my youngest years - I always perked up from my sleepy state when teachers touched on the subject - which unfortunately was all too rare - until Sputnik - which we heard so much about as a result of Obama's speech this week. I tried to teach about space in my classroom even when it was not part of the grade science curriculum.

Around 1980 I took a year long telescope building class at the old Hayden Planetarium - there was a club that operated out of the basement and we had extraordinary access. Every week for a year I walked around a barrel rubbing two piece of glass together to make an 8 inch mirror for a reflector telescope, which I still have. The crew in the club was pretty funky- engineer types, mostly amateur - but brilliant people.

Through the club (which was eventually tossed out by a new director of the Planetarium) I became friends with Barry Levin, one of the most interesting people I ever go to know (Barry moved to California and we lost touch - if anyone comes across this and can update me please do). Barry could make mirrors of almost any size that was feasible for one person to do and build any kind of telescope. He lived on Sackett Street in Boerum Hill in a giant garage space where he operated his business, creating acrylic frames for artworks to be hung in museums with his living space in the back. It was a wonderland to visit.

As part of the application for the shuttle we had to write lesson plans. So I went to Barry to help me put together something relevant. We came up with a complex plan with Barry doing all the heavy tech lifting, probably our biggest mistake. It took seeing the simplicity of Christa McAuliffe's lesson plans for me to understand why I didn't have a chance - in retrospect Barry may have helped save my life.

I was on a study sabbatical in 1986 and we had gone to Antigua in January. The shuttle was due to take off on the day we were leaving Antigua. TV coverage was potty and I watched the preparations but we had to leave for the airport before the shuttle took off. It wasn't until we were on the plane that we found out what had happened. I spent the entire trip home in a state of shock thinking about what could have been if I had gotten my wish.

When we got home, there was a postcard a friend had sent out a few days earlier: "I'm so sorry you didn't get to go on the shuttle. I know how much you wanted it."

Whose Dictator? Your Dictator!

The American response to events in the Middle East where the dictator allies are beginning to fall is an indication of how far we have come from our revolutionary roots as a nation. When I was in school I always rooted for the revolutionaries because I identified with where we came from as a nation. Where did we stand when the French Revolution came so soon after ours? By the time of the Russian Revolution sentiments had shifted - better a Tsar oppressing the people than the scary alternative.

Thus, today's news about Egypt following so soon on Tunis and with Jordon and maybe even Saudi Arabia to come must be sending shivers down the spines of officials - and the pro-Israeli lobby as they know full well how possible it is for all these allies to slip away.

Well, when it comes to your favorite dictators who live high off the hog while leaving the people in poverty as opposed to places like Cuba we know where our government stands. Saudi Si, Cuba No!

Really, how amazing when people take to the streets in the face of tanks staring them down. And then you think of how many teachers say they are afraid to stand up. Will there be a day when masses of educators and parents take to the streets to battle the forces of ed deform in the face of the tank equivalents of Broad and Gates?
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

The Wave: Cathie Black Faces Controversy and Jeers at First Panel for Educational Policy Meeting

I turned in a short news story for today - the Jan. 28th Edition of The Wave. I wrote it on a very tight deadline this past Wednesday between 7:40 and 8:25 AM. I never can write that fast - and I'm always amazed how reporters do it. This makes me appreciate what they do - when their articles are not suck up shills for ed deform, which they so often are - see one Carl Campanile in the NY Post. (Sorry Carl, I like ya but you are what you are.)

Special to the Wave by Norm Scott

Cathie Black got a rough introduction to NYC school politics at the January 19th Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting at Brooklyn Technical HS during the public comment period were each speaker was allowed two minutes. "This is what happens at these meetings," said one speaker. "Get used to it."

The most contentious issue was the placement of a 4th school, a clone of the successful Manhattan downtown Millenium HS, within the Park Slope John Jay Campus, which currently contains three schools. Children of color mostly populate these schools and many Park Slope parents are reluctant to send their children to them. There were concerns that Millenium will be geared to attract these white students, thus creating a segregated situation within the walls of the same building and charges of "racism" rang out from numerous speakers.

Representatives of the three current John Jay schools also charged that the campus had been denied resources for years, a common charge from schools claiming the goal of the DOE was to create a "failure" situation to make them prime candidates for closure. Remarkably, two of the three principals of these schools made strong statements condemning the DOE for this practice. A story emerged later in the meeting that one of these principals had spent $5000 of her own money to put in a bell system for the building. The same charges of purposeful under resourcing schools have been made by supporters of Beach Channel and Jamaica HS, the two large Queens schools targeted for closure. The proposal called for putting more resources into campus, but only if Millenium was added to the building. As expected, the PEP voted to insert Millenium.

Black had opened the meeting with a written statement that took direct aim at teachers calling for an end to last in first out (LIFO), reforming pensions and a solution to the ATR problem created when teachers are left without teaching positions when their schools are closed. "We must come to a compromise on the ATR pool, the one million one hundred thousand teachers who receive full salaries and benefits without having permanent positions in the classrooms," said Black, apparently getting confused between the number of children attending NYC schools and the number of ATRs, estimated at around 1200. Black was booed and jeered during her statement, especially when she mentioned Mayor Bloomberg's name.

Other groups used their time at the microphone to serenade Black and the Panel with lyrics like "You ain't gonna close this little ole school of mine." With closing school votes and more charter co-location votes due to come up, more PEP meetings have been scheduled for Feb. 1st and 3rd and March 1st.

The Feb 1 meeting is expected to be particularly contentious due to Eva Moskowitz's Harlem Success Charter school attempt to take over part of the Brandeis HS campus on the upper west side. Brandeis is similar to the John Jay situation in that it is situated in a mostly white neighborhood. Moskowitz has shifted from trying to attract children of color to white students, flooding the west side with ads arguing that by attending her school, parents can save $30,000 a year in private schools tuition, a tactic some other charter school supporters frown on, viewing at a perversion of the original charter school intention to reach into the poorest areas of the city.

Moskowitz is organizing buses of supporters to come down to the hearing while the UFT is organizing a pre-meeting rally, all to take place at Brooklyn Tech on Feb. 1.




Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Coming Soon: PhDs Lucky to Get a Job Driving a Cab- Fiorillo on "False Premises, False Promises: Corporate Education Reform and the Hostile Takeover of the Public Schools"

"the guilty secret of those screaming, “It’s all about the kids!” is that the occupations which the majority of public school students are being trained for are dead end, low-paying, high-turnover jobs that require little or no education beyond high school. And if you think about it, this is congruent with the education that teachers are increasingly being forced to give them: authoritarian, repetitive, tedious, dull and closed to larger worlds and opportunities." - Michael Fiorillo

Michael Fiorillo of ICE and GEM nails the entire lie being perpetrated - by Obama, ed deformers and even our own union which has bought into the "education trumps poverty" and the "teacher quality/effectiveness is the most important facto---blah, blah, blah" arguments that serve as the basic myth of ed deform in part 1, The Fallacy of the Knowledge Economy, of his guest blog at NYC Educator.

So if most jobs - think clerks, salespersons, etc only need high school degrees - and the narrow test prep schooling they get prepares them perfectly for these jobs - then the ed deform emphasis on college - think how the the charter school shills calls all their kids "scholars" when they full well know what Michael is reporting - makes sense. NOT! according to Michael.

“So,” the self-proclaimed reformers will say, “that just proves the importance of a college degree!” Unfortunately, no: for even highly educated and skilled workers are seeing their prospects diminish as a result of outsourcing enabled by digital technologies. According to Sarash Kuruvilla of Cornell’s Institute of Industrial and Labor Relations, “…many highly-skilled US jobs such as financial industry equity research, data modeling and actuarial analysis are being outsourced to India.”

     Kuruvilla also reports that other high-skill occupations being moved to Asia include “engineering services…particularly in aerospace and civil aviation, software research and development, and in animation…” The health industries will also not be spared, with “medical research jobs, including those in radiology, drug discovery and testing, and clinical trials… moving to India.”

     The inference to be drawn is clear: whatever connections may have existed between post-secondary educational achievement and economic advancement have been broken, and to claim otherwise is false. This is significant for public school teachers, since they are being herded into a forced march, and having their living standards threatened, based on the constant repetition of these false premises.

In order to perpetrate the lie and shift the costs of education from teacher salaries into the corporate/hedge fund ed deformers, teachers have to become the target:

     What’s the point of all this for teachers and supporters of public education? It’s that one of the major themes in the dominant narrative about education in the US, that (unionized) teachers (with due process and seniority rights, and pension and health benefits) are failing to prepare students for a future bright with unlimited prospects, prospects they would achieve if only their deadbeat teachers didn’t stand in the way, is straight-out false.

Read Michael's full piece at:

False Premises, False Promises: Corporate Education Reform and the Hostile Takeover of the Public Schools

After burn: 

Michael proves once again the strength of ICEers - serious analysis.

Jan. 27: Feelin' Groovy at the Snow Day Rally at Tweed

That seems to be the way people reacted to today's snow day "Stop Closing Schools and Charter Takeovers" rally with Tweed and City Hall hulking in the background. And Cathie Black didn't come, though she was nviLots of new face, lots of familiar faces, old, young, in-between teachers, parents and children. And a band too.
I wasn't even making snide comments when Leo Casey spoke representing the UFT (Michael Mendel called to say he was snowed in.)

Lots of good video to process and analysis to do.There were many groups supporting and sponsoring the rally but I am especially proud of the GEM activists who led to drive to make this event happen.

Updated: Video and photo links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToFQtc58eHw

Fightback Friday blog: Video & Images From The January 27th Rally

Jamaica HS student play reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqXagbEMH-Y

NY1: http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/132963/group-protests-plan-to-close-underperforming-schools/=

Sam Coleman, GEM & NYCORE, speaks to crowd of 300 that navigated the 1.5 inches of snow to protest at City Hall unjust policies of school closings, charter takeovers and the privatization of public education. Message: activiate your UFT union at schools across the city to fightback!

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIiiWkLwSmk]

Thank you, Brother Radio Rahim of Coalition for Public Education, CPE

Here are a few stills I took soon after we got there to set up.

Rally On! Blizzard Nor Snow Day Will Stop Parents, Students, Educators, and Community Members From Expressing Their Outrage Over School Closings and Charter Takeovers.

Press Advisory

Date: Thursday, January 27, 2011

Contact:

Sam Coleman, NYCORE/GEM, Rally Coordinators: 646-354-9362

Angel Gonzalez, GEM, Rally Coordinators: 917-842-0381



Rally On! Blizzard Nor Snow Day Will Stop Parents, Students, Educators, and Community Members From Expressing Their Outrage Over School Closings and Charter Takeovers.



When and Where: Today, Thursday, January 27th 4:30 P.M.-6:30 P.M. at Brooklyn Bridge Park, on Centre Street, to the east of the Tweed Courthouse building.



What: On Thursday, January 27th, parents, students, and teachers across the city will join together at a city-wide rally to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s destructive education policies. The event will feature Jamaica and Queens Collegiate students performing an abridged performance of "Declassified: The Struggle for Existence [We Used to Eat Lunch Together]" which is a reinterpretation of Antigone and a candid and scathing critique of school reforms. Parents, students, and educators from schools facing closing and charter takeovers, as well as those who sponsored the event will speak.



Snow Closings, Yes! School Closings, No!



Who: Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

Endorsing Organizations: Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement, Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City-Wide Coalition for Education Excellence Now, Black Women Against Urban Youth Violence, Teachers Unite (TU), South Bronx Community Council, NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores,, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network, The Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56th AD, Youth on the Move (a Program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network. Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing Drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, Councilman Charles Barron and Operation P.O.W.E.R., Time Out from Testing, The M.A.NY



Additional Contacts:

Stephane Barile, NYCORE and assisting students who are performing play: 650-218-3352

Crystal King, parent and PA President of PS 114: 347-789-5468

James Eterno, teacher, Jamaica High School: 917-693-5013

Stefanie Siegel, teacher, Paul Robeson High School: 347-721-2152

Muba YaroFulani, parent, CPE: 347-785-3418/347-442-5134

Brenda Walker, parent, CPE: 347-583- 5925

Leonie Haimson, parent and Executive Director, Class Size Matters: 917-435-9329

Edwin Mayorga, doctoral student in urban education at CUNY and NYCORE member: 917.400.6255

Christine Annechino, parent, CEC3: 917 593 4797



###

Today is Rally Day - Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Sleet...Snow Closings- YES, School Closings -NO

Greetings to all  supporters and endorsers of the Rally to Stop School Closings & Charter Takeovers ,

Today is Rally Day.  

Snow or no snow. Our schools are being attacked by the draconian policies of the DOE  and we are not going to sit back and let this happen. Get out all of your members and supporters to ensure a huge turnout.  Let's tell City Hall and tweed that the parents, teachers, students and community members of this city will fight to defend public education. All of our kids must get the excellent education they deserve!
             
           At the rally we will be treated to Jamaica and Queens Collegiate students performing an abridged performance of "Declassified: The Struggle for Existence [We Used to Eat Lunch Together]" which is a reinterpretation of Antigone and a candid and scathing critique of school reforms. Also students and teachers facing school closings and charter takeovers as well as representatives from sponsoring organizations will speak. 

               We encourage all groups to bring signs, banners, instruments, and their favorite slogans and chants so that together we can make a strong statement to the Mayor, the Chancellor,   the PEP  and all other forces who are trying to destroy our public schools.

See you later,

Gloria Brandman
for the Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closing and the
Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)

Stop the school closings!

Stop charter takeovers
Defend public education
Say no to privatization

Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education plans to close 26 more schools this year.  Despite the DOE's claim that these school closings are aimed at reforming schools, they have instead opened the door to privately-run charter schools and have limited school options for those affected.  According to the accounts by parents, students and teachers, DOE policies have had the effect of sabotaging the schools that are slated to be closed, not "fixing" them.

Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school.  This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City.

In addition to closing schools, the DOE plans to grant more public school space to charter schools through co-locations, undermining public school resources and pitting school communities against each other. 

We demand quality resources and support for our public schools, not closings and privatization!

Join parents, students, teachers and community members at a rally to stop school closings.

Thursday January 27 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
City Hall Plaza near the Brooklyn Bridge
Trains:  4, 5, 6, 2, 3, R, A and C

(Lists in formation)
Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

Endorsed by:Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement,  Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City-Wide Coalition for Education Excellence Now, Black Women Against Urban Youth Violence, Teachers Unite (TU),  South Bronx Community Council, NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores,, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network, The Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56^th AD, Youth on the Move (a Program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network. Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing Drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, Councilman Charles Barron and Operation P.O.W.E.R., Time Out from Testing, The Mothers' Agenda NY (The MANY)

Thursday: Major City-Wide Rally to Stop School Closings, Stop Charter Takeovers, Defend Public Education, Say No to Privatization on 1/27/11

Here is the Press Advisory for tomorrow's rally. Snow will melt in time and a thousand flowers will bloom. This is the first time so many groups have gotten together to organize a rally that is truly from the grassroots. The UFT signed on as a sponsor. All sponsoring groups will have a speaker and students from Jamaica HS are expected to perform a piece from their play (Jamaica HS: The Play WAS The Thing) on closing schools.

Contact:

Sam Coleman, NYCORE/GEM: 646-354-9362

Angel Gonzalez, GEM: 917-842-0381 

Major City-Wide Rally to Stop School Closings, Stop Charter Takeovers, Defend Public Education, Say No to Privatization

When and Where: Thursday, January 27th 4:30 P.M.-6:30 P.M. at Brooklyn Bridge Park, on Centre Street, to the east of the Tweed Courthouse building.

What: On Thursday, January 27th, parents, students, and teachers across the city will join together at a city-wide rally to protest Mayor Bloomberg’s destructive education policies. The event will feature Jamaica and Queens Collegiate students performing an abridged performance of "Declassified: The Struggle for Existence [We Used to Eat Lunch Together]" which is a reinterpretation of Antigone and a candid and scathing critique of school reforms. Parents, students, and educators from schools facing closing and charter takeovers, as well as those who sponsored the event will speak.

Who: Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

Endorsing Organizations: Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement, Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City-Wide Coalition for Education Excellence Now, Black Women Against Urban Youth Violence, Teachers Unite (TU), South Bronx Community Council, NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores,, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network, The Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56th AD, Youth on the Move (a Program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network. Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing Drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, Councilman Charles Barron and Operation P.O.W.E.R., Time Out from Testing, The M.A.NY

Additional Contacts:

Stephane Barile, working w/ students performing play and NYCORE: 650-218-3352

Crystal King, Parent and PA President of PS 114: 347-789-5468

James Eterno, Teacher Jamaica High School: 917-693-5013

Stefanie Siegel, Teacher Paul Robeson High School: 347-721-2152

Muba YaroFulan, Parent CPE: 347-785-3418/347-442-5134

Brenda Walker, Parent CPE: 347-583- 5925

Leonie Haimson, Parent and Executive Director of Class Size Matters: 917-435-9329

Cathie Black: Soft Core Pornographer

"He pressed his hands between her thighs, spreading her legs. She moaned as he gripped the band of her silk panties and pulled them down...." - New curriculum for NYC schools proposed by Black?

Susan Ohanian sent this:

Warning: There is objectionable language here, language unsuitable for family viewing. This article raises the question of how the media mogul who sat at the top of the empire producing this material is now in charge of New York City Schools--without a peep from conservatives who claim to represent moral issues. David Berliner is on target: Why no MORAL outrage at Hearst chief Cathie Black's selection as the leader of schoolchildren in New York City? I've always preached that there's no escaping it: We can only teach who we are. I am happy that David Berliner forces the reader to face this issue.

by David C. Berliner

I must state at the start of this essay that I am no prude, no Victorian. In fact I am generally quite tolerant of contemporary mores in the area of sexuality. But I have my limits. I still expect my school leaders to behave with sobriety, to be prudent, to not push the limits of our secular and permissive society and to model more of what might be called traditional American values. Although I choose to live my personal life according to more modern and secular values, I do not see my position to be hypocritical. I think modern youth needs some grounding in prudence, restraint and responsibility, before their involvement in the difficult work of becoming a responsible young adult in our tumultuous times. Perhaps this belief is shared by others and is why there is such a furor over the new MTV show "Skins." The blatant sexuality of the young people in this TV show, understandably, is scandalizing many of those who worry about the moral behavior of our youth. But for some reason they let another questionable event go without protest.

For reasons I don't understand, the chairman of a large corporate entity that publishes salacious material was selected to be the leader of a major American school system. I always had considered some of this business leader's publications akin to soft-core pornography. Thus, I wondered about the propriety of this person's appointment to lead a school system and the lack of attention to the person's publication record. The new school leader in question, while in business, published magazines with suggestive photos and articles. For example, highly sexualized, barely clothed woman stare out at you from some of the chairman's best known publications. The women often have what on the street would be called a "come hither look." Often these women are in intimate positions. Some pictures suggest bondage by the woman, to please a man.

This chairman/now school leader has published prose like this:

Mikayla felt his lips trail down the side of her neck. Her body stated tingling with anticipation. He caressed one nipple with his tongue, then the other....

He pressed his hands between her thighs, spreading her legs. She moaned as he gripped the band of her silk panties and pulled them down....

Nik led her to the bed.... Then suddenly his mouth was on her, exploring her with his tongue as he gripped her ankles with his hands.

A month later another one of the publications of the chairman/now school leader included this:

His hands, hardened and callused ... ran up her thighs, until he reached her panties. She felt a quick tug and heard a ripping sound, then felt his fingers, gentle and tender, finding her, stroking her and bringing her to higher and higher levels of pleasure.

.... He entered her slowly, deeply, but then pulled back out. He groaned with pleasure.

"Please" was all she could utter.

In what genre might we classify the prose represented by these recently published excerpts from the chairman/now a school leader? Readers may disagree but I would label them "woman's romance," soft-core pornography, or both.

On another page of a publication by the chairman/now school leader one woman tells us that the casual sex she engaged in was "so good, it was worth the guilt." One can question the wisdom of such advice to any young woman, but to teenagers still in school it is simply bad advice. In fact, in the advice realm, the chairman/now school leader seems quite enthusiastic about what is possible sexually.

For example, the chairman recommends the following as fun: That woman/girls choose a deserted corner of the parking lot and back in. Then put up their sunshade on the windshield and hang their jackets on the hooks over the back windows, so it's harder for people to see in. The chairman then recommends: "Jump his bones." Other advice to spice up relationships include light whipping, or a new high-tech form for arousing a male partner, namely, texting pictures of your vagina via your cell phone to your boyfriend across the table while dining out. Apparently, when he checks his mail, his appetite is increased!

Other advice presented is from men to women. One guy says he liked it when his date undid her shoes under the table at a restaurant and gave him "a foot job under the table." Another reported "This girl was riding me in reverse cowboy when she stopped, leaned way forward and started sucking my toes." Still another told women what he liked about his ex-girlfriend: She would "put my whole package in her mouth. Then she would hum to create vibrations."

And we also learn from the horoscope in a publication of the chairman/now school leader that Aries men, in particular, are visual and thus would like to have sex doggie-style in front of a mirror. On the other hand, the chairman apparently believes that Taurus men would prefer woman to slowly lick down their chests and nibble their thighs, before ending up at their package. Gemini men, different than others, like to take the lead, so, ladies, bend over against a wall and have these gentlemen enter you from behind and let the Gemini guys set the pace and depth for themselves. Capricorn men are equality minded so, ladies, you might want to "Guide him into 69, with you on top, using your lips and tongues to trigger insane pleasure." And if you forget all these helpful hints the corporation headed by the chairman has an iPhone and an Android application offering you the sex position of the day, allowing your phone to choose your position!

Honestly, you cannot make this stuff up! As I stated at the start of this essay I am not personally offended by any of the text cited. What I do find distasteful is that women are presented as objects in these publications, apparently under the guise of making them powerful. To me, the major publications under the chairman, now a school leader, make objectification of women their theme. A smart business person like the chairman must understand that the stories told, the advice given and the photos that accompany them could be harmful to youth. That is probably why, stuck away in an obscure part of the publications from which I drew my illustrations and in small font, the chairman cautions "The models photographed ... are used for illustrative purposes only: [This publication] does not suggest that the models actually engage in the conduct discussed in the stories they illustrate."

The former chairman, Cathleen Black, was recently appointed by Mayor Bloomberg of New York to be the Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools. By all accounts she is a successful businesswoman. Among other accomplishments she was chairman of the Magazine Division of Hearst publications, whose flagship magazine is Cosmopolitan. The examples I just provided of what Black has published for girls and young woman all come from the January and February 2011 issues of Cosmopolitan magazine, selling well on newsstands across the country right now.

Although many complained about the mayor's appointment of Black because of her lack of knowledge about schooling, I was surprised there was no mention of the appropriateness of her appointment on the basis of her ethical and moral fitness to lead our schools. Doesn't that count anymore? Where were America's conservatives, such as Alan Bloom and Bill Bennett, when her appointment was announced? I expected them to be outraged. Where was the Christian right, when so clear a secularist and morally suspect person as Black was appointed? Why did Pat Robertson and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council give Black a free ride? Where were the critics, now attacking "Skins," when Black was appointed? Why weren't critics pointing out that the success of Cosmo and other magazines over which Black has editorial responsibility (e. g. Seventeen, Marie Clair), is not based on their literary qualities, unless sexual titillation is the readers' goal.

I am afraid that I see a difference only in degree, but not much of a difference in kind, between Black and two other successful publishers, Larry Flynt and Hugh Heffner. But they would never be allowed to interview for the job, despite equal records of business success. My question is this: Shouldn't an appointment of this magnitude have generated more debate? Black's lack of knowledge for the position of chancellor of the New York City schools is surely matched by the questionable moral values expressed in the publishing empire she headed. But debate about her lack of knowledge has been muted and debate about her moral fitness to lead the system has been virtually non-existent and that makes me angry.

Debate should have occurred. What Chancellor Black believes and does will, literally, affect the lives of millions of American teachers and students in New York and the nation. I am appalled that a position of this significance can be obtained without proper and public vetting of the candidates qualifications, especially when it is quite clear that her knowledge and her moral vision are both questionable. Although we have been told that mayoral control of the schools would aid in reforming them, it looks to me like mayoral control of the schools simply allows for the old New York patronage system to continue.

David C. Berliner has authored more than 200 articles, books and chapters in the field of educational psychology teacher education, and educational policy, including the best-seller The Manufactured Crisis (co-authored with B. J. Biddle) and six editions of the textbook Educational Psychology (co-authored with N. L. Gage). He is a past president of the American Educational Research Association, and of the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Berliner is a Regents' Professor at Arizona State University in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies division. — David Berliner
Truthout

2011-01-25

http://www.truth-out.org/soft-core-porn-and-crisis-school-leadership67125

On the Jan. 27 Rally and GEM

THE RALLY ON THURSDAY JAN. 27 AT 4:30 PM ON THE EAST SIDE OF CITY HALL PLAZA NEAR TWEED IS ON - REALLY A MUST ATTEND EVENT BECAUSE IT IS TRULY FROM THE GRASSROOTS. MOST ACTIVIST GROUPS IN EDUCATION ARE INVOLVED - AND EVEN THE UFT IS A CO-SPONSOR - WHICH MEANS THEY HAVE TO PAY 50 BUCKS - I HOPE THEY HAVE IT AFTER PAYING RANDI 200 GRAND IN SICK PAY.  THIS IS NOT A UFT CONTROLLED EVENT. THEY HAVE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ORGANIZING OR RUNNING IT - THEY DID MENTION IT IN THE CHAPTER LEADER UPDATE.


BEST OF ALL, WE EXPECT SOME OF THE KIDS FROM THE JAMAICA HS PLAY TO PERFORM. ALSO LOTS OF SINGING - AND MAYBE SOME DANCING TOO - I'M FOR A CONGA LINE AROUND TWEED - THIS WILL BE A FUN RALLY WITH SPEAKERS MINIMIZED SO BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.

Follow events on these blogs

School Closing Coalition Blog 
http://stopschoolclosings.wordpress.com/

http://fightbackfridays.blogspot.com/

ATTEND THE D3 RALLY AND DOE CO-LOCATION HEARING 

TONIGHT

http://education.change.org/petitions/view/stop_the_co-location_of_success_academy_charter_school_in_the_brandeis_high_school_building

If you have specific additional comments you'd like to make, they can go to D03proposals@schools.nyc.gov.

Brandeis HS Campus (145 West 84^th St. between Columbus/Amsterdam)

5-5:30pm – Rally in front of Brandeis to support regular D3 schools

6pm – DOE Public Hearing on the Brandeis/Success co-location  proposal

Speaker sign up begins 5:30 and ends 15 minutes into the hearing; public comment will be taken until all speakers are heard, but you must sign up if you wish to speak. 

Jan. 25, 2011
Let me begin this joyous day with the wonderful news that Rahm Emanuel has been knocked off the ballot in Chicago - temporarily I imagine - how can all that Eli Broad/Donald Trump/Bloomberg money etc. money not be able to buy the state supreme court - see one Cathie Black waiver ruling.

Yesterday I attended the final prep meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers which is running the Jan. 26 rally. I counted at least 20 people. I'll post separately about the rally and why it is important. But I wanted to talk about how impressed I am with the people working on this - absolutely professional in every way - sound, martials, organized program, press, etc. So many groups involved - and I'm meeting new (and old) activists.

They held a phone bank at Teachers Unite on Sunday and called hundreds of people. These are full-time teachers and giving so much time and effort. I almost feel embarrassed for how comparatively little I am doing. On the home I was with a young second year teacher who just seems to be getting involved - first time I met her. She talked about how overwhelming teaching was and just how tired she always feels. I can see why we lose so many people - it is not just the teaching that is wiping people out - but all the other crap. My advice - keep being active politically with the growing Real Reform movement - even though it takes time it will provide the fuel you need to work in this system - and you will be working with some of the most amazing people I've ever met.


GEM has been the driving force in organizing the rally
GEM has become a force in the city. Last January it played a major role in the demo at Bloomberg's home. (Can't GEM do stuff in warmweather?)

The Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) is about to hit its second anniversary since holding its first meeting at a diner with 4 people 2 years ago. Angel Gonzalez had come to ICE for support for the teachers union in Puerto Rico a year before and told me when he retired he would join me in political activity. "Sure" I thought. Everyone tells me that. But he did and joined ICE. But he felt ICE wasn't moving fast enough and did too much talking and not enough action (we are not youngsters, you know).

Angel suggested a committee of ICE designed to focus on ATRs, closing schools and testing and it quickly added people from NYCORE and other groups outside ICE and soon took on a life of its own. We held an all day conference on a Saturday in March 2009 which attracted a crowd. Up to that point I couldn't imagine organizing such an event but Angel pulled it all together - finally, someone with real organizing skills. And we followed up with a conference on charter schools at PACE in April and in May a march from Battery Park, past the UFT and on to Tweed. We attracted about 75 people. (Angel was wearing me out.)

It wasn't even called GEM until after that rally. In the first stage of evolution from an ICE committee into a broader based group we conceived of ourselves as a coalition of groups - a place where ICE, TJC, NYCORE, Teachers Unite and some parent activist groups could work together.

A big chunk of ICE people got involved, especially with the closing schools and charter invasions hitting us full in the face while also trying to deal with the upcoming 2010 UFT elections. The UFT seemed less important to many of us - and that might explain why we did so badly - we just didn't have the heart to waste our energies in a campaign to dent Unity.

In the summer of 2010 we went up to Harlem to support the teachers and parents at PS 123 which had been invaded by Moskowitz and met a bunch of activists, some with the Coalition for Public Education (which formed late that summer) and also State Senator Bill Perkins and some of his aides.

In July 2010 we were contacted by CAPE, a PS 15K based teacher/parent group fighting a charter invasion in their school. Kismet. GEMers came out to support them and the partnership has brought their activism and skills into the broader work and eventually some of CAPE's key people (Julie Cavanagh and Alev Dervish) began to work with GEM.

Brian Jones and Julie Cavanagh on the "set" in Williamsburg

This past summer, Julie and I decided to develop a film responding to Waiting for Superman and were joined by another key GEM person (a person at a school that was invaded by a Moskowitz charter but I'm keeping him nameless - he has become the key editor and partner on the film, allowing me to take a lesser role). And then by Brian Jones who was on the panel on national TV with Rhee, Weingarten and Canada. Brian and Julie are narrating the film. We're calling it "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman". GEM's Gloria Brandman is doing the outreach and publicity. We are doing a sneak preview of a rough cut in mid-February.

The idea of Real Reformers was hatched and we held a rally at the opening of Waiting for Superman. We also have attended PEP meetings in force - how many years did I go there all alone just waiting for the day we would stand up to them in force. The fact that there is a new face on the people opposed to ed deformers - younger, dynamic activist teachers who in many cases are critical of the UFT - is a force to be reckoned with. Note recently that the Real Reformers are actually starting to get some press.

Naturally, GEM has had some growing pains - trying to set up a democratically run organization in the midst of the chaos the ed deformers have brought to the schools. After the PEP hearings on Feb. 1st and 3rd I hope we take stock of where we stand as an organization and continue to develop a democratic structure that is flexible enough to handle growth.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

January 25 Update - It's Only Personal

Let me catch up on some of the personals - I get requests (occasionally) for updates on what I do outside of the educational/activists sphere. Yes, I do other things.

This is the annual family birthday week extravaganza and we're planning a gathering of all the B-day people in the next few weeks.

Danny (right), brother Jared (left) and Rachel at Passover

My wife's cousin Danny hit 27 yesterday- and living the good life - I don't even want to tell you how good it is. And my cousin Rachel will be 24 or 25 next week. She is originally from Washington DC but living the good young life in Manhattan working selling ads for a cable company. She and her boyfriend came to see me in the Odd Couple and we went out to dinner afterwards. A great couple. He listens to WFAN all day like I do.

My dad hits 93 this Thursday - the day of the big rally at City Hall - I think I'll have him carry the sound equipment - and is also living the good life. Still lives alone and if not for being almost blind from macular would be out looking for women. He has recovered from having 11 upper teeth pulled (read my report of that horror story here) and at the last weigh-in at the doctor has gained 5 pounds using his new upper choppers. Now all we have to do is have 6 teeth removed from the lower jaw and he'll have a full set. Looking forward to that.

Pinky and Dad - he's on the right.

And then there is Pinky the cat, who is 19 and a half years old- older than my dad in cat years. Pinky survived being abandoned while we went on our 5 day trip to Florida 2 weeks ago. She went to the vet yesterday because we found a lump on her back when we got home - he said do nothing - he couldn't believe the health and feistiness of this old animal. But she has a urinary infection. Just gave her her meds - like the battle of the bulge.  Here are some samples of Pinky, the wrecking crew's art work (don't make me tell you about the mucho expensive reupholstering job that she destroyed a half hour after it was delivered.)

Pinky amidst the wreckage

Pinky original art work

Carol and niece Jordan at Passover

Of course, the major event this week today- my wife's &*^% birthday. I gave her a choice. Attend tonight's massive outpouring of protest against Eva Moskowitz' attempt to invade the upper west side at Brandeis HS or have dinner at the River Cafe. Amazing. She chose the latter. So I won't see all of you there. For the first time in 40 years I didn't get her jewelry. Just a massage and a Kindle - but I had a hook installed so she can hang it from her ear. We're going to a movie this afternoon at the Malverne - best little suburban art movie house and then a Broadway matinee tomorrow. What a life since she retired last year and discovered mahjong.

 On other fronts, I have recovered from my acting debut in the Odd Couple at the Rockaway Theatre Company and have started taking a class in theater lighting at the Theater in Fort Tilden so I can join the backstage crew. It is being taught by a laste 20-something public school high school teacher who has 12 years working on lighting in the theater - he does all the school shows - yes it is one of the few large high schools left - (I wonder what the state of high school theater is after the small schools movement.) In the small world department, one of my oldest friends came to see my play and her boyfriend is the Department chair of the lighting guy.

Last Friday was the gala annual Rockaway Theatre Company party at El Caribe in Brooklyn. I made a highlight reel for them of all the shows this season. It's a wonderful 22 minutes and up on Vimeo - link here.

And finally, there is - or was - the j-e-t-s. I won't even go there.