The Title of "The Worst Charter in the World" Goes to.....

"The Department of Education has also ordered the school -- the Williamsburg Charter HS -- to sever ties with its management company because of fiscal concerns raised in an audit last year. That independent audit found significant deficiencies in grants-fund management, student invoicing and oversight of financial controls"
 

"City Department of Education officials said they were planning to visit the school later this month to examine its expenditures."

What's the hurry? Too busy closing down public schools to make way for the charter slugs.

What a joke the DOE has become. Later this month. When the outrages at this school have been reported for years.

Sure close down public schools but allow these schools to exist.

I'm glad to see that this story is not dead. I was in touch with a teacher who left last June and she told me horror stories - but didn't want to go public not only from fear - though Calderon is a bully - but because she felt an attachment to the kids and didn't want to hurt the school. That is how they get so many teachers to be quiet.

This is gansta charter. Some of you may remember how the charter took over a renovated librarly at IS 126 which we reported on years ago. Susan Ohanian posted about it and got threatening emails from Eddie Calderon and his henchmen. Here is a comment from Susan:

This all started because I was outraged by the denial of public school access to the library which had been lovingly renovated by the librarian and volunteers she solicited. Take a look at the video. If you care about kids and about libraries, it will break your heart.

And remember the Wanted poster, a story picked up by the Times?




This comment on the NY Times about Believe Charter Schools which we exposed last week with a photo of a Wanted Poster with a hundred dollar bounty for recruiting new students, shows outrageously high salaries:

As a former employee, I can honestly say that I cannot BELIEVE (no pun intended) that there is not enough oversight from the Chancellor to expose the atrocities that are happening on an almost hourly basis at all there of these schools. Principals/”Superintendents” are fired and escorted out of the building midday, months after being publicly hailed and showered with praise by the CEO Melendez. There have been three different principals in the last two years, and the recklessness and haphazard manner with which decisions are being made about how many is spent, and who assumes positions of leadership make it seem as if ideas were drunkenly drawn from a baseball cap. There are people in that building making six-figure salaries who have not made a single contribution to the students or organization at large in their three years. What a great way to make a quarter of a million dollars! The majority of leadership positions are held by people in with less than one, or even zero teaching experience which has led to a major disconnect between themselves, the rest of the staff, and the kids. Don’t trash all charter schools…trash this one and all the others like it. Stop giving 5 years extensions to places like this and then walking away for long periods of time only to do one day “state visits” which consist of student and staff file checks and cursory classroom observation which are hardly enough to unveil the corruption that exist just below those surfaces.

Boy, do I have emails from Eddie Melendez over the last 6 months - nasty, gangster-like stuff - after he tried to harass Susan Ohanian, one of the top educators in this country. Eddie is a classic POS (Piece of Sh-- for those not familiar with the term). Semi-literate ramblings.

Read all the comments about the Believe horror story at the NY Times CityRoom blog.

Other Ed Notes stories:

Eddie Calderon-Melendez , founder of the Believe High School Network, which runs the charters, said the use of shared space is negotiated every year. ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

clipped from Google - 5/2011

Ohanian on Brooklyn Charter School Thug

Jun 04, 2010

Ultimate charity fund-raising event: A roast of Eddie Calderon-Melendez. Charge $50 a plate and invite current and former employees (mostly former). We'll make enough to cure cancer. Williamsburg Charter High School has been unfairly ...

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Dirty job: charter teachers janitors

By YOAV GONEN Education Reporter
Last Updated: 7:05 AM, May 9, 2011
Posted: 1:50 AM, May 9, 2011

More Print

EXCLUSIVE

Read it and sweep.
A Brooklyn charter school's finances are in such disarray that it axed 20 staffers mid-year and teachers have been left to sweep hallways and vacuum classrooms because of a custodian shortage, teachers told The Post.
The Department of Education has also ordered the school -- the Williamsburg Charter HS -- to sever ties with its management company because of fiscal concerns raised in an audit last year.
That independent audit found significant deficiencies in grants-fund management, student invoicing and oversight of financial controls.

Gregory P. Mango

HISSY FIT: Edward Calderon-Melendez, founder of troubled Williamsburg Charter HS, snaps on a Post photographer yesterday in Brooklyn.

It also questioned the intermingling of funds between the charter and the Believe High Schools Network -- whose CEO, Eddie Calderon-Melendez, founded both the school and the management group.
"These findings raise serious concerns about the financial viability and fiscal accountability of the school," DOE officials wrote to the school's board of trustees this winter.
In 2009-10, the charter paid the network $2.3 million for staffing, payroll and other support services -- among the highest support fees paid by a charter school in the city.
Public records show the school paid an additional $767,000 in taxpayer funds for consultants.
This year, the school entered into a pricey lease agreement for space in a new building on Varet Street in Williamsburg that calls for $79 million in payments over a 30-year term -- including a payment of $2.3 million for 2010-11.
Despite the city's directive, the school has refused to end an affiliation with the Believe Network, which teachers claim has diverted money away from instruction.
"We don't have enough textbooks for all the students in the classroom. We don't have enough paper to make copies," said one teacher, who requested anonymity. "If we want our rooms cleaned, we can borrow the vacuum cleaner."
She added that teachers were running after-school programs "pro-bono" because of a lack of funds.
"I feel that we're so poorly fiscally managed -- on purpose or not on purpose, I don't know," she said.
Approached outside the school, an enraged Calderon-Melendez charged at a Post photographer -- but later answered questions via e-mail.
He said the network's fee of 18 percent of per-pupil revenue was comparable to other charter-management fees -- although it's more than twice the average for nonprofit charter managers in the city.
City Department of Education officials said they were planning to visit the school later this month to examine its expenditures.
yoav.gonen@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/dirty_job_charter_teachers_janitors_gf3EOafev6ctPthWOQQ1eP#ixzz1Lr2mIIrT

We'll Always Have Whatchamacallit

Last Updated: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 9am

There are advantages to getting old and having brain cells abandoning the sinking ship in droves. When you travel to places you've been to in the past, it feels like the first time. We returned from a week in Paris May 3, our 6th time there over 43 years, a celebration of our 40th anniversary. Of course our actual anniversary is June 6 - the invasion of Norman - but we often don't do things in ways that make sense.We wanted to be here for the heavy part of the gardening season, so we went to Paris at a perfect weather time.

We like urban trips and we pretty much stay in one city for a week. We swore before we left that this time we would take some day trips outside the city. But we just couldn't leave Paris, even for a few hours. I can't even say what we did every day, other than make sure to eat three meals. Or more.

Now I am more of a two-a-day meal guy while my wife is committed to three meals, so as usual there was a tug of war going on. I want to walk all day, everywhere - if you use the Paris diagonal streets properly, you can cover large distances and pretty much walk the entire city.

Some highlights: great food at every meal, an awesome Metro system where every station had timers letting you know wait times – we never waited for a train for more than 3 minutes – shame on the NY MTA, almost perfect weather, a city in bloom, a short walk on the Paris version of the High Line (one of the only rainy days), a serendipitous visit to the awesome Petit Palais which was closed for renovation on our last trip in 2001.

I won't bore you with a travelogue but there were some other highlights. And lowlights. On our first day my wife wanted to go to the Musee Marmottan-Monet, not far from the Bois de Bologne, a massive park on the western edge of the city.  With our hotel being centrally located on Blvd Raspail just off Blvd St. Germain, I suggested a route - walk to Pl. de la Concorde, then up the Champs Elysee, follow a direct line to the Bois along one of the 12 spokes coming out of the Arc de Triomphe. (Talk about traffic circles.)

Almost three hours later we got to the museum. Someone did more than a bit of bitching - and it wasn't me. After an hour there, I suggested a walk into the Bois where we could find the well-known Garden Bagatelle. Well, the walk became endless - they certainly don't spend much on signs or directions. We stopped for coffee at a roadside stand. A couple of  ladies sitting at a nearby table certainly stood out. A truck pulled up with a couple of young working guys. One of them sidled up to me and pointed to the ladies and winked. Oh, I was starting to get it. Let me digress for a second.

We had been driven though the Bois one night on our 1983 trip to Paris by friends who were living there. They pointed out the well-known action as our headlights picked up the under dressed prostitutes on the side of the roads - and the traffic jam of Johns.

It seems the action also takes place during the day. As we walked deeper into the park, we saw more and more ladies of the day, scantily dressed, some with their own vans.

Yes, we finally found the Garden Bagatelle. which while having a spectacular display of roses (interesting how roses were blooming all over Paris, a month earlier than NYC), was so much less of a garden than we have here at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. But the overriding theme of our first day in Paris – my wife branded it:  The Whore Tour.

The rest of the trip was more conventional. Out of the way museums - we avoided the lines at the Musee d'Dorsay - maybe the best museum in the world - and the Louvre where you could spend the entire vacation. Besides, since our last trip in 2001 was packed with rainy days, we wanted to be outside. So we hit the famous Paris Pere-Lachaise cemetary where so many famous people are buried - the Ghoul Tour - check below the fold for some pics – you will not see the conventional Eiffel Tower. But don't expect pics of the "Whore Tour" - though we were sorely tempted to get that show documented.

We had free tickets for the Seine tour on the Bateaux Mouches, which I always avoided because it is such a touristy thing to do. But our family motto is "free is better than anything" so we headed over on Sunday morning and ended up waiting an hour. But it was worth it. I had argued for the nighttime cruise but the time frame didn't work. Funny, but when we got home and my wife checked her notes from our 1978 trip, it turned out we had done the evening cruise that year. Oh, those dying brain cells.

We stopped at the famous cafe Les Deux Magots on our last night - you know, one of the thousands of cafes that Hemingway, Picasso, etc. supposedly hung out at. That gives them the right to charge $15 for two cafe au laits. I was afraid to order a cookie. And yes, my wife's notes from our 1978 trip shows that we stopped there on our last night. We really are stuck in our own version of Groundhog Day.

Well, I'm not quite back to normal - if that word can ever be used in reference to me. I fell asleep the other night at 8PM and woke at 4AM.

Oh, and the dollar vs. the Euro really sucks. The trip ended up costing way more than we expected as at the end of the week it hit $1.48.

But as Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman in that famous Casablanca scene - exactly what did he say again?

A small selection out of 300 pictures- mostly grave sites-  below the fold

LIFO Math

Last Update: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 9:30am
 
I remember Joel Klein's first words in his attack on seniority: the schools in the poorest neighborhoods can't attract the same level of experienced teachers that schools in wealthier neighborhoods do. As a matter of fact that was a standard of the Ed deform early attacks on teacher seniority rules. Now of course this line has ceased and been replaced by "we need the young blood in the poorest schools."

Before I go on, I must remind you of something Leonie Haimson and Julie Cavanagh say at every presentation: teacher experience and class size are the only two in class factors that have been proven by research to impact on students in a positive way.

There was another article in the NY Times the other day about how some schools will lose piles of newer teachers who will be replaced by senior teachers forced to transfer to fill their vacant positions if LIFO rules are followed. We can expect these articles daily with sad interviews about how much these teachers love teaching and their kids. Expect the NY Post to devote entire editions to these stories.

So let's do some math on the pro LIFO vs. the whiny "we need to keep excellent teachers" argument. I'm going to use the 5-year benchmark based on the idea that 50% of all teachers leave after 5 years. I picked the 5-year number because the layoffs will probably not go that deep and pretty much anyone in this category will have a job (other than license areas like art and music that can be chopped completely).

So assume Bloomberg's extortion attempt works and there is no LIFO and they go after ATRs, the higher salaried, the U-rated and people who wear spotted ties. All the Teach for America people stay because they are, well, TFAs. Now we know that the attrition rates of TFAs are even higher than the normal rate of 50% over 5 years. Much higher. So even if these "excellent teachers" stay while 25 year horrible and ugly teachers go, the reality is that more than half won't stay past three years and over 5 years the number will be more like 70-80% who leave. No one seems to be crying over losing these "superb" teachers whether there are or are not layoffs.

So if we end LIFO we will still lose half of all the teachers spared in WalBloom fantasyland anyway. And many more who stay may well gravitate out of the classroom anyway. What kind of investment even in a business sense it that?

But if we still have LIFO and the layoffs (meaning Bloomberg's game of chicken didn't work) let's look at those over 5 year slugs that are ruining the lives of children and munching at the public teat. They are the 50% who did not leave after 5 years. And they are not among the people who were denied tenure (an increasing number over the last few years). So this group has undergone a double weeding out process. In the worst case scenario, many may have to move to schools where newer teachers were laid off (to be recalled under LIFO in an orderly fashion - and as we know with 1500-2000 teachers leaving every year through retirement or that 50% who leave anyway they are pretty much guaranteed to be recalled at worst within a year or two, negating the argument that they are lost to the system.)

So what's so bad about replacing a 3 year or under - even if a good teacher – with a 5 year or over teacher? In some cases there might be a loss in talent but if we just take the experience factor into account over the long run doing layoffs under LIFO is a win for the schools that lost people. The replacement group will not leave in anywhere the same numbers as the people they replaced. And they bring vastly more experience to the table than the people who were laid off. Plus by staying, they have already proven they are more likely to be career teachers.

Taken as a whole, which group should we invest in when considering building an effective and consistent, well-trained teaching force? We know WalBloom's answer. But why expect rationality from that source? Lucky for us they are not using their concept to staff nuclear reactors.
--------------
AFTERBURN
 

 http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/uft_vows_wisconsin_protest_over_13KLdJlXJIZvCcefLdSbGK

UFT vows 'Wisconsin' protest over teacher cuts

Video: Chicago Teachers Debate Ed Reform on Education Nation

Good Chicago teacher debate on education reform; Education Nation « Parents Across America: http://bit.ly/iNvGRd. Leonie writes:

An insightful discussion on education reforms among Chicago teachers on the Education Nation/NBC series, aired on May 2.  We have edited out the first fourteen minutes, which consisted of a painfully slow introduction from NBC, Univ. of Phoenix and the other sponsors of the series.
There’s much incisive debate on the show, but one of the most interesting moments is a heartfelt statement at its conclusion from a teacher at Urban Prep Academy on the importance of keeping class sizes small. Urban Prep is the Chicago charter school that Arne Duncan highlights for its results, and yet at the same time, Duncan insists on devaluing the importance of class size. Another indication of the hypocrisy of the corporate reform crowd.

Also note that Bob Peterson of Rethinking Schools just won election as President of the Milwaukee Teachers Union (NEA affiliate). I just got off a conference call with him and congratulated him - or pitied him. But what a great voice for teachers.

He sent along this a few days ago:

If anyone is interested here is a short youtube video in support of my campaign for President of MTEA

http://tinyurl.com/Bob4MTEAPres

Political Maltent: WalBloom's Dilemma

Has Bloomberg put himself and his factotum Dennis into a corner by continuing to push for a loss of 6000 teachers while gilding all sorts of lilies - consultants, etc. - AND having a budget surplus?

Well at least I make out well in this fiasco:

The Bloomberg administration plans to announce that it will open 10 new senior centers, each serving 250 to 300 people.
 
It is pretty obvious to even the lamest observers that this is all about the politics of ending last in first out and Bloomberg is trying to browbeat the state legislature into giving him what he wants. Will the UFT refuse to panic and hold firm despite the foaming at the mouth of the NY Post, Wall Street Journal and other press sycophants?


What does WalBloom do if LIFO still exists and thousands of their newbies are forced out of the system? Can't you see the crying outrage from the E4E crowd about how the excellent teachers are being chopped? Could WalBloom actually chop the new TFA and Teaching Fellow class along with so many other people they hope to use as shock troops to undermine the union? As expected, one of E4E's funders had this to say:

Joe Williams, Education Reform Now: "No one wants to lay off teachers -- or any layoffs for that matter -- but it will be doubly cruel to our students if those layoffs remove some of the most effective teachers from the classroom because of an outdated and poorly considered law. For months, New Yorkers have called for Albany to take action on 'Last In, First Out,' and now time has run out. It's time for state leaders to act to end the practice of LIFO and help ensure the best teachers stay in the classroom during this difficult time. That's what reform means -- giving the taxpayers more for their money, in this case, the best teachers we have.  The ball is now in Albany's court."

Yes, that's the line. We don't want layoffs but the main fight is not against layoffs but against LIFO.

Can Bloomberg really ask Walcott to run a school system with 6000 less teachers?

Bloomberg's believability quotient is low, so many assume he is playing chicken. Let's say he gets LIFO killed. We know that these cuts will suddenly disappear. He doesn't care that we would say "told you so" because teachers would be screwed for eternity.

If he doesn't get LIFO done in, he has a problem. Imagine the chaos of the opening of school and the shifting of teachers all over the city? He will blame the union. But there would be massive shifting even if LIFO ended. So if LIFO still exists, what does he do? If he pulls the trigger on the layoffs, even he knows that any shred of legitimacy as an education mayor will be gone and probably mayoral control too.

There is still time for a deal to screw LIFO given this disturbing comment From NY Mag Daily Intel

Bloomberg insists he means it this time, that the money isn’t there, and that he isn’t laying off teachers to prove a point about LIFO. But if this isn’t the usual shell game, in which city tax revenues spike and Bloomberg saves thousands of jobs just before the July 1 deadline, he really is going to need an assist from Albany. There’s not much chance of the state suddenly coughing up more cash; a compromise on seniority rules or state mandates, though, should be possible. Two weeks ago the mayor and the governor had a long dinner on the Upper West Side. Perhaps today’s quieter tone at City Hall is the next step in trying to get Cuomo to pick up part of a much bigger check.

Here are the link:
Gotham: Bloomberg’s budget suggests cutting 1 of every 12 teachers; criticism is rampant. (AP, GS, NYT, DN)
And the outrage in the NY Times comments.
Leonie's update: The mayor's choice: a budget which puts children last
Urban Teacher's Nightmare: Bloomberg's New Budget Proposal along with his links: (See stories and commentary here, here, here, here, here, and here.)

Leonie Haimson: The mayor's budget proposal passes the buck and puts children last

The mayor tried to pass the buck today to the state and the federal government, blaming them for the elimination of over 6,000 teaching positions.  What happened to mayoral accountability?

And yet he added that if the state provided extra funding or mandate relief, he would not necessarily restore these positions, but he might spend it on the police or fire department instead.

He said he was “very sympathetic” to Gov. Cuomo, but he mentioned no sympathy for NYC children,  who will have to bear the brunt of these cuts in the form of the largest increases in class size in at least 30 years.  While he commented that he would not put city's fiscal "future at risk," he seems all too willing to put our kids' futures at risk instead.  This is not a budget which puts children first.

Already in the last three years alone, students in grades K-3 have experienced  class size increases of 10%; leading to the largest class sizes in over a decade.  More than a third of all Kindergarten students are now squeezed into classes of 25 or more. Why should they have to suffer any more?

He offered not a single proposal to control the huge waste in DOE contracts and consultants, which has led to numerous instances of lax oversight and corruption, including more than $3 million in stolen funds on one DOE tech contract alone, and another contract that has gone millions over budget, with allegations that a DOE supervisor was improperly involved with the consultant. 

Nor does he have any plans to cut  the growing headcount of the central and mid level DOE bureaucracies, but instead targets  all reductions to teachers? 

The city's overall spending on contracts has doubled to more than $10 billion in the last five years – with a huge part of the increase for technology.  In the next year alone, the DOE plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on technology in its capital plan, with $350 million to buy computers to implement more online learning and testing. 

Their ultimate goal seems to be depriving our students any contact with a real live teacher, but to put them all on machines instead.

The Mayor claims he has no choice, but this is yet another excuse for his lack of leadership.  He has many choices which he refuses to acknowledge:

Make the cuts elsewhere in the DOE budget, including to central, contracts, consultants and computers; draw more from the $2 billion still remaining in the city’s health care reserve; and support the retention of the millionaire’s tax, either on the state or city level. 

The city’s richest one percent are still expanding their wealth rapidly – but instead of asking them to contribute their fair share, the mayor chooses to make our kids pay the price.

Though a millionaire’s tax on city residents would also need Albany’s assent, it would be a far better campaign than continuing his  obsession with eliminating teacher seniority protections, which has little chance of being approved.

Cami Anderson Supported Charter Calls Off Public Hearing - ICE's Jeff Kaufman Led Opposition to School

 A Joint Hearing scheduled for Thursday evening for the colocation of a new charter school for just released incarcerated students and other "disconnected youth" was abruptly cancelled by the proposed school. A Charter School Association representative stated that the failure of the new proposed charter to obtain a principal caused the sudden withdrawal for the application while others understood that the pressure by local civic leaders and Aspirations High School staff brought to bear was too much for the DOE and the proposed Charter.- 

MORE at ICE blog: UFT Chapter at Aspirations HS Stops Charter School in Its Tracks

Hit the Road Cami- with new best friend, or sibling,  Chris Christie

New Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson was involved in this school. Are they pulling back because she left as Supe of Dist. 79? (In case you're not following, her bio is the usual ed deform suspect: Teach for America official plus other hazzerai.)

Or was it the strong opposition from the UFT chapter and community as intimated in the ICE post?

UPDATE:  COMMENT FROM JEFF:

Could be. But I think this model is dead. Privatizing this segment of public education may have gone too far. When I spoke to the SUNY Charter rep yesterday she understood that the proposal was fast tracked because of political considerations and little thought was given to how the school would actually function. While I’d like to feel it was our pressure that stopped them I believe they knew it would fail.

Jeff

How nice to cancel the hearing about an hour before. Jeff Kaufman was going to lay it on them. I posted previous stuff from Jeff, who is chapter leader of Aspirations - Jeff Kaufman on Joint Hearing for Charter School

An interesting sidelight is that Aspirations seemed at one time to be a hotbed for E4E - they held a mixer that Jeff attended: Up Close and Personal With An Opposition

Here is the cancellation notice:

Good afternoon all,

The Department of Education just received notice from the ROADS Charter School Board that it will be requesting a planning year and will not be ready to open its new school, ROADS Charter School I, until the 2012-2013 school year.  As a result, the DOE is considering revising the proposal to co-locate ROADS Charter School I in Building K894 beginning in September 2011. 

In addition, the hearing that is to be held tonight on the proposal will be cancelled.  A DOE representative will be coming to the school to discuss this and to answer any questions from the community.  We apologize for the inconvenience this late notice may have caused. 

The DOE is currently discussing the matter with the ROADS Charter School Board, as well as other stakeholders in Building K894 and the community.  If the DOE decides to revise this proposal (i.e., to propose that ROADS Charter School I open in Building K894 beginning in the 2012-2013 school year), a revised Educational Impact Statement will be issued and a new joint public hearing will be held. 

Thank you again for your cooperation and apologies for any inconvenience.

Have a good night.

Best,

Izaak

Izaak Orlansky

Portfolio Engagement Specialist

New York City Department of Education

212-374-6811

AFTERBURN
I might have some more stuff soon on some backdoor stuff between Jeff and some key UFT officialdom. Really an interesting and developing story which we are monitoring.

Brooklyn UFT Rally Today at Slimebucket Marty Golden's Place

This event began with action out of the Leon Goldstein HS chapter, led by Teacher for a Just Contract's Kit Wainer. The UFT Brooklyn borough office jumped on board. I'll try to get over with my camera even though I know I will have to see some of my least favorite Unity hacks.

Win a Kindle: E4E celebrates teacher appreciation week by urging joining an org dedicated to eliminating seniority protections and devaluing the benefits of experience

UPDATES: 

My principal told me that the CFE wanted to have a meeting with a group of us. She showed me the email to her.  It was NOT from CFE, but it was from Educators 4 Excellence.  Evidently they are emailing principals to get THEM to set up meetings of teachers for them!  I told her it was NOT CFE, but this group that was funded by Gates and wanted to get teachers to support ending seniority lay-offs and merit pay.  She said that she would discard the email.

Is E4E given access to principals' DOE emails? To what extent is the DOE assisting E4E?

NOTE REGULAR PROFILES OF E4E BY THEIR "PARTNERS" - FOX AND WALL ST. JOURNAL

 

E4E in the News:

• Co-Founder Sydney Morris talks to FOX News' Good Day NY about Teacher Appreciation Week and the importance of asking teachers what they think when it comes to education issues.

• The Wall Street Journal profiles E4E Member Evan Piekara's classroom, as he finds a teachable moment for his middle school students in Bin Laden's death.

Have a free drink as paid for by hedge fund operators and other privateers. "free drinks, appetizers, and the chance to win great prizes for you and your classroom.  E4E will be raffling off teacher supplies, gift cards, and Kindles."

I'm always willing to help out my friends at E4E

Subject: E4E Happy Hours Friday - Union Square and Bronx- win a Kindle

Dear E4E Members, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  To celebrate you, your hard work, and your dedication to students, E4E is hosting two Teacher Appreciation Events this Friday, May 6th. Launched by two Bronx teachers in March 2010, E4E was founded to be a voice for teachers in education policy - a voice that helps to elevate our profession and improve outcomes for our students. Please join us, get involved, and share E4E with your colleagues over free drinks, appetizers, and the chance to win great prizes for you and your classroom.  E4E will be raffling off teacher supplies, gift cards, and Kindles. Help us grow the E4E movement - bring your colleagues, get extra raffle tickets! These events continue E4E's commitment to connect like-minded educators from across the city and provide a forum to share your voices. Please join us. We will be hosting events in the Bronx at G Bar and in Union Square at Revival. Please feel free to forward the RSVP link to interested colleagues and friends. Details are below: Teacher Appreciation Happy Hour in the Bronx Where: G Bar, 579 Grand Concourse When: Friday, May 6th (3:00 - 5:30pm) RSVP: Join us at G Bar  Teacher Appreciation Happy Hour in Union Square Where: Revival, 129 East 15th St. at Irving Park When: Friday, May 6th (4:00 - 7:30pm) RSVP: Join us at Revival  Thank you for the hard work that you do every day for New York City students. You have the most important job in shaping our country's future. Please know that you are appreciated. All our best,  The E4E Team

Who We Are | Sign Our Declaration | Tell a Colleague

Tisch Family Connections to K12 Board and Charter School

K12’s board is headed by Andrew Tisch, co-chair of Loew’s Corp,  the brother in law of Merryl Tisch, who is in turn, the head of the NYS board of Regents. Meetings of the NY state education department are often held in the Loew’s headquarters, which is run by Merryl’s husband,  James.  http://www.loews.com/loews.nsf/OfficeOfPresident.pdf

The NYS Regents are currently considering eliminating all seat time requirements, and to allow the rapid and essentially unregulated expansion of online learning. In addition, K12 has submitted a charter application to the Regents/NYSED, called “NY Flex charter school” in D2, that has gone through the preliminary approval process by NYSED.  (EDNote: Pedro Noguera who is considered by many to be on the anti-ed deform side chairs the SUNY charter committee. There have been charges he approves every charter request.)

In  an earlier iteration/application, K12 was clearly running the school, now the application has been revised to indicate that the school will “contract” out with K12 for services, including curriculum, assessments, teacher training, and other support and services as requested by the Board and staff of the school.   

This recasting of the application is to avoid legal conflicts w/ the new NY state charter law which bars for-profit companies from operating charter schools. Here is an article about this controversial issue: http://www.citylimits.org/news/articles/4185/pedagogy-and-profits-charter-school-bid-raises-questions

Great reporting by Idaho paper below on the financial ties between the new Gov. of Idaho and the online tech industry. 

The Milkens’ privately held Learning Group LLC is the largest shareholder of K12, owning 24 percent of the company. Another Milken employee, Nina Rees, gave Luna $500. Rees and Luna worked together in the Education Department, where Rees led innovation efforts. Rees also advised Vice President Dick Cheney and the Romney campaign. She now is a senior vice president at Knowledge Universe Education, a California-based holding company chaired by Milken, with stakes in more than 50 education companies, including K12. http://investors.k12.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=214389&p=irol-govBio3&ID=170658

How much difference this reformulation makes, legally, is something hard to discern, but people should keep their eyes on this application:

K12 Classroom LLC, (“K12”) a subsidiary of K12 Inc., will be collaborating with us. K12 Inc. is an education company with a ten year history of providing outstanding curriculum and educational services to students in grades K-12. K12 will provide most of the school’s curriculum. In the 2009-2010 school year, K12 served almost 70,000 public school students through collaborations with public entities in twenty-five states and the District of Columbia. Since their inception in 2000, they have developed over 21,000 lessons of engaging curriculum—lessons, video, assessment, learning games, labs, textbooks, workbooks, and digital instructional resources that promote mastery of core concepts and skills for students of all ability levels. Their approach combines cognitive science with individualized learning and is well-suited for New York Flex. In addition to curriculum, the Board will specifically contract with K12 for assessments, teacher training, and other support and services as requested by the Board and staff of the school. Consistent with law and best practice, the Board and staff will retain the final authority for all decision-making, management, and operations including curriculum and personnel issues.

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/documents/ProspectusReviewSummaryBrief3.1.11.xls

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/documents/PostedNYFlexLOI.pdf

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/documents/NewYorkFlexProspectus8.16.10.pdf

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-long-time-in-the.html

Tom Luna's education reform plan was a long time in the making

How Tom Luna’s co-workers from the Bush administration — and the private education companies they now help run — positioned Idaho’s schools chief to make changes that the for-profit education industry may cash in on

STORIES BY DAN POPKEY - dpopkey@idahostatesman.com

Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman

Published: 02/20/11

MORE TWEED TECH SCANDALS:

• GothamSchools

  NEWS: Rise & Shine: Another DOE tech contractor under investigation
• 
  
  Perdido Street School

  TOP DOE Official Under Investigation In Conflict Of Interest Scandal

Jeff Kaufman on Joint Hearing for Charter School (Roads) - Cami Anderson Was on the Board of Roads

ROADS Charter School was fast tracked toward Charter approval. The school is proposed to be a school for “disconnected youth” specializing in students released from incarceration and/or homeless. ROADS is cosponsored by District 79 and Cami Andersen, the superintendent of District 79. Anderson, just announced as the new Superintendent of Newark Schools, sat on the Charter’s School’s Board during its formation. It is not clear what her connection is currently to the school as she does not appear on the EIS list of board members. - Jeff Kaufman

Jeff Kaufman sent this about his school being invaded few days ago while I was away. The hearing is tomorrow, May 5, but we are doing a presentation on charter schools to an undergrad education class in Staten Island so I can't be there.

A proposed Charter School is trying to take the space occupied by the closing EBC/ENY High School for Public Service and Law. The following is a brief background of the building (K895) and the schools that have occupied it.

Back in the early 90’s the East Brooklyn Congregations (a consortium of Christian and Jewish religious organizations in East Brooklyn) sought to cause the BOE to provide smaller neighborhood high schools as an alternative to the larger and increasingly violent neighborhood high schools in East New York and Brownsville. While proposals languished in the Board the creation of a new school did not occur until a shooting at Jefferson High School.

EBC worked with the Board to open two schools for the area, one in East New York and one in Bushwick. The school were housed together for the first years at 1495 Herkimer Street which was renovated at considerable public expense. The building had been a sewing factory and had been abandoned. A lease was negotiated with the private landlord and has transferred private ownership until the present. The lease has been renewed every four years.

Both schools were originally part of the District 79 (the alternative high school district) and as the schools grew Bushwick found a building on Gates Avenue. They are still at that building.

EBC continued at 1495 Herkimer and was transferred to the Brooklyn High School District sometime in the early 2000’s. The school’s population ran between 500 and 800 students which were comprised of, primarily, students from the immediate area, many within walking distance of the school.

After a couple of years on and off the SINI list Klein announced, in December 2007 that EBC would be phased out by June 2011. Each year another grade was removed from the school and the space left vacant. Currently there are less than 30 students who regularly attend.

In May 2008 the new school, Aspirations High School, was announced to take over ¼ of the building in September 2008. Aspirations was planned to be a transfer high school (to serve over aged and under credited high school students). The first year was a struggle as I taught at EBC just down the hall from the new school. The entire staff was young and female with most being TFA and no prior education experience.

In June 2009 I was excessed from EBC and agreed to join the faculty at Aspirations.

While there has been some prior tension between the teachers, administration and the CBO (Child Welfare League) with a change in CBO leadership a better working relationship developed. Still the school suffers from low attendance, (just above 50% on average), low graduation and regents passage rates and a significant group that ages out of school before obtaining a diploma. The school received an F for its Progress Report.

Since the announcement of EBC’s phase-out a number of rumors have circulated about the school or program that would take their vacating space. While groups of people would tour the space there was nothing mentioned until I happened to notice on the DOE website that ROADS Charter School was being proposed for the space. This occurred in the middle of March 2011. The notice was dated March 3, 2011.

When I spoke to my principal about it he said that he was against siting a charter in our building but there was nothing that could be done.

The original notice on the web for the Joint Hearing was scheduled for April 14, 2011. Upon information and belief no notice, other than the web posting, was provided to anyone at Aspirations (except the principal). On April 15 an amended notice was published on the website and a paper copied and given to the students. No instruction concerning what was supposed to be done with the paper was ever given and most, if not all of the notices were thrown away. Additionally it was the day before the Spring recess and attendance was well below 50%. There is no function PTA nor SLT at Aspirations. The notices and amendments can be found on http://schools.nyc.gov/community/planning/changes/brooklyn/TransferK894

The UFT Chapter at Aspirations almost unanimously voted against the siting of the proposed Charter School.

ROADS Charter School was fast tracked toward Charter approval. The school is proposed to be a school for “disconnected youth” specializing in students released from incarceration and/or homeless. ROADS is cosponsored by District 79 and Cami Andersen, the superintendent of District 79. Anderson, just announced as the new Superintendent of Newark Schools,  sat on the Charter’s School’s Board during its formation. It is not clear what her connection is currently to the school as she does not appear on the EIS list of board members.

It is extremely clear that 1495 Herkimer was chosen by the DOE and ROADS due to the expected lack of political opposition to the school. There is little doubt co-locating this school with a school consisting of a struggling at-risk population will cause great hardship to the current public school.

Disconnected youth should be integrated into their former neighborhood school, not segregated as proposed. Our experience at Community Prep, a public school based on this model should teach us that these schools do not work and harm the communities in which they are situated. Not only will the students at the proposed Charter school be at further risk but we can expect an increase of violence and gang activity in the building.

Raging Horse Sends Up Christie Harvard Appearance

I'm hopefully on a plane back from Paris as you read this. It's been hard to keep up with everything while I was away, but I wanted to get this link in on Christie at Harvard, along with this citation from an old and prescient Michael Fiorillo piece at Ed Notes (excuse spelling stuff - french spell check doesn't quite work out.) Sorry, I can't make any fat jokes about Christie since I ate enough here to be almost his size.

From Raging Horse blog:

For more on Harvard’s relationship to labor read Michael Fiorillo’s excellent piece, Ivy League Union Busting, then and Now at  http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/09/michael-fiorillo-at-nyc-educator-blog.html

So, Chris Christie, the grotesques Governor of New Jersey,   visits Harvard Graduate School of Education and is embraced as one their own.

If nothing else, the friendly reception that this vicious vulgar clown received from grad students and staff at this pinnacle of higher education provides yet another clear example of how thoroughly and mindlessly liberal institutions have abandoned and betrayed the working people of this country, and how completely and uncritically they have embraced the suicidal, neo-fascist policies of the corporate state.
Central to those polices is the total destruction of labor unions and with them, worker rights. Central to the total destruction of labor unions is the total destruction of America’s teacher unions.
Christie’s reception by these students  is especially disturbing because of the fact that their Harvard degrees and the built-in old boy and old gal networks that such degrees provide will just about guarantee these very students  will be “fast tracked” into positions of influence and power –   that much faster  if they’re singing corporate hymns.
Christie and the Harvard Graduate School of Education dwell, apparently in an enviously untroubled, strangely one dimensional and curiously microscopic world. 

MORE

Send In the Clown (Don’t Bother, He’s Here.)

Journalistic Ineptness: Untamed Teacher Chronicles Incompetence of NY Post Reporters

I remember a nasty email I received from NY Times education reporter David Herzenhorn objecting to how I characterized one of his stories. And there are reporters who complain when I criticize them publicly. "Why didn't you tell me privately," they ask? My, how sensitive.

You should really follow Untamed Teacher as she turns charges of teacher incompetency on its head by tracking the errors of omission and commission by NY Post reporters:  http://untamedteacher.blogspot.com/

And what do you think about how every dumb and biased report in the NY Post gets a link with a lead at Gotham Schools?

Given the nature of the attack on teachers I suggest you check the work of the journalists reporting on education. How many events are so poorly covered, often with misinformation and certainly misinterpretation?

Here at Ed Notes we will do our best. I suggest teachers and parents start evaluating the reports of the reporters covering stories they were involved in. Were you quoted accurately? Were your words distorted? Let's have an eval system for the press. Personally, I think bad reporting harms society way worse than bad teaching.

Ed Notes Exclusive: Last Known bin Laden Interview

Posted: Tuesday, May 3, 12:30 AM
Modified: Thursday, May 5, 5AM

Paris, France

It was a strange request - at first look. Being the point person for people interested in getting a copy of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" I've been contacted by people from all over the nation who had found WFS an disgusting film. But this one came from abroad. "I'd like a copy of the dvd," said the voice on my cell phone. It was heavily accented. I asked where to send it. "I can't give you my address but I'd like you to hand deliver a copy to me in Paris." He whispered his name. "It can't be," I said. "You're living in a cave." He laughed with that distinctive chuckle we have come to know and love. "Says, who? I'm living better than that Obama you knucklehead."

"Why do you want our movie?" He saw Guggenheim's film and thought it really sucked. "These Canada and Rhee people make my skin crawl," he said. "And BloomKlein? The worst!" He gave me a meeting time and place. So off I went to Paris.

We were due to meet on Monday, May 2 at 10AM at the McDonald's on the Champs Elysee. When I woke up to the news of his death I figured I had wasted a trip. But I'm a "bottle half full person. So I had a croissant. And another. I strolled over to the meeting place for the hell of it.  Lo and behold there he was munching a Grand Veggie Mac.

"Obama spoke last night. I thought you were...." I started to say.

"What a joke. Show me the body. That's what everyone was designed to think. I had a body double take my place when I was tipped off on the plan by The Donald. Everyone thinks this stunt won Obama the election. But when The Donald pulls his October 2012 surprise - mainly me -  we'll see who's boss then. We figure with The Donald as president, Al Qaeda wins hands down."

"I'm looking forward to seeing your film," he said. "I hear you have some vicious shots of Michelle Rhee, which is one of the reasons I'm so interested, aside from the fact that the ed deformers are so disgusting."

"Why," I asked?

"Who do you think will be running Al Qaeda while I'm out of commission," he said as he walked off up the Champs Elysee towards The Arch De Triomphe.

2012 Election Cancelled

Obama Buoyed by 100 Percent Approval Rating

 

Geoffrey Canada and Harlem Children's Zone: Julie Cavanagh Lambasts NY Post Puff Piece

Before you get to Julie's takedown of Canada, here are a few more  reactions to this NY Post "ad" for Canada (read it below the fold).
On the lottery as PR:

Leonie Haimson:

“Geoff has described it as one of the only days of the year he does not look forward to coming to work,” Harlem Children’s Zone spokesman Marty Lipp said. “It’s a real roller coaster of emotions. It starts off celebratory, with parents shouting and beaming that their kids have gotten in. As we get to the waiting list and the room empties, it gets terribly sad. The parents’ hopes for their kids’ future just crash, and you can see the sadness etched in their faces.”

 So why have a public lottery at all?  This is a PR stunt and terribly abusive.  Besides, there are several studies showing the HCZ results are not that good, despite all the money spent, and many say it is a badly run organization.

Diane Ravitch:
  Why not just send a letter in the mail, as Gail Collins suggested after seeing Waiting for Superman? This is a marketing ploy.

Julie Cavanagh

The lottery and all of it are marketing ploys, it is so disgusting.
 
Two things from this article that really send me over the edge:
 
1. They are acting like this is some big discovery and original concept that our schools, especially in more vulnerable and underserved neighborhoods, should be centers of community.  PS 15, my school which was forced to give up its space to a charter, has a medical clinic and dental clinic through our partnership with Lutheran, offers mental health services, ged programs, nutrition and cooking programs, a wrap around partnership w/ Good Shepherd services, etc.  The DOE's budget cuts and co-location policies put all of these things at risk and providing these kinds of services and programs to our community has become more and more difficult, even though we have been doing these things for years (except the dental clinic, we were fortunate enough to obtain that about two years ago). In the article they claim this project is a "first for NY"- that is complete BS, there are amazing public schools in NYC, including mine, who do all of these things and are fighting hard to maintain these programs and wish they could do even more.  Instead of being supported we are starved and undermined by the DOE.
 
2. Look at the details of the school that is being built:  two story library, dance room, on and on.  These are things that are considered shared space or extra space at our public schools and can be taken away from public school children, but yet they are boast worthy when we are talking about HCZ.  This same oxymoron exists in our community; the DOE has given PAVE 30 million to build their own state of the art facility with all kinds of "extras" that we have been forced to give away and deprive our children of.
 
ALL of it, from the instructional footprint, to the lottery, to the so-called waiting lists, to the funding/stealing taxpayer dollars, all of it is nothing more than a scam, a shell game, wrapped up in marketing ploys and the goal is very clearly to transfer our tax dollars, and our public education system, into private and corporate hands.  One only need to look at what has happened at PS 15 to know the truth; a school doing everything right, and we were forced to give away the space we uDiane Ravitch:sed for the very services and programs Canada gets rave reviews for as well as millions in matching funds.  The only difference is we actually have had an "A" for four years while serving ALL children (with a 37% sp ed population and over 20% ELL population), while Canada serves far less needy children, kicks out the ones who don't make him look good and gets a "C" on his school report card.
 
It is enough to drive you mad! --
Julie Cavanagh
 
 

So Much Incoming, So Little Time

In the educational battle ground, we often feel bombarded by info. The instinct is to duck, but there is so much good stuff on our side that is anti ed deform, we can only smile even if all we can do is read headlines without the content. Do you think the ed deformers have overplayed their hand? Arrogance and power begets an equal and opposite reaction. Ooops! I think an apple just fell on my head.

Here is a only a small selection. Click away.

• school bd mtg occupation (youtube)
• Parents Upset with Leadership at KIPP Academy in KC
• FW: Chicago Tribune disses PAA and our position on the parent trigger
• State Actions Endanger Teacher Quality
• Parents Across America: Jean-Claude Brizard is leaving his post as Rochester Superintendent to become head of Chicago schools.
  
  Here is a video of parents, teachers, students and community members warning Chicago about their new schools CEO.  PAA has chapters in Chicago and Rochester, and our members have supported each other and shared information.  http://bit.ly/mMIJc5
   
• Rochester city newspaper discussing whether public should be involved in search for new superintendent.

  rochestercitynewspaper

  
  

  http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/blog/2011/04/The-superintendent-search-and-the-public/
   
• Ravitch Cited: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110430/EDIT07/304309994/1147/EDIT07

video: Student Activist Khaair Morrison blasts Bloomberg for denying kids their rights at Francis Lewis High School:  http://bit.ly/mG4BCc

 *************

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest:
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Rachel Maddow & Lansing, MI mayor on threats to schools, democracy

Are schools failing, or are they being failed?