Class Size and the UFT Followup: Historical Context

Loretta Prisco who was part of our activist group in the 70s fleshed out yesterday's post on class size.


Do you remember many years ago when the UFT was trying to negotiate that we be paid per kid?  I remember sitting at the DA and some guy saying "break down the wall, I'll take all they  they can shove in" - but it have must have been a Unity guy.  Most of us were appalled. I remember Gene saying "why not by weight?"
 
When we raised class size when talking about the contract at DAs, Shanker usually had one of 2 replies, "that is an education issue, not  a contract issue"  or "there is either money for class size or salaries, if we reduce class size, there won't be money for a raise".  I remember so clearly, because it is when I first realized that working conditions are learning conditions.  Teaching was tough, I would have rather been a successful teacher with smaller class size than one with a few extra bucks in my pocket. 
 
My daughter was at Vanderbilt in Nashville in the 90's and I remember reading about the Tennessee Star Study on class size in the local paper.  When I raised the issue here, no one had heard about it, and the response locally was "it is only one study" .

Loretta

The UFT/AFT Abandoned the Fight For Lower Class Size 40 Years Ago

Randi Weingarten/AFT - and yes, the UFT - on Class Size: fagetaboutit.

Last night, Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters posted:


Randi's deeply flawed agenda for a quality education

Randi writes her rebuttal of Brill here:  http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/08/24/its-not-about-good-guys-versus-bad-guys which led me to the AFT agenda for a quality education which though very long, does not even mention class size - the #1 way that the vast majority of teachers believe would improve their effectiveness the most. People esp. teachers and members of her union should feel free to email her at Rweingarten@aft.org

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/qualityagenda.cfm

I posted the entire AFT statement on Norms Notes Randi Weingarten/AFT Forgets Class Size

Leonie's post got me to thinking about the 40 years I and others have spent trying to move the UFT to make class size reduction a priority item. Here is my comment on the NYCEdList serve:

All these years Ed Notes lobbed accusations that no matter the rhetoric the uft/aft didn't really care about class size and their petition campaigns which went nowhere was more about PR.

They gave up the class size ghost, oh, around 1970. Throughout that decade the group I worked with fought with the uft leadership over closing the wide CS loopholes. If they weren't going to reduce class size in the contract at least make that attempt. No interest.

In the early 90s the strategy of using the city council to force some class size reductions worked for grades 1-3. We brought up resolutions caliing for extensions to grade 4 and beyond but were ignored. Today even those city council limits are being ignored.
Over the last decade ICE and Ed Notes made repeated attempts to make class size reduction a priority contract negotiation at least to put it front and center to the public (as opposed to joining with the doe on merit pay and other money wasting schemes.)

So go ahead and email Randi. Maybe she'll take a minute from collaborating with the likes of Bill Gates to respond.

And for those who see the uft as somehow different from the aft watch the 800 UFT Unity Caucus delegates to AFt/nysut conventions (mulgrew amongst them) endorse every single Weingarten policy with enthusiasm.

Want to see class size on the agenda? The next time Mulgrew or another uft official comes to your school don't let them get 3 words out of their mouths before interrupting them with a class size question. Do the same at Delegate Assemblies. And maybe even at the uft exec bd. It is time to stop being polite to union officials who are so willing to go along with policies that harm teachers and students.

One more point. When Al Shanker signed onto The Nation at Risk in 1983 he set the teacher unions on the road to ed deform where we make an assumption that all it takes is better school management and better teachers to turn things around, thus minimizing class size. We in the opposition to Unity Caucus/Shanker in the 70's could see it coming because to the UFT/AFT leadership (once Shanker took over the AFT in 1974) it was more important to spend money on fighting communism around the world than full funding of an equitable education for all.

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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.

VICTORY: STATE REJECTS MURDOCH/KLEIN WIRELESS GEN DEAL

As one commenter stated re: DiNapoli:

oh-oh! A certain state official better be careful with his cell phone calls after this.

Chalk it up to the hacks: New York scraps $27 million education contract with Murdoch firm

BY KENNETH LOVETT
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU

Saturday, August 27th 2011, 4:00 AM

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the scandal shrowded News Corp. empire, lost an almost-sealed deal with New York schools after passionate protests.

ALBANY - The Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal has prompted the state to kill a controversial $27 million contract with one of the media mogul's subsidiary companies.

State Controller Thomas DiNapoli this week quietly rejected the Education Department's contract with Wireless Generation, a News Corp. affiliate.

Wireless Generation was to pocket $27 million of the state's $700 million in "Race to the Top" funds to develop software to track s tudent test scores.

News Corp.'s British tabloid "News of the World" was shuttered last month amid a phone hacking and police bribery scandal.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is reviewing whether reporters from Murdoch's media empire hacked the phones of any 9/11 victims.

The controversy prove d too much for the state to stomach.

"In light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations with respect to News Corp., we are returning the contract with Wireless Generation unapproved," DiNapoli's office wrote to the Education Department.

DiNapoli's office also cited an "incomplete record" about Wireless Generation's qualifications as a cause for concern.

A spokeswoman for the company declined comment Thursday, and said Wireless Generation had not received any notification from the state.

Steamed state education officials slammed DiNapoli, accusing him of caving to teachers' unions - whose members opposed handing over data to Wireless Generation.

"The controller has allowed political pressure to get in the way of vital technology that would help our students," Education Department spoke sman Jonathan Burman said.

GEM's Brian Jones and Diane Ravitch on Democracy Now!

 teachers need to be more active in their unions. There needs to be a movement of ordinary teachers to challenge what we see, because we’re the ones who see it it happening in the classroom. I think we need to unite with parents and try to build a kind of social justice unionism that takes on not only questions of our working conditions, which are learning conditions, but also questions of curriculum and pedagogy. The group I’m a part of, the Grassroots Education Movement, gemnyc.org, is trying to do just that right here in New York. ---Brian Jones

Must watch video

Good Afternoon,

I am writing to you because I thought you might be interested in an interview about education policy on Democracy Now! this morning. We spoke with longtime education scholar, policy maker and author Diane Ravitch, as well as New York City public school teacher Brian Jones.

Ravitch was once a supporter of No Child Left Behind, but is now critical of conservative education policy. Both Ravitch and Jones spoke about increased standardized testing, teaching to the test, and recent budget cuts in education.

When you have a chance, please take a moment to watch the interview. Ravitch and Jones are both advocates for education equality and public education.

If appropriate, please consider posting the interview on your website, blog, Facebook page and/or Twitter accounts.

My Best, 

Katherine Kusiak Carey
Social Media and Online Outreach Intern

Democracy Now!

----

“Poverty Is the Problem”: Efforts to Cut Education Funding, Expand Standardized Testing Assailed

LINK:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/26/poverty_is_the_problem_efforts_to

Selection from Brian:

BRIAN JONES: Well, to me, the students are cheated even before the test is taken. Look, the cheating, the real social cheating, happens in the way that the high-stakes standardized testing distorts school itself.
Let me tell one story. I was doing a science experiment with a group of fourth graders. We were in the middle of a week-long science experiment, and we had—everyone had trays out on their tables, and they were pouring and mixing and investigating. We were having all kinds of rich discussions. And an administrator came in and said, "You have to stop what you’re doing right now," handed—put down a pile of workbooks and said, "You have to begin doing this right now." I begged her, in front of the students, "Please, let us just finish this experiment right now, in the next few minutes, and then we’ll do that." She said, "No, you have to put all this away right now and get working on the workbooks." So, the kids are cheated ahead of time. It teaches teachers to jump through these hoops, to not encourage critical thinking. It teaches all of us that knowledge is somewhere produced by Pearson or by one of these test companies, and you can’t create it, you can’t investigate it, you can’t do any of that. All you have to do is, more or less, remember it.
Here’s another way students are cheated. In elementary school, which I teach, we tend to go through genre studies. We take a genre of literature at a time and go through it. Well, now what more and more schools are doing is teaching the test itself as a genre—that is, studying the features of a test, as you would a novel, or as you would historical fiction or mysteries. You’re laughing, but this is very serious.

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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.

In the Belly of the Rhee/Kevin Johnson Beast: Sacramento GEM Movie Showing

Hi all:

 

I wanted to let you know that our screening of “Superman Truth” last night was a great success. We had almost 70 people and signed up 6 people for house parties. We had people from as far away as Oakland and Truckee (near Lake Tahoe) attend.  I’ll have to put the word out because I think there were people there with real cameras that might have pictures we could share. All I had was a camera phone. There are at least a couple of other screenings been planned for the fall. I’ll keep you informed.

 

Thanks for producing this great movie.

 

Kate Lenox

Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education

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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.

Show THIS Movie, Dammit

It's almost a year since Waiting for Superman was unleashed on the public and the Grassroots Education Movement response film which was released May 19 still has a lot of catching up to do. Consider showing the film in your school community this year. If you are in NYC contact us if you are interested in setting up a panel. See the video below of the backyard showing in Boston and the upcoming showing on Aug. 29.

From the ITBWFS Web Site

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, consider organizing a screeing in your area.  Screenings were held across the country this summer including this one http://tagboston.org/2011/08/16/screening-of-the-inconvenient-truth-behind-waiting-for-superman/ in Boston.  Share your experiences with us and share the film with others!

Order your copy of ITBWS on the DVD form found on this site.  For additional assistance or questions email: gemnyc@gmail.com.  Folks are free to share the film during public screenings and you can burn dvd copies; we only ask you do not upload the film to the internet and do not use the film for profit.

On July 19th, 2011 almost 100 teachers, parents, students and stakeholders attended a community viewing of “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman” – a response to the film “Waiting for Superman.” We held the screening backyard-theater-BBQ style on Wakullah Street in Roxbury, MA and everybody pitched in to bring food, blankets, a projector, speakers, and good vibes. Bree Picower from NYCoRE made the trip up from New York in order to give a talk before the movie and moderate a discussion afterwards.

If you would like to catch another screening don’t miss out on our next one. This time we will be showing the film on August 29th in the Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library on 65 Warren Street in Roxbury, MA from 5:30 to 7:45. You can click here for the flier and help us promote this screening in your neighborhood or school.


TAGBoston Screening- Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman 07/19/11 from TAG Boston on Vimeo.

NYC Teach For America Members Under the Radar

EdNotes has been pretty rough on Teach for America over the years and there has been some buzz about bringing local dissident TFAers together for a chat.

Along with Mark Naison, who hosted, I helped get some TFA corps and alumni together for a fascinating meeting last night which was illuminating for Mark and I as the TFAers drilled down into the culture of the organization. In one exercise each participant listed the positive and negative aspects of the organization and we as non-TFAers received some serious insights.

The call for the meeting emerged from the responses to critiques of TFA by Mark and on Ed Notes (see Musings of MAB tab at top of this blog) along with a push within NYCORE to begin to address some of the core issues that disturb so many core members who are not drinking the Kool-aid.

Can a group within TFA gather enough steam to force changes at the top level in the TFA approach? Like longer training periods, an end to data munching as the way to judge success and failure for students and teachers, urging teachers to look beyond their classroom and into the families and broader school community, and encouraging TFAers to remain in teaching and put down roots in one school community as the best way to have a long-term impact?

There was lots more discussed with plans to expand the initial group and meet again. If you know TFA people looking to nudge the organization in another direction, have them contact ed notes.


=========================
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.

Updates: Gotham, Wristology, Etc.

Those Cheat'n Hearts
I'll just point you to others' comments- just the tip of the ice berg, but teachers, not the lying skunks who run the system will get the blame:

• 
  NYC Educator

  Cheat Proudly
  

  25 minutes ago
• 
  Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog

  Reported test cheating tripled under Bloomberg
  

  53 minutes ago
• GothamSchools

  NEWS: Rise & Shine: Cheating allegations by city teachers are way up

Head over to Teachers Unite - I am today. Doing a UFT 101 workshop at 1. Oy!

Wristology Update
The bad news is that my over vacation from doing just about anything other than eating and sleeping 5 weeks (today) after my operation  may be over sooner than I thought. I'm actually beginning to use my right hand a bit to type this. Which is bad news for those who have had some relief from Ed Notes uber blogging. The skinny is that last week the doc told me the ulna - the bone that had almost pushed out of my skin - had actually healed after only 4 weeks and the radius which has the titanium plate is healing well. He told me to come back in 6 weeks and start removing the brace around the house. (Meanwhile therapy goes on 2 days a week - love to fondle that putty.) Darn. Can chores be far behind?

I did manage to wangle a drive free trip to Albany and Saratoga over the weekend to visit my wife's relatives - for the first time in over 40 years she did all the driving while I hugged my comfort pillow. We actually won money at the Saratoga race track - 5 out of 6 races brought back a few shekels but we blew it on junk food and my wife's need to spend $26 on a tee shirt that said guess what - Saratoga.

Albany is charter school heaven but I was still surprised to hear our 80 year old hostess lay out an anti-charter rap to my brother in law who had no idea what a charter school was. (I gave him a copy of our film to take home - more on his astounding positive reaction to the film another time - he's an anti-union FOX kind of guy who disagrees with me on every issue.)

--------------


Gotham Schools Panel Update

I received some reactions to the Saturday post, especially over the issue of Stephen Lazar being added to the panel after Gotham lobbied for him. My sense is that Gotham wants to promote its Community bloggers, which includes GEM's Liza Campbell and that is why they pushed for Lazar instead of someone who could officially represent the point of view of Real Reform orgs since E4E is given official status on the panel as is the UFT through Leo Casey. How does E4E get equal billing as a teacher group with the UFT while more legit teacher groups like GEM, NYCORE, Teachers Unite are ignored?

Here is an edited email I received (the author asked for anonymity).

I think everyone is missing the real story behind the panel on Thursday by being distracted by Gotham's name.  First off: Gotham had zero say in who was on the panel other than Lazar.  Manhattan Media put the panel together, and then asked Gotham if they wanted to join.  They made the decision to join because they feel an obligation to help out other small media in NYC, even if Manhattan Media is for-profit. Putting their name on this panel is something they deserve flack for, though it's not fair to blame them for the makeup of the panel.

The much more interesting question then becomes what does Manhattan Media hope to gain from this? Why Bill Thompson was invited?  As I'm sure you know, Manhattan Media is run by Tom Allon, also running for mayor, and doing so with education as a key part of his platform.  I think the Allon/Thompson dynamic at this thing is what could potentially be newsworthy, as otherwise, it's pretty much the same old people having the same old arguments that have been going on for years. From what I can tell from talking to people at both Tweed and Gotham, no one (other than Fox News) with decision making or media power takes E$E seriously.  Sure, they can be trotted out to make a point others were going to make anyway, but I really think most of their power comes from the response they get from people on our side of the battle.

My response:
I've been pushing on Gotham for some recognition of the work GEM has done. Does our movie even merit one article? They had a reporter on the bus which was organized by people in GEM and ICE.Was there a story in the people on the bus after riding with them for so many hours? Not a word. Imagine if Evan and Sydney were on the bus. I feel there is a leaning to E4E vs gem/nycore on the part of Gotham.

There's a natl move to set up E4E in many cities. Don't take them lightly. Not only FOX but WSJ and Post and even NYT front page where the E4E platform as featured with links to the web site. When the same reporter did a story mentioning a person in GEM/NYCORE the groups weren't mentioned at all. Gotham links to every story in every Murdoch controlled outlet on e4e.

You say Gotham had no input. I say they are being disengenuous. The joined as co-sponsors knowing the panel and had no sensitivity to the reaction of teachers towards E4E. That says a lot. They only asked for input after the storm broke.

The Real Reform gps have more outreach. Maybe Gotham doesn't want to alienate certain funding sources. Gotham could have made case for Brian or Julie but chose not to.  Two teachers who could provide chapter and verse on the impact of colocations on their schools on the same panel with Eva to challenge her lies? Gotham punted on that one.

My complaints are about fighting for equal recog for the orgs out there organizing teachers parents and students in trying to build a movement.

----------
Well, I'm heading over to spend the day at the Teachers Unite Organizing workshops. Yelena Siwinski and I are doing a UFT 101 workshop at 1. I'm depressed already.

The worshops continue tomorrow and Thursday.

Here is  the info:

Lawsuit against NOLA's RSD and John White by fired principals

Nice to see that vampire John White getting flack.

From Leonie Haimson.

Interesting challenge of White's credentials and labor practices:

    For instance, Goodwin claims that Superintendent White, who served as "Hearing Officer" for Goodwin's due-process hearing, "made a recommendation to himself as to whether or not Mr. Goodwin would be retained as a principal."… He adds that White "has only a Bachelor's Degree, [and] has no academic or administrative credentials which would entitle him to conduct a due process hearing for a principal who has earned a Master's Degree and who has been certified in Administration and Supervision by the Louisiana State Department of Education."


Principals Say Louisiana Is Privatizing New Orleans Schools

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/19/39121.htm
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

Sent from my BlackBerry

Gotham Schools Involvement in Ed Deform Panel Controversy - Teachers Protest E4E Faux Teacher Sydney Morris Inclusion - Ravitch Resigns From Panel

• Storm of Protest over City Hall News/Gotham Schools ed deform event. 
• Ravitch withdraws.
• Gotham Schools protest of innocence and neutrality comes into question

SEE GOTHAM ANNOUNCEMENT WHERE YOU CAN COMMENT.

We've been tracking this story since word came through Thursday morning when Leonie Haimson came across the announcement (see original announcement at end of this post) that City Hall News and Gotham Schools were co-sponsoring an ed deform panel next week. Leonie added this comment: "Strangely constituted and lately announced."

Strange indeed. Gotham Schools, a supposedly independent source of school news was co-sponsoring an event stacked with ed deformers. NYC State Regent slug Meryl (I'm not a crook) Tisch, Evil Moskowitz, non-entity Bill Thompson (Bloomberg's hand-picked opponent in the last election) and best of all, faux teacher Sydney Morris of E4E. No real teacher. No real parent. But Diane Ravitch was on the panel as the lone Real Reformer. Not good enough for many of us.

The blow back was fast and furious.

To City Hall News:

Dear Sir or Madam,
I write to express my feelings concerning your inclusion of Ms. Sydney Morris in your On Education breakfast of August 25 who is there, presumably, to represent teachers. Please understand that I speak for tens of thousands when I tell you that as a teacher I find her selection nothing short of appalling and grossly offensive. Ms. Morris is a part time employee of the Department of Education which have egregiously granted her and her fellow Educators for Excellence co-founder something called F status which allows her to work one day a week in the profession she so arrogantly claims to represent and even lead. It has been documented in the New York Times and elsewhere that Educators for Excellence is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and represents less than one percent of New York City teachers, the overwhelmingly majority who find their views astoundingly ignorant and abhorrent. In short, Ms. Morris is an employee of Bill Gates working for a union busting front group. In no way can she be considered an authentic voice for NYC teachers.

In the name of decency and fairness I strongly urge you to reconsider your choice or failing that at the very least counter the presence of Ms. Morris with a real teacher representing the real views of other real teachers. I would happily assist you in this quest.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely

Patrick Walsh
NYC Teacher

Other teachers sent private letters of protest to Gotham asking how E4E gets on the panel but no reps from Real Reform groups like GEM, NYCORE or Teachers Unite are not considered.

Word from Gotham quickly filtered out along the lines of "Who me? We're just moderating and had no say in the panel." Gotham furiously began to back pedal and word seeped out that the old standby, UFT VP Leo Casey and Tweed top level official Shael Polokaw-Surnansky had been asked - to create balance? I may have made peace with Leo at SOS but he is far from a Real Reformer.

Question: Gotham wasn't sensitive enough in the first place to see this stacked panel would create a storm and question their credibility?

Well, I as a trusting soul gave Gotham the benefit of the doubt. They weren't partnering with City Hall News but just moderating - until I saw the revised announcement.Well, apparently there was some lobbying going on and Gotham blogger and legit teacher Stephen Lazar was added to the panel to balance Sydney Morris, causing a bit of joy in the Mudville listserves.

Sorry, folks, I'm not appeased. While I am glad Lazar is on the panel, I don't see him as representing any of the Real Reform groups - GEM, NYCORE, Teachers Unite _ that counter the E4E paid for ed deformist line. Appeals to Gotham were unheeded to lobby for an official rep from these orgs just as Sydney is advertized as the founder of E4E (why is she always representing an org with supposedly over 3000 members - a number dwarfed by the number of people supporting Real Reform orgs. Why not show us some of those faces? Or maybe another one of the 6 people employed by the Gates/DFER funded E4E?

But then again we know how much love the press and Gotham (by linking to every scrap of E4E press coverage) has shown to E4E over its brief existence. Evan or Sydney blow a bubble and FOX, the NY Post and the Wall St. Journal have an article on them. E4E is Rupert Murdoch's dream organization - and there are other E4Es around the nation which I will post about next week.

Sydney Morris is clearly on the panel to push the E4E 5th column line. Why should E4E which has less influence in the schools than the real reform groups like GEM, NYCORE and Teachers Unite be represented and they excluded? So E4E could put out press releases that they are at a level to sit on a panel with Tisch and Moskowitz, creating another layer of false legitimacy?


There is an anti-Gotham sense amongst a sub-set of some teachers and parents that Gotham is biased toward charters and ed deform in general - the idea that the biggest money gets you what you pay for. No one in that camp has convinced me yet, though I have hammered Gotham over the attention paid to a faux teacher group while mostly ignoring Real Reform groups like GEM, NYCORE and Teachers Unite.

Gotham, by originally seeming to have few qualms about participating in an ed deform event with a faux teacher representing a faux organization, has harmed some of its credibility in my eyes. I would go down and protest - If I didn't have to do my hair Thursday morning.


-----------------
South Bronx School imports a guest commentator to compare Ed creds of an E4E and GEM leader.
----------------
I don't buy into the opinion of bias by Gotham - the have responded to pressure to give the Real Reformer groups some coverage and have featured RR writers in the community section. But in the interests of fair and balanced, here is an alternatative viewpoint.

Some comments on Gotham bias and E4E from NYC Educator

The Audacity of Corporate Nonsense

And Good Morning to You, Too

Like, Thanks, Gotham Schools!

Holy Grail of the "Reformers"

Charters 4-Union 1That's the score at Gotham Schools

NY Post, Fox News, and Gotham Schools

The original announcement below. The updated one here.

It has been a tumultuous summer in the education world, full of budget fights and labor showdowns. Heading into the new school year we are sitting down with a panel of leaders and influencers in the education field to better understand how the past year’s fights will play out in the school year ahead and how these events will impact education policy, city politics, teachers and parents for years to come. MODERATED BY: Andrew Hawkins Managing Editor at City Hall News Philissa Cramer Managing Editor of GothamSchools.Org THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2011 8:00 a.m. Networking Breakfast 8:30 -9:30 a.m. Panel Discussion Followed by Q&A Location: Con Edison Building4 Irving Place (@14th Street) New York, New York TICKETS: EARLY REGISTRATION: $30 for individual tickets/ $250 table of 10 AFTER 8/24: $40 for individual tickets / $350 for a table of 10 PURCHASE TICKETS BELOW *$20 ticket for government and non-profit employees FOR MORE INFORMATION or sponsorship opportunities call 646.442.1662 or email us here. PANELISTS: SYDNEY MORRIS Co-Founder of Educators 4 Excellence EVA MOSKOWITZ Former City Council Member & Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Success Charter Network DIANE RAVITCH Research Professor of Education at New York University & Former Assistant Secretary of Education BILL THOMPSON Former President of the NYC Board of Education & Former NYC Comptroller MERRYL TISCH Chancellor of the NY Board of Regents JOSEPH P. VITERITTI Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College

PEP POP III: Diary of a Mad Parent

I'm outta here…once again amazed at politics in NYC. I think I'll look for a bar. There's a reality at the bottom of a glass that makes more sense than this.

Posted by a parent activist on the NYCEd listserve, it captures the PEP ambiance perfectly:

530 PM on August 17: streets crowded with Verizon workers in red shirts; police, lined up, hands on hips, staring into the crowd, whistles and loud speakers, honking car horns, disgruntled pedestrians…New York in the midst of a strike. It looked like Lindsey era turmoil. This time though, the strikers have a lot more to lose. This is an era of big business that would make Gould, Carnegie and Rockefeller bust the buttons of the vests over their very prosperous bellies. New barons wear LL Bean or $2000.00 suits

We walked along Pearl Street, past barricades and protesters to Murry Bergtraum High School, yet another high school shrouded in scaffolding and netting… like a widow staring stoically off into space while a beloved was buried. It was time for the PEP meeting. Jeez Louise, these meetings have become so depressing!

Getting into the auditorium took a bit of maneuvering; we went up a few steps to go down a flight of stairs. I couldn't help but think of Dante's inferno..which level would we be at when we stopped? The place was a sea of red shirts…for a moment I thought St. John's was holding a B-ball rally. But no, once the chanting began I knew we weren't at a college campus rally. Organizers handed out flyers, independently people began chants….Verizon sucks!. The people united will never be divided!….Do the right thing! Kids were there, some so young their mothers carried them in their arms. Workers were there. Parents were there.

The air was electric, but the PEP wasn't. Half of them weren't there yet and DOE staff was milling around on the stage…putting out water bottles seemed to be the most that anyone was doing. More security stared out at the crowd. I am not sure what was funnier, their stares or the crowds chants.

It's 6:20 and the PEP comes to order. We begin, as usual with the Chancellor's report. The Chancellor swings into action….grabbing a mike and jumping into the well of the auditorium. It would have been impressive except for one thing….he's being ignored. He starts his report with the opening day of school, September 8th, and the place erupts. People are shouting "We know that!" Unperturbed, he moves on to sex education producing cat calls and laughter from the audience. ELA and Math scores were next. A giant screen with facts and figures hung above the audience. Shael Suransky began to intone the DOE mantra…we had an increase. ELA 1.5%. Math 3.3% The house came down! Whistles, hoots, hollers, sneers, you name it people used it. Everyone in that room knew that these numbers were a sham and a shame. Fingers were pointed at the PEP. Shouts of "Shame on you" were long and loud. Suransky's presentation, such as it was, was drowned out in the ruckus.

The PEP Sec'y droned on and on. There were changes to Chancellor's regs 670 and 755
The crowd waited expectantly. Robert Jackson of City Council was already at one mike. Others had lined up at a second mike. Signs came up. People shifted and shuffled. And then bang, there is was: the proposal to okay the estimated budget. A wave of noise swept over the audience There were 14 items in the budget proposal. Jackson wanted to know which item was the Verizon proposal? Where was the proposal? Did anyone see it? Read it? Understand it? Other speakers had questions and comments.
The contracts included money for consultants, technology and testing. Why not revise your spending priorities and put the money back into the schools? 250 principals have appealed their proposed budgets. They are facing teaching staff cuts, program cuts. Why are we paying for consultants when students are going without teachers?

The Special Investigator had found Verizon to be guilty of swindling the DOE out of millions, yet a Verizon spokesman had written to the DOE insisting that Verizon was not part of the theft committed while Willard Lanham was a tech consultant for the DOE. Verizon made millions and was accused of stealing more and now the DOE should pay them? Why not call it a wash? Verizon provides the DOE with the service, the DOE doesn't go after them for over 120 million in suspected thefts? Shouts of "Raise test scores not corporate profits" were coming fast and furious.

The noise was overwhelming the speakers. PEP members were unable to hear the budget presentation. The Manhattan Boro President rep wanted a postponement. The Queens' rep agreed. The Verizon contract which had expired in January was never rescinded by Verizon. Yet, as the Manhattan rep pointed out, Verizon could back out of the contract if the strike prevented them from acting in accordance with the agreement. So, here we are, agreeing to pay money to an organization under federal investigation for theft. Is this crazy? You bet! Is it even crazier that the PEP voted to accept this contract? Nope. Insanity means you have lost your ability to recognize reality. The mayoral appointees, all of whom voted for the contracts, were adept at ignoring reality and acting politically. They were never supposed to be real, just vote. I wonder where they keep their rubber stamps?

I'm outta here…once again amazed at politics in NYC. I think I'll look for a bar. There's a reality at the bottom of a glass that makes more sense than this.

 =================

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.

PEP POPS II

Things are still buzzing over last night's PEP. What people on our side miss when they call rubber stamp PEP meetings a waste of time and money is that these meetings are opportunities to bring and solidify the forces of opposition to BloomBloodSucker. The ed deformers in their open flouting of morals, ethics, law are the creators of a movement that will one day bring them down. So we lose every vote, but we gain strength in those losses.

Make sure to check out my earlier PEP Pops I which takes the UFT leadership to task for poor turnout at the pre-PEP rally and zero turnout at the PEP itself. But luckily there were powerful voices from the UFT rank and file to pick up the load.

----------------
"When will this administration put children first?"
Julie Cavanagh express R and F solidarity with Verizon strikers and expresses hope they will be back at future PEP meetings before lambasting WalSlick and crew for wasting enormous sums of money. Video by my new top notch assistant Pat Dobosz.

And what do you think of Julie's new hairdoo?



 Here is a link to Pat's video of the final vote.

Julie and Verizon new superstar Verizon striker and parent Amy Muldoon, who galvanized the PEP, will be at a rally for Verizon workers. (See below for details.) Here is a letter from Amy.

--------------------
My video with Leonie and Peter and Mulgrew speeches
Here is my 18 minute video (using my shaky flip-like camera) of the Verizon workers coming off the Brooklyn Bridge and marching en masse over to Pearl Street where the rest of the mass was waiting for them. GEM/ICE people were stationed on the route to hand them signs relating to the PEP which they were grabbing like crazy. Thanks to David and Pat Dobosz for all their hard work in making them up and to Joan Seedorf, Yelea Siwinski, Lisa North and Vera Pavone for handing them out along with Pat and David.

UFT rank and file teachers join with Verizon strikers for a rally before the PEP planned to vote in favor of a $120 million Verizon contract which has come under attack for fraudulent past practices. The Brooklyn contingent marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and met up with the Manhattan strand and marched over to hear the speeches across the street from Verizon HQ and the school the PEP was meeting at. Symbolic? This video is the rally part only with a few of the speeches by Class Size Matters Leonie Haimson, GEM's Peter Lamphere, the UFT's Michael Mulgrew and a few others.

Tomorrow I'll put up some of the footage from inside the PEP - like Walcott in a hysterical sex ed rant - tell people of color to wear condoms.
------------------

Karen Sprowal,whose son, Matthew, was kicked out of Harlem Success charter school in Kindergarten, speaks for Class Size Matters about the devastating school budget cuts and the harsh effect on class size at last night's Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

Below this video is another of the audience shouting "Shame" after the Panel vote to approve the $120 million contract with Verizon.

 http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/08/karen-sprowal-talks-about-school-budget.html

 
------------------
Here is a video from GEM's Gustavo Mejias

Verizon and PEP mtg [HQ]

Rally at PEP meeting of the DOE in support of Verizon Workers and Against the DOE dealing with Verizon Executives http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2238887968149

-----------------

SOLIDARITY WITH VERIZON STRIKERS!
A Fight For Us All!

Saturday, August 20
4:00 PM
Musicians local 802322 W. 48th St

JOIN a PANEL DISCUSSION with:

• Amy Muldoon, Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1106
• Vincent Galvin, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
• Ron Spaulding, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
  
• Julie Cavanagh, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)
• Member of the Transportation Workers Union (TWU)

*organizations listed for identification purposes only

SOME 45,000 workers at Verizon are on strike across the Northeast, in one of the largest labor actions in years. If they lose, employers across the country will be emboldened to sharpen their attacks. But if they win, they could galvanize working people to pick up where the struggle in Wisconsin left off.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256645951021736
More info/to endorse: 646-421-2035; To request free childcare: julerro@gmail.comEndorsed by: The International Socialist Organization, Grassroots Education Movement

================
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.

PEP Pops I - Updated with video and links to coverage

Here are some links to coverage:

GEM's Gustavo Medina has video:
Verizon Workers on Strike Pearl ST NYC
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2238572200255

Leonie Haimson:  My take on last night's PEP meeting on Verizon contract and its electric "Norma Rae" moment:  ttp://t.co/QPuVHmLL

Media coverage of the meeting from the Times, Daily News, Post, NY1.  None of it really captures the intensity of the evening, though the NY1 video comes closest with Lindsey Christ at NY1 doing her usual bang-up job.

Fox 5 NY:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/NYC-OK-Verizon-School-Contract-20110818-APX

International Business Tribune:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/199901/20110818/verizon-strikle-2011-contract-school-new-york.htm

Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/controversial-verizon-phone-and-internet-contract-approved-for-new-york-city-schools/2011/08/18/gIQAPbzGNJ_story.html

GothamSchools:

http://gothamschools.org/2011/08/17/remainders-amid-protest-pep-approves-verizon-contract/

Michael Solo took stills at the rally and posted them at the Fight Back Friday blog.
http://fightbackfridays.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_17.html


Back story links at Ed Notes:

• Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give ou...

• Patrick Sullivan Warns on DOE/PEP Violations on Co...
• UFT Officially Joins PEP/Verizon Aug. 17 Protest
• Catless
• A Midsummer Night's Scream - Picket PEP Over Veriz...
• Verizon: Corporations Are People Too - Mitt Romney...

There is a Members Relief Fund.  It is a Solidarity Fund that other union members can donate to. If you would like to make a contribution, you may do so online at
www.cwa-union.org/hardshipfund <http://www.cwa-union.org/hardshipfund> <http://action.cwa-union.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=ziooN8QM91JNw9BsD1JCF1%2BeiKI2mOZl>

This is especially important as the video testimony of a mother on strike below highlights, these folks will lose their healthcare at the end of the month.




Ed Notes Report
I'm sitting here in the middle of the night with a noisy fan whirring and making a sound that sounds an awful like "What's didgusting union busting," a common refrain we heard throughout the evening.

Aside from the fact that the Panel for Educational Policy Bloomberg rubber stamps would vote up the Verizon contract there was much significance in the events today where thousands of striking Verizon workers joined with teachers and parents in a rally outside Murry Bergtraum HS followed by attending the monthly PEP meeting of the rubber stamps. Seeing them come off the Brooklyn Bridge en masse was thrilling. And what guts to strike in these times against one of the most powerful corporations. And so many workers all over the city. I ran into a whole bunch on 34th St. at 12 noon. I just cannot conceive of the UFT doing anything that could come close.

Just a few points in this post - I'll supplement later with some video I took.

1. Educating CWA members on the disastrous ed deform policies of Bloomberg
What these members of the Communications Workers of America, many of them parents of students attending NYC schools, witnessed was what we ed activists have been
witnessing for almost a decade - a corporate agenda that ignores the voices of parents and teachers - and the public at large. We couldn't have done more to raise the consciousness of a significant and influential group of people than the PEP and their increasingly slimy shill Dennis Walcott accomplished for us. Let's hope the CWA and Verizon workers remember last night when mayoral control comes up for renewal.

2. Building grassroots rank and file teacher/Verizon worker alliances
Lots of wonderful interactions between the mostly GEM/ICE/Teachers Unite people and rank and file CWA workers. This was not between union leaderships (more on that below.) GEM, TU and NYCORE reps joined picket lines over a week ago to show support.

3. The organizing/initiating role GEM played
Yes, the very idea to team the strike and the PEP Verizon vote came out of the GEM internal listserve 2 weeks ago and caught on with other groups like wildfire. There were many groups that signed on but only a few actually turned out people. Between GEM and ICE I counted at least 15-20 people, a nice showing for such relatively tiny orgs.

One thing I noticed was how stoked some of the people who started working with GEM recently were over the ability of the group to make things happen. (I haven't written about it but the high stakes testing meeting on Monday attracted quite a crowd and got an amazing amount of work done.) Sometimes I am amazed myself since my experience in ICE has been so much more think tank than action. There is some need for both I guess and the most action oriented people in ICE have been attracted to the work in GEM, which after all started out as an ICE subcommittee.



4. The UFT - almost rising to the level of being pathetic
You know I am trying my best not to bash the UFT but how can I pass after yesterday's shameful performance? Even I had been fooled when I heard they had signed on - or at least Leroy Barr sent out a letter urging people to join in. (UFT Officially Joins PEP/Verizon Aug. 17 Protest.)

By the way, soon after, New Action signed on too - but I saw only one NA person there - but now they can brag about how they took part- by the time they massage the story they will have organized the whole thing.

So Mulgrew spoke outside and he spoke well. Hr made sure to bring a photographer and a NY Teacher reporter and a few people who work at the UFT. I expected hundreds. I counted maybe 10. But worst of all, when it came time to go into the PEP and fight it out with the Bloomscum, the UFT totally disappeared. Not a one. Whereas GEM went in with a strategy and organized speaker signups for people from all the groups, there was zero UFT presence. Shouldn't someone from the leadership of the UFT have spoken at the PEP instead of just outside?


I did whatever video I could with my flip-like camera 'till I ran out of battery power. Even though I had some good news today about my broken wrist, it was a long day in the city for me and my wife has been picking me up at various subway stops so I had to leave at 7:30 just as Julie Cavanagh was raking them over the coals - I think someone else may have caught it. I'll put up some videos of first the rally outside and then the PEP itself later.

Day 3: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Weds, Aug. 17

The debate continues between Julie Cavanagh and Ben Boychik. Follow this to see exactly the kind of manipulative game parent trigger plays in the hands of the ed deformers.

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to the debate so far:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.

Check Ed Notes' previous coverage:

Gem's Julie Cavanagh Debates Parent Trigger online this week in Manhattan institute Sponsored Event starting Monday at 12 noon

Day 1 Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Monday Aug. 15

Day 2: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Tuesday, Aug. 16

Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give our schools back our money? BE AT THE PEP Wed.

"Verizon has sent the PEP members a letter asking us to approve the contract.  It blames CWA for the campaign against the contract.  It attempts to completely misrepresent the SCI [Special Commissioner of Investigation] report which clearly states Verizon concealed billing information and knew of inappropriate arrangements.   Rather than CWA, it was SCI who asked that all funds be recovered from Verizon and that external auditors be brought in to examine Verizon's books."

Laura,
Special Commissioner for Investigation Condon recommended that the DOE require that all funds from the Lanham consultants be returned from Verizon.
When will you give our schools back our money?  We have severe budget cuts and we need those funds.
Have you opened your books to our auditors as he also asked?

Patrick Sullivan
Manhattan member,
Panel for Educational Policy

 GEM started this ball rolling less than 2 weeks ago by teaming the Verizon contract with the strike and lookee at what's happening. The CWA is coming out strong tomorrow and so is the activist ed community - all the groups are on board. Don't expect much press at a mid-Aug. PEP.

Verizon is feeling the heat. Verizon's Laura wrote a letter to all the PEP members and Patrick responded above.

Memories: Bridge Project Brings Them Back

I loved the article at Gotham Bridge-building no metaphor at engineering-themed high school.

It brought back memories of a project we did at my school 18 years ago where we won $1500 (which I used to buy more computers- actually, one sort of souped up Mac to run a nascent network) and all kinds of national and even international accolades because a group of girls built a bridge. My principal was so annoyed she threatened not to allow entry to Matthew Wald (then a young reporter who still writes for the Times, covering aviation and transportation). I told her we would do the interview on the sidewalk  in front of the school and embarrass the hell out of her. She relented. She told me I was getting the glory while she did the nuts and bolts. i looked at her like she was an idiot. "Don't you know the entire bridge is built with nuts and bolts?"

Wald did a great job on the article, only mis-labeling the neighborhood - it is Williamsburg.

Due to the exposure, the girls were feted in a  number of places, being the guests of honor at a breakfast full of celebrities at the Mus. of Natural History where they gave me a blown-up framed copy of this article - which has to be somewhere in my house but I can't find.

The Academy of Science  had us over for dinner and the engineers at the George Washington Bridge invited us for a day.

A few months later they were invited on the Sally Jesse Rafael show with a limo sent to pick us all up. They sat in the audience while Gloria Steinem was interviewed and were on camera for about 30 seconds. Steinem didn't give them  the time of the day- seemed downright nasty to me. My wife and I invited the girls to stay over the night before to make sure everything went off on time. Think of it - 5 7th grade girls who spent most of the night having pillow fights while we huddled in our bedroom with the 3 cats thinking, "Cats seem so much easier than children." Those two days were really memorable.

Think of it - because girls built a bridge which seemed revolutionary less than 20 years ago, showing you we've come a long way baby.

The girls would be in their early 30's now - except for Bonnie Resto who was killed in an auto accident at 18. One of the saddest moments - seeing her in a coffin. Jean Ng went on to Stuyvesant - her older sister was a doctor - so I imagine she has done well. Jean was brilliant but had the most aplomb about the whole thing, telling reporters she had no intention of being an engineer just because she built a bridge.

How did I hook up with Meccano, a French company that bought Erector from Gilbert? See below for that story.

For some reason the archives don't have the great photo of the girls holding the bridge, sort of modeled on the Bayonne Bridge.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/20/nyregion/prize-for-school-project-bridges-old-gender-gap.html?scp=1&sq=&st=nyt

Prize for School Project Bridges Old Gender Gap

By MATTHEW L. WALD

Published: December 20, 1993

The five engineers on the winning team in the nationwide design competition were celebrating their victory, partying hard on Haagen-Dazs and Nestle bars in their top-floor headquarters, standing around the soaring creation that had absorbed so much of their time and imagination, and boasting that no one else could have done the job.

"Especially not boys; boys are too picky," said 12-year-old Melissa Rivera. Boys want everything their own way, Melissa said, and they don't make good team players. Girls, simply put, can do just as well, maybe even better, she said.

Day 2: Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Tuesday, Aug. 16

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to the debate so far:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.


See Julie nail Ben again and Caroline Grannan hit him again as he tries to get off the floor.
Boychuk says:

where parents are routinely dismissed or where their involvement is answered with condescension and suspicion—then the “parent trigger” is indeed “real parent choice” and genuinely empowering.

Now we know ed deformers don't really want to empower parents and Julie exposes them:

Stating that parent choice increases involvement, let alone empowerment, is not entirely accurate.  What is parent choice? Are we ensuring choices that are authentic and meaningful or are we giving the illusion of choice? What is involvement? Are we ensuring parents are given the power to demand the programs and services they want for their children or are we giving them a voice, but ignoring their choices? Parent activist Karen Harper-Royal often points out, in the world of school choice, “schools choose and parents and kids lose.”
The “parent trigger” is an illusion of choice and an impediment to empowerment. True choice and empowerment would include parents having a genuine seat at the table; preparing the menu, gathering the ingredients with administrators and educators, and together cooking the meal, setting the table, and enjoying their collaborative educational feast. Policy such as the “parent trigger” leaves parents with one option: clean up after all of the wrong ingredients have been purchased and the meal is burnt. If the goal is to cultivate parent choice and empowerment there is a simple solution: give parents what they want.  In parent surveys across the country, and every year here in New York City, parents demand one reform consistently: small class size. 

You go girl.

By the way, for those of you educators out there who pay lip service to parent involvement and in fact believe parents should have as little say in schools as possible (and at time in my career some thoughts have run through my head along these lines) let me say that Julie is not just blowing smoke. When she says she is passionate about empowering parents she means it - one of the most articulate spokes persons on this issue I've met - and she has influenced me. Now if you don't think Julie's position is not diametrically different from where the UFT has always come from (explaining why they are for mayoral control) you are smoking something.

Below is Caroline Grannan, an expert on the Parent Trigger responding to Boychuk's lauding McKinley as a model.

Is the Evil Meryl Tisch Even Eviler than Eva?

Michael Winerip wrote Monday on the evil and the good at State Board of Regents which ostensibly should control the absolutely evil NY State Ed Dept but even eviler (out eviling Eva) Regent boss Meryl Tisch has taken all power for herself.

Regents Pay a Political Price for Their Free Advisers, Dissenters Warn

By MICHAEL WINERIP

In December, the chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, Merryl H. Tisch, announced a new program: 13 research fellows would be selected to advise the education commissioner and the 17-member board. The fellows would be paid as much as $189,000 each, in private money; to date, $4.5 million has been raised, including $1 million donated by Dr. Tisch, a member of one of New York’s wealthiest families.
The chancellor sees the program as a way to add resources and expertise at a time of severe budget cutting (state financing of the Education Department is down 35 percent since 2009). She said the fellows would help ensure that the $700 million federal Race to the Top grant New York was awarded last year was properly spent.
“People in the department were burning out,” Dr. Tisch said. “This was a great way to enhance our capacity.”
As Dr. Tisch put it, what’s not to like about free fellows?
Plenty, according to several current and former board members.
Public education has never been so divided, between those like Dr. Tisch, Commissioner John B. King Jr. and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg who support the Obama administration’s signature Race to the Top initiative and its emphasis on standardized tests and charter schools; and dissenters on the board, who call it a Race to the Bottom and put their faith in teachers as well as traditional public schools. The Race to the Bottom folks warn that the supposedly free fellows come at a stiff political price.

Good for The Bottoms. Read it all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/nyregion/free-advisers-cost-ny-education-dept-critics-say.html?_r=1&ref=michaelwinerip

There was another article in the same edition by Sam Dillon detailing state ed departments fighting back against NCLB and opposing the Obama administration attempts to offer waivers if they sign onto their oppressive regs - teacher evals by test score, lots of charters, etc. 

State Challenges Seen as Whittling Away Federal Education Law

Some education officials and experts see signs that years of federal dominance of public school accountability may be drawing to a close.

Of course you won't find the evil ones on this list.

-------

Steiner and Tisch hostage photo

Some Ed Notes greatest hits on Tisch:

Education Notes Online: Dishonor Among Thieves: Merryl Tisch Wrote ...

May 15, 2011

Ed Notes has learned that the letter Governor Cuomo supposedly wrote to Merryl Tisch and the State Board of Regents calling for a change from weighing teacher evaluations based on state tests from 20 to 40% was in fact ...

Education Notes Online: Tisch Family Connections to K12 Board and ...

May 04, 2011

Don't be so mean: Ms. Tisch is simply offering a compassionate helping hand to convicted felon Michael Milken (the force behind the privately-owned Learning Group LLC), who served time in federal prison for insider ...

Education Notes: Steiner and Tisch: Race To The Top Hostage Photo

Aug 26, 2010

Meryl Tisch - yes that family - owns Giants and all kinds of stuff. Also Bloomberg next door neighbor - we picketed her too at our January '10 demo a Bloomberg's house. She also does Passover with Joel Klein. ...

Education Notes: Tisch, Tisch, Meryl

Apr 07, 2009

This one is about the outrageous puff piece in the NY Times on Meryl Tisch, who now heads the NY State Board of Regents which must rule on waivers for "do no nuttin bout education" chancellors. Look for a follow-up piece ...

 =================

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.

Add Your Comments at Ed Notes on Parent Trigger Online Debate at Manhattan Institute - Monday Aug. 15

NO COMMENTS ALLOWED AT PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE.

JUST CLICK ON THE COMMENT LINK BELOW THIS POST

If you saw this post this morning:

Gem's Julie Cavanagh Debates Parent Trigger online this week in Manhattan Institute Sponsored Event starting Monday at 12 noon...and lasting through Thursday

Starting today, Julie will be debating Ben Boychuk on the Parent Trigger, an ed deform wolf in sheep's clothing at the Manhattan Institute's Public Sector.

Since there is no room for comments we are using Ed Notes as the vehicle for public comment every day.

Here is the link to today's debate:
http://www.publicsectorinc.com/online_debates/2011/08/the-parent-trigger-a-positive-step-or-a-distraction-for-improving-our-public-schools.html

Tomorrow at 12 noon you can see the responses to each other and so on through Thursday.

------------
Parent Trigger supposedly allows parents at a school perceived as not functioning effectively to vote on a number of options, most of which could lead to some level of privatization. On the surface Boychuk's arguments may look attractive to some parents. But the reality in a time of of big money charter/voucher supporters what we will see is they will hire some front group to find a few parents (maybe even pay them) to organize other parents - you know the drill - innundate  the community with flyers, ads, glossy posters, etc while the public school is left defenseless to fight back. And Voila - you have another  public intitution disappear into the mitt of privatization. Why are the investing so much money in this endeavor? I don't think you need me to answer. Despite Boychuk's list of options we know this is the more likely outcome.

I should point out that Manhattan Institute is generally a pro-business right wing think tank. But this debate is possibly a sign that the weaknesses of ed deform are leaking through the cracks.

---------
Leonie Haimson asks Why No Parent in the debate?
I posted Leonie's question to MI in the posting of the press release from MI this morning. Of course MI could just as well have gotten a parent to debate each side of the issue. But given they are using Boychuk who is associated with MI, Julie as an educator works out fine.

Julie responded to Leonie's question:

For the record, so folks on the Ed News list and PAA are aware, I raised this issue with he Manhattan Institute when I was first asked to participate. I felt uncomfortable as an educator being the voice, which I figured would be the 'opposition' voice, on the parent trigger. I was well aware of the strong opposition from many individual parents and groups across the country. I was told that they asked me because I could speak to the issue from the school level.

Now, we/I can hypothesize as to why a teacher, rather than a parent was asked (in the middle of the project is probably not the best time for me to do this), but I figured accepting the invitation was better than allowing it to go to someone else, who clearly would not have been a parent either.

I want all of you to know that I have heavily sought the input and advice of several parents including Leonie (and members of paa) and Mona and will be linking almost exclusively (if not in full) to parents'  work and writing in my posts  including paa, class size matters and ny charter parents.

Parent empowerment, true empowerment, has always been of paramount importance to me, which is precisely why I do oppose the parent trigger (in its current forms), and why I agreed to this forum/debate.

Best,
Julie Cavanagh

GEM High-Stakes Testing Committee Meeting Today (Monday) at 5PM

Below is a tentative agenda for today's committee meeting on high-stakes standardized testing.

As a reminder, we will be meeting in room 5414 at the CUNY graduate center at 5pm. Please bring ID and any updates you have about anything that might have been accomplished over the past month. We will spend a good portion of our time building strategy and outlining some concrete goals.

Proposed Testing Committee Agenda
Monday, August 15th

5-5:15 Welcome, Settling In
5:15-5:20 Introductions
5:20-5:35 Go around with updates from last meeting
5:35-6 Strategy Building Discussion
       Identifying goals and objectives more precisely, determining clear and concise next steps
6-6:50 Action Groups
6:50-7:00 Wrap-Up/Share Out 


GEM High-Stakes Testing Committee Meeting
Monday, August 15th, 5pm
CUNY Graduate Center
Room 5414
5th Ave and 34th St.
1/2/3/B/D/F/M/N/Q/R to 34th St.



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