Eva Shut Down By Parent Leaders in Cobble Hill - Meeting Over

SEE FOLLOW-UP REPORT:  Jim Devor Report on How Eva Shut Down Her Own Meeting and Ran Out


This was an unconfirmed report we just received from Cobble Hill. Waiting for more details. The other meeting today in Williamsburg at 2PM has not had any open opposition yet.

So far despite intense opposition on the Upper West Side, the Eva Moskowitz Success Academy onslaught on white middle class gentrifying neighborhoods continues in Brooklyn Cobble Hill, areas of Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg.

So far she hasn't been stopped with the DOE and the massive input of money into the Success Network with the goal of establishing a loss-leader - heavy investment up front to make these schools even more attractive then even the successful public schools like PS 261- until these schools are destabilized and closed, leaving the parents with no choice other than charters as has happened in New Orleans. (The New Orleans Charter Scam Game - See comment 1).

The invasion of Brooklyn will be voted on at the Dec. 14 PEP meeting where Moskowitz, who is using her charter schools to build a political machine, will turn out busloads of her troops (with lots of food and threats that they must attend). PS 59 is the target apparently. The UFT is too intimidated by Eva to go head to head so only by building the ed version of OWS which is being called Occupy Public Education can we fight her.

Before I go on, I do hope that people see the connection between this story, the OWS stories, the Charlotte Danielson story, the ATR story and Common Core Standards story and pretty much all the stuff we have been putting up. We have only one weapon to counteract Eva - your bodies. Numbers do count and it is imperative for rank and file teachers to start joining in - and yes we will be charged by FOX and the Post and most of the press with being hooligans and who knows what else if we shut down Tweed dog and pony shows - but we lose the PR battle if we are good boys and girls or bad- so let's be BAD!

Here is a message from Leonie:

Eva is  offering tours for parents in Cobble Hill & Williamsburg to Upper West Success in Manhattan, presumably because it has a more upscale demographic than her current Brooklyn  Success Academy which was opened this year.  See attached brochure above.
 The opening of Upper West Success w/ more middle class parents was critical to getting her the demonstration project she needed to recruit more such parents.  Also note the photos of the little blonde girl. Schools that are currently targeted for co-locations are: Bed Stuy Success Academy at PS 59; K059 (“K059”), located at 211 Throop Avenue, Brooklyn Cobble Hill Success Academy at Brooklyn School for Global Studies (15K429), School for International Studies (15K497) and P.S. 368 (P368K@H429K) in Building K293, 284 Baltic Street, Brooklyn.

There is also a new Uncommon School HS charter slated for Brooklyn Academy High School
(13K553), Bedford Stuyvesant Preparatory High School (13K575) and a District 75 School (75K373@79K575) in Building K458; 832 Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn.

I don’t think they have announced the Williamsburg location yet.

Hearing times at below link.
 http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/2011-2012/Dec2011Proposals.htm

Here was a call for people to come out and protest:

Eva Moskowitz will be hosting an informational session for Cobble Hill families at the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill library located on Clinton St between Union & Sackett. Our PTA will be bringing signs, petitions and flyers on what charter schools are really about but we need more people to join us. We will start handing out flyers at 11 am on the corner of Sackett & Clinton. There is no planned intervention for the forum itself yet but I am encouraging parents to go in and ask the hard questions - if there is a real Q&A allowed.

The original call came a few days ago with an interesting twist. Instead of parents at one school sighing with relief that Eva is not coming to them and being willing to throw the victimized school under the bus, we are seeing more of a united front. Being a skeptic and knowing the success of the Ed Deformers at Tweed ability to divide and conquer, I'm taking a wait and see attitude.

From a Brooklyn New School parent:
Hello folks,
This is a very interesting development about the charter school crisis that needs your attention.
Eva Moskowitz is.scouting out a location for a Bklyn based Success Charter School in Cobble Hill. One is PS 261 and the other is.MS 447, Math and Science. MS 447 serves a high percentage of students with special needs on the autism spectrum so the formula used to determine "under utilized space" makes them vulnerable to the rigged rationale for a co location
A plan of action was started at a small but feisty MS 447 PTA meeting last night.
The first action that we need your support with is this Saturday, Oct 29 at noon.
Eva Moskowitz will be hosting an informational session for Cobble Hill families at the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill library located on Clinton St between Union and Sackett. Our PTA will be bringing signs, petitions and flyers on what charter schools are really about but we need more people to join us. We will start handing out flyers at 11 am on the corner of Sackett & Clinton. There is no planned intervention for the forum itself yet but I am encouraging parents to go in and ask the hard questions - if there is a real Q andA allowed.
Although the group wants to start small - school based - there was general agreement that we are committed to building a coalition with other schools in the district and believe co location should be opposed everywhere. Besides myself, there were three other parents who took a radical and militant stance - calling for being "in their face"; noisy and dogged in our opposition and tactics. We are also discussing a joint showing of the Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman with the other school under attack.
Your presence Saturday would be great and also any other assistance and support that you can provided is appreciated.

One School - A Hundred Contract Violations a Second

I've been telling teachers who tell tales like the one below to reframe the debate in terms of how kids lose when the teaching contract is violated. Giving a teacher 6 periods a day instead of 5? Do we think the kids in period 6 benefit at the end of the day with a worn-out teacher? Class size violations = less services for kids in overcrowded classes. When we hear complaints from idjits like Steve Brill about the length of our contract I say we need to double its length. Actually, that wouldn't make a difference since the UFT does so little to enforce what is there - double zero is still zero.


This is from a former ATR. Where do you start after reading one teacher's report on how for all intents and purposes the UFT contract doesn't exist? Now in the world of the UFT they will place the blame on the teacher - "file a grievance" - that will go nowhere as it winds its way through the system - while the principal (who has been empowered to beat on teachers by Tweed with no opposition from the UFT) has free reign to retaliate. 

Remember when the UFT promised "small group instruction" would be "small group instruction and not another teaching period. Well, good luck. Yesterday a retired F-status teacher told me she has a pull-out group with 35 kids.

NOTE UPDATES TO ATR focused BLOGS - have ATRs send an email to gemnyc@gmail.com to be added to the new listserve.

http://travatr.blogspot.com/
http://nycatr.blogspot.com/
http://chaz11.blogspot.com/
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/


The C-6 Professional Duty – “C” for “Creative”
by Life-in-Limbo

I didn’t think they could squeeze any more out of us. I mean, my colleagues and I are maxed out paperwork-wise, class size-wise, and stress-wise. Seriously, we had one teacher die of a heart attack the first week of school, two teachers are out on medical leave due to anxiety, the teacher across the hall has stopped me twice in the hallway to ask me to watch her class so she can go throw up (no, it’s not pregnancy), the teacher on the right is having panic attacks every morning before homeroom and the teacher on my right was in the ER this past weekend diagnosed with Acute Anxiety Disorder and is getting a consult for anti-depressants this weekend. Also, a teacher down the hall left a few weeks ago, in an ambulance, because he was feeling dizzy and ill. Turned out his blood pressure was up to something insane, like 270/110 - he was in the hospital for three days. And that’s just on MY floor.

Now, before I go any further, here’s a pop quiz (yes, I know it’s the weekend, but it’s only one question for full credit):

How many teaching periods per week is considered a full schedule for an appointed teacher?

Twenty-five you say? Hahahahahahahahaha!!! How 2005!

Try thirty.

I have thirty teaching periods per week as of this week. How did they do it, you ask? Allow me to explain.

I came in to work this week to find a program of “small group instruction”, a Circular 6 Professional Assignment. I have no recollection of filling out a C-6 preference sheet, as required by our contract, but there it was anyway.

Remember my last post, where I said we had vacancies in the building? One of them is an AIS Reading position that, as of last week, has yet to be filled. This is a relevant fact, as you will soon see.

Now, I teach a CTT, which means I have a homeroom, which, according to our contract, serves as my professional assignment, so I should not have gotten the C-6 assignment, right? RIGHT???

Wrong. I went to my principal who said that since it is a CTT, there are technically two people doing one job, so Mr. X, my co-teacher (whom I must say does a wonderful job of putting up with me and my compulsive board-washing), will be the homeroom teacher of record and I will report to my C-6 assigned “small group instruction”. So I was officially relieved of my homeroom duties, apparently. Fine. I hate collecting baby pictures and lunch forms anyway

So the period for this “duty” comes and I report to the room, and I realize that it is the room reserved for the AIS vacancy – it is not set up, many desks have been pilfered, graffiti has been applied to some of the furniture, there was debris everywhere and there was no chalk, earasers, etc. I had no roster of students, no materials, and no idea exactly WHAT I was supposed to do with this small group. So imagine my surprise when an ENTIRE class shows up for “small group instruction”! No section sheet, no roster, no materials, nothing. There were 21 students in my “small group”, all of whom were so used to not having a teacher this period (it’s been this way since September) that my chance of getting them to actually DO anything was slim to none.

After this fiasco, I found out that the rest of the CTT teachers were subjected to the same treatment – one was given the homeroom exclusively, and the other pulled to cover a “small group” in this same room. We figured out that instead of HIRING one of the MANY READING ATRs that are currently members of the “School-of-the-Week Club”, they are using the C-6 assignment to avoid hiring a teacher and getting the five of us to teach what is, essentially, a sixth teaching period each day.

Upon closer scrutiny, I discovered a few more oddities relating to my particular assignment:
On two consecutive days, it causes me to teach four periods in a row, a violation of the contract.
On two days, we have “voluntary” department meetings during our common prep time, (as in, it’s voluntary, but you are still responsible for what happens if you don’t show up). On those two days, this C6 assignment leaves me with NO PREP at all, also a violation.
Twenty-one students is NOT a “small group”
I was never given a menu of C-6 choices from which to choose (I would NEVER choose more time in front of kids, LOL)
I was told by my CL that this IS an extra prep for me, that I must have a plan for it, and that I can be observed in this setting.
I must keep track of what I do, and the kids change every day, so I just had my prep time cut by more than half (if you count the lost periods for department meetings, I only have three preps/week now) and was given an extra prep (the “small groups” are a different grade than the one I teach), and another 100 students to keep track of.

I am considering chucking it all and joining a commune in Vermont.

So, how was everyone else’s week? Me? I need a large glass of pinot grigio, which I will now pour. Any more of this, and I’ll have to start mainlining tequila.
---------
James Eterno reports from the ICE blog

MIND BOGGLING: AN ATR REPORTS FROM THE FIELD - An ATR from Jamaica sent this email to me yesterday.
Reported to LI City HS today as five day ATR, a nice looking, modern building, six stories tall. I covered three different teachers, none of whom taught English (my certification). When I got to my last class, the freshmen all asked, "Are you our real teacher or just another sub?" I asked another teacher leaving the room why this class had no regular teacher as we steadily approach November. Her reply was stunning. "We actually have five vacancies in the building," she said. "We're in transformation, which means they're trying to cause as much chaos as possible until they can shut us down." Naturally, this is the compete opposite of what the word 'transformation' means, unless the DoE means transforming into more boutique academies and creating still more ATRs, which is exactly what they intend.  
I'm certainly glad I spent my summer attending five separate DoE job fairs, while some buildings are intentionally understaffing and have absolutely no intention of hiring ATRs. I could tell from all those bobbing heads and smiling faces during July and August that no one was actually looking to hire teachers, let alone pay attention to what we were saying. Yet at this point in my career I can honestly say that I know who I'm dealing with when it comes to the Dept of Ed, a truly vicious, union busting entity. The real question I have is where my union is during all this madness. When will our pseudo-tough guy president finally step up and protect his people? I was paying tolls last week in the Rockaways at Beach Channel. This week I'm on the complete opposite side of Queens in Long Island City. The DoE is obviously testing my limits, but not one message, call, or e-mail from my union telling me to hold on, to keep fighting, to wait until things get better. So Alright, fine. I'll simply stop waiting. My fiance is a teacher in this troubled system, as well. From here on in, we are a teaching union of two. 

====================
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 the right for important bits.

Charlotte's Web - The Beat(down) Goes On

Published in The Wave, www.rockawave.com
October 29, 2011
by Norm Scott

How much money is being diverted from the classroom into playing "gotcha" with teachers?

When Sam Lazarus, Chapter Leader of Bryant HS in Queens, one of the 30 or so target schools trying out the (Charlotte) Danielson system of teacher evaluation, spoke out at the October 19 Delegate Assembly against a resolution being promoted by the UFT leadership supporting the system I thought I was watching a horror film akin to the Chernobyl disaster, embellished by zombie administrators looking to use what some people consider a potentially useful tool to chew on the livers of living teachers.

In September of 2011, Bloomberg began implementing yet another reform in the NYC public schools. Dennis Walcott, with Bloomberg’s encouragement, has directed principals to use the Danielson Framework rubrics as a formative evaluation for teachers. For those who are unfamiliar with educational jargon, a rubric is a grading scale that can be used to give a rating to someone or something. In the current school year, this framework is to be used for support, next year it is to be used to provide evaluations.

The Danielson Frameworks for Teaching – along with the Common Core Standards, which we'll get to in a follow-up column – are the hot new things in ed deform in the WalBloom administration. From what I hear the DFT standing on its own is not a bad idea but in the hands of those with evil intent - oh, let's say the gang at Tweed - is a dagger aimed at the heart of every single teacher. Why not give nuclear technology to Iran since they say they won't use if for nefarious means? Are teachers willing to hand AhmadineWalBloom a neutron bomb to use on them? (Unless the union agrees to a deal the entire plan is a no-go. To add insult to injury, many teachers have been forced to spend $30 of their own money to buy the Danielson book - sort of like giving someone a shovel to dig their own grave.)

Charlotte Danielson herself paves the road to possible perfidy:
"Let me give you a story of when it’s not done well. I was contacted early on by a large urban district in New Jersey that…had a horrible evaluation system. It was top-down and arbitrary and punitive and sort of “gotcha.” And they developed a new one based on my book, and it was top-down and arbitrary, and punitive. All they did was exchange one set of evaluative criteria for another. They did nothing to change the culture surrounding evaluation. It was very much something done to teachers, an inspection, used to penalize or punish teachers whom the principal didn’t like…[and] I discovered that if I didn’t do something here, my name would get associated with things people hate. So I thought about what it would take to do teacher evaluation well. And I discovered that doing it well means respecting what we know about teacher learning, which has to do with self-assessment, reflection on practice, and professional conversation."

Sam Lazarus spoke at the DA after Academic HS VP Leo Casey urged the delegates to support the UFT leadership-sponsored resolution - which affirmed support for the Danielson system while admonishing the DOE to stick to what was agreed to - to only use the system in Transformation and Restart schools THIS year. (But it is coming to a school near you next year). Sam's story at what the teachers are going through at Bryant where even the Assistant Principals who have to spend their lives evaluating teachers instead of managing their areas of responsibility are warning the teachers that this is all about gotcha and not helpya.

Sam laid out what is happening at Bryant in such graphic terms, some people could be seen retching in the halls - OK - just a little hyperbole - I was ready to retch but it was probably the rotten bananas. He told of how the DFT could be used to rate teachers poorly and fire them without hearings - an end to LIFO and tenure ¬– pretty shocking and something that should call for a long discussion within the union. But of course, in the spirit of UFT democracy, this resolution was gotten to with about two minutes left in the meeting. After Leo and Sam spoke, Mulgrew, using his seating chart to call on the pre-planned Unity Caucus speakers who would support the resolution, got two affirmatives before hitting the "call the question" button to close debate.

It so assuring for the resolution to say that the UFT will "defend the integrity of the Danielson Framework of Teaching using all contractual [is there still a contract?], legal and other means [please tell us some of these] at our disposal to stop its misuse in schools where supervisors are engaged in rogue [see, it's not good guys at the DOE executing a plan but a few bad apple principals] evaluations that violate our members' rights."

So I know you are enjoying a good laugh at how tough UFT leaders will be with the DOE in defending your rights. At the DA a Unity Caucus member who has some knowledge of U-rating hearings told me disgustedly, "Even the hearing officers are asking why the UFT is so weak in defending people." But we do know about the lack of support at the school level when it comes to psycho principals. Imagine giving this tool to one of them, especially when we know that Tweed will support grads of the Leadership Academy even it they are proven serial killers.

So how will/can the UFT protect people from misuse of Danielson? At the September Chapter Leader meeting Mulgrew was slobbering all over how wonderful Danielson is and selling it to the members. Now his assistant Michael Mendel is publically complaining about the principals using it when they are not yet empowered to do so and this has become a point of contention between the UFT leadership and DOE (even though Mulgrew, Walcott and CSA pres sent out a joint letter telling principals they are not to be using it).

A chapter leader from Queens emailed:
"Danielson should be implemented in a supportive, collaborative, non threatening environment of mutual trust. To be highly effective, Danielson states, a teacher should offer students choice in their pathways to learning, students should raise their own questions and show that they take initiative for their own learning, an observer of teachers should be trained and certified in this fine art. Danielson says she can provide the training. To date, we are unaware of any NYC principals receiving this training. To initiate the process without these components already in place is to exchange one poor evaluation system for another in the very words of Ms. Danielson herself. It will take principals with knowledge, experience, and expertise to make the two models work together. Unfortunately, Mr. Bloomberg has not sought out and appointed principals that have the experience, sensitive understanding and knowledge of the classroom to collaborate on the Danielson model. He has replaced many experienced principals with younger, corporate minded supervisors. Given the present reality of the Bloomberg/Walcott regime, the Danielson rubrics have already failed in the New York City Public Schools. The prerequisite climate of trust, knowledge, and cooperation inherent to achieving the true goals of the Danielson framework does not exist, precluding any possibility of this transition. Principals are already using Danielson merely as a vehicle to give teachers unsatisfactory ratings, without implementing any of the positive ideas that Danielson has put forth. The focus continues to be on the usual pecking away at details, rather than on true teacher support and improvement. Therefore, the use of Danielson should be tabled at this time. Perhaps, instead, to move forward in the right direction, a rubric should be created for principals that would encourage them to work toward that climate of trust and respect that Danielson aspires to."

Given complaints like these, the UFT has been balking at signing an agreement so far even though Bloomberg is supposedly dangling a contract with some raises in exchange. The NY Post shrilled this headline: Mayor: Teach union fears evaluations. "Mayor Bloomberg yesterday blasted teachers union complaints over a new evaluation system that’s not even operational yet -- saying the UFT is just trying to subvert a real measure of teacher quality. 'Teachers unions don’t want the evaluations.' Bloomberg was responding to a Post report that the UFT was already threatening to walk away from negotiations over details of the rating system, which can’t officially launch without a deal."

Clearly, Bloomberg badly wants the union to agree to the plan – good enough reason to balk. But the UFT won't balk, in the long run. Tweed will give "assurances" they won't nuke the teachers but while the UFT wails in the courts teachers will end up flailing through the ashes of the resulting incineration.

Norm nukes his readers every day at his blog: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Great Edited Video of Occupy PEP

This video from NYCORE absolutely captures Tuesday night's events. Note the attempt to invite Walcott to stay for a real meeting with parents and teachers. Also note that the teachers involved though UFT members, are either independents or members of GEM, NYCORE and Teachers Unite. The UFT has never closed down a PEP meeting totally. CEJ did so in August 2010. Note how in these times of so many teachers showing fear, so many teachers, most of them at the early end of their careers, are confronting their bosses. Ahhh, the benefits of tenure protection which also protects children and parents by giving voice to their teachers.

The next action is Nov. 7 at Tweed at 5PM. Looks like another one I will miss since the GEM film (still being boycotted by the UFT) is being shown at Teachers College uptown at Columbia at 4PM with a panel afterward. I hope we can get a video with as high an editing quality as this one.




http://youtu.be/YbmjMickJMA

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New Orleans Update: Loss Leader
I posted a great piece about New Orleans yesterday from Lance Hill (The New Orleans Charter Scam Game).   j.a. bujes left a great comment that ties the business model to ed deform.

The supermarkets use the same strategy: it's called the loss leader. You put an item on sale to attract customers, but mark all other items up. These initial donations to make the charters look good are loss leaders. After they destroy the public education system, leaving no choice at all, there will be no more donations. Just endless siphoning of public money and industrialized/kill/drill "education".

=========================
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 the right for important bits.

The New Orleans Charter Scam Game

...this really is about removing education from the public to the private sector and especially removing control of public education from urban black governance.  Once the schools are privatized, they never come back to the public.  

Here is a powerful piece on how New Orleans is the model for total privatization of the public school system. Most revealing is how certain selected charters were given double the resources to "prove" how "successful" the model was. All you need to know is this: Mayor Bloomberg has made sizable donations to Louisiana edu-politics causes. (Times-Picayune)

Lance Hill from New Orleans

Why foundation and corporations are focusing on New Orleans and why the true education reform movement and the national media needs to view New Orleans as the key battle ground for school privatization and deprofessionalization of teachers.  If the corporate reformers convince the public that the New Orleans model works (through fabricated and misleading data), then the rest of the nation will follow suit.
 
The “beachhead” strategy of the corporate education forces in New Orleans has always involved subsidizing select privatized charter schools to provide additional instructional resources and incentives which creates a set of model “successful schools” that can’t possibly be replicated on existing revenues in other districts.  From the outside, it appears that the charters and TFA have “done more with less” when in fact if they did more at all, it was with massive subsidies from the state, corporations, and foundations­all concealed from the public.  So the state, which never spent anything on education, gave Vallas double the expenditure per student. Broad foundation gave KIPP $150,000 to pay the kids (secretly) up to $50 a week to behave.  NOLA college prep spends twice per pupil as the state funding formula through corporate and foundation subsides.  And this does not take into consideration the in-kind subsidies­using AmeriCorps volunteers who function as teachers (calling them tutors); Konica-Minolta handing out $60,000 scholarships to KIPP 8^th graders to attend private schools;  Bill Gates making a $3 million grant to plan charters and train charter CEOs. 

The outcome is a handful of model schools that the corporate reform advocates market as the norm.  That is why it is crucial to the corporate education reformers that New Orleans privatization appear to succeed at all costs.  It’s like a Ponzi scheme: great profits are returned at first but in the end, they could not sustain the flow.  So why would Gates and Broad and Duncan push a contrived, flawed, and subsidized model as the national model?  Because this really is about removing education from the public to the private sector and especially removing control of public education from urban black governance.  Once the schools are privatized, they never come back to the public.  That is part of the lesson of New Orleans ­the worse, chronically failing charters are just given to another charter operator.  Although Act 35 promised to return the schools once they were  brought up to standard, that promise was reneged.  What happens once all the veteran teachers quit because of new evaluation standards and pension cuts?  In the long run we end up with an untrained and inadequate teacher corp.  This is why we say the original charter movement which wanted autonomy to create replicable innovations was hijacked by the free-marketers who simply wanted control of education and the profits that will come with that. 

This shell bait-and-switch game can’t work without media complicity.  The first year that post-Katrina LEAP scores were published by the Times-Picayune, they only published the top charter school scores. They did not publish the scores of the “dumping schools”  within these charter networks where, in one case, 93% of the students failed the 4^th grade LEAP.  So these temporary subsidies work if the media does not reveal them.  

New Orleans is at the center of the national debate on education because here we traded democratic control of education for the putative benefits of increased efficiency and lower costs ­the promise that privatization always makes.  The danger is that rest of the nation will forsake its local control of schools in trade for that same illusion.  In the end, the charter and on-line schools will make billions and the public will be left with schools that perform at the same level or worse but not accountable to the public.  

New Orleans is not an ”experiment”: it is a carefully planned corporate takeover of public education that will ignore evidence that they system they implement is a failure.  The free market has no problem selling products that don’t work as long as they turn a profit. 

Lance Hill, Ph.D.
Southern Institute for Education and Research

Tweed Panic Sets In: High Security as Noah Gotbaum Reports From Walcott Closed Meeting

Who is at this meeting?

Many CEC members, PA heads and Parent Coordinators will be. Not surprisingly, Walcott will be sharing his priorities, rather than working to establish shared priorities. He and the 1% at DOE continue to be blind to the irony that Parents as Partners week entails yet another top down presentation conceived, drafted and presented entirely without parent input. And they wonder why their parent engagement policies aren’t taking hold or why 7 out of 10 of us polled believe that Bloomberg’s education policies are failing our kids. Hello? Is anybody listening?-- Noah

6:20

Am at Chancellors meeting.  Security is impossible.  Only letting people in with tickets. Won't even allow reentry.  Must be 100 Tweedies here.  They are petrified of losing control. Booth promoting ARIS and handing out papers dog and pony show.  Inside 150 parents in an enormous auditorium. Outside about 50 parents protesting from various schools on the closure list chanting "oh where oh where can the Chancellor be?" and "save our schools" No wifi available according to Ravetz et al  so won't be able to live tweet.  Heading back in now and will report back in a bit. 

Noah

Parent Comments: OMG... We really shook them up last night!How sweet it is!

8:20

Enormous dog and pony show to focus on their definition of parent engagement in service of "college and career readiness". Guess they are hurting from high school progress reports and concerned about OWS influence on parents.

Speech by Walcott totally formal - behind lectern. He acted like Kennedy in Berlin. Presented 5 point plan to involve parents in college readiness:

1) parent academy in 2012! (what happened in 2009).

2) strengthen role of parent coordinators! (while laying them off)

3) improve communication with parents

4) focus on improving parent teacher conferences (including providing a bookmark with tips!)

5) raise bar on parent involvement including having it part of school and principal rating.

Will pilot in 15 schools. Expand later citywide. Supposedly developed with help from PC's, PA members and Tweed. Anyone know anyone who was involved?

Q and A by cards only.

Q: How can they cut PC's in high schools while touting them? A: Difficult decision to stop pc's in HS!

Q: Budget cuts? Doe doing everything it can to preserve school budgets.

Have it all on tape.

More later.

LOOK FOR ANY FURTHER UPDATES IN THIS SPOT


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 the right for important bits.

Oakland Police Riot Against OCCUPY Oakland As Protesters Shout: WE ARE STILL HERE

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QngE6kKk8Lg

Frank Rich pretty much predicted this in his NY Mag article on OWS with a story from the past.

Frank Rich on Occupy Wall Street and Class Warfare -- New York Magazine_

http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/class-war-2011-10/

The Bonus Army veterans stage a mass vigil on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in 1932.  (Photo: MPI/Getty Images)

During the death throes of Herbert Hoover’s presidency in June 1932, desperate bands of men traveled to Washington and set up camp within view of the Capitol. The first contingent journeyed all the way from Portland, Oregon, but others soon converged from all over—alone, in groups, with families—until their main Hooverville on the Anacostia River’s fetid mudflats swelled to a population as high as 20,000. The men, World War I veterans who could not find jobs, became known as the Bonus Army—for the modest government bonus they were owed for their service. Under a law passed in 1924, they had been awarded roughly $1,000 each, to be collected in 1945 or at death, whichever came first. But they didn’t want to wait any longer for their pre–New Deal entitlement—especially given that Congress had bailed out big business with the creation of a Reconstruction Finance Corporation earlier in its session. Father Charles Coughlin, the populist “Radio Priest” who became a phenomenon for railing against “greedy bankers and financiers,” framed Washington’s double standard this way: “If the government can pay $2 billion to the bankers and the railroads, why cannot it pay the $2 billion to the soldiers?”

• The Great Depression’s Version of Zuccotti Park
• Eliot Spitzer Talks With One of the 99 Percent

The echoes of our own Great Recession do not end there. Both parties were alarmed by this motley assemblage and its political rallies; the Secret Service infiltrated its ranks to root out radicals. But a good Communist was hard to find. The men were mostly middle-class, patriotic Americans. They kept their improvised hovels clean and maintained small gardens. Even so, good behavior by the Bonus Army did not prevent the U.S. Army’s hotheaded chief of staff, General Douglas MacArthur, from summoning an overwhelming force to evict it from Pennsylvania Avenue late that July. After assaulting the veterans and thousands of onlookers with tear gas, ­MacArthur’s troops crossed the bridge and burned down the encampment. The general had acted against Hoover’s wishes, but the president expressed satisfaction afterward that the government had dispatched “a mob”—albeit at the cost of killing two of the demonstrators. The public had another take. When graphic newsreels of the riotous mêlée fanned out to the nation’s movie theaters, audiences booed MacArthur and his troops, not the men down on their luck.

Join Me at Hofstra Today: Is "Reform" Killing or Reviving Public Education?

I'm on a panel at Hofstra from 4:30-6 this afternoon with NYC Charter School Center's Michael Regnier.  I don't usually do this sort of thing where I actually have to prepare a 15 minute presentation but I'm working on it so I don't just blather. Yelena Siwinski, CL of PS 193, is going with me for moral support. If you're in the neighborhood, come on down and ask Michael Regnier a question about charter schools.

4:30-5:55 p.m.

Is "Reform" Killing or Reviving Public Education?

Panelists:

Norm Scott, GEM (Grassroots Education Movement)

Michael Regnier, NYC Charter School Center

Moderator: Dr. Catherine DiMartino, Department of Teaching, Literacy and Leadership, Hofstra University

Mack Student Center

GEM film attracts 70

Just wanted to let you know that we had about 70 people turn out for the screening of your film last night - a UMass professor even brought her graduate class (Urban Education). We had a great discussion afterward and people were really inspired by the film!

And the UFT is still boycotting the film.

PEP Meeting OCCUPIED! A NEW DAY DAWNS!

TONIGHT WE DOCKED THE REAL REFORMERS TO THE OWS AND TO THE 99% AND TIED THE ED DEFORMERS TO THE 1%.

I'll keep updating this post as new reports come in - check the UPDATED date and time to track them.

UPDATED: Thurs. Oct. 27 8:10 AM- REPORTS KEEP COMING IN. I CAN'T GET THIS STUFF UP FAST ENOUGH. LIVE STREAM INTERVIEWS POST MEETING WERE WONDERFUL - LOTS OF NEW PEOPLE INVOLVED.

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/10/last-night-at-pep-we-occupied-doe.html

Epoch Times: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/teachers-and-parents-occupy-education-meeting-63296.html

Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/10/26/2011-10-26_school_boss_disrupted.html

Fox News: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/protesters-shout-down-schools-chancellor-walcott-20111025

A NYPost editorial where we're "thugs"... ha. might be worth a few comments: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_thugs_win_again_sIavzdrhUBM3HxPHHY7IxH?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

Gotham Schools: Walcott opening remarks while People's Mic goes on: http://vimeo.com/31119914

HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/occupy-wall-street-department-of-education_n_1031812.html

Raging Horse Blog: Occupy the Department of Education: Walcott Takes it On the Hop

Anna Philips, NYT:  http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/10/25/walcott-event-disrupted-by-protesters/

Great photo by Anna Philips

Report from NY Eye: NEWS: On "Occupy the PEP"

NYCORE VIDEO: http://www.nycore.org/2011/10/10-25-11-occupy-the-pep-video/

NY1 Video from Lindsay Christ: http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/149635/doe-meeting-disrupted-by--occupy--protesters

A teacher reports:

Hi everyone,

Tonight was the best (non pep) pep ever. The best meeting ever. It was amazing! I have no words. We shut it down, everyone got to talk, voices were heard, the people's mic worked like a charm, basically we rocked it.

The doe is definitely going to spin it but there were literally few people there who weren't there for the occupy the doe action. And we really made something incredible happen. The press was there in mass and everyone who spoke on the mic was truly amazing. I was ao deeply happy. There are no words.

I want to give a more thorough report-back but I don't know what to say! I guess just ask questions and I will answer them... I am having a hard time figuring out how to share the energy of the room. Beautiful.   L

Let's see how the press covers this. Note the important point L makes - that there were only very few people there to actually hear Walcott and Coleman talk. (See Leonie report on who Coleman is).

I couldn't make tonight's possibly historic events but was trying to follow the Tweets. I heard Keith Olbermann mentioned what occurred. Pics below. And for those teachers who are wary of putting their foot in the activist water due to fear of Tweed, there are many teachers in this protest who show no fear. There were 200 people this time. Let's double or triple this at the next

PEP Regular Calendar Panel Meeting11/17/2011 - 6:00 P.M.
The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
35-12 35th Avenue
Queens, NY 11106

Up to now you really couldn't do this without the UFT which while walking out and doing some disruption in the past never tried to stop a meeting cold in its tracks. This protest had no UFT presence - they were marching over the bridge with political slug like Vito Lopez to support OWS. Irony of irony when corrupt politicians like Lopez are part of the problem.

Here is a video from Gotham:

Untitled from Elizabeth Green on Vimeo.

Here is an email about tonight from Leonie:

It was a wonderful evening, something to celebrate and relive. Democracy
lives! For those who missed it, we took over the PEP tonight at Seward Park HS and the entire meeting is being re-broadcast now at http://www.livestream.com/occupynyc

Here is the Gotham Schools report:

mic check

October 25, 2011

Protest derails DOE meeting on curriculum after just minutes

by Rachel Cromidas, at 9:03 pm

The possibility of a public comment session evaporated just moments into tonight’s Panel for Educational Policy meeting, after nearly 200 protesters drowned out Department of Education officials.
The panel had convened for a special meeting about the city’s new curriculum standards. But as Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and the standards’ architect, David Coleman, took the stage at Seward Park High School, protesters aligned with the Occupy movement launched a chorus of complaints via “the people’s mic.”
“Mic check!” each protester would call out, commanding the attention of his or her compatriots. Then he or she would call out a statement, pausing after every few words so that others could repeat them, amplifying the statement without the help of a microphone.
“The DOE’s priorities! Are all wrong!” one protester shouted. “We would like! There to be a community conversation! a real community conversation! about the people’s priorities!”
“We want our teachers to be paid more,” yelled a 7-year-old, Anais Richard, who attends P.S. 11 in Brooklyn. “If these things are not done, then we won’t be able to be succeeded.” The people’s mic repeated her statement, complete with the misspoken final word.
Walcott delivered his opening remarks over the shouting. At one point, he said, “We appreciate the activism, and we look forward to having you participate in our discussion.”
But when Walcott turned the microphone over to Coleman, the tone shifted. (more…)

I'm putting up a series of tweets from Bryan Jones and NY1's Lindsay Christ which will give you a flavor- read in reverse order

»

brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

laid-off school aides were there, chanting "bring the workers back!" #OccupyEdu

2 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

have to leave, sadly. best moments included Walcott walking in and out, not sure what to do while the crowd shouted "SHAME!" #OccupyEdu

2 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

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brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

@GRITlaura yes!

2 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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gothamschools GothamSchools

by brainyandbrawny

200 protesters, including teachers, parents, students, chant in auditorium while Walcott, David Coleman, PEP attend Common Core sessions

2 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

What a moment. This movement, this feeling, is infectious. Very difficult to put this cat back in the bag. #OccupyEdu

2 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

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brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

Amazing, just amazing. The whole room is repeating our speakers, Walcott is drowned out & the police have no idea what to do. #OccupyEdu

2 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

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brainyandbrawny Brian Jones

People's mic has TAKEN OVER THE PEP!! #OccupyEdu

LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

"Occupy the DOE! Occupy the DOE!" They are now marching out of the building.

1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

Protester: "This is our PEP meeting. And we hope the next PEP meeting will be ours as well." Chancellor Walcott wouldn't comment on that.

1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

Meeting tonight was moved to small breakout rooms upstairs. The protesters remain in auditorium, holding their own meeting. #OWS

1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

Speaker David Coleman was much more hesitant to speak over crowd. He tried then turned to Chancellor. Walcott called general meeting off.

3 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

As soon as Chancellor began speaking, the crowd began protesting through the "People's Mic". Walcott keeps speaking, through a real mic.

3 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

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LindseyChrist Lindsey Christ

These aren't school safety officers outside tonight's education meeting. Cops with guns and handcuffs. Several officers. No OWS presence yet

Earlier story from Gotham Schools:
NEWS: Discussion of Common Core to compete with human mic tonight

==========
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 the right for important bits.