Walcott Visits District 6: A Parent Report

I used to praise Joel Klein for his ability to alienate people - he really was our best organizer. At the very least I thought Walcott would have the ability to deflect people. But it is turning out he has that old Klein magic touch.

UPDATED Friday, 11/11, 6PM
Leonie posted Tory's email on the NYCParent blog with links, etc.

Dennis Walcott infuriates parents once again, this time in District 6

On Thursday November 10, the Community Education Council in Northern Manhattan hosted a Town Hall meeting with Chancellor Dennis Walcott.  The CEC prepared an excellent power point containing key data about the district, along with specific questions for the Chancellor.  It was a contentious meeting, according to all reports; see the Gotham Schools story.  Unfortunately, despite lots of PR spin about "partnering with parents," there is no evidence that Walcott is willing to listen to parents and shift away from the wrong-headed and damaging policies of his predecessor, Joel Klein, including repeated budget cuts, class size increases, worsening overcrowding, preferential treatment of charter schools with continued co-locations , and incessant testing. Here is the account of the meeting from Victoria Frye, CEC 6 member and public school parent:  

We described the issues facing our schools: too little resources to provide a quality education; overcrowded schools; disgraceful school conditions; budget cuts; co-locations; THE LIST GOES ON!

Tonight the District 6 CEC hosted a Town Hall with Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
We described the issues facing our schools: too little resources to provide a quality education; overcrowded schools; disgraceful school conditions; budget cuts; co-locations; THE LIST GOES ON! 

With each, Dennis Walcott got up and...spouted the party line:

• "The reality is that in this economy there will be mid-year budget cuts."
• "With shrinking budgets, leaders must be creative."
• "By creating school choice we are allowing the market place to drive the issues."
• "I respect Joel Klein tremendously. I think the world of Joel Klein."
• "There are no plans in our capital budget for a new facility for Mott Hall*."
• And then something along the lines of: "your D6 schools are so bad that we will not replicate or grow them; we will simply bring in [charters that really know how to educate your D6 children."

What to say?
OCCUPY. IT IS THE ONLY WAY.
* The only program for gifted D6 IS students and a national model. 

Victoria (Tory) Frye, member CEC6

Educators use Occupy Movement to Empower Students, Defend Public Education

UPDATE: 2PM

NY Times Schoolbook coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/11/08/tweed-protesters-decry-privatization-of-schools

 

Another video from Jaisal Noor on yesterday's ODOE- that one of GEM's amazing parent activists Janine Sopp with her daughter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z3_oGsFGyU&feature=channel_video_title




If you saw my post last night of the action on the steps of Tweed (OCCUPY The DOE)
you can see a whole new generation of teachers taking charge of the movement. You'll note that this is an independent movement of NYC teachers not controlled by the UFT. While mildly critical of the UFT, whenever they mention the union is it not with the kind of critical eye I turn on them - I guess it takes about 40 years of dealing with Unity Caucus before you give up - but they talk about pushing the UFT leaders to take action in defense of public education. Good luck!

One of the exciting things for me is the expansion of video coverage of education events by independent professional or semi-professional videographers and reporters - people who really know how to tell a story. This takes a lot of pressure off me to be there to film every event. But without adequate editing skills or working with more than one camera, or without the time to really work up a piece, I am often left to throw up the entire unedited video.

I really need to learn how to do what Meerkat Media or Jaisal Noor at The Real News does in this great video story featuring some of the movement's fabulous teacher/organizers.

http://youtu.be/LLox1bQ47Vs




Filmaker Michael Galinsky whose "Battle for Brooklyn" resonated with so many people has gotten involved in the Battle for Public Ed since the school his child attends was co-located. Here is a piece he wrote connecting the OWS to the ODOE movement that in just a few weeks has taken off.
http://www.rumur.com/news/occupying-the-institutions/

NEWS

Occupying the Institutions.

Posted by Michael on October 29th, 2011 Filed in Rumur

Last week on buzzflash I wrote about the connection between our film “Battle for Brooklyn” and OWS. Last year, as we completed Battle, we started to make a film about education in NY. We saw intense similarities between the way in which parents were shut out of the education process and the way in which communities were shut out of the development process. Our daughters’ school felt under attack by the DOE, and we heard rumors that they planned on putting a charter school in our building. We started to examine the way in which decisions were made and information flowed, and we found a thoroughly corrupted system that was gamed to shut out parent and community involvement. It was once again, a top down management style that did not take into consideration the voices of those most affected by decision makers.

The process, of housing one school inside another has a tendency to pit neighbor against neighbor, forcing them to fight over scarce resources in the guise of fostering competition. If the community is divided, those in power have a much easier time of doing what they want. We witnessed both development fights and school fights using sham public forums to create the impression of public involvement. However these public meetings were almost always overrun by division. We saw this time and time again in the Atlantic Yards fight, and it was clearly taking place in the schools fight. In fact democratic leader Jo Ann Simon made this direct point at a meeting about inserting one charter school in another public school

Last year I wrote a piece about our process of starting a film about education in NY. The times they have a changed in an unbelievable way. Last year the people accepted the fact that they would have to fight each other for scraps. In the following video there is anger at the DOE from all sides, but a lot of that anger is also based around communities fighting each other. Charter schools brought their supporters and the threatened schools brought theirs. In the end the vast majority of people walked out. The charter supporters stayed, and they got their schools. People walked out en masse because they knew that they weren’t going to be listened to and they were fed up. The public meeting was a sham, and people knew it.

This year the people took over the PEP meeting using consensus techniques learned at Occupy Wall Street, rendering those in power essentially useless. Thankfully it was captured by meerkat media collectiveso that we have direct evidence that the occupy movement has moved from anger to rage to action.

From the first moments of my first visit to occupy wall street I had a sense that something momentous was taking place. This morning, when I saw this video by meerkat media that cinematically captures the people taking control in a consensus model it was clear that the movement has powerful legs to carry it.

OCCUPY The DOE

We headed over the try to catch a piece of the action at the Occupy DOE General Assembly on the steps of Tweed after the screening of our film at Teachers College and managed to catch the last 10 minutes. The steps of Tweed were still loaded with people. The GA will continue every Sunday at 12 noon in the atrium at 60 Broadway where further decisions on actions to take will be made.

The event was live streamed by techs from OWS. Look for link coming up.

Reminder - tomorrow -Occupy Cuomo: Tuesday, Nov. 8

Also - amazing at Liberty Plaza - David Crosby and Graham Nash doing a concert at 3-4PM.

Here is the Facebook page.

Great NYC1 story from Lindsay Christ who counted a couple of hundred protesters.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/150375/teachers--children-s-advocates-bring-education-demands-to-doe-s-steps?ap=1&

Gotham also reported - they counted just over a hundred.
http://gothamschools.org/2011/11/07/occupy-protesters-join-teachers-and-parents-on-tweed-steps/


Real Reformer Beats Ed Deformer

Patrick Sullivan, Manhattan member of the PEP, won a well-deserved award from Advocates for Justice Friday night for “Standing With Our Children”,  and today ran his first marathon at an exception 3:48.
 Dennis Walcott ran the Marathon at 4:24

The Enemy Within

With all the problems facing NYC public schools perhaps the biggest is the enemy within - the very people running the system are anti-public school ed deformers who favor certain politically connected charters (hint: a touch of evil). District 3 (upper west side) CEC President Noah Gotbaum illuminates us.


Question: What do the three schools being targeted for closure in District 3 – Wadleigh Secondary, Frederick Douglass Academy II Middle School, and Opportunity Charter School – have in common? 
If you answered failing schools on the most recent progress reports you would be wrong.

The correct answer is that they are all being proposed for closure solely to provide Eva Moskowitz and two of her Harlem Success Charter schools with additional co-located space.

Given their past performance and the populations which Wadleigh, FDAII, and Opportunity Charter serve, these schools should be lauded and supported rather than threatened with closure.  Instead, the DOE has been starving the 6-12 public schools Wadleigh and FDAII, which traditionally have received strong progress reports and have seen both their programs enrollment improving.  Despite this, and a first time poor progress report grade this year, the DOE is recommending them for closure.  Same holds true for Opportunity Charter which, while no paragon for having tried to prevent its teachers from unionizing and also having had some disciplinary problems, consistently has received high progress report grades and for years has been held up as a model by the DOE for charters since it educates predominantly special needs kids.  On no account is OCS failing, and received a B on its last 3 progress reports including this year. The DOE even went so far as to recommend last year to SUNY that Opportunity Charter get its charter renewed.  Now, however, they are calling for its closure because it is failing?!  Please explain DOE…

I will provide much more detail in the coming days on this incredibly sad and sordid example of how the DOE is undermining the 99.5% of schools which serve all students simply to advantage and provide phony examples of Eva's "high performing" charter schools "beating the odds."   Unfortunately, however, we are scrambling at the moment to plan for the DOE's "Pre-engagement" meeting with FDAII parents scheduled for 5:30 today – which we first found out about on Friday afternoon!

Again, more to come on this but in the interim anyone who can break away from the Occupy the DOE meeting at 5 to join us please do:  Wadleigh/FDAII Auditorium, 114th between 7th and 8th Avenues.  5:30 pm tonight.  Thank you!

noah

Subject: [nyceducationnews] 21 NYC HS and 6 charters on possible closure list
In addition to 20 elem & middle schools already identified; some of them did not get the low grades thought to trigger the process.

Meanwhile, at least 2 charters w/ failing grades authorized by DOE but are NOT on poss. closure list: Bronx Lighthouse and Fahari Academy; http://goo.gl/qbFRe.

The high schools  include three schools receiving federal "transformation" funding; http://gothamschools.org/2011/11/02/city-adds-high-schools-charter-schools-to-possible-closure-list/
Many new small schools, including 2 "College Board" schools also on list: Academy For Scholarship And Entrepreneurship: A College Board School (Bronx) Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School (Brooklyn).

Whole list (exc. Charters) are here: http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/150076/doe-officials-mark-total-of-47-schools-for-closure
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/11/02/21-high-schools-identified-as-struggling

On the Dreaded D's and U's: Discontinued and Unsatisfactory

Many people are not aware of the total power handed to principals to kill an untenured teacher's career by giving them not only a U rating but also a Discontinue which blacklists the person in the computer system and prevents even a principal who wants to hire that person from doing so.

Do you think there are psychotic - or worse- principals in this system who might D someone because of prejudice against a person's sexual orientation or religion (I know a wonderful teacher who is a Muslim and also a friend of the chapter leader who was D's and can't work)? The DOE has handed all too many people a loaded career-killing gun while the UFT hides under the rug (go ask the UFT which will "represent" a teacher with a D at a hearing that even they will tell you they never win).

I mean why give one person the power to stop another principal from hiring them? Even if you think a person should get a U why not let them work elsewhere? What can account for this other than pure vindictiveness? I know of cases where the teacher did not know enough to bow and scrape properly (in one case the CL asked the teacher to beg but she just couldn't do it - I know, some of you are saying do anything - I guess that is the mentality wanted in today's teachers - the ability to lose all self-respect while also trying to get kids to respect them - sorry, I believe they don't go together.)

Let me point out that tenured teachers cannot get a D. But with so many untenured being extended to a 4th and even a 5th year (can they do this indefinitely? I hear YES!)  the D can hang over their heads for all those years. Last year around 50% of the teachers did not get their tenure. I'll bet the numbers are up this year as principals want to demonstrate how tough they are - can't you see their stats being examined? In other cases we saw the district superintendent over ruling principals. Funny how principals who are ogres, psychos and losers get support for chopping teachers but not when they support teachers.

On ICE-mail there was a question asked about the U vs Blacklist though it is not clear whether the writer understands the impact of the Dreaded D which is a real blacklist. Given Jeff's response below I want to point out that D's are not given for disciplinary reasons but for any reason the principal wants to come up with - like not liking the color of a person's tie - which will be backed by the DOE hearing officers - I mean why should a principal be subjected to having to look at an ugly tie?

Perry Mason writes:

Is there an official policy of U-Rating= Blacklisted? If so... is it in writing somewhere?
Has any court passed on the legality of this?!? Would this be the case for probationers only?
Say, for example, a tenured teacher got a single U-rating and then retired. Would he/she be eligible for further employment... for instance: to come back as a substitute? Or is one banned for life?
If so, does the ban extend to the state? Or just the city? And again: this is *legal*?
Hard to believe.

Jeff Kaufman clarified.

There seems to be a little confusion over U ratings and licensing (and/or certification). First there is nothing automatic about U ratings leading to anything except loss of salary step (if below step 8) and per session eligibility (although this doesn't seem to be universally enforced). License
revocation can only take place after a hearing (3020a for tenured or probation dismissal for non-tenured). I have never heard of a blacklist although there is an ineligible list which prevents new employment in the NYCDOE system after separation from DOE for disciplinary reasons.

If, after a 3020-a hearing you are dismissed your license (New York City) and certification (New York State) will prevent rehiring as a certified teacher. Dismissal on probation will not necessarily provide a state-wide ban unless you are provided a hearing. The DOE takes the position that placement on the ineligible list does not require a hearing since there is an appeal mechanism.

Remember dismissals on probation are appealable to both the DOE and the Courts but the standards of appeal and time limits are very different.

Hope this helps.

Jeff

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

Upcoming The Week of November 6-12, 2011

Another busy week coming up. Note how many screenings of the film made by NYC teachers that the UFT refuses to acknowledge. First take a look at the graphic by Rob Rendo:

On Monday, November 7, I will be on a panel along with Leonie Haimson, Julie Cavanagh and Darren Marelli at Teacher’s College, 525 West 120th St., after a free screening of the movie, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,  at 4 PM, more info and to RSVP here.



Also on Monday, Occupy the DOE will be holding a General Assembly meeting at 5 PM-7PM on the steps of Tweed, to help create a People’s Agenda for our schools.  More info on our FB page here, where you can also add your suggestions and/or vote on what this agenda should include.

I attended a planning meeting for this event today that had 40 people. The meeting was run like a general assembly and an attempt to hold a democratic GA on the steps of Tweed will be made tomorrow - probably the first instance of democracy at Tweed in a hundred and forty years. See my post: It's the Time of the Season for Mic Check

For Planning Purposes Only:                                    Contacts:  Justin Wedes:    (646)392-6163 

November 7th, 2011                                                                Kelley Wolcott: (201)344-0382

MEDIA ADVISORY

After introducing catastrophic budget cuts to education that have left New York City schools overcrowded, under-staffed and sorely lacking in resources – despite an  estimated budget surplus in 2011 of more than $3 billion – Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues his attack on teachers, students and schools.

Educators, parents and other stakeholders impacted by failed educational and economic policy in city schools will be holding a People’s General Assembly on the steps of the Department of Education. The chancellor, members of the Panel for Educational Policy, and union leaders have been invited to attend and to participate in a democratic and open discussion about the state of education in New York City with stakeholders in public schools.

                       What:              Teachers, students, parents and education advocates from Occupy Wall Street will occupy the steps of the Department of                                             

                                              Education and hold their own democratic meeting on the state of public education in New York City

                       When:             5:00PM, Monday November 7^th, 2011

                       Where:            NYC Department of Education

                      52 Chambers St.

                                            New York, NY

Who:              Public school teachers, students, parents, education advocates and activists from Occupy Wall Street

On Wed. Nov. 9, there will be another free screening of the film, followed by a panel discussion about how charter co-locations are undermining our public schools,  at PS 261 in Brooklyn, at 314 Pacific Ave.  More info and a flyer here.

Also on Wed. I will be flying up to SUNY Cortland for a panel that evening that will discuss both Waiting for Superman and the GEM response. Both films have been screening over the last week. 




The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman'
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10th 6:30PM
BRONX RIVER ARTS CENTER (BRAC)

305 East 140 St #1A

check out the event on Facebook for a report about the film on GRITtv click here: GRITtv Report

A group of New York City public school teachers and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement wrote and produced this documentary in response to Davis Guggenheim's highly misleading film Waiting for 'Superman.' The film Waiting for 'Superman' would have audiences believe that free-market competition, standardized tests, destroying teacher unions, and above all, the proliferation of charter schools are just what this country needs to create great schools.

The film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for 'Superman' highlights the real life experiences of public school parents and educators to show how these so-called reforms are actually hurting education. The film talks about the kinds of real reforms --inside school and in society as a whole--that we urgently need to genuinely transform education in this country. Running time 65 minutes.

For more information on the film contact: The Grassroots Education Movement.
www.gemnyc.org
gemnyc@gmail.com

Hosted by the International Socialist Organization: Bronx Branch

inconvenient_superman_BX_a.jpg 119K   View   Download

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC8gXZ-0OUc&feature=youtu.be

It's the Time of the Season for Mic Check

Graphic by Benita Rivera

Rising up to fight for public education

People keep asking me what's the point of OWS or even the point of the education offshoot, Occupy Public Education, the group that shut down Walcott's event at Seward Park HS on Oct. 25 (see video) has been moving forward with plans to use mic check for further actions. Though OPE was not directly involved, on Oct. 30 by a group of Cobble Hill parents opposed to Eva Moskowitz' invasion were inspired to interrupt her spiel, whereupon she called off her planned meeting. See Ed Notes posts:

• Jim Devor Report on How Eva Shut Down Her Own Meet...
• Eva Shut Down By Parent Leaders in Cobble Hill - M...
• Exposing Success Academy Marketing Strategies Harm...
• Eva Walks Out When Facing the Heat

I reject the constant call for specific demands when what is needed at this time in to turn up the level of activism by adding new recruits (the 1% have money, power and influence, the 99% have potential numbers) and by refusing to be embarrassed into shutting up when the 1% and their reps are spewing their drivel. OWS has shown the time has come, especially after 10 years of ed deform, for disruption and an escalating level of uncivil disobedience.

OWS is spreading all over the world and in this city too (Occupy Cuomo: Tuesday, Nov. 8).

Now, I know even some of our supporters are concerned about how these disruptions come off. I say let's not worry about that now since we are beyond that stage. Those who have been involved have been going to meetings and acting civilly for years and been ignored or had mics turned off on them in mid-word. Mic check offers a great alternative as you can see in this video from Chicago where the union played a major role in using mic check to drown out Walker:

When Wisconsin Governor gave a speech at Chicago's Union League Club the morning of Nov 3rd, he has some unexpected guests:

Graphic by Benita Rivera

The call goes out

Calling all students, parents, and school staff to join us this Sunday at 12pm in the atrium at 60 Wall Street to prepare and organize for Monday's General Assembly on Public Education. We need to show the Chancellor and Mayor what real democratic decision looks like and we need all the stakeholders in public education to make this happen. Hope to see you Sunday and Monday! If you can't make it tomorrow, but want to help organize for Monday's action, here are some concrete ways to spread the word:

Occupy the DOE! Join us on the steps of Tweed on Monday, Nov. 7th!Parents, Educators, and Students of New York Citycordially request your presence at the
People’s General Assembly On Public Education
Date:  Monday, the Seventh of November,Two Thousand and ElevenTime:  Five p.m.Location: Steps of Tweed Hall, 52 Chambers St.
Please join us for the exercise of democracy, the raising of silenced voices, outrage at the lack of public representation in decisions of educational policy, and the creation of a People’s Agenda for our schools!

Hosted by Occupy the Department of Education; please visit us on Facebook!

Graphic by Benita Rivera

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

Occupy Cuomo: Tuesday, Nov. 8

This election day protest is shaping up into a great event!  Those crafty Brooklyn parents are putting together a dramatic event to protest budget cuts to education and demand that the governor not allow the millionaires' tax to sunset.  They are bringing their children who will be selling 1.4 billion dollar cupcakes and having a polling station for passers-by to vote on whether the let the tax end.  (Children will be working the ballot boxes!)  Let's add our unique uptown craftiness to the mix!! 
We uptown parents are meeting on the southbound platform of the A train at the 181st street station at 2:30 to travel down together.  Please bring your children, your cupcakes and your homemade signs; we will bring the District 6 banner!
See all the information below and attached (Spanish translation is on the way!!); please feel free to forward the press release to any press contacts that you might have!  See here for the coverage thus far: http://insideschools.org/blog/item/1000147-parents-say-make-millionaires-pay
So are you with us??
Thanks!!
Best,
Tory (D6 parent)

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

It’s hard to imagine that things could get worse in New York City public schools. Whether you are an educator or a parent, over the past several years you have been watching as art classes have gone missing from your 4^th grader’s day, as the aide whom your kindergartener adored was laid off, as the extra 2 students per class has stretched your hours of grading ever later on a Sunday night.

But if we don’t push our politicians to listen, things are about to get a lot worse.

  Estimated revenue lost (next fiscal year) from sunset of millionaires tax: $2.8 billion

  Estimated budget gap for next fiscal year in New York State: $2.4 billion.

  Budget cuts slated for New York City Schools: $1.4 billion.

And still Governor Andrew Cuomo won’t support the extension of the millionaire’s tax.

 IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE HIS MIND.

As parents and educators, you may not have time to camp out in Zuccotti Park – but this is something you CAN do.

On Election Day, join parents, students and teachers from around the city to tell Governor Cuomo that millionaires should not get another tax break because it is our children who will pay.

Join us in bringing the occupation to the Governor’s door

Tuesday, November 8^th @ 3:30pm

In front of Governor Cuomo’s Manhattan office

633 3^rd Ave.  between 40^th and 41^st  St.

If you’re already coming, who can you bring with you?

If you can’t join us, who can you get to stand there in your place?

Pass it on.

OWS Comes to the DOE: General Assembly on Steps of Tweed Monday Nov. 7, 5PM Nov.

Drat! Occupying the steps of Tweed as a follow-up to occupying the PEP. Another great event I will probably miss. Teachers College is showing our film Monday at 4PM with a follow-up panel and a bunch of us have to be up there.

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/calendar.htm?EventID=10242&date=/
http://library.tc.columbia.edu/news.php?id=742
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140553429379900

We may still be able to catch the tale end.

 

Time
Monday, November 7 · 5:00pm - 7:00pm

---

Location
New York City Department of Education52 Chambers Street
New York, NY

---

Created By
Occupy The DOE
Please join us for the exercise of democracy, the raising of silenced voices, outrage at the lack of public representation in decisions of educational policy, the creation of a People’s Agenda for our schools and creation of collective actions that can realize this agenda.
During the OCCUPY the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), we invited Chancellor Walcott to this forum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbmjMickJMA
He declined our offer but we still think he should hear our voices. Please encourage him to come along with members of the City Council Education Committee in this exercise of real democracy.

Click here to add your voice to the agenda through our Facebook poll:
https://www.facebook.com/questions/102137363233818/?qa_ref=qd
Click here to send Walcott your invitation:
http://schools.nyc.gov/ContactDOE/ChancellorMessage.htm
Councilman Robert Jackson, Chairperson, Education Committee: rjackson@council.nyc.gov
Brought to you by the OCCUPY the DOE Committee of Occupy Wall Street #OccupyEDU
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=216152205121253

-----------

Hey all!
Help us to spread the word about Monday so we can include as many voices as possible! Here are five things that you can do to help us grow and get our voices heard!
***Calling all parents, students, teachers, school aides, community organizations, youth groups, and community members concerned about creating public education in the interest of the 99%***
OCCUPY the Department of Education invites you to:
The People’s General Assembly on Public Education
Date: Monday, November 7thTime: 5 PMLocation: Steps of Tweed Hall, 52 Chambers St.
Please join us for the exercise of democracy, the raising of silenced voices, outrage at the lack of public representation in decisions of educational policy, the creation of a People’s Agenda for our schools and creation of collective actions that can realize this agenda.
During the OCCUPY the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), we invited Chancellor Walcott to this forum. He declined our offer but we still think he should hear our voices. Please encourage him to come along with members of the City Council Education Committee in this exercise of real democracy.
Finally, help us to spread the word! We want to include as many voices as possible! Here are five things that you can do to help us grow and get our voices heard!
1. Forward this email far and wide.2. Like us on Facebook and share the event. Print the attached flyer, post it everywhere and hand it out before/after school!4. Call people that would be interested and ask them to attend. The more the merrier!5. Send another invite to Chancellor Walcott, the PEP, and your local city council member to attend.
Brought to you by Occupy the Department of Education!

---------------------------
AND IN OAKLAND

Occupy Oakland: Hundreds of teachers fail to show up for work 

Hundreds of teachers failed to show up for work Wednesday as Occupy Oakland protesters called for a citywide "general strike" to protest economic conditions.
An estimated 16% of teachers in the Oakland Unified School District did not show up to class on Wednesday, said district spokesman Troy Flint.
The troubled district usually has about 2,000 teachers working on a given day and from 20 to 25 absent. On Wednesday, about 315 to 320 stayed away in response to the general strike. Occupy Oakland had called for “no work and no school” for the day.
PHOTOS: Occupy protests around the nationNo schools were closed, although, in some instances, classes had to be consolidated or children redistributed, Flint said. Although student absenteeism was higher than usual, the district did not have an official number of absent students.
“We do support some of the ideals of Occupy Oakland, particularly the concept that services have been dramatically underfunded,” Flint said. “We wanted to allow teachers who were fighting for public education and children to have their voice.”
Still, he said, parents were urged to send their children to school, and “we were committed to keeping schools open.... It wasn’t a normal day by any means, but it progressed well.”

===============
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 Political Underbelly of Ed Deform: Enormous Money Wasted on Teacher Monitoring

UPDATED: Nov. 3, 2011, 11:40PM

On National Test, New York Declines in Math
Ohanian Comment: I had resolved to skip all stories about NAEP. After all, Gerald Bracey pointed out how corrupt the NAEP setup was from the get-go. And it certainly hasn't changed.[Don't miss this classic Bracey takedown.] And I studied the reading passages and questions carefully--and read the bizarre rationales the scorers gave for the scores they assigned. But I stumbled across this Merryl Tisch quote, and ohmygod, have to post it for posterity. It is so arrogantly incomprehensible that I'll post it twice, once here, and once in the article: 

"We cannot be diddling around with courts and lawyers while children and teachers in this state are going hungry for an evaluation. We need to get to a place in New York State where curriculum and instruction drive assets, and not the assets that drive the curriculum and instruction."--Merryl Tisch 

What IS she talking about? She is a prime diddler. 

I added the above since Susan grabbed the same Tisch asshole quote I did below.

First the ed deformers sell the idea that the teacher is the most important element in a child's education.
Then the witch hunts begin.

In my debate last week at Hofstra with Michael Regnier from the NYC Charter Center where ed deform reigns, he was asked for solutions and basically came up with better training for teachers, better method of teaching. That triggered my only heated moment of the evening where I categorically rejected the key idea of the ed deformers that all we need are better lesson plans. I'm glad that Yelena Siwinski, CL of PS 193K who accompanied me, asked Regnier if he ever taught- which he didn't - which led to his heated moment - he refused to accept the idea that you have to teach to discuss education policy. Sure, Michael, go discuss to your heart's content - but you are getting paid as part of the ed deform industry that has sprung up to move public policy. I stole the button from Pissed Off Teacher but there is another that reads - THOSE WHO CANNOT (teach) WANT TO MAKE ED POLICY. I just love those people on the ed deform dole who say they care about children but won't go near the highest level of showing how much you care - go teach those children you care so much about.

Oh, so simple. Just spend billions on measuring teacher effectiveness and get rid of the ineffective teachers who can't improve (hint: some have figured out a way to cheat on the tests).

The sad thing is that our unions - the AFT and UFT - often jumped in with glee to declare how important the teacher is while downplaying the factors that we know have the real impact.

At least Mulgrew jumped in to respond to this outrage by Tisch who placed the blame for the low NAEP's squarely on the teachers:

Merryl Tisch, the chancellor of the state Board of Regents, said the test results reinforce her argument that the state needs a strong teacher evaluation process.
“We cannot be diddling around with courts and lawyers while children and teachers in this state are going hungry for an evaluation,” Ms. Tisch said. “We need to get to a place in New York State where curriculum and instruction drive assets, and not the assets that drive the curriculum and instruction.”

And in the same Times article, another slug said:

Ms. Libfeld also blamed budget cuts and lack of money for teacher training. “It’s an issue all over that we need to focus on,” she said. “Money needs to be focused on professional development for teachers and that’s the bottom line.”

Sure, that's the bottom line. The reality is that we will always have a bunch of teachers who are problematic and even if you ended LIFO right now and allowed principals to fire every teacher they wanted to - we know that a whole bunch of these would be fired for nothing to do with their performance as teachers so so-called "good" teachers would be let go. But let's say they get rid of all the people they consider bad. Now they have to find replacements. Does anyone think that a whole batch of these replacements - who in most cases would be totally inexperienced - wouldn't also be problematic?

But this is where an enormous amount of money is going. Why test kindergarten kids? So they can get a baseline for their teachers. Insanity.

You can see ed deform at work every single day. Just this week we found out that NY State made no progress on the NAEP scores. Now as an opponent of using tests to measure everything I hate to jump on the necks of Merryl Tisch and her neighbor Bloomberg - no, I really don't hate to do it - they lived by the sword and should die by the sword. Even before the NAEP's were released I predicted that NYC would do a penny better than the rest of the state and even though last in the nation would declare victory. You know why? Because we have the least experienced corps of principals with so many coming from the Leadership Academy and many of them are at least competent in figuring out how to cheat - like going so far as to threaten teachers with their jobs if they don't. And of course with the witch hunts on to measure and fire teachers who don't perform, I can't blame them.

So there were lots of articles in the NY Times this week on what may look like separate issues but they are all connected.

Leonie Haimson linked these issues at the NYC Parent blog:

Today's scorecard on our schools: the news ain't pretty & the diagnosis bizarre

We have had nine long years during which NY state and city education officials have relentlessly focused on  high stakes testing, with school closings, grade retention, and teacher bonuses all linked to test scores.  So according to data released today, what have been the results?

• Test score tampering allegations are way up;

• So are suspensions;

• So are class sizes;

•  Meanwhile, our test scores on the most reliable national assessments are flat or declining.

So what do we need, according to NY education officials ?  Better tests.  Read it and weep.

Leonie Haimson tracks another waste of money by the Tweedies.

Many new positions to be  hired in “Teacher Effectiveness Support”; incl. two jobs at six figure salaries. meanwhile class sizes growing out of control and no money for classroom supplies. What does Support mean?  More rigid evaluation systems. Read the list below the fold.

NY State United Teachers SUPPORTS Testing for Kindergarten

Susan says "Shame"

Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)_ 
(http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9780) 

States Ready Tests for Kindergarten 

Ohanian Comments: It's unfortunately no surprise that state functionaries--and the New York State United Teachers (for shame!)-- succumb to the lure of money and agree to engage in practices that are, at best, pretty much useless. Federal policy already put DIBELS testing into kindergarten. 

See Kindergarten teacher details lunacy of standardized tests for kids for the 27,000 data entries kindergarten teacher Nancy Creech must make every year. She notes: "I am spending so much time recording "formative" assessments that I don't have time to evaluate the meaningful assessments and plan for instruction, much less time to actually teach!" When is she supposed to fit in another test? Where's the evidence this new test has any validity? It is shameful that government functionaries put a scramble for federal money on the backs of five-year-olds. It is worse than shameful that the federal government uses OUR tax dollars for this purpose. 

WSJ Article below

The Hits (on WalBloom) Keep on Comin': Fed Up Brownsville Parents Set to March on Chancellor’s Town Hall Meeting

I'm about to head over to Washington Sq Park  for the support general strike rally in Oakland rally before heading up the GEM Change the Stakes committee meeting. See a good post by Mike Klonsky on the Oakland situation. Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog.

But here is another interesting event going on today on Brownsville as more and more communities rise up to battle the ed deformers. I'll tell you later about the large crowd that turned out Tuesday afternoon for a meeting to organize in North and West Brooklyn. Now, if we can link all these movements we'll be in business. We have enough experience now with the DOE's "closing school game to make way for charters" to provide more assistance to schools in this situation so look for a somewhat stronger fight back this year. (The UFT's response of a few fizzled rallies followed by a flimsy law suit is hopefully a thing of the past - unless they still try to push a strategy that has resulted in almost 100% losses - but then again they still tell teachers that the only way to fight is through a grievance even though they lose almost a hundred per cent of those.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2011

Contact:         Evan Thies (Brooklyn Strategies), 917 715 9265 – evan@brooklynstrategies.com

Fed Up Brownsville Parents Set to March on Chancellor’s Town Hall Meeting Following School Cuts, Fatal Shooting Outside PS 298

Shooting Final Straw for Parents After DOE Cuts $1M From Nearby Schools and then Moves to Close Them

Fed up Brownsville parents will march to a protest tonight outside of Chancellor Walcott’s scheduled town hall meeting there in response to the City’s move to close three of their schools—one of which was across the street from a fatal shooting in October where a mother was killed and a student was shot in the face.  The Brooklyn schools – PS 298 and General D. Chappie James Elementary and Middle School (K631 and K634) – were placed on a list of 20 low performing elementary and middle schools in September, putting them at risk of closure.  But parents say the City has neglected the schools: cutting more than $1 million and staff from them over the past three years, and dooming students there to fail without new support.

Parents will also argue that the schools have large numbers of high-needs students (homeless, special education and lower income) that far exceed citywide averages, and so need extra support to succeed—yet the administration’s deep cuts have led to lost programs, classes and personnel.  Both schools have also undergone restructuring, but neither has been given the time or funding to deliver results.

Quick facts on PS 298:

·       School has experienced budget cuts of $564,736 over the past 3 years

·       84% of students are considered lower-income (free/reduced price lunch eligible), compared to 74% citywide

·       21% of students are in special education, compared to 14% citywide

·       8% of students at the school are homeless, double the citywide average of 4%

Quick facts on Chappie Elementary:

·       School has experienced budget cuts of $442,530 over the past 3 years

·       90% of students are considered lower-income (free/reduced price lunch eligible), compared to 74% citywide

·       10% of students at the school are homeless, double the citywide average of 4%

WHEN:           Wednesday, November 2^nd – between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM

WHERE:         5:00 PM – Parents meet in front of PS 298 and Chappie, march to Walcott event at PS 156

(PS 298 located at 85 Watkins St.; Chappie Elementary located at 76 Riverdale Ave.)

5:30 PM – Parents rally in front of Walcott event at PS 156 (104 Sutter Ave.)

WHO:             Dozens of parents and students angry with DOE move to close schools; public education advocates.

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