GEM'a ITBWFS Film Showing at PS 75

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 Spence School: What's Good for Mayor Bloomberg's Kids Is Good Enough for Ours

See below from Leonie Haimson on Alan Singer's article on Spence where Bloomberg sent his kids. I knew teachers at Spence when we used to hold technology meetings there. They would laugh at the idea of teaching in the school system run by Bloomberg.

----------
Given all those science labs, art studios, dance rooms etc. (even a art history room!) as well as small class sizes, I'm sure that Spence would be considered way underutilized by DOE's formula and an appropriate site for a charter school.  Should we suggest that Eva move in there?
Leonie

Alan Singer
Social studies educator, Hofstra University

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/whats-good-for-mayor-bloo_b_1128296.html

What's Good for Mayor Bloomberg's Kids Is Good Enough for Ours

Posted: 12/ 6/11 05:12 PM ET

Cartoonist Al Capp added the character General Bullmoose to his Li'l Abner comic strip in 1953. Bullmoose epitomized "the ruthless capitalist." His motto was "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA!" He was supposedly based on Charles Wilson, a former head of General Motors who testified before a United States Senate subcommittee that "What is good for the country is good for General Motors, and what's good for General Motors is good for the country."

Capp, who died in 1979, was being sarcastic. If he were alive and drawing his comic strip today he might rejoice in characterizing this generation's latest Bullmoose, New York City's multi-billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Recently, while a guest speaker at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, Bloomberg said that if it were up to him, he would fire half the city's teachers and double class size. He would also double teacher salaries, which would be a good idea if, as Bloomberg says, he wants to attract and hold onto the best teachers. Bloomberg, who has been in a prolonged legislative and public relations campaign to weaken the city's teachers union, branded 50% of New York C$mnkiity's teachers as ineffective, even though according to a new rating system that he endorses and the union disputes, the number is less than 20%.

Bloomberg's proposal was quickly and emphatically denounced by Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. According to Haimson, the mayor ran for office on a platform calling for reducing class size, but now New York City has "the largest class sizes in 11 years." He also called for merit pay but without positive results. "We've had the experiment, we've tried and it's failed." Haimson is actually less concerned with Bloomberg's proposal, which she dismissed as "idiocy," than she is with similar proposals being floated by the Gates Foundation, the right-leaning Fordham Institution, and the supposedly more liberal Center for American Progress.

But maybe Mayor Mike is on to something? Maybe New York City should fire half the teachers and double class size in its public schools? His proposal made me curious. What kind of education did Mayor Mike choose for his daughters, now adults, before he became mayor and was only an ordinary multi-billionaire living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan? Michael Bloomberg has two daughters, Emma, now aged thirty-two, and Georgina, twenty-eight. Both girls attended the prestigious private all-girls Spence School in New York City.

The Spence School is located on ritzy East 91 Street between 5th Avenue and Madison. According to its website, for the 2011-12 academic year, tuition is $37,500 for all grades K-12, about the tuition cost of an expensive private university. By comparison, the tuition cost at the elite public Stuyvesant High School is zero. I do not know if either Bloomberg daughter took or passed the test for selective New York City public high schools, although Emma was supposed to be a top student and later attended Princeton University.

Because Spence alumnae are routinely accepted by Harvard, Princeton and Columbia universities, the school can afford to be very selective. It received 707 applications in the 2008-2009 academic year, and accepted 129 students or only 18 percent of the applicants.

Of course it does not hurt to be rich or well known when applying for a spot for your children. Among the celebrities whose children attend or have attended Spence are Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Bloomberg, Revlon's Ronald O. Perelman, Walter Cronkite, and Katie Couric.

In addition to its high tuition charge, the school has a "voluntary" annual fund, which because it is tax deductible, allows the wealthy to "contribute" even more money to the school claiming while a deduction on state and federal income taxes. According to the website, "the Annual Fund helps pay for everything from faculty salaries and professional development opportunities to new curriculum initiatives, from financial assistance programs to technology maintenance and upgrades, from the electricity needed to keep the lights on to supplies and books. It helps Spence attract and retain a talented and committed faculty and provides support for extracurricular activities, clubs, sports, arts initiatives and other programs."

The Spence school has a $25.6 million endowment and very valuable property holdings, partly because of multimillion-dollar gifts from wealthy notables such as Bloomberg and Fiona Biggs Druckenmiller, a philanthropist who attended the school as a child.

But if you can afford the tuition and the voluntary donation, there are many good reasons to have your daughters attend Spence. Its mission statement explains the school is a "diverse community of enthusiastic, scholastically motivated girls . . . taught by a devoted and passionate faculty." In a world where public school students are forced to take an array of standardized assessments and test prep classes, a program enthusiastically supported by Bloomberg for everyone else's children, Spence "students are encouraged to dig deep and ask questions, understanding that learning is a lifelong process, beyond an exam or diploma. Day-to-day, they aspire to their school motto 'Not for school, but for life we learn'." To facilitate this kind of learning, average class size at Spence is limited to approximately 16-18 students and only 14 students per class in the high school. Recent visiting artists, lecturers, and scholars have included Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, playwright J.T. Rogers, Metropolitan Museum curator Joan Mertens '64, artist Barnaby Furnas, novelist Sue Monk Kidd, choreographer Doug Varone and Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor.

At Spence, the extras are not considered extra. It has six science labs, six art studios and an art history room, two music rooms, a computer lab, a photography darkroom, two gymnasiums and a fitness room, two performance spaces, two dance studios, and two libraries. Spence also offers both international and domestic study programs to Upper School students.

I kind of like what I read about Spence. I would like this kind of education for my grandchildren who attend public schools. And what is good for General Bullmoose, I mean Michael Bloomberg, should be good for all the children of New York City.

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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Will Moskowitz Meet Match in Cornel West? Will Wadleigh Librarian Become an ATR?

When one of the most respected national voices in the Black community inserts himself into the battle over an Evil real estate grab something's got to give.

Read the Geoff Decker and Beth Fertig stories. Did I miss something? No ref to the charges that both "struggling" schools in the same building are in Success Academy's way and are being cleared out for Eva?

And how about that respected librarian - Paul McIntosh - who may become an ATR if the school closes?
PS 241 in Harlem was also branded a failure when EVA wanted the building but did too well so now they go after the other charter in that building to give her liebensraum.

Noah Gotbaum reported:
Cornel West was incredible speaking to a packed house primarily of middle and high school students at Wadleigh/FDA II earlier today.  See Geoff Decker's article with link to the video in Gotham Schools, and Beth Fertig's piece in Schoolbook.

http://gothamschools.org/2011/12/05/cornel-west-i-intend-to-fight-for-harlem-school-that-could-close/#.Tt2aSUvcJl0.email

Cornel West: 'I intend to fight' for Harlem school that could close

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/12/05/a-struggling-school-gets-a-lift-from-a-visiting-professor/


Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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UFT Ex Bd ATR Reso - Will Vote at Del Ass on Weds.

Given our previous post on the new ATR supervision plan - my limited int access keeps me from checking but I hear Chaz has a great analysis - someone send a report from the DA on what is said.

In the meantime this turned up.

Let's give New Action a kudo for some behind the scenes work on this and also for sending a rep to the Nov GEMATR committee meeting.

Now we think you can't talk about ATRs without connecting to closing school - the gift that Tweed keeps giving to the bountiful creation of an endless source of ATRs - but I'm not getting greedy in my old age. GEM will continue to reach out to schools on the closing list with ATR info and a leaflet has been produced. (If you want a copy to share email me at normsco@gmail.com.

This will be voted on at the DA on Weds and it will pass even as it contains elements of the reso sponsored by the GEMATR committee and TJC last month that was trashed and defeated by Unity. But let's view this as a good thing though resos are just words. Let's see the uft actually get some of these recos done.

I won't be at the DA but

Resolution on Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) placements
 
WHEREAS the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) crisis is a clear and direct result of New York City Department of Education (DOE) policies and mismanagement; and
 
WHEREAS even though efforts to resolve the crisis have been partially successful, the DOE still has not kept its promises nor met its moral and professional obligations to ATRs and has thereby wasted valuable human and economic resources; and
 
WHEREAS maintaining fairness and increasing productivity in the city's teaching force require that the talents of all educators be utilized in service to students, parents and school communities; and
 
WHEREAS solutions to the ATR crisis need to be proposed and implemented without delay in order to maximize productivity, teaching and learning in New York City public schools; therefore be it
 
RESOLVED that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) call upon the DOE to create a recertification program for ATRs for designated shortage areas and allow participating ATRs to take the requisite course work at the City University of New York (CUNY) free of charge or be reimbursed for the related costs of attending a private college or university at the CUNY rate per credit; and be it further
 
RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to require that all ATRs be given an opportunity for permanent placement in vacancies in their license areas in their district or high school superintendency before the DOE approves any new hire in a license area where an ATR has not been given an opportunity for permanent placement; and be it further
 
RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to place all ATRs into vacancies in their district or high school superintendency after September 15 of any given year on a provisional basis; and be it further
 
RESOLVED that the UFT urge the DOE to allow principals and ATRs at the end of the school year to either mutually agree to have ATRs as permanent staff members or allow them to return to the ATR pool.

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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Re: [ice-mail] Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

It's the DoE's "new model" for the thinning of the herd…

In simpler terms, a way to issue U ratings, and to discontinue the licenses of ATRs.

On Dec 5, 2011, at 6:37 PM, marjoriestamberg@yahoo.com wrote:

Oh yeah, definite rats.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: "Norm Scott" <normsco@gmail.com>
Sender: ice-mail@yahoogroups.com
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 22:48:57
To: Ednotes blog<ednotesonline.buffy@blogger.com>; Gem Internal<GEM-Internal@googlegroups.com>; GEM Listserve<Grassroots-Education@googlegroups.com>; Ice Internal google<ice-mgs@googlegroups.com>; IceMail ListservYahoo<ice-mail@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: normsco@gmail.com
Subject: [ice-mail] Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

I could just drip with satire but I'll leave that to others.

From: Atrassignment <Atrassignment@schools.nyc.gov>
Subject: Important Update on Supervision
To:
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:37 AM

Dear Teacher,

The Department of Education is piloting a new model for supervision of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).  This pilot will be implemented for most ATRs assigned to community school districts in Brooklyn as well as the Brooklyn High School superintendency, District 73; you are receiving this email because you will likely be included in the pilot.  Under this initiative, you will be supervised by a licensed administrator, called a Field Supervisor, who will periodically observe your practice and provide you with feedback to support your professional development.  The Field Supervisors are aware that as an ATR you do not have a regular program and that you rotate school assignments and they will take this context into account in their work with you.

At some point in the next two months, you should expect your Field Supervisor to visit your assignment site to meet with you in person.  At this initial meeting, the Field Supervisor will work with you to develop a plan to support your professional growth and job search process.  The Field Supervisor will make an effort to contact you via your DOE email in advance of the initial meeting to give you a sense of when you can expect him or her; however, he or she may not always be able to provide advance notification.

Sincerely,

NYC Department of Education

 
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

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Messages posted on ice-mail do not necessarily reflect the views of the Independent Community of Educators.  Ice-mail is a high-volume list with lots of members and new people joining every week.  In responding to messages please consider addressing your comments to only the sender, especially if they are not of general interest to the list.

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Messages posted on ice-mail do not necessarily reflect the views of the Independent Community of Educators.  Ice-mail is a high-volume list with lots of members and new people joining every week.  In responding to messages please consider addressing your comments to only the sender, especially if they are not of general interest to the list.

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Re: Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

And where is the money coming to pay for these jobs??? I thought there was a budget crisis and DOE is adding new, unecessary Tweedsters!!! Probably more 20 somethings ripe for brainwashing and cult (non-questioning, spill the cool-aid jargon out of their mouths) who will have these Field Supervisory positions. Trogether they would not have enough experience to judge the majority of the ATRs they will be "supervising!". SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!!! Mulgrew, where are you?!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "Norm Scott" <normsco@gmail.com>
Sender: grassroots-education@googlegroups.com
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 22:48:57
To: Ednotes blog<ednotesonline.buffy@blogger.com>; Gem Internal<GEM-Internal@googlegroups.com>; GEM Listserve<Grassroots-Education@googlegroups.com>; Ice Internal google<ice-mgs@googlegroups.com>; IceMail ListservYahoo<ice-mail@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: normsco@gmail.com
Subject: Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

I could just drip with satire but I'll leave that to others.

From: Atrassignment <Atrassignment@schools.nyc.gov>
Subject: Important Update on Supervision
To:
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:37 AM

Dear Teacher,

The Department of Education is piloting a new model for supervision of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).  This pilot will be implemented for most ATRs assigned to community school districts in Brooklyn as well as the Brooklyn High School superintendency, District 73; you are receiving this email because you will likely be included in the pilot.  Under this initiative, you will be supervised by a licensed administrator, called a Field Supervisor, who will periodically observe your practice and provide you with feedback to support your professional development.  The Field Supervisors are aware that as an ATR you do not have a regular program and that you rotate school assignments and they will take this context into account in their work with you.

At some point in the next two months, you should expect your Field Supervisor to visit your assignment site to meet with you in person.  At this initial meeting, the Field Supervisor will work with you to develop a plan to support your professional growth and job search process.  The Field Supervisor will make an effort to contact you via your DOE email in advance of the initial meeting to give you a sense of when you can expect him or her; however, he or she may not always be able to provide advance notification.

Sincerely,

NYC Department of Education

 
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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Re: [ice-mail] Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

Oh yeah, definite rats.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: "Norm Scott" <normsco@gmail.com>
Sender: ice-mail@yahoogroups.com
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 22:48:57
To: Ednotes blog<ednotesonline.buffy@blogger.com>; Gem Internal<GEM-Internal@googlegroups.com>; GEM Listserve<Grassroots-Education@googlegroups.com>; Ice Internal google<ice-mgs@googlegroups.com>; IceMail ListservYahoo<ice-mail@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: normsco@gmail.com
Subject: [ice-mail] Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

I could just drip with satire but I'll leave that to others.

From: Atrassignment <Atrassignment@schools.nyc.gov>
Subject: Important Update on Supervision
To:
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:37 AM

Dear Teacher,

The Department of Education is piloting a new model for supervision of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).  This pilot will be implemented for most ATRs assigned to community school districts in Brooklyn as well as the Brooklyn High School superintendency, District 73; you are receiving this email because you will likely be included in the pilot.  Under this initiative, you will be supervised by a licensed administrator, called a Field Supervisor, who will periodically observe your practice and provide you with feedback to support your professional development.  The Field Supervisors are aware that as an ATR you do not have a regular program and that you rotate school assignments and they will take this context into account in their work with you.

At some point in the next two months, you should expect your Field Supervisor to visit your assignment site to meet with you in person.  At this initial meeting, the Field Supervisor will work with you to develop a plan to support your professional growth and job search process.  The Field Supervisor will make an effort to contact you via your DOE email in advance of the initial meeting to give you a sense of when you can expect him or her; however, he or she may not always be able to provide advance notification.

Sincerely,

NYC Department of Education

 
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

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

============================================================
Messages posted on ice-mail do not necessarily reflect the views of the Independent Community of Educators. Ice-mail is a high-volume list with lots of members and new people joining every week. In responding to messages please consider addressing your comments to only the sender, especially if they are not of general interest to the list.

Keep up with new statements and comments:
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/

Post a message to the list:
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Visit ICE online:
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Smell a Rat Alert: ATRs to Be "Supervised"

I could just drip with satire but I'll leave that to others.

From: Atrassignment <Atrassignment@schools.nyc.gov>
Subject: Important Update on Supervision
To:
Date: Monday, December 5, 2011, 10:37 AM

Dear Teacher,

The Department of Education is piloting a new model for supervision of teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).  This pilot will be implemented for most ATRs assigned to community school districts in Brooklyn as well as the Brooklyn High School superintendency, District 73; you are receiving this email because you will likely be included in the pilot.  Under this initiative, you will be supervised by a licensed administrator, called a Field Supervisor, who will periodically observe your practice and provide you with feedback to support your professional development.  The Field Supervisors are aware that as an ATR you do not have a regular program and that you rotate school assignments and they will take this context into account in their work with you.

At some point in the next two months, you should expect your Field Supervisor to visit your assignment site to meet with you in person.  At this initial meeting, the Field Supervisor will work with you to develop a plan to support your professional growth and job search process.  The Field Supervisor will make an effort to contact you via your DOE email in advance of the initial meeting to give you a sense of when you can expect him or her; however, he or she may not always be able to provide advance notification.

Sincerely,

NYC Department of Education

 
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

OCCUPY WALL STREET TELLS NEWT GINGRICH TO 'TAKE A BATH'

Tough internet access in NZ. Have big backlog. This looks like fun.

December 5, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: press@occupywallst.org
For this action: Ben Campbell, 646-457-2856, occupyfundraisers@gmail.com
 
OCCUPY WALL STREET TELLS NEWT GINGRICH TO 'TAKE A BATH'
 
 
Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich told Occupy Wall Street protesters, "go get a job, right after you take a bath."  However, it is Gingrich who is truly filthy from rolling around in dirty money. Since leaving the House of Representatives over a decade ago in a cloud of ethics violations, Newt has amassed a fortune of between $7.3 million and $31 million by the peddling of political influence [1]. He has been personally paid $840,000 by the Chamber of Commerce [2], more than $1.6 million from Freddie Mac [3], and $312,500 in a single year from Growth Energy, an ethanol lobby [4].  His for-profit "think tank", the Center for Health Transformation, was founded to lobby on behalf of health insurance and pharmaceutical corporations, and he was paid a monthly retainer by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, one of the largest lobbying organizations in the country [5].  His 527 group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, was funded by big oil and coal companies and worked to oppose climate change legislation and promote offshore drilling [6].

One of the 1%'s most successful and moneyed lobbyists, Gingrich is now running for President to more fully institutionalize inequality and the entrenched plutocratic system.

On Monday Dec. 5, Gingrich will be in Manhattan to raise money from the 1%.  He is holding a $1000/person fundraiser at the Union League Club, 38 E 37th St, 12 PM.  Occupy Wall Street will be there at 11:30 AM, decked out in bathrobes and shower caps, to tell Newt that it is he who needs to "take a bath", to get the influence of dirty money out of our politics.

OccupyFundraisers is an affinity group of Occupy Wall Street, a people-powered direct action movement that began on September 17, 2011, in Liberty Square in Manhattan's Financial District. OWS is part of a growing international movement fighting against neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, government controlled by moneyed interests, and the resulting income inequality, unemployment, environmental destruction, and oppression of people at the front lines of the economic crisis.
 
[1] http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/gingrich-running-as-change-agent-profits-from-washington-insider-status
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204517204577044551356125444.html
[3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/gingrich-said-to-be-paid-at-least-1-6-million-by-freddie-mac.html
[4] http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/gingrich-made-big-bucks-pushing-corporate-welfare
[5] http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/gingrich-made-big-bucks-pushing-corporate-welfare
[6] http://www.salon.com/2010/08/10/whos_giving_to_newt_gingrich/

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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Occupy the DOE

Believe it or not there are still teachers in our public schools who do not see the threat to their jobs and livelihood. I certainly put some blame on the uft leaders who are selling "we only have to wait for Bloomberg to leave" while ignoring the threat of the political machine Eva Moskowitz, who wants to be mayor" is building by using her charter schools - you know it was never about education.

The gang at Tweed can only be met head on by large numbers. They moved the Dec. 14 PEP meeting to Queens (see stories at gotham and Ed Notes) to help out Eva who can rent buses.

OCCUPY THE DOE!
The Fight for Quality Public Education for the 99%

Should we allow the 1% -Bloomberg, his puppets on the Panel for Educational Policy, the corporate privatizers and their charter schools - to control our public school system? 

The Panel for Educational Policy is UNDEMOCRATIC!
Mayoral Control IGNORES THE VOICES OF PARENTS, STUDENTS, and TEACHERS!
Charter schools funnel public funds into private hands and force unnecessary competition for resources between families from the same community. All children have the right to a quality education! 

Join us to craft a People's Agenda for our schools! 

Join OCCUPY THE DOE Every Sunday
The Atrium
60 Wall Street

2pm: OCCUPY THE PEP (Direct Action Working Group): Discuss how to make the Panel for Educational Policy a REAL democratic forum for parents, students, and teachers!

3pm: OCCUPY THE DOE General Meeting.

SAME STRUGGLE, SAME FIGHT 
TEACHERS, PARENTS, STUDENTS UNITE!

Occupy the DOE: We are concerned educators, parents and students who believe that Bloomberg and Walcott -- the 1% -- should NOT have the sole authority over NYC public schools but that the 99% can best decide HOW OUR SCHOOLS ARE RUN.

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

Bloomberg's Big Mistake

He fired only 2/3 of the Chancellor's he's hired.

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

Ed Deform Failures in Chicago After Almost Two Decades

It was a late spring evening in 2001 at a UFT Exec Bd meeting, the very day Randi Weingarten put the UFT on track to support mayoral control, the key element in the ed deformer arsenal that removes almost all public oversight over schools.

I received an email that day from Chicago's George Schmidt addressed to NYC teachers warning us about their already fading ed deform experiment since 1994 and I handed it out to the uft EB that night. I followed up later that night with a nasty email to Randi. She blew a gasket and our relationship turned ugly from then on.

The uft propaganda machine has spent the last decade blaming things that went wrong on joel klein or incompetence at Tweed or Bloomberg (the latest is "only ___ months till he's gone - recycling what they said about Giulianni, Koch - a quarter century of the same bullshit.)

J'accuse the UFT leadership of educational malfeasance by PURPOSELY trying to deflect the truth that ed deformers have engaged in a national assault on pub ed for almost 2 decades while the uft leaders were telling members that Klein's first ed czar Diana Lam's arrogance was the issue. As if Chicago didn't exist.

Here is more proof about the failures of charter schools in Chicago, where Arne Duncan ran the schools into the ground for 7 years but escaped before the shit hit the fan.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-30/news/ct-met-charter-schools-performance-1130-20111130_1_chicago-international-charter-schools-andrew-broy-school-report-cards

Report finds charters struggling like other CPS schools
Poverty dogs students despite schools' flexibility, autonomy

November 30, 2011|By Joel Hood and Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune reporters

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city leaders have long heralded charter schools' innovative approach to education, but new research suggests many charters in Chicago are performing no better than traditional neighborhood schools and some are actually doing much worse.
More than two dozen schools in some of the city's most prominent and largest charter networks, including the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), Chicago International Charter Schools, University of Chicago and LEARN, scored well short of district averages on key standardized tests.

In two of the city's oldest charter networks, Perspectives and Aspira, only one school — Perspectives' IIT Math & Science Academy — surpassed CPS' average on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, taken by elementary schoolers, or the Prairie State Achievement Examination, used in high schools.

At Shabazz International's DuSable Leadership high school on the South Side, just 7 percent of students met state standards on the PSAE. A few miles south, nine out of every 10 students at CICS' Hawkins high school missed the state benchmark.
The dismal numbers are part of a new set of school report cards the state is releasing to the public Wednesday, results sure to reignite the debate over education reform one day before Chicago Public Schools is expected to release its long-awaited list of school closings for next year.
Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, acknowledged that maybe a dozen underperforming charter schools are in need of "substantial actions" that may include closing. But simply looking at how many students have met state benchmarks is not a fair assessment, he said; a more important indicator is student growth over time.
"We're in this business because we want to prove that public schools can work," said Juan Rangel, president of the politically connected UNO charter network, which operates nine schools in CPS and plans to open three more next year.
Addressing the failures at UNO's lowest-performing school, Paz Elementary on the West Side, Rangel said: "We're at a point where it's do or die. We're either going to put Paz on course … or we'll have to consider whether this is a school we should keep open."
Two years after Illinois lawmakers approved a more thorough accounting of charter school performance, the state has released data that will allow the public for the first time to see how individual charter schools are measuring up against traditional public schools.
The report cards are somewhat limiting, only looking at a school's performance in 2010-11. But the trends show that despite their celebrated autonomy, discipline and longer school days, charter schools are struggling to overcome the poverty that so often hampers underperforming neighborhood schools.
Charters with the highest numbers of students from low-income families or those with recognized learning disabilities almost universally scored the lowest last year on state exams, a trend common throughout CPS.
One exception is the performance of high schools within the Noble Street Charter network, often touted by Emanuel and others as some of the best charters have to offer. Report cards show Noble students did not reach the level of CPS' elite selective enrollment or magnet schools on the PSAE, but did score on par with state averages — a notable feat for any school in CPS.

But even charters' staunchest supporters admit that success has not been widespread across all schools. New Schools for Chicago, which invested in dozens of charters after then-Mayor Richard Daley launched a massive charter expansion program in 2010, has compiled a watch list for poor-performing charters that they've turned over to CPS.
"In general for charters that have been around for more than five years and not performing, we're supporting their closure or restructuring of these schools," said New Schools Chief Executive Phyllis Lockett. "At the end of the day, we need the bar set on what achievement needs to look like."
Over the last decade, the number of charter schools, which are publicly funded but have relative freedom in decision-making, has grown to 110, and they have become a force in Chicago's crowded public school system.
A report to be released Wednesday by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution ranks CPS second among large urban districts in providing choices for parents aside from traditional neighborhood schools. Expanding those options is a major point of emphasis for Emanuel and CPS chief Jean-Claude Brizard.
But the majority of charter schools in Chicago and around the U.S. rely on nonunion teachers, who are frequently paid lower wages and asked to work longer hours. That has led to friction with powerful teachers unions, who accuse charter networks of devaluing the profession by driving down salaries and of stripping public money from long-standing neighborhood schools.

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
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Grassroots Education Movement
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Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
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Video: Brooklyn parents, teachers & community members speak out: we don't want your charter school in our neighborhood!

Sent by Leonie Haimson

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.
com/2011/12/brooklyn-parents-teachers-community.html

Thanks to Darren Marelli, here are highlights from the hearing that occurred on Tuesday about the controversial proposal to co-locate another branch of the Success Academy charter chain in Cobble Hill, District 15, in Brooklyn. 

Passionate and articulate parents, teachers, elected officials, students and community members spoke out against this damaging, deceptive and most probably illegal proposal, and pointed out how the co-location will likely wreck the schools that now inhabit the building, one of which is in transformation, by overcrowding them, forcing them to increase class size and lose valuable programs.  Does the DOE care?  You be the judge.

Leonie

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

Video: Brooklyn parents, teachers & community members speak out: we don't want your charter school in our neighborhood!

Sent by Leonie Haimson

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.
com/2011/12/brooklyn-parents-teachers-community.html

Thanks to Darren Marelli, here are highlights from the hearing that occurred on Tuesday about the controversial proposal to co-locate another branch of the Success Academy charter chain in Cobble Hill, District 15, in Brooklyn. 

Passionate and articulate parents, teachers, elected officials, students and community members spoke out against this damaging, deceptive and most probably illegal proposal, and pointed out how the co-location will likely wreck the schools that now inhabit the building, one of which is in transformation, by overcrowding them, forcing them to increase class size and lose valuable programs.  Does the DOE care?  You be the judge.

Leonie

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

Walcott/Bloomberg Move December PEP Meeting to Antarctica

At Ed Notes:
They might as well meet in Antarctica instead of difficult to get to Newtown HS in Queens, where an increasingly panicy Tweed has moved the Dec 14 PEP meeting, which will decide on 2 Success charter Brooklyn invasions, from Fashion Industries HS in midtown Manhattan. They claim this is for Queens parents when as of this time no issues related to Queens schools are on the agenda (though they did dig something up to try to cover their asses).

WalBloom are making a clear attempt to shut out the voices of Brooklyn parents whose choice (the buzz word of ed deformers) is to NOT have an Eva Moskowitz school in their neighborhood.

Last night's protests over another Success Academy invasion, this time in gentrified Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, is a wake-up call. Tweed is counting on them to show up sparingly at Newtown HS while Eva sends in rented buses full of food and other goodies to get her people there.

There will be growing demands to move the meeting back to a more accessible location. The key will be whether the press picks up on the obvious intent of this move.

But with growing awareness of the outrageous machinations going on at Tweed and with communities in Dist 15 (western bklyn) and Dist 14 (northern) joining forces and organizing, along with outreach to Occupy Wall St educators, this may not turn out to be a cakewalk for Eva and Tweed. She has stepped on communities that just may have the resources and leadership, along with the diversity to engage in an effective long-term battle even after she gets her school, which is a given. Some forms of civil disobedience are not out of the question as anger grows. This is one PR war that Eva and Tweed will have to work very hard to win even with a press biased in favor of Tweed. But then again do they really have to worry about this issue?

Eva will try to paint the opposition as a Uft op but the uft fingerprints are light even if they have a rooting interest. But with the move to Newtown we just may see the uft jump in with their own buses, though the press will paint this Eva's way as uft vs her. The UFT has jumped into the battle in Harlem at PS 241.

Here is some press coverage of last night's meeting. Look for my follow-up post of comments from parents Karen Sprowal and Noah Gotbaum on the press coverage where he points out that 90 percent against and a few lone voices for are presented as a "divided" community.
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Leonie Haimson:
Good video of Brian Jones at (NY1)  also some video at GothamSchools; both stories below.

Protesters Disrupt DOE Hearing On Proposed Brooklyn Charter School

By: Zack Fink, NY1

The Department of Education held a meeting Tuesday at K293 in Cobble Hill to discuss a proposed 190-seat charter school that would be housed in the building, and opponents butted heads with supporters as dozens signed up to speak. NY1's Zack Fink filed the following report.

The K293 building in Cobble Hill is already home to two secondary schools and one special education program, but Department of Education officials say there's still space for 700 students.

Success Academy Charter Schools wants to use up 190 of those spots for a charter that would serve kindergarten through fourth grade.

Some parents say they're behind that idea.

"2007 was a boom for Brooklyn. Lots and lots of babies. And we all need to go to elementary school. Some of us have great options in this neighborhood, others have less than stellar options, and it's my ethical responsibility to find a good school for my son. So I'm supporting the charter school," said parent Liz Williams.

But there were some fierce opponents at a public hearing Tuesday night.

About 70 people signed up to speak, some of whom claimed to be part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. One person was ejected.

For other opponents, the issue is about how public resources are allocated.

"Unfortunately, the DOE doesn't seem to put the same priority, love and interest in building up the public schools that they do with charters, and it just raises a lot of questions," said teacher Brian Jones. "Why do they have to come into public school buildings, why do we have to have a competitive system of education?"

A competing plan is also on the table for the space. Elected officials and others want to use it for an early childhood education program.

"There is an enormous need in this district for pre-K and K classes. They are all oversubscribed. You even have to pay a lot of money to go to private pre-K and K, and they are oversubscribed, too," saod Assemblywoman Joan Millman.

The panel for educational policy has scheduled a vote on the co-location for December 14. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been supportive, controls a majority of votes on the panel, and the co-location is expected to be approved.

 

 

Showdown set for year's first charter school co-location hearing

by Rachel Cromidas, at 4:48 pm

Many of the attendees who lined up outside Brooklyn Tech for last February's Panel for Educational Policy meeting came to protest the creation of a Success Academy Charter School on the Upper West Side.

Back-to-back rallies set for this afternoon augur a contentious co-location hearing for the newest outpost in the Success Charter Network.

The creation of Cobble Hill Success Academy, which won approval earlier this year to open next fall in Brooklyn's District 13, has sparked conflict in District 15, the location of the school's proposed site. Advocates and critics of the city's plan to co-locate the charter school with two secondary schools and a special education program will lay out their cases during tonight's public hearing — and beforehand, in rallies set for outside the Baltic Street building.

The public hearing is the first of the year and ushers in a season of rancorous co-location hearings.

Some families have lamented crowding in high-performing local elementary schools and said they would appreciate new options. But others say they are worried that the new school would strain resources at the proposed site without effectively serving the high-needs populations it was originally intended to serve.

Cobble Hill Success's promise to serve low-income, immigrant families in District 13 was a boon to its application, according to Pedro Noguera, an education professor who green-lighted the school's original application as a member of the State University of New York's Charter Schools Institute.

"We have tried to take the position recently that we can put charter schools where there is clearly a need for better schools for kids, so targeting the more disadvantaged communities. We have also seen the areas that are a saturation of charter schools, so we want to encourage them to open in areas that have a high need and aren't being served," said Noguera, who will be participating in an education debate this evening in the West Village. "A school in Cobble Hill clearly does not meet that criteria." 

At 5 p.m. parents from District 15 will hold a press conference outside of the Cobble Hill school, "to demand the City's Department of Education award public space to Success Academy Cobble Hill," according to a press release sent out by a communications firm that works with the Success Academy Charter Network.

The network's CEO, Eva Moskowitz, has seemed to court controversy when seeking spacefor her schools. Co-location battles have followed her forays into schools in Brooklyn, Harlem, and the Upper West Side, and the network has in the past bused groups of parents from its schools, often wearing signature orange T-shirts, to co-location hearings.

At 5:30 p.m., opponents of the co-location are planning to rally in front of the school to renew calls for an alternative proposal: to open an early childhood center in the building instead of a charter school. Yesterday a vocal group of parents, state and union officials rallied at the building's Baltic Street entrance in support of that proposal, arguing that the local elementary schools are turning away families who apply for preschool.

Organizers of the protest say they will argue that the charter school would not address crowding issues in Brownstone Brooklyn's elementary schools because its tlottery admissions would allow students from other parts of the city to apply, and it also would not address the demand for more preschool programs.

Community members and educators from the two secondary schools that currently share space in the four-story building, along with a District 75 special education program, have also said that an additional charter school could overcrowd the high schools' shared facilities.

 

 
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

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Some Updates

Occupy
Its spreading! Wash State occupiers actually tried to issue a "citizens arrest" of the state legislature because of its violation of the constitution guaranteeing a right to education. It looks as though the teacher who led the mic check was instead arrested. Outrageous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODBNCYRQdyk&feature=youtu.be

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 Common CoreThis is a top-down agenda devised by Coleman/Gates in two ways and that “distort early learning” acc. to early childhood expert quoted below.

Coleman, who never taught a day in his life, started at what he believed should be demanded of college students and worked downwards to Kindergarten – which resulted in the requirement that that all Kindergarteners be able to read, among other things, which simply is not developmentally appropriate acc. to many experts.

Common Core standards pose dilemmas for early childhood
Valerie Strauss
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/common-core-standards-pose-dilemmas-for-early-childhood/2011/11/28/gIQAPs1X6N_blog.html
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Class Size Does Matter

Lots of research showing how class size narrows the achievement gap on Leonie's website at http://www.classsizematters.org/research-and-links-2 

Here are some:Spyros Konstantopoulos and Vicki Chun, “What Are the Long-Term Effects of Small Classes on the Achievement Gap?

Evidence from the Lasting Benefits Study,” American Journal of Education 116, November 2009.  Peter Blatchford  et.al.

“Do low attaining and younger students benefit most from small classes? Results from a systematic observation study of class size effects on pupil classroom engagement and teacher pupil interaction Philip Babcock and Julian R. Betts, “Reduced-class Distinctions: Effort, Ability and the Education Production Function,” NBER Working paper 14777, March 2009. Results indicate that small classes elicit enhanced effort and engagement by disadvantaged students.

Thomas Dee and Martin West, “The Non-Cognitive Returns to Class Size, ” NBER Working Paper 13994, 2008. “Alan B. Krueger, Economic Considerations and Class Size, The Economic Journal, 113 (February 2003). 

Jeremy D. Finn et.al., “Small Classes in the Early Grades, Academic Achievement, and Graduating From High School,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 2005.

Alan B. Krueger and Diane M. Whitmore, “Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap?” from :Bridging

"Shock Doctrine" Comes SHOCK DOCTRINE COMES to Your Neighborhood Classroom

An oldie but goodie. We used Arne Duncan's Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to New Orleans.

Published on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 bySalon.com
The "Shock Doctrine" Comes to Your Neighborhood Classroom
Corporate reformers use the fiscal crisis and campaign contributions to hype an unproven school agenda
by David Sirota
 ."Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon. It'll slow down reform." -- Tom Watkins, a consultant, summarizes the corporate education reform movement's current strategy to the Sunday New York Times.

The Shock Doctrine, as articulated by journalist Naomi Klein, describes the process by which corporate interests use catastrophes as instruments to maximize their profit. Sometimes the events they use are natural (earthquakes), sometimes they are human-created (the 9/11 attacks) and sometimes they are a bit of both (hurricanes made stronger by human-intensified global climate change). Regardless of the particular cataclysm, though, the Shock Doctrine suggests that in the aftermath of a calamity, there is always corporate method in the smoldering madness - a method based in Disaster Capitalism.

Though Klein's book provides much evidence of the Shock Doctrine, the Disaster Capitalists rarely come out and acknowledge their strategy. That's why Watkins' outburst of candor, buried in this front-page New York Times article yesterday, is so important: It shows that the recession and its corresponding shock to school budgets is being  used by corporations to maximize revenues, all under the gauzy banner of "reform."

Some background: The Times piece follows a recentEducation Week report showing that as U.S. school systems are laying off teachers, letting schoolhouses crumble, and increasing class sizes, high-tech firms are hitting the public-subsidy jackpot thanks to corporate "reformers'" successful push for more "data-driven" standardized tests (more on that in a second) and more technology in the classrooms. Essentially, as the overall spending pie for public schools is shrinking, the piece of the pie for high-tech companies -- who make big campaign contributions to education policymakers -- is getting much bigger, while the piece of the pie for traditional education (teachers, school infrastructure, text books, etc.) is getting smaller.

The Times on Sunday added some key -- and somehow, largely overlooked -- context to this reportage: namely, that the spending shift isn't producing better achievement results on the very standardized tests the high-tech industry celebrates and makes money off of. "In a nutshell," reports the Times, "schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning."

The paper adds that the successful "pressure to push technology into the classroom without proof of its value has deep roots" going back more than a decade, which raises the fundamental question: Why? Why would this push be so successful in changing education policy if there is little hard evidence that it is the right move to improve student achievement?

The answer goes back -- as it so often does -- to corporate power and the Shock Doctrine.

Tech companies give the politicians who set education policy lots of campaign contributions, and in exchange, those politicians have returned the favor by citing tough economic times over the last decade as a rationale to wage an aggressive attack on traditional public education. That attack has included everything from demonizing teachers; to siphoning public money to privately administered schools; to funneling more of the money still left in public schools to private high-tech companies.

This trend is no accidental convergence of economic disaster and high-minded  policy. On the contrary, it is a deliberate strategy by corporate executives and their political puppets, a strategy that uses the disaster of recession-era budget cuts as a means of justifying radical policies, knowing that the disaster will have shellshocked observers asking far fewer questions about data and actual results. As the Times  sums it up, the recession's "resource squeeze presents an opportunity" for corporate interests.

Or as Watkins explains, social pain is an opportunity: "Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon. It'll slow down reform."

For sheer weapons-grade assholishness, Watkins' publicly wishing for a crushing recession to continue ranks up there with such gems as "bring them on" and "let them eat cake."

However, the real news here is that a Disaster Capitalist has spoken the unspoken and clearly articulated the Shock Doctrine in all its hideous glory. In this case, he has told us what the "reform" movement to demonize teachers, undermine public education, and generate private profits from public schools is really all about: It is about using the shock of a fiscal crisis to enact a radical, unproven but highly profitable agenda that corporate forces fully know they cannot pass under non-emergency circumstances, when objective scrutiny would be much more intense. Indeed, corporate "reformers"are so reliant on the Shock Doctrine to glaze over uncomfortable questions about their agenda, that they are now praying that the shock of recession continues.

The Times article does a good job of raising questions, forcing the corporate "reform" movement to resort to a revealing kind of hypocrisy. Check out the response from the Obama administration -- which has been one of the leaders of the corporate "reform" movement -- when confronted with data showing that its push for technology isn't raising student achievement:

Karen Cator, director of the office of educational technology in the United States Department of Education, said standardized test scores were an inadequate measure of the value of technology in schools. Ms. Cator, a former executive at Apple Computer, said that better measurement tools were needed but, in the meantime, schools knew what students needed.

"In places where we've had a large implementing of technology and scores are flat, I see that as great," she said. "Test scores are the same, but look at all the other things students are doing: learning to use the Internet to research, learning to organize their work, learning to use professional writing tools, learning to collaborate with others." (emphasis added)
Cator, of course, is making the argument that supporters of traditional public education have been making against corporate "reformers" for years -- namely, that standardized tests cannot be the primary tool to measure overall educational achievement, because they do not measure other equally important skills. And the fact that she is selectively making it in defense of her former technology industry tells us a lot about how public policy is really made in America.

Recall that this statement against standardized testing comes from the same Obama administration that has been pushing for more standardized testing -- the same Obama administration that wants to use standardized testing as a key metric for withholding federal aid from "failing" schools and for firing teachers. That's right, somehow, according to the Obama administration, standardized tests are the perfect tool to judge and punish struggling schools and the teachers who work with low-income kids, but they can't be used to similarly judge technology products that are making Obama's high-tech donors lots of cash.

In this oxymoron, we see who the corporate "reformers" in government really believe they work for, and whom they shape public policy on behalf of. It's not the average parent or student or voter. It's the Disaster Capitalists, who now have their sights set on your local schoolhouse.

Note: Steven Brill, the author of the new book "Class Warfare," and Dana Goldstein, the Nation magazine's education reporter, will be debating these and other education issues on my KKZN-AM760 radio show at 9 a.m. ET on Sept. 7. Stream it live or podcast it atsirota.am760.net.

© 2011 David Sirota
Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
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Sent from my BlackBerry

FIGHT EVA INVASION THIS TUESDAY November 29th Brooklyn charter co-location hearing COME OUT!!

Evil is like the Bubonic Plague. I know some of you view E4E as a threat but it's not even close. With the UFT fearing confrontations with Eva organized opposition has to come from somewhere - though Eva will claim the uft is behind anything - even in the face of groups like GEM that the uft does not exactly like. I claim one of the reasons the uft ignores our film is the strong stand opposing charters, ironic in that other teacher unions, universities and parent activists seem to agree with us.

COME SPEAK UP and FIGHT BACK FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Protest Eva Moscowitz's plan to co-locate another of her Harlem Success Academy charters in one of our District 15 public school buildings

Where: Brooklyn School for Global Studies and School for International Studies, 284 Baltic Street, Brooklyn

When: 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
(Initial sign up to speak is from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.)

Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

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

GEM Film Showing in Williamsburg Dec. 1, 2011

While the UFt ignores GEM's "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" not only because if the criticism of the UFT but for its straight to the gut message on charter schools (the UFT wants to make nice with the sledge hammer being used to destroy public ed), communities being invaded by charters are starting to use the film to educate the local community. A few weeks ago there was a screening in District 15's Cobble Hill which is being invaded by an Eva Moskowitz charter. And now the CEC of D. 14 which is a major target of Success Charters due to its gentrification - nice pickings of public ed money to teach mostly white middle class kids - is doing the same.

PS 250 at 6PM followed by a panel discussion. Call the District Office for info. There's another screening in CEC 3 at PS 75M on Dec. 7 -  735 West End Ave. Details will be up on Ed Notes a few days before.

Instant Teachers - Why Wait Even Six Weeks?

Mr. Arrington, in the middle of his third month of teaching at the Advanced Technology Complex in the Denton Independent School District, has a background well suited to the subject. He was a police officer for six years — he turned in his badge on Sept. 12 and began teaching the next day.

For-Profit Certification for Teachers in Texas Is Booming - NYTimes