Charter School Head Merriman Hones Comedy Act

“It’s not the date,” said New York City Charter School Center CEO James Merriman. “It’s the data.”

I like it James. "It's not the date. It's the data." Got a great beat and you can dance the charter/DOE tango to it. Really, James Merriman may be the funniest man in America.

The rejection of teacher evaluation requirements also comes from a sector that has sought greater accountability for teachers, principals and schools. In their letter to school leaders, Merriman and Phillips said standardized evaluation rules are not a good fit for charter schools because the schools are held accountable in other ways.

 Pubic Charter Schools are the future

Excuse me, I have to recover from my laughing fit. James, you have to take this show on the road. Like try Washington State.

“In traditional schools and districts, which may fail students for years without being closed, prescriptive rules about teacher evaluation may be the best policy available,” they wrote. “It is neither necessary nor appropriate for charter schools.”

Of course, James. Charter schools can hire anyone off the street to teach. Why tamper with that? 

At the same time as the State Education Department is publicly pressuring school districts to adopt new teacher evaluations by next month, it’s also quietly demanding that charter schools turn in their teachers’ ratings from last year. Charter school advocates are urging most school leaders to ignore the demand, even though state officials  have said it’s needed in order to fulfill its Race to the Top plan.

The state is not asking charters schools to adopt the same kind of evaluation system that it wants district schools to. Instead, it wants data from each school showing only that the school evaluate teachers on a four-tiered system — and it wants the actual ratings for teachers, too.
Merriman said the state’s demand is unreasonable because many charter schools don’t necessarily evaluate their teachers based on those guidelines.
“They are, in essence, asking charters to manufacture data that they may not have,” Merriman said.

Sure, James. We know all about charter schools manufacturing data.

Leonie said: 

Funny how the pro-charter schools DFER, Students1st & SFER all push for our schools to have adopt this ridiculous teacher eval system; but don’t say a peep about the fact that the charter schools refuse to adopt it.

Facing own teacher eval deadline, charter schools just say no

by Geoff Decker, at 11:58 am

At the same time as the State Education Department is publicly pressuring school districts to adopt new teacher evaluations by next month, it’s also quietly demanding that charter schools turn in their teachers’ ratings from last year.
Charter school advocates are urging most school leaders to ignore the demand, even though state officials  have said it’s needed in order to fulfill its Race to the Top plan. The advocates say the demand would be hard to fulfill and impinges on charter schools’ vaunted autonomy.
The standoff has its roots in the state’s 2010 application for federal Race to the Top funds. In its application to the U.S. Department of Education for funding, New York State said it would require schools to rate teachers according to specific guidelines and would collect ratings for all teachers, even in charter schools.
Some charter schools committed to sharing their teacher ratings at the time in order to receive some of the state’s $700 million in winnings. But two thirds did not — and the state wants their teacher ratings too, according to a series of updated guidance memos that officials have issued over the last 18 months.
City and state charter school advocates have pushed back against the demands throughout that time.
“Both the New York City Charter School Center and the New York Charter Schools Association believe that this reporting requirement does not properly apply to non-Race to the Top charter schools,” Charter Center CEO James Merriman and NYCSA President Bill Phillips wrote in a strongly worded email to school leaders last month. They added, “Ultimately, it is up to you whether you choose to report this data.”
So far, few school leaders have made that choice. By the original submission deadline Nov. 30, just 30 of 184 charter schools in the state had handed over teacher ratings from last year.
The state has extended the deadline for charter schools to Friday, but advocates say that doesn’t change the situation.“It’s not the date,” said New York City Charter School Center CEO James Merriman. “It’s the data.”
The state is not asking charters schools to adopt the same kind of evaluation system that it wants district schools to. Instead, it wants data from each school showing only that the school evaluate teachers on a four-tiered system — and it wants the actual ratings for teachers, too.
Merriman said the state’s demand is unreasonable because many charter schools don’t necessarily evaluate their teachers based on those guidelines.
“They are, in essence, asking charters to manufacture data that they may not have,” Merriman said. “That’s what’s so troubling to us.”
State officials said they believe that charter schools can rate their teachers with the information that they do have, as long as they have some kind of evaluation system.
Several charter school leaders said that move is easier said than done.
“I tried to play around with the [state’s] system, but it’s so different from how we do ours,” said the leader of a Brooklyn charter school. “So the data would be pointless.”
Ken Wagner, an assistant commissioner at the department, said he expected that the request will present challenges for charter schools and that some first-year submissions might not be perfect. He said he would be was less understanding if schools ignore the request entirely and refuse to comply.
“I think we’ve been very clear on our position and the charter folks who disagree have been very clear on their position,” said Wagner, who could not say what the consequences would be for schools that don’t submit ratings.
The state is even having a tough time getting teacher evaluation ratings from the 61 charter schools that are participating in Race to the Top. Five schools in the Achievement First network that have received roughly $275,000 through the grant program did not know they were supposed to turn in the ratings, according to a spokesman for the network.
“We don’t know of a request for teacher evaluations,” said the spokesman, Mel Ochoa. “But we will continue to work hard to fulfill any requests and requirements that come to us for Race to the Top.”
Some schools have withdrawn from the Race to the Top program to escape burdensome requirements like the one about teaching ratings, sources said. In the last year, at least 19 schools have forfeited the grant money.
The rejection of teacher evaluation requirements also comes from a sector that has sought greater accountability for teachers, principals and schools. In their letter to school leaders, Merriman and Phillips said standardized evaluation rules are not a good fit for charter schools because the schools are held accountable in other ways.
“In traditional schools and districts, which may fail students for years without being closed, prescriptive rules about teacher evaluation may be the best policy available,” they wrote. “It is neither necessary nor appropriate for charter schools.”

Nightmare on 8 Mile Road After Randi Negotiated Worst Contract in History

Detroit Public Schools consultants are creating phony negative evaluations of experienced teachers in a “monstrous plot” to fire anyone making too much money and destroy the teacher’s union, according to Superintendent Dr. John Telford. “Some of the stories would make you cry,” Telford said Wednesday on the Charlie Langton Talk Radio 1270 show.

Remember that "great" contract hailed as "ground breaking" Randi helped the Detroit teacher union negotiate a few years ago and ratified in Jan. 2009? Rich Gibson in Substance predicted the death spiral after the contract was negotiated, calling it "The worst contract in the history of school-based bargaining."

Detroit schools in final death spiral?

Rich Gibson - November 27, 2010
The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) may be on its last legs. This was a once-proud union that fought like hell, alongside other workers, not only for the school worker force, but for kids. Last year, behind the urgings of the DFT President, Keith Johnson and AFT President Randi Weingarten, the DFT bargained what I think is the worst contract in the history of school-based collective bargaining. 

Read more: http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1801%C2%A7ion=Article

Substance ran a piece on that contract (http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1063§ion=Article).

 Detroit is dying a death of a thousand cuts. Still, the cuts add up and will someday become the last breath. With a long history of rebellions and uprisings, that last death could be ugly. With hope in schools evaporating fast, that possibility is greater every day.

 Here is a death spiral article published today.

Teachers, Destroy Unions, Board Calls In FBI

December 12, 2012 10:17 AM

(Photo: WWJ)

DETROIT (WWJ/1270) Detroit Public Schools consultants are creating phony negative evaluations of experienced teachers in a “monstrous plot” to fire anyone making too much money and destroy the teacher’s union, according to Superintendent Dr. John Telford.

“Some of the stories would make you cry,” Telford said Wednesday on the Charlie Langton Talk Radio 1270 show. “There have been teachers who weren’t able to continue their house payments after outside evaluators came in, gave them a 5-10 minute evaluation and 20-30 year veteran teachers have lost their jobs. It’s a real mess.”

While Detroit deals with low student achievement and graduation rates, shuttered buildings and debt, Telford said he has handled hundreds of calls about fired teachers and principals, and had to bring in two pro bono ombudsmen to help handle the outpouring since the state appointed Roy Roberts as the district’s emergency financial manager. “The union’s been trying (to get them reinstated), but Mr. Roberts pretty much pretty put the crown on his head and proclaimed himself the king of Detroit Public Schools,” Telford said.

He added he’s taking Roberts to court Thursday to address many issues, including whether Roberts has the right to make academic decisions as part of his role overseeing  the district’s finances. “The logical answer is they report to me, not to Mr. Roberts, but they are claiming he reports to them,” Telford said.

Tied into this is a unanimous vote by the Detroit Board of Education late Tuesday to request that the FBI look into spending of federal dollars by Roberts, especially money related to federal Title One funding.

These are the latest salvos in the battle Detroit’s elected city and school officials are waging against outside oversight of their beleaguered finances. City officials fought off a state attempt to take over Belle Isle, the city’s largest park, and continue to battle Gov. Rick Snyder’s attempt to have appointees oversee the city’s debt-ridden books.

Telford said he’s been approached by “many teachers and principals and even folks above that level” about “injustice and criminality.”

“We’ve had innumerable allegations of wrongdoing,” said Board of Education President LaMar Lemmons, adding, “Allegations of backdating contracts, allegations of contracts that were no bid, not accepting the lowest bid, allegations of misspent federal dollars, etc., etc.”

He added Roberts has not put the information into the correct system for board members to see, which spurred the board to ask for the investigation. ”Because it’s Title One funding, it’s automatically a direct interest to the federal government,” Lemmons said.

Telford is obviously rankled over Roberts’ position.

“He needs to step down and go back to Bloomfield Hills and let me and the board run the district,” Telford said, later adding, “I have an uncomfortable feeling that some major malfeasance will be uncovered.”

A district spokesperson say they are not aware of any alleged corruption.

But board Vice President Herman Davis said she knows something is wrong. ”We know that he’s co-mingling funds and that shouldn’t happen,” Davis said.

The board is also alleging corruption involving contracts. A Roberts’ spokesman says they are not aware of the allegations, and says they have a robust Inspector General and a policy in place to avoid such problems.

Will Unity, Seeking More Favorable Time, Use Sandy as Excuse to Postpone UFT Elections?

Indications are that the UFT leadership may postpone UFT elections until later in the spring, which they appear to be allowed to do under the UFT constitution. In the past, by this time an election committee would have been formed and ratified by the DA today. If that happens the timetable might still work. But given that the ballots would go out just a week after people are spending the mid-winter break working 3 days and a relatively short time after the UFT agrees to some sort of evaluation deal, the usual election timetable -- a 3 week March balloting -- is not favorable to Unity.

By kicking the election further down the road that would give them time to send out the hordes into the schools to sell whatever deal they made, knowing full well the full impact will not hit until the 2013-14 school year. Of course if they can figure a way to sell off some more rights in exchange for some money in some kind of contract, that would sweeten the pot for getting people to overlook whatever they do. And I bet if Bloomberg can get a hook into eliminating ATRs he would pay.

Hey, how about ballots going out June 1, returnable by June 29? Would you put anything past Unity?

Well, we'll know more soon, so hang on for the ride.

MORE Says: Raise your voice on the evaluation issue! Bring petition and copies of the resolution to the DA

Approaching a thousand sigs and a number of school chapters have passed resos in support. MORE will attempt to place a resolution -- see below -- in front of the DA tomorrow. Last time the meeting ended ---cough, cough -- before the opportunity came up. The Unity leadership does not want this reso to see the light of day. I will be there holding up the above sign and with petitions for you to take back to your school. Let's get the numbers into the thousands by the January deadline. We know that this is a contract change and legally should be voted on but what does legal mean in the UFT?

Here is the post from the MORE web site:
{LET ME ADD Reality-Based Educator]:

Sign The Petition Demanding A Membership-Wide Referendum On The Evaluation Agreement

Facing an arbitrary 12/21/12 deadline imposed by Chancellor Walcott, a growing wave of bloggers have begun speaking out against any teacher evaluation scheme that harms teachers and ignores our voices in coming to an agreement. There is increasing concern that Unity will succumb to pressure and agree to a system without coming to terms on a new contract. MORE’s position is that there needs to be a membership-wide referendum before any such agreement is reached. Read what education experts and your peers have been saying online. If you agree, sign the petition athttp://morecaucusnyc.org/sign-the-petition/.

• Respected education historian Diane Ravitch warns of the pitfalls of using test scores in evaluations and the mayor’s push to publish these scores in order to shame teachers.

• The DOEnuts blog discusses three things you should know about the APPR and how they will change your professional life forever.

• Blogger Accountable Talk fears a sellout after a conversation with a Unity higher-up.

• NYC Educator warns of signing an agreement that is being so aggressively pushed by astroturf “reform” groups and billionaires.

• Blogger Chaz urges the UFT not to agree to any evaluation system without a new contract that gives teachers the same 8% raise given to other unions.

If you agree, sign the petition online and join the growing wave of opposition to an evaluation system that devalues teachers!

Posted at MORECaucusNYC.org

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Fat Cat Ed Deformers

I know, I know. You wish the UFT, with 10 times the resources of the CTU would do this, but when you yourself are a fat cat..........But this is why the CTU is so much more dangerous to the powers that be than the pussy cat (I'm being nice) UFT/AFT bar exam promoters.

When we were in Chicago in July 2011-- Julie, Gloria, Angel, Lisa and a slew of others --- at meetings with CORE and others from around the nation -- CORE led us all on a march through downtown Chicago visiting all the banks that were stealing money out of the public schools, something incomprehensible here in NYC, given that our leaders are probably having lunch at many of these banks.

Chicago Teachers Union Launches Public Awareness Campaign

Against Corporate Assault on Public Education

‘Stand Up to the Fat Cats’ film continues the fight for city-wide education equality

 

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) kicked off a public education campaign against the rise school privatization schemes and the corporate assault on public education with the release of an animated, satirical short film, Stand Up to the Fat Cats. The video seeks to rally the public against corporate infiltration in public education and encourage them to join the fight to provide resources and support for neighborhood schools.

 

The five-minute film can be viewed at www.ctunet.com or on www.MoveChicagoSchoolsForward.com.  (To view click here: Stand Up To The Fat Cats)

 

Stand Up to Fat Cats places a spotlight on the history of corporate school reform in Chicago and proposed 20^thcentury advancements that ultimately led to the deterioration of many of the city’s neighborhood schools.  The film also introduces us to parodies of popular faces in Chicago’s education debate, including venture capitalist Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel,  Board of Education member Penny Pritzker, venture philanthropist Bill Gates, the Broad Foundation, the Koch Brothers and,  out-of-town school reformers such as Stand For Children and Democrats for Education Reform. 

 

From the formation of the CTU in the mid-20^th century to its present-day battles with lawmakers and charter school operators, wealthy, private-interest fat cats have had their paws in public education for years.  After a dominant new feline landed in City Hall in 2011, bringing in a litter of corporate cronies, the CTU went on a year-long offensive in a cat-and-mouse battle against anti-teacher propaganda.

 

Through, Stand Up to the Fat Cats, viewers can revisit how Chicago’s educators stood up to these frisky and felonious kitties once again during the 2012 strike, rallying throughout the city against the closing of public schools, the endangerment of their livelihoods and the jeopardizing of the future of thousands of the children.  As the bed time story depicted in the video goes: Rowdy Rauner and the Litter Box Crew are out to destroy the teachers union and starve neighborhood schools in a sneaky campaign to fatten the pockets of private charter operators and their billionaire friends.

 

As the Chicago Public Schools system is expected to announce by March 31, 2013, the closing of nearly 150 neighborhood schools, the mission of the Stand Up to the Fat Cats campaign is clear: Don’t let fat cats bully students or educators anymore!  

Sample Tweets:

Chicago Teachers Stand Up to Corporate Fat Cats! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
Chicago Teachers Say No to Rahm Emanuel's Fat Cat Friends! #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D
A Bedtime story from Chicago Teachers Union @ctulocal1 #EDUJustice http://ow.ly/g0A1D 

Give the Gift of MORE this Holiday Season

And there are raffle tickets too. Email more@morecaucusnyc.org for details.

Give the Gift of MORE  this Holiday Season!

What should you put in the Secret Santa Box?
Not sure what to get your school secretary for the holidays..... 
How can you support MORE and gift your friends at the same ?

Buy your friends and school colleagues a MORE membership

After making your PayPal payment on-line at: http://morecaucusnyc.org please MAKE SURE to click the “RETURN TO MOVEMENT OF RANK AND FILE EDUCATORS”  button and fill-out the on-line form so we can get your friend's contact information.
Or download the Membership Form and mail with a check made out to:
Movement of Rank and File Educators, 305 E. 140th St. #5A, New York, NY 10454
Then send us an email and we’ll send an eGift Card to the recipient letting them know about your present.
   
Gift  MORE so you can get MORE from your UNION!

Change the Stakes Statement at Monday's Forum

 Fred Smith with input from the amazing Change the Stake crew, led by Andrea Mata who put on a wonderful event tonight, wrote the statement below.

 Brian Jones, wearing his MORE shirt, rocks. So did MORE/Change the Stakes' Diane Zavala (below). Pedro Noguera was almost inconsequential and Shael had an answer for everything as he came off looking like a dissident inside Tweed, the role he is assigned to play -- and also maybe part of the underground campaign to have him succeed Walcott when Bloomberg is gone -- you know, the old bait and switch. Send him out there to show reasonableness --- Pedro declared him to be the only reasonable one at Tweed -- just a sham as far as I am concerned -- but you have to see the tapes which I will put up. Juan Gonzalez, just about the only press person real reformers respect (aside from Winerip who the Times makes sure no longer covers ed) moderates.

I got there at almost 7PM, an hour late but the panel had just started. I missed the beginning but Jaissal Noor was there to tape. Wait for his which is professionally done -- I will put up snippets.

Why Change the Stakes?

Change the Stakes is a group of parents and educators who want the best education for all children.  We are a work in progress and about progress for the entire New York public school system.

We are a growing group concerned with the harm high stakes-testing is doing to our children and schools.  We oppose an over-emphasis on tests and misuse of the results for purposes they were never intended to serve. We believe high-stakes testing must be replaced by valid forms of student, teacher, and school assessment.

We are asking parents and community members like you from districts across the city to join hands to improve teaching and learning opportunities for all children.  We believe a good education is the right of every child and a right that every parent should demand.  It must never become a matter of luck, lottery or good fortune.  And good education is not something that can be measured by a test score.

What is High Stakes Testing?
 

We strongly reject the way multiple-choice tests are hurting our children and denying them high-quality teaching in a healthy atmosphere that fosters the full development of their capabilities.

The Department of Education and the State Education Department have made testing a substitute for education. Testing has come to dominate school activity, dimming children’s natural enthusiasm for learning.  It has made 8-year olds anxious about what could happen if they don’t do well on the tests.

MORE, MORE, MORE

So much time is spent preparing students to take the annual statewide exams, field tests and an endless number of other tests that history, music, art and gym have been squeezed out of the school day.  

Testing has been used to bully teachers, turning them into drill instructors who must follow stifling classroom routines to generate high test scores.  It has made teachers fear for their jobs, knowing they will be rated ineffective if their students don’t do well on unreliable exams.  It has made them compete against each other in an effort to survive, rather than work cooperatively. 

And it has forced principals to intensify pressure to produce good-looking results, no matter what, because they are being threatened with the reorganization or possible closure of their schools if they fail to do so. Where high stakes tests are the rule, it is no surprise that cheating has often followed. 

These different forms of punishment inflicted upon the public school system by high stakes testing have been called accountability.  The end result has been to create hundreds and hundreds of elementary and middle schools in which disruption and instability are the norm.  

Students, teachers and principals are held accountable, but the low quality of the tests themselves is never accounted for. 

Still there is another equally troubling and unacceptable aspect of all the testing.  As more and more testing has been piled on every child—parents have been left out of the discussion.  

We are offended by the lack of respect shown to parents who have been kept in the dark by the DOE and SED about all the testing that is taking place and we demand immediate and specific answers to basic questions.  We are entitled to a complete test inventory—a matter of accountability on the part of the city and state officials responsible for approving, organizing and implementing the various testing programs. 

To break down the information for us in an understandable way, we need to know about the testing that is being conducted this year (July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013) on a grade by grade basis from K-12:

How many professionally designed and developed tests are being given in New York schools? What is the purpose of each?  When are they scheduled to be given?  How much time is spent administering each test?  How many students and schools are involved?  And how much money does each test cost (the material, the scoring and the reports)?

Which publisher constructed or supplied each exam?  Who owns the exams we are paying for?  Which ones are field tests—tests and questions that do not count but enable commercial publishers to develop and sell exams for future use? Which exams are used to screen children for entry into special programs or selective schools?  Which must be passed as a basis for promotion or to fulfill graduation requirements?  Surely, the city and state know and can give us these details for the current year.

What Else We Believe and What Parents Must Know:
 

Change the Stakes believes in sunshine laws and the absolute right of parents to know what is happening to their children in school.  We believe parents must have a real voice in the life of their schools. We see efforts to keep parents uninformed as a way to prevent opposition to questionable policies, programs and weak test instruments and a sure sign that those running the school system have little regard for us. 

We wonder when the state will make the 2012 ELA and math exams available.  In the past, parents and interested parties could see the actual items online—the items that counted and would not be used again. Thus far, SED has withheld the information.

We believe in sound alternatives to the continued use of statewide multiple-choice and short answer exams, which lack reliability and, therefore, lead to invalid decisions about students, teachers, schools.

We demand that the state set forth a policy on how alternative assessments of performance shall be carried out this year to meet agreed upon standards.  A clear statement is required explaining how projects and portfolios will be used as measures of achievement and growth.  It must reflect high expectations for all children and specify the kind of work and behavior students will be evaluated on to provide relevant evidence of learning and ability.  

It is imperative that parents who choose not to have their children participate in the April 2013 state exams know in advance what the alternate assessment procedures will entail. We are tired of hearing that the state offers no opt-out provision or that the sky will fall if parents object to marching along with test-driven education. Other large states have processes recognizing the legitimate conscientious choice parents/guardians have made to protect their children from harmful testing programs.

Guidelines for parents and teachers should be issued by SED spelling out the methods to be followed, the teacher training to be given and the criteria that will be applied uniformly to assess the progress of the opt-out children. We insist that the guidelines direct principals to provide meaningful educational activities to children who do not take the 2013 exams. Missing school or sitting in an office are not an option.  Principals need to be cautioned that parents requesting to keep their children out of the exams should not be harassed nor have their children mistreated at school in any way.  

We demand a statewide directive that requires timely parent notification about all field testing programs and creates a mechanism that allows us to say “NO” to this extra burden and the use of children as subjects in test research projects.  We strongly believe that insinuating children into test development projects without informed parental consent is a violation of parent and student rights.

We were shocked to learn that our schools gave field tests last month in reading, math and science without letting parents know. ACT and Pearson bought entry into schools by offering principals I-Pods in return for student participation—behind the backs of parents. We view this as a bribe and an end run that lets publishers exploit children and take away more school time to try out test material.

We want written, legally binding assurances from the state and city that they will not engage in or enter agreements that allow any entities to use individual information about students or to distribute such data to third parties without the knowledge and consent of parents or guardians. We believe the right to privacy is fundamental and must be protected and we demand harsh punishment of any party who violates these restrictions.

We know that the state’s testing program flows from the national No Child Left Behind Act, which was originally intended to help the most vulnerable students.  Instead, NCLB’s testing requirements are now widely acknowledged to have placed severe stress on English Language Learners (ELLs) and children with special needs.  As parents, along with teachers, guidance counselors and child psychologists, we know firsthand the kind of frustration and struggle the tests put such children through. To what end?  We believe that federal policies and practices with regard to these student populations, which are largest in urban areas, need to be overhauled.

Finally, many Black and Hispanic parents have felt arguably that testing was fairer to their children than leaving decisions about them to unsympathetic, disparaging or biased teachers and principals. Over the last decade, however,—the era of high stakes testing—despite all the exams, the achievement gap has closed little or none for these students.  We cannot fix one set of problems with ineffective solutions dressed in the cloak of reform.

And the way the results have been distorted over time has left high school students from poor economic households, deficient in reading and math, unprepared to find other than low-level jobs and, should they graduate, unready to do college level work.  All of the testing has added no benefit or value whatsoever to the populations NCLB promised to help.

The need to change the stakes cuts across all lines. Parents should never forget: We are the schools!

In Unity,                                                                                                                                                                    

Fred Smith                                                                                                                                               

Please join us by signing in and giving your email address or phone number.  You may also follow us at www.changethestakes.org.  We look forward to working together with you and other parents in your school or community to build a better   -->education for all children.

If Obama Gives on Medicare Age, Let's Hold Another Election

Paul Buckeheit ruminates on a list of items real haters of government should focus on over at Nation of Change. His first item address Medicare and the proposal to raise the age from 65 to 67 which would actually cost more. Instead we should lower the medicare age down to the day you are born.

I reside with no less and expert, a woman who spent her entire working life working in the field of medical billing, dealing with all the thieving private insurance carriers and with the people at medicare, who she says were the most capable and efficient of all. She is not an ideological one-payer system fan, but comes at it from her practical working career.

Now why the Obama administration refuses to make these basic points is beyond me. Or maybe not beyond me.

Here is how Paul opens:

One of the pleasures of a weekend away from the city is visiting people who express points of view that are different from my own. A lot of them hate government. Their comments are sprinkled with colorful references to taxes, waste and socialism.

Countering with facts and statistics doesn't seem to work. Instead, listening to their rants can be educational for a progressive, because the anti-government sentiment highlights the masterful job done by conservatives and the wealthy over the years, as they have basically convinced much of America to argue against themselves on matters of politics and the economy.

It would make more sense to take on the real villains.

1. Medical Providers
They're taking a lot more of our money than Medicare does. According to the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, medical administrative costs as a percentage of claims are about three times higher for private insurance than for Medicare. The U.S. Institute of Medicine reports that the for-profit system wastes $750 billion a year on waste, fraud, and inefficiency. As a percent of GDP, we spend $1.2 trillion more than the OECD average.
That's an amount equal to the entire deficit wasted on private medical care companies. One out of every six dollars we earn goes to doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and insurance companies. All good reasons to redirect our hatred.

Continue: http://www.nationofchange.org/some-better-targets-people-who-hate-government-1355153160

More Eva Destruction: All out to Support the Washington Irving Campus Tonight!

Oh, what busy times with ed deformers crawling all over the place like vermin.

Another case if handing a prime building -- this one in as prime a place as any - Grammercy Park, which is my choice of a place to live in Manhattan when I win the lottery -- over to Eva. I wouldn't support any mayoral candidate who doesn't promise to make charters pay for their space. Better yet, who kicks Eva out of the space she has taken over.

Meet on the steps of the school starting at 4:30 (40 Irving Place, between 16th and 17th street. Meeting begins at 6PM with speaker sign-up at 5:30.

Depending on when electricians leave I may make it over there before heading up to Washington Hts for the Change the Stakes Panel that I hope to tape:

Juan Gonzalez Moderates: Brian Jones, Pedro Noguera, Shael Polakow-Suransky, Diana Zavala: Dec. 10, 6PM

The Worm is Turning: Ravitch with Smiley and West

Must listen radio where 2 leading Black commentators spend a half hour with Diane. I remember Tavis Smiley maybe a year ago praising aspects of ed deform.

They talk about Chicago, Karen Lewis, the money to be made and the whitening of the teaching staff. The point is made that black boys have the biggest problems in education and they are increasingly being taught by white women --- often inexperienced young white women. They have to have male and racial role models.

Tavis Smiley and Cornell West Radio show:

Cornell West to Diane Ravitch: “What force for good you’ve been in struggle for children of all colors”

Diane: “I’m happy to be on your side.”

http://www.smileyandwest.com/this-weeks-show/the-conversation-diane-ravitch/

The day that Albert Einstein feared appears to have arrived…

  Getting together with friends for coffee…

A day at the beach…

 Cheering on your team…

 Having dinner out with friends…

 Dating…

Having a conversation…

 Visiting a museum…

Enjoying the sights…

Rockaway Update: Almost Normal - Let There Be Light

One of the major lessons I've learned in recovering from the Sandy disaster  is that to remain optimistic you have to make some progress, no matter how little, every day. Don't be impatient but look to gain at least an inch a day. And for the most part I can say that a day hasn't gone by without moving ahead. By the way, I can apply that same principle to organizing efforts in the UFT -- build it right a step at at time. (I know there are lots of people who feel the growing emergency doesn't allow us that luxury, but if the foundation of any building or org is not done right it will fall.)

Sunday, December 9

Big news this past Friday on this end: over 90% electricity restored after Ken the Great (electrician) sent Tommy and 2 other guys to spend the day cutting out the BX cables that had been under water, installing new lines and reconnecting others. All bedrooms, living room, frig, oven most lights are on. The only things left to do are overhead kitchen lights and some outlets.
I took my first shower with the light and exhaust and heater on. First time I saw myself naked in 6 weeks. Not a pretty sight.  

A key was getting wrecked laundry room connected so machines can be ordered and hooked up for now, at least until walls are put up. That room was just completed with new machines the last week in Sept. Oh Lord of Flood Insurance, be kind. In the meantime, the machines my wife wants are no longer on sale and she is waiting them out. So we are planning our next big trip to the laundromat this Thursday.

Ken showed up for a while on Friday, pointing out that the tolls were back, an outrage given that all these contractors and workers and volunteers now have to pay for the privilege of coming to Rockaway. As my wife utters on a regular basis -- that fuck'n Cuomo. We found out on the first day of the toll while driving through that I forgot to put the easy pass in my car and we had to pay $3.25 each way. We get resident reductions and with Easy Pass who really pays attention, but the idea that everyone who comes to Rockaway has to pay $6.50 a day, and given there are few stores or gas stations open, that is piling on.

My basement was filled with the cut-out BX cables by the time they left. Tommie told me I could get a hundred bucks for it at a scrap yard. Later I dumped it all into a garbage can that I left in front of my house and it was all gone by the morning, along with my old shop lights and any other metal scrap I put out. Even with the great heroes in sanitation (my wife told me when the sanit dept was mentioned at the Town Hall meeting last week they were the only agency to receive a standing ovation) there are also so many scrap guys picking up what they can.

When I point out all the electrical wiring I had done in the basement and den, Ken is not discouraging me from doing some of my own work -- he will check it for me. I gotta say, given that I have not done much work around the house for 15 or 20 years, I an getting that old itch again. But of course with no power tools yet (finding the right ones is becoming an obsession) I am holding off. But I spent an hour in the empty basement last night figuring out ideas for storage and work areas.

One of my inch-like moves has been getting my garage door opener working again. Up to now I have to lift this very heavy door manually. The plug, button and remotes all got wet. So I got some lamp cord with a plug and cut off the damaged part and rewired it and plugged it in. Then I tried the remotes and mine which was not under water worked. My wife's which was under didn't. But when I took out the rusted battery and put mine in it did work. A miracle of survival, for a remote. Next move is to get the button and wire it in. After that a key of some sort to open from the outside. And then that remote pad that is ruined replaced. Like I said, an inch at a time.

Ken the the guys pointed to some mold but said our situation was the best they've seen. But we feel we have to attack that problem, which we can handle ourselves rather than pay thousands of dollars to have it done. My neighbor across the street showed me what he was doing -- Home Depot has a mold product and you put it in a pump-type spray jug and go through the basement spraying the ceiling. We looked it up and it's a green product -- no chemicals, etc an it gets great reviews.

So on Saturday we were off to Home Depot where we spent almost $200 on "stuff" including new lights for the basement -- if Ken's guys come back Monday maybe they can get me some light down there so I don't have to rely on work lights. I also got that garage door button, some storage bins and got to fondle all kinds of power tools until my wife pulled me away. Really, at this point my favorite centerfold would be a giant Sawzall.

Well, after all that shopping it was off to the diner across the street from Home Depot on Cropsey Ave but the lot was full, so we went to another diner on Flatbush Ave where I went whole hog -- French toast with 2 eggs and cheese. And nary a bit of heartburn.

Back home for an afternoon of mold spraying using this cheap plastic pump jug I was given by the Mormons. I don't like the plastic nozzle and parts tend to come loose. My wife insisted on doing this job no matter how much I tried to dissuade her. I had some more destruction to do down there -- I am in love with my giant crow bar -- and we had to work around each other.

Within 10 minutes we were ready for a divorce. Every time she had a slight problem I had to stop what I was doing. So I wasted an hour just trying to help her. I tried to give her a plan for getting the spraying done but she wanted to do it her way which really wasted the stuff. And it kept leaking so more was getting on her than on the ceiling. Luckily she ran out of the $35 a gallon stuff soon enough so I could get on with my work. We realize we need a better sprayer and my first task today is to go get one.

Well, after she left the basement I was free to demolish things and just was feeling great. I swept up and the place is looking better. We're thinking of hosing down the concrete walls and floor but are worried about the damp leading to mold. But there is a plan. Do a section at a time, use the new wet-dry vac to get the water up and the leaf-blowing attachment to blow dry it and run the new dehumidifier.

I can start doing that today while listening to the Jet game. Two disaster relief efforts for the price of one.

Juan Gonzalez Moderates: Brian Jones, Pedro Noguera, Shael Polakow-Suransky, Diana Zavala: Dec. 10, 6PM

Change the Stakes Sponsors: High Stakes Testing: Helping or Hurting Education?

You know that Change the Stakes, which began life as the testing committee of GEM, is my favorite of all the groups I currently work with, partly because of how productive the people involved in it are.

 This should be one exciting event. MORE's Brian Jones and Diane Zavala (Reps CTS here) facing off with Noguera and Shael.

Oh, the conflict: A hearing over Eva invasion at Washington Irving HS at the same time though there is a rally at WI at 4:30. So I may make it to that first. But how could I miss filming Eva's video crew. To go or not to go, that is the question.

What: Panel discussion and community forum on the impact of high stakes testing on curriculum, instruction, and learning

When: Monday, December 10th, 6:00 - 8:30 PM (see flyer for details)

Where: The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center 3940 BROADWAY @ 165 STREET (A/C/1 trains to 168th Street station)

Panelists: Brian Jones, Dr. Pedro Noguera, Senior Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suranski, Diana Zavala

Sponsored by: Change the Stakes, The Shabazz Center, The Harlem/Washington Heights Education Film Screening & Discussion Series (Total Equity Now, Community League of the Heights, and the A.M.E. Zion Church on the Hill), and the Office of Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez

Please RSVP via email to changethestakes@gmail.com or by joining the Facebook event

** Spanish language translation will be available **

Please join us on Monday for an exciting discussion and share the info with others. Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend! 

The cycle of profiteering and privatizing

We know everything about your child

From Robert Rendo:

First the deformers, Pearson et al for example,  push for self interested legislation, they help write the wording of the law even though they themselves are not educators, then they over test the kids, then the tax system prevents any of their profits from trickling down to schools and teachers for better resources, then they push for starving the schools of funding from government, then when the school "fails", they have it closed with their local crony governments and reopen it under private management, destabilizing neighborhoods, children, families, teachers, society, like never before.

This is little more than one big fat cycle of profiteering and privatizing. . . .

Eva Steals DOE Lights Charges Co-Loco Blog

The weekend before school opened this September, the charter school laid out $400,000 for a haz-mat team to install all new lights in their classrooms. The lights installed in Success were all taken from storage where they were stored, scheduled to be installed in other schools over the coming months. 

The 400G number seems high, even for Eva. But since tax money is paying part of the freight, why not? Eva will soon be bigger than the defense budget.

Inside Colocation

The public school where I've been teaching for the last 8 years has been targeted for a "colocation" with a corporate-model charter school. Most people, including me, don't know what a colocation looks like, though we've heard bleak stories. I've started this blog to document it as best I can.

6th Dec 2012 | 1 note

The lights in the back are the old fluorescents that most DOE schools were equipped with for years. As each strip dies out, it gets replaced with the new lights you see in the front. It’s typical to see classrooms with a combination of old and new lights. The weekend before school opened this September, the charter school laid out $400,000 for a haz-mat team to install all new lights in their classrooms. The lights installed in Success were all taken from storage where they were stored, scheduled to be installed in other schools over the coming months.