DOE is approving over 400,000 thousand dollars to PAVE for their pre-k program. They are getting about 30,000 less than PS 15 does for Pre-K, but we run 4 classes and PAVE will run 3..... Public school administrators all over this city must fight or beg for every resource they bring to their schools, while charter school operators clearly have people in high places simply making things happen for them, regardless of laws, procedure, or decency.... Teacher at PS 15KThe criminals at Tweed are at it again. And where is the UFT on these blatant thefts of kids out of public schools? The charter lobby push to get their mitts on pre-k is getting intense. If they can steal these kids right off then they capture the early creaming crowd.
Here is an email -- edited a bit by me to remove some of the details of how many pre-k kids, etc ---- the teacher sent to the charter school office of the DOE. The teacher gave me permission to use her name but I'm redacting. It contains similar material as above but I like the raw day-after outrage --- which I would also direct at the UFT leadership which is oh-so silent. Maybe the UFT silence is why PS 15 is such a strong supporter of MORE. Where is that COPE money being used to defend public education? Maybe they want the UFT charter to do the same thing.Several weeks ago, I ran into an employee of PAVE Academy at a shop in Park Slope. We were familiar with one another from the required "Shared Space" meetings that co-located schools are required to hold. We exchanged greetings, and she excitedly told me, “We’re getting a Pre-K now!” "We" being PAVE Academy, and the Pre-K is a not-yet-approved program, for which PAVE has been advertising job postings online since January. To most of us, this is what we call putting the cart before the horse, but in charter school land, it’s just another day.
Monday May 6, a “public” hearing was held to recognize PAVE’s application to amend their charter to hold their kindergarten lottery 17 months ahead of the kindergarten start date. Once approved, and I’ve never seen an application of PAVE or most any other charter school denied, this would allow the school to hold a lottery early enough to accept students into their alleged “separate entity” Pre-K. But the lottery was already held in April and the Pre-K doesn’t exist yet, as it hasn’t been approved.
Furthermore, New York State Charter Law states that charter schools may not operate Pre-K programs. So to summarize, a lottery was held before the hearing to request to hold an early lottery and job postings were up before the jobs existed and the program approved. Oh, and the hearing was not advertised anywhere in the community, nor the usual places online. The few people I know who even heard about it, learned of it hours before it began.
This kind of shady backdoor dealing is typical of the DOE’s Office of Charter Schools, and the Department of Education in General. Does anyone remember the emails between Eva Moskowitz and former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein? I certainly remember PAVE Academy having the address of my school listed as their own on a charter school directory website before their co-location was officially approved.
It is well known that Spencer Robertson and his partner in Crime Cooper Westendarp have their eyes on NYCHA’s Miccio Communty Center in Red Hook to house PAVE’s Pre-K. This is the very facility that allowed PAVE Academy to use space during their displacement due to hurricane Sandy.
Currently, this facility is being used as a replacement location for the Red Hook Senior Center, as the Senior Center was flooded and ruined by the hurricane. It makes little sense to renovate and return seniors to a basement space in a flood zone, so for now, the Miccio is all they have. Which explains why a large group of seniors walked over to attend the hearing. But Mr. Westendarp stopped all of them in the lobby, stating the meeting had nothing to do with their space (and who knows what other fiction he shared) causing confusion among the group, who ultimately left the building.
For those of us that know how the DOE works, and how charter schools work, we know the hearing had everything to do with their space. You just have to connect the dots. The few attendees who made it past Cooper Westendarp and did show up to the hearing made the connection, and not one community member or parent spoke in favor of the amendment to the charter.
There are many other things to consider here, one being that just because the DOE has shirked state laws to allow charter school darling Jeffery Canada to open a Pre-K program in Harlem, does not make it right or legal to extend such a favor to Mr. Robertson. Also, the need for more Pre-K seats within the Red Hook community is debatable.
The principal of P.S. 15 was previously denied additional requested Pre-K classes, and wasn't granted one until she agreed to open a Dual Language Pre-K program, which opened this year. P.S. 15 currently has 66 seats available for zoned students, and although many more than that have applied for these seats, about half of the applicants are students from other neighborhoods.
This shows the need for additional Pre-K seats clearly exists not so much in Red Hook, but within the communities of Carroll Gardens, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, the places where the other applicants live.
The principal of Red Hook's other public elementary school, P.S. 676, has been repeatedly denied from expanding her Pre-K as well, after applying for additional classes for years. P.S. 676 is willing and happy to expand their program this fall to meet any such need that may exist in the Red Hook community. Of course in order to do so, the principal needs the Department of Education’s approval— a favor clearly reserved for charter school operators. As I write this I worry that the Department of Education will use information I've shared to take classes away from my school, as they have denied us programs in the past because of our five year co-location with PAVE academy. Public school administrators all over this city must fight or beg for every resource they bring to their schools, while charter school operators clearly have people in high places simply making things happen for them, regardless of laws, procedure, or decency.
This email is to serve as a record of my opposition to the revision of PAVE Academy's charter to hold their Kindergarten lottery 17 months ahead of the student's actual kindergarten start-date. The reason for this revision is to allow PAVE to open a Pre-K program, which is illegal under New York State Charter Laws. Allowing them to create a non-profit "separate entity" claimed to be run by a separate board of trustees is simply this city's way to circumvent state laws, which is despicable.
Speaking of despicable, the meeting last night was clearly in violation of the guidelines set forth for such meetings, as it was not publicized on the DOE website at all, and as shown by poor attendance, not made public to the community of Red Hook in any way. There is a larger issue that DOE representatives refused to address at the meeting. Although, as usual, rules and laws rarely apply to Mr. Robertson, PAVE's founder and director. He has his eyes on space owned by NYCHA that is currently being used to house displaced senior citizens whose Red Hook facility was flooded and ruined due to hurricane Sandy. (He had his eyes on my school's building as well, and before our public hearing, the address of my school, P.S. 15 was listed as PAVE's on the charter school directory online.)
Therefore, it's hard to pretend that yesterday's meeting was simply about adjusting a charter to allow the school to run their Kindergarten lottery 17 months ahead of time, as they have already held their lottery for next year and enrolled students in their not-yet-approved Pre-K program, and have job postings all over the internet for their not-yet-approved PreK program. Of course, Spencer's colleague Cooper Westendarp very cleverly and deceptively told a group of senior citizens who attempted to attend the meeting last night that it had nothing to do with taking their space, and who knows what other lies, causing the entire group to leave before the meeting began. In fact, he stopped them in the lobby, so they didn't even get near the meeting space.
There are many other things to consider here, one being just because rules and laws have been shirked to allow your favorite charter rockstar and John Legend's best bud Jeffery Canada to open a PreK program, does not make it right in the eyes of the law (or this tax payer and public school teacher) to extend such a favor to Mr. Robertson in a neighborhood where the need for more PreK seats is debatable. For example, my principal was previously denied additional requested Pre-K classes, and wasn't granted one until she agreed to open a Dual Language Pre K program. Furthermore, the principal of Red Hook's other public school, P.S. 676 has been denied from expanding her Pre-K as well, and she has openly stated that she has room to open 2 more classes, and is willing to do so and will apply to expand her program to meet any such need that may exist in the Red Hook community.
The shady way in which this meeting was held, and the fact that not one parent or community member spoke in favor of granting the charter revision to PAVE should be of some significance.
My (inexpert) reading of the law is that this is not against the law. It seems charters may not get state funding for pre-k, but the separate entity certainly is allowed to do so. Look for more of these as pre-k funding increases. It is a loophole for sure and goes against the spirit of the law ( lottery and pre-k) but charter schools ( like most corps) have been exploiting loopholes for profit as the backbone of this nation since the dawn of capitalism and free markets.
Red Hook Charter School Launches Pre-K Program
RED HOOK — A new pre-K program is coming to Red Hook this fall, sponsored by a local charter school.PAVE Academy Charter School is launching three full-day pre-K classes with a total of 54 4-year-olds in September, after winning approval from the city's Office of Early Childhood Education earlier this month.The school held a lottery for the seats in April and allowed winning pre-K families to also reserve a kindergarten spot for the following year, said Spencer Robertson, director of PAVE Academy, who started the K-8 charter school in 2008.The pre-K program, which will be run by a separate nonprofit because charter schools are not allowed to run their own pre-K, recently applied for $453,521 in funding from the Panel for Education Policy.Robertson had hoped to house the pre-K classes in the PAL Miccio Center, a New York City Housing Authority building that now contains a senior center and was formerly used by a Head Start program, but the school was denied use of the space, Robertson said in an email.“We understand the decision and are now looking for an alternate space in Red Hook where the pre-K program can operate,” Robertson said.Some local education leaders said they did not see a need for more pre-K programs in the area. While other neighborhoods in District 15, such as Sunset Park, South Slope and Park Slope, have issues with large class size and overcrowding, Red Hook has not faced that issue, said Jim Devor, president of the Community Education Council in Brooklyn's District 15.“Frankly there is no need for pre-K space in Red Hook,” Devor said.
The Department of Education added 4,000 new pre-K seats this year to boost early childhood education throughout the city. Community-based organizations like PAVE Pre-K have an application process that is separate from pre-K application for public schools.
New York has nearly doubled access to pre-K education over the
past decade. But we are still far from providing truly universal access. The 2013–2014 budget’s $25 million for expanding access to high quality, full-day pre-K services is a step in the right direction, but there are more steps ahead.
To continue making progress, New York’s high-quality public charter schools must be given the same opportunities as any other public school. That means authorizing high-quality public charter schools to provide pre-K services and granting access to new state funding streams.From the conclusion of a policy brief by NYCAN, the advocacy group, that argues for charter schools to be allowed to offer pre-kindergarten programs, which state law currently prohibits. The issue is one that charter school advocates across the state have made a top priority for this legislative session, but education bills face an uphill battle even to be considered this year.
1) By now, many of you have probably received the first of the negative (and expensive!) SAC Slate mailers that will go out this week as ballots go out. SAC Slate is the current NTU leadership, and they are doing whatever is necessary to take our eyes off the seriousproblems that the NTU faces, and to discredit the NEW Caucus and the NEW Vision Slate.
Below, see NEW Vision Slate's response to that mailer.
2) More important, BALLOTS GO OUT TUESDAY! You should be receiving your ballot by mail by Thursday or Friday at the latest! If you do not receive a ballot by Friday, you should call the NTU offices immediately at 973-643-8430.
Vote ONLY NEW Vision by checking the box above the NEW Vision column on the right-side of the ballot. DO NOT VOTE FOR ANYONE ELSE!
By now some of you have received a mailer from the Solidarity Again Caucus (current NTU leadership) for the upcoming election. NEW Vision is concerned that negative mailers like this further divide and weaken our union. We would like to address a few points about this mailer:1. NEW Caucus is still alive and fighting. NEW Vision was created to unite other members of the NTU that may not necessarily be in the NEW Caucus. In fact, check out the April edition of NEW Views (click here).
2. The Star Ledger article referring to NEW Caucus as liars was prepared by the same "Editorial Board" that has consistently supported Cami Anderson's attacks. They've also criticized the Chicago Teachers for their brave action against the attacks on Chicago teachers and schools. In other words, it is a good thing to be attacked by them, since they have attacked our friends and supported our enemies.3. It is almost comical to suggest that NEW Vision simply aims to gain control of the NTU dues. In reality, as current NTU contributors, we do not receive information about the NTU budget or how it is spent. Other than a list of expenditures at the January meeting, we never see what the NTU is spending its money on. We do want to change that and make sure you know how every dollar is spent. We will also encourage members to be part of the decision making process over how dues are spent.4. When this contract was first revealed NEW Caucus was adamant that it undervalues education workers and students. The contract justified Anderson's aggressive school closings. Additionally, we are currently seeing the effects of the "Election to Work" agreements, and we aim to challenge the ability of administrators to pressure workers into opting out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. As said in November - the current contract has the potential to destroy our union as it splits members into two different pay scales.Whether as NEW Caucus or NEW Vision, we have said that we will reenergize and motivate the union membership to stand up and fight back. It won't be easy, but it will be done. As is evidenced by this negative and desperate mailer, the current leadership lacks vision.NEW Vision calls on all education workers, especially those in the Solidarity Again Caucus, to publicly condemn this mailer and stand with NEW Vision for a stronger, united union.
Assessment that Supports EducationRecently, Boston area students and teachers organized an excellent conference, “Creating the Schools We Deserve.” It focused on what schools should be like and how we can win them. The conversations made clear that most people have never had the privilege of experiencing the kind of life-affirming, engaging, supportive, and multicultural schooling we can see at Boston’s Mission Hill School. http://www.ayearatmissionhill.com/ Understanding schools like Mission Hill can help students, parents, teachers and members of the community grasp just what wonderful schooling looks and feels like. So watch the video series, A Year at Mission Hill, if you have not yet done so. In 10 short segments, this beautifully shot, intimate and emotionally moving film portrays a truly remarkable school.The question, “How do we know what and how well students are learning?” frames the most recent segment (9), “Seeing the Learning.” It reminds us that “assessment” comes from the Latin, “to sit beside.” It illustrates how “direct contact and conversation are the most accurate way to judge if a child has mastered a skill or concept.” http://www.ayearatmissionhill.com/index.php/chapter9 This episode introduces viewers to the Mission Hill portfolio system, collections of student work that complement the observations and interactions. As one teacher explains, “I really believe in looking at a student’s work as the best indicator.” The portfolios guide feedback to and evaluation of students. They also help teachers reflect on their teaching, individually and collectively.Grade 8 graduation portfolios and exhibitions in multiple subjects are the culmination of students’ work, demonstrating their readiness for high school. They include a defense before a committee that includes an outside expert who brings new eyes from the adult worlds of work, college and civic engagement. If a student’s portfolio is not yet good enough, s/he has time to revise and complete it. (In much of this, Mission Hill resembles the New York Performance Standards Consortium. http://www.performanceassessment.org ) Though it’s not shown in the video, the graduation portfolios include on-demand tasks that students complete independently. Because students get detailed feedback from teachers and peers along the way, the school wants to ensure that students really can do quality work on their own.The segment shows how the school uses authentic assessment in the context of its mission and daily practice. As a school focused on student-centered, project-based learning and led by strong educators who work collaboratively, Mission Hill prioritizes authentic assessment that values complex learning and teaching. But as a regular public school in Massachusetts, Mission Hill students must take state tests in grades 3-8 in math (that count for NCLB “accountability”) as well as some science tests. The school also has to avoid wasting its valuable instructional time on standardized “interim” tests offered by BPS central office.Mission Hill should not have to jump through these hoops. As the school shows, better ways to evaluate students, schools and teachers exist. Winning such changes will require building political power – something that has clearly begun with this spring’s protests against standardized tests in cities around the nation. http://www.fairtest.org/fact-sheet-better-way-evaluate- schools-pdf and http://www.fairtest.org/test- opposition-surges-across- nation The video series and this segment provide great evidence that our nation can develop educationally beneficial assessment. Most important, the film shows us why students and teachers – and we the public – deserve far better than test-based accountability.
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Please Attend the Skinny Awards in NYCby dianerav |
"One voice" is more about drowning out the people's voice with a droll compliant whimper in true Weingartian style.... This is not a social justice rally. This is a 'let's make believe we care' rally. It's play acting by the AFT/NYSUT/UFT gang. We can play along, relieved that at least they are doing something, but their "something" is really business as usual. --- Sean Ahern (see below for full text).NYSUT Press release: Rally in Albany June 8.
Members of the more than one dozen organizations will join other parents, teachers and educators in speaking out against the state’s over-emphasis on standardized testing and misuse of test data to improperly label students and teachers. Rally-goers will call for a moratorium on the use of standardized tests in high-stakes decisions for students and teachers until the State Education Department and Regents properly implement the state’s new Common Core learning standards.Well we know all about NYSUT/AFT/UFT and their role as enablers. When the water is at the top of the wall they decide to stick their finger in the dyke.
NYSUT takes half a mill and AFT takes 4.4 mill from Bill Gates. Is anyone still wondering why reachers are getting bent over? (https://twitter.com/rastamick/status/ 333712627345797121)
Thinking a big sign at the NYSUT rally: GIVE BILL GATES HIS MONEY BACK! (https://twitter.com/rastamick/status/ 334041383037960192)
Here's one to show on the busride to Albany for the June 8th rally. Ianuzzi has to go. youtube.com/watch?v=FwA04N… (https://twitter.com/rastamick/status/ 336221653098983427)
"One voice" is more about drowning out the people's voice with a droll compliant whimper in true Weingartian style.Jane Maisel
NYSUT/UFT says the tax cap issue is about the democratic principle of majority rule. What about democracy and majority rule for NYC parents and educators? Funny how mayoral dictatorship in NYC, the polar opposite of democracy, is not even mentioned by this "one voice."What a pathetic farce for Weingarten to demand that we should be better prepared to enforce this new sorting system. The common core is more aptly described by Susan Ohanian as the "common bore." It fits Emerson's description: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do...Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today." But in 21st century America the common core is far worse than a "foolish consistency." "One voice" and common core have a totalitarian stench.As PSC President Barbara Bowen put it plainly, "Capitalism gets the education system it wants." Education does not reduce inequality, it reproduces it and the common bore promise to do so with greater efficiency and oversight. The problems with "common core" go far deeper than the lack of teacher preparedness. This is all standard Weingarten triangulation crap.Mandatory grade retention, school closings, charter push-ins, the disappearing of Black and Latino educators, the exclusion of parent and educator voice, the push out of youth on to the streets and on to prison, no raises for public sector workers, the use of high stakes tests to sort by race and class, reducing the teaching staff step by step to at will employees, all of this and more would have had push back from community controlled school boards in NYC. Yet mayoral control, which eliminated whatever was left of democracy in NYC schools, was enacted with the support of NYSUT/UFT, the 'one voicers."On these matters The "One Voice" of AFT/NYSUT/UFT is silent. For UFT members facing their fifth year without a contractual raise we cannot build a working class movement in NYC to fight for decent contracts by skirting the deeply white supremacist character of the corporate education reform. Silence doesn't build solidarity.This is not a social justice rally. This is a 'let's make believe we care' rally. It's play acting by the AFT/NYSUT/UFT gang. We can play along, relieved that at least they are doing something, but their "something" is really business as usual.In my opinion "One voice" means no voice.Peace,Sean Ahern
Jane was urged by others on the listserve to go to Albany and march under banners saying what needs to be said. I'm waiting to see if something from MORE and other groups get something going. Otherwise I'm staying home.Hi Sean,Thanks for your excellent response to the call for the NYSUT rally in Albany. I would only want to go if we could surprise NYSUT by doing a counter demonstration--a sea of red MORE t-shirts. We could take UFT's buses up there, though we might need to take an ambulance going home. This is not coalition building, this is reducing the discussion to meaningless Randi slogans, which I do not wish to support.
This week's stories highlight high-stakes testing protests -- and victories -- in more than a dozen states with additional resistance activities planned for the end of the 2012-2013 school year.
Remember that previous editions of these updates are available at: http://fairtest.org/news
South Carolina Exit Exam Could be History
http://www.thestate.com/2013/05/15/2773149/sc-high-school- graduation-exit.html
Florida Test-Based Teacher Evaluation Lawsuit May Impact Other States
http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/Florida-Teacher- Lawsuit-Could-Spread-to-Other- States.html
Seattle Teachers, Students Celebrate Historic Victory Against Standardized Tests
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/20/seattle_teachers_ students_win_historic_victory
School Testing Fails the Test
http://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/saturdaysoapbox/ 1136335-14/saturday-soapbox- school-testing-fails-test
Texas Senate Passes Bill Reducing Testing in Lower Grades
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/21/lege-clears-bill- reducing-testing-lower-grades/
Why I Opted Out of Standardized Tests -- by FairTest Board member Nikhil Goyal
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nikhilgoyal/2013/05/22/opting- out-of-teacher-evaluation- tests/
Am I Part of the Problem or the Solution, featuring FairTest Board member Deborah Meier
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/05/18/deborah-meier-am-i-part- of-the-problem-or-the- solution/
Chicago Parents Say "No" to Excessive Standardized Testing
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news. aspx?id=221572
GAO Finds 40 States Probed Cheating Allegations
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/05/40_ states_probed_alleged_ cheating_on_tests_federal_ report_finds.html
see FairTest Survey on Confirmed Cases of Cheating
http://www.fairtest.org/2013-Cheating-Report-PressRelease
Providence Student Union Challenges Ed. Commission to Debate Grad Test Requirement
http://www.providencestudentunion.org/ 2013/05/20/students-invite- commissioner-to-debate-necap- graduation-requirement/
New Jersey Activists to Protest Tax Breaks for Pearson Testing Company
http://njeducationnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/may- 23-pearson-protest/
Take the Pearson Test to See Whether You Also Qualify for Millions in Tax Breaks
http://njeducationnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/take- the-pearson-test-see-if-you- qualify-for-millions-in-tax- breaks-too/
Upcoming New York State Rally Against High-Stakes Tests and For Better Educational Practices
http://shar.es/Zs6H2
Parents Take Stand Against Standardized Test
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/parents-take-stand- against-standardized-tests
Schools Add to Test Load Just to Assess Questions
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/education/to-sharpen- student-testing-another-round- of-tests.html
Teachers Union Opposes Over-Testing Students
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/testing- students-again-the-teachers- union-view.html?_r=0
Principals Launch Campaign Against High-Stakes, Common Core Tests
http://andreagabor.com/2013/05/15/round-two-new-york-city- principals-mount-a-campaign- against-unfair-testing/
Principals Pledge Not to Use Test Scores to Screen Students
http://www.alternet.org/education/new-york-city- principals-we-wont-use-test- scores-screen-students
Why Our New Educator Evaluation System is Unethical
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/ 20/principal-why-our-new- educator-evaluation-system-is- unethical/
Testing Companies Are Clear Winners in High-Stakes Exams Debate
http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2013/05/clear_winners_ in_school_testin.html
Columbia Teachers Graduates Protest Award to Leading Promoter of High-Stakes Exams
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/ 21/quiet-protest-staged-at- teachers-college-graduation/
How to Avoid Nevada's Testing Train Wreck
http://www.rgj.com/article/20130519/OPED04/305190071/How- avoid-state-s-testing-train- wreck
Forum Takes on Standardized Testing
http://thenotebook.org/blog/135987/forum-takes- standardized-testing
Testing Policies Becomes Local School Board Election Issue
http://www.lohud.com/article/20130516/NEWS/305160076/ Ossining-school-board- candidates-disagree-over- testing-system
Fallout from Computer Testing Glitch Continues
http://newsok.com/fallout-of-oklahoma-school-testing- glitch-continues/article/ 3826097
Oklahoma Investigates Field Test Opt-Out Campaign
http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Jenks_schools_ scrutinized_by_state_ education_department/20130519_ 11_a1_theokl857604?subj=1
A Family Decides to Opt Out
http://bluehatmovement.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/ opting-out-updated/
Campaign for Artful Resistance -- a creative initiative from Save Our Schools
http://saveourschoolsmarch.org/get-involved/the-campaign- for-artful-resistance-2/
Authentic Assessments Must Be Included in Teachers' Tool Box -- by Oregon's chief state education officer
http://pamplinmedia.com/pt/10-opinion/152550-new-way-needed- to-gauge-student-progress
Spinning Around Again on Education Testing Carousel
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130519-OPINION- 305190331
Student Test Scores Are Faulty Measure of Teacher Effectiveness
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/05/student_test_ scores_are_faulty.html
What if Finland's Great Teachers Taught in the U.S.?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/ 15/what-if-finlands-great- teachers-taught-in-u-s- schools-not-what-you-think/
How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113096/how-michelle- rhee-misled-education-reform#
Education Reform in the New Jim Crow Era
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/16406-education- reform-in-the-new-jim-crow-era
Teachers Call Social and Emotional Learning "The Missing Piece" in Schools
http://casel.org/themissingpiece/
Change the Purpose of Education
http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/05/15/change- purpose-education
It's great to see entire families involved in battling the ed deformers:Hi Norm,
My mother (a NYC resident) will be going to the post office this week to mail her letter (pasted below). Although she will include her name and address on the letter I redacted both in this email.
.......Elementary school teacher in the Bronx
Here is the D-130 reg copied from a previous post on ed notes by A.P. Salamander, my favorite amphibian:
Mr. Richard J. Condon
Special Commissioner of Investigation
80 Maiden Lane - 20th floor
New York, NY 10038
Dear Mr. Condon:
On May 18, 2013, Dennis M. Walcott crossed the line. He used the authority of his office as the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education to provide a venue on public property paid for with public funds to express his personal political opinion to a captive audience of school principals attending an education conference in Brooklyn. He used an educational forum to push a political agenda. Mr. Walcott’s opinion was no mere slip of the tongue and clearly violated the very rules he is obligated to obey. Rules, I might add, that were established by his office (Chancellor’s Regulation D-130).
I am not sure how your office works. Is my letter considered an official complaint or is there some form that requires my completion? Therefore, if my letter is sufficient to file a complaint, then please consider it as such. If not, please provide me with any further instructions needed to make my complaint official.
My concern in this matter is really quite simple. Chancellor Walcott abused his power and violated a Department of Education Regulation that states, “Any officer or employee who violates the provisions of this regulation is subject to disciplinary action.” In keeping with your authority to investigate such misconduct I must ask, what is your office doing about it?
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of our New York City School District. I expect to hear from you within a reasonable period of time.
Yours sincerely,
Department of Education’s Chancellor’s Regulation D-130,Read my original post from last week which also appeared as my column in The Wave: Whining Walcott in Blatant Misuse of Position
(http://docs.nycenet.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-86/D-130__1-15-04.pdf) which clearly states, “ School buildings are not public forums for purposes of community or political expression.”
And: “ Any officer or employee who violates the provisions of this regulation is subject to disciplinary action.”
“ No rallies, forums, programs, etc. on behalf of, or for the benefit of any elected official, particular candidate, candidates, slate of candidates, or political organization/ committee may be held in a school building.”
And: “The use of any Department of Education school after school/business hours by any person, group, organization, committee, etc, on behalf of any elected official, candidate, candidates, slates of candidates or political /committee is prohibited.”
