Debate: When Common Core is Attacked from the right, does the left form coalitions?

To me this, this about coalition building around individual issues as opposed to finding completely like-minded folks. I have experienced a couple of folks who to me, are extreme in our "camp."  I have also worked with folks whose understanding of the world is quite different than mine.  Through dialogue, we find areas of agreement and areas where we can mutually support each other.  We steer clear of topics that we know, ahead of time, we are going to vehemently disagree on.  Occasionally, we offend each other, but we do not take it personally.  This battle is about making schools better for all of our kids.  We know, from the get go, that if we are talking about how to fix other common problems such as social and economic injustice, we will vehemently disagree.  We respectfully agree to disagree and avoid having to discuss the issues.  We understand that at other times, we will oppose each other. Sometimes, I just know that in this particular setting, I need to edit what I say.  It's politics... and it's my approach to managing it.  Ultimately, it is hard to name call right to my face.  I'm o.k. with being called a communist, too.  Hell, I might actually be one. In the end, I think we can help each other with this particular battle... JM on finding common ground on common core with voices from the right, Change the Stakes listserve

From what I can tell from social media, the folks and groups rallying behind the action are pretty broad based. If that's the case, I'd be comfortable more with it. But as several people have pointed out, there are some good reasons to be very cautious, in general, about collaborating with ring-wing anti-CC groups... NC, CTS

Oh, what to do. We received this at Change the Stakes:

The Facebook group stop common core in NYS are planning a rally across NYS on Monday 4pm to 6pm in Rockefeller Center at WNEP newsroom to protest Common Core and coincide with governors State of the state address. It's seems that the Facebook group has a large LI and Upstate following.

The Chancellor, Mulgrew, and AFT support CC. We need people power there to make this man listen. Hope you can make it.

On the Stop Common Core site  - http://www.stopcommoncoreny.com - there are pretty straightforward exposures of the common core with a major theme that it removes local control and federalizes education -- a liberal supported trend for 60 years. Today it looks more like a neo-liberal trend towards privatizing. But then I ran across this linking to another web site>

Communists In the NY Anti-Common Core Movement

Mon Dec 30 2013 at 8:20 pm +0000

One group in the New York anti-Core groups is led by a former Domestic terrorist and a friend or former friend to Bill Ayers – Mark Naison. Naison was a member of the violent Weather Underground in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s Communists In the NY Anti-Common Core Movement |

Here is the full article:

www.independentsentinel.com.

Shit - I've met Bill Ayers and like him and many of his ideas. And I know Mark Naison. I think the very same conversations taking place on the left and the right, with some saying "hell no I ain't working with those people" and others looking for dialogue. That is what fascinates me about this conversation.

Thus began an interesting internal debate today on CTS. Here is a selection at this point with I am sure more to come (which I will add to this as an update). And by the way--- I keep flipping both ways, as I so often do. I usually come down on the side of the last person I speak to. But since I am getting deep in the weeds of CCSS with the MORE committee I think I will be much clearer on whether to hang with Glenn Beck and Mark Naison to fight the same battle -- but then again is that really the same battle? My hair is beginning to hurt.

LN:
I did notice that their reasons for opposing CC were mostly about the government imposing standards and nothing about developmental inappropriate teaching and learning.

RS:
When I testified at a hearing about Common Core, I was quite disturbed by the man behind me who kept saying "this is all from Obama the communist." I realized then that we share a cause with people who have a very different agenda. While I think we need to try to work with others, I believe we need to be very careful. Some people have forgotten Brown v. Board of Education and the crucial role the federal government plays in some respects.

JM:
To me this, this about coalition building around individual issues as opposed to finding completely like-minded folks. I have experienced a couple of folks who to me, are extreme in our "camp."  I have also worked with folks whose understanding of the world is quite different than mine.  Through dialogue, we find areas of agreement and areas where we can mutually support each other.  We steer clear of topics that we know, ahead of time, we are going to vehemently disagree on.  Occasionally, we offend each other, but we do not take it personally.  This battle is about making schools better for all of our kids.  We know, from the get go, that if we are talking about how to fix other common problems such as social and economic injustice, we will vehemently disagree.  We respectfully agree to disagree and avoid having to discuss the issues.  We understand that at other times, we will oppose each other. Sometimes, I just know that in this particular setting, I need to edit what I say.  It's politics... and it's my approach to managing it.  Ultimately, it is hard to name call right to my face.  I'm o.k. with being called a communist, too.  Hell, I might actually be one. In the end, I think we can help each other with this particular battle.

DZ:
So glad you put it out there Jean. I was going to respond to the 'depth' comment because I actually think otherwise. We cannot be divided in the eyes of Power as is the case of Cuomo and the State, because that's exactly what they want to see. It's about Points of Unity and how we can connect our struggles regardless of our political and philosophical views. I have friends who are ultra religious and send me cards with the word 'Lord' all over and they say they pray for me, etc. I don't mind it because I feel there is something else that brings me together and anchors the friendship. I also have friends who differ with me politically (ok not many) but they may not share my views completely, and this is true even in my education views (as is the case with my ex), but we manage to find that place we both agree. In the case of historical events, the North and South both viewed Slavery and African Americans differently for their own reasons, but it was more important to keep the States united and Lincoln saw this when he delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. Being divided and looking into groups 'motivations' and 'philosophical/political' inclinations doesn't serve the Movement. Let's stay focused and build the movement of different stripes and voices.

JN:
I'm hardly a Catholic, but I was impressed by the Catholic educators' letter to the nation's bishops attacking CCSS as a force for intellectual and spiritual mediocrity. And I now understand the feelings of tea party folks: I too hold the view that in an arena of life I care deeply about, our children's education, federal bureaucrats have violated our rights with destructive, ignorant initiatives they should never have had the power to enact.

I will agree or disagree with individuals and groups on an issue-by-issue basis, and maintain an open mind to persuasive argument. On that basis I think we at CTS (which after all as Jean points out is itself a collection of individuals with diverse views) should seek to build as broad a consensus as possible around the goal of putting educators, parents and local communities back in control of education.

PD:
As I read the comments back and forth, the more I tend to agree with collaboration. Our government and political leaders have so damaged our educational system, both public, religious and private. Yes Diana, the powers that be want to divide us. Let's fight together for our COMMON cause, a just education for our nation's children, respect for their educators and control put back into the hands of parents and local communities as well as the equality of resources to educate all in the best ways possible.

FS:
This is a fascinating discussion that has me wavering. I believe it is necessary to have dissent, honest differences and diverse views rather than the discomfort I feel when everyone speaks with one voice. [Compare the Brooklyn and Manhattan forum.] But my question vis a vis folks on the other side (right wing?) is this: Are "them" as willing to listen to us and respect what we have to say?

DZ:
My feeling is that it's not about dissent (as in the CC forums where the room was totally divided), but about finding spots we share and growing our collective voice and power to bring on changes. We also don't measure our actions in relations to "theirs", we do our thing because we believe it. And to point out, "they've" been interested in inviting us to their actions and I don't know that we've done the same.

NC:
I'm trying to find out a bit more about who all is behind the Jan 6 rally. From what I can tell from social media, the folks and groups rallying behind the action are pretty broad based. If that's the case, I'd be comfortable more with it. But as several people have pointed out, there are some good reasons to be very cautious, in general, about collaborating with ring-wing anti-CC groups. In my view, CtS has far more in common with parents who support CC because they want high standards for their kids but who also oppose HST than right-wingers who oppose CC because they don't want the feds -- Obama in particular -- interfering with their schools. Would love to know how many of these folks opposed HST under Bush's NCLB.

RS:

My fear is that some of those who want to fight the apparatus of ed reform also want to be allowed to have segregated schools, ban books presenting alternative lifestyles----at what point do we say no? I don't think localities should have total control, the federal government needs to control civil rights issues. Girls should be allowed to play football. This is very complicated, but I believe that these wrestlings are part of any growing movement, and I am grateful that this is a growing movement.

A post by Carol Burris on Valerie Strauss' Answer Sheet about the inBloom data dump had this comment:

Jimmy Kilpatrick

6:52 PM EST

Liberals love this. Considering they think the feds have all the answer to all the problems this should solidify their arrogance. Texas has been using the PIEMS for years. I can see how the likes of a Hilter/Obama have gotten into office. Regarding when the public sits the politicos have a field day.

As if Obama is really in charge of all this and not merely the instrument. I get crazed with Obama is called a socialist or Hitler when he is a neo-liberal free marketeer -- see one Affordable Care Act - designed to make sure insurance and drug companies get their cut. (For those of you who think we REALLY wanted single payer, find me one statement from him.)

The Hero Superintendent Debunked

Supt Miles, the dancing queen

Miles’ first year in Dallas was a nasty one. One-quarter of the district’s principals were gone after that year, including some favorites in South Dallas and Oak Cliff, where schools earned high marks from the state. Their departures sparked a fight with black community leaders like Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who circulated a letter to pastors accusing Blackburn of taking Miles on a goodwill tour of black churches to sell his reforms. “Pontius Pilate plans to parade through many of your churches with a fake Jesus in tow,” Price wrote. Miles’ communications chief, Jennifer Sprague, left before Christmas, and her replacement came and went after just a few months. Other top officials fled the district, including holdovers from the Hinojosa years and some of Miles’ new recruits.... Texas Observer

With our new Chancellor in place it is worth checking out this article posted on the Ravitch blog focusing on Texas and particularly on Dallas.

Diane's intro:

This is a fascinating article from the Texas Observer that explores the myth of the hero superintendent, the popular delusion that one transformational leader can "save" a school district. The idea was shaped by the Rhee story, the TIME cover I plying that she held the secret to "fixing America's schools," a myth that persists despite the absence of any objective evidence. The focus of the article is the first year of Dallas superintendent Mike Myles, who arrived as a superstar and barely survived an effort to fire him a year later.

The Rhee/Klein/Miles/Brizard/etc nightmare is like watching Ground Hog Day.

I have a particular interest in the Dallas story because Miles replaced 7-year Supt. Michael Hinojosa, whose sister is married to one of my fraternity brothers. They were up here for a wedding of the daughter of another frat brother a few years ago and we heard details of Michael Hinojosa's remarkable educational journey beginning as a Mexican immigrant - in fact the entire family's remarkable success story.

So I began to follow his career a bit. After he left/was pushed out of Dallas and replaced by Miles he became Supt of Cobb County, the 2nd largest school district in Georgia -- and they opted out of common core this past summer (which makes for an interesting story in itself).

I extracted the parts about Hinojosa from the Miles story plus the destructive aspects when the business community takes over school policy. It really makes for interesting reading at:
http://www.texasobserver.org/superintendents-texas-struggling-schools/

Though departures are rarely that dramatic, about 200 Texas districts change superintendents every year. That’s about one in five, and it’s been pretty constant over the years, Joe Smith says. The average tenure for a superintendent is a little more than three years, according to a 2010 survey by the Council on the Great City Schools, a D.C.-based nonprofit. So when Michael Hinojosa left Dallas ISD after seven years as superintendent, it was virtually the end of a dynasty.

Hinojosa had carried Dallas fairly steadily through years when brash school chiefs with dramatic reform plans came and went in other cities. He was a homegrown leader, a graduate of Dallas ISD’s Sunset High School, and during his tenure the district enjoyed modest academic improvement according to test scores and graduation rates. His most remarkable screw-up was  financial: a $64 million budget shortfall in 2008 thanks to an accounting error and possibly hiring too many teachers. Later that year, then-Mayor Tom Leppert floated the idea of a mayoral takeover of the district—a school turnaround strategy that had been in vogue among big American cities—but quietly dropped the idea.

Hinojosa adopted a signature plan for the district called Dallas Achieves, which included the goal of winning the Broad Prize by 2010. When that didn’t happen, Dallas Morning News columnist Bill McKenzie urged the business community and “Democratic reformers” to get involved with Dallas’ schools, particularly to tie teacher pay to student performance. Though Hinojosa had overseen a rise in test scores and graduation rates, McKenzie and other shake-it-up reform advocates had plenty of ammunition against him. In 2011, less than two-thirds of Dallas’ high school graduates took SAT or ACT tests, and just 10 percent of those scored high enough to be called “college ready.” Almost half of Dallas’ students scored below grade level on state math tests.

After Hinojosa announced his departure, the business community took a new interest in the school system, giving tens of thousands to school board candidates who favored shaking things up—a remarkable departure from the election the year before, which was canceled for lack of challengers. Dallas—after seven years with Hinojosa, with schools in poor neighborhoods still struggling and with administrators who’d grown comfortable in their jobs—was finally ready for reform.

Mayor Mike Rawlings, who promised in his campaign to support bold improvement in the schools, told the Morning News, “You already have some momentum for change and have a school board taking reform-minded actions, and the city and business community is supportive of this, and whoever comes in will have a lot of support. For that reason, and if it succeeds, you’re going to be a hero.”
Rawlings, a former Pizza Hut CEO, said he was looking for a new superintendent who could be a “real change agent.  It’s less important to me if they’re a mathematician or a businessperson or a military type. Their background is less important than their leadership ability.”

The business world’s interest in remaking public education is nothing new—calling school leaders “superintendents” became popular a century ago, when factory efficiency experts took a first pass at redesigning public schools.

Nothing like having Pizza Hut deciding on school policy.

If I ever get to meet Michael Hinojosa I would like to ask him why he would want the Broad/Boob prize.

Jerry Goldfeder: Two Powerful Weapons in De Blasio’s Arsenal to Take On Albany

A revised constitution could upend the city’s subordinate relationship to Albany, ensuring greater self-governance.  ... Jerry Goldfeder

From an old pal, Jerry Goldfeder, one of the leading experts on election law. Jerry lined up with the Quinn campaign - shhhh!

He was once a teacher in the late 60s and part of our early activists group in the early 70s. He and his wife Alice are still part of the eating group we morphed into from those years - the Priscos, etc.

He now is a lawyer for Randi's old firm, Stroock and Levan - and in fact at one time worked for the UFT. 

I used to send out mass emails in the late 90s - and this was when Randi and I were on good terms - Randi once came into the DA and started laughing -- "I see Jerry Goldfeder is on your email list -- we went to law school together." I think I spilled the beans on Jerry's past - but Randi ended up hiring him anyway years later. Read Jerry's bio below and don't smirk when you come to this, "He served as special counsel on public integrity to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo." That's one job I wouldn't brag about.

In this piece Jerry echoes the frustration over our city being ruled by so many hack politicians operating out of Albany and offers some alternatives.

http://www.cityandstateny.com/two-powerful-weapons-in-de-blasios-arsenal-to-take-on-albany/#.UsVrBOePLdI.email

Written by Jerry Goldfeder on January 1, 2014.

---

Four years from now, when Mayor Bill de Blasio presumably seeks a second term, a central issue will be whether he has achieved his goals. In that much of New York City’s life is regulated by Albany, we can expect the mayor to spend time lobbying the Legislature and governor, who will undoubtedly test the mayor’s considerable powers of persuasion.

Indeed, frustration with the city’s limited home rule authority led a mayoral campaign forty-five years ago to urge secession. That effort in 1969—“Mailer, Breslin and the 51st State”—though dismissed as merely imaginative, had a persuasive rationale.  After all, each of the state’s sixty-two cites must routinely request permission from Albany to enact many laws affecting its residents.

A handbill for the 1969 “51st State” campaign (via Wikipedia).

This governmental arrangement no longer works. New York City has approximately 50 percent of the state’s population, and it is no exaggeration to say that the city drives much of the national economy. Yet even an emboldened new mayor with a mandate for reform is hampered by the city’s second-class legal status.

If it turns out that Albany is less responsive than desired, Mayor de Blasio has two alternatives. On the very day he is up for reelection in November 2017, voters throughout the state will decide whether there should be a state constitutional convention to overhaul our fundamental laws. A vote on whether to hold a constitutional convention is mandated every twenty years. The new mayor should consider supporting the effort.

A revised constitution could upend the city’s subordinate relationship to Albany, ensuring greater self-governance. On the other hand, a convention could threaten hard-won rights and obligations embedded in the constitution. For that reason, in 1997 a broad coalition of good government groups, unions and business groups opposed it. With the mayor’s support, however, constitutional reform could be guided by a careful hand and take on a progressive hue.

Mayor de Blasio has a second option as well, which has more immediate benefits, and is perhaps politically more palatable. He can appoint a Charter Revision Commission, whose principal mission would be to expand the city’s ability to govern itself. Indeed, over the last twenty-five years, without waiting for Albany, the city relied on Charter revision to reform basic voting laws: fundamental campaign finance reform, liberalized ballot access for candidates and nonpartisan elections for city council vacancies, all in contrast to more restrictive state laws.

The city’s creative use of Charter revision in the area of election reform is useful precedent for the new mayor to implement his agenda without undue reliance upon upstate interests: greater autonomy for economic growth, progressive taxation, affordable housing, and the like. Additional reforms in voting rights can be effected as well, such as early voting, same-day registration, and a robust election enforcement agency. Charter revision is a powerful tool the mayor should embrace.

If the mayor can persuade Albany to adopt his legislative program, fine. If not, he has at least two other options that may enable him to accomplish his goals.

Jerry Goldfeder, special counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, teaches election law at Fordham Law School and University of Pennsylvania Law School. He served as special counsel on public integrity to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

Katie Lapham's Speech at John King's Common Core Brooklyn Forum

Katie was first on line ahead of the Student First/E4E astroturf crew that dominated the meeting after her, praising the CCSS to the sky. You know I find it funny. From the day I began to teach in 1967 the NY State standards seemed fine. In fact, the problem we had in high poverty area schools was getting anywhere near these standards. NY State had some of the highest standards in the world pre-CCSS. With the logic that raising standards will make for better results why not just make differential calculus the standard in pre-k?

Katie sent this to the MORE CCSS Committee:

Here's a copy of my speech given at John King's Common Core forum in Brooklyn. http://criticalclassrooms.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/testifying-at-john-kings-common-core-forum-in-brooklyn-121013/

It includes links to the sources I used. My goal  - in 2 minutes - was to call into question the legitimacy of the Common Core and to argue that the CCSS aren't the solution to closing the achievement gap. 

Here is the Gotham Schools report of the meeting where people carried signs saying, "Low Expectations." Did they ever take a look at the pre-CCSS NY State standards?

Afterburn
Why can't I walk away from activism in a group like MORE even a dozen years after retirement? Finding smart people like Katie Lapham getting involved and in fact joining the MORE steering committee after a relatively short time with MORE.

I find that anti-Unity people want a group like MORE to do anything it takes to overthrow Unity. Not. We would not want the "new boss, same as the old boss" syndrome. So trying to set up democratic structures from the very beginning is essential. That is fairly easy in a smallish group. If MORE takes off and gathers a gaggle of members with diverging points of view, staying on that track gets tougher. I'm often a glass half full kind of guy so until I see that happen I am not worrying about it.

First PUBLIC SCHEDULE FOR CHANCELLOR CARMEN FARIÑA

A new day dawns - for better or for worse.

	MEDIA ADVISORY For Planning Purposes Only January 1, 2013
	PUBLIC SCHEDULE FOR CHANCELLOR CARMEN FARIÑA Thursday, January 2, 2014 8:00 A.M. Arrives at Department of Education Headquarters  Tweed Courthouse 52 Chambers Street MANHATTAN *Photo opportunity only* 1:30 P.M. Visits M.S. 223 The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology M.S. 223 The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology 360 East 145 Street BRONX ### Contact:  Chancellor’s Press Office (212) 374-5141

 

MORE Zooms in on CCSS - and the Union Connection Plus Mercedes Schneider 10 Myths

I find it remarkable the degree to which AFT and Randi Weingarten will go in order to protect and promote CCSS. One of the more telling pieces is a post Weingarten wrote for Huffington Post entitled, Will States Fail the Common Core?– As though CCSS is a personality, complete with feelings that will be hurt by states’ betrayal. ... Mercedes Schneider

it has been the teacher unions -- from the Shanker years on -- that have initiated and pushed for standards and a common curriculum around the nation before the business corporations took it up. This was an issue that forged a relationship between Shanker/AFT/UFT and the Business Roundtable in the 80s. Shanker was the lead, not the follow... Ed Notes

At the MORE retreat Monday we decided to move ahead with a committee we formed to address the common core issue in depth. (This committee is open by the way to anyone out there who is interested in working with us.) Taking the lead on the committee is Katie Lapham who blogs at Critical Classrooms, Critical Kids. Katie is joining  9 others and me on the 2nd edition of the MORE steering committee - which has a 6 month term in office, unlike the UFT/Unity Caucus which has a 60 year term in office - and counting.

We are gathering resources to explore the issue. This will cover some wide ground but my focus, as it often is, deals with the UFT/AFT involvement. The other day I had a discussion with a MOREista who viewed the union support as "jumping on the coat tails" of a corporate inspired movement designed to make profits and sort children as prep for the future job market -- mostly low-paying jobs. Or that the unions were doing it for the Gates money.

I disagreed and put forth the idea that it has been the teacher unions -- from the Shanker years on -- that have initiated and pushed for standards and a common curriculum around the nation before the business corporations took it up. This was an issue that forged a relationship between Shanker/AFT/UFT and the Business Roundtable in the 80s. Shanker was the lead, not the follow.

The UFT/AFT leadership has been ideologically committed to common core concepts for 40 years and those who think all you need is to logically explain to the leaders why they might be wrong are getting lost in the woods. The internal battle we face is over the leadership ideology, which also appeals naturally to many teachers -- often until they come smack up against the reality. (I will go back to the Kahlenberg Shanker bio for a follow-up providing specific examples).

But the leadership deals with it this way: "CCSS good, Rollout/implementation bad."

What needs to happen is take this on head on. Mercedes Schneider's impressive piece of work AFT’s 10 Myths: Unyielding Devotion to the Common Core.

Mercedes ends with this news:
Note: Randi Weingarten and I are to be members of the CCSS panel scheduled for Sunday, March 2, 2014, as part of the Network for Public Education conference in Austin, Texas, (March 1 and 2).
Anthony Cody will also be part of the CCSS panel, as will Paul Horton and Ethan Young.
Come hear us.

Darn - I can't go and would have loved to see Mercedes and Randi go at it.

I am reproducing her piece in full below -- here is the link.
http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/afts-10-myths-unyielding-devotion-to-the-common-core/

AFT’s 10 Myths: Unyielding Devotion to the Common Core

Video - Union leadership connections: To the Words of "Backstabbers"

Let's get the New Year off to a rousing start. his has been floating around since May - but I don't think I shared it yet.
The video was produced by a parent activist opposed to high stakes testing named Sara Wottawa who had a piece published on Diane Ravitch's blog.

Published on May 19, 2013

This Video has been made to bring awareness to teachers that their union has sold them out.

Many parents including myself are very upset by the way our teachers are being demoralized and scrutinized. This video is calling out the presidents of the teachers union. Union presidents we urge you to start supporting your teachers again and stop making deals and accepting funds from corporations who ave intent to destroy public education.

Once again this video is not attacking teachers its attacking their union presidents who are failing to support and speak up for their members!

http://youtu.be/FwA04N2HsPw

As a follow-up, read this from Lois Weiner:

Duking it out with Weingarten on Common Core

Lois Weiner

December 25, 2013

            One of the most confusing aspects of the last decade’s education reforms is that a reform that will do great harm often contains an element that’s useful, even progressive.  The reforms are crafted to seduce liberals with this combination of a carrot and grand rhetoric about the intention of increasing educational opportunity.  Testing was sold to liberals as a way to hold schools accountable.  Now a national curriculum, the Common Core, is being peddled as essential to give all students the rigorous education (they love that word “rigorous”) they need to compete in a global economy in the 21^st century.
            We should have learned by now that we can't be seduced by the carrots or the rhetoric.  Yet, here goes Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, doing exactly that.  Weingarten is being battered on social media for allying with the Business Roundtable to urge acceptance of the Common Core, which is opposed by activist teachers and parents on the Left as well as by elements of the far-right, in particular the Heritage Foundation.
            The Washington Post article practically chortled about Weingarten's jump into bed with the union's foes: “The head of the country’s second-largest teachers union and a business leader who tried to weaken unions as a onetime governor of Michigan have made a joint plea to the nation’s governors to stand by the controversial Common Core academic standards.” 
            Weingarten has endorsed the Common Core in her capacity as union president, speaking on behalf  ofAFT members without this issue having been given the vigorous debate and vote it needs. She has no right to do that and should be called on it.  In allying the union with the forces who aim to destroy public education and teachers unions, she is strengthening them and weakening us.  She is betraying the union’s democratic ideals - and no, the poll the AFT has commissioned cannot substitute for debate and votes, at the local level. Support for the Common Core is disorienting activists, teachers and parents alike, many of whom who are still not totally convinced the union is a trustworthy ally.
            At the same time, we need to acknowledge that union honchos/honchas can get away with this kind of behavior because members allow it.  We have to acknowledge that many union members, though angry, are frightened and passive. They’re waiting for “the union” to protect them. If every member of the AFT Executive Council told Weingarten they would resign unless she pulled back on the Common Core and repudiated linking teacher evaluations to students’ standardized test scores, she would retract her positions.  But AFT Executive Committee members, who are presidents of key locals, don’t do that.  They too are frightened and are used to being told what’s possible for the union to do.
            The AFT and NEA will be as democratic and militant in defense of public education, the profession of teaching, and our students as we make it.  By all means,  duel with Weingarten on twitter for her perfidy. But don’t let this replace organizing in the schools, talking with colleagues about what we can do, together, to make our unions live up to their responsibility.

Message to Farina and de Blasio: Undo the Damage

"The schools of Baghdad and Kabul will recover sooner than the NYC school system under your management." ... Norm Scott to Joel Klein --- quoting my self from a c.2004-6 PEP meeting.

Eterno and Epstein: Revoke Jamaica High School's Death Sentence... NEW YEAR APPEAL TO INCOMING MAYOR AND CHANCELLOR: SAVE THE COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOLS, ICE Blog.

I love to quote myself. Carmen Farina was sitting next to Klein, I believe, when I made that statement at a PEP meeting sometime between 2004 I think. Not long after Farina was quoted chastising someone who referred to me -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- "you're talking about someone who compared us to the Taliban."

That's not what I meant at the time, but if you really think about it, weren't BloomKlein educational terrorists with an avowed aim to destroy what existed? Well, they did allow girls to go to school.

With de Blasio and Farina now in charge, they have a hell of a lot of work to do undoing the damage. The true test of the deB/Farina administration will be how they treat schools ravaged by the Bloomberg policies.

As I've pointed out numerous times (Farina With Support of Real Reformers Has Chance to End 12 Years of Toxicity), Farina over the past few years has made a stand of sorts by supporting the PS 15 community in Red Hook after they survived the invasion of the body-snatching PAVE charter school. I only wish deB could take back that $25 million Bloomberg gave to PAVE for their own building in Red Hook where another school was not needed.

I know a lot of other bloggers are talking about the testing and evaluation and even salary issues but to me the key is what they do with these horror story, power hungry principals out of control. They could start with Linda Hill at IS 49SI -- everyone knows she's not capable of running a school like that, but they turn the other way and persecute Portelos instead for challenging her.

Another issue is the phased out schools still alive - barely. Jamaica HS is one such and below James Eterno (who is still there) and Marc Eptstein, a former faculty member, make a case for keeping the school alive.

Diane Ravitch posted it on her blog with this intro:

Marc Epstein taught at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York City, for many years. The school is under a death sentence, which means the end of many programs that served children with different needs. Here he makes a plea to Mayor de Blasio to save some of the doomed schools.

A De Blasio Clemency?

And James Eterno sent out this appeal.

Hi Everyone-

My colleague Marc Epstein has written an excellent plea for clemency for Jamaica High School and other closing schools.  You can read it at Diane Ravitch's blog.

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/12/30/will-mayor-de-blasio-grant-clemency-to-doomed-schools/

I have copied it at the ICEUFT blog.

http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-year-hope-for-new-mayor-and.html

Now we need your help to make the public aware of this issue. 

Please spread the word and click on comments on either blog to add your voice.

Happy New Year!

James Eterno

Newark: Cami Anderson Uses Network Model to Kill Neighborhood Schools

UPDATED: If Carmen Farina wants to make a quick mark she should begin dismantling the Networks - ASAP. They are a mechanism purposely designed to destabilize the links between a school and the neighborhood. As our pal from Newark points out here, they are a national tool of ed deform to make it easier to soften up neighborhoods for charter school invasions.

Reports from a Newark teacher:

Cami Anderson has implemented a One Newark policy whereby students will be able to register across the district regardless of where in Newark they live. 
 http://onewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/One-Newark-Long-Term-Ward-Plan-FAQ.pdf
Teachers and parents in the Ironbound are particularly concerned because their schools are "overcapacity.
--------
Social interaction nowadays is relegated to Responsive Classroom and Turn and Talk. All contacts are highly structured.
---------
While Cami Anderson ostensibly uses Responsive Classroom to build school communities, she has implemented a system of networks to replace the former regional subdivisions of the school system that largely conformed to the political wards of the city. The network system, however, separates schools according to proficiency levels on standardized tests. For example, low performing "renew" schools are currently grouped together in one network. Since Newark is a city of neighborhoods divided by race, class and ethnicity, parents are more likely to organize along those lines rather than the academic levels of their children.

For the 2014-2015 school year, Anderson has proposed a plan entitled One Newark to further erode Newark communities by increasing the number of charter schools and transporting children around the city to attend various schools. City Councilman Ras Baraka, on leave from his position as principal of Central High School to run for mayor, is the lone strong voice in Newark seeking to halt the expansion of charter schools. 

To date, the Newark Teachers Union has mounted a weak response to Anderson's attempt to destroy the Newark Public Schools. Should Anderson succeed, the few remaining Newark Public Schools will serve children requiring Special Education services, English as a Second Language instruction and those who have been "counseled out" of charters.

 http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2013/12/reforming_newarks_schools_edit.html

----

This is so much shit it is not funny. They make veteran teachers' lives a living hell. They transfer us, give us lousy evaluations and refuse to listen to a word we say. The administrators in my two most recent schools all parrot the same crap about Common Core. It is like talking to the wall. The newbies live in fear.

Summer School for Teachers Report from an Undisclosed Urban Location

Dropped from a drone, found on a Rockaway beach. I won't say which city but it is not NYC.

I had the privilege of attending ten days of training in a Summer Institute. The primary advantage of attending the institute is I lost the last two weeks of my treasured summer vacation.

My district has adopted Responsive Classroom, which I have nicknamed snapping and clapping. When the teacher is pleased with a student response, a ten finger whoo may be given. Please practice now with me. Hold out your arms in the air, wiggle your fingers and shout, “Whoo.” 

Another highlight of Responsive Classroom is clarifying procedures. Find a partner. Script the rules you will give to your students for walking in a line. Share the rules with your partner, get feedback and revise the rules. Then switch partners. Yes, you have to write down exactly what you plan to say to your students.

My favorite part of Responsive Classroom is the opportunity to line up pretending to be students and march around the school. I was honored to play the teacher role. The secret to maintaining an orderly line is to stand toward the middle of the line.

Did I learn anything academic? I participated in two sessions of training on Core Knowledge the new language arts literacy program in the district and one session of Math in Focus training. All I can tell you is both programs are scripted. The teacher stands in front of the classroom and reads from the teacher manual. In kindergarten sounds are to be taught not letters. For example, this is the mmm sound and this is the symbol for the mmm sound. The name of the letter is not mentioned. Somewhere along the line after teaching 270 sounds, letters are introduced. Math in Focus involved solving very difficult third and fifth grade word problems.

All of my questions were answered with, either “I will get back to you,” or “Send me an e-mail.” I have a binder full of notes I cannot decipher and handouts I do not plan to read. Should you require any more information about Summer Institute, please ask someone else. I have no clue.

Farina With Support of Real Reformers Has Chance to End 12 Years of Toxicity

The appointment of Carmen is the best news that has come out in education in 2013. I am eternal optimist and believe that maybe, just maybe things will turn around. After going to some training that Carmen gave way back when, I completely changed the way I taught. Those were the best years of my very long career.... Loretta Prisco, ICE

May amateur hour be finally and mercifully over.... Raging Horse

I'm not one to cheer any chancellor, though in a funny way the only one I liked was Cortines - he truck me as someone who really taught and had a sense of what went on in the classroom - though his later years in Los Angelos disappointed me.

There is no educator I respect more than Loretta so I have to take what she says very seriously. Right next to Loretta  is Julie Cavanagh who has known Carmen since she began teaching and has worked with Carmen on the PS 15 project over the past few years. Until a few weeks ago I had no idea of Julie's relationship with Carmen and that Carmen has been supporting the school after the ravages of the battle with over the invasion of PAVE charter school. Apparently here was first-hand evidence of the dangers of co-location and a good sign that Carmen has been there to help the school recover.

There is joy over in the Mark Naison/Liz Philips household. Liz runs one of the most progressive schools in the city and began her career as a student teacher in Carmen's 4th grade classroom.

As an elementary school teacher myself, mostly in grades 4 and 6, I have always felt we had a certain broad sense of school and community that the more subject intensive high school teachers, whose schools are not rooted in a community, don't get. (Cortines was also an elementary school teacher).

I know many teachers were extremely turned off by the early forced feeding through Diana Lam of the Teachers College methods. I and others in ICE were philosophically in favor of child-centered classrooms - Lisa North is a TC grad - but against the insane way it was pushed.

Farina has a lot on her plate and no one expects miracles. If teachers think this means loads of money coming their way they should think again. I'm sorry I can't make the first meeting of the reconstituted PEP -- which we expect will change it's name from that Bloomberg brand.

Right up front will be the issue of the forced co-locations passed at the October meetings, including a bunch of Eva Moskowitz schools.

Leonie is part of a law suit on that issue as reported on her blog. City Council members and Letitia James are part of the suit.

Press Release: New York City Parents and Elected Officials File Suit Seeking Injunction To Stop Bloomberg's 42 Recently Approved School Co-locations

Will the new BOE fight that law suit?

Why is there a sense of relief - cautious on my part - in the real reform camp?

Here's the take-away from Raging Horse

It is, I think, impossible for someone who has not taught in the NYC public school system in the past decade or so, to grasp how deeply and insidiously Bloomberg (with help from his fellow “reformers” up to and including Obama ) has degraded the lives of students and cheapened, almost beyond recognition, the noble and ancient vocation of teaching and the very idea of education itself. 

The mere fact that she is an educator — not a former federal prosecutor (Joel Klein ) or a magazine publisher (Cathy Black) or a political appointee ( Dennis Walcott) — is, as absurd as it sounds, a major move in the right direction.  

Afterburn:
Raging Horse, a chapter leader, saw first hand the ravages of an out of control empowered principal who literally took away the livelihoods of a gaggle of people and had raging horse on the ropes until he was saved by the new principal. Will that attitude of "support any principal no matter how awful" be ended under Farina? I am not sure that will happen. What she has to do is recognize that under WalBloomKlein a whole bunch of monster and incompetent administrators were created and they must be curbed or wars will continue to break out.

Weed these people out as soon as possible because there can be no progress in the school system as long as they are allowed to run schools. End the Discontinue that kills a teacher's career immediately. Revamp DOE Legal and OSI.

I will not be cheering for Carmen Farina until I see some changes in these policies. She ought to walk across the street one day in January and observe the Portelos hearing -- maybe have a laugh or two. We'll even take her to lunch at our favorite pizza place.

Farina the Choice

Bloomfield also predicted that Farina and her staff would implement a longer-term cultural change at Tweed. “There will be a new system-wide respect for educational experience,” he said, “there are a lot of people fresh out of college who either as a matter of data expertise or particular program expertise tell principals what’s needed. There will probably be an early but not immediate conversation from a technocratic staff to a deeper educational staff. People who have taught, and really taught.”
 
Friends and colleagues of Farina and de Blasio say they share a single educational philosophy, with a focus on progressive education, a skepticism of standardized testing and charter schools, and a focus on racially and economically integrated public schools.

Update from Capitol NY

Carmen Farina to be named D.O.E chancellor

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services

By Eliza Shapiro 11:45 p.m. Dec. 29, 2013 follow this reporter

Carmen Farina, a Department of Education veteran and a longtime informal advisor to Bill de Blasio, will be named chancellor Monday after months of speculation about who would manage the city’s school system.
De Blasio will name Farina head of the nation's largest public school system at M.S. 51, the Park Slope middle school his children attended.


Friends and colleagues of Farina and de Blasio say they share a single educational philosophy, with a focus on progressive education, a skepticism of standardized testing and charter schools, and a focus on racially and economically integrated public schools.
Farina, who is 71 and retired from the D.O.E in 2006, will have her work cut for her.
Experts say she'll face the immediate challenge of overseeing the negotiation of a contract with the United Federation of Teachers, whose members have been without a contract since 2009. She and de Blasio will have to decide who to appoint to the Panel for Educational Policy.
Then there are the longer term questions: How the de Blasio administration will treat the city's growing charter school movement; how to raise graduation rates; the fate of increased standardized testing in the city's schools; and how to continue to implement the Common Core after waves of criticism over the new standards along with the new teacher evaluation system.
Former D.O.E. officials and city education experts say Farina will have to balance a delicate set of priorities in her first hundred days as schools chief.
Eric Nadelstern, a former deputy chancellor under Joel Klein credited with helping to implement some of the Bloomberg administration’s biggest educational reforms, says the first months of Farina’s tenure should be marked by a clear commitment to raising the graduation rate, which is still below 70 percent.
“I don’t think the chancellor should come and nitpick their way through the system, saying ‘I like this’ or ‘I don’t like that,’” said Nadelstern.
“I think the first 100 days needs to be about putting together the most talented team they can possibly find and then working with that team to develop a long range plan on how to to go from a 66 percent graduation rate to a 100 percent rate in five years,” he said.
Critics of the DOE's controversial new teacher evaluation system will also lobby for changes and updates to the system, which some advocates say relies too heavily on the results of standardized tests.
Adjusting the teacher evaluations would require altering the consequences of new, Common Core-aligned exams and negotiating with the state education department about changes to the system.
“Clearly the teacher evaluation system will be on the table immediately,” said David Bloomfield, a professor of educational leadership at CUNY, “that would be my day one activity if it hasn’t started already.”
Bloomfield added that he expects the de Blasio administration to make an announcement on the D.O.E.’s current grading system for schools — which de Blasio has vowed to do away with — shortly after the mayor-elect takes office. “Getting rid of the grades is wholly within de Blasio’s power,” Bloomfield said.
Pedro Noguera, a professor of education at NYU, said the network system that replaced the traditional district model of school organization could be reconsidered early in Farina’s tenure. “Given that there’s some evidence that these networks haven’t worked better in a lot of cases, they might consider going back to the district model, they might consider a hybrid with some district level support and leave the networks that are working well alone,” he said.
Noguera also said Farina will need to double down on the continued Common Core rollout. “The department will need to figure out how to make sure they don’t take as big a hit this year as they did last year.”
De Blasio is in luck on that matter: Farina is well-known for her focus on professional development, which both advocates for and critics of the Common Core agree is needed to improve outcomes on the Common Core-aligned curricula and exams.
Bloomfield also predicted that Farina and her staff would implement a longer-term cultural change at Tweed. “There will be a new system-wide respect for educational experience,” he said, “there are a lot of people fresh out of college who either as a matter of data expertise or particular program expertise tell principals what’s needed. There will probably be an early but not immediate conversation from a technocratic staff to a deeper educational staff. People who have taught, and really taught.”
And then there are the immediate logistical issues. Farina will have to consult with de Blasio about whether they will want to reverse some of the most controversial charter school openings and co-locations pushed through by Bloomberg’s P.E.P during the administration’s final months. Public Advocate-elect Letitia James has said she'll push for the reversal of some of the proposals.
Getting students to school after winter break may also prove to be a serious headache after one of the city’s largest busing companies, Atlantic Express, filed for bankruptcy in November, leaving 20 percent of the city's bus routes unaccounted for.
Farina and de Blasio have known each other for years, and worked closely together when Farina was superintendent of District 15 in Park Slope and de Blasio, whose children attended P.S 372 in Park Slope, sat on the D15 school board.
Dorothy Siegel, a fellow member of the D15 school board and a longtime friend of Farina’s, called de Blasio “a pupil” of Farina.
Farina’s extensive history as an educator provides major clues both how she’ll lead as chancellor and what her top priorities might be.
Her former colleagues say she has been on the forefront for a battle for racial, socioeconomic and academic inclusion in the city’s public schools.
While she was the principal at P.S. 6 on the Upper East Side, long considered one of the city’s best public elementary schools, Farina disbanded the school’s gifted and talented program and made the school entirely general education.
One of District 15’s most popular schools, the Children’s School, where de Blasio sent his two children, is the city’s only all-inclusion elementary school with a mix of special needs and general education students in every class.
Farina took a stand against what she perceived as an over-reliance on standardized testing at P.S 6. In a teaching and learning guidebook for instructors, Farina wrote, “My dilemma upon assuming the principalship was that the students scored high on the standardized tests while little student-centered learning was going on. Veteran teachers, for the most part, ran traditional classrooms. How could I effect change in an environment where many parents and teachers were content with the status quo?” One answer was a significant staff turnover: she replaced 80 percent of the staff in eight years.
While Farina recently avoided criticizing charters, she actively fought against one of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academies moving into her neighborhood in 2011. After Farina retired from the D.O.E. as a deputy chancellor under Joel Klein, she teamed up with a local assemblywoman to counter Moskowitz’s plan to open a Success Academy in Cobble Hill, where Farina worked and currently lives, with a proposal to open a pre-K center. Success eventually won the battle for the space.
As a teacher and administrator, Farina was known for her focus on creating literary-focused curricula, teaching students about Civil War history by having them read historical novels from the time period, or visiting the Brooklyn Museum to look at Civil War-era art. She often held workshops for other teachers on how to construct their own curricula, according Siegel.
Farina’s name has been floated for the position for months, as she seemed the most obvious choice in a pack of contenders who were either uninterested in the job or would have been politically risky choices for de Blasio, who ran and won his campaign partially on the promise of a new educational agenda for the city with less emphasis on testing and a moratorium on charter school co-locations.

---

December 29, 2013

De Blasio Is Said to Choose Schools Chancellor

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will appoint Carmen Fariña, a former top official of the New York City Education Department, as the next schools chancellor, a person with knowledge of the decision said on Sunday.

Ms. Fariña, 70, is a veteran of the school system, having served as a teacher, principal and district superintendent, and retired as a deputy chancellor in 2006. She met Mr. de Blasio in the late 1990s while he was serving as a school district board member in Brooklyn and emerged as an influential adviser on education during his bid for mayor. Ms. Fariña shares Mr. de Blasio’s skepticism of standardized testing and his focus on early education.

Aides to Mr. de Blasio did not respond immediately to a request for comment late Sunday. Reached at her home on Sunday night, Ms. Fariña declined to comment.

Who's to Blame? Round up on Lawrence Scott and Natalya Sokolson Gordon

Let's see now. An investigator for OSI so abuses his position by trying to extort sexual favors from a teacher under the threat of a losing her job and the most that happens to him is that he is forced to resign? Shouldn't he be doing a perp walk?

I posted the story this morning - NY Post Points to Corruption in OSI, DOE Investigations Unit? and others have too.

Chaz reminded me that he did an expose of SCI corrupt investigative practices in October, 2008

The SCI Investigation Of Teachers Is Almost Always One-Sided And Biased. Especially When The Principal Pushes It!

Portelos reminds us that the same investigator also threatened him and has the tape to prove it.

Protect Portelos: A DOE Investigator Did What? – Part 1 -Threat

I was thinking this morning that on the surface this looks like a slam dunk for the teacher but the reality of the DOE legal slime is that they feel it perfectly OK for Scott to do what he did while they look for an excuse to blame the teacher.

And South Bronx (NYC DOE Investigator Lawrence Scott Texts Privates to Teacher He Is Investigating for Corporal Punishment) points to Betsy Combier's  quote in the Post article, "they are still making the victim a culprit" because Ms Gordon did not "report him and that she texted back."

He raises some questions:

Why Investigator Scott is not facing criminal charges is beyond the pale. But three other things concern us here at SBSB.

One, are there any other victims of Investigator Scott's perverse proclivities. Second, has he made such "moves" in the past and was rebuffed, and if so, how did this play in his investigations. And lastly, what other improprieties have occurred OSI over the years?

In the meantime, the Portelos case will go on throughout January when we will go over the 20 day mark for his 3020a hearings (hearing officer alone: $1400 a day, Portelos salary, witnesses who need to be cover and between 2 and 4 DOE legals at the hearing. You could run an entire school for months on the cost of the Portelos hearing alone.

Patrick Sullivan resigns from NYC Board of Education (formerly the PEP)

This is a sad day for the children, teachers and parents of the city. I've watched Patrick Sullivan often be the lone voice of sanity in the midst of the sickness of ed deform.

We hope that one of Bill de Blasio's first steps is to appoint Patrick back to the newly constituted Board of Education (which we no longer expect to be called the PEP since by law -- which Bloomberg violated for 12 years -- it is supposed to still be the BOE).

How nice would it be for Patrick to bring his considerable skills to the table with a working majority instead of the Bloomberg era PEP puppets.

Of course, newly elected borough president Gale Brewer could also reappoint Patrick as Manhattan borough rep -- we will be watching her - and all the new borough presidents - to see what level of ed deformer or real reformer they appoint.

The announcement is at NYCParents blog.

I heard that Patrick would accept another appointment. Who else would be great for the new BOE? Leonie, of course if she wanted it. But my guess is that de Blasio will go middle of the road - which may be a problem, given that there will be 5 borough people (from Bklyn Eric Adams - who often backs charters, Queens Melissa Katz who is hooked up to Curtis Sliva, Brewer who I know nothing about and the new guy in Staten Island who might put a better person on than in the past.

The 8 mayoral appointees for a change need to be from the progressive wing. Some Patrick/Leonie like people to create some balance.

Skynet is Coming: On the movie "Her", artificial intelligence, neural networks and The Terminator

In coming years, the approach will make possible a new generation of artificial intelligence systems that will perform some functions that humans do with ease: see, speak, listen, navigate, manipulate and control.  NY Times

The scary thing is that I actually understood today's NY Times front-page story "Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience." In the late 80s I really did study this stuff in the MA and PhD computer science programs at CUNY/Brooklyn College -- I did get my MA and also a Phd - ABTandMC -- all but thesis and most courses -- actually 2 courses were all I took towards the Phd.

The new computing approach, already in use by some large technology companies, is based on the biological nervous system, specifically on how neurons react to stimuli and connect with other neurons to interpret information. It allows computers to absorb new information while carrying out a task, and adjust what they do based on the changing signals.

The "new" method of computing is based on a brain-based design called "neural networks" and if I hadn't lost my 2-volume texts on the subject last year during the Sandy hurricane I would be pawing my way through them right now. You see, somewhere around 1988-9 I actually took a course on neural networks at Brooklyn College.

Interestingly it was in the Psych dept and given by a psych teacher, not the computer science department, which at the time looked down on this "advanced" stuff. In fact one of my other AI courses was taught by a physics teacher -- and both these guys were shunned by the CIS Department "scholars" who felt the program should be business-oriented. But I digress.

I think we had to write a program programming the reactions of one neuron to stimulus and how it would use feedback to adjust itself to changing light conditions.

I believed even 25 years ago that a computer could be built to mimic the human brain and when that happened we were finished. Hal would look like a chump when that happens.

 I.B.M. announced last year that it had built a supercomputer simulation of the brain that encompassed roughly 10 billion neurons — more than 10 percent of a human brain. It ran about 1,500 times more slowly than an actual brain. Further, it required several megawatts of power, compared with just 20 watts of power used by the biological brain. Running the program, known as Compass, which attempts to simulate a brain, at the speed of a human brain would require a flow of electricity in a conventional computer that is equivalent to what is needed to power both San Francisco and New York, Dr. Modha said.

Oh, oh. We are at 10% and once they figure out how to reduce the power consumptions, Skynet here we come.

Thus my fascination with The Terminator movies where smart individual computers networked to form Skynet and then programmed itself to wipe out all traces of humans. Think of the equivalent of the leading ed deform robots who want to wipe out all traces of real educators.

Then we saw "Her" the other day where a smart-phone operating system morphs into a romantic partner and then (spoiler alert) joins up with others to form a network -- what is billed in some reviews as a benign version of Skynet.

The point is that this will not be one computer but the networking of millions of computers that will team up to doom us. Already I can't drive 5 blocks without my GPS (and me a formerly great map reader/navigator).



I took as many courses in artificial intelligence (1984-89) as I could because I didn't trust my real intelligence. I was interested in artificial vision -- I wanted to see make sure the future Geordi on Star Trek could see without those goofy goggles. In fact my last course was in pattern
recognition which relates to artificial vision and the prof even offered me a chance to work with him - probably getting coffee - but the math threw me -- our eyes work on a system of differential equations -- or something like that.

I also took a course in natural language processing where you program a computer to engage in a conversation -- I did Dear Blabby, a gossiping Jewish mother. And a course in Expert Systems which run stuff like environmental catastrophes and how to detect where a chemical leak might be coming from. (Thank goodness for my very smart fellow teacher/computer geeks Ira Goldfine and the late Jim Scoma for holding my hand through all this).

“We’re moving from engineering computing systems to something that has many of the characteristics of biological computing,” said Larry Smarr, an astrophysicist.  Designers say the computing style can clear the way for robots that can safely walk and drive in the physical world, though a thinking or conscious computer, a staple of science fiction, is still far off on the digital horizon.

Far off? Really? How long before an Arnold-like robot lands naked in your backyard?

===
For Geeks only
Neural networks only make sense when computers are built using different concepts from the von Neumann machines upon which almost all current computers are based. I remember arguing this point with people when I attended 2 American Association of Artificial Intelligence conventions (89 in Seattle and 90 in Minneappolis). I was one of the few who thought it possible to build machines with billions of processors at a time when most computers had only one - mostly they still do in some sense -- some pushed the idea of parallel processing with a bunch of processors but that was strange stuff -- the neural net idea was the only one that made sense. So read this part of the article to get a sense of where we are 25 years later -- and I figure that another 25 might just do it --- hmmm if I can only get to 95.

Until now, the design of computers was dictated by ideas originated by the mathematician John von Neumann about 65 years ago. Microprocessors perform operations at lightning speed, following instructions programmed using long strings of 1s and 0s. They generally store that information separately in what is known, colloquially, as memory, either in the processor itself, in adjacent storage chips or in higher capacity magnetic disk drives. The data — for instance, temperatures for a climate model or letters for word processing — are shuttled in and out of the processor’s short-term memory while the computer carries out the programmed action. The result is then moved to its main memory. The new processors consist of electronic components that can be connected by wires that mimic biological synapses. Because they are based on large groups of neuron-like elements, they are known as neuromorphic processors, a term credited to the California Institute of Technology physicist Carver Mead, who pioneered the concept in the late 1980s. They are not “programmed.” Rather the connections between the circuits are “weighted” according to correlations in data that the processor has already “learned.” Those weights are then altered as data flows in to the chip, causing them to change their values and to “spike.” That generates a signal that travels to other components and, in reaction, changes the neural network, in essence programming the next actions much the same way that information alters human thoughts and actions. “Instead of bringing data to computation as we do today, we can now bring computation to data,” said Dharmendra Modha, an I.B.M. computer scientist who leads the company’s cognitive computing research effort. “Sensors become the computer, and it opens up a new way to use computer chips that can be everywhere.”

Read the entire article here

NY Post Points to Corruption in OSI, DOE Investigations Unit?

In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook. “I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.” The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years... NY Post

UPDATE FROM PORTELOS:

Lawrence Scott...the lead investigator investigating my principal. I have him recused threatening me. He dragged investigation of Linda Hill out over 700 days and resigned.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ihvv4713yjoo9f/Lawrence%20Scott%20OSI%20-If%20you%20record%20Not%20going%20to%20be%20a%20nice%20guy.mp3

Back in 2007 Jeff Kaufman and James Eterno, just as their terms on the UFT Exec Bd were coming to an end, tried to get the UFT to hire paralegals to do their own investigations instead of leaving to the "gotcha" squad at the DOE. Unity Caucus naturally voted it down -- let's let teachers charged hang in the wind.

I believe the investigator in this scandal reported by Sue Edelman at the NY Post was also on the Portelos case, though I do not think he asked for sex in exchange for "getting Portelos off." Betsy Combier who is quoted (see her report on scuzzball Queens Principal Anthony Lombardi is Accused of Sexual Harassment at PS 49), told us this story was coming a few weeks ago. Did you know that the DOE had another corrupt investigator, the now famous Louis Scarcella (See yesterday's NY Times': Louis Scarcella's Ex-Partner Is Coming Under Scrutiny in Brooklyn Cases), working for them?

The den of thieves at DOE Legal have a good partner.

Teacher: Prober said sex would get me off hook

By Susan Edelman

December 29, 2013 | 1:17am

Modal Trigger

 

IT'S QUID PRO WHOA! Teacher Natalya Sokolson Gordon  alleges that a DOE investigator demanded sex in exchange for dropping complaints against her. Left: One of the racy come-ons sent by the investigator. 

A Department of Education detective tried to have sex with a Brooklyn teacher he was probing in exchange for letting her keep her job, she charges.

Investigator Lawrence Scott, 40, allegedly sent scores of X-rated texts, a photo of his penis and explicit demands for sex to Natalya Sokolson Gordon, a computer and fifth-grade teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island.

“I like it dirty,” Scott text­ed the tall brunette soon after inviting her to call him when she got “the courage.”

Over 2¹/₂ months, he sent Gordon a barrage of pornographic messages and requests.

Gordon, 44, admits she sexted back — even sending him topless and bottomless photos of herself, which he requested. She claims it was a desperate bid to save her career from what she called false accusations.

“I feel so stupid for believing he would help me,” she told The Post, tears streaming down her face. “I was scared I was going to lose my job. I felt I had no choice. He had my life in his hands.”

Modal Trigger

TEXXXTS: The schools investigator sent lurid come-ons like this one.

In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook.

“I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.”

The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years. He resigned his $65,000-a-year post in October when confronted with the texts.

“It was the dumbest mistake I ever made,” Scott told The Post, but he denied he exploited his power to seduce Gordon. “She initiated it. I never forced anything on her. There was no quid pro quo.”

Gordon also has filed complaints that Scott groped her breasts and put his hand between her legs during a discussion of her case in a closed-door meeting at her school.

Scott denied assaulting Gordon. She secretly taped the meeting, which includes slapping sounds — she says she fought him off.

On Jan. 31, Gordon was charged with yelling at and grabbing several students the previous year, and of making an obscene gesture in reference to Principal Salema Marbury.

Gordon was yanked from her school and sent to a rubber room, then assigned clerical duties in the same Brooklyn building where Scott worked. Fearful, she said, she asked for a transfer.

Scott started sexting Gordon with banter about sex positions; “Some may force u to scream,” he wrote. The texts are rife with crude slang.

The married Scott, who lives near Gordon in Staten Island, texted: “We can just enjoy each other’s company . . . A lot if we’re naked lmao.”

Gordon turned over 275 pages of texts last October to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools Richard Condon. But after Scott quit, Condon’s office told Gordon that she, too, was under scrutiny “because I didn’t report him and I texted him back,” she said.

“They’re making the victim a culprit,” said Betsy Combier, a paralegal helping defend Gordon against her disciplinary charges.

Gordon’s lawyer, Peter Gleason, could find no written report by Scott.

“His interest was in gratifying his own deviant desires,” Gleason said.

DOE spokesman David Pena said Scott is still under investigation.

Filed underDepartment of Education, Exclusive, Lawrence Scott, Natalya Sokolson Gordon, Sexual harassment

Modal Trigger

IT'S QUID PRO WHOA! Teacher Natalya Sokolson Gordon (right) alleges that a DOE investigator demanded sex in exchange for dropping complaints against her. Left: One of the racy come-ons sent by the investigator. Photo: Helayne Seidman (right)