Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Beth Domino, President of Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association says it as well as can be said.
Beth Domino I write to you today about the critical election for New York State
Governor next month. I believe that the outcome of this election will
have a major impact on all aspects of our lives as teachers and school
employees. We have seen firsthand the damage that Cuomo has done
to our school district by imposing an undemocratic property tax cap that
has made it impossible for critical programs to continue, an
over-emphasis on testing, the narrowing of curriculum and finally the
intrusion of the common core, which has done more to frustrate creative
and talented teachers than improve instruction. Cuomo has been a
governor who incites communities to doubt school professionals and
prefers to blame teachers instead of providing badly needed resources
and support. Many believe that Cuomo has done the most substantial
damage to our public system than any governor before him.
Challenging the Governor is Westchester County Executive Republican
candidate Rob Astorino. While some have taken notice of Mr. Astorino’s
anti-common core platform, a simple scratch beneath the surface reveals a
candidate who puts all his faith in charter schools and would further
decimate schools through a reduction of state aid. Equally alarming is
Astorino’s opposition to teacher tenure, as well as, his vow to
eliminate the Triborough Amendment. Fortunately, there is an
alternative this year to both Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Astorino. Green Party
Candidate Howie Hawkins and his running mate for Lieutenant Governor,
Brian Jones have produced an education platform that is completely in
sync with what we believe and know to be sound education policy. Hawkins and Jones believe that: New York needs to opt out of Race to the Top and the Common Core Standards. Schools need to return to meaningful teaching and learning and move away from the over-emphasis on testing. Schools should be allowed to develop authentic assessments that are organic to the learning process. Zero-tolerance discipline policies are the wrong way to produce responsible and productive citizens. The state-mandated anti-democratic tax cap must be eliminated.
The State should provide equitable funding for all schools so there can
be a reduction of class size and the restoration of music, art, health,
and all other vital programs that have been taken away from this
generation of students. In light of these pro-public education
initiatives, the Port Jefferson Station Teachers’ Association Executive
Council voted unanimously to endorse the Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones
Education Platform. Many members have voiced their concerns regarding
the anti-union and anti-public education positions of both Cuomo and
Astorino. This frustration may lead many to NOT cast a vote for governor
in this upcoming election. A vote for Hawkins/Jones represents a vote
for education and faith in the job that each of us perform each day in
the classroom. A vote for Hawkin/Jones also sends a message to Cuomo
that we refuse to let him win by default or inaction. I encourage you to visit their website at http://www.howiehawkins.org/platform
to learn more about Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones. If you agree that we
must have leaders in Albany who truly understand the needs and
challenges of public schools today, I ask that you investigate for
yourself and compare and contrast the candidates’ views on education and
spread the word regarding your findings to friends, colleagues and
family members. In Solidarity
On average, schools in the Success Academy network were under-enrolled by 7.6 percent.... “This
is just the tip of the iceberg,” said public school parent Brooke
Parker. “SUNY has knowingly withheld enrollment data for charter schools
from the taxpaying public, even though taxpayer dollars bankroll
charters.
For years we've challenged charters, in particular Eva's charters, to produce those waiting lists. How much do I love Brooke Parker, parent activist supreme from Williamsburg/Greenpoint District 14. She never gives up.
In case you have forgotten, Scott Stringer defeated Eva for Manhattan Borough President I think in 2005, thus helping jump-start her career as a charter operator.
Here are a few focused facts from the article. Use them at future public hearings to challenge the pro-Success people who say there is such demand for more of their schools.
Local public school parents searched through the School Construction
Authority’s “Blue Book” and found evidence that more than two-thirds of
Success Academy charter schools were under-enrolled in the 2013-2014
school year.
Besides standing in clear opposition to claims of
wait lists and need for more schools, drastic under-enrollment is
supposed to elicit action from SUNY. If a school falls below 80 percent
of its targeted enrollment, the overseer is charged with closing that
school.
Last school year, four Success Academy charter schools
did not reach that 80 percent benchmark. The four schools — in Fort
Greene, Crown Heights, Hell’s Kitchen and Union Square — were
under-enrolled by 22 percent.
On average, schools in the Success Academy network were under-enrolled by 7.6 percent.
“This
is just the tip of the iceberg,” said public school parent Brooke
Parker. “SUNY has knowingly withheld enrollment data for charter schools
from the taxpaying public, even though taxpayer dollars bankroll
charters.
Joy did a nice report on how Eva has hired lobbyists in Washington DC. Read it all here.
The NY Times had a report on the SUNY charter crooks giving Eva more schools. NY Times' Kate Taylor, the reporter who came to the hearing in Brooklyn a few weeks ago did report:
About
two dozen people went to a hearing in Brooklyn at the end of September,
held at Public School 133 in Boerum Hill. All of the speakers,
including teachers in local district schools and a representative for
City Councilman Brad Lander, voiced their opposition to opening new
Success Academy schools in their areas.
Some
cited limited space or competition for funding, and said that charters
drew the most involved families, leaving more difficult students in the
district schools. Others said Ms. Moskowitz and her donors intended to
privatize the public schools. One teacher wore a witch’s hat and a mask
of Ms. Moskowitz’s face.
“For
the record, everyone here spoke against — no one spoke for — and I’m
going to be really shocked to find out that they approved this
application,” said David Goldsmith, president of the community education
council for District 13 in Brooklyn. “Thanks for caring, Albany,” he
added.
Damaging impacts of charters on Harlem's public schools
-
Empty room at Success charter school taken from PS 175
On October 8. I gave a presentation to the Community Education Council in
District 5 on the impact of...
And some of my videos:
One former Pearson executive argues that “for-profit” organisations in
education are “seriously under threat”, and could end up losing their
footing altogether.
Pearson’s dominance of textbook market is under examination
By Katherine Rushton | Telegraph – Sat, Oct 11, 2014 16:58 BST
Most people have, at some point in their lives, felt a bout of nerves as they awaited a crucial set of exam results. Pearson’s chief executive, John Fallon, could be forgiven for having the same feeling.
Next month, the London-listed education giant will face its own version of this peculiar kind of torture, as it learns whether Texas plans to renew its contract for Pearson to provide testing in schools. The deal is a valuable one, worth around $500m (£310m) over five years. It is also a matter of particular strategic importance.
Texas is amongst America’s biggest and most influential states when it comes to education spending – the linchpin in the North American market, which accounts for 59pc of Pearson’s revenues and 66pc of its profits. And it has a long history of doing business with the British company, whose chief executive cut his teeth in the US textbook market, and whose former boss, Dame Marjorie Scardino, is herself American.
Most people have, at some point in their lives, felt a bout of nerves as they awaited a crucial set of exam results. Pearson’s chief executive, John Fallon, could be forgiven for having the same feeling.
Next month, the London-listed education giant will face its own version of this peculiar kind of torture, as it learns whether Texas plans to renew its contract for Pearson to provide testing in schools. The deal is a valuable one, worth around $500m (£310m) over five years. It is also a matter of particular strategic importance.
Texas is amongst America’s biggest and most influential states when it comes to education spending – the linchpin in the North American market, which accounts for 59pc of Pearson’s revenues and 66pc of its profits. And it has a long history of doing business with the British company, whose chief executive cut his teeth in the US textbook market, and whose former boss, Dame Marjorie Scardino, is herself American.
If the educational testing business were an election, this would count as Pearson’s safe seat. Yet there are signs Pearson may be about to lose its grip on its traditional stronghold. An audit of the Texas Education Agency recently found problems with the way the Pearson contract was tendered and managed.
Questions have been raised in a number of different states over the quality of Pearson’s digital courses. An influential religious lobby group, the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, has meanwhile lambasted the publisher over one of its textbooks, for allegedly drawing exaggeratedly close links between Moses’s Ten Commandments and the US constitution.
Texas has not awarded the testing contract yet, but industry sources fear it will not go Pearson’s way.
The company is large enough to swallow this sort of hit, of course. Pearson, which also owns the Financial Times and a 47pc stake in Penguin Random House, made £871m last year, on revenues of £5.2bn. A $100m-a-year dent is not going to send it into the red.
However, the tussle for Texas follows a difficult 12 months, and analysts fear that it could be the harbinger of more problems to come.
The company has already issued three profit warnings since last April, repeatedly blaming a decline in college enrolments and public spending cutbacks which have battered the North American market. “Our biggest business, North America, is facing the most difficult trading conditions in a decade,” said Mr Fallon earlier this year.
Most of its income in the region comes from the education business, which does everything from publishing traditional college text books to designing interactive digital courses, many of which students can follow at their own speed. Meanwhile, the testing unit under fire in Texas writes and manages the regular assessments used to calculate students’ grades. An increasing number are computer-based.
In August, the business suffered another painful blow. Pearson and Apple were both dropped from a $1bn project to supply digital textbooks on iPads to schools throughout Los Angeles, amid concerns that they were in contact with the schools authority before the contract was awarded.
They will be allowed to apply for the contract again, but Pearson’s odds don’t look good after an official report lambasted the quality of its product. The course fell short of “minimum requirements” because “there were numerous lessons and even entire units missing across every grade level”, the Los Angeles Unified School District said.
Pearson is not the first to be criticised in this way. A number of publishing houses have been reprimanded for the quality of their digital courses — something the industry regards as teething problems.
“In this transition from print to digital, we don’t have all the infrastructure, but directionally things are moving the right way,” a Pearson spokesman said.
“There are short-term headwinds and long-term opportunities. It is not going to be a clear, straight path. It’s hard work. It’s a case of trial and error as you innovate. The question is, ‘How quickly do you learn?’”
They echoed Fallon’s view, that Pearson is grappling with the shift to digital at the same time as it is being buffeted by a confluence of powerful external factors. The budget cuts and reduction in enrolments come hand in hand with increasing political tensions.
“The polarising politics that have already affected everything else, [are now] crossing into the classroom. There is no doubt in my mind that education within the US and globally is going through the biggest transformation any of us have seen in a generation or more,” the spokesman added.
Some analysts argue that Dame Marjorie carefully timed her exit at the end of 2012. Pearson expanded enormously under her tenure, using a series of acquisitions to develop digital products and expand in emerging markets, notably China.
Mr Fallon, these analysts argue, is now unfairly having to grapple with a ragtag bag of companies, shouldering the blame for a combination of changing market dynamics and decisions taken by his predecessor.
Others claim Dame Marjorie is the one being scapegoated. They argue that the FTSE 100 business she led for 16 years is wobbling because of much more recent decisions, and that Fallon has lost key staff and contracts because of a reduction of investment in digital projects.
Whichever interpretation one adopts it is clear that Pearson’s troubles are not all of its own making. Its current turbulence started at a time when the tectonic plates of the education industry were already shifting rapidly. Part of this is down to a redrawing of the battle lines between established rivals. In America, McGraw-Hill Education has lately sharpened its focus on digital products under new chief executive David Levin, the former boss of UBM.
News Corp’s education division has also upped its game, under the guidance of Joel Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor.
But there are also a number of new rivals bearing down on the sector: Some of these are start-ups. We are in the midst of an unparalleled splurge in investment in new digital education businesses. In 2008, venture capital firms ploughed just $200m into the sector. This year, that sum is on course for $1bn.
Meanwhile, established technology giants like Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung are all making inroads into the industry, in the hope that they will build loyal audiences to sell other products to down the line. “We’ve handed education to the big software and hardware providers,” says a senior industry figure. “Google is slated to have 20m teachers working on Google apps, and it’s all free. The margins are different because the motivations are different. Google can give away education because it is securing customers for the future.”
At the moment, the big technology companies tend to partner with the traditional players – Apple was supposed to provide the iPads for LA’s $1bn digital project, for example, but Pearson was responsible for the content. However, we have already seen this story play out in other industries. It is only a matter of time before these technology giants start producing their own content, and try to disintermediate the traditional publishers altogether.
“Partnering with one of these guys is like going to bed with a serial rapist,” one senior source says. “It is only a matter of time.”
He identifies Amazon as the biggest single threat. Its motivation is clear. The more educational content it provides, the more likely it is users will become dependent on its ecosystem and use it for future purchases.
Organisations that are not trying to make money arguably pose an even greater challenge, however. In 2011, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, ring-fenced between $1.5bn and $2.5bn to fund education projects. The endowment, informally dubbed the Zuckerberg fund, is a relatively low-key operation at the moment, but industry figures speculate that he will end up tackling education, in much the same way as Microsoft founder Bill Gates established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve world health.
Those sorts of initiatives should only ever be welcomed, but they do not make life easier for traditional education companies.
One former Pearson executive argues that “for-profit” organisations in education are “seriously under threat”, and could end up losing their footing altogether.
But the Pearson’s spokesman feels differently. “The private sector has a pivotal role to play,” they say.
Either way, Pearson has reached a crucial moment in its trajectory. Fallon has to whip the ragtag bag of businesses he inherited into a smart, digital company. Otherwise, the venture capital firms could soon start circling and pick-pick-pick it away.
Another slug job supporting the criminals at DOE legal. Add this to job description:
Will ignore any info that might show the teacher is innocent.
Will do what it takes to justify the existence of this job even if it means lying, cheating and creating evidence out of nothing.
Under
supervision, with latitude for independent action and decision,
investigates and studies tenured pedagogues misconduct and incompetence.
The Investigator will be responsible for supporting the unit head and
the staff attorneys in the investigation and preparation of legal and
labor matters related to employee misconduct and incompetence.?? The
Investigator is responsible for the maintenance and preparation of
documents and written reports that are prepared in conjunction with
administrative proceedings. The Investigator works collaboratively with
the unit head and the other staff attorneys to ensure an efficient and
systematic approach to legal services and may serve as liaison to city,
state and federal departments, and with other agencies and officials
within the Department of Education (DOE).
All personnel perform related work regardless of assignment type or level.
Reports to: ??
Deputy Counsel (Director) of the Teacher Performance Unit and/or designated Staff Attorneys.
Direct Reports: May require supervision of other Investigators and/or support staff.
Key Relationships: ??
Legal Services Staff Attorneys and Administrative Support Staff
RESPONSIBILITIES
Assembles and verifies data, records and evidence in response to inquiries from Corporation Counsel and outside counsel.
Manages and maintains case databases and generates case reports. Examines
and analyzes employee records and documents, case files and legal
filings necessary to respond to requests for disciplinary hearings;
makes recommendations as to course of action. Utilizes computer
systems such as NYCAPS, HRS and EIS to assist in the retrieval of
information in connection with various administrative proceedings
involving the Department of Education. Assists attorneys in trial
preparation including drafting charges, maintenance and preparation of
documents for trial, witness preparation and evidence gathering. Ensures
timely notification of charges to employee to comply with labor
agreement deadlines so hearing can proceed according to schedule. Coordinates disciplinary hearings; organizes trial assignments and arbitrator calendar. Researches and evaluates tenure status of pedagogic employees; and responds to inquiries as a point of contact for principals. May require supervision of other Investigators and/or support staff. Guides subordinates on best investigative techniques to utilize based on each individual case. Interprets
DOE administrative rules and regulations and policies as well as labor
contract provisions related to due process procedures.
Qualification Requirements
A
four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and four
years of satisfactory full-time experience in one or more of the fields
of accounting, auditing, inspection, investigation personnel
administration, and security, or in a major operational area of the
employing agency; OR
A satisfactory combination of a baccalaureate degree, post baccalaureate degree and/or experience.
Preferred
Strong
computer systems skill needed to and maintain case databases and
generate case reports using LexisNexis, Adobe Acrobat, and other
software.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Strong writing and organizational skills are preferred for the position. Efficient legal research skills. Experience utilizing Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point).
Salary: $
Please submit a resume and cover letter along with your application.
Resumes will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. We encourage applicants to apply as soon as possible.
NOTE: The filling of all positions is subject to budget availability and/or grant funding.
Imagine if NYC teachers went on strike over the numerous contract violations going on every day in every school? Taylor Law penalties and an assault on the union and teachers would take place en masse.
With the Philly story playing out the way it is, really, what recourse do teachers have other than to strike? I mean at what point does it get to be too much? The problem is that teachers all over the nation, except in Chicago, have not been prepared politically or ideologically to have even the remotest capability of striking. It took a politically sophisticated leadership in Chicago to do that.
And with a national leader like Randi, who plays footsie (Echos of Vichy: UFT/AFT - Friend or Foe and Mercedes Takes on Randi (Again)) with the other side there is little chance of seeing real resistance - other than, ironically, from students (Phila. students protest canceling of contract.)
In
a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the
Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally
cancel its teachers’ contract. The vote was unanimous.
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was given no advance word
of the action — which happened at an early-morning SRC meeting called
with minimal notice — and which figures to result in a legal challenge
to the takeover law the SRC believes gives it the power to bypass
negotiations and impose terms.
Jerry Jordan, PFT president, called the move "cowardly" and vowed to fight it strongly.
Karen is an American hero. Every moment I've shared with her I consider a gift. No one has done more to advance the cause of teachers over the last few years than this courageous, brilliant, and really, really funny woman. God bless, Karen. Let's get you through this -- your work isn't even close to done yet..... Jersey Jazzman
Obviously the situation with Karen may seriously affect the mayoral race in Chicago where Karen was/still is expected to challenge POS Rahm Emanuel.
I've had the absolute pleasure of meeting Karen numerous times, including the time when she spoke at the NYCORE conference a few years ago and we picked her and her husband John up at the airport and got to spend an hour talking in the car. The last time I saw her was in Los Angelos at the AFT convention where she looked great. So let's wish she gets well fast.
I don't know Jesse Sharkey real well but I've never heard a bad word about him. Jesse is part of the original crew that organized CORE.
Below is the update from the Chicago Teachers Union blog.
CHICAGO—Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis underwent successful surgery yesterday for a serious illness and is recovering well.
During President Lewis’ recovery, CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey will assume the duties of the president according to the rules set forth in the CTU Constitution and By-laws.
“Out of respect to President Lewis’ wishes, the wishes of her family, and their privacy, we cannot provide details on her condition, but we wish her all the best and pledge all of our support—both in aiding her recovery and in carrying on the work of the CTU about which she cares so deeply,” Sharkey said.
“I think attacking Randi is not smart, wise, accurate, or useful. Equating her with Broad et al is absurd. We argue with our allies differently than we attack our enemies. Let’s keep our aim directed at those leading the fight to end public education.”- Deborah Meier.
Randi is not an ally and we are attacking our enemies when we attack Randi. You only have to watch an AFT convention to see how this plays out.
For over a dozen years, starting sometime in 2001, I have often been a lone voice in branding current AFT and former UFT President Randi Weingarten as a tool of ed deform. Mercedes Schneider, a teacher in Louisiana, has picked up the cudgel at her blog, http://deutsch29.wordpress.com. Her post
I was once a nominal Randi Weingarten supporter - in the early days in 1997 of Ed Notes when I was working basically alone. I saw Randi as bringing new blood, positive reformist blood, to the UFT and Unity Caucus. A weak (and often pathetic) opposition offered by New Action and a barely visible and equally ineffective Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) and a third caucus, Progressive Action, which was focused on the teacher licensing issue, was the political landscape at that time. I saw Randi and a reformed Unity Caucus as the only possibility. And her "people" were promising me just that -- she would take the union in a new direction. I was even invited to join Unity - which I declined.
So for the next 4 years, while being "suggestive" and critical in a non-critical non-attack mode, Ed Notes attempted to prod Randi with a positive message
Around 1999-2000 I touched base with George Schmidt in Chicago and began to see the horrors of ed deform be played out there in its earliest days through Paul Vallas and - Yes, I knew about Arne Duncan from Substance a dozen years ago.
I was on the ground in the UFT and watched in horror as, beginning around 2000-2001, Randi began signing on to one ed deform issue after another. That is what turned me against her and ended any possibility Unity and the UFT could be reformed. Instead, Randi not only joined the ed deform movement, but she also further deformed the UFT from what was an essentially undemocratic organization into a form of monarchy, with her playing the role of queen.
That led me on the road to organizing the people to found the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) in late 2003, which led to GEM in 2009 and to MORE in 2012.
The people in ICE were pretty much in alignment with my view of Randi and the leadership. Others in the opposition do not necessarily agree.
I must follow up with a post about some of the internal struggles within MORE and before that, GEM, over whether our union leaders are enemies of just misguided union bureaucrats (sort of the TJC view and certainly the past and current New Action view. Over the years there has been some tension within MORE over this analysis and we devoted a summer series event in 2013 to exploring this issue.
Here are the videos from that event with Ira Goldfine and Vera Pavone laying out the ICE position and Peter Lamphere putting forth what I would term the TJC/ISO point of view.
"The whole point
is that you're not supposed to just be able to hire your buddy," said
Mr. Cheliotes. ...Crains NY
Leonie Haimson reports:
Fascinating story below – apparently under Bloomberg, the city hired more than 37,000 employees w/out going through the proper Civil Service process, including passing required exams; more than 20,000 of them remain. According to court order and a new state law they have to pass these exams or be replaced by end of 2016. More than 4,000 of these employees remaining are at DOE. Does anyone know what sorts of positions these people hold? 4,000 is a lot of educrats; are they also teachers? We’ve lost more than 5,000 teachers since 2007.
My take? Of course the Manhattan Institute and Crain's consider these political appointees Brains rather than Brainless.
Brain drain looms for de Blasio
Layoffs for city workers have begun and could run into the thousands.
"The civil-service system was a progressive reform to ensure good government—but that was 100 years ago," said Steve Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.Photo: Associated Press
The de Blasio administration is facing a major brain drain as a court
decision, civil-service rules and state law will force it to shed
thousands of experienced middle managers across dozens of city agencies.
The
upheaval has already begun in some quarters: A city source said the
Department of Design and Construction started letting employees go in
August and September, and a spokesman for the agency confirmed that 15
had lost their jobs last month.
But the real bloodletting will occur over the next two years.
This
week, Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration will submit a plan to the
state Civil Service Commission detailing how the city will slash
thousands of "provisional" employees from its payroll. The city must
replace most of them with "permanent" employees by the end of 2016.
Some
of these provisional workers—who, as their titles suggest, were
supposed to be temporary—have been on the city payroll for years.
The
state constitution dictates that governmental appointments be based on
"merit and fitness," and for many job classifications that is determined
by scores on civil-service exams. In many cases, only the top three
scorers are allowed to be interviewed for a position.
Circumventing the system
The
longstanding policy was designed to root out political patronage. But
former Mayor Michael Bloomberg felt hamstrung by it because the exam
scores reflect knowledge of agency procedures and other arcane facts but
not necessarily work experience, managerial skills, temperament and
other qualities.
The mayor therefore had his
agencies circumvent the system by hiring "provisional" employees. By
2007, nearly 37,000 were swelling the ranks of city government,
occupying more than 19% of the "competitive" city job titles that were
supposed to be filled based on exam scores.
"The
civil-service system was a progressive reform to ensure good
government—but that was 100 years ago," said Steve Malanga, a senior
fellow at the Manhattan Institute. "Now there's far more sophisticated
technology and different types of positions. But you may still want this
kind of test for someone working in the Sanitation Department. There
are no easy answers to this."
Mr. Bloomberg's
work-around was dealt a major blow by a 2007 court decision in a case
pitting Long Beach, L.I., against CSEA, a labor union representing
employees in the town. The court found it unlawful for municipalities in
the state to retain provisional employees for more than nine months.
To
be in substantial compliance with the ruling, New York City needed to
slash the portion of competitive jobs held by provisional workers to
5%—down to about 9,500. In 2008, the Bloomberg administration developed a
plan to cut the provisional ranks to just 3,300 within five years. But
it fell well short: As of late last year, nearly 22,500 provisional
employees were still on the payroll, according to a city report.
'As fast as they could'
"They
went as fast as they reasonably could," argued one source close to the
process, alluding to the impact that wholesale personnel changes would
have had on city operations.
Data released late last
year show the Department of Education had more than 4,000 provisional
employees, while the Parks Department, Housing Authority, Human
Resources Administration and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
each had more than 1,000. Current provisional employees are being
encouraged by their agencies to take civil-service exams.
Many
of these provisional employees are union members, said Arthur
Cheliotes, president of the Communications Workers Local 1180. Still,
public-sector labor leaders chafed because the provisional workers
lacked civil-service protections and were afraid to call out managers'
misdeeds, including contracting abuses, he said.
Unions
also felt the Bloomberg administration was stifling the upward mobility
of civil-service workers by hiring provisional managers rather than
promoting from the lower ranks.
"It used to be that
these kinds of appointments came from the political clubs. [Then] they
started coming from the country clubs," wisecracked Mr. Cheliotes, who
chairs the civil-service committee for the Municipal Labor Committee, an
umbrella group for city unions.
Unions push city to act
Labor
interests, which had felt that the Bloomberg administration dragged its
feet in complying with the court ruling, pressed the state Legislature
to accelerate the process. This year, two Brooklyn lawmakers, Republican
state Sen. Martin Golden and Democratic Assemblyman Peter Abbate,
advanced bills giving the city a deadline, and after negotiations with
the de Blasio administration, a deal was struck to give it until the end
of 2016. (Labor sources said the administration, fearing rapid turnover
would disrupt agencies, wanted much more time than it got.)
The
bill also required the city to issue a new plan to achieve compliance.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law in August. On Oct. 8,
the Department of Citywide Administrative Services is expected to issue
a plan on how the city will comply with the court decision.
An agency deputy commissioner, Julianne Cho, declined to comment until the plan is released.
The department is now headed by a de Blasio appointee, Stacey Cumberbatch. She and Ms. Cho are both Bloomberg holdovers.
Labor
leaders had grumbled that the Bloomberg administration did not schedule
enough civil-service exams and often tried to reclassify provisional
employees' jobs to exempt them from civil-service rules.
The
de Blasio administration, however, has been "vigorous" in giving
civil-service exams, Mr. Cheliotes said. Top scorers can fill jobs
currently held by provisional employees, some of whom have been taking
the tests in an effort to stay on.
"The whole point
is that you're not supposed to just be able to hire your buddy," said
Mr. Cheliotes. "Now there will be an opportunity to take the tests. And
the general public will have as much access to the jobs as anyone else."
A version of this article appears in the October 6, 2014, print issue of Crain's New York Business.
Chancellor Farina, it is time to fire the “gotcha” squad. It is time to replace Joel Klein’s legal team. It is time to clean house and install officials who share Mayor de Blasio’s vision and values... Unfortunately, the de Blasio administration has been slow to clean
house. The Klein regime still controls large sectors of the education
bureaucracy, including the infamous “gotcha” squad that is always on
the alert for teacher misbehavior. True, the “gotcha” squad completely
missed a high school teacher arrested for having sexual relations with several students at selective Brooklyn Technical High School, who is currently suspended with pay.Diane Ravitch, NYC Education Bureaucracy Gone Wild: The Suspension of a Hero Teacher
This is the first instance I know of where the mainstream press focused on the abuses of OSI, SCI, or DOE Legal -- all a tandem, covered by so many bloggers, particularly Portelos -- I'll do a follow up with links to the work he's done.
An
investigator with the Education Department’s Office of Special Investigations, Wei Liu, found that Ms. Fisher sent emails about the
project during her workday at Public School 333, the Manhattan School
for Children, and was thus guilty of “theft of services.”
Is there one employee of the DOE that has not sent emails during the workday since email was invented? They tried to pull the same crap at Portelos.
“By omitting essential context, the
report wrongly suggested that Ms. Fisher was a rogue employee, acting
alone and in her own self-interest.
This is crucial and something that becomes very clear when you attend 3020a hearings -- DOE Legal purposely removes context to try to get a guilty verdict - their measure of "success" in terms of justifying their jobs. They have zero interest in truth.
I heard a story from a teacher about an assistant principal who slapped a child in front of witnesses. The AP was pulled from the school and disappeared from view for some time, only to resurface as an Assistant Principal in another school. That person is now a principal.
A teacher who did that would be taken out in cuffs.
How can we account for this double standard? We know Tweed protects principals unless they are caught with the knife in their hand with blood all over them - and even then.....
I have come to believe that the CSA (Principal's Union) does a lot of work behind the scenes to protect their people under all circumstances - like the PBA for cops. The UFT? Let then hang from the cross. (I'm reading a book on how Jesus the poor Jewish preacher became god so excuse the reference.)
Meanwhile Diane Ravitch has taken up the case of the teacher suspended for 30 days for assisting a student with a Kickstarter campaign.
“This is a story of an almost unfathomably mindless school
bureaucracy at work: the crushing of an occupational therapist who had
helped a young boy build a record of blazing success. “The therapist, Deb Fisher, is now serving a suspension of 30 days without pay for official misconduct. “Her crime? “She
raised money on Kickstarter for a program that she and the student,
Aaron Philip, 13, created called This Ability Not Disability.
But the “gotcha” squad bagged a teacher who helped run a Kickstarter campaign for a student with cerebral palsy. This teacher was suspended without pay for 30 days for “theft of services,” having helped the campaign during school hours. As Jim Dwyer, columnist for the New York Times reports: “The school system has proved itself unable to dislodge failed or dangerous employees for years at a time. “Ms. Fisher’s case seems to represent just the opposite: A person working to excel is being hammered by an investigative agency that began its hunt in search of cheating on tests and record-keeping irregularities. It found nothing of the sort. Instead, the investigation produced a misleading report, filled with holes, on the fund-raising effort. “By omitting essential context, the report wrongly suggested that Ms. Fisher was a rogue employee, acting alone and in her own self-interest. “In fact, the entire school, including the principal, was involved in the Kickstarter project, with regular email blasts counting down the fund-raising push. And the money was to be used not by Ms. Fisher, but by Aaron, who is writing a graphic book and making a short film about Tanda, a regular kid who is born with a pair of legs in a world where everybody else has a pair of wheels. “Aaron has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair to navigate the world. Ms. Fisher has worked with him since kindergarten.”
[nyceducationnews] shocking and horrible: therapist at P.S. 333 in Manhattan was suspended b/c she helped a disabled student raise money.... An occupational therapist at P.S. 333 in Manhattan was suspended because she sent emails during work hours for an online campaign to raise money for a student with cerebral palsy.....Confirms deep problems about what many have said about the OSI – including Portelos – and total ignorance at DOE about to handle these issues and reform the OSI office..... Leonie Haimson
This is not only about OSI but the entire DOE legal team which every principal consults before taking action. Yes there are teachers who should be targets - see one Brooklyn Tech -- but the DOE legal and OSI crews are mainly about justifying their jobs so they spend their time trawling through facebook and twitter looking for targets.
I watched the DOE legal slugs at the Portelos hearings -- always 2 of them and sometimes 3.
Portelos led a "sweep them clean" demo at the Tweed at the end of last school year to make this very point. We had about 20 people there. I would have gone to the UFT since they are as culpable as anyone as they owe more allegiance to their pals at the CSA than to the teachers they represent.
Well, I guess better late than never: the man whose rep helped legitimize Moskowitz and give her a start, now says charters lack accountability... Michael Fiorillo
DUHHHH! - Is All I can say to Noguera who as the chair of the SUNY charter authorizing committee passed charters through the sieve while ignoring their pacman space chewing of public schools. Why should a charter school parent give a darn if public school kids don't get gym or science labs because the charter has grabbed their space? Noguera ignored all those pleas for years. Hopefully he is saying, "What have I done?"
Why Don’t We Have Real Data on Charter Schools?
Charters were supposed to be laboratories for innovation. Instead, they are stunningly opaque.
Noguera makes the same arguments we made in our film over 3 years ago. Double duhhhhhh! Instead of going after the very concept of charters, too many people are putting their energy into calling for transparency. I heard a lot of that at last Monday's hearing which is why I went right at the guts - the white affluent parents who don't give a shit whether public school kids lose their gym or science labs ---
I cover a lot of ground in my School Scope column, published in the Oct. 3 edition of The Wave (www.rockawave.com). I hope my lefty friends don't get all agitated at my saying some nice things about cops.
School Scope: Firemen, Police and Their Kids By Norm Scott I was going to continue my series of columns on the topic of “police and teachers” but got distracted the other day while spending my usual 7 hours a day sitting on my front porch reading, smoking my pipe and watching the world go by. I used to be a back porch guy but since the hurricane I have reverted to my Brooklyn East-NY front porch sitting roots. It is just so much more interesting. Since Sandy, two families of firemen with 5 very young children – age 3 and under - between them have moved onto my block within hailing distance of my porch. And I get to observe a lot of daddy care with the children. And what a wonderful sight it is to see how these guys relate to their children. In addition we have a police couple on the block with 2 young girls and there is dad, a big guy, riding bikes with the kids, taking them to the beach and seeming to be having an awfully good time. And then there is a retired police department guy with slightly older kids, walking his beloved dog with one of his kids tagging along, all having the time of their life. I am not raising this to say that police and fire dads are any more loving than anyone else towards their kids, but rather due to public image these first responders have which does not often include this aspect of their lives when they are off-duty. Someone should follow these dads around with a camera and do a commercial to give the world a window into the tenderness and joy they exhibit towards their children. As for me, it just gives me one more excuse to sit on my porch and watch the wonderful world go by before the coming blahs of winter. ***** Robotics: FIRST LEGO League moves into high gear I've been working with NYCFIRST since practically the day I retired - actually from that first day in Sept. 2002. I had a great time last Saturday at NYU/Poly on Jay Street at our annual FLL kickoff. We have about 170 NYC teams registered so far for the Challenge which is called World Class, all about learning. Kids not only build a robot for the game field which represents different styles of learning - but also do and present an extensive research project on the subject. Teams spend the next 3 months prepping. Borough qualifiers take place in January. Finalists go to citywide event at Javits on the weekend of March 14. The winner of may be eligible to go to international event in St. Louis in late April. **** Atlanta Test Cheating Scandals Go to Trial Imagine, wanting to send teachers, supervisors, and even Superintendents to jail for changing answers on tests in Atlanta. As if they are special when we know what they did was taking place here and in probably many other places – certainly in Washington DC under Michelle Rhee. I was told a story by friend teaching in a high school in a poor neighborhood in Queens that had 100% of the kids score well on the algebra regents, bearing out even Midwood HS – a red flag for sure. But the principal was hailed as a miracle worker – until people began to blow the whistle. She had threatened teachers without tenure with firing and forced even tenured to cheat – the answers were actually posted on the board. But guess what happened? The whistle blowers came under investigation. Investigator: “You cheated, you lied.” Teacher: “But we were forced to.” Investigator: Following orders is not an excuse. “Did you ever hear of the Nuhrenberg trials?” Some links on Atlanta cheating to check out: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/us/racketeering-trial-opens-in-altanta-schools-cheating-scandal.html?_r=0, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/21/wrong-answer *** Rockaway Theatre Company Update Since the widely successful Godspell closed last weekend, I won’t be doing columns on the RTC for a few weeks as “Damn Yankees” moves into high gear for its mid-November opening. This past week I joined Tony Homesy and crew as they took down the set and started building the new set, which will be a work of art, as usual. I will say that the show has stimulated an interest in the historical Jesus and I’m reading an interesting book called, “How Jesus Became God – The Exaltation of a Jewish Peacher from Galilee,” by Bart D. Ehrman, who claims Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher, proclaiming the end of the age was about to come, as did John the Baptist and the later Church changed that message since it didn’t happen – yet. Norm will continue to blog at ednotesonline.com - until the apocalypse – and maybe beyond.
As many of you know, most stories about wonderbar principals are bullshit. But maybe not this time. Sandra Noyola does not come from the Principal School of BloomCrap. She is from the local community. PS 147 suffered 5 years of hell under a Principal Academy piece of shit whose husband(ex, now) worked for Bloomberg Corp. Now she supposedly has a job at Tweed running some operation. Interestingly she was replaced by another Leadership Acad grad, but this time by some miracle the principal was respected, and even loved by many people in the school. People told me you could look at the faces of the staff after the Monster had left and the nice PRAcad grad came in and they looked 10 years younger.
She had a baby and then got a job as a principal upstate. By the time she left, the energies of BloomKleinCott were beginning to wane and some of the people from the old pre-Bloomberg takeover crew in District 14 were gaining back some of their influence and they were beginning to win more battle over getting their people into principal jobs.
When I went to a community charter protest a few years ago and they told me to come meet the new principal of PS 147 we recognized each other from the good old days when district people used to gather on Fridays after school in various locations. "Didn't I once spill a drink on you," I asked Sandra?
From my contacts at the old school she gets good reports. And then a few weeks ago I heard this one from a parent with a 4 year old looking for a school for her child next year. "PS 147 is considered an up and coming option for parents." Holy Crap. I left there 17 years too soon.
East Williamsburg Principal Introduces Students to the World Beyond School
Sandra Noyola, principal
of P.S. 147 in East Williamsburg, said she's proud of the school for
its partnerships and project-based learning. View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Serena Dai
EAST WILLIAMSBURG — For Principal Sandra Noyola, student performance goes beyond grades and book smarts.
Schools
should also be supporting the emotional, social and intellectual growth
of children, she said — a goal she's pursued through teaching methods
and partnerships with outside organizations since taking the helm at P.S. 147 in 2011.
The
pre-K through 5th grade elementary school located at 325 Bushwick Ave.
now has a focus on environmental engineering, with the hope that the
students will be prepared for a world grappling with the challenges of a
climate crisis.
Noyola budgeted money for a $10,000 hydroponic
lab, which is now in its second year of growing cherry tomatoes, herbs
and cucumbers in the school, with the help of students and a partnership
with NY Sun Works.
P.S. 147 works with Columbia University's Teacher's College on its teacher development, with the Bushwick rooftop farm ECO:Station NY.
It also collaborates with a former New York Historical Society
consultant who brings in objects to visualize curriculum and with some 15 to 20 other organizations throughout the year, she said.
Noyola hopes to add yet another program to the school by fall 2015 — the city's first Japanese and English dual-language classes, a program suggested by local parents.
Noyola,
who has a dedicated grant writer on staff, says she constantly seeks
out ways to help students see the world beyond the school's walls.
"It's
that integration of resources that really makes the curriculum rich and
hands-on for the kids," she said. "If they're not doing, they're not
learning. They have to access the content, they have to touch it, feel
it, be a part of it."
The principal credits the partnerships and a
strong school team with increasing enrollment and diversifying the
population at the school, which went from 227 students in 2011-2012 to
308 students this school year, a 37 percent increase.
Noyola
worked as a teacher, a literacy coach and an assistant principal before
coming to P.S. 147. She sat down with DNAinfo New York to talk about her
philosophy, test scores and how the area's changing demographics impact
the school. Why did you decide to make P.S. 147 an environmental engineering-focused school?
I
am very in tune with what’s happening in our world — global warming,
climate change — and what’s happening to our planet as a result.
Technology is not going anywhere. These are the jobs of the future. We
want to arm our children with the skills that are necessary for them to
be able to be marketable. Not everybody is going to be a lawyer, a
doctor, police officer, a teacher. Those are all great jobs, and they
are all significant, but we have a crisis here in this world. We need
children that have this awareness [about climate change]. How do you balance holistic learning with the need to score well on tests?
My
response to the test scores is: 'How can we bring more project-based,
hands-on experiences that connect to the curriculum? How can we build
that knowledge base so that when they are asked to perform on the test,
they can take it?'
We do prepare the children for tests. But we
are not a test-prep factory school. We're about the real hands-on,
engaging project-based learning for kids. As the test draws near, we
shift our programming to do explicit test-prep work. What's the greatest challenge as you move forward at the school?
Childcare.
That’s what we’re working on. Right now, we don’t have a full-scale,
after-school program that runs until 6 [p.m.]. We're limited to funding
to support that kind of program.
What parents have initiated is a partnership with Kids Orbit. Our parents have to pay [more than $3,000 a year]. It’s not funded by the school. That’s challenging for some parents. Parents approached you about starting a Japanese and English dual-language class. How will it impact the school?
[It's bringing] new families. The parents are really invested.
Previously,
our school was predominantly Hispanic and African-American. Now we have
Asians. We're diversifying the school. The truth is that Bushwick is
diverse. The school should reflect that.
It’s nice to know that
parents who don’t even have their children here come and visit. It’s
ignited a flame. We’re really ensuring our school embodies the East
Williamsburg community. You've increased the number of outside partnerships at the school since you've started. Why have you pursued that?
That
was an area that we needed to improve in: How can we make the learning
deeper and more hands-on and relevant, so that the content is not
abstract?
We are continuing a partnership with Richard Bluttal, a
consultant [formerly at] the New York Historical Society. He actually
bought shackles through eBay and did a workshop with us as a staff [for a
unit on slavery]. That created a genuine conversation among all of us,
which is what we strive to do across the school community with workshops
and content areas.
He plans with teachers. He goes into units of
study. He’s helping teachers integrate objects and visual-thinking
strategies into his lessons so that the learning is not just abstract
and from a textbook, but looking at paintings [or objects] from the
time.
In this progressive model, the children are integral. They are the center of the learning.
We were there to battle the forces of Evil. The UFT, along with de Blasio, have abandoned the fight. MORE will join with communities, parents and teachers at co-located schools.
Here are videos of MOREistas making their points.
Alexandra Alves
Mindy Rosier
Michelle Baptiste
David Dobosz
Norm Scott - who should have pulled out his shirt out to cover that belly.
By Katherine Rushton | Telegraph – Sat, Oct 11, 2014 16:58 BST
Most people have, at some point in their lives, felt a bout of nerves as they awaited a crucial set of exam results. Pearson’s chief executive, John Fallon, could be forgiven for having the same feeling.Next month, the London-listed education giant will face its own version of this peculiar kind of torture, as it learns whether Texas plans to renew its contract for Pearson to provide testing in schools. The deal is a valuable one, worth around $500m (£310m) over five years. It is also a matter of particular strategic importance.Texas is amongst America’s biggest and most influential states when it comes to education spending – the linchpin in the North American market, which accounts for 59pc of Pearson’s revenues and 66pc of its profits. And it has a long history of doing business with the British company, whose chief executive cut his teeth in the US textbook market, and whose former boss, Dame Marjorie Scardino, is herself American.Most people have, at some point in their lives, felt a bout of nerves as they awaited a crucial set of exam results. Pearson’s chief executive, John Fallon, could be forgiven for having the same feeling.Next month, the London-listed education giant will face its own version of this peculiar kind of torture, as it learns whether Texas plans to renew its contract for Pearson to provide testing in schools. The deal is a valuable one, worth around $500m (£310m) over five years. It is also a matter of particular strategic importance.Texas is amongst America’s biggest and most influential states when it comes to education spending – the linchpin in the North American market, which accounts for 59pc of Pearson’s revenues and 66pc of its profits. And it has a long history of doing business with the British company, whose chief executive cut his teeth in the US textbook market, and whose former boss, Dame Marjorie Scardino, is herself American.If the educational testing business were an election, this would count as Pearson’s safe seat. Yet there are signs Pearson may be about to lose its grip on its traditional stronghold. An audit of the Texas Education Agency recently found problems with the way the Pearson contract was tendered and managed.Questions have been raised in a number of different states over the quality of Pearson’s digital courses. An influential religious lobby group, the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, has meanwhile lambasted the publisher over one of its textbooks, for allegedly drawing exaggeratedly close links between Moses’s Ten Commandments and the US constitution.Texas has not awarded the testing contract yet, but industry sources fear it will not go Pearson’s way.The company is large enough to swallow this sort of hit, of course. Pearson, which also owns the Financial Times and a 47pc stake in Penguin Random House, made £871m last year, on revenues of £5.2bn. A $100m-a-year dent is not going to send it into the red.However, the tussle for Texas follows a difficult 12 months, and analysts fear that it could be the harbinger of more problems to come.The company has already issued three profit warnings since last April, repeatedly blaming a decline in college enrolments and public spending cutbacks which have battered the North American market. “Our biggest business, North America, is facing the most difficult trading conditions in a decade,” said Mr Fallon earlier this year.Most of its income in the region comes from the education business, which does everything from publishing traditional college text books to designing interactive digital courses, many of which students can follow at their own speed. Meanwhile, the testing unit under fire in Texas writes and manages the regular assessments used to calculate students’ grades. An increasing number are computer-based.In August, the business suffered another painful blow. Pearson and Apple were both dropped from a $1bn project to supply digital textbooks on iPads to schools throughout Los Angeles, amid concerns that they were in contact with the schools authority before the contract was awarded.They will be allowed to apply for the contract again, but Pearson’s odds don’t look good after an official report lambasted the quality of its product. The course fell short of “minimum requirements” because “there were numerous lessons and even entire units missing across every grade level”, the Los Angeles Unified School District said.Pearson is not the first to be criticised in this way. A number of publishing houses have been reprimanded for the quality of their digital courses — something the industry regards as teething problems.“In this transition from print to digital, we don’t have all the infrastructure, but directionally things are moving the right way,” a Pearson spokesman said.“There are short-term headwinds and long-term opportunities. It is not going to be a clear, straight path. It’s hard work. It’s a case of trial and error as you innovate. The question is, ‘How quickly do you learn?’”They echoed Fallon’s view, that Pearson is grappling with the shift to digital at the same time as it is being buffeted by a confluence of powerful external factors. The budget cuts and reduction in enrolments come hand in hand with increasing political tensions.“The polarising politics that have already affected everything else, [are now] crossing into the classroom. There is no doubt in my mind that education within the US and globally is going through the biggest transformation any of us have seen in a generation or more,” the spokesman added.Some analysts argue that Dame Marjorie carefully timed her exit at the end of 2012. Pearson expanded enormously under her tenure, using a series of acquisitions to develop digital products and expand in emerging markets, notably China.Mr Fallon, these analysts argue, is now unfairly having to grapple with a ragtag bag of companies, shouldering the blame for a combination of changing market dynamics and decisions taken by his predecessor.Others claim Dame Marjorie is the one being scapegoated. They argue that the FTSE 100 business she led for 16 years is wobbling because of much more recent decisions, and that Fallon has lost key staff and contracts because of a reduction of investment in digital projects.Whichever interpretation one adopts it is clear that Pearson’s troubles are not all of its own making. Its current turbulence started at a time when the tectonic plates of the education industry were already shifting rapidly. Part of this is down to a redrawing of the battle lines between established rivals. In America, McGraw-Hill Education has lately sharpened its focus on digital products under new chief executive David Levin, the former boss of UBM.News Corp’s education division has also upped its game, under the guidance of Joel Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor.But there are also a number of new rivals bearing down on the sector: Some of these are start-ups. We are in the midst of an unparalleled splurge in investment in new digital education businesses. In 2008, venture capital firms ploughed just $200m into the sector. This year, that sum is on course for $1bn.Meanwhile, established technology giants like Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Samsung are all making inroads into the industry, in the hope that they will build loyal audiences to sell other products to down the line. “We’ve handed education to the big software and hardware providers,” says a senior industry figure. “Google is slated to have 20m teachers working on Google apps, and it’s all free. The margins are different because the motivations are different. Google can give away education because it is securing customers for the future.”At the moment, the big technology companies tend to partner with the traditional players – Apple was supposed to provide the iPads for LA’s $1bn digital project, for example, but Pearson was responsible for the content. However, we have already seen this story play out in other industries. It is only a matter of time before these technology giants start producing their own content, and try to disintermediate the traditional publishers altogether.“Partnering with one of these guys is like going to bed with a serial rapist,” one senior source says. “It is only a matter of time.”He identifies Amazon as the biggest single threat. Its motivation is clear. The more educational content it provides, the more likely it is users will become dependent on its ecosystem and use it for future purchases.Organisations that are not trying to make money arguably pose an even greater challenge, however. In 2011, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, ring-fenced between $1.5bn and $2.5bn to fund education projects. The endowment, informally dubbed the Zuckerberg fund, is a relatively low-key operation at the moment, but industry figures speculate that he will end up tackling education, in much the same way as Microsoft founder Bill Gates established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve world health.Those sorts of initiatives should only ever be welcomed, but they do not make life easier for traditional education companies.One former Pearson executive argues that “for-profit” organisations in education are “seriously under threat”, and could end up losing their footing altogether.But the Pearson’s spokesman feels differently. “The private sector has a pivotal role to play,” they say.Either way, Pearson has reached a crucial moment in its trajectory. Fallon has to whip the ragtag bag of businesses he inherited into a smart, digital company. Otherwise, the venture capital firms could soon start circling and pick-pick-pick it away.
