Hand Saga 2: Nail Guns

My wife, not a fan of my blog, has urged me to share my story as a warning to others.

My little accident on March 19 occurred using a framing nail gun I wasn't used to. Normally I use a battery-powered finish nailer for thinner wood. But 2x4s require a 2-3 inch full size nail to hold boards together. In the old days hammers were used - and how often would I mash my thumb - I wasn't very good at hammering either -- nowadays most people use guns -- you can hear the constant thwack on construction jobs.

We have a state of the art gas-powered Passlode (expensive) framing gun. I was building a bench and had to nail  two 2x4s together. I used my left hand to steady the wood and shot the nail with my right. I didn't have the gun lined up correctly and the nail passed through the first piece but missed the second by a hair, apparently nicking the tip of the fleshy part of my palm just below the area of where the thumb meets the forefinger. The nail did not embed - there was little pain or blood - just a small indentation.
[Spoiler alert -- later revealed to not be the result of nail but a small piece of wood - a very big splinter - shot into my hand and embedded.]

I thought little of it. I pressed a paper towel - probably not clean - against it and went on to finish nailing the rest of the bench. One thing I realized on the shot that got me - this tool is very powerful and has a kick - so I was pretty careful in using it from then on.

A former doctor was working with me on the bench and urged me to wash the wound and use the first aid kit -- i put some antiseptic and gauze over it and when i got home i put some iodine. I went to the city and by the evening there was pain in my fingers and inflammation beyond the wound. I took advil when i got home and swelling went down and pain went away -- that was my solution -- masking the dangers.

Friday i told my wife and she said i should go to local urgent care. i was too busy. Same on Saturday - but by evening it was clear i had to go. As i chronicled in a previous post i went sunday morning -updated - talk to the hand - Lessons Learned: The quality of a doctor matters more than that of a teacher - you can lose your hand to flesh-eating bacteria the urgent care doc was not alarmed. He should have been. Sunday night we decided i had to go to my doc. And he sounded an alarm - hoping a dose of IV antibiotic would work. Monday eve at Gigi - it seemed to be working. Tues morn it looked to be reversing. Tues afternoon things were getting bad.

Tired from typing with 1 finger. Back next time with next chapter.

Opt Out: CORE CAUCUS (CHICAGO) does what Unity caucus won't

What a shame that tiny grassroots groups like Change the Stakes has to strain its resources to reach out to parents when the uft has the infrastructure to reach every school in the city -- just watch them when there's a lousy contract to pass or a uft election. I helped Mike Schirtzer write this plank in the MORE testing reso turned down at the DA.

CTS has the kind of resources you can use on its site.

NEW!!! Opting Out of the State ELA & Math Tests in NYC: Frequently Asked Questions

Share with your colleagues and parents -- opt out is our only defense against the onslaught and the uft is missing in action.

CORE which runs the 2nd largest teacher union in the nation has a different approach:

http://www.coreteachers.org/ provides resources to teachers and parents. Here are a few.

LSC Letter Opposing PARCC

PARCC Elementary Powerpoint

PARCC for Parents

Know Your Rights!!

PARCC for Teachers

Know Your Rights!!!

Students Know Your Rights Cards 2015

OPT-OUT

More Than A Score: Chicago

PARCC Opt Out Toolbox

Raise Your Hand Illinois

Right to Refuse Tools

Chicago Teacher Union Against PARCC

CTU: PARCC Opt-Out Guidelines

Get Informed

Can Our School Lose $ For Opting Out? Flyer

Download and Share

Answer is No!

Nuestras Escuelas Podrian Perder $$$?

La respuesta es, NO!

For Students With IEP's: Test Preference Form

CPS STUDENTS: REFUSE THE PARCC – IT’S YOUR RIGHT!

Download and Share

Is NY Times Incompetent Ed Coverage Intentional?

Do reporters at the New York Times know that cheating occurs? We’re fairly sure they do! Just last Tuesday, a news report in the Times ran beneath this headline:“Closing Arguments Begin in Test Cheating Trial of 12 Atlanta Educators”. In the past few years, cheating scandals have been so huge that even our most famous newspapers have managed to report them. But by force of habit and dint of culture, reporters still fail to connect the dots when it comes to a topic like this.

Has Governor Cuomo thought about this? We don’t have the slightest idea! Our mightiest paper, the New York Times, seems disinclined to ask.... Daily Howler

One of my fave topics is the biased, but mostly no-nothing reporting on education - and probably most other issues. The tabloids have long-time ed beat writers who get to know the local ed scene but often distort their reporting to reflect editorial. The Times has a different tactic - inexperience - sort of a tfa for ed reporting. People who really know the beat, like Mike Winerip or Anna Philips, are pushed out for new blood that doesn't have a clue. Why? Because the more experience, the more the ed deform scam becomes clear and if honest, a good reporter can't really distort the issues in favor of the deformers.

Leonie has a good piece on her blog: NYC Public School Parents:
Is the tug of war on education policy between liberal "reform proponents" and the unions, as the NY Times argues, or the 1% and nearly everyone else?

in the process of writing about this ideological battle, the reporter, Maggie Haberman, characterizes Democrats for Education Reform, one of the principle hedge fund-backed lobby groups as a “left of center group,” which is absurd.  For some reason, DFER has managed to persuade reporters that it has any liberal credentials, despite the fact that as Diane Ravitch pointed out, the California Democratic Party has repudiated it.  

Parents Across America wrote an open letter to the NPR ombudsman in 2011, objecting to the fact that Claudio Sanchez, the NPR reporter, had called DFER a “liberal” organization, while quoting their criticism of the progressive participants in the anti-corporate reform Save Our Schools march in DC.   

We also pointed out that DFER’s founder, hedge fund operator Whitney Tilson, admitted that the only reason he put “Democrats” in the organization’s title and focused on convincing Democrats to adopt their pro-privatization agenda was that GOP leaders were already in agreement with most of their positions.

And the Howler takes the Times to task on reporting on the evaluation issue where he raises the purposeful ignoring of cheating as a factor -- go test some of Eva's charter kids at random in June - or September.

updated - talk to the hand - Lessons Learned: The quality of a doctor matters more than that of a teacher - you can lose your hand to flesh-eating bacteria

Friday - March 27, 10:30 pm -

[update - this was one of my last blog posts -- originally posted Tues march 24, 2015 but reverted to draft as new info on my hand came in -- back from 3 nights in joint diseases hospital today [friday] after operation on hand - yes very scary stuff -- when i wrote this tues morn i was optimistic - by late afternoon i figured i was being attacked by flesheating bacteria - not true - i hope -- excuse one hand typing -- will give details in follow-up tomorrow with perspectives on health care and a surprise about what they found in my hand --- and you wont be seeing me at tomorrow's or any rallies or events for a while. thanks to those who sent best wishes.]

march 24, 12pm

The assault on teachers is so outlandish - and seemingly accepted by so much of our society and the press - that the lack of similar calls for other professions is stark.

Let's look at doctors -- I had a very personal experience with over the past few days that illustrates an important point -- there is a qualitative difference between physicians --- and it is not something that can be quantified.

This is a lesson to anyone who thinks they might have a minor, self-treating injury.

A tale of 2 treatments

Last Thursday, I was building a bench for a project and using a gas-powered framing nail gun, a tool I had not used before, I shot the first nail and it went in on an angle and the tip caught a bit of the fleshy part of my left palm -- it looked like maybe an eighth of an inch. There was no pain and little blood -- I wrapped it in a paper towel. One of the guys is an ex-physician and urged me to wash it out with water -- the best thing you can use he said. "It's nothing," I said but did use the first aid kit about a half hour later to dab it with some antiseptic and put some gauze on it. When I got home I put some iodine and a bandaid and went off to the city to see a movie and meet a friend for dinner.

It began to hurt like a bitch while I was on the subway -- my fingers were bothering me and there was some swelling. When I got home I took some advil and it felt better. The Advil seemed to control the swelling and inflammation and the pain.

Friday I worked at the theater building sets and it wasn't really bothering me but the area was inflamed. Friday afternoon I went off to the city - in the snowstorm - to check out the NYCORE rehearsal for the next day, then on to the downtown MORE meeting and finally off to the gala Rockaway Theatre Company party at El Caribe in Mill Basin - I didn't get home 'till midnight - took some Advil and again felt better.

Up early Saturday morning for the all-day NYCORE conference. By the afternoon my hand was looking real ugly -- I took the band-aid off to show Janice who was working with me at the MORE table and she winced. Gloria and Lisa thought I should head home and skip the after party  -- so I headed home at 6PM -- my wife took one look and said I should go to a local urgent care clinic Sunday morning -- which I did.

The doctor said it was infected, put me in antibiotics, gave me a topical salve and gave me a tetanus shot. He said give it 2 or 3 days and come back if it wasn't getting better. Then I was off to my acting class at the theater.

By Sunday night every part of my hand was inflamed. How could it be from such a little nick? We were going into the city on Monday so I called my doctor whose office is on 38th street and got an appointment at 3PM.

He took one look and shook his head at the remedies the urgent care doc had given me. The anti-biotic was not really a very good one and the salve was useless. I needed an anti-biotic IV, which he gave me for about a half hour and prescribed a new anti-biotic. The IV was essential, something the urgent care doctor didn't seem to recognize.

My doc told me I was in real danger if I had neglected this- necritis - hand injuries are very dangerous due to confined space. That this was a tiny entry wound that closed up and didn't bleed much in essence trapped the infection. It would have been better if the nail had gone straight through.

Then we were off to dinner and a show - a preview of Gigi.  He told me to come back Thursday for another IV if the swelling doesn't go down. I still feel like I'm in danger as there is still ugly discoloration -- I'd show you a pic but don't want you to lose your appetite.

So, coming back to the beginning issue: The urgent care doc was not as astute as my personal doc in understanding the situation - which is why you get 2nd opinions.

Clearly, the reason I shlep into the city to see my doctor is because he is so good.

I don't see Cuomo very worried about rating health care workers. I don't advocate doing that to them - or to teachers - or any profession.

There will always be degrees of competence in any profession and that will never be fixed.

It is only when it comes to teachers that the world has seemingly gone crazy.

Fred Smith Exposed NY State Ed/Pearson Test Tamper Scams

“They produced a defective product, and don’t want you to know about it,” said Fred Smith, a former city test analyst who discovered the missing items... The alterations suggest serious flaws in the high-stakes tests, which Gov. Cuomo wants to rely on more heavily to rate students, teachers and schools, said Smith, who published his findings last week in City Limits magazine... NY Post

http://nypost.com/2015/03/22/state-scrubs-exam-questions-too-many-students-didnt-answer/


Fred, a stalwart Change the Stakes core member followed up with this:

We must use SED's dishonesty to support the following:

• An independent investigation of the NYS Testing Program and the SED/Pearson relationship.
• A sufficient reason for parents to opt their children out of the April exams and for teachers to actively encourage them.  And leverage for MORE to use against the UFT's double games.
• The implementation of better assessment alternatives as a replacement for the current useless year-to-year abominations.
• The ouster of Ken Wagner, SED's chief stonewaller, and the above-it-all Chancellor Tisch.
• A demand for transparency and revision of the NYS Truth-in-Testing Law.
• Pressure on the Regents and politicians to do what's necessary and in their self-interest by supporting this agenda.  Better late than never.

Fred

NY Post piece below.

Opt Out in the black community: Meeting With a Brooklyn Elementary School PTA

Others talked about how their children loved school - until they hit a testing wall - and started not liking school in the 3rd grade. The very same stories I hear coming from white parents.... My Report from a PTA meeting.

There is a common assumption that opting out of tests in urban areas is for the gentrified white middle class - the Arne Duncan line - but also something I hear from my friends on the left.

And gentrified areas are certainly where opt out started here in NYC, with the hot beds being Washington Heights and Park Slope.

We all recognized that from Day 1 but I eschewed the supposed reasons - that the black community wanted tests and the idea they viewed the opt out movement with suspicion would turn out to be overblown as the negatives of the tests were impacted their own children. After all, just look at the outcomes of the one-test judgement in the specialty schools like Stuy and Bronx High? Not a lot of their kids make it to those schools, though at Brooklyn Tech there always was a higher level of black students (including a bunch I taught in the 70s). I think even that level has dropped in recent years.

Change the Stakes made a conscious effort to start reaching out to the communities of color -- by sending reps to speak at district monthly Community Education Council (CEC) meetings - even if they are poorly attended. Newly posted-

• Opting Out of the State ELA and Math Tests in NYC: Frequently Asked Questions

Slowly, CTS has been making headway and when a Brooklyn elementary school PTA President asked Change the Stakes to send a representative to speak about opting out to parents at a PTA meeting last week, no parent was available that morning and I was asked to represent the group.

Two parent activists from Brooklyn New School (PS 146) also signed on to join me. BNS PAC web page materials: http://www.bns146.org/content/parent-action-committee-pac.

• About Opting-out of the State Tests
• How do the State Tests Affect Children and Teachers?

About 15-20 parents showed up to the meeting and almost all of them were black. I knew the school and had assumed it was more of a racially mixed school. It is a Title 1 school. My guess is that there is a strong middle class component amongst the black parents at this particular meeting - a key group in extending the opt out movement. I'm guessing we will see opt out hit black schools in eastern Queens and possibly Canarsie before places like Brownsville and East NY.

As for the charter schools inundating the city, choice is no choice when it comes to opting out. A parent opting out in an Eva school will be opted right out of the school.

I shared some of my personal experiences with the impact of high stakes tests in my own school with a principal who pushed testing above all else. Stories came flooding back to me of how students were impacted and how my teaching was affected. The BNS parents answered questions about opting out.

It was a lively discussion. One parent talked about how her child was impacted and suffered anxiety and depression. Another said her daughter would do fine and didn't have a problem. The BNS parents said their kids would also do fine but for them there were bigger issues. They didn't expect everyone to see it that way but they were there to make sure people knew their options to opt out. Others talked about how their children loved school - until they hit a testing wall - and started not liking school in the 3rd grade. The very same stories I hear coming from white parents.

I was very impressed with the PTA president - for her leadership and her ability to articulate issues. The school is very lucky to have her and her crew.

The principal was there for part of the meeting and sent her AP over to cover the rest. Both seemed like decent people -- but who really knows. After the meeting, she asked me to take a quick tour of the school with her to demonstrate they did not do constant test prep -- she felt my presentation about my principal might have given the parents the wrong impression.

My instinct was that this a school where the PTA is not controlled by the administration. A very good thing. The PTA president asked me to drop off a dvd of our film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, which I hope she shows at a future meeting. We became facebook friends and I am hoping she brings her talents to CTS and helps extend the outreach of the anti-high stakes testing and opt out movement.

She said she would see us at this Saturday's demo at Cuomo's office - and she was bringing her 3rd grade daughter.

ADD-ON:
Brownsville DID have a school with a big opt out last year! Parents from PS 446, Riverdale Community School joined with parents from BNS and Arts & Letters (Brooklyn's D13) for a joint press conference. Here is a link to video of a 446 parent at that event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7gNvimLp-k.

Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin's Credit Recovery Graduation Scam -- DUHHHH!

The NY Post has a story today about John Dewey HS that has been all over Ed Notes for 9 months. Double DUHHHH! And I love how good old anti-teacher and union reporter Carl Campanile threads the needle:

Teaching kids takes so much effort, staffers at John Dewey HS in Brooklyn have found a quicker way to fix persistent failure rates...

Schmuck. Principal Elvin and her APs set up a fear factory and set policy and force people to adhere to it, especially the untenured - which Carl and his paper are so opposed to. Double schmuck.

Oh, la di da -- some "staffers" decided they didn't want to put effort into teaching children and out of the blue came up with a scheme. Triple schmuck.

When the DOE, which has been informed about these schemes for over a year or more -- but only when contacted by the press - and the Post is not the only one doing a story on this -- did they act like it was news to them.

Here are just a few Ed Notes posts on the Dewey and Elvin story -- in case Carl Campanile and the rest of the press want to really know what's going on.

John Dewey HS Update: Principal ...

Mar 07, 2015

Dewey has one of the highest number of ineffective rated teachers by Elvin while at the same time she claims enormous success due to fraudulent credit recovery schemes. Red flag anyone? Here are the latest comments:

 

The 12 Days of Christmas With Principal Kathleen Elvin at ...

Dec 25, 2014

Based on the comments, a major issue is a phony credit recovery scheme and some ridiculous work rules imposed by the Elvin administrators, some of whom seem to be so awful. Hearing about how these slugs continue to ...

 

John Dewey's Principal Kathleen Elvin ...

Dec 10, 2014

Gerard Papa, 61, who runs Flames, a basketball tournament and mentoring program for 700 kids ages 8 to 19, says Kathleen Elvin, the principal of John Dewey High School, closed off the school's secondary gym last ...

 

Updated: Kathleen Elvin and AP Emily ...

Sep 26, 2014

Are Elvin and Creveling the local version of ISIS, using this teacher as a hostage in retaliation for actions taken by the union - beheading the teacher, economically, by taking her job. The actions of Principal Elvin, along with ...

 

John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin ...

Sep 25, 2014

“We're sorry you won't have health insurance for your child and thank you for serving your country. You're fired!” • Single Mother • Iraq War Veteran • Teaching for Only Four Months This is who Elvin and the AP of English ...

 

No Change of Tone at John Dewey HS ...

Jun 26, 2014

Kathleen Elvin was sent into John Dewey HS as a closer a few years ago - to make sure to drive the final nail in Dewey's coffin and remove many of the teachers, mostly senior. But the UFT lawsuit stopped that process over ...

 

John Dewey HS Update: Popular Teacher Dies Suddenly

Dec 17, 2014

Mrs Elvin, who was behind the non-stop attack on this teacher all last year and this year, was suddenly eulogizing her over the loudspeaker, and making sure everyone knew she was so deeply, deeply saddened by the loss of ...

 The Post story below the break.

 

Watching a great teacher work: What I learned in acting class on Sunday

Since I've gotten involved in many back and front stage aspects of the theater out here in Rockaway, I've learned to appreciate live theater in so many ways - from set design, lighting, sound and the essentials of acting.

There are reasons to go see revivals because different actors - and more important, directors, bring a wide variety of prespectives to the play and the various roles.

Thus my recent visit (I'm a Mad Man About Peggy) to The Heidi Chronicles with Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss' unique interpretation was just one slice of how that play could have been presented. (The Times gave it a top-level review).

I've been taking a Sunday morning acting class at the Rockaway Theatre Company (RTC) with 28-year old Frank Ciaiti, a guidance counselor in the DOE, my 3rd or 4th class with Frank in the past 6 years. Frank was trying full-time acting when I met him and is now bringing his wide-ranging talents to his middle school in Brooklyn.

He was recruited to RTC over a decade ago as a student at Leon Goldstein HS in Brooklyn by some of his teachers there who are mainstays at RTC.

So in this class people are teamed to rehearse and perform a scene. My partner is a young NYC Queens middle school theater teacher. She chose a scene for us to do from "On Golden Pond" - where I play the Henry Fonda "dad" role - and my name is Norman, so that solves one memory issue. She plays the Jane Fonda daughter part. This is the famous reconciliation scene on the dock, with dad in the row boat and daughter on the dock. They never got a along. With great difficulty, she makes the first move. After we did a run through Frank jumped in with pointers. Since we are both static we needed a way to avoid each other so Frank told me not to look at her and to be fishing so I had something to occupy myself. I also played it with some sarcastic responses which he felt was not the way to do it -- but dad does say somethings that hurt daughter. So we do the scene and when I say these words, she starts to cry-- really cry. She tapped into something that made her emotional. Holy shit! Acting 101. She had to pull herself together. I have seen that on stage and always took if for granted. But to play an active role in it makes me appreciate acting for all it's worth. J is a wonderful actress - I've seen her in a few roles, notably as one of the stewardesses in Boeing Boeing and as one of the strippers in Gypsy. What a treat to be working with her -- and to have Frank to guide us.

There were other scenes performed today where Frank jumped in to guide people. In The Graduate, an older Mrs. Robinson had to seduce young Benjamin. The actress, a woman probably around 60 - a retired DOE teacher I believe - was working with a 23 year old - and seemed uncomfortable in going far enough to make the scene effective. Frank yelled -- "you want to screw him - every single line - even innocuous ones - must have that behind it. Stop being a Jewish grandmother." Then he tells her to touch him. She grazes his shoulder. Frank laughs. "Grab his inner thigh," he orders. I won't go on -- but this is amazing teaching.

And here is one more. Arthur Miller's "View From the Bridge" a Brooklyn waterfront drama. The 2010 revival with Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber, got good reviews.

This scene is between the wife and husband - he has a thing for the Johansson 17-year old house guest and is covering it up with anger at the young guy who is pursuing her - his wife gets what is going on. Now these are 2 veteran RTC actors - he played the Joe Hardy role in Damn Yankees and she had done many roles. So it was fascinating to see how Frank broke down the spots where each of them needed to ratchet things up or down. This was like going to a literary class studying the play. Much better of course. The emotion that emerged in different ways and how Frank adjusted things to get the emotion out at different times - and how skillfully the actors responded on a dime was like opening a window into so much I have always taken for granted regarding live theater.

Tomorrow we go to see Gigi -- and I think with some insights I might not have had before today.

Add on
So I also help build the sets. Last Wednesday I was using a gas powered framing nail gun and had my hand too close when I shot the nail on an angle and the tip of the nail clipped a bit of my palm. There was little blood and I put a bandage on it and some peroxide and took some Advil. But it's been bothering me and by Saturday's end of the NYCORE conference, even though some of my favorite people were going to the after-party at 6PM I felt I had to go home and take care of it. This morning I went to a local urgent care clinic and it is infected and I got some anti-biotics and some cream. It's burning like a bitch but here's hoping flesh-eating bacteria is staying away.

Lesson learned: Keep my free hand far away from certain tools. And go to the doctor sooner rather than later --I'd take a photo of my hand but you don't want to see that.

Videos: NYCORE 2015 Justice Not Just Tests Conference Keynotes - Strong Stories and dance of The Resistance

I spent all day Saturday at the NYCORE conference at James Baldwin HS. I had some great conversations with all kinds of people. 
 

Strong Stories and dance of The Resistance


Jose Vilson



Dao Tran


Jamila Lyiscott




Erica Doyle




Lady and Crystal




Rosie Frascella



NYCORE 2015 Loco-Motion Dance, Lola, Una

Marcella Sills Replacement at PS 106 in Rockaway uses same tactics

It is clear that the Farina/deBlasio administration has followed in the path of its predecessor BloomKleinites in protecting lousy, insane principals.

[PS 106Q Principal] Legions is married to the brother of a PS 106 dad who was friendly with Sills. The staff fears she is bent on retaliating against Sills’ detractors... NY Post

Sometimes the Post does some good things. It was only when they exposed Marcella Sills - for all the wrong reasons - that she was removed from the school and is still probably on the payroll in some cushy DOE version of supervisor rubber rooms - though would anyone be shocked to find she was still being used in some nefarious fashion? My beef with the Post was that the years of Sills' onslaught on teachers was left out of the story -- it was teacher whistle blowing that led to the story being told -- and believe me, there were years of ignored whistle blowing by the DOE and most of the press -- except Howie Schwach and I in The Wave.

Now we find her successor and apparent friend has been put in place to wipe out the anti-Sills whistle blowers. [Sills by the way came into power under the Kathy Cashin administration in Region 5 - Dist. 27 and 19].

Ed Notes had gads of stories in Sills and PS 106. Supt and Sills protector Lloyd-Bey was forced into retirement but I do not believe it was because of that but due to her not being on the Farina team. Here are a few ed notes recent posts -- use the search box to see years of them.

Marcella Sills Was a Humanitarian by Being Absent and Late

Feb 23, 2014

I read the misconduct report and could not believe the lies Ms. Sills put forth. I am a former teacher at this school and I was actually glad when she wouldn't arrive. I would have time to teach to the students needs. When she ...

Exclusive - Ed Notes Online - Blogger

Jan 13, 2014

Ms. Sills has not really cared about students well being or academic progress. She has a political hierarchy she has developed to intimidate teachers and parents. Meetings were held by parents to address the over-priced ...

Ed Notes Online: PS 106 Update: Retired Teacher Writes to ...

Jan 17, 2014

I am one of the teachers who was unfortunately disrespected, abused and suffered greatly under the incompetent leadership of Principal Marcella Sills at PS 106Q. As a matter of fact, at this writing I am still involved in a ...

Ed Notes Online: PS 106 Update: Councilman Donovan ...

Jan 13, 2014

And a teacher just called saying she actually met with Kathy Cashin about this school when Cashin led Region 5 and in essence hired Sills - though we think Lloyd-Bay was the mover. She said Lloyd-Bey sent over district ...

New ‘School of No’ principal drawing ire of teachers

http://nypost.com/2015/03/22/new-school-of-no-principal-drawing-fire-from-teachers/
Post story below the break.

The Opt Out movement is a bomb set off at ground zero of ed deform

Opt out nukes ed deform

Teacher led fight backs against ed deform have generally been a dud and parents have never been organized enough to make a major impact. But common core and high stakes testing has galvanized resistance from both the left and the right. Despite the billions in astroturfed money going to spread ed deform, we are seeing a growing counter-reaction.

And we also are seeing the stages of a major reaction against charters - the more they push down people's throats the more scandals. Eva who pushes choice doesn't give her parents a choice to opt out.

Even PBS reported on the opt out movement - yesterday at the NYCORE conference I challenged some Chalkbeat people to cover that movement in a serious, in depth manner.

I'm going to follow up with my report of my meeting with a PTA in a Title I school but for now let me repost a Ravitch blog that had the Fair Test report:

FairTest: Test Resistance Goes Viral

The Opt Out movement is spreading like wildfire. It is led by parents, not unions, though some union locals have voted to honor the wishes of parents. Parents understand that the tests are designed to fail most children. They understand that test prep and testing are stealing time from instruction. They aren’t commanded by anyone. They are listening to their children

This message was written by Bob Schaeffer of FairTest:
Normally, FairTest sends out these news clips summaries once a week, early each Tuesday afternoon. With school standardized exam season now in full gear, however, the flow of stories about testing resistance and reform actions is accelerating rapidly. This special edition — with updates from more than half the 50 states over just three days — reports on the first, too-modest steps by policy makers across the U.S. to respond to the growing grassroots pressure for assessment reform.

As more students opt out, parents demonstrate, school board members pass resolutions and polls show strong public opposition to test misuse and overuse, we are confident that there will be many more updates by next Tuesday and in the coming weeks.

Exposing the New Orleans privatization sham where "Choice" turns into no choice

Our stories can help stop this madness! As other cities plan to copy the New Orleans model, it's very important that the voices of parents who are finding that their children are seen as acceptable collateral damage in a market based education system.  Please share these parent voices widely and often. ... Karen Harper Royal from the belly in the beast, Parent Voices from New Orleans: http://bit.ly/

In the topsy turvy world of ed deform, destructive hurricanes are a good thing - if they wipe out public school systems. Karen started out as seeing charter schools as an option. She found out real fast what they were all about.
Here is a post from today dealing with the consequences of charter school failure.

Punishing Children for Charter School Failure in New Orleans

I've found myself in the unenviable position of having to say "don't close this charter school."  Here is an article and my recent blog piece that explains my predicament. 

Article:
http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/03/why_is_an_activist_who_has_fou.html#incart_most_shared-opinions

My recent Blog post: http://bit.ly/FixNOLA

NOLAChoice2

Here is a video of Karen I did at the Parents Across America debut event in New York with Leonie introducing Karen 4 years ago.




If you meet parents who extol charters, send them to Karen.

MORE's Mindy mocks Cuomo at Crooks and Liars blog

What is it with these MORE's, writing, speaking, organizing, leading - all over the place.

Credit: DonkeyHotey

t

As a long-time special education teacher, I have been disheartened by Governor Cuomo. Back in January, he laid out his plans to reform public education which included an overhaul of how we are evaluated.

Gov. Cuomo Declares War On Special Education

By Mindy Rosier 

 

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/03/new-yorks-governor-cuomos-war-special

 

Hey, Norm, why do you keep doing this stuff when you can put your feet up and rest?

To get to know people like Mindy.

 

DOE reverses contract - Leonie Haimson wins another one -- who will stop this lady?

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's LEONIE

In a startling reversal, the city’s Department of Education has canceled a $637 million contract it approved only a month ago for a private firm to provide computer services to all public schools, the Daily News has learned.
The Panel for Educational Policy voted on Feb. 24 to award the five-year contract — one of the costliest in school system history....
The critics jumped into action after Leonie Haimson, director of the watchdog group Class Size Matters, came across a tiny reference to a proposed $1.1 billion contract for Custom, one that was published on the school system’s website less than two weeks before the Feb. 24 meeting.
Haimson quickly alerted Public Advocate Letitia James and Helen Rosenthal, head of City Council’s contracts committee.... NYDN

Leonie never stops working. She needs to give herself a Skinny Award this year.

“It is good news for taxpayers that the city decided to stop this egregious contract,” Haimson said. “Now we need institutional reforms, including a new law requiring the Department of Education to publicly disclose all proposed contracts at least one month before being voted on.”

I can't even talk about some of the amazing stuff Leonie has done. Can someone do a Superhero logo with a big L or H or both on it?

After City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal threatened a City Council oversight hearing, aides to de Blasio and Fariña began to reconsider their actions.

In a startling reversal, the city’s Department of Education has canceled a $637 million contract it approved only a month ago for a private firm to provide computer services to all public schools, the Daily News has learned.
The Panel for Educational Policy voted on Feb. 24 to award the five-year contract — one of the costliest in school system history — to Long Island-based Custom Computer Specialists, Inc.
But on Thursday, the agency unexpectedly notified Custom that it was rescinding the award, rejecting three other competing bids, and will instead seek new requests for proposals.
The Department of Education “believes that its objectives can be better met by a new procurement that affords greater flexibility,” David Ross, director of contracting for the city’s schools, said in a letter, a copy of which The News obtained.
“It’s better to get things done right than to get them done quickly,” one city official said.
The about-face marks an unusual admission by the de Blasio administration that it botched a major initiative.
It follows a flurry of meetings in the past few weeks between school officials, City Hall aides, and a handful of elected officials furious at the way Custom was chosen.
The critics jumped into action after Leonie Haimson, director of the watchdog group Class Size Matters, came across a tiny reference to a proposed $1.1 billion contract for Custom, one that was published on the school system’s website less than two weeks before the Feb. 24 meeting.
Haimson quickly alerted Public Advocate Letitia James and Helen Rosenthal, head of City Council’s contracts committee.
Both immediately demanded more information from the Education Department. They especially wanted to know how Custom had been chosen, since the firm had previously been cited in a criminal probe for looking the other way while a corrupt school system consultant stole millions of dollars from the city.
School officials only made matters worse by waiting until the eve of the Feb. 24 vote before releasing any details about the contract. Those details showed Custom had been selected despite lower bids from two other competitors.
Even more surprising, they announced at the eleventh hour that they had somehow managed to negotiate a sharp reduction in Custom’s final price — to a still-whopping $637 million.
At the actual actual vote, several members of the educational panel openly complained about the lack of transparency from school system staff and questioned the rush to award the contract.
Ross and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña told them the city could lose up to $23 million in federal reimbursements for Internet funds if the contract was not in place by the end of the March.
But with Rosenthal threatening a City Council oversight hearing and with several Panel for Educational Policy members still unhappy following their vote, aides to de Blasio and Fariña began to reconsider their actions.
The Education Department heard from the panel “as well as elected officials, about their concerns regarding the procurement process and decided that issuing a new restructured procurement . . . will allow us to reach the best possible outcome,” Ray Orlando, the schools system’s financial chief, said in a statement.
“I’m happily stunned the administration actually listened to our concerns and acted on them,” Rosenthal said.
“It is good news for taxpayers that the city decided to stop this egregious contract,” Haimson said. “Now we need institutional reforms, including a new law requiring the Department of Education to publicly disclose all proposed contracts at least one month before being voted on.”

Lower Manhattan schools networked to rally together

I consider this significant -- the UFT historically liked to keep schools as independent islands to give them greater control. MORE people tried networking in areas where they could -- and the UFT was in - suprisingly - or maybe not due to the threat Cuomo posed. Let's see what happens after the deal is done.
In the meantime if you want to get out of the snow Friday afternoon:

Hi everyone! We're having MORE's downtown meet-up tomorrow 5:30pm at Karavas Place, 164 W4th Street. Let's regroup, strategize and get ready to fight back against Cuomo's education agenda!... Alexandra Alves

MORE's John Antush reports:

The Villager article on the Day of Action, featuring extensive coverage of the march and rally at Washington Square park and MORE members at PS 2 and City As School.  We did our own press release and outreach, got permits, and did the whole nine yards with a march and rally. We focused on the Standardized Testing issue and the importance of having alternatives to standardized testing. This was done from the ground up, within our school communities. I'm hoping we can build on this sense of camaraderie to form a real D1 & D2 council of UFT members that can support each other school-to-school, have regular meetings, and carry out educational events and actions. 

http://thevillager.com/2015/03/19/schools-take-to-the-streets-to-protest-cuomos-reforms/

Schools take to the streets to protest Cuomo’s reforms

March 19, 2015 

Students, staff and parents at P.S. 41, the Greenwich Village School, rallied on Thurs., March 12, against Governor Cuomo’s school reform plans. Photo by David Allee

BY ZACH WILLIAMS  |  Teachers, students, parents and administrators across the city rallied on March 12 against Governor Cuomo’s education agenda.

Particularly vexing for opponents are proposed reforms announced in January that would make standardized-testing scores 50 percent of teachers’ evaluations, as well as grant them tenure only after five consecutive years of “effective” ratings under the plan.

In response, union representatives, as well as teachers, students, and staff from dozens of city schools, participated in demonstrations throughout the day, mostly on a school-by-school basis. In Lower Manhattan, actions were scheduled at a half-dozen schools south of 14th St.

These included the Neighborhood School and the Earth School in the East Village, Downtown’s Spruce St. School, P.S. 2 Meyer London School in the Lower East Side, and P.S. 3 and City As School High School in the Village.

For teachers and students at City As School, the governor’s proposed changes are at odds with the alternative high school’s effort to boost student achievement through internships and student projects rather than more traditional pedagogical approaches. About 100 people associated with the high school congregated near its entrance on Clarkson St. in the afternoon, then marched to a “teach-out” in Washington Square Park.

“Standardized testing can’t judge what we do,” said Marcus McArthur, an English and social sciences teacher at the school. “We are here and we are raising and creating innovators not test takers. We got the next great generation of poets and authors and artists and scientists — and the tests, they have nothing to do with that work.”

Momentum continued for their cause over the weekend when Public Advocate Letitia James held a rally at City Hall on Sunday criticizing Cuomo’s pairing of increased funding with the proposals.

Cuomo announced education reforms in January that would make $1.1 billion in new funding contingent on the state Legislature approving his plans. In addition to the changes in teacher evaluations and tenure, the new approach would also require that, if a school fails to show adequate progress through student test scores for three consecutive years, then another school district, nonprofit organization or a “turnaround technocrat” — as the critics put it — would take over management of the “failing” school.

Under the current teacher-evaluation system, 40 percent of teacher scores are determined by student growth based on assessments or tests — with half of that from state evaluations, and as much as 20 percent over all from “locally determined” measures that Cuomo is seeking to eliminate. The remaining 60 percent of the scores comes from observations of teachers, which vary by school district.

City As School students and staff held a press conference in front of the Clarkson St. school, then marched up to Washington Square for a rally. Photo by Zach Williams

According to a February 2015 report from the Governor’s Office, there is a stark disparity between teachers rated as effective — more than 90 percent statewide in the 2013-14 school year — and the amount of students judged proficient in English and math in state testing, roughly 35 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

Four local Manhattan schools below 14th St. were labeled as “failing” in the governor’s report: Henry St. School for International Studies, Marta Valle Secondary School, P.S. 15 and University Neighborhood Middle School.

“How can so many of our teachers be succeeding when so many of our students are struggling?” the report asks.

Cuomo’s education plan also seeks to raise the cap on charter schools in the state by 100 from 460, as well as make the cap apply statewide rather than by region. Under the current limit, New York City could only add 24 more charter schools.

Mayoral control of New York City schools, which is due to expire this year, would also be extended for three more years under Cuomo’s proposal.

Many people at the City As School demonstration, as well as others across the city, voiced suspicion that Cuomo’s plan would benefit corporations more than students. They urged the governor to visit more local schools and to address student poverty instead of overhauling the teacher-evaluation process.

During the City As School rally last Thursday, current and former students spoke about how traditional education had failed them until they arrived at the Clarkson St. building’s nurturing environment. One current student said she had a troubled experience at another school due to her ADHD. But she said that, thanks to the encouragement she received from teachers at City As School, she now plans on attending a local college after she graduates.

The Washington Square Park rally also was an opportunity to highlight the need for curriculum flexibility, especially at schools like City As School that serve students who have experienced difficulties elsewhere, noted Principal Alan Cheng.

“People had a chance to talk to our students, talk to our staff, to be able to understand what it is we do,” Cheng said, “our interdisciplinary courses, our project-based learning, our internships and the kind of impact we’ve been able to have on youngsters in our city.”

NY Post: Cuomo Numbers Drop on Ed Plan Despite Our Idiot, Biased, Assinine Assault on Teachers and the Union

And the same to you Student First, DFER, Eva, etc.

What does this tell us about the ed deform chorus with their millions of dollars?

Go ahead and read all these reports - I can't bear to do so myself - and see if anyone raises the idea that all these astroturf ed deform orgs with their millions of bucks - and the bullshit rally in Albany - can't not only move the needle in their direction, but have managed to move the needle in reverse.

A NEW LOW

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s statewide approval rating fell to 50 percent – the lowest it’s been since he took office in 2011 – largely due to his proposed education policy changes, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. The poll released Wednesday shows just 28 percent of voters approve of the governor’s actions on education.

• Capital NY,
• Wall Street Journal,
• NY Daily News,
• DNAinfo,
• NY1,
• The Journal News,
• NY Post
•  

EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION

The New York Daily News published a round-up of guest columns on the education policy initiatives being pushed by some of the most powerful players with seats at the table. Whether it’s mayoral control of city schools, changing the teacher evaluation system, raising the charter-school cap, increasing overall education funding, turning around low-performing schools – everyone has an opinion.

• Mayor Bill de Blasio,
• Jim Malatras (Cuomo’s state operations director),
• Chancellor Carmen Fariña,
• UFT President Michael Mulgrew,
• Success Academy Charter Schools founder Eva Moskowitz,
• CSA President Ernest Logan,
• Teacher Suraj Gopal,
• Teacher Sharon Paradis,
• Pa

Cami Anderson, in Newark, Uses Terror Tactics Against Union Leader

Cami Anderson and her mentors - Christie and Joel Klein - are out and out criminals and should be the ones charged with trespassing.

Bob Braun's Ledger

THE ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR OF THE NEWARK TEACHERS UNION--has been charged by the Newark school administration with "defiant trespass" after he visited a school that was involved in a personal tragedy with serious implications for staff--the death of a 6-year-old child, apparently from meningitis. John Abeigon learned of the charges against him only after receiving letters in the mail from lawyers offering to represent him. Abeigon, a NTU vice president who could lose his teaching licenses if convicted, visited teachers at the school--permitted by the NTU contract--and had called attention to the failure of the administration to clean it after the death of the child. The state administration of the district, led by Christie-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson, had falsely reported that the child had not been in school for 10 days before his death and therefore posed no threat to children and school employees. It turned out, said a spokeswoman for Anderson, that the child had been in school when he was contagious. Abeigon's critical remarks of the handling of the charges have been met with criminal charges. More about the incident as part of the continuing failure of Anderson to keep good attendance records in a later blog.

The Heidi Chronicles: I'm a Mad Man About Peggy

There was no way my wife was going to drag me to a matinee on a cold day like today especially to see Wendy Wasserman's The Heidi Chronicles - except for the fact that Madmen's Elizabeth Moss stars. And what male (or female) fan of Madmen isn't in love with Peggy Olsen? It is hard to imagine - me being an actor of sorts - well the non-speaking part sort of actor -- how Moss could make such a leap from TV and even movies to a giant role like Heidi, who is the center of every scene in the play and holds it all together. But oh boy does she pull it off.

My wife urged me to stand outside the stage door and pepper her with questions on her way out about that child she had in
season 1. But it was cold and Junior's cheesecake beckoned from across the street.
Hmmm, let's see, cheesecake, Peggy, cheesecake, Peggy, cheesecake, Peggy.........

I'll leave it to you to guess which one won. (Still a madman about you Peggy.)