A Perfect Example of the Results of the Ed Deform Movement

Another gem from one of the Daily News dynamic duo of Monahan and Koldoner. They embarass the NY Post reporters just about every day, considering the News and Post have similar editorial positions.

Hey - teachers. Time to secretly record your faculty conferences. Let's embarrass the hell out of principals from hell.

From Leonie Haimson:

One more unreliable factor in the DOE’s totally unreliable school grading system, the fact that the survey results cannot be trusted. Even if principals did not berate teachers into giving them higher ratings, it is likely that teachers and parents will do so, in fear that the school will be closed down.

I love the defense of DOE, that most teachers are honest, because 25% of them report they don’t trust their principals! What does that say about DOE’s method of grooming, selecting and training principals!

One thing is sure, as the principal was taped saying: “We live in a toxic political environment in the Department of Education,"

And what about this? “We will not tolerate any attempt to manipulate survey results," said Danny Kanner, an Education Department spokesman, before bashing teachers for making the recordings. !!!!

Principals feeling pressure to get A's putting pressure on parents, teachers to give them

BY Rachel Monahan

Daily News

May 5, 2010

These principals may be the real grade-grubbers.

Across the city, principals are under investigation for pressuring parents, students or teachers into giving them good reviews on the secret surveys that gauge school satisfaction.

Just a month after the Daily News obtained a recording of a Brooklyn principal threatening teachers for giving her shoddy reviews, another tape has emerged of a principal instructing teachers on the importance of giving high marks.

"If you give us low grades and that attacks our progress report grade, the school's going to close," Principal Mary Prendergast of the High School for Youth and Community Development says in a matter-of-fact tone.

She also notes that she considers the survey to be "stupid, quite frankly," and tells her teacher to "politically be smart."

"We live in a toxic political environment in the Department of Education," she explains. "I'm not putting this in a memo because these are the kind of things that can be misinterpreted."

Prendergast isn't alone. Yolanda Ramirez, principal of Public School 38 in Brooklyn, was caught on tape last year berating her teachers for giving her lousy reviews.

And education officials confirm they are investigating other cases of principals giving instructions on the surveys, which account for 10% of the A-to-F grades given to schools and are used to determine bonuses.

Contacted by The News, Prendergast acknowledges she's looking to improve her new small school's scores and that the threat of closure is a real one her teachers are generally aware of. But, she said, she wasn't trying to pressure her underlings.

"How does a principal advocate for doing the best we can without making it look like we're skewing the results?" she asked.

Education Department officials said they don't think there's "widespread" pressure on the surveys, noting 24% of teachers last year said they didn't "trust the principal at his or her word."

"We will not tolerate any attempt to manipulate survey results," said Danny Kanner, an Education Department spokesman, before bashing teachers for making the recordings.

But at PS 34 in Queens, a current and a former teacher charged their principal freaked out after they gave her poor reviews two years back, then tried to convince them that better reviews would mean a bigger bonus. Principal Pauline Shakespeare denied the charge through a secretary.

At PS 345 in Brooklyn, teachers charged the principal tried to scare them with the prospect of closure - but backed off after the school's report card grade rose. Principal Wanda Holt denied the allegations before hanging up on The News.

Weingarten Interferes in DC Union Elections

History has taught us that autocrats will never give up power and will resort to illegal means to keep absolutism intact. I would bet my pension that even if some miracle occurred and the opposition won an election here in NYC, the Unity machine would find ways to invalidate the election. (When the opposition once won the high school VEEP position in the mid-80's, Unity delayed his seating for a year by claiming illegalities in an election they ran - and won the right for a do-over.)

Ed Notes has been reporting on the Washington DC and Chicago teacher union elections. Both cities are hotbeds of potential activism and if Nathan Saunders and/or Karen Lewis (CORE) were to be elected, would indicate potential trouble for AFT President Randi Weingarten. Not that she has to worry too much with the NYC Unity Caucus machine being able to control the NY state NYSUT which in turn controls the AFT. But we know that Randi wants ZERO OPPOSITION and will do what she can to undercut the ability of these candidates to win.

In Chicago there are 5 or 6 caucuses running and Randi will wait out what is sure to be a runoff. If CORE is one of the two left standing, just watch the AFT jump into the fray.

Washington DC is a particularly interesting case where both Randi and Michelle Rhee's reps are on the line if Saunders should win. So now we hear the AFT is "getting involved" in the DC election.

With elections in Washington DC about to take place, the AFT goon squad is out to undermine them. They found some excuse and there is talk about including the contract vote ballot in the same envelope as the election ballot. If true, why are we not surprised here in NYC?

There is also some talk (see EIA report below) about the AFT using the excuse that not enough people are on the ballot for AFT delegates to the Seattle convention (supposedly 4 are running and there are 20 positions) and that is reason enough to postpone the elections. (Unity sends 800 on a junket but other locals who can't afford to send a full complement often send fewer people with each entitled to vote for the rest. In other words, since Unity votes as a block, we could send 1 delegate who can cast 800 votes.)

The real reason is that Randi/Rhee/Parker are anxious to get the contract vote done before the election, which if Saunders wins will kill any chance of the contract Randi and Rhee want. With problems over the private money being assured, it is clear that the election will be done beforehand and Randi is trying to figure out a way to undermine it.

Is anyone surprised that Randi is more aligned with Rhee - remember my basic rule - ignore what Randi says, watch what she does? So here is Nathan Saunders' piece in today's TheMail.


Is AFT Undermining DC Teachers? by Nathan Saunders,
WTU Presidential candidate


Intense public school budget hearings on April 30 evidenced the significant impact WTU teachers have on the city’s budget. Charter school advocates presented the government a demand letter for comparable wages to the WTU Tentative Agreement (TA), or they would seek court action. A magnanimous Chief Financial Officer Gandhi refused to certify the TA’s financial soundness while simultaneously scaling back other programs and possibly raising taxes to reduce a $530 million deficit.

The 1960’s legislation allowing exclusive representation of DC’s Public teachers was theorized to encourage mutual cooperation yielding increased workplace productivity.

Unfortunately, some of the industrial labor union’s ills and social injustices, such as paternalism, permeated the teachers’ union movement.

Oftentimes national union interests will attack local dissident opinion by influencing union elections, producing propaganda, and controlling issues. All the while repeating, ad nauseam, “We never get involved in local issues.”

Amazingly, this is like the letter the American Federation of Teachers sent home to all DC teachers implying that the May 2010 elections will probably be delayed. Federal legislation, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, was created to combat union member abuses involving violations of free speech, violence, and elections tampering. It forces elections every three years and gives union members a special bill of rights akin to the US Constitution.

Empowering WTU teachers in democratic management and advocacy for themselves and their students is an often neglected education reform that is affordable. Paternalism is most dangerous in teachers’ unions, as it makes teachers feel trapped with two bosses — the DC Government and the AFT/WTU — their own union. Union democracy is suppressed.

The AFT should not be involved in the May 2010 union election or the upcoming contract ratification vote, as their ability to exercise self-control will deter additional controversies and challenges. The federal Department of Labor should be involved.

Unfortunately, the president of the AFT parent union, Randi Weingarten, is deeply entangled in election shenanigans, potentially stalling WTU’s election schedule past its constitutionally required May 2010 date. Her beneficiary is WTU President George Parker the embattled negotiator of the Rhee/Parker tentative agreement. The agreement was supposed to harvest elections benefits of 20 percent pay raises, without members knowing most would probably be terminated or that a portion of the raises was financed with blood money of wrongfully terminated teachers, and the only job security in the deal belonged to Chancellor Michelle Rhee.

The problem with Weingarten’s election meddling is that it makes DC teachers more vulnerable. Teachers are about to deal with hundreds of year-end layoffs, a hard summer fight to support a mayoral candidate and leaving approximately eighty other elected positions unfilled (Elections Committee, Delegates to the Maryland State AFL-CIO, and others). It smells to high heaven.

Any desire to place an election ballot with a contract ratification ballot in the same envelope is selfish and belittles the WTU’s members’ intelligence. Common sense, time, and economic realities may have broken up the Fenty/Rhee/Parker/Weingarten playbook, but law and the WTU’s Constitution require a paternalistic AFT to step aside and to allow dues paying members to vote on their future — now.

---------

Here is Mike Antonucci's take - at EIA. Remember, he is an anti-teacher union guy always looking to pick at the bones of union ineptitude, but he does cover issues no one else does.

Union Elections Are Contests Between Apathy and Ignorance

Eduwonk reports that the upcoming election for the presidency of the Washington Teachers Union has a problem – not enough WTU members want to be on the election committee. For that matter, not enough WTU members want to be delegates to the AFT convention. As a result, AFT is going to provide “assistance and limited oversight.”

Problem solved, right? Not exactly. WTU Vice President Nathan A. Saunders, who is running against incumbent George Parker, says he didn’t ask for, nor does he want, AFT intervention. He believes AFT is deeply invested in Parker and is trying to guarantee a win for him.

“It is absolutely crazy,” Saunders said. “The AFT can’t hold an impartial election.”

Pro Charter Tax Exempt Orgs Enter Political Fray - and Violate the Law

A compilation of postings from NYCEdNews Listserve for any legal eagles out there:


Received a beautiful colored flyer supporting NY State Senator Craig Johnson on Education paid for by Education Reform Now.

https://www.mediamezcla.com/campaign_engine/4.0/process_cc.php?id=www.edreformnow.org

Nowhere is the word "Charter School" mentioned or the market forces that are supporting them. It would appear that these market forces are funding free promotions for their elected supporters. Yet when they solicit contributions to the organization, they claim they are tax-deductible. Is that legal, anyone?


This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened; remember Juan Gonzalez’s discovery that Al Sharpton’s political organization was provided funds by Harold Levy’s hedge fund, after first passing it through a 501C3?

According to Education reform Now’s 2008 Form 990 (“tax” return for non-profits) (p. 3), they’re a 501(c)3 and do not engage in “direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office.” (http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/203/687/2008-203687838-056e8bda-9.pdf). Their website does say contributions are tax-deductible.

The IRS code prohibits 501(c)3 organizations from engaging in most forms of political activity (see below from IRS website).

You’ll need to collect the campaign flyers and file a complaint with the IRS. I believe any citizen has standing to file a complaint but I would imagine Sen. Johnson’s opponents would have more resources and motivation.

http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=163395,00.html

The Restriction of Political Campaign Intervention by Section 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Organizations
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances. For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner. On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention. The Internal Revenue Service provides resources to exempt organizations and the public to help them understand the prohibition. As part of its examination program, the IRS also monitors whether organizations are complying with the prohibition.

Murrow's Bruckner Swam Against BloomKlein/Ed Deform Grain

UPDATED 12pm

The NY Times piece on the death of Saul Bruckner, founding principal of Edward Murrow HS, one of the most successful high schools in the nation, contains nuggets of his philosophy towards how to treat students and teachers, nuggets that indicate he probably was not a happy soldier in the regime of ed deformers BloomKlein.

And indeed, reports had surfaced when he retired in 2004 that the Klein regime did not care for Bruckner and the feeling was mutual. Some anecdotes have emerged that since he left Murrow is just not the same but that would be expected. Even if he remained could he have continued to swim against the ed deform grain? I hope he left some thoughts behind for future ed historians on the contrast to his ed philosophy. Of course, the freedom he offered did not work for every child and I don't know to what level he devoted school resources to those situations for kids who had trouble handling it. (Some of his teachers were the most critical and argued for more discipline and less freedom.) Ditto for teachers. I would love to get stats on whether in his 30 years how many teachers were sent to rubber rooms or U-rated.

Whether you read the entire article or the excerpts below I chose to highlight the Bruckner style, make note of the Diane Ravitch quote.

he stood near the entrance each morning, greeting by name many of the thousands of students who swirled by him. Like his well-tailored clothes and quiet manner, it served as a small reminder of the formality of an earlier era of public education in a school known for its progressive, free-wheeling spirit.

That mixture of big think and little think — the ability to manage the bureaucracy and politics of a urban high school of 4,000 students while remembering student names, picking up litter from the hallways, and continuing to teach a class nearly up to his retirement — was what set Mr. Bruckner apart as a principal, and made him a legend at Murrow.

_____

Even when it came under criticism, he refused to bend on one of the hallmarks of Murrow — the scheduling of free periods for students during the school day so that they could gather in groups in the hallway and socialize, a practice some teachers believed led to increased cutting.

“Most schools treat kids and teachers like infants,” he told The New York Times in 1988, when interviewed amid clusters of reading, talking and flirting students. Treating them like adults, he said, “reduced the tension” between social groups sometimes found at other schools.

“In most schools, there is an emphasis on order,” he said in a later interview. “Here the emphasis is on freedom.”

_____

Much about Murrow seemed different. There were no bells to mark the end and start of classes. Instead of two semesters, Murrow had four, so that students could choose more classes, many on collegiate-sounding topics like magical realism or broadcast and entertainment law. The practice, he believed, encouraged grade-conscious students to take academic risks.

Honors classes, like his own Advanced Placement American History class, were open to all students who wanted to attend, by lottery, regardless of academic record. If you wanted to be there, he figured, you would do the work, teachers recalled.

Mr. Bruckner’s observations of new teachers were thorough and nerve-wracking. One new teacher, Georgia Scurletis, recalled how he chose a particularly boring lesson on grammar to observe, standing inscrutably at the back of her class. Afterward, he criticized her gently, telling her that when the Torah is read, “it should be with a bit of honey on the tongue,” she recalled

_____

[Diane Ravitch] noted that Mr. Bruckner had a long period of apprenticeship before becoming a principal, serving as a teacher, department supervisor and assistant principal, beginning in 1956. His status as a “master teacher,” helped him attract, retain and train his staff. “There are not many principals left from the old school,” Ms. Ravitch said.

One last point. Murrow did cull from the best kids in the system. Call it creaming. But when you look at the other principals running top level schools like Brooklyn Tech (remember Leo McCaskill?), Teitel at Stuyvesant and the utterly awful Valerie Reidy at Bronx High, Bruckner stands out like a shining star. But I wonder how he would have dealt with a school like Thomas Jefferson, my alma mater, in East NY.


I'm adding Leonie's comment:

Many believed him to be one of the finest NYC principals, and who showed clearly how a large school can not just work, but excel.

According to someone who knew the school well, it also “embraces experimentation, creative approaches to teaching and that treats students with respect and dignity. If I had grown up in NYC, it is the HS I would have wanted to attend.

So many parents from Manhattan and Queens have told me that they wish they had an option of a large, progressive school like Murrow in their boroughs. Bruckner's leadership made a huge difference.”

Be sure to check out the readers’ comments on the page.

Insulting the UFT’s Executive Committee While Mulgrew Skips Open Mike

Guest Editorial

By Philip Nobile

I intended to hand President Mulgrew a copy of my contrarian essay on the rubber room agreement at Monday’s (May 3) Executive Committee meeting. The cover letter read:

Would you please consider publishing my essay “Out of the Rubber Room, Into the Pyre” in the New York Teacher and post it as well on Edwize?

I also request that you respond to my questions in a companion article in the same spots.

As you will read, there is widespread dissatisfaction in the TRC’s with your agreement with Chancellor Klein.

Regrettably, you chose to negotiate in complete secrecy without consulting the reassigned. You can begin to remedy this mistake by calling us to a meeting as Randi did in October 2007.

Thank you.

But the President was late for the 10-minute Open Mike that opens every meeting. Only three cabinet members were present in addition to Secretary Michael Mendel who ran the show.

I was the first of four speakers—three rubber roomers and a delegate. I had a lot to squeeze into 2 min. and 30 sec. And it would be my one and only shot. Annoyed at my routine of exposing the leadership’s many failures of nerve, Mendel changed the rules: no more serial appearances. Open Mike was closed but for a single time a term.

In Mulgrew’s absence I shifted my plan of attack. I began by noting the censorship that chokes the union, meaning the limits on speech at Executive Committee meetings and the gagged NEW YORK TEACHER which has not carried a story on TRCs since October 2007. Apparently, this was too much for a Committee member. When I said “I came here tonight …, he finished my sentence “… to insult us.”

“There is so little dissent in this body,” I replied, “that you take criticism as an insult.” Mendel asked for silence even if I was not telling the truth. (Thanks a lot, Michael.)

I went on to say that the TRC agreement was flawed by Mulgrew’s failure to consult with us rubber roomers and contrasted this neglect with the hundreds of rank and file members involved in the contract negotiations. With seconds ticking away, I mentioned my Jeffersonian request regarding publication and response in THE TEACHER and read the first of the seven questions for Mulgrew embedded in my essay: “Will you meet with current rubber roommates and seek to renegotiate terms deemed unfair by them?”

Did the assembly erupt in applause and shouts of “Long live union democracy and death to UFT surrender to corrupt DOE investigations”? You wish.

The highlight of Almost Open Mike was Elvira Sacco, a recently sprung roomer from my home port, Brooklyn’s Chapel St. TRC. She blasted the union for failing to protect teachers from the Chancellor’s rogues, daring to say. “I am ashamed to be a member of the UFT.” Now that’s an insult, but right from the heart. If the Committee was provoked, they did not reveal it.

As if on cue, Mulgrew walked in after us four Voltarians were done. Mendel stepped aside as the President gave his report. Although I resent Mulgrew’s stonewalling—he refuses to answer my emails—he seems like a nice guy. The affection from the audience was palpable. TRCs were off the table, of course. Instead he updated the meeting on the Senate’s vote on the charter cap, which he dismissed as dead-end. Then he played a smart UFT radio commercial, starting today, deploring the politics of teacher bashing in a time of crisis. He warned that the Mayor’s executive budget, to be released on Thursday, would be “a catastrophe,” adding that there was “no respect or trust” for the DOE boys in Albany. Then he dashed out. I was tempted to follow and make my case in private as he waited for the elevator. But I stayed in my seat, against type and avoiding spectacle. I left it to Mendel to pass on my papers.

A lone and friendly committeeman consented to pursue my meeting proposal with Mulgrew. I had less luck with a second committeeman, a former foxhole buddy and Chapter Leader, who once helped me thwart a sleazy principal who tried to fire me for flunking too many students. This ex-stalwart defended Mulgrew’s reluctance to discuss the TRC agreement with disgruntled roomers, saying that he was probably too busy. “But what do you really think?” I asked, “Off the record, should he meet with us?” Nothing doing. He refused to venture an opinion. “You’re better than this,” I said, recalling his past solidarity. This was a painful moment. Walking away, he replied, “You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I was doing.”


Ed Note Afterthought
Where have the New Action Exec Bd members been all this time while rubber room people have to scrounge for their 2.5 minutes?

It seems that Mulgrew (and Weingarten before him) make sure to skip the open mic opening of the meetings and only make their appearance when it is over. I'm still not sure why Nobile wants to meet with Mulgrew.

Also looks like a new Mulgrew cult of personality is beginning to grow in Unity. That will lead Mulgrew down the Weingarten path to unglory.

The Smartest Ed Deformers in the Room/NY Senate Passes Charter Cap Lift

Having seen the play Enron which I wrote about here, I was looking forward to see the documentary Enron, the Smartest Guys in the Room and low and behold, there it was on CNBC the other night. As Enron was plotting to cause havoc with the California energy system, we heard how often Choice - or cherce as Ralph Cramden would have said - was used to justify playing trader with peoples' lives by using rolling blackouts to push energy prices beyond the stratesphere.

Sound familiar?

"Choice" is the buzz word of the ed deformers who have pumped up charter school parents to get up at meetings and talk about how it is their right to have cherce. This is part of the same bait and switch used by Enron, which if it hadn't gone kaput, would be joining Broad, Gates and Walmart in the charter school gold rush. When there are no more public schools to rape and charters are the only game in town, they will pull plugs all over the place to cream not only kids but as much public money from the system as they can.

Then we'll be seeing stories about black boxes and raptors. Can't wait for the play "Charters."

Add-on
There's a lot of to-do over the NY State Senate passing a bill to lift the charter school cap by a vote of 45-15. With the threat of charter school/Wall Street money flowing into local political races, we are seeing how charter schools are a political movement, not an educational one, a point I made in my testimony at the Perkins hearing as I was looking at 3 HSA parents.

I mean, if you have your kids in a charter school already, why are you so willing to be used as a political wedge to get more charters? Altruism for your fellows who didn't make the lottery even if you know that there can never be enough charters that can handle all the kids, especially those who are left behind in special ed?

The big battle will be the Perkins Senate seat and watch it get dirty as charges of white money and white paternalism invading Harlem start flying around. Don't be surprised to hear references being made to a certain uncle who had a certain cabin down south in pre-civil war times.

Sign the petition to vote no on lifting the cap:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/vote_no_to_raising_the_cap_on_charter_schools

Here is an excerpt from the Daily News:

The state’s powerful teachers unions accused Senate Democrats of caving in to charter-school advocates, who have threatened to spend $10 million to unseat at risk senators if they did not pass the bill, reports Glenn Blain of the DN's State Capitol Bureau. Union leaders vowed to hold the vote against lawmakers in the coming election season.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew dumped on the news this way:

"It’s a shame that the Senate has spent its time passsing a one-house charter bill that has no chance of becoming law, instead of concentrating on solving the budget crisis that threatens the education of millions of public school children across the state,” he said.

Assembly spokesman Dan Weiller said only, "This legislation, like all legislation, will be reviewed through our normal committee process."

Two senators were excused from the vote: Thomas Morahan (R-Rockland County) and Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Westchester).

The No votes were:
Neil Breslin
Tom Duane
Liz Krueger
Ken LaValle
Velmanette Montgomery
Suzi Oppenheimer
Frank Padavan
Bill Perkins
Stephen Saland
Eric Schneiderman
Jose Serrano
William Stachowski
Toby Ann Stavisky
Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Antoine Thompson

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/05/state-senate-passes-charter-sc.html#ixzz0mur2jvJT

For more on the impact of private money determining public ed policy, see my previous post (and follow the links as I've moved a big chunk of it to Norms Notes.) Rhee in a Nutshell

Rhee in a Nutshell

Modified 9am, May 4

I'm back in NYC but I still have DC on the brain. I know that the NY State Senate passed a lifting of the charter cap and Resisters are screaming for action but I have to keep going back to DC where 35% of the schools are charters and what is going down there - or not going down due to resistance - is a precursor and national trend setter. I subscribe to Gary Imhoff's fabulous TheMail and get daily updates on the general scene in DC, always looking for RheeGate stories. Today he has some doozies, including Candi's post that I referred to this morning, but I am including it again anyway.

Gary makes the very important connection about the union election - if Nathan Saunders wins it is a big loss for Rhee and may be the stake driven through her heart that will send her back to Sacramento to defend her fiance against any further charges by female students at the charter school he runs. One of the interesting sidelights is: who is Randi Weingarten rooting for in the election? George Parker who Rhee prefers or Saunders? Bet your pension she would take the Rhee/Parker team in a heart beat as a Saunders victory is a harbinger of bigger troubles that might be coming down for her AFT stewardship from other urban centers under attack by the Ed Deformers while local AFT/Unity Caucus type affiliates remain humble and crumble in their path.

Alan Assarsson delves into the dangers of private funding of and its impact on public policy, one of the more effective pieces I've seen. Here are a few extracts for people who don't read these things through (shame).

This insertion of private dollars into the DCPS budget calculations has inherent problems that need to be studied closely. The conditions placed by these foundations for their continued financial support not only impact our schools, but directly inject themselves into our city’s electoral process that will focus on education issues more than any other election in recent times.

These foundations may not be citizens of the District of Columbia, but they still may have an effective vote in our election.

--------

by accepting conditional money, we also inviting upon ourselves the unacceptable dilemma of having to choose between educational priorities that we determine are in the best interests of our children and the divergent priorities of private foundations

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the four foundations (Broad, Arnold, Walton, and Robertson) have been funding only public charter school alternatives, and have not supported labor unions that would represent teachers or administrators...

May 2, 2010

Fatal Flaws

Dear Flawless Correspondents:

It’s almost time to write my “told you so” column, crowing about how I saw Michelle Rhee’s fatal flaw years ago, before anyone else wrote about how she would self-destruct as Chancellor. Almost time, but not yet. Her fatal flaw, or at least one of them, is one she shares with Mayor Fenty — an inability to work with anyone else, to collaborate, to consult. Instead, she and he both insist that everyone else must follow them and their plans, and do so at full speed without taking the time to think, to consider, to read, or to question the wisdom of those plans. That flaw was evident again at last Friday’s council hearing into the DC Public Schools budget, when both Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi and Rhee testified.

Gandhi, who epitomizes collaboration and consultation, and who is gentlemanly to a fault, said that he could not certify that the contract Rhee negotiated with the Washington Teachers Union was fiscally sound because of the restrictions on the grant agreements with the foundations funding it. But he said that he was working with the Chancellor, and that he was sure she would identify savings within the DCPS budget to make up the shortfall. Skeptical councilmembers pressed him on where those savings would come from, on what they were, and Gandhi kept saying that Rhee was working with him and that he was sure they were making progress. Finally, he was asked directly whether Rhee had presented any budget savings to him at all to that date, and he had to admit she hadn’t. Then Councilmember David Catania, aggressively pursuing the mayor’s agenda of shifting all blame to the CFO’s office for “miscommunication” between Rhee and the CFO, kept asking the current Chief Financial Officer for DCPS, George Dines, if he had any written communication proving that he pressed Rhee for more access to DCPS decisions and decisionmakers. Catania got increasingly accusatory until Dines pulled from his files an exchange of E-mails in which he had asked to attend the chancellor’s senior staff meetings and was rebuffed and told he would be invited when he was wanted. Gandhi and his assistants testified for four hours without having been sworn in; when Rhee and her subordinates stepped up to testify, they were immediately sworn it. That says volumes about who the councilmembers trust, and whom they don’t. The other remarkable revelation last week was that the city was now attempting to renegotiate its agreements with the private foundations that have agreed to finance some of the costs of the teachers’ contracts. The city’s negotiator is not Chancellor Rhee or any of her staffers; not the Deputy Mayor for Education, Victor Reinoso, who does not seem to have any other job duties these days; not even Mayor Fenty, who claims that education is his top job priority but does nothing to prove it other than to show up for photo opportunities for construction projects. No, said the city’s contumacious Attorney General, Peter Nickles, he claimed he is doing the negotiations, because of course school contracts fit within his job responsibilities.

Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss, who likes and admires Chancellor Michelle Rhee, has written a remarkable column that explains why Rhee is more of a problem than a solution for DC’s schools, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/dc-schools/smoke-and-mirrors-in-dc-school-1.html#more. For everyone who is sick and tired of reading my tirades over the past three years about why she would turn out this way, take the time to read the lament of a disappointed supporter. “So what have we got? A powerhouse of a superintendent who is bent on doing whatever she thinks she has to do to achieve her goals. Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to understand — still — that reforms only work when the people who have to implement them are on board. She can make bold pronouncements and she can start all kinds of new programs. But if she keeps damaging her own credibility, it is not likely that she will be in the city for the very long term to see that the reforms are put in place.” And Robert McCartney breaks his long streak of uncritical praise of Rhee with a column today acknowledging a few of her faults, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/01/AR2010050102974.html; and says, “Writing this is a comedown for me.”

But it’s not yet time for me to crow. That will have to wait a month or two. Because Rhee has promoted the contract as her signature achievement, she has made it into a referendum on her. That has shifted the balance of power, and for the first time given power to teachers over her. If they don’t approve of the contract, if they vote against it, that will be a vote of no confidence in her and make it almost certain that she will find an excuse to leave office. And there’s not as much to vote for in the contract as press accounts make it seem. Teachers’ jobs are still at risk, at the whim of an arbitrary and vengeful administration; their raises are not as guaranteed and secure as they have been described; those raises have been purchased at the cost of the jobs of their fellow teachers who were fired last October; and the much-touted “performance bonuses” are illusory, will-o’-the-wisp promises. Moreover, when the teachers vote between the current president of their local, George Parker, and his opponent in the election, Nathan Saunders, who said all along that Rhee couldn’t be trusted, it will be a second teacher referendum on Rhee. The third referendum will come over a longer time period, when the economy improves and there are better job options both for current DCPS teachers and for the inexperienced teachers whom Rhee prefers (and who are taking the jobs now because they can’t get work in their preferred professions). Who will want to work for Michelle Rhee at DCPS then?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

Read the other stories at Norms Notes More From TheMail in DC

Leonie invitates you to second annual "Skinny" - not Broad - Awards dinner: Diane Ravitch, Juan Gonzalez, Norman Siegel, Robert Jackson

Help support the amazing work Leonie and Class Size Matters does. Ed Notes will be there covering the event. Don't miss it. (Okay, so I am dense and didn't get the takeoff on Eli Broad awards.)

When: Thursday May 20 at 6:30 PM

Where: Jasmine Restaurant at 88 7th Avenue

(between 15th-16th St.)

A fundraiser sponsored by Class Size Matters

Please join us for a very special evening where we will honor three heroes who provide us with the real “skinny” on NYC schools:

Juan Gonzalez, Daily News columnist

“Hold the city accountable”

Robert Jackson, NYC Council Education chair

“Tireless fighter for our schools”

Norman Siegel, attorney

“Peerless defender of parent rights”

A rare opportunity to celebrate these three individuals and enjoy a three course dinner with wine.

Special guest: Diane Ravitch, recipient of last year’s Skinny award

Tickets: $100 -- Patron

$75 – Supporter

To order tickets or donate online, please go to http://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=1489

And please forward this invitation to your friends, Leonie

Down in DC

I've been out of NYC for a few days visiting family and friends and doing lots of sightseeing in the Washington DC area. Just behaving like a typical tourist and trying to ignore the constant drum of ed news. But of course that's impossible. On the way down we stopped at a rest stop in Maryland and there was a Unity Caucus slug on the way to the NYSUT convention in DC, one of those coincidences where you think you are getting away from it all. My wife would have strangled me if I made any attempt to get near the convention.

Numbing Nuts
Then I get a phone call from a reporter on Saturday asking me if Mulgrew called Klein "Numbnuts" at the NYSUT breakfast on Friday. Do they have tracking devices on our cars? Actually, I know this reporter because a relative lives next door to me. She said she had read on Ed Notes that Mulgrew was referring to Klein in that manner at the April 21 DA. I told her I wasn't at that meeting but she reminded me that Philip Nobile had written that report. I'm glad someone knows what's being published on this blog. I had to hang up as my wife was giving me THAT look, but I figured with this being the NY Post, some kind of hit job was coming on the union and Mulgrew. There was a report in the NY Post yesterday that mentioned me and Ed Notes and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I personally like the Post reporters and we know that editorial influences the reporting. But at the Daily News, where the editorial opinion often matches the Post, reporters like Meredith Kolodner and Rachel Monahan somehow manage to get so many things right.

By the way, before going on, I am finding a lot to like about the way Mulgrew has dealt with issues - on the surface at least, though if you read the ICE blog (see top of the sidebar for a link) there is lots of consternation over the rubber room agreement and the way Mulgrew went about it. That is not surface so all the things I like may be more style than substance. I have had very little contact with Mulgew and got a chance at the Perkins' hearing to see him in action and felt he handled himself pretty well. I will work on getting some tape up when I get back.

I was certainly happy to see Mulgrew announce they were going to run a primary against Bing for putting up that recent law over seniority. "He is dead to us" was the kind of thing those of us who saw the UFT endorse incumbents who knifed us in the back have been looking for. And they held a demo at Ruben Diaz' office as reported by Under Assault.


I didn't get to see Rhee in DC, but it was close
We are staying in Bethesda and were taking the train into the city every day. On Saturday they held a memorial for the principal who was found dead in his house in a space near the train station. Michelle Rhee was the main speaker. Lots of press coverage according to local news but we escaped in time to avoid it.

Rhee has real problems with her private funding sources (Broad, Gates, Walton - all those stellar citizens of Ed Deform – for the proposed contract putting conditions on the money. Candi Peterson's guest blogger raises some serious issues for DC teachers about this all being about a bait and switch: teacher get offered big raises to entice them into signing a contract while also signing away seniority protection rights and - whammo. Candi asks: "Should the WTU Tentative Agreement ever get ratified by our union members, will you still be around to collect your pay raise or will you be among those on the unemployment line ?" Read More.

One of the articles that came across my Blackberry this weekend was an article from a Rhee supporter who trashed her in so many ways I was drooling. But I can't locate it right now. Probably a WAPO article. If anyone comes across it send me the link and I'll update it here.

Goldstein on Bill Gates and Measures of Effective Teaching
Speaking of bait and switch, Arthur Goldstein is siting the Bill Gates teacher effectiveness initiative (A Bill of Goods), jointly sponsored with the UFT, as a B&S tactic. Tell teachers one thing but do another. Like video tape them. Arthur raises some wonderful points and Under Assault parses them (Goldstein on Gates.) I'd like Mulgrew a lot better if he ended any contact with Gates.

Video taping teachers
I do want to say something about video taping in the classroom. Back in 1969, Elaine Troll, my teacher trainer - there was money in those days to have someone full time to deal with the new teachers - asked me it I would take part in an experimental program to video tape lessons and then analyze the tapes as to the types of questions I was asking and the type of responses I was getting. The idea was to judge the effectiveness of my questioning technique - I had to categorize them to see if I was making kids think rather than give simple responses. Pretty daring for that time - think video on the late 60's. If you read Arthur's piece, sound familiar? I guess the tapes could have been used for nefarious reasons to judge me - but I wanted to be judged. I didn't view administrators as "gotcha" people but as looking to improve my effectiveness as a teacher. In today's world and what the ed deformers have wrought, even if they were well- intentioned, we as teachers have to say "Hell No!" Good for Arthur - who I had a hand in converting from a Windows to a MAC user. Remember, every MAC bought is one less dime in Gates' pocket (not that Steve Jobs thinks any better of us).

There is so much more to write about that's happened since I've been away - like questions about how charter schools mark the recent exams as opposed to how public schools do it and questions on charter school data - like to they EVER take real attendance - so many exempt from scrutiny of the ATS system. All kinds of goodies which will just have to wait since I'm getting THAT LOOK AGAIN.


Oh, and I do want to talk about sightseeing in DC (maybe tonight when I get back) and all the things we saw- I realize I have not been a tourist in DC for a long time, though I have been her for demos and meetings (last being the AFT convention in 2003, Sandy Feldman's last speech, which I liked very much). The museums we saw were just wonderful (and FREE) and we were excitedly filling in our cousins and friends who live here and are so blase about it. But when they come to NYC we can be just as blase about not going to any tourist attractions there. Maybe we could swap museums with DC and I could go down there and enjoy MOMA without having to pay $20 to get in.

The Ballad of Evan and Sidney

Boy are these guys getting coverage - from all sides. First ,Gotham gave them creds and then mention in the NY Times. On the good guys side, Accountable Talk joined Chaz and South Bronx School with his post the other day. One of the things AT points to is the slick E4E web site.

It's certainly nicely done, as it should be--it's powered by Media Mezcla Campaign Engine, which provides tools for politicians to run campaigns. I wonder how two low-salaried teachers managed to put up a website using expensive software that politicians use in their campaigns? A suspicious person might infer that these two fine newbie teachers somehow managed to hook up with powerful, moneyed pols, but we all know that couldn't be, could it? In any case, one of their goals is to join the "debate" on how to improve schools, apparently by eviscerating them. Toward this end, they have a blog that does not accept comments. So much for debate.

People often ignore things from experienced teachers like AT, Chaz and SBS- just gripers they think. Curmudgeons. So how much do I love it when Miss Eyre, who blogs at NYC Educator, and is more of Evan and Sidney's generation than ours, exhibits some tech saavy of her own with this comment over at Accountable Talk:

The plot thickens:

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/educators4excellence.org

I wonder why two obviously proud young educators would wish to keep the registrant name of their website private. After all, we know their names! Evan and Sydney! Just two squeaky-clean kids puttin' together a little PAC, havin' a little fun! Right? Right?

I checked some of the clients of Media Mezcla Campaign Engine:

Education Reform Now
www.edreformnow.org

Harlem Success Academy
www.harlemsuccess.org

Democrats for Education Reform
www.dfer.org

Ahhh, the usual suspects.

But then again there is this:

State Senator Bill Perkins, New York
www.billperkins.org

I don't see the web site or blog as all that fancy and it seems you don't need a lot of tech skills to do it. So why pay for Media Mezla when you can do it for free?

Charter Operator Dirty Tactics (With DOE Complicity) Undermine Public Schools

Updated: 8am with new info from PS 241, Harlem


One of the basic tenets of the Ed Deform movement is the fragmentation and destabalization of local community schools. Why? To remove the stake locals have in their public schools. Note how charters can draw from a much wider catch basin than zoned public schools. (The destruction of community is an issue we must explore further - but see Lois Weiner's video where she spoke after Diane Ravitch at NYU and explored so many implications of "The Plan" at http://www.blip.tv/file/3425447/). We hope to have Lois as a guest speaker at an upcoming GEM meeting.

The tactics used are many. One of the key issues that arose at the Perkins charter school hearings was the confrontation between Perkins and John White over the release of student information to charter operators. I have some good video of this which will be up in a few days.

Another lesser known tactic is to redirect pre-k kids from the public school they attend into the charter kindergarten by making it more difficult for parents to register their kids in the public school.

We first heard about this from our friends at PS 123 in Harlem where this tactic shunted kids to Moskowitz' Harlem Success and ended up reducing PS 123's pre-k population from (I think) 3 classes to 1. By the way, HSA at PS 123 has an illegal pre-k (not part of their charter) but calls it something else.

Before you know it, Moskowitz will be finding out the names of every pregnant woman and trying to enroll their kids before they are born.

Here is an email I received from a high school teacher who is shocked at these tactics.

Hi Norm,

I’ve met you a few times. I thought of you when I heard the information I am about to tell you. I have a very good friend who teaches a pre K program in Brooklyn. She told me that parents of children in her class are receiving letters saying that their child is accepted at______ (whatever the local charter school is).

There are several problems with this charter school tactic.

These parents never applied to the charter school.

How are the charter school operators getting names and addresses of these parents if they never applied to this charter school?

Someone, somehow, is supplying this operator with names and addresses from the pre K database. Is this even legal?

This friend also told me that the school that houses the program she works in used to automatically enroll any Pre K kid in the kindergarten once they are old enough. This year, this same school is making parents re-register their kids in the school if the parents want them to go to kindergarten in the same school.

Why is this new procedure now in place?

My friend is advising parents to be careful with charter schools, and that they should visit the charter first, ask a lot of questions, and not jump to enroll their kid even if the charter is aggressively soliciting “business”. What do you think? My friend is very upset and disturbed, since this charter operator is trying to lure kids away from her school, and using her program as a jumping-off point. Thanks for any ideas you can offer.

I asked my friend to ask a parent if she could actually take a look at one of these letters. She hasn’t actually seen one, but the parents, whom she has a wonderful relationship with, were complaining to and questioning her about these letters.

Another teacher writes:

The DOE is also sabotaging our Gifted and Talented program...they are offering kids who pass the test who are currently enrolled at my school, other schools - NOT mine.


And another just sent this:

You might want to add that at 241 DOE took away PreK to severely affect enrollment. We have many families who need and want PreK and are struggling to get their kids in any PreK which has now resulted in our losing these kids for Kindergarten and forever! Enrollment sabotage is real and thriving here!

We are responding and will contact the local political forces, who are strong anti-charter school people in the area.

Then got this:

Norm a friend of mine got one of these letters from LaCima Charter in Dist 16. I will ask her for a look. Can we ask for their lottery results? I believe that we should demand that the CEC and President's Council to be required to sign off with a passed resolution on their application to ensure the community is well aware and most importantly the parents in the community are saying yes to them.

The Takeway
By the way, let me not get away without a shot at the UFT (the Unity slugs are all down in Washington DC at the NY State United Teachers conference - just so you know why your local slug is not in school - I ran into one of them yesterday at a rest stop in Maryland). Why are teachers finding out about the DOE/charter school tactics from parents and not from their union so they can mount a defense? But then again, the UFT has its own charter school (one of the major errors they have ever made) issues to deal with.

That is what GEM is doing. Trying to assist these schools where they can in the absence of the UFT. Don't get me wrong here. We welcome the UFT if they get moving and will work with them in mounting a defense. But first they must raise the alarm system wide about what is happening so teachers can begin to educate and organize the parents and other teachers in their schools.

The Passion of NY State Senator Bill Perkins

School Scope Column in The Wave: Friday, April 30, 2010

(Ed Note: The first section is an expanded rewrite of a posting from a few days ago, now tied into the Bill Perkins charter school hearings.)

Passion

by Norm Scott

"These guys must be crazy," I was told by someone I know. He was referring to those who keep fighting no matter how bleak things look. "Why would someone of retirement age stuck in the rubber room not just retire," he said? I can't explain it but I understand it. Why stand up to BloomKlein when they own the world, including the press (except the Wave, of course)? Or the UFT leadership?

Not that there is any comparison in terms of danger, but I thought of that guy standing in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square. Or the people who stand up for human rights against Putin in Russia no matter how many of their friends are killed. Or any number of people throughout history who were mad as hell and wouldn't take it any more.

I thought of this as I was watching the academy award foreign language winning film The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina). One review states: "A thoroughly entertaining murder mystery, The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) stars Ricardo Darín as a retired prosecutor who can't let go of a 25-year-old rape and murder that he considers still unsolved, but solvable."

Benjamin, the detective, is relentless in pursuing answers. But the movie is really about passion. His 25 year unrequited passion for his married boss, who may have had similar passions (they keep you guessing.) The unending passion of a husband for his murdered wife. Benjamin's alcoholic sidekick Sandoval helps track the killer by figuring out he is a passionate soccer fan. "You can change almost anything," he tells Benjamin. "But you can't change passion. It will always win out."

I find many Humphrey Bogart films fall into this category. In "Deadline-USA" he edits an independent newspaper standing up to the mob while it is being sold to a Rupert Murdock type publisher who will kill the paper so his sleazy NY Post prototype will have a monopoly. Bogart gets the gangster in the end but loses the paper. However, his speech to the judge about the need for a democracy to provide divergent points of view is a must see. In Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" Bogart is a seemingly cynical boat captain who does the right thing by his rummy helper (Walter Brennan) and a woman on the loose (Lauren Bacall), finally standing up to the WWII German tyranny by helping resistance fighters. And then there is Casablanca, my favorite movie of all time, where Bogart (Rick) jumps off the fence and begins a beautiful friendship with the resistance.

Maybe passion is what explains so many inexplicable actions by so many people. And thank goodness for these crazy, passionate people. If not for them we would all be living like the zombies in that revolutionary Apple commercial at the 1984 Super Bowl. Or like the drones at Tweed.


The Passion of NY State Senator Bill Perkins

Speaking of joining "The Resistance", a national network has been forming to fight the attacks on public education with lots of action in Florida (where some teachers engaged in a sick-out), Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington DC where a dissident, Nathan Saunders is running for president and if elected would throw a spear at a dirty contract deal being set up by Superintendent Michelle Rhee and AFT President Randi Weingarten.

With it being open season on politicians, NY State Senators have been amongst the most ridiculed in the nation. Our own Malcolm Smith, Pedro Espada and recently deposed Herman Monserrate are prime suspects. But then comes along Harlem State Senator Bill Perkins, who gives you a little faith.

Perkins, you see, has been one of the lone politicians to swim against the charter school tide, not only in NY but perhaps the nation - including President Obama, whose market-based support for undermining the public school system takes him as far away from being a socialist as possible.

Pretty gutsy stuff for a Harlem politician to push back against the policies of the most popular president in history in the Black communities. And Perkins has been vilified. The sleazy NY Post has been rabid, with up to three articles, editorials and columns a day attacking him for holding hearings examining the activities of charter schools.

If you have read the Wave over the past few months on the activities of Malcolm Smith and his Peninsula Prep charter school, you know what "activities" I'm talking about. Scandal after scandal has emerged about these schools that put our tax money into the hands of private interests with little or no oversight. Their partners in crime at BloomKlein headquarters are aiding and abetting them by favoring charters over the public schools they run, especially with the co-location shenanigans where they purposely declare a public school underutilized - see our own Goldie Maple here in Rockaway, where parents have attempted to push back.

Perkins leads an emerging line of resistance coming from Black and Latino/a communities undergoing the charter school influx. Harlem is the epicenter, with 28 charters, and more Harlem politicians are joining Perkins.

Hedge fund managers and other Wall Street types who led us into the world of financial meltdown support charters. (Why miss an opportunity to get their fingers on public funds?) Democracy Prep charter school founder Seth Andrew is so outraged at Perkins that he is calling on his buddies on Wall Street to raise a massive amount of money to defeat Perkins who is running for reelection this year. In what may shape up as the modern equivalent of "The Battle of Hastings" in 1066, the Norman conquest of Britain, Wall Street backed armies, joined by charter school advocates, will invade Harlem this summer in an attempt to knock Perkins off as an example to any politician who might dare to question how charters are misusing public money. I know of at least one Norman who will be there standing with Perkins.

Perkins' hearings were held on April 22 and started at 8am. I was the last speaker when it ended at 9pm. Boy, was I hungry, since I got there at 10am with my trusty little video camera and tripod. See some amazing parent voices on the ednotesonline you tube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/EdNotesOnline

Did Times' Medina Accuse Klein of Racism?

When I read this late last night, I blinked.
Buried in Jennifer Medina's story on the ten thousandth reorganization at Tweed is this:

Santiago Taveras, who less than a year ago was appointed the deputy chancellor of teaching and learning, will now be in charge of community engagement. Mr. Taveras has been one of only two Hispanic members in Mr. Klein’s cabinet; there are no African-Americans among the department’s top officials, and all of those who received salary increases in the latest change are white. About 70 percent of the system’s students are black and Hispanic.

Whoa! That is a HEAVY statement coming from the Times in the midst of an article like this. Medina should do a story on the enormous drop in the number of African-American teachers in the 8 years of BloomKlein. See our May, 2008 post on this issue: Racial Policies at Tweed: Disappearing Black Teachers.

Leonie Haimson said:
So much for Joel Klein’s claim to be a great civil rights hero of our time.

She had more comments on the article:

I don’t get the headline of the Times article, which is reprinted here ….does the mandated curriculum change? I don’t think so.

Generally, I don’t see this as a big change in the DOE’s laissez-faire attitude, generally allowing principals to run their own schools however they like, including violating the law, as long as test scores go up. Clearly the educrats care not at all about teaching and learning, having eliminated that division entirely.

Clearly, they care not at all about the impression that the bureaucracy at the top and the salaries are increasing while they are threatening massive layoffs to teachers.

The outrageous thing is they are pretending that the following is their rationale for these changes:

“New school governance legislation has increased external oversight. Sustaining our reforms will require us to redouble our commitment to an open public dialogue."

Come on! That’s like justifying the proposal on laying off senior teachers by saying that it give parents more power, when we know quite the opposite is true.

See also http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/outrage_as_school_bigs_boo_bosses_qwwuXKRfUWC9hjkVUHBLEJ and http://www.ny1.com/6-bronx-news-content/news_beats/education/117637/latest-doe-shakeup-comes-at-a-cost/

Ed Notes Prediction:
Klein will be hiring an African-American within the next half hour.

Add-On
Alternate headline: A Deputy Chancellor in Every Pot

Oakland Teachers Plan One Day Strike April 29

Click to enlarge. PDF available upon request

Hey Norm,

This is Jack Gerson, a voice from the past. I've been meaning to drop you a line for a while, since every once in a while I've seen you reference something I've written, and also to compare notes about the privatization in Oakland and New York (I think that to some degree they track each other).

Anyway, as you may know OEA is locked in a pretty fierce contract struggle with our school district. We've been bargaining for more than two years, and we've been without a contract for nearly two of those years (I'm on our bargaining team). Five days ago the district imposed their "last, best and final" atrocious offer -- no raise (we're the lowest paid teachers in Alameda County); larger class sizes; the "flexibility" to eliminate the adult education program, etc. We're doing a one-day strike this Thursday (April 29), and will build the campaign to force them to lift the imposition and give us a decent contract.

I've attached a pdf file of a flyer / ad that four of us wrote, and which has been approved by our executive board. It was intended to be a full-page ad for the Oakland Tribune, but we decided not to empty our campaign fund at this time to pay their exorbitant rates. Instead, we're going to mass distribute it to our members and the community, and will try to go viral with it on the web. It tells a good piece of the story. There's more -- but given space limitations, the rest will come in the next thing we put out.

Anyway, I've attached it. If you can give it any play, I'd appreciate it.

Hope you're doing well. Maybe we can get together next time I'm in NY.

In solidarity,
Jack Gerson

Jack Gerson was part of the early 70's resistance here in NYC and worked with "Another View" which was based in District 14 before expanding into a citywide group that became the Coalition of NYC School Workers, some of the same people who helped form ICE in 2004.

Fact finder calls on Bronx Science administrator to step down- Riverdale Press

Yes, there has been a reign of terror for years at Bronx High School of Science (search our archives for stories.)

I'm amazed that the fact finder also recommends that chapter leader Peter Lamphere, who has been active in the opposition, also transfer when the crimes have clearly been perpetrated by Reidy and Jahoda. I recently met one of the young math teachers hounded out by them (luckily she landed in a great place) and she told me Peter is one of the best math teachers she's seen. That 20 math teachers in one department filed a complaint should have been cause for an instant response from Tweed. Here is the classic case for why seniority rules MUST be maintained. If the geniuses at Tweed had a clue and wanted to make a serious case for eliminating seniority, they would have been smart enough to not let these lunatic supervisors run rampant.

Why this took at least a year or more to come to a decision, giving the Bronx High admins time to go after more people, is something some of the "impartial" NYC Ed press should take a look at. And by the way, if you are going to write articles on seniority, why is only the Riverdale Press reporting on this important story going on at one of the elite schools? (And I can tell you some stories about what Valerie Reidy has done to students but I'm waiting for the statue of limitations to run out (meaning the kid has to graduate.) And ditto for the principal at Stuyvesant - just wait till June.


Fact finder calls on Bronx Science administrator to step down
By Kate Pastor

An fact finder has substantiated 20 Bronx Science teachers’ complaints that an administrator harassed and intimidated them.

In May 2008, the vast majority of teachers in the school’s math department filed a Special Complaint charging that Assistant Principal Rosemary Jahoda attempted to make changes in the math department by focusing on four untenured teachers. They claim she harassed them, treating them like children in an effort to meet the goals set out for her by Principal Valerie Reidy.

“It would be difficult to have heard the testimony of seven of the complainants, to have read the statements of the 13 others and to have listened to the June 10, 2008 audio recording of the meeting in Jahoda’s office and not conclude that Jahoda has a confrontational style that is intimidating and demeaning,” according to the arbitrator’s report issued on April 15.

The fact finder, Carol Wittenberg, concluded that Ms. Jahoda and UFT Chapter Chair Peter Lamphere should transfer out of the school, that the school remove all ‘letters to the file’ issued to the complainants during Jahoda’s tenure and that actions affecting teachers who transferred out of Bronx Science be rescinded.

"After hearing extensively from all concerned, the Fact Finder is convinced that the education community at the Bronx High School of Science, one of the flagship high schools of the Department of Education, needs to see substantial change to overcome the disruption caused by the events and to begin the healing process," the report said.

The recommendations have been sent to School Chancellor Joel Klein, who will make a final decision in the case.

This is part of the April 22, 2010 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.

http://riverdalepress.com/atf.php?sid=12131&current_edition=2010-04-22

Tweed Power to the Parents: Hand out a button

A major part of the Ed Deform neo-liberal program is to totally disenfranchise the major stakeholders - parents and teachers. For teacher readers of this blog, I am posting some parent reactions so you know you are not alone in facing Tweedle takedowns.

In the light of the Tweedie position of "Deputy Chancellor for Community Engagement" the following question was asked on the NYCEd listserve:

What the implications for the currently existing parent involvement/engagements structures and staff?

Some responses:

That they neither engage or involve parents. Have you been made aware of the current elections for the Citywide Council on Special Education or the Citywide Coouncil on English Language Learners? Do you realize that only 4 candidates for the CCSE positon showed up at the Brooklyn hearing and no one for the CCELL? Are you aware of the fact that there were only a few people in the audience and only one person was from a Presidents Council? The cost of this fiasco is 25,000.00 dollars. It may be a pittance in the scheme of things but it would pay for an aide in some school that needs one.
Another use of the position would be to quell any dissent from the community...but that is too Machiavellian. heaven help this poor son of a gun.

Power to the Parents my eye!

Another parent says:
The reason for this fiasco is that “Power to the Parents” is a contractor. They’re a bunch of recent Ivy-league grads who know nothing about the communities they’re supposed to recruit from and even less about how to find and engage public school parents as they’re recently out of diapers themselves. Their only virtue is that—when they were initially hired at least—they cost less than KPMG.

A few of us from the Manhattan High Schools Presidents’ Council dealt with them extensively when they were first hired (for the 2008 CEC elections); they came in totally clueless and, even with lots of hand-holding, were almost comically ineffective. Suffice it to say that a big part of their communication plan was the distribution of “Power to the Parents” buttons.

I have a file on all this, which I intended to dig up anyway in advance of Thursday’s WNYC forum on education coverage, which I will attend. I first got ticked off at WNYC—and specifically Beth Fertig—for her fawning, uncritical coverage of “the first online election” even in the face of emails from actual parents detailing how DOE perpetrated a fraud on the system.

Paola de Kock

MORE COMMENTS:

The NY Times, parroting DOE spin, says: “[t]he moves are intended to give principals more power to determine what kind of instruction they use at individual schools, rather than using only suggestions developed in central offices.”

Without a trace of irony, the article goes on: “The changes underscore a substantial shift that the department has made under Mr. Klein, who early in his tenure focused on centralizing control of the system and developing a uniform citywide curriculum.”—or, more succinctly, much to-ing and fro-ing at DOE.

DOE is also doubling the number of Deputy Chancellors (from four to eight), and “spending nearly $500,000 more, although it is possible other positions will be eliminated.“ Not exactly chump change in a system where PAs must chip in to buy paper and lab supplies. And, in the world of education, the number of administrative positions does not get reduced—ever. That’s the lesson of every RIF that’s ever taken place in higher education and it won’t work any differently here because the people who do the actual teaching—be they professors or teachers—are at the bottom of the educational industrial complex food chain. Back to DOE. The most interesting question to me is what exactly will Santi Taveras be doing as Deputy Chancellor for Community Engagement beside providing some color to DOE’s top echelons? (where, the Times notes, there are no African-Americans and only one other Hispanic). I was hoping—partly because Mr. Taveras is a genuinely nice guy—that he’ll be supervising OFEA, but it looks like Martine will continue as mistress of her domain. Instead, we learn from Klein’s “Dear Colleague” letter that “Santi will work closely with the Panel for Educational Policy and other external-facing offices to engage and work with stakeholders.” It sounds like he’ll be trying to convince parents DOE really cares—a job at which the current “engagement” officer evidently failed.

Paola

Reactions to Playing Musical Chairs at Tweed

More changes announced Monday. I won't bore you with details but only reactions.

Leonie's take:

Greenberger jumping up to COO…looks like Photo has been demoted to head of finance.
Marc Sternberg, former TFA and principal of Bronx Lab, founded in 2004, only six years ago, now head of Portfolio Planning; Where is John White? Demoted? Fired? Who can tell?
No longer any office of Teaching and Learning (at least they’re honest about this; they haven’t had any interest in teaching and learning in years.) And poor Santi Taveras now definitely out of the swing of things:

As part of the DOE’s broader effort to bring the perspective of public school families and community partners to policy decisions, Chancellor Klein will create the new position of Deputy Chancellor for Community Engagement and appoint Santiago Taveras, who has served for the past year as Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, to that role.

But perhaps in order to assuage the hurt feelings of all of these guys, they will all be given the rank of Deputy Chancellors!

How that aligns with the need to cut the bureaucracy, who knows?


And from an astute and knowledgeable high end contact with connections.

So Marc Sternberg is the new boss of Portfolio (Charter school expansion ) office at DOE among 1000 other things.

He is listed as a White House fellow working for Arne Duncan .. my reading of the white house fellows program says they may not be paid but are paid by the white house fellows program..so do we now have a white house employee actively engaging in running the NYC portfolio office while NYS has still already reached its cap on charter schools? This would be what I would expect but it seems totally biased as the man taught only 3 years then went for an MBA and wound up working for Victory Charter schools... the whole thing seems like a conflict of interest when you consider that the Office of portfolio development decides on what spaces are to be given to charter schools... very disturbing and seems problematic. I see it as more of the charter invasion from Obama through Duncan and their Democrats for Education reform friends right through to Bloomberg Klein and the Business world's charter movement- dangerous rich enemies to be feared.