The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for ‘Superman’ and One Teacher’s Two Cents | Arts & Humanities

An extremely thought-provoking article by 6th year teacher Liz Hoelzle  that goes well beyond a movie review comparing WFS and ITBWFS. We should interview her for our next film.

http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/the-inconvenient-truth

Press Ignores Inequality Issue and Charter School Political Manipulation of Parents and Students in NAACP Reports

Below are the links at Gotham this morning to stories regarding the NAACP suit. Most of them compare the numbers who turned out to the charter school protest compared with the much lower numbers who came to the press conference on Friday. Not one mentions that Harlem charter schools closed down for hours on the day of their rally and organized the parents and children who had no school to go to and were politically organized to attend the protest against the NAACP. A serious sign of omission in any story comparing numbers.

But worst of all, the massive testimony at the Friday press conference in front of Eva Moskowitz' Success Charter HQ pointing to the enormous unequal treatment of children was also ignored, receiving some mention only by NY1's Lindsey Christ.

The press should check out the video tape I put up - http://vimeo.com/24644676 - at the very least scroll through the 55 minutes and see how children are treated differently in charter co-locos, the main point of why the NAACP is involved.

UFT has TWO co-loco charters
Also note how the UFT is vilified as being against charters and co-locos but not one story mentions that the UFT has TWO charter schools in the East NY section of Brooklyn that are occupying space in public school buildings. Yes, the UFT has taken the hyprocritic oath. But where is the press on that angle?

Also note national NAACP head Benjamin Jealous defending the suit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-naacp-is-suing-new-york/2011/06/03/AG1W5PIH_story.html

Good piece except for: To spur the changes needed to help students succeed, we even stood with many of these critics when a Rhode Island district fired all the teachers at Central Falls High School.

• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
• State Sen. Eric Adams voted to increase charter schools but this year is suing to stop their growth. (Post)
• The Post says low attendance at the NAACP rally shows that its lawsuit involvement has little support.
• Stanley Crouch: The lawsuit shows the NAACP “has fallen” since its civil rights heyday. (Daily News)
• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
 

AFTERBURN
NYC EDUCATOR TAKES A SHOT AT JONATHAN ALTER:

Alter's been thoroughly refuted at the Public School Parents blog, both here and here, in Accountable Talk,  Salon, and in the ceaselessly observant Schools Matter.

READ IT ALL: In Good Company

Another "Miracle" Debunked: Jacobs, Vander Ark praise grad rate of school that loses 51% + of its students

You know the drill. Ed Deformers find ONE highly successful school that has the same demographics as most inner city schools and they start shouting from the rooftops: na, na, na, na - you see, stop making excuses about poverty - blah, blah, blah, blah! Remember that school that won the contest to have Obama make the commencement speech because it had the biggest change in grad rates? That change exactly matched the percentage of kids who disappeared between grades 9 and 12. Can't they even find one school in the entire nation to beat us over the heads with? I guess there are no miracles.

Jonathan Alter, now a lapdog for Bloomberg, had his underwear all twisted in a knot over Diane Ravitch pointing out these anomalies in a NY Times op ed.

The Reflective Educator has a very thoughtful open letter to Alter.

An Urban Teacher's Education: Dear Jonathan Alter (Again)

 TRE is a saint in trying to reach out to Alter, who is a warrior for the ed defomers. It would be like them trying to reach out to, well, me.

Here are some important links at Leonie's blog related to the Alter assault on Ravitch:

K. Webster on the undue influence of businessmen on our public schools

Douglas Massey on Diane Ravitch and Jonathan Alter's attack

In defense of Diane Ravitch (not that she needs it!)

and some humor from Gary

From Twittergate to Altergate

Here is another:

Great piece; great line: “teachers … understand that every time their kids take another test, some politician is either going to take credit for high scores or point fingers for lower ones.”

http://www.schooltechconnect.com/2011/06/thank-you-mr-alter.html

Thank You, Mr. Alter

Jonathan Alter's ill-conceived Bloomberg piece has triggered an avalanche of scathing public rebukes of the Duncan/Gates administration. Alter carries buckets of water for Duncan in the piece: “Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day,” [Duncan] said when I asked about Ravitch this week.

 Alter is part of the disconnected-from-public-education cadre of experts in public education, and like others before him, he basically repeats the company line about charter schools and blah blah blah. It's all so nauseating. I have yet to run into a single teacher who has read Ravitch and disagrees with her, except perhaps some ed-tech people, who worry that she's not in love enough with technology. Nobody's insulted by her, particularly urban teachers who understand that every time their kids take another test, some politician is either going to take credit for high scores or point fingers for lower ones.

Caroline Grannan, a parent activist in San Francisco who exposed KIPP attrition rates, sent this one along.

Joanne Jacobs' blog -- a post about a miracle school, my response pointing out its attrition, another post pointing out its low test scores (I don't know who that poster is).

Small school changes lives
http://www.joannejacobs.com/2011/06/small-school-changes-lives/#comments

June 5, 2011 By Joanne 3 Comments

Downtown College Prep changes lives, writes Tom Vander Ark after a visit to the San Jose charter high school. Most students come from Mexican immigrant families and enter ninth grade with fifth-grade reading and math skills.  All graduates in the class of 2011 will go on to  college, including Mount Holyoke, University of California at Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State. The school’s counselor helps graduates cope with college challenges, including transferring from community college to a four-year university.

Read all about it in Our School.
tim-10-ber says:

June 5, 2011 at 10:23 am

Wow! Joanne…do you know the stats on this year’s graduating class? How many entered the school in 9th grade, what actual grade level were they when entered, how many dropped out? Just curious…thank you.

Cal says:

June 5, 2011 at 7:30 pm

They might be going to college, but they’re all going to remedial ed for a long, long time.
EAP Results

88% did not demonstrate readiness in English, and 94% didn’t demonstrate readiness in math–and the other 6% were only conditionally ready.
Their test scores are abysmal. But hey, they’ll be able to go to college and pay a ton for education they weren’t able to understand the first time. We’re supposed to celebrate this?

CarolineSF says:

June 5, 2011 at 7:38 pm

The Downtown College Prep class of 2011 lost 51.8 of its students (in hard numbers) between enrollment in 9th grade and the beginning of senior year — publicly available information doesn’t show how many actually graduated.
67 seniors were enrolled at DCP in the 2010-11 school year.
The same class in junior year (09-10) had 83 students.
The same class in sophomore year (08-09) had 119 students.
The same class in freshman year (07-08) had 139 students.

If You Could Do One Thing to Improve the Schools, What Would It Be?

That was a question asked by a parent at the Community Education Council 13 sponsored showing of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" at PS 3 in Bed-Stuy yesterday.

Julie Cavanagh responded: Get rid of Tweed.

Yes. Tweed, the black hole of education where billions of dollars fall in, never to be seen again – certainly not in the classroom.

We have had lots of discussions recently comparing the current state of administration after a decade of mayoral control of schools and what existed before. More and more people who were familiar with the old neighborhood based administration of grades k-8 (high schools were always centralized) that existed from 1969-2002 are coming down on the side of "the old days" even with all the problems (which the ed deformers disparage with the fervor of religious fanatics - hey, there would be NO charter schools if the old district system were in effect.)

Remember: Klein first took apart the districts and created regions and then took apart the regions and created Children First Networks as Tweed implemented reorganization after reorganization. We haven't done enough to examine the CFNs which many say are total wastes. Here are some thoughts from some of the respondents to these questions sent out on a listserve:

What are you feelings about the helpfulness or not of the CFN networks and clusters? Where could be cut without affecting the classroom?

A  NYC principal responds with great insight: ELIMINATE TWEED

Networks were created as an alternative to District Offices which were eliminated under Mayoral Control. The Districts simply made sense as they were community based. If there was some corruption – and there was – it pales in comparison to the large scale theft of public funds by the new system. Look at City Time alone and all of the money spent on no bid contracts. The entire point of mayoral control was to dictate where the money would go and it is sure not the classroom: The public networks and private corporations that run some of them simply grew too large and are not based in the communities they serve. Some networks have schools in different boroughs. It was a devious but brilliant divide and conquer technique. Our District stayed together. In unity there is strength.


What would I cut? Well to start with: Eliminate Tweed itself. SELL IT OFF TO A DEVELOPER.... I have never been there nor had anything but bureaucracy directed at me from there. Eliminate the Office of Portfolio Development – what does it say about an administration that views the school buildings as real estate? I never thought of our buildings as holdings in a"portfolio" but that's why I am an educator not a billionaire.Then get rid of the office of accountability, a hiring hall for twenty something non educators who care nothing about schools but can't find work on Wall street which many of their daddies ruined....


As to networks some are good some bad. I am in nice one (had to join something). I think they are oversized and should be scaled down substantially. That said, some schools with newer principals may rely on them more. This is the problem: does anyone think for a
moment a NY wealthy white suburban district would put up with a "network" running their schools? Local control is good enough for Scarsdale and Great Neck. NYC should have it too. We need local school boards with full powers as stated under state education law, not a rubber stamp, loaded panel for educational policy with an 8 out of 13 mayoral majority who he can fire if they vote against him.


I believe most money should be in schools. Now this next piece may be controversial, BUT I don't even see why we need a Federal Dept of Education. More waste and Red tape that does not do anything for my school but tie us up with testing and paperwork. If I could give back my federal dollars and be removed from federal testing requirements I would do so and write grants to make up the difference. The big secret is that many of the big shots Klein hired ran schools that used portfolio assessment. In fact Richard Mills (former NY State Ed Comm) hated standardized testing when he ran Vermont (overwhelmingly white) but when he came to NY he could not find a test he did not want to give the children- a hypocrite and corporate puppet.

Our problem is that the Democrat party has been taken over by Democrats for Education Reform via their Wall street dollars.. real parent protest will have to happen but it is hard as the charter movement has great media outreach and brainwashing ability via the major money it receives...


Our only blessing here in NYC is that folks are starting to see through the long lie after 8 tears. In the words of the Rolling Stones:
"Tiiiiiiiiiime is on my side"

A  college professor adds:

These are some great points. Bloomberg took over the school system with the idea that application of business principles to education would eliminate corruption, increase efficiency and produce "results" in terms of higher test scores and better graduation rates. At the time, few chose to question whether the business principles applied might make the school system MORE corrupt and less efficient. Now we know better. We have seen how those responsible for "accountability" in the financial system-ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poor's- gave AAA ratings to bundles of worthless mortgages, leading to the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars and the collapse of some of the nation's largest banks. On their watch, executives of banks and hedge funds enriched themselves on a scale no neighborhood politician could even imagine, while millions of working people lost their jobs and homes. This same ilbegotten wealth is now flowing into the charter school movement and into efforts to create complex rating systems for schools teachers and principals. But teachers, parents and even students are starting to wake up and see that the people now taking over their schools are the same ones who, through their corruption and greed, triggered the worst economic crisis in American history. They are taking to the streets, and in NYC at least, some members of the City Council are starting to listen.

COMMENTARY
I don't necessarily agree that time is on our side. Will the local ed world take a united stand and oppose mayoral control? Mulgrew attacked the Panel for Educational Policy at the NAACP press conference, but carefully avoided attacking mayoral control. And a leading parent organization, and I heart that a rep of a leading and influential parent organization made a statement recently that the problem is not mayoral control by the mayor. That is very dangerous ground considering the mayor for 20 years in a row will be Giuliani and Bloomberg. And the 12 years of Koch were not golden for education either. And I would probably throw in the 4 years under Dinkins too. So why will the UFT and other orgs try to sell the idea that when we get "our" mayor, things will be rosy? (I remember when we had our mayor - Abe Beame in the early 70's and he laid off 15,000 teachers.) I'm betting the  UFT will stick with mayoral control no matter how they try to disguise their position because to them the alternative of a community based system is as much bigger threat.

In future posts we'll get into why the UFT has always and will always support the most centralized system they can get.


_________________________
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Video: The NAACP Strikes Back

Recently, the charter school lobby helped orchestrate a rally at the NAACP NYC offices protesting the law suit on closing schools. Charter schools closed down for a few hours in the morning, making blatant use of children and parents for political purposes. On June 3, the NAACP held a press conference in front of the headquarters of Success Charter School Network to emphasize the law suit is about bringing equality to ALL children, not just a favored few.

This is unedited video of the press conference called by the NAACP in front of Eva Moskowitz' headquarters. There is a lot of powerful stuff packed into these 54 minutes. I will attempt to edit it a bit and put up an abridged version if I find time. This is definitely worth watching even if you scroll through it. Mulgrew is near the end and he does very well. Mona Davids was a bit late but got to say here piece at the very end - and she makes a powerful comparison to apartheid in her native South Africa.

Go to directly to vimeo for faster play. http://vimeo.com/24644676

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

600 students walk out at Goldstein HS against budget cuts

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=283130&position=1&news_type=news


The walkout got good coverage on channel 12 news (above). A small group of students planned it meticulously entirely by themselves. Students assigned marshalls to avoid conflicts with the police.They assigned people to each floor to spread the word at the exact time (after 2nd period). They gave out written instructions on both how to exit the building and how to avoid conflict with the security and administration. The students were thrilled. - Reported by a teacher at the school

CEC 13 in Bed-Stuy to Screen Inconvenient Truth Behind WFS: Saturday June 4 - and a Barbecue Too

Weiner's Weiner Signs E4E Loyalty Oath

E4E continues to grow as member expands

• Leads to massive E4E member growth. 
• Gotham Schools report of 2500 members expected to expand.
• Weiner's weiner to appear on next E4E panel along with Shael Polokow-Suransky and Leo Casey as part of a trio.

Does the UFT Bury Stories Exposing How Weak It Really Is When It Comes to Defending Chapter Leaders?

Updated: Friday, June 3, 11pm

Should the UFT warn potential chapter leaders of the pitfalls?

My latest fad is reading Philip Kerr Berlin Noir novels featuring Bernie Gunther, an anti-Hitler detective/policeman in Nazi Germany. Taking place in 1936 and 1938 the first two novels provide some interesting insights into what it might have been like to be living in Germany in those years. I will go into other details another time, but the point I want to make has to do with the heart of "The Pale Criminal" where young girls are being horribly murdered by a serial killer. Rather than warn the populace, the Nazi regime keeps everything under cover so as not to appear weak or suffer a propaganda defeat over the inability to solve the crimes. Thus, without being warned, parents allow their children to go about and face the danger. The official reason they give to anguished parents is that they want to prevent copycat crimes.

Thus it is with chapter leaders in some very dangerous situations. I will be reporting more on the IS 216Q situation where the UFT recruited a very competent teacher to run for chapter leader because the principal had chopped up every previous CL and promised to have her back. They didn't. She has been removed from the school and faces 3020a dismissal charges.

A longtime chapter leader who gave up the position last fall sent me the email below on May 21. The story told here goes well with some of the stories Jeff Kaufman is telling on his new ed law blog - see side panel. I have so many stories of how teachers are being railroaded. But the worst are the chapter leaders who have been attacked due to their defense of teacher rights. You will hear none of these stories in UFT commercials defending LIFO and seniority rights. Why? Instead of blasting these stories out, the UFT unable to protect the basic lifeblood of the union, chooses to keep them undercover. If you ask them you might get a similar answer the parents of the dead girls got -  in this case to prevent copycat principals from feeling free to engage in nefarious activities. It might make sense but we know that principals don't need this spelled out since they have a much better network than teachers. The other reason is to keep the membership from understanding just how far the situation has slid. The lack of publicity - see Peter Lamphere* case at Bronx HS of Science - leaves people "out there" with little preparation for what might be coming when push comes to shove. Sort of like the parents in the Phllip Kerr novel who never knew there was a serial killer due to press blackout for the express purpose of "good news" propaganda. Go forth and read the NY Teacher and all the wonders of the UFT.

Hi Norm

I sent the below to teachers at my school and Cc'd mulgrew....

Dear Teachers:

Please carefully consider the following.  And please take the time to email Michael Mulgrew to tell him what is important to you.  If you could just take 5 minutes per week to send emails, we may just get our message across to UFT leadership.  Feel free to forward this to any NYC teachers you know.

There are many battles one can choose to fight in Bloomberg's war against teachers.   Consider the following comments made by Bloomberg and his minions....

"They're just trying to create the maximum havoc and disruption and fear among parents," Bloomberg said. (regarding teachers objecting to his policy of routinely shutting down public schools in order to make room for his corporate charter school buddies)

About teachers' unions: "It is symptomatic of an organization that is invested in the failed status quo. That is true across the board," (Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson) 

But the quote that really got me was…

"According to DOE internal analysis, the average NYC teacher works fewer than seven hours per day, 185 days per year and costs the city $110,000-$71,000 in salary, $23,000 in pensions, and $16,000 in health and other benefits." This has been stated over and over again by many of Bloomberg's lackeys.  This false claim is one of their key talking points yet UFT leadership has failed to expose it for the lie that it is. 

Your average New Yorker sees us as working less than 7 hours per day for only 185 days per year for too much money and we wonder why everyone seems to hate us. 

UFT Leadership has failed to adequately inform the public about all of the paperwork and lesson planning we do before and after school and on weekends.  And we, collectively as teachers, have failed to press UFT leadership to speak up on our behalf. The unions for NYC firefighters and police took out full page ads in major newspapers.  It was a two column spread.  One column contained Bloomberg's lies about them and the other column exposed the truth.  Where is our ad?  Why are we not exposing the lies about teachers?  Why hasn't UFT leadership asked chapter leaders to collect ideas for such an ad?  Does Michael Mulgrew truly have our best interests in mind?  I think not.  But even if he does, he is not demonstrating the competence to get the message out to the public at large.  It really doesn't matter what his intentions are if he isn't saying the words we want him to say.  

I know that only a handful of you have emailed Michael Mulgrew to urge him to fight for what we believe in.  Exposing the Bloomberg lie that teachers only work during contractual hours while inside their school building should be a top priority for Mulgrew and his staff.  I am sure that this is something that hits home for you since I know how much paperwork you have to complete on a regular basis.  I know it angers me because as soon as I finish writing and sending this off to you, I will be looking at the material our administration received regarding next year's curriculum.  I too work on weekends.
 
Now I know what some of you are thinking; sure, some teachers manage to skate by---they don't really do much work after or before school hours.  The work done with their students reflects this lack of effort.  And in order to inform the public truthfully we must admit that upfront. But we must also insist that we not be lumped in with those teachers and we must ask why those teachers received the same satisfactory rating as the rest of us.  Unsatisfactory teachers receiving satisfactory ratings are the result of poor management - not the result of teachers fighting to protect their incompetent colleagues.   I've always maintained that no one despises a bad teacher more than a good teacher.  But please do not take this as an endorsement of the new evaluation system.  These same "skaters" will exist as long as DOE management continues to fail at managing. 

I know first hand of good teachers who were railroaded and falsely accused of misconduct.  One teacher in particular (not from our school) lost her entire career because she had to choose whether or not she attended her hearing or her new job outside of education.  She simply could not keep her new job and take the day off.  I bring this up because if a good teacher can be railroaded and lose her job, then I cannot buy the argument that it is impossible for administrators to get rid of truly bad teachers.  The DOE has made teachers the scapegoats for their managerial failures. 

If you are a dedicated, hardworking teacher then I urge you to write to Mulgrew (UFTPres@UFT.org) and ask him to speak up on the issues you deem important.  Without your involvement, teacher apathy will put the final nail in our coffin.  So please take the time every week…just 5 or 10 minutes to email Mulgrew.  You can Cc our Bronx rep as well (JVargas@uft.org). And if you would like to forward your emails to me I would be happy to read them. 

By remaining silent we will allow the public to continue to believe that we each cost the taxpayers $110,000 while basically working part time.  This will be the argument for longer school days and a longer work year.  We either expose this lie now or we enable it now.   Our silence will allow the image of "lazy, greedy part-time teachers" to be the only image the taxpayer imagines when Bloomberg calls for lay offs, increasing our contractual day/year and stripping us of pension and medical benefits. 

If you're doing school work on this beautiful sunny Saturday, let Mulgrew know!  Express your outrage and insist that he start exposing the real conditions under which we work and the real amount of time we spend at home on school work.  That snow globe commercial didn't really do all that, did it?  That's because the UFT leadership has completely lost touch with what is important to those of us on the frontlines in the classrooms day in and day out.  Which is why I claim they do not have our best interests in mind….and even if they do….they are failing miserably. 

Sincerely,
Roseanne
Cc: M. Mulgrew
       J. Vargas

Peter Lamphere's essay "Arbitrary U-Ratings" at Gotham Schools describes what happened to the math dept at his school when admin went on the attack. Excerpt:

"I was unfortunate enough to have witnessed this process firsthand at the Bronx High School of Science. In the fall of 2007, the math department welcomed a new assistant principal, Rosemarie Jahoda. Soon, however, we found that the newer teachers in the department were being subjected to a level of scrutiny and paperwork that was excessive. As soon as I spoke up about the issue, which was my responsibility as a member of a UFT consultation committee that met with the principal, I immediately began receiving unjustified disciplinary letters.  These were quickly followed by groundless unsatisfactory lesson observation reports. I had had a spotless teaching record for my entire previous career, including at Bronx Science.

I was not alone. My newer colleagues were warned against speaking to their more senior coworkers. They were reduced to tears in meetings with the AP, and yelled at in front of their students. One was fired; others soon left. Senior teachers were not spared the abuse — one was called “disgusting” by AP Jahoda after speaking up in a department meeting.

As a result, 20 of us (out of a department of 22) filed a harassment grievance in 2008 against our AP and Principal Valerie Reidy. After spending eight full hearing days over the span of one school year, a neutral fact-finder substantiated our complaints, concluding that the “the totality of Jahoda’s treatment of teachers … constitutes harassment.”

The DOE, however, completely dismissed her findings . . .  "

Today's Truths: The TRUTH vs. Distortion - I support the NAACP Rally Friday at Eva HQ

“Because of the NAACP’s stand for all children, they are being criticized by those who seek to only divide our community, pitting parent against parent, and distorting the facts about the lawsuit against the NYC DOE.” - NAACP Press Release

UPDATE: UNCF Receives $1.6 Billion Grant From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation(see story below on UNCF leader co-writing anti NAACP piece with Michelle Rhee)

Support NAACP Rally/Press Conference Friday at Success Charter Offices (posted at Norms Notes)

NAACP and Community Rally/Press Conference at Success Charter Offices at 310 Lenox, between 125^th and 126^th.   Time is still slightly in flux – 8:30/9 am.

Call EVA MOSKOWITZ and tell her

You are STANDING WITH THE NAACP

(646) 597-4641 

This one should be fun. WOW! Is the worm turning on charters or what? Some major Harlem politicians are supporting this: Rangel, Wright, Dickens, and of course, Bill Perkins, the dean of politicians challenging the charter lobby.

Two years ago (end of school year 2009) when GEM (only a few months old) went up to Eva invaded PS 123 there were few political forces willing to take on charters. Even Bill Perkins at that time seemed ambivalent (I remember having a conversation with one of his aides). But the PS 123 situation woke him up and he began to take a stand. Throughout the summer of 2009 he invited us to take part in discussion at his office. His hearings in March 2010 created a storm (I still have many hours of tape) and led to a charter supported primary challenge which Perkins beat back easily. That was a moment where the supposed parent "support" for charters in Harlem was exposed.

Now the charter lobby has tried to bully the NAACP into withdrawing from the law suit with the UFT to stop the closing of schools and charter co-locations as Gotham reported:

Parents visited the NAACP’s local offices to ask the group to exit the school closure suit. (GS, Post)
One of the parent spokespersons - Valerie Babb, a parent at Harlem Link (always makes me chuckle when I see this school mentioned) - was quoted. Leonie pointed out that she works for the New York Charter Center. I also had a communication from Babb as I mentioned in this comment I left at Gotham's report on a visit by 20 "parents" to NAACP head Hazel Dukes' office:

So I'm beginning to get it. "“We’re not going away,” said Valerie Babb, mother of a first-grader at Harlem Link Charter School." Valerie Babb is an employee of the NYC Charter Center. Babb sent out an email to charter school parents to attend the recent Brooklyn Premiere of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" sponsored by Mona Davids' competing charter school parent org. (I printed the email at ed notes: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/to-charter-school-operators-you-want.html).
So, it's all about the children, eh? Politics and jobs don't enter into it I guess. How many other charter school parent activists have jobs connected to the charter school machine? Reminds me of the day when principals helped get jobs for certain parents who supported them. Link to comment: http://disq.us/24qbfb

I'm going to try to get up and shlep my way to this event with trusty camera. Here are some recent items I've been posting - just a select few.

 Rich White Woman Tells Poor Black People to Rally ...

A Jamaica HS Student's Outrage Puts Dennis Walcott...

Report from the Field: Is Harlem Success Academy P...
The Harlem Success Tries to Turn White as the Worm...

To Charter School Operators: You Want the Truth? Y...

Gotham has a link on this story. Kitchen Sink is at it again - I left a comment - go leave yours.

It's actually a sad day for charter school interests looking to glom onto free real estate. I guess you were too busy planning your exit from the public schools to set up your own shop, but those of us who remained and fought that system would never classify what we did as failing black and brown kids by condemning an entire racial group.

In my school we had great success with a number of students (I can give you a tour of the colleges they went to) and also failures. It is the former group that you are all bragging about succeeding with - just like we did over the last 40 years. Instead of focusing all out efforts on reaching those kids, you have opted for a dual school system that makes conditions worse for the very kids who need the most help. And the charter school lobby has supported the onslaught by the DOE due to narrow self-interest - the self-interest of the adults I might add.  Nice work!

But the charter lobby is out in force. This just came through:

United Negro College Fund head attacks lawsuit/NAACP

- an article Michael Lomax (a charter puppet) co-wrote with - DRUMROLL - Michelle Rhee, the Sarah Palin of ed deform as someone dubbed her.

Noguera Punts on HSA
The NY State Ed Dept, which Fred Smith exposes on their politically tainted testing procedures has also been complicent in the charter school invasions. John King who is taking over when Steiner leaves is 100% charter school. It really is invasion of the body snatchers. But HSA is chartered by SUNY and here is some back and forth on the NYCEd News Listserve regarding Pedro Noguera related to this item I posted yesterday - Success/Brandeis co-location comments due BY NOON ...

Leonie Haimson asked: Has Pedro Noguera (Chair of SUNY Charter Schools Institute) expressed an opinion on this co-location? Has he visited any of the co-located charters in D3, to your knowledge?


Here was the response:

Months ago, at the meeting where SUNY granted the charter (without a specific D3
location), Dr. Noguera did say that he wanted to look carefully at the site that
got chosen before approving it. I am told he didn't want SUNY to be a "rubber
stamp." That said, if he now has an opinion on this specific co-location, I have
not heard it, nor of any Success-related visit by Dr. Noguera to the Brandeis
complex.

It is so odd to me, now that SUNY held this hearing to do a final site
evaluation, that the SUNY Charter Schools Institute is responsible for receiving
public comments and making a recommendation to the SUNY Board about approval. As
far as I know, there were no Board members at the location hearing this week.
The CSI would seem to be in the business of supporting charters, and I find it
weird that they are the buffer between the overwhelming community opposition and
Dr. Noguera/the SUNY Board.

And, oh year, it is a good time to bring back one of our favorites about Meryll Tisch, who is the leader of the pack.

Click on photo to link to an article on K12 and Tisch Family

Principal's Choice

Special to ed notes:

Written and illustrated by Robert Rendo

It was a pleasure to meet Rob at our movie premiere. Rob encourages anyone to make use of this illustration as long as you credit "Robert Rendo" as the writer and illustrator.

Success/Brandeis co-location comments due BY NOON TODAY

This just in. We know the entire population of a neighborhood may make the choice that an HSA school is not wanted that choice will be ignored by SUNY while the voices of the few will get their "choice." But I guess there's nothing lost in trying. --------
Please submit a quick comment by noon today to SUNY re: its final consideration of the siting of Upper West Success (a Success Academy charter school branch) elementary school within the Brandeis HS complex. Send to Ralph Rossi at charters@SUNY.edu 
 
For those not in D3, you should know that the co-location has been formally opposed by our full community board (even the charter supporters), every elected official representing the Upper West Side (and other citywide and district electeds), our full CEC (resolution is here: http://www.cec3.org/www/cecd3/site/hosting/Resolutions/Approved%20CDEC3%20Resolution%20Against%20Success%20Charter%20Co-location_01.19.11.pdf), nearly all D3 PA/PTAs and many, many residents & public school parents who have spoken at hearings, signed petitions, rallied and sent public comment. The EIS, BUP, that the PEP considered when approving the co-location on Feb 1 can be found here: http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/publicnotice/2010-2011/Feb12011Proposals 
 
Thanks!
Beth Servetar, D3 parent
CEC3 Space & Overcrowding Subcommittee
Cheers
Norm Scott

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Grassroots Education Movement

Education Editor, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

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Hot Stuff for Today

I'm off to the city to do a video shoot for this Manhattan Neighborhood Network TV show - Active Aging - that I work on. An artist in the Village. What else is new? I need to take a shower first- still feel dirty after seeing a great performance by Mark Rylance in Jerusalem last night - but 3 hours of watching people who are basically despicable? My wife is trying to find the meaning behind it. I don't really care that much. Worst part of the evening? The long line at Junior's at 10pm. I had spent the entire 3 hours dreaming of that cheese cake.


Diane Ravitch nails 'em again in this op ed in the NY Times:

OPINION   | June 01, 2011 Op-Ed Contributor:  Waiting for a School Miracle  By DIANE RAVITCH Be skeptical of stories of rapid educational transformation. Also check out this video recommended by Diane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fhCi2dBag ------------ Michael Paul Goldenberg illustrates the Ravitch piece Please read the latest post at Rational Mathematics Education: An Open Letter to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan "According to news reports, press releases, and other records, from 2003 through late 2006 you lent your support to Spizzirri's organization in various ways, including appearing as an animated cartoon character on SALF's website. Subsequently, a November 2006 ABC7 I-Team story reported that SALF and Spizzirri engaged in a variety of serious misrepresentations. In that broadcast, you yourself raise doubts about SALF's claims. Since then, the organization has been the subject of dozens more media exposes including an October 11, 2010 article in The Hill reporting that SALF was under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General's Charitable Trust Bureau. An investigation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also appears to be underway. MORE at http://rationalmathed.blogspot.com/2011/06/open-letter-to-us-secretary-of.html ---------------- Here is Susan Ohanian's daily digest for today, stuff that will keep you busy: I know you'll want to see the two cartoons. One of them is related to Gus Garcia-Roberts' experience with a Florida diploma mill. This will be a classic: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=697 And the other one is laugh-out loud funny: http://susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=696 What a relief to find something funny in these days of constant outrage and horror that pose as public education. Susan \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ To the editor Stephen Krashen New York Daily News 2011-05-30 http://susanohanian.org/show_letter.php?id=1360 This letter is a wowser!! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  I Cheated My Way Through High School Last Week  Gus Garcia-Roberts Miami New Times 2011-05-31 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=959 How is it that a student attending a legitimate high school for four years cannot get a diploma without passing the FCAT but this for-profit outfit can hand over a diploma with the only requirement being payment of $399? Take a look at exams that qualified him for the diploma. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Standards Supports for Teachers Eyed Stephen Sawchuk Education Week blog 2011-05-27 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=958  Another Gates-funded standards delivery system. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Avoiding the Poverty Issue Paul Thomas New York Times Online Room For Debate 2011-05-30 http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=957 New York Times online forum Room for Debate asked the question  What do we know about using student achievement tests to judge teacher performance? Paul Thomas was the only respondent who addressed the real issue.

The Harlem Success Tries to Turn White as the Worm Keeps Turning - Eva's Hubby Gets Into the Act

Gotham: Eric Grannis, charter board member and Eva Moskowitz’s husband:
Charters should integrate. (Daily News)

Michael Fiorillo

Grannis' piece in the Daily News is nothing more than transparent attempt to justify his wife's invasion of the Brandeis HS building on the Upper West Side. In other words, the usual charter operator's dissembling and deceptive use of civil rights rhetoric in service of privatization.

I go further than Michael. HSA is ready to move to the white middle class where test scores come easy. My racism detector has been activated. Just like I reported the other day when Eva (rich white woman) organized poor Black people to oppose the NAACP law suit against closing schools and charter co-locos. (Eric Grannis supposedly reads ed notes so he should be happy to see his name in print.)

Maybe we'd serve minority students better if, instead of creating good schools for minorities to make up for the bad schools minorities have had for so long, we just created good schools for everyone. As the Supreme Court has said, "he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Gee, Eric, how disingenuous of you. If you wanted to integrate your charter schools why don't you offer buses to all those white parents who want to attend HSA and bus them into Harlem at your local HSA schools there. Let's see how attractive the white parents consider your schools then. Or is it just about Brandeis or Bust?

I posted a video over the weekend where you can see the new (white) faces HSA is looking for snickering at the Brandeis HS press conference where parents and community opposed the HSA takeover of whole sections of public real estate. What next Eric, HSA condos?

Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011
A PS 241 teacher describes the impact on her school from having a Harlem Success Academy school in her building. I challenged and captured some comments from HSA future parents, the face of the attempt to gentrify charter schools on the upper west side.

http://youtu.be/iYhH-hsztn4

Also this video of Julie Cavanagh savaging charters:

http://youtu.be/frIajrQfgUo 

For those of you who don't read the comments, here is a very valuable follow-up:

Michael Fiorillo said...
Norm, you are are absolutely right: one of the unspoken dynamics in charter expansion in NYC is that they are a real estate play. Whether it is the expropriating of public school facilities, or as a prelude and anchor for further gentrification of communities (i.e. Gideon Stein, Success Charter Network Board member, and head of Argyle Holdings, "Developers of premier properties in Northern Manhattan").

As with Geoffrey Canada's incursion into the St. Nicolas Houses, while public housing units all over the city are being allowed to become run-down and (reputedly) units are being warehoused, the people pushing these schools are also tightly aligned with real estate and urban redevelopment interests in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. It's possible that, rhetoric and PR aside, this is what Grannis has in mind when he writes about "integrating" charters schools: at current rates of demographic change, Harlem and Bed-Stuy will be increasingly white neighborhoods. Maybe the black families being recruited are just placeholders until the neighborhood "tips" sufficiently. Of course, even then you will still see the faces of adorable black children on all the 4-color, glossy promotional materials.

Finance and real estate, the twin electromagnetic poles of urban political juice, see mutual benefits from charter expansion. They continue to grow because, despite the fact that they are educationally inferior to public schools and an economic drain and diversion away from them, they represent a coalition of powerful interests.

Remember "synergy," a Wall Street/consultant/B-School buzz word from a decade or more ago? The idea was that assembling disparate companies would lead to new opportunities and dynamism within the whole.

That's some of what's going on with elite support for charter schools, the hoped-for synergy of corporate control of school management, curriculum, instruction, labor relations and infrastructure. It's a gold mine for them, and cold, watery soup for everyone else.

It's happening right now. And it's accelerating.

Rapture in Unity: Caucus will Outlast the End of Days Predicts Harold Camping

Harold Camping has been wrong twice in telling us when the world will end but he says he has a sure-fire prediction that can't go wrong. Even though he has modified his prediction for the end of days from May 21 to October 21, he has issued assurances that the ironclad control Unity Caucus exerts over the UFT will outlast the demise of the earth.

"I'm sure that if we bothered to look closely, we would find proof in the Bible that Unity Caucus will continue to exist in the firmanent," said a spokesperson for The Creator. As a matter of fact, the AFT is already rescheduling its 2012 convention, moving it from Detroit to the heavens as Unity has guarnteed every single delegate to that convention admission through the Pearly Gates – along with a per session job.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the keynote speaker at the AFT convention but he will have to use Skype – providing the technology still works with all that heat.

To Charter School Operators: You Want the Truth? You Can't Handle the Truth

Charter schools and charter authorizers try to get charter school parents to attend ITBWFS Brooklyn premiere movie screening Tuesday. May 31.

A lot of people commented when I ran this headline Wednesday night:

Rich White Woman Tells Poor Black People to Rally Against NAACP While Shutting Their Children Out of Their Schools for Hours

'Nuff said!

If you didn't see the short film I posted from the Brandeis HS press conf over Eva's blatant attempt to take over prime real estate on W. 84 st. that we built with tax money, check it out - in particular the arrogance of Moskowitz' supporters http://youtu.be/iYhH-hsztn4
while a teacher at a co-located school list the crimes committed against public school kids in the name of "choice". Of course public school kids in Eva schools are not given the choice to go to a nice bathroom or given the choice to not be put near a smoking boiler room.

I guess the charter school Klones are feeling some of our movie heat. Valerie Babb of the NYC Charter Schools, the DOE partner in crime (too bad Walcott didn't show up at the Comm Bd 12 meeting May 21 to hear NYCCS CEO James Merriman trash Tweed before running off with his tail between his legs to avoid facing off with Julie Cavanagh and Mona Davids) sent this out.

From: Valerie Babb <vbabb@nyccharterschools.org>
Subject: Film Screening Tuesday Night
Date: Saturday, May 28, 2011, 10:15 AM

Dear Parents and Supporters,

Here at the Charter Parents Action Network – CPAN, we believe parents should be educated about the issues, their schools, and their choices. Accordingly, we wanted to inform you about a unique opportunity. A new documentary film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, is premiering in Brooklyn this week.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
6:00 p.m.
Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street
The screening will be followed by a panel of charter and district public school parents.

The film, written and directed by New York City public school teachers and parents, has been created in response to the highly acclaimed Waiting for Superman (which featured several charter school leaders, including Geoff Canada). It attempts to show how the many educational reforms that have taken place in NYC over the past decade are “actually hurting public education.”

We encourage you to attend the film and make your own decisions. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Valerie Babb
Director, Charter Parents Action Network (CPAN)

NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOL CENTER
111 Broadway, Suite 604, New York, NY 10006
T: 212.437.8317  F: 212.227.2763
www.nyccharterschools.org

We don't just attempt, we show how public education has been harmed - and we had enough footage to make a 5 hour film (Shoa, NYC style).
Here is a statement from Mona Davids' counter charter school parent org on the NAACP suit with the UFT on closing schools and charter co-locos, which charter school advocated have been trashing.

Subject: NYCPA Statement on the Charter Schools Attack of the NAACP
From: "New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA)"

Date: Sat, May 28, 2011 2:09 pm
To: "Mona Davids"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message to all members of New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 28, 2011

Contact: Mariama Sanoh, New York
Charter Parents Association: (917) 340-8987
New York Charter Parents Association Statement

Charter Schools and Charter Authorizers Abuse Power by Delaying School Opening for Political Purposes

The New York Charter Parents Association condemns the exploitation of charter school students by some of New York City's charter school leaders for political purposes this past Wednesday. We were appalled by the abuse of power on the part of charter school leaders when they delayed the start of the school day and required all students and parents -- the majority of whom are African-American and Latino -- to attend a protest rally attacking the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for supporting charter school reforms.

The New York Charter Parents Association, with the support of groups such as the NAACP, successfully won many charter reforms benefiting charter students and parents. One such reform is the requirement that charter schools establish Parent Associations or Parent-Teacher Associations. These sensible and reasonable reforms were strongly opposed by charter school leaders and their authorizers.

Furthermore, unfortunately, many charter school leaders and their authorizers are now non-compliant with these reforms. As strongly as we condemn the abuse of authority and responsibility on the part of these charter school leaders, we condemn even more the hypocrisy, the patronization and blatant racism exhibited by these leaders.

In this city, the charter school movement has been led by individuals who are white and, in general, privileged. This racial profile includes charter administrators, their institutional supporters, and even a good percentage of their faculty. The racial profile of the student population, however, is overwhelmingly Latino or of African descent. In isolation, this contrast is not necessarily a bad thing. But we are seeing the manipulation of African-American and Latino parents and students by white people who see their less-privileged neighbors as a noble cause as well as
an easy meal ticket. These white hustlers command salaries higher than that of the American President as they preside over education empires that grow at the public's expense, feeding on the tax dollars of the brown people they supposedly serve. In this model, our children are merely the widgets. These white hustlers preach "accountability" and "reform," but they rely on a lack of public scrutiny and old-school corporate discipline to sustain their organizations. These white hustlers talk about what they bring to our children, but they want to overcrowd public school buildings so they can get space for one dollar per year from our billionaire Mayor.

Now, when other organizations who put children first and who have a history of recognizing oppression and exploitation, object to these practices and speak up for charter reforms, these hustlers have the audacity to use our children to attack our true leaders, such as the NAACP. The New York Charter Parents Association is supportive of public school choice and the existence of charter schools, but we will not stand by and allow charter school leaders -- and their authorizers -- to
manipulate, deceive and divide our communities. The NAACP deserves our strong support and gratitude for speaking up when we need to hear its voice.

### About Us The New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA) is the first and only independent citywide and statewide charter parents’ organization. We are of the parents, by the parents and for the parents.

The NYC Department of Education (DOE), SUNY Charter Schools Institute (SUNY CSI), NYS Education Department (NYSED), NY Charter Schools Association, NYC Charter Center or any charter school do NOT control us.

We are not afraid to stand up for parent rights, student rights, accountability and transparency in charter schools. We are not intimidated by any individual or organization. www.nycharterparents.org

Visit New York Charter Parents Association (NYCPA) at:
http://nycharterparents.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Two Videos: Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011

 Brandeis HS - Opposing HSA Invasion - May 26, 2011
A PS 241 teacher describes the impact on her school from having a Harlem Success Academy school in her building. I challenged and captured some comments from HSA future parents, the face of the attempt to gentrify charter schools on the upper west side.
Make sure to watch the companion video below posted by Angel: Moskowitz Charter Takeover @ Brandeis HS - Ms Rackmill Speaks

http://youtu.be/iYhH-hsztn4


Moskowitz Charter Takeover @ Brandeis HS - Ms Rackmill Speaks

http://youtu.be/wuAWHc4QQBQ

May 31 - Brooklyn Premiere: "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman"

Space is limited.  To RSVP and reserve your seat, email admin@nycparentsunion.org

Visit the official film website at www.waitingforsupermantruth.org

Heading to Chicago July 6 - Join Us

Members of the Grassroots Education Movement will be participating along with other NYC activists. This is a follow-up to the conference some of us attended in Los Angeles in July 2009 where we formed a loose coalition of people from various cities, including Chicago and Washington DC. Within a year and a half participants from these two cities took charge of their union local.

Contact me if you are interested. Or just click the link and register below.

National Conference to Fight Back for Public Education

Register online now!

Speak, learn and share with educators on the front lines in New York, LA, Chicago, Wisconsin, Oakland, Ohio, Indiana and beyond. Plan and organize to promote our vision of an equitable and just education system, for unions that fight for and with our communities, and help build a national grassroots strategy to defend public schools.

When: July 6th,  9am to 5pm

Where : Chicago, IL. Teamster City

Click here to register.

Powerful Video: Charter vs. Public School Inequities - HSA Spent $1.3 Million on Advertizing

Last Update: May 30, 2011, 7am

On May 21, 2011 Community Board 12 in upper Manhattan convened a panel to discuss charter schools. Dennis Walcott was supposed to be on that panel but never showed up. Chair, SUNY Charter Schools Committee Pedro Noguera and NY Charter School and James Merriman CEO of the NYC Charter School Center said their piece and left before Julie Cavanagh and Mona Davids said their piece.

Here are two videos I made.

Julie in 21 minutes presents a comprehensive case against the charter school movement.


http://youtu.be/frIajrQfgUo


Here I extracted a 5 minute piece out of the above if you don't have time now focusing on just some statistics. Like Eva spent $1.3 million over a 2 year period to create demand. Julie breaks down how much money that comes out to if divided up amongst the public school children her schools displace.

http://youtu.be/z3XSm3b64Gk

I have a lot of good footage of the back and forth between Mona and the head of the SUNY Charter School Authorizers - forgot her name.

But here is a short clip of Noguera taking off at a teacher who talked about how out of control the kids were in his school.


http://youtu.be/ZTC798WjIik

Vote for Phyllis Smith at Amazon - one of my fiction writing pals

I Am Livia, by Phyllis Smith, has made the finals of the 

2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest

DEADLINE IS JUNE 1

I've been part of a (mostly) fiction writing group for over five years. I actually haven't had the time to write much fiction (though if you are a Tweedie or in the UFT leadership I write fiction every day) but I try to attend as many sessions of the group as I can.

Brooklyn based author Phyllis Smith joined the group over three years ago. She specializes in novels of ancient Rome. Her meticulous research teamed with her great story telling make for compelling novels. We are so excited to see one of our own reach the finals of this contest. Which is why you have to trust me that this is going to be a breakthrough novel for Phyllis and go to Amazon and vote. Try this link - you have to sign in. Or try this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_356372342_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000690371&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0VCHHQ0TM0THX6GRMVST&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1298822062&pf_rd_i=332264011

It may say Young Adult but Phyllis is in the general fiction category.

Phyllis T. Smith, I Am Livia

• Download an excerpt from I Am Livia
• Read the experts' reviews

Which is the real Livia? The reason I never eat grapes figs

When we started reviewing Phyllis' fictional first person account of Livia, the wife of Augustus, I was thrilled as a fan of the I Claudius series on Masterpiece Theater (I had also read both of Robert Graves' novels when I was in high school - and not as an assignment). I actually bought the entire taped series with the intention of watching all 10 tapes (20 hours) as a marathon retirement present to myself. I still haven't gotten to it.

When I went to Rome a few years ago (my first visit) my wife and I made sure to tour the remains of Livia's house and visit the bust of Livia where I took a "separated at birth" photo.

Among a gaggle of fascinating characters in I Claudius, Livia rises to the top, coming off somewhat as a monster who supposedly killed Augustus by poisonning his favorite grapes figs (thanks to Michael Fiorillo for the correction).

Phyllis informed us that the Graves characterization was totally false. I looked forward to each submission of the chapters over a period of a year. When she submitted the final chapter a few weeks ago I refused to read it. I want the pleasure of reading this baby all at once.