Honk if You're Proud of the UFT

Chicago teacher Katie Osgood @KatieOsgood_tweeted

I am SO proud of the CTU! "Chicago & NYC school reform: Creating possibilities versus surrendering without a struggle" http://newpol.org/node/599

 So, are any of you feeling proud of the UFT/Unity Caucus machine? I know of at least one Unity Caucus chapter leader at a school threatened with closing who was handing out donuts to "celebrate" the union's "victory" in the recent agreement in ed evals. And if you checked out my last blog on the Moskowitz invasion in Williamsburg, the UFT has zero presence leaving the community to fight the massive machine on its own --- UFT leaders are fraidy cats when it comes to Eva. Or just about everything. Just check some Unity comments on this blog --- something like if you're not part of the conversation -- blah, blah, blah. Occupy a few schools threatened with being closed and you'll be part of the conversation soon enough.

Here is the Lois Weiner piece Katie was referring to.

Chicago and NYC school reform: Creating possibilities versus surrendering without a struggle

Lois Weiner

February 19, 2012

As I write, the  Brian Piccolo Specialty School in Humboldt Park, Chicago is occupied by parents, teachers, and students, with Occupy Chicago and others camped outside the schol in solidarity.  The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is building this movement, with a  wonderful wholeheartedness and passion. Bravo! The union is showing both brawn and brains.  In another sign of its commitment to fight hard for the education low-income kids deserve, the CTU  has released an excellent report on what we should demand of politicians who say they want to improve the schools. Another part of the Chicago strategy is using the courts. Parents are the backbone here but as a long-time community organizer in Chicago wrote me, "Honestly, we could not have done this without a progressive union leadership."

In contrast, the New York State teachers union (NYSUT) has signed an agreement that is an abject surrender of teachers' professional dignity and tightens the stranglehold of standardized tests.  Let us hope  - and mobilize - so that this Faustian agreement does not become the "national model" that  NYSUT (and NYC) teachers union leaders would like it to be.  Consider that  NYSUT applauded this agreement that allows up to 40% of teachers' evaluations  to be based on their  students' progress on standardized tests. Yet, according to NYSUT's own poll conducted in January,  two-thirds of parents "believe there is too much emphasis on state testing in public schools."  Public  opposition to testing has been organized by parent and teacher groups independent of the national unions, which are fearful of angering the corporate media and its political friends. Is there a  principle for which the NYC and NY state teachers unions will really fight? Hmmm... maybe the right to collect dues?

We have a tale of school systems in two cities being demolished with the same policies of privatization, school closure, and deprofessionalization of teaching. In Chicago, the teachers union has mobilized with parents and activists to turn the tide. In New York, the teachers union signs and applauds a deal that endangers the job security of teachers who want to use their creativity, skill, and knowledge to teach in ways that are meaningful to kids. Chicago shows us resistance can be mobilized, if a union leadership has the heart and vision, knows how to empower its members, and can work respectfully with parents.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, blogger Under Assault makes a rare appearance since retirement with some comments on the teacher eval system, which she terms (d)evaluation. Nice.

"An almost total capitulation by the union"

 You can read Jeff's whole analysis of the new (d)evaluation system on the ICE blog, which he ends with a very dark prediction:

If today's agreement becomes our actual teacher evaluation system, then there will more than likely be massive teacher firings beginning in 2014.

Some of the comments are worth a chuckle. There's a lass called Sandra who thinks getting tenure in the old days was a "gift":

I don't feel one bit of pity to those teachers who were gifted tenure back in those days of desperation and think that that should save them from a true evaluation of their effectiveness ...

I'll be damned if I know what she means by "those days of desperation." I'm assuming Sandra was a youngster when the rest of us were chewing our fingernails over the Board of Ed's certification tests. The music exam was distinctly uncomfortable, even with a Masters and heading into a doctorate. You couldn't just swim in on Music Appreciation and your instrument. There were also tests on piano performance and sight-reading, and the whole thing only came around every few years. Tough titties if you failed it, because no one was going to give you NYC certification or tenure without it.

Ah, those were the days, when deep knowledge of a subject was actually valued. Now your career's a coin coss: heads if your administrator recognizes and respects variations in style, personality and methodology and makes use of your talents, tails if your evaluation is scripted by an inexperienced Tweedle or a politically appointed senior administrator.

---

I have to credit Wiki for using the Michelangelo painting as an antecedent of our "Perp walk."

Neat.

Williamsburg Responds to Success Charter Invasion

There is so much to this story I don't know where to start.  I'll have to do a bunch of stories.

A 2nd hearing for Eva's co-loco at MS 50 in Williamsburg was held on Feb. 16.
The legal hearing was originally held on Jan. 17, 2012 where there was only 1 person who spoke in favor of Success while hundreds of community people were opposed. So the NYCDOE invented an excuse to have a repeat hearing to give Success Academy an opportunity to create a semblance of support. Not being able to recruit more than 3 local supporters, the charter chain had to bring in 4 busloads of people from Harlem to create the illusion of support

There's lots of irony here in that most of the people Eva brought into a mostly Latino community were Black --- other than the almost all white Success handlers (plantation politics). It was pointed out time and again that Success put their ads not near the MS 50 building but in white areas where they spent a fortune in advertising (and they still couldn't find more than 3 people to support them). Talk about people being used. They came on as if they were out to save the poor kids of Williamsburg without questioning why Eva is no longer trying to help all those children in Harlem who are still "stuck" in public schools there but didn't make the lottery. You see, Success has done all the creaming it in Harlem could and doesn't want the rest of the Harlem kids. Do they know Eva is now trolling for wealthy white people for schools these very people she brought from Harlem whose kids would not be welcome in the Brooklyn gentrified Success schools?

GEM had 3 cameras in the room and outside. I'm working on a few videos. More later.

Here is the first one where I start out questioning the HSA people -- check the arrogance of some -- and an amazing parent with 3 kids at PS 84 interjects.


http://youtu.be/S8i1wHhCR5I




Wllmsbg/Grnpt parents respond to distorted NY Times School Book report of the meeting:

We wrote a response to the crummy reporting at School Book (http://
www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/02/17/huge-turnout-over-new-williamsburg-charter-school/) on the co-location hearing Thursday night. It's posted on our website
with pictures of the busses that have HSA signs on them:

http://www.williamsburggreenpointschools.org/news

Pat D from GEM/ICE did these videos of the press conference in front of MS 50 before the meeting. (view them from bottom up).

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos

[20120216051927 Press Conf. ] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jisWuHn-GUg
[20120216051754 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXf1yafTBGw
[20120216051339 press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awSbF0ofHI
[20120216051207 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpkeDv3tV4

[20120216050916 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VomJSAW3Su

20120216050509 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wnJdAufYs
[20120216050245 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qgRDZniStY
[20120216045955 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5M_ARPtCP0
[20120216045241 Press Conf.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z0XF8CS1i4

PEP Popping: The Play’s the Thing Plus Jones/Casey Pre-PEP Debate and Mulgrew on Mic Check

Casey claims Ed Notes criticisms of the UFT leadership is reason for UFT refusal to go along with the coalition.

Below is my column in the Feb. 17, 2012 edition of The Wave: www.rockawave.com (modified from the original) along with a short video demonstrating the UFT double or triple switch before and during the PEP.  It begins with me following Leo Casey handing out leaflets to Occupy DOE activists urging them not to go in to the PEP but to join the UFT in a march to an alternate location and a debate between Brian Jones and Casey about what seemed to be a change in the UFT position that they would go in initially to support the People's mic and then walk out and march to the other school. Instead there were rumors the UFT was using scare tactics to tell people that there might be violence and arrests which Brian alludes to but Casey denies. Also that buses were being diverted away from Tech. It ends with Mulgrew using the People's mic and the buses coming back an hour into the meeting. Honestly, people truly cheered the UFT on its turnaround at the end of the day, me included. I'm a wus.

http://youtu.be/sYiDN1tpP3U 
 

Gotham Schools' Goeff Decker also shot some of the same footage from a different angle and put up about a minute of it http://youtu.be/LCaLougjqLs.

I'm working on a more extensive video that shows how I confronted UFT officials and how they reacted plus the ODOE folks directly challenging the UFT with union songs. And a video that captures the intensity of that evening inside the PEP. You also should check out the video Darren made of politicians trashing Bloomberg at the UFT press conference across the street. Check the post below this or http://youtu.be/LCaLougjqLs.

Don't get me wrong. In fact ODOE in the end did decide to walk out and so in some ways the UFT and ODOE came together. 

I need to do an analysis of exactly what went on that day but the fact that Casey attempted to blame me was a blatant attempt to get my fellow activists to use a decision by the UFT for a number of reasons (like they wanted to separate themselves from ODOE as a way of showing Bloomberg they were "reasonable") that have nothing to do with me to pressure me to tone down my critiques of Unity. Actually, he has tried this with a bunch of people I know (sort of how can you hang with that lunatic type of stuff) and in fact I have tried to bend over a bit in their direction when I'm told I am going too far. 

All day on Feb. 9 as I heard that they were going to work with ODOE I was giving them creds --- until they changed position in a memo from Leroy Barr at 2:45. You should read that post if you haven't to get the feeling on the ground at 3:30PM: Occupy and Stay! Don't Walk Away as UFT Changes Plan...

Ok, enough of that --- here's the column.

PEP Popping: The Play’s the Thing

By Norm Scott

Setting:  Thursday, February 9, 2012, 5-11PM

Brooklyn Technical HS, housed in an 8 story fortress like building in Fort Greene on Dekalb Avenue. A very tall antenna sits on the roof – a landmark you can spot from far away. There's a double level balcony in the auditorium, one of the largest in the city schools. The Panel for Educational Policy will be meeting to vote to phase out 23 schools. Over 2000 people will fill the space to say “no” to school closings.

The Players

Tweedie-Dees and Tweedie-Dums:  Anyone connected with the NYCDOE.

Panel for Educational Policy (PEP):  Bloomberg puppet dominated board of education with 8 mayoral appointees and 5 borough president appointees. 

Occupy DOE (ODOE):  a coalition of forces and offshoot of OWS aiming to take over the meeting by holding its own meeting using the people’s mic to give people from closing schools a chance to speak on their terms by drowning out the audio from the amplified sound. The ultimate goal is to force the Panel to hold the vote in such chaos they violate the open meetings law, provoking a possible court case to invalidate the vote.

Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ): an Annenberg Institute backed coalition of community organizations, organizing parents and students at a number of closing schools. They will march to Brooklyn Tech and join ODOE in the use of the people’s mic with students from closing schools playing a major role.

UFT (playing the role of Hamlet):  To go or not to go into the PEP or march instead  to an alternate site, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of those ODOE and CEJ people who enter the PEP to challenge the forces of the vassals of King Bloomberg or to take arms against a sea of closing schools and by opposing end them. Unlike Hamlet, the UFT takes a halfway position. At first they say they will go in with ODOE and CEJ and then walk out en masse with the hope everyone else goes with them four blocks away to an alternate site where they have 600 seats reserved. ODOE, CEJ, the NAACP and other groups allied with the UFT are balking, saying they don’t intend to leave. The UFT will flip-flop – more than once as the evening goes on.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj: Queens borough rep appointed by Borough President Helen Marshall who has was often silent on the ed deforms under Bloomberg but has been increasingly vocal.

The Action

5PM: The UFT, which originally was supposed to enter the PEP and join ODOE in making  noise and using the People’s Mic, changes policy.  Rumors circulate that they are diverting the buses from the closing schools away from Brooklyn Tech and sending them directly to PS 20 four blocks away where they would get to make statements about their schools to politicians. The UFT holds a rally across Dekalb Ave. from Tech in front of Fort Greene Park. Many schools on the school closing list  are there and some have mixed feelings between following the UFT lead in not going in or joining ODOE inside the PEP and using the People’s mic to have their say.

Occupy DOE sets up with their signs directly across Dekalb and starts serenading the people at the UFT rally with union songs. Some cross the street to lobby people to join them inside to help disrupt the meeting. ODOE distributes palm cards saying, “Occupy and Stay, Don’t Walk Away.” There is a mixed reaction as some say they would go in if the UFT said it is OK. At this point the UFT sticks to its guns and officials, including HSVP Leo Casey start passing out leaflets urging people affiliated with ODOE to not go in but go to PS 20 instead.  [See video of GEM/ODOE Brian Jones having a conversation with Casey about the actions of the UFT.

5:30: CEJ marching from Flatbush Ave along Dekalb arrives with masses of cheering students and everyone starts entering the auditorium past a massive police presence. The UFT is supposed to send in HSVP Leo Casey with 10 reps from closing schools in each borough to get to a mic and urge people to leave. It doesn’t happen.

6-8PM: The orchestra fills up and people are making lots of noise. “Whose schools? Our schools.” “What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like.” As the meeting starts, ODOE people and the students start shouting “mic check” and begin the people’s mic where one person makes a short statement and everyone repeats it. The space is so big much of what is said gets lost. Lots of people are not really clear on how to use this technique. Politicians get to speak first and when they use the amplified mic they are shouted down with chants of “use the people’s mic.” Some work their way through the crowd and join in with ODOE. 

Once it is clear that no one is leaving, the UFT reverses direction again and decide to stay. UFT sends emissaries to ODOE to say UFT President Mulgrew wants to use the people’s mic. They welcome him with cheers. The UFT sends the people back from PS 20 to Tech. Many in the upstart ODOE group feel they have won a pissing contest with the UFT Goliath.

Things get increasingly chaotic. The DOE cranks up the decibel level of the amplified sound which begins to drown out the people’s mic. People begin to speak at the regular mic. ODOE is in some retreat. Students decide to walk out and meet in the lobby where a student led people’s mic takes place with passionate statements defending their schools. They decide to go back in and continue the battle. Police block the doors. There is much pushing and shoving with charges that a lockout constitutes a violation of the open meeting law. Police stand aside. Students flood into the left aisle. 

Some in ODOE are getting worried the extremely volatile situation might lead to police overreaction and a decision is made to have one speaker use the amplified mic with a speech urging people to leave, an ironic twist given ODOE had been urging people to stay ‘till the bitter end.” But staying and listening passively to each 2 minute plea to save a school, only to know that the PEP will vote to close them anyway is just not in the DNA of many ODOE people. Most people leave with just a few hundred left to harass the PEP as they vote to close the schools. The meeting drones on for hours with speakers pouring their hearts out in 2-minute segments about why their schools should not be phased out.

The finale

Before the meeting ends at 11PM, the panel members from the boroughs force Dennis Walcott and other DOE officials to justify the closing of schools. It is here that Queens rep Dmytro Fedkowskyj comes up big, real big. Fedkowskyj questions DOE officials Dennis Walcott, Marc Sternberg and Shael Polokow-Suransky with an intensity and seething anger not seen before, forcing them to defend the concept that closing schools is a solution. Fedkowskyj makes a passionate statement (nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/02/dmytro-fedkowskyj-on-why-he-voted-no-on.html) , joining the Bronx, Brooklyn  and Manhattan reps who also stand firm in defense of the schools in their boroughs.  In the end all four vote against the closing of every school. Only the Staten Island rep stands with the eight Bloomberg panel members. The remnants of ODOE heckle and boo as the vote is taken.

As the audience files out, James Eterno, union rep from Jamaica HS, who sat through the same kind of vote to close his school a year ago, says, “No matter how many times I come here and see the PEP vote to shut down schools, it never stops the hurt. It’s like watching a death in the family.”

Postscript: Monday, February 13

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall (who has often supported Bloomberg or been mostly silent on education issues) and Fedkowskyj host a hearing at borough hall for the eight so-called “turn-around” schools in the borough faced with closing in the next round where at least 50% of the teachers will be replaced, vowing to push back against the DOE, which has been accused of holding these schools hostage to force the union into agreeing to a plan to evaluate teachers based 40% on one test score a year. Gotham Schools reports, “Marshall often clapped and cheered as she listened to dozens of teachers and families defend their schools. Occasionally she even interjected to describe how her respect for teachers developed over years of working as an early childhood educator.” Is it possible the message is seeping through? That handing total power over the school system to one person is a very dangerous thing?

From GEM/Real Reform Studios: Outside the PEP – Electeds Slam Bloomberg Ed Failures

Another great film from GEM's Real Reform Studios pre-PEP before the Feb. 9 meeting at the UFT rally at Fort Greene Park where numerous elected officials, most of them from the communities under assault by the Bloomberg privatization machine slam his failed school leadership. Another great job by DM at RRS.



http://youtu.be/Ulr8Bv_T0Vw


WalBloom's Worst Nightmare

Check out this news from Chicago TU (Where would the UFT stand if parents occupy a school in NYC slated for closure?)

CTU supports Piccolo Parents in their Occupation of their Neighborhood School #takebackourschools

Occupy Chicago Stands with Parents, Teachers & the CTU | Occupy Chicago

Breaking News! Piccolo parents defend their school, children and teachers, protest “Turnaround”

02/17/2012

This afternoon Piccolo Elementary parents held a Press Conference to defend their school. They announced that they will occupy Piccolo to protest the Board of Education’s plans. The Board plans to vote on Wednesday to turnaround Piccolo and hand over management of the school to AUSL, Academy for Urban School Leadership, a privately connected firm with ties to City Hall. For the time being, you can follow what's happening on Occupy Chicago'sUStream account.
“For months now, Piccolo parents have wanted their voices heard, but the mayor, CPS and members of the Board have given them a deaf ear,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “Tonight these courageous parents have decided to dramatize their efforts to save their school by engaging in non-violent protest. We stand in solidarity with them, as well as the thousands of parents and community leaders from other targeted communities, in our ongoing education justice fight. We call on CPS to invest in our under-resourced neighborhood schools and halt its plans to turn them over to AUSL or shut them down all together.”
To support the parents of Piccolo, go to Piccolo School, 1040 N. Keeler. Bring friends, food, blankets, and water. Support Our Schools, Don’t Close Them!
Get text updates from CTU!
Send a text to 69238 (MYAFT) with "CTU1" as the body of the message.
*Your carrier's messaging and data rates may apply
Click here to watch a video from the press conference.

Comments on Evaluation Agreement - Not good

UPDATE: See the follow-up article on reactions of principals below.

I'm just back from the Success Charter hearing at MS 50 so I am just catching up on the evaluation agreement. Of course, knowing the UFT I don't need to see no stinkin' agreement to know it sucks but why not let experts confirm my instinct.

I'm just going to post James Eterno at the ICE blog and Leonie Haimson who both seem to see this as bad news. You know I'm always amazed when savvy people tell me that Mulgrew would never give on this or that  because it would destroy the union. Coming Next: the ATRs.

NYC Public School Parents: Leonie's take on the teacher evaluation deal announced today in Albany

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-take-on-teacher-evaluation-deal.html
Leonie heard more bad news and followed with:

only 13% of teachers will have independent review the 1st year of a an "ineffective" rating from a principal, and none the second year, according to GothamSchools.

See statement below from SED.  The agreement is as bad as could be imagined and considerably worse than it was before.

“The remaining subjective, collectively bargained 60 percent must consist of tightly defined, research backed measures. “

As though anything in this ridiculous plan – esp. his test score 40% -- which is really 100% the way I read it – is research-backed!

Teachers rated ineffective on student performance based on objective assessments must be rated ineffective overall.

So tell me what’s the point of the 40%?  Why isn’t it really 100%?  Does this make any sense?

The Commissioner has the authority to require corrective action, including the use of independent evaluators, when districts evaluate their teachers positively regardless of students’ academic progress;

What a dictator.  So even after we’re finally through w/ Bloomberg we’re stuck w/ this guy?

Duncan gives his blessing to the NY deal; says it was “union imagined” and claims there’s “strong evidence” for the turnaround model:

“The turnaround method has already shown strong results in other states,” he said. ”We have coming out soon some data on the first year those schools that are being turned around, and we are seeing some amazing success stories around the country: dropout rates going down, graduation rates going up, test scores increasing in the double digits.”

Whenever you see double digit increases in test scores, it’s probably fraudulent.

NEWS: Arne Duncan: NY overcame “stumbling block” with evals deal

James Eterno at ICE

EVALUATION AGREEMENT BAD NEWS FOR TENURED TEACHERS

The UFT and New York State United Teachers (All of the local unions in the state) gave away the store in today's agreements with the city and the State Education Department concerning teacher evaluations. This is part of a 2010 law that New York State passed to try to get Federal Race to the Top money. Details had to be negotiated with unions.  While we still don't have a final agreement on a new evaluation system in New York City, what is emerging is a system with few safeguards that has the potential to allow the Department of Education to terminate many tenured teachers starting in 2014.

At the state level, the NYSUT lawsuit on evaluations was resolved by today's agreement with the state. 40% of a teacher's annual rating will be based upon student performance on tests, with half of that 40% being standardized tests and the other half being locally developed assessments (whatever that means) that the State Education Department must approve.  The other 60% will be based on subjective measures such as principal observations and they can throw in some peer review, parent review or student review if the local district and union want to.  

The overall grade to achieve a passing rating for the year will be 65. Scores of 0-64 will result in an ineffective rating, 65-74 will mean a developing rating, 75-90 will mean an effective rating and 91-100 will translate into highly effective.  However, if a teacher is rated ineffective in the student test score portion, the teacher cannot get a passing grade.

 Also, if a principal doesn't like a teacher and does hatchet jobs in observations, it appears to me that huge test score gains will not save the teacher.  There are so many ways to fail teachers here. 

People say we shouldn't worry because we have tenure but two ineffective ratings in a row shifts the burden of proof onto the teacher to prove that he/she is not incompetent.  That will not be easy. One wonders why NYSUT would agree to any of this and not just tell the State to turn down the federal money that we would lose if there was no agreement.

As for New York City, the UFT held out in negotiations with the city for a stronger appeal process for teachers rated ineffective.  The DOE walked out of negotiations during the Christmas break and proceeded to announce that they would close most of the transformation-restart schools that were supposed to be the first to use the new evaluation system.  The UFT wanted teachers rated ineffective to have a review before an independent arbitrator while the DOE held that teachers should have a review by the Chancellor like the U rating appeal process where teachers lose 99.6% of these appeals. 

The compromise that was reached today was, as usual, an almost total capitulation by the union.  13% of teachers rated ineffective can have an appeal before a three person panel. One of the panel members will be chosen by the union, one by DOE and the third person will be selected by the first two.  That is truly an independent appeal process but according to President Mulgrew's email to us, "The union can identify up to 13% of all ineffective ratings each year to challenge on grounds of harassment or other matters not related to performance."  It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to prove harassment if the students didn't succeed on the tests or a teacher's performance in class was rated ineffective by the principal.  Also, it is the UFT who decides which teachers get to have their case heard by the independent panel.  There will be no favoritism there right? It gets worse.

The other 87% rated ineffective can only appeal to the chancellor just like the current U rating appeal process.  One does not need a crystal ball to predict that teachers will continue to have virtually no chance in these hearings.  However the UFT says don't worry because, "A teacher who has an ineffective rating the following year will receive an independent validator.  (The person is chosen through a joint process and will not be a UFT or DOE employee.)  The independent evaluator will observe the teacher at least three times during the school year and issue a report with his or her rating of the teacher."  

This process sounds eerily like Peer Intervention Plus to me.  In PIP+ people not employed by UFT or DOE observe U rated teachers and basically rubber stamp the U's in most cases. If the validator agrees that the teacher is not ineffective, then that evidence can be used in a 3020A hearing (tenure hearing) to help the teacher as the burden of proof would then fall on the DOE but if the validator validates the ineffective rating as they usually do in PIP+, then the teacher would carry the burden of proof in the tenure hearing and the chances of staying on the job will be slim and none in my opinion. 

Tenure will be significantly weakened if this evaluation system is finalized.  The local assessments still have to be negotiated by the UFT and DOE.  A best case scenario is that there will never be an agreement on the local assessments and this whole new evaluation process will then collapse under the weight of its stupidity.  What are going to be the assessments for teachers in non regents subjects in the high school for example? 

The only way to stop any of this from going into effect is for us to raise our collective voices loudly and say that we're not going to voluntarily walk into the guillotine.  If today's agreement becomes our actual teacher evaluation system, then there will more than likely be massive teacher firings beginning in 2014.  

If there is anything positive to take from today's events, it's that President Mulgrew was there with the governor announcing the deal and maybe they are developing the kind of bond we can use to influence the state to pass legislation to end mayoral control now before the school system is completely destroyed.

PS-For those expecting our monthly Delegate Assembly report, I was stuck on the platform waiting for the 7 train for a long time yesterday, as a train was stuck one station ahead, so I missed most of the DA.  The resolutions that passed were not controversial and some of the Presidents' report, I am told, was about the evaluation issue so I am skipping doing a report which today is obsolete.  If anyone else wants to do it, email me at savejamaicahighschool@gmail.com and I will post it.

Leonie posts:

Carol Burris, principal, on new teacher Evaluation Agreement

Carol is courageous Long Island principal who co-authored of a letter, signed onto by about one third of all NYS principals, protesting the NYS teacher evaluation system. 

Her follow-up article for the Washington Post Answer Sheet was called, “Forging ahead with a nutty teacher evaluation plan.”

Below is the email she sent out, late last night; below that is a message from by the State superintendent association, and below that, a statement by Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, explaining the agreement announced yesterday. 

Clearly the agreement as summarized by King below says that test scores will trump all, as “Teachers rated ineffective on student performance based on objective assessments must be rated ineffective overall.”

In addition, the Commissioner can reject any locally devised system that isn’t “rigorous” enough, and can require “corrective” action if “districts evaluate their teachers positively regardless of students’ academic progress”, i.e. refuse to rate them as ineffective based on test scores alone. 

This all will be done by means of unreliable state tests that in recent years have been repeatedly shown to be defective, and by means of a “growth” model that has been shown to have even less reliability. 

The only possible meaning of “multiple measures” in this context is that there are multiple ways to ensure that a teacher can be judged as a failure.

UFT and City Reach Deal on Evals

Ben Chapman @NYDNBenChapman

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Breaking: Teachers union and city reach historic deal on teacher evaluations. Daily News exclusive nydn.us/z16vbP

Teacher Letter to Mulgrew on TDR Release: Demand Release of Administrator Rankings

You need to accuse the mayor and the DOE of promoting low ranked teachers to leadership positions as administrators and hiding it from the public---and you need to point out that there are former NYC "low ranked" teachers who now have students with higher scores in the burbs----to point out the inaccuracy/waste of taxpayers dollars etc... of this nonsense. ---- NYC Teacher to Mulgrew

What a delicious idea. With so many loser admins running around who couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag, how about demanding the release of their data reports when they were teaching --- if they taught at all. I mean, these are the people observing and supervising teachers.

But we do mixed feelings about what is being asked for if you claim the reports are not accurate for teachers. On the other hand, with so many administrators being protected and given bonuses it might be fun to see the results.

Dear Colleagues:

Now is the time to demand that the UFT stand up and shout out the mayor and the DOE.  Our new evaluations will also be made public and our names and ratings will be printed in the NYPOST. Forward this to all NYC teachers in your address books.  I am sending the below in an email. I suggest you email as well if you agree.

Roseanne

Dear Mr. Mulgrew:

Now that the DOE must release TDR info to the press and names will appear in newspapers, is it not the best time to insist that they include all current administrators who had TDRs as teachers as well as teachers who left the system for the suburbs?  And if they do not----you need to scream "COVER-UP"---- You need to accuse the mayor and the DOE of promoting low ranked teachers to leadership positions as administrators and hiding it from the public---and you need to point out that there are former NYC "low ranked" teachers who now have students with higher scores in the burbs----to point out the inaccuracy/waste of taxpayers dollars etc... of this nonsense.  I have no TDR reports---but I am outraged for my  colleagues who do have them.  Anything less shows us you are not committed to the cause.  I want to know what my APs' rankings were as teachers.  If you want us to believe you are truly in our corner, demand it and make those demands loudly and publicly.  Anything less is insufficient and a waste of union time and effort.

Roseanne McCosh

WAGPOPS Supports SCSC and Public Schools

Come see WAGPOPS and SCSC in action together at MS 50 (South 3rd between Roebling and Diggs) hearing for Eva's Success Academy, Thursday, Feb. 16, starting with a march at 4PM.

We sent this to the NYPost today and asked that they print it is an OpEd piece.  We highly doubt that it will get published.

In response to:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/good_school_for_all_fNkzyqfPs3wpBrR1JSC0JP

Op Ed:  Response to Jane Rentas', "A Good School for All"

Janet Rentas' dilemma that she spells out in her OpEd column, "A Good School for All," is a common one.  Her son is a high-achiever and she doesn't believe that her zoned school will be able to challenge him.  Many parents of early readers feel that way across New York City.   Rentas, however, is mistaken in her belief that the only option available in her district is Success Academy Williamsburg, whose co-location is being vociferously protested by the prominent Latino leadership in the area where the charter school intends to co-locate.

Success Academy Williamsburg is far from Rentas' only choice as a parent of a high-achieving child. Rentas could enroll her son in the OTHER Success Academy that will open this fall in her district, or for that matter, any of the other district charter schools, including Beginning with Children Charter School, The Ethical Community Charter School, and Brooklyn Charter School.   Rentas can have her son tested into the local gifted and talented program which is housed at PS132, or either of the two citywide programs: NEST +M and the Brooklyn School of Inquiry.  Rentas' district also offers the unzoned option of PS31, a Blue Ribbon school.  There is room in these schools for Rentas' son and other parents of high achieving children in our district who are seeking alternatives to their zoned schools.

Success Academy Williamsburg's opposition is more diverse than Rentas' OpEd belies and extends far beyond the voices of the latino community.  Our group, Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools (WAGPOPS), consists of district-wide parents who are protesting Success Academy Williamsburg in solidarity with the Southside Community Schools Coalition.  WAGPOPS are middle class parents (often described as "newcomers," although some of us have spent decades in the district)  who send our children to PS110, PS84, PS31, PS17, PS132, and PS34, among others.  Our district schools are good enough for our high-achieving children.

WAGPOPS recognizes that a school's test scores all too frequently misrepresent the learning that takes place inside the classroom.    After many years of middle class families fleeing the public schools in our district, our schools now represent the diversity of the neighborhoods that house them.  We believe that our schools have finally achieved that winning combination of strong leadership, diversity in the classrooms, meaningful curriculum, parent engagement, and committed teachers that creates the best possible learning environment for all of our children.  We don't need charter schools.

What comes across most clearly in Rentas' OpEd is her absolute disconnect from the educational communities of Williamsburg.  Rentas' high achieving son might enjoy either the Spanish dual language program at PS84 or the new ASD Nest program beginning in the fall which boasts a 6-1 student/teacher ratio.  Is Rentas' son interest in French?  He could enter the dual language French program at PS110 while simultaneously studying with the resident artists from Mark Morris Dance Group.  Rentas' son could benefit from working at PS31's student-run bookstore or join it's winning chess team. Rentas' son might enjoy any one of PS132's community service projects and be a part of the next group that receives honors at the White House.  Parents from all over Williamsburg and Greenpoint are bringing their entrepeneurial spirit into the schools and starting music programs, developing green roofs, and building robotic teams.

Rentas says that protesting Success Academy is a sign that the Latino leadership is not embracing the diversity of a changing community.  She is wrong.  Our neighborhood schools are the realization of our community in all it's diversity, and we embrace them.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools
www.williamsburggreenpointschools.org
williamsburggreenpointschools@gmail.com

ATRs to Hold Informational Picket at UFT Delegate Assembly

With the avalanche of closing schools, the ATR crisis is sure to grow. The DOE spends money on hiring field supervisors to observe ATRs who are shifted from one school to the next each week. Pretty amazing when they spend so much time teaching as subs out of their area of expertise.

Think ahead to September with thousands of ATRs while new TFAs are hired and the assault on ATRs based on the costs. 

When ATRs complain to the UFT they are told, "No one has been u-rated yet."

In August, GEM began an ATR support group and set up a listserve which has been active amongst ATRs who have joined in sharing information and announcing gatherings. At the Feb. 4 State of the Union, almost a dozen ATRs held a lunchtime meeting where they came up with the following action.

Tomorrow (Feb. 15) a group of ATRs will be handing out this leaflet outside the UFT DA to alert chapter leaders and delegates to the situation. If you are an ATR come on down from 3:30-4:30 to help out.

One of the goals is to have more ATRs join the listserve so they can communicate with each. If you know an ATR send an email to gemnyc@gmail.com.

Here is the text if you can share with ATRs in your school. Or email to have a pdf sent.

Think being a Delegate or a Chapter Leader will stop you from becoming an ATR?
Think Again!
Every school closing, every school transformation puts you in the crosshairs of the Mayor’s let's make another ATR machine.
Help Us, Help You, Help Us All.
Demand No School Closures!
Demand an elected ATR Chapter Leader for each borough!
Demand the numbers of ATRs be published including the number of ATRs in essentially provisional jobs!
Demand a meeting of ATRs at 52 Broadway. Demand that the UFT oppose the sham evaluation of ATRs.
Demand that Michael Mendel retract the statement he made “that it’s OK for the DOE to evaluate ATRs” on lessons and classroom management! An evaluation after one day in a school? How absurd, who does he work for? Demand an immediate meeting to be called by President Mulgrew on the ATR crisis!
Don't let UFT leadership sleep while our Union is gutted!
Put a Stop to Teacher Harassment by DOE.
ATR evaluations are a sham meant to enable teacher firings. Imagine being evaluated for a lesson in Chemistry if your license area is Phys Ed!
Stop The Coming Lockout!
Imagine when 50% of the teachers at nearly 30 closing schools (maybe yours?) are forced to look for new jobs, in essence, locked out from their appointed posts! Say good by to tenure then. Then picture job hungry teachers applying for those newly vacant positions. Is this the scenario you want to watch unfold from the sidelines?
If an injury to one is an injury to all still means something to you, don't remain silent. Fight back by proposing the demands above, Now!
ATRs Informational Picket, Feb 15, 3:30 -4:30 UFT Headquarters 52 Broadway
Contact GEM ATR email: GEMNYC@GMAIL.COM

NY Post Reveals: Wittlest wee ones not welcome

A handful of city charter schools already set their entry cutoff date at Dec. 1 — something SUNY says it’s allowing new charter schools to continue doing because it’s an option allowed by the state. This is in the purview of charters – to exclude students according to age – cutting off up to one fourth of otherwise eligible Kindergarteners? Clearly this will push up their test scores. ----Leonie Haimson

What the hell is going on there with the NY Post's Yoav Gonen breaking stories that support our side?  See his story on how the DOE decided to support the schools the day after the PEP voted to close them.

Ok. So I stole the lead after Yoav tweeted:  They nixed my "Wittlest wee ones not welcome." lede.

I can't believe the Post wouldn't use it.

Today he does it again with a report on how charters are allowed to play with admission dates for kindergarten, not admitting the younger children who would tend to bring a school's scores down for many years.

We accuse charters of creaming and counseling/pushing kids out who end right back in public school, as Brian Jones points out in our movie when he says, "The win the lottery and then they lose it."

Charters counter that public schools often counsel out too. Sometimes they do --- except the public kids end up right back at another public school. Let's reverse the process -  send counseled out public school kids to charters. They claim to be miracle workers. I say give them a chance to prove it.

My former principal was the queen of creaming and counseling out. She made sure to never have a bi-lingual program, knowing full well the elementary school on the other side of the projects did have one and that most non-English speaking children would end up there. Our school was near the top of the district while theirs were near the lowest. People thought she was a great principal while the guy running the other school was considered a poor school leader. He was Puerto Rican and believe in bi-lingual ed and suffered the consequences. Thus I saw as far back as the early 80's what the system valued in a good leader.

My principal had another neat trick. While she couldn't deny admission to kindergarten by playing with admission dates as reported by Yoav, she just held many children back in kindergarten or 1st grade, thus assuring that they would be a year older for all the rest of the grades in the school, which really makes a difference at testing time. I'm not saying this was absolutely bad policy, given the reality that they started behind the rest of our kids who were also behind, only not as bad as the others. Kids that started pre-k had a clear advantage. In my early years there were kids who did not show 'till 1st grade --- they were basically doomed.


Here are a few more reports from Yoav Gonen:

Revealing Interview With Harlem Success Academy Principal

We are getting dramatically different results. Sure, you could explain away 5 percentage points to parents being a little more motivated. But it’s not even close. We pass 75 percent of our kids in the third grade test. The co-located school below us passed 22 percent.

---HSA principal

This NY Times interview with Jim Manly, principal of HSA 2 reveals the fault lines of Success so-called success. Manly makes up his own stat of 5% difference due to greater parent motivation. Even if it was 5% just think of the impact even 5% more children from disruptive families have on a school due to the kinds of attention these children need from all resources in the school.

Follow this thread to see how the child who does not fall in line ends up on the co-located public school downstairs.

Q.

You’re a very demanding school, but surely not all your kids will meet up to your standards. How do you deal with failure compared to how other schools might deal with it?

A.

I think it does matter that they chose us. [CREAMING 1.1].

In Harlem, over half the parents in District 5 apply to be in our school [will HSA publish the list of those applying?], so it’s not like we’re creaming. We have an established product.  

If a child isn’t doing well, we say to the parents, listen, this is a true ticket for your child to redefine their academic expectations [first stage in counseling out]. This is an incredibly rare opportunity, and you’re blowing it. Your kid is coming to school at 12:30 in the afternoon, or they’re missing three days in a row for no other reason than you felt tired or you didn’t feel like coming to school. We can’t throw anybody out, [WINK WINK] but we sit parents down and say there is a waiting list a mile long of people who want in to this school, and you have this spot and you’re throwing it away. You’re not bringing your kid in on time, you’re not making sure they do their homework, you’re allowing them to disrupt lessons. We need your help.

We see some pretty remarkable turnarounds. The parents will say you’re right. I hear your message. I’m messing this up.

And if they don't hear the message they are pressured until they remove the child because Success can't function with loads of kids public schools manage to deal with every day. You know public schools have the same conversations with parents.

How about this deal. If parents don't cooperate in a public school we just send them to HSA and Jim Manly to fix.

Williamsburg and Greenpoint Newcomers Join Latino Community Against Charter Schools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Williamsburg and Greenpoint Newcomers Join Latino Community Against Charter Schools

BROOKLYN, New York (February 12, 2012) -

At 6pm on February 16, 2012, in what will be an unprecedented display of solidarity, the Williamsburg Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools will join the Southside Community Schools Coalition to protest the placement of a Success Academy Charter School in JHS50.

Both groups are expected to attend the Success Academy Williamsburg Co-Location Hearing which starts at 6pm JHS 50, where both groups will join together in protest to a decision in favor of Success Academy that they believe has already been pre-determined by the DoE.

This is the first time that gentrified Williamsburg and the Latino community of Williamsburg will have come together in such numbers on any issue.  Both groups want the Department of Education to hear their voice as one and recognize that District 14, in all its diversity, does not want Success Academy Williamsburg.

Both groups demand that the Department of Education listen to the impacted Williamsburg community and reject the proposed co-location of Success Academy Charter School into JHS50. 

The March will gather on February 16th at 4pm at El Puente on South 4th Street and Roebling, and will end at 5:30pm at JHS50 (183 South 3rd Street) to attend the Public Hearing for the Co-Location of Success Academy.

Contact:
Williamsburg Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools
williamsburggreenpointschools@gmail.com
phone: (646) 543-4492


Cheers,
Norm Scott

Twitter: normscott1

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com

Grassroots Education Movement
gemnyc.org

Education columnist, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

nycfirst robotics
normsrobotics.blogspot.com

Sent from my BlackBerry

Williamsburg/Greenpoint Parents Join Southside to Proetest Eva Moskowitz Success Invasion of MS 50 -- Thursday, 4PM

Dear PS84, PS110, PS147, PS157, PS196, IS 71, Lyons Community School, Green School, Brooklyn Prep, Williamsburg High School or Architecture & Design, and Williamsburg Prep,

Over the past few months, some of you may have heard the news in District 14 about the closing of PS19 and Success Academy Charter School's impending co-location in MS50 in our district.   In our efforts to stop Success Academy Williamsburg's co-location we have found that:

Your school has been identified as MOST URGENTLY AT RISK for co-location with a charter.

The very people Eva was aiming for have been leading the charge out of North Williamsburg and Greenpoint, joining with the Latino Southside. I reported on the Southside Town Hall last Tuesday with some videos. See their web site: http://scscbrooklyn.wordpress.com/

Links to videos I shot that night: here, here, here.

With each passing day, communities are fighting back against school closures and charter co-locations. Sure the PEP will vote against these communities but with each battle lost something is won. People who were never active before are helping create a movement.

This comes from a group of activated parents based around PS 84 (where I spent the last few years of my career) who see a public school they support threatened by both Eva and hubby Eric Grannis who is starting his own charter chain. They are joining an already active Southside (mostly Latino/a) in this battle, uniting elements of the community that Eva thought she could split.

The Moskowitz machine counts on protests going away once the PEP votes in her favor (in this case March 1). I don't think she will find it that easy this time. Imagine if there are protests from the first day kids arrive at the school and continue. Will parents want their children to go through a gauntlet? Naturally Eva and crew will cry about how children are being used as pawns and the press will join her. But in this war that she started she is the one using children to build her political machine.

All these groups will be shock troops in the battle to kill mayoral control.
See the website: http://www.williamsburggreenpointschools.org/

Not only does Success Academy Williamsburg plan to open with 95 children in Kindergarten and 95 children in 1st grade, we have discovered that two additional charter schools are planned for 2013 opening with an additional 120-160 kids in Kindergarden and 120-160 children in 1st grade.  These are students that will be pulled from our local schools, jeopardizing our public schools' budgets, and these charter schools WILL BE PLACED in our existing DoE schools.  Maybe your school.

We are working with the Southside Community Schools Coalition and the Community Education Council for District 14 to educate our families and community stakeholders about the consequences of the increased presence of charter schools in our district.  We want to save our local schools.
We are asking for your help and we want to help you.
Please warn your parent community about the risk to your school and ask for their help to save our schools.

Help us send the message to the DoE - NO! to Success Academy Williamsburg!  Let your school's voice be heard!!

The public comment period (written or oral) for the March 1st meeting is open until 6pm on Weds. Feb. 29th. EVERYONE should email d14Proposals@schools.nyc.gov and tell them "WE DO NOT SUPPORT the colocation of Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School 4 (84KTBD) with Existing School J.H.S. 050 John D. Wells (14K050) in Building K050"

You can also call Toby Shepherd of the DOE: (212) 374-0208 and tell him the same thing.

Here is another letter sent to parents:

February 12, 2012

Dear Williamsburg and Greenpoint Community,
Over the past few months, you have likely heard the news about the closing of PS19 and Success Academy Charter School's impending co-location in MS50 in our district. 

Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott are running roughshod over entire communities in the name of "school reform" and "better schools." Despite vast community opposition, the DoE has placed Success Academy Charter Schools in the Upper West Side, Cobble Hill and now they're gunning for Williamsburg. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are fed up. 

Williamsburg and Greenpoint doesn't want Success Academy Williamsburg or the effects of Success Academy on our community. We believe in fixing schools, not closing schools. Our families want local schools, not corporate schools. 

In our efforts to stop Success Academy Williamsburg's co-location, we have discovered that the Tapestry Project (tapestryproject.org) is bringing in two more charter schools for the fall of 2013, opening with an additional 160 Kindergarten spots and 160 1st grade spots. The Tapestry Project is an organization started by Eric Grannis (Eva Moscowitz of Success Academy's husband) and Gideon Stein, a real estate developer on the board of Success Academy. Tapestry's sole aim is to bring more charter schools to North Brooklyn and has been targeting families in the middle class areas of our community by sowing fears that our schools are not good enough for their children. 

Eric Grannis created a website: schoolfisher.com using manipulative and sometimes absolute misinformation about our community schools. Schoolfisher only lists information about the economic and racial demographics and the amount of unused space in each school. The only data included are ELA/Math %, a link to the school report card, and a grade that Schoolfisher itself designates for each school. There is no information about PS31's student run bookstore, or PS84 and PS110's dual language programs or PS84's new ASD Nest program. There is no information about PS17's gorgeous library or PS132's commitment to service learning or PS250's commitment to the arts. The personality of each of our schools has been whittled down to data skewed in favor of creating charter schools.
The number of the children that will be pulled out of our local schools will be 255 kids in K and 255 in 1st grade - all of them from the Northside and Greenpoint. That's larger than any school we have in our area, and these charter schools WILL BE PLACED in our existing schools, very likely PS110 or PS84. 

This is a very big deal and will negatively effect the budgets and diversity of every single school in Williamsburg and Greenpoint - even the schools that seem safe like PS132, PS31, and PS34. 

All the while, the arguments to open these schools appear innocent, "All we want are better schools." "What's the harm in school choice?" "Just let these schools open, if no one wants to go to them then they'll close." "This isn't about pro or anti anything this is about choice," "The competition will improve all of our schools," 

This is an issue with sides. We believe that our community should have a say in our public schools. We urge people to take the side of democracy and help us stop Success Academy WIlliamsburg! 

- Come to the MARCH gathering on Thurs., Feb. 16th at 4pm at El Puente, on S. 4th & Roebling.
- PROTEST with your community at the JHS Hearing (5:30 at JHS 50 - 183 S. 3rd St Driggs/Roebling)
- call 311 to register a complaint. Let the city know: "I don't want Success Academy Charter School in my district!" - sign the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/nyc-department-of-education-stop-success-academy- williamsburg 

For more information:
visit the www.williamsburggreenpointschools.org visit scscbrooklyn.wordpress.com email info@williamsburggreenpointschools.org call (646) 543-4492 

Together we can save our local schools!
Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents for Our Public Schools www.williamsburggreenpointschools.org

Jeff Kaufman on Alan Rosenfeld

Jeff left this comment on yesterday's blog entry (Poor NY Post -- losing Alan Rosenfeld, favorite whipping boy) but I think it important enough for its own post. You hearing this Yoav Gonen and Sue Edelman, et al.  from the NY Post?

Jeff KaufmanFeb 12, 2012 03:58 AM

The media and some of its critics look to who botched up Alan's case. The fact is that the case was not botched up...there never was a case. The junior high school that Alan was dean in shared space with a high school and the high school principal didn't like Alan on the floor. He was was loud and strict to his students. After Alan was to be appointed an Assistant Principal the high school principal attempted to set him up and made the allegations that included oggling and such. He was placed in the rubber room and his AP appointment pulled. After his initial rubber room stint and his hearing which was mostly dismissed "because they couldn't prove anything" (in my book not a technical or procedural reason) he was reassigned to another school where he taught for six months! He began to inquire about his AP appointment and that is when he was sent, once again to the rubber room where he stayed until his retirement.

Alan's case is not DOE bungling. It is the case of person who, despite the incredible pressure by the DOE, the UFT and the media, stood his ground because there was a tenure system in place. Let's not forget we are all one allegation away from being brought up on charges but fortunately we have a system that provides what every job in our democratic society should provide, some level of due process to prevent baseless allegations from depriving us of our livelihood.

Poor NY Post -- losing Alan Rosenfeld, favorite whipping boy

Say it ain't so Alan, I thought you would rather die in the rubber room.

I often tell a story a teacher in Rockaway once told me. He was teaching summer school in a tough middle school. As he dismissed a class one day, he leaned over the desk and gripped the edge to talk to a student. One girl pushed another girl and her ass landed on his hands. She promptly went down to the office and charged him with grabbing her ass. When he got downstairs the police were waiting to arrest him. Luckily, his AP was on his side and talked the cops down (just imagine if this AP was one of "those") but the teacher spend a long time in a rubber room, a horrifying experience for him and was under a cloud when he went back to school.

Fast forward a year. Same school, same students in summer school but different teacher -- a friend of my contact. The teacher hears the girls laughing and bragging how they "got" that teacher by staging the ass grabbing affair the year before. Luckily the teacher knew the guy and reported it and he was totally exonerated. But that was it.

I bring this up due to the Daily News reports on the Alen Rosenfeld retirement. 

In the midst of the political fight over the future of teacher evaluations, Rosenfeld’s case has been held up as a prime example of the difficulty of firing tenured public servants. His case, though, does not focus on an issue of incompetence. Rosenfeld was given satisfactory ratings by his last principal and even commendations, records show.

Every teacher owes Alan a thanks for retiring as his case was going to become a point of attack on LIFO. But no matter how hard I try to sift through the "facts" I can find little to justify pulling him out of the classroom for a decade. 

Right now this looks like the worst of it:

Rosenfeld was found guilty of having told a student that she loved him.
The student testified Rosenfeld told her “that I love him. That’s why I talk to him so much,” according to records.

Holy shit -- I said did exactly the same thing to a very mature 6th grade girl in my 1976 class--- one of my favorite students of all time (we still are in touch at times). She used to compare me to Kotter and probably had a bit of a crush. She used to hang out so close to me --- with a bit of physical contact at times --- that I once said to her: "You must love me. You can't stay away from me." I must have embarrassed her -- she responded with a squeal of disgust and from then on kept her physical distance.

Then there is this:

Rosenfeld was also accused oggling students rear ends and exhibiting a pattern of inappropriate behavior, but the judge did not rule on those matters. Then-Schools Chancellor Joel Klein decided not to send Rosenfeld back to the classroom and to exile him to the rubber room.

Hmmmm. Did I ever check out a mature student? Hell yes. But I tried not to ogle, though. I would love to see more examples of inappropriate classroom behavior. I'll bet my principal could have come up with some interesting examples --- like refusing to use a bullshit and inappropriate basal reader she kept sending me.

And Joel Klein looking to make political hay by exiling him to the rubber room? Is anyone surprised?

You know, now that I think of it, I could have spent decades in a rubber room. Too bad Uncle Joel wasn't in charge during my glory years.

There's more.

Rosenfeld, 66, who taught typing at Intermediate School 347 in Queens, was originally brought up on charges of making inappropriate comments to female students in 2001. An administrative judge made the decision not to fire Rosenfeld after much of the case was dismissed on procedural grounds.

So we have one inappropriate comment which I don't necessarily consider all that inappropriate. Maybe there's more but unless the press has more, the automatic assumption that Rosenfeld is a sleaze is slander. A judge making some kind of decision is part of a process established by contract and law, yet the press says that is not good enough. Why not claim that jury decisions should be overturned by public opinion? We know full well that if there was anything real there Rosenfeld would have been hung.

The case has also been used to point out bureaucratic incompetence, since city officials failed to make its case when it had the chance.

There is the implication that the DOE screwed up and didn't get the witnesses to the hearing. Duh! Remember that story I started off with? Is it just possible the "witnesses" were untrustworthy?

Now let's make this clear. Rosenfeld is not the most loveable character. In fact based on my brief contact with him he seems to be a stubborn pain in the ass. He so bothered UFT officials with his use of the mic at Exec bd meetings they changed the rules to shut him up. I can just imagine his principal just loving a chance to dump him. So why not take a minor incident and blow it up? The more I think of it Joel Klein's strategy of keeping Alan out of a school only made him dig in his heels. Imagine if he were sent back to a middle school to teach under the Tweed torture chamber? It might just have been enough incentive for Alan to retire years ago and save the DOE all that money the press complains about.

But what's money when you want to create a political tool to be used to undermine the entire teaching staff? Call it a smart investment if it ends up killing LIFO and you can get rid of thousands of high salaried teachers without having to deal with such bothersome items as an judge and a hearing.

Coming next: a focus on a few specific ATRs with some history who can be targeted.

---------------------
Rubber room case in trial
I posted this notice Rubber Room Suit: The Manhattan Five (plus one) g...
about the trial in federal court on Thursday. I was hoping to get over there but was preoccupied with the PEP. The lawyer Nick Penkovksy has been in touch and will fill me in this weekend on what transpired. I will report after we talk.

----------------------
TAPCO Principal follow-up
From the blog post that keeps on giving comments:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another DOE Scam - TAPCO - Theatre Arts Production...":

Ms. Lynn will not get a bad rating because the staff are terrified of retribution. The majority of the teachers at TAPCO are brand new and are not willing to stick their necks out. Most are just hoping to see the end of June, and get the heck out of Dodge. 14 teachers left last year. That number will probably be exceeded this year.

Ms. Lynn knows how it works. She will plan the staff retreat to coincide with the school rating survey. As she has done over the past several years, she will stage the staff retreat at a posh hotel in Manhattan ... either the Sheraton or the Hilton. BTW, this is on tax payer money.

Teachers will stay overnight in $300 a night rooms (on the taxpayer dime), and have a dinner filled with food and all-you-can-drink alcohol at a lavish restaurant (on the taxpayer dime). The next morning, after half the staff is waking up from their late night hangovers, and happy as dumb pigs ... they happily give Ms. Lynn an outstanding rating on the on-line survey while her (Inquisition) Inquiry Team members watch over their shoulders.

As for Janice Acosta, she is Ms. Lynn's little angry dog. She barks loudly and enjoys Ms. Lynn tugging on her leash. She doesn't carry the respect of a single teacher in the entire school but thinks she carries the authority of her unearned position.

Even through this phony DOE investigation, Ms. Lynn is still cooking the books and making a mockery of the education system. Students who do no work, cheat, copy, and lie are still passing with flying colors. Teachers jobs are threatened when they attempt to impose responsibility on the students. A casual glance into classrooms will find rooms full of students texting, listening to iPods, insulting teachers ... anything but learning.

One really has to wonder how a school in the middle of the Bronx has the magic formula of 100% graduation rate when the City graduation is barely 65%. The middle school which shares the same building MS 391 has an on-time graduation rate of about 60%. But in the same building, Ms. Lynn and TAPCO are sailing with a 100% graduation rate. In DOE-land, being honest and hardworking gets your school closed down. In DOE-land, lying, cheating, and changing grades is how you earn the #1 school in NYC.

Well done Ms. Lynn. The staff respects and supports you. Please continue to manipulate, cheat, and lie. It's working.