Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

9-24-13 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:



Bloomberg Red-Baited Mark Green Back In 2001
Republicans are calling Bill de Blasio "Sandanista Bill" and likening him to an "ACORN project" Manchurian-style candidate.Odd that we're talking about 1982 foreign policy in a 2103 NYC mayoral race.Odder still that we're talking about a 1962 Frank Sinatra movie in a 2013 NYC mayoral race.But 2013 would not be the first time that a GOP mayoral candidate red-baited a Democratic

The Right Wing Smear Campaign Against Bill De Blasio
They're smearing him as an "ACORN project," calling him "Sandanista Bill"for doing humanitarian work in Nicaragua in his youth, and comparing him to Raul Castro in the newspapers.Will this kind of right wing smear campaign work in NYC?It would work elsewhere in the country, of course, where corporatist president Barack Obama has been called a "socialist" by idiots lik

Bloomberg's DOE Manipulates Graduation Rates
The Mayor of Money has hailed graduation rate increases as another piece of proof that is education reforms have worked.But just as the test scores were jive, just as the crime stats are jive, just as the emergency response times are jive - the graduation rates are jive too:Dozens of struggling city high schools allowed students to use a mishmash of makeup assignments — sometimes requiring little

Perdido Street Reviews “Reign of Error”
Blogger Perdido Street School reviewed “Reign of Error” and said that he would be giving it to his friends and family who got their views from Oprah and the Today Show. He might have added NBC’s “Education Nation” and many other outlets in the mainstream media that spread misinformation about our nation’s public schools.   He writes: Those are the people we want to read this book and to become fam

There Must Be NO CONCESSIONS In The Next UFT Contract
NYC Educator and I had a discussion about pattern bargaining for the UFT contract.When the last UFT contract expired, the pattern for municipal contracts at the time was 8% over two years without concessions.Mayor Bloomberg decided that the city would not negotiate that contract with the UFT because of the recession, claiming the city no longer had the money, and the comptroller at the time, Bill

Cory Booker May Have A Senate Race On His Hands
DFER favorite-Cory Booker is supposed to win this New Jersey Senate race hands down.But Quinnipiac finds the race has narrowed with a little more than six weeks to go before election day:A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds Cory Booker (D) leading Steve Lonegan by 12 points in the U.S. Senate race among likely voters, 53% to 41%.Said pollster Maurice Carroll: "Maybe that 'show horse vs.
A Few Reasons To Vote For Tish James
9 days til runoff, here's a few reasons 2 #voteOct1 for #LetitiaJames #letswinthis pic.twitter.com/J5cPAqcM1D— Letitia James (@TishJames) September 23, 2013She's gotten a lot of political endorsements.She's got the unions.She has the Working Families Party.Her opponent, Dan Squadron, has the Wall Street crooks and the Democrats for Education Reform and Chuck Schumer.You should vote Tish James next
9-23-13 Perdido Street School
Perdido Street School: Bloomberg Plans Final Destruction Of Zoned High Schools Before He GoesFrom the Daily News: In a push that is alarming parents, the Bloomberg administration plans to stop guaranteeing eighth-graders a spot in the city’s remaining neighborhood high schools. “It’s ridiculous to think that children are not able to go to their zoned school automatically,” said Kim Alvarez, who wa