Final Primary Vote Tally: De Blasio 40.81%, Thompson 26.14%
From the NY Times:More than two weeks after New York City’s primary for mayor, election officials have finished counting votes, and Bill de Blasio has officially avoided a runoff. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, finished with 40.81 percent in the primary, which was held Sept. 10. He exceeded the 40 percent threshold to avoid a runoff by about 5,600 votes. Election night results showed Mr. de Blasio wit
The Silver Lining In A Government Shutdown
It looks like we're headed for a government shutdown on Tuesday.The Washington Post reports:House Republican leaders proposed a new plan to the GOP rank-and-file Saturday afternoon: Make a new gesture of defiance toward President Obama’s health-care law, even if it increases the chances of a government shutdown Monday night.Their plan calls for amendments to a bill designed to keep the government
NY Post Attacks De Blasio For Is "War On Charters"
Another day, another half-dozen attacks on Bill de Blasio from the NY Post.The one I'm interested in today is here.They are claiming by making charter schools pay rent and ending co-locations, de Blasio is waging war against the industry. Making charter schools pay rent is not a "war on charters."Let me repeat, making charter schools pay rent is not a "war on charters". Many of
Mulgrew Waves Goodbye To Bloomberg
Mulgrew on mayor: "We can all take comfort from the fact that Bloomberg will soon be only a bad memory to the people who care about schools"— Lisa Fleisher (@lisafleisher) September 27, 2013Alas, with all the concessions Mikey Mulgrew and his boss, Randi Weingarten, made to Bloomberg and the state on Race to the Top, on APPR, on ADVANCE, even with Bloomberg leaving office and a new mayor
A Long, Long, Long Week
OK, so let me tell you about my work week.There was the grading of the performance assessments.There was getting my lesson plan ready for a pre-observation conference with the assistant principal.There was the Regents prep work with the two junior classes taking the ELA Regents exam for the first time in January - lots of reading and grading #26's and #27's responses.There was the Regents prep wor
YESTERDAY
Bill O'Reilly: Jesus Died So You Could Have Low Taxes
I know you think it's some Onion piece I'm putting up here.But no, seriously - it's what O'Reilly wrote:In Killing Jesus: A History, Bill O’Reilly and writing partner Martin Dugard bring us their long-awaited “accurate account of not only how Jesus died, but also the way he lived.” This should settle two millennia of Christian debate. Although it lacks suspense (SPOILER ALERT: he dies), it’s a pre
Politicker: Here's How Many Times The NY Post Attacked Bill De Blasio This Week
Colin Campbell at Politicker has a partial rundown on how many attack articles and editorials the NY Post has run against Bill de Blasio this week.It's a lot:De Blasio asks for Wall Street donationsDe Blasio ‘fixed’ pal’s water bill on councilSo what does de Blasio believe now?De Blasio suddenly scarce on campaign trailDe Blasio helped pal reduce $9,000 water billDe Blasio’s favorite countries hav
Some Bloomberg Staffers Go Work For Cuomo
Gotham Gazette:With time running out on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s lame-duck term, a number of his staffers are looking to his longtime rival Gov. Andrew Cuomo for job security. The last few weeks have seen a steady stream of press releases from Cuomo’s office announcing the hiring of ex-Bloomberg staff. ...The Cuomo administration announced Sept. 19 that it had Kary Sarlin, Bloomberg’s one-time di
Bill Gates Is Wrong - We Do Know Whether His Reforms Will Work
Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post:“It would be great if our education stuff worked, but that we won’t know for probably a decade.”That’s what Bill Gates said on Sept. 21 (see video below) about the billions of dollars his foundation has plowed into education reform during a nearly hour-long interview he gave at Harvard University. He repeated the “we don’t know if it will work” refrain about
Epoch Times Joins The Media Attacks Against De Blasio
Take a look at the way they frame this story about de Blasio's "re-emerging" from hiding after a week of negative press over his past support for the "far-left" Sandanistas.The anti-Communist crazies at the Epoch Times join the barrage against de Blasio.This is a glimpse of what a de Blasio mayorality will look like.The press will not let him govern,They will undercut him at ev
Bloomberg Scoffs Over Classroom Overcrowdedness
At yesterday's press conference where the Mayor of Money repeatedly told reporters he is not interested in this year's mayor's race, isn't following it and won't answer any questions about it, we get this exchange:To another scribe who asked about overcrowding in the city’s classrooms, the mayor responded with dripping sarcasm.“Let’s just go back to when the school system was loaded with crime,” h
Media Plutocrats Aim Daily At De Blasio, James
The Post has more negative stories about Bill de Blasio out today.The Daily News has a negative editorial out about Tish James today.Every day in the papers, the media plutocrats who own the Post, Daily News and Times - Bloomberg's fellow newspaper buddies and friends from his social circle - take aim at these two candidates for mayor and public advocate respectively with story after story meant t
Bloomberg Says He's Cleaned Up NY's Air Like Nobody Else
From the Times:Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Thursday that his administration’s efforts at reducing air pollution had resulted in New York City’s having the best air quality in more than 50 years. Sulfur dioxide levels have dropped by 69 percent since 2008, and the level of soot pollution has dropped by more than 23 percent since 2007, according to a new city survey. The mayor said the reduct
Bloomberg Gets Testy Over Mayor's Race Questions
More and more frequently, Bloomberg shows the real him:Mayor Bloomberg declared during a testy exchange with reporters Thursday that the race to succeed him is not interesting and therefore he is not paying any attention to it.The billionaire mayor, who said this month he had decided not to make an endorsement in the race because it would be a distraction, first grew exasperated with the press abo
SEP 26
Rudy Giuliani Loved To Call People Marxists Too
Jill Colvin at Politicker discovered that Joe Lhota's "De Blasio's A Marxist" campaign strategy is old hat for Lhota - his boss back in the 90's loved to do it too:In the late 90s, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani–under whom Mr. Lhota served as budget director and deputy mayor–constantly made similar allegations, accusing those who opposed him of subscribing to dangerous, leftist ideologies, acc
The NY Times Documentary On Christine Quinn
If you enjoyed watching the Christine Quinn campaign go down in flames the first time around, you can relive it in this Times documentary.It's clear from this documentary that many people do not like her, that she knew it and she had to face that day after day on the trail.There's a sense that they could have given Quinn's wife, Kim Catullo, a more prominent role in the campaign and tried to human
Performance Assessments And Regents Exams
We've been working our way through the first round of "performance assessments" in my school.We're all little concerned what the June "assessments" will look like and what we'll have to do April, May and early June to make sure we "add value" to our students and they show "growth" on those June "assessments."At my school, our heavy testing season f
Arne Duncan Doesn't Seem To Understand He Is Part Of The Problem
NY Times has a conversation about schools and education reform with Arne Duncan, Mitch Daniels and John Engler.Duncan is asked has the reform movement learned anything from mistakes made.He ignores his own policy decisions over the last five years and points the finger right at the Bush administration:Duncan: A huge thing: No Child Left Behind was very well-intentioned. It did lots of things to sp
Plutocrats And Their Functionaries Fete Bloomberg
The Clinton Foundation, which I believe does nothing other than raise awareness of the Clintons and give Bill Clinton a chance to troll the world for dates, held a function last night to give an award to Mayor Bloomberg:NEW YORK—Appearing at the Clinton Global Initiative conference to present the Leadership in Public Service award to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Vice President Biden took what he said was
The NY Post And The Lhota Campaign - Selling Fear And Lies
The Rupert Murdoch-owned NY Post has been hammering away at Bill de Blasio for a few weeks now ever since he won the primary vote.Every day they run two, three, four, sometimes five negative stories about him.He once asked Joel Klein to add TM to the DOE.He honeymooned in Cuba.He worked for a Jesuit group that brought food and medical supplies to Nicaragua at the same time the Reagan administratio
SEP 25
Michael Powell: Lhota Has Jumped The Shark
Michael Powell in the Times: “Mr. de Blasio’s involvement with the Sandinistas didn’t happen in 1917” — This is a reference to the Bolsheviks’ storming of the Winter Palace and not the last time the Jets won the Super Bowl — “it happened 70 years later when the cruelty and intrinsic failure of Communism became crystal clear to anyone with a modicum of reason. “Mr. de Blasio’s class warfare strateg
When Does The NY Times Do The Hit Piece On Joe Lhota?
They did one on Quinn. Did one on Weiner.Did one on Thompson.Now they've done one on de Blasio.When do they do one on Lhota?As I have blogged over and over and over, this guy's got anger management issues.He challenged a 77 year old man to a fight last year at an MTA board meeting he was chairing.No, really.Back during the Giuliani administration, he got into a shoving match with a reporter right
De Blasio - 74 Page Policy Document; Joe Lhota - 178 Words On Policy
Lhota is so busy refighting the 80's Contra Wars he can't be bothered to give any details about how he would govern as mayor: On the radio Wednesday morning, Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota kept up his attack on Democratic rival Bill de Blasio's youthful dalliances as a pro-Sandinista leftist."It's about your inner-core feelings. It's about your personal philosophy," he said on
Bill De Blasio Explains His Work In Nicaragua Back In The 80's
Dana Rubenstein at Capital NY:De Blasio has stood by his support for the Sandinistas, but he hadn't gone into particular depth about it until today, at an appearance with fire union leader Steve Cassidy, who had just endorsed him. "A lot of us in this country believe that the United States policies towards Central America in the 1980s were wrong," said de Blasio. "By the way, the or
Geo Karo On The NY Times Sandanista Hack Piece On De Blasio
If you haven't seen Geo Karo's post on the hack job the NY Times did on Bill de Blasio the other day over the Sandanista bit, you should read it.Geo says the Times took the FOX News route on this and I think that's exactly right.That all three daily newspapers - the Post, the News and the Times - are attacking de Blasio daily should tell you something about the fears these people have over what a
Tish James Wants To Save The DOE Emails
It has been reported that the NYCDOE will be shredding evidence of their education reform crimes and burning down much of Tweed in late December before the next mayor takes power.Tish James, candidate for Public Advocate, doesn't want that to happen: CITY HALL — Councilwoman Letitia James wants copies of a colossal amount of Department of Education emails — to ensure they’re not deleted when Mayor
Another Day, Another Negative NY Post Story On De Blasio
He's a commie pinko ticket-fixing, transcendental meditation-loving, document-shredding, cop-hating Marxist member of the Sandanista Party and New York City will be DESTROYED if he is elected mayor.That's the message, day-in and day-out from the Posties.Gee, they really sound threatened.After 20 years of corporatist mayors, they seem to be worried that somebody might take power who doesn't automat
The Post-Mayoral Proapaganda Around Bloomberg Is Starting Already
From the Daily News:Hizzoner is getting a big honor indeed – a biography. Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting a “major biography” by way of author Eleanor Randolph, a longtime journalist and editorial board member for the New York Times. According to the release, the biography will take an intimate look into the “extraordinary caree
Fins To The Left, Fins To The Right - Feeding Frenzy On Common Core
One DC "insider" on whether Common Core proponents or opponents have the momentum:“Fins to the left, fins to the right. The left, including state and local teachers unions, are attacking the high ‐ stakes test and the focus on scores. The right distrusts the federal takeover of public education. It is a tight spot.”Feeding frenzy on the Core.They're worried when over 60% of the so-called
SEP 24
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
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
SEP 23
NY Times Hit Piece On Bill De Blasio
Read Alex Pareene's take on the NY Times hit piece on de Blasio as a closet Sandanista.Here's a bit:The New York Times dropped a bombshell last night: As a young man, Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Bill de Blasio was… pretty left-wing. And he supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And he once was in favor of democratic socialism. The Times presents this information as something they unc
Lhota Criticizes De Blasio As A Socialist
Well, if you can't run on issues, you can always red bait:Bill de Blasio’s not ready to overthrow capitalism just yet. Asked to respond to Republican mayoral rival Joe Lhota’s “Democratic socialist” hit, Mr. de Blasio wasted no time firing back, accusing Mr. Lhota of running a typical right-wing smear campaign. “I am not surprised that my opponents will throw labels and call names. That’s a Repub
Bloomberg So Sad He Has To Go
"Bloomberg prepares to depart with all the reluctance of a 6-year-old leaving Great Adventure" http://t.co/rbGXAigLoo cc: @jenchung— Azi Paybarah (@Azi) September 23, 2013
How About NYSED Commissioner John King PROVES He Consults With Parents Over His Education Reform Agenda?
From the Buffalo News:The state Education Department wants Buffalo School District leaders to prove that they offered meaningful opportunities for parents to weigh in on the district’s comprehensive improvement plan and the consolidated application that enables the district to qualify for more than $20 million in federal grant funding.Samuel L. Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordin
Daily Data Tracking
Teach for America corps member Mary Mac Thielman enters her students' daily exit ticket percentages onto the data tracking wall at O.M. McNair Upper Elementary School in Belzoni, Miss.The above photo and text appeared with a NY Post editorial touting the wonders of Teach For America teachers over traditional public school teachers.I want you to take a very close look at the photo.The bulletin boar
Bloomberg Plans Final Destruction Of Zoned High Schools Before He Goes
From 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 wants the option of sending her daughter Amber, 11, to the local school, Long Island City High
Cuomo's Commission On Government Transparency And Ethics Hides Its Own Expenditures
This is called transparency and ethics, Cuomo-style: New York's latest anti-corruption commission created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo two months ago to root out wrongdoing and promote transparency has no public budget and none of its spending is subject to taxpayer review. But state records and interviews by The Associated Press show taxpayer costs associated with the Commission to Investigate Public C
SEP 22
A Reminder About The MORE Petition On Teacher Evaluations
While Michael Mulgrew sends out emails to members defending the ADVANCE teacher evaluation system (see here and here), the MORE caucus has put together a petition calling for a moratorium on the New York City Teacher Evaluation System.If you haven't signed it yet, do so now.And when you get back to work tomorrow, tell your colleagues about the petition and ask them to sign it as well.I know tomorr
Education Nation Should Invite Carrianne Howard To Talk About How Wonderful Lloyd Blankfein's Art Institutes Are
Raging Horse does an excellent job of pointing out who NBC should have invited for their corporate education reform-slanted Education Nation propaganda-fest this year.Alas, NBC isn't much interested in having anybody on that stage who won't carry water for the corporate education reform agenda, so they only invited deformers like Michael Bloomberg, Jeb Bush, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, et al. to th
Bloomberg Propaganda-Meisters All Over The Internet
You see these Bloomberg shills, paid press whores like Howard Wolfson or Andrew Kirtzman, flacking their Bloomberg propaganda all over the place these days as the mayor's Reign of Error sunsets and Bloomberg's anxiety over his legacy heightens.Here's a recent example from Kevin Sheekey, former deputy mayor and current Bloomberg LP executive (because there is always a gig for you in a BLOOMBERG ent
When I'm President
We take a break from the political and education rants for the following music post:My wife took me to see Ian Hunter and the Rant Band at City Winery last night for my birthday - fifth time we've seen Ian together.If you're unfamiliar with Hunter, he was the lead singer of the very influential Mott the Hoople in the 70's, a band that managed to influence both punker rockers like The Clash and New
Stephanie Simon Takes On Some Education Reform Mythology
The Stephanie Simon article at Politico on why public schools may not be failing is up now and it is a good one.She busts some cherished education reformer myths in it - including how the Chinese are kicking are asses in tests:A new video about the failures of public schools making the rounds on social media starts by introducing viewers to “the most important number in all of education…32!” Why 3
SEP 21
Joe Lhota Says Bill De Blasio Wants To "Annihilate" Charter Schools
From the Wall Street Journal:As for education, Mr. Lhota said one of the key differences between the two candidates is their stance on charter schools. “He’s trying to do everything almost to eradicate the charter schools. He wants them to pay rent. He doesn’t want them co-located,” Mr. Lhota said. “Those two items alone will annihilate the charter schools in the City of New York, and that’s absol
The Class War Is Over - The Plutocrats Won
Andrew O'Hehir in Salon:American conservatives love to attack anyone who raises the issue of worsening economic inequality for waging “class war.” Their compulsion to keep repeating that phrase is revealing in itself; it’s like the serial killer in a movie who can’t help returning to the scene of the crime. Because the only class war being waged in 21st-century America is the relentless, all-front
The Fundraising Race Between Bill De Blasio And Joe Lhota
The NY Times reports that de Blasio has a slight lead over Lhota in fundraising since the primary ended.De Blasio has $700,00 in funds, Lhota $500,000.Both candidates have raised similar amounts since the primary ended - de Blasio $147,000, Lhota $144,000.But de Blasio also has $500,000 in funds that were raised for a runoff that he cannot use until January.So the fundraising totals skew how much
Arizona Changes Name Of Common Core Standards
I posted earlier this week about a movement across the country, from Arizona to Maryland, to rename the Common Core State Standards something else in order to try and quash the political controversy that is arising around the implementation of the standards.It seems Common Core proponents think Common Core critics and opponents are too stupid to figure out that all education reformers are looking
Parent Arrested At Public Forum For Protesting Common Core Standards
What was it that George Bush said about why the United States was attacked on 9/11?Oh, yeah - they hate us for our freedoms.I think he means freedoms like these:Robert Small said he wanted to express his dismay over the introduction of a new school curriculum at a public forum Thursday night in Towson, but instead the Ellicott City parent was pulled out of the meeting, arrested and charged with se
Why Did This Politico Story On Education Disappear?
I put a Politico link on my blogroll after Stephanie Simon joined the media outlet to write about education issues.I've never been a huge fan of the site, but Stephanie Simon's work at Reuters was excellent, so I decided if she was going to be writing education stories at Politico, a link to the site was warranted. Last night at 10:52 PM, a story went up entitled "Do U.S. Schools Really Stink
Andy Cuomo And Billy Joel
Coming just a week after Billy and Andy got to ride their motorcycles with the FDNY to the 9/11 commemoration ceremony, the NY Post reports the following on Page Six:We hear...That Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be joining Billy Joel on his boat in Oyster Bay today for the annual Friends of the Bay cleanup. Didn't realize Billy Joel and Andy Cuomo were such good buddies.First the 9/11 commemoration, now t