Ed Notes Online:
NY State Ed Comm John King Enters Witness Protection Program
DUCK, INCOMING:Commissioner John King faced a tough crowd while meeting with parents last night. (GS in Brief)Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents. .. The ChalkfaceKing has "suspended" the four remaining forums on Common Core after last night's town hall in Poughkeepsie (including Oct. 15 in Garden City). Commissioner King Gets Spanked.King gets the Cathy Bl
MORE Reflections on the Delegate Assembly
Wednesday was an interesting day in UFT-land, a lot of it related to MORE and its growing reputation at the school level and at the DA. And I should point out that the parent dominated Change the Stakes which co-sponsored the rally is also growing in reputation amongst parents.There is no question that the Unity resolution on high stakes testing they rushed through the Oct. 7 Ex Bd meeting was des
Reflections on the Common Core and High Stakes Testing from Change the Stakes Member
Fred, you've got an oped here that needs to get wide circulation right now. One of the worst things Bloomberg has done is successfully portray the UFT as his opponent. Talk about convenient; you can score points by trashing the union while its leadership essentially does your bidding. The general public is oblivious to the fact that the union leadership not support teachers or parents or students
OCT 10
ObamaCare IT: Race to the Top - of Incompetence
Reagan: Government is not the solution.Government is the problem.Obama: My administration is doing everything possible to prove President Reagan was right.Really, some of those tea party people are beginning to make sense. Almost. People involved in information technology know full well it never works right. Except the amateurs who designed the Obamacare system.Do you mean to tell me there was no
More MORE: Making an impact at the DA
RIn all my years of activism one of the happiest moments I had was seeing James Eterno's face as he emerged from the Delegate Assembly yesterday. I was in the midst of trying to get people to take the MORE newsletter, MORE Stuff in Your Mail Bx" and get them to sign up to distribute in their school. I didn't have to work too hard as there were a batch of MOREistas over half my age - one may h
Citizens of the World Charter Run By Eva's Husband May Close Due to Low Enrollment
Goodbye Eric (Grannis), good bye EricWe're happy to see you go (even though we don't believe the State Ed Charter Suck-Up Center (CSUC) would ever close a charter even if it had 1 kid left.)We have always said that so-called demand for charters is a mostly homg grown Charters can be beaten back when the community organizes. A UFT official told me at the DA today that Roy Mann MS in Brooklyn had a
OCT 09
Say NO to UFT Lame Attempt to Derail Opposition to Eval System and Common Core
UFT PRAISES COMMON CORE; CALLS FOR MORITORIUM ON JUDGING TEACHERS, SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS ON TESTS WHILE SAYING NOTHING ABOUT PUNITIVE DANIELSON OBSERVATIONS ... ICE Blog There is so much to say about this reso brought up at the Ex Bd and supported I believe by both Unity and New Action. This is a clear attempt to undercut MORE's initiative in calling for a moratorium on evaluations through its peti
What they spent but won't pay rent - Report from Inside Eva's Belly of the Beast
As a school co-located with a Success Academy school we were shocked at the silence we encountered this morning as the entire SA school was noticeably missing (at rally). Upon their return we were even more shocked at the tremendous financial expenditure put forth for this rally with new bright yellow t-shirts for all staff members stating their roles ie; Teacher and reference to parent choice i
OCT 08
A Memo on Eva Moskowitz's March and the #TaleofTwoSchoolSystems
Harlem Success 1, Eva’s oldest school, suspended 22% of its pupils at least once during the 2010-11 school year, while the average for regular elementary district schools was 3%.Most recent tax filings for Success Network show Eva earns at least $475,000, which is two times the salary of Chancellor Walcott.While she refuses to pay rent for normal services and space costs, it was reported in 2012 h
NYC Public School Parents Comment on Charter Phony Demand Claims
The charter industry spends thousands of dollars per students to pull demand. One of today's march organizers, the CEO of CMO PublicPrep, recently had to pull an offer to pay families ( $100 in AmEx gift cards + $100 to college fund 529) under pressure form DoE/the charter lobby because it exposes how desperate these schools are to create demand.... Clearly demand does not drive policy- so why do
Media release Tues. Oct. 8, 2013: Parents and Advocates comment on today's charter school march
New York State Education Law requires that when a district provides space or services to a charter school it shall do so at cost. Yet the DOE provides free space and services for more than 100 co-located charter schools. Using figures from the NYC Independent Budget Office, we estimate that the space and services these charter schools currently receive is worth more than $100 million a year. A l
NYC Public Schools Rally in Opposition to Charters....
But Cannot Close Schools to Do So. Protests take place after school but are ignored by pro-charter press. Sign for Oct 8 Charter Rally:Keep Eva's salary at half a millionIn essence, there is a lockdown today so Public Schools cannot hold a mass Anti-Charter Rally which would dwarf the one being held today on school time.If public schools were allowed to close this morning, use their resources to o
OCT 07
Tuesday 9AM: Counter Charter School Rally at City Hall
Don't Forget the Counter Charter School Rally at City Hall This Tuesday Morning @ 9AM.Various progressive education groups and individuals will be rallying at City Hall near Chambers Street to counter the angry Charter School cabal because Mayoral Candidate Bill DeBlasio vows to have charter schools pay rent for their school spaces... and possibly put a moratorium on adding any more charter school
Ravitch in Park Slope Tues Night, Draws Crowds Nationwide - and Matt Damon
There's been lots of commentary about the tide turning against ed deform (A Comment from Western New York: Yes, the Tide Is Turning) and (Common Core Tests in NY Spur Opt Out Movement) -- but the large crowds showing up on the Diane Ravitch "Reign of Error" book tour must be making ed deformers shudder. Find details of the tour on the Ravitch blog: My Trip to the West Coast…and Back.Not
Film - Teachers Unite: "Growing Fairness"
Growing Fairness was produced “because we were receiving an exponentially increasing number of requests from organizations and educators, locally and around the country, for training” in restorative justice, says Sally Lee, executive director of Teachers Unite in New York City. At one middle school featured in Growing Fairness, suspensions fell by almost 90 percent; at a high school in New York Ci
MORE Weekly Update #70: Are you coming out for Win Back Wednesday?
You should be getting the idea of why you should drag your ass over the 52 Broadway this Weds (Oct 9) for the 4PM "Win Back Wednesday" rally. Certainly if you read my earlier piece on what is going on in Newark where the pressure of an insurgent social justice oriented caucus has led to the Unity style leader, who only won re-election by 9 votes, to take a position against RTTT. And you
Newark TU Rejects RTTT as Randi/Del Grosso Contract Burns and Relationship With Cami Anderson Frays
Mr. Christie and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten hailed the contract as a model for cooperation that teachers union locals across the country should emulate.... WSJ Why MORE in NYC? Newark Union Pres under pressure from an insurgent NEW Caucus rejects Race to the Top. Lisa Fleisher has a great piece today in the WSJ:The rhetoric was starkly different from what was on dis
The Daily News Deserves a Good Whopping for Witchhunts 101
The city will spend a whopping $29 million in 2013 on the salaries and benefits of outcast educators who are deemed too dangerous or incompetent to work in public school classrooms but cannot be immediately fired, the Daily News has learned... Chapman and Monahan get quotes from both a DOE spokesman and a union official to press their respective sides of the issue, but the language in the article
OCT 06
Video: MORE Brunch, Please
MOREistas and supporters gather for a great day of brunching - great food ala chef/teacher Sean Ahern, great music from Patrick Walsh and Fred Arcoleo, great conversation with everyone, and inspiring words of wisdom from Julie Cavanagh, Jia Lee and Megan Moskop.https://vimeo.com/76258078Amongst many interesting conversations with people I had never met before was this one. I see a young lady sitti
Today at noon: Protest at NBC Ed Deform Education Nation at NYC Public Library
Many people have decided to just ignore this yearly bullshit coming from NBC but NYBATS are holding a protest. So if you can make it down there to swell the crowd come on down. We do know the E4Es are going be good boys and girls so they can get on TV and then write press releases about how they got on TV.After spending yesterday at the great MORE brunch (video coming soon) and being in the midst
Rockaway’s Tale of Two Cities Under Bloomberg: Health Care vs. Bike Lanes
Norm in The Wave - School Scope, published Oct. 4, 2013I wrote this Tuesday morning, Oct. 1 right before I went out to vote for Tish James. I had submitted the column to the writers group I belong to for comment later that evening and while they thought this was some of my better work, they made some suggestions, which I am incorporating for the Ed Notes version.Rockaway’s Tale of Two Cities Under
OCT 05
The Tale of Two Students, Or how can you possibly blame the teacher?
by Loretta PriscoPublished in Staten Island Democratic Association, Nov. 2012, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…In one of the richest cities in the world, live two children, though a few miles apart, they might as well live in two different worlds. Miranda lives with her college graduated Mom and Dad and two siblings in a home flush with magazines, newspapers and a library full
Alex Caputo-Pearl Running for President of LA Teachers Union
Alex - 2nd from rghtSocial justice-oriented caucuses like MORE and CORE are springing up all over the place. Whatever the result of the LA election in Feb. 2014 next summer's AFT convention in LA ought to be an event worth attending --- I'm hoping a strong MOREista crew goes.The one in LA has been around for a while and even won a share of power in the last decade. Don't get scared now -- that a T
Another Whine From Peter Goodman, Who Supported Unity and Much of Ed deform
After the Department announced the closing of Thomas Jefferson a request for proposal (RFP) resulted, about two dozen organizations attended a series of workshops assisting the applicants... Peter Goodman. Ed in the AppleWhat Goodman leaves out is that he was a member of the state commission and voted to close Jefferson (my alma mata) -- the replacement schools have also been a disaster in most ca
OCT 04
Shael in the Eye of the Storm in Debate with Parents on Testing
In many ways this was the most remarkable part of Monday night's CEC 15 High Stakes Testing event -- a real debate between a chief Tweedie (Gotham lists him as one of 5 potential Chancellor candidates) and parents and teachers. (You can see MORE's Lisa North and Michelle Hamilton making comments. You won't see anyone from Unity or New Action.) But I will give Shael credit for being the only Tweedi
Co-Location Madness: PS 196, MS 582 Petition to Stop 3rd School Co-location
Why would the DOE put a 2nd middle school in the same building where one already exists in addition to an elementary school?Another act of madness by the exiting madmen and women at Tweed.PS 196 is in District 14 on Bushwick Ave. just a few blocks north of the school I taught at for 27 years. I know Rob and many teachers at the school since I was the district tech liason there from 1998-2002 when
Rockaway Theatre Company Weekend Update: Last days to see Boeing, Boeing
NOTE: RTC has sent out a notice that due to the slimebags in Congress Gateway National Park, where the theater is located, is shut down. So amongst all the other stuff the incredible work these people put into the show is in jeopardy this weekend. Luckily they performed the last 2 weekends and I taped the performance last Sat night. It is up on the web in a private space for the RTC (can't make it