Ed Notes Online
Portelos Chapter Leader Recall Attempt Fails - Again
I heard teachers looking to recall me were disrupting lessons today to remind educators to vote. Remember not voting, was a vote in my favor. Disrupting lessons? I’m not happy.... I’m here. You have my email and my number. I am still your chapter leader..... Francesco PortelosWell, there goes the case the DOE is trying to prove. That Portelos is a loner. And dangerous. And feared and shunned by th
MORE's Paul Hogan in The Riverdale Press: Common sense, not Common Core
It is dangerously easy for education administrators to lose sight of the needs of the students they are supposed to serve when one’s daily reality never involves firsthand work with students.The Common Core in District 75 is an abstraction for some who see the world of education only in terms of theory. However, Common Core is an added distraction and superfluous obstacle for those professionals i
UFT Used $250K COPE Money to Support Gambling
The United Federation of Teachers deposited $250,000 in the account from two of its political action funds.... Capital NYThanks to Jeff Kaufman for this.Oh what fun. Having COPE money spent not on fighting ed deform but promoting gambling. I didn't know Paul Egan liked the dice so much. I took a shot in a recent Wave column at my City Councilman, Republican Erich Ulrich, for promoting casinos and
YESTERDAY
Obama, in P-Tech Visit, Walks on Bones of Dead School And Pushed Out Students in P-Tech Visit
Robeson, which had a capacity of 1,000 students, Siegel said, found itself with 1,500 in 2005. "That's when we started having a lot of incidents, gang issues, things that didn't come into the building before that," Siegel said. "This is the story of all the schools that got closed down. We had the lowest dropout rates in the city, kids didn't leave, but it wasn't balanced. what it b
MORE Weekly Update #72: Petition vs. Evals, Parent Anti-test Revolt, PEP Protest, and MORE!
Protest Colocations at the PEP on October 30th! View this email in your browser Weekly Update #72 October 24, 2013Join MORE Today The campaign for a moratorium on test-based evaluations continues! Please make sure you have collected signatures on our petition from your colleagues. Print a copy here. Sign and share the electronic version of the petiti
Rise and Don't Shine, Kick Some Ass Instead, October 25, 2013
Things to do: Plan on going to the PEP on Weds. Night (Oct 30) to join in the funeral for closed and co-located schools. (More to come later).Rise and Don't Shine, Kick Ass Instead may become a new feature in Ed Notes. Let everyone else do the writing and I just comment. Actually I prefer "Don't Rise But Stay in Bed with the covers over your head instead." Catchy, got a beat. (Speaking o
The Worm Turns on TFA as New Gen Students Begin to Reject Their Destructive Agenda
Just as TFA was the hot thing on campus such a short time ago, the counter revolution begins as student groups spring up around the nation exposing what is behind the curtain of an ed deform front which attempts to use recruits as a political force for ed deform.Students who want to not only teach but do it in a context of social justice work where they join the battle against poverty and for reso
Teacher Union Shores Up Support for John King And Reaffirms Backing for Common Core
Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, also expressed support for the Common Core, along with the teacher evaluations, diverging only on one point. “The testing, right now, is not ready for prime time,” she said. .. Epoch Times Clearly a heavily scripted event, designed to signal AFT attempts to shore the collapsing support for King, the SED and the Regents. More proof, as
OCT 24
Video from Jaisal Noor: Parents Organize Boycott To End Standardized Testing of 4-year-olds
Jaisal Noor does a great job in following up on this story (Parents Lead Massive Opt-Out of Kindergarten Tests in Washington Hts (District 6) as he features Dao Tran, whose partner is Peter Lamphere. They send their child to the Castle Hill K-2 school. New York School believed to be first to reject testing in grades K-2, principal and 90% of parents support boycott and hope it helps spark nationwi
Change the Stakes General Meeting, Friday, October 25
PLEASE JOIN US AT OUR MONTHLY OPEN MEETING Change the Stakes General MeetingFriday, October 255:30 - 7.30 pmWhen: Fri, October 25, 5:30pm – 7:30pmWhere: CUNY Graduate Center located on 365 5th Avenue Room 5489. Bring Photo ID for building entry Agenda for Oct 25:1. Introductions2. Discussion: How are students experiencing assessment this year? Begin with a report from Dao from Castle Bri
Readings: Plutocrats, Toddler Testing, Looting Pension Funds
I had these lurking on my browser for sharing. A short selection followed by the link. I haven't read all of them but worth checking out if you have time. I'm back from the Dewey co-loco hearing (Some video tomorrow). Giving up on the World Series and going to bed while listening to Bill Mazur tributes on WFAN (I listened to him every eve at 6 in the 60s - what a mensch).Looting the Pension Funds
OCT 23
12 Years a Slave - Under Bloomberg
A new movie tells the story of a formerly free school system with public input and oversight that is lured into a seamy arrangement by an ego-driven, manipulative billionaire who then enslaves over one million children, over a hundred thousand school employees and a disenfranchised public. His overseers, Merryl Tisch and Eva Moskowitz make the lives of the slaves miserable.After 12 years of servit
The Madness Continues: Another Co-Loco Hearing Oct. 23 - JOHN DEWY HS !!!!!!
I was looking forward to an evening at home Weds night. Guess not. Those good ole boys and girls at Tweedle Dee keep 'em comin' like the Top 40 hits. But hey, no worries. Big Bill will just reverse the PEP rubber stamp on Oct. 30 -- the day before Halloween -- and please join everyone at the PEP - wearing your costume.PLEASE POST AND DISTRIBUTE ! ACT NOWSTOP THE Co-locations IN DISTRICT 21 A PROPO
Change the Stakes: New York City Public School Parents Deserve to be Heard by Education Commissioner John King
NYC’s one million public school students account for a third of the state’s total public school enrollment. Yet not a single forum will be held in New York City. Change the Stakes calls on state legislators who represent NYC students, their parents and their teachers to demand that the Board of Regents schedule a public forum in each of the five boroughs. .... CTS Another shot at King from our g
Parents Lead Massive Opt-Out of Kindergarten Tests in Washington Hts
“My feeling about testing kids as young as 4 is it’s inhumane,” said PTA co-chairwoman Dao Tran, mother of first-grader Quyen Lamphere, 5. “I can only see it causing stress.”... Rachel Monahan, Daily NewsThe revolt is growing and this story is HUGE, as Diane Ravitch points out below (and a good story from the ed press - though we would love to see a piece analyzing the growth of the opt out moveme
OCT 22
Video, PS 196 Colocation Hearing: Brian De Vale Castigates DOE Office of Portfolio Planning
Are you proud of yourselves? Is this what you went into education for? To take things away from children? ... I guess if you are black or brown you don't need science labs ... Brian De Vale comments on Office of Portfolio declaring school science labs in poor communities "a luxury."An enormous turnout with standing room only last night. Lots of video to come. Again an anti-coloco rally
OCT 21
PS 196k: Another SRO anti-colocation rally/hearing not being covered by nyc ed press
... Which gush over charter school artificial rallies but ignore the massive outpouring at hearings all over the city by public school parents. Truly one of the most impressive organizing efforts, esp in a poor under resourced community. Hearing hasn't started yet and they're still pouring in. And lots of doe security in the room in case a kindergarten kid gets out of line - hi Jay, we miss you to
Parents Accuse DOE of Racist Co-locations
NEWS RELEASE Contacts: Williamsburg and Greenpoint Parents: Our Public Schools! (WAGPOPS!), williamsburggreenpointschools@gmail.com, Brooke Parker, 917/251-1596 Parents Accuse DOE of Racist Co-locations Parents, Students, and Teachers Rally to Oppose 3rd School Being ‘Shoehorned’ Into Williamsburg School Hundreds of parents, along with their children and their children’s teachers, will rall
PEP Video: Community Says "No MORE Charters"
Panel for Educational Policy October 15, 2013:NYCDOE votes to cram 23 co-locations and charters into existing schools despite large protests, mostly unreported by the press which gave extensive coverage when charters closed schools for half a day and told parents they had to attend.Members of MORE help lead protest at PEP as parents, students, teachers and entire communities around the city say NO
OCT 20
Monday: Public Hearing and Rally to Protest Co-Location by Parents and students: PS 196/MS 582, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
I'm heading over to cover this. PS 196 is a few blocks away from the school I taught at for 27 years and I covered the school for tech support when I was a Project Smart district tech staff developer for 4 years. Lots of people I knew are still there. A solid building -- but give me a break- 3 schools? The whackos at Tweed - here they go again. Media Advisory for Event on Monday, October 21, 4:30
OCT 19
Parent, a NYC Principal, Calls for Removal of John King, Ending of Mayoral Control, RTTT and Common Core
Who does Mr King, an "educator" with a VERY thin resume, who is a political hack appointed by billionaire Regent Meryl Tisch, think he is?... Stop this misguided "reform" movement and give education BACK TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES where parents can do what is best for our children. Brian De Vale, parent Below is an email sent by a parent, Brian De Vale, a NYC Principal in Brooklyn an
Advice to MORE on Today's Delegate Assembly Discussion
I've been pushing for a serious discussion about how an opposition caucus like MORE should/could relate to the UFT Delegate Assembly given the overwhelming control Unity holds over those meetings. That discussion will take place at today's meeting (see agenda below).I fear that MORE may fall into the fatal trap of other opposition caucuses over the years (including ICE) that the DA becomes a focal
Forecasting the July '14 AFT Convention: Chicago
..this time around the CTU delegates to the Illinois Fed of Teachers - [their version of NYSUT] - (which is kind of a rehearsal for next summer's AFT) are organized, ready, experienced and with a number of really important resolutions to support.... George SchmidtChicago Teachers Union Heads to IFT as Precursor for Next Summer AFT Convention.The struggle to get the AFT to take a strong stance aga