Ed Notes Online
[News from Susan Ohanian] New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!
News from Susan is becoming a weekly Saturday event here at Ed Notes. I disagree with her pessimism. The tide has turned. I think forces opposed to ed deform are building gale-force winds as the Obama ed program, driven by the same neo-liberal forces as Obama Care, with the same disastrous results come down on their very big ears. How interesting that elements of both left and right see the light.
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.... and some lessons for my colleagues in MORE.Bear with me on this one. Obama Care Spaghetti codeWith every passing day, it becomes clearer just how incompetent -- and really arrogant - team Obama is and has been - and I can begin to understand the often misguided anti-government tea party movement which this failure has given so much more life to. I think it may go down as one of the major failures of policy in history.More OBama Care spaghetti code Let me elaborate. Mr. Chao rejected Republican suggestions that the administration had blocked an “anonymous shopping” feature because it feare
Published in The Wave, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013www.rockawave.comRockaway Election Results Paint Tale of Two CitiesBy Norm ScottTuesday, November 12, 2013There was some good news for Rockaway Democrats in the race for City Council. Lew Simon almost kicked Erich Ulrich’s ass, losing by a few points in the closest contest in the city. Will it be LEW TIME next time? Make sure to read the excellent Wave editorial on this race. On to the mayoral race.In the midst of the perception of a nation-wide tea-party storm, an entire city rises up to overwhelmingly support a candidate so counter to that trend as
Things are moving right along. November 14, 2013Francis Lewis High School UFT Consultative CommitteeToday we, the UFT consultative committee of Francis Lewis High School, voted to formally endorse MORE caucus’s Petition for a Moratorium on the “Advance” Teacher Evaluation System. The committee endorses this proposal and encourages our leadership to act quickly in the face of actions that jeopardize our profession and our students' quality of learning.Fraternally,Arthur Goldstein Chapter LeaderPaula DuffyChapter Delegate And tailing right along: we have joined with our state affiliate NYSUT and
YESTERDAY
Lois Weiner at New Politics: Should we “play nice” with the NEA and AFT?
A reason to join up with MORE?kick ass, don’t play “nice.” Union reform is a contact sport. But remember to do it collectively. We don’t need heroes or victims, we need victories....Union officers are part of the problem but they have the power to betray these principles because they are allowed to do so by their members, who have adopted the passive role encouraged by the business union model t
NOV 14
Portelos Hearing Update: DOE Legal Chilling Attempt to Suppress Teachers Who Fight Back Publicly
Callagy said the DOE claim will have a chilling effect on teacher rights to go to court to defend themselves. With an air of disgust he then dismissed the witness.TODAYYesterday we heard two anti-Portelos witnesses, both teachers at the school, as DOE legal attempts to paint Portelos' attempts to fightback as "undermining" and "creating a bad tone" in the school and place all b
Norm in The Wave: Rockaway Election Results Paint Tale of Two Cities
Published in The Wave, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013www.rockawave.com Rockaway Election Results Paint Tale of Two Cities By Norm ScottTuesday, November 12, 2013There was some good news for Rockaway Democrats in the race for City Council. Lew Simon almost kicked Erich Ulrich’s ass, losing by a few points in the closest contest in the city. Will it be LEW TIME next time? Make sure to read the excellent Wave
NOV 13
Chicago Teachers Union urges parents to oppose standardized tests for young kids
DENY THEM THE DATA.The UFT is tailing on supporting the opt-out movement, as usual. But they seem to have skin in the game. The Chicago TU actually takes stands.The Chicago Teachers Union Thursday urged its members and parents to take a stand against standardized tests.CTU President Karen Lewis announced the “Let us Teach” campaign in Chicago as similar measures were rolled out in cities across th
Norm in The Wave: Rockaway Election Results Paint Tale of Two Cities
Published in The Wave, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013www.rockawave.com Rockaway Election Results Paint Tale of Two Cities By Norm ScottTuesday, November 12, 2013There was some good news for Rockaway Democrats in the race for City Council. Lew Simon almost kicked Erich Ulrich’s ass, losing by a few points in the closest contest in the city. Will it be LEW TIME next time? Make sure to read the excellent Wav
MORE: Take a Chapter Vote to Endorse the Moratorium!
My chapter was so excited to hear about this way of pushing the UFT to act that they suggested voting to endorsing this petition right after I showed it to them in our union meeting... Megan Moskop, MORE Long Island Teacher Accuses Commissioner John King of Institutional Child Abuse www.raginghorse.wordpress.com/I know. Some people say "why a moratorium and not abolition?" Especially sin
The Slugs Are On the Run: Port Jefferson Teachers Association (PJSTA) President Beth Dimino shredded NYSED Commissioner John King, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and New York State Senator John Flanagan
Too many people can now see what’s going on here. That’s why nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, the Common Core, and test based evaluations is acceptable. Not waivers for special needs students. Not a three year moratorium. Only a full withdrawal from the entire agenda is acceptable.... Flanagan, who hid in his office two weeks ago when 1,000 people rallied outside, looke
NOV 12
IN TWO DAYS! "Don't Tread on Educators" Open Forum Nov. 14
In the midst of his endless and fascinating 3020a hearing Jordanna gets ready for afternoon nap(another session tomorrow and I believe Friday) Portelos doesn't stop fighting - for everyone. Which is what makes him so dangerous to Tweed legal, which had 3 lawyers the other day while they called two witnesses. Total time of hearing: 10:30- 2PM. We were eating lunch by 2:30 -- Note to doe legal's Jor
Slate's New Schooled Podcast: Bad Teacher With John Owens and Alex Caputo-Pearl
I picked this audio up from Gotham's Remainders tonight. I'm posting it here so I can archive the discussion with two dynamic people I've met: John Owens who chronicled his short teaching career in the Bronx with a book which shows that he got so much about ed deform in such a short time and a teacher of 2 decades, Alex Caputo-Pearl, who is running to head the LA teachers union in the election to
NOV 11
Ravitch Recuperating: To Speak at PS 15 in December
An event de Blasio should attend ...The good news from Diane is she is out of the hospital (Update on My Health) but still working to dissolve the clot in her leg. She points to too much flying, which is probably true. (Glad I have started hating flying due to all that TSA stuff.)Remember when Diane put up a story about Randi being her friend and people went wild on her blog. While I didn't agree
NOV 10
Flushing HS Update #4
Flushing HS teacher Seung Ok's battle over DOE hypocritical grading policies appears to be bearing fruit. Seung is an old pal from the early GEM days -- one of the most energetic, principled people I've met over all my years of organizing. He was a teacher at Maxwell HS in Brooklyn when he helped form GEM in its earliest stages in 2009 while fighting off the attacks of the Unity slugs in his schoo
NOV 09
Opt-Out Grows - Long Island High Stakes Testing Forum Monday Nov. 25, 7:30
Thanks to AJ for cluing me in on this. Note LI Opt Out, the Lace to the Top sponsor -- green laces baby - I won a set at the MORE luncheon raffle but my cats love them so much I don't get to wear them – and a BATS speaker too. Just checked my calendar and right now it's an open evening -- I'll see if they let me tape.
New Content at SusanOhanian.Org!
Nothing like starting the weekend with a batch of stuff compiled by Susan with a focus on the common core. I am so far from having been a teacher I can't focus on the educational reasons for opposing CC. I'm more interested in the politics. Like when every enemy of public education and teacher unions unite with these unions to push something down everyone's throats that's all it takes for me to s
Patrick Sullivan and Leonie Haimson on Leo Casey Slam at Carol Burris
Patrick J. Sullivan @PSulliv @leoniehaimson @carolburris Didn't Casey blast @carolburris when she raised issues with the teacher evals? leonie haimson @leoniehaimson .@PSulliv yup, wonder if @LeoECasey will apologize to @carolburris now & admit she was right 10:28 PM - 6 Nov 2013A follow-up to my earlier post: Hypocrisy of the Day: UFT Call for Renegotiating Evals With deB Perdido S
Hypocrisy of the Day: UFT Call for Renegotiating Evals With deB
Those who don't remember history.... are doomed to continue to be doomed by the self-serving UFT. The latest Weingarten/Mulgrew accommodationist party line is that we should oppose the "consequences of high stakes testing." They have discovered and appropriated the word "moratorium." They always sound so reasonable and are always so late. Leading from behind ... Fred SmithThe U