A Notice of Claim Has Been Filed Against the NYC DOE southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:

A Notice of Claim Has Been Filed Against the NYC DOE

The deed has been done. I had until December 3, 2013 to do it and I did it. I filed a Notice of Claim against;

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, its agents, servants, employees and/or licensees.

For the claims;

To recover money damages for infringement and violation of United States Constitutional First Amendment rights and rights of Due Process rights infringement of first amendment rights, pain and suffering and related damages incurred by and on behalf of claimant myself by reason of thenegligence, malfeasance, willful, recklessness and carelessness...

And in a Dr Evil moment asking for the sum of; 

has suffered damages in the sum of TEN MILLION DOLLARS ($10,000,000.00).

 Of course, the little finger never came up to the corner of my mouth.

 This really is just to cover myself. I believe that this will never see the light of day in state court but 

solidaridad: Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee: The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directors!

solidaridad: Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee: The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directors!:

Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee: The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directors!

Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directo... by Robert D. Skeels

We are three independent voices for constructive change who share a common vision of inclusiveness and union solidarity. We are not beholden to any faction; we know that the only way to make our union strong is to respect our diverse membership and work together with everyone for the common good.
We ask to serve you because we want to work to strengthen our union’s collective ability to champion members’ rights and stand up for public education. It’s time to turn away from destructive internal factionalism and focus on what really matters. We can’t do this alone. We need your help. If you entrust us with your vote, we pledge to work with all of our union brothers and sisters to:

• Build union solidarity and recruit chapter chairs for all North Area schools.
• Defend and empower all members and all schools, raise pay and boost morale.
• Protect your contract rights and benefits from all threats.
• Fully staff schools, reduce class size and secure full funding for Arts, Health and Human Services, Libraries, Adult Education, SRLDP, Bilingual Education, Field Trips, and more.
• Make sure teachers get the subs they request, and subs get called when requested.
• Eliminate excessive high-stakes standardized testing and test prep.
• Return Breakfast to cafeterias and halt the theft of instructional time.
• Make schools safer and healthier for us and for students.
• Hold elected officials accountable for votes that harm our members.
• Strengthen organizing ties with families, school communities, and other unions.

One Teacher's Perspective: Meritless Pursuit of Pay-for-Performance

One Teacher's Perspective: Meritless Pursuit of Pay-for-Performance:

Meritless Pursuit of Pay-for-Performance

The history of merit pay in schools is almost as old as public education in America. It has failed many times over and in many forms. Many have pursued pay-for-performance (PfP) for teachers as a panacea for alleged public school ills. Progressives and conservatives have promoted it. Both President G.W. Bush and President Obama have supported it. 

Chapter 12 of Diane Ravitch's brilliant new book, Reign of Error, lays out the old and new history related to merit pay in schools. In short, old schools and new schools of many types pushed by many different entities have failed to implement successful PfP plans. 

Unfortunately, my kids' district keeps signaling a move from the current teacher salary schedule to a complicated, labor-intensive, stack-ranked pay system for teachers. I worry a PfP is being produced by local officials without a thorough look at the educational reasoning and research.

Utilizing financial incentives for teacher leaders (who take on added responsibilities) and for retaining and recruiting professionals serving in areas of teacher shortages seems sensible. However, a relentless pursuit of a pay-for-performance plan is not best for my profession, my students, my kids' schools, or me.  

Teacher accountability and compensation structure are far from the greatest problems facing public education. The PfP discussion is a distraction from the eight ball in public education. The more relevant point is that teachers and their compensation packages were never the problem. 

Social science research over the last few decades has shown that two thirds of 

Texas Group Touts Bilingual Schooling | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com

Texas Group Touts Bilingual Schooling | HispanicallySpeakingNews.com:

Texas Group Touts Bilingual Schooling

The president of the Texas Association for Bilingual Education has issued a warning about the ongoing gap between “Anglo” students and those who have a mother tongue different from English.

“The sad reality is that the majority of schools in this country are educating dramatically below the abilities of children with a different birth language than English,” Pauline Dow told Efe.

The approach TABE advocates is intended to resolve the inequality between academic performance and opportunities that persists between Anglo students and the rest.

Dow said that “the only way to close this gap” is with a bilingual K-12 system that uses the mother tongue as a lever to learn English.

“The birth language of the child, in this case Spanish, is the vehicle for learning ... English,” she said.

Founded 45 years ago, TABE seeks to eliminate what it calls the myths about bilingual education: “For example, that students whose dominant language is Spanish need to be immersed in English.”

Immersion, Dow said, “goes against the linguistic basis that is needed for cognitive academic 

Undocumented Students Turn to Crowdfunding to Pay for College

Undocumented students are turning to ‘crowdfunding’ to pay for their college tuition since most traditional sources of financial aid are not available to them. Some undocumented students are eligible for in-state tuition rates but not much else.  According to FinAid, the majority of all student aid, including Federal student aid, requires the recipient to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (g

14min 

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: "If You Give a Teacher a Free Day...!".: Allowing Professionals to Develop Independently!

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: "If You Give a Teacher a Free Day...!".: Allowing Professionals to Develop Independently!:

"If You Give a Teacher a Free Day...!".: Allowing Professionals to Develop Independently!

 

 This year, Monday and Tuesday were designated as Parent-Teacher Conference Days. If you didn't get a large turnout, you had some down time. What's a teacher to do?

If you look at PD days that are scheduled throughout the school year, you would be under the impression that teachers did not have a clue with what to do with "free" time. We are treated like children, and every single second of the day is booked. There is no "free" time given to the teacher, as if without the PD Agenda, our day would be a complete waste of time.Which is funny, because I feel like that at times, even with an agenda.

Well, we proved them wrong. We are professionals. We can manage our time. Teachers used their "free" time to do more than go to lunch together, hang out in the teacher's lounge, or 

MAP Test Boycott named in “Best Education News of 2013″ by Washington Post’s Answer Sheet | I AM AN EDUCATOR

MAP Test Boycott named in “Best Education News of 2013″ by Washington Post’s Answer Sheet | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

MAP Test Boycott named in “Best Education News of 2013″ by Washington Post’s Answer Sheet

By I AM AN EDUCATOR on November 30, 2013

What Valerie Strauss’ “Best and worst education news of 2013″ means for the state of education:

Valerie Strauss, who runs the Washington Post blog, “The Answer sheet”, has complied an insightful list of the “Best and worst education news of 2013.”  Strauss’ list is a must read to understand the current political moment in the struggle for the public schools–both the great potential and the bitter struggles to come.

The “Best Education News” included the Seattle MAP test boycott and the decision by several states to delay their use of Common Core high-stakes, standardized tests–revealing the growing influence of organized students, parents, and teachers who have been building a national grassroots movement to oppose the abuses of standardized testing. I am incredibility proud of my colleagues at Garfield High School who launched the MAP test boycott and helped inspire an uprising around the country to reclaim our classrooms from testing companies.

The “Worst Education News” included the mass school closures in Chicago and Philadelphia, as well 

Hey, legislators! We WILL survive. Will you? | Reclaim Reform

Hey, legislators! We WILL survive. Will you? | Reclaim Reform:

Hey, legislators! We WILL survive. Will you?

Posted on November 30, 2013by Ken Previti

There was a vile streak of mean-spiritedness spewed by Illinois legislators who announced on Thanksgiving Eve that active and retired teachers’ pensions will be cut immediately after Thanksgiving. Knowing that people would avert their eyes and block their ears during this period of national gratitude, cowardly predatory politicos attacked.

Many years ago my father-in-law accidentally cut his hand while carving a Thanksgiving turkey and had to be taken to the emergency room. It ruined that Thanksgiving, and we never forgot it.

What makes the Illinois Democrats who are leading this pillage think that active and retired teachers and other public employees will ever forget or forgive this?

The super blue state is severely gerrymandered; a feeling of invulnerability exists among all politicos of both parties. Hundreds of thousands of teachers, state employees, their families along with friends and neighbors will never forget this vicious Thanksgiving announcement of cuts. Painful cuts.

How can a super blue state turn red? How can voting districts turn purple? How can red districts turn Tea Party yellow? Easy.

When several hundred thousand people reverse their votes or simply not vote, gerrymandering will become useless.

Nearly daily, we receive snail mail and email from Democratic Debbie Wasserman Schultz 

The Audacity of "Nope"- Pushing Back and Monkeywrenching in a World Gone Mad: Truth About Common Core Part 2

The Audacity of "Nope"- Pushing Back and Monkeywrenching in a World Gone Mad: Truth About Common Core Part 2:

Truth About Common Core Part 2

 (read part one of this report here:  

http://audacityofnope.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

The Truth About Common Core- A Moneymaking Scheme That Will Leave You And Your Kids A Lot Poorer, Stripped of Your Privacy (And A Lot Less Educated As Well!)

by Tammy Caldwell-de Leeuw

and Teresa Kuhn, JD, RFC, CSA

Living Wealthy Radio.Com

Part 2: White Lies and Deception: Who is paying for common core...and who stands to profit?

  

Even a superficial investigation into the architects behind Common Core reveals that the program is not, as some have claimed, merely a way to design a more culturally-relevant curriculum and to evaluate teacher effectiveness.

Missouri’s Education Watchdog group observes:

“The Department of Education provides the legal symbiotic structure for Gates and Pearson. Private corporations are developing (and the Department of Education is mandating) educational programs taxpayers are required to support.  It's nifty for Gates and Pearson, an easy job for Federal bureaucrats providing government job security and a complete travesty for taxpayers.  You are paying into a system in which you have no voice.  These companies are not elected and not answerable to any constituents except their stockholders.

You are paying into a system of crony capitalism based on unproven assessments and results that will make private corporations billions of dollars with taxpayer money.  And remember, 

11-30-13 Saturday Matinée Special Double Feature News Breakout

Saturday Matinée Special Corporate Reform School Girls News Breakout

Special  Sneak Preview - 

Witch Hunter 

starring Campbell Brown 

 News Break

Coming to a theater near you!

 mark as read

NYC Public School Parents: A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondents

NYC Public School Parents: A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondents: A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondentsMichelle Rhee of StudentsFirstStudentsFirst was founded and is led by former DC chancellor Michelle Rhee andfunded primarily by hedge fund operators, the Walton Foundation and Wall St. financiers.  She claims two million members, hyperbolic assertions that are oft repeated by credulous reporters, despite the fact that many of these "followers" landed on her mailing lis

8min 

What’s Good for Bill Gates Turns Out To Be Bad For Public Schools | Common Dreams

What’s Good for Bill Gates Turns Out To Be Bad For Public Schools | Common Dreams: What’s Good for Bill Gates Turns Out To Be Bad For Public SchoolsAnd, actually, bad for Microsoft too, as we learned recentlyby David MorrisSchools have a lot to learn from business about how to improve performance, declared Bill Gates in an Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2011. He pointed to his own company as a worthy model for public schools.Bill Gates foisted a big business model of employee evaluation onto public school, which his own company has since abandoned.“At Microsoft, we believed in giving our

1h 

Pope Francis Wins!

Pope Francis Wins!Pope Francis denounces ‘trickle-down’ economic theories in critique of inequalityBy Zachary A. Goldfarb and Michelle Boorstein, Published: November 26 E-mail the writersPope Francis on Tuesday sharply criticized growing economic inequality and unfettered markets in a wide-ranging and decidedly populist teaching that revealed how he plans to reshape the Catholic Church.In his most authoritative writings as pontiff, Francis decried an “idolatry of money” in secular culture and warned that it would lead to “a new tyranny.” But he reserved a large part of his critique for what he

1h 

TODAY

2nd Banana 11-30-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post #EDchat #EDreform #RealEdTalk #p2 #1u

BIG EDUCATION APE 2ND BANANARECAP OF LAST WEEK'S BEST POSTNationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFriday | OccupyWallSt.orgNationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFriday | OccupyWallSt.org: Nationalize the Walton Family Wealth on #BlackFridayPosted 2 hours ago on Nov. 24, 2013, 1:37 p.m. EST by OccupyWallStTags: nationalize wealth, walmart, black fridayThe Walton Family is collectively

by mike simpson / 2h 

Morning Wink 11-30-13 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS mark as readOregon charter school founders Tim King, Norm Donohoe agree to repay state $475,000, are forever banned from charter school operations in Oregon | OregonLive.com21min How Philadelphia’s School Crisis Crushes Opportunity: Money and Stability Matter | janressegerHow Philadelphia’s School Crisis Crushes Opportunity: Money and Stability Matter | j

by mike simpson / 4h 

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog 11-30-13

Ms. Jablonski's Class Blog: Phillipine Government S The typhoon that struckby Dennis Wu / 10h Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs reportThe unemployment rate suspiciously fell sharply right before the 2012 presidential election; now the facts have been revealed, the numbers were manipulated. Two years before the election an employee was caught fabricating data and a source says that this deceit was

by mike simpson / 4h 

Oregon charter school founders Tim King, Norm Donohoe agree to repay state $475,000, are forever banned from charter school operations in Oregon | OregonLive.com

Oregon charter school founders Tim King, Norm Donohoe agree to repay state $475,000, are forever banned from charter school operations in Oregon | OregonLive.com: Oregon charter school founders Tim King, Norm Donohoe agree to repay state $475,000, are forever banned from charter school operations in Oregon Tim King and Norm Donohoe, Clackamas-based founders of a chain of taxpayer-funded charter sc

by mike simpson / 4h 

How Philadelphia’s School Crisis Crushes Opportunity: Money and Stability Matter | janresseger

How Philadelphia’s School Crisis Crushes Opportunity: Money and Stability Matter | janresseger: How Philadelphia’s School Crisis Crushes Opportunity: Money and Stability MatterPosted on November 30, 2013 by janresseger“I had connections with teachers, it was relationships I built,” reports Othella Stanback, a Philadelphia high school senior whose high school was closed over the summer.  She knows

by mike simpson / 4h 

teacherken at Daily Kos 11-30-13

teacherken at Daily Kos: mark as readA parent's response to Arne Duncanwho in continuing to attack those who oppose Common Core told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and thei

by mike simpson / 4h 

With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week 11-30-13

With A Brooklyn Accent: With A Brooklyn Accent Go BATs All Week mark as readLetter to President Obama on Education PolicyDear President Obama:As a scholar in African American History and a teacher and coach formore than 45 years- it is my unhappy duty to inform you that youreducation polcies have contributed to the lowest morale among teachers that I have seen in my lifetime, while failing to narr

by mike simpson / 4h 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 11-30-13

The Answer Sheet:mark as readHow thinking like an engineer can help school reformArthur H. Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., suggests a new way to make progress in education policy — through engineering design thinking.  The ideas expressed in this article are his alone and do not represent Steven

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Society All Week

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:Schooling in the Ownership SocietyMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Schooling in the Ownership Societymark as readWe thought we were done with Vallas but... he's backLook out. Vallas is back in town. We tried to finish him off back in 2001 but...No sooner had I finished posting about how the Working Families Party and allies were running Paul Vallas out of Bridgeport, than I g

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Wait What? All Week

Wait What?:      mark as readMalloy continues to cashes in in Education Reform initiativeEarlier this week, CT Newsjunkie and other media outlets reported on the fact that the Connecticut Election Enforcement Commissioner had authorized an investigation into Governor Malloy’s potentially illegal campaign activities. As Hugh McQuaid of CT Newsjunkie reported, “Election enforcement officials agreed

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community Forum mark as readThe Third Rail in Education; ParentsNow we come to that third rail of education - parents.  I have said this a lot in person but naturally, it's a dangerous subject.  Just like the first rule of Fight Club is not talking about Fight Club, the first rule of parenting is you don't criticize others' parenting.  Everyone has t

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes Online mark as readWhat about the reversals of the October co-locos by di Blasio or Will Eval Moskowitz Continue to be Coddled?Lets hope Bill DB's new administration moves in quickly to deliver us from Eva and her destructive ways ASAP.... Eva can afford to rent her own buildings w/ all the philanthropy and savings she has amassed.....  Lisa Donlan, CEC1Is there a push fo

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30 -13 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week mark as readEXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: @GovChristie to Teacher: "I Am Tired Of You People!"UPDATE: I posted this about 12 hours ago on a late Saturday night, and already it has over 30K hits. I've never seen blog traffic like this, especially on a weekend. Is it not obvious that there has been an enormous amount of frustration and anger building u

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Fred Klonsky | Running for our pensions. | VOTE 4 Fred Klonsky.mark as readNekritz: “We’re digging ourselves back in a hole.”Sun-Times:14min Keeping retirement weird.h On the road home. I80 through Penssylvania Gearing up for our pension fight on Monday.32min Democratic Party strategist David Ormsby:

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School mark as readOn The Commons: Bll Gates Is Responsible For The Teacher Evaluation MessNice post that puts all the pieces together - the VAM, the bell curve that ensures a certain number of "ineffectives" every year, how the new teacher evaluation systems are based on Microsoft's stack ranking system, how destructive stack ranking has been to Mic

by mike simpson / 4h 

11-30-13 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALRadical Scholarship mark as readShould SC Increase Charter School Investment?Charter school advocates are calling for more investment from South Carolina, according to Jamie Self at The State (Columbia, SC): South Carolina’s public charter schools struggle to find and pay for space, and often end up without access to kitchens, libraries, or places for kids to play – a problem t

by mike simpson / 4h 

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 11-30-13 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY mark as readThe Best Social Studies Sites Of 2013 – Part TwoThe annual “Best…” lists continue…. You can see my picks for the first six months of the year at what functions as Part One of this list: The Best Social Studies Sites Of 2013 – So Far. You might also be interested in: All My 2013

by mike simpson / 5h 

This Week's Education Research Report 11-30-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research ReportTHIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT mark as readPrivate Education Management Organizations Running Public Schools ExpandNEPC report finds 44% of charter school students in 2011-12 attended schools operated by EMOsA new National Education Policy Center report published today shows that across the nation, schools managed by for-profit firms such as K12 Inc, National Herita

by mike simpson / 5h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 11-30-13

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT   mark as readHOW MUCH ARE iPADS REALLY HELPING KIDS IN CLASSROOMS? + ARE iPADS REALLY HELPING KIDS LEARN? + smf’s 2¢HOW MUCH ARE iPADS REALLY HELPING KIDS IN CLASSROOMS? - The drive to increase technology use in classrooms has many asking whether the investment is more fizzle than bang, and whether it’s too ea

by mike simpson / 5h 

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education 11-30-13

NPE News Briefs ← from The Network for Public Education:NPE News Briefs mark as readFour questions for NY Education Commissioner John King from a Maxwell professor | syracuse.comTo the Editor: State Education Commissioner John King will be holding a public meeting Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. He has faced considerable criticism for a set of policies that embrace standardized testin

by mike simpson / 5h 

11-30-13 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All Week mark as readDisaster Capitalism, Dugger, Indiana, and the Fall of Community SchoolsBy Doug MartinAs Naomi Klein shows in her frightening book Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, for decades the big plan of America’s millionaires and billionaires and the government officials they buy with campaign money has been to slash taxes (“austerity"

by mike simpson / 5h 

All Week 11-30-13 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: All Week @ THE CHALK FACE  mark as readShould SC Increase Charter School Investment?Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?. via Should SC Increase Charter School Investment?.2h Common Core Unrest Obvious in 17 StatesProponents of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are fond of saying that CCSS “has been adopted by 45 states and the District of Colum

by mike simpson / 5h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 11-30-13 -13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG mark as readDo You Shop at Walmart? Don’t.If you are a parent of public school children; if you care about your local public schools; if you are a teacher or administrator or school board member, you should think twice before shopping at Walmart.  The Walton Family Foundation spends nearly $200 million every year to unde

by mike simpson / 5h 

YESTERDAY

Dr Alison Coviello of PS 154 in the Bronx Tells Students, "NO GYM FOR YOU!" southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com: Dr Alison Coviello of PS 154 in the Bronx Tells Students, "NO GYM FOR YOU!"The students of District 7, and most of the South Bronx are out of shape. Nearly 1 in 3 elementary students in the South Bronx are obese, 2 in 5 students are overweight. Many students do not exercise on a regular basis. Being overweight or obese increases the risk for many health p

by mike simpson / 14h 

Choosing Democracy: Papering Over Public K-12 School Reform- Michelle Rhee?

Choosing Democracy: Papering Over Public K-12 School Reform- Michelle Rhee?: Papering Over Public K-12 School Reform- Michelle Rhee?Papering Over Public K-12 School Reform  By Seth SandronskyNational education reform advocate sought Calderon's influence | Al Jazeera AmericaNational education reform advocate sought Calderon's influence | Al Jazeera America: National education reform advocate sought

by mike simpson / 14h 

Nite Cap 11-29-13 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP mark as readfor the love of learning: Private schools should not be publicly fundedfor the love of learning: Private schools should not be publicly funded: Private schools should not be publicly fundedThe Alberta School Board Association (ASBA)

by mike simpson / 20h