Perdido Street School:
New Criminal Investigation Into Christie And The Port Authority May Cause Headaches For Cuomo Too
Perdido Street School Week
New Criminal Investigation Into Christie And The Port Authority May Cause Headaches For Cuomo Too
From the NY Times:The Manhattan district attorney’s office has subpoenaed documents from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey concerning a range of the troubled agency’s major construction projects, including several that have come under scrutiny as a result of the politically charged George Washington Bridge lane closings, a person with knowledge of the matter said Saturday.The subpoena
Who Benefits From The Race To The Top "Powergrab"?
When New York State was up for the Race to the Top money a few years ago, the editorial boards across the state admonished the legislature and the unions to make sure the changes necessary to win RttT came to be because New York's kids needed that extra money for their schools and education.Given all the changes needed to "win" that Race to the Top dough - including changing the state's
Union Doormen And Handymen Get Contract With No Givebacks
Obviously a different thing than the municipal unions, but wanted to point out what looks to be a pretty good contract: The union representing doormen and handymen reached a tentative agreement Friday with the Realty Advisory Board, averting a possible strike that would have affected thousands of city residents. Service Employees International Union 32 BJ agreed to a four-year deal that includes a
YESTERDAY
Spring Break
Half the staff at my school is either sick with a cold, just getting over a cold or just coming down with a cold.I'm in the "sick with a cold" category.I took a day earlier in the week to get over it but never did completely shake it.Helluva way to start Spring Break when your nose is as red as the 90's version of Bill Clinton and your head is heavier than printed-out lessons from Engage
Nothing Changes Until Politicians Are Made To Pay A Political Price For Supporting Education Reform
Gary Stern at Lohud has a piece out about an Assembly bill to delay a new state test for prospective teachers that many education students say they have not been given sufficient time to prepare for.In the article, we get this statement from an Assemblywoman Deborah Glick about the problems with the new NYSED policy and test:"It hasn't been thought out," she said. "It seems the stat
NYSED Commissioner John King: No Retreat, No Surrender, No Quarter On Education Reform Agenda
The NYSED Commissioner does not seem to be chastened in the least by all the criticism of his tenure as head of the State Education Department or calls for his resignation or firing:Under sustained attack over new standardized tests and learning standards, the New York State education commissioner told an audience on Thursday that “we’re not retreating” and that the constant criticism was damaging
Murdoch Says He Loves Jeb Bush For President, Could Live With Hillary Clinton
Says he loves Jeb Bush because of his education policies:Media mogul Rupert Murdoch says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan are two of his top picks to be the 2016 GOP presidential nominee, but he is prepared to accept it if Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the next president.In an interview with Fortune magazine released Thursday,
APR 10
The Potential Trouble Cuomo Has Over The Moreland Commission Mess
US attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara is picking up the Moreland Commission investigations now that Cuomo has shut the whole thing down and today Bharara refused to rule out investigations into the actions taken by the governor and his staff around the commission's activities.The Daily News reports some potential problems for Cuomo that the US attorney may be looking at:The Daily New
Is Moreland Andrew Cuomo's Bridgegate?
Chris Christie seemed to be on top of the world election night 2013 as the returns came in - Christie had won 62.5% of the vote over his Democratic opponent and was poised to not only enjoy a second term as New Jersey governor but also pivot from state office to a national campaign for president.And then a little-known matter that occurred before the election, the closing of three access lanes to
Let's Scapegoat Teachers Even More
A new report with some not-so-surprising findings about teachers:American teachers feel stressed out and insignificant, and it may be impacting students’ educations. Gallup’s State Of America’s Schools Report, released Wednesday, says nearly 70 percent of K – 12 teachers surveyed in a 2012 poll do not feel engaged in their work. The study said they are likely to spread their negative attitudes to
What's The UFT Doing About The DOE's Fetishization Of Lesson Plans?
From James Eterno's round-up of yesterday's UFT Delegate's Assembly:Question: Principals asking for lesson plans and doctor's notes unlike in the past. What can we do?Mulgrew Answer: The administration could always ask to see a lesson plan but they cannot dictate format or collect them ritualistically. We are not publicizing what we are doing behind the scenes but we are working on reigning in
APR 09
Cuomo Gets Beaten Up At WFP Teleconference
From Dan Janison at Newsday:Without being present, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo became something of a piñata during a town-hall style teleconference call hosted tonight by the Working Families Party in which the organization’s officials from around the state took part. Cuomo ran in 2010 with WFP support but that is far from assured this time out after the party, which made comprehensive public campaign fi
Howie Hawkins To Seek Green Party Line To Run Against Cuomo
My sense is the Working Families Party functionaries are talking a good game about getting a candidate from the left to run against Cuomo this year but in the end will not do so.Howie Hawkins, who ran on the Green Party line against Cuomo last time around, may be the best third party candidate/protest vote we're going to get against Cuomo this time around:Howie Hawkins today announced he will seek
NYSUT President Magee Strikes Conciliatory Note In First Conversation With Governor Cuomo
Here's your tough-talking new NYSUT president from that tough-talking Revive NYSUT slate that ousted not-so-tough talking Richard Iannuzzi for not talking or acting tough enough in the face of attacks from Governor Cuomo and the state's education reform establishment:Gov. Andrew Cuomo today called the new president of the state’s teachers union after she was elected to the post over the weekend. K
APR 08
Karen Magee Indicates Cuomo Endorsement From NYSUT Can Still Be In The Cards
What do you make of these tough-talking words from our tough-talking new NYSUT leadership?Karen Magee, a Westchester County union leader, was elected the third president of the New York United Teachers over the weekend and the first woman to lead the labor....Magee said that for now there’s no desire to endorse Cuomo’s re-election bid, but she didn’t shut the door entirely.“There’s no sentiment to
Is Chris Christie Toast?
It has been fairly quiet on the Chris Christie scandal front since Christie crony David Samson resigned from the Port Authority a while back and Christie is going around the country raising money for the Republican Party like nothing's the matter, that all is on schedule for his 2016 run for president.Jeff Smith at Politico says pay no attention to what's going on at the surface of the scandal sto
APR 07
Why Jeb Bush Will Never Be President
Ben Smith says he'll never make it through the GOP primary:The notion that Jeb Bush is going to be the Republican presidential nominee is a fantasy nourished by the people who used to run the Republican Party. Bush has been out of a game that changed radically during the 12 years(!) since he last ran for office. He missed the transformation of his brother from Republican savior to squish; the rise
DiNapoli Opts Out Of Cuomo-Devised Trap
According to Capital Confidential, Comptroller DiNapoli released a statement explaining why he is opting out of the public campaign financing that Governor Cuomo and the legislature devised only for the comptroller's race:The Comptroller has pushed for his office to lead the way as a statewide test for public financing of campaigns since just after he took office in 2007, and the Assembly passed h
Weingarten Spins Iannuzzi Defeat As "Message To Cuomo"
From Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—A vote by a state teachers' decision to overhaul its leadership may be a sign of trouble for Governor Andrew Cuomo.New York has already seen two education leaders ousted this year in elections that are rarely contested and typically undramatic.Richard Iannuzzi, a nine-year incumbent president of New York State United Teachers, was defeated by a comfortable
APR 06
Solidarity Forever
Well, the results haven't been officially announced, but the pro-Andy Cuomo, Michael Mulgrew- and Randi Weingarten-backed Revive NYSUT slate has won the NYSUT election.Given how many votes the UFT bloc of delegates had and how some smaller locals had fallen in line with the larger bloc, the results were not unexpected.Despite her protests to the contrary, this was a Weingarten-engineered putsch fr
APR 05
Carson Vs. Letterman
For nostalgia's sake, with David Letterman announcing his retirement from The Late Show, here's one of my favorite clips from the The Tonight Show of Letterman suing Johnny Carson, Judge Wapner presiding:
Andrew Cuomo Should Hire Michael Gove For The Cuomo Administration
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has shown himself to be the charter school governor here in NY State, cutting money to traditional public schools and sticking trad schools and unionized teachers with extra mandates even as he slings extra cash and power the way of the union-free charter schools and frees them from mandates and regulations. Cuomo ignores the vast majority of children in NY State, who atte
It Pays To Associate With Governor Cuomo If You're A Lobbyist
From WXXI News:Overall spending on lobbying related activities actually dropped by $10 million dollars after reaching a high point in 2011. The decrease is due to a decline in money spent on television ads. A lobby group closely associated with Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Committee to Save New York, spent millions of dollars on television ads promoting Cuomo’s agenda in the first two years he was
Weingarten And Mulgrew Look To Take Us Backward
If and when the pro-Andrew Cuomo forces backed by UFT President Michael Mulgrew and AFT President Randi Weingarten take over the NYSUT this weekend, the fight that NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi and others in the NYSUT leadership have shown against Andrew Cuomo, SED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch in recent months will disappear, replaced by complacency with the education reform s