Ed Notes Online
The Secret to Eva Moskowitz’s ‘Success’
Another curious fact about Success Academy is the attrition of both students and teachers. For schools that are widely acclaimed, this is surprising indeed. Why do so many students and teachers leave?... What we can learn from Success Academy is that it is possible to winnow out the most intractable students and be left with the best and most compliant ones by selective attrition. But that is no m
NYC Teacher Steve Ryan's Play - A Beautiful Mourning - At Manhattan Rep Theatre Oct. 16, 17
The boy can act, sing dance - and now we learn Steve Ryan, a teacher at Leon Goldstein HS in Brooklyn, a colleague and pal of Kit Wainer and Mike Schirtzer (and a MORE supporter) can also write. His play will be featured at Manhattan Rep for 2 days next month. Steve is also appearing this weekend (tonight, tomorrow and Sunday matinee) in Godspell at the RTC. One of the fun things is when Steve's s
SEP 25
Kathleen Elvin and AP Emily Crevling Use Terror Tactics to Intimidate
This comment on our earlier post (John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin Discontinues Iraq War Vet and Mother) provides some more detail on the reasons behind the discontinued Iraq war vet and mom. Are Elvin and Crevling the local version of ISIS, using this teacher as a hostage in retaliation for actions taken by the union - beheading the teacher, economically, by taking her job.The actions of Princ
John Dewey Principal Kathleen Elvin Discontinues Iraq War Vet and Mother
“We’re sorry you won’t have health insurance for your child and thank you for serving your country. You’re fired!” • Single Mother• Iraq War Veteran • Teaching for Only Four MonthsThis is who Elvin and the AP of English wanted to terminate this past June. Termination would have meant that she could no longer teach in any New York City Public School. She dared to have her own ideas. She dared to w
SEP 24
Roots of the UFT: Max Shachtman, Al Shanker Mentor
Vera Pavone and I wrote a review of the Shanker bio in New Politics: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neo-Con | New Politics which delved into the roots of Shankerism which still dominates the UFT today.It is important for people to know how the UFT/Unity party was born out of Trotskyism and the the firmament of left-wing politics, then morphing into socialism and then into vicious anti-left right wing so
Where Are the People of Color in the Movement?
....there aren't enough people of color in this picture... Jersey Jazzman raised this issue on his blog after a meeting of Jersey bloggers.I left this comment:JJ - you make a point that I've been hearing here in NYC in all the various white dominated activist groups. It always seems to come down to something we're doing wrong - we're not sensitive enough. People of color feel uncomfortable in a ro
SEP 23
Teachers and Police
After the roiling of the waters between the PBA and the UFT I've started writing a series of articles for my column in The Wave on teachers and police. Here are the first two.School Scope: Teachers and CopsBy Norm ScottPublished in The Wave, Sept. 5, 2014 Welcome to the new school year to teacher and parent School Scope readers. For those involved in schools, the new year really begins in Septembe
SEP 22
Comment from Roseanne McCosh a rank and file MORE and long-time Ed Notes supporter
A caucus that hopes to break free of Unity's control of our union will never get the support it needs from members when distractions such as the Sharpton march or whether or not to wear blue and support NYPD divide us. My colleagues range from left leaning liberals to right wing conservatives with most of us in the middle. We disagree on various political issues of the day but we are pretty much u
I Didn't March Anymore on Climate But Did Pick up and Plant a Fig Tree
I really was going to go to the climate march even though I wrote- Another March and Why I Ain't Marchin' Anymore - U...I did include the caveat that I would march if I could get a beer at a bar afterwards. And lo and behold I received an offer from 2 lovely young ladies that if I marched they would buy me a beer. So I was in. Until my wife reminded me I was scheduled to pick up a fig tree at 10AM
Disillusioned Parent Pulled Daughter from Girls Prep Charter - another hedge funded scam
.....because of their personal guilt over what minorities must endure in order to make it in life in their twisted, unfair system, they think they can go into 'the hood' and save the little poor children. Much often, they alienate themselves from the community and establish schools that fence themselves off from the community, thinking that parents are too poor, uneducated, or tired to deal with t
Success Academy Charter School Teachers Overwhelmingly White - Higher % Than NYCDOE Schools
59% of NYC DOE teachers are white. Check out the astounding numbers of white teachers in the Success Charter school chain obtained by the Teacher Diversity Committee. If this were Birmingham in 1964 there would be lunch counter protests. Or better yet, if it were 1864 there would be calls to close down the plantations.Tonight at 5:30 there will be a hearing on more Eva controlled plantation-like s
SEP 20
Secession Fever: Scotland, Catalonia, MORE and (Hopefully) Most of the American South
When 45% of the people vote to secede as they did in Scotland, that is one heavy minority for Britain to bear. Note the push for independence was due to the conservative government in London and its austerity program dictating to the smallish much more social democratic oriented Scotland. Freedom didn't quite ring but the YES group seemed to wrangle some concessions.Catalonia wants independence fr