NYCDOEnuts Is Back And Has Something to Say! southbronxschool.com

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NYCDOEnuts Is Back And Has Something to Say!

A special welcome and a special thank you for guest blogging, to one of The Crack Team's favorite bloggers, OLDNYCDOEnuts who was the originator ofNYCDOEnuts blog. Kind of like the two Darrin Stevens. With OLD NYCDoenuts as Dick York.


The Crack Team is lying around the SBSB newsroom yesterday when an email from DOEnuts come in. DOEnuts had left witness protection, has something to say and needs a platform (He has reached out to other bloggers as well).

After checking to make sure their were no vulgarities in his message, nothing that might come across as offensive, assuring that any member of a family can read this without blushing, and getting a promise from NYCDOEnuts that he will take The Crack Team out for wings and beer, we are publishing his,- can we say manifesto? welcome back letter? essay? treatise?- here tonight.

Note: Bold, italics, and spelling corrections were added by The Crack Team


A friend at a party during the Bloomberg years:
Friend: “Hey Chuck, it’s nice to meet you”
Stranger: “Thanks. Sooooooo, you’re a teacher?”
Friend: “Yeah, man. It’s a great job. ‘Been at it for ten years now. What do you do?”
Stranger: “I’m a lawyer with DOE legal. I fire teachers for a living”
Friend: “Sh** man. That’s what you do for a living? How do you like it?”
Stranger: “Bonuses are good”


Some people don’t care about these exchanges. Others will pretend to care about them only when it serves their purpose.  As a teacher -one who has lived through the Bloomberg days and has been a 

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: Dr. King's Dream?

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure: Dr. King's Dream?:

Dr. King's Dream?

"If you can ride at the front of the bus, but you cannot read, you are not free."  (Arne Duncan)

Let's use the imagery of Arne Duncan.  Let us imagine students in the United States all riding somewhere.  Let us imagine that their transportation symbolizes their school.  Public-school students are riding on public buses. After multiple school closures during the Bloomberg administration, many of these N.Y.C. buses are no longer servicing communities.

Some high-ranking educational deformers send their children to private schools, not subject to their mandates.  They take private transportation.  Let us imagine their children being chauffeured to school in cars similar to the one pictured below.





Charter-school operators claim that their students are also riding, so to speak, the public bus.  Charter schools are funded by public as well as private interests.  Some of the schools are very well funded.  Charter-school operators may make far more money, overseeing far fewer 

Size Really Does Matter!

Class size, that is. Sorry, nothing like a cheap, tawdry double entendre to lure in the readers.  At the Bloomberg Institute for Advanced Learning, we simply don’t believe in limiting the number of students in a classroom, but we do encourage them to raise their hands when they have a question. We also hire only the best teachers; so a class of 134 kids is a piece of cake for our facilitators. For

by Adam Bergstein / 6min

1-19-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core

Excerpts from, and a few friendly comments on, Diane Ravitch's essay, Everything you need to know about the common core.  (Comments marked with "SK").  My hope is that this very strong essay will turn the tide.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch/1. "These two federal programs (NCLB and Race to

by skrashen / 13min

1-18-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekA Few More Dots: Corporate School Indiana UpdateBy Doug MartinSince I’m busy preparing my book Hoosier School Heistfor the printers, I've decided to note a few things not in the book and several recent happening in the corporate school movement in the Hoosier state.  1. The Friedman Foundation, which gave out free t-shirts of Milton to anyone who left commen

by mike simpson / 8h 

United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog. | Reclaim Reform

United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog. | Reclaim Reform:

United We stand; Divided We Fall: Remember the castrated dog.

Posted on January 19, 2014by Ken Previti

“United we stand; divided we fall.”What is there to not understand?

The Chicago Tribune on 12/3/13 depicted the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME), a part of the AFL-CIO, as a castrated dog – a dog “fixed” by SB1 “Pension Reform” legislation. This legislation was sought by and passed by Illinois’ Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. (SB1 is presently being brought to court for a Constitutional challenge by unions throughout Illinois.)

Now, the Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan and the Executive Board endorsed the election of their castraters, including Gov. Pat Quinn.

Quinn has repeatedly and publicly declared that he was “put on God’s Earth” to cut teacher and other public employee pensions. Read HERE.

Carrigan and his cohorts appear like Quinn’s lapdogs to Tribune readers. Union officials appear to be licking the same hand that “fixed” them. The gloating Tribune editorial board who approved this gross, insulting, and disgusting cartoon needs to be held accountable by all union members. Union leaders should use the cartoon often to show just what the Tribune and its gleeful corporate ownership feel about unions and union leaders. Read HERE.

Obviously, the building trade union members were somewhat happy with Quinn for feeding them the capital bill scraps as he destroyed the public sector unions.
Why have Carrigan and his cohorts

The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

The question no one in Georgia wants answered: How much does it cost to educate students to excellence? 

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How do we educate to excellence?

Previous Posts

• Rural Schools: They are driving students to success in Pinto, not Cadillac. But they are still trying. 
  January 18, 2014
• Turning the pages to celebrate the MLK legacy
  January 17, 2014
• Teach for America sends its graduates to the classroom and the board room
  January 16, 2014

By Maureen Downey

Here is a question repeatedly asked under the Gold Dome and never answered: How much does it cost to educate a child in Georgia to excellence?

And here’s why the answer continues to evade us: No one really wants to know.

A true estimate of the cost of excellence would force Georgia to invest far more in education than it’s willing to do, especially in rural Georgia districts that lack the property tax base to compensate for ongoing state cuts and have eliminated programs, electives and teachers at higher rates than metro Atlanta.

Without an honest examination of the real costs of quality education and recognition that we can’t starve schools yet demand robust achievement, the state’s students and economy will languish.

We also have to be frank about what constitutes excellence. Everyone understands that schools can no longer focus on state capitals, spelling words and the periodic table — information students can elicit in seconds on smart phones. As Harvard’s Tony Wagner says, “What the world cares about is not what you know, but what you can do with what you know.”

To replace rote learning, memorization and drills with innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving, Georgia’s classrooms require new models, which is why former Gov. Sonny Perdue created a task force in 2004 to define the best practices in education and put a price tag on them.

“Today, basic doesn’t cut it. Georgians expect more. They expect excellence for their children,” he said at the time.

After more than three years, 75 public meetings and discussions with 105 school systems, the task force came back empty-handed on the cost issue, likely because it discovered excellence 

SKrashen: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core

SKrashen: Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core:

Selections from, comments on Ravitch, Everything you need to know about the common core

Excerpts from, and a few friendly comments on, Diane Ravitch's essay, Everything you need to know about the common core.  (Comments marked with "SK").  My hope is that this very strong essay will turn the tide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-common-core-ravitch/

1. "These two federal programs (NCLB and Race to the Top), which both rely heavily on standardized testing, has produced a massive demoralization of educators; an unprecedented exodus of experienced educators, who were replaced in many districts by young, inexperienced, low-wage teachers; the closure of many public schools, especially in poor and minority districts; the opening of thousands of privately managed charters; an increase in low-quality for-profit charter schools and low-quality online charter schools; a widespread attack on teachers’ due process rights and collective bargaining rights; the near-collapse of public education in urban districts like Detroit and Philadelphia, as public schools are replaced by privately managed charter schools; a burgeoning educational-industrial complex of testing corporations, charter chains, and technology companies that view public education as an emerging market. Hedge funds, entrepreneurs, and real estate investment corporations invest enthusiastically in this emerging market, encouraged by federal tax credits, lavish fees, and the prospect of huge profits from taxpayer dollars. Celebrities, tennis stars, basketball stars, and football stars are opening their own name-brand schools with public dollars, even though they know nothing about education."

2."No other nation in the world has inflicted so many changes or imposed so many 

Nite Cap 1-19-14 #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

1-19-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

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1-19-14 Jersey Jazzman

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by mike simpson / 3h 

Teach For America is Barking Up the Wrong Tree | Cloaking Inequity

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by mike simpson / 5h 

Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one day | Bob Braun's Ledger

Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one day | Bob Braun's Ledger: Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one dayAt Newark’s Hawthorne Avenue School, the test scores are up, higher than state-imposed goals—and certainly better than those of the highly touted “Renew” schools favored by the administration. The hallwa

by mike simpson / 7h 

Everything you need to know about Common Core — Ravitch

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by mike simpson / 7h 

Morning Wink 1-19-14 AM Posts #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTS1-18-14 Wait What?Wait What?: A look at Steve Perry’s record of absenteeism and use of social media to bully othersOn Tuesday January 21, 2014 the Hartford Board of Education will hold a special executive session to discuss Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry.  The public has the opportunity to address the Hartford Board of Education starting at 5:30 pm.  T

by mike simpson / 7h 

1-18-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: A look at Steve Perry’s record of absenteeism and use of social media to bully othersOn Tuesday January 21, 2014 the Hartford Board of Education will hold a special executive session to discuss Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry.  The public has the opportunity to address the Hartford Board of Education starting at 5:30 pm.  The meeting is taking place that the Journalism and Media Mag

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: PRESS RELEASE: NPE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

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by mike simpson / 8h 

1-19-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Bev Johns. We need you at the ISBE board meeting on January 22nd.- Bev Johns, Special Education advocate and activist. We need you at the ISBE Board meeting on January 22. Whether the ISBE Board eliminates special ed class size limits AND the 70/30 rule DEPENDS ON YOU. Will you offer testimony this We

by mike simpson / 8h 

Public Education is NOT an Industry | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates

Public Education is NOT an Industry | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates: Public Education is NOT an IndustryPosted on January 19, 2014by Teachers'LettersToBillGatesImage courtesy of EdVotes.orgDear Bill,I thought of you while reading Forbes’ 30 Under 30 2014 special report, which celebrates the professional achievements of 20-somethings in a variety of industries, includingeducation.  Do you see you

by mike simpson / 8h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Paul Horton: Why We Need to Tell Stories About Our LivesPaul Horton, who teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School, here ponders a famous remark by David Coleman, architect of the Common Core standards. Coleman said, while giving a speech in New York that was taped, that students need to learn that no one gives a s— a

by mike simpson / 8h 

1-19-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Super Bowl ResourcesIt’s that time of year again — Super Bowl time! I’m writing this before the league championship games are played, but I certainly hope the 49ers will be in it. I’ve just updated, as I do every year, The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl. I’ll continue to make new additions over the ne

by mike simpson / 8h 

1-19-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Strange Bedfellows On Cuomo Team: Eva, DFER and MikeyGuess who is joining Cuomo's list of privateers? MEMORANDUMTO:        NYSUT Board of DirectorsFROM:  Andy Pallotta, Executive Vice PresidentDATE:   January 15, 2014RE:        NYSUT's Legislative ReceptionOn Monday evening, January 27, 2014, NYSUT will host a Legislative Reception and briefing in the Observation Deck of the Erast

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1-19-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida

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by mike simpson / 8h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-19-14

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by mike simpson / 9h 

1-19-14 @ The Chalk Face

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by mike simpson / 9h 

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1-19-14 Perdido Street School

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Should Principals Stop Visiting Classrooms? | Connected Principals

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empathyeducates – How Close to Poverty Are You?

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YESTERDAY

How Do You Make a Good Teacher? - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

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by mike simpson / 19h 

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by mike simpson / 19h 

Let’s Help NEA’s Dennis Van Roekel Forsake His Common Core “Guessing” | deutsch29

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by mike simpson / 19h 

VAMboozled! a blog about the issues surrounding teacher evaluation

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by mike simpson / 19h 

V.A.M.: Value Added Measure

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Choosing Democracy: Martin Luther King Jr. Economic Justice and Workers' Rights

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Nite Cap 1-18-14 #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 CAPSeattle Schools Community Forum: The Internet and Free SpeechSeattle Schools Community Forum: The Internet and Free Speech: The Internet and Free SpeechGentle readers, The last couple of months have been something of a strain for me. I was busy f

by mike simpson / 23h 

2nd Banana 1-18-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 1-11-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 1-4-14 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 12-28-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 12-21-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

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