Pols like City Councilman Charles Barron say they'll sue if Bloomberg pushes ahead with Cathie Black

Pols like City Councilman Charles Barron say they'll sue if Bloomberg pushes ahead with Cathie Black

BY KATHLEEN LUCADAMO AND RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Sunday, November 28th 2010, 4:00 AM

News, AP

Cathie Black (top left), Mayor Bloomberg (bottom left), Joel Klein (top right) and David Steiner are at center of schools post storm.

RELATED NEWS

• Pols divided on how to proceed with Black dilemma
• Editorial: Give Bloomy Black
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• Lisberg: Pigheaded Bloomy made mistake with Black
• Black's next move
• Panel votes down Bloomy's pick for schools head

A day after Mayor Bloomberg made a deal to salvage his pick for schools chancellor, elected officials were threatening legal action to stop it.

The carefully orchestrated compromise to appoint a second-in-command with education experience alongside chancellor candidate and media execCathie Black hasn't silenced her fiercest critics.

City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), who protested with parents and other lawmakers in Brownsville, vowed to file for a restraining order to block Black's appointment.

"We question the legality of her riding on someone else's credentials," said Barron, likening the decision to allowing someone to drive a car without a license if the passenger has one.

Experts said legal action might have to wait until state Education Department

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/11/28/2010-11-28_ya_cant_do_this__well_sue_cry_pols.html#ixzz16aNDSO83

Cathie Black claims to have educational experience with charter school board post, but it's moot

Cathie Black claims to have educational experience with charter school board post, but it's moot

BY MEREDITH KOLODNER AND GREG B. SMITH
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Sunday, November 28th 2010, 4:00 AM

Handschuh/News

Parents and school officials at the Harlem Village Academies School say they've had little contact with schools chancellor nominee Cathie Black.

RELATED NEWS

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• Harlem Success charter lives up to its name

City schools chancellor nominee Cathie Black insists she's connected to public education via a highly touted charter school - but a close look shows she's had no contact with students, parents or teachers there.

Officials at the Harlem Village Academies admit the school's National Leadership Board, which Black joined just five months ago, has never met.

That board "has no operational or governing authority" over the school and exists for "support purposes only," the school said in response to Daily News questions.

Black primarily advised the school's CEO, Deborah Kenny, on "management, leadership, and the development of a book" Kenny is writing, the school said.

Harlem Village parents and former employees had little knowledge of Black, who is

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/11/28/2010-11-28_its_black__her_fuzzy_facts_sits_on_charter_school_board_thats_never_held_a_meeti.html#ixzz16aJ420Nh

Pols prepare legal action to block Black from schools post

by KATHLEEN LUCADAMO and RACHEL MONAHAN, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

A day after Mayor Bloomberg made a deal to salvage his pick for schools chancellor, elected officials were threatening legal action to stop it.

Schools Matter: Responding to Thomas Friedman: Poverty, not teachers' rank in graduating class

Schools Matter: Responding to Thomas Friedman: Poverty, not teachers' rank in graduating class

Responding to Thomas Friedman: Poverty, not teachers' rank in graduating class

by skrashen

November 27, 2010

Letter in the NY Times

Raising Performance in Our Schools

Response to Friedman, Teaching for America, Nov. 21:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/21friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

• To the Editor:

Thomas L. Friedman notes that in countries like Denmark and Finland that

Exposing 8th grade US History textbook obvious lies in wars, money, and power | Dailycensored.com

Exposing 8th grade US History textbook obvious lies in wars, money, and power | Dailycensored.com

Exposing 8th grade US History textbook obvious lies in wars, money, and power

by Carl_Herman

source: Carl Herman, Examiner.com

The following is what I wrote and delivered to meeting participants concerning our school’s 8th grade US History text; a leading national textbook. Surprisingly, the textbook company author in attendance was in agreement (this person co-authored the 7th grade text). All of Social Science teachers and administrator managing our department are also in agreement. We’re developing primary source documents for our students to read and then compare to the text’s account of history to see these lies of omission and commission for themselves.

Consider the 5-minute PuppetGov video, “Simple card tricks for war” on the left as an historic and artistic expression to show how Americans are lied-into wars.

Teaching in a social justice and historically accurate frame

Thank you for meeting with us today to discuss how to best use our text. What I have to communicate is central

Queens Teacher: Another Politician Loses Due to Support of Mayor & Charters

Queens Teacher: Another Politician Loses Due to Support of Mayor & Charters

Another Politician Loses Due to Support of Mayor & Charters

by Queens Teacher

Dishing with Dee: Padavan lost due to UFT backing Avella for Senate
By Dee Richard



It would seem to me that it’s a blame game tactic to divert you from the reality of a local, totally incompetent Republican management of campaigners as opposed to a totally competent Democratic Party management of campaigners. Live and learn, guys — copying a winner’s tactics is not only a good thing but a smart thing. Do not be so angry and upset that you miss the valuable lessons to be learned and do not fall victim to a bait-and-switch game. To be the declared big winners the next time out, you have to run a smarter, tougher campaign.

In spite of all the Monday morning quarterbacking, it is this columnist’s opinion that the real reason for Frank

Schools Matter: John Walton: DFER Catalyst?

Schools Matter: John Walton: DFER Catalyst?

John Walton: DFER Catalyst? John Walton: DFER catalyst? So says Whitney Tilson in an interview from his documentary, A Right Denied. Here is a snippet: [DFER was started] …with a few other friends that are involved with a couple other other charter schools, and they were money ...

Perplexed; Imagine in FL Recently, the state of Indiana released a list of schools that failed to make AYP. I'm not going to discuss the (de)merits of AYP; instead, I'm going to point out something that, as the title of this post suggests, has me a bit perplexed. Two of the ...

John Walton: DFER Catalyst? « DFER Watch

John Walton: DFER Catalyst? « DFER Watch

John Walton: DFER Catalyst?

by kennethlibby

John Walton: DFER catalyst? So says Whitney Tilson in an interview from his documentary, A Right Denied. Here is a snippet: [DFER was started] …with a few other friends that are involved with a couple other other charter schools, and they were money managers like me involved with a couple similarly high-performing charter schools, we [...]

NYC Public School Parents: The Not-Quite-Good-Enough-Chancellor and her Sidekick?

NYC Public School Parents: The Not-Quite-Good-Enough-Chancellor and her Sidekick?

The Not-Quite-Good-Enough-Chancellor and her Sidekick?

by Paola de Kock

Bowing to the painfully obvious, even the stacked panelassembled by Commissioner Steiner voted to deny Cathie Black the waiver she needs to overcome her utter lack of qualifications to be NYC's schools chancellor. But our very clever Commissioner had something up his sleeve: he gave the panel a third choice besides "yes" or "no": a co-chancellorship of sorts with someone who actually knows something about education. Bloomberg promptly submitted a revised waiver application, adding man with education credentials Shael Polakow-Suransky to help out the corporate exec formerly billed as the only person who could do the tough job of NYC schools chancellor.

What good can come of this scenario?

Looking through the very long list of things Suransky will be responsible for, one can’t help but ask: will there be anything left for Cathie Black to do besides wielding the budget ax? That certainly entails “difficult decisions” (as

School Tech Connect: Set Up To Fail

School Tech Connect: Set Up To Fail

Set Up To Fail

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Nothing against Mr. Polakow-Suransky--- I've never met him. Indeed, my hat's off to anyone who serves, and I'm sure he's highly competent and worthy, but I just want to point out this:

The man is 38, and he's already a former principal and top official at headquarters. He's the career-educator graybeard that's going to serve as a counterweight to the publishing magnate now running the NYC schools.

Credentials Count « InterACT

Credentials Count « InterACT

Credentials Count

by Martha Infante

Economists Want to Stop Teachers’ Degree Bonuses-Washington Post

“You are just as likely to find a great teacher with 3 years of experience as you are a terrible one with 25 years on the job, and vice versa. Other than the first few years, experience does not matter one iota.”-Chad Alderman at the Quick and the Ed

That’s the latest narrative, isn’t it? Teacher experience matters very little, Master’s degrees are superfluous and expensive, and expensive, lazy, union teachers should be replaced by charter schools and Teach for America instructors.

I have a different point of view on this.

Both as a student and teacher in Los Angeles public schools, I have seen and experienced the wonder of master teachers. As a teacher assistant, my first assignment was in the classroom of a teacher who had entered teaching late in life, a career transition. He was clearly out of his element in a classroom full of wild, rambunctious second graders. They hid in the cabinets, pounced from the tops of closets, sat in trash cans,

Critics Blast Compromise Over City Schools Chancellor Pick - NY1.com

Critics Blast Compromise Over City Schools Chancellor Pick - NY1.com

Critics Blast Compromise Over City Schools Chancellor Pick

By: NY1 News

Critics of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's choice for the next schools chancellor say they will file for a temporary restraining order on Monday to try to prevent publishing executive Cathie Black from getting a waiver to fill the position.

At a protest in Brownsville, Brooklyn this morning, Councilman Charles Barron said he will continue protests against Black and resort to civil disobedience if necessary.

Barron urged parents to keep their children out of city public schools until a "qualified chancellor" is selected. He also said the state should repeal mayoral control of city schools.

"Mayoral control is out of control. The mayor is disrespectful, the mayor is abusive of the power the

Another home visit by UCPD | THOSE WHO USE IT

Another home visit by UCPD | THOSE WHO USE IT

Another home visit by UCPD

Posted on November 26, 2010 by thosewhouseit| 5 Comments

We have received word of yet another home visit by UCPD pigs in an ongoing effort to intimidate students who were arrested and/or spoke to media at the Regents’ meeting at UCSF on November 17. This puts the verified total at 4 in the last week, and we are still looking for confirmation of another 3 possible cases. The latest case is a Berkeley undergrad who was arrested in the parking deck on the 17th and charged with obstructing an officer. On Monday, November 22nd around 9:30 am, two UCSF cops reportedly showed up to her off-campus apartment, though thankfully she was already out of town for Thanksgiving. Her building manager spoke with the officers, who told her to tell the student that they wanted to talk about “anything else [she] saw” at the meeting.

Why the hell are these pigs continuing to harass students at their homes?

What further information following a non-violent protest arrest (with vague obstruction and resisting charges at that!) could possibly be useful to any

Saturday coffeee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffeee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffeee.

by Fred Klonsky

I’m exhausted.

This Thanksgiving week stuff is great, but today is some much-needed down-time. Maybe I’ll take Ulysses over to the park for a run. After all, the temperature is up from the mid-20s yesterday. And he needs to let loose.

In the mean while, I’m sitting here at the counter with my second cup of Italian roast. I poached an egg and dropped it on some re-heated corn bread stuffing with some Cholula sauce. Then I opened up the paper and to read about the soap opera that Cathie Black has become.

Cathie Black and mayoral control.

Anyone who can refrain from laughing when the next person in power talks about doing what’s “best for the kids” following the Cathie Black episode deserves a medal.

The battle over NY Mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of the clueless Hearst executive to the post of Chancellor of the city’s schools, her rejection by his hand-picked panel and the cave-in by NY state commissioner David

Old school.

by Fred Klonsky

Ry Cooder.