Ka-Ching! The Charter Lobby Buys into NYC’s Mayoral Race | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ka-Ching! The Charter Lobby Buys into NYC’s Mayoral Race | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ka-Ching! The Charter Lobby Buys into NYC’s Mayoral Race

In a crowded field of candidates in the Democratic primary, only two are opposed to expanding the number of charters in a city with hundreds of them: Scott Stringer and Maya Wiley.

The other candidates support more charters at a time when the national Democratic Party seems to realize that charters are a key component of the rightwing’s longtime goal of privatization of the public schools. Charter advocates started a PAC for Eric Adams. Andrew Yang supports charter schools and is advised by former Mayor Bloomberg’s advisor Bradley Tusk (Bloomberg was very pro-charter). Financier Ray McGuire’s campaign relies on Bloomberg’s chancellor Joel Klein for advice (his campaign manager is pro-charter).

Betsy DeVos loves charter schools, so does the anti-union Walton family and Charles Koch. Across the country, Republican legislators and governors are passing legislation to expand charters and vouchers, while Democrats put public schools first.

This article explains how deeply entangled one of the CONTINUE READING: Ka-Ching! The Charter Lobby Buys into NYC’s Mayoral Race | Diane Ravitch's blog

Probably No Early Retirement Incentive This Year | JD2718

Probably No Early Retirement Incentive This Year | JD2718

Probably No Early Retirement Incentive This Year

Today’s email from Mulgrew held out the smallest glimmer of hope, “We will continue to fight until the final hour.” But the final hour is just about here.

When the NY State legislature included in the state budget a provision that would allow the City to negotiate with unions for an early retirement incentive, some teachers got excited.

But the negotiations bogged down. The City made ridiculous proposals (for some teacher licenses, but not others) that they knew the UFT would never agree to. It does not look like the City is serious. They will probably just run out the clock.

What happened? Here’s my guess.

An incentive would save the City money today, but increase overall pension liability. And, with the COVID economy and scary budget this fall, the City was thinking about the incentive more seriously than in any recent year (An incentive gets raised every single year, but usually dies a quiet death. One assemblyman gets to score points at home for introducing it).

Bureaucracy moves slowly, and the City’s interest in the fall turned into serious legislative moves over the winter, and the adoption of the incentive with the State budget last month.

Bureaucracy moves slowly, but the world doesn’t.

While an incentive was working its way through votes and negotiations and back-room deals, the feds sent money – a huge infusion. But at least some of it is only one-year money. So now the City’s CONTINUE READING: Probably No Early Retirement Incentive This Year | JD2718

Is it time for New York City Charter Schools to be absorbed into a redesigned New York City School System? | Ed In The Apple

Is it time for New York City Charter Schools to be absorbed into a redesigned New York City School System? | Ed In The Apple

Is it time for New York City Charter Schools to be absorbed into a redesigned New York City School System?

Twenty years ago Governor Pataki bundled a salary increase with a charter school law in a lame duck session of the state legislature. Has the law achieved its purposes? (See NYS Charter School Law here).

The law established two authorizers, the State Education Department and SUNY. The State Education Department created Charter School Frameworks. (See Charter School Frameworks here)

The charter school law requires charters schools to:

* Improve student learning and achievement;

*Increase learning opportunities for all students, with special emphasis on expanded learning experiences for students who are at-risk of academic failure;

*Encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods;

 * Provide schools with a method to change from rule-based to performance-based accountability systems by holding the schools established under this article accountable for meeting measurable CONTINUE READING: Is it time for New York City Charter Schools to be absorbed into a redesigned New York City School System? | Ed In The Apple

N.Y.C. will eliminate remote learning for the fall, in a major step toward reopening. - The New York Times

N.Y.C. will eliminate remote learning for the fall, in a major step toward reopening. - The New York Times

N.Y.C. will eliminate remote learning for the fall, in a major step toward reopening.

New York City will no longer have a remote schooling option come fall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced during a television appearance on Monday, a major step toward fully reopening the nation’s largest school system.

This school year, most of the city’s roughly one million students — about 600,000 — stayed at home for classes. When the new school year starts on Sept. 13, all students and staff will be back in school buildings full-time, Mr. de Blasio said.

New York is one of the first big cities to remove the option of remote learning altogether for the coming school year. But widespread predictions that online classes would be a fixture for school districts may have been premature. Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey announced last week that the state would no longer have remote classes come fall, after similar announcements by leaders in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

New York City’s decision will make it much easier to restore the school system to a prepandemic state, since students and teachers will no longer be split between homes and school buildings.

But the mayor’s announcement will no doubt alarm some parents who are concerned about sending their children back into school buildings, even as the pandemic ebbs in the United States. Recent interviews with city parents have shown that while many families are looking forward to resuming normal schooling, some are hesitant about returning to classrooms.

Nonwhite families, whose health has suffered disproportionately from the virus, have been most likely to keep their children learning from home over the past year. CONTINUE READING: N.Y.C. will eliminate remote learning for the fall, in a major step toward reopening. - The New York Times

Ed Notes Online: What Should Next School Year Look Like? - An Educators of NYC Presentation - Zoom Tuesday May 11, 7PM

Ed Notes Online: What Should Next School Year Look Like? - An Educators of NYC Presentation - Zoom Tuesday May 11, 7PM

What Should Next School Year Look Like? - An Educators of NYC Presentation - Zoom Tuesday May 11, 7PM

This is the kind of conversation the UFT should be having.

.. James Eterno, ICEUFT

Special Education Far Rockaway teacher Daniel Alicea, the major organizer at EONYC, is doing the kind of work the UFT should be doing, following up on EONYC's enormously successful monthly Zooms on Tuesday with probably the most important issue we face:  

What Should Next School Year Look Like?

The  link to sign up. He has  assembled a fantastic panel:

Panelists Set for EONYC May Forum: What Should Next School Year Look Like?

Our stakeholder panelists include parents, education activists, educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses We are just days away from our May 11th online forum where we will gather with expert panelists that include parents, education activists, educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses. We hope to also be able to lean on the expertise of a local medical doctor, as well.

As this school year of hybrid learning in a pandemic winds down, we as educators and stakeholders have begun to reflect and formulate questions about what the next school year should look like. At Tuesday evening’s event, we hope to share our collective thoughts, ideas, and demands for what should be prioritized in the upcoming school year.

Please join our next Educators of NYC monthly meetup, on Tuesday, May 11th, at 7 PM, as we discuss: WHAT SHOULD NEXT YEAR'S SCHOOL REOPENING LOOK LIKE IN A COVID WORLD?

 https://educatorsofnyc.substack.com/p/panelists-set-for-eonyc-may-forum

------

Last month EONYC held a panel that included reps from every caucus and interest group in the UFT, including Unity Caucus and attracted hundreds to a webinar discussion of the UFT Mayoral Endorsement process,  which is basically 3 people in a room.  

The video of this event which dove deep into UFT policy is worth seeing: https://youtu.be/Xc-JGK5Zrew

Eterno pointed to how important these type of open discussions have been in his ad for the April event.

Everyone guesses the UFT will endorse Scott Stringer with some believing Maya Wiley has a chance to be second. Is this the right decision? Is the UFT top-down endorsement process fair?If you are looking for a real discussion on the mayor's race and the Union's involvement, you will most likely be out of luck at the DA as it will more than likely be tightly controlled by Mulgrew.

This was a day before the UFT special DA where they did endorse Stringer but did not choose Wiley or anyone as a second choice. I wrote about the Stringer story a few days ago: UFT Sticks with Stringer.

Here's more from EONYC:

Please join our next Educators of NYC monthly meetup, on Tuesday, May 11th, at 7 PM, as we discuss: WHAT SHOULD NEXT YEAR'S SCHOOL REOPENING LOOK LIKE IN A COVID WORLD?

We are just a day away from our May 11th online forum where we will gather with expert panelists that include parents, education activists, educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses. We hope to also be able to lean on the expertise of a local medical doctor, as well.

 

As this school year of hybrid learning in a pandemic winds down, we as educators and stakeholders have begun to reflect and formulate questions about what the next school year should look like. At Tuesday evening’s event, we hope to share our collective thoughts, ideas, and demands for what should be prioritized in the upcoming school year.

RSVP now!!! ... as our slots to participate will go quickly.

RSVP at: http://forum.educators.nyc

We, also, encourage you to take the pre-forum survey here if you haven’t and you can also view the preliminary results. Almost 4k individuals have responded already: http://educators.nyc/maysurvey

Lastly, if you have registered we will send you a Zoom link as the forum event approaches.

The forum event will also be live-streamed via Facebook Live our public Facebook page and private page.

Please share this with those in your education networks and circles.

Ed Notes Online: What Should Next School Year Look Like? - An Educators of NYC Presentation - Zoom Tuesday May 11, 7PM

NYC Educator: Does It Pay to Do Nothing?

NYC Educator: Does It Pay to Do Nothing?

Does It Pay to Do Nothing?

I was in a meeting the other day in which we were discussing NX grades. That's what we have in lieu of failure these days. A lot of teachers are upset about this, for various reasons. 

I understand that it's better to err on the side of not hurting kids for things that aren't their fault, so I can't complain about it that much. I have one student, for example, who was excellent in my class. Once we went remote, he tuned out completely. Without human contact, forget it. In fact, the NX won't help him, but I'd be happy if it did. 

One teacher said the NX grades were advantageous to students who do nothing. When students hand in things late, we grade them. Maybe we take off something for lateness, but we look at them. In fact, they have an advantage over students who did work poorly and got bad grades. (I don't know about you, but I haven't got the time or inclination to look at work over and over until every students gets 100 on everything.)

So this teacher was arguing a kid would be smart to just do nothing all semester, wait until the end, and then do everything. I wasn't persuaded. For one thing, people who are inclined to do little or nothing are highly unlikely, at the last minute, to find the energy to do five months worth of homework in a day, a week, a month, or perhaps ever. Of course, there are exceptions. 

I myself once spent a year in a biology class, failed everything, learned nothing, but spent the last week with my nose in a red Barron's review book. Back then, if you passed the Regents exam, you passed the CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Does It Pay to Do Nothing?

September 21 School Opening and Unanswered Questions: Requiring Vaccinations, Remote Instruction, Teacher Accommodations, Summer School and “Catching Up” | Ed In The Apple

September 21 School Opening and Unanswered Questions: Requiring Vaccinations, Remote Instruction, Teacher Accommodations, Summer School and “Catching Up” | Ed In The Apple

September 21 School Opening and Unanswered Questions: Requiring Vaccinations, Remote Instruction, Teacher Accommodations, Summer School and “Catching Up”

As the COVID positive rates continue to spiral downwards and the vaccination numbers increase the State is moving towards a full school opening. Broadway can reopen on September 14th, large sports venues allowing larger and larger crowds and school districts are planning full reopening: with a host of issues to be resolved.

Will school districts retain a remote instruction option?

In NYC, for a subset of medically fragile children: maybe. It is highly unlikely that individual schools will operate in-person and remote; it is too complicated and there are other options. For example, children seeking remote option can be clustered in a district-wide remote school. The Department and the Union will partner in an in-person school initiative.

Can COVID vaccinations be required for students?

The NYS Department of Health currently requires vaccinations for school enrollment. See details here. 

Across the nation many states have vaccination requirements, and, in some states there is virulent opposition by anti-vaxxer parents. Some states have religious and medical exemptions. The decision would be made at the state level and it is highly unlikely for this September; a year or so down the road when vaccinations for children are available the state may develop policies..

 Can COVID vaccinations be required for CONTINUE READING: September 21 School Opening and Unanswered Questions: Requiring Vaccinations, Remote Instruction, Teacher Accommodations, Summer School and “Catching Up” | Ed In The Apple

CPAC: Why next year will be our best opportunity to lower class size in our schools | Class Size Matters

CPAC: Why next year will be our best opportunity to lower class size in our schools | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

CPAC: Why next year will be our best opportunity to lower class size in our schools

We gave this power point presentation to the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council on 5.6.21 on why next year, because of the big increase in state and federal funding, we will have the best opportunity to lower class size, at a time  when students will need smaller classes more than ever before.

Here it is a pdf below.

CPAC: Why next year will be our best opportunity to lower class size in our schools | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today

Eric “Chaz” Chasanoff was one of the best-known New York City teacher bloggers. He was an exceptional advocate for teachers, and a opponent of arbitrary and unfair policies.

Eric wrote regularly for well over a decade. He started in 2006. And he didn’t stop, until COVID stopped him.

During the pandemic he was writing every two or three days. On April 26 he wrote about reducing administrative costs, and not school budgets. And then… Silence. On May 2 I wrote to him. He was already sick, and did not respond. I didn’t know. I wrote to other bloggers, to his UFT borough office. And then we learned.

Eric was a weatherman – on TV – before he was a teacher. He became an earth science teacher. Earth Science Eric. Read here as James Eterno, his UFT Chapter Leader at Jamaica HS, talks about Eric.

Eric wrote about teacher issues. He wrote about teacher financial issues – pension, TDA. He wrote about problem schools, and problem administrators. He wrote about good work the UFT did, and he wrote CONTINUE READING: A NYC Teacher Blogger Fell, 1 Year Ago Today | JD2718

NYC Educator: The School Calendar and Losing 15 Minutes of Fame

NYC Educator: The School Calendar and Losing 15 Minutes of Fame

The School Calendar and Losing 15 Minutes of Fame

During the apocalypse I've gotten repeated calls to appear on the news and give opinions about various situations. It was easy to talk about the botched and delayed school openings, as well as the tone-deaf responses of de Blasio and the Mariachi Chancellor. Lick their fingers, place them in the air, and hope their responses would prove popular. Given their actions were more or less the opposite of leadership, that tended not to work out very well. 

Mostly I've been interviewed speaking of the ridiculous nature of these decisions, along with the fact that they tended not to make sense. I'd been an early admirer of Chancellor Carranza. His calls to end the racism inherent and obvious in the SHSAT were long overdue. He seemed to stand with teachers, coming to meet and speak with us, and literally marching with us during a Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Then, of course, blithering de Blasio demanded all hands on deck for his meandering and inconsistent school plans, and Carranza rejected a petition signed by over 100,000 of us demanding buildings be closed during a raging pandemic. Carranza said we needed 100,000 epidemilogists' signatures in order to receive his consideration. 

Ridiculous. 

Yesterday I got a call from a journalist to interview me for television. We had a Zoom meeting. The school CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: The School Calendar and Losing 15 Minutes of Fame

Please send a letter on the need to lower class size to your State Senator today! and other updates | Class Size Matters

Please send a letter on the need to lower class size to your State Senator today! and other updates | Class Size Matters and other updates | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Please send a letter on the need to lower class size to your State Senator today! and other updates

Please send a letter today to your State Senators by clicking here, urging them to sign onto S.6296, the bill introduced by Sen. Robert Jackson, to update and renew NYC’s commitment to lower class size in all grades – especially now since we’re due to get full Foundation funding from the state. As of today, it’s already signed onto by eight other Senators from both parties– Senators Brad Hoylman, Julia Salazar, Jose Serrano, Brian Benjamin, Andrew Gournades, Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Lanza, and Jessica Ramos! Much thanks to all of them and Robert Jackson for their support.

2. NYC is due to receive more than $8 billion in additional state and federal funds over the next two to three years. We would like your input on how the money should be spent, to help us structure our discussions at our upcoming May 22 Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC. Please take this five-minute survey to rank your priorities.

3. Then, if you have time, read this this wonderful Daily News oped by Regent Kathleen Cashin, about how smaller classes utterly transformed the schools she led in Brooklyn and Queens, when she was a Regional superintendent. And check out my latest Talk out of School podcast with Danny Dromm, former teacher and current head of the City Council Finance committee, who explains why he has made class size reduction a priority to fight for in the city budget for next year.

4. Finally, (and I know I’m asking a lot); it’s my birthday tomorrow and it would be great if you could give to Class Size Matters to mark the occasion. We couldn’t hold our regular annual fundraiser for the last two years because of the pandemic; I really on your support to keep advocating for NYC children and their right to receive a quality education. Please give here if you can afford it.

But remember to send a letter to your State Senator about class size first; it’s free!

thanks so much, Leonie

Please send a letter on the need to lower class size to your State Senator today! and other updates | Class Size Matters and other updates | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Kathleen Cashin: How Schools Should Invest the Biden Windfall | Diane Ravitch's blog

Kathleen Cashin: How Schools Should Invest the Biden Windfall | Diane Ravitch's blog

Kathleen Cashin: How Schools Should Invest the Biden Windfall

Kathleen Cashin has been a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent in New York City in high-needs districts. She is currently a member of the New York State Board of Regents, which sets policy for the state.

In this article, which appeared in the New York Daily News, she explains her hope that school district will use their new money to invest in most successful school reform that works: reduced class size. (Mayor de Blasio, by contrast, says he wants to pour $500 million of the city’s windfall into more testing and tutoring.)

Cashin writes:

In 1999, when I was superintendent of the city’s District 23 in Ocean Hill Brownsville, fourth graders had to take a multi-faceted standardized state test for the first time, which included reading, writing and listening. The first thing I did was to reduce class size as much as possible.

The results were astounding. Not only were there significant gains in test scores the following year, but I noticed a stunning development: Students were able to forge closer relationships with their teachers, and their teachers had their morale lifted because no longer did CONTINUE READING: Kathleen Cashin: How Schools Should Invest the Biden Windfall | Diane Ravitch's blog

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19

John Horton Conway died of COVID-19 on April 11, 2020.

This is two and a half weeks late. I have been looking for something profound to say. I will not find it.

I met Conway in the fall of 2013. I was on sabbatical, trying to take interesting math classes at Queens College. I was happy I found a class in Combinatorics. Logic made sense for me (it turned out to be both challenging and rewarding.) And I needed one more. Someone, probably Kirsten, let me know: “There’s still seats in Number Theory – you have to take Conway” – and I did.

Conway had retired, but I think Kent Boklan brought him out of retirement to teach at Queens College. They were part of the same mathematical genealogy, going back to Davenport and Littlewood. That was good fortune for me, for all of us. Conway’s stroke interfered with his mobility, not his mind, and he clearly enjoyed engaging with students.

Conway was the most famous living mathematician. Maybe. Probably. The Number Theory was fun. But the stories were wonderful. He knew. personally, the guys (almost all men) that we read about. He told CONTINUE READING: A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

Will NYC Create a Thoughtful and Effective Plan for the Billions of Education Dollars or Waste on Mindless Testing and Remediation? | Ed In The Apple

Will NYC Create a Thoughtful and Effective Plan for the Billions of Education Dollars or Waste on Mindless Testing and Remediation? | Ed In The Apple

Will NYC Create a Thoughtful and Effective Plan for the Billions of Education Dollars or Waste on Mindless Testing and Remediation?

I was biking up Third Avenue in May, no cars as far as I could see, New York City was a ghost town. The pandemic was rampant, subways and buses empty, the cities revenue stream had ended …. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months.

Would the city go bankrupt?  (Read here)

Were we facing another 1975?  Widespread teacher layoffs? (Read here)

Candidate Biden becomes President Biden, the assault on the Congress fails and the Biden Rescue Plan becomes law.

Half of New York City is vaccinated and the number of vaccinated New Yorkers continues to grow.

The New York State legislature passes a budget that fully funds education, the fight over Foundation Aid is over.

Mayor de Blasio releases his Executive Budget, which he calls his Recovery Budget – worthwhile watching here.  The City Council has to approve the budget, the Council and the Mayor will negotiate and likely approve by mid-June.

The NYS Education Department has to submit a plan specifying how the Rescue Plan dollars will be utilized in the state. The Plan is due June 7th, see the Fact CONTINUE READING: Will NYC Create a Thoughtful and Effective Plan for the Billions of Education Dollars or Waste on Mindless Testing and Remediation? | Ed In The Apple