Here will go again. Another clueless person who knows very little about the education budget decided it would be better to blame the victim (teachers) for the misguided and discriminatory Tweed policies that waste billions of dollars.In today's New York Daily News there was an opinion piece from the research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, Charles Brecher, who claimed that if the ATRs and reassigned teachers were suspended without pay the City would save 200 million dollars in the budget. This is another case of a clueless person who does not or chooses not to understand how the DOE operates.
Does Mr. Brecher subscribe to age discrimination since the majority of ATRs and reassigned teachers are over 50 years of age? Maybe Mr. Brecher believes that it is acceptable that over 30% of the DOE budget goes to non-classroom activities? Did Mr. Brecger look at the waste of money in the bloated central bureaucracy or the highly paid consultant services using a no-bid process and hiring of non-educators who provide little if any benefit to the schools? Of course not. How about the countless reorganization schemes (three in the last seven years) the DOE does that not only wastes money but makes the process inefficient as the people must learn their new responsibilities with the latest costly & unnecessary reorganization scheme going on now. What about the ever increasing central bureaucracy of non-educators at Tweed that contribute nothing to the classroom except increasing paperwork for their pet projects and "one size fits all" failed academic models? Of course Mr. Brecher somehow failed to investigate closely and found it easier to blame the victims of Tweed's discriminatory policies the teachers. Ask the ATRs and "rubber room" teachers do they want to teach in the classroom the answer would be a loud yes. Did he ask the teachers about how principals practiced "education on the cheap" by getting rid of highly paid older teachers so they can hire "newbie" teachers? Of course not. Does Mr. Brecher care about the children? I highly doubt it. "Children last" is the policy when it is about saving money.
Shame on Mr. Brecher and his faulty research by blaming the victims and not the aggressors who wastes hundreds of million dollars due to their failed policy and discriminatory activities..
4 comments:
This message should get into the OP ED section also. The Daily News
should print the "other side".
People-New Yorker-should hear about what goes on in their schools.
When my principal told us last month or two about the reorganization,(not even waiting for the end of the school year) I waited for the news to hit the stands and something in the newspaper, tv, something. Nothing. No one but us worker bees knows what is going on. I could not believe it.
Please read the Diane Ravitch article in the Huffington Post regarding the firing of the teachers in Rhode Island entitled 'Let's Just Fire The Teachers". A truly accurate and wonderful article.
I did notice how the UFT was again silent on Mr Brecher's opinon piece.
Why does our union allow this junk go unchallenged?
This pompous blowhard should find himself on the unemployment line. That would be just deserts.
Such an informed man seems to be uninformed about seniority rules within the state civil service.
Fortunately, he will be just another demagogue who will huff and puff and accomplish nothing.
Mr. Brecher is proof that the most plentiful element in the universe is not hydrogen, but outright stupidity.
Angry Nog
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