Sunday, November 02, 2014

Principals Love The Chancellor But For Teachers It Continues To Be A Living Hell.



























The New York Daily News had an article how principals are very satisfied with Chancellor Carmen Farina.  The only negatives are the budgeting process and her failure to eliminate the money sucking and useless "children First Networks" and that's not surprising since she has always been pro Principal.  However, when it comes to the classroom teacher, nothing has changed under the disappointing Chancellor..

Carmen Farina has failed to remove the 300 Bloomberg holdovers from policy making positions and even promoted Kathleen Grimm, known as the grim reaper for her major role in closing many of the large high schools, to Deputy Chancellor.  Since Carmen Farina took over at Chancellor, there has been no change in the classroom environment.  Class sizes have not been reduced and is the highest in the State, unnecessary paperwork has not been eliminated as promised and in many schools, Principals give out a sixth period class to save on teacher salaries. Moreover, the "fair student funding" encourages principals to hire "newbie teachers" while highly experienced teachers languish in the ATR pool.  Finally, she shockingly froze school budgets while DOE central increased their own budget.

Is it any wonder that student academic achievement and the income/racial achievement gap has remained unacceptably flat?  Maybe if Chancellor Carmen Farina significantly reduced class size, supplied more resources to the schools and eliminated the "fair student funding" that forces principals to hire the "cheapest and not the best teachers" and get rid of the bloated accountability and legal departments at the DOE, then just maybe we will see some real student academic progress not the "smoke and mirrors" and fuzzy math that has been the trademark of the Bloomberg DOE and continues with the disappointing Chancellor, Carmen Farina.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the same woman who said she wanted to bring "Joy" back to the classrooms. Quite the opposite!!

ReadyToRetireNow said...

Let's face it...she's 70, collecting 200 grand, her pension and is keeping the seat warm for the next DOEbot after this year. There's no need for her to rock the boat; although, considering she's in a "no lose" position, she could try to ameliorate things for teachers. Ah, just wishful thinking.

Anonymous said...

It is not a living hell for me currently.....and I intend to keep it that way...I could care less what the Chancellor does......as long as I am doing my job and continue to get rated effective...I can't be bothered with other people's problems too much...and I have been through the rubber room gauntlet...

Unknown said...

Anon 3:04. Is that what you teach your students, me first and as long as I'm ok who cares about anyone else?and display no empathy for those is worse situations You've been through the rubber room yet you reek of self centeredness. Your entire blog does nothing to edify or help anyone reading it.

Anonymous said...

and the news becomes worse as Governor Cuomo goes after us all in his 2nd term...

Anonymous said...

There was hope Farina would be different from the 12 years of Bloomy/Klein/Walcott. But,if the senseless non-geographical wasteful CFN networks are still around next September, Tweed stays bloated with non-experienced educational technocrats and there are no challenges to additional charters-then she is really just being a puppet of DeBlasio--who caves into the wishes of Cuomo.

Anonymous said...

Agree with Reggie about Anon 3:04. I would think that your experience would make you more empathetic. If your situation ever changes (hope it doesn't) would you want to hear the words you wrote? Kharma can be a bitch.

Anonymous said...

I wonder who needs such people. Aren’t they a huge waste of time? I didn’t know that you had such a big issue with classrooms. Surely, the has to be certain limit applied, but how can it when there is no such thing as proper funding to fix the situation. Also the unnecessary paperwork (many students are still buying essays online), it kills too much precious time. This time could be spent on more important things for sure.

Anonymous said...

What the ???? The UFT sends out a blast tonight by email about the 94 schools that will be given extra funds to turn around and make progress. The email states these school have 3 years to show improvements otherwise, close down. The email goes on and on and on BUT NOT SURPRISINGLY, does not inform which schools are indeed the 94. What DOPES! Put out an email with vital info but do not show whose on list. ?? HUHH ?? Only the UFT can actually be as dumb to praise such a move by the DOE and scare everyone without providing a list of WHICH FREAKIN SCHOOLS ARE EFFECTED. Nice job (again!)

Anonymous said...

The doe is not about teaching. It's about survival