Ex Chancellor Joel Klein Changes His Tune About Poverty & Education.

Back in the heyday of the Bloomberg administration, Chancellor Joel Klein bragged how New York City was closing the racial achievement gap.  All his controversial policies that included closing schools, reducing the power of Superintendents, the fair student funding formula that resulted in the ATR pool of highly experienced teachers , and the newly empowered principals who hired "newbies" to stretch their reduced budgets, at the expense of their students education.  Of course, the narrowing of the racial achievement gap was a fiction and when the State revised the cut scores in 2010 to their appropriate value, the racial achievement gap actually widened!  The embarrassed Mayor asked for the Chancellor's resignation and Joel Klein was gone by the end of the year.

Before the illusion of the narrowing of the racial achievement gap was exposed nationally, Chancellor Joel Klein stated the following: "That poverty is not destiny" in a 2011 Teach for America conference .  This statement became the rallying cry of the education reform movement who instead blamed ineffective teachers for the poor educational results in high poverty schools.  Now, it seems the ex Chancellor is whistling a different tone.  In a speech at the 25th anniversary of Teach For America, he said the following: " how complicated education reform is and how poverty is definitely a complicating factor".  His entire speech can be found in the Gary Rubinstein blog.

Interestingly, in an exit interview Joel Klein gave the New York Times he claimed his biggest failure was that he was unable to terminate the ATRs that were costing over $100 million dollars annually.  Its good to know that since his departure, Joel Klein has cost the DOE almost $1 billion dollars, just in salary alone, not including other benefits and maybe the De Blasio administration will realize how wasteful the policies of Joel Klein is costing the City money and experience as schools struggle to improve.

To understand my expose of Joel Klein's legacy of lies and failures read this!

The Real Legacy Of Ex Chancellor Joel Klein.

According to Politico, the Columbia University's Double Discovery Center will be giving Ex Chancellor Joel Klein their highest award, the James Shenton Award.  One would think that such an award would be given to only those who made a difference for public education of underprivileged students.  However, the truth is under Chancellor Joel Klein, the income/racial academic income gap actually widened.  His claims of academic excellence was all "smoke and mirrors: and even Mayor Bloomberg canned him when the truth was picked up by the media. Far from being a top educator, Joel Klein did more harm and little good when it came to really serving underprivileged students.

Under Chancellor Joel Klein, class sizes increased, highly experienced teachers were cast aside for clueless "newbies" and school budgets were siphoned to feed the ever growing Central Bureaucracy at the DOE.  Worse, was the destruction of the large neighborhood high schools by dumping "high needs" students into the schools to force them to fail and close  Read the New Yorker article at what Joel Klein did to Jamaica High School.  Moreover, his disrespect for teachers and ignoring community concerns are legendary.    Finally, his support of Charter schools and co-locating them in public schools were both morally and economically wrong for the public school students, especially the disadvantaged.

To remind people of the destructive Klein policies read his legacy Here.

Will There Be An ATR Time Limit In The Next Contract? The Union Says No!

The Independent Budget Office (IBO) came out once again that if there was an ATR time limit the City could save 71 million dollars each year.  This report, on top of the Bloomberg influenced New York Times Editorial asking for an ATR time limit has worried 2,000+ excessed teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, assistant principals and secretaries.  "Is the union going to completely sell us out"?  According to the union leadership the answer is an emphatic no.

First, let me give the reader a brief history of how the ATR pool came about.  The ATR issue goes back to the non-binding"fact finding" by a three arbitrator panel which was the basis of the terrible 2005 contract.  The arbitrators recommended that the seniority transfer system that allowed senior teachers who wanted to leave their school, could bump untenured teachers out of their positions at more desirable schools.  The result was the highly experienced  teachers ended up in the best schools while the poor and minority students in struggling schools experienced an unstable and inexperienced teaching staff.or so that was what the DOE claimed and accepted by the arbitrators.   However, then Chancellor Joel Klein wanted to take it one step further and requested that the provision that required that "all excessed teachers in a district in the license area must be placed before schools could hire teachers outside the Department of Education" should be eliminated.  Shockingly, Randi Weingarten agreed to Joel Klein's request with one provision. That the teachers in excess cannot be terminated and that failure to obtain a position is not grounds for termination.  Joel Klein eagerly agreed to the provision and from the moment the 2005 contract was signed, Joel Klein demonized the ATRs.  The Chancellor told the principals, politicians, the media, and anybody else who would listen that the ATRs are :"bad or failed teachers".  The introduction of the "fair student funding formula", tightening budgets, and teacher salaries as part of a school's budget have brought about the ATR crises we are now in with over 2,000 ATRS without a permanent classroom. That's were we now find the situation at the present time.

Previously, the union has consistently refused to include an ATR time limit in contract negotiations with the Bloomberg Administration.  According to the union leadership, the City offered the union the two 4% raises if the union agrees to a 4 month time limit for the ATRs.  The union has refused and have informed me that an ATR time limit is not a negotiable item in any contract negotiations with the new de Blasio Administration.

Another reason for the union's steadfastness on the ATR time linit is that the other Municipal unions would probably file a lawsuit since it violates New York State Civil Service Law and sets a "slippery slope" for other government organizations to form their own "excessed worker pool" and then set a time limit to ensure their termination.  I spoke to one high union official in a uniformed service who claims that the rest of the Municipal unions warned the UFT that they would pursue legal action if they negotiated a ATR time limit.  How true that is, I don't know but I believe its true.

Can the union change their minds and negotiate an ATR time limit?  Well, anything is possible but I believe the union will not sell out the ATRs and let the DOE impose a time limit.  Instead, I look for the union and the new de Blasio Administration to work out procedures to get ATRs back into the classroom by the 2014-15 school year.

My Response To The Atlantic Magazine's "Puff Piece" With The Ex-Chancellor Joel Klein

I almost vomited after reading the Atlantic Magazine's "Puff Piece" in their interview with ex-Chancellor Joel Klein. He basically spun his accomplishments and the magazine never seemed to question his faulty analysis. For example, he claims that no Principal wants the ATRs without saying that his "Fair Student Funding" fiasco made Principals think twice about hiring experienced teachers and reducing their already shrunken budget. Furthermore, he failed to mention that he engineered the ATR crises in the first place by encouraging principals to hire "newbie teachers" and that Tweed will pay for teachers excessed indefinitely.

Another inaccuracy by Joel Klein was that union-approved Arbitrators refuse to terminate teachers. The reality is all Arbitrators must be approved by both the UFT and the DOE and mere accusations do not mean the charges are true. Evidence is necessary to terminate teachers and if the DOE cannot supply such evidence, the Arbitrators will not terminate the teacher. In Joel Klein's mind any accusation should result in termination. If that was true, many of his subordinates at Tweed should have been terminated and of course they weren't. I guess he had different rules for teachers.

However, the best lies by ex-Chancellor Joel Klein came with the recruitment vs. retention issue. In Mr. Klein's delusional world the best teachers leave the public schools, with their tenure, pension, and retiree health benefits for high functioning Charter schools who have none of these expenses. Really? Almost all Charter school teachers are those "two year wonders" from Teach for America and the few who are not, couldn't get a public school position. Worse yet, even the best of the Charter schools cannot seem to retain teachers who flee to either the public schools or leave the profession entirely. Where the lying ex-Chancellor gets his phony numbers from is beyond me. I need to remind my readers of what the real Joel Klein legacy is Here.

Many of the existing problems in the Public Schools were the handiwork of Joel Klein and his cronies who had eight years to double the DOE Administrative bloat, reduce funding to the schools, and cause havoc that put us in the mess the schools find themselves in presently.

A Teacher’s Perspective On The Real Legacy Of Joel Klein During His Destructive Tenure As Chancellor Of The New York City Schools

I was watching the local FOX affiliate and almost gagged hearing their praise of Joel Klein as Chancellor of the New York City Schools. They heaped praise over the improved test scores, graduation rates, and student achievement. Further, they stated that under Joel Klein we saw more teacher accountability, the elimination of the “rubber rooms” where teachers stayed for years doing nothing at full pay, and the rise of Charter schools. I think it is time to take a closer look at what Chancellor Joel Klein has actually accomplished in his eight year tenure as Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools.

Student Test Scores: Despite the propaganda from the Bloomberg/Klein Administration and their media mouthpieces, , student test scores have remained relatively flat throughout their tenure (see the NAEP results) and the income/racial achievement gap actually widened in some cases. “Dumbing down” State tests only showed the constant test preparation did not result in real academic achievement and that was evident in the 2010 New York state test results.

Graduation Rates: One of the most abused statistics that Joel Klein takes credit for. During his tenure Tweed has found many methods to artificially raise graduation rates. Starting with “credit recovery”, online courses, Principals changing grades, manipulation of dropout rates, and even foreign credits. No questionable methods were rejected, no matter how outrageous, if it resulted in artificially higher graduation rates without increased student academic achievement.

Teacher Disrespect: Under Joel Klein’s leadership, teacher disrespect was at an all time high. Paperwork in the classroom increased threefold during his tenure and a “one program fits all “approach took away teacher independence and individuality, especially in the elementary schools where incompetence allegations rose dramatically. Moreover, in Joel Klein’s inner circle of eighteen there was only one educator and who had direct access to him and her program was one of the few cut at Tweed. Furthermore, it was under Joel Klein that there was an increase in reassigned teachers from less than 100 to over 800, (not including hundreds of others reassigned in their schools because of lack of space in the TRCs) resulting in overcrowded “rubber rooms” until the Mayor finally put an end to this embarrassment by negotiating an agreement with the union over the objections of the DOE and Joel Klein, to end the “rubber rooms”. However, the DOE appears to have the last laugh as Tweed has reneged on some of the sections of the Agreement. Finally, the Chancellor practiced “a top down approach” that excluded school based personnel from any real decision-making ability that affects the schools.

Exclusion Of Parents: One of the hallmarks of Joel Klein’s tenure as Chancellor was his exclusion of any community and parent input in education policy. Parent complaints were ignored by Tweed and the only time parent complaints’ were taken seriously was when it was against a teacher. Joel Klein’s disregard of parents was legendary and time and again when parents stood up for their schools or complained about a Principal or ill designed education intuitive, Tweed just either ignored them or dismissed their legitimate complaints. Under Joel Klein, the DOE turned a deaf ear when parents would show up at PEP meeting to complain about various injustices. In fact, Joel Klein used to play with his blackberry while the parents aired their grievances and seemed unconcerned about their issues. Sometimes he even left the room as parents poured their collective hearts out to him to reverse school closings that the courts eventually stopped.As for his claim of "children first", it was really a shame. When a student e-mailed him for help, he just brushed her off and you can read this disgusting saga Here.

Rising Class Sizes: During Joel Klein’s tenure as Chancellor the CFE won a lawsuit mandating that the State set aside funds to reduce class size. The Chancellor, rather than following the law, used the CFE money to reduce class size apparently cut a deal with the State to divert the CFE money to other undefined purposes. The result has been raising class sizes over the last three years, in violation of the CFE lawsuit.

ATR Crises: The travesty of having between 1,700 and 2,400 teachers without a classroom is entirely the creation of Joel Klein who let principals hire who they pleased and resulted in the DOE wasting $160,000 million dollars yearly, not including benefits,. It was only the recession that forced the Mayor to tell the Chancellor to place the ATRs in vacant positions as he imposed a hiring freeze in most subject areas. However, as more schools close, more teachers will become ATRs unless the new Chancellor changes the rules once again.

School Funding Fiasco: Under Joel Klein Tweed imposed the “fair student funding” formula that hamstrung principals from hiring experienced teachers without taking a hit to their budget. The original iteration of the “fair student funding” formula had a hold harmless provision that did not penalize schools that had a majority of high salaried, experienced teachers. However, in the present version principals are encouraged to hired inexperienced teachers just so that they can meet the ever shrinking budget imposed on the schools by Tweed. The result is less experienced teachers in the classroom and collateral damage to the children.

Lack Of Transparency In Funding: How many times have people complained on the lack of transparency on who gets cut and who does not. Even in this recession, under Joel Klein’s tenure the headcount at Tweed just keeps going up and only the education based instruction group has showed significant reductions. Moreover, Tweed plays with headcounts by falsely claiming they are reducing the Central Bureaucracy when it is really direct support services and Regional/District school support offices that are being cut. Furthermore, Tweed has misspent money that was to go to needy schools and students to fill a budget gap and tried to hide it.

Arrogance At The Top: Joel Klein’s popularity rating was an all-time low of 30% with the general public and was not welcomed in Albany or at the City Council where he routinely ignored their requests for information only to claim that they are anti-education when they questioned his demands for additional funds or authorization for his friend’s pet projects that had questionable educational impact on the schools. He long ago lost the respect of parents, politicians, and teachers due to his arrogance and autocratic rule.

Consultant Services And No-Bid Contracts: Another legacy of Joel Klein is the many no-bid contracts that he rammed through the PEP and the questionable hiring practices at Tweed. Do you remember this? Even during this recession, business as usual is still going on at Tweed. Accountability is only for the schools and not for Tweed.

Charter/small school favoritism: Joel Klein turned a blind eye to the lack of special education and English language learners being in the Charter/small schools and his staff at first denained such shenanigans were going on only to admit it was and then ignoring the issue. His love letters to “Eva Moskowitz” tells all about how he feels about Charter Schools and the uneven playing field the neighborhood schools in competing with them.

The legacy of Chancellor Joel Klein's academic accomplishments can be best summed up as all "smoke and mirrors"with little, if any, real student academic achievement and his "top down approach" showed it was never what was best for the children but was best for him and his non-educator friends at Tweed. Hence his identification with the “children last” and “education on the cheap” policies.

To Joel Klein “goodbye and good riddance don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out”.

Oh What A Wonderful Day, Chancellor Joel Klein Finally Resigns.

Finally, the day almost every classroom teacher has been waiting for, Chancellor Joel Klein has resigned. Oh happy day. Gone is his anti-teacher rhetoric, pro Charter school policies, and the top-down management that resulted in little or no student academic achievement during his eight year tenure.

Already, Mayor Bloomberg has appointed another non-educator for
Chancellor and that brings up the possibility that Joel Klein was forced out after his claims of academic improvement was found to be all "smoke & mirrors" once the State's 2010 scores were released. Moreover, his resistance to closing the "rubber rooms" which has caused considerable embarrassment to the Bloomberg Administration resulted in the City overruling the DOE and negotiated a deal with the UFT. Finally, Joel Klein's low popularity numbers with the public and his relationship with both the State Legislature and the City Council was antagonistic and many of the City's education proposals were ignored or rejected because of their dislike of Chancellor Klein.

Well, Michael Mulgrew this is the time to demand that the Chancellor be an educator, Haven't we seen enough damage when non-educators run the City schools? How about some real guts and not just weak rhetoric. We will be watching closely how the union leadership reacts to this one-shot opportunity to make sure an educator is returned to head the schools. We will be watching very closely.

Why Chancellor Joel Klein Deserves A Grade Of “F” When We Look At His Value-Added Grade.

In the uproar of the phony value-added grades for teachers that Chancellor Klein wants to publish, despite an agreement with the union that the scores would not be released and only be used to determine their applicability in the real world. It is only fair to rate our Chancellor on his value-added grade by his accomplishments or lack thereof of the students and staff.

Student Academic Achievement:

The latest numbers show that under Chancellor Joel Klein’s failed stewardship, the 2010 grades dropped and are no better then when he first took the Chancellor’s position in 2002. If we were to use the value-added formula on Joel Klein for the 2010 results, it would show that he is truly incompetent in raising student test scores. In fact, the passing rate dropped dramatically!

The Racial/Income Academic Achievement Gap:

The Chancellor, despite his false claims, has failed to narrow the racial/income achievement gap on his watch. According to the New York Daily News, the racial/income academic achievement gap has actually widened.

Class Size:

Despite State mandated funds to reduce class size under the CFE lawsuit settlement, class sizes have actually risen over the past two years and the Chancellor has threatened that even higher class sizes may loom in the future as more teachers leave the system and not be replaced. Thew Chancellor has failed to live up to the agreement to reduce class size.

Failure To Negotiate A Past Due Contract:

The teachers are now in their second year without a contract and Chancellor Klein appears uninterested to give a contract without major and unacceptable “givebacks”. Just look at his cockamamie contract proposal he send to the news media. Bad faith negotiations has always been the hallmark of the Joel Klein Administration and nothing changed as we are into the next school year. Here again, Joel Klein has failed to provide a proper contract proposal to the teachers.

Teacher Disrespect:

Another legacy of the Joel Klein Administration is the continued disrespect for teachers in the system. In Tweed’s top down approach, teacher input is not solicited or wanted and in his constant reorganization schemes that just cause chaos, and inefficiency, very few educators occupy the top positions at Tweed. It is believed that of the top people around the Chancellor, only one is an educator. The Chancellor fails to ask the teachers in the trenches what actually works in the classroom.

Budget Allocations:

The schools have suffered disproportionate budget cuts while Tweed see’s little or no reductions (in some cases increases in certain non-education offices). Because of the lack of transparency some of the so-called budget cuts from the central bureaucracy are really from regional offices who supply direct school support and services. The Chancellor has failed to show accountability and transparency to the budgeting process. The question is how many of Tweed's pet consultant programs are being cut?

Closing Schools:

The Chancellor failed to follow directions on how to close “failing schools” and his decision was overturned by the courts. The Chancellor’s incompetence in following directions has resulted in uncertainty and ridicule to his poor decision making prowess.

Lack Of Community/Parent Input In School Policies:

The Chancellor has, time and again, failed to involve parents and the community in decisions that affect them. Part of the DOE losing the lawsuit in closing schools was lack of community outreach and parental input.

In conclusion, I find that based upon the above factors that under the value-added method, Joel Klein is found lacking in academic improvement of the students under him and deemed incompetent and gets a failing grade of “F”. It looks like it'sis “PIP+” and eventual termination for the Chancellor.

Chancellor Joel Klein Refuses To Face The Truth. All His Efforts To Narrow The Racial & Income Achievement Gap Has Failed.

Chancellor Joel Klein is simply amazing. Despite what the facts are he manages to spin them to show how well he and the mayorlife, Michael Bloomberg have improved education in the New York City Public Schools. What a joke and a lie to boot. Now despite all the data coming out of the 2010 tests the Chancellor falsely claims that that he has made progress. Progress? according to the Daily News the income achievement gap actually widened! Who is lying to who? Maybe we should be calling Joel Klein the lying Chancellor.

Even after the State data showed that New York City failed in closing the academic achievement gap and the DOE claims being universally panned by education critics and supporters alike, the lying Chancellor wrote an article for the New York Post that was addressed to parents about how they have raised the academic standards and closed the achievement gap. Unbelievable! Of course he really cannot use the New York State or Federal data to show proof of his claims but he does not care. As Joseph Goebbels stated "If you tell a big lie often enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it". When the data does not support your case either ignore it or blame it on others. Remember, it was back in March of 2009 when the lying Chancellor said this:

he New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein who introduced the findings at the National Press Club in Washington, said the study vindicated the idea that the root cause of test-score disparities was not poverty or family circumstances, but subpar teachers and principals.

Yes, he blamed it on the teachers and principals not on his failed education policy. The New York Times included the Chancellor's statement in their write up of the McKinsey & Company report. I previously wrote about this before here. Well, as far as I am concerned, the Bloomberg/Klein education policy is a failure and no matter how much spinning of statistics and lying comes out of the two non-educators, the bottom line is the lying Chancellor deserves a failing grade on his report card. Furthermore, evidence in his failure to close the achievement gap is shown in the latest composite ACT data, published by Anna Phillips of Gotham News which show that the increase in ACT scores came primarily from White and Asian students while Black and Hispanic students showed little change since 2005. In fact, Black and Hispanic students failed the college-readiness benchmarks in all four academic areas that serve to determine whether a student needs remedial college courses. This is the same as in 2005 and shows no progress at all. In all fairness I must add that my fellow blogger JD2718 rightly questioned the student sample of the composite ACT test and the conclusions based on that sample for New York City students and is a must read here. However, this article is about the achievement gap and not about testing protocols. Therefore, the composite ACT test still is valid for this purpose and shows the large achievement gap and even demostrates a widening of it in the last five years.

Since the New York State RTTT requires evaluations based upon student testing, then based upon the terrible 2010 results, the Chancellor's report card is a "F" and he should be rated "ineffective".

Even The General Publc Dislikes Chancellor Joel Klein

The latest Quinniapiac Poll has shown that Chancellor Joel Klein's approval ratings from the general public has plummeted to an all time low of 30%. Even the public realize that Joel Klein and his not-so-merry band of non-educators that surround him at Tweed are not good for the education of their public school children. If passing is 65% then our angry Chancellor should be given a well deserved grade of "F". Despite the ever continuing propaganda coming out of Tweed and their mouthpieces at the New York Daily News and New York Post, the general public just sees from their own children the inequities and favoritism that Tweed practices when it comes to charter schools vs. the public schools.

Even many of the school-based administrators (principals & assistant principals) have grumbled about how clueless Tweed is in running the school system. In one case they give the principals more authority to run their schools and then cut their budget as Tweed increases their own headcount of non-educators (8 Deputy Chancellors at $192,000 for a total of 1.5 million dollars just an example of the increase) at the expense of the classroom. As for the teachers, except for this group here, I suspect that Chancellor Joel Klein would be in the low single digits when it comes to approving his job performance. Why is the Chancellor almost universally disliked? I would like to say that our union did a magnificent job in demonizing the angry Chancellor. However, our union has been pretty much inept and only now is trying to ramp up opposition to Tweed through the media. No! The real reason is the misguided policies by the Chancellor, be it school closings, charter schools, budget priorities, and the increase in test preparation at the expense of a total education are a large part of the problem.

It is about time that people realize that Chancellor Joel Klein and his group of non-educators are the problem and not the solution for the New York City Public Schools as Tweed continues their "children last" and "education on the cheap" policies.

Michael Mulgrew Got It Wrong When He Called Chancellor Joel Klein "Numbnuts". What Chancellor Joel Klein Really Is, Is Evil

Michael Mulgrew, the President of the UFT has allegedly called Chancellor Joel Klein "numbnuts" at a union meeting last month. "Numbnuts" is defined as "a person of severely limited intellectual prowess'. While I would like to believe our Chancellor is stupid, the reality is much different. Chancellor Joel Klein is not stupid but just evil when it comes to the experienced classroom teacher and the students they educate. Under his eight year destructive leadership we have seen clueless non-educators run the DOE and who are responsible for closing 91 schools to be replaced by Charter or small schools. Klein's disciples have caused the following problems. The creation of the ATR crises, the almost sevenfold increase and overcrowding of the "rubber rooms", the "fair student funding" fiasco, a threefold increase in unnecessary paperwork, "Leadership Academy Principals" with little or no classroom experience, The increase of headcount at Tweed at the expense of the rest of the education system, and worst of all flat scores on the NAEP's and the SATs.

Now the evil Chancellor wants to go after seniority, tenure, and have disposable teachers who leave the system before being vested for a pension or retiree health benefits. Furthermore, he would like to see more Charter schools at the expense of the neighborhood schools and does not want the Charter Schools to have to take students that are English Language Learners or have disabilities. The more "at risk" children going to the neighborhood school, the better the phony comparison between the neighborhood school and the Charter school that "cherry picks" their students. He also wants the Charters to be located in existing schools and take scares funding from the public school system. It is like having the "fox in the hen house" as Chancellor Klein and his non-educators devise ways to hurt the public school classroom.

"Numbnuts"! I wish this was true for Chancellor Joel Klein. Unfortunately, for the New York City teaching profession and the students they educate, Joel Klein and his awful policies are just plain evil.

The Board Of Education Must Seize The Opportunity To Terminate Chancellor Joel Klein While They Can

With the temporary ending of mayoral control the Borough Presidents and their representatives must seize the opportunity and terminate Chancellor Joel Klein and save the New York City Public Schools. This window of opportunity will be gone by the next school year and terminating the despised Chancellor sends the Mayor a very important message that Tweed's anti-teacher culture and "children last" programs must change.

While it is true that mayoral control, with some modifications, will be given back to Mayor Bloomberg, it is very important that the politicians let everybody know that having a non-educator as Chancellor has hurt the New York City Public School students and staff and has resulted in the wasting of millions of dollars that could have been given to the schools. The only way the Mayor will understand that is if the new Board Of Education terminates the Chancellor while it has the power to do so.

Under Chancellor Klein's leadership we have found that the two national baseline tests, the NAEP and the SAT has shown no significant academic improvement. In fact the SAT scores have slightly declined since the beginning of Joel Klein's tenure. Furthermore, the "credit recovery system", the dropout rates, and the granting of full credit for both semesters when passing the last semester also adds to the lack of credibility of the alleged improved high school graduation rates. A Daily News article by Marc Epstein shows what happens in Jamaica High School on how they used "smoke and mirrors" to improve his school's graduation rate.

It is under Chancellor Klein that has seen the DOE program of "education on the cheap" as he starves schools for funds, encourages Principals to hire "newbie teachers" and applauds Principals who remove teachers at their pleasure while picking up the removed teacher's salary after sixty days instead of one year. The result is 800 teachers have been removed from the classroom and another 1700+ have become ATRs, many of them senior teachers.

Under Joel Klein's regime, the classroom has not seen any significant class size reductions despite the State giving additional funds for this purpose. There, has been a corresponding increase in teacher paperwork and a lowering of teacher morale as student discipline codes are ignored by administrators and a mere student accusation can get the teacher removed from the classroom. The neighborhood schools are being attacked by an influx of Tweed inspired small and charter schools that leave the most needy of students behind and try to steal the cream of the crop from the neighborhood schools. For the large traditional high schools that are not being dismantled, the DOE continues to push more and more students into those schools. Arthur Goldstein of Francis Lewis High School stated it best when he said.

" My high school was built to hold 1,800 but enrolls 4,450 students. My kids sit in a crumbling trailer, with no technology and often no heat in the winter. So much for efficiency".

Finally, the use of no-bid contracts that are hidden from public view and lack of transparency in Tweed's decision making does not allow for parent, student, or teacher input into the education process, The result is that Tweed uses the failed "top down approach" while receiving little input from the schools. This results in a "one-size-fits-all" teaching model that does not work for many of the most challenged students and puts teachers at risk for incompetence charges.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, where are you when we need you to terminate the Chancellor?


Update: the Board Of Education wimped out and voted to retain Joel Klein as Chancellor. Too bad they did not have the "guts" to do the right thing for the New York City Public Schools.