To Be An Effective Teacher You Need The Proper Resources, Administrative Support, And Most Of All, An Enforceable Student Discipline Policy.

I keep hearing the Emperor, Michael Bloomberg, and his poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott claim that they want "effective teachers" in the classroom.  However for a teacher to be "effective" the teacher must have the necessary tools to achieve that designation and that is the problem.  What the Bloomberg Administration fails to do to is to provide the tools to make a teacher "effective",  The City fails to provide resources and support to help the classroom teacher to become a quality teacher.  Even the usually Mayor friendly New Teacher Project identified the many failures of the Mayor's education policy in the New York City Public Schools.  According to the TNTP report the following problems were found and need to be addressed.

• Poor retention rates with 15% leaving yearly considered " effective or highly effective".
• Poor working conditions that result in a  low 50% retention rate within five years of teaching.
• Poor school cultures.
• Lack of Administrative support, especially principal leadership issues.
• Lack of resources.

Mind you, this report is by a pro-reform group and even they could not ignore the failures that the Bloomberg Administration has brought on to the New York City Public School students.  The report could, and should have added the following problems that hurt student academic achievement and they are,

• Increasing class size
• Lack of an enforceable student discipline code.
• poor teacher morale.
• lack of respect for teachers by the Bloomberg Administration.

Of all the problems listed above I find that the failure of the DOE and school Administration to enforce the student discipline code is the most serious obstacle for effective classroom teaching. When students realize that the Administration will not back up the teacher, the teacher is then handicapped and it is unreasonable to believe that a teacher in a low preforming school with high poverty rates and large percentages of Special Education and English Language Learners would be able to achieve high test scores without these children getting extensive wraparound services and a zero-tolerance discipline policy.

Teachers who work with the academically-challenged population must have not only Administrative support but his or her student's family must receive professional assistance and the student should have after-school programs and services to  help them academically as well as behaviorally.  Presently, the City does not offer adequate wraparound services to these children, instead it it easier for the Mayor and Chancellor to blame teachers for the student's failure to behave and succed academically rather then provide the necessary wraparound services for student academic achievement.

The best method to improve student academic achievement is to enforce student discipline and get these disruptive students the help they and their family needs so that the teacher can become the "effective teacher"  that the Mayor and Chancellor claim they want/  All other strategies fall behind the most important factor and that is a peaceful classroom where students can learn without disruptions from a behaviorally-challenged student.

Why Doesn't The DOE Punish Principals Who Hide Their Vacancies? Because They Do Not Care To.

The actions by Principal Ann Chester at Fort Hamilton High School has spotlighted that many principals  refuse to hire ATRs for their vacancies, not because the principals believe that the ATRs are lousy teachers but because the school would need to pick up their salaries.  Instead, the principals will hide the vacancies and pick up long-term substitute teachers who will cost the schools one third the salary of an ATR and do not have tenure.    Since the DOE has shown little interest in going after the principals who violate the ATR Agreement with the union, the practice is widespread and has resulted in far more ATRs than there should be.

Gotham Schools wrote a great article about how Principal Ann Chester circumvented the rules and underpaid many substitute teachers to save money.  Of course, that also meant that no ATRs needed to apply for the vacancies since the Principal falsely claimed that they were covered.  In the Gotham Schools article an anomoynous Principal said the following.

It is not uncommon for school leaders to skirt the hiring rules from time to time to ease in favored candidates, according to the principal of another large high school. But the principal said the skirting usually happens only in very limited circumstances, such as when the school wants to hold on to an excellent student teacher for a year until a position opens up. Informed that Chester might have hired at least 14 teachers in this manner, the principal expressed shock, saying, “Everybody does it, but nobody has done it to this degree.”

 Of course, Anne Chester is still Principal of Fort Hamilton High School as the SCI Investigation is just about finished and since the DOE has failed to take any real action against her, look for other principals to thumb their collective noses at the DOE and refuse to hire ATRs to cover their vacancies to save a few coins.  

"Children last"....Always.

The DOE Claims "Children First"...Always. However, The Truth Is Otherwise. Just Ask The Students At Jamaica High School.

The DOE has a slogan that claims "children first"...Always, except it is not true.  The DOE is much more interested in their own pseudo-reform policies that waste millions of dollars on useless technology, high-priced consultants, and Administrative bloat.  When it comes to real improvements in classroom resources that directly affected the children, the DOE pleads poverty and blames school Administrators and staff for the lack of proper materials that are necessary to educate the students.

 A case in point is Jamaica High School that was starved for resources and complaints were made to the State Department of Education (SED) about the effects of lack of resources on the students at the school.  To the shock of most everybody, the SED, presented with the overwhelming evidence by Chapter Leader James Eterno and State Senator Tony Avella, wrote a damming report summerizing how the DOE hurt the students of Jamaica High School by starving them of resources, truncating their course selections, and worst of all, had non-certified teachers teaching Special Education students! In summary, here is what the State found.

 · No honors or advance placement classes are offered to students
· The school no longer offers calculus, chemistry, or physics
· Only three electives are offered to students
· Off –track classes are no longer available
· Students are not offered SAT prep courses
· Students are not able to complete specialty programs such as Business, Computer Science,
Engineering and Finance Institutes or Art Institutes
· Two teachers are not certified in the subject area they are teaching

  The entire report can be found here.

 Interestingly, the major media mouthpieces of the media, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and the New York Times bothered to report it.  Only NY1 ran with the report and can be found here.

The ICEUFT blog has been writing about the Jamaica High School situation and is a must read for the history of the DOE's attempts to destroy a once great school.

New York State Education Department Finally Agrees That The NYC DOE School Selection Policy Puts Low-Performing Students In Selected Large Comprehensive Schools.

Over the years educational critics have complained that the DOE's school selection policy that put high needs and low-performing students (Special Education, English Language Learners, Behavioral, and Attendance issues) into the few, selected large comprehensive schools while allowing the small Bloomberg created schools to exclude them. From the time of Chancellor Joel Klein to the present the DOE would boldly deny that their school selection program was biased.  Now the DOE has reluctantly admitted that their school selection program was discriminatory, after the State Department of Education Commissioner John King sent a letter to Chancellor Dennis Walcott complaining about the DOE's school selection policy..  The Chancellor committed to change the system by October  2012.

In all cases the DOE's school selection process forced selected large comprehensive schools to increase their number of high needs students.  Now that the State SED has told the DOE to change the school selection process, the DOE has informed the State that it will changed it for the 2013-14 school year. 
All I can say is "seeing is believing".

There Is No Excuse Mayor Bloomberg And Chancellor Walcott For Your Failure To Narrow The Racial Achievement Gap. Instead It Actually Widened!

With the release of the 2012 test scores for the elementary and middle schools the data shows that the student  racial achievement gap has widened since 2006.  As Mayor Bloomberg's ed deformer friends would say, there are no excuses for the widening of the racial achievement gap if his educational policies were working.  Therefore, the Mayor and Chancellor must take the blame and the "accountability" for their failure to narrow the racial student achievement gap between whites and minorities.  

In 2006 the ELA racial achievement gap between Blacks and Whites was 30.5% which has widened to 32.1% in the latest 2012 results.  The differences between Hispanics and Whites in 2006 was 30.7% and widened to 33.1% in 2012.  The racial achievement gap also widened between Blacks and Whites for Math.  In 2006 the racial achievement gap was 29.4% and in the 2012 results widened to 31.6%.  One bit of good news is that the achievement gap between Hispanics and Whites actually narrowed a little..  The entire report can be found on the DOE website.

Malsie McAdoo has taken apart the entire report and her conclusions, which I share, show that the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott reforms have been a failure and even the miniscule rises in the school report are questionable.  Her analysis is in Edwize and can be found here.

To read and hear the Mayor's press releases, one would think that the schools were improving.  However, these statements are higher distorted truths and downright lies.  In other words the Mayor's claim of significant improvement of student academic achievement is a "bunch of crap" The bottom line is that the local news media must hold the Mayor and Chancellor "accountable" for the widening racial student achievement gap and question the failed policies of this Administration that has put their political motives first and the "NYC public school children last.

The Bogus 18D Interview Process And Why Did The UFT Even Participate In This Travesty?

As you all know for 24 "turnaround schools", teachers were forced to reapply for their jobs and in almost all cases the results were very predictable.  The most senior, lead teachers were retained and many of the untenured etchers were as well.  Moreover, the younger and less expensive you were, the better the chances that you would be rehired by the new school. What was laughable was the union's participation in this travesty and how they claimed, very unconvincingly, that all the teachers had an equal chance to be rehired.  According to the union, the teachers who had the most effective interviews would be rehired and not on anything else.  Yeah right, and I have a Bridge in Brooklyn to sell you if you really believe it is true..

To prove my case, I bring you a young, female, and untenured foreign language teacher who told her colleagues, while crying,  that she froze in her18D interview.  According to the teachers in her Department she couldn't answer even the simplest question and her fifteen minute interview took over 35 minutes to complete as the 18D committee had to ask her time and again the same questions and gently push her to say something.  After gently trying to prod her for answers, the 18D committee finally gave up and thanked her for coming in.   On the other hand, I decided to interview for a position and was well-prepared for the interview.  I answered all their questions clearly and concisely and even did an impressive simple science demonstration.  In other words  I "aced the interview"  and left the room after my allotted fifteen minutes.

Who did you think received a job offer?   The frozen in fear female foreign language teacher where there are many ATRs and outside language teachers available or me in a hard to fill "Earth Science" position with little competition?  You guessed it, the former.  Of course what I forgot to tell you is that she is in her 20s and I am in my 60s and I make $40,000 more than her.  Get the message?

To be fair, I never intended to come back to the school and the only reason I interviewed was to experience the 18D committee process first hand and to prepare a portfolio since it seems that all schools want teachers to present a portfolio..  Had they unexpectedly hired me, I would have declined the invitation as the school is overcrowded with  real discipline problems that made me uncomfortable and frustrated as a teacher.  In fact one of my CTT classes was short a teacher and nobody seemed to care.  Seriously, I rather be an ATR than land a position in the school where there are few deans, students are allowed to show up as they pleased and all the "accountability " is placed on the teacher and not anybody else.

The Principal of the school was just arrested for possession of "crystal Meth" by the police near the school and his  future is uncertain. However, unlike teachers, I do not see the Principal being terminated by the DOE under Section 3020-a but be quietly given an office job in a network like all the other problem principals until the fuss dies down and he reappears as a new Principal in another  unfortunate school.  The double standard that applies to disciplining principals is alive and well.

I Nominate Mayor Bloomberg & Chancellor Walcott For The Knucklehead Award As They Lose $58 Million Dollars In Their Ill-Conceived Turnaround Policy.

I have nominated Mayor Bloomberg & Chancellor Walcott for the "knucklehead award" for their risky and ill-conceived  "turnaround policy" that was thrown out by the Arbitrator.  The "turnaround policy" was a result of the Mayor having a temper tantrum when he failed to get his way on the  appeal process and stopped negotiating with the teachers' union.  In fact the Chancellor unwisely ordered the DOE negotiators to cease negotiating with the teacher union on the teacher evaluation system that resulted in the impasse we have presently..

It was at this point that the Mayor and Chancellor decided to follow through with the "turnaround policy", despite deep reservations from many education observers had about the strategy. including the State.  These education experts questioned the City's version and the many adjustments to the federal requirements that are required for a school to qualify for "turnaround". However, the Mayor and Chancellor refused to listen to these education officials and selected 33 schools for the City version of "turnaround".  Interestingly some of the worst schools were spared "turnaround" because of political reasons an example was Boys and; Girls high school which is one of the worst schools in the NYC system and was given an "F" on the DOE's report card.

The union took the City to court and to Arbitration and in Arbitrator ruled that the City's "turnaround policy" was simply a method to get around collective bargaining rights and get rid of unwanted staff.  In fact the Arbitrator used the Mayor's own words against him as the basis for his decision.  Now the City had to tell the new principals that they must rehire the teachers they wanted to get rid of.  If morale was bad before what will it be for the 2012-13 school year where teachers will be looking over their shoulders waiting for the Principal to "U" rate them.  I foresee chaos at these schools and all because of the ill-conceived and vindictive policy by a Mayor who did not get his way.

For the Mayor and Chancellor it is "children last"....always. as they lost $58 million dollars and put the 24 schools into utter chaos and that is why they are worthy nominees of the ":knucklehead award".

The Christine Rubino Facebook Decision And Why The Arbitrator's Award Is Excessive.

As many of my followers know, Christine Rubino's case has made the newspapers.  She was charged by the DOE for her Facebook comments that, were to say the least, ill considered and wrong.  However, this was Christine's private Facebook page and only her friends should have been able to see it.  Unfortunately, for Christine she had a falling out with one of her teacher friends who ratted her out to the Principal.   Despite the DOE having no policy on social media at the time and no students were hurt by what she said on Facebook, Christine was charged under section 3020-a anyway. In fact, she continued teaching until her 3020-a charges more than five months later!

She was assigned an Arbitrator, Randi Lowett, who people in the 3020-a hearing process believed was reasonably even-handed in her "awards".  However, according to Betsy Combier in Christine's open and public 3020-a hearing, this one was different.  The DOE seemed especially interested in terminating Christine for her Facebook comments and in many of the sessions the head of the "Administrative Trials Unit (ATU), Teresa Europe, showed up.  According to Betsy Combier who has been in many 3020-a hearings, this was a rare event to see the head of the ATU show up on more than one occasion.   The question must be asked did Teresa Europe showing up at Christine's 3020-a hearing influenced Arbitrator Randi Lovett's decision?  Furthermore, since Christine had fired her NYSUT lawyer, did this make it easier for the Arbitrator to terminate Christine?  I do not know the answers but I have my own suspicions.  The Arbitrator's original decision can be found here.

Based upon the Arbitrator's decision to terminate Christine Rubino for her Facebook comments it would seem that the "award" was excessive and Christine rightly appealed the case under section 75-11. The Supreme Court Judge, Barbara Jaffae, ruled that the "award"  was shocking to the conscious" and sent it back to Arbitrator Randi Lovett, for a less severe "award".  In the meantime the DOE has appealed the Judge's decision to the Appellate Court and since they were required to follow the Judge's decision for a lesser "award", the DOE arbitrarily asked that the Arbitrator rule that a two-year suspension would be appropriate.  This type of severe penalty has not been "awarded" since the turn of the century to any one's knowledge.  Either the educator gets a one year suspension or is terminated.  The last two year suspension issued by a NYS Arbitrator is in the 1990's and that was based upon more serious charges.

Shockingly, but not surprisingly, the Arbitrator Randi Lowett agreed with the DOE and issued a two year suspension without pay or health benefits in what reads as a very angry decision.  Christine is appealing again against the excessive "award" issued by the Arbitrator and  hopefully, the Judge will once again send it back to a different Arbitrator, this time, for a decision that does not "shock the conscious".

I really know how Cristine feels about her persecution by the DOE.  I spent 1567 days in the "rubber room" on false and frivolous charges and even this year the Mayor's poodle, the Chancellor, Dennis Walcott proclaimed me guilty even after the real evidence showed otherwise. Read the following blogs for more information on the DOE's crusade against Christine Rubino, a teacher with a fifteen year unblemished record.  Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here.

According To A Former Stooge Of Bloomberg And Klein All Educational Decisions Are Now Based Upon Political Considerations Than What Is Best For The Children.

Last week the former Deputy Chancellor, Eric Naldestern wrote an article that stated that all the educational decisions needed to be vetted on what was best for the Mayor's political ambitions and not what was goods for the children.  In his working paper he concluded the following:

 The city Department of Education is politically motivated, riddled with waste, and making policy choices that won’t lead to improved student achievement.

Worse is what he said about the Mayor's education policy.as practiced by his ex-buddies at Tweed.  Mr Nadelstern said the following:

 (they see] their primary role as creating opportunities for Bloomberg to step onto a national political stage after he [leaves] city government. Education reforms [are] now...evaluated on the basis of whether they contribute capital to the mayor’s political aspirations.

Of course, Mr Nalderstern was no educational crusader himself and as far as I was concerned he quit the DOE because the Mayor did not see fit to make him the next Chancellor and selected the incompetent Cathie Black instead.  In fact, many of Eric's flunkies also left the DOE in this period of Cathie Black.Under Eric Nalderstern's tenure at the DOE and as Joel Klein's Deputy Chancellor,   he implemented many disastrous policies.  His whining about the DOE is just like the hypocrite he is. Remember, wasn't it Mr. Nadelstern who said that two thirds of NYC teachers need improvement? While in charge, everything was just fine even when the same political issues were present at the DOE during this time. Here are just some of what he was responsible for.

1. The creation of 62 useless Networks, that became a dumping ground for principals and other unwanted administrators who were removed from their schools, while keeping the 32 Superintendent lead Districts.  A complete waste of money. and duplication.
2. The formation of the ATR crises as he allowed principals to hire who they pleased while the DOE had to pay 160 million dollars yearly for teachers with no classroom positions.
3. The explosion of reassigned teachers (rubber room) as Mr. Naldelstern allowed principals to remove teachers for the most frivolous and bogus reasons.  The total reached a peak of 800+ and cost the DOE 100 million dollars annually.
4. The dismantling of the large comprehensive highs schools by starving them of resources and dumping a high percentage of Special Education and ELL students into the schools.
5. The development of the small themed schools that included a business manager, a program developer, and a resource coordinator, all non-educators.  While not enrolling Special Education, and ELL students to artificially raise student achievement at those schools.
6. Finally, it was under his supervision that the DOE wasted millions of dollars on consultants and the money never seemed to make it to the classroom and the children.

In a nutshell, Eric Nalderstern policies at the DOE was "the problem and not the solution" when it came to improving student outcomes. I say good riddance and stop crying since you were a major Architect for the ongoing present-day disaster at the DOE.

The Mayor Loses Yet Again As A Judge Refused To Issue An Injunction Stopping The Rehiring Of Teachers In The Turnaround Schools.

The Mayor loses yet again as a Supreme Court Judge refused the City's request to issue an injunction to stop the rehiring of teachers in the 24 "turnaround schools" that the new principals "pink slipped" .  According to Gotham Schools, the judge, Joan Lobis of the New York Supreme Court ruled against the City and her refusal to issue an injunction was based upon the City failing to meet the two requirements that allows for the issuance of such an injunction. 

According to the judge, the City failed to meet the requirements for issuing an injunction.

To win an injunction, plaintiffs have to prove two things: that they would suffer “irreparable harm” while their case is pending and that they have a strong likelihood of ultimately winning their case. Lobis said today that she didn’t find the department convincing on either point.

The Mayor's third term has been an educational disaster.  First his educational miracle on student academic achievement turned out to be "smoke and mirrors".  Second, his claim that the graduation rate has improved was based upon massive and bogus "credit recovery programs" and a "college and; career readiness rate" of 20% and only 11% in the small school he created.  Third, he lost on the "last in, first out" where his LIFO bill died in the State Assembly and ignored by the Governor. Now it is his sham turnaround schools policy as the courts have ruled against him.

The educational legacy of Mayor Bloomberg will be as a loser!

The Mayor And The DOE Put Their Collective Foot In Their Mouth According To The Arbitrator In His Ruling Against THe Sham Turnaround Policy.

The Mayor demanded what the rationale was for the Arbitrator to rule against the City i9n its sham "turnaround policy" of the 24 schools. Well, late on Friday the Arbitrator published his decision and he ruled against the City and the DOE based upon their own words. Talking about putting your "foot in your mouth". Gotham Schools reported the Arbitrator's decision and the actual document and it can be found here. The Arbitrator's reasoning was that the DOE's circular reasoning to close and reopen the schools was based not what was best for the students but what was best for the Bloomberg Administration's goal in getting rid of unwanted teachers (usually senior and expensive) from the schools.

The Arbitrator stated that the City can still pursue the "turnaround option" if they so choose, except they cannot use it as a method to remove teachers since the biases for the City to use the "turnaround option" was to remove teachers not to close the schools. Furthermore, despite the conditional approval the City received from the NYSED Commissioner, John King, the Arbitrator stated that in any definition "newmeans a school that does not exist" not just a name change. Finally, the Arbitrator used the Mayor's and DOE's own words against them as they both made statements that the "turnaround method" was based upon the removal of teachers and not what was best for the students. In fact here are some of the statements made by Mayor Bloomberg and the DOE that the Arbitrator used against them.

Mayor Bloomberg: ”Under this process, the best teachers stay; the least effective go.”

Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg also suggested that the school closings were inauthentic, the arbitrator concludes, when he wrote in a memorandum to principals shortly after Bloomberg’s speech explaining that their schools would be closed “as a technical matter”.

The Arbitrator also brought in the Mayor's dislike of the "last in, first out" (LIFO) laws and how he tried to get rid of it the previous year, He also criticized the Chancellor for wasting time and energy on removing teachers rather than obtaining funds for the students. Based upon what was said by the Mayor, the Chancellor, and the DOE he ruled that the closing of the 24 schools was a method to eliminate teachers and not to help the students or actually change the schools.

The Emperor and his royal Administrators lose yet again when they demand it's their way or the highway.only to get run over by a truck called the legal system.

The Emperor Whines That His Decision To Close 24 Schools Was Not Subject To Arbitration After All Now That The City Lost. Boo Hoo!

Well it can now be said that the Mayor's transparent strategy to remove as many senior teachers as he could in one swift action has backfired dramatically and his sham "turnaround schools" ploy has cost the City not only significant money (58 million dollars) but what little credibility the Bloomberg Administration had in the first place. Now that the IINDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR has ruled against the City on the "turnaround schools" and put the 24 schools in utter choas , the Mayor came out and whined how the Arbitrator's logic was faulty and he hurt the children. In fact here was his quote after the City lost the arbitration.

“I can just tell you, there are 24 schools, [and] almost all students there are minorities, single-digit-proficiency levels,” Bloomberg said. “These kids, if they’re there for one more year, will never recover in their entire lives.”

The  Mayor whining about how it hurts the children is a result of the Mayor's temper tantrum when he didn't get what he wanted in the teacher evaluation struggle and made a poorly considered and rash decision to punish the union by imposing the "turnaround model" on 33 schools. The Mayor took a gamble and lost and instead of starting over by using an approved method to change the 24 schools he know claims that the his decision was not subject to arbitration after all and that the City should not have to abide by it.  In fact all the teachers who were rejected in the 18D process are listed in the Open Market System as being in excess.  Despite the UFT win, the DOE acts as if the Arbitrator's decision never happened.

The City has appealed the Arbitrator's decision and have little chance of the courts to reverse the Arbitrator's decision since it was the courts that sent it back to the Arbitrator for a decision and the City agreed only to claim, after the decision, that it should not have been subject to arbitration in the first place.

For the Mayor, when you play a high risk game by rolling the dice you can lose and now you cry about it?

The Emperor Loses A Big One And Gets Royally Screwed As The Independent Arbitrator Strikes Back.

The arrogant Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, lost a big one on Friday when the INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR  ruled against the City on the Mayor's and Chancellor's sham "turnaround" proposal. The Arbitrator ruled that the City could not impose the "turnaround model" without following the Federal and State requirements and since the City had stated that  they will do their own version of the "turnaround model" the Arbitrator ruled it violated the contract with both the UFT and CSA  This is a total victory for the UFT and I congratulate them on their dedication and winning the battle.  While I have decided to move on from my terrible "turnaround school" many of my colleagues will be given back their positions.  However, how will  these teachers feel about working for a Principal that was instrumental in not selecting them for his or her new school?   That is for another post on another day, let's get back to the Emperor and his devastating loss.

Why did the Mayor and Chancellor decide on the City version of the "turnaround model" in the first place?  The simple answer was that the Emperor was angry at the UFT for fighting him tooth and nail on the teacher evaluation system and when the UFT pressured the Governor to intercede on their behalf to impose a compromise on the appeal process that made the Mayor and Chancellor very unhappy.  The compromise was to have 13% of the teachers rated "ineffective" have a three member panel evaluate whether the teacher was truly "ineffective" or was given the rating unfairly by a vindictive Principal.  As for the other 87%?  See you in your next career.   Even if we all believe that the City won a significant weakening of teacher "due process rights"   , the Mayor wanted complete victory and decided on his highly risky policy to get rid of as many teachers as he could to get revenge on the union who dared stop him from achieving total victory.

The "turnaround policy" the Mayor and Chancellor tried to impose was the quickest way to get 2,000 teachers out of the classroom and replace them with other teachers, 40% of them "newbies" to the classroom.  This model would have allowed the City to obtain the $58 million dollars from the Federal government while using the influx into the ATR pool as a weapon for the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration to whine to the news media of the hundreds of million dollars that the City is wasting on these "failed teachers".   Why didn't the Bloomberg Administration simply close the schools if these schools were so bad?  The answer is that it would have taken 3 to 4 years to close the schools, and there was no $58 million dollars to obtain.  Moreover, where would you send the freshman class of low academic achievers?  There are few large schools left to dump these academically struggling students that the Bloomberg small schools refuse to take?   In fact, my school is expected to receive an additional 331 students above  last year's freshmen class, almost all of them struggling academically and requiring a minimum of CTT class instruction.  Finally, by using the "turnaround model" the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration could maximize the removal of over 2,000 teachers from the classroom, many of them senior teachers and hope they retire or resign due to the humiliation and replace them with cheap and untenured teachers who will never last to recieve a pension or retiree health benefits.

Instead of victory the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration has screwed themselves royally.  Not only was their sham "turnaround model" thrown out by the INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR but they lost $58 million dollars that would have received had they stayed with the "restart" and "transformation" models. Further, the Danielson Framework that was being used in those schools and had resulted in many teachers being given an "ineffective rating" was stopped after January 1st and could not be used for the finally ratings of the 2011-2012 school year.Therefore, the few marginal teachers in those schools will be keeping their jobs until the end of the 2013-14 school year and when Bloomberg is no longer Mayor. Talk about screwing oneself?  Instead of eliminating teachers he must keep those teachers while losing much needed funds for the school system. Now that is what I call incompetence.

The result is the Mayor and Chancellor overreached and lost.  Now the question is will they lick their collective wounds and try next year something else or will they come up with another strategy that will eliminate senior teachers and hurt the students.  It is not called "children last" for nothing.

Before I forget, the union should be complemented on their win and I always thought they had a winnable case and I told my colleagues that, based on the facts, the union should win their arbitration case, As for the INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR? it is about time that they strike back against the Emperor and his pet poodle the Chancellor who has insulted and belittled the Arbitrators for their own political ends.

Why Didn't The DOE Remove The Principal For Covering Up The Beating Of A Student By The Dean?

The New York Daily News was given a video of a 300 pound dean bashing a 125 pound teenager into a table and based upon the video footage the Dean initiated the physical contact.  Watching the video it is very obvious that the Dean violated Chancellor's Regulation A-420  (Corporal Punishment) and the Principal should have immediately contacted the Office of Special Investigations (OSI).  Instead the Principal chose to ignore regulations and after watching the video, only gave a letter-to-the-file to the Dean.  What was worse is that the school told the parent of the battered boy that her child had started the physical altercation.

The mother contacted the school when her son told her that the Dean started the physical altercation and that his back was hurting., When the mother called the Principal, Janiine Kieran, the mother was told that she would look into it and call her back.  The Principal never did.

The question is why didn't the Principal follow the rules?  Is she incompetent or did she deliberately try to cover up the attack by her Dean?  Now the DOE claims they will investigate the Principal's action.  In the meantime the Principal stays in the school when she is either incompetent or covered up a beating by her Dean.  Where is Walcott's zero tolerance when it comes to this Principal?

For a complete look at the Daiky News article and video you can read and see it here.

Good Parenting Skills Are The Prime Factor In Student Academic Success.

Over the last few years I have written about why parents are the primary factor in student learning.  Even the Emperor, Michael Bloomberg has  lately realized how important parents are in their children's academic success and ripped them for not helping their children to achieve academic competence.  Of course this is very different than the education reformers wanted to hear.  These reformers, otherwise known as deformers, claim that a child's academic success depends on their teacher and not their upbringing.  This very flawed vision is known as "no excuses" and deformers like ex-Chancellor Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee were strident supporters of this approach. Just read what these middle school students, who likely come from poverty and single parent households in East New York, acted at the World Trade Center Memorial.  Is that the school's fault or do we place the blame squarely on the primary cause of their misbehavior, the lack of discipline in the family.

Study after study has shown that the social-economic influences in a child's family and community are approximately 80% of a student's academic success.  How is a child going to learn when there are no books in a house, a parent to help with homework, and worse, allowing the child to roam the streets at all hours of the night!  No wonder they are always sleeping in class. Where is the parent's responsibility to make sure that the child actually arrives at school  on time , if at all?   Are they fed properly? Why fault the school when the parents are the cause of truant and hungry students?  That brings me to Michael Goodwin's article that identifies the root cause of poor student academic performance and that is the parents.  While I do not agree with some of his conclusions such as Catholic Schools are better, I do agree with him that parents are the primarily cause of student success academically.

While a "quality teacher" small class sizes, and adequate school resources are all important factors in a student's academic success, the most important factor is the student's family and even the Emperor has reluctantly realized it.  Instead of wasting money and resources on failed options like
Turnaround schools" the Mayor should spend the money on wraparound services that help support the family structure and their involvement in the schools.

Tears And Anger In The Turnaround Schools As Staff Have Been Told That The New Schools Do Not Want Them.

Staff "pink slips"  have been issued in some of the schools that will replace the closing schools in the "turnaround" process and the already terrible morale at these schools have just sunk to a new level.

Staff are being informed by e-mails that they were not selected for a position at the new schools and that they should look on the open market system to find a position.  In my school at least 50% of the teachers have been e-mailed the bad news and there is plenty of crying and anger about what has happened.  Worse, is that many of the teachers who are excellent teachers and even the "teacher of the year", as selected by the students, were told that they do not fit into the vision of the new school Administration.  I guess it really is not about the students after all.

My school feels like a morgue with staff looking like the "walking dead" (zombies) and I am sure so do the other "turnaround schools" as the survivors of the culling comfort their soon departed colleagues who still must complete marking the Regents and giving back equipment and keys before leaving the school for good on their journey into the excess pool of "job fairs" ,  interviews, and possibly ending up as an ATR for the next school year.

Why couldn't this awful and unnecessary process wait for the Arbitrator decision?  What if the Arbitrator decides for the UFT?  How does one feel about returning to a school where the new Administration does not want them?  What kind of school climate is there with such staff and Administration distrust?  Moreover, how does this climate of distrust and suspicion help the students?  Finally, what was the DOE thinking in pushing for a solution that is worse than the problem?

The Mayor has a temper tantrum and because he must have his way, 24 schools are in chaos and half the staff who have worked well with their unique student population are gone.  Tell me how this is good for the students?  "Children first"?  Yeah right and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!.

My Summer Plans - Relax And Enjoy Myself.

I will be leaving my chaotic high school which will have the same students with the same academic and discipline problems, regardless if the school becomes a "Turnaround school" or not.  In fact the school is expecting a greater influx of ELL and special education students which means more CTT classes and more academic and behavioral issues for the school.  However, that is now behind me, I will be looking forward to my summer with a sense of calm and relaxation knowing I will not be part of this disaster in the making in my old school.

I do not expect any job offers this summer, despite the shortage in my subject area because of my salary, age, and the DOE discipline flag in my file, Remember, the DOE is encouraging the schools to hire the cheap, untenured, and young teachers since, for the principals it is not about what is best for their students but what is best for their budget. Yes, I will go to the customary job fair where I will have a reunion of the over 50 set and listen as we tell each other stories of our frustration in landing a position.  I have already applied for twelve open positions and received no responses and I don't expect to receive an interview.  I will not work summer school since I consider it "blood money", with no breaks from 8am to 1pm and Therefore, here is what I plan for my summer vacation.

• Relax, and enjoy the summer in my backyard hammock.
• Work on my garden and take bicycle rides in my neighborhood.
• Visit friends and go with my daughter to look at wedding gowns
• Go to the beach and swim in the water.
• Take a cruise to Bermuda with my wife.

While many of my colleagues are worried about  their school positions, I intend to relax and  enjoy myself as I bide my time for the right position to appear that is a "good fit" for me.

The Racial/Income Student Academnic Achievement Gap Is Still Wide And The Numbers Are Very Disturbing Despite What The Mayor & Chancellor Claim.

Despite all the claims of the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administrations that they are closing the racial/income student academic achievement gap the actual "college and career readiness"numbers for 2011 show a very different conclusion.  For example in Queens the 2011 numbers showed that blacks have a college readiness rate of 10.5% and if you look at the black male population it falls below 10%! Gender wise females had better college readiness scores than males by 5%.  Listed below is the various "college and career readiness rates" While I only used Queens High School data, the numbers and ratios are very similar for the other four boroughs. for all the Queens High Schools. All the data for NYC can be found on pg 126 of the NYS report here.

"College And Career Readiness Rates"

• Blacks.........10.5%
• Hispanics....14.9%
• Whites........32.5%
• Asians........38.5%

The numbers showed that for every black that is "college and career ready", there are three white and over four Asian students that are academically successful.

In addition,  the New York State student progress report also showed that the Bloomberg small schools are a failure academically with an academically terrible 11% "college and career readiness score" compared to a dismal citywide 20.7% rate.  That means that only a little over one out of every ten sstudents who graduate from the Bloomberg small schools are ready academically.  This is success?  I don't thing so.  Furthermore, according to an unscientific survey by Ed the Apple, between 25-33% of all NYC high school students graduate with "credit recovery" credits and between 5-10% with multiple "credit recovery" credits. 

Finally, The latest poll shows that Chancellor Dennis Walcott has seen a significant drop in his already poor approval ratings to a disappointing 37% from a high of 43% in March.  I am shocked it is still as high as it is but like the saying goes "you can fool so of the people all of the time" and there are 37% who appears to have been fooled by the Bloomberg/Walcott rhetoric of advances in education progress when the evidence shows otherwise.

Maybe the news media should be writing articles how the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration should be held "accountable" for the dismal student academic results but then again the news rags rather scapegoat the teachers instead.

Why Chancellor Walcott's Op-Ed Piece Is A Bunch Of Trash As He Pleads For The Power To Fire Teachers Accused Of Sexual Misconduct But Found Innocent By An Independent Arbitrator.

I read with some amusement the Op-Ed piece by the Mayor's poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott in the New York Tmes and couldn't believe the spin he put into the article as he pleaded for the power to arbitrarily fire teachers accused of sexual misconduct but were found innocent by Arbitrators.  In his piece he wrote many things that were either misleading or untrue.

First, He claims that substantiated investigations are proof enough that he would terminate teachers, regardless what the actual evidence is.  People familiar with my story and my blog know that these investigations from OSI and SCI are not independent but are biased and unfair against an accused teacher.  In fact, the Principal has a great deal of influence on how the investigation goes.  If the Principal does not like the teacher, you can guess the investigators will substantiate bogus, false, and frivolous actions, and even hearsay statements as proof of sexual misconduct.  I guess the Chancellor does not want the inconvenient truth that evidence should be used as the basis for determining if teacher sexual misconduct actually happened.

Second, he knows full well that when it comes to sexual misconduct, the Arbitrator does not "split the baby" as he claims.  An Arbitrator who finds even minor sexual misconduct is required to terminate the teacher.  In fact here is what it states:

  In 3020-a proceedings, a mandatory  penalty of discharge shall apply to any tenured pedagogue a) found by a hearing officer to have engaged in sexual misconduct or b) who have pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of criminal charges for such conduct.


The Chancellor knows very well what the rules state.  What he ignores is that if these Arbitrators were not following the rules then why does the DOE keep them on the panel year after year?


Third, the Arbitrators rule on the preponderance of relevant evidence not unfounded hearsay, rumors, and gossip or worse, unsupported accusations aided and abetted by unscrupulous Administrators.  Of course, in Chancellor Walcott's  piece he assumes all substantiated investigations and accusations are true, except when it is about his principals, that the Arbitrator's decision can be overturned by him.


Finally, the Chancellor claims that he should have the authority to make the final decision.  However, based on my and other cases he apparently does not have the necessary knowledge or patience to read the transcripts of the 3020-a hearings but takes the lazy way out by reading the so-called substantiated investigative  conclusions as his basis for making his decision to terminate teachers.  Consequently, I must question his judgement to fairly evaluate the evidence since he ignores the Arbitrator's reasoned decision and will base his decision on the politics and not the evidence.


Please read Accountable Talk's post for another response to the Chancellor's op-ed piece.

The New York Post Publishes DOE Generated Suspect Data And Claims That The City Did Better Then They Really Did. The Real Numbers Are Very Different.

I was shocked to see that the New York Post incorrectly published the student graduation rate and got it all wrong.  While all other media outlets claimed that the City students scores were either the same or lower for 2011, the New York Post praised the Mayor's education policy by publishing misleading data generated by the DOE and which were not accepted by any reasonable educator;  I guess this is just another case of the New York Post who will invent or use numbers inappropriately to prove their point even when they are wrong.  The paper delivered to my school said the following.

"CITY GLAD, STATE SAD OVER HS GRADUATION RATES"

In the article they incorrectly used the wrong data to prove their case that the Bloomberg Administration's education policy was working.  To prove their point here is what they used as data.

• Graduation rates -  DOE  data NYC 65.5%, State data 60,9%.
• College readiness - DOE data NYC 24.7%  State data 20,7%
• Minority Changes - State data shows a drop in the graduation rate for blacks, while the other groups (Asians, Hispanics, and Whites) showed slight gains.

 The data can be found in the NYS student progress report found here. Or in my previous post.

Once again, the DOE publishes suspect data that makes it seem that the failed education policy of the Bloomberg Administration is working when the actual statistics from, the State shows a very different conclusion of  failure to close the academic achievement gap, a reduction in graduation and college readiness rates and a drop in black graduation rates.

More Proof That The Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration's Education Policies Have Failed The Students.

New York State released last year's graduation statistics and it was not good news for the Bloomberg Administration as the bogus four year graduation rate actually dropped, despite the continued use of phony "credit recovery programs".  The actual graduation rate slipped a tenth of a point to 60.9% in 2012 from 2010.  By contrast the other major urban areas in New York State saw a 6% increase for 2011!  What is worse for the Bloomberg Administration is that the more accurate "career and college readiness rate" actually went down significantly, from a terrible 21.4% level in 2010 to an even more terrible 20.7% score for 2011. Worse yet there was a lower black graduation rate which dropped two tenths of a point to 60.4% while all other groups saw slight rises in their graduation rate this year. So much for narrowing the student academic achievement gap.

The 2011 numbers include the last group of seniors who can graduate with a local diploma which means that the four year graduation rate is expected to go down by 10% or more for this year's high school graduates.who must pass the Regents.  Moreover, with New York City also making "credit recovery programs" much more rigorous and limit the amount of courses allowed, that should allow an even further drop of the four year graduation rate for next year (2013) to below the 50% threshold.  Just in time as the Bloomberg Administration leaves office with a deteriorating school system and lower student academic achievement.

The DOE attempted to spin the disappointing data by claiming that more students achieved the more prestigious Regents diploma and that the newer schools had better graduation rates then the schools that they replaced. However, based upon the 2010 statistics the "college and career readiness scores" were lower than the large schools the are replacing.  The UFT's Jackie Bennett in her December 7th, 2011 article showed how poorly the new small schools (opened since 2003) prepared their students for college.  The analysis by Ms. Bennett was startling with all the small schools lagging behind the large school in their "college and career readiness scores".  Can you imagine if the small schools took their fair share of self contained special education and English Language Learners what their already low scores would be?

As for the better graduation rates at the small schools?  Of course it's better because of the massive amount of phony "credit recovery courses" that their students take and let's not forget these school's failure to take the most needy of students (self-contained special education and English Language Learners) and counsel behaviorally and/or academically challenged students out of their school by claiming a lack of resources for the student.

Overall the 2011 student data just shows that the flawed Bloomberg education policy is a failure.  Way to go Bloomie in your "children last" policy.

The Proposed DOE Weakening Of The Student Discipline Policy Will Further Encourage The Lack Of Student Responsibility.

Chancellor Dennis Walcott has proposed a significant weakening of the student discipline policy, especially in the classroom.  For example students can no longer be suspended for cursing at a teacher, using their cell phones or ipods in the classroom, or defy a lawful command by the teacher.  Moreover, the student can no longer be removed from the classroom for excessive lateness or their failure to work in class.  These new rules are in draft form and can be found here. What is really amazing is that our next potential Mayor, Christine Quinn, otherwise known as Michael Bloomberg lite, wants to weaken it even more.  Just unbelievable.  Maybe these people should spend some time in the classroom before they develop these flawed education policy directives.


The new draft regulations recommend counseling for many student infractions and limits teacher authority to remove a student from the classroom. Weakening the student discipline code is short-sighted and harmful for the student in the long term.  What the weakening of the student discipline code will do is to further reduce student responsibility and make them ill-prepared for the adult world.  I have seen first hand what happens to a school when the Administration allows the students to run the school. 

Can you imagine a student who went through high school showing up late to class, always text messaging in the classroom, and frequently being unprepared to work (no notebook or pen) and the only thing that happened to him or her was to take an occasional  online "credit recovery" course that took less than a week to finish.  The result is that the students  receives an undeserved diploma. In my present school this happens far to many times and is a way to artificially raise the graduation rate.

Now this academically unprepared student tries to join the work force and since he or she is used to showing up late, having poor work habits, and disrespects authority guess what happens?  Right the now ex-student cannot hold a job because companies will not tolerate lateness, poor work, or lack of respect.
These ex-students move from short-term low paying job to the next and may never become a productive member of society and the reason is that the schools never held these students responsible for their poor academic work.  I actually saw this at my usual breakfast spot. 

Rather than weaken the student discipline code, we should strengthen it and hold students responsible if they are to become responsible and productive adults. Did the Chancellor ever hear of "tough love"?  Oops, there I go again using a bad word (love) I hope the Chancellor does not sic SCI on me.

 .

Just Imagine If Mayor Michael Bloomberg Had The Same Power As Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker Had To Change Public Employee Rights.

I shudder to think if for some reason the Emperor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the authority to change public employee protections and rights as did Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has?  Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin's public employee unions lost many rights none more important than the  "collective bargaining  rights" for unions.  Under Governor Walker's Administration  the following erosion of employee benefits and rights have occurred.

• Loss of collective bargaining rights by unions except for salaries.
• Union dues and membership are no longer mandatory.
• Health benefit premiums have doubled.
• Pension contributions have increased to over 7%.
• Teachers are required to abide by new working conditions like a sixth classroom period instead of a preparation period for example.
• Elimination or restricting teacher tenure and adding more time.

The question is what would the Emperor, Michael Bloomberg do if he obtained such powers?   This is easy to predict based upon his past actions.

• Elimination of the Tribourough Amendment  that keeps an old contract in place.
• End collective bargaining rights.
• Replacing the defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan (401K).
• No seniority rights  or step increases.
• Raises based upon merit.
• Drastically increasing health care premiums and co-payments to employees.

As for teachers, his favorite scapegoats.  Here is what one can expect.

• Doubling of class sizes
• A temporary and replaceable teaching force.
• Terminate all ATRs and teachers who have discipline charges.
• A sixth teaching period and more time in the classroom.
• Eliminate the 7% fixed income fund in the TDA.
• Eliminate teacher due process rights.
• Unlimited Charter schools.

 It is a good thing we are not Wisconsin because if the Emperor, Mayor Bloomberg had his way, the experienced teacher who lasts long enough for a pension and retiree health benefits would be a  rare event indeed.

The Consequences For Students Who Were Late For The Laboratory Practical - And The Blame Must Go To The School Administration. Especially The Principal,

We gave the Earth Science laboratory practical in the last week and many of the students missed it because they showed up late to class and were not let in.  The laboratory practical is an important part of the Earth Science Regents and averages 15% of the final Regents grade. These students were told days in advance that if they are not in the lab room within five minutes after the late bell sounds that they would be refused entry to take the lab practical.  Astonishingly,  many of my and other teachers' students failed to heed our warnings about getting there on time and were shocked when we couldn't let them in.  Now these students must hope that we volunteer a period of our time to allow them to do a "make up".  In our school there is no money for per session "make ups". Therefore, I will give up my lunch period to let students take the laboratory practical  and I can tell you very confidently that I will still have students show up too late to take it.  Why would these students not show up on time?  The blame lies with the school Administration. that ignores this behavior.

The fault lies  particularly with the Principal of the school.  Under his poor and leaderless Administration and inconsistent student discipline policy the many students who failed to show up on time can be attributed to his allowing students to enter the classroom anytime they want and teachers are lectured for locking their classroom doors or refusing tardy students entry to the classroom.  The Principal tells the teachers to enforce the rule of "no cell phones or ipods" in class but refuses to take action against the very same students who use both in the school hallways and stairwells.  Of course, teachers are ignored as the students realize that the school Administration does not have the back of the teachers.  Moreover, the Principal seems to protect the behaviorally challenged students who walk the halls consistently and disrupt the school environment.

The consequences of the inconsistent strident discipline policy  is the many students who failed to show up on time for the Earth Science laboratory practical and will probably fail the Regents.  Of course guess who will blamed?  You guessed it the teacher!

According To The Chancellor The Truth Is What He Claims It Is, Not What The Evidence Shows As He Fails To Understand What Sexual Misconduct Is.

Over the last few days young female teachers have been accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with their male students.  Based upon the selected information presented so far it does certainly look like they committed sexual misconduct  Of course only time and evidence will tell if they really did. However, the Chancellor, when discussing alleged teacher sexual misconduct,  went further, and brought up the cases of the sixteen other teachers (all but one older and male) that he claimed had found to have committed sexual misconduct and should have been terminated.  According to the New York Daily News, he sent the UFT President Michael Mulgrew the following letter.

“From time to time . we hear reports of teachers who engage in inappropriate, and sometimes sexual, misconduct with students,” Walcott wrote in a letter to United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.   "Unfortunately under current law, when these reports are true, it is left to an arbitrator to decide on the punishment.”.

Notice how the Chancellor assumed that the charges against the sixteen teachers where found to be true?  While I cannot talk about the other cases, I will talk about my own on what is true and why the Chancellor is not capable of understanding the truth.

• Truth, the most senior and respected Arbitrator on the panel threw out a phony letter to the file back in 2004 as "unfair and inaccurate". Yet the Chancellor did not bother to include it to the media. when he tried to vilify me.

• Truth, A second Arbitrator found no "probable cause" that I committed sexual misconduct in 2008.Yet the DOE wasted over $500,000  in pursuing charges they knew were frivolous and also failed to include that information to the media..

• Truth, the 3020-a Arbitrator found no "sexual misconduct" after weighing all the "preponderance of evidence" in 2011.

• Truth, my Arbitrator told everybody that she was leaving the panel after my case.  Therefore, she did not need to "split the baby" as the Chancellor and Mayor falsely claim

• Truth, the DOE failed to appeal when the Arbitrator's decision was rendered. If they were so sure that I committed sexual misconduct, why would you not appeal?

Here are some other truths that the Chancellor fails to, or is unable to understand.

• Truth, that any  teacher that commits sexual misconduct is automatically terminated by the Arbitrator based upon the UFT-DOE contract Article 21G-6 pg 120.  It states the following.

          In 3020-a proceedings, a mandatory  penalty of discharge shall apply to any tenured pedagogue a) found by a hearing officer to have engaged in sexual misconduct or b) who have pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of criminal charges for such conduct.

• Truth, the Chancellor claims that any SCI or OSI investigation that substantiates the charges, no matter how frivolous, is "proven". 

• Truth, according to the Chancellor a fair and impartial hearing where evidence is necessary is not as important as a biased or politically motivated investigation and the bogus charges that result from them.

• Truth, the independent Arbitrators are jointly appointed to one year terms by the DOE and UFT and can only be reappointed yearly when both sides agree that they are doing a good job.  Therefore, the Bloomberg/Walcott claim that the Arbitrators are influenced by the UFT in determining the penalty is a lie.

• Truth, the Chancellor practices a "double standard" when it comes to Administrators and teachers, see here and here.

• Truth, the Chancellor has blindly followed the Mayor's policy without question.

I must conclude that the Chancellor's idea of truth is vastly different than the common person.  In the Chancellor's world the truth is what he and the Mayor claims it is not what is real.