The DOE Causes The ATR Crises,Then Has Their Flunkies Blame The Teacher.

The newspapers are full of how it will cost up to 74 million dollars to pay teachers, who no fault of their own, have been excessed and are used as substitute teachers in schools for the 2008-2009 school year. The Daily News, The New York Times, and The Sun all have articles that report that the New Teacher Project , a wholly owned subsidiary of the Department of Education, has questioned the waste of money by allowing the ATR crises to get worse. However, instead of doing the obvious by freezing new hires until the ATR crises subsides, Mr. Timothy Daily, President of the company demanded that the ATR's be given a time limit, similar to Chicago (12 months) while encouraging the DOE to continue to hire new teachers.

Not surprisingly, Tweed was quite happy to agree that there should be a time limit of no more than 12 months before ATR's are taken off the payroll. However, for the DOE, the ATR time limit to get a classroom position requires the union to renegotiate the tenure provisions of the contract and amend State Civil Service Law, not even Ms. Sellout, Randi Weingarten, is going to do that. In fact, the ATR time limit is non-negotiable and no union leader will negotiate teacher tenure away. Not now, not ever! Therefore, to stop and eliminate the ATR crises, the following procedures need to be implemented.

1. Freeze new hires until all excessed teachers are placed in their subject area.
   
2. Eliminate the "fair student funding" formula that penalizes principals who pick up higher-paid teachers.
3. Bring back the "seniority transfer system" that allows veteran teachers to have first choice of vacant positions.

Finally, it is time for our union to start their own media offensive and place the blame for the ATR crises squarely on the DOE and their "children last" program.

The ATR Crises Worsens As The DOE Encourages Principals To Hire Newbie Teachers

Just when the ATR crises can't get any worse, the New York Post reports that there was a 13% increase in ATR's to 1395 this year. Based upon last year's figures, the ATR crises will cost DOE over 91 million dollars for the next two years! Unconscionable during a fiscal crises in New York City, how can Tweed justify this misguided policy? Tweed can't and they don't bother to explain it to the public. Instead, Tweed continues to waste funds. Rather than saving money by placing excessed teachers into vacancies, Tweed encourages principals to hire newbie teachers. Posted below is a message that Tweed sent to school principals.

This is from this week's Principal Weekly

New Teachers Available
All schools

Newly-hired, certified teachers are available for you to consider for instructional vacancies. To find out more about these candidates, most of whom are in shortage subject areas, you can contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080 or contact your HR partner. You can also search and view resumes and essays of these and other qualified candidates using the New Teacher Finder.

Notice how Tweed did not mention the over abundance of well-qualified ATR's? The DOE's disrespect of older and experienced teachers just continues and it does not matter how much money its costing Tweed. Furthermore, the lack of experienced teachers in the classroom only hurts the students since even the best of the newbie teachers take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to achieve adequate classroom management and a real knowledge of how to teach the curriculum.

Kleinberg's misguided emphasis on hiring cheap, and inexperienced teachers as it tries to practice "education on the cheap" just ends up wasting even more precious money and the result is a continuation of their "children last" program.

Update!

The ATR crises is worse than I thought the Daily News reports that there are an additional 229 newbie teachers without a classroom. This brings the total number of teachers who are ATR's up to 1,424. However, this did not stop Tweed from hiring 5,400 newbie teachers this school year. What has our union done about this travesty of wasted talent and money? Nothing!

Both The DOE and UFT Agree - Teachers Have No Rights When Assaulted & Abused

I have brought up how the anti-teacher crusade of Tweed has wasted over $146 million dollars in removing teachers from the classroom, whether it is in the "rubber room" or as an ATR. I also showed that any teacher can be brought up on charges of corporal punishment, verbal abuse, and sexual harassment just on a word of a student and his/her friend she tells that to. However, what about teachers who are physically assaulted, verbally abused, and sexually harassed and assaulted? Not a thing. How many times has a student cursed you out and the only punishment is a slap on the wrist, if any punishment at all. Further, how many teachers had been threatened by students who received no punishment whatsoever. Even teachers who were physically and sexually assaulted by students were ignored by the administrators. Sounds unbelievable huh? Unfortunately, it is so often true.

Let's look at what happened to classroom teacher Theresa Reel, who was sexually harassed, touched, and threatened and both the DOE and the UFT did nothing about it. In an August 15th article in the Chief, Ms. Reel described what happened and the lack of action by either the DOE or the UFT. In fact the administration told her if she continues with her complaints that if OSI is called in, they would treat her as the "guilty party"! Incredible isn't it?

The Chief in the Editor's opinion article "Razzle Dazzle" questioned why the teacher complaints of verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual touching were not acted upon. The answer is quite simple. Teacher rights are not respected by the DOE and the UFT, despite Randi Weingarten's apparent outrage, allows this to happen time and again.

The union must lead the way to recapture teacher rights by ensuring that an independent investigation be done when the teacher and chapter leader inform them of abuse by students and administrators of the teacher. Presently, the union contract ignores abusive action against teachers as incredible as it seems. Was this omission in the contract deliberate or just more incompetent representation by our union? Whichever the case, this omission needs to be immediately corrected.

Is it any wonder that more and more teachers resign, retire, or just plain quit because of the abuse by the students and administrators, aided and abetted by Tweed. Our union? They just look the other way as their members are subject to an increasingly hostile work environment.

The Teddy Smith Saga - How A Biased SCI Investigation and An Arbitrator's Unfair Decision Resulted In An Innocent Teacher Being Suspended For A Year

Many bloggers, including this one, have complained that the DOE investigative process is biased and unfair and questioned 3020-a arbitrator decisions. Therefore, it is important to give an example when the two results in an one year suspension, without pay or health benefits, to an innocent teacher. It all started when Teddy Smith was harassed into teaching a part-time gym class with more than 65 children (often almost 100 at one time) at The Museum School on West 17th street in Manhattan. He also has a heart condition for which he asked his Principal (Lindley Uehling) to be accommodated – although he was and is able to perform his job - but was turned down and his needs were ignored. This started Teddy Smith's journey into the "rubber room" and 3020-a charges. In June Teddy Smith finally won a small victory as a State judge overturned the 3020-a arbitration decision. Betsy Combier's "rubber room news" talks about the case in detail.


The Teddy Smith saga clearly shows the abuse of the DOE investigative process and the closed-door agreements made without a teacher's knowledge. Betsy Combier's "Rubber Room Reporter" discuss how the Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI) failing to do a fair investigation and the arbitrator for not following 3020-a procedures in determining the penalty given to Teddy Smith.

To get a clearer picture of what happened to "Teddy Smith" it is important to see how SCI took their flawed investigation to the papers and damaged the reputation of the teacher. The Chief published the SCI press release information that smeared Teddy Smith and to the outside world that it would appear that he threatened an arbitrator. In reality, Teddy Smith did no such thing and now he must appear for yet another 3020-a hearing, while on his one year suspension!

The Teddy Smith saga shows that anytime a principal goes after you, the result could be reassignment and potential termination based upon a flawed investigation. Due Process rights? Don't make me laugh,

The CUNY Remedial Course Work For Entering Freshman Really Shows That The DOE High School Graduation Rates Are Bogus!

The Daily News printed an article showing that the.students accepted at City University Of New York (CUNY) have to take more remedial courses to prepare them for college work. In fact about 83% of students entering the City of New York community colleges last year failed placement exams and had to take remedial courses in reading, writing or math - and most graduated from city high schools, records show. Interestingly Chancellor Joel Klein, using his usual fuzzy math statistics, stated About two-thirds of students graduating from city high schools will have to take remedial courses. He also claimed that this figure has went down from previous years. Reading the article the opposite seems to be true. In 1999, when CUNY stopped offering remedial courses at its four-year colleges. The number of first-time freshman taking remedial courses has since grown 20% to about 8,700 last year.This information questions the validity of the NYC public school graduation rates. Obviously, the DOE is graduating many "not ready for college. students " who must take remedial courses before they can do college work.

The rise in remedial course work at CUNY just proves that the high school graduation rates include too many students who graduate with local diplomas (30.2%), aided and abetted by the DOE's bogus "credit recovery program" , and principals pressuring teachers to graduate undeserving students so that the school's report card would reflect progress. Even students who receive a Regents diploma are suspect because of the State's dumbing-down the Regents in many of the subjects. Obviously, the decline in City SAT scores accurately reflect the increase in remedial course work for the entering class at the CUNY community Colleges.

The gimmicks that the DOE uses to artificially increase their high school graduation rates are reflected in the huge increase in students who needed remedial course work at the CUNY community colleges and shows how bogus the DOE high school graduation rates really are.

What Is The Teachers4Action Federal Lawsuit Against The DOE & UFT About?

There seems to be some confusion in the blogosphere about the Teacher4Action's lawsuit against the DOE and UFT. I hope to clarify this lawsuit to teachers and how important it is if the lawsuit is won. Teachers4Action is a large group of teachers who were reassigned by the DOE for various alleged offenses. This group which represents all the reassignment centers in New York City sued both the DOE and the UFT in State and Federal Court. Previously, Jeff kaufman on the ICE blog discussed the problems with regard to the State lawsuit. However, the more important federal lawsuit is alive and well and I hope to summarize the "cause of action" the best I can as an outsider looking in.

The basis of the lawsuit can be summarized with the group accusing the DOE of violating the 1st Amendment (Freedom of Speech), the 5th Amendment (Freedom of Association), and the 14th Amendment (Equal Rights and Due Process Protection) of the teachers. Further, the lawsuit accuses the UFT in aiding and abetting the DOE in violating teacher rights. Specifically, one of those rights was that the UFT failed to properly advise their membership of the impact of changes in Article 21g that was negotiated by the DOE and UFT in 2002 and 2005. The federal lawsuit is based upon the seven issues (cause of action) listed below:

1. Violations/interference of the 1st, 5th, and 14th Amendment rights of the teachers by the DOE.
2. DOE harassment and allowing a hostile work environment for teachers who chose to stand up for their rights.
3. DOE retaliation against teachers that complain about violating their rights to a safe and appropriate work environment.
4. Breach of Contract by the DOE that ignores time lines and proper procedures as defined by the UFT/DOE contract.
5. Failure by the UFT to do their duty of fair representation by teachers in the 3020-a proceedings.
6. Negligence against the UFT who encouraged deals rather then to go through the 3020-a hearings.
7. False confinement to "rubber rooms" causing physical, and emotional injuries.

I can't get into the specifics with each "cause of action" since I am not part of the lawsuit and some of the charges are particular to one or more of the plaintiffs. However, many of the charges are valid for all teachers. For example, the failure of the UFT to protect teachers from DOE retaliation by allowing DOE to have their own one-sided and unfair investigation. Further, the UFT allows the DOE to discriminate against tenured (older) teachers by imposing the fair student funding program and eliminating the seniority transfer system that led to the ATR and "rubber room" problems.

What also seems to be important about the federal lawsuit is how the UFT and DOE made side agreements that are not included in the changes to Article 21g. For example, the elimination of the right for a teacher to request a three arbitrator panel. Or Appendix "H" that allows the teachers to be suspended for up to three months without pay or health benefits simply on hearsay. The result, is the reduction of teacher "due process" rights which I have discussed previously.

Teaching for the DOE has become more and more difficult as Randi Weingarten and gang has negotiated many of our rights away and increased our workload, resulting in a worsening of the classroom teaching environment. If the Teachers4Action lawsuit is successful, it might lead to a more progressive and equal relationship between the teacher and administrator and reduce the teacher abuse that currently resides throughout the DOE.

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The National SAT Decline Under Kleinberg - The DOE Cannot Spin This

The 2008 nationwide SAT results have just been published and it showed declines of 3 points in Reading and 2 points in Math for the New York City Public School high school students . Here again, another national test which the State and City does not control, shows no progress in the academics of New York City students. In fact, the statistics show that the SAT scores have declined 12 points in Math and 5 points in Reading since 2003, during the Kleinberg administration! Both the Daily News and New York Post have published the data and were less than kind to the DOE about the results.

Most interestingly was the DOE response to the decling scores. Tweed stated "that more students were encouraged to take the SAT's". Really? Nationwide the same thing happened and there was no nationwide decline in SAT scores! I guess the DOE has chosen to ignore that fact as they try to spin the unspinable data.

As school starts and the Bloomberg administration has decided to cut teachers parking permits by 82%, forced teachers to start before Labor Day, and we still have an ATR crises as well as overcrowded "rubber rooms", the Kleinberg anti-teacher crusade keeps on going.


Kleinberg's "children last" program continues into the 2008-2009 school year.

The Mench And The Wuss

Congratulations to Patrick Lynch, head of the PBA who stuck to his guns (no pun intended) and refused to give Bloomberg significant givebacks in the last four contracts. In fact, in the last contract, agreed to yesterday, the PBA got back the paid day for their gun training and the newbie police officers will get their full vacation days. The PBA also received larger raises over the contract than the Randi Weingarten-led UFT. Previously, I compared the two in a post Here. Unfortunately, my opinion has not changed.

Patrick Lynch, unlike Randi Weingarten, refused to sell out the existing members and forced the City to try to recruit newbie police officers at an annual salary of $25,100 with reduced vacation days. The result? The Bloomberg administration finally cried uncle and this new contract reflects the City surrender to the PBA. Randi Weingarten, on the other hand caved in to the Bloomberg administration insistence of massive givebacks (you can see them in my post here) for a salary increase of 3.28% annually for the last two contracts while the average rate of inflation for the NYC Region was 4.1%. The PBA annual salary increase averaged 4.5% for a similar time period. Furthermore, Randi has negotiated no takebacks since she has negotiated contracts for the teachers. In fact, Randi's actions has shown that she cares more about recruitment than retention of teachers (you can see some of her actions in my post here). Under her watch the ATR crises has exploded and the "rubber rooms" are bursting at the seems.

Is it any wonder that I believe Patrick Lynch is a Mench and Randi Weingarten is a Wuss?

Are The NYC High School Graduation Rates Real? Or Just "Smoke & Mirrors"?

The Bloomberg Administration proudly announced that the NYC high school graduation rates rose to 52% for the four year graduation rate and if you included summer school 56%. While this is an improvement over previous years, there is a more telling factor associated with the City statistics. The most telling factor was that 30.2% of the graduates received a local diploma, compared to Long Island's 9%! That means that almost 1 out of every 3 graduates could not meet the minimum requirements to get a dumbed-down Regents diploma. Tweed depended on some very questionable methods to increase the graduation rate. For example the New York Times article pointed out how the State was concerned with how the "Credit Recovery Program" was being used to push students through the system. I wrote about this program previously Here. Further, educational experts found this and other methods as a problem as well. Here is an what one of these experts on New York City Schools had to say.

An education professor at Brooklyn College, David Bloomfield, said the gains in graduation rates may be artificially inflated by principals trying to raise their figures, which are tied to prizes such as higher report card grades and salary bonuses.

Mr. Bloomfield named two practices that he called "gimmicks": local diplomas, which are being phased out by the state but now allow students to graduate with lower scores on Regents exams, and credit recovery programs, which allow students to earn credits from classes they failed by completing last-minute makeup work.

I read the Daily News Article on how Jamaica High School, a once proud institution being dismantled by DOE, increased their graduation rates by 10%! However, what was the Regents diploma increase? 10%?, 5%? less than 1%? In other words was the 10% increase in Jamaica's graduation rate real, or more gimmicks? It's hard to know because of the lack of transparency in the DOE statistics. Regardless of what the DOE statistics say. It is evident that with dumbed-down Regents, local diplomas, and administrative pressure to graduate "not ready for the adult world" student. The increase in high school graduation rates most be taken with suspicion.

I'm happy that the DOE claims that the graduation rate is rising, and maybe it is. However, to me it's just "smoke and mirrors".

Why Didn't The UFT Demand An Independent Investigation For Alleged Teacher Misconduct?

The UFT spin machine is at it again as they proclaim in their propaganda rag, The New York Teacher, about how they won a great victory for the "rubber room" teachers. I have already commented on this phony UFT victory here. However, what was wanted by all teachers was a truly independent investigation procedure. Presently, all investigations are done by SCI, OSI, and the principal. In all cases the investigators either work for and are paid by the DOE. They assume that the teacher is guilty and their job is to get enough evidence to embellish, pervert, or to change the information to substantiate the alleged misconduct. Regardless of guilt or innocence, the teacher is removed from the classroom and is unable to defend his or herself as the DOE investigators interview potential witnesses against the teacher. How fair is this? Not fair at all! The collateral damage done to the students while the DOE "witch hunt" against the teacher goes on is well known.

What the UFT should have demanded is an independent investigator, that is paid by both sides, to interview the teacher and witnesses at the school to determine if the teacher should be removed. This is a much fairer way and eliminates the need for many of the 3020-a hearings that cost the DOE money, the students their teacher, and the teacher his or her reputation. However, we are talking about Joel Klein's anti-teacher DOE and Randi Weingarten's uncaring UFT. I'm not holding my breath for a fair and impartial investigation process to appear in the near future, not with these two clowns running the show!

Joel Klein's DOE Response To Teacher Independence - "Resistance Is Futile"

During my relaxing summer off from the stress of being a teacher and disrespected by the administration I was watching an old Star Trek series on the Scifi Channel and one of the evil villains were a species called the "Borg". Half living, half mechanical, this species worked as a collective intelligence and assimilated other species it conquered. Any individual thought is stamped out and the drone that dares to think independently is terminated. I couldn't help to think about the similarities between Joel Klein's DOE and the "Borg".

Joel Klein's DOE, like the "Borg", does not allow for independent thought. Any teacher that tries to stand up to the DOE finds themselves in the "rubber room", facing termination. The new administrators that are increasingly coming from the "Leadership Academy" with little or no teaching experience, are told how to treat their drones, oops I mean teachers. They are taught that all collective thought originates and end with them. Except when it comes from Tweed of course. Any independent thought by the drones, oops teachers, I did it again, shall not be tolerated by these newly-minted DOE Principals and insubordination charges leading to termination will be filed. For the newly assimilated drones, I mean teachers, when these Principals yell jump and when the teachers don't jump high enough, they will be denied tenure, hence termination, just like the Borg drones.

I used to think we were just cogs and the students were the widgets in the failed business model but I now realize we are only a species to be assimilated and become a drone for Joel Klein's DOE. Joel Klein's DOE may think that "Resistance Is Futile" - but I and other education bloggers will be fighting on until Joel Klein's Borg are defeated, just like in Star Trek.

I will end this post with an old Vulcan saying to the teachers "Live Long and Prosper".

McCain Or Obama? - What Is An Independent Moderate To Do?

As of today it appears that John McCain and Barak Obama are tied for the presidential vote. However, we still have three months to go and Vice Presidents to select. Since I am a registered independent I couldn't vote in the primaries. If I could, my choice would have been Democrat Bill Richardson, the Governer of New Mexico, who is politically closest to my philosophy. However, with the Democratic Party captured by the left wing and the Republican Party by the right wing, it makes it very difficult to choose the right candidate for an independent moderate voter.

Both McCain and Obama are attractive to me. However, to decide which candidate to vote for I need to look at their voting history, not what they are saying today. Most importantly, as an educator I am very unhappy with McCain's support of those so-called phony education reforms identified here at the NYC Public School Parents blog and his Daily News Opinion page article It's obvious to me that he has no clue of what the classroom environment is like. His support of Vouchers and Charter Schools are a real negative in my book. While Obama has seemed to be more supportive, if vague, of the teaching profession. He did support merit pay, ugh! If education was the only issue, my vote would be a no-brainer; Obama by far. However, I need to think of the big picture and have found Obama to have a paper-thin history of accomplishments and what little data there is shows that he has a strong liberal voting record. I also don't like his flip flopping of his positions to attract the moderate voter. Examples of his flip flopping are: Troop withdrawals from Iraq, off-shore drilling, and Israel.

I also have problems with John McCain. Yes he is a maverick and works well with Senate Democrats on many issues. I give him credit on the Finance Reform legislation that he co-authored and his failed immigration reform compromise that was defeated by the Republican right wing and the Democratic left wing. I also like the fact he does not take earmarks and will veto any earmarks that pass his desk as President. However, I don't like his pandering to the Republican right, his change in position on immigration or his stance on Roe v. Wade. His age also concerns me and his choice of Vice President will be more important to me than Obama's choice (unless it is Bill Richardson).

Presently, I am undecided and will wait and see how the campaign goes before I decide who to vote for.

The Racial Gap Fails To Close - DOE's Children Last Program Continues

The DOE propaganda machine continues their spin on how they are improving minority student achievement. However, a national study by the Schott Foundation For Public Education has shown that the racial gap is not closing. Especially for the black male student. The New York Post reported that the percentage of black males that graduate from high school was only 32% in New York City while the white male student graduation rate was was 57%. New York City ranked a dismal 54th compared to the 67 large school districts surveyed. That means only 13 school districts ranked worse than NYC in the black male graduation rate. A quote by the president of the research group that did the study is quite telling.

"When you have a 32 percent graduation rate you're talking about the largest cadre of black male dropouts in the country - so it's a significant issue in New York."

Of course, the Kleinberg administration will tell us otherwise. They will claim that their policies are closing the racial gap and will continue to do so. I guess Tweed doesn't include black male students in their analysis. Interestingly, the research group complained about the availability and reliability of data from NYC in the footnotes of their report, when compared to the rest of the Nation. I guess when you spin statistics like Tweed does, it becomes difficult for organizations to obtain transparent and accurate data.

The Kleinberg "children last" program continues unchallenged in the New York City Public Schools.

The Two-Faced DOE Propaganda Machine

During the Kleinberg administration the two-faced DOE propaganda machine has been working in overdrive as they have presented to the outside world how well they are improving the NYC public schools and if only they could rid themselves of Teacher tenure, they could achieve even better results. Tweed has spun statistics, lacks transparency on allocations, and ignore teacher input as they present their two-faced policy on the city schools. Let's look at the Tweed spin machine and the truth of what is going on in the NYC public schools.

1. Student improvement: - The DOE has trumpeted the alleged improvement in student scores from the increasingly dumbed down State test where every State district did better. The reality is that the NAEP and SAT scores have remained unchanged since the Kleinberg administration took over the schools.
2. Overcrowding & Large Class Sizes : - The DOE has stated time and again that they are addressing the overcrowding situation & large class sizes. They have also stated that large class sizes is not a problem for student learning. The reality is that many of the attractive public schools are grossly overcrowded, some having three times their capacity. In addition, NYC has the highest class sizes in the State. All independent studies show that the smaller the class size, the better the learning environment.
   
3. Quality Teaching: - The DOE claims that they want quality teachers in the classroom. The reality is that many principals are hiring newbies and many of them from "TFA" and the "Teaching Fellows" program. Few of these teachers last the five years necessary to master the classroom environment and become a quality teacher.
4. Recruitment Over Retention: - The DOE has spent time, money, and effort in recruiting teachers to the schools by intergalactic advertisements, giving tuition reimbursement, and rent subsidies. However, no such programs are available for teachers already in the system. Is it any wonder that over 4,600 teachers resigned in 2007? Look for it to be higher this year.
   
5. Teacher Respect: - The DOE claims that they respect Teachers and that they give the classroom teacher the support they need. The reality is that Tweed fosters an atmosphere of teacher disrespect. How many teachers have found themselves teaching in trailers in overcrowded schools? Have inadequate supplies and support? Why is there n ATR crises? Overcrowded "rubber rooms"? Teacher respect? Not in the Kleinberg administration.
6. Small Schools: - The DOE claims that small schools work and add to student improvement. However, the DOE allows the small schools to select the incoming student body and is allowed to exempt special education and ELA students for the first couple of years. In addition, they usually don,t take level 1 students who have attendance and disciplinary problems. Little wonder that the first few graduating classes have good results, when compared to the large comprehensive high schools. The reality is that these small schools are usually run by a "Leadership Academy Principal" with little classroom experience and they make a point of selecting inexperienced and inexpensive teachers to run the classrooms. Further, once the small schools are required to take the very students that they excluded when they formed, their graduation rates will reflect it.
7. Large Comprehensive High Schools: - The DOE claims that it is to the advantage of the student to break down the large comprehensive high school into smaller /charter schools. The reality is that if the Large Comprehensive High School works, they grossly overcrowd it. If not, they allow the bottom feeders and the students excluded from the small schools to hasten the destruction of the school. What is left unsaid by the DOE is that the large comprehensive high school has a wide variety of courses, majors, and extracurricular activities, unavailable to the small/charter schools.
8. Charter Schools: - The DOE claims the Charter Schools do much better than the neighborhood schools. However, they fail to mention that all Charter Schools have a parent interview and involvement program. Therefore, only those parents that bother to apply and agree to help the school have their children accepted. THE REALITY IS COMPARING CHARTER SCHOOLS TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC SCHOOL IS LIKE COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES!
   

The two-faced DOE propaganda program needs to be blunted at every turn and the truth exposed.

What Is A False Accusation By An Administrator?

The UFT has championed the new agreement as a "win" for the teachers. However, I and many others beg to differ. This agreement is not a win for the teachers. Far from it, it's the UFT spinning it for the sake of saving face. Let's look at one of the unenforceable agreements that the UFT negotiated with the DOE, "false accusations by administrators".

One of the "wins" that the UFT claims in it's unenforceable agreement with the DOE is that the DOE will take disciplinary action against an administrator for knowingly making a "false accusation" against a teacher. Sounds good. Finally, the DOE will take action against administrators that make "false allegations". Right? Wrong! The key world here is knowingly! The DOE regulations state that a complainant made in "good faith" even if found to be unsubstantiated, will not be considered a "false accusation". To prove a knowingly "false accusation" is nearly impossible, based upon the DOE regulations. Let's take a couple of examples on why this is true. Note: The three cases below are a composite of various cases told to me and are not actual cases.

Example 1: A very popular teacher who also is not well-liked by an administrator, due to personal reasons, is taken out of the classroom as rumors circulate that the teacher is having an inappropriate relationship with a student. After an SCI investigation the rumor is unsubstantiated and a year later the teacher is sent back to the school. Is this a "false accusation"? The answer is no. According to the DOE regulations the Principal acted in "good faith" and is not subject to disciplinary action.

Example 2: An administrator claimed that she was informed by a parent that a teacher grabbed her child by the shoulders and arm and roughly pushed her into the seat. OSI investigated the alleged incident and could not substantiate the complaint. In fact, the student stated that all the teacher did was touch her shoulder and told her "to be quiet". The parent was interviewed and stated that I told the administrator that I would appreciate it if you tell the teacher not to embarrass my child in front of other children. Is this a "false allegation"? Of course not, just because the administrator may have twisted, perverted, and embellished the action, the incident still happened. Hence, it is not a knowingly a "false accusation".

Example 3: A student was sexually abused by a former boyfriend outside the school grounds and complained to an administrator about it. The administrator, after talking to the parent, decided not to report the incident. The student then told a teacher who followed procedures and reported it to guidance which reported it to ACS and NYPD. The administrator retaliated against the teacher, accussing the teacher of inappropriate behavior with students and had the teacher removed, pending an SCI investigation. Is this a "false accusation"? Not a chance, even if SCI cannot substantiate the accusation their report will give the complainant enough "wiggle room" so as not to cite the administrator of making a "false accusation". The key word is "knowingly". How do you prove this? The answer you can't. The result? Don't hold your breath waiting for the DOE to discipline administrators.


My opinion of thie UFT/DOE agreement?Take this agreement and shove it!

Why I Broke My Vow Not To Comment On Edwize

I broke an almost three year silence on commenting on Edwize after reading Ron Issac's article on the the recently negotiated agreement with the DOE on the Teachers Reassignment Center (TRC) commonly known as the "rubber room". I couldn't let the article and Ron Isaac's betrayal of the teachers he is supposed to represent go without responding to it. It is bad enough that the UFT keeps negotiating with the DOE at the expense of the teachers but it is worse when they brag how they helped the teachers when common sense suggests otherwise. The Ice blog and myself previously wrote a piece about how this settlement was not good for the teachers and can be found here.

First, I must comment on how most people think that the teachers reassigned to the TRC belong there. Nothing is farther from the truth. Most teachers are reassigned to the "rubber room" due to incompetent, vindictive, or insecure principals. Furthermore, ageism and salary are also a factor. Finally, the investigative process is one-sided and unfair, every teacher can be accussed oi misconduct or incompetence if the administration is out to get you. Since only 7% of the teachers, subject to 3020-a charges are actually terminated, the question is why make things easier for the DOE in their persecution of teachers? Leave it to the UFT in doing just that with their agreement with Tweed. Let's look at how Ron Issac spun the agreement.

• The principals no longer need to show up at the 3020-a hearing but can testify from the comfort of their office where notes and reminders are sitting on their desk. Where is the teacher's due process rights? What happened to the right of facing your accuser? How is this a win Ron?

• The disciplinary process that is one-sided and unfair, remains unchanged. Why didn't the union demand an independent investigation to determine if the teacher needs to be removed? If the DOE and UFT wanted to reduce the "rubber room" overcrowding they could have had an independent arbitrator review the existing cases to determine if they should be sent back to the classroom. How is this a win Ron when the process remains unchanged?
  

• The adding of 8 arbitrators is a win for the DOE and a loss for the teachers. Three out of four teachers want the process to run as long as possible. Even Randi acknowledged this. The longer the hearing process goes, the fuzzier the memory, witnesses disappear, and the web of half-truths fall apart. Expediting the 3020-a hearing process not only saves the DOE money, but helps them in their case against the teacher. This further weakens the safeguards of teacher "due process" rights. This is another win Ron?
  

• The unenforceabilty of any DOE decision that violates this agreement. The UFT does not have any enforceable authority if the DOE does not follow the agreement, and of course as history has shown, Tweed will only follow what they want to. Anything that is not enforceable is not worth the paper it's written on.
  

At one time Ron Issac fought the union and was respected for his advocacy for the teachers in need. However, since blogging with a phony name to support the terrible 2005 contract that has resulted in the problems we have today, Ron has become a shrill for the same people that he would rant about. Gone are the days Ron Issac was an advocate for the teachers. Now he is just one of the many Randi's cronies who does what's right for the union leaders and not for it's members. In my opinion Ron Issac rivals Leo Casey as a spin meister that is not worthy of the classroom teachers' respect.

The DOE Is Reading Our Blogs

It is good to know that the DOE is spending precious education money to have it's staff reading our blogs. Imagine, Kleinberg mandates cuts throughout the school system but they employ staff at Tweed to read our blogs! Norm of ednotes online doesn't think we are on their list. However, I beg to differ and believe many of us are on the ever changing list of 24 education bloggers that the DOE wastes precious time and money on. What is this group at Tweed called? Why, it's the "truth squad". It sounds like an oxymoron to me. How can an organization that twists, spins, and perverts information on a continuous basis know anything about the truth? How much extra money is assigned to this ridiculous group?

Where did the name "truth squad" come from? Well it seems to be the idea of that wonderful Deputy Chancellor, straight from the private school sector, Christopher Cerf. He was quoted as saying

"We try to keep track of what people are saying about us, and we respond periodically," a deputy schools chancellor, Christopher Cerf, who came up with the Truth Squad concept, said. "Because we believe in the truth."

I can't believe it, Tweed searching for the truth? Is this the same organization that allows lying administrators to do as they please in their schools? Is this the same organization who doesn't let the facts interfere in their investigation against a teacher? Is this the same organization that causes the ATR crises and overcrowded "rubber rooms" and blames it on the union? I think I get it. Since Tweed doesn't know what the truth is, they must form a "truth squad" to learn what the real truth is! By the way, the complete New York Sun article on the DOE "truth squad" by Elizabeth Green can be found here.

George Orwell would be happy to know that "big brother " is alive and well in the form of Tweed's "truth squad".

My Education Heroes And Those Nasty Villains

I was recently asked a question by a colleague who do I think are the heroes and the villains in educating the public school children of New York City. I have thought about it and have come up with my list. Excluding the real heroes, the teachers and paras in the classroom!

Heroes: The education bloggers who write about the flawed education policy by Kleinberg , called "children last". Special praise are given to nyc educator, ednotes online, and nyc public school parents as they keep us constantly updated on a daily basis.

My chapter leader who time and again took on the principals in my school and usually won because he knew the contract inside out and was able to intimidate these principals. He made sure we knew our rights and fought tooth and nail to ensure our rights were not violated. Without this chapter leader, life would be much more difficult for the staff in my school. A good chapter leader is a necessity for a school staff to work well in a school. However, there are some chapter leaders that are much too friendly with the principal and are kiss-ups. These chapter leaders need to be replaced for the school staff's own good.

Betsy Combier, an advocate who has taken up the cause of parents with children with disabilities and teachers unjustly accussed of misconduct or incompetence. Yes, she works part-time for Randi Weingarten at the UFT and she has her detractors, but this hasn't stopped her from representing teachers as they face 3020-a charges. She even attends their 3020-a hearings to assist the teacher's NYSUT or private attorney. She goes out of her way to help teachers in trouble.

Villains: Joel Klein and his cronies at Tweed. Never has there been a more anti-teacher group of non-educators that have caused such collateral damage to the classroom and the teaching profession with their "children last" program. Just look at the ATR crises and the overcrowded "rubber rooms" resulting from Tweed's misguided policies.

The investigative process, whether done by the Principal, OSI, or SCI, is biased and unfair. Their motto should be "Don't let the facts interfere with our version of the story".

The media, especially the New York Daily News and the New York Post. The newspapers rarely take an even-handed approach and blindly follows the DOE line.

The small schools that replace the closing of big schools that are a major cause of the ATR crisis.

Bully principals whom have been given a free hand by Tweed to wreck havoc on their teaching staff. This is especially true of the "Leadership Academy Principal" who has little or no classroom experience.

UFT's Unity caucus leaders that has lost touch with what is important to the average classroom teacher. Time and again Randi Weingarten and her insiders negotiate with the DOE and the results are usually bad for the teacher.

I would like comments on what your education heroes and villains are.

Thanks to Eduwonkette for the use of her clip art.

UFT Negotiates A Deal With The DOE & The Teachers Are Screwed Yet Again

Just days after the school year ended the UFT negotiated away more due process rights of the very teachers the union is supposed to represent. Despite repeated protests by "rubber room" teachers that the UFT should not add arbitrators to speed up the process and demand a truly independent investigation system for determining whether a teacher needs to be removed. Randi ignored her own members and liaisons and has teamed-up with the DOE to speed up, not improve or reform, the teacher disciplinary process. Of course the UFT championed this agreement as a triumph for the teachers in their press release. However, the UFT spin machine doesn't tell the truth. A more accurate analysis of this agreement can be found on the ICE-UFT blog. Unfortunately, even the ICE-UFT blog didn't get it completely right. Let's see how the agreement will really affect the disciplinary process.

First, three out of four (75%) teachers reassigned to the "rubber room" DO NOT WANT THEIR CASES SPEEDILY RESOLVED! The longer it takes to get a 3020-a hearing, the harder it is for the DOE to prove their case against the teacher. Memories get fuzzy, stories change, and witnesses disappear. In many cases, an already weak case becomes that much weaker as the alleged evidence turns out to be hearsay or non-existent. Randi knows that it was in the accussed teacher's best interest to allow their case to take years to be heard. Why did she agree to a speedier hearing without real reform in the investigative process is another example of her giving in to Kleinberg at the expense of the teachers she is supposed to protect.

Second, the UFT failed to reform the disciplinary process There is no independent investigative process put into place despite repeated teacher complaints about unfair and biased investigations. Notice there is no mention of the investigations conducted by the Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI) which has up to a year to write their report? The reason is that there is an unwritten agreement between Tweed and SCI that no settlements can be offered by the DOE lawyers no matter how frivolous the case is once SCI substantiated the alleged incident. The UFT/DOE agreement does not change this unholy agreement that causes long delays in the hearing process.

Third, the principal no longer needs to show up at the 3020-a hearing. That means the teacher no longer has the right to face his/her accuser. The principal can just phone it in from his office and keep notes around his desk to remind him of what he needs to say. Another erosion of teacher due process rights.

Finally, the DOE only agreed to review a Principal's decision to remove a teacher and unless you believe in the tooth fairy. If so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Very few of the Principal's decisions will be reversed by Tweed, given their anti-teacher bias. Further "general grounds" for removal is not defined and if the teacher is subject to an SCI investigation, which many are, the above agreement does not apply.

The UFT proclaimed that if an administrator makes a false allegation against a teacher they will be subject to disciplinary action. Yeah right! However, what about the administrator who takes an innocent action and perverts, embellishes, or twists it into misconduct. Does that fall under false accusations? Of course not.

The UFT/DOE agreement also reaffirms that a 3020-a pre-hearing be held and that teachers removed from their schools end up in their borough rubber room whenever possible. Both of these issues are already required and should not have been necessary in this agreement.

I agree with Jeff Kaufman of ICE that the UFT/DOE agreement is unenforceable by the UFT and is not in the best interests of the teachers. As for Randi Weingarten's statement that "justice delayed is justice denied" rings hollow as she agreed to further erode teacher due process rights.

The Bully Principal

Since the Kleinberg era the New York City schools have seen less and less veteran teachers working their way into administration. Almost gone is the 10+ year veteran teacher who becomes an administrator and after 5+ years as an Assistant Principal is finally given a Principal's job. While not all these old-time principals were good, most of them did work with the school staff and didn't forget their roots as a veteran teacher. However, under the Kleinberg regime of terror, we now have the "Leadership Academy Principal, who are usually young, with little or no classroom experience, and have difficulty working with school staff.

These Leadership Academy Principals seem to have one characteristic in common. They have little interpersonal skills and "bully" the staff when they don't get their own way. These bully principals harass veteran teachers and will have them removed from the school when given the opportunity. Further, these bully principals will only hire newbie teachers and try to intimidate them to do what the principal wants. Many of these schools are small schools and have a staff that is almost entirely made up of inexperienced teachers. Finally, because the Leadership Academy principal is told to run the school as a business and to work with Tweed, there is no loyalty to the school staff and all incidents, no matter how trivial or minor, is promptly reported to Tweed.

Well, the New York City Public School cannot be run as a business. The students are not widgets and the teachers are not cogs. Every student is different and a teacher must adjust their teaching style, based upon student composition. No one style or model works for every classroom and veteran principals understand that. However, the Leadership Academy Principal obviously doesn't and they demand that their teachers follow the approved model or else. Is in any wonder that in these schools there is anecdotal evidence of an increase in "Letters-To-The-File" (LIF), greater teacher turnover, and low morale. Many of these bully principals have signed on to be "empowerment principals", meaning even less DOE oversight.

You would think that these bully principals would be removed by Tweed. However, the DOE is very slow in removing principals, unlike teachers, principals are presumed innocent and are given every opportunity to correct their problems and even when they are eventually removed from the school 3 to 5 years down the road, just like a bad penny they show up as a principal in another school to continue their regime of terror in that school. Even Chapter Leaders are not immune to the bully Principal. In the New York Teacher, Ron Issacs wrote an article that shows how easy it is to remove a teacher, even a Chapter Leader!

It is time for the UFT stop with the editorials and start suing these bully principals and force Tweed to retreat into a more reasonable stance on what actions allows a principal to remove a teacher. Our union's inaction has caused both the ATR crises and overcrowded "rubber rooms". I have said it again and again, principal abuses will continue until there is a consequence to their abusive actions.