Once again another disgusting case of academic fraud has shown up at a Renewal School. This time its Flushing high school where students who passed the Algebra class because of the Principal's directive that 75% must pass, including no shows, or the teacher will be given an "ineffective" rating. However, most failed the Algebra Regents which is necessary to graduate high school. Since the Algebra Regents is the easiest to pass of all the Math Regents, instead of requiring the students to take the Algebra class over or arrange tutoring for the next Regents this is what the Principal, Tyee Chin, did instead.
Mr. Chin and his assistant Principal in Math arranged for the students to take the Algebra class over again but coded it as a Geometry class so to give the students a phony Geometry credit rather than give them a no-credit Algebra course. This was academic fraud as it was a blatant attempt to raise the graduation rate and to show academic improvement when there was no merit.
Five teachers wrote to the Special Commissioner of Investigations (SCI) about the academic fraud who inexplicably sent it to the DOE's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) where it lies buried as the Principal is still running the school.
Principal Chin's trust factor is only 46%, that means the majority of teachers find him untrustworthy and when you consider he tried to get staff to rate him and the school favorably and was disciplined for the intent to spike the school survey, you can guess his untrustworthiness is probably even higher. At the end of last school year Principal Chin send the Flushing staff a "Hunger Games" letter that in part, said the following:
— “Don’t trust anyone,” he says he was advised when he began — and said that after a year, “there are still those who refuse to put down the war cry for a new principal.”
Furthermore, he took a threatening student's side and instead reassigned a teacher who was threatened.
Mr. Chin, is another failed Principal and how these "bad pennies" continue to show up to run schools is beyond me. He failed to turnaround his Harlem School and left after three years. Now Mr. Chin was allegedly seen applying for the Townsend Harris position, talking about going from bad to worse at the school if Mr. Chin is the new Principal?
Unfortunately, this is not the first allegation of academic fraud at Flushing High School. In Mr. Chin's first year as Principal the school was accused of graduating 150 students using a quickie online course program. How can the Mayor and Chancellor close their collective eyes and allow these bad principals to commit academic fraud and remain in charge of schools is just unbelievable to me.
i'm still trying to get over your April fool's day joke...
ReplyDeleteGet your story correct before you write them. Principal Chin never told anyone they must have a minimum of 75% passing. He told the staff that if less than 75% of the students are passing make sure you have documentation to cover yourself should the grades be questioned by him or anyone such as a parent. He has never asked anyone to change their grades as of today. Teachers have requested to change a failing grade to passing and he denied the request because they did not have the proper supporting documentation. The math department credit accumilation increased from 13% and the regents score also increased by 15%.
DeleteI read 38 people applied for townsend harris principal job and superintendent lindsay picked jahoda and three other unqualified candidates including chin. townsend committee never even saw resumes of the other 34 people. now farina can pick jahoda and say she was most qualified probably over summer when the noisy kids have graduated already. chin has as much chance for that job as i do and i am an atr phys ed teacher whose child attends townsend. farina pushed barbetta out of townsend for standing up to her and now wants a woman in that seat no matter how loud the community is against it. lindsay is just her puppet like the rest of them
ReplyDeleteThey like vicious principals to go after older teachers.
DeleteThe extremely laughable passing thought that a piece of dishonest gutter scum like Mr. Chin should even be eligible to apply for the position of principal of one of the crown jewels of the city schools, Townsend Harris High School, is but an indication of how Comrade Wilhelm DeASSio thinks his commie principles should be applied to our city. In Communism, there cannot be poor and exalted; everything must be equal (read: mediocre). So first Comrade Wilhelm wanted to dumb down the stiff entrance exams to elite schools like Townsend Harris so that the typical non-academic disruptive students can gain admission and proceed to ruin those schools just like they ruined their neighborhood schools. And then he fails to promptly remove a scumbag like this Chin character (but of course, any TEACHER even accused of such dishonest actions would be promptly terminated) and allows him to apply to head up this wonderful school. And suppose he got the job? Mission accomplished; Townsend Harris would no longer be special or elite, just another brick edifice full of non-academic disruptive students, whose top flight students have fled to private schools, Westchester schools, or Long Island schools.
ReplyDeleteI just found out that this dishonest gutter scum Principal Chin just got 6 proficient on the QR and met 4 of his receivership benchmarks already. He might be able to save over 130 teachers jobs that love the school.
DeleteI think I read in the paper today that he is only 31 years old. What kind of teaching experience has this dude had prior to becoming a principal? I remember when teachers would teach for 15 years before becoming an AP and the years after that they would become a principal. "Leadership Academy" principals are bullshit. Thus, this kind of news does not shock me in the least.
ReplyDeleteNo it said that he was 41
DeleteBut there are leadership academy principals around that age that Chaz has written about
DeleteThe stench of high level corruption wafts over the Chin case just like Taveras's. Both have committed crimes under NY education law. Yet nobody in power has recommended charging them, not Farina, not Condon, not Mulgrew. Not even you, Chaz. How come? We all know that Farina is the Beverly Hall of NYC and NYC Atlanta of the North. The cheating will NEVER cease until our mafiosos face jail time just like the crooks in Atlanta. How about it, Chaz?
ReplyDeleteSo that is how Fariña claims she is doing a good job having Dwarka change grades, or Kwait do the same. Then they go after teachers that speak up, and then the UFT does nada.
ReplyDeleteI'm a teacher at FHS for close to 20 years, and I think that Mr. Chin, although far from perfect, has brought some stability to a situation that was out of control. The graduation rate had increased dramatically and he constantly encourages us to be better teachers and that we can reach the renewal/receivership benchmarks. Teachers that are complaining about him are old and set in their ways and refuse to try anything new. I would not let these incompetent teachers tie my shoes let alone teach my children (which is my personal benchmark for judging a teacher). Our school has some of the finest educational minds in the city who does what Mr. Chin wants and they have no problems with their evaluations. Mr. Chin evaluates teachers fairly and gives them ample time implement changes that he wants. Teachers that get into trouble with him refuse to change at all (No lesson plans, old style teaching aka chalk and talk, giving students a textbook to work out of for the whole period or showing them some Hollywood movie or TV show and calling it education). Mr. Chin clearly models what he expects from teachers and is more than willing to help them. Remember in the corporate world when you don't do what the boss wants--you get fired!
ReplyDeleteSo those complaining teachers should feel lucky they have jobs where they can get 14 or 15 chances before any disciplinary action is taken. Although the students are far from perfect and come from the most desperate of situations, the only thing teachers can do is to do their job the best they can. If it means carrying a tracker or lesson plan with them or altering a 15 year old lesson--so be it! I will see Mr. Chin tomorrow and I hope he carries on and stays on at FHS. Who can blame him for trying to go to THHS, if I had the opportunity for an interview there, I'd jump on it too.
You are??? Most of us know.
DeleteAnon 4:15
ReplyDeleteHow do you explain the Geometry fiasco? His lack of trust by staff? Not to mention the falling college and career readiness scores?
Even the most vile of people have their supporters.
Go and check the survey from the previous year. You will see that the results were exactly the same. They DOE did not release the new survey for Mr. Chin. It used the previous principal survey because of one of our teachers
DeleteCoward. If you really feel this way, then why hide who you are?
ReplyDeleteChaz
ReplyDeleteAll renewal schools are doing this: offering advanced math to unqualified students to improve the college and readiness metric. Out of the last 5 principals FHS has had his approval rating is no better nor worse than his predecessors. Most schools in NYC have very low college readiness levels so its not just a FHS problem
Anon 4:15
ReplyDeleteOMG!
"Our school has some of the finest educational minds in the city who does what Mr. Chin wants and they have no problems with their evaluations."
I hope you are not an English teacher?
Anmon 5:56
ReplyDeleteYou're correct, its not just a Flushing HS problem. However, the giving out phony credits just to jack up the graduation rate is academic fraud at its worst.
Teaching Algebra instead of Geometry just to give students Geometry credits is probably borderline criminal.
chaz is right. There is no excuse to deliberately give credit for a course that was really a no-credit course. The Principal and AP should be fired for academic fraud.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure the story wasn't Namita Dwarka from Bryant?
ReplyDeleteFariña loves Dwarka, and Dwarka is above the law. She is here to bully, and persecute good teachers.
DeleteTeachers are so afraid of Dwarka, that they are passing everybody in class. She knows she is protected and above the law. Fariña must be happy to see those dictators ruin our schools. The Queens UFT office also likes Dwarka getting away everything.
DeleteHey guys: cool the "academic fraud" and think "criminal fraud."
ReplyDeleteMy A.P. asked me where my action plan was for the students in my classes who failed. She continued to tell me that this school takes failures very seriously and that each student who is failing, must have an action plan. I let her go on and on for about 5 minutes. I then politely told her that I do not have any action plans because I have a 100% pass rate. I explained that I didn't fail any of my 160 or so students. She looked at me in a perplexed manner and then after about 10 seconds (and picking her mouth up off the floor) she smiled. I guess I will be rated Effective again. I was trying to explain to the others about the action plan and why you would want to spend hours upon hours writing action plans when you can simply pass everyone and write zero. I think they're almost understanding me. It's almost connecting.
ReplyDeleteThat is what Fariña wants
DeleteI am forwarding the above subversive comment (anonymous 7:54 AM)to Farina, Weinberg, Condon, Elia, Weingarten, Mulgrew, Schoor, Barr, Cashin, and other champions of academic integrity and education law. In the best of all possible worlds there will be blood. Conscience bound, Farina et al. will immediately demand an Atlanta-style investigation without fear or favor into illegal (i.e., criminal)false grading anecdotalized ad nauseam on our blogs.
ReplyDeleteAffirmative cheating by administrators and go-along teachers is so rooted and routine that even the watchdogs decline to bark. Norm Scott, the I. F. Stone of ed bloggers, casually confessed that he “would never whistle blow -- figure it's like baseball players on steroids -- if everyone does it everything balances out. … Well, I guess I don't have problems with grading generously and would think that if a kid was close to a 65 I would think about what I am doing to that kid by giving say a 64.” (June 12, 2013)
What Norm was really doing was the devil's work, not in the service of sadly failing students, but of our corrupted leaders.
Dearka is above any law. Fariña likes the abusive principal that destroys schools.
DeleteI am not defending what this principal did, but it is a tricky situation when you have students who struggle to pass the CC algebra exam. So instead you offer them an Algebra heavy "Geometry" course so that they can get their math credits while not forgetting all of the Algebra content.
ReplyDeleteIMO the Regents have failed our students by adopting the much harder CC Algebra exam when there was no real issue with the Integrated exam. So I do not lose sleep doing what we can to help these kids graduate high school.
Did anyone see the principal on the Ellen show last week? This principal was from a public charter school in Brooklyn. Somehow the public and figures like Ellen are convinced that these charter school chains are the utopian educational forums in which even the most thugs of thugs can graduate from HS. I just cannot wait till the thugs take over the charter school sector and lets see all these newbie charter teachers take on the thugs with the NYC official school uniform consisting of:
ReplyDelete1. The infamous hoodie - usually worn in black like most other piece of clothes but the hoodie must be worn at all times.
2. The ear buds or better known as the Beats....Yes these $300 earphones hug the ear of just about every thug student and is now the official ear piece of the nyc student.
3. sloppy jeans falling off the waist. Yes the rikers island special can be yours at a models near you for a price tag ranging from $5 - $500
4. How can we all forget the Jordan sneakers...yes my friends the jordan sneakers have become official gear for the city slicker student who comes to school to socialize and show off the jordans - (matching colors with doo rag and shirt extra bonus
5. The empty back pack - although most nyc students have nothing in there, it looks like they are studius and attending classes every day. However a peek inside the back pack reveals crumbled up papers and other paraphernalia.
Complete now the charter schools can try and make the thugs wear their orange uniforms but they resemble rikers too much so lets look at other charter school uniforms to complete their transformation of thugs to students. Go Eva you go girl!!
To 7:54
ReplyDeleteSame thing at my school! It must be something they are telling all the admins. Only here, in addition to a detailed action plan, we now have a 'live' document that we must update WEEKLY to show what we are doing for those students, and the email from the office told us they will be monitoring this document in 'real time.' Many teachers rightly gave failing grades, and I warned them they will get in trouble and have headaches. Now they are coming to me saying, "Why didn't I listen to you?" As for me, I learned three years ago - unless they are no shows, you cannot give less than a 65 to anyone or the principal will be on your case.
It is a good solution to pass everybody, so they do not go after you. It is the Fariña's solution.
DeleteWhy don't we run this blog post, and the comments, by Cornelia Gutwein, one of the former principals of Flushing High School?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Cornelia would be good enough to do a guest post or add a comment.
Although she was known to have "words" with teachers on occasion, she was tough on the students, according to a number of sources.
One story about her had to do with an observation. Some student was acting up while she was in the room. She immediately got up and told the student, "Come to my office right now!" She told the teacher, "Don't worry about it. I'll come back to see you some other time."
Nowadays, many principals and APs are glad to witness disruptive students during observed lessons, so that they can issue the teacher a bunch of "Ineffective" component ratings on the Danielson forms.
Anon 12:16
ReplyDeleteWhat your Principal did is indefensible and is academic fraud, pure and simple. The Principal and the AP should be fired for academic misbehavior
By the way, the State lowered the cut scores of the CC Algebra Regents and more students passed it.
Chaz, why do use the euphemism "academic fraud" when the more meaningful term is illegal false grading? Please explain.
ReplyDeletePhilip:
ReplyDeleteAcademic fraud is a catch-all phrase and since I don't know the specifics, its use is appropriate.
But academic fraud does not catch the criminal angle and allows Tweed and SCI to skate on recommending deserved criminal prosecution that would unmask the DOE's coverup.
ReplyDeleteThis was an issue years ago, when I was at Bergtraum. The need for "action plans." Though the real action plan was b.s. If the kids followed school rules and applied themselves, this wouldn't be an issue. Admin did not want to deal with student behavior. They did not have hard punishments for violation of the rules. Blame put on teachers for not managing behavior. So, I tended to pass more than fail. Not really fair for the kids who put in the work. Why put in the work when you can just slide on by? It kills the culture of school and turns it into a diploma mill. What these admins are doing is criminal to the highest degree. They should at the least be removed and at the most do some prison time with the "thugs" they love so much.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a good idea to falsify grades, especially Regents Exam grades.
ReplyDeleteHere is a story about a Peekskill High School chairwoman:
www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2014/08/15/peekskill-teacher-fined-regents-exams/14121607
A number of years ago, I was at an end-of-term party. One of the teachers told a story about one of her students who had previously failed an RCT Exam twice in a row. This time, the student had 38 of 60 questions correct, and only needed one more correct in order to pass. The teacher erased one of the penciled multiple-choice Scantron bubbles that was an incorrect choice, and filled in the correct bubble.
The teacher told a group of people at the party, "It wouldn't have done her any good to have failed the exam for a third time. So, I gave her a break."
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
ReplyDeleteTitle 8. Education Law
Chapter II. Regulations of the Commissioner
Subchapter E. Elementary and Secondary Education
Part 100. Regulations
Section 100.1b. Unit of credit is earned by:
1. the mastery of the learning outcomes set forth in a New York State-developed or locally developed syllabus for a given high school subject, after a student has had the opportunity to complete a unit of study in the given subject matter area; or
2. pursuant to section 100.5(d)(1) of this Part, a passing score of at least 85 percent or its equivalent on a department-approved examination in a given high school subject without the completion of a unit of study, and the successful completion of either an oral examination or a special project.
Those of you that are victims of an abusive/vindictive principal, and were brought up on charges that are not true are on the target list. Your old principal may have contacted the field supervisor to let him/her that you should be targeted. Also Central may put a red flag in your file so you do not get hired. Once a principal decides to go after you, then you are basically done. Principals are using the observation process to discipline those who are not 100 percent obedients to the wrong policies, and speak up about wrongdoing. Those of you that will excessed you may have a little more time unless you really have around 30 years. Many teachers with 30 years are also being targeted because of high salaries. It is a system that punishes any experienced teacher that speaks up against wrongdoing. The percentage of ATRs getting Us is very high.
ReplyDeleteFraud makes Fariña and Mulgrew look good.
ReplyDeleteThis is either Chin or one of his cronies (he has about 4 or 5 loyal teachers - that he promised good treatment to if they wrote the superintendent - no not a joke!). No teacher feels this way at Flushing High School! He has had countless 3020a's this year and he has discontinued extremely good teachers without tenure. He also harasses anyone who questions anything. This man is simply UNFIT to be a principal! He cannot write or spell and he is a tyrant!
ReplyDelete"I'm a teacher at FHS for close to 20 years, and I think that Mr. Chin, although far from perfect, has brought some stability to a situation that was out of control. The graduation rate had increased dramatically and he constantly encourages us to be better teachers and that we can reach the renewal/receivership benchmarks. Teachers that are complaining about him are old and set in their ways and refuse to try anything new. I would not let these incompetent teachers tie my shoes let alone teach my children (which is my personal benchmark for judging a teacher). Our school has some of the finest educational minds in the city who does what Mr. Chin wants and they have no problems with their evaluations. Mr. Chin evaluates teachers fairly and gives them ample time implement changes that he wants. Teachers that get into trouble with him refuse to change at all (No lesson plans, old style teaching aka chalk and talk, giving students a textbook to work out of for the whole period or showing them some Hollywood movie or TV show and calling it education). Mr. Chin clearly models what he expects from teachers and is more than willing to help them. Remember in the corporate world when you don't do what the boss wants--you get fired!
So those complaining teachers should feel lucky they have jobs where they can get 14 or 15 chances before any disciplinary action is taken. Although the students are far from perfect and come from the most desperate of situations, the only thing teachers can do is to do their job the best they can. If it means carrying a tracker or lesson plan with them or altering a 15 year old lesson--so be it! I will see Mr. Chin tomorrow and I hope he carries on and stays on at FHS. Who can blame him for trying to go to THHS, if I had the opportunity for an interview there, I'd jump on it too."