Chancellor Carmen Farina told the news media that she would give herself a grade of "B+" for achievement and an "A+" for effort.. She pointed out her success in increasing the bogus graduation rate, the implementation of the pre-K program, and increased parent engagement. The Chancellor also claimed how she went to numerous schools and reached out to teachers. Moreover, she is pleased of the work she has done as Chancellor.
I for one maintain that her overall grade is a "D" for disappointing. Here is why.
- Carmen Farina retained 80% of the Bloomberg policymakers at the DOE and few of the destructive Bloomberg policies were changed. Fair student funding, 3020-a charges, and large class sizes continued to exist with the new Chancellor. Let's not forget Charlotte Danielson, recession era school budgets, and the ATR pool remained under her administration.
- She curried favor with our disconnected union leadership but treated veteran teachers with contempt. She stated that when she visited schools, she was looking to identify "bad teachers" and told principals how to start a paper trail to remove them.
- Chancellor Carmen Farina failed to remove the 400 principals she claimed should not be running their schools and allowed the DOE "double standard" to continue when disciplining principals.
- Her insistence that teachers be subject to 90 minutes of useless Professional Development and her failure to reduce paperwork hurt teacher morale.
- Carmen Farina's greatest failure is that she allowed the teachers of the system to look at the DOE as the enemy not as a partner when it came to education.
Too bad Danielson does not include "effort" in our teacher evaluation. I put in tons of effort every day in my lessons but I do not get any credit for it. Screw Farnia. She will not be missed.
ReplyDeleteI’d agree with a D if only because Klein was an F. Lax discipline has now become a major problem in all schools. There is clear discrimination against veteran teachers. The central bureaucracy has swelled. The new Chancellor must 1) understand that discipline is a needed part of a school culture and environment. 2) understand that experience in a teaching staff is something that should be valued and 3) shift the $ from central into the schools and classrooms. I have been lucky to have a Principal who is fair and values teacher experience. She will be retiring soon however and I am very concerned that a new principal will look to cut costs by getting rid of veteran teachers.
ReplyDeleteHighly ineffective. In the corporate world she would have been fired faster than you could say "Cathy Black". However , her real mission was to mismanage, bully and destroy public education. her legacy was to pave the way for privatization of our schools. She kept the ATR caste in their status quo arrangement so as to assert her anti-teacher bullying ideology. An army of pseudo lawyers was groomed and maintained as bully enforcers. She brought absolutely nothing to her stewardship of the education of low income Hispanic children and children of color. She took the job on condition that she could 'double dip" taking both from her lucrative pension and from her Chancellor's salary. with this arrangement, Farina become the highest paid employee of New York city. Just like the greedy, cruel Spanish Conquistadors that asserted their racist superiority, she exploited the tired, the impoverished and the disenfranchised.
ReplyDeleteF for F%$King retire already you power hungry, double dipping, teacher hating, loser.
ReplyDeleteFive years to go here, and that is with taking only a 20 year retirement. I will not work in this corrupt system any longer than that.
ReplyDeleteFarina came to our school last year for a visit. I was not impressed. She was surrounded by her acolytes like she was a rock star, and she was clearly basking in the adulation and glory as she was kowtowed to at every sycophantic turn.
People who behave like this are not worthy of respect in my book. When she spoke, I did not get the feeling she really knew what she was doing, beyond using eduspeak (as they all do) and acting like a queen in her realm.
Her workforce (primarily teachers) are oppressed and suffering, while she eats cake. The graduation rate is clearly manipulated. The college readiness factor is what sinks her. Too many kids either can't get into a college, drop out quickly and/or need remediation. Therefore she is rated a "1" on the Danielson's rubric.
A lot of kids don't want to go to college.
DeleteAnything wrong with that???????
NO!!!!!!
One Big POS! Visited my school when she was deputy chancellor for Klein, as phony as a 3 dollar bill. When she was principal had majority of her staff removed. The children are never the problem it is always the teacher's fault. Typical DOE career bureaucrat. How to rise up the ladder was her only priority using the phrase "its all about the children" and selling it with her benevolent look while hiding the back stabbing POS that is Carmen Farina. I could never understand why many uft honchos were enamored with her. Always recited story about her grandson "Charlie" yet ruined many a career and lied to parents to promote the agenda. Her legacy as chancellor; fraudulent graduation numbers, greatest disparity regarding racial inequities and performance, continuation of Bloomberg/Klein Office of Labor Relations policies, appointing many FOC (friends of Carmen) to high positions at the department. This POS may retire after padding her pension several times over,
ReplyDeleteBUT, her effect will linger on as no doubt this mayor with presidential aspirations will select a new chancellor who will deliver the numbers he needs to tout his progressive approach to education. AGAIN ONE BIG POS!!!!!
F with a comnent of AH
ReplyDeleteFor asshole
This article by Eliza Shapiro is scary. I hope the UFT will do something before giving its approval for such an anti-teacher micromanager in the future. I work with a colleague who escaped Castro's Cuba and he said Farina reminded him of Castro's government officials.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/02/20/this-is-how-carmen-farina-works-outgoing-chancellor-lead-from-inside-schools-261304
Let her have one last function: the subject of a science experiment. Drop her and a rock off a tall building and record which one hits the sidewalk first. That's as much use as this witch had to public education.
ReplyDeleteShe stood at the helm of a system focused on harassing veteran teachers who had given many years of their life to the education of the city's children. She led the way at bullying these teachers while decrying bullying with the other side of her mouth. Apparently only students can be bullied, but not their teachers.
She pushed a non-functional teaching methodology onto teachers, then punished them for lack of results. That was tantamount to insisting you fly a plane---without its wings. She took the veteran teachers out of their positions by any means---closing the school, bringing them up on bogus charges, it mattered not to her, and then placed them in a mobile gulag, subject to daily humiliation, social isolation, deliberately set up for failure, kept in limbo from minute to minute. They were treated, not as honored elders, their craft well honed, but as dinosaurs.
Their students had been passing in respectable amounts for years, but suddenly, they were "doing it wrong", not teaching according to some acronym-rich computer-based system. That there was no discernible improvement in passing stats (except ginned-up fake ones) didn't matter a whit; the old methods were no good. Her message to veteran teachers was: Just get out, you're of no use. How disheartening it is to hear teachers admit they are just jumping through the required hoops just to keep their jobs for a few more years, just playing along. It is the speech of indentured servants, not that of proud partners in a great enterprise--educating the next generation. She has withheld appreciation from what teachers do, she has applied the lash to their backs over and over again. Pride has been replaced by fear.
It's more than time for this witch to go. And not in any honored fashion, but as a losing thoroughbred, a second in a china factory, that which is a clear reject. She should be consigned to the glue factory of memory, as she sent so many ahead of her. Yes, using her in the above science experiment would be about the best use of her.
I think she did try to place the ATRS but backed down because of the negative media attention. This year again ATRS were promised to be placed with that big Asher video. Nothing has changed although ATRS are not rotating as frequently as before.
ReplyDeleteCan someone tell me what Asher does exactly? He got removed from Bklyn Tech and has a bogus job title!
The real question is: Who should be the new head at the DOE?
Farina was an F, just like her predecessors. The problem is the chancellor is a puppet. There is no school board to report to, she essentially is a messenger for the Mayor, who controls the schools. Its a dictatorship, and thats why there is no replacement yet. Who would want this job, it has no perks, and if it goes well the mayor claims the credit, if it goes wrong, the mayor points at you.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue here is Mayoral Control. If the mayor did not have control, and the board was back, the chancellor would have to work with the mayor, and as a result the board...the situation would be very very different for the kids, teachers and all involved. Maybe even the DOE would keep its promises on things like curriculum, budgets, and even supplies.
Chaz could be the new chancellor. His blog is his resume. Not only is he telling it like it is, he is allowing other teachers to speak the truth as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started at the DOE a million years (Then called the BOE), experience was valued. Principals wanted veteran teachers because they know how to deal with kids. Since 2005, everything has gone to shit. Newbies are beloved and vets are shunned. What other profession is like this? However, what I really, really, want to know is if any of this crappy treatment of veteran teachers happens in the suburbs around NYC? Does anybody know how they treat veteran teachers out on Long Island or Westchester? If so, please chime in!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd grade her as a "No Show." She didn't do much, didn't change anything, and had no lasting influence on the school system, teachers, administration, or students.
ReplyDeleteLook, we all know she sucked, from the teachers to the students to the parents, but...Isn't it a beautiful day outside?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, if they ever allow NYC teachers to have guns in the classroom--will the be able to purchase ammo as part of Teachers Choice?
ReplyDeleteIt's great revealing the problems with Carmen here, but they should have been called to the attention of the NYS Board of Regents, NYS Commissioner of Education, NYSED Office of Counsel, Mayor's Office, Panel for Educational Policy, NYC Council Education Committee, NYC Public Advocate, NYC Corporation Counsel's Office, Borough Presidents' Offices, NYS Assembly Education Committee, NYS Senate Education Committee, US Department of Education, NYC education editors and reporters, and Albany education editors and reporters in a timely manner.
ReplyDeleteI find it strange that:
ReplyDeletehttp://theweek.com/speedreads/757039/teachers-union-president-slams-trumps-proposal-arm-teachers-kindergarten-teachers-carrying-guns-holsters
Why would the UFT be against teachers carrying guns in schools? Let us the members decide. I'd be punk, "Sit your ass down now, bitch!" Imagine the control I'd have with a 9mm on my desk? Go ahead just say one word. GO AHEAD!!!
Now, the principals' union is going to endorse this and only administrators will be carrying guns. Then they will be threatening the teachers. "Are you going to pass 90 percent or not? TELL ME NOW."
This is why teachers are always screwed. I wish they would arm us. I can get 90 percent of my students to pass regents if I am able to carry in a classroom.
What about water guns? My students dont like to bathe. Looking down the barrel of a water canon they will feel the wrath of the almighty.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE has hired Charlotte Danielson to develop a new Domain 5 to be called--'Firearms For Safety In The Classroom'.The components of this new domain--ironically, will contain bullets explaining the rubrics--ranging from 'Well Developed (Bulls Eye) to Inefficient (forgetting to load the gun).This new Domain will be included in all future supervisor observations. If any teacher is unhappy with the observation feedback--instead of filing a grievance--they will have the right to challenge the observer to a gun duel in the hallway.
ReplyDeleteTrump said he would pay up to 40 percent to pistol packing teachers. Is it pensionable?
ReplyDeleteI’m sure that certain lib teachers would be the first ones on the line to sign up for the extra cash and getting out of school for the training. Actually this would make for an interesting PD?
I got carpal tunnel in my right hand so I don’t know if I would be able to pull the trigger.
F or a U. Or both.
ReplyDeleteI am getting my gun licenses ASAP in the event our great leader president Trump does give bonuses to teachers willing to carry. I then would love to see the administrator who has the balls to observe me and discuss Danielson with me. Talk Danielson to my gun bitch. I'd have that gun out all day long. As a matter of fact allow us to carry AK-47s.
ReplyDeleteI saw this coming - DB got universal Pre K and considered his legacy secure. Like a stumbling barfly he then looked over at the next stool for love and found Farina -a caretaker chancellor who just kept the status quo post Bloomberg.DB couldn't even be bothered to do a national search. DB got really lucky when Trump started to run.The Trumpster sucked all the air out of the room.Everyone forgot about the remaking of education - as in Eva who? Who cares became the new norm. Remember when DB was like a deer in headlights on Morning Joe - getting grilled after giving Eva 90% of what she wanted. No one cares anymore - DeVos - I was glad when she took the top job - figured the phony charter progress would be revealed. Doesn't matter all eyes on Trump now BS system here in NYC DB has been lucky on crime. the economy and now Trump having the chattering classes attention - education on the back burner as the Bloomberg new status quo continues -look for another caretaker chancellor to be appointed, DB has been extremely lucky re:crime - he's hoping for the same on education.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is Carmen Farinas last day for the 3rd time. Well don't let the door hit you on the way out.
ReplyDeleteMay you rot in HELL 1,000 days for every lie you've told. And another 1,000 days for every time you aided in harming a teacher.
Rot in HELl
So my letter is L for liar.