Chancellor Carmen Farina's Cathie Black Moment.

It seems that Chancellor Carmen Farina's decision to open the New York City schools during the height of the snowstorm was a terrible lapse of judgement.  Despite warnings from all the meteorologists that the heavy snow was to hit New York City between 6 and 10 am, she chose to open the New York City schools anyway.  Her terrible decision ended up outraging parents, teachers, and principals throughout the City.  It turned out the the heaviest snow band that had dropped 3 to 6 inches in an hour was moving through the City just as the children were traveling to their schools. Talk about perfect timing for a disaster?

Worse, was what Chancellor Carmen Farina said when she defended her decision in a press conference to open the schools.  She said the following:

“It has totally stopped snowing,” Fariña said. “It is absolutely a beautiful day out there,” (Note it was still snowing and mixing in with sleet and freezing rain while the roads were slushy and with large puddles everywhere). Interestingly,on such a beautiful day she cancelled her evening meeting in Brooklyn because of the weather.

Yes, a "Cathie Black moment" by our new Chancellor.  Even the teachers and principals unions criticized the decision to open the schools and when the Mayor defended his chancellor by claiming that the National Weather Service informed him that there would only be up to 3 inches of snow on the ground when school opened, weatherman Al Roker on Twitter called the Mayor's claim untrue and he's right.The National Weather Service was going for the heaviest snow to start in the morning at the time the Chancellor made her decision to keep NYC schools open Here.

The Mayor and Chancellor made an extremely poor decision and rather than admit they made a mistake they blamed the National Weather Service, parents who don't feed their children, and ignored the safety of those children as they attempted to attend school in a heavy snowstorm with near zero visibility and snow covered roads and sidewalks.  I must remind the two of them it's safety first and everything second when it comes to the City's children. How disappointing that our Chancellor is still following the snow policies of the Bloomberg administration that has been criticized for years.

Chancellor Dennis Walcott's Teacher Approval Ratings Are In Cathie Black Territory And That's Bad, Real Bad.

Well if there is any question how teachers feel about Chancellor Dennis Walcott, the 2013 Learning Environment survey certainly clinched it.  Gotham Schools published the findings on how teachers felt about Dennis Walcott's tenure   In the survey a question was asked "Are you satisfied with the job the Chancellor is doing"? What was reported is as follows:

Satisfied..............................................Dissatisfied
 27%                                                         57%

What's surprising is that 27% of the teachers are satisfied with the Chancellor, what planet are these teachers from?  Certainly not the planet Earth. How does Chancellor Walcott's rating stack up with the scores of the last two Chancellors?  Let's compare them.

...............................Satisfied............................Dissatisfied

Joel Klein....................30%....................................48%

Cathie Black................27%....................................54%

Dennis Walcott............27%....................................57%

That's right when compared to the incompetent and unqualified Cathie Black, Dennis Walcott's 
percentages are actually worse!  There are more teachers who were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
(57%) with Dennis Walcott than when Cathie Black was Chancellor (54%).

While its obvious that the three Chancellors under Mayor Bloomberg have been unpopular, Dennis Walcott was supposed to bring with him a kinder, and gentler supervision.  Instead Dennis Walcott has alienated teachers with his advocacy for punitive measures, especially against teachers in the classroom.  Let's look at the issues that have made the Chancellor so unpopular with the teachers.

• His lack of independent thought from the Mayor's anti-teacher crusade.
• The Chancellor's advocacy on the "LIFO" repeal.
• Ever increasing class sizes and tight budgets.
• A total failure to connect with the teachers in the trenches.
• A lack of accountability at the top and an ever widening achievement gap.
• The closing of schools and more money going to charter schools.
• His demand to overturn arbitration decisions on charged sexual misconduct cases.
• The continuation of failed policies and meaningless graduation statistics.
• The "fair student funding" formula that stops principals from hiring the best teachers.
• The continuation of the ATR crises. 
• The "double standard" when it comes to disciplining teachers and Tweed managers.

As a teacher if I had 57% of my students dissatisfied with me, I would be a failed teacher and should be terminated.  However, the Chancellor is not held accountable for his poor scores. but the good news come January 1st, 2014, Dennis Walcott will be gone and just a bad memory.  Hopefully,. the next Chancellor will be an educator and discontinue the failed policies under the Bloomberg Administration.

Why Cathie Black Was Really Good For The New York City Public Schools.

At the end of the 2010, Mayor4Life Michael Bloomberg decided that Chancellor Joel Klein was a liability to him after New York State re-cut the state test scores which showed that improving student academic achievement was all "smoke and mirrors". Moreover, the academic achievement gap based upon income and race was wider than ever. Even the newspapers were now skeptical of Joel Klein's boasts of academic improvement and questioned the improved graduation rates which appeared to be strongly influenced by bogus "credit recovery programs". The Mayor4Life, Michael Bloomberg, was also very aware of the unpopular Chancellor's low approval ratings and his antagonistic approach to the State legislature. For the Mayor4Life, he needed to have a more subservient Chancellor. A Chancellor that would follow his every order without questioning them. One night at a cocktail party with his closest friends and other elites, he spotted Cathie Black and asked her would she like the job as Chancellor of the New York City schools? Cathie Black was flattered but told the Mayor4Life she had no experience in education. She explained that she went to an elite private school and her children were sent to boarding school, what did she know of the public schools? The Mayor4Life said I need somebody like you who socializes with the elites and that your staff will take care of the day to day issues dealing with the schools. Cathie Black accepted the Chancellor position and this is how the story begins on why Cathie Black was good for the New York City Schools.

First, Cathie Black's selection as Chancellor showed even his media supporters how Mayor4Life Michael Bloomberg didn't really care who was Chancellor as long as he controlled the schools. The result was the general public actually started to disapprove of the Mayor's education policy.

Second, Cathie Black becoming Chancellor resulted in almost 50% of the leadership at Tweed to leave. Since these were all non-educators with anti-teacher policies. This has to be looked as a positive development for the public schools.

Third, Cathie Black's popularity hit an all-time low at 17% just before she was fired. Her nasty attitude to parents and her elitist ways alienated many parents. In that same survey only 28% of parents with children in the NYC Public Schools thought the Mayor4Life was doing a good job. The result was the State Assembly and Governor were dismissive of the Mayor's LIFO bill without any political fallout due to the unpopularity of both the Mayor and Chancellor.

Finally, the Chancellor's attempt to take money from the principals was not only ill-advised but when she followed that up by failing to disclose where the returned money will be spent on was the last straw for the principals. The result was an almost universal disdain of Cathie Black by parents, principals, and teachers who closed ranks to protest to the State about the New York City Schools and received a sympathetic ear. It was obvious to all that Cathie Black was not only incompetent but the Mayor's puppet and her appearance at the State legislative hearings were not taken seriously by the politicians.

Yes, Cathie Black was incompetent and unpopular. However, she single-highhandedly allowed diverse groups to work together to stop her destructive policies and made the Mayor4Life so unpopular that his LIFO bill was not even addressed by the State Assembly or Governor's Office and the usually obedient City Council refused to agree with teacher layoffs. In other words, Cathie Black was so bad that she was good for the New York City Public Schools.

Mayor Bloomberg Fires His Puppet, The Unqualified Ex-Chancellor Cathie Black & Appoints his Poodle As The New Chancellor.

In what was an expected decision the Mayor4Life, Michael Bloomberg has fired the incompetent and unqualified Chancellor Cathie Black who lasted only three months on the job. The ex-Chancellor was so incompetent that the general public realized it by giving her a miniscule 17% approval rating. Even the despised Joel Klein had higher ratings!

Cathie Black was simply a puppet for the Mayor and everybody knew it. During her short stay four high level rats, oops I mean Deputy Chancellors have jumped the sinking Tweed ship along with almost half of the high level Administrators as the incompetent Captain Black was steering a rudderless course (good riddance). So who does the Mayor4Life appoint? A real educator? Of course not, he appointed his poodle, Deputy Mayor, Dennis Walcott to become Chancellor and yes he will also need a State waiver since he does not have an educator's license. Unbelievable, but true.

I find it very interesting that the Tweed Bureaucrats were applauding Dennis Walcott as some sort of savior, That just shows how disposed and disrespected Cathie Black was as Chancellor. She told reporters she went out and bought running shoes as if she can't get far enough away from her disastrous tenure as a Chancellor.

As for Dennis Walcott, known as the Mayor's Poodle. He told the DOE bureaucrats that he intents the follow the Bloomberg Administration's anti-teacher polices and double up on reform, whatever that means. While I see some incremental changes how Tweed works. To me it is the same old group of non-educators who's expensive programs never seem to translate into real learning in the classroom. I do see that with Dennis Walcott in charge, the Bloomberg Administration will try to rally minority politicians to end LIFO which will fail. Otherwise, it will be the same old DOE with Bloomberg's poodle, Dennis Walcott as Chancellor.

Even The General Public Believes That Cathie Black Is Unqualified To Be Chancellor

In what could not have been shocking to anybody who understands what is going on at the New York City Public Schools, Cathie Black's approval rating was 17%!. Actually I was somewhat surprised that her approval rating was even that high since she has taken over the reins at Tweed she has made herself a non-entity and irrelevant. Cathie Black is not allowed to make policy decisions and rarely grants interviews, only carefully planned photo ops. Even the New York Post's usually Tweed-friendly Michael Goodwin has questioned her ability to lead the New York City Schools.

Most disturbingly to her few defenders, is that Cathie Black has even lower approval ratings with mothers who send their children to the New York City Public Schools, an astonishingly low 13%!. I am sure it does not help that Mayor Bloomberg's approval rating is only 28% with parents who have children in the schools. However, in Cathie Black's tenure she has not made one positive change that would bring confidence and support in her continuing as Chancellor. In fact she is now saddled with various negatives, some of her own making, that has resulted in increased calls for her removal as Chancellor. Let's look at these negatives.

• No experience in the New York City Public School System. She went to a private school and her children to boarding school.

• Lack's educational credentials and needed a State waiver and conditions to be allowed to become Chancellor.

• Her gaffes she makes like "birth control" to reduce classroom overcrowding. "Sophie's choice" to determine where to cut the budget. As well as mocking parents, students, and teachers who showed up at the PEP with chants.

• The ill-advised policy of demanding (not asking) principals to return 50% ( now 30%) of the money they intend to rollover to next school year to protect jobs for staff, then fails to specify where the returned money will be spent on.

• Her staff pushing parent coordinators to sign up parents to lobby for the end of LIFO which is a violation of the "no politics' mission of the office and an apparent violation of Civil Service Law.
  

To make matters worse, the Independent Budget Office (IBO) shows that the 2011-2012 school budget shows significant reductions in school funds (3%) while increasing the Administrative Bureaucracy by 10%, Charter school spending by an astounding 689 million dollars, or a 12.4% increase and an additional increase in both consultant and computer services. See the UFT take on the DOE budget priorities here.

Instead of reducing Administrative costs as the Governor wants, Tweed under Cathie Black is proposing an ever-increasing bureaucracy and associated service providers at the expense of the public school students in the schools. Of course, this is not Cathie Black's doing but Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to get rid of senior teachers no matter how it hurts the children.

Unpopular with the public, unqualified to be Chancellor, Bloomberg's puppet, and downright bad for the classroom, that is how I characterized Cathie Black.

Bloomberg Wants To Layoff 4,666 Teachers. How about Getting Rid Of Some Of The 16,360 Non-School Personnel That Has Been Hired By Tweed Under Klein?

We all know that the Emperor, Mayor4Life Michael Bloomberg has threatened to layoff 4,666 teachers and has even said if more money is freed up by the State it might not be used to advert teacher layoffs. While I do not believe for a second that the Emperor will follow through with the teacher layoff threat, especially when he fails to get the State Legislature to change seniority-based layoffs and get the union to negotiate the termination of the ATRs. I do think that the Emperor should look at the increase of 16,360 non-school employees under his Administration at the DOE for real cost savings.

According to the New York Post in its Editorial about the Bloomberg budget, it states that there has been an increase of 16,360 employees at the DOE during the last decade. I must assume that at best teacher numbers stayed stable or are slightly lower between the rise of Charter Schools, teacher attrition, and larger class sizes in the last few years. Therefore, what Bloomberg should be concentrating on are the 16,360 increase in non-school employment at the DOE now that Ex-Chancellor Joel Klein is gone. Now with the unqualified Chancellor Cathie Black in charge, she should do some real housecleaning and streamlining of the DOE. As UFT President Michael Mulgrew stated that the strength of Cathie Black is that she is a good manager. Therefore, Cathie Black really has to get her own house in order and reduce the bloated Central Bureaucracy and drastically reduce the number of her eight Deputy Chancellors before she looks elsewhere for cuts.

So far, the only thing the unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black has proposed is that school principals give back 50% of their leftover funds for the next school year. Just unbelievable. Instead of attacking the bloat at Tweed and the reduction of high priced consultants she goes after frugal principals and the schools. By the way when the media asked the DOE where will the money go to? They failed to answer the question. To make matters worse the revised DOE 2012 budget has increased the technology budget by an astounding $342 million dollars or a 171% increase which may or not have direct application in the schools while reducing the budget in classroom construction from $912 to only $391 million, a 57% decrease in the school construction budget. It seems that the unqualified Chancellor is in over her head as it appears that it is Tweed 1 and the schools 0, just like it was under ex-Chancellor Joel Klein.

The union needs go over to the offensive and ask the City Council, the City Comptroller, John Liu, and the media why does the DOE need the increase of 16,360 non-school personnel in the last decade while the Mayor wants to layoff teachers and significantly raise class size? The union needs to demand transparency and accountability of the DOE process that will show that Bloomberg and Black are playing a political game that only serves to hurt the very children they clam to defend.

Its Good To Be The Chancellor. If Cathie Black Was A Teacher, The DOE Would Bring Disciplinary Action And Even Termination Charges.

Our unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black put her foot in her mouth by claiming that the way to handle classroom overcrowding was for parents to practice birth control. Not only was this an insensitive remark but has racial implications as many poor minority parents are told to limit the amount of children unless they can afford them. She further shoved her foot deeper into her mouth when she told the same audience that when it came to budget cuts she was faced with a "Sophie's Choice". I guess the loser in the Education budget cuts are to be exterminated in a Nazi death camp. What a gruesome thought. She then compounded her stupid remarks with keeping schools open and telling parents, students, and staff to show up while canceling her trip to a Staten Island school because of the ice and snow. Just unbelievable!

Remember, the unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black never went to public school, she went to a private school with low class sizes and high tuition while her children were sent to boarding school with even lower class sizes and astronomical tuition that only the elite can afford. Furthermore, Cathie Black has no educational experience and doesn't even have a master's degree, a necessary requirement according to New York State regulations. However, her puppeteer, Mayor Bloomberg managed to obtain a waiver from the State which was unfortunate for the New York City Schools. You would think the Mayor4Life would be embarrassed by the unqualified Chancellor's actions. However, he defended Cathie Black by saying that we all say things that are taken out of context or regret how it came out. Even the New York Post Wrote an Editorial calling on Cathie Black "to put a lid on it, Cathie". Further, the Post comment section which is usually supportive, universally panned her idiotic statements.

Now if Cathie Black was a teacher that teacher would have been brought up on charges for making a raciest statement under the Chancellor's Regulation A-421 for Verbal Abuse and would be subject to the DOE's investigative arms of OEO and/or OSI. Moreover, the use of the "Sophie's Choice" comparison to budget cuts would lead to charges of Anti-semitism and an insensitivity to how Jewish students feel about what happened to their people during the Nazi period. I suspect the Mayor4Life would have demanded that the teacher be removed from the classroom and be fired. However, Cathie Black is the Chancellor and Mayor Bloomberg hand-picked her. Therefore, instead of firing her, The Mayor defends her. Too bad he doesn't use the same standard for all those teachers who had to go through their disciplinary and termination hearings for allegedly doing a lot less.

I guess it is good to be Chancellor since you are not accountable for your actions, no matter how stupid they are.

The Unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black Shows Her True Colors By Concentrating On Budget Cuts And Not The Children In Her "Children Last" Program.

I hate to say I told you so but the unqualified Chancellor, Cathie Black has tipped her hand by stating that her top priority is the Bloomberg-imposed budget cuts and increasing already large class size to account for less teachers in the school system. She was very vague about how she was to handle budget cuts without hurting the schools but did say that increasing class size is not as important as keeping quality (cheap & inexperienced) teachers in the classroom. I wonder where she got that from? In other words eliminate "last in, first out" civil service requirements. Another reason she was vague was she really knows nothing about education or the New York City Public Schools. Remember, she went to private school and her children went to a boarding school with maybe 10-15 students per class.

Cathie Black started her school tour by going to a few carefully selected schools while staying clear of the struggling and failing schools, like Jamaica High School that would show her what the DOE has done to them by starving them or money and forcing them to take the students that were rejected from other schools. These are known as over the counter students. A more detailed history of what happened to Jamaica High School was written up by teacher Marc Epstein, Here. I see no real change in this school year with the unqualified Chancellor in charge as she is really a pre-kindergartner when it comes to her knowledge of the public schools. Therefore, look for the cuts to be controlled by Tweed and layoffs come from outside Tweed. That means the Regional Offices (CFN's) clerical positions, school aides, and support staff are in serious danger of losing their jobs. Do not look for significant cuts at Tweed or their pet programs that have proven to be just about worthless to student academic achievement. How does a bunch of British and Australian non-educators add to an American educational program? The millions spent on these worthless quality review and letter grade programs inspired by Tweed, should have resulted in the firing of these idiots who approved it. Instead they were promoted under Joel Klein.

I hold little hope for the New York City Public School students while the Bloomberg puppet, Cathie Black, is told by the Mayor what to cut and leave Tweed alone. Haven't they have done a good job destroying the New York City Public School in their ever continuing "children last" program?

Cathie Black Given Waiver Despite Being Unqualifed For The Position Of Chancellor.

New York State Department Of Education Commissioner, David Steiner, has granted a waiver to Cathie Black to be the new New York City Chancellor despite the objections by educators, parents, and politicians. I guess I can now apply to be CEO at Hearst Magazine since I am just as qualified running a media company as Cathie Black is in running the New York City Schools.

It appears to David Steiner that over 15,000 signatures of an online petition by New York City educators, parents, and politicians opposing the unqualified Cathie Black as Chancellor is not as important as what our Mayor4Life, Michael Bloomberg wants and that is a shame.

I always thought the Mayor really cared about the children but he was clueless what actually worked in the classroom. However, it is quite apparent that Mayor Mike only cared for himself by selecting an unqualified fellow businesswomen who is in his inner circle in society rather than an educator to lead the New York City School system. Children first? I don't think so, it is Mayor Blooomberg first and the New York City Public School children last.

Even The New York Daily News Finds Chancellor-Elect Cathie Black Unqualified. How Come Our Union Leadership Doesn't?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg picked one of his rich and powerful friends to become the next Chancellor of the New York City Schools. The nominee is magazine CEO Cathie Black who had no educational experience and who's children went to a ritzy private school. Further, she admits that she is clueless on how the New York City Pubic Schools work. Even the Mayor's usual media mouthpieces, the New York Daily News and the New York Times questioned her lack of qualifications. Most disturbing was the lack of any competition for the job. It appears that she was selected because she was in the Mayor4Life's inner circle of friends. Of course the New York Post didn't see why the Chancellor needs to have educational qualifications. Now it is up to the State to grant a waiver for the unqualified Cathie Black to become the next Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools.

You would expect that our union would take the lead as opposition started to question this selection of an unqualified person to be Chancellor. This was the time for the powerful UFT to take a stand and write a letter to State Commissioner Stiener to deny a waiver for the Chancellor-elect. Shockingly, I could not believe my eyes when the UFT President, Michael (don't call me Mike) Mulgrew stated the following:

“When I met her, I thought she was very nice and I’m looking forward to working with her,” Mulgrew said. “When someone is new you have to be optimistic. You can’t go in with any preconceived notions and that’s the only way I am going into this.”.

Instead of leading the opposition our UFT leadership is actually welcoming the unqualified Chancellor-elect. Just unbelievable!. Now the opposition is being lead by real education reformers and politicians like Tony Avella, and even the head of the City Council's education committee, Robert Jackson, have expressed their displeasure with her and set up online petitions to express there disgust of Cathie Black's lack of educational qualifications and deny her the waiver she need sto be Chancellor. If there is one silver lining in this is the mass resignation of many of Joel Klein's top aids at Tweed Here. Moreover, look for others to follow.

Our union should be taking the lead in opposition of the unqualified Chancellor-elect, not welcoming her.

Petition One:

Petition Two: