10% Of Schools Lack A School Nurse

The DOE and Principals have contributed to the school nurse shortfall as 10% of the schools lack a school nurse and with a potential coronavirus epidemic on the horizon.   The DOE is responsible to supply every school with a certified school nurse but has failed to do so.  Compound this with principals, who control their school budget, who refuse to use their precious school funds to hire a school nurse and then ask the DOE to reimburse them.


 The DOE has required some school nurses to rotate among schools that have no school nurse, meaning that many of the schools are not covered with proper medical personnel during the school day.  The lack of a full time school nurse is unconscionable and the DOE should be sued and those administrators responsible should be fired.  However, don't look for that to happen.

Considering that the DOE budget is nearly 27 billion dollar, they certainly can afford to supply every school with a full time school nurse.  Read the New York Post article Here.

DOE Must Get The Lead Out

An investigation found  938  NYC classrooms, which includes many of the youngest students, are in classrooms  that had lead paint levels that were considered a health risk.  High levels of lead are associated with mental retardation, inattentiveness, behavioral problems, and low intelligence as the lead interferes with the developing brain in young children.

Worse, parents of these children in lead contaminated classrooms were kept in the dark by the DOE Is it any wonder these young children are potentially exposed to lead paint chips and, air pollution that negatively affects their academic ability.

 I bet DOE headquarters have no lead problems. The DOE's children first policy is simply a joke.

Why Does The DOE Continue To Shortchange Schools?

   Since 2008, the DOE has shortchanged schools when it has come to funding.  According to the City budget for 2019, only the now discontinued Renewal Schools received 100% of their Fair Student Funding (FSF).  In fact, most schools received far less with a minimum of 87%,  To fully fund NYC public schools under FSF, it would cost an additional 750 million dollars.

The FSF is broken down as follows:

Fair Student Funding Fair Student Funding (FSF) is $6.1 billion this school year and is used by schools to cover basic instructional needs. FSF funding usually comprises between 60 to 70 percent of an individual school’s budget and Principals may spend it at their discretion, with the ability and flexibility to decide how much to spend on teachers and other instructional needs. 

 The FSF formula allocates funding to schools through five categories:  

1.Foundation, which is a fixed amount of $225,000 for each school and may be used at the principal’s discretion for administrative staff, teachers, or other services the principal would like to provide. 

 2.Grade weights, based on student grade levels; 

 3.Needs weights, based on students’ needs; 

 4.Enhanced weights for portfolio high schools, which include CTE and transfer schools; and 

 5.Collective Bargaining,related to increases for staff funded with FSF

 While Mayor Bill dr Blasio committed to fully fund the public schools and lower class sizes, he has failed to achieve either one despite a $4 billion dollar City surplus.

Obviously, the Mayor and his Chancellor rather use the money for other needs then to  help the students by reducing class sizes, hire more teachers, and fully fund the schools.

While Schools Scrimp For Funds The DOE Wastes A Million Dollars On Unecessary Travel Expenses.

It's no secret that schools suffer from near recession budgets and only receive 89% of their fair funding.  By contrast the bloated DOE does not worry about funding when it comes to their travel, wasting almost one million dollars on questionable travel and poorly documented proof of their educational value.

According to City Comptroller Scott Stringer, the DOE wasted almost a million dollars on lavish and unnecessary travel for example:

• $14,023 in blatant overpayments, including $11,913 to the glitzy New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.

• $233,167 for meetings in hotels and other venues with no effort, as required by the rules, to find free or low-cost space in city school buildings — including $12,883 for a staff retreat at the posh Tarrytown House Estate on the Hudson.

• $269,684 in purchases that lacked required written bids including a $17,847 catering bill.

• $14,956 in credit card charges with no supporting documentation, including $2,821 in charges at the lavish Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.

This is just another example of the bloated and wasteful DOE using money for their own needs while stiffing the schools of much needed resources.  Francis Lewis High School Chapter Leader Arthur Goldstein said it best  in the Ne York Daily Mews.

"Teachers have to beg for money and these educrats are staying at the Marriott. Shame on them," said Francis Lewis High School teacher and teachers union rep Arthur Goldstein.

"They don't have any money to reduce class sizes but they have money to over-pay hotels," added Goldstein, who said he teaches 34 students stuffed into a half-size room. "Where are their priorities?"

This is where the DOE's "children last"  policy came from with the DOE's wants and needs coming first and the students get the leftovers.  Read the entire Daily News article Here.  The New York Post story is Here.

Let's see how many educrats are terminated due to the lavish travel fiasco?

Horror Show For Some Students Due To DOE Incompetence.

The DOE showed how bad their decision making is by waiting for children to be dropped off at their school Friday and at 9 a.m cancelled after-school programs and activities.  Too late for parents to make alternate plans. Why did the Chancellor decide so late?  Because he claimed that he was unaware until that time that 10% of the yellow bus fleet was adversely impacted by the snowstorm.  This shows that the DOE was lax in obtaining up-to-date information on the yellow bus fleet that transports students to and from school.  The DOE's lack of oversight of these bus companies must share the blame for this travesty.

On Thursday, due to the snowstorm, It turns out that one Special Education child did not arrive home until 3am on Friday!.  How can that be?  In another case five Special Education students were trapped on their broken down yellow school bus for 10 hours!   The DOE, flush with money, would have called a taxi to transport these Special Education students to their home?

In another case parent Veronica Sterling wrote the following at 9:48 pm on Thursday on Facebook.

My son is still not home from school. He was been waiting for a bus for over 4 hours. I am glad he has a wonderful staff keeping them calm, active and fed.  I normally do not tweet about things like this but I am concerned parent of a special needs child in D75

Then there is this story in the New York Post.  Finally, teachers at P.S. 128 in Washington Heights proceeded with open school night, despite the weather and teachers were forced to stay all night at the school due to hazardous weather conditions.  Why wasn't it cancelled?

More DOE incompetence and uncaring of their students and staff if you ask me.

Proof The DOE Does Not Care About Studemts.

The DOE claims that they care about students but the truth is the DOE only cares about themselves.  If the DOE really cared about the students, the DOE would fully fund the schools, reduce class sizes, and eliminate school-based fair student funding that forced principals to "hire the cheapest rather than the best teachers" for their school..

In addition, the DOE had a 2019 budget of $25,6 billio dollars and according to  the City Council..  in their report,  Despite less teachers hired, the DOE headcount went up,  Some of the increase was due to an expansion of Special Education services but the headcount at the Central Bureaucracy also increased.

The DOE has shortchanged students and teachers:
The Department of Education’s $15.8 billion PS budget supports a budgeted headcount of 133,021 full-time equivalent employees (FTE). Most DOE staff work in public schools, and most staff are teachers. Since Fiscal 2015, headcount at DOE has increased by 11,131 positions, for a total of 133,021 budgeted full-time positions in the Fiscal 2019 Preliminary Budget. However, the percent of teachers has steadily declined. In Fiscal 2019 budgeted teacher positions account for approximately two-thirds (64 percent) of all school-based staff but 58 percent of all DOE staff. Most of the headcount increase at DOE includes titles such as literacy coaches, special education support staff, social workers and universal pre-kindergarten teachers, all of which are not listed as teacher titles at DOE. The figure below shows DOE’s overall FTE headcount since Fiscal 2015 and the total number of teachers. However, we may see this trend begin to reverse as the Four-Month Actual headcount for Fiscal 2018 in the PMMR is indicating an increase of 152 teacher titles.

It appears the DOE rather spend money on headcount, especially in the Central Bureaucracy, rather than spend it on students and schools.  A prime example id that instead of building more classrooms, students are crammed into trailers that had only a life of ten years and now have toxic black mold. Here's how the DOE responded to parents about moldy trailers.

How many students get sick because they are being put into trailers that have lasted long past their lifespan?   The New York Post identified the problem and yet the DOE has done little but claim they are working on the trailer issue.  For the DOE its all talk and no action at the expense of the students and teachers who must suffer the consequences.

Fix The Schools In Five Easy Steps

A few years ago their was an education blogger who has now retired.  He once wrote the actions needed to improve our public schools back in 2009.  In this down time, I believe we should revisit those five steps that "Accountable Talk" listed almost a decade ago.

Step One:  Stop the Gimmicks:
.
Step Two:  Enforce Discipline:

Step Three: Reduce Class Size:

Step Four: Attract the Best Teachers:

Step Five: Fire All Administrators:

Accountable Talk's blog stopped publishing in 2016 but his five 2009 talking points are still valid in 2018, Has anything changed since he published these action items?  Not really.  In fact one action item, student discipline has gotten worse under Mayor Bill de Blasio, with "warning cards" and useless restorative justice meetings rather than student suspensions and arrests.

You would think our union leadership would have adopted these five talking points and pressure the Mayor and Chancellor in reforming the money hungry and bloated DOE.  However, none of the five action points have been adopted by our union leadership.  In fact, President Michael Mulgrew told an Executive Board meeting that the UFT does not go after vindictive administrators since they are fellow union members (CSA).  What a crock of shit!  Of course he saw no issue in joining an anti-police rally organized by Al Sharpton,  Aren't the police (PBA) fellow union members?  Our union leadership is complicit in the DOE's attack on their teachers and rather than be pro-active they barely react to the DOE's policies that hurt the classroom environment.

The More Money Spent On A Student, The Better They Do On High-Stakes Tests.

Most educators know that resource rich schools have students who do better on high -stakes tests.  This assumption is disputed by education reformer organizations who claim its all about the teacher.  Well, we now have a study that shows that educators are right, the more money spent on a student, the better they do on high-stakes tests.

The study shows that when funding per pupil increases, both English and Math test grades increase.  In schools, like in New York City, there is less than a correlation because of the way NYCDOE allocates funding and it's difficult to trace where the money goes.   Consequently, additional funding is not always spent on the student but ends up in the Central Bureaucracy.The study can be found Here.

Chalkbeat does a good job summarizing the paper and can be found Here.

The DOE Refuses To Fund 41 Schools So They Can Hire A Full Time Guidance Counselor.

The DOE has a 25.5 billion dollar budget, yet they refuse to spend $5.2 million dollars to fill the vacant spots for a Guidance Counselor or Social Worker for 41 schools in the public school system.  This is the very same DOE that has for years had  the motto "children first" but for 41 schools the DOE refuses to allow the schools to hire a full time guidance counselor or  social workers to provide critical services to the students.  Just think, the DOE uses 24% of their budget on administrative overhead when the national average is 11%.  Can't the DOE streamline the bloated Central Bureaucracy and provide the extra funds for these 41 Public Schools?  Apparently, the answer is no

Chancellor Carranza must step in and take action to rid the bloated Central Bureaucracy of the Bloomberg/Klein ideology that shortchanges public schools with near recession budgets (90% of their fair funding) while even the City Comptroller has questioned why the DOE spends 24% of their budget on administrative functions?

In these 41 public schools, many students need social services that only a certified Guidance Counselor or Social Worker can provide.  Not having a full-time Guidance Counselor or Social Worker is almost criminal.  Yet the Bloomberg era administrators that allocate funds and make policy believe that if a school cannot provide professional services with their tight budget then it's the school's problem and not the DOE's.

I hope that Chancellor Carranza does what Carmen Farina did not do and that is to "clean house".  Otherwise, schools will continue to be starved for funds while the DOE, flush with cash, will continue to spend money on their administrative overhead.  "Children Last"....Always..

The DOE Is Run By A Bunch Of Imbeciles - The Anna Poole Story Proves It.

I have always snickered at the DOE motto under Mayor Bloomberg it was "children first...Always!  When the truth is that the DOE does what's best for the DOE not for the children in the classroom.  The DOE gobbles up way to much of the money it receives from the City, State, and Federal governments while keeping schools at near recession era budgets by giving them only 88% to 90% of their fair funding. Many of the DOE departments are bloated, especially the Office of Legal Services and the Accountability group.  It's little wonder that teacher 3020-a hearings are as high as ever, as the DOE lawyers needs to justify their bloated budget.  While paperwork overloads teachers as the Accountability group needs it for their useless data mining operation.

Overall the DOE Central Bureaucracy absorbs an increasing amount of funds at the expense of the schools and the children in them.  Many of the DOE Bureaucrats are not the brightest bulbs when it comes to innovative programs to help schools best educate their students.  Moreover, they allowed class sizes to be highest in the State.  Finally, the DOE hires Superintendents based on who they know and not what they know.  Just take a look at two of them Amiee Horowitz and Juan Mendez.,

Not only is the DOE the enemy of the classroom teacher but are a bunch of imbeciles as well. Just take a look at the Anna Poole story.

Anna Poole was n untenured Science teacher who tried to do a Chemistry experiment that was considered dangerous and could result in injuries.  No experienced Science teacher would attempt this experiment without proper safeguards but Anna Poole did.   Beacon High School, rather than hire an experienced Chemistry teacher from the ATR pool chose an untenured rookie teacher to lead their students.  The result was disastrous as her inexperience resulted in an explosion that disfigured one student, burned another and gave a third student PTSD..

Was Anna Poole fired?  Nope!  She was instead promoted to become an instructional specialist at the DOE.  I guess on how to prepare laboratory experimenter that can explode and injure students.   Now she has been promoted to become DOE instructional Supervisor to help teachers prepare Science lessons, complete with a $25,000 raise!

Like I said the DOE is run by a bunch of imbeciles!

Michael Mulgrew Finally Admits That Carmen Farina's Failure To Clean House At The DOE Is A Problem.

In last night's Executive Board meeting, UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, finally admitted that the middle management at the DOE is problematic and none of them are capable of being selected as the new Chancellor.  It took almost four years for our UFT President to acknowledge that the middle management at the DOE is a problem.  Maybe if Michael Mulgrew had pushed Chancellor Carmen Farina to "clean house" back in 2014, there would have been better collaboration between teachers and the Central Bureaucracy at the DOE.  If you have read my previous posts, Here and Here, you would read that Chancellor Carmen Farina had retained 80% of the policymakers at the DOE.  No wonder the DOE continues to be looked as the enemy by teachers.

Realistically, the middle management at the DOE still runs the operation.  Instead of collaberation, its confrontation,  paperwork reduction has been a mirage as mandates are sent out to schools for more data mining and accountability while they are not held accountable themselves. Finally, they divert much needed resources from schools who are funded at 87% to 90% of their fair funding while the Central Bureaucracy remains bloated with high priced consultants, questionable programs that have little educational value, and programs that incentives principals to "hire the cheapest and not the best teachers" for their schools while having the largest class sizes in the State,

Too bad it took four years for our union leadership to realize that the main problem is the DOE middle managers.  Most educators knew this in 2014.  Read nyc educator and ICEUFT blogs to read what Michael Mulgrew said at the Executive Board meeting.
,

When Statistics Lie.

Mark Twain once said "there are lies, dammed lies, and statistics".  The DOE, principals, and teachers have taken that saying to heart to falsely show student academic progress.  Let's look at how each group uses statistics to show student academic achievement when the truth is otherwise.

Department Of Education::
The DOE is the biggest abuser of false statistics.  For example, the DOE budget increases every year but more and more of the money goes to the Central Bureaucracy and not to the students.  The schools still suffer from the recession era budgets and are underfunded by between 10%to 13% of their fair funding, while the DOE's budget increase every year.  Until recently, they had a motto called "children first...Always" when the truth is the schools are starved for resources and many schools are overcrowded with the largest class sizes in the State.  Moreover, the DOE will falsely claim that all their teachers are certified but far too many are teaching subjects they are not certified to teach.  Finally, they will loudly program they have the highest graduation rate ever but they ignore the fact that only one in five ever complete an associates degree in college and even less for a four year bachelor's degree.

Principals:
Probably the biggest abuser of fake statistics.  They are the reason so many students graduate unprepared for higher education or the adult world.  They run "diploma mills" where many students are pushed out by massive doses of credit recovery courses, pressuring teachers to pass failing students with a 65%, or change grades, despite objections from the teachers. Academic fraud by these principals are ignored by the DOE and most principals realize their are no consequences for their actions.

Teachers:
Teachers in many of these diploma mill schools must meet scholarship goals, passing 80% of their roster and must show that they kept a running log to demonstrate how hey contacted the parent and other steps taken to get the student to pass the class.  This administrative pressure forces the teacher to take the easiest road possible to achieve an effective rating, that is to pass as many st6udents as possible to meet the school's administrative goals.  Furthermore, in many Living Environment classes, teachers can artificially raise their Regents passing rate by barring struggling students from taking the Regents.  The result is that many of the students pass the class but gets no Regents credit.  Finally, in some schools teachers will pass the student if they just show up to class since the teacher must meet the above mentioned scholarship goal.

Can statistics lie?  you better believe they can.

The New Chanceelor Will Need To Eliminate The Administrative Bloat At The DOE.

One of the major problems that the New York City Schools suffer from is that far too much money is diverted to the Central Bureaucracy at the DOE at the expense of the schools and the students. According to Leonie Hamson the Executive Director of Class Size Matters the number of top level administrators has doubled since the last year under the Bloomberg administration.  Moreover, the budget at the DOE's Central Bureaucracy has increased 70% since Mayor Bill de Blasio took charge of the schools,  Finally, there has been a 34% increase in the central staff expenses.

By contrast, the schools contimue to be underfunded.  The latest information from the IBO is that the average school only receives 87% of what "fair student funding" requires.  The planned increases to 90% has so far failed to materialized as money continues to be diverted by the DOE to other uses.  Furthermore, class sizes remain the highest in the State with far too many students, about 33%, in classes too large for proper instruction.  Finally, more than a half a million students, almost 50%, attend overcrowded schools and the DOE is falling behind in allocating funds to build new classrooms to accommodate the overcrowded schools.  With the expected influx of students from Puerto Rico,. the overcrowded can only get worse not better without additional funded to build more classrooms.

Yet, the DOE rather spend money on the academically struggling Renewal Schools by allocating 50 million dollars annually to the program that pays for consultants and  administrative bureaucrats, many of them failed principals or other failed administrators that found a refuge in the Renewal program.  In addition, the DOE continues to protect incompetent and/or vindictive principals and resists efforts by parents, students, and teachers to remove them.  The latest examples were at Central Parlk East 1 and Townsend Harris High School, where it took the media to help removes those principals.  Finally, the new Chancellor will need to address the ATR situation and the policies like school based fair student funding that penalizes the placement of veteran teachers.

To resolve the above issues the new Chancellor must eliminate the administrative bloat at Tweed that is the root of  all the problems listed above.  Once the administrative bloat is eliminated, then money can be freed up for lower class sizes, the solving of the ATR crisis, and the schools receiving adequate resource to operate for the benefit of their students.

When It Comes To Veteran Teachers And ATRs The DOE Only Has Tricks And No Treats.

The DOE has, over the years, implemented policies and practices that discriminate against veteran teachers and ATRs, who for the most part are veteran teachers.  These DOE policies and practices that discriminate against veteran teachers are thinly camouflaged with names like "fair funding", "mutual consent" and "open market".  Below is a list of these DOE policies that discriminate against veteran teachers and are simply "tricks" to fool the public.

Trick:
The DOE's Fair Student Funding formula hurts schools that hire or want to hire veteran teachers by imposing a financial penalty on the school. With already tight budgets that funds the schools at 90% of its fair funding.  The Fair Student Funding formula is unfair and discriminates against veteran teachers.

Trick:
The DOE encourages principals to hire "the cheapest and not the best " teachers for their school while claiming that they only want the best teachers for the students. The DOE just keeps tricking the parents and the students with their lies.

Trick:
The DOE's Open Market System is only useful by relatively new and untenured teachers.  Veteran teachers need not apply since the DOE policies and procedures make it difficult for schools to hire them..

Trick:
The DOE's "Mutual Consent" is not mutual since ATRs are being "forced placed" at these schools without their consent.

Trick:
The DOE encourages newspapers to write articles claiming ATRs are "bad teachers" rather than admit the truth that its about salary, seniority, institutional memory, and DOE policies that make the ATRs unwanted.

Trick:
The DOE's tight school budget incentivizes principals to reduce teacher numbers and have class sizes at contractual limits which means that veteran teachers become attractive targets for removal.

The DOE needs to stop with the tricks and treat school staff with the respect and resources they truly deserve.

Tweed Continues To Award Questionable Contracts.

The Daily News reported today that, very quietly, the DOE is set to award a $669,375 contract to an ex DOE administrator for a program that he developed as an employee for the City. In fact, the Ex DOE Administrator,  Joel Rose, called it "The School Of One" and the DOE allocated an astounding 9 million dollars to develop and fund the program.  The program has been shown to be a failure and a colossal waste of money as only 4 schools throughout the City are actually using the :School for One program.  Yet, the DOE is set to approve the renamed program. as a Math program called New Classrooms.

This is just an example of why it was necessary for Chancellor Carmen Farina to "clean house" of the Bloomberg policymakers at Tweed but failed to do so.  Hopefully,when the proposed contract goes to the PEP at the end of the month, the blatant "conflict of interest" and apparent favoritism will push the PEP to refuse to approve the contact. The statement by Leonie Hainson of Class Size Matters in the article is a must read and listed below.

 “The city is paying hundreds of thousands for these programs. Why do these things hang on at the Department of Education for no reason? These crony contracts,” said Leonie Haimson, founder of the advocacy group Class Size Matters. “It’s inexplicable.”

I certainly agree with Ms. Hainson

District 75 Schools Force Teachers To Teach Academics Rather Than The Life Skills Students Need.

District 75 have the most disabled and behaviorally challenged students in the public school system.  These schools have self-contained classrooms with 6 to 8 students per class, along with a para or two.  Few, if any of these disabled students graduate with the academic skills to go to college and the few who do, are usually subject to no-credit remedial courses as they struggle not to fail out of the more demanding college environment.  Ask any District 75 teacher and they will tell you that their job should be to teach the students "life skills".  Like counting money, holding a job, taking public transportation, and practice good hygiene.  Instead the District 75 administrators, under pressure from DOE Central, forces the teachers to teach Common Core Math, Social Studies, and Science instead.

Many of the District 75 students have major academic issues due to their disability like autism, down syndrome, and ADD/ADHD.  Rather than train them to survive in the world after school, like how to develop social skills, working at a job,, make their own meals, and select their own clothes.  The District 75 administrators push these students to learn academic subjects that have little or no practical application to these students.

What good is it when the student can't dress or feed themselves properly and suffers from poor hygiene as they enters adulthood and interact with the rest of the adult world?  Who is there to train the child on "life skills" when their teachers are forced to teach academics instead?

The misguided policy of the District 75 administration only hurts the most vulnerable of children who graduate unprepared for independent living in the hard and cruel adult world. To me that its real educational malfeasance.

Townsend Harris High School Places A Private Advertisement For A Cheap Social Studies Teacher.

It has come to my attention that Townsend Harris High School is looking for an inexpensive Social Studies Teacher.  This is the #1 rated high school in Queens and the school has a reputation for hiring veteran teachers with a minimum of five years or more classroom experience since experienced teachers is what makes the students reach their academic potential.  However, there is a new Principal and either the Principal and/or the Social Studies Assistant Principal has decided to go in a different direction and hire "cheap" by advertising the position on a private hiring website called  "indeed".  Listed below is the school's advertisement.

 Found on Indeed.com:           

High School Social Studies Teacher Townsend Harris High School - Flushing, NY 11367
$50,000 - $80,000 a year

2017-2018 Full Time Teaching Position--September Start

• Seeking a creative and energetic social studies teacher who can teach diverse learners and has interest in project-based learning
• Audio/video expertise and/or interest in teaching law is a plus
• New York City High School 9-12
• U.S. News & World Reports ranks Townsend Harris as the #1 school in NYC, the #7 school in NY State, and the #44 school in the USA--a top 50 school in the nation
• New York State Permanent, Professional, or Initial Teaching Certification 7-12 required
• Job Type: Full-time
• Send cover letter and resume as soon as possible.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $50,000.00 to $80,000.00 /year

1 day ago - save job

» Apply Now

Please review all application instructions before applying to Townsend Harris High School.

Apply Now
Why would the school do this, unless they have no intention of hiring within the system?  While the vacancy is also listed on the Open Market Transfer System (OMTS), its obvious to me that they rather hire outside the OMTS, if possible.  Moreover, the school is also trying to hire an inexpensive teacher with minimal or no teaching experience, based upon the salary and qualifications advertised in the listing.  Finally, its also obvious that veteran teachers and ATRs need not apply since they are not wanted and the private listing points to that.

For those veteran teachers and ATRs who believe the DOE will place them in a school, teaching their content specialty.  Well then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you because the truth is that nothing will change and Principals will do as they please and that means the cheaper the better, even if means advertising on private websites.
.

DOE Wastes Money On Questionable Mandates And Ignores Student's Educational Needs.

Its no secret that the DOE puts pressure on school administrators to meet questionable metrics rather than have students meet real and relevant academic goals that best represent actual academic achievement.  The DOE's pursuit of the "holy grail" of meeting the questionable metrics has resulted in administrators committing academic fraud, be it "credit recovery", grade changing, or pressure on teachers to pass failing students. Presently, the average school  is funded at between 89% to 92% of their fair funding and as the DOE's budget increases year after year and the City has a 6 billion dollar budget surplus, schools are still underfunded as if the recession still exists. To appease their DOE overloads, school administrators resort to sacrificing real student learning to meet the questionable goals that the DOE demands.

For example, the DOE places great emphasis in the graduation rate of a school.  To the DOE it doesn't matter what tricks are played to achieve that goal, as long as they meet it.  Sure enough, every year the school graduation rate inches up and the Mayor and Chancellor proclaim that the schools are improving.  However, the real educational metric is the "college and career readiness" metric has shown little improvement and every two out of three New York City graduates are not ready for the adult world.

Another example of the warped DOE priorities is how they give schools credit for enrolling students in Advanced Placement courses.  To the DOE it matters little if the students eventually fail the test and get no college credit for the course.  The more students taking the Advanced Placement courses the higher the DOE grades the school.  Passing or failing is irreverent.  The result is that school administrators stuff 34 students, many of them not capable or uninterested in being in the Advanced Placement courses just to get a higher school score from the DOE.

In Science, the DOE gives a higher grade to schools who emphasis the harder Sciences of Chemistry and Physics.  Then again, the DOE cares little if the students actually pass or take the Regents for these two Sciences.  Just taking the course gives the school a higher grade by the DOE.   Therefore, quite a few schools force struggling students to take the harder Science courses, knowing full well, that these students will probably fail and certainly not pass the Regents.  While Earth Science and its Regents is the perfect Science course for students who struggle, schools rather get a higher grade from the DOE than do what's right for these students.  Bayside high school is a prime example of this flawed thinking.

In Math, far too many struggling Math students are forced to take Algebra II (Trigonometry) because the DOE gives the school a higher grade.  Here again, it matters little if the students pass or fail the Regents.  Just taking the course gives the school the higher grade from the DOE.

The bottom line as schools suffer from tight, recession like budgets and school administrators try to meet the questionable metrics imposed on them by the DOE, real student academic achievement is sacrificed but then its children last...Always at the DOE.

Mayor Bill De Basio, Its Time To Make Changes At The Dysfunctional DOE.

 It seems increasingly clear that Bill de Blasio will be reelected as Mayor of New York City.  That means we can expect the Mayor to make significant personnel and policy changes as the second term starts in 2018.  Hopefully, many of these potential changes will be at the dysfunctional DOE and here is a list of some of the changes I hope comes to pass.

First, Replace the disappointing Chancellor, Carmen Farina, and let her retire for good to Florida.  The new Chancellor should have a reputation of collaborating with school staff and is highly respected by real educators. Not target veteran teachers like Farina has done throughout her career.

Second, immediately replace the 80% of Bloomberg holdovers that Carmen Farina kept in policy making positions and bring in more educators into these important positions. Her real failure was that she never "cleaned house" at Tweed.

Third, eliminate Fair Student Funding and bring back the unit based staffing out of DOE Central that does not take into salary.  Presently, the DOE policy penalizes principals who hire veteran teachers and forces principals to hire the cheapest and not the best teachers for their school.

Fourth, ensure that all schools get 100% of their funds, based upon the student population numbers and cohorts, no winners or losers as they do now.  P fair funding. presently, most schools receive between 89% to 92% of their fair funding.

Fifth, Eliminate the ATR pool by bringing back the excessing rules before the imfamous 2005 contract.  This would require schools to hire the ATRs for their summer vacancies before they could  hire outside or "newbie" teachers.

Sixth, Reduce class sizes to the State average or the goals set forth in the CFE winning lawsuit that the DOE and New York State refuses to implement.

Seventh, dramatically reduce the administrative bloat at the DOE, especially the legal and accountability divisions.  Moreover, cut contracts by implementing a needs test to see if the contract is necessary.

Eighth, no school should be given permission to have an uncertified teacher instructing students in Core or Regents subjects.  All teachers should be licensed in their content specialty that they are  teaching in, especially at the high school level.

Ninth, Drastically reduce screened high schools and promote academic integration by having all high schools become zoned schools.  This will allow the schools to recruit academically proficient students back to their neighborhood schools.

Tenth, let school staff evaluate school administrators, especially principals and the ones that are given failing grade two consecutive years should be immediately removed and replaced.  Moreover, all new administrative appointees must be approved by school staff and not the Superintendent before the DOE removes the intern acting title.

Is my list wishful thinking?  It certainly is but even if a few of my suggestions become policy, it will make for an improved school system and better prepared students when it comes to academic achievement.

How DOE Policies Discriminates Against Different Employees In The School System.

If you are an outsider, the DOE appears to be the guardian for an equal education and equal opportunity.  However, when one looks deeper in the DOE policies they see inequality in many of the discriminatory actions of the organization.

First, the DOE's policy of "fair student funding" (fsf) discriminates against veteran teachers.  Few veteran teachers can change schools since the fsf penalizes schools who hires a veteran teacher due to their relatively high salaries.  The Open Market Transfer System is a joke for teachers who have ten or more years of experience since all the vacancies go to either "newbie" or untenered teachers, due to their lower salaries.  This will only change if school budgets are no longer held accountable for staff salaries.

Second, the DOE continuously tries to discriminate against the ATRs.  First, they convinced our union to allow schools to hire "newbies" outside the school system instead of excessed teachers.  Then they made every effort to demonize the ATRs as lazy or bad teachers.  Next, they made ATRs second class citizens in the 2014 contract.  Finally, they discourage ATRs from taking per session jobs like Regents grading, or school based activities by not informing ATRs of these opportunities.

If the ATR won their 3020-a termination hearing, the DOE discriminates against them by not offering them vacancies and discourages principals from hiring them.  They also put a red flag , known as the "Scarlet Letter" to inform principals not to hire them even when the 3020-a arbitrator found them innocent of the charges!.

Third, principals who commit offenses are presumed innocent by the DOE while teachers are removed and presumed guilty.  This "double standard" is part of DOE policy and the latest example is the Principal that allegedly was DUI when she crashed her car into a police cruiser but still retains her position as school principal.  You can read the story Here.

Finally, the DOE discriminates against whistleblowers and will rather file false 3020-a charges against these teachers then take the necessary actions to correct the problem.  The CPE1 fiasco is a prime example of this.

The DOE continues to discriminate against veteran teachers, ATRs, whistleblowers, and practices a "double standard" when it comes to the removal process between administrators and staff.