What If The UFT Called Mayor Bloomberg's Bluff In Layimg Off The 4,700 Teachers Back In 2011?

Back in 2011, Mayor Bloomberg threatened to lay off 4,700 teachers as the City was slowly crawling out of the recession.  A major part of his threat was to have the law changed on who gets laid off.  However, his attempt to change the "last in, first out" (LIFO) failed and if the Mayor had tried to follow through, the New York City schools would have had to eliminate the "cheapest teachers", the "newbies". Once the Mayor lost the LIFO battle, he was not laying off anybody and most people knew that.  However, our union "snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory" yet again and caved into the Mayor's demands and eliminated teacher sabbaticals for the 2011-12 school year and allowed the DOE to impose the idiotic and asinine ATR rotation system that saves little money and a wastes a lot of talent. What would have happened if our union had called the Mayor's bluff?  Let's look at the two possible scenarios.

Scenario #1:  The City would have laid off the 4,700 "newbie teachers" as the layoffs are by seniority ranking.  The result would be that principals would have two choices.  They could keep the now suddenly vacant positions unfilled but that would severely hurt the students.  Or the most likely effect would be to hire the ATRs and demand that the DOE help pay the cost.  The result, would be the elimination of the ATR pool and the reintroduction of experienced and in many cases, "quality teachers" back into the classroom.  The good part of this is that the ATRs would not be "forced placed" but apply for the positions that they believe they are "a good fit" for as the principals compete to hire the many "quality teachers" to their classrooms.

In this scenario the students win because they are no longer the "guinea pigs" for the many "newbie teachers" who have no clue how to teach and half will leave the teaching profession in five years. Instead the students will thrive under highly experienced teachers with good classroom management skills and deep curriculum knowledge guiding them to academic success,.


Scenario #2:  Mayor Bloomberg's layoff bluff is called and he retaliates against the UFT by reducing school budgets, raises class sizes, closes more schools, and refuses to negotiate a contract. Furthermore, he blasts the union and demonizes teachers by refusing to issue tenure and to implement policies to terminate as many teachers as possible.  Moreover, he would try to eliminate teacher "due process rights" while lowering the already low morale and making the classroom environment as hostile a place as possible.  Finally, he imposes the "education on the cheap "policy that forces principals to hire the "cheapest" and not the "best teachers" for their students.

In this scenario. the students lose because of higher class sizes, lack of resources, and inexperienced teachers who have no classroom management skills or curriculum knowledge. Come to think of it had our union not capitulated to Mayor Bloomberg's bluff, nothing would have changed from scenario #2.. Except we would not have lost our sabbatical rights for a year and the ongoing and ridiculous ATR rotation system that wastes $160 million dollars a year and demoralizes those 2,000 + teachers who must rotate from school to school.

To the union leadership, good job, once again in screwing the members.

To The New Chancellor. Let's Do What's Best For Our Students.

There is little doubt that under the imperious regime of Mayor Bloomberg that the New York City public school system has changed.  The problem was the change was not for the better and was based upon phoney education reform principals and had no appreciable effect on real student academic achievement.  Instead it resulted in closed schools, demonizing the teaching profession, gypsy teachers without a classroom, an influx of inexperienced and untested teachers, and the lowest teacher morale in memory.  Therefore, the new Mayor and Chancellor should bring back long-studied principals in education that benefits the students and not the wishes of those non-educators at Tweed that hopefully be terminated by the new De Blasio Administration.

First,  impose a "hiring freeze" and require principals to hire the many "quality teachers" currently languishing in the ATR pool (2,000+) and not the "cheapest teachers" as is currently being done.  To encourage principals in doing the "right thing for their students", give the school an incentive, similar to the November 2008 ATR agreement   No Principal would be allowed to hire new teachers if there are teachers in the subject area currently in excess in their District.  "No exceptions should be permitted".  The result would be more "quality teachers" in the classroom and the principals wouldn't have to "roll the dice"  and use the students as "guinea pigs" on whether the "newbie teachers" could actually teach.

Second, reduce class size to a more manageable size.  Under the Bloomberg years, class size has actually risen since he came into control of the schools.  In fact, at a speech in MIT two years ago he said that if it was up to him he would have class sizes of 70 students with half the teachers. The biggest increases occurred in the lower grades where study after study showed that class size is an important factor in student learning. The placing of the ATRs into the classroom, where they rightfully belong, will go a long way in achieving the class size reduction goals.

Third, give adequate resources to the schools.  Since 2007 the average school has seen a reduction of 14% in resources and a 32% decrease in school support services from Tweed.  Under Bloomberg it has been an "education on the cheap" policy as the schools are starved for resources, forced to hire the "cheapest teachers", scrimp on classroom supplies, and are required to put the school's stringent budget over the education of their students.  To reverse this, the DOE should, once again, make teachers a unit and eliminate the "fair student funding formula" that doesn't work.  Having the Central Office control the teacher budget line would relieve the pressure on principals to hire untested and inexperienced teachers, instead the principals could interview for the "best teachers" for their schools.

Fourth, Eliminate the nearly useless and money sucking "Children First Networks" (CFN) that have destroyed neighborhood and parent involvement in the schools. Give more authority to the District Superintendent's Office as they are more in touch with community concerns and remediation as well as for a parent to go to with complaints or other issues.  In addition, bring back the neighborhood schools.  It's unfair that some students are forced to travel over two hours to a school because the schools in their neighborhood didn't select them. This is especially true of the Bloomberg small schools where an unofficial screening process is used to keep out the "high needs" students.

Fifth, overhaul the teacher evaluation system and make it more flexible and classroom friendly.  Furthermore, the "common core" requirements need to be loosened until it becomes easier to incorporate into the curriculum.   In other words  let teachers teach in a way that best for their students ability to learn.  One of our colleagues Arthur Goldstein found this video of Charlotte Danielson saying that student tests should not be used in a teacher's evaluation.  Too bad, the State doesn't listen.

Finally, improve the existing "rock bottom" morale in the schools by showing school staff the proper respect for their profession.  The first step is to negotiate a "fair contract" with the UFT, eliminate the "gotcha mentality" that permeates the higher levels at the DOE, and encourage true collaboration between school administrators and staff, not the "us against them" mentality that is encouraged by Tweed. A happy staff makes for improved classroom environment and better student learning.  Now that's "children first, always".

How The Misguided DOE School Choice Policy Caused The Destruction Of The Neighborhood High Schools.

It is no secret that a student entering high school can apply to any school they want to attend, no matter how far the school is from the student's community.  The elimination of zoning requirements has resulted in many of the neighborhood high schools in poor communities to struggle and eventually fail as they cannot attract academically successful students. Interestingly, the Mayor blamed the school failures on poor teaching and not the real villain, his policy of "school choice" that former Chancellor Joel Klein implemented during his disastrous tenure that ended in 2010.

Before the Mayor's "school choice" policy, the neighborhood high schools were always guaranteed a decent amount of  academically successful students, even in the most poverty-ridden communities since they were zoned for their neighborhood school. These students were not only role models for entering students who saw how successful they were academically and the respect the school's staff and Administration had for them but also as a stabilizing influence to the student body and the school.  With these higher achieving students at the school, advanced and difficult courses such as college level courses, Physics, Calculus, and College now, along with various Advanced Placement courses were offered.  The result was that there was greater student participation in extracurricular activities such as sports, clubs, and  most importantly community  pride in seeing students graduating from their neighborhood school.  However, once the Bloomberg/Klein "school choice" policy was implemented, the higher achieving students no longer applied to their zoned high school and these schools became a dumping ground for struggling students.  The result was the elimination of higher level courses in Math, Science, and Social Studies. Students graduating with Advanced Regents diplomas were in single digits in many of these schools and even graduation rates were tainted by a massive amount of bogus "credit recovery" courses that resulted in some outrageous actions.  Furthermore, many of these struggling students must travel for up to two hours to get to a school willing to accept them if they do not want to go to their failing neighborhood school.  For example quite a few students from Southeast Queens and even the Rockaway Pennensula travel long distances just to go to another failing school in far northern Queens just so not to go to their neighborhood failing school. This over reliance of mass transit brings me to a very insightful article Marc Epstein wrote for the Huffington Post about how many middle and high school students must take an ancient and creaky mass transit system to get to their school and how Hurricane Sandy has damaged the infrastructure.  Is it any wonder that for these struggling students that high absenteeism and failure is a constant companion?



The disconnect of students, especially high achieving students with their neighborhood schools is a recipe for failure and when these schools fail the blame should be squarely laid upon the people who allowed it to happen, the Bloomberg Administration and their destructive policies and no one else.

Update:  The New York Post's article on Murry Bergtraum High School is a prime example how the Bloomberg Administration's "school choice" has lead to the destruction of this once proud school.

Will Hurricane Sandy Close The New York City Schools? The Answer Is Yes!

It appears certain that Hurricane Sandy, now known as the "Frankenstorm" will impact the New York City metropolitan Area with tropical storm force winds of 50+ mph and torrential rains of 5"-10", along with major flooding.  The question on everybody's mind is "will the Mayor close the schools"? My best guess is yes for either Monday or Tuesday but not both days.

According to the Mayor, the MTA will close down public transportation when winds exceed 39 mph and that is an almost a certainty as the Hurricane reaches the Delaware/New Jersey coast on Monday.  Even if the winds don't reach tropical force in the morning, it will by the time school lets out in the afternoon.  The last thing the Mayor wants to be remembered for is how he stranded children in school with no mass transit to get them home. Therefore, it would appear that the Mayor will very reluctantly will close he schools on Monday but because he will not allow schools to be closed for two days.  The Mayor will make every effort to open them Tuesday and pressure the MTA to provide mass transit, despite the tropical force winds and torrential rains that will cause massive flooding throughout the City.  Alternatively, if the storm slows a little, the tropical storm force winds may not occur until after the evening rush hour.  In that case, the Mayor will keep the schools open on Monday and probably close them on Tuesday.

Interestingly, the Mayor in his 6:30pm press conference downplayed the storm's impact by claiming it will hit Maryland or Delaware not New Jersey as the National Weather Service's track shows and appear optimistic that the City will not be severely affected by the storm.  i did think he is crazy if the MTA shuts down and he expects the students to get to school in a hurricane but then it is money first and "children last" for the Mayor. I guess we will see as Sandy gets closer to the City.

Remember, the New York City schools serve two purposes,  The first as a "babysitting service" and second a "money machine".  Closing the schools cost the City money as parents must stay home to care for their children and the City loses funding from the State.  Therefore, it is in the Mayor's economic interest to keep the New York City Schools open. I suspect that the Mayor will not issue the order to close the schools until Late Sunday night at the earliest as he and many others hope that Hurricane Sandy miss the City.  Consequently, it will be interesting to see when and if the Mayor actually closes the schools or he will expose the children to the severe weather just for a few dollars.

To get the latest on Hurricane Sandy from the National Hurricane Center, it is here.

Update:  In his 11:24am press conference the Mayor realized he was too optimistic and has announced that the schools will be closed Monday and it doesn't look good for Tuesday either.

The Disappearing Of The Teachers Cafeteria Food Service In The Remaining Large Comprehensive High Schools Is A Real Shame.

Over the last decade it has been no secret that the Bloomberg Administration has made a point in trying to destroy and close down the large comprehensive high schools in the City and has unfortunately succeeded very well in achieving this goal.  Even the few comprehensive large high schools that have survived are still targets, remember the turnaround school fiasco?.  Now we find out that the DOE has apparently shortchanged the large comprehensive schools of much needed resources while still fully funded the Bloomberg small schools. That required the large comprehensive high schools to cut services, be it staff, after school programs, or services.

One of the services that has been eliminated was the teacher cafeteria food service.  In the Borough of Queens there are only two high schools that still have teacher cafeteria food service  Some schools like Bayside High School have not only closed their teacher cafeteria food service but eliminated the teacher cafeteria entirely. Now you might think that the elimination of the teacher cafeteria food service is no big deal and saves much needed school resources in an ever tightening school budget.  However, the elimination of the teacher cafeteria food service has had a demoralizing effect on school staff.  For teachers, it meant that they would need to bring in their lunch since they only have 45 minutes for lunch and going out of the school to get something to eat is out of the question.  Therefore, many teachers waited for their school day to end before getting something to eat and lacked the energy to effectively teach their late classes. Moreover, the teacher's cafeteria allowed the teachers from different departments to interact in a casual setting and exchange information and gossip about the school.  Finally, the teacher's cafeteria food was nutritious and reasonably priced, this allowed teachers not only to socialize with each other but to restore much needed energy into their bodies to be a more effective teacher for the afternoon.

While to many the loss of the teachers cafeteria food service may not be a big issue.  However,  for the staff at the large comprehensive high schools it is a symptom of the thousand small cuts that eventually destroys the school and the education with it and that is a real shame.

Tears And Anger In The Turnaround Schools As Staff Have Been Told That The New Schools Do Not Want Them.

Staff "pink slips"  have been issued in some of the schools that will replace the closing schools in the "turnaround" process and the already terrible morale at these schools have just sunk to a new level.

Staff are being informed by e-mails that they were not selected for a position at the new schools and that they should look on the open market system to find a position.  In my school at least 50% of the teachers have been e-mailed the bad news and there is plenty of crying and anger about what has happened.  Worse, is that many of the teachers who are excellent teachers and even the "teacher of the year", as selected by the students, were told that they do not fit into the vision of the new school Administration.  I guess it really is not about the students after all.

My school feels like a morgue with staff looking like the "walking dead" (zombies) and I am sure so do the other "turnaround schools" as the survivors of the culling comfort their soon departed colleagues who still must complete marking the Regents and giving back equipment and keys before leaving the school for good on their journey into the excess pool of "job fairs" ,  interviews, and possibly ending up as an ATR for the next school year.

Why couldn't this awful and unnecessary process wait for the Arbitrator decision?  What if the Arbitrator decides for the UFT?  How does one feel about returning to a school where the new Administration does not want them?  What kind of school climate is there with such staff and Administration distrust?  Moreover, how does this climate of distrust and suspicion help the students?  Finally, what was the DOE thinking in pushing for a solution that is worse than the problem?

The Mayor has a temper tantrum and because he must have his way, 24 schools are in chaos and half the staff who have worked well with their unique student population are gone.  Tell me how this is good for the students?  "Children first"?  Yeah right and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you!.

The NYS Regents Chancellor, Meryl Tisch, Knows The Truth About Mayor Bloomberg's Turnaround Schools Proposal As Being Political, Not Educational.

Gotham Schools reported that New York State Regents Chancellor, Meryl Tisch, criticized Mayor Bloomberg's "turnaround" maneuver for the 33 schools as being not about the students. She further went on to say the City's "turnaround program" was a political and not educational policy.

This is the first time that a high level education official came out and called the Mayor's wrong-headed proposal to close 33 schools using the "turnaround program" is politically motivated and not educationally sound. The question is will Meryl Tisch's complaints move the New York State Education Department Commissioner and the Governor to pressure the City to reject the Mayor's politically motivated proposal? I would not hold my breath that the State will reject the Mayor's "turnaround proposal" even when it really hurts the students that they claim to advocate for.

The Mayor now realizes that his educational legacy is in shreds with bogus graduation rates, phony "credit recovery programs" and a failure to narrow the income/racial academic achievement gap. Therefore, his new idea is to close all the large comprehensive schools he can before he leaves Office. Just like his education Reformer friends, it is not what is good for the students but to demonize public education, make teachers the scapegoat for society's ills, while giving a pass to the 1% who look at education as a business. Marc Epstein said it best in his Huffington Post article which best lays out the sorry state of public school teacher bashing, especially in New York City.

In the Mayor's world it is "children last" always.

Why The DOE's "Turnaround Policy" Is Doomed To Fail.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Mayor Bloomberg's threat to close 33 schools by using the "turnaround model" is going to happen unless the union files a lawsuit to block it. It matters little to the Mayor and the DOE that they are inappropriate in using the "turnaround model" in the manner proposed. However, in the event the Mayor's temper tantrum succeeds and the "turnaround does happen. How will these schools change? Probably for the worse.

First, and most importantly, the "turnaround schools" will keep the same students that are the reason the schools are closing in the first place. The same students who come from high poverty communities, dysfunctional families, have poor attendance, and suffer from serious academic & discipline problems will be retained. Unlike the new small schools that are able to eliminate these "high needs students", the 33 "turnaround schools" will not be able to do that. Furthermore, the same high percentage of "special education and English Language Learners" will still be part of the "turnaround school". Again, the new small schools are encouraged to limit the enrollment of these two groups. Remember, these large comprehensive high schools were the "dumping ground" for many struggling students who were excluded from the small schools that replaced their neighborhood high schools.

Second, while at least 50% of the experienced teaching staff will be removed from their "appointed positions", most of the "turnaround schools" can expect an influx of "newbie teachers" especially from alternate certification programs like "Teach for America" and the "Teaching Fellows" programs. Up to 40% of the staff will consists of instructors who don't know how to teach and have no idea of what classroom management is. I can just envision a 23 year old TFA from Yale University who, after a five week training course, is now facing the reality of how to lead students who don't want to learn and will not respect her. I pity the students who are the guinea pigs of the many "newbie teacher" who doesn't understand curriculum and has no classroom management skills. The result will be academic chaos.

Third, in conjunction with the faulty and flawed "teacher evaluation system" there will be little teacher collaboration, rather there will be teacher competition as all the teachers will "teach to the test" and refuse to take failing students from other teachers that can adversely affect their grade. For example, if a student is failing due to attendance, academic, and/or behavioral problems and the Administration wants to transfer the student from a struggling "newbie teacher" to an experienced teacher who may have more success with the student. The experienced teacher would have to be insane to accept the student, knowing it will affect his teacher grade. I know, I know, Mayor Bloomberg did say teacher experience does not count. However, the rest of the world knows better.

Finally, unless school discipline policies are changed, the "turnaround schools" are destined to fail. If the schools refuse to enforce stringent student discipline codes, then students will walk the halls, use their ipods & cellphones, and disrespect school staff without an consequences for their bad behaviors. Moreover, many of these schools fail to enforce student dress codes and allow inappropriate "thuggish" and "sexual" clothing. The always outspoken Sate Senator Eric Adams is usually sympathetic with the plight of the poor and minority communities. However, even he has seen enough and demands that schools take action on student discipline and enforcing reasonable dress codes.

When you simply rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, it still will not stop the ship from sinking and the same goes for the "turnaround schools".

Why Schools Fail. The Answer Is The "Broken Window" Theory.

.
.

Under the Bloomberg Administration approximately 115 schools have closed down with more expected to close in the next few years. The Mayor is well on his way to destroy the remnants of the large comprehensive high schools and claim victory as the many students suffer with limited choices of classes and extracurricular activities in the small and charter schools that replaced them, and worse of all, his failure to improve the career and college readiness of the students of the City.

The question is why did so many of these schools fail and close? The answer rests squarely at the door of the DOE and their student discipline policy that allows principals to dictate to the staff the "do's and dont's" on how they can discipline unruly and disruptive students. In many schools the principals put up roadblocks for teachers to effectively discipline students who also fear that any altercation with a student could result in the teacher being disciplined and subject to a 3020-a termination hearing. According to the Tweed Taliban, any teacher who tries to discipline a child can by accused of "corporal punishment or verbal abuse" and many a teacher have been brought up on these charges by a student or an Administrator. Therefore, teachers are reluctant and fearful in trying to discipline a student since it could cost them their job. The result is academic child abuse as these unruly students disrupt the classroom with their behaviors.

The failure of a school to handle student discipline problems can only cause a deterioration of the academic environment . Just like a community, if the community allows the "little things" to go unchallenged, like public drinking, smoking weed, urinating in public, or sidewalk gambling, the neighborhood deteriorates and crime increases as many families keep their small children inside. This is known as the "broken window theory" which states that if windows are broken and not repaired, the surrounding neighborhood deteriorates as people give up maintaining their homes and community, which in turn, attracts an unfriendly and undesirable element to the neighborhood which further worsens the problems associated with the deterioration.

Back to the schools, many of the large comprehensive schools were targeted by the Bloomberg Administration by steering many students with behavioral issues to these schools. The principals of these schools, rather than nip any problems in the bud by suspensions, or even arrests when necessary, looked the other way least they land on the State's "most dangerous schools list". In the more extreme cases a school like Hillcrest hardly ever reports incidents and were rewarded by the DOE as a "safe school" which is a subject of ridicule by the staff at that school. The principals developed a ladder of referral that requires Administrative intervention only when a student threatened a teacher with physical harm, throws furniture, or has a weapon. In all other cases, the teacher is required to handle the problem, at their own peril.
The result is that students walk the halls, show up to class late, curse at the teacher, or use their cellphones to text message their friend rather than doing their work. The result is that the other students see little consequence to misbehavior and just like a "broken window" that does not get fixed, they too start to lose academic focus. This finally shows up in the academic achievement of the school and a target for the Bloomberg Administration to add to the number of closing schools.

In summary if a window breaks, you promptly fix it to keep the neighborhood from deteriorating. The same goes for a school, if the Administration fails to enforce student discipline and dumps responsibility but not the authority on the teachers, you can expect a deterioration of the academic environment of the school and target the school for closure.

The Failure To Enforce Student Discipline Codes By The Administration Is The Main Cause Why Schools Fail.

I am in a Transformation/Restart school and am treated very well by the AP who is willing to ignore my lack of technology in my lesson plans. Yes, I know how to use the technology but I am in three rooms and two floors and refuse to lug around equipment that takes 10 minutes or more to set up, However, the Bloomberg threat to eliminate up to 50% of the teaching staff has caused the already low morale to plummet to a level that is affecting the students. I already have had some of my students ask me if I will really be here for the rest of the school year and are worried that they will get teachers who never taught in the classroom next year. One student told her classmates in my class about a "newbie" teacher that she had this year who can't teach and quit two weeks ago, leaving the students knowing little and with day to day substitute teachers. The school caught a real break, they just hired an excellent teacher from the ATR ranks and my student thinks he is great.

While teacher morale is at an all time low, the real problem is the lack of enforced student discipline at the school. This school has expanded their student body greatly by taking many students who have questionable academic skills and documented behavioral problems. These students tend to walk the halls, walk into the classroom way late and refuse to do any work when they do show up. Some will tell the classroom teacher to "shut up" when the teacher asks the student to open his or her notebook. Others are using their cellphone or Ipad and ignore the teacher. Cursing out a teacher is not a rare event and if the student does not actually threaten the teacher, the Administration looks the other way. I suspect that many of the Transformation/Restart schools suffer from the same problems with the Administration's failure to support student discipline codes and bury their heads in the sand of denial. Even a once great school like Martin Van Buren is failing due to the poor school Administration. Moreover, the failure of the screened and small schools to take these students worsen the situation.

Since the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration wants to close all the Transformation/Restart schools and keep the existing student body, it would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic but far worse as the "newbie teachers" who take over will be in for a culture shock and quit in droves during the school year, even further destabilizing these once great schools and hurting the students the Administration claims to care so much about in their "children last" program.

The Bloomberg/Walcott Administration's Goal Is For Everybody To Get A High School Diploma, Even A Dog Could By Using The Bogus Online Programs.

The Bloomberg/Walcott Administration continues to destroy the New York Public Schools by using any means possible to close the large comprehensive high schools by warehousing the most vulnerable of students with high educational needs in those schools and then blame the schools for failing the already failing students dumped into these schools. Now, the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration is expanding online education, be it bogus "credit recovery programs" or a "school of one". Soon all who reach high school will be getting a high school diploma. Even the DOE's Lisa Nielsen advocates online learning using the IZONE and wrote a guide for high school students on how to opt out of school and use online learning at home. All these programs use technology as a crutch and not an aid for learning. Worse, these programs are subject to abuse as there is little oversight to ensure the student is actually doing the work.

That brings me to the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration's goal to achieve a 100% graduation rate by the time they are booted out of office. While the 100% graduation rate is a worthy goal, it should not be at the expense of real learning and with the rapid explosion of online course work, that is what is happening. The Administration must have received inspiration from the State of Texas as they awarded a dog who took online courses with a high school diploma. Quite a smart dog I say, I'm sure the dog did her classwork all by herself too, just like all the students who take those online courses that has shot up all over the New York City school system. If that is not enough, the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration can send these students who are obviously not prepared for work or college here. Of course, to my knowledge no dog or cat for that matter have received a high school diploma in NYC but the potential of abuse of the online learning process is real and makes most educators wonder if the City only cares about awarding diplomas without proof that the student achieved academic success necessary to survive the adult world.

In the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration anybody taking online courses can earn a worthless high school diploma, even a dog, as what happened in Texas. The education Mayor claim is just a sick joke in his failed "smoke and mirrors" education policy.

Does The DOE Really Dump "Low Achieving Students" Into The Large Struggling Schools? You Better Believe That They Do!

I am now in one of those large struggling schools that Mayor Bloomberg has threatened to make a "turnaround school" and eliminate 50% or more of the teaching staff. However, unlike the real "closing schools" the Mayor and his poodle the Chancellor wants to retain the students and the Administration, To me it appears to be a bluff or a sham. I personally don't believe he can do this and if he tried it will probably end up in court. The real question is how did these schools end up struggling in the first place? Much of the cause can be blamed on the DOE's policy that eliminated neighborhood high schools and that allows many of the small and themed schools to exclude students with disabilities, attendance issues, and behavior problems forcing these already struggling students to travel long distances to schools that already struggle with an increasingly challenged student population.

My school is located in Northern Queens and mass transit to the school is somewhat limited. However, when I was going over the address lists of my students I was shocked how many of them came from far Southeastern Queens. I even had one from Far Rockaway! Not surprisingly many of these students travel two hours or longer to get to school and are having trouble academically achieving success. I wonder why? I spoke to two of those students, I will call them "Jack and Jill". They informed me that none of the small schools at Campus Magnet and Springfield Gardens would accept them. "Jack" admitted to me that he hung around with the "wrong crowd" and didn't show up to the middle school all the time and his grades reflected it. "Jill" told me that she was an 'English Language Learner" in middle school and she had a tough time learning English and was placed in an English speaking class with only a hour of language training a week. Therefore, she did poorly on tests. I'm sure if I asked the others, the ones who show up, I would get similar responses. "Jack's" mother even went to the local District Office when no school selected him and was told to reapply to the large high schools in Queens since that was his best chance and he ended up traveling over two hours each way, to get to school. "Jill's" parents simply did as was told by her middle school and she ended in a school that makes her take two buses and a train and takes almost two hours to get to school. Is it any wonder that many of these children are sleepy, tired, frustrated, and feel abandoned by the school system? What responsible entity forces struggling students who had problems in their middle schools to travel long distances and in the dark just to go to a high school that accepts them? Yet that is what the DOE does as they eliminated zoning for the neighborhood high schools and sentenced many of the most vulnerable students to long commutes and dangerous conditions just to get an education.

I am sick and tired of hearing and reading the propaganda on how the Bloomberg /Walcott Administration is improving the schools when the truth is quite the opposite. In fact, they are leaving many struggling students behind. While the DOE's slogan may say "children first" their actions show that the all the struggling children are being left behind in their "children last" policy.

Teacher Morale Is At A New Low As The Bullies, Cuomo, Bloomberg, King, And Walcott Try To Destroy The Teaching Profession.

One of the slogans that go around schools is "stop bullying". Posters, advertisements, and even the WWE superstar wrestlers have commercials that condemn "bullying". However, over the last couple of years Governor Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg, SED Commissioner King, and Chancellor Walcott have been trying to "bully" the teacher unions (NYSUT & UFT) in their attempt to break the unions. You can even add President Obama and his education head, Arnie Duncan, to the list of "bullies".

The Governor has threatened to withhold school aid increases if the school districts fail to implement his very flawed and untested "teacher evaluation system". Moreover, the Governor has threatened to implement his own "teacher evaluation system" if the unions and the school districts cannot agree to a process. He even told NYSUT to drop their lawsuit which a State judge upheld when the Governor's ill-advised decision to increase the "teacher evaluation system" to include a 40% testing requirement. His SED Commissioner, King has already withdrawn $58 million from New York City and $69 million from the rest of the State when the school districts and the unions failed to implement an approved "teacher evaluation system" that would destroy teacher tenure.

Mayor Bloomberg has made no secret of his contempt for the New York City teaching profession and how he would just love to destroy the UFT. Furthermore, his ideal teaching force would be half the teachers with class sizes reaching 70 students! Moreover, the Mayor's goal is to have a young and replaceable teaching staff that would never be tenured or vested for a pension. His contempt for teachers has resulted in the City failing to negotiate a contract with the teachers union and a continuing demand to impose a time limit on the ATRs that his hand-picked previous Chancellor, Joel Klein, created in the first place. His present Chancellor, Dennis Walcott, simply is the Mayor's pet poodle and whines about needing "exceptional teachers" but fails to define what "exceptional is. Rather than sit down with the UFT on a use of an independent Arbitration process his representatives walk out of talks and wants Commissioner King to approve the DOE proposal without union input. Just unbelievable but that is what bullies do when they don't get their way.

Now the Mayor wants to take 33 restart/transformation schools to become "turnaround schools" and create nearly 4,000 ATRs list costing the City $300 million annually. The morale in the teaching workforce is terrible and getting worse as teachers believe they are under attack and dread the "gotcha system" that the DOE wants to impose on the teaching workforce. Except for those fifth columnists at E4E and their naive TFA followers (a couple of hundred at best), teachers realize that once you are over 40 and make $75,000 annually, you are a target for the DOE.

The DOE motto really is that "the beatings will continue until morale improves". In their "children last" policy.

The "Peer Effect" And DOE's Setting Up Targeted High Schools For Failure.

The Bill Gates sponsored MRDC study has once again falsely claimed that Bloomberg's small schools outperformed the closed large school they replaced. However, if one looks closely at the data the MRDC used to demonstrate their conclusions, you can find some very obvious flaws in the study.

First, and I must say most importantly, is the "peer effect". In the closed and closing high schools the DOE has been and are "warehousing" students with disabilities and self-contained special education students into these schools. Even the State Regents Chancellor, Meryl Tisch, has said as much here. When you put a significant amount of special needs students, especially ones with behavior and attendance issues, it will destabilize the school. Even the "good students" will realize that the school is becoming an unsafe and non-stable environment and start acting up as well. The impact of the "peer effect" on teenagers is a given and when a school gets too many struggling students, it will affect the student body. The study by NYC Community for Change shows this when it came to the self-contained students. Table 1 in the report found that the closed schools averaged almost 12% self-contained students of the school's student population while the small schools that replaced them averaged less than 4%! Moreover, under Chancellor Joel Klein these small schools were allowed to exclude special needs students in the school's first two years as policy during the 2005-2009 school years.

Second, many of the small schools have small class sizes, while the closed and targeted high schools are programed for 34 students, the contractual limit. Even many education reformers admit that class size does matter. Some of the principals of the more successful small schools have credited their academic achievement to small class sizes.

Third, the eighth grade attendance figures between the students going to the closed high schools and the small schools show a 10% difference for the class of 2006, with the lower figure at the soon to be closed high schools. That means that the small schools used attendance as a means to determine which student to select.

Fourth, the Annenberg Study debunks the assumptions used to justify the MRDC study and questions the success of these small schools. More information can be found on the NYC Public School Parents blog here.

Finally, the so called "unscreened small schools" are really screened. They ask for the student's grades, attendance and want recommendations from teachers and Administrators. Jennifer Jennigs reported this in her observations at three of these schools.

My observations revealed that many schools used applications, mandatory information sessions, and much stronger language to deter unwanted applicants. For example, 12 unscreened schools shared a similar application requiring that students provide the most recent report card and two letters of recommendation, one from an eighth-grade teacher and one from a guidance counselor, assistant principal, or principal. The application also asked for the student’s test scores, retention history, and involvement in advanced courses during the eighth grade. Finally, the application included additional questions requiring a narrative response….

The district’s application system provided opportunities for unscreened schools to choose higher achieving students. Through this computer system, each school received a list of students applying to the school, although the school did not know whether the student ranked it, for example, 1st or 12th. ….

In conclusion, the Bloomberg/Wallcott small schools are not a success that they falsely claim but a result of steering and "warehousing" the most difficult of students into closing and struggling schools. It is like comparing "apples and oranges". It is time the media exposed this travesty. For the DOE it is "children last"...always.

What Happens When A Restart/Transformation School Becomes A Turnaround School?

As everybody knows, the UFT and DOE failed to reach agreement on the "teacher evaluation system" based upon the appeals process. The UFT wants an independent Arbitrator to hear the "evidence" that the Principal rightly labeled the teacher "ineffective" While the DOE wants the appeals process to be decided by the Chancellor. Good luck to that. Caught in the middle is the 33 Restart/Transformation schools, many of them the large comprehensive high schools that the City has threatened to make "Turnaround Schools". This would allow the City to recoup $58 million dollars from the federal government that has been withheld by the State Education Department (SED). For the teachers in the 33 schools what will happen?

First, the 33 schools will no longer exist as is. Long Island City, Newtown, Bryant, Grover Cleveland, Richmond Hill, John Adams, Flushing, and August Martin High Schools in Queens will no longer exist. Instead all the schools will be renamed to reflect the themes that the Administration wants. Interestingly, unlike other "Turnaround Schools", the City schools will probably retain the old Administration and only get rid of the teachers.

Second, the schools will offer a maximum of 50% of the teachers at each school their jobs back. Yes, a maximum and some schools can offer only a minimum amount of teachers their old positions. The minimum number is as yet undecided by the DOE. You might think that this would open up opportunities for other teachers in the system to apply for the many openings. However, the DOE has decided to offer 40% of the open positions to teachers outside the school system or as you know them as the "newbies". Cheap and clueless in the classroom teachers who are in for a "culture shock" as the real world is very much different from the perception they are expecting. Unlike the new small schools who can limit or even exclude students with disabilities and English Language Learners, these 33 schools will keep the existing population and will not be able to exclude undesirable students as the small schools do.

Third, the teachers not selected will be excessed and become ATRs. It is expected that 1,750 additional teachers will be excessed and add an equal amount of ATRs as provisional appointments end and more budget cuts (6% for the 2012-2013 school year), it is very likely that there could be almost 4,000 ATRs in the New York City School System at a cost of $300 million dollars! That means for the measly $58 million dollars the State is withholding, it is going to cost $300 million dollars to keep all the teachers in the ATR pool. Unbelievable!

Finally, the DOE will use the ATR crises as a rallying point to try to defang the teachers' union and demand that the ATRs should be given a time limit. "No ATR time limit, no contract" will be the City's motto until the Bloomberg/Walcott Administration is removed from the scene. I hold UFT Michael Mulgrew to his promise not to give up the ATRs in any contract negotiations. Remember the DOE created the ATR crises, it is up to them to p,lace the ATRs in the vacancies throughout the school system.

The DOE Continues Their Effort To Destroy The Remaining Large Comprehensive High Schools. However, The Small Schools Replacing Them Are Failing!

At one time the pride and joy of the New York Public School System was the large comprehensive high schools. Only the best principals and teachers found their way to these schools and the majestic buildings that housed them.These schools not only had a full menu of academic courses but also included a wide range of electives, clubs, and extracurricular activities. Almost every Advanced Placement course could be found in these schools and academic achievement associated with these schools can be found in the graduates that have become leaders of the present generation. These schools operated as a "home away from home" for the students. Then came Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein who had declared war on the large comprehensive schools and are winning that war.

The hallmark of the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration was to close the large comprehensive schools and open up small themed or charter schools to replace them. First, the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration started the propaganda offensive by claiming that the large comprehensive schools as "dropout factories". To ensure that the statistics verified their propaganda, they dumped increasing numbers of "English Language Learners" and "Special Education" students into the targeted schools. To further make their point, the recently opened small schools were allowed to exclude the "English Language Learners" and "Special Education" students for the first two years and were allowed to selectively exclude other students who had academic, attendance, and behavioral problems. This allowed the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration to claim that their education reform was working.

The Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration claimed that "small learning communities" were the wave of the future in education. These small schools could supply individual attention to struggling students and give a sense of community to the school. Given everything else being equal, there is some truth to it. However, the reality is quite different. The small schools opened by the DOE were usually lead by a "Leadership Academy Principal" with little or no classroom experience and an inexperienced staff usually populated by "Newbie" and untenured teachers. These teachers lacked classroom management skills and curriculum knowledge. To make matters worse, the class sizes were as large as what was in the large comprehensive schools they replaced. Look what happened to Erasmus High School. They closed it down due to poor performance and made four small schools out of it. They all failed and replaced by other failing small schools. Left unsaid, is that small schools have limited, if any electives, few extracurricular activities, and no Advanced Placement courses. One of the biggest complaints by students who go to these small schools are the very limited courses given by the schools.

Unfortunately, this has not stopped the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott onslaught on destroying the large comprehensive high schools. Even the few remaining "quality schools" in Northeastern Queens (Bayside, Cordozo, & Francis Lewis) have seen a doubling of students with Individual Education Plans (IEPs). In other words a doubling of the amount of "Special Education" students. Eventually, as there will be few remaining large comprehensive high schools, the small schools will increasingly compete for students. This is already happening in the Bronx and Brooklyn. These small schools are now required to accept every applicant to keep their numbers up and their education success is now simply "smoke and mirrors". Look at the poor "college readiness" rates the NYC students have and it is even worse for the small schools.

The bottom line is that the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration's small school policy is a failure but the damage to the few remaining large comprehensive high schools is everlasting and that is a shame.

The Disgraceful Disconnect Between The DOE's School Progress Reports And The NYS List Of Failing Schools Is Exposed By The Latest Data.

Last week New York State came out with a list of "failing schools" in NYC and of the approximately 1700 schools in the NYC system, an astounding 38% were found failing. Yes, 640 schools are "failing their students". If that doesn't surprise you how about this troubling statistic? over 200 of the schools the State found "failing their students", received either an "A" or "B" on the DOE's yearly progress report. Unbelievable, but true.

To make matters worse, 350 new schools were added to the "failing schools" list and an astounding 180 of those schools received either an "A" or "B", only 12 schools were taken off the list this year. In addition, the New York State Regents Chancellor, Meryl Tisch has criticized the DOE for closing schools and allowing the "warehousing of students", especially in the remaining large comprehensive high schools by claiming these unlucky students don't have a shot of succeeding. She went on further by citing her visit to Automotive High School where only 1% were found to be "college and career ready".

The Mayor disagrees with the New York State Regents Chancellor by bringing up the same old song of the bogus graduation rate and closing schools that fail. However, seeing is believing and the State Regents Chancellor saw students not learning due to their behaviors, students wandering in the hallways during class time, and many students were missing from the classroom.

It is a pity when even the New York State Regents Chancellor realizes that the Bloomberg/Klein/Walcott Administration has failed the children in their ongoing "children last" polices.

The Mayor's Poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Demostrates Why He Is Clueless About The Classroom.

The Mayor's poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott, held a press conference where he stated that he will close 50 poorly preforming middle schools and replace them with Charter schools and new public schools. He will use the "turnaround model" which means replacing the leadership and 50% of the teaching staff, while leaving the students in the schools. UFT President MIchael Mulgrew responded to the Chancellor's speech by claiming " that all you are doing is rearranging the deck chairs". However, the most serious aspect of the Chancellor's middle school proposal will result in 2,000 more ATRs or a doubling of the current ATR population. Furthermore, the Chancellor apparently has the right to decide which teachers to keep based upon some obscure and undefined merit selection process. Since the Mayor has already stated that the "best teachers are our new teachers" and experience does not count in teaching, guess which teachers will be retained by the "turnaround schools"? Moreover, how many public school teachers will actually accept assignments in the new Charter schools? Not many, if any, since many of these Charter schools do not have the union benefits and teacher "due process" that the public school teachers do. That means some of the "turnaround schools" that become Charter schools will replace their entire teaching staff! Who will replace the teachers that leave or excessed from those schools? Well. the Chancellor already has solved this problem. He stated that the entire class of "Teaching Fellows", with their five weeks of training will be sent to the "turnaround schools". Yes, for the Mayor's poodle, Chancellor Dennis Walcott, the "best teachers" are those"newbie teachers" that cost the least amount of money. In other words its "education on the cheap".

I can just picture what will happen in a classroom as the "newbie teaching fellow" is confronted by the unruly middle school students who were largely responsible for the problems of the school in the first place. The "Teaching Fellow", with no classroom management skills, working in a new and challenging, if not hostile environment, and struggling with a new curriculum is just what the Chancellor ordered to improve these schools. Yeah right! If you really believe that "newbie teachers" are the answer then I have a Bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Besides putting the entire recruiting class of "Teaching Fellows" in the "turnaround schools" some of the schools will be the first middle schools to participate in the online based IZONE, where students are essentially self-taught on computers with little teacher guidance. Even in the carefully selected high schools this technology based online program has received mixed reviews at best. Now the Chancellor and his minions naively believe that technology alone will succeed by making immature children responsible in a self-taught program that requires the academic discipline which many of them do not have. Finally, to make matters worse, the already large class sizes will continue as the Chancellor has no intention of lowering class size, an integral part of improving student academic achievement.

Let's see, the Chancellor expects improvements by replacing experienced teachers with poorly trained "newbie teachers" and in the IZONE schools no teacher, keeping large class sizes, and ignoring the social-economic problems these students are exposed to outside the school environment which is the primary cause of the problems with the failing schools. To me that is simply a fantasy and it shows how clueless the Chancellor really is about the what goes on in the classroom.

Will The Closing Of Neighborhood High Schools In New York City Result In Increasing Violence To Students Like In Chicago?

I was watching NBC's Dateline on the violence perpetrated on teenagers, especially high school students. Shockingly, one of the primary reasons for the increased violence was the closing of many of the neighborhood high schools in Chicago, requiring students to travel long distances to other schools that may be in the territory of a rival gang. The result has been increased violence against these students and even homicide. In Chicago there were 280 major attacks on students and 32 homicides. The Chicago police believe that the violence wold be less if the students stayed in their own neighborhood but with so many high schools closed, more students are required to travel further away from the safety of their neighborhood to attend school. While the Superintendent of Schools claims that this is not true, the police, and parents of attacked students feel differently.

Now travel to New York City where the DOE wants to follow the example of Chicago in a mass closing of neighborhood high schools (19 were slated for closing until the courts stopped the DOE). Just like in Chicago, the replacement schools will limit the amount of "at risk" students to the schools and usually has a total school population of less than half of the closed school. This requires many students to travel long distances to get to the few schools who accept them. Since this means traveling into other neighborhoods and yes, different gangs in that neighborhood, what do you think will happen? Yes more violence.

For example, one of the high schools slated to close is in a "Crips neighborhood". One of the few schools who will take the "at risk" students from the closing school is located in a "Bloods neighborhood". I'm sure you can figure out what will happen in and out of the school as the students travel long distances into enemy territory. However, just like Chicago, the DOE has seemed to ignore that inconvenient problem and are closing their collective minds to the potential upsurge in student violence due to the closing of the neighborhood schools. Will it take a Dateline story to release that closing the neighborhood high schools just puts those students at greater risk to gang violence but then again it is not about the students but just part of Tweed's "children last" policy.