Teacher Apathy Is The Root Cause For The Low Turnout In The UFT Elections.

The UFT elections are now over and the Unity caucus  overwhelmingly won with 77% of the vote, despite the hoopla generated by MORE.  As for MORE, I was disappointed by their weak showing, only getting 13% of the vote.  I guess most voting teachers did not subscribe to the "social justice" plank and MORE should seriously reconsider their "leftist philosophy" if they are to be a real opposition caucus" going forward. What was most disturbing about the UFT election was the apathy that resulted in only 25% of the members who actually voted.  That means that three out of four educators failed to even bothered to vote and that is disgraceful.  What is worse that the majority of votes mailed in were by non-active members.  That's right, 53% of the vote came from retirees and that is very disturbing.  While I have no position on whether retiree votes should count, I do know that when retirees vote in greater numbers than active members and are the majority of votes then something is wrong, very wrong with the election system.

What is wrong is the teacher apathy that permeates the rank and file and I saw it first hand when a Chapter Leader asked a senior teacher did he vote?  The response was that he was too busy, he had too many things on his plate and coaching tired him out, he is a physical education teacher.  When the Chapter Leader asked him how much time would it take to mark an "X" and select a caucus, his lame excuse was that "his wife misplaced the ballot and he doesn't know where it is".  I bet he threw it out. This very same teacher has been heard complaining that the union does not care about his "working conditions".  Notice, it was not teacher but his "working conditions" that he complained about and that is the problem with many teachers who believe it is all about them and not the profession.

 The bottom line is that many teachers didn't bother to vote, yet these very same teachers complain about how the union does not care about them.  What hypocrisy and that is a shame!

Bill Gates Wants To Install Cameras In The Classroom. What Nonsense!

Apparently another of Mayor Bloomberg's billionaire buddies and education reform hero, Bill Gates is proposing that the nation's schools pay 5 billion dollars to install and monitor cameras in the classroom.  He is expected to announce his "cameras in the classroom" proposal on May 7th at the PBS education forum.

The Gates proposal follows up his many failed proposals such as "small schools" high-stakes testing"and "teacher quality" which has morphed into teacher accountability and scapegoating teachers.  While the education reformers continue to sing the praises of what "Bill Gates" proposes, money talks you know, the bottom line is that none of Bill Gates proposal has helped a child's academic outcome. Now, the clueless in the classroom billionaire has come up with the "cameras in the classroom" idea which he has apparently floated without success since 2011. 

In the world of Bill Gates the cameras will show which teacher is doing the job and help get rid of those teachers who are not doing the job.   George Orwell must have had Bill Gates in mind when he wrote "1984" except that it took until 2013 for "big brother" to invade the classroom.  I am sure Bill Gates will claim that his "cameras in the classroom" would improve student academic performance by identifying educational problems such as poorly behaved peers and proper remediation.  However, it will really be used to keep an eye on the teacher and the video will be used by the Administration to remove and terminate teachers who don't follow the education reformer developed rubric.  In other words what Bill Gates is proposing is technology to terminate teachers and not help student academic performance.

Bill Gates billions would be better spent providing wraparound services to "high needs" students and to "cameras in the classroom" proposal.
eliminate the effects of poverty on student learning.  Instead the misguided billionaire goes after the unreachable and unattainable goal of a quality teacher in every classroom without providing the salary and resources to attract the best and brightest to the profession. Instead his "cameras in the classroom" proposal will further discourage the hiring of quality teachers by treating them with disrespect and distrust and making teaching an unrewarding profession.

Just what we need another clueless billionaire who throws his wealth and power around to achieve his personal goals while not helping the children academically.

My Grade For Chancellor Dennis Walcott's Tenure Is A "F" For Failure!

The Daily News asked some high profile people in the education field, some not even being educators, what grade would they give Chancellor Dennis Walcott?  Predictably, the education reformers gave him a passing grade while opponents to education reform gave him poor or failing grades.  Interestingly, the Daily News failed to interview teachers to get their opinion of the job Chancellor Dennis Walcott has done. However, if you read the education blogs of New York City teachers it is very obvious that there is a near unanimous agreement that the Chancellor would receive a failing grade.  Regardless of what UFT caucus you follow and support, MORE, New Action, or Unity, the Chancellor's job approval ratings are dismal.  In fact, if the Chancellor was a student, he would need to go to "summer school" because of his failing grade from teachers.

Why do the New York City teachers despise the Chancellor?  Let me count the ways.

First, and most importantly, the Chancellor blindly follows what the Mayor wants and not what is best for the students in the New York City schools.  The Chancellor's lack of independent thought and deed from the Mayor has resulted in calls that the Chancellor is Mayor Bloomberg's "sock poppet"and  "poodle".  Even when the Chancellor tries to deviate from the Mayor, like an ATR buyout or the teacher evaluation system, he quickly retreated when the Mayor objected to the proposals. When you care more about the Mayor's wishes then what is best for the students, that makes you an uncaring and clueless leader.

Second, Dennis Walcott has refused to spend $240 million dollars of much needed money that a judge ordered released to the NYC schools and imposed cutbacks in school resources as a consequence of his wrongheaded decision.   As a result class sizes have increased as teachers aren't being replaced and classes are merged.  In fact, class sizes have increased throughout the Chancellor's inept tenure.

Third, he has shown to be a hypocrite time and again as he practices a "double standard" between disciplining
administrators and teachers.  He wants to fire teachers based on mere accusations but fails to terminate administrators or managers who were found guilty of doing even worse! A Chancellor who has different rules for different people is a failure as a leader.

Fourth, the Chancellor has been blind to the complaints of teachers about the deteriorating classroom environment and the emphasis on test preparation at the expense of real learning.  His failure to stop the increasingly hostile classroom environment and his ignoring of teacher complaints is a major reason for his failure as a Chancellor.

Finally,  in 2012 the Chancellor and the Mayor made many mistakes when it came to their educational legacy and had a bad year.  Things have not gotten any better in 2013 as even the City's Independent Budget Office found fault with the Chancellor as their report showed that schools scheduled for closing were a "dumping ground for high needs students" and that under Walcott, the DOE has  starved these schools of resources.

In conclusion, Chancellor Dennis Walcott has been a failure as  a leader of the New York City schools and deserves the grade of "F".

Mayor Bloomberg Proposes New Municipal Union Contracts - On His Terms.

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway at the Citizens Budget Commission unexpectedly stated that the City is willing to negotiate raises for City workers which is a change from Mayor Bloomberg's "no raises without givebacks stance" from before.  This apparent change in the Mayor's attitude is his realization that he will go down in history as the only Mayor who left office leaving all municipal unions without a contract.  Moreover, he is very aware that the next Mayor will be under the gun to resolve these contracts, some like the teachers, that has been without a contract for four years!  He also realizes that the New Mayor will lay blame on him by claiming "he kicked the can down the road" and left the new Mayor with a mess. This will put a real crimp on Mayor Bloomberg's legacy

However, in Deputy Cas Holloway statement about a new contract Mayor Bloomberg did include two"conditions" to any union willing to negotiate a contract with the City.  First, he said that the contract cannot include any "retroactive raises" and that the union members will need to start paying a significant part of their health benefits.  Both "conditions" are non-starters and I highly doubt any union will seriously negotiate with the Bloomberg Administration since it has only eight months left in office.  Furthermore, the Mayor would like to establish a "new City pattern"  and ignore the old one with it's "retroactive raises", if he can only get one union (DC37?) to strike a deal with the City.  This way Mayor Bloomberg does not go down as the Mayor who refused to negotiate with his municipal employees and left the problem for the next Mayor to solve. Not a good thing for the Mayor's legacy as a financial genius.


I predict that no union will bother to negotiate with the Bloomberg Administration and wait until the new Mayor takes office, likely a Democrat who usually are more union friendly.   Considering that the City finances are slowly improving and the national recession is just a fading memory, it will be difficult for the new Mayor to plead poverty and refuse to negotiate a fair contract, complete with "retroactive raises" for the Municipal unions going forward.
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What Is Mayor Bloomberg's Vision Of The New York City Public School System?

Last week when filling out my form to rate my school one question hit me.  The question was something to the effect "How do you rate the job the Chancellor is doing"?  Of  course like most everybody else I put down "VERY UNSATISFIED" and thought about why I felt that way about the Mayor's poodle. While the Chancellor, Dennis Walcott, may be a nice person, he really is the "sock puppet" of the Mayor and obediently follows the every whim of the Mayor.  A prime example is the $240 million dollars that the DOE lost when an agreement failed to be finalized for a teacher evaluation when the Mayor objected to Walcott's agreement to a two year sunset clause.  However, this post is not about the inept Chancellor, Dennis Walcott, but the educational vision of Mayor Bloomberg.

The Mayor's vision for the New York City Public Schools is to make teaching a temporary position with most teachers not lasting the ten years to be vested for a pension and the fifteen years necessary to get retiree health benefits.   He would eliminate tenure and require merit-based pay rather than step and longevity increases. He also would eliminate the 7% DOE contribution by the City to the TDA. Moreover, there would be no class size restrictions and in his vision a teacher would have up to 70 students and heaven help those hapless teachers who cannot show significant "student growth" based on "junk science".  As for teacher experience? The Mayor has already stated that teacher experience does not matter. The two year wonders from Teach for America and other alternate programs are just fine with him. Further, the Mayor wants the ability to fire teachers who are accused of "misconduct" despite an independent arbitrator who after carefully weighing the evidence found the accusation not credible. Finally, the Mayor's vision for the New York City public schools is to blame all the ills of the schools on their teachers and not the social-economic factors that is 80% of what affects a student's academic outcome. Accountability is for teachers and not his badly flawed education policies.


For Mayor Bloomberg, it's all about his educational legacy and to blame teachers for his educational  failures like the wide academic achievement gap and the low "career and college readiness rates".  When it com to the children of the New York City Public Schools it's about what's best for the  Mayor and not what is best for the children:.' For the billionaire Mayor it is his educational legacy first and the New York City Public School children last",

Expect The Racial/Income Academic Achievement Gap To Widen With The New State Tests.

Last week the State and City admitted that they expect a 30% reduction in the  students passing rate of the new and harder "Common Core" tests.   In fact, Chancellor Dennis Walcott expects that up to 80% of the students in some districts who take the test will not be considered "proficient" . While all expect the scores to plummet, the most affected will be those "high poverty students" .

However, education officials have decided not to publicize the expected widening of the student academic achievement gap based upon income and race.  While all students will see scores plummet, look for the greatest drops to occur in schools that have a population that comes from high poverty areas.  Unfortunately, these high poverty areas have a large population of Black and Hispanic students and education officials expect that these students will experience the greatest drops in test scores.

These "high poverty students" suffer from common social problems, a lack of household resources (books, computers, a private room to study in, and in many cases a safe environment) and in many cases come from a single family household which means money is scarce and discipline may be lacking. Too many times the only food the children get is the free breakfast and lunch programs at school.  Regardless, the lack of effective academic intervention programs for these "high poverty students" will manifest itself into low test scores and result in a widening income/racial student academic achievement gap.

What a fitting way for the Bloomberg Administration to end their tenure, with low test scores and a widening income/racial student academic achievement gap.   The education Mayor?  What a joke. 

The Union Screws The ATRs Yet Again!

It has recently come to my attention that the union has decided that ATRs are required to accept a long-term leave assignment, even if the ATR feels that the assignment is "not the right fit".  This is a change in position from what the union originally told ATRs.  Previously, if the ATR did not want to accept a long-term leave assignment and was waiting for a vacancy, the union told them that the ATR had to agree "that it was a good fit", otherwise, the ATR can refuse the long-term leave replacement position since it did not lead to a permanent position.  However, it now appears that the union has changed their tune on this issue and has told teachers that they must accept long-term leave replacement positions even if they do not want them.

What brought this change on?  I can only speculate that the discovery of the number being 1475 ATRs by Fransesco Portelos at the end of 2012 and not the 831 that the union seemed to claim, has embarrassed the union leaders who have falsely stated that the weekly ATR rotation successfully exposed ATRs to more vacancies.  WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT!  The reality is that the ATR weekly rotation is a farce and the only ATRs getting picked up are the younger and less expensive ATRs.  Therefore, most of the ATRs are older and more expensive and have few opportunities to apply for the vacancies.  To make matters worse the ATR agreement allows schools to ignore seniority issues by seeking younger and less expensive ATRs who were most recently excessed.  The result is that ATRs who have been ATRs for two or more years are not likely to be interviewed for the vacancy.

Finally, the union's failure to include an ATR in the joint oversight committee and their general disrespect for ATRs by not allowing an ATR Chapter Leader points to the union's uncaring attitude to the most vulnerable members of the profession.  I am very disappointed that the union allows the ATR weekly rotation travesty to continue and  not provide the ATRs with their own representatives.  To me, this is a moral failure of our union to the needs and rights of the ATR s which, I might add, was responsible for the ATR crises in the first place. Is it any wonder why I have problems voting for the "Unity" caucus in the elections when they ignore the needs of its members?

The State And City Are Setting Up Teachers For Failure With The State's Common Core Tests.

This Spring, the State of New York has decided that their tests will be based upon the "Common Core standards".  While on the surface this seems to be a good idea, the problem is that New York City teachers have not been trained in using the "Common Core" and many have no or inadequate materials that can help them with the new standards.

The State has rolled out the new tests without funding the resources or materials for the "Common Core standards".  Even when the School Districts, unions, and parents complained about the lack of State funding, NYSED Commissioner John King stated that the "common core" materials were available on the State website, as if that was sufficient; It's not by a long shot. In fact, according to NYSUT, 70% of the teachers lack textbooks and materials required for the "Common Core" tests. According to the President of NYSUT Richard C. Iannuzzi, "no experienced teacher would test students without teaching them the materials, yet that is what the State is doing".

The DOE, with its 23 billion dollar budget and bloated bureaucracy has failed to provide any significant training for the "Common Core" tests. Now, after waiting patiently for the State and/or the City to provide training,  the UFT has belatedly taken upon itself to help teachers by providing information in a website called Share My Lesson.  However, for many teachers and their students it's "too little and too late" for this year's tests.  Even the State and City admit that the State test scores will be significantly lower than in the past. However, I predict when the actual scores come in and they are poor, guess who will be blamed?  Right you are, it's the teacher's fault!  I can see the New Yoirk Daily News and Post with blaring headlines and editorials blaming teachers for the poor test scores and the Mayor and Chancellor claiming that if only they had the power to fire "bad teachers" the scores would improve.

The bottom line is that look for the politicians and their media cronies to point fingers and blame the teachers for the poor results in the "Common Core" tests. It's always the teacher's fault.

Handicapping The UFT Elections

I pride myself on being independent and objective and have explored the policies and planks of the three UFT caucuses and have come to some decisions on who I will be voting for in the UFT election.  This post critiqued the different caucuses running in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) elections and how I came to my decision.  I hope this guides many of you to make the right choices.

MORE:  This is a dynamic and vibrant organization and many of my favorite educators and bloggers are running under the MORE banner.  While I really want MORE to do well, their emphasis on the leftist dogma of "Social Justice" is very disturbing to me.   I suspect many educators who  are "moderate" like me  will have a problem with MORE's "Social Justice" part of their plank and is the main reason I cannot join MORE.  Nevertheless, MORE may be the first caucus that could garner enough votes in the high schools to capture a seat or two and maybe more since the hayday of ICE.

New Action:  This caucus, despite its leftist origin, has drifted into the center and is probably most closely aligned with my own philosophy.  While I really do understand why New Action "sold their soul" to Unity for some limited power, I would never have made such a deal and despite how closely I identify with the political goals of New Action, I cannot join an organization that sold their "soul to the devil".

Unity:  The most dominant caucus and likely winner.  However, the Unity caucus is a "top down organization" and fails to allow its members to vote on important matters that affect the classroom.  I have personally experienced the smug attitude and down right arrogance of the leaders and how they lack democracy and transparency when negotiating member rights.  .  Examples are the ATR crises which they created from that very same 2005 contract and then changed to make the ATR's life a living hell by rotating weekly to different schools, supporting the badly flawed "race to the top" program and allowing the DOE to use Charlotte Danielson's rubric which will have a detrimental effect on the classroom teacher. Who can forget the terrible 2005 contract that made teaching in the classroom a nightmare.  I could never join an organization that requires an oath that stifles dissent as a condition of advancement.

Listed below are my picks

President:  Julie Cavanagh - MORE  While Michael Mulgrew is a step up from Randi Weingarten, his failure to bring more democratic and transparent policies to better reflect member concerns was the determining factor.

Secretary:  Brian Jones - MORE  The co-star in" the inconvenient truth of Waiting for Superman" really impressed me and he deserves a chance to bring the union into another direction.

VP Special Education:  Carmen Alvarez - Unity.  She has done a great job and never replace what works.  District 75 in particular believe her advocacy has made their life easier and the driving force to get paid for working on SESIS.

Assistant Treasurer:  Michael Fiorillo - MORE  Few teachers are as intelligent and knowledgeable than Michael.  The other two cannot compare to Mr. Fiorillo.

Treasurer:  Camille Eterno - MORE  Mel Aaronson was a very effective Treasurer but has been long retired.  I want an active teacher who understands the present day realities of the classroom to handle my money.  Being married to James tells me she is a good decision maker.

Executive Board: - High School -

Jonathan Halabi -  New Action/Unity  He really tries and has been a dissenting voice in the past.
Kit Wainer - MORE Is an effective advocate for the classroom teacher.
James Eterno - MORE - The best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be.
Peter Lamphere - MORE.  We all know his story and I hope he wins.

Other people I will be voting for:

Amy Arundell - Unity.  She really helps teachers.  One of my heroes.
Peter Zucker - MORE.  A blogger and a fighter.
Rona Feiser - Unity.  A good person to have in your corner.
Norm Scott - MORE  A one person information center and that's important.
Debbie Saal - MORE. Great teacher, nuff said.
Richard Skibins - Unity One of the original bloggers.
Angela Artis: - Unity. She's always helpful, very knowledgeable.
Fransesco Portelos - MORE.  Rubberized and we need him to represent those teachers in trouble.

By default, I will be voting for MORE candidates when I have not identified a candidate because we need a change, despite their wrong headed "social justice" plank.  Remember, if you pick a caucus slate by putting an "X" on the first page and try to select candidates, you invalidate the entire ballot.  Therefore, either pick the candidates individually or select a caucus slate not both!

One last point is the absense from the UFT election process is the education deformer sock puppet and "fifth columnists" Educators 4 Excellence (E4E) and the reason is that they would have been exposed as a fraud with only the fringe (less than 100 TFA educators) who would actually vote for E4E. My advise to E4E just go away, your failure to participate in the election makes your organization irrelevant to New York City teachers.

 

 

 

No matter which caucus you support.....VOTE!

Will School Cheating Increase With The Flawed NYS Teacher Evaluation System? I Believe It Will.

Now that the Atlanta cheating scandal has resulted in indictments of 35 educators and a clamor to haul in Michelle Rhee and her underlings for the phony scores at Washington D.C. The question is what prompted the cheating in the first place?  It was the emphasis on test scores!  Even in New York there is a suspicion that many schools manipulated test scores to raise their school grades while the City and State officials and investigators chose to ignore the numerous complaints    You can go back to June 2010 when blogger JD2715 wrote a very detailed and informational piece about how the inept and terrible DOE investigators ignored the cheating and financial abuses at JFK High School in the Bronx that went back seven years! Now here we are in  a dawn of a new day when teachers and principals will be evaluated, in part, by student test scores.  These suspect  test scores, known by many educators as "junk science", will result in many good teachers losing their jobs simply because of the students they end up with and not because oi their teaching ability.  With regard to testing itself, Erika  Christakis said the following in her insightful article in Time Magazine when  it came to the education reformer's obsession with testing as the basis for good instruction.

  "Even if we eliminate all the cheating, what remains is a broken system built on the dangerous misconception that testing is a proxy for actual teaching and learning. Somehow, along the path of good intentions, testing stopped being seen as a diagnostic tool to guide good instruction and became, instead, the instruction itself. It’s as if a patient were given a biopsy, learned she had cancer, and was then told that no further medical treatment was necessary. If that didn’t sound quite right, we could just fire the doctor who ordered the test or scratch out the patient’s results and mark “cured” in the file".

Teachers will refuse to take the hardest to reach academically, English language learners, or special education students, simply because these groups represent the lowest scoring groups and will adversly affect the teacher's ratings.  In the past a student who had problems with one teacher would end up with another teacher.  However, no teacher will jeopardize his or her career by taking students that will lower their evaluation scores.  In fact, I see teachers going to great lengths in excluding students who will lower their scores. Furthermore, some schools will try to exclude some of these students from the evaluation system due to attendance or by other means to help the Principal and who can blame them?

The pressure on both teachers and principals to cheat, once test scores are factored in, will result in accusations of cheating throughout the system just like Atlanta and Washington D.C.  I predict that the flawed New York State evaluation system which is a "work in progress", will end up crashing since you can't fix a plane while airborne as New York State officials claim they will do, without it crashing.  The problem is how many teachers will end up being terminated before the plane actually crashes and the New York State evaluation system is proven to be faulty? 

The Education Reformer's Darling, Ex-Atlanta Superintedent Beverly Hall, Indited In The Cheating Scandal.

One of the education officials that education reformers pointed to as an example of great leadership and a "no excuses" approach when it came to testing, has been indited, along with 34 other educators in the "Atlanta cheating scandal".  Superintendent Beverly Hall who was exposed as a fraud for allowing cheating on her watch was indited by a Grand Jury and is facing charges of racketeering, influencing witnesses, conspiracy, making false statements, and fraud.  She faces up to 45 years in jail if found guilty of all charges.

The prosecutors have recommended bail of  $7.5 million dollars for Ms. Hall and claim that she illegally obtained $581,000 in performance bonuses for the phony test scores that resulted from the "cheating".  Under Ms. Hall's watch she fired 90% of the principals who couldn't meet the impossibly high standards she required.  For the other 10%, the pressure on them to keep their jobs forced them to "cheat".  For the principals it was "low scores, out the door".   Ms. Hall called it "no exceptions, no excuses". Furthermore, many principals received bonuses for raising student test scores which added to the problem. With principals under pressure to cheat, it was transferred to the teachers and it was common practice for schools to raise test scores to the point that student who tested poorly and were 1s were raised to 2s and 2s raised to 3s. One teacher finally blew the whistle to an investigator and the entire cheating scandel was exposed.

Of the 178 educators who were involved in the "Atlanta cheating scandal"  almost all have been fired, retired, or did not have their contract renewed.  Only 21 of them have been reinstated on appeal.  The State of Georgia has reviewed 159 of the educators and revoked 41 teaching licenses, gave 100 two year suspensions, 9 were given less than two year suspensions and six did not have any penalty.

Ms. Hall has stated that not one person has claimed that she asked them to cheat.  However, she "Atlanta cheating scandal" was under Ms. Hall's watch and she now must face the consequences for her actions. She created an atmosphere that encouraged cheating.   In fact she was known to retaliate against educators that reported cheating. One example:

When a teacher at C.W. Hill Elementary complained about cheating by a colleague in 2005, Hall suspended the accused educator for 20 days. As for the whistle-blower, Hall fired her.  

It was her policies, and pressure to raise test scores by any means possible and ignoring evidence of wrongdoing that is the issue.  She was responsible for all the policies that encouraged the cheating and hurt the children who needed remedial help and didn't get it because of the phony scores, now she will suffer the consequences for her actions.

Is Michele Rhee next?

Camden Schools, The Education Reformers Blind Spot.

Education reformers have this myth that great teachers and schools can overcome the ravages of poverty.  This propaganda has been spouted by the likes of Ex-Chancellor Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Mayor Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and many others.  If only  schools were allowed to" hire and fire" at will could principals get "effective teachers" and turnaround students who came from poverty. However, the reality is so very different.  Take a close look at Camden, New Jersey which the State just took over the school system last week.

Camden, New Jersey is the deadliest and poorest city in the country acorrding to 2012 statistics.  The city had a record high of 67 murders in 2012 and had the highest percentage of murders per population than any other city.  Moreover, the average household income was $21,191 and 42.5% of families lived below the poverty level.  Violence was everywhere in the city.  Camden recorded an astonishing 2,158 incidence of violent crime in 2012.  Add that figure to the 4,573 incidents of property crime, the total crime rate was 6,731 in a city of only 77,000 residents, the highest in the nation!Worse, 56.7% of the children were in households that lived below the poverty level and 76% of these children lived in single parent households. In fact, Camden has the highest percentage of single family households in the country at 66.8%.

The City of Camden has over 200 liquor stores,  180 gambling dens, and not one movie theater or new car dealerships.  In the entire city there is only one supermarket and no restaurants.  Block after block there are boarded up and dilapidated houses and unrepaired roads.  The city's entire infrastructure needs repair and there is no money to make the necessary repairs.   Finally, it is downright dangerous to walk the streets of Camden at night and nobody does.  That brings me to the Camden schools.

The Camden schools are the worst performing schools in New Jersey with 23 of the 26 schools as designated as "low achieving".  Even the Charter schools, who try to eliminate "high needs" children from their schools, are part of the group.  Teachers and principals come and go all too frequently and it matters little how good these educators were or are, the results were disappointing.  Academically, few students graduated (44%) from the three high schools that have no screening requirements and the "college and career readiness" rates were close to "zero".  Even the two screened high schools have a "college and career readiness" rate in the teens.

Camden is a laboratory that shows that children of poverty will end up in low performing schools not because of poor educators but because of the deep poverty, violence, and lack of a family unit that retards a student's academic development.  What sane adult would allow their 12 year old to walk a mile to a library, play in a park withour supervision, or walk around the neighborhood in violence-prone Camden?  Is it any wonder that the a city that experiences epidemic poverty and frequent violence and where there is a 19% unemployment rate, has resulted in low-achieving schools?  New Jersey Commissioner Christoper Cerf (an education reformer himself) stated the following:

"That the idea that public education can be an agent of change in people's lives despite the circumstances of their birth, is a great big lie in much of urban America".  He called the Camden schools a "human catastrophe".

If schools are to improve without addressing the effects of poverty on the students than those schools would need to follow the "Joe Clark" approach where he removed 300 "troublemakers" from his Patterson school.  In fact, his school did improve without the 300 "troublemakers" but now you had 300 kids on the streets with nothing to do all day but commit crimes and the majority ended up in jail.  While Charter schools do the same thing as Joe Clark did, at least those students can return to public school and not the streets.  Obviously, schools cannot do the "Joe Clark approach", therefore the State must attack the route cause of the schools low achieving status by bringing the surrounding community jobs, family intervention services, and proper housing and most of all safety.  That with wraparound services at the school for the students is the answer to school improvement.

To me "children first" means improving the social-economic problems in the community and wraparound services in the schools and the student academic improvement will follow.

Classroom Management 101

One of the most difficult aspect of teaching is how to mange a classroom.  Effective classroom management requires at least five years of experience and an understanding of the ever changing classroom environment.  Most importantly, is how the teacher understands the different student dynamics that the teacher inherits for each class.  If a teacher gets a high-achieving, focused classroom, it is much easier to control that class than a teacher who walks into a low-achieving, unfocused class.  The later group is more likely to have behavioral problems and makes classroom management even more difficult.  This post will attempt to provide some effective techniques that have worked for me to improve teacher classroom management. While it is important that the teacher have administrative support at the school,  especially with dealing unruly students, once the student is in the classroom, it is up to the teacher to control their classroom.

First, identify the problem students, if any.  Usually, there may be one to three students in the class that cause problems.  These students should be seated away from their friends and repeated calls to the parents should result in better behavior.  Ignoring the problem and hoping it will get better will result in a chaotic classroom throughout the year. Many students are in cliques and if any problems occur, be quick to break up these cliques by separating the students.

Second, get the students into a routine.  It is important that the students know what is expected of them daily.  When my students come in, they see the "Do Now" on the board.  Homework for that night and the "Aim" for the day. Furthermore, they are to hand in their homework assignment and copy the Regents question and be ready to explain what the answer is.

Third, enforce the rules but be flexible.  Too many teachers either are too stringent in enforcing the classroom rules or not stringent at all.  The result is a classroom of students that either resent the teacher for being too stringent or disrespect the teacher for not enforcing classroom rules.  The trick is to make sure the students know the rules but on rare occasions the teacher can bend the rules, when appropriate.  This will allow the teacher to maintain classroom control and get the students to buy into them knowing that they can be flexible depending on the situation.

Fourth, you are the boss!  It's your classroom and the students look to you for guidance. Make sure you know your curriculum and speak with an authoritative voice. Speaking softly in a classroom of 34 students will not result in good academic learning.

Fifth, walk around the room if possible.  It is always a good idea to check on "student work" such as the "Do Now" and see if they have their notebook open and taking notes.

Sixth, limit unnecessary noise.  In a crowded classroom noise can result in a lowering of academic achievement for all.  Let the students know that talking in class is unacceptable and inform them that this is negative behavior and will reduce their grade.

Seventh, try to call on as many students as you can.  It is important to keep them on their collective toes and engaged in the lesson you are teaching.

Finally, and most importantly, it's up to you to show your students that you care about their well being and problems. If the students believe you care about them, they will respond positively to your teaching academically.  The students must like the teacher if the teacher is to get the maximum effort from the student.

Good classroom management is a necessary part of "effective teaching" and is the hardest to get right but with experience and watching other teachers teach any teacher, as they gain experience, will be able to master the classroom management issue.

Why Chancellor Walcott Should Go To Jail.

Clueless Chancellor Dennis Walcott has shown what a wonderful role model he is to the students by defying a judge's decision to allocate $240 million dollars to the New York City schools and has instituted a "hiring freeze" until the Bloomberg Administration exhausts their appeal process.  The result is a high teacher attrition rate with many classrooms without a full time teacher and an increase in class size. As of the beginning of the second semester (January 29th), 400 teachers have left the system and have not been replaced and the DOE expect another 300 to leave before the end of the school year,. for a total of 700 teachers not replaced. 

The fact that Chancellor Walcott has defied a judge's order to distribute the needed funds to the New York City classrooms is outrageous and hurts the children.  The Chancellor's willful disregard of the judge's order should earn him some jail time.   In addition, the City Council's education head said the following about the Chancellor and his Tweed buddies:

"The judge should hold them in contempt of court and, if necessary, fine them and put them in jail," said Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson.

The DOE had instituted the cuts back in late January which surprised the City Council and lead to many angry questioning of the Chancellor and his staff.  The Chancellor's response to the questioning on why the DOE included the cuts when a judge ordered them not to so was to claim that the City was appealing the ruling and they decided not to include the $240 million dollars in the school budget process while the appeal is ongoing.  It is just incredible that the DOE refuses to follow a lawful order to provide the necessary funds to the City's school children because of political considerations.  But then the inept Chancellor is the Mayor's poodle and does not have a mind of his own. He does what the Mayor tells him and not what is best for the children.

Fewer teachers, larger class sizes, and a lack of resources are the result of the Chancellor's terrible "children last" decision to disobey the judge.  Yes, if I was the judge I would throw Dennis Walcott in jail and throw away the key until the $240 million dollars in desperately needed funds are restored to the City's public schools. For Chancellor Dennis Walcott and his Tweed buddies it is just another example of "children last.....Always".

The DOE's Fair Student Funding Fiasco Forces Principals To Hire The Cheapest And Not The Best Teachers For Their Students.

Back in 2008, ex-Chancellor Joel Klein and his flunkies at Tweed come up with a program to encourage principals to hire "cheaper teachers" and force them to put the school's budget first and their children last.  This program is known as the "fair student funding formula" and required the school to take on the actual salary of their teachers in the school's budget. 

The DOE's "fair student funding formula" replaces the past teacher budget process that treated teachers as a unit rather than their actual salaries.  Under the previous teacher budget process, schools competed with each other for the "best teachers", who, for the most part had high salaries. Therefore, it was quite common to see the good schools gobble up the "best teachers", while the struggling schools saw a turnstile of "newbie teachers" come and go.   The reason was that the smart principals knew how to sell their schools to attract the "best teachers". For these principals it was and always will be their ,school's students first.  However, the "fair student funding formula" changed all that.  The actual teacher salaries were now assigned  to the school's budget and if a school wanted to hire a teacher for $20,000 above the salary that a teacher who left the school had, the school's budget is now charged for the $20,000 for the cost of the teacher.  The result is that principals must choose between what is best for the school's students or what is best for the school's budget?  Unfortunately, many principals choose the budget.

While the DOE and UFT claim the "fair student funding formula" has a "hold harmless provision" the reality is very different.  According to the DOE and UFT, the salary of an experienced teacher is averaged into the existing staff and counts for any upward increase in salary due to steps, differentials, and longevity.  However, the school,  is still responsible for the additional $20,000 in the teacher's salary.  Therefore, the Principal is put in a vise and must chose between their budget and the children the school serves.

In my rounds as an ATR last year, I noticed that the small schools had a staff of almost all young and untenured teachers.  Worse, was the Principal was usually a graduate from the infamous "Leadership Academy" and had limited teaching experience themselves.  The result was a terrible "college readiness rate" and very few "Advanced Regents Degrees". A main reason was that these small school  principals rather hire inexpensive "newbie teachers" rather than the "best teachers" for their students. Thie "fair student funding fiasco" simply is a "Trojan Horse" to get rid of experienced teachers.

It takes a truly great Principal to hire the "best teachers" and these great principals have one thing in common, they care about their students and will do what it takes even if the "fair student funding formula" makes it painful to their budget.

Mayor Bloomberg Claims He Fights Obesity By Banning Large Sodas But Actually Causes Child Obesity By Cutting Physical Education In Schools.

The Emperor, oops I mean Mayor Michael Bloomberg lost hi scase for reducing large sugary drinks and ranted about how the Judge's  decision was a terrible decision and defies "common sense.  The Mayor' exact words were:

"There is one public health crises that has grown worse and worse over the years? It would be irresponsible if  I didn't take action". If you know what you are doing "common sense" would say you might want to do something about it".

While the Mayor conveniently ignored are the reasons why the judge stopped the soda ban as "arbitrary and capricious".  First the judge stated that it was an end run around the City Council.  Second, was the lack of authority by the City health Department since it's not considered a "health emergency".    Finally, there were so many loopholes in the proposed regulations that a bus could travel through them.  The Mayor's new mission  as the Mayor who brought healthy living to New York City.  However, when it came to the New York City students, the Mayor's education policies actually encourages childhood obesity.

Since July of 2008 there has been a drop of 12% in the number of licensed physical education teachers.  That is from 2,150 to 1,890.  Moreover, many of the small schools the Mayor has touted have no or inadequate gyms or fields for physical fitness and some small and Charter schools have no gym classes at all!  Added to the inadequate or lack of gym space is the limited extracurricular activities in these small schools.  Many of the extracurricular activities are sports related and keep the children physically fit.  Only those schools fortunate enough to occupy a large campus have adequate physical education facilities.  Assuming they have the money to fund these programs. Worse, the very stringent Bloomberg budget  restrictions make school principals reluctant to spend money on non-core subjects or add extracurricular activities.


Even the large comprehensive schools feel the severe budget restrictions imposed by the Mayor.   For example, the few schools that have swimming pools do not get any funding to maintain them nor do they give these schools extra funding to hire swim teachers who can properly supervise and give swimming lessons to the school's students.  In addition, many of the schools claim the DOE has inadequate funding of necessary and up-to-date physical education equipment.  While the DOE, under the Mayor's watch has a road runner program that includes anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 students, that is less than 10% of the New York City student population of 1,100,000!  Finally, the Mayor's emphasis on increased test preparation means that less money is spent on physical education.

The Mayor might claim that his legacy as Mayor was to improve the health of the people of the City.  However, the reality is the very children who needs it most, children trapped in neighborhoods of poverty and violence and are afraid to go out and play, are the ones most affected by the reduction and lack of physical education in the New York City schools. Just another example of the Mayor's "children last" agenda.

Another Principal Acting Badly And The DOE Does Nothing About It.

The DOE "double standard" continues when disciplining teachers and administrators as the New York Post exposed another despicable example of a Principal doing something that would have removed and probably terminate a teacher. The New York Post article describes Leadership Academy Principal Anissa Chalmers who was appointed Principal of P.S. 132 in the Bronx in 2006 and has had a difficult time in bringing discipline to a school that has reported an astounding 172 "incidents" in this school year.  This "D" rated school has had its share of bad publicity, here, here, and here, just to name a few. Interestingly, Principal Chalmers cancelled a 5th grade graduation ceremony because of the students behaving badly.  I guess acting and behaving badly only applies to the students and not to Principal Chalmers.

What is Principal Anissa Chalmers accused of doing?  While Principal of P.S. 132 she used extremely poor judgement and made a "B" rated movie call "Gang Girl" where the Principal plays the lead Gansta and shoots, rapes, and murders her rivals.  Furthermore, she also distributes drugs and commits robberies in this terribly violent and bloody movie.  What a role model this Leadership Academy Principal is to her violence ridden school.  I guess she is just paving the way for her elementary school children to follow in her footsteps and glorify gang life. 

What has the DOE done about the Principal's extremely poor judgement in making a violence-ridden film while a Principal?  Nothing, Principal Chalmers is still Principal and while the DOE claims she is under investigation for an undefined allegation, the fact that she is still running her school tells me that the DOE is not serious in removing the Principal.  I see this as another example of the DOE "double standard" when disciplining teachers and administrators for alleged misconduct.

If I was a parent of a child in her school I would demand her immediate removal as a terrible role model for my child and the school's student body.  How can the DOE allow her to run the school?  Easy it's "children last....Always" at the DOE.

ILearn....Is It Rigorous Enough?

The NYC DOE has told many schools to use the "ILearn" program as a "credit recovery"  course that meets the City criteria of "rigorous instruction".  While I believe that the "ILearn" program is superior to many of the bogus "credit recovery" courses the City allowed the schools to use in the past to boost the graduation rate. However, it still is inferior to a real "credit recovery" course that incorporates a full range of academic work and real "seat time" The "ILearn" program does not show real student academic achievement in my opinion. Moreover, a recent study showed that 72% of students self-reported that they cheated on online tests.  How does the City handle the cheating issue? As far I am concerned they don't.

 Here are some of the problems that I believe makes "ILearn" suspect.

• The tests are simple multiple choice questions and the student can take it as many tines as necessary until he or she passes it.

• The online course allows for the opportunity for a stronger student to take the test for a weaker student without being flagged for cheating.

• The passing of the "lLearn" tests seem not to help the same students when it comes to the "Regents exam" or "college and career readiness".

• The "ILearn" course rewards students who choose not to go to class and with help, can finish the online course in as little time as a month.

If we are truly interested in improving student academic achievement than taking "ILearn" as a "credit recovery" course is not the answer.

Why Do I Love Teaching? It's Seeing My Students Succeed.

My son asked me why I still teach since he hears and reads my complaints about the injustice and incompetence of the DOE and the politicians (Bloomberg, Cuomo, Obama, etc) who rather scapegoat teachers as the cause of all of what's wrong with the school system than the poverty, lack of funding, and unproven mandates that are the main causes of much of the academic shortcomings.  I though about it for a minute and told him it was the satisfaction of watching my students improve academically and mature as young adults.  All the useless nonsense that the DOE imposes on us pales in comparison when one of my students tell me how much I have made a difference in his or her life.  No matter what Mayor Bloomberg says about experienced teachers or what Chancellor Dennis Walcott would like to fire me, if he only had the power, the bottom line is what do the students think of me as a teacher and are they learning? To me that is the reason I teach.

I must admit I have been fortunate this year as I have landed a long-term leave position in my subject area in a highly rated school with a supportive Administration and a well-run department.  However, more importantly the students are eager to learn and try their best in mastering the skills necessary to pass the year-end Regents exam.  I have three ESL classes and two classes with English speaking students and enjoy teaching them all.  With some support, and encouragement from the school I have settled into a routine with my ESL classes and have successfully integrated my teaching style to fit their limited English vocabulary.  The result is that my ESL classes are rapidly improving and I have even used this approach with my English speaking class and it has helped some of my struggling students who have weak vocabulary skills.  However, what I enjoy most is the exchange of ideas with my students and I am especially proud of my ESL students who are now asking questions, a real breakthrough from the beginning of the year.  I feel like a proud father watching them grow academically and becoming more confident in their ability to master the English language.

As much as I like the Principal or the Assistant Principal telling me I am doing a good job and I do appreciate their feedback, it is what the students think of me that counts the most.  To me, what makes teaching so enjoyable is when a student tells me that I am a good teacher and that they are learning in a subject they never liked before, that is what is important.  When a student goes out of their way to complement you it just makes my day and helps me refocus on what are the most important things in life and that is to see the students becoming successful and that I had something to do with it.

The Education Reformers claim they want "excellent teachers" in the classroom and so do I.  However, these so-called Education Reformers have no clue what goes on in a classroom and what makes an "excellent teacher"?  The intangibles that make an "excellent teacher" are many and test scores are only a small percentage of that equation.  If you ask the students what their idea of an excellent teacher is somebody who manages his or her classroom effectively, has passion for the topic, motivates, is caring, has a deep knowledge of curriculum, is nurturing, can be entertaining, and most of all helps them to achieve academic success as they move on in life.  

Why do I teach?  It's because of the students.

The City Saw A Dramatic Increase In Poverty & Homelessness. Where Is The Accountability Mayor Bloomberg?

In the last couple of months the Bloomberg Administration has received a double dose of bad news,  First, at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year the poverty rate in New York City has risen significantly under the Bloomberg Administration' from 18.4% in 2008 to 20.9% this year.  Furthermore, this is an increase of 74,000 people who fell into poverty compared to the 2011-12 school year. Worse, is the astounding increase of homeless families since the Mayor took office.  The increase in homeless families is a mind blowing 73% since 2002.  Hard to believe but true. Moreover, the amount of children living in a homeless shelter  in January was 21,000 which rivals the numbers found in the 'Great Depression".  "Way to go Bloomie".

There is a major correlation between child poverty and homelessness with educational outcomes and only people like ex-Chancellor Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee ignore this correlation. In addition, the effects of poverty combined with homelessness resulted in these children not reaching their academic potential.

By contrast, the Mayor saw a significant increase in his wealth during the same time period and is one of the 13 richest men in the world and increased his net worth by 5 billion dollars while the New York City income gap continued to widen.  In fact, the City's income gap is so wide that it rivals many sub-Sahara countries in Africa.  Unbelievable but true. Yet the unaccountable Mayor seemed unfazed and blamed everybody and everything except himself on the income gap in New York City under his watch.

The Mayor's legacy includes an unacceptable increase in poverty, an astronomical increase in homelessness, a failed educational reform program, and a wasting of billions of dollars on various bad technology projects like the 911 fiasco, and CityTime to list just two of many.  I guess accountability is for everybody else but not for our billionaire Mayor.  "Way to go Mikey".