We Don't Follow No Stinking Rules

So says Chancellor Dennis Walcott, in his response to the impasse between the DOE and the UFT. Since the UFT insists that outside mediators must decide whether or not teachers can be fired based on test scores, Walcott has asked that the UFT be excluded from negotiating the evaluation system, in direct violation of the agreement with the state.

This is in keeping with the philosophy of Mayor4Life Michael Bloomberg, who set up a fake board of education to give the appearance he was not simply doing whatever he wanted, however he wanted, whenever he wanted. Perhaps if the UFT were to propose that Mayor Mike hand-pick 8 of 13 arbitrators, Walcott would be happy.

But this begs the question--what the hell sort of role model is this man, the highest official in the school system? Do we want to teach our children that rules mean nothing, that they are to be disregarded when inconvenient, and that they should simply scream loudly when things don't go their way?

Is Walcott, then, the kid at the supermarket checkout loudly demanding a Chunky bar, and refusing to eat dinner until he gets it? The whole, "I want it, I want it now, and I want it all," is hardly the model I'd propose for my child or my students.

Yet it's pretty much all we get from Walcott and Bloomberg.