The Perks of Leadership Academy--No Muss, No Fuss

By now you've doubtless read about the champion principal from PS 106. I'm told that not only does she wander in to work whenever she sees fit, but that she's also never taught a day in her life. You just go to that Leadership Academy and boom! Instant principal. Better than minute rice. And far more lucrative. Why bother teaching for 22 years when you can make more than any teacher does far more quickly?

Bloomberg didn't think teaching was necessary to be principal. Perhaps he didn't know the expression principal is short for principal teacher. More likely, he didn't care and knowing would have changed nothing. I don't know much about Carmen Farina but I've read she taught over 20 years. Would a person like that believe in these instant principals? It's hard to imagine she would.

Of course, these days, instant principals shouldn't be anything that surprises us. We have TFA, which trains teachers in just a few weeks, and our genius government somehow decided that makes them highly qualified. So why shouldn't we be celebrating this principal? After all, she really knows how to throw a party.

And apparently, this nonsense has been going on for years. Even as Bloomberg and his minions carped endlessly about the perfidy of unionized teachers, he did nothing about conditions at this school. Nor did Klein or Walcott. Nor did that woman, what's-her-name, who stumbled about in the chancellor's office for a few weeks. Hey, didn't she also have no background whatsoever in education? That was Bloomberg's way. It's John King's way too, since to him, parents and teachers are special interests. Only billionaires know what's good for working parents, I suppose.

Anyway, kudos to Susan Edelman at the Post for getting this out there. I can't imagine this is going to be a great week for the instant principal at PS 106. I wonder if this will teach people that experience matters. In a world where merit pay, after failing for over a hundred years, is the most innovative thing the Governor of New York can come up with, I'm not overly optimistic.

Why We Need Merit Pay

by guest blogger Educator for Excellence

First of all, it's important for teachers to be recognized. That's why I'm so glad we're no longer rated satisfactory or unsatisfactory. I, for one, am excellent. That's just one reason I don't teach anymore. Another is all that money I get to run this organization. Let me tell you, we have offices all over the country. I fly here, I do this, I meet rich people, and I go to gala luncheons. You better believe it beats the hell out of that school cafeteria.

There are lots of us E4E folks around. The important thing to remember about us is that we don't really want to be teachers. For example, Rubin Frisbee, a good buddy of mine, didn't even get tenure. Rather than bother trying again, he quit, took an Ivy League course, and now runs the whole damn school. Isn't it great that someone who never earned tenure can just tell everyone else who did how to teach? Only in America!

So anyway, on this merit pay thing. For one thing, we still have people out there teaching, and I can assure you they won't hang around waiting. And between us, I happen to know they're holding back the good stuff until they can get that bonus. OK, to tell you the truth, they won't hang around even if they get the bonus. There are higher-paying jobs than teaching, and they will get them. They will go into administration, or they will come and work with me at E4E, or maybe they'll get jobs at the DOE.

Actually, with de Blasio in, we can't be altogether sure about those DOE gigs. But it doesn't matter because they're always looking for people over at the Gates Foundation. And if there's nothing there, there's always the Walton Foundation and the Broad Foundation. And then there are those hedge funders always looking for glitzy ways to invest their disposable income. It's a win-win-win-win-win.

Just like cockroaches after a nuclear blast, we will always be around. Unless you want us to teach, because we move away from that stuff ASAP. But the important thing to remember is you won't keep us in the classroom unless we get merit pay. And if we get merit pay, we are still leaving the classroom.

And that is why we need merit pay.

Why Confuse Union Leadership with Mary Poppins?

Is union leadership practically perfect in every way? Why would anyone even contend they were?

It's the loyalty oath, of course.

Still, how can you be a thoroughly effective advocate when you're sworn to express no opinions but those you're told to have? What if those opinions are not in the best interests of those you represent? And how many members even know that the union is ruled by an invitation-only group that whose meetings are top-secret, a group which half a century ago expelled members for opposing the Vietnam War?

Sometimes I grow weary of nonsense. Often, in fact. A commenter here has made several false statements in response to posts here. Most recently, this commenter asserted that the new evaluation system did not affect due process at all. That's not true.

The primary reason that's not true is that teachers facing 3020a, up until now, have had the burden of proof on the city. That is, the city was required to prove their incompetence. Now, if a "validator" agrees with the city, that teachers will have to prove either their competence, or lack of incompetence. That's going to be tough.

While it's true that U-rating appeals have been basically a rubber stamp for the city, the new agreement provides that up to 13% of negative ratings will go to an independent arbitrator. While I cannot predict how the de Blasio administration will deal with such ratings, and while I certainly hope they will be more reasonable than the fanatical ideologues Bloomberg put in place, I wouldn't wish to be the one who tells 87% of teachers facing high-stakes ratings how sorry I was. Nor do I see the equity in promising fairness to only 13% of people in trouble.

In case that's not enough, the history of jointly-appointed independent arbitrators has been one of compromise, so it's likely only half of the lucky 13% will prevail. Should that be the case, the UFT rationale that about 13% of cases prevailed in the past will prove not to be a good one.

I'm always amazed to hear UFT leadership criticize Bloomberg for top-down decision making, precisely what it practices. In fact, our leadership has supported mayoral control, junk science VAM rating for teachers, Common Core, high-stakes testing, and a contract that eviscerated many hard-won victories. We've embraced a highly-flawed reformy agenda.

We endorsed a mayoral candidate who publicly opposed raises for teachers, even though other unions got them. UFT worked feverishly to get Bill Thompson elected, but with de Blasio surging, I declined to participate. When the UFT came to its senses, after a chapter leader meeting I was the only one who went and made calls for de Blasio. With me were two members from my school, and we represented 50% of the phone bank.

I don't have anything against anyone who chooses to join Unity, and I'm friends with a lot of Unity members. As in any group, some are wonderful, while others are not so wonderful. Regardless, I take exception when people lie, as a commenter did when he claimed there was no loyalty oath. I happen to have a copy of the Unity application. It says, exactly, that the applicant promises:

• To express criticism of caucus policies within the Caucus;
  
• To support the decisions of Caucus / Union leadership in public or Union forums;
  
• To support in Union elections only those individuals who are endorsed by the Caucus, and to actively campaign for his / her election;
  
• To run for Union office only with the support of the caucus;
  
• To serve, if elected to Union office, in a manner consistent with Union / Caucus policies
  and to give full and faithful service in that office;
  

Personally, I'm hard-pressed to see how that allows for public dissent with Unity policy. Comments here are open, and Unity members are welcome to say what they wish.

But it's utter nonsense to dispute the loyalty pledge, and independent thought is not precisely what those clauses encourage. It's hard for me to understand how union activism is stoked by policies like these. And it's particularly hard to understand how placing brick walls around dissenting factions aids union democracy, the union itself, or working teachers (86% of whom don't deem it worth their time to even vote in union elections).

It's particularly hard to understand when people like Diane Ravitch (and me) are proven right, as in Bill de Blasio, mayoral control, VAM, Common Core, and everything else that we've been on the wrong side of.

Student Lobbyist Andy Cuomo Is a Moron

Well, perhaps that's strong language, but the Andrew "I am the government" Cuomo is floating a merit pay scheme of "up to" $20,000 for the best teachers. Personally, I'm not persuaded Governor Cuomo would know a good teacher if one were beating him over the head. Nonetheless, were that to happen, it probably wouldn't change anything.  For one thing, the governor can't be bothered to do basic research. Merit pay has been around for a hundred years, and it has never worked.

For another thing, "up to" $20,000 means a number somewhere between zero and $20,000. While there are reports that a lot of teachers around NY State have been rated "highly effective" based on junk science VAM, that's no assurance formulas can't or won't be revised so as to not pay out.

Newark, for example, adopted a merit pay scheme. 190 of Newark's 3200 teachers got bonuses. That's fewer than 10%. Of course, 80% of Newark teachers chose not to give up tenure in order to participate. And those teachers, being smarter, were more likely to have been rated highly effective. Personally, I would question the competence of any teacher who gave up anything to be thrown upon the tender mercies of Chris Christie. It appears there's a whole bunch of money in Newark, but it does not appear the teachers are going to be receiving it.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has come out and stated flatly that he does not believe in merit pay. Perhaps the mayor actually reads the research. Perhaps the mayor knows that any teacher who's holding back waiting for merit pay is incompetent and ought to be fired. I can't really say why the mayor believes this, but it's certainly refreshing to see a rational opinion in City Hall, rather than fanatical ideology based on whatever came out of Bill Gates' hind quarters this morning.

And here's the truth--city teachers have been without a compensation increase for five years now. We aren't looking for a tip.

We want the same raise that NYPD and FDNY got, and I don't know a single non-E4E teacher who says otherwise.

Gotham Schools and Danielson Rapidly Plummet Downhill

Now that Gotham Schools has redesigned itself into a super slick website, it's not nearly as user-friendly as it once was. I used to really use the Rise and Shine thing on days when I was at a loss for what to blog. Now you have to click on it to see it, and today's features several iterations of the all-important news that charter folks are worried about Bill de Blasio. Apparently, since de Blasio feels they should pay rent and stop displacing and destroying public schools, the astroturfers fear he may make them pay rent and stop destroying and displacing public schools.

Shocking stuff.

To encourage community participation, Gotham has removed the comments from the sidebar. I suppose when you're giving the charter folks everything they want, you don't want those inconvenient teachers blabbering all over your front page. Actually a lot of comments appeared to be about the perfidy of teachers lately, though for a long time they'd been largely about what an atrocity it was that teachers had pensions.

So here's the thing--today I want to write about Danielson, but I don't have enough info. My UFT contacts can't yet give me the answers I need, but as of today I think that the rules don't mean anything, that supervisors can write any damn thing they feel like, that they can manipulate the system just as much as they did before, and if they hate your guts, they can and will trash you.

I don't actually blame Danielson for that. I still see the framework as having elements worth striving for. Danielson might work in the context for which it was actually designed, which was to support and perhaps inspire good teachers. Sadly, rating teachers is an entirely different ball game.

And honestly, if your supervisor hates you and everything you stand for, that person can pick and choose what he or she sees, and will write about everything you did wrong. You may, of course, write a response, but who pays attention? If the supervisor sees fit to leave the flawed report standing, that's what's gonna be in your file and that's what's gonna determine how many points you get and whether or not you face the VAM firing squad.

So, essentially, while Danielson is not inherently evil or invalid, the same crazy people who could carry out personal agendas with the old system can do so under the new one. If your school happens to get good scores the VAM may help you. If not they may hurt you. Interestingly, AFT President Randi Weingarten just came to her senses and publicly opposed it. How that will help those of us who've written it into our state law I'm not at all sure.

But all in all the new system does not represent an improvement over the old one. The primary reason is the burden of proof. In the past, it was on the DOE to prove you were incompetent. That was not an easy thing for them to prove. Now, if you get a crap rating year one, you will get a "validator" year two, who will give you a thumbs up or down. If they say you don't suck, burden will still be on DOE. However, if they determine you do indeed suck, it's on you, and you will have to prove you are not incompetent. I have no idea how anyone accomplishes such a thing.

The NY State law has thus far been a disaster not only for working teachers, but also for supervisors who simply cannot keep up. I hope the UFT can negotiate something less insane with the new mayor, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's a Cold World

This morning my students were all huddled in a vestibule waiting for me to come out. None of them wanted to spend a single extra minute outside. They were horrified to see me, not precisely because of my lack of personal charm, but rather because that meant they were going to have to face that long, cold walk to the trailer.

It was so cold that no matter how many times the custodians salted the three sheets of ice that we had to cross to hit the trailer, they froze almost immediately. I saw a girl slip and fall, but fortunately she was not hurt and got up to go the rest of the way to her trailer.

Eventually admin, or the custodians, or someone, got creative, and placed rugs over the perpetually freezing ice sheets. I felt important walking over them, as though someone had rolled out the red carpet. Unfortunately the carpet was a dull grey, but we can still dream, can't we?

I've become enamored of my North Face parka. A good friend of mine and I used to make fun of the kids who wore them, as though they were school uniforms, but at the end of the season a few years back they were on sale at Macy's for a hundred bucks each, and I got one for my kid and one for me. Now my friend makes fun of me for wearing it, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. I don't own stock or anything, but it kept me pretty happy today.

On the other hand, it only goes down so far, and this morning it felt like I didn't have any pants on (though I did). I don't think I could make it as a woman, wearing outfits that require bare legs.

I had to stay late and go to a meeting, and on the way home 1010 WINS informed me we hadn't had a day this cold since 1896.

I certainly hope we go another hundred years before the next day like this.

Governor Andy Makes Another Principled Stand

Our illustrious governor, Andrew "I am the government" Cuomo, has unveiled a plan designed specifically to take the wind out of new mayor Bill de Blasio's sails. To wit, he wants to fund pre-K statewide without tax increases on the wealthy. As you may know, Governor Andy strives to emulate his Daddy, Mario, who took a principled stand against the death penalty. However, Governor Andy's principled stand was dropping the millionaire's tax.

After all, it's well-known how fragile rich people can be. If you were to touch them, they might break. Mayor Bloomberg used to say they'd leave NY if they were taxed. And if they make a million dollars a year, you can't ask them to pay 900 bucks for some tax to educate the children of the riff raff. They need that money for investments. You know, that's when they take this money and try to make more of it.

It's different with people who make $7.25 an hour. They haven't got the money to invest anyway, frittering away their salaries on things like food and shelter. All the money they get just gets spent. Maybe if they were to make $20 an hour we wouldn't have to give them food stamps, but who do you think would have to lay out that twenty bucks? That's right, it would be those fragile rich people who own the businesses. Then there would be less money for them to invest, and they would make even less money. You see? It's a vicious cycle.

So the important thing here is this--rich people simply cannot pay more taxes. The government can go broke, states can be so poor they need to accept bribes from the feds so as to enact programs like Race to the Top, and that will make the rich people even richer. After all, who do you think owns Pearson? Some $7.25 an hour fast-food worker? Think again. Race to the Top will make the rich people even richer, and then they can invest that money, and become even richer.

Because that is the main goal of our society, apparently.

In any case, if Bill de Blasio needn't raise taxes to enact his signature pre-K plan, if Governor Andy's fragile ego won't let de Blasio do that, de Blasio can always tax the fragile millionaires to support other things, like class size reduction.

Conversely, de Blasio could simply demand the three billion dollars Governor Cuomo failed to give NYC for that purpose. And if Governor Andy ponies up, maybe he can save the billionaires he lives to serve from those awful tax hikes.

Gotham Charter Schools Will Become Chalkbeat Charters New York!

From now on, Gotham Charter Schools will be Charter Chalkboard New York. We have lots of exciting changes for you, our readers, and we can't wait to get started! You can read our future posts at charterchalkboardNY@blogspot.com.

First, we're going to have a big fundraising party, where you can all give us money. And after that, we're running a conference with teachers to discuss teacher stuff. For those critics out there, we want you to know that two of the three teachers we've selected have never stereotyped ATR teachers in these pages. (After an extensive search, we were only able to locate one such teacher, but we feel we deserve credit anyway.)

Second, we're going to actually start reading the comments section. It's pretty tedious, actually, as it appears to mostly be a lot of crap about how teachers shouldn't get pensions, and how awful teachers are, and how they don't do any work. Still, we feel we'll be more credible if we sort out the obviously insane comments and leave only the questionable ones. Of course, there may not be any more comments once we do that, but that's fine since we won't need to read them and can get back to the important work of whatever it is we do around here.

We will continue to bring you fabulous guest posts from not only E4E members, but also people who may or may not be E4E members. We'll let them coyly deny being E4E, while sort of being E4E anyway, and we won't demand clarity from them at all. When E4E finds a hundred people to sign a petition demanding more work for less pay, we'll be the first to cover it! We vow to bring you widely diverse viewpoints, encompassing not only Moskowitz charter teachers, but also non-Moskowitz charter teachers. When we can find convoluted incomprehensible nonsense defending ridiculous testing practices, we promise you'll see it here first!

And don't worry, fans. We will continue to bring you coverage whenever Eva Moskowitz is planning a rally. We will, of course, cover the actual rallies, and then we'll do follow-ups to find out what has happened after the rally.

At Charter Chalkboard NY, we won't get mired down in special interests like teacher unions or public school parents. We'll continue to ignore their trivial rallies and press conferences. We'll stay focused on whatever the hell our corporate sponsors, like the Gates Foundation and the Walmart family, see fit. And for those Gloomy Guses who complain that we never solicit writing from real public school teachers, who are of course special interests, we pledge to you that we will continually ask real public school teachers to write for us. However, we will not read what they write, and of course we will not run it either. Those folks are loose cannons, and could say any damn thing. But no one can say we didn't ask for it!

We now have a special red phone that runs from Charter Chalkboard directly to the office of Eva Moskowitz, so we will be able to inform you immediately when Eva has any issue. And not only that, but we will aggressively cover what goes on in all other charter schools. Also we vow to let you know immediately when Doug Lemov figures a more efficient way to extract every degree of time-wasting humanity, enjoyment, or humor from the modern classroom.

This is our pledge to you, our readers. Please send as much money as you possibly can so we may continue our mission.

The Eternal Question--To Go or Not to Go?

 Update: Very cool to see Mayor Bill de Blasio actually shoveling snow in front of his Brooklyn home on CBS 2. Doubtless it's for show, and he says he's going to share with Dante, but it's impressive.

Can you imagine Emperor Bloomberg doing that? Neither can I. The only show we got from Mayor Money was the pretense of going to the subway. Actually, two SUVs came to his brownstone each AM to drive him, since his preferred subway stop was too far for him to walk.




Update 4:47 AM: NYC SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED.

Mayor de Blasio made a good call. Perhaps he simply waited so as to look a little tougher to his manifold corporate critics. But he did the right thing. You don't send a million kids out in weather like this, even though it was no problem for a guy like Rudy Giuliani, and even though it took Mike Bloomberg until maybe 6:30 AM a few years back.

Also, unless they're using some very sophisticated new technology, it appears Bill de Blasio is in NYC rather than Bermuda.

LIE will remain closed until at least 8 AM, so in case you feel like going in anyway, don't.

Update: As of 4:12 AM CBS TV says they don't expect a decision from the mayor until around 5 AM. They also say that plowing the streets has been useless, as the wind blows the snow instantly back. Wind chill 10-15 below zero and LIE is still closed. Crews still trying to determine whether or not it's safe to open.

If they don't open the LIE, it will be incredible to see schools open.

I see Mayor de Blasio saying, "please, stay indoors, to the maximum extent possible, stay out of your cars, to the maximum extent possible. If you don't need to go out, please don't go out." I will find it very tough to understand how he reconciles words like that with a decision to open schools. Here's an interpretation I like, via Twitter:

@TeacherArthurG Our new mayor is trying too hard to look as tough as Bloomberg. This is an easy one. Only reason to wait is perception
— Joel (@Professorrage25) January 3, 2014

As a New York City schoolteacher, I've got a lot of memories about snow days. Right now I'm remembering a day I drove 10 miles from my house, only to hear on the news that city schools were closed.

Another time I went in on the treacherous Long Island Expressway, with cars crashing to my left and right, and heard my then-boss, Rudy Giuliani, on the radio saying it's awful out there. If you don't absolutely have to, don't come in. I don't remember the exact quote, but I did that morning. I posted it on the board and discussed it with the handful of students who'd bothered to show up.

My fondest memory was the bet I made with my mom a few years ago. She said the schools would close. I said no, they open no matter what. She bet me ten bucks they would close. I took the bet and lost. When they closed a second day, my mom demanded twenty. I refused to pay the second day. Sometimes you simply have to stand by your principles.

This post will go up at 4 AM. With luck, I'll still be asleep. The question is, are we going in or not? Is Carmen Farina going to open her term with a snow day? Will Mayor Bill go for it?

And if he doesn't, are you going in anyway? I usually do, but I'm crazy so you can't go by me.

What's happening this morning?

The Exacting Standards at Gotham Schools

I used to write for Gotham Schools. They called me at home, and asked if I would do it. I said fine. The first post I wrote was about a Harlem public school experiencing an invasion by Eva Moskowitz. I quoted a person who spoke at the rally who said Eva was taking kids rated 3 and 4, but not those who scored lower. This proved not to be true. But I accurately reported what I heard.

After that, things were different, and my writing was subject to a pretty severe editing process. I was sometimes upset by this, as their E4E writer could post any outlandish assertion he saw fit. The last piece of mine they put up was about Cathie Black, and entitled Heckuva Job Blackie. This was a play on words, referring to GW's "Heckuva Job Brownie" quote. I insisted on retaining the title, and our discussions got pretty contentious. The next piece I wrote for them was this one.

Gotham objected that I called E4E, ERN, and Cathie Black billionaire-sponsored, though that isn't even debatable. They also objected to my implication that an Ivy League pedigree was helpful to getting into TFA, even though a whole lot of Ivy League students went to TFA. There was a third problem they had, and I don't remember what it was, but I sent the piece to Huffington Post, where they highlighted it and it received over a hundred comments.

A few months ago, Gotham asked me to write a piece about why folks like me don't feel E4E represents us. I wrote it for them. They not only didn't run it, but couldn't even be bothered getting back to me. Here is a sample of what Gotham schools finds absolutely acceptable:

Our children are being taught by a collection of ignoramouses whose principal objective is to feather their own nest, maintain the public school failure monopoly, and raid the fisc. You should be charged with child abuse (I mean, besides the collection of perverts that the UFT protects.)

That's fine, isn't it? How about this:

First, your comment is an excuse, nothing more.
Second, you write like a functional illiterate.
I hope you only teach gym.

So, let's see--at Gotham, it's OK to dispense personal insults. It's also just fine to stereotype tens of thousands of working teachers. But suggesting that E4E is sponsored by billionaires is beyond the pale.  Let's hear a few more Gotham-sanctioned words of wisdom:

Yes, "Gym" is now called "Physical Education", like "Teachers" are now called "Educators", no doubt to concoct the illusion that bottom of their class ed school graduates are "professional" on a par with doctors ("physicians") and lawyers.("attorneys").  

You see? I guess physical ed. teachers are even worse than the rest of us, who are perverts, feathering our own nest, and oh, here's one:

"You people" = government "educrats" riding the public dole for large sums of money (for the "work" you do) and producing miserable results.

You see that? And when someone accuses this stereotype-favoring commenter of bigotry, here's the response Gotham Schools thinks is just fine:

Yes, so typical of the Liberal Education Monopoly: if someone says something that you don't like or with which you disagree and pull out the "bigot" card to silence them.
Its one of the many reasons most New Yorkers and most Americans hate you.

I doubt most Americans hate us, and I doubt this person has done a survey or anything. But I know one thing.

Gotham Schools is a disgrace. They should be ashamed of themselves for giving a forum to this sort of trash.

Postscript: Gotham's favorite commenter appears to be appropriating someone else's identity.

Update: Anika Anand of Gotham Schools says they're actually going to delete this stuff. 

Inspiration

I haven't offered a whole lot of good news lately, but today I went to Bill de Blasio's inauguration. While it's true it was freezing out there, and I completely overlooked the necessity of 7 pairs of socks, there was something very special about the people I saw today.

Bill Clinton did not particularly thrill me, praising Emperor Bloomberg, but he was introduced by a CUNY student who came here at 15 from the Dominican Republic. There, in front of me, was a New York City ESL student introducing a President of the United States. This young woman was everything I want to see in NYC. I want an NYC in which kids have a chance to thrive, and a real shot at a future. I think they're more important than whatever stadium or luxury high-rise Mayor Bloomberg has wet dreams about.

And that vision is most certainly shared by Tish James, wearing a bright red coat but standing out more for her ideas than her apparel. She stood with Mayor Dinkins and held court about a New York that actually looked after people. No stadiums for her. No racist police policies. No Race to the Top, and no more people trying to live on $7.25 an hour. She is the real thing, and she will not sit silent while billionaires foist insane policies on working people. She's said she will be the conscience of the new mayor, and I have no doubt she will keep her word.

Also bruising Mayor Money was Harry Belafonte. Bloomberg sat wincing as his policies were parsed, as a vision as antithetical to his as any I've heard came from this legendary figure. Scott Stringer was no more kind to the mayor. The smirk he wore before people started to speak withered away, and in its place was the face of a teacher going through hour three of the most useless PD ever devised by man, woman, or Bloomberg.

Mayor de Blasio immediately addressed those who expect him to sell out. He said he was elected to put in place progressive policies, and that he would. He repeatedly stressed that this work was to begin NOW. He did not sound like someone who was going to turn into a corporatist anytime soon. If I were him, I'd be afraid to. Tish James is no one to be trifled with.

One of the most amazing things I saw was Michael Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo sitting there, and neither of them playing any part beyond that of scarecrows. Certainly they'd have loved to blather their corporatist crap, but de Blasio did not make any room in the schedule for that. Cuomo looked chisled from plastic, or perhaps porcelain, and sat there smiling like a ventriloquist's dummy. Sandra Lee, by his side, was doubtless figuring out how to form some culinary masterpiece from boxed bread crumbs, canned corned beef hash, and vanilla extract. I can't wait to not watch her next show.

It's a hopeful time for me, as after 20 years of crap it's time for NYC to smile. I ran into blogger extraordinaire Jose Luis Vilson, who was sadly relegated to the cheap seats for the ceremony, and a friend of mine who's been working her butt off for the new mayor. Jose and I hoped she'd sneak us in and get us no-show jobs at Soprano worksites, but she told us they were all in New Jersey.

On the brighter side, now that we have a real mayor, none of us are going to have to move there.

New Year's Resolutions

I won't bore you with mine, but here are some Woody Guthrie made in 1942, if I'm not mistaken. How cool are they? Which ones are you gonna use? Which ones won't fit your bohemian lifestyle?

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Why Do Teachers Quit?

There are a lot of reasons, of course, and we face them each and every day. This piece focuses on why teachers of color quit. Admittedly, I lack color, so I can speak personally only as to why I see people quit, and I'm afraid I don't pay much attention to what color they are. For one thing, this is a tough job. You don't instantly walk in and reach kids, and there are few things more frustrating than failure.

And let me tell you, you don't need to be observed 4-6 times a year to know you're failing. Kids will tell you instantly. They will ignore you. They will do whatever the hell they please, and you'll be standing there like an idiot. If you don't get a handle on that, and you don't quit, I don't know how you do it.

Financial matters can further alienate teachers of color from coworkers. Teachers from well-to-do families have the advantage of accepting a low-paying teaching position and still having money available to them through other means.

Apparently, I come from a background of extreme wealth. I didn't realize that until this writer told me. Actually, when I decided to turn down the first regular tenure-track assignment I'd ever been offered--teaching English at what was then Springfield Gardens High School, I should have asked mom and dad to support me. (By then, I'd decided I wanted to teach ESL, which I'd been assigned more or less by accident.)

Instead, I went out and found a job playing in world's worst Irish wedding band. I didn't love the gig, but it and a student loan got me through a year of grad school. In fact, while the writer may not have had that option, there are other jobs one can get, and working one's way through college is not all that unusual. Were that option unacceptable, the writer might have sought a job in a real public school, where the pay would probably have been better.

When I saw teachers from wealthier backgrounds stay in the profession, I had to remind myself that they, through their family or connections, could more easily tolerate a teaching salary knowing they would always have access to a lifestyle my family and I could only aspire to.

Yes of course. After 30 years as a teacher, I'm thinking of breaking into the stock market. Maybe I'm the next Wolf of Wall Street.

And though my salary was enough to give me a comfortable lifestyle, and save a decent amount of money, it did not make me feel like I had used my education to pursue a career that was reputable, a career that made my family’s legacy “better.”

This sort of says the important thing is to be wealthy, and that your family won't respect you otherwise. I used to work as a musician, and my dad always asked when I would get a real job. As a teacher, he asked when I would get a better job.  I guess if impressing your parents is the most important thing in your life, this career is not for you.

And frankly, that speaks to your personal limitations. Sure, it would be nice to be paid more. It would be great if America respected education enough to improve conditions. Still, whatever color you may be, I'm not sure that a core value of abject materialism makes you an ideal role model. I'd rather make sure kids have the tools they need,  encourage them to do what they love and figure out how to go with it. I'm lucky enough to love teaching, and I can tell kids, from firsthand experience, that it's worth pursuing what you love.

I don't believe this Ivy League TFA/ charter school two-year wonder has what it takes to be a teacher.

I'd much rather hear from those who do.

UFT's Road Not Taken

Let's say our union has to decide who represents it at conventions. Since only 14% working teachers find it worthwhile to even vote in union elections, and since Unity-New Action has had an ironclad monopoly on elections for over half a century, it pretty much comes out to who Unity-New Action sees fit to nominate. So let's look at who they choose.

On the one hand, we give you hypothetical Chapter Leader A who doesn't do much of anything. He falls asleep at meetings. He even falls asleep when he's ostensibly representing you. When you have a problem, he says, "Put a letter in my box." He does this because 80% of the members who hear it won't do it. And if the other 20% bother writing something, he ignores them too. Let's say this guy runs a member-supported Sunshine Fund and uses the proceeds to take his hungry friends to dinner in upscale restaurants, though none of the members know exactly what the hell he does with the money. Let's say he never does a thing outside of school, he never advocates for his school, he watches it fall apart, and doesn't give a golly gosh-diddly-darn. Chapter Leader A signs the Unity loyalty oath because he doesn't care at all which policies the union may endorse.

On the other, let's take, say, real-live chapter leader James Eterno. James knows the contract like the back of his hand, and is faced with the prospect of being in a so-called failing school. He busts his ass trying to save it. He mobilizes members, bringing 75 of them to a PEP meeting. He speaks out in blogs, in newspapers, in media about what's going on. He enlists the help of politicians, and organizes the entire community to take a stand. He does everything he possibly can to save his historic school. In the end, Walcott and Bloomberg move to close it, because they can. UFT is still doing some sort of kabuki dance around some lawsuit that says DOE can't do this, but since it's largely a fait acompli, no one's confident the school is coming back. Eterno declines to sign the Unity loyalty oath because he firmly opposes policies like school closings, mayoral control, and VAM.

Which one of these chapter leaders do you choose to represent the interests of the entire union? I can tell you the United Federation of Teachers chose the former without reservation. Apparently, this chapter leader represents us better than Eterno. After that, the great minds at UFT leadership scratch their collective heads and ask themselves, "Why is it that 86% of working teachers don't vote?"

Of course, it could be the fact that we have morphed into the United Federation of Retirees, with retired teachers forming 52% of the voting bloc. After all, there's a UFT HQ in Florida, and I suppose they have meetings and gala luncheons. Doubtless they think current leadership is praiseworthy for providing such amenities. But there are those of us who find it ridiculous that retirees have most of the voice in our working future. I, for example, think retirees should have a voice in retiree matters, full stop. They should not be choosing anyone who represents working teachers.

And it could be the fact that many teachers have little to no faith in their chapter leaders, and that Chapter Leader A is not merely some abstract model. How do we move our union into a force that involves and motivates working teachers, rather than simply the phone call we have to make when we need a new pair of glasses?

Is Reformy John King's Decree Worse Than NY Times Thinks?

There's a piece in the NY Times all about the issues with the new evaluation system. They're the paper of record, so it must be accurate. I've no idea how large the school is, but I'm sure the Times reporter carefully considered its application to large schools, and understands completely what it means in a large school where APs are in charge of maybe 40 teachers a piece. After all, reporters get paid for that sort of thing.

On the other hand, the reporter estimates under the assumption that observers will not spend more than 15 minutes a piece on informal observations. In this astral plane, it's unlikely many observations by responsible admin are 15 minutes. Teachers tell me admin usually stays at least 25 minutes, and often wait until whatever activity they're engaged in is completed, so as to get a real picture of what's happening. Of course, I'm just someone who talks to working teachers every single day, and not a NY Times reporter, so I guess you can't go by me.


And it's not just the observations. They have to be low-inference and aligned to the Danielson rubric. Responsible administrators have to take copious notes, supposedly reserving any and all value judgments. They then have to align these supposedly non-judgmental notes to the rubric. That's pretty time-consuming and taxing, particularly for people who aren't used to doing such things. I write very fast, but not everyone does. This is going to be very tough for some administrators, particularly if teachers are sharp enough to catch them when they offer judgments with little or no evidence.

In my school, an AP is responsible for 30 or 40 teachers. At maybe 200 per year, that makes more than one observation per day. APs who are not in the habit of writing regularly are going to have a really tough time of it. I know APs who write well who are having an even tougher time of it. Being conscientious, they labor over every word. I've actually had administrators, who don't usually complain to me of such things, say they'd like to take entire days off just so they could get to their writing.

APs are supposed to help teachers who really need support, but haven't got time to devote to those who really needs it. They also haven't got the time to help kids who have problems with teachers. King mandated more observations than either the DOE or UFT requested, according to Gotham Schools. What sort of mediator, when you want to sell a car for $500, and I want to pay $200, charges $1000?

That would be the esteemed Mr. King.

In our school, the principal has decided that anyone who wished to change from option one or two was free to do so. I recently spoke to an AP who was delighted that two department members decided to go from six observations to a mere four. It was like a Christmas gift.

That's four down, and a million to go.

Happy Christmas

To all readers of this blog, to all my brother and sister teachers, and to all the public school parents facing these odd, odd times, I wish you a happy and restful Christmas and holiday season. Thanks for all your support, and thanks for all your thoughtful comments.

Thanks for waking up every morning ready to help children who need it. Thanks for your awareness, and thanks for teaching me so much about what's really happening in education, as opposed to the shallow nonsense we see in the papers.

Thanks for your willingness to stand up for reason, for science, in the face of an unrelenting attack by those who look at our children and see only dollar signs. Thanks for knowing that it's our job to stand up for these kids, and thanks for recognizing the barely concealed ulterior motives behind demagogues like Gates, Rhee, Bloomberg, Walcott, and all the various heads of the snake that is corporate reform.

David beat Goliath, and no matter what the odds I know you will continue to stand up to the Walmarts and the Broads and their well-financed nonsense, whether it comes in the form of Students First, Educators 4 Excellence, DFER, or whatever they're calling themselves this week. I'm very proud to stand with you and honored to be some small part of a movement that insists reason be part of education.

Let Reformy John King and Silent Merryl Tisch worry this year, because it is we, not the corporate propagandists, who truly will not back down. We will make them face truth everywhere they turn. We will not only shout from the rooftops, but also write to the newspapers and corporate media who spout their nonsense. We will not give them one moment's rest as they try to use our precious children as guinea pigs for programs they see as unfit for their own.

And we will not stop until they are down for the count. They have the money, but we have the numbers, and we will not rest until everyone knows the truth.

So rest up. It's gonna be a tough year, and I can't wait.

It's Just A Little Early to Give Up on Bill de Blasio

I keep reading all over my social media haunts that de Blasio has sold us out, that he's going to appoint a reformy Chancellor, and that he's no different from Bloomberg. There's not a whole lot of basis for this yet, other than speculation on who he's spoken with.

I know he just appointed someone from Goldman Sachs to be in charge of something. She wouldn't have been my first pick. But let's see what she does.

I read all the crap in the reformy press suggesting that the slimeballs from DC or Chicago would be chancellor and it turned out to be crap. I pledged if de Blasio were to appoint Kaya Henderson chancellor that I'd make a video burning my UFT de Blasio t-shirt. I'm pretty sure that won't be necessary.


But the man is not mayor yet, and he hasn't done anything whatsoever. I think it's fair to at least wait until he sets foot in office to decide what sort of mayor he is, and how well he's doing.

As for me, I'm going to the inauguration. For some reason, he sent me an invitation, and I'm willing to stand in the freezing cold and watch Emperor Bloomberg slink off into the primordial ooze that spawned him.

And I'm going to be optimistic until I have a viable reason to be otherwise. 

Our Message to the President

When Barack Obama ran for re-election, several groups told him they needed concessions before supporting him. LGBT groups managed to extract support for gay marriage. Immigrant groups managed to extract support for their causes.

As for us, we supported Barack Obama unconditionally. The NEA and the AFT couldn't wait to get on Barack's bandwagon. I believe I read there was extensive polling to support AFT's decision. As usual, no one asked me, anyone in my very large school, or anyone I know. Perhaps they did a poll of Unity chapter leaders who knew the correct answers in advance. Who knows?

But the point is not how the poll was conducted. The point is we asked no concessions whatsoever. By doing so, we gave Barack Obama the message that he could count on us no matter what he did. Impose nonsensical standards? Fine. Fire teachers based on junk science? Great. Close schools with high concentrations of high-needs students? Dandy. Blame teachers for closings? Swell.

You get the idea. There are arguments in favor of actions like these. Romney was Obama's opponent, and he's even worse. In fact, the election was close enough that Romney had a chance of winning. Maybe. But Barack Obama has taken GW Bush's educational policies, put them on steroids, and imposed them on the entire country.

Barack Obama broke his promise to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. In fact, he never even attempted to support it, as far as I can tell. Thus, the possibility of increased unionization for Americans has not been realized. He never found those comfortable shoes he promised to look for and stand with working Americans. He didn't show up in Wisconsin to oppose Scott Walker's wholesale assault on labor and that was fine with us. He followed up by failing to oppose his equally repugnant pal, Rahm Emmanuel, in Chicago. By extension, the closure of 50 Chicago schools was fine with us.

Our message to the President is this--you may do whatever the hell you wish. You may take direct orders from Bill Gates. You may vilify us, you may fire us for no reason, you may close schools to make money for your corporate buds, and you may freely screw us, our students, and their parents.

For the new year of 2014, I have this request for our leadership---please recraft our message. While the one we're broadcasting is certainly appreciated by the demagogues who seek to destroy us, the last bastion of vibrant unionism in these United States, it's not helping us at all.

And we could all use just a little help right now.

BREAKING: Bloomberg Says God Wants Bill de Blasio Homeless, Declares Martial Law

In a surprise move, Mayor Michael Bloomberg today announced that he had decided to void the recent mayoral election, and declared himself Mayor for Life. Mayor Bloomberg stated he was fully prepared to have his private army, the New York City Police, enforce this edict.

Mayor Bloomberg said New York's welfare was too important to be left in the hands of a democratically elected mayor. The mayor claimed there was abundant precedent for this. "I overturned at least two democratic elections to get my third term, and I see no reason not to do it once again for my fourth and permanent term," stated the mayor, who went on to outline his vision for the city's future.

"As I've previously explained," the mayor told us, "NYC is the best place on earth to be homeless. Who wants to wander among dilapidated third-world slums when you can be homeless near world-class art museums and the world's best theater? What's better than mining the dumpsters of fine restaurants for the remains of the best-crafted meals available anywhere?" Mayor Bloomberg then pledged to make New York the number one homeless destination in the nation, if not the world.

Mayor Bloomberg apologized to Bill de Blasio for the abrupt change in plans, but stated categorically that Gracie Mansion would not be available to him.  The mayor pointed out that if de Blasio had made other plans for his Brooklyn home, he was welcome to join the ranks of the lucky NYC homeless. While Bloomberg himself was not planning to live at Gracie, opting for his own mansions and Bermuda getaway, he explained that it would simply look bad if de Blasio and family were allowed to live there during the fourth term. "God wants it that way," asserted Mayor Bloomberg.

He then assailed de Blasio for being taller than him, and repeatedly asserted that de Blasio was being taller than him "on purpose." Mayor Bloomberg stated that, while there was nothing inherently superior in physical height, "God doesn't want it that way."

Mayor Bloomberg also asserted that mayoral control meant he could do what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted and moved to close 32 schools the UFT had previously kept open as the result of a lawsuit. "I am the law," stated the diminutive mayor, "and no court can tell me what to do. Otherwise, why would I have all this money?"

Mayor Bloomberg completed his press conference by announcing that he was dispatching his private army to every 7-11 store in the city to confiscate every soft drink cup in excess of 16 ounces. Bloomberg, having canceled the de Blasio inaugaration, will instead hold a huge bonfire to  destroy all offending cups at City Hall this January 1st. "The public is invited," stated the mayor, "but we will stop and frisk anyone who looks remotely suspicious."

Bloomberg declared if anything were to happen to him, his successors would be Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, and reinstated washed-up politician Christine Quinn, in that order.

Letter to Staff, 2:16 PM Today

Dear colleagues,

I am home today, recuperating from a minor medical procedure. I just received an email that we are naming our college office after the sitting chancellor. This is the first I've heard of it, and our consultation committee, which met yesterday, was not apprised of it either.

Chancellor Walcott is an integral part of a team that denied all of us the 8% raise that FDNY, NYPD, SDNY and almost all city unions received, with virtually no givebacks, in the 2008-2010 round of pattern bargaining.

Walcott has demanded that he alone arbitrate cases of accused sexual abuse, and has repeatedly collaborated with the Daily News when they published cases and names of accused teachers. I am familiar with precisely one of these people. This person was not guilty of sexual abuse, had his name repeatedly dragged through the mud for years, and after years wasted in the rubber room, now works as an ATR. Anyone guilty of sexual abuse of children belongs in prison. However, being accused by the DOE is not tantamount to guilt.

Walcott was part of the team that jettisoned the APPR agreement with the UFT. Neither UFT nor the DOE wanted teachers observed six times a year, but because of his intransigence, John King got to singlehandedly write an evaluation system so ridiculous even the supervisors seem to hate it.

It's hugely disappointing that administration has unilaterally decided to pay tribute to a man who has worked tirelessly to make our jobs less professional, who has vilified us at every turn, who has refused to offer us the compensation he saw fit to give other city employees, and who has supported every baseless corporate reform that has come down the pike while he occupied this office.

Sincerely,

Arthur Goldstein, UFT Chapter Leader
Francis Lewis High School

Note: Forgive me for calling Sanitation Dept. (DSNY) SDNY, and for whatever I left out, like the $3 billion for class size reduction Walcott left on the table.