For the last few days I've been receiving missives from Chalkbeat NY, nee Gotham Schools, to contribute money. They want me to support the great work they say they're doing. I have actually been following them pretty much since their inception, and I still get their daily Rise and Shine, which I occasionally find useful.

They used to have something called Nightcap, which gave alternate points of view, like blogs, but now it's pretty much all from reformy MSM sources. They used to feature comments on the front page, back when it made a difference what conmmenters thought. And it used to be easy to read, before they instituted their new and largely ponderous format.

I was solicited to write for them. The first piece I did was a report on a PS 123 rally. I reported what the speakers said and was attacked for the speakers being inaccurate. It had not occurred to me that for my salary, nothing whatsoever, I was supposed to investigate their statements. After that, I was subject to the most brutal editing process I've ever experienced. Everything was pretty much gone over with a fine tooth comb, sometimes for the better, but not always.

After battling for months, I submitted this piece. Chalkbeat objected that I'd labeled Cathie Black as billionaire-sponsored, though Michael Bloomberg had appointed her. They objected to my saying TFA favored Ivy diplomas, though at the time they certainly did. I don't recall the third objection, but I do recall that it wasn't even debatable. That was the end of my tenure at Chalkbeat. Truthfully I'm more interested in using my voice, rather than have it watered down to be more acceptable to the reformies.

I later objected when they decided to place a piece about 100 E4E members signing some petition for more work for less pay, or whatever nonsense they were pushing that week. Gotham told me they would happily run a piece if I got 100 signatures. I wrote a petition asking that the ESL students in all schools school have their Regents exams graded by ESL teachers.  This was the policy for schools containing high percentages of ESL students. Although my school had lower percentages than some of these schools, we in fact had higher numbers. I didn't understand, if indeed that was an advantage, why my students weren't entitled to it.

I wrote the petition in five minutes and had 100 signatures within an hour. Just for the heck of it, I added the signatures of most of our School Leadership Team. I submitted it to Chalkbeat. A Chalkbeat reporter called me and we talked. She asked for the name of another teacher who could address it. I gave her one. Then I never heard anything of it again.

I've been to UFT rallies that haven't received mention in Chalkbeat, even though every time Eva Moskowitz blows her nose they report what color Kleenex she used. When I wrote them to complain, they gave me a snide response about how they were giving their reporters the summer off. You know, like us lazy worthless teachers. But this particular lazy worthless teacher was at the Manhattan rally that day, the one Chalkbeat didn't see fit to report. You'd better believe if E4E had a rally it would make the cut.

That's why I'm not giving a dime to Chalkbeat. Instead I made a donation to Class Size Matters, an organization that works for things we believe in (as opposed to things zillionaires want). If you'd like to follow my example, and I very much suggest you do, you can do it right here.

I rarely read Chalkbeat anymore. I appreciate that they send me their Rise and Shine every morning, as I'm kind of an ed. news junkie, but I haven't got the time to plod through their ponderous site and figure out what is new, what is recycled, and what is just glitzy nonsense. The comments on the sidebar used to grab me, but they're not there anymore. Nonetheless, when I see links like this one on Facebook or Twitter, I check them out.

Apparently, a bunch of reformy folks got together and criticized the UFT Contract for not being draconian enough. I'm the first to credit the Chalkbeat staff for their keen perception of the obvious. Michelle Rhee's brainchild, TNTP, and whatever Rheeplacement leader they have determine it doesn't benefit kids. Chalkbeat offers typically trenchant commentary:

The criticism is unsurprising...

I imagine someone at Chalkbeat shouting stop the presses, even though it's a blog. Another brilliant pundit suggests that if the city pays teachers more, there will be less money to pay for other things. Naturally I'm amazed by his financial acumen, and grateful that Chalkbeat deemed his insight worth sharing. I would never have guessed if you spent money on one thing you could not spend it on another.

Yet another pundit suggests that people who have relationships sometimes disagree. I was poised to read about how the world would be better if people were nicer, but alas, no one saw fit to inform the reporter.

The thing that most amazed me, though, was that anyone sees a bunch of reformy people saying reformy things as news. Chalkbeat is the outfit that brought us the world-shattering news that 100 E4E members supported more work for less pay, or some other such thing. I actually asked whether anyone could send a petition signed by 100 people and have it merit a story. One of their writers said yes it did.

At the time, NYC was having ESL teachers grade English Regents exams of schools that contained high percentages of ESL students. My large school had more ESL students than many of those schools, but a lower percentage. I got 100 signatures asking that ESL teachers grade ESL papers citywide. It took me about an hour.

Chalkbeat, or Gotham, or whatever they were called that week, had a reporter call me. She asked me for other names to contact and I gave them to her. She never followed up and the story never appeared.

Because, like UFT rallies when they can't be bothered to walk around the block from their office, such things are not reformy enough to tell people about. It's a shame that an education news outlet with such potential sees fit to push the corporate junk science agenda rather than informing those of us who really care not only about education, but also the overwhelming majority of American kids being educated.

I don't know about you, but I used to read Gotham Schools religiously, no matter how much they disappointed me with their reformy crap. Sure, half of it was about the adventures of Eva Moskowitz and her gang of privatizers, and they linked to every inane piece of nonsense mustered by Murdoch. But Rise and Shine often featured interesting articles outside of Murdoch's rag, and there was their Nightcap, in which I sometimes found cool blogs I hadn't seen before. Now they link to crap from TNTP, if you can even find it.

It appears to be a glitzy piece of junk in which you can't tell whether or not headlines are current, or reprised info about some stated topic, or simply their repository of wisdom on charters, Bill de Blasio, or whatever the headline or topic is. And the comments, which used to be full of ridiculous nonsense about the perfidy of unionized teachers, or sometimes interesting conversations, are now full of nothing. Even the guy who always wrote about teacher pensions and nothing else writes innocuous things about who knows what.

Recently, another blogger sent me a comment he'd tried to post. They rejected it, saying it was too long. It's interesting that a venue, ostensibly there for discussion of education, would cut off letters because they're too detailed. I've been checking City Hall Pro lately for education links, and of course they're all over Facebook and Twitter, if you go in for that sort of thing.

It's a lot more colorful over at Gotham, but it appears they took a brand they built for years and simply tossed it into the trash. I suppose a newspaper, with hundreds of stories on a given day, has to put up a site like that. But even the NY Times shows you the first few sentences of each story on its front page.

Likely as not I'm not their desired demographic. After all, I'm a teacher, I believe in science, and I honestly think things like merit pay (which has been around for a hundred years and has never worked) do not even bear discussion. I believe strongly that it behooves us to build and maintain an excellent public education system, even if Rupert Murdoch can't make a dime from it. And as I'm not even sure what a hedge fund is, my chances of running one anytime soon are pretty poor.

I'm really surprised they decided to redo a perfectly good site and make it so much less user-friendly. I don't know which genius advised them to change the website into what it is now, but if I were them, I'd open up another can of geniuses.

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:

I was pretty surprised last summer when Gotham Schools managed to cover Moskowitz rallies at least three times while ignoring a UFT press conference to stop Bloomberg from imposing his destructive policies on his predecessor. When I confronted them about it, they gave me a line about giving their people days off. Evidently, I, as a union advocate, was being petty about their giving immense coverage to one side of a story and none to the other.

Last year I asked whether getting coverage for 100 signatures on a petition was unique to E4E. I was told in the comments that it wasn't, and that anyone could do it. So I made a petition asking for equal consideration for all ESL students when taking the English Regents. A Gotham reporter called me, asked all about the petition, and then proceeded to do nothing whatsoever about it.

When I emailed someone there about their fawning coverage of E4E, I was asked to write a piece explaining why I felt they did not represent the overwhelming majority of working teachers. Not only did they not run it, but they never even responded to it. So as not to waste my time, I modified it and got it published elsewhere. Two weeks ago I had a piece in the Daily News which they failed to link to. I cannot recall reading a single teacher-bashing editorial in the NY Post that didn't make Rise and Shine, including a remarkably ridiculous piece from their favorite E4E/ failed teacher/ current school administrator.

In any case, here's another story that didn't make Rise and Shine today. Apparently, although Gotham felt it important to tell us how much John King hates Buffalo public schools, it's of no consequence that there is dissent among the state Regents. Why bother telling readers that anyone as important as a NY State Regent has issues with Common Core?

Regent Betty A. Rosa wants people to know that her board of 17 members aren't all in agreement about the public education reform agenda that's currently upsetting many parents, teachers and school administrators statewide.

In fact, she thinks the Common Core program is based on incomplete, manipulated data.
"They are using false information to create a crisis, to take the state test and turn it on its head to make sure the suburbs experience what the urban centers experience: failure," said Rosa, a former teacher, principal and superintendent from the Bronx.

Even more egregious, though, is the remarkably one-sided coverage of the Brooklyn version of the John King traveling medicine show. For example, were you relying on Gotham Schools, you would not know that Students First NY was allowed in 30 minutes before the public was told to come, and neither would you know that they were all issued talking points for their two-minute presentations.

Perhaps there was some reason why that did not bear mention. Perhaps the reporters didn't discover this until after other papers. Nonetheless, it's nothing short of disgraceful that they represent themselves as offering balanced coverage, yet fail to tell their readers about the clearly corporate-stacked deck.

They can change their name to Chalkboard NY, but if we continue to get the same one-sided reporting they may as well merge with Fox News.

Yesterday I went to a rally at City Hall to protest Bloomberg's plan to extend co-locations for years into the term of his successor (assuming he doesn't buy off the City Council and change the law again).  I saw a group of reporters there, and cameras. For example, it merited a story at NY1. You can see it at Schoolbook. I was pretty surprised to this was all I found at Gotham Schools.

But, after all, it was only the United Federation of Teachers, which represents every single public school teacher in the city, so why should their event merit coverage? And those were real parent activists up there, rather than those enlisted to pursue a Gates agenda, so why should we worry about them?

On the other hand, when an astroturf group like Students First NY holds a rally to announce something that's not actually going to happen, there's a picture right there so everyone can see. Gotham Schools readers can ask one another, "Gee, what is Michelle Rhee's NY branch going to not do next? Are they going to not tape kids' mouths shut? After all, Rhee found it hilarious when she herself did it."

But no, the rally itself did not make the Gotham cut. Perhaps it was because the UFT is actually going to go through with this. Or maybe it was due to the vital nature of covering every little thing reformy, real, imaginary, or whatever.

This notion is supported by the fact that, while Gotham didn't bother to cover the UFT/ parent rally, they saw fit to cover how charter supporters felt about the UFT lawsuit. There are extensive quotes from astroturf folks, but not a single one from any of the varied speakers at yesterday's rally.

Way to go, Gotham Schools!

Update: In tweets with Gotham Schools, they pointed out that they had covered the story twice, and that the first time was not entirely from the POV of charter supporters. However, I'd argue that their first story gave short shrift to the union's POV,  giving it only one line in the entire piece while extensively covering contrary positions. Rally was yesterday, and Gotham can certainly correct this by covering it today. Update 2: Gotham Schools, apparently, did not consider this rally as newsworthy as the Students First rally that announced a non-event.

It's interesting to read the piece in Gotham Schools about Students First NY. You wouldn't know from the piece that this was a Rhee-sponsored reformy entity, since that doesn't merit mention. What is mentioned, of course, is that this article is about a complaint that has not actually been filed. The most outrageous thing is the headline, which blares the preposterous conclusion that the astroturf group is now a Bloomberg adversary.

Ostensibly, the group's complaint is that there are more teachers rated unsatisfactory in low SES schools. This, they contend, indicates that there are, therefore, more bad teachers in these schools than others. Ironically, they're one of the most outspoken opponents of the S/U system they're now trusting made decisions worth complaining about. But when it will garner them an article in Rupey's NY Post or Gotham Schools, who cares about principle?

Of course, when your national leader is someone who finds it hilarious to duct tape the mouths of young children, principle may not be what motivates you anyway.

I didn't realize these schools were dispensing more U-ratings, but it's fairly easy to guess why. For one thing, there is a direct correlation between low-SES and school closings. Schools with high percentages of high needs kids tend not to get high test scores and are therefore considered failing. It's the school's fault the kids have learning disabilities, and it's the school's fault the kids can't speak English. No excuses. Just because the kid arrived from the Dominican Republic four days ago, that's no reason he can't write that essay about American history.

In any case, should you be unfortunate enough to be the principal of one of these so-called failing schools, you are sorely in need of a scapegoat. Since you can't blame the scores on the fact that the kids don't know English, someone has to take responsibility. Now it can't be you, or you'll be working at Kinko's next week. Therefore, it has to be those teachers. If Mr. NYC Educator's kids can't speak English, it must be his fault, so give him a U-rating. That'll show Chancellor Walcott you're tough.

After all, Mayor Bloomberg has publicly bemoaned the dearth of U-ratings for teachers. He wants more, and you'd better deliver. This is particularly urgent if your test scores are nothing to jump up and down about.

Clearly this complaint is ridiculous. Even if it had merit, which it certainly does not, it's based on a system that no longer exists.  Bloomberg will not spend one moment being upset about this. Anything that makes teachers look bad works for him. Anything that degrades and discourages them is just fine in his book. And make no mistake, that's precisely what Students First exists to enable. Students First means Adults Last, and when the kids they shed those crocodile tears over grow up, they'll be just as screwed as the rest of us.

Hardly something to aspire to, if you ask me.

You'd think we were a TV station seeking Nielsons, but actually we're the largest school system in the country. An emergency headline from vacationing Gotham Schools blares that we're going to lose a ton of money, but doesn't bother to inform readers of the limited purposes for which the money can be used.

This, of course, leaves readers with the impression the evil UFT is obfuscating so that the lazy worthless teachers won't be accountable. To balance this coverage, Gotham features a DOE employee in their community section telling what a great job the DOE is doing (along with the usual pontification from failed teacher Ruben Brosbe).

The NY Times story is a little more comprehensive:

The money, known as school improvement grants, is supposed to help the schools lift their results through a series of changes, like replacing principals and at least half the staff members; giving teachers extra time for training and preparation; and extending the school day. In New York City, it offers, in essence, an alternative to the most common approach to dealing with failing schools, which has been to close them. 

We all know how effective closing schools has proven, and we all know that the high-needs students simply get shuffled off to nearby schools, which also end up closing. We also know that when new schools don't get grades that please the Emperor, he simply closes them too, taking no responsibility whatsoever. But will replacing principals and half the staff change anything? Will subjecting teachers to even more useless staff development from the people who close schools and have no idea how to improve them help students?

In fact, there are 33 so-called transformation schools getting almost two million each a year in these funds, and reports have been less than glowing. Firsthand reports tell me teachers are miserable, the schools are not better places for anyone, and the Danielson framework is a truncheon to beat staff into submission, or more likely to beat staff for no reason whatsoever. Shall we pursue further funds to expand this practice citywide?

UFT hangs tough, saying we won't accept a bad system. This represents common sense, the least common of all the senses, and I hope we stick with it. In fact, the only incentive to agree to any system whatsoever would be a fair contract, like the ones granted to the NYPD and FDNY. But despite the nonsense from the tabloids and the billionaire-sponsored anti-union groups, there is no bad teacher crisis that needs fixing, no teacher should be fired without just cause, and no system that allows that to happen is acceptable.

It's a disgrace that the state pushes baseless unproven nonsense, and a further disgrace that sleepy journalists can't be bothered to look beneath the surface and inform readers about it.

I run hot and cold on Gotham Schools, but I can't deny that the headlines they link to every morning are what the public sees, assuming the public reads the local rags.  The ones from the Post are largely surreal, and show few signs of relenting. Today's link, by a young genius who gets paid to write this stuff, suggests we should hope for a cheating scandal. This, apparently, will show teachers stink, and will be a great victory for Mayor Bloomberg's "reforms."

Because, you see yet again, the only factor that has any relevance whatsoever in test scores is the teacher. It's you me, or that other lowlife down the hall. Home life is of no importance whatsoever. Unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, learning disabilities, lack of English ability, lack of medical treatment, or even glasses--these are all excuses, and we're in the era of "no excuses."

Bridgeport, Ct, gave up control of its schools, relinquishing its school board to a hedge fund manager who promises to finance "reforms." That's kind of horrifying. Yet right here in NYC, a bunch of billionaires just financed the January Regents, not because of the low cost and high benefit, but because Mayor Bloomberg wants what he wants, and he wants it now. That's a chilling precedent, and we've undoubtedly seen much more of it, expressed somewhat more subtly, for years now.

In DC, they've passed an extension. But GE still pays way less than a secretary who actually works for it, and now they're using the money that paying zero dollars in US taxes netted them to invest in China. It doesn't benefit America to allow those who'd reap benefits write the tax laws. Nor does it benefit us to allow those who patronize private schools decide what's good for public schools. Nor does it benefit us to allow slimeball publishers like Murdoch trash teachers for no reason.

Because there's a big problem in this country. And teachers ain't it, no matter how badly some would wish to dump it on us.

So, like, I didn't get tenure this year? But, like, I thought I should? So, I was all, like, hey dude, I want it, I want it all, and I want it now, dude. But like, I don't want to say that, because my peeps are always like, ya know, saying that other people shouldn't get it?

But hey, like, even though maybe I don't know enough stuff to get tenure, I have, like, no problem telling everyone else how they should get it. Like, even though my principal says I'm not ready? I still think that I'm the one who should decide how everyone else should get fired and that's why, like, my group supports whatever Mayor Bloomberg says we should support? So like, if someone is accused of something, they ought to be fired whether it's true or not, because let's get real dude, all this innocent until proven guilty stuff is not gonna get me that big money gig with Michelle Rhee!

So, anyway, I want to thank Gotham Schools, because, dude, they are like the kewlest? Like, how would I have gotten into the NY Post if they didn't, like, see me there? So, like, when I say I shouldn't get tenure it's like, hey, maybe no one else should get it either? And that way, like, when Michelle Rhee is hiring for like, some ex-teacher dude, like, it won't matter if I have tenure because I'll be all, like, dude, I didn't get it so you shouldn't either? And, like, if they lose their jobs I'll still have mine so it will be, like, all kewl and stuff?

So, like, the really kewl thing is even though I don't have tenure, Gotham Schools is gonna, like, let me tell everyone else what they ought to do? And that's like, the kewlest thing, because if they weren't so kewl, letting me write whatever I want whether it's accurate or distasteful or whatever, like, who would even know about us? And, like, even though the people who fund my organization say no one gets better after the third year I'm all, like, dude, that doesn't apply to me!

And even if it does, I'm gonna keep working anyway, even if I, like, suck and stuff? Because the thing is, while maybe the kids may not, be, like, getting good education and stuff, folks like me only need to be teachers until something better comes along, so, it's like, all good dude!

Gotham Schools was down for some time this morning, but it's back up again. This posed a potential inconvenience for busy bloggers looking to see what education articles are up, as well as whatever crap the NY Post wishes to masquerade as news.

Still, last night's wrap-up held some doozies. There was a link to an education booklist, headed up by anti-teacher propagandist Steve Brill. A piece on the further adventures of TFA. Also, there was a link to yet another piece by Ruben Brosbe. Clearly it isn't enough for Gotham to publish whatever nonsense Mr. Brosbe posts on their page, but it's also necessary to direct us to more of it elsewhere. (On behalf of teachers everywhere, thank you Gotham Schools.)

The most striking of the links yesterday was one about a teacher offering to work for free. This, no doubt, constitutes the virtual wet dream of "reformers." What more could they ask for? Were this to become a trend, they could give up all their political manipulation, save billions in "charitable" contributions, and let schools be. What's the point in attacking unions if their ever-decreasing tax burden isn't actually supporting public schools?

Anyway, I suggest Gates, Broad and Walmart get together and start an organization to encourage teachers to work for free. They could set them up with a downtown office and give their leaders salaries even as they encourage others to forgo them. Then one of them, with an eye on a big-time "reform" job, could get a column at Gotham Schools and write any damn thing without regard to accuracy or logic.

If it works out, maybe Jay Matthews could write a column on how erudite that person is. A win-win.

That's the score at Gotham Schools.

On Wednesday, May 25th Gotham let us know there was going to be a charter school rally. After that, they told us the charter school rally forgot to mention it was targeting the NAACP, because evidently no one could figure out it was actually targeting union and public schools.

Then, Gotham told us that there was not only going to be the charter school rally they'd twice told us about, but also some others as well. After those three stories, they ran one the next day, in case we hadn't yet gotten the point,  to tell us there had been a charter school rally. Gotham says the charter rally attracted 2,500 people.


On May 12th, the UFT held a rally that attracted 10,000 UFT members, and 10,000 other union members. It was spectacular, and Miss Eyre and I were there. On May 11th, to prepare us, Gotham Schools ran zero stories to get us in the mood. The following day, Gotham Schools ran one story about it, vastly underestimating turnout (until corrected by multiple sources).

In fact, Eva Moskowitz had her students and their parents attend the rally in lieu of school. She told the parents to escort their kids to school afterward for safety reasons. I suppose that precluded work for these parents. That's OK though, because Eva Moskowitz can do whatever the hell she feels like. Why should kids be in school when they could be out rationalizing Eva's hefty six-figure salary, and exploring ways to raise it? What is the importance of parents' jobs in comparison with that?

Why did Eva take her kids out of school? So they could demand neighborhood schools be closed, more free space for her lucrative business, and also that a lawsuit trying to save schools be stopped. Gee, do ya think Tweed could've taken any part to encourage a protest against the lawsuit facing them?

What do you suppose would happen if Mulgrew told public school parents to take their kids out of school, urged teachers to take the morning off, and asked parents to take off work to help?

Providing yet another indispensable morsel, Gotham Schools reveals:

Cathie Black made a joke that proved she understands she’s had a rough start.

What does this, or the Daily News piece it links to, reveal about NYC's Schools Chancellor? That she has a keen perception of the obvious? Or not even that? Actually, it reflects only a single instance of such perception. Had Ms. Black the remotest awareness of what this job entailed, she'd have declined it on the basis of utter lack of qualification. Nonetheless, something, perhaps her experience firing people, perhaps her bubbling presence at cocktail parties and gala luncheons, persuaded Mayor4Life Bloomberg to select her.

You'd think it would behoove someone in that position to find out what works and replicate it, or find out what doesn't work and reject it. Ms. Black opts not to trouble herself with such mundane tasks, preferring to rubber-stamp the failed policies of her predecessor, Joel Klein (who's sold whatever remained of his soul to Rupert Murdoch to seek ways to replace teachers with computers).

There is room for far more in the way of investigative journalism. Doubtless Michelle Rhee's Erase to the Top is simply the tip of the iceberg. If journalists weren't tripping all over themselves to pay homage to billionaire-sponsored shills who accomplish little or nothing we, the people, would know precisely what Gates, Broad, Bloomberg and their ilk were doing to us and our children. In fact these men have an easily discernible agenda. Our incurious and complacent press has largely failed to share it with us, preferring to bask in their glory and lazily report their so-called accomplishments.

How can it be that Diane Ravitch was reporting the unbelievable nature of NY test scores in 2007, but it took the NY Times a full three years to catch up? How, then, can we rely on the nonsense corporate media feeds us now?

I'm just a lowly teacher, and thus precluded from doing the sort of investigative reporting we need. But I've no doubt there is a veritable mountain of scandal out there, and a major factor in keeping reporters from it a trained unwillingness to open their eyes.

It's kind of heartbreaking what's happened to journalism in these parts. You have to wade through oceans of crap to get anywhere, and even then you can't be too sure what you're looking at. But in America today, we get very selective news. Is there war in Afghanistan and Iraq? I mean, I don't see it on TV, so how can it really be happening?

Education news was looking up for a while. I mean, sure, the Post prints the same one-sided crap all the time, there's a definite slant at the Daily News editorial page, but at least there are all these blogs, where real people give it to you firsthand. Gotham Schools was a really exciting prospect. For the busy blogger, you could find all the headlines every morning rather than combing the web every day. Sure, every piece of crap one-paragraph "story" from the Post got a link, and some things seemed to escape them, but there it was.

Yet their community section has progressively become less challenging. It's dominated by one of the very worst writers I've had the misfortune to come across, who's managed to acquire remarkably little insight about our profession. Of course, when we found this writer was a member of E4E, featured on a Michelle Rhee video, and angling for a "reformer" gig (none of which Gotham Schools saw fit to include on his bio), there was suddenly a reason Gotham may have seen fit to feature him. Never mind that none of the programs this writer embraced had any track record, or any realistic possibility of helping education. Never mind that his group is funded by "reform" billionaires--this baseless point of view was something Gotham Schools felt needed further exposure. After all, Bill Gates can always use a helping hand, what with so few outlets available to him--Oprah, the so-called "Education Nation," and the entire corporate media can only get you so far.

Gotham crossed a line when it chose to spit in the face of a bunch of teachers who supported union. A movement, led by teacher-bloggers, called Edu-Solidarity, offered dozens of posts last Tuesday about why union was important to them. Gotham Schools thought it would be a good idea to put up a disingenuous scab post the following day.

Gotham Schools is free to publish what it sees fit. Like Murdoch ventures, it need not trouble itself with whether or not what it publishes is accurate, valid, or based in anything resembling objective reality.

But that big old "screw you" to bloggers like Miss Eyre, Jose Vilson, and Stephen Lazar is disgraceful, an act of outright depravity. And again, Gotham Schools may do what it wishes. It can even pretend to be objective when doing so. But I'm not buying.

Are you?

In many ways I love Gotham Schools. I read it all the time. I particularly like the morning feature, which gives me all the local headlines, and the nightcap, which selects blog posts and opinion pieces. They can be valuable time savers for the busy teacher-blogger, constantly searching for things to write about. But I've also gotten a lot of email about a slant there, and indeed I'd miss a lot if I didn't regularly look elsewhere. A UFT source complained loudly to me that they were "bought and paid for." Yet when I looked up their funding, they particularly mentioned Ken Hirsh, an avid charter supporter, and the AFT.

I contacted my UFT source and said if Gotham was bought and paid for, we must not be getting what we bought and paid for. (In fairness, the AFT invited Bill Gates to its convention, so perhaps, in a way, we're getting exactly what we paid for.) Gotham has also run some very good stuff, including stories about how the DOE loaded closing schools with high-needs kids. If I recall correctly it's also acknowledged the connection between Gates shills ERN, E4E, and DFER, what I'll call the axis of evil.

The last few days, Gotham has provided some very interesting links. Here's one informing us that Michelle Rhee is campaigning against LIFO. To me, that's a little dog bites man. There are two more links to the Post, and it seems to me that every anti-union screed, every boneheaded editorial the Post puts up gets a link. Yet the NY Times lead editorial about the union-busting tactics of the GOP was not deemed worthy.

Last night's wrap-up, unsurprisingly, contained a link to Ruben Brosbe's blog. Gotham has featured Brosbe making wildly inaccurate claims about multilingual materials available to ESL families. He's also made outlandishly uninformed statements about teacher sabbaticals, and written stories about his students vomiting, noises he heard while eating lunch, his sick day, and other topics equally banal or distasteful. Gotham linked to a charter supporter who found the notion of taxing those who made over 200K per year quaint and outdated. Better to fire teachers, further overcrowd classrooms, and reduce health care to the poor, one can only suppose.

Last night Gotham neglected to link to its own columnist, UFT Chapter Leader Stephen Lazar. It somehow managed to miss two excellent pro-teacher Diane Ravitch columns, here and here. It's also entirely overlooked this NY Times profile of the billionaire Koch brothers who not only funded Governor Scott Walker's campaign, but also support his current efforts. Doubtless they plan to spread the Wisconsin model to the rest of the country--they are important and noteworthy. But for some reason, Gotham Schools doesn't appear to share that view.

Again, if Gotham wishes to be objective, it behooves its writers to portray voices from all sides, even those not favored by charter supporters. If I get 100% of the crap from the plainly biased New York Post, I fully expect to see 100% of Diane Ravitch's expert analysis too, at the very least. While excluding Ravitch may follow in the footsteps of Oprah, and NBC's so-called Education Nation, it's not remotely objective.

Yesterday I got an email suggesting GothamSchools' call for civility in its comments was motivated by criticism of its main community section writer--a member of a Gates-funded group openly dedicated to eradicating basic union rights. (Like all other such groups, it does so in the name of helping the children whose schools Gates money aims to close.)

I wrote back it was a coincidence, and that the move was possibly long overdue. After all, I'd just seen a commenter imply someone was paranoid over concern revised Gotham policies might cause his ID to be leaked to the DOE. The DOE has sent teachers to the rubber room for bringing plants to school, for using school fax machines, and for who knows what else. I think there's plenty of reason for wariness. The same commenter said to Mr. A. Talk:

You sound just a bit overly paranoid. What evidence is there that the “regime,” as you delicately term it, gives a hoot about bloggers posting their professional perspectives here? 

In fact, the DOE has been specifically known to monitor blogs. Joel Klein seemed acutely aware of Education Notes Online when he saw fit to embrace Norm Scott at a PEP meeting.

In any case, my correspondent emailed me back, saying look carefully at the picture they chose. It's their resident Gates front group member, (the one they feature without regard to taste, accuracy, or quality), and the guy who calls people paranoid (for fearing a Department that is right now proposing to fire 25% of NY City teachers). I was pretty surprised. Is that what Gotham considers a model?

Couple that with the fact that GothamSchools and the New York Post have been closely following the Gates union-busters (though the Post has yet to give a group member a regular column), and you have to stop and think. I don't expect much from Murdoch publications, but I hope for better from Gotham.

In fact, Gotham prints bits of Gates-funded PR unedited and unchallenged. I noticed, as did Michael Fiorillo, the absurd assertion that the group was “Founded with the goal of injecting teacher’s voices into citywide education policy debates.” It's preposterous on its face to say that about a group whose main purpose is eradication of union seniority rights for teachers, but that's what the group publicly states, and that's what GothamSchools presented, sans a single modifier, like "the group maintains" this. In fact, the people running this particular anti-union group are not even teachers anymore, somehow managing to work one day a week.  Perhaps they make up for this with the largesse of Gates and who knows who else. I don't know and I haven't seen much in the way of investigation from Gotham.

Fiorillo writes:

In paragraph three, you write that opponents of the group criticize it “for failing to understand the importance of protecting senior teachers.” This shows a lack of understanding of what seniority is; it is not about protecting senior teachers, but protecting  all employees from arbitrariness when layoffs occur (and in many other instances, as well). That arbitrariness affects senior workers is a fact of life, but it is far from limited to that. Seniority also protects workers from vindictive administrators.

New teachers who intend to make  teaching a career - which clearly does not include the founders of this group, as with so many ed deformers - are also protected by seniority, since if they are laid off it guarantees their right of return when hiring begins again. Your phrasing narrows the scope of the issue, and subtly reinforces E4E’s agenda, which is to pit teachers against each other.

I expected better from Gotham and thought I should let them know. Their civility piece suggests the following:

If you have a correction or a criticism of our coverage, the fastest way to reach us is by email. We do read the comment threads (though often not immediately) and will occasionally respond, but commenting isn’t the most efficient way to get our attention.

I did so. (In fact I regularly email journalists, with comments both positive and negative.) In this case, I received a response that, at best, "dodged" the issue--precisely what the reporter accused UFT President Michael Mulgrew of having done.

It's remarkable that Gotham devotes such energy to people who shill for billionaires while utterly ignoring the hearty group that rallied outside City Hall, braving the miserable snow day to protest school closings. This was organized by GEM, a real grassroots group as opposed to an obvious corporate front. Not only that, but it was supported by many other groups including, but not limited to, Class Size Matters and the UFT.

Gotham is of course free to cover and feature what it chooses.  If it wishes to portray itself as unbiased, however, it needs to examine those choices more carefully.

Today at Gotham Schools, we learn that a charter school head is getting a blog. This is big news, apparently, because no one on the internet ever writes about charter schools. In fact, a Google search for charter schools turns up a trifling 3,280,000 entries.

Yesterday, the reporters from Gotham Schools went to a charter school, and found a charter school student who thinks we need to close more public schools.

The last day they published before that, they told us about the upcoming celebration at the charter school, about a charter school that was closing, and another that was moving.

Thank goodness that charter school head is getting a blog. It's about time long-neglected bosses of non-unionized workers had someone to speak up for them.