That's the message I get from John Kasich, who talking heads sometimes falsely paint as the least insane rider on the Republican Clown Car. I'm not getting a whole lot of laughs from these clowns, as every one of them seems to hate us and everything we stand for. Though a bunch of them oppose Common Core, I personally believe it's not on principle (they don't have any). Republicans oppose it because it was introduced by President Barack Obama. If GW had introduced it, perhaps the Democrats would have fought it. Maybe not, since they were on board with NCLB. I'm not seeing much principle on that side of the aisle either.

Kasich is getting a lot of attention for his meeting with self-appointed education expert Campbell Brown yesterday. He said if he were king, he'd get rid of teacher lounges. Let's get one thing straight--it's not a great idea to elect people who fantasize about being king. It's the President's job to represent We, the People, not to issue edicts on what we should and should not do. Kasich uses what authority he already has to do things like rescind collective bargaining for day care workers. He says he doesn't want to impose right to work laws, but actions speak louder than words, and SCOTUS may soon make that unnecessary anyway.

Much has been written already about how there are, in fact, few teacher lounges anyway. In my school, there are a few adjuncts to bathrooms that have tables and chairs. In our school, they also have computers and there are always a few teachers working out lesson plans and power point presentations. Oh, the luxury of sitting in a bathroom. The only school I remember working in that had a dedicated teacher lounge was Newtown High School, where I worked for one semester in the 80s. I have no idea whether or not it's still there.

Teacher lounge has a broader and more obvious meaning. Right here, this is a virtual teacher lounge, and John Kasich would like nothing more than for us to all shut the hell up. Here's why:

Kasich said at an education summit in New Hampshire that many teachers believe that "we’re out to take their job" when schools evaluate teacher performance and that teachers' lounges provide an environment where this worry spreads.

So basically, when we're judged on the test scores of students we may or may not teach, and when our jobs literally depend on the outcome, we shouldn't worry. Who cares if the American Statistical Association says there's no validity to this method of evaluation? So what if there's no science or research to back it up. John Kasich says it's no problem, and that should be good enough for anyone.

"No we’re not out to take their job. If you need help, we’ll help you. If you’re a terrible teacher, then you should be doing something else because you’re going to find more satisfaction doing something else that you’re good at," he said. "We have to constantly communicate that."

How is Kasich going to help us? As king, he doesn't even want us to speak to each other.  Does Kasich know something we don't? If so, why doesn't he tell us about it? Are we supposed to trust a guy who says he doesn't need right to work, but who rescinds collective bargaining when given half a chance? Apparently that's precisely the level of critical thinking King Kasich wants from working teachers.

He then suggested that teachers' unions contribute to educators' worries.

That's because Kasich thinks union leadership stokes the fires of teacher discontent. I can't speak for all union leaders, but right here in Fun City Michael Mulgrew participated in a law that imposed junk science value-added ratings on NY State teachers. I have heard him praise it repeatedly. He likes to call it a growth model and say of course we can get kids from point A to point B. That may be so, but  tests that purport measure it are a whole lot more specific, may or may not be valid, and are subject to NYSED setting cut scores wherever the hell they feel like.

That's not to mention, of course, things like PE teachers being judged on scores kids get in English. An alleged improvement is that now PE teachers will be judged on the English scores of kids they actually teach. Do you need to be a genius to conclude that PE scores may vary wildly from English scores no matter how good or bad the PE teacher may be? Are the English teachers supposed to hear no evil and not realize that tests designed to measure student achievement do not, in fact, measure what they do when they teach?

Teacher unions contribute to my worries, but not in the way Kasich thinks. Teacher unions here made noise about opposing Andrew Cuomo but failed to do so when it counted, during the primaries and election. Teacher unions have enabled and supported mayoral control, junk science ratings, two-tier due process, and the erosion of tenure and seniority rights. In stark contract to Kasich's royal musings, the overwhelming city teachers are so cynical and demoralized that they can't even be bothered to vote in union elections. Kasich should be getting together with the other GOP hopefuls and having a party.

And if that's not enough, we're now facing the end of automatic payroll deduction. UFT's top-down method of governing, along with its miserably inept contract negotiations and craven willingness to give up whatever possible for a "seat at the table" has failed to inspire. It will be very had for people like me to convince thoroughly disaffected members to pay dues.

Up in that ivory tower at 52 Broadway no one frets over that. It's tragic they live in an echo chamber where absolutely everyone has signed a loyalty oath. Hopefully we can do so before SCOTUS puts a knife in our heart, because make no mistake, if it goes down this year, there's nothing to prevent it reading its ugly head again.

And I have a message for John Kasich--there may or may not be a physical teacher lounge in most buildings. But there are virtual ones everywhere, you're looking at one now, and we are not going down now, or ever.

Not even if you become king.

Yesterday there was an important article in City Limits about an organization I've had questions about for years. Often, when I see their name in the paper, I email the reporter and ask who's in the organization. I seem to remember that the co-called parents union was going to have a big get-together over the perfidy of teachers, or maybe one of those Hollywood productions about how awful we are. Evidently few wanted to go, and they had to cancel it.

Also I knew the parent union was Mona Davids and never saw evidence of another member until this guy Sam someone joined her. I'm not sure whether they came before or after Campbell Brown (or even why we're under constant attack by someone named for a soup can). Still, I know their voices appear in articles that stereotype us as perverts and try to take away our tenure. I grew up being stereotyped and it was no fun at all. Now I teach ESL students, kids from all over the world, and I'm very sensitive to stereotypes. Any of my kids who uses one, and I'm glad to tell you that happens rarely, is surprised to see the lesson stop altogether as I deal with it immediately.

I'm on Facebook a lot and I'm always surprised and disappointed to hear adults use stereotypes. "You libs all think this," or whatever. First of all, anyone who needs to resort to name calling hasn't got much of an idea. Second, a lot of us "libs" no longer blindly support Democrats. I'm a lifelong Democrat, and I keep my registration so I can vote in the primary. But Obama fooled my only once and Cuomo never fooled me at all.

Mona Davids appeared to be an ally of working teachers for a while, but then started taking positions exactly like Campbell Brown. Because a small number of teachers were accused of doing outrageous things we should no longer have due process. The chancellor, who was then denying U-rating appeals at a rate of almost 100%, should decide whether to fire us. No more of this independent arbitrator nonsense. And then, of course, were the dueling lawsuits to end tenure. I can't remember which one is still going forward, but I'm pretty sure one is. Sadly for Mona, she never got nearly the name recognition Campbell Brown walked in with.

And someone has finally bothered to ask questions about her "union."

Reached by phone while on vacation in Florida, the Union's founder and president Mona Davids acknowledged that the four-year-old advocacy group was not listed on Guidestar, an online public register of nonprofits and advocacy groups, nor at CharitiesNYC.org, the New York State Attorney General's website of state nonprofits. 

Davids suggested that her organization's lack of an online paper trail made it more authentic. Her group's 9,000 members, a figure whose provenance Davids said she could not explain at that moment, were "unbought and unbossed," "parents on the ground."

Maybe I should start a union too. Instead of being NYC Educator, I can be the NYC Educator union. I can claim thousands of members and multiply my credibility by just that much more. I can get quoted in papers as President, rather than simply me. And the great thing about that is I won't have to necessarily hold any meetings, show where my funding comes from, account for who is part of my group, or bother with any of that grunt work.

I can say whatever I want, change my mind whenever I want, stop allying with people who decline to fund me, get all sorts of publicity for my group, whether or not there is anyone in it, and show up to public events with maybe one prominent supporter. I'm thinking Arwen. And I'm sure I can talk a few people into coming along with us. Maybe I'll offer them a free drink. Works for E4E.

I'll say the same thing and multiply my voice by 9,000. Or maybe a whole lot more. It's a WIN-WIN.

Sean Crowley, my brother blogger from Buffalo, has a great column about how educational leaders are popped into place with no public input. A secondary point he makes is about accountability. This is the word we invariably hear when insane systems are initiated. Why should teachers be judged by test scores? Accountability. Why must every kid, no matter where he or she comes from, get the same test? Accountability. Why is our tenure and union under frontal assault? Accountability.

Reformy politicians love accountability. If you didn't know better, you'd think it warmed the remote nether regions of their ice-cold hearts. You'd think they care about the progress of our poor underprivileged impoverished children. You'd think that because that, in fact, is what they say when they pimp common core, value-added ratings, and firing as many teachers as possible.

But here's the thing--accountability does not, in fact, mean taking responsibility for real problems. It simply means passing the buck. If the problem in the United States is that children are not getting high enough scores on standardized tests (and it isn't, by the way), you can say, "See? Those lazy teachers aren't doing their jobs! They're sitting around and reading the newspaper while our children are suffering and failing!" That's what a whole lot of editorial and op-ed writers would have you believe.

The problem, though, is not in our stars, nor in ourselves. The problem is in our communities. Despite Governor Cuomo's valuable lip service that some workers in NY State will receive $15 an hour in a few years, a whole lot of people are just not making in in this country. When two parents work 200 hours a week each and still can't make ends meet, they don't have a whole lot of time for parenting. Unfortunately, the people who fund reformies like Andrew Cuomo are profiting enormously from low wage workers. Uber-reformy Whitney Tilson of DFER has no problems hyping and profiting from the likes of Walmart and McDonalds.

But the race to the bottom in American employment is in fact a huge factor in why kids don't do well on tests. Parents who haven't got a minute to read with their kids, who haven't got a minute to read themselves, who haven't got a minute to visit schools or teachers have serious problems. And the very reformies who vilify teachers not only contribute to this problem, but also directly profit from it. And as if that weren't enough, they've now got their fat grubby paws in charters, cyber charters, and various other schemes to divert even more money from those of us unimaginative enough to have to work for a living.

In America, we don't need circuses, because they're everywhere. Over a dozen GOP candidates debate and not one addresses minimum wage. They stand there arguing over how to defund Planned Parenthood and feign outrage when Donald Trump makes some juvenile crack about one of Fox's bleached blond talking heads. They present us corporate funded union-busters and rail about President Obama's program to bring health care to more people. You might leave one of those debates outraged over Obamacare rather than the fact that every other industrialized country offers its citizens health care as a matter of course.

Reformies love accountability only because they can dump it on us. By blaming unionized teachers for all the world's woes, they are held totally blameless for their miserable and perpetual failure to help working Americans. And for all the crocodile tears they shed for our children, they will soon grow up to be working Americans, and thus shunned and ignored by those who claim now to be their advocates.

And who is it who actually spends time and energy on these children?

That would be us, the educators. The tinhorn politicians and tone-deaf op-ed writers who vilify and libel us for a living profit off of the misery of those we serve every day. We can't afford to let them make us miserable too. It's our job to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts Frank Bruni, Andy Cuomo, Arne Duncan, or any of the other demagogues who infect our media.

When any one of them or their ilk wishes to actually be accountable rather than toss the word around, it will be a miracle akin to the one pictured above. 

So, another set of Common Core State test scores have arrived.  And, what do we have to show for it?  Supposedly, there have been modest improvements, but with a much higher percentage of students opting out at the State level, actually one in five.  So, escalation occurs.  Threats of possible retaliation in the form of withheld funding--for those who cannot escape Core testing by opting for expensive private academies.  So, much for listening to the voice of the people.  "Progress" is "progress."  Let's not ask to what degree cut scores account for "progress"  Let's not ask about the cost of this minuscule "progress."

When all is said and done, millions upon millions of dollars will have been spent in the name of ed. "reform" with little to no dividends, only the diversion of attention and resources from more important issues to asinine test preparation.  The divide will only have sharpened.

Has all this evaluating made for better teachers?  It seems it's just driven some of the best from the profession.  It's driven others to cheating.  It's compromised integrity.  Likely, it's made many teachers wonder if they can hold on until retirement.  Year after year, there is a new formula for academic witch-hunting.  The formula won't be good enough, no matter how bad the junk science, unless it takes down a high enough percent of teachers.  Anything less and in the Governor's words, it's "Baloney!"

Under this new system, administrators run from one teacher's room to the next and back again, again and again and again.  They lose precious time over-observing everyone, from the finest to the neediest teacher.  To hell with the day-to-day tasks of administrating!  Were there ever any?  Write report, after report, after report.  Focus on boxes.  You might possibly miss the forest for the trees, but more than likely you just spend a lot more time to confirm predetermined conclusions.  In a fifteen or twenty minute visit, take a guess at what happened for the rest of the period.  Does it matter if you're wrong!  The whole thing is junk science anyway!

Does this new focus on testing make teachers show up to work psyched to prep?  When it comes time to pinning test scores on individual teachers, it is no coincidence the least effective work with the neediest kids.  The best teachers get driven further from the neediest classrooms.  Self-preservation is a basic instinct.  Who wants to be a martyr, especially one with a family?  The educational divide widens.

The Common Core hasn't made students smarter.  It's further sharpened the divide.  By using one narrow set of parameters, fewer kids will be able to make sense of their education.  Many will be driven away in disgust.  Kids with other interests and other talents (clearly perceptible to their teachers) are assured that they are failures in life while test makers profit by soaking up precious resources.  The divide is sharpened between those who can and those who cannot or those who will not.

While the streets are on fire (with few people begging for more tests) and terrorism grows, too many find domestic comfort in diverting attention to an attack upon teachers.  After all, someone must be blamed for low test scores on highly dubious tests.  The rise and fall of civilization depends upon standardized test scores.  Study your history!

How far have we come in more than a decade?  Have charter schools improved education or have the most "successful" effectively separated and sorted kids, flooding resources towards those who can and starving those who cannot.  Goodbye to music and art and everything that makes life beautiful!  While some peddle test prep to pump out higher scores, some charters strike at the heart of unionism.  Teaching is de-professionalized.  Simultaneously, minorities are driven further away from it.  Will teaching continue to be a middle-class profession by which one can gain security to raise a family?  Will it equally welcome people of all backgrounds to teach children of all backgrounds?  Have charters and all this ed. "reform" solved societal inequities or just further sharpened the divide?  When so many of the elite of the educational "reform" movement are among the societal few who have the means to opt their children out of this test-crazed system and build safe bridges to success via ritzy private academies, some answers are obvious.

Some days, when you're blogging, you really have nothing to say. Or at least I do. On those days, I'll usually scour the news for something worth writing about. There's always something going on.

A worse problem, in my opinion at least, would be having to run staff meetings on a regular basis. Our school, multi-session and chronically overcrowded, is not on the Mulgrew/ Fariña teacher torture plan, so we still have monthly faculty and department meetings.

I don't envy the supervisors at all. Every month they have to come up with something to meet or talk about. I've been doing this for thirty years now, and every now and again I come upon some meeting leader who is, shall we say, less than inspired. I guess there's always some nonsense to read or talk about, but don't sentient supervisors recognize when the mandated topics really don't merit a mention?

In fairness, sometimes they do. At a memorable faculty meeting, a supervisor came to us with a revolutionary new program that consisted of a renamed motivational activity. I can't remember the term. Maybe it was tipping-off activity. He also said we needed to use the words, "each, every, and all" of you. He said that would surely grab the attention of your students. He said this in a tone dripping with sarcasm, and it was obvious he did not buy it at all. I didn't either. I generally address my class as, "ladies and gentlemen," and while I'm not sure why I do that, I'm certain the "each, every and all" thing would have no effect whatsoever.

I'd like to see more such presentations. It would be a lot more interesting when the Next New Thing came out to see a supervisor making tired faces and acknowledging with us that it was just some trendy crap that would end up on next year's junk heap, replaced by the Next Newer Thing. Sadly, I've seen very few supervisors who grasped that concept. More supervisors have embraced The Thing enthusiastically, and had no problem telling us how indispensable It is. They tend to show little to no awareness that they told us about some other indispensable thing just last year.

While I've seen New Things almost every year since I started teaching, it's become more egregious lately, with the advent of junk science teacher ratings. Now not only is there new crap to deal with, but it's also confirmed by the American Statistical Association to be crap. Not only that, but it's high stakes crap and your job depends on it.

In the short run, here's not a whole lot we can do about it. It's particularly tough with a union leadership that embraces and supports every shiny piece of crap that comes down the pike--mayoral control, charter schools, co-___location, two-tier due process, whatever. UFT President Michael Mulgrew was part of a team that designed the original junk science law, and when Cuomo and the Heavy Hearts Assembly rendered it even more draconian, he, or whoever writes his memos, actually thanked them for it. That's just a little depressing.

But be of good cheer. When you go to the first staff meeting of the year, you can divert and amuse yourself by printing out the illustration above. Listen for each platitudinous pronouncement, and once you hit five you can yell "Bingo!" and break the thing up. Make sure the papers are widely distributed so you aren't the only one yelling.

Always remember--in union there is strength.

Showing all the sensitivity of a sledge hammer, MaryEllen Elia demonstrated forcefully that all her talk about meeting with concerned parties and listening was just that. Otherwise, why would she threaten to withhold Title 1 funds from the neediest students in the state for the offense of opting out of state exams?

This comes just after Elia met with a group of activist parents and Diane Ravitch. So clearly she's willing to sit down and listen. Unfortunately she has a corporate agenda and doesn't give a golly gosh darn about common sense. In Spanish, actually, there's a saying that common sense is the least common of all the senses.

I'm not sure what sort of a person would take money away from the poorest students in the state simply because parents from their school, maybe theirs, maybe not, would see fit not to make their kids sit through largely meaningless tests. But it's absolutely clear Elia is that person.

And Elia does not need any sort of extensive program to determine who does well on tests. The trend is clear, and it has been ever since we've embarked upon this nonsensical program of making all kids college ready, whether or not they intend to go to college. It's been clear ever since we decided that all kids, no matter what their disabilities, no matter what their backgrounds, no matter whether or not they knew English, were going to take the same tests no matter what.

That pattern is this--where there is high income, there are high grades. Where there is low income, there are low grades. Where there are few disabilities, there are few low grades. Where there are many disabilities, there are many low grades.

What Elia proposes to do, of course, is to take money away from districts. This money is specifically earmarked to help kids who need it most. Any person who actually cared about the progress of our neediest students would never, ever consider such a thing.

Last year, there was a resolution in the UFT Delegate Assembly to vote no confidence in MaryEllen Elia. It failed. This year we know that MaryEllen Elia is capable of threatening the most vulnerable of our children. I now have no confidence in her whatsoever and frankly, I question why anyone who cared about children would.

Of course if I were Andrew Cuomo, bought and paid for by the reformies, I'd be jumping up and down. If I were Bill Gates, who gave her a ton of money back in Hillsborough, I'd be doing cartwheels. If you want to decimate union, reforminess is just fantastic. If you want to privatize education and make money for your hedge-funder BFFs, reforminess is a bonanza.

But if you want what's best for the neediest children in NY State, you don't want MaryEllen Elia's ideas anywhere near a public school.

It must be great to be Frank Bruni. One day you're a food columnist, and the next you're an education expert. Today Frank is all upset about the teacher shortage. After all, his own paper wrote a big story about it. Nowhere did they bother acknowledging that teachers are pretty much under nationwide assault, but hey, why sweat the details when you're writing for the Paper of Record? The fact that they print the column should be good enough for anyone.

As it happens, Bruni himself is a prominent teacher basher. He believes passionately in junk science rating of teachers and can't be bothered to do the most fundamental research. Who cares if the American Statistical Association says teachers change test scores by a factor of 1-14%? What's the big deal if they say use of high stakes evaluation is counter-productive? He knows some guy who likes it and that should be good enough for anyone. Bruni does other important work, like spitting out press releases for Joel Klein's latest book.

But now he's amazed no one wants to be a teacher. Naturally, being a New York Times reporter who has access to pretty much anyone, he goes right to the source, the very best representative of teachers he can muster:

Teachers crave better opportunities for career growth. Evan Stone, one of the chief executives of Educators 4 Excellence, which represents about 17,000 teachers nationwide, called for “career ladders for teachers to move into specialist roles, master-teacher roles.”

“They’re worried that they’re going to be doing the same thing on Day 1 as they’ll be doing 30 years in,” he told me.

This is what Frank Bruni interprets as vision. Let's make one thing clear--Evan Stone is not a teacher. He was for a few excruciating and clearly unrewarding years. But once he learned all he could from that dead end job, he started this glitzy new E4E thing and got his hands on Gates money. Now he gets to make pronouncements to distinguished NY Times reporters like Bruni. Meanwhile, the rest of us are stuck actually teaching children. Naturally Bruni doesn't ask us what we think. After all, given our obvious lack of ambition, what could we possibly know?

Bruni has gala luncheons to attend, fois gras to critique, and he can't be bothered.  Still just because Evan Stone's E4E got 17, 000 people to sign papers in exchange for free drinks doesn't mean they actually represent those people. I happen to know, for example, a UFT official who signed the paper just to see what was going on at one of those meetings.

In fact, there's no evidence to indicate anything E4E says is based on anything beyond Bill Gates's druthers. Their support for junk science and calls to actually worsen already tough working conditions border on lunacy. Their acceptance of reformy money and embrace of a reformy agenda mean they do NOT represent working teachers.

Here's something no one told Frank Bruni--teachers who want to "get out of the classroom" make the very worst educational leaders there are. How many of us have worked under supervisors who don't love our job, who can't do our job, but who don't hesitate to tell us all the ways we do our job wrong? How many of us know the, "Do as I say, not as I do." mantra well enough it might be tattooed on our foreheads?

Yes, Frank Bruni, there is a teacher shortage. And yes, there are reasons for it. Some reasons are your BFFs like Joel Klein, Campbell Brown, and Gates-funded astroturf groups like E4E. They spout nonsense-based corporate ideas designed to destroy public education and union. You talk to them and can't be bothered with us.

Another big reason is mainstream media, which hires people like you. When people read nonsense like the stuff you write, they may not know that fundamental research is something you consider beyond the pale. They may not be aware that your piece does not entail talking to working teachers. They may think we don't love our jobs and we don't love working with and helping children. They may not know that merit pay, which E4E is pushing in one form or another, has been around for 100 years and has never worked. They may even think that Evan Stone knows what he's talking about.

But he doesn't, Frank. And neither do you. That's why you're a big part of the problem.

For years I've felt the NYT has provided us with the very worst education reporting in NY. There have been exceptions, like Michael Winerip, but in general they seem way too highfalutin' to bother with what's actually happening in NY. I first noticed this years ago, when some genius reporter criticized us for the February break, saying the city didn't want it. Actually the city wanted non-attendance days for kids and us in school, and had the reporter bothered to speak with a single teacher to prepare his article, he'd have known that.

Occasionally, though, there's a ray of sunlight in the morass of nonsense and reforminess. In fact, this particular ray of sunlight focuses on a truth many teachers know--that it is income and not teacher quality that is a general predictor of standardized test scores. Not only that, but the gap has widened considerably since Ronald Reagan became union-buster in chief. In fact, this disparity affects not only test scores:

These widening disparities are not confined to academic outcomes: new research by the Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam and his colleagues shows that the rich-poor gaps in student participation in sports, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and church attendance have grown sharply as well.

So if we're really serious about helping kids, perhaps we ought to address poverty and income disparity. Maybe we should, you know, help struggling families rather than just spouting the same old reformy talking points. Maybe the fact that, after decades of reforminess, we still have all these so-called failing schools indicates that we ought to try something new. Instead, we hire MaryEllen Elia, who walks around pretending to listen to people and promises more of the same anyway.

On the other hand, there's this article marveling at the impending teacher shortage. They're looking everywhere, they're taking anyone, they're lowering standards and you don't even have to bother with credentials, you know, like a degree. Learn as you earn. Who cares?

It is mind-boggling to me that a reporter for the paper of record fails to account for the reforminess that's led to an unprecedented attack on teachers. I see this ignorance amplified over at Eduwonk. Nothing to see here, it's the economy. All this reformy stuff we're doing has no effect whatsoever.

They're wrong, of course. Teachers are being judged by test scores. There is no reliable research to suggest that standardized test scores reflect teacher quality. In fact, the American Statistical Association suggests teachers have precious little to do with these scores. But what's a reformy to do? Bill Gates has invested a gazillion dollars in a Measures of Effective Teaching study. UFT leadership supported it, told us how important our participation was, but its result was a nation of teachers judged by junk science.

There are few things I find more inspiring than seeing my former students become teachers. One of them is now teaching math in my school, and I could not be prouder. I love this job and it's brought me great gratification. I can't promise, though, that it will be the same for my students. We're on the third new evaluation program in three years, and I see no evidence of improvement. Teacher morale is the lowest I've seen in 30 years, bar none.

We are regularly trashed in the media. NYT's Frank Bruni likens us to pigs at a trough as his BFF Campbell Brown attacks our tenure. (In fairness, Bruni's job entails coming up with 800 words not once, but TWICE a week, so who can find time to do fundamental research?) SCOTUS is now looking to break our union.

We are standing against a wall with targets on our backs. The ignorance of professional reporters who don't know that is simply mind-boggling. If they're purposely wearing blinders, that's even worse. Either way, it is them, not us, who are incompetent.

Of course, it's easier to forget about the truth and blame teachers. Bill Gates said poverty was too tough to deal with, so he, along with the happy NYT reporter, ignores it and goes on his merry way. And you can't fire parents or children, so why not just blame the teachers and whistle a happy tune?

This is the new paradigm in education. We need to change it. And if leadership just keeps going along to get along, we need to change them too.

If you watched the Republican candidates debate on August 6th, doubtless, you were struck by many things.  There is one thing in particular that stood above all else in my mind because it relates so clearly, I believe, to the barrage of recent attacks that I and my colleagues have had to suffer as public-school teachers.  NYC Educator recently referenced the point as well.  I would like to add my thoughts.

Trump stated, "I give to everybody.  When they call, I give. And do you know what?  When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them.  They are there for me."

When asked what he got in return for donations to Hillary Clinton, Trump noted she came to his child's wedding.

Trump made it all too clear that you pay politicians, and you get favors.  And do you think the favors amount to more than attendance at his daughter's wedding or other personal appearances?  For a businessman like Trump, I would be shocked if the favors stopped there.  If that was all he got for his money, I don't think his name would be Donald Trump!  I would similarly be willing to bet that in most cases, the favors are returned sooner than "two years later, three years later."  Putting this aside, paying big shots to come to your wedding seems problematic, in and of itself.

As NYC Educator pointed out, Megyn Kelly and her team declined to follow up.  Is it because we all know the system works that way; we all know the system is broken?  Is it because by sweeping it under the rug we can pretend we actually have a functional democracy?

It's been quite obvious to me that our recent education policy has been bought and paid for with campaign donations and generous grants.  It is quite obvious to me that it cannot succeed and, if the money ever runs out, the policy would fail sooner, rather than later.  Charter operatives, for example, have brazenly given millions to win politicians to their side.  Then, the politician return the favor by attacking teachers and destroying public schools.  It is done recklessly for self interest.  It is done for personal profit.

The Common Core has largely been pushed through on the back of "generous" donations from the Gates Foundation.  The testing companies are in there, too, playing hard ball.  And, if allowed to continue, all of this money will destroy the last vestiges of a sacred trust, a democracy built on reflecting the voice of the millions, not the few with the millions.

Good for Trump for laying all the cards on the table.  Too bad his comments didn't seem to raise an eyebrow from the commentators or anyone else in the room!  I guess it's business as usual, or should I say, politics as usual!  The world should know what teachers have sadly discovered in this era of corporate reform.  We are no democracy.  Public education is victimized by an ungodly plutocracy of pocket-stuffing politicians!

All over the news, all over Facebook and Twitter, there's talk of Donald Trump and the much-maligned crusading reporter Megyn Kelly. Didn't she ask the tough questions? Didn't she challenge Donald Trump over his misogynistic rhetoric? Didn't she provoke him into spouting yet further offensive verbiage?

She did challenge him over his remarks about women, and she did get him to say whatever it was about her bleeding. And all over social media, there is outrage. How dare Donald Trump allude to menstruation? On the one hand, he's banned from some big GOP speaking occasion. On the other are people going after Megyn Kelly. How come she went after Donald Trump and went easy on the others? That's an interesting question, but absolutely none of the Fox talking heads asked the most interesting and obvious question. (I'll get to that.)

Another thing Trump said was that he gave to various and sundry candidates. He was challenged because he's donated to Hillary Clinton in the past. But at that point, Trump said something remarkable. He said he was a businessman, and when pols asked him for money, he gave. He said that a few years later he might ask them for a favor. Very Don Corleone, if you ask me. Except Don Corleone was portrayed as helping ordinary people, giving them power society may have unfairly denied them, in return for some unspecified favor in the future. Trump gave money to people who were already among the most powerful in the country.

In the clip I saw, Trump said he gave money to most of the people on the stage. One of them said no, while a few of the others asked him to give them money. They probably couldn't help it. Politicians in the United States spend so much time asking for campaign money it's a wonder they have time to do their jobs at all. And it's no wonder that so little gets done in the name of We, the People.

Then Trump said something truly remarkable. He said the system was broken. Sure, it's pay for play. Sure, he plays the game. Sure, he uses the rules as they are laid out. But Trump's utterance, and others like that, are the real reason GOP bigshots don't like having him around. He isn't supposed to say things like that. None of the other hopefuls wander around telling the truth. They all pretend to represent us, while Trump's right out there, in front of God and everybody, saying the system is for sale to the highest bidder.

So why am I attacking poor Megyn Kelly? It's because neither she nor any of her allegedly pro colleagues, as far as I know, followed up on that statement. Wouldn't it be appropriate to say, "If the system is broken, how can we fix it?" Wouldn't it be appropriate to ask that of not only Trump, but of every person standing on that stage? Isn't basic fundamental democracy something worth protecting?

Not to the talking heads of Fox News, and not anyone in MSM of whom I'm aware. As far as I know, the only candidate talking about Citizens United, which empowers the Koch Brothers to create and empower anti-union slime like Scott Walker, is Bernie Sanders. As far as I can tell, the great minds at Fox don't even think it merits a second thought.

The larger problem is that the rest of the media, like the NY Times, which is supposed to be better than Fox, is still harping on Trump and Kelly and whether this will be the thing that finally stops Trump's momentum. So far, just about every odious thing he says gives him a bump in the polls. Can Fox stop Trump from wandering around telling saying his unedited opinions, which sometimes turn out to be true?

Time will tell. Thus far, they've been pretty good about steering the national conversation to places that continually move working people backward. Thank goodness Ronald Reagan got rid of that inconvenient fairness doctrine that said issues actually had to be discussed from both sides. I remember the club owner in the Blues Brothers saying, "We have both kinds of music, country and western."

Sometimes, in these United States, I feel like we get both sides of the issue--right and ultra right. Make no mistake, I like Donald Trump about as much as I'd like some loathsome reptile I found crawling under my bed. But Fox likes him even less, because they simply can't afford to have him running around telling the truth, and focusing on issues that We, the People are simply supposed to ignore.

Donald Trump insulted one blowhard overpaid news commentator. Red State, or some similarly named bastion of conservatism, or Republicanism, or whatever it's called, is sorely insulted. This is beyond the pale and we will not tolerate it! He said she was bleeding out of her eyes or whatever, and this must refer to menstruation. Therefore Donald Trump is not fit to speak at our Very Important Thing.

Chris Christie says teachers need to be punched in the face, and that is just fine. After all, who cares about a few million teachers? And who cares if most of them are women? That's not misogynist. And anyway, going after labor is the Republican way. How can we help our country better than by breaking union, making it difficult to impossible for working people to negotiate, and making more money for the likes of the Koch Brothers or the Walmart Family?

The truth is, it's an outrage that any of them would attack working people. What the Democrats and Republicans should be fighting about is how best to help working people. And ostensibly, that's what they're doing. The problem is they're all lying, and the Democrats are following in their footsteps. How else do you explain an ostensible Democrat running for governor and saying he's going to go after unions?

But the Republicans say they're sensitive to women. That's why they banned Trump from the Very Important Thing. Now imagine all the women Scott Walker hurt when he killed collective bargaining and decimated union for all but the police, charged to protect him from the rabble. If Trump should be dropped from the conference, Walker should be dropped from the planet. How many thousands of women have been hurt in Wisconsin by his Koch-financed actions?

Donald Trump is a bloviating blowhard. He's shown himself, just over the last few weeks, to be a xenophobic, misogynistic narcissist who thinks anything he does is justified simply by the virtue of his having done it.  But make no mistake, he is the true face of the GOP. He does, as he points out, say the things none of the others will say. He can't be bothered with all that political correctness nonsense. And after all, why would you want anything like diplomacy or tact from someone in charge of negotiating over things like war or nuclear bombs? Trump has no editor and he says whatever he damn pleases.

For my money, Trump is the most honest of the lot. He's a straight talker. He doesn't respect women, he doesn't respect the press, he doesn't respect the people he does business with, he doesn't respect you or me and he doesn't respect anyone. But the truth is neither does Christie. And neither does Walker. And neither does Bush, who was in bed with Lehman Brothers as they were crashing our economy. I don't think any of the others do either.

I'm not all that sure about Hillary Clinton either. And the AFT message, that she said this or that, doesn't resonate with me either. They said the same thing about Obama and he sacrificed not only unionized teachers but also American schoolchildren to get through the few things he actually accomplished.

But we know exactly where the GOP stands, and it's quite important we push them out of our way if we ever want to get anywhere.

The NY Post recently featured an article entitled, "The city thinks 'The Three Little Pigs' is a book for high schoolers."

The staff probably hopes that such an article will make the public cry out in utter disgust and run off to the nearest charter school.  Imagine eleventh graders using kindergarten texts!  Isn't the moral of the story:  "Look how public funds are wasted!"?  And shouldn't the headline properly read, "Stupid public-school teachers rob children of their education!  Governor Cuomo and his wealthy backers were right!"

It is only towards the bottom of the story that the article mentions The Three Little Pigs was used as a five-minute "Do Now" to discuss point of view and bias in college-level texts used by the class.

So, do I know the truth?  No.  Do I believe the initial shock and horror generated by this story would be sustained by further investigation?  I highly doubt it.  Do I think The Post knows the truth.  I highly doubt it.  Do I suspect smear merchants are at work?  What do you think?

The Post might feature me, center stage, next, as well as some of my colleagues.  I once used different versions of Cinderella with ninth-grade students to discuss the difference between transcendent values, or ideas, developed independently across cultures and cultural diffusion.  We looked at fairy tales from Persia as well as China which seemed startlingly similar to Cinderella.   (By the way, if you're a hard-working City teacher, and your name is Cinderella, The Post may look a lot like a stepsister to you.  I don't advise waiting for a fairy godmother though!)  I believe honesty and truth are transcendent values.  I'm guessing The Post falls short here.  Sensationalism triumphs, given its agenda against public schools and its desire to sell more papers.

There is another point which the article misses entirely--although I do not sense that it is relevant to the specific situation described.  Some high-school students, through no fault of their teachers past or present, may not be able to read even The Three Little Pigs.  Many kids arrive as immigrants, speaking no English.  They arrive at any point during the year.  Public schools keep their doors open.  Too many charters shut them.  The City schools will be flooded with more of these kids in the future.  Many are poor and unschooled in their own countries.  They flee to us for a better life.  The very people who try to help them, their teachers, are blamed for their lack of English and low grades.  Teachers are the easiest ones to blame.  Since part of what they try to do is teach people to play fair, they probably won't even know what hit them!

I wish Yaov Gonen and Bruce Golding, the two little authors of the piece on The Three Little Pigs would do a better job of figuring out what counts as news and what counts as another phony excuse to attack teachers.  Why don't they go undercover and teach some of the  impoverished children in our City schools?  Let them write a few articles then, perhaps, piece together a book.  And if they really care about the students, let them stay on to make teaching their mission in life--instead of making it a mission to scapegoat teachers.

Yes, let shamed teachers now scrap the use of The Three Little Pigs as a jumping off point to discuss point of view and bias.  Let teachers use The Post instead.  Students should know that the news they read is full of biases.  And, one of the most common biases today, given the agenda of the financial backers, is a concerted campaign against civil servants, many of whom sacrificed higher pay and prestige, but not personal integrity, to make teaching their mission in life.

As principal, I am horrified by lateness. There is no excuse for lateness! You must let the kids know it is absolutely unacceptable. When I was a teacher, none of my students came late. That's because I kept a late log. Every late student had to sign the log, and write in the exact time they arrived. I suggest you do this too. However, if students are frequently late, you should fail them. And you should tell them you failed them because they were late.

On another note, too many of our students are failing. We need to reverse this trend. Of course we need to do whatever possible to help our students. On that front, I'm opening up the floor to suggestions. Mr. V.?

Well, in my class I find it helpful to pair the students up. I like to pair up a low-performing student with a high-performing student. I do that throughout the year, and I let them team up on tests. I find when I do that, the low-performing students tend to do just as well as the high-performing students. I've been doing this for a few years now and it really works like a charm. Not only that, but my AP never calls me into her office and asks about passing rates anymore. It's a WIN-WIN!

Thank you Mr. V. I see a hand over there. What's your suggestion, Ms. R?

Well, what I do is go over the tests very carefully. I make sure we completely review absolutely everything. I give half credit for each answer a kid corrects. Only half. Then, if a student got a 60, he can get his grade to change up to 80. A 50 can become a 75. The kids really like it. And my grades have gone up by an average of 50%. I learned about this in a grad class. I've never been called in for a passing rate conference, and now I'm pretty sure I never will.

Great suggestion Ms. R. Mr. C, what's your opinion?

Well, this is a kind of new thing but it's working for me. I actually have the kids make out cheat sheets for tests. Now hear me out. It sounds bad, but when kids write out the cheat sheets it helps them learn the stuff. And if I allow it, it isn't actually cheating. So the kids learn the material, they're able to prove it on tests, and the grades are up overall. Not only do we improve graduation rates, but we have fewer kids in summer school. Maybe we can use summer school for enrichment instead of just to teach kids who failed during the year.

Well, those are some great ideas. I'm hoping you'll all get on the train and use them. Maybe one works for you, maybe another works for you, or maybe you can just get on board with all of them. And as Mr. C. said, all these things are good for our school. The higher the grad rate is, the better our rep will be and the more people will want to come to our school. 

You know, we have to be competitive, like pro athletes, these days. We have to do whatever we have to do to be the best. That's what it's all about. I'm proud to be the instructional leader of such a creative and dedicated staff of professionals. Please welcome Ms. Ratzenkellar, who will tell you all about Right to Know.  Ms. Ratzenkellar?

A young woman writes a piece in the Post expressing outrage that she graduated. After all, she barely attended one of her classes. There was just no way she deserved to pass. But when it comes time to go to college, she's right there.

“I don’t think I did anything bad,” she said.

I don't think so either.  But her own story suggests outrage:

New York City gave me a ­diploma I didn’t deserve.

It may seem odd that I’m speaking up, but it’s only because I’m fully aware I didn’t deserve to pass a course that allowed me to graduate.

You know, it's not like the young woman couldn't have done something about it. She could have read a book, sat for a test, written a paper, or done something to ease her anxiety. Her teacher also spoke to the Post, saying she passed the young woman because she was under enormous pressure. This pressure, though, is nothing particularly new. The teacher is not jumping up and down with pride over this decision:

But if we set the bar higher, we would be a failing school.

That's pretty much the case, from all I see.  And what exactly is a failing school? Well, there are several metrics. One, of course, is the graduation rate. In a perfect world, every student would graduate in four years, without exception. In this world, though, there are all sorts of messy things that get in the way. Maybe the kid doesn't speak English. Maybe the kid has a severe learning disability. Maybe the kid's parents work 200 hours a week, offer no supervision, and the kid has no sense of discipline. Or maybe the kid, like the one in this story, just didn't bother coming to class.

In 2015, all of that is the teacher's fault, and all of that is the school's fault. Never mind that these things occur with great frequency only in high poverty areas with high concentrations of kids with high needs. The NY Post editorial board can't be bothered hearing about such things. Better to blame Carmen Fariña, as though this didn't even exist for the interminable years their BFFs Mikey Bloomberg and Joel Klein ran the city.

Rather than rely mainly on test scores, grades and other clear measures to see if a student is ready to advance, Fariña OK’d “a comprehensive evaluation of student work using multiple measures.”

Actually, NY Post, that was based on state regulations. But don't expect to see them asking Tisch or Cuomo to step down any time soon. But the Post editorial board loves test scores. They'd feed them to our children for breakfast, lunch and dinner given half a chance. The fact that state tests seem to get worse with each passing year is neither here nor there.

Where was the Post's outrage when Bloomberg's scores miraculously went up as the state dumbed down the tests? Did they ask for Klein to step down? Did Post chief Murdoch refrain from giving Klein a megabucks corporate gig on his DOE departure? Did they ask for Bloomberg's resignation? Of course not.

There is an agenda at the Post editorial department, and it has little or nothing to do with ensuring our children get a great education. Murdoch saw, long ago, that there was tons of cash to be made off the backs of our children. Therefore public education is bad, teacher unions are a menace, and anyone who isn't simply trying to crush union must be humiliated at each and every opportunity.

The series of Post stories are open to interpretation. Mine is that teachers and schools ought not to be under such pressure to pass absolutely everyone. We should teach students that there are consequences when they fail to be responsible. It's not Carmen Fariña's fault that there is ridiculous pressure to graduate as many kids as possible. It's not her fault the Heavy Heart Assembly passed an insane bill that will place public schools into receivership. And it's certainly not her fault that there is such ridiculous pressure on school administration that things like this occur.

The Post is already running gleeful articles suggesting this could be the end of mayoral control. I'd be fine with the end of mayoral control, but the Post only wants the end of de Blasio's control. And let's be honest, he hasn't got all that much anyway since Cuomo took Eva's money and forced NYC to foot the rent whenever she feels like expanding her company.

Should we get another reformy mayor, the Post will once again be enamored of mayoral control, and passing kids for no reason will no longer be a problem. The names change, but the agenda remains the same. It's tough keeping a level head with people trying to punch us in the face all the time, but that's still our job.

We'll have to let the crazies do their thing while still striving to keep our eye on what's important. And in case you don't know, that's our kids. One day they will have to work for a living just like us. We need to fight the crazies at least long and strong enough to make that possible.

At the mere cost of $5 billion, Bill Gates once had the brilliant idea to train cameras on every teacher in every classroom.  What better way to improve teaching...or is it testing?  No matter what ed. "reformers" say, surely, the two are not the same.

Well, just when you think Mr. Gates could not possibly outdo himself, along comes another brainy idea.  After all, if he can finance turning poopy to drinkable water, there must be no end to his natural brilliance:  Why should Big Brother just watch you, when he could be telling you what to do?

Let teachers wear earbuds.  They're experimenting with it in Memphis, Tampa and New York.  If you're doing something wrong, like looking too relaxed, why study the play-by-play later, when it's too late?  Why wait for an outside observer to hold a private conference with you?  Why wait for a written formal observation?  You ought to know right then and there, in front of your kids, what's wrong with you and how to fix it.  And students should see teachers following orders like so many dogs.  There's surely a lesson to be learned here!

Earbuds are all the rage today.  We've seen them in classrooms around the world for everything from replacing boring lectures or test prep with the music of one's choice to cheating on exams via electronic transmitters.  Usually the buds are hidden beneath a cap, hood or long hair, but sometimes they're flaunted.  Now, let teachers flaunt them, too.  Let them be put straight via wireless technology.  Let them perform like circus animals because, surely, teachers are incapable of thinking for themselves.  There's surely a lesson to be learned here!

This earth-shattering idea has so many unrealized possibilities...

Have you ever asked your kid to do something...like clean up a mess in his or her room?  Does it seem that your voice is filtered out like white noise?  Well, who's to say teachers won't act in the same vein?  Big Brother, coaching, perhaps, from thousands of miles away should have the power to transmit an excessively shrill noise into a teacher's ear.  And, if that teacher will not "wake up" to a better way of teaching...or prepping, perhaps, an electric shock would do the trick!  Remember, coaches never need to be coached.

The potential of ear buds is only just beginning to be realized.  So many markets are left untapped.

Politicians should be given ear buds.  Give one to every governor.  Why not give two to the president?  Let some hedge-fund operator, Jenny Sedlis or even Michael Bloomberg tell our elected politicians what to do.  Let the highest campaign donors coach us out of democracy.  There's surely a lesson to be learned here!

Suppose you're a Unity hack.  You have a really nice office job and a double pension.  You don't care much for your classroom and you're not sure how much you should fret over ed. "reform."  You live in perpetual fear of failing to move up the Union ladder.  What if you fail to back Unity's line?  What if you say the wrong thing at the wrong time?  What if you accidentally stand up against the Core or you think annual testing is shameful?  Well, there's a way to allay your fears.  You need someone up the totem pole to talk down to you and tell you what to do.  When teachers ask why the sub-par contract is so good and if there are any copies in print, let your ear bud answer for you!  "There's strength in Unity."  And, maybe some day, you'll be dictating policy down the line!  There's surely a lesson to be learned here!

If you're a charter school operator or a politician in Albany, you, too, probably want an earbud.  What if you're being questioned by the FBI?  You might not know what to say.  You might not know where all the money went or even where it came from.  You, too, can be coached.  Just plug in your earbud 'cause anything you say can be held against you in a court of law!  Your earbud, of course, could deal you expert legal advice...or it might make you the next fall guy.  But, then, an earbud would never lead anyone astray.  Right?

We keep voting in the same people, they keep doing the same things, it failed before, it's failing now, and it will fail in the future. Yet we hope against hope that this time it will work. We give the reformies a little bit to show them how flexible we are. We buy into one of their awful ideas, and then another. Then we sit and wait for them to say thank you. But that just doesn't happen. The time we let Bill Gates keynote and AFT convention, he thanked us, walked out, and then started attacking our pensions.

Now the UFT and AFT are waist deep in this PROSE program, the one that enables huge class sizes. It's the bestest thing ever. It means, instead of that silly old contract we negotiated, we can run schools like charters. How cool is that? Maybe once the Post columnists read about that, they'll say, "Hey, those union leaders are not so bad. Maybe we should give them a shot at running the Moskowitz schools."

Only that's not the way it works. Every time you give the reformies a millimeter, they want a kilometer. That's why there are multiple suits attacking tenure. That's why the Supreme Court is now eyeing a suit intended to pretty much crush public unions as we know it. And that's why you'll find this piece, in the NY Post, ridiculing Weingarten and Mulgrew as self-serving clowns.

Basically, the piece moves from the absolutely false premise that charters are a solution to the low test score issue to the conclusion that the PROSE program emulates them. Maybe it does. And it's been bandied about as a solution to various problems by not only Mulgrew, but also Weingarten. Now here's the problem--the low test score crisis is caused NOT by the UFT Contract, but rather by high concentrations of poverty and high needs students. Charter schools tend not to take severe special ed. cases or beginning ESL students, and have various screening methods to ensure they don't just take everyone (like we do). They also dump kids and don't replace them. This system is hardly a miracle.

By being flexible we buy into the false assumption that it is the teachers and schools failing the students. That's problematic because it gives our enemies more ammunition to attack us and our schools. We also allow Post polemicists to write pieces like this, telling the public the privatization schemes are the obvious solutions. How does he thank the helpful union leaders?

It’s not really about education, then. It’s about control — top down, contractually mandated control. Put another way, “We’re fine with innovation, as long as it’s our innovation. We’re good with bureaucratic flexibility, as long as we say it’s OK. And anybody who tries to do this without approval shall face our wrath!”
 
This is progress?

Thus, Weingarten and Mulgrew receive no credit whatsoever for their willingness to compromise on our Contract. The writer throws in a nice little strawman about how reformies will face the wrath of union leaders if they don't cooperate. Not only did Weingarten and Mulgrew fail to say any such thing, but the assumption they even implied it is preposterous. UFT supports charter schools and has done for years. UFT runs charter schools, though one failed rather spectacularly last year, and has even co-located them. UFT proudly brought the odious Steve Barr's Green Dot to NYC. We're up for anything! We're the cool kids! We do charters, mayoral control, co-___location, two-tier due process, whatever!

Here's the thing though--whatever we do, they want more. Even when we stand up for reforminess instead of common sense, we are reviled. These people hate us and everything we stand for. We are the last bastion of vibrant unionism in these United States and they mean to destroy us. We have seen over and over that it's not only counter-productive, but simply idiotic to play nice with these folks.

Yet this is what we do, again and again. We endorse presidential candidates, and ask nothing in return. We hear our presidents say, "This candidate said this and that." And then when they fail to do this or that, when they work against us, they talk to us like Squealer from Animal Farm. "Strategy, comrades, strategy."

How many times does the strategy have to fail before we at least try out a new one?

I get a newsletter from the UFT every week or so called "The Organizer," written by UFT employee Gene Mann. I don't always agree with everything in it, but this week I was very struck by the dueling comments about Maspeth High School and its principal (who scored 10 points lower than average in the staff poll). Gene does a feature called, "The Grapevine" for potential transfers or ATR teachers to give them the lowdown on Queens schools they may visit. 

Maspeth High School had been receiving fairly abysmal reviews on this newsletter for a while. My source tells me, after some sort of staff meeting with the chapter leader and principal, that the tone of the reviews began to change.

I'm fascinated by the assertion that staff stays an extra thirty minutes beyond contractual requirements, and the response asserting they do so voluntarily. Like a whole lot of teachers, I come in early almost every day, and frequently stay late too. However, I don't do that on anyone's schedule but my own. I question the coincidence of an entire staff staying an extra thirty minutes each day. I can't help but note that the commenter defending the practice does not actually deny it.

I also note the assertion that every teacher teaches four periods in a row. That's a blatant violation of Contract, and I fail to see how it helps kids. If there were some compelling reason to change the time schedule, the school could've held an SBO, but I fail to see any evidence of that either.

 It's a little long, but I'm going to simply post all the comments and let you draw your own conclusions.  Feel free to post them in the comments.

Maspeth H.S. Q585 (District 77)

Principal Ranking: 75.6

Vacancies: Physics, English

(2014)

-The staff, all under 30 and without tenure, lives in fear of its principal, who demands that all stay an extra half-hour Monday-Thursday, beyond contractual requirements.  The staff is so afraid of losing its jobs that it complies without protest or per session (they didn't even know the term). The teachers' lounge is on the third floor but elevator use is prohibited without a doctor's note.  The building is nice and new, just in case that matters to you.

Another view…

The teachers are given 4 classes back to back and because they are in fear of the Principal they do not stand up for their own rights.    I was in that school twice.  The first time they tried to give me 4 classes back to back and when I refused I was told that every teacher is required to do so. There is no UFT representative in the school.

And another…

The tension among the teachers here is palpable.  This is the poster child for a Bloomberg School.  The dirty secret is that their Regents scores are way lower than expected.

And a story…(from Gene)

I received an e-mail from a fellow I remember as a teacher at another school asking me to pull the Maspeth HS posting because this growing school needs to attract new teachers.  I told the writer that I do not write postings and will only accept postings from folks who have worked in a school, either as appointed members or ATRs. 

         Subsequent inquiry led me to the discovery that my correspondent was no longer a teacher in a school, but worked for the network!

 (2015)

        My child attends Maspeth HS and the Principal is a total jerk in my estimation- I have more than 10 years in the system teaching , and have rubbed shoulders with numerous principals.  He is rude, not a friendly man, and definitely not a good communicator.  One teacher there has shared that she actually likes him-shocker!  Let me leave it at this without going into any more details, which could always cause possible backlash in our highly politicized system!

Another…

A member of our staff has requested that we address the posting in the Observer about Maspeth High School in Queens.


As a teacher at this school, I can say that all of the comments listed are true. There is a clear division between how some staff is treated versus others, which would lead to the conflicting experiences you may be receiving in your e-mail. The average staff age is very young and new to teaching (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/wrong-experience-common-nyc-schools-article-1.2152634). *These are traits valued by administration, who regularly overlook qualified and experienced candidates in favor of young, inexpensive, and inexperienced professionals willing to overwork themselves. The students are great and so are many of the amenities but caution should be taken if expecting fair staff treatment or aboveboard practices.

·      The Daily News reported that Maspeth has the least experienced staff in the city (“…Maspeth High School in Queens - where a staggering 88% were on the job for under three years.” March 17, 2015) Of the 69 teachers in the school, only 8 are tenured.  24 are in their first year, 18 in their second, 22 in their third, 4 in their fourth, 2 in their eight, 2 in their 10th, and 1 in their 14th.

·      The average experience is 2.78 years.  For comparison purposes, the other schools which I have visited most frequently this year:

·      John Adams (Q480) 12 years

·      John Bowne (Q425) 11.7

·      Queens Gateway (Q680) 12

·      William Cullen Bryant (Q445) 12.9

·      August Martin (Q400) 12.8

·      Queens HS of Teaching (Q566) 11.1

·      Townsend Harris 14.5


And another…

Maspeth is a second home for teachers and students. Teachers have created such a positive attitude for students and choose to give up their free time just to further help out the students. The principal gives us clear directives and goals to hit that are very attainable and every teacher should strive to achieve those goals. It is a wonderful school that I will be sending my children to.

And another…

I am writing in hopes that you retract the false accusations made about not only Maspeth High School but about Principal Abdul-Mutakabbir. I am currently a teacher at Maspeth High School. The review that I read does not accurately depict my school and I am offended by the remarks stated by others. Speaking as a current member at Maspeth HS, I believe the administration, including Principal Abdul, and teachers have made Maspeth H.S. one of the best high schools in Queens. The hard work and determination is seen throughout Maspeth, which has allowed every student to have an opportunity for success.


One of the values that we stress is, "Student's First." Principal Abdul has never turned a teacher down for anything that would benefit the student's well-being. He stresses the importance of putting the student's first and that has been instilled in every teacher's mindset. The accusations made in regards to staff members being fearful is not true. Principal Abdul is always open to communicate and encourages his teachers to approach him with any ideas or concerns that they might have. We have established an excellent culture inside and outside of the building and that can be illustrated by the hard work of the students and the staff.


The idea of teaching being a 8-3 job is incorrect. Every teacher who has worked in a school setting understands that the job is not over when the last bell rings. The idea that Maspeth teachers are forced to stay after school hours is not true. These actions taken by the teachers are choices that we have all made on our own. The reason is because we strive to provide the students with the best possible learning environment. As an educator, my number one goal is to allow my students the best opportunity for success. This idea transcends with every educator at Maspeth H.S. We will continue to provide our students with the highest level of education inside and outside of the classroom and we hope that we can make a difference in the lives of every student who currently attends Maspeth H.S. and in the future to come. 



Warmest Regards,



Justin Lacoff

History Teacher at Maspeth H.S. 


And…

There are teachers here who have gotten tenure because they deserve it. So, the statement saying that no one has tenure is a lie. I know that I personally do not live in fear of the principal because he is very supportive to new programs and activities and is always willing to listen to your ideas and to help implement them in any way that he can. I know other people feel the same way as well. For the person who said we don't know what the term "per session" means - we certainly DO know what it means and if a person is running a club, coaching a sport, or doing anything else that the principal asks them to do, they get compensated for it. Obviously, he cannot just throw money to everyone who stays a minute after 2:35pm but he does give it when it is deserved and required. There are some teachers who complain and are disgruntled but that is because they are lazy and are here for a paycheck, not for the students. Those teachers are the ones who bring the negativity into the school and they allow that negativity to give us a bad reputation. Some of the things said on here are ridiculous. I have NEVER been asked to do more than 3 classes in a row and how are our regents scores lower than expected when we are in the top 3 for highest scores in our district? These things have been written by people who are clearly miserable and/or misinformed. Maspeth High School does not deserve this reputation because it is a place that fosters growth and learning in students. It is a place where students feel welcome and cared about. It is a place where teachers are supported and encouraged to be creative. I can honestly say that the only bad thing about this school is those few negative teachers who want to bring the rest of us down because of their misery. The opinion of those disgruntled teachers should not outweigh the opinion of the majority of teachers who love Maspeth and enjoy spending their time at work, doing what teachers should be doing - caring about the students.


And..

It was recently brought to my attention that false and upsetting information has been posted, through your facilitation, in The Organizer.  As a teacher at Maspeth High School, I would like the opportunity to set the record straight about our school and community.


I'd like to start by addressing some of the comments that were recklessly posted.  First of all, yes the staff here is on the "younger" side of the spectrum.  However instead of being ageist, people should understand that this school gives new teachers the opportunity to grow as professionals.  Our age does not equate to inexperience; it makes us motivated, energetic, and enthusiastic individuals who have the drive to work hard and do everything possible for the benefit of our students.  Does that make other teachers in other schools angry because we do not leave at 2:35 as they would like to?  Of course.  But that speaks to the nature of other schools compared to ours.  At 2:35 when 8th period ends, this building is still bustling with students and staff who are engaged in clubs, sports, extra enrichment programs, tutoring, and much more.  We WANT to be here and it shows based on the number of students who flood the halls well into the evening.


I'd like to next address the comments about our administration being unapproachable.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  Teachers who feel that way are disgruntled and bitter about their own personal problems and set backs within the DOE.  The majority of teachers however, have beneficial relationships with administration.  They offer support and advice when solicited and are happy to help in ANY way when it comes to student needs and success.


Lastly, I'd like to clarify things for the public by explaining what it is REALLY like at Maspeth High School.  Students are enrolled in programs that suit their needs, allow them to explore their interests, and help them become college ready.  Teachers work tirelessly to help students  meet success by going above and beyond.  They treat everyone student as their own.  Parents are actively involved in the school through our flourishing Parent-Teacher Association.  And administrators are constantly providing feedback and resources to help teachers take-on leadership roles in the building.  The proof is in the pudding... if Maspeth High School was not operating effectively, why would parents be knocking at the doors to get their children into this school?  If I was able to send my future child here, I wouldn't hesitate.


Please share this when discussing Maspeth High School.


And…

As a Special Education and Social Studies teacher at Maspeth High School I felt I had to respond after reading the reviews you recently posted about our school. It would be offensive to let false, negative comments posted by anonymous writers diminish the extremely hard work put in by our students, staff and parents alike. I will not sit by and let the opinions of clearly disgruntled individuals represent how the entire staff feels.


First off, I can honestly say I am excited to go to work everyday. I know for a fact that most colleagues I work closely with feel the same way. This excitement is driven by our amazing students, equally amazing co workers, and our supportive administration. I have worked in many schools and have never been a part of more dedicated and passionate staff. The central idea of putting students first that is preached by our principal can be seen everywhere.


I believe that anyone who complains about the Maspeth High School experience whether it be faculty, parent, or student is doing so because they simply don't know how good they have it. If something will benefit the students, the answer from our principle will always be yes. This can be shown via a coach bus to Albany for the basketball state finals or a simple pizza party to celebrate a club's accomplishments. The false accusations of our principal instilling fear into teachers to stay after school is laughable. Teachers stay after because they truly care about their students' success and students stay after because they know their teachers concern is genuine. A good look in the mirror is necessary if your classroom is consistently void of students after school and you feel awkward leaving the building while other staff continue to work with the future of our generation.


I hope these statements make it clear that the previously posted comments about working at Maspeth are false. Maspeth High Schoool is doing right by the students and that is why we are all in this field after all,

right?


         And..

We teachers are not cowering in fear, and subsequently are not being forced by fear to work those long hours and apparently teach four classes in a row (again, untrue). Maspeth, and especially Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, respects teachers' voices and is always very clear with our rights. The school is extremely transparent about its expectations for the teachers. Are the expectations high? Yes, I personally would say so. But are they exploitative like how the publication implies? Absolutely not. The teachers at our school are young, but that explains why so many of us do go above and beyond in our time spent at work--we are motivated and healthily encouraged because of our supportive administration's high, respectful expectations and optimistic belief in us.


There are many more objections I can make, such as the one regarding Regents scores, but I think the numbers speak for themselves. For instance, the English department has a 99% pass rate and an 86% mastery rate for the year. And that is not just due to our amazing students and hardworking teachers--it's due to the support and encouragement from our administration, and especially from Principal Abdul. He is an extremely effective principal who is greatly respected and recognized for his skills and leadership by most, if not all, the faculty and staff.

And more!

Maspeth defenders don't seem to understand that the Grapevine is composed of the observations of ATR's. The Grapevine is not about disgruntled students or lazy teachers. It is about the fly on the wall with years of experience at understanding the unwritten rules which are part of a school's culture. Not only does a typical ATR have more experience with education, supervisors, and children than the typical teacher, but he has had an opportunity to visit many schools and in doing so has gained perspective. As an outsider, the ATR makes judgements on schools based on how the schools treat outsiders as well. The personal experiences of individual teachers may be colored by the attitude of the principal towards them; the ATR considers how the least favored as well as the most favored teachers are treated. Looking at how the least are treated is an indicator of how everyone could be treated. Personally, I found the negatives were borne out by my own experiences at the school. I sense that the children are enabled in their behavior (by the principal as much as any other) and have been led to believe that they are developed and well-prepared, but then again that charge could be applied to most schools. Maspeth is like Stepford and I advise all to stay away from the Koolaid.

And…

I have read the comments from a few teachers about Maspeth High School and the ATRs.  Well, that is a lot of bulls*** because I was given assignments which had 4 periods back to back.  When I questioned I was told that teachers work 4 periods back to back.

Chris Christie says it's time to punch teacher unions in the face. This isn't surprising coming from the bombastic lunatic he is. This is a guy who makes agreements to fund pensions in exchange for higher contributions from state employees, and then turns around and says, "Screw you, I'm not paying." This is a guy who shouts down young teachers in public. This is a man who will take a state helicopter to watch his son play in a little league game. And I don't suppose we need to discuss the Fort Lee traffic issues any further.

We know that Christie means us no good. We know he has no regard for public education, and that he has contempt for public school teachers. We know he thinks we only work part time and are therefore overpaid. So it's not very tough to oppose Chris Christie, or indeed any and all of his fellow GOP contenders for President.

What's really striking here is that Christie appears to have taken a cue from none other than UFT President Michael Mulgrew, who suggested that people who tried to take his precious Common Core would get their faces punched and pushed in the dirt. It's incredible to be able to draw a parallel between someone who clearly hates us and everything we stand for and someone whose job entails representing our interests, but there you are.

Sometimes, it's good to be angry. For example, when we went five long years without a contract, a lot of teachers were pissed off, and justifiably so. A rep from UFT came to my school a few years ago when we were hanging tough on teacher evaluation. I was very supportive of that. I believe I upped my contribution to COPE to show my approval. A member asked when we were gonna get the raise that the cops and firefighters got. The UFT rep said union leadership was very smart, a line I often hear at the DA. He said that Bloomberg could not get the new evaluation system until he negotiated a contract, and that the member would get the contract.

Shortly thereafter, the smart leadership agreed to an APPR system without a contract, and if I recall correctly it was to help ensure NY State got Race to the Top money. This money went toward things that were of no assistance whatsoever to NY teachers and students, but for some reason we supported it. Not only did we fail to negotiate an APPR system, but we placed our faith in Reformy John King as an impartial arbiter. Anyone who's followed the King's career, one year teaching public school, two years charter, then running a charter school to running NY State education, knows he's just about as impartial as Bill Gates or the Walmart family.

So what's the point? Is Mulgrew just like Christie simply because they both wish to punch us in the face? No.

The point is this--no one should be talking about punching teachers in the face. It's a little more outrageous when it comes from the President of the largest teacher local in these United States, but it's absolutely unacceptable from everyone.

And while it's clearly necessary to fight demagogues like Christie, we ought never to have to be threatened by our union leaders. It is their very job to support us, not the nonsensical corporate programs foisted upon us by the likes of Christie's BFFs.

...but you can read my open letter to Carmen Fariña at Huffington Post instead, if you like.