After we posted our exposure of Jonathan Weinstein and his buddies at High Achievement New York word came into the SBSB newsroom that Jon is married to a NYCDOE teacher. We shan't say where, other than it is the Upper West Side in District 3, and we shan't say which grade and/or subject only that its special ed. in an ICT elementary class in a magnet school.

This school only has 4 percent of its students as ELL's and 18 percent with special needs. And get this. Only 8 percent of the students get a free lunch. Impressive numbers, huh?

And as one might imagine the test scores, for both general ed and special ed, are very impressive.

We do however applaud all the teachers, the staff, the parents, the community, and the principal on having such great outcomes. Of course one can ascertain that the low amount of ELL's, special ed., and students on free lunch have something to do with this.

Oh, lest we forget to mention the copious amounts of fundraising done by the parents of the school. Hey, we here at SBSB have no problem with it and believe that it is great. But does this not show the difference between the haves (This school sold its tickets for the fundraiser for $70 per person including dinner and open bar) and the have nots. Maybe the have nots can have their fundraisers and Jimbo's Hamburger Palace?

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For those that have not been paying attention of late there is a new faux education advocacy group in town.

OK maybe not new but we here just found out about them last week just before the ELA exams began. This group, High Achievement New York, is one of those so-called, "Hey we are here for the kids and the families of NYC and we are just regular people and are down with everyone else," groups.

HANY has even being playing radio spots on WCBS-AM and WINS coercing and lying to those that do not have enough information that testing really is not a major disruption and...well you know what? Let's look at the script together;

I’m  Pat Sprinkle, and I am a  New York public school teacher. If your son or daughter is in the 3rd through  8th grade,  I  want  you to know this month’s state assessments are crucial for their future. Almost two - thirds of our students graduate from high school without being ready for college or a career.  These tests are designed to fix that  – they’re a check - up to make sure all our kids are getting the  problem - solving and critical thinking skills need ed to succeed . It’s a great investment for your children  – the rules guarantee they’ll spend less than 1% of the their time on  the tests each year. Let’s give all  our students a chance at a better life. Because they deserve it.

Where to start? We can start with the fact that Pat Sprinkle is a loyal, card carrying member, of Educators 4 Excellence.

These tests do not measure problem solving nor critical thinking skills. These tests are only measure how confused and stressed out our students get.

Maybe 1 percent of students time each year is spent on taking the tests, but how much time is spent each year preparing for the tests?

But what bothers us most is while the voice over at the end of the radio spot tells the listener that the spots were paid for by HANY nowhere do we hear a voice over that HANY is majorly financed by the Gates Foundation, the same financiers that breech birthed E4E.

Yes to a lay person it might seem cynical to imply that Gates monies are pulling the strings. We can give the benefit of the doubt and say that Gates donated to a true grass roots organization. We can. We shan't.

The Crack Team did a WhoIs search of HANY's url (Web address) and came up with bupkus. The information the WhoIs came up with showed many a layer hiding the true owners of the web address. Why?

We then googled the telephone # we found on the HANY blog, 212-681-1380 and found out that that is the main number for Mercury LLC a public affairs/lobbying firm in Manhattan.  Heck, Mercury LLC is the public affairs firm for Campbell Brown's Partnership for Educational Justice! Mercury is also a registered lobbyist in NYC.

It gets deeper.

When The Crack Team spoke with someone at Mercury LLC (More on this in a bit) we shared the address of the blog. Immediately this person read the blog. When The Crack Team checked on the blog's stat counter and the ISP comes from another public relations firm Porter Novelli which is part of the Omnicron Group.

When The Crack Team spoke with VP of Mercury LLC  Jon Weinstein the first question we asked him was who paid for the poll that is listed on HANY's blog that New Yorkers across the state are in favor of high stakes testing. Jon told The Crack Team that MercuryLLC "commissioned the survey." This is akin to McDonald's commissioning a poll to find out which fast food restaurant has better tasting burgers, McD's or Burger King only to find out McD's is the better tasting burger.

We thank Jon for his honesty but for some reason asked that the remind of question be written out in an email and he will respond. He did. But first the questions The Crack Team sent;

1. Is it possible to get a copy of the survey that is being touted by HANY?  

2. HANY appears to be coming off as a "grass roots" organization. Why hasn't HANY shared information that the Gates Foundation is it's main funder in the radio spots or the fact Mercury LLC is the force behind HANY?  

3. How many of the coalition members know that the Gates Foundation is your main funder?  

4. Is there any official relationship between HANY/Mercury and StudentsFirst, Educators 4 Excellence and Campbell Brown?  

5. When 212-630-1630 is googled why does Campbell Brown's "Partnership for Educational Justice" appear in the listings?  

6. Have any of the people who did the voice overs for the radio spots receive compensation and if so how much?  

7. Who other than the Gates Foundation has funded HANY? 

8. Has Mercury LLC done any lobbying in Albany, NYC, or Washington on behalf of Gates, StudentsFirst, DFER, PEJ, Campbell Brown, E4E, and other such organizations?

Jon replied promptly; 

High Achievement New York provides New York parents, teachers, business and community leaders with an organized platform to support the Common Core standards, which are essential for preparing our children for college and 21st century careers. 

We are transparent about where our funding comes from and who our coalition members are.
Our funders are listed in this press release, posted on our website: http://www.highachievementny.org/high_achievement_new_york_announces_stephen_sigmund_as_new_executive_director

Coalition members can be found listed at the bottom of each press release on this page: http://www.highachievementny.org/latest_news.

We are proud of the work we are doing to make sure that all of New York’s children are advancing together and learning the critical thinking and reasoning skills they need for success.

Finally, no one in our radio ads was compensated for offering their viewpoints. We appreciate your interest in High Achievement New York.

Jon didn't really answer the question did he? We emailed him back several times and he has yet to respond to what we asked him. As a former reporter for NY1 surely Jon didn't like BS and obfuscation when it was done to him.

Is it just possible that part of reason thousands of students statewide have opted out is that we are sick and tired of astro-turf groups telling us parents how our kids should be educated? Interfering with our local school boards, our teachers, our politicians? 

Time to go away HANY and all the astro-turf groups out there. Leave our children's education be. WE THE PARENTS AND THE COMMUNITES know what is best. You don't. 

Little Evan Stone from Educators 4 Excellence has a new mouth piece. He is Josh Goodman of the SKDKnickerbocker. Josh wrote a press release with the usual E4E propaganda deriding the New York State legislature from putting the brakes on the Common Core©.
communications firm,



So much wrong with this statement The Crack Team was roiling on the floor laughing that EMS came and carted them away.

The Assembly bill introduced late last night would unnecessarily delay the complete implementation of the Common Core©, undermining the teaching standards supported by the vast majority of teachers. 

Who are these vast majority of teachers out there? To paraphrase General Zod from Superman II; 

"Who are these teachers? Where are they?" 

Teachers also support a multi-measure evaluation system, but this bill would effectively eliminate the ‘multi-measure’ component of such a system.

Again, where and who are these teachers?  But elimination is a must.

Educators would be subject to evaluation and termination almost entirely on the basis of their principals’ evaluation.

So teachers want the junk science that according to Newsday is FUBAR? Teachers, art teachers, gym teachers, etc... wish to be evaluated based on test scores of students they taught and in subjects in which they do not teach? Well I'll be darned!

Students, teachers, and principals have enough on their plates this year.

Funny, E4E never ever mentions the other stake holders in education, the parents. How about talking to Yvonne Gasperino of Westchester County? Good luck!

When E4E convened a group of teachers lackeys, sycophants, the ignorant to discuss this issue

Fixed. 

This Teacher Action Team will release a set of recommendations shortly that will detail how to support the implementation of the Common Core© without gutting it.

The team is awaiting to hear from it's lord and savior Bill Gates. Wants Bill speaks from the burning bush to direct his minions then the team shall release his words-on two tablets.

We are hopeful that the legislature and the Governor will continue to move forward on these needed changes

Nah. The assembly and senate are scared right now. They are looking to save their political butts. Governor Andy's approval rating is down to 42% and in all probability will get destroyed in Western New York, Upstate, and Long Island...where it just so happens the fight against the Common Core© is fiercest. Westchester might just go for Rob Astorino. What does Governor Andy have left? New York City. Why do you think he put on that shameless display Tuesday? 

Come to Westchester County. Travel to Buffalo. To Patchouge. To Saratoga. The parents do not want anything to do with the Common Core©! It is time to wake up and see and smell reality.

E4E, Little Evan Stone and his babe Princess Sydney Morris are addicts. They can't see what this addiction to Common Core© and the junk evaluation system is doing to them. As everything implodes around them all they can do is think that just one more hit, one more score, one more explanation will fix everything and all will be better. Bill Gates is their dealer and Governor Andy is their co-dependent.

It's time those that care for them have an intervention and send Little Evan and his babe Princess Sydney spend time at Dr Drew's for a very long time.

As Dr McCoy would say about the state of the Common Core©, "It's dead, Jim!"

I originally wanted to mock Thomas Friedman and his inane, flat column in today's Times in which he stated the obvious, but not enough, on education. Seems to us here at SBSB that Tom is flip
flopping and trying to ride the wave away from what he has been spewing the last few years.

But unlike Friedman, and I will give him points for running from what he has written in the past, is everybody's favorite elitist, Little Evan Stone of Educators 4 Excellence. 

Today, on E4E's Facebook page, Little Evan announced to the world two opportunities for Carmen Farina;

 


Yes, Little Evan Stone, who had taught for about 3 years, is about 30 years old, and has had everything handed to him his entire life, is telling Chancellor Farina who has been in education for over 40 years how to run the NYCDOE. That my friends is chutzpah.




Please take note that Little Evan appears at about 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the video. Eyewitness News education reporter somehow was able to track Evan down (Or was it the other way) and probably had to twist Little Evan's arm to get a statement of him. Little Evan thus blabbered threateningly to Chancellor Farina;

"We've been talking a lot abut the common core standards and the new teacher evaluation system, which should be two of her (Farina) big priorities."

Little Evan, isn't that boat sinking? Do you have any other ideas? Be they original or someone paying you to parrot their ideas?

Look around New York State. The tide is turning against the Common Core and soon will be against the APPR (evaluation system). Does not Carol Burris know more than you and your ilk when it comes to teacher evaluating?

But I don't blame you. You are the messenger in actuality. As long as you accept monies from Bill Gates you are nothing more than a dumb, mindless little boy that will do anything, say anything, or believe anything that Billy Boy wants. Of the two of you, he is the smart one (But that is like saying Moe is the smartest of the 3 Stooges). He is your boss.

Why would dumb down yourself for this man who has said in the past,"we won't know if Common Core will work for at least ten years"? Does it not bother you that our children, my child, my neighbor's children are being experimented on? How would you like it when Princess Sydney Morris pushes out a few of your reproductions and the boarding school they attend is experimenting on them? Would you like it? Probably.

There is a groundswell of outrage by the parents of New York State, and across the country, against the Common Core. Wake up. We don't want you or yours involved in our children's education anymore. We, the parents and the communities of this state and this great nation, wish to decide what is best for our children. And we have no place for a juvenile mouthpiece of Bill Gates telling us what is best.

The same with APPR. Why is something being foisted upon the teachers of NYC and New York State that has been an unmitigated disaster for Microsoft? Tell us all Little Evan, how is this benefiting our children?

But there is hope out there. Like the TV show that asked if you are smarter than a 5th grader in the same video as Little Evan, in fact just before he blabbered, there was a middle school student that showed she is much, much, much smarter than Dumb Little Evan Stone. We shan't give her name, but will share her quote. When asked by Art McFarland about her views of Carmen Farina and testing;

"She's trying to stop the tests because she doesn't think it's right."

When asked how she feels about testing, the little girl responds;

"I don't like it."

Sorry little girl, Little Evan Stone does not care about you. Little Evan Stone is all about himself, his babe Princess Sydney Morris, E4E, and most important, Bill Gates. The little boy and girls of NYCDOE mean jack to him.

Little Evan Stone just gets dumberized time after time.

Remember last Thursday when yet again on these pages we exposed the sycophancy of Little Evan Stone and his support for the Common Core? After a few short hours after that post was put up, a dedicated reader of this blog sent The Crack Team some samples of her daughter's 3rd grade work from Go Math. This mom shared with The Crack Team, as only mother could, the pain, the suffering, and the hatred of school permeating through her daughter as she is forced to adhere to standards so insidiously stupid that only those making a buck benefit. 

Let's take a look at Little Evan's handiwork (Yes, we know that Evan alone had nothing to do with Common Core, yet we know that Evan and his type have enabled the shoving down our throats of Common Core), shall we (You might have to click to enlarge)?







Gee, so many answers, so frustrating for a little 8 year old girl. Different ways? The passage already gives 2 ways to write the journal entries. I, as a older person, am confused.

How many times did Justin face palm before the trip?

Are your jaw dropping?

Hey, we as teachers have no problem with wanting our students and our own children to think critically and be good problem solvers, but this, this is just, just, really dumb.

But again nothing that a 2 1/2 year 6th grade teacher like Little Evan won't like. That is as long as his organization's pockets are being lined with cash by Billy Gates and his ilk. For that is what Evan is about.

Hey, let's see if anyone can answer this rejected problem from Go Math.

Little Evan Stone was all alone on the street corner under a street lamp. He wanted a money to start an "grass roots" education advocacy group. Suddenly a man in a Porsche drove up and asked Little Evan to get in. Little Evan did and the man introduced himself as Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Little Evan was impressed. Ten minutes later Evan left the car with $250,000 in unmarked bills.

What were the denominations of the bills?

He's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!! Like your mother in law coming to visit, like that huge blackhead on the back of your neck that is in a horrible spot to squeeze and stays there for years. Or worse, like that old Saturday Night Live skit with John Belushi, "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave," Little Evan Stone just won't go away.

Imagine New York City's shock when all 25 people (Myself included, but just for the sports section) that read the New York Post opened up to the op-ed section and saw a supposedly coincidentally timed to John King being in NYC opinion piece about the Common Core written by that "independent" mind of Little Evan's.

Now for those who don't know who Evan is, he has been a comedic source on these pages for years, an average 6th grade teacher, while his babe, Princess Sydney Morris was worse, and has not taught in over 4 years. 

After I stopped laughing whilst rolling on the floor I decided to share what Evan blabbered with The Crack Team. They laughed so hard that one member of the team, Throckmorton, died. For those who are interested, the funeral is tomorrow and we will be sitting Shiva through Tuesday.

Little Evan of course had to inject himself immediately; This week’s town halls on the Common Core with State Education Commissioner John King and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tish, which I attended, did little to calm the circus-like atmosphere that has surrounded the implementation of the standards from Day One.

Circus like atmosphere? Where? In Port Chester? In Western New York? Where was the circus like atmosphere. The only two places that turned into a circus was in Poughkeepsie and the so called supporters of the Common Core that showed in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. 

By lumping these new standards in with other hot-button issues,

Like the APPR? Race to the Top? Testing? It's all intertwined. One begets the others. One can't survive without its hosts. It's all the same no matter how it is sliced.

What Little Evan is doing is worse. He is throwing up the proverbial red herring to distract the readers into believing that only the Common Core is isolated change and that it has no effect on other deforms.

The new standards are more rigorous and promote the very skills teachers and parents have been calling for — critical thinking and problem-solving — skills that colleges and jobs will require.

I'm a parent and I never called for such skills in the schools and no one ever asked me. I'm also a teacher and no one and none of the teachers (Of course only the cool ones) I know, ever asked for such skills. Don't critical thinking skills and problem solving start in the home by fostering a childs natural ability to learn? That's why I have always expected my son, and my students, to come to their skills on their own. I am just there to facilitate.

But which colleges and which jobs are suddenly now requiring such skills? Haven't these skills always been required in college and the work place? 

When I taught sixth grade, I used to have to teach 127 unique math standards or topics. Now I’d be able to focus on 27 standards, giving me the time needed to make sure all of my students understood the underlying concepts.

One hundred and twenty seven math standards?? You don't say! You mean these? This was difficult for you? Yikes! Why memorize? Heck, Massachusetts had the gold standard of standards. Is this too difficult for you?

For example, I used to teach the equation for the area of a square in a 50-minute lesson, simply memorizing the equation and applying it to problems.

You did? Then you sucked as a teacher! You didn't have them take the area of the classroom, the cafeteria, the hallway, the office, their home, Sydney's family's home in East Hampton? Then they could write about how they came about their findings. Simple, eh? 

Now I could teach real-world mathematical problems involving area over the course of a week, allowing my students to uncover multiple ways to solve for the answer and truly understand the concept.

Please see my response above. 

But parents send their children to school to prepare them for the real world, and we haven’t been doing as well as we can.

Not in Kindergarten. Or 1st grade, or elementary school. We all don't get to prep Choate.

As The Post pointed out recently, just a third of New York City public-school students graduate high school ready for college, thus denying many students the opportunity to succeed. 

Yes, the Post, the bastion of journalistic morals and integrity, with no axe to grind on either side of the education debate pointed such a fact out. But wait, what about credit recovery? Does that not prepare students by just letting them graduate and letting them out in the real world?  <----sarcasm i="">


For example, in focus groups we have conducted all around the city, Educators for Excellence is hearing positive feedback from reading and writing teachers, many of whom are praising the focus on both fiction and nonfiction reading, as well as the new emphasis on text-based evidence.

Who participates in these surveys? Can we see the surveys? Are only card carrying members of E4E allowed to participate in such surveys? Are these surveys taken at E4E youth rallies? Are these surveys done scientifically?

In a recent poll, the National Education Association found nearly 75 percent of teachers said they support the Common Core.

Sources please. 

But what is most disturbing about Little Evan's spew in the Post today is his dishonesty. You see, what Little Evan doesn't want anyone to know is that the face of technological failure, Bill Gates funds Educators4Excellence while at the same time funding Common Core. Again, Little Evan is a liar. And according to the same article, Common Core is a curriculum, though Little Evan claimed it is not. Little Evan also fails to mention that his hero and mentor Bill Gates said that we won't know for ten years if Common Core will work or not. Will this be acceptable for the offspring of Little Evan and Princess Sydney?

What Common Core is just a repackaging of what was being done already for the purpose of creating new profits for corporations. It's all about the money. It's all about who will out whore whom and Little Evan, you are in the top three.

I put it to Evan, let's you and I walk the streets of Harrison, NY together and survey the parents of this great community together.

Let's face it. Little Evan is Bill Gates little b**** boy.

I get home from Port Chester on Monday night and go on the Journal News website and what do I see? A video with two men who were at the forum in Port Chester to hear The King spew forth. One gentleman, is a a teacher, a union president, and a teacher from Ossining, and the other is of someone named Vincent Marrone, a self proclaimed "parent" from Larchmont named Vincent Marrone.

Now in the video Vince claims that he has a five year old daughter (presumably in Kindergarten?) and in a nutshell, says he has no problem with the Common Core standards, supports testing, believes the tests will help them get into college, and says, "I don't know why people are objecting to that," and goes on why teachers don't like testing is that, "...a big part of the scores is tied to their jobs, and it is a big deal that it is tied to their jobs." 

So why all the hub bub about some parent sharing his opinion? I guess one is that the parent from Ossining shared exactly what his background is. Simple, "Bob Rosenbaum, a high school English teacher, a union president and a parent." I think if he came out and shared that he believes that The King is a deity no one would have a problem, (except for thinking The King is a deity) with that for he fully disclosed who he is.

On the other hand, Vinny lied. Yes, he is a parent. But is so much more. Vince is founder and president of Public Strategies, LLC, "full-service government relations firm that specializes in representing clients on regulatory, statutory and budgetary concerns." He's a lobbyist!!!! Oh, oh! Vince, for shame. Why not share this with the Journal News? Are you ashamed of what you do?

As was reported today in New York BATS Facebook page, and on the Hall Monitor blog by Journal News education reporter, Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, one of Vince's clients is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Yes, that very same Bill Gates who failed to innovate at Microsoft and is attempting to do to education what he has done to Microsoft. Yes, the very same Bill Gates who has shoved Common Core down our throats and who said that we won't know if Common Core will succeed for another ten years.

But let's not stop there. Another client of Vinny's is the New York City Charter School Center. Yeah, charter schools, Common Core, testing, hmm, I see a connection for Vince's sycophancy. Oh snap, I almost forgot. NYC Charter School Center is supported by Billy and Melinda. I am starting to think that Vince was a plant on Monday night and wasn't speaking from the heart but rather from the wallet. And speaking of wallet's, click here and see how much all his clients (some worthy ones I will admit) paid him, in particular Billy and NYC Charter School Center.

But enough of outing Vince, maybe it's time we educate Vince. Maybe Vince should know about the teacher, Rigoberto Ruelas, in Los Angeles who after years of being a beloved teacher was rated ineffective (and outed by Jason Felch of the Los Angeles Times) by some inane algorithm tied to his students test scores. How did Rigoberto deal with this? He committed suicide.

As far as the tests, no one has a problem with testing as long as it is done for assessment, but to make testing part and parcel of a student's whole reason for being in school and to judge teachers is just wrong. How can we determine in 3rd grade, or even Kindergarten (which the powers that be wish) are college or career ready? How can we judge whether or not a teacher is effective by testing? Teacher's have no control over what happens at home.

Vince, worse, and as I said to The King on Monday night, there is no crisis in education. It was creates by the billionaire boys club and the people you represent. All that matters to these people is they see that there is a buck to be made from education and from children.

That is all that seems to matter today in education. Dollars.

I was not planning on writing anything tonight. I was cruising through Facebook, catching up on the latest person's dinner, reading the 60th birthday wishes to Geddy Lee, and checking out Badass Teachers Association. I came across this disturbing post by the blogger, Chris Cerrone, over on @thechalkface.

I rarely post someone else's blog verbatim because I feel it is not right, I find it lazy, and I find it not
being original. But this to me is, well disturbing is not the word, fucked up is the word, of what the reformers are doing to education in New York State.

 We have Governor Andy to thank for this and him being DFER's bitch boy. I wonder Governor, does Joe Williams at DFER have the decency to give you a reach around?

I can go into why this is so FUBAR and the train wreck that is coming but I have a new book, "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow that I wish to read.


From Chris Cerrone; 

Holy Mesopotamia Batman: First Grade CCSS vocabulary.
I have been giving the New York State Education Department’s new Common Core curriculum modules a study over the last few weeks. I see these modules as an insulting scripted curriculum that favors test preparation skills over learning.  I teach middle school social studies so new reforms such as the Common Core have not had much of a direct impact on my classroom yet, but as a parent the Common Core and its related high-stakes testing machine has my full attention.

I came across this First Grade curriculum module on Early World Civilizations that I have found troubling.  I have my doubts about the historical content of this ELA module. I am putting together a piece I hope to finish soon on the random nature of the history topics contained in the NYSED modules so I will pass on analyzing if the social studies content is appropriate for six year olds for now.

So primary grade educators:  I need your help:
From Core Knowledge Language Arts- New York Edition “Early Civilizations- Tell it Again Read-Aloud Anthology
Follow Chris Cerrone on twitter: @stoptesting15

Rarely if ever do I talk about my personal life on these pages. Yes, I allude to certain inane and mundane things in my life, I mention my son and wife at times, and talk in generalities about having a family. Tonight I am going to get personal. How does this tie into the education debate? You shall see.

Yesterday my wife went to see her doctor. She had been battling a cold most of the week and was wheezing. The doctor explained that her blood oxygen level was quite low, she has asthmatic-bronchitis, and she must get to the ER immediately.

So we arrived at the ER and spent most of the day there. At around 5 PM she was given a CT scan of her chest and it was noticed that her lymph nodes in her lungs were showing. This was not originally considered to be a big deal especially since pneumonia was added to the list of what was ailing her. But anyway, she was admitted.

This morning when I spoke to her to informed me they have noticed a slight enlargement in her Spleen and wished to take a further CT scan. This time it showed lymph nodes on her stomach. When the radiologists report was finally sent to her attending physician the dreaded word, lymphoma was on the report.

Now already having lost my mother to ovarian cancer 29 years ago and my father to pancreatic cancer two years ago one can imagine what must be racing through my brain, let alone my wife's brain. I really don't need to go through this shit again.

But I have decided that if the worse case scenario occurs that my priorities are my wife, her health, my son, and his well being. I thought long and hard about it. In 1997 before God I took a vow to be there for my wife. In 2001 when my son was born I told him that daddy will always be there for him.

I am in a pickle. If God forbid the worst happens, wouldn't I need to take days off, leave early, come in late? Hmmm, let's see. Family or students, students or family? Hmmm. Whom shall come first in my life?

Even Bill Gates bottom bitch Little Evan Stone would say I am a no goodnick if I do not put my students first. That I will be a bad and incompetent teacher if I take many days and/or am late, even in such a circumstance as I describe.

Even in E4E's infamous white paper on teacher evaluations the brainless authors want to give
5% demerits for a lack of professionalism and/or poor attendance

The white paper also says;

Teachers are professionals: we work hard and we take our careers seriously. High standards for attendance

Yeah, I do take my career seriously. But I take my family much, much, much more seriously. Family comes first, then my God, then my morals and ethics, then friends, then my country, then my job. Sorry, that is just the way it is.

Some tool had an idea in the white paper;

If teachers are absent more than the allowed number of sick days, for example, they should lose points on the evaluation

I swear, this demerit idea won't work. Ralph Kramden once tried to have Alice on a demerit system and she told him to blow it out his fat ass.

Anyway, so seriously, what of someone in my situation? I hope, I PRAY, I am putting the cart way ahead of the horse, but I like to be prepared, know my options, know what I am dealing with.

One thing I always hear is that in the "real world" the private sector that you will be fired on the spot for poor attendance. That you just can;t take days off willy nilly.

I call bullocks! My cousin, may he rest in peace, had bile duct cancer. Not at anytime did he need to worry about his pay nor his health benefits. He worked for a law firm and not once did they ever reduce or dock his pay. In fact, he was kept on payroll the entire time of his illness. Even whene he was getting chemo treatments and could barely get out of bed for weeks. Even when he knew the end was coming.

So all I can say if the worse case happens is FU Uncle Mike, the DOE and all you Ed Deformers out there. My wife and my son will always come first.

I pray, I hope that things will be OK.

In the December 6, 2010 issue of Newsweek, the seemingly and suddenly expert on education Little Bill Gates wowed us with his convoluted expertise on education. Little Bill in an article written by “journalist” Jonathan Alter lamented that teacher tenure is a “quality killer.” Quality how so Little Bill? I think it is time that Little Bill, and others of his ilk get, pardon the pun, schooled on tenure.

Tenure is no way, no how, guarantees a job for life. Only justices on the Supreme Court are guaranteed such a service. What tenure does guarantee is that a teacher, is protected against the whims of a principal, and the promise of due processes. I would hazard to guess that as an upstanding American and a supporter of the United States Constitution, Little Bill would be at the forefront of protecting the rights of not only teachers, but also all hard working Americans.

Tenure was enacted to prevent a teacher from being terminated for being pregnant (in fact I knew of a principal who bemoaned a female colleague once with the comment, “why didn’t you use a condom?), to living out of wedlock with a partner, to belonging to the wrong organizations, or something just as mundane as that the principal does not like the teacher. In fact in The Sunday New York Daily News of December 5, 2010, a reader left a comment, “Tenure acts as protection against insecure administrators and financial crises but that is all.”

And please stop blaming the unions for protecting bad teachers. The onus is on the principal, and subordinates to effectively observe and leave a paper trail to remove an ineffective teacher. Where is the outcry against these administrators for failing to do their job?

Which brings us to what an effective teacher is. Certainly it can’t mean a “boring” teacher. In “Board of Education of the City of New York vs. Arrak, 28 Educ. Dept. Rep. 302 (1988) (page 24)” that being boring was not being incompetent, that the teacher showed a “minimal level of knowledge.” That is what the law states. That is what the law is. Learn it. Deal with it. Oh and please don’t give us the value added assessment ideal that has already been widely scorned and ridiculed by true educators.

The teacher that killed himself in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas, will all due thanks to the Los Angeles Times deeming him ineffective, always reached out to the toughest kids. He would tutor them on weekends and after school, visit their homes, encourage them to aim high and go to college. A former student of his said she used, “to struggle at math, but he taught her to succeed and not to give up,” and, "He told me it is not about where you are from but if you don't go to school you are nothing in this world," she said with tears in her eyes. "Now I am doing real good because of him." Did he not earn tenure? Was he not effective? I would have been proud to have this man, a man I had never met to be my child’s teacher. But, Little Bill, in your eyes he would be shown the door.

Little Bill, as you and your ilk lament the union protection and tenure, actually due process rights of “bad” teachers, why not do the same for the protection of criminals? Seems that all defense lawyers want to do is to protect criminals, keep them out of jail. Why not use the same argument? Why isn’t the Gates Foundation spearheading a drive to whine about how defense lawyers protect criminals as you do unions protecting “bad” teachers and tenure?

You see Little Bill just as criminals have rights, so to do teachers, civil service workers, anyone who works for a government entity. This pesky, annoying thing protects all. It is known as the 14^th Amendment, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. What’s that? Yes, Little Bill. It is Due Process. Just to remind you, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” To reiterate; that is what the law is. Learn it. Deal with it.

So Little Bill, it is time to stop attacking teachers. Because when you do, you wind up attacking true Americans who believe in our American way of life and the words, the meaning, of the greatest parchment know to man, the United States Constitution.

Leave us be.