Wow! It has been over a month since I last blogged. Been busy.


A lot has happened in that time. But what really stands out is the new (old?) ATR system.

Chaz has written several blog posts (here and here) on what is new again. In fact I had a nice conversation with him about who these lucky 400 ATR's will be that will be sent to a school and if they pass the talent portion (rated highly effective or effective) will permanently placed, without any say from the principal, in that school.

Chaz, and I agree, said that the 400 will be those ATR's that were excessed. ATR's who were naughty and did not play well with others will still be rotated, though no one knows how long the rotations will be.

The way the DOE is going about placing 400 out of, let's say for arguments sake, 1000 ATR's (give or take a hundred) really is not a fun nor clever way of choosing who gets a chance at the grand prize of being permanently placed. Myself and The Crack Team have come up with fairer, even better methods of choosing these lucky 400.

Rent out Ichan Stadium on Randall's Island (The irony!) and have Romanesque gladiator battles to the death amongst ATR's. When there are 400 left, these will be the ATR's that are placed. In case of a match that does not end in the death of an ATR Chancellor Fariña will be in her box Caesar like and gave give a thumbs up or down. Or just release the lions until there are 400 ATR's still standing.

During the last two months of August have all principals wine and dine ATR's, cavort with them in romantic and risque situations. Go bike riding, long walks along the East River, etc... You know just like in The Bachelor. On the last day of August have a show at Radio City in which all the ATR's will be on stage and principals will give the ATR's they have selected a rose. The rest of the ATR's can leave and cry and say bitchy things about the 400 ATR's that were chosen.

Infect, or alter the DNA, of 400 ATR's with Pon Farr. Instead of wanting to mate with Stonn, the ATR's will be wanting to be permanently placed. However, they must fight to the death 400 other ATR's selected by principals. Who's ever left alive will be permanently place. Chancellor Fariña will serve as T'Pau for each match. Oh, and there will be no "tri-ox compound" allowed to be administered.

Go up to The Apollo on 125th and have a real live amateur talent show. When The Sandman got rid of 600 ATR's the 400 left will be permanently placed.

Lord of the Flies meets ATRS. Put the 1000 ATR's on North Brother Island in the East River beginning August 1. When 400 are left the contest is over.

Or you can have a demolition derby like that desert scene in Smokey and the Bandit II.

Or the best idea we thought of. The DOE can be fair and place the ATR's based on merit, respect, and honor and get rid of the bogus fair student funding, let ATR's go on true interviews and let the principals do what's best for the students and the communities.

And our union could have our backs. For real this time. 

It's that simple.

Over the course of the course of the last week or so there has been a tiny, whiny background noise asking "what does MORE do?"

In reality it's an insignificant noise more akin to the buzz of a gnat flying around your head. You want nothing other than to swat at but you know that will give the gnat the attention it wants. Soon, the gnat will lose it's energy and drop to the ground where it will soon be back to serving it's purpose. Just being walked over, no one knowing it's there.

But we know MORE is there. We know what MORE does. Yes, MORE doesn't send a bunch of people to protest a principal on a side street somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens where there is no foot traffic or cars driving by. MORE doesn't send threatening or intimidating emails to principals. MORE doesn't habitually send text messages or emails obsessively to other UFT members. Or go to PEP meetings to kvetch, alone, about some injustice (I did this twice. It was a waste of my time. I might have just as well read The Great Gatsby).

I mean I guess this stuff can be considered being "active" but it doesn't accomplish anything. If you think about it nothing changes. Nothing has been accomplished. This stuff is all on the micro level. What about macro?

Last night on WNBC-4 news we saw what MORE does, how MORE operates, what MORE believes in. Three teachers, all MORE members, all teachers with true core beliefs appeared on the 6 PM news and shared what they did, what they are doing to affect change when it comes to testing.



Jia Lee, Lauren Cohen, and Kristen Taylor drew a line in the sand and dared Chancellor Fariña to cross it. Basically they told parents to opt their children out of the state tests.

According to the WNBC website;

“Parents should definitely opt out,” said Jia Lee, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at The Earth School in Manhattan. “Refuse. Boycott these tests because change will not happen with compliance.”

“I want to tell parents that I’m not going to get anything out of the test. Their kids aren’t getting anything out of the test,” said Lauren Cohen.

Kristen Taylor added that the tests are “fundamentally harming the education system”.

Think about this. Is this not what, and whom, we want as teachers and leaders? The energy that Jia has put into the Opt-Out movement shows how much of a leader she is. What she can bring to the teachers and communities of New York City.

There are no gimmicks or illusions such as some app that sends a form letter (and probably exists just to gather email addresses. I mean, seriously, how is that helping the cause? It's nothing other than just a bogart of the Opt Out movement. Micro.

Another gimmick is sending out an email to the Chancellor that one will not participate in proctoring or anything when it comes to the tests. Yeah, big whoops. It's all micro.

Just this past Sunday, Jia was featured in the New York Post as a teacher that has...

"...been sending emails to parents the past week encouraging them to boycott the state English and math Common Core exams being administered citywide starting Tuesday."

Oh, and while we are at it, a contingent of MORE members were out in Chicago on April 1 to support our CTU brethren in their one day strike. This is bridge building, not bridge burning.

Thin about it. From Chicago, to Long Island, to Upstate and Western New York Jia Lee and MORE are not only recognized as leaders, but game changers as well.

Watch the last few seconds of the report. Chris Glorioso says;

"They are members of the UFT and vying for leadership positions"

MORE builds. MORE looks long term. MORE leads. 

So here I am taking a break from watching the Lions game and go to check my DOE email account to see if I have my assignment for December 4 yet. There is no assignment, but something even more disgusting. An email from the NYCDOE's own most disgusting human being, Disgusting Carmen Farina. Let's have a looksee.

On this Thanksgiving, I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for the work that you do every day.   

Each of you plays a vital role in putting 1.1 million children on the path to a brighter future. You teach them about the world outside the classroom. You create healthy, safe, supportive, and beautiful school buildings. You bring parents, grandparents, and our communities into schools as partners in this crucial work. I am deeply grateful for all that you do and the difference that you make.   

I wish you a joyful and restful holiday full of reflection, giving thanks, and time spent with family, friends and loved ones.   

Warmly,   

Carmen

Speaking personally, I feel so warm, so thrilled, that Disgusting Fariña feels this way. So thrilled, that I want to reciprocate my feelings to Disgusting Fariña on this Thanksgiving holiday.

I want to thank Disgusting Fariña for doubling down on abusive administrators and completely looking the other way as said administrators rule their schools without any ethics or fear of repercussions in destroying the careers, through lies, illegalities, and fantasy of the their hard working teachers. A teacher leaves a seat up in the staff bathroom, a letter in the file to that teacher. A teacher asks a contradictory question of a principal, off to the Rubber Room and to a 3020-a hearing for that teacher.

But, a principal that lies, perjures themselves in sworn testimony, it's not a big deal, right Disgusting Fariñ? A principal creates false documents to give an unsatisfactory observations, hey no big deal.

But if you are a real big shot and you really, really screw up, what happens? You get moved up to sit on Disgusting Fariña's cabinet! WOW!  I've said to people over and over that if you are an admin in the NYCDOE you can be caught  over the dead body, blood splattered on you, with smoke still coming from the barrel and NOTHING will happen to you other than being moved up and making more money.

I am sure that the ATR's of NYC are giving thanks to you. The horror stories I am reading on FB and here and here are just negated by this Thanksgiving treatise by Disgusting Fariña. The ATR's now have a warm fuzzy now due to the thanks given to them by Disgusting Fariña.


Disgusting Fariña wants to exterminate veteran teachers from the rolls and minds of the NYCDOE. That is all she cares about. There are always enough blind newbie teachers to take our place and when those newbies have too many years, too much knowledge, then they too will be exterminated by Disgusting Fariña.

Disgusting Carmen Fariña is the worst, most disgusting human being in the world. She is nothing more than a Mafia Boss running a syndicate with the principals as her Caporegimes. All know they are untouchable and beyond reproach.

I will be thankful for what I have today and every day Disgusting Fariña. I surround myself with people unlike you who are ethical, loyal, and who live by a strong value and moral system. Not like you, who has no values, no convictions, no ethics, no nothing. You are devoid of a heart, of a soul, and of everything.

Just go away and take care of the dementia (Yeah, we have heard that!) and crawl off into with some golden pension from the city and live out your miserable little life in a old age home sitting around do nothing other than watching the Price is Right, wearing an adult diaper and drooling into a cup.

For those who have read my blog posts (here, here, here, and here) about my former AP at PS 154 in the Bronx, Rajendra Jimenez-Jailall there was one more thing I had wanted to add but couldn't find the proper way to segue into it. Until now.

It was either May or June of 2013, about several weeks into the reign of DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D of PS 154 in the Bronx when Mr J said something quite revealing to me.

DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D of PS 154 had decided that mass preps in the auditorium were no longer to be accompanied by a movie but rather the children were to sit there, sometime for several hours, reading books. Good idea, poor implementation.

So one day, at the end of the day, I am covering the mass prep along with The Bow Tie, Mr J. The entire 2nd grade was in the auditorium when a student came up to me with a question. Now this student had a lot of issues, had been a holdover, and was quite challenging. I knew how to handle him and I had gained this young man's respect. Anyway, he came up to me and I was standing next to Mr J. and asked me something or was kvetching about something. Anyway, I got him to go back to his seat and as he was walking back Mr J turned to me and said;

"We'll see him in jail in a few years."

I was incredulous. I wish I had said something then, I should have. But as we know if a teacher makes an accusation against an administrator there better be witnesses.

So last night I get an email from a former teacher at Bronx Bridges High School. She knows The Bow Tie all too well and shared her story. A story that she has sent to Chancellor Farina, only to be ignored time after time.

Here is her story of her brush with The Bow Tie, Mr J (We added and/or deleted/edited some and highlighted the good stuff!)



WHOA! Some takeways.

One, as far as The Crack Team is concerned, it appears as if The Bow Tie, Mr. J had engaged in criminal activity by falsifying public records, the teacher's observation. Read it again. He never did the 6th observation as he should and instead of being a man, decided to just copy the previous observation verbatim.

According to New York State Penal Law S 175.30 Offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree; 

A person is guilty of offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree when, knowing that a written instrument contains a false statement or false information, he offers or presents it to a public office or public servant with the knowledge or belief that it will be filed with, registered or recorded in or otherwise become a part of the records of such public office or public servant.

Offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.

Not good. Seems that there might be a possibility that Mr J and his bow tie might be looking at some time in Rikers. Maybe there he might meet some of his former students, you know, the ones he had so much faith in. But think about it. What a self-fullfilling prophecy if there ever was one. One wonders how many Newports Mr J would fetch for.

Leaving two boys locked inside your office so they can duke it out Raj? Come on. Even a TFA teacher knows not to do that. Was Mr J written up for that? Doubtful. As he said under oath at my 3020-a hearing, he is a good friend of Nellie Castillo. Ms Castillo looks the other way apparently. Hey Nellie, isn't this putting minors in harms way? A criminal offense?

Losing instructional material? Isn't this something to be written up for? Not if you are an AP and buddies with the principal.

So meanwhile The Bow Tie, Mr J had the audacity to sit in judgement of me and to criticize me and not assist me. When I complained I was looked at as if I am a liar or crazy. Looks like the Karma Fairy has snapped Mr J's bow tie.

But who is really to blame for this? DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D of PS 154 in the Bronx and former and currently exiled District 7 superintendent Yolanda Torres. They both had no problem conspiring attempting to separate me from my direct deposit and actually succeeding with several of my colleagues, but to pass the buck onto others at the expense of the students and teachers at Bronx Bridges HS is beyond the pale.

I am dying to find out about Mr J and what happened with him at PS 154 during his last year there in 2013-2014. Soon I will. We are awaiting discovery from the DOE and soon we will be deposing both DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D of PS 154 in the Bronx and Yolanda Torres. In fact, I think we should depose both Mr J and his bow tie as well.

This man is a waste of human life. He is self-serving and all for himself. He couldn't handle 1st graders, what the hell is he doing in a high school?

For those reading this at Bronx Bridges, keep on sending the stories.

I have this little OCD habit which I believe I have mentioned in the past. If I awaken in the middle of the night I reach for my phone and check the news. I did this morning at 5 AM and boy did I get a surprise.

No, not that Namita Dwarka, principal of William Cullen Bryant High School is in the news again, but that this time as reported by the New York Post, she apparently was covering up sexual malfeasance. Apparently her AP, Pelagia Papoutsis, was involved in sexual tryst with a female student.

As the Post reported that the DOE is;

"...investigating allegations that a female assistant principal slept with a girl student while the principal kept it quiet."

And...

"...the former math teacher and Bryant HS alumna was promoted to assistant principal last school year, and considered a powerful member of Principal Namita Dwarka’s inner circle. But she is now under a cloud for allegedly engaging in a romantic relationship with one of her former students."

Sickening.

Has Chaz the Blogger asked today;

"Here we go again....You just need just to look at the many issues associated with the Principal.  Here, Here, Here, and Here."

Who do we have to thank for this getting in the Post? None other that Bryant High School phys ed. teacher Peter Maliarakis (Check out his Facebook pages here and here.) who has blown the whistle ever since he was reassigned in June for alleging;

"....filthy conditions in the basement area adjacent to a bathroom that caused such a stench “students put shirts over their noses,”

For this he was hit up with 12 charges of incompetence and insubordination.

Two takeaways here.

One, Peter is a whistle blower for the noblest of reasons. This is not about him, his quest for revenge, it is about the students. Peter has a young child and one on the way. Putting his neck out there like this in his situation shows that he is not doing this to advance anything other than what is right for the students. What is right for the school. And what is right for the community. Doing what he has done and being in the situation he is in surely is not easy. I too have blown the whistle and like Peter my reasons were for the safety of the students.

The other takeaway is how does Dwarka keep her job (Seriously, we know how she keep her job, she is a administrator with the DOE)? Face it, she is a fuck up. If any teacher covered up sexual malfeasence he or she would be arrested immediately, suspended without pay, and have an expedited 3020-a hearing. If Dwarka even gets removed and Rubberized it will be at least 4 years before some resolution happens.

Same with her AP. In fact I was chatting with Peter on FB today and jokingly told him that Papoutsis will probably be promoted to a nice cushy position when this is all said and done. Same to with Dwarka.

But the worse part is this crap was happening when Bloomberg, Klein, and Walcott were in charge and where is the outrage that will follow this week when Farina and de Blasio are castigated by the press (Farina should be crucified by the press and then resign!).

Apparently the DOE seems not to care about the students and the community and only wishes to keep itself in power just like some two bit Central American military junta.

Individuals and the communities need to keep up the pressure, not just with the DOE but with he media as well.

And what of the false idols claiming their writing of  letters and emails to the principals and superintendents shall worry them and/or keep them on their toes?  The false idols are nothing more than just paper clowns (THIS IS OPINION! DEAL WITH IT!).

 All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars--Peart, Neil 1989

I have this habit of waking up at 5 AM and checking my phone for the latest emails and news. When I clicked on the NY Post app on my phone I saw and read a story about Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, the principal of the Teachers College Community School had killed herself back in April on the same day that someone at her school reported her she had cheated on the standardized tests.

The first thoughts on my mind, as well as condolences, go out to her family and friends. This was a needless, senseless death that never should have been. She is someone's wife, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend, principal, teacher, etc... No one has won here except Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Fariña.

As I lay in bed thinking of this, my thoughts went back five years to a teacher in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas, a teacher that suddenly found himself ineffective due to a Los Angeles Times reporter, Jason Felch becoming the story and not reporting on the story. Rigoberto after he was outed by Felch, committed suicide.

I know there are some out there who no matter what would see this death as some type of vindication towards their goals but I do not. This death if nothing should bring all educators in New York City and New York State closer together and fight as one against the marauders of education in Albany and at Tweed. For whatever Ms Worrell-Breeden has been accused of doing it did not happen in a vacuum and was completely avoidable.

The pressure from Albany as well as from Tweed to more or less tie everyone's job, their pay, their  own self worth to whether or not that person can be the next coming of someone's fantasy teacher that only exists in the movies is an impossible ladder to climb for almost anyone. God only knows what was going through Ms Worrell-Breeden. Not only to allegedly cheat, but worse, once confronted with this information, to jump in front of an oncoming B train and kill herself.

This sick, unrealistic method, test, test, test, punish, punish, terminate, embarrass, ostracize, method of educating children and evaluating teachers must end and end soon or we will have many more Jeanene Worrell-Breeden's.

Last Sunday night we were in Corning NY and had dinner with another couple. The wife, who I won't mention, is very prominent in BATs and the AFT. Both her and her husband on two of the most real people I have ever met in my life. In the many topics of discussion that evening we touched on what teachers need and what can or should be done for them.

There are false prophets seeking false profits preying off the backs of teachers that are down to their last act of strength in fighting back against the same forces that Jeanene Worrell-Breeden was fighting.

What support are they given? "Oh here, this is how you file this." Or, "This is what you do when this happens to you." Maybe they get a, "You need to do this." But this is the simple advice.

Now mind you I am all for fighting back and blowing the whistle. But the trick that I learned so long ago is not everyone when they need to fight back can or wants to.

Sometimes the best thing one can do is just to be there. Someone to be there for that teacher to have a shoulder to cry on, someone for that teacher to vent to, someone for that teacher to divert their mind from their troubles. I doubt Jeanene Worrell-Breeden had someone like this. Or someone who could tell her she could have fought back. But the trick between being supportive and being one who can lead someone to fight is a fine line and one must have the EQ to know what is the difference and which one to use.

Teachers and principals are sick if this. Yeah, I said principals. How about this? Educators are sick of this pressure. If we, not them, but WE, do not start supporting one another the best way we can for each and every educator and stop from projecting our ways of settling old scores onto them we will be just as guilty to their emotional and physical demise as the powers that be in both Albany and Tweed.

False hope needs to end immediately to teachers walking the precipice. The testing pressure, the culture needs to end.

The whistleblower did the right thing. For some reason Ms Worrell-Breeden thought she was doing the right thing. But neither of them are to blame for her death. The people to blame are the ones hiding behind the dollars and the sense of self-importance and self-righteousness they have.

I do not want to hear of anymore educator suicides. Enough is enough.

It will and can get better.

I guess the first bad taste I got in my mouth was early this year at a DTOE meeting I had
attended in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx right over the Yonkers line. I had been at the time, on the DTOE steering committee and was truly gung-ho about the future of DTOE and what it could accomplish.

But something that night did not feel right and I don't mean the dude who came dressed as Jean-Luc Picard and smelled like a Klingon.

With what I saw it was more like a revival meeting and seemed to be centered around a "leader" and only that "leader's" agenda. Forgive me if I am wrong, but should not an agenda for such a meeting go through a steering committee? Is not the job of such a committee is to steer?

Too much of the agenda was how to be reactive to the crap we as teachers go through. How to FOIL, how to write a grievance, how to record a principal, stuff like that. There was nothing about how to be proactive. Nothing to do with how to get through being targeted emotionally.

Now mind you I am all for fighting the fight and holding feet to the fire but that is just me. I can't force my beliefs on someone else nor, and much more importantly, not everyone is like me. Not everyone else can or wants to fight back like me. Some just want someone to talk to. Some just want a shoulder to cry on. Some just want support.

Something clicked that night for me. It reminded me of the family that lived across the street from me when I was a kid. They seemed perfect from the outside--like from central casting for a 1950's family TV show--but they were truly dysfunctional. The screaming fights we heard from outside truly made sense when we all found out dad was a raging alcoholic. And things started to make sense that night in the Bronx.

Back in April, DTOE had decided to align itself with New Action in several protests across the city. I was bothered by that. Why, should DTOE be aligned with New Action when NA is not only sleeping with the enemy but making Unity's breakfast as well?

"Oh, it doesn't hurt to work with others. Besides, NA might leave it's alliance with Unity."

Yeah, right. And Donald Trump will become president.

I questioned this publicly in DTOE FB page and elsewhere. Not just the alignment but more important was the subjugation of democracy. The DTOE steering committee was not notified. One person made the decision.

I then inquired as to the by-laws of DTOE. I was told;

"We don't need by-laws."

Really? I was perplexed. What was to be done?

The same thing the leader of any country that is ruled despotically and for the purpose of enriching a leader when factions from it's puppet legislature or cabinet speak up. Call for new elections.

Yes, new elections for the DTOE steering committee were immediately called for without any input from the current steering committee or any by-laws. Care to guess who called for these elections?

I got the hint. But fittingly no one else ran so in a way I think I might be still be on the steering committee.

Remember this? The teacher Carmen Fariña harangued at PS 123 in Harlem during a visit? The "leader" sent this email to the Principal of this school (Just to allay any concerns this was publicly displayed in one of the "leaders" many Facebook pages");

Good evening Principal Hernandez,

     I was reading the below article and couldn't help but wonder who the teacher you had concerns about was. Chancellor Fariña recommended you "observe them many, more times a day."

    I'm curious in not only their identity, but if they are probationary/non tenured or veteran? Even more important to me is what support have they been given in the last year, two years, three years etc.

     I will be making a Freedom of Information Law request today to obtain documentation on the support this teacher was given. Please expect communication from the Records Office soon.  I don't agree with the chancellor's "counseling" methods and intend to follow up on the number of observations this teacher has from now until the end of school in June.

Women, children, and those with weak constitutions please avert your eyes for a second while some choice words are used to express opinion of this email.

WHAT THE F**K?????

What right does the leader have to do this. Yes, we know, you have the right to FOIL anyone, anytime, but do you have the moral and ethical right to file a FOIL request on a teacher who you do not even know, who did not ask you, who does not know you?

How do we know if this teacher is nontenured, on probation and because of this FOIL (Which was also CC'd to Farina and Aimee Horowitz) led to this teacher's discontinuance? Or if this teacher is tenured led to the teacher facing a 3020-a hearing? Or even more harassment?

What right does the "leader" have to play God? Or has the "leader" started thinking of itself as a deity? 

That was it for me. But there is more that one can question the judgement of the "leader."

Why is a clown, borderline disbarred (In my opinion and almost all of Earth's) attorney like Joy Hochstadt given a voice in DTOE? What is her role now with Solidarity?

Why when after all your love-ins with New Action did they repay the love when an UFT Executive Committee voted down the rights of ATR to have their own chapter with only one New Action member voting on the proposal (A retiree) with 2 abstentions and the rest voting no?

Why does the "leader" label himself as a "Union Boss" when the "leader" as yet to achieve such a lofty position? One also can ask where are the photos of the "leader" with the words so big saying, "UNION BOSS" imprinted prominently?

Why at the ICE meeting last week in which the "leader" asked for a joint slate was the "leader" either unable or unwilling to answer this simple question from myself?

"If there were to be a joint slate would you be willing to step down as nominee for UFT president and let a joint committee decide and will let where the chips fall where they may?"

The leader as been unable or unwilling to answer the question.

Why did the "leader" take credit for creating the Facebook group ATR Alliance and why did the "leader" turn a FB group originally used for support into a political tool of the "leader's"? What accomplishments as the ATR Alliance endeavored to?

What truly happened at the lunch meeting with Randi Weingarten? Has she asked the "leader" to form another caucus to split the anti-Mulgrew vote?

As UFT President one should wonder what the "leader" will do to those who dare to those that dare to question or contradict the "leader" president.

And lastly, one can reasonably ask, whether or not the "leader" is in this for the "leader" or for THE CAUSE as the "leader" likes to say. If this is for THE CAUSE than the "leader" should remove the rose colored glasses and look around and do what is right for THE CAUSE.

Why all of the sudden come to ICE for a joint slate? Because Solidarity does not have the numbers to run nor to sign the petitions is what The Crack Team as ascertained. 

 What is one to make of comments such as this from this James Eterno posting?

 "When I'm up at the podium one day, don't worry, no hard feelings, I'll still call on you at the DA"

"You will see me up at podium one day and despite the fact that you've discarded our work together, know that you had a part in that success, whether you like it or not. MORE running a separate campaign would be a extremely irresponsible."

"Because I'm going to be leading something called the "United" Federation of Teachers."

Humility goes a long way. Try it. 

More ATR horror stories direct from the files of "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SH** UP!"

My advice in dealing with the UFT when you need help and not getting it. Simple. The greasy wheel gets oiled. Be the biggest pain in the ass you can be. Don't just call once. Just keep on calling. And if after a day this doesn't get you what you want go to the next level. Do the "pop-in." Go to your district office and insist on seeing someone and DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! Or if you have the time go to 52 Broadway and insist that you be taken care of and DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!

If you go to a restaurant and the service is crappy are you going to just say nothing? Will you accept nothing after you speak to the waiter and he/she is not responsive?

But you have to be your own best advocate. Don't rely on others to do the bidding for you. You need to grab the bull by the balls and make your presence known.

If anyone needs any help, advice, to vent, to have a shoulder to cry on, or whatever, email me. Many of you have since I wrote Part 1 on Thursday and still need to get back to more.

Hang in there!

These stories of ATR horrors come from the files of "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS SH** UP!"

Again, for those who do not know, click here to learn what an ATR(Absent Teacher Reserve) is. 

Reading these stories, what bothers me the most is not the nasty treatment from administrators or secretaries, that's to be expected, but rather the nasty treatment by fellow teachers and union members.

Here's the thing to all teachers who decide to dump on ATR's. It might happen to you one day so don't do stuff that will invite the Karma Fairy to see you.

This will be done in two parts. I have also fixed grammatical and spelling mistakes as opposed to what I had posted the other night. I wanted to keep it real but someone got their knickers in a bunch. Remember, these were received in quickly written emails. As far as upper and lower case letters being where they should and/or punctuation, who cares right now? ;P Any highlighting or italics or whatever has been added by The Crack Team.

If anyone needs any help, advice, to vent, to have a shoulder to cry on, or whatever, email me.