Kathy Perez has been an activist and a friend of MORE for some time. I have a great deal of respect for Kathy and glad that I can call her a friend.

Kathy took the lead herself several years ago in opting her children of testing. In fact, Kathy's daughter Elizabeth, who is now 15, has refused to test since 5th grade and in fact was the first student to opt out ever in the Baldwin, LI school district.

With that in mind, Elizabeth now 15 and a freshman at Calhoun HS in the Bellmore-Merrick school district, is still a leader in the opt out movement. She can see clearly through all the BS.

Elizabeth took the time to share her thoughts with The Crack Team on what opting out has meant, and still means, for her. We need to hear from more student leaders like Elizabeth and take comfort that we know that we who advocate for opting out are passing our beliefs and core principles down to a younger generation.

We here at SBSB wish to thank Elizabeth for sharing her words and are proud to share them here on these pages.

For the first few years that I opted out of the New York State tests, people looked at me funny, asked me why I wasn’t taking them, and I was pretty much the only one to be reading a book rather than filling in a scantron, being sure to not make any stray marks. But as the years went on, the number of kids not taking the tests increased, and we eventually were taken into the cafeteria while the tests were being taken. I almost looked forward to testing week, even though everyone else was stressed. I got to spend a few hours taking naps, reading, or doing homework rather than sitting in class. All throughout elementary school and middle school I opted out of the tests, turning in my refusal letters on the first day like it was routine, and never did my parents or I think it affected my grades or my chances of getting into college, as some people claim it does. 

Now, I’m an honor roll high school student, with a plan to go to college, become a psychiatrist and an advocate for human rights, and I’ve refused the New York State exams. So, I’m pretty sure that my opting out of the tests hasn’t taken a toll on my education. I never really understood why these tests were even administered in the first place, considering the fact that they hold no benefit to anyone who takes them, and all they do is somehow display a teacher’s effectiveness through a student’s test grade. I know that I’m more than an ID number or test score. I don’t need a rigged exam to tell me what I’m capable of, or how effective my teachers are and hopefully, when I’m older, I won’t have to write refusal letters for my children at all.

Great words from a future leader.

So how is my ATRing going? Not bad, but the bloom is a bit off the flower.

I have been on the same school in District 10 for the last week and a half. I know the school well from my District 10 days. My first paid teaching gig as a sub was there back in June of 1995. I sent thirty 5th graders to the closet at once to get their stuff at the end of the day. Whoops!

But it has been uneventful. My first day there, on December 14th, I covered a 3/4 bridge class. I was lucky. The teacher had not left any lesson plans but there were two great paras in the class with me and without them I would have been lost.

I had this same class on the 16th and in between covered a 4th grade class for the day. The 4th grade class was awesome as well. Again, no lesson plans, but 3 students stayed with me during my 1st period period prep to show me where there are. In fact the principal walked in when they students were working independently during Math and looked around and left.

I clustered Thursday and covered another 4th grade ICT class (Alone) Friday. Another awesome para and another great class.

So last week I was in the class where there actually is a vacancy. It's a Kindergarten ICT class with no general ed teacher. The first day was good. It was a field trip to the Swedish Cottage in Central Park to see a marionette show. By the time we got back it was lunch and then prep and the day basically over. Not so much Tuesday and Wednesday.

The teacher is very good but she just can't, or just won't, remember my name. I am referred to as the "other teacher." I try to help out as best I can, but I am basically on my own more or less. It is kind of an awkward situation, but I am putting my best foot forward.

On Wednesday the teacher had a meeting with one of the AP's to discuss her observation and left me to teach her lesson plan. Now mind you this is an ICT K class. The title of the lesson was;

"Understanding Information in Fiction and Nonfiction Story Elements--Non-Fiction Writing"

The teaching point (Which goes up on the board);

"Students will identify information found in the table of contents page by citing evidence"

Can someone please explain to me the purpose of a teaching point for 5 year olds?

I am in no way blaming the teacher for this, in fact she is an awesome teacher and I am sure this directive comes from above, but WTF?

And more WTF. Why in K are we teaching them not only informational reading (I know, I know) but on top of that, "table of contents," "glossary," and that bold words mean the information is important.


The name of the book is "Flamingos Our Feathered Friends". But I read the book to them remind them to pay attention to the questions on the page and the bold words so they know this book is telling them about flamingos.

Check out some of the bold words that are in the glossary;
Guess which two words I learned on that day. The same two words a five year old will not retain. By the way, did you know that flamingos are born grey?

This just seems too much for K students. Even tropical weather is too much especially when I have no idea if they have previous knowledge of it.

The independent work was for the students to go back to the tables, find an informational book and point out some features of informational texts to one another at their tables. It was differentiated that the middle group will identify topics, and the lowest group will identify the difference between non-fiction and fiction.

Again, this is not an indictment of the teacher, but rather the dunderheads that force fed us the Common Core crud. What happened to the days of KWL charts, then reading the book to the class, and just having fun. Any non-fiction book can be informational, no? I read the Billy Martin biography a few months ago, it was full of information.

K students arr sponges. They will soak up everything. We must stop making them grow up too fast.

Oh, one more thing. A student was very thoughtful and brought me, as well as his teacher and the para, a box of chocolate on Wednesday

You know who are the biggest losers in this opt-out movement? The so-called "(de)reformers" and their faux grassroots organizations like StudentsFirst, Education Reform Now, Success Academy, Educators4Excellence and Democrats for Education Reform (DFER).

The irrelevance and slow death spiral of DFER was seen by all last week when DFER New York director Nicole Brisbane was quoted in the Journal News as saying;

"Schools are one of the biggest differentiators of value in the suburbs. How valuable will a house be in Scarsdale when it isn't clear that Scarsdale schools are doing any better than the rest of Westchester or even the state? Opting out of tests only robs parents of that crucial data,"

It really is quite simple. Look at SAT scores. Number of students going on to 4 year colleges. Number of students going to Ivy League colleges. Visit the school. Ask neighbors. Graduation rates. Teacher turnover. Home values. Really, there are so many reasons. In fact Nicole fails to grasp what did Scarsdale do before there were high stakes exams?

But please, don't listen to Nicole. Nicole claims she was somewhat misquoted and only using Scarsdale as an example, that her real thoughts were in a blog post on DFER that she had written ;

"Part of the draw of the suburbs is the high performance of local schools. How will suburban communities maintain their draw if there isn’t a measure of how the schools are actually doing in comparison to those across the state?"

Nicole, see above. But we here at SBSB suggest to Nicole that if she is really concerned about how others can measure up to one another to take Chevy Chase's advice.

Nicole does decide to deride the parents of not only Scarsdale, but of all affluent communities as well when she says on the DFER blog;

"The same parents are opting-in for other standardized tests like the ACT (not mandatory), the SAT (also not mandatory) and the Specialized High School Admissions Test (also not mandatory but absolutely necessary if you want your kid to go to a “choice” high school in New York City). Affluent parents aren’t opting out of optional tests, so why opt out of the state exams? Maybe it’s because the results aren’t what they wanted to hear."

See Nicole does not understand something here (And of course we can go into the the multitude of flaws with testing but we shan't tonight). These tests are a choice one makes for their child. These tests are not forced upon parents by a bully governor, a clueless chancellor of the Regents, or a faceless bureaucrat. The parents have ownership of their child's education. Such as my son made a choice to continue his Jewish education after his bar mitzvah after telling me and my wife for years he will stop once he became a bar mitzvah. HE HAD OWNERSHIP!

However after the missed opportunity at a testing analogy Nicole decided that it would be best to charm the parents of Scarsdale and all affluent communities by sharing;

"That their kids, or their kid’s teacher or their beloved (Emphasis by The Crack Team) neighborhood school isn’t performing as well as they expected."

What Nicole fails to realize, as the Journal News as reported, is that the vast majority of affluent communities (For this post will use Westchester County), Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Irvington, Bronxville, Ardsley, had quite low opt out numbers. WAY TO WIN OVER PARENTS NICOLE! KUDOS!

If you are left wondering who is this expert in education that is gracing the pages of this award winning blog we will share what The Crack Team has learned.

Nicole Brisbane is a former teacher, now a lawyer, and shared with The Crack Team that she was a reading specialist for 5 years at Allapattah Middle School in Miami.

Oddly, according to this link she only taught two years at Allapattah before entering law school. Only two years? Well, if you read the headline of that link she was with Teach for America.

So how can we believe anything she says, even when she told The Crack Team she won Rookie Teacher of the Year at Allapattah and in fact raised the grade level of her students (Who were 4 grades behind at the time of her ascension at Allapattah 2.5 grades in the very short time she was there?

We can't believe her even though we requested several times for some kind of verification or conformation to her outstanding teaching and her award. Is her story truth or fiction?

But according to Nicole, the affluent, or shall we stray into reality, the "regular people",  or strating from the test because,

"The people who are opting out of tests are largely those who already feel like their child has access to a high-quality education, and are doing so in a way that directly harms poor and minority students throughout New York. We should be supporting students and teachers throughout New York, whether they are in Scarsdale or the Bronx, and making sure all students have a fair shot at a quality education. Rather than maintain the status quo where wealth determines a quality education, data can and should highlight where the gaps are so we can invest in schools that need it the most. High property values shouldn't determine the quality of education for the neighborhood--and the way we are going to change that is through access to data that will allow us to make investments where they are needed"

 And she shares some links here, and here. Big deal. Hey Nicole, let's see how the students from Success flame out when they hit college, much the way they flamed out on tests for the NYC specialized high schools.

Nicole this is why the opt out movement is picking up steam. We are fed up. We are fed up with Albany and Washington DC deciding what is best for our children and our school districts. We are fed up with millions going to testing companies like Pearson. We are fed up seeing our babies go through 8 hours of testing when a bar exam is only 3 hours. We are fed up seeing our children stress out. We are fed up with the narrowed curriculum. We are fed up with teaching to the tests. We are fed up with our narrowed curriculum. We are fed up with Common Core. We are fed up with a governor that pockets $4.8 million from DFER and others like it instead of fixing our poverty and having the state pay its fair share to ALL school districts.

Mostly we are fed up with people of your ilk. You and yours are the modern day carpetbaggers, just this time it is education that you and yours needs to control. You truly believe that since you taught for two years this gives you some kind of street cred when it comes to education and the welfare of our children. You feel that you must share "stories" on how you raised students 2.5 grades and were Rookie of the Year. Guess what? Joe Charboneau was AL Rookie of the Year in 1980. What did it mean in the long run? Nothing. At least Charboneau can prove he was ROY.

Put your skills to good use. Sell Amway.

Bear with me here as I put into context the audacity, the hubris, the obfuscation I witnessed today of hacks representing Students First.

As many of you know, I am incarcerated at 4360 Broadway which happens to be PS 48 in Manhattan. Coming in this morning there were a phalanx of talking head media congregated outside the school yard at 8 AM this morning. Curious as to what was happening, I asked a camera man from Time Warner Cable News (The new name for NY1) to fill me in. He told me that the the two trailers for Kindergarten students were full of mold and the parents of the community had had enough.

Parents and community members were being interviewed through the morning by all the big stations of NYC. There even were a smattering of print journalists. Some of the trucks and reporters stayed throughout the morning to go live on their respective noon broadcasts. But it didn't end there.

I guess when news hits like this the cockroaches come out of the woodwork and feel that this is an opportunity not to miss an opportunity to take advantage of those that are day in and day out being taken advantage of by the DOE. An opportunity to put themselves front and center and wrap themselves up in the guise of altruism when all they think about is how can they get over and further their cause.

As I was leaving today and walking south on Broadway past the school yard I saw several women outside the gate with clipboards and having parents sign a piece of paper. At first I thought that this was a drive to register voters (Which I see quite often in the neighborhood) or having parents signing petitions to rid the school of trailers. I was wrong.

As I walked by I looked down on the clipboard and saw in bold capital letters, "STUDENTS FIRSTNY." I did a double take. What a coincidence that Students First will descend upon a school on the very same day it makes news. And who comes with Students First to rouse the parents, the contract mercenaries of the "grassroots" group, Families For Excellent Schools. In fact one woman, I could have sworn I had seen here on the FES page before, but I just could not prove it. But when I asked if they were with FES, all I heard is, "What is Families for Excellent Schools?"

What were they having the parents sign? It seems these four women were telling the parents that SFNY wished to start an after school program for the students at PS 48 and if they can sign and provide contact information. Those that are interested will be asked to attend a meeting of at a ___location and time to be known later and all paperwork as to this supposed "after school program" will be shared at that time.

Excuse me, but this seems as this is the way cults recruit their prey. Like the Moonies. Ooops! Sorry Michelle, politically incorrect pun intended.

I engaged in conversation with one of the ladies to whom I shall refer to as Laverne. I asked Laverne how one can determine a good teacher. Laverne was quite forthcoming with me.

"A good teacher is someone that knows when a student is struggling in class and will give that extra help to her. A good teacher is someone that will call home when it is necessary."

Quite informative Laverne!

I shared with Laverne and her friend the history of Students First and where and from whom finances Students First. They were shocked. I also asked them what would they think of Michelle Rhee if they heard that she has physically abused children in the past. For two ladies that had no idea what FES is they sure knew who Michelle is. But I digress. Laverne's friend said that it is impossible that Michelle would abuse children. I said, wrong, that it happened, that Rhee duct taped 1st graders mouths and made them bleed. I even showed her my blog post of 4 years ago. The friend still said it can't be true. I said yes it can and it is and Rhee so much as admitted it (Which should be here but it looks as if the Washington Post deleted it) but I found it here.

But her friend at least seemed open minded. Laverne still was buying the company line.

Laverne shared with me that unions protect teachers that sexually abuse students. I asked Laverne to give me an example. She told of Bronx Aerospace High School on Gun Hill Rd in the Bronx. She told me of a teacher at Bronx Aerospace that sexually abused a student, was found guilty of a felony in criminal court and was allowed back to teach in that school. When I asked her the name of the teacher she had no idea and suggested that I look on Inside Schools to find out.

Of course, it never happened. I gave Laverne another chance to name another incident. She couldn't. Just as she couldn't respond when gushing how Common Core™© is important to get children college and career ready she was unable to explain why a 8 year old must be college and career ready.

But this is how MichelleRheeFirst operates. Obfuscation and subterfuge. Even had a prominent parent of the school bought into the ruse and was directing other parents to sign the paperwork for the after school program. When it was explained to this parent what was really happening she felt horrible. I can't blame her. This is what Students First does. It preys on those not fully informed.

But why was Students First so easy to mobilize? Where was the UFT? Yeah, this was breaking news, but isn't there a rapid response information squad that can quickly come to schools such as PS 48 when they are in the news and show support for the community. Wouldn't this at the very least pull back a layer of distrust that communities have for teachers unions? Wouldn't making an appearance, passing out flyers, etc... show the UFT in solidarity with the community. Without a UFT presence today there was a vacuum that was all too easily filled by interlopers.

But the lack of a UFT presence is nothing compared to the abhorrent, callous, opportunistic, parasitic leaching onto the parents of Students First. At a time when the parents needed support to rid the school of 20 year old trailers Students First could have came and advocated for and with the parents on what was important to them today. The removal of the trailers. Instead,  Students First decided to take advantage of parents, to scare parents, to lie, to deceive, and to act like a pal. Students First is nobody's pal. Their only pals are the monied interests of Wall St and Washington DC.

There must be a way to ensure that this will not happen again.

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!"

Sunday night I was part of a panel on the Total Education Network, hosted by the erstwhile Neil Haley. Neil is a former professional wrestler and teacher and has really extensive background in interviewing celebrities such as the cousin of the guy who cleaned Terry Bradshaw's underwear in 1976.

Anyway, so I appeared as part of the panel last night, well Sunday night, along with Jason the Public School Guy as we discussed Pre-Kindergarten and the fallacy of college and career readiness.

The entire exchange is being streamed to various radio stations, terrestrial and Internet, across 180 countries this week but can be heard here right now as you read this.

Again, thanks to Neil Haley for allowing me to participate.

The PS 154 community, the parents, and worse, the students are being bamboozled by a modern day snake oil saleswoman, the 2014 equivalent of the Music Man, DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal of PS 154 in the Bronx.

Where educators statewide, are decrying and fighting back against the Common Core, not only has DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal encouraged the full implementation of Common Core at PS 154 in the Bronx, but if the excuse that she is "only following orders" can be an excuse, she remains silent among thousands of New York State educators in its implementation.

We have seen a groundswell of support against the failed ideals of Commissioner John King and Governor Andy Cuomo from such a diverse group as a kindergarten teacher in Alfred, NY to the superintendent of schools in Harrison, NY, Louis N. Wool.

Where is DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal to lead against the unconstitutional takeover of education by the Federal government? Where is DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal to lead against the one size fits all curriculum of the Common Core? Where is DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal to rail against the corporatization of education in the United States of America? Where is DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal in the fight against the dumbing down of our students?

According to the Washington Post of Monday, January 27, 2014; 

 Over the weekend, the Board of Directors of the New York State United Teachers, a union with more than 600,000 members, passed a resolution  withdrawing support for the Common Core State Standards  “as implemented and interpreted” by the state Education Department and also declaring “no confidence” in the policies of State Education Commissioner John King. Why is support for the Core sinking rapidly?

DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal is nowhere to be found other than on the side of those that wish to destruct education.

DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal can and should look to Carol Burris as a shining example high up on the hill in the fight against the corporate takeover of education.

Who is Carol Burris one might ask?

Burris has written a series of posts about the many problems with test-driven reform in New York (here, and here and here and here and here, for example). She was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010,  tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It has been signed by thousands of New York principals teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here.  (in which DR Alison Coviello's; Ed.D and Principal name is strangely missing)

By Carol Burris

“Hit the delay button.”  That was the message New York’s senators sent to state Education Commissioner John King during last week’s hearing.  Education Committee Chairman John Flanagan made it clear that if King did not act, senators on his panel would.  Senator Maziarz observed that the only Common Core supporters remaining are “yourself (King) and the members of the Board of Regents.”  To make his position crystal clear, Senator Latimer emphatically smacked the table while calling for a delay, likening the rollout of the Common Core to “steaming across the Atlantic” when there are icebergs in the water.

The defiant King refused to acknowledge the icebergs, and remained insistent on full steam ahead. He let the senators know “you’re not the boss of me” by asserting that standards are controlled by the State Education Department and the Regents, not by the legislature.

Following the meeting, King told reporters that there was no need for a delay because “we have strong support for the Common Core from all the education stakeholder groups in the state.” Less than two days later, the largest stakeholder group of all, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), not only withdrew its support of the implementation of the Common Core, it publicly called for the dismissal of the commissioner. Whoops.

Why is support for the Common Core in New York so quickly sinking into the deep? Some contend that it is because teachers do not have enough materials to teach the Common Core. They argue that if teachers had more preparation and resources, all would be fine.  I disagree. Support is disappearing, not because schools don’t have the Common Core curriculum, but because for the first time they do.  After last year’s testing debacle, teachers are frantically attempting to implement the standards using the modules provided by the state. Kids and parents are reeling from the effects of teaching the Common Core standards, at the fast pace needed to get through them in time for the tests.

Nowhere is this more evident than in mathematics. Bianca Tanis, a special education teacher, showed a group of Westchester parents and educators how elementary math topics were now pushed down a full grade level because of the Common Core.  After watching her presentation, I checked for myself.  I compared the 2005 New York State Mathematics Learning Standards K-5, with the Common Core.  Ms. Tanis is right. Not only are many topics now taught in a lower grade, what students are required to do to achieve the standard is far is more difficult as well.

For example, the 2005 New York State Learning Standards asked fourth-grade students:

to find the area of a rectangle by counting the number of squares needed to cover it (NYS Learning standard  4.G.4)

Here is the third grade Common Core standard for the same topic:

Use tiling to show in a concrete case that the area of a rectangle with whole number side lengths a and b+c is the sum of a*c and b*c. Use area models to represent the distributive property  in mathematical reasoning. (NYS Common Core 3 MD 7.C)
Recognize area as additive. Find areas of rectilinear figures by decomposing them into non-overlapping rectangles and adding the areas of the non-overlapping parts, applying this technique to solve real world problems. ((NYS  Common Core 3MD 7. D)

My assistant principal’s third-grade son cried when he tried to do his homework based on this Common Core standard MD7.D.  You can view the problem he was asked to solve here. Dad had to do it for him.  This eight year old had just learned how to find the area of a rectangle. When there are 180 module lessons for 180 school days, there is no time for the practice of less complicated examples.

Here is another example. Previously, third graders were asked to measure to the nearest standard unit using a ruler or yardstick. Now second graders must “measure the length of an object twice using length units of different lengths for the two measurements; describe how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen”.  You can see other examples, cut and pasted from the original documents here.

Aside from the question of whether or not the above reflects the appropriate leveling of topics and practice, consider the practical effects of pushing nearly all math topics down a grade level. For intermediate-grade students, it means that they will have “knowledge gaps.”  Those gaps will occur during the year that the former learning standards are replaced by the Common Core. For most students, that is occurring this year. The effects will be lasting. Any student who was forced to “jump into the deep end,” as described by Chancellor Merryl Tisch, will feel the effects of that gap throughout their remaining school years.

The fact that no one in the State Education Department either realized or cared about the effects of whole scale, K-8 implementation of the Common Core Mathematics curriculum demonstrates either a disregard for the sequential nature of mathematics instruction, or a callous disregard for the mathematical competence of an entire generation of New York State students.  It is no wonder that both the New York State Alliance for Public Education (NYSAPE) and now NYSUT are calling for John King to leave.

There will be time to analyze what went wrong, and many will share the responsibility for mistakes.  But now is the time for us to undo as much of the damage as we can. For the sake of our students, we must lower the lifeboats into the water.

New York senators are right. Hit “delay” on the Common Core and the misguided policies that go along with it.  Examine the reform policies one by one and when needed, have both the honesty and courage to then hit, “delete.”

Why the silence from DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal of PS 154 in the Bronx? The community of PS 154 should know where DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal where she stands.

Goo, goo, g'joob, DR Alison Coviello; Ed.D and Principal, the community of PS 154 in the Bronx turns its eyes towards you for leadership.

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I was only 4 years old when he was assassinated and have no memory of him at all. But I do know one thing. He was a transformative figure for this country.

King is in the same echelon as Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, FDR, Jefferson, Madison. He dared to think outside the box and took on the establishment and did what was right even though it was unpopular to those is power.

So how is MLK Day celebrated? By Commissioner of Education John King being as blatantly incorrect about King's legacy and what he would have wanted as the Tea Baggers are as blatantly incorrect about the Founding Fathers and Ronald Reagan.

John King of Comedy today shared with all in today's Daily News how a just found recording of MLK giving a speech to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address is tied into today's efforts to transform public schools. I truly do not see the connection.

His comedieness blabbers; true equality of opportunity remains elusive — in no small part because we as a country have not yet found a way to provide all of our children with an education that prepares them for success in college and careers.


King of Comedy spews forth; As a teacher and principal, I was driven each day by the conviction that while we cannot ignore and indeed must address the challenges posed by economic hardship, inadequate access to healthcare, housing and the like, the single best tool we have to advance opportunity is education.

I participated in the picketing of statewide news organizations today, showing my moxie along with
my educational brethren at News12 headquarters in Yonkers.

A goodly amount of educators, parents, and most importantly---children---were out in the near Arctic conditions letting those employed by News12 how we feel about the lack of media attention to the plight of nearly 20 million New Yorkers.

In the course of the picketing, I met a precocious set of siblings. I forget their names but the brother is 10 years old and his little sister is 7. After speaking with them for a bit I wanted to put forth to them a hypothesis queried on  these pages discussed yesterday. "Is Little Evan Stone of Educators 4 Excellence dumber than a middle school student?" or in this case, "Is a 10 year old boy and his 7 year old sister standing outside in near Arctic conditions smarter than a Yale educated, 30 year old elitist named Little Evan Stone?"

We began the experiment showing the brother and sister team the video in which Little Evan Stone blabbered these words:

"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."

It is an understatement that brother and sister were aghast. The both questioned how a man, well he appears to be a man to them, who professes to put children first would want to be involved in something so damaging to children. It was at this point that the experiment went into its final stages. We needed proof that these two children were smarter than Little Evan Stone. Will our hypothesis pan out? Let's see.

There you have it, two more people are smarter than Little Evan Stone.

Wake up Little Evan, smell what the people of New York State demand. You're about to become even more irrelevant.

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.

A high level source within the NYC DOE has shared with The Crack Team at SBSB that Carmen Farina will be named as new chancellor of the Department of Education.

Another close source to The Crack Team has given Ms Farina a thumbs up and thinks naming her is a great choice.

Of course, the proof is in the pudding and we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves with either praise or condemnation. What we do like is that Ms. Farina has risen through the ranks from teacher to principal to superintendent to deputy chancellor. Just with that on her resume she has more cred than anyone in the upper echelon of the DOE.

Just as an aside, our source shared with The Crack Team that to get rid of the current evaluation system we might have to give up retroactive raises. But that is a story for another time.

One way to tell what kind of chancellor Ms Farina will be is to check what the Post, deformers, hedge fund managers, and Eva have to say in the aftermath of making it official. If their not happy, well.......

Anyway, The Crack Team has come up with some suggestions for Ms Farina to implement when she is in Tweed (Of course it goes without saying to 86 the new evaluation system and the Common Core, testing, closures, and charters bogarting resources). In no particular order;

1. Get rid of the lawyers. Too many lawyers sitting around in TPU (Teacher performance unit) and Labor Relations doing nothing other than thinking of a new way to stick it to the teachers. Not only that, but think of the money that can be pumped into the schools instead of lining the pockets of the lawyers.

2. Real Administrators. When I started teaching in 1995 the AP's and the Principals were seasoned educators with at least 15 years before one became an AP and/or principal and were experts in particular field of pedagogy. Now, you neither had to have ever taught or you start your administration courses the year you get into the system or you just write a check.

3. End gotcha. It's time. And this includes all the petty little charges in 3020a's.

4. Let teachers teach. This can go so many ways, but the person that knows the students best is the teachers, the front lines. Just like in the military, the grunts see and know so much more than credit is ever given. Let's bring the spontaneity back to teaching.

5. Put the deformers in their places. That means the Post, MichelleRhee First, Whitney, Eva, Klein, Murdoch, etc... Have a Sister Souljah moment with these people.

6. Tell Eva Moskowitz there's money to be made in North Dakota. With the prevalence of fracking in North Dakota, many families are moving to the state with "inadequate" public schools. Tell Eva she can make more money in Williston than Harlem. Give her bus money to encourage her to be on her way.

7. End the ATR system. Not with termination, but with real placement of the Lost Teachers of Israel.

8. Administrators should face the same discipline as teachers. This means that the days of a principal being arrested for cops finding a kilo of coke in the trunk of his car after he gets pulled over for DWI and a suspended license while wearing no pants and underwear while two prostitutes are in the back seat shooting smack should no longer warrant a promotion. Not saying the principal should be terminated, just not promoted.

9. Follow the contract. A contract is a two way agreement. Please, let's respect the contract.

10. Stand up to Cuomo. He has two uses for his finger. One, to pick his nose, the other to see which way the wind is blowing. Cuomo is a bully. He's trying to be the svelte Chris Christie. How do we deal with bullies? A rolled up newspaper to the schnoz.

11. Respect. Simple respect. That will go very far. It will rub off on the media, the public, and the politicians. Defend us against Campbell Brown. Against Michelle Rhee. If that happens just once, or maybe twice, you will not only earn respect and loyalty, but get that proverbial foot off our chests.

The Crack Team is sure that there are some things that were not mentioned. For that they apologize. But it's a start.

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.

In the 1980 hit comedy, "Caddyshack" (Which I have watch hundreds of times), caddy extraordinaire Danny Noonan attempts to curry favor with Judge Smails to win Bushwood's caddy scholarship. This coming on the heels of the untimely death of Carl Lipbaum, the original winner who suddenly died of a severe anxiety attack while at summer school.

While transversing the first fairway Danny, who was caddying for Judge Smails lamented that he will not be able to afford to go to law school after college but his family will be unable to afford it. Judge Smails in a bad mood due to the noise coming from Al Czervik's foursome, tells Danny that the "world needs ditch diggers too." After this comment Judge Smails niece, Lacy Underall from Manhattan, is mean and mocks him.

I bring this up for I am disturbed about a quote from His Commissionership, John King Ph.D, OEO, OC, Esq., KC, OB-GYN in a New York Times article, from this past Monday, about the forums he is hosting across the state;

“The reason that 45 states, the District of Columbia and Department of Defense schools have all come together around the Common Core is the clear need to ensure that all of our students graduate from high school ready for college and career success,” he said. 

I am confused. Danny Noonan seems to be not only college ready, but career ready as well. He works hard at the club, puts his money away, save for the odd Coke-Cola and cheeseburger, and knows he wants to be a lawyer with a practice in noise litigation. Yet with all his hard work, his father's job at the lumber yard, he might not be able to afford to go to college.

On the the other hand, Judge Smails ne'er do well nephew Spalding, is lazy, stupid, eats his own boogers, can't make up his mind what he wants for lunch, drinks alcohol with cigarettes in the glass, and mistakes a Baby Ruth bar for doody, apparently will be able to go to college, probably any college he wants to. What is wrong with this picture?

Because even though this film took place in 1980 and is fictional, it still emanates today.

College is becoming more and more unaffordable by the day. An Ivy League school could cost up to $60K a year. Private colleges almost as much. Public schools, while far cheaper, are getting more and more expensive, compared to when I went.

So if we get all our children "college ready," what then happens when they or their families can't afford college and/or go into massive debt to afford it? Or does His Commissionership, John King Ph.D, OEO, OC, Esq., KC, OB-GYN and his ilk mean to send all our students, other than the top tier (be that academically or their social strata) to community college?

Career ready? What does that mean? When my son was 5 he wanted to be an ice cream man when he grew up. Now at 12 he wants to play Major League Baseball. Does he need school (I am being sarcastic)?

But what about the lack of jobs that we see here in the United States today? Their either extremely low paying or extremely high paying, no in between. Is His Commissionership, John King Ph.D, OEO, OC, Esq., KC, OB-GYN and his ilk training our children to be greeters at Wal-Mart?

A very bright educator and I were having a conversation about the Common Core last week. She told me that we need the Common Core so we can compete with India. She bought into the propaganda.

In India 68.7% live on less than $2 a day. So I guess to compete against India, we need 70% in the United States to make less than that?

India has 1.2 billion people, 74% literacy rate. Just because so many call centers are opening up in India doesn't mean they are kicking our butts.

Must we compete against China and it's 1.3 billion people? Most of the people there are making less than $10 a day. My wife has been to China many times for business. The factories there house, feed, and employ the workers who make those $600 handbags for $2.99.

The jobs are going overseas because it is cheaper and their is less, much less government oversight. What must change in this country is the greed from the top. Just look at what is happening to Boeing in Washington State.

I'm going to sum up how much of a farce this career and college readiness mantra is.

Growing up I had a friend that was at the top of our high school graduating class and went to the University of Chicago. Me, I was way at the bottom of class and went to WCC out of high school. He was very, very book smart. Once when he was trying to show off how smart he believed he was I told him something.

"Hank, let's try an experiment. Let's have someone drop us off in the middle of the woods separately, no supplies, no nothing. Within 24 hours you will be dead and I will be lounging about in front of a TV."

That can't be  taught in school. That transforms so much through life. That I learned at a YMCA sleep away camp in Connecticut, not in school.