I have said it time and time again. If a principal were caught in the act murdering someone, and smoke still coming out of the barrel, with a sizeable blood splatter, nothing would happen to that principal. Well nothing negative at least. 

That principal would be "promoted" to a nice cushy office job at Tweed, be given a raise, and other perks. There wouldn't even be 3020a charges. It would be swept under the rug, never to be spoken of again.

Yet if a teacher were to fart the wrong way, that teacher would be summarily sent to the Rubber Room and brought up on 3020a charges. Then have more inane charges added and face the whims of an "impartial" arbitrator of whether or not they would keep their job. What gives? 

In today's Post it was reported that...

Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir, who was removed as principal of Maspeth High School last July, won’t return to any city school as a principal, according to a settlement of misconduct charges. But he can stay on the Department of Education payroll for another seven years.

Under Abdul-Mutakabbir, Maspeth HS created fake classes, awarded credits to failing students, and fixed grades to push kids out the door, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools found..

In fact, read the SCI report here. It's really more perverse. But it is easy to ruminate over how yet another NYCDOE principal escaped the clutches of accountability or how there are two sets of rules; one for teachers and one for administrators. That's not my beef for today.

My beef today is the silence coming from Mike Mulgrew. The man who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. 

I have written this blog since August 29, 2008. I have written about teachers being charged and/or losing their jobs nearly fourteen years. There are teachers who have been accused of doing one tenth of what the principal of Maspeth HS has done only to find themselves at the risk of losing their jobs. 

Where is the outrage from Mulgrew how the members he represents are the sacrificial lambs of the DOE? Where are Mulgrew's words denouncing how Principal Abdul-Mutakabbir's grifting and possibly criminal behavior? Where is the defense of teachers as Abdul-Mutakabbir  gets rewarded while teachers all over the city have suffered for years with such inane 3020a charges? Never once does Mulgrew come out and say, "THIS IS ENOUGH!!!" NOT ONCE! Nor will Mulgrew ever. Mulgrew does not get our plight. Our hurt. Our suffering.

Look through these pages. How many corrupt and incompetent administrators have graced these pages? One of my favorites, Greg Papadopoulos former AP at the former IS 162 in the Bronx. Greg stole time. He did programming at home and his pal, Principal Marilyn Manzolillo signed off on his time sheets and he was rewarded with comp time. Former District 7 superintendent Yolanda Torres gave him a letter to file. And remember this. Yolanda for her incompetence of running District 7 was rewarded with a cushy Tweed gig.

Burt back to Mulgrew. This is his problem. His tone deafness. His lack of connection to the rank and file. It's as if Mulgrew is in this so called gilded tower of his on 52 Broadway or somewhere in Staten Island as he looks down upon us and literally sees what he can get away with not doing. 

How difficult for Mulgrew--at the very least--to come out with a press release denouncing the how teachers are unjustly facing discipline versus administrators. Better would be to get in front of the cameras and show some emotion!

I think the real reason why Mulgrew keeps his mouth shut is even more deviant. Years ago, I think it was 2007, Leroy Barr stopped by when I was in the Rubber Room. I asked him point blank why the UFT is silent as administrators continue to harass teachers. His answer?

"They are fellow union members. We can't go after them." I wonder if CSA Mark Cannizzaro ever reciprocated with his members?

Yeah, I want to go back. I want my routine back. I really do miss going in to school in the morning. I miss my per session. I miss working with the students. I miss my per session. I am perverse. I like getting out of bed at 5:15 in the morning and leaving early to get a parking spot. I kinda miss working for some of the brain dead principals this past year. There's a lot getting used to being at home.

But guess what Mayor DeBlasio, don't lump me in that dumb ass statement you made in the Daily News....

I have not “met a teacher yet who doesn’t want to go back, because they’re devoted to the kids and they know the kids just can’t get as good an education remotely.”

Bullshit. Bullocks. 

I believe DeBlasio that the teachers he met said the above to him. I truly do. What Deblasio fails to share with the grownups out there is that that statement came with a qualifier.

But. However. Nevertheless. Notwithstanding. Nonetheless. Though. Withal. Be that as it may. 

I can go on and on but I shan't. 

Since our mayor is completely becoming brain dead let's use one of those adverbs so how douchey mayor but learn. In fact, this can be an example of remote learning.

Let's see. Johnny, I would like to use "however" for $200.

Billy Boy, watch and learn.

You said: "blah, blah, blah" (refer to above highlighted quote).

I say: However, I am afraid to go back. I have type 2 diabetes and 56 years old. Though I would like to go back, I will not risk my life for the NYCDOE. I will risk my life for my family, and maybe if I am motivated enough or in a good mood, God and country. THOUGH I think I would risk my life sooner for either Chrissie Hynde and/or Sarah Silverman before God and country.

I do not trust the NYC DOE with my, as well as my colleagues, health and safety nor the health and safety of the students. You and Carranza fucked up. There should have been a plan in place no later than the beginning of June. One plan for reopening and one plan for remote. The summer should have been used on best practices for remote learning. Actual teachers should have been consulted. For instance, Arthur Goldstein, who wrote  a spot on piece in the Post yesterday and in fact came up with a gosh  diddly darn great idea...

Let a limited number of students in to see counselors, nurses, doctors and social workers. Let them socialize safely, which they could not do in class. If technology or home conditions are difficult, let’s give students and teachers safe, quiet space in buildings to work online.

Sounds reasonable. Why wasn't this planned for? You know the old saying, "Plan for the worst, hope for the best."

Arthur is also right. Every teachers should put in for an accommodation. Start smoking I say. Newport's are only $8 in Pennsylvania. I am sure the generics are cheaper.

How do we know the HVAC systems will be fine? How do we know masks will be available? Testing? If one person in a school comes down with COVID, does the school shut down?  Why not just IMPROVE the remote learning over the summer?

The districts in Westchester still haven't got a clue and these are much smaller district? What makes DeBlasio and Carranza think they can pull it off???

I want my son to go back to college. BUT or WITHAL, I am concerned with spending that money and he is forced home in November when he can start and stay the semester at Westchester Community College. NEVERTHELESS, I trust my son's college to be prepared and to do the right thing any day then I do over DeBlasio and Carranza.

Every teacher reading this, your life is not worth your job. I lost a dear, dear friend in 2011 because of the mayhem at IS 162 in the Bronx.

BE THAT AS IT MAY,  I am counting on, and giving the benefit of the doubt thus far,  the UFT to do the stand up thing.

I can't believe I have yet to write about this or mention this on these pages.

About a two months ago Yolanda Torres was "moved up" and is no longer the superintendent for District 7 in the Bronx. No one on The Crack Team saw it coming. We are shocked and amazed and know that a black cloud has been lifted off the families and teachers of District 7.

According the press release from the DOE, Yolanda will know be the...

Executive Superintendent of the Division of Family and Community Engagement (FACE)

Yes, an old face to take over FACE. Yolanda is taking over for Jessie Mojica, who according to the Daily News will assume a managerial role in FACE.

I met Jessie make in 2009 when he was working as the education liason for the Bronx Borough president's office when we were having he troubles with Principal Linda Amil-Irizarry and AP Derrick Townsend. Jessie showed a real interest in what was happening at the school and truly cared about the communities in the Bronx that he was serving. When I heard that Jessie had gotten a job at Tweed a few years back I saw it as a win for the good guys.

I ran into Jessie a few time since. Once at a technology meeting for Bronx tech liaisons a few years ago and at Chambers St during my hearings. Jessie deserves better than this.

So back to Yolanda.

This chart shows the Peter Principle in action. How one actually does rise to the level of their incompetence (Click to enlarge).

How does someone has vastly incompetent as Yolanda Torres rise to the upper echelon of the NYCDOE? Let's look at some of Yolanda's record.

In May, the Daily News reported that District 7, Yolanda's district, is the worst in the city.

Yolanda is responsible for a vast conspiracy to separate me from my direct deposit forcing me to sue her and others in what might just cost NYC thousands of dollars. 

Horrible test scores year after year in District 7.

Yolanda covered up malfeasance at IS 162 in the Bronx. 

Allowed a school to go down the toilet. 

Covered up the ineptitude of pal, Linda Amil-Irizarry when Irizarry was principal at PS 154. Here, here, here, here, and here.

Allowed Greg Papadopoulos to get nothing but a slap on the hand for stealing time. 

My friend Stu Schmelz is dead and I know who is culpable in this. 

Yolanda has allowed a reign of terror brought upon PS 154 by her minion DR Alison Coviello; Principal and Ed.D of PS 154 in the Bronx. 

How long would Yolanda last if she were the superintendent of schools in Harrison, NY? About a week.

Sadly, a manger at McDonald's is more accountable than Yolanda Torres at whatever it is she does.

Lots of news this week with that principal with the blue eye shadow out at PS 106 in Far Rockaway, Marcella Sills.

Yes, we can harp on the other stuff, but being the individuals that we are here at SBSB and not always wanting to go with the flow, The Crack Team was able to find a modicum of positivity in all the mess that was created at PS 106.

For all the misdeeds of Marcella Sills she shows up to work. Late yes, but she does show up.

Unlike Greg Papadopoulos, Assistant Principal at IS 162 in the Bronx. Greg never showed up for work, was given hours upon hours of comp time for unsupervised work from home, and was able to to build up miles on American Airlines, or whatever airlines of his choice, jet setting to Europe.

But let's jar those memories. From July 22, 2013; 

This happened over the course of several years in District 7 in the Bronx. The school is IS 162.
Yolanda Torres is the superintendent, the principal is Marilyn Manzolillo and the AP is Greg Papadopoulos.

But everything is true. Everything happened. Everything was covered up.

Greg Papadopoulos put in "long hours" at home doing the scheduling. I mean really really long hours.

There were no time cards to be punched nor signed. Marilyn Manzolillo principal of IS 162 did not have enough money to pay per session so the pay was in comp time.

There was shit loads of comp time involved. Remember, all unverified. No time cards.

The assistant principal took vacations with this comp time. All during instructional time, for weeks at a time.

Countries and cities of Europe were visited all while the students of IS 162 were busy as Papadopoulos was off gallivanting around.

Meanwhile the school is going into the crapper.

Somehow the Special Commissioner of Investigations office got wind of this. Praise be to God! We all know how SCI can be when going after those who misrepresent time taken off and defrauding the DOE claiming they worked while in reality they did not.

Just ask Matthew Kaye aka Matt Striker or Lynn Stewart's daughter. We know how seriously SCI takes this stuff.

This is where that Yolanda Torres comes in.

SCI, the bastion of all keeping all that is correct in the NYC DOE drops the ball!!!!!!

There was proof up the ying yang!!

They kick it back to Yolanda Torres for the discipline phase.

Marilyn Manzolillo is buds with the superintendent. She must be, why else would we not hear of this, but we heard of Liza Cruz Diaz at PS 31 in District 7. Ms Diaz stole money. Stealing time is the same as stealing money.

Papadopoulos gets just a letter in the file!

Imagine if a teacher had done this??? OH baby!

Of course Papadopoulos could not have done this without being enabled by Manzolillo.

I might not be a lawyer, but dang, if this doesn't seem like fraud, larceny, conspiracy, and a few other felonies, then I mock my SUNY education.

Why hasn't Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson been notified of this?

But he is a dolt. How about US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara?

It has been said, and by very reliable sources, that  Papadopoulos had much more than a professional relationship with Manzolillo. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Know what I mean? Know what I mean?

So this happens and teachers all across the city, and the country are getting crapped on.

Why? Where is the logic behind this.

It is not us running the schools. We just work there.

Maybe it is time to go after the schmucks in charge?  

These 3 crap all over Stu Schmelz, yet they continue to game the system.
 
Yeah, this shit can't be made up!!!

Where is the outrage? Where is the media? SCI has copies of his travelogues!!! 

On Friday after the horror that I had gone through I received a DM from ace reporter Ben Chapman of the Daily News inviting me to comment on a article that was to appear in yesterday's Daily News concerning the Rubber Rooms.

I had to think about it. My spidey sense was telling me that something is up. I mean what happens
with the same regularity of the cherry blossoms blooming, the swallows returning to Capistrano, or the Jets not making the Super Bowl? Teacher bashing stories at the beginning of each and every school year in the Daily News and the Post.

And sure enough in today's Post there was an article slamming teacher's who dared to take advantage of the 14th Amendment. For shame.

But Ben, here is what bugs me and others. One, with your story on Saturday and today's story in the Post, there is no way this is a coincidence. It's a plant by the DOE, in particular Uncle Mike.

Come on, when we all know that Uncle Mike walks in the same social circles as Mortimer and Rupert what is one to think? Yes, we know that is standard operating procedure. Of course one will leak stories to those that they know will cooperate and share the same warped views (not you Ben, but the others). Yes, you and other reporters have editors to answer to and teacher bashing is sexy and sells papers, but can you understand from our point of view how it seems so unbalanced?

I'll give you credit, you do seem to balance it out more and do show administrators that are doing bad, very bad things. You and yours at the News, IMHO, do come across less sensationalistic than the Post and for that thank you. But there are, IMHO, things that have slipped through you and other's fingers at the News.

I mean one of the things we talked about is the spoon fed news I gave you about the shenanigans at IS 162 in the Bronx. It's there for you. The who, what, where. The SCI investigation, the hand slap, and the people involved. Want to speak to others to confirm it? I'll give you names. You need to put a little elbow grease into putting all together.

You did bring up a good point. Why did only 7% of students in District 7 score proficient in the state ELA exams.

There are many reasons. Common Core. The fact some schools, including my own PS 154 still believe that Reader's and Writer's Workshop will save the day even though neither are aligned to the common core.

Of course there is the superintendent of District 7, Yolanda Torres. How long has she been in power and how long has District 7 been going downhill? McDonald's would not stand for one of it's managers having her record, why should the District 7 community?

Why not look into the lousy curriculum that teachers are given. The overcrowded classrooms? The lack of support from above. The pathological lying from administrators? The lack of books and supplies? The skewing of numbers from Tweed? Why not sit down with the teachers in the Rubber Room and listen and learn from them? Why not hold Tweed accountable?

I hope things change on January 1. De Blasio doesn't seem like the type to have weekly schpritz with Mortimer and Rupert.

On June 10, 2013, I wrote a post, "Where is the Bronx District Attorney When You Need Him?" I left a lot of details out, names, the school, the district, etc... Today, I am rewriting/rerunning that post but not holding anything back. Names, school, everything.

These three miscreants get away with such behavior while Christine Rubino, Francesco Portelos, myself and 8 other colleagues and the rest of the teachers in NYC are crapped on. Accountability from Tweed is bullshit. It means nothing. It is just watching out for yourself, your cronies, and those that live in the rectums of administrators.

Remember, this shit can't be made up! 

This happened over the course of several years in District 7 in the Bronx. The school is IS 162.
Yolanda Torres is the superintendent, the principal is Marilyn Manzolillo and the AP is Greg Papadopoulos.

But everything is true. Everything happened. Everything was covered up.

Greg Papadopoulos put in "long hours" at home doing the scheduling. I mean really really long hours.

There were no time cards to be punched nor signed. Marilyn Manzolillo principal of IS 162 did not have enough money to pay per session so the pay was in comp time.

There was shit loads of comp time involved. Remember, all unverified. No time cards.

The assistant administrator took vacations with this comp time. All during instructional time, for weeks at a time.

Countries and cities of Europe were visited all while the students of IS 162 were busy as Papadopoulos was off gallivanting around.

Meanwhile the school is going into the crapper.

Somehow the Commissioner of Special Investigations office got wind of this. Praise be to God! We all know how CSI can be when going after those who misrepresent time taken off and defrauding the DOE claiming they worked while in reality they did not.

Just ask Matthew Kaye aka Matt Striker or Lynn Stewart's daughter. We know how seriously SCI takes this stuff.

This is where that Yolanda Torres comes in.

SCI, the bastion of all keeping all that is correct in the NYC DOE drops the ball!!!!!!

There was proof up the ying yang!!

They kick it back to Yolanda Torres for the discipline phase.

The Marilyn Manzolillo is buds with the superintendent. She must be, why else would we not hear of this, but we heard of Liza Cruz Diaz at PS 31 in District 7. Ms Diaz stole money. Stealing time is the same as stealing money.

Papadopoulos gets just a letter in the file!

Imagine if a teacher had done this??? OH baby!

Of course Papadopoulos could not have done this without being enabled by Manzolillo.

I might not be a lawyer, but dang, if this doesn't seem like fraud, larceny, conspiracy, and a few other felonies, then I mock my SUNY education.

Why hasn't Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson been notified of this?

But he is a dolt. How about US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara?

It has been said, and by very reliable sources, that  Papadopoulos had much more than a professional relationship with Manzolillo. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Know what I mean? Know what I mean?

So this happens and teachers all across the city, and the country are getting crapped on.

Why? Where is the logic behind this.

It is not us running the schools. We just work there.

Maybe it is time to go after the schmucks in charge?  

These 3 crap all over Stu Schmelz, yet they continue to game the system.
 
Yeah, this shit can't be made up!!!
  
 Update 7/22/13 @ 6:12 PM: The Crack Team as learned that Marilyn Manzolillo is no longer the principal of IS 162. The new IA principal is Angel Fani.

The crack team here at SBSB has learned from sources at IS 162 that E4E überlegen Lehrer Evan Piekara is not tenured teacher. We here at SBSB hope and pray that Evan Piekara will attain the status of a tenured teacher.

Does Evan Piekara deserve tenure, or at least be able to achieve it through accepted through proper E4E decried methods? Evan Piekara's leader, Little Evan Stone on Fox Business Channel back in September claimed that tenure, "Encourages complacency." E4E wants to make tenure more hard to get and wishes to extend the amount of years teaching to be eligible for tenure. Surely, a complacent Evan Piekara is not good for his students.

So, if the E4E leader, the grand poobah seems to abhor tenure,then what is Evan Piekara to do at the end of this year? Could Evan Piekara have turn tenure down? If Evan Piekara was a true man of values, surely he would. We here at SBSB call upon Evan Piekara to renounce is tenure now! Do not accept it! But the this might be all for moot.

On Evan Piekara's white guilt blog, "The Unbearable Lightness of Teaching," he shares with us the reasons why he chose to be a teacher. We must warn you to grab a box of Kleenex, for this brought many a tear to the hardened, yet soft hearted crack team.

"Halfway through my senior year I began writing my independent study in economics. The subject of my study was the paradox of the American Dream: how wealth and income inequality in the United States create a barrier to upward social and economic mobility. A significant component of my research and study was devoted to the education system."

"As someone who was educated in a respectable public school, and who also attended a boarding school for high school, it was eye-opening to see the enormous discrepancies in our nation’s education system."

"How often can a recent college grad tell an employer that they are responsible day in and day out for the progress of a large group? How many jobs offer a young college graduate the opportunity to speak and lead daily? How many jobs offer you the opportunity to mold minds and be accountable for the destiny of others?"

OK, I have to stop copying and pasting. Click the link, read the rest. My eyes are welling up with liberal tears. Which even makes me more emotional when I read the horror about Evan Piekara that I am about to share.

It appears that Evan Piekara is leaving behind his dreams, his aspirations, his goals, of being the great white liberal for the little boys and girls of color and applying for business school. Where shall he go? Wharton? Tuck? Stanford? Ross? Monroe College in New Rochelle?

Please Evan Piekara, please say it ain't so. Was this all this just a ruse? All this liberal know how, all this wearing upon your sleeve what a great teacher you are and how much you cared, was it all meant to pad your resume to get into an elite business school?

Please, Evan Piekara, please don't go.

It didn't hit me until this morning. I was thinking about last night's blog posting. I was quite proud of the crack team at SBSB in how they came through with the information. But no one, not them, not me, picked up on it.

Not only, and this is not what I had noticed, that the combined total of years, discounting Val Lorie Wilson (and there is a reason), is a grand total of 2.5 years teaching for these teachers. But that is not what I noticed.

Again, except for Val Lorie Wilson, not one person on the "team? that put together E4E's manifesto is a person of color. I consulted with the crack team and found it quite peculiar. This is curious as do to the fact there is quite a diversity of teachers here in NYC. However, we do applaud E4E to have a token no Ivy League, non-TFA person, non-Elite on its manifesto team.

But let's look again behind the curtain. We spoke with our sources at IS 162 in the Bronx where Val Lorie Wilson teaches, as well as compatriot manifesto writer, Evan Piekara teach. While Ms Wilson is described as a dedicated teacher, a great teacher, and a truly caring teacher, she has been labeled as a bit of a flake, and a follower.

For some time Ms Wilson had taught in a CTT class. Suddenly this year she decided that she wanted to teacher a special ed. 12:1 class. No, and we haven't received word yet, we do not know if Ms Wilson exercised her official rights of seniority on the year end preference sheets.

Ms Wilson was just quoted on the official E4E website this past Monday, February 14 as saying;

"The last thing I want to see is teachers losing their jobs, but worse than that is the idea that some of our best teachers will be let go if this policy isn't changed," said Val Lorie Wilson, a middle school teacher with 10 years of experience in the classroom who likely would not be at risk for layoff under the current policy. "There was a time when seniority rules were the only available method for doing layoffs, but now we have better ways to make these decisions so that we keep great teachers of all experience levels in the classroom."

This is brought up because one needs to know now if Ms Wilson received her assignment based on her seniority rights in her school. If this is so, it shows that Ms Wilson is not only easily manipulated into joining a club, but that she is a hypocrite as well.

Which brings us to Evan Piekara (Evan is a common name at E4E?). Again, heard great things about Evan. Wishes to save the Bronx. A nice liberal, I am the great white savior mindset. But Evan has other aspirations other than being a teacher. Teaching for Evan is just a blip in a career of being a Fullbright Scholar, of owning his own business, and of course being the the great white savior that knows what is best for little boys and girls of color.

While yes he teaches some of the top ELA classes at IS 162, we wonder how effective he would be if he had all lower rung classes. We do know that in the last year of testing, the 6th grade at IS 162 only 17.8% passed the state ELA exam and of the 7th graders, on 18.8% passed. So one must wonder how much Evan Piekara is part of the problem. But if the crack team's research is incorrect we challenge Evan Piekara to refute this information. One thing of note, we found it humorous that Evan lists himself as a co-founder of TFA on his Linkedin page. As well as his school's operations manager. Whatever that is.

But not to fret. Evan was the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching New York City Finalist 2009. We applaud him. Just we would like to know if he nominated himself.