She's baaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!

The Bayou Schicksa otherwise known as Campbell Brown is back sharing what little grasp she has on reality with those she believes she lords over from her gilded perch.

Campbell, who converted to Judaism for her husband, Iraq War provocateur and mass murderer, Dan Senor, has now come out with a website known as Common Sense Contract hoping that she, and she alone, will be the voice of reason that all those negotiating will set eyes upon her words and say to themselves, "Hey, The Bayou Schicksa has some very good points." Sadly, but of course not surprisingly, only the New York Post feels that way.

What is it that drives Campbell to inject herself into the education debate? Is it that she has nothing to do at home all day whilst the children are out and about with their individual nanny's? There are so many self-righteous do good education deformers out there that her voice easily gets lost in the noise and if she did not have the name she has would never be given a second glance.

Perhaps Campbell can take time from her busy schedule of shopping to look into Iraq War war crimes and the lies that led to our involvement for over ten years in the quagmire of Iraq. I suggest that she disguise the bawdy talk that Dan Senor enjoys so much and ask him hard questions as to his involvement of the thousands that died for no reason.

But since she probably shan't let's go over her op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Post.

Due to the ease of just discrediting everything she spewed forth, we enlisted the services of Zippy the Brain Damaged Wonder Chimp to assist.

The Bayou Schicksa says; Teachers can be absent for up to 20 days without giving any notice or any reason and still face no penalty whatsoever. Teachers can’t be absent without notice unless there is an emergency. If they don’t show up without a reason for three straight days, they can be put on unpaid leave and reinstated only if they prove an emergency kept them from alerting the school.

Hmmmm. What does the contract say? 

  Teachers who are absent for 20 consecutive school days without notice shall be deemed to have resigned unless they have reasonable cause for failure to notify. The issue of the reasonableness of the cause and the penalty, if any, shall be subject to the grievance procedure, including binding arbitration, set forth in Article Twenty-Two

Seems reasonable. What happens if you are kidnapped, in an accident, lost, whatever. NO where does it say without a penalty. You need a pretty gosh darn good reason. But again, since there is that pesky thing known as due process, which even Zippy the Brain Damaged Chimp understands better than Campbell, well tough you know what.

Seriously, how often does this happen? Twenty days without notice, even three? And what is the emergency? Teachers, even teachers that are out legitimately for over three days call in and must have some time of proof, whether medical, psychological, or even for jury duty. Zippy wants to know why Campbell feels we must be treated as children. 

The typical parent-teacher conference often lasts two or three minutes.

It does? Says who? On the elementary level parent conferences are 10-15 minutes and there are two sessions, and evening and an afternoon.

Teachers aren’t required to talk with, e-mail or respond to parents outside the narrow hours of the school day.

No, neither are we required to make home visits. But teachers do, and I can speak as a parent, make time to respond to emails, make phone calls when needed and return phone calls as well. Yes, it can be difficult at times to get a response from a teacher, but unlike the Bayou Schicksa, teachers have families and lives to lead. 

Parents should be allowed to reach out to teachers by e-mail or phone and expect a timely response, and they should be promised at least 15 minutes per child in their teacher-parent conferences.

See above. But Zippy just brought up a very good point (This is why we pay him so well). Why is the onus on the teachers? What about those parents that never show for parent conferences, never return calls, never pick up the report cards, never inquire as to their child's education? What about those parents? Where is Campbell leading the way to encourage these parents to be involved?

And where was the Bayou Schicksa for the last 12 years as Bloomberg and pals systematically cut the parents voices out of their children's education? Zippy says she was nowhere. 

Taxpayers spend a staggering $144 million a year on teachers who no longer have jobs but draw their full salary anyway. Teachers who lose their jobs may no longer stay on paid leave for the rest of their careers at taxpayer expense. Instead, they get one year to find a new position or move to unpaid leave until they do.

They did not lose their jobs, they lose their positions through no fault of their own. Why would a principal hire a 20 year veteran teacher making $90k or thereabouts instead of an untenured, 24 year year old making about $46k?

Case in point. As mentioned on these pages my school, PS 154 went without a physical education teacher from October through February. I know personally of several ATR's with phys ed licenses. None of them were brought in, none of them were interviewed, none of them were considered. WHo got the job? A 24 year old rookie teacher. 

Teachers who sexually harass children can stay in the classroom if an unelected arbitrator sees no reason they should be fired.

So if it is an elected arbitrator it is OK? Remember Campbell, it takes 2 parties to sign a contract. But, if they return to the classroom does that not mean that the arbitrator found the charges lacking? 

But maybe Campbell has a point. Such cases, if misdemeanors, should be heard in NYC Criminal Court in which the judges are; 

appointed by the Mayor of New York City to a 10-year term.

Ooops! Well maybe all sex cases can be heard in New York State Supreme Court in which...

...According to statute, however, candidates for the supreme court (the major trial court) are chosen through a party convention system, in which primary voters elect convention delegates who choose candidates for the judgeships.

 NO! Wait!! Federal court. No. Those judges are appointed for life. Dang Campbell, what to do? Zippy says he has an idea. Why not appoint Campbell judge, prosecutor, and jury and she can decide. 

Zippy also suggests that since Campbell is such a protector of children that she can look into who is responsible for all the dead and maimed children in Iraq and bring her husband to trial for war crimes.

Tenured teachers facing substantiated charges of sexual misconduct should be suspended without pay. 

They're are. Two months without pay if there is probable cause. It is in the contract Campbell.

And the chancellor should have final say on firing the teacher after a hearing — not a local arbitrator who is not accountable to parents, voters or the mayor.

So, even though a teachers is found not to have committed what they are accused of doing they can still lose their job, their livelihood, at the whim of the chancellor? Does that not violate the 14th Amendment which your die in the wool Republican husband so feverishly believes?

But I see Campbell's point. Her husband Dan Senor is responsible, directly and indirectly, for thousands of deaths and atrocities in Iraq. One person, George W. felt that Dan was above it all.

The Bayou Schicksa has too much time on her hands. She is bogarting her way into this deform debate to keep herself relevant. Perhaps it is time she returns to CNN and do what she does best. Report of kitten fashion shows.

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.

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.

Not too long ago I came across this article in the New York Post. This is about Christine Rubino, who taught at PS 203 in Flatlands, for posting “repulsive” comments on Facebook.

Several thoughts came to my mind. One, is it not ironic how the Post (and of course News Corp.) the harbinger of freedom is quick to mock someone for defending their constitutional rights of freedom of speech. Secondly, why the Post must claim how hard it is to fire a teacher. And lastly, geez, we never once said how, and even posted on FB, how we would like to see a close family member meet with an unfortunate accident?

So in light of this inanity by The Post I, in conjunction with The Frustrated Teacher, have set up a contest. In 6 words, describe how The Post has distorted the facts. You can reply to me on Twitter, or to TFT, (#NYPostBlows) or leave your comment here. The winner will win either dinner or a pitcher of beer with me and TFT.

This story is too funny not to tell.

In the 90's I and my 3rd class went on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo towards the end of the school year. A teacher in my school had arranged it for her class and another but for some reason my class went instead. It was your typical end of year field trip. Something to waste time. In fact most field trips are, very few have any tie in with the curriculum. If they did then every fouth grade class that was studying the American Revolution would go see all the locations in the city where the Battle of New York took place. It happens in Westchester County.

On the bus to the zoo the only thing on the student's minds were the bears. They wanted desperately to see the bears. The bus dropped us off at the Southern Blvd entrance. I had one parent volunteer with me and thirty students. Easy. I doubt Numb Nuts would be able to handle it.

So off the bus we go. We line up in two lines enter the zoo and the kids are still OCD'ing on the bears. "Please, A Teacher in the Bronx, can we please see the bears first?" I tell them OK. It makes sense. As any who have been the Bronx Zoo know the bears are in an almost direct line from the Southern Blvd entrance. So we make a bee line to see the bears.

The expression on the students faces were of a high anticipation. Bears! Bears! Bears! They were almost there. In fact it was clear sailing. The railing was empty. They were promised an unimpeded view of the bears. Praise be the bears!

"Oh mi dios!", the parent volunteer cries out. Kevin one of my students looks at me and says, "A Teacher in the Bronx, one of the bears is trying to jump over the other bear and can't make it over." I look and there is Papa Bear getting down with Mama Bear and Baby Bear must have been sent to the movies, or maybe was at Grandma and Grandpa Bear's den. Anyway the kids seemed to have no idea of what was happening, I ended the the bear viewing prematurely, though I don't think there was anything premature with Papa Bear. I saw Mama Bear later. She was laying back and having a cigarette. Papa Bear wasn't there. I think he had to get up early for work.

No biggie. It was done, it was over. But what would happen now under the reign of Chancellor Klein? I would have been called immoral for not thinking ahead of time that bears might be fornicating that time of the year and should have considered this option. Condon's office would have been sent into the school to take statements with leading questions from the students, and the bears would have been interviewed as well. The New York Post would have labeled me the "BEAR VOYEUR TEACHER" and would have felt shame. My career would be hanging by a thread.

And people wonder why teachers won't go the extra mile anymore.