We're having a big day this week at PS 154. Company is coming, the quality review type of company. Like your rarely seen great-aunt coming over to visit, everyone at PS 154 will be on our best behavior this coming Tuesday and Wednesday and impress District 7 Superintendent Yolanda Torres and her QR minions as they poke, prod, probe, and have us turn our heads and cough as they determine not only whether or not we are proficient enough, but also if we stay open as a school.

We here at SBSB applaud that 154 is subject to a QR and wish to extend an invitation to the reviewers to be sure and speak to a wide array of teachers. Hear many opinions, and listen to many viewpoints. We are sure a reviewer will benefit greatly from such a meeting.

I still think the school is going to be shut down even if we are labeled proficient.I think the powers that be not only wish to excoriate most of the staff there, but The Crack Team has a sneaky suspicion that since Bronx Success is no longer co-located in PS 30 just a few blocks away, that Eva is looking for a new home to co-locate in and PS 154 would be perfect for her.

Why? One is the Robin Hood Foundation funded library that we have. Secondly, enrollment has been plummeting for several years and with about half a dozen empty or extremely under utilized classrooms, all one needs to do is some simple math.

But there is something more sinister happening. The neighborhood, the little section of Mott Haven from 138th St south to Bruckner Blvd and from about the 3rd Ave Bridge east to Willis Ave is becoming gentrified.

Very foretelling is the new apartment building that has been constructed on Bruckner Blvd right next to the Willis Ave Bridge. This is a 350 unit building with a gym, swimming pool, concierge, and many more amenities. More so, to live in the new apartments, one must qualify for residence with a minimum salary, as well as a maximum salary depending on the unit and the family size. 

But where does this leave the families and children who live in the Mitchel Houses and who make up just about 95% of the students at 154? Someone will lose out and it just might be the parents, the families, the children who live in Mitchell.

Apparently, no one cares about those who have invested years into PS 154. We have parents who attended 154, and grandparents who attended 154. But it does not matter to those in power.

The children, the families, and the community of PS 154 are just dupes to those at City Hall and Tweed. What they're selling is some sham miracle elixir being sold to them from a trunk of a car.

Let's continue with the school's quality review.

Part 2: Overview

What the school does well

• The school provides students with a safe environment, which supports their
growth well.
ROTFLMFAO!!!! The school does not in any way, shape or form provide a safe environment for students in this school. Please read this blog from August 28th and make the decision yourself. Good thing Dear Principal John Deacon has BFF Yolanda Torres
• Organizational decisions made in regards to additional after-school and
extracurricular activities for students lend support to their academic growth.
ROTFLMFAO!!!! The school does not in any way, shape or form provide a safe environment for students in this school. Please read this blog from August 28th and make the decision yourself. Good thing Dear Principal John Deacon has BFF Yolanda Torres
• Teachers take initiative through inter visitation and sharing practices that
have a positive impact on student learning.
Yes, true. Teachers left to their own doings, do well.
• Students enjoy coming to school and speak positively about the support
they receive from their teachers.
What else can be said? The teachers are the best in this school.
• The school uses a variety of data sources to provide teachers with
information on students’ academic strengths and areas in need of improvement.
And these information sources are? More an more redundant paperwork so there is less teaching.

Areas for Improvement

• Revisit and refine the goal-setting and teacher feedback process to give
students specific information and targeted strategies to help them meet
their individual needs.
How can teachers teach when there has been a breakdown of discipline in the school? How can teachers teach when they get no support whatsoever from administration?
• Improve communication with students and parents in the development of
learning goals and next steps towards the achievement of academic
excellence and high expectations.
Dear Principal John Deacon needs to get out of its bunker once in a while and actually communicate with parents. Perhaps if it stops looking down its nose at the parents things relations can improve.
• Refocus the inquiry team on the target population and specific learning
targets that will meet these students’ individual academic needs.
The root problem of this has been removed. **cough** NUMB NUTS **cough**
• Develop effective systems and structures in the usage of interim
checkpoints to monitor teacher planning and differentiated instruction.
God, there they go with that differentiated instruction. It is being done. Just the smart way, not their way.
• Revisit the mission and vision of the school in order for the whole school
community to work collaboratively in one direction.
Again, lack of leadership. Get a new,competent, non-mental leader and things will change.

Time to share the quality review with the world. This will be done in several parts over the next few days with comments added in red. Please share any interpretations or comments that you have. Just in case anyone cares, Best Friend Forever Yolanda Torres prepared the report. Yes, BFF Yolanda Torres reviewed her bestest friend in the whole wide world's school. The objectivity is mind blowing!

Information about the school
Public School XXX is an elementary school with 525
students from pre-kindergarten through grade 5. The school population comprises 35%
Black, 63% Hispanic, 0.6% White, and 0.2% Asian students. The student body includes
17% English language learners and 20% special education students. Boys account for
57% of the students enrolled and girls account for 43%. The average attendance rate
for the school year 2007 - 2008 was 92.1%. The school is in receipt of Title 1 funding
with 98% eligibility.


Part 1 The School Context

Overall Evaluation

This school is underdeveloped with proficient features.
Well, duh, what do you know?
Students like their teachers, value their support and feel cared for in the environment of
Public School XXX. This is true. The respect and admiration back and forth between teachers and students in this school is awesome. The newly appointed principal is an experienced educator so experienced Dear Principal John Deacon was forced out of the superintendency of District 8 last year. One would think it is impossible to screw up such a cushy position. That is until BFF Yolanda Torres came by who values the empowerment of teachers. Yeah, right, sure. This line was the biggest crock of Sh** in this report until... She has put in place an open-door policy so teachers can voice their opinions and concerns to the administration.....this line. The only open door policy is the front door which we have been told is open for us to leave, and Dear Principal John Deacon's flunkies and sycophants to enter. Although this is away to bridge the lines of communication there is no communication at all! Dear Principal John Deacon acts like a crime boss having its capos do the talking and decision making. between the administration and teachers, there is currently a sense of uneasiness amongst teachers on its effect. There is no uneasiness. It is called distrustfullness. BFF Yolanda Torres do you get it yet? No one, students, parents, teachers, the cockroaches trusts Dear Principal John Deacon!
The school uses a variety of data to maintain records of all student progress. Student
assessment binders with their work in different subjects are evident in classrooms. It is
unclear how the work in these binders aligns with student goals, teacher planning and
data analysis to help students progress. This comes from a lack of leadership. A school needs great leaders as well. We have great teachers, but most of the leaders are lacking big time!
Teachers provide the administration with monthly data on student progress in English
language arts and math and together they hold one-on-one meetings to discuss the
information the data provides. Teachers have an idea of the needs of the students but
do not address these individual needs in the planning and delivery of differentiated
lessons. Trust me BFF Yolanda Torres it happens. Core subject teachers do not yet receive the data in order to address students’ individual needs for interconnectedness. That is because cluster teachers are non-persons according to Dear Principal John Deacon.
The school’s self-evaluation indicates that the expectation is for 90% of teachers to be
involved in the inquiry process. In addition to the inquiry core team, each grade has its
own inquiry team with a target population to focus on. Unfortunately, the inquiry core
team lacks direction and a “granular” focus of the learning targets and specific strategies
to be experimented with the target population. This team lacks voice and a clear
understanding of what is necessary within the inquiry process. Think. Who was leading the inquiry team? Yes, Numb Nuts. The same Numb Nuts that was told to shut up in the meeting when you came to do the QR! Numb Nuts has zero curriculum, education skills. Have you realized this yet? Consequently, they make insufficient use of data analysis and accountability tools to inform their decision making practice on student academic performance.Again, this falls back in the lap of Numb Nuts, and subsequently, Dear Principal John Deacon.
Staff, students, and parents acknowledge that communication is important.True. Very true.
Nonetheless, the communication amongst these constituents lacks clarity and
congruency.But ultimately, the school is a reflection of it Fuhrer, oops, Dear Principal John Deacon. It does not believe in communication. Or openness. Or accountability. The lack of clarity around school-wide academic expectations and established short-term checkpoints has created different levels of understanding on the development of student individualized learning plans. As a result, students are unable to articulate in-depth their individual learning goals and how to reach them.But ultimately, the school is a reflection of its Fuhrer, oops, Dear Principal John Deacon. It does not believe in communication. Or openness. Or accountability. Yeah, a repeat, but true.


Tomorrow, Part 2.

The preliminary report from the quality review says that my school provides a safe learning environment for students.

Must be great to have your best friend be involved with the review.

Remember when you were a kid and that whacky, OCD, snooty relative came over to visit? Everyone had to be on their best behavior? You had to say "yes sir" or "yes m'am". Your dad had to hide his Esquire magazine, and pretend he read The Bible or The Christian Science Monitor. You had to wear your best clothes, comb your hair, and take down your Van Halen poster, and put up a Donny Osmond poster instead. Oh, and worst, your crazy, nutty friends were not allowed over.

Next week, on February 4th and 5th we are expected to be on our "company behavior." Company is coming over. In fact the Quality Review people are coming over, and we have been coached. Coached on what to say, how to say it, and who can say what they can say. Certain rabblerousers have been given special out of school assignments. In fact I heard that a certain someone is ready to dive into the colons of each quality reviewer.

As was said on the X-Files, "the truth is out there."