Wonder why ATRs won't go that extra mile or try with all their heart to stay under the radar?

Read on.

An ATR in Queens, and is currently assigned to a middle school, that has had the proverbial DOE bus driven over her several times and suffers from PTSD was given the dreaded white envelope one day in January. It wasn't an envelope filled with fifty dollar bills but rather the "48 hour notice" meeting and to bring along a union rep.

For the next 48 hours, the ATR spent most of the day, both at home and in school, barfing her brains due to the effects of the PTSD and the 48 hours of not knowing what the hell was going on.

The ATR did have the presence of mind to bypass the school's chapter leader and turned instead to her district leader (we here at SBSB highly recommend this route for ATRs unless you have a real all-star as a chapter leader) to represent her in the meeting with the AP.

The day of the meeting came. This is what she was accused of...

Early in January a student meandered into her class along with the proverbial chip on her shoulder happened to be in a feisty mood that period. It so happens that this young lady was looking for an argument and who better to start it with than this ATR who was covering a class.

When the ATR refused to take the bait this student went to plan B. This student then called her a "racist bitch," "you're not my teacher," and the usual early teen anger that spews forth from an early teens mouth

Still, the ATR retained her poise and composure as if she had learned at the footsteps of Emily Post.

The student, ever so frustrated took her anger to the dean and claimed that the ATR purposely hit her in the face with a textbook. This is what precipitated the meeting with the ATR and her AP.

What the ATR did was place four textbooks at the middle of each table for the students to distribute to themselves. At no time were any textbooks or students in danger.

Of the 30 kids in the class, nine wrote statements and only two corroborated what the student claimed. The student and her best friend.

Praise be to some higher deity (be it God or Mulgrew) that this ATR didn't suck down a bottle of Xanax with a glass of vodka or that the students of her class had her back.

Were there any consequences befallen upon this student for taking her tongue and telling a lie? Of course not. Even if the AP or principal wished to there is nothing in the NYCDOE discipline code saying lying and being dishonest is wrong. And just as an aside, nowhere does it say that admins that lie are doing bad. Only teachers. Go figure.

What to do? The Crack Team suggests that this teacher and any and all teachers in the future that are falsely accused by a student is to take them to court. Hire Bryan Glass and sue the parents.Hell, represent yourself if you don't want to hire Bryan. Let the parents pay for their own lawyers or if they fail to show you get a summary judgement.

But thanks to the last 15 years of hatred of teachers in the media, of politicians, and nationwide, students have learned that teachers make inviting targets.

One more thing, OSI and the AP know before hand that the kid is full of shit, Yet they let it drag on. Name them in the lawsuit as well.

For those that don't know John and Mike are the Tony and Barry that I had written about last week.

The three of us went into joining MORE's steering with an idea that our positions were not to be tolerated and we saw first hand the systematic wrath incurred upon us for daring to speak up and think different.

I can't blame them for this. Both have had their characters debased and their ethics questioned. I have come to know these two men better in the last 2 months and say without a doubt that if I was starting a baseball team based on having teachers backs that both John and Mike would be in my starting lineup.

But like Arthur Goldstein had finally gotten fed up with MORE so finally have John and Mike.

This here is their opus (Bold has been added by myself).


Why We Choose to Leave MORE
By John Giambalvo and Mike Schirtzer

We became involved with teacher unionism after a few years of working in the schools as a result of our classroom and school-level experiences where we saw public school teachers and students being cheated out of the resources needed to provide them with an adequate education. Sparked by the general lack of response from our union, the United Federation of Teachers, our involvement led us to join the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), an organization that we believed would respond to concerns of UFT members by allowing them, as well as members of their school community, a space to voice concerns about our schools within the political structures of our union and the Department of Education of the City of New York. 

We joined MORE during a time when few voices within the UFT represented the needs and interests of our colleagues. 

We joined under the premise that our union had the potential to be the most powerful vehicle of change for teachers, students and families in New York City and beyond. 
We joined MORE to create a more assertive union, where member voice was the greatest priority and, when heard, would lead it to action for the entire education community. 

We joined MORE to strengthen the UFT for the betterment of the teachers, students and families we serve. We were aware that the UFT apparatus, under the almost 60 year stewardship of the Unity Caucus, had developed more than a bit of sclerosis, had not been adequately serving the needs of its members, and that that power structure needed to be challenged from the ranks. We believed MORE offered the potential to engage in that challenge.

We joined MORE and were faced with working with people with many different political backgrounds and ideologies, including some differing from our views. We made concerted efforts to function collectively with other members of MORE to improve conditions in our schools. We learned the basics of their ideologies and did our best to find middle ground. We genuinely believed we were learning to struggle together in order to improve conditions, especially for those who were affected by hurtful policies on a daily basis.

We joined MORE to prioritize making connections with teachers throughout all five boroughs; to construct and devote our work towards an agenda that would have wide appeal to a majority of members of our union who have been shut out of influence. In order to be successful MORE would have to, not only offer a way forward by leading in a new direction, but do so by being responsive and interacting with UFT members in our own schools and beyond to transform a union that operated in an absolute top-down manner.

We have been disappointed.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen that MORE has been increasingly dominated by one group with a definite pre-formed unyielding ideology. We’ve come to understand over time that these voices do not represent the needs of most of our members, or even our students or parents. MORE has devolved into an organization that uses anti-democratic and secretive methods to push the agenda of this faction and marginalize, isolate and push vocal opponents out of the caucus.

There were many opportunities for the members of MORE to analyze the results of our work in order to determine the course of the group’s direction, but it has chosen not to do so. There were meetings with varying topics, causes endorsed, social media/blog data, and the results of the 2016 UFT election which provided data on voter turnout by division and district which clearly showed a much higher turnout in the Queens high schools (36.4% compared to 12.8% in the Bronx and 14.5 in Manhattan, boroughs where key leaders of the current leadership in MORE are based.)

Queens high school voter turnout was clearly the crucial difference in winning the high school seats but admitting that would be counter to the narrative being pushed.
This turnout was mainly due to the organizing efforts of two key MORE members. (Ed Note: Details and analysis of 2016 high school elections at http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/district-by-district-breakdown-shows_3.html?m=1). 

This should have been an important lesson for MORE about the kind of activism by some more members that reaches out and resonates with rank and file teachers. Yet, these people are the very people who are being pushed out of MORE. One of these people is the chapter leader of the largest high school in Queens with 300 UFT members and an elected UFT Executive Board member.

The other was a former chapter leader of a closed school who led a valiant battle to keep his school open but who was forced to become an ATR. One of the most respected voices in the UFT for almost 30 years who developed hundreds of contacts in schools all around the city, and served for a decade on the UFT Executive Board. He too is being forced out of MORE.

Along with one of us, two of the four MORE Executive Board elected high school representatives are being pushed out of MORE. What does this mean for MORE as an organization when it feels activists with this history and stature and the overwhelming support of their colleagues don’t belong? 

Instead of revisiting different petitions we advocated for or addressing the way we have utilized our positions on the UFT Executive Board to create voice for colleagues, the small group taking control of MORE chose to purposely ignore these results, criticized us, and attempted to micro-manage us over issues like class size and the defense of ATRS and rank and file UFT members over abusive principals because this work did not fit their preordained agendas. 

Attempts to build a large, robust organization, including the creation of newsletters produced for wide distribution, planning meetings with topics related to school-based issues, like the nuts and bolts of enforcing the contract or running for chapter leader, and attempts to compete in union elections (both at the chapter level and for citywide officers), have been met with obstruction, in-fighting, frustrating layers of bureaucracy and the gradual disappearance of democratic decision making. 

All this is a direct result of the group’s lack of democracy and failure to connect with members in our schools.

Predictably, instead of growing into a member driven movement, MORE has seen its numbers dwindle to levels rivaling our earliest beginnings in 2012. Instead of examining and discussing the reasons for the shrinking of MORE, such as the inability to develop a newsletter and distribution network or even a regular handout at the UFT Delegate Assembly, the constant excuse has been that all the problems in MORE have been due to some rude emails by a few people. 

In fact, dozens of people have abandoned MORE over the years due to the rigid ideological framework imposed in MORE. Their “solution” to the crisis in MORE has been to actively move to push out even more members who do not go along with their line, many of them older and experienced in union politics, obviously a threat to their ability to win over new and inexperienced teachers who enter MORE to their ideological line. Rather than engage in discussion, including historical reference and analysis, they want to promote their own political positions, positions that are rarely open to debate.

It is especially difficult for us to remain with a group that no longer honors the principles of democracy. There was a glaring lack of due process involved in our recent suspension from the MORE listserves and the caucus’ steering committee, which just happened to remove our ability to vote on crucial decisions concerning the direction they wanted to steer MORE in. There is no provision in the by-laws from suspension from steering.

This decision began as a disagreement over political process and the tone of some emails. The suspensions were decided without either of us being present. Just four people out of nine on the committee created, ex-post facto, new rules. Since MORE is on record as opposing suspensions and calling for restorative justice for students, calls for the use of restorative justice practices in lieu of suspension in our case were voted down.

As union members, social justice activists, and New York City public school teachers, we cannot compromise the principle of due process. We must expect from ourselves the rights we demand for our co-workers and our students.

The loss of trust in the people who made these decisions will be difficult to repair. The realization that a caucus dedicated to the principles of social and restorative justice but can no longer muster enough respect for basic due process portends a future for the group that is far too troubling for us to be part of. 

It is simply not acceptable to be involved with an organization that does not hold itself to the very values of democracy upon which it is premised and for which we have both worked. 
There are many good people in and around MORE and we are proud of our past work with them. But too many priorities have changed over time, both for the group and for ourselves. We seek out the serious work of helping to build a more robust union, one that can affect policy as it improves the conditions under which we teach and our students learn. We have concluded MORE as a caucus is not capable or willing to build this movement. In order to work with rank and file UFT members and other stakeholders, we feel it’s better we separate ourselves now. We are leaving the organization and disassociate our names from it. 

We still intend to spend time learning from our from past successes and failures in future endeavors we pursue.

There is a Janus decision on the horizon, a well financed effort by corporations and interest groups to undermine unions, and a relentless effort to privatize our schools by forcing out veteran UFT members and closing schools in our poorest neighborhoods, which harms our children of color and immigrant children. It is imperative that our union fights harder than ever against these forces. 

We are dedicated to defending members unfairly under attack, ensuring our children are provided a great public education in well resourced schools, fighting for racial integration of schools, defending immigrant, African-American, Latino, Muslim, and LGBTQ union members and students. We will continue our work in our chapters, Delegate Assemblies and Executive Board meetings to educate and activate union members, defend public education, demand due process for our students and colleagues, and advance the cause of labor unions for all workers.

In Solidarity,

Mike Schirtzer: UFT Executive Board, UFT Delegate, Social Studies Teacher
John Giambalvo: Social Studies teacher, Coordinator of Student Activities

======= John Giambalvo will is completing 18 years of service teaching social studies. He teaches in a Queens high school.

Mike Schirtzer, is a member of the UFT  Executive Board and a delegate from his school. He has been teaching social studies at Leon Goldstein HS in Brooklyn for 11 years

*=========
District 71 Manhattan High Schools: 683 votes= 14.5% of total HS turnout

District 72 Bronx High Schools: 594 votes=12.6%

District 73 Brooklyn High Schools: 729 votes=15.5%

District 76 Brooklyn-Staten Island High Schools: 984 votes=20.9%

District 77 Queens High Schools: 1712 votes=36.4%

Here we go again with the NYCDOE and attempting to separate teachers from their direct deposits.

Chaz touched on this Thursday in his blog. Math teacher Alan Herz of Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School in Queens was brought up on 3020-a charges. According to the New York Post in 2014 Mr Herz allegedly made a sexist remark as well as an anti-Semitic remark to students; 

 “Oh yeah you don’t get it because you’re a female” and another, “I know how you Jewish people are, and it’s okay because I am Jewish, I know how Jewish people run business”

Now. Let's think for minute. First one needs the context in which the remarks were made, (and that is if they were made). And secondly, why is the DOE spending all these thousands of dollars on going after Mr Herz whilst a simple letter to the file will suffice?

But the Post must throw even more inane and mundane crud at Mr Herz.

According to the cherry picking of the  Post, Mr Herz's

...students and their parents gave him a middling three out of five stars on the website Rate My Teachers.
“The worst teacher my daughter ever had,” said one reviewer in October.
“Not clear and boring,” said another in 2007.

All the while ignoring;

Me.Herz is the kind of teacher who teaches the lesson and gets his point across. Not only, does he teach you the cirriculum; but he gives you life lesssons on the side. His teaching methods were full proof and worked. He would always have a demonstration model for us or an analogy which helped the kids understand.  

Great teacher, helped me sooo much to get accustomed to common core math, has creative ways of teaching

But my favorite part of the Post's story is that (Hold on to your seats!) the NYCDOE is suing both Mr Herz and his arbitrator of his 3020-a, Philip Maier.

Why the arbitrator? Apparently it appears that Mr Maier follows the law.

(Meier) never even heard the merits of the case because he determined that education officials blew a 90-day deadline to issue written findings following an investigation.  

So the DOE screws up and sues the arbitrator and Mr Herz?

We here at SBSB are praying, hoping beyond hope that this case is seen through. Think about it. The DOE in its chutzpah and stupidity is doing everything it can to set a precedent for each and every arbitrator to be sued by whichever side does not like an arbitrator's decision. I even mentioned to Über lawyer Bryan Glass if we could have sued the arbitrator in my case. Bryan, and rightly so at the time, demurred and did not think anything can happen. Maybe now, any teacher that does not like an arbitrator's decision will be able to sue.

Yes, this also means that the DOE will be able to sue, but think if this. Would anyone want to be an arbitrator for 3020-a's if they risked themselves to civil litigation? This just might blow up the entire system.

As for suing Mr Herz, what is the DOE going to get from him? Blood? Again, Mr Herz is sitting in the catbird seat. Where is the standing the DOE has to go after Mr Herz for his comments? Mr Herz is not responsible for the arbitrator doing his job as well as the DOE not doing theirs. We here at SBSB look forward to both defendants having fun with the discovery that they will receive from the DOE. Mr Herz's case is in state court and this leaves one to wonder if he can seek court costs.

As for the Post feeling the need to use Rate My Teachers and the be all and end all of the type of teacher Mr Herz is, remember this. The ratings are subjective!!! In my house none of us cared for my son's baseball travel team coach last year. He knew his baseball, but he did not click with my son. Other parents liked him. Other parents were in the middle. Doesn't make him a horrible coach or that he doesn't know baseball. It was all subjective.

The DOE again is pissing away monies that are better spent on the learning process and the New York Post is once again the New York Post.

Today is an anniversary. Two years ago I shared that Jennifer Rogers, former principal of PS 29 in College Point had high tailed it out of New York after being removed as principal and had set up her own faux education consulting business. We have an update. Not on Jennifer, but on one of the teachers whose live she had attempted to ruin.

According the the EdLawsFaq Blog, a termination of a probationary teacher who had been a target of Rogers had her termination overturned. Über education lawyer Bryan Glass is the teachers attorney.

You can read the judges decision here, or if you wish, here are some of the highlights of the decision. 

At the meeting, petitioner opposed the position taken by the school’s special education coordinator and sided with the student’s mother, who had asked that her son be removed from the “Alternate Assessment” program favored by Principal Jennifer Jones ­Rogers .

Now why would a principal go pressure a parent such as Rogers had?  

The very next day, November 21, 2012, the principal conducted the first formal observation of petitioner for the 2012­-2013 school year. On November 26, 2012, after a post-­observation conference, the principal issued an observation report that found petitioner’s math lesson unsatisfactory because...

The next day she decides to target the teacher?  Rogers doesn't even of the brains to leave herself sme plausible deniability.

Petitioner submitted a written rebuttal in which she stated that she had conducted the lesson in the exact manner that the principal had outlined in their pre-­observation conference and that the post-­observation conference focused more on the principal’s dissatisfaction with the position petitioner had taken...

Again, Rogers using pure emotion, not logic, and too dumb to cover her tracks. 

So what does Rogers do? She sends in her lackey, AP Scott Wolfson, who is now principal of PS 314 in District 12 to hammer her.

On February 21, 2013, Assistant Principal (AP) Scott Wolfson conducted a formal observation of another of petitioner’s math lessons . The post­-observation conference was not held until April 16, 2013, at which time petitioner was given an observation report that rated the lesson unsatisfactory because: (1) “[w]hile the children within your group were able to solve the problems that [she] presented to them, it was evident that their solutions indicated algorithmic solution strategies rather than a deeper conceptual understanding of the problems”

Dang Scott these students are special ed!!!!!!!!! That the teacher was able to bring them to this level should speak wonders!!!!!!

“Mr. Wolfson wanted to concentrate on the fact [that] the students struggled with conceptualizing their understanding of mathematics , which was not the goal for my lesson plan for that day.” Petitioner added that “Mr. Wolfson and I also planned my lesson together two days before and [he] never mentioned that he wanted to observe how the students conceptualize math.”

 Oops, Scotty. You pulled a boner here. 

There's more, but the best part is the judge wrote in the decision;

“Two months before her resignation, parents, teachers, students and a state senator had held a rally to protest Principal Jones-Rogers’ policies, which allegedly included retaliating against teachers who disagreed with her and cramming students into special education classes without parental consent”

And this is the Jennifer Rogers who wants to help the parents of Georgia?????  

Listen up parents of Georgia, have nothing whatsoever to do with Jennifer Rogers and her Parent Education and Advocacy Empowerment Project.That's if it's still around.

Jennifer Rogers aka Jennifer Jones has left a trail of trying to ruin the lives of educators across the City of New York. Disagree with Jennifer Rogers and one should high tail it away from her.

What is worse, and I feel so dirty knowing this is that Jennifer Rogers grew up in the same small town as I did. Thankfully, the town has survived her.

And thankfully this teacher in this decision has survived the wrath of Jennifer Rogers.

Oh Joe Concannon, your true colors just keep showing.

Friday's post, "Why Does UFT Solidarity Work With Anti-Black Lives, Pro-Trump, Tea Bagger and Pro Rudy Joe Concannon?" still leaves open the question as to why any "caucus" such as UFT Solidarity claims it is, or in fact any teacher, would associate with Joe. What The Crack Team has learned in the last 48 hours brings up more questions and more reasons why UFT Solidarity should do the honorable thing and disassociate itself from such a person like Joe Concannnon and why teachers all over NYC should have nothing to do with him.  Just read the comments written by some of Joe's sycophants.

In this video here with super right winger Steve Malzberg on super right wing Newsmax TV Concannon whines that shootings of black are up in Chicago, Baltimore, and New York. While wrong and not acceptable Concannon does not understand the difference is that those being shot in those cities are not being shot because they are black.

How about this Joe, how do you explain a cop putting a choke hold on Eric Garner for selling loosies? There were not better ways to handle this? As an NYPD inspector shared with me once on what makes a good cop, he told me, "A good cop is someone who walks into a bad situation and calms the matter down." Did we see this in the Eric Garner video?

What is also distressing about Joe is the people he associates with. As mentioned on Friday, Joe comes across as a supporter of police and when he was running for city council had several rallies in Queens and Brooklyn. Guess who liked that idea?

Everyone's favorite meshuga New Yorker (No silly, it's not Governor Andy)

#SupportTheShield pic.twitter.com/kde0s9B4B6

— Carl Paladino (@CarlPaladino) January 7, 2015

Yeah, Uncle Carl Paladino. Carl has said lot's of crazy things. One of his craziest is...

"The Tea-Party backed candidate reportedly sent an e-mail depicting a horse having sex with a woman and another that included a pornographic video and the headline "Miss France 2008 F[***]ing." He also reportedly sent out an e-mail depicting President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as a pimp and prostitute and one showing an airplane landing near black men with the caption "Holy Sh*t. run ni**ers, run!"

Way to go Carl! And kudos to Joe Concannon for being his pal.

Yes Pal. You see, Joe Concannon is 1st Vice-President of the Queens Village Republican Club. Now knowing this, would it not be safe to assume that Joe has some say in whom the QVRC invites to break bread with? Let's have a looksee.


 Guess who?????? He kinda looks like Gomez Addams without the mustache. But Gomez was wayyyyy cooler. And crazy in a cool way.

So with all this information today and on Friday one must ask themselves, why does UFT Solidarity, a "caucus" that purports to fight for teachers so we can better able to educate those who are being most damaged by the education deform movement, those children who are a vast majority immigrants, of color, support someone who believes in and associates with all what we as teachers are fighting for?

@SoBronxSchool @realDonaldTrump @NYCRepublicans @Thanks2Police On the economy, immigration, schools, National defense, Law and Order, etc...

— Joe Concannon (@Joe_4_NY) July 22, 2016

We here are calling on UFT Solidarity to cut it's ties with Joe Concannon and repudiate his message of hate and intolerance. It is time to step up to the plate.

Black lives matter!

For those who like to claim that BLM is racist, or not caring of other lives, that's bullshit. If we say, "Save the Whales," does this mean that all other sea creatures do not matter? Does promoting breast cancer awareness mean that other cancer do not matter? Of courts not!

Better, where and how does wanting to save black lives, lives that are disproportionately being  snuffed out, be anti-cop? When too many black citizens are being shot and killed for driving while black, for walking while black, or just being black, what should a people do?

I am not anti-cop, anti-law enforcement, etc... There are just some f***** things happening of late. Can one be pro- cop and pro-black. It's simple.

But I won't paint all cops with one broad brush. As teachers we must not. We hate it when we are painted with that broad brush and to do so to any other profession is just morally wrong. The vast, vast majority of cops are good, are hard working, and are there to serve honorably. They don't deserve to be lumped in with the shoot first mentality of those cops that are besmirching the profession.

Say what you will about MORE, but you can know without any shadow of a doubt that MORE is aware that it not only serves it's members but the communities in which we teach in. Both go hand in hand. I differ on some of the tactics, some of the time spent on some of the social issue causes but at not time would I ever doubt anybody at MORE in what they feel in their heart about doing the right thing.

On the other hand we are still stuck with UFT Solidarity "caucus" and it's tone deafness to reality. You see, UFT Solidarity has a new patrón, NYC Council failedf candidate from Queens for the 23rd district, Joe Concannon.

From: Bozo T Clown
Date: July 12, 2016 at 9:12:14 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [DTOE] Send school corruption issues to Joe Concannon

Joe Concannon, who is running for City Council in Queens, is collecting school corruption stories. You will remain anonymous and he will take the info to try and remedy from the political angle. See message below.

Joe Concannon, a failed Republican State Senate candidate and current president of the Tea Party-aligned Queens Village Republican Club, is the main organizer of the burgeoning anti-de Blasio protest effort. The retired NYPD captain and former Giuliani advisor is a close ally of Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch. Lynch generated national headlines — and cheers from rank and file cops — when he claimed that de Blasio “has blood on [his] hands” just hours after Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

This is yet another story from the files of "You Can't Make This Sh** Up!" A continuing series of the most boneheaded moves from NYCDOE upper echelon.

Today's story is another in the long line of ATR abuse. The ATR (Absent Teacher Reserve) in question is of course a veteran teacher, The Crack Team believes she is over 40, and just wants to do her job. The story is in her words and comments are added by The Crack Team.

The story revolves around how this ATR was late twice by late than 30 minutes and the principal at the school had decided not to just deduct the time from her CAR but rather give her two unexcused absences with the subsequent 2 says of docked pay.

Principal says she has to call legal about my being late 2x payroll Secy put it in as unauthorized absence 29 minutes and says I'm being docked I called the school each time said I was stuck in a construction area on union tpke she not only didn't give me any transportation delay form to fill out she didn't even put it in my car as late instead put it in unauthorized because if you're under 30 minutes total lateness you're okay so I explained this to the principal who said she's calling legal for two lastenesses under 30 minutes and I called she said she wants phone records from me to prove it.......prove this.

 Hasn't there been quite a bit of construction on Union Tpke in Kew Gardens near the Van Wyck of late?

Why not give the transportation delay form? What's the big deal?  But phone records? Why not get the phone records of the school. Surely their bill has numbers of who is calling in. 

I told the principal I would look up my cell phone record..I asked them for the dates..I have one date and the call..the other one I"m not so sure..and I also never knew about a 'transportation delay form'..but if they want to go 'legal' go right ahead. Both latenesses were under 30 minutes.

 These people don't want anyone to know of the OP201 form.

Payroll secretary lambasted me in front of the staff in the office again..screaming..Everyday it's something else with you..I'm like..you really need to chill out..I"m asking you about my timekeeping..you put in 29 minutes as 'unauthorized' absence on my CAR..I showed her the print out..and it blew her feeble mind apart.

Yeah chill out! Here's the thing. The secretaries take on the personality of  the principals. Of course if you come to a school for 5 days you are not into the flow of things there and need to go to the one other person besides the custodian who knows what is happening in the school. 

But how is 29 minutes get you docked for the day??

 But why not got to the CL of the building? Some comments of the CL from time spent in the building.

union rep who I reported to the UFT office for telling me that I'm a 'guest' at his school and he 'doesn't have to represent me'

I had already been ranked out by the UFT chapter chair in the school earlier.

No wonder ATR's need their own chapter. ATR's, reach out to James Eterno for advice and assistance. He is an ATR, ran for delegate at the school he was assigned to and won! He is fighting for the ATR's to have their own functional chapter. He's a real mensch and it'll be good to talk to someone.
  
This stuff has got to stop. The union and it's leadership is enabling this crap.  

A sorority has grown at MS 72 in Jamaica, Queens. The mean girls are in control and the un-mean girls on on the outside looking in.

Principal Omotayo Cineus has seemingly split the school in two. Those who belong to the correct sorority and those that never have been sorority sisters.

With the school shrinking due to the growth of co-located Redwood Middle School choices needed to be made. Who to keep and who to let go. Obviously, this can be done honestly and easily by following the UFT contract of last in, first out. But what is one to do when the principal and the last in are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha and veteran teachers stand in their way?

You juke the data. Teachers who have been at MS 72 for decades have suddenly been rated ineffective or developing. You deny teachers who have yet to be tenured time after time after time after time and then you rate them developing or ineffective.

Some of the targeted teachers are special ed teachers dealing with the most challenging students. But is this not what one wants when dealing with such students? Yet it is too easy to find fault, especially if you are not a Kappa.

But what does Principal Cineus say about this? To the non-tenured teachers who are about to be discontinued she tells them, our colleagues, teachers with families, bills, health concerns, that hey she'll swear she fought for these teachers with the superintendent but someone screwed up, the tenure papers were lost!

How can something that had never been submitted been lost?

Cineus, according to our sources at MS 72 went out of her way to hire Kappas. Faculty meetings seemed more like rush week or a toga party with inside jokes, secret sayings, and perhaps the odd handshake. As of press time no reports about any pledge pins.

Cineus and her untenured newbie sorority sisters went to meetings and conventions together and made a show of it all when they got back to work.

The Crack Team curious, asked if there was any hazing happening at MS 72. According to sources there was none, but several commented that denying tenure to the deserved and giving it to Kappas could be seen as hazing.

The teachers at MS 72, you all are up against Doug Neidermeyer, Greg Marmalard, and their leader, Dean Wormer. You all are Delta House. You need a Bluto moment. Hang in there!  

What does it take for a principal to be disciplined like a teacher? Real discipline, like the Rubber Room,
facing 3020-a charges, humiliation, etc...?

Principals have been in the news quite a bit the last month and we here at SBSB have perused and aggregated the latest news stories of principals and ask the question, "What does it take?"

We thought this to be quite interesting question as we read in the New York Post just moment ago how Principal of William Cullen Bryant High School, Namita Dwarka (check out this blog devoted to her!), in Queens allegedly falsely labeled as not proficient in English so they will get extra time on their exams and ostensibly make Ms Dwarka look better. This is the same Namita Dwarka who had issues back in October (here and here). Heck, on the WCB High website, Dwarka is quoted as saying;

"As we embark on our 'Relentless Quest for Excellence,' it is my vision that we work collaboratively in a warm, safe teaching and learning environment"

Meanwhile in the Bronx, a student is dead, another in jail, two families are devastated, all because Principal of IS 177, Delise Jones, was empowered, disempowered, or just didn't care to give the boy being bullied and the suspect in the murder case a safety transfer. According to the Post, Jones told the father the day before the murder;

"the school year was almost over and it was too late to do anything."

This coming from a woman that a state audit said;

"...should be re‐-evaluated . . . If necessary, changes should be made, or a mentor principal could be assigned to the school in order to model the qualities of an effective instructional leader.”

 Of course, Greta Hawkins and her anti-Americanism is in the news again. This time threatening pre-K teachers with insubordination if 4 year olds sang the "Star Spangled Banner," (Someone should notify some tea baggers) and claiming she has "protection," of a higher source.

Principal, Antonio K’Tori, of PS 15 in Queens who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past is now apparently set his sights on older, male, Jewish teachers and banished one to the closet.

And lastly we have Judy Henry of Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School pissing off the parents. Henry is accused of;

"misallocation of funds that were assigned to extracurricular activities," and, among other concerns, "exhibiting unprofessional conduct towards students."

So what does it take? We can look at Annie Schmutz Seifullah of the Robert Wagner Secondary School of Arts and Technology and Jennifer Rogers of PS 29 in College Point as just two of the quite few examples of a principal being held accountable. Or are they the exceptions to the rule? The old scuttlebutt is that anything short of murdering someone a principal will just be promoted.

Beat a kid? Get shuffled to a cushy desk job. Lie? Hey, that qualifies for a 9-3 job at Tweed with summers off. Steal monies? Hey, why not become a principal trainer. You can train close personal friends. Doctor official records? How about representing the DOE at conventions in Las Vegas with all expenses paid.

But, if you are a teacher, things are different.

Accused of corporal punishment? Summary execution in the yard with commentary from FOX NEWS. Short changed the cashier in the school cafeteria? Next day front page of the Post and Yoav Gonan tracking down your 3rd grade girlfriend to dig up dirt. Fart incorrectly? Called down to the 84th precinct where a cavity search is performed on you and then transferred to Central Booking for 3 days.

This blaming of the teachers and teachers unions for all that ails education must cease at once.

Think of teachers as waiters at a fine restaurant. We don't get to choose the menu. We don't pick the ingredients. No, those jobs are up to the owners and the chefs at the restaurants. But like a waiter, when there is a fly in the soup who gets blamed? Yep, you guessed it.

Just like when Commander Riker (Damn! I must stop these Star Trek analogies!) was given the powers of the Q, Captain Picard knew it right away, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

We are living through Imperial principalships(sp?)now and we have just scratched the surface of the corruption and incompetency of NYCDOE principals. There is without a doubt much more and much more despicable scandals to come. There needs to be a Nixon like scandal to bring balance back to the force of the DOE (Dang! Star Wars analogy!).

Look for it. It will be a doozy!

This is from the files of you can't make this sh** up.

The following anectodals are from a middle school  in Queens. The principal is from the Leadership Academy.

The Crack Team received these anectodals this afternoon and immediately were repulsed at what this teacher has endured over the years. The lack of support and day in and day out harassment is more than anyone can endure.

We decided to only change the names of both students and staff but decided not to redact any of the foul language used. We here at SBSB felt that if we redacted the language the impact would lessen. We want our readers to be as shocked an appalled as we are.

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