Even though The Kinks are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I have always thought they have never truly gotten their due. If you think about it it The Kinks were at the forefront of Heavy Metal and if you look at their early seventies stuff one might even say the preceded Bowie with all that glam and glitter. 

One of my favorite albums of theirs is "Schoolboys in Disgrace." And one song from that album has some lyrics that really hit home for me, that I feel about this school year and moving forward is "No More Looking Back." 

No more looking back, No more living in the past, Yesterday's gone and that's a fact, Now there's no more looking back. Got to be hard, Yeah, look straight ahead. That s the only way it's going to be

Next year is a new chapter, a new beginning, now more than ever. Just from a personal standpoint that I was not happy with certain things this year at my school. There is now nothing I can do about it. I realize that and I accept it. There are also many positive things about the school I was at this year but sometimes it just best to ride off into the sunset. 

It's also the end of ATRs as we know it. It's going to be a brave new world out there for us. There is a lot of anxiety out there for us. We don't know where we are going or what we will be doing. It would sure be swell if the UFT would have some type of virtual meeting with us. But I understand, after listening to Mike Mulgrew at the DA today, that there are lots of other stuff going on. I know they don't have all the answers now, but sometimes just touching base show caring and acknowledging our feelings. 

But we as ATRs must look ahead and not to the past. We need to go forward. It's just easier to go forward than just spinning our wheels or looking backwards. 

In a perfect world the UFT, the ATRs, and the DOE should have worked together to find everyone a good fit.

We here at SBSB would like to publicly thank The Kinks Ray Davies for allowing us the use of lyrics from 1981's song Destroyer. Some lyrics didn't mesh with the subject matter.

Well, well, well, guess who is at it again sending unsolicited emails to principals? Anyone care to guess?

Yes, it is Francesco Portelos! Even after being outed on these pages for sending unsolicited emails he continues to do it, this time to the principal of Flushing High School (Click to enlarge).


Met a girl called Xena and I went to her FB page
Feelin' proud, feelin' strong, but I'm taking bogarting everywhere
Stop! Hold on. I'm in control

Yes, this was posted on the ATR Support Group FB page.What happened to the ATR Alliance? It is not more. The one who created, or claims, he created the Facebook page which was set up to give support to ATR's and soon politicized was cast out as an admin. Why? Let's find out.

Disclaimer: All what is used here is with permission. We here at SBSB believe in checking with those and getting the OK before we use their names or private information. 

Xena, I want you to take me back
But I'm really not as cool as I'd like to be

My concerns: Is this the behavior of a potential Union Leader?

2 days ago I questioned the possible repercussion of a letter that Francesco Portelos posted on this ATR Support page. It was a letter that Francesco Portelos sent to a principal on behalf of a teacher who was allegedly being harassed. In my response to his post, I raised my concern that the principal might get angry about the contents of the letter and retaliate by taking it out on that teacher or his/her staff. My concern is, who will be there for the teacher when and if this happens? Crickets… Mr. Portelos ignored my comment. 

Two days letter when Betsy Combier responded to my comment, rather than answer to the concerns that I raised about the teacher, Francesco Portelos went into “Attack Mode”. Francesco Portelos attacked Betsy Combier’s credibility as a Teacher Advocate and accused her of badmouthing him to others.

For those of you who commented throughout the exchange, I appreciate your concern in keeping this page peaceful and focused. It is and has always been my goal to maintain a safe place for ATRs (like myself) to vent, share, exchange and receive support, however, my own privacy and confidence was compromised yesterday when Francesco Portelos went on to publicly reveal information about my personal current status from a conversation that he and I previously discussed in PRIVATE: 

NO! It's deja vu all over again. Portelos putting his own wants and needs before a teacher's and him publicly outing something someone told him in confidence? NO! It can't be. But Xena the Warrior Princess does bring up some rather lucid, salient points. Come on, let's see how classy Portelos responded back to Xena. I betcha you are dying to know. 

Cause there's a red, under my bed
And there's a little yellow man in my head

Francesco Portelos: Xena Warrior Princess When you and I communicate, when I communicate or write with countless members via phone, email etc, when I am out handing out flyers or sending these "backfiring" emails, do you know what I am not doing? Being a father and a husband! Don't tell me about devoting time. You are safely out of the system. When were you in a classroom last? Had you been in one now and under attack I would have still helped you via any means necessary.

Oh boo-hoo. Only Portelos has sacrificed. Boo-hoo. Where the world's smallest violin? We all have to devote the same time the same way as Portelos. Yet, his devotion of time has gotten him 107 members and still has yet to figure out a way to get on the ballot.

As for besmirching Xena, well it's the Portelos modus operandi. 

Xena Continues;
Now I ask, Is this the kind of behavior that one would expect from a leader? (He has turned the attention back on himself while publicly sharing my private and personal status.)

I am hurt, insulted, appalled and shocked by Mr. Portelos behavior. How would you respond if you confided in someone and they used your trust as a weapon against you? As creator of this page, I have tried to remain neutral about publicly expressing my personal choice for Union Leadership so as not to influence anyone’s personal choices. With reservation, I admit that there was actually a period where I supported Solidarity and invited Francesco Portelos to admin this page. After strong input from members who implied to me that Francesco Portelos ‘hijacked’ this group and that it was becoming too strongly associated with Solidarity, his admin status was removed. Here is part of yesterday’s conversation:

Yes, Xena, how can someone who wishes to be the UFT leader behave like this? In fact what is scarier, why are his adherents so blind to this behavior and continue to enable it? 

Hey kids over at Solidarity, Xena figured it out, when will you all?

Portelos delusional, then he spoke feelin' kinda' weird
Xena looked at him and said, "ooh you look so weird."
She said, "man, there's really something wrong with you.

Xena: This letter to administrators concerns me because of the possible further abuse that may be inflicted on the teacher who it is intended to protect. Who will be accountable in case that happens? 

One day he's gonna' self-destruct.

Betsy Combier: I have been told that teachers are being targeted after their name is associated with DTOE or UFT Solidarity. Laurie's concern is valid. 

He's up, he's down down, he can't work it out
He get's a good thing goin' then he blows himself out."

Oh, oh, this can't be good. Teachers getting nailed for Portelos' ego?

Silly boy ya' self-destroyer. Silly boy ya' self-destroyer

Francesco Portelos: Betsy Combier that's not true. I'm sorry that our free advocacy work has hindered your money making advocacy work, but don't spread lies.  

Not true? Prove it. Show the world the thank you letters. Free advocacy from Solidarity? Oh it all comes with a price, Sadly, too many are finding out the price of association with Solidarity only now.

But as for Betsy? I have sent countless, countless people to her for advice and not one time did she turn these people away nor charge them. In August 2013 I and several others met with Betsy at a diner on 2nd Ave for several hours and not once did Betsy ask for a dime and even better, she paid for breakfast. Betsy does not give a rats behind about you. 

You're so insecure you self-destroyer

Francesco Portelos: Xena our emails help people. 

Again, prove it. 

Betsy Combier: I have given my advocacy work away for 12 years, Francesco. You conveniently forget.

Francesco Portelos: What I know Betsy is that people have been telling me that you have been badmouthing me. 

No clue if she is, but hey why not? 

Francesco Portelos: Keep my name out of your mouth please. 

Paranoia, the destroyer
(Here it goes again)
Paranoia, the destroyer

Francesco Portelos: Let's be honest...You do charge money for representation though. That is fine. However if we win and build a stronger union, I think you are afraid you will get less work and thus you are sabotaging us.

A round of applause please for a truly class act. One we can expect will out the members needs before his. Well, until his needs supersedes those of the members. 

I think the opposite is true. With Portelos as UFT President (I know, pigs will fly first) Betsy is truly scared of even more work coming her way.

(Mr. Portelos goes on to say that Ms. Combier’s comment was an attempt to scare people for her own personal gain.)

Doctor, Doctor help me please, I know you'll understand
There's a time device inside of me, I'm a self-destructin' man
And there's a little green man in my head
And he said, "you're not goin' crazy, you're just a bit sad
'Cause there's a man in ya, gnawin' ya, tearin' ya into two."

Francesco Portelos: Think about how this post is 4 days old and Betsy decided to just throw that comment out to scare people. Not coincidence. 

Yes, Betsy having read this four days earlier bide her time lurking in the shadows until exactly four days had passed for the best possible moment to strike on a private closed FB page with roughly 200 people to drum up business for herself. As if Portelos never did something like that. :P

Xena: Betsy was answering to my concern. Who are you to dictate who should and should not answer? 

Xena: Betsy Combier, please do not lower yourself to answering Francesco. The only one who is doing any badmouthing is you Francesco Portelos! This is a support page and my concerns are valid. Do you get permission from the teachers whom you are supposedly defending to write letters to their principals?

Again, no answer. Silence. Jimimy Crickets.

Xena brings up the last point quite well; 

My next question is, did the teacher in question ‘request’ that a letter be sent to his/her principal? Where in this conversation did Francesco Portelos respond with an appropriate answer to the original concern that I raised? Is it becoming of a potential leader to go into attack mode when a member raises a concern? Mr. Portelos quickly went into attack mode rather than answer to my concerns which are STILL concerns.

So why can't Portelos answer whether or not the teacher in question asked for his assistance? What is Portelos hiding? Is Portelos not, as he claims, a man of who won't back down?

If you are a supporter or member of UFT Solidarity and Portelios it is time you open your eyes. There is a pattern here. Think about it, if you dare to speak up, think independently, question his perceived wonderfulness, what would he do to you?

Worse, for Portelos to attack Xena, one of the nicest, sweetest people in DOE goes beyond the pale. I have known her story, both the somewhat public version, and just as importantly the private hell she has gone through for almost 6 years. 

Portelos, how dare you talk to her and about her the way you have. What Portelos has gone through does not compare for one second, one iota what Xena has gone through. Oh yes, we all know that only you have gone through the worse and done the most fighting. You remind everyone every chance you get.

How dare Portelos talk about workplace bullying when time after time, he is the one being the bully.

Portelos, you are a scared little man that for some reason can't function without the accolades and adulation of others.

Portelos, you are self destructing. 

Silly boy ya' self-destroyer.
Paranoia, the destroyer
Self-destroyer, wreck your health
Destroy friends, destroy yourself
The time device of self-destruction
Light the fuse and start eruption

All those who think that Tom Friedman of the New York Times should stop sharing his ignorance about education signal by giving me a "harumph!" Hey, one of you didn't "harumph!"

It's time for Tom Friedman to flatten his flat views of education and go back to what he does best; find a cab driver in some 3rd world country to give him the facts of what is really going on.

Wait, bad idea. He just might find a cab driver here in New York that is a former TFA or E4E suck up and take that person's word for Friedman thinks is wrong with education in this country.

To paraphrase the Kinks, Friedman is;

On planet Earth there is an illusion,
That Tom Friedman's going 'round in a state of confusion.

I picked up yesterday's New York Times and started to read Flat Earth dude's ode to what he doesn't know about education. Of course, he began with the PISA scores.

THE latest results in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which compare how well 15-year-olds in 65 cities and countries can apply math, science and reading skills to solve real-world problems were released last week, and it wasn’t pretty for the home team.

But did Friedman read this? A true comparison with other countries involved in PISA? Gosh, he is a reporter, a columnist, he works for the newspaper that gave the world the truth about the Viet Nam War. Why is he so hellbent wrong?

In today’s hyperconnected world without walls — when more Indians, Chinese, computers, robots and software can perform more average blue-collar and white-collar jobs — the only high-wage jobs are increasingly high-skill jobs.

How can one compete against countries that pay their "middle class workers" a few dollars a day? I'll say it again. My wife has been to MAINLAND China many times on business. The factories OWN their workers. The workers live, breath, everything and anything, for the factories. They live and die there. They eat, get married, and die there. China is government run Capitalism, we can't compare ourselves to them. It's like comparing the Yankees with Manchester United.

Ten years ago a designer like my wife could make over $125k. Now that same designer is lucky to make $60k? Why? Not because those in China are better, but because they are cheaper. My wife knows Photoshop and Illustrator as much as the next person does in China, but she costs more and won't put in 18 hour days. As a country, how can we compete against this?

First, to be in the middle class, they will need to be constantly improving their skills over their lifetime. 

Isn't this the same as it always been? The problem is not the schooling but the culture. No one wants to start off at the bottom anymore. No one wants to grunt it out anymore.

When I was 16 I worked at McDonald's on Central Ave in Hartsdale. All the afternoon, evening, and weekend employees were from the local high schools. Now, a few are. I was happy to make $2.90 an hour and to work my butt off. Now, high school kids look down on McD's.

 And third, countries that thrive the most will be the H.I.E.’s — the high imagination-enabling countries — that attract and enable talent to be constantly spinning off new ideas and start-ups, the source of most new good jobs.

Not happening in the USA with all this testing. Also, not happening here with kids not being kids anymore.

It found that the most successful students are those who feel real “ownership” of their education. In all the best performing school systems, said Schleicher, “students feel they personally can make a difference in their own outcomes and that education will make a difference for their future.”

¡Uno momento por favor Tomas! Is this not what teachers, at least the cool teachers, have been screaming, shouting across your flat earth for quite some time?

“students whose parents have high expectations for them tend to have more perseverance, greater intrinsic motivation to learn.” 

Hmmm, I think what  what Friedman is saying here is that education begins in the home. 

A story if you don't mind. A month ago I received a call from my son's social studies teacher telling me that he was delinquent in several homework assignments and this was affecting his grade. Without dithering, I asked her to keep him in at lunch until the problem was solved. Teacher was happy, son was pissed. Too bad for my son. 

The highest performing PISA schools, he added, all have “ownership” cultures — a high degree of professional autonomy for teachers in the classrooms, where teachers get to participate in shaping standards and curriculum and have ample time for continuous professional development

 But we as teachers are not allowed to think independently. Like a nail sticking up we are hammered down immediately. We are made to teach to a script, listen to a failed software designer explain our jobs, incompetent leaders abound, what then Mr Friedman are we to do?

So teaching is not treated as an industry where teachers just spew out and implement the ideas of others, but rather is “a profession where teachers have ownership of their practice and standards, and hold each other accountable,” said Schleicher. 

FACE PALM TIME!
 
Look below. I copied and pasted. I am not that talented.

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 We’re going through a huge technological transformation in the middle of a recession. It requires a systemic response.

Yeah we are. So why then are the students at PS 154 in the Bronx, my school, using a $250k Mac lab only to use it for ST Math and RAZ Kids? Where is the outrage by NYC Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who generously gave the school the Reso A monies?

But Friedman of course couldn't write a column without a little dig.

Democrats who protect teachers’ unions that block reforms to give teachers more ownership and accountability, and who refuse to address long-term entitlement spending that threatens to deprive us of funds to invest in the young, are harming our future.

Please see the above Picard face-palm above.

There is no escape for the state of confusion that Friedman possess. Whichever way the wind blows is where one will find Friedman bloviating the latest