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?

So the Richard Carranza is claiming there isn't any more fat to trim from the budget.
Meanwhile, schools might have to go without art, music, supplies, and teachers.

But let's just look at the Office of the Chancellor. Carranza has a chief of staff, assistant chief of staff, two special assistants, and an executive assistant.

Carranza has we know pulls in the big bucks at $352,763. Think he can take a $150k pay cut? Yeah, probably won't cause much of a dent in the budget but at least it'll look good.

Carranza's chief of staff, Edie Sharp has a sweet gig. According to SeethroughNY she brings in $187,028. Edie has zero background in education.

 Update #2 4/20/20 I accidentally deleted this post and now re-posting and re-posting original comments but those comments will be listed as today. 

Update#1 4/20/20 The Crack Team erroneously believed Mulgrew never commented on the budget cuts but found he had last week in the Post.


So cuts to the DOE's budget are on it's way. James Eterno went right to the horses mouth here. Meanwhile, what do we get from 52 Broadway? Thus far? Crickets chirping. Yes, Mulgrew did comment, but we here at SBSB believe it was the wrong forum to comment.

We also got a nice video giving us a pat on the back as well as health care workers. Nice.

But what of the silence lack of sharing with the rank and file emanating from 52 Broadway on budget cuts. Some of them, to be truthful, who cares. But there are several places within the DOE that can be cut and should be cut. Tweed, 65 Court St, Zerega Ave, Fordham Plaza, and whatever other borough support places there are.

How much redundancy are there at these places? How much dead wood? How many unqualified people are there?

For instance, likes take a gander at former chief of staff for Deputy Chancellor Cheryl Watson Harris, Sean Corlett.

I had the unfortunate experience of teaching with Sean for two years. Sean could not control a classroom. Sean could barely teach. Sean came to the DOE through Teach for America. Sean showed how much he cared for the students of the Bronx by doing his minimum two years and then somehow got a gig at Tweed back in 2013.

Sean did excel at two things, though. Kissing ass and throwing other teachers in his grade under the bus. In retrospect, one can say he is eminently qualified to work at Tweed.


Check out Sean's LinkedIn page. In 2013 he started his rise at Tweed as...
and listed the cuts

 Education Officer - Career Development, Teacher Recruitment and Quality

Whatever that is?

But Sean made great money. According to SeethroughNY Sean made some good scratch the last two years.

Not bad? Ass kissing and being a rat will take you far.

But Sean is a symptom of the monies being spend by the DOE. But yet Tweed and Court St will remain bloated as cut are made to the school and what we hear from 52 Broadway will just be feigned shock.

Instead of showing good time happy commercials, there should be commercials explaining to the stakeholders of the DOE how much will be cut from their children's education and how the DOE is bloated up top. Seize the initiative. This is the time to do it. As people are losing their jobs and the have no idea what the future holds, now is the time to show how the upper echelon of the DOE is spending THEIR money. Get out ahead of the story UFT and be proactive!! Ask yourself WWPLD (What Would Pat Lynch Do) if the NYPD faced these cuts?

We know that the cuts that DeBlasio came out with can and will change. But wouldn't it be nice that our union shows us, the stakeholders, that they are on top of things?

Praise be to God Sean Corlett is no longer with the DOE having left in February for NYU. Godspeed to those who work with him.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'll criticize the UFT when I must and praise it when I should. I will support the always support the union, and I will support the UFT against any outside agitators any time, any where.

Having said that, I will also admit when I unfairly criticize the UFT as I did yesterday (Updated today with correction). Mulgrew spoke with the Post rightly upset and indigent about the proposed cuts. We here at SBSB did not do our due diligence and several members of The Crack Team have been summarily disciplined.

But I still stand by what I said in how I believe the union should react to the budget cuts. That I will not waiver on. It is time the UFT takes off the kid gloves. Stop with the crap line, "Well, at least we have a seat at the table." Yeah right, I had a seat at the table, the kids table until I turned 13 at Passover. That's the table we--as a union--have sat ourselves at time and time again.

Mulgrew says that the DOE..."according to its own filing with the state, the New York City school system spends more than $6 billion every year on central administration...To the extent that DOE cuts become necessary, that’s the first place the city should be looking,”

Show us, Mike. Without naming names (for now) show every position with every salary and how every redundant job there is. Go a step further, break down every position to whether or not a union or non-union position. Which positions are at will? Which positions do those serve at the pleasure of the mayor and/or the chancellor? Which positions, in the opinion of a blue ribbon panel put together by the UFT, are filled by completely unqualified suck ups?

Once as something like mentioned above is complete, take the information and with membership, the city council, and the DOE and then be gone of the dead wood. If that doesn't work, then name names to rank and file, the press and the stakeholders.

You know what else Mulgrew can do? Demand that the chancellor, all the deputy chancellors, first deputy super duper secret supervisory executive grand poobah chancellors, all the superintendents, all the deputy superintendents take across the board temporary pay cuts post haste! And lest we forget, all the other at will hangers on at Tweed like the useless chiefs of staff.

After that is done go over each and every contract with each and every vendor with the DOE with a fine tooth comb. Time to prune that gravy train. Again, look for the redundancies. Look for the questionable contracts that someone somewhere is getting a kickback. Renegotiate all contracts with all vendors. Get a better price.

These are just some ideas that we have been kicking around here at SBSB. There are plenty more and The Crack Team is hard at work, staying up late and will share ideas as they come out. 

Lastly, the UFT needs to come out ahead of the curve. Be proactive 24/7. Show Mulgrew with the stakeholders. Make commercials with Mulgrew telling the communities that it is the UFT and not the DOE that cares most about the students. That the UFT is dead set against any draconian cuts and that first and foremost the DOE must shed dead wood. Mulgrew must now seize the opportunity to go into communities and meet with families and listen to them. Show people how much the UFT truly cares (There are so many fine decent people I know personally at the UFT that I believe will be on board in each community to facilitate this).

Hold pressers in front of Tweed with parents and students by Mulgrew's side lambasting the waste coming out of Tweed. Take the show to 65 Court St and do the same. And then to each and every borough support center or whatever it is called nowadays.

Grab the DOE by it's balls and don't let go. It'll be hard work but it will pay off on the long run. An opportunity like this might never come again.

David Arnold Hay

I'm back. Oh, and Happy New Year. I've been on the disabled list for about a month and returning Monday.

So what's been happening?

It seems that those in charge at Tweed have yet another perv on their hands. Back in 2009 on this blog is was reported how former Network Leader and in charge of something at Tweed DR Mychael Willon had been arrested of lewd and lascivious behavior and sexual assault in a Wichita KS, adult book store. Both charges are misdemeanors and Willon pled No Contest. Yes, he never should have been hired by the DOE but he was basically caught rubbing one out where he shouldn't have.

More appalling is the latest news that David Arnold Hay, Deputy Chief of Staff for Ass Kissery to Chancellor Carranza was arrested this past weekend in Wisconsin for Use of a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime. Hay was feeling a bit horny one night and instead of having the common decency like DR Mychael Willon to politely rub one out decided instead to cruise for underage boys online. Using a computer in the way the Hay had is a Class C felony in Wisconsin and carries a penalty of a fine up to $100k or up to 40 years in prison or both. Let's hope that Hay spends a full forty years in prison and is passed around frequently for a pack of Newports. Schmuck. Has a $169k a year job and blows it for being horny.

The Neenah WI police arrested Hay, and his arrest is part of a continuing investigation looking for online pervs.

According to the New York Times, Hay, who was previously a principal in two Wisconsin High Schools...

...took a leave of absence from his job as a high school principal in the Kettle Moraine School District in suburban Milwaukee in late 2010, and left that job in early 2011, citing differences with the district’s superintendent, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Like DR Mychael Willon, Hay has bounced around several school districts himself

Why did he leave these schools? Think about this. Hay is arrested over the weekend cruising for teen boys online. In Wisconsin. His home state. Where he feels comfortable. Do not think for one minute this happened in a vacuum. You can be rest assured that not only has Hay had proclivities for teen boys for some time but it would surprise no one that he has acted out on such desires.

The DOE needs to go back with a fine tooth comb and see when and where Hay was, whom he was with, and which age groups he consorted with the most. If he had any contacts with teen boys, that group should checked into pronto.

David Hay's mistake his that he wasn't a DOE principal. That way he would not have been fired and would have been promoted to some cushy gig in Tweed.

With DC 37 caving into the City and setting a pattern with a 7.42% raise over 44 months that's what it looks like UFT members will get once we get a new contract.

The Crack Team has gotten together and is willing to endorse such a pay raise but the support is conditional. Conditional upon what The Crack Team wants in return. This shall be known as The Crack Team's contract demands.

All ATRs must be placed. Not force placed, but rather intelligently placed. Each to the best of their abilities and each to a school in which the ATR can thrive and work in an environment that is conducive to the growth of said ATR and the school's students.

End Fair Student Funding. Mulgrew has said that the UFT cannot bargain budgetary demands. The Crack Team calls bullocks! When there is a will there is a way.

Bye-Bye Monday PD. A complete waste of time. There is no real professional development occurring.  I'd much rather watch hours upon hours of Kathy Griffin.

ATRs must be observed and rated as per diem substitutes are. In lieu of all ATRs being placed, ATRs must be treated as the DOE sees us. As nothing more than substitutes. Treat us the same way.

End Field Supervisors. If the above is impractical than do away with the field supervisors. Create with the UFT a truly transparent and fair method of observing and rating the ATRs. However the guiding philosophy must still be Teaching for the 21st Century.

Two observations per year for tenured teachers. I'm getting tired of meeting teachers from all over New York State and looking at their faces as I share with them we have 4 observations.

Bye-Bye Danielson. 'Nough said.

Discipline must be scaffolded. The contract states a "Counseling Memo." How often is a counseling memo used? All discipline at the school level should and must begin with a counseling memo. Too much mundane bullshit is settled with a letter to the file.

Clearly define what one needs to attain tenure. Too often now newb teachers are left in the lurch with subjective decisions on whether or not they will receive tenure.

All letters to file can be grieved. This was an injustice was this ended. Not being able to grieve all letters to the file just gave principals the ability to pile on the mundane crud.

Ability to face your accuser. Principals testifying by telephone? So much is missed when one can't see body language.

Principals held accountable. It is time that these principals are treated and subjected to the same methods as teachers are. Principals who are sued should stop being indemnified.

Bye Bye lawyers. Better uses for these lowest of pond scum can be put to better use by keeping the Trumps out of prison.

Bye bye 75% of the dead weight at Tweed and 65 Court St. McDonald's has been using computers to place orders. Stop and Shop has more self check out registers than manned ones. It's all the same.

Supply all ATRs with M&M's. Once a month all ATRs receive a bowl of M&M's, but there is a caveat. No bowl shall contain blue M&M's (Thanks to Van Halen for that idea).

If these demands are enacted (And any others I have missed) The Crack Team can live with the shitty raise.

I have been thinking about this Fair Student Funding for some time and how it affects ATR's.

On Monday, Chaz wrote a blog piece on how FSF "shortchanges students" and the DOE does diddly. As does the UFT. He used a recent Chalkbeat article that more or less explained how FSF came into being and how it works. Of course I take anything Chalkbeat blabbers about with a grain of salt but I have to admit, it was enlightening.

First, I am not buying the age discrimination angle some False Prophet dressed as a clown claims. Yeah, there might be some, but after reading the Chalkbeat article, in my opinion, proving age discrimination short of smoking gun, will be extremely, extremely difficult to prove. But alas, there are many followers that enjoy the Kool-Aid and will follow blindly until...well maybe there is no "until."

But here is a simple way to get ATR's hired that myself and The Crack Team put together.

Now as we know, an ATR making max salary (I forget what it is top of my head, but I am just going to use $100k for this post) is doing a damn fine job, likes the school and both the ATR and principal are in synch, and the principal really wants this ATR on board.

The ATR's salary will come out of the school budget. Now getting hired in the middle of the year is tough enough, what with the budget having already been spent. The following year, who knows? Will the school receive less monies? Maybe more but not enough monies?

The ATR at $100k is kind screwed. As well as the students and community of that school.

So the ATR is rotating to and fro not being able to do what they do best but rather be a glorified substitute. Just being wasted away.

But of course Tweed, in all it's glorified, illogical, infinite wisdom continues to pay this ATR $100k per year.

But the ATR can't be hired because the school lacks the funds to hire said ATR. Bear with me, I'm getting to the point.

The school gets it's monies from, care to guess? Yep, you are right. The school gets it's monies from Tweed. The same dolts that are paying the ATR $100k a year to do lunch duty, file papers, teach Latin when that ATR has a common branch license, etc... You get my point right?

Here is how we fix it. Kinda Charter School Style© (Just in case the UFT decides to use this idea.  I, and The Crack Team, can get royalty checks).

The money follows the teacher. Tweed gives the money for that ATR's salary to the specific school. Case closed. Problem solved. Everyone is happy. Tweed reduces it's self-created embarrassment of ATR's, a principal gets a darn good teacher, the students get a darn good teacher, the ATR is happy, and there will be less teachers are anti-anxiety medications.

It makes sense. Both the school's budget and the money Tweed spends on ATR's comes from well. It's like when my wife tries to bet me money. She thinks I am wrong about something, she says, "I'll bet you $100." I say, "No, that's illogical. that $100 comes from our money. You or I have access to that $100 no matter what. Bet me breakfast in bed for a month or something like that."  Can't tell you how many times I have had breakfast in bed. ;)

The Crack Team believes that this method is the best, and most adult, method to solve the inanity of this ATR issue.

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.

 All of us get lost in the darkness/Dreamers learn to steer by the stars/All of us do time in the gutter/Dreamers turn to look at the cars--Peart, Neil 1989

I have this habit of waking up at 5 AM and checking my phone for the latest emails and news. When I clicked on the NY Post app on my phone I saw and read a story about Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, the principal of the Teachers College Community School had killed herself back in April on the same day that someone at her school reported her she had cheated on the standardized tests.

The first thoughts on my mind, as well as condolences, go out to her family and friends. This was a needless, senseless death that never should have been. She is someone's wife, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend, principal, teacher, etc... No one has won here except Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Fariña.

As I lay in bed thinking of this, my thoughts went back five years to a teacher in Los Angeles, Rigoberto Ruelas, a teacher that suddenly found himself ineffective due to a Los Angeles Times reporter, Jason Felch becoming the story and not reporting on the story. Rigoberto after he was outed by Felch, committed suicide.

I know there are some out there who no matter what would see this death as some type of vindication towards their goals but I do not. This death if nothing should bring all educators in New York City and New York State closer together and fight as one against the marauders of education in Albany and at Tweed. For whatever Ms Worrell-Breeden has been accused of doing it did not happen in a vacuum and was completely avoidable.

The pressure from Albany as well as from Tweed to more or less tie everyone's job, their pay, their  own self worth to whether or not that person can be the next coming of someone's fantasy teacher that only exists in the movies is an impossible ladder to climb for almost anyone. God only knows what was going through Ms Worrell-Breeden. Not only to allegedly cheat, but worse, once confronted with this information, to jump in front of an oncoming B train and kill herself.

This sick, unrealistic method, test, test, test, punish, punish, terminate, embarrass, ostracize, method of educating children and evaluating teachers must end and end soon or we will have many more Jeanene Worrell-Breeden's.

Last Sunday night we were in Corning NY and had dinner with another couple. The wife, who I won't mention, is very prominent in BATs and the AFT. Both her and her husband on two of the most real people I have ever met in my life. In the many topics of discussion that evening we touched on what teachers need and what can or should be done for them.

There are false prophets seeking false profits preying off the backs of teachers that are down to their last act of strength in fighting back against the same forces that Jeanene Worrell-Breeden was fighting.

What support are they given? "Oh here, this is how you file this." Or, "This is what you do when this happens to you." Maybe they get a, "You need to do this." But this is the simple advice.

Now mind you I am all for fighting back and blowing the whistle. But the trick that I learned so long ago is not everyone when they need to fight back can or wants to.

Sometimes the best thing one can do is just to be there. Someone to be there for that teacher to have a shoulder to cry on, someone for that teacher to vent to, someone for that teacher to divert their mind from their troubles. I doubt Jeanene Worrell-Breeden had someone like this. Or someone who could tell her she could have fought back. But the trick between being supportive and being one who can lead someone to fight is a fine line and one must have the EQ to know what is the difference and which one to use.

Teachers and principals are sick if this. Yeah, I said principals. How about this? Educators are sick of this pressure. If we, not them, but WE, do not start supporting one another the best way we can for each and every educator and stop from projecting our ways of settling old scores onto them we will be just as guilty to their emotional and physical demise as the powers that be in both Albany and Tweed.

False hope needs to end immediately to teachers walking the precipice. The testing pressure, the culture needs to end.

The whistleblower did the right thing. For some reason Ms Worrell-Breeden thought she was doing the right thing. But neither of them are to blame for her death. The people to blame are the ones hiding behind the dollars and the sense of self-importance and self-righteousness they have.

I do not want to hear of anymore educator suicides. Enough is enough.

It will and can get better.

For those that remember, DTOE sponsored it's first rally today in front of Tweed calling for the
abolition of the dependence of lawyers at the DOE. A good time was had by all and The Crack Team will like to thank master of ceremonies Francesco Portelos for putting this all together.

I was tasked with handing out leaflets to the growing crowd of people curious in what the group had to say. At first the passers by refused to accept any leaflets. They seemed to be busy going elsewhere but their body language showed that they really did care but didn't have the time to chat.

That was until we came across a family from Germany.

This family, a mom, dad, sister and brother, were walking in front of Tweed when I, and others, struck up a conversation with them about the the state of education in Germany. The language barrier was difficult seeming that their English, except the mom's, was so-so and the only German I knew was gleamed off of "Hogan's Heroes."

After some banter and sharing with the family how the Untied States will wipe the flow with Germany in next Monday's Group match in the World Cup, their 21 year old son agreed to answer some questions about German education and be videoed for posterity.



Notice anything? Our German friend shared with us that Germany does not rely on standardized tests for it's students and even though he did not understand what the word respect (respektieren in German) he shared with us that teachers are treated well in Germany.

More shocking, when asked what makes a good teacher, the young man alluded to that teachers have autonomy in the classroom and was shocked and dismayed that teacher's get punished for not being perfect.

They promised to go back to Germany and share the plight of NYC teachers and teachers throughout the United States.

Oh one more thing. Off camera they agreed that the NYCDOE does need a spring cleaning and that there are way too many lawyers employed at Tweed.

Come one, come all to the;

 NYCDOE SPRING CLEANING RALLY!

This Tuesday, June 10, 2014 from 4:30-5 PM EDT in front of the Tweed Courthouse on Chambers St. (Take 4, 5, or 6 to City Hall or A train to Chambers St.)

Endorsed by DTOE, MORE, Change the Stakes, and the Badass Teacher's Association.

The hundreds of lawyers hired by the Bloomberg administration are still ensconced at the DOE. Isn't it time the look for jobs in the private sector?

Show up, meet The Crack Team and tell them Frank Sinatra Jr sent you and get a glass of wine on the house!

As the clock is ticking down to when all mayhem is about to take place across the State of New York, we here in the suburbs seems rather calm, as I am sure the rest of the state is.

Of course the rest of the state are not the 5 boroughs of New York City in which we have been told that the sky is about to fall and soon rioting will commence throughout the Empire State?

What is causing all this? Of course it is the release of the state exam scores 4 months after they were administered and 3 1/2 weeks before school begins, tomorrow, August 7.

John King, Grand Poobah of the NYSED said;

“Scores are expected to be significantly lower than the 2011-’12 scores,” he wrote, adding that principals should use the scores “judiciously” when making decisions about whether to fire teachers.

“People are freaking out at Tweed,” said the agency official, who asked to remain anonymous. “They’re trying to find a way to spin the scores so it doesn’t look so bad.”

Oh the fun does not stop in District 7 in the Bronx. The New York Post reported today that District 7, as the behest of Community Education Council (one wonders whose behest they are working for), that 17 elementary schools in District 7 sill no longer be zoned schools, but rather open to all students within the district.

Said Nedya Franco, the D7 CEC president;

“We feel that it can’t get any worse, because we’re failing. So we have to do something that’s going to change the whole spectrum of our district, now [principals] have to prove what you have in the building and you have to bring students in. We feel there’s more accountability.”

Yes, that word, accountability, and a good dose of competition. Right? WRONG!!!!

This is what it boils down to. The schools that perform well, or at least appear to perform well, will cream the best students District 7 has to offer. The rest of the schools, will get the students from homes in which education is not taken seriously, students that are behavior problems, students that are struggling, and students that are way behind.

Think of this. Entry into Kindergarten will be akin to what parents on the Upper East Side, The Village, and the Upper West Side go through. There will be interviews of these families and their children, perhaps even tests. The schools will make damn sure that they are only selecting the best and that the best will select them. The resources will follow these students to a few select schools.

What happens to the rest? The rest of the schools will be deemed problem schools, with blame put on  problem teachers. There will be no resources, no curriculum, no nothing. Your child will not get an education at all. Nothing. Nada. Bupkus.

Soon, these "problem schools" will be forced to continuously shut down, with new teachers every few years, and with charter schools forcing themselves into these buildings to yet again take more and more resources away. Less space for the students that are not getting into the charters or the elite of District 7 will mean less building space for an ever growing amount of students that are not welcomed in neither. Who loses at the end? The students and the families.

This is the solution they choose for District 7. Tracy Woodall , the second VP of D7 CEC said that parents;

"were struggling to get their kids out of schools in their area that were failing, and there was nothing they could do.” 

Maybe not, but there is nothing the city is doing. It has been Mayor Bloomberg, and he alone, that has deprived the schools of needed funds and resources. It has been Mayor Bloomberg's lackies at Tweed that have deprived the schools in District 7 of a true curriculum. It has been Mayor Bloomberg and his lackies at Tweed that have deprived the schools of District 7 of any real curriculum.

Parents of District 7, who are being played. Do not believe that City Hall, Tweed, and those at 501 Courtlandt Ave have your best intentions in their hearts. They don't, and never will. Until your voices are heard, things will continue this way.

Think of the book by George Orwell, Animal Farm. "Some schools are more equal than others."

Has it been two weeks since I last sat down and blogged? Apparently so. Too those who have missed my unique take on the happenings of education, I apologize for being away for so long. For those that hate my writings and were glad to see the gap in my blogging, too bad.

The last two weeks have been hectic. I was doing the Math scoring, was house hunting, was driving my son to and fro to baseball games and practice, and plotting my campaign to run for chapter chair. Was coming home exhausted or too late to do anything but to crawl into bed and just vegetate. But to paraphrase Carol Anne, "I'm baaaack!"

And boy am I back with some interesting news which happened a week before my last blog post. Now sit down and get a drink before I share it with you. I'll wait until you do. OK, ready?

April 29, 2012 was just a regular day at PS 154. It was the first day of not worrying about testing and for the first time in months actual learning was happening. The flowers were in bloom, the sky was blue, and all seemed peaceful. That is until our principal went over the PA at 1:15 PM and announced an emergency meeting at the end of the day for all staff in the auditorium. Immediately I knew what it was about, but if I share it now, there would be no further reason for me to blog.

At 4 PM (extended day) we gathered in the auditorium to hear our principal tell us that she had gotten a phone call from the superintendent that morning that that day was to be her last as principal. Now mind you, this was the principal that had replaced the infamous John Deacon (Linda Amil-Irizarry) in May of 2009. Why did this happen? We have no idea and no one is sharing. Should it have happened? I won't say. But I have issues with the way it happened.

Once again, the NYC DOE show how it just does not care about the schools, the communities, the parents, or even, yes I am going to say it, the students. Does the DOE have the right to change principals? Yes it does. Does the DOE ever do it right? No it doesn't, especially when it comes to principals that wish to have sexual intercourse with inanimate objects, cheat on tests, cheat on teacher observations, etc...

What the powers that be failed to do was take into account the parents or the community in this decision. I do not mean asking the parents for their input, but having the decency to contact and share with the PA and to be in the school at dismissal to discuss this with the parents. Also, a letter should have gone home with the students that day sharing the removal of the principal. This would have happened in Scarsdale, Bronxville, or even Riverdale or Forest Hills. But not on 135th St in The Bronx. Why? Because those that are do not give one iota of thought to those that they feel aren't.

I spoke up in the auditorium. I had too. I was not supporting the outgoing or the incoming principal. I only spoke up in support of the great school community and the students. I feel that PS 154 has and is being set up to fail. Three years in a row, the budget has gone down. Two years in a row, we have received C's. We have failed to meet our AYP in ELA last year, and failed AYP in Math for Spec. Ed. and ELL last year. This is not the staff's fault at all! How can a teacher teacher with over 30 kids in their class and several serious behavioral problems? This is not an excuse, this is an explanation and a fact. How can we go forward when students are leaving the school with no education because the only instruction students are receiving are to the tests?

I am not in any way besmirching past or present administration. The fault clearly and will always lie with the nattering nimrods on Chambers St. For Uncle Mike, his sock puppet Dennis Walcott and all those brainless law school educated consultants do not give one shit about the communities and the students. They see only $$$$. They care for only $$$$. And they certainly do not care for the underclass of the city, whatever their skin color is. For Tweed and Uncle Mike feel that it is only the well educated, well developed, well connected, white person that can save little boys and girls of color.

It's time for the parents to rise up now. It is time for the parents to not feel afraid, anxious or scared and take control of their children's schools and their education. They need to say NO to the deformers and YES to education. Only with the parents finally having enough and finally putting a stop to those in power will we as teachers begin to have that voice again as decision makers when it comes to education.

THE TIME IS NOW AGAIN!

We here at SBSB wish to welcome and give a shout out to whomever day in and day out reads the blog. We here at SBSB are quite flattered that this blog is being monitored by some troll with nothing better to do, even on a Saturday afternoon. Keep on coming back, and please, be on the lookout for the SBSB year ending pictorial, "Women of Tweed."

Just several questions for the lurker/troll. Why the continued, in fact bordering on OCD, about David Pakter? That ship has sailed. Also, why as the lurker/troll did yesterday, google Nicole Suriel? Why on August 5th was Betsy Combier googled?

Just remember stranger mysterious lurker/troll you are more than welcomed to leave any comments you so desire.

Please click to enlarge.

Tweed, or the ATU or a lot of lawyers and investigators at Tweed seem to have a fascination with this blog. Particularly last Monday when David Pakter was supposed to be featured on Channel 2 and the posting "Thanks For Nothing Pablo." Who in particular?

Taejong Kim
Karen Antoine
Julianne Newman
Eduardo Miyashiro
Norris Knowles
Elsa Hampton
Nancy Ryan
Laura Brantley
Jordana Shenkman
Susan Jalowski
Rachel Collins
Cheryl A. Smith
Shari Ferguson

And of course the big man himself....
MARVIN POPE

Just have a look see (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

Get your minds out of the gutter. Sickos. Think exposing only means one thing. Well keep it to your mind. The exposing I meant was it is time to reveal all those cryptic little doo-dads I have been leaving at the end of each post for a week or so. But let's review.

What do J D Salinger, Andy Kaufman, Thomas Pynchon, Brian Wilson, Prudence, Doris Day, and Bill Waterson all have in common? Anyone figure it out? They are all famous recluses. Yes, even Andy Kaufman. I don't care what is said I still believe he is alive and well and having a great laugh. Does this make be mentally unfit?

But you may ponder to yourself, what does this mean to me. Why references to recluses, and eccentric recluses at that. The reason is............

That basically what our principal is. A recluse. A John Deacon (recluse bassist of Queen). Hiding out in the principal cave delegating powers to know nothing Numb Nuts. Fiddling as the school falls apart. Hoping beyond hope that if problems are not dealt with they will go away. John Deacon has failed elsewhere and now our school, a school of wonderful teachers, wonderful students, wonderful parents is being flushed down the toilet into a cesspool reeking of incompetence created by John Deacon. A student clearly states that he wishes to blow up the school? Should 911 be called, NYPD come in? NO! We need to help the student feel better, give him self esteem. He can't go outside for two weeks. F*** that!

John Deacon thinks John Deacon is above state law, chancellor's regulations and what is best for the students. And those that enable John Deacon, and those that blindly follow John Deacon are nothing but drones who have drank the Kool-Aid and are just as complicit in short changing the students. But Tweed doesn't care. Because Tweed doesn't believe in Children First.

Sorry Piggy. It'll get better.

Pay attention. Dig the song, dig the meaning.

Remember the olden days of the DOE? Well, not the DOE, the BOE, pre-2003. Come around children and listen to a story about the days when things were not quite right, and things were not quite wrong. All depends on how you look at issues. Like is the glass half empty or half full.

There used to be thirty two districts, and thirty two school boards in the City of New York. In a sense there still is. Yes there were lots of problems. School boards traveling to Hawaii on special educational junkets, principal jobs gotten for $10,000 in small bills inside a small envelope, rampant cronyism, lack of accountability. Hey these were problems. I admit it, and a band aid wasn't the salve to heal the problem.

So along comes Il Duce Bloomy. He knows how to resolve the problem. Mayoral control. OK, why not. So he convinces Albany to give him all the power to control the schools. He goes out looking for a Mini-Me and find Joel "The Animal" Klein. Mini Me wishes to streamline the DOE, get rid of waste, etc... OK still going along. What does Mini Me do? He breaks up the system into ten regions by combining districts. Each region now has about 100-120 schools. Makes sense. Lets take a district with 20-30 schools and make it bigger. But then he makes the regions smaller by having schools in a "network" with an Local Instructional Superintendent. But this LIS is then another layer of bureaucratic feces. And this LIS needs to be paid as well as he staff. Figure about ten LIS to a region times ten. I will let you the reader do the math.

But the big things now are in centralized locations further away from the people they serve. If you are a parent who lives on 125th St and Lexington Ave you know must travel all the way downtown to 28th St to get help. Makes sense so far? Oh I am sure it does in some warped way. Oh yeah before I forget there is still a figurehead Superintendent in each district along with some kind of weakened Jedi Council and each school now has a paid parent's advocate. Does anyone see the saving of money so far? Or at least the multiple layers added on?

Each region has it's own personnel office, support, etc... I guess that is where the saving came from. Too many duplicated jobs throughout the districts. Hey I am down with that. I can dig it. But now instead of serving a small amount of schools these people are over extended and serve many schools. Highly illogical.

So what happens two years ago? Everything is broken up again! No we have schools that belong to nobody because they are empowered. The LIS doesn't work for the DOE, but works for and serves at the pleasure of the principals in the network. Not only do you have the principals drunk with power, but the people who are supposed to be watching them, keeping an eye on them are paid by the principals themselves. Are these LIS' loyalty to principals or the students? The fox is watching the hen house.

Now there are LSO's, DSO, Essos I can't keep track. But what I can keep track of is how the system is getting further away from serving the needs of the students and the families in the community. There were strong support staffs in the DO's and they were there to assist the schools with professional development at the drop of a hat. If a parent had an issue that parent knew exactly where to go and whom to see. Where is the after school PD that you used to see. It is gone. Where are the staff developers who lectured at conferences and were experts in their fields. Now their are "coaches" who are training teachers after five years of teaching themselves. Coaches? I was expecting Don Zimmer when I heard this.

How is this better way better? Who does it serve? I think it serves the consultants we keep on hearing about at Tweed. A lot of "keep busy" work for them and the cronies that hire them.

All we have now is the captain of the Titanic rearranging the deck chairs while the ship be sinking.

What a cool sounding acronym. ATR (Absent Teacher Reserve). It just oozes coolness like some old rock band. In fact that is that some of these teachers should do, form a rock band and call themselves ATR. They will be up there in the pantheon of acronyms with CSN, ELO, ELP, GTR. I mean they certainly do have the time to rehearse and tour.

In the old days there was the seniority transfer. Basically a list came out in the spring of anticipated openings that were not filled by appointed or tenured teachers and presto, you could just take the job away from that teacher. The contract of 2005 I believe eliminated that and gave us the Open Market Transfer. OK fair enough. I could see the principals point of view on this. You do not want someone you don't know or want in your school.

So how does this Open Market Transfer work? Between April and the beginning of August you go online to the DOE website and find openings that are anticipated in the entire city. You can look by district, school, borough, specialty, license area, etc... Once you find the schools you are interested in there is a form in which to send by email your resume and a cover letter and then you wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait some more.

But only if you have many years in the system. I don't know what the cut off point is in years in which you won't even be acknowledged by the recipient principal. Two years ago a colleague of mine applied to about eight schools through the OMT. What he teaches very few in the city could teach well, he has a Masters in this field, and came with many recommendations. Guess how many responses he got? If you say more than zero you are wrong. He got nothing, nada, zippo. But not just because he makes too much money.

Oops, added CCR to the list above!

The problem is, and this is for most teachers who are ATR's, is that these teachers think to independently. To paraphrase Ayn Rand, "hold your head above the crowd, they going to bring you down." You really think a principal wants to deal with someone who is confident in themselves? NO WAY! They want someone young, someone they can mold, someone they can manipulate, someone they can instill fear in.

Where are these types of teachers found? Through Teach for America and the Teaching Fellows. Hey don't get me wrong, a lot of these teachers are excellent. But I see a lot from East Nowheresville, USA and all they want to do is come and live in Manhattan with 4 roommates, and leave after their three years. Gosh, the NYC schools are like the Kansas City Royals. We develop them and they leave to the Yankees (suburbs).

Or you get someone like I encountered several years ago who looked like Dudley Moore, left banking and was placed in a middle school. By the middle of October he was in the corner sucking his thumb and rocking back and forth. Oh but he was a Fellow, he must be good. You know, if memory serves, the students were doing a Native American war dance around him as well. I don't think there was a fire ring though. But don't quote me on this.

Just as aside. My second year teaching we had a teacher who had a Harvard undergrad degree and went to Bank Street College. My principal was so enamored with her pedigree she wanted us to learn from her. She couldn't handle the students, she was gone after Veteran's Day. The teacher, not the principal.

There has to be some middle ground. The contract clearly spells out what must be done with excessed teachers. But change has to come from Tweed. Tweed has to stop teaching the principals on how to skirt rules and regulations.

Hey thought of a great name for a rock band for the people at Tweed. In the spirit of great acronym names I give you FUBAR.