Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Sunday, December 15, 2013

NY Post's Michael Goodwin Misleads Over De Blasio Chancellor Search

Another Sunday at the NY Post, more lies from NY Post propagandist Michael Goodwin.

Here's the part of the Goodwin column relevant to our topic here at Perdido Street Schools:

Seeking fools for NYC schools

Bill de Blasio is having a hard time getting to yes. Depending on who is counting, as many as three people have turned down an offer to be the new schools chancellor.

The latest “thanks, but no thanks” came from Washington, DC, Chancellor Kaya Henderson. In a letter to her staff squashing rumors she was coming to Gotham, Henderson wrote, “I love DC and I’m not about to leave.”

The mayor-elect should take a hint. Namely, the job isn’t attractive because his agenda aims mostly to keep unions happy. In big ways, that puts de Blasio on the opposite side of the national reform movement, which supports merit pay and teacher evaluations based on student performance.

Instead, the Democrat campaigned on a platform that only opposed things Mayor Bloomberg favors. Because Bloomberg is for charters, de Blasio is against them. Bloomberg closes failing schools, so de Blasio will keep them open. He never actually says how he will improve results.

It’s no coincidence de Blasio’s positions line up with the United Federation of Teachers. None of his ideas will help kids learn, but they will keep the union off his back.

That doesn’t make the job attractive to successful educators. Nor does de Blasio’s push for universal pre-kindergarten if it means protracted political fights over a tax increase. Even if Dollar Bill gets his hike, a new chancellor will face years of classroom squeezes to make room for pre-K students.

Early on, there was talk de Blasio would offer the job to Randi Weingarten, the former head of the UFT who now leads the national union. I don’t think she wants it, but her appointment would have the advantage of honesty. It would make it crystal clear the union is the boss.

Lindsey Crist, a much more reliable reporter and journalist than propagandist Goodwin, tweeted the following when the Henderson news broke:


Goodwin has an agenda here - de Blasio is beholden to the unions, the UFT is going to run the DOE now, blah blah blah.

He wants to get the meme out that nobody wants the DOE gig because the UFT is actually going to be in charge.

If it's between Lindsey Crist saying Henderson had VERY little chance for the job and was only trying to save face with her letter to her DC staff or Goodwin saying Henderson turned de Blasio down because de Blasio is too close to the UFT, I'll take Crist's side.

First, because she's got no agenda in this other than to get the story right.

And second, because Michael Goodwin does have an agenda, which is to bash de Blasio, bash the UFT, bash teachers and bash NYC schools.

You know, the normal stuff at the Murdoch Post.

11 comments:

  1. These hacks also warned that DeB. would be soft in crime, turning NYC into the 70s version...Bratton disproved that. Actually, the longer he takes to appoint, the better it looks for us NOT getting a pure Ed reformer as chief...However...with deals he may have to make with Obamastapo...who knows...If he wants to get that tax to get preK....he may have to barter in other things...but...hopefully, that is the "battered teacher" talking....after being being beaten,robbed, and traumatized but the mini-Nazi leaving office in a few daze....

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    1. I agree that the Bratton pick blew the Posties out of the water. One of the columnists, Bob McManus I think it was, predicted de Blasio would never pick Bratton. No mea culpa as far as I saw after de Blasio picked Bratton. The Posites have an agenda and they do not care one whit when reality contradicts it.

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  2. "by" the mini-terror"....excuse me...but take your pick...

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  3. There are sane ed reformers, you know. There are people who want to improve the classroom and understand that teachers are partners on that process.
    I have a hard time believing that this guy is believable by anyone at this point.

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    1. After ten years of top-down reform imposed without question upon us by Obama, Cuomo and Bloomberg, by Gates, Broad and the hedge fundie contingent, I must admit that I hear the word "reformer" as a four letter word. This is not to say that every reformer is an arrogant, know-it-all like so many in the groups I named above, but so many are that I no longer trust anybody who comes along and happily subscribes to the phrase "education reformer." Interestingly enough, I think the reformers know this, which is why so many are walking away from that moniker, if not from the actual policies themselves.

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  4. Any Ed reformers who continue to support the new assessments here in NYC are not same. Teachers in high achieving schools experiencing very low morale, and many speak of leaving the profession if possible. These are people who were considered highly competent and happy a few years ago. How is creating a miserable staff good for the kids...?

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    1. It's not good for children to create miserable teaching staffs and high turnover. But let's be honest, since when is reform about doing anything good for kids? This is about top-down imposition of a radical agenda meant to bust the unions, remake the teaching corps into 3-5 year temps, privatize the school system and make Whitney Tilson and many of the other ed reformers/hedge fund managers even richer than they already are.

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  5. They want everybody to go. Then they can hire TFA. No one will have tenure. Teaching will be a temporary gig not a career. There will be no pension liabilities.

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    1. That's exactly right - that's definitely a big part of the reformer rationale.

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  6. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/nyc-school-principals-boo-bloomberg-overhauls-article-1.1548867.....................140 NYC Principals sign letter of,protest against new.evals....!

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    1. Thanks - posted it!

      http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/12/daily-news-140-principals-write-de.html

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