Here's the latest, as reported by the NY Post:
Farina also callously declared that students who were absent from school Thursday would not be given a pass for taking the day off.
“At the course of a whole day, you can still get to school,” she said.
The Daily News reports that only 45% of NYC school children showed up to school today, so that's an awful lot of unexcused absences Chancellor Farina will be tallying up.
I was too busy teaching the handful of students who showed up to my classes today a rigorous Common Core-based lesson to watch the De Blasio/Farina presser, but I have to say that's the kind of statement that pisses parents off and solidifies the meme that the person who made the statement is clueless (as the Post put it.)
Especially when the same person earlier said “It’s absolutely a beautiful day out there..." as it was sleeting and raining on top of the 9-10 inches of snow that had fallen.
BTW, the chancellor's town hall meeting that was to be held in Brownsville tonight was canceled “due to inclement weather.”
Not so beautiful a day that the town hall meeting could go on.
The problem for Farina here is that she not only made a very poor decision to call school at 10:30 the night before the storm even started, but she has defended that decision with absolutely tone deaf statements that have helped make her one of the newest Internet memes.
Like here:
She's not helping herself by stating that students who took the day off will not be given a pass because “At the course of a whole day, you can still get to school."
In fact, De Blasio and Farina both spent a lot of political capital today defending a poor decision.
It's never good when something you say becomes the target of Internet meme mockery or the target of an Al Roker twitter barrage.
De Blasio had no problem apologizing to the entire UES over a manufactured snow outrage last month.
But for some reason, neither he nor his chancellor will acknowledge the poor decision they made here or stop compounding it by saying stupid stuff to defend it.
My two cents (and this was the first snow day I missed today): Parents could have kept their kids home. Teachers could have called in (I did) and that vague statement doesn't mean much, nevermind "no excuse". That's the Post being the Post.
ReplyDeleteThe whole MSM, actually. They see a chunk of parents home today and a chancellor who said some stupid, they realize everyone is looking for a villain of all this bad weather we're suffering through, and they found a bad guy.
They also see a non business friendly mayor (they're all business friendly) and they want this guy (and his chancellor) gone.
One thing I agree with you on; the both of them did spend precious political capital today defending their decision.
I saw your post earlier where you made a similar point, Urban Ed. I think the problem with the rationale is this: when the NYCDOE says "Schools are opened," it frames the days as "See, it's not that bad - schools are opened." I actually heard that from someone in my building today as we were both heading out for the train to work. Because the DOE is so big, when schools get called there, it means "Stay home, it's bad out," but when they don't, people take it as "Oh, not so bad, school is in session." So in a lot of ways, what the DOE does here sets the frame for how the day gets covered in the news but also how parents think about the day and how bad it is.
DeleteI understand the media is attacking BdB and wants his scalp on their belts. Alas, BdB plays into their hands by apologizing for what was essentially a non-event on the UES last month, then doubling down on this stupidity today with a tone deaf defense.
Tonight, the story was on the national news. It will be on the late night talk shows. He will be a laughing stock, as will Farina, for the stupid things that were said today, especially by her. And frankly, they should be. They took a bad situation and made it worse with the statements that came out of the presser.
Finally, I understand that Bloomberg rarely took this kind of heat from the press over stuff. I made that point last month with my defense of de Blasio over the UES snow thing. But de Blasio played into the Post's hands by apologizing then, expending capital he didn't have to expend, then today he didn't have that capital to expend, so instead he defended a poor decision with an even poorer defense.
Sorry, the problem here is, de Blasio is looking like he is over his head, Farina is sounding a lot like Cathie Black, and while I agree that it is unfair they get this scrutiny and Bloomberg didn't, if de Blasio doesn't get better at managing both the city and how he gets covered by the press soon, this administration is OVER.
One last point - you know who is smiling tonight?
Cuomo - he knows de Blasio is pure bush league and he's going to eat him for lunch over pre-K.
All the evidence for that was present today in how they handled the latest self-created mess.
Precisely! The "media" can make u or break u....they mostly gave Bloomturd a pass for 12 years...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely - but as I said in response to UrbanEd's comment, if BdB doesn't doesn't get better at managing both the city and how the coverage happens, he's got big problems. Taking on Al Roker over the NWS is not a winning strategy here. Perhaps if he hadn't apologized for the non-event on the UES a month ago, he could have apologized for making a poor decision today. But he had already spent that, so instead he felt a double down strategy was better. It wasn't. When you're fighting Al Roker on twitter, you're losing.
DeleteFarina looks WAY worse that Bill in all of this. The "Macy's is open" line is almost as bad as Black's comment about birth control being the solution to school overcrowding. Farina has done absolutely nothing to calm the nerves of NYC teachers since she got into office. Add on Bill's no mention of municipal union contract raises in his preliminary budget and it almost makes me wish Bloomturd was back in office. Our mayor and chancellor better get it together soon or they will be lame ducks 4 months into their terms!
DeleteYes - the meme will get baked soon if BdB is not careful.
DeleteWell, Farina was the one BDB had permission to choose. That says it all, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteNot excusing BDB, he needs to figure out how he's going to play his mayoralty. Seems awfully wishy washy right now. Not that I expected more, just saying.
I agree. I picked him because Liu couldn't win and Quinn was horrific, Weiner was a sex addict and a union hater and Thompson was a Tisch ally. But I expected little from him and so far, BdB is living up to expectation.
DeleteWhen most, if not all school districts around you are closing, doesn't that provide you some helpful cover to go along with everyone else?
ReplyDeleteYou want to be bold/foolish on possible terrible weather? Get ready for the backlash.
They had all the cover they needed, but chose not to take it. But that;s really not the worst part of all of this - the worst part was the statements Farina made in defense. Frankly, I don't think she lives them down. She doesn't strike me as media savvy, and unless she finds away to erase the memory of yesterday from the collective consciousness, she's going to be known for the Macy's and Beautiful Day comments.
Delete