With pre-K and charters dominating the conversation, there’s been little attention to de Blasio’s fuzzier agenda for the million-plus kids already attending conventional public schools. “We’re going to focus on teacher retention, which I think is a huge difference-maker, because we’re hemorrhaging quality teachers,” he says. “Why is Finland so wonderful? Because teachers are incredibly well prepared, and they do it as a lifelong career. That’s where I’m trying to move us, and I think we can get there.”
That goal is of course at odds with Cuomo's goal, and indeed the goals of many education reformers, which is to create "burn and churn" in the teacher ranks - move 'em in, burn 'em out, watch 'em go before they're vested for a pension.
I wonder how long it will be before De Blasio caves on this issue, too. It really didn't take long for Cuomo and the wealthy cronies to roll him.
ReplyDeleteAnd the unions to fail to back him too. To be fair to BdB, few backed him up and he was up against a $4 million dollar ad blitz. But yes, I suspect he'll be forced to back down on this too and bring in the burn and churn.
DeleteEasy when our union leaders are in the tank for the Charter School Lobbyist and his (and DuncKleinBroadGates) CC$$. And they won't even defend their positions with us, either. All they ever give us is that seat at the table crap.
ReplyDeleteI showed a colleague that had never seen the "Untouchables" table, what kind of a seat, WeinGrew gives us.
Nope - they hope most of us are too busy lesson planning to know what the hell is going on.
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