De Blasio Puts Ed Deformers John Legend And Harvey Weinsten On His Pre-K Push Team

From Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY:

De Blasio unveiled the Campaign for Universal Pre-K and Afterschool along with a new website and accompanying promotional video which was sent to tens of thousands of people by actress Cynthia Nixon, one of the campaign's leaders. The goal is to convince New Yorkers to support a tax hike to fund the programs. In addition to Nixon, other recognizeable names include film directors Roger Altman and Harvey Weinstein; singer John Legend; Al Sharpton and 25 advocacy groups, on of which is the Children's Aid Society.

De Blasio called achieving universal pre-K the "centerpiece of my campaign, the centerpiece of this transition and it will he the centerpiece of our government.

I know de Blasio really wants his pre-K program and he will use anybody he can to help him acheive that goal.

That said, putting deformers Weinstein (who has complimented President Obama for his "aggressive education reform") and Legend (who sits on the TFA and Harlem Village Academy boards and is a huge proponent of  RESET - “Real-Time Use of Data, Expectations not Excuses, Strong Leadership, Effective Teaching and Time on Task") on his pre-K push team makes me think "Hmm, better keep a sharp eye on this de Blasio guy."

De Blasio Promises Chancellor Announcement Will Come "Soon"

From Eliza Shapiro at Capital NY:

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio said Thursday he has not yet offered the city schools chancellor job to any of the leading candidates, but promised an announcement would come "soon."

De Blasio gave few details about the chancellor search at an event at a Crown Heights preschool where he unveiled another part of his campaign to enact universal pre-K and expanded after school programs.

"Until I get what I know we need I'm not going to jump too soon," de Blasio said when asked about the chancellor search, in which school system veteran Carmen Farina, a longtime de Blasio education advisor, has emerged as front runner, according to sources. De Blasio said finding interested candidates was not an issue. "There is so much extraordinary talent out there. There are a lot of people who would love to be chancellor. We think there are some very intriguing possibilities."

When asked about an ideal chancellor candidate, de Blasio said he's looking for a chancellor who shares his educational values. "They have to be a change agent and a very effective leader and administrator," he said. "We will have an announcement soon."

I wondered earlier this morning why the announcement is taking so long, especially since rumors are swirling that de Blasio wants Carmen Farina for the job and Farina, after saying she didn't the position, is now ready to take it.

De Blasio's comments from yesterday do nothing to change my wondering aloud why the announcement is taking so long.

Is pressure being exerted on de Blasio behind the scenes by various constituencies in the education reform world?

Is the Obama administration or the Cuomo administration weighing in on the process?

Have some DFER's shown up with a suitcase full of cash for BdB if only he picks an Eva-friendly chancellor?

Is Carmen Farina having second thoughts about taking the job or is Bill de Blasio having second thoughts about offering it to her?

Dunno the answer to any of this, but I do know that the longer the process goes, the more I think Farina is not the choice to be chancellor.

Why No Chancellor Announcement Yet?

So now it's December 20th, the last school day of Dennis Walcott's tenure as chancellor.

In just 12 calendar days, Walcott's replacement is supposed to come into power.

There have been lots of stories in the press and on the Internet about the names that are supposed to be on de Blasio's short list for chancellor, but no actual announcement about the pick itself from de Blasio.

Here is de Blasio's schedule for today:

NYC Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is in the city with no public schedule.

Doesn't look like there's going to be any announcement today either.

What exactly could be holding up the announcement?

The news stories in the past few weeks seem to say that former DOE official Carmen Farina is de Blasio's choice for the job and Farina, after saying for a long, long time that she didn't want it, is now ready to take it.

If de Blasio wants Farina and Farina now wants the job, at least for a little while, what exactly is holding up Bill de Blasio from having a press conference to announce this pick?

Are there machinations going on behind the scenes, some pressure being exerted by the Obama administration for de Blasio to pick someone pro-testing (as has been reported) or from the education reform/hedge fund manager contingent for de Blasio to pick someone pro-charter?

Is Farina actually unsure whether she wants the job or is de Blasio unsure he wants her?

Is de Blasio looking to pick someone more corporate education reform-friendly for the gig, someone like Barbara Byrd Bennett, Rahm Emanuel's CPS CEO, and looking to bury that announcement during Christmas week?

De Blasio has a well-deserved reputation for being late as hell to events, but the delay in this chancellor announcement, given that many tea leaf readers think de Blasio wants Farina and Farina now wants the job, is very, very strange.

Any idea why the hold-up on the announcement?

Should we be concerned by the delay or is this just business as usual with BdB?

Things They Should Name To Honor Dennis Walcott

An empty storefront.

A garbage dumpster.

A burnt, abandoned car.

A mold-infested FEMA trailer.

Flight deck at Bellevue.

That smell on the subway in August.

Any others?

Good To See Chris Quinn Leave For Good

.@ChrisCQuinn leaves the building for the final time. Pops her head into the press room to say goodbye. pic.twitter.com/hNJmgu1Gnm
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) December 19, 2013

It's a shame she's not leaving in handcuffs escorted by a contingent of police.

But I say that about almost every politician I can think of.

I'm sure there will be plenty of enrichment opportunities to come her way now that she's out of power.

She'll do just fine post-politics.

Still, she'll have to live with the memory of NYC Democrats overwhelmingly voting against her.

As nasty, vindictive and corrupt as Quinn was as speaker, I think we all should savor one more time her ignominious defeat last September as well as her walking out of City Hall one last time tonight.

Buh-bye, Chris.

Few people will miss you.

Especially those people you retaliated against, like the senior citizens whose centers you closed and the young people whose scholarships you canceled, just because you wanted to get back at some pols for alleged slights.

Shelly Silver And Cathy Nolan Decide NYSED's InBloom Plan Is A Problem

From Daily Politics:

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Education Committee Chairman Catherine Nolan are trying to put the brakes on the state Ed Department's release of student data to outside vendor InBloom, saying it's just too risky right now. 

The data dump of attendance, grades and test scores -- plus disciplinary records and disabilities -- is supposed to fuel the SED's EngageNY web portal as part of the Race To The Top funding program.

“After receiving moving and credible testimony at a recent hearing, the Assembly Majority has serious concerns about the potential flaws of the SED’s plan to share student data and their ability to protect student privacy. We feel compelled to question this plan and we strongly believe that student information should not be shared with InBloom at this time,” said Nolan, a Queens Democrat.

The Assembly Members who signed the letter stating their concerns to King said that many of the witnesses who testified in opposition to SED's inBloom plan provided "credible" and "moving" testimony.

They said this summed up the overall feeling they were left about SED's plans:

One witness, Pleasantville Superintendent Mary Fox Alter, summed up these concerns in her submitted testimony:

“The promise of digital personalized learning that uses individual data points on a child to plan digital learning solutions is dangerous. We cannot micromanage the learning needs of students or allow isolated data elements to be interpreted through a computer game, smartphone app or educational software to design learning. Students are human beings with individual needs, characteristics and learning trajectories.”

I would add that Common Core and Danielson also, in many ways, force micromanaging the learning needs of students and force a one-size-fits-all education onto human beings with individual needs, characteristics and learning trajectories.

That Silver and Nolan acknowledge this about inBloom is a good thing, however.

Just six months ago, Silver was telling critics of inBloom that there was nothing they could do to derail the state's inBloom plans.

Sounds like the furor around inBloom has changed that.

Still no Sheriff Andy sighting on any of this, however.

Wonder when he'll finally realize the DFER money he took to help implement inBloom isn't worth the political hassle?

Bloomberg Claims His Education Reforms Are "Poster Child" For National Reform

The Daily News is doing Bloomberg "legacy" pieces today and the story on education by Ben Chapman is pretty good.

Here's the opening:

He ran for office as the Education Mayor, but his report card is mixed — at best.
Mayor Bloomberg’s overhaul of the public schools was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of city government — backed by a doubling of the education budget during his tenure.

From the very question of who would control the country’s largest school system to the tiny details of what kids ate for lunch, Bloomberg evaluated and acted on every aspect of public schools.

But 12 years after the mayor began his quest to reinvent the mammoth agency, graduation rates are up, but other indicators of student achievement remain flat — and some have even worsened.

“They threw everything they had at the problem, but the levels of learning are about the same as they were before,” said Brooklyn College education Prof. David Bloomfield. “It’s amazing how small the improvements are.”

Test scores down, NAEP scores flattened, class sizes up, conflict between communities increased dramatically because of his school closure policies, but Bloomberg says his reform agenda remains the "poster child" for the rest of the nation:

Despite his critics, Bloomberg remained certain of his own prowess as an education reformer. “What is clear is that for the 12 years we’ve been doing this, the results are – by any national standards – outstanding,” Bloomberg said at a recent press conference to announce a slight increase in graduation rates. “We really have become the poster child.”

I've said this before, I'll say it again.

Ever notice when Bloomberg touts his "legacy" here in NYC, it's always in the "We're The Bestest Thing Ever!" vein?

This week when confronted with the very large increase in income inequality under his reign and questions about the increase in homelessness in the city, Bloomberg defended his "legacy" by saying that there's no better place in the world to be homeless than NYC.

Bloomberg then had his hired henchmen, like Howard Wolfson, take to the Twitter and the pages of the WSJ to tout his greatness in helping alleviate poverty and homelessness - even though the stats show a big increase in both during the Bloomberg Years.


His need to be the "Bestest Thing Ever!" is really an interesting insight into his troubled psyche.

Even when his legacy is so clearly not the "Bestest Thing Ever!" - even when the Bloomberg-friendly Daily News acknowledges this - Bloomberg still touts it as the "Bestest Thing Ever!"

In the years ahead, Bloomberg will continue to have his minions write up the propaganda and "history" of his years in office to try and rewrite the story so that it becomes "Bloomberg Years: Bestest Thing Ever!"

Bloomberg is the poster child for a fevered ego who has never quite made it out of the pre-adolescent stage.

Republican Congressman Wants Poor School Children To Sweep Floors For Food

This country is becoming more Dickensian by the day:

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) proposed that "low-income children do some manual labor in exchange for their subsidized meals," the Huffington Post reports.

Said Kingston: "Why don't you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? Or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria -- and yes, I understand that that would be an administrative problem, and I understand that it would probably lose you money. But think what we would gain as a society in getting people -- getting the myth out of their head that there is such a thing as a free lunch."

Great idea, Congressman. 

And you're so right that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

There is, however, such a thing as free airport parking, among the other perks - for a congressman, at any rate:

In addition to the power to shape policy and public discourse, legislators get great health care and retirement benefits, hefty salaries with annual cost of living increases and the incumbency-boosting ability to blanket constituents with mail touting their achievements.

But there are many less-publicized perks that come along with the job. Here are a few to keep in mind the next time you hear politicians refer to themselves as “public servants.”

Members of Congress have long been treated as a class apart at the Capitol.

For years there were members-only parking spaces, elevators, dining rooms and exercise facilities to which all legislators — past and present — enjoyed lifetime access. Former lawmakers could also return to the floor of the House or Senate whenever they liked.

In the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, access to these privileged places was curtailed in 2006 for ex-members of Congress who registered as lobbyists.

...

Lawmakers’ perks aren’t limited to the legislature. Airports and airlines — the profits of which can be heavily impacted by decisions made on the Hill — also pamper politicians.

Staff schedulers often times make reservations for members of Congress via dedicated phone lines that Delta and other major airlines have reportedly set up for Capitol Hill customers. Airlines also permit members to reserve seats on multiple flights but only pay for the trips they take. “We get on every single flight,” one congressional aide familiar with the process told Roll Call last month.

Whenever lawmakers decide to show up for a flight, they are also guaranteed free parking at the two Washington-area airports, according to a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. At Reagan National, 89 spaces out of 8,000 are reserved for members of Congress, diplomats and Supreme Court justices; at Dulles International, 97 of 25,000 are set aside.

Former Rep. Tom Davis, R – Va., defended the airport amities in a 2007 interview with WTOP. “Members like to get out of town and get back with their constituents,” he said. “If you make it hard for members to move back and forth from their districts, then the people are going to say, ‘Where are you? Why aren’t you back here?’”

Free airport parking, free Capitol parking, access to the Congressional dining room, with it's subsidized meals, as well as subsidized daycare and free postage for mail - yeah, you're so right, Congressman Kingston. 

There is no free lunch in this world.

Unless you're a functionary of the corporatist state - like a congressman.

Bloomberg Says Municipal Worker Benefits Biggest Threat Facing The Country

I know, I know, sounds like another one of those lame parodies I occasionally do.

But it's really not a parody - Bloomberg actually said it:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg today took aim at the city’s rising pension and health costs, calling what he dubbed the “labor-electoral complex” the most pressing threat to New York in the final major speech as mayor.

Speaking in a grand ballroom in front of members of the Economic Club of New York, Mr. Bloomberg said that exploding health and pension benefits for municipal workers threatened to undermine the city’s progress and urged his successor, Bill de Blasio, to push through reforms.

“Right now our country appears to be in the early stages of a growing fiscal crisis that, if nothing is done, will extract a terrible toll on the next generation,” said Mr. Bloomberg. “It is one of the biggest threats facing cities because it is forcing government into a fiscal straight jacket that severely limits its ability to provide an effective social safety net and to invest in the next generation.”

“The costs of today’s benefits cannot be sustained for another generation–not without inflicting real harm on our citizens, on our children and our grandchildren,” he added.

Bloomberg tried to channel Dwight Eisenhower by dubbing municipal workers the "labor-electoral complex":

 “More and more mayors and governors in both political parties are asking across the country, which is the first real sign of a crack in the ‘labor-electoral complex’ that has traditionally stymied reform,” he said, dubbing a term aides said was a reference to President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address, in which the ex-president warned of the “military-industrial complex.”

...

“I think it’s no secret that elected officials have a tendency to make decisions based on short-term political rewards, rather than long-term economic gains,” he said. “We cannot afford for our elected officials to put their own futures ahead of the next generation’s and to continue perpetuating a labor-electoral complex that is undermining our collective future.”

“We need them to look ahead and to address the needs of tomorrow instead of being prisoners to the labor contracts of yesteryear. Simply put, our pension and health care system must be modernized to be sustained,” he added, vowing to continue to work on the issue after he leaves office.

De Blasio responded to the speech, which was clearly aimed at him, by pointing out the reason the city has a "crisis" is because Bloomberg allowed every labor contract to expire so that they all have to be negotiated at the same time:

“Um, I can’t help but not that we are starting today’s discussion with an acknowledgment of the fact that every labor contract is open in New York City, that’s never happened before, that no previous mayor ever let that happen … So I would caution, as much as I appreciate Mayor Bloomberg’s advice, I would caution that one should be careful about giving advice from that perspective,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference scheduled shortly after Mr. Bloomberg’s.

John Nichols of The Nation responded to Bloomberg's speech this way on the Twitter:

Michael Bloomberg finishes mayoralty by griping about "unsustainable" public-employee pensions. Good thing NYC has a new mayor. @thenation
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) December 18, 2013

Bloomberg yesterday said that NYC is the best place to be homeless and today dubbed the "labor-electoral complex" the biggest threat facing the country today.

Apparently Wall Street running as one big casino for the financial sector doesn't rank high on his list of problems facing the country, even though they nearly brought down the economy in 2008-09 and may still do it in the future since nothing much changed post-Great Recession.

Bloomberg's totally out of touch, an arrogant billionaire who thinks about nothing other than how to make members of his class wealthier and aggrandize his own ego while sticking it to middle and working class people.

Starting To Look Like No Chancellor Announcement This Week (UPDATED - 7:28 AM)

At least if you buy what's in this NY Times article about de Blasio's chancellor search.  Carmen Farina is supposed to be the frontrunner for the position now, but she told the Times yesterday that she didn't know if she would be offered the position:

Carmen Fariña, a former deputy chancellor and the candidate who most closely matches Mr. de Blasio’s own thinking on education, was telling friends as recently as November that she was not interested in coming out of retirement and giving up her time spent helping raise her grandchildren.

But the short list of candidates now seems to include her. Recently, Mr. de Blasio called Ms. Fariña, 70, to see if she would reconsider her earlier reluctance, and she said she would, according to a longtime friend of Ms. Fariña. 

Ms. Fariña said in an interview on Tuesday that she did not know if she would be formally offered the job. But it is known, she said, “that Bill is a very persuasive person.” 

“My grandchildren are important to me,” she added. “I spent a lot of years in the system. But I will do whatever the new mayor wants me to do.”

A de Blasio spokeswoman tells the Times de Blasio takes the search seriously and is continuing to look at candidates.

Michael Mulgrew is quoted as defending the slow process and saying he expects an announcement before the end of the year.

De Blasio is making an appearance at City Tech today but people on the Twitter say that de Blasio will not announce his chancellor pick there.

The Times article does give you the sense that Farina is the choice:

In an interview last week, Dorothy E. Siegel, a former Brooklyn school board member and a longtime friend of Ms. Fariña’s, said that Ms. Fariña seemed uninterested in the position. Ms. Fariña, a Cobble Hill resident, is dedicated to helping raise her grandchildren, including the 1-year-old son of her daughter, Mia, who is a police officer. 

But Ms. Fariña still seems squarely in contention.

And on Tuesday, Ms. Siegel said that something changed after “Bill called.” 

She said she did not know what was discussed, but “apparently he changed her mind” because now “she is interested.” 

And so it goes.

I can't imagine he wouldn't announce the chancellor pick this week, but if he's not going announce today, that leaves only Thursday and Friday for the announcement.

Hard to see him announcing on Friday and having the news buried in the Saturday papers nobody reads and the pre-Christmas frenzy.

But de Blasio does have a reputation for being late to everything, so we'll just have to sit tight like it's one of those speeches he's always running late to give.

UPDATE - 7:28 AM: NY Post reports Farina could be named as early as this week:

Former top schools official Carmen Farina is ready to take the chancellor’s job, and could be appointed by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio as early as this week, sources told The Post.

A former deputy schools chancellor, Farina, 71, had earlier said publicly that she wasn’t interested in running the nation’s largest school system.

Her denials fueled speculation that Farina might be tapped as an interim chancellor to buy de Blasio time to conduct a more thorough search.

But her newfound willingness to stay on past the end of the current school year cleared a path to a permanent appointment.

“She said [privately] she’s open to it,” a source said.

Mayor Bloomberg Plans On Bringing NYC's Homeless Problem To The Rest Of The World

Mayor Bloomberg, fresh from arguing that there's no place as good as NYC to be homeless and down on your luck, brags that the consulting firm he has put together to help governments around the world make their income inequality problems as bad as NYC's is very much in demand:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, burnishing his legacy in all five boroughs this week as he prepares to leave office, shed a sliver of light today on the new consulting firm he’s planning to found once he leaves office, aimed at helping cities across the world.


Mr. Bloomberg, who was in Brooklyn to herald the opening of a new ice skating center in Prospect Park, told reporters that many other cities want to replicate the “wonderful things” New York has accomplished in his tenure.

“We’ve got enormous demand and we’ve had for years now from other cities around the world, not just around the country of, ‘How do you do these wonderful things?’” Mr. Bloomberg said. “We are, no matter we may whip ourselves, but we are the poster child for most of the good things that have happened in big cities.”

And what are some of those good things he's brought to NYC that he now wants to bring to the rest of the world?

Why despair, hopelessness and abject poverty of course!

Wonkette has the story:

So we have all read the New York Times story about homelessness in New York, yes? And we have all cried for the smart, tough little girl named Dasani, who lives in a “520-square-foot room with her parents and seven siblings” in a most wretched shelter, where life is most wretched, and we have all said, “Goddamn, this is unacceptable and something must be done.” Yes?

No. Apparently, some of us think, ‘Meh, that’s just God for ya.’ Some of us who happen to be bazillionaires and soon-to-be-ex-mayors of New York.

Asked today if he was similarly moved by the story, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Politicker he’d had a different reaction.

While calling her life story “really quite extraordinary,” Mr. Bloomberg insisted Dasani’s situation was not representative of the city’s broader homeless population. 

Well, actually, Mr. Mayor, the point of the story is that actually, Dasani is not “really quite extraordinary.”

Yet Dasani is among 280 children at the shelter. Beyond its walls, she belongs to a vast and invisible tribe of more than 22,000 homeless children in New York, the highest number since the Great Depression, in the most unequal metropolis in America. 

But hey, don’t blame the city or its mayor for that. Nope, blame God.

“This kid was dealt a bad hand. I don’t know quite why. That’s just the way God works. Sometimes some of us are lucky and some of us are not,” he said. 

Yes, God sure does work in mysterious ways, arbitrarily dealing bad hands like that. Sometimes he hands out lots of money, like to Mayor Bloomberg, who is just lucky that way, and sometimes he does not. Shrug, we guess. Whatcha gonna do? Hey, maybe you can fight the scourge of extra-large sodas! Sure, God invented the Big Gulp, but that’s, like, a Serious Problem, the kind of problem that a mayor should do his very best to do something about. Unlike homeless children living in filth and squalor and where guards sexually assault their moms, because that’s just bad luck. Sorry, Dasani and the thousands of children like you, but if you wanted to be not poor and homeless in one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, you should have asked God for better luck.

Yeah, NYC surely is the poster child for most of the good things that have happened in big cities and I'm sure many other cities can't wait to have Bloomberg and his consultant group bring them what he's brought to NYC.

De Blasio Uses Ed Deformer-Tied Consulting Group For Transition Team

That story that Dana Rubenstein broke at Capital NY about Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio using a Bloomberg-funded consultant group suggested by Rahm Emanuel to run his transition team in secret just gets worse and worse:

Civic Consulting Alliance role in Chicago schl closings & charter expansion; now working w/de Blasio transition team http://t.co/jOzzb5IIWt
— leonie haimson (@leoniehaimson) December 17, 2013

Dunno if it's coincidence or not, but Eva Moskowitz has gotten a bit quiet lately about de Blasio.

One wonders if Civic Consulting Alliance helping to run things behind the scenes hasn't assuaged some of her concerns.

None of this is much of a surprise.

Bill de Blasio is a politician who made his bones in the Clinton administration.

This jive about de Blasio's election being the dawn of a new progressive era and de Blasio driving Cuomo and Obama to the left - it's pure fantasy.

No politician that came of age in the Clinton administration, is friends with Andrew Cuomo and Rahm Emanuel and happily (and secretly) uses Bloomberg-funded consulting groups to run their transition teams is going to be anything other than another destructive neo-liberal.

Jerry Brown Really Gets What Education Is All About

These are truly amazing statements from a 21st century politician:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown blasted the notion of government-imposed standards for public schools, saying he opposed efforts from Washington and Sacramento to dictate education policy.

Using "data on a national or state level I think misses the point — that learning is very individual, very personal," Brown said during an on-stage interview Monday with the Atlantic magazine's James Bennet at the Computer History Museum. "It comes back to the teacher and the principal. The leader of the school is by far the most important factor

When asked if he supported national education standards, Brown said, "No. That's just a form of national control."

Speaking to a half-empty auditorium of about 150 technology business leaders, Brown reprised a story he tells frequently about an exam he had in high school when a teacher asked students to write their impressions of a green leaf.

"Still, as I walk by trees, I keep saying, 'How's my impression coming? Can I feel anything? Am I dead inside?' So, this was a very powerful question that has haunted me for 50 years."

The point, Brown said, is that "you can't put that on a standardized test. There are important educational encounters that can't be captured by tests."

I'm sure these statements from Brown went over the heads of these technology business leaders who only want to push the one-size-fits-all education model that enriches them and their businesses by sticking kids in front of computers all day long and testing them on those same computers all throughout the year.

And certainly the kind of question Brown's teacher asked Brown and his classmates 50 years ago would go over the heads of our current educational consultant class, from Charlotte Danielson to Michelle Rhee, who don't believe anything that cannot be quantified has any value in education.

You'd never hear Sheriff Andy Cuomo, Chris Christie, Mayor Bloomberg or President Obama say anything like Brown just said either.

But it's good to know at least one politician in this country still has a soul.

De Blasio Has Private Consulting Group Partly Funded By Bloomberg Running His Transition Team

This is just another example of why Bill de Blasio needs to be watched very, very carefully by his "progressive" base (from an excellent piece at Capital NY by Dana Rubenstein):

Bill de Blasio has two transition teams.

There's the public one, announced in late November. It's a diverse, 60-person assortment of nonprofit leaders, political types, educators, rabbis, Cynthia Nixon. More than half of its members are de Blasio donors.

Then there's another team, a nonprofit group whose participation in the process has never been announced, but which has been playing a substantial role in organizing the transition.

According to a source involved with the transition, this involved entity—Civic Consulting USA—has "embedded" into the process a team drawn from the "creme de la creme of the big New York consultants." This group has shaped the process by organizing the original transition team into a number of topic-specific committees and then bringing in an even greater number of other people onto those committees to participate in the search for future administration members.

The involvement of those new people, like the role of the consultants, was never announced.

In response to an inquiry by Capital, de Blasio spokeswoman Lis Smith confirmed the group's involvement, but described it in a strictly supporting role.

"Transition co-chairs Carl Weisbrod and Jennifer Jones Austin, along with Transition Executive Director Laura Santucci and Deputy Executive Director Ursulina Ramirez are running the transition," she said. "The core committee is providing the transition with important advice and counsel. Civic Consulting USA is also helping the transition on a pro-bono basis. They are one piece of the great team we’ve put together to build the next administration and recruit great talent to serve the people of New York City."

Smith declined to go into more specifics about the group's participation, and declined to comment on the existence of the newly formed subcommittees.

And just who suggested de Blasio put this secret "non-profit" group into positions of power within his transition team?

Why, Rahm Emanuel - of course!

According to the transition source, Civic Consulting USA was suggested to de Blasio's aides during a November meeting between de Blasio and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel's staff suggested that de Blasio's transition team enlist the help of the group, whose mission is to pair government clients with partners in the private and nonprofit sector.

Civic Consulting USA president Michael Hickey told Capital the group was "inspired by the pioneering work done by the Civic Consulting Alliance in Chicago."

For its part, the Civic Consulting Alliance in Chicago paired management consultants from companies like Deloitte, Bain & Company, Accenture and McKinsey & Company with Emanuel to help guide his own transition into office.

The transition cannot accept corporate contributions, so Civic Consulting is working for the transition team via an agreement with the city, according to Smith.

And just what does this "non-profit" get from "loaning" out its talent to the government to work in secret?

"Loaned professionals return energized with a renewed commitment to their companies" and they develop new skills. Also, "positive PR."

Sure - and the policies they wanted implemented because their own people do the implementing or contracts from the city:

Emanuel's relationship with the Civic Consulting Alliance generated significant attention in Chicago, not all of it positive.

"The alliance was a key player in Emanuel's 2011 transition to office," reported the Chicago Tribune last December. "As part of its role, the group brought in Accenture, one of the world's largest financial consulting firms, to provide free advice to the new administration. The company subsequently received a no-bid contract from the Emanuel administration that pays it a percentage of every dollar saved on other City Hall contracts."

A spokesman for Emanuel had no comment.

Bloomberg, btw, has just put together his own non-profit consulting group to "help" municipalities around the country and the world with governance issues.

Also, Bloomberg Philanthropies is a part funder of the "non-profit" consulting group de Blasio is using:

Outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg has routinely talked of the benefits that non-bureaucrats can bring to city governance, and in fact Civic Consulting USA lists Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of its funders.

And, in Bloombergian fashion,  its website touts the benefits that non-governmental expertise can bring to "government clients": "We bring together teams who are better coordinated, longer term, and more talented than they could afford, attract, or manage otherwise—at no cost to the taxpayer."

With de Blaiso using for his transition team the same "non-profit" Rahm Emanuel used in Chicago, one that is partly funded by Bloomberg, I'm starting to think that the Official Song of the De Blasio Administration should be The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

It's Official: NYSED & Regents Plan No Major Changes To Their Reform Agenda

For those of you paying close attention to the Gospel of the Common Core Tour in which SED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch went around the state trying to drum up support for their reform agenda after King had a public meltdown in Poughkeepsie when some parents dared to challenge him over CCSS, you won't be surprised by this news:

There will be no major changes to the SED/Regents agenda now that the Common Core Tour is over.

Here is what Merryl Tisch and John King say they plan to implement post-Common Core Tour:

1. Increasing understanding. We've just completed a series of 20 forums across the state, including five broadcast on public television. We're expanding our web site about Common Core, EngageNY.org, which includes a toolkit for parents and other instructional resources. We're highlighting the good work on Common Core happening in schools through an educators' blog and videos of great instruction.

2. Professional development. We've trained thousands of teachers and principals in best practices for implementation, and we'll hold more events on the regional level. More than $70 million in Race to the Top professional development grants is headed to high-need districts. The Board of Regents is proposing a $125 million (increasing to $200 million per year in subsequent years) Core Instructional Development Fund to support professional development and parental involvement.

3. Ensuring adequate funding. The Board of Regents State Aid Proposal expected to be approved this week includes a $1.3 billion total funding increase request for school districts, including additional funding for new instructional materials, while improving funding equity.

4. Concerns with testing. We've reduced the number of questions and testing time on the federally required assessments for grades 3 to 8, and our state budget request will include funding to further reduce testing time and eliminate standalone field tests. We are also asking the U.S. Department of Education for adjustments to assessment policies for English language learners and students with disabilities.

5. Review and refinement. As high schools phase in Common Core, students will have the option of taking the old form of certain Regents exams, alongside the Common Core-aligned version, to help ensure fairness. And we're strengthening the role of the department's Content Advisory Panels — composed of educators from across the state — to guide professional development and state-created optional instructional materials in different content areas.

In short, they plan to increase the propaganda load to the public in hopes of fooling some people into thinking their agenda isn't as harmful as it is, they plan to force a bunch of Common Core PD onto teachers already up to their eyebrows in jive-ass Common Core PD, and they're asking the state for more money so they can pay for the propaganda and jive-ass PD.

They claim they're decreasing testing time and questions for grades 3-8, but unless you just fell off the turnip truck, you know that you cannot believe a word these people say.  Many children had trouble completing the state tests last year, so reducing the time allotment for them, as Tisch has said she planned to do, does not seem too feasible a solution to the testing problem to me. 

Getting rid of the field testing is a great idea, but if they get rid of the field tests, don't they have to embed the field test questions into the regular tests, thus increasing the number of questions?  They say they plan to decrease the questions on the test, but this goal seems incompatible to me with getting rid of the field testing.

Frankly, you can reduce a whole bunch of testing by getting rid of Danielson and the teacher evaluation systems that mandate so much of this "assessment."  That topic they never touch though, because they're too busy lying about how they plan to reduce the state-mandated testing and win over the teachers and the public with all the extra money for propaganda and jive-ass PD.

Maybe these two think this is winning stuff they're going with here, but I don't see how they convert too many critics or opponents to their cause with these kinds of "adjustments."

And notice how they never touch one of the most controversial of their reforms - the inBloom data program. 

That, apparently, will go on no matter what, under the cover of the night, just like they never heard any criticism or opposition to that project on the Common Core Tour.

No, I just don't see how this stuff quells the furor over the SED/Regents reform agenda, the Endless Testing and the CCSS, the inBloom data project and the APPR teacher evaluation system.

It's not even a really good try, but given how Sheriff Andy Cuomo won't even answer any questions about this stuff, it's about all we're going to get for now.

But we'll make sure that changes in 2014 when Sheriff Andy saddles up his horse for re-election.

Cowardly Cuomo Continues To Run From His Own Education Reform Agenda

From Newsday:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo didn’t bite Monday when asked about a proposal by Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) to eliminate some student testing, re-evaluate the Common Core academic standards and tighten student-data privacy.

Flanagan, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, unveiled his proposed legislation last week.
"Who is this?" Cuomo said when a reporter asked him about Flanagan's initiative.

Cuomo then suggested Flanagan put forth a bill. When told the senator already had, the governor said: "I don't know. I'd have to see the bill."

Critics have pointed out that Flanagan's bill is jive and does little more than give SED even more power than they already have over districts.

Nonetheless, that Cuomo won't even go on the record over something as mild as the Flanagan bill shows you how little he wants to do with the controversies over Common Core, the SED tests, inBloom or his own teacher evaluation system.

The past two years, during his State of the State speeches, Cuomo has lectured about how he plans for NY State to be out front in the education reform movement, how he is the official "lobbyist" for students who plans to look out for them by making sure they get more tests, more days in school, better teachers blah blah blah.

He sure had a big mouth on education in 2011 and 2012 - even early in 2013.

But now that all this stuff has become controversial, he won't even go on the record over the Flanagan bill.

As with fracking, he continues to run from the education issues.

So far, he's gotten away with it.

But he won't get away with this in January when he gives his next State of the State and we compare this year's speech to the past few State of the State speeches he gave or when he begins running for re-election in 2014.

He'll be put on record over these issues whether he likes it or not.

Regents Want $125 Million Extra in 2014-2015 For Common Core PD Money

Buried in the request for a 6% hike in state money for education for the 2014-2015 year is this doozy:

Teaching is the Core: Core Instruction Development Fund 

The Core Instruction Development Fund will represent a $125 million investment in 2014-15, and it will grow to $200 million for 2015-16 and 2016-17. This categorical program is intended to facilitate the state’s seven-year (2010-2017) transition to the Common Core standards. The professional development fund will fund the capacity-building work of districts with a willingness, along with their bargaining units, to commit to systemic change - including significantly more professional development and collaborative planning time in the school day/year. This includes activities to encourage and facilitate parent learning about the Common Core, recognizing that support at home can be a critical resource for student success.

Available funds will be allocated to districts via a formula that recognizes district fiscal capacity. Districts will apply for the available funds by submitting plans for the work that will be undertaken with the funds. Focus School Districts (those with priority and/or focus schools) will receive additional technical assistance in their application process in order to ensure that their plans contain the elements for success.

Allowable professional development costs would include:

 Costs incurred as teachers engage in professional development activities;

 Summer academies;

 Extra periods/after school programming to provide cooperative practice, planning and embedded coaching time;

 Substitute time; or

 Other approved uses of time.

 Local share of costs for professional development services provided by qualified BOCES;

 Costs of payments to approved professional development vendors for large group sessions or smaller group coaching;

 Teacher materials and curricular guides not reimbursed through other programs or provided free; or

 Other reasonable uses to be approved upon application.

Take that $125 million for Common Core PD and spend it on resources for the socio-emotional health of students - things like more counselors, health clinics and after school activities not related to the freaking Common Core.

That's what's needed.

Not more money for Common Core PD.

Bloomberg Strokes His Ego On The View

In touting his accomplishments as mayor - including making the school system "dramatically better" - Bloomberg said the following when asked by the hosts of The View what he might do next:

“I’ve always thought that Santa Claus is a short, Jewish, balding 72-year-old guy, so I’ll give it a go,” he quipped.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha - that line is almost as funny as the one about making the school system "dramatically better."

Or the story about how his malanthropic unit plans to bring all the data-driven successes of NYC like CityTime and the Bloomberg Boxer Day Blizzard plow job and plunging test scores and phonied up crime stats to the world at large.

Funny stuff, Mike.

If you had $30 billion less, people would tell you to your face how full of crap you are.

But $30 billion blinds a lot of people to reality - and not just the hosts of The View.

Do you think any mayor other than the billionaire Bloomberg who over saw a 911 system redo that is over a decade overdo, cost over $2 billion dollars and STILL doesn't work would be able to tout his accomplishments without that mess being mentioned in the press?

Or the CityTime scandal, the worst fraud ever perpetrated on NYC citizens?

Or the Boxer Day Blizzard catastrophe that saw deaths when Bloomberg couldn't get the streets outside of Manhattan plowed for days?

Same for the 911 system mess, which may have contributed to the death of a four year girl on the Upper West Side after she was hit by a car and the 911 system caused delays in emergency response.

This fevered little ego known as BLOOMBERG who needs to put his name on everything he owns - literally - would certainly get a lot more scrutiny than he has if not for the $30 billion in wealth, the press he already owns (or his friends own) and the press he is rumored to be in the market for (like the NY Times or the Financial Times.)

As it stands now, he gets to do his little "I'm Amazing" shtick without anybody calling him an imcompetent ego maniac to his face.

But that's America for you.

As some cynic more famous than me is alleged to have once said, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

I see that more and more every day.

Regent Betty Rosa Says NYSED Rigs Data To Make NY State Schools Look Like Failures

A very important article from the Times Union about discord on the Regents Board as well as accusations that NYSED rigs the data to push its agenda:

Regent Betty A. Rosa wants people to know that her board of 17 members aren't all in agreement about the public education reform agenda that's currently upsetting many parents, teachers and school administrators statewide.

In fact, she thinks the Common Core program is based on incomplete, manipulated data.
"They are using false information to create a crisis, to take the state test and turn it on its head to make sure the suburbs experience what the urban centers experience: failure," said Rosa, a former teacher, principal and superintendent from the Bronx.

The state Board of Regents is scheduled to meet in Albany on Monday and vote on a budget request for next year. Members are expected to ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a substantial increase in aid for local schools, on top of this year's level of spending, $56 billion. The extra money is to help achieve the Regents' reform agenda — a series of higher standards, tests and other assessments to track and boost performance of pupils and their teachers. The program has caused a firestorm, with the Regents and Commissioner John King at the center.

Rosa said the program is built on data from incoming freshman at public two-year and four-year colleges in New York, which suggests only 24 percent are ready for work or higher education. But it doesn't consider data from private colleges, which are getting college-ready students — particularly from the suburbs, Rosa said.

"The conversation is (that) kids are not ready; it's really the black and brown children in urban centers," said Rosa, who spent her first 10 years growing up in Puerto Rico before attending public schools and colleges in New York. She earned a doctorate in education from Harvard University in 1995.

Rosa said SED disregards data from successful schools to bolster its message that public education isn't working.

"I'm not saying it's a fraud, but there's a lack of understanding ... of what's behind the Common Core," she said. "Do I believe that the purpose, the agenda is to create a sense of urgency around failure? Yes."

Regents Chancellor Tisch argues in the Times-Union piece that Rosa is wrong, it's a statewide problem with community colleges in the suburbs and rural areas experiencing the same alarming remediation rates that schools in the urban areas are experienxing.

But Tisch doesn't address the most important point Rosa makes - that SED ignores the statistics from the private colleges, which would lower the rates of students needing remediation greatly, in order to bolster their case that NY State schools and teachers are failures and disruptive reform is needed to fix the problems.

The article goes on to say that change is coming to the Regents/SED reform agenda, though how much change remains to be seen:

The state Legislature has become increasingly uncomfortable with the Regents' plan, and several lawmakers have proposed amending or putting the brakes on aspects of the program.

The "Reform of the Reforms" plan announced by John Flanagan, head of the Education Committee in the State Senate, is a lame attempt to make it look like the legislature is making changes to the SED/Regents reform agenda.

Critics of the plan point out that it actually gives more power to SED to impose their own agenda on districts and doesn't give any opt-out options to parents over the controversial inBloom data project.

Frankly, the longer the merry reformers at the Regents and SED continue to go full speed ahead with their reforms and the longer the state legislature or governor refuses to take meaningful action to stem the damage these reforms are doing, the more likely it is the whole reform ship will sink.

Tinkering at the edges of the reform agenda while telling people they're doing meaningful reform of the reforms is not going to fool too many people around the state, though it may throw even more fuel onto the anti-CCSS, anti-testing, anti-inBloom fire.

Wash Post & Politicker: Carmen Farina Likely To Be Named Chancellor

From Politicker:

According to The Washington Post, Bill de Blasio is reportedly “likely” to name Carmen Farina, a former adviser and deputy schools chancellor, to be the schools chancellor in his incoming administration–possibly on an interim basis. A source following the process relayed similar information to Politicker yesterday.

We'll see.