No Wonder De Blasio Didn't Want An Open Process For The Chancellor Pick

With the news that Bill de Blasio's team may have reached out to Michelle Rhee acolyte/DCPS chancellor Kaya Henderson to interview her for the NYCDOE chancellor position, we now can see why he got snarky yesterday over his flip flop on having an open process to pick the chancellor.

To recap, De Blasio said the following about picking a chancellor last year:

He said at a mayoral forum a year ago that schools chancellor candidates must undergo a “serious public screening...We need a chancellor who is presented to the public, not just forced down our throat.”

This week he said:

But Monday, as he mulls his own schools chancellor pick, he said there would be no “beauty contest” where finalists for the job are publicly identified and scrutinized. The change angered some education advocates.

“I want to be very blunt about this. That was clearly a reference to an unfortunate chapter in our city’s history related to Cathie Black,” de Blasio said of his earlier comments. “And I am going to ensure that we will never have a situation like that on my watch.”

...

“We are talking to a number of individuals who have extraordinary careers in education,” de Blasio said. “This is an open process in the sense that any name could be put forward, and names are being looked at that clearly have extraordinary educational credentials. So there’s not going to be a Cathie Black situation here.”

A reporter pressed de Blasio on how a public screening could be possible if the public is not informed of who the candidates are. An irritated-sounding de Blasio replied only: “I’m defining what I was saying then and what I’m saying now.”

With Henderson's name surfacing in a Times article about the chancellor search, it turns out de Blasio was quite right - "any name could be put forward."

Henderson's is the kind of name you wouldn't expect from a candidate for mayor who ran on turning back the clock on the standardized test-based school system that uses test scores as bludgeons against students, teachers and schools.

I must admit, I have a little skepticism that Henderson really was interviewed for the chancellor gig.

But with de Blasio already flip flopping on having an open process to choose the next chancellor, it is quite possible that he is set to flip flop on the kind of chancellor he wants to run the system and the kind of system he wants to run.

And if this is the kind of person he is interviewing for the chancellor job, then I can see why he would want no public scrutiny.

Even Michael Goodwin Thinks Bloomberg Is Lame

From the Goodwin in the Post:

Mayor Bloomberg deserves an answer. “What can I do?” he demanded to know when reporters pressed him about his absence following Sunday’s train crash.

Here’s his answer: Show up. That’s the job, and until Jan. 1, he should do it without whining.
It is a blot on his record that he remained AWOL despite knowing the horrific details. As four riders lay dead and scores were injured in the Bronx derailment, the mayor continued to play golf in Bermuda. His admission that he learned of the tragedy soon after it happened at 7:20 a.m. but didn’t return to the city until nightfall shows an indifference that is like telling the boss to “take this job and shove it.”

Suppose the accident had not been an accident. Suppose scores were dead and hundreds injured. Would the mayor have continued to play golf?

However you slice it, there’s no defense for his decision. He blew off his responsibility because he doesn’t have to face voters again, and the effort by aides to argue that the mayor could play because Gov. Cuomo was working is ­pathetic. It’s impossible to imagine Ed Koch or Rudy Giuliani making the “it’s not my job” argument.

Indeed, even Bill de Blasio knows better. The mayor-elect said it was “important to be there” and added: “My instinct is to be present even if the city is not the lead.”

To be lectured to by de Blasio must gall Bloomberg, but he can only blame himself. He screwed up big time.

Elect a sociopath who doesn't care about people in the individual (only in the abstract - as data) and this is what you get.

Did De Blasio Interview Kaya Henderson To Be The Next NYCDOE Chancellor?

On the heels of Bill de Blasio's flip flop over wanting an open process for the picking of the chancellor comes this doozy from the NY Times:

In recent weeks, Mr. de Blasio and his team have reached out to Dr. Starr, the superintendent of the Montgomery County school district, and Kaya Henderson, chancellor of the Washington school system, say people close to Dr. Starr and Ms. Henderson. It was unclear whether the calls were to gauge their interest or to merely solicit advice.

...

 Ms. Henderson is considered friendly to the kind of policies endorsed by Mr. Bloomberg — she was once a deputy to Michelle A. Rhee, the hard-charging former chancellor of Washington schools. But she is considered more of a peacemaker than her predecessor and an agile negotiator with the teachers’ union. A spokeswoman said Tuesday that Ms. Henderson was traveling and unavailable for comment.

It doesn't matter if de Blasio was interviewing Henderson for a possible hiring as the next chancellor or simply soliciting advice from her.

As the deputy to Michelle Rhee at DCPS, as one of the key ed deformers who has pushed test score-based schooling and teacher evaluations, either interviewing her for a job or soliciting advice from her is problematic in my eyes.

I wrote last night that de Blasio's flip flop on the chancellor pick process was a troubling sign for what may come in a de Blasio mayorality.

If de Blasio reached out to Kaya Henderson for either reason - to interview her for the DOE job or just to ask her advice about something or somebody else - it's another troubling sign.

That's a big if, of course.

This story could just be one of those "planted" things by some DFER or Eva Moskowitz ally looking to stir things up.

Nonetheless, I think it is important to warn de Blaiso publicly that holding Henderson in anything other than contempt for her education record and policies is unacceptable.

One good thing might result if he does tap Henderson to be chancellor, however.

She might finally get some scrutiny for the cheating scandal in DC she helped quash, along with her boss at the time, Michelle Rhee.

De Blasio Is Full Of @#$% Over Chancellor Pick Process Flip Flop

And so we get the first slimy move post-election by de Blasio:

Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that when he called for a public screening of schools chancellor candidates, his point was merely that the city must avoid a repeat of the Cathie Black debacle.

De Blasio was asked to explain an apparent reversal: He said at a mayoral forum a year ago that schools chancellor candidates must undergo a “serious public screening...We need a chancellor who is presented to the public, not just forced down our throat.”

But Monday, as he mulls his own schools chancellor pick, he said there would be no “beauty contest” where finalists for the job are publicly identified and scrutinized. The change angered some education advocates.

“I want to be very blunt about this. That was clearly a reference to an unfortunate chapter in our city’s history related to Cathie Black,” de Blasio said of his earlier comments. “And I am going to ensure that we will never have a situation like that on my watch.”

...

“We are talking to a number of individuals who have extraordinary careers in education,” de Blasio said. “This is an open process in the sense that any name could be put forward, and names are being looked at that clearly have extraordinary educational credentials. So there’s not going to be a Cathie Black situation here.”

A reporter pressed de Blasio on how a public screening could be possible if the public is not informed of who the candidates are. An irritated-sounding de Blasio replied only: “I’m defining what I was saying then and what I’m saying now.”

He's defining what he was saying then and what he's saying now?

What the hell does that mean?

That's a slimy way of saying,"Yeah, I said I wanted a public process last year, but now that I'm elected mayor, I don't want one."

In short, he's flip-flopped.

Won't be the first flip-flop, but it is not a good sign from Mayor-Elect De Blasio that he is already full of crap a month before he takes office.

That last statement has to be read a couple of times to be believed.

It's perfectly Clintonesque in its full of shitness..

Well, he did make his bones working for Big Bill back in the day, so I guess he's learned how to parse words from the best of them.

As I have said before, de Blasio will have to be watched very, very closely.

The kind of flip flop he engaged in yesterday over the chancellor pick process should raise some concern over what else he'll decide to flip flop on after he's sworn in.

Disgrace In Illinois

RT @twilight2000: Why would anyone work for any state gov't if they can steal the pension you worked for for 30 years? #PensionTheft
— RayBeckerman (@RayBeckerman) December 3, 2013

And

Let the lawyering begin. Illinois #PensionTheft is against our state constitution @GovernorQuinn.
— Michelle Gunderson (@MSGunderson) December 3, 2013

The corporatists will stop at nothing to feudalize every part of human existence.

They want it all and they won't stop until they get it.

De Blasio And His Team Push Pre-K Program

From Politicker:

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio rolled out an “all-star” brain trust today that will work to implement his ambitious universal pre-kindergarten agenda.

...

This was not the first time Mr. de Blasio held a press event at a childcare center to promote the centerpiece of his policy platform: a tax hike on the city’s wealthiest residents to pay for universal pre-K. While his last Manhattan stop came during the course of the heated campaign, Mr. de Blasio was in Harlem today to unveil his six-person “working group,” a collection of childcare professionals and old allies that would be tasked with making his plan a reality by September 2014.

“This is an all-star team. You could not ask for a stronger group to help us prepare and get the word out,” Mr. de Blasio told the reporters. “We can and will make sure the largest number of kids are served.”

The working group is composed of: Jennifer Jones Austin, Mr. de Blasio’s transition team co-chair; Elba Montalvo, founder and president of the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families; Josh Wallack, a leader at the Children’s Aid Society and Mr. de Blasio’s former legislative director; Sherry Cleary, executive director of the New York City Early Childhood Professional Development Institute; Gail Nayowith, the executive director of SCO Family of Services; and Nancy Kolben, executive director of the Center for Children’s Initiatives.

Their initial efforts are expected to center on developing plans to recruit, train and retain educators, secure space for thousands of additional children and research the best pre-K practices from programs across the country, Mr. de Blasio said. He hopes to grow the city’s pre-K program from 20,000 to 80,000 students.

“This really is about giving every child a right to a good education,” the mayor-elect said. “We have the opportunity right now to achieve this … We are here to stay. We are going to make this work.”

When asked about the potential hurdles in Albany getting taxes raised to pay for his pre-K program, de Blasio noted he won with 73% of the vote - a mandate if ever there was one and polls show the public supports raising taxes on rich people to pay for the pre-K program.

Still no word on what he plans for the rest of the education system or who he plans to lead it.

What Does Andrew Cuomo Want To Do With His Education Reform Agenda?

From the Hudson Valley United site:

In a meeting with parents, educators, and union leaders,  Regent Harry Phillips resounded the cries of public school teachers and parents from across New York. “We botched this,” Regent Phillips said, describing the Danielson rubric as “impossible,” the current testing of special education and ESL students as “cruel” and SLO’s as “stupid.”

But mostly, Regent Phillips listened. The 13 year member of the NYS Board of Regents spent nearly 90 minutes with representatives from NYSUT, Hudson Valley United and Citizens Action on Monday discussing concerns about the implementation of The Common Core Learning Standards, APPR teacher evaluations, the under-funding of public schools, the over-reliance and unreliability of standardized tests, the powerful influences of corporate and private interests in New York’s classrooms, the use of arbitrary cut-scores for diploma eligibility, and the current direction that the New York State Education Department has taken. It was undoubtedly a productive afternoon, which included Regent Harry Phillips noting that the “botched” attempts at reform call for “civil disobedience” to resolve.

The primary objectives of the round table style meeting were to reinforce the connections between policy-makers and practitioners and to renew a shared vision for public education as the gateway to a prosperous and humane civil democracy. Meeting participants urged Regent Philips to support the course corrections that NYSUT is seeking including a three-year moratorium on high stakes testing, and to restore the funding and the focus of education on teaching and learning.

VAM, Danielson, SLO's - all need to go.

Clearly Tisch and King will not agree to that - as they have told us over and over.

Their reform agenda is going "full speed ahead."

But Governor Cuomo is up for re-election next year and he is facing some problems.

His performance ratings have fallen over the years and at least one public poll has him under water (44%-56% - Siena poll.)

He is vulnerable to pressure over the state's reform agenda.

For years, he bragged about how this was his agenda - his teacher evaluation system, his education reform commission, etc.

Lately, with pressure mounting from everywhere against the reforms, he has tried to distance himself from the reforms.

He must be put on the spot to say whether he wants to continue the reforms, as Tisch and King want, or whether he agrees with many students, parents and teachers that the Common Core implementation has been botched, the CCSS themselves are problematic, the testing regime is insane, and the evaluation system harmful to students as it calls for all this extra testing.

He also must say what he wants to do with inBloom, the data collection project.

NY is now the only state left in this thing that hands sensitive student information over to Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.

Pressure must be put on Andrew Cuomo over all of these reforms - does Sheriff Andy want to go "full speed ahead" with these reforms?

These are his reforms - he owns them, he is the "lobbyist" who pushed for them.

He cannot be allowed to run for re-election without addressing these issues.

Children Better Protected By Criminal Justice System Than By NY State Education Department

Devastating indictment of NYSED and the Board of Regents at a meeting about inBloom, the data collection project the state insists is happening whether the public wants it or not:

WHITE PLAINS — Local school officials are adamant that they do not want student records being shipped to the inBloom data cloud, setting up a tense showdown with the state Education Department that will play out over the next few weeks.

Associate State Education Commissioner Ken Wagner said Monday night that the state has already started uploading records with student codes and will begin adding students’ names and addresses by mid-January.


Wagner was in White Plains to sit on a panel about student data and privacy but wound up — as he must have anticipated — answering to a slew of objections about the state’s plans for collecting and analyzing student records with the help of inBloom, a nonprofit company funded by the Gates Foundation.


Numerous school board members and administrators from across the region questioned the value of collecting the data — even insisting that it will lead to student tracking — and wondered how the data will be “mined” by profit-minded companies.


Pleasantville Superintendent Mary Fox-Alter, who sat next to Wagner on the panel and looked skeptical for two full hours, said there was no educational purpose for identifying students by name and including information like school suspensions and family backgrounds.


“A child is better protected in the criminal justice system than in this,” she said of the state’s plans.

In the end, unless the courts force the state to back down or political pressure is placed on Cuomo to make Tisch and King stop with the inBloom project, sensitive student information will be handed over to the Gates/Murdoch cloud:

Rye Neck Superintendent Peter Mustich, who organized local efforts to seek answers from the state, said he learned nothing from Wagner’s explanations.

“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “We still don’t have much information. I do not understand why eight states have backed out but New York can’t.”

New York hasn't backed out while every other state and municipality has because NYSED is literally being run by Gates Foundation functionaries, private employees hired by private funds to develop, implement and enforce policy.

Until the politicians in Albany are made to pay for this outrage, nothing will change in the state's forced implementation of their reform agenda - including the inBloom imposition.

Shouldn't Tisch, King And Steiner Be Under Investigation For Corruption?

There is a shadow government running the state education department here in NY State.

We know that Regents Chancellor Tisch paid out of her own pocket for these private employees to run NYSED offices.

Millions more came from the Gates Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, General Electric and a bunch of other corporate entities - $19 million in total from more than two dozen private employees.

These private employees, called "Regents Fellows," many with connections to the Gates Foundation and other education reform groups, developed state education policy, implemented that policy and helped enforce it.

We know that NYSED Commissioner King and former NYSED Commissioner Steiner were both in on the Regents Fellows scheme and that King used his power to keep a veil of secrecy over what the Regents Fellows were doing.


Yesterday the Moreland Commission released its report on corruption and influence in Albany:

ALBANY — A scathing 98-page report from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s anti-corruption panel on Monday detailed a “pay-to-play political culture driven by large checks” in Albany, but withheld specifics as its probe of public corruption continues.

In its report, the Moreland Commission laid out a pattern of corruption at the state Capitol driven by major donors, loophole-filled rules and “anemic enforcement of the weak laws we have on the books.”


The report, however, doesn’t name names. While it details a number of corrupt, potentially illegal acts, identifying information was held back in many areas to avoid “compromising the integrity and confidentiality” of its ongoing investigations, according to the document.


“What we can describe, though, is deplorable conduct, some of it perfectly legal yet profoundly wrong; some of it potentially illegal -- and, indeed, this Commission will make appropriate criminal referrals at such time as it deems appropriate,” the commission wrote in its report.

Doesn't what Tisch, King and Steiner did by handing over education policy development, implementation and enforcement to private employees hired by private funds (including some from Tisch herself) without any legal authority to do so come under what the Moreland Commission report described as "deplorable conduct, some of it perfectly legal yet profoundly wrong"?

Shouldn't she, along with her cohorts in crime, Steiner and King, be under investigation for corruption?

In Steiner's case, it would the second time his name surfaced in a corruption case, since he was prominently named in the Pearson bribery case a few years back that the state attorney general never did anything with.

I am under no illusions that Steiner, King and Tisch will be held accountable by the Moreland Commission for their crimes, since the Commission seems to only be targeting the legislature and completely ignoring their patron Governor Cuomo's alleged ethical transgressions.

But if we lived in a real democracy instead of a fake one, Tisch, Steiner and King would be hiring lawyers about now.

The shadow government at SED ought to not only be out of power, everything about it - from how it started to how it got funded to how it has operated - ought to be under investigation.

FireDoglake Obained Documents Detailing Chris Christie's Lobbying Career For Edison Schools And University Of Phoenix

Great, great piece at Firedoglake looking at New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's lobbying days for the education privatization industry, including his wining and dining a corrupt NJ politician to help University of Phoenix with their state licensing problems.

Firedoglake also sheds some light on the work Christie did for the Securities Industry Association, which had Bernie Madoff on its board.

Christie helped to defeat an assembly bill that would have amended the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act “to include securities in the definition of covered merchandise under the act.”

Madoff's investment fund was ground zero for securities fraud, of course, so Christie's work helped old Bernie out there in NJ.

Check out the whole post - it's a good glimpse into Christie's lobbying past.

I maintain that his ethical lapses will keep him from being president.

Working for Madoff to keep securities fraud from being added to the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act isn't going to play so well no the campaign trail or campaign ads.

Manic Monday

Interesting post NYC Educator wrote about the anxiety some teachers are feeling Sunday night/Monday morning as they try and sleep before returning to the work week.

I awoke at 3:30 this morning and had some difficulty getting back to sleep.

I kept thinking about that 15 minute mini observation that's coming.

I kept thinking about the lessons I had for today (which were good ones, but nonetheless I worry in the Era of Danielson) and the lessons I needed to write for tomorrow and the grading I still need to do today so I can get report card grades ready and the notifications I need to make to parents that their children have failed the second marking period (thankfully just a small group there and I have already been in contact with most of these parents.)

I kept thinking about the stupid meetings we have after school that will waste an hour and a half of my life so that the administration can tell the DOE we meet cross-department and cross grade level to talk about helping the lowest performing students in the schools.

The reality is, we come to the same conclusion every time we meet - we need more guidance counselors because many of the students in the lowest performing group are suffering from all kinds of trauma, from unresolved emotional pain over a dead parent to the disruption of living in a homeless shelter to recurring health issues to getting bounced around from foster home to foster home, and they are unable to raise their achievement levels while trying to deal with these socio-emotional issues.

We talk strategies to try and reach these students in any case, but it's difficult to be successful at this when they're either chronically absent from school, emotionally detached from their lessons, or angry/hurt/sad from the events in their lives.

As NYC Educator wrote, there isn't much you can do at 3:30 AM to fix any of these problems and losing sleep over them surely won't make finding solutions any easier.

But when you have a system run by FEAR in which the people in charge are given the power (some would say bludgeons) in the form of the Danielson rubric to rate anybody they want "ineffective" regardless of actual performance, teaching skill or esteem from colleagues and/or students, this sort of thing happens.

The good news is, they're having some sleepless nights at SED and the Regents and the governor's mansion too, as the opposition and criticism to the Cuomo/Tisch/King reform agenda mounts.

Let us do our best to keep the pressure up on these politicians and their functionaries in order to get this system changed from one that runs on FEAR to one that runs on mutual collaboration and understanding.

If I could get one New Year's wish granted by the universe, it would be that whomever takes over the NYCDOE has some understanding of the socio-emotional issues students are dealing with and gives schools and teachers the supports needed to really reach these kids.

Bloomberg Kept Playing Golf After Being Told Of Metro North Train Derailment

His aides didn't want to say where he was yesterday when there was no sight of him or press release from him for hours after the news of the train derailment broke:

The Bloomberg administration has a longstanding policy of not disclosing the mayor's whereabouts when he has no public events scheduled, but many suspected the billionaire was in Bermuda this weekend when he failed to surface after a Metro-North train derailment in the Bronx killed four people and injured more than 60 others. Now a Wall Street Journal source confirms what we all presumed: Bloomberg was spending the weekend with Bermuda, and kept playing golf after being informed of the tragedy. From the Journal:

Mr. Bloomberg, who steps down on Dec. 31 after 12 years at City Hall, was playing golf Sunday at Bermuda’s majestic Mid Ocean golf club, a person who spotted the mayor said. The Metro-North Railroad train derailment — killing four people and injuring more than 60 others — occurred at roughly 7:20 a.m. New York time.Mr. Bloomberg was golfing in the early morning and did not leave the course until roughly 1 p.m, the person said. Bermuda is one hour ahead of New York time.

 When Bloomberg finally appeared in NYC at St. Barnabas Hospital last night, it was almost 8 p.m. Asked about his conspicuous absence, Bloomberg in turn asked reporters, "What can I do? I’m not a professional firefighter or police officer. Nothing I can do. All I can do is make sure that the right people from New York City, our police commissioner, our fire commissioner and emergency management commissioner are there." In other words, watch this drive!

What could he have done?

He could have stopped playing golf out of respect for the injured and the dead - that's one thing.

But not our Bloomberg - he finished off his golf game before taking a leisurely flight back to NYC and making a public appearance at a hospital more than 12 and a half hours after the train derailment occurred.

Classic Bloomberg - emblematic of his disdain for the people of this city.

As I wrote yesterday, had this been four dead in a high profile gun shooting, he would have flown back immediately and held a press conference on the JFK tarmac to talk up his gun control efforts.

But a Metro North train derailment in the Bronx that kills four and injures more than 60?

Sorry, gotta finish my golf game.

NY Times: Teacher MUST Make Concessions on Seniority, ATR'S, Pay And Scheduling

Usual neo-liberal claptrap in the NY Times on the teachers contract.

The Timesmen want teachers to agree to get rid of salary steps and tie teacher pay to the new APPR teacher evaluation system ("highly effective" teachers would be paid more than other teachers - so what if the system is under attack all across the state, the Timesmen think pay should be based upon it.)

They want the union to throw ATR's under the bus.

They want seniority to be completely dispensed with for layoff decisions.

They want the union to agree to more "flexible scheduling" - i.e., a longer school day and longer school year.

They use all the propaganda nonsense ed deformers usually use to push this nonsense - charter schools outperform traditional public schools (not true according to state test scores), so traditional public schools should follow the lead of charters and increase days and time for longer classes and more teacher meetings.

Senior teachers are no better than younger, more inexperienced teachers and advanced degrees make no difference in teaching skill - all that matters is the final product (i.e., test scores.)

The Timesmen get one thing right in the editorial, however - UFT members are in a particularly sour mood these days - but they get the reason for that sour mood wrong.

It's true teachers are pissed that they haven't had a raise in four+ years, but it's even more true that teachers are pissed over all the concessions the UFT has granted to the state and the city via the APPR teacher evaluation system.

The UFT has already conceded on lost tenure protections (two "ineffectives" and you are fired is lost tenure protections), extra paperwork, extra meetings, mandated lesson plan formatting for Danielson (yes, I know they say it is not mandated, but if you don't do it the way Ms. Charlotte wants it done, you will be "i-rated"), and tying test scores to ratings (sure it's state law, but the UFT did not fight against that law.)

Now the neo-liberals at the Times (and you can bet elsewhere in this city too) want even more concessions to completely destroy what is left of the contract and give the powers that be the legal bludgeon they need to fire senior teachers whenever they want for whatever reason they want, get rid of steps and ladders and shove through merit pay, and add time and days to an already beleaguered teaching corps. - all for the 8% raise we were owed back as part of the old pattern.

I said it before, I will say it again - there must be NO CONCESSIONS in this new contract.

Not on days or time, not on steps and ladders, not on ATR's or seniority.

We have already given our concessions over the past four years and got stiffed on the last pattern raise.

It's fine for the neo-liberals to attempt to get these kinds of concessions in the next contract.

But you should let your chapter leader know that she/he should let the geniuses running the UFT know that if they agree to any of this stuff, there will be hell to pay.

And then you have to raise hell in your chapter to make sure rank and file teachers follow through on that hell the next time UFT elections roll around.

Time To Dispense With The Sham That SED Will Make Reform "Adjustments"

The Syracuse Post Standard editorial board wants to know what NYSED Commissioner King and Regents Chancellor Tisch are going to do with all the insights they've heard the past few weeks at the Common Core forums:

On Tuesday, New York state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. will sit in front of an audience at Fayetteville-Manlius High School for his ninth public forum on the Common Core standards. King also has appeared in four Q&A sessions televised by public broadcasters around the state.

If past is prologue, at Tuesday's forum King will absorb a barrage of criticism about the state's rush to implement the standards, the botched rollout of the curriculum, its outsized focus on testing -- and how all of this has crushed the morale of teachers, students and parents.

And if he holds true to form, King will patiently explain that the previous educational standards were not rigorous enough; that curriculum decisions are made by local school boards, not the state; and that teachers and students will adjust, in time.

That message is not playing well. Some of the forums have turned raucous, with picketing and boos and calls for the commissioner's resignation. 

To King's credit, he is enduring it all with an even temper. He's listening. That's good. But will anything change?

Could it be that some of the frustration pouring out at these forums is because the commissioner and his bosses at the Board of Regents have not articulated what they will do with all this feedback they are collecting?

In announcing the forums, Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said their purpose was "to understand how the implementation is going and what adjustments, if any, have to be made."

Just three years after its adoption and one year into implementation, an about-face on the Common Core standards seems unlikely. So how deeply are the commissioner and the regents prepared to adjust? What is their timetable for making those adjustments?

If the intent of the forums was to talk parents and educators out of their concerns about the Common Core, it does not appear to be working. If anything, hearts are hardening even more.

If the intent of the forums was to incorporate constructive feedback into future decisions, King should say so -- and be specific about how that will happen.

If there's nothing anyone can say to influence the path New York state is taking with the Common Core curriculum, then the forums are merely window-dressing. 

I'm glad King was forced to hold so many public forums after his Poughkeepsie Common Core town hall meltdown.

I'm glad students, parents and teachers are getting the opportunity to tell King and Tisch to their faces the damage they are doing to children, the teaching profession, and the public school system.

But let's just dispense with the sham that King and Tisch plan to make any "adjustments" to their reform agenda after these forums.

They have told us again and again that they believe the Common Core standards, the SED-aligned curriculum that has been developed for districts to use (optionally, of course!), the APPR teacher evaluation system that mandates so much extra testing and places so much emphasis on the stakes, and the data collection project known as inBloom will continue whether the public wants this to happen or not.

In short, the so-called public servants, King and Tisch, have hijacked democracy and decided what they want will happen regardless of how the public thinks or feels about their reform agenda.

It's great to use these forums to continue to carry the message to the politicians that the Common Core is toxic for children, teachers and schools, but also for their own political careers.

Same goes for APPR, the Endless Testing regime and inBloom.

But there's no point in making believe King and Tisch are going to make any changes to the reform agenda without it being forced upon them by the politicians in the legislature and the governor's mansion.

I am sure the Syracuse editorial board understands this.

The track record is there for all to see who have eyes - King and Tisch are listening to the public at these forums, but they are not hearing anything that is being said.

They have too much Gates Foundation cashola in their ears to hear anything.

Gothamist: Bloomberg Only Makes Appearances Or Issues Press Releases When It Matters To Him

Bloomberg hasn't returned from wherever the hell he is this weekend, let along visited the Metro North train derailment, but the usually compliant press is starting to ask questions like "Where The Hell Is Bloomberg?"

This summer, Mayor Bloomberg's office had something to say about the IRS' decision to recognize same-sex marriages, so they issued a press release. The mayor's voice also chimed in on a new EPA measure to cut carbon pollution, and lauded the FDA's decision to ban trans-fats. Just six hours after an NYPD traffic agent was fatally struck by a truck in Midtown yesterday, the mayor offered the city's condolences in a release. Yet nearly ten hours after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, killing at least four New Yorkers and injuring dozens more, the city's chief executive has issued two tweets on the incident and hasn't visited the site of the crash.

Bloomberg does not care about this incident in the least.

As I wrote earlier, if this had been a gun shooting, he would have parachuted in to give a press conference about gun control.

As Gothamist makes clear, news events he cares about get press releases.

But four day, 63 injured in a train derailment in the Bronx?

Two tweets and the suggestion for concerned New Yorkers to call 311.

Should Bring Them To A Public School Too

From the DN weekend news round-up:

With his two daughters in tow, President Obama visited popular D.C. bookstore “Politics and Prose” Saturday to encourage holiday shoppers to support local businesses. (NYDN)

Great, Barry, now bring them to a public school and show them what a mess you've made of the public education system with your Racing to the Top and No Child Left Behind waivers that have brought us high stakes standardized tests in every grade in every subject, teacher evaluations tied to those tests, badly designed national standards that are boring students to tears in English class and confusing them in math class, and a data collection program that encourages states to hand over sensitive student information to Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.

I mean, so long as you're using your daughters as political props.

Bloomberg: Any Questions On Train Derailment, Call 311

The mayor, or somebody using his twitter account, issued the following statement on the Metro North train derailment:

Thoughts and prayers with those impacted by today's train derailment. If you are looking for a loved one who was onboard, call 311.
— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) December 1, 2013

Call 311.

That's his advice.

Gee, thanks for your concern, Mr. Mayor.

I'd say this is outrageous, but we've seen this kind of detachment from him for the entire 12 years he has been in power.

What paralyzing blizzard that's keeping ambulances from getting to people in need?

Go take in a Broadway show.

Before Sandy, he said the storm was going to be no big deal and the Monday after would be a regular work day.

It wasn't until Cuomo shut down the MTA that he was finally forced to call an evacuation of Zone A flood areas.

Somehow the press sells this guy as the bestest mayor ever, a hyper-efficient chief executive who "gets things done."

But the reality is, at some of the bigger moments of his mayorality, he has been MIA.

The press has, for the most part, let him get away with this.

Boxer Day was the only time he got beat up a bit for his detachment.

A Metro North derailment may not approach the crisis proportions of Sandy or the Boxer Day Blizzard, but his refusal to fly back to NYC and to make an appearance at the press conference or scene of the crash, would not be tolerated from any other mayor.

This is a tragedy, with 4 people reported dead and 63 injured - 11 seriously.

Alas, billionaire mayors get away with telling people to call 311 and then going back to playing with their dogs on the Bermuda beach.

Bloomberg's Whereabouts Unknown, Aides Refuse To Say Where He Is

Horrific train derailment in NYC today.

Governor Cuomo was at the scene, updating New Yorkers on the injuries and fatalities, giving out information, just doing the kinds of things a chief executive should do in a time of tragedy.

Mayor Bloomberg on the other hand was MIA:

Mayor @MikeBloomberg not at news conference on train derailment. Spokesman has not answered questions as to mayor's whereabouts.
— jdavidgoodman (@jdavidgoodman) December 1, 2013

NYT's @jdavidgoodman: Bloomberg aides wont discuss his whereabouts/absence from train accident scene. Fits pattern of when he's out of town
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) December 1, 2013

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out he's out of the country, probably in Bermuda with his consort Diana Taylor and their dogs, Bonnie and Clyde.

As with the Boxer Day Blizzard, Bloomberg has left the operations of the city in the hands of deputy mayors.

On a day like today, when at least four people have been killed (and 60+ injured) in a train derailment in the Bronx, couldn't Bloomberg get off the couch and fly his plane back to JFK and show up at the scene of the tragedy?

Seriously, it just shows respect for the victims and their families.

You can bet if these deaths were caused by guns rather than a train crash, Bloomberg would have flown back ASAP and held a press conference to decry gun violence and publicize his gun control lobbying efforts.

But this train derailment?

Not only isn't he flying back to the scene, his aides won't even say where he is.

Those actions speak volumes.

Tear Up The Teaching Scripts - AND The Danielson Rubric

Great piece at Answer Sheet by a teacher sick of having to teach to scripts:

I can’t do projects with my students anymore because I have to teach the curriculum word-for word, and I am only allowed to use standards-based assessments (which I must create myself).   It doesn’t matter how my students learn best.  It doesn’t matter that the Common Core State Standards assume a steady progression of skills that my students have not been formerly taught.  It doesn’t matter that my students arrive at my door with a host of factors that I cannot control…their home situations, their former schooling, their attitudes toward school and learning and themselves, the neighborhood they live in, whether they are English Language Learners or have special needs, or whether they have just broken up with their girlfriend  in the cafeteria.  All those factors also affect student performance, but none of that matters.  What matters is how my students perform on the state test.  (And I must STOP teaching for 6 weeks in the spring to make sure our students pass that test.)

The teacher notes how the teaching scripts have come because standards-BASED education, aligned to high stakes stakes standards-BASED tests that are used to evaluate students, teachers and schools force this kind of scripted, dehumanized system:

Standards-BASED education gets it all wrong. They assume the best teaching and the best learning can be quantified with tests and data.  Yet I’ve never once had a student compliment me on my academic knowledge or my data collection skills.  I’ve never had a student thank me for writing insightful test questions or for staying up late to write a stunning lesson plan.  But students HAVE thanked me for being there, for listening to them, for encouraging them, for believing in them even before they could believe in themselves.  Meeting our student’s academic needs begins with seeing them as human beings with worth and capability and gifting, not as research subjects.

Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul is full of stories of teachers who made a difference in student’s lives through their care, their courage, and their dedication…not their student’s test scores.   Judging the effectiveness of a teacher on only quantifiable data reduces the art of teaching children to a mathematical algorithm can that be performed more effectively by a hologram projected on the Smart board than by an old-fashioned, caring, humanly flawed teacher.

I would add the Danielson rubric to the list of weapons being used to ensure teachers stick to the scripts as envisioned by the Gates Foundation-funded Regents fellows and Pearson test developers.

I am awaiting my second observation this year, the 15 minute "mini" observation.

I am told by teachers in my department who have already undergone this that everybody is getting dinged on something connected to "questioning" and "assessment".

You see, teachers must constantly be assessing students in the classroom through written formative assessments, verbal questioning, interim assessments, exit slips, written class work, written group work, and summative assessments, not to mention the September and June performance assessments tied to teacher evaluations.

All of these "assessments" (one of those edu-speak words I despise) lead to the grand daddy of all "assessments - the state test that is used to rate students, teachers and schools.

But even if a teacher "adds" tons of "value" to her/his students' test scores, you still can get rated "ineffective" if the administrator observing you doesn't like your "questioning" or "assessment" strategies and techniques.

Danielson forces a "One Way To Teach" measurement onto teachers that allows for no freedom or autonomy to teach as a professional educator sees is best for her/his students.

We can try and get rid of the SED scripts (I suspect the crappy quality of these will help in that matter) and we can try and delink the standardized tests from the high stakes for students, teachers and schools.

But as long as the name "CHARLOTTE DANIELSON" is located anywhere on the high stakes observation rubric being used to evaluate teachers, the scripted lessons and the standards-BASED teaching (one way fits all!) will continue.

The powers that be know that - that's why they pushed for not only tying test scores to teacher ratings but also the Danielson rubric to be the classroom observation measurement.

Alas, too bad the UFT pushed for this piece of garbage too.

In short, we need to get rid of the Common Core, the Common Core tests, the APPR teacher evaluation system and the inBloom data project (which only NY is doing now anyway!)

But we ALSO must send the Danielson rubric to the dustbin of history as well.

Politicians In Albany Scared Over Common Core

Commenter at a Buffalo News article on the increasing opposition to the CCSS in NY State:

A childhood friend of mine works in politics. I saw him recently and conversation turned to the issues highlighted in this article. He said, and I'll never forget the look on his face, "the Common Core has politicians in Albany scared." His office's experience mirrors Corwin's. Calls and letters regarding the Common Core, in particular the testing, are coming in every day from every demographic. Most Albany politicos supported these reforms back in 2012 because they thought the public supported it, but now support appears to be souring. This is a big issue.

And from the article:

Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, a Clarence Republican, hosted a community forum in Akron earlier this month to hear reactions to the state’s changes to public education. The meeting made clear, she said, that testing and privacy issues topped the list of concerns.

In the past, she said, one constituency might raise concerns about a particular educational issue. When teacher evaluations were enacted, for example, Corwin heard mainly from teachers. This time is different.

“This one seems to affect all the different groups,” Corwin said. “The administrators have a position on it. The teachers have a position on it. The parents and students have a position on it. So that part is unique, in that it cuts across all stakeholders.”

It seems the only people still on board with the "full speed ahead" approach are NYSED officials, a majority of the Board of Regents, and the Gates Foundation officials who are running policy at SED.

Make no mistake, there will be changes to Common Core come January when the legislature comes back into session.

When an upstate Republican says the criticism of the Common Core, the testing and the data collection are coming from all stakeholders, that means there is trouble for politicians who continue to carry the ed reform water buckets.

We need to continue the pressure at the forums, in the newspapers, over the phone and in emails and letter to the politicians - make sure the people in government know that there WILL be a political price to be paid if they continue to support the Common Core, the APPR teacher evaluation system, the Endless Testing being pushed by SED and the Regents, and the inBloom data collection project.

They must not be allowed to tinker at the edges of these reforms - the whole thing needs to go into the garbage and we need to start all over again developing standards, tests, evaluations and a sane data policy.