Whatever Eva Wants, Eva Gets

Mayor Bloomberg, in what may be his last term in office, is determined to leave his imprint upon the city school system. It's certainly true that his endless decade of "reform" has not brought about improvements in test scores, the only thing he actually cares about. And with hundreds of closed schools and the decimated neighborhoods in their wake, we know the quality of life is not anything to jump up and down about either.

But it's important that his good buddy, Eva Moskowitz, gets as much of a foothold as possible into what was once a purely public school system, so Mayor4Life is giving her even more schools to privately manage. One is Washington Irving, scheduled for closure, and the other is the High School of Graphic Communication Arts. The latter was one of the 24 scheduled for Bloomberg-style "turnaround," which appears unlikely.

But nothing nips at morale quite like a two-tiered system within a single building, where private-school students of Eva Moskowitz are treated better than the lowly kids actually served by public schools. There's nothing like seeing your building crumble at the seams, entering through a back door, or having your library disassembled and boxed up to let you know just where you stand. And, with low morale and disillusionment, "failure" and closure can follow closely behind.

It's kind of amazing to have a mayor who cheerleads for failure and closure of his own public schools. But with Bloomberg, it's become sort of a tradition.

Let's hope it ends conclusively next year, and the NY has the sense to vote in a mayor who actually wants city kids to get a decent education, as opposed to the enrichment of hedge-funders and one-percenters enthused about charter schools.

Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured at left, says the arbitrator exceeded his authority when he ruled for the union. The arbitrator, according to Mayor4Life, should not have considered the union's arguments. Evidently, the city feels its opponents have no authority to make arguments, let alone have them heard, and that only the city's arguments should be considered. Listen to our side, ignore the other, and then make an informed decision.

There is precedent for that, of course. The city has a fake school board, called the PEP. On this board, Mayor Bloomberg has 8 of 13 votes, and if he gets wind anyone is going to vote against him, he fires those people before they even get a chance. That's why the PEP has never, ever voted against him. This, in Mayor Bloomberg's view, represents democracy. After all, he has all that money, so how could he possibly be wrong about anything?

In the Mayor's view, evidently, when you enter into binding arbitration, it's only binding if you win. If you lose, the important thing is to loudly cry it's inappropriate, and make preposterous statements like this one:

“These are kids who, if they are there for one more year, will never recover in their entire lives...”

Oddly, these same kids have survived a decade of mayoral control, with Bloomberg having pretty much absolute dominion over the fake school board. Were the mayor's words true, why on earth did he wait until the last possible year? Hasn't  he already had ten years to stop the deadly and irreparable harm that one year in these schools (some of which do not even meet his own department's requirements for closure) would cause?

Sorry, but if this mayor really wanted to improve schools, he'd stop indulging in nonsensical grandstanding, and start reforming things in ways that would really help kids. Instead of cuts to school budgets, he'd offer more money. Instead of whatever Bill Gates happened to pull out of his hind quarters, there would be programs emulating Finland, which offers lower class sizes, teacher respect and autonomy, and by many accounts, the best education in the world.

You've had ten years of failure, Mayor Bloomberg. It's no surprise your arguments ring hollow with the arbitrator, and these days, it's a miracle you're able even to persuade the paid hacks who spit out the absurd newspaper editorials that support you.

UFT Wins!

UFT has won the arbitration against closing 24 schools. Teachers will be able to return to their jobs if they haven't found jobs elsewhere. Teachers who have found jobs elsewhere can take them if they wish. Finally, someone is standing up to the living lunacy that is Tweed.

Last week I met a young woman who'd found a teaching job at one of the "turnaround" schools. Her mom works in my school. I congratulated her, as she was in a discipline in which finding a job was pretty tough. Then she asked me if there was anything she needed to worry about.

I had to tell her that UFT was in arbitration to stop the school closings. She was shocked. No one had told her. It's kind of amazing that none of the folks on the 18D panel or anywhere else deemed that worth mentioning.

"Let's hope the UFT loses," said her mom, who is not a teacher.

I had to tell them that I was sorry, but I was very much on the side of the UFT. We were likely looking at thousands of ATR teachers, wandering around, unable to find permanent spots, for no other reason than being in the wrong place in the wrong time. That's unethical, despicable, if not outright criminal, and it appears the arbitrator thought so too.

I feel very sorry for the young woman, but she will find a job elsewhere and get over it. I did the same, multiple times, when I started out. Still, it probably won't be all that rosy for those folks who've already been rejected to go work for the very people that rejected them either. What idiocy to go forth with such a hurtful process when there was no need.

There were multiple news stories last week that wrote of the closures as though they were absolute fact. It made me worry that they were. I'm glad to see their crystal balls were faulty after all.

It's nice to get a little good news for a change. Given yesterday's SCOTUS ruling, I'm hoping there's a cresting trend. There has been so much needless destruction under the idiotic policies of Michael Bloomberg, Joel Klein, What's-her-name, and Dennis Walcott. It's time to build on this victory and move ahead into a city, country, and world we can proudly call not insane.

The Bad Business of Being a "Bad" Teacher

 by special guest blogger Turnaround Teacher

I am working at one of the dozens of high schools that Mayor Mike, in his wisdom, has decided to "turnaround." "Turnaround" really means "closing," with all teachers put in excess and forced to reapply for their own jobs. Rumors circulate about how many teachers will be re-hired, but we all know that if only 50% of the staff is rehired, the school gets some extra $1.5 million.

The teachers at our school are all obviously feeling various emotions about these events. Angry and pissed-off are probably the most common, followed closely by worried and sad. But of all the things the school is going through, I think the one that teachers find the most degrading is that we have to re-apply for our own jobs. The inference is that we are teachers of a failing school, so we must all be bad teachers. That's certainly what the NY Post blares in its papers every day, and I'd gather it's what the general public thinks as well.

Of course, the teachers actually teaching in the school are too busy to really think about how much this situation sucks. Besides putting together our portfolios and scouring the open market vacancies every night, everyone knows that June is the time for the annual student begathon. This is when students who have done absolutely nothing all year long all of a sudden decide that they really, really doesn't want to go to summer school. So they go to the teachers, and the script is always the same:

"Hi, Mr./Ms. ____." (Lowers head. The too-cool-for-school attitude that they've sported all year is gone.)

"Hi, ___. What can I do for you?"

"Um, I know I'm not passing your class right now, but is there, um, uh, any way I can make up the work?" (Head rises a little, to see the reaction of the teacher. If the teacher turns away, that's bad. If the teacher gives an exasperated sigh, that's good.)

For us Living Environment teachers, the yearly begathon is more complicated than most other subject teachers. Living Environment students are required to complete about 28 labs to qualify to take the Regents Exam. For most students this requirement is a piece of cake, as most teachers do labs weekly, and often more than once a week. But there's always a handful of students who don't have 28, even after the multiple Saturday make-up sessions and repeated warnings by the teachers.

But despite finding themselves in a predicament that is entirely their fault, the students also have the upper hand in this begathon. They have the upper hand because they know that underneath, most teachers are softies at heart. So if they lower their heads, apologize for that time (or the multiple times) they screamed and cursed and called the teacher names, and perhaps cry a little, the teacher will give in. And at our school, that's exactly what is happening every day, every period, with every Living Environment teacher. Lunch and prep periods are now really "desperate last minute make-up lab" periods. One teacher I know has an after-school session, and every day, after 11th period, I see a swarm of students following her into a classroom. She has a daughter and husband at home, but she has been staying till 6:00 every day to accommodate the students.

She's not alone. My 8th period I now spend in an empty classroom along with another teacher, as we conduct joint emergency lab makeup sessions. Having another teacher in there helps me a lot, for situations like "Hey I really have to use the bathroom. Can you help ____ with that lab and ____ with another lab?" So I run to the bathroom, run back, just in time for the other teacher to ask me, "Hey, can you help ___ with the labs, I need to run to the office to print out more labs." It's like a Cooperative Team Teaching Emergency Lab Makeup class.

Sometimes I ask myself, "Why am I doing this? I'm getting fired in less than a month." I'm sure that many teachers have thought the same thing, as yet another kid initiates a begathon. But we're giving our students one last chance, because we want them to succeed, even if they weren't good students, didn't come to class, didn't do much to deserve to pass the class. In other words, we're treating them the way the Mayor is NOT treating us -- with compassion and consideration, because that's what teachers should do.

So as I see this begathon play out every day, every period, with every teacher, and I see even the strictest ones give that exasperated sigh and reach for a stack of labs, I think, "If this school is really full of bad teachers that deserve to be fired, then I'm proud to be among all these bad teachers."