The Coveted UFT Endorsement

On Edwize, there's an interesting thread in which Leo Casey defends the UFT endorsement of Governor George Pataki, who vetoed improvements to the Taylor Law, and 25/55 (perhaps to show his gratitude). But it's not the Pataki endorsement being discussed.

Xkaydet65, who occasionally comments here, had this to say:

I have always wondered how the UFT could, with any conscience, consistently endorse Serphin Maltese for the State Senate. Mr. Maltese destroyed the Lay Faculty Assoc. at Christ the King HS in Queens in 1981. He permanently replaced 65 striking teachers, as he was Chairman of the School’s Board of Trustees.

Three years later he provided support, bot moral and material, to the Board of St John’s Prep in their successful effort to destroy that school’s LFA Chapter. This time 96 teachers were replaced. Maltese providied access to a private detective agency to provide security, an anti union llaw firm to assist house counsel Kevin Quill, son of Mike, and he frequently arrived to strategize on how to hire new staff with Don Bertrand SJP’s Board Chair.

Despite this record, Maltese was not only continually endorsed for reelection, but he was a welcome guest at UFT functions in CSB 24.

An Edwize commenter stated the UFT had not endorsed Mr. Maltese in the most recent election. Mr. Casey pointed out that when they did endorse Mr. Maltese, there had been much discussion in the UFT about whether or not they should endorse this blatant union-buster. And knowing what he was, they decided to endorse him anyway.

I remember working with several ex-Christ the King teachers. They were anything but shy about assessing Mr. Maltese. I happened to live in his district at that time, and I voted against him without a second thought.

Mr. Casey also pointed to discussion of Mr. Maltese's "opposition to legislation recognizing gay rights."

Personally, I see no distinction between gay rights and civil rights for any other group . I find it remarkable that my union was able to make such a distinction. Xkaydet65 came to this conclusion:

...if David Duke supported a UFT cause I’m sure he’d receive the Union’s coveted endorsement. Sometimes there’s right and wrong and supporting Serphin Maltese, under any circumstances was and is wrong.

I couldn't agree more.

NYC Educator's Boarding House

Mayor Bloomberg is going to add twenty small schools next year. 10 of them will be in 2 buildings that he's shutting down. The other 10 will be, well, he doesn't know where they will be.

Personally, I've decided to follow in his footsteps. I'm going to take my three bedroom home and convert it into a thirty bedroom home. First, I'm going to put up dividers in each bedroom to make sure that everyone has their own room. Then, I'm going to put an air mattress in each room, as full size beds are out of the question.

I'm going to equip each bedroom with a lamp, and run extension cords under the floors so that everyone gets a hot plate. Or maybe I'll split up the kitchen, and everyone can get a shelf in the fridge. It'll be kind of like being a college student again. I'll make up a snappy motto like "Renters First," and squeeze in as many as I can.

My boarding house will have everything. It'll be kind of like living in a third-world country while staying in the US. So, let's do the math---three times five is fifteen. I don't know where the other fifteen will be.

Excuse me. I gotta go take a look at the crawl space.

An Outrage

I was once a short-order cook, and I have often amazed people by making perfect omelets. But here's the thing--many short order cooks don't even know what an omelet is.

To make an omelet, you have to first put the eggs in the pan, and when they firm up a little bit, you add ingredients (spinach and feta cheese, for example) to one half of the mixture. After a while, you fold the other half onto your ingredients, slide it out of the pan and onto a dish, and serve.

You cannot mix the ingredients into the eggs and then fry the whole mess unattended until it is hard as a rock. This should be a felony.

If this is what you think an omelet is, you have never eaten one, so you should not ever attempt to make one.

All over the country people are making things like this and calling them omelets. It's simply un-American.

Looking for a House?

Consider not becoming a teacher. It can be rough to pay for a half-million dollar home when you're making 40 grand a year. Over on this coast, you might be able to find something in Nassau County for a mere 400K, but be prepared to shell out another 8 or 10 thousand for local taxes.

If you want to live near where I work (we could do lunch), be prepared to shell out closer to a mil. But Mayor Mike has really kept those taxes down, so it won't be more than 3K a year.

You could always look into a fixer-upper, I guess.

Who Killed the CFE Lawsuit?

The CFE lawsuit promised to bring NYC children good teachers, smaller classes, and decent facilities. For years I walked around convinced that substantive change was coming to our system, despite the babbling of various self-serving politicians. But now I think it's nothing but a fond memory.

There are a lot of suspects.

Was it Mayor Michael Bloomberg? Mayor Bloomberg strongly supported the idea of the infusion of capital. However, when the judge said the city might have to pay a portion, he decided decent education was too expensive. His representative said if the city were asked to pay any portion whatsoever, it would say no thank you to the whole deal.

Was it ex-Governor George Pataki? To his credit, Governor Pataki immediately offered to shoulder 60% of the award. He probably could have come up a little, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to pay a dime. As a result, he appealed the decision.

Was it the judges? One of them decided an eighth-grade education was good enough for New York City kids, and that our sole obligation was preparing them for a career in fast food. When the mayor refused to kick in dime one, another decided to cut the award by two-thirds and ensure there was no oversight in how the city spent the money.

Was it UFT President Randi Weingarten? Though Ms. Weingarten speaks about class size frequently, she negotiated two contracts under the spectre of the CFE lawsuit, and made no effort whatsoever to enforce reductions. She continues to push petitions and letter-writing campaigns knowing that any ballot proposal she wins is subject to the mayor's veto. The mayor has singlehandedly killed referendums before, and there's nothing to indicate he won't do so again.

Was it Governor Eliot Spitzer? The new governor promised great things for NYC schools. He promised to force Mayor Bloomberg to kick into any award. Gone is all such talk, and now he's kicking in money, but offering a menu of "improvements." They can reduce class size, but they can also increase the school year or day or offer "other changes in scheduling."

On teacher quality:

In a call for better teacher preparation, Mr. Spitzer said the state should offer expanded alternative certification programs to increase the number of teachers entering the profession without traditional training.

Mr. Spitzer, perhaps, is the only person on earth unfamiliar with the results of New York City's thirty-year program of intergalactic recruitment. While such programs swell the ranks of teachers and artificially depress New York City salaries, I don't see anyone standing up and praising Chancellor Klein for retaining teachers who've failed basic competency tests, often dozens of times. The overwhelming majority of internationally-recruited teachers turned tail and fled when they got a whiff of the cost of living here in fun city.

Mr. Spitzer has also taken a stand supporting Mayor Bloomberg's demand that test scores become part of tenure reviews, despite Randi Weingarten's prominent protestations. So much for the clout of the so-called "powerful teachers' union."

After years of resisting class size reduction, I see no reason why Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein would embrace it if not forced. It's likely their "other changes in scheduling" will be smoke and mirrors, or further privatization of the public schools. What will they do with the money? Hire extra levels of administrators? Construct schools on toxic waste sites? Invest in cutesy programs like Everyday Math? Who knows?

One thing appears certain--there will be no significant reduction in class sizes unless and until it is mandated, one way or another. The last best opportunity to have done so was during contract negotiations with the UFT.

The next best chance will be with a new mayor. And if teachers are really serious about this, they'll elect a new union president who values education even more than the half-century old UFT patronage mill.

Think Before You Write

That's just one thing I tell my hapless ESL students when they're facing the NY English Regents. The test is not designed for them, and they shouldn't have to take it. But that's not why I brought this up. When constructing an argument, you need to be careful, and anticipate what the other side may say.

For example, today's Daily News features a rather brutal attack on UFT Prez Randi Weingarten. First, it quotes her on class size reform:

"We need this more than anything else - the only reform that has never
been tried systemically in New York City, and that is a real lowering of class
size," Weingarten told lawmakers, seeking to have them set aside $1 billion just
for class size cuts.

Ms. Weingarten is very, very smart (no sarcasm here--I've seen her speak), and ought to have known she was setting herself up for this:

First, consider the truthiness of Weingarten's claim that this is the
only reform that's never really been tried. Let's see here. The schools have
never implemented a serious performance-pay plan for teachers. Or taken on
teacher tenure. Or substantially lengthened the school day or year. Or opened a
large number of charter schools.

There are many other reforms that have never been tried, like having classrooms in Wal-Mart and making teachers fold shirts between classes. Nor has anyone tried paying teachers minimum wage and hoping they wouldn't get snatched up by Burger King (where the food beats NYC cafeteria fare hands down).

A stronger argument against Ms. Weingarten's sincerity is the fact that she's consistently declined to make class size a part of contract negotiations (although quote two of the Daily News E-opinion section features some weirdo named "NYC Educator" making that very point). It's important to note (again) that class sizes are only as low as they are because of clauses in the UFT contract that are 30 or 40 years old.

I strongly support reducing class sizes, and I would like to see class size made a priority for those CFE funds. Unfortunately, the CFE verdict suggested there would be no oversight in how the funds were spent. This bodes ill for class size advocates.

And speaking of real class size advocates, don't miss Leonie Haimson's take on the News editorial.

Marching for Mayor Mike

Mayor Michael Bloomberg now proposes a "fair funding" plan, calculated to make it inconvenient to hire senior teachers. Principals will be able to hire two newbies for the price of one vet (Thanks to Schoolgal).

UFT President Randi Weingarten has spoken up against it, but had she not enabled mayoral control and the demise of seniority-based placement, it would not even be an issue.

Some schools, apparently, are staffed almost entirely by new teachers. While I've seen a lot of very good ones, I still think they can learn a lot from experienced colleagues (I know I did). Unfortunately, those nasty teacher unions insist that 20 years experience carry a price tag. If Mayor Mike were only able to get rid of salary scales and institute merit pay, he could ensure that no teacher lasted more than five years and eliminate pensions altogether.

When kids failed tests, he could simply blame the teachers and hire new ones. It would be perfect.

Are newbies any better off? You decide. Here's an email I received this morning:

I was accepted as a Midyear Fellow this year, and accepted my position. I completely picked up and relocated to New York City for the program and set up home in Queens. I started my training in December. I was never late to any sessions and always did the work that I was asked to do.


For the first few weeks of the program, I was subletting so that I could have the safety net of going back to my parents' house in case things didn't work out. At the midpoint evaluations, I was told that I was doing fine, so I went ahead and signed a lease for an apartment.


After that, the program's actions really left me in a bind. I had a field observer who decided on a whim that he didn't like my classroom management skills and then proceeded to complain to the office. When I asked repeatedly what my status in the program was, I was told not to worry about being removed from the program. This happened repeatedly when I asked for feedback on how I was doing in the program.


I finished my training period and spent the entire week afterwards taking interviews for teaching jobs. I also made two trips to my assigned university to get things set up there; I was even given an ID card and registered for classes. I then received a call tonight from the program essentially telling me that my evaluations led those in the office to believe that I was not ready to teach and that they had removed me from the program and removed me from my university classes.


I asked if there was anything that I could do as far as further training or ways that I could work to improve upon their concerns and was basically told that I was not eligible to apply for the Fellows program ever again and that they basically never wanted to see me again.


Bear in mind that when I got my apartment, I was also required to submit a proof of income letter to my landlord. The Fellows program gave me a letter that said that I would be eligible to teach beginning January 22nd and making over 40,000 dollars without any fine print saying that it was contingent upon successful completion of training.


They also allowed me to go to interviews at schools all of this week, which was a waste of my valuable time and a waste of principals' time if they were unable to hire me. Since I spent so much time searching for a teaching job, I was unable to even begin looking for other jobs and now am stuck with no way to make my rent and bills.


I feel as if I was very much wronged by the program and am writing to make you aware of this situation so that you can blog about it and make others beware of the Teaching Fellows program.

The Bottom Line

Though I've been accused otherwise, I'm not anti-test. Really, you need demonstrable evidence that kids are doing well (or poorly) in your classes, and grades are something it's hard to argue with. But is testing the be-all and end-all? I don't think so.

Unfortunately, when your principal's merit pay is on the line, everything else goes out the window.

"The kids can't tell you who the president was during the Civil War," she said. "But they can tell you how to eliminate answers on a multiple-choice test. And as long as our test scores are up, everyone will be happy.

"That's education?"

The teacher, who requested anonymity, said she was ordered by her principal to "forget about everything except test prep" over the four weeks prior to this month's statewide English tests.

"All anyone cares about now are test scores," she lamented.

It's useful for kids to be able to eliminate incorrect multiple choice answers. It shows resourcefulness and cleverness, too. But I really believe in the saying "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it." Test scores are important. No doubt about it. I want my kid to do well on tests, and I'll help her any way I can.

But that's not all there is. I'd like her to know there's history, and music, and art, and that she can be part of all these things. Do you want that for your kids too, or am I some wild-eyed extreme-liberal hippie pinko lunatic?

Thanks to Schoolgal

GPS My S

The computer guy at our school is a genius. If you bring him your sick laptop, he can just smell it and tell you exactly what's wrong. That's why I've always followed his advice without any questions whatsoever. But I think he may have software issues.

I travel a lot, and I'm writing this from Stroudsburg, PA. But it's a miracle I ever got here. Usually, I rely on Mapquest for directions, print them out and go. But lately, I've been considering one of those GPS units you plug onto your dashboard. Computer guy said to get Microsoft Streets and Trips with GPS, and save a few hundred bucks. So I picked it up, and bought a convertor to power the laptop in the car.

Yesterday, I was on I-80 west, on my way here, when the woman in my computer suggested a shortcut through Hackensack (or some other NJ garden spot). She took me up a road, and every time the road turned said things like "Bear left in 2/10ths of a mile." She then took me to a traffic circle, had me turn around, go back the other way, and drive all the way back to I-80.

While she's a computer and all, my inadequate human brain could not comprehend the wisdom of having driven around darkest Jersey for an extra 30 minutes. When she told me to get off again, I looked her right in her GPS screen, and told her, "Forget it."

She was mad, so when we got here, she took me in a circle all over town and refused to show me where the hotel was. I had to get out at a convenience store and ask for directions. Neither my wife, my daughter, nor my young nephew was impressed with the space-age technology I'd inflicted upon them.

What's the moral of this story? I couldn't tell you. But Instructivist says math is taught exactly like this GPS program works, and what's more, he's got a video to prove it.

Upstairs Downstairs

It's campaign season again for the United Federation of Teachers. UFT President Randi Weingarten is spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions of our dues dollars, on a professionally produced TV commercial that appears on Law and Order, the Today show, and who knows what else. It makes passing mention of class size, which Ms. Weingarten failed to bring up in contract negotiations, urges the public to listen to teachers, then posts Ms. Weingarten's name prominently for all the world to see.

This is not the sort of message that keeps us from being vilified in the press, nor is it designed to do so (Dues money is not wasted on such things). Like previous UFT commercials (that also appeared during UFT campaigns) with messages like "It's not fair" (really), these commercials are aimed at The Help. That's you and me.

When The Help gets uppity, it sometimes runs candidates against Ms. Weingarten. I'm not talking about New Action (who now know their place) but ICE-TJC, which actually opposes her and is not beholden with patronage jobs. Sometimes The Help just doesn't do what it's told (and it's hard to get good Help nowadays).

Here's one example, from a comment Teacher J made last night:

NYCE, please help me get my head around our mafia-style teacher's union.

Another teacher at my school who's a member of TJC, the opposition to Unity/NA in the coming elections, was putting leaflets in the teacher mailboxes of another school in our building. Later, he gets hauled into a room to be scolded by the principal of our school, the principal of the other school, and the chapter chair of the other school, who all essentially told him that they had taken the leaflets out of the mailbox and thrown them away, and that they were going to try to get a letter put in his file. He pointed out that DoE policy explicitly protects campaign activities if done outside work hours (he put the leaflets in the mailboxes during his lunch period). They replied in so many words that what he was doing was reprehensible and the principal has to authorize what teachers receive in their mailboxes.

What do you and your readers think this teacher can do to allow his democratic rights to be respected by the school and the union?

Yesterday, only 340 people read this blog. What were the chances this would happen to one of them? What are the chances, if this happened to one of them, that it's happening all over the city? And how many teachers don't even know opposition messages are being tossed into the trash?

Total monopoly is required to maintain the Unity patronage mill, and it's not going to let The Help get in its way. The 50-year-old Unity caucus, as always requiring signed loyalty oaths and total fealty (expelling members for opposing the Vietnam war, according to David Selden in The Teacher Rebellion), has certain standards to uphold.

Don't expect Randi Weingarten to get off her pedestal and debate The Help. That's unheard of. Not having access to dues money, and being strictly working class, the only thing The Help can afford is putting flyers into mailboxes. But Unity doesn't like that, and the administration doesn't like when The Help gets uppity. Without Ms. Weingarten and Unity, who will keep The Help in line?

What would happen if The Help found out what was really in that 05 contract? What would happen if The Help began to understand what cost of living was? What would happen if The Help found out New Action was a front for Unity?

I speak with my fellow Help every day. I am amazed at the number of intelligent and articulate teachers who have no idea about these things. Certainly neither Ms. Weingarten nor her patronage employees understand that the union is us, and that union employees (theoretically) work for us.

Against all odds, we need to get the word out.

When we do, we the people will run the union, and UFT HQ will contain The Help.

To Boldly Split that Infinitive...

We've all heard of Superman and Wonder Woman. But do you know about Grammar Girl? Unlike the others, she's 100% real.

Her podcast is remarkably popular, and has been downloaded over a million times. But people are afraid to write her for fear of being corrected. If only I knew what a podcast was, I'd listen right now.

(via)

State of the Blog

Thank you all very much for coming.

First of all, I'd like to welcome everyone here. Let's get right down to it. On the issue of bipartisanship, we are making definite progress. Several voices from Unity Caucus have been visiting lately, and while we disagree with them, they are welcome here. Unfortunately, the sole representative from New Action has opted to take his ball and go home, and there is little we can do about that.

We continue to do battle with the evil empire, but I must report we are vastly outnumbered and massively outspent. Also the unruly space aliens with whom we battle daily continue using weapons of mass destruction to achieve their goals, and still hope for kids to act like those they've seen in their favorite movies. We will not give up, we will not relent, but it will be some time before we can expect peace and prosperity.

Now we must turn to balancing the budget, and I say to you this goal is attainable within five years, and there will be no new taxes to accomplish this. The deficit is a burden to us and future generations. First, it's 12 bucks a year to get rid of those Haloscan ads. Then, there's the added burden of the new domain name nyceducator.com, which brings the deficit up to a staggering $17.99, the largest in our history.

I'm pleased to announce that this summer I plan to get a paper route in order to ease the debt. Sometimes, in extreme situations, one must take extreme measures.

So rest assured that this blog will remain free and independent of foreign influences. God bless you all, and let's be careful out there.

Yipee-i-yo-ka-yay!

The Carnival of Education is over at The Education Wonks place this week, buckaroos and buckarettes, and if you don't wanna miss it, get yer keesters over there right now!

Just click here, and you'll be there faster'n a GOP Senator can filibuster against raising the minimum wage.

Yee-haw!

Watch What They Do...

...and ignore what they say, because their words mean nothing.

UFT President Randi Weingarten, who made no effort whatsoever to get class size reduction written into the UFT contract (which is the only thing keeping class sizes are as low as they are), is now demanding one billion dollars of the CFE lawsuit be directed toward class size reduction.

The Mayor's consistent unwillingness to contribute dime one to this settlement resulted in its reduction by two -thirds, hardly a boon for city kids. And when this mayor says he's reduced class sizes, Class Size Matters says he has not.

Ms. Weingarten also made no effort whatsoever to make the CFE settlement part of the UFT contract, resulting in two contracts that failed to meet inflation, not to mention the draconian givebacks we suffered in 05. However, the current CFE settlement, to the delight of the mayor, provides no oversight whatsoever in how the funds are spent. Governor Spitzer, who's impressed me very little during his brief tenure, is fine with that, apparently:

A spokeswoman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer said that in his budget message next week, he would propose overhauling the state’s school aid formula, greatly increasing the dollars available for city schools, and would allow school districts to use the money to reduce class size but not require it.

The spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, did not indicate precisely how much money Mr. Spitzer would direct toward city schools. In his campaign, Mr. Spitzer repeatedly promised to spend $8.5 billion more a year on needy school districts statewide, including at least $4 billion a year for New York City.

Where's that promise he made now? And does anyone who reads the papers believe that voluntary reforms are the way to go with Mike and Joel?

Ms. Weingarten is also talking tough about Chancellor Klein's tenure proposals. Again, let's see what they do. Personally, I don't believe this chancellor wants to withhold tenure. If he does, that will reduce the pool of teachers, and he might have to raise salaries to attract more of them. That goes against everything this city has stood for for thirty years.

Weingarten's comments came in an exclusive interview after Klein told the Daily News Editorial Board he would talk to the union about a pay-for-performance pilot program in high-needs schools.

"I think paying people to produce results, especially in communities where we're not seeing these results, is what we need to do to reform this system," Klein said.

Weingarten has agreed to discuss incentives for teachers to work in difficult neighborhoods or shortage areas like math and science but said using test scores to set salaries or decide tenure is like "telling an oncologist that the only way to keep your job is for your cancer patients to survive."

Ms. Weingarten is correct, of course, but it was she who created this monster by enabling mayoral control in the first place. It was she who reinforced it by pushing the draconian givebacks of the 05 contract. Ms. Weingarten does not wish to appear an old-time union boss, and looks quite contemporary when she sends her teachers out to do hall duty, and to be permanent subs, and gives them 90-day unpaid suspensions based on unsubstantiated charges.

Give me an old-time union boss any day.

In fact, give me Tony Soprano. I don't know about you, but I've had it with people who talk and talk while never accomplishing anything.

Hungry for Knowledge?

I hope so, because you're not getting lunch today.
It's not convenient to make space for you, so Mayor Mike is sending you to science lab instead.

Mayor Mike's glitzy Children First brochure does not specifically mention the effects of hunger on education. It does not mention the value of public schools built on toxic sites, or multi-million dollar boondoggles for private schools either. It fails to mention the value of forgetting to add dropouts to graduation rates.

Oddly, it neglects to mention intergalactic recruitment, the highest class sizes in the state, the lowest standard for teachers in the state, or the all-too-common practice of sweeping incidents under the rug (while maintaining a public insistence that they be reported).

It does not mention that teachers are 100% responsible for everything that happens in schools, and that neither the mayor, the chancellor, the dilapidated facilities, the home lives of kids, the weather, or hunger (in the case of science students) play any role whatsoever in performance. At least that's what Deputy Chancellor Alonso publicly proclaims.

They must have forgotten that the very best facilities the city has to offer are reserved for charters run by billionaires.

It neglects the mayor's practice of closing schools in the face of unconscionable overcrowding, or taking perfectly good buildings like the one on Livingston Street, and turning them into condos. After all, who's to say the contaminated land isn't good enough for city kids? As Barbara Bush might say, "This is working very well for them." Certainly home buyers, Dalton kids, and billionaires who run charters and build stadiums are accustomed to better.

It's Children First, Children First, and Children First if you read the smiley-face pamphlet. Unlike the mayor and the chancellor, though, I see those children each and every day. The kids aren't fooled at all.

Thanks to Schoolgal

It's Christmas in Washington

Nelnet, a student loan company, will get to keep 278 million in subsidies deemed improper. The US Department of Education has decided if it goes after this money, it may have to ask other student loan companies to return money as well.

This, they determined, would be bad, possibly driving smaller loan companies out of business. As it happens, I'm thinking of starting a student loan company myself, and I'll be writing to request a modest 278 million startup grant some time this afternoon.

In other news, President Bush wants to tax your health insurance. Well, how else are we gonna subsidize those poor student loan companies?

Memorable

One of the things I love about America is that if you are a potential customer almost everyone is nice to you. They might hate your guts and wish you dead, but face-to-face they smile and nod and talk about the weather in a neighborly cadence.

and

He was wearing a vanilla-colored jacket and a white shirt, both of which were bad choices because of his throat being slashed open.

Excerpts from Fear of the Dark by Walter Mosley

I've always been amused by the apparent class load of these fictional teachers -- They apparently have one class of twelve students per day. Well, give me that and I can teach pretty much anything to anybody.

Graycie, commenting on films about teachers. Graycie writes Today's Homework.

Fair's Fair

Mayor Bloomberg's plans include equitable funding--every kid in NYC will get X dollars and no more. The X is significant, because veteran teachers used to draw more money to schools. No more of that.

Now, it appears they'll draw the same amount of money, but principals will have to pay them twice as much. If I'm wrong about this, I'd love to be corrected, so feel free if you know something I don't. But if this is correct, guess who's joining the big ATR party?

Meanwhile, principals say it's hard to get rid of bad teachers. That's not exactly news, though.

"If you give a teacher a U, it's hard to get them out of your school," said one Manhattan middle-school principal.

"So you offer them a satisfactory rating if they'll leave. It happens all the time."

Why is it happening now that principals no longer need to accept transfers? Is it our fault if they choose to lie to one another?

I don't have a problem with denying tenure to incompetent teachers. I don't have a problem with declining to hire them in the first place.

But neither I nor the UFT has any say whatsoever in who gets hired or who gets tenure. It's odd how that fact is never, ever mentioned by a city reporter or columnist.

Thanks to Schoolgal

Commenting Issues

Haloscan, which handles the comments on this site, has been buggy of late. Schoolgal reports getting a message she was "banned by webmaster."

This site's been up for a year and a half, and I've banned a grand total of one person (and not Schoolgal).

So please ignore that message if you get it. What will get you banned here?

Constant ad hominem attacks, for one. You are free to express your ideas here, and you are free to disagree with my ideas, or anybody else's. I take a very dim view of attacking people rather than ideas (I understand that actions or pronouncements may lead to conclusions about people, though, and that may make a difference).

Also, while I enjoy Jon Swift, I'd appreciate if you'd refrain from reviewing movies you haven't seen, or books and articles (or even blog posts) you haven't read. Finally, unless you are The Amazing Kreskin, I'd appreciate if you'd fight the urge to read minds.

In any case, if you get that message on this site, please ignore it and feel free to try again later. If you don't think you're banned, you aren't.

Another Miracle

If you read the New York Times, you were probably as shocked as I was to find an op-ed written by a real teacher this week (Leave it to that liberal media to assume a teacher might know something about education). The teacher in question is none other than Tom Moore, who writes I Who Can't, and who had me hooked with a series he wrote for Slate a few years back.

Mr. Moore makes the points that few, if any, of us are what Hillary Swank is on the screen, and that the conditions of school movies rarely approach reality.

Films like “Freedom Writers” portray teachers more as missionaries than professionals, eager to give up their lives and comfort for the benefit of others, without need of compensation. Ms. Gruwell sacrifices money, time and even her marriage for her job.

I frequently read commenters who expect nothing less of teachers. As Mr. Moore points out, Ms. Gruwell, like so many others, gave up teaching within five years. Despite popular sentiment otherwise, this is not actually because the work is too easy and the pay is too high.

I’m always surprised at how, once a Ms. Gruwell wins over a class with clowning, tears, rewards and motivational speeches, there is nothing those kids can’t do. It is as if all the previously insurmountable obstacles students face could be erased by a 10-minute pep talk or a fancy dinner. This trivializes not only the difficulties many real students must overcome, but also the hard-earned skill and tireless effort real teachers must use to help those students succeed.

He's right--it's very tough turning kids around (and I've mostly seen it done one at a time, rather than with an entire class). It's absurd that Deputy Chancellor Alonso has the audacity to publicly maintain the only variable is the teacher, but that's the philosophy these days. Maybe it's easier if you've got signed pledges from the parents stating they'll follow the rules or get tossed out. I wouldn't know.

I'm particularly fond of Mr. Moore's final paragraph, to which I'll add nothing:

Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish.

Thanks to Schoolgal