1. All the pension issues require legislation, which in “real” politics requires the approval of the union. Probably will not actually become law until later in the year.

2. With Randi leaving and the school year ending the announcement is timely.

3. There are two PD days during the school year, Election Day and Bklyn/Queens Day, one or both could be converted to insturctional days.

4. This decision could be tied to the upcoming contract negotiations …

1. Teachers are not permitted to move furniture, climb on desks to hang decorations, or conduct any other custodial duties. If one were to be injured performing one of these duties I say “Good Luck” in getting a Line of Duty day off or even worse disability if you became that hurt. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way.

2. We are not allowed in the buildings when school is not in session without obtaining a permit. Example- If the Knitting Club is meeting on Tuesday from 3-5pm, that does not mean you can sit in your room and do lessons. That permit is for the Knitting Club, not you. This is a security measure for students and staff alike so that the Engineer knows who is in the building at all times.

3. The expectation that the “true professionals” will come in any way is an insult. Real professionals are treated as such and receive pay for work completed.

4. The issue is not with the UFT. It is now in Chancellor Klein’s hands to move the start to September 10. That gives parents over 2 months to obtain a sitter for the 2 days their child is unsupervised.

This does not mean I will not have lessons and plans made for Sept 8th. We never had time for that during those 2 days anyway. We were getting Professional Development and never receive our teaching programs and room assignments until after lunch on Friday anyway. I always spend Labor Day weekend making copies (at my expense) and writing lessons. This year will be no different.

This ‘True Professional” hopes to be at Field 6 on Jones’ Beach on September 3rd and 4th. I’ll be the one writing lessons or cutting out letters for my Bulletin Boards. See Ya There!!!

If it’s BloomKlein, and I kind of like that name, then why in the world would the UFT agree to this? Have they been strong-armed on this one?

This is indeed going to be an unmitigated disaster for teachers, principals, parents and kids. As others have stated, teachers are going to show up early, and not “get paid” for those days. (in quotes because I don’t think anyone will actually get paid less, but I suppose BloomKlein can lord it over the UFT as a bargaining chip in the coming contract negotiations.) And this in a year when the school year is FIVE DAYS shorter than 2008-09 already.

Other than my negotiation presumption, has anyone answered, “How exactly does this save money anyway?”

You wrote: “Klein apparently believes all that kids come to school ready to learn and already motivated. Perhaps he did, and all his friends, and his children, and his children’s friends. If that is his personal experience, we can understand why he thinks that. Of course, distance learning can be useful for those who are already motivated and are ready to learn.”

Klein sent his (step) children to private schools where no classes were larger than 15. So did the Mayor and all the Mayor’s friends. Not one of the schools would dare suggest an educational system where children learn primarily through computers and without the close daily attention of their teachers.

Not one would focus on test prep, not one would allow conditions to exist in which there was minimal art, music and all those other untested subjects.

No, Klein and his supporters argue that this is what the schools should look like for everyone else’s children but their own.

At the risk of further mockery…
Note that Klein also believes that anything worth learning can be tested (and anything not on the test ain’t worth saving a cluster room for, e.g. art, science, music); class sizes don’t matter (unless in a charter school); and “accountability” means it’s the principals’ fault if things go south, yet kudos to Hizzoner if things go well; and I’m saving this for last — it is the fault of TEACHERS that the dream of the civil rights movement has yet to be fully realized* (this despite the fact that NYC schools are de facto segretated, and that said segregation is EXACERBATED by a good number of DOE policies.)

* I truly wish I were making this one up. See Klein on HuffPo:
http (colon) //www (dot) huffingtonpost (dot) com/joel-klein/transforming-the-teaching_b_200616 (dot) html

You are joking right? If not what you have done is mock him better than anyone else so far. As someone who has personally met with him a few times, he knows what his options are, he knows the outcomes, he knows, he knows, he knows!!

Rather than mock Klein for this vision — not productive — we ought to understand why he believes in it and what that tells about his views of education, schooling and teaching. Let’s assume that he is well-meaning and has some intelligence. What does that leave us?

My theory? Well, he does what most people do.

1) Klein believe that everyone else is just like him, and children are just like he was.

2) He does not have an accurate view of what he was like as a child.

3) He has a very limited view/understanding of the nature of learning complex (thinking) skills.

*********************

Klein apparently believes all that kids come to school ready to learn and already motivated. Perhaps he did, and all his friends, and his children, and his children’s friends. If that is his personal experience, we can understand why he thinks that. Of course, distance learning can be useful for those who are already motivated and are ready to learn.

Klein apparently believes in pure “direct instruction” — lecture. I believe that real intellectual skill development happens in interactions, in the back and forth between people. But there are many educators who believe strongly in direct instruction; Klein is not the only one.

I would say that Klein probably believes that demonstrating, explaining and teaching are virtually the same thing.

******************

We can look at what Klein says about his goals and vision and extrapolate from all of that a philosophy of education, and even recognize that most of its elements can be found among educators we ourselves have worked with. Heck, there might even be some elements that you agree with, or even that I agree with — though I haven’t come up with any, yet.

School zoning will be replaced by “Internet Zone” and “Local Intranet Zone,” giving a whole new meaning to this spring’s manic “site searches.”
If you want a model of this version of a “neighborhood school,” ask your kids for a tour of “ToonTown” or “ClubPenguin.” And they’ll have to work from home; DOE is converting cluster rooms (including some computer rooms) to gen ed, and, despite the paid protestations of DOE’s PR flacks, jacking the schools’ nominal “capacity” figures.

“Hey Mom! I got to Level 4 on my Wii-L-A test! And that’s without credit — or hard drive — recovery! Can I get paid now?”

Contract negotiations will really get interesting now that Disney 3D can be run on a home widescreen. “Mr Fredricksen” from “Up” is going to be the DOE’s ONLY principal, and the Reese Witherspoon character from “Monsters vs Aliens” is going to be every 2nd grade boy’s dream teacher.

As long as everyone’s logged on by September 8th, here’s hoping for a complete (re)BOOT in November.

P.S. Maybe Mr. Smithers can now roll back the cell phone ban; smart phones can access ARIS.

Bloomberg would claim “productivity gains” each time teachers got a raise and had to stay at school later. Aren’t they calling this a “productivity giveback”?

No?

My mistake. I thought maybe there’d be some consistency. My mistake.

Why not let the kids teach themselves? That’s what Klein wants to move towards. 1000 kids per teacher, and all of them on computers.

1) It’s not a victory for teachers, who get paid less though they are expected to be do just as good a job.

2) It’s not a victory for students. Some teachers — however few — won’t show, and that will hurt some students.

3) It’s not a victory for administrators, who job of building a coherent faculty to further a coherent vision for a meaningful education for students just got harder. Even if every teacher comes in for a few days before school students show, who is know when they’ll be there or how many will be there at a time? Grade level meetings? Department meetings? Just that must harder to schedule before the kids show, if its even possible at all.

* So, who could it be a victory for? The union gets to claim a victory by the same logic that Bloomberg used in the past when spoke of “productivity gains.” I suppose that it could be a victory for those who would have to take heat for raising taxes. Certainly central office personnel and vendors who were not cut — though I believe that central offices can serve critical function that enable school-level personal to do their best work.

It’s just a loss, something that the economic downturn is costing most everyone.