GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

1. 

   reality-based educator

   October 26th, 2009 7:33 am

   It is enlightening to see education “reform” proponents like Tom Carroll propose all kinds of reforms except for lower class size.

   It is also enlightening to see how much regress American society enjoys these days as Americans are forced to worker longer and harder for less money - and the education “reformers” hail that as “reform”!

   Longer school year, longer school day, Saturday school…just getting the kids ready to work the crappy 65 hour McJobs their corporate overlords (i.e., Gates, Bloomberg, Broad et al.) and the corporate whores who work for them (i.e., President Obushma, Secretary Arne, Representative George Mitchell, et al.) will have for them when they graduate.

   Nothing like building a bridge back to the 19th century when everybody worked six days a week, 10+ hours a day and the country was run by a handful of more money than God oligarchs.

   Now that’s change we can believe in! Thanks, President Obushma!

2. 

   Jeff S

   October 26th, 2009 10:23 am

   How the Wall Street Journal can do an article on education and consider the inept, incompetent and unqualified Joel Klein an expert on education is beyond belieft. This is a man who started out by imposing discredited curriculums in English and math on the students with his first selection of a Deputy for Instruction and since then has followed up with 3 re-organization, the creation of a Leadership Academy that has turned out few Principals who truly have the educational backgrounds to properly carry out the functions of a Principal which is to improve the ability of teachers (how can they when few of them have the proper experience) and the budgeting process that has led to the large pool of ATR’s as these incompetent Principals are afraid to hire highly qualified veteran teachers who represent a threat to their lack of knowledge as well as they budgeting process that counts a teacher based on his or her actual salary rather than treating all teachers as 1 unit, the destruction of the large comprehensive high schools which offered all sorts of erxtra curricular activities to students as well as the ability to have true subject area specialists at the head of each academic department rather than “coaches” or having Physical Education supervisors walking in and supervising math lessopns.

   And then has has the gall to tell the Wall Street Journal how he cannot offer merit pay or he can’t pay math and science teachers more like he is the almighty decision maker.

   While I indeed have lots of questions regarding Bill Thompason as a Mayor, I do know one thing. The election of Thompson will allow us to rid ourselves of this man who has done more to destroy the public schools in this city than anybody in recent history. It will take our schools a decade at least to recover from the damage he has done.

3. 

   KitchenSink

   October 26th, 2009 1:09 pm

   Which “discredited” curriculum was that? Are you talking about Carmen Farina?

   Can’t say I’m pleased about the ATR situation - and it seems there are more viewpoints on it than actual ATRs - but I have a bone to pick with your complaint about the funding formulat that may or may not have led to its creation.

   Before, a school with lots of veteran teachers enjoyed a substantial funding advantage over those schools with, on average, fewer veterans. Guess where those schools tended to be? That’s right, our poorest communities.

   Why should the rich (and upper middle class, and middle class) kids get the most funding?

   Fair student funding means that, unless there is a bottomless well from which the resources come, there is a limited supply of cash to go around the system, and every school should have equal access to it, not just the priviliged ones.

4. 

   Michael M.

   October 26th, 2009 1:36 pm

   KS,
   Stereotype understandable, but not always accurate.

   One of the things that got me interested in CEC’s — and my first inkling that irony is alive and well at Tweed — was that my home school (PS41 in GV) was ACTUALLY getting about $9k per student in city-sourced funds when the city-wide average was $11k, and our highly effective PTA was only raising about $500 per student — a quarter of the gap.

   There wasn’t much “fair” about it.

   Schools like mine were getting unfairly stereotyped (you ain’t po, so you must be able to get by with less), while whatever schools were on the HIGH side (to make that $11k) average stood to get whacked. That was before “hold harmless,” the Chancellor’s interim solution to protect schools from getting hit for having higher-salaried teachers in their mix.

   But as a soundbite, it’s grrrreat!

   And what does FSF have to do with student NEED? Not much in my view, even after the adjustments, as it doesn’t require the schools spend money on what qualified them for the additional monies.

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