Comments on: Bronx high school changed grades to graduate more students

By: Prologue to an actual post. « kill me in the face. please.

Prologue to an actual post. « kill me in the face. please. — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:51:18 +0000

[...] the world totally fucking [...]

By: ses

ses — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:09:32 +0000

She is definitely not the only one. This type of transcript altering is quite common.

By: tinkerbell

tinkerbell — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:35:46 +0000

BRING BACK THE ONE AND ONLY MR.LEDER

By: Justice

Justice — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:04:13 +0000

Well, let’s suggest an investigation with her former cabinet at Media Communication High School: Thacht, Sugrim, etc…and see what we find…and who else is doing it at the present time…It is an applied principle… Money is part of the problem, but lack of ethics…is reflected in the way that business is conducted through the school system…She is not the only one…she is the one who got caught.

By: Lexii W.

Lexii W. — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:17:35 +0000

Don’t belive it need more proof. Shes an extremely nice and proffesinal lady i doubt she’d stoop to that level for money.

By: Justice

Justice — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:12:44 +0000

The only ones that could attest to the game of Ms Saraceno are Hanna Thacht and Dyanand Sugrim from Media Communication HS in Manhattan who aided her in changing the grades so much that in less than 4 years the Media Communication school’s grading went from an “F” school rating published in all of the Manhattan Newspapers to an “A” school. If the investigation system was a serious one, they should start by investigating those who worked with her previously and figure out many things that the rest of the world know…

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:39:35 +0000

I think it’s sad, too, though not sure I’m ready to blame the DOE for making a principal cheat. Life is full of pressures. Don’t most of us stay within the boundaries of not crossing the unethical lines? Isn’t this more about her poor character and the teachers’ courage than it is about any organization? Is this kind of cheating really widespread? There definitely should be better checks and balances–think SEC sleeping at the wheel while Madoff made off like a bandit–but I recall being a student in high school and knowing many of the athletes did not deserve grades they received, but sport teams were big where I went to high school (not NY), and many parents donated to the school because of the football and basketball teams. It sounds like this high school has had two unethical principals.

Great reporting.

By: Mr. L.

Mr. L. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:23:05 +0000

As a public school teacher in the 8th largest school district in The United States, I can state unequivocally that this is not an isolated case. The pressure on “us” as teachers to promote minority students is intense. No reasons are accepted by the administration in the local school or in the district, the directive is clear, “minority students will be promoted on par with the white students”. It matters not that the IQ of some students may be 30 to 50% below their classmates and their willingness to learn even lower. All the “administration” wants are numbers; they want an equal outcome and the numbers to complete their statistical government charts and at the end of the year they can puff out their chest and boast of the wonders they have performed with “closing the gap” or “raising the bar” or whatever the phrase of the day is. The public education system in this nation is a fraud, political correctness and a willing public have made it so.

By: Doreen Lewis

Doreen Lewis — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:28:56 +0000

Please stop behaving like this is something new.This is regular policy in all NYC public schools.Make the Mayor look like he is actually achieving something in his quest to make public schools work.I worked six years in NYC public schools and have seen things get worse instead of better. I have written to so many different news papers and organisations about what I saw happen.But no one wants to hear me. I am considered an outsider because I am a foreign recruit.I was even told that I have not been here long enough to be critical.I do know that smart students are stifled by this educational system and students in need of real help are not getting it and failure and lowered expectations are the real objectives of public schools.I can compare NYC schools to the schools in my country and so it is clear in my mind that NYC schools are failing spectacularly and no one cares.

By: Tom Forbes

Tom Forbes — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:24:36 +0000

I work at a transfer high school called Harlem Renaissance and we have been known to do the same thing. Isn’t this a win-win situation. This is what the Bloomberg reforms are all about.

By: Kelli

Kelli — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:01:51 +0000

As a parent of a student at Herbert Lehman High School it is truly unfair to blame the entire school program for the few underachievers who don’t wish to attend and are potential drop out. When the Board of Education starts offering student money for achieving grades and $25,000.00 bonus for better graduation number corruption will take place. Most student are good kids who like to attend school and there are many great teachers at Lehman High School. Don’t flash money in the face of those who only motivation is money. Lehman High School is a good school. This sound like some whistleblower didn’t get his cut of the pie.

By: Zombie Fallacies: Discredited School Reform Ideas That Refuse To Die « Ed In The Apple

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:42:25 +0000

[...] of an outcome-based system, that ignores teaching inputs is both fatally flawed and dangerous. The scandal at Lehman High School is a prime example. If students in classroom A are exceeding expectations and students in classroom [...]

By: Lehman High Principal in Grade-Tampering Inquiry - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Lehman High Principal in Grade-Tampering Inquiry - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:04:12 +0000

[...] to GothamSchools, a Web site covering New York City education that first reported the investigation, several teachers accused Dr. Saraceno of giving dozens of students credit for courses they had not [...]

By: Jeff S

Jeff S — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:56:23 +0000

I don’t want to judge this before all the fact are in. However, one must realize that by State law the Principal is indeed the Chief Rating Officer in a school (one of the reasons, Mr. Klein, that a Principal should be a very experienced educator). Therefore it is legal for a Principal to change any grade (although under the UFT congtract he or she must provide a written explanation of the reasons why.

Also having said that, this goes on in every high school in the city. However the history of Lehman High School is one of antagonism between the teachers and the Principal. This Principal, of course, is supposedly one of Mr. Klein’s stars who was brought in because she had done an outstanding job in her previous school. But there is nobody who understands what truly goes on in education, and that doesn’t include you Mr. Carrol, who doesn’t realize that this is the fallacy of merit pay and trying to judge anybody, be it a Principal or a teacher, on the basis of grades and scores.

By: National Institute of Financial Management PGDM Admission … | Management Business Wisdom

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:58:16 +0000

[...] Bronx high school changed grades to graduate more students … [...]

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:28:22 +0000

What a shame. To think, Bob Leder was vilified and forced to resign for his minor improprieties. This woman turned an academically rigorous and all around vibrant school into a cold and lifeless place. Having graduated in 2007, I can speak from first hand visits and conversations with current students and teachers that she has changed the character of this school for the worse. It’s a sad thing when I have to listen to a disgruntled family member-who just left Lehman to teach at a charter school-tell me about how detached this woman is from the student population. The school once thrived with 9 individual Houses-each with a few hundred students, the most academically rigorous being the Honor House. These houses helped create an intimate environment for the students and teachers, so much so that many of the people I graduated with had been in almost all of my classes, for all four years of high school. This is no small feat in a school of 4000 students. This report really disappoints me. While it doesn’t surprise me, I’d hoped for better, especially after they forced out Leder.

By: Whistleblower

Whistleblower — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:21:10 +0000

Can someone tell me exactly what the rules are when principals change the grades? I thought it was illegal for them to do so without notifying the teacher. I worked at a school where this was common – last minute changes to senior transcripts to boost the graduation rate. We reported it to SCI, they investigated and said more or less that they couldn’t do anything – that principals have a lot of lattitude in awarding grades. What’s the law?

By: Lydia

Lydia — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:02:52 +0000

Great reporting. The kind of work we should all be doing. Congratulations! lc

By: I noticed that...

I noticed that... — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:56:36 +0000

Kim, Welcome to the NYC school system run by the mayor, Bloomberg, and his chancellor, Klein. Their motto: Pass the students at any cost, as long as it does not with education. Make the mayor and the chancellor look good!

By: kim

kim — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:48:03 +0000

A graduation rate of 47 percent and the school has a B?!?!?! Here at my school in Tennessee we’re held to a 90% rate and steady improvement or else there’s hell to pay. That kind of rate would have triggered state intervention/takeover. Wow.