More than a third of teachers at Harlem Success Academy 3 have left since the end of last year. (Times)
After a stabbing at Curtis High School, metal detectors are in place, to the principal’s chagrin. (NY1)
A principal who was removed from his school later tried to use clout to benefit his friends. (Daily News)
Some schools creatively fit in student exercise amid space, time, and budget constraints. (Times)
Supermodel Tyra Banks visited students at the High School for Teaching and Professions. (Daily News)
The UFT is launching a new bullying hotline as part of a multi-agency initiative. (GothamSchools, NY1)
A popular teacher at an elite private school was fired for a mysterious offense. (Times)
Enrollment in Detroit’s schools is down 10 percent from last year, beating expectations. (Detroit News)
http://twitter.com/nycdoenuts NYCDOEnuts
Hey, that ‘principal’ in the Daily News piece is no principal! He worked in the chancellor’s office for accountability which, at least on the surface, make his offenses appear much much worse.
Also interesting; according to the piece, it looked liked he retired AFTER he was removed from his post, AS the investigation was being conducted. I wonder what the Post (or others) would say about the UFT if a teacher had retired under similar circumstances.
Anonymous
I was just going to make the same comment as below; you have a misleading headline above. The principal was removed from his office but later put into the accountability office; which increasingly shows itself to be little concerned with actual accountability but rather with increasing test scores. This story is reminiscent of the former Bronx principal caught changing student grades to allow more to pass, and then made an achievement coach. These events, along w/ the lack of action taken on Lenny Speiller’s offense, and Maura Keaney being put in charge of public affairs at DOE right after she was fined for campaign violations makes one think that perhaps ethical standards is not a top priority for DOE, or for this Mayor.
Teachers vote with their feet
When the teachers at Harlem Success Academy charter school leave they are voting with their feet.
Ken Hirsh
The Harlem Success story is quite good. It looks at the issue from more than one angle. I was surprised to see that from the Times until I saw who wrote it!
Ken Hirsh
Agreed. Teacher choice is a good thing! Eva has a good quote in the article: “We believe in teacher choice just like we believe in parent choice,” she said. “Some teachers want a single-sex school, or a progressive model, or a traditional model of education.”
http://twitter.com/BNiche B
“Few of the teachers who left Harlem Success Academy 3 would speak about why they quit, and those who did refused to be named, citing fear of retribution or concern that they could lose their new teaching positions.”
Regardless of the thought of teacher choice being a good thing, why would these teachers choosing a new position at a new school fear retribution, aside from leaving sooner than expected (or sooner than what Eva would have wished)?
Guest
Look who’s posted some new teacher jobs on the gotham schools board today…
Guess there’s more dissatisfaction.
Weird that the NYT article didn’t attempt to give more context around the principal’s departure. If there was a problem around her maternity leave (and I heard that there was), that is worthy of disclosure and discussion.
Ken Hirsh
B,
It’s hard to know for sure. My best guess is that very few people that quit a job want their name in the Times and/or to give negative information to a reporter at the Times about their employer. That seems so obvious to me that (while I love the article) I think the quote you select is an example of a very typical but somewhat questionable technique found in many news articles. Of course, it is quite possible that there are other explanations but they aren’t backed up by the reporting.
Notice how often commenters on this website are anonymous — people don’t like to be on record saying bad things about their employers. Notice that the quote reads “… and those who did refused to be named, citing fear of retribution…”. For me, there is no useful information there…
Just Looking
Eva Moskowitz on Harlem Success Charter teachers quitting in the middle of the school year: “Breaking your commitment in the middle of the year is unethical”. Well, I have some news for her. The majority of charter school teachers are at will employees. They can be fired at any time, for any reason. They can also quit at any time and for any reason. There is no “commitment” in the majority of these charter schools. I know another teacher who once worked at at KIPP school. That school saw a whopping 40% turnover rate every year. They funny thing is that a lot of these charter schools don’t even care about the turnover. To them, it is the price of doing business.
Michael Fiorillo
Eva Moskowitz calling teachers who flee her sweatshop empire “unethical” is a hot one.
Parent
I think the irony is going to be that the charter schools are going to become sooo big that the “at will” teachers will come together and become unionized….
Michael M. (parent still)
Ken,
Do you feel “no useful information there” re ALL anonymous commenters? Just curious given I actually DID find value in the exchange the other day with “il flerpolo,” though I do wonder why the pen name.
Drockeducation
Eva Moskowitz on Harlem Success Charter teachers quitting in the middle
of the school year: “Breaking your commitment in the middle of the year
is unethical”.
Eva has no integrity whatsoever. There are public schools all over Harlem who are absorbing all of the four, five and six year old children that her Harlem Success Academy charter schools have quit on in the middle of the school year. Eva calls it a divorce when she kicks a child out of one of her schools and unethical when a teacher quits.
Ken Hirsh
Michael M.,
I think there is often useful information from anonymous commenters. I just don’t think it is informative when I teacher leaves a school and says to a reporter “I refuse to be named because I fear retribution” with no other information.
I pointed out anonymous commenters on GS to support my assertion that people often prefer to be anonymous when commenting on things that are relevant to their employment. Of course, some people prefer to be anonymous for other reasons than the potential effect on their employment. Some want to shield their personal identity from attacks from other commenters. Others want to hide their identity so that they can more comfortably make personal attacks on other commenters. I’m guessing that there are other reasons too!
il flerpolo
Michael M — thanks for saying that. I left that exchange with the feeling that you had dismissed everything I wrote as worthless, which was a bit of a downer.Speaking for myself — I use a pseudonym mainly because the Internet is far too sticky a place for my taste. Things that get on the Internet have a way of staying there, so I try to leave as small a personal footprint as possible. That’s a general policy. And I suppose I also do have some measure of fear of exposing myself (and possibly my family) to whatever some bitter and lonely person out there might try to do. Some of the comments to the posts of that Ruben fellow are not just nasty, but also a bit threatening.
Michael M. (parent still)
il flerpolo and Ken,
Understood.
FWIW, I am my own sock puppet.
Older Budweiser
I disagree. One the economy gets better, both charter and public schools will see a much lower rate of TFA/Teaching fellows. Nobody is going to want to teach in a charter school and public schools will once again be struggling to find warm bodies to put in front of the classroom.
Trollsareus
Flerpi
Where was Ruben threatened??
You use a small footprint but not a day goes by without at least two comments from you about things you know nothing about.
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