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February 16, 2012

Bloomberg: Evaluations progress won’t stop “turnaround” plans

by Philissa Cramer, at 3:30 pm

Today’s evaluations announcement would appear to eliminate the main reason for the city’s controversial plan to “turn around” 33 struggling schools. But Mayor Bloomberg said the city would move forward with the plans anyway.

Bloomberg proposed turnaround, which would require the schools to close and reopen with new names and many new teachers, last month as a way to circumvent a requirement that the city negotiate an evaluation deal for teachers in those schools. Now, having resolved a sticking point in those negotiations resolved — the appeals process for teachers who receive low ratings — the city could conceivably appeal to the state to let it continue receiving federal funds to implement improvement strategies that had been underway there until the evaluations negotiations broke down in December.

But Bloomberg — who did not join state and union officials announcing the evaluations deal in Albany today — said during a press conference at City Hall that he would not be backing down from the turnaround plans.

“Nothing in the deal prevents us from moving forward with our plan to replace the lowest performing teachers in 33 of our most troubling schools,” he said.

Bloomberg said the aggressive overhaul strategy was necessary because no teachers would be removed from schools because of low scores on the new evaluations for at least a year and a half.

“It would be unconscionable for us to sit around for two years and do nothing, so we’re going to use the 18-D process,” he said, referring to a clause in the city’s contract with the teachers union that the city says allows turnaround’s rehiring process.

Another reason not to revert to the previous overhaul strategies, “restart” and “transformation,” is that the city and union have not actually hammered out an evaluation system for the 33 schools, which would be required to restore federal School Improvement Grants for those processes. City officials said today they had not focused on fast-tracking a system just for the 33 schools and instead were focusing on longer-term negotiations for a process that would apply to the entire city.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew and principals union president Ernest Logan both said today that they thought the evaluation deal should take turnaround off the table.

Mulgrew also signaled that Bloomberg had not raised the possibility of seeking funding for less agressive overhaul strategies.

“If the mayor chooses he can speak to us about putting in a SIG application,” Mulgrew said in Albany before Bloomberg addressed the issue of turnaround schools. “I think he has decided he’d rather close schools than fix them.”

Teachers, parents, students, and even administrators at the schools have been protesting the turnaround plans, charging that the rapid teacher turnover would be disruptive and arguing that the schools had made progress under restart and transformation.

Reached at school, the principal of one of the 33 schools said Bloomberg had missed his opportunity to exit gracefully from the plan.

“This was his way of bowing out of it. If he says this is still going forward then I believe him,” the principal said. “He threw down the gauntlet.”

Some of the schools have pushed back against the turnaround proposals by pointing out that they received high marks on the progress reports the Department of Education uses to judge schools.

Bloomberg did leave open the possibility that the city would not pursue turnaround at all 33 of the schools but said the city would press forward with replacing half the teachers in “maybe even all of them, probably most of them, certainly most of them.”

Speaking in Albany today, State Education Commissioner John King — who will have to approve the plans if they are to receive federal funding — said the city must decide on an individual basis what is most likely to help each school improve. City officials are set to make their case with King next week for why federal funds should continue flowing to the schools and have said they intend to present the turnaround plans as evidence.

“The district will need to make a determination school by school,” King said.

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  • Bookvamp29

    When you have billions, who cares? His “legacy” is beyond tainted, so he will charge ahead as “might makes right.” If his ward Quinn somehow gets elected in his succession, she will continue his policies thus legitimizing this reform strategy. All who care about education must not let this happen.

  • nuff said

    King is between a rock and a hard place if in fact the City did not have targeted improvement plans in place before closing schools as Yoav Gonen said in the NY Post. Since it is a requirement for closing the schools in the first place–someone dropped the ball

  • Guest

    Typical.  Sore loser.  Just a loser.

  • GERRIECRAZER3RX

    NO WAY QUINN WINS.  NO MATTER HOW MUCH SHE WILL FAKE THAT SHE’S DISTANCING HERSELF FROM BLOOMTURD, SHE IS HIS PUPPET ALSO.  GIVE THE CITY BACK TO THE PEOPLE AND THE WORKERS WHO SERVE IT.  DO NOT ELECT QUINN!

  • Guest

    Go bloomie!!! The only non patsy.

  • Bnakedlady

    Dear Cuomo & Mulgrew, STOP PLAYING POKER WITH OUR CAREERS!!

  • Martin Haber

    The only thing that will stop this egocentric madness from Bloomberg is- nd has always been- a mass mobilization organzied and spearheaded and acted on by our union, the UFT, and it is the  one thing our cowardly union will not do. I was at the Delegate Assembly last night and was “silenced” by union “capos” for “daring” to voice my opinion, while the “Prez” did his soliloquey, that “what this union needs is some militancy”; its clear that our leadership cointinues to practice the weakling game of “compromise solution”, and we teachers continue to get the shaft, while Mulgrew and company maintain the status quo that keeps them in their jobs…! 

  • Transformation Teacher

    I agree Martin, we need serious action to support these schools.  I know for a fact, since I work at one, that the UFT is doing nothing to help…wait I am exaggerating, they did SEND US SOME BUTTONS…

  • Guest

    The public likes this plan. Your union gets that

  • Guest

    I was also at the Delegate Assembly, and you were silenced because you boorishly continued to shout out instead of being recognized like all the other speakers. You knew this would happen and you did it deliberately so you could complain… that you were silenced!

    As far as mass mobilization:  In your fevered dreams, the masses are always ready to leave their jobs and take to the barricades on any number of issues. Admit it, you want to promote a strike. But those more attuned to the feelings and moods of the membership know that a strike is a desperate last ditch effort that will be supported by most of our members only in the most extreme and dire situation affecting them all clearly and directly. Like it or not, this is not that situation.

    But the union has been doing something very smart for years now, building up support in the communities, which pays off for us AND the communities when they step up and pressure politicians to side with them, which is what got Wadleigh and KAPPA VI removed from the closing schools list.

    Calling the union cowardly is a puerile schoolyard taunt. Grow up.

  • Vote NO!

     The  public  isn’t  “going  to  like  this  plan”  for  long  once  they  see  what  it  does  to  their  schools.

  • guest

    I don’t understand the mayor’s thought process.. Does he really think that by hiring “new teachers” he will get better results? What studies show that a school with 50% new teachers does better?  Wouldn’t the logical thing be to visit these schools and find out what they need to succeed and give them support, rather than making a bigger mess out of things?

  • Pogue

    You must not be an ATR that is sent to a different destination every single week while our union is silent.

    You must be getting union perks that make up for a city-pattern raise we haven’t seen in years, while other unions have.

    You must have celebrated every mollification the union has handed the Race to the Top bullies.

    Let’s be very clear about this…

    The union is cowardly.

  • Martin Haber

    I guess you live in an alternate universe- the UFT “building up support in the communities”??? You must be trippin’- the 2 schools you mentioned were spared as tokens so it would not be a total bloodbath in front of the public; and we’re sure to find out that there were hefty concessions that the DOE demanded, and got, in reciprocation. And you’re dead wrong aboutabout , and youmy wanting a strike me wanting ,   

  • Martin Haber

    Continued- “Boorish” behavior? At least I speak my mind, and I’m not  a syncophantic hack like so many in that hall, yourself included. I’ll challenge our “fearless leader” when he lies through his teeth like he was doing when I could not listen any more. Our “Union of Professionals” is run like Johnny Friendly ran the Waterfront, with the law of Omerta imposed, and mutely agreed upon, by the likes of cowards like you. No wonder the Mayor runs the show- collaborationists run our labor unions!!!    

  • Manhattan70

    It’s not about getting better results.  It’s about getting rid of the 50% of the teachers who make the most money and replacing them with new teachers who work cheap and will drink whatever Kool-aid the DOE tells them to.

  • Ccnygal13

    Therea was a poll in several mainstrem news sources showing that goonberg’s rating on how he handles education is low.

  • nuff said

    62 this year 162 next year – and now all will follow the new close and reopen plan. – bloodbath for veteran teachers

  • nuff said

    And its about moving the high needs students to the 200. New IZone schools they just spent $1 Billion on–hmm $1 Bil for virtual online schools– follow the money!!

  • Arne Dunkin Donuts

    This had to be written by Leo Casey. Only Leo or perhaps another UFT officer would go right to the strike button. How any UFTer (union officer) can stand up at this point in the game and claim “smartness” is beyond me. We have been “outsmarted” time and time again by people who know nothing about education. We have been belittled. Our CLs have been been brought to the crossroads and tied to the whipping posts (of course this excludes all the schools that do not have CLs because no one wants the position).

    Our children have been tested to death. Our class sizes are outrageous. We have witnessed the mass disappearance of experienced teachers and principals through retirement, transfers or career changes because of the absurdities of the city, state and federal gov’t. 

    We just agreed to a flawed “evaluation” system that leaves 60% of a teacher’s rating in the hands of inexperienced, no nothing principals who in many cases have only taught for two years. Now there is something to bring to the community. The UFT won’t touch it.The UFT has absolutely no vision. NO vision for K-12 education. Go ahead and ask any officer or any UFTer. What is our vision and mission? Hmmmmm. What? We have nothing to strive for and to work toward. Our members work in fear and are dumbed down by our leadership and deskilled by their employer.GUEST’S statement is criminal.

  • guest

    The bizarre thing is, if they “get rid of” the top paid teachers, these teachers become ATRs (automatic teacher reserve– essentially subs)–they don’t get fired– and the city still has to pay their salary. Maybe some teachers will be encouraged to retire… but not enough to make a big dent and it will cost the city millions of dollars to have these “high salary subs.” This wouldn’t make sense financially to do… unless Bloomberg could also fire ATRs…  He has tried to do that before, but has been unsuccessful… Could things be different now for firing ATRs? Maybe…

  • NYC Student

    Actually, I think that this is a well planned assault on the influence of the UFT. It’s damn near impossible to fire a bad teacher, Bloomberg is making it possible. This is just a casualty of war. My belief is that the ultimate goal here is to get teachers to agree to the teacher evaluations which will then lead to a system where the bad lemons could be thrown out. As a NYC public school alumni, I think that this great! MORE FOR STUDENTS!

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