GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Ms. Brown:

Did you know Ms. Rhee  giddily bragged about taping students mouths shuts while she was a teach for while temp:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-year_teach.html

Did you know she is presently being sued by a DC teacher she fired after hetried to report cheating on the high stakes test, which is also under investigation and all under her reign?

http://www.rheefirst.com/second_amended_complaint.pdf

Do you know about her fraudulent petitions via change.org where she tricks the average person to become a grassroots supporter as a way to hide her true astro turf billionaire dilettante supporters?

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/18-4

Once again, those backed by billionaires get to repeat trite remarks and general mistruths over and over again and then it becomes the truth.

Here is one more of her shameless self promotions mocking the US Olympics and all US students:

http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2012/07/22/first-ever-studentsfirst-video-that-did-not-make-me-laugh/

Posting above says “that a bill proposed this year in New York would erode due process for students without making students safer.” I think Mr. Decker meant “that a bill proposed this year in New York would erode due process rights for *teachers* without . .etc.” 

I’m a big fan of Campbell Brown. I remember about this time last year, we were all talking about Steve Brill -another non education person who sought to use education to raise his profile (to sell a book if memory serves).
As I read this piece, I couldn’t help but to wonder, where is Steve Brill now?
Maybe Campbell can answer this next year?

She’s been a journalist for 20 years and doesn’t know the difference between “is” and “are”. That’s just peachy!

She also needs to take a closer look at ALL sexual predators….some may be closer than she knows. Here is a case where a prominent reporter did not do her homework. She was influenced by an organization and used for their purposes…to tarnish all teachers and their union. They can use the tabloid news as their front….who wouldn’t be upset?

Maybe she could have acknowledged the number of hard working city teachers who face insurmountable challenges every day and they very quietly and competently do their jobs. Even one sentence to their credit would have been nice, but that doesn’t fit the Rhee play book.

Drag us all though the mud, wipe out the union, get rid of the teachers at the top of the pay scale, hire TFA types and create a cheap labor force. That’s what she was used for…one more nail in the teacher union coffin.

Thanks for catching, burned. I updated.

Or perhaps Linda was referencing allegations that have been made against Rhee’s husband.

 “I think in the context of the Sandusky stuff, it was just really
getting to me,” she said, referring to the Penn State football coach
convicted of molesting many young boys, even after some of his
supervisors knew about allegations against him. “I mean how could it
not?”

I  never  knew  Jerry Sandusky  was  “protected  by the   NY  State  3020a”  law.  It’s  astonishing, the  writ  of  NY  State  law  extended  to  Penn  State.  Oh  that’s  right  it  doesn’t …… Jerry  Sandusky….   had  NO  TENURE  PROTECTIONS!  There  was  NO  “INDEPENDENT  ARBITRATOR  WHO  PUT  HIM  BACK  ON  THE  SIDELINES.”  Yet  the  NCAA  penalized  Penn  State  for  abuse  that  went  back  to  1998!  FOURTEEN  YEARS!  How  many  counts  was  Sandusky  convicted  of?  How  many  years  in  jail  is  he  facing?

But  with  the  philosophy  of  “education  reform”  just  get  rid  of  worker  protections,  and all  “will  be  fine  in  the  world.”

Mr. Flerporillo:

Not everyone has the money and connections to make allegations go away. Do you think those associated with the prominent and wealthy have a way to make sure their situation does not end up in the tabloids..things quietly go away for some.

I just found it ironic that her husband sits on the board of an organization run by a woman who husband has been under suspicion himself. I would have been more careful about my public statement and I would have completed some research first…even a lowly teacher has the wherewithal to figure that out for herself.

Just another wealthy shill for RheeFirst. They keep getting used but they don’t catch on….Campbell, l if you are reading check out http://www.rheefirst.com

Sorry, I don’t see any Wikipedia link above, but I get the gist — you’re saying Campbell Brown’s husband sits on the board of an organization that is run by someone whose husband “has been under suspicion.”  (Phew, that’s a mouthful.)  I’ll just assume that by “under suspicion” you mean to say that this person has been accused of sexual misconduct.  

Yes…see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Johnson

Scroll to controversy.

Not that streamlining the dismissal of teachers who’ve harmed children isn’t a noble goal, but given her bursting on this particular cause with such alacrity and fervor; her failure to disclose her husband’s affiliation (and her defensiveness about being called out for it); and her claim that it was being a mother that got her interested in the issue to begin with, it’s fair and relevant to ask whether she intends to send her children to New York City public schools. 

Linda, thanks, I see it now.  

Interesting and subtle pro-deform spin, Gotham Schools, by characterizing an obvious poison-the- well rhetorical question (“Why is the teacher’s union protecting teachers who commit sexual misconduct.”) as “reaching out” to Randi Weingarten. Right: verbally speaking, that’s reaching out by swinging a hot fireplace poker, but you’d have readers think she’s really trying to find common ground.

This woman is a real piece of work. It was particularly amusing to hear her claim dependence of opinion by referring to a career as a White House correspondent. That’s a hot one.

Now cut to Steven Colbert’s comments about the White House at the 2006 Washington press corps dinner.

Commissioj John King called the NYC teacher discipline rules, “A model for the State.”

Teachers charged with felony weapon, drug or sexual misconduct are suspended “WITHOUT PAY and, if found guilty are discharged WITHOUT A HEARING.  Teachers who are charged with sexual misconduct which is not criminal, an arrest did not occur, have their cases heard before a jointy selected arbitrator. Frequently the cases are “he said, she said,” a student accuses, a teacher denies. The arbitrator has to weigh conflicting testimony. A finding against the teacher may result in a penalty less than discharge.

The standard of proof is “preponderance of evidence,” not the higher criminal court standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Teachers, reporters, all who are accused are entitled to a defense, except in the world of Brown.

Brown was either ignorant of the statutes in NYC or simply acting as a pawn for Rhee and Bloomberg.

She discredited herself.

Shame.

Thank you, “Ed” for explaining the facts.  It’s hard to get the facts in all the media and “reformers” hysteria about “prevert teachers.”

Public floggings for all of us lazy good for nothing union slobs will take place outside of Bloomberg’s office….the beatings will continue until morale improves.

This debate should be about the arbitration process in these cases.

By Bloomberg and Brown intentionally misstating this issue to union bash, they are coming close to inadvertently suggesting there be no due process for those accused. I almost wish they’d get their own spins confused and say that, and then be rightfully crucified.

I observed TFA teaches this summer. Two out of four told me the planned on being principals in a few years!

Most principals are part of the problem. Their evils should be based on low teacher attrition.

Donkeys!

Evals… Evaluations… No more smart phone typing for me

So what you’re saying is that journalistic ethics don’t matter to you, Campbell Brown.

And Geoff Decker, part of this story is that Brown’s husband is on the board of an organization whose leader’s husband has been accused of sexual misconduct with minors.

tinyurl.com/ydb92cp

Very soon Randi Weigarten is going to recommend the elimination of tenure and firing of ATRs. Hey wait a minute she just did that today.

“committing”

For an excellent point of view on the Randi Weingarten/Campbell Brown duel on Twitter, you should read NYC Educator’s piece on the dust-up. If you haven’t been following it, what happened, briefly, was this:

Campbell Brown, formerly of CNN, wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, basically accusing teachers unions of protecting sexual predators. Randi Weingarten jumped into the fray to defend teachers, claiming that even teachers who are accused of sexual infractions are entitled to due process, and can certainly be removed if arrested or if an arbitrator rules the against a teacher. Ms. Brown claims that due process is “protecting” sexual predators, and that teachers should be summarily fired if accused in order to protect children.

One issue that came up in the debate is that Campbell Brown failed to disclose in her piece that her husband, Dan Senor, is on the board of StudentsFirstNY–an organization run by Michelle Rhee.

A cynic might believe that Ms. Brown has an agenda here because of her conflict of interest, but she eventually came clean and admitted that she should have disclosed her close ties to such an staunchly anti-teacher group.

So, who is right? Normally, I would side with Randi on this one, as I believe everyone deserves due process. But recently I heard a case of perverted behavior with a child that can not be ignored in a discussion such as this. This kind of sick behavior must be punished, and I am sure Ms. Brown and Ms. Rhee would agree.

The case involves a teacher who allegedly groped a 16 year old girl. The police recorded a phone call from this teacher apologizing to the girl for what happened. The case was investigated by the police, who declined to prosecute. In the end, the teacher reportedly paid a settlement to the girl to end the matter. As bad as this case was, yet another accusation surfaced against this teacher. A student again complained of inappropriate behavior by this teacher, although she later recanted. Nevertheless, in light of the first settlement paid, coupled with a subsequent allegation of similar misconduct, we should in this case agree with Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown that this teacher needs to lose his job and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near young girls.

Oh, wait. My bad. It wasn’t a teacher against whom these allegations were leveled. It was a politician, namely Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento.

The husband of Michelle Rhee.

I’m sure that any moment now, we can expect Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown to call for the ouster of Kevin Johnson as mayor. After all, although none of the charges were substantiated and no charges filed, I’m sure they would agree that we can’t allow a little thing like due process stand in the way of protecting our children.

Right, Michelle and Campbell?

Hello?