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Oh what’s the difference.  My father, an immigrant to America and a hard working baker who stood on his feet for 7 hours 30 minutes a day six days a week for over 30 years of his life not counting the years he did the same in Italy, was right when he used to mutter in broken english at the dinner table of my childhood, “Politicians could care less about the fairness concerning  you and me”  or something of that sort.  My goodness Enrico, you were so right. 

Clowns like King and Arne Duncan have helped destroy public education in this country and more particularly this staste.  Who is John King?  What is his expertise in education?  Is he a primasry educator or a secondary education because they are two completely different things.  One might have a vast knowledge of elementary education and know nothing about secondary education.  The later is, of curse, course related and completely different skill sets are needed.  A secondary educator has one primary obigation.  To know his or her subject matter and be a beacon of knowledge in that subject area for his or her students.  How an elementary educator can walk into a secondary science class and be able to make valid suggestions to improve instruction is totallyh beyond me.

Until we recognize this fundamental difference between primary and secondarhy education, our secondary schools will continue to stagnate as these incompetents like Duncan and King continue to espouse their elementary school mentalities on secondary school teachers.  And just how can we judge say a secondary school math teacher when many many students are placed in Algebgra classes simply because they are 14 or 15 years old, haven’t attended school for several years and when they can’t even achieve the 34% necessary to passs the Algebra regents exam with all the cheat sheets provided we blame the teacher.

Please give me a break.  King and Duncan you’ve done enough damage to the schools.  Stop trying to destroy them.

Am I reading this right? If a new evaluation agreement isn’t done by mid-February, then King and the state Ed Department will control how 800 million in Title 1&2 money is spent in NYC? And he vows that he won’t hurt kids in the classroom? Could be a good thing removing Tweed from the equation, no?

I did some thinking about this new Feb 15th date which is when the State will begin to cut federal money from NYC. My conclusion about what the UFT needs to do is: NOTHING! The way the Race to the Top law was created was that in the event of a local school district and union not reaching an agreement then only the 450 million would be “cut”. There was nothing in the law about other federal funding. The UFT bargained in good faith, but unfortunately there was no deal. No deal=loss of 450 million dollars and that is the end of the story. Watch the massive public outcry, including the NAACP, who will want Cuomo’s head on a stick if he tries to start cutting billions of dollars from NYC just because the freaking UFT and Bloomberg did not come to an agreement. The UFT will be blamed as the evil guys in the press. However, that does not matter one bit. The deal did not happen and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. The UFT will step to the table again, but only when a new mayor is sworn in. Even if Cuomo follows through and starts cutting billions of dollars, there will not be any lay offs of teachers. (And if there were, it would be all the newbie TFA’ers and untenured folks that Bloomberg loves) In simple terms, the UFT should do NOTHING as there is nothing that needs to be done. Cuomo threatening to withhold extra federal money is a move by a desperate man and should not be entertained with discourse by the UFT. 

 The  problem  is  that  the  UFT  is  part  of  the  “reform”  establishment.  The  UFT,  and  NYSUT  helped  create  the  APPR  disaster.  They  are  all  too  willing  to  sell  out  the  membership.  Imagine  if  any  of the  UFT  brass  still  had  to  teach  in  the  classroom  everyday,  and  have  their  livelihoods  subjected  to  the  insanity  of  the  APPR. .Then,  and  only  then  would  they ” run  away”  from   the  negotiating  table.

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/19/ny-state-commissioner-king-threatens-nyc-children/   ny-state-commissioner-king-threatens-nyc-children

Whoa!

Who gave King the authority, which he doesn’t mention, to hold back money from Title I and II?  When did King decide to mix these very different grants?  What are the guidelines to receiveTitle I and II money? 

It is time to get the story straight here!  The other NY cities did not receive such punitive measures.  Hamburg, NY rejected the APPR and I did not read how King was going to withdraw federal money from their schools.

From the ED.gov website:
“LEAs target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a schoolwide program, the school must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet State academic standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of children from low-income families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs designed to upgrade their entire educational programs to improve achievement for all students, particularly the lowest-achieving students.”

So King is actually taking money away from schools with the “highest percentages of children from low-income families”?

Wow, that is f**king coldhearted!!!!  Parents, look what King is planning to do to your children.

It seems Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky  was rather nervous when he stuttered the following: “ We’re not just going to to do it for money.”  Touché!

The problem is we take people like King and Duncan and the rest of them seriously as if they have a clue as to what they’re talking about and have any real power to do anything.  It’s time for Mulgrew to stand up and to tell King to go fly a kite.  King and the rest of these so calld “reformers” have done enough damage to kids as it is.

Hold tight. Let Bloomberg self-destruct! What’s King going to do? We know he’s a proponent of charter schools and has no interest in maintaining a quality public school system. But he can’t turn all of us into a charter school!

I honestly believe it is time for the UFT to put it to a membership vote for their constituents to strike. The Taylor Law does state that it is illegal to strike and the teachers will be docked 2 days pay for every day striking is ongoing. Bloomberg and the union make me sick

The Triborough Amendment in New York State is a law that says that municpal contracts that “expipre” remain in effect until a new contract is signed. This law and the Taylor law prevent legal strikes by State/City workers but keep us covered under our “old” contract till a new one is signed. The real debate here is not about striking. The real debate is how open the UFT is going to be during any negotiations with the DOE and it’s members. The debate surrounds the fact that there is way too much secret dealings going on and the rank and file are not having a chance to have a say in these negotiations. Heck, even if the UFT and the DOE came up with a last minute deal on the evaluations last week, the Delegate Assembly would have had mere minutes to look at the proposal. The billion dollar question is what is going to happen when King/Cuomo start to hold tons of federal Title 1 monies from NYC on Feb 15th. Will the UFT cave on this? I, and countless others think it is just a ploy to get a deal out of us. However, it is NOT A DEADLINE. There is no gun to the head of the UFT or any law in place that says a deal must be signed by Feb 15th. My guess is that there will be a lawsuit by some party to allow the release of the Title 1 monies to NYC.

I’m totally with you. I’ve been teaching since 2008 and I hate this danilson BS. Something has to be done. There are so many other things occurring in the world and to see all these politicians in NYC teachers’ evaluation business one finds absurd. What about the Americans held hostage in Algeria, the gun law debate, Sandy Hook and victims of Hurricane Sandy that STlLL needs assistance.

 I agree. I was just trying to come up with some form of retaliation if the new evaluation passes. We can’t take this lying down. I think there will be a lawsuit and by the parents of New York City. If we play our cards right Bloomberg may end up having to step down before his time is up. I’m hoping for that too.