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Saturday, May 31, 2014

5-31-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School



Perdido Street School Week




Cuomo Will Win Working Families Party Ballot Line
WFP/Cuomo summary: Cuomo gets line, will do a video rather than show up, de Blasio coming to speak soon, Teachout won't rule out Dem primary— Blake Zeff (@blakezeff) June 1, 2014Heard earlier from Kos that  Cuomo having to kiss Bill de Blasio's butt in public, along that of the WFP. That base humiliation alone might be worth the price of admission.Not much base humiliation in recording a video in

Say No To Cuomoccio
This sign held by somebody at the Working Families Party convention in Albany says it all:Indeed, no one believes Cuomo intends to live up to whatever deal he is supposed to be making in order to get the Working Families Party line:What does it mean that press corps instant consensus is Cuomo has no intention of genuinely trying to fulfill the emerging WFP deal?— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore)

Consensus Is, Cuomo Has No Intention Of Fulfilling Any Deal With Working Families Party
From Times reporter Nick Confessore:What does it mean that press corps instant consensus is Cuomo has no intention of genuinely trying to fulfill the emerging WFP deal?— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) May 31, 2014What it says is that the WFP officials, politicians and union leaders pushing this deal are corrupt and/or short-sighted, the WFP rank-and-file who accept it are naive, and Andrew Cuom


Markos Moulitsas Says Working Families Party Could Win A "Stunning" Victory With Cuomo Endorsement Deal
Kos writes how much he likes the "deal" that is said to be in the offing for the Working Families Party endorsement of Andrew Cuomo:This is all "insider" sources and all, so take with appropriate grain of salt. But the report says that the deal would include:- Cuomo having to kiss Bill de Blasio's butt in public, along that of the WFP. That base humiliation alone might be worth


Charter School Proponent Carl Icahn Probed For Insider Trading
No, this is not about Whitney Tilson and that funky little Barnes and Noble thing from 2012. This is about Carl Icahn, some sports and gambling pals and Clorox:The feds are investigating whether golf legend Phil Mickelson, billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Vegas gambling kingpin William “Billy” Walters took part in an insider-trading scheme, federal law-enforcement sources told The Post Friday.

The UFT Sold You Out To Cuomo
The next time you hear any jive out of the UFT or AFT leadership about holding Andrew Cuomo accountable for his policies, remember that the union leaderships helped to engineer the Working Families Party endorsement of Andrew Cuomo by threatening the party with financial "collapse" if Cuomo wasn't given the nod.The UFT wasn't the only union to pull the strings for Cuomo - other unions th

YESTERDAY

Cuomo, WFP Reach Deal Over Ballot Line
Brokered by Bill de Blasio, of all people:Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Working Families Party’s leadership have reached an agreement that could give the incumbent Democrat the labor-backed organization’s ballot line, according to sources familiar with the agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Cuomo would support local control for a minimum wage increase — a proposal he has previously opposed —
Salon Reports Deal For Cuomo Endorsement By Working Families Party Could Be "Imminent"
And so we come to the inevitable sellout:As the Working Families Party prepares to meet in Albany on Saturday to select law professor Zephyr Teachout as its gubernatorial candidate, an 11th-hour deal is being hashed out between the party and governor Andrew Cuomo that could leave that plan in shambles. According to numerous sources, talks are heating up Friday evening and a deal “could be imminent
Cuomo Is A "Right-Wing Douchebag"
Andrew Cuomo and his courtiers at the unions have spent the past couple of days threatening Working Families Party members if the WFP convention does not give Cuomo their endorsement.The union heads have threatened to pull back funds from the party and Buzzfeed reported that Cuomo is trying to convince other Democratic Party politicians from taking their endorsement to try and starve WFP of votes.
UFT, Other Union Leaders Threaten Working Families Party Over Cuomo Endorsement
You knew the union leaders wouldn't allow for Working Families Party to endorse anybody over Sheriff Andy Cuomo.With the WFP convention this weekend and many rank-and-file calling for the party to endorse Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout over Andrew Cuomo, the union leaders made their move today and threatened the party with dissolution:When Working Families Party state committee members gath
Get Ready For Some More Gates- And Helmsley-Funded Common Core Propaganda
Here's some "grassroots" support for the Common Core:ALBANY—Critics of the Common Core in New York have been winning the debate about the controversial education standards, but now they'll face a counterattack backed by a considerable investment.High Achievement New York, a nonprofit coalition of mostly business groups, plans to launch a roughly $500,000 phone and digital advertising cam
Working Families Party Co-Chair Warns Cuomo Is Unlikely To Get WFP Ballot Line
From the NY Times:For weeks now, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Democrat seeking re-election this year, has been working behind the scenes to soothe misgivings by the leadership of a small but influential political party made up of labor unions and liberal activists who believe his policies have veered too far to the right.Late on Thursday, a co-chairwoman of that group, the Working Families

MAY 29

Scott Walker To Fund Raise For Rob Astorino
For teachers flriting with the idea of voting for Rob Astorino, the GOP candidate for governor, as a protest against Andrew Cuomo, take note of this:Gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino is getting a boost from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a fundraiser next month, the Republican candidate’s campaign confirmed. Tickets for the June 9 event at Manhattan’s Union League Club start at $500 and run as hi
Andrew Cuomo's Tough 48 Hours Ahead
Blake Zeff lays out what is at stake for Andrew Cuomo in the next two days:This is it, folks; years of sparring, speculation and scheming in New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s battle with the left is about to come to a head. Sometime in the next 48 hours, the fiscally conservative governor will learn whether the liberal Working Families Party (WFP) will choose him — or someone else — to run on its b
The Plan To Force Charter Co-Locations
Hard to see Cuomo's forcing the city to pick up the tab for charter school rent as aimed at anything other than the eventual return of the charter co-location scheme Bloomberg operated:New York City's move to oust three charter schools from district buildings appears to carry a hefty price tag.The mayor's budget sets aside $5.4 million in the coming fiscal year to lease sites for three Success Aca

MAY 28

Diane Ravitch To Run Against Andrew Cuomo In November?
This bit of political news surprises me: The Working Families Party is eying education activist Diane Ravitch as its gubernatorial candidate should the liberal minor party decide to withhold its backing of Gov. Cuomo, a source told the Daily News Wednesday morning. The party has spoken to Ravitch, 75, about possibly being its nominee and she has expressed interest, the source said. "Either wa
Who Needs All That Technology?
Not school's in Finland:HELSINKI — At the start of morning assembly in the state-of-the-art Viikki School here, students’ smartphones disappear. In math class, the teacher shuts off the Smartboard and begins drafting perfect circles on a chalkboard. The students — some of the highest-achieving in the world — cut up graphing paper while solving equations using their clunky plastic calculators.Finni
Preet Bharara Appears To Have His Sights Set On Albany Pols And Cuomo Too
From Ken Lovett at the Daily News: ALBANY - Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has asked the state Senate and Assembly to preserve all documents related to Gov. Cuomo's anti-corruption commission, the Daily News has learned. It’s the latest sign of an investigation by Bharara’s office in the aftermath of Cuomo’s decision in March to disband the now-defunct Moreland Commission. At the time it
This News Will Make Bloomberg Very, Very Sad
Bloomberg henchman Deputy Dan Doctoroff is still leading the charge to bring the Olympics to NYC and rectify one of Mayor Bloomberg's biggest setbacks - his failure to turn NYC into an Olympic Village.Mayor de Blasio says he's not interested, however:Mayor Bill de Blasio has ruled out any possibility that New York City will submit a bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, a top member of his st

MAY 27

Looking Forward To Daily News Investigation Of In-House Grading Of Regents Exams At Charter Schools
There was a Daily News story this morning that alleged grade inflation on ELA Regents exams, reporting that scores "plummeted" in 2013 when the exams were no longer graded by teachers in-house but were instead sent to centralized locations where they were graded by other teachers.I posted about that story this morning in a piece entitled Daily News Misses A Big Part Of ELA Regents Score
Will The Working Families Party Endorse Cuomo?
Cuomo is the official nominee of the Democratic Party, even garnering support from "progressives" like Bill de Blasio and John Liu.The criminals at the Independence Party are also looking for Cuomo to be on their ballot line, though Cuomo said he hasn't made up his mind about that (the paperwork he filled out says otherwise.)Now it's the Working Families Party's turn to decide what to do
Daily News Misses A Big Part Of ELA Regents Score Plummet Story
The Daily News claims cheating teachers were the main reason scores on the 2013 ELA Regents exam fell: Scores on English Regents exams for high schoolers plummeted when the city cracked down on grade-fudging teachers, a Daily News analysis shows. Thousands of public school students failed the high-stakes state tests in 2013 after the city instituted new grading rules to prevent score inflation. A

MAY 24

Murdoch Company Pays Andrew Cuomo At Least $700,000 For His Memoir
Okay, this is absurd:ALBANY—Gov. Andrew Cuomo's book deal with HarperCollins is worth at least $700,000, according to a disclosure form Cuomo filed last week.The publishing house is planning to release Cuomo's autobiography, “All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life,” in August. Cuomo's 2013 tax returns showed $188,333 in income from the book, but the governor's aides said $3