Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, June 14, 2014

6-14-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online


Ed Notes Online



How To Volunteer To Get Zephyr Teachout On The Ballot By July 7 So She Can Primary Andrew Cuomo
I lifted this from Perdido Street blog. I hadn't realized deadline was July 7. For those who support the Green Party candidates in the general election, forcing Cuomo into a primary against Teachout can only help Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones as the primary will flush out Cuomo haters who will hang in for the general election and hopefully vote Green Party.Fact is - she has very little time to put

UFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy - at DOE and UFT
The calls have been coming in from parents and their reps who are beginning to realize how the new contract will change their lives as the school day gets readjusted in many schools. "WTF," is the basic message.Can Mulgrew clean up the toxic spillover?They tell me there is growing outrage as word spreads. And since parents are being told that teachers are supposed to vote on SBOs in the

YESTERDAY

Teachers Unite: Countdown to Summer
 Countdown to SummerJune 2014  You're invited! Celebrate Summer at Teachers Unite's Ice Cream Social! Friday, June 27th, 4-6pmStuyvesant ParkNew York, NY Ice cream & carnival games provided by Milk, Not Jails Milk, Not Jails is seeking to revitalize and invest in NY's agricultural economy as a model alternative to the prison economy All are welcome! < Please RSVP Here on Eve
John Thompson at The Chalkface Expores the Subtleties of the Tenure Battle
Something tells me...that getting rid of our due process rights won’t be a promising tactic for recruiting and retaining new teacher talent..... Without seniority, this school closure mania gives districts a Get Out of Jail Free Card – they can commit age discrimination at will.....Obamacare might now be the best education reform of his administration. .. John ThompsonSome more great points from J
Why MORE? Vergara Tenure Decision, Eva Charter Expansion, UFT/AFT Tepid Responses
It will take an army to defeat ed deform. The UFT actually has a potential army through its large (but shrinking, and due to shrink more) membership (108,000 contract vote ballots were sent out to working UFT members) but wants to keep it defanged because an army with teeth may turn on the leadership.There is much hang-wringing over the California tenure decision, though it may well be overturned.
Vergara Tenure Commentary: High Crime Areas Due to Ineffective Police?
Police and firemen could be next. Let's say the same parents in the Vergara case claimed that crime was higher in their neighborhoods BECAUSE the police in their communities were all off probation. We could avoid blaming centuries of racism, discrimination, poverty exploitation of immigrants etc... blame crime on the police.And their unions / civil service job protections.... Their goal is to make

JUN 11

Anti-Tenure People Try to Have it Both Ways
...flaws in reasoning... were in full bloom from the minute Judge Treu announced that court was in session. How else to explain the paradox by which teacher tenure laws apply to the state’s wealthiest school districts and its poorest, but only violate the civil rights of students in the latter? Or how about the related and even paradoxier claim beloved by Students Matter fans, including Arne Dunca
Daily Howler, a former inner city teacher in Baltimore, gets to the heart of what's wrong with the common core
Given our large achievement gaps, how can any set of “standards” make sense for all kids in a single grade? The gaps are very large in our schools. How can any set of “standards” be appropriate for all students?This is the world’s most obvious question. Through twenty years of the “standards movement,” we’ve never seen it asked.According to the Common Core, everyone should be taught the same math—
Call for Ban on high-stakes field testing, 11 AM Rally/Press Conference Today at Tweed
  PUBLIC ADVOCATE FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK Letitia JamesFor Immediate Release: June 10, 2014                                                Media AdvisoryContact: Aja Worthy-Davis, (212) 669-4813, adavis@pubadvocate.nyc.gov Public Advocate James, Education Advocates to Call for End To Stand-Alone Field TestingHigh-Stakes Field Testing Is Largely Believed To Produce Unreliable Results(New York, NY

JUN 10

Eva Moskowitz Applies for 14 More Charters, CEC 21 Resolution: Opposing Free Space for Charters
If anyone doesn't think this won't add to a large pool of ATRs as she drains kids from the public schools and teaches are excessed, they are ignoring reality. Check your district in the Success announcement below to see if you're district is on the list. Every description by Success is an assault on the local public schools and the teachers working in them.This is part of the Moskowitz political m
Today: A Rally to End the Fourth Term of Michael R. Bloomberg 4:30 at Tweed -
I'm getting ready to head over to Tweed soon for the rally, which I wrote about the other day (PEP Report: Teachers, Parents Make Demands on Farina; ATRs, Etc To Hold Rally at Tweed, Tues., June 10, 4:30PM).SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL posted this poster at this link: Spring Cleaning at the NYCDOE Our pal at  Raginghorseblog did a great job in framing this. A Rally to End the Fourth Term of Michael R. Bloom

JUN 08

PEP Report: Teachers, Parents Make Demands on Farina; ATRs, Etc To Hold Rally at Tweed, Tues., June 10, 4:30PM
Just back from the gym and heading back outside soon. The last 2 days of wake, our anniversary, and a day of funeral have been crazy and tough. I'll try to blog about these remarkable 2 days if I can get it together. But first, back to business at hand.Lots going on.Below is the report from Lydia Howrilka, who was discontinued in her first year by an abusive principal who picked on the wrong perso
Video: Sean Ahern at the PEP on Diversity