Bloomberg and the Final Solution for Teachers

I might get reamed for this, but I feel this way, at times, and besides, only Mel Brooks could write "Springtime for Hitler" only I can write post. Bear with me, this post is going to be somewhat a stream of consciousness.

Not to long ago I read an amazing book, "Ghettostadt: Lodz and the Making of a German City." Basically the book chronicles the Nazi's ghettoizing Lodz, Poland and the systemic annihilation of the Jews of not only Lodz, but of Poland. With me so far? See the parallel?

There is a "Final Solution" in store for teachers, and public education that is being implemented. But instead of Hitler, we have Arne Duncan. Instead of the author of the real Final Solution Heinrich Himmler, we have Michael Bloomberg in his place. Instead of Hans Biebow running the ghetto, we have Joel Klein instead. See? Teaching, being a student, a parent anyone associated with the DOE, and not being on Klein's side, we have been put in a ghetto. But it gets better.

The Nazi's could not have succeeded in Lodz if it were not for the Judenräte enabling them. The UFT are the Judenrät, and the head of the Judenräte in Lodz was Chaim Rumkowski. But now instead of Chaim collaborating and enabling the regime we have Mike Mulgrew.

Now you ask, how can I compare Bloomberg and Klein, two Jews to Himmler and Biebow? Think about it, the teaching profession, at least at one time in NYC was predominantly Jewish. Who started the UFT and ran it for years? Jews. Bloomberg and Klein are two self-loathing Jews. Mulgrew, not a Jew. But, I wonder.

In Lodz Jews no longer deemed productive were sent to the camps. Who made the choice? Rumkowski did. Either through silent enabling, or choosing himself. In the world of the DOE teachers no longer deemed productive are sent to camps as well. Only these camps are the Rubber Rooms. Has anyone seen the Rubber Room at George Washington High School in Washington Heights? Trailers, fences, security gate, where's the difference between that and Auschwitz? Mulgrew in the role of Rumkowski is silent and sacrifices good teachers in collaboration with Klein in the role of Biebow, who answers to Himmler, er I meant to say Bloomberg.

Teachers clutch the metaphorical gates of the Rubber Rooms, till their fingers bleed, hoping that the horror will recede, hoping that tomorrow they will all be freed. FYI, that last sentence was paraphrased from Rush's 1984 hit song Red Sector A.

Rumkowski sold out the Jews of Lodz, as Mulgrew is doing, and he is enabling Klein and Bloomberg just as Biebow and Himmler had been enabled. But those two want to curry favor with Arne Duncan.

Ward, Have You Seen My Beaver?

There was this episode of "Leave it to Beaver" in which Beaver's teacher comes over for dinner. I forgot the premise of why, but one thing lingers deep in my mind about the episode. Beaver's teacher came over wearing shoes in which her toes were exposed.

Beaver called Larry Mondello to come over and they were in shock. They were mesmerized with the fact that their teacher had toes, or that she was wearing such "risque" footwear.

I got to thinking about this during that entire Polazzo imbroglio in which some of the comments made by Stuy students were shocked that how a teacher can write nasty, snarky, sarcastic posts in this blog. Or one comment in which someone commented that at 7 PM I should be correcting papers, doing lesson plans, etc... without realizing that teachers do in fact have lives. Well, most of us do.

Why are teachers put on such a pedestal? Yes, I know we work with children, and there must be a certain amount of decorum. But, why are teachers constantly singled out? And I think this leads back to this entire Bloom/Klein of bashing teachers.

There is this stereotype that is still out there that a teacher must still be virtuous, virginal, and chaste. That all we should think about is the students. But why aren't cops, or firefighters, or CHILD PSYCHOLOGISTS held to the same unrealistic standard as teachers? They are all very important, if at times not more so to the community than teachers.

Back in 2005 when we were negotiating a new contract there was talk of a strike vote. I was with some colleagues and we were discussing it. I mentioned that I am ready to strike if need be, when this new, TFA inane drone said, "how can you talk about striking, what about the children?" I explained to the TFA inane drone that the children don't put food on my family's plate, nor will they put my child through college. He shut up fast.

I am just getting tired of us getting dumped on as a profession, by people who do not know, nor care about education. Thank you for letting me rant.

Mike Mulgrew's Leadership Qualities

BREAKING NEWS!!!! SBSB HAS SNEAK PEAK AT NEW CONTRACT!

Remember the book Logan's Run? Seems that Joel Klein is a fan of the book, and in the new contract him and Mike Mulgrew have decided to implant a crystal in all new teacher's palms.

In an exclusive SBSB interview with Joel Klein, the chancellor says, "The seeds of the Teacher War were planted in a restless strike of 1968, with picket lines and selfishness. By the late 1970s over 40 percent of the teachers in NYC were over 40 of years of age. The teachers continued to age — and with it the percentage.In the 1980s the figure was 55.8 percent.In the 1990s, 60.9 percent. In the year 2009 — critical mass."

According the the new contract which SBSB has seen a leaked copy, a new teacher will have his or her crystal set at yellow. Once the teacher receives tenure, or after three years, whichever comes first, his or her crystal will then become blue. After maxing out at step 8b the teacher's crystal will become red. Once a teacher hits L15 or turns forty the the crystal will start blinking red/black letting the teacher know that the end time has come. This will be known as Rubber Day.

When teachers reach Rubber Day they are to report to what will be known as the Rubber Shop. Once there, they willfully enter the Rubber Room, not to be seen of, nor spoken of again.

There is also a provision for teachers who refuse to report to the Rubber Shop. The DOE will employ what will be known as "Deep Rubber Operative", or "Rubberman." These operatives will have special weapons, such as perjured testimony at their disposal to force these teachers into the Rubber Shop. Also, they will employ a special new martial art called "Omnite."

But there might be hope. Sources have told SBSB that there will be Sanctuary for those who want to avoid the Rubber Shop. At press time, Sanctuary will be deep inside any administrator's colon. Or Mike Mulgrew's colon.

I am not buying this for a second. Sanctuary is not inside a colon. Sanctuary is unity amongst the teachers of NYC. We need to stick together and fight as one against aschimothusia.

Hey Dan Smith, Awesome Matt Polazzo Is Dangerous!

Oh Awesome Matt Polazzo, have you learned anything yet? Have you heard about Dan Smith? To sum it up quickly, Dan Smith was accused of asking a girl to sit on his lap. He never said anything of the sort. Dan is a whistle blower, something you would never have the guts to do. You, and anyone else can read about Dan and his taking the DOE to Federal court here.

Dan, do you realize whyAwesome Matt Polazzo is dangerous? Maybe it is because Awesome Matt wrote:

The controversy was stirred up by Stephen Brill's article "The Rubber Room," featured in the Aug. 31 New Yorker. It shows the incredible lengths the United Federation of Teachers has gone to protect bad teachers.

Teachers accused of offenses are forced into "rubber rooms" where they fight over chairs and play cards for six hours and 50 minutes a day.

See Dan, Matt doesn't have the higher order thinking skills to realize what a shill Brill (Hey! That rhymes!) is for Tweed, nor does Matt know what a failure at almost everything Brill has been in his life.

What is that Dan? You are asking if Matt failed to institute HOTS for any other part of his article? Hmmm, let's see. Awesome Matt writes about what his love interest has done to the schools:

It is true that Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein have tried mightily to reform New York's education system. They have expanded the amount of time teachers work in a day, given administrators the ability to hire and fire their assistant principals and allowed assistant principals to hire teachers that they choose.........

.........We must insist that a new contract contain three key provisions. The contract must allow administrators to fire bad teachers, give them the power to hire any teacher they want, and give administrators flexibility in setting the pay of their teachers.

Dan, people like Awesome Matt want to give all the powers to the administration. But we know what happens when one has absolute power. Ten years ago Dan, what do you think would have happened to you? But you are over forty and think for yourself. Awesome Matt thinks you are useless.

What makes one wonder is what would the powers that be say if they saw teenage girls shaking their "bootys" at Awesome Matt Polazzo during instructional time and Awesome Matt laughing and applauding whilst it being done? But Awesome Matt Polazzo is not over forty. Yet. Nothing will come of it. For those curious, please check out 4:55 to 5:35 of video.

Two Peas in a Pod

Ariel Sacks and Awesome Matt Polazzo. Watch. Listen. Think. Learn.

A Retort to Awesome Matt Polazzo's Retorter

My mother told me two things. Always wear clean underwear in case you are in a car accident, and never argue with crazy people. Well dear old mom, I am about to break one of those rules. FYI, the underwear is clean.

So I wake up with a wicked headache at 2 AM and check the blog. And "anonymous" starts off thusly:

"You are an example of everything that is wrong with incompetent teachers. You are like the teacher "who had given a 100 to a student who claimed that Abraham Lincoln had won the Revolutionary War."

Wow, interesting. Doesn't even know what I teach but is able to deduce my teaching method, style and grading system. But, and this is a big but, something even the Awesome Matt Polazzo failed to point out. When I was in high school passing on a regents was a 65. It is now 55, or 50? Are students being serviced by this? Standardized tests have been dumbed down. Again, how does this benefit the students? And what is the deal with this credit recovery thingy? That was implemented by the wonderful people at Tweed. Isn't that just as bad, if not worse than the teacher who gave a 100?

"Not only did you completely fail to interpret Mr. Polazzo's piece, you are focusing your blog on the wrong things, the trivial things that don't count."

Yes junior, the trivial things do count. I am sure if you wrote a paper for the Awesome Matt Polazzo and left out facts he would let you know.

"you are just a UFT sycophantic suck-up."

ROTFLMFAO!!!! Obviously you have not read the entire blog.

"Explain yourself Matt. You mean the literacy coach? The math coach?..."
"@He explained himself full well if you read the damn article--teachers in the rubber room; teachers getting paid full time to play cards for 6.5 hours..."

Second sentence in his article; "Even hotter is the buzz about what to do with teachers who get paid for staying outside the classroom." He failed to right then and there qualify his point.

"Curious, you had an out of classroom position, and with an office no less. Matt, you are contradicting yourself here aren't you?"
@You know full well he means rubber-room teachers."

Please read above.

"Perhaps you should check out rubberroomovie.com."
"@What? You back up your claims with some nonsense movie? Is that how they taught you do support your arguments when you were in school?"

Isn't this statement a tad bit specious? Have you even bothered to check out that website?

"Define incompetence. Please. Or better yet, define why you think you are so wonderful."
@Incompetence is your blog post. He didn't make any comments about his post. He is merely expressing his disgust at the incompetence of teachers. By your train of thought, a parent who complains must also express why they are wonderful?"

Again, explain incompetence, and explain why Awesome Matt is not incompetent. It is totally probable that one day (and I truly hope this does not happen) that Awesome Matt will be labeled incompetent by a principal that just does not like him.

"As far as the chemistry teacher weeping, what was the question Matt?"
"@"What was the question Matt?" You're kidding me right? You focus way too much on the things that aren't important."

What is the big deal? Why did the teacher weep?

"Hey Matt make you a deal. If and ever you are brought into your principal's office, or are investigated, do not take any advantage of your chapter chair, or any legal services the UFT might offer you. But you won't. You will be the first to whine and beg for the UFT to take care of you."
"@Maybe Mr. Polazzo is man enough to stand up for himself. You're a full grown person. Have some pride; if you're incompetent, go find something else. Earn a living on your own merit; don't freeload off society."

No Awesome Matt is not man enough to stand up for himself. He will want all the protections of the contract if he is ever accused of anything. However, I will respect him more if he came out and renounced any union benefits.

"If true, wrong, but again you do not supply the context. As far as making 3X your salary, SBSB has done some math. You have been teaching about 9-10 year so your salary is somewhere around 65K..."
"@This part pissed me off the most. Quote-on-quote "My first year of teaching". It shows just how little attention you paid to Mr. Polazzo's op-ed. 'Nuff said."

Hey I stand corrected. But. If this was Awesome Matt's first year teaching I would say he was making about 32K. The maximum salary when Bloomberg in 2001 was 70K. Again Awesome Matt was incorrect.

"The contract mentions only two year-end ratings for a teacher: Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. No other ranking is covered and thus allowed for."
"Wrong!!! There is also N/A. Dang, Matt read the contract!!!"

"@Dang, A Teacher in the Bronx, you're an idiot for even mentioning N/A." Matt was incorrect here. He said only an S or a U can be given, he fails to mention the N/A as well as mentioning that there is space for comments.


So there you have it Junior. If a may paraphrase, "Let us not go blindly into the endless winter night."

"A facts a fact from Nome to Rome."

BREAKING MIKE MULGREW NEWS!!!!!!

Where at SBSB have learned that UFT SA-Obergruppenführer Mike Mulgrew has gotten the acting bug. Through digital mastery Mike has replaced the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz. The new, and improved version has Mike digitally remastered replacing the late Bert Lahr, and get this, the dialogue and song has been altered as well. We here find it more than a coincidence, but highly appropriate that Mike Mulgrew has replaced the so-called Cowardly Lion. Mike by his inaction to endorse William Thompson as mayor, allowed Mike Bloomberg to win a third term. Mike was more afraid of Bloomy getting mad than doing the right thing.

We here at SBSB have acquired through sources a still photo of the movie with Mike and have some of the script which will be shown here for the first time.

Mike Mulgrew sings: Yeah, it's sad, believe me Missy When you're born to be a sissy Without the vim and verve But I could show my prowess Be a leader, not a mowess If I only had some balls I'm afraid there's no refusin' I'm just a confusin’ A fate I don't deserve I'd have balls big as golf balls (Tin Man) I'd be gentle as a lizard (Scarecrow) I'd be clever as a gizzard (Dorothy) If the Wizard is a wizard who will serve (Scarecrow) Then I'm sure to get a brain (Tin Man) A heart (Dorothy) A home (Mike Mulgrew) Some balls

Mike Mulgrew: Balls! What makes a king out of a slave? Balls! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Balls! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Balls!!
Mike Mulgrew: You can say that again! Huh?

Dorothy: Mike, if you had a set of balls, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?
Mike Mulgrew: Not nobody! Not nohow!
Tin Woodsman: Not even Bloomberg?
Mike Mulgrew: Imposerous!
Dorothy: How about Klein?
Mike Mulgrew: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomus!
Dorothy: Supposing Randi?
Mike Mulgrew: I'd wrap her up in cellophane!
Scarecrow: What if it were a Arne Duncan?
Mike Mulgrew: I'd show him who was leader of the UFT!

Mike, go visit the Wizard. Shanker's grave. You will learn that you had the balls all along.

New York Pravda, er, Times

It's funny how those without any experience in education, or an understanding of the issues continue to blabber about how to fix the DOE, or education in general. But once again, one of the official party newspapers of the Bloomberg Administration, The New York Times shows it lack of grasp of the issues, in this case reporter Jennifer Medina.

It's bad enough that the Times has shrunk and now costs two dollars during the week, and five dollars on Sundays. But to see the paper that ran the Pentagon Papers become a somewhat semi-official mouthpiece of Bloomberg-Klein just is sad. Medina just writes without delving into anything.

Facebook page Team Polazzo linked this, so let's comment on this.

"But many principals prefer new teachers."

Of course they do!! I have no disagreement with that. But why? Several reasons. One, the new teachers are cheaper. Two, you get a teacher that is you can mold, a teacher that doesn't ask why or question things, and a teacher that does not have family commitments. And three, a teacher that is not a threat knows more than the principal. In Joel Klein's DOE the administrator's have less and less experience as teachers. I have seen teacher's become AP's, or principals after only five years of teaching. Even less! Of course they would feel threatened.

I took abuse when I was untenured. I had no choice. I have a choice now. I refuse to be abused, and I refuse to do what is wrong by the students.

"So in an act of quiet defiance, they are allowing jobs to sit vacant."

Can this be construed as an act of insubordination? Would a teacher be allowed to refuse a directive? I have no problem giving the principals all the power in the world, but as we know absolute power corrupts absolutely.

"And principals are upset that after years of choosing their work force, their options are being drastically limited."

They can choose their workforce, but from a smaller pool than in the past. But as the Marines say, "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome."

“The picture out there is not pretty,” said Jemina R. Bernard, who directs the New York office of Teach for America,'

Boo-hoo. I can't feel sorry for the TFA's. Yes, there are some darn good ones out there, but I see too many leave after the commitment is over, and many of them come to NYC to live that NYC lifestyle. Not saying all, just too many.

"But a number of schools may end up with larger classes or have to temporarily stop offering a subject."

Who is getting hurt the most here in the long run? Seems very unChildren First to me.

"As Chancellor Joel I. Klein moved aggressively to close poor-performing schools, more teachers found their positions eliminated. And principals tended to hire younger, newer teachers because they were cheaper and did not carry the stigma of having come from a failing school."

Poor performing? By who's estimation? The letter grades which are a joke? By state test scores in which tests have been dumbed down? Or by finding any school to close to make room for a charter?

"Mr. Klein has suggested that those who do not find jobs quickly are undesirable, or that they have stopped looking."

Is that a fact? Joel, you are so amazingly smart. You have this clairvoyance that is just beyond that of Darth Vader. You know it all.

"With the teachers’ contract up for renewal this fall, Mr. Klein said he would push for a limit on how long teachers could stay in the reserve pool before they could be laid off. But an arbitration board has rejected such a limit."

You caused this problem Joel, you fix it.

"Michael Mulgrew, the president of the teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, said that the Education Department had not made a great enough effort to place teachers and that Mr. Klein had unfairly maligned them."

Shut up doofball, who cares what you say? Put your money where your mouth is. We are in this mess because the UFT has no balls.

"Several principals — who did not want their names published for fear of angering the administration or the teachers’ union — said they were circumventing the restrictions by offering new teachers jobs as long-term substitutes or hiring them as specialized teachers but placing them in regular classrooms."

There must be some type of unfair labor practice or illegality here. But since Mike Mulgrew has no balls, we will never know will we?

"Valerie Hamilton-Roux, 45, who was a reading specialist at Public School 201 in Harlem until it was closed last year, said she had been little more than a “glorified sub” since then. In the last several months, she has attended job fairs and sent out more than a hundred résumés to schools, she said."

The only thing Valerie has going against her is her age.

“I want to work and be useful, not just a placeholder,” she said. “Whether I don’t say what the principals want to hear or whether they’re skeptical because I haven’t been in the classroom for a year, I don’t know. It’s getting harder to not have sleepless nights.”

Hey Ariel, what do you think?

Krystel Martinez, 27, also cannot find work. She left a job at Sony Music to enter the Teaching Fellows program, which recruits people without classroom experience to teach while earning a master’s degree in education.

“Why did they go ahead and bring us if there were no jobs for us to have?” Ms. Martinez said. “Some people are losing motivation, but we’re all concerned about having a roof over our heads.”

How do you think the ATR's feel Krystel? They have families, bills, roofs too!

Matt Polazzo, Shame On You

We here at SBSB cam across Matt Polazzo's Friendster page. How shocking to find out that Matt that Matt is misogynistic and sees females as prostitutes. How so you ask? Matt, remember Halloween some years back, better yet, what is the quote? Hmmmm, let's see what it says.

Posted 05/05/2004 2:35 pm This man is the only teacher I've ever seen dress up as pimp on Halloween. I'd rave about what a great teacher he is, but I already did that on Gary He's website some years ago while I actually had him. Now all that matters is that he makes a bitchin' pimp.

Matt, Webster's defines a pimp as :

a man who solicits clients for a prostitute

Is that how you see yourself and/or other females? Shame on you Matt. Pimps are bad people.

But just as equally disturbing is:

Posted 03/18/2004 2:59 pm
Mr. Polazzo as i know him. XXXXXXXX and i used to
always wonder whether or not he smokes
pot... wed say no he seems to have it
together he cant be blazed.. but then certain stories he would tell us led us to believe otherwise...

What kind of stories are you sharing with the youth Matt?

Open Letter to Anonymous Defender of the Wonderful Matt Polazzo

In the previous post about noted sycophant Mark Polazzo came a comment that instead of commenting on in the little comment box I wish to share out on the open.

"....The first piece of contradiction lies in the fact that you point out that Matthew Polazzo was the former Coordinator of Student Affairs and was therefore a teacher outside the classroom. Unlike perhaps the COSA in your school, at Stuyvesant High School, the COSA is a teacher who teaches at least four classes a day and also devotes their last period and after-school time to work as the COSA, and yes in an office."

Hey, if wrong, then we here at SBSB will admit it. But, Matthew decided to represent himself as this "big shot" coordinator. What is girl to think?

".....Also, in terms of reading comprehension, when Matthew Polazzo refers to teachers outside the classroom, you clear well know that he is referring to teachers in the rubber rooms."

Where oh where does Matthew make that clear? Here is the quote: Even hotter is the buzz about what to do with teachers who get paid for staying outside the classroom. This is in the first paragraph. Where does he qualify it as teacher's in the Rubber Room?

"You are also an educator who is complacent with the way things remain in the New York City Educational system."

Obviously you have not read the entire blog and seen how it shook up the powers that be last year. I suggest you give it a thorough reading and then comment. As far as me being complacent, where are your facts? Do you know me? Do you know anything?

"Unfortunately, as the citizens of this city realize the terrible quality of education they are being forced to deal with, they will take action by voting and by demanding reform."

The only reform has been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Smoke and mirrors baby.

"You shouldn't defend the UFT contract as it stands in dealing with poor teachers."

How do you define a poor teacher? Please do.

"The contract may very well protect teachers from abusive administrators and from being forced out because of false accusations, neither Matthew Polazzo nor anyone else is demanding for these provisions to be removed, nor should they ever be removed..."

As previously stated, fine no problem with getting rid of poor teachers. Define a poor teacher. But the Rubber Room was a place for teachers that were accused of being a danger to children. Now you get teachers there who after 25 years get a U rating in the middle of the year, who have had a Diet Coke in their hand, who have blown the whistle, who report abuse. That is the majority in the Rubber Room.

".....all we are asking for is a different regulatory measure by which to insure quality teaching."

Define quality teaching.

Matt Polazzo. Joel Klein's Parrot

Did you read Stuyvesant High School's noted sycophant Matt Polazzo's op-ed piece in today's Daily News? I did, and we have yet another UFT member, and teacher suckling at the sphincter of administration just like Ariel Sacks. Unfortunately, Matt distorts facts just as bad as Ariel Sacks. Matt wants the UFT contract torn up.Taking apart his ramblings seems so unfair. Like shooting fish in a barrel. So what does Matt have to say?

"Even hotter is the buzz about what to do with teachers who get paid for staying outside the classroom."

Explain yourself Matt. You mean the literacy coach? The math coach? These people are integral parts of the school community. They work with, especially new teachers, on setting up curriculum, letting all teachers know the latest in their fields and are a vital part of the school community. Surely you don't mean reading specialists, or ESL teachers. Aren't they vital to the school community as well?

But what makes one wonder is why are you contradicting yourself Matt? The crack SBSB investigation team has uncovered this from the New York Times, February 19, 2006:

"It’s a huge phenomenon,” said Matt Polazzo, the coordinator of student affairs at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, referring to the compulsive habit of teenagers to snap everything in their lives, especially self-portraits. “Just yesterday I had a girl sitting on the couch in my office...."

Curious, you had an out of classroom position, and with an office no less. Matt, you are contradicting yourself here aren't you?

"The controversy was stirred up by Stephen Brill's article "The Rubber Room," featured in the Aug. 31 New Yorker. It shows the incredible lengths the United Federation of Teachers has gone to protect bad teachers."

Yeah, incredible lengths the UFT goes through. Yes, I agree there are bad teachers out there, there are teachers that physically and have sexually abused children. But, they are all allowed due process. But Matty, what about the teachers who are there because the blew the whistle? Who just didn't get along with the principal? It is so, so, so easy for a principal, if she or he doesn't like you, to get you in the Rubber Room. Perhaps you should check out rubberroomovie.com.

Oh, and as far as quoting and taking anything Stephen Brill has to say, remember this is the man who wanted to show students commercials in class. Consider the source.

"On top of that, a giant pool of educators who have lost their jobs due to budget cuts and incompetence are paid full salaries not to teach - and this separate reserve pool contains over 1,100 members."

Define incompetence. Please. Or better yet, define why you think you are so wonderful.

"In my 11 years in the system, I have seen a teacher drag a boy down the stairs by his ankles, seen a teacher break down and start weeping when asked a basic question about chemistry and seen far more who do an absolutely minimal amount of work and dole out high grades to keep students content."

Do you know the context in which the boy was dragged by the ankles? If you know this did you report it? As far as the chemistry teacher weeping, what was the question Matt? Are you one hundred percent sure his license was chemistry? Do you know that principals have had the tendency in the past to have teachers teach out of license. Do you have all the facts? As for as doing a minimal amount of work, define minimal? How do you know this? As far as teachers doling out high grades I suggest you look at the credit recovery so espoused by Tweed and the controversy going on at Lehman High School now. Isn't that more shocking Matt?

"It is the gigantic and ridiculous 165-page UFT contract, which is relentlessly defended by union leaders. The contract expired Saturday; negotiations are underway to replace it."

Hey Matt make you a deal. If and ever you are brought into your principal's office, or are investigated, do not take any advantage of your chapter chair, or any legal services the UFT might offer you. But you won't. You will be the first to whine and beg for the UFT to take care of you.

"Then he told me that I should grade student work based solely on how neat the penmanship was. I looked at the work he had evaluated in this manner and saw that he had given a 100 to a student who claimed that Abraham Lincoln had won the Revolutionary War. This teacher got three times my salary."

If true, wrong, but again you do not supply the context. As far as making 3X your salary, SBSB has done some math. You have been teaching about 9-10 year so your salary is somewhere around 65K. So for this teacher to be making 3X your salary the teacher must be raking in.....HOLY SHIT!!!! That teacher is making $195,000!!!! Psst, Matt, does Bloomy know this????

"If you are a New York City teacher, your pay is still determined almost entirely by the number of years you teach as well as your education level."

It is alike this all over the country, even in Scarsdale.

"The contract mentions only two year-end ratings for a teacher: Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. No other ranking is covered and thus allowed for."

Wrong!!! There is also N/A. Dang, Matt read the contract!!!

"An assistant principal once told me that she got in trouble with the union for suggesting that the principal rate a teacher Excellent. "No such rating," said the union rep."

Oh Matt, there is room on the year end evaluation for the principal to write in comments. But, you must want a "kisses ass so freaking well, and asks how high when asked to jump" rating.

"We must insist that a new contract contain three key provisions. The contract must allow administrators to fire bad teachers, give them the power to hire any teacher they want, and give administrators flexibility in setting the pay of their teachers."

In closing Matt, you really know how to make friends. You need, and will want the contract there for you if you are ever in a jam. You are a blatant hypocrite of the worse kind. Go slither back to the rock you crawled out under.