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!