Educational Solutions™ Inc.

We here at SBSB wish to commend Chaz the Blogger for his latest piece which was published today. Like Navin Johnson extorted once, Chaz has extorted today. Education is a profit game. The crack team likes and respects Chaz very much and has voted unanimously to make Chaz an honorary member of the crack team. Kudos to you Chaz, drinks are on you at the next meeting of the crack team.

Unfortunately, Chaz has already missed the latest meeting held late this afternoon. After reading Chaz's posting today the crack team has decided that it wants to bask in shitloads of money and what better way to do that than to get into the business of education.

Come summer of 2012 we here are starting Educational Solutions™. Yes, a one stop marketplace for school districts nationwide for all their educational needs. How, what is the plan you might ask. Well, sit back, get a glass of milk and some Oreos and enjoy. We must add the following warning. All ideas are intellectual property owned by the crack team here at SBSB. Any attempt to circumvent will be dealt with the harshest penalty; Uncle Mike Bloomberg coming to your home and reading to your children.


Next fall Educational Solutions™ will have five pilot elementary schools here in the Bronx. All teachers at these schools will be excessed, terminated, or meet with unfortunate accidents. In their places will be college graduates, being paid $19.50 an hour by Educational Solutions™. The city will pay Educational Solutions™ $39.50 an hour for the cost of these "teachers" Think about this. No health benefits, no pension, no sick days to pay for. For a school with about 60 teachers that will be $2.8 million a year the city pays us. Think of the savings without having those pesky pensions, health benefits, and matching Social Security to pay for. Each teacher is a 1099 employee. We here at Educational Solutions stand to make a profit of $1.4 million per school just on teachers alone! Of course this will be minus the $4.55 deducted from their pay for their 30 minute lunch.

But who would work for only $19.50 an hour right out of college? Surely not Ivy League and elitist college grads. No, we wil lrecruit at SUNY Geneseo, SUNY New Paltz, Western Connecticut State, Mercy College, we want regular Joes and Janes. But you ask wouldn't such a students be terrible teachers?

Bu the genius of it all is that once we here at Educational Solutions™ get our feet solidly on the ground, no longer will we be recruiting and accepting applicants from these colleges. Instead will will scour the depths of colleges in India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and the Philippines and pay these teachers even less while we pocket the savings.

No! We here at Educational Solutions™ will write the curriculum. We will hire a staff of retired teachers living off pensions and Social Security in Florida. Yes, these retired teachers who do have a lot to still contribute, and needing something to do at Century Village between Canasta games will write the curriculum, including verbatim scripts for the teachers to use, for a dollar per page.

Each school will have one principal and one AP who are both retired administrators, again saving on costs. These principals will be in our employ so there officially won't be any double dipping.

For the custodial staff we won't even think for one moment to employ Temco. No, early each morning the principal of each school will take his pick up truck and swing by local Home Depots and pick up to five day laborers and pay each $20 a day, minus the $3.50 cent lunch provided by the school cafeteria. Of course the city will reimburse us $40 a day for each laborer.

The same selection criteria will be used for cafeteria staff.

If a teacher calls in sick, we get a sub for the same pay rate. If the teacher is not doing his her her job, we have no contract to adhere to. The parts are interchangeable. Perhaps, and this is down the road, Educational Solutions™ can pick amongst the day laborers outside Home Depot.

And overhead? There will be no overhead at Educational Solutions™. Our mailing address will be the local UPS store, all we need is a cell phone and a modem. We save the DOE money, we rake in the profits, the kids get screwed. It's a win, win, who gives a sh** solution.

Is Satan In Uncle Mike's Deal?

I bet you been wondering what was taking me so long to share my two cents about there being no layoffs for the upcoming school year.

I never thought it was going to happen. Uncle Mike had too much to lose. However,  I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard about the news Friday night. I was so excited I interupted myself from watching WWE Smackdown.

The first thing I did was contact a very good friend of mine who is a 3rd year teacher. This friend of mine, unlike the other 3rd year teachers we consistently hear whining, actually has a life. First, he is in teaching for the long haul, or at least until he hits Powerball or Mega Millions. Secondly, he has three wonderful sons, a loving wife, and bills to pay. At no time did he turn traitorous. Yes, he was anxious about the fact that he might be laid off. But like a patient visiting the proctologist, he would have taken being laid off like the man that he is. Not like some whiny, little elitist.

But what to make of the agreement? What did we give up? And what have we, as teachers (of course this discounts anyone associated with E4E), and a union learned?

The first thing we gave up is a suspension of sabbaticals for the 2012-2013 school year. When you look at it on the surface one can come to the conclusion that it is no big deal. And in and of itself it isn't. But, we did to remember, one of the things that has always made the air on Uncle Mike's neck stand erect, and also his apprentice Joel Klein, are sabbaticals.

Why am I somewhat cynical about this? I can just see at contract negotiations, or worse with PERB, or if we go to arbitration, that the attitude will be, "Hey you guys have already put sabbaticals on the table, it's no big deal, say goodbye to it." I hope I am wrong, but I think this will happen. However, suspending sabbaticals is a small price to pay, and something I am willing to sacrifice, to prevent 4,100 teachers from being laid off.

No about the plight of the ATR's. The agreement that was made will allow ATR's to be used as day to day subs (substitutes) in schools of their district. This of course will save the city $150 per day on using outside subs. Now, I read somewhere that these ATR's will not be assigned as day to days for longer than a week at a time. What has my curiosity up are several things. One, what if there are more ATR's in a district than openings for day to days? How will ATR's be assigned? How will the powers that be know at the beginning of the week where subs will be needed? What of ATR's that are in assigned to a school already, doing a great job, and now will they have to go into this day to day pool?

But one question has been on the tip of my brain. Now that ATR's will be doing the work of day to days, will this give the DOE the opening it needs to then allow, or condone, new hires, or to encourage principals to look outside the ATR pool to fill vacancies?

There are many questions that need to be answered. Right now all we can see is the rock. We need to lift up the rock and see what actually lies beneath. What I brought up should be addressed and asked of the UFT leadership. Don't get me wrong, I am delighted that we have saved teachers jobs. But, I want to know more. Everyone should want to know more.

And by more, I  mean do we have to do this dance again a year from now?

IMPORTANT. A MUST READ!

Please read this.

There is emotional pain. Bad. Two months ago I was left in shock by what was said to me. I could never have imagined that in my wildest dreams. Of course I was angry. Who wouldn't be? I did not deserve that, especially over a photograph. 

There was a reach out about a urgent surgery on nerves in arm and hand and a growth that was on the elbow. Silence. 

Muted, but not blocked on black. Nothing. Bupkus. 

If there is reciprocal anger, it should be shared. As well as why.

Don't think for a moment that I would do what was threatened towards me. I never have. I never will.

I want to get past the anger.

Black will be available the rest of the day. Please.

This coming Tuesday night, June 21 yet another historic show. 

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2011/06/22/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher

 

The ubiquitous Mona Davids of http://www.ourschoolsnyc.org/, http://www.nycparentsunion.org/, and http://nycharterparents.ning.com/ sqaures off vs Peter Murphy, Director of Policy and Communications for the New York Charter Schools Association, http://nycsa.org/ .

The topic the NAACP and UFT lawsuit against the NYC DOE on the co-location of charter school. Mona and her organization NYC Parents Union have joined forces and filed a lawsuit as well vs the NYC DOE. This surely will make for great radio.



The call in # 917 932 8721

Time Travel With Ruben Brosbe

Over at Gotham Schools, Educators4Excellence Blog Monkey™ Ruben Brosbe is at it again. This time he is whining and kvetching about his evaluations or observations, or other piddling stuff. But, he said two things that did grab my attention.

He shares with us his work as a policy wonk and explaining that traitorous views are all as an advocate to for the greater good;

The work I did as a member of Educators 4 Excellence’s teacher evaluation policy team was an effort to advocate for such a system.

And next, he shares his pride, his joy, his crowning achievement in life;

The student surveys, which will only work if they are creating in a way that is meaningful and authentic for children of all ages from kindergarten to 12th grade, are my favorite suggestion, however.

Yes, Ruben having Kindergarten students evaluate their teachers is such a no brainer. The problem behind this, and all student evaluation is that in the E4E manifesto, there is no there there. How will the students, and in particular the wee ones, actually evaluate their teachers?

The crack team here at SBSB took the first step to attempting to have a student evaluate their teacher when we chose Ruben to be a subject of such an evaluation and a student to share their thoughts on Ruben. But what to do about Kindergarten? This is the one grade at which we here at SBSB have the most consternation with in evaluating their own teachers.

Should K students draw a picture, which can be open to interpretation? Should K students write a sentence? Fill out a form? None of these options seemed feasible to the crack team.

After many a night wracking out brains we came up with a solution. A sort of "exit interview" with K students put forth by a disinterested outside party. But something like this should be tested before it becomes official? What to do?

We decided to yet again use Ruben Brosbe as our guinea pig. Yes, you are correct. Ruben is a 3rd grade teacher. We found a way around that. The crack team decided to interview Ruben as a Kindergarten student. For this we needed a way to go back in time to 1990. But first we needed a way to go back.

The crack team decided to use the slingshot theory most memorably seen in "Star Trek IV The Voyage Home." Crack team member Hank volunteered to go since he was the only one that had no family nor ties to 2011. We also debated whether or not Hank, after finishing the interview with 6 year old Ruben Brosbe, should kidnap Ruben and send him back to 17th century America. But, unfortunately one can;t change time. Mr Spock said that once and I believe him.

It seemed to have taken all of 5 minutes for Hank to go to 1990, interview Ruben and report back here. Here now is the transcript of the Kindergarten exit interview that Hank did with Ruben.

Do you like your teacher?

Yes.

Why?

Yes.

No, why do like your teacher?

She is my teacher.

Did you learn anything special from her?

I poop my pants.

You poop your pants?

No.

OK Ruben, please concentrate. What did you learn from your teacher.

Read.

OK, what did you read?

Books.

What kind of books did you like?

Books. I poop my pants.

Did you learn letters?

Yes.

Which letters?

My ABC song

What else did you like in Kindergarten?

Snack time, nap time, I pooped my pants.

Is there anything about your teacher you did not like?

One time...once...I...I....my teacher did....she had Corey........be line leader and I wanted......she didn't let me be line leader.

Thank you Ruben.

Bye. I pooped my pants.

And there you have it. Hank came back safe and sound and with a $5,000 check for the interview. He told the principal at Ruben's elementary school he was an outside consultant hired in a no bid process to conduct this exit interview. Hank is sharp!

Deserved Salutes To Uncle Mike Bloomberg And The 61% NYC Graduation Rate!

Today, Uncle Mike Bloomberg proudly announced that graduation rates for 4 year students are now up to 61% percent. We here at SBSB applaud Uncle Mike and his minions at Tweed for the ability to misinterpret numbers and skew the truth to make them look good. Bravo!

Unfortunately, as with anything Uncle Mike announces reality is always hovering nearby. As Gotham Schools reported today; 

...today’s data also draw attention to the fact that many city students are making it to graduation despite weak academic skills. According to a new measure the state adopted this year, just 21 percent of students who entered city high schools in 2006 were ready for college four years later.

With all the credit recovery schemes, quotas and whatnot going on just how "real" is this 4 year graduation rate and why isn't the city concerned that only 1 in 5 students are ready for the rigorous course and academic demands of college?

The crack team here at SBSB went scouring the city's graduation factories, whoops, high schools mentioned in the Gotham Schools article for a student that graduated within 4 years. After an exhaustive search and promises of  month's supply of White Castles we came across a student that was willing to share about his feelings of falling in the 61%. For reasons that are obvious, this student wishes to remain anonymous. Here now is SBSB's guest blogger, Student X.

      High. i wont to thank Bronx Teecher for inviting mee hear to writ abowt how I feeel about graduationg within 4 years. this is nowt by fist time wrriting on a blog. I have done this onece other time.SO this is my 5th time wrighting on a blog.

       I think my graduatioing of high school is grate. It is like the time that Germans bombed Perl Harbour. Know wone expected it to happen. Sertainly not PAul Revere who had no time to warn that the Germans weere cumming. Btt not like the Germanss I don;t want go to a Yanke game and see A-ROd play. I think A Rod is goodd. but I think if he was German, it he would not be that good.


       My principla is nice. I diddn't show up for classs for three monthss. I didn;t want to not pass the semester. So he told me to do a report of 3 paragraphs on a AmerIcan that made a difffrence.


        I rote about MIRANDA COSGROVE. The differnce she maaid is that on one show she was a sister to Drake and Josh. On anotther show she wasn;t a sister to them and she was ICARLY.


         i passed tht and gott a good graide on that i feeled good that I wass aible to do that becase it made me felt good.

       So I woild like to sai thank you to the Mayor for
        hellping to me to graduating.

There you have it. Proof that Uncle Mike does not see student graduation rates as just a number, that he truly cares about students.

Next South Bronx School Internet Radio Cast

This coming Tuesday night, June 14 at 9 PM EDT. One of the most egregious cases of Teacher Abuse ever!  call in # 917 932 8721
 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2011/06/15/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher


My guest works in a District 26 MS. She has been with the DOE for 12 years. Her current principal hired her at his school.  She went back into the classroom signed a grievance, got a U rated lesson. She then became chapter leader and never got anything but U ratings.She is now facing termination charges for incompetence based on 3 years of observations that are poorly written fiction. There has to be someone to look into all of the authority that principals are being given.  The evil villains are being trained en mass at the Leadership Academy and then are continuing to be empowered by the Teacher Performance Unit (TPU).A good teacher removed and subject to this humiliation while the DOE pays an "attorney", to write up formalized papers  Her finger prints are flagged, so that all chance of extra income, tutoring, camp counselor, is lost. She has lost so many employment opportunities due to this man's vendetta.  Some attention needs to be paid to the smoke and mirrors of Last In First Out as that whole argument just allows the DOE to prosecute tenured teachers and have them removed. If we examined this issue more closely, we would see that this same principal has brought these charges on 3 teachers in less than 6 months, all of whom earn at least $76,000. In essence if this attack is successful and this principal does in fact win all of the cases he will have managed to cut $250,000.00 from his budget. 

Enroll In Teach For America And Become A Teacher In 50 Hours!!

I came thisclose to not writing about what I am going to write about tonight. In my ADD state of mind tonight I procrastinated quite profusely before I started to actually type these words that you, John and Jane Q. Public are reading right now. For some reason I went over to E4E's official Blog Monkey™ Ruben Brosbe's blog and was just about to comment on the drivel and the self serving tripe written by him today. But I shant be. If someone else cares to tackle this go for it. Just remember I get a royalty for "Blog Monkey™"

Wendy Kopp and Wilbur

So what has been on my mind? Teach For America has been on my mind ever since I interviewed the erstwhile, and debonair, David Green on my radio show on March 31. On this show, and I probably knew it beforehand, I learned, and was sickened that TFA candidates only had 50, yes 50 hours of training before they were sent into the classrooms in September. Yes, I know, they have this pinko, hippie, liberal, love one another, kumbaya, liberal love ins before, during, and after their training. But still, only 50 hours of training? Two hours a day, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks? This is what we want for our most precious commodities, our children?

If your heart was clogged up from all the grease and fat you have been eating for all those years and needed quadruple bypass surgery, would you feel confidant in the procedure knowing that your surgeon has only had only 50 hours of training in medicine and cardio bypass surgery?

Would anyone feel comfortable  when they get in a 747 to fly halfway around the world knowing that their pilot has only had only 50 hours of training?

How about that cop you need to protect you, or to investigate a crime? Would you or anyone feel safe knowing that that cop only 50 hours of training?

Would the Beatles be the Beatles if they only played a total of 50 hours in Hamburg?

Would parents feel comfortable knowing that the mohel they hired only had 50 hours of training before he clips and snips little Shlomo?

Would a Yankees fan want a pitcher on the mound with the scored tied in the 9th with the bases loaded, two out, and the 7th game of the World Series if this pitcher only had 50 hours in the minor leagues?

A firefighter with only 50 hours of training is this someone that you want to have save your life?

Who would hire a school bus driver if he, or she has only been driving a total of 50 hours in their lives?

Would citizens of the United States be content with soldiers and officers with only 50 hours of training?

Would citizens of the United States be content with a President with only 50 hours of training? Wait, cancel that.

Would citizens of the United Federation of Planets be content with a starship captain with only 50 hours of training?

Was Yoda satisfied with Luke Skywalker and his less than 50 hours of training? Luke was an anomaly. Besides, he had Obi-Wan beside him the entire time.

How would we feel seeing a big rig on the interstate knowing that the driver has only 50 hours of training behind the wheel?

I know everyone's answer to these questions. No one would accept any of these situations. So why is it some have no problem with putting our children, our future in the hands of those with only 50 hours of training? You know why? Because the deformers, the politicians, the billionaires are doing everything they can to destroy the nobility of teaching. To them, teaching is nothing more that flipping burgers.

E4E Presents The George Burns & Grace Snodgrass Comedy Hour

In the last week or so we have been subjected to the latest Educators4Excellence manifesto. This time it is on teacher evaluation. Sure enough, the New York Post, Gotham Schools, and the official propaganda arm of the NYC DOE and E4E, FAUX News, all gave credence to teacher evaluation manifesto. Yes, they surely line their ducks all up in a row.

But we have forgotten the Huffington Post where this past Tuesday, June 7, E4E Minister of Propaganda, Grace Snotgrass, er I meant, Snoodgrass, nope, Snodass, nope, one more try, Snootass, OK!!! I will really get it right this time. Grace Smokesgrass. Oh, come on brain! GRACE SNODGRASS spewed forth with her .02, from a $1.19 thought process somehow trying to sell the E4E manifesto to one and all.

In the coming weeks I, along with thousands of my colleagues around New York City, will receive my annual teacher evaluation report. 

Yeppers, it is this time of the year. I am sure that the thousands of dollars that you have received by failed teacher Michelle Rhee and failed software developer Bill Gates has been spent wisely leading you to this conclusion.

After a year of pouring endless hours of hard work, creativity, energy and enthusiasm into moving my students forward, my annual performance evaluation will simply say "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory." So that's that.

Yeah, that is that. However, if you did receive an unsatisfactory, there should be by law, contract, and morally paperwork to back it up.

Really, this binary evaluation tells me almost nothing about my performance this year. 

Binary? You want your evaluation in binary code. Well here you go, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1. How dat? Actually that is from the Rush song, The Body Electric off of 1984's album Grace Under Pressure. Light a joint Grace, and get high listening to that album. What's that? You meant binary as in the two star system that Tatooine is part of? No you say? Oh, wait. You mean something in twos. Like unsatisfactory or satisfactory. Why didn't you say so? I think "two part" would have been sufficient. We don't all need to show how smart we think we are, right Grace?


There will be little color, context and commentary to frame the job I've done with my students.

I am sure if you asked nicely your principal would have been more than happy to have color coded your evaluation.

There will be little analysis of my teaching style, my lesson plans or my instructional approach.

Shouldn't this be ongoing throughout the year? Shouldn't you be meeting with your supervisors to deduce this? If not them coming to you, surely you can make appointments to see them. Why haven't you? Grace, are you gaming the system?

Once my evaluation's been given, I'll still be asking -- were my support charts accessible and helpful? Did my students' writing meet rigorous enough standards? Were my guided reading questioned designed to best push my students' thinking? 

Simple Grace. Make an appointment. By the way, what is it with all you elitists needing constant evaluation? Can't you self evaluate? Surely Eli Manning doesn't go up to Tom Coughlin and ask for constant feedback, constant evaluation. What do you do with Ruben the next morning? You say, "eh, it was OK," and you move on. Do you give him a flow chart on his performance? Of course not!

The evaluations we receive today give us almost no analysis of our impact (good or bad) on student learning and development. Nor do they help us develop our skills to become more effective educators and better mentors for our students.

If your administrators were doing there jobs you would have your wish. Your evaluation, your effectiveness should be constant. It should come in the form of informal observations, which contrary to popular belief can happen whenever they want. It should happen in settings as informal as passing in the hall, at professional development meetings, at grade meetings, faculty meetings, etc...

That's why last year I joined Educators 4 Excellence (E4E), a group of teachers contributing their voices to the policy decisions made at the 10,000-foot level -- a level that all too often forgets to include actual teachers and students. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The 10,000 foot level. Blah, blah. Funny how you and your kind whine about the lack of voices and accountability from on high when your own organization, nor the organizations E4E is affiliated with doesn't allow any dissent, or you must sign a loyalty oath. 

First and foremost, it acknowledges that students deserve classroom teachers who are mindful of their own strengths and weaknesses so that they can continually improve their instruction.

I can guarantee you that teachers know their strengths and weaknesses. In fact, I am sure the vast, vast majority of teachers want feedback on their weaknesses. However, in my opinion in this climate if a teacher actually admits they have a weakness they wish to improve upon it will set them up as a target.

we call for a balanced combination of multiple classroom observations (from both administrator and independent observers) and student achievement data.

OK, how do you assure that the administrators will  be objective. Is their any punishment in your manifesto which will punish such administrators? As far as these "independent" observers this seems like one of two things. One, just one more layer of bureaucratic, overpaid crap, or two, more money going to outside contractors. Can't you hear it now? What's that sound? People rushing to start an independent observer of teacher business in which pals of the DOE and Uncle Mike will be awarded untold millions in no-bid contracts. As far as your student achievement data thing, I am no longer going down this road. Road apples to that.

In addition, we recommend that student surveys


OK. So what do we do with K? The students draw a picture?

and the contributions teachers make to their school communities count towards the final rating.

And this means??? Staying late? What happens if a divorced parent of three has to pick their children up everyday from school? What about a teacher that coaches sports all three seasons? What about a teacher that goes to class three times a week? What is the barometer for contributions to the school community?

Finally, we stress the importance of using district-wide rubrics in teacher evaluations to establish a model for effective teaching that extends to all teachers and students in the city.

So a diverse district like District 10, in which you have school that are in areas with abject poverty, and schools that are in some of the swankiest, richest enclaves of NYC will have the same rubric? Surely Grace, you jest.

The teacher's union and the policy-makers at the DOE will likely have to make compromises as they negotiate a new evaluation system.

The UFT has made too many compromises. It is time now for Uncle Mike to compromise. Sorry Gracie.

Grace, you are not in the real world. You are an elitist, from an elite college, from an elite life. Live life in the real world. Get your hands dirty. Juggle more things in life rather than which bars you will hit on a weekend. The man in the booth behind the E4E curtain is slowly being exposed. Time to jump ship. The rat ship is sinking.

Next South Bronx School Internet Radio Cast

  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2011/06/08/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher

Call in # 917 932 8721


Yes, after a two week hiatus I am back with an all new episode.
This Tuesday, June 7 at 9 PM EDT I will interview Karen Horwitz, author of the book White Chalk Crime (http://whitechalkcrime.com/)(http://www.amazon.com/White-Chalk-Crime-destroyed-cleansing/dp/1419694073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307244471&sr=8-1) owner and writer of the Internet website, National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse (http://endteacherabuse.org/), and blogger at White Chalk Crime blog (http://www.whitechalkcrime.com/Blogs/)

The Two Faces Of Barbara Gsovski Of E4E

I noticed a lot of familiar names attached to the teacher evaluation manifesto that E4E put out the other day. Of course, E4E blog monkey™ Ruben Brosbe was amongst those names. But one name  did raise the eyebrows, in a Spock like way, of the crack team here at SBSB. Barbara Gsovski. We wondered here at SBSB, just who is this Barbara Gsovski?

According to the Viva Project, which Ms Gsovski is part of...

Barbara began her forty years career in education in a northeast Washington, D.C public school as the third 2nd grade teacher of that class mid-year. She worked as an early childhood teacher in private settings (NYC and Brooklyn), for the next 20 years. She now serves as a remediation specialist at the Northside Center for Child Development.

So if we look at her Linkedin page, Barbara who graduated from the elite George Washington Universitty in 1971 taught, at the crack team's estimation for four years in a public school setting. For twenty years hence, Barbara worked in private school settings. Surely, these settings did not have the curse of overcrowding in their classrooms.

In 1996 Barbara went to go work at yet another private instituiton, the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Day School as a resource teacher, and since 2008 has been in the employ of the Northside Center for Child Development as a remediation specialist. While we applaud her for working at MAPD, surely the issues she faced in such an exclusive setting on the Upper East Side has disallowed her from seeing things as they truly are, especially with a tuition of $16,750 a year.

But this is not what is truly bugging us abut Ms Gsovski. Rather it is questionable ethics as a landlord which has raised the ire of the crack team here at SBSB.

According to the New York Times of April 25, 2008 a young couple expecting a baby, and with a child in tow in 2007 wished to rent an apartment in Park Slope. The couple passed the credit test, but were denied rental of the apartment. Why? Because they had children. The landlord of the apartment? None other than Barbara Gsovski. But when separate undercover teams were sent to speak to the broker, one with kids, the other without, the team without the kids were able to rent the apartment.

What was Ms Gsovski's involvement in all this? Ms Gsovski in the Times said, "had problems with previous tenants with children," and went on to say that, “I have two young children myself.”

We find it curious that Ms Gsovski in 2008, when she was approximately 63 years old, was the proud parent of small children. All the more curious because Ms Gsovski served on the PA at Stuyvesant High School in the 2003-2004 school year. Surely, overcrowding is not a problem at Stuyvesant. Is it?

This makes one question the ethics and the wisdom of Ms Gsovski. Surely the organization she is with now claims on its web page that its mission that it;

fosters the healthy development of children and families and seeks to empower them to respond constructively to negative societal factors including racism and its related consequences.

Yet, Ms Gsovski has no problem living the spirit of this statement by discriminating against a young couple with children. Is this truly how she feels about children? According to NYC tenant's rights;

Landlords may not refuse to rent to, renew the lease of, or otherwise discriminate against, any person or group of persons because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, marital status or familial status.

 But more to the point. Here we have a person that has not taught in the public sector, has taught in exclusive private settings for over 35 years, and she is sitting in judgement of teachers, of the profession? Oh yeah, there is that pesky Ph.D. that Ms Gsovski has. Rah-rah. That and a pack of Newports ain't going to help when reality comes knocking on the door.

But it seems that Ms Gsovski is an opportunist that creates reality as it will fit her world. That she will twist and turn things to her own perception of how things shall be, and what she wants them to be. It is one thing to not have ever walked the walk and to decide what is best for others. I mean, I was once a good Stratego player. Should I be advising generals at the Pentagon how to fight a war? Certainly not!

But to discriminate. To purposely lie and create a falsehood is reprehensible. What we as teachers do is to teach students to accept each and every person for what they are. Ms Gsovski went completely against what we as teachers try to teach, to set an example of every day, but she did far worse. Ms Gsovski has done damage to the entire peoples not only of NYC, but of the United States of America. We are a great country. I am quite saddened to know that discrimination still lives in my world.

Evan Stone Should Reaffirm His Relationship With His Roots

 Abraham protested God's seeming indifference to the destruction of innocents in Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses protested the Pharaoh's treatment of Jews, unleashed Ten Plagues on Egypt, and led the Jews to the Promised Land. Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other of the prophets protested the backsliding of kings and fellow Jews, railed at their failures to properly honor Yahweh, and demanded that Jews dedicate themselves to righteousness and justice. Educators4Excellence and Evan Stone turn their backs on these values.

I'm probably going to catch a lot of flak for the title of this posting as well as its content. But, what the heck. I don't care. I speak my mind, call it as I see it, and need to be true to myself. But I truly do think that Evan Stone of Educators4Excellenceis is lacking, or has forgotten his spirituality.

Now part of it I can understand. Unlike my Jewish peers (whom I work with, socialize with, and grew up with), Evan is several generations removed from when Jews were immigrants to this country, thought of as second class citizens, in the US and the world, and at no time ever heard of having to pick yourself up by your bootstraps.

All four of my grandparents were immigrants. My maternal grandmother lost family in the Łódź ghetto in 1941. My maternal grandfather was a sign painter, my paternal grandfather was at best a fanagler who in his spare time made slivowitz in my great grandfather's bathtub.

Both my parents were first generation Americans. They lived and grew up in the South Bronx. They never were poor, but they were never rich. They were taken care of, my mother went to Taft High School, my father went to DeWitt Clinton High School. They both graduated from the Jewish Harvard, City College. Eventually they met, married, and moved to the suburbs.

But, they never forgot their roots. They never forgot from whence they came. My father's father not only was he a fanagler, but was quite involved with the remnants of Tammany Hall. He was a precinct captain for the Democrats in the Bronx, and every day worked hard for his family. So did my mother's father. He had his own sign painting business as well as being an artist and musician. Both men do what it meant to struggle, to not know where the next check was coming, to roll up the sleeves and to work hard.

Unfortunately, this has been lost on Evan. Yes, Evan can deny it all it wants, but he was raised and still is a child of privilege. I will bet anything that there is not a spec of callous on Evan's hands, that his hands are as soft as a baby's bottom. Hey, this is not Evan's fault. He was raised, that the little man, the working man means nothing. That his lot stands with the big money, that he should hitch his ride to the corporatists of this country. That the corporations  are the ones who produce the wealth, but not the backs of the men and women in this country who toil for these corporatists.

Sadder still is the grand history in this country of Jews leading the labor movement in this country. When we look back one hundred years ago and see not only the Jewish women who were sacrificed at at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, but all the Jewish labor leaders of the early 20th century. Baruch Charney Vladeck, Harry Simms, Samuel Gompers, Rose Schneiderman, Clara Lemlich, Morris Hillquist among dozens. Let us not forget, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman who lost their lives in 1964 so others can vote. This is what being a Jew is about. This is what being a Jew is slowly being forgotten.

Evan, in my opinion, sees his Judaism in his rear view mirror. Close enough to be seen, but far enough away to not let it affect his so called values that he has now.

This is why the E4E meeting the other night was a shanda. Evan, what God sees as right, is not happening with E4E. Your path is away from God, away from the teachings of the Talmud. Think Evan. Is God happy with the path you have chosen? Is what you're doing the Jewish way? But it is not too late Evan.

There is still time for you to turn it around, to embrace God, to re-establish your relationship with God. How? Well, that is up to Evan. My father at one time implored me to go live on a kibbutz. Perhaps this will be Evan's path. But that might be a little to radical.

Get in touch with your roots Evan, embrace your roots, take pride in your roots. Start by going to the Israel Day parade tomorrow. Go to shul, wear a tallis, wear the tefillin.

You are too mixed up with the money grabbers and power brokers. You, as a Jew are better than this. You as a Jew should know more than these people. You as a Jew should not be controlled, nor manipulated by anyone. Take the disaster of Thursday night, look within and outside yourself. What is missing? Your relationship with God, and your relationship with your people.

לעמוד עם אלוהים והוא לעולם לא אעזוב אותך

The Evaluation Of Ruben Brosbe

Yesterday, Educators4Excellencehad its debutante ball. This was Evan Stone's big coming out party, and from what was reported it didn't turn out to well. E4E apparently wrote a paper on how teachers should be evaluated. I guess after their loss at trying to end seniority rights they needed something to keep themselves occupied.

The crack team perused the paper with a fine tooth comb saw that E4E blog monkey™, Ruben Brosbe,a was on the policy team that authored the paper. We had to send one member of the crack staff to the ER for his spleen had burst  from laughing so hard. We hear at SBSB send along our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to Bob.

One thing did catch the crack team's eye. It is Bright Idea #7; "Student Survey Data." Basically, the crew at E4E is proposing that;

The presence of effective teachers and supportive classroom environments can be determined, in part, by the perceptions of the students that interact with them, and student survey data should be included in evaluations.

We here at SBSB could not agree more. What better way, even if it is 10% of the evaluation, to have the students that we deal with everyday to grade us. But, there must be some kind of experiment, some teacher to be the guinea pig to see if this can truly work.

We decided that guinea pig was to be none other than Ruben Brosbe, Who better? It was time for us to put his money where his mouth is. The crack team put word out through intermediaries to the families and students. What kind of evaluation would they give Ruben? We immediately got a 100% response. But one student's evaluation of Ruben really got us, really was thought provoking about Ruben. Here now, exclusive to SBSB is a student's evaluation of Ruben Brosbe.



Mr Brosbe is OK, but. He always seems to talk about himself. He always tells us how rich he is, how is mommy and daddy give him lots of money all the time. 


Mr Brosbe has no classroom management. We are always the worst class walking through the halls. the worst class in the cafeteria.


We really haven't learned much. We have learned what it is like to be a rich, spoiled white liberal.


Sometimes we talk about Mr Brosbe in Spanish. We make fun of him. Behind his back. Good thing he doesn't speak Spanish!


We want to learn, but Mr Brosbe keeps us from learning. All it is in the class is about the test. He tells us if we fail it would make him look bad. We don't like that.


Mr Brosbe talks to us like we are idots. He is very condescending and patronizing. he thinks because we are poor and Hispanic that he thinks we are better than us. Mommy says that Mr Brosbe is a culo.

Hopefully next year in 4th grade we will learn. Hopefully next year in 4th grade we will have a teacher that cares about us, and not a teacher that is self centered and self absorbed.


Well, there you have it. Deduct 10% from Ruben's evaluation.