Whitey White World of Gotham Schools

Earlier this week, Educators4Excellence Blog Monkey™, Ruben Brosbe announced to the world what had been known for sometime, he was denied tenure. Gotham Schools, the official online news site of the NYC DOE was the exclusive online source for Ruben's belated admission.

Now to toot our horn yet again here at SBSB, we way ahead of the curve when on July 9, 2011 we predicted that indeed, Ruben will be denied tenure. Yes, we were proud.

Of course we would want to share this with the world. So I decided to link, along with a sarcastic comment, the revelation in the comments section of Ruben's mind numbing admission. I wrote;

"Called it about Ruben two weeks ago!

http://southbronxschool.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-th-th-th-that-all-ruben.html "

OK,OK. A little snotty and self-serving, but obviously nothing against the convoluted and always changing at a whim rules of posting comment over at GS. 

But much to the chagrin of myself and the crack team, it was deleted. I immediately emailed Gotham Schools editor Elizabeth Green asking her "what's the deal?" She emailed me back;

from    Elizabeth Green egreen@gothamschools.org via openplans.org
to    So BronxSchool
date    Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 11:46 AM
subject    Re: Why Was A Comment Deleted?
mailed-by    openplans.org
hide details Jul 21 (1 day ago)
Your blog contains obscene language, and the comment included a link to your blog. I'm not going to reply any more to this thread - it's our call and that's the bottom line.
- Show quoted text -

Wow, obscene language? Gee, I know I can be blue, a little rough, and for sure sarcastic, but obscene? In April of last year I addressed another Gotham Schools diva on obscenity on this blog about what is truly obscene.  But, enough of this obscene talk.


But there is more, something that has been on my mind for sometime about Gotham Schools. NYC Educator touched on it briefly this past Tuesday. Yeah, we all wonder how Ruben Brosbe has a gig for Gotham. I have my theories, and have touched on it in the past but that is not what is bugging me.

What is bugging me, and what I notice when I look at Gotham's "Who We Are" page is what the "reporters" or aggregators are. Have you noticed yet?

They are all white, and with the exception of newcomer and only male, Geoffrey Decker, all part of the Ivy League elitist brand. How did Decker get in? Who did he know? I guess if I went to an Ivy League school instead of SUNY, I would not be called obscene by Elizabeth Green.

So why does this matter? The students, the parents, and the families of the NYC schools I would guess are 80% minority. I fathom to guess what the percentage is of minorities for teachers and administrators, but I am sure it is quite up there. But Gotham Schools does not reflect the community it is serving nor reporting on.

How can any of these aggreagators at GS report faithfully on the schools of the NYC DOE, on the inner workings of the DOE, if they have not walked in the shoes of the most important members of the school community, the families and students.

No wonder they are shills for Uncle Mike. They have no clue to what really and truly effects the life of the boys, girls, families, teachers, and administrators of color. Inside that ivory penthouse of theirs on Lafayette St, gives them all the opportunity too look down on the masses, the unwashed, those that they would never in a million years associate with, or if they dare do, to admit it.

All five of the aggregators, especially Elizabeth Green, are living in a fantasy, cloistered world, with their own convoluted, self absorbed sense of reality. Why don't they go to the people, go out there and seek the truth from the parents and the students, see what is truly happening?

Why? For one they are not really reporters. They just report and parrot what is the news. Yes, aggregators. But worse, no one at GS wants to get their hands dirty, roll up their sleeves, have to be in the nitty gritty real world of the South Bronx, or Bed Stuy. It is difficult to look down at those who do from eye level. It is better to do it from on high.

I put it to Gotham Schools to do the right thing. Hire a person that is representative of the NYC schools. Go out there and do it. Do not limit your search to Ivy League schools, go out there and scour SUNY-Oswego, SUNY-Plattsburgh, SUNY-Old Westbury. I am sure that you will find someone jut as good, if not better, than someone from Columbia.

But sadly, I doubt this will happen. Those at GS are too ensconced in their little world to let someone who is not like them into their world.