I have such a nice Sunday morning routine during the school year. After I drop my son off at Hebrew school, I pick up the Daily News, got to McDonald's and get the #1 (Egg McMuffin, hash browns and a cup of black coffee), park the car, turn on WFAN and listen to Mike Francessa prognosticate about that Sunday's NFL games. I am in heaven. Except for this morning.
As I made my way through the Daily News and wound up on the op-ed page, much to my chagrin and consternation
I saw yet another middling piece of propaganda thrust upon the public by those two little elitists at Educators4Excellence, Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris. How appropriate I thought to myself, after spitting the coffee over my windshield, that the day my son started Hebrew school for the year where he can learn the values of being a Jew, two Jews appear in the Daily News abrogating every value known to Jews. Little Evan and Princess Sydney continue to perpetuate every known stereotype that Jews are associated with.
Little Evan and Princess Sydney blabbered;
Across New York City, 76,000 public school teachers are doing their part to get the school year off to a successful start. Whether they're staying late to craft their lesson plans, phoning parents to introduce themselves or buying classroom supplies, teachers are firmly committed to doing what it takes to help their students make progress.
Thank you for acknowledging that all teachers are hard at work. However, can you be a little less condescending?
They do all this despite the fact that for the past two years, they've worked without a contract.
Yes, we have no contract. Wait, you are on our side concerning this? What a change of heart. Wait, but you two blabbered more.....
They still have no formal evaluation system to provide them consistent support to improve their performance in the classroom.
We do have a formal evaluation system, just not the formal evaluation system that you and your puppeteers wish to impose upon us. But, Little Evan and Princess Sydney there are many more reasons we do not have a contract.
They face a tenure-granting process that, while finally improving, is still rife with inconsistency and a lack of transparency. And budget cuts are asking them to do more with less.
Wait, you both sound like you are now pals of teachers. Thank you. But you both aren't. How is it improving when there are teachers through no fault of their own are denied tenure purely from edicts from superintendents, decreed by Tweed? Look what happened to E4E's official Blog Monkey™Ruben Brosbe. Here E4E took a social retard, a savant, plied him with promises and he was tossed out of PS 310. Sadly, Ruben is too inept to know that he has been had by you guys.
It's time that those in power - the mayor, the chancellor and union leaders - show teachers the same level of commitment to fixing our schools that teachers themselves display day in and day out.
Again, you are now admitting that all 76,000 teachers display hard work day in and day out. But, remember, the mayor is the one in control, not the UFT or the teachers. He has the keys to success of the schools and he continues to make sure that the schools will fail.
For starters, the Bloomberg administration and the United Federation of Teachers must get back to the bargaining table and negotiate a meaningful, multimeasure teacher evaluation system
Little Evan and Princess Sydney, there is so much more than an evaluation system to be bargained for. ATR's, pay, rights, etc... Please, why are you over simplifying the solution?
Second, tenure must become a more significant professional milestone, earned only after demonstrated success with students.
Define success. I'm waiting, in fact I will wait.
New changes to the tenure-granting process were introduced last school year. In theory, these changes were a step in the right direction. Only 58% of eligible teachers earned tenure this year, down from 94% in 2009.
New process? See what I wrote above. What is this new process?
Finally, decision-makers must help build a profession that not only attracts but also retains the most talented educators to stand in front of our classrooms.
Decision makers? You mean those that have never had any experience not only with children, but with education as well? Our profession is consistently being torn down and degraded starting with the president, Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, E4E, Little Evan Stone, Princess Sydney Morris. The list is endless. Teachers can't go a day without reading, watching, or hearing that we suck.
Nationally, more than 50% of teachers leave the classroom within their first five years.
Yep, and you two did as well.
We've heard great ideas about how to change this from educators across the city: pay raises for mentor teachers and teachers who assume administrative responsibilities while still in the classroom, incentives to teach in high-needs areas and low-performing schools and salary steps based on fair evaluations.
Yes, you have heard it, and you have heard what teachers of NYC really think of you both. How about this great idea? Stop the push for standardized tests, let teacher teach and students learn, and be rid of incompetent administrators that sow a level of fear and anxiety in their schools. Let teachers, parents, and administrators truly collaborate on education. Stop the "Gotcha!" Do those things and you'll see great changes. It'll save money as well.
At Educators 4 Excellence, an organization of more than 3,000 teachers,
Three thousand? So how many of these are NYC teachers? If all 3,000 are NYC teachers that gives E4E .03947368% of all teachers in NYC that support E4E. Now considering that I have signed up twice, many others have so how is this a movement? The E4E Facebook page shows just 1,828 friends. So even if these are all NYC teachers, which they are not, that shows a percentage of .02471053%. E4E is just a steamroller.
our teacher policy teams have proposed a comprehensive evaluation system and are currently exploring more effective tenure processes and educator rewards and incentives.
Hmm, who is on those teams? A Blog Monkey™ that was denied tenure, someone who makes cupcakes that look like her vulva, a charter school teacher that looks like Stan Laurel, and a bunch of other neophytes, dorks, and spazes that have taught no more than 5 years and led by two rich entitled children.
These proposals deserve serious consideration at the bargaining table because for too long, teachers have been treated as subjects - rather than agents - of educational change.
STOP!!!!! Stop acting like you are on the side of teachers. The jig is up. You are have been exposed. You are a phony, a creep, and a liar. You don't give a s**t about teachers, only about yourselves.
As for the proposals, I do believe that they were used properly to line bird cages and cat boxes.
this focus all too often turns into a conversation that polarizes communities and takes us further away from what is best for students.
Wonder who has polarized the "discussion?" Both of you look into your gilded mirrors.
Great teachers welcome feedback and accountability. But politicians and policy makers need to give teachers the tools and support they need to succeed.
Nice try.
Reading this op-ed piece today and writing about it just shows that E4E is shifting tactics in usurping teachers and education. Now, these two are trying to act as if they are on our side. Typical trick of the Sith.
How these two, Little Evan and Princess Sydney, are given a voice in this education debate is beyond me. There are so many more qualified people than these two, my cat for instance, that deserve the recognition. But all these people are missing what Little Evan and Princess Sydney have. The purse strings of Bill Gates and the de facto from Uncle Mike and Sock Puppet Walcott as the voice of teachers.
Have you guys EVER proposed a meaningful evaluation system of teachers? NO. You don't want to be evaluated - either subjectively (that's the idea of tenure) nor objectively (ie standardized tests), which leaves ZERO ways to evalauate teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY solutions are a) meaningful evals - okay YOU offer a method and b) School Choice - FREEDOM to parents to take their kids to whichever schools they choose. Monopolies don't work. Govt monopolies (like the school system) work even less - PROOF: That computer you're using - if there was only ONE kind of computer, and it was made by the govt, how well do you think it would work? Right, it would suck. Same for all govt services - they have no competition and there's nobody whose job depends on improving the service.
Bill Grundfest
I believe E4E realizes how marginalized they are when they became the mouthpiece of Mayor Bloomberg, Joel Klein, and his ed deformer allies.
ReplyDeleteThey are now trying, and failing, to show they really care about teachers. What a joke.
Hey Bill
ReplyDeleteI also hate the monopoly the police and fire department have. I propose setting up charters to make them more competitive. HAVE YOU EVER proposed a meaningful evaluation system for cops and fire? I also hate that monopoly known as the US army not doing so well in Afghanistan. Let's get a charter army in there. And we need to get rid of all those soldiers when they fail to win.
Why don't you work on an evaluation system for them too?
Hey Norm, did you know that Bill Grundfest is a card carrying member of the Writer's Guild of America? A monopoly if there is one! Can just any poor schmo off the street come and write for TV or movies without joining the WGA? Hell no!
ReplyDeleteI am very concerned that after the setbacks of the last seven years, people think we can go forward with developing an evaluation system for teachers. The first thing we need to do is change New York State law so that you must have at least three to five years of satisfactory teaching experience to get a license as a school administrator. Then we need to get the corporate and banking phonies out of the business of training educational leaders, and start teaching real leadership skills. The corporate crowd sent American jobs overseas and almost destroyed our economy for profit, and now the leaders they have trained are destroying schools. Just like our economy, our schools now need to be rebuilt, but the Wall Street crowd led by our billionaire Mayor has other plans for our schools.
ReplyDeleteThe best description I ever heard of Mayor Bloomberg's 'Leadership Academy' is that ambition is the only qualification and that it is an affirmative action program for kooks and cutthroats. Sounds right based on what we've been seeing.
Something I might be missing here. A group of people who don't teach anymore wants to change the rules for all the people who do teach. Is there another motive for these people? These people are motivated by money from the Gates foundation and really don't care about education. Where is the UFT when someone is undermining contract issues.Its certainly not the same union that would not tolerate this group. Wake up before its too late.
ReplyDelete1. Trying to compare charter schools with "chartering" the police/fire/army is just dumb.
ReplyDelete2. Everybody here is proving my pint - you don't want any evaluation - hey I'd like to live in PixieDust-Fairyland too - but for the sake of my kids I need to have all services evaluated - including schools and teachers.
3. NOBODY here is saying why teachers should get tenure when nobody in the real world does.
The SILENCE on these topics speaks volumes.
The Parent Trigger is coming, lead, follow or get out of the way.
Bill Grundfest
ps the writers guild does NOT grant tenure, or job security of any kind, so why don't you read something before having an opinion about it? oopsie that would require you to read.
and if it must be explained as to why comparing public education to police/fire/army, it's because those things actually work well - crime is down, fires get put out, countries get expertly invaded whether they needed to be or not... public ed? we've slipped to 17 and 24 in the world, and all you guys offer is excuses. Fire/police/army NEVER offer excuses - they just find a way to get results. I'll pause for you to write "But... and fill it in with excuses " ie: the parents don't care; teachers are NOT the most important aspect of ed so you can't blame us; teachers ARE the most important part and should be treated like that; demographics, poverty, TV, MTV - I'm exhausted from the list. The PROOF is that there are enough teachers doing great work right next to a teacher who sucks - with the same exact demographics/parent population etc. We're the parents - the ed system BELONGS TO US, not to the unions, and we are in process of showing you all exactly that. The unions made this a war, we've just begun to fight back. For our KIDS - not our jobs. And still nobody wants to suggest a method of evaluating teachers. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteBill G
As an outsider, I do see why people outside the education community don't get it. It does seem like the new state model is more acceptable, but if tests alone are not a fair measure and principals are not qualified as teachers then the system is not ready to judge teachers fairly.
ReplyDeleteThe Unions made this war. How did they do that? There is a new evaluation system that was just put into place.Why is it that in places where the union, the teachers and the parents work together none of this is going on? I worked for 45 years as a teacher and I saw some bad teachers and most if not all never lasted because I had administrators who for the most part did their jobs.
ReplyDeleteYou give the union so much credit but truthfully it is not what it used to be.
Why don't you spend some time working in a school and seeing what a day is like in the life of a teacher.Your post shows that you are a bitter person who really doesn't understand the system.You can take back the system but what exactly are you going to do with it?
Smart people are leaving in large numbers and leaving the teaching to recent graduates who can't get jobs in their chosen fields.This is what you want cheap teachers who will move in a year or two or they will get jobs in suburban districts where the system works.It doesn't work in the city because of people like you who spend your life bitter at a system you don't understand. Keep up your attacks on the teachers the evaluation system but you will never get to the root of the problem. Its people like you who constantly point fingers in the wrong place.
Wake up, there is a new evaluation system lets see if this solves the problem.
You know the answer it will not do a thing.
Your a writer try teaching a class where most of the students can't write. Try it and then have an administrator come in and tell you its your fault that they can't write. What now? Does that solve the problem or just make it worse?
Sure the union the teachers the parents, society, the school all are part of the problem but what is the answer. It certainly isn't the evaluations.
Hey Bill
ReplyDeleteYour using your ability to write to bully this group. The parent trigger your kidding. Get out of the way my god get a life! A war and that's your words.
It's about kids and learning it's not about a very bitter person who has no idea what's really going on. It's a very imperfect system that needs constant review to make it work better. Your approach only does much more harm then good.
You want a war, all we want is to do our jobs and produce productive people with a fair system of evaluations
Writers don't get tenure? Have you watched Sat Nite Live over the last 20 years? Maybe it's not tenure but dirty pictures of someone. Didn't Grunfest used to be funny? How pathetic he is reduced to writing comments on this blog.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe that there is any kind of debate on the validity of Morris and Stone of E4E-they are two people who have together taught a total of LESS THAN SIX YEARS!! They somehow have morphed themselves into being a voice for Ed Reform-Are we all blind?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteThats whats important and not some writer with a hidden agenda. They are shills for Gates and Klein and its all about the money.
ReplyDeleteStand up comedian and writing instructor.
ReplyDeleteWere you ever evaluated in your teaching classes?
My quess was never.
Thats why you never got tenure and thats why your so bitter and jealous and spend your day putting down the teaching profession. Shame on you.
No, I guess I have to write this in really small words so you all understand. I "never got tenure?" HAHAHAHA - There IS NO TENURE, in Hollywood there IS NO JOB SECURITY - you get fired whenever the boss wants to fire you. Period. Yes, it's true that I have been "reduced" to writing reactions to this blog - you're right - maybe I shpould do what you all want parents to do - shut up. You guys do not want parents involved - just look at the recent Connecticut AFT scandal - where the AFT acidentally posted their powerpoint on how they were manipulated the parents into thinking they had input and the goal was to do anything but. Bitter? You can't throw generation upon generation of kids on the pyre of job security and expect ANYTHING except bitterness - and there'seven more that is coming your way. YOu guys started this war, you guys refuse ANY eval, ANY reform (deform) - you are the TRUE "party of no", not the Republicans. And yes, I used to be funny, and in other places I am told I still am - but not here, not about htis not now. And PLEASE stop with the "you try teahcing and tell us how easy it is" nonsense... so what, we should just trust you guys because you're doing such a great job. Now THAT's funny.
ReplyDeleteBill Whatamidoingslumminghere Grundfest
Part Deux. And re "some writer with a hidden agenda being a shill for Gates, it's all about rhe money" that is barely coherent drivel. What's my HIDDEN agenda? It's not hidden! I want the end of tenure, objective evals, school choice - in other words I want kids to be educated effectively. Where the "hidden"? It's about "money"? Where am I making any money off this? I should be asleep right now. For YOU GUYS it's about the money. I WISH I was a shill for Gates, it probably pays delightfully.
ReplyDeleteYour Opposition,
Bill Grundfest
Your a shill for the attention it gets you. You set yourself up but it's not about the money but if you could you would work for Gates.
ReplyDeleteIt's war and that's your words. your really not funny at all just very sick and the whole thing about evaluations on your part isn't true there has always been a system in place it's just that administrators never did their jobs.
Set out some bait and the big fish bites.
Your a bully you do the same thing a third grader does when it doesn't go your way you lose it. Good job Slumfest
You must have failed gym to be so bitter about this subject.Do you have a life or is this what you want to be remembered for?
ReplyDeleteWho is the party of no? You are if you have so many things to do but you wind up here foaming at the mouth and saying things that aren't true. You have no idea about what it takes to educate effectively. Get a life!!
Bill G
ReplyDeleteYour not funny.
Your not informed
You need a checkup from the neckup
OK, here's the remedial course:
ReplyDelete1. It's "you're", not "your".
2. If you could read you'd see that I say explicitly it's not my intent to be funny ON THIS BLOG - there is nothing funny about this subject.
3. I intend to come here to speak to the horse mouth (though I fear I'm speaking to the other end of the horse - oopsie, that was almost funny... sorry)
4. If I am to be remembered for anything, then yes, being remembered for taking the fight for the central civil rights issue - education - directly to the people who are preventing it because they want to protect the jobs of the incompetent rather than the futures of my children, then I am PROUD to be remembered for that.
5. I did not "fail gym," but I did not do well in it (again, that was almost funny - mea culpa)
6. You guys are uch gutless wonders you only want to preach to the choir and only hear from people who agree with you - oooo, such couuuurrraaggee... I, however am eager to go into this lions den and tell you that you are on the wrong side of history.
7. You keep using th word "bitter" - I prefer "unbelieveably pissed off, and fighting for the kids - mine and others."
8. I still keep getting called a shill for Gates - when I point out that I make no money from this fight, and YOU GUYS DO, then you shift and it's not money but it's attention I'm after. Golly - what happened to the critical thinking you guys are supposed to teach - it would be groovy to see you USE some.
9. Yes, it's a war - that you guys started. Don't holler when the people you are misserving rise up. Arab Spring, baby!
Other than that, I think we are really starting to build a warm, fuzzy bridge here, don't you?
Bill Grundfest
Part Deux: Instead of calling me names, could SOMEbody please just explain why my positions are wrong?
ReplyDeleteYour pal,
Billy Grundfest
Ok the ass belongs to the horse so its the horse's ass. Everytime you speak it shows where your coming from. You keep speaking about the evaluations the state did it, read the newspaper.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, Grundfest, I get high when you talk dirty to us.
ReplyDeleteSo why are your positions wrong? Everything based on them is failing and where they haven't failed they will. One day when there is no public school system and the poorest people will have no choice you will quote Colonel Nicholson from Bridge on the River Quai, which apparently you did not write, and say, "What have I done?"
Ahhh Ed Notes Online...
ReplyDelete1. "WHEN the poorest children have no choice...?" They have no choice NOW - I'm the one who wants to give them choice - school choice. I'm not even saying the V word (vouchers, but that's where many other states have gone and where California will go too - and soon - if you guys don't stop killing all reform). IT's YOU GUYS who want to keep the poor from choice of school. You want them to stay enslaved to their local schools no matter how crummy they are - NOT because you'll lose jobs - you won't, we'll still need the same number of teachers - no, it's much worse than that - you want to save the jobs of THESE particular teachers. Regardless of merit. I WANT MORE TEACHERS. But good and effective ones - even - horrors - those without seniority, as I don't give a rats butt who has seniority, just who can teach best. Keep it up - VOUCHERS are next.
2. "Everything based on them [my positions] is failing?"
I'm always pelted here with arguments like "hey Mr. Hates Govt Monopolies Like The Public Ed System - would you charterize the police?" No. Because the police are effective. Crime is way down! Yet LAPD faces the exact same "demographic/esl/parents-stink" issues that UTLA does. And they used to make the same excuses UTLA still makes - hey, wadaya want from us? Poverty, demographics, ESL, parents, etc... but LAPD REFORMED - as a result of intense public bashing - the kind you guys are currently getting. Many of the cops said EXACTLY what you guys say now "hey - YOU try being a cop (teacher) for a day"... until reform massively changed the way policing is done. Poverty (and the other excuses UTLA uses) has risen yet crime is down. So no - nobody wants to find an alternative to the LAPD, because they are effective. The LAUSD and UTLA are NOT effective (for the kids... for those whose jobs UTLA protects, they are dandy).
So who is on the side of the kids here - you guys or me?
Your buddy,
Bill Grundfest
By the way, am I supposed to be upset that I did not write "Bridge...?"
Sorry if i missed spelled some words....the song have lots of ummmmm "Hard" words....so yah ..just sayin...Enjoy!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteEdwin Starr- War (Lyrics)
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again, y'all
War, huh, good God
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
Ohhh, war, I despise
Because it means destruction
Of innocent lives
War means tears
To thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
And lose their lives
I said, war, huh
Good God, y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing
But a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Ooooh, war
It's an enemy to all mankind
The point of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die
Aaaaah, war-huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it, say it, say it
War, huh, yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it's got one friend
That's the undertaker
Ooooh, war, has shattered
Many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can't give life
It can only take it away
Ooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War, whoa, Lord
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me
War, it ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War, friend only to the undertaker
Peace, love and understanding
Tell me, is there no place for them today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way
Ooooooh, war, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for?
You tell me
Say it, say it, say it, say it
War, huh
Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Stand up and shout it
Nothing
It's good for vouchers and your view of civil rights.
Ahhhhhhhhh, Grundfest,
ReplyDeleteHow noble you are in your fight for the poor children that have been oppressed by the evil teachers. I see you were once based in New York City.
I'm wondering where you were all those years from the late 60's through the late 90's when I was teaching inner city elementary school kids in Brooklyn? Never noticed you at the funerals, prison visits and yes, weddings, graduations, former students becoming teachers and other successes I saw many of my students reach.
All of a sudden you've got education religion?
But I actually do respect some of the things you say. I also fought my union for the last 40 years but in a different way trying to get them to join in the struggles to unite with parents in the community and to defend attacks on class size (dirty words to you ed deformers).
School choice? How about making every local neighborhood? Tell us about the choices the people in the white suburbs have other than their neighborhood school?
Ahhhhhh, choice - without power to control their schools - ask why charter schools which funnel so much money to charter management orgs try to stop the existence of PTAs - we had to pass a law in NY foricng them to - like white suburbans - is the lot ed deformers have reserved for people of color in the inner cities. Bill Gates - and you - will decide what's good for them. The civil rights issue of my time- what a joke!
You see, the real civil rights issue is that very battle - for community control of schools - which horrify ed deformers because they like to give all the power to one guy - a mayor who they can control.
Now if you say that the unions are against mayoral control and people controlling their own schools in big cities you would be correct and if you attacked them for that I would cheer for you.
Here in NYC we have seem the UFT aid and abet handing total control over to the mayor and I urge you to watch the upcoming battle here and watch what posiitions we Real Reformers in the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), NYCoalition of Radical Educators (NYCORE) and Teachers Unite take as we push for social justice unionism - while totally opposing the program you put forth.
You might ask why these young (except for me) socially conscious teachers, some without tenure yet, are putting themselves on the line to battle ed deform?
You might also want to see the movie we in GEM made in response to Waiting for Superman which we are calling The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, an inconvenient truth you might not want to face. But I will send you a copy if you can stand seeing parents and teachers present the case for real reform.
Ed
ReplyDeleteGREAT ANSWER and Im with you.
You make so much sense without the crazy stuff.
I was there in Brooklyn doing what you were doing at the same time.
I am for real reform and not for the destruction of a system that should undergo change.Careful change with a great deal of thought as to what it will do to the children.
Actually it's Norm. We stood up against the local school boards in the 70's despite threats to our careers and we stood up to the union - same deal. Many of us Real Reformers who oppose the ed deform agenda have creds. WE were dedicated teachers who fought for our students and their parents' rights. And nothing has changed. Except that I'm one of the only ones left from the old gen but love working with "kids" half my age doing today what we did in those years. Every one a GREAT teacher. So one has to ask themself - why are these great teachers so opposed to ed deform and fighting like hell to not only defend children but themselves from attack for doing so? Yes, tenure and LIFO gives them some protection and cover. These policies are not one eay streets to dedend lousy teachers - believe me if they had power they would not toletate bad teachers.
ReplyDeleteNorm
ReplyDeletekeep up the great work with what you are doing. The Grundfest's of this world will do what they do best COMPLAIN.
Bill you are wrong on every point and truthfully I don't want to convince you otherwise.
So do what you do best yell, scream and threaten no one is listening to you. It not like stand up comedy we don't have to listen.
Besides not being funny ITs wrong.
I think when you calculated the percentages, you forgot to multiply by 100. If 3,000 out of 76,000 NYC teachers are a part of E4E, the percentage would be closer to 4%, not .04%. Still a small percentage of teachers, and 3,000 is still a highly inflated number, but not as tiny as the percentages you reported.
ReplyDelete