Don't Mess With My Family

Rarely if ever do I talk about my personal life on these pages. Yes, I allude to certain inane and mundane things in my life, I mention my son and wife at times, and talk in generalities about having a family. Tonight I am going to get personal. How does this tie into the education debate? You shall see.

Yesterday my wife went to see her doctor. She had been battling a cold most of the week and was wheezing. The doctor explained that her blood oxygen level was quite low, she has asthmatic-bronchitis, and she must get to the ER immediately.

So we arrived at the ER and spent most of the day there. At around 5 PM she was given a CT scan of her chest and it was noticed that her lymph nodes in her lungs were showing. This was not originally considered to be a big deal especially since pneumonia was added to the list of what was ailing her. But anyway, she was admitted.

This morning when I spoke to her to informed me they have noticed a slight enlargement in her Spleen and wished to take a further CT scan. This time it showed lymph nodes on her stomach. When the radiologists report was finally sent to her attending physician the dreaded word, lymphoma was on the report.

Now already having lost my mother to ovarian cancer 29 years ago and my father to pancreatic cancer two years ago one can imagine what must be racing through my brain, let alone my wife's brain. I really don't need to go through this shit again.

But I have decided that if the worse case scenario occurs that my priorities are my wife, her health, my son, and his well being. I thought long and hard about it. In 1997 before God I took a vow to be there for my wife. In 2001 when my son was born I told him that daddy will always be there for him.

I am in a pickle. If God forbid the worst happens, wouldn't I need to take days off, leave early, come in late? Hmmm, let's see. Family or students, students or family? Hmmm. Whom shall come first in my life?

Even Bill Gates bottom bitch Little Evan Stone would say I am a no goodnick if I do not put my students first. That I will be a bad and incompetent teacher if I take many days and/or am late, even in such a circumstance as I describe.

Even in E4E's infamous white paper on teacher evaluations the brainless authors want to give
5% demerits for a lack of professionalism and/or poor attendance

The white paper also says;

Teachers are professionals: we work hard and we take our careers seriously. High standards for attendance

Yeah, I do take my career seriously. But I take my family much, much, much more seriously. Family comes first, then my God, then my morals and ethics, then friends, then my country, then my job. Sorry, that is just the way it is.

Some tool had an idea in the white paper;

If teachers are absent more than the allowed number of sick days, for example, they should lose points on the evaluation

I swear, this demerit idea won't work. Ralph Kramden once tried to have Alice on a demerit system and she told him to blow it out his fat ass.

Anyway, so seriously, what of someone in my situation? I hope, I PRAY, I am putting the cart way ahead of the horse, but I like to be prepared, know my options, know what I am dealing with.

One thing I always hear is that in the "real world" the private sector that you will be fired on the spot for poor attendance. That you just can;t take days off willy nilly.

I call bullocks! My cousin, may he rest in peace, had bile duct cancer. Not at anytime did he need to worry about his pay nor his health benefits. He worked for a law firm and not once did they ever reduce or dock his pay. In fact, he was kept on payroll the entire time of his illness. Even whene he was getting chemo treatments and could barely get out of bed for weeks. Even when he knew the end was coming.

So all I can say if the worse case happens is FU Uncle Mike, the DOE and all you Ed Deformers out there. My wife and my son will always come first.

I pray, I hope that things will be OK.

Ruben Brosbe The Opportunist In The Midst At The Harvard Graduate School Of Business

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Yes, everyone's favorite lackey, savant, sycophant, and most importantly, Blog Monkey™has just posted on Gotham Schools after an all too short 2 month hiatus. Ruben's latest blabbering is entitled "Blurred Vision," which is an excerpted or heavily edited version of his "Midterm Reflection" on his very own award winning blog (Somewhere on Ruben's blog he announced that his had been awarded some award).

Ruben seems to have had a change of heart, or did he, in this latest musings from his brain. But he starts off by saying; The question of what makes a good leader intrigues me, because I think there’s such a dire need for leadership in education right now. I certainly didn’t witness much of it at any level during my time in the classroom.

Yes, what is leadership? Certainly what we know of Ruben he has never shown leadership. A true leader leads, doesn't follow. Being E4E's official Blog Monkey™ shows that one would rather be led about on a leash rather than show independent thought.


But what about that last sentence. Ruben apparently didn't witness any true leadership whilst he was at PS 310 in the Bronx? But Ruben, have you not forgotten what you had written on January 12, 2011?

Throughout the experience, my principal was visibly involved with the process of making the day run smoothly, even helping out with lunch duty......I felt incredibly grateful to have a principal who didn't pass the buck today.

 Seems like leadership to me.

May 17, 2010.....

and I sat quietly and dutifully and listened to my principal's feedback. Once again, there seemed to be a disconnect between my impression of the lesson and my principal's.

 Seems like leadership


Ruben, you need to make up your mind which side of the fence you are on.

Ruben goes on with his inanity and whimsical bouts of inward thinking until he shocks one and all with seeming to gnawing on the hand that not only has fed him, but that has enabled him and his ilk all this many years by revealing; Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein spoke constantly about the need to close the achievement gap, lower drop-out rates, and raise graduation rates. Their approach was clearly focused on data-driven results and greater accountability for schools and teachers (not so much for themselves). But this speaks to their strategies. It did not lay out a vision, or at least not one that a communities, students, teachers, and school leaders could passionately rally behind.

Excuse me whilst the throats are cleared not only of myself and the crack team's, but all true educators in NYC. No s**t Sherlock. Is the boy savant going against those have enabled him to pad his resume for journalism school, law school, or worse, a educational leadership position? I wonder what Ruben has said about Uncle Mike and Uncle Joel in the past?


On March 2, 2011 Ruben showed his chivalrous side in defending Uncle Mike's stance in regards to LIFO;

These same advocates are criticizing Bloomberg and detractors of LIFO of trying to pit teachers against each other, young versus old.

On November 15, 2010 Ruben did all he could not to fall over himself in defending Uncle Mike's hiring of Cathie Black;

When you consider Bloomberg's underlying philosophy toward the school system and city governance in general, Cathie Black seems like a natural fit. 

The rest of the piece of Gotham is Ruben's typical self-loathing, fake self-reflection which even commenting on it is a complete waste of time.

But what I do wish to comment on is a not a theory, but rather what I feel is a fact.

Those that commented on Ruben's GS piece opined that perhaps Ruben has seen the light, that he has left the dark side and is ready to join the good. I disagree.

Rather I think that Ruben will say whatever, whenever, to whomever that will enable to Ruben to fit in to the moment, the culture, the time, the situation, the group that he wishes to have befriend him. Ruben has no real core beliefs, his only beliefs are those that he thinks others want him to have. He is a fraud, a phony, a chameleon that hides in plain sight and becomes what he thinks the background is.

 People of the Harvard Graduate School of Education beware of Ruben, or you know what? Don't beware of him, be his pal, see how low he will sink to placate you all up there in Cambridge with how fast he will agree with you and kiss your ass.

The Usual Whitney Tilson Fail

So here I am at my son's travel league baseball game this morning, when at 11:36 AM I check my email and lo and behold I see in my inbox one of Whitney Tilson's meglomanical, hyper, fictionalized, self absorbed emails.

Just to get off topic for a minute and to channel Whitney's self absorption, my son in the second game went 1 for 1, with a triple into right field, sac fly, and intentional walk. He also threw out a runner attempting to steal second. But I have digressed. I know Whitney reads this blog, I think I want him to see what men do and perhaps learn that lessons can be learned from team sports.

Anyway, as I read this email between innings, after my son moved to 3rd base, I seethed as I have never in the past at one of Whitney's rants. I walked over to another parent who happens to teach for the NYC DOE and told him to watch his email for a major rant today. Here my friend is the rant.

So Whitney blabbered, and I gave it the screen shot effect for it is not up on his blog (which according to Alexa this blog has a higher traffic rank)(please click to enlarge);

So let's break this down. Whitney blithely blabbered; I was speaking with a former TFA corps member

Wow, I did not know TFA members frequent the rest rooms of Interstate rest areas. Whilst you were talking to this TFA member Whitney were you able to look at him in the eyes? Or perhaps you saw the back of his head? 

we got to talking about the greatest barrier to improving our schools, especially those in inner cities (where he worked):

Talking? There is actually talking involved? From what I heard, it is usually a series of signals involved but you'll get the benefit of the doubt.

So it would be safely assumed that in the conversation with this young TFA member that greatest barriers that were brought up were wither poverty or class size? The crack team just mentioned to me that we will accept access to technology, access to textbooks, access to a safe environment at school, access to proper medical care, access to proper social services, access to a proper home life with loving parents, no drugs, no gangs, no alcohol as acceptable answers, but truly looking for poverty or class size. 


the lack of great teachers.

Oh dang! Wrong answer! I was expecting much a much better answer to come out of this young TFA's mouth (I am sure Whitney did too!) than that. But what answer does one expect from a young, naive, graduate from an elite college, when his back was up against the wall (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) being with Whitney?


What is this with great teachers? How is this statistically possible? What about a damn good teacher? Or a damn fine teacher? Or a teacher that is really f***ing good? The Yankees won more World Series with a good player at 3rd base than they have with a supposedly great player at 3rd base. 

What he said underscores how bad the problem is in inner-city schools:

I guess so. Not being fed properly, not having proper medical care, not being read to from an early age, being cursed at, being screamed at, being hit, etc... And of course those scourges of the inner city schools; poverty and class size mean jack.

Whitney shares the quote from his new bestest friend....97% of the teachers at schools like the one I was in need to be replaced.  Seriously.  Of the 100+ teachers at my school, excluding the TFA teachers, there were no more than three where you or I would tolerate having one of our own children in their classroom.

Oh of course the TFA teachers are wonderful. Oh of course the young elitist is correct. Why not name the school? Hell, why not at least name the grades of this school? I wonder how a classroom teacher in a school of approximately 1,000 students as the time and wherewithal to have observed all these teachers? And if these teachers were so observed by this young man how can this former TFA corps member have the knowledge to judge other teachers in his school?


This is what myself and the crack team are thinking about this anecdote Whitney has shared. It is either 1) True, and the little nebbish is a turncoat elitist. 2) Embellished, by Whitney from a some story he overheard at a Interstate rest stop, or 3) Complete fiction either conjured up by Whitney, or someone with a wicked gleam in their eye who punk'd Whitney. If is the former it shows how depraved and starved for attention Whitney is, if is the latter, than I applaud and scream brilliant! 

In fact let's see how much of a sucker Whitney truly is. Email Whitney and come up with your most outrageous work of fiction regarding teachers. Let's see if Whitney bothers to do a fact check, gets the facts straight, or embellishes. Whitney being Whitney I am sure he will create his own perception of his reality.

The challenge is on!

Eva Moskowitz Whines About Others Lack Of Ethics

Oh poor little Eva Moskowitz. I feel so sorry for her. I am sure right now she is pouting, whining, wondering why no one, except her emasculated husband Eric Grannis loves or cares for her.

Anna Phillips, since she is now in the employ of the New York Times and actually doing reporting and not aggregating, reported this past Wednesday, October 19, that Harlem Success Academy 3 has lost more than a third of its staff to resignation in the last several months. In fact, the attrition rates as reported by Anna at HSA 1 and 2 is about 19 percent since this past June.

Poor Eva, with those pouty lips, the forlorn expression on her face fired off an email informing all her minions that working and basking in her glory "is not a gig." That staff members are breaking their commitment to their schools, the families, and acting unethically.

Funny, I can swear, I can bet my life, that her former boy toy Joel Klein and her sugar daddy, Uncle Mike have done everything in their power to discourage not only one seeking out education as a career, but to do damage to those who have already decided and been in education long enough to have a career in education.

Heck, what was it that one of the disciples, the Queen of Mean of the education deform movement, Michelle Rhee said back in March about those who wish to make education a long and fruitful career?

"I worry about people going into the job with longevity as one of the goals. I’m not a big believer in longevity."

Is Eva contradicting Michelle? If so, the deformer thought police should discipline Eva post haste. I mean geez Eva, what do you think Teach For America is? It's a gig, a gig to enrich liberal white guilt and to enrich those resumes for law school. 

But this is what education has become. I like to call it the McDonaldlization of education. Not only do McDonald's and education share the one size fits all mentality but in education, like McDonald's, as an employee you are not expected to be in it for the long haul.

I can go into my local McDonald's and see 90% new faces, other than the managers, about every six months. The same is happening now, and expected, in charters. Maybe not every six months, but at least every September. McDonald's and Eva both see employees as interchangeable. There is no difference.

Why? Because this keeps salaries and benefits down. Also, by staying on too long in a "gig" such as HSA one would soon develop sentient life and see that they are being railroaded by Eva. Would Eva truly want someone on board that is able to think for themselves, a teacher that sees Eva for the evil that she is?

What has cracked me up the most about Eva's whiny email is her specious attempt to drag in the lack of ethics on the part of the teachers that resigned. Is this not the same Eva that had her love emails exposed to boy toy Joel Klein in the Daily News? Is this not the same Eva that manipulates the lotteries for her schools? Is this not the same Eva that did what she could to destroy a 5 year old boy's love for school? Is this not the same Eva that believes that only a rich, white, Jewish woman knows what is best for boy and girls of color?

I laugh at Eva Moskowitz and her cry of ethics. Everything I have read, everything I have heard of Eva Moskowitz smacks, in my opinion, of a truly unethical woman who is in education solely to enrich herself, both for financial gain and to ultimately to known as the benign plantation owner.

One curious point. Since Eva and HSA receive federal and state money, isn't HSA supposed to adhere to all federal and state labor law, such as giving its employees due process? We should all think about it.

Is Princess Sydney Morris Getting Paranoid?

So little time, so much Educators4Excellence stuff to report. Of course this is all the result of receiving a plethora of most excellent information from not only the mole that broke bread with Evan last Friday, but also the source within E4E itself that is providing juicy and timely information on the Katzenjammer twins themselves, Little Evan Stone and his main squeeze, Princess Sydney Morris.

According to our source within E4E both Little Evan and Princess Sydney count success more so in the amount of times they are on TV and in print than any legislation they help spearhead, or even whether or not they are improving the education of students. As our mole shared with the crack team during his debriefing last Friday night, "Evan just can't shut up that E4E has 3,000 members. Sounds like a broken record that is stuck on, '3,000 members, 3,000 members.' It's like he has some major Freudian shortcoming he feels he must make up for." Yes, one can assume that with Evan continuously harping on this so called 3,000 person membership that what is most important is the publicity that Little Evan and Princess Sydney receive, not the so called students first mantra they claim that they believe in.

Our source within E4E also shared that Little Evan and Princess Sydney have become more and more paranoid of late. Witness their cleansing of their website of any upcoming events on its front page. This is also apparent in E4E's new Vimeo video page in which comments have been disabled for both of E4E's videos (You will need to sign in to Vimeo to see that comments have been deleted).

Also according to the source, Princess Sydney runs E4E with an iron fist. It must be her way, or the highway. If something is not done her way, or she is contradicted she easily can turn on that person. Princess Sydney, according to the source, is having an extremely difficult time dealing with the pressure of what is being written by such blogs as mine, Accountable Talk, and Ednotes. She is unable to deal with the pressure of dissent, both from within and out of E4E.

But the most interesting news our source shared is that before opening up shop in Los Angeles, Little Evan and Princess Sydney were exploring opening up shop in Hartford CT. What changed their mind was that they did not feel that Hartford afforded them the same bang for the publicity buck as Los Angeles offered.

This is surprising. I have been to Hartford twice in my life and Los Angeles twice. Yes, Hartford is not Los Angeles, but Hartford has much bigger problems than Los Angeles and many more problems than Los Angeles.  For two people that claim that students come first, by not moving into Hartford, but instead, Los Angeles where they feel there is a bigger media market to be available to them shows who Little Evan and Princess Sydney truly choose to come first.

Educators4Excellence Hides Its Happy Hours

A very curious thing has taken place since the crack team embedded a mole this past Friday night with Educators4Excellence and their leader, Little Evan Stone. Apparently, the events links on the sidebar of the E4E website have gone blank.

I know for a fact that there were links to all their upcoming soirees on the website. Was even there this past Saturday. However, when the crack team here at SBSB was checking back at the website yesterday and today, nothing was to be found. No hide nor hair of how to spend your drinking hours with Little Evan and his merry band.

This, according to the cache obtained through Google, is how the website looked this past Friday (click to enlarge!);

But today, all we see is (click to enlarge);

What gives? The events are still on, they haven;t been cancelled. And the links to these events are still active. Happy Hours at Native, 101 W 118th St October 20th, Amsterdam Restaurant and Tapas Lounge 1207 Amsterdam Ave October 21, Swig 1629 Second Ave on November 4th. So do these happy hours officially exist, or is it like some kind of secret club now?

So the question remains, if these events are still on, if the links are still active, why are these events off the front page of the E4E website? What is E4E and Little Evan Stone trying to hide and why is he attempting to hide it?

Even more ridiculous is the fact that one seems to need to sign up for the E4E newsletter to get word of the latest events. Since the crack team and myself count for 3 of the 3,000 that have signed up with E4E word will still filter through here of the latest and most fun events hosted by E4E and Little Evan Stone.

But the sad part is the lack of transparency that E4E continues to operate in. What is it that E4E wishes to continuously hide? Why is Little Evan so afraid of dissent? Why is Little Evan so appalled by those that disagree with him? What it must be is the lack of conviction that Little Evan has in the positions he babbles about. These are not his positions, but rather the positions of the sugar daddy's that Evan has crawled into bed with. Once you have whored yourself out, there never is any turning back. Life on the street is tough.

Dwight Schrute Eats Worms

Why isn't Dwight Schrute respected? I mean, he is the assistant to the regional manager or is he the assistant regional manager at Dunder-Miffin Scranton. I have a hard time keeping up with Dwight's titles at times.

But he is an assistant, and has never been considered to become regional manager at Dunder-Miffin Scranton. Why is that?

Could it be the way Dwight talks to people? He tends to be very mean to those he works with. Look at how he has treated Jim and Pam. He has never had a nice word to say to either and when he has constantly ridiculed both of them. Dwight must think that as an assistant to the regional manager or assistant regional manager he can talk to anyone anyway he wishes. I am sure that both Jim and Pam hate his guts and truly dislike him.

Could it be the way Dwight treats people? Remember when he took Ryan on his first sales call? He really didn't. He took Ryan to Schrute's Farms and made Ryan eat the fertilizer that Dwight sprinkles on the beets. Remember how he always called Ryan "temp?" Dwight must think that as an assistant to the regional manager or assistant regional manager he can treat people anyway he wishes. I am sure Ryan hates his guts and truly dislikes him.

Could it be how Dwight manipulates people? Remember when he manipulated and cajoled Kelly to enter Sabre's minority management program? He tried to be a puppet master to Kelly, but Kelly saw the light and turned on Dwight. Manipulative people suck. Dwight must think that as an assistant to the regional manager or assistant regional manager he can manipulate people anyway he wishes. I am sure that Kelly hates his guts.

Could it be how Dwight refuses to support those that need support? Remember when his girlfriend Angela's cat was sick and Dwight was supposed to feed it and give it medicine? What did Dwight do instead? He put the cat in the freezer and let it die. Dwight must think that as an assistant to the regional manager or assistant regional manager he can not support people at any time. I am sure that Angela hates his guts. But she still boinked him.

Could it be how Dwight refuses to accept responsibility? Remember when Dwight almost set the office on fire and Stanley had a heart attack? Dunder Mifflin CFO, David Wallace had a meeting with Dwight, but Dwight couldn't understand that he was wrong and refused to take responsibility. Dwight also refused to take responsibility for Stanley's heart attack. Dwight must think that as an assistant to the regional manager or assistant regional manager he can not abdicate responsibility at any time. I am sure that David Wallace and Stanley hate his guts.

Could it be that Dwight has reached the level of his incompetence? Remember when he quit Dunder Mifflin and the only job he could find was as a sales associate at Staples? Surprised? You shouldn't. That's because that Dwight Schrute is incompetent. That is because that Dwight Schrute as being an incompetent regional manager or assistant regional manager will never find a job anywhere  else, nor be hire by anyone, outside of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton. I am sure everyone hates him.

There are too many Dwight Schrute's in the paper industry who are just too wrapped up in themselves and their self importance. There are too many incompetent, nasty, vile, disgusting people out there like Dwight who believe that there are some type of prince who think that just because they show up for work at Dunder-Mifflin Scranton they are afforded respect.

A Mole Infiltrates Little Evan Stone And Educators4Excellence

Tonight was interesting. We sent a mole, and infiltrator to drink and eat with Educators4Excellence at their soiree late this afternoon at "Howl At The Moon" bar on 189th St in the Bronx this evening. Our mole has just finished reporting back to the crack team on how it went and what happened. It was quite fascinating.

As soon as the mole arrived there were just two people representing E4E at the bar. Little Evan Stone and his new outreach director, Brian Erickson. The first thing offered to our mole was an attempt to imbibe him with alcoholic beverages in the form of two tickets for free drinks. Of course, this does make sense, better to be plastered when dealing with bullshit.

Soon enough more people came reported the mole, but they were already card carrying members of E4E. These teachers were mostly from KAPPA International High School in the former Roosevelt High School on Fordham Rd. In fact, the reason this soiree was held where it was because E4E is heavily into recruiting at that school. Of the approximately ten names on the list of new attendees, only our mole, and two young ladies appeared. The other 10 or so people there were all under the age of 30.

Brian Erickson, according to our mole, seems a nice enough young man, but quite naive. Brian, a native of St Louis taught Life Science and somehow was department chair in his second year of teaching at Bronx Career & College Preparatory High School in District 12.

As outreach director for E4E Brian's job consists of going from school to school visiting with teachers and observing their teaching. He describes it not so much as being a mentor or critiquing teachers but rather to lend them support and make sure that their voices are being heard. This seems puzzling. Why would a principal allow E4E to just pop into their school? Principals get their knickers in a twist when a UFT DL appears, how does E4E have this kind of juice?

One interesting comment that Brian made, according to the mole, was concerning Uncle Mike. Brian seems to think that Uncle Mike is not the education mayor that he makes himself out to be. That Uncle Mike has damaged education in NYC and that he should be not involved with education at all. We here at SBSB find Brian's candor refreshing, yet curious in that he has bitten the hand that enables and is the wet nurse for E4E.

Our mole initially made some small talk with Little Evan concerning the UFT and the lack of concern from the upper echelon. When the mole half-kiddingly suggested to Little Evan that E4E should run as a caucus in the 2013, Little Evan did not dismiss it, but said, "Down the road it's a possibility." Little Evan also complained that with 40% of votes in 2010 coming from retirees showing that those who vote have no stake. He also intimated to the mole a drive for teachers to get out the vote, backed by E4E in next UFT election.

Little Evan did share some interesting tidbits with our mole in a private conversation. He still claims that he started E4E on his own, not by being recruited as has been published here on September 25. He told our mole that he was unhappy not getting any feedback and not having any say within the union or within the school and therefore contacted other like members from other schools to found E4E. But besides getting funding from the Gates Foundation, Little Evan told the mole that funding comes from The Robing Hood Foundation and Carnagie.

Little Evan bemoans the fact that he was given tenure, and says he taught 4 years, instead of three. The 4th year for Little Evan as he claims was F-status 2 times a week at PS 86. A school in which he also whined that he was rarely observed. Also at PS 86, Little Evan claims that while his test scores were "good," there were not great. Wonder where Little Evan would fall in TDR?

Little Evan went through a crisis of what to do at one time. He didn't know if he wanted to stay in public education, go teach in a charter, or as he told the mole, "open up my own charter school." According to the mole, he stayed in public education because he believes in public education.

Our mole created a story of being a third year teacher at his school. This was a second career as a teacher and our mole shared with Little Evan a "story" on how 15-20 year teachers with tenure at the moles "school" don't care, are just happy with tenure. Little Evan made a face, and told our mole, "that this is what we are fighting against." Little Evan seemed to intimate that with a new tenure process, that teachers like this would no longer be in teaching. Yes, only if there were truly teachers like this.

Little Evan has grand plans for E4E according to our mole. Aside from constantly harping on the 3,000 members, he believes that once he and E4E can be an engine for change and for allowing teachers voices to be heard. He thinks there will come a day when a petition of 1,000 teachers can be presented to the DOE and this will affect the changes that are needed. Funny, why only 1,000 teachers? Surely there are 3,000 members of E4E? Why only aim for 1/3 of the membership?

Our mole shared that Little Evan has quite the upcoming ideas for E4E. The youth at E4E are preparing a white paper for principal evaluation as well as a paper on special education. Little Evan also wants to start a "teacher residency" program in which teachers are in a school assisting, being mentored 4 days a week whilst going to college at night. This, as our mole shared, bring us back to an issue with Little Evan has with teacher education. Evan believes that teachers do not receive a proper education in college, that they come into teaching, into a school unprepared. Well, shit. That's life. Funny how he whines about how a new teacher is unprepared when he, and his brethren, went to TFA's 50 hour, 5 week summer training. Hey, Little Evan, go whine this to Wendy Kopp.

Little Evan also shared with our mole that he sees E4E going into schools and given professional development using card carrying members of E4E. This is funny. A teacher who has only taught two years or so coming in to give PD? ROTFLMFAO!

Hey, it seems that any E4E event is easy to get into. Just show up and have a few drinks on Little Evan.  The crack team here at SBSB plan to continue this in the future and plan to share all what our moles have to share.

Princess Sydney Morris Calls Mall Cops On A True American

 Hey teachers of Los Angeles, here is more truth to how Educators4Excellence works.

Behind ever wingnut there is their wingnut babe.  Juan Peron had Evita, Hitler had Eva Braun, Mussolini had Clara Petacci, Ferdinand Marcos had Imleda, Napoleon had Josephine, Louis XVI had Marie Antoinette, and Little Evan Stone has his Princess Sydney Morris. Yeah, the inside source at E4E has confirmed that Little Evan and Princess Sydney are not only a couple, but just recently bought themselves an apartment. Mr Gates, have you audited the funding you have given these two?

This past Thursday night, October 6, E4E in conjunction with its propaganda arm, E4E Propagands LLC, gave a screening of American Teacher at AMC 25 in Times Square. But that is not what her imperiousness got her tizzies in tatters about.

What got her holiness, her highness, all guffawed? A 65 year old man, with a bum hand and wrist.

Norm Scott, the author of Ednotesonline and Norm's Notes decided that as an American, as a true patriot, he felt that he had the right to counter the propaganda that E4E propagates by doing nothing more than handing out leaflets to the GEM showing this coming Friday night, October 14, of the hit movie, "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." No biggie right? Yes, officially AMC 25 is privately run, yet E4E, though it claims it only receives private funds, at the very least it probably is receiving some type of public government support, so Norm was toeing a fine line. But Norm as an American, as a patriot felt it was his fiduciary duty to get the word out about his movie.

Did Sydney just leave well enough alone? No. She sicked the mall cops after Norm. Can anyone fathom this? Norm Scott, someone who hold the ideals of America in high regard, Norm Scott, a man who does all he can to uphold the Constitution each and every day of his waking hours. Norm Scott, a man who does not go through a day with out doing some sort of mitzvah. This is what our country has come to when a man like Norm is harassed to the point where he can't act like an American.

Norm wrote in his blog; 

At this point, Miss Congeniality (Princess Sydney Morris) turned ugly, clearly perturbed that people might get to know there was a Real Reform movie being shown on Oct. 14. So Sydney has security called to hassle me.

This is not the America I know, but rather the country that E4E wishes to model itself after; Mall of America. This is a sad day for America, a sad day for educators, and a sad day for all.

What is Princess Sydney afraid of? An AARP member? A 65 year old man? One of the nicest men I have ever had the pleasure of knowing? A man who if he knew you were hungry would in a second get you a brisket sandwich and a bottle of Dr Brown's Cel-Ray soda?

Why is Princess Sydney, her main squeeze, Little Evan Stone so afraid of dissent? What are they so scornful of transparency? These are some questions the teachers of Los Angeles need to ask themselves before they sign the loyalty oath, before they drink the Kool-Aid.

One more thing teachers of Los Angeles. Before you think that Little Evan and Princess Sydney are some type of education rock stars, think about this. A source close to both of these "people" at their former school, PS 86 in the Bronx shared with the crack team that Princess Sydney had no classroom management and always needed to get outside assistance to calm down her class.

There is a lot to think about.

Ama Nyamekye The New Sock Puppet Of Educators4Excellence And Little Evan Stone

Yesterday, we shared how Educators4Excellence plans to invade the schools of Los Angeles. Today the readers will learn about the new Jugendleiter for E4E Los Angeles, Ama Nyamekye.

Ama is currently, or was, the CEO Good Influence LLC, some neo-liberal think tank or other that serves its founder. In fact, Ama has had many jobs. Consultant, Program Development and Outreach at the Richard Riordan Foundation, Manager, Communications Strategy STC Associates, Consultant, Behavioral Change Campaign Urban Assembly, Educator and Program Chair New York City Department of Education, Marketing Consultant, NASA Aerospace Education Lab NASA, and Program Manager The City School. All of these positions, except her position with The City School, have been over the course of the last 4 years. It appears that Ama does not maintain a place of employment for too long. It is obvious that Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris do not care who they put in charge, but it does show the incompetency of both in whom they select.

But just who, or what, is Ama Nyamekye? Ama worked for the NYC DOE as a teacher at the Bronx Academy of Letters, in the South Bronx from 2004-2007. Just the amount of time most TFA's stick to the job. But she was not just any ordinary teacher. She was a teacher extraordinaire! According to Ama's LinkedIn page whilst at the Bronx School of Letters she;

Designed a multicultural literature curriculum that garnered a 100% student pass rate on the state English exam, with 95% of students earning a B or higher. Facilitated professional development trainings on youth leadership development and led the student enrichment program and student government association. 

Where is the pudding with the proof that this occurred Ama? I hear crickets chirping very loudly. I guess she did the same for students with grades and scores as Michelle Rhee. Surely, she must be so proud.

But who else is Ama Nyamekye? Ama is also one of the few, if not the only, person of color to be allowed to write for Gotham Schools. This past August 30, Ama wrote an amusing piece how she was for standardized testing before she was against it.

Ama starts off good.....In college, I pumped my fist at a rally against standardized testing. I’d never seen the exam I was protesting, but stood in solidarity with educators and labor organizers who felt the testing movement was an attack on teachers, particularly those working in poor public schools.

Way to go! Yet now Ama has drank the E4E Kool-Aid and her days as a leader have ended. She is nothing but a blind follower.

Ama whines; I wanted to uplift my students and resented the weight of a looming high-stakes test.
Besides, I thought good teachers should be left to their own devices. And, I was certain that I was a good teacher. For the most part, my students were punctual, respectful, and engaged. It wasn’t until my second year in the classroom that I began questioning this assumption.

What a horrible person she must have felt like a failure. But isn't this something that teachers do anyway? 

More whining.....“How do you know the kids are really getting it?” My principal urged me to develop more-rigorous assessments of student learning. Ego and uncertainty inspired me to measure the impact of my instruction. I thought I was effective, but I wanted proof.

Proof? Your principal is a hack. Your principal tows the party line. What else you think she is going to say? But ain't it ironic that you want proof, but you will not offer proof as to what you posted on LinkedIn.

The state education department oversaw testing, ensuring questions were written and vetted to be “statistically and psychometrically sound,” and published an online archive of exams, rubrics, and sample student essays. 

Which have been proven to be unreliable and too easy.

I discovered holes in my curriculum. I once dismissed standardized testing for its narrow focus on a discrete set of skills, but I learned that my self-made assignments were more problematic. It turned out they were skewed in my favor.

So unskew them yourself. Geez, why the whining and the violin playing? You control the classroom, you control what happens, you design the rubric, and you design the tests. How difficult is this? 

When I started giving ongoing standardized assessments, I noticed that my students showed steady growth in literary analysis, but less growth in grammar and punctuation. I was teaching to my strengths instead of strengthening my weaknesses.

No s**t!!!


The test also compensated for the inherently subjective act of grading. I was designing the quizzes and projects used to evaluate my students and, by extension, my instruction. My intimate knowledge of students and the bonds we forged in the classroom influenced my perception of their performance.

Face palm alert. I swear, this chick must be Ruben Brosbe in drag.


I admired the dogged work ethic of Lian, a Chinese-born student, who struggled to master English.

So Lian because he is Chinese he has that "dogged work ethic?"

The 2010 Scholastic-Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation survey of 40,000 educators nationwide found that only 27 percent felt state standardized tests were essential or very important in measuring student performance.

Why would teachers, or anyone, listen to the guy who gave us the Zune? 

I’m now convinced that these sentiments are the product of a testing movement that has become more about fear and politics than pedagogy. Teachers, I believe, are pumping their fists for the wrong reasons.

No, teachers are pumping our fists for the right reasons, to show what is being done to the students, the profession, and education. Please, you have not been talking to a 4th grader the night before the ELA exam and had to listen to the anxiety. Ama, you are a phony, you are a lackey, you are a flunky ass kissing, miserable person. How dare you make that claim about teachers when you have only been in teaching for 3 YEARS!!! How dare you make any such claim about what teachers feel and want when right now you are and have become a sock puppet for Educators4Excellence. 


It is nothing about fear, nothing about politics; it is about what is right for our students. Ama, you are too young and too clueless to understand, but high stakes testing is not about helping students, the schools, the teachers, the districts, or anyone involved. It is all about the green, the moolah, the scratch, the $$$$$$$. As long as there is money in "them thar hills," there will be testing, testing and testing. And guess what? The group you are now leading in Los Angeles are one of the biggest money whores there are. Enjoy your time there.

If anyone wants to read another take on Ama's whining check out what appeared in Edweek a few weeks back.

Princess Sydney Morris Writes An Email To Los Angeles Teachers

As reported this past Wednesday, October 5, Educators4Excellence is planning to invade Los Angeles. This Tuesday, October 11, the invasion begins. Yes, you read this right, 5 30 PM PDT at the Paul Williams Cafe at the RFK Education Center, the brainwashing, the subterfuge, the lies begin. For you Los Angeles teachers who are not aware of E4E, their founders, the methods, their lack of transparency, and of course their deceit you have come to the right place to learn all you can about E4E.

Our source deep inside E4E has been gracious enough to allow the crack team here at SBSB to see the emails that were sent out by Princess Sydney Morris to staff in the LAUSD. The lies and the untruths the crack team uncovered was plentiful and pathological. We have spent the last hour deciphering it and now for the first time anywhere publicly the email will be shared in its entirety with our comments in red and italicized within the letter. Sit back, grab a Diet Coke, and prepare to be alarmed.

You are invited to join Educators 4 Excellence L.A. for a small Dinner Discussion with President Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Education
WHERE: Robert F. Kennedy Education Complex's Paul Williams Cafe
WHEN: Tuesday October 11, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
RSVP: anyamekye@educators4excellence.org


Educators 4 Excellence began as a group of N.Y.C. teachers who wanted to change the top-down approach to policy-making, which largely alienated teachers like Little Evan Stone and me from crucial decisions that shaped our classrooms and careers. This is a bunch of road apples. Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris like to share how they were just sitting around one day, kvetching how they would like to affect change and then presto! They came up with E4E. No, the truth is fare different than their perceived reality.
--> Bill Gates through Education Reform Now and Democrats for Education Reform funded them. Click here to learn more about their funding as reported here at SBSB.

So, we started organizing with other like-minded and equally frustrated teachers. Yes, other like minded teachers as in from elite colleges, communities, Teach For America, white, and those that only had their first real interactions, other than with the hired help, with people of color.  We were from diverse schools and backgrounds, yes quite diverse, many different elite colleges, many different sizes of the trust funds but united by a common set of beliefs to strengthen the power and role of teachers in school policy. Not to strengthen, but rather to control and dictate by the powers that call the shots for E4E. Word began spreading and before long, 3,000 teachers signed our Declaration and began collaborating to lift student achievement and the teaching profession. Yes, think about it, 3,000 people have signed up. I in fact have signed up three time under three different names. Click here to see some of the other names that have signed up. But 3,000 teachers out of almost 80,000 in NYC, and I am quite sure that about 25% of those that signed up have because they need a laugh and wish to stay abreast, covertly, of E4E, they are not NYC teachers, or just friends of Little Evan and Princess Sydney. But surely one should question why one must sign a loyalty oath, much as Joe McCarthymade one sign, to come have a beer. Shouldn't one be free to "kick the tires" first and then of their own freewill make that decision?
Within a year, we were an organization run by and for teachers with a team and office in New York City. Little Evan and Princess Sydney were two year flops at PS 86 in the Bronx. Click here.  While working in our classrooms, E4E teachers formed policy teams and crafted recommendations that we presented to our union leadership, superintendent and city and state officials. And except for those sycophants that think Little Evan and Princess SydneyE4E are the cat's meow, no one has paid any attention to them. In fact, they are pissed as hell that they are losing traction in NYC. teachers were featured on NBC Nightly News, ABC, and in major publications such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Yeah, yeah, some blurbs here and there, but aside from Rupert Murdoch owned media; no one pays much attention to them. Click here to see how far Stuart Varney of FOX Business Channel and his stooges put themselves up Little Evan's rectum one year ago.

Today, E4E teachers are all over the country, many in L.A., so if you claim you have 3,000 adherents, and 1,800 friends on Facebook, then how many are actually current teachers in NYC? Seems E4E is at times a bit disingenuous with the facts. which is why we are thrilled to announce the opening of a second chapter office in L.A. led by our new Executive Director, Ama Nyamekye, oh dang, we will wait until tomorrow to expose Ama, it will be good fun. an E4E member who lives in Echo Park and began her career teaching poetry in a prison before becoming a public school teacher. Wow, that is like, so cool.


We hope you can join us for this invitation-only dinner I hope the invitation I have shared with others will be accepted. and discussion with President Obama’s top education advisors and E4E teachers on Tuesday, October 11th. You'll learn more about E4E L.A., meet Ama and other great teachers from across the city, But only if you sign the loyalty oath and say the pledge to Little Evan and Princess Sydney. and have the unique opportunity to inform President Obama’s developing strategy for modernizing and elevating the teaching profession.

This event is open only to teachers and will fill quickly so be sure to RSVP soon. Only to teachers? Why not anyone associated with education? Are people who disagree with lack of values of E4E be allowed in as well? Please feel free to reach out to Ama directly with any questions at anyamekye@educators4excellence.org . If you’re unable to attend, you can also join E4E L.A. to receive important school policy news, program and event invitations and attend our regular Sip-and-Chat Happy Hour exclusively for L.A. teachers. Visit our website to learn more and join: www.educators4excellence.org <http://www.educators4excellence.org/>


Evan and I are flying back to join this special event. Oh wonderful. Let's hope that Little Evan pisses off someone from TSA and receives a thorough cavity search. We look forward to meeting you there and at future E4E events.

Princess Sydney Morris and Little Evan Stone
Cofounders and Executive Directors and Gruppenleiter—E4E


So there you have it teachers of Los Angeles. The truth. We here at SBSB look forward to hearing back from those that successfully infiltrate this youth rally. Give these two a wide berth. Both of them are snakes, rats and pathological in their lies and deceit. Resistance to these two is not futile, but dissent is not allowed within their ranks. Both of them get their marching orders from Bill Gates, and we are assuming, Eli Broad, amongst others. There is not a genuine, true caring of any students or families of the inner city by these two or anyone associated with E4E. It is time to ramp up the pressure on E4E, time to go on the offensive with these two grifters of showy pretenses and alleged ability and knowledge. It can only be done if we all put our resources together, all fight the fight the needs to be fought. The time is ending for the irrelevancy of E4E, Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris.

Educators4Excellence 90210

The crack team has uncovered, through our source deep inside Educators4Excellence, some interesting news. First the dull, mundane news.

Our source has shared with us that dissent in E4E is highly frowned and that Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris, because of the deep corporate backgrounds of their upbringings, instituted their loyalty oath. That not only is their resentment turned towards those that continuously write and stand up about E4E, but those as well from within the ranks of E4E. Both Little Evan and Princess Sydney get quite rattled and bothered whenever they see or hear negativity concerning them. They have been, according to our source deep within E4E, most afraid of someone from the inside exposing them and their organization. It appears that time has come.

According to our source deep inside E4E both Little Evan and Princess Sydney are disappointed not only with the lack of a groundswell supporting them and E4E, but the lack of headway they have made. Think about it, all the major initiatives they have proposed have all hit the ground with a tremendous thud. Nice way to spend all of Bill Gates hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And now for the really big news......

But now to the big news. Our source deep inside E4E has informed us that Little Evan and Princess Sydney just might be expanding themselves. Yes, E4E is thinking of branching out to the city of angels, Los Angeles, CA. Now, we do not know if this is in response to their lack of creating any true buzz here in NYC and looking for ripe pickings within the confines of a weak UTLA, that they are stil so enthralled with themselves they are impervious to making fools of themselves, or that this has been ordered by their sugar daddy's. We also do not know if this is an expansion of E4E or if they are doing like the Dodgers and leaving us all behind.

Los Angeles, are you listening? Beware of a sheep in educators clothing. Nothing good will come of this. Little Evan spent his days growing up in the enclaves of Pasadena. Did he ever once show an interest in the plight of those in South Central, Compton, Watts, or Crenshaw? No he didn't. Not until he needed to satisfy his white liberal guilt, and more recently, not until he saw the $ signs and the implied power he believes he has been anointed with has he shown an interest in those of color.

As Napoleon had his Waterloo, Hitler his St Petersburg, now Los Angeles must be there for Educators4Excellence, Little Evan Stone, and Princess Sydney Morris.

Sacking Fran Tarkenton

Who knew that former Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants quarterback Fran Tarkenton has an opinion about education deform. Yes, it is true. I am still trying to figure out why he needed to chime in to the debate yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, but those thoughts are left to bigger people than myself.

Aside from the typical union bashing and the groveling to the shrine of Bill Gates, the gist the The Mad Scrambler is attempting to convey is what would happen if the NFL lived in an alternate reality that had the same rules and pay scales as education.

Tarkenton writes, amongst other things;

Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. 

Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans."

I guess what Fran fails to mention is that the 32 teams in the league divide the TV money, licensing, all evenly. Heck, even ticket sales are a 60/40 arrangement. Seems like socialism to me. In fact what incentive to the owners of the teams have to win when before a down is played they have already made a profit.

What about the salary cap? Does this not only assure the owners that the few teams that are sufficiently under the cap can bid on free agent players, but limits the players true worth? And what is with this deal that veteran players, no matter how good or ineffective they are are paid a minimum of $810,000?

Even this years rookies are subject for the first time ever of an NFL draft scale that affects all first round draft picks. No more given $80 million with $35 million guaranteed to the likes of Sam Bradford. Now 1st round picks will be only allowed a 4 year contract with an option for a 5th. Cam Newton, the #1 draft pick this year received a contract worth only $22 million for 4 years. Should he not be paid according to his abilities and talent? Does this not irk Fran Tarkenton? Does the socialism of the NFL irk him as well?

But come to think about it, I think it is darn time that teachers enjoy the same benefits as NFL players do.

Think about it, if we are treated like NFL players we can commit felonies, spend several years in state or federal prison and still be able to teach. 

If we were to be treated as NFL players we can be arrested multiple times for DWI and still keep our jobs.


If we were to be treated as NFL players we can physically abuse our wives and/or girlfriends, or husbands and/or boyfriends and keep our jobs.


If we were to be treated as NFL players we can take performance enhancing drugs and watch our apples shrink, or in the case of women, watch their hoo hoos grow.


If we were to be treated as NFL players we can be insubordinate whenever we want to our supervisors and be able to get away with it.


If we were to be treated as NFL players we could lie, cheat, steal or whatever to get to the top and keep our jobs.


If we were to be treated as NFL players our character would not matter.


If we were to be treated as NFL players we wouldn't read the first page of "Dick and Jane," but we will still be able to teach


If we were to be treated as NFL players everything we want will be taken care of for us by someone else. We would have no responsibilities.

Tarkenton is right. Us teachers live in a fantasy world, an alternate universe. We have no idea how good we have it and how poorly an NFL player struggles in the real world.

Evan Stone Trains Another E4E Sock Puppet

One thing we take with great pride here at SBSB is to always strive to be accurate. The other things we strive for is that if we are not accurate, to be correct what was written, offer a mea culpa, and move on. We move on even when we must agree for a brief second with those who run counter to educating children.

Saturday night, October 1, we posted about how Educators4Excellence said that one of its minions, Jarell Lee, was quoted as saying, something that upon the evidence we had at the time, something he did not say. Jarell was good enough to post in the comments section of that post that he was no misquoted, but rather shared the link with the full length video (34:20 - 35:37). We here, the crack team, and myself, wish to thank Jarell for being so good to post and share this information. We wish to apologize to Jarell and want him to know that we always strive for facts here at SBSB.

But since we are on a factoid mission, and since Jarell believes in the old Sgt Friday saying, "just the facts," we here at SBSB feel that there must be full disclosure. I engaged in a brief conversation last night and just 30 minutes ago with @JarellLee  on Twitter. The conversation was quite interesting.

Jarell not only said the title of the previous post, "Little Evan Stone The Puppet Master Of Jarell Lee," was racially insensitive and insulting, but demanded that not only that I change the title of my post, but that I issue the apology for misrepresenting him immediately. Since he posted the correct video lat night at 10 42 PM EDT, and I worked all day today with finally a moment to spare just now as I am writing this, well, too bad.


But racially insensitive because I called Little Evan Stone his puppet master? Geez, I should have thought of something better. Hmmm, "Little Evan Stone The Don Of Jarell Lee?" Could insult Italians. "Little Evan Stone Pope Of Jarell Lee?" Insulting to Catholics. "Little Evan Stone Banker Of Jarell Lee?" Insulting to Jews. "Little Evan Stone Chief Of Jarell Lee?" No, insulting to Native Americans. I need something that will not be insulting to any ethnic or religious groups. Wait, I got it! "Jarell Lee, Evan Stone's Sock Puppet!"

Now on to other bigger and better things. In the video that I quoted Saturday, I had Jarell as saying; 

"...that our society needs to stop using poverty as an excuse for not providing a high quality education to all students."

But in the full length video, Jarell first says;

"We cannot continue to use poverty as an excuse for why we are not educating our youth. It's no secret that students who grow up in poverty have rough environments......

Excuse? When has it ever been used as an excuse? Explanation, yes, excuse, no.

When I asked Jarell to give me proof of this statement he said;

"when ppl say env't/fam background is a reason why students do not achieve is using pov as an excuse.... there are plenty of recent examples of teachers making this false causation and thus, using poverty as an excuse....."

I asked him again for proof. He directed me to look at the first thirty minutes of the video link he shared. I then asked him if he has ever had first hand knowledge of teachers using poverty as an excuse. Jarell didn't answer that question. He said;

what's more factual than quotes from the people that inspired my response?

I have a bridge in Brooklyn I wish to sell Jarell. I did not know that he just knew so much about education. Jarell has been teaching for just over a year, and came to us, well not really us. He doesn't teach for the NYC DOE, but rather a private, oops, I meant to say charter, school in Brooklyn. He is a 2nd grade teacher at teacher at Excellence Boys Charter School, a subsidiary of Uncommon Schools, Inc.

It's so wonderful how Jarell, a graduate of Harvard, just knows so much in so little time. But I guess this is just typical of how Jarell thinks he is so smart.

What does it mean using poverty as an excuse? Poverty is not an excuse it is a fact. It is this country's dirty little secret that is continuously not ever addressed.

Dang, even Jarell doesn't see the full impact of poverty at his prestigious charter school in which only 48% of students receive a free lunch, compared to my school in which 98% students do. Or what about the ELL's at Excellence Boys Charter School? In the 2009-2010 school year at this charter school for "the poverty stricken," only 1% of students are ELL. In my school out of 525 students, we have 75 students who are receiving ELL pullouts. That comes to 14.28%!!

Yet for all his talk about poverty, whom does Jarell choose to align himself with? The rich and elite from top prep schools and the Ivy League. Those he associates with have never known of want. Touch their hands, there is no callous. Touch their souls, they have never associated with a person of color before it became convenient for them.

Your inspiring organization, E4E is bankrolled primarily from Bill Gates. What has Gates done to address poverty in this country? What have the hedge fund managers, that also support charters, ed deform, E4E, and you, have done to address poverty other than the obligatory photo op?

What has the Uncle Mike done for poverty in New York City? Look around Jarell  he has done squat. He turns neighborhoods into enclaves for his buddies. He does not give a rats ass about the poor. It is all lip service.

There are so many other organizations you could have joined other than E4E to affect the students and families of NYC. You chose an organization that does not believe in transparency and one that makes you sign a loyalty oath to them before you could sit down and have a beer with them. What does that say to your sensibilities?

Jarell, it is never to late to become your own person again.

Little Evan Stone The Puppet Master Of Jarell Lee

The summer I was 12 years old, back in 1976, I got incredibly into comic books at sleep away camp. When I returned from camp, my passion continued. The new comic books, which back then were only a quarter, came out every Saturday and Tuesday. I looked forward to these two days and the mile long walk I had to the local Big Top to pick up my comic books. In fact my passion for comic books exceeded, though temporarily, the one I had for New York Yankees. I vividly recall walking to Big Top during game 1 of the 1976 World Series vs the Reds. Look it up, game 1 was a Saturday. Unfortunately, when the comic books went up to 30 cents, my interest waned. No longer would I be able to buy 4 for a dollar.

I thought I would never again in my life will I anticipate any type of media ever again. For years I looked for something to fill that void. But I am happy to report that finally, after years of waiting, something has filled the void. No, it is not Whitney Tilson's email tirades, for those come out too inconsistently. Rather, it is the weekly, always on Wednesday emails from my friends at Educators4Excellence. What a joy it is to read the latest in their self importance and grandiosity every Wednesday.

This past Wednesday, we were blessed learn of the latest E4E newbie, Jarell Lee. Jarell was one of the lucky ones who got up to speak at the Education Nation Propaganda and Hate Rally(about 2 minutes in) last week. Jarell was shown speaking for only about 5 seconds, but E4E in it's continuing effort to shine the attention light on itself played it off differently, and dare I say quite confusingly;

E4E teacher Jarell Lee was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, explaining that our society needs to stop using poverty as an excuse for not providing a high quality education to all students.

Five seconds does not make one featured. Five seconds makes one lucky enough to make it past the editors of the video. We here find E4E's fudging of the English language to be in poor taste and quite regrettable. But that is not what is troubling.

If you read the above quote from E4E one will see, and assume that Jarell has been quoted as saying;

"...that our society needs to stop using poverty as an excuse for not providing a high quality education to all students."

But in his actual 5 seconds of fame he said;

"It's our job as teachers to expose them to a new world, of new opportunities and give them the confidence and the skills that they need to be successful in life."

Funny, nowhere did I hear from Jarell Lee that that our society needs to stop using poverty as an excuse. The only person I heard say that was NBC talking head Rehema Ellis on the voiceover just before Jarell Lee spoke. So what gives?

Why would E4E if not out and out tell a lie but at the very least embellish what one of it's members said? Yes, I know, Jarell Lee is green and eager, and has only been teaching a year, but is he being used already? If I were Jarell Lee, I would be appalled that I was quoted saying something I never said by the very people I have out my faith and trust in.

My inside source at E4E shared with me on deep background the antipathy that Little Evan and Princess Sydney have towards E4E Blog Monkey™ Ruben Brosbe. He was seen as a trained seal, that will espouse the party line and take the heat away for them from his convoluted writings.

Jarell Lee seems much smarter and intelligent than Ruben. Jarell, I am putting it here on the table for you. Take a good look around you. See the people you are getting caught up with. It is not too late to come in from the cold. E4E, Little Evan Stone, Princess Sydney Morris, and their backers DO NOT have the best interests of the girls and boys of New York City, girls and boys of color at heart. They care about one thing and one thing only. Well, actually two things. Themselves and whatever instructions they are given by Bill Gates. I see it, the readers of this blog see it. It is time you see it. That is that, that is all it will ever be.

Jarell, please, it is not too late to make a fresh start. Be your own person, don't let anyone ever control you.