Sam Pirozzolo, The Clown Prince of The Deformers

It has been some time since we have skewed the clown prince of the education deform movement, Sam Pirozzolo. But twice within the last week we, all New Yorkers, have had to read his inane and meandering thoughts in the Daily News and the Post.

In today's Daily News Clown Prince Sam writes in an email to the News that he was; struck by the words of Benjamin Agyard, a Bronx student interviewed in a story that revealed city schools with the most poorly qualified teachers are concentrated in needy neighborhoods. Clown Prince Sam laments that Benjamin recognizes that the system does not care about his future and claims that Benjamin's story is not an isolated incident.

But Clown Prince Sam lacks the cognitive ability to discern nuance. Or even logic. If Sam would remove is cognitive dissonance hat for just a moment he can read why there are schools suffering from too many newbie teachers.

Or could it be the plethora of TFA's hired by the most needy schools? Rotating through new teachers every two years without these same teachers sticking around long enough to be able to mentor someone, or worse, there is no one there to mentor them? 

Or could it be that Benjamin is a student at Banana Kelly High School which appears to be a complete mess, not because of the teachers but rather because of administrative issues.

But Clown Prince Sam is a simpleton with only simplistic answers that he gets from his Moaning boss.

In last week's Post Sam blabbers; Our inspiration is the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended segregation. Sixty years later, New York City schools are blighted by a different kind of segregation — not so much racial, as economic.

Guess what Sam? Brown v BOE didn't magically open the doors. I remember as a kid (In the mid 70's) watching riots in Boston as the schools were being desegregated. But Sam just contradicted his belief system or rather, the belief system that Mona Davids trained him to have. 

The problem is economics. Poverty. Class. Family. So much more than going to court to battle in a lawsuit and claiming victory that a judge didn't dismiss your case. 

Just out of curiosity, has the Clown Prince attempted to help integrate his Staten Island community? Where was the Clown Prince when problems surfaced at  IS 49 in District 31, the district that the Clown Prince was CEC president.

Sam does his best clowning in continuing an old urban legend; Albert Shanker, the founder of the UFT, is famous for saying, “When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.” His heirs today, like UFT boss Michael Mulgrew, operate on the same principle. With an attitude like this, and the millions of dollars that the unions can use for political contributions, is it any wonder why parents have no choice but to look to the courts for relief?

Shanker never said that. It's a wives tale going back over 30 years which a lawyer, none other than former Chancellor Joel Klein continued to perpetuate. Should not Clown Prince Sam write a retraction and/or apology?

Look Sam, you are not....how shall we say it...bright. You follow yet do not lead. You are told when to speak, jump and fetch. Yes, you do those activities well but there is more to life than being follower.

Yes, have your little victory. Yes, it is nice that your case did not get thrown out. But what you fail to mention is that it is being appealed and not having a case dismissed is really no big deal.

It's time to be a man and think for yourself.