Rally and Presser On August 1 For Removal of Jennifer Rogers, Principal at PS 29 in Queens

For those that do not know, there will be a rally tomorrow morning, August 1, at 11 AM in front of
PS 29 in College Point, Queens to demand the ouster of incompetent, mean, arrogant, principal Jennifer Rogers.

Jennifer Rogers, probably one of the least qualified people ever to hold the job of principal, is totally
in over her head and unqualified. Her job, which in all probability she got do to her connections of her mother, Carolyn Jones (and the Leadership Academy) former principal at PS 23 in District 10 in the Bronx.

But as with being a principal in NYC, one can do anything short of murder and still retain their position. Or just read the comments here.

The students are afraid of her, the parents are afraid of her, the community is afraid of her, and so are the teachers (except the sycophants). But not anymore after tomorrow.

Remember, press conference at 11 AM, followed by rally. And, all it takes is a politician, teachers, and a few parents for the presser and the rally. Hey, that gives me an idea....

Governor Cuomo and DFER Screw First Graders

I was not planning on writing anything tonight. I was cruising through Facebook, catching up on the latest person's dinner, reading the 60th birthday wishes to Geddy Lee, and checking out Badass Teachers Association. I came across this disturbing post by the blogger, Chris Cerrone, over on @thechalkface.

I rarely post someone else's blog verbatim because I feel it is not right, I find it lazy, and I find it not

being original. But this to me is, well disturbing is not the word, fucked up is the word, of what the reformers are doing to education in New York State.

 We have Governor Andy to thank for this and him being DFER's bitch boy. I wonder Governor, does Joe Williams at DFER have the decency to give you a reach around?

I can go into why this is so FUBAR and the train wreck that is coming but I have a new book, "Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow that I wish to read.


From Chris Cerrone; 

Holy Mesopotamia Batman: First Grade CCSS vocabulary.

July 29, 2013 By Chris Cerrone 17 Comments

 

I have been giving the New York State Education Department’s new Common Core curriculum modules a study over the last few weeks. I see these modules as an insulting scripted curriculum that favors test preparation skills over learning.  I teach middle school social studies so new reforms such as the Common Core have not had much of a direct impact on my classroom yet, but as a parent the Common Core and its related high-stakes testing machine has my full attention.

I came across this First Grade curriculum module on Early World Civilizations that I have found troubling.  I have my doubts about the historical content of this ELA module. I am putting together a piece I hope to finish soon on the random nature of the history topics contained in the NYSED modules so I will pass on analyzing if the social studies content is appropriate for six year olds for now.

So primary grade educators:  I need your help:

  What do you think of the vocabulary contained in this unit of study?

From Core Knowledge Language Arts- New York Edition “Early Civilizations- Tell it Again Read-Aloud Anthology
Follow Chris Cerrone on twitter: @stoptesting15

DR Alison Coviello; PhD and Principal, Puts PS 154 in the Bronx on LOCK DOWN!!!

 For those that would like some background music whilst reading this post, please be sure to right click here so it will open up in new tab or window. Enjoy!

Tonight we have something that shows how one gets in over their head, one can't admit they were wrong, how one can't lead, and one is out of touch with reality. Yes, it is time to play, "this shit can't

be made up!"

And tonight's subject of TSCBMU none other that DR Alison Coviello; PhD and Principal, or in this instance, PhD and Warden of PS 154 in the Bronx.

Back in March, the beginning of March, give or take a few days, there was a near riot within the confines of PS 154.

Now this riot was touched in these pages back on March 7. The riot, some would say a gang riot, pitted five 5th grade girls against a lone 5th grade girl. In fact, one of those girls from the group of 5 had become so agitated she picked up a pair of scissors and went after the lone girl.

But you ask, how could this be when PS 154 is known world wide of its state of the art school PBIS discipline code? From the March 23 blog post;

...Now remember before the tale is told, The Happy Good Time Emotion Response Place and School uses the most awesome as well and most excellent PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) system. The key to this system is the card. A student starts at neutral (white), they do well and the student gets a green then a blue card, and when you are a bad child you go from yellow to red. Got it?

But it had gotten to that point because the PBIS crud does not work. Especially not with the true cause of the problems in the 5th grade in this past school year. There were approximately 20-25 (some would say more) hard core extremely challenging students in that grade. For these students having their card on red was a sign on cred, a sign of respect, a sign that they are the "baddest." What happened to this students previously when having received a red card or their behavior was out of line? They were forbidden from going to an assembly, like a puppet show, or Santa, or the Easter Bunny.  But for someone suckling on a silver spoon and never having any wants in their live, how can one understand this?

So this day of the riots, there were several little riots out in the yard that day. Well, that was the last straw, for the next day DR Alison Coviello; PhD and Principal issued the ultimate punishment. LOCK DOWN!

Yes, it was lock down. Not only were the students prevented from changing classes (the teachers now changed classes), but the students had their specialty classes inside their classrooms, were not allowed to go to the bathroom alone, were not allowed to walk the halls at all, were not allowed to go to their IEP provider, were not allowed to go to the cafeteria, and were not allowed recess, and were not allowed to out of their classrooms. How long did this go on? For nearly a month.

Their lunches were brought up to them, as one who was in lock down in a jail cell had the trustee bring them their meals. Since there were about 75-80 students in the grade and all the classes were on the top floor, this meant someone had to haul all these lunches upstairs. What did the students receive most of the time? Peanut Butter and Jelly, milk, and a fruit? Where was the hot lunch? Aren't hot lunches required by law?

Why were the vast, vast, vast majority of the students, the ones who behaved, the ones who did not cause problems day in and day out punished for the actions of others?

Why for nearly a month were the challenging students not given a chance to redeem themselves or invited to redeem themselves (Readers, make a mental not of this for a future blog post to highlight hypocrisy)?

How did the parents feel about their children being locked down like a bunch of convicts on cell block 4? Were these parents notified? Was there any parental input?

Was the upper echelon of District 7 and Tweed notified of said action?

It never had to come to this. It never had to be.

No that old saying, "Would it play in Peoria?" How about this saying, "Would it play in Harrison NY?" No. Why? Because problems are solved the first time.

Is DR Alison Coviello; PhD, Qualified to Lead in Harrison NY?

I often stay up at night wondering how things differ in my son's school (Harrison NY) vis a vis how things are done in NYC, in particular, PS 154. We can say, "What Would Harrison Do?" or WWHD? But please make a mental note of Harrison, for this soon will be the topic of another blog post in the

not too distant future.

First a little background.

We had a SAVE room this past year at PS 154. Not really a SAVE room, more like a Happy Good Time Emotion Response SAVE room. It was poorly run and students that got in trouble were rewarded with ice cream parties and candy. For reasons the Crack Team can only speculate, the Happy Good Time Emotion Response SAVE room was shut down in February of 2013.

Now, with elementary schools having SAVE rooms this means that such schools become suspension centers for other elementary schools from within and without the district. Students put on superintendent's suspensions are sent to such schools.

With me so far?

So these students, students that are deemed too dangerous or violent to be in their normal school setting, are sent elsewhere to schools that have a SAVE room. In fact, we at PS 154 received such a student in March.

What's that you ask? How can we have a student sent to us from another school to the SAVE room in March when you just shared that the Happy Good Time Emotion Response SAVE room at PS 154 was shut down in February?

Someone, ***COUGH*** DR Alison Coviello; PhD ***COUGH*** obviously had not. Now, was it a outright "liar, liar, pants on fire," lie, or a lie of omission?

A 5th grade student, Ezra Horowitz, was sent to PS 154 from District 10 for about 3 weeks. He punched out a teacher.

But where did they put this student that had no SAVE room to attend? Simple.

With another 5th grade class. And of course, the parents of the students in this class were never notified.

If this is not a breach of state law and the being concerned with not only the safety of the students of the 5th grade class at PS 154, but what about the education of Ezra?

According to Chancellor's Regulation A-443, Ezra is supposed to receive a classwork packet from his class. Ezra had not.

Ezra is also entitled to all related services that are on his IEP, provided he has one. Did he? Don;t know, but if he did, I doubt it.

Were Ezra parents notified that he would be in a classroom? Was his school? Were the parents of the 5th grade class.

These are all pertinent questions that should have been addressed. In fact, never needed to have been addressed, if DR Alison Coviello; PhD was doing her job and following, and not interpreting NYS law.

But apparently Ezra had some issues. On one occasion Ezra told a teacher that he wants to go bring a gun to school and shoot all the students in the 5th grade class he was assigned to at PS 154. That teacher immediately went to the chain of command to share this information. Nothing was done at all.

Which brings us back to Harrison NY.  This school year a troubled student in my son's grade, whose father happens to be a New York police officer, threatened to bring one of his father's guns to school and shoot up the entire grade. My son and a friend heard this and shared it with the principal. At no time was the buck passed, heads buried in the ground, or excuses made. This student was dealt with fairly and in an extremely timely manner. He was suspended (I forget if it was in house or at home) for two weeks.

Which leads to this question. Is DR Alison Coviello; PhD, qualified to be a school leader in Harrison NY? That is for you the reader to discuss. Remember, having PhD. really doesn't mean anything.

And would DR Alison Coviello; PhD, be able to get away with what she does at PS 154?

My son's principal doesn't have one and he knows bulletin boards are bullshit.

Does Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD of PS 154 in the Bronx Believe in Students First?

 Does Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD. care as much as she claims she does about the students of PS 154, or does she have some nihilistic agenda to rid the school of teachers she does not care for no matter the cost and damage to the students?

Now the type of teachers that are victims of her nihilistic approach are those that are primarily of color, over the age of 40, due for tenure, make too much money, and possess an independent streak in which they
refuse to sip the laced Kool-Aid Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD serves up.

But The Crack Team has suggested not answer the above concerns on these pages. Rather, it will be you the reader, to decide whether or not Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD had the best interests of the students or the best interests of her agenda at heart.

This past April in the middle of teaching a lesson, a 2nd grade teacher allowed a man into her classroom. This man, unbeknownst to the teacher, was about to serve her with 3020a papers for being incompetent. This teacher received a U rating from Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD in the 2011-2012 school year after Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD had been on the job 7 1/2 weeks.

Now one must ask themselves, how can Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD decide that the teacher in question was unsatisfactory for the year after barely two months of her exalted supervision? And why did Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD feel the need to not only have to humiliate and defile this teacher in the middle of the lesson?

But it gets more interesting.

The next day of course the teacher is removed, the students have no teacher, and of course the parents are not informed immediately of the change. Someone must teach this class, but whom?

Substitutes! Not only the regular run of the mill, hit or miss, substitutes that are ubiquitous in any NYC school, but a special breed of substitute never before seen at PS 154.

The substitutes brought in were white, female, and disciples of Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD, Teachers College, and Lucy Calkins. Now this is important for not only is Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD a disciple of Lucy Calkins but Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD is an adjunct professor at Teachers College as well.

This being a rough class as it was, and the inability of Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD to look at the bigger picture and see how the teacher was an expert in classroom management, needless to say all hell broke loose in this class.

Not only were these special subs in above their heads, but zero instruction and learning was achieved. Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD had to go in there many times to calm the class down, to give support to her disciples, only for the class to revert back to mayhem once she had left.

And this class was not the only class to be affected.

This past school year, the 2nd grade changed classes for math. The students that went to the removed teacher's class ceased going to her for math. All that they had worked for and worked to was all for naught for only but decision of Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD.

 But we should not fault the Teachers College ATR's alone. The normal subs had the same problems.

As did the ATR's, except one, but that ATR was not always assigned nor available to that class. Once, there was an ATR guidance counselor that was assigned to that class.

Worse, during this time of ineptitude, or I meant to say "substitute roulette," Ari Epstein, a smart student, a student that does have some challenges, was removed at the beginning of the day and sent to another 2nd grade class. Ari was never invited in to be with his classmates nor given the chance to show he can behave. His education was crapped upon and I am sure that his mother never was informed of this (Readers please take note of this. The hypocrisy will be unveiled in an upcoming blog post).

But the biggest slap in the face to this class came about at the beginning of June or around that time. The class was permanently split up for the remainder of the year. Not just to 2nd grade classes, but 1st grade as well. What was the point? Who did this benefit? How did this benefit the students, especially the students that spent a month with 1st grade classes? Will these students come into 3rd grade this September behind?

Who is being held accountable for this boondoggle? Why is this allowed to happen? This would never happen in Harrison NY, Scarsdale, Ardsley, Putnam Valley, but this behavior by principals and other administrators is enabled time after time.

It happens because those in charge know that they are dealing with a compliant populace that will not and cannot stand up for its rights. God forbid what was shared on these pages was attempted in Riverdale or Forest Hills.

Now it is up to the readers; decide whether or not Principal, DR Alison Coviello; PhD had the best interests of the students or the best interests of her agenda at heart.

Cover Up at IS 162 in the Bronx? Let's Ask District 7 Superintendent Yolanda Torres

On June 10, 2013, I wrote a post, "Where is the Bronx District Attorney When You Need Him?" I left a lot of details out, names, the school, the district, etc... Today, I am rewriting/rerunning that post but not holding anything back. Names, school, everything.

These three miscreants get away with such behavior while Christine Rubino, Francesco Portelos, myself and 8 other colleagues and the rest of the teachers in NYC are crapped on. Accountability from Tweed is bullshit. It means nothing. It is just watching out for yourself, your cronies, and those that live in the rectums of administrators.

Remember, this shit can't be made up! 

This happened over the course of several years in District 7 in the Bronx. The school is IS 162.
Yolanda Torres is the superintendent, the principal is Marilyn Manzolillo and the AP is Greg Papadopoulos.

But everything is true. Everything happened. Everything was covered up.

Greg Papadopoulos put in "long hours" at home doing the scheduling. I mean really really long hours.

There were no time cards to be punched nor signed. Marilyn Manzolillo principal of IS 162 did not have enough money to pay per session so the pay was in comp time.

There was shit loads of comp time involved. Remember, all unverified. No time cards.

The assistant administrator took vacations with this comp time. All during instructional time, for weeks at a time.

Countries and cities of Europe were visited all while the students of IS 162 were busy as Papadopoulos was off gallivanting around.

Meanwhile the school is going into the crapper.

Somehow the Commissioner of Special Investigations office got wind of this. Praise be to God! We all know how CSI can be when going after those who misrepresent time taken off and defrauding the DOE claiming they worked while in reality they did not.

Just ask Matthew Kaye aka Matt Striker or Lynn Stewart's daughter. We know how seriously SCI takes this stuff.

This is where that Yolanda Torres comes in.

SCI, the bastion of all keeping all that is correct in the NYC DOE drops the ball!!!!!!

There was proof up the ying yang!!

They kick it back to Yolanda Torres for the discipline phase.

The Marilyn Manzolillo is buds with the superintendent. She must be, why else would we not hear of this, but we heard of Liza Cruz Diaz at PS 31 in District 7. Ms Diaz stole money. Stealing time is the same as stealing money.

Papadopoulos gets just a letter in the file!

Imagine if a teacher had done this??? OH baby!

Of course Papadopoulos could not have done this without being enabled by Manzolillo.

I might not be a lawyer, but dang, if this doesn't seem like fraud, larceny, conspiracy, and a few other felonies, then I mock my SUNY education.

Why hasn't Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson been notified of this?

But he is a dolt. How about US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara?

It has been said, and by very reliable sources, that  Papadopoulos had much more than a professional relationship with Manzolillo. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Know what I mean? Know what I mean?

So this happens and teachers all across the city, and the country are getting crapped on.

Why? Where is the logic behind this.

It is not us running the schools. We just work there.

Maybe it is time to go after the schmucks in charge?  

These 3 crap all over Stu Schmelz, yet they continue to game the system.
 
Yeah, this shit can't be made up!!!
  
 Update 7/22/13 @ 6:12 PM: The Crack Team as learned that Marilyn Manzolillo is no longer the principal of IS 162. The new IA principal is Angel Fani.

CAUGHT ON AUDIO YET AGAIN!! DR Alison Coviello: "YOU LACK COURAGE!!!!!"

On June 18, I was summoned by the grand exalted poobah, Prinicpal DR Alison Coviello of PS 154 in the Bronx to yet a another disciplinary conference regarding stuff that any other teacher in the school would have been left alone.

Basically, there was one teacher, in fact two, that whined about my tone of voice to them. The irony is that one teacher had besmirched a colleague who I feel is should be the most respected and hard working staff members at PS 154.

This other teacher, well, let's just say, lied, twisted, and distorted the tone of voice and what I said. But I digress. Not to worry. I know what the truth is.

I will not disparage a staff member or be a rat to a staff member. I think rats are the lowest forms of life, next to car salesmen, on this planet and should be treated accordingly. The colder the shoulder the better.

But, even if I did talk to them in the way I was accused of, or anybody in this school talked that way, surely one can assume that this type of behavior has been modeled and seen as acceptable by the staff at PS 154.

We can look no further than the sarcastic, snarky, "I'm smarter than you because you're an idiot," "you are not one of my favored teachers," attitude seen day in and day out by Principal DR Alison Coviello.

So why is it OK, even acceptable, for Principal DR Alison Coviello to talk to me in this manner when I  finally got frustrated by 10 months of abuse and what I believe is a conspiracy to U rate me?

Can you hear the unprofessionalism on her part? Not just the manner and the tone of voice in which she is talking to me, but by how she is trying to egg me on. Not only in that audio but this one as well. Her attempts to either have me explain why I won't give her specifics or worse, to get me to lose my temper fail.

Funny how she is so insecure that just because I told her that she created a hostile work environment she believes that is a threat. Me thinks she actually has a guilty conscience and is afraid that she will be exposed for what she really is.But how is it a threat when I refuse to tell her how she has created a hostile work environment?

It is like dealing with a school yard bully who says, "Tell me to my face," "you can't." And,  I "can't handle it."

My favorite part is how in both audios she tells me I lack courage.

Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got? 

I got courage.  I have put up with abuse after abuse all year.  I have never conspired to ruin someone's career (still alleged, but I believe in my heart of hearts), I don't go behind someone's back. If I have a problem with someone I tell them. I truly want to do the right thing. I have time after time asked, pleaded, begged to talk to Prinicpal DR Alison Covielloand clear the air. Either to her her through intermediaries. And believe it or not, I am still willing to clear the air.

But don't ever question my courage. As Principal DR Alison Coviello shared with the staff last year she does not like the emphasis on testing and feels it is hurting the process. Sign this then as did 1,500 principals across New York State did.

And please, do not lecture me on how I talk when you, Principal DR Alison Coviello, can't even practice what you preach.

PS 154 in the Bronx is a hostile work environment. And it is a fearful place in which staff walk on egg shells in which they wonder if they will "be next."

PS 154 is run under an imperialistic regime. That is not the way to run a school