NYC TEACHER ADVISORY: Have No Dealings With Former OSI Investigator Iuliana Celik

Think about this. You need a criminal defense attorney. The best ones out there seem to be those that previously had worked in a district attorney's office. You have a tax problem you find someone who worked at the IRS. Need a security consultant you go with an ex-cop. Makes sense, huh?

So if you're investigated by OSI wouldn't it be best to have someone who was a former OSI investigator who can help you with the ins and outs of dealing with OSI?

It might be a dream too good to be true.

The other day a comment was left on this blog post directing readers to the Facebook page (I deleted the link. You will see why in just a bit) of former OSI investigator Iuliana Celik.

Celik left this on teachers.net...

I am a former OSI Investigator and Supervisor, former
Hearing representative and former law enforcement investigator with over
10 years of investigative experience.
I provide consulting services to teachers, guidance counseled, principals
and other NYC school staff who are or believe they are being investigated
by OSI. I bring a wealth of inside expertise and techniques that can help
you successfully navigate your case with OSI.
Do not hesitate to contact me should you need my services and check out
my page for more useful information!

WOW! I thought to myself. This must be really great. Finally, teachers can get int of the brains of OSI.

I immediately called Chaz the Blogger to share this with him and see what he thought.

He was quite skeptical. Chaz thought that even with all that knowledge to share how do you get around the fact that if you are on principal's good side the investigation goes nowhere and you aren't you are screwed. I tried bringing up the fact that according to Celik's OSI Consultation Facebook page she can be an expert witness in your 3020-a hearings and help your defense as well.

I kinda had blinders on but Chaz was making sense. I guess a little voice in my head was saying the same thing since even before I had called Chaz I was planning on calling Celik to find out more before I would post about her service.

I told Chaz I was going to give her a call and Chaz said one important thing. He told me to ask her how to get around that principal thing. If she had plausible  answer to that he would be more receptive to finding out more.

I called Celik. She answered the phone. I said, "Hi I am Peter Zucker. The reason I am calling is that you left a link in the comments section of a post on my blog, South Bronx School."

She replied, "Yes."

I told her that I wanted to find out more about the services she was offering so that when I share her info on these pages so my writing can be better informed.

Her response, and are you ready for this???

"I only speak to paid clients."

Say what? You are starting a brand new consultative business and you want to be silent? You don't want to get the word out?  She can't be shy. Heck, she has photos of herself all over her Facebook page. I decided to try a different tact.

I told her that I was planning to write about her services and this would be a great way to get clients. I told her teachers should be knocking down her door.

At this point she told me she no long wishes to discuss this and at this point hung up.

Something smells rotten.

After consultation with The Crack Team we here at SBSB are suggesting to all teachers and educators within the NYCDOE to NOT HAVE ANY DEALINGS AT ALL WITH FORMER OSI INVESTIGATOR IULIANA CELIK UNTIL SHE IS WILLING TO BE MORE FORTHCOMING!

Think about this. How can someone, someone that is just starting a business not want to get word out to the very constituency it wants to cultivate? This is why I am writing this post, not because I am feel I was slighted but rather at the strangeness and evasiveness of Celik's responses which totally go against the grain.

But upon further investigation by The Crack Team there were other red flags found. Like here, where Celik is advertising to be a dog walker and this misleading line...

I am an animal lover who has left a high paying law career to start a dog walking and pet sitting business in Westchester.

We here at SBSB did not know that being an OSI investigator was such a high paying career and by "law career" it might make one seem that Celik was an attorney. The Crack Team just to be sure searched and found nothing.

I want to believe that Celik's venture is a noble one. I want to believe that Celik saw the light and having knowledge of the damage that OSI has done had decided to use her powers for good and not evil.

On these pages I have touted the fine legal work of Bryan Glass. There have been readers that have reached out to him. Heck, Portelos has done the same regarding Bryan on his many forums and many readers have reached out to Bryan as well. If there is someone out there who is on the side of teachers positive word of mouth spreads fast. Using Bryan Glass as an example, look at him. He is like Ringo in A Hard Day's Night. Being chased everywhere for his services.

Iuliana, or is it Julie, if you want to do this than you need to be more forthcoming, more transparent. Too many teachers have been burned by too many promising the moon.

If teacher's are going to spend money on the services of Ms Cerlik than teachers have a right to know more. Simple as that.

Open Blog Post for SiriusXM's Michelangelo Signorile

It used to be that on my way home I would turn on WFAN and listen to the bloviating of His
Popeness, Mike Francesa. Hasn't been that way for a few months now.

I have found a new voice to listen to, that of Michelangelo Signorile on SiriusXM Progressive Channel 127. I have to tell you, I am hooked. Heck, I don't even listen to Sternthology in the afternoon.

Michelangelo has had me mesmerized with his take on the entire 2016 election and it's aftermath. The way he has deconstructed Trump's petty excuse of living has me on the edge of my seat as I drive up the Major Deegan in the afternoon. His progressive agenda, his realistic look at the world has let know that I, and others who feel the same, or not alone in the screwed up, messed up, crazy country we live in nowadays.

Michelangelo is a true defender of those who need defending. Whether they be of the LGBTQ community, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-Americans, Jews, women, or just anyone in need, and anyone being shat upon by those with the privilege to be in power. Death

Listening to him mock Steve Bannon, the Alt-Right, Trump, Christie, Palin, Guiliani, and all the other Trump hangers on and sycophants have left me in stitches so often I have almost driven off the Sprain!

But, and I say this with a heavy heart, Michelangelo has disappointed me in one regard. His silence and lack of understanding on Herr Trump's stance on education.

Right after the election I got a phone call from a friend of The Crack Team who happened to be in a panic. She was convinced that Reichsführer Trump will annihilate education in this country, sending billions of dollars away from public education and in the process putting the final nail in the coffin of teachers unions and urban education.

I did my best to reassure her that it won't happen, that Trump is all talk and he will never shut down the Department of Education and besides she, as well as myself, have just over 4 years till retirement and hopefully we'll be out before the proverbial doody hits the proverbial fan.

So back on November 10 I decided to call into Michelangelo's show and share with him what teachers are thinking and how horrible a Trump presidency will be to education in this country. I felt the need to do this due to the fact that of all the things that Trump is for not once had I heard Michelangelo bring up Trump's threat to education.

So Mike, I hope you are reading this. You took my call during the 5 o'clock hour. I told you I was Pete from White Plains and that I am a NYC teacher. I told you about Trump's plan and how teachers are scared. I told you how he will be wanting to take monies away from public education and put those monies into charter schools and vouchers for parochial and private schools as well as into homeschooling. Oh, and I shared how with being able to fill Scalia's seat teachers run the risk of Friedrich's being reheard and losing our right to organize. I will give you credit. You heard me. But you did not listen.

All I got from you Mike was, and I am paraphrasing, "Don't worry, your unions are too strong to allow this to happen." Say what? I tried to get in a word but you just kept talking over me.

Guess what? Our unions are not strong enough to fight back. Have you seen what has happened alone in New York State with education? With the testing, the BS evaluations, junk science, etc...? Who do we have to thank for this? The United Federation of Teachers. OUR UNION!!! That of course acts this way due to the directing of the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS!!!

Have you noticed a trend across the country? In Wisconsin, North Carolina, California? Where have you been?

Where were you when Eva Moskowitz's name was being floated as Education Secretary? Do you know about Eva? Just in case you don't, check this out! Were you appalled that Princess Trump visited her Success Academy 1 School to tout her as an innovative educator  whilst ignoring the GREAT WORK of the teachers in the same building who teach our most needy students?

Where were you when Michelle Rhee was floated as Education Secretary? Yeah, that Michelle Rhee who I wrote about on the Huff Post in 2010, you know, about duct taping her student's mouths shut.

And guess who enabled the Moskowitz's, the Rhees, and the countless education deformers of the world? The DEMOCRATS! Yeah, without the Democrats, we never get NCLB and Race to the Top. If Democrats can't stop Republicans, or at the very least roll over for the Republicans, how can Trump be stopped?

How can Trump and the Republican controlled Congress be stopped when our unions have been rolling over, throwing teachers under the bus for 15 years?

Hey Mike, how about putting up that same fight for our children, the communities, our unions, and teachers that you put up for everyone else?

I know you can, and I know you are a good person that can make a change.

BREAKING NEWS!! I Settled My Lawsuit vs. NYCDOE (One Down One to Go)

It's over. My long national nightmare has come to an end.

I have settled the part of my lawsuit with just the the DOE and any and all of it's employees. It has been a long, long, journey to get to this point. I didn't get everything I wanted but I am happy.

This lawsuit was filed back in August of 2014 and for all intents and purposes had it's origins in September of 2012. It's been over four years of a struggle as well as an education into the machinations of the DOE and the world of law.

Most importantly, I learned a lot about myself and many, many people who have supported me through all this.

Other than my wife the most important person in all of this has been my lawyer Bryan Glass. Bryan is an amazing lawyer. His base of knowledge when it comes to employment law, especially, when it comes to dealing with the NYCDOE is unmatched. Bryan has been there thought thick and thin, through my worst days and through my best days. Bryan is a lawyer that stands by his clients. Just look at his track record. My life is fuller having had Bryan Glass come into it.

Exclusive, Michael Moore Exposed!!!! Why He Will Never Lift a Finger for the State of Education in the U.S.!

As many of you know, or might know, I am a major fan of Rush bordering on the cusp of fanboi status. I've
seen the band about 20 times in my life. My journey has included seeing the band during their Exit Stage Left tour at the Meadowlands in December 1981 through to their R40 tour last year at the Prudential Center.

So why am I sharing this?

For the last week or so, every time I log onto Facebook I am inundated with some ad for Michael Moore. What does Michael Moore have to do with Rush? Read on. Bear with me. Your jaw will drop when I get to the end!

So when I went to see Rush last year, my friend and I got to our seats about 30 minutes before the show. By the way, the seats were great! I had managed to finagle (Our original seats were in the 300 section of The Rock. I have my methods and they always work!) ourselves right next to the stage on Alex Lifeson's side. Check it out:

So we are talking with the people around us and who do I see being escorted on the floor by Rush's longtime manager Ray Daniels but none other than Michael Moore.

WOW! I thought to myself. How many teachers have been hoping, praying, willing to give up a child so that Michael Moore, the bane of the 1% and all that is bullshit, would take on our cause? Heck, back in 2010 after discussing this hope with an SBSB groupie I reached out by phone to one of Mike's producers, Rod Birleson, asking him, nay, imploring him, to let Mike know that all the stakeholders of education in the United States need Mike's involvement. Desperately.

So I decided not to pass up an opportunity.

I raced down, went up to Michael Moore and shared with him that I am a NYC teacher and that we in NYC, New York State, and across the country are hurting, that our students are hurting, and that our communities are hurting. Basically I was Princess Leia telling Obi-Wan that he was our only hope.

Mike listened and told me to get in contact with him. When I asked him how he told me through his agency, CAA. I thought fine, I can be tenacious at times. What harm can it do? But I was walking on air. I got to meet Michael Moore and it seemed that I had planted a seed in his head. He even agreed to a selfie with me (Shitty photo of me).

I said thank you and watched Mike go to his front row, or was it second row, seat. I went back to my seat and enjoyed 3 hours of Rush, perhaps seeing them for the last time ever (At the end of the tour Neil Peart more or less said he is retired from touring).


So later that week I decided to call CAA. It took me a few run arounds to find out who exactly represents Mike so I can leave a message with the right person (like a secretary). But eventually I found out who is agent is and when I did I knew I was lied to and I lost all respect for Michael Moore.

Michael Moore's agent is none other than Ari Emanuel. Yep, that Ari Emanuel, the brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. I knew then that Michael Moore doing anything for education is this country was never, ever, going to happen.

He is a man that has taken on General Motors, the NRA, health care, 9/11 and the Iraq war, the defense industry, and capitalism. He is, or appears to be, a man that has no fear at exposing those that are corrupt and in power. Heck, he is even taking on Donald Trump and don't be surprised if he comes out with a documentary about the 2016 elections.

But he will never take on nor expose how the powerful and Wall Street have corrupted education. Why? Because in this country the story how Wall Street and the politicians have screwed education starts at, and must include, Chicago and there is no way in hell that Michael Moore with do anything to make Ari's brother look like an incompetent putz.

This is the same reason why Michael Moore will not even touch Black Lives Matter, the use of force by police, or inner cities. Any reporting, any documentary must include the incompetence of Rahm Emanuel.

Michael Moore is nothing but a two bit, self serving con artist. Whatever is good for Michael Moore, to put him in the best light and to protect his friends his the direction Michael Moore follows.

In my heart of hearts I believe that Michael Moore has no core belief system and does come from the same mold has people like Donald Trump.

We as educators and community members need to stop hoping that Michael Moore gives a rat's ass. he does not and will not. Ever.

Michael Moore a man of the people? I laugh. If he were a man of the people he would have bought his seats  for Rush off of Stub Hub or bought seats in the 300 section and did what I had done.

BREAKING ATR NEWS!!! Beware of Being Manipulated by Sinister Forces!

Fear is a mighty strong emotion. We all have some fears. Some are rational and some are not. But these are OUR own fears. We have ownership over our fears and only can either decide to cave to our fears or fight back against the fears that inhabit our souls. But there is something, or rather, someone worse than our fears.

Who could it be you ask?

These types decide to manipulate and feel the need to pour gasoline on our fears for their own self-aggrandizement. Such types can be labeled sociopathic, psychotic, narcissistic, manipulative, or if a male, in possession of a Freudian physical shortcoming, in which they feel is grossly inadequate and to make up for the lack of size and find the only way to "feel big" is to make others feel small.

One can even say that this type of person is so overcome with their own fears, that their fears  control them, that the only way to make themselves feel a modicum of being fearless is to project their fears onto others, to make themselves feel powerful and important. They feel it is better to bring others down to their level of living in the gutter, rather than trying to move out and letting the sunlight expose them for what they really are.

As ATR's we are constantly living with our antennae in a constant state of alert. We go around wondering if this is the day they are going to get us. Is this the right school I am in? Will the principal or field supervisor judge me objectively? Will I have a bathroom key? Am I still a good teacher? Am I still an adequate human being?

Are the DOE and the UFT in cahoots against me and my fellow ATR's?

Yes, we need reassurance while needing the ability to be in control of our destinies. It is a powerful balancing act. How do we toe the line between the two? How do we "play the game," while at the same time keep the dignity we so deserve along with the ability to stand up for ourselves?

I know of one thing that does not accomplish either goal. Fear mongering.

Sadly in our ATR world there are, or is it "is," an entity so bereft of any empathetic values, so attuned into itself that the only way It feels it can succeed is by scaring the shit out of others and look down at the carnage It has created with a smile.

This disturbing email addressed to ATR's came across the desk of The Crack Team recently.


From: It <Pennywise@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 2:12 PM
Subject: IMPORTANT- 1 minute ATR Survey
To:

Good afternoon,

     Whether you are now still an ATR, provisionally placed or just hired permanently this year, please take a quick moment to fill out this important ATR Survey. There is chatter that the DOE is releasing the names of all ATRs to a hedge fund backed parent group looking to attack ATRs in the press. They have already started last year in an effort to paint ATRs as sub par educators. We to counter their attacks and false claims with the truth.

Click here and take the survey by Friday please. The data we collect will mean less if only a few us contribute. Your names and email addresses will not be shared out. Results are listed at the bottom of the survey page.

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

Let's make one thing clear. This chatter, this thing that hedge funds are seeking out the names of ATR's is clear bullshit. Actually, this movement is being led by Students FirstNY and you can read the FOIL request here.  Even if the hedge funds are seeking out the names the DOE will not provide them voluntarily. This information comes to The Crack Team from very high up. Do not worry. Do not let the darkness of It control your emotions.

It had lofty goals, lofty plans, and worse, lofty promises. What has It had to show for all It has claimed? A .000 batting average. Nothing. Zero. Bupkus.

As Kirk said to Khan...

"but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target! 

 What ATR's are getting in this email is a falsehood sent by a false self-anointed deity and just a desperate method to sign up others to It's flailing failure of a movement.

ATR's will not be played for fools or marks, and certainly won't be the targets of grifters or scheisters.

BREAKING NEWS!! ATR Found Inefficient and Corrected Immediately!!!!!

The following comes to you from the files of, "This Shit Can't Be Made Up!"

A disturbing story came across the news desk of The Crack Team recently. It is so disturbing, so vile, so inane, we didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, or to spew chunks.

An ATR shared with us about their school which is being run by, as we were told, "nitpicking micro-managers (Administrators) who are up your ass everyday and in your room 2-3 times looking for something to provide 'actionable feedback."

Eventually one of these micro-managers found something so abhorrent, so revolting what this ATR had been doing it necessitated a quick "strategy conference."

The AP informed the ATR that handouts were being passed out the wrong way!

OH MY GOD!!!! THE HORROR OF IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!

Wrong way? Does this mean with the wrong hand? I'm left-handed living in a right-handed world. When I pass out handouts (rexos) I hold the papers in my right hand and use my left hand to pass them out. Surely, this is a disciplinary offense?

Could it be the ATR did not flick the wrist properly? Or maybe did not center the handout correctly on the desk? Dear Lord, maybe a morning of PD on Election Day can rectify this problem.

So what really was the issue?

The ATR was chastised because it had taken 75 seconds to pass out the handouts. One minute and 15 seconds.

The AP shared with the ATR that these 75 seconds resulted in a lost of "quality learning" time that which over a year can result in the loss of several periods of learning.

The ATR was corrected. Kinda like in the manner in which The Shining when the Jack Nicholson was told to correct his wife.

The ATR was told to have handouts in piles per table groups and have the table captains walk up to pick them out and then hand them out at their tables. 

So here's the deal. How do we shave off the time and help this ATR pass out the handout in a quicker, more efficient manner that not only makes sense but is much more efficient?

This does not seem very efficient. What will that save, 3.75 seconds (Don't laugh. The Crack Team has tested out this scenario at The Crack Team's Educational Research Labs in Yonkers)?

The ATR can get one of those cannon things that shoot T-shirts at sporting events. Nah, can only do one at a time and will waste time loading it.

The ATR can stand in the middle of the class, or rather at this school the "Learning Environment," and throw the handouts up in the air and hope the all float to each student. Nah.

The Crack Team invested many hours on this one and came up with a solution. It is so simple and so plausible.

We have instructed the ATR to go to the science lab during the next thunderstorm and stand by many different chemicals. To ensure a lightning strike on the aforementioned chemicals the ATR, along with help from the school's science teacher, will build a lightning rod from the chemicals, out the window, and up to the roof of the school. During the storm lightning will hit the rod, come down through it to the chemicals which then will spill all over the ATR. At this moment the ATR will soon be blessed with speed as fast as light. Either that or wind up in 1955.

Or the ATR can go back in time to before Krypton exploded, knock out Jor-El and Lora and throw Kal-El out of the ship and blast off towards earth and have the true effects of the yellow Sun. Yeah, I know. This idea is kind of silly and unrealistic. The first idea is better.

Let's see the UFT come up with this kind of out of the box thinking.

God Damn PTSD

So I spent the beginning of a school year in a school (except for the 2 hours back in 2013 until I was served papers) for the first time since 2013. Did my best to lay low, stayed quiet, helped out. Asked if I can go to lunch, stayed late on Tuesday, asked if I could have coffee when breakfast was served yesterday. Did what I had to do. Until this afternoon.

"Mr Zucker, please report to the main office. Mr Zucker, please report to the main office."

Oh, oh I thought. Did I do something?

As I was heading down to the office I racked my brain on what I possibly could have done.

Had I left early for lunch today? Just before I got outside I looked at my watch and it said 11:29:35 AM. Maybe I should have waited another 15 seconds.

I had clocked in a few minutes early and still had time to run across the street and pick up my pre-ordered breakfast. I was back in the cafeteria by 8 AM.

Maybe I just didn't  sign the acknowledgement that I had gotten the chancellor's regulations in yet even though we were told that we had until Friday.

Maybe I had left the toilet seat up?

Whatever it was it had to be bad.

I got to the office and the new AP was there. I asked her what I did. She said with a smile, "Nothing, just go in (principal's office) and we'll talk." OK, I thought.

So I walked in and the principal was standing at her door. I again asked if I had done anything and she said, with a smile, "Of course not," and in I walked.

However, the other AP was sitting at the conference table. Hmmm, what is going on I thought to myself. Something must.

I scoured the conference table for anything with my name on it. Looking for an A-420 form. An anecdotal. Something. In my mind I am thisclose to asking if I need the CL here with me. My heart is racing. I am conjuring all these scenarios in my mind. What is making this worse is they are taking THEIR TIME TO TELL ME WHY I WAS THERE!!!

Finally (WHEW!), the new AP sits down as well as the principal and they tell me what they needed me for.

The new 7th grade ELA teacher is having license issues and will be unable to start tomorrow. Until he gets things rectified I will cover his schedule.

That's it? Guess what I unclenched when I was told?

I am cool with that. The new AP took some time and shared with me what to do for the first two days and when I told her that I want to reach out to her again tomorrow for more assistance she was quite welcoming and nice about it.

Having never taught 7th grade ELA in the past I took time this evening to watch Dead Poet's Society which was coincidentally on tonight for some inspiration. Perhaps I will fair better than Mr Keating.

I know I was being irrational even at the time I was being irrational I rationalized that I was being irrational. But this is how it is for me now and will be for...I have no idea.

This is a classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And I consider this mild. I know of a very dear teacher friend of mine that vomits and can't get out of bed. But we all deal with PTSD in our own ways.

I hate this feeling. I hate when someone, or rather and administrator, just wants to say hi to me, all my bodily functions feel as if they will go awry. Gratefully, I have yet to lose control of said functions.

I am sure there are many more NYC teachers other than myself and my friend who have been through the ringer in the same situation and just as many who have PTSD worse much much worse.

What makes all those NYC teachers who are suffering with PTSD dven a sadder story is that for most, the actions, or inactions, of the NYCDOE are the cause of their suffering. But as usual, there is no accountability.

This is unacceptable. Teachers should not have to go through their careers with the burden of PTSD. Don't teachers have to deal with enough?

But people on high look down at those with PTSD. It can't be seen, it can't be touched. So you mustn't then have it. That is unless you are a veteran or a cop or a first responder.

But if you're a teacher there are no resources offered to you and you are told you need to get over it and put on that brave face at 8:15 AM every day.


Yeah, it is tough. But NYC teachers are tough. We can and will survive this.