A Few Good Male Role Models Are Needed

I never have believed that there is a crisis in education. I mean, a crisis has been created, but that doesn't count. But this created crisis has kept us from discussing and solving the real crisis that is happening right under our noses. The crisis of the family unit, and in particular (nothing against women) the dearth of male role models in the inner cities in our students lives.

Having that dad at home, or even just full time in a child's life, particularly a boys life, has such a tremendous impact, does so much good, that it makes our jobs as educators easier.

But we as educators, unlike the Republicans, choose not to legislate morals or families. We can only do what we can in our little corner of the world, and we have more power than any political party or politician to ensure that our students, especially in elementary education, have that male role model as a teacher.

So what is being done about it? At this time during the summer months principals throughout the City of New York are looking to fill vacancies. Even the charter schools are. Vacancies with new teachers, new blood, fresh ideas. These teachers will be the face of education for their students this coming September.

Unfortunately, most of these teachers will be female (in elementary schools), and white. Oh, and young. Yes, the students of color will identify with the white teachers, increasingly TFA, and young. How could they not? Most of these fresh, white, and young, not to mention elitist young teachers do have something in common with the boys and girls of color in the inner city. Most of these fresh, white, and young, not to mention elitist young teachers have employed, or their parents have, a person of color as a housekeeper or landscaper. It is almost symbiotic.

Never mind that young James has never had a father figure in his life and his life can turn either way. What he needs to see is a successful young white person named Courtney from the Main Line by way of Villanova share with him that the best way to be successful is to have a rich daddy that instills liberal white guilt into her so that James can say, "Dang, White people are whom I should look up to."

Or Jasmine, whose dad only shows up when he wants to get it on with her mom and wishes upon all hope that there was a positive male in her life can't look up to Lance from Yale by way of Hotchkiss, by way of the Vineyard (summers only). Yes, Lance sets a great example of his dedication by looking forward to the time when his commitment to TFA is done in two years and he will be applying to business school. That is if he can get by the weekends doing Jell-O shots on the UES.

Yeah, there used to be a time when if you were male, and better yet a male of color, you can get a job in education at the snap of a finger practically. People, actually veteran educators saw that there was a need to lead and model for the students who through no fault of their own live in a matriarchy. These veteran educators did not give a shit about future salaries of teachers, their pension costs, their thought process. All that mattered was getting that male in that class. Getting these students to see that there was more than the streets they live on in this world. The male teachers of yesteryear were their paths to a unlimited world of possibilities.

Now all our students are stuck with is the politics and business of education which will just entrap them even more and continue them on a vicious cycle in the downward spiral of education brought on by today's so called educational leaders.

We Need To End This Liberal Enabling of Bad Behavior in Our Schools

My son turned 11 years old today. Time sure does fly. Part of me wishes that he would have stayed 5 years old forever, the other half of me can't wait to see what kind of man he grows up to be.

I remember when my wife was pregnant we were discussing how we would be as parents. Basically it came down to that our household will not be a democracy, but rather a benign authoritative junta. What we say goes. Wait, before you think I am a crazy person, hear me out. Firstly, we pick and choose our battles. Not everything has to have a fly swatter used. We have done everything we could to teach him to question, think, and have the right amount of skepticism. We both have no problem in him questioning and/or asking us for an explanation. If he wants to try to change our minds about something, well he better come up with a damn good argument. But, some things are non-negotiable.

He is a great kid. Polite, respectful of not only his peers, but of adults as well. If there is a problem at school it is nipped in the bud through punishment, restrictions, etc.. We always, always, tell him we love him, and never condemn HIM, rather the action. We also expect an effort in school as well as life. But the boundaries are there and only my wife and I decide when to move them out.

Why am I bringing this up? Because the lack of discipline in our schools is part of the problem of why education is slowly being sucked into some vortex in which all matter disappears.

We keep on getting these liberal, namsy pansy administrators, who instead of wishing to take a bullhorn and a baseball bat through the halls like Joe Clark, would rather coddle and enable our students for their behavior and the lack of discipline they get at home.

These administrator's come into our schools with some type of degree from exclusive education colleges and university's thinking that if "we just allow the students to express themselves, that it we just allow the student to have their safe emotional response, and give them hugs and kisses all will be good."

Bullshit.

I have had on more than one occasion, in fact many in which 3rd graders, 4th graders, 5th graders, have rebelled at their (and this is in their own words) soft teachers and said to me that they respect me because I draw the line, I am straight up. with them, I have cred. These are kids not of the street, but rather street smarts. They know when the are being bullshitted and conned. You can't go up to a 4th grade boy and say, "Oh wow, that is a nice drawing, you must feel really great about yourself to make such a beautiful drawing." I have seen crap like this first hand and you can see the kids face telling that liberal to "fuck off."

I have seen first year teachers lose control of their class in September and never to regain it because they come in thinking we will all be friends and the class is one big New England Town Meeting in which everyone has a say and everyone shares and listens. Guess what? It ain't gonna, nor has it ever, worked.

We need to bring back true discipline in the schools. Student, as well as parents, need to be held accountable. There should be two chances for any violent or severely disruptive misbehavior. Whether it be in the classroom, the yard, or the cafeteria. The NYC DOE Discipline Code is a joke. It should be done away with. It is there to prevent the DOE from litigious parents and to only enable more bad behavior in the schools. And this liberal crud we get from some of these exclusive education colleges in which everything is just a theory, and never put into practice, must be done away with.

I feel so much for these kids and the homes and situations they come from. Yes, there are so many issues to reckon with. But the first and best way to show them our love, that we care, is to draw those boundaries and be consistent with those boundaries we set up.

Kids want discipline. Kids want rules, expectations. The Bleeding Hearts only set them up for a lifetime of failure.

When A Strange Principal Calls

I loved seeing Uncle Mike not getting his way last week when in a act of having some balls, the state legislature stood up to him and his quest to publicly shame teachers by publishing our evaluations, and made evaluations only to parents on a request to know basis in the principal's office with the Cone of Silence activated.

Of course Uncle Mike is throwing a tantrum, which Leonie Haimson had a good snark at, by insisting, nay commanding, that principals will harass and harangue parents with phone calls (at least a million calls) letting them know that they can come in to see their children's teacher's evaluations.

We at SBSB wondered what such a system proposed by Uncle Mike might look back. Sit back and rub your chin and wonder as the picture get all wavy.........

High school student Jill Johnson is has just arrived at the Mandrakis's house to babysit their two sons. Dr Mandrakis and his lovely wife, Mrs are going out to dinner. They give Jill the telephone number of the restaurant and tell her that they might be going to the movies. They leave and Jill sits down and begins her homework. Suddenly, the phone rings.


"Have you checked the children's teacher's evaluation?" says the creepy male voice on the other end. Jill immediately hangs up. She wonders who might be calling. Again, the phone rings, the same voice again asks her if she checked the children. For a minute she thinks it is Dr Mandrakis, but thinks differently and locks all the doors and closes all the windows.


"Have you checked the children's teacher's evaluation?" This is now the seventh time this caller has called and this time she decides to call the cops. She speaks with an officer Sacker. He tells her that since he hasn't made a threat, or has used rude language that there is nothing the police can do. She understands and hangs up.


This time the caller again calls and asks more forcefully, "Why haven't you checked the children's teacher's evaluation?" This time Jill calls back and gets hold of Sacker. Sacker suggests that they put a trace on the phone, but Jill has to stay on for a minute with this man.


The phone rings, Jill answers, the voice speaks, "It's me. Why haven't you checked the children's teacher's evaluation?


Jill tells the caller, "I know who you are, the Mandrakis's will be home soon." 


"I know," replies the caller, "I can also see you." 


Jill is terrified, she hangs up and turns off all the lights. The phone rings yet again!


"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Jill howls into the receiver.


"Jill, this is Sergeant Sacker! Listen to me! We've traced the call. It's coming from within the house. A squad car's on its way over there now... just get out of that house!"


Jill hangs up. She stands frozen in shock. Several seconds  go by. She doesn't move. She runs for the door. She opens it, and to her surprise and relief a detective that looks like Charles Durning is at the door.

The caller, a deranged principal had broken into the Mandrakis's house and under took Uncle Mike's directive literally to heart.


The scene upstairs in the children's bedrooms made the most seasoned and toughest cops spew chunks. But Mandrakis children had copious copies of their teacher's evaluations not only plastered all over the walls, but Principal Duncan saw to it that copies were taped and stapled to their jammies as well.


Ordinarily in a situation like this a principal like Duncan would wind up in a mental hospital and be terminated from his job. But not in today's DOE. Principal Duncan was given six months off with pay to relax on Block Island and when he returned he was promoted to a cushy inside Tweed desk job along with the subsequent 15% pay raise.

Educational Martyrdom

How long are we just going to be pacifist and not take ownership of ourselves as educators, professionals, parents, friends in the war being waged against education? Critical mass is right around the corner and when the implosion happens we need to be the ones that survive, not the deformers.

Rallies, blogs, Twitter, picketing, etc... are nice. It works. But a little too slow. 
A new radical approach to destroying the deform movement must be the next step. And just what is this step?

Simple, we need a Martyr. Only a Martyr will succeed at where the movements, the groups, the organizations are not succeeding, or barely making a dent.

Now mind you, I  do not mean there should be any violence or that no one sacrifice their lives in the fight to save education. But, symbolically, figuratively, a Martyr shall lead us, a Martyr will save education, a Martyr will lead us to the promised land.

Where is our Rosa Parks? A Rosa Parks of education who refuses to be sent to the Rubber Room for carrying a Coke. A Rosa Parks who refuses to administer yet another senseless, pointless exam on their students. A parent, a community that refuses to to what the educrats demand.

Gandhi went on a hunger strikes to get the British out of India. He also was an inspiration to Martin Luther King in his enacting of civil disobedience. Both these men stood up for what they believed. Both this men martyred themselves, before they were killed, to do what is right. Where are our Gandhi's or King's? Look at the movements of the 60's and see what they accomplished through civil disobedience.

Look at what Bobby Sands did to bring attention to the IRA. He and several others not only went on a hunger strike, but died for what they believed. A hunger strike can succeed in stopping Bloomberg, Christie, Duncan, Obama, et. al. Do you think for a minute these cowards would allow someone, especially if it were a parent, to die? No! It would all ruin them politically.

We can even go the last radical route of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Their bed-in of 1969 in which they were advocating peace brought out everyone to support them. They got their message out there!

I am sure many would be reading this and saying, "Hey, put your money where your mouth is," and they would be correct. I should put my money where my mouth is.

I'm getting there. I can't believe the bullshit I see and hear everyday. The idiocy that is the NYC DOE is like Bizaro Superman. The bullshit lies from those in power claiming "students first." Everything I see, we all see around us is a crock of shit.

But I have a bigger horse in the race. My son. I want him to have a real education, a real learning experience through school. I want him to learning, not because of some teacher worship bullshit thing, but because he wants to. I want him to be a better student than I ever was. I want him to be a free thinker that always questions and asks "why?" I don't want him to become some animatron learning by rote and just memorizing facts.

We, parents, teachers,students, communities need to retake ownership of education. Only we, only you, can keep them from ruining our children's education and lives.

Planes, Trains, and Allegorical Deformers

Hey, do you ever think that John Candy and Steve Martin are allegorical to the deformers and the deform movement out there?

Let me be the first to explain.

Today as I was celebrating Father's Day with the traditional packing of ten years worth of stuff, my wife was saying something to me. What I still do not know, but in my ADD mind for what ever reason I conjured up the movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," in particular the scene in which John Candy is driving the car the wrong way down the Interstate with Steve Martin in the passenger seat. Get it? Deformers going the wrong way. We can say that John Candy represents Satan, er, I meant, Chris Christie, and Steve Martin represents GideonStein, or any two deformers that you wish.

You know if you think about it, Chris Christie is really nothing more than a shower ring salesman that dresses better than Dell Griffith.

In the car on the other side of interstate, heading in the same, albeit correct direction, are a couple (perhaps myself and TFT)warning our clueless duo that they, "are going the wrong way!" That if they don't change direction, "will kill someone!"

Of course Jon Candy believing he has done nothing amiss looks at the couple and not only questions their sanity and their sobriety, looks at Steve Martin and says, "how do they know which way we're going?" Well, if you take that allegorically, we as educators do know which way they are going and we do not like the direction and see that someone, or something is about to be killed.

TFT and myself, in fact all able minded educators know which way they are headed and the consequences that are looming. There is only one outcome for the deformers, the same that befitted John Candy and Steve Martin.

That the deformers will meet with the same fate. They will drive their misguided education car in between to tractor trailers whilst wetting themselves in the process. Chris Christie will be seen as Satan, and Gideon Stein as some scary looking skeleton.

Will Governor Andy Cuomo Show That He Has Balls On Evaluations?

What a horrible time to be Governor Andy. Here he is in the middle of a fight over releasing teachers evaluations. On one side he has teachers (not including the UFT because they already caved) and on the other side he has New York City super villain Uncle Mike and his henchman Sock Puppet Dennis Walcott wanting to shame and humiliate teachers in their ques to to diabolically take over the world of education. What is a governor to do?

There was a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of maturity from Governor Andy for a brief second in yesterday's Daily News. Governor Andy in his best transliteration of Mario said;

“To those people I say, really? Disclose all the evaluations for public employees?” added Cuomo. “Then how come you’re only singling out teachers? Where’s the policeman’s evaluation? Where’s the fireman’s evaluation? Where's the evaluation of the mayor’s staff, and the governor’s staff and the [Assembly] speaker’s staff?”

Yes, where, where, where????? Where are these evaluation of other public servants?

But as the hack Ken Lovett reported;

Fans of releasing the teacher evaluations publicly argue there is a difference between educators overseeing kids and other public workers.

And this ditty;

Cuomo agrees — but said he’s trying to come up with a plan that balances the teachers’ rights to privacy and parents’ right to know.

I like how Lovett refers to those that only wish to humiliate teachers as "fans," as if they are rooting for the Yankees or Mets, but I digress.

But what is Governor Andy to do? But more importantly, why is it that teachers must be shat upon time and time again? Why not cops?

Why not release NYPD police officers evaluations to the public? Isn't a citizen's right to know about the police officers arrest records, and patterns, important? What about any disciplinary records of these cops? What about complaints about cops? As a citizen living in a precinct would it not be beneficial to know which cops have made erroneous arrests, been disciplined, have had complaints made, or worse, have used their weapon once too often? Surely, a police officer using a gun the wrong way can end someone's life. I deem that worse than a student having that so called "bad teacher." 

While we are on the subject of cops, how about seeing the evaluations of the "house mouse?" Yes, that is the term given to that officer who sits around the precinct all day too chicken shit to go out on patrol.

Why can't we see the evaluations of firefighters? Would not one who is in a burning house wish to be rescued by someone not grossly overweight and who will be able to complete a rescue? 

What about doctors who are employed by the NYC Health and Hospitals? Should we not have an evaluation on how many patients have died when cared by these doctors? How many malpractice lawsuits have been filed? How many won? Lost? Settled?

Hey, while we are on a bender here, what about MTA bus drivers and motorman? We should all be able to see their safety records and evaluations. We entrust these people to get us to our destinations with safety. Why are we not able to see how they rate? Hell, let's throw in the captains of the Staten Island Ferry. Gosh darn it!

As far as politicians, they are evaluated by whether or not they get elected or re-elected, so why not throw open the books and let's look to see everyone of their donors and how it correlates to how they vote. That includes Governor Andy.

But it will never happen. Like the Jews in Nazi Germany were, teachers make great scapegoats to blame all of society's ills on. That, and the above mentioned professions are largely phallic based, and will be untouched by those making bad decisions who feel they have bad penises. Bashing teachers is just another misogynistic ploy by powerful men to keep women down.

The bullshit and hypocrisy that emanates from Gracie Mansion and Albany smells like New Jersey on a humid, hot summer day. The pollution needs to be cleaned up.

Whitney Tilson Makes a Fool Of Himself Yet Again

I'm late to the game and didn't catch all of what Alexander Russo wrote about Violet Nichols, but I sure read what Whitney Tilson had written in response. As usual Whitney, the Harvard grad has no idea how to write or think critically.

I feel like I am chasing a windmill every time I write about this asinine hedge fund manager that is Whitney. He is just so in love with his voice and his perturbed thoughts through his mangles thought process that I don;t know whether to laugh, cry or be angry. I know somewhere I read that DFER wished he could shut up for ten minutes.

Am I wrong for exposing Whitney's lack of higher order thinking skills and his inability to be empathetic to others? Or am I wrong to continually to go after him for it is so easy to show how warped and cursed his mind is. It's like me challenging a 2 year old to a 100 meter race. It's just not fair.

But anyway, all must be constant in the Universe and Whitney must yet be defiled and degraded again. Why? Because just like those nuts who must slow down every morning their is an accident on the Deegan, you just can't help it.

Whitney commenced his mental blabbering thusly; Ending LIFO is a critical first step to getting to what’s really necessary: that every principal has the full power to hire and fire every adult (not just teachers) in the school and he/she sees fit, just as managers in 99% of all businesses/organizations in America do (of course with protections for age, race, gender, etc. discrimination), including KIPP and most other successful schools I’ve seen.

Yeah. Every principal has the right to hire and fire whom they want. Sometimes its their best friend that can't manage a classroom. Sometimes it someone who has the correct, or rather, a more agreeable religion, skin color, sex, person who performs sex, kiss ass, etc... Get off your freaking high horse Whitney. A principal has the power. They just choose not to use it or use it properly. 


But education is not a business. Education is, well it is education. We're not selling widgets. I put this to Whitney Tilson, and I have asked this of your disciple Larry Sands countless times, do you support the end of LIFO for cops, firefighters, paramedics, sanitation workers, Post Office Employees, air traffic controllers? Oh the list can go on. But the reason there is LIFO is we take less pay for more job security.


Oh, and please do not bring KIPP up. The shit I heard and will expose in the coming weeks about the KIPP Academy in Concourse Village in The Bronx will not look good. 

Violet Nichols’ case highlights the Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter’s Tea party nature of the current system, in which all teachers (after 98% get tenure after 2-3 years) have a guaranteed job for life unless they convicted (not just indicted) for a major felony. In Nichols’s case, you seem to buy into the unwritten assumption that in order to let her go, there has to be an airtight, extremely well documented case against her – in other words, the burden of proof is on the principal/district to PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’s grossly incompetent.

So Violet Nichols never should have received tenure? Is this what Whitney is saying? Tenure is nothing but the right to due process. The above mentioned jobs have due process, they just don't call it tenure. I think Whitney might have some credibility if he walked up to a cop, or the next time his chauffeur got pulled over, and said to that cop, "LIFO for NYPD officers must end." Then, and only then will Whitney be allowed into the "Men With Testes Club."


Whitney, though a Harvard grad has yet to master the United States Constitution. THE GOVERNMENT, must prove its case against those charged. As American's we do not have to prove our innocence, the government must prove our guilt. Dang, I graduated from a SUNY school and know more than Harvard boy Whitney.

Ironic that Whitney is being investigated by the SEC and hopefully the US Attorney's office. One might wonder if Whitney is hiding behind a cadre of lawyers and those inconvenient rights that he deems not worthy of working class people like teachers.

This is ridiculous. It’s a privilege, not a right, to work in a school and teach children. If you want to guarantee mediocrity (or worse) across any organization, then set up a system in which everybody keeps their jobs, year in and year out, despite being mediocre (or worse). The key, of course, is to make sure that at the same time you give principals greater power to hire and fire, you also have to hold THEM accountable. I’m fully aware of how terrible some principals are and how some might abuse this new power, but it’s hard to see how a tyrannical principal who unfairly drives out great teachers, plays favorites, hires buddies and family members, etc. could ever have a successful school – so if you have a good system of accountability for the principals, then bad principals can be identified and removed, just like teachers.

It's a privilege?  What a condescending, patronizing, rich white boy, bullshitter turd blossom Whitney is. You sound worse than your BFF, or whatever weird pathological identifier you have for each other, Gideon Stein. Is it a privilege to have a 3rd grader throw a chair at your head? Is it a privilege to have a 14 year old threaten to shoot you after school? Or better yet, is it a privilege for others to entrust their life savings to Whitney and watch him piss it all away?

The problem is Principals, and those that are above them, do not get fired, they get promoted when they fuck up. Teachers are ostracized when we make a mistake. Dang, teachers are the waiters. The principals and administrators are the chefs who are putting the meal together. Whitney, when you truffles and caviar come out a tad askew do you blame the waiter or the chef?

You also seem to be buying into the unwritten assumption that schools exist primarily to create good middle-class jobs for adults when you write “No one wants to see middle-aged teachers moving in with their 20-something children, or going on welfare.” If your point is that we have to be cognizant that these issues are important from a public opinion and political standpoint, then I agree with you, but I’d hope we can agree that we should be hiring, evaluating, promoting, and, if necessary, firing teachers based on their performance, not how tough their life might be if they lose their job.

This will be a simple response. If you are going to fuck up someone's life you better do it for good reasons and not petty bullshit.  You better be damn right and have done everything in your power as a principal to have forestalled any termination. OK, 'nough said. 

The people who work for me understand that their continued employment depends on me being happy with them. If they fail to add value, have a bad attitude, aren’t team players, or just irritate me, then I can let them go AT ANY TIME AT MY DISCRETION. This may sound like a harsh system and I acknowledge that some employees are treated very poorly by tyrannical bosses, but that’s the way it is in the U.S. job market. If you are squeamish about it, consider the alternative: the sclerotic labor markets in Europe…


The people who work for you think you are a dick. OK? The Crack Team knows this. But it is your company, and more importantly, IT IS A BUSINESS!!! We are talking apples and oranges.  But T2 keeps on going down the toilet, when will Whitney do the honorable thing? As for the "sclerotic" labor market in Europe it is because of the Whitney's of the world have manipulated the financial markets. We have Whitney Tilson to thank.

I know Whitney is just a symptom of the deform pooh pooh heads. But I am done. There must be some kind of show to expose Whitney. There needs to be an organized march at his  5th Ave home to let his neighbors and everyone see what a truly mean, nasty, megalomaniac person Whitney is.