Collateral Damage: Black Males Will Have To Wait: Legacy Is More Important Than Kids.

 

A teacher, a parent and a sullen student were talking in the main office. The teacher was showing the “late” book to the parent, the student was late almost every day to the first period Global Studies Regents prep class. The parent, in work clothes was telling his son that if he was late to his job he would lose pay. The student couldn’t care less, “Yah, yah, yah, can I leave now?”

This black male was more interested in Dead Prez’s They School lyrics or Boston Celtic star Paul Pierce making gang signs to an opponent.

 

The Afro-American male is an endangered species. As Bob Herbert writes about the joblessness rates for black male dropouts.

 

For dropouts, the rates of joblessness are staggering. For black males who left high school without a diploma, the real jobless rate at various times over the past few years has ranged from 59 percent to a breathtaking 72 percent.

 

And joblessness leads to staggering incarceration rates, in spite of more than a decade of a burgeoning economy.

 

Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990’s and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20’s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30’s, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.

 

What has the Klein administration done to address this crisis?

 

Joel Klein will be speaking next week at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, he hails his accomplishments as

 

During Klein’s tenure, the district has started dozens of small high schools, worked aggressively to remove ineffective teachers, created an autonomy zone for high-performing schools, reworked problematic collective bargaining provisions to promote teacher performance pay, instituted an A through F grading system for every school, encouraged the formation of charter schools, and overhauled the department’s human resources and information technology systems.

 

He appears prouder of fighting teachers and their union than helping a disappearing species, black males.

 

The chancellor’s stock speech avers, “Education is a Civil right” and sees his administration as the continuation of Brown v. Board of Education … he hallucinates.

 

As a litigator he sees every struggle as a monumental take no prisoners battle … he fought Microsoft, won a Pyrrhic victory, and fled. He sees the teachers union as the next Microsoft, the giant to be slain. His public relations acolytes keep secret files on critics, who he sees as enemies. Every press release spins the achievements of Tweed, no matter the reality. Union activists who criticize a principal are sent to the gulag – the star chamber is back!

 

The Klein administration invented a budget cut war: creating a crisis to impose his will on the school system. For the next two weeks parents, school advocates, teachers, their union and elected officials will jousting over the same old issue: should a chancellor have unrestrained powers to do as he pleases? no checks and balances? The battle is being fought in the thinks tanks, on the blogs, and, in the streets.

 

The crisis of the disappearing black male teenager will just have to wait.

A Willie Horton Strategy: Klein Plays the Race/Class Card As His Crown Totters

 

 

“What Klein is doing is cynical, condescending  and nasty … trying to break up the Keep the Promises parent/elected official/union coalition by dividing parents by race and class,” says a perceptive friend.

 

Back in 1994 the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) filed a lawsuit challenging the New York State educational funding formula. The case wended it’s way through the courts until Judge DeGrasse sustained the suit. It took more years as the case was appealed and on to the legislature. Last year the legislature passed the Contract for Excellence law, establishing a formula to direct funds to the neediest children.

 

But, Joel Klein is extremely unhappy. I guess we missed the coronation, where Mike passed along the scepter and orb.

 

 NYS Regent Meryl Tisch is quoted in the NY Times

 

Ms. Tisch called the chancellor’s arguments about the budget cuts “bogus,” saying, “I understand that he wants to decide where to spend the money, but nobody appointed him czar.”

 

The New York State budget, in accordance with the Contract for Excellence, provided sufficient dollars. However, the Mayor decided to sharply reduce funding to schools, and, Joel Klein, in sharp disagreement with the funding formula required by the State, has decided to pit white/Asian parents against Black/Hispanic parents, middle class against less affluent parents.

 

To be blunt: he has played the race/class card.

 

Unless you bow to my threats, avers Joel, I am imposing sharp cuts on the Stuyvesants, the Midwoods, the schools in Bayside, in Staten Island, and, increasing funds to the poorest and neediest schools, housing poor students of color.

 

The State specifically provided dollars to funds NYC schools in accordance with the CFE lawsuit settlement. The Mayor, however, is not passing along adequate dollars to the Department of Education, and, the Chancellor, in disagreement with State law, who was a guest speaker at the Al Sharpton National Action Alliance (http://www.adl.org/special_reports/nap.asp), has decided to use Sharpton tactics … in reverse.

 

Rather than establishing a “hold harmless,” a budget formula that assures that no school will lose dollars, he creates panic, and clearly sets white/Asian/middle class parents again black/Hispanic/poor parents …

 

It is despicable, and not surprising …

 

The Chancellor has been losing skirmish after skirmish, it will be interesting to see who blinks … will the Governor and the State legislature fold and change the funding formula? Will the Mayor fold and cough up additional dollars? Will the City Council find dollars to avoid cuts …? Will parents clash? or, will all of the above, become an ever stronger more unified coalition …

 

It looks like Willie’s days at Shea may be numbered … I wonder about Joel’s tenure at Tweed?

Skirmishes and Wars: Governance and Schools at a Crossroads.

 

Seemingly ever few weeks another skirmish erupts, a Klein initiative with the response by parents, electeds, advocacy organizations and teachers. Klein spins in the Daily News and the Post and, as a speaker, across the nation … the loosely formed public school “coalition” organizes the troops, and fights back …

 

The NYS ELA and Math scores will be out shortly (individual schools have their own scores but the SED has not released the scores publicly) … rumor has it that scores are up across the state. Klein will laud his efforts, others will point out that all scores rose … proving nothing.

 

On a nationwide basis our schools are falling behind. Bob Herbert  highlights the rather depressing national data.

 

“International comparisons rank the United States a stunningly unimpressive eighteenth for high school graduation rates, a lackluster ranking of fifteenth for high school reading assessments among 15-year-olds in developed countries, and an embarrassing 25th for high school math.”

Those are not the marks of a society with a blissful future. Four years of college is becoming a prerequisite for a middle-class quality of life and we’re having trouble graduating kids from high school.

The 2006  Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial world-wide test of 15-year-old schoolchildren’s scholastic performance, scores comparing nations from around the world, and are distressing for our kids.

Even when comparing gifted students, the black-white achievement gap continues to widen.

Why are our schools falling behind? What aren’t we doing? What can we do better, or differently?

Everyone seems to have an answer.

A National Governors Association report suggests abandoning teacher salary schedules based on length of service and base salary increases on student achievement.

The free marketeers look to charter schools and vouchers.

The Bush administration is using the punitive No Children Left Behind rubric and the national teacher unions, as well as many states and school boards fight back.

Others aver that we should explore paying poor families for “positive” behaviors. 

School systems are funded by local communities, and the city administrators, the mayors, set forth budgets and, are ultimately responsible for the functioning of schools. The days of school boards running schools and mayor funding schools, with no interaction, are rapidly disappearing.

In Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, New York and an ever rowing list of cities mayors are taking the responsibility of both funding and running school systems.

William Thompson, the NYC Comptroller, and a presumed candidate in the 2009 mayoral election, who was recently honored by the teacher union, is a supporter of mayoral control, albeit not the current model.

Public schools are under assault and the assault will not abate until schools begin to show progress. I frequently hear teachers cry, “if they will only leave us alone.” It’s not going to happen.

If mayors and parents and advocacy groups and teachers cannot found a common ground, a method of working together, and, if schools continue to falter the “assaulters” will change the system.

Those who continue to look to the past, and wish for what was, will be consumed by the future.

“Legal Graft:” Sacrificing Kids for the Larger Goal, Weakening/Destroying the Teacher Union

 

 

How do you define a “conflict of interest”?

 

If a legislator serves on the Banking Committee and works for a law firm that does business with the State we bemoan the moral and ethical, although not legal, conflict of interest, sometimes referred to as “legal graft.”

 

If a not-for-profit that strongly, publicly supports Department of Ed policy also receives millions of dollars from the Department, is that also a “moral and ethical” conflict of interest?

 

The New Teacher Project (TNTP) testified for the Department at the 2005 Contract Negotiations Fact Finding, opposing seniority transfers and supporting the Open Market Transfer system. They issued a Report supporting the plan. A week ago they issued another Report supporting laying off ATRs who do not acquire a job through the Open Market system within 18 months of excess.  TNTP also receives millions of dollars from the Department for assisting in running the Chancellor Fellow’s Program. Is this also a kind of “legal graft”?

 

A little history:

 

* about 20 years ago a small high school in Queens made a proposal to the union … they could opt-out of the seniority transfer system and substitute what came to be called the School Based Option (SBO) Personnel and Transfer Plan. The union supported the plan, which continued to grow in popularity – by 2003 more than half of all schools had chosen the SBO plan.

 

* the SBO Personnel and Transfer Plan established a committee made up of a majority of teachers, they posted criteria, interviewed and selected candidates, unsuccessful candidates could file grievances that were resolved in an expedited fashion. The union, in an awkward situation, gave advise to SBO committees and represented teachers

 

* seniority transfer rules were narrow – only half of all vacancies were available for seniority transfers, a “vacancy” was defined as a position that became available because of teachers’ retirement or resignation. For example, in a “desirable” district, with 1500 teachers, only 10-15 positions would appear on the Seniority Transfer List.

 

* no more than 5% of teachers could transfer out of any school, teachers needed three consecutive satisfactory ratings, in some instances teachers in shortage areas could not transfer.

 

During the 2005 contract negotiations Klein kept referring to that “totally unsatisfactory teacher,” who made a deal with his principal to transfer, who was imposed upon another school. The problem: no one could find that teacher … and, why did the principal rate the teacher satisfactory for three consecutive years?

 

We are in the third Open Market “season,” many, many thousands of teachers have moved from school to school. Aside from new schools phasing in under Article 18 of the Agreement, the principal is the sole determinant of who gets hired.

 

Due to the restructuring of District 79 (the abolition of numerous GED programs) and the creation of GED Plus hundreds of jobs were eliminated, many of these teachers, who had only taught in GED programs, and were not absorbed by other schools, became ATRs.

 

Thousands and thousands of student GED seats were eliminated.

 

Older teachers from phase out schools, who have higher salaries, and impact school budgets, also could not find positions.

 

The Internet has been abuzz with comment:

 

 Eduwonkette looks at the give and take and sniffs something afoul at Tweed.

 

Leo Casey at Edwize hammers the TNTP data and muses about their cozy relationship with Tweed.

 

Tim Daly at TNTP defends. 

 

Eduwonk sees Tweed winning the struggle in the long run.

 

 The UFT is going to have to deal on this at some point and their position most likely gets weaker as time goes on.

There are basic unanswered questions:

 

How has the Open Market System impacted “hard to staff” schools?

 

The Open Market/Fair Student Funding (FSF) ”theory” is that experienced, more effective teachers will move to traditionally “hard to staff” schools … what does the data show?

 

Have teachers fled “more difficult” for “less difficult” schools?

 

There are hundreds of “low achieving” schools, whether we use the NCLB SURR/SINI designation or the DOE School Progress Reports … are experienced, “more effective” teachers moving into, or, away from “more difficult” schools?

 

Who is “taking advantage” of the Open Market? new teachers? experienced teachers?

 

A key to improving student achievement is teacher retention … has Open Market, and FSF, created a more stable school system?

 

For those of us who see more of Pinocchio than Dewey at the top of Tweed it appears that the dustup over ATRs is simply part of a strategy to weaken the union … and … has nothing to do with kids … but, then again, hasn’t that always been the case with this administration?

Sean Bell, Rubber Rooms, and “Guiliani Time”: Why Do Bloomberg/Klein Criminalize Teachers and Punish Their Students?

A teacher catches a burglar in his apartment, subdues him and calls 911. The neighbors gather and applaud, the burglar has been ransacking other apartments, the police arrive, the burglar accuses the teacher is hitting him, the cop says, “I’m not a judge …,” arrests the burglar and the teacher, who spends a few months in a rubber room.

 

While driving home a teacher is stopped by a police car, and accused of passing a stop sign. The teacher tells the officer, “There is no stop sign on the corner.” The officer says he “smells marijuana,” searches the car, finds a hunting knife in the trunk, and arrests the teacher for “weapons and drug possession,” and, he spends months in a rubber room.

 

The Guiliani/Bloomberg administration policy: “stop and frisk,” arrest first, overcharge policies, all put in place to reduce crime, result in huge numbers of arrests that are eventually dismissed, or, adjourned contemplating dismissal.

 

Of course, if you are a male of color, you are quite aware of this policy. Is there a male of color in this city who has not had a run-in with police officers? Half a million recorded “stop and frisks,” and, only one quarter are reported!

 

Rather than supporting their employees the Department supports city policy that avers every male of color is a potential criminal.

 

Rather than advocating for a policy that would adjudicate teacher arrests in a few days the Department allows teachers to sit in Keinjail and kids to suffer.

 

Over six hundred teachers are sitting in rubber rooms awaiting the resolution of their cases. The NY Daily News reports that 155 have been “arrested” and 134 have been accused of “corporal punishment.”

 

Why does it take months to determine accusations of corporal punishment? Principals or investigators should interview accusers or witnesses within days and make a judgement.

 

Teachers who are arrested for ”serious misconduct” (a variety of felonies specifically defined in the Agreement) may be “suspended without pay” after an expedited hearing before a “probable cause” arbitrator.

 

 Probable cause exists when evidence or information which appears reliable discloses facts or circumstances making it likely that such conduct occurred and that such person committed the conduct. To establish probable cause, the investigator assigned to the matter must be present and testify under oath before the arbitrator. The Board may also be required to produce signed statements from the victim or witnesses, if any. Thereafter, the Respondent shall have an opportunity to respond orally to the offer of proof. The arbitrator may ask relevant questions or may make further inquiry at the request of Respondent. The hearing shall not require testimony of witnesses nor shall cross-examination be permitted.

 

Why can’t a similar process be used for corporal punishment accusations?

Determinations can be made in weeks, instead of months or years: the teacher can be cleared and returned to class, receive a critical letter in their file and returned to class, or, brought up on charges.

Kids will have teachers returned to classrooms instead of months with day-to-day substitutes.

 

How many teachers in rubber rooms will be brought up on charges? How many will be found guilty?

 

The answer: very, very few.

 

If so, why does the Department continue to support policies that impact so negatively on kids and teachers?

 

Why does the Department support policies that waste tens of millions of dollars?

 

It is a sad commentary, the Department is more concerned with image than impact.

 

Their public posture: We are tough! We fight the union! We defend kids from the incompetent/ dangerous!

 

More and more the Klein model ressembles the corporations that move manufacturing “offshore,” work with despots to avoid/subdue/destroy unions, and use public relations to market their “product,” manufactured by workers in virtual peonage.

 

The Klein Department is a trompe d’oiel, masking a mean, uncaring cabel only concerned with their future.

“Inherent Tensions,” Relegating Parents and Teachers to Servility Destroys the School Budgeting Process.

   

 In a few days principals will see their 08-09 budget pop-up on their Galaxy screen. One of the few achievements of the current administration is the introduction of technology into school management. Principals will begin to grapple with the bundle of dollars in this era of school-based budgeting, which, is not an invention of the current guys.

 

Edmonton, Alberta is the “home” of school based budgeting. More than thirty years ago Edmonton began to devolve dollars to schools, and school communities decided how to spend their budget. Edmonton began to run conferences explaining their philosophy, and, invited visitors to visit their schools and speak with their principals and teachers. 

 

In the mid-nineties I had the opportunity to visit Edmonton and participate in a school-based budgeting conference.

 

Chancellor Rudy Crew, and his deputy Harry Spence supported a pilot in a number of school districts: driving budget decisions to schools. A program evaluation supported the notion that driving dollars to schools, and, training parents, teachers and principals to build budgets, improved student achievement.

 

The effective efforts were in districts that conducted in depth training. In District 22 “Training sessions are open to all who wish to enroll, and are held at various times to ensure that members of the planning teams are trained to fully participate in planning and budgeting.”

 

“School-based management has become a place where people talk very honestly about how to improve the schools,” said school board member Anne McKinnon.

 

The District 22 Superintendent said ” …the inherent tension between knowledgeable, trained SLT members and the principal is ‘necessary if we’re going to change the culture of an organization’ “

 

“Inherent tension” is an excellent phrase; parents, teachers and principals discussing and debating policy and budget.

 

Unfortunately the Klein administration has taken a huge step backwards. Empowering principals and relegating parents and teachers to servile roles is the antithesis of teamwork.

 

The current Galaxy system is user friendly, it guides the user, has many prompts, prevents money from being misallocated, and, is quite flexible.

 

The core questions: Do principals have the experience and knowledge to create educational programs that are appropriate to their student populations? Will excluding parents and teachers help or hinder student progress?

 

Each year schools are faced with a range of basic issues:

 

* should you reduce class size in the first grade or hire another assistant principal?

* should you create another pre-K class, hire another Literacy Coach, or buy an AUSSIE trainer?

* do you need another Dean, or, another Guidance Counselor?

* what textbooks should you buy?

* should you create an after-school tutorial program? a Saturday tutoring program? purchase vendor services?

 

How do principals go about making these decisions? Who participates in the process? How do we know if these policy/budgeting decisions “worked”?

 

The disaster that Tweed created is to place all power in the hands of the principal, many of whom have limited experience as teachers and/or school administrators.

 

State law requires that principals create 110.11 committees, what we call School Leadership Teams (SLT). Tweed, however, has trivialized SLTs, all decisions in schools are principal driven. Some principals, too few, include their parents and teachers in the process.

 

School Support Organizations are distant from schools, and, have their own agendas.

 

The budgeting process should begin within schools, the SLTs must be the core of the process. Superintendents and their staffs, now invisible, must monitor and guide the process in collaboration with the District Leadership Teams (DLT).

 

With the spector of budget cuts hovering over schools, principals will have to grapple with insufficient budgets. SLTs empower parents and teachers while not diminishing the role of principals.

 

The current administration is wedded to a failed policy, hopefully the new Governance Law will return the school system to a collaborative path.

“The Gang of Two,” Why Those Who Cannot Remember the Past Are Condemned to Repeat It

 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

 

 

Corporations measure success by their stock price, and, stock price is determined by the “bottom line,” profit.

 

Some corporations increase profits by reducing costs, moving production “off shore,” seeking lower and lower labor costs by moving from country to country. Others, merge with other corporations, and reduce costs by cutting duplicative jobs.

 

The measure of success in schools are standardized test scores and graduation rates.  Non-cognitive behaviors: responsibility, dedication, self-control, empathy, respect, etc. are difficult to measure, and, useless to the Tweed CEOs. Of course, they may be far better predictors of success than measurable cognitive behaviors.

 

One ”measure of success,” is beyond the control of the Tweed masters. The standard tests are constructed by New York State, or, NAEP, by national organizations. The SED and the DOE continues to battle over the “definition” of graduation rates. At a recent panel at the New School University Regent Meryl Tisch, responding to Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf’s graduation rate numbers, called him “arrogant,” for ignoring previously agreed upon definitions. 

 

In spite of the public posture of restoring the promise of Brown v Board of Education Klein sees the destruction of his “enemies” as his legacy.

 

The Klein core belief is simple: a disposable teaching force.

 

*  discard senior teachers: they are “expensive,” and, more difficult to manage. The “fast food” model: train ”employees” as quickly as possible, squeeze as much as possible out of them, discard them and begin again.

 

* “keep fear alive:” the threat of closing schools keeps teachers in fear of losing their jobs, and makes them “teach harder,” and, do “whatever is necessary” to increase test scores.

 

* the permanent revolution: keep battling the union, unrelenting warfare, try to isolate the union from their own members, from the influential foundations and policy makers.

 

* attacks on tenure: with a goal of weakening, and, eventually eliminating tenure.

 

The Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) “issue” was created by the Department, part of a larger strategy. As UFT Vice President Leo Casey describes the union has proffered a range of strategies to resolve the issue. The Department created the “problem,” and has no interest in resolving the problem.

 

Forty years ago, in May of 1968 Mayor John Lindsay decided to support a strategy to destroy the teacher’s union. In 1967 Lindsay and Ford Foundation created three experimental clusters of schools, Some sociologists saw “community control,” the empowerment of the poorest, as an answer to growing civil unrest of the 60’s and a path to creatively ending the cycle of poverty, and, Lindsay used this research to support his attack on the teacher union.

 

The firing of a group of white teachers precipitated a series of teacher strikes that kept the school closed in September and October of 1968.

 

Instead of destroying the union Shanker emerged from the strike much more powerful, and, Lindsay’s run for the presidency in 1972 was sidetracked by teachers.

 

In 1965 Lindsay was the “golden boy,” a liberal Republican JFK clone. Rather than changing the face of politics the 1968 strike destroyed his career.

 

As Bloomberg and Klein pursue the next steps in their careers they forget that those insignificant pesky teachers, and their allies, public school parents, are tugging real hard on that proverbial rug.