Friday, February 14, 2020

TODAY AT 5:00 P.M. IS THE DEADLINE IN NYS TO CHANGE PARTY REGISTRATIONS TO VOTE IN APRIL 28 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

In 2016, some of my colleagues at Middle College discovered too late that they were not registered Democrats and because New York has a closed primary, they could not vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary.

We want to remind everyone that today, February 14, is the deadline to change party registration in NYS to be able to vote in the April 28 Presidential Primary. I know many voters are independents. It is nothing to be ashamed of not wanting to belong to any of the parties, however you have to be a Democrat to vote for Bernie or another candidate and to vote NO to Bloomberg. Every teacher should vote against Bloomberg who is a two time George W Bush supporting, Iraq War Neo Con Republican who funded the Republicans in the New York State Senate who tried to destroy public education by promoting charter schools and ending reverse seniority based layoffs for NYC teachers. There's so much more including the racial profiling with stop and frisk and horrible labor contracts we toiled under while he was mayor that we have never recovered from. I have nightmares thinking about a Bloomberg presidency.

From New York State Board of Elections:
Voter Registration Deadlines
April 28, 2020 Presidential Primary Deadlines

CHANGE OF ENROLLMENT (N.Y. Election Law Section 5-304(3))
An application to change one’s party enrollment for any primary election in 2020 must be received by the board of elections no later than February 14, 2020.


For your County Board of Elections Address, go here.

For a Voter Registration Form, go here.

Print the form, then drop it off at your home County Board of Elections before 5:00 P.M. and then enjoy Valentine's Day and the vacation.

Any questions?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

‘.. an the way you get the guns out of the kids’ hands is you throw them up against a wall and you frisk them” —2015 .. Michael Bloomberg 2015!!

Another way is, of course, to show them love and show them their true potential value and help them get there. But that’s hard when you’ve eroded all of the schools and policed all of the communities. So ... up against the wall I guess?
Please don’t vote for this man.

Anonymous said...

Other Dem candidates embody Sanders’ supposed weaknesses:

- Bloomberg’s polling lead against Trump is as vacuous as a television commercial. It has not endured any crucible, and it is probably ephemeral.

- - - But Sanders’ lead against Trump has endured four years of attacks from the most powerful forces in American politics and media.

- Buttigieg’s, Klobuchar’s, and Warren’s support among blacks and Latinos is virtually zero.

- - - But the Sanders campaign has achieved a large lead among Latinos, and now rivals Biden for support among blacks.

- Biden is demonstrably losing his mental acumen, and his age appears to be catching up with him.

- - - But Sanders remains, by all indications, in his intellectual prime.

- Warren and Biden are particularly vulnerable to Trump’s attacks. Warren’s history of claiming to be a Native American, and Hunter Biden’s sinecure may have already crippled Warren's and Biden's campaigns.

- - - Sanders’ identification as a “democratic socialist” which is very well known, has not harmed Sanders’ numbers against Trump in four years. Thus far, the “socialist” label hasn’t hurt Sanders any more than it did Obama.

All of the data suggests that Bernie Sanders will be a great candidate against Trump.

The other candidates actually have, as real weaknesses, those defects that media have falsely smeared Bernie as having.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg’s brazen spending has prompted claims that he’s an oligarch trying to bypass democracy by buying the presidency ..The whole thing sounds Trumpian because it is.

Anonymous said...

Scared as hell that so many people seem to think that our only choices are a billionaire who says “I’d do her” versus a billionaire who says “grab her by the pussy.”

Anonymous said...

From 1996 to 1997, four women filed sexual-harassment or discrimination suits against Bloomberg the company. One of the suits included the following allegation: When Sekiko Sakai Garrison, a sales representative at the company, told Mike Bloomberg she was pregnant, he replied, “Kill it!” (Bloomberg went on, she alleged, to mutter, “Great, No. 16”—a reference, her complaint said, to the 16 women at the company who were then pregnant.) To these allegations, Garrison added another one: Even prior to her pregnancy, she claimed, Bloomberg had antagonized her by making disparaging comments about her appearance and sexual desirability. “What, is the guy dumb and blind?” he is alleged to have said upon seeing her wearing an engagement ring. “What the hell is he marrying you for?”

Anonymous said...

Gulla explains that last September, Sanders joined a rally of nursing home workers in Brentwood, New Hampshire who were trying to unionize with SEA/SEIU Local 1984.

“What impressed me about him, he didn’t once talk about his run for president,” Gulla says. “He engaged the employees there and got them talking about why they wanted to unionize. Before he left, he pulled folks aside and kind of gave them a pep talk. He was speaking from the heart.”

A few days later, the nursing home workers successfully voted to join the union.

Anonymous said...

Bloomberg hates public school teachers.

He thinks we should cut the number of teachers in half -"weed out the bad ones" which is apparently 50% - while doubling class sizes.

Anonymous said...

Biden won't be running by the time we vote in the NY primary..

As predicted, Biden is fading away and the Dem establishment is out-of-their-mind frighty scared that Bernie will win. No so much the fact that it'll be a landslide (although that is certain) but it'll kill the Dems running down ballot (Dem Senators, Dem Congressmen, etc.) and harm the Democratic brand by pegging it the party of Socialists for two or more future cycles. While Bloomie is certain to get trounced he won't kill the Dems down ballot and won't kill the Dem brand.

So it'll be Bloomie just as it was Hillary. Except it won't be nearly that close in the general.

(The saddest sound right now is hearing the claptrap that ole Joe still beats Trump in some wacky head-to-head polls. LOL)

Bronx ATR said...

https://www.gothambuzz.nyc/michael-bloomberg-record---the-part-you-wont-see-in-his-ads-cms-1510
Great article on the real Bloomberg.

Anonymous said...

10:15 But yet one of the reasons he made smaller schools was for kids to get more individual attention. Sounds contradictory and hypocritical.

James Eterno said...

Small schools does not necessarily mean small classes. It does mean more principal jobs.

Anonymous said...

The doe has proven that "showing these kids love" does nothing but empower them to further abuse us. Yes, you must frisk and take the guns. They wont understand simple logic and reasoning. Doesnt work.

Anonymous said...

Any help with these issues?

I’m a veteran teacher, great ratings, and I’m well liked by my kids...but I just can’t do this anymore. I have too long to stay before retirement (10 years), but I am coming home depressed every day. Is this common and just how it is now? Do I stay? Leave? Try a new school? I doubt anyone would hire me. Is there another option in the DOE outside of the classroom. I do not want to be an administrator. Will things get better? I’ve seen everything go downhill (curriculum, discipline) and I’m thinking it’s not going to improve.

I am so sick of the kids fighting, the constant disrespect, and overall attitude. I am double sick over the same behaviors in adults!! I have always wanted to be a teacher but, this year is truly making me rethink everything I thought I knew. I am 37 and am having a hard time finding the desire to go to work. I'm so very done and it makes me incredibly sad. Am I going crazy? Am I alone in this?


A classmate told my 7th grade daughter that she will be a porn star when she grows up. My daughter came home upset by such a comment. I plan to contact the school today.

What is a reasonable reaction that I should be expecting from the school about this case of sexual harassment of a 12 year old girl?

Is it really difficult to find a DOE job after resigning mid year? I love my kids but administration is picking on me and I feel like I can’t make it to June. I feel sick everyday going to work. Should I suck it up and wait for open market? The idea of waiting 4 more months is making me crazy.

I have been at school since September 2018 and since this time I have received multiple comments from students that are so incredibly offensive regarding my sexual orientation and I really would like to leave the school for a safety transfer not that my safety is physically in danger but I am subjected to Sexual harassment on a regular basis and I’m sick of it. Kids have asked about my sexual activities including the number of my gay sexual partners, told me to come out of the closet,, call me a faggot on multiple occasions, mimicked my voice and asked me repeatedly during a lesson if I was gay or not and when I said to stop they would not stop, and even suggested that I try sex with a girl so that I will no longer be gay. The school does suspend the students and sometimes they do not and I don’t report all the incidences with the school but most of them have been reported with the union. I feel I have an antagonistic relationship with the students because they feel Im gay and they don’t wanna work with me. Am I eligible for a safety transfer? I really hate this. I want to be part of a more inclusive school setting in a safer neighborhood.

I am on the brink. Question: what options do I have if I walked away from teaching with my master's in Biology/secondary ed 7-12? Please no mean posts.

A teacher at my school said we should do a video about a student where today he is walking the halls but 20 years from now he’ll be walking to the death penalty.

How do I find out how many years I have in the system...GREAT QUESTION

Anonymous said...

CSA just received a tentative contract. I'd like to know how it compares to the UFT contract. Better/Same/Worse?

James Eterno said...

Same as ours basically. Raises spread out a bit longer to pay for differential so middle school principals and elementary school principals can get closer to high school principal pay.

waitingforsupport said...

@5:58am. You are being sexually harassed and tormented. Since you've already brought to the attention of your administrators and the guardians of the harassers maybe you should report it to OEO SCI EEO or other agency. No one deserves to endure harassment. Always document your complaints in writing. Record your conversations with your admin. Contact an attorney to see if you can record your tormentors i.e. students. My heart breaks for you. Not all administrators are horrible. Not all students are mean. I know because I worked with an amazing staff. No one leaves that school. Even the ATRS love it there. I wish i had a better answer. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

But you're not off payroll for child care leave and you still get 8.25% on TDA

Anonymous said...

It's not just anonymous commenters here anymore James. Named whistleblowers have come forward with incriminating evidence on grade fraud.

Teachers say Brooklyn principal cheated by handing out exam questions in advance

By Susan Edelman

February 15, 2020 | 1:52pm

A Brooklyn middle-school boss gave students a leg up on tough city and state exams — by cheating, whistleblowers told The Post.

Adrienne Spencer, principal of Parkside Preparatory Academy since 2003, is accused of handing out embargoed exams to teachers, who then used them to coach kids before they took the tests.

“I know what she was trying to do was unethical,” said Addam Amauri Jones, a Spanish teacher at the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens school who claimed his refusal to take part in cheating on a citywide Spanish exam cost him his job.

The Department of Education dismissed the cheating allegations as unfounded, despite smoking-gun evidence: One teacher took time-stamped photos of “practice” questions which appeared on the official exam days later.

Shrink-wrapped state math exam booklets for grades 3 to 8 were delivered by testing vendor Questar on April 10 to 12 — more than two weeks before the exams were given citywide May 1 to 3, records show.

School staffers are forbidden to open the test booklets until the day of the exams. But Spencer had them unwrapped ahead of time, staffers contend.

To disguise the alleged scheme, Spencer had teachers physically cut up the test questions and paste them onto their own “practice tests,” said guidance counselor Ebony Valentine.

A Brooklyn middle-school boss gave students a leg up on tough city and state exams — by cheating, whistleblowers told The Post.

Adrienne Spencer, principal of Parkside Preparatory Academy since 2003, is accused of handing out embargoed exams to teachers, who then used them to coach kids before they took the tests.

“I know what she was trying to do was unethical,” said Addam Amauri Jones, a Spanish teacher at the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens school who claimed his refusal to take part in cheating on a citywide Spanish exam cost him his job.

The Department of Education dismissed the cheating allegations as unfounded, despite smoking-gun evidence: One teacher took time-stamped photos of “practice” questions which appeared on the official exam days later.

Shrink-wrapped state math exam booklets for grades 3 to 8 were delivered by testing vendor Questar on April 10 to 12 — more than two weeks before the exams were given citywide May 1 to 3, records show.

School staffers are forbidden to open the test booklets until the day of the exams. But Spencer had them unwrapped ahead of time, staffers contend.

To disguise the alleged scheme, Spencer had teachers physically cut up the test questions and paste them onto their own “practice tests,” said guidance counselor Ebony Valentine.

DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson said the cheating allegations against Spencer have “absolutely no merit,” and cheating accusations against the student were “unsubstantiated.”

Filson dismissed the photos provided by Pope, saying some might have been taken after the test questions were released in June. But Pope produced copies showing the photos all time-stamped during school hours on April 30, two days before the test. The DOE gave no response to that evidence.

Spencer fired Jones on May 3 without giving a reason, he said. He now teaches at a charter school.

Spencer also terminated Pope, who lacked tenure, on Sept. 3, and brought disciplinary charges against Valentine, who was tossed in a DOE “rubber room” pending a hearing.

Queens City Councilman Robert Holden, who met last month with staff of Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue to discuss unfettered grade fraud in city schools, called for an independent probe.

“This is a clear-cut case of the DOE’s lack of oversight where bending the rules to cheat is in the principal’s interest. It puts them in a better light. It jacks up their numbers, but it’s such an abuse of power,” Holden said. “We can’t trust the DOE to investigate themselves.”

Anonymous said...

Here is a sample of some advice that I received from my colleagues when I was a junior high teacher. Some of the colleagues were not afraid to commit verbal abuse.

1) Get in touch with a parent/guardian immediately whenever a kid acts up. I call the home in the evening and say, “This is ________. What your child did in my classroom today was so horrible that I can’t even begin to discuss it with you over the phone. When are you coming to school to see me? Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?” If the phone doesn’t accept calls from a blocked number, I send a letter with copies to the guidance counselor and dean.

2) You’ve got to get the reputation of being a “mothercaller.” At the start of a term, I spend three hours on the phone each night calling homes. And I don’t let up until the kids calm down. If the kids think you’re a pushover, they’ll walk all over you.

3) I call four homes every night. One is always a good report. Three are bad. If a kid throws a piece of paper in my room, there will be a call, and I’m going to find a couple of other bad things to say. If I can’t get through on the phone, I send a letter with no return address on the envelope.

4) _________ never calls out in my class anymore. One day, I told him to step outside in the hallway. And then I whispered, “The next time you call out in my class, I’m going to rip your balls off and shove them down your throat!” There were no further problems with him.

5) A girl told me in front of my class, “You’re a witch!” I told her, “And you’re a b*tch!” So, she ran to the AP and complained. He came to me and said, “I don’t know if anything’s going to come of this, but I hope you’re going to deny it.” I told him, “I will not!”

6) If you let the kids know that you’re crazier than they are, they’ll become afraid of you. The one time they didn’t pay attention to me, I stood on top of my desk, screamed, jumped off, and then kicked the garbage can.

7) I once admitted to a class that I’m crazy. A boy called out, “How come you’re a teacher then?” I said, “Because I’m good crazy!” He said, “That’s cool!” If you let the kids know, they’ll respect you for it.

8) A student announced to the class, “You’re a sh*tty teacher!” I answered, “You’re wrong! This is a sh*tty class!” Sometimes, you gotta say what you gotta say! You’ll lose your mind otherwise!