DATES AND TIMES FOR PUBLIC MEETINGS ON ALL SCHOOLS PROPOSED FOR CLOSURE

The following list came from the Indypendent who received it from Ed Notes. Indypendent has a good piece on school closings.

Here are the dates and times for upcoming hearings at schools designated for closure:
5-Jan 6pm School for Community Research and Learning HS 1980 Lafayette Ave, Bronx5-Jan 6pm Academy of Environmental Science and Renaissance Charter 410 East 100 Street, Manhattan6-Jan 6pm Frederick Douglas Academy III (6 -8) 3630 3rd Ave, Bronx6-Jan 6pm Beach Channel HS at Beach Channel HS7-Jan 8pm Columbus HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx7-Jan 5pm Global Enterprise HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx7-Jan 6pm Paul Robeson HS 150 Albany Ave, Bklyn7-Jan 6pm Jamaica HS 16701 Gothic Drive, Queens8-Jan 6pm Choir Academy of Harlem HS 2005 Madison Ave, Manhattan11-Jan 6pm Norman Thomas HS 111 E 33st, Manhattan11-Jan 6pm Kappa II (6-8) 144-176 East 128 st, Manhattan
11-Jan 6pm Alfred E. Smith HS 333 East 151st, Bronx12-Jan 6pm William H. Maxwell Vocation HS 145 Pennsylvania Ave, Brooklyn12-Jan 6pm Business, Computer Applications and Entrepeneur HS 207-01 116 Ave, Queens13-Jan 6pm Academy of Collaborative Education (6-8) 222 West 134 St, Manhattan13-Jan 6pm PS 332 (k-8) 51 Christopher Ave, Bklyn13-Jan 6pm School for Academic and Social Excellence (6-8) 1224 Park Place, Brooklyn14-Jan 6pm New Day Academy HS 800 Home St, Bronx14-Jan 6pm Metropolitan Corporate Academy 362 Schermerhorn St, Bklyn19-Jan 6pm Monroe Academy of Business Law HS 1300 Boynton ave, Bronx26-Jan 6pm PEP meeting Brooklyn Tech High SchoolSource: Ed Notes

January 7 is the Public Meeting for Jamaica

We urge everyone to attend and comment at all of the hearings on the proposals to close schools. For Jamaica High School, the meeting will be in our huge auditorium. All are invited.

January 7, 2010, Jamaica High School - 6 PM - Sharp!! Calling all Alumni and friends of Jamaica High School!

Join the Hundreds of others there showing the passion ---this has just begun. - Save Jamaica High School - Calling all Jamaica High School alumni! Calling all those tired of the politicians lying to us and making horrible decisions!

Council member Leroy Comrie told us to e-mail every day Joel Klein,jklein@nycboe.net and Mike Bloomberg at mbloomberg@Bloomberg.com and say that the people will not let them close Jamaica High School. That they cannot justify this action.

The funding for Jamaica HS went to other schools. Keeping the school open didn’t mesh with the plans to revitalize Jamaica and its shopping district…. so this grand and one time glorious institution will be shuttered forever and this was decided a long time ago.

Help keep JHS alive and return it to the crowning jewel it once was. Help ensure that the funds are spent here instead of closing it down and opening up 2 other smaller schools. JHS will not accept 9th graders in 2010 and those who are there will still graduate….but, with what funding?

What skills will they graduate with? What attention will these students receive? It is apparent that not only do these decision-makers not care about these students but they have deceived us by planning this move a long time ago and keeping silent about it.

The building is land marked. If the bulldozers come to take it down, I would not be alone in lying in front of the machines daring them to move.

Check out the Save Jamaica High School on facebook and see the momentum.

PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND BARRAGE THESE ELITISTS WITH EMAILS, CALLS AND LETTERS DEMANDING THAT THEY KEEP OUR SCHOOL OPEN.

A JAMAICA 2009 GRADUATE COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSAL TO CLOSE JAMAICA

To Whom it May Concern,

I write not only in defense of my Alma matter, but to take a stand against the injustices that the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is committing on both our children and our communities. I firmly believe it is an issue when the leadership that is supposed to be looking out for the needs and interests of people in this city don't answer emails or telephone calls. If your life is so encompassed with more important aspects I think you should reconsider your career. Start listening and caring about what people like myself have to say, for this is a democracy not a dictatorship.

As a proud graduate of Jamaica High School, I am currently in my first year at Adelphi University double majoring in International Studies and Adolescent Education. I return to Jamaica High School at least once a week, for it is regarded by myself and many as our home away from home. It is the place that instilled within us the strong morals and values of education and learning. For that I am eternally grateful to it's supportive teachers, staff and administration.

It was Albert Shanker that once said, “Some of our teachers are incredible, some of them are quite good and some of them should not be teaching.” Jamaica High School is definitely a school full of the most incredible educators that try their utmost best to teach their students. To phase out Jamaica High School is almost an insult to them and their hard work. They have strived to not only help students understand the subject matter, but express the value of education and invest in their students education. They do not have the “I'm here for a paycheck” attitude. The quality of our teachers is what in the Chancellor's words is responsible for the tone of a school.

On Wednesday December 16th, 2009 a rally was held at Jamaica High School. Hundreds of students, staff and alumni all alike came out to vouch for and support their home. What my mind can not fathom, is despite the angry comments and statements given by people that know this school and community the most, is why is this proposal still in consideration? It is the plan of the Mayor and Chancellor that only seem to view the business and legal perspective of the matter. Quite frankly, I believe that our schools only fail because the NYCDOE handicaps them into failure.

If more and more students are suffering, why would you take away more funding? It makes little or no sense. The numbers show it. At a typical public high school in New York City, $17,696 is spent per student. At Jamaica, only $15,691 is allotted per pupil. Our resources and materials are in poor standing only because it has been allowed to turn this way. Instead, money has been flowing to create small new high schools which simply can not reach the needs of students.
One of these small schools is Queens Collegiate, a College Board School that has invaded the Jamaica High School campus. These students receive funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. They have state of the art equipment and technology. Jamaica High School students however, suffer from an academic apartheid. In decades after Brown v. The Board of Education, equal education opportunities are supposed to be at our doorstep. Instead, Jamaica High School continues to suffer and be neglected by the NYCDOE.

I have seen Jamaica HS transform into a building of 2,500 to nearly 1,500. This was because the NYCDOE sent out letters deeming it as “persistently dangerous.” In other reports and statements it has been called “dysfunctional and non-performing.” This again is an insult to every student, teacher and administrative official that has walked the halls of that beautiful building. When we got off the “persistently dangerous” list, where was the letter notifying parents about that?

Jamaica High School is the centerpiece of the largest community in Queens with over 200,000 people. It is a part of the most diverse county in the nation with 73% of the residents as non-white. Nearly 104,000 are Black-with either rich roots in this nation or hailing from various parts of the Caribbean and as far as Africa. Almost 44,000 are Hispanic, and 24,000 are Asian, an estimated 18,000 of those from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in direct proximity of the school building. They line the streets of Hillside Avenue flowing from block to block in unity and diversity. Why is it that these are always the communities considered as “high-needs?” The blatant truth is that this is an issue of demographics, and the failure of the NYCDOE to understand how to meet the needs of minorities in city schools.

Jamaica High School is a comprehensive learning environment that give students exposure to many different programs and courses. Small schools won't do that, but instead force a child into a subject matter they may not necessarily like. A school of Jamaica's size is ideal for the mayor's plan for small academies. However, it is ridiculous to envision three, four or even more schools housed in a building with separate principals, assistant principals and administrations. A New York City School Principal makes close to $150,000 and an assistant principal makes over $100,000. I am not prepared to see our hard earned tax dollars go to waste. The solution is to create the programs foreseen under the existing Jamaica High School; under a single leadership. The students should be broken into academies but still have flexibility to explore areas out of their interests.

It is the DOE Office of Portfolio and Plannings mission to “strive to create a portfolio of schools and to meet the needs of the diverse student body in this city.” Why is there a need to create schools? Why can't we work with the schools we have? If starting fresh is the thing to do maybe we should consider that with the Education Department's leadership. From our interaction on December 16th, 2009 it is my understanding that they really don't care what anyone has to say. When members of the panel are on their blackberry's and chatting with one another how do they expect to gain the respect of the audience? These are people with experience in the charter school environment. Of course, they will only think that way. They spoke as if this proposal was already etched in stone, forgetting to mention the creation of “28Q325” and “28Q328” as mentioned in the Amended Public Notice. There needs to be an open minded approach towards this situation.

It was stated that the community would have a say in the new schools. On December 16th, we spoke out. We don't want a say in new schools and don't want new schools for that matter. We want our school to remain alive, and the New York City Department of Education to accept responsibility for its “failure” in the past. Just because something isn't working how you want it to, you simply just don't “throw it away,” you work to fix it. Closing Jamaica HS would only reflect the epic failure of the NYCDOE under mayoral control in the past eight years. I hope that a decision that best reaches the needs of this community is reached and understood by the city so that it, and our children can prosper in this flourishing area of Jamaica, Queens in the future.

-Reaz N. Khan

FIGHT TO SAVE SCHOOLS SLATED FOR CLOSING CONTINUES TO GAIN MOMENTUM

For those of you who have been following the fight to save our schools, there were so many positive developments last week.

Jamaica had our rally and "information session" last Wednesday and we nearly filled our thousand seat auditorium. You can read all about it here.

Seung OK was on the radio opposing the closing of Maxwell.

Beach Channel and Norman Thomas also had meetings and there was a rally at Norman Thomas. The UFT is supporting a demonstration at the January 26 Panel For Educational Policy meeting where our fates will be determined. The PEP met on Thursday and there was an auditorium filled with people opposing the school closings.

Get involved and organize. This is not just about the schools that are closing. It's about the future of education in New York City.

From the Legal Side

Two issues and three cases are dealt with today. The first deals with successfully suing a student for assaulting or otherwise injuring a teacher. The second deals with an Assistant Principal who won a U rating appeal by going to Court.

Zelinda Dinardo v. City of New York. 2009 NY Slip Op 8853; 2009 N.Y. LEXIS 4144, (NY, Dec. 1, 2009)

There has been a rumor going around that teachers can no longer sue students for assault due to this Court of Appeals decision. While winning has been made more difficult there still are circumstances you can sue.

Ms. Dinardo, a special education teacher, was injured by one of her students. She claimed that she had notified the school's administration about the violent propensities of the student and received verbal assurance that something would be done about him. After she was injured she commenced a lawsuit and won a $500,000 judgment against the Board. (She also sued the child in a separate action but it is unclear what happened with that case).

The Board appealed to the Appellate Division and the State's highest court, the Court of Appeals and in a decision with a sharp dissent our State's highest court ruled that the judgment would not stand. While the Court conceded that the assurances were made they found no special duty existed between the Board and Dinardo to make the Board liable for her injuries.

While it is difficult to define the special duty must be such that the teacher can reasonably rely upon. Just what Dinardo could do in a situation that she was in is puzzling. She can't refuse to teach the potential dangerous child but should have obtained more specific assurances that the administration knew of the child's dangerous propensities and that they were doing something about it. While not the normal teacher practice several well placed memos and a proactive Union could have prevented the loss of this judgment.

No sooner was the Dinardo case reported that a school safety officer met the same fate. Maria Rollins also injured by a special education student could not recover her damages because the Appellate Division found no special duty. Maria Rollins v. Board of Education, 2009 NY Slip Op 9292; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 9125, (AD 1^st Dept, December 15, 2009)

In the Matter of Gloria Blaize, appellant, v Joel L. Klein, etc., et al., 2009 NY Slip Op 9021; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8848 (AD 2^nd Dept., Dec. 1. 2009)

Gloria Blaize was U rated in 2003 by District 22 Superintendant John T. Comer. The original case sought reinstatement to her position and reversal of the U rating but by the time she started the case the 4 month statute of limitations ran on her reinstatement claim (remember the time starts to run when you are terminated or demoted not after your U rating hearing or appeal).

In any case the Appellate Division noted that her claim for the U rating was still viable and sent it back to the Supreme Court for a determination. The Supreme Court affirmed the DOE and on appeal the Appellate Division reversed.

The Appellate Division cited several irregularities which required reversal similar to Jill Budnick's case reported below. These included the fact that Blaize was not provided a complete set of documents on which the U rating determination was based within three weeks of her challenge as mandated by BOE by-law 5.3.4A. The hearing took place over two years after her challenge which also violated BOE procedures.

Help Save Norman Thomas, Maxwell, Jamaica & all Schools that could be Closed

Jamaica High School received some good press this weekend with a fantastic feature on our school and one of our former athletes from George Vecsey in the NY Times. If you really want to help support schools that DOE is trying to close, come to the rally Thursday afternoon to save Norman Thomas and Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m. to save Jamaica. There is also a PEP meeting Thursday in the Bronx. We should lend a hand to any other actions supporting members in the 22 schools that could be closed.

Go to the PEP web page for information on how to comment on the proposals. For Jamaica, Norman Thomas and Maxwell, it's Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4414

Here is the complete list from the DOE web page. We hope people go to as many rallies as they are able to.

People power only works if there are a whole lot of people out there.

proposals here
**Please note that the meeting time and date is pending confirmation from the Community Education Council and the respective School Leadership Team(s).

BRONX
School
Type of Change & Proposal
Educational Impact Statement
Comment
Date & Time of Hearing
Location of Hearing
P.S. 11 (09X011)
Expansion of a K-4 to K-5. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D9Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 12, 2010 at 6:00pm
1257 Ogden Avenue, The Bronx
I.S. 22 (09X022)
Truncation of a 5-8 to a 6-8. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D9Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 20, 2010 at 6:00pm
490 Hudson Street, Manhattan
P.S. 114 (09X114)
Expansion of a K-4 to K-5. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D9Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 14, 2010 at 6:00pm
1155 Cromwell Avenue, The Bronx
P.S. 195 (12X195), P.S. 196 (12X196), and P.S. 197 (12X197)
Unification of campus schools. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D12Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 19, 2010 at 6:00pm
1250 Ward Avenue, Bronx
P.S. 204 Morris Heights (09X204)
Re-location of an existing school into a new building. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D9Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 22, 2010 at 6:00pm
108 West 174th Street, Bronx
New Day Academy (12X245)
Phase out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 14, 2010 at 6:00pm
800 Home Street, Bronx
New School MS D10 - Building X115 (10X363)
New school. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D10Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 13, 2010 at 6:00pm
120 East 184 Street, The Bronx
Christopher Columbus High School (11X415)

Phase-out without replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 7, 2010 at 6:00pm
925 Astor Avenue, Bronx
School for Community Research & Learning (08X540) & New School (08X432)
Phase-out & co-location. See Public Notice.
EIS
Kim WongHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 5, 2010 at 6:00pm
1980 Lafayette Avenue, Bronx
Frederick Douglass Academy III Secondary School (09X517)
Grade truncation. See Public Notice
EIS
Kim WongD09Proposals@Schools.nyc.gov718-935-4158
January 6, 2010 at 6:00pm
3630 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY
Global Enterprise High School (11X541)
Phase-out without replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 7, 2010 at 6:00pm
925 Astor Avenue, Bronx
Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School (07X600)
Phase out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 11, 2010 at 6:00pm
333 East 151 Street, Bronx, NY
Monroe Academy for Business/Law (12X690)
Phase-out with no replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 19, 2010 at 6:00pm
1300 Boynton Avenue, Bronx

BROOKLYN
School
Type of Change & Proposal
Educational Impact Statement
Comment
Date & Time of Hearing
Location of Hearing
New School ES #4 D20 - Building K989 (20K264)
New school. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie OndiakD20Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4390
***January 11, 2010 at 6:00pm
415 89 Street, Brooklyn
P.S. 332 Charles H. Houston (23K332)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesD23.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4390
January 13, 2010 at 6:00pm
51 Christopher Avenue, Brooklyn
Middle School for Academic and Social Excellence (17K334)
Phase-out with no replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesD17.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4390
January 13, 2010 at 6:00pm
1224 Park Place, Brooklyn
Metropolitan Corporate Academy (15K530)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 14, 2010 at 6:00pm
362 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn
Paul Robeson High School (17K625)
Phase-out without replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 7, 2010 at 6:00pm
150 Albany Avenue, Brooklyn
PAVE Academy Charter School (84K651)
Co-location of an existing school into a existing building. Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D15Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 19, 2010 at 6:00pm

71 Sullivan Street, Brooklyn
W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School (19K660)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 12, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
145 Pennsylvania Avenue, Brooklyn
New School MS D23 - Building K263 (23K671)
New school. See Public Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak
D23Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4390
***January 20, 2010 at 6:00pm
210 Chester Street, Brooklyn
New School ES D17 - Building K398 (17K748)
New school.
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D17Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4158
***January 14, 2010 at 6:00pm
60 East 94 Street, Brooklyn

MANHATTAN
School
Type of Change & Proposal
Educational Impact Statement
Comment
Date & Time of Hearing
Location of Hearing
KAPPA II (05M317)
Phase out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesD05.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4415.
January 11, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
144-176 East 128 Street, Manhattan
Academy of Collaborative Education (05M344)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesD05.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4415.
January 13, 2010 at 6:00pm
222 West 134 Street, Manhattan
Choir Academy of Harlem (05M469)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesD05.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 8, 2010 at 6:00pm
2005 Madison Avenue, Manhattan
Academy of Environmental Science High School (04M635) and Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation
Phase-out and co-location. See Public Notice
EIS
Kim WongHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov.718-935-4414
January 5, 2010 at 6:00pm
410 East 100 Street, Manhattan
Norman Thomas High School (02M620)
Phase-out with replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414
January 11, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
111 East 33rd Street, Manhattan
Greenwich Village Middle School (02M896)
Co-location of an existing school into a existing building. SeePublic Notice
EIS
Natalie Ondiak D2Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov 718-935-4415
January 12, 2010 at 6:00pm
490 Hudson Street, Manhattan

QUEENS
School
Type of Change & Proposal
Educational Impact Statement
Comment
Date & Time of Hearing
School
Beach Channel High School (27Q410)

Phase-out and co-location. See Public Notice
EIS
Kim WongHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov.718-935-4414
January 6, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.

Beach Channel High School (27Q410)

Business, Computer Applications, and Entrepreneurship High School (29Q496)
Phase out with replacement. See PublicNotice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 12, 2010 at 6:00pm
207-01 116th Avenue, Queens
Jamaica High School (28Q470)
Phase-out without replacement. See Public Notice
EIS
Samuel SlovesHS.Proposals@schools.nyc.gov718-935-4414.
January 7, 2010 at 6:00pm
Jamaica High School (28Q470)

STATEN ISLAND
School
Type of Change & Proposal
Educational Impact Statement
Comment
Date & Time of Hearing
School
New School ES D31 - Building R831 (31R071)

New school.
EIS
Kim Wong, D31Proposals@ schools.nyc.gov718-935-4397
***January 20, 2010 at 6:00pm
211 Daniel Low Terrace, Staten Island

JAMAICA HS SLATED FOR PHASE OUT

We've been worried about it for a long time but it still was a shock today when the DOE announced to us that the 117 year old Jamaica High School would be phasing out.

I spent the afternoon meeting with the Chapter, union officials and the press to make the case for our school.

We hope the readers of this blog will join us and all of the other schools that are on the chopping block to work to organize to oppose these crazy school closings.

DOE HANDED STUNNING DEFEAT IN “U” RATING APPEAL

In a sharply worded decision, yesterday, Justice Walter Tolub of New York Supreme Court rebuked the DOE for affirming a "U" rating given by an elementary school principal to a 20 year veteran when few of the procedural safeguards were followed. Jill Budnick, represented by private counsel, decided not to accept the rating and had claimed that she was targeted by the principal due to her seniority.

Justice Tolub found that the teacher evaluations and appeals of unsatisfactory ratings must be conducted in compliance with the formal procedures set forth primarily in two handbooks prepared by the Division of Human Resources, namely, "Rating Pedagogical Staff Members" and "The Appeal Process." The Handbook requires a Rating Officer (in this case, the school principal) to complete a thorough performance review for the academic year before rating the teacher (Section 11, at 3-4).

The Handbook states that the Rating Officer should make informal and formal classroom visits in order to improve and sustain effective teaching (Ex. 4, Section 1, A, at 1). A formal observation may consist of one full-period observation or a series of short visits by the principal (Section II, E, at 7). Discussion with the teacher before and after an observation must be built into the formal observation process, along with a post-observation conference and a written report, which should include prescriptive recommendations for professional growth where appropriate.
The Rating Officer must characterize each formal observation of the employee's performance Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory and indicate why this is so (Section 1, A, at 1). In arriving at the rating for a school year, the Rating Oficer should take into account all events and incidents manifesting professional growth, pupil guidance and instruction, and classroom management (Section, II, C, at 4). A U rating has serious implications, as it is a compelling reason to file charges against a tenured teacher and may affect the teacher's ability to obtain additional licenses and salary increments (Section II, G, at 9).

Reports of observations must be included in a teacher's official file and a teacher is permitted to append a letter or note of explanation or rebuttal to documents placed in the file (Ex. 4, Section 11, I, at 9-10). This appended material is considered part of the original document and should be permanently attached thereto (Section II, I, at lo). Any material to be placed in a teacher's file must include a notation that it is being placed in the file and a space for the teacher to sign and to indicate when he or she received a copy of the material.

Justice Tolub found that the rating officer did not provide pre and post observation conferences or any meaningful way to correct Budnick's alleged deficiencies. Additionally the Court noted that documents appended to the file letters were not included in the record on appeal and the appeals officer refused to mark into the record supportive letters from colleagues and other teachers.

The irregularities, according to the Court required that the U rating be vacated, an S rating be substituted and the DOE ordered to make the changes.

BLOOMBERG'S TURKEY DAY WAR DECLARATION AGAINST TEACHERS

On the day before Thanksgiving, Mayor Mike Bloomberg went to Washington DC and gave a speech in which he basically declared war on teachers.

He said he is seeking state legislation that will fundamentally end the UFT as we know it. Teachers could be fired after one year if they are excessed and can't find a new job, excessing and layoffs would be based on principal evaluations rather than seniority, ten percent of schools would be closed, tenure decisions would be made based on student test scores, the process to fire teachers would be expedited and the charter school cap would be lifted.

The mayor added that he can tie tenure decisions to pupil test scores now even though the law says teacher tenure decisions should not be made based on student test scores.

Ultimately, he would turn us into employees who could be fired at will to kill the UFT. Lifting the charter school cap would in essence be a step toward killing the public schools by turning them over to private operators.

In response, UFT President Michael Mulgrew emailed a statement to us that was negative but did not rule out any specific proposal emphatically. He said in part, "Many of these measures would require either state legislation or negotiated changes in the DOE/UFT contract. The Department of Education created many of the personnel issues like the ATR pool and the rubber rooms that the Mayor now cites as problems. The Mayor needs to take responsibility for what he and his Chancellor have created. Our members should not have their lives and well-being put at risk because of mismanagement."

"We stand willing to work with anyone who wants to work constructively on these or any other educational issues, but we will not work with those who choose to scapegoat the people who have dedicated their lives to children. It’s the hard work and commitment of our members that has moved this system forward despite the mismanagement."

"Be assured the UFT will protect your rights and continue to fight for what we know is best for our students. We will not allow the DOE’s inadequacies and mismanagement to be put upon the backs of the members of this union or be allowed to hurt the children of this city."

In the NY Times account, President Michael Mulgrew used the words "very, very disappointed" in describing his reaction to the tone of the Mayor's remarks.

I would use words such as angered and outraged to react to the entire proposal. I would declare that this union will fight with our last breaths these virtual death threats that would destroy our profession, our union and the public schools. When an employer declares war on the union and on public education, it is up to the union to mobilize us to fight with every tool at our disposal.

We can't be afraid of negative editorials from the Daily News or the Post. The time for soft collegial diplomacy is over.

Help the At Risk Queens Schools

The Queens section of the Daily News reported on three schools in Queens that received D ratings. One of those schools is Jamaica High School.

The grading system the DOE uses is a joke as it penalizes schools who take in the most at risk students. Please help us rally support to save schools like Jamaica that have incredible histories and do not deserve to be shut down.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

DA REPORT ON IMPASSE, SCHOOL GRADES AND MORE

President Michael Mulgrew at yesterday's Delegate Assembly convinced the DA to approve, by the usual large margin, a resolution to give the UFT the authority to declare, if necessary, that there is an impasse in bargaining. Our contract expired without fanfare on October 31. (Anna Phillips' piece at Gotham Schools.org sums up the resolution fairly well.)

If the UFT seeks an impasse declaration, the state Public Employees Relations Board would then have to agree that there is an impasse and then they would appoint a mediator to try to help the parties settle differences. Fact finding and non binding arbitration would come next if mediation fails.

Many UFT members, including me, are very skeptical about fact finding because of how badly we did in this process in 2005. At that time, the fact finders set the framework for the horrible giveback laden 2005 contract that gave us the whole ATR mess as they had the UFT give up seniority and SBO transfers among many other concessions such as a longer day, weaker due process and a return to hall and cafeteria patrol for teachers.

Do we want to go down this road again?

What are the alternatives? The answer is to organize and mobilize.

In other DA news, we heard a report on organizing the community; we heard about special education complaints and there was a passionate plea from somebody speaking in support of Honduran teachers and the Honduran people. A resolution in support of their cause passed unanimously.

Welfare Fund Director Arthur Pepper told the delegates that the UFT will be improving welfare fund benefits.

One last item that is of great importance to those of us who work in D graded schools. President Mulgrew said that the progress reports that were just released don't mean crap. He didn't show up at the press conference where Klein announced them. Mulgrew explained a number of factors that proved the progress reports are unreliable measures of schools. We agree with the president here.

We hope that the UFT will follow our 2007 resolution and not allow any school to be closed based on the progress reports.

Finally, time ran out at the DA without there being a new motion period. We hope this is not a trend that will continue.

JAMAICA TELLS PEP ABOUT BUDGET CUT IMPACT

We appeared before the Panel for Educational Policy (replacement for Board of Education) last Thursday night to complain about the impact of severe budget cuts on Jamaica High School.

This was the third time that we have addressed the PEP. Our first appearance before the Panel was back in 2008 when 89 people from Jamaica went to advocate for our school. The second time was in June of that year when three of us went back trying to get more favorable funding for our school. This time, I was accompanied by a colleague as well as my wife and daughter. The meeting was held at an elementary/middle school in Maspeth Queens.

Our main focus was to tell the Panel that it is November and yet we are so short of money that ten of our classes do not have a regular teacher. We find this to be incredibly unsound educationally. Even as we can’t cover our classrooms, the DOE will allow us to hire a replacement assistant principal for one who recently retired. We questioned their budget priorities. We also told the Panel about how records have piled up in the general office as our records’ secretary was excessed and there is no money to replace her. We called it a dire situation.

Our friend Arthur Goldstein, the Chapter Leader from Francis Lewis High School, also addressed the PEP objecting to severe overcrowding that will eventually break his school. We closed our presentation by asking for help for Jamaica so we can alleviate overcrowding in neighboring schools such as Francis Lewis. Hopefully, we will hear a response.

The meeting started at 6:00 p.m. but we were not able to speak until around 9:30 p.m. because the PEP was handling a very heavy agenda. Patrick Sullivan from Manhattan is now joined by Anna Santos from the Bronx in questioning much of what the DOE is doing.

The part of the meeting that was covered by the press was the ravioli controversy. The DOE is paying $3.8 million for a contract with a company to provide beef ravioli to the NYC schools, an increase of 40% from last year. They were the only company who bid for the ravioli contract. Panel members questioned the $3.8 million deal. Go to NY 1 to see video of this.

As for Chancellor Joel Klein, he spent some time outside of the auditorium and hit it off very well with my four month old daughter Kara. If only I had Kara’s personality, Jamaica might actually receive equitable funding from the DOE. We will keep trying.

PARENTS REJECT BLOOMBERG

The surprising closeness of the mayoral election (Bloomberg 51% -Thompson 46%) has to be studied closely. Many people missed seeing how much anger is out there directed towards the mayor.

The UFT passed up on a real chance to influence the outcome by staying out of it. My colleague at Jamaica put it best when she stated, "The UFT never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity." If the unions and the Democratic Party establishment rallied behind Thompson, Bloomberg could have been defeated in this very Democratic town.

The most interesting statistic for us to view is how parents with children in New York City public schools voted last week. According to a NY Times exit poll, parents voted for Thompson over Bloomberg 55% to 43%. That's a huge twelve point spread that proves that those who have kids in the schools know what's going on and they don't buy the mayor's education spin.

Will Tweed get the message and at least consider changing course? I know you think not but let's push them anyway. Now is the time to speak up.

NO SCHOOL LEFT BEHIND

Jamaica High School and Francis Lewis High School are featured in an amazing Sunday OpEd piece by Angela Montefinise in the NY Post. What a pleasant surprise that this was published in the Post.

UFT CONTRACT EXPIRES EXTREMELY QUIETLY

Having an on-time contract used to matter. The deadline for when our contract expired used to mean something to the UFT back in its early years. I will concede that the UFT worked beyond the expiration date of the contract twice in the nineties and then again in 2000 and 2003.

However, as recently as after the disastrous giveback filled contract in 2005, then UFT President Randi Weingarten talked about us returning to a no contract=no work policy. Those days seem like long ago as yesterday the contract expired and the UFT didn't seem to even take notice.

I just looked at the current UFT Chapter Leader Update. There is not a word about the contract ending on October 31, 2009. We don't even get lip service any longer.


Of course the old contract continues in full force until we have a new agreement because of the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law. However, to not even note the expiration of a contract and have some kind of mobilization ready to put pressure on the city and the DOE for a new one shows just how weak the UFT is.

STATEN ISLAND NON-ENDORSEMENT MAY HINT AT CHANGE AT UFT

The following piece was written by ICE activist Loretta Prisco and may give a real hint about changes at the UFT under Michael Mulgrew.

Remember the massacre of the PEP folks who dared to challenge the Mayor about the 3rd grade retention policy? One of the conspirators was Jim Molinaro, BP of Staten Island, who fired Joan McKeever Thomas. Joan now works for the UFT.

Four years ago, John Luisi ran against Molinaro and got 42% of the vote - no money, few volunteers, little help from the party, term limits not an issue, and little name recognition. UFT President Randi Weingarten interceded in the SI Political Action Committee and got John an endorsement. John is running again.

This time he has greater name recognition, took a leave from his job and is getting all over the Island, raised more money, and has more support from the party. Molinaro is well known to the UFT as a pro-charter, pro-private school cheerleader who appointed the owner of a lingerie store (with no commitment to public education) to the PEP, and is a leader in the Conservative Party.

John Luisi is the product of the toughest neighborhood school on Staten Island. He is committed to neighborhood public schools. This Island is getting worse and worse. John, who is with us on all of the education issues that matter, and has a real shot of taking Molinaro down, is not getting the support of the UFT.

The committee interviews were short a few key people. They are going "neutral", which is exactly what Molinaro was hoping to achieve. Does this sound like the old neutrality of the Nixon-.McGovern race?

And they want COPE money?

Parity for Music Teachers: The Time Has Come

by Julie Woodward, UFT Delegate

Anyone who’s read our contracts for a decade or two will know that the UFT continues to throw high school music teachers under a bus.

By agreeing to 50 kids in each class, the union has tacitly accepted the notion that music teachers can achieve the same kind of results with 50 students that other city HS teachers can get with 34 and teachers in the suburbs can get with give or take 25. They have also tacitly agreed to allow abusive principals — or even nice ones just following abusive chancellor directives — to find fault with us when we cannot achieve their notion of classroom management, data input, differentiation, home contact, personal interaction and the like.

General music teachers do the same kinds of things all other subject teachers do.

A chancellor’s directive in 2003 or earlier told all teachers to focus on math and literacy. Music teachers can, of course, do this in spades. What are quarter-notes and eighth-notes but simple math, and what are lyrics if not poems set to music. If Klein had told everyone to teach social studies or science, we could have done that as well: plantation songs speak the history of the heart and human cruelty, and the study of sound at its most basic level is nothing but the study of acoustics.

Why, then, do we continue to get 50 kids per class?

Maybe it was thought “general” music is the same as “performance” music. It’s not though, and everyone knows it. Most music teachers actually want a nice big orchestra, band or chorus — the larger the group, the grander the sound. The numbers don’t matter if the kids want to be there and are willing to practice.

More likely, the DoE is trying to get state graduation mandates on the cheap, and 50 per class is certainly cheaper than 34 (or even less for more specialized arts classes like photography).

I repeat: the union has complied: “Yes, we’ll agree to stick it to the GM teachers. They're lucky to have a job anyway.”

I have brought this up on more than occasion with Ms Weingarten, notably at the Delegate Assembly two years ago when the crowd groaned at what music teachers have to put up with. Her response was something like: “Hmmmm. Maybe we could get some non-contractual relief for music teachers.” That “non-contractual relief” bit was her words, which I thought might mean they'd arrange for us do the extra marking and paperwork as a Circ. 6-R duty, one that principals could not override. But, even if you got those extra 5 periods a week to handle the workload, it wouldn’t be enough. Multiply 147% (50 ÷ 34) times 25 periods/week and you get 36.75 periods a week, 6.75 periods more than the 5 you'd get by letting us do the extra work during 6-R.

Here is what I wrote Michael Mendel just after Labor Day, to which he responded recently: “I am going to push this.”

As always in more than 20 years of teaching music, I have my doubts they even care.

PS: I know that phys ed teachers also get 50 per class and would like a reduction as well. But mostly they're not doing written work or having to worry about behavior when teaching sound or silence.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I meant to write you earlier, but the overload is enormous.

HS Music teachers can be given 50 kids per class. Of course they all do not show up each and every period, but some things are constant:

1. You have to take attendance on a weekly bubble sheet IN ADDITION to keeping your own attendance records. This usually involves Delaney cards because you can't memorize so many kids (250) without a seating plan.

2. If one of these classes is your "homeroom," which requires a daily attendance sheet, that's a third attendance effort.

3. These lists are complicated because (a) they have to be accurate, and you can't do it quickly. Let's say you turn over the Delaney cards to save time. You still have to do the bubbling in your lunch or prep for 250 names per day. And they're not just absent or present. They can be late. They can also be late halfway through the period, which means you have to go back and annotate those too.

4. Talking about differentiation: you get in the same class: grades 9 - 12, spec. ed (learning disabled plus behaviorally challenged), regular ed, self-contained class members (their IEPs allow them to be mainstreamed for the electives), hearing impaired, and ELLs.

5. Absenteeism is erratic. There is little consistency, so some kids are up to date with the work, and lots and lots of others are missing a day here or there each week.

6. Grading: if you care about your job, you give classwork, and it needs to be graded. Grading so many kids is a nightmare.

7. Report cards are another nightmare, because even if they don't show, they all have to get a grade and a comment. This can only be done on a PC, not a Mac, and many music teachers use Macs at home because it was traditionally the best computer for music and art.

8. When they ask us to CALL HOME for every single person absent, try doing that kind of volume. It's only possible to do this on your lunch hour and in your prep. You should not have to do this kind of work at home or on your own time, but one is forced to under these conditions.

9. Now they're asking for PROGRESS REPORTS: they have to be done on a computer for each and every one of the 250 students, even if they aren't coming to school.

10. This leaves no time whatsoever for lesson planning, collaborating with other teachers, fixing your room, making your music tapes and/or class materials. It all has to be done on your own time — which is normal for teachers, but so very much more for us.

11. On top of this you get a Circular 6 duty taking up a period.

Please can you to do something about this terrible disparity. A spec. ed teacher or a RR teacher has 14 kids max each period, gen ed has 34, and we have 50 — that's half again the reg ed class. But admin makes no exceptions in the obligations we must fulfill as subject teachers.

Failing a contractual class size change, please can you get someone to say that Music teachers with these numbers should be given NO other circ. 6R duty than to finish up the attendance, calling home, grading, and school marks.

The remarks above are for GENERAL MUSIC and small music classes like Keyboard. They are not for CHORUS, BAND or ORCHESTRA, which are "performance" groups and many music teachers want as large a group as they can get for better sound. I was most happy in MS with a performance group of 80 or 90 (though I rehearsed them in groups of 32 or so, as well as some lunchtime kids 3 times a week, then combined them all for concerts).

I brought this up two or three years ago at a DA. RW's response was to see if there could be some "non-contractual relief." That never happened.

Best regards,

ICE Statement on the Nov. 3, 2009 Vote for Mayor

by John Lawhead

The election on November 3rd will have lasting consequences for public education and the city. It deserves the attention and involvement of all New Yorkers. The UFT has a long history of candidate endorsements made without any regular process of consultation with the membership and often contrary to members' interests. The decision to sit out the contest between Michael Bloomberg and his opponents speeds us to the brink of more disasters. If appearances are real and the UFT leadership's passive support for the mayor's reelection is a deal for a new UFT contract by deadline, our union is deeply complicit in another landmark defeat for the teaching profession.

Nearly eight years of direct control over the schools have provided Bloomberg with an unchecked opportunity to implement numerous policies premised on distrust and contempt for teachers, students and school communities. Early on with his rush to implement grade retention policy he put the blame on 8-year olds for low reading scores and further worked to make standardized testing a year-round concern. “Weekend, vacations, summer -- time off is a luxury earned, not a right,” he told a radio audience in 2002. Chancellor Klein went to work making testing an obsession for all schools by hanging their fate on it.

His administration accelerated the wholesale closing of neighborhood high schools. Together with a successful assault on teachers' contractual rights this led to the creation of an excess teacher reserve force in the thousands. The result of dozens of school phase-outs deepened the gulf between the two worlds children in New York encounter at the high school level. One consists mostly of large neighborhood or selective schools and is increasingly filled with white and Asian students An entirely different realm awaits black and Latino students consisting mostly of new small schools, stripped of both enrichment programs, IEP services and bilingual programs and plagued with teacher turnover.

The new schools have been staffed with discriminatory hiring through privately-run programs. Just as tens of millions in funding by Bill Gates went to school reorganizations, Eli Broad's millions were used to train principals to see teachers as antagonists. In recent years Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have extended the agenda of privatized education by embracing charter schools, displaying a marked preference for the chain operators. Their favoritism towards the charters has allowed them to invade neighborhood schools and shrink them.

For educational activists the past eight years have meant not only palpable damage but also lost opportunity for positive and progressive change. The Bloomberg monopoly of power has excluded local participation in decision making, eliminating a common entry into politics by Black and Latino New Yorkers. It has also preempted meaningful discussion around educational goals and policy. What should be the goals of a public education? How can schools do more just provide an exit from the poorest communities? How could schools be part of a collective effort to improve neighborhoods and increase democracy?

Bill Thompson has played an important role as city comptroller in exposing Bloomberg-era fraud and mismanagement. His supporters are waging a spirited fight against a billionaire mayor with lopsidedly less resources. It is difficult to offer Thompson unqualified support when he has thrown support to mayoral control and supports much of the underlying corporate agenda for education. The mayoral race this year also attracted Tony Avella (who Thompson defeated) and Billy Palen who is running as the Green Party candidate. Both advocated a more grassroots response to the current mess and it's a shame Thompson didn't adopt some of their policies in his campaign against the mayor.

Despite these differences anything other than energetic rejection of the Bloomberg monopoly is the wrong choice for our union. We urge all readers to vote against Bloomberg!

DA REPORT: UFT POSTPONES INDEFINITELY A MAYORAL ENDORSEMENT

The Wednesday, October 14 Delegate Assembly meeting was highlighted by chapter leader Jonathan Halabi introducing a resolution calling for the UFT to endorse William Thompson for mayor.

Halabi motivated his resolution by telling the assembly how bad Mayor Bloomberg has been for education. The Union brought out the big guns to oppose Halabi. Political director Paul Egan said that we shouldn't throw ourselves on our swords because Bloomberg was basically a shoe in to win with his money, his endorsements and with labor split. He added that Contract negotiations would end immediately if we supported Thompson.

The debate on this motion continued with staff director Leroy Barr proposing that we postpone the vote indefinitely on this motion. He said this would give us the option of raising it again within the next couple of weeks if we were to decide to endorse. After some further discussion and some parliamentary procedural questions about whether or not the president was trying to alternate between speakers for and against the resolution to support Thompson, Barr's motion carried so the UFT has postponed the decision indefinitely.

In other news we heard a report from President Michael Mulgrew on the sad state of the budget, the flat NAEP testing results, and how principals can get points on their Quality Reviews.

He also talked about the new school governance law that gives more power to School Leadership Teams to make their school's Comprehensive Education Plans. He said that having a functioning SLT in most of our schools was an important UFT goal for this year. He added that he had talked to the new State Education Commissioner, David Steiner, about the state having a quick review process.

There was a question about ATR's and Mulgrew answered by saying the DOE has to manage the schools better and our ATR's would remain on the job.

The only other news to come out of the meeting was that visitors were not allowed in the auditorium but instead were relegated to watching the proceedings on television on the 19th floor. Anyone who comes to a DA to watch it on TV is truly dedicated. Why not just make the proceedings available as webcasts to UFT members so any member could watch them?

ELFRANK QUESTIONS MULGREW ON VOTER APATHY

Our friend John Elfrank got to ask President Mulgrew a question about low turnout in UFT elections at a recent "Meet the President" gathering in Manhattan. Read all about the president's response here.

ICE PLATFORM ON THE WEB

For those interested in a well thought out political platform, go to UFT Elections 2010 where you can read the ICE-UFT platform in its complete form.

Thanks to the many ICERS who donated their time to see this effort through.

ICE BLOG SUPPORTS LEONIE HAIMSON, ROBERT JACKSON LETTER TO STATE

The DOE could care less about most laws and now they are being taken to task by Councilman Robert Jackson and parent activist Leonie Haimson in this brilliant letter to the new state education commissioner. We urge everyone to go to the New York City Parent blog and sign on quickly as Oct 8 is the deadline for comments on the city Contract for Excellence plan.


To Commissioner Steiner:

We urge you to require the city to start reducing class size now, according to the terms of its Contracts for Excellence (C4E). Smaller classes remain the top priority of NYC parents, according to the Department of Education’s own surveys, and the state’s highest court said that our children were deprived of their constitutional right to an adequate education in large part because of excessive class sizes.

In return for receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in additional state funds, the city promised that class sizes would be lowered each year until the citywide average would be no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3 and 23 in all other grades by the fall of 2011. Class size reduction is now a state mandate, and yet last year class sizes increased last year by the largest amount in ten years; and there are widespread reports of further increases this year.

In addition, the C4E process for public participation has been deeply flawed, as the city failed to hold any public hearings this past June, as recommended by the state, and has refused to hold any borough hearings, as required by law. Instead, a power point is being presented to Community Education Councils which omits any mention of the city’s five year class size reduction plan, as well as the DOE’s failure to meet its class size targets for two years in a row.

In its official C4E submission, the city pledged to the state that the “the Department continues to be committed to reducing class size in early grades via the Early Grade Class Size Reduction program." Yet when an audit was released in September, revealing the misuse of millions of dollars of these funds, the DOE claimed that the program “no longer exists.” Please see attached fact sheet for more information on these findings. Clearly, the city has reneged on its promise to reduce class size.

It is time that the state utilizes its full oversight authority, and requires that the city comply with the law. We recommend that a corrective action plan be imposed with the following provisions:

1-The city’s plan should be revised to include specific class size reduction goals by school, district, and citywide -- sufficient to achieve its annual and five year goals.

2-The city should be obligated to assign whatever teachers remain on absent teacher reserve (ATR) to regular classrooms in their respective districts, so that class sizes can be reduced from current levels.

3-The city should be forbidden from further pursuing any20policies that conflict with its class size goals, including placing new schools in buildings before smaller classes have been achieved in the existing schools. DOE continues to insert new schools into buildings where the existing school is “underutilized” according to a formula which assumes near maximum class sizes.

4. The state should require that the city revise its capital plan so that it can provide enough space necessary for its class size goals to be achieved, as the C4E regulations require.

5. The state should hold back all C4E funds before the city has reported to the state in detail what reductions have been achieved by school, district and citywide, reporting that is now mandated by the state to occur by November 17.

This year will be the mid-point in the city’s five year class size reduction plan, instituted by the Legislature so that our children could eventually be assured of an adequate education. There is no time to waste.

If the State Education Department does not require these basic steps to demand accountability and credibility on the part of the city, it will have failed in its responsibilities to our children, to the Legislature, and to New York taxpayers.

Yours,




Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters and public school parent

City Council Member Robert Jackson, chair, Education Committee and plaintiff, Campaign for Fiscal Equity