Congratulations to Bill De Blasio, Tish James and Scott Stringer for their sweeping victories in Tuesday's election. They have a real mandate for progressive change, especially in the public schools.
Some friends are seeing ominous signs in the aftermath of the de Blasio landslide. We have been through a very difficult time under Mayor Bloomberg and before him it was not much better under Mayor Giuliani. Add in how we were fooled by Barack Obama, who ran to the left and except for two Supreme Court appointments, has basically kept much of the Bush second term agenda, particularly on education, moving forward and you can see why people are nervous.
Will we get "Punked" again by a Mayor de Blasio and Public Advocate Tish James?
Reality Based Educator points out that the mayor elect is praising anti teacher Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual and James has placed a prominent ed deformer on her transition team. Is this cause for concern? Yes but let's not jump off the ledge now.
What should we do?
I don't think we should wait for the other shoe to drop but instead we should stay active and demand real education reform that puts the public back in public education.
I would suggest everyone start by reading Diane Ravitch's education mandate for the new mayor.
We are going to see in the next few weeks where de Blasio is headed in terms of education. We need to push for what we want in an education mayor now.
We cannot get "punked" again by any politician.
We won so let's act like it and fight for what we need.
First I would suggest writing comments to this effect on their FB page. 2nd--there is a website from de Blasio asking for ideas, etc. I know, Obama did the same thing, and I find that troublesome, but if enough of us write something, it counts as future votes.
ReplyDelete3rd: If the shoe does drop, we need to organize a protest in front of the Bd of Elections. And whether you are a Dem or Republican, change the affiliation to Independent. This will shake up the Dems, especially people like Hillary, who will not want this movement to go nationwide before the primaries. We saw how pols including Obama pandered to the Independents. And Randi is proving she and her DNC affiliation has gotten us nothing.
We could pick a day, or teachers can fill out the forms in school and select people to show up in front of their local Board of Elections to hand the changes in.
I am hoping the BATS or someone will take this nationwide because this will shake up the Dems.
James adding Saujani to her transition team may simply be pay back for Saujani endorsing James during the runoff against Squadron. It may not have much more significance than that. I was thrown off by it, however, because I wasn't expecting it. De Blasio hired Saujani as deputy public advocate a few years ago because he wanted access to her donor list. I wouldn't have been surprised to see him put her on his transition team or in his new administration. But James reaching out to Saujani did throw me off a bit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have written in this post, James. We must push for the agenda we want for this administration now, because once the personnel gets set, it's gets harder to do that.
An ATR returns to the classroom, and she is attacked by students in this middle school. The DOE blames the victim and the UFT gives minimal assistance. This is just the beginning of the story.
ReplyDeleteDuring the '11-'12 school year, I was assigned an ICT class with a significant number of students with behavioral problems. The students quickly realized that the response to their antics was anemic at best, with generally no consequences. I had begun making the administration aware that the behavior of the students was getting more and more dangerous as the lack of consequences was causing them to push the envelope, as 8th graders will. This culminated in a fight breaking out in my classroom, and two BIG 8th grade boys, running at full speed in the classroom, plowed into me, knocking me into the desks, chairs and the crate of books I was moving at the time. I was out on Line of Duty for seven months, during which I had surgery to repair my knee and four rounds of epidural steroid injections to ease pain from six herniated discs in my back and neck. I was SHOCKED when I was sent back to the same school, but went back with modifications and was given the Wilson reading program to teach for the '12-'13 school year.
This year, I was assigned full classes (though I have nothing in writing from my doctors lifting my accommodations and I am still being treated for injuries incurred as a result of the fall). I have two ICT classes that I see with NO second teacher, and the discipline in the building is virtually nonexistent, or too little to really make an impact on a school culture of complete disrespect and anarchy. The entire seventh grade has essentially declared war on me – I am subjected to continual race baiting, called “white bitch”, threatened with being beaten and/or shot on a daily basis. Students fight, threaten, use table legs as weapons, throw rocks, candy, and pens at me while I work with students, etc. I have been documenting and reporting these incidents DAILY to both my school administration and the UFT, with little to no response. I was terrified of being hurt again, and made this clear. My worst expectations were realized yesterday, when a student who had just been returned to my class after a Student Removal (she had sprayed perfume in my face), began a long racist diatribe about how she can do whatever she wants “to this damn white bitch and the school can’t do SHIT because it’s just a school. It ain’t no police or anything it’s a damn school and I am a child so I can do whatever the fuck I want to the white bitch. I’ve about had it with this bitch – she need her white ass kicked”. She then pushed between me and a table, used her body to shove me out of the way and knocked me to the floor. I was taken out of the building in an ambulance for the second time, and the injuries to my back are now aggravated and I am once again home in pain.
The union, outside of a brief call to tell me to make sure I fill out all the required forms, has said nothing, in spite of the fact that I had been up to the borough office TWICE in two weeks to tell them that I feel unsafe and fear for my health in the building. I am still waiting to see if they dare send me back to this school.
This is terrible and should not happen to anyone. Call the UFT victim support in Manhattan and keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteMake sure that you fill out a comprehensive accident report. Document your injuries and also contact the UFT district representative of the school. Manhattan UFT can give you that information. Don't be afraid to talk to the Manhattan Borough representative if you don't get satisfaction at the school or district level. I reported something at my school the other day and three people from the UFT came out to attend to it.
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