LOOKING AT SOME OF THE NY TEACHER EDUCATION BLOGS WHILE RESTING

I have taken a few days off from posting but still looked at some education blogs to keep updated.  Here is a little rundown.

From Florida Today via our friend Sean Crowley up at B-LOEdScene is this wonderful 2010 cartoon that I had never seen.  Just substitute our evaluation system for the merit pay and you have the true picture of what teachers are returning to in schools these days.

I read the piece over at Perdidio Street School on teachers "walking a tightrope without a safety net" these days because of the crazy evaluation system where our ratings are based in part on student test scores of our students.  Some of those pupils have much in common with the young man in the cartoon above while others are not prepared for tests because of learning disabilities, poverty or not knowing English. I agree with Perdido that a teacher is taking a big chance with his/her career by working in a struggling or renewal school or with an administrator who is not benevolent.

The NYC Public School Parents Blog, EdNotes and Chaz have each written pieces saying that Mayor Bill de Blasio now owns the mess called the NYC public schools even if he inherited the problem from former Mayor Bloomberg. The parents and EdNotes have strong reactions to the scandal at OSI because of the wrongful suspension of Debra Fisher for what was not a conflict of interest.  All three blogs blame Carmen Farina for not cleaning house when she took over as Chancellor.

Unfortunately, the mayor does not be looking to do anything substantial to fix the education system.  De Blasio and the UFT leadership seem to think the stories coming out about grade and transcript fixing and corruption/incompetence in the bureaucracy are like a bad cold that will just go away if ignored.

One can always tell the tone of the UFT leadership by how they report what are usually chaotic openings in schools.  If the UFT is in the loop with the mayor and chancellor, they will say the schools are opening smoothly.  If they are on the outs with the mayor and chancellor, they will call out all the problems.

Today's prediction is to expect major happy talk out of the union in September concerning Farina-de Blasio but their anger will be saved for Governor Andrew Cuomo.  This is a mistake as the problems in education exist at the city, state and federal level and require a real union response.

I don't expect to see any of that but we can count on NYC Educator to defend teachers' lounges (real and virtual) while taking another swipe at our union leadership's Unity Loyalty Oath.