An excerpt:
A highly regarded Brooklyn school has become a zoo where students threaten teachers and roam the halls, injuring each other and adults, desperate staffers told The Post.
Among a spate of incidents since January at It Takes a Village Academy in Flatbush:
- A teacher found a note slipped under her classroom door: “I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE BITCH!” — with a scrawled home address obtained by a kid who gained access to an office computer.
- An irate student smashed a classroom door, shattering glass and cutting his hand.
- A school safety agent trying to break up a melee fell and broke his arm.
- A pregnant paraprofessional who asked a student not to shove her was menaced by the girl, who snapped, “I don’t give a f–k. I will f–k you up.”
- A veteran staffer said, “The students are completely out of control.”
- Another staffer said, “Long after the bells, kids are still in the hallway, loitering, playing, talking to their friends. The air reeks of marijuana.”
“They’ve been empowered completely,” one said. “Just trying to get them into class or to do work, they say, ‘You have no right. I’ll speak to the principal to get you fired.'”
The staff have tried to get the principal ousted:
Faculty members have sent multiple letters to Brooklyn high school Superintendent Michael Prayor pleading for Girard’s removal, to no avail.
Further down in the piece there is a comment from a union leader on the situation. It is not from Michael Mulgrew or anyone at the UFT but rather from the
Safety Agents' union leader:
“That building is so out of control,” said Gregory Floyd, president of the union for school safety agents. “The number of incidents is excessive — fights, verbal assaults, children on children, children on adults — and it’s not being handled.”
Just another DOE story. Check out the DOE public relations spin:
DOE spokesman Doug Cohen said the school has received new safety training as well as supervisors. “We’ll continue to take action to meet the needs of our students and staff,” he said.
Blah, blah, blah.
Before anyone uses this story as an excuse to say we should not pay UFT dues, do you really think not paying union dues will make the schools safer?
48 comments:
No, this isnt about dues. This is about the quality of the students there, and of course the fact that we cant do anything to punish them. A lowlife is a lowlife.
Somebody wrote in the previous thread, these are clearly not good kids. When are we going to stop saying that. They dont care about education, learning, their own future unless its via
a handout from the government, and fear nothing until they are put unto handcuffs. How many laws do they break in a day while at school, threats, smoking, cutting, cursing, etc.
We need to enforce the contract and law on safety and not demonize troubled kids who have been stupidly empowered.
Allowing hall walkers to take over schools does nobody any good.
How about the kids in these schools who want an education but are hindered by the complete breakdown of order?
Ok, fine. So where are the suspensions and removals. I'm sure with all if these issues the stats would reflect that. But they dont...
Another out of control black school. Why is this a surprise?
I opted out last August and there are no dues deducted from the 7/15/19 check. Took a whole year.
So why is it never enforced? And here is where the uft is screwing us again. Why aren't they forcing it to be enforced?
Don't demonize troubled kids? Here come the excuses.
No excuses at all. These kids are troubled and have no right to take over schools. By empowering principals who need to show good statistics and taking authority from teachers and UFT chapters, this is the inevitable result.
To the guy who is so proud of opting out, Please share who you are so we could start a scab registry that is unless you are helping to organize a better union.
So if I have been faithfully paying dues for over 20 years, and have gotten thrown to the wolves at every turn, I should keep paying? That is why we are in this dismal position. And why the uft knows they can do whatever they want, win every election in a landslide, and be buddy-buddy with the mayor and chancellor.
"Another out of control black school. Why is this a surprise?"
And this is moderation? The people reading this blog and commenting make me ashamed to have ever been associated with ICE. Can I have my name withdrawn from previous elections when I ran on the ICE slate?
I am still paying and fighting. I am not saving some money to freeloader off of my colleagues who continue to pay. 20 year vet makes over $100,000 per year. Does that happen without a union? No way.
We are still pretfy much an open forum. We can disagree with the comments. They are entitled to their opinion.
That out of control black school comment is accurate. The statistics back it up. That's where most of the problems come from.
Former ICE supporter is a genius. Nothing to the right of the right winger Bernie Sanders please. Only good communist ideas are acceptable in comments.
For whatever reason, it is a majority black school in this piece. Pointing out that reality should be censored. Fuck the first amendment.
The uft is moderating us by not listening to our calls for help.
Those children are oppressed by the racist system. Leave them alone.
I get beaten to a pulp everyday, the uft is silent. My only option is to pull dues
I don’t believe a single person here who says they opted out is a NYC teacher.
Shame on the trolls who write this crap for a couple of dollars. If you had a union (even not a great one) you wouldn’t have to sell your soul off one word at a time.
UFT members who stay will have health insurance forever, a pension, their TDA and other benefits and you with your temp job will have nothing.
If 11:47 is a teacher (I doubt it) go to the freaking police. It is assault. You don’t need the DOE or the UFT.
Sorry, I just cant pay in anymore. It is too much. Enough is enough. I have given more than enough chances, with no change. More than enough decades, with no change. More than enough dues, years, positive observations, rating sheets, emails, letters, begging and pleading, they showed me they DO NOT value me. It is the only statement I can make.
The problem in that school is that none of the teachers went to their implicit bias training.
1202, you maintain those benefits even if you opt out.
Just another reason I opted out. I thank you for letting me know about all this stuff. I wasn't sure before.
Maybe the UFT will publish the name of every scab who freeloads on everyone else. Only reason to leave is if you are organizing something better.
Members willing to act collectively is what gives a union strength. People not being in the union makes us all weaker.
I read these comments and just get angry and sad. Read an anti union blog, not this one. We are 100% pro union.
And we will continue to get abused, ripped off, and nothing will ever be made better.
I am sadder pay $1600 and getting railroaded. Principals openly say they will piss on the contract. And the uft does zero.
When you say the UFT does nothing, that shows you have to think about what gives a union power. Union power comes from a rank and file willing to fight collectively in its best interest. Why do you think the Dec 23 issue is more important than just the day? Membership is United and fighting back. Discussions are taking place about a sick out. Mulgrew is forced to act. We either get the calendar changed or that day could be used for something bigger. It is a crucial lesson on union power.
I have been trying to get people to collectively fight since 1995.
I was there, a few years ago, two different years, as an ATR, but for a week each time. This was well before the scandal that erupted later on. I knew some of the staff from other schools that I had worked in, and the original principal was kind to me. She called me in to her office to talk to me, and she respected my opinion about a disruptive student that was forced on her, from another school from which he was ousted due to his behavior. I had known that child and he was very disturbed. That woman kept that school under firm control for a long time.. The school was reasonably good and she was a tough lady. Her mistake was in not reporting that attack at the time, I presume for fear of tainting the school's rep, that she had worked so hard to preserve. She was tough on her teachers, but if they met her standards, she then had faith in them. No one is perfect, and from what staff members told me, she was cast in a bad light after that one mistake that she made. All her attempts to keep that place on top were forgotten, due to that mistake in judgement. But I do understand that the parents of the attacked boy were furious. So now, without her, look what the place has allegedly descended into, from once being one of the better 'small' high schools in Brooklyn. If the staff, both teachers and guards, etc, have begged the DOE to remove an ineffective temporary principal, why is DOE ignoring them ? Stop blaming every problem on UFT. We may not be as strong as we were before our previous mayor, but without UFT, we would not survive at all. Now, about the 'new' supportive principal Angelo Marra, sent to help the interim acting principal who has been allegedly ineffective, letting the place go to hell. I hope that he is appreciated. I worked for him for three years, and then at another school for two weeks or so. He is a GEM of a human being, and one of the most decent men that I ever worked for, being one of the best principals that I ever had. Sending him there was handing him one hell of a challenge, and if this woman who is there does not listen to him and appreciate his presence, then I feel sorry for the staff and the school. Ironically the DOE never really appreciated this fine man, preferring self centered principals who are trained to be bastards by this Principals Academy, that 'Boot Camp' that gave jobs to unqualified people, some of which had all of two years in the NYC school system. I can list some names of other principals from other places who had almost NO experience in the classroom. Angelo Marra is one of the fine people who actually taught and worked his way up the ladder, only to be used as a secondary principal, or 'Phase Out' principal, when he deserved his own school, years ago.
Blame the DOE for breaking down the large powerful high schools, so that small schools could be created, where stats can be doctored and crime can be hidden. I was just shoved recently by two students myself, in a small school. This rarely happened to me, except at one small high school in Brooklyn. Let us see what happens to the two students that I wrote up. I can tell you this. When I worked for Mr. Marra at Canarsie High for three years, no one laid a hand on me or other teachers, and I was respected. But no one can work miracles unless the DOE puts major steps in place, with the help and input from UFT, to turn the place around.
What a mess. From Laurence Lande, formally of Canarsie High when it was a real high school, and ATR 'veteran' from another 40 Brooklyn high schools, where I was rotated around. I am still in the system, but for now, am not naming names of far worse.....and better...things that I have seen.
Also, if you look at this article, the various articles about potential anti-white bias, or the many other issues in NYC, not a word from Mulgrew...Maybe he wants to keep his friends in high places while destroying us. What does he care? We got our 2% this year. We got our 10% over 7 years. We are getting every penny of retro, 11 years later.
This blog is just another reason to opt out.
Laurence, Thanks for your very thoughtful and insightful comment.
Re: scabs. Just wait until these dim bulbs withhold their dues and their colleagues find out. It will be unfriendly City for the freeloaders. They strike me as pretty unlikeable, already (judging from their comments). Wait until they ask a colleague for the key to the book room or bathroom, and all the get in response is “no bathrooms for scabs. Figure it out yourself.” I’ve already had one colleague tell me that’s going to be his attitude with all freeloders. He’s not a particularly union-conscious guy, just someone with a family and bills to pay who knows that any turd who withholds their dues is putting all of our well-being in jeopardy.
I told my brother, who is not a teacher, but is an adult, about how my principal is harassing me. He said to just pass everyone since that is what the principal wants. They wont be doctors or lawyers, who cares if you give them the 65? I found his thoughts interesting, because those are the thoughts of most teachers in the city. It is not worth the hassle, just pass them all.
ATRs have been treated like that for years and we paid our dues. Loads of newbies are dropping out and will not say a word.
Do you really think most teachers give a fuck if people in their school don't pay dues? Most people are oblivious. There's a tiny group of activists in Unity Caucus and people like James and others who opposed Unity. They are a small club in the UFT.
Im a chapter leader. I will post the names of all UFT members on the UFT bulletin board. Any names not there are scabs.
Anon 8:09, I have never treated an ATR that way. I wrote the comment you replied to. I fee horribly for ATRs, and everyone I know treats them well. Yes, ATRs have a bone to pick with the UFT, and, I probably wouldn’t hold it against them if they withheld dues. But, everyone else who drops out can’t eat a turd. Especially the newbies.
And I will copy and paste report grades and comments and send to the ny post and show what my CL allows to go on in the building, students who cant read or write graduating...
What your CL allows? What is it that you want your CL to do? It sounds like your bone to pick is with your Principal.
44% of Americans do not pay federal taxes. Nobody seems to mind these freeloaders.
I have paid the UFT for 25 years. I do not feel protected or supported by the UFT. There is more nonsense, corruption, incompetence, in the schools and the UFT than ever before.
It just seems that the more we pay, the worse things get. To this day, I do not know what the UFT does for me that does not come with some kind of loss.
9:12, if the principal is perpetrating a fraud, and the CL knows, does nothing, and allows it to continue, the CL is part of the problem and has not stood up for the teachers, honest grading and is complicit in all that occurs. Also, the life of the teacher is a million times harder because of corrupt grades and grading policies.
6:02, of course, that's ok, the dems love that, and want more and more of it.
But arent we gonna support the democrat candidate, dont they want free college, free medical, and even free everything for illegal immigrants...That is on the back of the taxpayer, for people who often pay nothing. But i cant pull dues after 25 years of contributing and getting nothing?
You think you make over $100,000 with no premium healthcare and a pretty good pension without a union? What non-unionized teachers have that deal? Please inform us.
6:02, Are you counting in the highly regressive payroll tax in your 44% calculation? I didn't think so.
I make $100k because I have almost 20 years in, with an excellent record, with a degree, and then another degree, and the job is torture...And 40% quit in the first 5 years.
Arent all the dem candidates saying that we are extremely underpaid? Arent they earmarking significant money for raises? Doesnt that mean the uft has done a terrible deal negotiating our raises? So at 100k, I should be complaining, not cheering.
12:01 you are acting like the classic stooge for the Boss. The Union has no role in grading policy. That is 100% the Principal and Superintendent. But, you aren’t on here flaming them, are you? No. You’re taking to the internet to flame your CL. What’s the matter with you, man? You’ve got the policeman-inside-your-head syndrome so bad that you’ve lost touch with reality. When’s the last time your Chapter Leader called you to a meeting to ask you about your pass-rates? Never. It’s your boss who does that. But, you’re the type who walks out of that meeting with your boss, and gets raging mad at your chapter leader, I bet you even go home and kick your dog, too. Fuck, man. You are everything thing that is wrong with this Union. I bet you go into your boss’ office the next day and badmouth your CL to try to get yourself back in your bosses good-graces. Tell me I’m wrong, I’ve seen your type, Goddamn. But, you know what? Very few people respect people like you, so, no worries.
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