On Monday, Chancellor Richard Carranza was at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens. He came to praise Namita Dwarka as the best principal in the system in front of the entire staff according to our source who was there. Our Bryant contact believes this was a message to principals from the Chancellor that it is fine to be a principal who many think is anti-teacher and anti-UFT.
The press has covered this story in the past. This is not a principal who is respected by a large number of the teachers who work at Bryant or have worked at Bryant and are no longer there. There has been massive staff turnover (about 30 a year) since Dwarka took over the school some years back. They didn't all retire. Around 15 assistant principals have also left.
On the DOE webpage, her scores were fair for Effective School Leadership. Only 25% of the parents even bothered to fill out a survey. Only 45% of teachers say that they trust the principal. The city average is 78%.
After nine years of Dwarka's leadership, Bryant is still a TSI school which means it is in the bottom 10% of NYS schools. This is who the Chancellor thinks is an ideal principal? That is a little difficult to accept.
43 comments:
The problem is that as you say it's "difficult to accept" but thats just what every spineless teacher in the system will do and does do. ACCEPT it. ACCEPT it all. People seem to think it's ok to look the other way and go with the flow because what the hell I am machining 120000 a year to babysit. But, we are also churning out dummies and narcissistic maniacs who are gonna be running shit someday. Watch the movie IDIOCRACY. It's coming if those of us with scruples don't make a stand. I know it's hard, I did it and now have a target on my back. My school is shit on shit. The chapter leader and principal are besties and we all suffer for it. I am confident in my teaching ability so I can take the "challenge" of an admin who wants to make your life hell. I can dish it right back. The big problem is all of these babysitters who couldn't teach their ay out of a paper bag and cowtow to admin because they fear losing such a good gig. Thats why the press thinks we are all losers, because all the losers that do exist go around saying how easy it is to be a high priced babysitter while the rest of us who don't want to live in an "IDIOCRACY" future bust our asses to educate the masses. We as teachers have to admit there is more dead weight than we want people to think. The issue is the UFT and DOE like and encourage those people who suck at teaching because they are easy to control. NYC is too big of a district to keep tabs on. Break it into Burroughs at least and towns and villages like LI at best and you can have school systems that function great without excessive bullshit accoutablilty the DOE and UFT claims makes us better. It's also much easier to hold parents accountable in smaller systems. They can't for all intents and purposes be non existent like they can in the gigantic beaurocratic DOE. In the end all of this is symptomatic of needing a completely revamped school system. One room to industrial set up to....what ? Who knows maybe back to stopping in 8th grade and starting trade schools again, but something needs to break and much needs to change especially the lack of appreciation of a good education by society at large.
The chancellor did so to send a message to teachers that he will always back admins over us. I wouldn't be surprised if next week he praises the Parkside Academy principal in front of her staff to remind them that the cheating and academic fraud will continue.
You know what they say James, "the beatings will continue until morale improves."
James, can you convince teachers from Bryant to email you the observation reports that they were issued by Namita Dwarka, with their names and also student names deleted? The observation reports need to be compared against each other to see what Namita Dwarka's opinions are regarding what constitutes "Ineffective," "Developing," "Effective," and "Highly Effective" performance in the Danielson Components. An important question which needs to be answered is, "What are Namita Dwarka's own rating forms like?" If Ms. Dwarka wishes to be transparent, let her make her rating forms public.
Here is a copy of the Multidimensional Principal Performance Rubric (MPPR) by which all NYC principals are rated:
www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/mppr-rubric.pdf
See "Principal Evaluation System Unveiled" on page 1 of the November 2018 CSA News:
www.csa-nyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/November_CSA-NEWS.pdf
Here is the home page of Learner-Centered Initiatives, which is the company that developed the MPPR:
www.lciltd.org
Chancellor backs anti teacher principal. What the hell is the union doing to challenge this? That is what I want to know.
Look, there is no friggin' way the chancellor knows who this bitch is. He was probably just reading a prepared letter that somebody wrote for him. Folks need to find out who prepared the chancellor for his speech. Find that assclown and you know who the anti-teacher person is. I would also like to hope that the teachers at that school write a big, fat, response letter letting the chancellor know that they have no confidence in their principal.
How come we never see the results from the school survey about how teachers rated the chancellor and DOE? All the information about the schools is made public but they hide those results. There might be a place to view it, but I never heard of it. I'm sure this guy will praise Maspeth's principal too and any principal that inflates graduation rates. As I recall Bryant's graduation rate went from like 50% to 75% in one year when Bloomberg was mayor.
Such a disgrace!
http://dtoe.org/anoi/principal-namita-dwarkawilliam-cullen-bryant-high-school/
That Principal that was praised is changing grades, and was on Crime Watch.
What a joke!
Really unbelievable because the school is worse than ever. A lot of corruption.
The Relentless Quest for Excellence is not about passing students who do not deserve it.
These corrupt Principals never get investigated. We have a corrupt DOE.
A dysfunctional and corrupt administration that not even the neighborhood kids want to go there, and the school is in the bottom 10 percent of State schools.
This is what you call a slap in the face to all teachers.
It's also a slap in the face to good principals to say that she is the best principal in the city.
They need to see a psychiatrist.
And this, again, is why I opted out. But I am a scab. And you are all stupid. Keep paying to get beaten down.
Job fair for teachers of color only. How despicable. Any comment, James? Is this ok? What if it had been reversed?
@3:23pm...i agree with you. I,too, spoke up and was targeted. It was hard as he%& but I survived. Too many educators have buried their heads in sand. Grow a pair and fight for yourself and others.
The teachers should have called Ben Chapman from the Daily News or spoke up in unison during the meeting about the conditions of the school. Come on people.
I saw it on facebook. Progressive public and charter school. Racist against whites. Doubt this goes to the media though. Clear discrimination.
The doe website has been asking for male colored teachers for years. It is disgusting. Who is gonna do something about it? Not the $62 per check uft.
Dont you think this should be front page news?
I wonder if they would stop white teachers at the door. Also does a white latino count as a teacher of color? I also wonder if gay teachers are considered teachers of color. The rainbow has many colors. I would say shame on anyone who does attend this because your are clearly being hired because of your color and not for your credentials. Are you afraid to go against the white people?
Im Confused as to why we bother taking the DOE surveys. The principals that are rated so poorly, the data, it has absolutely no impact. Why not a complete union boycott?
So that is it, racist job fair, and no upper management says or does anything.
These Leadership Principals are causing a lot of damage to our schools but the UFT remains silent about corruption and wrongdoing.
has anybody FOILED their school???
My Principal made 20k in per session, AP 16k in per session
Is that the norm? They tell us there is no money for things, but they are making $$
We verified on SEEThrough NY
@12:31...if i were looking for a job, I certainly would go to the fair. Who the hell cares about your personal beliefs or reasoning?
Corruption and fraud is tolerated in the DOE. Very shameful that these incompetent Principals are making our schools worse.
You all have a lot of time on your hands to hit schools, and principals. You can say what you want about a lot of principals, teachers, and administration but at the end of the day you have a job to do and a vow to the CHILDREN, and if you have enough time to bad mouth on this ridiculous page. Then you possibly do not have a job at a school because there is no way you can do BOTH focus on the children, and bad mouth a school and its principal. How about you focus on your career and better yourself in your school of practice, and everyone else do the same. :: thumbs up ::
The DOE lawyers, and investigators are certainly not doing their jobs.
This is a Principal who was featured in Crime Watch, and numerous times in the press. If the Chancellor thinks she needs to be praised for it then I do not know what kind of standards the DOE have.
The school went from an average test score of 45 to 16. Academics has plummeted except for the many students they are passing who do not deserve it.
Fraud, corruption and an hostile environment should not be tolerated.
It is just ridiculous a Principal who has been in Crime Watch to be praised that shows that the Chancellor does not know what is he talking about.
This Principal has been in the New York Post about 30 times. Nobody knows why they keep her.
This is a school where no teachers want to go because of the nonsense that goes on in a daily basis. Even ATRs do not want to go there.
A corrupt school in chaos. This Principal locked the bathroom door to a disabled teacher who reported her for changing grades. The UFT did nothing, they just watched.
She failed as a person, and as a Principal. She should have been removed a long time ago because she is responsible of neglecting students, and failing as a Principalm
She should have been removed a long time ago because she made the school much worse. The Chancellor should work under her toxic environment so he can get a dose of an hostile environment.
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