Bayside High School is where I graduated from back in the Stone Age. It is comforting to know they currently have a principal who is willing to be honest with parents. I printed his entire March letter to the parents below. I hope you can read it as it was not that clear but here are just a few highlights.
It starts off with an attention grabber:
Dear Parent/Caregiver:
You made a good decision when you chose remote Learning for your child. Please stay with it.
No Department of Education or NYC Mayor's Office bullshit there, just straight to the point. He goes on to explain how the school never really closed as it went fully remote and he gives details of what is going on. On page 4, he hits all the right notes in his Q & A.
Q: Is Bayside aware of increased numbers of teenagers being diagnosed with Covid-19?
A: Yes
Q: Is Bayside aware of scientific articles citing effects of teenagers experiencing Covid-19 (heart, lungs, and kidneys) and possible later-in-life effects?
A: Yes
Q: If your daughter (meaning my daughter) was school age, would you send her to school for "blended"?
A: No
Q: Does Bayside have adequate resources & staff for a large influx of "Blended/In-Person students?
A: No
Q: Will a large influx of "Blended" students affect Bayside's remote learning, tutoring, etc.?
A: Yes
Q: Have there been confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections of Bayside staff or students?
A: Yes. Forty reported and confirmed resulting in three hospitalizations and one death. Our colleague is one of the almost 540,000 Americans and over 2,600,000 worldwide who have succumbed to this horrible plague.
The ICEUFTblog is left almost without words. Michael Athy receives a huge ICEUFTblog GLOW for his truthfulness in the letter and for not being afraid to put it in writing.
Compare Principal Athy to Michael Mulgrew talking about the reopening of NYC schools.
From our notes of the President's Report at yesterday's DA:
High schools: Great reopening Monday. Elementary schools open smooth as silk. D75 working. Middle schools moved ahead when they reopened on a cold day. High schools reopened. One school had balloons. We make sure kids are treated the way they should be. Thanks to everyone. Two reopenings for every division of this union. We made every educator who works in NYC proud. No dramas, no problems. Where there were issues, you dealt with them quickly.
No problems, everything is wonderful in the schools in the pandemic.
Wouldn't a little openness and honesty from our Union's President be refreshing?
This post shows the difference between a leader and a coward.
ReplyDeleteGood for him. I wish this would appear in The Post instead of all those editorials saying why schools should be open from people who don't even work in schools.
ReplyDeleteThe important things to Randi...
ReplyDeleteRandi Weingarten
@rweingarten
I am giving out water to voters waiting in line to vote in the next election.. and in GA after today’s heinous action by the GA legislature and Gov Kemp ... I will be arrested for it.
Our president, union, our NY politicians and parents who need to go to work have already decided that schools are opening. They don’t care what this principal thinks any more than they care what teachers think. It’s a done deal. They don’t need your vote anymore so they stopped telling you what you want to hear. They agreed with Trump all along. You were conned.
ReplyDeleteRandi’s tweet makes no sense. Arrested for??? Giving out water? Nothing heinous about arresting someone trying to bust into the governor’s meeting. Sounds like Cannon might have been involved in the beginnings of an insurrection. So happy Gov Kemp and staff weren’t harmed by this door banging criminal.
Bravo for this Principal's courageously standing up for the PRINCIPLE of being consistently Truthful in Thought, Word, and deed;empathetic understandings and ethical integrity.
ReplyDeleteBravo for this Principal's courageous stand for the Principles of truth, empathetic understanding, and ethical integrity in thought, word, and deed.
ReplyDeleteRandi and Mulgrew will be scrambling to the right and left as the Wolf thumps with massive paws fearing that he will finally be devoured by Red Robin in the Hood. Yes, the WFP is ready to pounce on the Wolf.
ReplyDelete“We are calling on Governor Cuomo to resign immediately because he is unfit to serve the people of New York," said WFP State Director Sochie Nnaemeka.
“As we face an ongoing public health and economic crisis, New Yorkers also need their state legislature to lead now more than ever. The WFP urges our state legislators to pass a budget that reverses this Governor’s decade of cuts to working people and tax breaks for the wealthy, raises significant revenue, and supports excluded workers and vulnerable New Yorkers."
Randi, no Aquarius to the Wolf, may play water boy or any position or part; she is Sagittarius.
The bald carpenter hears the cuckoo and the child is preaching in the temple.
Come on, this guy is 65yo and running out the clock until retirement. Much easier to sit on his duff and collect principal pay for doing nothing than to actually go to work and run a school. He's committing far more "theft of service" than Portelos ever did.
ReplyDeleteI expected at least one of even you "remote today, remote forever" folks to see through his passing and grad rate comments. Admin loves not being evaluated and the official embrace of "EZPass". Highest grad rate ever , even more than when Bayside produced astronauts and Wall Street whales, yeah right! This guy is running a fake correspondence course "school" and is being called a hero! Even Orwell couldn't make this up!
There are plenty of schools running like Bayside. This principal is just saying it out loud. From what I hear, Bayside is still a good school.
ReplyDeleteWhen Republicans controlled the Senate in 2005, Obama said that without the filibuster, “the fighting and the bitterness and the gridlock will only get worse.”
ReplyDeleteNow that Democrats are in power, it’s a “Jim Crow relic.”
1236. Obama was a Reagan republican anyway. But no matter what side of the corporate party is in power, it is a Jim Crow relic.
DeleteKnocking on a door is hardly bursting into a meeting. This post has nothing to do with the filibuster. Please stay on topic
ReplyDeleteThe only reason Bayside is a good school is their clientele is good. I have heard about their quotas in that school that if you don't have at least 85% passing in each class, you need to do all you can to get to that 85% so teacher just pass the kids so they don't have to hear it. Again, this is what I've heard so I don't know if it is entirely true, but I'm sure it is to some extent.
ReplyDeleteI teach at Bayside. There is no quota for passing kids. The principal is in the school every day, I hear. Very supportive of the students and the parents love him. Too bad he is being pilloried for being honest. Even by some no-nothings on this blog
ReplyDelete3:42 I've heard the contrary from teachers that worked there. Maybe it's by A.P and it's not a written rule, but I'm sure something like that exists.
ReplyDeletePrincipal is being praised on this posting for his honesty. Rumors about passing quotas are just rumors. We need evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you need textual evidence? I've heard about passing quotas in several schools. My school it was 75% in each class. It's an unspoken rule, but if you don't have the supposed quota, then you will be harassed by your AP on how you are going to get more students to pass. Don't tell me quotas don't exist and that they are only rumors.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about Bayside, 5:44. This is about a specific school and principal. We need to see the evidence.
ReplyDeleteBeen in the system for well over 20 years. I'm sure there are others in the system that work just as hard, but I've never met an individual who works harder than the principal at Bayside High School. The man is honest and always keeps his staff informed - always. I know of not one teacher who was ever forced to pass a student. If one does their job at the school and does it competently, the principal and his assistant principals will always have that teacher's back. What else can an educator ask for. The crux of this post is the honesty the principal shares with both staff and the parents or guardians of the student body. It's absurd that some, not all, on here would write anything negative concerning that when the fact is they do not work under him or they heard from "someone". Bayside High School is led by competence, honesty, and someone who places the safety of both students and staff at the forefront. And all that stated by someone who works in the building. End of story.
ReplyDeleteI know the Bayside chapter leader, 8:31. He wouldn't stand for nonsense. It has traditionally been a strong union school going back decades.
ReplyDelete8:31: You're only one person speaking. You can't speak for the rest of the staff. I heard also that if you are not dual licensed in your subject and in ISS the school won't even consider you for an interview. I'm sure there is grade inflation going on there. I knew several teachers that liked our principal who most of us couldn't stand. All people have their supporters. I'm not saying anything derogatory about the principal, I"m just saying you can't be sure that all teachers in school are having the same experiences as you, and I do admire the principal for being honest. I also scored this school's ELA Regents exams and trust me these Regents exams did not seem like they came from a school with a 90+% graduation rate. Good that you support your school and principal though.
ReplyDelete