Teachers Protest Outsourcing of Licensing to Pearson

By Michael Winerip, May 6, 2012

ON EDUCATION Move to Outsource Teacher Licensing Process Draws Protest

The idea that a handful of college instructors and student teachers in the school of education at the University of Massachusetts could slow the corporatization of public education in America is both quaint and ridiculous.

Sixty-seven of the 68 students studying to be teachers at the middle and high school levels at the Amherst campus are protesting a new national licensure procedure being developed by Stanford University with the education company Pearson.

The UMass students say that their professors and the classroom teachers who observe them for six months in real school settings can do a better job judging their skills than a corporation that has never seen them.

They have refused to send Pearson two 10-minute videos of themselves teaching, as well as a 40-page take-home test, requirements of an assessment that will soon be necessary for licensure in several states.

“This is something complex and we don’t like seeing it taken out of human hands,” said Barbara Madeloni, who runs the university’s high school teacher training program. “We are putting a stick in the gears.”

Lily Waites, 25, who is getting a master’s degree to teach biology, found that the process of reducing 270 minutes of recorded classroom teaching to 20 minutes of video was demeaning and frustrating, made worse because she had never edited video before. “I don’t think it showed in any way who I am as a teacher,” she said. “It felt so stilted.”

Pearson advertises that it is paying scorers $75 per assessment, with work “available seven days a week” for current or retired licensed teachers or administrators. This makes Amy Lanham wonder how thorough the grading will be. “I don’t think you can have a genuine reflective process from a calibrated scorer,” said Ms. Lanham, 28, who plans to teach English.

At this point the Teacher Performance Assessment that Pearson and Stanford are developing is still in the pilot stage, being tested by 200 universities in more than two dozen states. While it is meant to supplement traditional assessment methods like classroom observation, in reality it would be the final word for states that adopt it. Student teachers who do not pass would not be licensed.

Stanford officials say that, to the best of their knowledge, the UMass program is the only case of resistance.

The student teachers at UMass complain that they were being told to take part in the pilot program by university officials without their consent and that there were inadequate confidentiality protections for the schoolchildren appearing in the videos being sent to Pearson.

“As a parent, I wouldn’t give my permission to videotape my child and send it off into the twilight,” said Kristin Sanzone, 33, who is getting a master’s degree.

In previous years, parents had given permission to have their children videotaped for use by UMass instructors. But Ms. Madeloni said student teachers and principals had told her that they felt differently about sending videos off to a big company.

“If there are concerns about UMass, there’s someone nearby they can go to,” she said. “How do you complain to a corporation?”

Four local school districts that train student teachers declined to participate when they learned how the video would be used.

This year, when Ms. Madeloni questioned UMass administrators, they played down the need for consent from the student teachers and school districts. One dean wrote in February that Pearson was doing a “field test,” and “not a field research study,” and so no special consent was required.

In March, university officials reversed themselves, acknowledging that special consent forms were needed.

An associate dean offered books of Post-its as prizes for the first six student teachers who turned in consent forms.

The Post-its did not turn the tide.

Jerri Willett, the chairwoman of the department of teacher education and curriculum studies, said because it was a pilot program, it had taken time to develop procedures. She said officials were meeting to develop a statewide policy for confidentiality and consent.

Asked why so many students had refused to take part, Ms. Willett said they may have felt “forced” by faculty members. (None of those who posed for a photograph or were interviewed by this reporter said they had felt pressured.)

While Massachusetts has not made a decision about whether to require the Teacher Performance Assessment, six states — New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington — have committed to adopting it in the next few years.

Ms. Willett said the education reform movement had been highly critical of teacher education programs, complaining that not enough weak candidates were being eliminated. An independent measure should reassure the public, she said.

She is one of hundreds of educators who have been consulted by Stanford to develop the new assessment. The 40-page test requires student teachers to submit several lesson plans and explain how they measure learning and adapt lessons to their special-needs students. “Until now we’ve assessed what students know about teaching,” she said. “This assesses teaching.”

Raymond Pecheone, a Stanford professor, said he had worked closely with Pearson to ensure extensive confidentiality protections. He said the student videos can’t be downloaded or duplicated by scorers, nor used for marketing and promotion or training teachers.

Pearson plans to hold onto the videos for up to two years in case there are legal challenges, he said.

Mr. Pecheone said Pearson, which describes itself as the biggest education company in North America, was one of six to bid to work with Stanford. Pearson was chosen in part because it was the only company willing to provide enough seed money for a nationwide pilot program. “We needed an operating partner,” he said.

In states that choose Pearson-Stanford to manage the licensing, student teachers are expected to pay the company up to $300 apiece.

Washington State will require teaching candidates to pass the assessment next year. Wayne Au, a University of Washington professor, said based on the pilot, this approach was a considerably more sophisticated measure than traditional standardized tests. But because it is a mass-produced assessment, he said, students have already learned to manipulate it. “Their answers are shaped by what the test requires,” he said. “They’re not expressing who they are as teachers. It will do bad things.”

In New York, Pearson will be able to test a teacher’s worth from start to finish. The company currently administers the test students must pass to be admitted to a teaching program and is developing the testing system that will be used to calculate each teacher’s annual performance score.

How much impact any of this will have on teacher quality is debatable. California has had a performance assessment program in place for 10 years. According to Mr. Pecheone, 10 to 15 percent fail to get their license on the first try. When students retake the test, he said, only 1 to 2 percent fail to get a license.

At UMass, 1 to 2 percent of student teachers are weeded out of the program each year, according to Ms. Willett.

As for the idea that having an independent licensing test like California’s will improve the public’s opinion of teachers — no way. Politicians and businesspeople bash teachers in sunny California as much as they do in cloudy states. There is a whole education industry that is flourishing because it is built on the denigration of public schoolteachers.

E-mail: oneducation@nytimes.com

Charter School Group Linked to Genocide Denialists

Too much to blog about. Too little time. School Matters alerted readers in the last week to the following about the Gülen Charter Schools:

The individual most responsible for the proliferation of Gülen Charter Schools in LAUSD is the Board President herself, Mónica García. García's ties to the Gülenists are long-standing, and she is a tenacious advocate on their behalf. She is speaking at the Gülenist Pacifica Institute in September 2012 regarding her prominent role in corporate education reform and the unprecedented privatization of LAUSD under her neoliberal reign. The Pacifica Institute ran into controversy last year, when Armenian groups protested the organization's ties to Turkish groups denying the 1915-1918 Armenian genocide. That García chooses to be so insensitive to the considerable Armenian population in her school district is most likely attributable to the fact that there are no Armenian organizations managing large chains of lucrative charter schools in LAUSD.

Click here for link to full blog post, "Mónica García champions the Gülenist Charter Movement in LAUSD." (First published in the Daily Censored.)

Chicago Parents Urge Streep Avoid Parent Trigger Movie Event

As one Chicago parents group's blog (Parents United for Responsible Education: Building powerful public school parents and communities) notes, the education deform / privatization forces are in full propaganda war mode as they push the pro-parent trigger movie, "Won't Back Down." Parents United for Responsible Education publicized the letter it sent to acclaimed actress Meryl Streep, asking her to avoid a promo "Teachers Rock" subterfuge event for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) promoted film.

NYC Eye asks other progressive pro-student, pro-parent, pro-teachers to likewise petition Streep and other Hollywood media heavies to distance themselves from or renounce the mean undertoned "Won't Back Down."

Immediately after this letter I have posted contact information for personalities connected to the "Won't Back Down" film.

PURE's letter's text appears below:

Dear Meryl

August 10th, 2012

Ms. Meryl Streep

c/o Leslee Dart

Dart Group

sent by facsimile

212 277 7550



If you really appreciate teachers, please pull out of

phony “Teachers Rock” event promoting

the themes of the “Won’t Back Down” movie:

public school privatization and wholesale teacher firing



Dear Ms Streep:

I am writing to ask you to reconsider your participation in the “Teachers Rock” event next week. As parents, we are concerned that this event is part of a larger propaganda campaign to force privatization on public schools. The movie, “Won’t Back Down,” is just the latest and most intensive move in this effort.

While we have been unable to view the entire movie, we have seen the trailer and read promotional stories that are already being published. We also know that the producer, Walden Media and Philip Anschutz, were behind the “Waiting for Superman” documentary whose one-sided and often misleading content created a great deal of controversy among those of us who strongly support our nation’s teachers. Even Roger Ebert eventually rethought his positive “Superman” review.

“Won’t Back Down” is poised to be equally if not more controversial because it claims to be “based on real events” about the “parent trigger law” which allows parents to sign petitions to close their school and turn it into a charter school.

As an active and informed parent, I know that parent empowerment is not the real agenda behind this so-called parent trigger law. It was in fact written by the head of a charter management company which initiated the first parent trigger campaign. The law was taken up by ALEC and has been pushed in a number of other states with generous financial backing of the Walton Foundation (which is sponsoring “Teacher Rocks”) and other corporate school reform funders.

Our small Chicago organization and a larger network with which we are affiliated, Parents Across America, are working to get out the truth about “Won’t Back Down.” We can’t afford to put on a big show or produce a Hollywood movie to make our voices heard, but we do hope you will listen to us. You can find more information about this issue on our web sites, www.pureparents,org and www.parentsacrtossamerica.org.

Thank you so much for your attention.

Best wishes,

Julie Woestehoff

Executive Director

PURE's previous post:

Time to tweet some stars about the Won’t Back Down movie

August 10th, 2012
The propaganda campaign for the parent trigger law created by charter school operators and promoted by ALEC is in full swing.

The big kick-off event is a concert called “Teachers Rock.” Like the “parent tricker” itself, this concert pretends to honor teachers while promoting a movie, “Won’t Back Down,” that is designed to get a lot of them fired and replaced by Teach for America newbies.

The concert will take place this Tuesday, Aug, 14th, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. CBS will air a one-hour special using footage from the concert and the WBD movie, tributes to teachers from stars, etc. on Friday, Aug. 17th, at 8 pm EDT.

We know that most of the performers, like the actors in the movie, don’t have a clue how they are being used to promote school privatization in the guise of parent empowerment, but this concert and WBD movie are going to put the issue front and center and we need to make sure that our voices are heard.

Here’s what you can do:

PAA and I have written about the Won’t Back Down movie before, but if you don’t remember details, take a few moments to read PAA’s review of the WBD movie trailer (which is all we have been able to see so far – we are requesting a screening) and fact sheet on the WBD movie.

Then reach out to everyone you can about this movie and concert. This movie is designed to be even more powerful than Waiting for Superman, and we need to counter it with every thing we have. How do you fight Hollywood? Make the movie controversial, not feel-good. Take it to the stars who mean well but need to open their eyes to what they are doing. Everyone needs to write to CBS, too.

Everyone wants to write to a star, right? A list of contact info for a few of those involved in the Teachers Rock concert follows (gleaned from posters on Diane Ravitch’s blog). The easiest thing to do is to facebook and tweet them, keeping on mind that they are not the enemy. Post your thoughts on their facebook pages, twitter feeds, use their e-mails, write to their publicist! This is the big one and we need all hands on board!

I’ll post my letter the Meryl Streep next.

Here are a few message points:

*The Won’t Back Down movie and the 8/17 Teacher Rocks concert are propaganda for the parent trigger law created by charter school operators and promoted by ALEC.
*Won”t Back Down is a “feel-bad” movie for parents and teachers who support public education.
*The controversial WBD movie promotes charter takeovers of schools, yet charter schools are no better than our regular schools.
*No real teachers were depicted in the filming of the WBD movie.
*Parents won’t be fooled by the “Parent Tricker” or the Won’t Back Down movie.

Teachers Rock performers:
1. Dave Grohl: Manager-Gabby at 323-856-8222
2. Adam Levine: Receptionist will take message at 310-776-7640
3. Jack Black: email to sjackson_asst@WMEentertainment.com
4. Meryl Streep: publicist’s voice mail at 212-277-7555
5. Viola Davis: email to ewolff@apanewyork.com
6. Morgan Freeman: email to stan@sra-pr.com

More:
1. Dave Grohl – Foo Fighters – Agent: Don Muller – WME 1325 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10019 T.212.586.5100 F.212.246.3583
2. Adam Levine – Maroon 5 singer – Manger: Career Artist Management – 1100 Glendon Avenue, Suite 1100 | Los Angeles, CA 90024 | 310.776.7640 (p) | 310.776.7659 (f)
3. Jack Black – Agent: WME 1325 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10019 T.212.586.5100 F.212.246.3583
4. Meryl Streep – Publicist: Leslee Dart. Dart Group. 90 Park Avenue. 19th Floor. New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212-277-7555.
5. Viola Davis – Agent: Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) 45 West 45th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10036 T. 212.687.0092 F. 212.245.5062
6. Morgan Freeman – Publicist: Stan Rosenfield & Associates, Inc., 2029 Century Park E., Suite 1190, Los Angeles, CA 90067, USA. Phone: (310) 286-7474, Fax: (310) 286-2255.
7. Josh Groban
8. Maggie Gyllenhaal (last, but not least)

In Chicago: Tight Funds for Public Schools; Tax Deals for Biz Allies

Thursday, August 9, 2012
"Rahm sends millions in TIF money to Penny -- not to schools"
(TIF means Tax Increment Financing. (Wikipedia article;
Other articles or sites: "TIF Subsidies Given to Chicago Companies, Nonprofits Bypass City Neighborhoods in Need of Jobs", "Report: TIF Funds Aren’t Helping Schools", "TIF Money For Chicago Public Schools: Like TIFs in Miniature".)
Mike Klonsky writes in his blog:

I'm still on the road but trying to keep up on Chicago happenings. Stunned but not surprised to see that Rahm is delivering millions from his TIF slush fund to his billionaire pal Penny Pritzker for her new Hyatt Hotel.
Pritzker sits on the mayor's hand-picked school board. [Chicago Public Schools] She's also [President Barack] Obama's chief campaign fundraiser. Pritzker is also an anti-union hard-liner who's trying to bust the union at Hyatt. She's claiming that there's no money left in the budget for even small teacher raises. The union argues that TIF money can be used to help solve the crisis. But Rahm obviously has his own priorities. Pritzker obviously has a conflict of interests.
“This one example shows the fundamental corruption in the way things are done here,” said David Orlikoff of the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign, a labor and community coalition growing out of Occupy Chicago’s labor committee and supporting the Chicago Teachers Union.
“Then they tell teachers they don’t have any money for anything, except the mayor’s pet projects. It’s a conflict of interest – and it will be a conflict until the school board is elected.

Link to blog on Pritzker and TIF:
Curtis Black, at Community Media Workshop, August 8, 2012, "Penny Pritzker's TIF":

School board member Penny Pritzker’s Hyatt Hotels Corp. is benefiting from a $5.2 million TIF subsidy on 53rd Street – while CPS’s proposed 2013 budget cuts seven schools surrounding the hotel project by $3.4 million, which is roughly the portion CPS is losing from the TIF deal.
“This one example shows the fundamental corruption in the way things are done here,” said David Orlikoff of the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign, a labor and community coalition growing out of Occupy Chicago’s labor committee and supporting the Chicago Teachers Union.
CTSC will hold a press conference and speakout and picket the project at 53rd and Harper on Wednesday, August 8, starting at 5:30 p.m.
“As a member of the Board of Education, it’s Penny Pritzker’s job to find money for our schools, not to take our money for her business,” Orlikoff said.
The $5.2 million subsidy is part of $20.4 million in TIF funds going to the University of Chicago-led redevelopment of Harper Court (see here for some background). In addition to the hotel, the university is building a 12-story office building in the first phase of the project.
CTSC points out that Pritzker has a net worth of $1.8 billion, and the University of Chicago – now engaged in a huge campus expansion – has an endowment of $6.6 billion.
“They have plenty of money,” said Lorraine Chavez of CTSC. “They don’t need a taxpayer subsidy to pay for it. It’s outrageous.”
At Catalyst, Penny Pritzker clarifies that she’s not personally receiving the $5.2 million, and in a statement to Newstips, Hyatt points out that the Hyde Park Hyatt will not be owned by the corporation but, like many Hyatts, operated under a franchise agreement, thus “neither Hyatt Hotels Corporation nor Penny Pritzker…is receiving TIF funds as a result of this project.”
Conflict of interest
“The school board should be defending school funding when the mayor wants to take it for TIFs; it’s the only body in a position to do that,” Orlikoff said. “But they’re appointed by the mayor, and they look the other way.
“Then they tell teachers they don’t have any money for anything, except the mayor’s pet projects. It’s a conflict of interest – and it will be a conflict until the school board is elected.
“We need representation on the school board, and we need to end the chronic underfunding of our schools,” Orlikoff said.
CTSC, which exists “to support teachers and fight for equitable quality education,” calls for increasing school funding “by reclaiming TIFs and taxing the rich.”
TIF is “a failed program,” Orlikoff said. “It’s not fighting economic blight, it’s a way of taking from everyone and giving to the One Percent.”
Questions on 53rd Street
There are lots of questions right now about the 53rd Street TIF, especially with a new TIF district now being carved out of it by a second developer.
Antheus Capital, planning an upscale residential and retail development at 51st and Lake Park, wants to break its parcel out of the 53rd Street TIF to form its own TIF district – in order apply for $10 million or more in TIF funds. The 53rd Street TIF advisory council has okayed the proposal.
But after ten years of operation, the 53rd Street TIF fund has a balance of just $3.7 million.
Now, with thirteen years to go, it’s on the hook for a $20-million subsidy, while revenues are slowing (due not just to a lousy economy but to the County Assessor’s new formula, which shifts the property tax burden from commercial to residential taxpayers) – and the TIF district is getting smaller.
“Many of us don’t expect to seek Phase 2″ ( a 26-story condo tower and four apartment buildings, estimated to cost $100 million), said longtime community activist George Rumsey. “It’s hard to see where the money’s going to come from . Everyone is wondering if there’s going to be enough to finish the first phase.”
“For two years I’ve been asking who is liable if the TIF funds come up short,” he said Rumsey. “I have not gotten an answer.”
Fourth Ward Ald. Will Burns has backed Hyatt’s TIF subsidy, telling the Sun Times it’s “absolutely essential,” though the Ramada Lakeshore hotel is located a few blocks away.
Time to ‘revisit’ TIF?
The Hyde Park Herald called for “revisiting” the 53rd Street TIF in an editorial last week. It points out that the TIF district was sold to residents in 2001 on the basis of promised community benefits, including a new addition for Canter Middle School and a parking lot, none of which have materialized.

For conclusion of Community Media Workshop story click to here.

Here's a map of TIF projects in Chicago.

PURE reports that TIF money is going to build another Hyatt hotel (hello, Hyatt mogul and CPS board member, Penny Pritzker), but it says that TIF money should instead go to public schools.
"PSAT for 8-7-12: Boycott Hyatt for public education"

At Chicago Teachers Union: "“Contract is not Settled; …We Continue To Bargain In Good Faith . . ."

Posted last night at the Chicago Teachers Union blog.
(Scroll to latter half of the post for recent news coverage on CTU president Karen Lewis and the union.)

"Contract is not Settled; …We Continue To Bargain In Good Faith and Members Continue to Prepare For A Work Stoppage”
08/09/2012

The Chicago Teachers Union is currently in contract negotiations with the Chicago Public Schools and has been since November 2011. While much has been made of the interim agreement in which the Union was able to successfully stop the threat of a 7 hour and 40 minute work day as well as force the District to hire displaced (tenured) teachers in over 500 new positions, the parties have not reached a new contract agreement.

Educators have been without a contract since June 30.

Despite the interim agreement, there are many open issues still on the negotiating table in which there has been little movement. Public school educators also remain concerned about the District’s refusal to provide adequate wrap-around services for students severely impacted by poverty and violence in addition to threats of ballooning class sizes. Teachers are concerned about the new evaluation process of which 40 percent of the review is based on how students perform on standardized tests. Job security, health benefits and teacher pay have not been resolved.

While we continue to bargain in good faith, CTU members continue to prepare for a work stoppage in September when most of them are required to return to the classroom. State law requires a “cooling off period” of 30 days after the issuing of a fact-finder’s report. At the end of this period, or thereafter, the CTU may strike provided it has first given the District a 10-day notice of the intent to strike.

It should be noted that movement at the bargaining table came only after nearly 10,000 people marched in downtown Chicago in support of a fair contract and more resources for neighborhood schools. This dramatic action was followed by a historic vote, where 90 percent of CTU members voted 98 percent to authorize a strike.

We recognize strikes are not popular. However, they are the strongest tool public workers have in ensuring their rights are not trampled upon and working conditions are fair and equitable. The CTU is fighting for strong, well-resourced neighborhood schools where students, regardless of their zip code, will have equal access to a high quality education.

Chicago is a world-class city and it deserves world-class neighborhood schools. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians are prepared to do what it takes to protect their jobs, their students and their schools.

PRESIDENT KAREN LEWIS: PREPARE FOR A STRIKE
"Union chief: Teachers should prepare for strike"

Rosalind Rossi, The Chicago Sun-Times, August 10, 2012

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis rattled the bargaining sabers Thursday, saying so many big issues remain on the negotiating table that teachers need to be prepared for a September strike. Lewis said there was “no chance’’ the teachers contract that expired June 30 will be resolved by Monday, when classes begin for about a third of the system on year-round school calendars.

After concluding their 41st day of contract talks Thursday, Chicago Public School and CTU negotiators “haven’t even gotten to compensation yet,’’ Lewis said.

“We haven’t gotten to the big sticking points because we’re trying to get the little ones off the table,’’ Lewis said. “I see slow progress.’’

Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard told reporters Thursday that negotiators were “making decent progress and I’m still hopeful and optimistic.’’

CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said the district was “pleased with the tone and encouraged by the progress being made.”

The CPS comments came after the CTU issued a news release, warning that teachers were still concerned about a new evaluation system that will link teacher ratings to student test results, job security, health benefits, pay and wrap-around services for students severely affected by poverty and violence.

“CTU members continue to prepare for a work stoppage in September when most of them are required to return to the classroom,’’ the news release warned.

“We need to have our people prepared,’’ Lewis said later in explaining the news release. “I don’t have any idea about what’s going to happen, but I know it’s ridiculous to sit back and pretend that everything is going to be settled and then scramble at the last minute when it’s not.’’

Under the law, the earliest teachers could strike would be Aug. 18, but first the union’s House of Delegates must set a strike date and the union must give CPS a 10-day heads-up of its intent to strike. School starts for most CPS students on Sept. 4, the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Lewis said the classes that start Monday in 243 CPS year-round schools will be a test drive of an 11th-hour interim deal that gives hundreds of laid-off teachers a crack at teaching jobs and keeps the typical teacher workday at about the same length. Those teachers will be working on an expired contract.

Kids, meanwhile, will get the longer school day promised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — of seven hours.

Year-round principals only have one week to hire from a new pool of laid-off teachers before classes begin.

Lewis warned that “lots of things weren’t covered’’ in the interim deal and “we’re going to watch and see how it plays out because that will help inform our final agreement.’’

Contributing: Lauren FitzPatrick

In at Least One NYC School Jeans Banned ---For Teachers

In at least one New York City (P.S. or elementary) school supervisors have banned jeans ---on teachers!

“In an increasingly diverse nation where what you wear may be the ultimate self-expression, teachers are falling victim to the same dress code rules as their students.”
--USA Today, July 31, 2012
Huh?
Let's go to how clothes and electronics rules are defined and actually practiced in the NYC DOE:
First, these are strict and well-defined as to attire, just as they are to electronics.
But let's look at the hypocrisy. Students flout the rules. Administrators ignore them.
Guys, we'll perennially tolerate your way low saggin', the DOE is basically telling children. (See this Chaz post.) And everyone, you can operate any and every electronic amusement device you wish. (See this post by Life in Limbo on the lewd-mouthed student with the laptop.)
Again, this is your DOE of the 2000s and 2010s: no accountability standards for students; tough standards for teachers.
Here's USA Today's July 30, 2012 story on the getting tough on teacher adornments patterns:

When kids in one Kansas school district return to class this fall, they won't be seeing cutoff shorts, pajama pants or flip flops — on teachers.
Kindergarten teachers, who would meet new dress codes, at McAdory Middle School in Birmingham, Ala.
The Wichita School District is just one of a growing number in the nation cracking down on teacher apparel. Jeans are banned in at least one elementary school in New York City. A school district in Phoenix is requiring teachers to cover up tattoos and excessive piercings. And several Arizona schools are strictly defining business casual.
In an increasingly diverse nation where what you wear may be the ultimate self-expression, teachers are falling victim to the same dress code rules as their students.
In most cases, schools are taking the actions because they believe some teachers are dressing inappropriately. School board members received parental complaints about teacher dress at Arizona's Litchfield Elementary School District, Superintendent Julianne Lein says.
The move comes at a time when the number of public schools requiring uniforms has nearly doubled over the past decade to 19%, reports the National Center for Education Statistics. The center doesn't track teacher uniforms or dress codes. But it soon may have to, as schools have moved to:
•Ban tattoos and piercings. Teachers can't sport outlandish hairstyles or facial piercings, and tattoos have to be covered up at the Litchfield Elementary School District.
Fifth-grade teacher Tim Schooley, who says he's surprised it's taken so long to implement a dress code, isn't sure how school officials will enforce the tattoo rule. He has a tattoo on his calf, but keeps it covered . "Tattoos can be a symbol or something of extreme significance that you have," he says. "That, to me, is a little bit different."
•Outlaw jeans. At New York's P.S. 64 Robert Simon School, jeans are an absolute no-no.
•Nix skinny straps. Students shouldn't be seeing too much of their female teachers in Peoria and Litchfield school districts, as tank-top straps can't be less than 2 inches wide.
What happens to those who don't follow the new rules?
"Staff members will first be counseled by their supervisor to brainstorm options in ways to meet the code," Superintendent Lein says. "Further non-compliance will be dealt with through the normal disciplinary channels." But in this case, not detention.

UPDATED: Will Campbell Brown Play Even with Alleged Perv Kevin (Mr. Rhee) Johnson? & Haimson Scoops StudentsFirst Link

CAMPBELL BROWN HYPOCRISY, L'AFFAIRE RHEE-JOHNSON - BROWN SPOUSE, AT STUDENTSFIRST NY, IS TOP ROMNEY AIDE - JOHNSON IN SUMMER OF '95 - RAVITCH BLOGS HAIMSON (SHOWING BROWN LINK TO STUDENTSFIRST) - UNIONS MUST RAISE ISSUE OF SOFT GLOVES FOR PERVVY SUPERVISORS

Campbell Brown, a former CNN anchor of her own show, suddenly got it in her to go on a war against teachers' unions, impugning them as covering for sexual predator teachers. With Brown, and the editorial directors of tabloid newspapers such as the New York Post, there is a tack that the accused much prove their innocence. If she's going down that road, she needs to look in her own crowd, including deformer couple, Rhee-Johnson.

On scouring the Internet, you cannot seem to find a resolution to the allegations of sexual misconduct of Sacramento, California Mayor Kevin Johnson, the spouse of Michelle Rhee.

There are now ways to scrub Internet reputations. Apparently, Johnson has not found the wherewithal to do this.

"Karoli," writing at Crooks and Liars, summed up the hypocrisy:

What does this prove, really? It proves bad people exist everywhere. In unions and not in unions. In charter schools and in public schools. But the key difference is that when it comes to teachers' unions, publications like the Wall Street Journal allow intellectually dishonest so-called "journalists" to smear an entire group of people for the actions of a few. {In my book this is called discrimination. -NYC Eye} If I were to apply Campbell Brown's logic, I would smear every single charter school in the country because Kevin Johnson misused nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money and may have engaged in sexual misconduct, too. But I won't, because it's flawed, agenda-laden, political skullduggery.

In 2009 Johnson was under investigation for TWO matters: misappropriation of funds, and allegations of sexual misconduct:

Office of Inspector General report on Kevin Johnson: http://www.scribd.com/doc/101709609/2009-OIG-Report-Re-Kevin-Johnson

Now, let us go back to the full article at Crooks and Liars, which includes the reference to Cameron Brown. Could there be projection happening in her attack on teachers? The cold numbers are used to assess teachers. But if we turn the tables on her, the cold numbers hurt her, as could not compete in her time slot against the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Grace or Keith Olberman. See this report two years ago in the New York Daily News: Campbell Brown steps down as anchor of eponymous CNN cable news show due to low ratings.

In this troika of teacher attackers we see lots of people that couldn't hack it in own area, so they have moved on to safe spots from which they can take a righteous ground and attack others. This smacks of the defense mechanism of psychological projection. In Rhee, an ex-teacher who could not handle the basics of classroom management. She moved on to take over the school system, couldn't hack that without resorting to erasure-gate. Now, she gets to head StudentsFirst, and opine on Meet the Press that she will reserve comment on Republicans as she is a Democrat. Next, Johnson, who couldn't hack reserving his behavior in close proximity to youths. So, he moved on to become a medium-sized city mayor. Then, there's Brown, who had trouble competing in the brutal O'Reilly/Grace/Oberman timeslot. So, now she's winging a Wall Street Journal guest op-ed opportunity, taking the holy ground by attacking America's current easy target, scapegoats.

"Campbell Brown Slams Unions At Teachers' Expense,"Crooks and Liars, August 1, 2012

I suppose the one good thing to come out of this is that Campbell Brown, who has absolutely no business talking about education in any way, finally reveals herself as the stealth Romney campaign advisor we have all known she is. {Link to Ali Gharib piece at ThinkProgress, "Campbell Brown, Wife Of Top Romney Adviser, Says Obama Is ‘Condescending’ To Women". --NYC Eye}

Before I discuss her despicable effort to "Willy Horton" the American Federation of Teachers and President Randi Weingarten in particular, let's just review who Campbell Brown is. She is a long-gone CNN White House correspondent, married to Dan Senor, and has no classroom experience or anything to suggest that she has authority when it comes to public education.

Still, that didn't stop her from writing an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal using Willy Horton tactics to smear the American Federation of Teachers yesterday by proclaiming that the AFT "goes to bat for sexual offenders." And if that wasn't enough, she then paraded herself onto Morning Joe Monday morning to whine about it and smear the teachers even more.

Surely that wasn't timed to coincide with the end of AFT's National Conference Monday, or Vice President Biden's rousing speech to the teachers in attendance on Sunday. Surely not. [Disclosure: I attended the conference at AFT's invitation]

Oh, I forgot one more thing Mrs. Senor forgot: Dan Senor is on the board of StudentsFirst NY. StudentsFirst NY is an arm of Michelle Rhee's education deform coalition, funded by Rupert Murdoch and others who have an interest in destroying teachers' unions. Dan Senor is also a senior Mitt Romney advisor, and smearing teachers' unions is one of Romney's top priorities. It certainly didn't hurt to have that Dan Senor/Morning Joe connection when Campbell wanted to put a little traction under her smear, either.

But you know, Campbell Brown should have checked with Michelle Rhee before taking this tack. Because now it's my non-reportorial duty as a citizen of this great country to point out that Michelle Rhee goes to bat for sexual predators, too. This is actually a story I haven't talked about because I happen to think Rhee's personal life should not be involved in her effort to wreck schools.

But Campbell Brown opened up Pandora's box, so let's just go ahead and lay it out there.

Michelle Rhee's husband Kevin Johnson was under federal investigation in 2009 for misuse of funds connected with his charter school, St. Hope Academy. This was a big right-wing story at the time, but mostly underreported by mainstream press or the left, because the Obama administration fired the OIG in charge of the investigation shortly after his report was issued. The timing gave rise to a shrill whine from the right wingers about cronyism, etc, while they ignored the actual report about Johnson's malfeasance. Here's a snippet of the letter from Chuck Grassley wrote concerning the investigation:

In September 2008, after reviewing the facts that the OIG investigation presented, the Corporation’s Debarment and Suspension Official (Official) determined that the grantee’s two principals, Kevin Johnson and Dana Gonzalez were responsible for six acts of diverting grant funds to non-grant purposes, and found that “immediate action is necessary to protect the public interest.”

In total about $850,000 was misused. As a result, the OIG requested that the Official suspend all future Federal grant funding to both St. HOPE Academy and Kevin Johnson and Dana Gonzales individually. The Official ultimately suspended St. HOPE Academy and its principals “from participating in Federal procurement and non procurement programs and activities.” None of the respondents exercised their right to submit facts objecting to the suspension.

What Grassley does not mention in his letter is that Kevin Johnson was also under investigation for inappropriate sexual conduct with a 16-year old student at the school. Skip to page 26 of the report below to read the specifics.

2009 OIG Report Re: Kevin Johnson
And what does this have to do with Dan Senor, Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown? Well, it seems that Michelle Rhee actually interfered in the federal investigation, and covered for her "friend" Kevin Johnson, who she married in 2011. See also here regarding Rhee's conduct on Johnson's behalf.

When Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, was under investigation last year for alleged financial misdeeds and inappropriate behavior with female students, he had an important ally behind the scenes.

Michelle Rhee, the nationally known education reformer who is now head of the Washington, D.C., public schools, had several conversations with a federal inspector general in which she made the case for Johnson and the school he ran in Sacramento, according to the inspector general. Rhee, who had served on the board of the school and is now engaged to marry Johnson, said he was "a good guy." { - Above two paragraphs are from 2009 L.A. Times story -NYC Eye}

What does this prove, really? It proves bad people exist everywhere. In unions and not in unions. In charter schools and in public schools. But the key difference is that when it comes to teachers' unions, publications like the Wall Street Journal allow intellectually dishonest so-called "journalists" to smear an entire group of people for the actions of a few. If I were to apply Campbell Brown's logic, I would smear every single charter school in the country because Kevin Johnson misused nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money and may have engaged in sexual misconduct, too. But I won't, because it's flawed, agenda-laden, political skullduggery.

Of course, we'll never know one way or the other, because Michelle Rhee married Kevin Johnson, so she wouldn't be compelled to give evidence against him in any prosecution one way or the other, and she interfered in the original investigation as well.

Where is Campbell Brown shouting about how the president of an organization covered up for a man who may have sexually assaulted young women in a charter school where there are ZERO requirements for any kind of due process before teachers are fired? Where is her outrage at the possibility that Kevin Johnson behaved inappropriately toward a minor and other Americorps volunteers without any investigation, largely because Michelle Rhee stood up and defended him as a "good guy"?

Sorry, but Campbell Brown has absolutely zero business writing about education, unions, or sexual misconduct as long as she's willing to disguise her obvious ties with StudentsFirst NY, Michelle Rhee, and Kevin Johnson and ignore the evidence on the record about their misconduct. Not only does her cynical ploy to discredit the AFT fall flat, it simply affirms her reputation as a Washington insider has-been who is trying to revive her career by papering over Mitt Romney's utter failure as a viable candidate.

[Footnote: Kevin Johnson is now the mayor of Sacramento, and despite right-wing claims that he's a darling of the Obama administration, the truth is that even Democrats can't stand the man. Or his wife. "Why Labor Doesn't Like Rhee"]

Actually, Karoli, see my last post, for the photo of vice president Joe Biden with his hand on Rhee's shoulder, and mayor Johnson grinning at Biden.
And all that funny money moving around at the charter school under Johnson's watch? Could that have been hush money to keep someone quiet, in a manner akin to out-of-court settlements? Just asking.

Bravo to American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, for standing up to Brown, in a twitter battle. She is reminding Brown that the accused deserve the rights of due process.

Fred Klonsky at his blog, rightly called out the mass character impugning and the pass given to Johnson: "Male teachers are sexual predators and the union protects them."

ALLEGATIONS OF MAYOR JOHNSON'S 1995 SEXUAL IMPROPRIETY WITH MINOR
From the Phoenix New Times, Paul Rubin, May 8, 1997
"The Summer of '95: A teenage girl tells police Kevin Johnson won her confidence, then took advantage of her. While her allegations are open to question, there are many questions about KJ's behavior."

Phoenix Suns fans who were puzzled by the inconsistent play of Kevin Johnson during the playoff series against Seattle should consider this:

Days before the series began, an attorney for a 17-year-old Phoenix girl delivered a letter to Johnson. It demanded $750,000 before 5 p.m. on April 28.
If Johnson failed to cut a check, the attorney warned, a lawsuit would be filed promptly.
"Despite your current, very positive image and persona," civil attorney Kent Turley wrote, "[the girl's] experience with you will cause us to use the theme in any litigation that you were in fact a wolf in sheep's clothing."
. . . .
The alleged sexual contacts, Turley wrote, had occurred in the summer of '95, when Kim was 16 and Johnson was 29. He quoted Kim Adams extensively in his demand letter, including this account:
"He [Johnson] said I could sleep in his room or the guesthouse and I chose the guesthouse. . . . We got into the bed and he took all of my clothes off and all of his but his shirt. He was on top of me touching me all over--my breasts, butt, in between my legs, and stomach. Then he took off his shirt. I didn't really know what to do--I was very confused because I thought we were friends, but I didn't know what else to do than to go along with it. . . . He told me to pinky-promise not to say anything and when I asked why, he said I knew why."
In an understatement, Turley concluded that public disclosure of the alleged revelations would be scandalous. The comment was an attorney's attempt to maneuver--some would say strong-arm--Johnson into agreeing to a rapid and secret disposition to the case.
Neither Turley nor Kim Adams claims Johnson and the girl had sexual intercourse; she claims Johnson fondled her genitals on several occasions. If it was done without her consent, such acts could be considered felonies and can call for a prison term upon conviction.
Last January, however, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office reviewed a Phoenix police investigation of the girl's claims and declined to prosecute Johnson, saying the case did not meet the agency's threshold of "reasonable likelihood of conviction."

Then, there are more sordid details of shared physical intimacy with other youths, a 16-year-old, in the summer of 1995 and improper touching at his charter school. Click to the latter part of this article. RAVITCH REPOSTS HAIMSON
What a great couple of days it has been. People are not sitting silent amidst the vulgar smears of teachers. Diane Ravitch has posted this piece from Leonie Haimson, which documents the cronyism of Campbell Brown, connections with StudentsFirst. Waiting for Brown to blow a whistle on Rhee or Johnson? Don't hold your breath.
In "Campbell Brown and Michelle Rhee: Another Odd Couple," Ravitch wrote an intro to Brown's stone throwing, and reprinted parent activist Leonie Haimson's contribution which documents Brown's spousal link to the StudentsFirst family.

Leonie Haimson is a leading parent activist in New York City and a co-founder of Parents Across America, which keeps tabs on the depredations of the corporate reformers.

Here is Leonie’s take on l’affaire Campbell Brown. One would think that Michelle Rhee and her organization StudentsFirst would be wary of getting too deep in the weeds with the issue of sexual misconduct. Yet they seem to want to exploit it to the full in a fact-free fashion.

The text of Leonie’s commentary follows, in full:

Campbell Brown was the first witness chosen to testify at the Cuomo Commission hearings last week, all about how the UFT protects sex abusers. She repeated the same claims in the WSJ a few days later.

Bloomberg & Students1st NY (which essentially works for him, under the direction of Micah Lasher) are pushing a bill in the legislature, S.7497, that would allow him to fire any teacher accused of abuse, no matter what the arbitrator decided.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Brown’s husband Dan Senor, a senior Romney advisor, is also on the board of Students1st. There is more on this here and here – including about how Rhee’s own husband, Kevin Johnson has been accused of sexually molesting a minor under his supervision.

Here is the Students1st NY email blast sent out today:

We need your help, right now, to speak out against sexual misconduct in our school — and against sexism in the education debate.

On Monday, Emmy Award-winning journalist Campbell Brown — who previously served as White House Correspondent for NBC and as an anchor for CNN — wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about how New York law, supported by the teacher’s union, keeps sexual predators in the classroom.

Last night, the union responded — by attacking Campbell’s husband (who, among other things, serves on our Board).

National teachers union president Randi Weingarten took to Twitter and started republishing comments about Campbell’s “hubby” and his political views — as if Campbell’s accomplishments and perspective on this issue didn’t count. This morning, many of Ms. Weingarten’s colleagues have pursued the same line of attack.

Will you help us send a message that sexual misconduct has no place in our schools, and that sexism has no place in this debate?

Click here to speak out on Twitter. Tell Ms. Weingarten that she should focus more on protecting kids and less on sexist spin. Please use #protectourkids.

Of course, the union is looking for anything to distract from the issue at hand: that the union fights tooth-and-nail against giving school districts the authority to terminate anyone who engages in sexual misconduct.

Hopefully, if enough people speak out, we can convince the teachers union to put down the poison pen (and keyboard) and join us in trying to do something about this issue.

Click here to make your voice heard. Urge the union to put students first.

Chandra M. Hayslett
Director of Communications
StudentsFirstNY
http://twitter.com/StudentsFirstNY

Ah, Campbell Brown, if you live in a glass house, do not throw rocks.

And, thanks again to those that did the right thing and stood up against the blanket smears of teachers as perverts: AFT president Randi Weingarten, NYU professor Diane Ravitch and Class Size Matters head Leonie Haimson. It is refreshing that when there are sleazes like Brown, some people will stand for truth.

HEY, HEY, HO, HO, SOFTER GLOVES FOR SUPERVISORS' SEXUAL IMPROPRIETY HAVE TO GO

Since major media personalities and outlets are side-lining serious issues and making a smoke-screen of an non-epidemic of sexually predatory teachers, teacher unions also raise and fight the media and the city for bias in the areas of principal sexual improprieties as compared to teacher sexual improprieties. (Albeit, don't get me wrong, sexual misconduct is a terrible offense. Victims of sexual assault remain scarred for decades. But let's not broadly impugn teachers as a class or negate due process rights.)

As Chaz's School Daze, a New York City blog reported, a New York City school supervisor impregnated a subordinate. Chaz's cited news story told of an additional case in which a principal several times was found in "compromising positions" with an assistant principal. No termination, in spite of the clear violation of Department of Education regulations. According to the 3020-a law any educator found guilty of sexual misconduct is automatically terminated.

And while we're on the subject of softer gloves treatment, let us go to the case of Mychael Willon, who was caught doing a perverse act in a Wichita, Kansas adult video store. His professional life after this? He got a bogus (mail order) PhD and became a LIS/Network supervisor of school supervisors in the Bronx (New York City) for several years. (He couldn't have done too much work during the day, as blogger SouthBronxSchool found that he lived in Owego, NY, 3 and 1/s to 4 hours from the Bronx.)
Rutland, Vermont rejected him for superintendent after it learned of his diploma mill "PhD". Leominster, Massachusetts rejected him for superintendent after learning of his public lewdness arrest. NYC DOE? Hired him. His life after the NYC Department of Education? A job in the growing for-profit virtual education industry, as Chief Academic Officer at Alternatives Unlimited.

Where is the pious posturing by Brown on pervvy principals???
Why does it take bloggers to bring down serial harassers? Why does the NYC DOE demote such supervisors to assistant principal instead of boot them out of the education profession? Look to the case of Bronxdale High School principal John Chase, Jr., and Gothamist's reportage:

According to a Sept. 19, 2011 police report, Chase told one school staff member, “We have a fancy copy machine that does all sorts of things. It even has a hole to stick your ---- -- for a ---- ---." In addition, Chase talked about a hole in the wall—left behind by phone repairmen—with great enthusiasm, because he said it meant he could shove his member into it whenever he wanted. But alas, Chase will now have to shove his proverbial member into some other school's hole in a lesser role.

STAND BY YOUR MAN
And what does the DOE do with a John Chase? [Assigning him to assistant principal] "It was just an agreement that it would be best for him to do it right now," said Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
New allegations surfaced about Chase, whereby he allegedly said things that made a 15 year old girl feel uncomfortable. What did Chancellor Walcott say?

On the new allegation, he said, “Just because an accusation is made doesn’t mean a person is guilty.”

Care to take the same position about teachers, Campbell Brown or New York Post editors? Until CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News and the New York Post back off from their campaign to paint a mass plague of perverted teachers, AFT president Weingarten and local union leaders should remind the media of the presumption of innocence, the rights of due process and the NYE Department of Education's kid gloves treatment of supervisors accused --or found guilty-- of sexual misconduct.

W. Post Audio: Rhee Jokes Over Taping Mouths; Mini-Scandal at StudentsFirst

Imagine if New Yorkers had reporters that would tear away the sheep's clothing from the wolves of New York City education. (Click on video box on right for audio of her speech.)

(Aghast woman at left; Arne Duncan possibly in background, by the window.)

A Washington Post reporter did just that in uploading audio with the headline, "Rhee talks about her early misadventures in teaching." Disgraced former Washington, DC Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, investigated for "erasuregate," a scandal in which there were allegedly high numbers of erasures, was captured giving a talk to first-year teachers about her difficulties in her first years as a teacher. The Post uploaded an audio excerpt of the speech at Columbia Heights Education Campus in a video-type box. (Her students' scores fell in her first year, 64 percent to 17 percent in math.)

Her jovial, stand-up style delivery had her teacher audience laughing and included her explanation of the infamous mouth-taping incident. As she acknowledged in her delivery, students' lips bled.

What a difference an elite degree and a Teach for America appointment makes. (See last post: in addition to heading StudentsFirst, she sits on the Broad Foundation board.) As of this date, she has done no "desk service" or paid any penalty for the incident.

Read this well argued opinion piece at Huffington Post. Peter Drucker researched and found several incidents of teachers taping children's mouths shut. Harsh penalties ensued. For Rhee, supportive chuckles. Why? The author drew the parallel to the analysis of president Richard Nixon: "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal."

I share his interpretation of how Rhee's abuse goes unchallenged by her high-flying associates. I quote Zucker below:

What is especially galling to me is that no one -- not Oprah, not Bill Gates, not any of the high falutin' power brokers that either interview Michelle Rhee, work with her, or pal around with her -- will bring this abuse of children up with her.

Speaking of -gates, a StudentsFirst leader is in controversy for offering rewards for those who post positive comments on blog boards. RheeFirst! blog noted that the staffmember played victim when the contest came under fire.

Slick Broad Foundation Roped in Andy Stern -Scoop From Ravitch

The Broad Foundation. One of those philanthropy foundations that are determining education policy, instead of people determining public education policy.

Eli Broad and his billionaires buddies Bill Gates and the Waltons can be very good with coloring education deform policies with "liberal" or "civil rights" language.

So it is no surprise that Broad's foundation chose blue dog Democratic congressman Harold Ford (TN) or Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), to shore up the liberal credentials.

But WHY did Andy Stern have to join the Broad Foundation, an organization so antithetical to education workers' interests? He could have turned it down. By signing up he gives the impression that organized labor is fine with collaborating with a foundation that drives the education deform or stand-on-children abuse of school policy, teachers and children.

We're not surprised by Joel Klein, Jean Claude Brizard, Michelle Rhee, Margaret Spellings, Wendy Kopp and Mortimer Zuckerman.

But why couldn't Stern practice some labor solidarity and keep more than a 10 foot pole's distance from the noxious company of the Broad Foundation?

Read more about the unhappy details at "Does the Public Have a Right to Know about Broad Academy?" by Diane Ravitz:

We have visited the travails of the Huntsville, Alabama, schools before.

This is where a Broad-trained superintendent decided that recalcitrant kids should be sent off to live in a teepee until they learned to behave.

Then we learned that he bought 22,000 laptops for the district.

And this district laid off 150 experienced teachers to save money, but has given a contract to Teach for America to bring in rookie teachers.

Now we hear from a parent about life for his child in the Huntsville schools, where change is a fact of life. .

A Broad-trained superintendent in North Carolina left Michelle Rhee’s team and was hired by a Tea Party majority of the local school board in Wake County, North Carolina that wanted to eliminate the district’s successful desegregation policy, even if it meant resegregation of the schools. That board was ousted last fall. The superintendent has stayed on, and the choice plan now in effect seems likely to undo years of work to avoid resegregation. The schools of Wake County were lauded (before the Tea Party takeover) as a model of desegregation by Gerald Grant in his excellent book, Hope and Despair in the American City: Why There Are No Bad Schools in Raleigh.

Chris Cerf in New Jersey was trained by Broad. So was Deborah Gist in Rhode Island, John White in Louisiana, J.C. Brizard in Chicago, and John Covington in Michigan. when Philadelphia picked a new superintendent recently, the two finalists were both Broadies. And there are many more. Read about them here.

Now that the Broad Foundation “trains” so many new superintendents, doesn’t the public have a right to know what the Broad Academy is teaching its students?

The Broad Superintendents Academy is not certified, has no state approvals, is not subject to any outside monitoring, yet it “trains” people who then take leadership roles in urban districts and in state education departments. Many were never educators.

What were they taught? What principles and values were inculcated? On what research are their lessons based? How valid is the research to which they are exposed?

Inquiring minds want to know.

If the public has a right to information about teacher performance, doesn’t the public have a right to know who is training public school superintendents and what they are taught and how valid is the information and research they are given and whether they were exposed to different points of view?

By the way, the Broad Foundation just added new members to its board of directors. Here is the new lineup:

Officers:

The Honorable Joel I. Klein, Chair
CEO, Educational Division and Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman, News Corporation Former Chancellor, New York City Department of Education

Barry Munitz, Vice Chair
Trustee Professor, California State University, Los Angeles

Dan Katzir, Secretary/Treasurer
Senior Advisor, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation

Members:

Richard Barth
Chief Executive Officer, KIPP Foundation

Becca Bracy Knight
Executive Director, The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems

Jean-Claude Brizard
Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Public Schools

Harold Ford Jr.
Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Former U.S. Congressman, Tennessee

Louis Gerstner, Jr.
Retired Chairman and CEO, IBM Corporation

Wendy Kopp
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Teach For America

Paul Pastorek
Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Counsel and Corporate Secretary, EADS North America Former Superintendent of Education, State of Louisiana

Michelle Rhee
Founder and CEO, StudentsFirst Former Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools

Margaret Spellings
President and Chief Executive Officer, Margaret Spellings and Company Former U.S. Secretary of Education

Andrew L. Stern
Former President, Service Employees International Union Ronald O. Perelman Senior Fellow, Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law and Public Policy, Columbia University

Lawrence H. Summers
Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University President Emeritus, Harvard University

Kenneth Zeff
Chief Operating Officer, Green Dot Public Schools

Mortimer Zuckerman
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, U.S. News & World Report Publisher, New York Daily News

Click over to the Ravitch story for the 23 comments.

BREAKING: Judge Lobis Rules Vs. Turnaround Closures and Staff Dismissals

New York State Supreme Court Justice Joan Lobis ruled tonight that the New York City Department of Education's plan to close and reopen 24 schools violated its contracts with the United Federation of Teachers and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators.

The teachers and administrators keep their jobs. However, the question of whether or not the schools will be renamed remains unresolved.

[Judge Lobis' decision essentially sustains her similar action two weeks ago, when she refused New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's bid to have a restraining order slapped against arbitrator Scott Buchheit's decision in the unions' favor.] Here is the breaking story, from Dominic Rafter of the Associated Press, as published in the last hour by the Queens Chronicle:

The Bloomberg administration's high school "turnaround" plan suffered a stinging and perhaps fatal defeat on Tuesday evening as a New York State Supreme Court judge upheld an arbitrator's decision to reverse the plan to close 24 city high schools, including seven in Queens, fire much of the staff and reopen them in the fall under new names.

The judge ruled that the Department of Education broke its contracts with the UFT and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators in closing the schools and reopening them under new names. In her ruling, Judge Joan Lobis, who originally sent the two sides to the arbitrator, Scott Buccheit, in May, upheld his ruling which stated the renamed high schools opening in September were not "new schools" which would have allowed the city to void its contracts with the unions.

The decision means the layoffs made by the DOE at the end of the school year are voided, though whether or not the schools will be renamed is still in question. The city may also lose out on $60 million in federal money since the DOE and the unions failed to agree on a teacher evaluation system, which prompted Mayor Bloomberg's decision to proceed with the "turnaround" plan. The DOE did not immediately respond for comment, but UFT President Michael Mulgrew praised the decision and asked the DOE to focus now on the upcoming school year.

"We appreciate the judge’s decision to uphold the arbitrator’s ruling. It is now time to prepare the teachers, principals and school communities for the opening of school and we hope that the Mayor will spend as much effort on helping struggling schools succeed as he does on his own political needs," he said in a statement Tuesday evening.

The seven high schools that would have been closed under the plan were August Martin, Flushing, John Adams, Long Island City, Newtown, Richmond Hill and William Cullen Bryant.

Here is GothamSchools' article on Judge Lobis' decision.

CTU UP; Emanuel Feeling Heat; Brizard MIA

How a mobilization and a few weeks make a world of difference.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been in an aggressive mode for the past few weeks, ramming through a school day extension, unpopular with both parents and teachers. His aggressive stance has set up a strike possibility. Mike Klonsky blog reports "CTU and community protests force more Rahm concessions."

Schools CEO [sic] Jean-Claude Brizard "can't go anywhere these days without being greeted by community protests, even backing out of a scheduled meeting . . . for 'security reasons,'" writes Klonsky.

With national elections drawing near and a threatened teachers strike only 30 days away, Rahm is feeling pressure from inside his own camp to reach an agreement with the CTU. The Civic Federation is attacking his proposed school budget from one side while pro-union protests hit it from the other. CEO Brizard can't go anywhere these days without being greeted by community protests, even backing out of a scheduled meeting at UIC last week which was cancelled for "security reasons."

The school board was scheduled to pass it's $5.2 billion 2012-13 operating budget which would have locked in a meager, strike-inciting 2% raise for teachers right in the middle of heated contract negotiation and on the heels of the fact-finders report recommending a much higher pay raise. But, this morning, faced with the threat of massive protests at Wednesday's board meeting, the board announced that the budget vote would be postponed until after an agreement was reached with the union."

We are going to wait until August to allow for contract negotiations to continue because our budget outcomes will have to reflect those decisions,” schools spokeswoman Becky Carroll said.

Jackson Potter of the Chicago Teachers Union called the delay a good-faith effort by the district in ongoing negotiations. “It’s common sense as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “This is an opportunity to stand away from the precipice and talk about what are the ways in which we can get our schools back on track by investing in them."

The decision to delay the budget vote drew an angry response from the city's charter school crowd which stood to gain millions of dollars at the expense of city schools if the budget was passed on Wednesday.

At a rally Monday, leaders from some of the city's most prominent charter networks, including the United Neighborhood Organization, Noble and Chicago International Charter Schools, attacked union teachers for demanding a double-digit raise and called on the board to deliver on the $76 million allocated to them in the proposed budget. UNO's executive director, Juan Rangel, taking a page from The Sopranos, threatened,

"I know how this game gets played, and we're not going to allow the CTU to negotiate charters out."

But later today, the board announced even more concessions:

Instead of requiring teachers to work a 20 percent longer day, the Chicago Public Schools have agreed to hire more teachers to handle “enrichment programs” that include art and music. Teachers will continue to work the same hours they do now. Additional time in the classroom — adding up to a 7-hour day in elementary schools and 7.5 hours-a-day, four-days-a-week in high school — will be handled by the new hires.

Whether or not these announced concessions by Rahm's team are just a ploy or will be enough to avert a strike, community pressure for such concessions are certainly having an impact. Of course the devil is in the details and there's nothing in the board's announcements about teacher pay raises.

But it's clear that Rahm's strategy of posturing and refusing to bargain seriously has been upended. This in itself represents a victory for the CTU whose hand has been strengthened by growing community support and a solid 90% strike support vote of it's membership.

No E-Mail Accountability for Cuomo, Man of Transparency

No E-Mail Accountability for Cuomo, Man of Transparency

His government is very busy hiding some things. (For the latter, scroll down to Perdido Street blog, for the link.)
July 31, 2012 UPDATES from the New York Times, via Perdido Street blog. Scroll down.

The man that is touting himself as a promoter of transparency (a while back, called open government) is actually being quite secretive with his handling of his e-mails. In an effort to seep them away from being on the record.

In the New York Times:

"Despite Cuomo’s Vow of Sunlight, a Bid to Keep Aides’ E-Mail in the Dark"

By THOMAS KAPLAN, Published: July 16, 2012

ALBANY — Aides communicate with untraceable messages sent from BlackBerry to BlackBerry. Nothing delicate is shared using e-mail. And in-boxes are regularly wiped clean.

When he ran for office, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vowed to operate the most transparent administration in New York State history. And his aides argue that he has: they say that their communication methods differ little from those of other elected officials, and that Mr. Cuomo will preserve more documents than any of his recent predecessors.

But while Mr. Cuomo has taken steps to improve citizen access to the State Capitol, literally as well as digitally, he and his aides have also set up an executive chamber that prides itself on leaving few footprints.

“It communicates a culture of — I don’t know if paranoia is the right word; maybe it’s control,” said Bill Samuels, a Democratic activist and the founder of the New Roosevelt Initiative, a government-reform group. “But it’s not healthy long-term.”

The Cuomo administration’s sensitivity to sunlight is well known. Aides in the governor’s office have been warned about discussing work matters at Albany haunts. On one occasion, Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman worried publicly that someone was rummaging through the office’s trash. And the administration has been aggressive in redacting documents before sharing them with the public; in June, when it turned over months of Mr. Cuomo’s schedules to The New York Times, even the daily weather forecast was blacked out. (The office has since pledged to release the forecasts.)

Click here for the full original article.

Huffington Post's reportage on the issue.

* * *

We go back to the issue of accountability, an issue for teachers, but not for the police, not for the governor's praetorian guard or Governor Cuomo himself.

He is not only circumventing e-mail. He is removing some archives from public view. Go to Perdido Street School blog. I will not make the pretense of improving on what she or he wrote. Therefore, I will include just the beginning.

July 24, 2012, "What's Cuomo Hiding? (Continued): Another day, another story about Cuomo hiding something from the past:" [typo corrected]

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration, already drawing attention for its focus on secrecy, has now begun editing his record as New York attorney general, sending aides to the state archives to remove key documents from public view.

The aides have declared off limits all of Mr. Cuomo’s files related to a 2007 inquiry into the use of the State Police for political purposes, which was one of the most prominent public corruption investigations he oversaw as attorney general. And, in a change of practice, the administration is also pre-emptively reviewing all documents sent by the governor to the archives and removing anything it deems sensitive from public view.

The review of the archived material comes at a time when Mr. Cuomo is being much discussed as a 2016 presidential candidate. Many public figures with national ambitions have been concerned about being tripped up by old documents; when Mitt Romney left the governorship in Massachusetts, his administration wiped all e-mail from the government server and allowed his top aides to buy their work hard drives, so no electronic record remained.

Mr. Cuomo’s office defended its conduct, saying that the archives mistakenly made public documents that should have been private, and that it has simply been correcting those errors. It said that the documents related to the police inquiry — known as Troopergate — were exempt from public disclosure because they were “work product,” or protected by attorney-client privilege, and that researchers could find some of the documents through the files of other agencies, like the Albany district attorney.

And then we get what sounds an awful lot like Cuomo's people specifically trying to cover something up:

Go to Perdido Street School blog for the full article.

UPDATE:
The latest, July 31, 2012, from the New York Times: "Cuomo Bullied Witnesses, Is Now Covering Up How He Handled Trooper Case" or "Cuomo Said to Dissuade Lawyer Use by Witnesses."