Rally at Francis Lewis HS Today at 4PM

Let me take a brief break from out coverage of the Success Charter Network Traveling lie and misrepresentation show to bring you a message from Arthur Goldstein, chapter leader of Francis Lewis HS, the school that Dennis Walcott graduated from and which he has sat by over the last 9 years as it has double the number of students with many crowded in trailers. Did Walcott ever have to eat lunch at 9AM?



Date: Friday, April 22, 2011, 7:34 PM

It is very important that we all stand for our school on Friday, April 29th, right out in front at 4 PM. Let's tell Mayor Bloomberg that we are serious.  We will have some special guest speakers, including Senator Tony Avella and UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Please wear your UFT shirts. This is what they are for. If we don't stand up for ourselves, I guarantee no one else will.

We're in the Daily News.

Here we are at yournabe.com.

WPIX put Lewis on TV.

Chancellor Walcott is not worried about class size, a good thing, because his clever plan to lose 8.2% of working teachers will certainly cause class sizes to explode. He estimates this will be by 1-1.5 students per class. That's ridiculous, and even if it weren't, I've counted hundreds of classes at maximum in our building alone.

Here we are in the Queens Chronicle,  in the Queens Courier, and in another piece from the Chronicle. 

When Walcott said, in response to my question, the budget was so bad we couldn't afford to waste the 3.1 billion dollar surplus on teachers, I pointed out that Bloomberg estimated the savings in the reduction of the education workforce to be 369 million, a fraction of the surplus. He spoke for a long time, but did not respond directly.

From the UFT:

The annual Open Market Transfer Plan period began on April 15. The plan offers all pedagogues and paras access to job openings throughout the city through an online registration process. During this period, which ends August 7, you do not need a release from your principal to change schools. You may even apply to schools without current openings, and your application will be kept on file until an opening occurs. The Open Market Q & A on the UFT Web site offers more information about the process. Also, please note that full-time and part-time physical therapists and occupational therapists can now use a separate online application system to apply for vacancies on the open market this year. A letter from the DOE is going out to all OTs and PTs with details about vacancies and how to apply.

Best regards,

Arthur