Samantha Sherwood, Another TFA/E4E Sob Story in the NY Times

The E4E/TFA direct pipeline to the press operates full force. Another pathetic TFAer goes begging for her job by attacking senior teachers. NY Times outdoes the NY Post.

An undisguised puffpiece, extolling a TFAer facing layoffs; would it be so much better to lay off an experienced committed teacher instead? What BS. Of course, any and all layoffs are wrong, but this is ridiculous. A sign that the NYT is back squarely in the mayor’s camp? - Leonie Haimson

The other day, I asked a bunch of young teachers in schools packed with young teachers worried about layoffs if teachers in their school are talking about ending LIFO as a solution: "Absolutely not, they responded," a clue about how much this article is about WalBloom PR. - Norm Scott

Here we go again. Just as I predicted (LIFO Math), the sob stories about the young - Teach for America - which automatically translates into idealistic - and a member of E4E - not because she is idealistic but because she wants to save her ass from being laid off.

Today, on the front page of the NY Times which is clearly joining the WalBloom campaign against LIFO. Too bad reporter Fernanda Santos is being used in this campaign. Frankly, it undermines her credibility as a reporter. Where are the sob stories of ATRs who have become fodder? Or the politically U-rated for union activity like Peter Lamphere? Let's see a front page NY Times story on these people who will become the major targets if LIFO disappears. I challenge Fernanda Santos to compare Sherwood and Peter as teachers.

The most outrageous statement by Sherwood?

Most of all, she wants to be judged on performance, not time on the job. “I’ve gotten nothing but satisfactory reviews, the school’s administrators want me to work for them, I’ve demonstrated I’m effective in the classroom,” Ms. Sherwood said. “The reality of it is,” she added of more experienced teachers, “there are people out there who just got settled in and aren’t doing their jobs.”

How does Sherwood know there are people who aren't doing their jobs? Does she see them in her school? Unlikely, given this:

The school where Ms. Sherwood works, Mott Hall V, on East 172nd Street in the Soundview section, is typical of those that would be hit hardest by the cuts. It is relatively new (it opened in 2005), and its staff is made up primarily of junior teachers; the principal, Peter Oroszlany, said 60 percent of them had spent five or fewer years in the classroom.

So how does a reporter like Fernanda Santos just allow a blatant statement attacking senior teachers just go by without eliciting exactly how Sherwood knows that? She will toss off the usual E4E attack on ATRs (most of whom exist due to closing schools) or U rated (ignoring the political attacks on teachers like Peter Lamphere).

(By the way, I seem to remember that the Mott Hall franchise of schools are not just average schools, but I could be wrong.)

Note the formula in this story: the kids are poor - free lunch, etc. A list of all the things Sherwood has done for the school. We could match every E4E with a GEMer doing as much for their schools. How about a story about someone like Michael Fiorillo, Julie Cavanagh, Sam Coleman, Lisa North, Liza Campbell etc. and what they do for their schools? Or the young teachers threatened with layoffs who support LIFO and started petition by 5 year teachers and under (Petitions to Support LIFO and Seniority: Five Year...)? A story on teachers who even though threatened support LIFO would seem to be much more interesting.


Here's another nugget:

She[Sherwood] works Saturday mornings to help students prepare for the state’s standardized tests..

Note the impression left is that she is volunteering when in fact there are teachers all over the city who get paid to come in on Saturday. There is no way Sherwood would be coming in on Saturdays as so many teachers do to supplement her low salary? Never for the young TFA idealistics.

Here's a brief section. Read on until you gag - or go gaga. And one more question: will Sherwood get tenure with so many 3rd year teachers having tenure extended for a 4th year? Just curious.

New to Teaching, Idealistic, at Risk for Layoff

By FERNANDA SANTOS

Published: May 10, 2011

Samantha Sherwood had lofty aspirations when she settled on a family-studies major at the University of Connecticut, like redrawing welfare rules or weaving together a sturdier safety net for people in need. She figured that she could change the world in big, broad strokes, and that she might pick up a fancy title and ample salary along the way.

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Samantha Sherwood became a teacher through a program that puts top college graduates into poor schools.

Ms. Sherwood, 25, could lose her job under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's budget.

-----

Instead, Ms. Sherwood, 25, joined up with Teach for America, the program that puts top college graduates into the nation’s most poverty-stricken schools, deciding that the best way to make a difference would be, as she put it on Monday, “to be there, where the rubber meets the road.” Ms. Sherwood called layoffs “a Band-Aidfix” for the city’s budget problems, but said that if they were necessary, performance should decide who got to stay and who had to go. Last year, she joined Educators 4 Excellence, a group of teachers who advocate for merit-based pay, an evaluation system that takes into account students’ test scores, and the strengthening of tenure requirements.

Nice link to E4E. BARF TIME!!