Column for The Wave: The Longest Day

This column will appear in print on Friday, June 25 but is pertinent for today's activities.

The Longest Day

By Norm Scott

June 21, 2011
I’m writing this on the morning of the first day of summer. When summer officially hits at 1:16PM I expect to be in Times Square taking a Bikram yoga class with well over a thousand other people (I’ve been ably prepared after a decade of Anita Ruderman’s classes at Hot Yoga on 116^th St.) The first thousand people who show up get a free mat and a water bottle so I gotta write quickly or I’ll be doing yoga on concrete.

Following that I’m heading to the NYS Supreme court on Centre St. for a rally supporting the NAACP/UFT suit to keep closing schools open, including Beach Channel (where the grad rate went up, which was noted on NPR), after which I’m off to a press conference with parent and student groups at the Tweed Courthouse at 3pm where they will present alternative budget and revenue raisers. An ad hoc group in Staten Island held a standing room only town hall meeting last week where all kinds of wasted money was found in the city budget (see my June 19 blog posting for a list).

At 7PM it’s off to Bloombergville  (the current incarnation of the famous depression era Hoovervilles) at City Hall Park where education activists have been sleeping in and rallying. The web site, bloombergvillenow.org/ says: Since June 14, people of Bloombergville have been camping out across from City Hall to oppose major cutbacks in social services and thousands of layoffs by the Bloomberg Administration. Bloombergville has maintained a presence of a few dozen to 150 people around the clock within view of the Mayor’s office. We’re students, activists, and concerned citizens, average New Yorkers most affected by the $400,000,000 of proposed cuts to the city’s budget. (For a fun Bloombergville video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v2TimS0t_VQ)

It should still be daylight when I roll back into Rockaway. But drat, tomorrow the days start getting shorter.

Yes, Let’s Throw Money At Education

I appeared as a guest along with fellow Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) pal and parent activist Lisa Donlan on the WBAI program “Ethics on the Air” last week. I was asked about fixing schools and I offered the simplest advice I could think of: double the staff – teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, aides, paras, custodians. Whatever it takes. A caller asked, “Isn’t that just throwing money at the problem?” “YES. When have we ever really thrown money at the problems in education? Why not try it?” I suggested we swap the defense and education budgets and see if America is a better place for all its citizens after a few years. I find it interesting that a recent study funded by the right wing suggests that reducing class size is not cost effective. But a billion dollars materializes out of thin air to bomb Libya. On the first day one of our super hundreds of million dollar planes crashed. How many less kids in a class would one of those suckers fund?

“The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman” reaches six continents and 50 states

Our GEM produced film has gotten almost 2000 requests from teachers, parents, union officials and even from school superintendents – a demonstration of the anguish ed deformers and their propaganda film “Waiting for Superman” have caused in education circles around the nation and the world. And people are not just watching in the comfort of their homes but are setting up viewings in schools, libraries, churches (there will be a showing in a church in Baldwin LI this Sunday) and larger venues. I have to share this email with you, perfect for a day I’m taking a mass Bikram yoga class:

(See the previous post from India here).

When Diane Ravitch saw this email she tweeted it to her 13,000 followers with a link to order the dvd. Looks like those 4000 copies we had made up will be going, going, gone.

Well, I gotta go and start practicing saying “namaste” so I blend in with the thousands of others. I may just be humming “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no school control” throughout the class.

Norm blogs at http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/. Email him at normsco@gmail.com if you are interested in seeing the film.

Cathie Black to Head Ed Notes Expansion to Russia

Published in The Wave Friday, April 15 - www.rockawave.com

Phee-Asko
by Norm Scott

If you don't know what the title of this column refers to you have not been a regular reader. Just consider it your phonics lesson of the day. But all is not lost for Cathie Black. I have decided to hire Black as the publisher of my blog Education Notes, thus giving her an opportunity to combine her vast experience in publishing with all she learned in her three months in the world of education. Cathie and I have a lot in common – we're both 66. She asked, “If I were a guy, would I have had the pounding that I did?” I assured her she would be treated just like a guy. And when she complained about all those unflattering shots of her that appeared in the press, I was careful to tell her she could pick any photos she wanted to use. When she compared the experience as Chancellor to trying to learn Russian in a weekend, I jumped at the opportunity and put Black in charge of translating Ed Notes for the Russian market.

The same people who praised Bloomberg for appointing Black are giving him credit for acting quickly once he realized he made a teeny-weeny mistake by dropping an atom bomb on over one million school children – Bloomie, our own Dr. Strangelove. Want to see a list of people who jumped on board? Check out this link on my blog: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-oppose-walcott-waiverlist-in.html. We haven't heard from Opra or Whoopie since Black left.




Rather than get into the details of the Black/Walcott switch, here is a selection of headlines from Gotham Schools with the publishing source in parentheses.

· Once tightly organized, the city Department of Education after Cathie Black’s tenure is in disarray. (Times)
· Black’s downfall highlights the reality that the education reform debate is deadlocked. (Times)
· City government employees had bets placed on when Bloomberg would fire Black. (Post)
· Dennis Walcott was part of all of Bloomberg’s education decisions except the one to hire Black. (Post)
· Walcott fielded the City Council’s questions but didn’t impress the UFT’s Michael Mulgrew. (Times)
· The city is positioning Walcott as Black’s opposite, but their policies are no different. (Daily News)
· Walcott spent part of his first day fielding questions on teacher layoffs. (Wall Street Journal)
· Congregants at a Brooklyn church backed Walcott, but worried about their local schools. (Times, Post)
· Having to reprint diplomas twice this year because of the chancellor switches is costly for the city. (Post)
· Michael Goodwin: Bloomberg is dismissive of public opinion, so Black’s firing was a good step. (Post)
· Andrew Wolf: Walcott represents just a continuation of Klein’s and Black’s policies. (Daily News)
. A city education reporter says schools chancellors aren’t relevant under mayoral control. (City Room)
· Mike Lupica: Black’s hire was like when George Steinbrenner hired a football coach. (Daily News)

I particularly recommend the Lupica piece where he reminds us, "It's easy to forget that before [Bloomberg] spent a fortune buying his job in City Hall, people thought of him as a kind of a jerk. Rich and successful, but a wise guy with a big ego who thought he was the smartest guy he ever met."

That about sums up the entire Black'nBloom Phee-Asko.

Co-locos go on and on
I go to many co-location hearings where the DOE attempts to shoehorn a favored charter school into a public school building. Then a month later, the Panel for Educational Policy meeting ignores public school voices and rubber stamps whatever Tweed wants them to do. These hearings and meetings all run together — sort of like being stuck in the Tweed version of the movie "Groundhog Day." (At least Bill Murray gets the girl in the end.) The advocates for the charter school are often bused in, given scripts and sometimes food and signs that claim they are public schools even though profit-making corporations often manage them. And they all wear the same tee shirts. And of course, the entire neighborhood has been inundated with posters, doorknob hangers, fliers and direct mailings promoting the charter school so they can claim there is so much demand. You just have to watch the charter school overseers (I've heard the term "plantation" used in conjunction) scurry around with their Blackberries in hand - funny how they and the Tweedies all look alike - but then again....

The defenders of the public school try to rally their troops. In some neighborhoods they are severely outgunned. But once in a while I go to a hearing where there is serious pushback. On April 4 I attended a hearing at Lincoln HS where the parents and teachers of the 3 current schools occupying the IS 303 building (IS 303, Rachel Carson HS and a District 75 Special Ed school) came out in force to fight the DOE attempt to add Coney Island Prep Charter as a 4th school in the building. They marched with a big crowd to Lincoln, where of course they found that the charter school people were already on line to get first dibs as speakers. I taped much of the meeting and have put videos up on my blog. It really is like being in a science fiction movie.


The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
Speaking of movies, we are reaching the final stage of our response to the anti-teacher, anti-union film, "Waiting for Superman", directed by Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim of "The Inconvenient Truth". Our premiere will be at Riverside Church on May 19 and we are proud to have Diane Ravitch on our panel. (Diane was gracious enough to grant us an exclusive interview for the film.)

We are still editing the most recent interviews we did with former charter school parents who have left their schools with harrowing accounts of how they and their children were treated. Our no-budget movie has been created solely by teachers and parents and we are offering copies for people to use in house and school parties as a way to counter the propaganda juggernaut of WFS, which was funded by Gates, Broad and other corporate ed deformers. Both movies were shown in Harlem at the Maysles Cinema a few weekends ago and I finally got to see WFS and thought it was a poorly made film beyond just the content and misleading information – millions of dollars that could have gone into school classrooms instead of being used for propaganda purposes.

So far our one-hour film has had a very positive response. It cost us time and energy but no one wants to make a dime off it. Basically, we are saying, "Steal our film and go forth and propagate it."

Norm blogs at http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Black and Bloom: Norm in The Wave, Dec. 10, 2010

by Norm Scott

I can fill an entire edition of The Wave with new chancellor Cathie Black related stories and in fact my blog has been overflowing, along with the blogs of NYC teachers. So the process of choosing what to share for my twice monthly column is almost painful. I've been attending rallies and meetings of parent and teacher groups. A Brooklyn parent has filed a lawsuit over State Ed commissioner David Steinberg's granting her a waiver ­– no one in the know is buying "Black's deputy is an educator line." As we hit deadline we have an exclusive report that activist lawyer Norman Siegel will file another lawsuit. I will be covering the press conference for The Wave and should have a report next week.

Cathie Black's placement on the board of Harlem Village Academy as a way to get her ed creds- despite the fact that she didn't attend any meetings, has focused attention on this scandalous school and its relation to the BloomKlein corrupt running of the NYCDOE. This school has been lauded nationally. So naturally school founder Deborah Kenney takes home $450,000 for managing 450 students. HVA loses 32% of their students between 6th and 8th grades and there is vast teacher turnover. Bloomberg has called the school a national "poster child" for school reform. Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave $5 million. The charter school scam in full flower.

The average class size at Kent boarding school, the school Black sent her own kids to is 12. It is ironic that Bill Gates and other ed deformers attack teacher longevity and credentials and among Black's first statements in public she complains about LIFO - Last in first out for teachers who might be laid off. Yet Kent advertizes: "Many of our faculty have advanced degrees and our average tenure is more than a dozen years."

My pal NYC Educator manages to say in a few words what takes me a book:

Well, Cathie Black's been let out of her cage after a good two weeks of Sarah Palinizing and what insights has she gleaned in the hour or two she spent in public schools?  Looks like she's fixing to fire teachers.  There's no better way, apparently, to help city children than by firing their teachers.  Arne Duncan and Bill Gates have determined larger class sizes are the way to go, and Cathie is gonna help them get their wish....she wants to get rid of last in first out. Since she's already determined to fire people, why not go after the older and higher-paid teachers? That would put a bigger dent in the bottom line. And then she wouldn't have to bother with any of that nasty due process in that inconvenient tenure law. Oh, she wants to get rid of that, too. Perish forbid any American worker should have job security. Cathie Black agrees with everything Joel Klein did.  That's fine with me.  Let her go after teachers for nonsense. There's a reason teachers need tenure, and that's to protect us from demagogues like Cathie Black, who get into education for two weeks and have the audacity to behave as though they're experts. I wouldn't want her teaching my kid.  Fortunately, she isn't licensed to teach, and they aren't yet handing out waivers for that.

I'll leave the Black story for this edition of School Scope but I hope you get a chance to read my "exclusive" interview with Black in the Nov. 19th edition of my blog.

Beach Channel and other schools are on the closing block again

Howie Schwach has been on this story so all I'll add is this Dec. 6 report from parent activist and class size reduction activist Leonie Haimson:

Today, in justifying the eleven school closings, with more to come, Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg made the following statement: “Year after year, even as we provided extra help and support, these schools simply have not gotten the job done for children." Did they ever try systematically reducing class size? No. Most of these students at these schools continue to suffer from overly large classes that far exceed the state average of twenty students per class, as well as the goals in the city’s mandated class size reduction plan. In fact, class sizes have risen sharply in most of the schools slated for closure. For example, check out the increases in class size [INCLUDE GRAPH] at Beach Channel High school, one of the schools on today’s list of closures, which have occurred despite a promise from the DOE to make specific reductions at this school in return for hundreds of millions of dollars in Contract For Excellence funds. As Sternberg said, “…we cannot afford to let schools continue to fail students when we know we can do better.” Most parents and teachers would agree. The Department of Education’s stubborn refusal to follow the law and to allow the students at these schools to have their best chance to succeed is unconscionable, and set up these schools for failure.

Let's remind everyone that the UFT helped sell Beach Channel down the river through its deal with Klein to allow a new school to open and help drain the freshman class.

Survival, Rockaway Style: Debuting in The Odd Couple

I've got an idea for a new reality TV show. Throw 8 people onto an island- or a peninsula  - and they must survive by putting on a performance of Neal Simon's "The Odd Couple." Even better, toss in one 65 year old guy who has never performed before amidst a sea of veteran actors and see how long he can go before you have to call 911. Well, I did survive my acting debut playing Vinnie the card player, the whining, hen-pecked husband – true typecasting other than the part that Vinnie always wins at poker – last Friday night at the Rockaway Theatre Company production of "The Odd Couple". Lucky for me that in this version of Survival an actor doesn't get voted off the island after each performance. "You mean I have to come back tomorrow and do it again," I asked? Well, three performances down and six to go. Would I do it again? Ask me after the closing performance on Dec. 19.

I could do an entire column - and may just do so when the run of the play is over - on this experience, one of the most challenging I have undertaken. "Norm, you were a teacher/performer for so many years and you have spoken in public so often," people tell me. "So what's the big deal?" Appearing on stage and being responsible to the other actors to know your lines and respond on cue is one awesome responsibility. The fact that I have watched in wonder while video taping every show at the RTC over the last 4 years and have seen production after production worthy of Broadway was more than intimidating. I have watched my fellow actors on stage in various roles over the years and despite being a newbie they made me feel right at home. The directors Michael Wotypra (who I've known for years as a fellow teacher activist) and Peggy Page have been fabulous to work with, as have all the other behind the scenes people like the wonderful stage manager Nora Coughlin and her assistant Jodee Timpone ((both NYC teachers in real life). Wasn't it just a few months ago that I saw Jodee do an amazing job as the lead actress in "Cactus Flower?" Now she is serving me coffee back stage. The theater world can certainly turn reality upside down.

When Norm is not being Odd, he blogs at http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com