Vote for Title 1 Funding to be Announced

There will be a vote held on whether or not to approve Title 1 spending, for which thanks to reclassification by the Obama Administration, Cleveland qualifies for. Most likely it will be held at the next faculty conference, the vote must be held before the end of the month and sent in for us to get the one million dollars. In the event that this measure passes, please share your views on how this should be spent. Below is a partial list of items discussed for inclusion in our Needs Assessment by the Executive Board.


Needs Survey For Title I Funding

• Reduce Class Size
• Replace and supplement technology for classroom use and related materials, such as LCDs, laptops, speakers, carts, TV/DVD units, Smart Boards
• Models for each subject area in the Science Department
• Textbooks - all departments
• Desktop and Laptop Computers for Staff Use
• Replace/Update Science Labs
• Purchase DVDs for the Libraries' Collection, discard or transfer old VHS tapes to DVD
• Fund Library Copier
• Modernize Library, more computers , update book collection, add permanent speakers and other audio used for meetings and presentations, in lieu of current portables used
• Language Lab for ESL/Foreign Language Department
• Jstor Database and other software for various departments
• Replacement/Acquisition of musical instruments to supplement current inventory
• Add Air Conditioners to more classrooms
• Funding for new extra-curricular activities such as Model UN, supplement current activities such as Debate Team, Robotics, Bridge Building

DOE Name Change

The Department of Education will be changing its name along with the current reorganization (4th? 5th?). It will not be known as DOE, but D'OH, for the Department of Overpaid Hatchetmen. Also under consideration was DUH (Dept. of Unstoppable Harrassment) or DOUCHES (Dept. Of Unaccountable Clueless Highly Expensive Succubi). The section of D'OH in charge of creating small schools will now be known as the Board of Eradication (BOE) Have a nice day.
Apologies to Matt Groening et al.

Saga of a Snowed in Teacher

Last night I checked the DOE website for news on the potential storm closing due to 14 inches of snow and 60 mile an hour winds. There was plenty of propaganda celebrating the faux achievements and efforts of the Chancellor and Mayor, yet nothing advising parents, students, and teachers (served constituency and employees, respectively)about the storm. It was like it didn't exist in the BloomKlein world.
I woke up in the wee hours of the am and let my dog out. If I wasn't so tired it would have been amusing to see him capering on my deck with his belly rubbing the surface of the snow. Did I mention my dog is 70 lbs. and as tall as I am at full extention? Anyway, the dog has to make a tunnel to the table where the snow is only about 7 inches deep so he can do what dogs do at this hour. After I scoop, etc., I come back in the house, its getting close to 5 am, I figure its time to check the PC and TV for news, to see if there is anyone with a mentality above cat at Tweed. Nothing. Its apparent to me that there is no way for me to make it into school, so I get ready to call in. I call for 20 minutes, the line is busy with teachers calling in. I put on the TV again, and between 5:30 and 6 AM one of the ridiculously cheerful reporters at Eyewitness News says with a big smile that "The NYC schools are open!" After several comments that I would have to remove due to the censorship policies at this site, were I to print them, I redoubled my efforts, finally getting voice mail just before 6 AM. At 6:01, they announce on the news that the schools are closing. Klein is on the phone with the reporter / talking head who asks him the criteria for closing the schools. The sum and substance of his answer was that there are a lot of kids, its a big system, its a big decision, and they have to consider that the parents need someone to watch their kids. Almost as an afterthought, he says that there are also some teachers who are commuters. There you have it, folks. You are a baby sitter with 2 Masters Degrees, that is how you are regarded, and your well being and safety are the last thing on his mind. To his credit, he is a notch above Giuliani, who told everyone to stay home during his snow emergency debacle, but said schools were open and teachers had to go to school.
Kind of like the difference between a cat burglar and a Madoff. There will be a rally to protest budget cuts on March 5th. In my mind, the way we are treated and considered by the Chancellor and the denizens of Tweed are a far more compelling reason to hold a mass protest. And the parents should join us, that is, the ones who would never have considered sending their child out in a blizzard to watch old movies while nursing frostbite. There are many kids at our school who come from other boroughs or places that are a nightmare to commute to school via mass transit. Off the top of my head, I know of kids who come from Coney Island, Jamaica, St.Albans, the Bronx and Manhattan. They would ordinarily have to leave before 6 AM to get to school on time, and have to leave even earlier in a snow emergency situation. You would think that a multi- billionaire and an attorney gifted enough to take on Bill Gates and Microsoft in an anti-trust case (the result of which is I don't get bundled software with a new PC, thanks a lot, Joel), would be able to do what all the Superintendants surrounding NYC did by early Sunday evening, that is, consult their bus companies, look out the window, watch the weather channel,and talk to Superintendants in their region about closing. I guess there are somethings that businessmen don't do well. Ahhh, I feel better now.
PS I would like to nominate Leonidas, pictured above, to lead the rally.

Stupidity Inc.

Check out the latest weather news, courtesy of BLOOMBERG.COM.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=azUfr7G5rJrY&refer=worldwide
The worst weather in March since 1896! Up to 14 inches of snow, and not a hint of cancellation or a delayed opening. No message for parents or employees on NYC.GOV or the DOE website. And no note from the administration of our school. How about using DOE email for something useful? A clear example of how unimportant parents, students, and staff are to Bloomberg and Co. We are just widgets or widget makers. We don't even have a phone list "snow chain" that LI schools have in case of delayed openings or closings. I'll bet the private schools and charters which the Mayor and Chancellor so admire will be closed. Why isn't it obvious to the average NYer that these people do not give a damn about children? We receive no extra aid for the day, as our school year is well in advance of 180 days (I believe 189 this year, 190 last year). There is no reason to send kids and adults out into treacherous conditions at all. At least a delayed opening would let everyone take their time and be extra careful. In the words of Steve Martin, "But, NOOOOO".
PS The picture above at the right depicts a NYC teacher trying to get to work. The picture on the left depicts the reaction of one of the polar bears when asked about DOE's position on this issue.

Don't Hold Your Breath Waiting for a Buyout!

UFT President Randi Weingarten and Chancellor Joel Klein were interviewed by Diana Williams on Ch 7 Sunday a.m. Of course, they couldn't appear together, that might make it seem like people on opposite sides can actually pull together when there is a crisis. Randi basically the UFT had found millions of dollars in non-classroom cuts, particularly items like the Leadership Academy (trains prinicpals), ARIS, and cutting some excessive testing, as well as offering veteran teachers a buyout. Randi spoke about the Task Force on School Governance and the UFTs view on mayoral control(see the current Advocate). Klein appeared after Randi left, and said the following: buyouts don't make financial sense to the city, ATRs (referred to as teachers who can't find a job)should be laid off regardless of seniority, he should have the ability to keep teachers in shortage areas while laying off others in non-shortage areas. It seemed clear that he was sticking to a script of not accepting any idea not already thought of by Tweedies. It seems to this space that the goals of the DOE are the following: They want to lay off teachers to save money, rather than cut their pet programs and well-compensated management team, and they want to get a Tier V and dismiss the ATRs as part of our next contract. They are using the threat of layoffs (only possible if a fiscal crisis is declared to void union contracts with the city)to force us into another contract like 2005, where seniority and grievance rights were gutted, as well as getting us to abandon the ATRs, thus cleaing up the mess they created.

Why Facebook and MySpace etc. are Dangerous

Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

Posted: Feb 3, 2009 04:36 PM EST From Madison,WI WKOW


BEAVER DAM (WKOW) -- Beaver Dam school officials placed a middle school teacher on administrative leave after discovering a photograph of the teacher with a gun on the teacher's Facebook page.

In the photo, teacher Betsy Ramsdale is training a rifle at the camera.

Ramsdale emailed 27 News in response to our inquiries saying she "removed the photo immediately" and that she is not "interested in any controversy." Ramsdale did not comment on her motivation for posting the photo.

Schools superintendent Donald Childs told 27 News he is unaware of any sinister intent on the teacher's part and said the use of the photo "appears to be poor judgment."

Childs said the Facebook photo was brought to the attention of school district officials by a concerned staff member at Beaver Dam Middle School.

Ramsdale's biography on the school district website states she is in her first year of teaching at the middle school. Department of Public Instruction records show Ramsdale has been licensed to teach since 1996.

Middle school parent Jennifer Buzzell said the teacher's decision to post the photograph was concerning.

"I don't think it's appropriate," Buzzell told 27 News. "I'm not sure why this would be on the computer at all."

"I don't see anything wrong with it," school parent Mark Hagstrom said. "She's on her time to do what she wants."

School parent Chad Van Loo said the photograph sends the wrong message.

"With the way things are going these days, with the kids bringing guns to school and bomb threats, (photograph) is something to be concerned about."

Ramsdale's union representation is through the Beaver Dam Education Association. Association president Janet Schumaker has yet to return a call from 27 News.

Read our Assistant News Director's Blog on this topic:

http://addins.wkowtv.com/blogs/behindthenews/

UFT Press Release - Reaction to Budget Cuts

Responding to the mayor’s plan to have educators account for 15,630 of a proposed cut of 19,650 positions – almost 80 percent – in the annual city budget he issued today, Weingarten said, “Every time we lay off a teacher it is a direct service cut to children.”

“I am astonished that at the very same time that President Obama is making public education a first priority, the city is seemingly making education a last priority,” she said.

“We know times are tough and that everyone needs to share in making sacrifices, but this is shockingly disproportionate and unfair,” said Weingarten at a press conference at the union’s Lower Manhattan headquarters.

“The union has pledged, and indeed has been, working together with the mayor on the federal recovery and on ensuring we get a fair share from Albany,” Weingarten said. “But making virtually all our first, second and third-year teachers pawns in this political battle is callous and unfair to them and their students. Worse, in blaming Albany, the city itself masks the magnitude of its own cuts.”

Weingarten noted that the city received an additional $600 million in state education aid last year only to have the city cut education by more than $400 million, and the city is planning to cut almost $943 million in the next school year.

“Not since the 1970s have there been teacher layoffs of anything remotely like this, and at that time all city workers shared the pain,” Weingarten told reporters while accompanied by some of the newer teachers who would be at risk of losing their jobs if the proposal is implemented.

“This would be devastating for me,” said Rob Walsh, a third-year teacher from PS 19 in Manhattan. “I struggled to be a teacher. I always wanted to be able to give back to the community. More importantly, the children would be losing so much. We are in an increasingly competitive world and we need to give kids everything we can and not take anything away.”

“Class sizes are already bulging at the seams,” said Tiffany Braby, a four-year teacher from MS 319 in Manhattan. “If we lose 15,000 teachers, that will have a seriously detrimental effect on students.”

Weingarten acknowledged the difficult position Mayor Bloomberg faces in trying to cope with the current fiscal crisis, but said this proposal is totally misguided.

“Separate and apart from the chaos and the service cuts this would mean for next year, if this proposal were enacted, new teachers will not want to apply to work here because they won’t know what’s going to happen to them. And we are going to lose thousands of excellent teachers that the city Department of Education hired and spent money to train because they are going to look for other jobs. After the 1975 fiscal crisis, of the 10,000 teachers asked to return only 3,000 accepted.

“And this is what it would mean for next year: Anyone with three or fewer years of service would probably lose their jobs if the city goes through with this threat. There’s no way that we could lose that many teachers and not have it affect the quality of education in our schools and raise class sizes. It will be only the beginning of a decline that could hamper our school system for years to come and send middle-class families elsewhere,” she said.

Weingarten welcomed the city’s efforts to lobby Albany and Washington for much needed aid, noting that the UFT and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, have been fervently lobbying Congress to pass the federal economic stimulus package proposed by the Obama administration.

But she added that the city should consider other alternatives to layoffs if such aid is not realized and take its share of responsibility for finding cost savings.

“If this is necessary then the city can prove it by implementing an immediate hiring freeze, a retirement incentive and other cost-saving measures we have proposed that would equal $931 million and therefore avoid layoffs, she said. For example, the union estimates that a hiring freeze alone could save the city $406 million in payroll costs plus fringe benefits. And there are 25,000 educators who could be offered a retirement incentive that could save $300 million. Reducing administrative costs could result in another $225 million being saved, she said.

“The city should not repeat the mistakes of the Seventies when education was cut so badly that it took the school system decades to recover,” Weingarten said. “Children don’t get a second chance for a good education, which is why we need to make sure our schools are not hammered by huge cuts in the teaching force and harmful reductions in services to classrooms. The city should be investing in schools, not cutting, because the future of New York City, the state and the nation depends on a well-educated society and work force.”

Weingarten noted that in addition to fighting for a stimulus package in Washington and fighting budget cuts in Albany, the UFT and dozens of other unions, advocacy organizations and civic groups have formed a coalition that is trying to protect the most vulnerable New Yorkers – children, the elderly and the needy – from budget cuts. The coalition is planning a massive March 5 rally for a fair budget for all New Yorkers outside City Hall.