Principals From Hell: Caterina Lafergola-Stanczuk at Automotive High School Keeps the F-Rating, Proudly, With Carmen Farina's Support

Automotive High School

Don't forget that Automotive HS is a New Visions school. New Visions' Schools don't fail, they have slumps that are not anyone's fault, especially not the principal's fault.....NOT

and people wonder what the heck is going on at the DOE? Who knows? Trouble is, we care. We must care.

Betsy Combier

Caterina Lafergola-Stanczuk

Brooklyn high school principal rehired despite failing record

By Susan Edelman

, March 15, 2015
LINK
The city has quietly kept a principal who presided over four years of failure at Automotive HS in the driver’s seat — despite the state’s demand for dramatic change at the “out-of-time” school, The Post has learned.

Under Caterina Lafergola-Stanczuk, the F-rated school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has seen its enrollment plummet from 1,000-plus to 420 students.

Last Monday, a committee including Department of Education and union officials voted behind closed doors to rehire Lafergola.

But no announcement was made the next day, when Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña held a press conference to tout the city’s progress in helping 94 failing schools.

Among the schools was Boys and Girls HS in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Automotive, both of which were declared “out of time” to improve by the state.

“The status quo is unacceptable,” de Blasio had declared.

He and Fariña boasted of replacing Boys and Girls’ principal, Bernard Gassaway, with Michael Wiltshire, leader of the Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Brooklyn. Fariña later called him “a proven leader.”

No one mentioned that Lafergola-Stanczuk was staying.

Some staffers at Automotive, which includes auto-repair training, were disgusted.

“What’s the point of changing the school if you have the same failing principal who’s been failing for four years?” one said. “Nothing different is happening. The school is still in bad shape as far as servicing the students.”

The staffer questioned de Blasio’s claim that 54 of the 94 schools in the DOE’s School Renewal program were given “extra instructional time” for students.

“What extra time?” the staffer said. “The students come in at 8 a.m., take classes until 1:30 p.m. and have a lunch period until 2:20 p.m. They’re not getting anything extra.”

It offers Advanced Placement classes, but records show no student has passed an AP exam.

Of the Class of 2014, 49 percent graduated in four years, but only 3 percent did so with Regents scores high enough to enroll at CUNY without remedial help. That was up from 1 percent in 2011.

Faculty have openly faulted Lafergola-Stanczuk’s leadership. In 2012, Tiffany Judkins, a teacher hired under a federally funded “transformation” plan, testified at a hearing that the school suffered from “rampant miscommunication, a lack of organization and a lack of any kind of clarity of purpose,” Chalkbeat.com reported.

A veteran teacher said: “Any other principal with this record would have been dismissed. Why is she being allowed to continue?”

DOE spokesman Harry Hartfield said both Automotive and Boys and Girls “need strong leadership to succeed — and that’s exactly what they have.”

Both principals have boosted daily attendance rates and credit accumulation, putting more kids on track to graduate, he said. Automotive offers tutoring after school and is also beefing up its career and technical program.

The state Education Department declares low-performing schools “out of time” if they fail to make sufficient progress after three years. The designation requires drastic action, including shutting, converting to a charter school or assuming an “alternative governance” — the option chosen by the DOE.

The city put the troubled schools in a group under Superintendent Aimee Horowitz, who sources say likes Lafergola-Stanczuk.

But Lafergola-Stanczuk dissed a veteran administrator whom the DOE sent in September to coach her, calling him “a moron,” staffers told The Post.

Also last fall, two teachers at Brooklyn Technical HS complained of being told their scoring of Regents essays for Automotive students was too strict because the seniors “needed to graduate.”

Lafergola-Stanczuk denied any fudging.

Lafergola-Stanczuk, 44, makes $140,000 a year as principal. She previously worked as an English teacher at Franklin K. Lane HS in Queens.

In an e-mail to staff on Tuesday, Lafergola-Stanczuk said she “sat for my re-interview” and got the job. “I look forward to serving our learning community as we continue to strive toward excellence,” she wrote.

Pledging Stronger Public Schools, Mayor de Blasio Announces ‘School Renewal Program’

November 3, 2014
LINK

City investing $150 million to transform 94 struggling schools

All 94 schools will become Community Schools, provide one-hour extra of instruction each day, launch after-school programs, strengthen family engagement, and receive extra professional training for teachers

Schools and leadership will be held accountable for results

NEW YORK—In a speech before hundreds of parents and community leaders, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled the School Renewal Program, a new strategy to turn around New York City’s most challenged schools.
The School Renewal Program will fundamentally change the direction of and accelerate progress in 94 struggling schools, in stark contrast with the old approach of simply closing or phasing out schools. Each Renewal School will transform into a Community School, knitting together new services that support children’s families, as well as their mental health and physical well-being. Each Renewal School will provide an extra hour each day of extended instruction and could offer additional after-school, weekend, and summer learning opportunities, as needed. And each will receive additional resources for academic intervention and professional development to create a better learning environment for students.
The plan will invest $150 million to fundamentally build each school’s education capacity across the elements of the Chancellor’s Capacity Framework: rigorous instruction, supportive environment, collaborative teachers, effective school leadership, strong family-community ties, and trust.
The Department of Education will develop tailored implementation plans, closely track every school’s progress, and hold schools accountable to meeting strict goals over the next three years. Schools that do not meet targets for each academic year would face a leadership and faculty change, as needed, and possible reorganization.
“We believe in strong public schools for every child. Getting there means moving beyond the old playbook and investing the time, energy and resources to partner with communities and turn struggling schools around. We’re going to lift up students at nearly one hundred of our most challenged schools. We’ll give them the tools, the leadership, and the support they need to succeed—and we’ll hold them accountable for delivering higher achievement,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Today marks an unprecedented commitment to deliver for our schools that need extra support, and I know this will translate into real improvements in student outcomes,” said Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “With the right leadership, rigorous instruction, community partnerships, family engagement, and ongoing support, every school can be great. We will ensure our school communities are anchored in trust, and with the cooperation of all major stakeholders, we will support our schools—our students deserve no less, and I’m determined to get this right.”
Among the 94 schools participating in the School Renewal Program, 43 are located in the Bronx, with 27 in Brooklyn, 12 in Manhattan, and 12 in Queens. The 94 schools include schools that were identified by the State as Priority or Focus Schools and have demonstrated low academic achievement for each of the past three years, ranking in the bottom 25 percent of City schools on Math and ELA state exam scores or graduation rates, and showed limited capacity for improvement with a rating on their most recent Quality Review of “proficient” or below.
The research-based Community School model has a proven track record of improving academic achievement. It provides vital mental health and social services and engages families and community as partners in students’ education, as part of a holistic approach towards elevating educational outcomes. Based on individual circumstances and challenges, each of the 94 schools will be matched to one or more community-based organizations and a full-time resource coordinator, who will organize the delivery of resources like optometrists, dentists, mentors, and mental health professionals.
In addition to adopting the Community School model, each school will offer one hour of extended time each day for student learning. Additional supports could include more after-school, weekend, and summer programming.
Each school will develop its own School Renewal Plan by Spring 2015, in partnership with its school leadership team and school community.
Aggressive Supports and Reforms for 94 Low-Performing Schools
Each school-specific School Renewal Plan will outline the school’s approach to transforming into a Community School and offering extended time, as well as feature the following supports and reforms:

• Additional resources, such as academic intervention specialists, guidance counselors, social workers, small group instruction and individualized plans to meet the academic and emotional needs of every student
• Extensive professional learning and development for school staff, including intensive coaching for principals
• Enhanced oversight from superintendents who all recently completed a rigorous interview process
• Frequent visits from DOE trained staff to provide feedback and closely monitor progress

Additional targeted supports tailored to each school, based on its individual needs, may include:

• Modified curriculum to maximize school improvement
• New master and model teachers who can share their craft with other educators at the school
• Operational support, enabling principals to focus on supporting their teachers to ensure rigorous classroom instruction
• Additional resources for school safety and social service programs designed to address the specific identified needs of the student population

Accountability and Transparency in the School Renewal Program
The 94 struggling schools will be expected to meet clear and strict benchmarks in their first three years under the program.
The goals for the coming years are:

• 2014–2015
  • Each school must develop and put in place a School Renewal Plan for transformation by Spring 2015
• 2015–2016
  • Each school must meet concrete milestones defined in its School Renewal Plan and improve on targeted elements of the capacity framework, as identified in the needs assessment
  • Each school must demonstrate measurable improvement in attendance and retention of effective teachers
• 2016–2017
  • Each school must demonstrate significant improvement in academic achievement
  • Each school must demonstrate continued improvement on targeted elements of the capacity framework

While the School Renewal Program is intended to provide holistic supports and services needed to turn low-performing schools around, schools that do not meet their benchmarks will face consequences, including changes to leadership and faculty of the school, as needed, and/or possible reorganization of the school.
Possible modes of reorganization include combining schools, splitting large schools into smaller academies, or closing and replacing schools. School reorganization will only occur when necessary to best meet the needs of students and the school community.
“For the past 12 years, New York City’s ‘answer’ for struggling schools was simple: warehouse our neediest students, starve their schools of support, and then close their schools, if they didn’t miraculously turn around. It was a political press release, not an educational solution. As a teacher, if you see a struggling student, it is your job to come up with a plan to help that child. You don’t throw that student out of your class. It is refreshing that New York City is finally willing to clean up this mess and take responsibility to help schools instead of rushing to close them,” said Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers.
“Nurturing local schools through the School Renewal Program is like nurturing the heart and soul of the whole surrounding community,” said Ernest Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. “It is just common sense to support and improve individual schools in ways that speak to their unique populations and situations and to enlist the greater school community to help with this enlightened effort. This initiative is consistent with the Chancellor’s philosophy of collaboration over competition, and it reflects the deeply held values of most of our school leaders.”
“Based on our experience with a pilot community learning project, we are encouraged that bringing support services into troubled schools will allow educators to dedicate more time and energy to teaching, while the social, emotional, and health care needs of students and their families are attended to by others,” said Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City. “This approach of engaging the whole community in helping struggling schools makes a lot of sense.”
“Earlier this year, working with Mayor de Blasio, we were finally able to achieve my dream of fully funded statewide universal pre-K. And now, the Mayor has put forth yet another important plan to transform struggling schools and give all our children a chance to succeed. This is the kind of visionary thinking Assembly Democrats have been advocating for years in order to level the playing field by providing resources and support for families and children. I look forward to working with the Mayor and City officials, so that we can make our schools the best they can possibly be,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
“Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña are to be commended for a plan to allow challenged schools to be renewed. It is important that schools be given the resources and the assistance to renew their commitment to students, parents, teachers, administrators and communities. This plan is a balanced attempt to do that. I look forward to working with NYC DOE on making sure that these opportunities are available and properly funded as this important program moves forward. Chancellor Fariña has the expertise and Mayor de Blasio the commitment to make this a success. Our children deserve the best help we can give them,” said Catherine Nolan, Chair of the State Assembly Education Committee and the parent of a New York City public school student.
“Our students are the future of our city, and we must make sure we are educating and meeting the unique needs of all of them,” said City Council Education Committee Chairperson Daniel Dromm. “The School Renewal Program reflects a commitment to students in all our schools, engaging school communities, educators, and experts and providing necessary supports to turn schools around. New York City schools must do whatever it takes, so that all students are learning in the classroom and thriving.”
The School Renewal Program is partially underway at 23 schools, and all 94 schools will develop their intensive, school-specific plans by this spring. The schools will be expected to employ the community schools model for the beginning of the 2015–2016 school year.
Additionally, beginning in the 2015–2016 school year, the DOE will consider additional schools for the School Renewal Program based on performance across the six elements of the Capacity Framework.
 

pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov

(212) 788-2958

 

"Out of Time" Schools Will Force Hundreds of Teachers to Reapply, Retire, Resign, or Whatever

Herbert Lehman High School

Hundreds of teachers must soon reapply for their jobs at six troubled schools

By Patrick Wall

@patrick_wall

pwall@chalkbeat.org

About 420 New York City teachers and guidance counselors will have to reapply for their jobs this spring at six bottom-ranked schools that were given the grim label “out of time”by the state.

The state-ordered rehiring process, which is rare for tenured teachers, could lead to major staff shakeups and recruitment challenges. When two other long-struggling schools were forced to undergo that process last year, a majority of teachers chose to leave or were not rehired. 

 State officials have said the process is meant to replace any “unwilling or ineffective” staffers at these schools, where the average graduation rate last year was nearly 27 points below the city average. (At the one middle school in the group, J.H.S. 80 in the Bronx, only 5 percent of students passed last year’s state math exams.) But finding teachers to replace those who leave can be difficult.

Principal Caterina Lafergola

Last year, 24 of 38 teachers at Automotive High School in Brooklyn left after the rehiring process, in most cases because they decided not to reapply. Now, about 40 percent of the struggling school’s teachers are beginners, according to Principal Caterina Lafergola.

“Many of the schools that are going through the rehiring have a stigma attached to them,” she said. “It’s very hard to recruit strong candidates.”

The six schools are Herbert H. Lehman High School, Banana Kelly High School, J.H.S. 80, and Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology in the Bronx; along with August Martin High School and John Adams High School in Queens. Those six were designated by the state last year as “out of time” because they have gone so long without making significant improvements, joining Automotive and Boys and Girls High School, which were identified a year earlier.

State officials have made clear that the schools must make rapid gains or they risk being shuttered. The schools, which are part of the city’s “Renewal” improvement program, were forced to lengthen their days, and teachers were required to undergo additional training during the school year and summer.

The pressure appears to be taking a toll on some staffers. When principals at the six schools had to reapply for their jobs last summer, at least one chose not to reapply and others decided to retire, according to the principals union.

Now some teachers are questioning whether they want to return. A teacher who has worked at one of the high schools for nearly a decade said he has decided not to reapply because of changes in the school administration and the added scrutiny on the school.

“You walk down the halls and people are just saying, I’m not reapplying to this,” he said. “I’m not coming back to this school.”

Some staffers have been asked to submit resumes, letters of recommendation, and work portfolios, teachers said. Then they must be interviewed by selection committees that include the principal, teachers union representatives, and education department appointees.

The job uncertainty has darkened the mood at some schools, said Jeffrey Greenberg, a math teacher and union representative at Lehman High School.

“Normally this time of year we’d be talking about how we’re going to get our kids to improve on their Regents scores,” he said. “That conversation is not being done now because our life, in many ways, is in front of us.”

According to an agreement between the city and teachers union, any teachers who decide not to reapply or are not rehired — and who do not find positions elsewhere — will be assigned to another school in their borough that has an opening for which they are licensed. Unlike teachers in the city’s Absent Teacher Reserve, who are paid by the city as they rotate among schools until they find a permanent placement, the out-of-time school teachers will remain at their assigned schools for the entire school year.

If principals want to remove an assigned teacher, a superintendent and teachers union representative must sign off — an arrangement some critics have compared to former policy called “forced placement,” where the city sent displaced teachers to schools without principals’ input. But city and principals union officials say the new process is different because the placements are not permanent, the city pays the teachers’ salaries, and principals can assign the teachers any role, not just as classroom instructors.

Education department spokeswoman Devora Kaye pointed out that the city-union rehiring deal does not stipulate that a minimum number of teachers be rehired, and added that the city would organize recruitment events during the spring and summer.

“To effectively turn a school around, there must be the right leadership, the right teachers, and the right school staff to improve student achievement,” she said in a statement, adding that the city is “working closely with each school during the hiring process to support educators while holding them accountable.”

Update: This story has been updated to reflect revised figures from the education department. About 420 teachers and staffers will have to reapply for their jobs, not 500.

Bloomberg: "At Some Point Democracy Has To Stop"

Bloomberg Has a Temper Tantrum on the Radio, Demands Senators Agree To Continue His Control Over Public Schools

Mike, what are you afraid of??

We, educated parents who know the disaster that you have made of the New York City public schools, simply dont want you to have any say in what happens to our public school children anymore. The time has come for you to resign and give the children $1billion of your personal fortune. Bully tactics are yesterday's news and unacceptable by you or anyone.
my opinion - Betsy Combier

Check out below; a rough transcript below – about governance he actually says, “at some point democracy has to stop.”

John Gambling Show With Mike Bloomberg July 17, 2009 (scroll to 7:22/35.08)

more on mayoral control:
“Everybody – even the democrats agree is the right thing to do. We’ve negotiated. Total bull, we negotiated w/ the Senate and the Assembly. The Assembly chose to stop negotiating. Then they [the Senate] come back and did the old Albany trick… and ask for more. The time is to stop.” …At some point here democracy just has to stop and enough, we aren’t going to take it anymore.

He identifies his allies as Jeff Klein and Liz Krueger.

Gambling: “what can it be? those who voted no? What do they want – say they want.”

“The only thing I can think is that they want to ruin the schools… Duane, why does he want to go to his constituents and say he wants to deliberately ruin the schools. Stavisky, Addabbo , Hiram Monserrate – a former cop -- he wants the cops should be out of the schools? He should understand We brought crime down 44%. But Our teachers deserve a safe place to go to work, our students deserve the right to be in charge of their own destiny…it just goes on.

It just goes on and on…Sampson voted for Mayoral control the last time and his district test scores have gone up dramatically. And he wants to Keep klein out of office?

Slush fund to train parents so that parents can disrupt the schools. Parent coordinators should be working w/ someone else to force change in the schools.

I want teachers and principals to run the classroom, they’re professionals.

We’re going to have people in the streets to tell police how to work?

….This is just….we’re going to teach the city a lesson…we’re tougher than they are, we’re in charge. it’s our way or the highway. The time we have been negotiating, the teachers union, in all fairness, Randi has been helpful. …. There’s always more more more. The time for that is over. If mayoral control hasn’t – cutting achievement gap in test scores in half, if that isn’t enough… there is no rational way to have a discussion.

What’s the practical aspect what will happen?

The seven person school board will continue the policies; they voted to give Joel klein more power than he would under the new bill. The next school year will go fine…but we’ll get to the future where they won’t and the other things will be coming back.

The governor can call back the state legislator every single day in Albany and send the state troopers to drag them back. He should do that… I’ve defended the Governor up till now… this is what he should do. Giving them the summer off is meshunigah.

People phrase this as the administration loses if they don’t pass this…it’s the kids that lose. Those are the people who lose. And the property owners. We are the role model of how to fix the school system and Albany is the role model of how you can destroy it. And it’s a very small group of State Senators. It’s time for the others to say I don’t care….. About time for everyone to call their State Senator which I have done, and will gain today, its time to say it’s enough.

Have you talked to the people, the Duanes etc.? No my staff has.

Bloomberg Unleashes On The Senate Dems
July 17, 2009

Using some of his strongest language to date, Mayor Bloomberg gave the Senate Democrats a tongue-lashing this morning - even calling some of them out by name - for failing yet again to pass a bill reauthorizing his control over the public school system.

During his weekly WOR radio show, Bloomberg told host John Gambling Gov. David Paterson should force the Senate to return to Albany "every single day" for the rest of the summer until they pass a mayoral control bill, even employing the State Police to "drag them back" if necessary.

"This is what he should do," Bloomberg said of Paterson, noting that he has been "defending" the governor throughout the Senate stalemate. "Giving them the summer off is as we say in Gallic, ‘Meshugenah'".

"I cannot for life of me understand what the agenda is of the people, there were 15 people last night who voted for a bill which would end all of the progress that we’ve made in the schools, in terms of bringing down crime and improving test scores and graduation rates and bringing down the drop-out rate."

"You wonder what goes through their heads, and they all come from neighborhoods where improvements in the schools have been dramatic. And you wonder what on earth they are thinking about in term of voting for a bill that would literally end all of that.”

Bloomberg accused the opponents of the Assembly bill, which would largely preserve his power, of wanting to "ruin the schools: and accused them of trying to establish a "slush fund to train parents so parents can disrupt the schools."

He also called the allegation that the administration refused to negotiate "total bull".

Bloomberg went on to single out a number of the senators who had voted in favor of Sen. Kevin Parker's so-called "Better Schools Act," which critics say would gut his control over the system. (The bill failed).

"(Sen). Tom Duane...I always thought was a smart guy, represents a district in Manhattan, why he wants to go to his constituents and say, ‘I’m trying to deliberately ruin the schools.’"

"(Or) Toby Stavisky, or Joe Addabbo , who just got elected. Some of these people you wonder, Hiram Monserrate, I don’t know what the heck he wants. A former cop. He wants the cops out of the schools. He should understand we brought crime down 44 percent."

"...John Sampson, who I always thought was a smart guy. He voted for mayoral control the last time. And in his district, test scores have gone up dramatically. Now he is against it, trying to push a bill that would keep [Joel] Klein from serving as chancellor."

(Thanks to the DN's Frank Lombardi, who was on Bloomberg radio duty this morning, for sending in the quotes).

“Tom Duane, who I always thought was a smart guy … why he wants to go to his constituents and say, ‘I am deliberately trying to ruin the schools’ … or Joe Addabbo, who just got elected … some of these people, you wonder … Hiram Monserrate, I don’t know what the heck he wants.”

So I guess Tom Duane voted for the bill! Good for him. He is just reflecting the wishes of his constituents. The mayor is really out of touch with how parents feel.

This is inaccurate: ”15 Democratic lawmakers voted for a bill early Friday morning that would have largely gutted his control over schools. “

The bill is very mild – and would give him one seat less than a majority on the board. If anyone has the full list of votes, please send it on.

July 17, 2009, 10:07 am
Mayor Assails Senate Inaction on School Control
By Michael Barbaro
LINK

A fuming Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that state troopers should “drag” senators back to Albany — by force, if necessary – if they leave for the summer without voting on a bill to preserve his control of New York City’s schools.

During his weekly radio show, an incredulous Mr. Bloomberg – who seemed to question the intelligence of individual senators by name – said that those holding up the legislation “want to ruin the schools.”

“You wonder what goes through their heads,” he said, adding that the time for negotiations over mayoral control had passed. “It’s over. It’s stopped. You just can’t do that.”

And he turned a frequent criticism of himself – as imperious – back on the Democratic senators. “This is just, ‘We are going to teach the city a lesson. We are tougher than they are. We are in charge. It’s our way or the highway,’” he said.

The remarks seemed to escalate a nasty war of words between City Hall and a group of Democratic senators who refuse to act on a mayoral control bill supported by the Bloomberg administration. The mayor’s control of the schools expired on June 30, though Bloomberg administration officials and allies make up a majority of the newly reconstituted Board of Education, which has voted to retain Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

The senators argue that the bill gives too much power to Mr. Bloomberg, who wrested control of the schools from a sprawling Board of Education. City Hall counters that higher test scores and graduation rates are proof that unfettered mayoral control works far better than the decentralized system it inherited.

But it now appears that senators will leave Albany for the summer without taking up the issue — a major priority of Mr. Bloomberg’s — until September.

And that has Mr. Bloomberg boiling, especially since 15 Democratic lawmakers voted for a bill early Friday morning that would have largely gutted his control over schools.

“They all come from neighborhoods where the improvements in the schools has been dramatic,” he said. “And you wonder, what on earth are they thinking about, in terms of voting for a bill that would end all of that?”

Then Mr. Bloomberg made it personal. “Tom Duane, who I always thought was a smart guy … why he wants to go to his constituents and say, ‘I am deliberately trying to ruin the schools’ … or Joe Addabbo, who just got elected … some of these people, you wonder … Hiram Monserrate, I don’t know what the heck he wants.”

As for Senator John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, the Democratic conference leader, who the mayor “always thought was a smart guy,” Mr. Bloomberg had this to say:

He voted for mayoral control the last time. And in his district, test scores have gone up dramatically. Now he is against it, trying to push a bill that would keep Klein from serving as chancellor.

Asked what would happen if the Senate did not vote on the mayoral control bill, Mr. Bloomberg said that a reconstituted Board of Education, filled with appointees blessed by his administration, would “continue the policies” he wanted, for now.

But starting in the fall, he said, problems would likely crop up, necessitating urgent state action now, “not in September,” when the Legislature returns.

Then he suggested that the governor call on state troopers to bring the lawmakers back to Albany.

The mayor, a lover of Yiddish, said that giving the Senate the summer off without passing mayoral control would be “meshugenah.”

July 17, 2009, 4:11 pm

Senate Leaders Promised Vote on School Control
By Michael Barbaro
It’s all there in writing.

On July 9, two Democratic State Senate leaders, Malcolm A. Smith and John L. Sampson, promised in a detailed letter that the Senate would vote on a bill to reauthorize mayoral control of New York City’s public schools by Friday.

“Let us be very clear,” they wrote in the letter, which was provided to The New York Times, “regardless of other factors” the bill “will receive a full vote on the floor of the State Senate by July 17, 2009.”

But it didn’t.

Senate Democrats adjourned early Friday without acting on the legislation.

The letter was written to Senator Daniel L. Squadron, a fellow Democrat who left Albany on his honeymoon this week, but not before seeking assurance from the party’s leaders that they would vote on the legislation. (Mr. Squadron, who was endorsed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is a City Hall ally.)

Mr. Sampson and Mr. Smith obliged, signing the letter (see below) and promising to hold a vote by Friday “in ordinary session, or in an extraordinary session in which both the Assembly and Senate are in session.”

“We commit to you,” they wrote to Mr. Squadron.

Their failure to bring the legislation to a vote – which City Hall was confidant it would win – has infuriated the Bloomberg administration beyond measure.

Mr. Bloomberg, on his weekly radio show Friday morning, accused the Democrats of trying “to ruin the schools” and recommended that state troopers “drag them back” to Albany to vote on the bill. Even for the temperamental Mr. Bloomberg, it was an unusually harsh tongue lashing.

Aides to the senators did not deny that the lawmakers had signed the letter – and had failed to honor their word.

But they blamed the intransigence of City Hall, saying aides to Mr. Bloomberg had refused to negotiate even modest changes to the bill backed by the mayor – such as spending $1.6 million to train parents on how to be engaged in the school system. (The mayor called it a “slush fund.”)

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Mr. Smith, said:

Yes, a commitment was made to act on the legislation, but our primary commitment is to meet the needs of 1.1 million public school children by improving the bill through increased parental input and strengthened accountability and transparency.

Joel I. Klein Continues to Lie to New York City About Money, Statistics, Everything

Joel Klein is ready to give firm without offices new $95 million DOE contract
Juan Gonzales, Daily News, July 22nd 2009, 9:16 AM
LINK

After cutting the schools budget by $400 million and ordering a hiring freeze, Chancellor Joel Klein is on the verge of handing a new $95 million contract to a little-known Florida computer firm.

Future Technology Associates has enjoyed a no-bid DOE contract since its founding in 2005 to integrate the school system's financial software with those of other city agencies.

City records show the previous contract, along with several extensions, has nearly doubled in cost - to more than $40 million from an original $22 million.

Under the latest extension, which expires next month, 13 FTA consultants are being paid an average compensation of nearly $190,000 annually by the DOE.

Company President Tamer Sevintuna, for example, receives $306,000 as "senior manager." Three other FTA "managers," John Krohe, Derek Wong and Nilo Natural, each get $245,000.

With that much money flowing, you'd think the firm could afford a real office.

It appears to have none.

Sevintuna officially lists corporate headquarters as 9378 Arlington Expressway, Jacksonville, Fla., Suite 305. A Daily News check of that address revealed it to be only a rented post office box.

He also lists a Brooklyn address for the firm, 41 Schermerhorn St., Suite 275. A visit there showed it to be a small residential building - with no sign of any Future Technology Associates.

FTA's employees do all their computer work out of DOE facilities.

Sevintuna declined to discuss his firm or what it does for the school system.

"Talk to the Board of Education," he said before hanging up.

Late last year, the DOE put out a request for proposals for a new five-year contract to carry on the computer integration work FTA has been doing. This occurred after Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum blasted a DOE plan to simply hand the firm a new $38 million no-bid contract.

This, of course, is nothing new under Klein and Mayor Bloomberg. Both state Controller Tom DiNapoli and city Controller William Thompson have issued scathing reports in recent months about DOE's mushrooming use of no-bid contracts and the runaway costs that often result.

DiNapoli's report, released in May, found that the DOE awarded 291 no-bid contracts between July 2005 and June 2008 for more than $340 million and in most cases "failed to properly document" the reason why.

One of the great dangers of mayoral control of the schools, Klein's critics say, is that the chancellor gets to hand out whatever contracts he wants and pays only lip service to the age-old governmental practice of competitive bidding.

On the surface, the proposed new contract did go through a competitive process, with the bids due in February. Sources in the DOE's technology division said the bid requirements appeared to be tailored for FTA, and no one was surprised when the firm emerged as the apparent winner.

FTA's price came in at $95 million, the sources said.

DOE spokeswoman Melody Meyers denied a final price has been reached, but refused to say any more.

"We are still in negotiations and accordingly will not discuss specifics," Meyers said.

"Everyone is shocked that they're paying these outside consultants so much money for work that DOE's own people could be doing," one source said.

Once DOE officially announces the winner of the computer mega-contract in the next few days, the lucky firm will presumably hire a slew of new six-figure consultants to do the work.

Not a single one of those new hires will appear in any record of the DOE as an employee. Klein will continue to tell us there is a financial crisis and a hiring freeze, and the school system must tighten its belt.

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

Salaries of Future Technology Associates

From Betsy Combier: I love the articles below. Joel Klein gives what seems to be his opinion on building new public schools in Brooklyn, 2008, to handle overcrowding (Klein: no need for this); he supports charter schools because kids perform better in these schools; he praised the new pre-k admissions process (that left thousands of kids without seats for Sept. 2009); etc., etc.


June 18, 2008
Chancellor Joel Klein Discusses Brooklyn Schools
LINK

While the city's Department of Education continues to grapple with crisis-level graduation and proficiency rates, Chancellor Joel Klein is finding himself saddled with another problem: growing demand. Thousands of apartments are being added to Brooklyn and more parents are deciding to raise their children here — a positive quality of life indicator, but one that causes overcrowding at schools like P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights. Klein told us in an interview that he would add two trailer classrooms to P.S. 8 and "reduce the number of students attending the school from out of the school zone." He also said no new schools, including the middle school DUMBO parents have been asking for, are planned for that district because they aren't needed. "District 13 overall is enrolled below the total district-wide capacity, even taking into account additional planned residential units," he said. In November, the department will reveal its next five-year plan. "We plan to look at the potential need for school construction based on demographic patterns within districts ...Additionally, we will pursue partnerships with developers outside of the Capital Plan to build new schools where it makes geographic, financial, and programmatic sense."

On the controversy surrounding Pre-K admissions, he said overall the system has been "a real improvement over the days when parents had to camp outside schools to have a chance at a seat." Nevertheless, he said the process would be improved.

In other areas of Brooklyn like Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, charter schools are giving their district counterparts a run for their money, beating them in competency exams by wide margins. Klein said this is a good thing "because a charter school reaching 100 percent student proficiency in math or English with a challenging population of students forces other educators across the City to acknowledge that outstanding results are achievable." He goes into detail about why he thinks students are performing better at these schools. And finally, Klein busted out some math on potential budget cuts, including a link detailing the potential cut for each city school. Brooklyn Tech could lose the most money citywide — $1.08 million or 4.5 percent of its total budget. Other Brooklyn schools that could receive among the highest percent cut are P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, P.S. 282 in Park Slope and the Urban Assembly academies. The city wants to spread cuts across schools equally, but can't because of state rules that favor the lowest-performing schools.

Brownstoner: The city's new Pre-K enrollment system has been hotly criticized. Parents are upset they now send their application out of state, whereas before they enrolled at the school, and are now finding siblings are separated and their children are being sent to programs far from their district. Did you know these things would happen when you changed the enrollment system?

Chancellor Klein: Because this was a new process two things were inevitable: we made some mistakes and many parents were anxious about the changes. I understand that sending your four-year-old to school is anxiety-producing to begin with. But I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that we made important improvements for the parents of four-year-olds. For the first time, parents enrolling their children in pre-K programs were given information about all the programs available to them and could rank their choices on their applications. And we placed children based on a clear set of priorities. This is a real improvement over the days when parents had to camp outside schools to have a chance at a seat.

We received complaints, though far fewer than one would guess from reading the papers or blogs. Some of the alleged mistakes weren’t actually mistakes: siblings were given the highest priority, for instance, but some pre-K programs were so popular that there were more sibling applicants than available seats. We reviewed thousands of applications by hand and identified about 120 cases where a child wasn’t assigned to the appropriate school. We corrected each of these mistakes.

I should add that while we used a New York City-based vendor (with out-of-state offices) to perform bulk mailing and data entry, all of the matching and placement work was done by our enrollment office. We do not have the ability to process thousands of applications in-house; like other city agencies, we contract with vendors to perform basic services.

Do you think separating Pre-K students from their siblings or sending them to programs farther from their district has an effect on the child's education? Are you considering any new changes to the system?

To be clear, of 20,000 applicants 17,000 were placed in pre-K programs and 15,000 received their first choice. We made errors, and corrected them, on about 120 of 20,000 applications. Any parent who didn't get a placement can enter the second round starting June 23.

We will definitely work to improve the pre-K process.

Parents are complaining the system gives them a lack of control in their child's education. Coupled with their complaints about the poor quality of certain schools and the lottery system, are you concerned they will be turned off to the public education system, and ultimately the city? How would you respond to those concerns?

We want parents to be as involved in the education of their children as possible. And we’re making this happen. We put a parent coordinator in every school to assist parents in resolving school issues. We created a new Family Engagement Office to help with problems that can’t be resolved in the school, to reinvigorate the voices of parents on school leadership teams, and to support organized parent bodies in addressing larger district and system-wide issues. We are reaching out to immigrant families in their own language through Native Language Forums across the city.

When I visit schools or attend public meetings where a lot of your readership lives, in Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, or Fort Greene, parents tell me how improved the schools have become in recent years. Obviously there’s frustration as well and many of our schools aren’t close to where they should be. But what I’m hearing is that more parents than ever believe that public schools offer viable choices for their children.

Currently there are thousands of new or under construction residential units in District 13, which includes Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO and Fort Greene. Yet there are no new public schools planned. How will the department handle this growth?

The current Five-Year Capital Plan, which allocates funding for school construction projects, does not currently include new building construction in district 13 because district 13 overall is enrolled below the total district-wide capacity, even taking into account additional planned residential units. That said, there are some individual district 13 schools whose enrollment is over capacity. In the next Five-Year Plan, which we will put out in November and which begins in July 2009, we plan to look at the potential need for school construction based on demographic patterns within districts and the accessibility of existing schools. This will be a first: we haven’t previously drilled down below the district level. Additionally, we will pursue partnerships with developers outside of the Capital Plan to build new schools where it makes geographic, financial, and programmatic sense. For example, the Beekman School in Lower Manhattan is being built in conjunction with a residential project by Forest City Ratner.

Clarification: Would students at below capacity schools have the option of attending these new schools built within their district, or would districts be somehow further delineated?

The capacity of a student’s current school is not relevant to whether that student is accepted into a school that he or she is eligible for.

Could you give examples of potential partnerships with developers in Brooklyn ? What about Two Trees’ Dock Street project in DUMBO?

We don’t name our partners, in Brooklyn or elsewhere in the city, before we reach agreements.

How long, from planning to enrollment, does it take to complete a new school? Should we get a start on these new schools now, before all the families move in, or wait?

It takes about 18-24 months to build a new school, depending on the scope of work; this doesn’t include identifying a site and designing the building. The timing for construction is established by criteria in the Capital Plan. We don’t “wait” to build until schools are overcrowded, at any rate.

Despite the schools in District 13 operating at 66 percent capacity, parents are complaining the middle school in particular is of poor quality, and are asking that a new one be built. How will you address their concerns?

We recognize that in the current Capital Plan the way we look at overcrowding on a district-wide level may not take into account pockets of overcrowding in certain neighborhoods. In the next Capital Plan, we will take a look more closely at these pockets of overcrowding. A draft of the next plan is scheduled for publication in November.

Opening new schools has been an extremely effective form of improving a neighborhood’s school options. Each year, we accept proposals typically submitted by a range of educators, community members, community non-profit organizations, and other education stakeholders who are interested in opening a new public school, usually in a specific neighborhood.

With so much of the land spoken for in these communities, what types of property does the department envision using for new schools once it's determined they're needed? Why isn’t the city taking this opportunity to claim space in some of the many new buildings under construction, especially if it's being offered, like in DUMBO's Dock Street project?

We do look for alternative ways to build schools because of the challenges around finding appropriate sites for new school construction. For instance, we revived a 1969 initiative created by the State Legislature called the Educational Construction Fund, which allows the DOE to lease property to a developer in exchange for building a new school on the property.

At P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, there are trailers out in the parking lot, enabling the school to keep its Pre-K program, but the elementary portion of the school is still overcrowded. What’s going to happen as that school continues to grow?

There aren’t any trailers at P.S. 8 this year. However, in order to maintain the school’s pre-K program and accommodate growing enrollment, the school will have two trailers containing portable classrooms next school year. We are working with the school to reduce the number of students attending the school from out of the school zone. As always, we will continue to track growth so that we can address the school’s facility needs.

There are also no new schools planned to serve the district that includes Boerum Hill and Gowanus, where 1,000 units are under construction and 700 are in advanced planning. How does the department intend to handle this growth?

Projections for residential buildings around the downtown Brooklyn area, as elsewhere in the city, anticipate fewer than one child per unit, and our current Capital Plan addresses this growth. As new development occurs, we will re-assess and, if need be, update our new school seat projections.

Many charter schools outperform their local districts on standardized tests by wide margins - Brooklyn Excelsior in Bushwick and Excellence Charter School for Boys in Bed-Stuy by between 15 and 48 percent last year, depending on the tests. Why do you think this is?

Charter schools must meet the same performance standards established for all public schools as well as the goals in their charter. If they don’t, they can be put on probation or shut down. Additionally, families enroll their children in charter schools entirely by choice — in other words, students are never “zoned” to attend a charter school. This means that charter schools must compete with other schools for students and must educate students well in order to continue operating. Charter schools - like Excelsior and Excellence in Brooklyn, and many others across the City - are pushing the boundaries of what students can achieve in public school. I believe that charter schools are good for the entire system because a charter school reaching 100 percent student proficiency in math or English with a challenging population of students forces other educators across the City to acknowledge that outstanding results are achievable.

Has the department studied why these schools are performing higher than their district counterparts? If so, what are the findings so far? And is the department implementing any similar solutions?

An informative report about New York City public charter schools was published last year. One significant finding published in the report is that charter school students benefit because charter schools can be flexible in the amount of time that students spend in school. It is intuitive that students who spend more time in school, learn more at school. Working with the United Federation of Teachers ⎯ the NYC teachers’ union ⎯ we increased the school week by 150 minutes in 2006, adding an extended session to the school day. We have also worked with the UFT to create salary differentials based on factors other than seniority, which is historically the only measure taken into consideration when determining teacher salary in district schools. We can now reward teachers who agree to work in our highest need schools and who reach achievement goals with students at these schools. Specifically, we offer teachers a housing stipend of $15,000 if they agree to come to work in New York City schools from another district. We also created a lead teacher position that is remunerated an additional $10,000 annually for experienced teachers who work in high-need schools and mentor their colleagues. Most recently, more than 200 high-need schools agreed to participate in a school-wide performance bonus program, which will reward teachers in schools that meet student achievement goals.

Charter schools are able to make their own decisions around things like the amount of time students spend in school and how teachers are compensated because charter schools operate outside of many rules that district schools are subject to ⎯ including Chancellor’s regulations and labor contracts. In exchange for the ability to manage more freely, charter schools are held rigorously accountable. As I described earlier, charter schools are closed down if their students are not learning. The principle of accountability is at the center of our public school reforms: school leaders must be held accountable for the results they achieve; in order to hold them accountable, they must be empowered to make the critical decisions that affect the school. You can read more about the Children First reforms here.

Which Brooklyn schools would be most affected by the proposed $400 million budget cut? What programs should be cut?

Before getting into specifics about schools, I want to give a little background about the overall education budget for next year. For Fiscal Year 2009 (which applies to the 2008-09 school year), the Department of Education will receive a $664 million budget increase over FY08. This includes $535 million in new state aid and $129 million in new city aid. Unfortunately, we also anticipate $963 million in new expenses, due to increased costs of labor, energy, food, and special education services, among others. This leaves us with a net shortfall of $299 million in school funding.

After careful review, we were able to achieve $200 million in savings from non-school budgets, leaving $99 million remaining to be trimmed from school budgets, but due to restrictions from Albany that burden cannot be shared equitably among schools. The State has provided $242 million in funding under the "Contracts for Excellence," and requires that roughly 75 percent of those funds be spent in only 50 percent of our high-need, low-performing schools. If these restrictions remain intact, some schools will face up to a 6 percent reduction in purchasing power, while others may see their budgets grow by as much as 4 percent. We are asking Albany to give us flexibility over how we can spend $63 million out of that $242 million; if it agrees, the budget cuts will be shared equitably by all schools, with each facing a manageable ⎯ though unpleasant ⎯ 1.4 percent reduction in purchasing power. Pending the outcome of our appeal, we have withheld disbursement of those $63 million in funds.

In mid-May, the DOE released preliminary school budgets. A spreadsheet detailing the impact of those cuts for every school is posted here (see clarification). If the state grants flexibility over the $63 million in withheld funds, schools currently showing budget cuts larger than 1.4 percent will see those cuts reduced to 1.4 percent. If the State denies our request, schools currently showing a 1.4 percent budget reduction will see their budgets grow.

As always, principals make decisions about their budgets in consultation with parents and teachers on their School Leadership Teams. The DOE will provide support and guidance as needed to help principals identify strategic solutions that minimize the impact of cuts on students and classroom learning.

Clarification: City schools collectively face a $99 million budget cut. The state restricts how a portion of its money can be spent to favor the lowest performing schools, so higher performing schools, like Brooklyn Tech, face an even greater budget cut, sometimes up to 6 percent, while the lowest-performing schools would see an overall increase of up to 4 percent. The city is asking for flexibility so each school would have an equal, 1.4 percent cut. That request is currently pending in Albany. The spreadsheet reflects each school's cut without flexibility, except the schools marked with a 1.4 percent cut ⎯ those schools are the ones favored by the state's formula, and could see a budget increase of up to 4 percent.
Giorgio Armani, Caroline Kennedy, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor of the New York City Board of Education Joel Klein arrive for the opening of the new Armani 5th Avenue store on February 17, 2009 in New York City.

June 5, 2008
School Admissions Changes Causing 'Chaos'
LINK

This year the Department of Education changed its admissions process for pre-K'ers, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and the shift means a lot of parents are grappling with the fact that their kids have been placed in schools far from home. About 3,000 parents, "including those in large swaths of Brownstone Brooklyn," recently found out their kids didn't get into any of the schools they'd put down on application forms. Yesterday Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Councilman Bill de Blasio held a press conference to decry the new pre-K placement system, and Gotbaum said the changes "have had some chaotic consequences for parents." The new admissions process is apparently affecting older kids, too. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn has been writing about how her child didn't get in to any middle schools, apparently because of a DOE computer glitch. The blogger is describing the experience as traumatic: "And then [my daughter] heard me talking on the phone to the New York Times. She doesn't know who I was talking to but she can tell that I am agitated, annoyed, on edge, shakey, not happy and so on."

Pre-K Snafu Leads Brooklyn Parents To Protest at Tweed [Brooklyn Eagle]
Middle School SNAFU: My Daughter Isn't On The List [OTBKB]

Brooklyn Heights school's gone from underused to overcrowded
BY RACHEL MONAHAN, DAILY NEWS WRITER, April 17th 2008, 4:00 AM
LINK

Brooklyn Heights might seem like an unlikely place to find trailers, but students at the neighborhood's increasingly popular public school will attend classes in two next fall.

"The school has been a victim of its own success," said Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights).

Department of Education officials told Public School 8 parents this week that portable classrooms would have to be put in the parking lot so prekindergarten classes can be offered in the fall.

The need for additional classrooms at PS 8 was quite a change from just five years ago, when scarcely any neighborhood children attended the school.

A full-fledged effort to improve the school began in spring 2003, and enrollment has since increased by 91%.

"It's a Cinderella story school," said Joanne Singleton, PTA co-president.

Former Superintendent Carmine Farina, who helped turn the school around, said all she had to do was find the right principal: Seth Phillips.

"I feel a personal connection to all schools," she said. "To me, every school should be good enough for my grandson" - who is in fact zoned for the school but is still too young to attend.

But the trailers sparked anger among some parents.

"I was one of the first families to take a chance on this school," said Melissa Milgrom, mother of two PS 8 students. "Others followed. ... This is an awful reward."

Many seemed ready for the compromise, setting their sights on the more long-term project to get a permanent annex for the school or even expand it into a middle school.

"Of course, we have to keep pre-K," said Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association. "Of course, we're not happy with transportable units."

School officials have twice looked at a former NYPD building at 72 Poplar St., around the corner - once as recently as last week - said Yassky, who has been working to expand PS 8 into a middle school.

"That seemed to be the most promising option," said Nancy Webster, a PS 8 parent on Yassky's task force.

Department of Education officials, however, dismissed ideas they were looking to expand the school.