Think the Job Performance of the NYC DOE Chief Officer Dennis Walcott Stinks?

Too bad.

No one who works at Tweed (or City Hall, we hear) has a contract and no one is evaluated. That's how Bloomberg works, and how public money is spent.

Below is the final response to my FOIL for the evaluations of the leaders of our public school system. There are none.

Betsy Combier

From Parentadvocates.org:

Think the Job Performance of the NYC DOE Chief Officer Dennis Walcott Stinks?
Too bad. No one who works at Tweed (or City Hall, we hear) has a contract and no one is evaluated. That's how Bloomberg works, and how public money is spent. From the desk of Betsy Combier, Editor.
          

Mike Bloomberg

Below is the final response to my FOIL for the evaluations of the leaders of our public school system.

There are none.

Betsy Combier

Betsy Combier and Harvey Elentuck File FOIL Requests For DOE Performance Evaluations

My very good friend Harvey Elentuck, the "Elentuck" of the case "Elentuck v Green" in which the New York State Supreme Court and the Appellate Division both told Harvey that there are no facts in observations and observations are not final (so he could not FOIL observation reports), filed a FOIL request for performance evaluations of the DOE "leadership". Judge Cynthia Kern used "Elentuck" in her decision to grant the DOE release of teacher evaluations, and Bob (Freeman) has issued an opinion about Harvey's case. The UFT used "Elentuck v Green" in the Memorandum of Law filed at the First Department Appellate Division (Attorney Charles Moerdler is on the Attorney Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the 1st Dept. and was the Attorney hired to defend Randi Weingarten and me in the Teachers4Action lawsuit filed in 2008 by former Attorney Edward Fagan....evidently Fagan owes Moerdler more than $340,000 in judgments).

I filed a FOIL request as well, but I put in the following paragraph:

"As you know, I have filed a Notice of Claim against Mr. Joseph Baranello, Chief Records Access Officer of the New York City Department of Education, for consistently delaying my FOIL requests beyond the time available by Law, and I have had my 50-H deposition. Any and all delay in receiving the information I request herein will be pursued pursuant to all relevant laws and statutes. I also posted Baranello's Facebook comments on my blog, and I will consider any and all delay in receiving the information I request in this FOIL request or any other as retaliation and unlawful action by a public employee.

Here is my FOIL request for DOE Performance Evaluations:

From: Betsy Combier
Date: Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 8:45 AM
Subject: Freedom of Information Request For Records
To: FOIL@schools.nyc.gov, Baranello Joseph , Betsy Combier
Cc: FOIL@mail.nysed.gov, MBloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov, THernandez5@schools.nyc.gov, RJackson@council.nyc.gov, SpeakerQuinn@council.nyc.gov, MBest@schools.nyc.gov, RGreenf@schools.nyc.gov

Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Education
52 Chambers Street, Room 308
New York, NY 10007
By email: FOIL@schools.nyc.gov

Dear Records Access Officer and/or Mr. Joseph Baranello:

Under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law, Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request a copy of the following records or portions thereof:

(1) The final performance evaluations of all of the members of the Chancellor’s leadership team for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, in the NYC Department of Education, including but not limited to every Deputy Chancellor, as well as the performance evaluation of the Chancellor himself.

Robert Freeman, Chair of the NYS Committee on Open Govt., has written that the performance evaluations of all public employees in NY State are available to the public through FOILs, except for police and correction officers and firefighters.
With respect to the Chancellor, he is the equivalent of a "Superintendent of Schools" and is, therefore, required to be evaluated annually by the Panel for Educational Policy, which is the equivalent of a "Board of Education."

Here is the full statement of §100.2(o)(1)(vi.) of the current Regulations of the Commissioner of Education:

Performance review of superintendent. The governing body of each school district shall annually review the performance of the superintendent of schools according to procedures developed by such body in consultation with the superintendent. Such procedures shall be filed in the district office and available for review by any individual no later than September 10th of each year.

These requested records are not exempt from disclosure under FOIL. To the extent that information contained in the requested records is protected please redact such information and provide me with the remaining information. In the event that all or part of this request is denied, please cite each specific applicable FOIL exemption and notify me of appeal procedures available under the law.

(2) records containing the policies and procedures for conducting the performance evaluations of each member of the Chancellor's Leadership Team (including the Chancellor) for each of the years from 2006 to 2012

(3) Names of the individuals who conduct the evaluations, with titles and years of service in the capacity cited.

To the extent that these records are readily available in an electronic format, we request that they be provided in that format. Please provide responsive records as they are identified, rather than waiting to gather all records. I request to be notified of any fees associated with this request of over $100.00.

The Freedom of Information Law requires agencies to respond within five (5) business days of a records request, therefore I expect a timely reply to my request in compliance with the Law, as well as a timely completion of this request with all documents. My email address is: betsy.combier@gmail.com.

As you know, I have filed a Notice of Claim against Mr. Joseph Baranello, Chief Records Access Officer of the New York City Department of Education, for consistently delaying my FOIL requests beyond the time available by Law, and I have had my 50-H deposition. Any and all delay in receiving the information I request herein will be pursued pursuant to all relevant laws and statutes. I also posted Mr. Baranello's Facebook comments on my blog, and I will consider any and all delay in receiving the information I request in this FOIL request or any other as retaliation and unlawful action by a public employee.

Relevant decisions:

Gould v. NYC Police Department (89 NY2d 267):
Blecher v. NYC Board of Education (NYLJ, 10/25/79).

The Leadership Team to which I refer and the members for whom I request records are:

Leadership Team
Chancellor
Dennis M. Walcott

Senior Advisor to the Chancellor
Courtenaye Jackson-Chase

Chief Operating Officer
Veronica Conforme

Chief Information Officer
Kemi Akinsanya-Rose

Division of Finance
Michael Tragale, Chief Financial Officer

Division of Academics, Performance, and Support
Shael Polakow-Suransky, Chief Academic Officer and Senior Deputy Chancellor
Division of Equity and Access
Dr. Dorita P. Gibson, Deputy Chancellor
Division of Portfolio Planning
Marc Sternberg, Deputy Chancellor

Division of Operations
Kathleen Grimm, Deputy Chancellor

Division of Talent, Labor and Innovation
David A. Weiner, Deputy Chancellor

Division for Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners
Laura Rodriguez, Deputy Chancellor

General Counsel and Legal Services
Michael Best, General Counsel to the Chancellor

Public Affairs
Lenny Speiller, Executive Director

Division of Family and Community Engagement
Jesse Mojica, Executive, Director
Strategic Partnerships
Elizabeth Larson, Managing Director

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Betsy Combier
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, NYC Rubber Room Reporter
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice

CC:
Hon. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg -- MBloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov
Hon. PEP Chair Tino Hernandez -- THernandez5@schools.nyc.gov
Hon. City Council Member Robert Jackson -- RJackson@council.nyc.gov
Hon. City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn -- SpeakerQuinn@council.nyc.gov
Michael Best, Esq. -- MBest@schools.nyc.gov
Robin S. Greenfield, Esq. –- RGreenf@schools.nyc.gov

Below is the FOIL I filed to obtain the evaluation of the performance of Joel Klein in 2007:

Sent: Sat 2/17/2007 11:42 PM
To: Holtzman Susan
Cc: Best Michael (Legal Services); MCardozo@law.nyc.gov; Longoria Carragher Arlene; betsy@parentadvocates.org; RFreeman@dos.state.ny.us; JFriedla@law.nyc.gov; AbGolden@law.nyc.gov; Greenfield Robin; CJobinDavis@dos.state.ny.us; Kicinski Christine J; Klein Joel I.; LKoerner@law.nyc.gov; Nathan Judy; Richardson Jacqueline;
Subject: Press FOIL Request from The E-Accountability Foundation
The E-Accountability Foundation

Betsy Combier, President and Campaign Sponsor


VIA E-MAIL

February 17, 2007

Ms. Susan W. Holtzman
Central Records Access Officer
Office of Legal Services
New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007

SHoltzm@schools.nyc.gov

Dear Ms. Holtzman:

Under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law, Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request to receive E-mailed copies of the following records, or inspect, copy, and receive letters, documents, or any written form with data pertaining to:

1) all written annual professional performance reviews of Chancellor Joel I. Klein that were generated by the Panel for Educational Policy (or any subcommittee thereof) in order to comply with §100.2(o)(2)(v) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education

2) all formal written procedures for evaluating the Chancellor developed by the Panel for Educational Policy (or the former Board of Education) in consultation with any Chancellor, and which formal written procedures are likely located in the Chancellor's Office, Office of the Secretary of the Panel for Educational Policy (Michael Best), Office of Legal Services, or offices of the individual members of the Panel for Educational Policy

I have quoted the aforementioned regulation below for your convenience:

"Performance review of superintendent. The governing body of each school district shall annually review the performance of the superintendent of schools according to procedures developed by such body in consultation with the superintendent. Such procedures shall be filed in the district office and available for review by any individual no later than September 10th of each year."

If the requested records cannot be E-mailed to me due to the volume of records identified in response to my request, please advise me of the actual cost of copying all records onto a CD or floppy disk.

If my request is too broad or does not reasonably describe the records, please contact me so that I may clarify my request. When appropriate, please inform me of the manner in which the records are filed, retrieved, or generated.

If any record has been redacted or denied, please identify which categories of information have been redacted or denied, and cite the relevant statutory exemption(s).

As you know, the Freedom of Information Law requires that an agency respond to a request within five business days of receipt of a request. Therefore, I would appreciate a response as soon as possible and look forward to hearing from you shortly. If for any reason any portion of my request is denied, please inform me of the reasons for the denial in writing and provide the name, business address, and E-mail address of the person or body to whom an appeal should be directed.
Sincerely,
Betsy Combier
CC:

VIA E-MAIL

Mr. Michael Best
MBest2@schools.nyc.gov

Mr. Michael A. Cardozo
MCardozo@law.nyc.gov

Ms. Arlene Longoria Carragher
ALongor@schools.nyc.gov

The E-Accountability Foundation
betsy@parentadvocates.org

Mr. Robert J. Freeman
RFreeman@dos.state.ny.us

Mr. Jeffrey D. Friedlander
JFriedla@law.nyc.gov

Ms. Abigail Goldenberg
AbGolden@law.nyc.gov

Ms. Robin S. Greenfield
RGreenf@schools.nyc.gov

Ms. Camille S. Jobin-Davis
CJobinDavis@dos.state.ny.us

Ms. Christine J. Kicinski
CKicins@schools.nyc.gov

Chancellor Joel I. Klein
JKlein@schools.nyc.gov

Mr. Leonard Koerner
LKoerner@law.nyc.gov

Ms. Judy Nathan
JNathan@schools.nyc.gov

Ms. Jacqueline Richardson
JRichardson@schools.nyc.gov

The answer from the NYC DOE was: "there is no evaluation done of Chancellor Klein. He works at the pleasure of Mayor Mike Bloomberg."

This is why we have no say on anything that occurs in our city schools.
Betsy Combier