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| Polo Colon |
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| Richard Condon |
I did not start my blog, NYC Rubber Room Reporter, until 2007. but since I studied the Soviet and American Military Industrial Complex at Columbia University and at Johns Hopkins' School For Advanced International Studies, and my dad was Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York under Louis Lefkowitz, I knew that governments exist because they can keep their operations secret. Secrecy is a major issue in politics, and whenever a whistleblower
comes along, this person becomes the magnet for investigations, and harm.
So in 2003 when I started visiting the rubber rooms, asked by David Pakter to speak there with UFT members, I was not completely shocked with the false claims and baseless charges filed against tenured teachers. Luckily, I was given the "Mein Kampf" of the Bloomberg administration, the successful removal of the NYC Board of Education and a general public vote, as a way to obtain and keep democracy out of public schools. I thought that someone had to document this process known as "the rubber room", or "rubberization" (my definition of 'rubber room' is that this is not a place but a process), so I started attending the teacher trials known as 3020-a. The first "teacher trial" I attended, as an observer, lasted several months, the arbitrator was Senior panel member Martin Scheinman, and David's NYSUT Attorney was Chris Callagy.
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| Betsy Combier and Chris Callagy (picture taken by David Pakter) |
We all got to know each other very well. I have been documenting the teacher trials ever since, for my book. The purpose of my writing on my blogs, website, and my book is to stop this random, arbitrary and shocking mess of teacher abuse in NYC and America as well as parent and student harassment. Really, what do cockroaches do when the light turns on? They scamper into the nearest dark crack or hole. NYC DOE personnel despise anyone who challenges them on their "right" to harm people by subterfuge and threats of harm. They want the victim to be so scared of future retaliation that they run away, never to be heard from again. You may hear of harassment at 3020-a hearings, by NYSUT Attorneys and the DOE attorneys; and a push for "settlement" which is nothing more than the Respondent/victim declaring he/she is guilty of a crime and will never sue the DOE for finding out. I usually do not support anyone who is innocent of a charge to admit to doing it simply to stop harassment. If you didn't do it, fight to prove your innocence.
Then another daughter got into Stuyvesant and accepted the offer starting in 2003. I was afraid but I did not want her to be, so I tried to discuss other options, all in vain. She wanted to be there. I remained very active in Stuyvesant, and the Chinese parents came to me with questions about the money donated to the PA in 2005. They had documented a missing amount of more than $380,000.
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| Scott Stringer |
One of the parents was a relative of Attorney Jimmy Yan, who worked for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (pictured above). We made three appointments to let both Jimmy and Scott know about the documents showing that several hundred thousand dollars were not in the PA bank account, and there could be possible tax fraud. We met with Jimmy. He promised to help us retrieve the money after we showed him the documents, tax forms, PA budget and PA financial forms. I still have his message on my cellphone.
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| Jimmy Yan |
I wrote my article in 2006 on what happened, including the call I received from the two attorneys who were given the job of auditing the Stuyvesant PA books. They called me up and whispered into my telephone, "Betsy, we have to tell you that there is so much money missing from the Stuyvesant PA that we cannot do an audit".
Jimmy called me as well, and told me that he was contacting Superintendent Alexis Penzel, and would get back to me. That was the last time we spoke, and we never heard from Scott Stringer. Needless to say, when I read the article below about how Scott Stringer, who is now the NYC Comptroller, will be holding Mayor Bill De Blasio accountable for his actions, I'm skeptical. Very skeptical. We will see........
Scott Stringer Promises to Hold Mayor de Blasio Accountable
Colby Hamilton
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| Scott Stringer and His Transition Team |
SOHO — Comptroller-elect Scott Stringer vowed to hold incoming Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio accountable for the city's finances on Monday, even as he spoke of cooperation and partnership between the two offices.
“There's so much that we can do together in the spirit of cooperation, even though my role is to be the watchdog. And I will be the watchdog,” Stringer said. “My role is to audit every city agency.”
Stringer made his comments during the announcement of his transition team at the Talking Transition tent on Canal Street in SoHo. He said he and de Blasio were “excited about going from the steps of City Hall to actually being inside City Hall.”
He said the comptroller and mayor have joint responsibilities in handling and representing the city’s financial interests, even as the comptroller seeks to act as a check on the mayor.
“There is a relationship between [the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget] and the comptroller's office that is very real and serious,” Stringer said. “But you also have a fiduciary responsibility to monitor city agencies [and to] hold City Hall accountable.”
Stringer named a slate of 19 advisers who he said would help him build out his office before he takes over in January. Robert Kasdin, a senior vice president at Columbia University, and Ana Oliviera, the president and CEO of the New York Women’s Foundation, were announced as Stringer’s transition co-chairs.
Kasdin said he expected the team would help Stringer create a comptroller’s office that was “the nation’s preeminent model for fiscal management.”
@bcolbyhamilton
One of the major problems with the DOE's policy of secrecy and retaliation is the lack of control the Department has over their hired help. As can be seen in my exposure of investigators who work for OSI, SCI, and OEO (see here my exclusive on the sexual assault on Natalya Sokolson-Gordon), people hired to do an "investigation" have been watching too much television. In all their ("the investigators") reports there is usually something that does not make sense. Dig it up and throw it back.
These agents of the Department are focused on getting information from the teachers they are told to investigate AFTER the teacher has been found guilty by the Principal/AP of the school. So, their purpose is actually to get information to substantiate the so-called "fact" that indeed, the person has already committed some kind of crime, and investigations are started with the intent to prove it. A great defense at 3020-a hearings is to prove them wrong. I call it "proving you are innocent after an allegation proves you are guilty" routine.
Betsy Combier
