Donna Blaine answered her accusers, the New York City Department of Education- NY POST-Partnership, so here is the Truth about her case as stated in an email to me this afternoon:
I am the Donna Blaine referred to in the woefully erroneous Post article involving teachers posting on Facebook. I was horrified by what I saw, and this is why:
- the photos featured were taken on Aruba, NOT during my Puerto Rico trip. I did NOT post photos from that weekend, nor did I "regale" anyone.
- I was investigated by OSI intensively for ONE SINGLE (admittedly stupid) comment posted on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving break, which I foolishly took as a sick day. My comment was "Up, up, and away!"
- the investigation into that "theft of services" issue came on the very day I returned to work following a liver biopsy that revealed that my breast cancer had returned as stage 4
- the Aruba trip depicted in the article was originally intended as a 30th anniversary celebration but became a bonding opportunity as my husband and I tried to deal with my health issue.
- I have been a NYC teacher for 10 years, and this is my second bout with BC. I have NEVER taken a medical leave or exceeded my allotted sick days.
- I drive nearly 100 miles round trip to work, despite weekly chemotherapy appointments .
And key here is the fact that my case was resolved over a year ago in a satisfactory manner for all involved.
As you can see, I carry a great deal of anger that I was so unjustly mischaracterized. I believe I should be an example of what is right about the dedication of teachers; instead, I am now the poster girl for everything negative in the educational atmosphere.
As you can see, I carry a great deal of anger that I was so unjustly mischaracterized. I believe I should be an example of what is right about the dedication of teachers; instead, I am now the poster girl for everything negative in the educational atmosphere.
Thank you for being a voice that attempted to clarify Facebook's role in the daily lives of honest people.
Facebook Statement Again Reported In The NYPOST
"Facebook
is giving more Big Apple teachers a black eye" says the NYPOST today
(see the article re-posted below). But we need to look at all the
circumstances surrounding a "facebook teacher" and not judge simply
because the NYPOST is telling us to.
The article in today's NYPOST shows once again the agenda of the media
to go after teacher stories which support the DOE or help Mayor
Bloomberg and Dennis Walcott get their policies in order, or at least
agreed to by legislators. The NYC DOE still has no internet policy. They are trying to create one by using the Daily News and the NYPOST. Why not? It works.
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| Donna Blaine |
The NYC rubber rooms were created and run by the NYC DOE, pursuant to
Mayor Bloomberg's order to remove tenured employees from the public
school system but make it look like they were honoring the required
mandate of due process. The media also placed the blame for these
warehouses on the UFT, when indeed, it was the DOE's baby, from charges
to termination/settlement/retirement/resignation. The UFT just did
nothing to stop it, and there was a gradual erosion of contractual
rights over time, especially in 2005 when the grieving of letters to
file was prohibited. This became a huge problem when "they" - the Mayor,
the Chancellor, the Gotcha Squad, the New York Law Department -
realized that the people stored in the warehouses were talking to each
other and to the media. In fact, in 2007, many teachers believed that if
they were in the newspaper, they would get a resolution to their case. I
spoke to most of the rubber roomers, and I would say that certainly
less than a third should have been re- assigned. Luckily, I could go to
the very people who were involved in this effort to re-assign people, as
in 2007 I was hired by the UFT to go into the rooms. The problem that
arose was that the UFT in fact never wanted me to find out who was being
treated unfairly, and when I started asking the right questions and I
started this blog to highlight the unfairness of the rubberization
process, I was attacked by the UFT. This is the story to be told in my
book and on this blog at a later date.
In 2007-2008 everyone started talking to reporters, not realizing that
their story and career would be falsified to fit the needs of
Bloomberg/Klein, namely to shut down the rubber rooms. The advice by
UFT reps to not speak to anyone did not ring true to the people who sat
in the temporary re-assignment rooms after these re-assigned
professionals started trading stories of how the UFT district reps did
not help them. I asked why this was happening and was told to shut up. I
didnt.
The next step, where the Tweedies are now, is the fine tuning of a
policy to get rid of anyone with tenure, and all probationary teachers
about to get tenure, without spending time on due process. As I
have previously posted, Dennis Walcott is on Youtube saying that "Just
Cause" is a waste of time. To me, this is one of his most chilling
statements ever. Tenure rights are protected by law in New York State,
last I checked. Walcott says, who needs [the Constitution]? (Also on my website here and here)
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| Dennis Walcott |
The Facebook issue is so clearly trash journalism.I posted the Facebook
page and comments of the NYC DOE's Records Access officer, Joseph
Baranello, on my blog. I then spoke with a reporter who presented this
to her editor, and she heard from the DOE that if the newspaper did the
story of Baranello, then the DOE would look bad. So, the Baranello story
never ran in any newspaper. Of course it didnt. The media contact for
the NYC DOE told the media, dont do this story, and the editors listen
to that.
Here is my story and links once again:
NYC Department of Education Attorney Joseph Baranello Uses Facebook To Comment About The "Douchebags" On The L Train
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| Joseph Baranello |
It seems to me from Mr. Baranello's comments, he thought that people who dress up as Santa Clauses look like "douchebags"; and he thinks the Jewish Sukkah is silly, disgraceful, or whatever:
September 19, 2010 at 4:42pm
It seems to me that he should be
reprimanded for the comments about Sukkah and that people dressed up as
Santa Clauses are "douchbags". Im Jewish but I was raised as a
Presbyterian and lived in Egypt, Israel and Jordan. I value all
cultures, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic level, whatever. I
dont feel good about what he wrote on his page about Sukkahs, and I
wonder if his Supervisor thought this as well. I dont think anything was
said to Baranello, as there is definitely a double standard in the NYC DOE. (sometimes I try to be humorous).
The Facebook stories are serious, however, and I take each one that I
hear, seriously. It is true that people who use Facebook should be
careful about what they put out into cyberspace. It is also true that if
you take a vacation and lie about it after you have put your picture on
Facebook enjoying some sun outside of New York City when you were
supposed to be in school, then you have to expect consequences. What is
not believable is that all the teachers in the article re-posted are the
perverts and criminals who have to be terminated for making a Facebook
comment, as our Mayor, Chancellor, the Gotcha Squad and the New York Law
Department/Corporation Counsel are saying.
In the article is a teacher by the name of Pat Dawson. I attended the
first two days of her open and public 3020-a hearing at 51 Chambers
Street, and so did approximately 12 other people. There was standing
room only. Ms. Dawson is obviously a person who has many of friends and
supporters, as Norm Scott pointed out on his blog:
"A popular and effective teacher
And thus it is with the Facebook teacher, who even Stanzione admitted was not only a good teacher but one that students gravitated to, as did other teachers. In fact she was Coordinator of Student Activities (COSA) and was chosen to represent the school at recruiting fairs with the approval of Stanzione --- an unpaid volunteer position. She was so popular with students, I imagine she had grown so comfortable with them that she said a few things on Facebook that look bad when in isolation, but as pointed out by union lawyer Callegy, nothing that isn't said all the time in teacher rooms, which Stanzione readily acknowledged."
And thus it is with the Facebook teacher, who even Stanzione admitted was not only a good teacher but one that students gravitated to, as did other teachers. In fact she was Coordinator of Student Activities (COSA) and was chosen to represent the school at recruiting fairs with the approval of Stanzione --- an unpaid volunteer position. She was so popular with students, I imagine she had grown so comfortable with them that she said a few things on Facebook that look bad when in isolation, but as pointed out by union lawyer Callegy, nothing that isn't said all the time in teacher rooms, which Stanzione readily acknowledged."
Will it make a difference? At this point, the only information we have
on possible outcome is the information already testified to and the
information about the Arbitrator, Joshua Javits. My opinion about Mr.
Javits as an arbitrator who is supposed to be a neutral in the process:
he is not neutral. Having observed him as an arbitrator more than once, I
see someone who has no idea what is important or not, he thinks
everything should be in evidence, even if the letter/rating/memo is not
signed, and the Respondent teacher testifies that he/she never saw it.
In it goes. Then, Javits' pattern and practice is to terminate or take
whatever position the DOE wants him to take.
What concerns me in the Dawson case is that until a few days before the
NYC DOE started the hearing on April 4 2012 it seems that the Gotcha Squad
Attorney, Andrea Chilaka, didnt have a case. What we heard on April 5,
when the Principal, Michael Stanzione, came in, was that two days
before, Stanzione was told by "legal" to call in a student who was named
on Dawson's Facebook page but had never seen it or heard about it, and
he was asked to testify to how he "felt" more than 14 months after the
Facebook comment was made, and almost as many months after the Facebook
page was permanently removed from the internet by Ms. Dawson. This
former student testified that he was shocked, and he didnt understand
why his former teacher would do this. Callagy asked him, "You know that
you cannot ask ms. Dawson, right?"
I personally find Ms. Chilaka annoying because she laughs all the time,
after every objection, statement, question, whatever. Maybe she is
nervous because she knows she will be on the internet. She already is.
What the DOE is doing is they are creating an effect of Dawson's
Facebook comments more than 15 months after they were made, so they can
"help" Josh Javits make a determination that Dawson should be punished,
probably with termination, because she has had such a detrimental effect
on her former students. But how can Dawson address the fact that before
the 3020-a hearing began, there was no effect of her actions because no one
believed what she was saying on Facebook.
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| Me and NYSUT Attorney Chris Callagy |
When NYSUT Attorney Chris Callagy asked Stanzione when he met with the
student and why he met with him so many months after the Facebook
comments were made, he testified that "legal" told him to. This is
exactly the same testimony that was given in Christine Rubino's case.
The Principal was given Christine's Facebook comments in June 2010, but only removed her in November because "legal" told her to remove her. Lisa Esposito, Christine's Principal, also testified that she thought Christine was a terrific teacher, and she did not want termination as a penalty, but "legal" told her she had to go for termination, she had no choice.
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| Christine Rubino |
The Principal was given Christine's Facebook comments in June 2010, but only removed her in November because "legal" told her to remove her. Lisa Esposito, Christine's Principal, also testified that she thought Christine was a terrific teacher, and she did not want termination as a penalty, but "legal" told her she had to go for termination, she had no choice.
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| Theresa Europe |
Christine then won her appeal in the New York State Supreme Court and
her case is now remanded back to Randi for a lesser penalty than
termination because, wrote Judge Barbara Jaffe, Christine had a stellar
15-year teaching career that Lowitt did not consider.
As we read the pages of the major media, let's keep in mind the agenda
that they, the media, want you to read into what the reporters write, and
not judge someone whose story appears there.
