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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Mayor De Blasio Praises the NYPD, Perhaps Too Much



I wonder how truthful Mayor De Blasio's support of the NYPD really is. He is certainly trying to make the police department believe him, but then there is Kicy Motley......

Mayor Bill de Blasio – NYPD Support

Administration made largest increase in resources for NYPD programs in a decade: additional $352 million this year to enhance and expand training, provide technology that will protect officers

Offers unequivocal support for department, its leadership and its officers

From selecting Bill Bratton--the nation’s foremost law enforcement leader--to head the NYPD, to investing in more tools and equipment for officers on the beat, Mayor de Blasio has strongly supported the police during his first year in office. Thanks to the NYPD, crime in New York City is down nearly 5 percent this year—a record low. 

 Mayor de Blasio has invested an additional $352 million in the NYPD’s budget this year to enhance and expand training, provide technology that will protect both officers and our communities, pilot a gunshot detection program, and support overtime. This is the largest increase in resources for NYPD programs in a decade, and larger than the entire Boston Police Department budget. The Mayor has also made major investments to improve NYPD facilities, including $110 million in capital funds to build or rehabilitate precinct houses.

 To protect officers and keep the department on the cutting edge, the Mayor invested in more advanced communication technology, including smartphones for all 35,000 officers and 6,000 tablets for police cruisers that enable more rapid distribution of alerts, images and directives. The Mayor has invested in retraining and professional development for the entire force. It settled contracts with thousands of senior officers, providing raises for the first time in years, and is working in good faith to reach accord with all unions representing NYPD personnel.

 At police ceremonies, policy announcements, community events and in the aftermath of Eric Garner’s death, Mayor de Blasio has made clear his strong support of the NYPD and its officers, praising them as the finest police force in the nation, and commending their sacrifice and professionalism. The Mayor has unequivocally and decisively condemned the actions of protestors who engaged in violence against police officers.

 A Safer City

·         Major crime in the city is down. Homicides are down nearly 4% percent and overall crime is down nearly 5% percent.

·         Misconduct complaints filed against NYPD have declined significantly during second half of 2014 – the largest decline over a five-month period since the CCRB was created in 1993
2014 Public Safety Investments

Mayor de Blasio has invested an additional $352 million this year to enhance and expand training, provide technology that will protect both officers and our communities, and much more. This is the largest increase in a decade and larger than the entire Boston Police Department's budget.  These investments include:

·         A $160 million initiative to enhance NYPD mobile communications by providing 41,000 tablets and handheld mobile devices for every NYPD officer and patrol car
·         Providing over $28 million dollars to support additional in-service training for the entire Police Department

·         A $101 million dollar investment with the Manhattan District Attorney to reduce violent crime in NYCHA developments through an increase in exterior security cameras, camera connection to NYPD networks, lobby and elevator cameras, new doors, layered access, and improved exterior lighting.
·         Invested $20 million to fund expansion of the NYPD's high-bandwidth fiber network, which enables the transmission, in real time, of law enforcement and public safety data sources, including feeds from NYPD's extensive public safety camera network.

·         An investment of $17 million to increase the patrol strength of the force by civilianization.
·         Made major investments to improve NYPD facilities, including $110 million in capital funds to build or rehab precincts.

In addition the City has made other investments that will help our officers keep the city safe while also protecting them from harm, including:
·         Expanded citywide initiative to reduce gun violence by investing $12.7 million in comprehensive, neighborhood-based strategy to prevent shootings in 14 key precincts

·         Launched Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety, a $210 million investment to strengthen neighborhoods and reduce violent crime at the 15 NYCHA developments
·         Accelerated long-delayed installation of security cameras at Boulevard Houses and housing developments across the city

·         Launched $130 million plan to reduce crime and reduce the number of people with behavioral and mental health issues behind bars
Unequivocally Condemned Violence Against NYPD Officers

12.15.14 Mayor: What we believe we know is that individuals attacked our police officers in an entirely inappropriate and unacceptable way – and that won't be tolerated. It's as simple as that. And not only will it not be tolerated by me, it will not be tolerated by the NYPD. I want to speak directly to those who are protesting. I've spent plenty of years involved in efforts for social change. I've been to my share of protests. It is incumbent upon all those who are protesting to set a high standard, to respect the police who have done such a fine job of protecting them and working with them, and to stop any potential act of violence. It is up to the protestors to join the effort to keep the peace. And if anyone knows anything about the individuals who attacked our police officers, they need to come forward with that information.

Praised NYPD for Restraint and Professionalism Handling Protests

12.04.14 Mayor: A lot of people demonstrated last night. They expressed their first amendment rights. Overwhelmingly, the demonstrations were peaceful, and I want to say, the response by the NYPD was exactly the right one. It was smart, it was strategic, it was agile – a lot of restraint was shown. When necessary, arrests were made. But you saw a very peaceful night in New York City. Despite the frustration and the pain that so many people are feeling, you saw a peaceful protest. You saw a minimum of disruption. I give credit to everyone involved, but I particularly give credit to the NYPD for having managed the situation so appropriately. 

12.07.14 Mayor: I think the NYPD has done an extraordinary job. We’ve had protests for a number of nights but the protesters, by and large, have been peaceful and the NYPD has acted, I think, in a very intelligent and agile manner. And that’s helped to bring us to the result we’ve had now, and last night was particularly good. And I think it’s an example of what the professionalism of the NYPD allows to happen in this city, where peaceful protest can occur.

Praised the NYPD

7/18/14  Mayor: We have extraordinary leadership at the NYPD. We have an incredibly well-trained police force.

7/31/14 Mayor: I want to commend Commissioner Bratton and Chief Banks, and everyone at NYPD for continuing to drive down crime. And I also want to commend them for starting aggressive processes of reform, so that we can have low crime while creating more dialogue and mutual respect.

7/31/14 Mayor: I’ve mentioned the extraordinary work of Commissioner Bratton and Chief Banks, and all the leadership and all the men and women of the NYPD following this pathway – safety and respect.

8/01/14 Mayor: We are constantly preparing. And I think that all of our agencies – NYPD and FDNY and OEM – are literally the gold standard on this earth for how to protect a locality.

8/05/14 Mayor: I have immense respect for the men and women of the NYPD. It’s a very tough job and they do it very, very well. This is why crime is down over three percent this year, murders are down, a lot of incredible work is happening every day in every neighborhood because of the dedication of the men and women of the NYPD.

8/13/14 Mayor: We believe that we have the finest police force in the United States of America, and they do extraordinary work every day. And there's a lot we need to do to support our police, and one of the things we need to do is help solve the problem before it occurs, at the grassroots, with the full participation of communities. We do that more and more – we're going to see crime continue to stay low and then go down in this city.

10/13/14 Mayor: I am so appreciative for what you do to represent the Italian-American community through your service to the people of New York City. Because I appreciate you for the work you do, to begin with. We all depend on you. We all appreciate and understand how hard the work is.

11/2/14 Mayor: I’ve said it many, many times, the New York City Police Department is the world’s finest. We see it over and over again, every day. We saw it today with a safe marathon – the biggest marathon in the world. And everything that was done, in the way of security preparation, was outstanding and the execution was flawless – another example of what the NYPD is capable of, another example of the leadership of Commissioner Bratton. And I think the NYPD, at this moment, is the best it’s ever been. And I think it’s on the pathway to even higher heights, to even greater accomplishments.

12.03.14 Mayor: I’ve said repeatedly we are blessed to have the finest police force anywhere in the world. That's this police force is keeping us safer all the time.

12.09.14 Mayor: I think something all New Yorkers should be proud of today is the way the NYPD handled this incident. In the dead of night, something absolutely unexpected – the responding officers handled things, from everything we've seen so far – again, there is an investigation, but I'm going to speak as someone who's seen the video and just offering my own common-sense assessment – the officers responded with great restraint. They made every effort to try to disarm the individual. And, they – in the work they did so courageously – protected lives. This individual had already assaulted Mr. Rosenblatt – may have caused much more damage to others. Lives were at stake, and these officers – with courage and skill and restraint – handled the situation very admirably. With that, I would like to turn to our police commissioner to commend you, the men and the women of the NYPD, for how this was handled today.

12.09.14 Mayor: This is a very important step forward for this city – reaching agreement with those who, day to day, lead the work out in the field, protecting the people of this city, keeping this city safe, keeping the city clean. These are the leaders in agencies we depend on every day. We have deep respect for their work. We understand how difficult it is. We understand how dangerous it is.

 

Monday, December 22, 2014

Kicy Motley, De Blasio Aide, Known For Crass Remarks

Why does De Blasio have such trouble finding people to work for him who the public can respect?

The post below was published in March 2014

Betsy Combier
Kicy Motley


New de Blasio aide has history of vulgar tweets

, March 27, 2014

LINK

 


This is what passes for “community relations” in Mayor de Blasio’s New York.

A foul-mouthed former campaign aide to the mayor who was previously scolded for her Twitter rants against the NYPD and NAACP was quietly hired as the mayor’s new co-director of community affairs in Brooklyn.

Kicy Motley was spotted by The Post last week cheering on de Blasio at the mayor’s first bill-signing ceremony in Brooklyn.

Motley, 28, a volunteer in de Blasio’s campaign last year, was caught going on a Twitter tear.

Her highlight reel included:

-  “NYPD fatally shoot knife-wielding man in Times Square. (VIDEO) F–k. The. Police” Motley wrote on Aug. 11, 2012, after cops shot Darrius Kennedy, 51.

-  She slammed the NAACP in January 2013 for siding with drink companies against Bloomberg’s soda ban: “@NAACP aka corporate d–k riders. Standing withsoda makers for a few bucks.”

- In February 2013, she linked to an article highlighting Bloomberg’s pro-gun-control efforts and wrote, “Hey rest of #America, welcome to Bloomberg using his #money to mess up your sh-t.”

-  Motley also used Twitter to cheer crazed ex-LAPD cop Chris Dorner, who went on a wild shooting spree across Southern California in February 2013 after claiming he was fired because of racism.

“There’s a part of me rooting for #Dorner. This racist, imperialist country gets the best of people sometimes. It makes some snap. #lapd,” she tweeted several days before Dorner was killed by cops during a standoff.

After The Post exposed the tweets, Motley pulled down her Twitter page and apologized, but stayed on with the campaign.

“These tweets do not reflect my values, and I regret posting them in haste. I apologize for any pain they may have caused,” she said in a prepared statement released by the campaign at the time.

Last month, the Capital New York Web site reported that de Blasio had cleaned out Bloomberg’s Community Affairs Unit and replaced its members with his loyalists, including Motley.

Community directors spend most of their time out in the field working with elected officials, community boards, civic associations, community-based organizations and tenants associations, the mayor’s office said.

“Kicy was hired for this assignment because of her deep knowledge of Brooklyn and her commitment to the citizens of this city. She is well versed in constituent casework and navigating city agencies, which is part of her duties,” de Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak told The Post.

Motley is working on housing issues, Walzak said.

The mayor’s office would not provide her salary information.

Bill de Blasio campaign aid apologizes for offensive tweets
Bill de Blasio’s new mayoral campaign aide is a Twitter terror who has littered the Web site with foul-mouthed rants against everyone from the NYPD to the NAACP.

“NYPD fatally shoot knife-wielding man in Times Square. (VIDEO) F–k. The. Police,” ranted de Blasio volunteer coordinator Kicy Motley on Aug. 11 2012, after cops shot Darrius Kennedy, 51, on Seventh Avenue.

In addition to using gangsta-rap-like language to blast the cops, the campaign aide also slammed the NAACP in January for siding with drink companies against Bloomberg’s soda ban.

“@NAACP aka corporate d–k riders. Standing with soda makers for a few bucks,” she wrote.

In February, she linked to an article highlighting Bloomberg’s pro-gun-control efforts and wrote, “Hey rest of #America, welcome to Bloomberg using his #money to mess up your sh-t.”

She also used Twitter to cheer crazed ex-LAPD cop Chris Dorner, who went on a wild shooting spree across Southern California after claiming he was fired because of racism.
“There’s a part of me rooting for #Dorner. This racist, imperialist country gets the best of people sometimes. It makes some snap. #lapd,” she tweeted several days before Dorner was killed by cops during a standoff.

After being questioned by The Post, Motley apologized for her remarks and took her Twitter page down. She had been tweeting under the handle @BrooklynKicy.

“These tweets do not reflect my values, and I regret posting them in haste. I apologize for any pain they may have caused,” she said in a prepared statement released by the campaign.

A campaign spokesman added, “These tweets are clearly unacceptable and do not in any way reflect the views of our campaign, and Kicy has been disciplined for making them.”
A source said she was scolded for the tweets and told to suspend her use of social media.
Motley started working in Public Advocate de Blasio’s office sometime in August and seven months later was hired for the Democrat’s mayoral campaign.

According to her LinkedIn page, she was also an intern in the City Council for eight months last year.

Motley plays an important role in the campaign, responsible for training volunteers and organizing campaign events.

LINKEDIN:
Kicy Motley
Brooklyn Borough Director at Office of the Mayor - Community Affairs Unit
  1. Office of the Mayor - Community Affairs Unit,
  2. The Aardvark Movement
  1. New York City Mayoral Campaign,
  2. City of New York,
  3. New York City Council

Education
  1. University of Miami

Censorship at the Panel For Educational Policy

Now we can prove censorship.

 
from Francesco Portelos:
 

NYCDOE Curbs Public Speaking at Panel Meetings.

See letter sent by DTOE and Solidarity Caucus member to NYC Council:
————————-
Councilwoman Viverito,
The NYCDOE school community, comprised of educators, students, parents and concerned citizens, are very grateful the NYC Council mandates that all NYCDOE Panel for Education Policy meetings are video recorded and live streamed. It brought us one big step closer to accountability, involvement and transparency. However, we are very disheartened to now see that the last three or four meetings include disruption by the panel and curbing of public speeches. Are we to understand that public speaking is allowed, but they can be selective of the content?
Please see the 39:00 minute mark on the official DOE December 18, 2014 video posted here: http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/default.htm
​Notice how the audio has also been removed by the DOE effectively muzzling the public?​ See how a citizen was stopped from raising concerns about workplace bullying and was then removed?
​Can you please address this?
Francesco A. Portelos
Educator – mrportelos.com
UFT Solidarity Caucussolidaritycaucus.org
​Don’t Tread on EducatorsDTOE.org
“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” -
​​
 Greek Philosopher Diogenes
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dtoedu

FACES: Julian Vinocur, Communications Director, Division of Teaching & Learning


Julian Vinocur

Julian Vinocur

Communications Director, Division of Teaching & Learning at NYC Department of Education
Previous
  1. Alliance for Quality Education
Education
  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Experience

Director of Campaigns & Communications (NYC)

Alliance for Quality Education
   (6 years 2 months)Julian Vinocur (@JulianVin) | TwitterLanguagesSPANISHParents & Educators Protest Eviction Of Special Needs Students For Charter Schools Julian Vinocur is the director of campaigns and communications for the Alliance for Quality Education in New York City.
The #EduElection: Owning the Debate through Communications and Social Media
Youth, parents, and teachers in New York City used traditional and new media to broadcast loudly against education policies that were not working – and to demand change.
Twitter20.jpg @JulianVin

RELEASE: In New Campaign, Zephyr Teachout Joins a Broad Coalition to Limit Hedge Fund Control over Public Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts
Charlie Albanetti, 518.595.9047
Wendy Liberatore, 518.491.0454

ALBANY (Dec. 3, 2014) — The same hedge funds that bought control of Governor Cuomo and State Senate Republicans now want to take over public education, but we’re not going to let it happen.

That was the message today from Zephyr Teachout, the Working Families Party, the Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action of New York and a broad coalition of concerned parents. Ahead of a possible special legislative session in Albany next week, they gathered at the Capitol to launch a new campaign to fight the growing efforts of hedge funds to run New York’s schools and dictate education policy.

At a press conference at the state Capitol, they released a new report, “Corruption in Education: The Hedge Fund Takeover of New York’s Schools.”

“New York State is plagued by legal corruption: campaign contributions and outside spending explicitly designed to buy policy outcomes. In 2014, a tiny group of powerful hedge fund executives, representing the most extreme version of this corruption spent historic amounts of money in order to take over education policy,” Teachout writes in the report, which follows on the heels of her recent article in The Daily Beast.

The research and analysis in the report show that hedge fund managers who bankrolled Cuomo’s re-election and the Senate Republicans are the main drivers of an education agenda in Albany designed to starve public schools of resources and raise the cap on privately-run charter schools.

“It’s just wrong for a handful of billionaires to buy our elections and corrupt our education system,” said Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York and Co-Chair of the Working Families Party. “We’re proud to begin this effort to protect our kids’ education from this school privatization scheme.”

“These hedge fund billionaires are the new puppeteers of Albany and they are pulling the strings of Gov. Cuomo and the Republican Majority in the Senate,” said Billy Easton, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “The Governor has leveled inflammatory attacks on public schools which is music to the ears of his billionaire campaign investors who are pushing an agenda of privatization and high stakes testing. We need the Governor to focus his concerns on investing in our public school students, not on diverting money away from public schools to fund privately run charter schools that are the pet projects of his billionaire donors.”

“It’s disheartening to think that the Governor wants to hand over my child’s education to hedge fund managers,” said Jamaica Miles, a Schenectady parent and member of Citizen Action of New York. “This corruption of our public education has to stop. I am just one of many parents who are outraged at how money has swayed our politicians to destroy public education, which is so important to the future of our community.”

In the coming days, the campaign will engage parents, teachers, and grassroots groups statewide that want a stronger public education system that serves all children and families, not the interests of the wealthy elite.

The report, “Corruption in Education: The Hedge Fund Takeover of New York’s Schools,” is available here: http://bit.ly/1tAyQfw

Friday, December 19, 2014

Whistleblower Archie Roundtree Wins $3.3 Million

Whistleblower case costs LAUSD a $3.3 million jury award

Judge Rolf Treu affirm vergara decisionLA Unified sustained another legal blow this week in a “whistleblower” case that’ll cost the district millions.
After nearly a month-long trial, a Los Angeles jury awarded retired Air Force Officer and Junior ROTC instructor, Archie Roundtree, $3.3 million, finding that the district had revoked his teaching certification in an act of retaliation.
This latest setback comes a month after the district announced a $139 million settlement in civil cases stemming from the actions of a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School.
Shortly after reporting a series of violations in the operation of the JROTC program at John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, Chief Academic Officer Gerardo Loera began complaining to the Air Force about the veteran instructor. The Air Force subsequently revoked Roundtree’s 15-year certification to teach JROTC cadets.
According Renuka V. Jain, a lawyer who represented Roundtree, “The jury awarded Roundtree $1,810,840 on the whistleblower claim, $1 million in defamation damages against Loera, and $500,000 against Assistant Vice-Principal Adriana Maldonado-Gomez. The jury also concluded that Loera had acted with malice, oppression or fraud.”
“The settlement is good but he will never be able to get his certification back,” Jain told LA School Report. “There is no appeal, there is no review. The only people who can get it back is Air Force and they’re not going to do that,” she said.
The district said in an email response it is “very disheartened” by the verdict.
“It is never the intention of the District or its administrators to engage in defamation or retaliation against any employee for any reason,” the district said. “While the jury found in favor of Major Roundtree, the District believes and maintains that each of the administrators’ actions were taken with the students’ interests at heart and were not done in retaliation against Major Roundtree.”
The district is currently reviewing the record and considering its options with respect to any challenges to the verdict.

NYC DOE Community and High School Superintendents

All superintendents perform statutory duties for each school, including appointing principals in district schools, acting as rating officer for principals in the district, approving teacher tenure decisions, and approving school budgets. They also support communities by communicating with parent associations, liaising with Community Education Councils (CECs) and the Citywide Council of High Schools (CCHS), and supervising District and Borough Family Advocates.

To learn the name of the Superintendent of a specific school, please visit the NYCDOE School Search (in the center of our home page) and type in the name of the school.  You will then be directed to the link of the school’s website.  When you open the school’s website, the name and office phone number of the Superintendent will be listed in the right margin under “School Details”.

Community Superintendents Community Superintendents supervise the principals of elementary and middle schools in each school district. There are 32 Community Superintendents (one for each community school district), and they supervise District Family Advocates.