Teacher Townhall 12PM Sunday, September 26, 2010

Town hall

Hosted by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the Teacher Town Hall will bring together teachers from across the country, both in-person and online, to brainstorm ideas, talk about what works in the classroom, and highlight the challenges of today’s education system.

Brian Williams

The Teacher Town Hall will air LIVE on MSNBC and stream at EducationNation.com, Scholastic.com, iVillage.com and msnbc.com at 12pm EDT on Sunday, September 26th.

A live chat, hosted exclusively for teachers, will be available here at EducationNation.com. During the Teacher Town Hall, teachers who are present at the event and logged in from across the country will be asked to weigh in on the big issues regarding education in America.

REGISTER FOR THE LIVE ONLINE CHAT

Teachers - make your voices heard.

Teachers Fight Back

Teachers I know are angry. Now, it's time to not take it anymore. 

We’re Not Going to Take it Anymore! Teachers Fight Back
By Alan Haskvitz
LINK

Site: http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/teacher_law.html

About: Alan Haskvitz is a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has been selected one of the nation's most successful and innovative teachers many times. His record of student accomplishments has been featured in books, periodicals, and on national radio and television. He is a classroom teacher with experience at every grade level and every major subject.

Teachers and the Law

Teachers are pushing back.

All too often teachers have been the victims of their own tendency to be too nice. Dedicated to helping others, schooled for years on being role models for society, teachers are held up as the epitome of moderation and understanding. This has resulted in teaching being rated as a highly valued and most honorable profession in public polls. Sadly, this willingness to cooperate has also resulted in teachers taking abuse by politicians, a few parents, and administrators not willing or able to stand-up for their staffs.

But something may be happening. There is a small number of teachers who are using the court system to fight back. And bless them for their actions as it would have been so much easier for them to just get along and not rock the boat. Better yet, it may be telling the public that teachers have rights and aren’t afraid of using them when conditions warrant.

In the News

Most recently, the National Post of Canada reported that a teacher had successful sued parents for casting aspirations on her ability to teach after they sued saying that the teacher had humiliated and intimidated their son in front of the class. The parents told the press that she was unprofessional and she took action. Although the case may be appealed, the teacher won and the $230,000 case. The amount is irrelevant. The point is a another teacher isn’t being pushed around.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/parents+defamed+teacher+judge/3365287/story.html#ixzz0wF24urek

In Australia a teacher is suing for half a million dollars (AUS) because she says her larynx was damaged by having to yell at rowdy children. Sounds amusing, but wait till you see what the district did and didn’t do before you decide it is frivolous. The district gave her 31 special needs children, including a diabetic child who required insulin injections, two autistic children, a child with cardiac disorders and a number of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. And, she claims, the district didn’t provide the correct number of staff to monitor the large number of students in the class and she states that her training was inadequate. To repeat; 31 special needs students in one class apparently without much support. Anyone not believe her story?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1293818/Teacher-sues-500-000-larynx-damaged-shouting-rowdy-children.html

The Columbus Dispatch reports that a teacher is suing parents over abuse claims. The teacher was accused by a first-grader of being physically abusive to the boy. The teacher filed a defamation of character suit against the parents citing his beliefs that the parents are continuing to make false, public accusations against him. The District placed the teacher on paid administrative leave while investigating the claim that he grabbed the boy and yelled at him so strongly that he sprayed the boy’s face with saliva. An attorney said that the the investigation found no abuse. Imagine, parents spreading stories causes a law suit. I wonder how common teachers being slandered is?

Read more: http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/torts-intentional-torts-libel-slander/12096266-1.html

Teachers Protection from Slander http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0023.htm

A teacher at Riveroaks Elementary School filed suit against the East Baton Rouge, La., school and its administrators because, she claims, she was asked to teach fourth grade by the school’s principal in order to help raise grades and help students prepare for the state mandated test. What came next is interesting to say the least and probably something that other teachers may have faced. She was apparently told by the administrator that no student was to get a failing grade. The teacher complied, but filed a grievance with the district. She claims that after that she was harassed. The suit mentions loss of reputation, standing in the community, and more. What is equally interesting in the article was a statement by Perry A Zirkel, a professor in education and law at Lehigh University. He is quoted as saying that while courts generally agree that a teacher’s right to grade is protected by the First Amendment, they also find that administrators have the same right and can change grades as they like.“So the teacher wins the right to give a D and the school has the right to change it to an A,” he said. I have never read and heard of that before, but maybe readers would like to comment on that statement. Here is a case with just the opposite outcome:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TEACHER%27S+RIGHT+TO+GRADE+UPHELD-a083494494

Read more about the Riveroaks case http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/07/teacher-sues-fail/

A former Georgia kindergarten teacher acquitted of charges she molested three young girls,
filed a federal lawsuit against her accusers’ families and the sheriff’s department that arrested her because, she claims, that the incident cost her the custody of her daughter, loss of her home, and more. She is asking for $25 million in damages and demands that employees of two Georgia children’s advocacy centers and the sheriff’s department receive better training in how to handle accusations of molestation.

A jury found her not guilty of any charges filed against her after three girls told their parents she had molested them, and she says that the sheriff’s department filed charges against her without proper evidence of a crime. In other words, the Salem Witch Trials revisited.

Read more: http://wsbradio.com/localnews/2010/05/acquitted-teacher-sues-accuser.html

And here’s one from Teachers.Net

Anthony Caprio says he is seeking justice because of injuries he suffered when he came between two angry Hillhouse High School students. He was a substitute teacher and the fight was between two females students. Interesting, he is asking for damages over those of Workmen’s Compensation and making a case for all teachers who have been injured in such events. I wonder how much training is given teachers on how to break up a fight or if they should?
Read more: http://teachers.net/states/ri/topic227/7.19.07.20.32.22.html

A female, 24 years of age, claimed she was forced to resign because of what was posted on her Facebook profile. She was pictured holding an alcoholic beverages and posting a message about a “Bitch BINGO” event on her Facebook profile. The suit asked the court to order the Board of Education to hold a hearing, as well as back pay and court costs. The principal meet with her without prior notice and asked her about the Facebook entry. The teacher didn’t know her rights, apparently, and resigned. State law requires that a teacher be given written notice of alleged charges before a hearing with the school board and she did not get this, according to the plantiff. An interesting aside to this case was the fact that the photos were taken while she was on vacation in Europe and the Bitch Bingo was the name of a game played at an Atlanta restaurant. Are your Facebook pages any business of a school district? Where does your privacy end?

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/111009/new_514612877.shtml

All of these cases have one thing in common and that is the fact that teachers are taking action when they feel that they have been unjustly accused. They aren’t going to take it anymore. Why not share some of your stories in the comment section?

Teachers and the Law
It is no secret school systems and teachers have become the source of countless legal claims in recent years. In fact, the most dangerous time in a teacher's life is not in the classroom, but while on yard duty or supervision. So all educators should review these sites to refresh their knowledge about the law; they should also check with their union.

What is the Loco Parentis Doctrine?

This doctrine is the cornerstone of educators' legal rights, and it means "in the place of parents." In other words, an educator has the right to act as a parent (in the absence of the parent) while the student is in school. In reality, the doctrine is limited for school authorities since parents are not required to provide procedural due process before initiating discipline. However, rules should not be contrary to the basic wishes of parents. Although courts fully realize the responsibility of the school system to establish proper educational settings, one must remember school board members are elected to represent their constituents (parents) of a given political jurisdiction.

The following resources cover a number of the legal issues for educators. In addition, some offer guidance in understanding why teachers might not be eligible for full Social Security benefits, making it vital for teachers to have a good retirement plan. Also, remember that Horace Mann offers coverage for assault cases.

Copyright law and the Internet

General Education Law

Social Security, IRS and teachers

Teacher liability and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

Teaching religion and tolerance in the classroom

Union support

ALERT! Klein Tells Principals To Give Teachers Letters In Their Files, Then A U-Rating

The post below came from the School Administrator's Chatboard:

Post: Chancellor Klein and Letters in File

Posted by: Veteran Principal on 9/18/10
LINK

Chancellor Klein is pressuring us to give teachers letters in the file. Then we are to give any teacher with a letter in the file a "U" rating for the year. This is preposterous. I was going to give one teacher a LIF for a
minor violation of a chancellor's regulation. I changed it to a counselling memo. I urge you to do the same, or just not give out LIFs.

Re: Chancellor Klein and Letters in File


On 9/19/10, Sheri wrote:

> Seriously now, are you an administrator? Don't you have any

> qualms about posting something like this anonymously online?

> If a staff member commits an infraction that rises to the

> level of a LIF, don't you think their work performance is

> unsatisfactory?

Posted by: Veteran Principal on 9/19/10

Not every infraction makes work performance unsatisfactory. Some principals who I know have given LIF for such things as sending a child to the bathroom during the last period, or having a parent come into the room. These do not warrant an unsatisfactory rating.
As administrators, our role is to foster education. Part of that is supporting our staff, not attacking them. If you think that playing a game of "Gotcha" makes a good administrator, then you should resign, as you do not know what makes a good principal or educator.

Staff at International Arts Business School in Brooklyn Revolt Against Principal Sheila Hanley

From Betsy Combier:
I was sent the letter below by members of the staff at IABS for posting:

To whom It May Concern:

This letter addresses the improper and harmful actions of Sheila Hanley, Principal of International Arts Business School at 600 Kingston Avenue in Brooklyn, NYC.

Since the start of the new school term, Principal Sheila Hanley has reassigned special needs students from their self-contained environment into Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) classes, even though she is acutely aware that the affected students' IEPs specifically indicate otherwise. These students will remain victims of Mrs. Shiela Hanley's insidious plan if left unmitigated. Even more alarming is that Principal Hanley did not think it was necessary to first consult with, or receive consent from, the parents of the students in question, before placing these once self-contained students into an environment that could now potentially hinder their chances of any academic success.

Mrs. Hanley's capricious plan becomes even more disturbing as it unfolds. In order for her plan to succeed, Mrs. Hanley must circumvent parental opposition. Thus, she constructed a letter wherein the gist of the correspondence informs the parents of the supposed benefits involved in removing their special needs children from a smaller setting, where they would receive individualized attention, into a much larger classroom without adequate academic care. And in so doing, she will carefully disguise the truth of its self-serving purposes from the unsuspecting parents. For example, these above mentioned children with speical needs turned regular education students must now be content with the rigors involved with passing regents exams, although their IEPs deem them incapable of ascending to such demands. The goal is to manipulate their parents into signing the letter thereby indicating their approval to Mrs. Hanley's disguised plan. The fooled parents would never be the wiser to the Principal's backdated later to which they are expected to sign for approval. It is obvious to staff of the school that Mrs. Hanley hopes that they will never discover that their signature would also indicate that they have had prior knowledge of the Principal's reassignment plan under consideration here, and that they had approved of it days before it was implemented.

Although Mrs. Hanley's aforementioned decision is clearly out of compliance with DOE, State and Federal laws, her administrative staff worked in partnership with her to fulfill her devised scheme. The raison de etre behind Principal Hanley's scheme has much to do with the allocation of state funds as opposed to the academic well being of her students. Or, to state it another way, Mrs. Hanley would receive an increase in state funds for CTT classes as opposed to Self Contained courses tailored specifically to the needs of students with IEPs which demand services of this kind. With a "tenuous budget," an increase in state funding would lessen the chance of a possible cut of the arts and business programs at IABS. Indeed, this is significant. Mrs. Hanley currently has to be content with a lack of significant improvement in the school's graduation rate, a recent plummet downward in regents scores, and an increasingly negative school culture that may have very well contributed to the abrupt resignation of the school's PA president who ensured his son was transferred out of our troubled school to a more academically promising Charter School.

What is certain, however, is that Mrs. Hanley's behavior, and those of the members of her administrative staff, speaks volumes about her concern, or the lack thereof, for the students under her care, particularly students who are most vulnerable to falling through the cracks of the New York City school system. Principal Hanley's "unorthodoxy" reveals her willingness to sacrifice the academic success of special needs students in order to save her arts and business program, where she in turn would ultimately be the sole beneficiary. Indeed, it calls into question as to whether she believes in her very own mission statement emblazoned on the school's website. Principal Shiela Hanley's trangression of the Chancellors Regulation to manipulate funds in order to create, at best, a facade of a school in good standing is really reflective of her inability to provide the kind of leadership and to foster the kind of creativity to bring about success in a school whom the Chancellor already determined D-rated.

NYSUT and The Gotcha Squad, Together At Last By Betsy Combier

A very funny thing happened today at the New York City "Gotcha Squad" (3020-a arbitration, 51 Chambers Street, 6th Floor).

I was verbally attacked by Naeemah Lamont, the BOE Attorney currently swinging her machete at me as Director of the "Teacher Performance Unit" or "TPU", at the suggestion of newly hired NYSUT Attorney Dan Bright. Thanks, people! I have 20 witnesses who saw what happened, including the Hon. Arbitrator Arthur Riegel.

Let me start with a little bit of background. In 2003 I was invited to be on a television show with a former teacher whose name may be known by some out there: David Pakter. While waiting to go on air, David told me about the "rubber room" he was in, and asked me to attend his open and public 3020-a hearing. His case started with his videotaping (with the consent of the teacher) a group of white elementary students from PS 59 in a music classroom at the High School of Art and Design, after the Principal of the high school, Marianne Appell (now at Kingsborough Community College) rented the room out because she told Pakter words to the effect of "black kids dont need music." So, she took music out of the high school curriculum and rented the music room to PS 59, and David thought this wasnt right.

Immediately after he did a video of the music class, Appell demanded the video, and David said no. He was sent to the Rubber Room in Manhattan, 333 7th avenue, 7th floor.
See my articles on my website for more information about David, and another will be posted soon:
Retaliation Against All Whistleblowers is the Name of the Illegal Game in New York City
The Rubber Rooms and the Misinformation of Steven Brill by Betsy Combier
David Pakter, a NYC Teacher and Whistleblower of the NYC Board of Education's Corrupt Practices, Sues in Federal Court

Thus I started attending 3020-a hearings for any teacher who asked me to attend. I was fascinated. What kind of proceeding was the "3020-a? My dad was Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York for 20-22 years (he worked with Louis Lefkowitz), so I had a good idea what juries and courtroom hearings were like, but a 3020-a is not a trial. It's called "Arbitration", but it isnt that either. It's a creation of the great minds of Mike Bloomberg, Joel Klein, David Brodsky (Director of Labor Relations), Theresa Europe (Director of the Administrative Trials Unit), Claude Hersh and James Sandner (NYSUT), and the New York State Education Department. Oh yes, and the New York State legislature, who voted for Mayoral control in New York City. What a mistake.

The goal of a 3020-a is to punish you for allegations of wrong-doing that your Principal says are true. But Bloomberg and his gang made a crucial error - actually they made many errors - but one is that they forgot to repeal Education Law Article 61 3020-a which is IN THE PACKET OF ALL TEACHERS SENT 3020-A CHARGES UNDER APPENDIX A: before any specification can be given to a tenured teacher the spec has to be voted on  by the school board. AFTER the charges are voted on, then the teacher can receive them. The Arbitrator on the 3020-a panel is not given the authority to decide Just Cause.

More, much more, about all of this later on, another day.

What is important here is that since 2003 I have attended these 3020-a "arbitration-like" hearings because teachers asked me to be there, and this is their right to request. I have spent seven years observing, as a volunteer and a reporter, who does what to whom, writing notes on what is wrong and who lies, as well as doing whatever is necessary to help provide a winning defense, never speaking on the record. Most NYSUT attorneys pushed me away, and yet every once in a while a NYSUT attorney listens to his or her client, and the case moves forward  in the right direction. While I was working for the UFT I was told that I was forbidden from attending the 3020-a, but I worked only part-time (thanks Randi!) and I ignored these baseless suggestions. No one paid me to do this story called the "NYC Rubber Rooms and 3020-a".


Three teachers I know were scheduled to appear at 51 Chambers Street on the morning of September 15 for their 3020-a hearing, mediation/settlement/extortion/ or other. I was asked to attend a 3020-a for a teacher, but when I got to the 6th floor, I saw another teacher sitting in the corner of the waiting room looking like she was extremely upset. I knew this person, and went over to her to talk with her. She told me that her new NYSUT Attorney Josh wanted her to retire immediately and to agree never to work for the NYC DOE again, in any capacity. She felt that he was threatening her into signing this agreement. I suggested that she tell her attorney she was uncomfortable with these terms. At a morning break of the other teacher's hearing, I went to the hallway, and the upset teacher was there. She begged me to speak with her Attorney with her, as she felt that he was not listening to her at all. I said, "sure!" So, I, upset teacher and NYSUT attorney Dan Bright talked outside the waiting room area at the back elevators (49 Chambers Street). I repeated over and over that I was not an Attorney, only an advocate, and that the teacher asked me to talk with him (Dan). The teacher was there too. Then I went back to the hearing of another teacher.

At lunchtime, A group of us were going out, when I heard "Betsy!!" I turned around, and Naeemah Lamont came over to me, stood 5 inches from me and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Just WHO do you think you are? Why are you HERE? You cannot attend a hearing that is not open, (pointing to the upset teacher, standing closeby with 20 other people - remember, I was not attending her hearing), and you are giving legal advice without being an Attorney. You are not an Attorney!!!!!"

I said, "What legal advice??? You have been misinformed".

Lamont added, "Oh, so you are an Attorney."

I said, "No, I'm not, I dont give any legal advice, and if you are going to attack me, I want this on the record."

Lamont: "This is not going to be on any record."

And walked away.

Later in the afternoon I saw the upset teacher again, and told her that everything would be ok, because she was in quite a state of anxiety. She felt that I was being attacked for no reason, and it was her fault. I told her that it wasnt anything to do with her. I turned around and saw that Naeemah and BOE Attorney and attack dog Dennis Da Costa were standing behind me. Naeemah started screaming all over again, about how I could not speak with this person, I was simply WRONG about everything, and I gave WRONG legal advice. Dennis laughed.

I started walking away, saying that I would find a court reporter to put all of this on the record, and promised her and Dennis that I would write about both of them for my blog. Naeemah said, "Go ahead". As I walked away, Nameeah's final scream was heard throughout the 6th floor: "I have a computer too, you know!!!!!!!!!!"

At the same time, NYST Attorney Josh was in a hearing arguing the merits of 2590-j(7)(B).

The point of my telling this tiny tidbit is to show how NYSUT Attorney Dan Bright went directly from meeting with me and his client to the NYC BOE "Gotcha Squad" and lied to Theresa Europe and/or Naeemah about what I had said to him with his client.

Be very careful of saying anything or working with NYSUT. They do not seem to be on your side.

Betsy Combier
Below is the definition of the TPU, Lamont's group:

The Teacher Performance Unit (“TPU”) is a new unit comprised of experienced attorneys who will litigate incompetence cases against ineffective tenured pedagogues. TPU’s goal is to help improve teacher quality in schools by bringing and litigating these cases in a thorough, expeditious and effective manner.

In partnership with the consultants of the Labor Support Unit (“LSU”), TPU will offer high quality and responsive support to principals, and other school officials in connection with cases involving previously identified tenured teachers in need of support and remediation. This support will include, among other things, providing these ineffective tenured teachers with quality professional development.

Additionally, TPU in consultation with the principal will make a determination, on a case by case basis whether to commence the 3020-a process. Thereafter, TPU and LSU will continue to provide counsel to the principal and other school officials in connection with the preparation and litigation of 3020-a disciplinary charges.

Oh - let me add that for some reason, NYSUT and the UFT believe that I will slink away into the night, never to be heard from again? Nope, nyet, nada, wont happen, at least as long as there are UFT reps and NYSUT Attorneys who do not return telephone calls, and have disdain for the professionalism of re-assigned teachers and those made into "ATRs" which is, by the way, NOT A RECOGNIZED TITLE.

Thanks to Fidgity for the following, a blog post on the blog that follows my introduction on my website Parentadvocates.org:

Who Is Betsy Combier?

I just called Brooklyn UFT rep. Alan Weinstein at his office and left a message that I would like to speak with him about a Principal from hell, and he left me a message in which he said "sorry, but in what capacity are you calling me?" I guess he doesnt remember that before, during, and now after I worked for the UFT I was and still am an ADVOCATE for justice, due process, and the right to speak out against wrong-doing of any kind. Rather than explain more right now, I'm re-posting an article from the blog "Fidgity" who is a teacher placed in a Rubber Room for no reason at all. Enjoy.

If You Knew Betsy...
LINK

They say that there is an exception to every rule- and when it comes to the Useless UFT, that exception comes in the form of a beautiful, green eyed blonde, an unconventional, bright and passionate woman named Betsy Combier.

The first time that I met Ms.Combier was almost three years ago. She walked into our Rubber Room wearing an embroidered suede jacket and up to the knee high heeled boots. Unlike most of the women who work for the UFT, Betsy exuded a refreshing warmth and feminine quality. In a sweet and soft voice, Betsy introduced herself as someone who would be coming once a week to assist reassigned teachers with any problems or questions they may have. She greeted some of the teachers that she already knew and then proceeded to personally introduce herself to each and every new face. As she approached where I was sitting, one of the teachers quickly whispered,"Don't trust her." "Why?", I asked. That teacher put her head down as Ms. Combier greeted me. Although her warmth and openness was indeed refreshing, I cautiously welcomed her into my space. She handed me her card and told me to call her anytime I needed to talk. Soon after meeting her, I learned that Betsy had several blogs and was involved in advocating for the rights of students, parents and teachers. Having been a PTA president and raising four daughters in the Public school system, Betsy knew the system from many angles. She attended PEP meetings where she spoke out for the rights of the RR teachers, questioned the inflated power of the principals, the agenda, our Mayor and the unqualified Chancellor-without-a-contract.

The following week, Ms. Combier entered our RR wearing a flouncy skirt and carrying a fringed handbag. I could hear her in the hallway making small talk with the horrible Mr. Warden before entering the RR as scheduled. Two of the teachers immediately grabbed her ear, taking her to the private "staircase" in the hallway to talk.

Besides providing answers, listening to the teachers and following up on all inquiries, the difference between Betsy Combier and the rest of the UFT Reps was that Betsy came with no agenda. Having been hired only part time by Randi Weingarten to support the reassigned teachers in the RR, Betsy gave her support in the only way that she knew how...FULL time. Here is a woman who does not drive or ride the subway, but somehow managed to spend everyday, yes, EVERYDAY of the week visiting a different RR facility throughout the city or talking with distraught members of the TRCs. On a salary that barely covered her expenses, Ms. Combier never missed an opportunity to talk to, advise, assist and console hundreds of reassigned teachers over a seven year period. Unlike the other unapproachable, angry and aloof Useless UFT Reps (they know who they are) who shamelessly looked at their watches, worried about the running meter, came empty handed and stayed only long enough to say that they 'showed up', Betsy genuinely wanted to be there. Betsy sat amongst the teachers, never looking at the time, never making excuses. If for some unavoidable reason, she'd be late, Betsy would call one of us on our personal cell phones to let us know. If that wasn't enough, Reassigned teachers called Betsy early in the morning and all hours of the night when sleeping seemed like an impossible feat. Betsy knew the teachers. She knew their pain and hurt. She felt their frustration. She guided and empowered them to help themselves. Singlehandedly, Ms. Combier made up for the shortcomings and absence of all of the UFT reps that I have ever met. Those who allowed themselves to know her, loved her and still do. Those who doubted her sincerity were obviously afraid of her unconventional warmth and wisdom; do you blame them after the way they the UFT treats them?? However, those who didn't know her, missed out on her natural gift for being a true PEOPLE advocate and great friend.

One would think that by the way I have described Mrs. Combier, the UFT would recognize and value her for the rare GEM that she is.

Why then is Ms. Combier no longer employed by the UFT? Shockingly, the only thank you that Ms. Combier received for seven years of dedicated service to the UFT was a Pink slip on July 7, 2010. She was told by UFT Co-Staff Director Ellie Engler that the UFT no longer needed her service since the Rubber Rooms were to be closed. Ellie Engler is the very same person who did everything in her power to make Betsy's life at the UFT as difficult and uncomfortable as possible.

In 2009, Ms. Engler told Betsy to pack up her office at 52 Broadway because it was needed by the UFT for someone else. She promised to provide her with boxes and an alternative office location by the next day. At 6PM on the following day, there were still no boxes and nowhere to move them to. She was told to contact David Hickey, but received no response to her messages. After filling up several black trash bags with her papers and files, Betsy removed most of her things with the help of a teacher friend. After several months of working without an office, the Queens TRC liason asked Leroy Barr for an explanation. Several UFT members wanted to meet with Betsy, but without an office, this was impossible. After walking around the 16th floor, Mr. Barr located the telephone that had Betsy's number hooked up to a remote desk somewhere on the other side of the building. This, he told her, would be her new "office". Betsy's only request was that her files from her old office be safely moved to her new location. However, most of the files from her old office were never found.

The harassment continued after the Christmas break when Betsy returned to find that her cubicle had been moved by Ellie Engler and that her computer and telephone had disappeared. After scavenging for her things, Betsy's telephone was eventually found on the 11th floor.

After Betsy made several requests to Ms. Engler for her newly printed UFT business cards, Ms. Engler asked that Betsy take down the posts on her blog, NYC Rubber Room Reporter that contained Theresa Europe's name. (Theresa Europe is in charge of the DOE attorneys in The "Gotcha Squad") Betsy refused Ms. Engler's request and in turn, never received her cards. In addition, Adam Ross, the Attorney for Mike Mulgrew, told Betsy that she is to refrain from filing any FOIL (Freedom of Information requests) of anyone who is employed by the NYCDOE. Because Ms. Combier refused to heed these requests, she was fired. (Yet in her agreement it says she is hired to help any member in the TRC or elsewhere who needs help, and continue to write and advocate for people she assisted before she worked for the UFT) Ms. Combier may have been fired by the UFT, but she has not stopped working on behalf of the UFT's teachers who are still very much in need of her valuable knowledge and assistance.

Now, Betsy is pursuing her advocacy outside of the UFT from her office at home. Her email is betsy.combier@gmail.com. I know she will be there for you, me, and anyone who needs help. Shame on the UFT for firing one of our most dedicated and productive representatives.

Are you reading this, Mr. Mulgrew, Ms. Engler and Mr. Hickey?

Mike Mulgrew and Ellie Engler

7 responses:


Chaz said...
I could not of said it better myself. Betsy Combier is one of the heroes.

September 16, 2010 5:58 PM

Fidgety said...
Thank you Chaz. Betsy is definitely an "Unsung Hero" in the eyes and hearts of many teachers....The Union Leader's failure to recognize this is a great loss to all of its' members.

September 16, 2010 6:33 PM

Polo Colon said...
Betsy has withstood the most undeserved asinine insults from both UFT and DOE detractors who hate her for exposing their collusion.
I have been a victim of both the UFT and DOE's legal scams! Only NYS Education Law (even with its flaws), the Constitution and Betsy Combier helped to defend me against the devious onslaught of their not-so-secret partnership!
Shame on all those clowns and monkeys who tried to destroy Betsy for being the best!

September 16, 2010 10:14 PM

DAVID PAKTER said...

Re the following Quote:
"Betsy is definitely an "Unsung Hero" in the eyes and hearts of many teachers....The Union Leader's failure to recognize this is a great loss to all of its' members".

Please-Let us just tell it like it is, as the legendary Gil Nobel of ABC News would always say.
The so-called Union Leader and his legions of lackeys do not "fail to recognize" anything.
It is precisely because they do recognize that Betsy Combier is a natural born Hero and take charge Leader that the UFT felt they had to push her out of the UFT and ASAP.
And on the contrary, she is not at all an "Unsung Hero" in the eyes and hearts of NYC Educators.
Ms. Combier's sterling reputation for integrity, razor sharp intelligence and plain old fashioned guts, made it mandatory in the sick minds of the UFT power brokers that they must "disappear" Betsy Combier just as fast as they could from 52 Broadway.
Corruption and party politics do not thrive well when someone is around shining the cold light of truth and honesty on the scene.
Strange that I have never noticed anyone observe that the NYC DOE's charlatan of a Chancellor's business card carries the same number for the building address as the UFT- the number " 52 ".
How strange is that?
Or maybe given what we have seen happen to New York City's dedicated Teachers during the past ten years, (and growing worse)- the coincidence of both the DOE and the UFT being located at Headquarters with the number 52 is more than mere coincidence.
I never had much patience with the practice of trying to make nice with people who are ethics and morals challenged.
The forces at the UFT who decided to fire Ms. Combier have a lot in common with the agenda driven creeps at the forefront of the school Charterization movement as well as the DOE.
That agenda is to look out for "Number One" and keep the good life and the perks rolling on as far as the eye can see.
The "cannibals" running the Charter movement could not care less about the children of NYC.
And the opportunists who have managed to hijack control of a once great and proud Labor Union called the United Federation of Teachers could not care less, deep down, for the present Hell that UFT members must work and teach in on a daily basis.
Even those Teachers who have not been ATR'd into oblivion and are fortunate to have their own classroom must suffer the humiliation of going to a job each day where one always runs the risk of instant and Hellish payback and punishment if they dare to speak up and speak out to protect themselves and their own and their students' rights.
Betsy Combier was and will always remain a human being who is not afraid to carry a target on her back.
Betsy Combier possesses real backbone, true grit and true moral courage- things they do not teach the newbies in Joel Klein, Esq.'s hypocritical so-called "Leadership" Academy.
There the "learning" is about how to intimidate, threaten and Railroad innocent teachers out of the system and out of their careers and their livelihood. That is "Introductory Education Course 101".
Are dues paying NYC UFT Member Teachers getting proper employment protection, these days vis a vis the NYC DOE and ethics challenged Joel Klein ?
Please- don't make me laugh.
Betsy Combier put her personal economic security on the line to do the right thing and stand up and protect the Rights of any and every Teacher who came to her for help.
But that put her squarely at odds with the agendas of two powerful forces whose headquarters are not located that far apart.
"52" this, "52 that". You say potato- I'll say tomato.
What's the difference between them. Let's wake up and smell the coffee and call the whole thing off.
A pox on both their houses.
And a woman who was the best friend NYC Teachers ever had was very ill treated by people who never learned that there is such a thing as the word "Decency".

September 17, 2010 3:51 AM

Anonymous said...

I am an NYC teacher who has never met Betsy Combier and know of her amazing work only through teacher blogs. Her heroism comes through every time. If there is ANY way we, the union members, can help her now, please let us know. If she needs economic assistance (due to bogus firing), I will personally contribute and fund-raise for her! We heart Betsy!

September 18, 2010 1:11 PM

The Test Mess and CTB McGraw Hill

Why NY's test mess is far from over
By FRED SMITH, NY POST, September 8, 2010
LINK

New York's "test mess" is worse than even the avowedly reformist state education leaders have acknowl edged -- and it may not be over yet, either.

A close look at the data (some of which became available only via the Freedom of Information Law) strongly suggests that the exams created each year by CTB/McGraw-Hill -- which purportedly measure the math and English proficiency of 1.2 million New York students -- are fundamentally flawed. That means that even Regents Chancellor Meryll Tisch and state Education Commissioner David Steiner's "recalibrating" of the scoring can't fix the problem.

The state Education Department paid the company $38 million for the tests used in 2006-'09.

Like most such tests, CTB's exams contain both multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The latter ask students to produce a response, for example showing how they solved a math problem or writing answers to express their understanding of reading passages.

Constructed-response items take more time and money to administer and score -- but educators generally believe these questions measure a higher order of knowledge and thought than multiple-choice items, which kids typically find less challenging.

Yet results from both types of questions should point in the same direction -- that is, if this year's 4th graders do markedly better on the math multiple-choice questions than they did the year before, then they ought to improve on the math constructed-response items, too.

In other words, on well-developed tests, the results on both types of questions are in harmony -- pointing in the same direction and nearly parallel from one year to the next. After all, each is supposed to tap a different level of knowledge of the same subject. Performance should move in a synchronized way.

That's exactly the pattern shown on the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- nationally and in New York. The "nation's report card" uses both types of items to measure reading and math proficiency -- and the performance of New York kids on both is strikingly consistent over time.

Not so, the results on the state exams.

Consider just the math tests, administered every year to students in each of six grades. We have data on the four years from 2006 to 2009, so we can look at whether scores went up or down for the six grade levels in each of three school years -- 18 comparisons in total.

In 10 of the 18 cases, raw scores (i.e., the percentage of questions answered correctly) rose on one of the types of question, but fell for the other. In four cases, there was a smaller divergence. In only four cases did the scores clearly move in the same direction.

Any testing professional should recognize this as an alarm bell: Something is seriously wrong with these exams. (And it is the tests, not the students or anything else: Again, the NAEP exams, covering the same areas, do not show these bizarre divergences over time.)

There are several more disturbing facts about the 2006-'09 exams:

* Larger gains were usually made on multiple-choice items than constructed response. This boosted the overall score -- leading to press releases and headlines that suggested everything was improving.

* Worse, data that contradict that storyline went undisclosed: The public didn't see separate analyses of constructed-response scores.

* Statistics (obtained via the Freedom of Information Law) on the field tests (where questions get "tried out" prior to creating the actual exams) show inconsistencies between multiple-choice and constructed response items. CTB should have seen this data and realized it had a big problem.

Internal consistency is a mark of test reliability -- and without reliability, tests can't measure anything in a valid way. And New York's exams have clearly been lacking in consistency.

It's likely the just-released 2010 test results bear the same fatal flaw. The "solutions" on offer from Tisch and Steiner -- raising "cut scores" and increasing the scope of material on the exams -- don't address the overriding issue.

What's needed is an independent probe of the testing program, one with sweeping authority to investigate the role of Education Department officials, CTB measurement specialists and the state's technical advisers in all aspects of the program.

I believe we've been sold defective goods. For starters, we should demand our money back.

Fred Smith, a retired Board of Education senior analyst, worked for the city public-school system in test research and development.

Committee On Open Government

From Betsy Combier: My Advocacy Will Not Stop

Hello all teachers who were in the TRCs (Temporary Re-Assignment Centers) in June, 2010, and all people who know that I have tried to help you with problems in New York City public schools!

If you are wondering whether or not I have stopped my advocacy for all of you (as well as any NYC employee who needs help) now that I no longer work for the UFT, the answer is: absolutely not.

I have purchased the domain name "Advocatz" and look forward to helping you with any of your issues, including those of how the UFT never returns your telephone calls and/or says "there is nothing I can do". There is ALWAYS something that can be done, and I will be glad to look at all options with anyone, to resolve any problem. The best way to start is by emailing me at betsy.combier@gmail.com.

By the way, dont believe for a second that I have any confidentiality agreement in place. On these pages look forward to hearing about the UFT, NYSUT, and the Board/Department of Education, and who does what to whom. I was lucky enough to be a reporter of the "rubberization" process for the past seven (7) years, and the last three years as a staff member of the UFT, which allowed me to enter and make contact with all the people inside the NYC "Rubber Rooms". No one has the information that I have on the massive violations of rights that made the rubber rooms what they were, how this process started, and how it has been altered - NOT ended!And I continue to never mention any member's name unless he/she wants me to (this is NOT the case for UFT, NYSUT or NYC BOE staff and or management).

In fact, my concerns about the new settlement agreement (April 15, 2010) convinced the UFT (Mike Mulgrew and Ellie Engler) that I had to be let go. But I will not be silent. Far from it. On these pages and on my website Parentadvocates.org you will see what has happened now with your due process rights as you try to defend your tenured (or non-tenured) positions.

More about this later.

Keep me in touch with your situation, so I can help you and continue to put a stop to harassment and abuse of anyone by anyone, ever.

Luv,

Betsy Combier

The New York City Charter Revision Commission Issues A Final Report

The New York City Charter Revision Commission has released its Final Report, which contains two ballot questions approved by the Commission for consideration by voters on Election Day.

Final Report

Download the ballot questions (in PDF)

City Question 1. Term Limits: The proposal would amend the City Charter to:

* Reduce from three to two the maximum number of consecutive full terms that can be served by elected city officials; and

* Make this change in term limits applicable only to those city officials who were first elected at or after the 2010 general election; and

* Prohibit the City Council from altering the term limits of elected city officials then serving in office.

Shall this proposal be adopted?

City Question 2. Elections and Government Administration: The proposal would amend the City Charter to:

* Disclosure of Independent Campaign Spending: Require public disclosure of expenditures made by entities and individuals independent from candidates to influence the outcome of a city election or referendum;

* Ballot Access: Generally reduce the number of petition signatures needed by candidates for city elective office to appear on a ballot;

* Voter Assistance and Campaign Finance Board: Merge voter assistance functions, including a reconstituted Voter Assistance Advisory Committee, into the Campaign Finance Board, and change when Campaign Finance Board member terms begin;

* Conflicts of Interest Law: Require all public servants to receive conflicts of interest training, raise the maximum fine for a public servant who violates the City’s conflicts of interest law, and allow the City to recover any benefits obtained from such violations;

* City Administrative Tribunals: Authorize the Mayor to direct the merger of administrative tribunals and adjudications into the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and permit the Department of Consumer Affairs to adjudicate all violations issued by that department;

* City Reporting Requirements and Advisory Bodies: Create a commission to review requirements for reports and advisory bodies and waive the requirements, subject to City Council review, where the commission finds they are not of continuing value; and

* Map for Facility Siting: Include in the City’s facilities siting map those transportation and waste management facilities operated by or for governmental entities, or by private entities that provide comparable services.

Shall this proposal be adopted?

Dont forget to check CityPragmatist.com for a detailed discussion of the Charter Revision process and people on the Commission:
City Pragmatist

August 11, 2010
Term Limits to Go on Ballot Again in the City
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
LINK

Come November, New York City voters will be asked to decide one of the most contentious issues in recent political history: whether city leaders should be limited to two terms in office, or to three. A commission responsible for proposing changes to the city’s charter voted Wednesday evening to place the issue on the Nov. 2 ballot.

But the group declined to place another hotly debated issue on the ballot: the idea of instituting nonpartisan elections, a system in which primary races are open to candidates of all parties.

The commission voted unanimously to ask voters if the mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough presidents and members of the City Council should be limited to two consecutive four-year terms. If the public rejects the measure, the current law allowing three terms will stand.

Much of the debate focused on when a two-term limit, if approved, should go into effect. After a heated back-and-forth, the commission decided to propose making the change applicable to those elected in 2013 and giving sitting members a chance at a third term.

Two years after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg led a successful effort to rewrite term limits laws and run for a third term, the issue still incites passion across the spectrum. Several members of the commission said the measure was necessary to restore public confidence after the mayor’s heavy-handed effort.

“This resolution embodies the rationale and spirit of what the public has stated,” said Kenneth M. Moltner, a lawyer on the commission, which was appointed by Mr. Bloomberg.

But other members said voters should have the opportunity to decide if term limits should be eliminated altogether.

“Term limits are antithetical to our way of life as a republic,” said Stephen J. Fiala, a former City Council member from Staten Island. “New members will never have developed sufficient time or experience.”

Voters will also be asked in November to decide if council members should be barred from changing term limit laws if they apply to incumbents. In 2008, the members approved changes in limits that applied to themselves.

The issue of term limits is well known to New Yorkers. In 1993, voters approved a measure that imposed a limit of two four-year terms. In 1996, they rejected a measure seeking to permit a third term for elected officials.

The commission also agreed to put a range of other issues on the November ballot, including a proposal to reduce by about 50 percent the number of signatures required to get on a ballot. Voters will also decide on a proposal to require disclosure of independent campaign spending of over $1,000.

Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, criticized the commission for not placing issues like independent budgeting for the borough president offices on the ballot.

“The members of the Charter Revision Commission are missing a historic opportunity to restore confidence and interest in government among generations of New Yorkers,” he said in a statement.

Another notable omission from the ballot is the question of nonpartisan elections, a cause once championed by Mr. Bloomberg.

The mayor, a registered independent, spent $7 million of his own money in hopes of persuading voters to support a referendum on nonpartisan elections in 2003. This year he chose to remain silent, after hearing concerns about support for the issue.

Articles from the New York Times about the Charter Revision Commission

New York City Charter 2009
Preliminary Report Press Release
Appendices href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/charter/downloads/pdf/preliminary_report_final.pdf">Preliminary Revisions
New York City Administrative Code

New York state Legislature

Jim Callaghan On Political Promises and "What's A Contract Among Friends?"

Jim is an excellent reporter and writer. I for one think that he is too good for the NY Teacher, a rag that focuses narrowly on UFT events that promote UFT management and members who are "in the right" at their schools - i.e., they have not questioned anything and are in no danger of being re-assigned and possibly charged under 3020-a. (picture above re-posted from The Chief article August 27, 2010, "UFT Fired Me for Organizing Staff, Reporter Says"

Betsy Combier
Former UFT staff member

Ailing City’s Golden Rule: Some Never Feel Pinch
One-Sided Sacrifices in Crises
By JIM CALLAGHAN, The Chief, August 20, 2010
LINK

The recent publication of “The Man Who Saved New York,” reviewed here recently by Richard Steier, dealt with former Gov. Hugh Carey’s role in saving the city from fiscal collapse by, in part, imposing higher transit fares, ending free tuition at the City University of New York, cutting services, and laying off 30,000 city workers.

This figure included firefighters and cops, which gave the criminals the signal that the sheriff had left town and all was fair game, which was underscored when half of Bushwick was looted and burned during the 1977 blackout and The Bronx was meeting a similar fate as landlords paid drug addicts and professional arsonists to torch their properties with impunity, leading to 13,000 fires in the borough in 1975.

City Was Technically Bankrupt

What has come to be known as the city’s “fiscal crisis” was, in fact, masking a much deeper problem—excess borrowing by the city and a lack of accounting by the banks that were happy to be cashing their bond coupons every month. Technically, the city was bankrupt in the mid-’70s, and only skillful legerdemain and labeling the fact that the city had no money to pay its bonds as something else—anything except that scary word—made it sound more palatable.

HUGH CAREY: Saved city, but at what cost? In 1975, there were political debates among a few city officials and union leaders—very few—about whether Mayor Abe Beame should have stood on the steps of City Hall, filed an actual bankruptcy plan and waited to see if a Federal judge would order him to take care of bankers first or pay the city’s workers to keep it running while it figured out how to deal with its loans.

The leaders of the banks—many of the same ones that later had no shame about accepting hundreds of billions in TARP money either because they were goniffs or didn’t learn how to count at Wharton, were scolding the city’s unions for being too demanding, while liberal congressional leaders like Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire were calling the city’s spending “profligate.”

GEORGE STEINBRENNER: The boss of city handouts. Ready to Make Bankers Wait

While most New York pundits remember the famous Daily News headline: “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” there was a far more important headline that was never written, which would have read: “Ford to Bankers: Wait in Line.”

Lost in a tsunami of Wall Street press releases at the time was a proposal by President Ford that a new section be added to the bankruptcy statute that would allow the City of New York to file for re-organization plans. But the bombshell that never got press traction was Ford’s plan for the city to issue new debt that would leave old creditors (think General Motors) holding a tin cup and a tambourine for their money while essential city services were maintained. The Daily News reported it thusly: “The Federal court then would be authorized to accept jurisdiction over the case, Ford said, resulting in an automatic stay of suits by creditors so that the essential functions of New York City would not be disrupted.”

ABE BEAME: Took the bullet for the bankers. President Ford’s proposal in 1975 came two years before a damning Securities and Exchange Commission report that ended Abe Beame’s career but not those of the important folks who operated in a stealth manner to dump city paper from the large investors to smaller ones, knowing the paper was risky. (Sub-prime mortgages and TARP, anyone?).

ED KOCH: Benefited from Beame’s woes.
The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang In a fair playing field, the bankers should have gone to the slammer for what they pulled off, but the anger—after the July blackout, the widespread and uncontrolled looting and Son of Sam —was directed at Beame, who finished third behind Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo in a crowded Democratic primary.

Ratings Agencies Punted

The same SEC report that damned the judgment of Beame also had this to say, according to the Daily News: “Standard and Poors and Moody’s “failed . . . to make diligent inquiry into data which called for further investigation or to adjust their ratings of city securities” when it was clear the city was in trouble. It gets worse: Faced with a marketing problem caused by the saturation of the market through previous billions of dollars of city bond issues and growing doubts of the financial opportunity as to the city’s financial status, the city and underwriters reached out to the smaller investors, which had the effect at least in part of shifting the risk [emphasis added] for financing the city from the city’s major banks and large institutional investors to individual investors.

A SPOKESMAN FOR HIS CLASS: Instead of inveighing against repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, Mayor Bloomberg, the author argues, should be demanding national relief for big cities awash in debt due to ‘the national economy, neglect of the infrastructure, poverty, and a national Republican Party policy that has had an anticity agenda since the end of World War II.’ Yes, that was written in 1977, not last year or the year before when the house of cards built by bankers collapsed again—and we came to their rescues to save them from their greed and incompetence.

In today’s bash-the-workers world inhabited by the privileged, pampered publishers of newspapers, there is an eerie similarity to the chaos of the 1970s. Having a state budget passed four months late is the least of it, as the city and state spend money we don’t have for things we don’t need, and lack a clear vision about how to get to where we need to be without stripping workers of their benefits, laying them off, furloughing them or firing them.

For a reference point, it is necessary to find a book that has been hidden in plain sight (except at the Strand Bookstore or Amazon) since 1977.

Raised Fare to Appease Bankers

The book, “The Abuse of Power,” by the late authors Jack Newfield and Paul DuBrul, has an outrageous quote about those fiscal crisis days from Donna Shalala, then serving as president of Hunter College and a member of the board of the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which was created by Carey to “assist” the city in straightening out its bollixed finances.

Shalala told the authors that basically no one really knew what they were doing when they raised the subway fare: She said the fare-hike discussions were “irrational and uninformed.”

She said: “There was tremendous pressure to get the Mayor to do something. The people on MAC who knew the money market told us that a symbolic act for investors was necessary. They thought raising the fare was the symbolic act and something we could get the Mayor to do. There was possibly a half-hour of discussion about raising the fare. There was never a set of staff papers prepared, so we could study it. We did no background work. We had no hard facts. That’s the horror of it. We were just throwing together a list of things that might be cut. There was no conspiracy to screw the people . . .We were told this decision would open up the markets. Now we know there was nothing we could have done to open the market. I should have stuck to my guns and opposed the fare increases. I’m sorry we misled the public that the money markets would open.”

Ending Free Tuition At CUNY

Despite that act of perfidy, Shalala was appointed to a cabinet post by Bill Clinton.

It didn’t take long for the Wall Street piranhas to go after their next target—free tuition for the poor and working class at CUNY that had existed for more than 130 years (when most of the students were white). It was a tougher sell, because five CUNY Trustees resigned in an act of conscience. They were easily replaced, however, and the “hit” was done. Presidents of private colleges held champagne glasses aloft.

Looking back over the last 35 years, and considering what we now know about bankers (we only suspected back then), the question is, what did Carey really save? He “saved” Wall Street from itself; he saved capitalism and he surely saved those who had caused the near-collapse in the first instance from the indignity of public trials.

The city’s fate had been sealed for years long before the fiscal crisis because, for all our real or imagined flaws, New Yorkers are decent and generous and we wanted to help those in need and to provide decent wages and benefits and good housing for our workers. We were up against corporate America, resentful Washington politicians, tax breaks for companies to abandon New York and take hundreds of thousands of jobs with them, and the boodle boys who wanted to build an interstate highway up the west side of Manhattan instead of rebuilding our subway system.

Mayor Wall Street’s Front Man

Not much has changed since then except that the Edgar Bergen press lords and their Charlie McCarthy stenographers have ratcheted up what sounds like a game plan incubated in the catacombs of the Republican Party, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the hedge fund oligarchy. They have the best one-dollar-a-year publicity man in the history of America— New York’s own Mike Bloomberg, who gets more apoplectic when asked about “taxing the rich” than he does when asked about how he was allegedly taken for a cool million by a well-known political operative in the “Independence” Party.

It is a brilliant playbook and it is working just fine. When city and state workers tell reporters they would accept a Hobson’s choice of forgoing a raise rather than be laid off, you know the spin machines are at the most efficient level of their speed cycle.

The message from nearly every print and TV news organization is clear: It’s the workers’ fault!

They retire too early! They have free health insurance! Instead of the response being: “You’re damn right, and we aim to keep our benefits,” too many leaders of our city and state have curtsied for the powerful and seem willing to accept the loaded dice coming from Albany and New York City. If you don’t break your contracts—or accept new ones with small or no raises, your members will be laid off.

Banks Take Priority Over City

They have bought into the argument that the city and state are broke, that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is broke and that everything we are supposed to be doing to create a greener city (more transit, not less) must be sacrificed at the altar of “saving” the banks that are too big to fail, but a city of eight million is not too big to fail, which is what is happening with the budget cuts.

In the ’70s, Carey and Beame wanted to spend billions to build a highway; Richard Ravitch was being bailed out on one of his projects, as Juan Gonzalez wrote in the Daily News: “But those with short memories forget boondoggles like Manhattan Plaza, another Ravitch development project. After he built Manhattan Plaza as private housing in the early 1970s, Ravitch got Mayor Abe Beame to approve earmarking most of the city’s Federal Section 8 housing certificates for one year to his building.”

State Comptroller Arthur Levitt found that the MTA had been hiding $56 million (sound familiar?) and the New York Yankees, under the new, enlightened ownership of George Steinbrenner, had their hands out for $100 million to renovate Yankee Stadium. The original projected cost was $24 million, a figure we later learned was determined as “a ballpark estimate” by one of Mayor Lindsay’s budget whiz kids.

Not-So-Independent George

Steinbrenner’s entire fortune—the team’s estimated worth in April 2010 was $1.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine—was built with public subsidies, most recently with the municipal vandalism of tearing down what should have been a landmarked stadium, throwing poor kids off their parkland and getting “tax-free” bonds and other welfare subsidies to build a new park, complete with a brand-new $95-million train station. (Didn’t your neighborhood get one?)

Through it all, he chiseled the city on its rent payments, cooked the books, and started the Yes Network (now worth $530 million) that couldn’t be broadcasting inside a publicly owned stadium were it not for the largesse of city officials, most of whom —unlike Governor Paterson—never paid for a ticket in their lives.

“Tax-free” bonds means the government is not collecting taxes while 25 ballplayers earn over $206 million for 162 days of actual work—similar to the Teachers’ contract—and get rewarded when a city that is “broke” blows a few million bucks and closes down the economy of downtown Manhattan with a parade that also empties the schools.

If city planners were building a new city, they would not spend $2 billion up front (plus $120 million in interest per year for 30 years) to build a subway station that goes eight blocks south and three blocks west—in a city of walkers—with only one stop. It is just not good business from the businessman Mayor—unless the “business” is for real estate pals of the Mayor while the rest of us get the business.

A Troubled Contractor

It is not good business to give that contract to Parsons-Brinckerhoff, which paid $400 million in penalties to avoid criminal prosecution in the “Big Dig” project in Boston, admitting it falsified records, allowed unsafe conditions to prevail and had prior knowledge about defects in slurry walls. That company is also working on the Second Avenue Subway, which was just discovered— surprise—to have “unforeseen” problems in drilling through rock that is millions of years old. As every New Yorker over the age of reason knows, “unforeseen” means only one thing: hold on to your wallets, here come the cost overruns and more delays.

Sharp city planners would not watch as the MTA lost tens of millions of dollars every month because the Mayor refuses to do one simple thing that costs nothing: create real “Bus- Only” lanes on every major avenue of the five boroughs, at least during rush hour. Washington, D.C. seems to have figured it out.

Eight years ago, the Mayor said traffic congestion was good because it showed we had a healthy economy. Then he said it was bad because it caused asthma in poor neighborhoods, poisoned our lungs and contributed to billions of dollars worth of wasted productivity.

Savvy businessmen would not give no-bid bus contracts to bus owners who admitted paying bribes to city inspectors for advance notice of safety inspections, thereby putting the lives of our students at risk. Smart city managers would not give a contract to a bus owner who pulled a gun at a negotiating session—unless the lobbyist for the company was Tom McMahon, brother of Staten Island Congressman Mike McMahon and husband of Bloomberg Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs.

A Mayor who was really on top of things would go back and read his own consultant’s report—buried in the last paragraph of a New York Times story—that said, “School bus companies are ripping off the city.” The report cost us $17 million.

A Gorilla of a Debt

Today, the MTA board, with the Green Mayor appointing four of its members, is working to drive ridership (and revenue) down by increasing fares because the 800-pound gorilla is not allowed to be discussed in the media—the mounting debt on its botched capital projects, not one of which is coming in at cost.

Not that the MTA is alone in wasting money on capital projects. The Mayor and the Governor are building a 700-car parking garage disguised as a courthouse not far from where I live in Staten Island. Not counting the inevitable overruns, its cost will be $220 million up front and another $12 million a year for 30 years to pay the bonds, on a site that’s within walking distance of 16 bus lines and the Staten Island Railway, which serves 20 neighborhoods along the Island’s South Shore. Not to mention free ferry service to Manhattan 24/7. In other words, more than enough mass transit, even with the cutbacks, to encourage people to leave their cars home, which the Mayor swears is a priority for his administration.

Instead of flying to Washington to defend his friends, Bloomberg should call former Secretary of State James Baker, who was traveling the world in 2003 asking countries to “forgive” $128 billion in debt to Iraq so it could “rebuild.” We have seen how that turned out.

Bloomberg should be demanding that Congress save big cities from strangling debt caused not by generous union benefits but by the national economy, neglect of the infrastructure, poverty and a national Republican Party policy that has had an anticity agenda since the end of World War II, starving places like New York for billions of dollars in aid.

And one way, for now, is to tell the bond-holders to get in line. The screams will be heard loudest from the same people who told Ed Koch that if the city went bankrupt, it would never be allowed back in the bond market. He wrote in his book that it wasn’t true because Orange County, California had no trouble getting back in the market after it said “No Mas” to debt.

The Taxing-the-Rich Fallacy

Of course, such thinking would mean the Mayor would have to get off this one-trick pony and stop talking about “taxing the rich” into oblivion or Florida, where folks like Tom Golisano are permitted to spend 181 days a year to avoid paying New York State income tax.

We have been taxing the rich (almost) since the day Congress passed the income tax bill in 1913 (a flat tax had been ruled unconstitutional), which was based on a truly socialistic notion which, roughly translated, meant those who have more pay more. The rates began at 1 percent and rose to 7 percent for taxpayers with income in excess of $500,000. What would Bloomberg have said then, that he was moving to Bermuda for good?

The same company—CitiGroup— that is making Fred Wilpon of the pre- Madoff New York Mets even richer by giving him $400 million for naming rights to a stadium used just 81 times a year just recently forked over $75 million to the SEC so as to avoid more investigations into how it scammed its investors in a $40-billion subprime mortgage racket. As Andrew Sorkin reported in the Aug. 3 Times, taxpayers, who now hold an 18-percent share in the firm, will pay part of that settlement. Today, years after the fiscal crisis, there is no “free market” on Wall Street or the automobile industry and the bond market was saved by all of us, especially public employees.

Spare Hedge Funds, Tax Clothing

Nonetheless, the bankers, and the 667,000 millionaires in New York City (not all are friends of the Mayor; it just seems that way) through their editorial page writers, have re-defined the word chutzpah when they tell unionized workers it’s time to sacrifice— all, naturally, for the greater good. The Friends of Mike got the tax on hedge-fund bosses scuttled in the Albany budget deal, but didn’t say one word about the re-imposition of the four-percent state tax on clothing under $110. The thinking was that New Yorkers would not travel to New Jersey to do their shopping and would also move to Connecticut so they wouldn’t have to pay one penny per ounce for sugared drinks, which would have raised over $450 billion a year.

Breaking contracts with the Yankees for naming rights (if the Mets are worth $400 million to CitiGroup, what are the Yankees worth?) shouldn’t be a big deal for the Mayor. If he breaks his deal with Wilpon, forcing him to “give back” (just like city and state workers are being asked to do) that $400 million to the city and gets another $400 million from the Yankees, that is a lot of loot for saved firehouses, new housing, libraries, schools and senior centers.

He told us what he thinks of laws in his biography, “Bloomberg by Bloomberg.” Describing how he was starting his company, he wrote that he and his colleagues sneaked into office buildings in the middle of the night to install the wiring for his computers. “We drilled in other people’s furniture—all without permission, violating every fire law, building code and union regulation on the books. It’s amazing we didn’t burn down some office or electrocute ourselves,” he wrote proudly.

With that as his modus operandi, it doesn’t seem like a big stretch to say the same thing to the city’s debtholders: “What’s a contract among friends?”

Mr. Callaghan, until last week a staff writer for the New York Teacher, has been writing about city politics since 1978. He can be reached at mcalla24@aol.com.

The NYC DOE Hires AP Stillman Back to Columbia Secondary School

AP Stillman will return as a teacher to Columbia Secondary School in September 2010. Principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera will be back as well. Erin Bailey, the teacher who chaperoned the trip that resulted in the drowning of 12-year old Nicole Suriel, will not be back.

The issue here is, who must be held liable for the death of Ms. Suriel? Are the principal and assistant principal not to be blamed for this tragedy?

Betsy Combier

'Drown' school rehire
By YOAV GONEN, NY POST, August 14, 2010
LINK

The assistant principal who was demoted and removed for his poor oversight of a public school trip that resulted in a 12-year-old girl's drowning is returning to work at the same school this fall, The Post has learned.

Andrew Stillman, who was bounced from Columbia Secondary School last month and had his administrative license revoked after a probe by schools investigators, was rehired to teach physics at the Harlem middle school, education officials said.

"It's just shocking," said ex-Columbia Secondary School teacher Chance Nalley.

Nalley was among several teachers and parents who said Stillman and principal Jose Maldonado-Rivera -- who had his probationary period extended by two years -- got off easy despite their sloppy planning for the tragic trip.

Stillman backed out from chaperoning the Long Beach, LI, excursion at the last moment.

Another teacher on the trip, Erin Bailey, was fired for allowing students to enter the ocean while there were no life guards on duty -- a decision that led to 12-year-old Nicole Suriel's drowning.

Stillman could not be reached for comment and Maldonado-Rivera declined to comment.

July 15, 2010
At School in Harlem, Resentment Over Girl’s Drowning on a Field Trip
By JENNIFER MEDINA, NY TIMES
LINK

As the academic year at Columbia Secondary School in Harlem drew to a close, students, parents and teachers reeled from the death of a 12-year-old pupil on a class field trip to a beach last month.

But feelings of grief have turned into anger after an inquiry by city investigators that faulted the middle school for the way it had organized and supervised the outing, which ended with the drowning of Nicole Suriel on a Long Island beach that had been closed and where no lifeguard was on duty.

Hours after a report by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation was released on Wednesday, Erin Bailey, the first-year teacher who chaperoned the trip, was fired, and the school’s principal and assistant principal were disciplined.

The fallout has bred resentment among some teachers who say they believe that the two administrators deserved harsher punishments. The assistant principal, Andrew Stillman, who organized the trip, was demoted from his administrative role but will remain a teacher. The principal, Jose Maldonado-Rivera, faces probation. Both men will quite likely remain at the school, officials said.

The drowning and its aftermath have also unearthed long-simmering tensions between some teachers and Mr. Maldonado-Rivera, who they say can be an unfair and unyielding boss.

And though the new school year is weeks away, some teachers say it is hard to believe that the tension will easily dissipate.

“I think the teacher was a scapegoat in order to keep the administration’s jobs intact,” said Chris Jones, who teaches social studies at the school. “It’s symptomatic of the entire attitude — all the weight and blame is placed on teachers. There was none of ‘This is what you should be doing, this is what you should not be doing.’ We were all on our own for these trips.”

The investigators said Ms. Bailey should have noticed a sign on the beach noting that there was no lifeguard present and criticized the school for failing to obtain required permission slips and not planning properly. Mr. Maldonado-Rivera told investigators that as principal, he was ultimately responsible for the trip.

Current and former teachers at Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering said Wednesday that they felt enormous pressure to organize field trips, one of the school’s cornerstone activities. But throughout the year, they said, there was never sufficient training or enough adult chaperons.

Dana Ligocki, a former English teacher, recalled a trip in 2008 to the Hudson River with 2 chaperons for 32 students to collect water samples. Education Department regulations require that there be an adult chaperon for every 10 students on field trips.

Ms. Ligocki left the school in February in part because she did not want to be at the school during the month of field trips in June.

“I feared having to go through that again,” she said. “This is not a one-time event; this is a pattern. I always thought something could happen, though I never imagined it being this awful.”

Ms. Ligocki said she complained of other safety hazards at the school, like allowing hundreds of students to walk down five flights of stairs to the gym unsupervised. She said several physical education classes were taught by college interns rather than certified teachers in Mr. Maldonado-Rivera’s effort to expand sports offerings.

“The faculty are so outraged, not specifically by the incident even,” said Chance Nalley, a math teacher and the chapter chair of the teachers’ union at the school. “We are outraged that we had been so patient and long-suffering, and we’re mad that we didn’t deal with things sooner.”

Mr. Maldonado-Rivera said in an e-mail message that he could not comment.

Students go through a competitive admission process to attend the school on West 123rd Street, near Columbia University. The school has produced stellar academic results since it opened three years ago, and several teachers, including Mr. Nalley, have received awards.

Several teachers said that while Mr. Maldonado-Rivera had “incredible vision” as a main architect of the school, his skills as an administrator were lacking.

Several teachers have left the school, frustrated that they did not have enough support from the administration, which they said would constantly demand that they take on more responsibilities and work longer hours — often without extra pay.

“I worked 12-hour shifts, which was not enough for Jose, and he went so far as to ask me to come on the weekend,” said Carla Cota, who left the school after two years to teach at a private boarding school in Tucson. “He made it clear that if that couldn’t happen, he couldn’t foresee my future at the school.”

Roughly 10 teachers filed unrelated complaints about Mr. Maldonado-Rivera with the United Federation of Teachers after the drowning on June 22. Mr. Nalley said he was upset that those complaints had not been part of the investigation, but union officials said they had not yet forwarded them to the city.

Mr. Nalley sent an e-mail message this week to the city schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, asking that those complaints also be investigated. Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Mr. Klein, said the department would examine those complaints.

But parents who implored Mr. Klein to leave the administration in place said they were satisfied with the outcome and hoped Dr. Maldonado-Rivera would begin the year by addressing the issues head-on.

Columbia Secondary School Principal Jose Maldanato-Rivera Was Involved In Fraudulent Tax Evasion Scheme When Nicole Suriel Drowned

Nicole Suriel, 12 Years Old, Drowns While On A Trip With Her NYC School, Columbia Secondary School In New York City