NYC Board of Education: Take Food Away From The Hungry To Feed The Useless

Wireless Generation

Enough is enough. CityTime, theft by NYC BOE consultants all the time, sneaky contract implementation (see below) all add up to one thing: the New York City Board of Education wants money to go to them, and NOT the children they are there to serve. The fraud is rampant, and everyone is turning a deaf ear.

Now we hear that the Department has to cut free breakfasts for children this summer, and a wonderful savings of $11 million:

July 7

NYC Free Summer Meals Program for Children
FOX News NY, July 6, 2011
Antwan Lewis


New York City schools officials announced the resumption of the summer lunch program for children.


However, the office of schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has had to reduce the number of sites serving those meals by 100; a 22 percent drop to cut nearly $11 million from the school’s food budget.


Wolcott said the locations that were cut were underutilized and now the program is more efficient.


The free summer meals program is the only healthy food some New York City children may get. The program serves breakfast and lunch.


No registration, documentation, or identification is required. Indeed children don’t have to live in New York City or be enrolled in public school to get a free breakfast or lunch, according to the program’s website.


The free meal program is open to children 18 and under and runs through September 2.

My solution: Let's stop feeding Tweed, give the money to feed children breakfast throughout the city of New York, every day until school starts in September.

We can do this.

Betsy
Ed Dept. evaded state law to pay $287,500 to controversial consultant, controller charges

BY Rachel Monahan, DAILY NEWS, June 26th 2011
LINK

The city Department of Education evaded state law to pay a controversial consultant $287,500, officials with the city controller's office charge.

Even after the Education Department's $20 million teacher-recruitment contract with The New Teacher Project got rejected in March on technical grounds, the city sneaked through three payments last month, the officials charge.

"We have requested a meeting with DOE to address their persistent attempts to circumvent the Education Law and pay outside consultants without registered contracts," said Mike Loughran, a spokesman for Controller John Liu.

A review by Liu's office after it discovered the New Teacher Project payments found that the city Department of Education also attempted to pay $1.3 million to Wireless Generation.

The company is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and overseen by former city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

Liu's office blocked that payment because it had rejected the Wireless Generation contract earlier this month, saying Klein had not filed a necessary letter recusing himself from involvement in the contract.

The city Law Department and the city Department of Education, however, consider both contracts to be valid and are not recognizing the controller's rejection.

In a Wednesday letter to Deputy Controller Geneith Turnbull, city Law Department Contracts Division Chief Steven Stein Cushman blasts the controller's attempts to thwart its deal with The New Teacher Project, calling it "not consistent with the Education Law.

"Accordingly, the DOE rejected your return of the [New Teacher Project] contract and deemed the [New Teacher Project] Contract registered," he wrote.

rmonahan@nydailynews.com

Breaking News: Murdoch Puts An End To News Of The World After Hacking Allegations Go Viral

I guess Joel wont be working on "resolving" the hacking story after all.

Rupert Murdoch

Betsy Combier

July 7, 2011
Murdoch to Close Tabloid Amid Fury Over Hacking
By SARAH LYALL and BRIAN STELTER
LINK

LONDON — The media titan Rupert Murdoch sought to stanch damage from a deepening phone hacking scandal Thursday by sacrificing the mass-circulation British tabloid The News of the World in a bid to protect his News Corporation empire. . The saga turned yet more disturbing Thursday on suggestions that targets included not only a 13-year-old murder victim but also relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the paper had also paid tens of thousands of dollars in police bribes for information. The scandal had been taking a toll on the News Corporation, with stock prices falling, some advertisers fleeing The News of the World, and new doubts emerging about Mr. Murdoch’s proposed $12 billion takeover of the pay-television company British Sky Broadcasting, in which he already owns a large stake. Many legislators have now criticized the deal and any government decision appears unlikely to be made before the end of the summer.

The Times of London, itself a News Corporation newspaper, said five journalists and the newspaper executives suspected of involvement in the scandal were expected to be arrested within days.

The move to close The News of the World was also seen by media analysts as a potentially shrewd decision to jettison a newspaper where revenues had been declining in order to preserve the more lucrative broadcasting deal and possibly expand its other tabloid, The Sun, to publish seven days a week.

The announcement came from Mr. Murdoch’s son and likely heir apparent, James, in a broad and apologetic statement delivered so suddenly that The News of the World was still advertising a subscription deal on its Web site.

“Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued,” he said, admitting that the paper and its British parent, News International, had “failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose,” despite a police investigation in 2006 that sent two men to jail.

As a result, he said, the paper and company “wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter. We have now voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences.” The announcement raised immediate speculation that The Sun, another News International paper, might begin publishing on Sundays. Company executives had discussed earlier this year whether to merge some of the two papers’ operations as a way to save money, and the domain name thesunonsunday.co.uk was registered on Tuesday.

When asked about the possibility, a News International spokeswoman said, “There is no comment beyond the statement today which does not mention any future plans.” Other Murdoch holdings in Britain include The Sunday Times of London and SkyNews.

In an on-camera interview with the BBC, James Murdoch said the paper was being shut down because “we fundamentally breached a trust with our readers.” He defended News International’s embattled chief, Rebekah Brooks, saying he was convinced that her leadership was “the right thing” for the company and “absolutely crucial right now.”

On Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch made his first direct public comment on the phone hacking scandal, fiercely defending Ms. Brooks from accusations over serious phone hacking cases while she was editor at The News of the World and saying the company would continue cooperating with the police “under Rebekah Brooks’s leadership.”

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband, told the BBC that the closing of the paper was a defensive move on the part of News International, “a concession to members of the public up and down the country who have been appalled by what has happened.” But he said that only Ms. Brooks’s resignation would show that the organization was taking responsibility for its actions.

“Some people are losing their jobs, but one person who is keeping her job is the person who was editor of The News of the World at the time of the Milly Dowler episode,” Mr. Miliband said, referring to the case of the 13-year-old murder victim. On Monday, lawyers for her family said the paper hacked her phone after she was abducted in 2002, deleting some messages to make room for more in a move that confused police investigators and created false hope that she might still be alive. Her killer remained at large for years, killing two more young women before being captured, and was convicted in all three deaths; the verdict in Ms. Dowler’s case came only last month.

Ms. Brooks was the paper’s editor during the Dowler case, and was promoted from there to The Sun before taking over News International.

On Wednesday, a member of Parliament also raised allegations that nine years ago, The News of the World had participated in efforts to disrupt a murder investigation, as the members collectively turned on Mr. Murdoch, t tabloid culture he represents, using a debate about the widening phone hacking scandal to denounce reporting tactics by newspapers once seen as too politically influential to challenge.

In the statement on the decision to close the paper, James Murdoch said that the paper’s proud 168-year history had been “sullied by behavior that was wrong,” adding, “indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our Company.”

He explained the out-of-court settlements he had approved to people affected by the phone hacking as having been made without a “complete picture.” “This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret,” he said.

The final edition of the newspaper, he said, would include no advertising, except those for causes and charities “that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers.”

Furthermore, the circulation revenue for the final edition will “go to good causes,” he said.

The office of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative Party benefits from Mr. Murdoch’s support, said it had nothing to do with the decision to close the paper.

Reporters and editors at The News of the World said they learned of the closing abruptly via an e-mail from James Murdoch and an announcement in the newsroom from Ms. Brooks.

They said they felt that they had been made scapegoats for events that had happened before they worked at the paper, and that they had been sacrificed to save the job of Ms. Brooks, a favorite of Mr. Murdoch.

“The staff at The News of the World have lost their jobs to save one person and her £2.5 million job,” said one reporter at the paper, referring to Ms. Brooks. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to harm future job prospects.

“If she had gone at the start of the week, we’d all still be employed,” the reporter said. “I hope she’s worth it for Rupert.”

On Wednesday, a Labour member of Parliament made another startling assertion: that while Ms. Brooks was the News of the World editor, she was confronted with evidence that the paper was using unlawful means to interrupt a murder investigation whose two main suspects had ties to the paper.

The member, Tom Watson, said that senior Scotland Yard officials met with Ms. Brooks in 2002 to alert her of evidence that members of her staff were “guilty of interference and party to using unlawful means to attempt to discredit a police officer and his wife,” so that the officer would be unable to complete a murder investigation. Mr. Watson said the police officials named a senior News of the World executive, Alex Muranchak.

On Thursday, The Guardian reported that Mr. Muranchak had apparently agreed to allow the two murder suspects in the case to use photographers and vans leased to the paper to spy on Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook, the lead detective.

The two men, private investigators named Jonathan Rees and Sid Fillery, were suspected of murdering their former partner, Daniel Morgan, who had been killed 15 years earlier. Their singling out of Mr. Cook included following him, his wife, and their children, trying to gain access to his and his wife’s voice mail and obtaining personal details about him from police databases.

Those details were found in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, an investigator working for The News of the World whose notebooks were seized by the police and have formed the basis for much of the current criminal investigation into phone hacking.

The Guardian reported that Scotland Yard took no action against The News of the World in the case, because its head of media relations, Dick Fedorcio, had a good relationship with Ms. Brooks and wanted “to avoid unnecessary friction with The News of the World.”

On Thursday, after The Daily Telegraph said a private detective working for The News of the World may have hacked into the phones of bereaved families after they were informed of the death of relatives serving with the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Royal British Legion, a veterans’ organization, said that it had dropped the newspaper as its partner in a campaign for improved service conditions. The group said that “bereaved military families expressed revulsion at the latest phone hacking revelations.”

“We can’t with any conscience campaign alongside News of the World on behalf of Armed Forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery,” the group said on its Web site. “The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core.”

Sarah Lyall reported from London, and Brian Stelter from New York. Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from Paris, Eric Pfanner and Ravi Somaiya from London, and Jeremy W. Peters from New York.

Joel Klein Appointed The Point Man To End Hacking At News Corp.

I agree with Dennis Wolcott's statement below that was published in the New York Times:

Dennis M. Walcott, New York City’s current schools chancellor, noted that Mr. Klein had “navigated very difficult issues” throughout his career.

“Joel,” he said, “can handle anything.”

Oh yes he can.....because he ignores all protests, is rude and insulting to anyone who gets in his way, and gets rid of all blocks to his goals. Linda Tripp testified that she was afraid of only one person who worked with her in the Clinton administration, a man with the name Joel Klein. Mr. Klein took over for Vincent Foster after Foster killed himself (or was killed).

Good luck, Mr. Murdoch.

Betsy Combier

Thursday, July 07, 2011
His Area of Expertise
NYC Educator
LINK

Joel Klein, who blithely observed scandal upon scandal for Mayor Bloomberg, has been tapped by Rupert Murdoch to oversee his own scandal. It's about time we saw Klein utilized for something he actually knows about. Wasn't it Klein who oversaw his no-bid contracts result in children freezing on street corners, while waiting for buses that never came? And didn't Klein tirelessly plug the achievements on state tests that proved to be nothing whatsoever after revelations in 2010 that they'd been dumbed down?

Joel Klein brought accountability to students, making sure they could pass tests before graduation. Diana Senechal took one of these tests, marked A, B, C, D in a pattern without reading the answers, and passed. Klein bravely fought to fire teachers, as nothing that occurred under his tenure was ever his fault. He presided over the closure of almost every high school in the Bronx, contending they were failures. None, of course, were failures on his part. That's what Klein called "accountability."

Klein spent years at the job, dispensing favored treatment to people like Eva Moskowitz, and setting up a two-tier system that ensured Eva's students were better treated than the overwhelming majority of kids attending city schools. He took almost a billion dollars to reduce class sizes, and through innovative management techniques, managed to make them go up just about everywhere.

So, if a scandal's brewing, Klein's your guy, Rupert. He's seen scandal from just about every angle there is. Only one thing, though--making things better for Rupert Murdoch is not necessarily the same as problem-solving. Klein's image was in the toilet when he resigned. I'm not remotely certain he's the guy to rehabilitate the image of a propaganda king.

Peter Hutchison


July 6, 2011, 7:39 pm
Joel I. Klein, Former Schools Chancellor, to Tackle Hacking Case
By ELISSA GOOTMAN, NY TIMES
LINK
He did battle with the powerful New York City teachers union. He stood down placard-wielding protestors at meetings of the Panel for Educational Policy. For more than eight years, he closed schools, opened schools and otherwise tried to transform the nation’s largest school system.

Now Joel I. Klein, who left his post as the city’s schools chancellor in December, has been given a task by one of the world’s most powerful media moguls: helping to oversee one of the seamier media scandals in recent memory.

After stepping down from the chancellorship, Mr. Klein, 64, took a job with the News Corporation, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, as chief executive of the education division and as executive vice president in the office of the company’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch.

Now, amid allegations that a British tabloid owned by the News Corporation, News of the World, hacked the cellphone of a murdered 13-year-old girl nine years ago, Mr. Murdoch has announced the appointment of Mr. Klein to “provide important oversight and guidance” in investigating the matter. Mr. Klein is also to be partially responsible for “keeping News Corporation’s board fully advised,” Mr. Murdoch said in a prepared statement.

“We are committed to addressing these issues fully and have taken a number of important steps to prevent them from happening again,” Mr. Murdoch’s statement read.

In a brief telephone interview on Wednesday, Mr. Klein said he was “not in charge” of handling the investigation, but he declined to elaborate on the specifics of his role. “It’s just what it said in our release today: I’m providing counsel and advice to the company,” he said.

Asked whether his experience running New York City schools would inform his efforts in this particular challenge, he said, “I think my whole life’s experience will bear on this.”

Before Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg named him schools chancellor, Mr. Klein was known as one of the brightest legal minds in the country; he worked as a lawyer in Washington for nearly three decades. At the Justice Department, he served as the assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust enforcement, leading the prosecution of Microsoft. He also spent two years as deputy White House counsel during the Clinton administration and was the chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann, a multinational media corporation.

Mr. Klein was a “very wise choice” for the role, said Chris Cerf, who has known Mr. Klein since 1986 and served under him as a deputy schools chancellor.

“He’s been in the cauldron for a good stretch of his career, so it’s more than an abstract issue for him,” said Mr. Cerf, who is now acting commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education. “It’s something he knows a great deal about in a personal way.”

Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business group, said she had often had dealings with Mr. Klein and that his experience at the Education Department “established his ability to take on a difficult challenge in a straightforward, honest way, and enhanced the credibility that he established during his years in Washington as a defender of the public interest.

“He’s a smart guy, he’s a sharp lawyer, he’s got credentials from years in public service, and it makes him an appropriate person” to help make the News Corporation’s case, she said.

Dennis M. Walcott, New York City’s current schools chancellor, noted that Mr. Klein had “navigated very difficult issues” throughout his career.

“Joel,” he said, “can handle anything.”

Education Eminent Domain: Bloomberg's School Land Grab

Eminent domain, according to Wikipedia:
"Eminent domain (United States), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Australia) or expropriation (South Africa and Canada) is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent. The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, economic development. The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are for public utilities, highways, and railroads[citation needed], however it may also be taken for reasons of public safety, such as in the case of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Some jurisdictions require that the government body offer to purchase the property before resorting to the use of eminent domain."

It seems to me that all the rallies, the begging and protests for an end to the co-location of charter and public schools are having no effect on the Bloomberg-political-complex. Mike Bloomberg and his Assistant Dennis Wolcott aren't listening because they dont have to, no matter how "nice" Mr. Wolcott is to the general public..... kind of  "I cant hear you" because "you dont/cant understand our policy" deafness. Their approach to the closing of schools reminds me of my studies in planned obsolescence. Let's not forget that FIFO and LIFO, popularized in Mayor Bloomberg's PR campaign to get tenured teachers out of their jobs, was, you may know, always defined as moving old products off of a shelf for tax advantages. People are not products, Sir!

I have posted many articles about the land grab in New York and other states on my website Parentadvocates.org:
FATAL $UBTRACTION: How State-Mandated Property Tax Exemptions Subsidize New York City Private Education at the Expense of Public Schools and CUNY

Eminent Domain: KELO et al. v. CITY OF NEW LONDON et al.

Does the Federal Government Have a "Property Right" in Our Public School Children?  

The last article by John Wenders raises many interesting possibilities about how Bloomberg may view the public school children in NYC that he cheerfully put into the hands of Cathie Black for, thankfully, a short time. But the article that I would like to turn your attention to is:
 
Michael Cardozo: In Defense of Eminent Domain or Taking Private Property For Public Use
 
Let's suppose for a minute that Mike Bloomberg designed the closing of schools in 2002, then left the undesirable schools with no teachers, supplies and a Principal from the Leadership Academy who was there ONLY to close the school, all for the take-over of property, albeit with a school already placed on it. If the school was in a location that he wanted, he made sure that it failed, so that he could take over the property in kind of a new version of eminent domain. Giuliani played around with getting a new Stadium in a sweetheart deal that was not really covered in the press, and Norman Siegel lost his case against Columbia University.
 
I still remember vividly the day that Courtney Ross, owner of the Ross Global Charter Academy, walked into my daughter's school, NEST+M, in 2005 with her entourage - including Garth Harries - and a tape measure. She walked down the hallways telling her people which rooms suited her students, and she sent the person with a tape measure to find out exactly how big the rooms she liked were, for the 'take-over'. We parents sued the New York City Board of Education as well as the Regents, and won. We had Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on our side.
 
Anyway, years from now when the Bloomberg Administration is studied as a period of outrage and chaos in New York City, students will understand there is only one way to do something under the Bloomberg unwatchful eye (remember CityTime?) - his way, without strategy or planning. 

July 3, 2011

A Failing School? Not to These Students

By MICHAEL WINERIP
New York Times

Everyone knows Jamaica High is a bad school. The past two years, it has received D’s on its report card from the city and been labeled persistently dangerous by the state.

In February, the Bloomberg administration placed Jamaica on a list of 22 failing schools it planned to close. The mayor and his schools chancellors have sent letters encouraging students to enroll elsewhere, and the shrinking of the student body has led to a decline in financing, squeezing the juice out of Jamaica High.

There was no money for lab lessons in advanced biology, which upset Doreen Mohammed and Tonmoy Kabiraj, who hope to be doctors. Courtney Perkins’s advanced math class did not have graphing calculators until eight months into the school year. The last music teacher was sent to another school, which really frustrated Mills Duodu, who plays violin, trumpet, drums and piano.

City officials have vigorously fought a lawsuit brought by the teachers’ union seeking to save the 22 schools, 15 of them high schools. In May, the schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, called the union’s position “unacceptable” and vowed to “defend the honor of our students.”

This surprised Afsan Quayyum and Doreen, who graduated from Jamaica High, in Queens, last week. They did not realize their honor needed defending. Afsan, the valedictorian, plans to start an engineering program this fall that will give him a bachelor’s degree from Queens College in three years, and another from Columbia University after two more. Doreen, the salutatorian, has a full scholarship to Columbia.

Their classmate Gerard Henry is struck by all the people he meets who have never stepped inside Jamaica High yet are sure it is a living hell. “If I say, ‘My name is Gerard Henry and I just graduated Jamaica High School,’ they say, ‘Oh my God, you’re one of them?’ If I say, ‘My name is Gerard Henry and I’m going to Columbia next fall,’ they say, ‘Oh my God, you’re one of them?’ ”

It is puzzling how a school can be labeled failing and yet produce Afsan, Doreen and Gerard, not to mention Mills (who is heading to Denison University in Ohio), Kevin Gonzalez (Stony Brook University), Courtney (Howard University), Nujhat Choudhury (University of Alberta) and two top math students who are best friends: Muhammad Ahmad (Clarkson University) and Mohammad Khan (City University’s Grove School of Engineering), known throughout the school as “the Mohammads squared.”

Of course, it is possible that such seniors are the exceptions. As James S. Liebman, the Columbia law professor who developed the city report card, wrote in an e-mail: “Good high schools aren’t satisfied when just a few kids get into strong colleges. They aim for all kids to do so.” Education Department officials point out that the graduation rate at Jamaica has stayed at about 50 percent for years.

But it is also possible that the deck has been stacked against Jamaica High, that the 15 “worst” high schools have been packed with the students with the worst problems. According to an analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office, these schools have more poor children (63 percent versus 52 percent citywide), more homeless students (6 percent versus 4 percent), more special-education students (18 versus 12). For 24 percent of Jamaica High students, English is a foreign language, compared with 11 percent citywide.

The “worst” high schools are sent the eighth graders who are the furthest behind: their average proficiency score on state tests is 2.6 out of 4, compared with 2.9 citywide, and more of these students (9 percent versus 4 percent) are over age, suggesting they have had to repeat grades.

It is no big mystery to Doreen why Stuyvesant High gets A’s on the city progress reports while Jamaica gets D’s: “Only the smartest kids are accepted,” she said.

Jamaica High’s enrollment has fallen to about 1,000, a quarter of what it was in the mid-1970s. No new pupils will be accepted this fall. In three years, when the last of its current students graduate, the school will close. Four new small schools will take over its storied building.

Each administration wants to be remembered for pioneering something or other, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg long ago chose small schools and charters.

James Eterno, Jamaica’s representative to the teachers’ union, has been portrayed in the news media as a man who cares more about preserving jobs than — as the mayor never tires of saying — “putting children first.”

That is not how Kevin Gonzalez sees it. For Kevin, Mr. Eterno is the United States history teacher who stayed late to tutor his students, helping Kevin earn a top score of 5 on the Advanced Placement test.

Doreen and Gerard definitely feel put first. Jamaica had no college adviser this year — until October, when Mr. Eterno stepped in. “Before Christmas break he stayed late to make sure everything was perfect to send to the colleges,” Gerard said. “Mr. Eterno went way beyond.”

After Doreen was accepted to Columbia, she spoke with people at the admissions office. “They told me how Mr. Eterno kept calling them about me and faxing them stuff,” she said.

Last Tuesday, students did not have to be at the graduation ceremony until 9 a.m., but Doreen was up at 4:30 getting ready. To ensure she was out of bed by 6, Nujhat set two alarms, “my cellphone and my mother.” When Afsan was asked if he was nervous about delivering a speech, he said: “A little, but I’m fine now. I’m fine. I got my confidence back.”

No Jamaica High band is left to play “Pomp and Circumstance.” But Clayton Ezell, a senior, belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner” as if he were Robert Merrill standing at home plate in Yankee Stadium.

The third-ranked student in the senior class, Tonmoy, whose father was a professor in Bangladesh but drives a taxi in New York, gave a speech about the need to see the glass as half full.

After the ceremony, the parents lingered: it was hard to tell that their children had attended a failing school. Muhammad Ahmad’s father, also named Muhammad, said his son’s full scholarship to Clarkson was a sign that the family plan was working. The father had been an accountant in Pakistan, but he, too, drives a cab here. “My job here is not a recognition of my dignity,” he said, “but I am supporting my kids to a great future.”

Of course, it is still possible that Jamaica High is a failing school. The two D’s may be deserved. But it did not fail Afsan, Doreen, Courtney, Nujhat, Gerard, Mills, Tonmoy, Kevin or the Mohammads squared.

E-mail: oneducation@nytimes.com

The Latest News On The "N" Rating

UFT members who were re-assigned any part of the 2010-2011 school year have received end-of-year rating sheets with "N" at the bottom, despite the fact that the rest of the ratings may be all "S".
I have received calls from many teachers who were given this type of rating, and I and others have tried to figure it out.

The UFT contract states as follows (Article 21F):

"F. Rating “Not Applicable”
A rating of “Not Applicable (NA)” is to be used only in situations where a pedagogical employee is reassigned out of his/her regular assignment for disciplinary reasons. The “NA” rating will apply only for the period of reassignment, cannot be used in any proceeding as evidence of wrongdoing and will not otherwise affect any other rights afforded in the Agreement where ratings are an issue."

A former rubber roomer from Brooklyn (who was completely exonerated by the 3020-a arbitrator) called me several times over the past week with information about how she spoke with her principal about her rating sheet, which listed all "S"s and at the very bottom was an "N". Her principal told her that she would have received an "S" but the DOE would not let an "S" appear at the bottom. Sorry. Another former rubber roomer told me that his principal told him that he really should have received an "S", so he has called HR - the NYC DOE Human Resources office where supposedly the "N" forms were generated (and then sent to the CFNs, and on to the school), but no one returns his calls. The DOE personnel are probably already on the cruise to the Bahamas paid for by the "found" budget surplus money that was missing for the duration of the layoffs discussion.

Another UFT member called the UFT in Brooklyn and told them that she would grieve the "N" and the Rep. told her to wait until September. Yet another teacher/UFT member was told she should grieve immediately, or go to see her principal and ask for the second rating sheet for the time she worked in the school after she left her re-assignment room. In Queens, a teacher with all "S"s and an "N" at the bottom of her year-end rating sheet was told  "You can't grieve it, you only have the right to Appeal it. Speak to your Special Rep. who gets back at the end of July." This is simply wrong information. My head is spinning.

For all who are not aware of the seriousness of this matter, when a teacher gets an "N", he/she is 'red-flagged' as having been re-assigned during the school year. The letter "N" or letters "N/A" are for re-assigned teachers only, not for tenured personnel working in a school. Chaz told me tonight, "The N is like a scarlet letter".

Queens UFT Rep. Rose Walker-Yates told me this afternoon that the UFT has received many calls about this issue, and that all principals were supposed to give formerly re-assigned members TWO rating sheets, one for the time spent re-assigned, and the other for the time as a teacher back in a school. She did not know if anyone had received two rating sheets, but Queens UFT rep. Sandra Dunn-Yules sent an internal memo about th "N" rating to the UFT leadership on June 24, 2011.

Sandra Dunn-Yules

June 24, 2011???

The thunder of UFT Special Representatives' feet as they all run to help UFT members is deafening.

My point is this: if you received one rating sheet with an "N" and you are in a school teaching, even as an ATR, OBJECT IN WRITING. If you speak with a UFT Rep. and this person tells you to Appeal or grieve, do it, and write down the person's name and telephone number. You may need this information down the road.

BTW, if you are a teacher who received two rating sheets in the past week, please email me at betsy.combier@gmail.com.

Chris Asch , Former Librarian At Stuyvesant High School, Wins His Article 7511 Petition To Vacate The Decision of Arbitrator David Hyland

Chris, Petitioner Pro Se, is an openly gay man who was victimized by the homophopic comments of Stuyvesant High School's Isamu Fukui, a very troubled student, then sent to the famous "rubber room" to learn to regret actions that he never did, or performed just like the heterosexual librarians (asking students to be quiet while in the library). On June 28, 2011 NYS Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez vacated the decision of Arbitrator David Hyland to suspend Chris for six months without pay and to see a psychologist to help him "establish boundaries".. Judge Mendez set a precedent and deserves acclaim for this decision.
From Betsy Combier:

I attended Chris Asch's arbitration hearing, heard all witnesses, and disagreed with the decision of the arbitrator, who was, in my opinion, ordered by the New York City Board of Education's Administrative Trials Unit (which I call "The Gotcha Squad") to find Chris guilty of something in order to validate the time and money spent on the prosecution of Chris to the extent that occurred in this matter.
Full disclosure: two of my four children attended Stuyvesant High School, and I know Stuyvesant Principal Stanley Teitel because not only did I write the newsletter for the Parent's Association, but I also was a member of the Executive Board and involved in the Robotics Club, I helped teachers stay after Stan tried to remove them, and I investigated the theft of PA money. Time for Principal Stanley Teitel to retire/resign/be fired.
A short backstory:

Chris Asch was one of three librarians at one of America's premier high schools, Stuyvesant High School in New York City, when he was suddenly arrested and called a "pervert", removed from his job, and told to go to the rubber room in Washington Heights to sit and await charges. One of the students at Stuy was a person who resented any kind of adult chastisement and focused his hatred of the 'system' on one man, Chris. Isamu Fukui had few friends, and wanted popular Chris to suffer for telling him to be quiet in the library. Stuyvesant Principal Stan Teitel didnt want Chris around either, seemingly because he - Chris - would block Sten's attempt to reduce the size of the Stuy library, as well as make other changes to the schedule. Stan made up that Quiz Bowl, an organized group at Stuyvesant but not a school-funded Club, mentored by Chris, necessitated paperwork for overnight trips that was, indeed, not required at all, then charged Chris with not filling the paperwork out when the Quiz Bowl students were invited to Harvard for a competition.

The decision below is significant, because the Judge refused to go along with different rules for different people, and disparate treatment and discrimination of a gay man. The larger picture is that a petitioner pro se told a court that the arbitration process in NYC is broken, and the decision to suspend for six months under the circumstances was shocking to the Court's conscience. Judge Mendez agreed.

Matter of Asch v New York City Board/ Dept. of Educ.
2011 NY Slip Op 21224
Decided on June 28, 2011
Supreme Court, New York County

Mendez, J.

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on June 28, 2011
Supreme Court, New York County

In the Matter of Christopher Asch, Petitioner,

against

The New York City Board/ Department of Education, Respondents,

108528/10
Christopher Asch
Petitioner, Pro Se

Michael A. Cardozo
Corporation Counsel of the City of New York
Attorneys for the Respondent
100 Church Street, Room 2-108
New York, NY 10007
James Hallman, of counsel
Manuel J. Mendez, J.

Upon a reading of the foregoing cited papers, it is ordered and adjudged that the petition, seeking to vacate, and set aside the arbitrator's decision pursuant to CPLR §7511, and Education Law §3020-a (5), is granted. The cross-motion made in lieu of an answer, seeking to dismiss the petition pursuant to CPLR §404(a), CPLR §3211(a)(5), CPLR §3211(a)(7), and CPLR §7511, is denied.

Petitioner an openly gay man, is a tenured school librarian/media specialist, with over twenty (20) years of service. He had an unblemished record throughout his career until charges were filed against him in 2008 for the events that were alleged to have taken place between school years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008. The Department of Education (DOE) brought charges against him after two separate investigations by the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigations, hereinafter referred to as "SCI." The first investigation involved claims of his failure to obtain proper school or parental permission before taking students on a field trip to Boston. The second investigation (*2)involved claims of inappropriate touching of several students, and it was based on a two page "cut and paste" copy of e-mail printouts submitted by a student to the Assistant Principal Eric Grossman. The SCI investigation did not attempt to obtain the full text of the e-mails but relied on interviews of the students that made the accusations, and two students that did not make any accusations and did not think there was inappropriate touching (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol.1 of 2, pps. 340-342, and 355-357). The findings of the SCI investigation resulted in the respondent seeking to have petitioner terminated from employment.

Respondent charged petitioner with engaging in inappropriate conduct with several students, misconduct and neglect of duty. The particulars of the charges were set out in nine specifications brought against him. Seven of the specifications were for inappropriately touching several male students by touching their back, shoulders and spine and whispering into one student's ear. There were specifications alleging that he struck two male students on the buttocks with a rolled up newspaper; ran his fingers through a student's hair; grabbed and squeezed another male student's stomach after being told words to the affect of "Don't touch me," and lifted and rubbed the leg of a male student while saying words to the effect of, "Insert foot. Open mouth." The two remaining specifications against petitioner were for taking seven students on a trip to Boston without proper school or parental permission. He was accused of taking one student on the trip in spite of being explicitly advised by the parents that the student could not attend. (Cross-Mot. Exh. 1)

Petitioner was employed at Stuyvesant High School and on February 12, 2008 was reassigned to the NYC Board of Education "Rubber Room" until June of 2009 at which time criminal charges were brought against him. He was criminally charged with endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of third degree sexual abuse and two counts of second degree harassment, stemming from the investigations at the school. Information concerning the arrest and criminal case was published in the New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Post and broadcast on the NBC evening news (Cross-Mot. Exh. 5, vol. 2 of 2). The criminal charges were dismissed in October of 2009 after an investigation by the District Attorney's office. (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol. 2 of 2, pps. 1662-1663).

When charges are filed against a tenured person, Education Law §3020-a (3) requires that a disciplinary hearing be conducted by a hearing officer selected from the American Arbitration Association. The disciplinary hearing is a compulsory arbitration. This hearing took place over a period of approximately twelve days, from November of 2009 through January of 2010, and was concluded by post-hearing submissions on April 28, 2010. At the hearing petitioner was represented by an attorney provided by his union; he produced and cross-examined witnesses, and produced additional evidence. The respondent produced and cross-examined witnesses, introduced evidence from SCI (*3)investigators, school administrators and other documentary evidence.

The hearing officer, David Hyland, found that petitioner was not involved with sexual misconduct, dismissed the specifications that alleged he struck two male students on the buttocks with a rolled up newspaper; and that he grabbed and squeezed another male student's stomach after being told words to the affect of "Don't touch me." The other specifications were sustained except for one specification involving the rubbing of a student's back. The hearing officer determined that although the touching involved was not sexual in nature, some of it was inappropriate. Hearing Officer Hyland found that although the trip to Boston did not involve a school sanctioned club activity the petitioner was a last minute substitution for a parent chaperone, he was still responsible for obtaining proper permission. The hearing officer did not find substantial cause rendering petitioner unfit to perform his obligations of service, but found he had neglected his duty and that some of the charged conduct was unbecoming to his position or was, "...prejudicial to the good order, efficiency or discipline of the service." The determination provided that petitioner was to be suspended without pay for six (6) months, and required to "attend counseling and/or training to understand appropriate professional and physical boundaries between himself and the students, whether in management of student behavior in the library or otherwise." (Cross Mot. Exh. 6)

Petitioner seeks to vacate, and set aside the arbitrator's decision claiming that it was not warranted in the record, excessive, arbitrary and capricious and based on partiality and prejudice. He claims that pursuant to Education Law §3020-a and §2590-j, the decision cannot stand as just and fair, because it violates his constitutional and statutory rights under state law and New York State Executive Law Article 15 (the Human Rights Law). Petitioner, as an openly gay man, claims that the hearing officer's determination, that his manner of touching and addressing the students was inappropriate, in light of testimony that established it was the same as a heterosexual female librarian, is arbitrary and capricious; and the penalty imposed is shocking to one's conscience. Petitioner also claims that allowing the award to stand would have a chilling effect on gay, lesbian and transgender individuals employed in the education system because they would be subject to actions by students based on their sexual preferences and not their actual conduct.

Respondent's cross-motion seeks to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the petition is time-barred, fails to state a cause of action, is prohibited based on the arbitration and decision; and to confirm the arbitration award. Respondent claims that the petitioner fails to allege facts sufficient to vacate or modify the hearing officer's determinations.

The hearing officer's opinion is dated June 8, 2010 and the petitioner claims he received it on June 17, 2010. Respondent claims that this petition is time-barred because the proceeding was commenced on June 28, 2010. Respondent claims that pursuant to Education Law §3020-a(5) the petition was filed one day beyond the ten day (*4)period to appeal the arbitrator's decision.

Pursuant to General Construction Law §25-a (1), "When any period of time, computed from a certain day...which an act is authorized or required to be done, ends on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, such act may be done on the next succeeding business day." The provisions of General Construction Law §25-a (1) have been found to apply to statute of limitations and the provisions of CPLR Article 75 (Rodriguez v. Saal, 43 AD3d 272, 841 N.Y.S. 2d 232 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. 2007); American Casualty Company v. McCoy, 138 AD2d 485, 525 N.Y.S. 2d 884 (N.Y.A.D. 2nd Dept. 1988) and Matter of Scuderi v. Board of Educ., 49 AD2d 942, 374 N.Y.S. 2d 130, appeal dismissed 38 NY. 2d 848, 382 N.Y.S. 2d 55, 345 N.E. 2d 598).

Petitioner claims that the ten day statute of limitations expired on Sunday, June 27, 2010, and this proceeding was commenced on Monday, June 28, 2010. This Court takes judicial notice of the fact that June 27, 2010 was a Sunday. This proceeding commenced on Monday, June 28, 2010, is timely.

Pursuant to Education Law §3020-a (5), a petition to vacate the determination of a hearing officer, requires that the Court apply the standard set forth in CPLR §7511. The standard for granting a petition pursuant to CPLR §7511 is to, "show misconduct, bias, excess of power, or procedural defects." An arbitrator's award can be set aside if it violates strong public policy or is totally irrational (Austin v. Board of Education of the City School Dist. Of City of New York, 280 AD2d 365, 720 N.Y.S. 2d 344 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2001); Hegarty v. Board of Education of the City of New York, 5 AD3d 771, 773 N.Y.S. 2d 611 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2004), Matter of Pell v. Board of Education, 34 NY2d 222, 356 N.Y.S. 2d 833, 313 N.E. 2d 321 (1974), In re Gregg v. The Dept. of Educ. of the City of New York, 22 AD3d 254, 801 N.Y.S. 2d 529 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2005), In re Stephanie Cherry v. The New York State Insurance Fund, 83 AD3d 446, 920 N.Y.S. 2d 342 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2011), and Matter of Sprinzen (Nomberg), 46 NY2d 623, 389 N.E. 2d 456, 415 N.Y.S. 2d 974 (1979)). There is an additional standard applied and judicial scrutiny is stricter when the parties have submitted to compulsory arbitration rather than a determination rendered after voluntary arbitration. After compulsory arbitration the determination, "must be in accord with due process and supported by adequate evidence, and must also be rational and satisfy the arbitrary and capricious standards of CPLR article 78" ( Lackow v. Dept. of Education (or "Board") of City of New York, 51 AD3d 563, 859 N.Y.S. 2d 52 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2008); City School Dist. of the City of New York v. McGraham, 75 AD3d 445, 905 N.Y.S. 2d 86 [N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2010]). The burden of proof is on the party challenging the determination to show that it is invalid. A hearing officer's finding that the testimony was inconsistent or lacked credibility is not a basis to vacate the determination (Lackow v. Dept. of Educ. (or "Board") of City of New York, 51 AD3d 563, supra; Austin v. Board of Educ. of the City School Dist. of City of New York, 280 AD2d 365, supra). A claim of actual bias or misconduct by a hearing officer requires clear and convincing evidence, inference of partiality is not enough to vacate the award (Zrake v. New York City Dept. of Educ., 41 AD3d 118, 838 N.Y.S. 2d 31 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 2007) and Rose v. J.J. Lowrey & Co., 181 (*5)AD2d 418, 580 N.Y.S. 2d 745 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept., 1992)).

Petitioner claims that the hearing officer allowed respondent to validate homophobic statements made by three students as directed by a fourth and found inappropriate conduct where there was none. He claims that there was testimony provided at the hearing by SCI investigator Ravello, that whispering and touching students on the shoulder was generally acceptable to get their attention in the library (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol. 1 of 2, SCI Ravelo pps. 350-351). There was also testimony that another librarian, a heterosexual female, approached the students physically in the same manner as petitioner did, including touching arms, whispering and standing silently next to the students. Delisa Brown-Guc testified that touching was used to calm down an individual that was agitated and that the petitioner was the least confrontational with the students of the three librarians at Stuyvesant (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol. 2 of 2, pps. 1467-1476).

Petitioner claims the hearing officer did not sufficiently take into account testimony that false rumors were being spread amongst the students in 2007, prior to the investigation, that he was a member of NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association). One of the students that accused him of inappropriate touching spoke to him in a menacing manner in the Fall of 2007, that "...some people are feeling pretty creepy about the way you touch people..." petitioner was considering reporting the statement but then decided to let it go because the student was "a jerk" (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol. 2 of 2, Asch at pps. 1653-1654,1664 and Brown-Guc, Exh. 3 vol. 1 of 2 pp. 1487-1488). There was testimony that the same student that spoke to him in a menacing manner, said in a loud manner "get away from me faggot" when petitioner passed his table in the library (Cross-Mot. Exh. 3, vol. 1 of 2, Brown-Guc pp. 1496-1499). The same menacing student, organized, cut and pasted the e-mails which were provided to Assistant Principal Grossman, and used by the SCI to formulate the charges and specifications. The hearing officer rejected one of two specifications related to the menacing student concerning inappropriate touching because the testimony was not credible. Hearing Officer Hyland found the menacing student's testimony that his back was rubbed credible, but only as to touching and determined that this was a failure to respect boundaries because petitioner should have known that this student did not like to be touched (Cross-Mot. Exh. 6).

Petitioner claims that the hearing officer failed to credit testimony concerning permissible touching. He states that by refusing to allow testimony concerning a student conspiracy or the mental health and behavioral concerns regarding one of the accusing students, and relying on testimony by students that were only witnesses to one of the specifications, the hearing officer applied a different standard to him as an openly gay man. He claims that the resulting determination was biased, discriminatory and violated his constitutional and statutory rights under state law and New York State Executive Law Article 15 (the Human Rights Law).

Petitioner claims that the hearing officer did not take into account the school's policy concerning weekend trips involving unofficial clubs where parents were (*6)chaperones. Permission was not sought from the school for the Quiz Bowl activities that occurred on prior weekends because the parents chaperoned the activities and the petitioner was a last minute replacement for a parent chaperone.

Respondent claims that the petitioner has not met his burden of proof to vacate the determination because the hearing officer is permitted to weigh credibility and rely on hearsay. Respondent states that it would be improper for this Court to credit petitioner's evidence to the exclusion of others. The cross-motion seeks to dismiss for failure of petitioner to state a cause of action and meet his burden of proof concerning the claims of corruption, bias, fraud and misconduct by the hearing officer. Respondent claims that petitioner has not produced the required clear and convincing evidence and relies on inferences which are not in the record. Respondent also claims that petitioner's due process rights were protected because he was represented by an attorney that was permitted to produce evidence and cross-examine all the witnesses that appeared at the hearing. Respondent seeks to dismiss petitioner's claims that Education Law §2590-j was violated because the charges of engaging in inappropriate conduct with several students, misconduct, neglect of duty, and violating the by-laws rules and regulations of the Chancellor were confirmed and accepted by the arbitrator. Respondent claims that any objections to its compliance with the Education Law § 3020-a process must be denied because it was waived by proceeding with the arbitration without objection. Respondent claims that hearing officer Hyland was lenient in the decision, given the seriousness of the charges, since there could have been a determination that petitioner be terminated from employment.

The authority to overturn an arbitration award based on a violation of public policy requires that the Court find, "without engaging in any extended fact finding or legal analysis" that public policy considerations, "embodied in either statute or decisional law, prohibit (1) arbitration of the particular matters to be decided or (2) the relief granted." An arbitrator cannot issue an award that violates a well defined "constitutional, statutory or the common law of this state" (United Federation of Teachers, Local 2, AFT, AFL-CIO v. Board of Educ. of City School Dist. Of City of New York, 1 NY3d 72, 801 N.E. 2d 827, 769 N.Y.S. 2d 451 (2003) citing to Matter of New York City Tr. Auth. v. Transport Workers Union of Am., Local 100, AFL-CIO, 99 NY2d 1, 780 N.E. 2d 490, 750 N.Y.S. 2d 805 (2002), The Board of Education of the City of New York v. Hershkowitz, 308 AD2d 334, 764 N.Y.S. 2d 254(N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. 2003)). Whatever the applicable standard of review in a compulsory arbitration, an award may be vacated if there is no rational basis for the determination based on the evidence adduced at the hearing (Weinstein v. Department of Education of the City of New York, 19 AD3d 165, 798 N.Y.S. 2d 383 (N.Y.A.D. 1st Dept. 2005)).

Pursuant to Executive Law Article 15, §296(1), it is unlawful to discriminate against an individual based on, "age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation...to bar or to discharge from employment or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment. " (*7)

Hearing Officer Hyland stated in the concluding paragraphs of his opinion:

"I note that these are Respondent's first charged offenses. I am persuaded that Mr. Asch now understands that library management, even under the most difficult circumstances, cannot and will not include inappropriate touching of students or whispering in a manner that a reasonable student would consider a violation of his/her space. I am also persuaded that in the future, if he has any questions about school policies related to trips, he will make appropriate inquiries to his superiors. Having reviewed all of the eviden ce and based on the proven misconduct, Respondent's long service with the Department and principles of progressive discipline, I believe that the appropriate penalty in the instant case is a suspension without pay for six ( 6) months. Additionally, Respondent Asch shall be required to attend counseling and/or training in understanding appropriate and professional boundaries between himself and students whether in the management of student behavior in the library or otherwise."(Cross-Mot. Exh. 6, p. 53)

The public policy considerations embodied in Executive Law Article 15 were violated by the finding that petitioner, an openly gay man, engaged in inappropriate touching when his actions, i.e. touching, whispering and standing silently next to the students, were the same as the heterosexual female librarian. Petitioner was suspended for six months without pay and reassigned to another school. He was also required to, "attend counseling and/or training to understand appropriate professional and physical boundaries between himself and the students, whether in management of student behavior in the library or otherwise." No charges were brought against the female librarian, and she was not required to attend counseling or training. Hearing Officer Hyland may not have intended to discriminate against the petitioner, but the opinion and award has that effect. Petitioner has the right not to be discriminated against or abused by students based on his sexual orientation. SCI investigator Ravello testified that whispering and touching students on the shoulder was generally acceptable to get their attention in the library. Touching students and whispering in their ear are acceptable practices to maintain order in the library and there is no rational basis for a finding that his touching of students, which was done in the same manner as a heterosexual librarian, constitutes an inappropriate touching; especially given his history of 20 years of exemplary service.

Judicial review of administratively imposed sanctions is limited. An administrative sanction may only be revised in those circumstances where it is, "so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the conscience of the court." The Court would have to find that the determination is "shocking to one's sense of fairness." A result is, "shocking to one's sense of fairness," if the sanction imposed is so grave in its impact on the individual subjected to it that it is disproportionate to the misconduct, incompetence, failure or (*8)turpitude of the individual, or to the harm or risk of harm to the public generally visited or threatened by the derelictions of the individual." Additional factors would include deterrence or the reasonable prospect of recurrence, and "the standards of society to be applied to the offense involved" (Matter of Pell v. Board of Education, 34 NY2d 222, supra ; Harris v. Mechanicville Central School District, 45 NY2d 279, 380 N.E. 2d 213, 408 N.Y.S. 2d 384 (1978)).

The nonexistence of a prior disciplinary record in twenty years and the financial impact of the six month suspension without his salary, is clearly disproportionate to petitioner's conduct. He was forced to defend himself against criminal charges and was exposed to the stigma of being described as a "pervert" in the press. It is shocking to one's sense of fairness that petitioner is required to attend counseling or training to understand appropriate professional or physical boundaries, when touching and whispering is acceptable practice, and was done in the same manner that was permissible if performed by the heterosexual female librarian.

Upon review of all the papers submitted this Court finds that petitioner has met his burden of proof as to the determination based on public policy considerations. The sanctions imposed, while lesser than termination, are shocking to this Court's sense of fairness. A legally recognizable cause of action can be identified even if it is not skillfully prepared, therefore respondent's cross-motion to dismiss the petition is denied.

Accordingly, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the petition seeking to vacate, and set aside the arbitrator's decision pursuant to CPLR § 7511, and Education Law §3020-a (5), is granted, and it is further

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the hearing officer's opinion and award dated June 8, 2010, is vacated, and it is further

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that petitioner is restored to employment status with back pay and without any need for counseling or training, and it is further

ORDERED and ADJUDGED, that the cross-motion to dismiss the petition pursuant to CPLR §404(a), CPLR §3211(a)(5), CPLR §3211(a)(7), and CPLR §7511, is denied.

This constitutes the decision and judgment of this court.

June 28, 2011

Dennis Walcott's "Gentler" Chancellorship Doesn't Fool Anyone

OMG, this article is sooo annoying. What I read in Ms. Otterman's article below is that Mr. Dennis Walcott, NYC's new "not" chancellor (no contract, does not have any meaningful evaluations or performance reviews by anyone, etc), simply by being the anti-Cathie Black brings people around to support him.

 “He is doing the job that Black was meant to serve, which is putting a kinder, gentler face on the administration’s point of view,” said David C. Bloomfield.

Oh, really David?

A kinder, gentler way of putting the most cruel, legally invalid and harmful education policies in the history of public education in America -  once again looking at the general public as fooled by deception and evil intent. We in NYC have, I think, the largest number of parents and teachers in the country who now see the results of Mike Bloomberg's privitization of education.

And we are not fooled by Dennis Walcott. Not for one minute.

Oh, by the way, someone made an error in naming the seniority policy that Bloomberg wanted - "LIFO" - so that tenured teachers would be forced out rather than newbies. Didnt anyone do some thinking/research about this term? LIFO and FIFO ("first in, first out") refer to inventory left on a shelf that companies want moved for tax advantages.

No matter how nice you are, people are not products, Mr. Mayor. And I say this on the show "Lawline" that was taped last week and will be shown July 17, 2011. Check your channel guides. I was on a panel with lawyers Michael Mazzariello and Brian Glass.

Betsy Combier

June 28, 2011

For New Schools Chief, a Policy Statement in Tones of Harmony
By SHARON OTTERMAN, NY TIMES

Dennis M. Walcott, New York City’s schools chancellor, hates prepared texts for speeches and wears a pedometer to count his daily steps. So it stands to reason that during a 14-stop marathon of graduations over the past week, he frequently abandoned his seat and improvised.

As hundreds of seniors from his alma mater, Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, crossed a stage at Hofstra University to collect diplomas on Tuesday morning, Mr. Walcott stood up, found a roll of brown tape and knelt to secure a wire that had come loose in their path. At a ceremony for disabled students last Tuesday, he leapt off the stage to hand out awards. And at the cavernous New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Queens on Sunday, he nodded and swayed to the choir and the clashing of tambourines.

“A lot of you came up to me and said, ‘My prayers are with you,’ ” he said, warming up into a preacher’s cadence. “And you shook your head this way,” he said (side to side as if in despair), “instead of this way” (nodding enthusiastically).

“But you can shake your head this way,” he continued, responding to the building laughter, “because I love this job.”

Three months after his surprise ascension to head the nation’s largest school system amid its worst leadership crisis in recent memory, Mr. Walcott, 59, has worked hard to improve the administration’s relationships with key constituencies through frequent, sometimes unannounced, school visits and constant contact with the teachers’ union. But even after a tumultuous year in which parents, educators and advocates were shocked by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s appointment of a publishing executive with no education experience — and her subsequent implosion and ouster — Mr. Walcott still sees his role as building support for, and tweaking — not changing — policies.

His biggest achievement, he said in an interview Tuesday, was helping to avert teacher layoffs in a deal with the United Federation of Teachers. The deal came Friday after he personally went to union headquarters, the city school system’s equivalent of the Hatfields’ visiting the McCoys.

But principals are still smarting from the third year in a row of significant budget cuts. Heated opposition continues over the rapid expansion of charter schools, many of them fighting for space with traditional schools — the subject of a divisive lawsuit. And recent data from the state show fewer than a quarter of the city’s graduates are ready for college work.

Yet, after eight years of Joel I. Klein, who as schools chancellor had a confrontational style and favored rapid, radical change, and four months of Cathleen P. Black, the publisher whose learning curve and frequent gaffes made her untenable, many see Mr. Walcott’s style of smoothing feathers, nurturing relationships and promoting stability as its own kind of policy statement.

A month after a Quinnipiac poll found the public’s opinion of the mayor’s handling of education profoundly negative, the warm applause that Mr. Walcott, who attended city schools and sent his children to them, received at graduation ceremonies in all five boroughs signaled that a more approachable messenger might be nearly as important as the content of the message. The question, observers said, is whether he will be satisfied in the coming years with being a competent caretaker or use the growing good will to further a controversial agenda of school closings and high-stakes standardized testing.

“That’s a debate that is taking place all over the country,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. “Can you make real change without offending people? We are about to see.”

In an interview en route to the Francis Lewis graduation on Tuesday, Mr. Walcott said the shift to actually running the school system and its 143,000 workers after nearly a decade of overseeing it as deputy mayor felt profound, even though his new office is a three-minute walk from the old one and he has the same boss. He laughingly calls himself “the wandering chancellor,” and noted that the morning after Osama bin Laden was reported killed, he “popped by” three downtown schools just to get a feel for what was going on.

“The difference is that I am directly on the line; the issue is directly with me now,” he said. “If people are complaining about something, I can get a firsthand view rather than what people are telling me. That way, people can show me, rather than sugarcoating it.”

Following on the heels of a bitter relationship between the teachers’ union and Mr. Klein, Mr. Walcott is on the phone with Michael Mulgrew, the president of the union, “a minimum of once a day,” Mr. Mulgrew said, adding that the chancellor “was instrumental” in cementing the budget deal.

“Dennis is actually concerned about the schools and how the schools run,” he said.

Howard Wolfson, the deputy mayor who spent significant time this winter trying to block Ms. Black from embarrassing their boss, said that Mr. Walcott still attended the daily morning meeting of top mayoral aides — the only person outside City Hall to do so — and that Mr. Bloomberg “is thrilled with his performance.”

Mr. Wolfson said that Mr. Walcott had been an important voice in the budget negotiations “in favor of doing everything we could do to save teachers,” and that his relationship with Mr. Mulgrew, strengthened several years ago when the two collaborated to start four high schools, “was helpful in encouraging the union to come to the table with concessions.”

“When I walk with him on the street,” Mr. Wolfson added, “he is stopped by an enormous number of people, more than anyone but the mayor, and all of it positive.”

But while Mr. Klein ran the schools under a powerful mayor at the height of his popularity, Mr. Walcott is working for a third-term lame duck with low poll numbers. There are continuing concerns about the role of test preparation in the curriculum, the failure of the enrollment system to match all kindergartners to a local school, overcrowding, swelling class sizes and ever-shrinking budgets forcing hard choices.

“In the last three years we have lost $750,000, and we have nothing left to give,” said Frank A. Cimino, the principal of Public School 193 in Midwood, Brooklyn. “And yet they keep saying do more with less. It’s a very demoralizing message.”

Given the climate, “they need to give him a certain amount of independence to move things in a way that allows him to develop some support among constituents,” Joseph P. Viteritti, a professor of public policy at Hunter College and a longtime expert on the schools, said of Mr. Walcott. “And I don’t mean a charm offensive. You really need to listen to people and take their concerns into account and work with them. And that’s his strength.”

Mr. Walcott has already made some small changes around the edges. He has delayed by several months an education vision statement each principal has to hand in. He postponed the start of school in September by one day to let schools prepare for the Common Core, a new curriculum being adopted by most states.

But there is still no deal with the union on how to conduct newly mandated teacher evaluations, holding up millions of dollars in federal grants for struggling schools, though Mr. Walcott is hopeful one will be reached. The union and the N.A.A.C.P. are suing to stop school closings and charter schools from moving into district school buildings. There is still a feeling among opponents, particularly parent groups, that though Mr. Walcott listens more, he might not be hearing.

Their fear is that his presence at school plays and parent meetings, along with his ability to speak without notes to fence-sitters and friends alike, is more style than substance and will not translate into a more responsive leader, particularly for those who have chafed at the Bloomberg administration’s top-down approach.

“He is doing the job that Black was meant to serve, which is putting a kinder, gentler face on the administration’s point of view,” said David C. Bloomfield, a professor of education at the College of Staten Island, who disagrees with much of the mayor’s program. “From the initial announcement until today, everything he has done has been choreographed, and unlike Cathie Black, it has gone according to plan.”

Jessica Bell and Jessica Campbell contributed reporting.

The "N" Rating

The latest in the re-assignment-rubber-room-fantasy is that Bloomberg and Walcott can give teachers who were forced into substitute positions after being charged with 3020-a, an "N" rating at the end of the year.

This is crazy.

A UFT leader said something to the effect that 'this is the latest c--p that Principals are throwing at ATRs'.

Dont let an "N" sit on your rating sheet!!! Get your chapter leader to help you get a valid rating. I'm collecting information on this, so anyone can email me if he/she received an "N" at: betsy.combier@gmail.com.

This is from Chaz's blog:

"Teacher Reassignment Center" after their cases were settled or completed and sent to a school this year, the geniuses at Tweed have incorrectly labeled them as still being "reassigned" and given a "N" rating (Not rated). It appears the incompetents in the Human Resources Department of Tweed failed, or didn't bother to update their teacher data files to eliminate the "reassignment" designation. How much is Tweed spending on Technology that is supposed to eliminate such simple and stupid errors? Yes, the DOE is spending $900 million dollars and they can't even get the most simple change right.

I know there may be some people who believe that the DOE did this purposefully and to let other principals know that the ATR was a "reassigned teacher". The proverbial "Scarlet Letter"when they apply for the vacant positions in the schools. However, I am not one of them. I believe that the uncaring and incompetent people who work at the DOE didn't bother to update their teacher files, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on Technology and have left it up to the teacher and the union to try to correct the problem that should never had to be one in the first place.

If you are an ATR at a school and received a rating sheet of "N" (not rated}, you must meet with the Principal ( I suggest take your Chapter Leader with you). The Principal will need to contact Human Resources for them to remove the automatically generated "N" rating so that the Principal can give the proper rating of "S" (satisfactory). If the Principal fails to follow through, call your District Representative, Borough President, and email Michael Mulgrew at mmulgrew@uft.org to advise him of the lack of resolution on the "N" rating issue.

Things like this should never happen. However, we are talking about the DOE, where Administrative bloat, staff incompetence, and the wasting of hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to consultants who don't even have approved or legal contracts are a common practice. Remember, it is Tweed first, and everybody else last.

Posted by Chaz at 3:41 PM

MS 344, the Academy of Collaborative Education in Harlem, is a hellhole

The school from hell

By SUSAN EDELMAN

Last Updated: 2:31 PM, June 26, 2011

Kids hoot and yammer so loudly that their ruckus drowns out the teacher. A trash can is overturned in class and dumped. Grimy floors are littered with sunflower-seed shells, spit out by the hundreds.
Books and supplies fly out the windows. Mouse droppings are everywhere, even on the computers.
MS 344, the Academy of Collaborative Education in Harlem, is a hellhole where teachers should get combat pay -- they are cursed, assaulted and sometimes groped.

See video

"It was literally war," said a teacher who once found a sticky used condom in her purse. "I was pushed, shoved, scratched, thrown against the wall, spit on and pickpocketed. I just wanted peace."
The Department of Education has tried twice since last year to shut MS 344, the city's worst-performing middle school. MS 344 has made the state's list of "persistently dangerous" schools, and just two of 88 eighth-graders last year passed the state math or reading exams.

But the United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP went to court to block the closure and 21 others, arguing the DOE did nothing to fix the ailing schools. A Manhattan judge heard arguments last week and is expected to rule soon.

Meanwhile, MS 344 has festered.

Letters from its staff to ex-Chancellor Joel Klein begged for Principal Rashaunda Shaw's removal. They complain she's a tyrant who does nothing to impose discipline and respect. They charge she's always late, barely leaves her office "except for the bathroom," and hired a sister-in-law and her boyfriend's ex-wife, among other cronies.

Shaw, 35, also hired former Staten Island Assistant Principal Odufuyi Jackson, a friend who was busted in 2009 on felony charges that he conspired to steal more than $100,000 in Social Security benefits.

He pleaded guilty last year to attempted fabrication of business records. The DOE demoted Jackson to teacher, but Shaw has him doubling as a dean.

Shaw referred questions to the DOE press office. A spokeswoman said only, "A number of allegations are being investigated."

"It needs to be closed, closed, closed, because it's an unsafe place for children," a teacher said of the school. "It's heartbreaking that the small percentage who want to learn don't get the education they deserve."

Insiders gave The Post a sampling of the crime and lack of punishment.

* A teacher was transferred after a student threatened to rape his wife.
* A math teacher who tried to stop a student from hitting him was accused by Shaw of using "corporal punishment."
* A scrawny boy pulled out his wallet while surrounded by tough kids in the hall. A teacher learned the kid was robbed by the same gang every day for a month. Shaw reprimanded the teacher for phoning the victim's mom.

A UFT spokesman said the union has met with MS 344 staff in the past year on their safety, health
and classroom woes, including "the lack of administrative support" and alleged harassment by Shaw. But the union could cite no results from its effort.

    

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/the_school_from_hell_nVS0ubg9F7uzULCHOrNh2H#ixzz1QXq3FTra

PRINCIPAL RICHARD BOST WILL NOT BE BACK IN SEPTEMBER

Richard Bost

I and the rest of the known world have reported on the sexual abuse, harassment,and terrorizing tactics of Fordham Leadership Academy Principal Richard Bost.

This morning he told staff that he was "tired" of the complaints of the teachers and he would not be back in September.

PARTY!!!! I'll bring the brownies.

Betsy Combier