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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

1994 Case on Teaching Outside Your License Area



Appeal of MARY MCSWEENEY from action of the Board of Education of the Johnsburg Central School District regarding a teaching assignment.
Decision No. 13,141 (April 1, 1994)
http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume33/d13141.htm
Bernard F. Ashe, Esq., attorney for petitioner, Kevin H. Harren, Esq., of counsel
Judge & Duffy, Esqs., attorneys for respondent, H. Wayne Judge, Esq., of counsel
SOBOL, Commissioner.--Petitioner, a tenured teacher, appeals her assignment to an in-school restriction room. The appeal must be sustained in part.
Petitioner has been employed by the Board of Education of the Johnsburg Central School District ("respondent") since 1968. Petitioner became a probationary teacher in the elementary tenure area on September 10, 1968 and acquired tenure effective March 3, 1971. She holds a permanent teaching certificate in the area of "nursery, kindergarten and common branch subjects".
On May 1, 1993, respondent advised petitioner that her tentative teaching assignment for the 1993-94 school year was the fourth grade. On August 8, 1993, respondent voted to create an in-school restriction room (ISR) and transfer petitioner to that assignment. Petitioner was provided with the job description of the ISR teacher, which involved providing educational services to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Since petitioner began that assignment on September 8, 1993, however, all the students in the ISR room have been in seventh through twelfth grades.
On September 13, 1993, respondent found probable cause to prefer charges against petitioner under Education Law '3020-a. This appeal ensued. Petitioner's request for interim relief pending a final determination on the merits of her appeal was denied on October 1, 1993.
Petitioner alleges that the change in her teaching assignment from the fourth grade to the in-school restriction room violated her tenure rights because the students in the ISR room are secondary students, and she had not consented to an assignment outside of the elementary tenure area. Respondent acknowledges that in the first few days of school, it is not uncommon to see older students in the ISR room, but because ISR serves kindergarten through twelfth grades, the assignment does not fall outside petitioner's tenure area.
It is clear that a teacher may not be assigned outside his or her tenure area without the teacher's consent to the assignment (Appeal of Elia, 30 Ed Dept Rep 105; Matter of Daly, 23 id. 226; Matter of Sammon, 20 id. 335; Matter of Singer, 19 id. 297; Matter of O'Connor, 19 id. 213). In this matter, the record indicates that petitioner is spending most of her professional time providing education services to secondary school students. Moreover, there is no evidence that petitioner consented to this apparent change in assignment. Therefore, respondent violated petitioner's tenure rights by assigning her outside of her tenure area.
Respondent also contends that since petitioner is now the subject of disciplinary charges, instituted pursuant to Education Law '3020-a, it may assign her outside of her tenure area. Under '3020-a(2) a teacher may be suspended with pay pending resolution of such charges. In this case, the charges against petitioner are significant, and if proven, may indicate that she is unfit to teach. Respondent was, therefore, not obligated to maintain petitioner in her fourth grade assignment and could assign her to administrative duties pending resolution of the '3020-a charges (Adlerstein v. Board of Education, 64 NY2d 90, 485 NYS2d 1 (1984); Appeal of Middleton, 16 Ed Dept Rep 368). However, petitioner is correct in asserting that the in-school suspension room is not an administrative assignment, but is actually a teaching assignment outside her tenure area. There is no statutory, regulatory or decisional authority which authorizes a board of education to unilaterally assign a teacher outside of his or her tenure area while suspended pending resolution of '3020-a charges. Under the circumstances, therefore, respondent should reassign petitioner to administrative duties pending a final determination on the '3020-a charges.
THE APPEAL IS SUSTAINED TO THE EXTENT INDICATED.
IT IS ORDERED that respondent reassign petitioner to an assignment consistent with the terms of this decision.
END OF FILE

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Anissa Chalmers, Gangsta Principal of PS 132, Stars in XXXX Rated Movies

I rated the movie. Despite countless incidents reported to authorities by staff, Anissa Chalmers thought she was a "teflon principal" - everything reported wouldn't stick. Her staff couldn't take it anymore. Do not let your children watch her movie.

Think about the double standard of the New York City Department of Education, where a teacher who taps a child on the shoulder and says "good job!" or, "Let's get back to work!" is brought to 3020-a for termination by the Gotcha Squad. Please continue to send me and media outlets such as the NY POST stories like this one so we all - parents, teachers, staff - can expose this pattern of lawlessness at the NYC DOE. DOE, I hope you pay for the dental work for Haifa Soto's son!!!!

Betsy Combier 

PS 132 Principal Anissa Chalmers (now Anissa Reilly)

Sunday, March 17, 2013


PS 132

 

Bronx school principal’s movie role as gun-slinging gangsta alarms parents

  • Last Updated: 5:26 AM, March 17, 2013
  • Posted: 11:45 PM, March 16, 2013
  • LINK
The principal of a Bronx elementary school moonlights as an actress, starring in a bloody B-movie as a vicious gangbanger who deals drugs, robs, rapes and murders.
Anissa Chalmers, principal of PS 132 in Morrisania, plays a gangsta who shoots an innocent woman in an initiation rite, rapes and kills a man for revenge, and slaughters three others in the un-rated “Gang Girl.”

 In real life, Chalmers, 40, is under investigation by the city Department of Education for an undisclosed allegation, an agency spokeswoman said.

Over 112 days in the current academic year, her school has seen 172 reported student “incidents,” including 111 offenses such as smoking, cursing and misusing property. PS 132 has been the scene of several recent violent altercations among kids, and two secretaries were charged with theft.
PS 132 Principal Anissa Chalmers
 
“Gang Girl” was released in 2009, about three years after Chalmers was named principal of PS 132, where she makes $129,920 a year.
The movie, set in The Bronx, is filled with foul language, beatings, blood and sexual violence. It ends with Chalmers’ character, gang leader “Queen V,” on death row.
“Open, motherf--ker. You like the way that tastes, n----r?” she snarls, shoving a gun into a man’s mouth. She then blows him away.
Some teachers and parents say life imitates art at the school.
Last June, an 8-year-old boy at her school slashed a 9-year-old classmate’s neck with a razor.
Parents say bullying and fighting are a big problem at PS 132, which the DOE gave an overall grade of “D” but an “F” for student performance and an “F” for “environment,” which includes safety.
One mother, Haifa Soto, said her 10-year-old son, Zahid Benzan, suffered a cracked front tooth in a fight last year. Chalmers, she said, refused to file a report and did not call cops.
“She just told me, ‘Go to the dentist,’ ” Soto said.
Shortly after The Post asked the DOE about the incident Friday, Soto arrived at school at dismissal to find Zahid in Chalmers’ office.
“She wanted to see his face,” the furious mother recalled.
In 2011, the mother of a third-grader who traded blows with a classmate sued the city. After speaking with Chalmers and a teacher, cops handcuffed the kid and “paraded” her out of the school, the suit said. No charges were brought. The city settled for $20,000.
In 2008, two PS 132 secretaries were arrested and charged with looting $200,000 in school funds. Last November, they were put on probation and ordered to pay a total $106,000 in restitution.
Some parents have seen “Gang Girl” — DVDs sell on the street for $5, and an online rental is $1.99 — and were disturbed by it, despite a redemptive ending in which Chalmers’ Queen V character turns to Christianity and serves in the Scared Straight program.
“It’s crazy. It’s real graphic,” a mother said, referring to scenes in which Queen V is raped and tortures one of her attackers before killing him. “It’s not something you want your kids to see. My son hasn’t seen it, but imagine if he did?”
Another mom said: “One of these students could find this on the Internet, and then what? How am I supposed to explain that to my children?”
Teachers say the principal is hardly a role model for kids.
“She’s like the ‘Gang Girl’ principal,” one said. “The video is reflective of her personality at school — the bullying, in-your-face approach. She can be very intimidating.”
Chalmers also has parts in the indie flicks “Speedsuit,” about a school bully, and “We Fall Down,” about a pastoral couple in crisis.
She referred questions to the DOE press office, which declined to comment on her “Gang Girl” role.
One parent defended Chalmers, saying: “She’s a great principal. Ronald Reagan waved a gun in Western movies, and he became president of the United States.”
PS 132 in Morrisania is a blackboard jungle:
* Two school secretaries charged in 2008 with stealing $200,000.
* 172 reported student “incidents” over 112 days this school year, including 111 offenses such as smoking, cursing and misusing property.
* 10-year-old girl cuffed by cops in 2010 after exchanging kicks and punches with classmate; city pays $20,000 to settle mother’s lawsuit.
* Eight-year-old boy slashes classmate’s neck with a razor
* 10-year-old boyhas front tooth chipped off in school fight
* Chalmers remains under investigation since last year
susan.edelman@nypost.com

Principal of violent Bronx elementary school moonlighted as murderous gangster in foul-mouthed B-grade movie

| 
Actress: Anissa Chalmers, pictured right, is the principal of PS 132 in the Bronx and plays a gangster in an unrated film called 'Gang Girl'
Actress: Anissa Chalmers is the principal of PS 132 in the Bronx and plays a gangster in an unrated film called 'Gang Girl'
The principal of a New York City elementary school rife with bullying and violence is an amateur actress who starred as a murderous gangster in a low budget movie, it has been revealed.
Parents and teachers at PS 132, a school based in same area of the Bronx where a 23-year-old recently butchered his mother and littered her body parts around the neighborhood, are outraged at the example Anissa Chalmers is setting for students.
According to The New York Post, Chalmers is under investigation by the Department of Education, though the allegations against the 40-year-old aren't clear. In the gruesome 2009 film, called 'Gang Girl,' her character 'Queen V' ends up on death row after a rampage of robbing, raping and slaughtering.
For her initiation into the gang, Queen V shoots an innocent woman and later she rapes and kills a man in a revenge attack then slays three others.
'Open, motherf***er. You like the way that tastes, n*****' she says in the film before putting a gun in a man's mouth and pulling the trigger.
According to The Post, 172 student 'incidents' have been reported at Chalmers' school over 112 days in the current academic year. The vast majority were offenses such as smoking, swearing and mistreating school property but others were fights among students, the newspaper reports.
Chalmers earns $129,920 a year and has been principal for around six years but some claim she's a bad role model for the students.
'She's like the 'Gang Girl' principal,' one teacher told The Post. 'The video is reflective of her personality at school — the bullying, in-your-face approach. She can be very intimidating.'
Scroll down for video
Example: Parents and teachers at PS 132 are outraged at the example Anissa Chalmers, pictured front bottom in character, is setting for students
Example: Parents and teachers at PS 132 are outraged at the example Anissa Chalmers, pictured front bottom in character, is setting for students

Investigation: Chalmers, pictured in character, is under investigation by the Department of Education, though the allegations against the 40-year-old aren't clear
Investigation: Chalmers, pictured in character, is under investigation by the Department of Education, though the allegations against the 40-year-old aren't clear
A concerned mother told the newspaper: 'It's crazy. It's real graphic,' referring to scenes where Queen V is raped and tortures one of her attackers before slaughtering him for revenge. 'It's not something you want your kids to see. My son hasn't seen it, but imagine if he did?'

 

Another parent said: 'One of these students could find this on the Internet, and then what? How am I supposed to explain that to my children?'
DVDs of the movie are on sale in the street for $5 and it can be rented online for $1.99.
School: Chalmers earns $129,920 a year and has been principal at PS 132, pictured, in the Bronx for around six years
School: Chalmers earns $129,920 a year and has been principal at PS 132, pictured, in the Bronx for around six years
The Department of Education rated PS 132 a 'D' overall but in the student performance and school environment categories it scored an 'F'.
According to The Post, an eight-year-old student at the school used a razor to slash the neck of a nine-year-old classmate last June. 
Haifa Soto said her son, Zahid Benzan, 10, cracked his front tooth during an altercation with another student last year but she said the principal wouldn't file a report or get the police involved.
'She just told me, "Go to the dentist,"' Soto told The Post.
In 2008, two school secretaries were arrested and charged with stealing $200,000 in school money.
They were put on probation and ordered to pay back $106,000.
Chalmers and the DOE press office refused to comment on the film.

 VIDEO  Bronx elementary school teacher in foul-mouthed B-movie




DOE raps ‘gangsta’ principal

  • Last Updated: 3:59 AM, March 18, 2013
  • Posted: 1:03 AM, March 18, 2013
  • LINK
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott yesterday blasted a Bronx principal for playing a gun-wielding gangbanger in a bloody B-movie.
“The chancellor is aghast at the images in and content of the film, which are totally inappropriate,’’ a city Department of Education spokeswoman said.
The Post revealed yesterday that Anissa Chalmers, principal of PS 132 in Morrisania, acted in the low-budget flick “Gang Girl,” which features beatings, shootings and rape.
“The chancellor is always concerned about both real and perceived violence and its impact on students,” the spokeswoman said.
Chalmers’ school has seen several recent violent altercations. PS 132 got an overall grade of “D’’ and an “F’’ for “environment,’’ which includes safety.
Chalmers received a waiver to appear in the film, but the DOE didn’t know the film’s content, according to the spokeswoman.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Excess'd-Teacher Without A Room: Evaluating ATRs

Evaluate this!

LINK


If you are following the ATR blogs and such you know about the recent suggestion that the evaluation of the ATR's be based on the field observer's assessment of how well you manage a classroom.  How, really, HOW can anyone who has any teaching experience think that an appropriate measure of an ATR value as a teacher, their profession,  is to be in the arena of substitute classroom management.  The reasons one can come up with against this ridiculous suggestion are too numerous to mention.  However, it would have taken some creativity and coordination to actually come up with a true overall evaluation system; one that includes how well the entire ATR system has been implemented; what good has it done any school, excessed teacher or over crowded classroom.  Until we do that I don't see why we don't just use the evaluation system I just put together.

HOW TO EVALUATE A MEMBER OF THE ATR


Said member of ATR still desires to work as a teacher in the NYC system despite being disrespected, devalued and demeaned...............................................................................10 Points

Said member of ATR arrives every school day prepared to step into a classroom that they know
nothing about and do the best they can..........................................................10 Points

Said member of the ATR has adapted their gastro-intestinal clock to a daily schedule that may have lunch at 10:30am or 11:15 am or 12:00 pm............................................................... 10 points

Said member of ATR has managed to survive the assault on their career and continue to believe that they have made the right career choice when they decided to teach........ ..............10 points

Said member of the ATR has cultivated a Zen like stillness that comes in handy as one sits on a pointless chair in a pointless room staring, always staring...............................................20 points

Said member of the ATR has developed the dexterity, reflexes and increased peripheral vision to combat the daily assault of UFO's during lunchroom duty...........................................10 points

Said member of the ATR has remained real and vocal despite the growing efforts to make them ghostly apparitions that  have no substance................................................................10 points

Said member of the ATR  has decided not to tutor, teach at a charter, work as a tour guide, nor start a career as a stand-up comedian instead of being a member of the ATR............10 points

Said member of the ATR insists that the UFT stand up for their rights and that representation not be denied the dues paying members...............................................................................10 points


The ATR is a good thing in that we are not in Washington DC.  The ATR is also a public relations nightmare and the sooner the DOE and the UFT come to realize that they can benefit the schools and children of NYC by utilizing the teaching resources we already have and that are being paid for the better off everyone will be. This "evaluation" is a poor effort to justify an unjust system by making believe that it has a solid educational framework as its base when it is nothing but a scythe to cut down tenured teachers. We are, after all, educators are we not?

Hot Rumor From Chaz11: NYC DOE Tries To Get Rid of the Chapter 683 Program...To Save Money

Friday, March 15, 2013

LINK

Is The DOE Trying To Shortchange Special Education Students By Witholding Chapter 683 Money For The Summer?

It has come to my attention that many of the District 75 schools have informed their teachers that the DOE has not authorized the school's Administration to implement the Chapter 683 program.  The Chapter 683 program (Article Twelve, page 78 of the latest UFT/DOE contract) was originally implemented because the "best teachers" who worked with these needy children refused to work the summer (July and August) on per session pay.  Instead the Chapter 683 program was implemented to retain these teachers by increasing the teacher's salary by 17.5%, or double pay for the summer months.  Furthermore, the Chapter 683 program allowed the teacher to have more money taken out for their TDA which gives a guaranteed 8.25% annually.  While the guaranteed interest rate was reduced to 7% in December of 2009, it still is 5-6% more than you can get at a bank CD or money market fund.  Finally, it increased their annual pension by hundreds of dollars

The Chapter 683 program was a success as the"best teachers" who worked with their "high needs" students stayed with them during the summer.  This was a win-win for all parties.  The students kept their teacher who knew how to handle the child's unique problems throughout the summer and for a full, not part of a school day.  The teachers received "double pay" and could help fund their retirement. The school Administrator did not have to micromanage and worry about teachers who were unfamiliar with the students as they operated on a "trial and error" basis.  Oops, I forgot, there was one loser,Tweed, who had to hand out a couple of million dollars extra to fund the Chapter 683 program.

Over the years, under the Bloomberg Administration, the DOE tried to find ways to cut special education costs and while Chapter 683 money was relatively safe, there was one aborted attempt to change how Chapter 683 money could be spent.  Chancellor Joel Klein authorized Garth Harries to find cost savings and thankfully the opposition from parents, teachers, and school-based administrators were so fierce that he abandoned the idea and fled to Bridgeport Connecticut to become Chancellor.  Now it seems there is a rumor that Chapter 683 money may be in jeopardy and adding to the rumor is that the principals of District 75 have not been authorized to hire for the summer under Chapter 683.  Is this simply DOE incompetence or something more sinister?  Could the DOE be considering the elimination of the Chapter 683 program?  I certainly hope not.

If by some chance the DOE is considering the limiting or elimination of the Chapter 683 program, it would be their dumbest idea in quite a while.  These children are the most needy students in the NYC school system and taking away the Chapter 683 program is putting these helpless children at increased risk.  Let's hope I am wrong and the DOE's reluctance to post Chapter 683 positions for the 2013 summer school is simply a lack of competence on their part.and not part of their"children last" policy.