Wednesday, October 2, 2013

James' Victory, the Path Forward for Progressive Politics; Media's 11 O'Clock Ignoring Important Victory

<Update: link to WNYC map: who won, where
Happy Returns Dept.: Daily News gave official Reports from the Board of Elections>
Letitia James' resounding 59.4%-40.6% victory over Daniel Squadron, What it means for NYC progressive politics: A new day dawns for the city

(James at her Oct. 1 victory speech, with comptroller John Liu, left; councilor Melissa Mark-Viverito)
Really, NY1 has been the only channel worth watching. The television news has tenaciously ignored this important victory. NY1 has been all over this story and has reported --respectfully-- on Tish James' civic and activist record. All the 11:00 pm news outlets, for at least the first seven or so minutes (ABC 7 excepted), totally blanked out the Resounding Letitia James win over Daniel Squadron. James should feel flattered, for when there is news that really matters, like a thousand people marching in the street or mammoth protest rallies, the media ignore it. And the media definitely ignore any ideological statements, intellectual statements or fleshed out systemic critiques that protesters express. They ignored this important victory for progressive politics. James --from her recent record and her ambitious speeches ... indeed, by the dynamism of her leadership and vision, I anticipate even higher office, perhaps the mayoralty or senator, further on-- has a magnificent future ahead and the forces that be are scared. So they went over-board with the worse-than tabloid orgy of crashes, chases, stabbings and nothing of lasting significance. James and your campaign staff, feel tall that they ignored you.

The beginning of the end for reactionary education reform?
Anti-teacher liberals from Merryl Tisch and Andrew Cuomo in Albany to Rahm Emanuel in Chicago must be quivering today. Already by midday yesterday, Tisch blasted New York City mayor-to-be Bill de Blasio for his modest suggestion that charter schools stop exploiting public space and actually pay rent. The de Blasio-James paring is a formidable team that --we hope-- will set a new path forward for education policy.

Squadron, with his support of charter schools, his sponsoring mayoral control extension legislation, with his record of being on the take from privatizers of the public space on which libraries sit, represented the neo-liberal wing of the democrats at its slickest. Yes, good on lots of issues, like compassion for the homeless, but he has been a severe disappointment, to put it lightly, on some key social commonwealth issues (schools and libraries.) By contrast, look at this blog (here, here and here) and Perdido Street School to see James' solid record of activism, both in the city council and in the public square to see her authentic progressivism. (Perhaps the red-scare against de Blasio had taken some of our (we bloggers) attention off of this race and the important issues that it represented. And the more I read on her record and watched her videos, the more impressed I was.) This record which drove solid unity of the unions (excluding the collaborationist Unity-dominated UFT, but her clear stance apart from ed reform probably compelled them to shy away from her) behind her, this will not be the main focus of media coverage of her victory.

A new progressive municipal politics?
The media will talk about how she is the first woman of color in a citywide office. Yes, with the continuing legacy of sexism and racism, this is an important fact not to be discounted or overlooked. But that will largely be the media spin of this. De Blasio and James have excellent, progressive critiques and plans; this will be a positive refreshing change for all of those who have endured Bloomberg. And their example will inspire politicians and Americans well beyond New York. Alas, they and we must remain vigilant. While the Daily Beast optimistically suggested that de Blasio may portend a progressive trend nationally, it also discussed the challenge he has in tackling income inequality in the city.

But be wary of the media. After the victory honeymoon watch out: the media's uncritical echoing of the Joe Lhota economic rightist fear-mongering over de Blasio was only the shape of corporate media propagandist things to come. Watch the media echo the business class' push-back and manipulative scare-mongery against the de Blasio-James initiatives.

All in all, this is a beautiful day in New York.

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NYC Education Activism Calendar

Get involved with the fight to defend public education!

Oppose & resist Cuomo, DeBlasio, DeVos, Farina!

- The MORE caucus UFT's important upcoming events:
  
  Friday 1/5/18 4:30-6:30pm
  City As School
  16 Clarkson St
  Manhattan
  We will strategize about resisting DeBlasio's plans to close or merge 14 Renewal Schools.
- Map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/16+Clarkson+St,+New+York,+NY+10014/@40.7291091,-74.0082884,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25992ac002507:0x68aa91fb40bff351!8m2!3d40.7291091!4d-74.0060997

Sign the Petition: Terminate Comm. John King's Employment

New York State Board of Regents: Terminate the Employment of State Education Commissioner, John King

2. Petition by
  Coalition for Justice in Education

PETITION TO TERMINATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF NYS EDUCATION COMMISSIONER, JOHN KING
(references substantiating each charge available at www.coalitionforjusticeineducation.com)

John King has served as New York State Commissioner of Education since 2011. During his tenure, the quality of education in NY has continued to decline; particularly in poor and rural districts.

1 The Commissioner’s solutions rely upon blindly accepting NCLB, RTTT and Common Core policies and implementing more high-stakes, standardized testing for evaluation of students and teachers,

2 implementation of an untested national curriculum,

3 undemocratic corporate management strategies for operating schools,

4 more privatization of schools

5 and insistence that poverty-related conditions are not an excuse for low student achievement.

6 Furthermore, Commissioner King: · Refuses to lend credibility to staff and community-voiced concerns that much of Common Core curriculum and testing is developmentally inappropriate for students, and that NYS teachers received no significant training for the implementation of Common Core,

7 Refuses to allow meaningful dialogue about Common Core tests by imposing a “gag order” on teachers and administrators, preventing them from discussing test questions among themselves or with students,

8 Supports policy to allow private corporate vendors to have access to personal student data, without parental consent, for the purpose of marketing educational services,

9 and ·Remains silent on the stress-related suffering by many students taking recent Common Core tests,

10 Promotes the reduction of the reading of fiction in favor of an increase in informational texts (50% informational texts in elementary school, and 70% for 12th grade readings by 2014)

11 with the generally predicted impact of a further reduction in the joy of reading and learning for all students especially those with learning challenges,

12 Continues to advocate more high-stakes, standardized testing, despite research concluding that it is ineffective for motivating students and increasing their learning,

13· Continues to ignore positive research results for the use of performance-based assessment, such as portfolios, performances, presentations and exhibitions, by more NYS schools,

14· Advocates for more closings and privatization of low-performing schools,

15 despite research indicating that charter schools are generally less effective than public schools,

16 and promote more racial and class-based segregation,

17 and create negative impact on community morale, motivation and development,

18· Advocates the use of poorly designed, ineffective corporate strategies, such as APPR, which de-professionalize teaching,

19 We, the undersigned, strongly believe that New York State’s education reform agenda is fundamentally flawed and must be re-directed in a humanistic, research-based manner; directly counter to the direction Commissioner King has taken. New York State children, parents and teachers need an education commissioner who passionately supports and actively works for:
· De-concentrating the impact of poverty in classrooms and schools,
· Institutionalizing performance-based assessments,
· Ending the obsessive use of high-stakes, standardized testing,
· Developing creative, alternative curriculum, assessments and schools,
· Assisting poverty-stricken, low-performing schools through collaboration with teachers, parents community members and students, rather than through closures and privatization,
· Ending corporate reform,
· Using school practitioners and constructivist-oriented consultants for developing and implementing curriculum & assessments,
· Implementing a moratorium on the Common Core Curriculum,
· Transforming the NYSED to serve as helpful consultants to schools and school districts, rather than enforcers of top-down policies that are disrespectful to teachers and harmful to students.

Therefore, we, the undersigned respectfully urge the NYS Board of Regents to terminate the employment of John King as NYS Education Commissioner, and immediately search for, and hire a candidate who strongly reflects the characteristics described above.

Cent. NY English Teacher's Lament: 'I am a teacher, and I am tired'

By Savanna Kucerak, English teacher, Homer C.S.D., as published by NYSUT:

"I am a teacher, and I am tired"

Tired of coming home every night angry, abused, and insulted.

Tired of being treated as a child, as a robot, as a stepping stone for politician$ and publi$hing companie$ to make more money.

Tired of ignorance littering the air: “the Common Core is an exciting time in education!” or “APPR is just showing off the wonderful work you already do!”

Tired of being told to “wait it out,” that the “pendulum will swing the other way eventually” while witnessing the casualties pile up — casualties with names and dreams and futures and the RIGHT to the BEST EDUCATION we can give them.

Tired of being afraid to stand up for what I know is right for our kids and our country because I am afraid of losing my job and being unable to pay my bills.

Tired of my superiors being afraid to stand up for what they know is right for our kids and our country because they, too, are afraid of losing their livelihood.

Tired of wanting to be better, volunteering to do additional work, and watching helplessly as any progress I have made is brushed aside by the newest educational reform acronym.

Tired of being told, “Ohh, sorry, but my hands are tied,” accompanied by a half smile, a shrug of the shoulders.

Tired of spending hours of my life documenting and sorting and filing instead of revising and learning and improving.

Tired of wasting taxpayer money on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink.

Tired of being a taxpayer, watching as my money is spent on binders and tabs and computer paper and ink instead of STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS and STUDENTS.

Tired of paying my student loan bills and nostalgically remembering that I chose to be a teacher, that I wanted to teach, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead.

Tired of my two degrees and experience and individuality being ignored and devalued.

Tired of knowing what’s best for my students, but being told NOT to do it.

Tired of telling the best and brightest young people NOT to be teachers — and meaning it.

Tired of being told that if I love literature, then I’d better choose another profession.

Tired of Googling “what can I do besides teach?” only to close out of the browser every time, knowing there is nothing I’d be better at or love more than what was formerly known as “teaching.”

Tired of living in a country where my dream job no longer exists – where “teacher” is now synonymous with data-collector, test-prepper, script-reader, automaton.

Tired of grappling with the notion that I now have a job instead of a life or even a career.

Tired of disillusionment poisoning even the best of days.

Tired of telling my students that they will be heard if they support their arguments with evidence, yet knowing in my heart that that is a lie.

Tired of worrying about my own future children, who will either be numbers under this developing “educational” system – or dealing with the wreckage of a failed, expensive national tragedy in which all the best teachers have either abandoned this sinking ship or remain on board as empty shells, whispered voices, gasping for air.

I am tired, but I am still here – and there are many of me.

Join us. Say something. Do something.

Our collective future depends on it.”

S.I. parents chafing under the Common Core perversion of curriculum

The Common Core - that's that toxic result of ill-minded state and federal policy plus a tone-deaf collaborationist union leadership.

"My son made a comment to me the other day. He asked, 'Did I become stupid?'" said his father, James Hardison. "We're supposed to be inspiring students, and giving them what they need to be successful. For a 10-year-old child to feel discouraged like this, something is not right." --from SILive.com, 3/28/13, powered by the Staten Island Advance.

Culture of testing takes a toll on Staten Island pupils and their families (photos/video). [Ed.: It's not mere testing, it's testing to support the Common Core, foisted upon America by the unelected, non-educator, David Coleman.]

MORE -Our working conditions are our students' learning conditions

Check Out New Yorker's App on Inequality and the Subway

This cool app at the New Yorker's website, "Inequality and New York's Subway," takes each MTA subway/elevated line and matches stations with U.S. Census-provided household income.

The results are stark. Along the 6 train in the upper half of Manhattan, the results vary from over $150,000 to under $25,000.

New York City has a problem with income inequality. And it’s getting worse—the top of the spectrum is gaining and the bottom is losing. Along individual subway lines, earnings range from poverty to considerable wealth. The interactive infographic here charts these shifts, using data on median household income, from the U.S. Census Bureau, for census tracts with subway stations.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

James' Victory, the Path Forward for Progressive Politics; Media's 11 O'Clock Ignoring Important Victory

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