De Blasio has Failed on Education -Don't Relect Him

Mayor Bill De Blasio has failed in his job.
The teaching and learning experience has not improved in the schools.

Cellphones --wonder why your stats are down? You can thank DeBlasio for your tanking Regents and Common Core test scores - Research shows this is a disaster
In fact, in some ways, the situation in schools has gotten worse.
Cellphones were banned from schools under Bloomberg. Students cannot learn when there are cellphones in schools. They are rampantly misused in schools. Students will not pay attention to their studies when there is the option of looking at anything of their interest at the moment on their phones.

Research demonstrates that cellphones in the classroom are a disaster. An article in the journal Communication Education documented:

Students who were not using their mobile phones wrote down 62% more information in their notes, took more detailed notes, were able to recall more detailed information from the lecture, and scored a full letter grade and a half higher on a multiple choice test than those students who were actively using their mobile phones. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.

 Other research has suggested that student cellphone may reduce the quality of teaching. The study in question documented that teachers are feeling increasingly frustrated over the student use of cellphones.  Given all the research showing the negative impact, why are we still allowing cellphones in the classroom? This is a threat to students learning, and by extension this is a threat to teachers' careers. DeBlasio has said nothing on the widespread use of the phones and of course he has said nothing about reconsidering his reversal of the Bloomberg policy on phones.

DeBlasio has continued unabated the assault on teachers.Nothing has improved. The extremely oppressive administrators from the Bloomberg era remain.  De Blasio has not given a message to administrators to be humane and professional.

Preservation of undemocratic school governance. De Blasio has continued the denial of democratic representation. Thus, parents have no say. Certain issues do not see the light of day in public discussions.
This lack of community voice has led to disasters in school leadership.
Teachers, parents and supporters of public schools should not reward DeBlasio with another term.

Do not vote on the mayoral line, or vote Green. Just do not vote for DeBlasio.

Randi Weingarten Secretly Met with Steve Bannon -- Quisling!

Yes, you read that right. The Intercept on November 1, 2017 reported that this meeting happened. In a classic, but ignominious fashion, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,did a collaborationist act and met with The Architect of Alt-Right demogoguery. We can just hear the rationales now, that she wanted to get a seat, or more likely, stool at the table.

Disgusting creep, that he was in the White House was bad enough; but Randi got snookered into meeting him to get a deal??? The stooge, she took the seat at the table thing to the most obscene end. This was merely the extension of the dumb move she made in not endorsing an opponent of Bloomberg, because she though she could get a good deal.

 This was merely the extension of the dumb move she made in not endorsing an opponent of Bloomberg, because she though she could get a good deal.
Here are the key quotes, from 'The Intercept':

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten met one-on-one with then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon back in March, following the announcement of President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts and plan to craft a $1 trillion infrastructure package. The Intercept learned of the meeting, which has not been previously reported, independent of Weingarten or Bannon. It was instigated through a mutual friend and appeared to be part of Bannon’s effort to realign the parties, according to Weingarten.

“Look, I will meet with virtually anyone to make our case, and particularly in that moment, I was very, very concerned about the budget that would decimate public education,” Weingarten said. “I wanted it to be a real meeting, I didn’t want it to be a photo-op, so I insisted that the meeting didn’t happen at the White House.”

Weingarten didn’t take notes at the meeting, which was held at a Washington restaurant, but told The Intercept she and Bannon talked about “education, infrastructure, immigrants, bigotry and hate, budget cuts … [and] about a lot of different things.”

She came away a bit shook. “I came out of that conversation saying that this was a formidable adversary,” she said.

He was looking, Weingarten said, for some common ground that could assist him in realigning the two parties, his long-term goal in politics.“I think he sees the world as working people versus elites. And on some level, he’s thought about educators as working-class folks. But what he doesn’t do is think about the other side of educators, as people who fiercely believe in equality and inclusion. It isn’t an either/or philosophy. The [Martin Luther] King philosophy of jobs and justice is not the Bannon philosophy, let’s put it that way,” she said. “He’s trying to figure out where the friction is, and how to change the alignment. I think that’s really what he was trying to do.”

Hearing Bannon attack elites, including the types of hedge fund Democrats who fund the charter school movement, in the same way she would, was surreal. “He hates crony capitalism,” Weingarten said. “The same kinds of things [we say], you could hear out of his mouth, and that’s why it’s so — you sit there in a surreal way, saying, ‘How can you sit right next to all these elites?’”

Since the election, Weingarten has emerged as one of the most vocal leaders within Democratic circles to resist Trump’s agenda – regularly speaking out against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, deportation threats, budget cuts, and attacks on the Affordable Care Act. She was one of the first Hillary Clinton allies to endorse the Bernie Sanders-backed Keith Ellison in his race for chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Less than two weeks after the election, Weingarten and Maureen Costello of the Southern Poverty Law Center sent an open letter to the president-elect, signed by 100 other organizations, calling on him to forcefully denounce hate. “While you spoke against bullying, intimidation and hate crimes in your ‘60 Minutes’ interview, the appointment of ‘alt-right’ hero Steve Bannon as your chief strategist — which has been cheered by the Ku Klux Klan, the American Renaissance and other white supremacist groups — sends the exact opposite message,” they wrote.

Bannon’s embrace of the “alt-right” movement has at once propelled his rise and put a ceiling on it. It took him from obscurity to the White House and now to the head of a rebel conservative movement. But his ability to realign the parties is hampered by those more noxious elements of his coalition. It was reportedly Bannon, for instance, who urged Trump to not condemn white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, even after one of them allegedly killed a counterprotester with his car. That makes Bannon’s hunt for allies among labor unions and within the black and brown working class that much harder.

“This is one smart guy,” Weingarten said, “but I was pretty clear with him about my criticism of the white nationalism philosophy.” For Weingarten, who is Jewish and a lesbian, Bannon’s “alt-right” politics are more than an abstract threat. Indeed, in a typical White House, a labor leader would not ask to have a meeting outside the White House and then say nothing about it for six months.
In August, just days before he was fired (or resigned) from Trump’s administration, Bannon called Robert Kuttner, co-editor of liberal magazine American Prospect, to talk about a range of issues, including trade and identity politics. Kuttner published a summary of their conversation, remarking that he left “with a sense both of [Bannon’s] savvy and his recklessness.”

Weingarten came away with the same impression: “Let me say it this way: Kuttner’s download about their meeting was not surprising to me in the least.”

At the time of the meeting, the Trump administration had proposed slashing the federal education budget by 13.5 percent, a figure that would amount to more than $9 billion in cuts. The White House also proposed cutting Medicaid by $800 billion, threatening school districts with funding they use to provide health and special education services.

For the rest of the article, go to the original 'The Intercept' site.
Instead of meeting with Bannon, Weingarten should have been leading a real resistance in the schools and in the streets.
As they say, 'No words' for how disgusting her move was.

Gotham Gazette Lowers Itself to Using Tea Partyish Terminology for Democrats

So, you Google for information about 2017 New York City municipal races, and you get
Fox News / Tea Party -type terminology about candidates of the Democratic Party: Democrat, as in 'Democrat Party.' (The competing candidates are listed below, after the links to articles calling out the childish name calling that the Gotham Gazette used.)

Either the writer, Ben Max, at the Gotham Gazette is massively ignorant, or the writer is trying to employ a rightist dig against Democratic candidates: using the adjective-turned noun for Republicans and Libertarians, but using the epithet "Democrat."

There are several articles analyzing the conservatives' turning the term 'Democrat' into an epithet:

From 'The Economist:'
What's wrong with the "Democrat Party": It's not ungrammatical. It's discourteous

From 'The Minnesota Post:'
‘Democrat Party:’ The GOP’s childish name game

From Wikipedia:
Democrat Party (epithet) | Wikipedia

Ben Max's repeated use of 'Democrat' epithet: (He must have laboriously gone through and removed the letters, "ic" for each of the Democratic candidates.)

Below is a list of candidates for many city races of 2017. Keep in mind that some candidates will appear on multiple ballot lines, though we will not necessarily list them all.

Gotham Gazette will be editing this list on a running basis leading to Election Day, November 7, as well as adding more to our 2017 election coverage, including more detail about candidates, races, issues, campaign endorsements and fundraising, debates, and more.

---General election list updated October 3, 2017---

Mayor
Bill de Blasio, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Nicole Malliotakis, Republican & Conservative & Stop de Blasio
Bo Dietl, Dump the Mayor
Sal Albanese, Reform
Aaron Commey, Libertarian
Akeem Browder, Green
Mike Tolkin, Smart Cities

Public Advocate
Letitia James, incumbent, Democat & Working Families
Juan Carlos "J.C." Polanco, Republican & Reform & Stop de Blasio
James Lane, Green
Michael O'Reilly, Conservative
Devin Balkind, Libertarian

Comptroller
Scott Stringer, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Michel J. Faulkner, Republican & Conservative & Reform & Stop de Blasio
Alex Merced, Libertarian
Julia Willebrand, Green

Bronx Borough PresidentRuben Diaz, Jr., incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Steven DeMartis, Republican
Antonio Vitiello, Conservative
Camella Price, Reform

Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Benjamin Kissel, Reform
Vito Bruno, Republican & Conservative

Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
William Kregler, Republican & Conservative
Everly Brown, Homeowners NYCHA

Manhattan Borough President
Gale Brewer, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Frank Scala, Republican
Daniel Vila Rivera, Green
Brian Waddell, Reform & Libertarian 

Staten Island Borough President
James Oddo, incumbent, Republican & Conservative & Reform & Independence
Tom Shcherbenko, Democrat & Working Families
Henry Bardel, Green

Brooklyn District Attorney
Eric Gonzalez, Democrat, incumbent (named acting District Attorney in 2016)
Vincent Gentile, Reform

Manhattan District Attorney
Cy Vance, Democrat, incumbent
(Marc Fliedner announced in early October that he's embracing a write-in campaign for Manhattan DA)

City Council District 1
Margaret Chin, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Bryan Jung, Republican
Aaron Foldenauer, Liberal
Christoper Marte, Independence

City Council District 2 - open seat (held by Rosie Mendez)
Carlina Rivera, Democrat & Working Families
Jimmy McMillan, Republican & Rent is 2 Damn High
Donald Garrity, Libertarian
Manny Cavaco, Green
Jasmin Sanchez, Liberal

City Council District 3
Corey Johnson, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Marni Halasa, Eco Justice

City Council District 4 - open seat (held by Dan Garodnick)
Keith Powers, Democrat
Rebecca Harary, Republican & Women's Equality & Reform & Stop de Blasio
Rachel Honig, Liberal

City Council District 5
Ben Kallos, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Frank Spotorno, Republican

City Council District 6
Helen Rosenthal, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Hyman Drusin, Republican
William Raudenbush, Stand Up Together

City Council District 7
Mark Levine, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Florindo Troncelliti, Green

City Council District 8 - open seat (held by Melissa Mark-Viverito)
Diana Ayala, Democrat & Working Families
Daby Carreras, Republican & Reform & Stop de Blasio & No Rezoning 4 Ever
Linda Ortiz, Conservative

City Council District 9
Bill Perkins, incumbent (elected in February special election), Democrat & Working Families
Jack Royster, Republican
Pierre Gooding, Reform
Tyson-Lord Gray, Liberal
Dianne Mack, Harlem Matters

City Council District 10
Ydanis Rodriguez, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Ronny Goodman, Republican

City Council District 11
Andrew Cohen, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Judah David Powers, Republican & Conservative
Roxanne Delgado, Animal Rights

City Council District 12
Andy King, incumbent, Democrat
Adrienne Erwin, Conservative

City Council District 13 - open seat (held by James Vacca)
Mark Gjonaj, Democrat
John Cerini, Republican & Conservative
Marjorie Velazquez, Working Families
John Doyle, Liberal
Alex Gomez, New Bronx

City Council District 14
Fernando Cabrera, incumbent, Democrat
Randy Abreu, Working Families
Alan Reed, Republican & Conservative
Justin Sanchez, Liberal

City Council District 15
Ritchie Torres, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Jayson Cancel, Jr., Republican & Conservative

City Council District 16
Vanessa Gibson, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Benjamin Eggleston, Republican & Conservative

City Council District 17
Rafael Salamanca, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Patrick Delices, Republican
Oswald Denis, Conservative
Elvis Santana, Empower Society

City Council District 18 - open seat (held by Annabel Palma)
Ruben Diaz, Sr., Democrat
Carl Lundgren, Green
Michael Beltzer, Liberal
William Russell Moore, Reform
Eduadro Ramirez, Conservative

City Council District 19
Paul Vallone, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Konstantinos Poulidis, Republican
Paul Graziano, Reform

City Council District 20
Peter Koo, Democrat, incumbent

City Council District 21 - open seat (held by Julissa Ferreras-Copeland)
Francisco Moya, Democrat & Working Families

City Council District 22
Costa Constantinides, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Kathleen Springer, Dive In

City Council District 23
Barry Grodenchik, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Joseph Concannon, Republican & Conservative & Stop de Blasio
John Y. Lim, John Y. Lim

City Council District 24
Rory Lancman, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Mohammad Rahman, Reform

City Council District 25
Daniel Dromm, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families

City Council District 26Jimmy Van Bramer, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Marvin Jeffcoat, Republican & Conservative

City Council District 27
I. Daneek Miller, Democrat, incumbent
Rupert Green, Republican
Frank Francois, Green

City Council District 28 - open seat (Ruben Wills was convicted on public corruption charges)
Adrienne Adams, Democrat
Ivan Mossop, Republican
Hettie Powell, Working Families

City Council District 29
Karen Koslowitz, incumbent, Democrat

City Council District 30
Elizabeth Crowley, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families & Women's Equality
Robert Holden, Republican & Conservative & Reform & Dump de Blasio

City Council District 31
Donovan Richards, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families

City Council District 32
Eric Ulrich, incumbent, Republican & Conservative & Independence & Reform
Mike Scala, Democrat

City Council District 33
Stephen Levin, Democrat, incumbent
Victoria Cambranes, Progress for All

City Council District 34
Antonio Reynoso, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families

City Council District 35
Laurie Cumbo, Democrat, incumbent
Jabari Brisport, Green & Socialist
Christine Parker, Republican

City Council District 36
Robert Cornegy, Democrat, incumbent

City Council District 37
Rafael Espinal, Democrat, incumbent
Persephone Sarah Jane Smith, Green

City Council District 38
Carlos Menchaca, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Carmen Hulbert, Green
Devlis Valdez, Reform
Allan Romaguera, Conservative

City Council District 39
Brad Lander, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families

City Council District 40
Mathieu Eugene, Democrat, incumbent
Brian Cunningham, Reform
Brian Kelly, Conservative

City Council District 41 - open seat (held by Darlene Mealy)
Alicka Ampry-Samuel, Democrat & Working Families
Berneda Jackson, Republican & Conservative
Christoper Carew, Solutions

City Council District 42
Inez Barron, Democrat, incumbent
Ernest Johnson, Conservative
Mawuli Hormeku, Reform

City Council District 43 - open seat (held by Vincent Gentile)
John Quaglione, Republican & Independence & Conservative
Justin Brannan, Democrat & Working Families
Angel Medina, Women's Equality
Bob Capano, Reform

City Council District 44 - open seat (held by David Greenfield, who is not seeking reelection)
Kalman Yeger, Democrat & Conservative
Yoni Hikind, Our Neighborhood
Harold Tischler, School Choice

City Council District 45
Jumaane Williams, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Anthony Beckford, True Freedom

City Council District 46
Alan Maisel, Democrat, incumbent
Jeffrey Ferretti, Conservative

City Council District 47
Mark Treyger, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Raimondo Denaro, Republican & Conservative

City Council District 48
Chaim M. Deutsch, Democrat, incumbent
Steven Saperstein, Republican & Conservative & Reform

City Council District 49
Deborah Rose, incumbent, Democrat & Working Families
Michael Penrose, Republican & Conservative
Kamillah Hanks, Reform

City Council District 50
Steven Matteo, incumbent, Republican & Conservative & Independence & Reform
Richard Florentino, Democrat

City Council District 51
Joseph Borelli, incumbent, Republican & Conservative & Independence & Reform
Dylan Schwartz, Democrat & Working Families

*************

Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for DeBlasio, Escalator of Homelessness and Perpetuator of Education Deform

New York City mayor Bill De Blasio has put on a show of being a progressive mayor.

But in reality his housing policies exacerbate the crisis of the unaffordability of housing. His rezoning polices allow gentrification to escalate.

Just read these articles:
In the Indypendent: https://indypendent.org/2016/03/assessing-de-blasio-affordable-housing/
In Grist:  http://grist.org/cities/new-yorks-housing-plan-will-displace-longtime-residents-so-neighborhoods-are-fighting-back/

And, as you can read in the Chaz blogs at chaz11.blogspot.com, he has continued the counter-productive, anti-teacher, anti-student policies of Michael Bloomberg, with no shakeup of the administrators at the Department of Education.

Why Does Bill De Blasio Get a Pass on Separate But Unequal Segregation in New York City Schools?

       NYC MAYORAL CONTROL, BREEDING SEGREGATION IN DOE SCHOOLS
Bill De Blasio inherited a public school system tremendously harmed by New York City's previous mayor, Mike Bloomberg. The latter, among his changes, had shut down dozens of schools and had them broken into small schools. This trend particularly happened at the high school level.

Yet, De Blasio has pushed hard in recent weeks for the renewal of mayoral control. With mayoral control he could have spent the previous three years reversing the damage that Bloomberg began. Instead, he continued it.

We see in rampant segregation in New York City schools the results of the changes that Bloomberg started and De Blasio continued. The New York Post yesterday posted an article on one parent who is suing the city for unequal resources. Some of the issues addressed in the story are the mere tip of the iceberg of the inequality issues in the city's high schools.

The disparity described in the article is regarding exclusive access certain physical education and disparate funds. An elite school in the former John Jay High School campus, Brooklyn Millenium High School, has access to a pool and $115,255 in a given year.  Park Slope Collegiate School and the other two schools in the campus do not have pool access and received $41,045 in the same year.

This echoes disparities easily evident in the 2017 New York City High School Directory. The pattern immediately becomes evident: small schools, particularly those with African-American and Latino populations have limited offerings. Few foreign language offerings. Limited sports activities. The schools do not offer Advance Placement courses. Instead, we see online instruction offerings. Continuing with Brooklyn, take for example, the Cultural Academy for the Arts and Sciences ine East Flatbush, at the former Tilden High School campus, which has a student body of 354. Only one language is offered as a foreign language. The description of Academics includes some topics that are more likely after school: "College Partnerships ... International Partnerships." Online learning gets mention in the first line, "Aventa/Fuel Education Blended On-Line Learning Courses." There are no AP courses.
Continuing with Brooklyn, Edward R. Murrow in Midwood with 3,885 students offers five foreign languages. There are 13 AP courses. This sample of offerings in the Academics section represents real classes not after-school programs: "Law Program, Psychology, INTEL, Journalism, Writer’s Institute, Film Review, Social History Electives, Shakespeare, Holocaust/African/Latin Literature."

Where is the outrage? Where is the coverage among the television network affilates?  Where are the hearings by the city council's education committee? It has gotten so bad that finally the New York Times in the last 12 months finally brought itself to address the issue. The Times recognizes that the segregation starts with Pre-K and that school choice has triggered this. De Blasio last month defended what has become the status quo. An education department spokesperson uses the word "diversity" to characterize the city system, instead of "segregated." Of course, no principled reversal of the Bloomberg destructive public school policies is in sight.

This shame of segregation is a scandal that De Blasio gets away with because his chancellor unresponsive to the public and the mayor and chancellor's rubber-stamping Panel For Educational Policy is an undemocratic institution. This is all the result of mayoral control. The media and political classes are silent abetters. 

WATCH: Very Explosive Documentary Exposes Trump's Russian Connections

The Dutch Zembla TV outfit has published a powerful, credible case that Donald Trump has ties with Russian figures practicing racketeering.

Trump, 2013, on the eve of his Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow

ZEMBLA - The dubious friends of Donald Trump: the Russians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I

After Trump's colossul 1990s bankruptcies, Trump turned to lenders of last resort: Russian mob figures. The key figures from Kazakhstan are named. The main hinge with the Trump Organization is the Bayrock Group. 

We see the essential details: that Trump's business doings of the last 20 years are intertwined with organized crime figures with Bayrock. We see his deposition with a dubious disavowal of familiarity with Bayrock managing director Felix Sater, followed by the revelation that Trump soon after bestowed Trump Organization legitimacy on Sater, with a Trump Organization business card and email address.

The video has strong credibility with powerful quotes by author and former CIA agent Malcolm Nance, attorney Frederick Oberlander and unofficial Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio.

After you watch the video you will come to the same conclusion that Oberlander, that charges can be brought against Trump, and after that it will be "all over."

US publications in the last week addressing the explosive revelations:
Fortune:
Here’s A Closer Look At Donald Trump’s Disturbingly Deep Ties To Russia
The Oregonian: 

Donald Trump closely tied to Russian mob, could face racketeering charges, Dutch TV doc claims

And earlier: The Financial Times of London: 

Trump’s Russian connections: Donald Trump’s ties to Russia are back under the spotlight after the CIA concluded that Moscow had interfered in November’s presidential election to help the Republican candidate
And a Forbes writer appearing at the DC Report blog: 

The Kazakhstan Connection: Trump, Bayrock And Plenty Of
Raw Story:
Here’s why Comey may have stayed silent on the Russia probe before we voted — and it should terrify Trump

Bill De Blasio Friday on WNYC Radio: No Criticism for Cuomo's Tuition Plan

New York City mayor Bill De Blasio, today on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, is uncritical of NY governor Andrew Cuomo's very limited free tuition proposal. But he's supporting the standing off girl statue, and recognizing that the charging bull represents unrestrained Wall Street. 

 

Cuomo's "free" tuition policy is so limiting that even moderate columnist David Brooks recognizes in today's New York Times that it is regressive.

 

We need him to do substantive things for the underprivileged, not just good government class neutral policies like this overblown statue struggle.

Example of the latter: De Blasio proudly announced that the NYPD is cracking down on TLC licensed taxicab drivers (or any drivers) are not allowed to have cellphones mounted on car windshields. Yes, we need safe driving, safe streets, but this is something a politician of any ideology could support.

 

De Blasio needs to address pressing economic concerns of economically hard-pressed New Yorkers, not devoting himself to attention-grabbing symbolic issues.

DOE's Reign of Principal Terror Breaking Point & What We Must Remember

Seven parents occupied the school auditorium at East Harlem's Central Park East 1 school ("CPE1") last night in solidarity with the teachers that are chafing under working for an oppressive principal. See Dartunorro Clark's "Parents Stage Sit-In at Harlem School in Latest Attempt to Oust Principal" in DNAinfo today.

Parents protesting principal Garg last night at CPE1 in East Harlem

Just a very few months ago students were sitting in, in the hallways of Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, Queens. There they were protesting also against a draconian principal, Rosemarie Jahoda. See here on the sit-in and here on the state of the struggle in more recent weeks.

What these schools have in common is that they have histories of being progressive in climate and as serving the more advantaged half of the city's students. While it is quite laudatory that students and parents are mobilized at both campuses we must remember that there are dozens of other schools across the school with equally oppressive principals. However, these schools serve more black and Latino populations that come from lower income families. They do not have as much clout as parents at progressive Manhattan schools as in CPE1 or students at elite examination entrance schools as in Townsend Harris.

Perhaps these profiles are why NBC New York has given attention to the CPE1 struggle and the New York Times gave a few articles to the struggle at Townsend Harris.

Second, it must be noted that what allowed for draconian principals and a completely aloof process allowing the principals to have free reign and the city to give them a blank ticket for being rude to students and dictatorial to teachers has been the complete removal of any semblance of democratic input, with previous mayor Michael Bloomberg's replacing the Board of Education with the Department of Education.

The former system had greater opportunities for parental input, public forums for engaging parents, and a process for elected leadership of the school system. The current system is a top-down corporate model with no room for authentic popular input. All power stems from the mayor. As we saw a week ago the rubber stamp Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), all decisions in the NYC Department of Education are done deals. There is no place for popular expression to be heard around how to run schools, whether public schools are to be supported or whether charter schools are going to be given privileged status in the school system.

So, we applaud the parents, students and teachers mobilized at these schools. But we must remember the unrecognized oppression at other schools in the different boroughs. We must end the undemocratic regime in the city so that principals can no longer rule without any checks against their power.

Did DeBlasio Take the UFT For Suckers?: NYC is Floating Automation Over Substitute Teachers

No, you cannot make this up. About a month ago New York City mayor Bill De Blasio made a surprise appearance at the UFT's Delegate Assembly for an endorsement.

Yet, just weeks later the New York City Independent Budget Office  is showing how much the city hates teachers. The agency is floating an idea of using "e-learning" in the place of paid, live, substitute teachers at the high school level.

So thinks the mayor-controlled DOE?

As the New York Post reported Thursday,

“Under this option, high schools with a teacher who is absent fewer than three consecutive days would no longer use per diem substitutes but rather assign students an e-learning period for the affected class session,” the report states.
E-learning, as laid out by the IBO, would entail that high school students work on “online assignments” that would “ideally be related to the current class syllabus, credit recovery, or extra credit.”

The annual report, released Thursday, included more than 90 other belt-tightening prescriptions the city might try to cut costs and raise revenues.

 All to save $9 million dollars yearly. Let's see if De Blasio shows himself to have progressive cred and rejects the budget office's anti-human staffing plan. His decision will be a test of his true colors.

100 Thousand NYC Students Homeless & PA OKs $3.5B for New Bus Terminal

*New interactive map on homelessness levels in specific NYC schools -Thursday; same day: $Bs for new bus terminal
The spitfight between New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio and New York governor Andrew Cuomo is a distraction from the reality that they have the power to influence spending and construction priorities in New York City, yet they do little to use that power to address a mounting homelessness problem in the city.

The Port Authority on Thursday authorized a capital spending plan that would includes replacing the 40th to 42nd Street bus terminal with a new structure. However, the amNew York reports that this will not come near addressing the full tab for this: $10 billion.

This giant expenditure is questionable on a number of grounds.

Why are the supposedly progressive city and state executives not interceding against this and instead addressing the need for more affordable housing in New York City? The fact that the New York City Department of Education teaches a number of homeless children that equals a small city --100,000, according to numbers this past fall, as published in "The Homeless Crisis in New York City's Schools" -- is indicative of an absolutely outrageous condition. See this more recent report this week in DNAinfo, citing a new interactive map on the distribution of homeless students in New York City schools. The Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness reported that if Chancellor Carmen Farina's New York City Schools' homeless students had their own district, the district would exceed the size of the Boston and Seattle school districts, combined.

Yet, there is no attention by mayor DeBlasio or governor Cuomo on this true emergency. (And do you think that charter schools are zealously seeking to pick up homeless children for seats in their schools, schools that Cuomo accommodates with regular increases in the charter school caps?)

And if the Port Authority wants to channel billions into a giant project, it should acknowledge that the bus terminal is adequate, as evidenced by the ample headtimes between buses in the terminal. It, and DeBlasio and Cuomo ought to support more urgent project needs such as building a new pair of train tunnels to replace the aging pre-World War I North River Tunnels of Amtrak that Amtrak and New Jersey Transit use to travel between Manhattan and Hudson County, New Jersey. (The walls and cables for the tunnels have been damaged by sea water, especially during the Hurricane Sandy storm.) Port Authority and the two politicians ought to lend their cooperation with politicians in New Jersey for extending the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 7 train to Union City, New Jersey. That city and the Hudson County cities adjacent to it are density packed cities, yet they lack speedy access to the Manhattan. The present options of bus or light rail travel to Hoboken are inadequate because their trips to the Hoboken terminal are too slow. Likewise, bus travel through the Lincoln Tunnel is unacceptably slow during rush hour. A 21st century metropolis should not have such slow transit options for the major population area that Hudson County is.

But this is all not a shock. DeBlasio has ignored the housing emergency, as he has favored new housing developments that absurdly bill themselves as mixed income when what they consider is modest income is truly at the upper 25 percent of incomes. And meanwhile the city is 550,000 units short of housing for families making under $45,000 per year.

All the Town Halls You Need to Protest At -- A Directory, with Dates, Times, Places, Street Addresses

Town Hall Meeting link and more in full post at Blue Republic blogpost, national view counterpart to this page.

NY Taxi Alliance Goes On Strike for One Hour In Protest Over Refugee Ban -- Protests Spread at Airports Across the US

*BREAKING: Fed Court Grants Stay on Ban *Mass protests at airports nationwide *NY taxi workers go on strike

*Update: Federal court in Brooklyn has granted a stay, to allow refugee to enter from Iraq / No one may be sent back to their original country

The taxi driver union, NY Taxi Drivers Alliance went on strike for an hour tonight in protest over the refugee detention following President Donald Trump's executive order ban, signed Friday, noon, on travelers entering from several Muslim countries. See the official union statement on Twitter re-produced below.

Will New York City's United Federation of Teachers make a statement of support for the refugees? This is the union whose leadership refused to name Trump in a protest statement following on Donald Trump's election in November. Union leaders, traveling to schools have said to teachers that "we" have to remember that many members support Trump. To the UFT: when will you lead by moral example? 

From The Hill:

NY taxis refuse to pick up from JFK over refugee detention

The New York Taxi Drivers Alliance on Saturday said it would not make any pickups from John F. Kennedy International Airport after two Iraqi travelers were detained trying to enter the U.S. following President Trump's immigration ban.

The official Twitter for the alliance tweeted: "NO PICKUPS at JFK Airport 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. today. Drivers stand in solidarity with thousands protesting inhumane and unconstitutional Muslim Ban."

JFK Airport was the first site to have protests. The New York City protest has grown to the thousands. Protests have spread to Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, California, Salt Lake City, Utah, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia, and Dulles, Virginia.
See these links:

Protest crowd at JFK airport Terminal 4

From the Verge: Mass protests against Trump's immigration order are being organized at airports across the US 

#MuslimBan protests will take place across the country

From ThinkProgress: Here’s your list of all the protests happening against the Muslim Ban

Resist.

NYC Area Protests -Anti-Trump and Other Issues As Well

Don't Mourn. Agitate, Educate, Organize! --Not just on January 20 and 21, but before and after. Anti-Trump issues and other issues:

(Click each listing for an event description.  Find newer event announcements at NYPROTEST listserv archive:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/nyprotest)

Monday, Jan. 16
*de Blasio Step Down! rally:  1/16
*PROTEST MACY`S FUR:  1/16 P.
Met Council outreach:  1/16
Art As A Weapon Conf.: 1/16

Monday, Jan. 16
Printed Legacy of 70s Radical Left: from 1/16
*People`s Monday for Renisha McBride: 1/16

Tuesday, Jan. 17
*Protest Trump-Goldman Sachs gov`t: from 1/17 NYC
*Camp out at Goldman Sachs from Tues 1/17 NYC
Preserving Diversity and Inclusiveness:  1/17
Write to U.S.-held political prisoners: 1/17
CODEPINK NYC Gathering:  1/17

Wednesday, Jan. 18
*Protest, concert, campsite vs. inauguration: from 1/18 ?
Rick Wolff:  1/18, Brooklyn
Save CHARAS Community Ctr.: mtg 1/18
Fossil Fuel Divestment mtg.:  1/18
War Resisters League Mtg.: 1/18  WRL
Action Corps Happy Hour:  1/18
Re-purpose electronic waste:  1/18

Thursday, Jan. 19
National Women's Liberation Mtg.: Thurs 1/19
Community Garden Coal. mtg. 1/19
Food & Water Watch mtg.: 1/19 Food & Water Watch mtg. 1/19
History Making, Peoplehood & Right to the City: 1/19
Films, `Point of Attack` + `Profiled`: Thurs 1/19
Police Reform Organizing Project:  1/19
*Protests vs. FERC petro shill scam:  1/19 IN DC
Peace Ball: Thurs 1/19 in DC
Event for tolerance 1/19 BAYSHORE, NY

Friday, Jan. 20
*PROTEST TRUMP:   1/20 5:00 PM FOLEY SQ.
*Pro Trump event:   1/20 7:00 PM W.59th
*PROTEST INAUGURATION: 1/20 Trump FOLEY SQ
*Protest Trump-Goldman Sachs gov`t: thru 1/20 WEST ST.
*Staten Is. anti-inauguration rally or event: 1/20 PLS. CONFIRM
*Black, Brown & Indig. Mobilize vs. White Nationalism: 1/20 NYC
Inauguration Night w/ Randy Credico & Karaoke: 1/20
Black, Brown & Indig. action vs. White Nationalism: 1/20
*Socialist Feminist Contingent 1/20 inauguration protest
*March vs. White Supremacy: 1/20  (d12 Mvmt.) BROOKLYN
Anti-Inaugural Ball at Silent Barn:  1/20 BROOKLYN
Dr. Strangelove: from  1/20 at IFC
*March vs. Trump:  1/20 NEWARK
DC ACTIONS 1/20 incl. some duplicate listings…
Women`s Rights and Politics: 1/20 NR. DC
*Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans:  1/20 DC
*PPA bus to DC, 1/20
The Anti-Inauguration: 1/20 talk DC
*Not My President:  , 1/20 NOON, DC
*#DisruptJ20 protests at inauguration:  1/20  DC
*NYC bus to inauguration protests 1/20 IN DC
*J20Resist March:  1/20 IN DC
*Inauguration Day Protest: Friday 1/20 IN DC
*PROTEST TRUMP AGENDA:  1/20 IN DC
*Human Freedom, Animal Rights:  1/20 IN DC
*Occupy Inauguration: 1/20 IN DC

Saturday, Jan. 21
*WOMEN`S MARCH ON NYC:  1/21 11:00am UNION SQ
*Justice for Kyam Livingston  1/21, Brooklyn
*Women's March on NYC: 1/21  Women`s NYC: 1/21
*Actions vs. Trump? 1/21
*Socialist Feminist Contingents 1/21 women’s march
*North Manhattan Marches Against Trump:  1/21 (a.m.)
*Make Fascists Scared Again! Rally:  1/21, Queens
*NYC bus to Women`s March on DC: 1/21
*Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans: 1/21 DC
*Women`s March on Washington: 1/21 W. 10:00am? DC

Sunday, Jan. 22
¡Pa`lante, Siempre Pa`lante! :  1/22 film
Recycle electronics:  1/22 on Lex. Av.
Challenging Trumpism, Wars & Militarism: AFSC Conf. 1/22 DC
Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans:  1/22 DC

Monday, Jan. 23
CryptoParty  1/23 w/ Soc. of Environmental Journalists
The German Revolution: Mondays from 1/23
WeiMar. Germany: False Hope or Missed Chance?  1/23
Thanks for Fighting Racism! Dinner: 1/23
Nigeria LGBT equality struggle: 1/23 film, panel  N.

Tuesday, Jan. 24
*Actions vs. Trump? 1/24
*LOBBY NYS TO END AIDS: 1/24 ALBANY

Wednesday, Jan. 25
Re-purpose electronic waste: 1/25
350NYC mtg.  1/25
SECRET PATH: Native film, talk,  1/25
Brooklyn Human Rights Film Fest: 1/25

Thursday, Jan. 26
*March 4 Affordable Housing 4 All Rally: 1/26 BROOKLYN
Finally Got the News: 1/26 Opening
Film, RIKERS:  1/26
New York Paid Leave Coalition dinner:  1/26
Printed Legacy of the U.S. Radical Left: from 1/26
Heather Ann Thompson on Attica:  1/26
Navigating the New Normal: 1/26 at NYSEC
Brooklyn Human Rights Film Fest: 1/26
RIKERS:  1/26 film & panel

Friday, Jan. 27
*Demand No-Kill Shelters: sleepout  1/27
FUREE mtg.:  1/27

Saturday, Jan. 28
CryptoParty  1/28 at NYC Resistor
Art fundraiser for Standing Rock:  1/28
FUREE Leadership Training:  1/28
Urban Permaculture: All-Day Introduction 1/28

Sunday, Jan. 29
ACLU hockey fundraiser:  1/29
Theater of the Oppressed:  1/29 workshop

Monday, Jan. 30
Intro to Marxism:  1/30
Intro to Marxism: Mondays from 1/30

Tuesday, Jan. 31
Engels on forces of nature: from Tues 1/31
Health Care for All:  1/31 film, panel

Thursday, Feb. 2
African Lit - Colonialism, Liberation, Disillusionment: 2/2

Saturday, Feb. 4
African Amer. Cooperative Economics:  2/4 NEWARK

Saturday, February 4
*Protest & dabkeh vs. Batsheva Dance Co. 2/4 at BAM
Pamahikan:  2/4 film at CUNY (CLAGS)
FIDEL: The Legacy Continues -  2/4
Trans Identity and Body Horror: 2/4

Wednesday, Feb. 8
Divided in a Diverse City:  2/8
Eco Imperialism, Settler Colonialism, Indig. Resistance: from 2/8

Wednesday, February 8
Eco Imperialism, Settler Colonialism & Indig Resistance 2/8

Saturday, Feb. 11
*FUR PROTEST:  2/11
*MARCH AGAINST FUR:  2/11, Columbus Cir.
Permaculture Business Ideas: 2/11 at The Commons
After Marriage Equality in Ireland:  2/11

Thursday, February 16
2/16 Hortense Spillers: Women in the Time of Revolution W.

Saturday, Feb. 18
Conf. vs. NYC Fascism & Police Terror:  2/18
Audre Lorde B-Day: Thurs 2/18 (CLAGS)

Sunday, Feb. 19
Film, ``Hustlers Convention``:  2/19

Saturday, Feb. 25
Queer People of Color and NYC Gentrification: 2/25

Friday, Mar. 3
Beyond the Bars Conf. from 3/3

Tuesday, Mar. 7
*Quarterly ``No Separate Justice`` Vigil:  3/7

Saturday, Mar. 11
*9-day intercity walk to Indian Pt. f/ Fukushima Day events: 3/11
Fukushima, Indian Point , Pipeline: 3/11

Sunday, Mar. 18
BAYAN USA Assembly:  3/18

Friday, Mar. 24
*Remember Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:  3/24

Saturday Mar. 25
Conf. to normalize U.S. - Cuba relations: from 3/25

Sunday, Mar. 26
Conf. to normalize U.S. - Cuba relations: through 3/26
*National Rally to Support Palestine 3/26 DC

Thursday, Apr. 6
Becoming an Organizer: Narrative, Identity & Social Action, 4/6
Narrative, Identity and Social Action:  4/6  N.

Friday, Apr. 14
LGBTQ Scholars of Color Conf.: from 4/14

Thursday, Apr. 20
I N V I S I B I L I T Y conf.: Apr. 20

Friday, Apr. 21
I N V I S I B I L I T Y conf.: Apr. 21

Thursday, Apr. 27
White Privilege Conf.: from  4/27

Saturday, Apr. 29
*CLIMATE MARCH: 4/29 IN DC

Wednesday, May 3
Labor Film Activist Conf. from May 3
Radical Film Network Global Gathering: from 5/3

Friday, May 5
W. Workers Unite Film Fest from  5/5 NYC
MOVE Conf opens 5/5/2017  M. M. PHILA

Friday, Jun. 2
Left Forum opens Jun. 2

Saturday, Jun. 10
*Philadelphia Dyke March:  6/10

Saturday, Jun. 24
*March for Reparations:  6/24