What Did You Talk About in School? Not How to Teach Johnny But MOSLs, Growth, Goals and BS

 Most people were shocked and upset about the MOSL system... Teacher report on first day PD.

I have no clue what a MOSL is -- any relation to Mozel (luck)? I

don't think luck is in the offing. More like Shlimossel (unlucky guy) where some unlucky teachers are going to get chopped.

The first days back for teachers used to be about getting ready for the kids. Setting up your room to create a welcoming environment, etc. There was so much to do, aside from the usual stuff like lesson planning.

Oh, there was always the usual bullshit from the principal about her vision -- repeated year after year almost word for word -- but that was at most 2 wasted hours where you could maybe get some paperwork done (though once she called me out as I did a roll book and ordered me to put it away -- I can multitask you know -- and when I kept doing it she charged me with insubordination -- that's another story for another time).

But it is a new ball game in the schools. It's not about kids, it's about MOSLs and how you as a teacher will be rated.

Now MOREistas have been very tuned in to the issue but the rank and file have not and may feel they are getting hit with a truck. [I'll post some comments from other teachers later who actually view this as a better thing than what came before.]

Here is a sample from one teacher about how yesterday went:

The PD on Danielson and MOSL was overwhelming to say the least. Most of the chapter was not tuned in all summer and found the presentations difficult to digest. 

 

Most people were shocked and upset about the MOSL system with most teachers coming to the conclusion that they have no control over their evaluations if they are not in Regents class.

 

I can say that out of staff of 70, 60 signed the [MORE] petition [calling for a moratorium].

I didn't pick up, in my first 1000 reads of the MOSL guide, that English/ESL teachers are required to use the NYC performance assessments  (page 14 and 16 for state measures) so this is going to mean more work for ELA/ESL teachers having to give the baseline and final (taking way learning time) and grading.

For the the MOSL committee it seems the most fair, and we understand this entire system is rigged there is no fair equation, but whats easiest, brings upon the least amount of additional work, and spread the pain evenly would be using the Regents scores and growth model as 40 % (20 school wide, 20 lowest third and Regents classes use individual as the target)

Does someone know what a sample "goal" would be if we chose that model- ay links you can share.

I do understand goals mean more work, but just want to offer committee concrete examples which I can't find in the book, it seems only 2 pages 42/43 is dedicated to this.

My suspicion is there isn't much difference between growth and goal, other than goals is much more work VAM/growth has more wiggle room. There's also safety in the herd, if everyone does VAM, we're better off doing it

I also suspect the samples on page 14/15 may be the best options.

 

 

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MORE Weekly Update #65, Sept. 2, 2013

Happy Labor Day from MORE! View this email in your browser

Weekly Update #65 September 2, 2013 Share Tweet Forward to Friend

Join MORE Today COMMITTEES: High Stake Testing Committee testing@morecaucusnyc.org Fri. Sept. 6 at 4:30PM Bryant Park / Tables @ NE Side Steering Committee steering@morecaucusnyc.org Mon. Sept. 2nd at 8PM Phone Meeting - RSVP for details Mon. Sept. 16th at 5PM CUNY Grad Center, Rm. 5409 Meeting minutes here Contract Committee contract@morecaucusnyc.org After the citywide CL meeting Wed. Sept. 12th at 6PM Au Bon Pain 70 Myrtle Ave Newsletter Committee news@morecaucusnyc.org Chapter Organizing Committee chapters@morecaucusnyc.org Happy Hour/Discussion: Evaluations Thurs. Sept. 26 ​at 5pm  - Killarney Rose  Meeting minutes here Media Committee media@morecaucusnyc.org FALL GENERAL MEETINGS 3rd Saturday - Noon to 3pm Sep 21 (Evaluations) Oct 19 & Nov 16 Locations & other topics TBA - reply if you have suggestions STAYING IN TOUCH:  Comments? Suggestions? Email update@morecacusnyc.org with items for future updates Want more info? Click below to join our listservs:  News (announcements/articles) Discussion (debate/back-and-forth) Chapter Leader (discussion for chapter activists) Facebook Twitter Email MORE Needs help with folks who can join our Evaluations Working Group. The first conference call will be conducted on Tuesday at 8:30 PM.  Please reply for additional info! Most teachers, students, and parents agree that the city's new teacher evaluation system is a misguided attempt to distract New Yorkers from the real challenges faced by our schools and students.  But what's a teacher to do? Take Action - Share the video and sign the petition for a moratorium on the new evaluations system "We, the educators, parents and community members of New York City, call on State Education Commissioner King, the new Mayor of New York City, and the UFT leadership to implement a MORATORIUM ON THE NEW YORK CITY TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM. This system disproportionately weights the use of high stakes test scores over qualitative assessments to determine the quality of teacher performance..." Read the full petition here: http://tiny.cc/MOREpetition In her piece "The Noose or the Sword: Choosing Your Evaluation," Julie Cavanagh (Chapter Leader, PS15K) examines the pros and cons of the three paths - compliance, uber compliance, or the middle way - individual teachers and school-based committees must make in the coming weeks. MORE Newsletter MORE's newsletter is hot off the press.  Sign up to help distribute! And read the newsletter online: morecaucusnyc.org/newsletter Brunch Fundraiser: Saturday, October 5th – 11:30AM-1:30PM Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew 520 Clinton Ave (betw. Fulton St. and Atlantic Ave.) C train to Clinton/Washington Clinton Hil,  Brooklyn   First MORE Meeting: September 21st - 12-3PM NYC location (pick up hard copies of the petition and newsletter; focus on explaining eval and how we are fighting back against it) MORE-DA Action: October 9th – outside/city-wide at schools What We're Reading: New York Times Editorials Reveal A Complete Ignorance of Common Core Stop-and-Frisk City: Does Bloomberg Really Care About Kids' Safety? From the Archives: Ravitch on "Why Teachers Should Never Be Rated by Test Scores"  Moving? If you are changing schools, phone numbers, or addresses, make sure we can stay in touch by updating your information with MORE.

Copyright © 2013 MORE Caucus, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are excited about changing the UFT and signed up at a MORE meeting or our website, MORECaucusNYC.org. Our mailing address is: MORE Caucus New York New York, NY 10001

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Bill di Blasio Blasts Co-Locations! Challenges Quinn Record on Support of Bloomberg Ed Policies

• FACT: Speaker Quinn Said Bloomberg's Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Did a "Terrific Job"
• FACT: Key Bloomberg Education Backer Said That Schools Will Probably Still Close if Quinn Became Mayor and That "The Policy Itself May Be Not All That Different [From Bloomberg's]"
• FACT: Speaker Quinn Refuses to Support a Moratorium on School Closures. 

My fact: Would Bill Thompson make such a strong statement? Watch he and Quinn jump all over de Blasio at tonight's debate.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 3, 2013
CONTACT: DAN LEVITAN dan@berlinrosen.com, (646) 200-5315

DE BLASIO BLASTS NEW BLOOMBERG SCHOOL CO-LOCATION PLANS, DEMANDS SPEAKER QUINN SUPPORT A MORATORIUM

Half of New DoE School Co-Location Plans Would Put Schools over 100% Capacity

Speaker Quinn Once Again Sides with Bloomberg by Refusing to Support a Moratorium

De Blasio Renews Call for Moratorium on School Closures until a New Process is in Place

Brooklyn, NY – Public Advocate and Democratic candidate for mayor Bill de Blasio today criticized Mayor Bloomberg’s eleventh-hour efforts to push through deeply divisive school co-location plans, and blasted Bloomberg’s chief ally Speaker Quinn for refusing to call for a moratorium on school co-locations and closures – effectively acquiescing to these eleventh-hour changes.

“If Mayor Bloomberg has his way while his closest political partner Speaker Quinn stays silent, nearly half of the proposed co-location plans will put schools over 100% capacity.  This means larger class sizes for our students,” said de Blasio.  “Bloomberg’s proposals are a cynical effort to lock communities into permanent changes while ignoring community voices, and Speaker Quinn’s refusal to support a moratorium is letting Bloomberg have his way.”

Bill de Blasio is calling for an immediate halt to co-location and closure plans for the remainder of Bloomberg’s term and until a new process can be put in place. Despite years of community opposition and multiple efforts at reforming this deeply broken process, the thirty recently released Educational Impact Statements – the plans that outline significant changes in school utilization – unfortunately represent “business as usual” for Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn.  Of the proposals released, nearly half will place school buildings over 100% capacity.  In two proposals, when the school is fully phased-in, the buildings will be close to 135% capacity.

This is just the latest example of Speaker Quinn refusing to challenge Mayor Bloomberg, and routinely defending the Bloomberg status quo. When schools faced unfair co-locations and closures due to Department of Education’s lack of community engagement - such as the proposed closure of P.S. 114 in Brooklyn - Speaker Quinn stood on the sidelines. When parents and communities sought real involvement when schools faced disastrous co-locations, particularly during the Brandeis Educational Complex co-location, she was silent. De Blasio, in contrast, led the charge in fighting these wrong-headed policies. And Speaker Quinn praised Joel Klein as schools chancellor.

“The next administration deserves the opportunity to shape the future of the educational system in New York City, not be saddled with another Bloomberg plan offered in the twilight of his term that will last long after he is gone,” said de Blasio.  “Speaker Quinn seems content to stand by and let that happen.  These thirty "schools – nearly half of which will be left overcrowded – deserve better."

As Mayor, de Blasio will create real reforms in the co-location process and elevate the voices of parents. He will create a class size reduction plan – not push through plans that contribute to overcapacity. De Blasio will also expand successful parent engagement models and ensure that district superintendent offices are proactively empowering communities with information about their schools. As Mayor, de Blasio will improve Mayoral Control and expand the role of Community Education Councils in decisions relating to co-locations, ensuring greater community influence.  He will make sure all of our schools have great leaders, open 100 community schools over the next four years, and provide universal pre-kindergarten and expanded after school programs by asking the wealthy to pay a little more in taxes.

FACT: Speaker Quinn Refuses to Support a Moratorium on School Closures. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn refused to attend a press conference with public school parents calling for an immediate moratorium on school closings. Quinn said, "I do not support a moratorium [on school closures]". [NY Post, 1/24/2013; New Yorkers for Great Public Schools, "Quinn Along Among Democrats in Not Supporting Moratorium", 1/31/2013]

FACT: Key Bloomberg Education Backer Said That Schools Will Probably Still Close if Quinn Became Mayor and That "The Policy Itself May Be Not All That Different [From Bloomberg's]". In a Jan 2013 Wall Street Journal story, Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, praised Quinn's approach on school closings. The story states, "Williams said schools will probably still close if Quinn ends up leading the city" and that "the policy itself may be not all that different" from Mayor Bloomberg's proposals. [Wall Street Journal, "In Speech, Quinn Spells Out Education Platform", 1/15/2013]

FACT: Speaker Quinn Said Bloomberg's Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Did a "Terrific Job". According to the New York Times, "She [Quinn] praised the mayor’s selection of Ms. Black’s predecessor, Joel I. Klein, a former federal prosecutor, saying he had done a 'terrific job.'” [NY Times, "As Candidates Vow to Hire Educator as Chancellor, Quinn Keeps Options Open", 5/8/2013]

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NEW MORE VIDEO: MORE Teaching, Less Testing!

I am wowed by this film by the MORE Media committee.



Posted at:
http://morecaucusnyc.org/2013/09/02/more-teaching-less-testing/

Sign the petition here: MORE Petition for Moratorium on NYC Teacher Evaluation System « Movement of Rank and File Educators

 

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MORE Petition for Moratorium on NYC Teacher Evaluation System

There was some discussion over this petition on MORE listserves but some of the details are too dense for me to understand it all. Some thought the call for a moratorium was not strong enough when what is needed is total opposition. Others feel that given we are stuck with it this is the next best thing to call for.

A few don't feel as threatened by the new system. See the comment on the MORE blog below the petition by Dave who feels the new eval system actually offers more protection than the old, which is the UFT's position. My sense it that is wrong but I am not immersed enough to provide an answer.

CLICK THE LINK TO SIGN:

MORE Petition for Moratorium on NYC Teacher Evaluation System « Movement of Rank and File Educators

Moratorium on Teacher Evaluations

We, the educators, parents and community members of New York City, call on State Education Commissioner King, the new Mayor of New York City, and the UFT leadership to implement a MORATORIUM ON THE NEW YORK CITY TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM.
This system disproportionately weights the use of high stakes test scores over qualitative assessments to determine the quality of teacher performance. Assessment is important, but using test scores to evaluate teachers narrows curriculum, places emphasis on test prep, and creates a climate of competition and fear that hurts students. The Value Added Measures (VAM) which will be used in the New York City system have been proven inaccurate, ineffective and unreliable, and therefore should never be used to make decisions about teacher performance.* Implementation of this system by the DOE has been so badly planned that it sets teachers and administrators up for failure and puts our children at risk.

*Board on Testing and Assessment. 2009. “Letter Report to the U.S. Department of Education on the Race to the Top Fund,” The National Academies. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12780&page=1

Dave September 2, 2013 at 6:04 pm

After reading this Post I have many questions. As a NYC teacher under the old evaluation system, how is the old system any better then the Evaluation system we are looking at? I teach at a school where many of my colleagues teach without ever being observed, yet our Principal gave half of the staff a U, after only observing some of them once. One teacher got a U because they didnt post the HW on the Board. It seems to me with the new Evaluation System Principals will have to be held more accountable, if not please explain to me how they wouldn’t be more accountable under this new system. As for the State exams, isn’t it based on the growth of Student Learning not the grade? I know many teachers who teach elementary school who suffered greatly when their students did not pass state exams. If the Evaluation is based on growth aren’t teachers then evaluated on the skills their students are learning not the actual grade the student receives? I would think as a teacher all students grow through the year. Doesn’t that mean instead of basing acheivement on a grade, the achievement is based on the amount those students learned? I have no issue being evaluated but I want to be evaluated fairly. I actually feel better about this because my Principal has to visit my classroom. From what I have been told they are required to give me feedback and support, and the rubric they observe me under is open ended, this is what I was told. If I’m wrong please explain how the old system was better then this one.
Thanks

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On the Democracy Prep Plantation: When Zero Tolerance Becomes Psychological Warfare

UPDATED:

• all the teachers at this charter school are white and from out of state. The school's administrators did manage to get two coaches that are African-American from the New York City area. They are the two in charge of the detention room. Is there something wrong with that picture?.....
• his teachers were directed to video tape him in every classroom. One of the teachers according to him followed him with a camera into the lunch room when he went to pick up his lunch, followed him up the stairs into the hallway and continued videotaping him while he was eating lunch.....
• It's time to examine the police state structure of some of the charter schools model in the minority community in New York... Former Democracy Prep mother

Ahhh, that ole' plantation mentality at Democracy Prep. Message to Seth Andrews: Don't tick off a parent who is a professional journalist.

Gary Rubinstein pointed out just how bad the Democracy Prep (relative to public schools despite their significant advantages) test scores were in this post: Petrilli’s Desperate Attempt To Save Democracy Prep’s Reputation.  Now, as Gary says, I don't view school success and failure based on test scores. But if charters are going to make big claims based on the scores, then die by the sword. Especially when they set up a regressive "zero tolerance" situation (when there are so many progressive means of discipline, like restorative justice.

[Our buddies at Teachers Unite have done an excellent film called "Growing Fairness" -- I attended the premiere the other night and will write a review soon. -- but see the trailer. ]

One of the most riveting parts of our film response to Waiting for Superman was the testimony of former charter school parents.

Here are the links -- make sure to have some tissues handy.

• https://vimeo.com/30227766
• https://vimeo.com/30238788
• https://vimeo.com/30266020
• https://vimeo.com/30357874

Here is another parent who removed her child from Democracy Prep (from their point of view: mission accomplished).

Extracting high test scores at Success

 

And even with these policies they still had horrible test scores. Eva is smarter at extracting high scores I guess. Has anyone checked to see if kids at Success
Academy schools still have their fingernails?



Posted at: http://www.blackstarnews.com/ny-watch/news/the-mis-education-of-my-son.html

When Zero Tolerance Becomes Psychological War Fare: Democracy Prep Charter Middle School

By Bukola Shonuga

Finally, in the last hour and all my tolerance threshold and mental power exhausted I had no choice but to remove my 12 year old son from Democracy Prep Charter Middle School in Harlem - two weeks before graduation from 6th grade. After months of mental torture of my son by overzealous teachers, endless meetings, tons of emails and paperwork that's turned me into a social worker/mom/psychologist, I realized that it has become unhealthy and unsafe to keep my son at Democracy Prep.

The latest episode of the daily psychological abuse of my son occurred on June 6, 2013 when I placed one of my routine calls to the school to check in on him. I was informed that he has been suspended and that his suspension papers were being processed when my call came in.

It's time to examine the police state structure of some of the charter schools model in the minority community in New York.



While I was gathering the facts to write this article, the stalemate situation at my son's school, Democracy Prep middle school in Harlem is unraveling faster than I can keep pace. On May 22nd, my son told me that at lunch time, his teachers were directed to video tape him in every classroom. One of the teachers according to him followed him with a camera into the lunch room when he went to pick up his lunch, followed him up the stairs into the hallway and continued videotaping him while he was eating lunch. I was so outraged. I couldn't believe the school would actually break the law by videotaping a scholar without parental consent.

So I emailed the principal and copied all the teachers including the superintendent of the Charter Schools in District 5 in Harlem. I also spoke with the Principal who told me that it's routine to place a camera in the classrooms to which I responded that it had never been the case for the last nine months and assuming that it's routine, why was my son singled out and followed with a camera and made uncomfortable while he was eating lunch?

There was no response to that question. I also emailed the particular teacher involved and copied every relevant party. I have not gotten any reply to that email message either.

Earlier, last Friday, May 18 my son stormed into the house from school - in another outburst of frustration with his school. "This School sucks," the 12 year old blurted. "Can you believe we didn't attend regular classes today? They separated 46 bad students including me into two groups of 26 and sent us to a special class called 'Prep Academy''.

Normally it takes a while for certain information to register in my brain, particularly the endless daily discipline saga at Democracy Prep where my son has been attending for the past nine months. But he persisted, "So Mommy, they think we are bad kids and had to separate us from the good kids right"?

That caught my attention so I stopped and looked him in the eyes and reassured him that he's a very smart, kind and loving young man, and that he's going to realize his dream by becoming one of the best scientist of his generation.

And more importantly he should never allow anyone to define or label him as a "bad-kid". Nurturing and preserving my son's self-esteem has become a daily routine in the last five months due to the covert psychological abuse he's been experiencing daily at school.

Democracy Prep Charter Middle School in Harlem was an attractive choice when I was searching for school for my son about a year ago, having just moved from Brooklyn where I'd lived for over 20 years. I was rudely awakened by the shortage of good middle schools in the Harlem area and particularly in district 15.

A friend of mine informed me of Democracy Prep and I went to the open house and decided that it sounded like a good fit for my son. I remember sitting in the orientation session and marveling at the no-nonsense and sound academic model presentation. For starters I like the idea that students have to wear a uniform and that accessories and other distracting personal effects are not allowed.

The scholars must abide by school rules and orderliness and so on. I fell in love with their reading marathon program called "word count " where scholars are rewarded based on how many words they read per month. I love reading and I thought it'd be a huge incentive for my son who loves to write but needed to do more reading.

Fast forward: the first trimester was like Xmas. My son got mostly A and B grades and everyone was happy including the school of course.

But as the second trimester begun in January I noticed that he started to complain about how he didn't fit in with the kids and how some used "bad" language - and how they didn't like him because he's different and so on.

Yes, my son's different in the sense of not being street smart. He was never allowed to venture out by himself because I was a little too paranoid about him traveling alone. Not to mention that he's sort of an absent-minded professor. But academically, he's very smart.

I started to notice frequent behavioral comments on his weekly progress report. I eventually learned that those comments adds up to detention, then interrogation (called reflection) and then suspension.

I went to a colonial boarding school in Nigeria and when you got suspended it meant you'd committed a serious crime - like skipping school for days, stealing, falsifying your report card, cheating on exams, or having boys over in your dormitory.

So when my son told me he'd been suspended, I was outraged. I demanded to meet with the principal immediately. She explained that once a scholar is sent out twice in one day, he or she is automatically suspended.

I was really shocked to hear this so I asked why my son was sent out at all in the first place? And I found out a the litany of allegations ("deductions," "detentions," and "interrogations") called reflections, then suspension.

I couldn't believe the extreme disciplinary system; akin to taking a suspect to a police station where offenders are booked and then jailed. But in this situation, scholars are suspended.

I was flabbergasted and my journalistic instinct was automatically activated telling me there's something worth investigating here. So I decided to take advantage of the "open door" policy and started showing up unannounced to observe the classes in session to find out what rules my son was breaking that's resulting in him being sent out almost daily, which had led to three suspensions in three months.

On my first visit to observe class I was struck by the robotic and monotonous style of teaching whereby teachers are programmed to literally clock every second of the class through a count down, while simultaneously monitoring every movement and body language of the young students.

The students are supposed to respond in non-verbal coded signals called : spirit fingers - a twirling of all ten fingers in the direction of the scholar being supported - means a 'show of support,' brain match - is the simultaneous waving of the thumb and the pinkie - it means 'I agree with you,' track your speaker means 'focusing on who's speaking,' pound it out - a chorus of pounding on the desks - means 'the question is answered correctly'; and so on.

So now I understand fully well why my 12 year old who is very creative and loves to be in motion would feel like he's in prison; having to endure ten hours of monotonous class sessions daily without any sports activities or recess. Scholars have to eat their lunch in their respective classroom/homeroom and are only given fifteen to twenty minutes.

I don't know many adults who would survive these conditions. I sat in about about 15 sessions and observed my son and the other students. Yes, some of the them were very quiet and not interactive; and yes, some, including my son, were somewhat restless after awhile. The latter category - in which my son belongs - was very interactive, usually enthusiastic and tended to raise their hands all the time to answer a question.

The endless list of reasons for which students can get railroaded into detention and ultimately suspension include: "not spontaneous on queue," "clapping three times instead of twice as prompted," "slouching over the desk," "looking back at another student," "talking," "mumbling to yourself," "fake coughing or sneezing," "asking to go to the rest room," "raising your hands too long," "clearing your throat" or "breathing too hard."

I found this preposterous.

So the process of suspension usually starts as follows. A teacher would declare "that's one," meaning a deduction, then if a student interjects "what did I do,"? The teacher would respond: "that's two."

The third deduction automatically sends a student to "COLUMBIA," the detention room managed by two African-America male coaches.

All the Advisory/home rooms are named after a University. My son is in UCONN. I'm not sure why the detention room is called COLUMBIA. And by the way all the teachers at this charter school are white and from out of state. The school's administrators did manage to get two coaches that are African-American from the New York City area. They are the two in charge of the detention room.

Is there something wrong with that picture? Yes, in my opinion. These coaches are more like interrogating officers who hand students a three- to five- page packet called a "reflection packet," asking the students to give an account of the incident that led them to detention.

In most cases students are held for hours and not allowed back in class for the rest of the day the "detainees" account of the incident differs from that of the teacher who sent them out.

My son says he's treated unfairly. Most of the time his account the incident differs with the teacher's. So he winds up being held in detention for hours and missing an average of five hours of classwork a week and his homework begins to accumulate and become overwhelming.

It becomes impossible to catch up with hours of class assignments -- for classes he missed while he was "detained." He would have to make the best guesses; meanwhile the pile of homework that normally takes three hours per night -- he now spends endless hours catching up, not getting enough sleep at night. His grades are sliding as a result.

It's a vicious cycle that has to stop. And not just for my son but for over 50 or more scholars who have been labeled "bad kids".

My own investigation entailed hours of playing mom-detective/social worker about three hours on average per week. I spent time at the school and combed through 40 pages of documents that I demanded by force from the detention coaches/officers. I exchanged about 75 sometimes contentious e-mail messages with teachers, the principal, the assistant principal.

I discovered that one particular teacher, my son's writing teacher, was responsible for most of the "sent-outs" that had resulted in suspensions. I had already noticed a pattern of disciplinary excessiveness in her comments on the weekly progress reports. I had also raised numerous concerns about what I deemed an abuse of authority but the principal and the assistant principal defended her fiercely.

This particular teacher continued to find a litany of reasons to send my son out of her class; daily railroading him into detention knowing for sure that it would lead to suspension. She's succeeded in stigmatizing my son and that has led to him being teased by some of his classmates and other students.

My son now suffers anxiety and has nightmares. Some of the current writings in his personal journal reflects the covert psychological abuse that he's had to endure up until present.

To stop the abuse I recently demanded that my son be taken out of the writing class taught by this particular teacher; the school adamantly refused. When I informed them of all the evidence that I've gathered to formally address this issue, they began to coach other teachers to establish a case against my son.

For example, all his teachers were directed to place a camera in all the classes he attends and one of the teachers videotaped during the lunch hour early this week.

I believe this school broke the law by targeting and exclusively videotaping my son, a minor, without my consent. I believe this is a careless action on their part to intimidate, harass and further traumatize a 12 year old whose passion is to go to school, to work hard and to become a roboticist one day.

Is this the model of charter schools in all communities of color?

In the case of Democracy Prep Charter Middle School in Harlem, there are systemic problems. Having examined the school closely these past five months, I found that there is a cultural discord and a police-like system of discipline that's highly incompatible with the demographic it serves.

Author Bukola Shonuga is an independent journalist listed with the US Foreign Press Center.*

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Real Politics: Will They Turn de Blasio into Mark Green and make Lhota King?

If De Blasio wins the runoff and then the nomination, there will be an attempt to "Mark Green" him. But I don't think they will be able to do that easily.

Most interesting would be a run-off with Thompson -- watch the unions battle that one out. But all along some of us have watched the machinations -- ie, Tisch and D'Amato for Thompson - as part of the campaign to get their real guy in -- Lhota -- in an attempt to repeat 2001.

Let's review the 2001 mayoral race that brought Bloomberg to power. Hevesi, the crook, was enthusiastically endorsed by the UFT in August -- I was at that Ex Bd meeting where Randi introduced him with such glowing words. The UFT would not go near Ferrar or Green. So when they made the runoff, the UFT held its nose and endorsed Ferrar. Ooops. Two-time losers. So when Green won the runoff they again held their noses and very reluctantly endorsed Green. Voila: Bloomberg. UFT- 3 time losers, never to go near a mayoral endorsement again until this time.

(Sidenote: I was at an Ex Bd meeting I think back in May or June, 2001 when Randi started to giggle as she said:  Bloomberg wants to stop by and will be here in 10 minutes -- her attitude was so smug. So Bloomberg does show and makes his pitch and everyone is polite. I made sure to give him ed notes on his way out. I really had little idea who he was. I would never suggest the UFT should have endorsed him or sat out the mayoral race.)

So just how much did the UFT leadership's poor political judgement lead to 12 years of hell for educators? I leave you to judge. And how desperate are they now to not be proven wrong once again with their Thompson endorsement? How deaf are they to the outrage of the Tisch connection or the D'Amato support or the growing Thompson scandals?

A perfect example: Randi's attack on de Blasio for his pre-k plan where she disparaged his funding plans as being unrealistic instead of saying: we think your plan is unrealistic but we are on board to make it happen in any way we can. How embarassing that Randi endorsed Thompson BEFORE the Delegate Assembly? And Thompson's waiting in the wings? And the phony explanation? I'm betting that an enormous number of teachers are ignoring the UFT pleas.

Let's examine the current state of the mayoral race as the dynamic changes every day.

A few weeks ago it looked like a Weiner/Quinn runoff. Then it looked like Quinn/Thompson for a brief time. Then came the de Blasio surge, leaving Quinn and Thompson to battle for the last run-off position. Imagine if Thompson doesn't make the run-off. Where does the UFT go? Quinn or de Blasio?

I predict they sit round 2 out and just endorse whoever wins the Dem nom. If Lhota wins (never say never) then the UFT can claim they were only 2 time losers instead of 3.

------
Afterburn
I don't trust de Blasio - any more than the others. I would bet a substantial sum that he forgets all about the charters paying rent or many of the other parts of his programs. Watch one day Howard Wolfson stand by his side with Bloomberg's support and praise Bill's "willing to listen to reason." And if he wins and runs for re-election in '17, see who will support him. And watch who he appoints to the PEP and as chancellor. Should be fun.

While I would vote for Sal or Liu-- and still may just to make a statement to the winner that there is support for a more liberal agenda.

RBE has not let up on the reporting, so check all the posts out.
Here are some links:

NY Times Follows Thompson Story Up With De Blasio Story

Yesterday the Times put a front page story out that essentially said Bill Thompson is a crook.

They've done "expose" stories on Quinn, Weiner, and now Thompson, so I figured the de Blasio "expose" was coming soon.

Tonight they're out with it, and if this is all they've got on him, it's not much.

De Blasio's Cozy Relationship With The Real Estate Industry

Dunno why the NY Post and NY Daily News editorial boards are upset at the prospect of a de Blasio mayorality.

As Dana Rubenstein shows in an extensive post at Politicker, de Blasio was very happy to cut deals on the Atlantic Yards mess, the Gowanus Canal sell-out to Toll Brothers, and a Fourth Avenue rezoning for taller buildings that the Bloomberg administration wanted.

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