Bone Head Move of the Year

In the bone head move of the year and wow it is still January. School Principals were told that they need to cut $70,000 from the school budget immediately. Do these people never learn I smell the same fiasco as the school bus crisis last year.
So while the Bloomberg administration continues to play games with our school children what does this mean to PUBLIC education as a whole. I tell you what it means it means we are doomed. As teachers rights are being taken away,( rubber room) parents being told to shut up and children well who gives a crap about them anyway. I know that the dynamic duo doesn't. Now I know I might take some grief for this but what the hell I am a big girl I can take it. Why in the hell are we giving homeowners money back when there is no money to stimulate a faulting economy. I know that money is going to do jack for me.
I wonder what that means for wee one's small school. I wonder just where in the hell my Principal is going to find in her bare bones budget to cut some more fat out of it. Oh I know there is no fat but the dynamic butt heads, wait strike that duo think we do.
Hey how about we cancel lunch that is a waste of money, how about gym we don't need fit children. How about we put a snapple machine in the schools. What that has been done already.
You know what Mike how about you just do what you want and privatize the system faster than you already are. We all know that is where you are going anyway.
Just give all the schools an F now because with this new slap in our face I don't see any schools grades going up.
Hey now I know how about we just cut every stupid test that you're administration wants to give that should free up some money to invest back into the system.
Do any of your big wig friends need a tax break ask them to give some money to the schools. I know you already ask them to fund your hair brained schemes for test scores, attendance and dentist visits. How about asking them to invest in true education reforms instead of that Charter (union busting) schemes.
Mike you truly make me ill and I have to tell you I have been pretty sick lately.

Path to Success

Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday his new 8th grade retention policy. Path to Success my ass. The Path to Success is not to leave back a student but help him or her while they are in the 8th grade to pass. That is hard to achieve though when your school's budget has been cut to shreds, and their are not enough resources to educate the child. Oh there are teachers in the classroom but there are also 32-36 other students in the class and they too might need help.

They also announced this plan but they also announced that they will bring it to the Panel for Education Panel. But why bother is this not a deal that has already been struck. What do you want to just watch Patrick pop a vein for your amusement, and watch Joel play with his blackberry in his show of ennui.

There is also to be the education tour, oh wait no not tour what is it called.....wait..... be right back.....oh that is right "conducting public engagement meetings", because our voice is CRUCIAL
in making sure this policy works.

Yeah right, my voice you don't care what I have to say, you only care that I listen to what you want.

I listen to what my children want you know the Playstation 2, the X-Box, the oh you get the idea, I listen and then I tell them why it won't work and we compromise they don't get it and they are saying how I am mean. Kind of the same thing isn't it.

I am tired of the two dunderheads making up new policy first, and then bringing it to the people who are supposed to vote for it first. Like the SLT regulations not being brought up to the CEC's.
The toxic schools being built without telling parents that their children are sitting on hazardous material. Which defeats the purpose of learning. You can not really learn when you are sick from the fumes coming out of your building. Oh that is right there are no harmful fumes or so say the DOE and their crack team of air quality specialists.

What is it going to take, that every single time a policy that is detrimental to our children is passed through without parental input we sue. Who has the time and energy to do this?
I know the lawyer in Klein knows parents don't.

The Path to Success is not paved in retaining a student. One TEST does not make the student.
ONE HIGH STAKE TEST.
You two should go back to school a nice Public High School, I say lets see ummm yeah Richmond Hill High School go sit in a trailer in the middle of a heat wave, when the toilet is not working, and the air conditioner is broken, in the middle of a lightning storm.

Another tale of woe

Yesterday's New York Times ran an article about Richmond Hill High School and their over capicity issue (article).
This situation has been happening again and again as the Dynamic Duo close schools and students are forced to be educated elsewhere, further making a bad situation worse. For children to have a lunch period at 8:59 is ridiculous at best. Why can't we just call it what it is breakfast.
This administration has not helped our education system but has debased it and lied time and time again on how well our students are fairing. I am surprised they haven't used the line yet "How am I doin' ".
It is time to fight back and take back or schools because the only thing in my eyes that I see is our Mayor and his "friends" making big tax breaks in trying to privatize the system. Charter school anyone???

Howdy do.....

My home computer is being tempermental.
Last night I tried to post two things and it froze up on me.
I am having loads of issues with blogger, some blogs freeze up my computer and others I have no problem.
With that said my very patient husband has to go get cracking on fixing it.
See you soon I hope.

Restore Parent Power

stolen from the NYCPublicSchoolParents blog:

Just do it: (to all apologies to Nike for stealing their saying)

On Dec. 31, Marie Pollicino, a parent and Community Education Council member from Queens, filed a class action complaint with the State Education Department on behalf of all NYC public school parents. Her petition says that the new regulations adopted by DOE that strip away the rights and responsibilities of School Leadership Teams to decide on school-based budgets and Comprehensive Education plans are unlawful and unwarranted, and should be reversed.
She also points out that the process of amending these regs was contrary to state law by not involving CECs or any other official parent group, and she asked for a stay, so that the previous regulations that provided real decision-making authority to SLTs should be retained until the Commissioner determines the propriety of the amendments.
Her petition is posted here; it makes a very compelling case. It follows an earlier letter to the Commissioner from the NY State Assembly Education Chair Cathy Nolan, who made several of the same points.
Given more resources and authority delegated to the school level, and the huge pressure put on principals by this administration to raise test scores and spend nearly all their discretionary funds on data analysis and test prep, to the exclusion of nearly everything else, it is more crucial than ever before that parents be able to provide a countervailing force to see that resources are invested properly – on reducing class size and improving learning conditions in our classrooms.
This regulation is yet another insidious way in which the administration is systematically trying to strip any ability for parents to have a voice in the way their children are educated.
Please contact the Commissioner Richard Mills, with a copy of your email to the Regents, Assembly Member Nolan, City Council Member Robert Jackson, Chancellor Klein and the Mayor, as well as your own elected reps in the Legislature and City Council – whose emails you can easily gather by plugging in your address here. A sample message along with email addresses is below; feel free to add anything relevant to your situation or that of your child.
To: richard.mills@mail.nysed.gov; djohnson@mail.nysed.gov;CC: jackson@council.nyc.ny.us; JKlein@schools.nyc.gov; mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov; nolanc@ assembly.state.ny.us (and your state and city council reps)
Dear Commissioner Mills and the Board of Regents:
I urge you to support the class action petition by Marie Pollicino of the District 26 Community Education Council, on behalf of all NYC parents, and reverse the unauthorized and illegal action of the NYC Department of Education to eliminate the authority of School Leadership Teams to collectively determine each school’s budget and Comprehensive Education Plan. This amendment to the regulations governing the rights and responsibilities of SLTs would remove the ability of parents to help determine the spending priorities of their children’s schools, and was done without consulting Community Education Councils and/or any official parent group, contrary to state law and regulation.
I urge you to restore the regulation to its previous version, which properly recognized the rights of parents to be full partners along with the principal and staff in decision-making at the school level.
Yours, [Name, home address, school, and leadership position if any.]

Horray for Mark Weprin

Mark thank you so much for denouncing the tests at the press conference at P.S. 46 yesterday. It is about time that someone has decided to let it be known the disgust of all parents.
By the way Joel shame on you for not inviting CEC members of District 26 to your little press conference. It is another slap in the face to parents.

Also I would like to know how you can say that schools are not teaching to the test when one of the schools own students admitted it.

My own son the college junior told me that he does not understand why they keep touting that there is not teaching to the test because that is all he remembered in his formative years. Teachers telling him pay attention this will be on the state test. What he really said is they scared the crap out of him that they needed to pay attention to the tutoring or they won't pass the test.

Update about yesterday

My new favorite word asshat. I used it a lot today.

Yes indeed the school in question is Benjamin Cardozo High School.

The question I have is this. Even if this invasion was planned weeks ahead, why was it not cancelled due to the severity of cold temps. Since more are scheduled could we not inconvenience the children on another day, or maybe that was the point. Who knows.

I do think that parents need to start calling our elected officials and ask the questions that were posed by Steve Koss. How much is this costing. What has been confiscated, what is the attendance rate for the day.

Parents need to stop squabbling between each other and band together. The DOE knows that we are not united. That's right we are not. It is time to put aside our stupid squabbles about who does what, and who should be doing such and such and just get over yourselves. Be adults and fight for the good, or before you know it even our rights will be taken away.
oops what I am I saying our rights are being taken away.

This just in.....

my son called me about 10 mintues ago to inform me that his school is now formally a prison. He said when he arrived there were police surrounding the building and scanning was happening. He said that he turned around knowing full well that he was going to be stopped. The police officer stopped him and said "Hey where do you think you are going?", his reply ummm the college is over there. Glad he is almost 7 feet tall with a full beard that I almost made him shave off over the break.
Yeah that's right my child walked away with my permission and called me with his cell the one he has to hide under a rock before entering the building, the only reason he will be staying at this school is he graduates this year, otherwise I would be all over there in a minute pulling his big giant behind out of there. Enough is enough already. This is a place of EDUCATION, not demoralizing your students and staff. You big asshats.

Cellphones again

Yipee, students are now allowed to bring their cellphones to school. They are allowed to bring them TO school, just not into them. Huh, color me confused. What kind of hair brained scheme is this? Where exactly are the children supposed to leave the cellphones? Psst, mister can you hold my cell phone for me, I will be getting out at 4:15 meet me here so I can have it again.
In the last month there was an incident at the Glen Oaks Campus with threats that caused the school to go into Lockdown. Lockdown what is this Rikers? Can we not think of a better term than lockdown? If the Dynamic Duo could only get their heads out of their rear ends or each others oops lets not go there, maybe they would see that their is a need for cell phones, and a cellphone notification system. But we don't need that, what we need instead are surveillance cameras placed inside high schools, yeah that's the ticket. We will install cameras during the Christmas break and then not tell the children that they are going to be spied on whilst walking down the hall. My son told me that his dean told him that there were 86 cameras installed in his bigovercrowded high school during the break. Whatever the f**k for? Was I asked permission for this intrusion. What is next tiny microphones recording the events of the classroom, because I pity the teacher who decides to instruct the children anything else besides what is being taught on the high stake test. Oh that's right we are not supposed to teach to the test.
Transparency my ass.

Happy New Year!!

So another year has passed us by. I only feel younger and more energized. Oh yeah that was the 12 hours of sleep I had.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!