Recently Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina announced a plan to help struggling schools by providing extra tutoring, after-school programs, and other needed resources. They made clear that they wanted to support schools with low test scores instead of closing them. The mayor said he would invest $150 million in extra resources to the lowest performing schools.
However, Merryl Tisch, the chancellor of the state Board of Regents, said on a radio show that if the schools didn’t show progress by this coming spring, she would move to close them and replace them with charter schools. The Tisch family, in addition to being generous philanthropists, are big supporters of charter schools.
Giving the DeBlasio plan only a few months to prove its success seems awfully unfair. Schools don’t get “turned around” in a few months. Surely Tisch knows that.
She said:
The main issue, according to Tisch, is that the principals need leverage to fire educators if they don’t meet standards.
“It’s not just saying, ‘We’re gonna fix these schools,’” she said. “You gotta give the new principals and assistant principals the ability to hire the teachers that they want and fire the teachers that they don’t want.”
Tisch applauded the efforts of city Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, however, and said she had faith the schools boss could make the right moves.
“I think she’s a fine educator, and I believe she will do ultimately what’s best for the children,” Tisch said.
Tisch also said she would push for more charter schools, something de Blasio opposes, and added the city should not change the admissions standards for specialized high schools.
“I personally am a great believer in charter schools,” she said. “I think that they have done remarkable work. I believe in opening them aggressively . . . I’d like to push for more charter schools.”
She was not asked, nor did she address the question about whether the principals and assistant principals were part of the problem. It seems unreasonable to assume that giving them more power to hire and fire at will is going to raise test scores or even produce better qualified teachers. But it is especially unreasonable to expect a fast result after years of neglect.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
provided that the administrators are not fearful and inexperienced toadies.
“…in addition to being generous philanthropists,….”
“Philanthropists” maybe, but there’s nothing generous about it.
Not even really philanthropists because that term means love of man.
That term has been hijacked. New term needed.
I think we should call them “turnarounds.”
So, the question is simple: should push come to shove and Tisch moves to close public schools and reopen them as charters, what can the mayor do. He has had his tush kicked on one battle with Albany. Can he afford to lose again? Will he lose control of the NYC public schools? Tune in/
Meryl Tisch spoke on the panel at the NYSSBA conference. She was so condescending. Not only would they not take any questions, they spent much of the time telling us the value of charters. Her husband was one of Cuomo’s big supporters also. Her take is that we all just need to get over it and accept charters as the new reality. It is definitely an uphill battle with this group of Regents. Public education is not part of their vision.
Prediction 1: Heads will roll at these schools, voluntarily or otherwise. If we’ve learned anything about BdB so far, it’s that although he may be a slow starter, ultimately he knows how to take orders.
Prediction 2: If principals can successfully counsel out their worst students, test scores will improve at many of the schools on this list, enough to allow BdB to attribute the improvement to his kindler, gentler turnaround plan.
Wow Flerp!…. I agree with your predictions. Who would have thunk?
How can tisch ask this of public schools and not demand the same of her miracle charters?
The only work charters have been doing is creating homogeneous groups of high performing students and dropping those who don’t pass muster.
Plenty of charters fail this test with years of implementation- it seems like she is looking to close public schools, believing that there is no way this could work and public schools will fail students no matter what.
It’s another matter that she believes gutting tenure is a good idea and that principals are fully competent CEOs whose main problems are crappy unfireable teachers.
Who elected her and john king again?
We did, at least indirectly. My Assembly Rep voted in favor of the NY Regents, so this election, I voted for the opponent.
Check out how the legislature voted.
http://www.nysape.org/scorecard-for-board-of-regents-vote-and-action-alert.html
Seems that you predict that BdB will lie down, take the fall. Any alternatives? When, if ever, will BdB refuse to take the fall?
I can never keep the details straight, but this process is largely hemmed in by state law and regulations. Schools get put in certain categories based on their performance stats, and then the school district is required to come up with a plan from a menu of options. For example, for schools that are labeled “Out of Time” schools, the district has 6 options: (1) close the school and scatter the students among other schools; (2) close the school and reopen it as a new school, presumably with substantial staffing changes; (3) hire an outside “educational partnership organization,” whatever that is, to operate the school, which again presumably includes big changes in personnel; (4) propose a new “governance structure” for the school; (5) turn the school into a charter; and (6) turn the school over to SUNY or CUNY to run.
BdB/Farina went with option 4. Option 4 requires the district to provide additional resources for students (tutoring, e.g.) and teachers (professional development and mentoring, e.g.). It also requires the schools’ administrators to be given more latitude over hiring, firing, and retaining staff. That’s what the DOE is proposing, and that’s what the DOE will do. BdB and Tisch are on the same page. Tisch is just flexing, and BdB is just trying to follow the rules as quietly as he can. Tisch, King, and Cuomo will make stern statements now and then. Labor and education advocates will keep wagging their tail every time BdB says that he’s not Bloomberg.
It should go without saying, but I have no idea what I’m talking about. But this seems to me to be how it’s unfolding.
Sweet Jesus, FLERP, the situation is byzantine. One thing is clear: Once again, teachers and students are “pawns in the game”. I thought Boston was FUBAR. No, I should have been more clear eyed. The NYC Board of Ed in combination with the NYS Board of Regents, just boggles the mind.
FLERP!: thank you for your comments.
😎
Reblogged this on Network Schools – Wayne Gersen and commented:
You can see from this blog post what DeBlasio and Farina are up against… and the mainstream media in NYS are lined up in support of the close’m down mentality as well. A spring showdown looks to be in the works…
I guess it’s the teachers’ fault that some kids come in behind from day one. Good idea– let’s fill the charter schools with TFA– that will do the trick!
DeBlasio should speak out forcefully against the junk science high stakes test industry and why it exists (to stamp out public schools). Putting 150 million dollars to improving tests is tantamount to asking how high he should jump when told to close down schools. These tests are not for helping students improve. If they were they would not be top secret and teachers would have access to the questions along with the answers so they could assist students in areas they needed improvement.
DeBlasio should fight for public schools and expose the nonsense so that Tisch and the likes of Eva Moscovitz are not controlling education in NYC!
hi Diane, It seems that some people really don’t know who Ms. Tisch is. She is a very conservative, wealthy, ignorant head of the New York State Board of Regents. She recently started her own fund for which she solicited money from many other wealthy family foundations. .Ms. Tisch donated $1 million to the regents research foundation, she asked Bill Gates and got $3,3 million from him. Then she invited many other wealthy people to donate to her fund, which they did to the tune of $19 million. Ms. Tisch then proceeded to hire 27 “regents researchers”. She directs their research and pays them. She should be asked to step down from her position, She is not a supporter of Public Schools and is in an important position to aid the schools or screw them. She is supposed to be a supported of Public Schools that is what her job is. She is not a supporter of Public Schools. She is just another rich , white person who thinks they can solve the problems of the poor by firing teachers and closing schools.
It took James Odato an investigative reporter for the Albany Times Union newspaper more than 1 year to find out how much money Tisch had collected and how much she was paying the ” Regents Researchers” . So much for transparency in government.
How can we get rid of her? How can this person be exposed? We need help. Cuomo
has encouraged this type of behavior, he wants money from the business world.
Sorry, Diane. Given your rules for those of us who spend time in your living room, I can’t post my immediate reaction to what I think Merryl Tisch should do.
Same sorry, Diane – I have to respect your principles and not use the language I would like to, to describe these heartless individuals who would create more chaos in the life of a child who needs quite the opposite.
Remember that I am AI* but let me give it a shot:
The edudeformers are a bunch of MFCSSOBorEFB’S who don’t GaS or a TRA about the damage they are doing to so many. As a matter of fact many of these HFBNCS’s are proud (in the vain sort of way) of the destruction they champion and/or cause.
*Acronym Impaired
So sad. NYS has become a monopoly board for those who do not care about true education. Good gracious, How did Tisch gain leadership on the board of Regents? Students, parents, communities, and teachers will suffer. And the new republican majority, including that DINO guv, will gloat at the suffering of many. Canada, please annex upstate NY and save us from the politics of The City and the whims of the hedge funders. We used to be proud of our Regents exams and SUNY system. Not so much on this watch.
Tisch and Silver are neighbors.
I think that it is ironic that Cuomo calls public education a “monopoly”, but the Regents aren’t.
Nimbus, she did it the old fashioned way, she bought her way on and offered the requisite fealty and favors to gain the post. She probably knows where the accounting skeletons are to keep herself on board.
Let’s not forget that Tisch is next door neighbors with Bloomberg in Manhattan. The apartment building she lives in is also the same building she and her husband own. And her apartment occupies a full floor, not just a unit.
Tisch and Bloomberg have seder dinner together, and their daughters grew up together as very close friends.
Tisch taught for 2 years in a parochial school as her total experience teaching. She attended the accelerated PhD program with John King at Columbia University.
This is crony-pluto politics at its best.
And what do New York State residents really know anything about this?
The common people have only themselves to get informed and start grass roots groups to counter balance Merryl Tisch’s narcissism and strangle hold on public education.
It is Tisch’s husband’s lobbying congress and the Senate that maintains privatization and the current state and federal tax systems that prevent wealthy people and corporations from paying their fair share of taxes. They lobby for a shrinking tax base that starves public infrastructure and threatens the well being of society.
Merryl Tisch and friends are as disconnected as Marie Antoinette and Louis the 16th were.
I hope one day the average citizenry kicks Ms. Tisch to the curb and others like her. They can do so be engaging in the political machinery still available to all of us. Zephyr Teachout is a prime example of this . . . .
Somehow I cannot help but point to sloppy public school districts for making this power grab possible. For years we (public school parents and administrators) have been apathetic and complacent. Especially those of us who are lucky enough to have a mostly fine faculty in our semi-afluent neighborhood schools. Often we’ve said, well…even private schools have some awful teachers and I am happy to donate a little to my public school rather than spend 30,000 on a private school. Essentially we handed the reformers and their backers the opportunity to challenge our communities and our school boards and now we are treading water. I am hopeful that enough of the country will wake up but even the very finely (and publicly) educated among us are drinking the kool-aide. I hear it everyday from friends and colleagues. We’re in the good fight here, but with the kind of money and power the super rich toss out, we are going to have to work harder than ever. The recent electoral attempt to gain more influence (at least in my state) was WAY too close for comfort.
Every propaganda campaign begins with a kernel of truth. There are always going to be ineffective workers in every field. When it involves your kids, then the stakes get higher. So, yes: there’s blame to cast at some of the school districts.
But let’s be real: this is a propaganda campaign that’s been going on for decades and the public doesn’t even know it. “Throwing out the baby with the bathwater” applies thoroughly, here.
Agree agree agree. My comment is born out of frustration. Everyday I hear otherwise liberal, charitable, thoughtful people actually buying into the rhetoric (albeit propaganda) of the insatiable reform agenda. I am perplexed by it. While many may find it trivial, if there was just a handful of popular celebrities (actors, musicians, athletes) and a few mega wealthy who would speak out against the machine, the influence would shift.
Victim blaming self????
Believing that school districts are blameless is misguided. Culpability is a sign of strength. It’s the motivation to effect changes that separates the educators from the profiteers.
It’s always a good idea to remember the NAACP’s stance on charter schools:
BTW, I think this post gives the impression that Tisch said the state would close these schools if they didn’t improve their test scores by spring. That’s not what she said. The “progress” Tisch is demanding isn’t improved test scores, it’s progress on firing teachers. She was saying that there’ll be a problem if there aren’t significant staffing changes by spring.
Flerp: my third year of teaching our school was closed and reopened: we all had to reapply for our jobs. I was one of 6 rehired.
Some background about these closings: we were “recognized” ( one away from “exemplerary”) my first year there. Then our sup closed an underperforming school and redrew our boundaries so that we had those same students, and ours went elsewhere. Our principal left and two weeks before school we got a newbie who basically hid in her office. It was chaos. That year was our first “academically unacceptable” year due to 7 students in 8th grade math. The next year NCLB was hitting even harder, and after the new principal left we got another, and got unacceptable again that year. School then was closed to be reopened preemptively.
Instructors who had gotten poor kids to “recognized” for years were let go because our school absorbed ape performing school and we were set up to fail with two crap principals. How is it possible that those were “bad” teachers?
You seem to buy hook line and sinker that teachers are the only ones responsible for failing schools. Not NCLB where a school is deemed a failure for 8 kids in an ethnic sub group. Not a superintendent that sets up a school to fail so she can open it into a specialty “academy”, only hire back a few of the newer teachers, and suddenly find deep pockets to pump money into it and make it a “choice” school with rules so strict that the parents of the problem kids choose to move their kid and bingo! Less discipline probs. Not society that does not help these kids. Not the problem kids’ parents many of whom have given up on discipline and view teachers as enemies who pick on their kids, rather then aids trying to help them…
Yeah let’s talk about making it easier to can 10+ year educators: it was totally all my colleagues’ fault ( esp in the English dept) that math that year lost 8 kids. 70+ teachers should have been moved. They all were just lazy and bad.
I don’t know why you think I “seem to buy hook line and sinker that teachers are the only ones responsible for failing schools.” That’s such an odd statement.
titleonetexas, You have fatally misread FLERPS posting. He wrote, in part,
“The “progress” Tisch is demanding isn’t improved test scores, it’s progress on firing teachers. She was saying that there’ll be a problem if there aren’t significant staffing changes by spring”.
FLERP was merely commenting on the meaning and intent of Tish’s statement, not his on beliefs.
This has “Bloomberg” written all over it. He no longer has to bear the strictures imposed on him, as mayor (though he overrode plenty of them). Now he can pull the strings in the background.
It’s beginning to look like round two…and the reformers are now on steroids.
Tisch is, indeed, calling for the firing of teachers, based on whether the “meet the standards” or not.
I guess I owe Flerp an apology: I did misread his comments. In the past he has argued for some of the practices that I disagree with, so I did not get the sarcasm. Sorry Flerp.
tisch must be re elected in 2016 hopefully we can throw her cruddy butt to the street
I’d like that, but who “re-elects” her?
Ms Tisch needs a vacation in the Caribbean with some Wild Thing.
deBlasio has proving to be a big puppet to Cuomo. He should have stood behind Teachout, but then again, many Democrats lost because he endorsed them.
Easy to put a read on DeBlasio. He’s definitely front and center.
There’s a lot more than what meets the eye in this situation, though. Take a look at the previous posts.The elite are neighbors and friends. They share positions of power with the same objective. They’ve got the governor as their ally.
DeBlasio has to deal with that plus 12 years of Bloomberg’s administration. And Giuliani before. In ALL areas. Not just education.
Please think twice before putting a spin like that on someone with less than a years worth of service.The deck is stacked against him, you, and me.
Assuming, arguendo, that the “deck is stacked against him, you and me” and that we we pinned our hopes and expectations on the Mayor’s electoral platform. what is a reasonable expectation of this mayor, at least regarding the education domain?
“Reasonable” is a tricky word when it comes to expectations of politicians.
He went to Albany to ask for the state’s help in funding universal pre-k. Eva Moskovitz was, not so coincidentally, there on that day, full force, with her students and their parents, lobbying for more charter schools.
Cuomo made it very clear where his allegiances lie.
DeBlasio did not get what he was asking for. What he DID get, instead, was a mandate to provide free public school space for proposed charter schools and, if that wasn’t possible, he was ordered to find a space for the charter(s) and pay the rent with city funds.
How can any of us provide a “reasonable expectation” of his service in the domain of education when he’s dealing with situations such as these? In a “normal” political arena, I’d expect negotiations and compromises. I’m not privy to any inside information, but I’m not seeing much in the way of compromises coming from Albany.