Politico reports that Eva Moskowitz fired Mercury, the PR firm that also represented Michigan Gov Rick Snyder during the Flint water crisis.
This the third PR firm hired and fired by Success Academy.
How many public schools have the funds to hire a top-shelf PR firm?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How many public schools can afford it? How many public schools would be legally permitted to do such a thing? I guess it’s a silver lining that it appears not to work so well for Eva and her BFFs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
To turn this into a more broad thought, yet another opportunity for the private sector in a choice atmosphere. One more non-classroom expense.
LikeLike
Public schools are supposed to learn from the innovations of charter schools. So that means rather than improving, public schools should just hire PR firms to burnish their images.
LikeLike
Like your attitude cc!
LikeLike
Did they fire this guy in the video (whom I call Eva’s shill-meister)?
Eva from Success Academy has the audacity to send her winged monkey recruiters to lurk outside traditional public schools — some of them upscale, well-regarded schools with top-notch faculty — and accost parents bringing their kids to school. They then tell them every lie, scare tactic, and phony promise they can, to get contact info, so they can poach these students.
There’s a great video of public school parents and students at a more upscale part of New York City confronting one of Eva’s Shill-meisters. The recruiter appears to be losing an argument to what looks like a 4th or 5th grader (which I guess is a credit to the school that it produces such brilliant students who can debate off-the-cuff with adults like that.) A renown teacher, Jamie Fidler, is in this debate as well.
I finally got around to making a transcript of this… riveting stuff:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 00:29 – 1:22 )
( 00:29 – 1:22 )
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: ‘So you don’t have to prove it when you say that it (Success Academy) is ‘the best elementary school in New York State’ ?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “No, I don’t have to prove it. I have- ”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “So you just rely on somebody’s word?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “Someone else rated it. I can’t … I can’t re-run every experiment that’s done. I can’t re-run every rating system.“
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “No, but- “
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I have to accept- ”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “Can you each time just research people who says who your quoting pro-noy(?) ?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “Boy, everything I say -?”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: (to the CHILD) “Yeah… That is SUCH a GOOD point.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “So everything I run into. .. I can’t… I have to … I can’t just accept an outside expert’s … conclusion?”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “Well, if you make a statement like it (Success Academy) is ‘the best school in the state’, you kinda need to be able to back it up with SOMETHING.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I’m repeating… Yes, and they-“
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “You can’t even tell us WHO is saying this (i.e. Success Academy is “the best school in New York State.) You can’t even tell us WHERE YOU GOT THAT, or where it can be found?!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I assume if you went to the web, and googled what I just said, you can come up with the report, which you could criticize yourself.”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “But you DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO DID that report.“
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I have NOT read that report.”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “I mean I could say that Rick Santorum is best candidate for president, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. Right? So, you know -”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “But, but you’re saying that an opinion -“
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “ “If you’re making an assertion, you need to have SOMETHING – You need to be able just- “
VIDEO CUTS OUT
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Here’s an earlier post about this:
This is how you handle those SUCCESS ACADEMY (or other charter school) recruiters.
A couple years back, Eva’s winged monkey recruiters had been lurking outside traditional public schools in a more upscale New York City neighborhood where Eva was about to open a school, accosting parents with a sales pitch to ditch their public school for one of Eva’s test prep factories.
Unlike the uninformed lower income immigrant community folks and were duped, these folks knew what these recruiters were all about.
The parents and teachers then got in the face of one of them, with the confrontation captured on video: (is he wearing one of Success Academy’s L.L. Bean’s backpacks?)
I’m urging parent leaders Karen Wolfe and other acttivists, and teacher union leaders to like UTLA President Alex C-P to play this video to every parent and teacher, respectively
that each of them can get to watch it.
In Los Angeles, the Broad Plan will unleash
hundreds of these paid recruiters t
o accost parent and student at
our traditional public schools., in an effort to
poach the students attending public schools.
Get lost, you money-motivated charter shills!!!!
One of the teachers / parents here was Jamie Fidler, a nationally
renown teacher who came into prominence in the documentary
AMERICAN TEACHER (a mixed bag of a film, but that’s
another story).
They kept protesting, and Eva’s winged monkeys were
never seen again.
HAPPY ENDING
Oh and again, here’s Jamie Fidler — a career teacher, like her father, who’s in it for decades— refuting the propaganda vilifying career unionized teachers:
(I just figured out what they’re calling him … “the SUCCESS ACADEMY Flier-Man” ? The mic check reference him as a ” charter school fireman”)
x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 2:11 – 2:46 )
( 2:11 – 2:46 )
LikeLike
Jack, great posts, thank you!
I particularly love that student who confronted the shill-meister. She must be all of ten or eleven years old or so.
Good for her! She already has a lot of critical thinking skills, and a willingness to speak up. I think that she will go far in life.
LikeLike
I’m clear in the west, but I REALLY want this girl on my debate team! She’s great!
LikeLike
She sure is, TOW!
LikeLike
Jack,
FYI – I have seen that video before and this man always seemed like a down on his luck unemployed guy who answered an ad for a paid job to promote the school and get signatures/pass out leaflets. Those people were all over the neighborhood back when SA needed to manufacture a demand after they had already moved a school into a very expensive neighborhood under the false claim that there was a demand! It was absurd, and they spent quite a bit of money hiring people to get signatures (for a “new school” to help overcrowding) and what this guy did. I doubt he knew more about Success Academy than whatever he learned in their training session. I feel sorry for him and I’m sure he would not have chosen the job he did if he didn’t need the money. Hopefully he is at a more respectable job by now.
LikeLike
Yeah, I feel sorry for the guy, too, for all the reasons you just stated.
LikeLike
Hey, I think I found the name of the actual job — and job posting — that “Shill-Meister” was carrying out at Success Academy:
“Community Organizer”
… which, after the poor slobs start working for Eva, quickly morphs into…
“Parent / Child Annoyer”
(as seen in this video)
… upon orders from Eva, of course.
Here’s the actual job posting:
https://www.themuse.com/jobs/successacademycharterschools/community-organizer-e3cff4?utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Job%20Individual&utm_campaign=NYC%20Jobs
It’s says that Eva’s looking for for someone who …
— has experience with “2+ years canvassing”, which is sort of what the guy was doing with his clipboard outside P.S. 261 in the video;
— reports “directly to the (S.A.) Associate Director of Enrollment” … enrollment, of course, meaning of course, the process of recruiting students to “enroll” in one of Eva’s schools;
— can “develop comprehensive outreach plans that carefully consider the needs of each community and fits into a larger Enrollment strategy” … which, translated, means come up with whatever sleazy tactic and slick pitch which or whatever that will lure students into enrolling in S.A. … again, accomplishing this by any means necessary;
— “enjoys collaboration and will work with Parent Engagement Managers to schedule, host and facilitate events and identify further opportunities to reach (i.e. recruit) prospective families”;
— “has a positive, ‘can do’ attitude and will identify opportunities to gain deeper insight into creating more efficient and streamlined processes” … whatever that last part means … faster, cheaper ways to lure in suckers, I guess.
Here’s full text:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Community Organizer — Success Academy
“We are seeking a motivated, goal-oriented Community Organizer to create and maintain positive working relationships with community leaders and organizations on behalf of Success Academies. S/he is a self-starter committed to educational choice, education reform and the development of exemplary schools.
“Reporting directly to the Associate Director of Enrollment, our Community Organizer should be someone who…
” – Has 2+ years canvassing and organizing experience in political or issue campaigns;
“- Can develop comprehensive outreach plans that carefully consider the needs of each community and fits into a larger Enrollment strategy;
” – Is a skilled relationship builder that can identify community organizations and leaders to establish and nurture relationships to help build awareness of and partnerships with Success Academy;
” – Enjoys collaboration and will work with Parent Engagement Managers to schedule, host and facilitate events and identify further opportunities to reach prospective families;
” – Has a positive, ‘can do’ attitude and will identify opportunities to gain deeper insight into creating more efficient and streamlined processes; and
” – Is fluent in English and Spanish.
“To join our team, please upload a cover letter and resume that outlines your candidacy. Your cover letter should explain in detail your qualifications for the position. Resumes without cover letters will not be reviewed.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Keep in mind these are your and my tax dollars paying for all this, money coming from the majority parents and citizens which all polling says support the survival of public education and support teachers as professionals, but in this instance, have no say in the way Eva is using this tax money — to pay her salary, to fulfill her goals and to serve her motives which again, are anathema to what the public actually wants regarding education.
Those same parents and citizens may be firmly opposed to the privatization of public education via the expansion of Eva’s (and others’) privately-managed “public charter schools,” and who are also opposed to the de-professionalization of teaching that goes hand-in-hand with this privatization of schools … as the less professional, less-trained, and less qualified “the help” is required to be, the less you have to pay them, and the more the bosses can pay themselves, and also, the more money they have on hand to these expand privately-managed charter schools.
That’s why I’m only semi-sympathetic to Shill-meister.
BOTTOM LINE: he’s just a hired shill, or a carnival barker trying to get suckers or marks to come in the tent where the more qualified and seasoned hucksters (Eva’s “Parent Engagement Managers”) then take over and try to close the sale…
… or perhaps he’s a hunter of humans; if you will, who will, per Eva’s orders, will bring in his catch of the day … in the form of signatures and contact information from strangers whom he Eva orders him to accost and annoy outside schools, or on playgrounds, or wherever parents will likely be hanging out.
At the end of the day, Shill-meister’s one and only commitment is merely to get paid — first, last and always — while, as to the negative long-term effect that the way he earns his living has on the future survival of democratically-governed and truly public education,
… OR …
… as to that harmful impact that his efforts have on the profession of teaching — turning teaching from a respected, decently-compensated profession such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. … and then degrading it to that of a low-level, poorly-compensated, dubiously-trained service job like fast food, office temping, retails sales, etc…..
… well, he couldn’t give two sh#%’s about ANY of that.
All he cares about is whether, after he does what he was hired for, Eva’s checks will clear.
Near the end of the video, he cluelessly opines:
( 3:24 – )
( 3:24 – )
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t see any problem with solicitation… what’s wrong with solicitation?”
A lot, you money-motivated douchebag!
You know, as I re-wartch the video …
… it’s interesting to see how civil, calm and polite the parents are towards Eva’s Shill-Meister — way more than I would have been in that situation. The only one who shows a little anger is ASIAN PARENT at the very end, and, again she’s just demonstrating her understandable frustration at Shill-meiester’s inability to grasp why they object to what he’s doing.
“This is a solicitation! This is like someone SELLING A CAR!”
The off-camera ANOTHER PARENT put it best:
“Children are NOT commodities!”
LikeLike
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “What’s wrong with solicitation?”
ANOTHER PARENT: “Children are NOT commodities!”
— public school PARENT telling off one of Eva Moskowitz’ shills who stands outsidide accosting parents as they pick up and/or drop off their students ad P.S. 261
That two-line exchange sums up the market-based school reform.
Here’s PART 2 of the parents, teachers, and kids confronting Eva’s Shill-Meister.
First, here’s the title card, which I have transcribed here:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 2:46 – 2:57 )
( 2:46 – 2:57 )
TITLE CRAWL:
“Teachers at P.S. 261 said that they first tried asking the man handing out fliers to leave, but to no effect. Then on Thursday, parents, teachers, and students gathered in front of the school to confront him and ask why the Success Acadeny school was superior to their own.
“The conversation did not go well — he was hired to hand out fliers, not to defend the school’s existence — but it energized the parents and teachers.
” ‘We can still fight in our little ways.,’ Ms. Fidler said.”
( 2:58 – 3:51 )
( 2:58 – 3:51 )
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I didn’t make the rating (that he claims says that Success Academy is ‘the best elementary school in the state.’) Someone ELSE did.”
ASIAN PARENT: “You don’t even know his name (the name of the guy who made the rating).”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: Look, the point is .. is that we have no reason to believe you.”
OTHER PARENT: ‘You’re passing out fliers for something you don’t know about. That’s kind of embarrassing.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “Well then it would be my expert (?).”
OTHER PARENT: ‘Would I ever stand out on a corner and hand out fliers with something that I know NOTHING about? ‘That’s kind of like despic- That’s like DECEIVING to the people to whom you’re handing out literature.””
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t know NOTHING about it. I know that the students do well in (Success Academy) schools.”
ASIAN PARENT: “I’m sorry, but the students to well in OUR school as well. “
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (sarcastic) “That’s terrific.”
ASIAN PARENT: “So there is NO REASON why you should be POACHING OUR STUDENTS! ”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (sarcastic) “I’m, I’m… totally in favor of GOOD SCHOOLS.”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation! It’s like anybody who’s trying to SELL A CAR!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “What’s wrong with solicitation?”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation.”
OTHER PARENT: “”Children are NOT commodities!”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation!”
— (mimicking EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER)
” ‘Would you like to apply to our school?’ as you have a flier in your hand.
It’s a solicitation!”
OFF-CAMERA PARENT: “When we can’t even afford copy paper!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t see anything wrong with solicitation.”
PARENT: “Exactly!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (to ASIAN PARENT) “I don’t see anything wrong with solicitation.”
TEACHER: “We don’t have any of that paper (for solicitation fliers) in our school, and you want to know WHY? Because we don’t have the budget for it. But if we had a multi-million-dollar (advertising) budget that was funded by Wall Street and hedgefunds as they (Success Academy) are, then maybe we can have them (public school’s version shill-meisters) out there (at charter schools.) You’re talking about here’s like competition, like your best choice in a playing field that is not really even.”
VIDEO CUTS OFF
I think every voter in Massachusetts needs to see this video.
Do the parents in Massachusetts REALLY want creeps like Shill-meister descending on the traditional public schools, lurking and annoying the sh#% out of parents and students?
LikeLike
find this video …
… so disturbing on so many levels.
I know Eva’s shills have a Constitutional right to be there and talk to people… you know… the whole concept of freedom of speech in a public space, and all o’ that, but shouldn’t the space outside a school — where parents escort their children on the way to and from school — be off-limits to this bullsh#%? Shouldn’t parents and students be free from this type of high-pressure sales and marketing? Has Eva no freakin’ shame?
It should be like the area where people traverse to and from a church, synagogue, mosque, or whatever place of worship. For example, do Christians — the ones who aren’t psycho, that is — hang outside a synagogue or mosque, and harass people as they enter or exit,:
“Your place of worship sucks. Your religion is all a total lie. Come on over to our place of worship, and find out all about Jesus, and how he died for your sins”?
Or perhaps religious competition within Christianity — of within the same denomination of Christianity — would be a better comparison. Would Baptists hang out and bother Catholics as they enter or leave a Catholic church, in an attempt to lure them away from their current place of worship?
Or do Catholics representing one parish annoy those entering the church of a neighboring parish.
“Hey, our church Blessed Sacrament Church is so much better, or more true to Catholicism than your lousy, mediocre church, St. John’s. Our priests are so much holier, and that leads to our parishioners lead more Godly and holy lives. Here, take this flier, then come on over and hear what we have to offer.”
The other thing that hit me:
Could you imagine of parents or representatives of P.S. 261 fought fire with fire, and then showed up outside Success Academy Cobble Hill (or whatever Success Academy hired Eva’s Shill-meister to bother parents outside P.S. 261), and then engaged in the same high-pressure proselytizing?”
Imagine them passing out fliers and saying stuff like:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Almost all of your kids’ teachers at Success Academy are totally unlicensed and uncredentialed. Come over to P.S. 261, and your children will not only be taught by fully credentialed teachers, but many of those teachers are National Board Certified, and are highly acclaimed.”
OR
“Don’t let those claims of high test scores mislead you.
“Your students are being turned into ‘little test-taking machines’, as one Success Academy executive bragged to NEW YORK MAGAZINE, because Eva and her untrained staff are giving children the educational equivalent of steroids, in the form of massive, toxic test prep — hours each day as the days for testing approaches — which, in turn, results in a narrowed curriculum devoid of anything creative — the arts, P.E., music, dance, critical thinking, creative thinking … again, all to achieve these worthless high test scores, scores that in the long run don’t mean a damn thing in terms of a child’s long-term success in school, or in life.”
OR
“Check out this video … (projecting the Charlotte Dial “rip-and-redo” video on a portable laptop, then showing it to the parents)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfjKYOj7GQ
“This callous b-word of a ateacher, Charlotte Dial — and almost all Success Academy teachers — have never been licensed or credentialed in any state. She’s following Eva’s bogus, untested, and abusive teaching techniques that involve abuse and humiliation of children as young as four… as, incredibly, this is what Eva & Co. believe is the proper way to educate children, the same stuff that educational experts have studied and universally condemned.
“Come over to our school P.S. 281, and spare your child from such despicable educational malpractice!?
OR
“Also, come over to P.S. 261, and your children won’t have to wear those godawful orange and navy blue Success Academy uniforms, those ugly duds that Eva makes you pay L.L. Bean through the nose for, and which Eva gets a taste of the sales. Your kids can wear whatever he or she wants, expressing their individuality through their wardrobe — among other avenues of self-expression — … just like Success Academy Board of Director Campbell Brown’s kids get to do at the rich kids’ private school, Heschel, that her own kids attend. This school’s run by hypocrites. Leave it, and come over to P.S. 261”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
First of all, unlike Eva and her minions, the folks at P.S. 261 — BOTH the parents or those who work there — have too much class and too much concern for the harmful impact such outrageous shilling would have on the SUCCESS ACADEMY children to ever go and lower themselves into the same goopy, gunky slime that Eva and her Shill-Meisters inhabit, and thus engage in this type of activity, with a total disregard for the well-being of the children involved.
But just for sake of argument, what if this did happen?
Eva would use her pull in NYC city government, and those parents or school representatives would end up in handcuffs, with Eva and her connections within government and the police working out beforehand some underhanded way to trump up some bogus charges for which to arrest them.
Yet, Eva sees no problem with Success Academy folks doing the same thing at traditional public schools.
LikeLike
My mother, now retired, was a 50-year career teacher — 35 years full-time, then another 15 subbing until she couldn’t do it anymore.
LikeLike
Parents and teachers at these schools should surround these shills and harangue them until they leave; make it impossible for them to do their job, and show Evil Moskowitz there is aggressive pushback from the public school community to roll back her deceptive schemes.
LikeLike
It’s impossible to over-exaggerate what a nasty piece of work Eva Moskowitz is, but we can get some idea by how she churns through PR firms (just as she churns through teachers and students), which as a matter of course must have a high tolerance for bad actors.
LikeLike
It appears that Eva, much like many school reformers across the nation looking to attract “fix it” money, understands that so long as you want to play this game you must endlessly change the message.
LikeLike
Eva should hire Stephen K. Bannon to write the false PR for her child bullying, publicly funded, private sector, very profitable, for her, education empire in New York City.
LikeLike
In time when eva moskowitch is long dead, we will look back in time and realize that this witch tried to change the education landscape of NYC but to no avail. Using people like teachers and alike, using students like kids and alike is her mojo. She uses people, hires PR firms and gets cash from hungry politicaly hacks, dumb over weight billionaires who happen to make lots of money like Kasamatidies. LIsten to this guy talk and you would think he is from the ghetto looking for a dime bag. THe bottom line is moskowitch is a person who when she lays her head down on her pillow smiles as she knows all the bull shit she has spewed though the daily news!!!lol GIve me a break.
LikeLike
I guess NO ONE can make her look good!!!
LikeLike
You’re right. No one can make her look good to most of the people. She should just go the Donald Trump way and become a racist, fraud, bully, who insults and attacks everyone. Then she’d attract the children of parents who are also racists and bullies.
LikeLike
I think that the last PR firm got fired because they suggested putting videos of Success Academies “teaching expertise” online as an example of “good teaching” for those public school teachers. Then SA found out that others think that their “teaching” wasn’t very good. A very bad publicity stunt! I hope it cost them lots of money!
LikeLike
That’s an interesting theory – I wonder if you are correct.
LikeLike
Makes sense and the timing certainly fits.
LikeLike
Exactly the thought that crossed my mind when reading the headline.
Their releasing those videos was a big mistake. And then they took them down/passworded them, basically acknowledging that they knew it was a mistake.
Now PR is fired?
Anyone know some other PR-related failure that happened lately with Success Academy?
LikeLike
A year ago (September 2015) Eva wrote an interesting article that new seems telling, especially in retrospect — most likely written and placed in the media with help from Success Academy’s now recently departed Mercury P.R. team.
Both then and now, The74, Campbell Brown’s corporate ed. reform propaganda website, was and is also run by Mercury, as this was revealed in an article by Edushyster here:
http://edushyster.com/will-the-74-investigate-charter-scandals/
(Mercury is also the same group that Walmart and charter school chains — such Los Angeles’ Alliance chain — use in its union-suppression efforts … small world.)
In that article, Eva, who has never taught a day in her life, claims that U.S. teachers mostly all suck, and as a result of all these unionized, sucky teachers, the U.S. is going to Hell in a handbasket…
https://www.the74million.org/article/eva-moskowitz-student-performance-is-a-mirror
(Reading Eva’s apocalyptic description of U.S. schools, I’m thinking …
“If what Eva says is really true, then how did the U.S. become — at how does it still remain — the most pre-eminent economic and political power in the history of mankind?”)
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
EVA MOSKOWITZ:
“The fact is, too many teachers now working in our schools lack sufficient training, and it is incredibly important that we start a national dialogue around this crisis because the mediocre education our students are getting as a result is impeding America’s ability to compete in the global economy.
” … ”
“This educational neglect has weakened our country. It is hurting our economy and our children’s futures. And the primary victims are kids from low-income, minority families. When it comes to educational equality, the United States lags behind nearly every other industrialized nation.
“We condemn millions of our children to failing schools, dooming them to perpetuate the cycle of poverty that has trapped families for generations. In fact, African-American males are twice as likely to be unemployed as white males, and half as likely to earn a college degree.
“It’s easy to blame the kids – poverty, single-parent families, etc. – but school isn’t really about the children, it’s about the adults, and the adults in our classrooms aren’t getting the job done. No wonder there’s a backlash against the Common Core and standardized tests: They tell the ugly truth about the quality of our schools, and the teachers and unions don’t want to hear it.
“Student performance is a mirror, and teachers need to look into it.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
… and then, of course, Eva offers up the training methods developed and used in the Success Academy school as the solution, or the new and revolutionary way in which teachers should be trained and later monitored while on the job, where university-based school of education should be replaced by … well … Eva-based training and schools of education:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
EVA MOSKOWITZ:
“If we want to truly reform education in the United States, we must fundamentally reform how we train America’s teachers. Innovative approaches like those employed by small organizations such as Success Academy to create better teacher training programs should be viewed as a model for achieving this important goal.
“We all know that strong teachers make a tremendous difference – maybe the greatest difference – in educational outcomes for children. As a country, we need to abandon the old, failed methods and instead foster programs that are improving teacher preparation and producing dramatic gains for children.
” … ”
“Teachers, like athletes, need to practice, but repeating the same lackluster performance over and over won’t lead to improvement. Feedback from principals, real-time coaching and support from peers help teachers hone their technique and become more effective in the classroom.
“To achieve this high level of education, Success Academy provides intensive teacher training during the summer, continued professional development once school starts – the equivalent of 13 weeks every academic year – and frequent collaborative planning sessions so no teacher feels she has to sink or swim. It was a program developed out of necessity, because the fact is, our education schools are failing to produce capable, effective teachers who are ready to deliver high student outcomes the moment they enter the classroom.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
This article was in September 2015, but in the months that followed, Success Academy was hit by one scandal-plagued P.R. disaster after another, with every presumably Mercury-orchestrated response making things even worse in the process
1) The mid-October 2015, PBS broadcasted John Merrow’s piece in which he repeated the allegations that Eva purges her schools of any kids who are difficult kids, or less intelligent kids (i.e. Special Ed.) in order to boost her schools’ test scores.
“Like, that’s just crazy talk!” she indignantly responds to Merrow when he raises that accusation:
Go to about 8:00 for the Captain Queeg-like “crazy talk” quote:
(8:00 – )
(8:00 – )
EVA: “Like, that’s just … CRAZY talk!”
2) In the Merrow piece, a mother claims that her child was indeed pressured, through repeated suspensions, into leaving S.A.
After the airing, Eva retaliated against the mother by illegally releasing that child’s private records, causing another uproar. This includes Eva’s ludicrous claim that this then-5-year-old child “picked up and threw a desk” at a teacher. Boy, that’s one strong 5-year-old!
The mother sues Eva and Success Academy for violating her child’s privacy, and this gets more bad press. Here’s that parent’s first-person op-ed:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/opinion-success-charter-schools-should-not-get-pass/
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
FATIMA GEIDI: (describing Eva at an event)
“For me, the most disturbing part about this was that the audience was overwhelmingly white with a sprinkling of black people who, like me, were mostly former Success Academy parents. The majority of her schools are comprised of black and Latino children, as are the children who are suspended, while most of the teachers and administrators are white.
“That Moskowitz would imply that some of her five- and six-year-old students were violent and used sexually inappropriate language to a predominantly white audience was beyond troubling. I felt it fueled the mostly unspoken impression that black and brown children were inferior and couldn’t be educated in the same way as their white counterparts.
“Moskowitz said the obligation of her charter schools was the safety of the other children and this justified her suspension practices. Yet the public school my son now attends feels perfectly safe.
“In fact, fewer than 90 days after moving my child there from Success, he attended an overnight camping trip with his school, without incident. Success staff had labeled my child as having severe behavioral issues; they wouldn’t allow him to go on a local field trip without my accompanying him, let alone a camping trip.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
3) Eva claims there’s no real proof of any alleged creaming or purging of low performing students, challenging anyone making these claims to either produce such documentation or shut the-hell up.
In late October 2015, the New York Times’ Kate Taylor takes up Eva’s challenge and produces some, in the form a “Got to Go List” used by Success Academy — a list of low-performing and/or troublesome children targeted to be forced out by any means necessary.
Confronted with this, Eva admits that the “Got To Go List” indeed was genuine, but it was an “anomaly,” something that some rogue principal did on his own, without her knowledge or approval. In an effort to do damage control, Eva then forces that poor guy to do a full Jimmy Swaggart-like crying performance at a grotesque and silly press conference — again, with Mercury botching this, one presumes:
At the same press conference, Eva pats herself on the back for her moral superiority by proudly claiming that she “will not throw him under the bus” and fire this principal (but just before this, Eva had no problem throwing a six-year old child and his mother under the bus … hmmm…. )
4) in the wake of these disasters, the pro-ed-reform group New York City Law School puts on a seminar featuring and celebrating Eva, but Success Academy parents and critics sneak into the event, and when each of them gets a turn at the mic to ask a question, all Hell breaks loose.
Ross Sandler, the NY City Law professor and pro-Eva moderator, loses his sh&% and furiously lashes out at those parents and critics. All of this was highly entertaining, and captured on video and is still available on-line.
This is some truly riveting footage — an instant classic in the whole corporate education reform controversy.
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a383f1d9713a49c49cddb999e631de8d1d?playFrom=3383&autoStart=true
OR HERE:
http://www.citylandnyc.org/complete-video-the-131st-citylaw-breakfast-with-eva-moskowitz/
TRANSCRIPT —
( 41:58 – 43:03 )
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Good morning, Eva. How are you?”
EVA: “Good morning.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Hi. You didn’t shed any light on the ‘Got-to-Go List.’ Uhmm… I just want to know. Did you privately or publicly apologize to the any of parents that were affected by it?”
EVA: “There’s been an enormous amount of coverage. I see Kate Taylor (the NY Times writer who penned the Got-to-Go List article) in the audience. There were two stories on it, and yes, I … I did (apologize). The (Got-to-Got) list existed for three days. As soon as it came to our attention — which was within about 24 hours of it being produced — the principal was brought into the school and severely reprimanded for his actions. I have personally have done many parent meetings at Fort Greene (Success Academy School) … uhh … because of that mistake.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “Hello. Sorry. I just wanted to say. My name is Shanice Givens- ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “Wait, wait.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: ” And my son was Number Three on the list.”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “May I- ?”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “My son was Number Three (on the Got-to-Go List) and I NEVER got an apology from Ms. Eva.”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “May I ask you to be courteous?”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “I just want to say that she just said that she – ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (turning away from Given to the other mic) “We’re on this side now.”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: ” – publicly said something, and she NEVER said ANYTHING to me. My son was Number Three.’ ”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “Madame -”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: (to Eva) “And you said that you ‘loved children so much’ ? Yet you STILL allow Mr. (Candido) Brown to teach?”
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (to some technician) “Turn her microphone off!”
PARENT SHANICE EVANS: “He has wronged sixteen children and -”
(Givens’ MIC CUTS OFF)
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: “This is not the place. This is an academic institution. We’re having a conversation. We’re going to this side (the other microphone) now.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
There’s a whole mess o’ wrong goin’ on here.
I don’t get the rationale of “This is an academic institution.” as justification for silencing this woman, and killing her mic. Shouldn’t an academic institution be a place for vigorous debate where all sides are allowed to offer their opinions?
To be accurate, Sandler should have said, “This is an academic institution in which only those who, like me, heap unqualified praise upon Ms. Moskowitz, will be allowed to speak.”
Immediately following this, a well-dressed pro-Success Academy parent — Thomas Lopez Pierre (sp?) mentioning in his remarks that he’s a candidate for NYC City Council — starts off with gushing praise for Eva and what Success Academy has done for his son. He even spouts the “My son was trapped in a failing school” line.
In contrast to the parent criticizing Eva, Ross Sandler lets Pierre (sp?) run at the mouth while Pierre effusively praises Eva & Success Academy.
Standing beside Eva, Sandler nods and smiles as if to say, “Now, that’s more like it.”
However, that same parent, in mid-speech, then surprises everyone, and does a total 180. He goes on the same attack as Givens for Eva’s exclusive admission and expulsion policies. The moderator Ross Sandler again intervenes.
( 43:57 – 44:04 )
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
THOMAS LOPEZ PIERRE: (polite tone) “With that said, I’m a critic of you, Ms. Moskowitz. And here’s the reason why. You have failed to provide every public school student who wants to attend Success the opportunity, and until you are able to serve ALL of the kids who want to get into your wonderful charter school, Success will not be a ‘success.’ Thank you. ” (walks away from the mic)
EVA (clearly frazzled): “Thank you. I do have a lot of critics, and it comes from a variety of places … and that’s … uhh … part of the … wonderfulness … of New York- ”
The douchey moderator Sandler swings into action again, saying,
MODERATOR ROSS SANDLER: (visibly irritated)
“Let me just step in a second! This is an academic institution, and decorum is required of everybody, and I have no doubt that everyone n this room will honor that~”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Oh shut up, you pompous bag of wet brownies!!!”
… is what I would have shouted at Sandler at this point.
The angry parents are not yet through with Eva.
Remember Fatima Gehdi, the parent who’s upset at Eva who, as part of Eva’s retaliation against Gehdi, illegally released Gehdi’s son’s private discipline records to the press?
Well, she got in her licks, too … at 49:05
http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a383f1d9713a49c49cddb999e631de8d1d?playFrom=3383&autoStart=true
or
http://www.citylandnyc.org/complete-video-the-131st-citylaw-breakfast-with-eva-moskowitz/
I don’t have time to transcribe this, so just watch Gehdi yourself at: (this is what provoked Eva’s “customer service” comment)
Watch how, again, the moderator Sandler tries but fails to silence this parent.
Here’s moderator Ross Sandler in a nutshell …
When praising Eva, you can talk all you want.
When criticizing Eva, you are showing bad “decorum” and must be shut up, or have your mic turned off.
5) all of this bad P.R. paled beside the Charlotte Dian “rip-and-redo” video that hit the press in mid-February 2015. This video accompanied a New York Times piece that had dozens of Success Academy teachers — current and former — claiming that what was shown on the video was not just commonplace at Success Academy, but that the abusive technique itself — the one on display in the video — was an actual codified practice, and that has an actual name, “Rip and redo”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfjKYOj7GQ
Included in the New York Times piece was one teacher whom Eva had earlier used as a show pony of sorts, trotting her out in various media contexts — the pro-charter propaganfa film “THE LOTTERY”; Steve Brill’s book CLASS WARFARE; and NBC’s “Education Nation”. Her name was / is Jessica Reid-Sliwerski.
Reid-Sliwerksi — recently both a new other and cancer survivor, btw — was, at the time, presented by Eva as the model of the young, go-getter, union-free Success Academy teacher, whom Eva contrasted with all those lazy, worthless, LIFO-ed unionized teachers who are sadly ubiquitous in our traditional public schools — those “failure factories” that Eva claims need to be replaced with privately-managed charter schools.
Well, Reid-Sliwerski later quits SUCCESS ACADEMY, citing, in part, the abusive treatment of children that she claims was both rampant and systematized by Eva. After exiting Success Academy, Reid-Sliwerski went to work at a public school where — horror of horrors — she joined the United Federation of Teachers teachers union. She further claimed that working for Eva drove her to a nervous breakdown, and almost ruined her marriage.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
NEW YORK TIMES:
“Jessica Reid-Sliwerski, 34, worked at Success Academy Harlem 1 and Success Academy Harlem 2 from 2008 to 2011, first as a teacher and then as an assistant principal. She said that, starting in third grade, when children begin taking the state exams, embarrassing or belittling children for work seen as slipshod was a regular occurrence, and in some cases encouraged by network leaders.
“It’s this culture of, ‘If you’ve made them cry, you’ve succeeded in getting your point across.’ ”
“One day, she said, she found herself taking a toy away from a boy who was playing with it in class, and then smashing it underfoot. Shortly after, she resigned.
“ ‘I felt sick about the teacher I had become, and I no longer wanted to be part of an organization where adults could so easily demean children under the guise of ‘achievement,’ ”said Ms. Sliwerski, who subsequently worked as an instructional coach in Department of Education schools.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Like a cult, you really have to leave Success Academy to get a real perspective on what’s really going on there.
Check out these comments from dozens of former Success Academy teachers:
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2014/08/citizen-jacks-compendium-of-teacher.html
Here’s a taste from that link… from FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 3:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
FORMER SUCCESS ACADEMY TEACHER NO. 3:
1 * STAR (out of 5)
“Toxic Environment, Developmentally Inappropriate, Abusive Culture of Fear ”
CON’s: “Worked for one of the highest performing schools in the network in the Bronx.
“— Entire school focused on remaining at top of network schools assessment wise while pushing students in completely developmentally inappropriate and emotionally ABUSIVE ways.
” — When I brought up to Eva and the network that research disagrees with practices at my location, I was told the network didn’t know what they were talking about … haven’t I seen our top assessment scores? … and that my primary responsibility was to make sure my classroom assessment data was up.
” — Teachers openly MOCKED 6 year-olds with learning disabilities, telling them they would see them in the same grade again next year because they were neither smart nor hard working, and hopefully would not be in their student again — in front of the entire classroom.
” — Left work every day feeling angry at the school until I left permanently.”
ADVICE to Management:
“Teacher culture needs to be totally reformed-
— experienced total lack of professionalism by newer teachers in front of children we were meant to be models for.”
Does NOT Recommend — Negative Outlook – No Opinion of CEO
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
6) To counter the Times piece and the nationally covered story of the rip-and-redo video, Eva held another press conference, where she was now defiant, and in no mood to defend herself or her schools.
“I’m tired of apologizing,” Moskowitz exclaimed in exasperation.
In lieu of any contrition on anyone’s part, Eva instead brought Charlotte Dial front and center, whereupon Dial cried profusely for the cameras and journalists present. Unlike the “Got-to-Go List” principal, Candido Brown, Dial was not allowed to speak, but instead was supported with loud cheers and clapping from everyone standing behind Eva.
The whole point of this was …
“Poor Charlotte … Look what you mean, heartless bastards have done to her! Shame on all of you!”
… whereas the real victim here — Charlotte Dial’s victim — was the child whom Dial abused, and who interests and well-being were being totally ignored at this manipulated media event, as were the mother’s concerns about the horrific treatment Dial had inflicted on the child.
Indeed, the parent of that child was livid about this bizarre and twisted re-framing of what happened on the video, and expressed herself to The Times about this, and also about the behind-the-scenes maneuvering and manipulation that went on before the video was released:
The parent, Natalya Miranda, told The Times about how Eva and Eva’s Mercury P.R. flacks tried to pressure her into sending a bogus email to The Times — going so far as drafting it, and asking her merely to sign onto it, as if the parent had written it … which again, she most certainly HAD NOT.
However, Miranda was smart enough to smell a rat, because when she asked to see the video itself first— of which Eva had a copy — Eva refused to show it to her. Miranda — who lived in a homeless shelter with her daughter, by th way — wasn’t signing OR DOING anything that Eva was asking of unless and until she saw exactly what the-hell was actually the video.
Smart parent.
The letter Miranda was pressured to sign onto was a missive that demanded that The Times not make the video public, and expressed Miranda’s support for Charlotte Dial as an excellent, loving, and compassionate teacher.
Nope, Miranda responded, not until I see the video first.
No dice, said Eva. You ain’t gonna see it.
Throughout this Mexican stand-off, Miranda was furious that the well-being of her daughter seemed totally irrelevant and unimportant to everyone at Success Academy. What’s is WRONG with these people?
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
NEW YORK TIMES’ Kate Taylor:
“In two lengthy interviews, (parent Natalya Miranda) said that she did not know what was happening in her daughter’s classroom before she saw the video. She said that she was so upset by what she saw — and by the network’s rush to rally around Ms. Dial, while showing little concern for her daughter or other students — that she took the girl out of the school in late January.
“Ms. Miranda said that while Ms. Dial had apologized to her, the teacher had never apologized to her daughter. She said that a public relations specialist for Success drafted an email for her, asking The Times not to publish the video, and that at a meeting Ms. Moskowitz held at the school on Jan. 20, Ms. Moskowitz asked the parents to support Ms. Dial and to defend the school to the paper.
“Ms. Miranda said that when she stood up, identified herself and objected that Ms. Moskowitz was asking parents to support the teacher without even showing them the video, Ms. Moskowitz cut her off.
“She’s like, ‘You had enough to say, you had enough to say,’ and she tried to talk over me,” Ms. Miranda said. “So I just really got frustrated, and I just walked out, and the parents that were concerned followed me, and the parents who were against me and for the teacher” stayed in the auditorium.
“Ms. Miranda took her daughter home that morning and did not bring her back to the school. The next week, after confirming that there was a seat in the regular public school where her younger son is in prekindergarten, she withdrew her daughter and placed her in that school.
“Success Academy declined to comment on the specifics of Ms. Miranda’s account, though in an emailed statement, Stefan Friedman, a spokesman, said the network was “sorry Ms. Miranda chose to withdraw her daughter.”
“Ms. Dial did not respond to requests for comment.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
In lieu of an apology or an explanation for what was shown on the video or any response to the claims from dozens of Success Academy teachers interviewed for the article that “rip-and-re-do” was commonplace and systematized, Eva instead let loose with a paranoid screed directed at the New York Times and others, fabricating victimhood at the hands of what Eva characterized as vicious outside persecutors in the media, as well as outside the media.
With all it’s pep-rally-like cheering and clapping and often mindless ranting by those who spoke at the mic, this is a video I like to call…
“32 Minutes in Jonestown”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33utMIALM8U
This cultish freak show — again, presumably orchestrated by the Mercury P.R. team — only made things worse. Eva paid them millions for this? What a waste of money! (Now THIS is the video they need to take down! Notice how all the body language and posture that these folks assume is identical … The Stepford Teachers.)
Also, instead of being fired, Charlotte Dial was placed in charge of training Success Academy teachers system-wide, with Eva doubling down, as it were, on her commitment to her schools’ controversial culture and pedagogy.
7) In response, the New York Times had eight prominent education experts and leaders in teacher training view and comment on what was in the video, and it was NOT pretty.
Universal condemnation would be a good description:
8) However, to counter this and improve its image, Eva posted over 500 videos of how it trains and manages its teachers — videos which, at first, Eva and others must have thought were flattering to their schools.
After all, the September 2015 article (at the top of this post) had Eva claiming that she and her schools’ training, pedagogy, and school administration were all part of the cure for what ails U.S. education, so why not share these innovations with the world, so that they could then be employed in all schools — charter, public, private, whatever?
When actual veteran teachers started critiquing this videos — that’s putting it mildly — Eva pulled them from public view, and made them passworld protected. Apparently, Eva follows the old meat industry adage: “Never show ’em how the sausage gets made” — the sausage, in this case, being Success Academy’s high test scores.
But hey, isn’t one of the primary purposes of charter schools to share their brilliant innovations with the world, and spread them far and wide so that as many children as possible can benefit from them? Why hide them? If you’ve got nothing to hide, you hide nothing. Right?
Before they were pulled, one such video was posted by Jersey Jazzman, who then offered one it up for others to judge, and judge they did:
(go to the second comment, mine, at this article for a sampling of the reactions that veteran teachers had for this video)
There’s more.
9) Politico’s Eliza Shapiro did a report about leaks of internal Success Academy documents showing that Success Academy spent over $700,000 in taxpayer money for a one-hour demonstration in Albany — transporting children by buses and all that.
One line item: $71,900 for beanies to be worn by the children at the event:
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/05/internal-documents-lay-out-threats-to-the-success-academy-model-101592
Also prominent in the leaked documents from Politico was the number of high-level defections among Success Academy leadership — they come and go with greater and greater frequency, with only Eva remaining constant:
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/05/internal-documents-lay-out-threats-to-the-success-academy-model-101592
10) And an expert hired by Success Academy to do a study on its practices, Roy Germano, reported possible cheating by Success Academy leaders, cheating that he claimed led to Success Academy’s celebrated higher test scores.
Eva’s healthy and responsible response to Germano’s discovery?
The expert was fired, and banned from Success Academy premises:
http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/05/success-academy-documents-point-to-possible-cheating-among-challenges-101595
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Politico’s ELIZA SHAPIRO:
“Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz did not approve of the finding — made by an ‘ethnographer’ she hired to study her rapidly expanding charter school network — that some teachers at the high-performing network might be responding to the enormous pressure placed on them by cheating.
“So Moskowitz, Success’s combative founder, deployed senior managers to inform the staffer, Roy Germano, that he was banned from visiting schools for the remainder of the year. Moskowitz disparaged Germano to other employees, according to a memo written by Germano in July 2015 and obtained by POLITICO New York, and he was told to halt his research projects immediately.
“Germano was fired last August, approximately a month after the report was completed, and is now a research scholar at New York University.
“Germano’s reports and memo, along with a trove of other documents obtained by POLITICO — a separately commissioned internal draft risk assessment report, a compilation of exit interviews, and internal Success staffing records, among other documents — paint a picture of a growing enterprise facing serious institutional strain in the form of low staff morale, unusually high turnover, and the kind of stress that could drive teachers to exaggerate their students’ progress.
“ ‘It seems possible if not likely that some teacher cheating is occurring at Success on both internal assessments and state exams,’reads the July report by Germano, which was titled “Research Proposal: An Investigation into Possible Teacher Cheating.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2016/05/success-academy-documents-point-to-possible-cheating-among-challenges-101595#ixzz4LALwdWcC
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
11) And Mercedes Schneider did an expose about the low pay — especially for the cost of living in NYC — that Success Academy teachers receive and are forced to live on: (while Eva herself pulls in over $500,000 annually):
(I’ll let Mercedes finish out this post. Thank for reading, JACK;-) )
MERCEDES SCHNEIDER: “I first noticed that her teachers and other employees are not paid much when one considers the cost of living in New York.
“Based on input from 41 SA ‘lead teachers,’ the average salary is $63,000. This salary might initially sound good to someone in my circumstance (a teacher from Louisiana); I have 21 full time years in and hold a Ph.D., and my annual salary is $59,000 (the state stopped my annual step raises in 2012 when I was at 15 full time years, but I have received a little more money since then).
“However, when one converts that SA $63,000 to its LA (Louisina) cost-of-living equivalent, $63,000 per year to live in Manhattan, NY, is the same as making approximately $29,000 and living in St. Tammany Parish, LA (where I live). Thus, that SA $63,000 in Manhattan is as hard to live on as it would be for me to live on $29,000 in St. Tammany.
“I live on $59,000 in St. Tammany, LA. In order to experience the same quality of living in Manhattan as I do in St. Tammany, an SA teacher would need to make around $138,000 per year.
“For the same quality of living in Brooklyn, NY, the SA teacher would need to make $105,000. (Source: CNN Money Cost of Living Calculator.)
“Two additional points about salary:
“First, not all SA teachers are ‘lead teachers.’ Those classed as SA ‘associate teacher’ report average salaries of $48,500. Their purchase power gets them as far in Manhattan as approximately $20,000 would get me in St. Tammany. Their purchase power in Brooklyn equals roughly $26,500 in St. Tammany, LA.
“The second important piece is that SA teachers work much longer hours than I do. My contracted teaching day is 7 hours at school. (Note: Most teachers also bring work home or arrive early or stay late, but they are not required to do so by contract.) My week is 5 days; my year is 190 days. In contrast, SA teachers are literally driven until they burn out. Their average day is 12 hours at school. Moreover, they are expected to be on call after school hours. SA provides each teacher with a Macbook and iPhone, which a number list as a positive feature of the job.
“However, the purpose behind this seeming benevolence is to assure that SA teachers are equipped with the technological shackles necessary to have them at the school and parent beck and call at all hours.
“Even though Moskowitz is shortening the SA school day beginning in 2016-17, a number of employees do not think it will be enough to alleviate their stress. They think the same toxic, work-till-you-drop atmosphere will prevail. (‘Toxic’ is a commonly used word in the Glassdoor SA reviews.)
“One teacher noted that he/she has been at his/her school for four years– longer than any other employee except the principal.
“Teachers do not necessarily wait until the school year ends to quit– or to be fired.
“Others have written in their reviews for prospective teachers to think seriously before teaching at SA, or to run away as fast as they can, or to only take an SA teaching job if they are desperate.
“According to a number of employees, SA cultivates an atmosphere of fear, guilt, and shame among its teachers.
“There will be no personal life. None. This is a recurrent theme even in neutral and positive reviews.
“And there will be no sick days. And only a single personal day. And no leaving early for personal commitments.
“Also, there will likely be no lunch break, and no planning time that is not already filled with meetings/ professional development. If one wants free time, one must carve it out in the form of a bathroom break.
“Apparently those teacher bathroom breaks are a slice of time when SA teachers quietly cry.
“Students are discouraged from taking bathroom breaks. One employee notes that younger students’ using the bathroom on themselves is related to students not being allowed to use the bathroom when needed.
“As for ‘feedback’: At SA, the term means incessant micromanagement. No behavior is too small to be overlooked by constant review. SA has a way that its schools are to be run; it doesn’t matter if one has no teaching experience; one can be a lead teacher with zero teaching background if one trains well in the SA teaching protocol.
“In fact, it might be better for one to not have a professional teaching background because that means one is less likely to have to defy one’s professional judgment/ sense of creative, independent professional personality in order to conform to prescribed, rigid, SA teacher demands.
“Some SA teachers lament the rigid behavioral expectations foisted upon younger students, such has having to sit still with folded hands for hours.
“Test prep begins in January and is the center of SA activity for half of the school year. Fine arts and other creative classes come to a halt. Some teachers become babysitters of students not involved in testing because test drill is what matters.
“As for leadership, there is really only one leader, and that is Eva Moskowitz. Some SA employees note that their experience with fellow teachers is one of camaraderie; others note that there are cliques, and clique acceptance makes or breaks one’s experience. Still others note that even the SA leaders are young and lack experience and that there is a true leadership void at SA schools. Others have noted that SA is growing too fast for its leadership structure.
“More than one review indicated that SA teachers are overwhelmingly white.
“Others note the SA dependence on burning out and constantly replacing its teachers. One notes that as long as there are young people willing to apply to SA to teach (whether out of naiveté or desperation), SA will be able to continue its churn-out-and burn-out mode of operation.
“But there are problems with this churn-burn model. First of all, Moskowitz wants to expand and brand the SA model. A model built upon intentionally working employees into the ground is not expandable. It will collapse, which leads to a second problem: As the school years pass, the number of SA teaching casualties increases– and so does the likelihood of powerful, first-hand, negative press associated with the dysfunctional inner workings of SA.
“Moskowitz tries hard to shield SA daily reality from the public eye.
:She wants the SA very high test scores to be all that matters.
“We’ll see how long SA can carry it off. But its days are numbered. One cannot put human beings under such professional pressure and not have it somehow blow up– as in, say, a possible cheating scandal … ?”
LikeLike