Archives for the month of: June, 2017
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Who is “the Worst Person in the World?” Ken Bernstein Knows.

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
45

Who is the Worst Person in the World? Ken Bernstein knows, and he shares his reasons here.

Right now, I would nominate the brutal dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, who brutalizes his own people and recently sent home the near-lifeless body of Otto Warmbier, a college student who had foolishly attempted to bring home a propaganda poster as a souvenir of his five-day trip to North Korea. Otto died, and I impulsively tweeted that we should drop the “mother of all bombs” on Kim’s palace. Actually, I was thinking about his personal bathroom. Lots of people on Twitter denounced my proposal, and expressed their disappointment in my behavior, as they expect me to act like a lady. I took the tweet down but replaced it with a tweet in which I said I wish I could have killed Hitler in 1939, but I was only one year old. That calmed people down.

Categories Accountability

PBS: A Moving Program about the Saving Power of Higher Education

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
32

I have written a lot lately about the bad judgment of PBS in running a one-sided, partisan three-hour series attacking public education and advocating for running schools like businesses.

I am happy to share with you a wonderful documentary about a higher education program that awards degrees to prisoners at the notorious Sing Sing prison in Ossining, New York.

The title is FIRST DEGREE. it enables hardened criminals to study in a genuine college program and earn a bachelor’s degree from Mercy College in New York. The prisoners describe how education has changed their lives. I was especially moved listening to a former drug dealer who was amazed to reflect on how he had wasted his life and only in prison did he learn to read Shakespeare and listen to classical music.

The graduation ceremony was beautiful. The graduates wore caps and gowns. They marched him to the sounds of Elgart’s “Pomp and Circumstance.” Their Commencement speaker was Harry Belafonte. Their families were there, thrilled to watch them receive their diplomas. When the graduates leave prison, they are given a clean shirt and suit, and directed to nonprofit organizations willing to hire ex-convicts.

The documentary says that there used to be 350 such programs in prison until 1994, when Congress defunded them. Now there are only 12 in the entire country.

It is programs like FIRST DEGREE that remind us why public television matters, and why we are justly outraged when management sells three hours of airtime to rightwing propagandists who want to destroy public education.

Here is a description of the documentary:

“The expression, “sent up the river,” was coined by convicts who were sent up the Hudson River to do their time at the infamous Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY. FIRST DEGREE finds hope in this seemingly hopeless place by investigating an unusual college behind bars that is successfully preventing Sing Sing inmates from being sent back up the river after their release. Nationwide, over half of released inmates return to prison within 5 years, but for the past 14 years, less than 1% of the inmates that received a college degree at Sing Sing returned to prison.

“FIRST DEGREE takes viewers inside this notorious maximum security prison and introduces them to some unforgettable inmates. We first meet Sean Pica, who was 16 years old when he went to prison in 1986. Sean’s high school friend, Cheryl Pierson, told Sean that her father was sexually molesting her, so Sean helped plan and carry out his murder. After receiving a 24-year sentence, Sean thought his life was over until a prison education program called Hudson Link gave Sean an opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s Degree. After serving 16 years, Sean was released, but he couldn’t stay away from Sing Sing. Unlike most of the paroled prisoners that Sean met at Sing Sing who reoffended and quickly returned to prison, Sean came back to Sing Sing to run their college program. He takes us through his early days in prison as a hopeless 120-pound, 16-year-old inmate to his discovery that college could open up an entirely new world of opportunity and possibility.

“Next, we meet Jermaine Archer, a former drug dealer who was sentenced to 22 years to life for murder. Jermaine talks about how his prison reputation changed from being a feared gang leader from the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn to being a role model for students attending college at Sing Sing. We attend Jermaine’s college graduation ceremony and watch as he, for the first time in his life, brings tears of joy to his mother’s eyes.

“Lastly, we meet Clarence Maclin, who received his college degree along with Jermaine. Shortly after graduation, we catch up with Clarence, who is on parole and participating in Hudson Link’s re-entry program. We watch as the staff and volunteers at Hudson Link help Clarence acquire work-appropriate clothing, write a resume, search for jobs, and train for interviews. Ultimately, Clarence is hired by a nearby residential treatment program to work as a counselor with juvenile offenders. He relishes the opportunity help the young people he mentors avoid some of the costly mistakes he made as a teenager.

“Although FIRST DEGREE is primarily an intimate portrait of three Sing Sing inmates who discover the transformative power of higher education, their stories are emblematic of larger challenges facing our society. Since launching the war on drugs in the 1970s there has been a 700% increase in the prison population. The land of the free is now the world’s biggest jailer with almost 7 million Americans in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole. Although America has 5% of the world’s population, it has 25% of the world’s prisoners. We are shelling out 75 billion dollars a year for mass incarceration and devastating entire communities and families in the process. The three men we profile in FIRST DEGREE make if perfectly clear that higher education in prison can save lives as well as money. Nationwide, every dollar we spend on prison education programs saves five dollars on re-incarceration costs. But, Congress withdrew prison education funding in 1994, and the number of prison college programs dropped from 350 to about a dozen.

“FIRST DEGREE is produced and directed by Roger Weisberg, whose 31 previous documentaries have won over a hundred and fifty awards including Emmy, duPont-Columbia, and Peabody awards, as well as two Academy Award nominations. FIRST DEGREE builds on Weisberg’s extensive body of work and represents the culmination of almost four decades of documenting the struggles, aspirations, and achievements of disadvantaged Americans.”

Categories Higher Education

New Jersey: Charter School Closing, Won’t Pay Teachers for last Two Months

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
23

The Merit Preparatory Charter School in Newark has been ordered to close down at the end of June due to low test scores. The school’s teachers are paid on a 12-month schedule for ten months of work. That means they are owed salary for July and August. At present, the school does not plan to pay what it owes the teachers. The teachers have turned to the Newark Teachers Union for help, even though they are not members of the union.

“Teachers at Merit Preparatory Charter School in Newark are not unionized and have individual employment contracts stipulating they work during the 10-month school year and have their paychecks spread out over the 12-month calendar year, according to the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey chapter.

“Some of those teachers’ contracts began in September 2016 and run through August 2017, with as much as $12,000 per teacher scheduled to be paid over July and August, the union said.

“The school, however, has informed teachers they will not receive their scheduled paychecks in July and August after it closes on June 30, a breach of teacher’s contracts, said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union.”

“The bottom line is these people are employees in the state of New Jersey, they worked and they are owed and entitled to this money,” said Abeigon, who along with the AFT-NJ is helping the teachers try to secure their full pay though they are not union members.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, New Jersey, Privatization, Teacher Pay

Carol Burris: The Broken Promises and Scams of the Charter Industry

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
15

Carol Burris notes in this article that the NAACP passed a resolution last year demanding a moratorium on new charters until charters cleaned up their actioms and policies.

Instead of doing some self-examination and trying to right what was wrong, the charter apologists attacked the NAACP.

Burris reviews some of the notable charter scams and corruption in the past year or so.

Back in the 1990s, when I was a Charter fan, I believed that charters would cost less money (no bureaucracy), but now they demand the same funding as public schools. The slogan of the day was that charters would get autonomy in exchange for accountability.

Now we know, 25 years later, that charters want autonomy with no accountability.

That’s a bad deal for students, teachers, and taxpayers. It does not produce better education. It robs public schools of resources. We are re-creating a dual school system. This is not Reform. It is a massive scam.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Discipline and Suspensions, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization, Segregation

NYC: Little Public Support for Mayoral Control

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
19

This issue deserves a longer post by me, since my first book in 1974 was a history of the New York City public schools.

Mayors have always had a large measure of control over the city’s public schools, but only under Mayor Bloomberg did the mayor take control of appointing the superintendent/chancellor and direct every aspect of the system. Bloomberg used his power without checks/balances to close scores of schools, to fire principals, and to disrupt every aspect of the system, while expanding the public relations staff and making unsubstantiated claims of success. Bloomberg trumpeted the success of authoritarian, top-down control, absent any democratic voice. When his appointed board members dared to disagree with him, he fired them.

The public continues to think there should be meaningful democratic input into the decisions about their public schools.

Leonie Haimson sent out this summary from the Quinnipiac polling service:

Three Quinnipiac University polls over the last two years show New York City voters oppose by wide margins mayoral control of the public schools.

The independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll asks, “Do you think the mayor should retain complete control of the public schools or share control of the public schools with other elected leaders?”

Opposition to mayoral control is more than 2-1, even topping 3 – 1, in each of three surveys:

May 12, 2015 – Opposed 60 – 28 percent;
August 2, 2016 – Opposed 65 – 23 percent;
May 18, 2017 – Opposed 68 – 21 percent.
“The pundits and the experts may believe that mayoral control of the public schools is the best way to proceed, but they haven’t convinced the people,” said Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

In each survey cited, Quinnipiac University surveyed more than 960 New York City voters with margins of error that were less than +/- 3.3 percentage points. The surveys were conducted by live interviewers calling landlines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys nationwide and in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa and Colorado as a public service and for research.

Visit poll.qu.edu or http://www.facebook.com/quinnipiacpoll

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 212-529-3539
leonie@classsizematters.org
leoniehaimson@gmail.com

Categories Education Reform

New York City: No Deal Yet on Renewal of Mayoral Control

By dianeravitch
June 23, 2017 //
3

I was premature yesterday is reporting that a deal was near on renewing mayoral control.

As of now, there is no deal.

The State Senate, controlled by Republicans, wants more charters. The State Assembly, controlled by urban Democrats, does not. On June 30, mayoral control expires, and the previous board is revived, seven members, with only two appointed by the mayor.

The Republicans in the Senate want to humiliate De Blasio. So does Governor Cuomo, his rival. The leader of the State Senate, JOHN Flanagan, loves charters but has none in his suburban district.

No one is giving a minute of thought to children or education. It’s all politics and ego.

Categories New York City

New York: Legislature Close to a Deal on Renewing Mayoral Control

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2017 //
22

The legislature in New York is close to a final deal to permit mayoral control of the public schools for another year.

When Michael Bloomberg became Mayor of New York City, one of his first goals was to take control of the school system. He claimed he could get better results because of his experience as a businessman. The Board of Educationconsisted of seven members, one appointed by each of five borough presidents, and two appointed by the Mayor. The Mayor controlled the budget, so he was not powerless. The city was divided into 32 local community school districts, each of which had its own board. The community boards listened to parents’ complaints, but they didn’t have much power.

The legislature granted Bloomberg complete control of the school system. He got to appoint 8 of 13 school board members, who were told to follow the Mayor’s orders. He got to appoint the Chancellor of the school system, and he picked someone who knew as little about education as the Mayor, lawyer Joel Klein. The legislature gave him seven years of control. When the seven years expired, the legislature gave him another generous grant of power.

Mike Bloomberg is a very smart guy. He was the single biggest contributor to the campaign funds of the Republivan-controlled state senate.

After Bloomberg steps down, having served three terms, Bill De Blasio is elected. Unlike Bloomberg, he did not give money to Senate Republicans. He even tried to help fellow Democrats take control of the State Senate, and the Republican leaders never forgave him. Unlike Bloomberg, he was not a devotee of charter schoools. So the Senate gave him a one-year extension of mayoral control. They forced him to accept more charter schools and even to give them free space in the public schools that they competed with.

Now, once again, the State Senate is prepared to give De Blasio a one-year extension of mayoral control. But the head of the state senate, John Flanagan of Long Island, wants more charter schools. Flanagan loves charter schools, so long as they are not in his district. De Blasio said no. The State Assembly said no.

But according to Politico, a deal may be near. What the charters really want is the power to hire uncertified teachers. Think of it: the charters want the power to hire uncertified teachers, and THIS IS CALLED “REFORM”?

John Flanagan, whose district has no charters, is able to get what he wants for the charter industry every year by holding mayoral control hostage.

Anyone who thinks that mayoral control is a panacea should be sure to check out Cleveland and Chicago. Both have mayoral control, and both are struggling.

Peter Goodman says that if mayoral control dies, the one person responsible is Eva Moskowitz. It’s her way or the highway.

Who is Responsible for the Demise of Mayoral Control? Eva

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Education Reform, Klein, Joel, New York City

New York Times’ Columnist Gail Collins Names Betsy DeVos the Winner of Her Contest!

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2017 //
17

Gail Collins used to be the editorial page editor of the New York Times. Now she writes a regular column for the Times, which is usually hilarious.

Today, she names Betsy DeVos the winner of her informal reader poll as the Worst Member of Trump’s Cabinet.

This was no easy contest. Remember, she was up against Jeff Sessions, who has total amnesia, and Scott Pruitt, the director of the Environmental Protection Agency who fights to protect pollution.

DeVos really hates public schools — something you don’t find often in a secretary of education. Her goal seems to be replacing them with charter schools, none of which will need much oversight because, you know, the choice thing.

Many readers noted that our secretary of education does not seem to be … all that bright. (“DeVos is a solid choice based on irony alone.”)

Categories Betsy DeVos

Reed Hastings, Billionaire, Says that Elected School Boards Should be Eliminated

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2017 //
35

Reed Hastings, billionaire owner of Netflix, says that democracy is the problem at the root of American education.

Elected school boards are the cause of too much turmoil.

Appointed boards are far better and allow innovative charter schools to grow.

At the annual meeting of the National Alliance for “Public” Charter Schools, Hastings pointed to elected school boards as dysfunctional and lauded the appointed boards that manage charter schools..

Arne Duncan has been campaigning to expand mayoral control of public schools for the same reason. He could point to Cleveland and Chicago as exemplars, but somehow he doesn’t.

Democracy, they agree, gets in the way of top-down authoritarian control. Elected boards try to block corporate takeovers of public schools. Elected boards usually expect transparency and accountability.

Why should the people who send their children to school and who pay the taxes have any say in the governance of public schools?

Make no mistake, friends. The mask is off. This is a battle for the democratic control and democratic purposes of schools.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Democracy, Education Reform, Privatization

Newly Elected LAUSD Member Says He is not Going to Promote Charter Expansion

By dianeravitch
June 22, 2017 //
27

Surely to the surprise of the California Charter School Association, Eli Broad, Reed Hastings and the other billionaires who funded his election campaign, Nick Melvoin told EdSource in California that his election was not about expanding the number of charter schools.

No, what he is about is seeing public schools replicate the successes of charter schools. Melvoin was a TFA teacher for two years, so he knows what a successful school should be doing. For some reason, charter schools have discovered the secrets of success but public schools have not.

I don’t think districts like LAUSD have learned lessons from the charter movement the way that it was initially intended. I’ll ask charter principals, “Has the district come and asked what’s working and how to replicate it?” They laugh, as if that’s a crazy question, given the political climate. I’d like to see an increase in schools that are serving kids. I’m much less interested in whether that is a district school or a charter or a magnet school. I’d like to see us cross-pollinate, elevate the work of educators and have LAUSD lead the nation in terms of how to navigate this new public school ecosystem.

At no point in the interview does he suggest that charters can learn from successful public schools.

Nor does he acknowledge the number of charter operators who have been caught and prosecuted for theft, or the common practice of pushing out or excluding students with disabilities.

Maybe that’s the lesson the public schools can learn. Don’t accept kids who might cause your school scores to drop.

But what will Melvoin propose to do for the kids that no one wants?

He has hired Sarah Angel to be his chief of staff. Angel currently works for the California Charter Schools Association. But don’t interpret this as a signal that he is the puppet of the charter industry. We will judge him by deeds, not words.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization
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