The charter school committee of the State University of New York will soon decide whether charter schools will be allowed to hire uncertified teachers. This is a bad idea because teachers must be prepared for a wide variety of children, including children with disabilities and English language learners. Of course, if charter schools are private schools, then it doesn’t matter whether their teachers are well prepared because they are unlikely to encounter the same students as in public schools.
If you think that every child deserves a well-qualified teacher, please send an email to the members of the SUNY charter committee, all of whom were appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The linked message from the Network for Public Education makes it easy to send an email.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think Andrew Cuomo needs a qualified teacher because he obviously never had one at the private Catholic high school he attended.
The man never learned to think.
Not sure that it was that he “never learned to think”. It’s that he learned somewhere along the way that the way to go about life is me, me, me, and much more and many me’s. He learned how to think in a very selfish manner for himself. I have found that attitude, a very privileged one, prevalent in many former Catholic school classmates. At the same time I’ve found more socially concerned attitudes from other former Catholic school graduates. It seems to coincide with the schism there is in Catholic thought between the conservative old time thinkers and the newer liberation theological thinkers.
There is definitely a me me me components, but some of the stuff Cuomo does and says is just dumb, even from the standpoint of advancing himself.
For example, when Cuomo was trying to get potential opt out parents to have their kids take the tests, he gave the illogical rationale that the “tests are meaningless” for the students grades and the “scores won’t count” for several years”
Why would any parent subject his or her child to countless hours of testing that don’t matter to nthedir children.
That’s just idiotic.
And it’s even more idiotic for Cuomo to “think” that his “argument” is going to convince fencesitting parents to get their kids to take the test
NY hass had some very bright governors over the years but Andrew Cuomo is not among them.
Catholic schools are parochial not private.
Parochial schools ARE private schools…They are not “public” schools…
Private schools are not run by a religious organization. And they cost $30,000 per year for tuition. The tuition is not subsidized , but paid entirely by the family. So no, you are wrong. Parochial schools are NOT private. They are religious schools!
Ever wonder what goes on in a closed-to-the-public meeting of the SUNY Board of Trustees — the group that authorizes NYC charter schools such as Eva Moskowitz Success Academy Charter Schools?
Well, hey, now’s your chance!
Somebody secretly videotaped a meeting of the SUNY Board of Trustees meeting — a meeting where the controversial measure to allow uncertified teachers to work in SUNY-authorized charters was discussed.
It’s now on YouTube.
Included in this meeting was a community leader not happy with the new regulations — one Maria Bautista.
This is truly explosive stuff, and should be posted on your blog ASAP, and please feel free to use the TRANSCRIPT I just made.
SUNY Board Chairman Joseph Belluck claims that he is livid at the tweets and overall “smear campaign” that has been portraying him as “racist.”
In response to this, Afro-Puerto Rican activist Maria Bautista of the Alliance for Quality Education is not buying Belluck’s attempt to fabricate victimhood for himself. She then proceeds to unload on Belluck, saying that his new policy is most certainly “racist” in its effect, if not intent.
Would you want YOUR OWN kids taught by these uncertified teachers? Bautista asks him, and this sets Belluck off.
Enjoy!
TRANSCRIPT
( 0:13 – )
( 0:13 – )
MARIA BAUTISTA: “Well, I just want to clarify that this ISN’T a smear campaign against you. Right?
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Okay.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “That this has EVERYTHING to do with black and brown children -”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Right.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” – and THEIR access to high quality education, and second of all, if the teachers’ union wanted to be here and talk for themselves, they WOULD be.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Okay.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “So I’m here to talk about the Alliance for Quality Education.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Well, I’ll just … I’ll just say to you that, when I look at my phone, and someone tweets the following:
” ‘ @JoeBelluck is willing to allow this RACIST policy to persist.’
MARIA BAUTISTA: “That’s RIGHT! “Cause you ARE!”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “I take – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “Cause you ARE!”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “I take umbrage at it.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “‘Cause you ARE!”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Okay?”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” ‘YOU”RE the Chair,
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “I take umbrage at it.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” ‘YOU”RE the Chair, and you’re allowing it to proceed – ”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Well -”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” – so that’s NOT a smear campaign. It’s ACTUALLY WHAT’S HAPPENING, and whether or not you feel defensive about that – ”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “I’m NOT defensive about it.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” – but this is YOUR responsibility.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “I’m NOT defensive about it.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “Exactly. You ARE defensive about it. You’re saying that this is a SMEAR campaign, and it’s NOT. We’re calling … we’re calling the cards for what they ARE.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “What I’m suggesting to you is that – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “THIS is the card that YOU are ALLOWING to move forward — THIS idea …THESE regulations for people to give comments on, when we know that they (classes taught by uncertified teachers) are going disproportionately impact black and brown children.
“You would NEVER have uncertified teachers teach YOUR children, so WHY is it okay for black and brown children? Why is THAT okay?”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “Okay – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “It is NOT okay!”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “What I’m suggest – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “That is the point.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: “What I’m saying to you – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “This is NOT a smear campaign.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: ” “What I’m suggesting to you is that the things that are going to MOVE this committee to ACT are going to be the SUBSTANCE of the regulations, and WHETHER OR NOT they are the BEST for educating the kids who are in our schools.”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “Would you want THIS for YOUR children? No.”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: (angry) “I’m not going to speak to you about MY children -”
MARIA BAUTISTA: “I would love that -”
JOSEPH BELLUCK: ” – because frankly .. because frankly – ”
MARIA BAUTISTA: ” – because what you would want for YOUR children is what you should want for EVERY child in this city.”
MALE SUNY BOARD MEMBER: “Can I just say – ?)
x x x x x x x x x x x x
Video CUTS OUT
This is a good example of what has become of public discourse. Whether or not you agree with someone’s point of view should not allow you to stop the other person from speaking. This is WHY nothing changes.
The chair is accused of being a racist – but the speaker “clarified, “…that this ISN’T a smear campaign against…” the chair.
What a baloney! It WAS a smear campaign. The fact that he is called racist is an insult and malicious.
The ISSUE at hand does not matter anymore. And that was exactly what the speaker intended, seemingly. Disruption does NOT solve problems… Nor do personal insults.
There’s a difference between calling an action, or more specifically and certain action’s effect “racist,” and referring to the person performing that action by saying, “He’s a racist.”
Bautista’s point was that, regardless of Mr. Belluck’s intent, allowing uncertified teachers in Suny-authorized charters will have a very negative impact on low-income Latino and African-American children, not that Belluck was or is “a racist.” That should be and is manifestly obvious to anyone following this.
Personally, I don’t think Belluck is a racist. He’s just capitulating under pressure from money-motivated scum operating behind the scenes. They’re successfully making Belluck cave in to their demands that he engage in a course of action that is indeed “racist.”
Belluck’s just furious that Bautista and others are busting him on his lack of a backbone in standing up to those pernicious forces, and that this craven behavior of Belluck is now being exposed to the general public. Hence, we get Belluck’s bogus, manipulative charge of there being “a smear campaign” against him.
BOTTOM LINE: Bautista’s right. Belluck’s wrong.
Belluck’s response or ploy here was a cheap attempt to fabricate victimhood — “People are smearing me, and calling me a ‘racist.’ ” — as a way to divert attention away from what Bautista correctly claims is an indefensible course of action, an action will have a damaging impact that is, once again, “racist” in its effect, as it will have a severe and negative impact black and brown children.
Bautista also correctly points out the hypocrisy of so many corporate ed reformers and their allies, who push school management policies for “other people’s children” — those kids get fast-food-worker-type teachers — policies and practices that those same corporate ed. reformers would NEVER allow to be imposed on their own children, and would never tolerate having those same unqualified, poorly-trained teachers teach their children.
That’s a fair question that Bautista asked Belluck near the end of the video, and it’s one that has to be asked AGAIN and AGAIN, and AGAIN …
I’m not a racist, says Joseph Belluck!
The fact that I love to reward charter CEOs who say so many non-white 5 year olds who are lucky enough to win coveted spots in her charters are violent is not because I am racist.
It’s because I know lots of non-white kindergarten children are violent and the charter schools that are high performing have no choice but to suspend them over and over again and I want to reward them for their good work!
But not because I’m racist. I’m just a white guy who believes a white woman when she tells me lots of little 5 year olds who aren’t white are violent. And since I am the only one with the power to decide if she is telling the truth or not, I choose to believe every word the white woman says about how violent so many of the non-white 5 year old children in her school are.
Sure their parents keep complaining, but they are the ones who brought up those very violent non-white children so I disregard their views.
But not because I’m racist.
I’m glad that the NPE is arranging this, but the SUNY Charter Institute has been in the charter billionaires’ pocket ever since Pedro Noguera resigned from the board when SUNY started allowing connected charter chains to change preferences in their charters so that they no longer had to give lottery priority to any at-risk children. SUNY did this when charters wanted to open in rich neighvborhoods and make sure that the middle class parents they desperately wanted to market to would be guaranteed a school that served less than 50% poor kids. In fact, those schools serve more like 25% poor kids thanks to SUNY.
SUNY has never once looked intop why a charter school would give out of school suspensiions to over 20% of their 5 and 6 year old children. The (all white?) SUNY board believed that charter operator who claimed all those non-white kindergarten children were very very violent. SUNY said “f course they are, thank you for telling the world how violent non-white children are, please suspend as many children as you want and we’ll renew your charters years earlier than we are sup[posed to as long as you keep suspending those non-white 5 year olds you now are so violent.
Joseph Belluck understands that it takes a very special teacher to understand how violent non-white 5 year old children in charters are and give them the punishment he knows they deserve. And charters know just how to find those very specail teachers adept at recognizing the very viiolent 5 year olds and punishing them the way Belluck wants them to be punished.
No wonder Pedro Noguera resigned from this racist group of enablers who accept a charter operators’ word that so many, many non-white kindergarten children in SUNY-approved charters are very very violent children. And rewards the charter operators who can identify the violent non-white kindergarten children immediately and punish them in the way that Belluck and the rest of SUNY know is the way that those 5 year olds deserve to be punished. It takes a very very specially trained “model” teacher to do that and Belluck wants lots more of those specially trained teachers.
Regardless, send an email to Joseph Belluck of SUNY.
Done!
^I apologize for all the typos in that rant.
For too long I have watched the SUNY Charter Institute do oversight the way the Republican party does oversight to Donald Trump.
In other words, Trump has the power and the Republicans in Congress may offer a few words of chiding him as they vote to approve every unethical action he does and enable him to do more.
SUNY may have a few words of chiding him as they vote to approve every unethical action the powerful charters do and enable them to do more.
What’s amazing to me is that all the members of the Senate and Assembly who seek and gladly take NYSUT’s endorsement and millions of dollars in VOTE COPE contributions have nothing to say. Where is the outrage? Where are the calls for the SUNY Charter Institute committee members to resign? These politicians are good at promoting themselves. Any teacher who thinks that NYSUT’s millions have gotten us anything of value is delusional.
I am really hoping a journalist does an investigative report on Joseph Belluck and SUNY Charter Institute.
There used to be videos of some of their meetings — the October 2014 meeting was especially embarrassing for them as we watched their “oversight” in action:
A group of public school parents brought us proof of empty seats in charters that are demanding more schools based in high demand and wait lists? The charter CEO tells us it is a “glitch” so we’ve done our oversight! It’s a glitch! Our job is done! Pay us our salaries and we will renew lots more of the charters with the billionaires on their boards.
Belluck promised 3 years ago that he would look into whether charters that wanted renewals were serving their fair share of children with disabilities and other at-risk groups. Never happened.
Belluck goes out of his way to give EARLY renewals — against protocol — to the charters that say that 20% of the kindergarten children are very very violent 5 year olds – in charters that have almost no white students. And Belluck says that kind of recognition of the violent nature of non-white 5 year olds deserves an early renewal because their teachers are so well-trained in recognizing and punishing the astonishingly high number of non-white 5 year olds who win lottery spots in the charter’s lottery! Belluck will call you the best charter school ever!
There is a difference between qualified and certified. Not all certified teachers are qualified to teach – and sometimes, non-certified teachers are much more qualified then certified teachers to teach.
Both your points have validity and the issue in this case is technically certification,but the whole point of certification is to set some minimum standards for qualification.
If there is no cert requirement, basically anything goes.
No the purpose of certification is to collect massive amounts of revenue for the States. Florida until recently considered a 60% on a subject area certification test a passing score. Looks like the minimum standard are just that “the bare minimum”. How can we consider a 60% as an unacceptable score for our students yet for our educators is just fine and dandy off to the classroom you go.
“…and sometimes, non-certified teachers are much more qualified then certified teachers to teach.”
Yes, and I imagine there are some non-certified doctors who are better at surgery. You want to go to one?
As Tim Meadows said, in the character of Ben Carson, “I want a pilot who has some fresh ideas about flying.”
I have to say from personal experience that there actually are some uncertified teachers who are better qualified than some certified ones.
But that is focussing on realtively small numbers of people out on the wings of the distribution and misses the larger point about the purpose of certification.
Certification is no gurantee, but it does make it more likely that a person is qualified.
Joseph Belluck would probably believe rich billionaires who told him that non-certified doctors were better than certified ones.
That’s because Belluck believes in “results” and non-certified doctors can have excellent results by simply taking a page from the charter operator’s modus operandi.
The non-certified doctor sees every patient who walks through the door. Each patient is given a dose of antibiotics regardless of the complaint. Many of the patients get better – either on their own or because of the antibiotics — and the rest are “invited” to go elsewhere to a different doctor because it is their own fault they can’t be cured!
As we all know, Belluck’s “judgement’ would tell him that this example proves that non-certified doctors have 100% success!!! Every single patient was cured by the non-certified doctor! According to Belluck’s reasoning, that means taxpayers should be forced to underwrite lots more hospitals for poor kids that have those “successful” non-certified doctors! Because Belluck accepts without question the “proof” they offer that every child who goes to the non-certified doctor gets well!
Sure, some parents of kids who didn’t get well and were “invited” (i.e. “ordered”) to leave the non-certified doctor’s practice might complain, but Belluck always accepts without question that it’s the child’s own fault for not getting well — the child was obviously too violent or unworthy to respond to a medication which cures 100% of the children! The child is to blame for not getting well when non-certified doctors treat him – NOT the doctor! Belluck knows that because his non-certified doctors have 100% cure rates! See, you can never argue with Belluck’s logic! He knows that non-certified doctors are fantastic because they cure everyone except the patients who are unworthy and don’t count even if their parents complain!
Perhaps a shorter way to say this is that Belluck would believe that non-certified doctors would cure every patient who WANTS to get well! And if the patient doesn’t get well, it’s his fault for not trying hard enough. That would be proof to Belluck that non-certified doctors are terrific and we need more of them.
Just not for his kids.
I think it might be worthwhile to CC the rest of the SUNY board of Trustees AND the Presidents of universities that are part of the SUNY system.
That would have two potential effects. It might possibly embarrass the members of the Charter Board into doing the right thing.
And even if they can’t be embarrassed/shamed, it would let the rest of the Board and the SUNY Presidents know that doing nothing and not speaking out makes them complicit in the decision made by the Charter Board.
Einstein never said the quote that Ivanka Trump attributed to him. Among N.Y.’s powerful, knowledge is as superfluous as morals. It’s bred in. Wall Street drags down GDP by 2% while the privately-schooled, who occupy the corner offices, get rich off of the work of others. After the richest 0.1% destroy public schools (labor’s education), who are they going to live off of?
Check out the bio.’s of the contractor school oversight toadies at SUNY.
Ivanka Trump is misquoting Einstein?
What a surprise.
She undoubtedly thinks Relativity is a theory of ethics.
There will come a time of diminishing return for the short sighted billionaires. People with low wages and insecure jobs will not be buying all the products and services so I guess they will sell in Europe where the government actually serves the people.
HERE IS WHAT I WROTE:
Here is the letter that I wrote:
“Would you allow hospitals to use trained medics to do the work of experience doctors. How the human brain works is the KNOWLEDGE BASE, the teachers learn so they can PRACTICE their craft. IF YOU WANT SCHOOLS TO FAIL THE WAY HOSPITALS DO, then put in unqualified novices.
“You should be ashamed of yourself!”
“I hope that you give my concerns serious thought and that you abandon this poorly conceived proposal. ALL students–especially poor students of color– deserve qualified, professionally trained teachers. “
Please make sure you all take time to do this. It’s happening al over the country. Here is Wisconsin I have been fighting the move to deprofessionalize teaching.
http://bustedpencils.com/2017/04/busted-pencils-trending-news-teacher-licenses-attack/
Would have been nice if people had helped Utah when this came out two years ago. I BEGGED for help, and no help came. And now ANYONE who has a degree and passes a Praxis test can teach in ANY school, charter or public.
Certification is of less value than experience. Of all the classes I had in college, the classes I had to be certified were not the ones that gave me vital understanding that translated into,a successful teaching career. Inadverdantly, however, they involved me in the process of thinking about what good teaching looks like, and how I fit into that picture. So while many of my certification classes might be supplanted with something more fruitful for those yet to become teachers, it would be inaccurate to suggest that people should be allowed to teach on a whim.
I would suggest that education classes that we presently take for the purpose of certification be moved into practical experience and out of the immediate surroundings of the university. That is, of course, going the other direction from the folks who want to do away with certification. I advocate more time spent learning to teach, longer periods during which young teachers have fewer responsibilities and closer relationships with experienced teachers and college professors.
So that we have good, qualified teachers, we need a way to make sure they have had experience before they start to teach. That needs to be a part of the certification.
My university program did just what you are suggesting, and still does that, 25 years later. Many education programs are better than you insinuate.
Teacher certification programs/requirements may not be perfect (EdTpa! Ugh.) but it is still better than allowing random unprepared individuals into the classroom.