State Supreme Court Judge Debra J. Young ruled that Success Academy can’t certify its own teachers. The chain, New York City’s largest, has very high teacher turnover and wanted to bypass the normal standards and certification process to ease its teacher shortage. It gained the approval of the State University of New York charter committee, which consists of four businessmen appointed by pro-charter Governor Andrew Cuomo. The New York State Department of Education and the New York State United Teachers sued to block the lowered standards.
Judge Young rejected Success Academy and the SUNY charter committee.
“The judge’s ruling upends the plans of the city’s largest charter school network, Success Academy, and wipes out a legislative victory that New York’s charter sector thought it had won — though the decision will likely not be the end of the legal battle.
“The regulations, approved by the State University of New York in October 2017, were designed to give charter schools more discretion over how they hired teachers. They eliminated the requirement that teachers earn master’s degrees and allowed charter schools authorized by SUNY to certify their teachers with as little as a month of classroom instruction and 40 hours of practice teaching.
“Some charter networks argued their existing in-house training programs are more useful to new teachers than the training required for certification under state law.
“But the rule was quickly challenged by the State Education Department and the state teachers union, which filed separate lawsuits that were joined in April. They argued that SUNY overstepped its authority and charged that the rule change would lead to children being taught by inexperienced and unqualified teachers…
The ruling was issued Tuesday by State Supreme Court Judge Debra J. Young, who wrote that the new certification programs were illegal because they fell below the minimum requirements issued by the state….
“The state’s top education officials — Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa — have long seemed offended by the new regulations. On a panel last year, Elia said, “I could go into a fast food restaurant and get more training than that.””
SUNY plans to appeal.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yay!
LikeLike
Agree, Nan. Yay!
The DEFORMERS are WRETCHED and GREEDY people. They need and want SLAVES.
LikeLike
If this can become a National precedent then this would greatly hurt all charters.
I met a man two years ago who is a Principal in No. Hollywood, CA of a Charter K-8.
He had just left his job working for Gallo Wine.
I was in shock that he was allowed to be a principal.
LikeLike
Employing managers who have zero knowledge of the product or service is what business school teach their grads. It’s perfectly ok with them that chidlren’s education can be left up to anyone who can manage a wine company. They think the only way to be objective is to come in with only knowledge of running a business (MBA-think). Period. I think that mind-set gives managers a justification to fire & demote people without feeling regrets. It’s just business, as they say.
Eli Broad’s unaccredited superintendnt’s academy preaches this nonsense to their trainees.
LikeLike
Professionalism, hard work, compassion – those are what is required for educators to do their best…professionalism equals education and experience..do you want a dentist, doctor, lawyer, judge, police, fire, therapist, accountant, without the education and experience to do their job? Do not devalue educators-we are the professionals that teach the professionals.
How arrogant to think they are different or special.
LikeLike
“SUNY plans to appeal”
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that the “deformers” will drag down any person or institution that gets involved with them. They are shameless users.
But then again, that’s the worldview that we now see coming to full fruition right before our eyes…. the Trumpian, Survival of the Fittest, Capitalism at All Costs, Phony Free Market religion. (Really an anti-religion, but in the perverted minds of its believers they seem to find some sort of morality in their wallowing at the trough of ill gotten cash.)
Reverse morality, I’d say. Up is down, right is wrong. Doublespeak, deception.
So, SUNY, an institution of higher learning, supports a charter scheme that actually undermines learning? America 2018.
LikeLiked by 1 person
SUNY Charter Committee not only supports lower standards for teachers in some charters, but insults its own teacher education programs by accepting Eva’s claim that she can prepare teachers better than any teacher ed program
LikeLike
I do not understand how the university admin lets this happen. Are they completely unaware or is it that they don’t care? Or is the SUNY Charter Commission separate from the rest of the university?
LikeLike
Who better than the woman who endorsed Betsy DeVos and worked tirelessly to fight for DeVos to be Secretary of Education to have the ultimate power to train her own teachers, argues Joseph Belluck and the SUNY Charter Institute! We’ll appeal because we DEMAND that teachers be trained by the one educator with the good judgement to recognize the excellence of Betsy DeVos.
As Joseph Belluck know, the person who told us how excellent Betsy DeVos is will certify that the teachers in her charter are excellent, too. And Joseph Belluck will take her at her word because THAT is the kind of good judgement Belluck trusts! No more oversight necessary.
LikeLike
Recognition that “They are shameless users” supports a point I finally came to terms with while enduring multiple meaningless invasions brought into our low-income, low-scoring schools with the instigation of NCLB/test-score punishments: This has ALL been about personal momentary profit.
LikeLike
It’s sad that a victory these days is when something that should be obvious is actually affirmed at the judicial level. Next thing you know, they’ll have to rule that accused white collar criminals can’t serve as their own judge and jury.
Or, well, actually, they probably wouldn’t rule that. After all, Congress investigates itself every day and they’re all white collar criminals.
LikeLike
Absolutely right, Dienne. I was about to say the say the same thing, but why bother when you’ve said it so well.
And thanks.
LikeLike
I can see the warts growing on moskowtich face by the second now. The scorned woman will fight to the end. However, moskowtich has been exposed.
This wart says she can train teachers better than any education program? Moskowitch also said devos is a great leader and great choice for sec of education. Wroooong.
LikeLike
Congress essentially said the same thing about preparing teachers when they removed the ‘Highly Qualified’ requirement in ESSA. As Lamar Alexander once said, “Anyone can teach.”
LikeLike
This is a victory for professional standards and educators. It is also a victory for minority students who should receive instruction from legitimate educators, not fake ones.
.
LikeLike
On a related note, we received another unsolicited mailing from Harlem Hebrew. The flyer touts “free busing from the Bronx.” If there was actual demand for this school, they wouldn’t need to be busing kids in from another borough.
LikeLike
If Eva didn’t take public money to fund her schools, people would have no problem or less of a problem. with her putting totally untrained, uncertified, poorly paid. faux teachers in front of children. After all, if Success Academy schools were totally private, there’s nothing anyone could do, anyway.
However, Eva’s schools are funded with taxpayer money, and — for the time being,at least, thanks to that court ruling — she can’t get away with nonsense if she wants to get her hands on that cash.
LikeLike
It would be nice if this ruling prompted journalists to look closely at the SUNY Charter Institute and start asking some hard questions about why their board of non-educators appointed by Cuomo was so determined to push this through even against the advice of the NY State Regents. But I won’t hold my breath.
However, I hope Cynthia Nixon makes this an issue. Why did Cuomo appoint a group of non-educators who wanted to give Eva Moskowitz free reign to train her own inexperienced teachers? Nixon should remind the public that this is the same Moskowitz who insisted that Betsy DeVos was a terrific choice for Sec. of Education — and used her bully pulpit to demand that DeVos be confirmed. And Cuomo and his hand-picked board at SUNY are now insisting that Moskowitz be given the right to train her own teachers with no oversight.
Nixon should remind the public that Cuomo appoints people who insist that a major supporter of Betsy DeVos’ has the right educational philosophy to train her own uncertified teachers for her taxpayer-funded charter schools. Imagine what Cuomo will do next?
LikeLike
” … the hiring of teachers (and the process of doing so) is not the equivalent of (those same teachers successfully completing) the (state’s legally established) teacher certification process.”
— Debra J, Young,
— NYS Supreme Court Justice
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1awuh3GsIBj4OGhfVtoiTu86t4dAMgPXJ/view
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
In other words, a charter school operator cannot call the teachers she hires “certified” simply because she wants to call them “certified” while using qualifications different from and significantly less stringent than what the rest of the state’s teachers must meet.
Charter schools have to follow the rules of the rest of the state’s publicly funded schools — both traditional public and charter — if they’re going to receive public funding.
One other new thing that jumped out at me was that Eva was trying to eliminate the requirement of B.A. / B.S., or of a Bachelor’s degree for Success Academy teachers (???!!!). I had never heard that one before, and, had the ruling gone her way, she would have actually succeeded in doing so.
Wow.
I’m almost certain that the parents of students in the middle or upper middle S.A. schools (i.e. Cobble Hill, Hudson Yards) would go ballistic that Eva was lowering the bar this unspeakably low for their kids’ teachers, as most of those parents are college graduates themselves, and thus, know the crucial difference that makes regarding the quality of their kids’ teachers.
Well, if those parents were unaware that Eva was trying to pull this crap before, hopefully they won’t be any more.
The Success Academy job posting that’s now on Chalkbeat at least requires a Bachelor’s degree, albeit not on in the subject matter the teacher will or may be teaching — i.e. a teacher with a degree in, say, Hospitality Management, for example, would not be barred from teaching high school level Math (Trig and Calc) or high school level Science (Chemistry and Physics) at Success Academy. That’s patently absurd for any organization claiming that it continually brags in the media about how it is preparing students to survive and succeed at the university level.
Here’s that job Success Academy posting:
https://jobs.chalkbeat.org/jobs/middle-school-math-science-teachers-2/
Apart from the Bachelor’s Degree requirement, the teachers here may as well be applying to work at McDonald’s, as they would be given more mandatory training at McDonald’s prior to being allowed to “practice” than the S..A. teachers would be given prior to being allowed to “teach.”
Then on top of that, Eva wanted to eliminate the Bachelor’s requirement?
At that point, applying to work at Success Academy is EXACTLY like applying to work at McDonald’s.
Here’s the passage about Bachelor’s degrees (and also the minimum hours of “field experience” or training/apprenticeship required prior to working as the teacher in a classroom:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
SUPREME COURT RULING:
“For example, the (SUNY’s / Success Academy’s) elimination of the requirement that a candidate hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher and the reduction of field experience hours are substantial revisions as they are revisions which materially alter the purpose, meaning or effect of the regulation (see generally SAPA § I 09).
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
No kidding.
Here’s a pdf of the Supreme Court ruling:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1awuh3GsIBj4OGhfVtoiTu86t4dAMgPXJ/view
The plaintiffs claim and the Court agreed that …
” — the challenged regulations establishing an alternative teacher certification pathway to Charter schools are invalid, annulled, vacated and their use enjoined on the basis that they directly conflict with the Charter Schools Act and Universal Pre K law;
” — the challenged regulations should be declared unlawful, annulled and vacated having been adopted without authority; the challenged regulations should be vacated and use·enjoined because they were not promulgated in accordance with SAPA § 202(4-a);
“and
” —* a judgment declaring that the challenged regulations are invalid and unlawful and enjoining Bronx Charter School for Better Learning and Success Academy Charter School- NYC from implementing their ‘instructional programs’ and further enjoining the Institute from approving other applications to provide instructional programs.
” … ”
“Education Law § 3004 provides petitioner/plaintiffs Commissioner Elia and the Board of Regents the exclusive authority regarding teacher certification. 8 NYCRR Part 80 sets forth the requirements for teachers’ certificates. This, combined with Education Law§ 2854 (3) (a-!) which delineates the certification requirements of teachers in charter schools sets forth the certification requirements.
“Additionally, Education Law§ 3602-ee sets forth the requirements for certification of Universal Pre-K teachers. Under Education Law§ 355, contrary to respondents’/defendants’ contentions, licensure or certification of teachers does not constitute the ‘governance, structure and operations’ of charter schools. Education Law§ 355 (2-a) merely gives that SUNY subcommittee the power to regulate in limited areas.
*”Notably, the Legislature sought to pass legislation with regard to certification of teachers in charter schools and the legislation failed to pass (see Senate Bill6567 2017-2018). *
“Moreover, the Speaker of the Assembly clarified the intent of the Legislature in a letter to the Governor dated August 15,2016 indicating that the Legislature intended to give only limited authority to the SUNY trustees regarding Charter schools which did not extend to or include teacher certification.
“Thus, while regulations may be promulgated by the subcommittee with regard to teacher certification, those regulations must be at a minimum equivalent, with what petitioners/plaintiffs have already set as the certification requirements.
“In other words, respondents/defendants are free to require more of the teachers they hire but they must meet the minimum standards set, not less than those required by Elia and the Board of Regents.
“The minimum certification standards promulgated by Eli a and the Board of Regents set the floor not the ceiling. Nothing in Education Law§ 355(2-a) provides respondents/defendants with the authority to alter the minimum requirements.
“In addition, the operation of charter schools may well include the hiring of teachers as argued by respondents, but the hiring of teachers is not the equivalent of the teacher certification process.
“Moreover, the regulations were not adopted in accordance with SAP A. The regulations were substantially revised without allowing for additional public comment as
is required under SAPA.
“For example, the elimination of the requirement that a candidate hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher and the reduction of field experience hours are substantial revisions as they are revisions which materially alter the purpose, meaning or effect of the regulation (see generally SAPA § I 09).
“Contrary to respondents’/defendants’ contentions these changes were not logical outgrowths of the original proposals as they significantly alter the standards for teacher certification at charter schools and the public should have had the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes.
“Thus, these regulations were not properly promulgated as respondents/defendants failed to comply with the provisions of SAPA and are void.
“Based on the foregoing, the issue of the preliminary injunction need not be decided. To the extent that respondents’ /defendants’ remaining arguments have not been addressed specifically, they are found to be without merit.
“lt is hereby,
“ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECLARED that the petition is granted; and it is
“ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECLARED that the regulations are vacated, annulled and enjoined from use; and it is
“ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECLARED that Bronx Charter School for Better Learning and Success Academy Charter School- NYC are enjoined from implementing their ‘instructional programs’ as a substitute for the teacher certification system as established by New York State Board of Regents and the State Education Department; and it is
“ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECLARED that the Charter Schools Institute is
enjoined from promulgating regulations which fail to meet the minimum standard of
teacher certification as determined by the Commissioner of Education and the Board of
Regents.”
“Honorable Debra J. Young
“Acting Supreme Court Justice
LikeLike
One more interesting tidbit about the ruling above:
The justice, Debra J. Young is … wait for it, folks … a Republican.
Who’d a thunk THAT?
Here’s an article about her: (She looks a little like Debra Norville from INSIDE EDITION)
http://www.troyrecord.com/article/TR/20121106/NEWS/311069960
In 2012, while running for a position on the lower court, Young said this in her campaign statement:
“I will be work hard to protect our families and communities in a fair and balanced manner.”
Boy, she sure lived up to THAT one.
Here’s the rest of that statement:
https://www.nycourtsystem.com//Applications/JCEC2012/Bio2012.php?ID=1804
LikeLike
I am glad that this judge stopped this insanity! I have taught for 40 years, and I am still learning about how children learn and the best strategies to use for ELLs, social and economical disadvantaged students, and children with special needs. I seriously doubt that anyone can master working with these three groups in 40 hours. If so, I want to meet them!
LikeLike
Hooray!
All the best, Karin Brown Karinb277@gmail.com Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike