Leonie Haimson questions why NYC Chancellor Carranza sent a letter to every parent in schools rated CSI (Comprehensive Support & Improvement) by the state to let them know that they could transfer to another school.
Although he claimed otherwise, he was not required to do so.
Some schools are on the list because of opt outs.
Carranza is destroying schools instead of supporting them. No school ever improved by closing it.
After I wrote this, I heard that Carranza “might” withdraw his threatening letter. True or not, why was it his response and Commissioner Elia’s response to threaten schools instead of helping? Why do they think that any school needs threats and intimidation? Where do they get these attitudes? Was NCLB their textbook?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I don’t have statistics, but these kinds of letters went out every year at my school at the end of the year.
I do have them… and nothing changes, because as I said to Lloyd , they do their now thing, with no one to stop them– they have the right of way over the rule of law.!
he had a terrible record before he was hired in new York.
Answer: Because Carranza is really a DEFORMER. He’s pushing charters and of course, eventually vouchers.
I think you are correct. He is showing his true colors now that he has been installed in the system.
sadly this exact same story repeats with so many once they are ‘in the system’
Just the opposite. He’s bad enough as it is. Don’t invent other claims. He and the mayor oppose charter expansion and do not support vouchers.
I understand that the age of Donald Trump emboldens public figures to make things up and present them, by dint of whatever authority the speaker believes he or she possesses, as facts. By my god, this man is ostensibly an educator who is obliged to hew close to something resembling the truth. As I used to say to the dimbulb principal under whom I served in Lower Manhattan, I don’t let my students get away with presenting arguments without evidence to support them, so I won’t let you either.
On a more personal note, since I left New York last November for my current posting in Springfield, Massachusetts–in a school that is truly abysmal–I have had occasion to subject myself to some painful second-guessing. This post clears that up!
I am really glad to be out of the New York City Department of Education.
I taught under many dim-bulbs, but it was the smart, corrupt to their toes, administrators who perpetrated abysmal acts… even when I was really a celebrated and renounce educator. Not a shred of accountability for the criminal behavior they exhibit, shredding the civil rights of teachers, nt merely making git impossible for them to enable learning…i.e “teach.”
Why was it his response and Commissioner Elia’s response to threaten schools instead of helping?
Donald Trump is their role model, their hero.
Why do they think that any school needs threats and intimidation?
Donald Trump is their role model, their hero.
Where do they get these attitudes?
Donald Trump is their role model, their hero.
Was NCLB their textbook?
Yes, but Donald Trump didn’t read that one either.
Come on Lloyd. Long before Trump the Chancellor was not held (by the union) to the contract (which I have on my desk…BTW> Long ago these critters at the top could do anything they want… and not just those who mange schools. THIS, is NYS where a corrupt assembly and senate laughed at the rule of law, to which THEY WERE NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
My dear, it is the total lack of accountability LONG AGO, when the LINES WERE CROSSED, that gives miscreants like Carranza and Ella, the right of way over the rule of law. LOL… I just read that.
Diane and Leonie, your question has been answered. If one looks at the BEHAVIOR, the larger ploy is evident. The ploy in the plot to end democracy is to end public education, and to dumb the people down — feed them disinformation, and keep them stressed and busy. Shared knowledge is REQUIRED for democracies to thrive! https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/hirsch.pdf
A decade ago, YOU showed us the insidious KOCH takeover in North Carolina. Get ‘em young, and re-write history (and science, and dumb us down in a generation of screen watchers who do not read) https://dianeravitch.net/2014/12/05/north-carolina-plans-to-adopt-koch-funded-social-studies-curriculum
Caranza???? This WONDERFUL link to the Grassroots film, shows that NYC was going DOWN, years ago; this is a wonderful look at the destruction — the demise of NYC which is the largest district in the 15,880, in 50 states.! http://gemnyc.org/2012/05/20/the-inconvenient-truth-behind-waiting-for-superman-now-online/
I was there 20 years ago, when the assault by Crew and Klein, on the experienced teacher-practitioners emptied NYC of its authentic educators… who knew WLLL and cannot be fooled by high tech and promises.
This is what happened to me: and tens of thousands of NYC ‘s experienced teachers; If the doctors were removed from the hospitals and replaced my ‘trained medics’ the institution would FAIL! IT IS THAT SIMPLE. http://www.perdaily.com/2011/01/lausd-et-al-a-national-scandal-of-enormous-proportions-by-susan-lee-schwartz-part-1.html
THE MEDIA that THEY OWNED –>SOLD ‘the bad teacher fake news!’
Billionaire Charles Koch and his allies are pouring money into a massive campaign to transform education in the United States from a fundamental right to a commodity. See this Bill Moyers piece on dark money: https://billmoyers.com/story/kochs-to-rewrite-constitution/ “The Charles Koch Network plans to spend about $400 million to advance a far-right education agenda in ballots across the country this election cycle and is spending big on alternatives to traditional public schools, including vouchers and charter schools. The group distributed roughly $100 million to 350 colleges and universities in 2017 — a sevenfold increase over the past five years — and intends to double the amount it spends on K–12 schools to promote its conservative agenda.
The group’s priorities include breaking teachers unions, draining public school funding into educational saving accounts and developing technologies for parents to use to shop for private classes and tutors online instead of sending their children to schools with trained and accredited public school teachers.”
Because the PLOY WORKED IN NYC AND LAUSD — the power elite’s (“billionaire’s club” or the “cabal”) went on to use it across the nation, so the LEGISLATURES could take over the ‘schools’ or as we know it — THE institution of PUBLIC EDUCATION…. not just in NYC; this ain’t just about Carranza… he is a SYMPTOM of the disease.
Your blog https://dianeravitch.net/?s=legislatures offers the best links to how the legislatures have taken over the school systems, with nary a genuine educator that knows WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE, (WLLL). Those who run too many school systems across the nation— like the fraud Carranza, just talk about ‘teaching’ ; they sell ‘curricula crap’, but do nothing to reduce class size and support LEARNING and the teaching professionals who are in the room with those kids for 180 days a year.
NEXT, The power elite took out, “expunged” tens of thousands of the most talented, dedicated, and experienced, teachers in the second largest LAUSD!
Thus, empowered, they went on to use the ploy across the nation — to empty the schools of THE AUTHENTIC EDUCATORS –to silence THEIR VOICES –so the corrupt LEGISLATURES (in the hands o the lobbyist after citizen united) could take over the ‘schools’ — or as we know it: THE INSTITUTION of PUBLIC EDUCATION….and make a ton of money while they do it. $$$ http://www.perdaily.com/2014/06/lausds-treacherous-road-from-reed-to-vergara–its-never-been-about-students-just-money.html
There is no such thing as withdrawing hundreds (thousands?) of letters that were sent to homes of families at these CSI schools. It is a positive step that NYC DOE recognizes that this was wrong, and now it is time to do more than apologize about it – they must inform all NYC families about their right to boycott these tests, which are at the very instrument used to create the CSI list to close schools.