NYC Kids PAC endorsement of Tony Avella for State Senate

For Immediate Release: October 29, 2010

Contact: Shino Tanikawa: (917) 770-8438

Mel Meer: (718) 428-3659

Today, NYC Kids PAC endorsed Tony Avella for election as State Senator for District 11, Northeast Queens. NYC Kids PAC was formed by public school parents in 2009 to support candidates who work for the issues that matter to parents and their kids, including smaller classes; less reliance on test prep and standardized testing; more provision of art, music, science and physical education; greater parental input into decision-making at the school, district and citywide levels; and full transparency and accountability to ensure that resources are invested in these priorities.

As Shino Tanikawa of the Parent Commission on School Governance and NYC Kids PAC says, “Throughout his career, Tony Avella has stood up for our kids, so now we are standing up for him. He has been a strong supporter of reducing class size, equipping our schools with the latest technology, and providing our kids with new and uncrowded facilities. He has opposed the insertion of charter schools into public school buildings, which merely makes overcrowding worse. As Councilmember, he voted against Chancellor Joel Klein’s capital plan for school construction because it was inadequate to alleviate the extreme overcrowding in Queens , as well as citywide. He is against 'teaching to the test' and for providing a rich and varied curriculum to our kids. And as State Senator, he will work to ensure that our schools do not suffer even worse budget cuts in these tough economic times.”

Gary Babad of the NYC Public School Parent blog and resident of NE Queens says, “Tony Avella warrants the support of parents, teachers, and anyone else who values public education. He has been a fierce critic of Chancellor Klein’s and Mayor Bloomberg’s dictatorial control. He has called for the firing of the Chancellor, the hiring of a real educator for the position, and for the re-establishment of true parent involvement in the schools. Tony is sincere in his support for parents and children, with a keen grasp of the issues; beyond that, he is that rare creature, an honest politician who takes the time to listen. I urge everyone in Senate District 11 to get out and vote for Tony Avella on November 2. He will be a true friend in Albany .”

Mel Meer, school parent in Bayside and founding chair of Community Board 11's Education Committee: “ Community School District 26 in NE Queens used to be a shining example of excellence; it exists now in name only. Parents having a problem at their local schools now have to grovel in downtown Manhattan to get relief. And our local high schools, including Bayside, Francis Lewis and Cardozo are bursting at the seams. Yet when it came time to vote to change the system to restore the voices of parents and teachers, Senator Padavan sponsored the legislation that did little more than continue the present system unaltered. He has also consistently voted with the Republicans for funding formulas favoring the suburbs. Clearly it's time for a change.”

As one of the characters in Frank Capra’s classic film “State of the Union ” said: “You’ve got an honest man. You don’t know how lucky you are.” That man is Tony Avella. At every moment in the City Council he has delivered integrity and honesty. He has voted for his constituents even as he resisted enormous pressures to "go along". He has not accepted a lulu for his committee chairmanship and he has delivered real positive change for our neighborhoods. He will be a great state senator.

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Gary Babad breaks his contract and is demoted to DOE's press office

In a violation of his exclusive contract with the NYC Public School Parent blog, Gary Babad has published a exclusive report on the Washington Post blog about the appointment of a new Superintendent of DC schools.

We dragged Gary out of obscurity and propelled him to fame and fortune, and this is how he repays us? (Okay, there was no pay involved, but still!)

Gary's photo is at right, at the Class Size Matters fundraiser in May, talking to famed attorney Norman Siegel and to me; an occasion in which he never even hinted at his future betrayal.

As punishment, we are sending Gary to the bowels of the Tweed building to head their PR department, otherwise known as the NYC Department of Education press office.

This department is short-handed because of much turnover in recent months; and it's obvious they need help with their spin control. (The new hires haven't even managed to subscribe to our NYC education news list yet, the first step in any genuine attempt to control the news.)

For example, last week, when a press spokesperson tried to explain the lack of action for five years in a DOE investigation into the misconduct of a principal, recently shown to have misused funds in an audit from the State Comptroller's office, the excuse was that "Our lawyers are very thorough."

More recently, a DOE press spokesperson fed the absurd line to an Ed Week reporter that the DOE "is poised to introduce online credit-recovery options for students this coming school year in 10 schools" and then, only when a teacher is present.

Meanwhile, we know from numerous news articles that credit recovery is pervasive throughout the city, and credits are being handed out like candy to students, through cut-and-paste online programs, even when they failed to attend their classes and had flunked their courses.

We also know through DOE's own job postings and RFPs that online "learning", as they call it, is being used in at least 42 schools this year, with a plan to spread the discredited practice more widely next year, through "multi-million dollar online learning technology development projects" to be utilized during and beyond the school day - from home, library, or anywhere students have access to online resources.""

And in today's Daily News, this is how the DOE press office explained their decision to grant tenure to a principal, two days after a girl had drowned on a field trip at his school, a trip which had occurred without adequate supervision and permission slips:

"In the heartbreaking days following Nicole's death our primary focus was not on the tenure status of Columbia Secondary School officials," said Education Department spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz..

As Steve Koss, contributor to this blog pointed out, "such a statement is ridiculous and belied by their own actions, since it certainly didn't take them long to focus on the employment status of the teacher (now fired) and the AP (now demoted from administration back to being "just" a teacher.)"

We're sorry, Gary, that we have to demote you to heading the press office at Tweed, but at least at DOE, you can be assured that poor performance and/or misconduct are not punished, but are rewarded with a higher salary and assurances of lifetime employment.

Gotham Gazette 2010 predictions taps GBN News

Gotham Gazette has included me as part of its "panel of experts" sharing predictions for the coming year. Of course, this means a GBN News article dated April 7, 2010. Here is the full article and it is also copied below.

Gary Babad, a NY City public school parent and writer for NYC Public School Parent

In the spirit of the parodies I write on New York City Public School Parents, here are my predictions:

Klein Closes Department of Education, Fires Self

April 7, 2010 (GBN News): Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, in a bold restructuring move, abruptly closed down the New York City Department of Education today and fired himself. The chancellor's actions came following the release of the city's reading test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), showing that the city's performance has remained flat for the past two years. On top of last fall's report that math scores had not significantly improved since 2007, the revelations gave the chancellor no choice but to take this drastic step.

However, on the heels of this announcement, Mr. Klein dropped another bombshell. He told reporters that he gives more weight to the "steady progress" made since 2003 than the lack of progress in the past two years. Thus, he will be rehiring himself immediately and reconstituting the DOE.

These rapid-fire reorganizations come at a particularly challenging time for the education department. Just last week, Mr. Klein had announced the closing of the last remaining public high school in the city. The DOE had been closing more and more "underperforming" schools, with students from each one flooding the few non-charter schools that were left. It is unclear just where the 253,763 students from Alfred E .Neuman High School in Queens will go next year, but the chancellor had a reassuring message for concerned parents. "The good news," said Mr.Klein, "is that with virtually no schools left, the high school application process has been considerably simplified."

The Onion Just Flat-Out Nails It!

The latest print issue of The Onion, New York's (and America's) best print/online satire magazine, includes a "Sports Section" article that absolutely nails the state of NYC and NYS education as well as that of the entire U.S. under NCLB.

Titled "Pittsburgh School District Leads Nation in Ability to Spell 'Roethlisberger,'" the article is fall-on-the-floor, laugh-out-loud hilarious, at least until you realize just had sadly true is the underlying reality that it satirizes. Replace the word "Roethlisberger" with NYS Math and ELA exams, Grades 3-8, and you've got the exact voice of the Tweed/DOE P.R. machine. If I hadn't seen it in The Onion newspaper myself, I'd have thought it came from Gary Babad. Enjoy.

Join us for a very special celebration!

Announcing the first annual

Skinny Awards

When: Thursday May 7, at 6 PM

Where: Jerry's Café, 90 Chambers St (between Church and Broadway)

Please join us for a very special evening

Presenting awards to the three best education bloggers, who provide us with the real "skinny" on NYC schools:

Diane Ravitch, Lifetime Achievement Award

Jennifer Jennings (AKA Eduwonkette), the Shooting Star Award

Gary Babad, Humorist Supreme

A rare opportunity to meet these three celebrated bloggers

and enjoy a three course dinner with wine.

A fundraiser sponsored by the NYC Public School Parent Blog and Class Size Matters.

Tickets: $100 --Patron, $75 -- Supporter

To attend, please send a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters, 124 Waverly Pl., New York, NY 10011

Or click on this link: In the section at the bottom entitled "Designate your donation to a specific program or fund," please write May 7 dinner, along with the number of tickets you are purchasing.

Be there or be square!

Gary goes national!

Today, Gary Babad, the brilliant parodist for our blog, was profiled in the NY Times.

One of the reasons Patrick Sullivan and I founded this blog back in March 2007 was to give a permanent home for Gary's amazing satires, which he had started writing for our NYC education list serv months before. (The other reason was to get the word out that that NYC parents were not uniformly thrilled with the arrogant, dismissive, and often destructive policies of the Bloomberg/Klein administration.)

But let's get back to Gary. Who would have thought that this mild-mannered social worker from Queens had such a wicked and barbed wit, that could so adeptly skewer the high-handed pretentious nonsense that constantly seems to issue from the land of Tweed?

Who can forget Gary's ingenious "Children First: A Game Of Irony”, in which the Chancellor gets to change the rules of the game as he goes along, or the “Children First” Game Gets Long-Awaited Update?

What about his reporting of the Mayor Defending DOE Blackwater Security Contract , or his scoop when the DOE ANNOUNCES BAN ON COMMON SENSE ? How about his announcement that Bloomberg Expands Congestion Pricing Plan to Schools?

Then there's the recent press release revealing that the DOE, in partnership with Microsoft and Blackwater USA, will engage in a $500 million expansion of the ARIS computer system to "personalize" instruction for every NYC student? Or his exclusive, revealing the plans of the Broad Foundation to Fund “High Stakes” Degree Program ? And what about his discovery that Secret Papers Reveal Klein Power Grab?

There are too many brilliant bits to list here. Just put GBN news into the search function above, and enjoy!

And please, Gary, when the Onion or Comedy Central come calling, don't forget the little folks who gave you your start.