Poll Results: No Confidence in Klein, End Mayoral Control

The latest survey released by the highly respected Quinnipiac University Polling Institute had good news for Mayor Mike Bloomberg and bad news for Chancellor Joel Klein.

The poll showed that 73% of New York City voters approve of Mayor Bloomberg. And it also showed only 33% approve of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, while 43% of voters disapprove of the job he is doing.

In a survey released on March 14, the Mayor's popularity was near his all-time high rating of 75% in January 2007. Voters overwhelmingly disapproved of the "Mayor's handling of the school bus schedule change" (by 62-12%). But apparently that fiasco was just a minor blip in the Mayor's continuing popularity among New York City voters.

In the survey released by Quinnipiac today, there was considerable information about how voters view the Mayor's and Chancellor Klein's stewardship of the public schools.

By a 58-31% margin, voters want the return of an independent board of education to control the schools. When voters were asked whether mayoral control was successful, 39% think it has. But 58% want to remove control from the mayor's hands and turn it back to an independent board of education.

Only 19% of voters citywide are satisfied with the public schools; 64% are dissatisfied, including 63% of public school parents and 75% of black voters.

Chancellor Klein gets a resounding vote of no-confidence in this survey. Only 33% of voters approve of the job he is doing. As noted above, 43% disapprove. His disapproval ratings are highest among black voters (50%), in the Bronx (50%), in Brooklyn (48%), and among women voters (48%). The strongest disapproval rating--52%--is registered by parents of public school students. Chancellor Klein's highest popularity was recorded in February 2003 at 46%; his lowest was recorded in March 2007 at 33%.

When voters are asked how they feel about Mayor Bloomberg's handling of the public schools, his ratings are higher than Chancellor Klein's. 50% approve (among public school parents, the number drops to 47%). The mayor gets the highest approval (55%) from Republicans, voters in Queens (55%), and men (56%). He gets the highest disapproval rating (50%) from public school parents.

On the subject of who should control the schools, only 31% say that it should be the mayor. 58% say that it should be an independent Board of Education. The groups that most strongly support an independent Board of Education are Blacks (66%), Democrats (64%), women (64%), voters in the Bronx (62%), and public school parents (61%).

When asked who should control individual public schools--the principal, the neighborhood school board, or officials from the city department of education--voters overwhelmingly rejected the NYC Department of Education. 38% preferred a local board; 33% say the principal; and only 18% choose the NYC Department of Education. While voting groups were divided in their choice between the principal and a local school board, there was resounding agreement that the one group that should NOT control individual schools is Department of Education officials.

Let's hope that Mayor Bloomberg reads the poll results. Nearly five years into mayoral control, the public is not satisfied with the public schools. They don't trust the Department of Education that he created. They want an independent Board of Education. Attention must be paid.

Diane Ravitch

Sources say...

Sources say that Tweed has won its battle with the NY State Education Dept., and the state will soon report graduation rates for NYC that are above 50% instead of below.

Remember last year the state reported 43.5% graduation rates for the city, while the city insisted they had achieved 58% --the highest rate in 20 years.

Why graduation rates should be a matter of negotiation at all rather than a result of careful objective analysis is something of a scandal in itself.

UPDATE: Readers may be interested in our earlier post on this topic where we cite sources for the discrepancy as well as perspectives of Governor Spitzer and the US Department of Ed.

Rumsfeld Named NYC School Bus Chief

March 14, 2007 (GBN News): Stung by criticism of cuts in school bus service, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced today that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be the new head of the DOE's embattled Office of Pupil Transportation. Klein cited Rumsfeld's experience in parrying press and public allegations of insufficient planning and resources. The former Defense Secretary's legendary PR abilities were immediately tested. In a press conference, the new transportation chief was asked how he felt about children being denied bus service due to the recent cuts. In a remark eerily reminiscent of a statement he once made about Iraq, Rumsfeld responded, "You go to school with the buses you have, not the buses you'd like to have."

In a related story, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today that the Education Department will be looking into charges that the recent school bus cuts may be in violation of the No Child Left Behind act. She said in a statement that the Department was responding to reports that hundreds, if not thousands of children were "left behind" in the first two days of the new bus schedules.

as written by Gary Babad

"Super-mugging" at Tweed?

See today's discussion on the Juice Analytics website between information and data professionals, about the huge waste of money that the DOE purchase of ARIS appears to be, described as the result of "consulting companies ...preying on clients’ lack of expertise".

Another professional in the field writes: "It amazes me the price tag on this “super” computer. I mean, this could probably be done with MS Access…"

Visioactive has more commentary, agreeing that the whole thing is a “super-mugging” and then makes the following observations:

"...the real key to success is more relative to the investment in people who can turn that meaning into actionable insights. Beyond that, success is also dependent of investing in the infrastructure to act on the insights. I don’t see where the NYC school system is buying much more than custom software and perhaps a little maintenance training. If Mayor Michael Bloomberg means it when he says, “Every child in this city deserves a quality education and we will spare no expense“, I wonder how much they will really spend on the people side of the equation."

I guess we know the answer to that question. When most middle and high school teachers in NYC have five to six classes of 28 or more students a day, very little if any of this information will be "actionable." Most testing experts believe that the results of the standardized interim assessments are inherently so unreliable as to be useless in any case.

Teachers tell me that in most instances, they know all too well their kids' weaknesses, but simply don't have the opportunity to spend the individual time with them that would be necessary in order to address their needs. Nothing in this system will make this any easier to achieve.

As I've said before, anyone who's helped their own kid with their homework knows that teaching is a very time-consuming, labor-intensive process.

Someone just sent me this great quotation from John Dewey's The School and Society, written in 1907:

Individual attention. This is secured by small groupings -- eight or ten in a class -- and a large number of teachers supervising systematically the intellectual needs and attainments and physical well-being and growth of the child. ....It requires but a few words to make this statement about attention to individual powers and needs, and yet the whole of the school's aims and methods, moral, physical, intellectual, are bound up in it.

Too bad no one over at Tweed appears to understand these words, written a century ago. Until we can make robots into teachers no amount of machinery will help.

The question remains who is getting mugged here -- the officials at Tweed who have bought into this wrongheaded notion of education, the NYC taxpayer, or our kids?

Spitzer's School Budget Has Not Yet Passed

Those of us who, like me, wanted much more from Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed plan for public school spending should remember that his proposal is still just that. It hasn't passed and faces interesting opposition in the NY State Senate.

The GOP-controlled state senate's budget bill includes much, much, more money for education (More $500 million more) most of it designed to go to rich NY State districts. The Spitzer proposal, while it increases the amount of cash for every district in New York State, changes the funding formula so that poorer districts in need get more than richer districts not in need. Senator Bruno calls this "class warfare" and, in a way, he's right. Because of the intensely political way state money has been given out in NYS, people residing in poorer school districts pay much higher tax rates (for worse schools) than people in wealthier districts (for better ones). People in NYC, especially, pay for the better schools in NYC suburbs.

While, in my view, the Spitzer proposal does not properly ensure smaller class sizes and panders to Mr. Bloomberg's penchant for random reorganization of the schools (by helping to pay for it) it does address the past unfairness of the funding formula.

On St. Patrick's Day, this Saturday, those campaigning for passage of the Spitzer budget, notably the Alliance for Quality Education will demonstrate at the offices of GOP State Senators Padavan, Golden & Maltese. Get a schedule, bus to the demonstrations, or leafets, or for more information call AQE at 718-222-1089 or Email nycinfor@aquny.org. Although I think victory on class size is crucial and has not yet been won, I think that Governor Spitzer's budget is a good, if imperfect, step. So I'll be there, Saturday. Will You?

Lobbying in Albany

Tuesday, I went on the lobbying trip to Albany with the Chancellor's Parents Advisory Panel, the UFT and the Principals' union. At stake is the final shape of the Education budget proposed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The Assembly and Senate have each passed their own "one-house" budget bills from which the final legislative/executive compromise will be hammered.

The Assembly bill has somewhat weak language which would require Mayor Bloomberg to "plan" to bring student-teacher ratios into line with those statewide. This has been presented as "class size" language, but it's not. It's an exception any good lawyer, and most bad ones, could drive a truck through. Even worse, the Senate budget bill is silent on class size, notwithstanding (so far empty) promises, people tell me, from GOP Senators Padavan and Maltese to insert class size language into the Senate Bill.

I have a lot more to write about -- some of which will appear on Daily Gotham -- but, from my point of view the big news is that we now know the names of the key Assembly budget negotiators. We can write them and ask them for class size language, and for language requiring the Mayor to spend this money only with the approval of the NYC Council.

The Assembly negotiators are as follows:


Sheldon Silver, Co-Chair
Herman D. Farrell, Jr.
Ronald Canestrari
Aurelia Greene
James Tedisco

Education Subcommittee

Catherine T. Nolan, Co-chair
Joan Christensen
Darryl Towns
Adriano Espaillat
Amy Paulin *
James Hayes
Rob Walker *

I suggest you call or email these Assembly members to ask them for their support for smaller classes. Otherwise, Mayor Bloomberg will have the freedom to blow the added billions on no-bid contracts with his pals.

Mayor Bloomberg Goes to Washington

While parents were lobbying yesterday in Albany, the Mayor was in Washington testifying on US competitiveness at a conference where he bemoaned our declining prowess in finance, medicine, and science. The NY Times skipped the parents visit while providing the Mayor with the customary fawning coverage.

What neither he nor the Times mention in this discussion about competitiveness is the fact that on the Mayor's watch the performance of public school students in the Intel Science Talent Search has fallen off a cliff. Congressman Anthony Wiener brought this crisis to light on Monday. From an article in the NY Press:

The congressman pointed out that during the 2002-2003 school year, City students claimed 50 of the 300 semi-finalist spots, more than any other city. However, that number has seen a steady decline since 2002-2003. This year, just 18 semi-finalists from the City are moving on to the next round, 32 students less than five years ago.

But the biggest surprise in the Mayor's comments was his concern about inequality: “This society cannot go forward, the way we have been going forward, where the gap between the rich and the poor keeps growing”. Those familiar with the Mayor's plan to privatize playing fields on Randall's Island through an exclusive lease for 20 elite private schools have to chuckle at his new-found populism. His language is eerily similar to Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez's description of that endeavor in his Oct 25th column:

There is no more disturbing example of the growing divide between the rich and the poor in this city than a plan the Bloomberg administration has hatched for upgrading and doubling the number of sports fields at Randall's Island Park.

For more info on the Randall's Island deal, including a link to the NY Times editorial condeming it, see East Harlem Preservation.

Public School Parents Go To Albany

Today is the annual CPAC Lobbying Day. CPAC is the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, whose members are elected by PTA presidents in each school district. Unlike the various Mayoral appointees who represent the Department of Education in dealings with parents, CPAC is elected by parents to represent our interests.

Buses full of CPAC members and parent volunteers left for Albany early this morning. They will see their State Senators and State Assemblymembers, the people who ultimately are responsible for NYC public schools, who control the budget and who will decide, in 2009, whether to renew the experiment in mayoral control of schools.

The CPAC agenda is available online. A page on each position is available from the files section of the CPAC group site. Parents should take a few minutes to review these positions, all of which are opposed by Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein.

CPAC has prepared the following summary of their positions:

"On Parent Empowerment: We support the full restoration of Community School Districts, and District Superintendents with the authority to implement policy, address community needs, and respond to parental complaints. All schools, including those in the empowerment and contractor networks, should remain within the district structure. Community District Education Council’s (CDEC’s) need to be strengthened as conduits for public input into the capital plan, zoning, and education policy. We support training and oversight to guarantee functioning Parent Associations (PA’s) and School Leadership Teams (SLT’s) in all schools.

On Governance: We urge the Legislature to hold hearings on the negative effects of unchecked unilateral Mayoral control, and to pass legislation allowing the NYC City Council, with input from parents and other stakeholders, to provide the necessary checks and balances on Department of Education (DoE) policy.

On Class Size Reduction: We endorse the Nolan/Lancman bill that would require that a minimum of 25% of the additional state funds our schools receive be invested in reducing class size in all grades, to levels that currently exist in the rest of the state. In the CFE case, the Court of Appeals found that classes were too large in our schools to provide our children with their constitutional right to an adequate education, and that their excessive class sizes led directly to low achievement and high dropout rates. It is time to make smaller classes a reality for NYC children.

On CFE and Accountability: We support the proposal to provide $5.4 billion in additional aid to NYC schools, and urge the Legislature to adopt the Nolan/Lancman bill, requiring that a minimum of 25% of these funds be invested in reducing class size in all grades. Robust accountability measures and public input must also be required, including City Council approval of the city’s CFE spending plan, in consultation with CPAC and other parent groups, as well as regular audits of the spending of these funds by the State Comptroller’s office.

On High-Stakes Testing: We urge the State to develop an effective, valid and reliable assessment system to evaluate students’ progress, based on multiple measures, and to ban the use of any set of tests contrary to the recommendations of the American Educational Research and the National Board on Educational Testing. No standardized test or set of tests should be used as the sole or primary criterion to determine whether a student is promoted, retained, admitted to or allowed to graduate from school.

On English Language Learners (ELLs): We urge the State to monitor schools to ensure that ELL students receive the necessary instructional services and hold schools accountable for failing to meet the needs of these students. The amount and scope of Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) aid should be expanded, to provide key components of an Immigrant/ELL Success Agenda.

On Charter Schools: We oppose lifting the cap on charter schools in NYC, because this would divert critical resources, attention, and classroom space from our traditional public schools. Also, charter schools do not enroll their fair share of ELL and special education students. Allowing more charter schools to be formed would encourage the creation of two separate and unequal school systems. Finally, we vehemently oppose any legislation that would allow the Chancellor to authorize charter schools with no appeal or judicial review.

On Cell Phone Ban: We urge the State legislature to overturn the (DOE) cell phone ban, which violates parents' rights to ensure their children's safety."

Comptroller Thompson OnThe Bloomberg/Klein Education Record

The New York Observer's blob, Politiker has the text of Comptroller William Thompson's thoughtful, devastating, critique of the sorry education record of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein. It's an excellent speech which deserves the attention of all of us who care about public education. It is worth a click to read.

Five weeks of anger and frustration

Last week marked the end of five weeks of parent meetings, at which Klein and the top brass at Tweed presented their reorganization and funding proposals. From Staten Island to the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, the reception was far from enthusiastic.

The headlines tell the story. Note how not a single news article was published in any of the three largest dailies. Thank God for NY1, Metro, and the community papers! I don't think that Tweed will be keeping these in their clipping files.

Schools Chancellor Takes Heat At Town Meeting
NY1, March 8 , 2007

Crowd fumes as chancellor bolts from forum
Staten Island Advance, March 8, 2007

Mayor's School Reorganization Plan Faces Strong Opposition
NY1, March 1, 2007

The End of Mayoral Control
New York Sun, March 1, 2007

Parents Speak Out Against School Changes During Bronx Meeting
NY1, Feb 22, 2007

Klein gets Bronx cheer
Metro, Feb 21, 2007

Mom & Dad cut out of the loop - Parents demand input
Courier Life Publications, February 15, 2007

Klein booed at District 26 meet as he seeks support for ed plan
Times Ledger, February 15, 2007

Parents Grill Klein Over School Changes
Queens Chronicle, February 15, 2007

School Bus Debate Continues At Queens Meeting
NY 1, February 8, 2007

Klein Meets With Frustrated Parents in Brooklyn
WNYC February 8, 2007

CEC 27 parents critical of school restructuring
Times Ledger, February 8, 2007

Brooklyn Parents Hold Emotional Town Hall Meeting With Schools Chancellor
NY1, February 8, 2007

Klein takes heat from parents
Metro, February 7, 2007

Klein faces wrath at Forest Hills meet
Times Ledger, February 1, 2007

Bloomberg's flaws, according to the NY Post and Times

On Thursday, the Mayor flew off to Miami without visiting the Bronx families who lost eight of their children to fire. Instead, they sent Chancellor Klein.

After a lot of negative comment, Bloomberg flew back later that evening. Here is an excerpt from the AP article that was syndicated throughout the country, including the Sun:

Asked by reporters in Miami why he did not cancel his trip because of the fire, Mr. Bloomberg said he had other things to do, and grew testy after the questions persisted. He would not say when he planned to return to New York City, but ended up flying back late that night.

On Saturday, the NY Post published an editorial concluding that this was just the latest indication of how Bloomberg “is a deeply flawed mayor.”

"Time and again over the last five-plus years, Bloomberg has demonstrated an appalling inability to connect with the people of New York in times of crisis. …His enemies charge that Bloomberg cares about process, and not people - and you know what? The allegations resonate. Last month, it was his refusal to lift alternate side of the street parking after a brutal ice storm. Whether it was last summer's Con Ed power outage, the Staten Island Ferry tragedy - or even last month's school-bus fiasco - Mike has come across as aloof and arrogant."

On Sunday, the Daily News added its two cents on the Mayor's missteps, in an article entitled "Mike's harsh winter."

The NY Times doesn’t deign to notice the Mayor's flaws on its editorial page – in which city politics or our schools hardly exist as a concern anymore – but ran an article on Sunday which, while pointing out some of the same examples, also claims that he has learned from his mistakes.

The headline as written by one of many NY Times' relentless boosters among the editors: Bloomberg, Criticized Again for Response to a Crisis, Tries to Strike a Balance:

“….those very traits that have helped make him a popular mayor and the subject of cocktail-party presidential speculation have frequently caused him trouble in responding to the travails of ordinary New Yorkers, whether parking in a snowstorm, coping with a power failure lasting days or mourning the sudden loss of nine people, eight of them children….…. This winter, his administration set off an uproar among parents by upending children’s bus routes in the midst of a school year, a move he defended for days before conceding it might have been better handled. Many parents were already upset about the enforcement of a cellphone ban in schools that did not take into account their need to keep in touch with their children.

Then last month, he incensed New Yorkers by failing to suspend parking rules as a snowstorm iced in vehicles across the city. After telling New Yorkers to stop “griping” over the thousands of tickets that had been handed out, he abruptly canceled them. Mr. Bloomberg’s quick reversal of the parking tickets and his response to the brouhaha over his Miami trip suggest that he is hearing the message. Showing a new willingness to change direction in the midst of a choppy course, he testily defended his trip to reporters in Florida at first, then decided to come back that night.”

Bravo! I guess we all should congratulate Bloomberg on his willingness to listen to his large staff of PR managers, who are smart enough to read the papers and watch the local TV news.

A NEW GAME IN TOWN

March 10, 2007 (GBN News): Capitalizing on the national visibility of New York City’s educational reforms, Parker Brothers, makers of Monopoly, announced today that they will be producing a new game based on the city’s education system. Entitled “Children First: A Game of Irony”, the game is slated to come out in time for the 2007-2008 school year. According to a company spokesperson, this will be a board game, the object of which will be to amass the highest number of points, which in the game are referred to as “test scores”.

The rules of the new game will have a number of unique features. One player will be designated the “Chancellor”. Similar to the banker in Monopoly, this player will control and disburse money, often in the form of no-bid contracts. In one of the more unusual aspects of the game, the “Chancellor” will also have the right to change the rules of the game at any time while the game is in progress. The only condition is that he or she cannot inform any of the other players of the rule change until after the changes are implemented. Any part of the game is subject to change, including the board and the positioning of the pieces. Anyone who dares to question any of the rules changes made by the "Chancellor" is called “a defender of the status quo” and is immediately ejected from the game. Another player will be designated the “Mayor”. The “Mayor” does not actually participate in the game, but has veto power over the “Chancellor’s” decisions and also has the right to declare himself the winner.

The game is expected to retail for $34.95. A computer version will also be available, at the cost of $80,000,000.

UPDATE: See latest GBN bulletin.

Lexicon of Tweed doublespeak

Fair funding reform = unfair budget cuts

Empowerment schools = parent disempowerment

Accountability= Blame everyone but themselves

NCLB = Testing for Dollars

Children First = Children last

Dangerous weapons = Cell phones

Pupil Transportation Services = Feet

Parents = Pariahs

Defenders of the status quo= anyone who criticizes their incompetence

with thanks to Gary, Maria and NYC Educator. More suggestions? leave a comment. best ones will be included!

I beg to differ...

I hate to contradict my fellow blogger, Daniel Millstone, especially since we'll be sitting together on the bus to Albany for five hours on Tuesday, but the Spitzer education proposal is nowheresville in terms of either class size or real accountability.

Spitzer would eliminate the only dedicated class size funding stream we have -- the state class size program for K-3 -- and would give Tweed free rein to keep wasting money on ineffective and at times counterproductive school restructuring programs. (School restructuring was not on the original list of approved programs, but was apparently put on the list at the request of the Bloomberg administration.) Instead of class sizes going down -- as was promised by CFE-- class sizes could actually go up.

We don't need to wait any longer to know that the Bloom/Klein solutions aren't working.We need more strings attached, we need smaller classes, we need real local and parental input, and we need more oversight.

The Spitzer plan does not provide any of this. His whole notion of accountability mirrors Bloomberg's and Klein's in many ways -- a lot of bluster and tough guy talk. All it would give us is more of the same.

What's the parent/public participation in the plan? The DOE has to hold one public hearing in each borough. That's it. If you think the recent public meetings on the weighted funding proposal have shown that this is likely to change their minds, you must not be paying attention.

If the test scores don't go up enough, they can continue to close more schools rather than improve them, do more ineffectual restructuring, and meanwhile, the kids will continue to suffer.

The Nolan/Lancman bill would at last promise us smaller classes -- which would be a tremendous step forward and would give NYC children for the first time a real opportunity to succeed. None of this will happen if we continue to pretend that the Spitzer plan is anything but deeply flawed.

At Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, Thursday night, public school advocates, parents, principals and politicians gathered to support the school spending plan proposed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The meeting, sponsored by the Alliance for Quality Education, the NAACP, the UFT and New Yorkers For Smaller Classes, featured AQE director Billy Easton and Campaign for Fiscal Equity dirctor Geri Palast who have been at so many meeting together they finish each others sentences.

The task at hand: focus the crowd to pressure Queens GOP Senators Maltese and Padavan to support the Spitzer scheme (which I'll describe below).

The key issue: class size. I think that the reason that Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Klein don't care about it, and refuse to spend money on it is that they see our children as obejcts to be processed by the schools not as individuals, each with her or his own needs. Assembymembers Nolan and Lancman have introduced a bill to require our Mayor to reduce class size.

The "one house" budget bills from the Senate and Assembly are due out Friday. These are the bills used for bargaining. Everyone at the meeting was certain that the Assembly bill would have class-size language. Will the Senate's bill have this language?

The big news: GOP Senator Maltese will support the class size limits. Almost losing his re-election, seems to have woken him up. Senator Padavan is rumored to be supporting the class size intitiative as well.

What can you do: call and write Senators Padavan and Maltese and other NYC GOP State Senators. On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, join the carvan to visit their offices. For information on how to do all this call the Alliance for Quality Education at 718-222-1089 or email them: nycinfo@acyny.org

Some Highlights of the Spitzer Plan*$3.4 Billion increase for NYC schools over 4 years -- to be matched by $2.2 Billion in NY City funds. (with a somewhat larger amount for other school districts around NY State.)

*A new needs-driven funding formula which would, for the first time provice money for districts which needed it. At present, NYS money has been allocated by a strict-politically-bargained-for formula under which NYC gets 38.8% of state aid regardless of need. (To give you a sense of how this concept strikes Republicans, consider Joe Bruno's characterization of it "class warfare," -- even though no school district, not even the richest, would lose money under the Spitzer plan.

*Specific limits on what the new cash could be spent no (No Mayor Bloomberg, no no-bid consultants, no $80 million computer systems). Class size reduction, all day pre-k, more time on task (extended school day/year), teacher training and middle/high school reorganization.

*Some public/parent participation in the planning process. At present, parents, teachers, principals and the public are completely locked out while Mr. Bloomberg. Mr. Klein and their privatizers play 52-pick-up with the schools.

I've cross-posted this from my more regular blog-spot: The Daily Gotham .

"Tercomania and Everyday Math" – 42 years ago

Those of us over 50 may remember the “New Math”. The “Tercomania” video Leonie posted on this blog yesterday recalls a wonderful song by Tom Lehrer. Lehrer was a brilliant political satirist in the ‘60’s who had actually once been a math teacher. The math problems he went through in his 1965 song “New Math” must have served as inspiration for “Everyday Math”. That's the problem we satirists face - people take us seriously and steal our ideas. (Hear that, DOE? I'm still waiting for that $150,000 job offer writing your press releases!) You can hear “New Math” at the following link: Go to
http://faculty.ivc.edu/rzucker/Math%20Songs.htm and click on the "New Math" wav or mp3 file. (The other songs on the page are good too).

Chancellor Flees Staten Island Parent Meeting

According to press and eyewitness accounts, Chancellor Klein apparently "bolted" from a meeting with angry Staten Island parents. Here's the story in the Staten Island Advance.

A parent on the scene sent this report:

The Advance got the tone right but I want to add that parents (and teachers) at the forum were great—respectful and thoughtful but very angry.

Among the most salient points addressed were: 1) Class size, especially in Middle Schools continues to be insanely high; 2) Special Ed problems abound, including students who are getting exams not appropriate to their IEPs; 3) There are significant concerns about the implications of the new funding proposal both with respect to schools with senior teachers being penalized and funding being tied directly to students; 4) There are too many assessments, tests, and exams. Both teachers and students told Klein that needs to focus more on teaching and learning and less on constantly gathering data and information.

In an update to an earlier story, NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson added his voice to chorus of those criticizing the Mayor's record on education. Quoted in this NY Post article, Thompson suggests the State's graduation is the accurate one. See our post on this issue from earlier this week.

Update: Borough President Molinaro sent a letter to the SI Advance criticizing the conduct of those at the meeting. Parents responded with a slew of letters. Here's an excerpt from one:

Mr. Molinaro says he is ashamed by what took place. I am ashamed that I did not see Mr. Molinaro present at such an important forum. I am ashamed that Chancellor Joel Klein dodged, evaded, and dismissed the pressing questions and concerns of teachers and parents. …What occurred at this forum was an outcry from the people who are not being heard or served by these politicians.

If anyone has a link to BP Molinaro's letter, please send it in.

Joel Klein, why do you send our kids to schools you wouldn't send your own to?

See this interview with Joel Klein from Fortune magazine in which he talks about the importance of treating schools like a business:

“I’ve talked to a lot of people about this who have retail outlets, banks, bookstores or what have you."

To bad he hasn't bothered to talk to any parents or educators.

He also says: “The hardest part of the job is answering this question: Chancellor, how could you send my kid to a school you wouldn't send your kids to?”

Hmm. Joel Klein's stepdaughter went to Miss Porter’s, a boarding school in Connecticut: average class size of 11.

Bloomberg sent his daughters to Spence; middle and high school classes average 13-14 students.

Yet our kids get class sizes of 28-34 in these grades -- which is just fine with them.

Also, FYI: here is what I found on the Spence website:

Is public transportation is available for the younger students?

The Atlantic Express is a free bus service for students in grades Kindergarten to 6 offered by the City of New York Board of Education and coordinated through the Spence Parents Association. It is available only in Manhattan to families who live within a five-mile radius of the school. Buses pick up and drop off at designated stops.

Tercomania -- and Everyday math

Check out the compelling video showing how our children are being taught math.

ARIS: Boon or Boondoggle?

“The city just awarded IBM a five-year contract to create a massive system to manage, track, analyze, and share information about student and school performance. But it won't buy Johnny new pencils.”

That's how a properly skeptical article from, of all places, Information Week, begins about the DoE purchase of the ARIS system, called “Can An $80 Million IBM Deal Save New York City's Schools?”

"How will this look in practice? Think of a teacher trying to help a student struggling with geometry... The teacher could tap into the system and search for best practices on geometry instruction, and get contact information for teachers identified as having strong skills in that area."

Sure, this is reasonable, for a teacher to pursue for his 150-160 students -- when it's too time- consuming for most of them even to be able to correct weekly homework.

"IBM says ARIS will be a highly secure system, yet it's likely some parents and teachers will voice concerns about a Big Brother approach to tracking the performance of more than one million students, and even teachers, which total about 90,000 in the public school system."

The conclusion?

“….businesses and schools are worlds apart on the types of challenges they face. Technology may help, but it'll never be able to address the all-too-familiar problems of overcrowded classrooms, overworked or inefficient teachers, and lack of parent participation and funding."

Amen.

ACTION AT THE COUNCIL

Seems that something is afoot at the City Council regarding the reality behind statistics being cited by the DOE..... glad to see it starting, because things are happening too fast without anyone being consulted who has children at stake, like parents, teachers, UFT, or school administration -- which good consulting firms would be the first to tell you is NOT the way to make change through a change management project!

I was formerly a consultant with some large consulting firms and was TRAINED in NOT making that mistake before switching careeres. See Council Assails Mayor’s Plan to Give Principals More Autonomy for more.

ARIS Critics: IBM Responds

March 7, 2007 (GBN News): Critics have raised numerous questions about the DOE’s institution of a new supercomputer system, ARIS (Achievement Reporting and Information System), to track academic performance. To answer these criticisms, GBN News interviewed a key figure in this program, IBM Assistant Senior Vice President for Educational Public Relations, Fredrick Lerner. Excerpts of the interview follow:

GBN News: Mr. Lerner, 80 million dollars for a computer system is a lot of money. How can the city justify this sort of expense?
Lerner: New York is expensive. Things cost a lot of money here. We’re here to do a job for you, and we do it right. You don’t think we can do our job if we eat lunch at McDonald’s, do you? If you want the job done right, you pay us for Le Bernadin.
GBN News: OK, but I actually wasn’t referring to your expense accounts. What I meant was, what are the capabilities of ARIS that can justify the 80 million dollar expense?
Lerner: It’s an amazing system. It can track just about anything, down to the most minute detail; from standardized tests to bathroom visits.
GBN News: Bathroom visits??
Lerner: You know, back in the old days, teachers used to keep track of those things. Remember the old “number one” and “number two”? It was obviously quantifiable, but they never actually did anything with that data. Now that we have the technological capability to track it, imagine all the ways we can use it!
GBN News: I think I’ll pass on that one. Changing the subject, critics say the system has no bearing on the quality of education for the children. How would you answer that charge?
Lerner: Nothing can be further from the truth. ARIS can track students’ achievement on a minute to minute basis. Remember those quizzes the whole class would bomb out on? Obviously, a teacher not doing his or her job, but you wouldn’t know it until the end of the semester. With ARIS, school administrators will find this out immediately. The teacher gets called in and reprimanded, and the kids had better improve tomorrow or that teacher will be looking for another career.
GBN News: Smart teacher! One last question: Many critics have suggested that a system that can track such minute detail smacks of “Big Brother”. How do you address that concern?
Lerner: You don’t think the DOE hires those high priced consultants for nothing, do you? With Alvarez and Marsal around, that 80 million will be cut down to size before you know it. The DOE will be lucky if it can use ARIS to play solitaire.
GBN News: Well, I’m sure that will be a great comfort. Thank you, Mr. Lerner, for your time.
Lerner: Thank you. Let’s see, that took about 15 minutes. At $650 an hour, that will be $162.50.

The Case of the Missing Teachers

Our blog got another media mention today -- from the Wonkster, in their commentary on the new IBM computer system called ARIS.

Meanwhile, another goddawful NY Post editorial blaming all the problems in our schools -- and all the resulting discontent -- on Randi Weingarten and the UFT. You'd think the UFT was responsible for the bus route fiasco, every flawed reorganization and million dollar consultant, and the fact that none of the initiatives introduced by this administration over the last six years have actually improved our schools.

The NY Post editorial is called "The Case of the Missing Teachers" and it claims that by using their new supercomputer, Tweed will find out where all teachers who haven't been assigned to the classroom are hiding. Of course the computer system will do nothing of the kind.

The Department of Education has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last six years to hire thousands of administrators, consultants, coaches, and other bureaucrats -- and without making any significant improvement in class size. Last March, the State Comptroller released an audit, showing that with almost $100 million in state funds, supposed to be used to lower class size, the city only created 20 extra classes – and was using the money for other purposes, contrary to law.

There were 1566 missing teachers -- and 1566 missing classes -- compared to the number the city had claimed to have created. Despite these findings, DoE refused to accept any of the recommendations of the State Comptroller to use the funds as intended.

Has the New York Post ever written an editorial on this? Of course not.

Without any need for any supercomputer, officials at Tweed could make sure that more of the funds already available and a portion of the additional billions of dollars that will be provided by the state over the next four years are directed to the classroom by reducing class size.

Unfortunately, they plan to do nothing of the sort. Instead, they will buy a super-computer that will tell us that what we know already: that too many of our children are failing – because they are deprived of the smaller classes they need to succeed.

Spitzer Criticizes Bloomberg's School Statistics

Governor Spitzer has criticized Mayor Bloomberg's assertion that graduation rates are improving. Regarding this oft-cited "accomplishment", the Governor says the City's graduation rate "hasn't changed in any significant way". Here's the story in the Daily News.

Apart from the trend, there is a more fundamental disagreement over what the rate actually is. The City asserts the graduation rate is 58.2% while the State says it's only 43.5%. (For those checking facts, click on the numbers).

Why the difference? First, the City counts all students that get a GED as a regular high school graduates, as well all who graduate after summer school following their fourth year of high school. The City also refuses to include in the cohort almost 6,000 special education students in segregated classes, and more than 16,000 students “discharged” to GED or alternative programs. We know that very few students in either group ever graduate with a regular high school diploma. None of these practices are considered acceptable by the federal government or any independent agency. In fact, the latest report from the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics showed NYC with a four year graduation rate of only 38.9% -- the lowest of any of the 100 largest school districts in the country.

Graduation rates are not the only thing the City struggles with measuring. The Mayor's administration still can't seem to publish average class size statistics as required by law. In their February class size report to the City Council, they were supposed to release second semester class size averages, which differ significantly in high schools from the first semester. Yet instead, they simply provided revised numbers for October. Is that the best they can do? Is is really so hard to count how many of our children are in class?

New school grading system; unbelievable!

I recently found out that all District Superintendents are going to be renamed "Chief Achievement Officers" and will report to Jim Liebman, former Columbia law professor and now the CEO of Accountability at Tweed. All are being forced to reapply for their jobs, and in interviews, are being mainly asked questions about data analysis.

Now here is an excerpt from a DoE document, obtained by Ed in the Apple, explaining the new school grading system:

Total Scores are calculated by weighting the values of the Proximity to City Horizon (x1) and Proximity to Peer Horizon (x2) measures for School Environment, Student Performance and Student Progress. As these weightings indicate, Proximity to Peer Horizon counts twice as much as Proximity to City Horizon. These weighted values are then averaged to create scores for School Environment, Student Performance and Student Progress. The school’s Weighted Total Score (excluding additional credit for Exemplary Student Progress) is a weighted average of School Environment (weighted 15%), Student Performance (30%) and Student Progress (55%).

Additional recognition for schools obtaining Exemplary Student Progress as defined above is then added to the overall index using the following formula: .03 is added for each qualifying population as to which the percentage of students making exemplary gains is in the top 20% of all schools within the City and .015 is added for each qualifying population as to which the percentage of students as to which percentage of students making exemplary gains is in the top 40% of all schools in the City. A school’s Weighted Total Score Plus Additional Credit is determined by adding these additional potential points, if any are awarded, to the Weighted Total Score.

Got it? I know that you probably are thinking that this is one of Gary's brilliant parodies. I wish that were the case.

As George Bush Sr. would say, we are all in deep doo-doo.

Foiled By The Bell

March 6, 2007 (GBN News):In an ironic twist, a field test of the DOE’s new ARIS supercomputer was cut short today when a technician tried to bring the computer into a school but was thwarted by a random metal scanning device. The school, MS 322 in Brooklyn, was slated to be the first facility to try out the new system, which the DOE says will track students’ achievement. According to witnesses, when the metal detector went off, a school safety officer confiscated the computer. When it was pointed out to the officer that the technician was not a student and was on DOE business, she defended the action, saying that there were “no exceptions” to the rule banning electronic devices in schools, and “besides, all these computer people look like they’re 14 anyhow”. A DOE official said that the test will now have to be delayed until the technician’s parent comes to the school to reclaim the computer.

In a related story, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein denied today that he was in line to become the new head of the Central Intelligence Agency. President Bush was reportedly impressed at Klein’s ability to function in secret without parents, teachers or administrators finding out about it. But Klein said that, while he was flattered to be considered, “When it comes to keeping secrets, the CIA just can’t compete with the DOE.”

Mayoral control: does it make a difference?

The Council of Great City Schools completed a study of the performance of cities with mayoral control compared to cities without mayoral control. The study compares NAEP scores between the two sets of cities. Turns out there is very little difference, though cities without mayoral control did slightly better on average.

Read it for yourself: http://www.cgcs.org/pdfs/DC_Analysis.pdf

Diane Ravitch

first-ever science curriculum? no

The DOE had a press event today to announce what it called the "first-ever" citywide curriculum in science. Maybe they don't know this, but there have been citywide curricula in science in the past. Chancellor Rudy Crew created one; so did Chancellor Frank Macchiarola. So did superintendents of the NYC public schools in previous decades.

The press release also made the absurd claim that NYC did well on the NAEP science exam in 2005 (we "outperformed comparable cities" is the way they put it), that's not true either. NAEP is the federal test that has been given to 10 or 11 cities in 2002, 2003, 2005, and again this year. NYC has always scored among the top tier, either second, or third. In science, released just this past November, we had abysmal scores. 54% of 4th graders were "below basic." 64% of 8th graders were "below basic." Three-quarters of Black and Hispanic 8th graders were "below basic." The NAEP science scores were a reflection of the shameful neglect of the teaching of science during the past few years. Nothing there to boast about.

As for the curriculum, it turns out there is no curriculum! There is only an announcement that they plan to get one or buy one or something. It does not exist!

Diane Ravitch

A quality education, according to Michael Bloomberg

My favorite quote in the Daily News article on the $80 million computer contract awarded to IBM:

But Mayor Bloomberg said the cost is worth it. "Every child in this city deserves a quality education and we will spare no expense," he said.

Forget about smaller classes, uncrowded schools, experienced teachers, arts programs or the joy of learning for its own sake.

None of these are worth spending a dime on -- even though his own kids (and Klein's) attended private schools that provided all of the above and more.

No, for the public schools, where the children of all those other people go, a quality education means a super-computer to crunch their test scores -- and their souls.

Daily News on IBM contract: enough to build 3 new schools

See the New York Daily News article on the $80 million new system to track schoolkids: "It's an expense large enough to build as many as three elementary schools from scratch - and staff them for at least a year".

Council Hearing on Empowerment Schools

The City Council Education Committee held a hearing yesterday on empowerment schools with testimony from Eric Nadelstern, CEO of Empowerment Schools. Under questioning, Nadelstern, a veteran NYC administrator, resorted to the familiar DoE tactic of laying down a smokescreen of obfuscation. Today's NY1 and NY Times coverage give some sense of the Council's frustration but leave out important points made at the hearings.

Councilmember John Liu was the sharpest in his criticism. Nadelstern, despite assertions that empowerment schools have much better results in terms of graduation rates, dropout rates and college placement than other schools, couldn't say whether those schools were better before they joined the empowerment zone. Liu's response: "How can say you don't know these numbers when you testify they are improving?" and again "We never get straight answers." Councilman Dan Garodnick, one of the more lucid of the city's politicans, asked a simple question about what distinct services would empowerment schools provide compared to the two other support models being offered to schools, Learning Support Organizations and Partnership Support Organizations. In response, Nadelstern droned on and on, never answering the question. After two more attempts at asking the same question, Garodnick gave up.

Most ominously, David Bloomfield, President of the Citywide Council on High Schools, and himself a parent at an empowerment school, testified on the weaknesses of the DoE plan. Ten years ago, working with the NYC Partnership and the School Governance Task Force, he helped draft a plan that is conceptually very similar to the empowerment initiative. The key difference is that the task force report called for "real authority" to be vested in school leadership teams. Yesterday, David testified on how that essential ingredient is completely missing from the Empowerment Schools we have today: "Parent after parent after parent after parent has complained that Empowerment Schools lack functional School Leadership Teams."

Update: Councilman Garodnick's office shared his excellent letter to the Chancellor.

Merit Pay Controversy

I posted these wire service articles on the NY Education News listserv, but thought a wider audience might be interested. It seems there was a bit of controversy yesterday around the DOE (yes, I know, it's hard to believe there'd be controversy surrounding the DOE, but life is full of surprises).

DOE TO PARTNER WITH McDONALD'S

March 5, 2007 (GBN News): Further details emerged today regarding the Department of Education's controversial plan to seek private funding for a merit pay plan for teachers. A source at the DOE informed GBN News that an agreement has been reached in principle between the DOE and the fast food company McDonald's to partner in providing supplemental pay.

While the plan has not been entirely finalized, it would apparently involve the company providing extra pay to teachers based entirely on their students' achievement. Achievement would be measured by a daily series of what will be termed "McQuizzes". Each day, teachers whose class averaged in the top 10% on these "McQuizzes" would receive an unspecified bonus.

The plan,conceived by corporate consulting guru Jack Welch, originally called for disincentives as well. However, it became apparent that the UFT contract would prohibit "firing the ass", as Welch put it, of all teachers whose class scored in the bottom 10%. Instead, students in those classes will be allowed to transfer to classes with "higher performing" teachers.

In a related story, the DOE is exploring the possibility of partnering with the quick oil change company Jiffy Lube to develop timed performance standards for teachers. The corporate "turnaround" firm of Alvarez and Marsal has estimated that trimming the time for lessons by up to 80% would yield tremendous cost savings that could immediately be pumped back into increased consulting fees. According to Ken Barber, Manager of Learning and Training for Jiffy Lube International, "If we can train our technicians to change your oil in 10 minutes, we can train your teachers to do a lesson in the same period of time".

Naturally, as with all good ideas, there were objections. For example, one public school parent posted the following on the listserv:

"And what does changing oil have to do with teachers planning a lesson????? This is one of the most absurd comments that I have ever heard in my life. If that is the case, how about Indy race car drivers, who can change 4 tires and gas up a car in about a minute, do the same thing. ARGH!!!"

Well, the DOE is nothing if not responsive (we know this because they told us so). The very same afternoon, I found the following article:

DOE HITS SPEED BUMP

March 5, 2007 (GBN News): Stung by criticism on the Yahoo NY Education News Listserv of the pending Jiffy Lube/DOE partnership to provide timed performance standards for teachers, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced late today that this plan would be dropped in favor of one now being negotiated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Chancellor acknowledged the criticism that the Speedway pit crews could provide much faster, more comprehensive teacher training than Jiffy Lube, and that this could thus save even more education dollars. New "Chief Family Engagement Officer" Martine Guerrier issued a statement taking credit for the timely change in plans, noting that this is the first time since Mayor Bloomberg took office that the DOE has actually responded to parent suggestions.


-Gary Babad

Come with us to Albany March 13!

The NYC parent lobby day in Albany is next week – Tuesday, March 13. Class Size Matters will be going too.

Free buses will be leaving from all parts of the city, and lunches will be provided, thanks to the UFT. Last year, the first Independent Parent lobby day was a blast.

I am proud to say that CPAC –the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council – is carrying up a terrific agenda.

CPAC is strongly supportive of the Nolan/Lancman bill Class Size Reduction bill that would require smaller classes in all grades, and has good positions on parent empowerment, governance, charter schools, accountability, high-stakes testing, and other important issues for public school parents.

Please contact me if you need to know where the bus is leaving from your district – and how you can reserve your seat today!

Also let me know ASAP if you’re interested in coming w/ me and other members of Class Size Matters on visits to key leaders in the Legislature and the State House. I would love to have you with me.

thanks,

Leonie Haimson
leonie@att.net
212-674-7320

NYC parent blog gets its first press clipping!

Our blog's first press clip, in today's Staten Island Advance:

They said their voices weren't being heard, but at least now their message can be seen.

Education advocates have created what they're calling New York City's first public school parent blog in order to challenge what they view as Department of Education misinformation, media inaccuracy and a false perception in other cities that parents here are pleased with mayoral control of public schools.

"I want everybody to have a forum to really express their views of what's happened here in New York City over the past six years," said Leonie Haimson, of the advocacy group Class Size Matters, who helped create the blog along with colleague Patrick Sullivan.

Between this and the six parent letters printed in today's NY Post -- five of them from members of our NYC education list serv, to dispute the Post's claim that parent discontent wasn't real and that we were all puppets of the UFT -- we hit the media jackpot today!

On Air and in Church, Mayor Takes a Tone of Reassuranc...

I read with interest the Mayor's statements. It is a real shame he hopes to try to cover up his lack of support by playing the civil rights/race card. Especially if he had done his homework it really isn't the way he states.

Yes we will all agree that city schools have been under funded for years. The most needy receiving $1,000's less than their counterparts in the suburbs. Thus the CFE lawsuit, which by the way the state fought for years. However, he doesn't mention that even with the lack of funds, some districts, and I can only speak from my personal experience, were able to use the funds they received and still increase student achievement year after year. I spent the last 20 years before moving into high schools in District 22 in south Brooklyn. A truly diverse area with over 30,000 students, 33 schools. 70% minority, with over 33 different languages spoken. By the time I graduated from the District we had over half our schools title 1. Yet, each year we were able to show improvements. We had only one school in need of improvement and we were working on it. We had without a doubt one of the most active Presidents Councils and Parents Associations of any place in the city. We had an active, collaborative District Leadership Team and as a result every school had an active informed School Leadership team. Our Superintendent and his deputies were willing to work with parents at every level and there was mutual respect. Was it perfect, nothing ever is, but on a whole it was a model of what a good district should be. Were we unique, no I don't think so. I know from speaking with parents throughout the city what we had existed in many other areas.

We all spoke out that some changes were needed. We all asked for increased funding, particularly for the schools that did not receive title one or other entitlement monies because they were actually working. By the way it will be those successful schools that will be hurt the most by this new plan, because at least with the districts, these schools could get some assistance.

The Mayor and Chancellor want to make it about the haves and have nots, but actually I think it is about good policy. They threw the baby out with the bath water five years ago because they would not consult with or listen to parents. We asked for change, but we wanted to keep what was working and spread it out to the schools that weren't. We were not totally against mayoral control, we only asked that there be checks and balances as in any part of our democracy. We all know to paraphrase: "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and the truth to that statement can be seen with what is happening in the NYC school system.

As I have said many, many times, a large part of our success was due to the fact that we had knowledgeable, trained parents who worked with their schools. This is the component that will most definitely not exist in the new plan and a new Parent Czar will not create that component.

To be fair, some of the ideas where good, but the implementation when awry. Ending social promotion was good, but basing it all on one test was not. A standard curriculum city wide was good, but micro-managing teachers to the point of telling them when to sit and when to stand wasn't.

Hiring consultants with millions of dollars and hiring even more top management at even more millions when those funds could have better been used at the school level was so so wrong. When that money could have been used to bring in arts, science, enrichment, etc. into the schools and to bring down class size or at least where the room wasn't available to decrease the teacher to student ratio.

There was much that was good in the system, good curriculums, good practices. That is what they should have grabbed onto and built on. If only they had spread those positives into the entire system, then right now we wouldn't be having this discussion. My child will be leaving the system in the next couple of years but the young children in the system right now cannot continue to be used in this grand experiment.

Total mayoral control must end, the sooner the better. Should the mayor have any control, yes of course, but it must be limited by an Board of Education, that is not appointed by or answerable to the Mayor with real powers and school boards and districts that also have real power. Checks and balances.... our founding fathers saw the wisdom to limit the powers of the government by dividing it up and putting in checks and balances, so should the legislature.




Dorothy GiglioPresidentRegion 6 High SchoolsPresident Council

Conflict of Interest Letter to Public Advocate Gotbaum

Lisa Donlan, CEC member for District 1, shares her Feb 21st letter to Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. Her letter was forwarded to Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon, helping to trigger the investigation of Deputy Chancellor Christopher Cerf.

I am troubled by the glaring double standard regarding the Department of Education’s determination of conflicts of interest for unpaid parent CEC members as compared to top officials at Tweed. In January and February 2006, Christopher Cerf and Joel Rose were hired as paid consultants by the Tweed, despite the fact that DOE had and continues to spend millions on a tutoring contract with Newton Learning, a profit-making Edison subsidiary.

Cerf, the former Chief Operating Officer of Edison, held $6 million stock in Edison until recently, and Rose was hired by DOE directly from running Newton. According to conflict of interest rules, even if a consultant is working less than 20 hours per week for the City, he is barred from having an ownership interest in any firm that does business with his agency. Yet it is unclear if Cerf was ever asked by Tweed to apply for a waiver from divesting his Edison stock from the Conflict of Interest board, and if so, whether such a waiver was granted and on what grounds. At the time Rose was hired, Newton was under investigation for misconduct by the Special Investigator Richard Condon. In March 2006, one month later, a report was released, revealing that Newton had engaged in numerous unethical and possibly illegal practices, including bribing students and teachers. And yet following these disclosures, Rose was not dismissed from his consultant’s position.

More recently, Cerf was appointed as Deputy Chancellor, and Cerf in turn hired Rose as his chief of staff. According to an article in the New York Times, even then Cerf was not instructed by officials at DOE to divest himself of his Edison stock, and it was later disclosed that he only sold the stock voluntarily the day before he was going to be questioned about his financial holdings at a meeting of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. To this day, it is unclear why DOE decided that Cerf should be allowed to keep his stock in Edison while working as a consultant, and later when he became a full time employee, with substantial influence over the Department’s finances, contracts, and policies. Moreover, at no point was Rose apparently told that he would have to have to take a hiatus between his employment at Newton and at Tweed. Yet repeatedly, parent members of Community Education Councils have been instructed that they will be barred from filling their elected positions if the companies they work for have any financial relationship with DOE, despite the fact that CEC positions are unpaid and members have no influence over district contracts or finances. Moreover, after resigning their positions, former CEC members have been told that they cannot take any position with a school in their district for three years, supposedly because of the possibility of a continued conflict of interest.

CEC members have also been unfairly barred from any association with a community-based or social service organization that provides programs or tutoring services to schools in their district, even if the services are provided free-of-charge and their position with the organization is unpaid. They have also been barred from ordinary involvement in special programs at their children’s schools.

Some examples are below.

In June 2005, officials at Tweed tried to block Paul Mondesire from serving on his CEC in District 3 because he was at the time working for the development office at Channel 13, which apparently had a small contract to train city teachers in the use of instructional technology. Only after an article appeared in the New York Times about this matter did DOE relent, and allow Mondesire to apply for a conflict of interest waiver.

Another example of this double standard occurred at the same time in District 30 in Queens. Zinovia Abatzis, elected to the CEC, was told she could not serve because she had a job as a lab technician at Marymount Manhattan College. DOE claimed Abatzis had an incurable conflict of interest, because MMC has a contract with the DOE. Yet she was not connected in any way with this contract, nor would she in any way financially benefit or be able to influence any future contracts as a CEC member.

More recently Marge Kolb, an elected CEC member in District 24, Queens, drafted a letter to the parents of students in her son's school, asking if they would consider making a donation towards the immersion Spanish language program that had been previously funded by a an elected official. The school’s principal told her to contact the DOE ethics officer, who in turn referred the matter to the Conflict of Interest Board, which ruled that she could not sign the letter.

Rita Laguer, a first term CEC member ran successfully for the second term and was elected President in District One. She later resigned from her CEC, and a year and a half following her resignation, applied for and was hired as a Parent Coordinator at PS 140, a high needs K-8 school in District 1. She has now been told by an official in her region that she must resign from her position as Parent Coordinator, since conflict of interest rules bar CEC members from working for any school in their district for three years after their term. Yet the conflict of interest policy on the DOE website says that even full-time paid employees are prohibited from appearing before their agency on business for only one year.

Moreover, all CEC positions are volunteer, and have no influence or control over any contract at the schools or the district in which they serve. On the other hand, Joel Rose and Christopher Cerf were allowed to hold highly paid jobs at Tweed, with potentially huge influence over financial decision-making that could benefit their former company, Edison, and in Cerf’s case, while continuing to hold a large financial interest in Edison. In Rose’s case, he also went directly from his job at Newton to his consultancy at Tweed, with no hiatus.

These cases display a glaring double standard on the part of the administration towards parent volunteers elected to serve on their CECs, without any influence on contracts, as compared to high-level officials at Tweed, with real power to benefit the earnings of their former companies. They also reveal that despite claims to the contrary, the strict and irrational conflict of interest policies pursued by Tweed towards CEC members effectively discourage parents from being involved in their schools and serving on their these bodies.

Lisa Donlan

Why CFE funds must be used to reduce class size and student load

Despite what Michael Rebell and Sol Stern may have said at the Century meeting, as recounted below, class size reduction is one of only four evidence-based education reforms that have been shown to work, according to the federal government.

The others? One-on-one tutoring for at-risk readers in grades 1-3, Life-Skills Training for junior high students, and phonics instruction for early readers. Teacher training is not on the list.

Moreover, both Stern and Rebell have been inconsistent in their remarks on class size.

A few months ago, Stern suggested to me that if I wrote an open letter to the Mayor in support of class size reduction in addition to phonics instruction, he would sign onto it.

Rebell was the chief attorney in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. The CFE case provided expert testimony and evidence showing that smaller classes were closely linked to student success, and that class sizes were too high in NYC schools in all grades to be able to provide a sound basic education.

The Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, concluded that there was “a meaningful correlation between the large classes in City schools and the outputs…of poor academic achievement and high dropout rates” and that NYC students were deprived of their constitutional right to an adequate education because of excessive class sizes in all grades.

Rebell was recently quoted as saying that our schools should be provided with "the professional development, the quality teachers, the smaller class sizes, and the other things that they need. "

Yet the main problem here in NYC in terms of quality teaching is neither a lack of sufficient teacher training or the availability of qualified candidates. It is the rapid turnover of teachers -- with about 25% leaving our schools each year. The number one reason for this high rate of attrition is poor working conditions, and most prominently, the excessive class sizes and teaching loads, which are nearly twice as high than the state and/or national average.

Here is what William Ouchi has recently said about these issues. (Ouchi is a UCLA Professor of Management, who first proposed weighted student funding .)

"The most important single indicator of a school's quality is a metric you've never heard of: total student load. It's the number of classes a teacher teaches times the number of students per class. In New York City, by union contract, a teacher may teach up to five classes, and a class may have up to 32 students, for a total load of 160. ... Then visit an elite private school, like those where many of your readers send their children. The total load is 55 to 60."

Clearly, Ouichi is referring to both class size and student load. The load at the private schools Bloomberg and Klein sent their children to is about four classes of 15 students or less. Nationally, the average student load for middle and high school teachers is 89.

Yet the administration has done nothing to improve this situation in six years. In fact, with the 37 1/2 extra minutes, the student load has significantly grown for most NYC public school teachers.

I have calculated that for the average middle or high school teacher, simply spending five minutes per week correcting each student's homework, and spending another five minutes with each of them after class would take about 40 hours per week. This is a whole second job, and as a result, it doesn't happen. No teacher, no matter how experienced or well trained, can reach all students with the sort of class sizes we have in our schools.

Only by reducing class sizes, which will also lower teaching loads, can we ensure that NYC students get the attention and help they need, and the effective -- and experienced -- teachers they deserve.