The importance of 19th century skills

Check out Diane Ravitch's post at Common Core -- The Partnership for 19th Century Skills, in which she points some of the important skills that schools should impart to their students, but that are rarely mentioned anymore in the obsession with high test scores. These include:

The love of learning
The pursuit of knowledge
The ability to think for oneself (individualism)
The ability to stand alone against the crowd (courage)
The ability to work persistently at a difficult task until it is finished (industriousness, self-discipline. (and more)

Steve Koss adds: Well said, Diane! Thanks for making us all take a moment to think about what really matters. Such a radical concept, to return to the values of a liberal education and the goal of forming a well-rounded citizenry!

In those regards, despite the Internet and the massive onslaught of technology that serve primarily as distractions rather than educational aids (when was the last time you heard of students actually going to a public library and doing research from -- heaven forbid -- a book rather than copying and pasting from the Internet?), there really is nothing new under the sun.

May I suggest the following additions to your already beautiful list?

· Ability to think logically and draw valid conclusions from evidence (reasoning).

· Ability to anticipate the consequences of one's actions (foresight).

· Ability to view one's self and the world as others view them (other-centeredness).

· Ability to construct an argument and defend one's position through facts and reasoning rather than by ad hominem attacks and other forms of fallacious argumentation. (logical coherence).

· Ability to think and calculate mathematically (mathematical reasoning).

· Understanding the difference between fact and opinion.

· Understanding the difference between faith and reason.

· Appreciation of the value and role of empiricism and the scientific method.

· Appreciation of literature and the arts, especially the lifelong joy and benefits of reading.

· Acceptance of the notion that reasonable individuals can in good faith differ in their views and agree to disagree rather than demonize one another.

· Learning to be a lifelong learner.

Since none of these "skills" can be tested by multiple choice or short answer questions, they are obviously worthless in the eyes of NCLB, the NY State Education Department, and the NYC DOE's School Progress Reports. If it can't be tested and measured (and then touted as proof of political legitimacy by politicians and educational administrators who really couldn't care less), why would anyone want to bother with it? ----Steve Koss

News flash: the Educational Testing Service is adding a new tool to report on the characteristics of students applying to graduate school, including “personal attributes like resilience and creativity, which can't be measured by standardized admission tests. And it's just a matter of time before undergraduate admissions offices have a similar means at their disposal, says the testing company that designed the tool.”

Too bad the NYC DOE and its Accountability office never heard of these qualities, no less imagined that they deserve nurturing in our public schools.

The Taking of the White House 123

July 8, 2009 (GBN News): Mayor Michael Bloomberg is secretly working with former City Council member Eva Moskowitz to put a charter school in the White House, GBN News has learned. According to sources at City Hall, Ms. Moskowitz, who has been aggressively expanding her charter school empire in Harlem by taking over space in existing schools, will use similar tactics in the Executive Mansion.

To assist in this effort, Mr. Bloomberg has reportedly enlisted the services of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The sources said that this week’s massive cyber attacks, which have crippled many Government web sites, are indeed, as suspected, the work of the North Koreans. Their intent, though, is not military, but rather an effort to distract the White House and Secret Service while Ms. Moskowitz moves classroom equipment into the Lincoln Bedroom.

While on the surface it may seem surprising that the North Korean dictator and Mr. Bloomberg would collaborate on such an endeavor, the Mayor and Mr. Kim actually have much in common. Both, after all, are eccentric autocrats with a taste for the arts, and both benefit from a tightly controlled, adoring press. And because Mr. Kim so admires the way Mr. Bloomberg controls the city schools, the Mayor persuaded James Liebman to resign as DOE Chief Accountability Officer, in order to build a similar accountability system in North Korea.

It is unclear what role, if any, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has played in this plot. He is said to think highly of the NY City school reforms of Mr. Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, and has aspired to replicate them nationwide. A White House charter school would seem to be right in line with this goal. However, he might also risk alienating his boss, if President Obama finds that a charter school in his midst hampers his ability to do his job.

On the other hand, some feel that this is just what Mr. Bloomberg intends. If he can do to Mr. Obama what charters do to public schools, the Mayor may end up displacing the President in the functional equivalent of a coup.


Graphics by DB

Bloomberg on Joel Klein and whether he would replace him

Working Families Party debate, July 2, 2009

Question: ”Obviously the school system is one of the most controversial issues in the campaign. Some people would say that the Chancellor has become a lightning rod – instead of bringing in constituencies, and working with them together to transform the school system, he has had a tendency to alienate them.…is there something that can be done to reduce these frictions – I not going ask you if you’re going to replace him..."

Bloomberg: "I am not.”... “Number one , I don’t think this is going to be controversial in the campaign – my understanding is that Bill Thompson said he is in favor of mayoral control of the schools….if you brought to a vote in Albany would overwhelmingly pass in Senate as it did in Assembly; no rational person would want to roll back the progress we’ve made in improving graduation rates"... etc. .

“Joel Klein comes from a city family… he grew up in public housing, he was the first one in his family to go to college…he understands. Is he tough and hard in making decisions; yes. And that’s why the school system has worked.

Could he have better social skills? We all could I suppose. His job is not to be a nice guy, his job is to deliver results.

If you ask Randi Weingarten or Ernie Logan, they would tell you that while they battle with Joel all the way, this school system has worked because of him, Dennis Walcott, everybody else….We got the right guy.”

Bill Thompson on charter schools and turning around failing schools

Working Families Party debate, July 2, 2009

“I do support charter schools, but they serve only about 25,000 students. That leaves more than one million who aren’t in charter schools.

.... When we look at what we did, a model called Chancellor’s schools; we capped the size of the school, created a rigorous curriculum, focused on teacher training, literacy, etc.. intensive teacher training and the schools improved. And we involved parents. We need to bring them in."

(He fails to mention the most important reform in the Chancellor's district -- a dramatic reduction in class size for grades K-5)

".... not everything is standardized tests. We must bring back art and music to schools and we create well-rounded students."

Bloomberg on charter schools etc.

At the Working Families Party Debate on July 2, a parent asks the Mayor:

“My children’s school is successful Harlem school, but they are downsizing it to make way for charter schools. But charter schools only educate 2% of public school students. Meanwhile many of the large schools that have thousands of students continue to fail. what is your plan to turn around big schools and failing schools?”

Bloomberg responds: "I went to public schools, I believe they are the future of the society.... Charter schools are useful, they’re open, they give us a bogie (?) to go after.

But look at what we’ve done with the big schools….Bushwick, Amanda Childs (!!!), we took the the same number of students but broke them up into smaller schools, better management. Graduation rates up. And Harlem is one of the great success stories…..

I am in favor of fair funding. We did not fund schools in poor minority neighborhoods anywhere near as we did in more affluent neighborhoods. We put all new money to give them schools underfunded. We’ve been able to upgrade teachers through training….If there’s anything I’m proud of is the progress we’ve made its whats happened to the public school system over the last seven years."

Actually, the so-called fair student funding formula the DOE devised would have cut the funding for 47% of failing schools in NYC, as we discussed here. And the additional state funding this year that was supposed to go to low-performing schools instead went to plug holes caused by the city's budget cuts to schools, as CFE recently revealed.

Tony Avella on charter schools, Joel Klein, and teaching to the test

At the Working Families Party debate: July 2, 2009



On charter schools:I am absolutely not a fan of charter schools and I never have been. The whole reason they came about was because the regular public schools were failing...Why not fix the schools that are failing."

"It would be my pleasure to say to Joel Klein, you are fired! And don't let the door hit you on the way out. And the new board is a disgrace....Why are we not listening to teachers and principals and parents? We have to stop teaching to the test."

Mike to Arne: You Can Do It Too

July 3, 2009 (GBN News): Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as part of an ongoing effort to export his NY City school reforms nationwide, has been quietly trying to persuade the Obama Administration to let the No Child Left Behind law expire this fall, sources told GBN News. While this may come as a shock to many – after all, the Mayor’s educational policies consist largely of putting NCLB on steroids – Mr. Bloomberg pointed out that when Mayoral control of the schools expired in New York, it left him with even greater power than before. The Mayor has told Education Secretary Arne Duncan that if NCLB expires, the Administration could similarly use the situation to assume total, unchallenged control of the nation’s schools.

Secretary Duncan was reportedly interested in the Mayor’s suggestions, but expressed both practical and legal concerns. On a practical level, Mr. Duncan worried that even an amended version of NCLB, if passed, could derail the plan. However, Mr. Bloomberg went so far as to offer his personal assistance to forestall that possibility. “The US Senate is even easier to gridlock than the NY State Senate,” the Mayor reportedly told the Secretary. “They need 60 votes to break a filibuster and pass a law. Without those votes, goodbye NCLB, then you’ll be in charge just like me. And in the spirit of nonpartisanship, I’m even willing to pay off - I mean, persuade both Democrats and Republicans myself.”

Mr. Duncan’s other concern involved the legality of a massive takeover of the country’s schools. But Mr. Bloomberg told him not to worry. “All you have to do,” he said, “is to warn them there’ll be a disaster if you don’t have control. In New York, we told them there would be riots in the streets. New Yorkers hate riots, they tie up traffic. On a national level, you can warn everyone that terrorists will take over the schools. Nobody wants a terrorist in charge of the schools. Look at Joel Klein.”

The Mayor went on to show Mr. Duncan just how easy it was to assert control after the law expired. “We just took over,” he told the Secretary. “Got our own people on the Board of Ed, Joel is Chancellor for life, no more financial oversight – why, we don’t even have to let those annoying parents into the Board of Ed meetings any more. Just like that Bush aide said, ‘We're an empire now, and when we act we create our own reality.’ You can do it too.”

Darkness at Noon: meet the new NYC Board of Education

It was an incredibly depressing event: the total Mayoral takeover of our schools, despite the ostensible legal sunset of Mayoral control.

The emergency meeting of the new Board of Education that was supposed to begin at noon yesterday started late but lasted less than ten minutes. Under heavy police presence, the Borough Presidents entered first, and sat down on one side at the front of the standing-room only crowd at Tweed, as Chancellor Klein and DOE attorney Michael Best sat down on a couch on the other side. Then the new board members marched in.

They include Deputy Mayor Walcott, appointed by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, in perhaps the most astonishing turn of events; Dr. Delores Fernandez, appointed by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.; Carlo Scissura, the chief of staff of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Jimmy Yan, the counsel to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; Deputy Borough President Ed Burke, appointed by Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro; and the two mayoral appointees: First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris and Deputy Mayor for Operations Ed Skyler.

The new appointees thus include not one but three deputy mayors and other BP political staff– with none of them, except the Bronx appointee, Dr. Fernandez, with any educational expertise or experience. According to the Queens Courier, Helen Marshall said “Walcott, a Queens native, was a perfect choice for her….Under this new leadership, it might be temporary, but it’s darn sure going to be good.….”

The board voted first to elect Walcott as its new President. Several Board members claimed that they were only trying to prevent chaos and confusion in the system, and Walcott even said that parents had called the DOE, worried about the start of summer school. If there was any worry, of course, it was because of the frequent remarks by the Mayor himself, who predicted disaster at every turn in order to impose his absolute will. As the Daily news reported, summer school started without a hitch yesterday, of course; and there was absolutely no reason to imagine otherwise.

Most shocking to many of those watching was the way in a resolution introduced by Carlos Scissura, the Brooklyn representative, the new board voted not only to re-appoint Klein with no end date to the contract, (unless they held a new vote to remove him) , but also to sign away all their decision-making and oversight authority to him. They even gave the Chancellor the unlimited authority to unilaterally approve contracts of any amount, including no-bid contracts, with no oversight or no approval process required.

The full resolution in which they did this follows. This vote is not only contrary to the previous practice and regulations of the Board, in which the members of the Board had to approve all no-bid contracts and contracts over $100,000, but also the provisions of every current governance bill in the Senate, including the Silver/Padavan bill, which they also voted with one abstention to urge the Senate to adopt. So much for consistency!

Most importantly, this abdication of their fiduciary responsibilities flies in the face of the numerous recent audits and reports, including those from the State Comptroller and City Comptroller, revealing billions of dollars wasted by DOE because of the abuse of the contracting process. That the borough presidents would give a green light for these practices to continue unabated is especially troubling now, at a time of economic scarcity and hundreds of millions of dollars cut from our schools and classrooms.

This vote would be considered a dereliction of the board’s fiduciary duties if it occurred in the case of any other governmental agency, especially one so prone to abuse. As I said to the Wall St. Journal, "I don't know if they have the right to sign away...their fiduciary duties," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, an advocacy group that is critical of mayoral control.

Yet somehow this lack of financial accountability is okay when it comes to our children’s education, because Michael Bloomberg is in absolute charge – and must remain so, into the indefinite future.

Other troubling issues from today’s meeting include:

1- There was less than two hours public notice before the meeting was called to order.

2- No agenda was provided in advance (as the NY Times blog pointed out).

3- Three deputy mayors were appointed to the board, including Walcott by the Queens Borough President, making the concept of any independence on the part of the Board absurd. All other members except the Bronx member were staffers from BP offices.

4- The continuation of the Chancellor’s contract with the Mayor dated Nov. 2002 was approved– with no end date, and without specifying what the terms of that contract might be.

5- The Board refused to allow any public comment before or after the proceedings, unprecedented in previous Board of Education meetings, in my experience and that of others who have attended decades of Board meetings in the past.

6- The Board voted to adjourn until Sept. 10, 2009 – which is more than sixty days in the future.

A very bleak sign of things to come, and yet another manifestation of the Mayor's unaccountable use of raw, political power and his complete subjugation of the Borough Presidents – with the exception of the new Bronx BP, whose representative abstained on the Board’s vote to urge the Senate to approve the Silver/Padavan bill.

When one unnamed Borough appointee was asked by a reporter after the meeting why he voted to let the chancellor continue to have complete power over signing of all contracts, with no oversight, he told the reporter to refer this question to the Mayor's office. When the reporter pointed out that he was a borough appointee, not a Mayoral appointee, he said, "Well, no comment then."

There seems to be no shame and embarrassment about their collective refusal to acknowledge the need for any independent vetting of spending and policy decisions, and to insulate our children, our schools, and the taxpayers from destructive and wasteful policies.

The ten minute session, reminiscent of a perfunctory government meeting after a coup, was so awful that it actually made one nostalgic for the days of the PEP, when at least Patrick Sullivan was there to speak the truth, and some minimal public comment was allowed at the end of the session.

All in all, this was a day that will live in infamy of NYC history. As I said to reporters, the mayor was right about one thing -- the failure of the Senate to vote on school governance did indeed bring back the days of the Soviet Union.

Below are the names, phone nos. and emails of the BPs. Call or email them now.

Calls are more effective, but if you can't phone, please email.

Make it clear that allowing the Mayor to continue to have unlimited authority over our schools, including the power to sign any contracts with no oversight, is an abdication of their fiduciary responsibility to their constituents, and to the need to protect our children from fraud, waste and abuse.

Not to mention, the need to protect them from the flawed and wasteful policies of a heedless administration which remains contemptuous of public school parents and their priorities. One has to ask, whose interests are they representing, NYC parents and taxpayers, or our billionaire Mayor?

Here are some other newsclips, if you have the stomach to read them; the only one to mention the lack of oversight for contracting is, ironically, the NY Post:

Senate Impasse Forces City to Revive Old School Board, in Name (NY Times)

Meet the new Board of Education (Crains NY)

NYC education board votes to reappoint chancellor (AP)

Mayor BOOSTS SCHOOL CONTROL WITH NEW ED. BOARD, (NY Post)

Board of Ed endorses Klein, mayoral control, and is gone till Sept (Gotham Schools)

There is also video of nearly the entire depressing meeting on Gotham Schools here:

BOE on tape: The most productive 4 minutes you’ll ever see

The only bright spot was that I managed to put copies of our new book -- NYC schools under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know -- on the table in front of every Board member’s seat, and all of them carried away copies upon leaving the room except for Deputy Mayor Harris.

Probably they thought it had been produced by DOE’s PR department – but perhaps they'll mistakenly take a look and learn something about the lousy policies of this administration and feel bad about the irresponsible votes they took today.

But remember to make those calls or emails now!

Manhattan BP Stringer: (212) 669-8300; bp@manhattanbp.org

Brooklyn BP Markowitz: (718) 802-3700; AskMarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov

Queens BP Marshall: (718) 286-3000; info@queensbp.org

Bronx BP Diaz Jr: (718) 590-3500; webmail@bronxbp.nyc.gov (remember to thank him for appointing an independent educator to the position – and for her abstention on the vote to support the Silver/Padavan bill – but she did approve the Chancellor's appointment and the abdication of all the Bd’s authority and decision-making powers, including those related to contracts to the Chancellor. )

Staten Island BP Molinaro: 718-816-2000; http://statenislandusa.com/cfm/contact.cfm

New Board of Ed: The Inside Story

July 2, 2009 (GBN News): A seemingly unsuccessful attempt at a Soviet takeover of the NY City schools was just a decoy, GBN News has learned. At the moment that three elderly Communists conspicuously entered Tweed Courthouse just as Mayoral control was expiring, Mayor Bloomberg was secretly meeting with another shadowy Bolshevik group, plotting a takeover of the newly reconstituted Board of Education. The following account was pieced together through interviews with multiple sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of repercussions:

It was a marriage of convenience between a group bent on re-establishing Soviet power and a Mayor desperate to hold onto control of the schools. However, the Mayor and the Soviet group soon realized they had much in common. In fact, it seemed at times as if the only major difference between them was that the Soviets insisted on referring to the Board of Education as the “Politburo”.

The two camps quickly agreed it was vital to insure that the Borough Presidents appoint Board members who would support to the death the Mayor’s policies. Through control of the Board, Mr. Bloomberg could maintain and even expand his control of the schools.

The Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens Borough Presidents were known to be in lockstep with the Mayor over school control and were not felt to pose a problem. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, however, was another story. Stringer’s appointee for the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), Patrick Sullivan, had been a thorn in the side of the DOE since his appointment. It was feared that if Stringer appointed Sullivan to the new Board, he would learn of the Bloomberg/Soviet plot and expose it.

It is unclear just how the conspirators were able to “turn” Stringer, but they were obviously successful; Sullivan was dropped in favor of Stringer staffer Jimmy Yan. J. Fredrick Runson, chair of Political Science Department at Manhattan University and an expert on Soviet methods, suggested one possible explanation. “For someone who’s usually so independent on education issues,” Dr. Runson told GBN News, “Stringer’s talk of needing Board members who are ‘philosophically in tune with the Mayor’, and of ‘maintaining the system’, was so uncharacteristic as to border on the bizarre. In my professional opinion, somebody slipped him some LSD.”

With time being so short, the Mayor and the Soviets were willing, for the moment, to declare Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz a “lost cause”, and keep him out of the loop. But to counter the consequent loss of Board unanimity, they needed a Board President who could control the agenda and stifle all dissent.

All agreed that Dennis Walcott, who had already squandered a stellar reputation by serving as Deputy Mayor for education, was perfect for the job. But the Borough President who appointed him would face conflict of interest criticism by naming a member of the Administration to the position, and such an appointment could even be a career breaker. However, Queens BP Helen Marshall sold out for dinner and an extra term, and within hours, the Mayor’s control of the school Board was etched in stone.

While Mayor Bloomberg seems to have insured continued control of the schools, still unclear is just what the Soviets have to gain from this arrangement. Some political observers feel that the cash-starved Soviets are planning to use Mr. Bloomberg’s billions to advance their cause, and ultimately to overthrow him. As Dr. Runson put it, “This could be a perfect example of the old communist adage, ‘The capitalists will sell you the rope that you'll use to hang them.’” On the other hand, he said, “Educational reform makes strange bedfellows. There could be a genuine ideological agreement here.”

Rioters Hit NYC Streets as Mayoral Control Lapses; Soviet Coup Fizzles

July 1, 2009 (GBN News): Just as Mayor Bloomberg predicted, rioters flooded into the streets of Manhattan at the stroke of midnight tonight, violently protesting the sunset of Mayoral control of the city schools. But Mr. Bloomberg’s other apocalyptic warning, of a Soviet takeover, did not come to pass.

In a tumultuous scene, the mob, estimated at nearly six rioters, chanted pro-Bloomberg slogans while throwing fruit cocktails at nearby windows. One of the protesters spoke to GBN News only on condition of anonymity, because Learn NY forbids them from talking to the press. That organization, he said, had been paid by the Mayor to turn people out into the streets to “rumble”. But when asked why they were throwing fruit cocktails, the protester said, “That cheap bastard, with all his money, he wouldn’t even buy us the Molotov ones.”

Meanwhile, although three octogenarian, self-described Bolsheviks did enter DOE headquarters at midnight with the intent of taking over, they left shortly thereafter. Back out on the steps, a spokesperson for the three indicated that the corruption inside the building was a bit too much to take, even for a bunch of ex-Brezhnev apparatchiks. “Our credo has always been, ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’,” he told reporters. “But the DOE motto seems to be, ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to Boss Tweed’. From what we saw in there, it seems their headquarters is aptly named.”

In other news, associates of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya desperately sought a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg today. Mr. Zelaya, whose effort to overturn term limits resulted in his being overthrown in a recent coup, wanted advice from Mr. Bloomberg, who was able to survive under similar circumstances. However, the Mayor rebuffed the ex-President’s overtures, saying, “If he’d only had the foresight to make billions before he became President, he’d still be in office.”

Bloomberg Skewered In Times Mayoral Control Article

Mike Bloomberg's bizarre comments on public schools finally caught up with him. Javier Hernandez of the Times strung together a few of the mayor's more outlandish talking points in his article on the expiration of mayoral control in today's paper.

The law granting the mayor complete and unprecedented control over the public schools expires Tuesday. Due to the deadlock in the State Senate, it is increasingly likely the temporary governance structure will revert to the old one in place before 2002. But according to the Times, rather than plan for the transition, the mayor has focused on trying to stoke fears:

Mr. Bloomberg has not announced any contingency plans, perhaps trying to hasten action upstate. But he has portrayed the possibility of losing control of the schools as nothing short of a catastrophe.

“If the Senate passes something that differs by one word or more,” he warned on Thursday, “it is saying to the city: ‘We want to resurrect the Soviet Union. We want to bring back chaos.’ ” In February, he said, “I think that there’d be riots in the streets.”

The Daily News reported the mayor's comments about the looming specter of communism as well. Both papers then quoted a series of experts including former Assembly Education Committee chair Steve Sanders, Board of Ed attorney David Bloomfield and former Chancellor Harold Levy to counter the administration arguments for impending chaos. Here's Bloomfield:

"There isn't a doomsday scenario unless the mayor brings it upon the city himself," said former top Board of Education lawyer David Bloomfield"

"He would cause the chaos."

The Times, true to its mission as the paper of record, even called the NYPD to check if the riot police were poised to deploy.

New York Times: Questions About Schools if Mayoral Control Ends
Daily News: 'Soviet Schools' if mayor control is lost says Mayor Bloomberg

Circus Comes to Town

June 27, 2009 (GBN News): A Federal Circuit Court judge has stepped into the NY State legislative leadership crisis by effectively putting the NY State Senate under the control of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. In what many political observers were calling a “an unusual and creative solution” to the weeks-long gridlock in the Senate, the judge gave Kenneth Feld, Chairman of Feld Entertainment, Inc., the circus’ parent company, the de facto powers of Lieutenant Governor. By virtue of his ability to break a tie, Mr. Feld will now hold the balance of power in the sharply divided upper chamber.

The most dramatic result of this new arrangement will be its effect on Mayoral control of the NY City schools. Mr. Feld’s first act was to broker a deal to replace Mayoral control with Circus control, and to name Marcus B. Mosshead, a senior Ringling Brothers clown, as the new Schools Chancellor. Mr. Mosshead will have full authority over the Department of Education, and can only be removed by a pie in the face.

J. Fredrick Runson, Chairman of the Education Department of Manhattan University, was asked what effect this change in leadership will have on the DOE. “On the surface, one wouldn’t expect much difference,” Dr. Runson told GBN News. “After all, the DOE has been a circus since 2002. But that circus was more like the one they had under Julius Caesar - teachers being fed to the lions, schools competing against each other to the death like gladiators, that sort of thing. And unlike the current Chancellor, this clown is a professional. In fact, it’s the first time a professional has been in charge of the DOE since Mayoral control began. So it may be a good thing.”

To bear out Dr. Runson’s optimism, the new Chancellor said he would finally address the issue of class size. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Mosshead said to GBN News, “You know that trick where dozens of people keep coming out of a little car that couldn’t possibly hold that many? Well, Joel Klein only knew how to do the first part of the trick, squeezing so many kids into the classrooms. But we’ve been doing that trick in the circus for years. We actually know how to get them out.”

Mayoral Control Foils Soviet Plot

June 26, 2009 (GBN News): A shadowy group of former Soviet officials is quietly poised to take over the NY City school system if Mayoral control is not renewed, according to a senior City Hall official. The official told GBN News that it was this plot Mayor Bloomberg was referring to yesterday when he warned that the loss of Mayoral control would “revive the Soviet Union”.

More chilling, however, is that this group sees the school system as only the first in a series of dominoes, culminating in a complete Communist takeover of the US. Mayor Bloomberg is said to feel that he is the only political figure in a position to foil this plot, by holding the line at the city schools. In fact, says the official, the entire Mayoral control battle was never about Mr. Bloomberg himself, but over nothing less than the survival of the free world. In the same vein, the Mayor was quoted as having justified his overturning of term limits by telling his aides, “Sometimes you have to destroy democracy in order to save it.”

GBN News asked J. Fredrick Runson, Dean of the School of International Affairs at Manhattan University, how the Mayor was able to ascertain the extent of the plot. “He looks at what he’s been trying to do with his own absolute power,” said Dr. Runson. “And he figures those old Soviets are trying to so the same thing. Or, to use the schoolyard vernacular, ‘it takes one to know one’.”

In a related story, the city Department of Education has awarded a no-bid, $10 million consulting contract to an Iranian paramilitary organization to once and for all control the cell phone problem in public schools. News reports that Basij paramilitaries were seen “beating people seen using mobile phones” convinced Chancellor Joel Klein that these methods could be effective in the NY City schools. A “News Hour” report that opposition demonstrators were reduced to hiding cell phones in bushes to avoid being caught was reminiscent of the way many NY City students must leave their cell phones in bodegas to avoid similar consequences. Apparently fearing that cell phones might be used to promote democratic protest in city schools, or even to support the purported Soviet plot, Mr. Klein felt that more stringent measures were needed.


Once again, thanks to Ann Kjellberg, without whose reporting GBN News would not have broken the cell phone story.

Undercover Agents Target GBN News

June 25, 2009 (GBN News): In what is seen by some as a sign of panic, Department Of Education undercover operatives have been trying to infiltrate the NY City Public School Parent Blog, sources told GBN News. One such attempt has been evident in the past few days. An anonymous commenter on the blog has been posting messages accusing GBN News of “not being funny”, and is apparently trying to discredit the news service by disingenuously accusing it of “kicking a serious post off the front page”. This operative has further tried to intimidate GBN News by suggesting that it take its stories “somewhere else”.

According to one source, who spoke to GBN News on condition of anonymity, the DOE has further contingency plans in case this blog infiltration is insufficient. One such plan reportedly involves the ARIS computer system. Its much touted “parent link”, purportedly designed to allow parents to access their children’s grades and attendance figures, is said to actually place dangerous spyware on users’ computers. The spyware will, among other things, turn critical emails to elected officials and newspapers into testimonials to Mayor Bloomberg’s control of the schools.

There was also reportedly a great deal of debate within the DOE as to how to confront parents “in the streets”. Apparently fearing that activists will emulate the recent street demonstrations in Iran, some DOE officials advocated using anti-riot weapons such as water cannons, while others promoted waterboarding. But the eventual consensus was to take advantage of the Department’s huge stockpile of dangerous weapons; weapons that strike fear in the hearts of anyone who knows the NY City public schools. Consequently, parents opposing Mayoral control will encounter school safety officers armed to the teeth with thousands of confiscated cell phones. They will effectively tie up parents’ communication through incessant calls, and prevent them from deciding whether to have chicken or fish for dinner.

GBN News released a statement pledging that it will not be cowed by intimidation. And the GBN News food critic assured readers that if they feel confused, “You can’t go wrong with the fish.”

GBN News Editorial: Point Taken

As is now apparent, for the last six years NY City public school students, parents and teachers have been privileged to participate in a massive, city-wide social science experiment, the purpose of which was to demonstrate through real life experience the pitfalls of totalitarian rule. The idea was the brainchild of NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, authorized by the State Legislature, and implemented by a prominent attorney who somehow ended up heading the city Department of Education. The purpose and nature of the experiment was not, of course, revealed to the participants, and was presented to the public simply as “educational reform”. But now that the project has succeeded beyond its wildest dreams, those who created it are seeking to extend its duration for another few years.

In conception and execution the experiment was brilliant. Until now, schoolchildren were only able to learn about the horrors of totalitarianism second hand. While books like “1984” and films like “Bananas” can seem almost like real, they are no substitute for one’s own experience.

Through the genius of Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg, New Yorkers have now had the opportunity to see first hand what happens when contracts are given out without oversight (the Alvarez and Marsal school bus debacle, for one); when an elected official can fire a voting Board member at will to get his way (PEP vote on social promotion); when a duly enacted law is openly flaunted (CFE class size lawsuit; City Council law overturning cell phone ban); when schools are precipitously closed or forced to house charters regardless of the will of the community; and when a wealthy elected official uses his fortune to overturn the clear will of the voters on term limits and run for another term.

And they said it “couldn’t happen here”. But now that the point has been made, and that it is obvious to everyone that this has all been just an elaborate lesson in civics, we see no useful purpose in its continuation. It is the opinion of this space that despite their desire to carry on the experiment, the only way to truly cement the legacy of Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein is to end Mayoral control of the schools, replace it with a more inclusive system, and thus drive home once and for all the contrasts between democracy and a banana republic.

The Banana Republic of NYC Public Schools

Check out my new posting on the Huffington Post.

More evidence in the NY Times today of how this Banana Republic that we call NYC operates.

The article further speculates about what political insiders have been surmising for weeks: that Silver caved in on the issue of mayoral control because of a deal he made with one billionaire (Bloomberg) to benefit another billionaire (Larry Silverstein.)

Mayoral control: Squadron jumps ship and "the days of tweaks are over"

It is becoming more clear that the Senate will vote on Mayoral control this week .

The Democratic caucus was working hard to remain united against the onslaught of the Mayor's men, and refusing to rubber-stamp the Silver/Padavan bill that would allow unlimited, unilateral one-man rule to continue.

Yet today it was announced that the first Democrat has jumped ship: Daniel Squadron of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, a freshman senator whose election campaign was supported by Bloomberg. See this article from today's News:Mayor Bloomberg's school control bill gets first Democrat support

Please contact your State Senators today -- let them know how strongly you feel that one man rule cannot stand and they must support parents by supporting the Education Through Partnership Act, [Huntley/S5739] -- co-sponsored now by at least six other Senators.

Ask them to stand up for their constituents; instead of caving in to the billionaire bully who has nothing but contempt for parents and our views. Their emails and phone nos. can be found by plugging in your address here: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators ; telephone calls are the most effective, then faxes and then emails. But do it today!

In case there is any confusion about how weak the Silver/Padavan/Squadron bill is, and how it doesn't provide any stronger voice for parents, you can take a look at the summary on this comparison chart and this memo, which clearly lay out its provisions, as compared to our bill.

As the Mayor himself pointed out this weekend, there are not even "tweaks" in the Silver/Padavan bill, which he wholeheartedly supports:

"He's incensed about Sampson's drive to strip the mayor of his majority on the Panel for Educational Policy or impose fixed terms on his appointees. "That's not going to happen," Bloomberg declared. "That's the old Board of Education," he said dismissively, vowing to battle any last- minute "compromises." "The days of tweaks are over," he said.

It is ironic that these three men should have caved into the Mayor -- as parents and community members in their districts have clearly expressed their fervent opposition to renewing the current system which has wreaked havoc on our schools. Under this bill, the Department of Education will remain the only city agency that will be free from having to comply with city law .

Community Boards 1 and 3 in Manhattan, as well as the Community Education Councils in District 1 and District 2 -- all of which overlap with Squadron's and Silver's districts -- passed resolutions in support of strengthening the parent voice, enhancing the authority of CECs, and for stronger checks and balances on the Mayor's dictatorial control.

Both CEC 26 and CB 11 in Queens -- in Padavan's district -- passed resolutions in favor to alter the Mayor's automatic majority on the PEP. But it seems that for these three men, the Mayor's position is more important than the views of their constituents.

Here is Squadron's email address (his regular Senate email is down) so you can directly express your outrage:daniel@danielsquadron.org

Squadron's Albany Office: Tel: 518-455-2625; His District Office:Tel: 212-298-5565

Let him know that you are disappointed and angry that he caved into the our autocratic Mayor and has deserted not only the other Democrats in the Senate -- but also his constituents.

My Unpublic Comment

Here's what I would have said during the public comment period of the PEP today, had there been a public comment:

I have a letter to pass out that I intended to present at the PEP meeting on the executive budget, which I sent to the Chancellor on May 27, bearing on DOE mandated, school-based expenses, which in the interests of time I will now only pass out. [The letter, signed by over 70 parents and public officials, asked the DOE to consider, in light of painful impending cuts to school budgets, the suspension or relocation of centrally mandated expenses and services--such as G&T testing and centralized periodic assessments--that impact school budgets and staff. It also recommended the temporary suspension of some centrally funded programs--such as Progress Reports and Learning Environment Surveys--to free up funds for instruction.]

I will simply say what scarcely needs mentioning, that if there were ever a demonstration that this body is little more than a name in a statute--indeed it is not even that!--a vote on an $18 billion budget with serious consequences for our city schools that takes place in secrecy, in an undisclosed location, with no announced agenda, would be it. I hope our legislators in Albany are taking note of the complete acquiescence of this body, which incidentally includes seven appointed public school parents, to this state of affairs.

Secret Bloomberg Plan to Retain School Control

June 18, 2009 (GBN News): Mayor Michael Bloomberg, fearing that State Senate gridlock could doom his control of the city school system, has quietly begun making plans to stage what would effectively amount to a coup d’etat, sources told GBN News. While the Mayor remains committed to some semblance of a democratic process, the sources said, he is also determined to protect the public from the sort of civil disturbances that he has predicted would ensue if Mayoral control is allowed to sunset.

Mr. Bloomberg is said to be spending substantial amounts of his own money to hire Xe Worldwide (formerly Blackwater Worldwide) to seize the NY City school system at midnight on June 30 if Mayoral control lapses at that time. But since even Mr. Bloomberg’s billions could not buy enough manpower to fully occupy each and every school, the plan calls for focusing on strategic assets such as the schools’ robocall machines.

Once in control of the communications apparatus, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein would deploy his own sizeable cadre of Public Relations employees to send out calls to each and every parent. The calls will intimidate parents with the recorded voice of Tony Soprano, telling them, “If you ever want to see your school again, you’ll keep your mouth shut and let the Mayor run it.”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Xe Worldwide denied any involvement with the Mayor. However, a source at Xe told GBN News that many of their employees have taken to calling themselves “Soldiers of Bloomberg’s Fortune”.