They use a giant picture of ICE's John Lawhead in the Times article. John, one of the organizers of SOS Tilden, has made a strong case for why Tilden deserves to remain open but none of that is in the article. While being critical of the way the DOE goes about things, it doesn't really raise the issue of where all the "unwanted" kids from Tilden and Lafayette will go -- we know it will be to the next target school for closing.
John Dewey and Jamaica HS are 2 schools about to become "Impact" Schools and that will be their death-knell. People at Dewey claim that incidents from after school and weekend programs that have absolutely nothing to do with the school itself were used to "pad" the numbers.
For Jamaica, the fact that James Eterno is CL and leads a strong union-based chapter and it is also an anti-Unity school, seeing it closed will be a win-win for the DOE and Unity.
Sorry to be off topic, but...
I just found the UNITY propaganda machines re-elect Randi flyer in the mailboxes (Actually 3 in mine, which I find hysterical). What a bogus lie filled piece of garbage? The spin on every single bit of information in this thing is ridiculous? Salaries up? New contract provides better than cost of living? I’m glad Randy doesn’t teach math at my school? 5-year longevity? Didn’t we already have forever longevity with placement rights that kept you from having to beg principals (on your own time, not easy for those with families) to even meet with you? New top 100 grand salaries, which still take nearly twice as long to reach than Long Island, and besides most new teachers, won’t ever reach top salary anyway because of the weakened position we have when schools are closed and /or reorganized.
Anyway, I find its appearance begs the question, how does UNITY party campaign material get distributed? Did my chapter leader distribute this? If so can the alternative candidates ask UFT (Not UNITY, people seem to forget this) chapter leaders to distribute materials? Our chapter leaders represent the members of the UFT, not UNITY? Am I crazy in thinking that it is wrong for UNITY to use the chapter leaders and not provide equal and fair access? And, if I may one last thing, I would like to know who paid for this flyer? Was it created during work hours, printed at UFT headquarters printers? On UFT paper? I don’t mean to be a pest over this, but given UNITY’s belief that they can do anything they want I wouldn’t be surprised.
NYC Ed,
The problem is the Mayor's priorities are wrong. He can move heaven and earth for people he cares about. I went and testified yesterday against the Mayor's plan to hand over the Randalls Island fields to private schools. I was given a copy of a document showing how carefully the Parks Department examined the needs of each private school for playing fields and allocated fields based on sport and season. At the same time the Parks Commissioner admitted they never even bothered to ask public schools what their needs might be.
The only good news is, as you say, people are starting to wake up to the Mayor's game. If you have not already, you must read State Senator Ruben Diaz's open letter calling for Klein's resignation.
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/
sen_rev..._bloomberg.html
Don't have a stroke or anything, but over on the Corner (National Review), they don't have nice things to say about this Lafayette school deal either.
I too found Randi's flyer in my mailbox and wondered about it's claims too. Of course the header warning about "others" was a laugh.
I really wonder if yesterday's City Council had any effect on Klein who went into the session smiling.
PS Driving home was awful, and tomorrow will be worse. One teacher's car was hit on his way to work. Walking on the icy streets was dangerous too. Yet none of this matters to the powers that be including Randi.
PS: I am not advocating a snow day, but a delayed opening would make sense since tomorrow's conditions will be worse.
We just had to help 6 teachers from the school on my corner get their cars out. We had to use wood under the wheels, shovels, pushing, salt, etc. Nice treat for them after the 37.5 minutes. It makes sense for a delayed opening but who expects sense?
You'd think they could have cut the school day short, many kids were gone by 10th period (we have a 12 period day). A young woman, a teacher in our school, fell on ice and was injured this morning. I heard she was sent to the hospital in an ambulance. So much for her coming in to teach in such treacherous weather. The only time there was EVER a delayed opening was during the transit strike in December 2005. I'm trying to look for anything good that KleinBloom have done, and I can't see anything but coldhearted, callous decisions and an astounding lack of everyday common sense.
Norm-
I think the world of you but I don't agree that Unity is trying to see my school broken up. Randi, Rona Freiser, Sterling Roberson and others have been very helpful trying to help us not become an impact school. Let's criticize them when it's warranted, not when they are being helpful.
What's wrong with a snow day? We have a 190 day school year, the longest in the region. The DOE can afford a snow day or two or three or more. Why should we have to risk life and limb to get to school? Schools with much shorter school years than we have get snow days when there is snow and they don't worry about it.
If I wasn't clear, my school is Jamaica High School
Years ago I worked in the garment district, at 1359 Broadway between 37th and 38th Streets at a womens' pantsuit manufacturer. The approach was to work no matter what. I will never forget when the company on the floor above us had a major fire, and the fire department was called in. I was an accounts receivable bookkeeper at the time. All the women in the bookkeeping department continued to work at their desks with their little gray adding machines in spite of the fact that firemen in full uniform were traipsing through our office with hoses, there was a sizeable crowd down on Broadway watching the fire, and thick dark gray smoke was billowing out of the windows just above us. This "work no matter what" mentality persists with the Bloomberg administration. It is almost laughable that we are expected to risk life and limb to babysit for the NYC workforce regardless of dangerous weather conditions. For what end is beyond me.
Given the history of the Triangle Shirt Factory, your former employer was not human. And neither is your current one. Safety is not an issue with them.
I have to worry now about tomorrow. Not only about driving in such icy conditions, but finding a place to park on the street.
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