Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Battle of the Asshats

Ruben Brosbe
Michelle Costa
       




                                     VERSUS









In what could be a sign of an imminent implosion at A4E, Asshat Extraordinaire Michelle Costa has called on fellow Asshat Ruben Brosbe to be fired.

If you don't remember Michelle Costa, she's the teacher at Aspirations Diploma Plus High School who wrote an article calling for "ineffective" teachers to be fired. She also collaborated on the A4E white paper which basically said the same thing. Assuming that she meant what she said, there can be no doubt that she is calling for fellow Asshat Ruben Brosbe to be terminated. Of course, she didn't say that out loud, but looking at her position papers, there is no other conclusion we can reach.

For example, in her article in The Brooklyn Paper, she said, "...while most teachers give it their all, there are sadly some who can’t raise the bar for their students." This describes Ruben perfectly. His dismal TDR scores, along with a critique from his principal that claims a "disconnect" between what he knows and his ability to execute in his classroom, clearly show that he has not raised the bar for his students and should be fired.

Michelle continues lambasting Ruben in the A4E white paper looking for alternatives to seniority based layoffs. In it, she and her fellow Asshats claim that, "...without considering performance in layoffs, many highly effective teachers will be lost, while less effective teachers remain in the classroom. We can tell whether teachers are likely to be great within four years of their entering the classroom." Ruben has now completed his fourth year, and in addition to his lousy TDR scores, he has twice been denied tenure.

It will be interesting to see who wins this battle. Do the Asshats really believe in what they say? If so, Ruben should go. I'm sure Michelle would agree.

Well, I'm not 100% sure. It's quite possible that Michelle Costa was also denied tenure. You see, every single one of the eight teachers up for tenure at Michelle's school was denied. She graduated from GWU in 2008, so it's quite likely that this past year was her third year of teaching, which would have made her eligible for tenure. If so, she, like Ruben, was denied.

Hmm. Maybe this isn't a battle so much after all. Maybe it's a reckoning.

1 comment:

Schoolgal said...

I am sure there are ways to find out if Michelle got tenure or not. I just hope that those teachers at Aspirations who associate themselves with E4E (which is now taking in money from Gates to make their founders rich) see the writing on the wall--that is, they back an agenda, not teachers.

As for Ruben, he was denied tenure twice, and his own principal didn't go to bat for him. His own writings on his teaching leaves so much to be desired. I have taught with many teachers who didn't deserve tenure, but principals gave it to them anyway.

At least you proved how hypocritical E4E really is.