Reality? Check, Please.

Not to be outdone by Randi's bizarre request for all teachers to wear blue on Tuesday, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein joined the fray with their own entries for the most freakish comment of the week.

Mayor Mike kicked off the festivities by claiming that if mayoral control of the schools isn't renewed, "...I think there'd be riots in the streets, given the improvements" to schools, according to the Post. Apparently, the mayor feels that people would never riot over the layoff of 15,000 teachers, flat test scores, overcrowded schools, and the disenfranchisement of parents and teachers. But wrest mayoral control from him? Then you'd seen all hell break loose.

Joel Klein, justly under fire for the bus fiasco that led to thousands of schoolchildren being stranded in the cold, finally admitted two years after the fact that "I made the mistake, and I'm responsible for it," according to the Daily News. In his defense, Klein proceeded to claim that the consulting firm he hired that resulted in those frozen kids saved the city a lot of money. Due to the current fiscal emergency, Klein also announced some new cost cutting measures, such as leaving blind children in the middle of the highway and dumping handicapped students from their wheelchairs.

The Gloves are Off

The mayor had better watch out. Randi has taken the gloves off. Perhaps inspired to new union activism by the courageous efforts of Charles G. Hogg, our feckless--I mean fearless--leader has decided to get tough with Bloomberg on the issue of layoffs.

Her plan? Launch a massive ad campaign targeting the mayor's uncaring attitude towards the children he has sworn to protect and educate? Lead a march of her 80,000 plus members through the streets of Manhattan to City Hall, snarling traffic to show our outrage at these proposed cuts? Calling a wildcat strike or a sick-out to draw attention to the problem?

No, her plan is MUCH more devastating than that. On February 10, she wants us all, en masse, in a powerful show of solidarity, to wear blue.

You see the simplicity of it all? When the citizens of New York see as many as five or ten teachers all entering a school dressed in blue, they will finally understand the gravity of the situation and demand action. I can hear them now: "Hey, what's with all the blue? We'd better stop those layoffs immediately!"

Despite the brilliance of this plan, it's possible that more action may be needed. So the UFT has organized a rally for March 5th. To ratchet up the pressure on the mayor, Randi has proposed several new ideas for that rally:

• To show that we really mean business this time, everyone will be urged to wear magenta.
• All attendees will be asked to link arms and high step, Rockette style, until our demands are met.
• New teachers will wear feather boas and fishnets while they sing "Cabaret" in husky voices on the steps of City Hall.
• The few remaining male teachers over 50 will be asked to wear black socks, sandals, and Bermuda shorts.

Of course, these are only a few of the suggestions that Randi has managed to come up with for her 100 mil plus a year. If you have any other ideas for bringing the mayor to his knees, post 'em here. Personally, I'm leaning towards asking Leo Casey and Randi to dress up as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

Another Great Thing...

...about writing this blog is that I get introduced to new, excellent blogs all the time. If you haven't read Life at the Morton School, you should. I particularly liked the post on TFA and the Fellows program.

While I have real problems with TFA and Fellows, I suspect they may not survive the current economic crisis anyway. At a minimum, I suspect a hiring freeze is at hand; at worst, we'll see massive layoffs. In either case, both those programs may become irrelevant.

Top of the Class

I realize that I didn't bestow the coveted Top of the Class award yesterday. I couldn't really think of any one person. (Don't forget that nominations are always welcome). So I think the first award will go to a group I admire greatly--my fellow bloggers. This blog has only been in operation for less than two months, and it probably would have gone out of business had it not been for the incredible support and encouragement from the fine educational bloggers I have come to know and respect. I won't name names, because they are numerous, and many can be found on the blogroll.

My thanks, sans the usual snarky remarks.

This Week's Bottom Feeder

The winner of the first Bottom of the Class award goes to Marcus Winters of the Manhattan Institute. I had no idea what the Manhattan Institute was--it sounded vaguely like an atomic bomb project. It turns out that they are a think tank (translation: can't get a real job?). Well, someone must have cut off the oxygen to Mr. Winters particular tank. How else to explain his inane editorial in the Daily News advocating the layoffs of senior teachers?

Ignoring the obvious question as to what sort of think tank wants its work published in the Daily News, for crying out loud, let's examine Mr. Winters' argument. He posits that the city should lay off the most senior teachers because "...there is basically no relationship between seniority and teaching ability." Using his think tank skills, Mr. Winters deftly offers no evidence of this whatsoever, choosing instead the ad populum argument that the body of evidence of this is "scarcely disputed". As a parent, I can tell you that I would opt for teaching experience over a respondent to a subway ad for Teaching Fellows any day. As a teacher, I can assert that it takes at least five years before a teacher becomes reasonably competent--i.e., he or she knows the business and has enough experience to be an effective educator.

A particularly brain dead assertion by Mr. Winters is that "After several years in the classroom, teachers can earn much higher salaries, even surpassing $100,000." I can tell Mr. W, without equivocation, that there is not one--not ONE--teacher who makes anywhere near 100K after a few years in the classroom. And unlike Mr. W, I hereby offer my proof--the salary schedule in the UFT contract. In order to earn 100K, NYC teachers must not only have a master's degree and thirty credits beyond that, we must put in 22 years of service. And then you pass the 100K mark by a whopping $49.00.

One of the most glaring of Mr. Winters lapses in logic is that the school system would continue to attract qualified teachers if the seniority layoff provision were done away with. Who would want to make teaching a career knowing that their jobs would be in peril every time there was an economic downturn? Does he believe, like other non-educators such as Joel Klein, that we can attract talented people by offering them less money than surrounding districts, higher class sizes, and no job security?

Mr. Winters also worries about losing new, potentially effective teachers, without giving a thought to losing experienced, proven effective teachers.

So, we offer a hearty Bronx cheer to Mr. Winters, which is more than he can do until someone stops pumping the oxygen from his think tank.

Top and Bottom of the Class Awards

We are introducing a new feature this week, mostly because we couldn't think of anything else to write and we enjoy using the royal "we". Starting today, this blog will bestow Top of the Class and Bottom of the Class awards to deserving educators, bloggers, educational pundits, politicians, and whoever else has made a huge step forward or backwards on behalf of teachers everywhere.

You can nominate someone for either award by writing to me, accountabletalk AT gmail.com. Give me the details as to why this person deserves accolades or the Bronx cheer. Each week, assuming anyone gives a damn, I will select a winner and a loser and announce the results here. I won't reveal who your are, nor will I use real names of principals or teachers. Public figures are fair game, of course.

If anyone with creative design skills and a lot of free time would like to design an award jpg, I'd appreciate it.

Charles G. Hogg for UFT President

Charles G. Hogg, a groundhog from Staten Island, predicted an early spring this year. Then he proceeded above and beyond the call of duty, giving teachers in NYC an early Christmas by biting Mayor Bloomberg.

A fracas broke out as several teachers began chanting "Hogg for UFT President!". They then seized the groundhog and proceeded to Tweed in search of Chancellor Klein. A startled Klein threatened to send the recalcitrant Hogg to a rubber room, whereupon the bemused rodent (Hogg, that is) reportedly said, "Hey, I may eat grubs, but even I wouldn't bite him!"

The groundhog was reportedly brought to the emergency room for rabies testing and subsequently released.