Massive Tenure Hypocrisy

Un-freaking-believable:

State Education Commission Christopher Cerf has ordered that ousted Perth Amboy Superintendent Janine Caffrey be immediately reinstated and offered the school district a mediator to resolve disputes.

In a letter issued today, Cerf ruled that the school board failed to get a majority of the members to vote for removal of the superintendent.

On April 24, the board voted 4-0 to place Caffrey on administrative, with five members abstaining, four of them saying they could not vote on personnel matters because they had a relative employed by the district. The board also voted to to hire a consultant to negotiate a settlement of Caffrey's contract.

Cerf, in his letter dated today, said "I find the majority of the nine-member board must have voted in favor of the action in order for the board to appropriately place (Caffrey) on administrative leave."

Caffrey had appealed the board's decision to the Department of Education, and the school board had until noon Monday to file a brief in support of its action. [emphasis mine]

Let's start with this, once again: I do not know who is at fault here. This has been a bizarre case with a lot of angles, and I am not prepared to condemn Caffrey (although I will continue to point out she was not highly experienced for the job) or the PA BOE.

However...

Janine Caffrey has seen her star rise in New Jersey by remaking herself as the Queen of Tenure. She called tenure, "...the single greatest impediment to education improvement in New Jersey, without a doubt." Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger loves her for it; Jim Gearhart of 101.5 FM loves her for it. B4K ran a big public relations campaign for her because they love her stand on killing tenure.

Remember that tenure is merely the right to due process. If a school board moves to fire a tenured teacher, that teacher has one right: to have a hearing in front of an impartial third party. TEACHNJ, the tenure-gutting bill currently working its way through the NJ Legislature, would take away that right.

But this is EXACTLY what Caffrey got when faced with termination from her own board! Cerf - ostensibly the "impartial" third party - stepped in and overrode the PA BOE. She was saved from a board that she contends had a political agenda against her by using her right to due process.

This is the most hypocritical thing I've seen since I started the blog. The brazen double-standard is simply stunning. Caffrey and all of her cheerleaders ought to be ashamed of themselves.

If due process is good enough for reformy administrators like Janine Caffrey, why isn't it good enough for teachers???


I really don't want to hear another thing from Caffrey, Cerf, B4K, Moran, or any of these other "reformers" about how important it is to get rid of hearings before third parties prior to firing teachers. If you people can give Caffrey due process, you can damn well give it to the rest of us.

The hypocrisy meter explodes...

ADDING: And on the very day this all came down:

With fewer than two months before the state budget is due, Gov. Chris Christie said this morning he wants the state Legislature to deliver laws changing the tenure system for public school teachers in a way that will result in decreased taxes for New Jersey residents.

"I want to make one thing really clear to the state Legislature: Do not send me watered down B.S. tenure reform,’’ he told a crowd of more than 450 at a town hall meeting in Monmouth County.

[...]

"No one in this state should be guaranteed a job after three years and one day on the job without regard to how they do their job,’’ he said.

Unless they have powerful, wealthy friends in lobbying shops, the press, radio, the DOE, and the Statehouse.

These people have absolutely no shame whatsoever.

ADDING MORE: Here is the current tenure law in New Jersey:

18A:6-10. Dismissal and reduction in compensation of persons under tenure in public school system
No person shall be dismissed or reduced in compensation,

(a) if he is or shall be under tenure of office, position or employment during good behavior and efficiency in the public school system of the state, or

(b) if he is or shall be under tenure of office, position or employment during good behavior and efficiency as a supervisor, teacher or in any other teaching capacity in the Marie H. Katzenbach school for the deaf, or in any other educational institution conducted under the supervision of the commissioner;

except for inefficiency, incapacity, unbecoming conduct, or other just cause, and then only after a hearing held pursuant to this subarticle, by the commissioner, or a person appointed by him to act in his behalf, after a written charge or charges, of the cause or causes of complaint, shall have been preferred against such person, signed by the person or persons making the same, who may or may not be a member or members of a board of education, and filed and proceeded upon an in this subarticle provided.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the reduction of the number of any such persons holding such offices, positions or employments under the conditions and with the effect provided by law. [emphasis mine]

This is exactly what happened to Caffrey: she got a hearing with the ACTING Commissioner.

Can you tell that I'm just a little bit hyped up about this?

All I Want For Teacher Appreciation Day

I appreciate the lunch and the cards and the tweets and gifts and all the other little thank yous. I really do; we all do.

But you know what I really want today?

Respect.

The Usual Suspects

Last Wednesday, while us teachers were actually in school and, you know, teaching, the usual elites were gathering at an "invitation only" event to talk about how they are going to save education from... I dunno, us? Must be, because we weren't invited.

But we're so lucky - Alexander Russo threw us a few crumbs:

COMING OUT FOR THE PARENT TRIGGER: It was notable to me that the organizers opened the summit with a screening of the parent trigger movie (Won't Back Down) and an appearance by Parent Revolution's Ben Austin, who also won one of NSVF's annual awards. From Two Million Minutes to Waiting For "Superman" to Race To Nowhere, the potential power of mass media to shape public option is clear, but the reform community has been publicly silent and privately dismissive of the trigger approach. Perhaps they've warmed to its potential or at least recognizing the danger of being left out of one of education's few really "live" issues for 2012 -- the kind of issue (along with cyberbullying) that fancy policy wonks don't take seriously but journalists and debate moderators ask political candidates what they think about.

I'm sure I'll say this about ten billion times before this is over, but Won't Back Down is a work of fiction. This "parent trigger"-based story did not happen. Are we going to base our foreign policy on Borat next?

But we shouldn't be surprised at policy stances based on fiction when the corporate reformers take this kind of stance:

*CONVINCING A SKEPTICAL PUBLIC: Wearing polka-dotted reading glasses and with a thick stack of notecards, NSVF president Ted Mitchell gave what I thought was a pretty good speech about the need for reformers to do things differently, and better. "While we were making progress on the ground, we were losing our case in the public opinion," he said. The claim that reformers have been waging a war on teachers has stuck. "We have to scale our work, and convince an increasingly skeptical public," according to Mitchell. To do so, reformers need to bring others into the conversation, including in particular teachers, whom Mitchell described as a natural ally. "We need to listen to what teachers are telling us, and we need to respond." [emphasis mine]

No, what you need to do is get out of our way and let us do our jobs.Your "response" is not required and, in fact, detrimental to the cause. You are not the experts - we are. This is our conversation and you have no right to decide whether or not we should be invited.

This is a level of disrespect that no other profession would ever tolerate. Can you imagine a conversation about health care reform where people who aren't medical professionals state publicly that we ought to change our tactics by listening to doctors? Where people with no experience or training in medicine lead policy and dictate how doctors and nurses actually do their jobs?

Russo can:

*STORMING THE BASTILLE: Inviting Howard Fuller to open the first full day of the summit was another interesting move, given his support for vouchers and his "storm the Bastille" rhetoric. In the past, Geoff Canada and Al Sharpton have played the role of elder black statesmen for the reform movement. And Fuller is a big change from Canada -- closer to Klein and Rhee. Some people thought it was an inappropriate choice. I thought it was a good reminder to reformers about the larger context in which they're working -- that they have to deal with impatient pro-voucher Democrats, one way or the other. Next year, Derrell Bradford, the New Jersey reform leader whom along with Ref Rodriguez and Danielle Smith blew up the Yale SOM summit in 2011?

Hey, Alexander, I have just the wacky, craziest idea! Wanna hear it? OK - now, understand, I know this is just nuts! But how about, instead of having a guy who has never worked in school give the address, how about you get - hang on for this one - an actual teacher! You know, one of those teachers who you just said you need to listen to?

Boy, how do I come up with this insane stuff?

*There wasn't much buzz about Rahm Emanuel at the reception after his conference-ending appearance. His remarks and answers were repetitive sound bites and there was a massive disconnect between what he was talking about and the turmoil within the Brizard team and the teachers union and all the rest. He's only been in office for a year, and I think most folks are going to take a wait and see approach. He's got the authority to do all sorts of things -- charter the district, implement a city-level version of the parent trigger. But it's been a bumbly, stumbly first year, what with the awkward rollout of the extended day and the staff shakeup around Brizard. There are some good people working on district change in CPS. There could be a strike.

The fact that the teacher bashing and extraordinarily ignorant Rahm Emanuel was invited to close this thing tells you all you need to know about this "summit," brought to you by (from the actual website):

They can't bring Chicago teachers and Rahm together, but they found peace between the Waltons and Target. And Pearson's just there for the kids...

Swell. 

King Christie

Chris Christie will take as much power as he can grab:

But on his education agenda at least, the governor is also finding he can move on some key issues without the legislature’s full consent, creating tensions along the way but with, so far, no one stopping him.

An example came last week when Christie announced a new plan for high school testing that would effectively do away with the current High School Proficient Assessment and replace it with yearly exams in language arts and math, as well as possibly other subjects. 

When asked whether it would need approval of the legislature, Christie said Monday that most could be done through state code and the State Board of Education, of which he will have appointed its majority by the end of his term.

“I think most of it we can do regulatory,” Christie said on Monday. “If it needs some clean up, we can talk to [the legislature] about it, but nothing that will be a foundation of the policy.”

However, overlooked was the fact that the state’s current high school testing is indeed written into state law, providing some wiggle room for the administration but still a benchmark that will need to be addressed.

The law requires a high school test in 11th grade, as is now administered in the HSPA. Another provision also requires a similar test in 8th grade.

See, if Chris Christie wants more useless tests, all he has to do is say so. He doesn't have to justify his position; he can just do what he wants. Who does this remind you of?

The tensions were on display when Christie’s acting education commissioner, Chris Cerf, went before the Assembly’s budget committee to defend the governor’s education budget for next year.

Much of the discussion centered on state aid to districts, always a contentious topic, but some of the most pointed questions came around Cerf’s reorganization of his department that includes the creation of seven regional achievement centers, taking some of the functions of the department’s existing county offices.

The reorganization was approved by the state Board of Education last year, as is its responsibility over department operations. But in the Statehouse, the point of contention is those county offices and the executive county superintendents who head them are a creation of legislation in 2007 that sought to bring more efficiency to school districts, including a push for consolidation. The county offices were to lead those consolidation efforts.

But after some initial study, those efforts have all but stalled, Cerf conceded. Now just 10 of the 21 county superintendent positions are filled, with no nominations on the table to address the vacancies.

State Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) pointed out that the legislature held a special session to address school funding, including the new organizational structure.

“The work of the legislature means something, a deliberative body of 120 individuals who are trying to reach conclusions, education being an issue that is very important,” Burzichelli said.

“There was a legislative process that concluded we should have these executive county superintendents in place for a reason,” he said. “We think we have set a course, and find the course has been abandoned.”

Cerf said it was not abandoned entirely, and that a more efficient system of public education remained a goal.

“You offer a very powerful reminder that we need to reengage on that,” Cerf responded to Burzichelli. [emphasis mine]

ACTING Lord High Executioner Cerf has "not abandoned entirely" the law. Well, that's nice to hear; I suppose that's why less than half of the county superintendent positions have been filled.

They will, of course, continue to do whatever the hell they want until someone in the Legislature stands up and demands that they stop. But no one seems much inclined to do so, which means these guys will continue to push their unproven, ridiculous, profiteering schemes:

Last week, it proposed a sweeping change to the state’s procedures for approving and reviewing charter schools, including some options for the state to stop short of closing them outright if they are not performing.

In addition, the new proposed code would lower a chief barrier for online charter schools, a concept that was not envisioned when the state’s existing charter law was enacted.

The changes would allow for charter schools to serve communities that are necessarily contiguous, a nod to online schools that could enroll students virtually anywhere.

Whether or not the changes go through, the Christie administration has nonetheless approved four new online charter schools, at least two planning to open this fall.

You know, if virtual schools are freaking great, why do we need to make them charters? Let's just have one non-profit, state-wide virtual school, run by the state BOE. Economies of scale and all that.

Of course, the profit margins for the corporate reformists wouldn't be nearly so great, would they? But unless and until someone in a seat of power points this out and demands that these schemes be subject to the elected representatives of the people and not just an unelected, unappointed, unconfirmed corporate reformist...

Well, until then - it's good to be the king.

CEO, Let Them Eat Cake Charter School, LLC

Useless Vouchers

So Cory Booker, George Norcross, and Chris Christie spent the week going on and on about how vouchers will "save" our failing children schools. The facts seem to matter little to these three, so rather than go over them yet again, let's see if what they are saying makes any sense whatsoever.

Booker:

"We have created a system that chokes out potential of millions of children trapped in schools that deny the beauty of their genius," Booker said. "We need to get the Opportunity Scholarship Act passed because we need to lift the bar higher."

Mr. Mayor, there are a scant few parochial schools left in your city or elsewhere in New Jersey. The very elite private schools are pretty much full. How will putting a very few children into the few seats available "lift the bar higher"? And if that's the goal, will you agree not to give OSA vouchers to children who are already enrolled in private schools?

Norcross:

"By 2014 in Camden, we will have two schools with longer school years, longer school hours, tutoring for students and more," Norcross said. "These schools will be state of the art — the envy of any suburban school district."

Boss, if a longer school day, longer school year, tutoring, and "more" are so good for kids, why don't we do that for every kid in Camden? If the state self-insured all public employees, we could save a boatload of money and use it to fund all of this. Wouldn't that be swell? I'm sure you agree, right?

Christie:

“Parents cannot wait for us to get it together anymore,” Christie said. “In New Jersey, we’ve been trying to figure this out for 30 years. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars and we still haven’t got it.”

Governor, New Jersey has cut the achievement gap in half over those 30 years. Would you prefer to give those gains back?

Let's be very clear about this: no matter how these plutocrats sell it, vouchers will do little for the children of New Jersey. They may help to salve the consciences of the insanely wealthy who push them, like the DeVos family, but they have no real educational value.

Julia Sass Rubin explains more:

Watch Save Our Schools NJ Representative Opposes School Vouchers on PBS.  See more from WNJT.

Rhee Buys Herself Some Legislators

Teachers, Missouri shows you the future - pay heed:

Two Democratic legislators, including Minority Leader Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, who received campaign contributions from Michelle Rhee's Students First helped give the organization its first legislative victory in Missouri Thursday.

A watered down HB 1526 eliminating the use of seniority in determining teacher layoffs passed by an 83-78 margin, one vote more than necessary, with Talboy, who received a $1,000 contribution from Students First on March 27, and Penny Hubbard, D-St. Louis, who banked a $500 check the same day, voting on the winning side. 

How the winning majority was obtained was described in a legislative report issued today by Missouri NEA:

The bill initially did not have the required constitutional majority of 82 votes, but the voting board was held open for nearly fifteen minutes while House Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones and other caucus leaders walked the floor, pressuring representatives to change their votes. Eventually, enough votes were changed to pass the bill by a vote of 83-76, one more than the required majority and the board was closed. 

Tim Jones also received a $1,000 campaign contribution from Students First. 

Of course he did.

I'd like to point out that Students First can go around and buy votes to strip teachers of their workplace protections, but they run and hide like cowards when the issue of who their backers are comes up. One would think the people of Missouri would like to know who is buying their legislators' votes so cheaply.

Here in Jersey, plutocratic State Senator Tom Kean, Jr. (R) is moving to stop any contributions teachers unions can make to candidates. He doesn't seem to care as much about finding out whether a campaign money-laudering operation like Students First is buying votes on behalf of their (reportedly) big-money donors like Rupert Murdoch, who has declared he'd like to replace teachers with computers running his software. Yeah, no conflict of interest there.

Back to Missouri:

Missouri Ethics Commission documents indicate at least seven other representatives, received contributions from Students First. Anne Zerr, R-St. Charles; Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City; Noel Torpey, R-Independence; Eric Burlison, R-Springfield; Kevin Elmer, R-Nixa; and Caleb Jones, R-California, received $500 checks and all voted for HB 1526.

Only one recipient of Students First money, Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis, who received $1,000, voted against the bill.

I'm sure SF had no expectation Colona would be voting in their favor. I'm sure he'll get an even better check the next election cycle [/snark].

Another slap in the face for Missouri teachers. While portions of the bill requiring that standardized test scores be used as at least 50 percent of teacher evaluations were removed, this is undoubtedly the first step toward implementing this so-called reform.

It also opens the door for decisions on which teachers should be laid off to be based on personal reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with education and (even though the bill says layoffs cannot be based on salaries) it is not hard to believe that creative administrators will find a way to save money by eliminating experienced teachers.

Which is what this is all about. We're going to turn teaching into an entry-level job where churn is the norm. No profession operates like that, but it's no surprise that Rhee would think this should be the new paradigm; that's how she approached teaching herself:

Michelle Rhee: Discovering Teaching Passion

She admits she went into teaching thinking it was going to be a temporary career: and, for her, it was. She taught for three years, then moved on to promoting temporary teaching as career move for those attending elite colleges. The notion that she "was hooked" is absolutely absurd: like most TFAers, she left after only a few years.

She then went around and oversold her abilities as a genius in front of the chalkboard, when, in fact, the evidence suggests she was quite mediocre. She parlayed this highly questionable selling of herself into a three-year gig running the Washington, D.C. schools where, by her own standards, she failed.

Now she collects the money of the super rich to spend on buying legislators to take away workplace protections for the teachers who actually stayed in the job and did the hard work she couldn't do herself.

It is a sign of how far our media and our politics have sunk that this woman - a woman who has no discernible accomplishments, talent or commitment as an educator - is allowed to dominate our national conversation about schools.

Something Is Very Wrong With Chris Christie

March 19, 2012:

"I’m scared to death to talk to you," the woman said.

"Why?" the Gov. Chris Christie asked.

"Because you scare me," she said, prompting laughter from the crowd.

What a difference a week makes.

At a town hall meeting in Roebling last week, a former Navy SEAL repeatedly interrupted the governor with a message he didn’t like: Students at Rutgers-Camden don’t want the campus taken over by Rowan University.

The result was a defiant Christie calling Bill Brown, an erstwhile Democratic Assembly candidate, an "idiot" that will live in YouTube infamy.

But today, at his first town hall since the heated exchange, Christie was more than happy to entertain the woman, a second-grade teacher, when she spoke up as he answered her question. He even instructed his staff to give her back the microphone so the audience in Kearny could hear her better.

The difference was apparently in her demeanor.

Instead of challenging Christie, the woman implored the governor and the state’s largest teachers union, of which she is a member, to "find a way to work together."

"I’m a teacher who loves her job and I love my kids," she said. "I just wish our dialogue could become a dialogue, an open an honest exchange that doesn’t resort to name-calling and fear."

Now, why would this teacher ever be afraid of lovable old Chris Christie?

May 3, 2012:

A teachers union run by "bullies" and the Democrats who support it are blocking education reforms that would give thousands of students in failing public schools a second chance, Gov. Chris Christie said yesterday before a crowd of school choice supporters.

Christie delivered the keynote address to the American Federation for Children, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., that supports school choice and voucher programs. The group, composed partially of wealthy donors, has invested money in New Jersey and other states promoting bills that would offer private school vouchers to public school students, spokesman Malcom Glenn said.

The group is holding a two-day summit in Jersey City to promote its agenda.

The New Jersey Education Association’s use of a "$130 million slush fund" — the amount the state’s largest teachers union collects annually in dues — to "beat on the people who dare to speak out for children," however, is "immoral," Christie told a rapt audience of about 400.

"When you’re governor and you work in the school yard called Trenton, and you see a bunch of people laying on the ground bloodied and one guy standing against the fence with a smug smile on his face, you know that’s the bully," Christie said, speaking about the union leadership.

"You know what you do? You walk up to him with a big smile on your face and you punch him first," Christie said, earning a roar of applause. [emphasis mine]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: something is very wrong with this man. It's one thing to call out your political opponents. It's one thing to strut and swagger like a fool before your acolytes. We all know where Christie learned to do that:

But W used more restraint talking about Osama bin Laden than Chris Christie uses talking about the NJEA. It's weird and creepy and completely unbecoming of a man who holds the highest office in the state. And it's completely disingenuous of Christie's reformy cheerleaders to pretend that teachers and their union are being unreasonable in doubting Christie's sincerity when he engages in this kind of rhetoric.

There's a reason we teachers don't trust this guy (aside from the fact he lied to us - see the top of this blog): anyone who talks this way isn't trustworthy. You're creeping us all out, Chris - knock it off.

Perth Amboy Follies Continue

Oy, vey...

Derrick Kyriacou, district supervisor of language arts with principal certification, has been temporarily assigned as principal at the Dr. Herbert N. Richardson 21st Century School after five people were placed on leave, according to Acting Superintendent of Schools Dr. Vivian Rodriguez. 

The Home News Tribune has confirmed that Richardson School Principal Alvaro Cores, who is new to the district, and the school’s vice principal have been placed on leave, along with three support staff members who do not have direct contact with students. 

“We are unable to comment on personnel matters or the extent of any pending investigations at this time,” Rodriguez said.

The employment leaves come at the same time a police report about allegations at the Richardson School was filed by Rodriguez.

Deputy Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz said he received a report this week that deals with an incident from last December that he thought had been handled internally by the school district.

Ruiz said the report refers to allegations during Christmastime last year when someone at the school reportedly had a bottle or poster to sell a type of Latino egg nog during the holidays.

There have been rumors in the city that the holiday drink was sold to staff members and others in the community from the school.

Ruiz said there is no proof the bottle contained alcohol. He said a lot of people get the egg nog without alcohol. He said there was no indication someone was intoxicated.

Having a bottle with alcohol would not constitute a crime, but it could violate school policy, he said.

“My understanding was the allegation was brought to light and it was handled internally,” Ruiz said. “There is not sufficient information available to go beyond handling it internally,” Ruiz said. “We notified (the superintendent) it is not a criminal matter and to check their own files.”

Any internal action would have been handled by then-Superintendent of Schools Dr. Janine Walker Caffrey, who last week was placed on immediate paid administrative leave by the Board of Education during a special meeting. [emphasis mine]

I'd like to point out that under TEACHNJ, this principal would have had the power to turn down any teacher appointed from the district office, not matter how qualified that teacher may be. Also, teacher evaluations by this principal that lead to tenure removal for teachers would not be subject to appeal. Everybody good with that?

As to the rest of this...

Really, is there anything more to say? It was handled "internally," yet these folks were on the job after all the allegations? Seriously?

After all this whining?

Sometimes I'm speechless...

ADDING: I'm not being clear here. I have no idea what happened. That's the point: you investigate this stuff, make your charges, bring them through due process, and act on the results. That's the way things should work.

Caffrey's whine was she couldn't get rid of all the "bad" teachers she was allegedly saddled with because tenure is so hard and takes time and you have to like, you know, come up with proof and stuff. Well, her replacement wasted little time taking action until due process could be implemented. What's the problem? Looks to me like it's pretty easy to remove who you need to remove until charges can be proven. Why didn't Caffrey do that?

Why do we have to upend the entire tenure process when you can remove people under the current system with little difficulty?

The Kids Are Alright

If our governor would just stop for a minute and listen to the real stakeholders in education, he might actually learn something [all emphases mine]:

Question: What’s your reaction to Christie’s announcement that the HSPA would be phased out as a high school test and replaced by end-of-year exams?

Jeffrey Yu, 18, senior, WWP South: “At West Windsor Plainsboro South, there hasn’t been a year when a kid didn’t pass the HSPA. It’s an easy test for our district. For myself, I definitely thought it was pretty easy.

“I wouldn’t say it’s eighth grade [level]. It had algebra, so I would say that is more 10th grade or high 9th. But look at all the other tests we are taking, the SAT, the ACTs, AP English or math, compared to them, it’s a piece of cake.”

Ruby Shao, 16, junior, WWP South: “I think [the HSPA] is a little too long, though. It’s three days. And I agree it doesn’t measure by pushing you to do your best, it basically measures the minimum. But it’s repetitive, it’s like the same thing for three days.”

Yu: “But I think that is this district. The culture and environment we grow up in, we can’t know a bit of what it’s like to be growing up in Trenton or Camden and what it feels like for them.”

How is it that an 18-year-old kid from West Windsor gets this, but all of these well-heeled reformies don't? Is he a racist for pointing out that he is growing up in a completely different environment from kids in the inner-cities, and maybe, just maybe, that might have something to do with academic achievement? Is he "accepting the status quo"? Does he not believe "all children can learn"? Or is he smart yet still unjaded enough to describe the most obvious thing in the world?

Q: For those districts, should the state be raising the bar on what it takes to receive a high school diploma?

Yu: “It kind of feels like the anti-bullying law, where let’s give these schools a mandate for doing something and not provide the resources to do it. The governor’s comment with Asbury Park [and it’s $30,000 per student spending], maybe it does take $30,000 for a kid to learn there. They don’t have the issues in schools as here, they don’t always have the same supports at home.”

“Christie makes a good point that you need to spend correctly, but you shouldn’t then cut the money.”

I hope this kid runs for the NJ Assembly someday. Adequate financing is the necessary precondition for school success. Duh.

Stephen Konowitz, 17, senior, WWP North: “You do want to get to these goals, but how do you get there? What are the necessities and how are we planning out how we will get there? “

“You can’t throw money at the problem, but that’s just part of it. How do you make sure the teachers are qualified? And kids have outside lives, too, and it all factors into the classroom. Not sure all this objective data is saying everything about how good is the classroom or how good is a student or how good is a teacher.”

Notice how these kids don't couch their thoughts in weasel words, like: "Teachers are the most important in-school factor for student learning." They simply state the obvious.

Q: What about adding end-of-course tests in language arts and math in 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, as Christie proposed?

Shao: “I see what he wants to do, but don’t think it is necessary to do in 9th, 10th and 11th. Even if you say don’t teach to the test, the teachers will still want to prepare their kids. That will take time from the actual curriculum. It’s the same criticism as with current HSPA, if only on math and English, people won’t focus on the other things.”

Yu: “And you are taking money from one aspect of school experience and giving it to another. Even in this district, where we do have enough money, we still have clubs cut and fewer now than three years ago before the 2010 cuts. Everyone feels the impact. I can only imagine when you lose your breakfast program in a Trenton school, or something like that.”

Shao: “I’m glad we are growing up before this all happens. There is too much testing, too much reliance on statistics and teaching based on statistics. We had it but wasn’t as extensive.”

Amen. The Jazzboys are in high school and will mostly miss this onslaught of reforminess. It's the students I have now that I worry about: the ones in the primary grades. If this crap goes through, their high school experience will radically change. And for what? To root out a bunch of "bad" teachers no one has proven exist anyway?

Q: Are there good tests that measure important skills? What about the state’s pilot biology test given now in 9th grade? Or the Advanced Placement tests many students take?

Yu: “Not sure we ever got the results of the bio test, but it didn’t count anyway and kids didn’t take that seriously.

Ouch. Seriously, what was the point of this exam? To gauge biology teacher "effectiveness"? How can you possibly do that without a pre-test? Is that what we're going to add next?

“With AP tests, I think it requires you to understand the test, but you also need the information. You have to know how to write an essay, but you need to have the information.”

Shao: “And you are glad when it’s over.”

Let's think about what the Christie high school testing regime means for a college-bound kid:

• 9th Grade Math Test
• 9th Grade Language Arts Test
• 9th Grade Biology Test
• 9th Grade Social Studies Test (maybe)
• 10th Grade Math Test
• 10th Grade Language Arts Test
• 10th Grade Science Test (maybe)
• 10th Grade Social Studies Test (maybe)
• PSAT
• 11th Grade Math Test
• 11th Grade Language Arts Test
• 11th Grade Science Test (maybe)
• 11th Grade Social Studies Test (maybe)
• SAT
• Most likely a second administration of the SAT
• ACT (probably)
• Junior year: Maybe one, two, or even three AP Tests
• At least two, probably three SAT Subject Tests
• Senior year AP Tests: Anywhere from one to four

I mean, damn. Look at that. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest here.

What is the point of this? What is to be gained from this? How does this make our education system any better?

I'll tell you one thing it's doing:

If you haven't seen Race To Nowhere yet, I urge you to see it as soon as you possibly can. I never tear up at movies, but this one got me moist. It's heart breaking.

The rest of the world is moving away from this nonsense. When will we?

ADDING: These kids are fantastic. They could do anything. Think there's a good chance they'll want to teach under Christie's policies?

ADDING MORE: Kids in Florida are saying the same thing.

"Considering the FCAT was on my birthday, it kind of stressed me out."

Well...

NJDOE Coup d'Etat

Cross-posted from Blue Jersey

A couple of bombshells dropped out of the NJ DOE yesterday. First, from Kevin Shelley at the Courier-Post:

CAMDEN — A secret Department of Education proposal called for the state to intervene in the city’s school district by July 1, closing up to 13 city and charter schools. 

But while reserving the right to exercise his “statutory authority,” Gov. Chris Christie has no plans to enact the DOE scenario, according to his spokesman. 

“It never made its way to the governor’s office,” said Michael Drewniak. No one from the governor’s office was involved in preparing the document, he added.

Justin Barra, a DOE spokesman, called the proposal one of many “recommendations” for the city’s struggling school system. 

“It is irresponsible to portray this document as anything other than a preliminary look at the options the state would have to improve failing schools or to portray this as a plan for intervention in Camden. It is not,” said Barra in an emailed statement.

He said the DOE is conducting “an in-depth evaluation of Camden … to identify the role the state can play to better support school and district improvement. No determinations will be made about how best to support student improvement in Camden until this detailed evaluation is complete.”

Well, looks like everyone in the Christie administration is running away from this one. But is anyone surprised they might try this? The DOE is running Newark with a minimum of citizen input, tightening its grip on Paterson, clearing the path for Broadies in Jersey City*, meddling in Perth Amboy, overriding citizens voices in Trenton, laying plans in Cherry Hill, helping friends in Highland Park... Why would Camden be let off of the hook?

So, who's coming up with the big takeover plans?

The intervention proposal, which was obtained by the Courier-Post, was written by Department of Education employee Bing Howell. 

He did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment. 

Howell serves as a liaison to Camden for the creation of four Urban Hope Act charter schools. He reports directly to the deputy commissioner of education, Andy Smerick.

Howell’s proposal suggests that he oversee the intervention through portfolio management — providing a range of school options with the state, not the district, overseeing the options. He would be assisted by Rochelle Sinclair, another DOE employee. Both Howell and Sinclair are fellows of the Los Angeles-based Broad Foundation. [emphasis mine]

Kinda like Old Faithful at this point. The proposal calls for the usual round of school closings, because instability is just so freaking great for kids living in difficult conditions. But here's the part that's going to raise eyebrows:

• Control the school board by taking away members’ ability to vote for at least six months, plus adding three state-appointed members. Place all hiring and firing decisions in the hands of the state Board of Education

• If a superintendent vacancy happens during state intervention, the commissioner would recommend a replacement with confirmation by state board. 

• Increase charter schools and attract charter management organizations such as those run by the KIPP chain. Send Camden students out of district to choice and vocational schools. 

The proposal also calls for passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a proposed corporate tax credit scholarship bill. This would be used to send children to religious schools and private schools, including boarding schools.

Howell also said the state should partner with Teach for America, Knowledge is Power Program and The New Teacher Project . The three programs have or had links to Broad Foundation board members Wendy Kopp (TFA), Richard Barth (KIPP) and Michelle Rhee (formerly of TNTP and a TFA alumna). [emphasis mine]

All the usual suspects. They want to strip local control and turn the whole thing over to people who won't attempt to run an entire district (Barth) or failed when they tried (Rhee). And, of course, OSA rears its head again, despite the fact that Camden only has a small number of private school slots available (not that vouchers work anyway).


Now, what's interesting about the timing of this story is that it surfaced at the same time as another power grab is coming to light; Darcie Cimarusti gives us the details:

And hold onto your hats folks, because we are on the cusp of perhaps our biggest charter battle to date in the state of New Jersey.  The NJDOE and Governor have faced steep opposition to their charter agenda, leading WNYC's Nancy Solomon to conclude that the suburban charter school battle could be Christie's Waterloo.


Not so fast says the NJDOE!  Tomorrow morning the State Board of Education will meet at the NJ Department of Education and on the agenda are proposed changes to the charter school regulations. 


The board will get its first look at new charter school regulations that the administration contends will add both flexibility and accountability for charter schools. The proposed regulations would create a two-tier application process that will allow the department to focus more on applicants ready to open, but also provide more time for local districts to review applications as well. The new regulations would also provide new options for the commissioner to deal with lower-performing charters, and ease some provisions in the existing regulations that have been seen as an obstacle to online charter schools.


I got a sneak peek at the new regulations yesterday before NJ Spotlight published them this morning and have already done an analysis, which I hope to post shortly.  The proposed changes exemplify EVERYTHING that is wrong with the NJDOE under Acting Commissioner Cerf.  They give the Acting Commissioner  unlimited power to put charters in former Abbott districts or any district with a Priority School, the ability to control how charters grow and expand into other districts, and grants him limitless control over the renewal or closure of a charter.  All of these new powers come with next to no input from the districts and communities that will pay for these charters.    


The sweeping changes proposed to the regulations, without the careful review of the legislature, are unconscionable, but par for the course for this administration and this Acting Commissioner.

Not enough autocracy for you? Take a look at TEACHNJ, the tenure-gutting bill working its way around legislature. It will give all sorts of new powers to the ACTING Commissioner, including the power to override local boards' ability to set the rubrics for evaluating their teachers.

There is a legitimate case to be made for school district consolidation. There is a legitimate discussion to have about the role of local school boards in setting policy. But let no one labor under the delusion that this is what we have here.

This is a power grab. ACTING Commissioner Cerf made his bones in the NYC system while Tweed was under Generalissimo Bloomberg's control. The m.o. there was to disempower local school boards, parents, and educators and pass all the important decision making to the top (thank the lord Leonie Haimson and crew were there to document all the sordid details). It didn't help students then, and it won't help students now.

These schools belong to the people of New Jersey, not California billionaires. They are here to serve the children of New Jersey, not the private interests of corporate reformers. Lord High Executioner Cerf moves as if he has been granted carte blanche to appropriate powers from localities whenever he see fit.

Well, he may claim these rights, but that doesn't mean he has them - provided, of course, someone in the legislature is willing to stand up and say, "Enough." Until then, we are all on his little list.

* A source in Jersey City tells me rumors are flying about big changes in the district. Stay tuned.