Class size reduction?

Not in New York. The Department of Education is taking a whole pile of money, fruits of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, and designating it for… its general fund. They are not calling it the general fund. They are dividing the money into lots of little piles and divvying it up for all sorts of various and sundry. But is it class-size reduction? Nah. Others have described it better (try here or here or here or here – rollover for names). Nothing on class size. Read it, or trust me, your call.
They put out their report last Thursday, and public hearings started yesterday, and they will jam four more in to the next three days so that every borough has had one and so that there is no real time for publicity. School-related hearings with three days notice in the Summer? They just didn’t want anyone to show up.

So the first was in the Bronx and my DR contacted some people, and a few of us came. There were maybe 100 people altogether. We were in the gymnasium of Bx Law, Govt & Justice (I hope I got that name right), a very nice-feeling new building near the courthouses. The panel looked like a bunch of DoE lawyers, though someone who knows better might know their individual titles. Marcia Lyles was there, but did no talking. Still, wouldn’t any decent educator have been ashamed to be part of this?

(much more, including comments on Randi’s remarks, below the fold )

A suit named Martin Best or something like that ran the meeting. He gave the appearance of a man who would rather be just about anywhere else than a high school gymn in the Bronx, for more than one reason. He rolled his eyes and stared into space as people gave testimony, recovering interest when the two minute speaking time limit was approaching, so that he could ask them to wrap up.

Next to him was an equally bored woman named Rencher or something like that. She didn’t speak, but her expressions oozed even more contempt for the crowd than Best’s. At one point I think she laughed at someone who was speaking. Garth Harries spoke about the plan, and there were a few more silent suits sitting to their left.

Some younger woman handed out a fact sheet about the plan. I looked, and the thing didn’t indicate who it was from, so I called out. Turns out the Department of Ed didn’t feel it necessary to put its name anywhere on its own materials, and the people sitting near me heard me say so, and a few may have been slightly amused.

And then the speakers started. Every single speaker, for maybe an hour and a half??, every speaker spoke against the DoE. Some were more articulate, some less. Most were sharp but not rude, but a few, including Robert Jackson, leaned on the extremely polite side (while his comments were indeed fairly sharp). And there was at least one bitterly sarcastic speaker (“You failed. Three days notice and parents still showed up. Maybe next time you’ll try using an undisclosed location”) Not all made the same points. But lack of specificity was a UFT talking point, and many speakers including UFTers, parents, advocacy groups, and individuals, picked up on how vague the plan was. “A wish list with no details” “A vision, not a plan” “A thesis statement without the rest of the essay”

Randi Weingarten spoke (her prepared text was later distributed, unsigned! but she was forced to prepare last minute. This timetable was the DoE’s fault). Her general themes were probably the strongest of the evening. She hit what I called the “general fund” issue: “seems to be simply a plan to fund its [DoE’s] own agenda.” Some of the money, it seems is going to things like charter schools ($60 million) and new testing ($42 million).

She got specific with pre-k, since they were defenseless there. “The major flaw here is that this is not a system of schools, but a school system” The DoE plan lets principals allocate funds. But who will allocate for pre-k? My union president made the case for some centralized planning. Then she pounded them on class size.

The suits did not look bored. Some took notes. Best looked decidedly uncomfortable. There was a brief exchange as he warned her on time, and she made clear (without using any of these words) that she was taking whatever time she needed. (this time limit stuff, I think he just wanted to get out of the Bronx. And show off some arbitrary authority. No one, Randi included, went over by more than a few seconds). Anyhow, she got a strong round of applause from the entire audience.

I hate these things. I fully believe that the DoE has no intent to listen to anything the public has to say (making Randi’s threat to go back to Albany, if need be, the comment to remember). But my District Rep asked me. And there were Chapter Leaders and Bronx UFT office people there. And I got really good coffee from the place on 161 near the corner of Gerard. (I think it has a name, but I just call it the cuchifritos place). I should have grabbed food for dinner from there, too.