Video of Rally at Fordham HS for the Arts
See also:
call to attend (this was handed out, not by me, at the rally. I felt good)
1st report
We are not afraid.
We are not afraid
The protest at Fordham High School for the Arts Friday, by itself, doesn’t solve the problem. But it was clearly a very Good Thing.
It garnered attention. It drew teachers together (how many were surprised to see teachers from across the borough show up in solidarity?). It empowered – right? If you were there you know how good it felt to stand up together, to chant together.
There are monster administrators in a bunch of our schools. Teachers and staff have had it. But they’ve been scared. Now, however, I think now we will see more teachers ready to speak up. We will see more teachers ready to stand up.
Look, it is ok to be afraid. We’ve all been afraid. And as teachers, there is some reason.
In some schools we are afraid of the hallways, or the stairwells. Afraid of needing help and having no deans nearby, of having no working phones. Afraid of being in old buildings in disrepair, with vermin, with contaminants, with bad air, with fire alarms that get ignored. Afraid of discipline that’s broken down, of unreported, unpunished incidents encouraging disrespect and violence.
We are afraid of administrators manufacturing charges against us, afraid that a kid will respond to a bad grade or a scolding by claiming we hit them… or touched them.
We are afraid of getting yelled at, demeaned, insulted. Afraid of getting invited out for drinks with a creepy principal or AP. We are afraid of getting written up, getting U’ed.
The economy is bad, and most of us don’t know what we would do if we lost our jobs. We are afraid of what can happen on our jobs, and we are afraid of losing those same jobs.
But yesterday? No! We were not quivering with fear. Let the principal shake. Let her be too nervous to look out the window.
We are not afraid.
Night on the town may give teachers at Bronx DNA high school a break
The High School for Performance and Stagecraft may have caught a break. It has been an awful place to work at, a career-ender. It easily made it to the Do Not Apply list last summer.
We go out to relax, unwind, unburden ourselves. Stagecraft’s principal went out, and may have ‘unburdened’ his entire staff!
If Iris Blige is removed from the Fordham HS for the Arts, the teachers there may feel relief over escaping her, and pride in playing a role in showing her the door. Teachers at Performance and Stagecraft are more likely to feel that relief… but no pride here. Their abusive principal seems to have effectively brought himself down.
By YOAV GONEN and TOM LIDDY
A Bronx high-school principal was busted for allegedly smashing into two cars while driving drunk and fleeing.
Mark Sweeting, of the Bronx HS of Performance and Stagecraft, was charged with DWI, driving with a suspended license, and leaving the scene of an accident, records show.
“Yes! More shots!” said Sweeting, 41, when police tried to give him a Breathalyzer test on Feb. 25, according to a legal complaint.
I understand he has been reassigned…
With some luck we’ll be able to pull Stagecraft off the Do Not Apply list. Stay tuned.
The Carnival of Π
Rather than write something clever about π for Π day, I’ve chosen to (rather lamely) assemble links to blogs in my reader that were more creative than I was.
Andrée, in northern Vermont, who lost part of her job (reduction in hours) as a math teacher has kept her spirits up (go, look at her photography, please), and has given us for Π day both a pi-comic and a humorous pi-video (that I can’t get to play).
Zeno channels Dostoevsky channelling the Da Vinci code on Π at Halfway There.
Π day photo that I just don’t get. I think they are characters from a detective show (or was it a sitcom?) set in Hawaii.
The day before she put up some suggestions for Π day activities, “Things that equal π”
Kate(t) boasts about that her school does a great Π day, which is kind of her, since all the evidence points to a great Π day taking place in Kate’s class. Extra kudos for including a map, and teaching her kidlets about the “other” Syracuse…
Denise at Let’s Play Math did a me, and posted a picture of a gorgeous π pie, and some links. She’s also got an ad for a key lime pi t-shirt, which is just too cute. (with image).
Update! I missed Dave Marain’s pi-links at Math Notations. He did them a few days in advance… which is how I overlooked them.
And that’s all I found in my reader this year.
Do Not Apply: PS/MS4
There are good schools, bad schools, mediocre schools. But in New York City we have a handful of schools that are so poorly run, so out of control, with administrations that are so incompetent, mean, arbitrary, or vindictive, that getting a job in these schools often means ending your career before it starts.
Last summer I started a list. I started with Bronx high schools, and moved on to Manhattan high schools. Since then I dropped Pablo Neruda (lack of evidence of an ongoing problem; there were a series of bad incidents of teacher harassment, U, discontinuance, but not ongoing) and added Bronx HS of Science.
Today, we have our second Bronx middle school (actually a K-8), Crotona Park West, in District 9. (First was the Bronx Green School, D11)
The principal is fast to U-rate beginning teachers. He has been docking teachers for taking sick days. He U’ed the Chapter Leader! (this is a big deal since it sends the message to the rest of the staff that he has no intention of playing by any rules.) His line is he was hired by chancellor and he is the rating officer. Period. He has the entire staff terrified.
If you know more details about Crotona Park West, let me know. E-mail is [this blog name] [at] [gmail] (and then dot com), or leave comments here.
If you know about other schools that fit the “Do Not Apply” category, let me know. E-mail is [this blog name] [at] [gmail] (and then dot com). Tell me, as specifically as possible, why the school fits that category.
Protest at Fordham High School for the Arts
Teachers at Fordham HS for the Arts had enough. Today they led a protest, and asked for help from other high school teachers in the Bronx. About 4-500 came for a one hour rally.
- From Columbus campus
- From Walton campus
- From Clinton
- From Bronx Science
- From the HS of American Studies
- From Evander campus
- From Wings
- From Truman
- From Lehman
- From JFK campus
- From the Taft Campus
[update: from Grace Dodge. from Jane Addams]
From every high school I can think of in the Bronx. Many I missed. Today we stood together.
Channel 12 came (probably running the story now). Channel 5 (Ti Wa Chang might have a piece at 10?). A NYC education web news source had a reporter in the Bronx – but elsewhere.
Protesters from scores of Bronx HSs converge on the Fordham HS for the Arts
Fordham HS for the Arts teacher addresses the gathered throng
CUNY Math Contest
There’s a CUNY math contest… and now there’s a blog that follows the questions round by round: CUNY Math Challenge.
This is not an official site, but a blog following the action (as it were).
They’ve posted the five rounds. And once March 15 passes, they will start posting the solutions, and, I assume, some discussion on the problems.
It came to my notice as searchers jumped back and forth. Apparently, one problem has a solution in two parts, both of which have been puzzles here!
Teachers at a Do Not Apply School take to the street
Enough is enough.
One of the most abusive principals in the Bronx pushed and pushed. She mistreated, berated, threatened belittled. For too long, years now, she has destroyed careers, beaten teachers down, driven young people with potential out of the profession.
For the last few years, teachers have left Fordham HS for the Arts at the end of the year. To transfer elsewhere. To leave teaching. Just to get away. Those left behind coped, and plotted their own escapes.
Raqnel James was not the first teacher Blige sent to the rubber room, but this time it is different. The teachers stood up, silently, when they all wore black earlier this year. And now? Rally.
Jobs threatened. Tenure threatened. The choice is to take it and try to survive the year, which would be quite understandable, or fight, which is nothing short of inspirational.
Friday, March 13, 2009
4 – 5 PM
In front of Fordham HS for the Arts
(f/k/a Theodore Roosevelt HS)
500 East Fordham Road
the Bronx
(more details on FhsArts and Blige, later)
Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy – Do Not Apply
On the advice of a few good sources, I added this school, quietly, without detail, to the Do Not Apply list last summer. No one wrote in to correct me, nor did anyone write to add details. I let it sit.
But over the last few weeks, this little high school on Story Avenue in the Bronx (is that Soundview?) has generated more than its fill of negative comments. I reproduce them, below.
In New York City, there are good schools, bad schools, and in between schools. But some are so bad, so toxic, so abusive of new teachers, so arbitrary, so threatening, demeaning or intimidating, that no one should apply to work in these places. There are schools where a new teacher coming in has an unacceptably high risk of leaving in a year, or even before the year is out, lost to teaching forever, whether by being traumatized by the experienced or targetted for dismissal by an out of control principal.
These schools are Do Not Apply. Felisa Rincon is one. (click “more” for comments) Read more…
Step and Differential applications – on line, soon
Salary Step and Differentials to be filed on line – starting when?
The announcements are all over the place. But for now, the New York City Department of Education has forms available. The web site still says, “fill ’em out, send ’em in”
I don’t trust their on-line stuff. But, in theory, it should save us from getting a new round of “orginal” transcripts from every college we’ve ever gone to, each time we earn a few more credits.
When the on-line system is up, I’ll post the info here. Click more to read what their site says today: Read more…
Teachers Choice – spend it now
New York City teachers received $150 this year for Teachers Choice, a program that gives us money to buy supplies for the classroom. Most of us received our checks (direct deposit, or debit card) in December. The deadline for spending the money is fast approaching: March 20 (extended from the original March 15)
Does every building have one person that forgets, and needs to return the money? Don’t let it be you!
Here’s a fuller description of the program.
Here’s some commentary on the reduction in the the amount.
And here’s the accountability forms, in case your school secretary does not have them handy.
Phoebe yes, Watchmen no
Two new movies this weekend. I was planning none, saw Watchmen, and then had to run to see something else to wipe away the sense that I’d wasted almost 3 hours.
Hey, Watchmen will have fans. If you know the stories (some sort of graphic novel or comic book or are they really the same thing?) it’s probably easier to love.
The story is about crime fighting regular heroes who dress up and become superheroes, and an alternate history where Nixon pulled a Bloomberg and repealed term limits and serves five terms (extended by winning Viet Nam).
There’s lots of startle-moments (when the sound track lulls you, and something mundane happens, and Boo! the sound cuts and something unexpected happens. Like I told Fred, don’t sit next to someone who tends to throw popcorn.
Some pretty cool effects. But they wear, with time. And trust me, this movie takes a lot of time. There is major stage setting. There are frequent flashbacks. The movie makers have ensured that those who did not read the comic have all the back information possible, every detail gets filled in. I am guessing that they were excrutiatingly faithful to the printed version. And then the ending… Hm. Like I told Fred, the story ended. And kept going anyway for another 20 minutes plus.
Bright spot: long segments are narrated by a Raymond Chandler-type (more detective than) hero. Make it noir and campy and I’ll sit happy.
The following day I left home without checking listings. I grabbed a Post on the way to the train, narrowed to 3 choices, but when I arrived at W4 the only one that made sense was Phoebe in Wonderland.
An imaginative 9 year old girl, with professional (well, semi-pro) lit-crit parents gets drawn into a production of Alice in Wonderland by a quirky drama teacher. Elle Fanning, (little sister of you-know-who) is delightful as the little girl. Felicity Huffman is frantic, exasperated, frustrated as the mother whose colleagues work on their studies without children to take care of. I thought the other kid, the little sister, Bailee Madison, was adorable.
But here’s the story: the kid’s imagination seems to be running wild. She’s making a great Alice, but there’s weird behavior. There’s a shrink. A friend. Normal teachers (who are strange) and a strange teacher (who seems normal).
Not much of a story? Nah. But absolutely delightful. If this film makes it to your town, it’s worth the ticket. And the parking. Read more…
Neat header!
I’ll probably junk it eventually, since it has nothing to do with New York, with math, with union stuff… but cool picture, no? That’s a photo I took, Niagara Falls, from the Canadian side, leaf in foreground, rainbow in the mid, other side in the back, Maid of Mist invisible, far below. The photo itself is not as nice as this nifty bit of cropping, making it look like like I photoshopped 3 separates together.
Enough Vigilance. Now it’s time for a walk.
Rerevamp
New wordpress theme: Vigilance.
It will take some time to straighten out the right hand column. It’s a wide column, with two narrow columns underneath.
All posts now appear with full text, not the abbreviated headline forms. (unless I’ve decided to only show part of a post, which is useful sometimes if it is very long, or if a reprint follows). There were complaints, and they made sense to me.
Color comes entirely lacking, but if I know the hex codes for colors, I can add the color. And if I don’t know the codes, I can mess around. Which I have been doing. (rose background, plum links, pabst blue border, at least for now)
And adding a header image is easy. Need to actually do it…
Consider this the first step of a work in progress.
Math Teachers at Play 2
So, here’s the thing. Denise has created a great carnival. It’s all about K-12 math for teachers and students. Lots of links. Lively. Good choices. Some nice filler text and well-chosen images. In two weeks it moves over to newer blogger kate(t)… we should support it there as well.
But… As great as this schoolteacher math carnival is, I am concerned. I thought it was great to hold one carnival together, higher math, oddball math, and school math. And I worry now about them being separate. I like that Denise set up an every other week, alternating, between regular and school. And the regular CoM still takes school posts. So there feels, for now, like there could be a relationship.
But it’s weak. And school math people benefit from exposure to more challenging stuff, and vice versa. Without that link weird stuff can happen. And does. Like NY State getting logic wrong. Or college math instructors having no idea what their freshmen have learned. So I worry. We should make sure that the two carnivals continue to interact…
Check out Math Teachers at Play #2. And Carnival of Math #50 at John D Cook’s Endeavour.
Square Root Day? How about Pythagorean Day?
Yesterday the whole world seemed to be discussing square root day. I ran a related activity in algebra, and was pleased by how the kids engaged.
So I went back to the well. Over at 360, TwoPi had suggested Pythagorean Day. I ran with it.
Today I wrote on the board,
Yesterday we found all the days in your lifetime for which the month times the day equaled the last two digits of the year. Today, a related question. For how many days in your lifetime
?
And I left it up. We worked on other things. The bell rang. And then some kids came up to discuss the problem. And other freshmen filtered in. They dismissed anything in the 1990’s. And then one kid found March 4, 2005. And it took almost 10 more minutes for them to find the second solution. I was surprised how long it took. And only one kid really got it.
Rally for New York
Rally tomorrow, 4PM, City Hall. Stimulus money is coming, make sure it is used right.
The UFT will be there, of course.
And DC37. And 1199. And my other union, the PSC (Professional Staff Congress, the AFT at CUNY)
Square Root Day? How about an activity…?
So Kate(t) and PoT told me about square root day. March 3, 2009. Because 3/3/09 looks like… well, I don’t quite get it. Three squared is 9. But then wouldn’t that be Square Day? (Apparently Ξ mentioned it, too. And probably a gazillion more bloggers). Hmm. Actually, an alum IM’ed me on facebook last night to ask if I was doing anything special for Square Root Day. I was grumpy, and said not unless school got canceled. (I’ll apologize…)
But this morning, all my lessons felt off, because of my lame attempts to replan a week into 4 days. So I am creating in the classroom, and with my algebra class I offer something:
3/3/09. Notice that the month times the day equals the year. How many times has this happened in your life?
Now look, this is not an amazing activity. But it was captivating. This class can get edgy, but all of them, all, engaged fully. I push them for the last time it happened (January 9, just a few weeks ago. Then there was brief debate over whether May 20, 2000 should count (my puzzle, so I made the ruling: 2000 was off limits).
And then they worked. I know that kids like factoring, but I was amazed. Heads down. Near silence, except occasional (very clearly mathematical) bickering.
Why did they like this so much? (I think I will ask them, but I am curious for your answers as well)
Snowy morning
Since coffee was already on when I heard school was canceled, I didn’t go back to sleep.
I read what I could on-line, and planned to head over to find my students, embarassed, and in need of hot chocolate. But I was slow, and they were gone with nothing but fading footprints and a few wrappers as evidence of their presence.
So I decided to take a Bronx walk.
There’s Dewitt Clinton High School (from the west. I think the looming buildings are NOT Tracey Towers, but I am not sure. Just two blocks away, and hazy in the snow.)
I like the second photo better: Sedgwick by the Reservoir. Very unbronx, if you know what I mean.
On Bailey Avenue I saw enterprising kids bicycling with shovels slung on their shoulders. I am not as brave as PissedOffTeacher, and did not ask to take their pictures. I should have.
Why was school closed at 6AM?
Closing school was the right call. With the storm coming late, and the extent not being clear until at least mid-morning, with the potential for dificult transportation, it was right. Even if we turn out to get a bit less than was predicted, it is important not to unnecessarily risk people’s safety.
But the DoE handled it badly. They canceled school after people had started their days. After teachers were driving through the snow, from Rockland, Bergen, Putnam, Fairfield, Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk. After teachers were already in the subway. After kids had already left home. After kids were on the subway. After parents had left for work, leaving out lunch, clothes and money so their child could make it to school.
NYC Educator was shoveling his driveway.
Pissedoff teacher was up for school, but had not yet left.
Gotham Schools reports that commutes had already begun.
Chaz complains.
I walked to my school this morning, but 30 minutes after the normal start time. I saw footprints at the front, too many for them to have been anything but kids.
I spoke to a security officer at the local college. She arrived early to work (her shift). Only after arriving did she learn public schools were canceled. She called home just in time to stop her middle school son from leaving.
Me, I got up, looked out the window, figured there was school, put on coffee, and, too late, learned otherwise. Neighbors laughed at me as I walked back in late this morning, wondering why I hadn’t stayed under the covers.
Here’s what should have happened:
- Sunday morning: announce that a winter storm is headed this way. Intention to keep schools open, but will continue to monitor.
- Sunday afternoon: announce that the storm continues to head directly for New York City, but as most storms bypass or skirt the city we will continue to monitor its progress. Our expectation is that schools will be open tomorrow.
- Sunday early evening: the storm has continued to track towards NYC, and the intensity has been maintained. It is still quite likely that the full brunt of the storm will not fall on NYC. Department of Education staff will continue to monitor the situation in conjunction with (weather people). We will make an announcement at 10PM. Please listen to the following radio stations, tv stations, or watch the following websites for further updates. (list them)
- Sunday, 10PM. It now appears that the storm is headed for NYC, but it is not yet clear how severe conditions will be. Therefore, the Chancellor, his weather guy, his right hand guy, his driver, and a few other folks will meet at 4:30 to review the situation. A decision to open schools or to keep them shut will be made by 5AM. (list the radio, TV and web sites again)
- Monday, 4:30, meet. Looks bad.
- Monday, 4:45, announce that NYC public schools will be closed today (as well as all PSAL, after school, etc, etc)
Is not doing this bad? Yup. Hundreds of teachers and thousands of students leave their homes between 5 and 6AM each morning. Were it simply inconvenience, that would be bad enough. But traveling in these conditions can be dangerous. In addition, tens of thousands more were left with unnecessary uncertainty. No one knew when the announcment would come, or what time without an announcement meant the decision to stay open had been made. Setting our alarms for 5, hearing the news, and either dressing for school or curling back up – that’s what we could have, should have been prepared for.
This administration and its puppet school’s bosses are concerned with disrupting schools, closing schools, opening charters, persecuting senior teachers… So concerned, in fact, that they are completely unable to do little things right.
This was not an act of malice. They didn’t intend to inconvenience and even endanger thousands of children and adults. In fact, they likely did not consider them at all.
Snow Day!
First in, what, 8 years? We had 9/12. And we had a flood day, was that 2002? And two days between 1997 and 2000. So this (and you can correct my counting) would be the fifth canceled day of my career.
I woke up an hour and a half ago, peeked out the window (just in case) and saw clear streets. Didn’t even think to check. Put on coffee, and saw I had a comment on my status message on Facebook (I went to bed last night with the status message “I wouldn’t mind a day off”). Someone kindly told me my wish was granted.
Coffee was on, too late. So I just spent an hour answering e-mails and taking this lovely photo. I’m actually dressed and ready to run over to school, maybe get hot chocolate for the unfortunate kids who checked the roads and not the news before setting off this morning.
Oh, and I should confess, having the day off? Personally, I love it. As a teacher with 3 preps, having to rework them all for a short week (with the marking period still ending a week from Friday), it’s a pain.
Sprucing up
I’m trying out a new theme for this blog. It may take a while to get used to it, and to get everything back in its rightful place.
The colors are different. Less dark. There are two columns to the right. The blogroll is at the bottom. And only the current post shows, the next ten or so are visible as titles only.
If you notice anything that’s gone missing, links that have gone dead, stuff that got hard to read, please let me know.
And if you have any comments, like it, hate it, or anything in between, also, I’d like to know. Thanks!
Carnival of Math L
That’s number 50. Check it out at The Endeavor, John D Cook’s blog. Interesting riff, on the letter L in mathematics. And of course, links.
Teaching: gaining experience matters
Kids should have, to the extent possible, well-trained, experienced teachers. Where we have newer teachers, we should do everything possible to help them gain the experience and seasoning we expect, and help them become our senior, well-trained, experienced teachers.
Those sentences divide us from the current administration of New York City and its Department of Education. They also divide us from Teach for America, from Michelle Rhee, and from the people running the schools in several other major cities.
They also divide us from most (not all) charter school advocates, and from most (but not old school) small school advocates. They divide us from all of the anti-experience reformers.
Those sentences, strangely enough, put us on the same side of the educational divide as many suburban administrators. Strange, eh?
Urban Assembly Media comes off Do Not Apply list
The Urban Assembly Media High School (in the old MLK Bldg on Amsterdam, near Lincoln Center) made it to the Do Not Apply list last summer. And now it is off.
I would like more details, but the key change was getting the principal removed….
Our victories these days are far too few. We should celebrate when we win.
JD2718 