The federal Education Department’s What Works Clearinghouse just released a review of the city’s Leadership Academy, the principal training program that Joel Klein brought in with the help of “Neutron” Jack Welch, the former General Electric chairman.
Apparently it doesn’t work. More »
In the heat of the Albany battle over the extension of the cap on the number of charter schools in New York State, the core agenda of the New York Charter School Association [NYCSA] has been stripped of all pretense. Faced with a set of reform proposals put forward by the UFT and elected officials to fix the broken charter school funding formula, NYCSA did not join in calls for reducing the funding lag, for having funding follow high needs students living in poverty, English Language Learners and Special Education students and for moving the cost of TRS pensions off the books of charter schools. Fair funding for charter schools is simply not important to the right-wing ideologues at NYCSA.
No, rather than take on such vital issues for charter schools, NYCSA has been waging an all-out campaign on behalf of for profit charter management firms Victory Schools and National Heritage Academies and on behalf of NYC D0E Chancellor Joel Klein. Legislation proposed by State Senate leader John Sampson and State Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver would combine an increase on the cap with a prohibition of for profit involvement in charter schools and limits on the NYC DoE policy of capriciously siting charter schools in district buildings to the detriment of the public schools already using the space. NYCSA is so opposed to these measures that it has its publicists at the New York Post call for the defeat of a bill which would extend the charter cap to 400 schools.
Victory Schools is the outfit that is sucking up 25¢ of every public funding dollar that should go to the students of Merrick Academy. In an article published in this past Sunday’s Daily News, New Yorkers learned of the involvement of Victory in a scheme which had Victory owner Steven Klinsky sending thousands of campaign dollars to State Senator Malcolm Smith; in turn, Smith directed over $100,000 of public dollars to a Victory School which had paid over three-quarters of a million dollars in management fees to Victory. National Heritage Academies is the corporation which challenged the right of its New York employees to organize into a union and bargain collectively. These are the “good” corporate citizens for whom NYCSA is going to the wall.
Truth be told, the presence of for profit corporations and money from right-wing corporations such as Wal-Mart and hedge-fund operators such as Richard Gilder and Carl Icahn has had a corrupting influence on New York charter schools. Last Friday, the Albany Times-Union published an article on how the leading voice in the anti-union jeremiad on the editorial pages of the New York Post and New York Daily News, Thomas Carroll of Brighter Choice Charter Schools, had received tens of millions of dollars from these sources. With that sort of support, no wonder that he has made the promotion of their agenda into a full-time job.
It’s this simple. New York Charter School Association: for profit, not for schools.
UPDATE:
A sharp reader points out that Jeff Clark, the President and CEO National Heritage Academies, is on NYCSA’s Board of Trustees, and that Bill Phillips, current NYCSA President, worked for two for-profits, Beacon Education Management and SABIS Educational Systems, prior to leading NYCSA.
In his final column on the editorial pages of the New York Times, neo-conservative Bill Kristol unhappily conceded that with the election of Barack Obama, America has now seen “the end of the conservative era.” But his fellow “true believers” in the laissez-faire market who inhabit the world of education — the edu-cons — seem intent upon living in the past.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union: Ideological Fore-Mothers of Rick Hess?
The edu-market fundamentalists have been making themselves into quite a spectacle in recent days, as they respond to the stimulus package that has begun to take shape in Washington DC. Unchastened by the fact that it was the policies that they pushed for the last quarter century — deregulation and privatization, unfettered and uncontrolled markets – which got us into this hole, they now proclaim that we need more of “the hair of the dog that bit us” as a remedy to one nasty economic hangover. Who cares that the stimulus package is all that stands between America and a depression? “Bring it on,” they chant in unison, in an echo of George Bush’s fated approach to Iraq. More »
Even before its launch, the Obama presidency is larger than life. There’s no arguing its symbolism is the bearer of its own legacy. The world’s nations, regardless of their histories or systems of government, have put their ancestral loathings on hold and are sharing the exhilaration. It’s like the whole planet is an athlete high on endorphins. It is spectacular for Americans especially as we have by this election distanced ourselves just a step from the morally felonious exclusions of the past. By our votes we have repented the bonds of history. Let’s luxuriate in what our nation has overcome and work to ensure that Obama’s victory is not a token, novelty, or fluke of history but rather will make perfectly plausible the election of other racial and other minorities in the future. More »
From the Working Families Party:
Dear WFP Supporter,
It’s official: 158,891. That’s how many votes were cast for Barack Obama on the Working Families Party line in New York — 25,000 more than the WFP got for John Kerry in 2004.
Together, we’re building something real — a party that can take on the big fights for working families and win.
A sign of the times: far right conservatives attempt to feed their anti-teacher, anti-union hemlock to the Democrats.
UPDATE:
Andy Rotherham finds the smoking piece of elephant dung: the dalliance with one Rudy Giuliani, before getting dressed up in blue.
Union voters played an important role in President-elect Barack Obama’s historic victory, delivering a critical bloc of support in swing states that helped propel Obama and other worker-friendly candidates to big wins on Nov. 4, according to polling data from the AFL-CIO.
High turnout among working-class union voters in states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania formed a foundation of support for Obama. In new battleground states like Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, the AFL-CIO mounted a bigger effort than ever before, and union members voted by large margins for Obama.
AFL-CIO union members across battleground states supported Obama by a 68 percent to 30 percent margin, according to an election-night survey conducted for the AFL-CIO by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. More »
Now that Barack Obama has been elected the next president of the United States, what do you think his administration’s top priority should be and why?
The AFT wants to hear members’ opinions. Go to AFT Voices and take their survey.
And while you’re at it, let us know too by leaving a comment below.
[Editor’s note: Peter Goodman blogs at Ed in the Apple, where this post originally appeared.]
Break on through to the other side
- The Doors
Election Day
7:30 am: My plan was to get to the poll at the opening, 6 am, and cast my ballot quickly. At 6:05 am the line was incredibly long … took me an hour and a half. A friendly line, we chatted, talked about the historic nature of the election, no one argued, the polling people were well-organized and I pulled down my mechanical handles and swung the lever to the left, a solid “clunk,” as the decades old machine registered my vote.
10:30 am: The line is longer!! The line usually abates as folks move on to work, not today… More »
Immediately moving the historic 2008 presidential election from the voting booth to the classroom, the AFT has launched a Web site for educators that provides information, materials and lesson plans to help students absorb the many teachable moments of this history-making campaign. More »
Citing President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s “powerful promise of hope and their sound solutions to the country’s most vexing problems” as the keys that helped them win the nation’s trust and confidence, AFT President Randi Weingarten congratulated the winning candidates on their extraordinary Nov. 4 election victory.
“So much about this campaign has been historic and electrifying,” Weingarten said. “The incredible voter interest Barack Obama generated, especially among young, independent and first-time voters; the sea change in voting patterns across America; and the election of America’s first African-American president are all extraordinary milestones for our country. I am hopeful that this civic excitement and engagement will be sustained for the benefit of our great democracy. More »
Text, photos, and video covering Election Day in New York:
Huge turnout has many city voters waiting in long lines [NY1]
Voters share their experiences at the polls [WNYC]
Tim Robbins Faces Mix-Up at Polling Place [New York Times]
On Staten Island, House Battle Comes to a Close [New York Times]
A collection of photos, video, and voter testimonials [Gothamist]
Election coverage guides:
• Election Night (Popcorn Included) [New York Times]
• Guide For Watching Election Night Results [Huffington Post]
• Election Day Tipsheet [Slate]
• Complete Guide to Voter Fraud, Voter Suppression, and Other Election Day Shenanigans [Slate]
Lifehacker compiles your options for live streaming coverage online.
Andrew Sullivan posts readers’ experiences at the polls.
Maps, widgets, and more. [Huffington Post]
A message from the Working Families Party:
New York isn’t a swing state, but there’s still one thing we can do to make sure our votes really count – vote for Barack Obama on the Working Families ballot line – “Row E.”
Working Families votes for Obama count the same, but they send a powerful message that we don’t just want a change of party in the White House, we want to see a real progressive agenda.
As the economic crisis that has come in the wake of Wall Street’s financial meltdown deepens, one response from the American right has already begun to take shape – a politics of resentment and fear. For these laissez-faire market evangelists of deregulation and unfettered corporate power and greed, the current economic debacle is not a reason to reflect on the real world consequences of their ideological dogma, but a political opportunity to pursue ‘divide and conquer’ strategies designed to set working people against each other. More »
