Comments on: Poll: budget cuts and grade the mayor http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/ Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:44:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Bronx mom http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7733 Bronx mom Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:49:58 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7733 To "A Student"-well said! To “A Student”-well said!

]]> By: Educator HSM http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7714 Educator HSM Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:25:00 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7714 The D.O.E. is a failure. When you give the Mayor the ability to "fix" his own holy DATA, it's bound to show "improvement." The Leadership Academy is an absolute disgrace. It has produced, not trained, "leaders" that have no knowledge of ANYTHING. My child's school in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn is run by a woman who runs by POWER only. Someone should do a documentary on the Leadership Acacdemy. Put someone on the spot and ask them WHAT their training REALLY is. How to get around the contract and threaten teachers... how to hold tenure over a teacher's head... how to get away with being incompetent because you, being made a principal "legitimizes" the city spending that money on your training. Mayor Mike and his data lies and commercials should be held accountable for schools that have been destroyed by his caravan of blithering fools. This city does not need a mayor to be in charge of education. He's only out to get people. Doesn't anyone see that he can manipulate his own mindless DATA to make the system "look good." If children are learning in NYC, they're learning DESPITE Mayor Mike and his gang of sub par school administrators. Jack Welch worked at G.E., not a NYC public school. It just doesn't work. Children first? What a joke! The D.O.E. is a failure. When you give the Mayor the ability to “fix” his own holy DATA, it’s bound to show “improvement.”
The Leadership Academy is an absolute disgrace. It has produced, not trained, “leaders” that have no knowledge of ANYTHING. My child’s school in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn is run by a woman who runs by POWER only. Someone should do a documentary on the Leadership Acacdemy. Put someone on the spot and ask them WHAT their training REALLY is. How to get around the contract and threaten teachers… how to hold tenure over a teacher’s head… how to get away with being incompetent because you, being made a principal “legitimizes” the city spending that money on your training. Mayor Mike and his data lies and commercials should be held accountable for schools that have been destroyed by his caravan of blithering fools. This city does not need a mayor to be in charge of education. He’s only out to get people. Doesn’t anyone see that he can manipulate his own mindless DATA to make the system “look good.” If children are learning in NYC, they’re learning DESPITE Mayor Mike and his gang of sub par school administrators. Jack Welch worked at G.E., not a NYC public school. It just doesn’t work. Children first? What a joke!

]]> By: A Student http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7665 A Student Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:35:47 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7665 The way Mayoral control is happening now does not work. Without any system of balances, Bloomberg and Klein have been able to run the education system according to only their beliefs. While they are opening the door to charter schools, they are pushing regulations and restrictions on non-charter schools that were previously doing well. The NYC public school system is too broad to put the same regulations on every school and have them work, especially when the regulations are unhelpful and pointless. I hesitate to actually give Bloomberg a grade because even though the school system now is based on accountability through grading, I think there's a lot more to schools then a letter on a peice of paper can define. I will give Bloomberg more respect than he has given my school, and not define him by a single letter, but by many: Mayor Bloomberg, your performance has been poor. You have messed up many city schools and you should know by now that like in every other part in government, checks and balances ARE NEEDED. The way Mayoral control is happening now does not work. Without any system of balances, Bloomberg and Klein have been able to run the education system according to only their beliefs. While they are opening the door to charter schools, they are pushing regulations and restrictions on non-charter schools that were previously doing well.

The NYC public school system is too broad to put the same regulations on every school and have them work, especially when the regulations are unhelpful and pointless.

I hesitate to actually give Bloomberg a grade because even though the school system now is based on accountability through grading, I think there’s a lot more to schools then a letter on a peice of paper can define. I will give Bloomberg more respect than he has given my school, and not define him by a single letter, but by many: Mayor Bloomberg, your performance has been poor. You have messed up many city schools and you should know by now that like in every other part in government, checks and balances ARE NEEDED.

]]> By: Disrict2Mom http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7652 Disrict2Mom Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:50:23 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7652 While I support many of the administrative changes that Klein/Bloomberg have undertaken, such as Fair Student Funding and the High School and Middle School admissions processes, I am appalled by their negligence of school capacity issues and their indifference to young children having to be to bused long distances simply to find an available elementary school seat. They are doing everything they can to destroy neighborhood schools: handing space over to charter schools, overcrowding successful schools and ignoring parents. They are truly throwing out the baby with the bath water. While I support many of the administrative changes that Klein/Bloomberg have undertaken, such as Fair Student Funding and the High School and Middle School admissions processes, I am appalled by their negligence of school capacity issues and their indifference to young children having to be to bused long distances simply to find an available elementary school seat. They are doing everything they can to destroy neighborhood schools: handing space over to charter schools, overcrowding successful schools and ignoring parents. They are truly throwing out the baby with the bath water.

]]> By: Harriet Spear http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7650 Harriet Spear Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:11:16 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7650 From 1st hand experience—I see Mayoral control systematically breaking down communities and destroying schools that are currently thriving. Our teachers and principals are highly educated and know more about how to teach children than anywhere in the US—Joel Klein's policies and business model run counter to everything these people practice and stand for. I have no faith in the future of New York City and its education system if mayoral control is to continue unchecked. From 1st hand experience—I see Mayoral control systematically breaking down communities and destroying schools that are currently thriving. Our teachers and principals are highly educated and know more about how to teach children than anywhere in the US—Joel Klein’s policies and business model run counter to everything these people practice and stand for.

I have no faith in the future of New York City and its education system if mayoral control is to continue unchecked.

]]> By: kk http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7646 kk Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:16:00 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7646 I don't like the idea of giving schools progress reports; it's insulting to be so reductive. By the same logic, as much as I disapprove of so many of Bloomberg/Klein's initiatives, I hesitate to define him with a single grade... I don’t like the idea of giving schools progress reports; it’s insulting to be so reductive. By the same logic, as much as I disapprove of so many of Bloomberg/Klein’s initiatives, I hesitate to define him with a single grade…

]]> By: Alex http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7638 Alex Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:42:32 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7638 What class has klein or Bloomburg taught?What classes have they taken in education? The schools are still a mess. The buildings are old and discusting. Bloomburg should invest some money in building state of the art buildings like in other cities. Some of these schools are over one hundred years old. There is still a long way to go before the schools are up to par. What class has klein or Bloomburg taught?What classes have they taken in education? The schools are still a mess. The buildings are old and discusting. Bloomburg should invest some money in building state of the art buildings like in other cities. Some of these schools are over one hundred years old.
There is still a long way to go before the schools are up to par.

]]> By: anon http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7636 anon Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:32:41 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7636 The test scores are not representative. Principals are cheating on the scores. Low performing students get to take the state exam in a "special" room and are coached during the exam. Level one students are surprised when they get a level 3. This is fact. The scores are doctored. Ask a child in one of the lowere performing schools to write a summary of a newspaper article and they ask them what their ELA level is. There are students who cannot read and write and they are scoring level 2 on the test. GO FIGURE. The test scores are not representative. Principals are cheating on the scores. Low performing students get to take the state exam in a “special” room and are coached during the exam. Level one students are surprised when they get a level 3. This is fact. The scores are doctored. Ask a child in one of the lowere performing schools to write a summary of a newspaper article and they ask them what their ELA level is. There are students who cannot read and write and they are scoring level 2 on the test. GO FIGURE.

]]> By: anniet http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7628 anniet Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:12:16 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7628 it is a very good school.it is very clean. it is a very good school.it is very clean.

]]> By: Roland http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7612 Roland Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:39:56 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/05/29/poll-budget-cuts-and-grade-the-mayor/#comment-7612 As per comment 4, perhaps Anonymous is a teacher? The UFT may potentially be part of the solution, but at present it is part of the problem. The dirty secret is that our schools are overloaded with incompetent, barely competent, and indifferent lifers. Before the mayor required accountability, many magnet schools were just a way of separating the children of the savvy from the masses. Parents and teachers at those schools defended their programs, but reading and math test scores challenged cherished assumptions. The mayor has a long way to go, but who wants to go back to UFT-controlled local boards? As per comment 4, perhaps Anonymous is a teacher? The UFT may potentially be part of the solution, but at present it is part of the problem. The dirty secret is that our schools are overloaded with incompetent, barely competent, and indifferent lifers. Before the mayor required accountability, many magnet schools were just a way of separating the children of the savvy from the masses. Parents and teachers at those schools defended their programs, but reading and math test scores challenged cherished assumptions. The mayor has a long way to go, but who wants to go back to UFT-controlled local boards?

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