Regardez :
Uhhh Yeah, exactly. Well the E4E ers are a classic symptom of corporate sponsored neo liberal know nothingness. They claim a membership in the thousands but have to beg, scrounge and offer free hats and grub to get anyone to come to their pathetic "rallies." And when you get them to the side and hit them with a single simple question they flame out in a ball of uninformed self hatred and ask themselves if it was worth a nifty green beanie to be pantsed on Youtube for all eternity.
In similar fashion I invite Invertebrate Administrators 4 Education to stay in their seats and not be counted as they were through the entire James Williams administration. Jimmy Dubz brought in his goon Fosalede Oladele and I hope I spelled her name wrong to terrorize and intimidate any Principal or Ass Prin who had any funny ideas about silly things like Professional Respect or Autonomy. She bullied and cowed them all into their chairs where they sat quiet and compliant as church mice right up until Williams tried to stuff her knockoff designer purse with a few extra hundred thousand as a parting gift. Still the IA4E ers sat in their chairs and held their breath hoping and whimpering that the spinning house would land on her and we'd see nothing but her pointed boots and designer knockoff control tops protruding from under its foundation. Here is a complete transcript of all the administrators who held their ground with and stood up to her :
That didn't take long now did it?
In similar fashion Friday students at City Honors were encouraged to "make their Principal proud" by applauding wildly for the anti teacher, pro charter governor who's declared war on them and withheld millions of dollars from the district to show their teachers who's boss. Governor Cuomo (aka Governor dropped 15 approval points in a month) is nobody who should be welcomed into a Buffalo Public School. In doing so the Principal of Centaur High signals his complicity with Cuomo's hamfisted bullying style and essentially gives the message to our "best and brightest" don't listen to all that Stop the Bullying crap kids, since this bully has fame and power we can make an exception. And as if the spit shined welcome mat wasn't bad enough, City Honors families all received a robocall last night advising them there would be a "dress code" in effect today and students should gussy up for the #1 Bully in Albany. Kind of like the end of the Hunger Games when they get the overhead announcement about the rules change....
And as long as IA4E is on a roll it appears the same bunch went to Dr. Who? aka PamelaBrownPhDHarvard and asked her to bring in the shock troops of the charterization Corps, also known as TFA or WTFA or Teach for a While depending whom you talk to about them. Dr. Who? has assured anyone uninformed enough to take her word for it that TFA has an excellent reputation. Oh Dr. it's much more than that. They have millions and millions donated by billionaires seeking to undercut teacher's unions and replace teachers with cheap interchangeable parts like TFAers who receive a whopping and intensive 5 WEEKS of training in the summer before they saunter into urban hellhole schools and sprinkle their excellence and their private school bred worldview. These brave neo colonials with over a whole month of training and a sense of their own white kid's burden that would make Kipling spin in his grave tend to wander off to law schools or Wharton Business schoolish MBA programs pretty much as soon as they figure out which doors they can escape from during school hours. Others linger in the edu biz milieu writing policy, hanging around reform HQ in their whale studded cords and topsiders toting clipboards and hoping for a sweet gig far far away from kids and their troubles and their neediness and poverty.
But here in Buffalo we appear dumb enough, desperate enough and gullible enough to invite any old Tom Dick and Harry with a letter of introduction from Sam Hoyt to miseducate and fail our kids. Oh but Bob Wilmers, the 1%er who ushered james Williams into Buffalo like a remote control truck bomb is offering yet again to pay some tab or other that brokeass Buffalo thinks is going to get them somewhere. You tell me friends.
In case anyone is wondering I took glance at my sitemeter this morning which tracks Ip addies and tells you who is looking at your blog, where they're from and practically everything but what's in their checking account. Have a laugh as I tell you the good people from NYSUT have us on their radar. Since my meltdown the other night they have dropped in more than 50 times to see what else I am railing about. Of course they won't drop a comment or send me an email or bitch me out but they are snooping around for whatever that's worth. NYSUT-- power to the people baby.
Another excellent post. There are so many things wrong with BPS even considering to use TFA recruits I can't believe more people haven't commented either here or in the BN. Do you think the school board will go for it, especially since they recognized Chameleon was trying to grab East HS and Waterfront in a "hostile" take-over bid? I was not surprised by Dr. Brown's willingness to use them, districts are so desperate for money they are willing to prostitute everyone in the entire district if they think it will bring them some cash. And do you think Phil Rumore is actually ok with this? This is scary news. If Wilmers is successful in getting TFA into the public schools, it will change the whole face of public education and will only be a matter of time before the same things reach out to the suburbs. We all need to stand together to fight this.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that B-lo HAS so many problems is exactly why TFA targets places like us. With so much up in the air they read their spiel to whoever they perceive to be the highest ranking weak link in the chain and before you know it they're spreading their ill trained, edu-tourist message like some kind of exponentially reproducing virus. Spinelessness from within will kill us quicker than a hard sell from shitheads (Chameleons, TFA, the various "Institutes") from without. And if our admins continue the pattern of chickenshit compliance they established under the Williams regime - and there's no indication anywhere that they won't - we are likely to follow Detroit, Wisconsin and Ohio in the large scale sell off of public education. Can we have the band play as we sink since nobody appears fit or willing to bail us out at this point? If nothing else I am saving these posts to stick in their faces at the unemployment line where I can say I tried to tell you...
ReplyDeleteI surmise that Wilmers and PCB are together responsible for INVITING TFA to Buffalo. Remember, Wilmers is the Superintendent of his own little school district in Buffalo, the "Promise Neighborhood", area code 14215. The grant monies that are flowing to the Promise Neighborhood district are funneled through Wilmer's "Westminster Foundation", (which is cozily run by the former Principal of the Westminster Charter School who had her salary "supplemented" by Wilmers during her tenure) Wilmers favorite tax write-off. New Market Tax Credits, anyone?
ReplyDeleteThere are rumor that TFA's have already been hired at Bennett HS (In the Wilmers School District) and most likely at the other 14215 schools.
The job for the Executive Director of the Buffalo Teach For America has already been posted publicly. Here is the link:
http://jobsite.nscs.org/nscscareers/career/74924/Executive-Director-Buffalo-New-York-Ny-New-York
Check it out. Here are some questions I have:
-Has Phil really agreed to this union busting move by Wilmers and PCB?
-Has Darren Brown, Human Resources agreed to it? Guess he has to suck up big time, but HE will not be hiring these TFA'ers. M&T will.
-Where is the noise from the Promise Neighborhood building delegates? Have they been fed some M&T sleeping potion?
-Does the Board really believe PCB's contention that TFA'ers will bring DIVERSITY to our teaching staff? The TFA data does not support that at all. The new current Buffalo TFA hires are white.
-Can the district really be serious about paying TFA, Inc. $150,000/yr for the next two years to contract with them?
-The Board cannot think of a better use for the above $300,000 dollars? Meanwhile, our teachers trek to the second-hand supplies warehouse to pick up leftovers and various chockey items like roving paupers begging alms.
And those questions do not address some of the obvious union issues like:
-The TFA's have no teaching certificates or backgrounds but they will be hired ahead of temps and our local kids with Master's and teaching certificates and experience?
-They will get an extra $5000. stipend to further set them apart from their lesser peers with Master's and experience. A sort of apartheid teaching system to give the elite kids a crested uniform so to speak, to set themselves above the hoi-polloi "teacher class".
-They are GUARANTEED two full years with the option of a position when their contract is up. Who gets the GUARANTEE of two years? HOW can Phil support this?
I know that some of our school Board members understand the words diversity, equity, racism. NO parent who is invested in their child's education would want these teachers with their children. This situation can only work when the wealthy superiors feel that they can easily hoodwink the parents of the "less fortunate" children. Hope no one here goes out and tips the parents in the 14215 and elsewhere that their kids are being used as guinea pigs. We know the DPCC won't mind this scenario one bit. They love every scheme coming down the pike that might infuriate the union to the detriment of their own children.
Finally, the Board is set to vote on the TFA contract on Wednesday. Funny that the Director job has already been posted for a month but there has been a one week window for the public to absorb and respond to this.
Seems like the deal has already been struck with TFA, Wilmers and PCB. They have done an extraordinary run right around the Board members. Well played and tally-ho! by Wilmers, the Harvardy PCB and the elitist TFA.
Maybe some emails to the board members are in order? And a showing of concern at the Board meeting. Or is that too much of a stretch?
PS: I am hoping that Mr. Crowley is correct and that some NYSUT folks are reading this blog. Just one word, you guys. REALLY?
From: Pineapple Hare