Dear Commons Community,

The New York Daily News is reporting that former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein closely coordinated with charter school lobbyists on a 2010 campaign in Albany, even helping to raise money for private groups.  A slew of emails released Friday shows:

“As part of the effort to increase the number of charter schools in New York, Department of Education officials and charter supporters tallied votes from legislators together, collaborated on op-ed pieces and applauded each other while bashing critics — as well as state Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch,…

In one of the cozy communications — obtained by the Daily News after the teachers union requested them under the Freedom of Information Law — New York City Charter School Center executive director James Merriman asks Klein for a “public shoutout from mayor today.”

Two of the emails revolve around an apparent fund-raising call involving Klein, Deputy Chancellor John White and others. In an email from White, Klein is directed on what talking points to discuss in a call that was to include “options for funders…

Dick Dadey, of good-government group Citizens Union, called Klein’s use of his public email address to help raise money a “gray area” requiring approval from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.  “A city official should not be raising money for a private enterprise using government resources…”

Dear Commons Community,

There is an interesting piece in the New York Times education website from John Albin, a parent of a school-age child and  the director of purchasing and contracts at Hunter College of the City University of New York, who is formally requesting access to New York State’s standardized tests under FOIL (Freedom of Information Law).  His rationales are that as a parent and a taxpayer he has a right to know about the assessments being used to judge his child’s performance and also how the state is spending his money. He expresses his concern as:

“The debates surrounding high-stakes testing also capture my attention because of my career history: I started out in educational publishing and moved on to public administration, spending much of the last 20 years on performance metrics, accountability and contracting.

So as word began to leak out about pineapple-gate and the other testing gaffes, I started poring over news accounts, editorials and public commentary from educators.

I learned that the tests themselves are being kept secret because the state Department of Education and Pearson, their test development contractor, wrote strong confidentiality provisions into the contract. My understanding is that this was so that they both could reuse test questions in the future. In order for the questions to be reusable, they have to be kept secret, otherwise students could prep too easily for the tests, and Pearson’s other customers would be able to get the tests from the public domain.

We only know about the gaffes because students exposed them. Educators have been sworn to secrecy. The Education Department has emphasized their concerns about test prep, but to me the secrecy seems rooted in economics: Secrecy saves New York on future test development costs and makes it easier for Pearson to re-sell the questions it created for New York (at New York taxpayers’ expense) in other states. “

I would add that since school policy makers and politicians such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg have gone to great efforts to demand public disclosure of public school teacher evaluations, it is only fitting that the public also know the instruments being used to evaluate teachers – talking pineapples and all.  Go for it for John!!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times and the Daily News are reporting that scores on the eight-grade national science test rose modestly across the country but not in New York State where the scores were essentially flat from previous years.  The Daily News reports:

“Only 29% of the state’s eighth-graders were deemed proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress science exam. And New York students’ average score was worse than those in 29 other states.

Nationally, scores on the 2011 exam were up slightly. But the state’s scores remained about the same as in 2009, the last testing date for the exam, which assesses students’ knowledge of physical, life, earth and space sciences.

Sixteen states saw higher scores than in 2009, while no states saw declines. The percentage of students deemed “advanced” in science remained flat nationally and in New York.”

 
Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is reporting that Catholic bishops are openly expressing concerns about the Girl Scouts because of positions associated with sex education, abortion and Planned Parenthood.  The Post reports:

“Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.”

I side with the Girl Scouts!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Tomas Morales, the President of the College Staten Island, in a letter (see below) to the college community announced that he will be leaving to take the position of president of California State University, San Bernardino.  His five-year tenure has not been without controversy and in March of this year, the CSI Faculty Senate passed a no-confidence resolution aimed at Dr. Morales and Provost William Fritz .  However a procedural snafu meant that the measure had to be voted on again.  While it was on the agenda for the April meeting, the resolution was tabled and never came to a vote.

Tony

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Dear Members of the Campus Community:

Throughout our lives, we remember reaching crossroads — those times when it was necessary to make a decision that could change everything. I faced that decision in the past 24 hours and have chosen to be guided by family. Today, I will be introduced as the next President of California State University, San Bernardino.

For nearly five years, Evy and I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with each of you.  After working at numerous universities across the country and visiting countless campuses, I can honestly tell you that we have been privileged to serve the College of Staten Island community and work with an exceptional faculty, a dedicated staff and committed student body.

I remain deeply grateful for the generous support of Chancellor Goldstein and the Board of Trustees. I especially appreciate the extraordinary people of Staten Island who never failed to impress me with their individual and collective dedication to the enhancement of this great borough.

But more than anything else, Evy and I want to say thank you. It’s been an honor. Please know that this campus community will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Sincerely,

Tomás D. Morales, PhD

President

"At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me
personally it is important to go ahead and affirm that
I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

PRESIDENT Barack OBAMA, in an interview with ABC News. (May 9, 2012)

He becomes the first sitting president to support same sex marriage.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is providing a preview of a new book, , It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership, by Colin Powell that asserts that going to war in Iraq was never really debated in the Bush White House and that it was a foregone conclusion.  Here is an excerpt:

“In his new book, former Secretary of State Colin Powell provides what may be the most authoritative confirmation yet that there was never a considered debate in the George W. Bush White House about whether going to war in Iraq was really a good idea.

In a chapter discussing what he calls his “infamous” February 2003 speech to the United Nations where he authoritatively presented what was later exposed as gross misinformation about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Powell notes that by that time, war “was approaching.”

“By then, the President did not think war could be avoided,” Powell writes. “He had crossed the line in his own mind, even though the NSC [National Security Council] had never met — and never would meet — to discuss the decision…”

Bush insisted in his own 2010 memoir, “Decision Points,” that the invasion was something he came to support only reluctantly and after a long period of reflection. During his book tour, he even cast himself as “a dissenting voice” in the run-up to war. “I didn’t wanna use force,” he said.

But Powell supports the increasingly well-documented conclusion that there was actually no decision-making point — or decision-making process — during the events between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, which had nothing to do with those attacks.

The preview concludes:

The lesson of all this, Powell writes, is: “Always try to get over failure quickly. Learn from it. Study how you contributed to it. If you are responsible for it, own up to it.”

But Powell didn’t exactly own up to this for years. His former chief of staff, Col. Larry Wilkerson, first went public in 2005 with details of a secret cabal led by the vice president which hijacked U.S. foreign policy and hoodwinked the president. Wilkerson also argued for years that there was never a formal decision to go to war. Powell conspicuously failed to back him up at the time. “

Hundreds of thousands of people killed and a trillion dollars of war debt and there was no serious decision making.  God help us!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Manfred Phillip (Graduate Center and Lehman College) passed this piece on to the CUNY University Faculty Senate LISTSERV.

Tony

==============================================

No Teachers, Administrators Named to Cuomo Education Panel!

By Gary Stern

School officials are surprised and bewildered that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new commission on education reform does not include representatives of school districts — administrators, board members, teachers or parents.  The high-powered commission, announced by Cuomo last week, includes 20 members, most of whom are academics or leaders of think tanks unknown to the general public.

“If I was setting up a commission like this, I would want representatives from school districts because we’re the ones who

actually educate children,” Port Chester Schools Superintendent Edward Kliszus said. “It’s a shame they won’t have input from educators who do the educating.”

Cuomo is charging the commission with a top-to-bottom review of New York’s education system, including: teacher recruitment and performance; student achievement; education costs and funding; the challenges facing poor districts; and the best use of technology. The governor asked for preliminary recommendations by Dec. 1.

Several officials from the Lower Hudson Valley said they agree with Cuomo’s agenda, but that school representatives are regularly left out of the state’s reform efforts.

“It appears that the public school educators who will be asked to actually implement the recommendations and are most familiar with the disparate challenges within each school system and in districts across the state will not be involved,” South Orangetown Schools

Superintendent Ken Mitchell said.

One member of the commission, Michael Rebell, executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Columbia University’s Teachers College, said he agreed with educators’ concerns about the commission’s makeup.

“You can’t make solid policy without knowing how people on the front lines respond to these problems and issues,” he said. “If you’re going to have solutions that work, you have to engage people so they will support your proposals. I’m committed to reaching out to school boards, parents, educators, to get them in the conversation.”

Chancellor Goldstein and Vice Chancellor Marti are members of the

panel. see http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/4302012EducationReformCommission

Dear Commons Community,

Voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment yesterday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.

The Huffington Post is reporting:  “With most of the precincts reporting, unofficial returns showed the amendment passing with about 61 percent of the vote to 39 percent against. North Carolina is the 30th state to adopt such a ban on gay marriage…

In the final days before the vote, members of President Barack Obama’s cabinet expressed support for gay marriage and former President Bill Clinton recorded phone messages urging voters to oppose the amendment.

Supporters of the amendment responded with marches, television ads and speeches. Church leaders urged Sunday congregations to vote for the amendment. The Rev. Billy Graham was featured in full-page newspaper ads backing the amendment.

North Carolina law already bans gay marriage, but an amendment effectively seals the door on same-sex marriages.

The amendment also goes beyond state law by voiding other types of domestic unions from carrying legal status, which opponents warn could disrupt protection orders for unmarried couples.”

Tony