Mayoral Control Issues

Say Schools March To a 2-Man Band

The Chief-Leader

http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2008/0201/News/014.html

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

It's not about the Mayor, it's about checks and balances, according to several dozen Teachers and parents who showed up at a Jan. 22 United Federation of Teachers-sponsored forum on the future of mayoral control over the school system.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'SCARY' DEVELOPMENT: Vanguard High School Teacher Josh Heisler told educators and parents at a Jan. 22 forum on the future of mayoral control of the schools that the current emphasis on test prep was a frightening development for the future of education and the development of students' critical thinking abilities. 'It's de-skilling and de-professionalizing Teachers,' he said.

There were not many fans of the present system at the meeting at the Martin Luther King educational complex in midtown Manhattan, but neither did the criticisms become personally directed at Mr. Bloomberg or even Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

'We Need a Voice'

"It's not about mayoral control, it's about having a system of governance that works," UFT Staten Island borough rep Emil Pietromonaco told attendees before they took their turns at the microphone. "To do that, people have to have a voice."

The UFT has established a 60-member school governance task force, co-chaired by Mr. Pietromonaco, UFT Manhattan Parent Liaison Teresa Andersen and UFT Vice President Carmen Alvarez. It is holding forums in all five boroughs to get community input on the UFT's future recommendation to the State Legislature when it takes up the debate over mayoral control of the schools in January 2009.

Mayor Bloomberg was given wide-ranging authority over the school system in 2002, abolishing local community schools boards and the central Board of Education. The system will revert to its former incarnation in June 2009 unless the Legislature acts to renew or modify it.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow WANTED: CHECKS AND BALANCES: United Federation of Teachers Vice President Carmen Alvarez is co-chairing the union's task force on school governance to make recommendations about the future of mayoral control. She acknowledged problems with the previous system, but she argued at a Jan. 22 Manhattan forum that unlike the current structure, 'the process was transparent and it was very open.'

"We've established a nonpartisan task force on school governance," said UFT President Randi Weingarten. "It's a broad-based committee representative of all the union's political parties and the school system's different levels, types of schools and geographic areas. Our goal now is to engage classroom educators, parents, civic organizations, community groups, elected officials and others in a public participation process so that their views on what kind of school governance would support teaching and learning and student success are heard in ample time before the sunset of mayoral control."

About a dozen people seated in the sparsely-populated auditorium gave their opinions, and while not everyone called for the end of mayoral control, all of the speakers argued that significant changes were needed.

Call for 'Two-Way' Flow

"Whatever control we have," said Paula Washington, a UFT chapter leader at LaGuardia High School, "there has to be checks and balances. There has to be a two-way flow of information."

Seth Pearce, a La Guardia student who said he had been studying for his U.S. history Regents exam, suggested that the Chancellor should have to be approved by the City Council, the same way the Federal Secretary of Education must be approved by the U.S. Senate.

Others called for a more complete overhaul of the current system of mayoral control, decrying the emphasis on data.

"If you can't count it, it doesn't count," said Michael Fiorillo, a chapter leader at Newcomers High School whose daughter is a public high school student. "They are using private foundation money to create policy they could not otherwise successfully achieve through a democratic process."

Policy See-Saw

Ms. Alvarez and Mr. Pietromonaco spent about 15 minutes at the beginning of the session outlining the history of school governance in the city. The slide presentation showed the consistent see-sawing dating back to 1842, when the Board of Education was created by the State Legislature, between centralized control of the school system and the decentralization efforts that followed.

Manhattan Democratic Party chieftain William Marcy "Boss" Tweed abolished the BOE in 1871 to create mayoral control, only to have that decision reversed two years later under the direction of a new, reform-minded Mayor. After criticism of the local school boards hit a peak in 1896, they were eliminated and centralized control by a new board and a group of Superintendents was established.

Two years later, when the five boroughs were consolidated into the City of New York, each borough got its own board, but in 1902 the system was re-centralized.

That set-up lasted until 1969, when protests for increased community control led to a smaller seven-member central board, appointed by the Mayor and borough presidents, and 32 elected community school boards.

Ms. Alvarez, a former member of District 3's community school board, argued that the former system had greater transparency and better checks and balances. But she also acknowledged that it had problems. "Was it a panacea?" she asked. "It was not - there were schools that had and schools that did not," referring to discrepancies in funding and resources between neighborhoods.

Lack of Input

Several of the people who testified stayed away from specific policy recommendations on how to re-jigger the system. Instead they spoke about what they saw as the outcome of the lack of input from the community under the current system of mayoral control.

The Bloomberg administration's emphasis on testing was a repeated complaint. "There are national trends, but it's really scary when it hits home," said Josh Heisler, a humanities Teacher at Vanguard High School.

He said that he thought the standardized tests had become too important. "I believe it's become like the Holy Grail," Mr. Heisler said. "It's de-skilling and de-professionalizing Teachers."

The Chief: Transfers Lead To Teacher Turmoil

Hundreds Still Not Placed
Transfers Lead To Teacher Turmoil

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Hundreds of veteran Teachers from the re-organized District 79 will work as permanent substitutes for the foreseeable future, even as thousands of new Teachers have secured full-time jobs around the city.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Some Teachers mismatched.

The reorganization announced in late May sent more than 700 Teachers and staff scrambling for jobs. About 340 were placed last month into the available positions in the downsized District 79 and about 280 were assigned to be "ATRs," which stands for Absent Teacher Reserves. The rest retired or found jobs in other districts.

An Insult

"It's an affront to Teachers that served these students who are very bright and very needy," said Carolyn Mollica, who won Outstanding Teacher of the Year at a District 79 Bronx school last year and will be an ATR at Bayside High School starting in September.

District 79 schools serve older students who have not been able to complete their studies at traditional high schools. They include GED programs as well as schools for incarcerated and suspended youth. DOE officials said the reorganization was necessary because the schools were performing poorly.

'CREATED A MESS': United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten expressed anger with the wholesale excessing of staff that some veteran Teachers suspected was geared toward getting rid of older instructors with higher salaries. 'Someone decided she knew better than the Teachers how to teach at-risk kids, and this is the mess that got created,' the union leader said.

"Our GED programs had only a 17% completion rate, despite pupil-teacher ratios as low as four students per adult with only half the kids attending on any given day," DOE Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein's spokeswoman, Debra Wexler, said in an e-mail. "Clearly some Teachers and staff were not well-matched to the programs."

United Federation of Teachers officials said they repeatedly expressed willingness to work with the DOE to make necessary changes.

Misplaced Blame

"Those programs could have been completely filled up," said Michael Mulgrew, UFT vice president for career and tech education and alternative high schools. "You can't blame the Teachers for your mismanagement. This is the most difficult population, and these Teachers wanted to work with them."

Ms. Mollica and several of her colleagues believe that the reorganization has targeted older Teachers, hoping to push them towards retirement. She and several other Teachers reported that the majority of those who showed up in Long Island City last week to receive their ATR appointments were over 40 years old and had more than a decade of experience. They believe the DOE is trying to save money by pushing out veteran Teachers who have higher salaries. "They can get two for the price of one," said Ms. Mollica, 63. "But I'm not ready to retire. If I'm enthusiastic and I love my job, why should I leave?"

The UFT negotiated a hiring process with the city that included specific criteria by which hiring decisions would be made. Those criteria included attendance records, job performance and licensing, and varied by position.

Can File Grievances

A committee composed of DOE and UFT officials made decisions about whether Teachers who applied met the criteria, although Mr. Mulgrew advised any Teacher who believed the process was unfair to file a grievance. The UFT also convinced the DOE to hire 100 percent of the Teachers deemed qualified into the available slots. In most school closings, the city is only required to hire 50 percent of Teachers who meet the criteria. Teachers who received an unsatisfactory rating within the past three years were not allowed to apply.

Some Teachers did not want to take a chance with the District 79 process and found jobs in other parts of the city. "I went crazy looking for a job," said Jeff Kauffman, who taught at District 79 Second Opportunity School and this week will start at a high school in Brooklyn. "I didn't trust how it would all work." The hiring process was supposed to commence after July 4, but the interviews didn't begin until August. Some Teachers, who say they were committed to staying in District 79, were interviewed as late as last week. When they were turned down, it left them little time to seek other jobs.

'Joke' of an Interview

LezAnne Edmund, who has taught GED classes for 11 years, wanted to continue to work with the same population of students, but didn't get an interview until two weeks ago. "I got a phone interview that lasted maybe 12 minutes," she said last week as she waited for her ATR assignment. "I had to answer how I would instruct a certain groups of students in a certain scenario. It was almost a joke."

DOE officials said the late start to the interview process was due to delays by the union. UFT President Randi Weingarten took sharp exception to that claim. "They come up with a plan at the end of May and think they're going to reorganize all this stuff and treat people as chattel, and they didn't expect their union was going to say you can't do it like this?" she asked.

UFT officials said the agreement was done by the end of June but that the DOE mishandled the implementation. They said DOE officials failed to show up at interviews and that Teachers had to enter their placement preferences twice over a space of several weeks into DOE's computer system. The glitches were so widespread, however, that the union insisted that the DOE see all the ATRs in person in Queens last week so they could once again lodge their preferences and ensure that they got placed in one of them. "This is not the Mayor," said Ms. Weingarten. "This is a district being run by someone who decided she knew much better than the Teachers how to teach at-risk kids, and this is the mess that got created."

Had Some Latitude

Teachers assigned to be ATRs were allowed to choose a group of schools they preferred to work in and were placed based on seniority and need of the school. They will continue to be paid their full salary.

Even some of the Teachers who secured jobs within District 79 said the timing of the reorganization and hiring decisions was going to make the start of school chaotic.

"I have no books, and I have no idea what I'm going to be teaching," said Rosalind Panepento, who will be teaching at one of the revamped GED programs in Manhattan.

Ms. Panepento, who was the UFT chapter chair of the Auxiliary Services for High Schools and has taught for 35 years, said she feared that the city would try to use the growing number of ATRs to get rid of Teachers. During the last round of bargaining, the city proposed laying off Teachers who had been excessed for more than 18 months. "Luckily, the union held strong against it," she said, "but I think that's what they're going for."

Fears Impact on Kids

Mr. Kauffman said that he is happy with his new placement, preferring it to his old school where he said most of the staff had ongoing problems with the administrators. But he said he was concerned that all of the changes, coming as late as they did, would have an adverse impact on District 79 students.

"These kids don't need another disincentive to not come to school," he said. "They see a disorganized classroom and school, and they're gone."

The Chief: Principal Gone, Furor Lingers

Arabic School Controversy
http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2007/0824/News/005.html

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A new Arabic dual-language school is still scheduled to open in September after replacing its embattled founding Principal.

THE POWER OF WORDS: Mayor Bloomberg and United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten both contended that a defense of t-shirts bearing the word 'Intifada' - which is often associated with the violent rebellion by Palestinians against Israel - warranted the departure of the founding Principal of a new Arabic school. 'She's not all that media-savvy,' the Mayor said of Debbie Almontaser, 'and she tried to explain a word rather than just condemn.'

Debbie Almontaser, who is a Muslim of Yemeni descent and fluent in Arabic, was forced to resign after she explained the word "intifada'' - commonly used in the context of the Palestinian rebellion against Israel - as meaning "shaking off." She was replaced by a white Jewish Principal who does not speak Arabic.

UFT Joined Criticism

Ms. Almontaser attracted national media attention and criticism after she declined to condemn a t-shirt created by a young Arab women's group that displayed the words "NYC Intifada." Ms. Almontaser had no connection to the group, but after her comments were criticized by Mayor Bloomberg, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, and the editorial boards of several newspapers, she stepped down from her post.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang POLITICAL WITCH HUNT: UFT chapter leader Steve Quester argues that former Khalil Gibran Academy Principal Debbie Almontaser was unfairly driven from her post by people who didn't want to see the Arabic dual-language school open. He believes that her response about a t-shirt with the words "NYC Intifada" was deliberately taken out of context. 'Her comments were coming out of a level of political and cultural knowledge that the people attacking her don't have and don't want to have,' he said.

Danielle Salzberg, a former Teacher and Assistant Principal who has been working on the school project at New Visions for Public Schools, will take her place. Ms. Almontaser will continue working for the school system but will have no connection to the Khalil Gibran Academy, scheduled to welcome its first 6th grade class on Sept. 4.

While public defense of Ms. Almontaser has been muted, some Teachers on list serves and blogs have expressed dismay that the well-respected educator was forced out, arguing that she was a casualty of a well-orchestrated xenophobic campaign against the school that pre-dated her remarks.

The comments that caused the uproar first appeared in the New York Post after reporters asked her to comment on the t-shirts they saw at a street fair, which were created by Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media (AWAAM).

"The word [intifada] basically means 'shaking off.' That is the root word if you look it up in Arabic," Ms. Almontaser told the Post. "I understand it is developing a negative connotation due to the uprising in the Palestinian-Israeli areas. I don't believe the intention is to have any of that kind of [violence] in New York City.

'Shaking Off Oppression'

"I think it's pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society ... and shaking off oppression," she added.

Her comments were followed by criticism from the Mayor, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, several politicians, a whirlwind of activity on conservative Web sites and a planned Aug. 12 protest by Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

Ms. Weingarten wrote a letter to the Post after the paper ran an editorial calling for Ms. Almontaser's dismissal. "It is very disturbing to read about Almontaser defending the use of the term 'Intifada NYC,' and I agree wholeheartedly with your editorial denouncing the practice ... While the city teachers' union initially took an open-minded approach to this school, both parents and teachers have every right to be concerned about children attending a school run by someone who doesn't instinctively denounce campaigns or ideas tied to violence."

Regrets Rationalization

Ms. Almontaser apologized the next day. "The word 'intifada' is completely inappropriate as a T-shirt slogan," she said in a statement. "I regret suggesting otherwise. By minimizing the word's historical associations, I implied that I condone violence and threats of violence. That view is anathema to me."

But calls for her dismissal continued and she stepped down on Aug. 10. In her resignation letter, she wrote, "The days that I have spent establishing the Academy have been some of the best of my life - I have never seen as talented a group of Teachers and other staff as we assembled to lead this school."

She stated that she believed she had been attacked because of her religion and that the school's opponents' "intolerant and hateful tone has come to frighten some of the parents and incoming students. I have grown increasingly concerned that these few outsiders will disrupt the community of learning when the Academy opens its doors on September 4th. Therefore, I have decided to step aside to give the Academy and its dedicated staff the full opportunity to flourish without these unwarranted attacks."

Mayor: Right Move

Mr. Bloomberg and DOE officials welcomed her resignation. "She got a question, she's not all that media-savvy maybe, and she tried to explain a word rather than just condemn," said the Mayor at an Aug. 13 press conference. "I think she felt that she had become the focus of - rather than having the school the focus, so today she submitted her resignation, which is nice of her to do. I appreciate all her service, and I think she's right to do so."

A spokeswoman for the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators said President Ernie Logan had no comment on Ms. Almontaser's ouster.

But not all educators were pleased with the result. "The whole t-shirt thing was a red herring," said Steve Quester, a 20-year Teacher who is the chapter leader at P.S. 372.

A Religious Crusade

He noted the campaign against the school, begun in March by right-wing author Daniel Pipes. In June, a group of New Yorkers launched the "Stop the Madrassa" coalition. The word madrassa literally means school in Arabic, but it is used in the U.S. to refer to religious Muslim schools, often with the implication that terrorism is taught to the children.

Mr. Quester said that as an educator, Ms. Almontaser was trying not to feed into stereotypes when she explained the meaning of the word intifada, but that the question was a set-up by the Post reporters. "The choice was: throw the girls from AWAAM under a bus, or we're going to get you," he said.

Mr. Quester said he was disappointed that his union didn't step up to defend Ms. Almontaser.

"I knew intifada meant shaking off; that comes from being in the Middle East peace movement," said Mr. Quester. "Her comments were coming out of a level of political and cultural knowledge that the people attacking her don't have and don't want to have."

History of Reaching Out

Ms. Almontaser, who is observant and wears the hijab, is a former Teacher and has a long history of interdenominational activism. She was a member of the Brooklyn Dialogue Project, a group of Jews, Muslims, and Christians who met on a monthly basis to discuss issues of concern to their communities. In the weeks after 9/11, Ms. Almontaser was asked by several ministers and rabbis to speak at city synagogues and churches on behalf of the Arab and Muslim communities.

Her son had joined the U.S. Army three years prior to 9/11, and he was called into service to stand guard at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the attacks. That fall, she wrote in a widely circulated essay, "We must get to know each other by speaking to one another. We need to make sure that everyone's voice is heard rather than silenced, to overcome our fears."

Some commentators have characterized the appointment of Ms. Salzberg to head the Gibran Academy as a smart strategic move to fend off further criticism. DOE officials have repeatedly said they are committed to opening the school. Some in the Arab community have condemned the replacement of an Arab leader with a white Jewish woman as giving in to racism.

'Could Be an Issue'

Lili Brown, the vice president of external affairs at New Visions said she was aware in advance that the school would face challenges. She said she had confidence in Ms. Salzberg's ability. "If people make [her race] an issue," she said, "it will become an issue."

Meanwhile, the 44 students who have signed up to go to the school, four of whom speak Arabic and 75 percent of whom are black, began meeting the school's staff last week. One parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was shaken by the events, but believed in the mission of the school. She said she had long been a fan of Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese-Christian poet and writer after whom the school is named. She recited one of her favorite quotes from his work that she said inspired her: "Your neighbor is your other self dwelling behind a wall. In understanding all walls shall fall down."