Moskowitz Aims Charters at Wealthy- So Much for Closing the Achievement Gap

Scott and Lauren Gayno r House Party, Monday, Nov 22 07:00PM

180 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10024

Join us for a discussion on public education and the new school Upper West Success Academy with school founder Eva Moskowitz

JCC Info Session, Tuesday, Nov 30 07:00PM

334 Amsterdam Avenue
Beit Midrash Room 7th Floor
New York, NY 10024

Join us for a discussion on the Upper West Success Academy and school choice with special guest, school founder Eva Moskowitz

Yael Edelist House Party, Thursday, Dec 02 07:00PM

839 West End Avenue
New York, NY 10025

Join us for a discussion on the new school and hear from school founder Eva Moskowitz

Jeff Salinger & Tracy Gary House Party, Monday, Dec 06 08:00PM

326 W 83rd Street
New York, NY 10024

Join us for a discussion on public education and the new school Upper West Success Academy with school founder Eva Moskowitz

Bianca Strul Geyerhahn and Ben Geyerhahn House Party, Tuesday, Dec 07 07:00PM

245 West 99th Street
New York, NY 10025

Join us for a discussion on public education and the new school Upper West Success Academy with school founder Eva Moskowitz

West Side YMCA Info Session, Wednesday, Dec 08 07:00PM

5 West 63rd St.
Park Side Lounge
New York, NY 10023

Join us for a discussion on school choice and the new school Upper West Success Academy

###

May or Bloomberg has publicly stood behind schools boss Joel Klein (r.) but unhappiness in private pushed Klein out, sources say.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's exit may have been unexpected - but insiders say he was ready to go, partly because of escalating tension between him and Mayor Bloomberg.

The mayor, an unwavering public supporter of Klein through eight bruising years, had begun to grow disenchanted with his education chief, six sources with knowledge of the relationship told the Daily News.

"It wasn't as simple as him being pushed. Joel is very astute when it comes to relationships. He saw what was happening," said one source familiar with the inner workings of the Department of Education. "He wants to make some money and take on a new challenge. It made sense for him to go when he did."

Since Klein's announcement, Bloomberg has said unequivocally he wanted Klein to stay.

Still, the results-oriented mayor always made education his signature issue. In what is presumably his last term, he's mindful of his legacy, sources said.

Klein has long been a polarizing figure - accused of being a tone-deaf autocrat who pushed through key reforms without first winning support among parents and teachers.

Two recent polls, one of New Yorkers and one of registered voters, showed less than 40% believed schools had improved under the mayor.

The ma yor's choice to replace Klein may be telling: Hearst Magazines Chairwoman Cathie Black is known for her salesmanship.

"It had just gotten worse and worse. As Klein's relationships with politicians and the teachers became more contentious, he was no longer winning the important battles inside City Hall," said a source who works with both men.

The problems weren't just about image.

One of the mayor's key achievements - rising test scores - was recently called into question by the state's admission that the tests had been dumbed down, several sources said.

Klein also suffered an embarrassing loss this year when the NAACP and the teachers union fought plans to shutter 19 failing s chools.

A judge tossed out the plan because the Education Department failed to follow the law correctly.

"[Corporation Counsel] Michael Cardozo was cursing Joel's name," said one source, "and the mayor was furious."

Cardozo denied the story. "This is absolutely false. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Joel," he said.

Three sources said Klein was also influenced by his wife's wish to leave her time-consuming and travel-intensive job as general counsel at Sony.

His new job as executive vice president at News Corp. could make up some of the lost salary, sources said.

Klein rejected suggestions that his relationship with Bloomberg had cooled.

"I am leaving because I am ready to pursue a new career. The mayor wanted me to stay, and my wife is thrilled to be general counsel of Sony. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong," he said in a statement.

The departure might have come at a good time for Klein's legacy, as well.

He goes out a national hero, lionized in the documentary "Waiting for Superman," admired for stoking support for public education and lauded by some for battling the teachers union over tenure and seniority.

Test scores plummeted this year, and with tougher exams and tighter budget s, no one expects them to rebound substantially in the next year or two.

Harlem Children's Zone President Geoffrey Canada, who is close to Bloomberg, said he believed it was Klein's decision to leave.

"When I spoke to him about leaving, we both talked about having served long and hard and the wear and tear of doing that," Canada said. "I didn't get any other indication that anything else was going on."

With Erin Einhorn, Adam Lisberg and Heidi Evans

rmonahan@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/11/21/2010-11-21_joel_on_the_deklein_tensions_with_mayor_caused_surprise_exit_sources_say.html#ixzz15xZr9lLO

Charter Schools Flex Muscles in Cathie Black Appointment Debate

Charter Schools Flex Muscles in Cathie Black Appointment Debate

• November 20th, 2010 3:30 pm ET

Charter schools have had something of a coming out party lately. While public education supporters have loudly opposed Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appointment of Cathie Black as Schools Chancellor, charter school owners have run a very public campaign in support of Black and the Mayor.  Charters are privately owned and publicly funded enterprises that have taken to combining splashy media appearances with behind the scenes influence to shape many of the decisions that effect public education. 

Bloomberg’s bypassing of democratic norms such as public hearings, town hall meetings or a transparent selection process allowed the charter school owners to appear as authoritative sources in the realm of public opinion.  This was, however, something more like an echo chamber since the charters were in on the Cathie Black appointment from day one.

The Charter Schools Speak!

Chief among the charter spokespeople is Deborah Kenny, the founder and CEO of the Harlem Village Academies.  Kenny squared off with New York Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio on the popular FOX morning show Good Day New York after Bloomberg announced the Black appointment.

DeBlasio made the rather tepid demand that a public hearing be held where Black could lay out her vision for the school system and take questions from opponents.  Kenny wasn’t having it. 

She called the proposals that Black have a background in education “extremely disrespectful to teachers” who, she argued, didn’t need pedagogical direction from above.  In addition, a hearing, “takes us back into the Dark Ages” before Mayoral control where everyone had an opinion, but nothing was done.  Kenny described Black as “an excellent leader” and emphatically stated that she trusted Bloomberg’s judgment. 

Not surprisingly, DeBlasio caved quickly by swearing allegiance to Mayoral control.  He then followed this by saying that he himself was not opposed to the Black appointment per se.  He just wanted to hear her present her ideas.  So much for the opposition.

The FOX News anchor was a bit feistier.  He pushed Kenny by indicating that appointees at the Federal level also face public confirmation hearings where they are forced to lay out their plans.  A snide smile from Kenny was followed by, “And how much do we get done at the Federal government level?”  Sensing he had gone too far out on a liberal branch, the anchor recoiled.

Kenny was successful in tying the appointment to the larger issue of Mayoral control, demonizing an attempt at public accountability and staking her claim as an authority capable of evaluating such an issue.

When the Privatizers Attack!

Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the Harlem Success Academy, took a different tact on the Black appoint by choosing to lay out the charter’s vision of the future in print.  The debate offered Moskowitz an opportunity for mass ideological education, charter style.

Drawing on claims that presented Black as a “no-nonsense leader” and “bold manager,” Moskowitz presented a “to-do” list in a Daily News op-ed.  Top of the list, no surprises here, is “parent choice.”  In charter school new-speak this means even more privatization of the public education system by opening up the number of charters that are available.

The second was even more openly ideological with a few dashes of racial overtones thrown in.  In Moskowitz’s mind, “middle-class parents” want in on the charter school craze, but these institutions mostly exist in “low-income communities.”  Expanding charters is her next step following “our focus on crime in the 1990s made the city more livable.”  This could “take city living to the next level.”  Presumably, white flighters from the suburbs would roar back into the city once the charter schools clean things up educationally.

The final points on the list involve a direct assault on public schools, public school teachers and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).  “Charter schools,” she argued, “need to be treated like the public schools they truly are… [not]… routinely targeted and attacked as private entities.”  She called for increased funding per-pupil to make the public and charter schools equivalent, a move that would certainly bankrupt the system and shift the advantages even more in the direction of charters.

Finally, Moskowitz urged Black to confront the UFT.  She presented the union contract as serving to, “prevent the city from attracting and retaining talented educators who want schools organized around teaching and learning, not the interests of grownups.”  Presumably, grownup interests include trivialities such as healthcare, vacation and job security.  Are there any talented educators that are not concerned about these issues?

Autocratic City Hall – Where the Charter Schools Breed

While Moskowitz and Kenny took their conservative message to the masses via the media, Geoffrey Canada, the CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, worked in place more familiar to charter school owners – the political shadows of City Hall politics.  Canada admitted that he was the only “educator” consulted about the Black appointment by Mayor Bloomberg.  No surprise since the Mayor recently described Canada as “the most important living New Yorker.”

Despite the revelation, Canada still played it close to the vest in an interview with the New York Times.  He refused to relay any details regarding his conversation with the Mayor and towed the company line by saying he was “thrilled” by the choice while deflecting notions that he himself had been a leading candidate. 

Then again, Canada has bigger fish to fry then the New York political scene has to offer.  He has vaulted himself onto a national stage as a leading voice for “educational reform” in the form of charter school privatization.  The heavily pro-charter documentary “Waiting for Superman” has solidified his national profile and open the door for presentations such as recent one made at the US Department of Education.

Tea Partiers in Suits?

Kenny, Moskowitz and Canada are the public faces of a deeply conservative political force in New York City.  Flush with funds hijacked from the public sector and skilled at manipulating terms like “reform” and “empowerment,” these are not your Tea Party type conservatives.  Nonetheless, the goals seem quite similar – annihilate the public sector, break the strength of unions and exert political authority outside of democratic norms.

They have clearly found a champion in Cathie Black, a corporate manager skilled at asset stripping, downsizing and violating rights on a local and global basis.  The social power of the charters has been exercised in her defense. 

The hope is that the sheer arrogance of this maneuver by Bloomberg will awaken some spirit of resistance amongst the people of this city who are served by the public schools.  If not, the trends toward privatization and autocratic political authority will accelerate, leaving behind students in increasingly desperate need of a good education and a society in equally urgent need of grassroots democratic renewal.

***
Billy Wharton is a writer, activist and the editor of theSocialist WebZine.   His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the NYC Indypendent, Spectrezine and the Monthly Review Zine. He can be reached atwhartonbilly@gmail.com.  Become a FAN on Facebook.

Panel on Pick for Schools Has Close Ties to Bloomberg

By DAVID W. CHEN and SHARON OTTERMAN

New York State’s top education official on Friday named an advisory panel of eight experts, at least half of them with strong connections to the Bloomberg administration, to help him decide whether to approve Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s controversial choice to run the city’s school system.
Three panelists selected by David M. Steiner, the state education commissioner, worked as senior officials at the city’s Department of Education.
One of those three now works at a foundation that was, for many years, the vehicle for Mr. Bloomberg’s personal charitable donations.
A fourth panelist is the head of a museum that has received almost half a million dollars from Mr. Bloomberg in donations since he took office.
The eight panelists share deep experience in the education field as academics and administrators. It is precisely the kind of experience that Mr. Bloomberg’s choice for chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, lacks.
Mr. Steiner must decide whether to grant Ms. Black a waiver from state law requiring leaders of school districts to have substantial education credentials and experience.
Citing the prerogative of mayoral control over the schools, the Bloomberg administration has argued that she is a “visionary” with experience in managing large and unwieldy organizations, as well as a familiarity with dealing with customers who are not always happy.
But critics of Ms. Black’s selection, including many opposed to mayoral control in the first place, say that her appointment, which was a closely guarded secret until just minutes before the announcement on Nov. 9, demonstrates that Mr. Bloomberg is tone-deaf to the voices of parents and teachers who want an educator in the top spot.
The panel is scheduled to hold its first, and probably only, meeting on Tuesday in private in New York City. Education officials say that only the panelists, the commissioner and staff members will attend.
While it is not clear when Mr. Steiner will make his decision, many people expect that he will do so shortly after the Thanksgiving break, or well before Joel I. Klein, the current chancellor, departs at year’s end.
The chairwoman of the panel is Susan H. Fuhrman, the president of Teachers College at Columbia University. Three panelists are in charge of sizable urban school districts: Andrés A. Alonso, the chief executive of the Baltimore school system and a former deputy chancellor under Mr. Klein; Jean-Claude Brizard, the superintendent in Rochester and a New York City native who has been a teacher and principal and was a top aide to Mr. Klein; and Bernard P. Pierorazio, the Yonkers superintendent and a former top official at that city’s highly regarded Saunders Trades and Technical High School.
In an interview, Mr. Brizard said, that he would keep an open mind.
“I’m anxious to see Cathie Black’s credentials, and I’m interested to know what her vision is,” he said. “I don’t believe you need to be an educator, but you certainly need to understand what the goals are, and how the system works.”
The other panelists are: Ronald F. Ferguson, a Harvard economist who focuses on the achievement gap between minority students and white students; Kenneth G. Slentz, a top aide to Mr. Steiner at the State Education Department; Louise Mirrer, president and chief executive of the New-York Historical Society, which has received regular donations from Mr. Bloomberg, and a former top official at the City University of New York; and Michele Cahill, a vice president at the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a former senior educational policy adviser to Mr. Klein.
When asked about the panel, Stephan Ellenwood, chairman of the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Boston University and a former colleague of Mr. Steiner’s there, said that he would have expected more panelists to come from academia.
“I don’t know how he got this list,” Dr. Ellenwood said. “It surprises me. The membership of it seems quite uneven.”
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat who has long been critical of Mr. Bloomberg’s education policies, questioned the panel’s makeup, saying, “It appears that the deck has been stacked in favor of granting the waiver in a manner that will further undermine public confidence in the appointment of Ms. Black.”
But Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the city teachers’ union, said, “All of these people have heavy-duty backgrounds and success in education, so obviously David Steiner is clearly looking at this from the educational side, as he should be.”
One panelist, Ms. Cahill, has personal experience with the waiver issue.
As one of Mr. Klein’s most trusted aides from 2002 to 2006, she played a crucial role in reorganizing the school system and developing new schools, and was the driving force behind new programs for students most at risk of dropping out. But in 2004, she was denied a state waiver to serve as deputy chancellor, because while she had a dozen years of teaching experience and a master’s degree in urban affairs, she lacked traditional education supervisory credentials.
She now works at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic organization, as director of urban education, and said it was important to find someone to continue what Mr. Klein started.
“I think that the next chancellor of the school system has to present a commitment to the kind of reform that has resulted in the positive outcomes that have happened in New York City at this time,” she said.
She said she did not see her time working for Mr. Klein as a conflict. “People will assume what they want to,” she said. “I have a 40-year record on education. I have had many professional positions, and I have worked with more than 30 school districts throughout the country.”
Still, it was widely known that Mr. Bloomberg, until recently, made his charitable gifts to hundreds of arts and cultural groups through Carnegie.
But George Soule, a Carnegie spokesman, said Friday that “there was no intersection whatsoever” between Ms. Cahill and that money, which he described as having come from “an anonymous donor.”

Michael Barbaro contributed reporting.

Parents Protest Release Of Teacher Reports

By: NY1 News

As the city and several media organizations, including NY1, submitted briefings to the court Friday in order to have thousands of teacher data reports released, some parents in Brooklyn rallied to keep the information private.At a rally at P.S. 321 in Park Slope, parents said the documents are flawed. The reports "grade" teachers using a system that takes into account standardized tests scores, as well as factors affecting student performance.
"Equating education with testing is a bad idea. It's bad for the kids and it's very bad for the teachers,” said one protester. “Good schooling means much more than doing well on a multiple-choice test."
"It's public shaming. It's rooted in thinking about tests and not teaching,” said another. “It makes no sense."
Similar rallies were also held at other schools in the borough.
Early next month, a judge will hear arguments on whether to make the information public.
NY1 was one of the first to petition for the teacher data reports. The Department of Education agreed with making them public, but the teachers union sued to block the release.

Parents to Rally Saturday in Support of I.S. 302, Demand City Take School Off the Chopping Block

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         

November 19, 2010

Contact:            Erica Perez: 347-323-1499

Emma Hulse: 317-371-3845

Parents to Rally Saturday in Support of I.S. 302, Demand City Take School Off the Chopping Block

 

Brooklyn’s I.S. 302 Faces Closure by City Despite Steady Improvement

City Recently Announced Dozens of Schools to be Closed

 

Angry parents will rally on Saturday in support of Brooklyn’s I.S. 302, which faces closure by the City despite marked gains in student performance over the past four years.  The City announced in late October it would begin a process to close I.S. 302 and 46 other schools.

The move came as a shock to parents at 302, where student performance has improved from a “D” grade to an “A” by the City’s own measurement.  Last year the school received “proficient” on its quality review, with Department of Education staff noting that the administrative team at 302 “is committed to improving the performance of students, and their zeal for success guides the strategic use of all school resources and organizational decisions towards achieving this goal.”

Adding to the outrage from parents, thousands of students would be displaced over the next three years if 302’s phase-out started next year as proposed.  If 302 is shuttered, there will not be room for the additional students in District 19.

At a time when exam scores have fallen across the board in New York City and resources have disappeared, community members believe that the school and its students are being set up to fail.  In addition, the parents will charge Saturday that DOE is failing to address the crisis and systematically denying low-income students of color an equitable education.

WHEN:  Saturday, November 20 – 12:00 PM

WHERE:  I.S. 302 Rafael Cordero y Molina, 350 Linwood St., Brooklyn – between Atlantic and Liberty

WHO:  Parents, students, alumni, teachers, elected officials, clergy members, community leaders and others concerned about the future of I.S. 302; members of Cypress Hills Advocates for Education (CHAFE) and the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation.

###

Evan Thies

917 715 9265

www.brooklynstrategies.com

NYSUT FOIL REQUEST FOR CHARTER SCHOOL TEACHERS FOILED

In an interesting turn of events NYSUT made a FOIL request for teachers names and other information in Charter Schools and argued the privacy exemptions of FOIL do not apply. The decision in that case follows:

In the Matter of NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS, Respondent, v BRIGHTER CHOICE CHARTER SCHOOL et al., Appellants.

506538

SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, THIRD DEPARTMENT

2009 NY Slip Op 6071; 64 A.D.3d 1130; 883 N.Y.S.2d 383; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5906

July 30, 2009, Decided
July 30, 2009, Entered

NOTICE:

THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION.

THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY: Motion for leave to appeal granted by Matter of N. Y. State United Teachers v. Brighter Choice Charter School, 13 N.Y.3d 712, 2009 N.Y. LEXIS 4098, 891 N.Y.S.2d 304 (N.Y., Nov. 23, 2009)

CASE SUMMARY

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Respondent charter schools appealed a judgment by the Albany County Supreme Court (New York) that granted petitioner union's CPLR art. 78 application to review the schools' denial its requests under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Public Officers Law art. 6.

OVERVIEW: The union initially sought the names, home addresses, titles, and salaries of the schools' teachers, instructors, and faculty (collectively the teachers). A dispute arose regarding the extent of the requested information that should be supplied under FOIL, as well as the applicability of the personal privacy exception for information sought for a commercial or fund-raising purpose. The question left to be answered at trial was whether the schools had to provide the full names of their teachers. The trial court concluded that the full names had be provided under FOIL. The appellate court found, inter alia, that the personal privacy exception upon which the schools relied, as it existed at the pertinent time, did not support their argument that the teachers' full names need not be provided. Education Law § 2854(1)(e) provided that the schools were subject to the provisions of FOIL. Public Officers Law § 87(3)(b) required the charter schools to maintain, inter alia, records of the names of their employees. Accordingly, the trial court properly granted the union's CPLR art. 78 application.

OUTCOME: The judgment was affirmed.

CORE TERMS: teachers', personal privacy, full names, salary, Freedom of Information Law, charter schools, statutory exemptions, public school teachers, fund-raising, disclosure, dropped

LexisNexis® Headnotes Hide Headnotes

Administrative Law > Governmental Information > Freedom of Information > Enforcement > Standards of Review

HN1

The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Public Officers Law art. 6, is premised on the strong policy conviction that the public is vested with an inherent right to know and that official secrecy is anathematic to our form of government. Accordingly, FOIL is to be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly interpreted so that the public is granted maximum access to the records of government.

Administrative Law > Governmental Information > Freedom of Information > Enforcement > Burdens of Proof

HN2	In a Freedom of Information context, an agency seeking to assert statutory exemptions must demonstrate that the material requested falls squarely within the ambit of the statutory exemptions.

Administrative Law > Governmental Information > Personal Information > Agency Requirements > Information Collection
Education Law > Administration & Operation > Charter Schools

HN3

Charter schools are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Public Officers Law art. 6. Education Law § 2854(1)(e). It follows that, for the limited purpose of FOIL, the schools are tantamount to an "agency," Public Officers Law § 86(3), and their employees stand on similar ground as public employees. As such, the schools are required to maintain records of the name, public office address, title, and salary of their employees. Public Officers Law § 87(3)(b).

Administrative Law > Governmental Information > Personal Information > Agency Requirements > Information Collection

HN4	Disclosing a person's home address implicates a heightened privacy concern. Public Officers Law § 89(7).

COUNSEL: Bond, Schoeneck & King, P.L.L.C., Albany (Joanmarie M. Dowling of counsel), for appellants.

Law Office of James R. Sandner, Latham (Marilyn Raskin-Ortiz of counsel), for respondent.

JUDGES: Before: Peters, J.P., Spain, Lahtinen, Kavanagh and McCarthy, JJ. Peters, J.P., Spain, Kavanagh and McCarthy, JJ., concur.

OPINION BY: Lahtinen

OPINION

 [***384]   [**1130]  MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Lahtinen, J.
Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court (McDonough, J.), entered December 5, 2008 in Albany County, which granted petitioner's application, in a combined proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 and action for declaratory judgment, to review six determinations of respondents denying petitioner's Freedom of Information Law requests.
Petitioner, a labor union, made requests in December 2007 under the Freedom of Information Law (see Public Officers Law art 6 [hereinafter FOIL]) to respondents, six charter schools in Albany County and the boards of education and certain administrators thereof, for the names, home addresses, titles and salaries of respondents' teachers, instructors and faculty (hereinafter collectively referred to as teachers). A dispute arose regarding the extent of the requested information that should be supplied under FOIL, as well as the applicability of the personal privacy exception for information sought for a commercial or fund-raising purpose (see  [*2]  Public Officers Law § 89 [2] [b]  [**1131]  [former (iii)]) ¹. In June 2008, petitioner commenced these proceedings, which were consolidated by stipulation. By the time of oral argument, petitioner had dropped its request for home addresses and respondents had acknowledged they would provide the titles and salaries of their teachers. The question left to be answered is whether respondents also had to provide the full names of their teachers. Supreme Court concluded that the full names must be provided under FOIL. Respondents appeal.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Footnotes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 The parties do not contend that the recent amendments to FOIL (see L 2008, ch 223, § 4 [eff Aug. 6, 2008]) should be applied in this proceeding, where the requests were made and the proceeding was commenced before the amendments became effective. We make no ruling regarding the amended statutory language.

- - - - - - - - - - - - End Footnotes- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

^HN1FOIL is premised on "the strong policy conviction that 'the public is vested with an inherent right to know and that official secrecy is anathematic to our form of government'" (Matter of Federation of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Clubs v New York City Police Dept., 73 NY2d 92, 95, 535 N.E.2d 279, 538 N.Y.S.2d 226 [1989], quoting Matter of Fink v Lefkowitz, 47 NY2d 567, 571, 393 N.E.2d 463, 419 N.Y.S.2d 467 [1979]). Accordingly, "FOIL is to be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly interpreted so that the public is granted maximum access to the records of government" (Matter of Capital Newspapers, Div. of Hearst Corp. v Whalen, 69 NY2d 246, 252, 505 N.E.2d 932, 513 N.Y.S.2d 367 [1987]; see Matter of Data Tree, LLC v Romaine, 9 NY3d 454, 462, 880 N.E.2d 10, 849 N.Y.S.2d 489 [2007]). ^HN2An agency seeking to assert statutory exemptions must "demonstrate that 'the material requested falls squarely within the ambit of these statutory exemptions'" (Matter of Newsday, Inc. v Empire State Dev. Corp., 98 NY2d 359, 362, 774 N.E.2d 1187, 746 N.Y.S.2d 855 [2002], quoting Matter of Fink v Lefkowitz, 47 NY2d at 571).
The Legislature has specifically provided that ^HN3charter schools are subject to the provisions of FOIL (see Education Law § 2854 [1] [e]). It follows that, for the limited purpose of FOIL, respondents are tantamount to an "agency" (Public Officers Law § 86 [3]) and their employees stand on similar ground as public employees. As such, respondents are required to maintain records of "the name, public office address, title and salary" of their employees (Public Officers Law § 87 [3] [b]). Respondents have provided no cases where this basic information about employees who are subject to FOIL has been found to be exempt from disclosure. Indeed, this basic information as to state employees, as well as public school teachers in this state, is accessible by anyone for any purpose on the  [***385]  Internet. While respondents argue that there are sound reasons for not requiring the same level of transparency for respondents' teachers as  [**1132]  public school teachers, the Legislature has made no such distinction.
The personal privacy exception upon which respondents rely, as it existed at the pertinent time, does not support their argument that the teachers' full names need not be provided. Such exception provided, in relevant part, that it was an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy to seek "lists of names and addresses if such lists would be used for commercial or fund-raising purposes" (Public Officers Law § 89 [2] [b] [former (iii)]). This language has been interpreted to include information sought under FOIL to be used in direct-mail membership solicitation, which in turn results in receipt of funds or dues (see e.g. Matter of Federation of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Clubs v New York City Police Dept., 73 NY2d at 96-97; Matter of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v Kelly, 55 AD3d 222, 226, 863 N.Y.S.2d 439 [2008]). While respondents produced proof from which petitioner's intent to solicit members could be inferred,  [*3]  there are two important distinctions in this proceeding that keep it from falling within the holdings of cases finding the personal privacy exception applicable. First, the cases upon which respondents rely sought disclosure of names and, significantly, also home addresses. ^HN4Disclosing a person's home address implicates a heightened privacy concern (see generally Public Officers Law § 89 [7]; United States Dept. of Defense v Federal Labor Relations Auth., 510 U.S. 487, 114 S. Ct. 1006, 127 L. Ed. 2d 325 [1994]; Matter of Empire Realty Corp. v New York State Div. of Lottery, 230 AD2d 270, 272-273, 657 N.Y.S.2d 504 [1997]). Here, petitioner has dropped its initial request for the teachers' home addresses. Second, unlike the precedent cited by respondents, this case involves a request for -- as discussed above -- basic information required to be kept (see Public Officers Law § 87 [3] [b]) about employees whose status subjects them to FOIL on essentially the same footing as public employees (see Education Law § 2854 [1] [e]).
Peters, J.P., Spain, Kavanagh and McCarthy, JJ., concur.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

NY Times on John Dewey protest at Fightback Friday morning

This is the third week in a row at Dewey's AM Fightback Friday protest and I took video of all 3 protests. I also have video of the Beach Channel meeting on Monday, another almost surreal experience.

At 3pm today Sheepshead Bay HS also held a pep rally that was awesome in the number of teachers and students who participated. The principal was the leader of the pack and was so excited she could barely contain herself.

I hope to have these videos up asap - there have been so many events, we can't keep up. GEM has reached out to both schools.

A bunch of Dewey people came to the Sheepshead protest with their Dewey banner and one teacher told a GEMer she started to cry at the support. Now Dewey may plan an afternoon protest with some reciprocity from Sheepshead.

Building unity between schools is important. If Dewey closes and Sheepshead is open they will end up with the kids from Dewey who are most difficult to place and vice versa. Of course there is one major body in this city that could being all these schools together in a massive protest but that unnamed body, which had little of no official presence at either protest, chooses to let each school fight its battles on its own.

There were also reports of some protests in Park Slope and Sunset Park but not confirmed yet.

We need more videographers out there. If you have video and want to post on the GEM or Ed Notes you tube channels let me know. You have to keep them under 10 minutes. Longer videos can go up on our channel on Vimeo.

Keep organizing and spreading Fightback Friday

Norm

Fighting the Closing of a High School on the Brink

By KERRI MACDONALD

Photographs by Michael Nagle for The New York Times Supporters of John Dewey High School protest in front of the high school. This is the third week in a row of “Fight Back Friday,” a rally against a proposal to close the school.

A school bus driver honked and pumped his fist around 7:30 Friday morning, steering along Stillwell Avenue beneath the elevated D train. Outside the tree-lined campus of John Dewey High School, a swirling crowd of students, teachers and alumni cheered, many hoisting handmade signs.
The school is one of 47 city schools, including 26 high schools, that could be closed for poor performance, the Department of Education announced in October. In protest, the community has begun holding vocal weekly protests known as Fight Back Fridays.
About 150 protesters turned up two weeks ago, in the rain. On Friday morning, more than 200—including Assemblyman William Colton—rallied alongside a chain link fence outside the school.

Len Warner, who taught there for 30 years beginning in 1970, woke up at 5 a.m. to drive from Staten Island in support of the school, known for its individualized program, four-cycle school year and extended school days.
“It was nostalgic, because I drove down my old path,” said Mr. Warner, whose picket sign read: “Dewey works! Don’t let the program die.”
A group called Friends of Dewey is working on a proposal to strengthen the school, which opened in 1969. Advocates say one of the reasons Dewey’s standing has gone down is the closing of nearby schools. In its 2008-2009 progress report, Dewey received D grades in School Environment, Student Performance and Student Progress. The following year, Environment fell to an F, while Progress moved up to a C.
Dmitry Gubin, a 35-year-old student at Pratt Institute, is using John Dewey as a case study in a thesis on school closing policies. He said he wasn’t sure what effect Fight Back Fridays could have.
“It’s hard to tell,” he said, “but it’s definitely important for students to come out and feel empowered.”
Jea Sheng, a 15-year-old sophomore, said no one pressured him to march. “Why not support it?” he said, stepping out of the rotating assembly line. “I just decided to come.”
Just before 8 a.m. students headed to classes, passing through the narrow, guarded, gate and toward the school’s only entrance. As she watched, Teri Brennan, secretary of the school alumni board, recalled the spirit of “anarchy” she adopted at John Dewey, where she graduated in 1981.
“I get that the world has changed,” Ms. Brennan said, watching as students moved into the building, “but a school should never be about anything but the kids.”

NYC Lesson Plan: Destroy the Teachers’ Union

Posted on November 19, 2010

by Sherry Wolf

http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/nyc-lesson-plan-destroy-the-teachers-union/

If your car is broken down on the side of the highway and you call a demolition guy for help, chances are you’re not looking to fix the tire. Let’s face it, NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg didn’t select a coddled media mogul who’s never spent a day inside a public school to be the new schools chancellor as a means to improve the country’s largest school system.

Nope, Cathie Black’s role will be to obliterate the teachers’ union, and for that she is eminently qualified.

Here is a woman who was raised in the pampered and segregated cotillion society of American aristocracy, who won equestrian competitions at clubs where Blacks and Jews were verboten and whose claim to fame is marketing that journalistic ode to color weather maps, USA Today.

Early in her career as a corporate tool, Black compelled the denim-clad feminists at Ms. magazine to threaten a mass walkout over her insistence on running Big Tobacco’s siren song for women to achieve equal rates of cancer with men, the infamous Virginia Slims’ “You’ve come a long way, baby,” ad campaign.

When Black and her husband aren’t kicking back at their $4.1 million beach house in Southampton or playing a round of golf at the Westchester Country Club with its $300,000 initiation fee (Jews and Blacks allowed nowadays), they are entertaining in their duplex penthouse apartment on Park Avenue.

The New York Times informs us that she has her modest moments, like when she opts for a yellow cab over a black limo, but she likes her bling too. Black recently loaned her “$47,600 bracelet — a Bulgari confection called the Allegra — to a Manhattan museum for its current exhibit showcasing the jewels and clothing of New York’s most influential women.”

Naturally, she attended private school, as did her two children, and she has no education background whatsoever. Black’s haughty and arrogant demeanor aside, she has a reputation as being a tyrant of a boss, the kind every worker rushes away from to take the stairs when her Gucci purse is spotted peeking out from the elevator doors.

There is no question that this pill of a parasite is totally unqualified to run a school system of one million children, two-thirds of whom qualify for free lunch and 85 percent of whom are Black, Latino or Asian. Cathie Black has not been tapped to revolutionize learning, she’s the billionaire mayor’s pick to destroy one of the last bastions of union power in a city facing $1.6 billion in cuts.

I don’t have any kids in the public schools, or any kids at all for that matter. And my only spin at teaching was as a 23-year-old 6th-grade substitute teacher who was disciplined for playing my students a recording of Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” on the eve of Election Day 1988. (Every student participated in the discussion that day and I am certain not one of the white administrators who chewed me out has ever actually listened to or read a Malcolm X speech.)

While I don’t have that kind of personal stake in the public schools, I do want to live in a city where there are well-educated children and well-compensated, unionized teachers. I know that there are teachers, parents and students currently discussing how to stop the city from granting Cathie Black a pass to wreak havoc on the schools and immiserate the lives of teachers. I will happily join their protests and sign their petitions. Here’s one I found online: http://www.petitiononline.com/DenyWaiv/petition.html

If Cathie Black must live among us, can she at least remain in her hermetically-sealed bubble of wealth and privilege, away from where she can affect the lives of millions?

Hater Stephen Thrasher: Cathie Black Opposed by the Same Old Handful of Loudmouth Gadflies

Education

Cathie Black Opposed by the Same Old Handful of Loudmouth Gadflies

By Steven Thrasher, Wed., Nov. 17 2010 @ 6:06PM

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Categories: Education, Steven Thrasher

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Cathie Black: hated by the same old gang

Have you noticed that it's the same five or six people protesting Cathie Black's appointment as Chancellor of Schools the past couple of weeks? No? That's probably because her opposition has been hyped to seem like it's made of far more people than it is.
Yes, sites like Gotham Schools imply that there's a major wave of opposition out there. But if you actually click through to many of the stories the educational aggregator is linking to, you'll see it's the same handful of usual suspects who've been opposed to Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein over the last eight years who are now opposing Black.
How is this news? And why does such a small number of people, so often quoted by the press, speak for 1.1 million school children?
If you actually go to any education events in person, as we routinely have over the past year, you'll see that it's the same small group complaining about Black that always complains about everything. The name of the focus of their ire has changed, but not much else has.
Nowhere was this more apparent than at last night's meeting of the Panel for Education Policy (PEP), the de facto school board under mayoral control.
Most present in the largely empty auditorium held up signs that said "Klein, Don't Leave Me Behind," next to a face of a pouting child. It was an oddly mixed message. Those holding the signs often hissed, booed or yelled every time Klein's name was mentioned. They are presumably among the masses that have screamed at him for years and thinks he's ruined education during his tenure.
And yet, they were begging him to stay, and telling him they felt abandoned.
Klein knocked them off their guard by starting off with an equally odd gesture of his own. Having read the blog of Norm Scott (who is no great fan of the Chancellor) where Scott divulged the two are twins separated at birth and that he wanted to give Klein a hug, the Chancellor accepted. Klein stepped off the
stage and hugged Scott before any business even started. (Scott was booed by some of his friends for literally embracing the Chancellor, and later wrote "People shunned me -- saying they won't come near me until I showered. They're all just haters.")
But the people hissing the hug and Cathie Black's nomination were the same people who are always at these events. And when you read stories about the supposed wave of Black opposition, they're chock full of the usual subjects: the UFT's Julie Cavanagh and Mike Mulgrew; State Senator (and pro-UFT, anti-charter) Bill Perkins; City Councilman Robert Jackson; Civil Rights attorney Norman Siegel, and the "local gadfly" Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters.
Many of them were present last night or at the protest at Tweed Courthouse on Sunday.
These people oppose Bloomberg on everything educational, and have for years. True, they are very loud, and often quoted, and it's nearly impossible to open up an education story in the New York Times without reading Leonie Haimson's aggrieved take on the subject.
But how is this news? Yes, some 9,000 people have signed a petition against the Black appointment, but that's out of the parents of a million kids. Of those opposed, only about a dozen bothered to show up last night to speak out against her.
Among the most cringe-worthy moments of the evening was when a group calling themselves the Real Reformer, dressed in red capes, began to rap:
As one observer noted, "No all white group of parents should get up and rap" to represent school kids.
This is not to say that there aren't legitimate questions to be raised about Black, a woman who has apparently never even attended a public school let alone worked in one. But there are two hard truths. One is that under mayoral control, Bloomberg pretty much gets to pick who he wants. The other is that far from facing a huge opposition, Black faces a vast majority of New York parents don't care who heads the school system. They're more concerned about issues much closer to them, like their kids and their individual schools