The Offical Website of the PJSTA

Posted on September 20, 2013 by thepjsta

Introducing “Wear Red for Public Ed!

The PJSTA is excited to announce the launch of a new campaign that we will thread throughout the rest of the school year. The campaign, dubbed “Wear Red for Public Ed” gives every PJSTA member an opportunity to take sustained action throughout the rest of the school year in a support of public education. We will be starting on Wednesday, October 2nd! Here is what Wear Red for Public Ed consists of…

Every Wednesday we will ask every PJSTA member to wear red to work in some form. Red short sleeved and long sleeved PJSTA tee-shirts will be available as an option, but any red will do.

Hopefully you will be asked why you are wearing red. You can say that you are wearing red because you stand in support of public education and against top down, corporate reforms that have been imposed on us. You can then give them a copy of our flyer (see bottom of this post).
On Wednesday we will ask you to use the hashtag #red4ed on social media to share why you wear red. Tweet it, set it as your Facebook status, take pictures of your colleagues in their red and post to Instagram. We anticipate other groups joining this cause and we are hoping to get #red4ed trending on Twitter every Wednesday! A great example could be “I wear #red4ed today because I care about my students!” or “I wear #red4ed today because I stand against high stakes testing!” Be creative and have fun with it!

Once again, we will be starting on Wednesday, October 2nd! If you would like to order one of the red PJSTA shirts please email Beth Shapiro at bethshapiro1@gmail.com. Be sure to specify short sleeve (50/50) or long sleeve (100% cotton), along with your name, your shirt size, and what building you work in.

Feel free to use the comment section below for any questions.

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Posted on September 18, 2013 by thepjsta

Senator Flanagan’s Hearings: Round 1

NYSED Commissioner John King and Senator Flanagan

Yesterday was Senator Flanagan’s first scheduled hearing on New York State’s Reform Agenda. I didn’t have the ability to be there as I was teaching, however I did have the good fortune of hearing about it from people who were there.

To summarize, the meeting began with Senator Flanagan showing up late. When you are as important as John J. Flanagan you can make people wait… and then make sure they use a deferential tone when addressing you. Senator Flanagan, who represents parts of the Comsewogue School District, then allowed one of his pal John King’s minions to pontificate about how wonderful the reforms are working in New York State. After that representative from NYSED took so much time to present, the other individuals invited to testify were told there wasn’t time for them to provide their entire testimony and that they should essentially try to summarize it.

The remaining invitees consisted of administrators, school board members, some parents, and one teacher. But really, who wants to hear from teachers?! Across the board the testimony lambasted the reforms. Jeanette Deutermann, a parent leader from the Long Island Opt-Out group seemed to give the most impassioned plea against the reforms, citing their impact on her children.

James Gounaris, Board of Education President of the Herricks School District, talked about how incredible Herricks is and then threw other school districts under the bus saying, “The new state mandates while understandably necessary for New York City and continually low achieving school districts like Hempstead and Roosevelt actually prevent school districts like Herricks to continue its great work.” Right. Damaging reforms are bad for Herricks but they are fine for poor districts.

Senator Flanagan has three more scheduled hearings around the state (10/1 in Syracuse, 10/16 in Buffalo, and 10/29 in New York City).

Apparently some of the lawmakers in attendance expressed concern over the reforms and their implementation. It is absolutely crucial that we continue to let them know that their jobs will be on the line over this issue. It’s time to ratchet up the pressure on them. Let them know that they represent us. If we endure another year of catastrophic education policy in New York State, these state legislators should pay with their jobs next Election Day.

News 12 covered the event.

You can read all of the testimonies, as they were intended to be read, here.

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Posted on September 17, 2013 by thepjsta

Reign of Error… Available Now!

Today Diane Ravitch’s new book Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools becomes available to the general public. Ravitch uses the book to explore the various “reform” issues that public schools in America have been forced to deal with. She uses data to explain the destructive nature of such reforms and then poses real solutions to the problems with our schools.

Below is a list of some of the many reviews available…

Sam Chaltain at Education Week

“techerken” at the Daily Kos

Anthony Cody at Education Week

Mercedes Schneider’s EduBlog

Jan Resseger

Reality-Based Educator at Perdido Street School

Last week PJSTA President Beth Dimino and I had the opportunity to attend the first stop on Ravitch’s book tour in Manhattan. Ed Notes Online’s Norm Scott recorded the session.

In the coming days the PJSTA will be announcing the book group that we will be hosting to discuss Ravitch’s book. Anyone is welcome to attend: Teachers, administrators, parents, high school students, or people from outside our community. Flyers will be distributed with information. Additionally a blog post with details will be forthcoming.

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Posted on September 17, 2013 by thepjsta

Senator Flanagan and John King

BFF’s John King and John Flanagan yuk it up in Hauppauge.

Via the Hauppauge Patch…

Last week, on the first day of school, Senator Flanagan, no friend of education, and NYSED Commissioner John King, who should be fired, visited Hauppauge Middle School and Pines Elementary School together. The purpose of their visit was to ~~see how well their plans to destroy public education are progressing~~ “observe classes and facilities and talk with students and faculty.”

“I was impressed with the school, where you have an energetic, committed principal [and] teachers who are clearly committed to kids’ success,” King said following his visit to Hauppauge Middle School.

I wonder how many of those teachers who were “energetic” and “committed” got “ineffective” growth scores according to King’s plan? Even the most “energetic” and “committed” can be rated “ineffective” under King’s plan, given the fact that figuring out a growth score is akin to playing “Pin the Tale on the Donkey”.

King, a former history teacher himself, said he was thrilled to see such an engaging experience in which one of the two teachers was dressed in historical attire while discussing public policy issues with his students.

While I am sure it was a great lesson, I wish the teacher was empowered enough to facilitate a lesson where the students could ask the Commissioner and Senator why they were selling their education to the highest bidder. It’s irritating to see teachers putting on a dog and pony show for these phonies rather than standing up for their profession and using the opportunity to explain to King and Flanagan how destructive their policies are to students and teachers. I can’t understand how any public school in New York State makes itself a welcoming place for John King.

“That’s exactly what Common Core is looking for us to do,” Fletcher said. “To pull experiences together instead of learning in little chunks. It’s really looking for bigger ideas and asking kids to make connections to other things.”

It’s also bothersome when you see administrators who simply act as a shill for people like King, who are seeking to destroy their profession. It would be refreshing if more administrators were as courageous as superintendent Joe Rella and principal Carol Burris.

“It was great to hear their excitement about school,” King said. “They were excited about school, about specific classes, about technology class. … That’s always nice to see, when kids are really engaged with school. I could also see how the enrichment activities matter a lot to them, whether the thing they’re most excited about is sports … or music. We’ve got to make sure we protect those things in all of our schools.”

It’s comical to believe that King would make this statement when his unfunded mandate policies are forcing districts to gut these very programs.

Remember, today is the first of Flanagan’s four “public” hearings throughout the State. He has an “invite only” list of people who will be allowed to speak at these meetings. If you want your voice to be heard, be sure to submit your written testimony. Otherwise, Flanagan and the people who agree with him will be the only opinions heard. In the coming months, we will provide you with other opportunities to let Senator Flanagan hear your voice.

de Blasio Trouble for Cuomo?

The New York Post made me smile this morning (didn’t think I’d ever utter those words together) with this article, claiming that if elected mayor Bill de Blasio is going to be a problem for our God awful governor. Particularly appealing is the supposed stance de Blasio will take against charter schools. Color me skeptical, given the fact that every politician of prominence tends to cave to school deformers like Cuomo. Still it’s nice to dream.