This appeared earlier in the week and received some attention here. I found it annoying and manipulative ( i.e. full of half-truths and DOE claims passed off as fact.) But not enough time earlier in the week to respond. Fortuitously, the fates have interceded in the form of a *mammoth* snow storm that has shut the NYC system down for the *second* time this year. ( Last time that happened... i.e. twice in one year... was 1978, I'm guessing.) I am therefore confined to quarters, so to speak. Let's take a closer look at that, ahem, "reportage".
Seems to me, the devil here is most definitely in the details.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/education/24teachers.html?pagewanted=2 SNIP
>>>>>Ten others whom the department charged with incompetence settled their cases by resigning or retiring, and nine agreed to pay fines of a few thousand dollars or take classes, or both, so they could keep their jobs. One teacher lost his job before his case was decided, after the department called immigration officials and his visa was revoked. The cases of more than 50 others are awaiting arbitration.
Lawyers for the department said an additional 418 teachers had left the system after finding out that they could face charges of incompetence. Because no formal charges were brought in these cases, the number is hard to corroborate; officials from the teachers’ union said they doubted it was that high.>>>>>>>
If memory serves, these numbers dominated the discussion on DU: 10, 9, 1, 50. The inference that some posters drew was that in a system this size, how could so FEW teachers be adjudged incompetent. Note: these are DOE numbers, so they are by definition suspect.
But, taking the DOE's #s at face value for argument's sake, what about the *418*? They were accused of incompetence and left the system. They don't count? And speaking of which, the lack of curiosity re. the 418 on the part of reporter Medina is itself a curiosity. I thought accused teachers *wanted* to tie up the system; they look *forward* to sitting around the rubber room. So they can listen to their ipods and play cards while getting paid full salary.
Did someone forget to tell the 418 about the taxpayer-funded life of affluence and leisure that awaited them? Reporter Medina may not be interested in them but it seems to me we could learn a lot about this entire phenomenon by finding out who these 418 were, what they were accused of, why they were singled out exactly, HOW OLD THEY WERE and HOW MUCH MONEY THEY MADE and perhaps most importantly, why they didn't contest the charges. Alas, Medina's curiosity does not run in that direction. (That is, in the direction of BALANCE. Remember: this is a NEWS article; not a commentary. Ostensibly.)
SNIP
>>>>>>>The city’s effort includes eight full-time lawyers, known as the Teacher Performance Unit, and eight retired principals and administrators who serve as part-time consultants to help principals build cases against teachers.>>>>>>
AUTHENTIC reformers, it seems to me , ( at least reformers who are actually familiar with public school systems) would be interested in this. Who are the eight retired principals? How were they selected? ( I'll take an educated guess that they are favoritism/nepotism hires but, admittedly its only an educated guess.) No help from Medina in sorting that one out, either. My point: one has to wonder if an inherently corrupt education bureaucracy can even be trusted to perform this policing function. Maybe we needs to begin closer to the top, if we really want an accountability system that ensures a top-flight education. (OK... were talking NYC; I'll settle for a *mediocre* one. It would be an improvement.)
>>>>>Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, said that the team, whose annual budget is $1 million, had been “successful at a far too modest level” but that it was “an attempt to work around a broken system.”>>>>>>
I'm confused. "A broken system"? This is the same Chancellor Klein that hired the outlandishly underqualified Caroline Kennedy to head the DOE's Fundraising Department .... solely on the recommendation of Ms Kennedy's childhood friend ( College roommate, did I read somewhere?), *Mrs.* Joel I Klein.
Broken system indeed.
>>>>>>>>Mr. Klein and his boss, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said they were hampered by cumbersome state laws that had been heavily influenced by the teachers’ union here, although many of the rules that govern the cases were agreed to by the city.>>>>
Mr. Bloomberg is notoriously impatient with legal procedure. People forget that Bloomberg was an avid supporter of the Iraq invasion. ( They should NOT; it tells us a lot about who he IS, imo.) Said enthusiasm lead him to endeavor to squelch public antiwar demos in NYC by denying permits, confining people to demo pens, and later( 2004 RNC) directing his police department to engage in all sorts of
extralegal and illegal activity ( e.g. mass arrests, preventive arrests, etc.) for which the NYC taxpayers subsequently had to pay millions of dollars in damages to the victims of said tactics.
Point: no responsible reporter would take seriously Mussollini... or even Mayor Daley the First... in the role of "school reformer", at least not without at least paying lip service to his established , longstanding hostility toward dissent and due process. Yet this dimension is absent *entirely* from not only THIS piece but from almost all MSM coverage of this topic.
Why?
More later.
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