Offensive TV Program “Bad Teacher” Canceled

Diane Ravitch's blog

Good news! Obnoxious TV program –“Bad Teacher”-/slandering an entire profession was canceled. One reader described it as the TV equivalent of “Waiting for Superman.”

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Randi put out this statement, which is how I learned about it.

For Immediate Release
April 29, 2014

AFT’s Weingarten on Discovery’s Decision to Cancel ‘Bad Teacher’

Washington—Statement of AFT President Randi Weingarten on Discovery Communications’ decision to cancel the television show ‘Bad Teacher.’

“I was surprised to learn, through a barrage of tweets Sunday night after “Bad Teacher” aired, that Discovery would use its brand to promote such an offensive program. However, I am heartened that it has taken steps to cancel the show and publicly affirm that Discovery Education’s mission is to celebrate and support educators.

“Every day, educators go into the classroom to make a difference in the lives of our children. Their work should be honored and valued, not bashed, and…

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Celebrity Comedian’s Common Core Rage on Twitter Goes Viral

Diane Ravitch's blog

Louis C.K. Is a comedian with a huge following. He has more than 3 million followers on Twitter. More important, he has two young daughters in the New York City public schools. He vented his rage against the Common Core tests in. Series of tweets that have now been reported in many new après. This one appeared in Salon

Here is a story in the New York Daily News.

Here is the New York Post.

I noticed the flare-up on Twitter but had no idea of Louis’s following. Sometimes it takes the righteous indignation of a celebrity to get the attention of the mainstream media. Otherwise, they just print Arne Duncan’s press releases.

This was his first tweet, which appeared yesterday morning.

“My kids used to love math. Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common core!”
9:00 AM – 28 Apr 2014

When the comedians…

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inBloom Closes Down Due to Parental Objections to Data Mining of Students

Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Week reports that inBloom is going out of business.

The company was started with a grant of $100 million from the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, to gather confidential student data and store it on an electronic “cloud.”

The technology for collection and storage of student data belonged to Wireless Generation, a subsidiary of Amplify, run by Joel Klein and owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Parental objections were strong wherever inBloom planned to gather data.

The last state to sever ties with inBloom was New York, where the Legislature barred the State Education Department from sharing data with inBlooom.

See this story in the New York Times and you will understand why parents got angry. InBloom would have collected 400 data points about students: “But some of the details seemed so intimate — including family relationships (“foster parent” or “father’s significant other”) and reasons for enrollment changes (“withdrawn…

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New Leadership at the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT): Can the New Leadership Re-Energize the Union? Will the Members Put Aside Differences?

Wonderful insights

Ed In The Apple

Every year 2,000 delegates elected by the members of the 1300 locals representing the 600,000 New York State United Teacher members gather, usually rotating annually between Buffalo and New York City, to set policy for the organization, listen to a range of speeches, honor their own and, until this year, listen to a speech by the State Commissioner and ask him questions from the floor.

While teachers in New York City struggled under the yoke of Mike Bloomberg, locals outside the city sliced budgets to comply with the 2% property tax cap, CUNY and SUNY faced increasingly proscriptive ukases from chancellors and urban upstate cities faced increasing poverty. Over the last few years the Question and Answer sessions with the Commissioner have become more and more testy. This year, no Commissioner, no members of the Regents.

Apparently the testiness spread within NYSUT leadership: Was the leadership too aloof from the…

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Desperate People Doing Desperate Things 2/3

Not surprised.

Speak Truth To Power by Barbara Hafner

March 30, 2014

Today I listened to Dick Iannuzzi’s latest YouTube video on APPR and knew it was time to Speak Truth to Power!

APPR was negotiated in isolation. My local and my ED delegates were angry when they learned of the agreement. There was no doubt in my mind that the 600,000 strong were never given the opportunity to fight this travesty!

The President without input from the membership, the 600,000 strong, decided the APPR deal. As a member of NYSUT’s Board of Directors I can truthfully say, the deal was handed to us and there were no discussions.
I am outraged that Dick would say, “it is bullshit when members of the Board tell you they had no idea and were shocked” about the APPR deal. As a member of the Board, we had no say in the APPR agreement; we had no idea what Dick was negotiating. The Board never knew. Dick tried to derail the dissent by having a vote asking if he had the constitutional right to make a unilateral decision.
As a member of my local’s negotiation team, my members know what we are doing and where we are going when it comes to settling an agreement. In the end my members vote on the deal. In our small local we are 200 strong and together we vote on what’s best for the entire membership.
I give 100% to my members and my ED 18 Delegates. What I know and learn from my participation at Board meetings, I bring back to my membership and delegates.
I have served on the Board of Directors since 2006. I have watched as this leadership has failed to present a clear vision for the needs of our 600,000 strong. I have watched, as Board members would present challenging questions and topics to the president at meetings. I would then watch as those Board members who never challenged the leadership and “toed the company line” were asked to speak out in order to divert the conversation.

I support Karen Magee. I respect her challenge to the current leadership. My local has chosen not to support the entire slate of either side, however we have agreed to support Karen Magee. Whoever wins, I will work to keep NYSUT Strong.
I will not waiver from my dedication to unionism. I will always tell the truth, because that is what I do, that is who I am. In my classroom I have a sign, it reads, “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you said.”

In Unity,
Barbara Hafner
President, West Hempstead Education Association
Director, ED 18