Now that Mayor Mike Bloomberg has appointed another person as "Chancellor" of the NYC public school system who has no credentials for the job, I think the article below is timely even though it was written more than two years ago.
What Are We Doing?
And Why Are We Doing It?
An examination of educational purpose. There is something seriously wrong here and if it is not with WHAT we presume to give our students in their various subjects, it must be with the HOW we do so.
by L. Swilley, July 1, 2008
LINK
Part I. What Are We Doing?
A regular columnist in our local newspaper asked this question of teachers: "When in real life, will I ever use [the subjects we take in school]?" The columnist continues, "Most teachers just glare at the asker ... praying for an answer from above... because they don't know."
The columnist then answers the question herself: "Never...you won't use this stuff unless... you plan to be a physicist, chemist, mathematician or biologist." She acknowledges the need for literacy and for enough Math "to be able to balance one's checkbook." She then concludes, "The best reason I can think of for an education? So that you understand good jokes."
Before we condemn this - as we would like to call it - Yahoo Manifesto, we ought to ask ourselves what we are indeed doing, requiring the curricula we do of our students, especially since, as this columnist correctly reminds us, most of the facts we require the students to know disappear rapidly from the mind after graduation.
If literacy and mathematical rudiments are sufficient for the conduct of our general lives, why DO we torment students with years of courses in History, Literature, the Sciences and the Arts, if they are never or so seldom going to use what they have learned? The answer that comes to the mind of the teacher faced with this question is often a desperate, nervous, "Well, you never know when you will need this material in the profession or work you pursue after you graduate!" This answers invites the response - or should invite it - that it makes little sense to take up so much time and energy on material that only vaguely if at all will be used in a profession or in work, especially since, in the later pursuit of either, specialized courses pertinent to those occupations will be provided elsewhere.
If literacy and mathematical rudiments are sufficient for the conduct of our general lives, why DO we torment students with years of courses in History, Literature, the Sciences and the Arts, if they are never or so seldom going to use what they have learned?
If our real, central and only purpose in public education is to assure that our citizens can read, comprehend, write - and calculate sufficiently to measure correctly and "balance their checkbooks" - does it not make infinitely more sense to give our attention entirely to those areas, then insist that the professions, trades and businesses provide, themselves, any further training necessary to those who take them up?
Imagine the results! High schools would virtually disappear, middle schools and elementary schools would merge; Science departments would vanish, along with History, Literature, Art, Music departments! Teachers formerly in any subjects other than "the three R's" would be redistributed to much smaller groups of students (for more effective teaching and learning), and they would teach the students to read, to comprehend what they read, to write legibly and cogently - perhaps even speak well! - and give them such mathematical learning as would allow them to keep up with their finances and measure their kitchen cabinets and clothes closets!
And imagine the savings of public money! In fact, what need would we have to retain teachers and principals at all? (and what need of graded classes?) Prudent use of computers, monitored by clerks trained to follow specific, step-by-step instructions in a manual will provide, at tremendous savings, all that is required to achieve this noble end! (Since a growing number of districts already demand scripted classes - denying the teacher-competence they have nevertheless certified - this seems but a small step ahead, anyway.)
If this is not the proper, honest position to take about our educational "philosophy," how do we explain to our students and to our public what we are indeed doing NOW? If, beyond the needs of literacy, we say we are providing those bodies of knowledge only as those subjects may distantly serve professionals and workers, must we not agree that it would make more sense - and be much more economical of time and money - to train for literacy and the mathematical rudiments, then release the students, graduate them into the adult world?
If not, shouldn't we face the looming truth that our schools are mere holding pens to keep workers from flooding the labor market and undermining the economy?
What are we doing?
Part II. Lessons From the Past
The deadly central error in our feeble educational policy is our meek acceptance of the utilitarian public's demand that public education should produce primarily (if not solely) workers. When businesses send out the alarm that their workers cannot read well, write well or calculate accurately, the public rouses itself from its self-indulgent torpor of greed and pleasure, just long enough to shake its beer-and-popcorned locks at the educational establishment for its negligence, its failure to provide "what business needs." There follows a sudden, confused flurry of activity among the herds of sheeplike educators, all attempting to protect themselves from the public's barks by responding with new educational "programs" designed to satisfy the howlers and presented to give the impression that, after all, the sheep know where they are going.
The deadly central error in our feeble educational policy is our meek acceptance of the utilitarian public's demand that public education should produce primarily (if not solely) workers.
But these sheep don't know where they are going, as will be made evident to anyone who poses the columnist's question ("When in real life will I ever use this?") to students, parents, teachers, administrators, School Board members, State Education bureaucrats - or U.S. presidents. The response will either be patriotic gore or glazed eyes as the questioned party, if he answers at all, retreats into the night and fog of emotional twaddle.
Well, then, where SHOULD these sheep, the educators, be going?
To determine that, we need to look to the distant past where the curricula we still blindly use today had its origins.
The regimen of Mathematics, the Sciences, History, Literature, Art, Music - and O forgotten now! - Dance, had its beginning in Greece; it was enthusiastically continued by the Romans and revived and reformed in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It continued, with the fullest understanding of its significance, in the education of "the gentleman" through the 19th and early 20th centuries. Then, with the rise of universal public education, funded now with hard-won taxes, although the regimen of subjects remained, the purpose for its application was lost; in its stead, we were given the utilitarian purposes dictated by our American "philosophers," Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller. These purposes we embraced, hardly noticing that the ancient regimen of subjects, which we kept still in our schools, had no justification for existence now if the "thought" of our new "thinkers" was to be the revised Vision of work and business-efficiency they offered.
But what was the purpose of that regimen of subjects as our ancestors saw it?
�with the rise of universal public education, funded now with hard-won taxes, although the regimen of subjects remained, the purpose for its application was lost; in its stead, we were given the utilitarian purposes dictated by our American "philosophers," Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller.
The purpose of the ancient regimen of subjects - a regimen to which we still blindly cling - was to help the student realize and perfect his Human Being. It was NOT for the purpose of making him capable of DOING - although that inevitably resulted - but for the purpose of make him capable of BEING.
It was reasoned by our ancestors that inasmuch as every person is born with natural but undeveloped interests and different proper but undeveloped ways of pursuing them, each person should be educated ("led out" into the world) by perfecting those different ways of thinking appropriate to the different interests - or subjects. Until the student had become all that he could BE as a Human Being, it was thought, there was little he could DO for himself or his community. The student's task was, as Socrates told us, to "Know himself," a wisdom that could be achieved only by refining all of his different ways of knowing all the different experiences under all the categories of his natural interests - Mathematics, Science, History, Art, etc.
Without those refinements, that knowledge of those dimensions of experience, the student was without location in the world - although he had to be in it and could not escape it - he was merely a wild thing, confused, unsociable to his own kind or any kind, ignorant of his possible perfection of form and grace, dangerous to all who approached him; he was a loose cannon on the deck of the ship, the community.
A worker without the understanding and appreciation of his work in ever-larger contexts is simply a slave.
In order to be of service to others, then, the student had first to be a human being, and this was to be achieved by exercising his body and his mind - especially the latter, for it was Mind that distinguished him from the other animals - in all the ways of which they were capable. Once knowing how to BE properly - or at least beginning to know it - the student was ready to leave his "educator," move out into the world and ACT effectively.
This was education *par excellence*; it is the only kind of education that gives the proper perspective on the subjects of the present curricula; and it is not and can never be considered robotic training for a job; indeed, the very degree it is specifically applicable to a particular job it is suspiciously destructive of its larger *human* purpose.
It is this perspective of the curricula as creating human beings rather than workers that so many modern educators seem either not to know, or knowing it, have failed to emphasize it to everyone they encounter in the education scene. Those entirely ignorant of it must wonder hourly what they are really trying to accomplish and must take their job as teachers as mere "busy work" or baby-sitting. Those who have known it but failed to stand up for it before anyone who hold any other position must be miserable beyond the groaning of it. And any educator who allows himself or herself to be intimidated and moved to a nervous defense of his subject as "possibly useful later in a profession or trade" does not really know what he is supposed to be doing.
It is this perspective of the curricula as creating human beings rather than workers that so many modern educators seem either not to know, or knowing it, have failed to emphasize it to everyone they encounter in the education scene.
Students who have been given the kind of liberal education I am describing here, an education for being a complete human, are ultimately those who - ironically for our contest with the utilitarian forces of Fordism and Rockefellerism - make the very best workers after all, for this ideal education creates the capacious mind, one that can see the relations of things and ideas, a worker who understands where he is not only in the job but in the larger world that contains it. Such a worker cannot but be more efficient than one who moves robotically through duties for which he has been narrowly "trained." For example, the computer programmer must be more deeply satisfied with himself and his work than the clerk who merely manipulates the program without knowing how it works; and the mathematician/engineer who stands behind the programmer as master-puppeteer is probably, for his greater knowledge and scope, happier than both.
A worker without the understanding and appreciation of his work in ever larger contexts is simply a slave.
But haven't we now in our schools the regimen that provides the liberal training described above? Haven't we courses in Math, Science, History, Literature, Art - all required of our students?
Yes, but mustn't there be something wrong in our delivery of these subjects, because students put through years of exposure to them nevertheless forget within months if not weeks after graduation most of what they "learned" about them?
And isn't it tragically telling that the students' very intellectual models, their teachers, cannot pass the tests required of their students - save in the particular subject each teaches?
There is something seriously wrong here and if it is not with WHAT we presume to give our students in their various subjects, it must be with the HOW we do so.
Part III. "Habit of Mind"
We live in a time when it is assumed that quantity is superior to quality. The expert, individual human touch that produces one-of-a-kind signed and customized products has been replaced by the machine that grinds out, sausage-like, cheap duplicated items to satisfy a growing public demand for the disposable.
Not so subtly, the mentality that has furthered this craving for ever more and more things has infested the domain of education: increasingly we believe that command of quantity of facts - a quantity so easily measured with the tests and surveys to which we have become addicted - is the proper measure of educational achievement. (This poison shows itself, too, in our unchecked passion for extra-curricular activities, spectacularly in our cripplingly expensive sports programs, and in our silly conviction that monumentally extravagant new buildings, fancier labs and "innovative" programs that grow like Topsy will distract the public from our real need: more and better teachers.
Not so subtly, the mentality that has furthered this craving for ever more and more things has infested the domain of education: increasingly we believe that command of quantity of facts - a quantity so easily measured with the tests and surveys to which we have become addicted - is the proper measure of educational achievement.
Our courses in History and Literature, particularly, become exercises in memorization of facts. For example, in History there is an almost universally exclusive emphasis on chronology and "what the textbook says" about those dates and events. Rare is the teacher who has built his own critical principles for dealing with the problems in either subject and who understands that it is his own *habit of mind* that he should be teaching - not *what* he thinks but *how* he reasons about his subject, and the advantages and weaknesses of that critical approach. If he understood that, he would use selected, increasingly complex historical or literary *cases* to develop his students' consciousness of the teacher's principles of judgment. (His model should be the teacher of Mathematics who has no choice but to teach principles of judgment, for those are built into the very content of his subject.)
The repetition of such exercises in principles of judgment produces a lasting *habit of mind* and offers the best condition for both intellectual appreciation and retention.
I say that it is not the command of a multiplicity of historical or literary facts that should be our aim - as delightful as such encyclopedic knowledge may be - rather, our aim should be the students' command of the individual teacher's habit of mind, his principles of judgment of facts, developed by the careful, lengthy and precise examination of cases selected for their increasing complexity to test and secure those principles.
Teachers must be trained to become aware of their own principles of judgment of their subjects, for without this emphasis at the level of the individual classroom there is no real hope for developing in our students any lasting habit of mind.
Of course, it must be accepted that our massive educational system, determined as it is to prescribe *universal* standards and tests, will not entertain a shift from easily measured standards of *quantity* to elusive standards of *quality*, particularly since the latter must be defined by the individual teacher; yet the teacher as an individual mind forming minds like his own is the very reason he exists, the very reason he cannot be replaced by the computer, the reason he cannot surrender completely to the demands of *system*. An accommodation must be sought, the system sharing time and attention with the teacher.
Teachers must be trained to become aware of their own principles of judgment of their subjects, for without this emphasis at the level of the individual classroom there is no real hope for developing in our students any lasting habit of mind.
Absent such accommodation and teacher training, our only hope lies in an early and thorough concentration on the rudiments without regard to division by age-groups, followed by the students' and their parents' selection of academic or vocational electives as their middle and high school curricula. The student's own interest in an elective will help him to his own lasting habit of mind, whether or not his teacher has one.
Whatever the solution, we must abandon our present totally ineffective and humanly and financially wasteful curricula.
Sabtu, 13 November 2010
Cathie Black's Sex Position of the Day Now on Android-Enabled Devices
Mr. Bloomberg: are you kidding? You put great teachers in the rubber room if they mentioned the word "sex" even in Health Education, and you appoint a person, Cathie Black, who creates a sex app for the iphone and droid. Give me a break, Mike.
New schools big Cathie Black gives big yes to sex app: 'Yeah, $2.99. ... Cheaper than a hooker'
BY Celeste Katz, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, November 13th 2010LINK
Before she was a schools chancellor, Cathie Black was definitely a Cosmo girl.
Black, the chairman of Hearst Magazines tapped to replace Joel Klein as the head of city schools, engaged in some racy chitchat about a new Cosmopolitan iPod app in August.
When NPR asked if her magazine would charge for the "Sex Tip of the Day" app, Black gave a saucy reply.
"Yeah, $2.99. ... Cheaper than a hooker," she said, adding, "I didn't say that, did I?"
The app, described as a "to- go version of the 'Kama Sutra'" for folks in a "romp rut," boasts moves like the "G-Spot Jiggy" and "Rock-a-Bye Booty."
Downloaded more 80,000 times already, this “to-go” version of the Kama Sutra has approximately 120 sex positions and is just $2.99!
Features include:
*Carnal Challenge Ratings: The more flames a position has, the higher the difficulty!
*Erotic Instructions: Your step-by-step guide for how to execute the position
*Why You’ll Love It: Hints to help you make the most of the position and what to look forward to
*Colorful Illustrations: Tasteful visual that helps you understand what the position should look like
To download the app, check out the Android Marketplace from your handset or visit the iTunes app store if you have an iPhone.
Sex-Tip App? New Schools Chief Promotes It
By CARA BUCKLEY, City Room, November 12, 2010LINK
When he announced that Cathleen P. Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, would become the next chancellor of New York City's schools, Mayor Michael Bloomberg touted Ms. Black as uniquely qualified for the role.
"There is virtually nobody who knows more about the needs of the 21st century workforce for which we need to prepare our kids," the mayor said.
It seems that Ms. Black also knows a thing or two about an altogether different kind of need.
In an Aug. 10, 2010, segment of the Diane Rehm radio show entitled "The Future of Magazines," Ms. Black plugged Cosmopolitan Magazine's latest iPhone App: the Sex Tip of the Day.
"Are you going to charge for that sex tip of the day?" the host, Frank Sesno, asked.
"Yeah, $2.99," Ms. Black replied, as the host and other guests erupted into giggles. "$2.99," she repeated. "Cheaper than a hooker," she continued, before adding, "I didn't say that, did I?"
The application offers a cornucopia of advice on an array of inventively, sometimes bogglingly, named sexual moves - among them, the Jet Jiggy, the Randy Raft, the Wanton Wheelbarrow and the Linguini. Each position is rated on a "Carnal Challenge" scale of one to five flames (the "Octopus," for one, ranks five flames, and comes with words of encouragement: "Do it right and you two will look like a multilimbed lust creature"). A variety of aids are often employed, among them bathtubs, hot tubs, pools, inflatable rafts, inner tubes, balls, staircases and small boats.
Cosmopolitan, long a stalwart in the field of dishing and redishing sex advice, is just one of Hearst's many publications. Other magazines include Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Popular Mechanics, Redbook and O, the Oprah Magazine. Ms. Black served as president of Hearst Magazines until the summer of 2010, and is now chairwoman.
Asked how many times the app has been downloaded, a spokeswoman for Hearst Magazines was mum. A spokeswoman with the city's Department of Education said this application had no bearing on Ms. Black's suitability to run a school district with 1.1 million children.
Ms. Black's comments on Ms. Rehm's show were reported this week by the television channel NY1.
Joel Klein's job with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. a sellout of everything he supposedly stood for
Michael Daly, NY DAILY NEWS, November 11th 2010
LINK
Tell me you're not really stepping down as schools chancellor in the middle of the academic year to become a token Democrat in what truly is a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Tell me you are not signing on with a corporation that contributed $1.25 million to Republicans who consider school-funding cuts only necessary and tax cuts for the rich vital.
In taking the job with News Corp., Klein actually said, "I've long admired News Corporation's entrepreneurial spirit and Rupert Murdoch's fearless commitment to innovation."
What is Klein talking about, entrepreneurial spirit such as peddling the conservative agenda, at times with willful ignorance? Fearless commitment such as giving that $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association? The association's poster boy is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the Jason of school-budget slashing.
Klein also went on to say, "I am excited for the opportunity to be part of this team."
The team including Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Oh, yeah, and Karl Rove, who helped guide the nation into disaster while at the Bush White House and uses a faux grass-roots movement funded by billionaires to blame President Obama.
Klein added, "And to have the chance to bring the same spirit of innovation to the burgeoning education marketplace."
Not education. The educational marketplace. That means making money off school kids in times of budget cuts.
Think of the public reaction if Bloomberg appointed a police commissioner who had no law enforcement background. Think of what it means to real educators when you say that running the schools is just a question of management, only with the widgets being kids instead of magazines.
Not that Black is less than competent. She was publisher of New York magazine when I worked there, and she seemed to do fine.
Murdoch was the owner, and I have to say he was more pleasant and egalitarian than many rich liberals. He would stride into the office without entourage, friendly and polite, in one friend's words "a treat."
He once offered me a lift in a cab during a downpour. That's more than I can say about a media millionaire from the vast left-wing conspiracy who once left me standing in the rain while he rode off in his limo.
That does not make News Corp.'s political agenda any less anathema to what Klein supposedly stood for as chancellor.
And it does not make Black any more qualified to be chancellor. Even a bigtime publisher has an easier task than a principal at your basic city grammar school.
I have to hope that Black would not take the job unless she was certain she is capable of doing right by our kids.
As for Klein, I had this sudden fantasy that he is secretly still doing Bloomberg's bidding in a covert scheme to educate those politicians of whom the mayor complained, "Look at who we're electing to Congress, to the Senate - they can't read."
A fair number of the newly elected illiterates were put in office with the help of Fox News. Imagine if Klein were infiltrating News Corp. with the aim of educating them.
Well, that won't happen, and Klein is not really an educator, anyway.
He is just a guy who had a big job who now has another big job.
Say it ain't so, Joel!
mdaly@nydailynews.com
El Diario: NYC Commissioner Steiner - Deny Cathie Black a Waiver To Be NYC Chancellor
Bloomberg’s private players club
Editorial, El Diario
Mayor Bloomberg shuffled his private player list to select a chancellor to guide the future of 1 million public school students.Most people, including top level folks at New York’s Department of Education (DOE), were blindsided by Joel Klein’s sudden departure to a News Corp position that seems to have been created for him.
Bloomberg didn’t bother with consulting educators as he secretly handpicked Klein’s successor, Cathie Black, a wealthy publishing executive who lives on Park Avenue and in Connecticut. His selection of Black has provoked a host of questions and concerns, which Bloomberg and his supporters are quick to dismiss as naysaying.
Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson claimed that Bloomberg did not announce Klein’s departure or a search because he didn’t want to destabilize the school system. But if Bloomberg was so concerned about a seamless transition, then it stands to reason that he could have plucked a seasoned leader from the ranks of the DOE.
This decision is a complete deviation from his claim to choose people based on merit and qualifications—a response he has given to questions around diversity in the largely white City Hall. It appears that the standards change on whim.
Black, who indeed may be a fantastic manager in the business world, comes with no background in education and has had no substantive contact with public schools. Not even as a corporate partner or volunteer. For all the criticism of Klein, his formation was relevant to the population he served. He is a Queens-bred New Yorker who attended public schools, worked in public interest law and was involved in civil rights litigation. That background at least made it seem that he was sensitive to the needs of children in an inequitable school system.
It seems cynical to put the future of New York City’s public schoolchildren (overwhelmingly our Latino kids) in the hands of someone the mayor could only describe as a dear friend. It is even more cynical to have his buddies in the mainstream media jump quickly on board to support his choice unconditionally. Perhaps it’s different when the children of your top editors and writers are not condemned to a dysfunctional system.
Jumat, 12 November 2010
Emergency Protests in Manhattan and at Brooklyn Burough Hall; Criticism Widespread Against Black
Protests against Cathie Black's chancellorship are coming from all boroughs, even the New York State Assembly. Please take note of the fact that the Borough Presidents are 100% behind Black. The Borough Presidents are the people who appoint members to the Panel For Education Policy, and are showing how little respect they and their appointees have for all the parents, children and teachers in NYC public schools.
Betsy Combier
MEDIA ADVISORY
CITIZENS GROUP FORMS TO OPPOSE GRANTING OF WAIVER TO CATHERINE P. BLACK; PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW
November 13, 2010, New York, NY. A press conference will be held tomorrow, Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 1 PM, in front of the Tweed Department of Education Building at 52 Chambers Street, Manhattan, where civil rights leaders, concerned citizens, parents of public school students and current and former public school students and teachers of New York City will release their letter sent to New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner, urging him not to grant New York City’s request for a waiver for Cathleen Black to become the next Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools.
The letter, in part, states:
“Because the leader of the New York City public schools is critical to the raising of academic levels of our children, and because we believe in equal opportunity as the best process for recruiting and evaluating competitive candidates for a job that deserves excellence... we
respectfully and strongly urge you to hold the Mayor’s appointee to the standards and qualifications set out in the statute for school superintendents…
“The fact that Mayor Bloomberg did not undertake a public search in accordance with equal employment opportunity principles in itself raises significant public policy issues, as well as the specter of cronyism.”
WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE
WHEN: Sunday, November 14, 2010----1 PM
TIME: One o’clock in the afternoon
WHERE: Tweed Education Building–52 Chambers Street
CONVENERS: Norman Siegel, Civil Rights Attorney
Michael Meyers, Executive Director, NY Civil Rights Coalition
Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters
PARTICIPANTS: Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters
Michael Meyers, New York Civil Rights Coalition
Norman Siegel, Civil Rights Attorney
Lavinia Forts, Staten Island Parent
Philip De Paolo, Brooklyn Parent
And others
For further information, please contact: Michael Meyers at 212-563-5636;
Leonie Haimson at 917-435-9329 or Norman Siegel at 347-907-0867.
EMERGENCY!!!
Join me, Chris Owens, on Monday, November 15th, 10:00 AM, at a Brooklyn Borough Hall press conference to protest the selection of another schools Chancellor with no education experience. We need parents to come out and join us. Contact me regarding the program. If you can't be there in person, please send your remarks to me at chris@owensforchange.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
To read my position on this matter, please click here.
Thank you!
Hon. Chris Owens
District Leader, 52nd Assembly District
Member, NY State Democratic Committee
646-450-3552
chris@owensforchange.com
http://www.owensforchange.com/
Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson agrees:
Friday, November 12, 2010
Assemblywoman Gibson Criticizes Mayor's DOE Pick
LINK
Add Bronx Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson to the growing list of legislators criticizing Mayor Bloomberg's appointment of Cathleen Black as the city's new Schools Chancellor.
In a letter to David M. Steiner, the commissioner of the New York State Education Department, Gibson said she "remain[s] troubled that Cathie Black would assume the role of Chancellor without neither substantial nor comprehensive educational or professional experience in teaching."
State law requires that school chiefs hold certain qualifications, including a professional certificate in educational leadership. But the law also allows the commissioner to make exceptions. Joel Klein, the outgoing chancellor, was given a waiver when he was offered the job in 2002, and Gibson doesn't want a repeat. Her letter, which was released to the press, is embedded below.
Gibson's letter
Tony Avella:
November 10, 2010 2:02 PM 4 Comments
Tony Avella: Deny Cathie Black A Chancellor's Waiver
By Celeste Katz
LINK
He's not yet in state Sen. Frank Padavan's seat, but Senator-elect Tony Avella is already out with a letter asking Education Commissioner David Steiner to deny Cathie Black the waiver she needs to become the next NYC schools chancellor.
Simply put, Avella agrees with those who say a professional educator -- which Black is not -- belongs in the job, not a magazine magnate who sent her own kids to an out-of-state private school.
Read for yourself:
Avella Letter to State Commissioner of Education Re Cathie Black
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/11/tony-avella-deny-cathie-black.html
Who is Cathie Black ... chairman of Hearst Magazines is Bloomberg's pick to replace Joel Klein
November 10, 2010 11:11 AM
Cathie Black - For Better Or Worse?
By Celeste Katz, Daily Politics
LINK
I got a slew of responses to Mayor Bloomberg's pick of Hearst Magazines exec Cathie Black to come in as NYC schools chancellor after Joel Klein leaves, so here's a selection of excerpts of what I heard. I'd be very interested to hear YOUR thoughts on this too... We will be having a livechat on this in a short while - stay tuned for more info!
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer: "While Cathie Black wasn’t on most people’s draft boards to become the next schools chancellor, she has been an all-star in the publishing world for years. I am glad to hear that her first order of business will be reaching out to parents, teachers, and other members of our school community, and I look forward to working with her to help improve city schools for all of our 1.1 million students."
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz: "On behalf of Brooklyn and our borough’s more than 300,000 public school students, their parents, guardians and teachers, I wish Chancellor Klein well and look forward to working with Cathie Black as she takes the helm of the Department of Education.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr: "In many ways Bronx parents and parents throughout the city have lost confidence in the Department of Education, and I am hopeful that Ms. Black will usher in a new era of collaboration and community responsiveness at the DOE while we work together to improve our public schools for the 1.1 million children who rely on them."
Brooklyn State Assemblyman Nick Perry: “A quick review of what is known about the background of Mayor Bloomberg’s announced choice, raises a lot of questions as to the direction, and the real agenda for our public education system. It is of concern that the newly appointed chancellor appears to have no significant educational background, as required by NYS Education Law. Furthermore, she was raised in a private school system, and subsequently raised her children in a private school system, it is very difficult to believe that a person who has such a strong history steeped in private education, will be able to appreciate the diverse and difficult challenge of running the NYC Public School System. Under NYS Education Law, Ms. Black, will not be able to officially assume the position without a waiver by the NYS Board of Regents and just a quick glimpse at her profile raises significant questions as to how such a waiver might be justified.”
Eva Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of Success Charter Network: “There are more high-performing public school options for parents in New York City than ever before, largely because of the climate that Chancellor Klein created for new schools that could be designed around excellent teaching and learning. Years from now, when we reach a day when all children in the city are offered the education they deserve, we will have Chancellor Klein to thank for the tough work of getting the reform ball rolling.”
Read on...
NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio: “I want to thank outgoing Chancellor Joel Klein for his service to our City. While I have not agreed with every decision he’s made, I sincerely respect his dedication to our children and the improvements he fostered in our schools. I also wish to extend a warm welcome to our new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black. I look forward to working with her to address the challenges still facing our education system, especially parental engagement and improving academic achievement for all students.”
Joe Williams, Democrats for Education Reform: “There is no doubt that New York City’s students have access to better schools and greater education opportunity today, than when Chancellor Klein took office 8 years ago. From his support for public charter schools, to his emphasis on accountability, Chancellor Klein has been a warrior for progressive education reforms and most importantly, an invaluable ally to our city’s children. We’re similarly excited to begin working with Chancellor Black to continue building on these important reforms and ensuring that every child in NYC gets a great education.”
City Councilman David Greenfield: “I welcome Cathie Black as the new chancellor of the Department of Education. As a member of the New York City Council’s Education Committee, I look forward to working closely with Ms. Black and hearing her vision for New York City schools. I believe that Ms. Black deserves a chance to succeed before others declare that she is a failure. I am especially gratified that she has broken the glass-ceiling of the New York City Department of Education.”
City Councilman Charles Barron (via the NYO): "My concern is not with who is stepping down, it is with who is stepping up. C'mon now. She is not an educator. How many times are we going to make this mistake? She should not be in there. This city has some great educators in the Black and Latino community. It's time to consult those educators."
Betsy Combier
MEDIA ADVISORY
CITIZENS GROUP FORMS TO OPPOSE GRANTING OF WAIVER TO CATHERINE P. BLACK; PRESS CONFERENCE TOMORROW
November 13, 2010, New York, NY. A press conference will be held tomorrow, Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 1 PM, in front of the Tweed Department of Education Building at 52 Chambers Street, Manhattan, where civil rights leaders, concerned citizens, parents of public school students and current and former public school students and teachers of New York City will release their letter sent to New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner, urging him not to grant New York City’s request for a waiver for Cathleen Black to become the next Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools.
The letter, in part, states:
“Because the leader of the New York City public schools is critical to the raising of academic levels of our children, and because we believe in equal opportunity as the best process for recruiting and evaluating competitive candidates for a job that deserves excellence... we
respectfully and strongly urge you to hold the Mayor’s appointee to the standards and qualifications set out in the statute for school superintendents…
“The fact that Mayor Bloomberg did not undertake a public search in accordance with equal employment opportunity principles in itself raises significant public policy issues, as well as the specter of cronyism.”
WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE
WHEN: Sunday, November 14, 2010----1 PM
TIME: One o’clock in the afternoon
WHERE: Tweed Education Building–52 Chambers Street
CONVENERS: Norman Siegel, Civil Rights Attorney
Michael Meyers, Executive Director, NY Civil Rights Coalition
Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters
PARTICIPANTS: Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters
Michael Meyers, New York Civil Rights Coalition
Norman Siegel, Civil Rights Attorney
Lavinia Forts, Staten Island Parent
Philip De Paolo, Brooklyn Parent
And others
For further information, please contact: Michael Meyers at 212-563-5636;
Leonie Haimson at 917-435-9329 or Norman Siegel at 347-907-0867.
EMERGENCY!!!
Join me, Chris Owens, on Monday, November 15th, 10:00 AM, at a Brooklyn Borough Hall press conference to protest the selection of another schools Chancellor with no education experience. We need parents to come out and join us. Contact me regarding the program. If you can't be there in person, please send your remarks to me at chris@owensforchange.com. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
To read my position on this matter, please click here.
Hon. Chris Owens
District Leader, 52nd Assembly District
Member, NY State Democratic Committee
646-450-3552
chris@owensforchange.com
http://www.owensforchange.com/
Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson agrees:
Friday, November 12, 2010
Assemblywoman Gibson Criticizes Mayor's DOE Pick
LINK
Add Bronx Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson to the growing list of legislators criticizing Mayor Bloomberg's appointment of Cathleen Black as the city's new Schools Chancellor.
In a letter to David M. Steiner, the commissioner of the New York State Education Department, Gibson said she "remain[s] troubled that Cathie Black would assume the role of Chancellor without neither substantial nor comprehensive educational or professional experience in teaching."
State law requires that school chiefs hold certain qualifications, including a professional certificate in educational leadership. But the law also allows the commissioner to make exceptions. Joel Klein, the outgoing chancellor, was given a waiver when he was offered the job in 2002, and Gibson doesn't want a repeat. Her letter, which was released to the press, is embedded below.
Gibson's letter
Tony Avella:
November 10, 2010 2:02 PM 4 Comments
Tony Avella: Deny Cathie Black A Chancellor's Waiver
By Celeste Katz
LINK
He's not yet in state Sen. Frank Padavan's seat, but Senator-elect Tony Avella is already out with a letter asking Education Commissioner David Steiner to deny Cathie Black the waiver she needs to become the next NYC schools chancellor.
Simply put, Avella agrees with those who say a professional educator -- which Black is not -- belongs in the job, not a magazine magnate who sent her own kids to an out-of-state private school.
Read for yourself:
Avella Letter to State Commissioner of Education Re Cathie Black
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/11/tony-avella-deny-cathie-black.html
Who is Cathie Black ... chairman of Hearst Magazines is Bloomberg's pick to replace Joel Klein
November 10, 2010 11:11 AM
Cathie Black - For Better Or Worse?
By Celeste Katz, Daily Politics
LINK
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer: "While Cathie Black wasn’t on most people’s draft boards to become the next schools chancellor, she has been an all-star in the publishing world for years. I am glad to hear that her first order of business will be reaching out to parents, teachers, and other members of our school community, and I look forward to working with her to help improve city schools for all of our 1.1 million students."
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz: "On behalf of Brooklyn and our borough’s more than 300,000 public school students, their parents, guardians and teachers, I wish Chancellor Klein well and look forward to working with Cathie Black as she takes the helm of the Department of Education.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr: "In many ways Bronx parents and parents throughout the city have lost confidence in the Department of Education, and I am hopeful that Ms. Black will usher in a new era of collaboration and community responsiveness at the DOE while we work together to improve our public schools for the 1.1 million children who rely on them."
Brooklyn State Assemblyman Nick Perry: “A quick review of what is known about the background of Mayor Bloomberg’s announced choice, raises a lot of questions as to the direction, and the real agenda for our public education system. It is of concern that the newly appointed chancellor appears to have no significant educational background, as required by NYS Education Law. Furthermore, she was raised in a private school system, and subsequently raised her children in a private school system, it is very difficult to believe that a person who has such a strong history steeped in private education, will be able to appreciate the diverse and difficult challenge of running the NYC Public School System. Under NYS Education Law, Ms. Black, will not be able to officially assume the position without a waiver by the NYS Board of Regents and just a quick glimpse at her profile raises significant questions as to how such a waiver might be justified.”
Eva Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of Success Charter Network: “There are more high-performing public school options for parents in New York City than ever before, largely because of the climate that Chancellor Klein created for new schools that could be designed around excellent teaching and learning. Years from now, when we reach a day when all children in the city are offered the education they deserve, we will have Chancellor Klein to thank for the tough work of getting the reform ball rolling.”
Read on...
NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio: “I want to thank outgoing Chancellor Joel Klein for his service to our City. While I have not agreed with every decision he’s made, I sincerely respect his dedication to our children and the improvements he fostered in our schools. I also wish to extend a warm welcome to our new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black. I look forward to working with her to address the challenges still facing our education system, especially parental engagement and improving academic achievement for all students.”
City Councilman David Greenfield: “I welcome Cathie Black as the new chancellor of the Department of Education. As a member of the New York City Council’s Education Committee, I look forward to working closely with Ms. Black and hearing her vision for New York City schools. I believe that Ms. Black deserves a chance to succeed before others declare that she is a failure. I am especially gratified that she has broken the glass-ceiling of the New York City Department of Education.”
City Councilman Charles Barron (via the NYO): "My concern is not with who is stepping down, it is with who is stepping up. C'mon now. She is not an educator. How many times are we going to make this mistake? She should not be in there. This city has some great educators in the Black and Latino community. It's time to consult those educators."
Changes in Personnel at Tweed and NYSUT
Hmmmm......Chairman Chang resigned from the Panel For Educational Policy. I'll gladly receive any emails or calls from anyone who can give me the real scoop on why.
Of course, as everyone knows I believe all the PEP members should resign, because sooner or later they will probably be sued by NYC parents for harming their children and they all should run for the hills while they still have a chance. PEP members all know, or should know, that you have no legitimate right to vote on teacher terminations, approve school closings, etc. You are all appointed, and therefore do not directly represent anyone. I think we had a revolution several years ago about "no taxation without representation", didn't we?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2010
No. 466
http://www.nyc.gov/
MAYOR BLOOMBERG APPOINTS ROBERT REFFKIN TO THE PANEL FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICY
Panel Chairman David Chang Resigned Last Friday
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed Robert Reffkin to the Panel for Educational Policy, replacing Chairman David Chang who resigned from the Panel on Friday, November 5th, 2010. Mr. Reffkin is a Vice President in the Principal Investment Area of Goldman Sachs & Company. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was an Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Lazard Frères, where he founded the firm’s Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Professional Internship program for minority students.
“In our efforts to reform and improve New York City public schools, David has been an invaluable member of the Panel for Educational Policy for eight years,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “Robert will be able to build on that progress by bringing exceptional problem solving skills and civic commitment, which will serve our schools and children well.”
"I want to thank David for his hard work and commitment to serving New York City’s public schools,” Chancellor Klein said. “His leadership and knowledge as an educator have been instrumental in our work to implement educational reforms. Robert’s professional background will be an asset to the Panel for Educational Policy and will help us successfully meet the Mayor’s educational goals.”
“I am incredibly honored to be appointed to the Panel for Educational Policy,” said Robert Reffkin. “Education provides the best pathway to opportunity, and I believe it is the most important issue facing New York City and our country. I look forward to working with Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Education to ensure that all students in New York City have access to an education that will prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century.”
Mr. Reffkin currently serves on the boards of the Citizens Committee for New York City and New York Needs You – a nonprofit he founded to provide mentorship to first-generation college students. He is an Adjunct Professor atBrooklyn College where he teaches Small Business & Entrepreneurship. In 2005, he was appointed as a White House Fellow to serve as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Bronx Success Academy 1. Mr. Reffkin earned his B.A. from Columbia University and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
The Panel for Educational Policy was created to replace the former Board of Education and is responsible for approving standards, policies and objectives directly related to educational achievement and instruction, as well as the Chancellor’s regulations and department contracts. The Mayor appoints eight panel members and each Borough President appoints one. The new Chairman of the Panel will be elected at the Tuesday, November 16th meeting.
Contact: Stu Loeser/Jessica Scaperotti (212) 788-2958
Natalie Ravitz/Deidrea Miller (Education) (212) 374-5141
At NYSUT, Chief Counsel James Sandner has retired.
Of course, as everyone knows I believe all the PEP members should resign, because sooner or later they will probably be sued by NYC parents for harming their children and they all should run for the hills while they still have a chance. PEP members all know, or should know, that you have no legitimate right to vote on teacher terminations, approve school closings, etc. You are all appointed, and therefore do not directly represent anyone. I think we had a revolution several years ago about "no taxation without representation", didn't we?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2010
No. 466
http://www.nyc.gov/
MAYOR BLOOMBERG APPOINTS ROBERT REFFKIN TO THE PANEL FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICY
Panel Chairman David Chang Resigned Last Friday
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed Robert Reffkin to the Panel for Educational Policy, replacing Chairman David Chang who resigned from the Panel on Friday, November 5th, 2010. Mr. Reffkin is a Vice President in the Principal Investment Area of Goldman Sachs & Company. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was an Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Lazard Frères, where he founded the firm’s Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Professional Internship program for minority students.
“In our efforts to reform and improve New York City public schools, David has been an invaluable member of the Panel for Educational Policy for eight years,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “Robert will be able to build on that progress by bringing exceptional problem solving skills and civic commitment, which will serve our schools and children well.”
"I want to thank David for his hard work and commitment to serving New York City’s public schools,” Chancellor Klein said. “His leadership and knowledge as an educator have been instrumental in our work to implement educational reforms. Robert’s professional background will be an asset to the Panel for Educational Policy and will help us successfully meet the Mayor’s educational goals.”
“I am incredibly honored to be appointed to the Panel for Educational Policy,” said Robert Reffkin. “Education provides the best pathway to opportunity, and I believe it is the most important issue facing New York City and our country. I look forward to working with Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Education to ensure that all students in New York City have access to an education that will prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century.”
Mr. Reffkin currently serves on the boards of the Citizens Committee for New York City and New York Needs You – a nonprofit he founded to provide mentorship to first-generation college students. He is an Adjunct Professor atBrooklyn College where he teaches Small Business & Entrepreneurship. In 2005, he was appointed as a White House Fellow to serve as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Bronx Success Academy 1. Mr. Reffkin earned his B.A. from Columbia University and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
The Panel for Educational Policy was created to replace the former Board of Education and is responsible for approving standards, policies and objectives directly related to educational achievement and instruction, as well as the Chancellor’s regulations and department contracts. The Mayor appoints eight panel members and each Borough President appoints one. The new Chairman of the Panel will be elected at the Tuesday, November 16th meeting.
Contact: Stu Loeser/Jessica Scaperotti (212) 788-2958
Natalie Ravitz/Deidrea Miller (Education) (212) 374-5141
At NYSUT, Chief Counsel James Sandner has retired.
It's Not Mayoral Control That Schools Need, It's Teamwork
Rutgers University has come out with research that Mayoral control does not improve student performance. Here in New York City we - at least I - have the opinion that raising student achievement was never the focus of Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Joel Klein (privatizing public education was), so the study may not answer the gnawing question of why the Bloomberg/Klein administration is such a disaster for NYC public schools.
However, I may agree with the comment that Mayoral control, valid and consistent accountability, transparency and teamwork with all parties involved will bring about reform. Please leave your ego at the door when you sign in.
Betsy Combier
Newark Mayor Cory Booker's school reforms may not improve student performance, study says
Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger, October 12, 2010
LINK
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
and NJ Gov. Chris Christie make their official announcement of the Facebook deal at Robert Treat Hotel.
NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s commitment to reform his city’s struggling schools may not help increase students’ performance in the classroom, according to research being presented today by the Institute on Education Law and Policy at Rutgers-Newark.
The study’s authors examined public school governance models in nine cities demographically and politically similar to New Jersey’s state-controlled school districts and found "no conclusive evidence" that greater mayoral participation in their governance led to improved student test scores.
"Student achievement has been the toughest nut to crack," the report says. "While school leaders tout many improvements in test scores, attendance and graduation rates, in fact we were unable to establish conclusively that the change in governance had any causal relationship to improved performance."
The study, produced by Rutgers staff with specialties ranging from economics to education law, is the latest in a series of national reports to review the effect of mayoral control over a large urban district. It was produced for the state education department as it develops a plan to have local municipalities regain control over schools in Newark, Paterson and Jersey City — three urban districts that are operated by the state.
The study looks at districts in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Paul Tractenberg, a Rutgers law professor and a principal author of the study, said the investigators who produced the study concluded that mayoral control is not the "magic bullet" for urban school reform it’s sometimes portrayed to be. The process also leaves parents and community groups complaining that they are left out of the policy-making process.
Researchers did, however, find that mayoral control brought stability, greater attention and increased public and private funding to the districts examined.
"Mayoral involvement, if not control, should at the very least be considered as part of an overall district improvement strategy," the report says.
The study’s findings are particularly relevant to Newark, where Booker has formed a partnership with Gov. Chris Christie and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in an attempt to transform Newark’s failing schools. The trio appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" three weeks ago to announce Zuckerberg’s donation of a $100 million challenge grant to jump-start the effort.
While Zuckerberg made his high-profile pledge under the expectation that Booker would lead the district’s reformation, and Christie authorized the mayor to develop a reform plan with input from the community, Booker has no legal authority to fix any part of his city’s broken school system.
David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, has threatened to sue the state if Booker makes any decisions about the Newark schools.
In response to the Rutgers report, a spokeswoman for Newark said city officials realize it takes multiple forces, not just leadership, to improve the public school system.
"The reform initiative we will pursue does not include a formal change to school governance as it is explored in the Rutgers report, but is rather a community-driven effort that will solicit the voices of all Newarkers — students, parents, teachers, local leaders and concerned citizens alike — to shape a shared vision for how best to improve our public schools," Esmeralda Diaz Cameron said.
"We recognize that no single governance structure or individual will transform our school district; it will take the collective action and participation of our entire community to ensure that every Newark child has access to a high quality education," she added.
Past research on the efficacy of mayoral control is mixed. Kenneth Wong, an education policy professor at Brown University, studied five years of student achievement data and 10 years of spending data in a dozen urban school districts with mayoral control, and found they outperformed their counterparts controlled by school boards.
"Mayoral control systems do indeed perform better than their peers," said Wong, author of "The Education Mayor," a book that details his findings. "The education mayors were not spending more than their urban peers to achieve success — they were spending differently, like routing more money toward instructional purposes."
Fredrick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., drew different conclusions in a policy paper on mayoral control.
"For all the optimism that Boston and New York City have engendered, there is remarkably little evidence that mayors or appointed boards are more effective at governing schools than elected boards," Hess wrote in his 2008 report, "Assessing the Case for Mayoral Control of Urban Schools."
When asked about what effect, if any, Booker’s involvement in the Newark schools might yield, Hess said Booker could successfully push the system if he chooses to move aggressively, even if his official authority is limited.
"No one should interpret Booker’s involvement as a guarantee of anything," Hess said, "but if he’s smart about it, he will have a better chance of improving Newark’s schools than the current arrangement does."
Mayoral Control Fails To Improve Student Achievement Say Researchers at Rutgers University
By Esme E. Deprez - Oct 12, 2010 2:07 PM, Bloomberg News
LINK
Mayoral control, advocated by politicians pushing to overhaul underperforming school systems, fails to improve student achievement, according to a two-year study.
The research, conducted by the Institute of Education Law and Policy at Rutgers University, looked at improvements in nine education systems where there were changes in how the schools were governed, led by Baltimore, Boston and New York City. The study will provide guidance to New Jersey policy makers as the state prepares to return schools in Paterson, Newark and Jersey City to local control after as many as 21 years under state operation, the authors said.
The findings, the subject of a seminar today at the university’s Newark, New Jersey campus, raise questions about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s plans to overhaul the schools in the state’s largest city by putting Mayor Cory Booker in charge, said Alan Sadovnik, professor of Education, Sociology and Public Administration and Affairs at Rutgers and co-author of the report in a telephone interview yesterday.
“Solving Newark’s problems will require more than mayoral control alone,” Sadovnik said. “Governance is one part of urban school improvement, which has to include effective school and administrative strategies and a variety of economic, community and health initiatives at the local level.”
Facebook Donation
Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Sept. 24 that he will donate $100 million to Newark’s schools. Almost half of all students in the district don’t graduate from high school.
Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington and Hartford, Connecticut, were the other school systems that were part of the Rutgers study.
New school leadership helped improve efficiency and reduce corruption in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. In almost all the cities, mayoral control was associated with increased funding by either the state or the private sector, the study found.
Increased stability enabled school leaders and the community to concentrate on improving student achievement, the report said. In Cleveland, which had 13 superintendents in 15, turnover ended once the new governance system was installed, while frequent strikes by the unions stopped after mayoral control in Chicago.
Successful Bargaining
Mayoral leadership in New York and Chicago resulted in successful bargaining agreements with the teachers’ union to lengthen classroom hours and allow the creation of charter schools, the report also said.
At the same time, community input has diminished under the new models for running schools, the report noted. New York City parents, seeking a stronger voice in school policy, lobbied for changes in the mayoral control law, while parents in Chicago and Boston have complained they don’t have enough say in school closings, the report said.
“That’s a real negative,” Sadovnik said. “Most of the research indicates that parental involvement is a key ingredient in increasing student achievement.”
Christie has said he will give Booker a larger role in overseeing the district’s schools and its 39,000 students, and the mayor will also get a say in picking a new superintendent. Christie’s plan raises questions regarding the legality of the move without legislative action, the report said.
Mayoral involvement, or control, should be considered as part of an overall systematic approach to urban district improvement, the study said.
“The data certainly do not indicate that forms of governance with mayoral involvement have a negative effect on student achievement, but rather that governance may not be the most important factor; or, at the least, may be one of many factors in raising student achievement,” it said.
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
To contact the reporter on this story: Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Kaufman at jkaufman17@bloomberg.net.
However, I may agree with the comment that Mayoral control, valid and consistent accountability, transparency and teamwork with all parties involved will bring about reform. Please leave your ego at the door when you sign in.
Betsy Combier
Newark Mayor Cory Booker's school reforms may not improve student performance, study says
Jessica Calefati/The Star-Ledger, October 12, 2010
LINK
and NJ Gov. Chris Christie make their official announcement of the Facebook deal at Robert Treat Hotel.
NEWARK — Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s commitment to reform his city’s struggling schools may not help increase students’ performance in the classroom, according to research being presented today by the Institute on Education Law and Policy at Rutgers-Newark.
The study’s authors examined public school governance models in nine cities demographically and politically similar to New Jersey’s state-controlled school districts and found "no conclusive evidence" that greater mayoral participation in their governance led to improved student test scores.
"Student achievement has been the toughest nut to crack," the report says. "While school leaders tout many improvements in test scores, attendance and graduation rates, in fact we were unable to establish conclusively that the change in governance had any causal relationship to improved performance."
The study, produced by Rutgers staff with specialties ranging from economics to education law, is the latest in a series of national reports to review the effect of mayoral control over a large urban district. It was produced for the state education department as it develops a plan to have local municipalities regain control over schools in Newark, Paterson and Jersey City — three urban districts that are operated by the state.
The study looks at districts in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Paul Tractenberg, a Rutgers law professor and a principal author of the study, said the investigators who produced the study concluded that mayoral control is not the "magic bullet" for urban school reform it’s sometimes portrayed to be. The process also leaves parents and community groups complaining that they are left out of the policy-making process.
Researchers did, however, find that mayoral control brought stability, greater attention and increased public and private funding to the districts examined.
"Mayoral involvement, if not control, should at the very least be considered as part of an overall district improvement strategy," the report says.
The study’s findings are particularly relevant to Newark, where Booker has formed a partnership with Gov. Chris Christie and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in an attempt to transform Newark’s failing schools. The trio appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" three weeks ago to announce Zuckerberg’s donation of a $100 million challenge grant to jump-start the effort.
While Zuckerberg made his high-profile pledge under the expectation that Booker would lead the district’s reformation, and Christie authorized the mayor to develop a reform plan with input from the community, Booker has no legal authority to fix any part of his city’s broken school system.
David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, has threatened to sue the state if Booker makes any decisions about the Newark schools.
In response to the Rutgers report, a spokeswoman for Newark said city officials realize it takes multiple forces, not just leadership, to improve the public school system.
"The reform initiative we will pursue does not include a formal change to school governance as it is explored in the Rutgers report, but is rather a community-driven effort that will solicit the voices of all Newarkers — students, parents, teachers, local leaders and concerned citizens alike — to shape a shared vision for how best to improve our public schools," Esmeralda Diaz Cameron said.
"We recognize that no single governance structure or individual will transform our school district; it will take the collective action and participation of our entire community to ensure that every Newark child has access to a high quality education," she added.
Past research on the efficacy of mayoral control is mixed. Kenneth Wong, an education policy professor at Brown University, studied five years of student achievement data and 10 years of spending data in a dozen urban school districts with mayoral control, and found they outperformed their counterparts controlled by school boards.
"Mayoral control systems do indeed perform better than their peers," said Wong, author of "The Education Mayor," a book that details his findings. "The education mayors were not spending more than their urban peers to achieve success — they were spending differently, like routing more money toward instructional purposes."
Fredrick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., drew different conclusions in a policy paper on mayoral control.
"For all the optimism that Boston and New York City have engendered, there is remarkably little evidence that mayors or appointed boards are more effective at governing schools than elected boards," Hess wrote in his 2008 report, "Assessing the Case for Mayoral Control of Urban Schools."
When asked about what effect, if any, Booker’s involvement in the Newark schools might yield, Hess said Booker could successfully push the system if he chooses to move aggressively, even if his official authority is limited.
"No one should interpret Booker’s involvement as a guarantee of anything," Hess said, "but if he’s smart about it, he will have a better chance of improving Newark’s schools than the current arrangement does."
Mayoral Control Fails To Improve Student Achievement Say Researchers at Rutgers University
By Esme E. Deprez - Oct 12, 2010 2:07 PM, Bloomberg News
LINK
Mayoral control, advocated by politicians pushing to overhaul underperforming school systems, fails to improve student achievement, according to a two-year study.
The research, conducted by the Institute of Education Law and Policy at Rutgers University, looked at improvements in nine education systems where there were changes in how the schools were governed, led by Baltimore, Boston and New York City. The study will provide guidance to New Jersey policy makers as the state prepares to return schools in Paterson, Newark and Jersey City to local control after as many as 21 years under state operation, the authors said.
The findings, the subject of a seminar today at the university’s Newark, New Jersey campus, raise questions about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s plans to overhaul the schools in the state’s largest city by putting Mayor Cory Booker in charge, said Alan Sadovnik, professor of Education, Sociology and Public Administration and Affairs at Rutgers and co-author of the report in a telephone interview yesterday.
“Solving Newark’s problems will require more than mayoral control alone,” Sadovnik said. “Governance is one part of urban school improvement, which has to include effective school and administrative strategies and a variety of economic, community and health initiatives at the local level.”
Facebook Donation
Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Sept. 24 that he will donate $100 million to Newark’s schools. Almost half of all students in the district don’t graduate from high school.
Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington and Hartford, Connecticut, were the other school systems that were part of the Rutgers study.
New school leadership helped improve efficiency and reduce corruption in Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. In almost all the cities, mayoral control was associated with increased funding by either the state or the private sector, the study found.
Increased stability enabled school leaders and the community to concentrate on improving student achievement, the report said. In Cleveland, which had 13 superintendents in 15, turnover ended once the new governance system was installed, while frequent strikes by the unions stopped after mayoral control in Chicago.
Successful Bargaining
Mayoral leadership in New York and Chicago resulted in successful bargaining agreements with the teachers’ union to lengthen classroom hours and allow the creation of charter schools, the report also said.
At the same time, community input has diminished under the new models for running schools, the report noted. New York City parents, seeking a stronger voice in school policy, lobbied for changes in the mayoral control law, while parents in Chicago and Boston have complained they don’t have enough say in school closings, the report said.
“That’s a real negative,” Sadovnik said. “Most of the research indicates that parental involvement is a key ingredient in increasing student achievement.”
Christie has said he will give Booker a larger role in overseeing the district’s schools and its 39,000 students, and the mayor will also get a say in picking a new superintendent. Christie’s plan raises questions regarding the legality of the move without legislative action, the report said.
Mayoral involvement, or control, should be considered as part of an overall systematic approach to urban district improvement, the study said.
“The data certainly do not indicate that forms of governance with mayoral involvement have a negative effect on student achievement, but rather that governance may not be the most important factor; or, at the least, may be one of many factors in raising student achievement,” it said.
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
To contact the reporter on this story: Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Kaufman at jkaufman17@bloomberg.net.
Kamis, 11 November 2010
Cathleen Black Must Not Get A Waiver To Be NYC Chancellor
SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP THE REGENTS AND COMMISSIONER STEINER FROM GIVING CATHLEEN BLACK A WAIVER SO THAT SHE CAN BE NYC CHANCELLOR
Hundreds of people throughout New York City have been complaining about Joel Klein's actions for seven years (I think that most people did not believe he was truly a disaster until about a year into his alleged 'chancellorship'). See the articles below and the thousands of other articles about his errors and blunders. We, the outspoken public, somewhat slowly realized that Mike Bloomberg has total disdain for the common folk, the middle class, the disadvantaged people who try to make a living in his city. He wants us all to leave. He does not care what 'we' say or do, because he knows that whatever he wants, he gets. He got control over the school system. He threw away the vote for school board members by getting rid of the vote by all residents and then eliminating the school boards altogether. He wanted a third term so he got a third term. etc. This is a public policy strategy called "The public be damned!"
Therefore, I want to thank Mr. Bloomberg for showing the world what writers like me can only conclude. He doesn't care about public schools, public school employees, parents, or children.
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| Ms. Black, Oprah Winfrey, and Mike Bloomberg, 2007 |
Here is the great part: Bloomberg's choice of Ms. Black for Chancellor is proof of his dislike for every voice that has raised any concerns over the past 8 years concerning his public school policies. He is saying, "I don't care what you say" and we hate him for it.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was elected as "the education mayor", he said, and he would create the biggest overhaul in history of the 'failing' NYC public school system. We, the New York City public school community (and friends and relatives) know exactly what a disaster Bloomberg's control of the largest school system in America has brought, and we've had enough, thank you very much. See my March 2004 article Joel Klein's Performance Review. We have people in NYC who are speaking out, but not being heard.
I'm sure that we all remember the night that three members of the Panel For Educational Policy were fired for not voting along 'party-of-one' [Bloomberg] lines. The Village Voice did a great article about that and about all the other autocratic actions that Bloomberg has taken to get the reform HE wants, HIS way:
Education Mayor Bloomberg Called Out
NYC's head has a serious setback on his way to closing schools
By Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, April 27, 2010
LINK
Michael Bloomberg's ruthless definition of "mayoral control" of the schools became coldly clear on March 16, 2004, when he summarily fired three members of the city's Panel for Education Policy before a vote on the Bloomberg requirement for third-graders' promotions to end "social promotions." Eight of the panel's 13 members had been appointed by His Sovereignty, but there had been prior evidence that at least the disobedient three, and maybe more, would vote against the mayor's ukase.
Said the boss after his triumph: "This is what mayoral control is all about. They are my representatives, and they are going to vote for things that I believe in" (New York Times, March 16, 2004). Or else.
His faithful vassal, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, dutifully said that the three had resigned. If Bloomberg ever achieves his desired seat in the Oval Office, he will have a trusted press secretary in Mr. Klein.
Education is one of my two main beats; the Constitution is the other. I am opposed to mechanical "social promotion," but the Bloomberg plan—like the now-discredited No Child Left Behind Act—was based on the scores of single city-wide standardized reading and math tests. Ignored was a focus on individual students that will be part of my next book, Is This America? (Cato Institute).
In reaction to the mayor's victory, Robin Brown, the president of United Parents Associations (a city-wide coalition of parents and teachers' groups), said in outrage: "Politics first, children last . . . This is one of the reasons we never supported mayoral control."
Said Natalie Gomez-Velez, the Bronx representative on the Education Policy Panel: "This is not something we should be teaching kids about democracy." Apparently, she hadn't been aware that "democracy" and "Mayor Bloomberg" are not synonymous.
As the years went on, the mayor did relinquish control of the schools only to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and his School Safety Agents. Both are now defendants in a federal lawsuit on police abuse of students. But otherwise, Bloomberg was solely in charge until this past March 26 when he, Joel Klein, and the rest of his Royal Court were shocked at a decision by Justice Joan Lobis of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan that stopped Bloomberg's closing of 19 schools for poor performance. The judge sharply cited "significant violations" of the unexpected new state law setting rules of mayoral control.
This additional lawsuit was brought against Bloomberg puppets Joel Klein and the Board of Education by, among others, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, the New York State Conference of the NAACP, various parents, and political figures, including City Council member Charles Barron. The latter once invited dictator Robert Mugabe to address the City Council. I'd appreciate Mr. Barron's views of how Robert Mugabe is running the Zimbabwe schools.
In her decision, Judge Lobis charged that the defendants "appear to trivialize the whole notion of community involvement in decisions regarding the closing or phasing out of schools. The new law," she continued, "called for meaningful community involvement," and the "entire legislative scheme must be enforced, and not merely the portion extending mayoral control of the schools." That last zinger was directed at the Royal Mayor.
The Chancellor, obviously with the mayor's imperial approval, had not provided the educational impact statements required by the law. Where, for example, asked the judge, is there "any meaningful information regarding the impact on the students" (in those euthanized schools) or "the ability of the schools in the affected community to accommodate those students"? (Bloomberg is already an expert creator of overcrowded classrooms.)
The response by the rebuked Chancellor Klein (New York Times, March 27, 2010): "The sad thing is that the union [the UFT] would bring a lawsuit to resign kids to failing schools in order to save jobs. And ultimately, that is what this is about."
In another column, I'll provide some of my disagreements with the UFT, but this particular lawsuit is about preventing the mayor of New York and his successors from excluding parents and community organizations concerned with education from any meaningful involvement in the public (and we use that word provisionally) schools.
For further illustration of how Bloomberg and Klein trashed the law, the judge accused them of "completely failing to provide the information about specific programs existing at the schools proposed to be closed or phased out—or where the students would be able to find such programs [elsewhere]." For example, "where the school had a Living for the Young Family through Education (LYFE) Center, no mention was made of the program, or where a similar program existed in other city schools."
But, say the disgruntled defendants, consider all the public meetings we held about the schools to be closed. Answers the judge—giving Bloomberg and Klein a remedial lesson in Madisonian democracy—"although public meetings were held with respect to each school, and members of the respective Community Education Councils and School Leadership Teams were 'invited' to attend those meetings, it cannot be said that those meetings were 'joint' meetings (as required by the law). . . . For the notion of a joint meeting to have any meaning, the members of the Community Educational Councils and School Leadership Teams must be part of the process of structuring those meetings and not merely be told where and when to be present and given a script of what they are to say at the meetings" (emphasis added).
What did Joel Klein say to that—and what does his response reveal about his understanding of democracy?
"I think," said the Chancellor, "the process was robust. We literally met with thousands of people who expressed their views. We heard them, and in the end, we disagreed."
They disagreed because these irreverent views didn't follow the script. Joel Klein once promised me that he would bring civics classes back into schools so that students would know what it has taken in the history of this country to keep securing actual democracy throughout this society. I don't know the extent, if any, of his restorations of civics education. But his faithfulness in following Bloomberg's orders to exclude, as the judge said, any "meaningful community involvement" in the attempted closing of the 19 schools, shows his aversion to essential democratic participation in keeping a number of those schools meaningful to the very students themselves.
In an April 2 editorial, "This Time, Listen," the New York Times advised: "Instead of dismissing the lawsuit as an act of sabotage by the teachers' union, which was party to it, the city officials should be building bridges to the parents, community leaders and the angry state lawmakers who joined this suit out of frustration with the city's tactics."
What would you say are the odds that this autocratic mayor even knows—as the Times reports (March 27, 2010)—that "12 of the schools scheduled to close this year received a grade of 'proficient' in their last city quality review"? Or that many students and parents were stunned at the termination of such effective programs as the one "devised for mothers and pregnant teenagers at [the] Paul Robeson High School that offers day care and teaches parenting skills"? Too bad the resounding Paul Robeson isn't around to help the mayor shape up.
Other reports you should look at are:
Leaving School Empty-Handed: A Report on Graduation and Dropout Rates For Students Who Receive Special Education Services and Losing Our Future available on the Advocates For Children website; the New York Times' To Cut Failure Rate, Schools Shed Students and High School Under Scrutiny For Giving Up On Its Students (August 2003) and NYC DOE and Mayor: Social Promotion For Some, Not Others. Gotta Win the Statistical Game Any Way They Can.
And dont miss Mr. Hentoff's article "For the Children—Klein Should Resign: Where Was the UFT? And the Principals’ Union?" and the report on "Pushing Out At Risk Kids: An Analysis of High School Discharge Figures" published by Betsy Gotbaum, the NYC Public Advocate (2002).
Then of course, there are my articles on the disaster of Joel Klein for taking away the Constitutional rights to procedural and substantive due process from suspended children, parents, and teachers:
Betsy Combier Speaks Out on the Constitutional Mess Created by Mayoral Control of the New York City Board of Education, New York Senator Reuben Diaz Calls For the Resignation of BOE Chancellor Joel Klein and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott (2007), School Funding =School Corruption and Silencing Opposition: The Constitution is Suspended in New York City Until Further Notice (2004), Bloomberg Says He is Doing A Good Job.
Mike Bloomberg never did a good job as a public servant. He doesn't like the public. He has no interest in involving anyone but his most trusted advisors any say at all in any policy decisions. UFT John Elfrank-Dana has posted the "Participation in Government" curriculum as a shining example of what the American government was founded upon several centuries ago, but that a person who follows the Bloomberg participatory democracy model would be sorely challenged to agree with. Elfrank-Dana's government encourages participation as a pre-requisite for democracy, a concept foreign to Bloomberg's administration where there is no possibility of meaningful or effective participation in public policy by any student or member of the general public.
The process of choosing Ms. Black is an example of Bloomberg's autocratic rule (he did not let anyone in on his decision until it was made):
November 10, 2010
Bloomberg Took Secret Path to a New Schools Chief
By DAVID W. CHEN and MICHAEL BARBARO, NY TIMES
LINK
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg circulated through his City Hall offices, introducing a tall, blond woman who looked slightly familiar to his top aides. A foreign dignitary, perhaps? Or maybe an ambitious out-of-state politician hoping to impress the mayor? Somebody’s wife whom they were supposed to recognize?
No, it was Cathleen P. Black, and in less than an hour, Mayor Bloomberg would stun New York’s political, business and education establishments by naming her as the city’s schools chancellor, replacing Joel I. Klein.
To a degree unusual even for an administration that relishes keeping its deliberations as private as possible, hardly anyone knew of Mr. Klein’s departure or Ms. Black’s arrival until minutes before the official announcement. While such posts are typically filled after highly publicized national searches that can last months or even a year, there is little evidence that anyone else was seriously vetted or considered — and few of the usual suspects, including members of the mayor’s inner circle, were even consulted.
“I didn’t know Joel was leaving,” said Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the State Board of Regents and a longtime friend of the mayor, who said she was “surprised” when Mr. Bloomberg broke the news to her, around the time of the 3:15 p.m. news conference unveiling Ms. Black as the next chancellor. “It all went down very quickly.”
Even Mr. Klein, who had spent eight years running the nation’s largest school system, did not know who his successor would be until Monday. And not until 30 minutes before the news conference — or just a little before reporters were told, vaguely, of an important announcement — did Mr. Klein inform his leadership team, apologizing for the secrecy of a process over which he said, with resignation, he had no say.
Inexplicable as it may have seemed to outsiders, the secrecy around the search for someone to run the schools crystallized two tenets of the Bloomberg era: the mayor’s faith in the ability of business leaders to fix the ills of government, and his keen dislike of drawn-out public debates that might derail his agenda.
And, in what has become a Bloomberg hallmark, the mayor relied on someone he knew through business and social networks, someone squarely in his comfort zone of wealthy and socially prominent Upper East Side residents, someone with whom he has shared many friends and colleagues, dinners and drinks.
Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, declined to discuss details of the search process, who else was interviewed for the job, precisely how the mayor made his decision or even when he first met Ms. Black, chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, saying only that the mayor “spoke to many individuals about the position and chose the best.”
But Eric Nadelstern, the deputy chancellor for school support and instruction and a respected 39-year veteran of the city school system, said that if he was a candidate for the chancellorship, he did not know about it. “I’ve never actually had a conversation with anyone either asking me to consider it or, from my perspective, expressing interest in the position,” he said.
Michelle Rhee, the education reformer who recently departed as chief of the Washington schools, did not respond to an e-mail on Wednesday, but several people close to her and Mr. Klein said she had not been interviewed.
Ms. Black spent much of Wednesday in her office on the 43rd floor of the Hearst Tower in Midtown, fielding congratulations. A call placed her office was returned by a spokeswoman for the Education Department, who said the chancellor-in-waiting would not be doing any interviews until after she begins in December. Mr. Loeser also declined to make the mayor or First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris, who was said by many to be crucial in the selection, available to discuss the choice.
On Monday, Ms. Black was seen at the Hearst Tower with a thick stack of materials concerning public education. One City Hall insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to risk offending Mayor Bloomberg, said that key City Hall officials had spent hours briefing Ms. Black this week on education issues.
If many education stakeholders were hurt to be left out of the process, Howard Wolfson, the deputy mayor for intergovernmental affairs, defended the approach as crucial to avoid making Mr. Klein a lame duck.
“The mayor felt strongly that had Joel announced he was leaving and engaged in a search at that point, the school system would have been destabilized,” he said. “You would have had a situation in which there was a lot of uncertainty. He doesn’t think you find the best people, when they are paraded in for interviews.”
Instead, Mr. Bloomberg turned to someone he has known for many years, if not particularly well, a fellow media mogul whose social life and business interests cross-pollinate neatly with his own.
Ms. Black and her husband, Thomas E. Harvey, a lawyer and avid Republican donor, are known for hosting Christmas parties in their exclusive Park Avenue building, where apartments go for at least $10 million, and current and former neighbors include Tom Brokaw and Lloyd C. Blankfein. Mr. Bloomberg and his girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, are regulars at those soirees.
In 2007, Ms. Taylor, a former state banking commissioner, was among several people who hosted an event to celebrate the publication of Ms. Black’s book “Basic Black” at the Hearst Tower. One other prominent co-host was Gayle King, a close friend of Oprah Winfrey, and the editor at large of O, The Oprah Magazine. (Mr. Bloomberg, Ms. Black and Ms. Winfrey were photographed together at the 2006 opening of the new Hearst Tower.) But Ms. King, too, was out of the loop on Ms. Black’s career change, according to someone who was with her when the announcement occurred.
Exactly when Mr. Bloomberg began courting Ms. Black for the job is not clear. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said that when he arrived at a diner for breakfast with the mayor on Oct. 19, he ran into Ms. Black, who appeared to have just met with Mr. Bloomberg. The mayor introduced her to the union chief but made no mention of her having interest in or connection to the schools.
Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Black, along with Mr. Klein and Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, are regular attendees of the New York investment bank Allen & Company’s annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, the exclusive gathering each July of the country’s publishing elite.
Mr. Murdoch, who provided Mr. Klein with a job as a new executive vice president of News Corporation, was also apparently unaware of the mayor’s choice of Ms. Black until the day of the announcement, according to two people who spoke anonymously so as not to jeopardize access to Mr. Murdoch. These two people said Mr. Murdoch, who has grown more interested in education, had for months been discussing a possible job with Mr. Klein, over meals and at industry events. Mr. Klein said the two met on Sunday to hammer out the details.
For her part, Ms. Tisch, the Board of Regents chancellor, said she could not recall meeting Ms. Black. Asked about the choice, she was circumspect, saying, “I don’t know her, so I don’t like to talk about things I don’t know.”
Reporting was contributed by Tim Arango, Charles V. Bagli, David Carr, Elissa Gootman, Christine Haughney, Javier C. Hernandez, Sharon Otterman, Noah Rosenberg and Jeremy W. Peters.
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