Will the new Discipline Code lead to fewer suspensions and more ATRs?

We would guess that most teachers in NYC are not happy about the DOE's recent changes to the Discipline Code.  The new Code will prevent principals from suspending students for many categories of first-time offenses; instead, the offenders will be "treated" with:

                                *"progressive discipline";
                                *"collaborative negotiation";
                                *"restorative approaches"; and
                                *"circle processes" (see here).  

The NY Daily News refers to these techniques as "psychobabble and touch-feely gobbledegook," and we think they've got a point (see also Marc Epstein's kind words in the New York Post about the new policy). 

There are some teachers who aren't just unhappy about these changes.  These teachers are positively jittery.  That's because they work for the Alternate Learning Centers, which is where students are taught during their suspensions.  A friend of ours who works at an ALC sent in the following:

Will fewer students be suspended because of the new Discipline Code?  And will that ultimately lead to ALC teachers being excessed and forced into the ATR [Absent Teacher Reserve]?  

This question was raised today at our beginning-of-the-year meeting with Anthony Orzo, the Superintendent of District 88, the citywide district that includes all the ALCs.

Mr. Orzo had a really interesting answer.  He said he thought that suspension numbers would actually go up--because of changes in Special Education policy.  The new policy will force principals to keep Special Ed. students in their zoned schools, where they will be taught in Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) classrooms (see here).  In another words, students with academic and emotional difficulties will be taught in the same large groups that everyone else finds themselves in these days.  

Mr. Orzo predicted that many of these children will become frustrated, will act out, and will be suspended.  Bad news for them, but good news for me and my colleagues at the ALCs.  

The NYC DOE's Modus Operandi

How does the New York City Department of Education go about its business? A recent article at the NYC Public School Parents blog reveals the secret:

poor planning, mismanagement, top heavy spending on “network” and “cluster” leaders, and a concurrent disinvestment in actual classroom teachers, as well as an apparent total disinterest in how people on the ground are experiencing their policies...

Click here to read the full article. 

What to do about Hardship Commutes for ATR Teachers

For the teacher who must be mobile,
Here's some advice from Philip Nobile.

Article 18D of the Collective Bargaining Agreement allows grievances for hardship commutes--i.e., one-way travel from home to school via public transportation exceeding 90 minutes.

Unfortunately, the UFT did not put that provision in the ATR agreement. So when I grieved repeated 90+ minute treks from Brooklyn to Staten Island last year, the heartless DOE said tough luck and the Chancellor’s Representative denied at Step 1 and Step 2 (see here).  Showing surprising solidarity, the UFT agreed to take the case to arbitration, which could be months away. 

Pending our sure victory bye-in-bye, you don’t have to lay down and ride out the hardship, especially a six-weeker. Here are some recommended moves that could help.  

►Email Amy Arundell and your District Representative and ask them to call Lawrence Becker, head of Human Resources, requesting a healthier and more humane commute in your case.  Offer Becker, an extreme travel hardliner, a golden bridge of retreat. If Becker says no, you go to the principal. The UFT must get its hands dirty and not leave all the work for us.

►Either the DR or you calls the principal and explains your situation; the principal can overturn your assignment for any reason; maybe he won’t want a tired and possibly resentful teacher in his building. No skin off his nose if you go elsewhere.

►if you prefer less fuss, schmooze the school's ATR person on your circumstances, and say in a nice way that you won’t arrive until second period. At least you won’t lose sleep, the most hateful hardship for me.

Any other suggestions or anecdotes ?

Who said it? (#3)

Time for another round of "Who Said It?"  Here is today's quotation:

"Behind every poor teacher is a poor administrator."

 Who said it?

     a. Michael Mulgrew

     b. a public school principal

     c. Norm Scott

     d. Bill Gates


Click here for the answer. 

Answer: 

Alfred North Whitehead English mathemetician and philosopher (1861-1947). 

Thanks to Diane Ravitch for bringing this quotation to light. 

Who said it? (#2)

Good morning, boys and girls.  Time for another round of "Who Said It?" Here is today's quotation:

"No educational system is possible unless every question directly asked of a pupil at any examination is either framed or modified by the actual teacher of that pupil in that subject. The external assessor may report on the curriculum or on the performance of the pupils, but never should be allowed to ask the pupil a question which has not been strictly supervised by the actual teacher, or at least inspired by a long conference with him."

Who said it?
     a. Diane Ravitch
     b. Michelle Rhee
     c. Leonie Haimson
     d. Alfred North Whitehead

Click here for the answer. 

Needle in the Haystack Department

Hidden like a needle in a haystack in an excellent Gotham Schools article about the monitoring of standardized tests for cheating in New York City public schools:

Monitors did not visit charter schools in 2012.

Geoff Decker, the author of the article, writes in a comment that he has asked for an official explanation for the absence of monitoring in charter schools, but has not yet received an answer.  

Who said it?

In honor of all those who think that "irreplaceable" teachers can be created by putting some "best and brightest" twenty-two year-olds through a few weeks of training, we offer a multiple-choice quiz.  

Who said the following? 

There is nothing that training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach or below it. It can turn bad morals to good, good morals to bad; it can destroy principles, it can re-create them; it can debase angels to men and lift men to angelship. And it can do any one of these miracles in a year -- even in six months.

a. Michelle Rhee  

b. Wendy Kopp

c. Mark Twain 

d. Arne Duncan

Click here for the answer. 

Answer:  Mark Twain, in an essay entitled "As Regards Patriotism." 

Those who answered incorrectly will be expelled from Teachers for America and will have to begin their careers as lawyers or hedge-fund managers two years earlier than expected. 

Why Our Students' Behavior is So Miserable

There are many reasons why the behavior of so many New York City students is miserable, disrespectful, inappropriate, and downright disgusting.  I am too humble to say that I know all the reasons, or even that I know which is the primary reason.  I do know that one of the reasons has been elegantly stated by a blogger named Jersey Jazzman: 

Our kids are inundated by consumerist-driven messages from the minute they open their eyes. They are subjected to loud, bright, crass, violent, inappropriate, inhumane, sexualized, disrespectful, intolerant media in a wide variety of delivery systems. This constant crush of sound and images is capable of dangerously desensitizing them to the real world - a world where they must learn to collaborate, to question, to evaluate, to empathize, and to respect each other.

Click here to read the complete article.