Fwd: Less in mayor's proposals than meets the eye

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Mulgrew <noreply@uft.org>
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:52:54 -0400
Subject: Less in mayor's proposals than meets the eye
To: IACONOWORK@gmail.com

Dear colleagues,

Mayor Bloomberg today on MSNBC, as part of NBC's "Education
Nation" program, outlined a new education plan that included
"ending tenure as we know it, so that tenure is awarded for
performance, not taken for granted."

There's less in the mayor's proposals than meets the eye. The
"automatic" tenure process that he complains about is automatic
only if the administration allows it to be. The law is clear that
tenure is supposed to be granted based upon a teacher's work. Most
teachers would welcome an objective tenure-granting process based
upon their work.

The mayor also remarked, "It's time for us to end the last-in,
first-out layoff policy," claiming that it puts "children at
risk."

The seniority layoff process is part of state law and a critical
guarantee against discrimination. As the city's principals union
has said: "Once seniority protections are removed, we are concerned
that issues such as cronyism, nepotism, religion, race and age would
once again become problems in our city schools."

If the mayor wants to change seniority, he will need to talk to the
state Legislature. Given that body's lack of enthusiasm for many of
the mayor's plans – like congestion pricing – we expect an
appropriate amount of skepticism.
The mayor touted his administration's education record on the
show.

While the mayor has some progress to cite during his tenure in
charge of the Department of Education, any claims of closing the
racial achievement gap need to be carefully reviewed. Since the state
recalibrated test scores this summer, for instance, the math
achievement gap between white and black students grew to 34 points
– basically the same as it was in 2003.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

--
Sent from my mobile device

Joseph Iacono
Instructional Technology Specialist
South Brooklyn & Staten Island
Division of Performance and Accountability (DPA)
BB # 347-497-0273
http://josephiacono.com
http://www.oitlive.com
P Go Green! " Re-think the way you print "
Please consider the environment before printing this email.