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Letters
It is appalling and hypocritical that the so-called “education reform” coincides with the elimination of funds for education. Schools are in such dire financial straits that teachers now have to pay out of pocket for basic supplies. I took it upon myself to purchase six used iMacs on eBay for my classroom. That’s $1,000 out of my own pocket.
The campaign to vilify the UFT and those it represents continues. According to these folks: 1. Teachers are guilty until proven innocent; 2. the UFT is a behemoth whose influence clearly dwarfs the power that the Kremlin wielded at the height of the Cold War, and is at least as nefarious; and 3. the press is the most appropriate venue for litigating cases.
Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to close schools, rename them, replace teachers and bring in new principals will be nothing more than window dressing that creates the appearance of reform as it ignores core problems. It reminds me of the late Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner, firing managers because his team wasn’t performing up to expectations.
It is with ever-increasing dismay that I read about the political resolutions approved by the UFT delegates. A case in point is the resolution unanimously approved, as reported in the New York Teacher: “Supporting justice for Trayvon Martin by opposing the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws that have encouraged lethal violence and turned citizens into executioners.”
Recently there was a celebration known as National Educators Week and a letter was distributed to all UFT members by President Michael Mulgrew in collaboration with Ernest Logan, the president of the principals’ union. I am offended by this letter because I am not “other staff,” as indicated in the letter. I am a proud, licensed school secretary!
The Ryan/Wyden so-called bipartisan plan for Medicare would privatize Medicare in the name of saving it. Rather, it would destroy Medicare as we know it. The plan would provide subsidies for beneficiaries who purchase private insurance. Private plans would seek to enroll only those in relatively good health. As a result, Medicare costs will rise and ultimately it would be discarded.
The following letter was sent to Mayor Bloomberg via email in October 2011. There has been no response.Dear Mayor Bloomberg:
Last year teachers were given $110 each for classroom supplies, which I thought was ridiculous because it breaks down to less than $1 per child for 10 months of school (on the middle school level).
What side of the political aisle should the UFT be on? Easy, whatever side supports teachers! We must get behind legislators who stand up for us, and get more people like them elected. In Brooklyn, we have a special responsibility. We have a trio of elected officials, all Republicans, who have consistently opposed every attempt by organized labor to improve conditions for the middle class.
We have almost reached the finish line and all our families and friends are cheering us on that we finish the year in good health! Many ATRs are restricted from teaching their speciality, but they do the best they can under the circumstances.
The tabloids were filled with the grisly details: a child brutally murders his mother. The victim was a teacher in the English department of LaGuardia HS. Karen Kaye was my colleague and friend; she will be mourned and missed. Yet the pedagogue within me cannot help but wonder how such a seemingly purposeless act will be discussed with our impressionable students.
It pains me to hear the terrible English I hear. A very prominent TV personality (I won’t name) has many degrees, but cannot say a T. I hear “inimate” for intimate, while others say “couny” for county, “Torono” for Toronto and so on. I also am tired of the overuse of the phrase “you know.” No, we don’t know. Tell us.
Your March 8 article on PS 90 Principal Greta Hawkins [“Brooklyn principal a ‘bully’”] was right on target. During my 27 years of teaching, I had many supervisors who helped me become the kind of teacher that I loved being. But ever since Greta Hawkins became principal in 2009, PS 90 has become a place of fear
Lately all I have been hearing is negative publicity when it comes to teachers in New York City public schools. Well, I am writing to tell you otherwise. My daughter Melissa Wadler attends the Magnet Program at David A. Boody JHS, IS 228, in Brooklyn. How many children do you know who love to go to school every day?
The following letter was written to “all teachers” following the release of the Teacher Data Reports: I wanted to take this time out to let you know that a number does not define you as a person. Two tests do not a teacher make…You are not failures. Teaching is a gift that you continue to nurture year by year. Do not let these numbers diminish your self-worth.
The following letter was sent to the New York Daily News: Congratulations on isolating the public from knowing the true measurements of teaching by publishing these scores. It has been stated the margin of error could be 20 points (more like 30 points), yet each teacher has his or her good name put in your spreadsheet.
Regarding your story headlined “Experts, pols agree: Bloomberg was wrong” [March 8]: It was Thomas Jefferson who said, “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods.” All fair-minded citizens who seek the truth must disregard Bloomberg’s attempts to destroy the truth by his act of publishing individual Teacher Data Reports.
As a teacher with more than 30 years of experience, I’m surprised at the number of people who now refer to our children as “kids.” What is it that is so appealing about that four-letter word that it is used so profligately? Even more annoying to hear is “gonna” for “going to.”
We hear many decry the failure of public education to produce students who are “college ready,” yet those words have no agreed-upon meaning… All too often, students are sent out into the world indifferent to anything outside of their own self-interest. The real problem is producing young men and women who see themselves as connected to their overall community and to the greater culture.
Since Mayor Bloomberg likes to refer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to validate his failed education policies, I would like to share with you an excerpt from Dr. King’s 1948 speech: “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. ... We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
A rating system where teachers will be listed in the newspapers is putting us back to the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.” By the time the newspapers are through, teachers will be walking around with MU signs around their necks — for Most Unsatisfactory.
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