Internet Troll Anthony Krinsky Debases Mona Davids

It seems that gadfly, education deform blogger, and poster boy for the psycho-pharmaceutical industry Anthony Krinsky has found a new person to create fantasies about. That person is student and parent advocate Mona Davids.

When we last visited the fantasy world of Anthony Krinsky we explored, then easily debunked, his criticism of Mona. This past Saturday, February 11, Krinsky again created innuendo and fantasy in again defaming and defiling Mona.

But Krinsky does not know Mona. To paraphrase Mona, she is "a black mother of a public school student running a grassroots parents organization fighting for a quality education for all children in NYC, children who also happen to be majority black children."

I think the point Mona might be making is that she, a black woman, a woman that lives in an urban setting, a woman with a child, knows more what is best for a school system that is majority black than a condescending, white, trust fund parasite, suburban, childless, Ivy League grad, smart ass.

Krinsky speculates, or at least fantasizes; What are we to make of a teacher union supported parents organization calling itself "NYC Parents Union" that had no support or endorsement from Ben Austin's Parent Revolution organization.

Firstly, we here at SBSB suggest that a extra dose of Lithium should be taken by the erstwhile writer. This perhaps will help to calm the nerves and bring the writer back to a reasonable reality. But we are diverting from the accusations made by Krinsky, and the facts in this case.

Krisnky whined that Mona's organization, NYC Parents Union is "teacher union supported." Using the English language in a correct manner, this would imply that only teachers unions, and in particular the UFT, are the only supporters behind initiating and supporting NYCPU. Yes, Krinsky probably got his information from a New York Post article, but then again we all know how loose with facts The Post is. Besides, if NYCPU were in fact solely supported by teachers unions, why then does Mona use Word Press templates in her do it yourself website? We here at SBSB suggest that Krinsky do some fact checking and actually prove this statement. Perhaps Krinsky wishes that a more glitzy look to her website is in order? Perhaps akin to his own blog?

But what else is Krinsky whining about? Oh yes, what does Ben Austin and Parent's Revolution have to do with Mona's website? Krinsky, are you appalled that Mona had the temerity to use the word "Revolution"? Or do you think that any organization advocating for parents must be approved by your idol Ben Austin. Oh, just as an aside. Parents Revolution disavows you at every chance they get and does truly hope that there is some sort of intervention in your very near future.


It seems as though Mona Davids and her teacher union backers are quite comfortable perpetrating this deception

What deception? Someone can't be pro parent? I am pro-mental health and mean it. I truly support those in our community that have undiagnosed bi-polar disorders. I truly support those that have been diagnosed with narcissistic and malignant personality disorders as well. I don't need the mental health professionals to tell me to do it, I support these troubled people because it is the right thing to do.

But Krinsky decided that as the arbiter of all that he thinks is sane to have a litmus test for Mona. Krinsky demands that Mona answer; Do you support rewarding individual teaching performance (ie. paying great teachers more and laying off bad teachers regardless of age)?

Let me take a stab at that question. Krinsky, can you even articulate what a great teacher is? Is it statistically possible to have only great teachers? What about darn good teachers? Can you articulate what a bad teacher is? Oh, and please don't give us that fantasy you created about West Philadelphia High School. We all know it never happened. 

Do you support policies that encourage the non-unionized, independently run schools (ie. charter schools and private school scholarships)?

Did you know that Mona has, or at least had, a kid in a charter school? Did you know that Mona fights for charter school parents to have PA's which many charter schools deny the parents even though it is state law? So many charters though are non-unionized, yet only 20% of charters do as well or as better than the local traditional public school. Krinsky, would you want a .200 hitter batting cleanup for your baseball team? 

Krinsky goes on and shows that he thinks he understands trade dress law; There can be no doubt at all that this is a premeditated plan to impersonate reform organizations and trick parents into supporting the status quo.  Would such a hijacking of "StudentsFirst" and "Parents Union" fail a "likelihood of confusion" test under US trademark law?

Yeah, this was a good laugh. However, on Governor Andy (I Love The Kock Brothers) Cuomo's website he has a "NY Students First Page " (3rd tab from the left). So does Florida State. So does the Minnesota state colleges and universities. So does this book written in 2007. It must suck to be swaddled with facts. But to quote Neil Peart from the 1993 song Roll The Bones, "A fact's a fact Jack, from Nome to Rome."


In an arena where credibility matters, Mona Davids is proving that her depravity has no limit.

Mona has more credibility in  one blood cell than Krinsky has in his entire body. This coming from someone that seems incapable of writing factually, a person that creates what the story shall be in his mind, a person that has no problem criticizing teachers yet is scared to put his money where is mouth is. Please Krinsky, share with the world your credibility. Not as you see it, but with hard verifiable facts. 

Does the consumer protection bureau need to protect poor families from predatory scammers like NYC "Parents Union"?


Call! Oh God this is just so funny. Please, I am peeing all over myself! Someone get me a Depends. PLEASE!!!!



I expect that StudentsFirst will protect their brand to the fullest extent of the law.  Both infringements must be tried case in the court of public opinion.

Oh the hyperbole, oh the hyperbole!!!!

To go on to another topic, we here at SBSB wish to let everyone know that May is Mental Health Month in The Untied States, but it is never too early to reach out to those who are close to us and encourage those to seek out treatment for their disorders. Be it bi-polar disorder, schizoid effective disorder, some type of personality disorder, or even one coping with low self esteem from a severe Freudian physical shortcoming, help can be had.

There are many avenues available that such a person as described in the above paragraph can receive help. Seeing a trained psycho-therapist several times a week can do the trick. So can traveling to Vienna and seeking out a team for intense personal care. Also, there are many psycho-pharmaceuticals out there that are FDA approved and known to help those with such disorders. And the old stand by, electro shock therapy ain't gonna hurt.

So if you know someone whose life is being controlled by his mental disability, if you know someone that lies, distorts reality, a person that will not back up his accusations to someone's face, this is the time for you to have that intervention and help that person be rid of their mental disorder.

The Mistake Major Nelson Made

Major Tony Nelson made quite a mistake one day in the South Pacific. While stranded and awaiting a rescue team the good major saw a bottle and opened it. What popped out? A genie and his life was never the same. There is a lesson to be learned there. Can you figure it out?

The lesson is that once the genie is let out of the bottle, you ain't getting it back it in. It's out for good. Think of how much better Major Nelson's life would have been if he had never let Jeannie out of her bottle. All the nutty things that happened, the near nervous breakdown of Dr Bellows, the attempted manipulations of Major Healy, the constant mauling of uniforms by Jin-Jin all could have been avoided it Major Nelson just turned away.

How does this relate to the school atmosphere you might ask? It does in the fact all the zany, stupid, incompetent happenings of teachers lords and masters in the public school building. Time after time crises, lack of learning, lack of leadership, lack of discipline, are consistently dealt with the closing of the eyes and wishing the problem goes away. Teachers are made to feel as if they are on a sinking ship with just a bucket in their hand to scoop out the billions of gallons of water. Yet, it is to no avail. Even when the genies let you know that the iceberg is 50 miles away, nothing is done.

Nothing is done until it is too late. Yeah, that iceberg was seen from even 25 miles through 75X binoculars on a clear day. But not to worry! There is a plan.

But the plan says it is time to get serious. All the crap for the 7 months is out the window. A new day will reign and all will be forgotten for on this day, a new leaf is overturned. That new leaf is brown on the other side. It is dead. It should have been turned over the 2nd week of September when the genie was still in the bottle and the leaf still had life.

When that genie is out and about and you decide that this time it will be not be allowed to ruin a school, to ruin the learning process, it is too late. The genie has heard it all before and laughs in your face. Why should the genie listen. It is in charge. It knows that just a change in tone of voice, a change in inflection, it can go back and do what it wants. Why? Because it has been that way all year.

Remember, the next time you see that genie in your school, think of who opened that bottle. It never should have been opened.

The New York Post Blows

Not too long ago I came across this article in the New York Post. This is about Christine Rubino, who taught at PS 203 in Flatlands, for posting “repulsive” comments on Facebook.

Several thoughts came to my mind. One, is it not ironic how the Post (and of course News Corp.) the harbinger of freedom is quick to mock someone for defending their constitutional rights of freedom of speech. Secondly, why the Post must claim how hard it is to fire a teacher. And lastly, geez, we never once said how, and even posted on FB, how we would like to see a close family member meet with an unfortunate accident?

So in light of this inanity by The Post I, in conjunction with The Frustrated Teacher, have set up a contest. In 6 words, describe how The Post has distorted the facts. You can reply to me on Twitter, or to TFT, (#NYPostBlows) or leave your comment here. The winner will win either dinner or a pitcher of beer with me and TFT.

Have fun. Be creative.

The Sycophancy of Little Evan Stone and Educators4Excellence Continues

Every time I see a Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris propaganda column in The New York Post or in fact anywhere I feel that it must be treated as if one were looking directly at Kollos, the Medusan ambassador.  But in reality, Little Evan and Princess Sydney are not Kollos, but more like Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum and just looking at them and reading what they wrote, or at the very least, what they were told to write invites laughter and derision.

In their latest mindless missive in the official propaganda publication of the NYC DOE, The New York Post, Little Evan and Princess Sydney start my sucking up mightily to Governor Andy's colon when they say, "Gov. Cuomo recently called himself “the students lobbyist.” In fact, he just may be the only effective lobbyist that teachers have right now, too.

Yes great start. So proud.

 

They blither on; For two years, classroom teachers across the state have been waiting for a new system of evaluation they were promised as part of the state’s Race to the Top package, a package passed into 

 

Yes, of course. Every teacher I have spoken with is just sitting on their edge of their seat with pins and needles just gosh darn waiting for that evaluation agreement to be approved. Not. Rather I know teachers who are waiting for a computer that was built after 1999 to be placed in their classroom. A computer that prints. A ream of paper from Staples. A proper curriculum. A curriculum. Competent administrators. Administrative accountability. Toilet paper in the bathrooms. Respect. Less paperwork. Less testing. Les Nessman. Text books. Basic supplies. A photo copier that works. Shall I go on. I think most people get the idea.

It’s hard to believe, but New York teachers have never been offered consistent, objective job-performance reviews,

It's hard to believe that a mayor that has systematically destroyed education in this city has been allowed to skate by virtually unscathed. Is that not the bigger horror?

But, again it is the administrator's fault. Every rating sheet has a check off boxes and a comment box. Simple, have principals use them. Require principals throughout the year meet with teachers, either informally, formally, or both and have a peer to peer discussion about that teacher. Simple. By the way, my way would be a lot, lot less expensive to implement. 

The biggest sticking point in negotiations was the UFT’s insistence on an unnecessarily arduous appeals process.

So I would assume that both Little Evan and Princess Sydney find that an independent arbitrator that will not be beholden to either the DOE or the UFT is unnecessarily arduous? Then I must agree that both these little elite children must find that an impartial judge and jury in our criminal justice system seems to them to be unnecessarily arduous.

 

 The state teachers union is suing the state over how big a role student test scores should play in a teacher’s rating, thus holding up the process.

Yeah, well they should, no. Why is NYSUT suing? Because.....The law on a teacher evaluation system was originally developed in a cooperative effort between the state and NYSUT. It called for 20 percent of an evaluation to be based on test scores, 20 percent on local assessments and 60 percent on principal evaluations. But at the last minute, the plan was changed, calling for up to 40 percent of a teacher’s grade to be determined by statewide test scores. Please stop the disingenuouty.

Either districts and unions agree to an evaluation structure in 30 days, or he’ll pass one for them during the budget process. It’s a bold yet necessary move to get a deal done.

Oh, oh. Looks like it's going to be a showdown on Western Ave. Looks like Sheriff Andy is going to take on those nasty evil teachers and show them. Whip 'em out at twenty paces. Just think Governor Andy will whip something else out to prove to all that he is a man.

 

Last year, a group of solutions-oriented Educators 4 Excellence teachers crafted thoughtful recommendations that deserve to be considered. They suggested a multi-measure evaluation system that includes student-growth data (the only objective picture of a student’s progress we now have), but also multiple classroom observations and student surveys, as well as standards of professionalism such as teacher attendance and contributions to the school community.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Already debased, deciphered, and defiled that idea.

These ideas are backed by research, including the recent Gates Foundation Measures of Effective Teaching study, showing that a combination of these factors creates the most fair and reliable system.

Yes of course! If some dumb ass Gates Foundation study says it's true, well gosh diddly darn, it must be true! But, E4E will never bite the hand that feeds it. 

In other words, we already know what works.

You do? Prove it. Oh yeah, you two said it is working in Hillsborough County FL, Washington DC, and Colorado. My brother in law is an art teacher in Hillsborough County, let me ask him. From what I heard, they are several years of the screwing up we have yet to happen to us here in NYC.

Teachers don’t need an evaluation system to make them work hard; they already do. But such a system will help us to work smarter.

Huh?

As elementary-school teachers in The Bronx, we knew there were students who left our classrooms well prepared,

As elementary teachers? You mean as former elementary teachers. Let's be honest OK? As far as students that left your classrooms well prepared, the facts seem to differ. Little Evan, we call on you to show us your scores!!!!!!!!

but also that there were others whom we could have helped more if we’d had the support and feedback all professionals deserve. 

 

So why didn't Sheldon Benardo principal of PS 86 give you support and feedback? Nothing was preventing him from doing so.

 

So it goes on. These two are dangerous. I had quite a Twitter conversation on Sunday night about the dangers these two and their quasi Hitler youth organization present. Yes, they are small, and yes, most of their members sign up to watch a train wreck, but the smugness and duplicity these two show is a danger, could be a danger and we must stop E4E. 

We as teachers, as educators, as parents, as citizens of this country can't make the same mistake that Chamberlain made in 1938.

The World James Waslawski Created At MS/PS 279 in The Bronx

MS/PS 279 Principal James Waslawski

Every so often we here at SBSB are lucky enough to get some information that shows what a sham the NYC DOE and it's foot soldiers, the principals and assistant principals, truly are.

Last week we were fortunate enough to have an expose on MS/PS 279, District 10, The Bronx come across our newsroom. The lies, manipulation, and intimidation current principal, Leadership Academy grad, and Cahn Fellow, James Waslawski uses has not saved the school from the incompetence of principal Pedro Santana who left, or was forced out in 2004, but rather has made things worse to the point where nothing might be salvageable.

Anyone and everyone at 279 who dares to disagree with Waslawski instantly becomes a target of his wrath. Yes, as previously mentioned, Waslawski  inherited a mess. But rather that was because of the ineptness of Pedro Santana and not the dedicated, talented staff of 279.

In April 2011, the Joint Intervention Team descended upon MS/PS 279. The report was so damning that everyone and their mother truly believed that Waslawski would be gone due to his erratic and confounding lack of management and leadership. But like a cockroach in the middle of a thermonuclear blast, Waslawski survived. Is he the best the Leadership Academy has to offer?

279

One would even think that a if Waslawski would want the brightest, the most talented, the most qualified assistant principals. But Waslawski follows the Leadership Academy playbook to a T in picking an AP. Someone that lives in his colon, someone who shares his ideology, and someone who has few qualifications for the job.

That person is Hallie Iannoli. Yes, that Hallie Iannoli who is the daughter of former Monkee, Peter Tork. While Peter Tork was and still is extremely talented, it appears that not only is Hallie an enigma wrapped in a riddle, she apparently is untalented and useless as well.

Hallie graduated from The New College of California (San Francisco) in 1996. This is a college that operated from 1971, to 2008 in which it lost its accreditation due to many failures including erratic bookkeeping. In fact, Hallie earned her BA in 3 years from such a failed institution should raise eyebrows.

But one cloud hangs low over Hallie. Why did she leave her previous school, Urban Action Academy, a school she helped found to go be an assistant principal at 279? The crack team is working on this at press time.

Troubling too is the fact that Hallie has been teaching for only 8 years. Back in the day, an AP and/or Principal was a veteran teacher with at least 15, sometimes 20 years, under their belt. In fact, even though the AP position was advertised as AP for ESL, Hallie has only a temporary TOESL certificate that expires today, January 31.

Allegedly, what Waslawski told the School Leadership Team was that the C-30 was irrelevant. That he would pick the candidate and too bad what the SLT wants. DOE rules call for the entire C-30 process to be completed in 3 months from date of advertisement. It now has been more than 3 months since the advertisement closed and the DOE has apparently sanctioned the alleged violation of its own rules.

The SLT has gone from delays to a rush in completing the process. At press time we do not know if Hallie's TOESL license has expired, been extended, or made permanent.

Hallie has never had a permanent teaching or leadership license. This should lead one to question the fairness and openness of the C-30 system and the entire system as well. The lack of transparency from the DOE and its principals is not only damaging the great history of the New York City Schools, but inevitably, and it is happening already, will damage education in NYC.

The injustices keep coming. Yesterday we had to read how Little Evan Stone and Princess Sydney Morris were parroting Uncle Mike and Sock Puppet Walcott in coming out against an independent arbitrator for teachers to appeal ineffective ratings in the new system. One would wonder what they would say knowing that Waslawski has given a U rating last year to anyone who stood up to him. Apparently, 279 is becoming more like Iran and North Korea. Threat and intimidation rule the day.

Our sources have told the crack team that former chancellor Klein revised C-30 and put in a clause that any irregularities must be reported within 15 days. At 279 it was more than 15 days since the highly qualified candidates found out that someone else was appointed.

Administration needs to learn that it is the kids that come first, not themselves and their little petty crap. With all this testing, data, VAA, crap after crap, the upper echelon cares nothing about the well being and education of the students. Rather, the upper crust, the elite, of the schools will do whatever self preserving acts out there to save only themselves.

But worse is the fact that the DOE not only enables this incompetency to influence our children, our students, but the DOE turns a blind eye to the inevitable, when these incompetents completely fuck up.

Alexander Nazaryan Signed, Sealed and PWNED!

For those who listened to my Internet radio show this pass Tuesday night, thank you for putting up with all the glitches. My erstwhile co-host, The Frustrated Teacher, seems to have the same telephony capabilities that Oliver Douglas put up for so many years in Hooterville.

However, TFT's mind is as sharp as a razor blade slicing up some home made salt water taffy. TFT and myself welcomed self-important New York Daily News "journalist" Alexander Nazaryan and the author behind the sychophantic op-ed column in The Daily News of January 15, 2012 in which Alexander railed against the current evaluation system and supports the mess that Uncle Mike and Governor Andy which to implement.

This all started on January 15 in when I engaged with Alex on Twitter (which using my Twitter name you can find a blow by blow account). When I came back from hiatus I thought that having Alex as a guest and debating the points we both made would be a wonderful idea. Little did I know, and TFT as well, that I would be dealing with someone that chooses facts from make believe, has no foundation in which to base his beliefs, and just like our favorite toy when we were young we just pull a string on the Alexander Nazaryan doll and it just spews out what its master wants us to hear.

One of the points that Alex made in his column was that the evaluation system today does not allow for any feedback from principals besides an S and that a principal can only observe a teacher through a formal observation.

Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, and this was a point that we brought up Tuesday night and in my tweeting that indeed, a principal can walk into your classroom anytime and informally observe you and write you up, critique, praise you, for those informal observations. Case in point, Francis Blake. Francis had many informal observations used against him in his 3020a hearing several years ago. I had an informal observation once and it was suggested that I use more open ended questions. A principal, or an assistant principal if they do their job properly can and will use the formal observation to not only be aware of what you are doing in the class but use it to help you improve and hone your teaching skills.

But Alex would have none of this (Alex appears about 17 minutes into the show). Alex says that the administrators "need the tools." By what that means, I have no idea. I brought up that the inexperience of today's administrator leaves them hamstrung to be able to recognize good practices. Alex vehemently disagreed. Alex says that they need good tools, especially involving data.

That threw TFT for a loop. Mention data to TFT and he blows a gasket. TFT asked Alex what admins they lack right now, Alex's response was TEST SCORES!! Alex said that they are important because scores can be used to evaluate a teacher then said the magic three words that popped a vein in TFT's skull, VALUE ADDED ASSESSMENT!

Listen to how Alex gave the dictionary definition to VAA. Alex couldn't even understand how one high stakes test can be used to judge a teacher and not even care nor understand that so many factors can go into a child's success or failure in such high stakes testing. Alex failed to realize that professional, in which we are trained for can make these determinations. Perhaps by writing a progress a report. Alex said if it is a good test then it works to which he admitted "we are working to such a test." Alex believes that even though these tests are no perfected, that "no test is ever perfect, but an opinion of a teacher will be less perfect." And that, "an opinion is more subjective than a test."

This statement clearly shows someone that is unable and unwilling to think for himself. But, and this is a big but, as we brought up to Alex, doctors OPINIONS are trusted, why aren't teachers opinions trusted? "Doctors" said Alex, "run tests" Guess what Alex, SO DO TEACHERS!!!!

Alex really wanted to wrap this up quick, but I got one last question in that was submitted by a reader;

...what exactly he would look for in a teacher who teaches students with learning disabilities who come from one or a combination of the following: poverty, are apathetic towards learning, are English second learners who have parents who do not speak English, do no homework, do not study are educationally neglected at home, are addicted to video games, go to sleep at 2 in the morning, don't know they have an IEP, cut class or enter into high school a minimum of five years behind in writing and reading.

Alex Nazaryan showed us all through the magic of Internet radio just down his nose he looks at the world. Alex blabbered, "I would probably try to have a better attitude about the kids I teach. It sounds like you are fairly negative in your assessment of these kids." Alex refused to answer how he would work with a kid like this. Alex would not deal with reality. He was appalled that I would characterize kids in that way.

Alex Nazaryan comes from an elite world of university snobbery in which one his trained in only numbers and nothing else. Yes, Alex did teach for 5 years and his NYSED records show that he had a license for three years, but in his article he fails to name the middle school he taught at in Flatbush and how long he was there, but he does mention that he taught at Brooklyn Latin School. A school in which students must take the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. How much ELL's and Special ed. students did Alex have to deal with there? I am curious as to the school he taught at in Flatbush.

Alex is a fake, a fraud, a scheister. Rumor has it he taught only to source material for a book he plans on writing. I do give him credit for appearing on the show and jumping into the fire as most other deformers will not. But like all the other deformers when they have to deal with media that is not owned by the Murdoch's and are made to not only state their true positions on education but to back up said positions with clear cut hard facts they make the sound that Ralph Kramden made whenever he got caught by Alice, "hahmana, hamahna, hahmana!"

Alex, we here at SBSB will be keeping an eye on your written tripe and challenge you to be honest and forthcoming in any future writing you do on education. You can start by naming that middle school in Flatbush.

Next Mind of a Bronx Teacher Internet Radio Show

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bronx-teacher/2012/01/25/the-mind-of-a-bronx-teacher
Yes, after a long hiatus The Mind of a Bronx Teacher Internet radio show returns this coming Tuesday night, January 24, 2012 at 9 PM EDT. On the first show back we welcome New York Daily News journalist Alexander Nazaryan. This past Sunday, Alex wrote a op-ed piece in which he supports tougher evaluations for teachers. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/teacher-evaluation-faking-success-york-city-school-system-fooling-kids-article-1.1006336
A fun Twitter  discussion with Alex (@alexnazaryan) ensued later Sunday afternoon with Alex and he has graciously agreed to appear Tuesday night.
For those that have forgotten, the call in # is (213) 943-3735