A few years ago their was an education blogger who has now retired. He once wrote the actions needed to improve our public schools back in 2009. In this down time, I believe we should revisit those five steps that "Accountable Talk" listed almost a decade ago.
Step One: Stop the Gimmicks:
.
Step Two: Enforce Discipline:
Step Three: Reduce Class Size:
Step Four: Attract the Best Teachers:
Step Five: Fire All Administrators:
Accountable Talk's blog stopped publishing in 2016 but his five 2009 talking points are still valid in 2018, Has anything changed since he published these action items? Not really. In fact one action item, student discipline has gotten worse under Mayor Bill de Blasio, with "warning cards"and useless restorative justice meetings rather than student suspensions and arrests.
You would think our union leadership would have adopted these five talking points and pressure the Mayor and Chancellor in reforming the money hungry and bloated DOE. However, none of the five action points have been adopted by our union leadership. In fact, President Michael Mulgrew told an Executive Board meeting that the UFT does not go after vindictive administrators since they are fellow union members (CSA). What a crock of shit! Of course he saw no issue in joining an anti-police rally organized by Al Sharpton, Aren't the police (PBA) fellow union members? Our union leadership is complicit in the DOE's attack on their teachers and rather than be pro-active they barely react to the DOE's policies that hurt the classroom environment.