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More waste and mismanagement at Tweed; when will it end?
In NYC, 2400 teachers remain on Absent Teacher Reserve, with no assignments, getting paid full salaries; while class sizes are expected to swell in the fall. (GothamSchools, Post, Daily News, NY Times)
What a fiasco! Can you imagine the headlines if our schools had still been run by the old Board of Education? These teachers ought to be offered for free of charge by DOE to any principal who wants to put them to work.
Meanwhile, the financial scandals at Tweed continue. Juan Gonzalez reveals that DOE is paying the company Future Technology Associates an average of $250,000 each, for 63 consultants, through a no-bid contract– though the company has no offices, only a mail drop in Brooklyn.
The contract with FTA began in 2005 at $2.5 million -- about when the company was founded -- and has now mushroomed to over $15.7 million per year. Their contract, to align DOE's finances with the city's financial reporting system, which is years behind schedule, is expected to be extended for five more years at $95 million. Meanwhile, the cuts to schools next year amount to $400 million.
FTA director Tamer Sevintuna is getting $348,000 for the project, more than any city official including Deputy Mayors, while his second-in-command is getting paid $345,000 – with a portion of their salaries up to now hidden -- drawn from the schools' capital budget.
But that's not all. Turns out that FTA's contract workers, many of them on temporary work visas from India, are only getting paid about $70,000 a year , while the directors are raking off the rest as huge profits:
"None of us made anywhere near $100,000," said a former FTA consultant who claims he quit the company in disgust because of all the money the DOE was "wasting on an archaic system that was always crashing."
"They had all 60 of us working in one room that was hot, dirty and absolutely not what you would expect from such a well-funded business," the former consultant said. …."Most of the 60 people I worked with at FTA were from India," he said.
"Every few months, someone was heading back home temporarily because their visa had expired. A few even got paid while they worked on the project back in India."
Meanwhile, Photeine Anagnostopoulos, the DOE's chief operating officer, told Juan that their sweetheart deal with FTA is "better than competitive".
The growth of private contracting has hugely grown under this administration – a practice ripe with abuse.
See this April testimony from the City Comptroller, showing that one out of every five DOE contracts in 2007 and 2008 went over its maximum allotted amount by 25 percent or more, sometimes by millions of dollars.
An audit from the State Comptroller released in May reported that the DOE awarded 291 no-bid contracts between FY 2005 and FY 2008, for more than $340 million, and in most instances "failed to properly document" the reason why.
And this analysis from the NY Times, showing that despite hundreds of millions of dollars awarded the city from the state and the federal government to reduce class size over the last seven years, the number of classroom teachers has shrunk by more than 1600, while high-paid administrators and out-of-classroom positions have grown by over 10,000. The number of employees making over $100,000 has quadrupled – even after adjusting for inflation.
When are the Mayor and Chancellor going to be held accountable for their huge waste of taxpayer funds; while each year, our children suffer from worsening overcrowding and rising class sizes?
Labels: Absent Teacher Reserve, City Comptroller, class size, Future Technology Associates, Juan Gonzalez, no-bid contracts, state comptroller
The scariest thing you'll read all year
Check out Daily Politics, entitled Mayor for Life:
Asked today whether there's any guarantee he won't try to seek a fourth term if his current bid for a third works out, Mayor Bloomberg didn't exactly rule out the possibility.
The mayor first simply opted for the old "law does not permit it" response. When a reporter noted the law didn't used to permit more than two, four-year terms, either, Bloomberg said:
"But it does now. It permits only three terms, so I don't know. Talk to your City Council. Let me point out that I had no intention of running for a (third) term up until near the end, as you know."
Does no one remember that Bloomberg promised Ron Lauder his own charter commission -- to reimpose term limits once he had won a third term? But no one should be surprised if he goes back on his word, once again.
Posted by Leonie Haimson at 7/31/2009 04:47:00 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Bloomberg, mayor for life, Ron Lauder, term limits
Quinnipiac shiftily changes questions on mayoral control ---- yet again.
The latest Q poll appears to find that voters overwhelmingly approve mayoral control. Here's an excerpt from today's NY Post:
"City voters support continuing mayoral control of education by a 2-to-1 margin -- an all-time high, according to a poll released yesterday."
Here's an excerpt from the latest Quinnipiac press release:
New York City voters approve 57 - 30 percent of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's handling of public schools and say 56 - 24 percent that the Mayor's takeover of the schools has been a success. These are Bloomberg's highest scores on both questions.
…."The biggest opponents of mayoral control of the schools are state senators from Manhattan and Brooklyn, but two-thirds of Manhattan voters and more than 50 percent of Brooklyn voters say let the Mayor do it," Carroll said.
But actually the difference is insignificant between this month's and last month's results, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 or 2.7 percentage points.
Jul 29   Jun 17
2009    2009
Continue          57      56
Stop                 30      32
DK/NA             12      12
Moreover, Quinnipiac has altered the questions asked on school governance so many times that it is impossible to judge whether there is any trend towards mayoral control at all.
In fact, whenever voters have been given the chance to opt for a third choice -- that the mayor could share power -- they have resoundingly come out in favor.
For example, the July 2007 and July 2008 Q polls asked voters if the next mayor should retain complete control of the public schools, share control with an independent school board, or give up control. Both years, a solid majority of voters said that the next Mayor should share power with an independent board:
Jul 16   Jul 26
Retain control          29      28
Share control           55      51
Give up control          8       9
DK/NA                        7     11
In July 2007 the headline was: "New York City Voters Tell Quinnipiac University Poll; Most Say Bring Back Board Of Education."
Then, incomprehensibly, Quinnipiac dropped that choice, even though a majority of voters had consistently supported it.
Instead, in the January 2009 and February 2009 polls, they gave respondents only the choice of whether the Mayor should retain control or give it up. (Give it up to what? They didn't say.) The results were predictable: voters understandably favored retaining mayoral control over an unnamed and undefined alternative.
Without alerting the press that they had eliminated the voters' favorite option they reported their findings this way in the January press release: "Mayoral control of the public schools should continue, voters say 56 - 34 percent. Voters with children in public schools support mayoral control 57 - 39 percent. "
Later, when asked why respondents no longer were offered the option of the Mayor sharing control with an independent board, Maurice Carroll of Quinnipiac explained to the NY Times that they had decided that "independent" was too positive a word. Hmm.
Then, in March 2009 and June 2009 the next set of Quinnipiac polls offered respondents new choices – not the excessively "positive" one of the Mayor sharing power with an independent board, but instead the possibility of sharing control with the City Council and/or the Borough Presidents. Both times, most voters again favored these power-sharing arrangements.
TREND: Do you think the mayor should share control of the public schools with the city council or not?
Jun 17 Mar 24
Yes                 52      53
No                   37      37
DK/NA       11   11
TREND: Do you think the mayor should share control of the public schools with the borough presidents or not?
Yes                   49      50
No                     41      41
DK/NA              10         8
Then inexplicably, in the latest poll, the Q pollsters again dropped these questions, but merely asked whether the mayor should retain power, or give it up to an undefined authority – knowing full well that every time in the past they offered voters the chance to choose power-sharing, they approved.
Indeed, see this May 2009 Marist poll, in which voters were asked if "the responsibility for running the city's public schools should remain under Mayor Bloomberg or should responsibility be given to an appointed citywide Panel on Education Policy?" 60 percent of voters preferred that the authority be given to an appointed citywide Panel compared to 32% for continued mayoral control.
As most pollsters know, the results you get depend on what questions you choose to ask, and how.
Labels: Bloomberg, independent board, Marist poll, mayoral control, Quinnipiac poll, school governance, share power
City Expands "Get Out of Town Free" Program
July 29, 2009 (GBN News): A controversial NY City program that pays for homeless families to leave the city will now be sending away underperforming public school students as well, according to GBN News sources. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein was said to have been so impressed with the city's "pay to make them go away" program, which passes the responsibility of sheltering families on to other cities, that he has expanded the program to the Department of Education.
The Chancellor reportedly reasoned that if the DOE could shed some of the burden of educating failing students, not only would test scores and graduation rates rise dramatically, but with fewer students, classroom space could be freed up for more charter schools. Mr. Klein has thus negotiated a no-bid contract with the Greyhound Bus Company to transport students who score below "2" on their standardized reading or math tests, along with their families, to the city of their choice.
The new plan has led to a rare disagreement between Chancellor Klein and his protégée, Washington DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Chancellor Rhee was said to have objected that the performance of DC schools could suffer if they must absorb some of the low performing students being sent out of New York. However, Mr. Klein was able to reassure her that by adopting a similar program in DC, she could insure that the students would quickly be sent on to another city.
In a related story, Mayor Bloomberg is reportedly funding, at his own expense, a similar transport program which will send opposition Mayoral candidates to other cities. The Mayor is said to feel badly that his opponents are unable to adequately support themselves running for Mayor of New York City. Mr. Bloomberg will thus be sending his two most likely opponents, Comptroller William Thompson and Councilman Tony Avella, to run for Mayor in the cities of their choice. The Mayor has even offered to buy them as many ballot lines as they need to get established in their new homes.
Posted by Gary Babad at 7/29/2009 02:30:00 PM 9 comments: Links to this post
Inez Barron gives it to us, straight
At the rally at City Hall today on school governance, Assemblymember Inez Barron, a former principal, denounces the Senate deal on governance and offers a blistering critique of the Bloomberg/Klein education record. (For more on the outlines of the deal, see GothamSchools, Daily News, Times, Post.)
From class size and "creative confusion" to the NAEPs, Barron tells the real story behind the Bloomberg myth. She even quotes John Dewey and Martin Luther King Jr. on the meaning and purpose of education. Inez Barron for Schools Chancellor!
(video thanks to David B.)
Labels: Assemblymember Inez Barron, Billionaires for Bloomberg, demystifying mayoral control, Joel Klein, John Dewey, Martin Luther King Jr.
First Day of School, 2009
The first day of school for students will be Wednesday, September 9th.
Click here for the DOE web page with official calendars.
The original calendar had teachers and students reporting together on the 8th. When it was pointed out to the mayor and chancellor how that didn't make much sense, the first day for students was moved back a day. The last day was moved back a day as well. The last day is now Monday, June 28th.
Posted by Patrick J. Sullivan at 7/27/2009 11:11:00 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: school calendar
ARIS Goes National
July 26, 2009 (GBN News): A powerful supercomputer, which has been monitoring school performance in New York City to the tune of $80 million, is slated to make its national debut under Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, GBN News has learned. According to sources at the US Department of Education, ARIS (Achievement Reporting and Innovation System) is being procured by the feds from IBM to provide data for the Education Department's $4 billion Race to the Top stimulus initiative. The computer's reported $2 billion cost will cut by half the money actually going the schools under this initiative, but is said to be an essential data collection tool without which the program could not be effectively administered.
ARIS, as anyone involved in the New York City schools knows, keeps track of virtually every aspect of students' school performance from test scores to rest room visits, and thus has the capacity to evaluate teachers and schools based on students' progress. The new nationwide ARIS system will be modeled after the one used in New York City, and because of its powerful data capabilities, will give the Education Department unprecedented control over the country's schools.
Through a unique agreement between IBM and Research In Motion Limited, makers of Blackberry, all ARIS data will be seamlessly channeled directly into Secretary Duncan's own Blackberry device, allowing the Secretary to monitor all of the nation's schools in real time. This will enable what the Secretary calls a "dynamic stimulus disbursement process", whereby with the push of a button Mr. Duncan can give out or take away funding for anything from a single school to an entire state. For example, if a school receives stimulus money one day based on the previous day's test scores, the same school could lose that money the next day if too many rest room visits waste valuable prep time.
A source close to Secretary Duncan told GBN News that the Secretary was able to win President Obama's agreement for this unusual level of government control of the nation's schools by capitalizing on the President's Blackberry addiction. By selectively passing on information to the President 's Blackberry from his own, the Secretary was able to convince him of the efficacy of reforms such as merit pay based on test scores and expansion of charter schools, despite evidence to the contrary.
J. Fredrick Runson, head of the Political Science Department at Manhattan University, warns that ARIS could give Mr. Duncan an unusual level of influence for an Education Secretary. "In fact," Professor Runson told GBN News, "Duncan could end up being the Dick Cheney of this Administration. With ARIS, he will not only control voluminous amounts of data, he's already shown that he can use it to dupe a President who, on every other issue, prides himself on being in command of the facts. I'd keep a close eye on that fellow."
DOE to Ban Parents From Public Schools
July 20, 2009 (GBN News): Declaring that "Schools are for children", Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that effective this September, parents will be banned from all NY City public school buildings. At a City Hall news conference, the Mayor told reporters that children should be able to learn without distractions, and thus parents will only be allowed to enter the buildings after school hours, and then only in designated areas for PTA functions such as bake sales.
While he justified the new restrictions as essential to children's learning, sources with knowledge of the Mayor's thinking told an entirely different story. Mr. Bloomberg, they said, is certain that public school parents are behind the Senate gridlock which has stalled renewal of Mayoral control of the schools. "The Senators who oppose us can't be that stupid on their own," the Mayor was said to have told his aides. "They must be listening to those parents. Parents are trying to disrupt the schools. That's why I said democracy has to stop. We can't have the voters telling their representatives what to do."
Some political observers said that the timing of the parent ban could overshadow Mr. Bloomberg's rumored upcoming announcement that, as a cost saving measure, he will cancel this November's Mayoral election and declare himself the winner. Others, however, contend that the two measures were intended to go hand in hand, and that by sowing suspicion of the democratic process, the Mayor can blunt much of the potential opposition to the cancellation of the election.
In a related story, a City Hall spokesperson tried to explain that Mayor Bloomberg misspoke when he appeared to compare the State Senate with the Nazis. The Mayor had been strongly criticized after he seemed to indicate that negotiating with the Senate was akin to Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler. "The Mayor actually was referring to New York Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain, not Neville," the aide said. "He was merely making the point that you can't negotiate with the Red Sox."
What Frank McCourt could teach Joel Klein or Arne Duncan
Frank McCourt died yesterday. He was a wonderful writer, and very unsentimental about the teaching profession. He taught in NYC high schools for thirty years and wrote a book about his experiences called Teacher Man. His insights would be very valuable to Joel Klein or Arne Duncan, if they would have ever listened.
Check out this interview from 2005 on WNYC radio:
Leonard Lopate: "If you were named Schools Chancellor what would you do?"
Frank McCourt: "I'd certainly go to Albany and get more money for the teachers' salaries…and I'd cut the school day and certainly cut the size of the classes, because they're monstrous. And I've have a parliament of teachers, no supervisors and certainly no politicians."
He also mentions, heartbreakingly, how the huge teaching loads in NYC schools meant that he had too many students and too little time to develop real relationships with any of them.
When one or two students first asked him to have coffee, at first he said yes, but he soon learned that he just wasn't able to get to know them– with 175 students each semester.
He bemoans the lack of respect for teachers -- how hard they work, how little their opinions and professionalism matter to elected officials; and how their views are never heeded about how schools could be improved.
Indeed, in national surveys, over 90% of teachers regularly respond that the best way to raise the quality of education would be to reduce class size – over every other strategy proposed, including increased salaries, merit pay, professional development, or anything else.
And yet the powers-that-be always criticize this view as somehow merely reflecting self-interest, rather than in the best interest of the children as well. They never make the same attack on merit pay or increased teacher salaries, somehow -- just the one proposal that would directly improve classroom conditions and the ability of children to learn.
If 95% of doctors year after year proposed a certain reform as the best way to improve our medical system, would they be brushed off so easily? Not likely.
I remember a great speech McCourt gave at the UFT spring conference in 2006--- telling a packed audience at the Hilton a hilarious story about how he was once so overwhelmed with all the homework he had to correct that he threw all 175 student papers into a dumpster.
He also went on at some length about how elected officials and top administrators never listen to teachers, but unfortunately by that time, all of those who had been there, including Joel Klein, had left the room.
See also this interview from 2005:
McCourt: ... Teachers here are treated like second-class, third-class, fourth-class citizens. They're told to come in the back door. ....This is all a matter of class and status, and maybe snobbery. And the figures go along with this -- the lousy pay they get and the lack of respect.
When did you last see a teacher on a talk show? Movie stars and athletes and politicians -- criminals! They all get on the talk shows. But not the teachers. They are regarded as dull people. The ones who take care of the children every day. Almost like super babysitters. That's the way they are treated.
And then when you do see something on television, a panel on education, you see someone from the board of education, you see a professor of education, or you see a bureaucrat, someone from a think tank, a politician, but never a teacher. Never. Imagine a panel on medicine without a doctor? The uproar there would be from the medical profession!
But all the politicians think they own education. Just the way the pope and the cardinals think they own the [Roman Catholic] Church. Which they do, of course. We don't get the keys. The politicians have the keys to the educational system, they control the purse strings, and they don't have a clue about what education is. I know they've been to school and all themselves, but what goes on in the classroom is another story.
Labels: Arne Duncan, class size, Frank McCourt, Joel Klein, professionalism, teachers, teaching load
Mike's Meltdown
July 17, 2009 (GBN News): The hottest day in two months apparently caused a verbal meltdown on the part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg today. The Mayor was quickly hustled into his air conditioned limo, but the damage appeared to have been done. Mr. Bloomberg, said by observers at the scene to have been "practically foaming at the mouth", lashed out at the State Senate's failure to pass a Mayoral control bill. The Mayor called Senators out by name, accused legislators of setting up a slush fund to train parents to disrupt the schools, and demanded that Governor Patterson use the State Police to "drag [the legislators] back" in order to approve the bill.
Even his usually sycophantic aides were worried about the Mayor's bizarre behavior, and one even went so far as to call the Mayor's 100 year old mother in the hopes that she could calm him down. "The Mayor gets cranky in the heat," this aide told GBN News on condition of anonymity. "Sometimes it takes Mommy to get him to stop his tantrums."
The Governor, meanwhile, in an apparent attempt to demonstrate his political strength, said that he would emulate Mr. Bloomberg's own policing techniques. "I won't just have the cops drag them in," Mr. Patterson told reporters. "We'll set up metal detectors and ban their cell phones."
Charter School to Share Space with State Senate
July 17, 2009 (GBN News): New York State Senators were shocked this morning to find, just before adjourning for the summer, that they will now be sharing space with a charter school. The seats of many of the Senators were removed overnight and replaced by classroom desks, and a giant blackboard took the place of the podium. Furthermore, in what seemed to be an unusual coincidence, all of the desks that were replaced belonged to Senators who opposed Mayoral control of the NY City schools, while Mayoral control supporters apparently found their seats still intact.
GBN News has learned that former City Council member Eva Moskowitz was behind the abrupt conversion. Emboldened by her success in placing a charter school directly under President Obama's nose in the White House, Ms. Moskowitz was said to feel that she could further expand her charter school empire, while simultaneously currying the favor of her patron Mayor Bloomberg by undercutting opposition to Mayoral control in the Senate. She reasoned that if she put charter school seats in place of those of the opposition Senators, the remaining Senators would unanimously pass a bill identical to that of the Assembly to renew Mayoral control for another six years. And should any Senators subsequently dare to oppose any of Mr. Bloomberg's school reforms, they would immediately be replaced by charter school students.
Mayor Bloomberg immediately lauded the arrangement. "The Senate was not doing its job," the Mayor said in a statement. "But thanks to this new school, we will now add control of the State Senate to Mayoral control of Sheldon Silver, and we can finally turn around these failing institutions."
While Ms. Moskowitz was said to have originally intended to name the school after Senator Frank Padavan, who sponsored the Senate version of the Mayoral control bill, this plan ran afoul of a law stating that a school cannot be named after a living person. Instead, it will be called "The Albany Success Academy at the Frank Padavan Senate Chamber".
Posted by Gary Babad at 7/17/2009 02:14:00 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Senate Stiff-Arms Bloomberg
The Times is reporting the Senate will adjourn for the summer without passing the Republican bill to renew mayoral control on the mayor's terms.
It was another setback for the mayor's legislative agenda in Albany, where he has been repeatedly thwarted by lawmakers who complain that he employs a my-way-or-the-highway approach....
"The mayor's people are telling us they will not budge, they will not accept anything that isn't their version of the bill," said Senator Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat who is one of several senators from the city calling on the mayor to accept the changes. "We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship."
While the mayor has pleaded with the governor to keep the Senate in Albany, the Times reports the issue is not likely to be picked up again until September.
Posted by Patrick J. Sullivan at 7/16/2009 10:46:00 PM No comments: Links to this post
Times Mayoral Control Editorial Reveals Deep Ignorance
Today's editorial in the New York Times, called So Much Unfinished Business, urges the State Senate to grant Mike Bloomberg a renewal of his complete authority over public schools. It urges passage of the Republican sponsored bill without amendment. But the editors simply don't have the right facts. They cite how the bill will "create 32 district superintendent jobs designed to focus on parents' issues". District superintendents have always existed in the law and have significant responsibilities defined there including the supervision of principals. The Bloomberg administration eviscerated their authority by assigning them data coaching responsibilities that take them far from their home districts. For example, one Manhattan superintendent even told me she was expected to spend significant amounts of time at Coney Island school. Another told me he can't even go into schools without getting permission.
Superintendents should have an important role supervising, mentoring our many inexperienced principals, resolving issues unique to communities, planning and advocating for school construction and repair, working with schools on curriculum and teaching practices, etc. But the bill under consideration does little to restore the authority of superintendents. It simply says they should be "predominantly" in their districts and have "sufficient" staff. Nothing in the toothless language of the law will change the role of superintendents, especially with regard to resolving issues of concern to parents and students.
There are certainly insights to be gained from reading the Times editorial. It confirms that those arguing most forcefully for renewal of mayoral control, the wealthy publishers of the city's old media, have no idea what transpires in public schools because they don't send their own children there.
Posted by Patrick J. Sullivan at 7/15/2009 07:52:00 AM 7 comments: Links to this post
Message to Senators: just say no!
This letter went out this afternoon to the members of the NY State Senate.
Dear Senators:
On behalf of the Parent Commission, we urge you to vote no on the three chapter amendments on school governance; and no on the Padavan/Silver bill.
The original Huntley and Sampson bills recognized the need for checks and balances and a real partnership between parents and the mayor in school governance. The new Huntley and Dilan/Perkins amendments would require a vote by all parents in electing members of Community Education Councils, which is a step forward.
But the amendments contain none of our other recommendations to strengthen the parent voice: no independent parent organization, no commission of stakeholders, no greater authority for CECs or School Leadership Teams. They do not make the Chancellor and the DOE subject to city law, nor do they provide any significant checks and balances by creating a more independent Board of Education.
At the same time, all three amendments take two steps backwards by limiting elected CEC members to only two, two-year terms.
It's hard enough to find parents willing to run for this office as it is. In our estimation, this provision would make it considerably more difficult, and would lead to excessive attrition and fewer experienced parents in these seats . The collective memory and the historical perspectives embodied in long-time parent leaders are critically important for CECs to function effectively. Stripping these parent leaders of the right to serve by introducing such restrictive term limits is detrimental to parental engagement in the education of their children. If the concern is to allow parent voices to be heard, then the solution is to strengthen the legal authority of the CECs -- which neither the amendments nor the Silver/Padavan bill would achieve.
Meanwhile, the Mayor is running for his third consecutive four-year term, and the Legislature has no term limits at all. It is hard to see any rationale for this provision, except to further weaken parent input and put parents even more at the mercy of the Mayor's unilateral decision-making .
We urge you to vote no on the three amendments and on the Silver/Padavan bill, to demonstrate your recognition that unlimited mayoral control is not the will of most of your constituents nor most public school parents.
In two recent polls, the Quinnipiac and the Marist, voters overwhelmingly said that the mayor should share power with an indendent board, and/or the City Council. Despite the hard work of many parents and some legislators, none of the proposed chapter amendments corrects the most fundamental flaws of the 2002 governance law, effectively continuing the status quo.
One man rule is not only contrary to our entire democratic system of checks and balances, but has led to unwise and destructive policies in our schools, including hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in no-bid contracts, more overcrowding, larger class sizes, a loss of art and music, and our schools becoming test-prep factories.
The current system of Mayoral control has been promoted by those who have no children in the public schools, and no personal stake in the future of our public school system. They do not have the interests of our children at heart.
Thank you for your continued efforts on our behalf, and for a system of school governance that would exemplify partnership rather than dictatorship -- and that would ensure a brighter future for our children and the system as a whole.
Vern Ballard, Ellen Bilofsky, Patricia Connelly, Susan Crawford, Lisa Donlan, John Englert, Rosa Flores, Leonie Haimson, Josh Karan, Benita Lovett-Rivera, Monica Major, Warren Miner, Carla Philip, Charmaine Philip, Ellen Raider, Tamara Rowe and Shino Tanikawa on behalf of the Parent Commission
www.parentcommission.org
Organizations which endorsed the recommendations of the Parent Commission:
Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence; Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats; Class Size Matters; Community Board 1 Manhattan; Community Board 3 Manhattan; Community Board 9 Manhattan; Community Board 12 the Bronx; Community Board 12 Manhattan; Community Education Council District 1; Community Education Council District 2; Community Education Council District 6 ; Community Education Council District 11; Community Education Council District 17; Community Education Council District 20; Community Education Council District 22; District 1 Presidents Council; District 2 Presidents Council; Ethical Action Committee of Brooklyn Society of Ethical Culture; Human Rights Project of Urban Justice Center; Independent Commission on Public Education; New York Coalition for Neighborhood School Control ; Right to Read Project; Second Presbyterian Church (6 W. 96th St.); Stuyvesant High School Parent Association;
Time Out From Testing; 3 R's Coalition
Labels: mayoral control, Parent commission, Parent commission on school governance
A Failing Grade for Mr. Liebman
Several articles appeared today about James Liebman's resignation after serving three years as head of the Tweed's Office of Accountability -- finally returning to Columbia University law school full time: Chief Accountability Officer for City Schools Resigns (NY Times); and New accountability chief says he'll carry on Liebman's legacy (Gotham Schools).
Let us remember that this man had no qualifications for the job, and proved this repeatedly over the years. In fact the only person who probably knew less about education and how to nurture conditions for learning was the man who hired him: Chancellor Klein. Columbia University finally woke up to the fact that he had been double-dipping: while holding the office of Chief Accountability Officer at Tweed, he was also supposedly on the full-time law faculty for the last year.
The progress reports he designed were widely derided as unreliable and statistically untenable; the quality reviews were an expensive waste of time and paperwork, and ignored when DOE was deciding which schools to close and which schools to commend; the $80 million supercomputer called ARIS was a super-expensive super-mugging by IBM, according to techies who found it laughable how much DOE was taken for a ride.
The surveys were badly designed, and counted for only a small percentage of school grades. Yet because principals were terrified of bad results, parents were pressured into giving favorable reviews for fear their schools would otherwise be punished. And the top priority of parents on these surveys — class size reduction — was ignored; worse, it was repeatedly derided by Liebman et. al. as a goal not worthy to pursue.
Under his leadership or lack thereof, the Accountability office continued to mushroom with more and more high priced educrats, "Knowledge Managers" and the like, few of whom, like him, had any experience or qualifications for the job, no less an understanding of statistics or the limitations of data.
One would think that a man who had focused professionally on the large error rate in capital punishment cases would have a little humility in terms of recognizing the fallibility of human judgment -- but no such luck. When confronted with the question of why schools should be given single grades, rather than a more nuanced system that might recognize their variety of attributes, he opined that a single grade, from A to F was useful "to concentrate the mind."
The ostensible point of the test score data from the periodic assessments and standardized tests, collected and spewed out by ARIS, to be analyzed by each school's "data inquiry teams" and "Senior Achievement Facilitators" was supposedly to encourage "differentiated instruction" to occur , although this goal was severely hampered by the fact that under Klein's leadership or lack thereof, overcrowding and excessive class sizes have continued.
No matter how much data is available — even assuming it is statistically reliable— the best way to allow differentiated instruction to occur is to lower class size.
And let us not forget Liebman's cowardly run out the back door of City Hall in order to escape parents and hundreds of petitions collected by Time out from Testing — even though City Council Education Chair Robert Jackson had specifically requested that he leave through the front door of the chambers after he testified so that he could receive the petitions with the respect that they deserved. A perfect emblem of his three years at DOE.
Labels: accountability, Columbia Law School, James Liebman, Jim Liebman
The importance of 19th century skills
Check out Diane Ravitch's post at Common Core -- The Partnership for 19th Century Skills, in which she points some of the important skills that schools should impart to their students, but that are rarely mentioned anymore in the obsession with high test scores. These include:
The love of learning
The pursuit of knowledge
The ability to think for oneself (individualism)
The ability to stand alone against the crowd (courage)
The ability to work persistently at a difficult task until it is finished (industriousness, self-discipline. (and more)
Steve Koss adds: Well said, Diane! Thanks for making us all take a moment to think about what really matters. Such a radical concept, to return to the values of a liberal education and the goal of forming a well-rounded citizenry!
In those regards, despite the Internet and the massive onslaught of technology that serve primarily as distractions rather than educational aids (when was the last time you heard of students actually going to a public library and doing research from -- heaven forbid -- a book rather than copying and pasting from the Internet?), there really is nothing new under the sun.
May I suggest the following additions to your already beautiful list?
· Ability to think logically and draw valid conclusions from evidence (reasoning).
· Ability to anticipate the consequences of one's actions (foresight).
· Ability to view one's self and the world as others view them (other-centeredness).
· Ability to construct an argument and defend one's position through facts and reasoning rather than by ad hominem attacks and other forms of fallacious argumentation. (logical coherence).
· Ability to think and calculate mathematically (mathematical reasoning).
· Understanding the difference between fact and opinion.
· Understanding the difference between faith and reason.
· Appreciation of the value and role of empiricism and the scientific method.
· Appreciation of literature and the arts, especially the lifelong joy and benefits of reading.
· Acceptance of the notion that reasonable individuals can in good faith differ in their views and agree to disagree rather than demonize one another.
· Learning to be a lifelong learner.
Since none of these "skills" can be tested by multiple choice or short answer questions, they are obviously worthless in the eyes of NCLB, the NY State Education Department, and the NYC DOE's School Progress Reports. If it can't be tested and measured (and then touted as proof of political legitimacy by politicians and educational administrators who really couldn't care less), why would anyone want to bother with it? ----Steve Koss
News flash: the Educational Testing Service is adding a new tool to report on the characteristics of students applying to graduate school, including "personal attributes like resilience and creativity, which can't be measured by standardized admission tests. And it's just a matter of time before undergraduate admissions offices have a similar means at their disposal, says the testing company that designed the tool."
Too bad the NYC DOE and its Accountability office never heard of these qualities, no less imagined that they deserve nurturing in our public schools.
Labels: 19th century skills, Diane Ravitch, Educational Testing Service, Steve Koss
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As I thought about the post title, I felt like the cliche descriptor "Bachelor Pad" didn't really cut it, but i'm currently on a job site waiting for them to finish a spray foam insulation job so my brain isn't conjuring as witty a title as I would like. Anyway, I digress! The client, who describes the world as his oyster, is a prodigy and overachiever. While some people who have seen the before photos have mentioned "I would live there… it's not that bad", this client thought otherwise. "Nothing but your best work"- I was told (which is what I strive to always give anyway! :), but I knew that the design elements and finishes in this condo had to be nothing short of stunning. I took the invitation and opportunity to push the envelope a bit and here are the results!
After: A custom designed kitchen featuring new stainless steel appliances with an extended cabinet for pantry space (far left), and a stunning quartz waterfall edge countertop. The Kitchen Aid Architect Series fridge, which was ordered for it's flat profile, was not counter depth so we designed an extended cabinet with an extra 3″ gable on the left side of it to give it a more custom built look.
Before & After Photos of the kitchen. The floors were completely retiled and a wine rack was installed. What bachelor pad would be complete without a wine rack or some sort of bar area?
I'm a huge advocator of Bosch dishwashers. The general footprint of the layout has not changed, but the difference is all in the details like this undermount squared double sink.
I had an accent wall painted a dark blue in this kitchen (the client's favourite colour is blue) to make an extra bold statement. We had a bit of tricky maneuvering to do when installing this slide in stove because of the concrete walls. I LOVE the amazing dual finish backsplash I had installed (one side is polished, the other honed) to give it that extra depth and texture.
Another cool feature in this kitchen is the pull out spice rack that the client may use for mugs and glasses.
Before: The bathroom was again, not unusable, but was definitely not to the client's sleek taste.
After: The beautiful Italian tile flooring was continued into the bathroom and a large accent of multi-finished tiles were installed down the center. The mosaic sheet of light grey tile had 5 different finishes to them (which had been honed, polished, tumbled to various degrees).
Adjacent to the multifaceted tile is a GORGEOUS black matte 4″ x 24″ tile from Ciot. A brushed nickel Moen rainfall showerhead and slide-bar with handshower was also installed.


text:
Supreme Court allows Mexican trucks in U.S.
June 7, 2004, 2:51 PM UTC / Source: The Associated Press
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that the Bush administration can skip a lengthy environmental study and open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks as soon as it wishes.
The high court ruled against labor and environmental organizations that have long fought expansion of Mexican trucking within the borders of the United States despite a guarantee this country made when it signed the North American Free Trade Agreement more than a decade ago.
Ruling on narrow procedural issues, the Supreme Court said the president has authority to open the border, and a federal agency responsible for truck safety has no say in the matter. Thus, the agency was under no obligation to study environmental effects from opening the border, as a lower federal court had ordered.
As a practical matter, Monday's ruling may mean little. The Bush administration had already begun the court-ordered study and is expected to complete it soon. The study could only delay, not prevent, the border opening, and the White House had already said that it would let the trucks roll as soon as it was free to do so.
President Bush ordered the opening of all U.S. roads to Mexican trucks in 2002, but the dispute has been tied up in courts.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


IDRA is disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Horne vs. Flores involving Arizona's funding for programs serving English language learners. Schools should have access to sufficient funding based on actual costs of serving English language learners. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lau vs. Nichols requires states to adopt effective instructional practices for English language learners and to provide funding to support those efforts. But in Horne vs. Flores, the court cited new circumstances in Arizona that need further review by the lower courts.
There has been a flurry of confusion about the ruling. Here are some important points.
The Supreme Court did not rule that Arizona provided sufficient funding for ELL education.
The Supreme Court did not rule that Arizona's immersion program is better or worse than bilingual education methodology.
The Supreme Court did rule that the Equal Educational Opportunities Act is viable law and has not been replaced by provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act.
Texas. They are retained at rates consistently double that of their peers. And they perform worse than their peers by a margin of 40 percent or more on the TAKS. Nationally, there are significant gaps in achievement between English language learners and non-ELL students.
IDRA's policy update released earlier this year on the status of education of English language learners identifies improvements that are needed at the federal, state and local levels, including increased and more equitable targeted funding that is based on actual costs of services needed.
We hope that future deliberations relating to equity in funding, including funding provided ELL programs, are more in line with national research on these important issues.
Dr. María "Cuca" Robledo Montecel, is IDRA President and CEO. Comments and questions may be directed to her via e-mail at feedback@idra.org.


- Choose Size - 1/4 in. x 72 yds. 1/2 in. x 72 yds. 3/4 in. x 72 yds. 1 in. x 72 yds. 1-1/2 in. x 72 yds. 2 in. x 72 yds. 3 in. x 72 yds. 4 in. x 72 yds. 24 in. x 72 yds.
Purchased Most Frequently: 1 in. x 72 yds. (Red) | See Pricing Table below for additional options.
JVCC PPT-3R Tape is a 1 mil polyester film coated with 2 mils of silicone adhesive. It resists fumes and chemicals, and leaves minimum residue on removal. It is translucent and allows visibility of circuitry after masking. Film will not break or split during application or removal. A protective tape designed to perform well in all phases of masking operations during printed circuit board production. Engineering grade plating tape. Protects surfaces from splashes and chemical fumes in tin/lead striping and gold tab plating. Suitable for painting. Can also be used for splicing of certain silicone coated papers and films.
Thickness: 3 mils (carrier, adhesive) 2 mils (adhesive) 1 mils (carrier) What is mil thickness?
24 in. x 72 yds.


Welcome to North America's premier kart racing track. The track has been designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the Commission Internationale de Karting – FIA (CIK – FIA), the world's motorsport governing body.
The CARTBC layout is a twelve corner asphalt surface measuring 1,224 meters (4,015 feet) in length in its championship configuration, and is located in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Chilliwack is situated in the heart of the Upper Fraser Valley approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) due east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Drive ability of the track is considered highly technical with a variety of open high-speed sections and very technical turns. Each corner is uniquely angled, radiused and cambered, both positive and negative. The driver must concentrate throughout the expected 50 plus seconds per lap.
Careful planning and strategic placement of intermediate connectors has created ten possible configurations ranging from 400 meters to 1,224 meters (1,312 feet to 4,015 feet).


text:
Georgia: End of a Fairy Tale?
Written byOnnik Krikorian
Posted 7 November 2007 19:41 GMT
Read this post in Español, 繁體中文, 简体中文, 日本語
It couldn't have come at a worse time with all three republics in the South Caucasus gearing up for elections to be held next year. Georgia, considered a beacon of [relative] democracy in the region until today, has set an unfortunate precedent given that the opposition in all three countries will protest leading up to the respective votes as well as afterwards. Even the November 2003 Rose Revolution that brought the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, to power was peaceful in comparison to crackdowns by the authorities in neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Today, that all changed with the ironically entitled Steady State publishing a post simply entitled "Crazy in Georgia…" and a link to coverage from TOL Georgia. The two blogs were both established by Transitions Online and in particular, TOL Georgia is a welcome addition to blogging in the region. It's coverage of the events as they unfold has been exemplary with recent updates now reporting attacks on the independent media in the country. Photographs recording scenes in downtown Tbilisi, some of which are posted here, are already up on Flickr courtesy of Davit Rostomashvili.
Following posts about Kavkasia TV and Imedia TV being taken off the air, TOL Georgia draws a frightening conclusion.
The Imedi TV journalists were threatened with force, kicked out from the TV station and had their mobiles phones seized.
A person was just beaten up by the additional internal affairs troops entering the TV station…
In how many democratic countries this happen???
Probably Imedi TV will be unveiled as Russian traitor TV… Shameful. This starts to look like clear-cut dictatorship…
According to the authorities, Georgia's traditional foe, Russia, is behind the trouble in Tbilisi. International media outlets are already reporting that Saakashvili is pointing the finger directly at Moscow. The Internal Security Services, for example, have already released audio and video recordings of meetings between opposition figures and alleged Russian intelligence service agents. Georgia's Ambassador to Russia has apparently been recalled.
The opposition denies the claims, as do bloggers such as Artmika at Unzipped who instead suggest that the Georgian government and Saakashvili in particular is using Russia as a scapegoat for the country's own internal problems.
I think Saakashvili seriously suffers from spy-mania. Actually, it's a very convenient pathological condition, successfully used back in Soviet times and elsewhere to shut dissident voices. As expected, he blamed everything on Russia, and Russian "special agents". An extremely convenient trick for anyone who perhaps feels that grounds under his power are shattering. He used it before too, and apparently from now on any discontent with his policy and regime will be considered a treason. Good old days are back. And good to ensure continuous Western support too.
The Armenian blogger, now based in England, does however mention a Georgian friend who is filling him in with details from on the ground. According to Unzipped, the situation is getting out of control on both sides. However, he concludes, the main blame lies with the authorities for adopting heavy handed tactics to disperse an opposition protest.
My Georgian friend from Tbilisi blamed opposition too. He condemned government's excessive use of force but suggested that opposition was to blame too. They provoked police and were not really up for a dialogue with the ruling regime, and "both sides acted ugly." I am sure that opposition is not any better (just names of people who are behind the opposition are enough to put me off; also ridiculous mass prayers during their rallies – oh dear…). But I know one thing, when those in ruling power use excessive force against civilians, there is something wrong with their power. Therefore, I blame government. […]
The blogger concludes that "as long as [Saakashvili] is in power, there will be no calm in Georgia and no prospect for democracy." On his other blog, he posts photographs from today's clash, and back at TOL Georgia, jibs concurs with Artmika's dismay at blaming unrest on Russia.
Just listened to President Saakashvili's speech on the latest developments in Georgia, involving the forceful dispersal of the opposition demonstration.
He put the blame on Russia again.
I think Russians need to pack on and leave somewhere towards South America, so that they are not blamed for Georgia's internal affairs.
How can all this be blamed on Russia? Are those 70,000 people that showed up in the first day of the protests ALL Russian puppets? […]
Long live our savior and protector against the Russian dark magic!
Gregory Levonian at GL.Mimino.Org writes from Tbilisi on the day's developments even though he admits he tries to steer clear of politics on his blog. Saying that "things are not well" in Georgia, the blogger perhaps represents how most Georgian citizens feel, regardless of their ethnicity. He praises Saakashvili for what he has achieved, but is now concerned about the direction the country is heading in.
[I]ts really hard to support the opposition here since they really don't have much of a platform and it also seems to me that people have always had unreasonably high expectation of Saakshvili but all this notwithstanding there is no question that our Misha (as he's often called) has become less and less sensitive to those around him.
[…] He is a populist. He marginalizes those who disagree with him.
But still, he was truly committed to Georgia and the best democrat the country had ever seen.
At least, that was until today. Now, nobody knows what's happening and the whole city is in shock and horror.
I can't believe I'm writing this, but the city has the feel that it's under occupation. […]
Others observing from afar also have mixed feelings about what is occurring in the Georgian capital. underWater desert Blogging, for example, remembers visiting the country and says that it was "amazing." Indeed, the blogger obviously had such a good impression of Georgia that they hope something positive will occur.
There are huge possibilities for good in this country and I hope that the President, Saakashvili is smart enough to be able to quell this thing without having to resort to Soviet era tactics of repression. I will be an unequivocal supporter of him if he can figure out a way to address the core of what the protestors are saying […].
Global Voices' Veronica Khokhlova at Neeka's Backlog, however, does not seem so convinced. Posting a story she wrote at the time of the 2003 Rosie Revolution hoping that Georgia's problems would now be behind it, Khokhlova seems as disappointed and shocked at what is happening as almost everybody else.
I really hoped Saakashvili would let them protest all they wanted, but he's an impatient guy, unfortunately, and so he ended up using some force today to get them out.
I haven't been following the situation in Georgia too closely, but BBC tells me "the protesters accuse President Saakashvili of corruption and of not doing enough to tackle poverty" – and I've no reasons not to believe them.
More updates on events as they happen will undoubtedly be found on the excellent TOL Georgia and on BBC correspondent Matthew Collin's This is Tbilisi Calling. Indeed, as writing this post comes to an end, TOL Georgia has made one more post announcing that a State of Emergency has now been declared.
Four years ago, the current authorities came to power through mass demonstrations against the Shevarnadze regime, and back then the mass media was left untouched. Saakashvili does it differently — this must be a democratic measure I have never heard about.
This is why the demonstrations swept Georgia in the first place, and not because of an "evil" Russia. Russia looks way more democratic right now than Georgia. This is the end of the Rose Revolution myth in Georgia.
Or as Unzipped put it earlier in the day, "This is the end of Saakashvili's fairy tale. […] Georgians will not forgive him for this attack."
Photographs accompanying this post are © Davit Rostomashvili. These and other photographs can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrygeo/.
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Onnik Krikorian Contributor profile »
Latest press release from the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – http://www.osce.org
OSCE Chairman calls for calm and dialogue in Georgia
MADRID, 7 November 2007 – The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, expressed his concern today regarding recent events in Georgia where a state of emergency has been declared following clashes between demonstrators and police and two TV stations have been closed.
"I hope the Georgian authorities and the opposition will do their utmost to prevent a deterioration of the situation," said Minister Moratinos. "I and urge everybody to remain calm, avoid excesses and engage in constructive dialogue."
He also emphasised that a solution to a situation of this nature can only be found through dialogue based on democratic principles.
7 November 2007, 20:41 pm
Pingback: Armenian News, Analysis & Photography — Oneworld Multimedia :: Georgia: End of a Fairy Tale? :: November :: 2007
[…] full post is available on Global Voices Online. Posted by Onnik @ 1:38 am. Filed under: Democracy, Georgia, Politics, Media, Freedom of […]
Mark Mckinnon's blog has also posted an entry:
The latest out of Georgia is that riot police, acting on the orders of President Mikhail Saakashvili, have dispersed several thousand anti-government protestors using tear gas, water cannons, fists and batons.
In a televised address, Saakashvili said the protests were part of a Russian plot to create unrest in the country. He promised he had "incontrovertible evidence" of such nefariousness that he would release "soon."
The people still own the streets in Ukraine, for better and for worse. That's no longer so in Georgia.
As has Jack's life in a nutshell:
On November 2 a peaceful demonstration had start in front of the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi, well I should say peaceful until today. Today the government had broke up the demonstration and then all hell broke loose. The Georgian police and military was called in. they used tear gas and water cannons on the crowds. The government has called a state of emergency and the shut down the NEWS stations, which was fuelling the demonstrators. The NEWS stations will be down for a day or two until order can be restored.
They are suggesting to everyone in Tbilisi to stay in their homes and to avoid any unnecessary travel within Tbilisi. I watched on the NEWS before they shut them down where the demonstrators had got a hold on to one of the military personnel and damn near killed him in their fit of rage. From my sources in Tbilisi right now, the next thing to go in to effect will be a curfew.
Hopefully in the next two days everything will calm down to normal order. Right now the rest of the country is pretty peaceful, I am happy I an outside Tbilisi right now and I am NOT planning to head back to Tbilisi until everything has calmed back down and order has been restored.
A lone voice in the global conversation so far, ConservativeINC appears to buy into Saakashvili's line:
At first blush I have to say that I think that Russia is behind this. Under the leadership of Putin Russia has gone from being a dysfunctional democracy to a dysfunctional quasi-tyranny. One of the things the Soviet Union did was aggressively extend its power beyond its borders. It used its military to control countries like Georgia and I wouldn't put it past the present Russian government to do something in the same vain. Think about it, it is very likely that Russia was behind the rash of assassinations on dissidents within and outside its borders. Why not assassinate a country's government?
Actually, the self-proclaimed La Russophobe seems to agree:
Writing in the Moscow Times, hero journalist Yulia Latynina explains the horror of Russia's foreign policy towards Georgia:
For over a week straight, television news reports have been showing demonstrations against Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and they claim that his regime is on the verge of collapse.
In the same spirit, news reports from the 1970s showed demonstrations in the United States accompanied by self-gratifying predictions that U.S. imperialism would soon collapse. The propagandists did not understand that open political demonstrations are a sign of weakness only under a dictatorship; in democratic nations, they are a sign of a strong and secure government.
Well, that's as it may be, but many would argue that yes, demonstrations are a positive aspect of a democracy. However, dispersing them in such a manner without good reason is another matter entirely.
Armen Filadelfiatsi
Nice roundup of blogs, but I don't understand why the author calls the Saakashvili regime "relatively democratic." How can a regime put into power through a PR-manufactured revolution be democratic?
On the contrary, what is happening in Georgia—now—is what is democratic. Its quite clear what is happening there: The country is following the cycle of all countries that are Fiedmanized, starting with Chile. The corrupt government is generally bribed into "liberalizing" the economy, i.e. privatizing everything, the consequences for the people of a liberalized economy start to manifest, and the people revolt. At this point either the people win or the government wins; either a Pinochet takes over or a Chavez (although in the case of Chile the dictator came first).
People who think that Saakashvili's heavy handedness is simply a bad decision, an accident related to his character, need to consider the high probability that Saakashvili knows or has been told exactly what is happening and knows that allowing the demonstrations to continue will very likely lead to his downfall, because the demonstrators are not going to quit, because the poverty they live in is not going to quit. It's called "Democracy," and it looks very different from a PR-manufactured fake government.
8 November 2007, 1:46 am
Armen, I didn't say Georgia was "relatively democratic." I said that it was a "beacon of [relative] democracy in the region." The irony is that this was even true under Shevardnadze so it's not a major accomplishment of Saaksashvili.
Anyway, the point that I was making was that Georgia was "more democratic" than Armenia and Azerbaijan. How people interpret what that means in the context of the South Caucasus, of course, is another matter.
Anyway, while I can understand the need to stop tents being erected that would block traffic on Tbilisi's main central road, the use of riot police like this appears over the top.
The storming of TV stations by security forces is even worse, as is news that a New York Times photographer — I assume Justyna Mielnikiewicz — had a camera smashed and was injured by police.
Anyway, freedom of assembly and the policing of opposition rallies was more liberal than in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Police suppression of protests in Azerbaijan at the end of 2003 and Armenia in 2004 were an example of that.
Until yesterday, that is.
Pingback: Fighting radicals with the law « BBC - WORLD have your say
[…] like Ukraine, points the finger at Moscow. But it may not be that simple. Onnik Krikorian says in his blog that it's just too easy to put all the blame on the traditional Russian enemy. And convenient […]
Nathan Hamm
Great post Onnik.
1. Some in Armenia are nervously speculating that Saakashvili's brutal methods of suppression will spread to Armenia's election as well if things go badly/fraudulently.
2. This blog of a Peace Corps worker in Georgia claims to have just gotten a call from a Peace Corps staffer that Mikhail will be RESIGNING and calling for new elections. Now I know posting it here sounds like rumor mongering and is quite a big development if true, but since it does come from people connected to the State Department they are in the position to know and I take it more seriously. Sounds pretty extraordinary if true, not sure if I can fully believe it yet or not though so will just have to wait.
http://danielatherton.blogspot.com/2007/11/times-are-getting-interesting-or-i-said.html
3. If Saakashvili does indeed resign, might this be a good development in that it'll show the Armenian authorities that authoritarian crackdowns don't work well? Sure Armenia is not Georgia where politics is much more explosive to begin with, and there have been at least some brutal crackdowns on protests in Armenia on smaller scales in the past as well… but all I know is I don't want to see what is happening in Tbilsi going on in Yerevan soon. I'm curious what those who are living there think about that possibility.
Paul, it's an interesting point about calling an early election effectively as a vote of confidence for sure. Of course, we have to hope that the conduct of the election is at least the same than that which brought Saakashvili to power.
However, when I was last in Georgia earlier this year I wasn't too happy with all the propaganda ads along the highways, for example. The ads, in particular, should be considered a violation of the electoral code in my opinion.
They hardly contribute to a "level playing ground" unless the opposition is free to do the same across the country.
Join the conversation -> Armen Filadelfiatsi


Born and raised in Chattanooga, Stephanie earned her B.F.A. in graphic design from UTC and worked for River City Company before joining Widgets. Her eagerness to try new things goes beyond her extracurricular activities. She uses her curiosity to the benefit of every client, always looking for ways to step outside the box – and then run circles around it. Her approach to design is analytical and detail-oriented: every project is a problem to solve or a puzzle to piece together.


text:
package com.iluwatar.prototype;

/**
 * OrcMage.
 */
public class OrcMage extends Mage {

  private String weapon;

  public OrcMage(String weapon) {
    this.weapon = weapon;
  }

  public OrcMage(OrcMage orcMage) {
    super(orcMage);
    this.weapon = orcMage.weapon;
  }

  @Override
  public OrcMage copy() {
    return new OrcMage(this);
  }

  @Override
  public String toString() {
    return "Orcish mage attacks with " + weapon;
  }

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    if (this == obj) {
      return true;
    }
    if (!super.equals(obj)) {
      return false;
    }
    if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
      return false;
    }
    var other = (OrcMage) obj;
    if (weapon == null) {
      return other.weapon == null;
    }
    return weapon.equals(other.weapon);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
<?php

namespace Zend\File\Transfer;

/**
 * Base class for all protocols supporting file transfers
 *
 * @category  Zend
 * @package   Zend_File_Transfer
 */
class Transfer
{
    /**
     * Array holding all directions
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $adapter = array();

    /**
     * Creates a file processing handler
     *
     * @param  string  $adapter   Adapter to use
     * @param  boolean $direction OPTIONAL False means Download, true means upload
     * @param  array   $options   OPTIONAL Options to set for this adapter
     * @throws Exception\InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function __construct($adapter = 'Http', $direction = false, $options = array())
    {
        $this->setAdapter($adapter, $direction, $options);
    }

    /**
     * Sets a new adapter
     *
     * @param  string  $adapter   Adapter to use
     * @param  boolean $direction OPTIONAL False means Download, true means upload
     * @param  array   $options   OPTIONAL Options to set for this adapter
     * @return Transfer
     * @throws Exception\InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public function setAdapter($adapter, $direction = false, $options = array())
    {
        if (!is_string($adapter)) {
            throw new Exception\InvalidArgumentException('Adapter must be a string');
        }

        if ($adapter[0] != '\\') {
            $adapter = '\Zend\File\Transfer\Adapter\\' . ucfirst($adapter);
        }

        $direction = (integer) $direction;
        $this->adapter[$direction] = new $adapter($options);
        if (!$this->adapter[$direction] instanceof Adapter\AbstractAdapter) {
            throw new Exception\InvalidArgumentException(
                'Adapter ' . $adapter . ' does not extend Zend\File\Transfer\Adapter\AbstractAdapter'
            );
        }

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Returns all set adapters
     *
     * @param boolean $direction On null, all directions are returned
     *                           On false, download direction is returned
     *                           On true, upload direction is returned
     * @return array|Adapter\AbstractAdapter
     */
    public function getAdapter($direction = null)
    {
        if ($direction === null) {
            return $this->adapter;
        }

        $direction = (integer) $direction;
        return $this->adapter[$direction];
    }

    /**
     * Calls all methods from the adapter
     *
     * @param  string $method  Method to call
     * @param  array  $options Options for this method
     * @throws Exception\BadMethodCallException if unknown method
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function __call($method, array $options)
    {
        if (array_key_exists('direction', $options)) {
            $direction = (integer) $options['direction'];
        } else {
            $direction = 0;
        }

        if (method_exists($this->adapter[$direction], $method)) {
            return call_user_func_array(array($this->adapter[$direction], $method), $options);
        }

        throw new Exception\BadMethodCallException("Unknown method '" . $method . "' called!");
    }
}


* Exchange Online: Email will be removed after 30 days unless you convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox or if you make the mailbox inactive by setting either a Litigation Hold or an In-Place Hold. * Exchange Online: Email will be removed after 30 days unless you convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox or if you make the mailbox inactive by setting either a Litigation Hold or an In-Place Hold.
* Onedrive for Business: The data will not be removed if you just revoke the license. If you delete the user account the data will be removed after 30 days. * Onedrive for Business: The data will not be removed if you just revoke the license. If you delete the user account the data will be removed after 30 days.


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The Medical Videos Service is comprised of (i) the Medical Videos website, currently located at www.MedicalVideos.us (and/or any successor or additional website(s) owned or operated by or for Medical Videos); (ii) the Medical Videos syndication network (which includes third party websites); (iii) the Medical Videos client, a downloadable application to upload, download and view content (the "Medical Videos Player "); (iv) the servers operated by or on behalf of Medical Videos; and/or (v) any other technology and/or services that Medical Videos provides its users. The Medical Videos Service enables you to make content available to other users of the Medical Videos Service and to access content made available by other users of the Medical Videos Service. All comments and other communications posted or published by you or other users on the Medical Videos Service, including in any bulletin board, chat, discussion group, feedback area, news group or email, is referred to as "User Material." "Video Material" for purposes of this Agreement is the video you upload to the Medical Videos Services. "Publisher Material, for purposes of this Agreement, is any other material you provide and includes without limitation including music, animation, text, software, scripts, graphics, images, audio, information and interactive features. You are solely responsible for any User Material that you upload and publish to the Medical Videos Service, including complying with these TOU. The terms and conditions regarding the uploading of Video Material and Publisher Material is covered in the Publisher Terms.
You retain all of your rights in your User Material. You shall be solely responsible for your own User Material and the consequences of posting or publishing it on the Medical Videos Service. In connection with User Material that you make available on the Medical Videos Service, you expressly represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize Medical Videos to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all User Material to enable inclusion and use of the User Material as part of the Medical Videos Service and in the manner contemplated by these TOU. By submitting, posting, uploading, emailing or otherwise providing User Material to Medical Videos, you hereby grant (or warrant that the owner of such rights has expressly granted) Medical Videos a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, publish, perform and transmit the User Material in connection with the Medical Videos Service and Medical Videoss (and its successors) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Medical Videos Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You warrant that all moral rights to the User Material you submit have been waived. You also hereby grant each user of the Medical Videos Service a non-exclusive license to access your User Material through the Medical Videos Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Material as permitted through the functionality of the Medical Videos Service and under these TOU.
Medical Videos does not guarantee that any User Material or Video Material and Publisher Material will be made available on the Medical Videos Service, whether continuously or at all. Medical Videos shall have no obligation to monitor any User Material and Video Material and Publisher Material. However, Medical Videos and its agents reserve the right to monitor any User Material and Video Material and Publisher Material from time to time for any lawful purpose. Medical Videos may, without notice to you, remove or block any User Material and/or Video Material and Publisher Material from the Medical Videos Service, including disabling access to such User Material and/or Video Material and/or Publisher Material that you have downloaded through the Medical Videos Service.
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As a condition of use, you agree not to use the Medical Videos Service for any purpose that is unlawful. You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations, including, without limitation, all intellectual property laws (such as, U.S. copyright laws). Any unauthorized use of the Medical Videos Service is expressly prohibited.
By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to (a) take any action or (b) upload, download, post, submit or otherwise distribute or facilitate distribution of any User Material using any communications service or other service available on or through the Medical Videos Service, that: i. infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity or other right of any other person or entity; or ii. is threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of anothers privacy, tortious, offensive, profane, pornographic or obscene, or promotes hate or incites violence; or iii. misrepresents the source or identity of any content; or iv. constitutes unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, junk or bulk e-mail ("spamming") or a chain letter, a pyramid scheme or any other similar solicitation; or v. contains software viruses or any other computer codes, files, or programs that are designed or intended to disrupt, damage, limit or interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any system, data or other information of Medical Videos or any third party; or vi. impersonates, or falsely indicates an affiliation with, any person or entity, including, without limitation, any employee or representative of Medical Videos; or vii. constitutes an offer, for sale or otherwise, of any firearms, explosives, weapons, tobacco products, controlled substances, pharmaceuticals, counterfeit or stolen articles, registered or unregistered securities or any items that would cause Medical Videos to violate any applicable law or regulation.
In addition to these TOU, your use of the Video Material may be subject to separate license terms as set forth by the Publisher.
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text:
D.Z. Church
Booth Island
Saving Calypso
Perfidia
Cooper Vietnam Era Books
Dead Legend
Pay Back
Don't Tell
About D.Z. Church
Raised in the mid-West, D. Z. Church has lived in the Eastern, Southern and Western United States and Barbados.
She holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Colorado and even tried reporting. She haunted the library at the University of Colorado and is still deciding if reading every Time Magazine from first publication through her graduation was sane. She thinks so. She walked into the Navy Recruiting Office through protesters and joined up much to her Air Force Officer father's chagrin.
She served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam Era as a Division, Security and Public Affairs Officer. As one of the few women officers in the Navy during this period, she has a thousand tales to tell. LT Robin Haas in the Cooper books has much truth to tell. After the Navy, she used her G.I. Bill, a scholarship, a teaching assistant position, pluck and sale of her car to get an M.S. in Journalism (Account Management) from Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
Since Northwestern, she has labored as an award-winning Advertising Creative Director, partnered in a small, successful, Public Relations Company, until her partner met a man on a beach (there's a story there). Detouring to educational assessment, she was an early developer (with many others) in the valid and consistent assessment of student writing samples. She moved on to selling assessments to school districts and working with State Departments of Education on statewide testing. Finally, she directed the creation of proposals for multi-million-dollar contracts that resulted in lots and lots of money and work for the Fortune 500 company at which she slaved.
Along the way, she discovered that people aren't always as they seem, and that revenge is best served in a whopping good tale. The kind people like to read with a little history, some foul weather, an absorbing mystery, and a whole helping of suspense. Currently being served in her well-reviewed thrillers Perfidia and Saving Calypso, as well as Dead Legend, Head First and Pay Back, the first three Cooper Vietnam Era Thrillers.
Facebook: mysteryhistorysuspense
Goodreads: D.Z. Church
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