I teach for two reasons:

One, I have a ridiculously passionate attachment to watching the world, the one that exists whether (or not) humans exist. It's ultimately unknowable,despite its teasing patterns, and we're all part of it, all of us, no matter our status.

Two, I have a ridiculously passionate attachment to this experiment called America. What Jefferson started is still salvageable, though less so year by year. I only have a decade or two left help Jefferson out. 

A few remarkable things happened this week. I stole ripe cherries from a tree on an urban street, cherries eyed by a few birds but no humans, because humans in this part of the world conjoin "edible" with "supermarket."

And I got called an "ankle-biter" by one of the most powerful men in our state, a man charged with promoting education. Affectionately. I hope.

***

Governor Christie thinks it's a good idea to allow private companies to run public schools. 

I'm not surprised. He used to be a registered lobbyist for Edison Schools, back when our current Acting Commissioner of Education, Chris Cerf, also worked for Edison Schools. Edison Schools took on the Philly School System, and, well, got their butts kicked.

Mr. Cerf has a lovely office encased in glass, overlooking the Delaware River, the same Delaware River that feeds my bay. My bay. It can be your bay, too, if you care enough to get to know it.

The most important lesson I teach to my lambs is that pretty much any part of the world out there is theirs, if they care to get to know it.

The same could be said for our country.

If we continue to approach education based on some abstract notion of international standards, we will raise a generation suited for the suits, a generation that chases abstract ideas for abstract ends, leading to abstract results.

I pray one of my lambs stopped by a cherry tree today, plucking its burgundy fruit, spitting out the pit a few feet from the life-giving tree.

***

Most of us would choose the sidelines if we could. We love what we do, this teaching thing, and those of us who get past the second or third year are (mostly) pretty good at it. Our profession has a huge attrition rate, but given our charge, a huge attrition rate is not a bad thing.

I did not look for a fight. The governor approached our school, the commissioner approached me.I will do pretty much anything to help kids. Sometimes I get paid well to do this, sometimes I don't. Anyone who gets to do what they want and makes a decent living is blessed. And, Lord knows, I have been blessed.

But I am not just an "ankle-biter"; I am a pit bull if you mess with my kids.  Just sayin'

And I will be marching in Washington July 30th, with a pack of pit bulls because I am blessed, and because I care.

A little over 200 years ago, our Founding Fathers took on the Tories, and won. The Tories have regained control.

It's time to reclaim our country.

I just want to teach. Well. Finland, anyone?

READ MORE - The Toryfication of America

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, from "New Collossus"

A few cool things happened the past couple of days. At least one of our pair of red-tailed hawks that hang just north of the high school returned. I found deer tracks on the Bloomfield Green, a first, I think (though we did have a turkey feasting on acorns there a couple of years ago). And Governor Christie's coming to visit our school.

Our principal caught me in the hallway and asked if I'd like to join a few other teachers in a meeting with him.

After being assured it was not a big media event (just a get together for discussion), and that I did not have to dress up (I squeeze into my suit for funerals and weddings only these days), I said I'd be glad to be part of it so long as I could speak freely. His smile spoke volumes. "Of course."

***

The last first Jersey governor I met was DiFrancesco, on a beautiful but sad day in September 2001. We were waiting in the shadows of the Statue of Liberty for wounded that never came, and he came around to check on us. There wasn't much to say--the city kept burning, and we kept waiting.

I was a pediatrician then, and would be for a few more years, but I think that my decision to teach was made soon after that long day. DiFrancesco had little to say, but to be fair, there was little to be said.

There's a difference between having little to say and saying nothing.

 ***

Democracy depends on discourse. Democracy depends on trust. Democracy depends on keeping the concept of the commons alive. I keep copies of the Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights on the wall of our classroom.

Most of us work hard at what we do, and most of us love what we do.

So while many in my field may fantasize about moments with Governor Christie, about what they would do given the chance, I still fantasize about a functioning republic, which, of course, depends on truly public schools doing the hard work that needs to be done.

I owe it to my students, to my town, and to our republic to practice civil discourse. And I will. No matter how quaint that may sound in an age of soundbites, fury, and the "new normal."

Statue of Liberty torch photo from pix.fr
My memory's had a few too many concussions:
I met Governor McGreevey at some function, and I chatted briefly with Gov. Corzine when he flew on the saqme flight as mine.
Whatever else you might think of Corzine, he flew coach, and he flew alone. 

READ MORE - Thoughts before meeting Governor Christie

“If the single biggest variable is the effectiveness of the teacher in the classroom, shouldn’t we do everything in our power to influence that?”

Christopher Cerf, NJ Ed Commissioner

Ayep. But the premise is false, Mr. Cerf. The single biggest variable is not teacher effectiveness. It may be the single biggest variable that the school can control, true, but poverty matters more. The quote above is disingenuous.

Mr. Christopher Cerf, our (NJ) acting education commissioner, wants us to believe his proposals are "pro-teacher."

Well, Mr. Cerf, let's take a look at a "pro-commissioner" idea:

You spent a good chunk of your career overseeing the financial collapse of Edison Schools, Inc., a company started by Chris Whittle, a company whose purpose was to privatize schools. Shouldn't we put past data to good use? Let's limit our education commissioners to those who have successfully led other enterprises in the past.

***

When I was still succoring the afflicted, one of the best obstetricians in our county specialized in high-risk deliveries. Because he specialized in high-risk deliveries, his statistics were skewed a bit when compared to obstetricians who handled the safer pregnancies. Obtaining malpractice insurance became prohibitive. He stopped catching babies, though he still got paid to offer advice to the docs who had enough normal deliveries to keep their malpractice insurance intact.

Poor students are, as a group, at higher risk for school failure than wealthy children, for a whole lot of reasons independent of who teaches them.

Teachers matter, and they matter a lot. Their results matter. If you rely on state testing to determine a teacher's effectiveness, those of us who choose to teach high-risk students will take a hit, no matter how effective we might be.

The rational among us will head to the hills--Short Hills and Far Hills--places with remarkable wealth and remarkable students with remarkable resources.

All of our children can learn, and all of them are remarkable students. Until every child I teach has the same full belly in the morning, the same warm bed at night, the same bookshelf full of books, the same access to libraries, and the same electronic media sitting on the same desk in the same bedroom at home, even Albus Dumbledore and his merrie wizards would not fare well under your proposed system.

The great experiment of Edison Schools failed for a lot of reasons, most of which were likely out of your hands. It was a lousy idea, anyway, at least if you have any truck in democracy and public institutions.

How ironic that you, with a checkered history in private industry, now lead the move to dismantle public education here in Jersey.

The photo is via Shorp, taken in Foster, Missouri, in the 1920's.

READ MORE - I am not your Cerf

Turns out Sue Ohanian beat me to the punch in her Outrages blog.

N.J. education czar nominee appeals to union, Dems

"...and is already being praised by educators."

The Star-Ledger, front page today

I'm a registered Democrat.
I'm a card-carrying member of the NJEA.
I trip on the word "educator," but I think teaching science in a public high school qualifies me as one.

Governor Christie will nominate Christopher Cerf (alas, not the muppet music guy) as the next education chief here in Jersey.

Before we get all gooey with joy, let me speak for at least one Democratic unionized teacher here in Jersey. If the Ledger is right, and the union and Dems go gaga on this guy, I'm going to put my considerable union dues to good use, buying ale instead of politicians. I'll even share a pint or two with Bret Schundler, who always struck me as a decent and reasonable man even when I disagreed with him.

• Mr. Cerf was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Edison Schools, Inc., a for-profit corporate invasion of public space, for eight years! He led them through the years when their stock was publicly traded on NASDAQ. The Edison Schools, Inc., record speaks for itself.

• Mr. Cerf showed questionable judgment in 2008 when he sought a contribution from Edison Schools while he served as Deputy Schools Chancellor in New York City.

• Mr. Cerf was a partner in the Public Private Strategy Group, a company that claims on its site that PPSG "[led] the successful turnaround of over 100 underperforming public schools in major urban centers across the country." If you look for the evidence on the "Education" page of the website, you get a picture of flying mortarboards and the words "This section is currently under development."

• Mr. Cerf was trained by the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy, founded by Eli Broad, a real estate mogul, who believes that business executives can turn around failing schools through their extraordinary management skills. Broad has joined with master educators Bill and Melinda Gates, Arne Duncan, and Michelle Rhee to teach us slow-witted teacher folk how to do our jobs. Billionaires can influence policy, and they can influence the press. Still, take a good look at the numbers, then draw your own conclusions....

• Mr. Cerf served as senior policy advisor for Bloomberg's latest run as mayor.

“What has happened to schools under Mike Bloomberg is one of a kind,” Mr. Cerf said in an interview. “It really is a national model for reform.”

If juggling statistics to fudge perceived results is the kind of reform you want, you'll love Mike Bloomberg's plan.

None of these disqualify Cerf from the nomination. Heck, he's perfect for Christie. Cerf's tinfoil Democrat badge works in Christie's favor.

Still, if you value the public in public school, value democracy in Democratic values, value union in the NJEA, you should be frightened by Christie's choice. Especially if The Star-Ledger tells you everybody else thinks otherwise.

In a week that Democrats gave the super rich a huge tax break, I have no idea what "Democrat" means anymore....

Credit Sue Ohanian for digging out the article on Cerf's conflict of interest.

Image of Christie and Cerf from The Star-Ledger.

READ MORE - Uh-oh

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

Rochelle Hendricks is our acting Education Commissioner. She got the job after the prior commissioner Bret Schundler spoke the truth about what happened in Jersey's bungled Race to the Top application, an application originally made in good faith and supported by our union. She has been Commissioner less than three months.

New Jersey's largest teaching union holds its convention for the next two days. The folks that go to teachers' conventions are mostly, well, teachers.

Not administrators.
Not union officials.
Not politicians.

Teachers. Thousands and thousands of teachers.

The Commission was invited to speak to the teachers, as every Commissioner before her has, and she refused.

"When the NJEA is willing to work with the Christie administration as a true partner in an effort to reward good teachers instead of protecting bad teachers, when the NJEA is willing to modernize the tenure system and improve the quality of education in our urban districts, I look forward to working with you."

Really?

Why not slide on down the Parkway and say hello to us. The teachers. You can walk right past the table of NJEA union officials and talk directly to us.

It's been a long while since you taught, comfortably ensconced in one of our wealthiest districts (where some folks still spell Rumson with a "v"). Put away your Christie's scepter for a day and come mingle with us.

Stoop a day for the kids you so righteously defend. Get to know us.

That's how functioning government works.

Alice and the Red Queen are in public domain.
The photo of Rochelle Hendricks is from nj.com.

READ MORE - 'Divide a loaf by a knife -- what's the answer to that?'

My guvnor, Mr. Christie, has taken a hatchet to education here in the Garden State. He's now bucking to grab a piece of Arne's slush fund to temporarily patch up the hole he created by slashing education funds.


And, by golly, I trust Mr. Christie--any man who lobbied for the accreditation of the University of Phoenix no doubt knows the value of edumacation.

The picture is from another online degree mill, not the University of Phoenix.
It might even be a hoax--so hard to tell these days....

READ MORE - Chutzpah