School Community

Posters from past student theater performances adorned the walls of Franklin Delano Roosevelt High Schools auditorium, where parents gathered Monday for a meeting on school turnaround.

The city has started running through its closure protocol at dozens of low-performing schools it wants to turn around.

At Brooklyns Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, Superintendent Aimee Horowitz held a tense meeting with teachers to talk about the closure plan Monday afternoon. Hours later, she defended the plan to about 50 angry and bewildered parents at an early engagement meeting that has for the last two years been the Department of Educations first step in letting schools know they could be closed.

The pattern is set to repeat this week and beyond at dozens of l0w-performing schools that were midway through federally mandated overhaul processes known as transformation and restart until earlier this month, when Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city would instead try to use a different process, turnaround, at the schools. The switch, aimed at letting the city sidestep a state requirement that it negotiate new teacher evaluations with the United Federation of Teachers, would require the schools to be closed and immediately reopened after having at least half of their teachers replaced.

The mass-replacement plan drew fire from parents and students who said FDRs teachers are essential if academic performance is to improve.

I feel tortured, said Abdul Sager, a ninth-grader whose first language is Bengali. If a new teacher comes who doesnt know about my feelings and strategies to learn English, its going to take more time.

Parents found out about Mondays meeting in letters shortly after Bloombergs announcement and through automated telephone calls over the weekend announcing a parent-teacher association meeting with Horowitz, according to Robin Piraino, the mother of a ninth-grader. She said the messages didnt say the meeting would deal with FDRs proposed closure, and some people who attended the meeting were visibly surprised by the news.

Principal Steven Demarco implored families to push back against the citys plan by contacting legislators and elected officials. He also promised that FDR would survive the citys latest efforts to reshape the school.

Weve always been a family, weve always gotten through, he said. Regardless of what were called — transformation, restart, turnaround — we are continuing every day to make progress. That will continue until Im dragged out of here.

Demarcos predecessor was in fact yanked from the school. Starting transformation in 2010 required Roosevelts longtime principal, Geraldine Maione, to be replaced, so the Department of Education appointed Demarco, a 29-veteran of the school, to take her place. Then the city installed Maione at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School, another school that was undergoing transformation and could now be closed.

Since 2010, FDR had received millions of dollars in federal School Improvement Grants. Teachers said the funds had financed training sessions and overtime hours for leading after-school English classes for parents, tutoring students, and hosting a new advisory program called freshman and sophomore academies.

Weve invested our support in the English Language Learners, said Jorge Mitey, a Spanish teacher and FDRs union chapter leader, who had passed out large buttons showing Bloombergs face with a red strike-through to people attending the meeting. Theyre coming in on weekends, theyre coming after school. Weve given them more academic rigor to improve.

Forty percent of FDRs 3,400 students are considered English language learners, a data point that teachers said makes it impossible for the school to meet the citys expectations, especially for its four-year graduation rate. Of the students who entered as ninth-graders in 2006, 59 percent graduated four years later, giving FDR a graduation rate just two points below the city average. The school received Bs on its two most recent city progress reports.

Current policies do not reflect research on how students learn languages — many of our hardest-working students at this school are English language learners, said one teacher, who asked not to be named because she is worried about keeping her job. All research shows that it takes five to seven years to become academically proficient in a second language, and that is only if you have literacy in your first language. But many of our students come in with literacy challenges in their first language, Chinese, Spanish.

The meetings are a first step in the citys notification process for school closures. For the last two years, the city has held early engagement hearings at schools it is considering shuttering before finalizing the closure slate. Then the city must hold public hearings at each school slated for closure before the citywide school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, votes on them. The panel has never rejected a city proposal. By law, the city must also issue detailed reports about the closures impact, called Education Impact Statements, at least six months before the start of the school year when the closures would begin — a deadline that is just weeks away.

Other school communities are gearing up to protest the turnaround plan at meetings with superintendents later this week. On Wednesday, teachers at Brooklyns John Dewey High School say they will defend the progress the school has made under the restart model to department officials and ask them to let current teachers stay in the school.

The Education Act 2012 gives schools the power to impose detentions without the existing 24 hours’ notice for parents. 

Teachers will be able to keep unruly pupils behind at the end of the school day without warning after ministers scrapped the existing 24-hour notice period for parents.

The Government insisted the rules – being introduced from today – would make children more accountable for their bad behaviour.

It is among a series of Coalition reforms enshrined in the Education Act 2011 designed to crack down on classroom indiscipline. This includes increased powers to search pupils for banned items, granting teachers anonymity when accused of assault and giving heads the final say on expulsions.

It comes amid fears that the balance of power in schools has swung too far towards pupils in recent years.

Almost 1,000 children are suspended from school for abuse and assault every day and two-thirds of teachers admit bad behaviour is driving professionals out of the classroom.

Party planning and busy schedules are major parts of the holiday experience. Fortunately, having a smartphone means that no matter how long your to-do list is, you can still keep things basically together. You can even plan parties if just going to them isn’t enough for you.

Image via Flickr

Plan Something Great

An Android phone is a great tool for keeping all your checklists and schedules together, even if you’re throwing a party at the last minute. There are plenty of places to find tips for planning a party using your Android if you’re really interested. A lot of people nowadays are the bustling social bees, mingling at every fete and never had the time to be the party’s master, hosting a party of their own.

Go Where the Fun Is

There’s a lot of fun to have between Thanksgiving and New Year. While a lot of people think that only major parties are worth scheduling their time around, every party you go might be the one where you encounter your future business partner or rub elbows with the investor who will help you make your dreams come true; or for a memorable one, meet your soul mate.

Considering how many phone numbers you may end up getting over the season, Android’s massive hard drive is a crucial component of keeping everything straight. The VoiceNotes app is great for it lets you “jot down” important tidbits about that someone who you may be too hung over to recall later on.

Image via Flickr

Keep Up With Gifts

Plenty of people think that the only reason you need to record anything is to know what to get for whom. This isn’t the case at all, since there’s a chance you might also be receiving gifts. Unless you want this to be the last year you get anything at all, you’d better remember the folks who got you something with a nice text of gratitude. Appreciate apps is a great way to let people know you’re grateful for what they’ve given you.

Spreading Yuletide cheers—this is more like the season to have an Android smartphone that lets you do pretty much anything. See how Android phones can make your life easier and more convenient?

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Turn on the radio, and in less than 30 minutes you can probably find at least one one-hit wonder. A one-hit wonder is a band who managed to get only one single song impressed into the hearts and minds of the people. The hit may have driven a torrent of album sales through the roof but they could never live up to their single hit and soon faded into obscurity.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

Even though it may sound derogatory, a one-hit wonder band managed to get the timing perfect to connect with thousands of people. The song is fondly remembered; and while they may lack the longevity factor, there are thousands of no-hit bands who would willingly trade places with them for just a moment of glory.

The Falling ‘Stars’ in Your Company

While we hold a special place in our society and our hearts for the musical one-hit-wonders, the same can’t be said of employees who have the same traits.

Even office has them; for one brief moment, they shined. Maybe they closed a huge deal that took the company to the next level; or solved the customer’s problems with a unique approach that earned them the respect of their peers. But too often, these employees ride on their one success and don’t consistently deliver good results.

They, too, may be respected for their contribution, but in business, results are expected consistently.

This is especially problematic in the IT department. You may have a superstar IT worker who created the perfect infrastructure for your company; perhaps they wrote the technical manual that has become the internal bible for your software or services. But after their big success, nothing else special has been seen.

The Ropes to Know in IT

IT is a tricky department. The landscape changes almost daily. The flood of new technologies, cutting-edge products, and latest threats are non-stop. It’s just not the place for someone to rest on their laurels.

If you are looking for workers who are more than a one-hit wonder take a look at IT recruiting services. They can help you find a consistent hit-maker; someone who is well-versed in the cutting-edge technology and delivers results.

You may be looking for temporary staff augmentation or permanent hires—either way IT recruiting can help. They provide candidates with a wealth of knowledge and experiences in specific vertical industries. You spend less time training new workers and more time getting results.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

So the next time you hear familiar one-hit wonders on the radio, take the time to enjoy their song and be glad that they are on the radio and not in your company.

Faxing is still one of the primary ways that companies exchange important documents and information. One of the main reasons that faxing is still used is to get documents with signatures and handwritten changes from one person to another.

You can still purchase stand-alone fax machines or you can purchase multifunction machines that fax, copy, scan and print. While having a hard copy of a fax is convenient, online faxing seems to fit more into the digital age. Online faxing with Metrofax not only helps you transfer executed documents, it can also save you time.

On the Road

When you need to send that important fax of a document to a client or the home office, the last place you want to be is on the road. Online faxing helps break that tether that requires you to be near a physical fax machine to send a document.

With online faxing, you can send and receive documents while you are on the road using your cellular phone or mobile computing device. It saves you the hassle of having to find an office supply store with a fax service.

Storing Your Documents

One of the great things about online faxing is that you can quickly and easily store documents in digital folders. It makes it easier to store documents in an organized filing system, which also allows for quick retrieval.

The ability to store faxed documents in digital folders also saves on the time needed to print documents. When you use online faxing, you can access the information in the document without having to hunt down a printer and wait for the document to print.

Document Creation

Using online faxing makes it easier to alter documents and fax them back for approval. You can also fax documents you create much quicker when you cut out the extra steps of having to print the document, create a cover sheet, dial the fax machine and send the fax.

Confirmation

Anyone who has ever sent a fax using a fax machine or multifunction device knows how frustrating it can be to have to wait until the document sends before receiving a confirmation page. With online faxing, you no longer have to wait for the document to buffer and then send before getting confirmation. You can either get an instant confirmation after your fax is sent, or you can arrange to have the confirmation emailed to you so that you can review it when you have time.

Online faxing is the more efficient way to send and receive faxed documents. It can save you time and allows you to get on to the more important tasks of your workday.