Attention New York City teachers. Chancellor Dennis Walcott wants to hear directly your accusa tions about false attend ance reports and pressure from principals to pass students who should be failing. And he promises to do something about it.
During an interview, I recounted for Walcott some of the reports teachers have made to me about widespread cheating in high schools. I read to him portions of letters where teachers said their principals mandated passing and graduation rates of as high as 80 percent, no matter the quality of student work.
I cited an unnamed Brooklyn teacher who said administrators require “proof” that students were absent, which leads teachers to “give up and mark them present.”
“Teachers are scared into passing students that do not deserve it,” the educator said.
Walcott seemed genuinely moved. Though he cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from anecdotes involving even 100 teachers in a system with 75,000 teachers, he did not brush off the charges. In fact, he wants details.
“If someone is falsifying information, that will not be tolerated,” he said firmly. “And I will make sure it is investigated. I take these things seriously.”
He also said, “This is part of what we need to do for accountability, so if that is happening, I need to know about that ASAP.”
I accepted his invitation and urge teachers to contact him. City Hall provided his e-mail address, DMWalcott@schools.nyc.gov, and asked that “Goodwin column” appear in the subject line.
The chancellor’s offer to get involved is a test of sincerity for those teachers who flooded my mailbox with complaints. The common theme was that some principals cheat so they can make the “numbers” that will keep a school from getting scrutiny and even facing closure for poor performance.
With failure not an option in those situations, teachers argue that many students know how to game the social-promotion system. They take advantage of the desire to pass them along even though they are not ready for the next grade or life after school.
Walcott’s invitation to teachers also presents a challenge to him and Mayor Bloomberg. Part of the skepticism about their willingness to hear bad news, and to act on it, stems from an uneven track record.
One of the more notorious cases of alleged grade-fixing involved Lehman HS in The Bronx. Numerous teachers and students told Post reporters and others in 2009 that the principal, Janet Saraceno, often changed grades without telling teachers and even gave students credits for courses that didn’t exist.
“The new principal would rather fix grades than tell parents a kid is not doing well,” a senior told The Post. “How does that prepare you for college or having a job? What does that teach you?”
Yet, as I reported in a recent column, the investigation is still not finished. I reminded Walcott of that and told him that two years was far too long, especially because Saraceno is still the principal and received a $25,000 bonus for her performance during the time being probed.
Walcott gets the point, but says, “I don’t control the investigation.” He said it might be considered prejudicial if he inquired and “I have to let it take its natural course.”
That’s not a satisfying answer, but I hope it doesn’t discourage teachers from making new complaints to him. Otherwise, the cheaters and the cynics will prevail again.
O’s unwelcome $teamroller
It’s always a nightmare in Midtown when any president comes to New York, but Thursday’s visit by President Obama was exceptionally disruptive. He made three stops, crisscrossed Manhattan twice, and flew in and out from the downtown heliport.
Highways and streets were closed for his motorcade and giant sanitation trucks were used as security barriers. Metal police barricades were everywhere.
Here’s the double whammy: Obama didn’t come to perform the duties of president. The entire trip was devoted to campaign fund-raising.
He saw no more than 2,000 people, with 600 at a gay event at the Sheraton Hotel on Seventh Avenue, 70 big spenders at a restaurant on the East Side and the remainder at a special showing of “Sister Act” on Broadway. He raked in a reported $4 million, including $38,500 a head at Daniel on East 65th Street.
But ordinary New Yorkers and taxpayers got bupkis — except the bill for the huge security apparatus rolled out for the visit.
Beyond the tab for police overtime and other costs, travelers paid a huge price in time and frustration in traffic jams created by the road closures.
That frustration is tolerable when it involves an official visit by a sitting president. It’s intolerable when Obama sees only those people willing to pay for the privilege. There’s no reason why a whole city should be burdened so he can raise money.
Here’s a better idea: Those New Yorkers who want to make a contribution should just mail it in or go to Washington to see him. The rest of us will welcome him to Gotham when he comes on presidential business.
Cabbies turning to irony
File this one under “pigs fly.” Many yellow-cab drivers will not leave central Manhattan except for fares to the airports, but dozens of them did just that the other day, showing up in Albany.
Naturally, the trip had nothing to do with riders and everything to do with protecting owners’ monopoly. They were in the capital to protest a plan to create new medallions for street hails in the other four boroughs.
The owners could have saved themselves the Albany trip if they’d be more willing to go to Brooklyn and The Bronx.
Big clue to our fiscal malaise
The quote of the week comes from gloomy Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Asked why the economy is slowing again, he said, “We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting.”
So Brainy Ben is now Clueless Ben. Yikes.
In NBC we don’t trust
After NBC issued a mushy mea culpa for omit ting “under God” twice from a video of children re citing the Pledge of Alle giance, a friend offers the hidden subtext of non-apol ogy apologies: “I’m sorry you’re such an idiot that you were of fended by something I said. And I’m really, really sorry I had to say I’m sorry. Now go $%#& yourself!”
Really Mr. President
The war in Afghanistan is unpopular and dicey even on its good days. The cost in blood and treasure is enormous, and it remains maddeningly unclear whether success is possible.
Yet one thing is absolutely certain: President Obama’s decision to pull out 10,000 troops this year and 23,000 more by next summer is a political maneuver, not a military one.
By rejecting his commanders’ advice that he go slower on the drawdown until after next fall’s “fighting season,” Obama reveals his cold determination to campaign in the fall on the withdrawal. He couldn’t do that if he listened to the commanders.
He is who he is.