I really hate Joel Klein and his puppetmaster, Bloomberg. While they spend gobs and gobs of money contracting out testing of our kids to their buddies, they are gutting our schools. Teachers are being laid off and class sizes increasing...again. But what is even worse, their default is always to blame the teachers union for anything they think parents won't like. As the year ends and teachers are being laid off, the Joel and Mike team of scam artists are blaming teachers yet again for something that is not their fault.

There was a movement (a bit silly in my opinion) among parents in NYC to shift the start date of school to a more reasonable day. Both teachers and parents would prefer that the first day of school followed the Jewish holidays rather than having a one day first week of school. Seems to me that this would be a pretty obvious thing that any competent Dept. of Ed. would have figured out years ago. Having a one day first week is difficult for young children who generally have adjustment issues at the beginning of each school year. Still, my wife and I figured that the board of ed would NEVER listen to the teachers and parents, and so would refuse, so why bother. Bloomberg doesn't give a crap about teachers or parents...only the private contractors he can shunt money to.

And, of course, they DID refuse to change the day. Just as well for us because we already planned around the stupid one-day first week they had planned.

But Joel Klein sent a letter home with kids on the last day of school blaming the teacher's union for the Department of Education's refusal to change the day.

Teachers on Park Slope Parents list as well as teachers at my son's school say that this is a gross distortion of the facts. In fact, it seems to be an outright lie. And a lie that is typical of the Bloomberg/Klein method of blaming others for their own bad decisions.

Here is the statement from the UFT that seems in complete agreement with what teachers themselves are saying. Personally I believe the teachers, not Bloomberg and his lying cronies. From the UFT website:

UFT President Michael Mulgrew made the following statement:

Good afternoon.

I’d like to point out a disturbing pattern.

When things go wrong in the schools, it’s never the administration’s fault.

Class sizes skyrocket — we’re told that principals have to make their own decisions about class size.

Kindergartens have waiting lists — people live in the wrong neighborhoods.

NAEP scores are flat — the state tests are the ones that count.

The court finds the DOE violated the law in closing schools — the judge is mistaken.

The school calendar is wrong — the UFT made us do it.

We need to set the record straight about the starting day of school next fall.

Parents should be outraged that Chancellor Klein has refused to exert the authority he has to properly manage the school calendar.

The Chancellor today blamed the union for his decision not to make Wednesday, Sept. 8 a professional development day. That decision means that, despite requests from some parents to delay the first school day for children until Monday, Sept. 13, the first school day for children will be Wednesday, Sept. 8.

The first day for teachers remains Tuesday, Sept. 7, and teachers will be in school on Wednesday whether students are present or not.

As you might have expected, Chancellor Klein’s letter to parents ignores the fact that the Chancellor does not need to get the union’s agreement to make Sept. 8 a professional development day. It also ignores the fact that a number of schools earlier this year sought to change their individual schedules to start school for children on Monday, Sept. 13 — and were denied by the Klein administration. If this was not a good idea then, how has it become one now?

The union has suggested calendar changes in recent months, involving both the last day of school this year and the first day of school for students next year. Most recently we suggested this in a meeting with the administration on May 12. As in previous such meetings, we were told that the calendar was unchangeable.

Our conversations with teachers and parents in the schools indicate that communities feel very differently about the possibility of changing the first day for students next fall. We have suggested to the Chancellor that he let each school make its own decision about whether or not to start on Monday, Sept. 13, as permitted under the school-based option in our contract.

The Chancellor’s letter claims that letting each school make its own decision would be “chaotic.” But for years the system operated with different school schedules for different boroughs, and schools across the system have been permitted to create professional development days at other points in the calendar. Previous managements have been up to the challenge of managing the logistics of transportation and food service. I’m sorry to hear that Chancellor Klein feels that his managers lack this competence in this instance.

The UFT has tried to ensure that the school calendar works for families and teachers, but the responsibility for that calendar is the administration’s alone

Parents and teachers know the truth. They know that Bloomberg is a lying sack of shit when it comes to his failed education "reform." Even his much vaunted "improved" test scores have been proven to be a sham. His reforms have led to nothing but some private contractors making a bundle while teachers are still laid off and class sizes are still increasing...and objective test scores show that NYC test scores have improved no more than test scores in places Bloomberg has no influence. Of course I am sure Bloomberg and Klein will just blame the teachers rather than take responsibility for their own failures.