WHITE CHALK CRIMINALS TRASH EVEN MATH AND SCIENCE TEACHERS

LISTEN TO WHAT THIS ACCLAIMED SCIENCE TEACHER HAS TO SAY IN RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE THAT REPORTED HOW HARD IT IS TO GET RID OF BAD TEACHERS. HIS UNBALANCED LETTER PROMPTED THIS AS WELL AS MANY OTHER RESPONSES INDICATING THAT HE HAD SUSPICIOUSLY LET THE EDUCRAT$ OFF THE HOOK FOR THE ILLS IN THE NYC SCHOOL SYSTEM. THERE IS YET TO BE A RETRACTION BECAUSE WHITE CHALK CRIME AND PROPAGANDA GO HAND IN HAND. NAPTA

Re: Your Slate article "Hot for the Wrong Teachers"

Dear Prof. Fisman:

"Firing bad teachers may seem like a rather obvious solution, but it requires some gumption to take on a teachers union…."

Like your Columbia colleague Prof. Freedman, you blame the teachers and the UFT for the ills of New York City Schools when you should be blaming the DOE administration, all the way up to Chancellor Klein.

A principal near Greenwich, CT was suspended recently for making false statements. The NYC City Charter (§ 1116) states, "b. Any officer or employee of the city or of any city agency who shall knowingly make a false or deceptive report or statement in the course of duty shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, forfeit such office or employment," yet my former principal at Bronx Science, Ms. R. routinely makes false statements regarding students, parents and faculty, because she knows that she will get away with them. This year she made allegations to the ACS, later judged to be unfounded, against the parents of students who had led protests against her, claiming they were guilty of educational neglect. These protests were a 2008 version of my own 2005 "No Quack" campaign against her, who inappropriately used "Dr." before her name, after she systematically lied about my teaching in document after document. She reiterated these lies in my C-31/Discontinunce hearing. As she once told me, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I will win." And win she did!

The facts are that I have a Ph.D. in chemistry and have successfully taught at the college/university level for 28 years before moving to the high school level for another six years. I had two years of flawless evaluations at Bronx Science before Ms. R began her 2004-2005 vendetta. (Ms. R wrote in one of those earlier evaluations, "Your classroom management was excellent, …classroom routines had been clearly established and expectations communicated… You motivated the lesson with a creative demonstration which engaged the students… Your high energy level was witnessed throughout the lesson.") After her pattern of harassment and deceit became apparent, I started my "No Quack" campaign in May, 2005 with the support of many colleagues too timid to take her on, even though I knew she would win eventually. Despite exposure in the press, both in 2005 and in 2008, and despite the finding that unfounded reports were filed with ACS, Ms. R persists as principal today.

I am currently teaching in nearby CT, entering my third year as an honors chemistry teacher, with consistently excellent evaluations. I am earning the highest salary possible for a teacher in my district, nearly double what I was earning for the DOE. Unfortunately I have to drive 35 minutes to my new job when I still live only a 15-minute walk from Bronx Science. Even in retirement I will never again be allowed to teach in NYC. I am barred for life!

After the results of the C-31 hearing were published, a colleague wrote, "In my experiences with Dr. Drake I have found him to be the kind of person students want as their teacher, and the kind of person adults want as a coworker and friend. Dr. Drake is an inexhaustible, highly knowledgeable, dedicated and responsible professional who eagerly assumes each responsibility with motivation, drive and determination to guarantee rich and meaningful learning experiences for his students. He is also a leader among his coworkers providing his colleagues with guidance, support and camaraderie." But I am barred for life!

Ms. R continues to drive out experienced, excellent teachers from Bronx Science simply because they disagree with her. One who beat her to it wrote, "I am writing to inform you of my resignation effective today…. Although most of the staff, particularly the young and untenured, are in mortal fear of even having a conversation with you to discuss issues pertaining to their professional lives because of your infamous reputation for ‘dismissing’ staff members that question; I am confident that this drastic step has earned me the right to a fearless, legitimate opinion which will shed light on the severity of how teachers are treated under your administration. …I thought Bronx Science was a place I could teach for fifty years. However, your heavy micro-managerial style of leading has led to an intense and palpable culture of fear, which has obliterated the morale and basic, human dignity of the faculty: the young want to leave; the seasoned cannot wait to retire. Your management style is clearly ineffective. Any effective, confident, leader would encourage, praise, and value his/her faculty in order to increase productivity in the building. Good leaders see intrinsic talents within others and use them to the advantage of the whole group—they are not threatened by them." Of course Ms. R accused him of abandoning his students, and allegedly accused me of writing his letter.

At Columbia you have an Academic Freedom that does not exist for high school teachers anywhere. And you may have the bully pulpit of Slate from which to preach your misconceptions, but they are misconceptions nonetheless. Walk a mile in my shoes, Professor Fisman, or in the shoes of any NYC teacher! You would not survive!

Robert F. Drake, Ph.D.

DR. DRAKE DESCRIBED HIS TEACHER ABUSE EXPERIENCE TO NAPTA:

I was harassed by my principal with one unsatisfactory evaluation after another, this after two previous years of perfect evaluations. When I fought back by making statements about the principal on public property (the sidewalk in front if the school) I was charged with insubordination and in defiance of school authority. Earlier, to remove me from a position as college mentor, she charged me with dereliction of duty and served as judge and jury in that matter as well. Her actions cost me my health and several thousand dollars in materials I was never able to retrieve from my office -- a PowerBook computer among them. I was so sick from the stress and lack of sleep on the last day of work I went to the doctor directly and have never been back.

My C-31/Discontinuance hearing was postponed indefinitely until a new contract required that the hearing be held immediately. I was given a final take-it-or-leave it date by the Department of Education. The Union provided me with a representative in a situation that required a laywer. I was lucky the rep was excellent, but I still lost my case and am now barred from ever teaching in the city again, as my social security number has been put on a lifetime no-hire list. The Union was powerless and useless.

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