Fidgety: Emergency Protest in Harlem Against Bloomberg

June 4, 2009

Emergency Protest in Harlem Against Bloomberg

Emergency Protest in Harlem Against Bloomberg

Thursday, June 4, 2009 - Starting at 5:30 PM
Bethel AME Church
60 West 132nd Street
(Between Lenox & 5th Avenue)
I'm passing this information on for anyone who thinks New York is going in the wrong direction under this mayor. The campaign's website is: http://www.dumpbloombergnow.org/ and the organizers are sending this description around:

Dr. Lenora Fulani, founder of the youth charity “All Stars Project” that has received millions in funding from billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has set out to once again bamboozle African Americans. Fulani is holding a support Bloomberg Rally in Harlem on June 4th. There are indications the mayor might attend. Incredibly, Fulani claims under Bloomberg, “on the whole, social, economic and cultural life has improved” and that Bloomberg is, “the most powerful choice for the Black community.”

The quality of life for African Americans, Latinos, Asians, immigrants communities, middle income whites and the working class in general have not improved under Bloomberg, it’s just the opposite: Police suppression and murder of Blacks, an increase in the homeless shelter population that tops 36,000 on any given night, mayoral control of public schools that pushes “charter schools”, cuts in educations, transportation fare hikes but reduction in services, cuts in higher education, zoning schemes destroying working class neighborhoods and local businesses, and the demand of the mayor that working families in the shelter system have to pay rent are just a few of the horrors we endure every day under Bloomberg, the richest person in New York City and the 17th richest person in the WORLD.

Join us on June 4th. Bring banners, noise makers and friends. This is a citywide Dump Bloomberg protest. We are all in the same sinking boat under Bloomberg and we cannot afford another four years of this billionaire mayor.
Join the Dump Bloomberg Campaign. Email: dumpbloomberg2009@gmail.com.
For people at my school, I have about 10 buttons ($1 each) which say), but I'm sure there will be more available at the rally.

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SECONDLY:

I just received an email about the NYCLU's being "interested in helping teachers with labor/civil rights issues. They are especially interest in the rubber room.
Point person — Angela Jones, 212 607-3388. ajones@nyclu.org

But, they also have taken a position on Bloomberg:

The NYCLU put out a report on May 14th called "Civil Rights, Transparency, Accountability Suffer Under Current Mayoral Control Scheme." Here's what Exec. Director Donna Lieberman said in a recent email to NYCLU members:

"The current regime of absolute, unfettered mayoral control is incompatible with a safe, effective educational environment. For our schools and our children to be as successful as they can be, parents must be a part of the educational process and the core democratic principles of transparency, accountability and public participation in government must be respected. The Legislature must close the loopholes that have given Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Education unfettered discretion over education policy."

The report documents the NYCLU's "tremendous difficulty in obtaining basic data and records on these issues from the DOE and NYPD through the Freedom of Information Law. The NYCLU’s experiences are not unique. The DOE routinely withholds from parents, the media and elected officials raw data on student performance, student safety and the education budget. . . .
"Under the current mayoral control system, Mayor Bloomberg and the DOE flout state and local statutes intended to assure public oversight of agencies with rulemaking power. For example, new Chancellor’s Regulations – rules that affect the lives and education of New York City’s children – are never subject to the 30-day public notice and comment period required by the City Administrative Procedures Act."

Among the eight changes the NYCLU is calling for are these:

(a) delineate the position of the DOE within the existing structure of city government,
(b) increase public oversight,
(c) strengthen the parental voice in policymaking,
(d) allow for public engagement in the decision-making process,
(e) mandate data transparency, and
(f) create an Inspector General to protect integrity, conduct independent audits and investigations, etc.

These are for starters, to restore the public trust.

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LASTLY:
There's another protest tomorrow, but they made it when no one who's teaching or running schools can go. Here's the details.

EMERGENCY
Rally to Protect
Our Schools!

*** Thursday, June 4, 2009 ***

NOON

City Hall Steps

Mayor Bloomberg’s budget would slash $400 million from education, resulting in increased class sizes, elimination of academic programs, and scarcer books, equipment, and other basic learning necessities.

Join parents, students, educators, and advocates on Thursday in sending a message to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council:
· Oppose cuts to classroom!
· Raise revenue for education and other essential services!

Crucial budget negotiations are happening this week -- and may be concluded this weekend -- so NOW is the time to speak out in support of our children.

For more information, contact Shana Marks-Odinga
at the Alliance for Quality Education:
smarksodinga@aqeny.org; 718-222-1089, ext. 237

No comments:

Origin of The Rubber Room...(From Rubberroommovie.com)

Exact specifics as to when, why and how The Rubber Room came into being are next to impossible to come by, although wild speculation abounds. The likelihood is that, rather than being consciously created by any one person or group, The Rubber Room slowly but surely developed over a period of years through a process of trial and error, whereby teachers deemed unfit to remain in the classroom where "reassigned" to the nearest empty and available administrative space.
The term "The Rubber Room" appears nowhere in the formal legislative code governing New York City schools. When a New York City educator is sent to The Rubber Room, that educator is not openly or specifically told that he or she will be going to a place called "The Rubber Room". Moreover, if you telephoned an official in the New York City school system and asked for directions to "The Rubber Room", you may very well likely receive a response, possibly masked in faux confusion, telling you that there is no such place called "The Rubber Room". Nevertheless, "the room" undoubtedly exists and, because it has no official name, those three provocative and inflammatory words, "The Rubber Room", make up the default epithet by which it has come to be known, even by high-ranking school officials, many of whom find the phrase distasteful.
The exact meaning behind the words "The Rubber Room" is a topic of hot debate, particularly for occupants of The Rubber Room itself, some arguing that it is a reference to a padded room where mentally ill patients are placed, others proposing it is a room where once normal people are slowly and steadily driven crazy, still others believing it to be simply a generic allusion to a prison cell. There are even some -- more than one might initially suspect -- who claim to have been present during the exact moment when the phrase was coined, or even to have coined it themselves. Aside from etymological differences, however, almost everyone agrees that "The Rubber Room" is a pejorative term used to describe a room where New York City teachers are sent, usually involuntarily, to sit idle day after day while still collecting their salaries, often for months and sometimes for years at a time.
Over the years, many have made efforts to eradicate The Rubber Room entirely. For example, in March 2002, then Chancellor Harold Levy vowed to close The Rubber Room after becoming frustrated with a particular case, and in January 2004 Randi Weingarten, UFT President, called for an unconditional end to all of New York's Rubber Rooms. Despite best efforts, however, "the room" remains. http://www.rubberroommovie.com/

Do not believe...

Do not believe because you read it in a book,
Do not believe because you saw it on television,
Do not believe because science says so,
Do not believe because a famous person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person says so,
Do not believe because a wise person believes it,
Do not believe because your best friend believes it,
Do not believe because everyone else believes it,
Do not believe because others have believed it for a thousand years,
Do not believe because you've heard it many times before,
Do not believe because you are told you must,
Do not believe because others expect you to,
Do not believe because it gets you accepted
Do not believe because it will make your parents happy,
Do not believe because it will get you noticed,
Do not believe because you want to believe,
Do not believe because you can't afford not to,
Do not believe because it helps you cope,
Do not believe because you'd go mad if you didn't,
Do not believe because you must believe something
Do not believe because there's nothing else to believe,
Do not believe because it feels good to believe,
Do not believe because it makes sense,
Do not believe because your eyes tell you it is so,
Do not believe because it is your own experience,
Do not believe because it feels true,
Do not believe because you know it is true,
Do not believe any of this, Believe only that you are,
And do not even believe that,
For that is beyond belief.

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