City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s checklist:
Schools must be seen as a business. Check.
Tests scores are the only measure for success in any school. Check.
Principals must give teachers “U” ratings indiscriminately. Check.
Principals should harass veteran teachers into retirement. Check.
Principals can invent false allegations against a teacher to back up a “U” rating. Check.
Ensure teachers are so miserable they last no longer than four or five years, thereby keeping costs down. Check.
Try out new curricula on students with no regard for any input from teachers. Check.
Do not acknowledge any complaints by teachers regarding the curriculum. Check.
Set the system up so students cannot attend schools they are closest to and must be wait−listed. Check.
Set up the system so parents have no one to turn to if they have a concern. Check.
Ignore parents’ requests. Check.
If this was the criteria for a school system chancellor, then I guess, Mr. Klein, you would get an “S” for “satisfactory.” But as any good educator knows, this is not how a large school system should be run.
Therefore, you get a “U” for “unsatisfactory.”
How does that feel?
Julia Rose
Bayside
