Monday, May 13, 2019

I'm Surprised I'm Surprised

It looks like, if you're Deputy Chancellor, you can send your kid to school anywhere you goshdarn please. While parents all over the city fret over where their kids are going, while there's a citywide brouhaha over the SHSAT, while scores that are supposedly under a moratorium may decide where your kid gets to go, some people don't have to follow any stinking rules.


That's disappointing to me. Though I haven't seen the sort of changes I'd like to see in the DOE, I've seen Carranza speak several times, most recently last month at the UFT Team High School awards. This is a guy who's as smart as anyone, who speaks brilliantly, and who sincerely understands what it is to be a teacher. While he hasn't cleared the DOE of all the Bloomberg debris that clutters it, I'm surprised he'd put up with this. What I hear about him is he's a big picture guy, and that a lot of details elude him.

Of course, they didn't elude Sue Edelman at the Post, and while I don't work for the DOE, I could've told them this would happen. The timing is particularly bad as Carranza tries to fix the SHSAT. It's very much all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

In other news, here's a principal, already removed from his school, and more crap about him is coming out. The city's already on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sexual harassment, but when you're a scumbag principal, why restrict yourself to one area of scumbaggery? There are so many others to explore.

The new suit was filed by assistant principal Marc Einsohn, who said that in September 2017 he needed surgery for a stomach problem. Instead of accommodating Einsohn, Kwait assigned the assistant principal duties’ that required he remain on his feet for long periods of time, against doctor’s orders, according to the suit.
Kwait even went so far as to contact Einsohn’s doctor directly and demand his medical records, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

I worked for Mark Einsohn for a few years. I never had an issue with him. Of course, I never asked him to change student grades either, so I didn't hold a vendetta against him. One of the great things about being principal is no matter what outrages you commit, the DOE is always there with open arms.

In 2011 he had five substantiated claims noted in his file, including stealing food from the cafeteria and cursing at employees over the school’s handheld radio. He’s faced lawsuits dating back to 2008 alleging he discriminated against pregnant subordinates and sexually harassed a guidance counselor.

If you're caught doing things like these as a teacher, you'll be facing 3020a, and there's a good chance by this time next year you'll be working at Kinko's. But if you're a principal, they'll just bring you over to DOE, where you'll sit in a chair, shuffle papers, go to gala luncheons, or do whatever it is they do over there at Tweed.

Rules don't apply to Tweed employees or principals. The rules are for us, the little people, the teachers, the guidance counselors, the secretaries, the paraprofessionals...those of us in the trenches working with kids.

But isn't that the way of the world? Doesn't President Brokeahontus sit and tweet about how awful his enemies are, how their behavior can't be tolerated, and ignore absolutely everything he himself does? Doesn't he lie like the rest of us breathe?

It's tough to be a teacher. We're role models. We have to show kids there's a better way. When those above us are so obviously self-centered, self-important, and self-serving, they make our jobs that much harder. Do you wonder why teachers are so quick to question the decisions of administrators, particularly those when they're rating or disciplining us? Every teacher in the city can tell you stories like these that have yet to make the papers.

Wonder no more. Rules are for the little people.
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