Some Rational Ideas

There have been a few more posts on the Bronx Science blog since yesterday. One by a current teacher is particularly noteworthy:

55. May 4, 2010 11:30 pm Link

As a teacher at Bronx Science I knew this public conversation was coming. When this blog first appeared on Friday, the response of many teachers was almost euphoric. At last the lid was being pried off and the public was being made aware of the many problems facing the school. For myself, the feeling wasn’t happiness, just relief that maybe an airing of the problems would lead to a constructive response from the entire community.

I believe that all sides are passionate about making Bronx Science one of the best schools. The problem stems from the administration’s inability to recognize the idea of a loyal opposition. For whatever reason Reidy has seen staff questions on policies as obstinate resistance and as a threat. It is an easy trap to fall into but a terrible mistake. I know that the staff is dedicated to doing the best for their students and the school. There are nearly 150 teachers at Bronx Science, many teachers with more than 20 years of experience teaching – true experts, and if they question some of the administrations methods, their comments should be viewed first as a professional assessment, not a personal attack. If the administration could internalize that fact, I believe things could progress. But I don’t thing that is likely at this time.

For whatever reason, the administration has chosen antagonizing the staff versus cooperation. Reidy has chosen APs who will follow orders without questioning her actions. And those AP learn that the expected behavior for an AP is equally aggressive. Maybe she is just mirroring the attitudes of Chancellor Joel Klein but it is ineffective and counter productive. In any job where administrators are encouraged to yell and berate staff, an honest appraisal would consider that creating a hostile environment.

The personal attacks appearing in the blog are outside of what I would consider appropriate however, they are not surprising given the relationship that has developed between the administration on one side, and the majority of the staff and students on the other.

The only viable solutions going forward are either for the administration to reexamine their approach and pursue a more open and respectful approach or to leave. If the administration chooses to continue down the same path of the past few years, the solutions for the teachers and future students will be very clear – to choose to be at other schools. In the last two years the school has had to replace approximately 50 teachers – so that choice is being made already. And that has been a horrible blow to what has been a great educational institution.

— BxSci Teacher

The problem is that Ms. Reidy is simply not an intellect. She is a simple biology teacher who lucked out when Mr. Stark was cut loose by the then chancellor, Harold O. Levy, who wanted a Nobel Prize winner as principal, but got Ms. Reidy instead. He ended up back with Kaplan University as head of the London campus for a while, but he is now, if you can believe Wiki, Managing Director of Palm Ventures. Great for him. Bad for Bronx Science.

Ms. Reidy knows nothing about current education theory, and certainly nothing about chemistry and physics. The pure discovery method and developmental lessons forced on Bronx Science faculty have been discredited on the college level for a decade or more. But Ms. Reidy still promotes them along with her notion that "how" and "why" questions are superior to "what" questions. What is your evidence, Ms. Reidy?

So Ms. Reidy apparently feels a need to cut anyone with an intellect down to size, to the lowest common denominator. She also cannot seem to relate to the Asian students that make up the majority of Bronx Science students. She accused them several times of "speaking Asian." As a mentor I learned that students with language difficulties are the first to recognize their deficiency and the first to act on it, taking night classes and weekend classes in English on top of their considerable Bronx Science homework loads. Their GPAs, Regents scores, and college/university acceptances speak for themselves.

It is not clear to me that Ms. Reidy wants what is best for Bronx Science students anymore. She is a control junkie. I recognized that when Martha Szporn, one of the best APs on the planet, retired and was replaced by Ms. Falzone. Then came Ms. Fang Chang in guidance. Now we have Ms. Jahoda in math. Quite a disturbing pattern. (Find the Stuyvesant student paper account of Ms. Jahoda's insensitive response to a gay-straight alliance Day of Silence back in 2003.)

Ah! Venting is good for the soul! Now I can retire and watch my steelbook copy of Avatar on Blu-ray. Too bad you have to escape to Pandora to find a culture that does the right thing because it is the right thing to do.