re: #1 wheatdogg

Bloomberg’s efforts have been all smoke and mirrors. Instead of addressing the underlying problems, he closed neighborhood schools that had been there for decades. The tests the kids take are not a reliable measure of what they have learned. Testing experts say so. Only a few charter schools consistently outperform the regular public schools. Most do no better.

Bloomberg has been “in charge” of the NYPS since 2002. He has no training as an educator, and the first few school chancellors he hired were also business, not education types. It’s part of the “War on Teachers” and “War on Unions” movements that are going on nationwide now. And sadly, it’s not only the Republicans doing it.

Edit for accuracy, and its not a war. The teachers and their unions have been failing badly at their work, and such failures carry repercussions, even if it is not your fault (I offer myself as Exhibit 1 on that point). But the teachers and unions are in part to blame in this case, and there is a need to reform into an environment where cities have the flexibility they need to reward productive teachers and fire those who prove to be deadwood.