Talk Out of School Leonie Haimson, Daniel Alicea

Daniel interviews Norm Scott, retired teacher, blogger, filmmaker, and union activist.

Norm spent most of his 35 years in the NYC Board of Education as a UFT member teaching in an elementary in Brooklyn. In the 70s he was a member of an opposition caucus to Unity. In 1997 be began an independent publication, Education Notes, a newsletter for NYC teachers which he turned into a blog, ednotesonline, in 2006.

He is a founding member of UFT Caucuses Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and MORE, in addition to the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM). He was one of the producers of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, perhaps the best expose of the Bloomberg/Klein years.

Leonie interviews attorney Laura Barbieri, teacher and parent Amanda Vender, and Tanesha Grant, a parent and Executive director of Parents Supporting Parents NY, who along with Class Size Matters have filed a legal challenge to the DOE's guidance on online learning, which unlike the state regulations do not require prior parental consent before assigning a student to an online class.

Leonie speaks to the organizations and individuals behind the lawsuit accusing the city and state of operating a racist and exclusionary school system in NYC, that the Appellate Court just ruled could go forward: Omari Soulfinger, Co-Executive Director of IntegrateNYC; Mark Rosenbaum director of Public Counsel Opportunity Under Law; and Sarah Camiscoli, attorney at the Peer Defense Project.

Daniel interviewed Ben Morgenroth, candidate for the upcoming TRS Pension Board election. He is an AP Calculus math teacher at Brooklyn High School, CUNY adjunct, and a former investment fund risk analyst. We discuss the TRS election scheduled to be conducted electronically by NYC schools, on May 8th — and now, according to a recent DOE memo, also on May 9th.
We discussed the controversy about how the DOE intends to conduct the election seemingly in violation of Admin code 13-507.

We shared a startling update about the ongoing Illuminated privacy breach of student and teacher data. Also, listen to an excerpt of Chancellor David Banks’ press conference this week where he previewed his upcoming congressional testimony dealing with hate in our schools.

Leonie discussed the disappointing resolution of the budget, including the extension of mayoral control for two more years, and the budget's effect on the class size law.

Daniel shares his interview with educator, motivational speaker and rapper, Brandon Brown, also known as "Griot B", to talk about "School Yard Rap." Brown also discusses his inspiration, the importance of representation, and the impact the program can have on students.

Daniel interviews PEP member Dr. Kaliris Salas-Ramirez and Leonie Haimson, co-host and Executive Director of Class Size Matters about the their takeaways about findings, recommendations, and impact of the newly released NYSED report on mayoral control.