Ok, I’m back…. *I meant to start SCI Week, but some new evidence came in and I have to postpone for now until I process it. *I’ve been asked not to discuss the details of what happens at the hearing as not to taint the testimony of future witnesses. Yes,… Continue reading
On Monday I went to my attorney’s office in Manhattan to strategize and pick up this CD (above). The DOE Tweed building, where all the head brains are, was on my way. I stopped and took this quick photo just after I past two attorneys from the Administrative Trials Unit.… Continue reading
Today is the first official day of the 2013-2014 school year for students and therefore the beginning of this dreaded evaluation system. I hear teachers are already crying. Get your artifacts ready fellow educators. Just kidding… I don’t even know what artifacts are as I have been denied professional development… Continue reading
Welcome back to school fellow educators, students and parents. I envy you educators, if you can believe that. As you sat meetings discussing the new exciting and totally objective evaluation system and flawless Common Core standards implementation, I just…sat. See picture above. Don’t be jealous as I would pay to… Continue reading
*Note: I had to jump out of vacation mode here in Greece for this one. I cashed in my American Airlines miles and came here with my family in attempt to unwind and relax. Now since I came to Greece, I’ve really gone almost cold turkey as far as education… Continue reading
Look around you on the street, at the waiting room of a doctor’s office, or even while people are driving. We can’t escape it; we are glued to our mobile devices. Now imagine teaching technology in a middle school lab full of computers. It’s so easy for student’s to go… Continue reading
Was NYC DOE District 31 Superintendent Erminia Claudio just really bad at hiding retaliation You might have already read a little about our bizarre history HERE To the Claudio Calendar! See this strange sequence of events. Click to Enlarge. By the way, her recollection of how the first… Continue reading
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that with the influx of co-located schools and dropping enrollment, the process would eventually hit Staten Island. To date, it was the only borough not to have a new school pushed in (co-located) into an existing. Sure we have the… Continue reading
Please excuse any typographical errors or grammatical errors here. I am using voice to text to speak this post on the last day of school while I’m driving home. Don’t worry I have my hands on 10 and two and only using my voice. It seems a little surreal that… Continue reading
Continued fromAdmin’s “Not so Confidential” Emailssegment. There was another teacher that my principal tried to terminate. There was an OSI investigation on them that comes after this interesting email to the assistant principals. The teacher was later alleged to have ripped a student’s shirt while the student was running around… Continue reading
This upcoming Monday, June 24, 2013, students that I taught or tutored or coached in 6th and 7th grade will be graduating. Unfortunately I have lost out seeing them through 8th grade. My support comes from all different groups, but as a teacher the words from my former… Continue reading
Current cost to taxpayer for exiling educators in NYC June 2013: Over $51.6 Million “Fire Them!” “Fire All of Them!” say the taxpayers carrying pitchforks and torches about the many, many educators exiled to the infamous Rubber Rooms. This was even stated to me by the president of Staten Island’s… Continue reading
The other day I was interviewed for two hours for a documentary pertaining to “School Closures”. The backdrop was the school I was exiled from for over 420 days, Berta Dreyfus IS 49. “But Mr. Portelos, your school is not on the school closure list.” Right, but don’t tell me… Continue reading
I’m willing to bet that over 80% of teachers and 99% of parents do not know what Children First Network their school uses for support or even what it is. Perhaps that is the way they are designed. The whole thing is an enigma. Most might say…”Who cares” Exactly!… Continue reading
Continued fromAdmin’s “Not so Confidential” Emailssegment. “Union Busting is the latest fad.” Everyone is doing it. There has been more union busting at our school than you can imagine. I have to admit, that they have been doing an excellent job of busting up our union, our rights and… Continue reading
500 days ago… January 30, 2012… they made the decision to come at me. Who is they Many are faceless and hiding in Tweed, Chambers Street, Queens Plaza North, District offices etc. Some I have smoked out and written about on this blog and some I am keeping my eye… Continue reading
Continued from Admin’s “Not so Confidential” Emailssegment. On or about January 30, 2012 the call was made to start a paper trail on me and have me terminated. My spotless record was tainted with the first three of almost thirty investigations started on me and the first two of three… Continue reading
This page has a plethora of information from the DOE as well as a video that chronicles the history of the evaluation system. A good 9 minute video to put things into perspective..then and now. Also there is a registry to document issues pertaining to the new evaluation at the… Continue reading
Teachers Rally outside of school and principal turns on the sprinklers. Continue reading
JUNE 7 2013 – UPDATE ON THE BOTTOM IN RED As most of you may know, I have been strongly advocating for the students and staff at my community school, Berta Dreyfus IS 49, for quite some time now. A handful of NYC Department of Education employees have been trying… Continue reading
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