Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Shouldn’t it be about the children?
Last night on NY 1, Dominic Carter gave another one of his terrific interviews during The Road to City Hall. He asked several politically savvy politicos about the current brinkmanship currently being carried out in our state capital.
He paused and asked: “Tell me, is it all about the Power? Shouldn’t it be about the children? Is it all about who has the power to pick someone to be principal who couldn’t lead five people out of a room?”
Unfortunately that’s what it is ALL about, and not just in Albany!
I have pointed out how many forces control what goes on in District 75. Beyond the Hibernians there are Democratic political clubhouses in the north of Manhattan and in the Bronx that help decided who will get promoted and to where.
But there are also factions within factions that help shape the destiny of the children in District 75.
When I was a teacher-trainer assigned to make educational videos at the district office, I shared my room with many other bureaucrats.
One day when the rest were off to yet another meeting, I sat at a desk trying to edit down some footage on my little Amiga. I heard someone weeping behind me. I turned. There was a very attractive African-American woman standing just inside the door. I turned on the volume control so she would realize that she was not alone.
She looked at me and apologized: “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was anybody in here.”
I asked if there were something I could do.
She told me that she had just started working at the district office as a school secretary a few weeks before. She had spent two decades in the military. She began to cry again:
BINGO!
Only a few weeks there and she had the place figured out.
He paused and asked: “Tell me, is it all about the Power? Shouldn’t it be about the children? Is it all about who has the power to pick someone to be principal who couldn’t lead five people out of a room?”
Unfortunately that’s what it is ALL about, and not just in Albany!
I have pointed out how many forces control what goes on in District 75. Beyond the Hibernians there are Democratic political clubhouses in the north of Manhattan and in the Bronx that help decided who will get promoted and to where.
But there are also factions within factions that help shape the destiny of the children in District 75.
When I was a teacher-trainer assigned to make educational videos at the district office, I shared my room with many other bureaucrats.
One day when the rest were off to yet another meeting, I sat at a desk trying to edit down some footage on my little Amiga. I heard someone weeping behind me. I turned. There was a very attractive African-American woman standing just inside the door. I turned on the volume control so she would realize that she was not alone.
She looked at me and apologized: “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was anybody in here.”
I asked if there were something I could do.
She told me that she had just started working at the district office as a school secretary a few weeks before. She had spent two decades in the military. She began to cry again:
I don’t understand what goes on around here! It is like one person is always undermining someone else. I worked under some pretty bad conditions in the military… but I have never seen anything like this!
BINGO!
Only a few weeks there and she had the place figured out.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Homophobia
Now the teacher that assaulted me had already been quite hostile toward me for some while.
e.g. He refused to acknowledge my greetings.
Refused to answer any of my questions
Turned away if I tried to speak to him.
Spoke of me in the third person in my presence.
After all, he felt that it was I who took away the funds that were allocated for his computers and other supplies. (Never mind that it was I who had brought numerous complaints about Kevin McCormack’s misallocation of student funds) He was convinced that somehow I had gotten his funds for MY students.
Further, the computers that had been taken from my computer lab and placed into his classroom kept having problems. Students, for example, had set up little programs that played obscene sounds whenever certain keys were touched. The students were not properly supervised at the computers and they kept needing repairs – most of these repairs were done by me on my own time.
He accused me of giving him my broken computers, even though it was Beverley Kolstein at the District Office who decided what computers were to be taken from my computer lab to make up for the computers that never appeared thanks to Kevin McCormack’s knack of redirecting money meant to go to the students into his own projects, such as refurbishing his office or getting new executive chairs for all the people assigned to out-of-classroom positions under his watch.
But what really sent Michael Hicks over the top – besides the illegal steroids he had been using to “bulk up” - was the great humiliation I caused him at a social gathering I did not even attend.
There was a staff party just before spring break in 1996. Apparently Mr. Hicks was intoxicated. He began making passes at a young teacher, Deidre Mc Gowan. She gingerly fended him off several times. Finally, he screamed at her: “Oh, I forgot you are one of Mr. Hayes’ Bi**ches!”
Many of the women nearby started to laugh at him. And the more he asked them why they were laughing the more they cracked up and would not tell him. Finally, one woman said to him: “Michael, don’t you know Mr. Hayes is Gay?”
The women started laughing at him again. He assumed that because I was supportive of younger teachers, I was doing it to have my way with them!
After, vacation he began stalking and harassing me. When he began using his students to yell at me, I went to the administration. Kevin McCormack did nothing even though getting students involved in bickering violated school policy.
A group of African-American men also complained to Mr. McCormack that Michael Hicks had been referring to me as “Mr. Hayes… that white fa**ot.” He assumed that other black men would not find his racist homophobic comments insulting.
During the first assault in April, Michael Hicks kept silently mouthing the word “Fa**ott” over and over.
Eric Scapetta, the ADA at Robert Morgenthau’s Office refused to consider the possibility that my assaults were hate crimes after Kevin McCormack had poisoned the waters and accused me of being the one who was racially motivated.
e.g. He refused to acknowledge my greetings.
Refused to answer any of my questions
Turned away if I tried to speak to him.
Spoke of me in the third person in my presence.
After all, he felt that it was I who took away the funds that were allocated for his computers and other supplies. (Never mind that it was I who had brought numerous complaints about Kevin McCormack’s misallocation of student funds) He was convinced that somehow I had gotten his funds for MY students.
Further, the computers that had been taken from my computer lab and placed into his classroom kept having problems. Students, for example, had set up little programs that played obscene sounds whenever certain keys were touched. The students were not properly supervised at the computers and they kept needing repairs – most of these repairs were done by me on my own time.
He accused me of giving him my broken computers, even though it was Beverley Kolstein at the District Office who decided what computers were to be taken from my computer lab to make up for the computers that never appeared thanks to Kevin McCormack’s knack of redirecting money meant to go to the students into his own projects, such as refurbishing his office or getting new executive chairs for all the people assigned to out-of-classroom positions under his watch.
But what really sent Michael Hicks over the top – besides the illegal steroids he had been using to “bulk up” - was the great humiliation I caused him at a social gathering I did not even attend.
There was a staff party just before spring break in 1996. Apparently Mr. Hicks was intoxicated. He began making passes at a young teacher, Deidre Mc Gowan. She gingerly fended him off several times. Finally, he screamed at her: “Oh, I forgot you are one of Mr. Hayes’ Bi**ches!”
Many of the women nearby started to laugh at him. And the more he asked them why they were laughing the more they cracked up and would not tell him. Finally, one woman said to him: “Michael, don’t you know Mr. Hayes is Gay?”
The women started laughing at him again. He assumed that because I was supportive of younger teachers, I was doing it to have my way with them!
After, vacation he began stalking and harassing me. When he began using his students to yell at me, I went to the administration. Kevin McCormack did nothing even though getting students involved in bickering violated school policy.
A group of African-American men also complained to Mr. McCormack that Michael Hicks had been referring to me as “Mr. Hayes… that white fa**ot.” He assumed that other black men would not find his racist homophobic comments insulting.
During the first assault in April, Michael Hicks kept silently mouthing the word “Fa**ott” over and over.
Eric Scapetta, the ADA at Robert Morgenthau’s Office refused to consider the possibility that my assaults were hate crimes after Kevin McCormack had poisoned the waters and accused me of being the one who was racially motivated.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Your Tax Dollars at Work !
Michael Hicks was a teacher under stress. He had been promised new computers, a library of books and all sorts of supplies that never showed up. Money had been there. I helped put together several proposals for how the computer money was to be spent.
The money never came through… Never came through to his students, that is! Funny money issues seem to surround Kevin McCormack’s rise to power in District 75.
His class consisted of very junior-high-aged(12-14 yrs) students, classified as Emotionally Handicapped and thrown into a school that was set up to train older (16 to 21yrs) mentally-retarded students how to get jobs. The school was not equipped to handle these students, and the students clearly were not ready to deal with their new setting. These students were terrified that they were being classified as retarded because of their behavior. They began to complain, and to act out.
The situation became so out of hand and was so unfair to these students, that I sent off a letter of complaint to the chancellor stating that this set up was totally inappropriate… may have used the word “bizarre.”
The district got word of my letter. Kevin McCormack was pissed! But, I kept asking McCormack where all the money for these kids had gone. As time went by it became clear that Michael Hicks was convinced that these funds had gone to me and my students.
I was informed by someone from the district office, Beverly Kolestein, that this was actually “Mainstreaming” for these kids.
Mainstreaming used to mean placing handicapped students in regular classrooms with their higher-functioning peers. In District 75, “The Chancellor’s District” as it’s called – mainstreaming could mean anything the herd of paper-pushers at the district office wanted it to mean.
So you had already emotionally-disturbed children being treated in emotionally disturbing ways, they naturally resorted to their primary defense - acting out. You have a school that is not set up for this population. You have a principal who doesn’t know let alone care about anything except his next promotion. Then, you throw in a teacher who’s not properly prepared to meet the needs of these students and you have a volatile situation!
Mr. Hicks often marched his students through the hallways threatening them with a yardstick. He did no individualized instruction. He ran his class like it was the 1950’s with students taking turns doing computations on the blackboard as he chastised their abilities.
He began to let the larger students discipline the younger ones. They would go over to the student making a disruption and wallop them. The tried to do this in my computer lab and I was horrified. I not only put a stop to it, but began having these students create posters on the computer for the school’s Dean of Discipline.
These posters were for violence prevention explaining such methods as the Boil… Simmer… Cool System. They created colorful posters reminding students that they have a right to feel safe in school: No one is allowed to bully or hurt you etc. Mr. Hicks was angry I was working to undermine his authority!
One parent complained to me that her son had recently started beating on his younger siblings at home. I told her what I had seen the older students do to the younger ones to try to keep the class quiet. She was horrified. She wanted to confront Mr. Hicks. I told her to complain to Kevin McCormack, who according to a witness pointed the finger at me when he spoke to Mr. Hicks.
Guidance people eventually told Mr. Hicks to try rewards with these students. So as a “reward” he brought in a violent video game Bucket of Blood. After parent complaints, Mr. Hicks was made to remove this reward from his list of tried-and-true methods. Moreover, as part of a crackdown on what McCormack deemed unprofessional material, I was told to remove any and all computer games from my classroom.
I brought in articles I had written for professional journals showing how I used computer games for teaching on-the-job skills my students would need. I explained how the Board of Education had paid my expenses to present my research on computer games at the New England Educational Research Association Convention.
I had made a name for myself written the code for several games myself. They had proved quite successful with helping my students improve their overall performance. I tried to show how I went in and re-programmed commercial games to teach specific skills e.g. I changed the code in a Frogger-like game so that the students could only use the home keys they need to learn how to type.
An AP tried to intervene and suggested that I might know what I was doing, but she was over-ruled by Kevin McCormack. So I acquiesced, rather than risk charges of insubordination that would be grounds for dismissal. I agreed to remove the games, but kept using them to get students on task.
Michael Hicks was furious when he later found out that I was still getting away using computer games.
By now he was convinced that his computer money had been funneled off by me to run my computer lab. And he felt he found confirmation in the fact that Kevin McCormack began making me give my personal supplies to Mr. Hicks citing the usual shortage of funds because of “new restrictions by the District”
I was generous, even though most of these supplies had been bought from my personal Teachers’ Choice account and squirreled away by me over the years.
Other supplies, such as colored papers, I had bought on my own to meet the needs of my students I willing shared. Mr. Hicks was by now making his animosity toward me quite clear – however – to me meeting the needs of his student.
However, to Michael Hicks this was a sign of my weakness and proved I had taken funds that were rightfully his.
I have always been quite willing to go out of my way to help other teachers. Others had done a lot to help me out early on in my career. Such assistance is not totally free of serving my own self- interests: Problems in another teacher’s classroom have a way of undermining what you are trying to do in your own.
So I have always tried to help other teachers, and this you will see led to my eventual downfall at the hands of Mr. Hicks, with the tacit support of Kevin McCormack and eventually the support of people like Dudley Thompson, Michael Best and Richard Condon.All this will be explained in the next installment on Homophobia which I have saved for this year’s Gay Pride Weekend.
The money never came through… Never came through to his students, that is! Funny money issues seem to surround Kevin McCormack’s rise to power in District 75.
His class consisted of very junior-high-aged(12-14 yrs) students, classified as Emotionally Handicapped and thrown into a school that was set up to train older (16 to 21yrs) mentally-retarded students how to get jobs. The school was not equipped to handle these students, and the students clearly were not ready to deal with their new setting. These students were terrified that they were being classified as retarded because of their behavior. They began to complain, and to act out.
The situation became so out of hand and was so unfair to these students, that I sent off a letter of complaint to the chancellor stating that this set up was totally inappropriate… may have used the word “bizarre.”
The district got word of my letter. Kevin McCormack was pissed! But, I kept asking McCormack where all the money for these kids had gone. As time went by it became clear that Michael Hicks was convinced that these funds had gone to me and my students.
I was informed by someone from the district office, Beverly Kolestein, that this was actually “Mainstreaming” for these kids.
Mainstreaming used to mean placing handicapped students in regular classrooms with their higher-functioning peers. In District 75, “The Chancellor’s District” as it’s called – mainstreaming could mean anything the herd of paper-pushers at the district office wanted it to mean.
So you had already emotionally-disturbed children being treated in emotionally disturbing ways, they naturally resorted to their primary defense - acting out. You have a school that is not set up for this population. You have a principal who doesn’t know let alone care about anything except his next promotion. Then, you throw in a teacher who’s not properly prepared to meet the needs of these students and you have a volatile situation!
Mr. Hicks often marched his students through the hallways threatening them with a yardstick. He did no individualized instruction. He ran his class like it was the 1950’s with students taking turns doing computations on the blackboard as he chastised their abilities.
He began to let the larger students discipline the younger ones. They would go over to the student making a disruption and wallop them. The tried to do this in my computer lab and I was horrified. I not only put a stop to it, but began having these students create posters on the computer for the school’s Dean of Discipline.
These posters were for violence prevention explaining such methods as the Boil… Simmer… Cool System. They created colorful posters reminding students that they have a right to feel safe in school: No one is allowed to bully or hurt you etc. Mr. Hicks was angry I was working to undermine his authority!
One parent complained to me that her son had recently started beating on his younger siblings at home. I told her what I had seen the older students do to the younger ones to try to keep the class quiet. She was horrified. She wanted to confront Mr. Hicks. I told her to complain to Kevin McCormack, who according to a witness pointed the finger at me when he spoke to Mr. Hicks.
Guidance people eventually told Mr. Hicks to try rewards with these students. So as a “reward” he brought in a violent video game Bucket of Blood. After parent complaints, Mr. Hicks was made to remove this reward from his list of tried-and-true methods. Moreover, as part of a crackdown on what McCormack deemed unprofessional material, I was told to remove any and all computer games from my classroom.
I brought in articles I had written for professional journals showing how I used computer games for teaching on-the-job skills my students would need. I explained how the Board of Education had paid my expenses to present my research on computer games at the New England Educational Research Association Convention.
I had made a name for myself written the code for several games myself. They had proved quite successful with helping my students improve their overall performance. I tried to show how I went in and re-programmed commercial games to teach specific skills e.g. I changed the code in a Frogger-like game so that the students could only use the home keys they need to learn how to type.
An AP tried to intervene and suggested that I might know what I was doing, but she was over-ruled by Kevin McCormack. So I acquiesced, rather than risk charges of insubordination that would be grounds for dismissal. I agreed to remove the games, but kept using them to get students on task.
Michael Hicks was furious when he later found out that I was still getting away using computer games.
By now he was convinced that his computer money had been funneled off by me to run my computer lab. And he felt he found confirmation in the fact that Kevin McCormack began making me give my personal supplies to Mr. Hicks citing the usual shortage of funds because of “new restrictions by the District”
I was generous, even though most of these supplies had been bought from my personal Teachers’ Choice account and squirreled away by me over the years.
Other supplies, such as colored papers, I had bought on my own to meet the needs of my students I willing shared. Mr. Hicks was by now making his animosity toward me quite clear – however – to me meeting the needs of his student.
However, to Michael Hicks this was a sign of my weakness and proved I had taken funds that were rightfully his.
I have always been quite willing to go out of my way to help other teachers. Others had done a lot to help me out early on in my career. Such assistance is not totally free of serving my own self- interests: Problems in another teacher’s classroom have a way of undermining what you are trying to do in your own.
So I have always tried to help other teachers, and this you will see led to my eventual downfall at the hands of Mr. Hicks, with the tacit support of Kevin McCormack and eventually the support of people like Dudley Thompson, Michael Best and Richard Condon.All this will be explained in the next installment on Homophobia which I have saved for this year’s Gay Pride Weekend.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn
Firstr little housekeeping:
You can email me at LarryHayesNYC@aol.com
I do not mind posting all the work you proofreaders are doing for me.
I have Traumatic Brain Injuries. From this damage I have a very strange dyslexia– I not only reverse words, letters and numbers, I invert things I often read 6 as 9 and recently I had to meet some friends at 82th Street – I went instead to 85th That’s right I even confuse 5 and 2.
I have Double-Diplopia common with folks with TBIs. I see a showdown image both above and next to and image. I wear special prism glasses to help compensate for this annoying visual defect.
I use a good word processor to catch typos, but I still miss many so I appreciate the emails with corrections. And, yes, they would fill up the blog if posted – But, that’s the territory!!
I am severely disabled. Everything I do is a work-around. I do not mind people knowing this.
Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn
Currently I am waiting for the New York Department of Investigation to get back to me. I have sent them sharp reprimands for passing on my charges to Richard Condon to conduct the investigation because Richard Condon is one of the people who needs a thorough investigation.
I addressed my correspondence to Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn who runs the department. I doubt that she herself has ever heard any of my charges. I am sure middle-level administrators have botched the handling of my complaints.
As reported in the excellent blog the NYC Rubber Room:
Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn is the daughter of James Gill who helped clean up corruption in New York City schools. Jim Gill was the chairman of the Joint Commission On Integrity in the Public Schools in 1989. He was a superb investigator, and produced the reports that shook up the entire city.
It was Jim Gill’s superb work that led to the appointment of Edward Stancik as the first Special Commissioner of Investigation. Unfortunately after his untimely death
Richard Condon was chosen by Mayor Bloomberg also put the SCI’s Office under the control of the Department of Education – creating a permanent conflict of interest.
I will post the email, snail mail, and telephone number of Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn if I do not hear back from her people soon. Perhaps some of your calls and letters might get through to her.
I admire public servants such as Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, Mayor Bloomberg, Chancellor Klein, and Manhattan Robert Morgenthau. I find it disgusting that the corruption on the middle administrative levels of their administrations undermine the changes they are struggling to make in New York City.
This is why I call this blog RottenRottenRotten !!!
I am totally disgusted at how this hidden level of dry rot eats away at the very foundations of our city. These corrupt networks of people work tirelessly only for the benefit of each other . They do not work for the public welfare or those well-meaning officials for whom they work; they work to promote the interests of each other.
City offices are filled with little fiefdoms who often work against the public good. Who has which rabbi determines what projects go ahead and which get lost in the shuffle.
You know - projects like, say… investigating why Richard Condon, Michael Best, Dudley Thompson covered up the malfeasance and crimes of Kevin McCormack.
You can email me at LarryHayesNYC@aol.com
I do not mind posting all the work you proofreaders are doing for me.
I have Traumatic Brain Injuries. From this damage I have a very strange dyslexia– I not only reverse words, letters and numbers, I invert things I often read 6 as 9 and recently I had to meet some friends at 82th Street – I went instead to 85th That’s right I even confuse 5 and 2.
I have Double-Diplopia common with folks with TBIs. I see a showdown image both above and next to and image. I wear special prism glasses to help compensate for this annoying visual defect.
I use a good word processor to catch typos, but I still miss many so I appreciate the emails with corrections. And, yes, they would fill up the blog if posted – But, that’s the territory!!
I am severely disabled. Everything I do is a work-around. I do not mind people knowing this.
Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn
Currently I am waiting for the New York Department of Investigation to get back to me. I have sent them sharp reprimands for passing on my charges to Richard Condon to conduct the investigation because Richard Condon is one of the people who needs a thorough investigation.
I addressed my correspondence to Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn who runs the department. I doubt that she herself has ever heard any of my charges. I am sure middle-level administrators have botched the handling of my complaints.
As reported in the excellent blog the NYC Rubber Room:
Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn is the daughter of James Gill who helped clean up corruption in New York City schools. Jim Gill was the chairman of the Joint Commission On Integrity in the Public Schools in 1989. He was a superb investigator, and produced the reports that shook up the entire city.
It was Jim Gill’s superb work that led to the appointment of Edward Stancik as the first Special Commissioner of Investigation. Unfortunately after his untimely death
Richard Condon was chosen by Mayor Bloomberg also put the SCI’s Office under the control of the Department of Education – creating a permanent conflict of interest.
I will post the email, snail mail, and telephone number of Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn if I do not hear back from her people soon. Perhaps some of your calls and letters might get through to her.
I admire public servants such as Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, Mayor Bloomberg, Chancellor Klein, and Manhattan Robert Morgenthau. I find it disgusting that the corruption on the middle administrative levels of their administrations undermine the changes they are struggling to make in New York City.
This is why I call this blog RottenRottenRotten !!!
I am totally disgusted at how this hidden level of dry rot eats away at the very foundations of our city. These corrupt networks of people work tirelessly only for the benefit of each other . They do not work for the public welfare or those well-meaning officials for whom they work; they work to promote the interests of each other.
City offices are filled with little fiefdoms who often work against the public good. Who has which rabbi determines what projects go ahead and which get lost in the shuffle.
You know - projects like, say… investigating why Richard Condon, Michael Best, Dudley Thompson covered up the malfeasance and crimes of Kevin McCormack.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
URBAN LEGEND
Thank you for your posting.COMMENT 1 on The Murphia
Dangerous???
No, I'd say these guys are all cowards.
I will never publish a name, unless I am asked by the the writer to use their name.
But, I do need an email to contact each writer in private so I can check their sources. Have to check the validitiy of everything I put on my Blogs.
Over the years of working in the school system I’ve been told of mob involvement in the school bus drivers union and the bus companies themselves. There have been persistent rumors about the custodians union especially after their leader was gunned down a few years ago.
URBAN LEGEND
But "Fada Louie"? Hard to verify??? Here's all I know.
I was the computer expert at my school. I was often called out of class to repair computers at other schools and to attend advanced training sessions which were often held in the Bronx. An older teacher often covered some of my classes, and when I was headed to the Bronx he’d sometimes say, “Larry, say hello to Father Louie.”
I finally asked him who this Father Louie was and he told me about the Rev. Louis Gigante. He claimed he called the shots in what happened with District 75 and several other school districts in the Bronx. This teacher often would make remarks critical of Catholicism and different ethnic groups, so I took his assessment of this priest hard to believe.
However, when after I told a neighbor on Thompson Street that I had gotten an administrative position at the district office word spread through the neighborhood and several neighbors asked me if I knew who I was working for.
I’d mention the District Superintendent - “NO.”
The Chancellor??? and they’d say “NO”.
Who then? Each of them would say "The Chin"
Sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with a stern warning.
Somehow his connection with District 75 was well known in this area of Greenwich Village.
A school secretary was at a family event down Sullivan Street. Some relatives called her to the window saying: “Your boss is downstairs.”
She went to the window and looked down and there was Vincent Gigante in his bathrobe and slippers talking to himself.
I don’t know how this mob influence might also be connected to the Hibernians – except through the likes of people like Biaggi.
Dangerous???
No, I'd say these guys are all cowards.
I will never publish a name, unless I am asked by the the writer to use their name.
But, I do need an email to contact each writer in private so I can check their sources. Have to check the validitiy of everything I put on my Blogs.
Over the years of working in the school system I’ve been told of mob involvement in the school bus drivers union and the bus companies themselves. There have been persistent rumors about the custodians union especially after their leader was gunned down a few years ago.
URBAN LEGEND
But "Fada Louie"? Hard to verify??? Here's all I know.
I was the computer expert at my school. I was often called out of class to repair computers at other schools and to attend advanced training sessions which were often held in the Bronx. An older teacher often covered some of my classes, and when I was headed to the Bronx he’d sometimes say, “Larry, say hello to Father Louie.”
I finally asked him who this Father Louie was and he told me about the Rev. Louis Gigante. He claimed he called the shots in what happened with District 75 and several other school districts in the Bronx. This teacher often would make remarks critical of Catholicism and different ethnic groups, so I took his assessment of this priest hard to believe.
However, when after I told a neighbor on Thompson Street that I had gotten an administrative position at the district office word spread through the neighborhood and several neighbors asked me if I knew who I was working for.
I’d mention the District Superintendent - “NO.”
The Chancellor??? and they’d say “NO”.
Who then? Each of them would say "The Chin"
Sometimes with a laugh, sometimes with a stern warning.
Somehow his connection with District 75 was well known in this area of Greenwich Village.
A school secretary was at a family event down Sullivan Street. Some relatives called her to the window saying: “Your boss is downstairs.”
She went to the window and looked down and there was Vincent Gigante in his bathrobe and slippers talking to himself.
I don’t know how this mob influence might also be connected to the Hibernians – except through the likes of people like Biaggi.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The "MURPHIA" - Corruption in District 75
I had heard that if I wanted to get ahead in District 75, I had to become active in the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a Catholic, Irish-American Fraternal Organization founded in New York City in 1836. For years, I saw administrators who were not Irish-Catholic give their wholehearted support to the Board of Education’s Hibernian branch. I never realized the corruption behind this “old-boys” network until I met Mr. McCormack.
Kevin McCormack proved to be totally inappropriate for the Manhattan Occupational Center. He did not relate well with the students or fully understand them. His training had been with teaching the Hard of Hearing school population. He was totally unprepared for meeting the needs of the students at our school. The MOTC had been set up to provide job training for students with very limited abilities. Several times I had to tell him not to ask teachers “how retarded” they thought a student was right in front of the students.
I had to call him away several times when he’d be tearing into a teacher with a class of lower-functioning and emotionally-handicapped students. Verbally abusing their teacher in front of this type of student upset their already fragile trust in both the teacher and the school itself.
Parent support is important in meeting the needs of any school population. Such support is critical with Special Needs students. Study after study has proved that parental involvement can make the difference in a student’s achievement, indeed the success of the school.
Early on there was a meeting to set up a Parents’ Association at the MOTC. Under prior administrations there had been intense parent support for our activities. Parents had been a vital force in the school-based management teams that had helped run the school prior to the arrival of Kevin McCormack.
Kevin McCormack finally did set up an early-morning meeting suppossedly to reactivate our P. A.
About 10:30 AM I saw the principal escort the parents who had been chosen as officers to help run and expand the association into the teachers; lounge. Kevin McCormack asked the parents to take a seat. He said how busy he was running the school so they should wait there till the end of the school day. He promised he’d be back at around 3:30 with some legal papers they had to sign.
He then walked back. I came by the lounge an hour later and saw this group of dedicated parents who had taking time off from their jobs or their younger children to come to this meeting still sitting there. Finally as teachers filed in to eat their lunch, they realized that McCormack really meant what he had said - one by one they got up and drifted out of the room.
Weeks later at our teachers’ monthly after-school conference, Kevin McCormack boldly complained that he had tried to set up a new parents’ association - but though several parents had shown up - none of them would give it their active support!
How did this man get this job?
The committee to choose a new principal for our school met with the administrators at the District 75 Office. They were told they had to select Mr. McCormack. They objected because they had a better qualified candidate in none of our assistant principals. They were very disturbed that this man had never worked with a mentally-retarded population.
They were told that he was only going to be at the school a few years and then he’d be moving up to the a job at the district office and that would be good for the school!
Each time I was assaulted he had to cover up the crime Two gay-bashings would not look good on his resume. Kevin McCormack, was up for tenure and he did not want any of this to show on his record. He was also due his next promotion as soon as he put in the minimum amount of time as a principal.
He knew he could get away with not following the Chancellor’s Regulations and violating NY State Law because the same cronies in city government who were running patronage schemes in District 75 would protect him. After all they had been setting him up promotion after promotion.
Kevin McCormack also has a reputation for being a “very loose cannon“: his buddies had to protect him worried about what information he might let slip about how they operated behind the scenes in the district as a way of saving himself.
The reason an investigation is important at this time is that it will help expose the systematic corruption in School District 75. It was set up as the “Chancellor’s District” to keep it free from the politics in community control. Instead people like Kevin McCormack get almost automatic promotions and are appointed to posts over better qualified candidates.
How did this patronage scheme work? There was a system of quid pro quo skillfully managed by men in the Hibernian Society.
I only had the stomach to attend one Hibernian function. I was dragged there by a woman who wanted to get ahead in District 75,but also I really wanted to see this one! The disgraced Mario Biaggi was their Man of the Year. This St. Patrick’s Day gala was dedicated to celebrating his early release from prison on corruption charges!
After eating the obligatory corned beef and cabbage. I wandered around the large banquet hall. There in a secluded alcove sat the Man of the Year himself. A large group of Hispanic textbook salesmen were lined up to pay homage. I saw one after the other kneel and kiss his ring and then one knelt and placed his hands between Mr. Biaggi’s hands - as in the ancient gesture of pledging fealty to a medieval lord.
After that, someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me I had no business there. I left. However, later many of these salesmen were implicated in a scandal. So, this system of corruption is now clearly multicultural. Like any other pathogen this system of corruption has learned to mutate and change in order to adapt to more challenging environments.
When I first got this appointment to the District Office I was at a family gathering. An Irish aunt dragged me into an empty room. She was a long-time school secretary. She stared at me coldly: “I understand you are now working at the District 75’s central office.”
When I started to tell her about my job making training videos, she stopped me and warned me about the “Murphia”. I laughed because her last name was Murphy and thought she was joking. She gave me a sharp jab right to the center of my chest and said: “Keep your guard up, Larry! They pretend it is something cute they are pulling off there, but there is nothing cute about corruption. ”
After years of torment trying to get someone in New York City government to look into Kevin McCormack’s cover up of my assaults, nothing has happened. Complaint after complaint gets cutely side-tracked. My latest complaint and sworn affidavit have now made another set of rounds from bureau to bureau. It has wound up again in an office where they can do little about it!
I think I need somebody outside of New York City government to look into the corruption in District 75, the New York school system and the government itself.
I have seen reform after reform try to eliminate corruption in New York.
After they make reforms on the top and put tight controls as to what happens with then people who deal directly with the public, the corruption goes on. It is like dry rot. The top surface is clean, the bottom clear, but in the middle layers there is corrosion and decay. You have to understand that all the corruption that remains in New York City lies deep in the hidden levels of middle management the public rarely sees.
WHAT'S THIS BLOG ABOUT?
A few readers wrote and suggested that I tell them what my goals are.
Well, besides rooting out some of the corruption that runs through District 75, the Department of Education and the rest of NY city government - I need my assaults and the subsequent coverups investigated.
WHAT HAPPENED TO LARRY HAYES?
I want to know how the homophobic racist maniac who attacked me can be returned to the classroom. I want to know how a principal could destroy official records, concoct false documents, lie under oath in order to continue this cover up, and never be questioned by any of the people charged with investigating such wrongdoing.
I am pressing my case because I feel that city investigators have bought into the worst stereotypes of gay people. And, I am making it my business to make sure this never happens again!
Mr. Condon and others involved in the subsequent series of cover-ups have bought into this stereotype. I find this intolerable!
THE ORIGINAL COVER-UP
BY KEVIN McCORMACK
How could I be assaulted twice in front of many witnesses and it has been totally ignored. I filed the complaints with the police. Shaking with pain I dutifully filled out and filed appropriate Incident and Accident Forms. I filed my handwritten witness statement as required by law. No one cares to investigate why there are no other appropriate witness statements collected by the principal as required by law?
Many of these critical documents are missing, yet no one asks who took or destroyed them?
How could a principal be allowed to mislead a police investigation by using vulgar homophobic stereotypes to mislead the DA’s Office?
Kevin McCormack violated every one of the Chancellor’s Regulations on reporting school violence, yet no one has ever even questioned him on the matter? He even swore under oath that he was not familiar with these well-known regulations even though he was a Supervising Principal?
This same Supervising Principal swore he did not know what the responsibilities of a principal regarding the safety of students and staff, yet he was soon afterwards promoted to the post of Deputy Superintendent????
How could a principal be allowed to mislead a police investigation by using vulgar homophobic stereotypes and use them again and again to mislead the DA’s Office?
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Obstruction of Justice?
I need to also know why no one has investigated this extensive series of subsequent cover-ups.
SUBSEQUENT COVER- UPS
1.) MR. DUDLEY THOMPSON
The attorney who represented the Corporation Counsel’s Office in defense of the city HAD to be in collaboration with Kevin McCormack in order to let him present such bogus evidence and such bizarre testimony at my civil case.
Both Mr. Thompson and Mr. McCormack never notified the DOE that there was to be a court hearing as required by law. Thus, Kevin McCormack could fabricate implausible versions of events surrounding my two gay-bashings and not have his testimony vetted by anybody at the DOE, because anybody with any knowledge of educational policy would have thrown both this principal and this lawyer right out of the building.
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Conspiracy to Commit Fraud?
2.) MICHAEL BEST
The Chancellor’s Chief Counsel received a sharp letter of reprimand from Chancellor Klein after Betsy Gotbaum informed the Chancellor about the continued cover-up of my gay bashing. As I have noted above, there was an investigation started... STARTED.
Once progress was made the Michael Best stopped all further investigation.
Why weren’t the Chancellor’s clear orders followed? Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Insubordination and Conspiracy to Commit Fraud?
3.) RICHARD CONDON
If cronyism is behind his refusal to investigate Kevin McCormack and Michael Best, he is the worst offender of the bunch. This is a complete betrayal of Trust!
The chief investigator for corruption at the Department of Education, Richard Condon, has for years treated my complaints and accusations as material for what amounts to a practical joke. Each time my letters wind up on his desk he forwards them to a department that has no jurisdiction over charges of corruption; the DOE's Office of Special Investigations mainly deals with corporal punishment and verbal abuse !
I have spoken to Mr. Hyland and others in OSI and they told me that they do NOT investigate such things as cover-ups and malfeasance by administrators.
When I asked Mr. Condon why his office repeatedly sends my complaints to an office that is not equipped to investigate it, he sent me a letter stating that his decisions were at his discretion and he does not have to explain them to others.
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Edward F. Stancik???
According to ParentAdvocates.org
The problems that exist in the NYC school system also stem from the Department of Investigation not doing the work that they are mandated to do. They seldom investigate anything that an 'ordinary' citizen or parent of a public school child, reports, and when a teacher calls to ask for an investigation, it is the teacher/parent/child who is investigated. They dont like people who call their bluff, either.
Well, besides rooting out some of the corruption that runs through District 75, the Department of Education and the rest of NY city government - I need my assaults and the subsequent coverups investigated.
WHAT HAPPENED TO LARRY HAYES?
I want to know how the homophobic racist maniac who attacked me can be returned to the classroom. I want to know how a principal could destroy official records, concoct false documents, lie under oath in order to continue this cover up, and never be questioned by any of the people charged with investigating such wrongdoing.
I am pressing my case because I feel that city investigators have bought into the worst stereotypes of gay people. And, I am making it my business to make sure this never happens again!
Mr. Condon and others involved in the subsequent series of cover-ups have bought into this stereotype. I find this intolerable!
THE ORIGINAL COVER-UP
BY KEVIN McCORMACK
How could I be assaulted twice in front of many witnesses and it has been totally ignored. I filed the complaints with the police. Shaking with pain I dutifully filled out and filed appropriate Incident and Accident Forms. I filed my handwritten witness statement as required by law. No one cares to investigate why there are no other appropriate witness statements collected by the principal as required by law?
Many of these critical documents are missing, yet no one asks who took or destroyed them?
How could a principal be allowed to mislead a police investigation by using vulgar homophobic stereotypes to mislead the DA’s Office?
Kevin McCormack violated every one of the Chancellor’s Regulations on reporting school violence, yet no one has ever even questioned him on the matter? He even swore under oath that he was not familiar with these well-known regulations even though he was a Supervising Principal?
This same Supervising Principal swore he did not know what the responsibilities of a principal regarding the safety of students and staff, yet he was soon afterwards promoted to the post of Deputy Superintendent????
How could a principal be allowed to mislead a police investigation by using vulgar homophobic stereotypes and use them again and again to mislead the DA’s Office?
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Obstruction of Justice?
I need to also know why no one has investigated this extensive series of subsequent cover-ups.
SUBSEQUENT COVER- UPS
1.) MR. DUDLEY THOMPSON
The attorney who represented the Corporation Counsel’s Office in defense of the city HAD to be in collaboration with Kevin McCormack in order to let him present such bogus evidence and such bizarre testimony at my civil case.
Both Mr. Thompson and Mr. McCormack never notified the DOE that there was to be a court hearing as required by law. Thus, Kevin McCormack could fabricate implausible versions of events surrounding my two gay-bashings and not have his testimony vetted by anybody at the DOE, because anybody with any knowledge of educational policy would have thrown both this principal and this lawyer right out of the building.
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Conspiracy to Commit Fraud?
2.) MICHAEL BEST
The Chancellor’s Chief Counsel received a sharp letter of reprimand from Chancellor Klein after Betsy Gotbaum informed the Chancellor about the continued cover-up of my gay bashing. As I have noted above, there was an investigation started... STARTED.
Once progress was made the Michael Best stopped all further investigation.
Why weren’t the Chancellor’s clear orders followed? Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Insubordination and Conspiracy to Commit Fraud?
3.) RICHARD CONDON
If cronyism is behind his refusal to investigate Kevin McCormack and Michael Best, he is the worst offender of the bunch. This is a complete betrayal of Trust!
The chief investigator for corruption at the Department of Education, Richard Condon, has for years treated my complaints and accusations as material for what amounts to a practical joke. Each time my letters wind up on his desk he forwards them to a department that has no jurisdiction over charges of corruption; the DOE's Office of Special Investigations mainly deals with corporal punishment and verbal abuse !
I have spoken to Mr. Hyland and others in OSI and they told me that they do NOT investigate such things as cover-ups and malfeasance by administrators.
When I asked Mr. Condon why his office repeatedly sends my complaints to an office that is not equipped to investigate it, he sent me a letter stating that his decisions were at his discretion and he does not have to explain them to others.
Has no one in New York City Government ever heard of Edward F. Stancik???
According to ParentAdvocates.org
The problems that exist in the NYC school system also stem from the Department of Investigation not doing the work that they are mandated to do. They seldom investigate anything that an 'ordinary' citizen or parent of a public school child, reports, and when a teacher calls to ask for an investigation, it is the teacher/parent/child who is investigated. They dont like people who call their bluff, either.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Let Me Explain that Profile
I taught in NYC schools for 30 years. In 1996 a deranged homophobic colleague entered my classroom and severely battered me.
I was out for a week. My principal never reported it. He promised me I would be guaranteed protection if I would come back to the school.
My first day back, this same disturbed man burst into my computer lab and began throwing things around. When he went to the closet holding my students’ spring projects, I stood in front of the steel door to prevent him from tampering with them. He took the adjoining steel door and pinned me in between them.
He threw himself against the door as I struggled to get free. I many suffered blows to the front and back and left and right of my head as I twisted myself around trying to get free. He began throwing himself against the door in a series of drop-kicks as I slumped to the floor unconscious.
When I came to, he was standing at the door of the computer lab laughing. My students that period were young emotionally-disturbed women of limited academic ability. I could see the look of horror in their eyes. Not wishing to panic them further I had someone call down for help.
The principal showed up. I did not want to scandalize the special education student body. The principal suggested he escort me to the police station. As soon as I was safely off school grounds, he left me after briefly apologizing for not reprimanding my assailant after the first attack.
The principal had done his job! He got me off school grounds so he felt his ass was covered. He never forwarded the accident and incident witness reports. He lied to the DA; using gay stereotypes he described me as a little fa*got afraid of my assailant because he was black. He showed up years later in court where I was trying to get compensation for my pain and suffering and basically presented the same version of my assaults – saying they were just “pushing-incidents”.
I have tried for years to have this principal investigated only to find out that he is protected by his cronies in the Dept. of Ed. And the city’s Department of Investigation. Now I want him and his cronies investigated for the thirteen-year cover-up.
In pounding on doors I have discovered a web of cronyism that runs throughout the middle management of the city.
In fact, in some cases it RUNS the middle-management system!
I was out for a week. My principal never reported it. He promised me I would be guaranteed protection if I would come back to the school.
My first day back, this same disturbed man burst into my computer lab and began throwing things around. When he went to the closet holding my students’ spring projects, I stood in front of the steel door to prevent him from tampering with them. He took the adjoining steel door and pinned me in between them.
He threw himself against the door as I struggled to get free. I many suffered blows to the front and back and left and right of my head as I twisted myself around trying to get free. He began throwing himself against the door in a series of drop-kicks as I slumped to the floor unconscious.
When I came to, he was standing at the door of the computer lab laughing. My students that period were young emotionally-disturbed women of limited academic ability. I could see the look of horror in their eyes. Not wishing to panic them further I had someone call down for help.
The principal showed up. I did not want to scandalize the special education student body. The principal suggested he escort me to the police station. As soon as I was safely off school grounds, he left me after briefly apologizing for not reprimanding my assailant after the first attack.
The principal had done his job! He got me off school grounds so he felt his ass was covered. He never forwarded the accident and incident witness reports. He lied to the DA; using gay stereotypes he described me as a little fa*got afraid of my assailant because he was black. He showed up years later in court where I was trying to get compensation for my pain and suffering and basically presented the same version of my assaults – saying they were just “pushing-incidents”.
I have tried for years to have this principal investigated only to find out that he is protected by his cronies in the Dept. of Ed. And the city’s Department of Investigation. Now I want him and his cronies investigated for the thirteen-year cover-up.
In pounding on doors I have discovered a web of cronyism that runs throughout the middle management of the city.
In fact, in some cases it RUNS the middle-management system!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Small Potatos
Well not only am I dealing with what some would call “small potatoes” in the grander scheme of things. They are also cold potatoes, sitting on the plate too long. However, like rotten produce thrown at politicians for countless millennium, let’s see if they can act as an agent of change – or at least get their notice.
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