Joe Williams' Blog
Updating The Site
I've pretty much blown my New Year's resolution (what's new?) but that doesn't mean you have to as well. I resolved to post to the blog more often, but things in DFER land have been slightly hectic as of late.
There is some new stuff being added to the site in the next few weeks, including the long-awaited Brienne Bellavita bio on our staff page. Brienne joined DFER as our program director in November and it has been on my to-do list since around Thanksgiving. So there, it's updated! (Hopefully I will figure out soon how to make it not look like it is all one big block of text.
I also updated our "Press" page to include this op-ed we wrote in yesterday's Boston Globe, and the one from last week's New York Daily News.
Slowly but surely, I'll get this stuff posted, I promise.
In the mean time, you can easily knock off your 2008 resolution to sign the DFER Statement of Principles by clicking here. It couldn't be any easier and you can take the rest of the year off!
Posted by Joe Williams on January 22, 2008 11:32 AM
January 14, 2008
How Leo Casey Nearly Ended My Marriage
My wife and I had a heated dispute a few weeks ago over an issue that the UFT's Leo Casey also blogged about over the recent weekend. Leo had nothing to do with the flap, but in the education reform marital dispute, I ended up taking the same side that Leo took in his post and I came this close to having to sleep on the couch that night.
Leo's blog post, if you didn't see it, concerned the "politics of audits" and was prompted by a lawsuit trying to stop some anti-charter school grandstanding by State Comprtoller Thomas DiNapoli. I have an op-ed on the issue in today's NY Daily News, but that isn't what got me in trouble with my better half.
Continue reading "How Leo Casey Nearly Ended My Marriage"....
Posted by Joe Williams on January 14, 2008 10:20 AM
January 10, 2008
Oooh, That Seat Was Totally Hot...
After watching some of my friends like Richard Lee Colvin, Rick Hess, Mike Petrilli, Andy Rotherham, Nina Rees, Diane Ravitch, and others run Alexander Russo's cyber-gauntlet, I received my official summons and sat on the This Week In Education Hot Seat this week.
My apologies, in advance, to Roy Romer's lawyer for falsely implying weakness.
Note to Alexander: Man, you can't complain that I never link to you. There are seven links in this post alone!
Posted by Joe Williams on January 10, 2008 1:28 PM
January 9, 2008
I'm Too Sexy, For My Glasses...
Education Week's David Hoff blogs about the most important issues that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is dealing with as part of her 2008 NCLB Magical Mystery Tour -- including an anecdotal New Year's Eve discussion (that I was not a part of) of the Secretary's SLG's!!!!
Purrrr....
Posted by Joe Williams on January 9, 2008 2:03 PM
The NYC Teacher Pay Joke From Saturday Night?
I'm still sort of puzzled at one of the lighter moments from Saturday night's Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire. It was treated like a joke, but it sort of defies conventional wisdom. Or not. This is why I am so confused.
If you watch the debate using the strangely compelling NY Times Democtatic Debate Analyzer, right around the 82-minute mark, moderator Charles Gibson was trying to make a point about how the Democrats were defning "wealthy" as being in the $200,000 per year combined income range.
He started to say that two married professors from New Hampshire's St. Anselm College would be bringing home $200,000 worth of bacon each year -- a notion that caused folks in the St. Anselm auditorium (as well as the candidates) to laugh because it seemed to be considered a bit of a stretch.
Sen. Clinton made a joke, that perhaps Gibson was talking about professors at NYU. (Oh no she didn't!)
But then came the strange part.
Continue reading "The NYC Teacher Pay Joke From Saturday Night?"....
Posted by Joe Williams on January 9, 2008 12:49 PM
The Comeback Gal!
Regarding the Walker Texas Ranger vs. The Oprah battle lining up from the other day...
