CSA Endorses Candidates for the Nov. 8 Election. Don’t Forget to Vote! PAGE 11 Oct. 2016 Volume 50, Number 2 American Federation NEWS of School Administrators, COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS AFL-CIO Local 1 Roundup The First Day of a New School Year QCSA President Ernest Logan joined Sen. Jesse Hamilton, left, and other city officials during a visit to IS 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on Sept. 8, the day NYC public schools opened. CLEM RICHARDSON BY CLEM RICHARDSON a New York City mayor visiting a Brownsville school to kick off SA President Ernest Logan the new school year. C spent the first day of After greeting a student school in familiar territory. assembly, the Mayor held a Mr. Logan began his day press conference to discuss two with Mayor Bill de Blasio, First initiatives: his “Single Shepard” Lady Chirlane McCray, Schools program, in which counselors Chancellor Carmen Farina, State stick with elementary school Representatives Jesse Hamilton kids through graduation, and and Latrice Walker, United “Equity and Excellence,” which Federation of Teachers President is intended to improve grad- Michael Mulgrew and other dig- uation and college admission nitaries at IS 392 in Brooklyn’s rates. Brownsville neighborhood. Afterward, Mr. Logan vis- It was a return to the neigh- ited a FedEx school supplies borhood for Mr. Logan, who and backpack giveaway in the grew up in nearby East New schoolyard before heading to York and worked as an Assistant PS/IS 323, four schools housed Principal and Principal in in the building where he Brownsville schools. He said it worked as Assistant Principal. was the first time he can recall Continued on Page 3 Stories Behind the Numbers, and Good Partners Too CHUCK WILBANKS BY CHUCK WILBANKS and the Statue of Liberty. Just Q Solidarity in Midtown Manhattan: More than 350 CSA members marched in the 2016 Labor Day Parade! outside the front entrance is the The stately building at 26 iconic Wall Street bull. Broadway was, back in the early It is, as the cliché goes, prime part of the last century, the real estate. And with its top-tier headquarters of Standard Oil capitalist origins, the building Company and its founder, John is a fitting locale for the Urban A Show of Strength D. Rockefeller. The world’s rich- Assembly School of Business for est man at the time, Rockefeller Young Women, a school which, wanted the building’s curved in addition to the required curric- façade to be a prominent land- ulum, offers young women from mark seen by ships as they around the city – no screening entered and left New York – classes and mentoring to help at Labor Day March Harbor. From the inside, even them prepare for college and per- from the lower floors, there are haps a career in business, espe- views of the harbor, Ellis Island Continued on Page 6 Story and Pictures PAGE 8-9 oocCSA.indd 1 10/6/16 10:20 AM 2 CSA NEWS Oct. 2016 PRESIDENT’S PAGE Now, Let us Praise Council of School the Unsung Heroes Supervisors & Administrators American Federation of School Administrators, AFL-CIO, Local 1 You are Visionary, Super-Manager and Mayor! By Ernest A. Logan 40 Rector St., NY, NY 10006 Phone: (212) 823-2020 hen I was principal of Back in my day, we Principals weren’t Fax: (212) 962-6130 IS 55 in Ocean Hill, expected to fill all the school’s needs. www.csa-nyc.org Brownsville, I felt so Today, you’re expected to be a talented President at home in the school administrator, in charge of budgets and pro- Ernest A. Logan and on the surround- cesses, hiring and firing, and school safety Executive Vice President Wing streets that I didn’t even think about as well as an inspired instructional leader, Mark Cannizzaro it. Now, when I run into someone from shaping a vision of academic success, First Vice President Randi Herman, Ed.D those days, I finally get it – I was a cen- improving instruction and cultivating lead- Treasurer tral part of their lives. Former students, ership skills in your teachers. It’s no wonder Henry Rubio like Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, tell that the average length of a Principal’s stay Secretary me I helped them find their way forward. in a school is only three to four years. Sandy DiTrapani Whenever I run into Latrice in her role as In NYC, you now have strong benefits Vice Presidents elected official, I explode with pride, just as and good salaries. But you also need more Debra Handler a parent would. meaningful professional development and Lois Lee Now, as we celebrate National Principal’s evaluation systems to encourage you to Chris Ogno Ronald Williams month, I confidently tell you that as school stay longer. Even more, you need auton- Nancy Russo, Retiree Chapter Principals, you’re so much more than the omy over budgets, curriculum, staffing leaders of your schools; you’re the architects and school discipline. But the Fair Student Executive Director Operations Erminia Claudio of people’s futures and you’re the mayors Funding formula can make it impossible General Counsel of your communities. You have a profound to take charge of your budgets. Increasing David Grandwetter effect on everyone who comes in contact with you. Your job interference from DOE can make it harder to meet your stu- is not just a job. dents’ needs. Most salient right now is how little say you Executive Director Field Services You know your teachers, students, families and members Sana Q. Nasser of the community well enough to create customized cultures Field Directors of learning. You’re forever building relationships for the ben- Juanita Bass, Stephen Bennett, efit of everybody – especially if you’re running a community You may not achieve national fame, Mildred Boyce, James Harrigan, school – and you’re often addressing aspects of your students’ Christine Martin, Daisy O’Gorman, but the work you’re doing is noble Mercedes Qualls lives far beyond their education – especially if you’re run- Assistant Field Directors ning a school in a low-income area. You’re adept at bringing and important, and changes lives. Eleanor Andrew, Mauro Bressi, financial, social and artistic resources in from the community. Laverne Burrowes, Kenneth Llinas It is not just another job. Charles Dluzniewski, Nancy Esposito, • • • Aura Gangemi, Ellie Greenberg, Ray Gregory, Robert Jeanette, our departure from your school would deeply affect Kate Leonard, Monica McDonald, teachers, students and parents and reverberate have in the well-intentioned effort to humanize the school Dorothy Morris, Ralph Santiago, throughout the community. Local community-based discipline code. You’re nearly excluded from making experi- Shelli Sklar, Wanda Soto, Y MaryAnn Tucker, George Young organizations, merchants, faith-based organizations and ence-based judgments on disciplinary action. This makes it precincts are all affected by the loss of a Principal and afraid tougher to create an effective learning environment. of what’s to become of the alliances that have been forged. As educational visionary, super-manager, and mayor of Grievance Director Robert J. Reich Often, teachers follow you out the door. Some parents dis- your community, you must sometimes struggle not to fall flat Assistant Directors engage. And students lose all around. This explains why on your face. Carol Atkins, Alex Castillo, Ed. D research shows that you’re the single most important factor “What began to weigh heavily on me,” said New York Robert Colon, Jermaine Garden in your school’s success. City Principal Nadia Lopez, “was that at the same time I was Marlene Lazar, Ph.D, Steve Rosen struggling to get my scholars and their families to Director of Communications believe in themselves, I was part of an educational Clem Richardson system that, despite its best intentions, only rein- Assistant Director of Communications Executive Leadership Institute Corey Bachman forced their failures.” After a while as Principal of Mott Hall Bridges Director of Political Affairs Herman Merritt Academy in Brownsville, Nadia fell ill and was about to quit. Or as she puts it, “I was broken.” Assistant Director of Political Affairs Gabe Gallucci • • • Assistant Director John Khani hen, one of her students answered a blog Special Assistant to President question: “Who’s influenced you the most Gary Goldstein T in your life?” He answered, “My Principal.” CSA Conference Chair And he went on: “When we get in trouble, she Pierre Lehmuller doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and CSA Historian explains to us how society was built down around Manfred Korman us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails CSA Retiree Chapter out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one Gayle Lockett, Chair Mark Brodsky, Director time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.” His answer went viral. Overnight, the support CSA NEWS that Nadia could never get before flooded into Mott Editor Chuck Wilbanks Hall and the wider world appreciated her work even Design Consultant Michele Pacheco when the central office sometimes didn’t. Production Assistant Christine Altman No student ever propelled me to national prominence when I was a Principal and it might not ever happen to you, either. But you know that there are students in your classrooms and CSA News (004-532) is published corridors who feel similarly about you. I know monthly except July and August for $35 Nadia Lopez pretty well and understand she per year per member by CSA, 40 Rector St., NY, NY 10006. Periodical postage would be the first to say that she is the same as paid at Manhattan, NY, and additional CLEM RICHARDSON most of you.