How to save public schools.

First off, Bill DeBlasio didn't create the performance gap between public schools in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Upper East side Below 96th street and the upper west side below 89th street to their counterparts on the upper east and west sides above 96th Street etc.  The gap was created by certain schools in desirable locations getting more funding and thus their students getting better grades.  This has been going on since Rudy Giuliani was mayor and even before that.

I have been in support of mayor Bill BeBlasio campaign for public pre k and was able to put my daughter into the program.  He did a great job with the public pre k system and it will give my daughter the necessary skills to go to kindergarten.  When my son was met daughter's age there was no public pre k for all.  But,  Bill DeBlasio's desire to punish charter schools doesn't make sense to me.  Charter Schools give students who live in less desirable locations the chance to get the same education as those who live in the richest neighborhoods in nyc.  If you want to get rid or punish charter schools then you must make the lower performing less desirable schools better, which isn't happening in fact its getting worse.

There is a common sense solution.  If you want to donate to schools your donation should be put into a general school fund and then the money raised should be given to each school equally.  Also tax money shouldn't all go to the public schools in rich areas, it should be distributed equally to each public school no matter the location.  If parents have the money to donate tens of thousands of dollars to their kids well funded school, they can afford to send their kids to private schools.

The application process to public pre k schools or the real "March Madness" has begun.

March Madness has started.  No, I’m not referring to the NCAA Tournament, I’m writing about another kind of madness.  The application process to public pre k schools.  And if you’re lucky your son(s) or daughter(s) or a combination will get into their highest seeded school. 

The application process for public pre k opened on March 16 and runs until April 24.  What are your first steps?  Simple.  Find out what school you’re zoned for.  Everyone has one zoned school, but that doesn't mean you have to only try for that school.  First step would be to visit insideschools.org and research the schools in your zone.  Just remember that just because a school in your zone, doesn't mean you're zoned for that school.  Being zoned for a school means that's the school your child most probably will attend. But with my son we didn't get into any pre k school.  But we learned a lesson.  We learned you can apply to up to 12 schools on http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/PreK/default.htm.  Log on to www.insideschools.org and research the schools in your "zone" and not only the one you are zoned for.  

For kindergarten we knew we could probably get into our zoned school PS 163, PS 75, or PS 84.  We had no doubt that all those schools would be good some day but got the developing status.  So we decided to try and take a bit of a risk.  We applied to a school which we heard about from friends and relatives.  Everyone had good things to say about it.  So with the application we applied to a reach school PS 166, figuring we were close enough (we're on 96th Street and the school is on 89th street), we didn't get in there, but gave it the old college (or kindergarten try).  A friend of ours who son took the G&T test got into that school for G&T so it never hurts to try.  With out second choice we selected PS 333 the school that friends and relatives were touting.  We got in.  This leads me to a point.  We choose  PS 333 as our second choice, and were accepted.  That means that if you lived in the area within five blocks, I'm assuming and picked PS 333 as your top or second choice you would get in.

But along with the http://schools.nyc.gov/ application, we also applied and were accepted at a very good new school called Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School.  Yes the school does teach Hebrew to all students, but the school is the most diverse school in the city.  NYC public schools have a problem.  According to published reports (and common sense) NYC has the most segregated school system in the nation.  If you live on the upper east side, gramercy park area chances are the school your child will go to will be mostly white and if you live on 96th street on the east or west side the schools are mostly black and Spanish.  The schools on 96th street on the east or west side get less funding are most crowded and have lower test scores then those schools just blocks away (89th Street to be exact).

But charter schools Mayor Bill de Blasio's target of lies and deception, has leveled the playing field, allowing students in underserved school zones, the option to attend a well funded, clean quality school and get the kind of education those who live a few blocks south get.  Charter schools are lessening the burden put on by underserved school but accepting students that would have attended those schools, thus making those schools less crowded and therefore better.  Do some research on charter schools and apply to the ones you like.  Charter schools have separate applications and won't have an impact on the public pre k or kindergarten  application process.  So why not research charter schools also and apply to the ones you like.  It can't hurt.

So in conclusion, don't just apply to one school, the school you’re zoned for.  Apply to as many schools as you can.  Rate the schools you like the best with higher ratings and still apply to the school you are zoned for as a safety school.  And don't forget to apply to charter schools also.  They have separate applications and won't hurt your application to public pre k schools.   Make sure the big winners in March Madness are you and your child.

Well the Knicks were eliminated from playoffs contention today.

Shocking I know.   Every time I see Lee, Zach, Wilson Chandler or Gallo play I'm reminded what a terrible decision it was to get rid of all those players to sign Carmelo Anthony and of course Lebron who would never have come here anyway. Both Miami and Chicago were much better options for Lebron. Good job Donnie Walsh and idiot Dolan. Giving up Lee, Zach, Wilson Chandler and Gallo to sign Carmelo Anthony was just a great move. Pays dividends every day.

Unemployment rates never included those who dropped out of the workforce in our history

I always hear the same argument from republicans when the great job numbers come out every month.  I hear from republicans at CNBC, Barron's, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and the NY Post that the unemployment number doesn't include those who dropped out of the job market.  But you can always say the unemployment rate isn't accurate because it doesn't include those who dropped out of the work force.  You can say that about Ron Reagan unemployment rates.   Maybe people were dropping out of the workforce and that's why the unemployment rate was low under Reagan.  You can say that about Bush Sr and even Bush Jr.  But under Bush Jr, we were losing 500K jobs a month that gaining that number of jobs every month.  Maybe the number of people who were dropping out of the work force under Bush Jr was actually higher than the 500K number because that didn't include those who dropped out of the workforce.  Also many of the companies that have positions open, are saying there's no qualified people applying for those jobs.  Come on show a little objectivity.

Problem with Benjamin Netanyahu speaking here before he's re-elected

Benjamin Netanyahu is up for re-election  and if he doesn't win  having him speak here is of little importance. If the republicans really wanted to accomplish something they should have waited until after Benjamin Netanyahu is re-elected.    If Netanyahu doesn't win re-election it will be a major embarrassment for republicans. 

This is what Netanyahu said about in 2002, – “If You Take Out Saddam, I Guarantee, It Will Have Enormous Positive Reverberations on the Region” really because Mr. Netanyahu we took out Saddam and many could argue that things are worse now with ISIS controlling the region. As Bush Jr said Iraqis might "rise up." The problem with Iraqis is that they don't rise up and let anyone no matter how bad they are take control. 

We need to let Iraq take care of Iraq and deal with our own problems including failing infrastructure and a drug war we're losing. Instead of stupid pipeline which won't create jobs (it will end them in the rail industry) and if oil gets cheaper, it will end jobs with oil drillers who only make money when oil is $60. I'm not a pot smoker, but legalizing pot both medical and recreationally would create lots of tax money like its doing in colorado. And infrastructure improvements would create long term job and probably lower the unemployment rate.

On Tuesday I will travel to Albany to show my support for charter schools

On Tuesday I will travel to Albany to show my support for charter schools. If public schools continue to underperform above 96th street on the UWS, then I have no choice to send him to a charter school. We are so lucky to have a charter school as an option.

My son has 25 kids in his class, two teachers (sometimes 3) and is learning another language. The school is clean not over crowded. There's a school bus that picks him up and drops him off and he has breakfast and lunch at school.

If the state wants to make things fair they should make sure EVERY school gets equal funding and not have schools in certain neighborhoods be better funded than others. Our kids all deserve an AWESOME education, not just those that live in the right district and zone.

Why take your kids to Knicks, Nets and Jets games if they're giving you nothing?

The Knicks are having a terrible season.  But be honest, with their talent level, who actually thought they were going to have a good season?  But this isn't going to be one of my regular diatribes about how the Knicks had two NBA All Stars, David Lee, Zach Randolph, a 6th man of the year, Jamal Crawford and quality bench players or starters like Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari and their general manager Donnie Walsh got rid of all of those guys for basically nothing, no not this time, we will trash Walsh another time for sure.

This past weekend, I took my son Zachary to the Knicks game.  At the start of the game, realizing how empty the building was, I decided to see how far I could work my way down toward the floor. After all, as a lifetime season ticket owner and loyal fan, I imagined, I deserved some time close to the players I was so loyal to, if not for myself, for my son--the next generation.

I managed to get almost to the court where an usher, not Usher the rapper, but one of the Garden's finest security personnel asked me for a ticket and said I couldn't be there.  My response to him was "really there's no one here, the team is in last place with probably the worst record they've ever had in their history and you're saying I can't sit here?"

I recall going to an event years ago as a seat holder.  It seems to me the Knicks, Nets and Jets should be doing more to attract fans and if that means letting people move to better seats, giving away seats  or giving away free food, do it.  You want to make your stadium look crowded and using those methods can accomplish this. After all even The Golden Globes has seat fillers.

But my son was more interested in playing with his matchbox cars than watching the game and I should have played with the cars also.  The Knicks lost the game by 30.  Apparently children are good judges of entertainment levels of events and Zacky gave the Knicks two thumbs down.

If your stadium is completely empty and your losing money every game, doesn't it make sense to let people move to better seats, give away seats  or give away free food?  If you give free tickets those people will still buy food and souvenirs and the stadium would make money on that.  If I can go to a game and move down, wouldn't that be more of an incentive to go to another game?  If the stadium is  giving you free food, wouldn't you be more apt to buy tickets, especially when the food can cost $20  or more?  Just a little food for thought.

Was Isiah Thomas that bad as Knicks GM?

People will hate for for saying this, but if Larry Brown did his job as coach of the Knicks, the Knicks would still have Lee, Zach, Jamal, Gallo and Chandler (and Maybe Tyson Chandler too). Not defending what Thomas did to that woman who worked for him. People have gotten fired for harassing a female co worker like that, HP fired their CEO for sexual harassment, but getting David Lee, Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, and drafting Trevor Ariza, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson was pretty good.

Drill for oil more and bring the price down

Both Carl Icahn and Fed's Kocherlakota think a drop in oil prices good for U.S. economy. So why does CNBC keep saying its a bad thing?  I've been saying for years that the real price of oil is $35 a barrel.  The only reason that oil trades higher is because OPEC usually holds back on supply when oil is falling due to over supply.  If American was to build this pipeline, oil would fall so much that drilling  wouldn't even be profitable.  In fact drilling would be a money losing endeavor.  If we want to put Americans to work, the republicans should approve an infrastructure program that would repair bridges, tunnels, roads etc.  That would really put people to work.

The Cleveland Knicks

First Iman Shumpert and Jr Smith now Cleveland traded two first round picks for Timofey Mozgov. Does Cleveland want to be the knicks?  Two first round picks for Mozgov?  Are they totally insane? Hey Cleveland I'm sure for a 1 first round pick the Knicks would also  given you  Pablo Prigioni, Amare Stoudemire and  Andrea Bargnani.  Heck, you can have all of them for a second round pick.  Think of it, Cleveland, you could be the Knicks.

I'm applying to your ad for a ny knicks reporter at the NY Times.com.

 How could Phil Jackson be blamed for the Knicks inept GM Donnie Walsh getting rid of Zach Randolph, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Gallinari and Wilson Chandler for this inept team? Phil Jackson is trying to rid the Knicks of contact money that prevented the Knicks from competing. Now thanks to Phil Jackson the Knicks have the money to sign two or three top free agents. And if they can get rid of the ball hog, Carmelo Anothony, who was also brought here by the inept Donnie Walsh. Isiah Thomas was even better than the inept Walsh. Walsh got rid of three NBA all stars. Isiah Thomas got David Lee, Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, Gallinari and Wilson Chandler and Walsh got rid of everyone and gave us this. Walsh, you're fired.

No one would give anything for Jr Smith and with his $7 million contract, the Knicks were lucky to dump him. Now they have $7 million more to spend this off season. Regarding Iman Shumpert, he's a free agent at the end of the season so they might have lost him anyway and can always try and sign him as a free agent.