From Betsy Combier:
Dear Reader:
Wherever you are in the world, SIGN THIS PETITION. Francesco Portelos is a dedicated, talented teacher who is being retaliated against by a system of malicious prosecution in NYC which has decimated the public schools and left too many children without the senior, skilled teachers who can give their students not only adequate but excellent tools for success in their lives ahead.
Links to this statement which show exactly what I mean about how and why this is happening to Francesco are:
Francesco Alexander Portelos, Tenured Teacher at Berta Dreyfus I.S. 49, Wins The "A For Accountability" Award
Francesco Portelos' Online Story Brings Retaliation By The NYC DOE And Principal Linda Hill
Editorial: The New York City Department of Education is a Sham and Mike Bloomberg is the Flim-Flam Man (read the Michael Cardozo/Michael Bloomberg Manifesto)
Francesco Portelos is petitioning:
- New York City Department of Education(Chancellor Dennis Walcott)
- Principal IS 49 Berta Dreyfus (Linda Hill)
- Superintendent District 31 (Erminia Claudio)
- Councilwoman (Debi Rose)
- Assemblywoman (Nicole Malliotakis)
Mr. Portelos is not just an educator. He is an inspiration to the students, parents and his peers. He is a Polytechnic University Civil Environmental engineer. After leaving a job paying $20,000 more to educate the inner city youth, he spent the last 5 years revolutionizing his school community. He created a unique Science Technology Engineering & Math program at Berta Dreyfus IS 49 in Staten Island, NY. Giving up countless lunch periods, after school hours, weekends, holidays and summer days to push the latest in educational technology, fix the schools computers or coach the award winning robotics team this man brought new definition to the words "dedication", "inspiration" and "drive". All give some...he gave all!
Unfortunately, Mr. Portelos' dedication to make the school better lead him to question some potential issues with the poor school's finances. Principal Linda Hill, other administrators and NYC DOE higher ups immediately pushed his 5 years of amazing service to the side and started an unimaginable attack by creating a very hostile environment, writing falsified disciplinary letters and attempting to discredit him among his colleagues. Being a fighter, Mr. Portelos did not even wince. Their fierce attack made him think there was a bigger picture with more potential financial misconduct. Exercising his rights and putting himself in more jeopardy, he called in an investigation on the administration as well as requesting after school per-session time cards using the Freedom of Information Law. The powers that be retaliated yet again by calling in baseless investigations on Mr. Protelos. They attempted to push him to resign and vote him off school teams. They mocked him in the hallways and harassed him in the classrooms. They pulled in his colleagues and told them to not support him. He fought back yet again by posting this saga on his blog protectportelos.com and then they went so far as to fully remove him and banish him to the Rubber Room. There he now sits and awaits his charges. He could be there weeks, months or even years. That would probably stop most of us, but Francesco Portelos is not built like the rest of us. He feeds off oppression and the fact that there is possibly an army of individuals out to silence him only drives him to his goal of bringing accountability and transparency to better the students of NYC.
Chancellor Walcott,
Mr. Portelos is a game changer. He thinks out of the box so much that the box doesn't even exist. He is a great asset to education and keeping him in the basement of a copy room in Queens, NY for an unspecified period of time is the biggest disservice to all. Even those who oppose him have to understand that his gears never stop. All they have really given him is time and the obstacles thrown at him are but small distractions. Please reconsider placing Mr. Portelos in a position where he will continue to create the sparks in the minds of students that will eventually blaze into a fire of success.
Mr. Portelos is a game changer. He thinks out of the box so much that the box doesn't even exist. He is a great asset to education and keeping him in the basement of a copy room in Queens, NY for an unspecified period of time is the biggest disservice to all. Even those who oppose him have to understand that his gears never stop. All they have really given him is time and the obstacles thrown at him are but small distractions. Please reconsider placing Mr. Portelos in a position where he will continue to create the sparks in the minds of students that will eventually blaze into a fire of success.
Even after he was sent to teh rubber room, Mr. Portelos continues to educate and place instructional videos on his website, www.mrportelos.com. The parents tell him that their children continue to watch and learn in his absence. He also has an article that was just published in the latest issue of NY Teacher newspaper:Play, Pause Rewind Learning works for all
-People for Portelos
LETTER
Reinstate Mr. Portelos to the classroom and take him out of the Rubber Room
Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: New York City Department of Education, Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
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Reinstate Mr. Portelos to the classroom and take him out of the Rubber Room
Mr. Portelos is not just an educator. He is an inspiration to the students, parents and his peers. After leaving a job paying $20,000 more to educate the inner city youth, he spent the last 5 years revolutionizing his school community. He created a unique Science Technology Engineering & Math program at Berta Dreyfus IS 49 in Staten Island, NY. Giving up countless lunch periods, after school hours, weekends, holidays and summer days to push the latest in educational technology, fix the schools computers or coach the award winning robotics team this man brought new definition to the words "dedication", "inspiration" and "drive". All give some...he gave all!
Unfortunately, Mr. Portelos' dedications to make the school better lead him to question some potential issues with the poor school's finances. Principal Linda Hill, other administrators and NYC DOE higher ups immediately pushed his 5 years of amazing service to the side and started an unimaginable attack by creating a very hostile environment, writing falsified disciplinary letters and attempting to discredit him among his colleagues. Being a fighter, Mr. Portelos did not even wince. Their fierce attack made him think there was a bigger picture with more potential financial misconduct. Exercising his rights and putting himself in more jeopardy, he called in an investigation on the administration as well as requesting after school per-session time cards using the Freedom of Information Law. The powers that be retaliated yet again by calling in baseless investigations on Mr. Protelos. They attempted to push him to resign and vote him off school teams. They mocked him in the hallways and harassed him in the classrooms. They pulled in his colleagues and told them to not support him. He fought back yet again by posting this saga on his blog protectportelos.com and then they went so far as to fully remove him and banish him to the Rubber Room. There he now sits and awaits his charges. He could be there weeks, months or even years. That would probably stop most of us, but Francesco Portelos is not built like the rest of us. He feeds off oppression and the fact that there is possibly an army of individuals out to silence him only drives him to his goal of bringing accountability and transparency to better the students of NYC.
Chancellor Walcott,
Mr. Portelos is a game changer. He thinks out of the box so much that the box doesn't even exist. He is a quintessential asset to education and keeping him in the basement of a copy room in Queens, NY for an unspecified period of time is the biggest disservice to all. Even those who oppose him have to understand that his gears never stop. All they have really given him is time and the obstacles thrown at him are but small distractions. Please reconsider placing Mr. Portelos in a position where he will continue to create the sparks in the minds of students that will eventually blaze into a fire of success.
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Sincerely,
The Public for Portelos
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Reinstate Mr. Portelos to the classroom and take him out of the Rubber Room
Mr. Portelos is not just an educator. He is an inspiration to the students, parents and his peers. After leaving a job paying $20,000 more to educate the inner city youth, he spent the last 5 years revolutionizing his school community. He created a unique Science Technology Engineering & Math program at Berta Dreyfus IS 49 in Staten Island, NY. Giving up countless lunch periods, after school hours, weekends, holidays and summer days to push the latest in educational technology, fix the schools computers or coach the award winning robotics team this man brought new definition to the words "dedication", "inspiration" and "drive". All give some...he gave all!
Unfortunately, Mr. Portelos' dedications to make the school better lead him to question some potential issues with the poor school's finances. Principal Linda Hill, other administrators and NYC DOE higher ups immediately pushed his 5 years of amazing service to the side and started an unimaginable attack by creating a very hostile environment, writing falsified disciplinary letters and attempting to discredit him among his colleagues. Being a fighter, Mr. Portelos did not even wince. Their fierce attack made him think there was a bigger picture with more potential financial misconduct. Exercising his rights and putting himself in more jeopardy, he called in an investigation on the administration as well as requesting after school per-session time cards using the Freedom of Information Law. The powers that be retaliated yet again by calling in baseless investigations on Mr. Protelos. They attempted to push him to resign and vote him off school teams. They mocked him in the hallways and harassed him in the classrooms. They pulled in his colleagues and told them to not support him. He fought back yet again by posting this saga on his blog protectportelos.com and then they went so far as to fully remove him and banish him to the Rubber Room. There he now sits and awaits his charges. He could be there weeks, months or even years. That would probably stop most of us, but Francesco Portelos is not built like the rest of us. He feeds off oppression and the fact that there is possibly an army of individuals out to silence him only drives him to his goal of bringing accountability and transparency to better the students of NYC.
Chancellor Walcott,
Mr. Portelos is a game changer. He thinks out of the box so much that the box doesn't even exist. He is a quintessential asset to education and keeping him in the basement of a copy room in Queens, NY for an unspecified period of time is the biggest disservice to all. Even those who oppose him have to understand that his gears never stop. All they have really given him is time and the obstacles thrown at him are but small distractions. Please reconsider placing Mr. Portelos in a position where he will continue to create the sparks in the minds of students that will eventually blaze into a fire of success.
----------------
Sincerely,
The Public for Portelos
[Your name]
Why People Are Signing
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonMr. Portelos is an outstanding educator. I have never met a teacher with as much passion and enthusiasm as he has. My son is one of his current students and he speaks very highly of him and his class; he also misses him and asks when he will be returning. It is a huge shame if our children who currently have him as their STEM teacher and for future students who enter I.S. 40 to lose a teacher like him. Please reinstate Mr. Portelos!
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonAn Excellent Teacher that has the interest of the students !!!
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonFrankie is an amazing teacher....always striving to better a childs educations. He is a truely devoted teacher.
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonTo keep good teachers educating our children and shed light on the corruption in the school system!
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonWe need to support the quality teachers that care about our students and learning!!
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonMr. Portelos has been an asset to our community. His amazing capabilities as a teacher are a direct reflection of his traditional and loving up-bringing. Truly a genuine personality and great person overall.
- 2 days ago1 person likes this reasonIn Africa we were thought not ask questions. We were afraid to speak out. Now that I amin the US, the freedom to voice out for what you think is right is being rang on our ears everywhere you go.
I cannot believe that a person should be punished for doing just that. Afterall, Mr Portelos is a roll model, a teacher infront of our children. Even if he is wrong, there should be other methods of redressing this issue.
Please send him back to class to teach our kids, he has been doing a mervelous job. - 1 day agoThere are too few good teachers. We should not be removing good teachers who are trying to make the system better.
