Ed Notes Extended

Monday, December 9, 2013

E4E Member Resigns in Protest Over Their Support for King/Tisch

Here is something you will never see mentioned at Gotham Schools.
Consider this my resignation of membership for E4E and the corporate driven ideology which binds this organization as a supporter of the Common Core and it’s test driven oppression of learning.... A NYC Teacher and FORMER member of E4E
So, E4E is trying to organize a force to support John King and Meryl Tisch and is urging its "people" to turn out in support to counter what is sure to be a vocal opposition. This teacher has had enough. I always say, the harder these characters push their ed deform crap the more they shoot themselves in the foot. The reality for those E4E people who actually are teaching and facing the Danielson rubric and common core in action is that it basically sucks. Good luck to E4E - maybe try starting a chapter in Detroit.

Dear Jonathan [Schleifer],

I am writing in regard to the E4E letter to Commissioner King stating “We are writing to thank you again for your leadership over the last two years in making New York’s teacher evaluation law benefit teachers and students across the state—and to urge you to make good on that commitment again as you develop a teacher evaluation system for New York City.”

I think the recent video and protests against the Common Core, and the state being forced to apply for waivers to allow developmentally disabled students with an IQ of 60, exempt from state tests. The issue of Danielson, with an untested rubric, and one which does not suit teachers or students of disabilities is central in the error of congratulating Commissioner King. Where was the foresight? Did anyone at E4E ever project the negative consequences of evaluating impoverished students (solely to determine “teacher effectiveness”) and essentially sanctioning teachers who serve them? I think not. Did anyone at E4E ever reflect to see how the Danielson Rubric may sanction educators? I think not.

Consider this my resignation of membership from E4E and the corporate driven ideology which binds this organization as a supporter of the Common Core and it’s test driven oppression of learning.

Regards,

Here is the E4E call to action:

On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 2:26 PM, Jonathan Schleifer  info@educators4excellence.org wrote:

Trouble viewing this email? You can View this Message Online

Educators 4 Excellence: An Independent Voice for Teachers

Dear xxxxxx,
Over the next two days, State Education Commissioner John King will be hosting several town halls on the Common Core across the city. Teachers, students and parents will have the opportunity to weigh in on the new standards and their implementation.
December 10
  • Brooklyn: Medgar Evers College, 6:30-8:30 PM
  • Bronx: Evander Childs Campus, 6:00-8:00 PM
December 11
  • Manhattan: Spruce Street School, 6:00-8:00 PM
RSVP here to join E4E at one or more of the town halls.
If you can’t attend the town halls, you can engage in the conversation on Twitter by following @Ed4Excellence. We’ll have teachers live tweeting each event. By replying to them or mentioning them in a tweet of your own, you the too can join the conversation and have a voice at the discussions.
Looking forward to hearing from you - 
Jonathan
Jonathan Schleifer
Executive Director, E4E-New York

3 comments:

  1. Last week, a Los Angeles teacher wrote an
    article about how she defected from
    Educators for Excellence, and a bunch
    of other such groups. Her name is
    Lisa Alva Wood:

    http://accomplishedcaliforniateachers.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/la-edreform-coalition/

    For the last couple years or so,
    Lisa, a teacher activist, has been
    one of the handful---and I can truly
    count them on one hand---who
    allied herself with corporate reform.
    She's been a member of Educators
    for Excellence, Teach Plus, the
    United Way, Teachers for New
    Unionism, etc. .

    She's also been quoted in articles for
    the corporate reform propaganda
    org L.A. SCHOOL REPORT.

    At the same time, she's also
    maintained her to ties to UTLA,
    her local teachers' union.

    Well, that contradiction just
    came to a head, and she's
    cutting all her ties with corporate
    reform (except for her participation
    in a holiday educator-recognition
    event sponsored by United Way,
    which will be the last thing
    she will do with this group.)

    Lisa goes into detail about
    "Road to Damascus" conversion
    experience, and how it
    happened during the "corporate
    reform" astroturfers' conference
    call that planned the
    demonstrations to save Deasy
    that are described by Ellen Lubic
    in another blog post:

    Here Ellen describes the astroturf
    rally that this conference call led to:

    dianeravitch.net/2013/12/06/ellen-lubic-corrects-ben-austin/

    ReplyDelete
  2. CONTINUED--- PART 2

    Here's Lisa describing the call
    as a reason for her quitting:

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    LISA ALVA WOOD:

    "I QUIT. I had to.

    "Hopefully, you’ve never picked up
    the telephone and felt the hair
    stand up on the back of your neck
    as you realized who was on the
    phone and what they were talking
    about, felt your heart empty out
    and felt dread and despair flooding
    in.

    "I have, twice.

    "The first time, it was my ex-husband.

    "The second time, it was the United
    Way of Los Angeles. I phoned into
    a conference call that wasn’t what I
    expected, and it ended my
    relationships with the Partnership for
    Los Angeles Schools, Teachers for
    a New Unionism and Educators for
    Excellence, and put some others
    in the doghouse.

    " ... "

    "All of this (the Ipad fiasco) is
    chronicled in the press, but I mention
    it to set the stage for a little feint that
    John Deasy pulled on October 24,
    2013, right after the iPad scandal and
    right before he was going to be called
    in for his own job evaluation.

    "It was the last straw. Although I
    had publicly stuck up for him after
    a UTLA poll of 16,000 educators
    rendered a 91% 'no confidence'
    vote, I lost all faith in him with the
    iPad situation, and had to face
    some very hard realities about
    reform groups in LA.

    "The call confirmed some of the
    most discouraging talk I’d heard
    or read, and some of my most d
    isappointing experiences. After what
    I heard, I couldn’t stay any longer."

    ReplyDelete
  3. CONTINUED --- Part 3

    - - - - - - - - - - - -

    The conference call Lisa described
    was originally supposed to be a
    discussion about Local
    Control Funding, but instead
    was about "Saving Dr. Deasy:

    - - - - - - - - - -
    LISA ALVA WOOD:

    "When I called in, I heard a roll call
    of 51 educational, community or
    political groups whose sole
    purpose on the call was to support
    John Deasy in his fight to keep his
    job.

    "The news that Deasy was
    threatening to quit had changed
    the topic and galvanized the group.
    These good people were planning
    to skip school to show support at
    the October 29 Board meeting.
    They were bringing students and
    teachers to testify in his favor.

    "I was… flabbergasted. I didn’t
    have the heart to even make the
    roll call. By the time they got to
    'anyone else?' I was too intimidated
    and overwhelmed to say, 'Here.'
    I didn’t know what affiliation to claim.

    "Long story short, these folks made
    a huge showing outside the morning
    Board meeting, while 35,000 union
    members were busy serving the
    needs of our youth.

    "It was a much needed wake-up call.

    "I began to realize the extent of the
    ignorance and hubris that fuels many
    ed-reform decisions, as well as the
    extent of my own ignorance. The
    addition of businessmen and
    socialites to a board I sat on made
    sense suddenly, as did their
    posturing and pronouncements.

    "If you’ve ever heard people mis-
    speaking about things you know
    intimately, or talking about you when
    they thought you weren’t listening,
    you know how pained I was and still
    am. I couldn’t speak then and have
    just found the words, now.

    "Some of the groups in the pro-Deasy
    rally - Students First, Green Dot,
    KIPP LA – were to be expected,
    although they have no business in
    LAUSD’s superintendent evaluation.

    "Others made me gag in wonder –
    Goodwill of Southern California?
    Inner-City Struggle? LA Education
    Partnership? I thought we were
    friends!
    ------------------------------------
    One of the key things that turned
    off Lisa is that this astroturfers
    were engaging in wholesale slander
    against UTLA, whose teachers are
    contractually forbidden from
    attending this rally during school
    hours.
    ------------------------------------
    LISA ALVA WOOD:

    "They weren’t talking about me,
    personally, but they clearly saw
    themselves as supporting their
    hero, a hero whose arch-enemy
    is my union, UTLA. It was, and
    is, very difficult to understand
    why they need to draw a
    protective circle in the sand
    around John Deasy. (Speculation
    is rampant, but facts are hard to
    come by).

    "The bottom line for me personally
    is that there are too many good
    people distracted by too many
    superfluous groups. The best
    place for an educator to protect
    and promote public education is
    the teachers’ union. Over time,
    for better or for worse, the union
    is the educators’ bastion and it
    is set up via a democratic
    process in which any member
    can participate. If UTLA needs
    to be more positive and
    professional, we need to make
    it that way ourselves, but that’s
    another story."

    and on it goes...

    ReplyDelete

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