Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Randi/Mulgrew, NY State Ed Commissioner Elia, Nukes Teacher Contracts

MaryEllen Elia Launches Attack on Buffalo Teachers... PJSTA

Deformers carpet bomb teacher unions
Reality Based Educator at Perdido Street School (Lawsuit Over Elia/Cuomo Unions Busting To Have National Implications):
In the spring Andrew Cuomo pushed through a school receivership law that allows the state to take control of "struggling" and "persistently struggling" schools and supersede the union contracts for teachers at those schools. This week NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia gave the Buffalo schools superintendent the power to "circumvent" union contracts at five Buffalo schools. The Buffalo News reports the Buffalo Teachers Federation is planning to sue over the move and the lawsuit will have national implications......
Remember -- Elia is a Randi/Mulgrew pal -- she was one of their stars in their partnership with Bill Gates and her in Hillsborough at the AFT 2010 Seattle convention - I have video to prove it but am too lazy to dig it out -- which was put deep in debt and they chased Elia out on a rail - and Randi got her the gig here so she can negate teacher contracts. How perfect.

In my own Ed Notes posts
I pointed to the coming conflagration and this story dovetails perfectly. As for most NYC teachers and support staff being oblivious, when you have the major organs of communications controlled by the union who feed the members pablum and hide the real truth from them, what can you expect?

That is why my major focus in terms of MORE is creating methods of communication with the majority of working members to counter the Unity line. And the more votes MORE gets in the election the less MulGarten will sell us out - or be more careful about doing so. But more on that later.

The Buffalo Teacher Union will sue, but we know the courts are stacked against us.

Beth Dimino, president of Port Jefferson Station TU and a leader of the statewide opposition ST Caucus to Unity in her PJSTA piece said:
I am hoping the events in Buffalo are the impetus for mass organizing by NYSUT or, at the very least, STCaucus.  Without the rank and file organizing at the general membership level New York’s teachers will continue to be unprepared to take the collective action necessary to defeat an agenda such as the one we face now.  
I can hope too - but when you have Quisling leaders, hope only goes so far.

Click here to read the PJSTA’s resolution in opposition to receivership that the executive board passed last month.

Our pal Sean Crowley goes for the jugular.

NYSED Commissoner Elia Fires a Shot Heard Round the World. And B-Lo Will Answer. 
Well it didn't take long for the forces of corporate ed reform to fire their first volley at B-Lo Public Schools. Fresh from burying Hillsborough County Florida's school system in a $20-$40 million dollar hole after a Faustian deal with Bill Gates, MaryEllen Elia has been subcontracted to do more damage on a much wider scale here in the Empire State. Isn't it interesting the way the ed reform class shuffles its muscle from place to place until they end up beetling over their base as Barbara Byrd Bennett did in Chicago. Looks like B3 is headed to the Stoney Lonesome. Curious to see if she gets paroled before Elia gets yet another brown parachute, this time from New York State.


UFT/Unity UberSlug Mulgrew among others actively working against WFP and colluding with other  "labor" goon squads to date rape WFP into submission and capitulation ending in a disingenuous and hollow endorsement of Cuomo. High on our list of backstabbing "friends" there's AFT Empress for Life Randi Weingarten who glibly robocalled on behalf of Kathy Hochul and Cuomo doing her best lawyerly parsing of the betrayal claiming that she wasn't calling on behalf of Cuomo but just for Hochul. I am reminded of Bill Clinton in Lewinskean disgrace saying something to the effect of "define is." It didn't fly then and it didn't fly when Weingarten did it either. You robocalled for the Cuomo ticket Randi.
 

I Finally Become a Doctor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - My Mom Would Have Been Proud

Yes, I had a Jewish mother who wanted me to be a doctor. She had to settle for a teacher. But not all is lost.

I will be playing Doctor Spivey in the Rockaway Theatre Company production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" opening Friday, Nov. 13 and running for 6 performances over two weekends. This is only the 2nd show I've been in where I have a bunch of lines - even a short speech - and for me memorizing them and the cues from other actors has been tough. We have only 2 more rehearsals and though I'm getting close I still need to nail stuff down. And then yesterday they told me I am not talking loud enough - use your teacher voice they told me - I haven't used my teacher voice for 20 years. I will take a shot at it at tonight's rehearsal. I am in only 3 scenes and when I finish each one I race off the stage, feeling I've just finished a test.

Well, anyway - if you want to come and see me make a fool of myself - but more importantly see a play that will echo in your mind about some of the schools you may have worked in - call the RTC hotline: (718-374-6400). 8PM performances Nov. 13, 14, 20, 21 and 2PM matinees Nov. 15, 22.

There is so much meat in this play for educators working in often oppressive institutions that can at times seem like a mental institution.

In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" a rebel revolts against institutional oppression. The extreme of a mental institution concept can be applied to society in general, a corporation and -Yes - a school. The beauty of the play is how McMurphy, the rebel, brings the very damaged people he finds himself with along and the very act of revolt against authority becomes a healing process and even when he is gone, has some long-term effects. It is quite a complicated stories with many themes running through it, which I will examine in my column in The Wave next week.
Frank Caiati and Matt Smilardi

Below is this Friday's column where I talk about this amazing cast of A-list actors who have been nice enough to humor this D-list actor.

Frank and Matt have been with RTC since they were teenagers and have played leading roles in many shows. Frank is now a guidance counselor and Matt runs youth programs in a public school, so the transition to a mental institution is an easy stretch.  Frank has also been my acting teacher and go to guy when I need a clue as what to do on stage.


The inmates with McMurphy in hat (John Stillwaggon). David Risley as Harding on the right




Submitted for publication to The Wave, November 13, 2015

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Memo From the RTC

One Flew Over… Opening Weekend:  Crazy is as Crazy Does
By Norm Scott

It’s Monday night and I’m back from another rehearsal at the RTC. Hell Week in ON ­we do this every night until we open on Friday night. As the doctor, I am only in 3 scenes so I can get out to cheap seats to watch the A-list cast perform their magic. A-list is understating it. As you know, the entire play takes place in the rec room of an insane asylum. The production team, led by director Michael Wotypka, co-director Peggy Page and Producer Susan Jasper, have assembled a cast of actors that would do any asylum proud. Many of the guys have played leading roles in addition to having directed their own shows. Here’s an intro to just a few of them.

David Risley, an RTC mainstay, follows up on his very funny performance in Plaza Suite this past September by taking on the role of inmate Harding. David directed the wonderful “Lost in Yonkers” which also starred Linda Browning as the sympathetic Bella, who is now playing the very unsympathetic Nurse Ratched, a testament to her range as an actor. David will be directing Sunshine Boys next season.

Danny Velez (Martini) is coming off leading roles as Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees and Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. One of the great things about RTC is how actors who playing leads are willing to take on small parts.

Frank Caiati (the tragic Billy Bibbit) is the reason I can get up on stage due to the acting classes he has taught at RTC  ­– if you have an interest in being on stage, Frank’s next 8-week course begins at RTC on November 29 at 10 AM. If I can do it anyone can. It’s wonderful to see a great actor in action from behind the scenes – this is the first show I’ve been in with Frank. He is finally acting again after directing so many great shows himself. He did Mary Poppins in September in Bay Ridge and Godspell at the RTC.

Matt Smilardi (Cheswick), who can do anything on stage, was Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls and also played the lead in Caiaiti’s Godspell as Jesus. Which reminds me to touch on the number of themes in One Flew Over…., the most obvious being the “Randall McMurphy” as Jesus theme where he sacrifices himself to free the inmates, especially the formerly deaf and dumb big Indian Chief, played by Rockaway community leader Jose Velez, who is “cured” by the dynamic McMurphy. The guys were matching up the inmates with the apostles. I’ll leave it to you to find these analogies when you see the play – which I will say right now – it is must-see theater and if you miss this you may have to wait another 10 years to see it again at the RTC when - if I am still alive - hope to reprise the role of the doc at age 80. Oy!

Nurse Ratched  - or Rat Sh_t, as McMurphy refers to her, ORDERS you to call the RTC hotline (718-374-6400) or face a heavy dose of anti-psychotic meds and severe assault on your self-esteem in group therapy.


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Is the UFT Leadership Insane, Incompetent, or Worse? Another View

There are some comments over at NYC Educator's post Michael Mulgrew Said "Thank You" for Longer Hours and No Seniority  discussing UFT/Unity Caucus leadership failures of policy and their persistence in pursing the same policies despite these failures. But from their point of view are they really failures or in fact successes?

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
"Insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it."― Elizabeth Wurtzel
Pretty much explains the leadership's m.o. of successful failures.
With Michael Mulgrew, as with the so-called reformers, nothing succeeds quite like failure...
I can argue until I am blue in the face that the UFT elections are not the main battle ground in the union, but to no avail. I am often termed a "defeatist" as if magical thinking will come true. In reality I am a realist and a student of teacher union opposition movements here in NYC and in other cities.

Teachers must face a calamity before they will wake up and right now, no matter how bad things are from certain people's perspective, we are no where close to what is going on in other cities. Right now we are in a building patter for when the shit hits the fan. The real battle must take place at the school level as a precursor to making a serious challenge to Unity. So far that has not happened in nearly enough schools to make enough of a dent. But anyone with a long-term perspective must be able to see through the weeds.

As the coming tsunami with the charter school privatization spear aiming at the NYC public school system gathers force - see Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, Newark, Washington DC - and anything that hits other cities must eventually hit us here - there is speculation that the UFT leadership is blind. I don't think so.

Remember - the prime directive of Unity is to keep power at the city, state and national levels and do whatever that takes, including trying to buy off targeted individuals from opposition parties that are making headway or even trying to buy off entire parties by "partnering" with them, even behind the scenes.

They full well know what is coming and their best hope is to delay for as long as possible and thus, they will continue to operate the way they have -- by working with and cajoling politicians for any crumbs they can preserve while working to tamp down any militancy from below that may challenge their control of the UFT and through that NYSUT and the AFT.

If necessary they will just swap out leaders, like they replaced an increasingly unpopular Randi Weingarten in 2009 with Michael Mulgrew, who's own initially warm welcome is wearing thin.

Many predict that this is his last UFT election, especially if Hillary wins and Randi gets a position in her administration, leaving the AFT presidency open to Mulgrew.

Mulgrew's replacement would be a direct contrast and no matter how we paint that person as just a continuation, that would buy them time in the 2019 election with the usual "Let's give the new person a chance" gambit. And it will work for a bunch of people who just refuse to get that it is the Unity Caucus machine, not the individuals.

The historic trend since 1985 is for the incimbent to get elected adn then appoint a successor well before the following election to run the union. If things go according to plan, Mulgrew would serve a year or 2 at most while giving prominence to his heir -- remember -- the UFT has had only 4 presidents since 1964.

Who would that heir be? There is some speculation that Janella Hinds would be a candidate. Most people like her and she is a woman of color, thus making her the first non-white to head the UFT, which should dampen some criticisms from the left -- a win- win for Unity once again.

But that may not help at the school level if schools are being closed en masse under the next charter friendly mayor - like Hakeem Jeffries - and teachers are fired en masse - which would mean somehow getting rid of the ATR situation.

Also facing Unity post-2016 election is the health savings expected from the last contract and the coming heavy tax on Cadillac health care plans like we (supposedly) have.

I'll talk more about the elections and why I am not a defeatist when I tell the truth while pointing the way to win where it counts -- in the schools - which to me is what this election must be about -- gaining some traction in many more schools.



Monday, November 9, 2015

UFT Elections: Happy Teachers Often Don't Give a Crap About the Union

So I work with a bunch of current and former teachers and other DOE people in the theater group. They put an enormous amount of time into the theater. Other teachers have other passionate interests. Like the people I work with in the robotics program.

They have little or no interest in the union or UFT elections.

They talk about their kids and their jobs often and are excited by what is going on in their classrooms.

They have little or no interest in the union or UFT elections.

Once in  awhile I may be asked a question about the union, or when they run into some trouble - but basically...

They have little or no interest in the union or UFT elections.

There are thousands of teachers who - shock, shock, shock - actually like teaching, see it as a career and like their schools and even -- shock, shock, shock -- their supervisors.

They have little or no interest in the union or UFT elections.

I know there are so many others who have that doom and gloom feeling, as I do -- and the few times I tried to bust their bubble there is not much of a reaction - so I just stop

Now, when the election ballots come out and I tell them about MORE they just might vote for MORE because they know me -- otherwise .....

Some people brand this as apathy --- maybe -- but also people who have their own wide range of interests and are happy in their jobs -- generally don't look to get involved in the union - or in an opposition movement to create change. Especially when they have a benign administration. They must exist despite all the sturm and drang.


Sunday, November 8, 2015

Letter to Mulgrew: UFT/Unity Leadership Rejects PS 8X Retro-Pay Grievance

Our grievance was never about the few coins we might see in interest if we won the grievance.... This was about demanding that UFT leadership demand that respect for us---all of us---a few of us. Mulgrew and Unity have failed us all…yet again.... PS 8X Grievants 
Nothing surprising about UFT refusal to take this grievance - what is good is that at least one group of rank and file teachers took a stand.
Dear Mr. Mulgrew:

The purpose of asking our union leaders to file a grievance, regarding the delay in retro payment, was an effort to get UFT leadership to demonstrate they prioritize the concerns of the membership at large by holding NYC accountable for the delay. First retro payment on October 1st should have meant just that---October 1st not October 15th. Filing individual grievances on behalf of a handful of individual members accomplishes nothing.

By failing to file a union initiated grievance, the UFT has once again shown their true colors. You are not backing the membership with this issue. It was a political move to allow you to say, “Hey you wanted to file a grievance, so we filed your grievance.” This political maneuver also allows you to say to NYC, “Hey it’s not us. It’s these school level malcontents that are causing the trouble.”

We predicted this would happen but we hoped we would be proven wrong. Unfortunately for the entire membership we were correct in assuming that you and your Unity Caucus would rather ignore the fact that the entire working membership was disrespected, when we were not paid on the date we were promised we’d be paid, than upset Mayor DeBlasio and the powers-that-be at the NYC DOE.

Our grievance was never about the few coins we might see in interest if we won the grievance. We knew the financial win wouldn’t even cover the cost of metro cards to and from lower Manhattan where the grievance is heard. This was about demanding the respect we deserve. This was about demanding that UFT leadership demand that respect for us---all of us---a few of us. Mulgrew and Unity have failed us all…yet again. We expect more from a union leadership that represents 140,000 working members. Filing individual grievances for a handful of us is a slap in the face to all 140,000 working UFT members. We are not fooled by your action. We have not been appeased by individual grievances. You have only provided further evidence that our outrage at your lackluster leadership is indeed justified.

PS 8x Grievants

Friday, November 6, 2015

See the Video: Parents Sue Achievement First Charter Over Discipline and Lack of Services - We had the AF story 4 years ago

DUHHHHH!  This report by the NY Times

Lawsuit Accuses Brooklyn Charter School of Failing to Provide Special Education Services

supports the video interviews we did with Achievement First former parents in April 2011. Here is one of the 3 clips I posted:




Achievement First Charter School Parents Speak Out: Why they removed their children Part 2 from MORE-UFT/GEM on Vimeo.

Here are links to all the clips --
Videos of Achievement First parents talk about their children sitting on the floor: https://vimeo.com/30227766, https://vimeo.com/30238788, https://vimeo.com/30266020.

We did these riveting interviews for our movie,



The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

   due to Leonie Haimson's organizing the interview and doing the questioning. I just turned on my camera. I thought we would be there for a few minutes instead of over 2 hours. We were able to use just a bit of the footage in the movie but for me it turned into one of the most powerful statements we made. People in Providence used the footage to help fight Achievement First.

RBE at Perdido Street School made this comment:
What kind of cretins would discipline a child with autism for not looking in the direction of the teacher?
The kind who run and/or work at Achievement First.

Oh, btw, they're hiring, so if you're in the market for a job where you get to abuse kids, especially special education students, head on over to Idealist and send the Achievement First cretins your resume...

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Powerful Video: Lauren Cohen Speech on Damage Done by Abusive Principal and Her Rescue After Meeting MOREs

MORE's Lauren Cohen told this incredible tale at MORE's State of the Union event on October 24, 2015 of her years spent under the rule of one of the worst and abusive and bullying principals in this city and how she emerged from the depths after meeting up with people from MORE at the first MORE State of the Union in March 2012.

This is a lesson for every union leader and people who work at the DOE - how a top-level teacher can almost be destroyed when a lunatic principal is allowed to run rampant. (That same Leadership Academy Principal rubber-roomed one of our older ICE leaders who was the chapter leader).

We've witnessed Lauren's remarkable growth as a leader (don't be surprised to see her run for UFT president one day). She is now chapter leader at her school.

MORE current presidential candidate Jia Lee came out of the same cauldron of horror at that school and took on the dangerous job of chapter leader when the ICE CL was forced out  - and a lesson -- many younger teachers facing these bully principals and remain in the system can find their way - and one of the first lessons is to get away from these awful principals as soon as you can to live so you can live to fight another day.

Lauren is  one of many next-gen union leaders who have found strength and support in a group of like-minded people like those in MORE.



Just 2 years later in April 2014 Lauren Cohen got up in front of thousands of delegates at the NYSUT rep assembly and stood up to the bullying of Unity Caucus who booed her vociferously for mentioning the loyalty oath.

See this video of Lauren Cohen's speech at NYSUT RA, April 2014 and think of that young woman practically broken not too long before -- and also think that Unity Caucus/UFT leaders have done nothing to protect the teachers at this school: https://youtu.be/AbkqXmDz62Y




Here is an ed notes piece and link to NYC Educator in praise of Lauren from April 2014:

NYSUT Update: MORE's Lauren Cohen Stands Up to Bully Tests and Bully Unity Slugs

Yesterday morning I watched from the audience as Lauren Cohen, a petite young woman from the UFT MORE caucus, got up and addressed the NYSUT Representative Assembly as a candidate. When Lauren mentioned the UFT-Unity Loyalty oath, my 800 brothers and sisters from UFT-Unity tried to drown her voice with loud boos. The moderator had to get up and explain that it was not in the best traditions of public forums to prevent people from speaking. Lauren stood calmly, and continued undeterred after waiting a moment for the noise to subside. She demonstrated grace and thoughtfulness, neither of which was evident in the audience that saw fit to shout her down in the full view of UFT President Michael Mulgrew. ... NYC Educator, UFT-Unity Caucus Demonstrates How It Handles Dissent
The MORE presence and the Unity response exposed goon tactics to the entire state... even some Unity people were embarrassed and came over to Lauren to apologize. I believe Peter Goodman, one of the 800 Unity delegates, is urging unity after they split the state. Consequences, consequences, consequences -- you reap what you sow....Ed Notes

You mean THIS Lauren Cohen -- not that long ago, seemingly a bit shy -- gets booed, waits calmly and then rocks the house. Thus the power of being in a group like MORE - watching the growth of wonderful new leaders like Lauren.


Only Unity Caucus would boo someone who loves puppies.


There was much irony in the massive booing on the part of Unity Caucus goons and slugs as MORE NYSUT candidate Lauren Cohen began her speech Saturday at the NYSUT RA. I wasn't there but I heard she mentioned the Unity Caucus loyalty oath, prompting boos and shout of "No MORE".

Lauren was a victim of Unity Caucus perfidy way before Saturday, suffering, until she escaped, for years under an abusive, bully principal who has driven a number of staff, parents and children out of the school, all while the UFT/Unity leadership twiddled (and continues t twiddle) its thumbs. Thus Lauren has suffered a double dose of abuse from the union leadership, which by the way, made bogus claims it defends chapter leaders at the March Delegate Assembly. While Lauren was not CL, the previous gaggle of CLs at the school came under the evil eye of the principal -- again the UFT did nothing.

Both Lauren and her pal Jia Lee, also a MORE NYSUT candidate and a fugitive from the same school, came to MORE as a result of the abuse they suffered at that school and to Change the Stakes due to their stand against testing policy.

Below is Lauren in a shot from TV on Friday outside her new school, PS 321, making a very public stand against testing at the rally. She was also interviewed on TV. Less than 24 hours later, she was standing in front of her Unity Caucus fellow UFT members being booed.

This is the way of the goon mentality we face in battling against the evil empire (video will be up soon.) Booing one of the teachers with the guts to stand up to all bullies - the kind of person who would never be tolerated in the caucus. MORE continues to attract people like Lauren. I will highlight some of the others this week.


A photo of the MORE crew at the NYSUT RA with friends-- and many more were made over the weekend as the MORE presence and the Unity response exposed their tactics to the entire state.

Arthur Goldstein, next to Julie Cavanagh, the indomitable Beth Dimino, far right, Mike Schirtzer and Francesco Portelos, back-center next to James Eterno, to the right of Sean Ahern. Jia Lee, center (blue) next to the always awesome Megan Moskop. Others - Joan Heymont, Don Doyle, Sal Notera, Rob Pearl (VP Port Jeff Stn TA)

Stress Academy - A Poem by Fred Smith: My Halloween Hangover with Eva

"Welcome to childhood." she cackled and said,
"We'll teach you to pass tests and pee in your bed.
We'll teach you good manners and staying in line;
You do those things and all will be fine."

oz2.jpg (500×250)

"If you can't follow rules," she let out a shriek,
"Then you must go. We don't steal the weak.
Learning's not fun and life is a mess,
You must find out early how to Stress for Success."

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Eva Moskowitz Comes to Rockaway as Nurse Ratched

Here are my 2 columns I submitted to The Wave for publication on Nov. 6. My theater column and my school column, both tied in together. By the way - if you want to come see me play the inept doctor in charge email me.
Do we have any photoshoppers out there who can do an Eva as Nurse Ratched for me?


School Scope: Nurse Ratched in Guise of Eva Moskowitz Coming to Rockaway?
By Norm Scott

There is so much about authoritarianism at a mental institution in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, and its theater and film adaptations that I am reminded of how so many schools are run. I just finished my Rockaway Theatre Company column for The Wave about the upcoming show so if this column also makes this edition of The Wave, read the 2 columns in tandem.

Rumors are floating around that the evil charter empire, known as Eva Moskowitz’ Success Academy Charter network, wants in on Rockaway gentrification to fuel their charter gravy train that funnels public money out of public schools and into private management. There is no better example of authoritarianism that Eva Moskwitz who is the Nurse Ratched of education – and proud of it.

For those not aware, Nurse Ratched, as Wikipedia states, “is the head administrative nurse at… a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to medications, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn blind eyes because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs or her own brand of psychotherapy, which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding.” Nurse Ratched engages in an epic battle with rebel inmate Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson in the movie). In polls, Nurse Ratched came in 2nd to The Wicked Witch of the North as the most evil female character in movie history.

I saw a Halloween photo of a teacher dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West wearing an Eva Moskowitz mask. This was not an exaggeration. People have termed conditions for some children at Eva’s schools as verging on child abuse.

In my last School Scope column I talked about the extremely high suspension rates of kindergarten children at Success Academy charters as exposed on PBS by reporter John Merrow, who used to love charter schools, until he found out how so many of them operate. Since they are bound by a lottery system, some unwanted kids may slip in. So they use extraordinary discipline procedures starting in kindergarten to force the unwanted young children into more and more frustrating acts and harass the parents daily, hoping they will remove the children from the school. The idea is cull the herd before the kids start taking tests that count. Thus you will find that an kindergarten class has lost 40-50% of their children by the 3rd grade when testing begins. Eva argues that these kids don’t fit the culture of her schools – so they are mostly tossed back into the public schools which has to take every child.

Eva retaliated against the child who appeared on the PBS report by releasing a history of his records, a violation of federal FERPA laws. But Nurse Eva always believes she is above the law. Funny thing is that that child ended up in the class of Jia Lee, who is running for UFT president against Michael Mulgrew on the MORE slate, and she loves the kid.

NY Times reporter Kate Taylor followed up her exposure of Success Charters back in May with a follow-up last week of a “Got to Go” list of kids the school was going to pressure to leave (http://tinyurl.com/pqbfckc). This article caused such a sensation, Eva was forced to hold a press conference with the principal of the school standing there and crying and issue a mea culpa that this only happened at one of her schools. In a pig’s eye it did.

A comment left on my blog by an anonymous parent stated: “They decided to start with younger and younger kids, so the communication of abuses would be harder to decipher. They decided to tell the parents one thing, and do another to the child. I once stood in the hall and listened to a dean yell so violently at a student (behind closed doors) that I couldn't even discern the infraction. The child was thoroughly convinced he had committed a sin so unspeakable based on her threats, that he was too afraid to report the incident to his parents, hoping the she wouldn't either. When you get detention for squeaking the rubber soles on the floor, or coughing. or sneezing in a disingenuous way; when you are taught that asking for help when you are told not to talk, is a level 4 "disrespect of a teacher" your world begins to change. Twilight Zone comes to mind.”

Twilight Zone or asylum?

Stuyvesant HS teacher Gary Rubinstein blogged “When You “Got To Go”, You Got To Go” about the situation, publishing comments of parents who left Eva’s Gulag: http://tinyurl.com/obdrzdf.

Come see the RTC production of One Flew Over the Kuckoo’s Nest and see the Nurse Ratched as the model of Evil Moskowitz.

Norm admits to playing his own version of Randal McMurphy to his Nurse Ratched-like Principal. He can’t stop blogging about Evil at ednotesonline.com.


Memo from the RTC: Nurse Ratched Comes to Rockaway
By Norm Scott

“A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of power and authority in bureaucracies such as the mental institution in which the novel is set. Nurse Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind only the Wicked Witch of the West)” …. Louise Fletcher won the Academy Award for her performance in the movie…..Wikipedia.

And I play Nurse Ratched’s superior (technically), a drug-addicted doctor, who she resents because if she weren’t a woman in this early 1960s story would be in control but is forced to manipulate her inept boss to maintain her iron-clad control. Lynda Browning is playing Nurse Ratched in the upcoming RTC production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” as a follow-up to her astounding performance as Bella in last spring’s “Lost in Yonkers.” Lynda is so good she can turn on a dime from the sweetest person in the world while joshing with the guys backstage into one scary lady once we are on stage. Lynda also played the role 10 years ago when RTC did the play the first time.

The nurse engages in an epic and legendary battle with new inmate Randal McMurphy, a rebel who is feigning mental illness to get out of a prison sentence and thinks he can game the system. Jack Nicholson made his mark by playing the role in the movie, which so many people loved. I did too ¬– until I found myself in the less well-known play which has so much more impact than the movie did. (And I’m hearing the novel is even better.) RTC newcomer John Stillwaggon does not take a 2nd seat to Nicholson as McMurphy in this must-see performance. John is an experienced actor and in this case I would say he was born to play the McMurphy role.

And oh those people playing the inmates. What a cast of characters and top-level actors, some of whom don’t draw the line between acting and being crazy. But more on them next time. Oh, and the Frank Ciati designed and master builder Tony Homsey set is so reminiscent of a real mental institution – or a school, which if you read my School Scope column you will see the similarities. (Director Michael Wotypra, also a teacher, constantly reminds me that Nurse Ratched is just another version of so many supervisors we have seen in the school system.)

Opening night is at 8PM on Friday the 13th – yikes – with other evening performances on Nov. 14, 20, 21 and Sunday matinees at 2PM on Nov. 15, 22.

Norm blogs at ednotesonline.com

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Michelle Rhee Hubby: Are Sex Abuse and Charter School Scandals Catching Up With Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson?

The  Kevin Johnson story contains every evil perpetrated by the charter lobby. Don't tell me these are exceptions. Sure there are good charters but that is no reason not to fight for the entire movement to be stamped out.

Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/investigations/are-sex-abuse-and-charter-school-scandals-catching-sacramento-mayor-kevin-johnson


Investigations

Are Sex Abuse and Charter School Scandals Catching Up With Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson?

A former NBA star plays fast and loose with young women and taxpayer funds.
Photo Credit: www.facebook.com
Is Kevin Johnson the Democratic Party’s Bill Cosby?

The Mess at Success: Bloggers Go Wild on Eva/Success Academy

Some great stuff from the blogging world on the Eva/Success Mess.


Here are excerpts and links:
Success Academy has grown far too large to keep the lid on everything now.  Moskowitz enrolls 11,000 students in 34 schools.  She has around 1000 teachers and staff.  With such numbers and given their policies, there will likely be 1000s of former “scholars” and 100s of former teachers in short order, and all of them are not going to be intimidated into silence about what they saw while there.  The simple fact is that Moskowitz absolutely cannot keep total control over what people say and know anymore, and it is her own policies of driving away students she does not want and burning out teachers that has put her in this position.  So even if she fully recovers from this month, I think it is likely we will see many more months like this........Daniel Katz, Ph.D.
Eva Moskowitz and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month

The real anomaly, however, is the fact that the exclusionary practice that Success Academy silently demands in order to "succeed" ever was mentioned in the New York Times, which has an editorial board that remains entirely enthusiastic about the paternalistic segregated charter reform schools that corporate America promotes as a hideous manifestation of educational justice in blackface....
Schools Matter
Success Academy Find Its Scapegoat


Eva says the "got to go" list was an anomaly, one of those wacky things that happens once in a blue moon.  Yet there have been stories for years of kids pushed out of Moskowitz Academies, for inconvenient behavior, low test scores, whatever. Eva is now demanding public funding for the Moskowitz pre-K but refusing to submit to required oversight by the city. Rules are for the little people, and that would be us, the people who serve all children. If there's an "anomoly," it's the fact that this particular list was placed in writing.......NYC Educator:  The Moskowitz Anomoly - Eva says the "got to go" list was an anomaly, one of those wacky things that happens once in a blue moon. Yet there have been stories for years of kids p...

Success Academy's tearful apology for a 'Got To Go' list of students isn't accepted by every parent

Moskowitz Presser Addressing "Got To Go" List Allegations Is Theater Of The Absurd

Melodrama, Moskowitz-style, via Eliza Shapiro at Politico NY:

Comment Exposes Success Charter And Achievement First Tactics of Child Abuse

They decided to start with younger and younger kids, so the communication of abuses would be harder to decipher. They decided to tell the parents one thing, and do another to the child. I once stood in the hall and listened to a dean yell so violently at a student (behind closed doors) that I couldn't even discern the infraction. The child was thoroughly convinced he had committed a sin so unspeakable based on her threats, that he was too afraid to report the incident to his parents, hoping the she wouldn't either.  

When you get detention for squeaking the rubber soles on the floor, or coughing. or sneezing in a disingenuous way; when you are taught that asking for help when you are told not to talk, is a level 4 "disrespect of a teacher" your world begins to change. Twilight Zone comes to mind.
........Abundant1 has left a new comment on your post "Eva's Got to Go, Not Children: NY Times Throws Another Grenade at Eva Moskowitz as She Holds Presser to Scam for More Money

----
Someone left this powerful comment on Ed Notes. We know how they work. To get rid of a child they don't want they start out with the small stuff - like demerits things described above. Young children especially those with some "issues" get that they are being picked on and then begin to react with frustration and begin to lash out and the school then has "documentation" of bad behavior.

Eva and her goons have people so scared of consequences - both staff and students, that a cone of silence has been placed over her operation. But now with some parents breaking the logjam, we are seeing something going on, not only with Success and Achievement First, but with KIPP. Teachers with long careers ahead are still too afraid to speak out publicly. And I still am betting they are forced to sign some non-disclosure agreement in their contracts.

These schools are run like the pre-Civil War southern plantations.
Success Academy, Achievement First, they are among the top offenders of tactics like this. The words in the article have been repeated time and again to city officials, and news reporters. We've had hearings and community gatherings. I spent my sons entire 5th grade in meetings trying to understand, advocate, advise, and reveal. Those who already knew had been resigned to the idea that the big money backers would make sure none of it would make a difference. As it had not made a difference over the decades that it took for these charter schools to become so prolific and take root in our communities. Now the story resurfaces as if it is news, but it is unmitigated child abuse that it is known by those in a position to change it, and or punish it, and here it is October 2015 still wrong and strong. God Bless people like Leonie Haimson who have not been deterred; and who continues to show up, and fight to expose and change the system of abuse for the children whose own parents barely know what is happening to them. 

When I see these mothers who are willing to participate in these propaganda commericals for these charter schools, I am sick about all that they don't know, and how their children are subsequently in a position to fend for themselves. 

I am glad this article repeats the one area that EVERYONE must know regardless of whether your child attends these schools or not. They are criminalizing these children to the point that the children are believing them, and begin to act as expected. When you get detention for squeaking the rubber soles on the floor, or coughing. or sneezing in a disingenuous way; when you are taught that asking for help when you are told not to talk, is a level 4 "disrespect of a teacher" your world begins to change. Twilight Zone comes to mind. 

What did the few parents who stood against their policies teach them? How to hide their abuses. They decided to start with younger and younger kids, so the communication of abuses would be harder to decipher. They decided to tell the parents one thing, and do another to the child. I once stood in the hall and listened to a dean yell so violently at a student (behind closed doors) that I couldn't even discern the infraction. The child was thoroughly convinced he had committed a sin so unspeakable based on her threats, that he was too afraid to report the incident to his parents, hoping the she wouldn't either. 

It is a layered problem, but lets start with the illegal stuff and take it from there. But when the office of child welfare stops taking calls, and when you do get through tells you it will be more than a year before anyone even thinks about investigating the complaint, hopelessness can set in. Even the NYC agency set-up to protect children with special needs, failed. It was clear there was a network of silence at work, that is well funded... Anyway, I go on... 

Hopefully this will be the year, this will be the story, this will be the child that will break the system's back. No more charter abuses! 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Eva's Got to Go, Not Children: NY Times Throws Another Grenade at Eva Moskowitz as She Holds Presser to Scam for More Money

Let's see Eva try to fight her way out of this one... Leonie Haimson

At a Success Academy Charter School, Singling Out Pupils Who Have ‘Got to Go’


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-academy-charter-school-singling-out-pupils-who-have-got-to-go.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Today Eva has a press conf demanding the city give her pre-k money even if she won't sign a contract like every other school does. These new revelations won't help her case.

This is open child abuse. 
Why did Eva release the records of that child and risk violating federal FERPA laws - a child who happens to now be a successful student at the Earth School with experienced teachers like MORE's presidential candidate Jia Lee, who teaches that child? To intimidate parents who were pushed out of Success from testifying.
See: Cease and Desist letter sent today to Eva Moskowitz of Success Charters

It hasn't worked.

Another goody on Success Charter Scam from NY Times' Kate Taylor. I met Kate in Sept. 2014 at a Success charter school hearing in Brooklyn when she was new to the ed beat and hadn't yet gotten a hold of the Success Charter scam. How nice to see the Times investing in investigative reporting on Eva.

Kate's article goes into the tactics used on 5-year olds. Beat them up over minor infractions until they get so frustrated they lash out and commit more and more infractions. Then tell the world these kids don't belong in their schools - but where else do they go but in public schools where there are great and experienced teachers like Jia who know how to deal with these kids in a humane way?

More parents are following the lead and revealing the excess at Success.

From left, Folake Wimbish, Nicey Givens and Folake Ogundiran all withdrew their children from Success Academy Fort Greene. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
Will Eva continue to violate FERPA lawa by releasing these kids' records?

Former Success staff are also beginning to talk - anonymously because they know they will be hounded and attacked for talking.
Principals at Success, many in their 20s and 30s, frequently consult with a team of lawyers before suspending a student or requiring a parent to pick up a child early every day. It was a member of that team who described a student’s withdrawal from the Success Academy in Union Square to colleagues as a “big win,” the current employee said. 
I love that Kate mentioned the ages of the principals. I wonder if staff don't have to sign some non-disclosure agreements when they sign a contract? Does anyone have examples of these contracts to publish?

For James Merriman, who heads the charter network and full well knows the evils of Eva, to try to defend them is indefensible.
James D. Merriman, the chief executive officer of the New York City Charter School Center, a group that advocates and supports charter schools, said it was unrealistic to expect any given school to be a good fit for every child. And Mr. Merriman noted that the city had many traditional public schools that required a test or other screening for admission, schools that by definition did not serve all students.
That's an infinitesimal number of public schools and they are open and above board on their policies. Merriman used to sell charters as taking every kid through the lottery. Now they are explaining away their trying to beat the lottery.

And this was just sent out to the Twitter Brigade:
Hi Twitter Brigade,

The news keeps piling on, today the New York Times published an article confirming and detailing some disgusting suspension habits carried out by Success Academy Charter School Network.

The article proves that Success Academy uses frequent suspensions as a tactic to push students out, using a "Got to Go" list. Read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

This sort of unfair treatment shows that Success Academy is not the "public school" they claim to be and that Eva Moskowitz will use ultimate autonomy to hand pick students.

TWEET WITH US NOW!!

Let Eva and her schools know this is unacceptable. Attached are some meme's and below are sample tweets.

9 of 16 students on @SuccessCharters #Got2Go list withdrew. Frequent suspensions force kids out http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters uses frequent suspensions to push kids out, claims they #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Moskowitz wages ultimate autonomy claims kids #GotToGo then suspends until they withdraw http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters uses trolling parents with suspensions for minor infractions as form of pushing kids out #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Parents choose @SuccessCharters then learn their child has #GotToGo with frequent suspensions http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Parents say 'lives upended by repeated suspensions' @SuccessCharters says their child has #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters staff ADMIT network uses suspension to let parents know their child has #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Students that @SuccessCharters believe have #GotToGo are suspended frequently, left off re-enrollment list http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters staff say certain kids leaving is 'BIG WIN' #GotToGo http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

.@SuccessCharters decide some students have #GotToGo, start suspending as young as kindergarten http://nyti.ms/1MkDyX3

Teacher to Ed Notes: The city is SO using this eval to harass teachers

The city is SO using this eval to harass teachers. They don't even have to be verbally abusive any more.
The eval is harassing enough and keeping everyone on edge. It will push out all tier 4 people before their time.
That goes for workshop model too. You can't implement a work shop model in classes of 32 kids and keep endless records on all of them. That's why they'll never reduce class size. All meant to push out teachers.
Total bullshit.
What do you think?

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

KIPP Forces 5th Graders to 'Earn' Desks By Sitting On the Floor For a Week

One hundred 10-year-olds spent the first week of school sitting on the floor. What was it they were supposed to have learned?...
KIPP spends a great deal of money promoting its brand of total compliance, segregated charter schools as the “tough love, no excuses” solution for schooling in urban communities disabled by poverty and lack of hope. KIPP and its billionaire supporters contend that we cannot wait for an end to poverty to properly educate the children of the poor. No one I know would disagree with this premise, but everyone I know disagrees with KIPP's conception of what "properly educate" means.
KIPP requires the poorest urban children, those who have received the least in life, to earn everything at KIPP, from paychecks for good behavior and working hard to the very shirts they wear. At some KIPPs, children must even earn their right to sit at a desk (rather than on the floor) for 8 to 10 hours a day.
......... Jim Horn, Schools Matter and Alternet
There were some people on Facebook skeptical of this report.

Watch these videos of Achievement First parents talk about their children sitting on the floor. May not be KIPP but might as well be: https://vimeo.com/30227766, https://vimeo.com/30238788, https://vimeo.com/30266020.

We did these riveting interviews for our movie,

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

   due to Leonie Haimson organizing the interview and doing the questioning. I just turned on my camera. I thought we would be there for a few minutes instead of over 2 hours. We were able to use just a bit of the footage in the movie but for me it turned into one of the most powerful statements we made. People in Providence used the footage to help fight  Achievement First.

MORE's Erik Foreman in The Gothamist: NYC Teacher Talks: "The Weight Of Standardized Testing Is Absolutely Crushing"

MORE seems to be attracting some amazing people. Erik Foreman. a 2nd year teacher, has thrown himself into the nitty gritty work of MORE and played a major role in setting up the MORE conference last Saturday that attracted almost 200 people. Erik is already the chapter leader of his school and as anyone knows, that is a risky business for the nontenured who can be discontinued on a principal's whim. I'm assuming that Erik does not have a monster principal. (My advice for anyone with a monster principal, especially the nontenured, is to find another school ASAP.)

I knew Erik was a barista organizing in Starbucks and later found out he has traveled around the world doing that kind of work, even in China. While some would classify Erik as an activist, to me it is more important that he is an organizer - someone who thinks about what it takes to build an effective organization and then goes out and does it. MORE is lucky to have him.

Here are some excerpts from the Gothamist piece.

NYC Teacher Talks: "The Weight Of Standardized Testing Is Absolutely Crushing"





Erik (Jennifer Preissel / Gothamist)
Last month, 240,000 students and their teachers returned to the corridors of New York City’s 500 public high schools. Gothamist sat down with teachers at different stages of their careers—some entering service, some with a few years under their belt, and a couple of vets. We talked about why they chose to teach, how they feel about the government's education policy and their thoughts on the charter system and the United Federation of Teachers. We wanted to know: are the teachers all right?

We'll run a different teacher profile each day this week (read them all here). Today we feature Erik, who is in his second year of teaching English as a second language and social studies in the Bronx. Erik is also the United Federation of Teachers' chapter leader for his school.
When I was in college, I worked at Starbucks at the Mall of America. I saw that there were lots of problems—poverty wages, inconsistent scheduling, arbitrary firings, sexual harassment from the boss. So my coworkers and I started a union and we were able to change a lot of things. We got much more stable scheduling. We were connected to Starbucks workers doing some of these things across the US. We saw that when workers stand together you can have a voice and you can change things. So I got very involved in union organizing in the fast food industry for about seven years.

I also began working as a substitute teacher. I had this experience of essentially working with the people in the fast food industry whose kids I would then encounter in the classroom. And I saw that there was this very direct connection between poverty and academic success. I thought you could attack poverty both by union organizing, which is probably the most powerful tool we have, but that education also has to play a role, to give people the confidence to believe that we can live in a better world, to open their minds to different possibilities for themselves and for the whole society.

Eventually I decided to go into teaching, which took me into the New York City Teaching Fellows here in the Bronx. I had not planned on getting active in the union when I started as a teacher, but I rapidly saw that so many of the problems we have in the school system are actually workplace problems—they are problems of capitalism.

------I think we have to transform the UFT. The UFT is, I think, like most unions in the United States, it's based on a model of service unionism, where people pay their $54 a paycheck and in exchange they get services. They get advice, help with dental insurance, a catalogue with discounts on a security system for your home, maybe some professional development courses. But that's not where the power of the union lies. The power of the union lies in members talking to each other, figuring out what problems they have, what problems they share with the community and taking action. If we did that, the UFT would be an unstoppable force.

--------


The weight of standardized testing is absolutely crushing. It makes it difficult for teachers to foster critical thinking when students could be tested on more facts and figures than they could ever conceivably learn in a school year. All teachers do a dance of trying to make sure kids do well on these tests.
-------


Charter schools can kick kids out, so they take the kids who are easier to work with, need less support to succeed and they kick out the kids who have behavioral problems, learning disabilities, who are struggling to acquire English. Over time, this creates this gradient where the students who need less support do better because maybe because they have more stable family lives or they come from a higher socioeconomic class, they end up in the charter schools and the public schools get the kids who need the most help. But they are getting fewer resources than the charters to do this. The charter system is creating a two-tiered education system and that's been morally wrong always, and legally wrong since Brown vs. Board of Education.





Endorsements for Jia Lee for UFT President Roll In

Wonderful Jia! So glad you will shake up the UFT. Let's figure out how public school parents can work on your campaign to help get all teachers to vote for Jia in 2016! I feel a change coming!.. Janine Sopp, opt-out parent activist.
The parents at Change the Stakes, where Jia is a steering committee  member, were overjoyed at the announcement of her presidency. Janine's point about parents, especially from the opt-out movement, working on the campaign is intriguing - and offers the campaign entry points into schools it otherwise would not have access to. While Unity sends its employees into schools to stuff mailboxes I imagine an army of parents talking to their children's teachers about Jia.

Jia is a nationally known leader of the opt-out movement but people are finding out she is much more than that. Her amazing leadership skills have impressed so many. Read DOENuts on his personal experience with Jia's leadership.
The Doenuts Blog

I'll tell my own stories in another post.

Jia is endorsed in another brilliant post from NYC Educator 
Jia Lee for UFT President -

An interesting point:  Jia is the first of Asian descent to run for UFT president. Having just returned from Japan where we observed a certain pattern of behavior, I am trying to process the extent to which Jia's calmness and ways of dealing with people with a Zen-like aura come from that background. I cannot think of one person who does not love Jia. As I said I will share some personal stories - including ones where I went ballistic and she calmed me down. I am a much better person for it.

You know one of the great sports metaphors about athletes is whether the make the other players on the team better. If you measure Jia's effectiveness in those terms she is a superstar.


Monday, October 26, 2015

Brian Jones: Teach for America leaves Black Lives behind

Can the privatization of public education serve the interests of Black children? Is the growth of TFA a net benefit for Black children or a problem? These are not salacious questions or conspiracy-mongering, but genuine issues that the movement will need to understand and take up, in words and deeds....Brian Jones
 -------
If the Black Lives Matter movement is to grow, it must "connect the dots" between the struggle for justice in the streets and the struggle for justice in the schools. TFA is, in my view, on the wrong side of one of those struggles, which, at the very least, calls into question its ability to play a role in the other. And apparently, some TFA alums agree.... Brian Jones
---------
IN MOST places, these same education justice activists have been confronting the sweeping privatization of public education--that is, school closings, the proliferation of charter schools, union busting and the spread of high-stakes standardized testing--which has been the bipartisan policy on education at the national level for more than two decades. Yet the advocates of privatization have repeatedly cloaked their agenda in the robes of the historic civil rights movement. 
-------Brian Jones, http://socialistworker.org/2015/10/26/teach-for-america-leaves-black-lives-behind

We are posting articles on the TFA involvement in Black Lives Matter.
Here, MORE colleague Brian Jones lays it all out as well as can be done.

Teach for America leaves Black Lives behind

A debate has developed among leading voices of the Black Lives Matter movement about the connection, or lack of one, between the antiracist struggle to the battle against the education reform movement, including Teach for America (TFA), an organization that recruits college graduates without any teaching experience and places them in schools in low-income communities, often in cooperation with charter school operators. Here, New York City educator, activist and writer Brian Jones sets out the context of this discussion and examines the arguments of those who believe Teach for America can help make Black Lives Matter.

New York City students protest plans to open another charter school in the Bronx 
New York City students protest plans to open another charter school in the Bronx
 
THE DIVERSE and determined movement against police violence and murder--now known to so many as Black Lives Matter--is facing a series of political challenges, as grassroots movements inevitably do. Choosing demands, deciding on strategy and tactics, selecting leaders and holding them accountable--all of these are difficult matters, and the road to success has potholes to avoid at every turn.

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" is open to a wide number of interpretations. Making Black lives matter in anonymous encounters with police officers is one, obviously. But many in the movement make connections to the fight for the $15-an-hour minimum wage or the struggle against violence directed at Black women and LGBTQ Black people.

Connecting these proverbial dots will only make the movement stronger.
Another obviously connected issue is K-12 schooling. Sixty years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, American schools are more racially segregated than ever, with Black children overwhelmingly concentrated in underfunded schools. They are disproportionately subject to significantly harsher disciplinary procedures than their peers, starting from pre-K--to such an extent that there is even a phrase for it: the "school-to-prison pipeline."

Across the country, parents, teachers and students have challenged the policies that uphold these patterns, consciously seeking to connect the Black Lives Matter movement to the effort to end institutional racism in public schooling. The students in Seattle who walked out of school to protest the decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown are just one example.

And here is where it gets challenging.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IN MOST places, these same education justice activists have been confronting the sweeping privatization of public education--that is, school closings, the proliferation of charter schools, union busting and the spread of high-stakes standardized testing--which has been the bipartisan policy on education at the national level for more than two decades.

Yet the advocates of privatization have repeatedly cloaked their agenda in the robes of the historic civil rights movement. From the Wall Street banker who called charter schools "the civil rights movement of my generation" to the former U.S. Secretary of Education referring to the anti-union, anti-public school film Waiting for "Superman" as a "Rosa Parks moment" for education, to the judge comparing the recent anti-teacher tenure lawsuit in California to the Brown decision, over and over, corporate reformers claim to be fighting for justice for Black children.

There is no single, authentic "Black" standpoint on this issue. Black people are genuinely on both sides. Former charter school CEO Geoffrey Canada favors privatization and claimed that his goal was to "destroy" public education. Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), says that fighting for Black children requires saving public education.
Nevertheless, it's not difficult to pull apart the claims of the privatizers. For starters, charter schools are more segregated than public schools.

Furthermore, the most celebrated charter schools are infamous for pushing out the students who are struggling, who are more expensive to educate, or who might lower the school's test scores--especially students with special needs, English Language Learners, etc.

Focusing instruction on raising standardized test scores does not a good education make, and the pressure to raise scores is felt most acutely in schools where Black students are concentrated--which has led those schools to cut art, science and even social studies in order to focus more time on tested subjects: reading and math. Following in the wake of this pressure are Zero Tolerance discipline policies and the austere, militarized environment that pushes kids into the school-to-prison pipeline.

Also, trade unions have been essential levers of access to middle-class incomes for Black people--especially union employment in the public sector. Black people continue to be more likely to be union members than any other racial group, and approximately one in five Black adults work in the public sector.

Black teachers are a small minority of teachers nationwide, but they are concentrated in larger numbers in schools that overwhelmingly serve Black students, and so their jobs have been disproportionately affected by privatization. A recent report on nine cities targeted for school privatization found that all have declining numbers of Black teachers.

New Orleans may be the place where, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the privatizers have completed their work to the fullest extent. Most schools in New Orleans are now charters, the teachers' union is gone, and standardized test scores are the "coin" of competition in school rankings. No school has any obligation to any particular child. The parents get to "choose" any school, but that really means they can apply to any school--there's no guarantee their child will be admitted.

But rather than emerging as a model of Black liberation, the schools in New Orleans are more segregated than ever, and Black students are concentrated in the lowest-performing and most underfunded schools in the city.
Meanwhile, more than 7,000 Black teachers in New Orleans have lost their jobs--while Teach For America has provided a steadily rotating crop of new teachers from outside Louisiana to take their places. The number of Black teachers has dropped by almost half, while the number of white teachers has nearly doubled.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A NEW teacher unionism movement spreading nationwide is attempting to fight against the privatization of K-12 public schooling and fight the specific effects of institutional racism on Black people in schools. The most dramatic and inspiring examples of what it could accomplish were the 2012 Chicago Teachers Union strike and the Seattle teachers strike of this year.
In Chicago, the CTU said public education in the city was an "apartheid" system and exposed the dramatic inequalities of the Chicago Public Schools, while putting forward its own vision of the schools Chicago's children deserve. In Seattle, the teachers demanded and won the formation of race and equity teams to work inside schools to end the disproportionate pattern of suspensions and other harsh punishments for Black students.
Both strikes showed the power of connecting the movement to defend public education by challenging the privatization agenda with the struggle against institutional racism.

But not all Black Lives Matter activists are for making that connection.
Two people who have risen to national prominence in the fight against racist police violence and murder, DeRay Mckesson and Brittany Packnett, are proud alumni of TFA, the nonprofit that places inexperienced teachers in classrooms nationwide after only six weeks of preparation and that has enthusiastically supported the spread of nonunion charter schools. Packnett is executive director of TFA in St. Louis.

In a response to critics who she claimed made "salacious" arguments and portrayed her as an "evil Trojan horse" and "sell-out opportunist," Packnett wrote that TFA responded effectively after the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson and the militant demonstrations that followed, using its substantial resources to help families in need and even sending people to the protests.
Packnett supports TFA's work in schools, she writes, because TFA is doing "hyper-local" teacher training that is "culturally responsive" and is placing "more diverse" teachers in schools than ever before.

But in six weeks, how "culturally responsive" can a teacher learn to be? The problem remains that, nationwide, Black children are disproportionately taught by inexperienced teachers--a problem that TFA exacerbates.
Packnett writes that she is willing to work with anyone who will fight for justice, but:
[t]hat will require that we stop yelling at one another and put children back at the center. It will require that we elevate our conversations beyond our personal ideological frameworks and the salacious viral posts that entrench them, and earnestly seek out what works best for kids--regardless of where it comes from.
Sure, we don't necessarily need to yell. But we do need to be able to discuss important disagreements. And good intentions are not enough to make the changes we need.

Another marker of one particular view among Black Lives Matter activists is Packnett's participation in President Barack Obama's task force on policing. But Obama's rhetorical support for ending police murder hasn't been matched by action when it comes to federal prosecution of murderous police officers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MCKESSON, LIKE Packnett, argues that much of what his critics say amounts to ad-hominem attacks. In various tweets and Facebook posts, he calls for a more "nuanced" conversation about charter schools. In one thread, he wrote:
I was a TFA corps member, yes. And I taught in a public school. And was a senior leader in two public school districts. I've always supported school districts, and I don't think charter schools are the solution or that they'll scale, but I think that, to a degree and in some places, they serve a purpose. But again, there's nuance there.
It's just so interesting that the conversation is never framed about what's best for kids, and that the assumption is that I hate unions or teachers or color and want to ruin public education.
For the record, this commentary is not claiming any salacious or evil conspiracy at work. I don't assume that Mckesson or Packnett hate unions or teachers of color or that they want to ruin public education. I assume they mean what they say and say what they mean. I assume they believe in what they are doing and in the alliances they are forging. I do think, however, that they are joining forces with organizations and institutions that are hostile to a broad movement for justice.

This represents a substantial political disagreement on how to win justice--in the streets and in schools--for millions of Black and Brown children in this country. On one side, we have people, like Mckesson and Packnett, who see wealthy and powerful corporations and political elites as allies in the fight against police terror. On the other hand, you have people, including many teachers' union activists, who view the corporate and political elite as fundamentally part of the problem.

Packnett says she will never again respond to critics. That's unfortunate, because this debate is important to the future strategy of the movement in which she is playing a leading role. In a recent speech in Philadelphia, Mckesson alluded to "my own critique of TFA," Given his role in this movement, it would be useful to know what that critique consists of.
Can a movement against state violence work with the executives of the state and against them at the same time? Can the privatization of public education serve the interests of Black children? Is the growth of TFA a net benefit for Black children or a problem? These are not salacious questions or conspiracy-mongering, but genuine issues that the movement will need to understand and take up, in words and deeds.
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THE PRIVATIZATION of public education is not, in my view, compatible with making Black Lives Matter in the streets or anywhere else. Yes, nuance requires us to acknowledge that some people experience the move from a public school to a charter school as an improvement in education. But at least an equal number experience the opposite move as an improvement.

While Packnett and Mckesson may not go this far, the federal and elite policy has been to promote charter schools and other elements of the privatization agenda as the solution. They do so in a manner that is totally disproportionate to the merits of privatization for ordinary people, because that elite benefits from it, politically, economically and socially.

Besides weakening the labor movement and socializing all of us to accept our lot in life, the school privatization movement has the added benefit to the elites of opening up new revenue streams for investors. For real estate investors, the Wall Street Journal reports, the latest gold rush is charter school construction. One fund promises investors a 10 percent return on their money.

Ultimately, TFA is part of this privatization "movement"--led by millionaires and billionaires like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Stanley Druckenmiller and more--that is using genuine grievances and frustrations of oppressed communities to break up one of the last remaining strongholds of the public sector: K-12 schools.

The elites who support this agenda make a lot of noise about "racial justice" and always claim to have the best interests of children at heart, rather than the interests of various adults, especially teachers, who are implied to be selfish, by contrast. But children eventually grow up, which is one simple reason why the interests of children and adults are inseparably linked.
What kind of institution is so worried about children but treats adults like dirt? Walmart, the largest private donor to TFA, is also the largest employer of Black people in the U.S. Many of its full-time employees rely on public assistance to survive, yet somehow we are to believe that this corporate giant is "earnestly" and disinterestedly seeking out "what works best for kids."

It may be that Mckesson does agree that the Black Lives Matter movements should "connect the dots" between economic justice and racial justice. But a report on his recent speech in Philadelphia noted:
In his view, what's best for students isn't necessarily improving their socioeconomic status, though important, but rather "having a teacher who believes they can learn." What we need are "great teachers in every classroom, every day, and a system of schools that are high quality at scale," said Mr. Mckesson, who was appalled to learn that the school district of Philadelphia, a month or so before grades go in, still has a vacancy count of almost 200 teaching positions.
It seems that Mckesson feels the issue of economic equality can be put to one side while we deal with issues of teacher quality and police violence. Here, he is, consciously or not, echoing the narrative of the privatization movement, which claims to bring justice to Black children without actually redistributing any wealth or resources, and without giving up any power or privilege.

We would do well to remember the actual civil rights movement--the one where Dr. King died in Memphis trying to help Black sanitation workers form a public-sector union.

Dr. King was right when he said that genuine justice was indivisible. There won't be justice in the schools without justice at work and justice in the streets. We cannot take from one group in order to get "justice" for another. We cannot get justice for children by beating up on adults, just as we cannot have racial justice without economic justice.

If the Black Lives Matter movement is to grow, it must "connect the dots" between the struggle for justice in the streets and the struggle for justice in the schools. TFA is, in my view, on the wrong side of one of those struggles, which, at the very least, calls into question its ability to play a role in the other. And apparently, some TFA alums agree.

This isn't yelling or an ad hominem attack. This is a political disagreement about the future of the struggle for justice for Black people.