Thursday, November 2, 2006

Comment on UFT Charter School

From the NY Times - Nov. 2, 2006

"Mr. Spitzer, on the other hand, has the unions’ support and recently toured a charter school in Brooklyn run by the city union, the United Federation of Teachers. The union president, Randi Weingarten, boasted of creating a model school with no more than 25 students per class and two teachers in each room."

The UFT argued when pushing for the charter school that they would show they would make a model school with the same funds that regular schools are working under. What is needed is the numbers to show how you could have 2 teachers in a room with 25 children. We do know that Eli Broad, one of the leaders of the corporate onslaught on the public schools, gave $1 million towards the UFT charter school. Does Randi's "boast" help or hurt the cause of public education?

1 comment:

NYC Educator said...

If charters were just charters, and not blatant union-busters, they'd be one thing. But they clearly haven't been used that way.

And a few UFT charters are simply not going to slow down the constant attacks on working people in this country. I'd like to see strong leadership for teachers, and what I keep seeing is the timidity and politeness that ensured John Kerry never became president.

When manners are more important than results, you demonstrate only that the meek do not, in fact inherit the earth.