UFT Takes a Seat on Mayoral Control, While ICE Offers Alternative

UPDATED

The NY Times has an article on the UFT position on mayoral control.

The Independent Community of Educators (ICE) had members on the task force who struggled to get the committee to take a strong stand against mayoral control. But to no avail. ICE came together a little over 5 years ago partially based on the UFT's support for mayoral control and has been putting out this position over that time. (Ed Notes took a stand against in 2001.)

We'll be getting into the details later. ICE sees any continuance of mayoral control no matter how many "checks and balances" will continue to be a negative for the NYC schools.

Click on the images to enlarge

At the bottom of the Times article:
Union officials said they expected that some members of their committee would also issue a dissenting report" it is ICE being referred to.

It is the ICE members that are being referred to.

The ICE Minority report is posted at Ed Notes and other sites.

There is a lot to talk about - yesterday's UFT Exec Bd meeting and the mayoral control panel moderated by Elizabeth Green with Leonie on the panel. I was at the latter (somehow the UFT's Carmen Alvarez had a clone and was at both.) Here's one report of the Ex Bd meeting:
Reports from the Belly of the Beast: What Happened at the UFT Exec Bd Meeting

On the UFT embargo of information floating out of the task force, we received this email from a delegate this morning.

Imagine my surprise! I open up the NY Times this morning and I see an article about this report and Randi is quoted in the article! I thought we were supposed to keep this “secret” until the entire, or at least the 25% of the delegate body that can fit at 50 Broadway, can discuss this. So when Randi does it, it is news/spin. If someone else does it, it is a leak and an assault on the union and the democratic principles it "stands" for.

A particularly striking note from the Times article:

The teachers’ union did not back a proposal made by the principals’ union, which would require that the chancellor to have a background in education and could not receive a waiver from the state’s education commissioner, as both Chancellor Joel I. Klein and his predecessor had.

So, the CSA is calling for an educator as chancellor and the UFT is not.

Enough said.

Stay tuned as more analysis is coming from the ICE people who participated. They will attempt to present the ICE report at the Delegate Assembly tomorrow after having their request to have the official UFT amended turned down at the Exec Bd.

Interesting note:
Leo Casey proposed that the ICE report be printed and distributed at the DA. One inch towards democracy? Or a clever tactic to defuse ICE's demand to include the minority report? Let's give Leo credit on this one, though I am always suspicious. Will UFT copy machines break down in protest upon coming across something that says "ICE?"