We predicted that if Mulgrew won big, the dominoes would start falling. First the rubber rooms. Then the agreement on teacher evaluations. Next, the charter school cap. Today's Daily News tells us (City and teachers union nearly reach deal on charter schools, only for it to fall apart later on) they almost got there yesterday but the deal fell apart. Temporarily I would bet. Watch the UFT blink but dress up the big in a fancy new dress and claim a big victory.
UFT/Unity Caucus shill Peter Goodman is often a bellwether of where the union is heading.
"Teacher unions are on the defensive. The Obama-Duncan symphony blares, states hunger for dollars, and legislatures rapidly fold, state after state is caving and changing laws to make themselves eligible for the Washington “pieces of silver.” Crafty union leaders can use this crisis to extract something, an “apples for oranges” deal. Would a deal for raising the cap justify a teacher retirement incentive? or, abolishing the ATR pool? or, increasing teacher voice on School Leadership Teams?
Sure, crafty union leaders. Have any of you seen a crafty union leader around? Increasing teacher voice on school leadership teams in exchange for lifting the cap? Give me a break. Apples for oranges? More like grapes for prunes!
A buyout would go a long way to address part of the ATR problem. New teachers would be spared in part and the union has an obligation to all of its members. As far as Leadership Teams, I would hope that the union would instead look to firm up the contract so that more teachers would be hired from closing schools. For sure, there are a lot of negotiations on going.
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