Do Teacher Unions Have the Cooties? - Julie Cavanagh at the Huffington Post

A Real Reformer has a few things to say

If not for NYC teachers like Julie Cavanagh I would most likely be out grazing in the pasture of early bird specials and daytime bus trips to Atlantic City.

Having met Julie only 15 months ago through her work with Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) in Red Hook, I have to say that I have been more than impressed - impressed at the idea that a teacher just a shade over 30 with a decade of experience is out there with a whole bunch of other same gen Real Reformers doing what so many older teachers who I hear putting down the younger gen of colleagues do not believe is possible – mounting a defense of teacher unions from the perspective of a teacher in the trenches. And with a social justice twist.

One thing I have come to know. My usual habits of meandering around issues at tasks and at meetings and losing focus is not something to be tolerated. The constant refrains: "Is that the most productive use of your time?" and "Stop interrupting people." Nice to be lectured to by someone over half your age. But I am definitely more productive – when prodded. Fear does work.

Julie has helped CAPE organize a wonderful crew of teachers aligned with parents in the Red Hook community to fight off the invasions of the PAVE charter school clones. CAPE's work has impressed the activist education community throughout NYC with its passionate defense and pride in their public school. Many consider their school and community one of the most successful examples of a truly organized teacher/parent advocacy group. The 50 page "Advocacy Toolkit" that emerged from their own experience was produced to assist other schools facing charter co-locations had people dropping their jaws in awe. Check out the index:

1. Educating and Advertising…
· Create a press release
· Create a blog
· Contact the media
· Create a newsletter
· Advocacy Resources
2. Organizing…
· Create an advocacy group
· Community Organizing
3. Mobilizing...
· Create a petition
· Create a form letter
· Contact Policymakers
· Community Mobilizing
4. Information to share

(I can send you a copy if interested.)
 
Julie and some other CAPEers have jumped into the work of GEM. In a relatively short time, Julie has emerged as a prominent voice for the classroom teacher in the NYC ed real reform community: a major force behind the rally at Bloomberg's house in January (she co-signed the court papers along with Seung Ok) and the film we are working on to respond to WfS (http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org). An organizer for the rally in front of the movie theater on Sept. 24, she even wrote the words for the song "Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up!" A passionate advocate for many of the push button issues so many of us care about, she provides real leadership, which has so often been absent. Julie's appearance on Fox and Friends on Sept. 26 gave her an opportunity to defend teachers and tenure in the very brief time she had ("Without tenure I wouldn't be sitting here....tenure allows teachers to advocate with parents for children.")

My proudest moment: introducing Julie to Leonie Haimson.
This dynamic duo should make the ed deformers very scared indeed.

When we add some of the great people in the NY Collection of Radical Educators (NYCORE), Teachers Unite and other activists in Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), there is some hope for a movement to emerge from the new generation of teachers (please, please so I can be put out to pasture).

The common theme: Will the Real Reformers Please Stand Up!

Going national
Recently, Julie began a column at the Huffington Post. Look for it weekly.

Her first post: Do Teacher Unions Have the Cooties?

Excerpts:

Each week it is my hope to bring to you a teacher's perspective, highlighting the latest issues in educational policy with anecdotes from the everyday classroom. Please join me, in the comments section, by sharing your personal stories that bring to life the unintended, or perhaps intended, consequences of education policy and reform.

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We all remember "the cooties", and we expect this kind of behavior and name calling from young children. Millions of parents and teachers hide their laughter (at least I do) when the subject is perennially breached. As we engaged in a brief discussion of "the cooties" and treating each other nicely, I couldn't help but think of the national dialogue about teachers and their unions right now, and the very clear message that teacher unions "have the cooties". The assault on teacher unions has reached a fever pitch. The conversation surrounding education policy, and millions in taxpayer dollars in the form of Race to the Top, is focused not only on attacking our unions, but weakening them, if not dismantling them altogether.
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I am interested in reform. However, I seek real reform. Attacking teachers and their unions will not result in real reform. Let's turn our sights not on those "wealthy middle class teachers, with their cushy jobs, who retire on pensions that are a fraction of their salary," instead, we should focus on our policy makers and the corporate interests that drive their decision making. Let's stop playing schoolyard games with teachers and their unions and get real. Teachers and their unions do not have 'the cooties', we simply have and want to keep what all workers in this country should have: fair wages, health care, protections from arbitrary firing, safe working conditions, and a reasonable pension so we can live and retire at a fair wage and age.

Our children deserve real reform right now! Write to your policy makers and demand:
- Smaller class sizes
- Public Schools that are Community Centers and Serve ALL Children
- More Teaching -- Less Testing
- Parent and Teacher Empowerment and Leadership
- Equitable funding for ALL schools
- Anti-Racist Education Policies
- Culturally Relevant Curriculum
- Expanded Pre Kindergarten and Early Intervention Programs

Read the full piece at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-cavanagh/post_955_b_742752.html

Arthur Goldstein too
Speaking of Huffington, another great teacher activist leader - but a bit closer to my generation - is Arthur Goldstein, chapter leader at Francis Lewis HS, also has his first post up and running - a love letter to Bill Gates at the Huffington Post and a letter in the Daily News today (scroll down to see it).

Here's an excerpt from: Garrulous Mr. Gates

It's been a busy year for Bill Gates. He's been spreading his gospel far and wide. He spent 2 million dollars promoting Waiting for Superman, yet its alleged villainess, AFT President Randi Weingarten and company chose Gates to address her convention, an unlikely choice, to say the least. I'm not an education expert like Gates, so I'll comment only on a TED talk he gave last year. My experience is limited to teaching 25 years in New York City.  Still, even a layperson such as myself has to wonder where the influential Gates gets his information:

After burn
Check out the post below this for upcoming Teacher Unite events this week, starting with Lois Weiner tomorrow.