TFA LIFO Panel Part 2

[forgot to mention - lots of E4E people with green tee-shirts. They look like soylent green. Also - TFAer officials there - they look clearly to be in parnership - but many E4Es recruited from TFA.]
No signal here so can't post till later.

Sydney brags LIFO law in Albany was teacher voice. Uses "we" as if she is still a classroom teacher. Give us a break Sydney. False advertising.
She says Albany law strengthens union. HA.
Leo slamming law and by nature Sydney for being proud of it. Not something teachers would be proud of. Says research by E4E faulty that seniority layoffs affect schools with high poverty rates.
Lindsey says research can swing both ways.
Rhee slug is back. Can't listen to this guy spout nonsense.
Principal Willoughby speaking. We talk too much about atrs and u ratings. Should talk more about supporting teachers. Eval system not in place yet. His school would not be affected by lifo. Wouldn't trust some principals to be fair - first murmur from audience. Looks like a bunch of TFA people agree. Gets applause about looking for better eval system.
Lindsay talks long term.
Sydney - in absence of more perfect system lifo should be overrided. Claims 80 percent of teachers who would go in layoffs under lifo are better than those who would remain. Lindsay asks how she knows. She says research says but can't cite it now - slight guffaw from audience. I'm impressed by reactions of this TFA dominated crowd.
In other words Sydney doesn't care if innocent people who are u rated get screwed since most are probably guilty (think death row).
Rhee slug agrees with Sydney. Talks about subjectiing children blah blah blah.  Says these things don't have to be collectively bargained. You can get teacher input without coll barg. Right. Like you did in DC with Rhee. You sure listened to teachers. Says union defends bad teachers.
Leo - not job of union to defend incomp teachers but assure due process. Leo brags about eval system in Albany pushed by uft.
Talks about stand test deforming ed - cites wash dc cheating scandal- Gets some applause from some.
Basically looks like Leo winning the day. More applause from classroom teachers.
I'm not capturing essence of what he's presenting.
Lindsey asks princ if hard to give u rating. He says yes but also says has strong staff. So of course it is hard to give u ratings. (If you have a strong staff then U ratings aren't on table - unless there's a quota.)
Ed deformers use stats - like how can 95% be Ok if results poor? Jack Welch idea- fire 10% every year.
Leo says cut few hundred jobs at Tweed to pay for jobs. Gets laugh. Says teacher bashing will prevent people from entering profession.
Leo talks about bias agst women, gays, race. Says if you're a white billionaire you'd be safe.
Sydney says teachers need protection but pulls "adults" vs "children" card. Funny coming from someone who abandoned her children to spend her life fighting LIFO.
Great question from TFA alum. Says she was unprepared as first year tchr but survived thru help of senior tchrs. What would happen if lifo goes and salary is issue? Gets applauded.
Principal Matt says too much attention paid by Bloomberg to getting rid of teachers. Should focus on supporting teachers. Willoughby seems genuine.
Leo says we lose 50 percent of new teachers in 6 yrs. Problem is not getting rid of tchrs but attracting and keeping them.
Tchr question - nearly given u rating for being gay and left wing. Only union protected me.
Sydney now calls for administrator accountability - gee, a new wrinkle. Boy does her voice squeek. Worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.
Leo again brings up gay and sexual harassment. Lindsey asks if employment law doesn't protect. He says any half smart admin knows how to get around it.
She asks does that mean he favors lifo. Lindsay has been pushing this to try to get Leo to take a stand.
Then he nails it with - reluctantly it seems - only objective measure. FINALLY.
Sydney again talks about absenteeism. Christ asks about medical reasons.
Sydney says if medical ok
Leo- why not use current expedited procedure? Why create new proceed?
Lindsey - what about crime procedure? Proposed Law says tchr charged. What about DWI? Should teacher drinking an driving on a SAt nite be fired?
 Leo says DWI not best example - what about getting caught with small amount of marijuana (people laugh -there's a crowd winner -- should that disqualify you from teaching for rest of career?
Lindsey - brings up atr pool.
Leo - pool created by negot -
Look at what people are doing - doe created disincentive to hire. Princ get free tchr.
Most teaching full time.
Gives example of dist 79 tchr. Ph.d at stuy with full load.school won't hire him officially.
Sydney disputes Leo saying doe gave incentive to hire atrs. No time limit. Attacking atrs. Says lots don't go looking for jobs or respond.
Leo disputes her. Most atrs came out of closing schools. Union offered to negot where every atr pool tchr would be placed and doe refused.
Lindsey says sydney said what doe would since no deputy from tweed there. Of course she would echo doe/
Leo says only 4 deputies are left. Lots of Laughter.
Meeting over - chat in back and then head to bar/social mixer where there will be food - yummy.
phone failing.
report on bar scene later.

Cheers
Norm Scott

Education Notes
ednotesonline.blogspot.com
Grassroots Education Movement

Education Editor, The Wave
www.rockawave.com

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