Has UFT Had Enough or Just PEP Power Posturing?

Chancellor says DOE has a management team in place to remove 1,700 teachers at 33 struggling schools this year. Mayor says it's happening. ---- LindseyChrist - NY1 tweet

Oy!. Is the UFT boxed in by the Bloomberg/Cuomo/Obama assault? How do they play this to the members when they endorse Obama? Probably by placing the blame on Arne Duncan.

What triggered the sudden decision by the UFT hierarchy to cut short the Delegate Assembly today and urge people to head over to the PEP at Brooklyn Tech? Let me count the ways. They went even beyond the DA with robocalls going out to the rank and file last night urging people to attend (one reporter said that 4 teacher friends got calls).


Today's PEP was supposed to be a pretty low-key affair, with even the people from Occupy DOE planning to stay away. Some people think the UFT is getting nervous about the ability of ODOE to reach into rank and file schools with growing attendance at their Sunday meetings. Maybe. But that is not big enough or with enough outreach yet, though the UFT is certainly monitoring ODOE.


This is pretty last minute stuff and smacks of some frustration and even desperation to strike back at the mayor with a show of force. But the UFT has shown a more organized show of force before. What is driving this is the outrage pouring forth from the schools since the Mayor's speech and the leadership has to put on some kind of a show for the members. I'm heading out now and hope to have a report tonight if I can stay awake with some PEP video --- I also have great video from the anti-Moskowitz event last night. 



I almost feel sorry for the leadership which had a lot to do with making this bed. But not while they push a constitutional amendment that further restricts democracy. Let's see if the have the sense the withdraw it today but don't bet on it.

Here is Leo Casey's letter:

Dear Colleagues:

Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City address last Thursday has greatly angered teachers and educators from public schools across New York City. The Mayor’s announcement that he would seek to close some thirty PLA schools, in addition to the twenty-five schools he already slated for closure, was a nakedly political decision made without the slightest concern for its impact on the education of thousands of New York City public school students. The targeting of schools which had done everything asked of them and had scored highly on the DoE’s own measures of performance is the act of a callous, self-consumed politician who thinks that he can construct a legacy out of destroying schools. And the targeting of schools that serve students and communities with great need once again reminds us that this is a billionaire mayor who understands nothing about the struggles of people who actually have to work for a living.

The Mayor offers as his reason for these school closings, his unwillingness to negotiate with the UFT a meaningful appeals system for ineffective ratings. Instead, he and the DoE insist upon continuing the current system they have devised, where such ratings are automatically turned down at a rate of 99.5%. He wants a teacher evaluation system without educational integrity, just as his school closing decisions are without educational integrity. He will have neither: the UFT, 200,000 strong, will defend and stand with schools unjustly targeted for closure by Bloomberg and the DoE, and we will fight for a fair evaluation system that improves education.

It is important that all of New York City begins to see, as soon as possible, the deep anger that educators feel about the destructive actions of this Mayor. Our campaign to stop these school closings begins tomorrow, with a massive protest at the Panel for Educational Policy meeting which will take place at Brooklyn Technical High School at 29 Fort Greene Place in downtown Brooklyn , starting at 5:30 PM. The closest public transportation is the DeKalb Avenue stop on the B, Q or R train. A map of the school can be accessed at: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

In solidarity,

 Leo Casey

Vice President