UFT Condmened in TAPCO Fiasco -- and More Schools Coming

It sickens me how amnesty international has not fought for the basic human rights in the NYC DOE system. -- anon comment on TAPCO

Gee, isn't that the job of the UFT? This post ties into yesterday's State of the Union- Part 2 -- which declared a new organization (not yet a caucus) within the UFT and why this is so important at this time.

The comments coming in on the TAPCO story on the 2 Ed Notes posts (Another DOE Scam - TAPCO - Theatre Arts Production...") and (That Cheat'n Principal: Passarella Removed from TA...": )  are so insightful. If you want to get a snapshot of what is probably many schools in the city check it out.

Also see the comments at the Gotham Schools story.

I know of it least one other Brooklyn school that was praised to the sky by Pedro Noguera last May that may be an even worse scenario. Since the principal was removed for "other" reasons I wonder if they are keeping this one under cover. They are certainly delaying the investigation as long as possible. Sources tell me there are amazing audio tapes.

When this story breaks Noguera, who used this school as an example comparing it to the other "failing" schools in the building with dumb statements like "see what can be done by administrators even with the same populations" -- the No Excuses concept ---- will end up looking very foolish. But it will also show just how much this is going on. Teachers were ordered to cheat and those who resisted were threatened with U ratings and some lost their jobs.

As bad as anything is the lack of the presence of the UFT as teaching careers are ruined. This comment below from TAPCO takes the UFT Chapter Leader who was owned by the admin to task. But maybe you can't blame him considering he knows the UFT doesn't have the ability to protect his back. Do teachers who had careers ruined actually have a law suit against the DOE and maybe even the UFT?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anonymous
Date: Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 7:07 PM
Subject: [Ed Notes Online] New comment on That Cheat'n Principal: Passarella Removed from TA....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "That Cheat'n Principal: Passarella Removed from TA...":

K is a yes man and the nerve that he is your Chapter leader for the UFT in that school since he always sided with Lynn. Lynn said many times that "it was her school and did not want the union in her school." How many human rights and workers right violations have been committed? The UFT should investigate this more and give people their dignity, money, and career back. It sickens me how amnesty international has not fought for the basic human rights in the NYC DOE system. BTW Hillary Clinton was made aware of this Passarella person when she was NY Senator and did nothing. She too should be made accountable. Or is this not the country I was made to believe? That basic human rights are guaranteed. Or is that only if you have the money to buy those rights? Oh and Bloomberg as well should be made accountable. He says that teachers should be evaluated and be let go by principals? Really? This is why, to any of those who thinks the union protects bad teachers, it is necessary that a union exists to protect the rights of these people on the front line of this travesty.

The shame is that the UFT doesn't seem to be able to do even this. Thus I hear amazing calls from people who should know better calling for dues checkoff to be removed thus making NY a right to work state. But it shows the desperate state people are in. Some people are trying to stop contributions to COPE and are finding COPE is like a black hole --- once in you can't get out. So they are instead changing their COPE contributions to a dime.

Do I agree with that at this time? I really don't know. I think the more important thing to do is build the new caucus so it can challenge Unity in every single school in the city. That includes running for chapter leader or delegate in your schools this spring and joining the caucus at delegate assemblies to force change from the bottom by not allowing the Unity slugs to dominate.

I really think the battle at the school level is much more important than the challenge to Unity in the next UFT election in 2013 though people seem to think the latter is sexier. Having been involved in the last 3 elections I'm not so sure I want to do another one.

Some people are even making the case for the new caucus to boycott --- not actually run but instead use the flexibility of not running to run a shadow campaign to point out how undemocratic these elections are. Imagine Mulgrew getting 100% of the vote -- so much better that Putin.

That debate will be taking place in the still unnamed group, which I will continue to call "State of the Union -- SOTU"  ---  SOTUUFT.blogspot.com.

And how refreshing to actually take part in real discussions and debates on so many crucial issues that are shoved under the rug in every official body of the UFT. But I know full well how Unity operates. They are already trying to pick off what they view as key people to either neutralize them or actively recruit them into Unity before they jump to the other side. They have jobs to offer. And trips to conventions. And the lure of moving up in the union.

They actually sent one of the slugs to the conference yesterday --- a guy whose main talent can be summed up with these words "Call the question."

I try to tell our younger members that the leadership does this stuff real well and they have the mechanisms to use a variety of techniques to track and monitor and control the dissidents. That is one of the main jobs of the District Reps. I have some great stories on what some of these characters do but have not been released to share them yet.

And don't think they won't have a partner at Tweed, which will assist Unity if this group ever gets off the ground in a serious manner to make sure they do not have to face a Chicago-like resistance in NYC.

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AfterBurn

On another topic (but not totally unrelated in that the UFT won't take this issue on either:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10 Things Charter Schools Won't Tell You":

I have worked in two charter schools and you wouldn't believe what I have seen. Unfortunately members of the news media are friendly with the charter movement and fail to do any investigative journalism in this area. They supply puff piece after puff piece on charters. The CEOs of charters are tyrants who rule with impunity. A CEO appoints board members who carry out his bidding. A regular public school has an elected board who keep checks and balances on the Superintendent’s power. Charters are a threat to democracy, do nothing innovative, are full of cronyism, don't serve special needs children, have unbelievable turnover of staff, and exploit the hell out of children(especially minorities). If CEOs can make a profit off of children then I would like to have the "choice" to have my tax money back. Be warned. If you see this movement coming to your area, fight it at every turn.