800+ Unity Caucus Klones Shuffle Off to Buffalo for NYSUT Convention at Our Expense

My wife is from one of the schools that will be closed. She told me that the school were livid when they found out that the UFT is not even going to the PEP meeting. She doesn't undersand this. My wife is especially irate at Mulgrew (more than she is at the mayor)

Mailing envelope from Unity Caucus leaflets to chp ldrs

 Many UFT officials will be missing in action from the PEP today ---- but do me a favor if you are there and look under the seats to make sure. I hear Leo Casey is there all alone so say hello.

You see, Unity officials both high and low -- including your local Unity Caucus chapter leader at the school level and any other Unity Caucus slugs you work with, have shuffled off to Buffalo for the NYSUT convention where they will tell people how it doesn't really matter if teachers are rated based on kids who never show up (which the Buffalo teachers will be protesting with a walkout). Or how 20% is meaningless even if we all know value-added is all screwed up. And the other 20% -- who knows?

Let me explain exactly about this perk --- round trip ticket to Buffalo, a few nights in a nice hotel and meal money for the 800 elected Unity Caucus delegates to the conventions of NYSUT (yearly) and the national AFT(every 2 years with this July's junket coming up). And there will be staffers going too so make it 900. You do the math but the AFT Seattle 2010 convention cost a few million dollars from our dues.

Now I also want to keep bringing up the Unity Caucus leaflet that was sent out to chapter leaders at their schools to be put in the mailboxes. Check the envelope someone scanned for me and note the return address. To me this is a sign or worry as the leadership tries to keep the power of Unity to control the union under cover until election time which doesn't begin until Jan.

See the leaflets themselves in my recent post.
My suggestion is to make sure every single person in your school sees this lame effort.
 Did you hear Mulgrew's response when asked for how long teachers can be denied tenure? "If it goes beyond 2 years let us know." That ought to sell the young teachers on how Unity is defending them.

And remind everyone that the UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaders have so far refused to support the national reso against high stakes testing.

ADDENDUM: This comment was left on the previous post:

My wife is from one of the schools that will be closed. She told me that the school were livid when they found out that the UFT is not even going to the PEP meeting. She doesn't undersand this. My wife is especially irate at Mulgrew (more than she is at the mayor)....she can't believe that he has let NYC and NYC teachers down big time. She always believed in the UFT. Unlike the UFT, she is attending the PEP meeting with some teachers in her school. She was worried that no parents would go as transportation there and parking there is not very good. The UFT should have provided buses to all schools.

Holding another rally or whatever is futile and weak. NYC teachers need a union that represents them and that fights against injustice against teachers (and students). The closing of these 25 schools, blaming the staff for things that are out of their control (ie. students in poverty, students in gangs, students who come from junior high school with very low reading and writing scores or students and so on) and stating that the teachers' efforts are not good enough and that for these students graduating in five or six years is not indeed a victory....well, this is really for all citizens of NYC.

Anyone who is not rehired in their original school will be labeled as bad teachers Their careers will be in ruins. The powers that be, in collusion with the UFT. are destroying public education by making teaching an unviable and unattractive career. Within a few years, there will be major teacher shortages.