Ed Notes Online: Video @AFT Special - Solidarity Resolution - Mulgrew, Lewis, Johnson Rock the House

Monday, July 30, 2012

Video @AFT Special - Solidarity Resolution - Mulgrew, Lewis, Johnson Rock the House

You come after one of us, you deal with all of us ---- Michael Mulgrew.

Karen Lewis led it off and Mulgrew finished it, with Detroit's Keith Johnson and someone from Colorado whose name I didn't get in between. We get a sense that we are all in this together and if we don't fight this together no one can win.

Listen to the Colorado union rep if I remember correctly 2 years ago there was so much excitement about the "collaboration" in Colorado which she says has now been thrown out. Yes, are people learning that even when you try to give them much of the loaf and keep a piece for yourself, they don't even want you to have that piece.

And Detroit Fed Teacher head Keith Johnson who seemed so smug in Seattle got up and made a rousing speech about the overwhelming attack going on in Detroit and other cities. Lisa and Gloria were sitting with a Detroit teacher who told them her salary this year was $8000 less than last and she will finish her career making less than what she started with.

http://youtu.be/nFczwUFc6Nk

I know many of you guys are saying it's all bullshit. But I was in Seattle in 2010 the Gates fiasco and the climate here has turned. Will they act on it or are these just words? I truly believe the UFT and the AFT will back Chicago all the way. There is no choice. I told Randi the other day that Chicago was bringing us all together. While I will continue to hammer them when needed I am also looking for areas where we can agree.

I was impressed and shook Mulgrew's hand afterward. When they do the right thing we should say, "Right on" and the message Mulgrew sent and the way he delivered it was Right On!

Read Biden speech, NYC Educator style:

Good Day AFT
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Previous @AFT Ed Notes Reports (in reverse chronological order)

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

9 comments:

reality-based educator said...: It's all bullshit. Randi's full of shit. Mulgrew's full of shit. Leo Casey's full of shit. Dick Ianuzzi's full of shit. The entire AFT, the UFT and the NYSUT leadership are full of shit.

Don't believe your ears.

Believe your eyes.

New teacher evaluation system based upon Common Core Federal Standard tests coming to a school district near you - two kinds! State tests AND local tests! Signed off on by the AFT, the NEA, the UFT and the NYSUT! Yayy! Isn't collaboration fun!

New evaluation system incorporates 40% from test scores, but you come up negative on that part, you automatically get an "I" rating.

UFT and NYSUT happily agreed to this, with Mulgrew and Ianuzzi onstage shaking Cuomo's hand!

Whee! Isn't standing up for teachers fun!

New Danielson rubric, with its 57 page checklist, ensures every classroom observation can be an "I" rating (too much technology! not enough technology! not the right kind of technology! not News Corp. technology!) And it's shilled by the UFT and Mulgrew!

Sorry, Norm - nothing's changed except the rhetoric. This is all a pre-election light show, making sure reality doesn't seep into the teaching corps. and they stay home on Election Day.

But make no mistake, corporate ed deform as co-sponsored by Randi, Mulgrew, et al. will back better than ever next school year - more sell-outs! More school closings! And don't forget merit pay!

Whee!

And of course the "I" rating firings will commence as soon as they can do them - again, fully agreed upon by the unions.

As always, hope to be wrong on this.

But until the current leaderships at the AFT, the NEA, the UFT and the NYSUT are either replaced by genuine labor leaders willing to fight for teachers (like Lewis) or carted out on RICO charges for the corruption that is endemic around them, nothing will change.

They're putting on a show to fool people, but the machinations they've engaged in will continue unabated.

But as I say, happy to be wrong here.

Just doubtful that I am.

I've seen too many sell-outs to believe the rhetoric.; Monday, July 30, 2012 at 1:39:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: I agree 100% with Reality Based Educator. It is not what the UFT/AFT/NYSUT says, it is what the do. They sold out all NY State teachers by agreeing to a horrible evaluation system that is designed to get rid of teachers every 2 years. This was done for what? Blood money from the State and Feds that WILL NOT be used to reduce class size or make any positive changes in the actual classroom. (The money will be used to further develop more tests) The only hope I see is if the UFT refuses to step to the table with Bloomberg on the local evaluation measures. Of course the rag papers are going to say that the evil UFT refuses to accept more money for the "sake of the kids". However, we all know that any money will not be used for anything other than more testing for teachers. The UFT must wait till we get a new mayor. If the new mayor does not want to step to the table, then we can wait him or her out as well. This is going to be a long fight and patience is key. The fact is that there are quite a few states in the US that refused to make changes to the teaching profession at the hands of a hostile government hell bent on destroying what is left of the great craft of teaching.; Monday, July 30, 2012 at 2:02:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Norm,

Time to clean your glasses and get rid of those roses.

You really should do some research before shaking hands. According to today's NYTimes, Mulgrew thinks it's okay for Pearson to now evaluate teachers for NYS certification. So when RBE say, "see what they do", maybe you should heed that advice. How much of our tax dollars should Pearson be getting at this stage of the game. Yesterday the NYTimes ran an article on how a Texas professor found Pearson's statistics so faulty, they shouldn't be used for evaluation purposes. But I suppose it's okay to have Pearson pay any one they want $75/hr (I think that's the salary) to judge who the next crop on NYC teachers will be.

Yes Norm, Randi and Mulgrew are rocking the convention. They are rocking it right into the hands of privatization.; Monday, July 30, 2012 at 2:44:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Norm-You went down this road with Randi in the nineties. I remember. Please be careful.; Monday, July 30, 2012 at 5:23:00 PM EDT
Unknown said...: I like the attitude here Norm. They need to be hammered because hammering them may do some good. How would the deformersm Arne and Obama like it if a strike in Chicago meant one in Madison, Buffalo and Pittsburgh too ? Imagine a nationwide strike for that matter. This only works if we are serious and I don't know very many teachers who are laughing at this point. Solidarity is Sanity in 2012.; Monday, July 30, 2012 at 7:41:00 PM EDT
ed notes online said...: Yes Sean I do believe they need to be hammered at every point, not that it does much good. I'm not really interested in the leaders but in the rank and file which is the group we have to talk to. Question I am having is what impact hammering the leadership constantly has on the average teacher? My sense after talking to people in Chicago is to hammer less but more effectively and praise when appropriate. Get them to move or Give them enough rope to hang themselves.

I will be posting some interesting points from some of the people near the top in Chicago about Randi and given their political astuteness I have to take that into account.; Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 5:27:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: I agree with you, Norm. When they say the right thing, we need to praise them. I told Randi I appreciated the fire in her speech on Friday.; Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 8:37:00 AM EDT
Michael Fiorillo said...: Deeds, not words: these people are public figures, and are skilled at tailoring their speeches for their audience. In 2010, Weingarten felt the need to impress Bill Gates - and also introduce her members to TINA (There Is No Alternative). This time, she felt the need to sway them with faux militancy.

The last time I looked, they still supported mayoral control, VAM , Common Core, Danielson and every other vehicle for attacking teachers.

They endorsed Obama without demanding any kind of concessions on Race to the Top.

As for solidarity with the CTU, unless Weingarten is somehow kept away, she will support Karen Lewis and the teachers of Chicago the way a noose supports a hanged man.; Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 10:15:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: Fiorello is correct. The Kool Aid is so strong. They deserve no praise. They have helped to create the mess we are in. Perhaps we should praise Vichy France too.; Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 10:33:00 AM EDT

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

http://blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

This chapter looks interesting:

Class struggles: The UFT story, part 3

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Of course for another view, check out the review at New Politics of the Kahlenberg Bio on Shanker by Vera Pavone and me: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neocon

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:
http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/
I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You can sign up for this free series at :
http://act.bcfed.ca/online-campaigning-for-union-activists/

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

Ex-HSA Teacher has left a new comment on your post "Fear and Loathing at Evil's Harlem Success Empire ...":

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy Tyson
Professor of African American Studies and History
Duke University

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.
- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Full article with charts here.

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

More at Substance

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.
Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/12/on-growing-use-of-corporate-test.html

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

The US Is Facing a Weimar Moment

Published on Sunday, March 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

SEE MY VIDEO ON HARLEM SUCCESS RALLY 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp7rg_L5JI

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Ed Notes Extended

Monday, July 30, 2012

Video @AFT Special - Solidarity Resolution - Mulgrew, Lewis, Johnson Rock the House

9 comments: