Sunday, September 2, 2012

E4E Rep Told "This is a MORE School"

I got a call from a MORE teacher who was approached by a colleague who attended an e4e meeting and heard a carefully crafted message that appears to support teachers instead of the real intent –  to undermine them. After explaining what e4e is all about he proudly told his colleague:
GO TELL e4e THEY ARE NOT WELCOME. 
WE ARE A MORE SCHOOL.
In fact e4e is very aware and threatened by MORE and expect more head to head battles. They are trying to sneak into your school through the back door (E4E Buys Its Way Into Schools Using Tweed Contacts) by capturing a colleague or two and sending them back to your school to recruit. In most cases these colleagues are not aware of the underlying -- and lying message, so fill them in. And tell them to join the real organization standing up for teachers, MORE.

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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.

5 comments:

Michael Fiorillo said...

E$E fifth columnists, be aware: we will expose you publicly wherever you appear, and not allow you and your funder puppeteers to destroy our union.

Anonymous said...

Can you please lay out what E4E really stands for ? We need to have common understanding about this to better inform colleagues.

Unknown said...

Isn't funny how these creeps always have to resort to chicanery, subterfuge and oh, I dunno, LYING to get their way? Wonder why that is. If these people were half as interested in the good of "The Children" as they always claim they are, it seems they could approach in a straightforward manner without the cloak of darkness and obfuscation they ALWAYS employ. They take a busload of dopes from the parent group here to Albany selling them on the Parent Trigger Law which in its very title is a lie, they fill them with hot air about all the options this will give them. And when the gulled parents go along they get the school stolen out from under them and the deformers say So long saps, we'll take it from here.

Michael Fiorillo said...

Anonymous,

Educators for Excellence is an astroturf ed reform organization that presents itself as an independent an independent voice for teachers, when it fact it is a vehicle for undermining the union and contract. They are very active in providing a "fifth columnist/undermine from within" presence for corporate interests that seek to reconfigure labor relations in the schools, thus their focus on eliminating tenure and seniority.

Founded by two TFAers who barely stayed in the classroom long enough to have a cup of coffee, they are very witholding about their funding sources and who their Board members are. Their IRS 990 forms show none of that. One interesting tidbit their IRS forms did reveal was that the same law firm that incorporated them (Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz) also incorporated Joel Klein's Wall Street-backed ED REFORM NOW, which has aggressively and openly pushed an anti-teacher, anti public school agenda.

I'd assume most people affiliated with E$ME are well-meaning dupes, but the organization itself is a snake in the grass.

ed notes online said...

Responding to Anon 12:47
We do need to help equip people with the e4e program and responses because just calling then out on who is funding will not provide answers to their message.
They buy the entire ed deform agenda -- it is no accident that John King, Walcott, etc go to speak at their events.
Read this from one of their teachers to see the entire program: merit pay, evels based on student performance, etc: http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/30/my-view-teachers-deserve-real-merit-pay/?iref=allsearch

They say they are for teachers but do not believe class size is a factor and never mention it.

I sometimes go to their events and stand outside handing out leaflets. Here is some of the material from my last one when John King came (he refused to take a leaflet).

EDUCATION NOTES: ednotesonline.com Norm Scott
Educators 4 Excellence undermines teachers and their profession by supporting failed education reforms
• Value added: E4E supports teacher evaluation based on failed value-­‐ added teacher ratings based on flawed tests.
• Last in first out: E4E support an end to seniority protections while principals persecute teachers on the basis of political, not educational grounds. E4E supports the NYCDOE even when it backs the worst principals who engage in acts that ruin teacher careers.
• Supports the NYCDOE even when it has a quota system to deny or extend teacher tenure without educational basis, but on political grounds so the mayor can claim how “tough” he is on tenure.
E4E will not allow anyone to attend this event to raise these legitimate questions because if you don’t sign the pledge you are banned. How can there be a full airing of the issues with such a policy? E4E IS NOT on the side of teachers.

Movement of Rank & File Educators (MORE: morecaucusnyc.org), the social justice caucus of the UFT, represents the interests of teachers, parents and students seeking REAL reform.
“Our teaching conditions are our students’ learning conditions.”

Here is their next event: Upcoming Events
New York
Wed., Sept. 19 September New Member Dinner 6:00 p.m. Educators 4 Excellence
333 West 39th Street,
New York, NY 10018