Ed Notes Online: Karen Lewis Says: Enough is Enough - Chicago Teachers Turn the Town Red/ Rahm and the DNC

Monday, September 3, 2012

Karen Lewis Says: Enough is Enough - Chicago Teachers Turn the Town Red/ Rahm and the DNC

On Labor Day, Karen Lewis addressed 20,000 teachers about their struggle with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Do you know how hard it is to get 20,000 people to turn out for anything? ..... The fight between CTU and Rahm Emanuel is not helpful to President Obama.--- Diane Ravitch

Info keeps rolling in from Chicago and the allies of the TU all over the nation. You can keep up at: http://www.ctunet.com/ and at http://www.substancenews.net which reports on today's events:

Labor Day in Chicago draws more than 18,000 to rally and march... Huge support for upcoming Chicago teachers' strike.... 'The only way to handle a bully is to stand up to him,' Karen Lewis told the crowd
Kati Gilson and Susan Zupan - September 03, 2012
18,000 people packed Daley Center on picture perfect Labor Day. The only thing missing were the two key players in the CPS/CTU saga — Chicago's mayor and his hand-picked schools "Chief Executive". The sea of red was dotted with green AFSCME shirts, blue Action Now shirts and more. Families with young children, numerous union groups and CTU teachers gathered in solidarity to

Here is a pic from Substance fight for “The Schools our Children Deserve”.

From Fred Klonsky blog: Check out this photo by Sarah Ji:

Teachers are parents too, Fred Klonsky blog

Have they noticed the pictures coming in from Chicago of thousands of red shirted union people and supporters flooding the streets of Rahmbo's ed reform fiefdom? Forget about Romney being out of touch we all KNEW that but how about Obama's old pal and featured speaker at the Dem Conference who openly hates and abuses union workers every chance he gets while bootlicking the Hyatt mogul and billionaire Penny Pritzkin, building her a hotel with money he stole from taxpayers. His city is awash in rabid anti Rahm sentiment and do you think he gets it? How does this party let a guy like Emanuel in the door let alone invite him to speak? And our own Prince Andy Cuomo, who is essentially Rahmbo with a New York crust, tried to keep the 4 biggest labor leaders in the state from attending unless they called him to grovel. Lucky for slippery Dick Ianuzzi his fellow sellout Randi was able to squeeze some juice from the DNC so Dicky was spared the begging. These are people who don't give a shit about any of us. Why on earth would we vote for more of their abuse and betrayal? -----

sean crowley comment on ednotes post "What Goes on in Charlotte Doesn't Stay in Charlott..."

from Fred Klonsky blog

Ravitch reports:

Karen Lewis Speaks to 20,000 Chicago Teachers
by dianerav

On Labor Day, Karen Lewis addressed 20,000 teachers about their struggle with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Do you know how hard it is to get 20,000 people to turn out for anything?

When Karen Lewis met with Rahm Emanuel after his election, he told her that 25% of the children in Chicago would never amount to anything. She was outraged.
more Diane

Here is the video of Karen's speech today from the CTU web site where she calls Rahm Emanuel a liar and a bully.

Fred Klonsky expresses his own excitement and emotion at the events in this blog post, followed by some pointed criticism at the state union lack of support (and let's keep an eye on the AFT.)

“Look up! Look down! Chicago is a union town!”

September 3, 2012

I heard everything from ten thousand to eighteen thousand. I say twenty. Matt Farmer half jokingly said that the Tribune is reporting 326.
We filled Daley Plaza in a sea of red.
We surrounded Rahm’s City Hall and poured from the sidewalk on to the street.
We marched down Clark Street to the headquarters of the Chicago Public Schools.
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Rahm Emanuel has got to go!”

And a thanks to all the many blog readers who came up and introduced themselves to me and shared some very nice words. Putting faces to readers is important. It was so great to hear from those who told me they share articles and drawings with others. It means we’re building a network and a movement. That makes the work worthwhile.

Yes, Fred, when people ask me why after 10 years or retirement, building a network and a movement makes it all worthwhile.

What were they doing down in Springfield today.

Having a barbecue?
Barbecue unionism. --- Fred Klonsky

Here is another important post from Fred Klonsky condeming the Ill Ed Assoc which didn't even mention the situation in Chicago: An injury to one is an injury to all. But not if you’re the IEA.

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A BIG LAUSD TEACHER LABOR DAY SALUTE TO STRIKING CHICAGO TEACHERS (VIDEO)

http://www.perdaily.com/2012/09/a-big-lausd-teacher-labor-day-salute-to-striking-chicago-teachers.html
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How interesting that in Chicago they actually hold Labor Day activities on Labor Day while here in NYC "Labor Day" will be next Saturday, Sept. 8. If you are going look for updates on Ed Notes of where you can meet up with the MORE contingent -- and I will have extra tee-shirts if you want to purchase one ($20 to help raise money for the MORE election campaign -- but I'll only sell you one if you promise to wear it.)

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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.

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"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, September 3, 2012

Karen Lewis Says: Enough is Enough - Chicago Teachers Turn the Town Red/ Rahm and the DNC

Labor Day in Chicago draws more than 18,000 to rally and march... Huge support for upcoming Chicago teachers' strike.... 'The only way to handle a bully is to stand up to him,' Karen Lewis told the crowd

A BIG LAUSD TEACHER LABOR DAY SALUTE TO STRIKING CHICAGO TEACHERS (VIDEO)

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