One Chapter Leader Reports on the UFT DA/UFT Charter Follow-up

Here's a report:  Had to listen to Randi give a nauseating speech about voting 4 Obama. WHAT A FUCKING WASTE OF MY TIME!!!! -- Chapter Leader

Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, said the union’s secondary school’s innovative methods, which include staggered teacher shifts to allow a longer school day, could become models for other unions. --- Williams quoted in NY Times article, Dec. 3, 2008

..... when he [Drew Goodman] tried to revise the school charter to cut the number of students in each grade and increase collaboration between the elementary and secondary charter schools, he angered union leaders who thought he had overstepped his authority, the individuals said. --- NY Times article, Dec. 3, 2008

I did see Randi racing in before the DA yesterday. Are you telling me that she has to come to a union event in NYC to get out the vote? Pathetic waste of everyone's time.

UFT Charter school chaos?
I wonder if there was any discussion at the DA about the attacks on the UFT charter school and Randi's responsibility for making the union a laughing stock to the extent that Harlem Success Academy parents can leave comments about how even a unionized charter school run by the UFT can't compete? Really, can you give the deformers any more fodder? Read the NY Times 2008 article below to see how the UFT inside political machine may have undermined its own charter school. Whose toes was Goodman stepping on? Maybe Michelle Bodden who herself was booted from Randi successor to charter school principal. Oh, what a den Unity Caucus runs.


Here are the links to the must-read Gotham story about the UFT charter:

Comments of the week: Blame for UFT Charter School’s demise

One of the really funny comments:

Emp315
When drew goodman was principal the school was one of the top charter schools in the state! He left because of an issues with the board of trustees. The parents and students loved him. As soon as he left the school fell apart. 

Gee, I wonder who Emp315 is?

Drew Goodman, the son of 2 former UFT District Reps (dad is Peter Goodman also known as the apologist for the UFT on his Ed in the Apple blog), was the first principal of the UFT middle school charter housed at the JHS I attended (Gershwin) but was forced out within a few months and replaced by Diane Ravitch pal Mary Butz.

See story below on his removal in 2008. I believe Drew became an AP in Dist 19. His latest resurfacing has been as an ATR supervisor.

Drew Goodman tweeted when the story surfaced
 drew goodman ‏@drewg03

Anyone who wants the real story on why the UFT charter is failing hit me

Norm Scott ‏@NormScott1

@drewg03 Is it really failing? 

drew goodman ‏@drewg03

@NormScott1 yeah let's put it this way the school it's housed in is doing better and it's on the closure list..

The story in the Times below has signs that Drew might actually be correct. I wonder what dad Peter Goodman thinks. Think Peter will defend the UFT charter school which I believe he pushed as a great thing in 2006?

At School Union Runs, Principal Steps Down

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
Published: December 3, 2008
The principal of a charter school run by the city’s teachers’ union, a rare type of school that has been described by some supporters as proof that charter schools could flourish even under strict labor rules, has resigned after clashing with teachers and union leaders, people affiliated with the school said.

Drew D. Goodman stepped down last week as principal of the union-run school, the United Federation of Teachers Secondary Charter School in East New York, Brooklyn, after union leaders grew dissatisfied with his handling of brewing teacher dissatisfaction. He has been replaced temporarily by Mary Butz, a school system veteran who led a mentorship program for city principals, until a permanent leader is found.

The departure marked the latest flare-up in the union’s efforts to nurture a successful, labor-friendly alternative to traditional charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently of the school system and typically shun union rules in order to provide longer class days and give principals more freedom in hiring and firing staff.

Mr. Goodman’s resignation mirrored a shake-up last spring at the union’s elementary charter school, also in East New York, when the principal resigned amid complaints by teachers and parents of heavy-handed governance. Mr. Goodman has moved to Public School 215 in Far Rockaway, Queens, where he is assistant principal, and declined to comment.

Mr. Goodman, 36, who led the school since its opening in 2006, had struggled to navigate a hazy line between administrator and teacher. In designing the school, the union defined his position as “first and foremost an educator” whose authority “will stem not from title or rank,” according to the union’s Web site.

Several people at the school or active in the union, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear that they would suffer professionally if they were named, said Mr. Goodman’s support among the faculty dwindled as some teachers saw him as making unilateral decisions. When he asked staff members to supervise middle school students who were performing community service at an elementary school, for instance, teachers complained that he was taking away time that they could be spending at professional development seminars.

Edward Morrissey, a language arts teacher at the school, said Mr. Goodman often got caught between teachers and the union leaders who run the school. When textbooks arrived late or photocopy machines remained broken, teachers blamed Mr. Goodman, even if the problem was the result of delays above him, Mr. Morrissey said.

This fall, when he tried to revise the school charter to cut the number of students in each grade and increase collaboration between the elementary and secondary charter schools, he angered union leaders who thought he had overstepped his authority, the individuals said.

In a letter to the school’s trustees sent on Wednesday, Randi Weingarten, the teacher’s union president, described Mr. Goodman’s departure as a mutual decision. In an interview, Ms. Weingarten said the school was simply working through the kinks facing any new institution, noting: “It’s tough to be the founding school leader of a school that may be one of the few that really believes in teacher collaboration.”

She pointed to high test scores among students at the union’s elementary school — this year, 81 percent of third-graders passed state English tests and 98 percent met math standards — as evidence that the schools were succeeding.

Teachers and principals at the union-backed schools said they posed unique leadership challenges. Michelle Bodden, who took over the union’s elementary charter school in August, said that satisfying all constituents can be hard, but that she has built good relations by seeing her role as “secondary to what’s going on with the teachers.”

“I think you listen a lot, I think you encourage conversation,” she said.

Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, said the union’s secondary school’s innovative methods, which include staggered teacher shifts to allow a longer school day, could become models for other unions.

Mr. Morrissey, the teacher at the union school, said many of the students had viewed Mr. Goodman as a role model. “I think the kids are in complete shock,” he said.