Vincent C. Wojsnis on Eval Deal on Facebook

The time has come for people to consider whether the ruling party of the UFT over 50 years has any answers. Vincent was for many years a neutral chapter leader but has cast his lot with MORE. He wrote a great piece "Why I Joined the MORE ... back in November. He is running on the MORE slate for UFT Executive Board at-large.

Here are some comments in Facebook which he will expand into a general article.

At Thursday's UFT Delegate Assembly, Michael Mulgrew repeatedly said that the proposed deal on teacher evaluations was a "good deal," though he offered few details. What concerns me was his repeated reference to "evidence of growth." (translation: "value added") Was this not the "junk science" we sued Joel Klein over the release of Teacher Data Reports? We're buying into this?!! This is a bad deal. Let them keep their money. It's tainted.

We should be clear on this. The so-called deadline for a new teacher evaluation deal is not an act of nature (or if you prefer, "God"), only by politicians who think they're gods. Cuomo and Commissioner King can release the money (the amount of which seems to be growing) at any time. THEY CHOOSE NOT TO. They would rather hold a "gun" at the heads of teachers to force us to accept an unfair evaluation process that is based on "junk science," a result of of the deal they made with the "devil" when they accepted the Race to the Top funds. This is nothing more than a naked attempt to weaken our union.

"The future of school reform is here. It is the democratic voice of the true stakeholders in the education system...
Unfortunately, the same forces that have given rise to dictatorial mayoral control schemes around the country are also responsible for our own union’s lack of democracy. Since these education reform policies are wholly unpopular, and since our union leaders do not want to be seen as obstacles to “progress”, they have been forced to take a “conciliation” approach with “reformer” mayors who run school districts. In turn, they have been required to turn to increasingly un-democratic means to silence their members who understand that these reforms are harmful to our schools.".. Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE)