Portelos Asks the UFT "Why" (Once Again)

UFT advice to teachers under assault

Over the last few weeks a young teacher was in touch - I don't know him or know why he touched base with me -- but he was asking for advice. Last week he informed me he was quitting the next day and would never teach again. Why? It was not the kids but his principal and administration. "All I wanted to do was teach kids the joy of science," he said.

Unity slugs have been whining over at the MORE blog about it is not their fault there are so many bad principals. I disagree. They bear major responsibility: for not raising hell in every quarter and using they supposedly vaunted political capital to try to kill the Leadership Academy who were producing Nazis. Or exposing these people in every way possible. Or going after the CSA. Or providing a rigorous defense of teachers under assault.

Tomorrow is the FIRST LEGO League tournament at the Javits Convention center. That is where I met Francesco Portelos a year ago when he gave up a Sunday to bring his IS 49 team. His school will not be amongst the 80 teams there. Neither will the kids he taught. A few weeks later he was in the rubber room for bogus reasons. He's still there with no charges. A scandal under any circumstances. But silence from the UFT.

Francisco Portelos is not quitting or going anywhere, except taking as many of these bad apples down as he can. See them in court. And how does the Staten Island UFT treat him? Well they sneak around trying to brand him as an outlier and a nut -- a "nut" elected as Chapter leader while sitting in the rubber room. In MORE he has found a supportive community. And MORE is lucky to have him. What a skill set he brings to the table. The kids' and his school's loss. Both the DOE and UFT don't want people who rock boats. Take your medicine and walk the plank.

Every time my wife and I get the NY Teacher Newspaper, at home, I place $100 on the kitchen table. I bet her that amount that from cover to cover there will be no articles or mentions of real stories of attacks on educators. No stories on the existence of Rubber Rooms. ATRs or abusive administrators. The NY Teacher circulated an article that the number of ATRs dropped to 831 last April. The latest numbers are 1475, yet no story on that increase.

I sit in a Rubber Room, for over 300 days, with no charges. I'm under investigation for over 400 days with no charges. I'm sent 20 miles away from my school and not a word. Where is my union? Where is my union paper? Where is the story? 

I'm not alone though.There are 17 of us in my building and an estimated 400 across the city. Most have no idea why they are there with almost no contact from their union. Most are veteran educators and minorities. Almost all are career changers. Are educators who were in another field first more likely to perform misconduct or are they more likely to speak up and get targeted?

Forget about us though. We still only account for about half of percent. A bigger issue is the thousands of educators attacked while they are still in school. I receive emails from many of them. They feel helpless and can't speak up about issues for fear of retaliation. The students suffer.

I'm just saying these are stories that are real and relevant to many rank and file members. They are not covered.

Where is Callahan? 

-Francesco Portelos mrportelos@gmail.com protectportelos.org
Parent
Educator
UFT Chapter Leader IS 49
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
*sent from my Galaxy S3. Please pardon any typos