Ed Notes Online: Peter Goodman Paves the Way for Union Cave-in to Cuomo

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Peter Goodman Paves the Way for Union Cave-in to Cuomo - UPDATED

Here are links to other bloggers on the Goodman piece:

PERDIDO ST: UFT/NYSUT Signal They Will Cave To Cuomo On Teacher Evaluations/Charter Cap

NYC Educator: No One Pushes UFT Unity, and UFT Unity Falls Down Anyway

I left this comment:

The UFT/NYSUT people will make their high salaries as long as the union exists. That is why they want that little stool at the Democratic table no matter how much crow they have to eat -- the Dems are different than the Republicans in that they want to keep the union structure so they can use it to control the members from militancy which they do very well - ala the Goodman post. Thus calls to get rid of agency shop would so harm Unity and the UFT that I would bet Cuomo would fight to keep that because he knows in the long run they will always come around.

Mindy Rosier at anti-Cuomo rally

We'd extracted a promise that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo would delay Common Core-related junk science while rating teachers, and he simply broke it. Screw teachers, screw NYSUT, and screw Randi Weingarten, says Governor Andy... NYC Educator

Now NYSUT is coming out against Cuomo. Really! It was never Cuomo's intention to support this bill. The proposition was only made to get an endorsement or to prevent a Teachout endorsement. And NYSUT/UFT/AFT leadership fell for the trick. Instead of whining now about this bill that we all knew he would veto, how about working to block a statewide APPR?...Beth Domino, Stronger Together - NYSUT PROTESTS OUTSIDE GOVERNOR'S MANSION BUT AN OPPOSITION NYSUT LEADER WANTS A STRONGER FIGHT.., ICEUFT Blog

As a history teacher I’m reminded of “Going to Canossa (“Canossa” refers to an act of penance or submission), Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, dressed in “sackcloth and ashes, humbled himself in the snow outside of the castle of Pope Gregory seeking absolution from the threat of excommunication. Henry retained his throne.... Charter school quotas and the teacher the evaluation system are negotiable, and, the core issues are the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the property tax cap, the union has to seek absolution from Pope Andrew and move on to resolve the core issues..... Peter Goodman, https://mets2006.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/education-politics-is-a-blood-sport-chancellor-tisch-responds-to-the-threatening-cuomo-letter/

Michael Mulgrew as Henry IV, wearing sackcloth and ashes kneeling in the smow at Cuomo's mansion would make a perfect meme for the union. Any photoshoppers out there?

Goodman is like an advanced scout for UFT/Unity leadership thought process. How are they going to get out of THIS mess?

Goodman criticizes even the tepid union response to Cuomo thugism:

I mentioned to a teacher activist to expect “consequences” if the local endorsed Teachout. He thought Cuomo “would understand.” Politics is a blood sport. When your guy/gal wins you expect them to support your issues and when your guy/gal loses you can expect the winner to seek retribution. A deeply embedded political aphorism: screw with me and I screw with you. Maybe you didn’t learn this in your civics class and maybe you’re willing to take the heat and continue to battle and maybe you’re simply an idealist.

Funny how the UFT didn't endorse de Blasio in the primaries and he didn't seek retribution. But he's a mensh compared to the slimebag. Goodman represents the general thinking in the UFT for the past 50 years - no spine. But Goodman's job is to diss the idea of militancy, the kind that Beth Domino and Stronger Together espouse (OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR TISCH).

How about this message to Cuomo: WILL WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO KEEP YOU FROM EVER EVEN SNIFFING A RUN AT PRESIDENT.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: When Andy, Randi and Mikey finish off public education, they can build a bonfire and burn off the remaining books.; Thursday, January 1, 2015 at 4:41:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: I wonder if this "attack" on teachers is just a deflection away from the protests and the tragic killing of the police officers. Easier to go after teachers then to address the income inequality, racism, and lack of care for the mentally ill. A history of donations from wealthy donors, closing mental health facilities... Pick a loud fight with teachers!; Thursday, January 1, 2015 at 6:50:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: I wonder if the UFT could be sued by any teacher who is terminated? There seems to be a lot of proof that they aren't doing their job of protecting their membership.; Friday, January 2, 2015 at 10:50:00 AM EST

"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

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Peter Goodman Paves the Way for Union Cave-in to Cuomo - UPDATED

3 comments: