I was asked how MORE would be different from Unity and I said one thing I would guarantee - at the very least every abusive principal would be challenged on all levels - privately and publicly.UPDATE: questions have been posed as to the use of a tampon in this situation and our understanding is that it was not used in a conventional manner. I leave the rest to your imagination.
Yesterday I spoke to the 2 lunch hours at an elementary school and spoke about my own experience in District 14 which was run by the UFT district rep who eventually became the Superintendent - why not take power directly instead of through an intermediary? The district 14 story where there was a local machine operated through the UFT deserves a book of its own which one day I may write. The route to principal ran through becoming chapter leader. Every one of these politically connected people were in Unity Caucus - so for those who wonder about my hostility to the Caucus it is rooted in my earliest experiences as a teacher activist opposing them on the district level at first and then on the city level.
At the end of the 2nd lunch hour I was approached by a teacher who taught at the most repressive school in the district and she told me about the absolute fear people worked under in that school. Eventually she got out to the school run by James Quail who was slicker but not much better. She finally got out of there to her current school with a UFT transfer which was abolished in the 2005 contract.
We talked about how teachers got pregnant just to get out of her original school due to a frightening principal. She told me that years later she ran into a former colleague who told her how she wore tampons every day because she would pee from nervousness every time this guy came into her room. When he retired his protege - the Unity chapter leader eventually who had moved up to AP took his place and was little better. When she moved up to Dist Supt the person who took her place continued the repression which she said still goes on today.
Yeah. Deray McKesson was a chapter leader in East New York before going on to be a "ruthless administrator" (the New York Times) in Minneapolis. Then, he became a TfA exec. Soon to be Mayor of Baltimore. Amazing how many back-stabbers get their starts working for the UFT., a.k.a., Unbelievable Freakin' Turncoats.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the teacher wore pads but basic female biology would prove to you that a tampon neithers stops nor absorbs urine. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteThe tampon wasn't worn in the conventional manner - only used as absorbant.
ReplyDeleteBeautify America. Strangle a union member!
ReplyDeleteEither someone is joking or lying but this makes no sense. A tampon for internal use! Ask a woman if you have any doubt. The stress felt by the teacher because of he principal is totally understandable but the story as written has some flaws. That's all I'm saying.
ReplyDeletecan you envision how instead of wearing depends she might use a tampon for external use as a way to - oh use your imagination. I mean if a guy might pee just a bit from nerves and all he had around was a tampon why not use it in his underwear? And maybe she meant a maxi pad instead. But why not try to trivialize a story that makes Unity look bad?
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