Our pal Harry Lirtzman, who was harassed out of teaching commented:
'Harris L.Sunday, September 18, 2016 9:00:00 PMOnly the UFT is the non-aggressor while Principals can run rampant. They are working from a blueprint on how to get rid of people and divide the staff -- one of the major points is to remove or control the chapter leader -- I said this in my speech at the EB meeting -- a fundamental attack on the union at its root. How can we allow the CSA members to do that without retaliation?
The UFT and the CSA surely have a mutual non-aggression pact and any moves by the UFT to hold administrators accountable would be deemed a significant violation of that pact.' I'd bet thousands of dollars that there is a tacit understanding between the two unions that keeps the UFT in check.... comment on ICE blog, UFT NEEDS TO FORCE DOE HAND TO ENFORCE CHANCELLOR'S REGULATION C-33
At the Ex Bd meeting Leroy Barr said they had a blueprint - please share that with us. He also defended district reps after I raised the point that at their montly meetings they do not address school issues and share with each other but instead dish out what the UFT wants from often beleaguered CLs - like get the staff to vote for Hillary to stop Trump.
How interesting that there are hundreds of mini-Trumps running schools and the UFT is not interested in challenging them.
Also speaking at the Ex Bd was MORE member Dermot Myrie, who has defended himself and his wife over attacks by abusive principals - since they are black, some of these attacks racially motivated. Myrie and I are on the same page -- the UFT reps are major culprits - and he laid that out in his speech on Monday and asked how district reps can be held accountable -- he openly said that many of them were complicit with the principals and often tell teachers and entire staffs they have to figure out ways to get along.
For years I've been talking about the underlying reason the UFT has been so passive in the face of a massive assault on UFT school workers by principals and assistant principals, both members of the Council of Supervisors - the CSA. I wrote about UFT Secretary Howie Schoors comments at the Exec Bd meeting Monday - UFT Exec Bd Report: Leroy Barr Tables, Howie Schoo...
where he pretty much said there are limits as to what we can do because supervisors are in a union and they have rights. I say "fuck the rights of principals" - of those who show a pattern of behavior that goes over some line - which we still must define. There are some great and supportive principals who we know might come under political attack from above for one reason or another, especially from the newly empowered District Supt under Farina, some of the most awful people on earth - many of them who were also abusive principals.
I don't consider the CSA a real union - they are bosses.
The UFT must begin an honest assessment of every principal in the system using their own school surveys and also stats like school turnover rate, stats on age, race breakdowns in schools and how that changed under various principals. This info should be published in the NY Teacher, CSA reaction be damned.
The CSA is small and the UFT has much more leverage with some politicians. Plus the ability to run publicity campaigns. It is time to use whatever weapons the UFT has in this war.
Tell Ernie Logan to call off his dogs or we will go after them and their union. If they really want a non-aggression pact then that must work both ways.
3 comments:
Every teacher in every school should fill out an anonymous survey about how they feel about their administration. Do they feel supported by admins? getting supplies? how many Preps? how Classrooms? IEP Accomodations? These results should be published internally at the school level. Eventually, we need to force the UFT to put out a survey and most importantly, the results need to be publicized in a NYC & L.I. Newspaper. Also, the observation choices. CLs should tell everyone to pick the observation option that requires these stupidvisors to conduct at least one full period observation!!! Keep these admins busy! Demand a pre ob & post ob.
If I recall, I remember a principal was once heard as saying, "The UFT? I am not afraid of the UFT".
When CSA and UFT collude to destroy school staff the children are the ones who lose the most. Last year at a school where the staff was destroyed while the UFT did nothing, many classes spent much of the year with rotating substitute teachers. All of the remaining staff was stretched to a breaking point. The parents have voted with their feet by removing many of the children and sending them to the stable school across the street. What does Carmen Fariña say about that? On WNYc she spoke of treating teachers with respect. How hypocritical!
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