School Scope: Waves of Teacher Strikes Push Back Against Ed Deform, Yeshiva Mis-Education

Published in The WAVE, March 1, 2019

School Scope: Waves of Teacher Strikes Push Back Against Ed Deform, Yeshiva Mis-Education
By Norm Scott

Teachers around the nation have gone wild. Last year we saw strikes in Trump red state territory, mostly over low pay. This year strikes have spread to blue state urban areas. While pay has been an issue, the strikes have pushed back against the privatization movement led by the billionaire club disguised as phony education reform (deform, in my parlance). Key points are: putting schools in control of either a mayor or an elected school board controlled by the billionaires, high stakes testing, anti-union charter schools used to destabilize neighborhood schools, merit pay schemes, squeezing and diverting resources from public schools. All these issues have been on the table in: Chicago (charter school teachers held the first charter strike in the nation), Los Angeles (charters were made an issue), Denver (merit pay) and the latest in Oakland – with a wide range of issues. FINALLY! Here in NYC, our UFT pushback against charters and attempts to organize charter school teachers has not been very successful. The chances of seeing a strike here in NYC are not very high due to the heavy two for one Taylor law penalties, the relatively high salaries and a union that plays ball on both sides of the fence. (By the way, a recent ad in The WAVE by Erich Ulrich said he supported unions. Not if he also supports charters.) Here in NYC, the major complaint I hear from UFT members is over incompetent, abusive, lunatic supervisors. Speaking of which….

Forest Hills HS Teachers 195-21 No-Confidence Vote in Principal
FHHS is one of the relatively few comprehensive high schools left in the city after the destruction of most of these schools under the Bloomberg/Joel Klein administration (with money provided by Bill Gates). The school has generally had a good reputation. Since Principal Ben Sherman took over, there has been a lot of controversy. Sherman also was controversial at his previous school. When 90% of the staff speak we have to listen. Sherman wasn’t helped by the Sue Edelman piece on last Sunday’s front page of the NY Post declaring that he allowed students to openly smoke pot in the schools. Even our absent mayor, speaking from Iowa in his dumb presidential quest, condemned smoking pot in schools, a sign that Sherman may not last long as principal. But I would bet he gets buried somewhere in the DOE bureaucracy (imagine the fate of a teacher who faced similar charges). The key villain here is long-time Queens high school Superintendent Juan Mendez who played a major role when Beach Channel HS (and probably Far Rockaway HS too) were closed down, thus killing our only local comprehensive high schools. My ednotesonline blog has covered the FHHS story extensively, so head over if you want to know more.

Local Councilmen Ulrich and Richards Support Ultra-Ortho Yeshivas Cheating Students of Education
A group of former ultra-orthodox students who found themselves woefully unprepared for the workplace have spent years pushing the NYC DOE and the NY State Ed Dept. to establish firmer rules for these schools which take public money to teach secular subjects but ignore regulations. (YAFFED – https://www.yaffed.org/). After years of trying to gain entrance into these schools (four are still refusing), the State Ed Dept. has issues new rules requiring these yeshivas to adhere to rules providing for a fundamental secular education. But Richards and Ulrich, our local City Councilmen, were among 28 Councilmembers signing a letter protesting the new rules, complaining they were too stringent, clearly pandering to the ultra-orthodox communities which often vote as a block. And Assemblywoman Stacey Pfeffer Amato published similar complaints in The WAVE a few months ago. Sad! Sad that our electeds would support the misuse of public funds.

Norm has also covered the Yeshiva/Yaffed story at his blog at ednotesonline.com, now in its 13th year.