tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post7283198951935913778..comments2024-03-26T11:07:03.496-04:00Comments on Ed Notes Online: Teachers Unite: Undemocratic System of Mayoral Control Hurts NYC Schoolsed notes onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-46614653430307760212012-10-23T12:55:32.808-04:002012-10-23T12:55:32.808-04:00Thanks for adding this Sally. It would be great to...Thanks for adding this Sally. It would be great to initiate discussions around SLTs. I hope we would not be creating 2 classes of schools. One with cooperative principals and another with those who want to control the entire process. See the Francesco Portelos case of a teacher who took the SLT seriously and is not in the rubber room for his efforts. Really chilling. In reclaiming the SLTs We need to consider how to control the principal selection process.ed notes onlinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-31309366767316737972012-10-23T11:28:59.035-04:002012-10-23T11:28:59.035-04:00Thanks for talking about our report Norm. I expect...Thanks for talking about our report Norm. I expect lots of naysayers around our Call to Action. People will say exactly what you said you are hearing: Yes, it is hard to carve out space on SLTs. <br /><br />I would answer: It's hard work leading a school system, but if we want community control then we have to fight with strength and lead schools if we expect to take control (because otherwise the mayor just takes control). While I have yet to sit on an SLT (just another year until my oldest starts school!), I am hearing from TU members that SLTs provide a perfect space for educators to collaborate with youth and parents, informing them, learning from them, and putting forth new ideas.<br /><br />I would also say it's easier to take control of a consensus-based system that is already in place than to create a new system AND engage people to make it work. (Can you imagine starting a new teachers' union AND engaging new teachers to get active in it? Eek.)<br /><br />We look to LSCs in Chicago as a beacon of hope. How else can SLTs approximate LSCs unless school communities come together, get involved and push back against autocracy?<br /><br />And my last thought: Has anyone seen a strategic campaign to end mayoral control that has the power to out-maneuver those that fight for it to continue? A Reclaiming SLTs Campaign is a realistic, grassroots strategy for small, volunteer-based groups to develop true leadership and collaboration among educators and communities. It's a strategy based on empowering and engaging regular folks, which is, admittedly, truly hard work in a system based on disempowerment to the point of demoralization. This hard work of engagement, leadership development, education and coordination has a name, it's called: ORGANIZING! <br /><br />I truly hope that our activist friends discuss and debate our Call to Action and consider it as an organizing strategy that can build power, community, and change that can be felt at the school level.Sally Leehttp://www.teachersunite.netnoreply@blogger.com