Unity Caucus Candidates A-D: The 750 AFT Convention Goers Who Vote as ONE

Continuing our series of publishing the list that appears on your UFT election ballot of all loyalty-oath signing Unity Caucus candidates running for AFT/NYSUT delegate. Last night we published the 222 chapter leader list - A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running for Unity: Loyalty Oathers Who Will Sell You Out When Told To which appeared to offend some Unity Caucus people who left comments defending themselves, which have sparked some responses.

I am doing the rest of the 750, many of them district reps, retirees, officers and UFT staffers plus others I do not know. If you know them and what they do leave a comment and I'll fill in the info. I'm doing this in alphabetical order because there are so many.

By the way - did you know that Randi is running as one of OUR delegates?

Do the math just for the upcoming AFT convention: Airfare to Minneapolis, at least 4 or more nights in a top level hotel, meal money. Figure at least $2000 a head times - make it 800 because they shlep special guests along too. I get almost $2 million of your dues going to cover this junket. No wonder they will sell your whatever bridge the leadership is putting on the market.

Again, thanks to Jonathan Halabi for gathering the info.

Melvyn	Aaronson	Off
Alan	Abrams	DR 22
Shelvy	Abrams
Kenneth	Achiron	Ret
Yona	Adika
Andrea	Agre
Don	Albright
Karen	Aldorando
Emma	Alexander
Karen	Alford	VP EL
Roseanne	Alkhatib
Renee	Allen Walker
Lorina	Allert
Sherease	Alston
Bradley	Alter
George	Altomare	Ret
Carmen	Alvarez	Off
John	Amato
Seva	Amos
Sharon	Anderson
Marie	Andino
Donna	Anglin
Sophy	Aponte
Lisa	Arian
Portia	Armstrong
Angela	Artis
Amy	Arundell	FT
Robert	Astrowsky	Ret
Patricia	Atia	DR
Mary	Atkinson	FT
Ina	Babb-Henry
Joshua	Baez
Sherlyn	Bailey
Dolores	Balboa
Tracey	Ball Douglas
Adreianne	Barksdale
Anthony	Barnes
Leroy	Barr	Off
Claudette	Bart
Nancy	Barth-Miller
Normel	Batson
Reynold	Batson
Timothy	Becker
Alexander	Bell
Mashantuck	Bell
Bertha	Bell-Lee
Jacqueline	Bennett	FT
Thomas	Bennett
Robert	Berger
Phyllis	Berk
Jeffrey	Bernstein	FT
Doreen	Berrios-Castillo
Doreen	Bevilacqua
Howard	Bloch	Ret
Linda	Bloch
Peter	Bloch
Patricia	Bonadonna
Sally-Ann	Bongiovanni
Klaus	Bornemann
Margaret	Borrelli	FT
Kendra	Bowman-Burns
Jennifer	Brancaccio
Jocelyn	Brathwaite
Erika	Brown
Helena	Brown
Joan	Brown
Shajada	Brown
Thomas	Brown	Off
Glenda	Bryant-Bonas
Vasiliki	Buccellatto
Adeliz	Burgos
Zina	Burton-Myrick	FT
Robert	Burwick
Robert	Cain
Isabella	Calisi-Wagner
Sandra	Callahan
Jose	Camacho
Emelina	Camacho Mendez	FT
Paulette	Camarinos
Carl	Cambria
Brian	Campbell
David	Campbell
Brenda	Caquias
Cassie	Carlo
Chandice	Carroll
Andrea	Carte
Frank	Carucci	Ret
Leo	Casey	x- wtf?
Casserene	Cassells
Priscilla	Castro
Angelo	Caterina
Floresta	Chapman
Donna	Chartash
Monica	Christie
Dwayne	Clark	FT
Bernadette	Clemons
Michelle	Cohen-Weill
Joseph	Colletti
Mark	Collins
Dominique	Colon
Reginald	Colvin
Catherine	Connolly
Aracelia	Cook
Alice	Cooper	DR 27
Donna	Coppola
Cecilia	Cortez
Rosemarie	Cortijo
Doreen	Crinigan
Patricia	Crispino	FT
Theresa Ann	Crivelli
Yadira	Cruz
Melissa	Cuadrado
Santina	D'Angelo
Tabio	Da Cruz
Clare	Daley
Rodrick	Daley
Margaret	Dalton-Diakite
Michelle	Daniels
Rita	Danis
Elizabeth	Darby
Allison	Davis
Marina	Davis
Maria	De Candia
Anthony	Debetta
Regine	Dejean
Evelyn	Dejesus
Arlevia	Deloach
Cathy	Deluca
Adhim	Deveaux
Robin	Di Palma
Ellen	Diamond Jones
Lorraine	Donlon
Kerry	Dowling
Ellen	Driesen
James	Duncan
Sandra	Dunn-Yules
Pamela	Durante
Tammie	Durosinmi
Bridget	Dyzenhaus

Join the Thunderclap! For #MORE2016 Get Out the Vote

What's a Thunderclap? You learn something every day. Join in. Let's see if social media outreach pumps up the vote this election cycle.

From MORE's Dan Lupkin:

Join the Thunderclap! You can think of it as an "online flash mob." Click the link to take part in a coordinated Get Out the Vote message across Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Fewer than 18% of working educators voted in the 2013 UFT elections; let's send a message to our colleagues and to UNITY caucus that NYC educators deserve rank-and-file leadership. It's time to demand a genuinely member-driven union!

http://thndr.me/KT9C78

 

 

Some Predictions as UFT Election Ballots in the Mail: 63 Thousand Retirees Can Vote - Division Totals Below

UFT members should start receiving their ballots today, tomorrow and Monday. (If you don't get it by Tuesday May 11 contact the AAA to get another one.) Vote totals for MORE/NA are very dependent on how hard people work in their schools to get the vote out. In the past I think the totals were suppressed because people didn't do enough.

My long national nightmare ends on May 26 when I observe the vote count before heading downtown for the MORE end of election party. I only have a thousand more leaflets to get out.

Unless there are some very big surprises in the outcomes that would offer hope for the future, I will consider myself on F-U time - my sense of obligation to do UFT work and try to build an opposition crap ends. I have no intention to be involved in another election. I may continue to do stuff but guilt will no longer be a driving force because if MORE/NA can't make even a bit of a dent this time then what is the point for someone like me to stay deeply involved? There will still be an opposition and I intend to report more openly on goings on in MORE and the rest of the opposition. In other words, be more of reporter than an organizer. And I have a lot to report, including doing a detailed tell-all history of MORE.

Retirees Largest Block in UFT
Check out the numbers of ballots sent out. Aside from the outcomes, we will be watching how many were returned in each division. Note that the biggest batch of ballots sent out were the 62,991 to retirees and about 30-33% generally return their ballots, with roughly 80-85% going to Unity. Assume 23000 return this time and retiree preferences stay the same, the election starts with Unity having almost 20,000 votes and MORE/NA with about 3,000 based on past numbers.

If MORE/NA can get over 20% of the retiree vote that would be a breakthrough.

Let's assume a bump for MORE/NA due to the recent retirees not being all that happy.

Give Unity - 17-8,000, MORE/NA - 4-5000.  Can MORE/NA make up a 12- 14,000 initial vote gap by outpolling Unity in the other divisions? Before I address that issue here is some relevant info on the retiree vote.

Up to 23,000 of these retiree votes count for a full vote. If the number or returns goes above that then they are prorated. So theoretically if 46,000 retirees vote each counts as a .5 vote. Unity Caucus has adjusted the number allowed up from 15000 to 18000 to 23000 as more retirees vote. Only one time did the actual vote totals go about the limit.

If retirees break much above the 23,000 number this year will Unity try to raise the number again? I am not sure they will raise the limit again. I was an observer at the 2013 count and when we were told that 52% of the returns were retirees some of the union leaders there look extremely uncomfortable with that number. If we get more of a turnout from the working divisions and MORE/NA make serious gains Unity will probably raise the retiree cap to 25000 for next time.

127,000 working UFT members, 66,000 teachers to vote. Can MORE/NA make up a 14,000 gap?

Of course what Unity does in the future depends on the outcomes in the 3 key divisions: elementary, middle school and high school which is where the 66,000 teacher votes reside. (Below I'll address the large block of the over 46,000 non-teaching functionals).

One of the reasons I don't focus on challenging the retiree vote is that the opposition must show it can win the 3 divisional teacher vote first. Until that time there is no point in wasting energy on that battle. If the day comes where MORE wins the majority of teacher votes then a court case becomes feasible on the retiree vote.

If the day comes that the opposition wins these 23 executive board seats it will be a new ball game.

What percentage of teachers will vote? 

Look at how many ballots were sent out yesterday:

·        The total number of ballots that were printed and mailed is 189, 469

o   Elementary: 35, 606

o   JHS: 11,197

o   HS (Academic/CTE): 19,539

o   Functional Chapters: 46, 731

o   Retiree: 62,991

The above numbers are roughly in line with the 2013 numbers except for a 5000 bump in retiree votes.

In the 2013 election about 9000 elementary, 1800 middle  and 3500 high school teachers voted.

These are the crucial areas of concern because retirees don't vote in these divisions, thus giving the opposition a fighting chance. Unless MORE/NA can make a dent in all these divisions little will change in the UFT.

High Schools
Expect the high schools to roughly break 50-50 as they have done over the past 25 years. In 2013 MORE and New Action together got about 2000 votes while Unity got around 1600 but the NA votes went to Unity. If nothing changes it would be a slam dunk for MORE/NA. If Unity numbers go up (though why anyone in high school would vote for Unity) say 4000 and MORE/NA stay the same as last time it is a horse race. I would hope MORE/NA can do better than last time and force Unity to really hustle for those 7 high school seats. If MORE/NA managed 60% that would be a wowzer. Sometimes I have the feeling that Unity is ambivalent about having 100% of the exec bd if we lose the high schools, thus pulling away their fiction of bi-partisanship, one of the benefits of New Action and Unity breaking. But knowing Unity they want the whole enchilada. The only negative if MORE/NA wins the high schools is that I have to treat Schirtzer to a Peter Lugar steak.

Middle schools
The middle schools are interesting given the low vote totals in the past -- out of 12,000 ballots sent out in 2013 Unity only got about 1100 votes. MORE and New Action combined got less than 700 together. How much fun would it be if MORE/NA was competitive in the middle schools? It would take only a flip of a few hundred votes.


Elementary schools
Elementary schools are worth watching to see if Unity totals drop and MORE/NA go up. Unity totals dropped seriously from 2010 to 2013 but MORE/NA were roughly stable.

The elementary outcome will be a key indicator of an anti-Unity movement in the union. If MORE/NA break the 35% barrier I consider that movement. Anything approaching 40% would create panic in Unity.

Functional chapters
They are all lumped together which I believe is undemocratic. Note the large number of non-teacher functional ballots - almost 47,000. Pro Unity totals always come in higher in the functionals. My guess is that Unity maintains very tight control of the individual chapters in the functionals - especially the paras which is the biggest block.
Unity gets higher numbers than in the school divisions even if so many functionals are getting screwed.

Some people knock the opposition for focusing on teachers at this point. I believe this is due to the inability to get much traction in the functionals without some strong leadership coming out of those divisions to work with the opposition. Thus a secretary of para who is ready to help organize in their chapter is a necessary antecedent for making a dent there. What I find is that there are complaints about Unity but an expectation that MORE/NA teachers will do that organizing, which to me is not organic - believe me over my 40 years I've been there, done that and it doesn't get very far.

If you don't get your ballot

·        500 extra ballots were printed for each division used for people who did not receive a ballot and call AAA to request one.

·        AAA is responsible for securing the ballots from the post office on a daily basis and safely storing them until the morning of May 26^th.

·        Ballots are opened on the day of the count.

No matter what the outcome join us at the MORE party at the Dark Horse on May 26 to celebrate the hard work people have been doing.

#MORE2016 UFT Election Video: Dan Lupkin and Megan Moskop

I just love these videos showcasing the active members of MORE. Note that these are people on the front end of their careers with a long way to go. As someone who hasn't seen this age group (20s to 40ish) active in the opposition to Unity since the 70s I find that invigorating. Of course we also always track the long-time staying power of people who if they don't see some movement in policy within the UFT can get discouraged or just lose interest. The future of the opposition will not be told when this election ends but over the next year or two when there is no election activity. I dropped in to last night's MORE steering committee meeting and saw signs of post-election planning for the summer series. After the election I'm going to delve into some history and will explore the group dynamics both positive and negative.

#MORE2016 UFT Election Video: Marcus McArthur on Why Vote MORE?

Marcus McArthur is running for one of the 7 seats on the high school executive board, seats that are winnable if high school teachers check off the MORE/New Action box on the slate. Watch this video and imagine Marcus and the rest of the high school slate Arthur Goldstein, Ashraya Gupta, Mike Schirtzer, David Garcia-Rosen, Jonathan Halabi, and Kuljit Arhuwalia speaking up for all teachers.

#MORE2016 UFT Election Video: Michelle Baptiste on Why Vote MORE/New Action

https://youtu.be/jwrrDCb7JB8

#MORE2016: AMEM - A MORE Effective Meeting

Michael Flanagan

The new MORE/New Action joint flyer

The pizza has arrived

I attended another invigorating MORE meeting yesterday, one of the most productive I've seen.  I was sorry (almost) I had to leave early to get back to Rockaway to pick up my wife for last night's Ronnie Spector and Dion concert at the Kings theater in Brooklyn which on our first visit to that wonderfully renovated theater (my wife, an Erasmus grad, is from that general neighborhood) turned out to be so much fun. (Photos and video posted on FB - https://www.facebook.com/NormSco/posts/10154048487502225?pnref=story).)

 No, Ronnie and Dion did not perform at the MORE meeting. But we did have great musician Michael Flanagan there though sans performance. Michael will be doing a happy hour soon in the Bronx where he will perform.

The meeting was so well organized and competently run by the crew from the steering committee in charge -  Cayden Betzig, Ashraya Gupta and Janice Manning- all new to steering this time. They will be an amazing resource to MORE. I know Cayden, a first year teacher, since he was a freshman at NYU and at one meeting last fall when things seemed to slow down he told me he has a lot of experience in facilitation and yesterday he proved it. When I was speaking a little bit long (surprise) he gently said "30 seconds" and I shut up. I love taking orders from a 23 year old.

The trio worked with a more experience crew - Kevin Prosen, Megan Moskop and Peter Lamphere who facilitated the breakout sessions.

There was so much going on related to setting up distribution lists that will last beyond this election, methods for getting out the vote in their schools - with some fascinating ideas - and expanding the use of social media. I never knew what a Thunderclap was before - and still am not sure. So many people are so knowledgeable.

New people showed up. Two women who were long-time friends each discovered MORE independently - one said she was so frustrated by conditions and lack of anything emanating from the Unity/UFT leadership she started googling and found MORE.

The entire Eterno family attended and seemed to be having a good time. James and Camille who in the past had not always been enamored of MORE meetings are a sort of bellwether as to the progress MORE is making at its meetings. If you've been reading James at the ICE blog you know how positive an attitude he has.

Arthur Goldstein at NYC Educator, also a past critic at times of MORE, has been very satisfied - as you can see - Who Should Run The UFT - 

A year and a half ago heaping praise on a MORE meeting was uncommon  as MORE struggled to make the meetings more productive. MORE emerged out of the difficulties being faced at that time -- in retrospective they look like serious growing pains of a caucus that was built on so many different groups and points of view that had not quite meshed and was leading to some frustration. ICE and TJC, the 2 previous caucuses had not gotten along especially well since ICE's inception in late 2003 and NYCORE had not been involved in caucus activity before. Plus an influx of people not affiliated with any groups requires a lot of meshing. Building up trust in working with each other can take years.

Building for this election not only brought out a lot of new people but also solidified some relationships in MORE through working together.

I would mark the January 2015 meeting focused on upcoming chapter leader elections as a sort of turning point - getting meetings to focus on tasks at hand and providing useful information. There was also a push for some decentralization within MORE to allow people even if with differing viewpoints some space. The 2015 summer series, opening with a new chapter leader training workshop that attracted almost 60 people, was planned with this in mind.

Also emerging from this election is the cessation of hostilities towards New Action. I was wary at how things might work out but everyone has been very pleased to see how things are working out. The MORE committee of 3 - Kit Wainer, James Eterno and Lauren Cohen chosen to work with New Action has worked out very well. What a perfect choice MORE made here - 2 former presidential candidates, one from TJC and one from ICE and a non-affiliated younger gen chapter leader in VP Elementary School candidate Lauren Cohen who is already carving her own legacy with her slam of Unity at the 2014 NYSUT  - Lauren Cohen Stands Up to Unity Bullies - convention and her recent appearance on NBC in the opt out video.

Maybe New Action people will take an active role in MORE in some ways. I don't foresee a merger is in the near future. But I think ICE has been a model of sorts of a group that keeps its identity and voice but has the majority of people working actively in MORE.


After this election I am going to make an effort to fade away as much as I can -- but when you are addicted to the action that may be tough. I also know that things can come apart in instant. I've seen this happen all too often in the past - where someone or some organized group shows up who brings a discordant and divisive note to an organization, especially one committed to internal democracy and bottom up organizing. It is fairly easy to mis-use "democracy" in an undemocratic manner to subvert a group or try to use if for their own ends.

I may take a step back but will be forever vigilant.

#MORE2016: UFT Elections and Leaflet Distribution

The main reason I've been working for years to see a caucus built with enough of a level of organizational integrity and reach is so I can do less. One of the positive signs coming out of the #MORE2016 UFT election campaign is how much less work I have to do compared to the 2004, 07, 10, 13 campaigns.

When I think back to the work I did in GEM and ICE and with Ed Notes before that, and even the work over the past 4 years in seeing these groups morph into MORE I am on vacation now. In past elections a relatively few people in all the caucuses raced around the city stuffing mailboxes. In 2013 I did all 50 schools in District 27 among many others around the city - even venturing into the Bronx.  Crazy. And doing this once every 3 years is really counterproductive.

This year I am doing more drop-offs and stuff boxes in relatively few schools. That is part of a strategy not to go off half-cocked all over the place given the poor outcomes of doing this in the past.

For 3 years I've been badgering people in MORE to focus on setting up a smooth distribution network with the goal of reaching as many schools as possible through a direct contact in the school so we don't have to go in and stuff mailboxes on our own, something that we pretty much have seen yields few results. In addition, I've argued for some kind of regular production on an ongoing basis between elections.

So if you asked me what my main goal in this election has been - it is exactly that - trying to get lots of people to sign on to being a regular distributor in their own and if possible nearby schools -- both of hard copy and sending things out electronically to colleagues.

Call it a "stay local" campaign by focusing on your school and district and in the case of high schools the borough or one area of the borough. George Schmidt from Chicago told me how much harder organizing in NYC is compared to them - Chicago is the size of Brooklyn. So MORE has been evolving a more local strategy where local pockets are built and are free from centralized control to do their thing without centralized management - a sort of entrepreneurial spirit - and to use the central contact lists to reach out in addition to developing a local contact list.

The election though has to be centrally managed and since in the past ICE elections I was involved in every single aspect, I've been out of that loop this time with no role in writing and laying out leaflets and ads or a lot of other things. Like planning and running meetings. Various committees have been doing all this work and it is like a breath of fresh air. (Tomorrow's MORE meeting has been totally planned and organized by people new to MORE, including a first year teacher who is now on steering committee. People in their 20s. What a pleasure.)

Will this work translate into votes in the election? I never can tell. It might not. But I do know an organization is being built. Requests for leaflets from people we don't know in schools around the city is a sign at least that a distribution network is being formed with people taking responsibility for dropping off leaflets to their contacts. As one ICE veteran recently told me "there's a buzz in the air."

But if this network stops operating until the next election then MORE will be doing what all the other opposition groups have been doing - the Einstein def of insanity - the same thing over and expecting different results.

I have narrowed my efforts in MORE towards maintaining this network and urging MORE to produce hard copy that goes out to this network at least 4 times a year. After the election I'd like to make distribution trees so everyone has an idea of their own network responsibilities.

If MORE builds up its capacity in hundreds of schools election results will reflect that work. I view this election as a test of that capacity. If the results match 2013 that would indicate the network has been stagnant over the past 3 years and MORE would have to ask itself how it can address that issue.

The longtime goal is for MORE to be able to reach every working UFT member just as Unity does with the NY Teacher and through its district reps.That is the only way to ever contend for power. If the schools shift away from Unity, the pressure to curb the retiree impact on the UFT will intensify. But first things first.

UFT Elections by the Numbers: 2013 Results Are Baseline for #MORE2016

One reason I am usually pessimistic about UFT election outcomes is that the numbers rarely change drastically from election to election. At times in the past we did expect change. Like after the 2005 contract we expected better outcomes in 2007 - they were better but not by all that much. But when the day comes that the numbers get shaken up by a serious percentage we will know something is shaking.

Why an opposition can't focus on retirees or functionals: lack of resources
52% of the returned votes in 2013 was by retirees. 

The participation results, listed by division:

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

Functional:         51,040                          7,704

Retirees:              58,357                          22,462

Some people tell us to go after retirees. I'm opposed to putting resources into retirees - there are 50 years of thousands of Unity Caucus retirees who are still alive and they would never switch. I think the recent retirees might vote for us. Last time between MORE and New Action we got about 3000 votes from retirees.

Here are the totals:
                                   2013                                      2010

Functional Division (non-teachers)

MORE                       951                                                 708 for ICE/TJC

New Action             754                                                  1,175

Unity                         5,167                                              7,337

Retiree Division

MORE                       1,490                                             1,037 for ICE/TJC

New Action              1,880                                            2,234

Unity                          18,155                                          20,744

Unity lost about 2000 but MORE and New Action made little gains - in fact New Action lost a lot of functional and retiree votes.

While we are running a full 19 member functional slate for Ex Bd with secretaries, paras, OTs, guidance, social workers etc we still need a critical mass in each of these units to make inroads. So we can't do very much inside the functional units unless we have people who work in those non-teaching areas to do some essential organizing. But most of them are scattered among many schools and a big change in the functionals can only be expected when we see their individual chapters captured from Unity iron-clad control.

Focus on non retiree vote areas of the union
So my strategy and focus is on the teaching portion of the union where retirees don't vote:  the 3 basics --  elem, ms, hs divisions where a total of 23 Executive Board seats can be won which would give the opposition close to 25% of the seats and and a real foothold.

Elementary schools are the long-term key to winning power in the UFT
The key to any opposition getting a serious hold in challenging for power in the UFT is in the elementary schools which have been death valley for opposition caucuses - forever.

Let's look at Unity Caucus total for 2010 and 2013 in Elementary School Division (11 EB seats)

   Mailed  ballots(2013)           Returned ballots

Elementary:         34,163                          7,331

                              2013                             2010

Unity                          5,111                                7,761

Unity dropped over 2500 votes in elem schools alone between 2010 and 2013. 34,000 elem ballots were sent out. The historic problem for the opposition has been a serious lack of penetration out in the far flung district schools where Unity gets many elem CLs into the caucus. The District Reps keep a hawk eye on them to make sure they don't stray into opposition territory.
And they still can only manage less 7300 returns.

Look at the MORE and New Action totals:

Elementary School Division

                                  2013                                                2010 

MORE                       1,140                                               703 for ICE/TJC

New Action                534                                                 978

Basically MORE picked up what New Action lost plus a few hundred. Total of about 1700 - a number that makes me so pessimistic about making big inroads into the Unity majority in the elem schools. I've also seen Unity recover from big drops and it is not impossible for them to bounce back up to 7700. There is no way to gauge because last time we were surprised at all the low totals. But you never know. Theoretically, if MORE/New Action doubled their vote to 3400 (and I have no indication this might happen) and Unity dropped again - well, I can dream.

Which is why all the elementary school ed notes readers can go into their schools on May 6 and take out an organization sheet and go around the school and ask people if they will vote for MORE - and then send those tallies to old Norm so he can get an idea of where things stand. Then you can do one better -- have them bring in the ballot  - everyone has to make sure to not screw up the ballot or it won't be counted. Ideally, since so few people use snail mail and don't even know how to find a mail box, make sure all the ballots get mailed that day.

Middle schools - a slim maybe
Now let's take a look at the middle schools which the opposition one once - in 1991.
                                  2013                                                        2010

Middle School Division

MORE                       398                                                  248 for ICE/TJC

New Action               161                                                    421

Unity                        1,185                                                 1,981

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

Middle School:   10,807                          1,879

Astoundingly low totals of return and votes for both Unity and MORE and New Action. Unity dropped 800 ms votes and MORE gained 150 while New Action lost 250. If they doubled their vote to 1000 this time and Unity lost 200, VIOLA!

High schools in play
Now when we get to the high schools things get interesting.

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

High School:      19,040                          3,808

The returned totals are sad and the Unity totals dropped by 1000 between 2010 and 2013 - but they picked up the 452 from the New Action cross endorsement.

High School Division

MORE                       1,430                                              1,369 for ICE/TJC

New Action              452                                                  774

Unity                         1,592                                              2,595

Now if you just assumed the same totals as 2010 the MORE plus New Action would outpoll Unity in the high schools. But never underestimate Unity and I don't assume they will not do what it takes to increase their votes to fend us off. What I would love to see one day is the MORE/New Action vote once again, as it did in the 90s, reach 3000 in the high schools. Pipe dream I know but to me that would be a break. I think with the closing of so many big high schools the large opposition vote totals of the past is something we may not see again.

The totals will be a reflection of the work MORE people are able and willing to do in their own schools to get out the vote. Too bad we can't track the individual school voting pattern - we could reward the MOREs whose schools did well with wine and song and punish those who didn't do well by withholding snacks at meetings.


This data was compiled by Peter Lamphere.

#whatmoredoes: MORE on NBC - Teachers Defy Schools Chancellor to Critique Common Core, Encourage Opt-Out

They are members of the UFT and vying for leadership positions.... Chris Glorioso, NBC

The new faces of the opposition in the UFT: Lauren Cohen, Kristin Taylor, Jia Lee

Video posted on MORE website: https://morecaucusnyc.org/2016/04/09/video-of-more-teachers-opt-out-on-nyc/

Our UFT Presidential Candidate Jia Lee on WNBC 4 “Parents should definitely opt out. Refuse. Boycott these tests because change will not happen with compliance.” Our VP of Elementary Schools candidate Lauren Cohen said ““I want to tell parents that I’m not going to get anything out of the test. Their kids aren’t getting anything out of the test,” and MORE’s Kristen Taylor added that the tests are “fundamentally harming the education system”.

The report is on NBC by investigative reporter Chris Glorioso
who will be getting a call from the PR department at the UFT/Unity HQ for daring to talk to people in the opposition.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-City-Teachers-Defy-Chancellor-Common-Core-Opt-Out-374821661.html

Some NYC Teachers Defy Schools Chancellor to Critique Common Core, Encourage Opt-Out

Despite a warning they could be disciplined for expressing opinions on standardized tests, a trio of New York City public school teachers sat down with NBC 4 New York recently to criticize this year’s Common Core exams.

“Parents should definitely opt out,” said Jia Lee, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at The Earth School in Manhattan. “Refuse. Boycott these tests because change will not happen with compliance.”

“I want to tell parents that I’m not going to get anything out of the test. Their kids aren’t getting anything out of the test,” said Lauren Cohen, a fifth-grade teacher at P.S. 321 in Brooklyn.

In an email to the I-Team, Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, said teachers are allowed to criticize standardized tests as long as they express opinions in their capacity as private citizens. But if teachers are speaking as representatives of the Department of Education, they should not advise parents to opt out of the state exams.

“If they do so as representatives of the DOE, they may be subject to discipline,” Kaye said.

But teachers who oppose the tests say the lines between their identities as educators and private citizens are often blurred.

“It’s hard to know whether I can say I’m a private citizen when I’ve already been identified as a teacher,” said Cohen.

Kristin Taylor, a third-grade teacher at P.S. 261, said she believes the Common Core tests are “fundamentally harming the education system,” but she’s worried she’ll damage her career if she tells parents directly that they should opt kids out of the exams.

“Out of concern over my position in the public school system, I don’t feel at liberty to say whether you should," she said.

In December, Anita Skop, the superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 15, said teachers have no right to tell parents they believe they should pull kids from standardized tests.

"A teacher cannot get up in the schoolyard and say to a parent, 'I think you should opt your child out,'" Skop said.

When contacted by the I-Team, Skop reiterated that position, but said she has not disciplined any teachers who defy that rule.

“I have never been instructed to discipline anybody and I don’t intend to,” she said.

According to the DOE, no teacher has been disciplined for telling parents to pull kids out of exams.

In the past, critics have opposed the exams on grounds that scores could be used in teacher evaluations and decisions about student promotion. This year, Farina said those critiques have been eliminated.

“We sent teachers to Albany to help review the test and look over the test,” Farina said. “We also are not using the test results to hold students back and we’re not using the test results for teacher evaluations.”

At a news conference on Monday, Farina suggested the decision to pull a child from the exams would be misguided.

“I don’t believe in opting out,” Farina said. “Honestly, you’re teaching kids that it is OK not to do the whole work. It really is important when you go to school to be accountable for what you’re doing.”

Michael Elliot, a parent in Park Slope who has pulled his child from three standardized exams, said it seems unfair that the chancellor should be able to advise parents to opt in when teachers are told they can’t tell parents to opt out.

“There's something that is very hypocritical about it, that you're allowed to speak in favor of the test. As long as you toe the line, political speech about the test is OK,” Elliot said.

According to the DOE, about 416,000 New York City public school students are taking the state’s standardized exam this week. Kaye said the DOE does not have a count of how many parents notified their schools that their children would be opting out of the test this year.

Published 43 minutes ago

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Follow Chris Glorioso

#WhatMOREdoes: Supports Opt-Out Which Defends Teachers Against Ed Deform Onslaught

MORE was far ahead of the curve in linking the battle over high stakes, connecting opt-out to the assault on teachers while Unity Caucus plays footsie with Farina, Elia and a host of ed deformers.

One MORE reason to VOTE MORE:

One of the keys to building a powerful union is building strong alliances. Even pre-MORE, some founders, as members of ICE and GEM, helped start the opt-out movement through organizing with other teachers about the impact of testing and that began to attract parents who quickly took over the testing information program that then morphed into the opt-out movement through Change the Stakes, an offshoot of GEM. MORE teachers who are also parents played a dual role by opting their own children out of tests.

The film we made through GEM, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,  is considered one of the first shots fired back against the ed deform movement.

Thus MORE which emerged out of GEM has its basic roots in the battle against high stakes testing and the formation of the opt-out movement.

MORE teachers realized was that high stakes testing was the major weapon of ed deform to attack teachers and close down their schools in favor of charters which leads to loss of jobs and the creation of the ATR crisis.

If you don't believe it just see the reactions of the ed deform supporting press and the astro-turf organizations like Students First which actually got an appearance yesterday on the Brian Lehrer show posing as a grassroots group of parents supporting the tests. Brian barely challenged her claims.

The link of test scores to teacher performance was a big wake-up call to the rank and file - and Unity Caucus is still selling that link as a better way to fight unfettered principal power which causes everyone to scratch their heads since Unity Caucus played a big role in handing over this power to principals in the first place.

Thus, the reality is that MORE was far ahead of the curve in linking the battle over high stakes, supporting opt-out to the assault on teachers while Unity Caucus plays footsie with Farina, Elia and a host of ed deformers.

Below is the MORE statement released this morning - and when asked "what does MORE do?" this is just one item in a list of many to come.

morecaucusnyc

MORE Supports Opt-Out

The members of the Movement and Rank and File Educators (MORE-UFT) stand in solidarity with and support the students, parents and fellow educators who are taking a stand against the tools being used to destroy public education.

By standing together against the interests of corporate driven education reforms, whose sole purpose is for profit, we are creating a vision for the kinds of schools our students deserve. The opt out movement is speaking loud and clear against the systematic ranking and sorting of our students, teachers and schools.

By denying the data, communities are standing up for educators to be able to teach to the whole child, to respect and attend to the rich diversity of student interests and ways of learning and to teach in culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate ways.
We are grateful to the principled actions of so many who are organizing and working to protect the professional autonomy of educators so that our students can thrive.

“To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin” (Bell Hooks 1994)

We are keenly aware of how our teaching conditions are inextricably linked to our students’ learning conditions. We will continue to work alongside our school communities to fight for the schools our children deserve.

On May 5th ballots for UFT officers will be sent to your house. MORE has supported educators who speak out against testing, refuse to administer these tests, and those that opt-out their own children. We have opposed Common Core from the moment it was forced upon teachers without our consent. UFT President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity caucus have not offered any support to educators and parents opting out of testing, refused to endorse resolutions calling for an end to high stakes testing, and have been staunch defenders of Common Core.

Our Presidential candidate Jia Lee, Chapter Leader of The Earth School was quoted in this article in the NY Post
‘Opt out:’ Teachers email parents to boycott Common Core tests

#MORE2016: What a Social Justice Union Can Do - More Photos from Chicago Strike

Message to MORE bashers over social justice issues:

No way, no how this happens when a teacher union says "let's only worry about the teachers."

Can anyone even conceive of this happening under the Unity Caucus leadership? Can't wait for a report from our MORE core in Chicago this weekend meeting with other social justice movement caucuses from around the nation.

UFT Election, ATR Update: Luck Be a Lady and Her Name is Norm

I drew first and picked Jia Lee for top of the ballot.

I had a busy day yesterday. I had a lunch date with a teacher who was going to put MORE election lit in the mailboxes of 5 neighboring schools (Lunch With a Chapter Leader I Met for the First Time) followed by a meeting at 52 Broadway to draw ballot positions for the UFT election - as I reported, UFT Election Update: Today is the Drawing for Slate Positions - #MORE2016.

I met up with New Action's Michael Shulman at the UFT for the 4:30 meeting run by Amy Arundel. I reported on some of the issues yesterday: UFT Election Update: Today is the Drawing for Slate Positions - #MORE2016

Amy's first comments were about my ATR posts:

• ATRS Targeted by Brienza Consultant Firm Formerly ...
• An ATR Tells Us a Story - Where is the UFT's Plan

Amy disputed that Brienza was hired as a consultant by the DOE and said she had checked with the DOE and they had no record. She said that most likely the school itself had possibly hired them but also felt that there should have been no contact with the ATR since that should be handled by the field supervisor. She wanted me to give her the name and particulars about the ATR but I would not do that until further consultation with the ATR. I shared some information about the case but was not specific. I felt the union has been letting him down. She promised to rectify that situation.

We had a very lively discussion on the ATR situation where we disagreed on the UFT's agreeing to allow ATRs to be shuffled to multiple districts. Amy, who I and many others respect, claims the wider exposure has helped ATRs get jobs and out of the ATR pool. I felt that more ATRs are hurt than helped by this change. Amy promised to assist in any way possible to help this ATR and I will follow up with her. I know some ATRs who have been helped behind the scenes by Amy.

Once we got that out of the way we got down to election business.

In addition to Amy, the meeting was attended by some members of the UFT election committee. Ellie Engler, David Hickey and Leroy Barr were in the room. Solidarity had the time wrong and their rep, Michael Herman, had to participate by phone.

Each candidate for the officers and exec board are on a folded piece of paper and each caucus draws and the order on the ballot is determined. One caucus did not meet the 40 candidate requirement and that issue is still up for discussion. I will report in detail on this aspect later tonight.

There were multiple drawings for individual ballot positions. First came the president and I drew first and hit the jackpot - Jia Lee will get the top line. Mulgrew will be 2nd and some other guy will be 3rd.

Then we drew for each candidate for the Ex Bd divisions and Ex Bd at large. We alternated between Leroy, Amy and I and I also got the first draw for high schools and drew Mike Schirtzer who will appear at the top of the high school ballot. He owes me a dinner.

The rest went fairly hum drum and we were done by 5:30.
The UFT election committee is meeting today at 6 after the DA to make some final decisions.

Today is a UFT delegate assembly followed by a MORE happy hour. We are bringing 10,000 election leaflets to the DA so we have enough for people to take back to their schools. Last time we brought 5000 and didn't have enough. MORE will have an organized crew on hand to log which schools are being covered.

Here is the MORE announcement:

Please pick-up you election fliers at UFT 52 Broadway NYC from 3:45 to 6:00pm. Post DA Happy Hour 6:00-7:00pmBlarney Stone 11 trinity place - one block way. Please take for your school , nearby chapters, and for your friends to distribute.

Chapter Leaders and Delegates please support our resolution to calling for an end to test based evaluations and motion to amend the receivership resolution.

http://morecaucusnyc.org/2016/03/20/get-test-scores-out-of-teacher-evaluation/

Before the DA I am dropping our lit at various schools in lower Manhattan with MORE's John Antush. Between us and New Action we may be getting out 70-80 thousand pieces of lit.

UFT Election Update: Today is the Drawing for Slate Positions - #MORE2016

I'm heading over to meet a teacher for lunch who has volunteered not only to put #MORE2016 election leaflets in the boxes of his own school but to do 5 other nearby schools. The lunch is on me - and if you want to have lunch on me (not literally) send me a list of schools outside yours you are covering.

I will be throwing the tumbling dice

Then I am off to the UFT to take part in the drawing for slate positions on the ballot. A caucus needs to meet the threshold of 40 candidates in order to get a slate line. If they don't have 40 candidates, as long as the candidates get the petitions signatures, the candidates would have to run as individuals.

This 40 candidate threshold was part of the UFT election announcement and ratified unanimously by the election committee which consists of representatives of all three caucuses that have declared they are running.

Some candidates have been ruled ineligible to run due to their not being a member of the union - ie, not paying their dues. I have heard that 2 of the roughly MORE/New Action 300 candidates have been so ruled and we accept that decision as our bad for not making sure all our candidates were union members.

We will get the exact numbers this afternoon and I will be rolling my lucky dice to try to get MORE/New Action the first position on the ballot. We will then draw for each candidate's position on the rest of the ballot. In reality, 90 percent of the voters just check one of the slates and send back one sheet instead of going through the 20 page booklet picking out candidates. When we do our post-election number crunching we ignore those non-slate ballot votes because they vary so much and do not give much of a picture.

UFT Elections and #MORE2016: What is to be learned?

MORE is getting requests for election literature from people we don't know. I made a bunch of drops at schools yesterday (and stuffed some boxes in schools where we don't have a contact.) Is that a good sign? Maybe.

When some of my young colleagues in MORE get overly excited I play the role of Debby Downer. I've seen this movie too often in the past. As my old pal Jeff Kaufman told me this past weekend: things must change drastically externally before the union will change. While the loudest anti-Unity voices seem to think things have changed drastically over the last 15 years - and in some ways they certainly have changed - I think they ain't seen nothin' yet. We have seen a  slow-drip of losses coming out of an alliance of the UFT, DOE and CSA. The UFT control of communications has kept most UFT members from hearing all the stories. Most are not blog readers.

The major role I see UFT elections playing is offering an opposition an opportunity to extend and build their own communication network. But if that network only operates during the brief election period every 3 years, that is just marking time.
My major goal in this election is to extend whatever network MORE has and get it to operate on a permanent basis to bring information and goad people towards being more active in the union.

Ed Notes readers should know what I think of UFT elections - they are a distraction. But they are also a way to galvanize people, at least for a time. I'm not sure why some people get excited for an election that is pre-determined but I guess hope springs eternal. Dozens of people you talk to say they don't like the union leadership and in your mind it becomes hundreds. And then you find that even the those people forgot to vote.

Remember how much opposition there was to the last contract? Well, pretty much the same 75% that matches the rough Unity vote voted for the contract. The major difference between the contract vote and the UFT election vote was that 92% of UFT members voted while 20% vote in the UFT elections. And don't forget that retirees vote in the latter. Yet the percentages voting for the Unity line were similar. What I did see was a batch people who were so turned off by the contract that they came to MORE and are now key people and also, encouraged by MORE, have taken on the job of chapter leader.

Some people have surmised that the 20,000 NO contract voters might be pissed enough to vote opposition to Unity which would definitely raise the opposition totals this time. I am not getting my hopes up. I don't measure things by votes but by the people who jump into the water and sign on to help build an opposition to Unity. We have a new MORE steering committee with such people.

Each of those people bring their schools and their social network along by sharing information on what the union leadership is doing. And that can translate into votes. I'd have to see hundreds of people doing this before I become an optimist.

I know that in each election in the past, even for a hardened realist like me, my expectations exceeded the outcomes. This time I think I have finally lowered my expectations to a point where they match reality. But surprise me, please!

I am most interested in helping build a long-term infrastructure for an opposition caucus that can one day challenge the Unity Caucus machine. I constantly look within MORE for signs of that happening and I can see how the election process offers hope for  progress as more people get involved. Given past history, many election activists are just that -- active during elections. Makes sense because there are concrete things to do. The problem for a group like MORE has been the interregnum between elections when the level of activity and commitment drops.

I can see MORE already thinking beyond the election - to the summer series of educational workshops, a regular newsletter using the distribution network, advocacy for the groups in the UFT not being dealt with fairly -- untenured, senior teachers being pushed out, schools threatened with receivership, ATRs, rubber roomers, paperwork overload -- I would love to push for a job action on this -- extending the opt out movement -- freeing teachers from threats if they talk to parents. (I think there may be some surprises brewing in the NYC opt out numbers this year.) But MORE can't just complain about these situations. It has to actively go out and try to organize these people into a force for their own interests. MORE people have to think more like organizers than just activists. Organizers don't pontificate or run to every rally. They get names and numbers and do follow-up calls and go out and meet with people where they are at and build networks. There are precious few of those.

For me, the election period can't end too soon - and it will at the end of May -- so MORE can get on with the intense work that has to be done by a fairly small group of dedicated people who will continue to stand up for what is right.

Petitionology - UFT Elections/#MORE2016: Today is Final Day to File Petitions to get on Ballot

Gloria and me getting ready to eat

What me worry? We are done. Gloria Brandman, Michael Shulman and I handed thousands of pages of petitions to Amy Arundel and Ray Frankel at the UFT yesterday afternoon.We've been seeing Ray for over 40 years at these things and seeing her still doing this work even if she is on the other side is still a treat. Ray has to be pushing - I better not even try to guess her age but I hope she is still there in 2019.

I am free, free at last from the burden of organizing and managing the MORE/New Action petition campaign.

Call me a petitionologist. One of the few things I am an expert at.

We needed 900 for our officer slate. We got 1800. For the
divisional Ex Bd positions - elem (11), middle (5), high schools (7) and functionals (19) - we needed 100 for each of the 42 candidates and we were getting so many signatures we told people to stop gathering signatures. Look at the petition. It only holds around 40 signatures and to get to 1800 you can imagine how big a stack that is.

The UFT Executive Board is made up of these 42 plus 48 Ex bd at large (any UFT member can sign) plus the 12 officers.

We had so many great candidates we had to prune our list. All our other 200 candidates are running for the AFT/NYSUT RA delegates. Thus we have roughly 300 people on the slate.

We monitored the numbers every week so we knew where we stood. The amount of coordination, especially since we were working with New Action, was at times intense. Having NAC's experienced Jonathan Halabi as a partner on this made a big difference as we gathered and coordinated the information from 300 hundred candidates. And we could have had many more if we wanted but given the time frame and work involved we decided to save an entire forest by cutting things off at 300.

The only way I can get a project like this done is to obsess about it obsessively. So my mind has been cluttered over the planning and execution and now I can rest.

We were actually done on Saturday. They came by planes, trains and automobiles - and by foot to deliver piles of petitions all day.
We brought in a great team, including the always awesome Julie Woodward who used to write the Under Assault blog who comes out of retirement every 3 years to help us review and organize the petitions. Julie, Pat and David Dobosz, Gloria, Dan Doyle, Kit Wainer, Ashraya Gupta, Michael Shulman, Jonathan Halabi and others did yeoman work. Every one of our AFT delegate were put in folders in alphabetical order.

And our team did an amazing job, working from 10AM to 4PM. Still, I am always concerned until we actually turn over the petitions. Fires, floods and who knows what else can wipe you off a slate. I made sure not to leave the petitions in Rockaway in case a sudden Sandy hurricane or tsunami hit. (Yes I am that crazy.) I had to shlep a suitcase full down to 52 Broadway.
 I feel I have become an expert at organizing an effective petition campaign for UFT elections, which began Feb. 3. I wrote about it then: #MORE2016 - UFT Election Season is At Hand - Petitioning begins today through end of May. With the mid-winter break in the middle of the campaign our people had to hustle to get it all done with time to spare. Special thanks to Roseanne McCosh at PS 8X for chipping in with a good number of signatures. And to one of our own heroes Dan Lupkin at PS 58 for getting 14 people in his school to run and for coming in with a major batch of sigs. Also to Kevin Prosen at IS 230Q for delivering BIG numbers. Julie Cavanagh at PS 15k and Kit Wainer/Mike Schirtzer at Leon Goldstein and Arthur Goldstein at Francis Lewis HS plus our crew at Fort Hamilton HS also came up HUGE.

This is the 4th straight petitioning campaign I have organized since 2007, 10 (ICE) and 2013, 2016 (MORE).

I honed my strategy based on these experiences - what went right, what went wrong - see, experience does count.

This time, rather than view petitioning as a burden, we asked people to use their time as an organizing tool to tell people about the election and why MORE is running. We hope that in our schools where people actively petitioned that will translate into votes in May. But who knows? If our people don't engage their colleagues from now through the end of May to get them to vote it won't make much difference.

One thing we know. Unity will pull out all stops to win everything and you will see your teacher mailboxes flooded with Mulgrew literature. In addition you will be getting visits from Unity slugs under the guise of union business, which to me is a violation of some sort but other than complain, what can we do about it?

Another angle Unity has is that they get all the petitions and can see which schools we have strength in and they can then focus their people on targeting these schools for visits and extra literature.

But thus is the nature of the Unity machine and why they are so hard to make a dent in. But MORE will continue to challenge them throughout this election and beyond. It ain't over till it's over.

After we were done we went down to the 3rd floor cafeteria with Michael Shulman to enjoy a celebratory meal. Now it's on the the election campaign and a massive distribution of literature to the schools which we have the right to go into to put lit in the mail boxes.  If you want lit contact MORE or me.

I am a happy guy getting this mess off my hands