Whither Teacher Unions @ #NPE16NC , AFT/NEA Leaders Drop Lead Balloon as Hillary Endorsement is Splained

Many in the audience sat there seething as Pringle and Ricker did their Hillary splaining during their conversation with Anthony Cody on Sunday morning. Other than this event there were no workshops on the unions. I only took one opportunity to bring things up.

UPDATE: Video



At the final workshop on Saturday run by Anthony Cody on teacher evaluations I spoke up at the end about the role of the unions and how teachers had to fight a multi-front battle against the deformers and their own union leaders. Later that night a woman approached me and said she agreed and was inspired by what I said, as did another woman on Sunday over brunch who was in the room and said this had to be pointed out -- but that wasn't happening at the NPE - this time.

One of the highlights of my trip was hanging out with two of my favorite ladies - Leonie Haimson and former Brooklyn and now North Carolina parent activist Khem Irby. Khem had emailed me Friday wanting to know if I brought her a MORE shirt. So I took this one off my back and gave it to her.

I took the shirt off my as Khem Irby becomes our NC MORE outpost

Leonie, who is way smarter than me, and I had some heated discussions on the union issue and as I often do when arguing with Leonie, came away seeing things from a different angle.

One of the reasons I drove down to the NPE in Raleigh was to check the pulse of how people felt in relation to both teacher unions, especially since the Diane Ravitch/Anthony Cody led NPE have faced  charges of coddling Randi in the past by giving her and her reps space at NPE conferences to look like anti-ed deformers or taking the leaders of the unions as voices of the rank and file.

I was quite surprised to have progressive people who were there - Bernie supporters of course, tell me they would vote for Trump over Hillary -- one because she felt Trump would be so bad that things had to change while Hillary would be more Obama like attacks on public education. 

Let me first say that when it comes to the NPE there are the leaders and people running the organization - Ravitch, Cody, Ex Director Carol Burris, the influential Board, etc and then there are the rank and file supporters - the people who show up at the conferences who take part in panels plus a mass of bloggers and BATS and independents from all over the nation.

I had conversations over the weekend with people in the leadership and others and I came away with a more nuanced view of the relationship between the leadership of NPE and both teacher unions. While some call for them to declare war on the unions the most we can expect is a form of neutrality for a lot of reasons based on long-term relationships that are not easy to break.

It was interesting that there were no panels related to the unions at all. What they did offer was a Sunday morning 8:30 AM 45 minute conversation between Anthony Cody and high level officials of the NEA and AFT, Betty Pringle and Mary Cathryn Ricker - who is rumored to be a contender as Randi's successor one day.

This was not set up for people in the audience to ask questions. Anthony Cody asked some pertinent questions and let each of them respond without follow-up. I have a tape but am not sure it is worth posting - if people want to see it I will process and post it.

My sense is that the overwhelming majority of people who attended the NPE are pro-Bernie and there is a lot of resentment from both NEA and AFT members over the endorsement process. So Anthony's question asking them to splain themselves was pertinent and there was some muttering but no call-outs as they went on. Their key response was that it gave them access to Clinton and they managed to get her to modify pro-deform comments. Oy!

The outcomes of their actions have not been all that good in rallying support for Hillary among teachers who have been following the ed deform onslaught and seem as angry at Randi as they are at Hillary -- who is and has been an ed deformer -- and Ricker actually had the nerve to say that Hillary was a fighter for us as far back as the 80s in Arkansas. Sure, she was an early founder of ed deform in Arkansas and if I had a shot at the mic I would have raised that.

I was frustrated and muttering to myself throughout - especially at Ricker who started a charter ala Randi in St. Paul. So as she splained on and on to make it look like they opposed charter I so wanted to ask about Randi's failed charters that co-located and helped undermine and destroy the public schools they were in - including IS 166 the middle school I attended in East NY.

When I told people the story later on they were astounded.

I only wish I had sat with Beth Dimino during this session so we could laugh at what we were hearing.



On the way out Leonie gave me her perspective and calmed me down a  bit. "Did you want them NOT to be here," she said?
Well, they didn't get prime time and if they had to actually face some music they wouldn't have come. I guess it was better to have them hang themselves because no one seemed to be buying it.




While they spoke there was a massive twitter storm - I saw a few from MORE's Katie Lapham. Maybe I'll track down a few and post them. One NPE leader was heard to say, "we are getting killed on twitter.

Later in the day I spoke to Anthony who made the same points as Leonie did. He was wearing a Bernie button.

In my dotage I may becoming more ready to compromise. But if I go to the NPE next year I am going to offer to do a workshop on the role the unions have played. Let's see how that works out in the post-election wreckage that will give us Trump, Crux, Hillary or an even worse ed deformer, Kasich. Triple OY!

@NPE16NC - Friday, April 15 report

I don't want to get tracked into extensive reporting on the conference - it seems too much like work. I'm basically here to touch base with people from around the nation to see where people are coming from and also to hang out with old contacts and make some new ones.

Naturally there is some controversy over the decision to go on with the conference in NC. Some people are trying to call us out for not cancelling. My reaction was why didn't these same people call for boycotts in NC over the massive assault over the last few years on teachers and public schools? I am not generally in favor of boycotting. Springsteen by coming here would have been more effective in fighting the law by using his platform to talk to the people who live here.

Some bloggers have addressed the issue:

Russ on Reading echoes my thoughts:

North Carolina’s Race to the Bottom

I only wish that all these folks would gather up the same righteous indignation for what this same state administration has done to destroy the public schools of North Carolina. The NPE is meeting in Raleigh because we seek to fly into the eye of the storm. And the storm clouds have been gathering over North Carolina’s schools for years.... The governor and the legislature of North Carolina have made it clear to teachers: we don't want you here. Some North Carolina educators have already taken the hint and are searching for jobs elesewhere. Many more will likely follow them. In fact, The Charlotte Observer reports that schools in Texas are actively recruiting North Carolina teachers and are offering them hefty salary increases. So we gather in Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend to make sure these destroyers know that we will not be silent in the face of this unconscionable destruction.

The anti-discrimination laws are being discussed and there are probably few groups of people who are more attuned to that issue than the people who are here.

Diane Ravitch addressed the issue: North Carolina: We Are Exactly Where We Should Be

You don’t beat bullies by running away. We are all wearing “Repeal HB2” stickers. We have cards to hand out wherever we go, telling merchants that we oppose HB2 and won’t return until it is repealed.
We are not running away. We are here to stand by the good people of North Carolina and pray for the day when they are able to vote these hate mongers out of office. We are here because injustice is here. We are exactly where we should be. You don’t beat bullies by running away. We are all wearing “Repeal HB2” stickers. We have cards to hand out wherever we go, telling merchants that we oppose HB2 and won’t return until it is repealed. We are not running away. We are here to stand by the good people of North Carolina and pray for the day when they are able to vote these hate mongers out of office. We are here because injustice is here. We are exactly where we should be.

I had an interesting day
I got in Friday morning at about 10 AM after staying the night in Rocky Mount, about an hour away. The 500 mile drive down was easier than I thought it would be and I enjoyed the solitude of the
road. I left home on Thursday at 8:30 and arrived at 5. I left Rocky Mount at 9 and was in my hotel room in Raleigh by 10:30, went out exploring, got hungry (natch), found a popular chicken place called Beasley's Chicken and Honey, headed over to the natural history museum

which I enjoyed and picked up this tee - 

Registration was going on in the hotel lobby at 5:30 and I ran into Beth Domino and Terry Kalb and we connected with a Chicago activist parent and her equally activist daughter who is a high school senior, some Ohio and Virginia BATS and we all headed out to find a place to eat at a Mexican restaurant which turned out to be an interesting place given the climate in the state. We are all carrying notes to leave at places we eat and shop at. Look at the menu and the posters in the window of the restaurant.

There was a film night last night starting at 7 but we didn't get out until almost 8:30 but I made it in time to see our own Michael Elliot show some of the work he has done and is doing.

Then it was back to the hotel lobby which was jumping. Leonie Haimson came in last night and we got to see our parent activist Khem Irby who moved down here with her husband. So it was like old home week as we hung out in the bar talking about old and new times.

BATS from various states are a major presence and they have been effective. At dinner with some Ohio BATS I was impressed with their statewide network. One 17 year teacher echoed what I am hearing. She felt so isolated she was ready to leave teaching but the BATS saved her. We hear that coming from people in MORE too. I was surprised that people from other states are ed notes readers and also knew of the GEM film. Everyone seems to have heard of it.

I am telling people from other states about UCORE which is meeting down here in August. Forming these networks both local, regional and nationally is important work and the NPE conference this weekend is one more step in moving toward informing and activating educators and supporters.

I'm writing on Saturday at 10:30 at the keynote with Diane after the first morning session I attended which I will report on later or tomorrow.