Jim Callaghan Says Weingarten Suspended Him Without Pay When He Circulated Pro-Obama information in 2008

Jim Callaghan, former NY Teacher ace investigator commented at NYC Public School Parents on this post:

Jim writes with some irony here, given that I bet lots of teachers probably would have preferred Hillary and in retrospect think Randi was right, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions:

Is Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers going to lend Obama a hand like she did in 2008?

She suspended me for two days without pay on Election Day, 2008, because I had distributed a pro-Obama article to about 100 United Federation of Teachers staffers via email- something I and others routinely did.

The article was written by Larry Hanley, now president of the Amalgamated Transit Union in D.C. and was about why whites should not be afraid to vote for Obama. He based his piece on the 1989 Dinkins for Mayor campaign, which I co-managed on Staten Island. We got a mainly white union Local to endorse DInkins and to hit the streets for him.

Hanley called me "one of the keenest minds in New York City."

I distributed because it had been part of my job to be on the lookout for such press clips and also because several of my co-workers said they were sending it to their undecided friends in toss up states. One founder of the union (from 1960) emailed me a letter of praise.

Weingarten, who was still bitter that Obama defeated Hillary Clinton, hit the roof and ordered five of her top bosses to call me to a two-hour meeting on Election Day to suspend me -all without due process that Weingarten is always whining about (for teachers -not her staff).

Weingarten also prevented her 150,000 members from voting on the 2008 race.
She had internal polling showing that Obama was the clear favorite but she announced the UFT endorsement before any member voted!

The members never had a chance.

My suspension was the FIRST time in the history of the union that a staffer was punished for doing his/her job about press clips or for letting UFT officers read something about a UFT- endorsed candidate.

She did the same thing to other black candiates: Bill Thompson for mayor in 2009; (she sat out the Bloomberg-Thompson race because he allegedly told her he was going to use public monies to bribe her with two, four per cent raises in return for her silence. Four years later, the members are still waiting for the raises.

She knifed state comptroller Carl McCall for New York governor (she endorsed Pataki, the right wing Republican) and Latino Freddy Ferrer for mayor in 2001- the clear choice of the membership after he received a rousing standing ovation from 20,000 members at Madsion Square Garden. She, not the members, backed her close friend City Controller Alan Hevesi- who is now in jail for looting a pension fun.

Weingarten also fired four consecutive black female writers; one of them won an NLRB case, was awarded $150,000 and got her job back. Weingarten was trying to break the union.

She also admitted to a group of UFT leaders that she had passed over a black man, Ron Davis, "too many times" for press secretary.
-Jim Callaghan

============
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

UFT Sells Out Teacher: The Memo(s) Mulgrew doesn't want you to see

How complicit was Randi Weingarten, Michael Mulgrew and the UFT in the Raqnel James case as criminal principal Iris Blige, supported all the way by her fellow criminals at Tweed, claimed Raqnel James threatened to kill her but did not call the police for 2 months until NY Teacher reporter Jim Callaghan called her for a comment. Did Randi protect a State Ed Department official who blocked the release of a transcript that might have helped James?

Raqnel James called me last night “jittery” because she hasn’t heard from NYSUT. She claims she was told that your office had decided to wait until after August 1 to contact DOE on her behalf, which is the day her visa expires. --- Jim Callaghan to NYSUT Attorney Claude Hirsch, c.spring 2009

Really, how far off are we from China when this can happen? In a just world, Joel Klein, Dennis Walcott and everyone at Tweed perpetrating this injustice, along with Iris Blige, would be sitting in a cell. And maybe some people at the UFT too.

Fined after putting teachers through hell.

Lots more below.

Raqnel James was arrested in April 2009, the day after I called Blige for a comment on my story. The cops first showed up at the school in February.

Mulgrew told me that his friends in NYPD said they had a video of James leaving the letter [threatening Blige's life] in the principal's mailbox- a lie.

Then they said they had her fingerprints- a lie.

Then they said it was her hand writing, which  they failed to prove in court. That was the  ENTIRE  case against her! No one else in the entire school was interviewed. Blige was not given extra police protection. So this alleged assassin was sent to the rubber room. Think: if she had threatened to murder the mayor or the Chancellor. --- Jim Callaghan

When Raqnel James was exonerated in Dec. 2011, retired UFT Bronx staffer Rodney Grubiak (the guy who tried to block me from filming Randi Weingarten at the notorious UFT wine and cheese party attempt to undermine the ATR rally in Nov. 2008) wrote a Dec. 23, 2011 post on the jd2718 blog which did a lot of coverage of the Blige/James case: Lost Three Years of My Life – The Story of a Teacher Who May Never Teach Her Students Again. Naturally, Grubiak left out the sordid role the UFT/Unity Caucus masters he served for so many years played.

While the UFT supposedly gave James nominal support, this spring 2009 memo from Jim Callaghan drills deep on what went on behind the scenes. Why was Randi protecting a NY State Ed Department official by withholding information from Callaghan that would have helped James? Here is an excerpt talking about a State Ed Dept official blocking access to a transcript of the case and denying Jim access to information for his story.

The union and DOE agreed last June on a logical solution to the transcript problem. You told me that someone at SED “blocked it.” We were in the lobby when you mentioned the person’s name, but my question, so I could prepare a memo for Randi’s approval before the story runs, was how far “up the ladder” that person was and did we appeal her denial to higher authorities at SED including the Commissioner?  


There was no mention of who in the UFT didn’t want a reporter for the union paper to have any information on this when I have been assigned to [cover] the rubber rooms all school year. 

Your comment makes me sound like the Daily News, not a veteran of the New York Teacher.  I said to you: “I have no authority to publish anything in the paper. It is up to Randi and if she wanted to make an issue of the SED person denying our proposal, she would tell me to move forward or to drop it.” 
..........

What out of control principals can now do is invent charges against a well-respected teacher, have her reassigned and arrested and even if she is cleared, she will still be deported. As you know from my story, three DOE officials told me that Iris Blige threatened to destroy the union at the school and specifically targeted chapter leaders for banishment to the rubber room- both were sent back with no charges. Then she went after the third chapter leader.

------Jim Callaghan to NYSUT attorney Claude Hirsch et al.

Ed Notes and other bloggers have been covering this case for years and we have tied the role the UFT has played into it due to the work of Callaghan. See this story  posted at Ed Notes on Jan. 11, 2011 where Jim slams the UFT leadership.

Klein knew all about Blige and the recantation of an Assistant Principal because I wrote about it in the Spring of 2009 for the New York Teacher. It didn’t take a special Condon “investigation” to uncover the Blige horror show, supported by Mulgrew and Weingarten.

I quoted members who said Blige specifically went after chapter leaders and sent them to the rubber rooms on trumped up charges - they were never charged with anything and were all sent back to the classroom.

That was the last article I was allowed to write about Blige.

When the union had a rally on March 13, 2009, Weingarten sent out a press advisory (I have a copy) knocking the total number of protesters down to 50 after she was told that 500 would attend. So even then the union was protecting Blige.

Given Callaghan's explosive info below, are these rallies held merely for the purpose of domestic consumption -- ie. to make the members THINK the leadership is doing something while behind the scenes doing something else? How does a union allow its very lifeblood, the chapter leaders, to be savaged in so many schools? I believe they try to keep all this under cover because they don't have the stomach to fight it but don't want members to know just how weak -- and gutless -- they are.

Jim wrote this in Jan. 2011, about a year BEFORE James was exonerated:

It is a New York State felony to threaten the murder of a public official. Nothing happened to the teacher until eight weeks later, in April, 2009, after I called Blige for a comment on my story. The next day, the teacher was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. (Even if she is found guilty, she will serve 15 days of community service picking up garbage on the Grand Concourse).

The Bronx D.A.- elected with help from the UFT- did not ask for bail, didn’t ask for the teacher’s passport to be lifted and the principal never asked for extra police protection for Blige, parents, students and the staff.

Despite my urging, Weingarten refused to call the D.A. and ask that he personally look at the case. There was no police probe of the gang. The teacher - this horrible accused murderer beloved by her students and colleagues -- was sent back to the rubber room.

Nearly two years later, after the D.A. Robert Johnson asked for 15 postponements, there has been no trial and the case is still open. [Ed Note- Show me one statement from the UFT raising this issue --- teachers forgotten and abandoned].

What would have happened if a teacher wrote a letter like that to Bloomberg of Klein?

The teacher ultimately lost her job because neither Mulgrew nor Weingarten nor NYSUT lawyer Claude Hirsch lifted a finger to help her. She never had a 3020A hearing. Klein used a loophole in the law saying he could refuse to approve her application for a work visa if she was merely “accused” of misconduct.

More Ed Notes coverage from March 13 and 14, 2009:
Teachers Protest Principal Iris Blige at ..The principal at this school, Iris Blige, is abusive, arrogant, and disrespectful of teachers. She has framed several teachers that for some ...

And this video UPDATE: Highlights of the protest written by my ICE colleague Julie Woodward where you can see Mulgrew, Leroy Barr and Bronx Borough slug Jose Vargas along with Bronx HS District Rep Lynne Winderbaum, who many consider a real trooper who did what she could for teachers, slammed into Iris Blige and her wayward approach to educators, kids, and schools and said the union is “fed up” with the DoE's ...

Well as Callaghan indicates in his memo from the spring of 2009, not all that fed up.


Updating the Raqnel James case: How complicit was the UFT? Jim Callaghan who was fired as a reporter for the NY Teacher in the summer of 2010 reveals memo which he posted on Schoolbook with this introduction:


How NYSUT lawyer Claude Hirsch and UFT lawyer Adam Ross - a nepotism hire - sold out their client with the approval of Weingarten and Mulgrew and how they and Carol Gerstl, another UFT lawyer, allowed an innocent teacher to be railroaded by Bloomberg, Klein and Walcott and Mike- three years without a contract - Mulgrew.

Jim Callaghan's letter to Hirsch, Ross, Gerstl, Weingarten. 
They did nothing to help her! There are hundreds of other stories like this that mulgrew wants to cover up.
The memos that Mulgrew doesn't want you to see. Lots more to come.

Claude,
Raqnel James called me last night “jittery” because she hasn’t heard from NYSUT. She claims she was told that your office had decided to wait until after August 1 to contact DOE on her behalf, which is the day her visa expires.

As we discussed on the elevator today, the June 5th NYSUT Legal memo regarding Raqnel James is not clear to me. (Although the memo states I was copied on June 5th, I saw it for the first time last week).

The memo is wrong when it states that the DOE “renews” visas.

That is not the case. DOE sponsors the visa and. DOE has a written policy of withdrawing applications for teachers who “are suspended or reassigned for any reason.” This was addressed in the NYSUT memo as: “DOE has not officially been told that DOE will not renew her visa.”

But the DOE written policy makes it clear that DOE will not sponsor Raqnel while she is reassigned.

This raises an important question: is the DOE policy legal or is it just a bureaucratic opinion? This was not addressed in the NYSUT memo.

The conclusion of the June 5 NYSUT Legal memo concludes that it is “unclear” whether the H-1B visa can be renewed but then states that Ms. James has a legitimate claim only if she can establish that she could renew her visa but for the failure of DOE to cooperate.
The memo states that Ms. James claims the INS can renew her visa beyond six years. (It is still unclear to if there a six year limitation or not).

When you asked me today; “What do you want us to do?” I said I don’t know the law well enough, but I know DOE unfairness when I see it.

What out of control principals can now do is invent charges against a well-respected teacher, have her reassigned and arrested and even if she is cleared, she will still be deported. As you know from my story, three DOE officials told me that Iris Blige threatened to destroy the union at the school and specifically targeted chapter leaders for banishment to the rubber room- both were sent back with no charges. Then she went after the third chapter leader.

Adam suggested one possibility in his April 14 email to you:

“Claude - if you are not already, would you please look into whether an Art.78 could be filed along the lines of what you have filed for other teachers who the DOE has acted to have their H1B visa revoked because of alleged disciplinary issues.”

Adam’s issue was not addressed in the NYSUT memo and you told me yesterday he was “confused.”

I asked Randi on April 14 if a NYSUT could lawyer help (Raqnel) with this dilemma:

I wrote: “It might be a Pyrrhic victory because her work visa expires on August 1. I have a posting from DOE saying it will not sponsor teachers for visas if they are reassigned.”
Randi said: “Yes.”

In answer to my question the next day, you said “Yes, she (Raqnel) gets 30 minutes with the immigration attorney plus the NYSUT attorney.” (Emphasis mine). And you said she would get “assistance” from NYSUT Legal. Your quote was: “We would be happy to try to assist Raqnel James in regards to her immigration attorney. We have been assisting a number of international teachers who are facing visa issues” and you added that she is entitled to a free 30 minute consultation with an outside immigration attorney.

So this is the news so far: DOE, with taxpayer funds, has forced Raqnel to hire a criminal defense attorney fight bogus charges and an immigration lawyer to keep her in the country.
What can NYSUT do for her? Can we ask DOE official that they sponsor her for the upcoming school year pending the outcome of her “criminal” charges? Can we go to court to see if their policy is legal?

I am not arguing the law with you, but to tell me today that “DOE hasn’t done anything yet” is not the point. Yes they have: they will not sponsor her while she is reassigned. The answer to the entire issue remains unclear. (E.g. whether the six year limitation can be extended and secondly: is there a stay that can be obtained until such time as a legal opinion is provided or her criminal matter is resolved?)

The fact is that DOE will not sponsor her while she is reassigned. I respect your opinion that “We don’t know if we would win the case against DOE” even though the NYSUT memo says “it is not clear” whether the visa can be renewed—it is not even clear what the “case” would be at this point.

But that leaves Raqnel one month before she faces the possibility of deportation.
Her case of threatening to murder a public official of the City of New York is being taken so seriously by the D.A. that even if she is found guilty, Donald said she is not going to jail for a misdemeanor conviction. The cops waited two months to arrest her after they found a “perfect” hand writing match. She must have some horrible danger to the community, for the arrest came on the next school day after I called Blige for comment.

My article pointed out that no other staffers or students at the school were interviewed and the detectives went straight to Raqnel because Blige said she “suspected” Raqnel of leaving a murder threat in her own hand-writing.

On another topic, we also discussed the transcript problem in early April and you promised to get back to me on the number of teachers who still don’t have a decision because the arbitrators haven’t ruled yet because they are waiting for the transcripts or just because they haven’t ruled according to the statute.

You said you were having a difficult time getting the information from the lawyers on your staff but assured me it was only “one or two cases,” You never sent me the information on the one or two cases.”

You wrote on May 8th: “The June (2008) side letter stated that DOE and the UFT would look into the feasibility of paying for the transcripts up front and the State Education Department was not interested in such an arrangement. More importantly, it appears that the transcripts have been coming much more quickly (my emphasis). It is still a problem that the State is not paying arbitrators promptly. I assume it still a problem regarding the court reporting company as well.”

However, at the April TRC meeting, one of your lawyers said that members are still waiting “two to four months” for decisions because of a delay in payments for transcripts and arbitration fees. This is a summary of her statement, taken from the UFT minutes of that meeting:

“Members who are awaiting the results of hearings should know that the New York State Education Department (SED) pays the cost of transcripts and arbitration fees and there has been a delay in these payments due to the budget situation, leading to a 2 to 4 month delay in the issuance of transcripts.” (Emphasis mine).

Your lawyer added: “We are in discussions with the SED and the DOE to speed up the process. NYSUT attorneys determine their need for a final transcript prior to the production of our closing argument on a case by case basis. It is our position arbitrators should have the hearing transcript prior to issuing a decision. We are working with the DOE and the arbitrators so we can best meet member needs related to adherence to time frames for pre-hearings, hearings and issuance of transcripts.”

When Randi told me last month to do another rubber room story, I thought a good place to start would be to see if the letter we signed last June was helping to clear up these cases.
The union and DOE agreed last June on a logical solution to the transcript problem. You told me that someone at SED “blocked it.” We were in the lobby when you mentioned the person’s name, but my question, so I could prepare a memo for Randi’s approval before the story runs, was how far “up the ladder” that person was and did we appeal her denial to higher authorities at SED including the Commissioner? I also asked if the denial was in writing and when it happened. On May 15, I asked you for the number of 3020A cases that were finished where we have no decisions and the dates they were completed.

You wrote back to me: “I am not just ignoring you. I am trying to find out from the UFT what they want me to release to you.” There was no mention of who in the UFT didn’t want a reporter for the union paper to have any information on this when I have been assigned to [cover] the rubber rooms all school year.

Your comment makes me sound like the Daily News, not a veteran of the New York Teacher. I have never had that sort of conversation with you before- and I said to you: “I have no authority to publish anything in the paper. It is up to Randi and if she wanted to make an issue of the SED person denying our proposal, she would tell me to move forward or to drop it.”

If our members are being held to the standards involving time and attendance, then so should the SED, DOE and the arbitrators. There is no excuse for delaying the payment to a transcription company or to an arbitrator while our members suffer the indignity of the rubber rooms.

So, without releasing any names of clients,

I would still like to know how many arbitration decisions are outstanding after the final hearing despite the Education Law’s 30 day rule and specifically, how many are due to transcription issues and how many are due to the fact that arbitrators haven’t ruled in a timely fashion even after they get the final transcripts.

Thank you,
Jim

AfterBurn
Here are some worthwhile comments from that Jan. 2011 Ed Notes piece:

2. 
   AnonymousFeb 11, 2011 10:23 AM

   I am surprised that Callaghan- the best writer in the union- didnt get all the facts straight.
   After Weingarten wrote to Raqnel James that she was entitled to a NYSUT lawyer to handle her visa issues--- and would get one--- Claude Hirsh, Melinda Gordon and ADam Ross over- ruled Weingarten and declined to take the case.
   Ask anyone at NYSUT- most of them despise Hersch who treats them like kids. Then Garry Sprung's good buddy, lawyer Donald Vogelman, never asked for a dismissal until this year after racking up $500 a pop for court 15 "apppearances" over two years.
   When Raqnel James is acquitted, NYSUT will pay James who will then give the money to Vogelman.
   so: How close are Ross and Hersch to Vogelman?
   -Chief Justice Jeff Zahler.

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   Donald SegrettiMar 16, 2011 05:14 PM

   I dont know why anyone would post a note from Chief Justice Zahler, the low life Red-baiter, Weingarten's stooge.
   Just because he got his incompetent nephew- Adam Ross- a $190,000 a year job to kiss ass at the UFT is no reason to make fun of Zahler, who is now collecting four pensions.
   -Little Lord Flaunteroy (Adam)

Results of google search below the fold:

Jim Callaghan on the Giant Parade and the UFT

The comments below by Jim appear in Newsday with some additional comments on what the UFT leadership will be doing during the parade. See Jim defend the 99% against the 1%. Gee, do you need much more to figure out why 1%Mulgrew fired 99%Jim in 2010?

FREE LUNCH

Retired UFT MEMBERS: come and get it.
If tomorrow (Tues. Feb. 6) is anything like the 2007 Giants parade, UFT Chief "Financial" Officer Dave Hickey, going on three years without a contract.................. will spend thousands of dollars to place endless mounds of food and drink on every floor at 52 Broadway while he and his pal Ellie Engler reserve front row seats.

In 2007, Hickey and other top UFT officials actually climbed on to a scaffolding (Insurance anyone?) to get a closer view of their "heroes."

There will be a V.I.P. lounge for labor leaders, politicians and invited guests of Mulgrew- who is demanding three zeroes from Bloomberg before he signs a contract.

Productivity- Hickey's main bailiwick- will be greatly reduced as everyone -except the members in the school- joins the fun...........while singing "Solidarity Forever."
So, if you are retired and in the area, stop by and ask for your free lunch that you have already paid for.

Here are Jim's comments in Newsday:

The Jim Callaghan Files: The UFT and Race at the Top

I'm going to be putting out a series of posts by former UFT NY Teacher reporter Jim Callaghan who was fired in the summer of 2010 for attempting to unionize. I'm not going to claim I agree with everything Jim has to say but they deserve an airing.

I once told Randi Weingarten she had done more to promote people of color than any UFT leader before her. I was referencing the UFT Exec Board and what looked like a lot more diversity in Unity Caucus. So this is a very interesting commentary from Callaghan on the UFT and race at the top (not bad, eh - the old brain cells are still functioning). I never thought of race being a factor in the UFT but Jim from his unique perspective gives one food for thought. It reminded me of this point:

Jim left out that the original heir apparent to Randi was the very popular Michelle Bodden (who seemed to really think like a teacher), the elementary school VP, the highest ranking black in the union hierarchy. Elementary school teachers, mostly chapter leaders, who attended her meetings told me they were the most useful and least political (in pushing the union line) meetings. Then one day Bodden was replaced by Michael Mulgrew and disappeared into the UFT elementary charter school as principal . Hmmmm!

Weingarten and Mulgrew refused to let me write a story about Racqnel James, a black teacher at Fordham  HS for the Arts who was railroaded-accused of leaving a death threat in the principal's mail box two years ago by the principal Iris Blige. When the main accuser turned on Blige and wanted me to write the story clearing James, Weingarten and Mulgrew refused and refused to let me take a vacation day to attend her trial.

Ms. James was fired and two years later, after being indicted for a misdemeanor -think Tucson- still hasn't had a trial. The Bronx D.A. - elected with help from the UFT - has asked for 17 postponements. Blige was later fined for telling her A.P's to recommend Unsatisfactory ratings  BEFORE  teachers were observed.

The main decision makers at the UFT are almost all white.

While people like Mulgrew and his top staff make $200,000 to $300,000 per year, the starting salary for a secretary is $23,000 –constantly abused by Hickey – they are almost all black and Latina women.

Weingarten filed a phony lawsuit years ago claiming that firing para professionals – black and Latinas- was racist. After she got her headlines, she dropped the case.

The $50 per day free UFT parking spots given as rewards to UFT insiders are given predominantly to whites. That is a $100,000 per year- the cost of parking downtown – perk to Unity Caucus loyalists – money that could have been used to upgrade the salaries of the low paid mostly Black and Latina staff.

When a long time UFT Unity Caucus activist – a black woman, complained about shakedowns and fraud in the Staten Island rubber room by security guards, Weingarten and Barr ordered me out of the room- which is a five minute drive from my house. Weingarten had told me to investigate, but a Brooklyn UFT official -who was sending my emails to the DOE- wanted the probe closed down. The company guards who were working the racket  are employed by a company owned by a billionaire who is a close friend of the mayor. So much for loyatly to a black woman.

Weingarten and Mulgrew fired or demoted five consecutive black writers, forced out a competent black lawyer, took the Safety Dept. away from a black man and replaced Leroy Barr- a black man -with two whites because Weingarten said he was incompetent. He was allowed to keep his title and salary.

Mulgrew fired his press secretary - a black man with 19 years experience at the union who used to appear as a union spokesman when Sandy was President, with a white guy (Dick Riley- Maureen Salter's friend) who had quit the union years before right after his five year pension vested to go to work for Harold Levy. The black man was given a bullshit title in the communications department. Randi had once told a staff meeting she made a mistake in passing him over all those years. [Ed note: Riley has been back and forth at the UFT like a yo-yo.

Anyone see a pattern here?

On Election Day, 2008, -I was suspended for two days without pay because Weingarten, my editor Deidre McFadyen, staff directors Barr and Ellie Engler, Garry Sprung, CFO David Hickey were off the wall with rage  that I sent a pro-Obama article to UFT staff the week before the election - which writers were always allowed to do. Weingarten was still bitter about her close pal Hillary losing and wanted to sabotage the Obama campaign. Weingarten refused to allow the members to vote for the 2008 presidential endorsement because her internal polling showed overwhelming support for Obama. She promised Hillary it was in the bag with the executive board.

When it appeared to UFT staff that there was a predominantly black presence in the rubber rooms, Weingarten and Barr refused to let me do the story.

When a progressive black woman sought the UFT endorsement for a City Council race in Staten Island, Weingarten endorsed a conservative Democrat in 2005 who later backed Bloomberg. She repeated this shanda in 2009, endorsing and even more Conservative Democrat. The black woman won.

Weingarten and Mulgrew sold out Bill Thompson for mayor in 2009 -like she did with Carl McCall for governor, telling the Unity Caucus that Bloomberg promised her two, four percent raises- using public funds as a bribe- if the UFT stayed out of the race. The members clearly were for Thompson. Have Teachers noticed the increased take home pay as they come up to two years without a contact?

Coming soon: Callaghan blows the lid off the collaborations between the UFT and DOE as he's pulled off stories that might embarrass Bloomberg cronies and Weingarten shares pre-pub copies of one of his stories with Dennis Walcott.

The Callaghan Files: Mulgrew Ordered Story on ICE's Yelena Siwinski to Be Held Until After UFT Election

I began a series addressing the UFT/AFT in this post: How Far Do We Go When Criticizing the UFT/AFT Leadership?  that addressed the issue of whether Ed Notes should function as a wikileaks for UFT dirty laundry.


Before getting to the revelation of how the leadership uses the NY Teacher to make sure members of the opposition get no recognition, I want to mention my response to the comment from Chaz about whether airing the union's dirty laundrey in public weakens the union and assists the ed deform assault. I posted it in the comments section but also as a postscript at the end of this post along with some other comments.

 As you will read, Yelena Siwinski who is one of the top chapter leaders and would have made a great district rep had no chance for that job because she was not in Unity Caucus. Even Mulgrew recognized that and offered her an after school job, which she accepted, one of the few opposition people working at the union.

Yelena Siwinski is chapter leader of PS 193 in District 22 in Brooklyn. She ran for Elementary School Vice President against Karen Alford in the spring 2010 UFT elections on the ICE-TJC slate. In 2010 she applied for the vacant District 22 District Rep position, knowing full well the position would not be given to a non-Unity candidate. She was interviewed by Mulgrew who offered her a job as a PM staffer in the Brooklyn office, where she still works one day a week. She is core member of ICE and GEM and active in Teachers Unite.


Jim Callaghan after seeing Yelena was appearing on the radio on Labor Day posted this:

I remember Yelena well; Mulgrew ordered that a story I wrote about her taking her class to the Aviation Museum be held until after the election because he told me she "wasn't with Unity." Mulgrew of course doesn't know its illegal to make such distinctions but he does so every day.

Deidre McFadyen, my tyrannical editor, held the story from Feb. to June 2010. McFADyen told me she got in trouble for assigning the story before checking to see if the member had proper UNITY credentials.

Some shake down racket Mulgrew is running- pay up -to the Unity bank account- or we ignore you.

Jim Callaghan

Yelena responds:

I was suspicious that this was the reason they didn't run the story.  They actually wanted to wait until August to run it and I told them my students had been waiting to see it published so they finally ran it in June.  This teaches you that sometimes when you think you're being paranoid there's a real reason that you are!  It's great that Jim can let all these secrets out now.

My Response to Chaz:
I believe the union is weakened by the very nature of the type of accusations being made. We don't need ed deformers to do the dirty work - our leaders in their grasp for total and permanent power have made us ripe for pickings. Taking your cue we have no hope for any change at the top if we can't be critical of the leaders.
That you received so little help from the union that was supposed to protect you means that you are getting precious little for the silence. Reform movements in the union weaken the ed deformers in their attacks as such reform movements grow.

==================

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

What About Principal Accountability? Bronx High School of Science Redux

Sure, it's all about quality teachers.

Bob Drake responded to an article linked below on Ed Week about principal accountability. By the way, if you go to the link you will read about Leo McKaskill, the deposed principal of Brooklyn Tech, who by the way, was exposed by the investigative journalism of fired NY Teacher reporter Jim Callaghan (who has an article on this week's The Chief). All references to the stories Jim did on the case have disappeared from the UFT web site.

If you search this blog you will find loads of articles on the BHSS situation. Bob Drake was one of Bronx HS of Science principal Valerie Reidy's victims. Reidy had received an honorary PhD and called herself "doctor". Drake, a real PhD made some objections. At some point Reidy was called a "quack". Tee-shirts and cartoons appeared. Students would mutter "quack, quack" as they walked by. Revenge was swift on her part against students and teachers.

One sophomore student was accused of bringing up the cartoon below from my blog. He was threatened with suspension and even expulsion. His parents had to take off from work to come up. He appealed directly to Joel Klein. To no avail since he backs any principal actions short of eating babies (and that is also questionable.) He was suspended for a day. Years later when he was elected to a student council position as a senior he was tossed off by Reidy for that transgression. Nice citizenship they teach over there.

Back in Oct. 2007 I put up this post:

The Bronx High School of Science "Quack" story has been humming as the mainstream press seems to be getting involved after our post a few days ago. It has been interesting following the postings of the kids at the school as some seniors worry about revenge by school administrators and guidance counselors in relation to getting into college while others talk about leaving their legacy so future generations do not forget the "quacking" story. One former student commented that his favorite Reidy quote was "Asians speak Asian." The animosity towards Reidy by the kids seems to be more intense than that of teachers. And I received an email from a parent leader that indicates many of them feel the same. WOW! Reidy has united parents, teachers and students.

Call it for the revenge of Bob Drake, the untenured PhD chemistry teacher who Principal Valerie Reidy hounded out of the system. Drake enjoys a job at a public school in Conn. at mucho times the salary. THANK YOU, VALERIE REIDY! Betsy Combier has a bunch of stuff on Drake and Science on her parentadvocates web site. The cartoon from the Riverdale Review, which has done a number of stories on the case, was posted by the students on facebook. Andy Wolfe in the NY Sun did a piece in May 2005 and we should see some articles today or tomorrow in some the NY Dailies. And check out the blog of a former student here.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2010/09/what_about_principal_accountability.html

Dr Bob in the Bronx wrote:

Erich Martel was lucky in that he was transferred away from his principal. As a senior (Ph.D., 30 years of college teaching) but untenured teacher in NYC I found myself, after two years of "satisfactory" teaching, on the wrong side of a messianic principal at one of the other elite NYC high schools. She demanded one type of lesson plan (developmental lessons), and subscribed to pet education theories long debunked by education researchers. Harassment came on a nearly daily basis, often by subservient assistant principals chosen for that trait and no other.

The principal stated her philosophy to me, "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but I'll win." And win she did, since the NYC DOE blindly follows the will of its principals, resulting in my being barred from ever teaching in NYC again at any level for life. As with Lee McCaskill at Brooklyn Tech HS, she has driven off excellent teachers, some who retired early rather than put up with what most people -- but not the DOE -- would define as harassment.

While there may be some poor teachers in the system, those that do not quit after a few years, and are granted tenure after review, deserve praise for showing up and teaching oversized classes day after day after day, particularly with the reprehensible behavior of students these days. The problem with high schools is the administration, not teachers, particularly the "absolute power corrupts absolutely" principals and their enablers. It is disgusting to see that the New York Times, as you mentioned above, fails to castigate administrations and blames poor student performance on teachers.

Students seem to feel that, as Woody Allen observed, "80 percent of success is just showing up" -- that they deserve at least a B if they attend class, even if unprepared, lacking completed assignments, and even if lacking a pencil. The elephant in the room is the Asian students, who, often despite language difficulties, perform at the highest levels, and now exceed 50% of the students at the high school I was driven out of. They succeed in the very same classrooms that others fail. Might their success be due to their preparedness, their parental involvement, their desire to attend the best college? Exactly how can a teacher, with five classes per day (often with several preparations) and required lesson plans and other administrative duties, possibly be responsible for the inspiration and success of each and every student when those students refuse to aspire to anything more than class disruption.

Jim Callaghan Goes Missing: UFT Deletes History

At the Labor Research Association dinner in March 2008, Randi Weingarten calls Jim Callaghan "one of the best historians in New York" and thanks him for helping write her speech, then introduces him to the crowd.

The disappearance of Jim Callaghan 

Go to UFT .org, then to the NY Teacher and type in Lee McCaskill, the vicious principal who Callaghan investigated and exposed - it led to his being removed.

The site claims Callaghan's Brooklyn Tech story is there but when you try to open it, no luck. Here is what it says:

Teachers the real heroes at Brooklyn

As principal of Brooklyn Technical HS, Lee McCaskill was a schoolyard bully, harassing and intimidating teachers, inventing bogus charges of corporal punishment and insubordination, and driving brilliant teachers out of the school.

Click on the link and you get this:

Page Not Found

Sorry, the page you requested could not be found.
If you typed in the address, check that it was typed correctly. The page may have been moved to a different location on our Web site. You can try searching for it using our site's search engine.
Please click this link to alert us to the missing page. By sending us this broken link e-mail, you are providing us with vital information to quickly remedy the problem.
We will either fix the broken link or tell you that the file you requested has been removed from the Web site.

They have cut Callaghan down to 41 stories over 13 years with lots of other stories by others going back 10 years.

Callaghan is being DELETED and DISAPPEARED

What next, a bond fire burning old NY Teachers with aricles by Callaghan?

Stop by and tell them to restore the links.

Summing up how Mulgrew views unions for writers as opposed to other workers:

From Steve Brill Story on teacher unions in Sunday Times mag, May 2010:

Next to Mulgrew was his press aide, Richard Riley. “Suppose you decide that Riley is lazy or incompetent,” I asked Mulgrew. “Should you be able to fire him?”
“He’s not a teacher,” Mulgrew responded. “And I need to be able to pick my own person for a job like that.” Then he grinned, adding: “I know where you’re going, but you don’t understand. Teachers are just different.”

Are writers different than carpenters? In the world of Mulgrew they are.

Here's something by Callaghan still up there. Read it while you can:

http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/labor/remember_jack

http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/feature/no-stopping-them-now 

Mulgrew Does the Purge: The Jim Callaghan Firing at the UFT

UFT calls cops on 13 year reporter Callaghan. Claim he was fired for attempting to unionize NY Teacher. It goes even deeper than that. (Read Rachel Monahan's report below my comments.)

There's going to be lots of mud flung around over Callaghan's firing. If you are amongst the few people who read the NY Teacher, you may have noticed that Jim was the only real investigative reporter. He was the guy who exposed principals from hell. I have lots of background information that I won't go into all in one post.

In Rachel Monahan's Daily News piece today (see below) we learn the UFT actually called the cops to have Callaghan removed. Reminds me of the principal at my former school who had a parent call the cops to arrest a teacher over nothing – but why would be expect the goons at the UFT to behave any differently?

Insiders have been telling me for years that calls on the NY Teacher to expose the actions of principals or to go after BloomKlein in a serious way have been rebuffed by the union leadership and that Callaghan was one of the more vocal voices calling for more exposure.

Callaghan was a member of the 3 person so-called UFT SWAT team created by Randi to go into rubber rooms along with Betsy Combier and NY Teacher reporter Ron Isaac who used to be the notorious Red Hog blogger who defended the 2005 contract in exchange for a job. Isaac had run with ICE for middle school Executive Board in the 2004 elections but sold out for filthy lucre.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to get confirmation from Callaghan because he has refused to talk to me for many years. I was never clear why because other NY Teacher staffers have been very friendly but I suspect it was because of ICE attacks on the SWAT team as being a joke. Reports from rubber room people as to the effectiveness of these 3 were mixed.

When inside Unity moles began to post while we were in Seattle (and I tracked many of these IP addresses as coming from Seattle - so it was truly insiders) there was one post that struck me as odd. It was so full of praise for Callaghan, it was as if he had written it himself. A Unity slug then followed up by actually charging that JC wrote it. So I was immediately suspicious that someone was trying to put a hit on Callaghan.

At the same time Betsy Combier was fired from the UFT. That she has been silent is unusual and there are reports that she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement when she got the job at the UFT.

There is some deep background stuff I have access to about Betsy's hiring and firing that might relate to Callaghan's firing but I am holding off until I nail it all down. I have heard that one person in particular at the NY Teacher has been after Callaghan's job for a long time and is a prime suspect. I know this individual and am not surprised at all.

Now insiders have been coming out with anonymous comments and with other inside information. I can't confirm it all but as usual will throw it all out there.

Here are some of the comments from last night's posting announcing the firing, where someone claiming to be a NY Teacher staffer attacks Callaghan followed by another staffer defending him. Since there are not that many staffers it shouldn't be hard to sort things out.

Here are a few comments:

"Why aren't the writers unionized? It goes back to Shanker. Norm, do you remember why? The Shanker bio went into it but I forgot what it said."

Shanker got a ruling that higher level staffers are classified in a way that exempts them from being unionized. I got into this because in Chicago, CORE, the new guys in charge of the union, are left with legacy staffers from the old party in power because they are in a union. I heard thst UFT district reps at one time were lobbying for a union but Shanker sent in the spies and they killed it.

Here is another:

JC was a very good investigator and writer. If he was fired it has to be due to internal politics at the UFT. Just as Ron Davis was demoted for no apparent reason Jim was let go as Mulgrew is purging the UFT of anyone he suspects who will not be beholding to him. Watch the new rep's and staffers who are hired. Mulgrew is a thug, Jim's quotes in the news article are true. Someone should let the cat out of the bag regarding Dave Hickey the former PBA staffer who has a big say at the UFT. Investigate how he was fired from the PBA for kickbacks regarding health benefits and how he is now lining the pockets of Mulgrew and Barr. Maybe Jim should write about that.

The Dave Hickey story has legs and I got it directly in a phone call from a Unity insider just a few weeks ago. Any good investigative reporter should be able to uncover how Hickey was escorted out of the PBA and Randi was practically at the door to meet and hire him. If one checks the LM-2 reports they will find that Hickey makes over $200,000 a year - check that out because I am too backed up to do it now.

Some paper in NYC should get smart and hire Jim Callaghan immediately as an investigative reporter covering the DOE and UFT. (Callaghan by the way, broke the story about abusive principal Leo McCaskill at Brooklyn Tech, among many others.)

Now here is one full of fun stuff:

I work at the UFT and Jim talked to me and others about joining a union and he showed me the letter from his lawyer to Mulgrew saying he was starting a union for those of us who are have no rights-in a union! Several of my colleagues were afraid to join because they were worried that Mulgrew would fire them-for joining a union at a union! How prescient were they? 

The previous post is typical Mulgrew/Hickey COINTELPRO Nixon dirty tricks, which Mulgrew is famous for. 

Ron Davis, a pro among pros, is black. Natalie Bell, a talented, well-liked black writer was fired by Deidre McFadyen with made-up stories and told to get out of the building in a half-hour. They wouldnt even let her take her stuff.

Get people to leak you the McFadyen memos to her staff about time and attendance---- worse than any principal in the system. She is a tyrant and a liar and a nasty back- stabber and has given another full-time reporter no work to do for the past year- This is dues money down the drain! And Mulgrew let's her do it.

Jim's firing- with no due process and cops, is exactly why writers here need a union. Yesterday, the lawyers Adam Ross and Carol Gerstl (Joe Bruno's "very close" pal) told the NY Teacher staff that we are not allowed to talk about Jim! Even if he dies? 

Everyhing else from the Mulgrew schemers and scammers are lies, like they lied about Ron Davis ONE YEAR after Randi made him press secretary after he worked for her and Feldman for 18 years without one blemish. Everyone loves the guy -except and Mulgrew who hated Davis for no apparent reason. 

I and the others at the paper as well as the hundreds of people Jim has helped over the years- on his own time and not for the paper-will testify at the NLRB, the EEOC and in Jim's lawsuit. Deidre hates "seniors" because they are independent and talk back to her. She always has to be right. 

Post her salary if you have the LM 2 forms.

I hope Jim writes about all the financial sleaze going on here. It will be a Pulitzer Prize. D.R.'s staying home all day, faking time sheets with their principals (It's called stealing publlic monies), the booze in people's offices, the lies Mulgrew and his flunkies tell members. Jim will be busy for years exposing these rackets.

P.S. How do you steal from cops? 

Jim also told me he has videos of Randi calling him one of the best historians in New York and her ace investigative reporter. She also told 40 ALJ's -who he helped organize-"the consiciense of the union."

Jim's firing- and the low life way Mulgrew handled it-is so filled with irony because Jim is the champion of the underdog and Mulgrew is the protector of lousy principals. 

Read BRill in the Times a few months ago when Mulgrew admitted he doesnt think his "at will" staff should be in a union!

Find out how much money -tens of thousands- Randi and Mulgrew cost the union in overtime for non-UFT printers because they cant make the deadlines!

Here's a fun one:

she[mcfayden] ... has given another full-time reporter no work to do for the past year-

Who could this be? Has anyone seen one word written by Ron Isaac recently? Maybe as anonymous postings on blogs, but certainly not in the paper he is getting paid to "write" for.

Ironically, Jim Callaghan's last piece is published in the NY Teacher I received yesterday has a photo of the teachers at PS 193 doing their dance in front of the school. I shot that video and there is a link in the story to you tube but not directly to the video itself. Here is the link the NY Teacher conveniently left out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v5u9-D_Rtg

Here is Rachel Monahan's story in the Daily News. 

Writer Jim Callaghan says UFT booted him for trying to unionize his colleagues

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, August 13th 2010, 4:00 AM

Mecea for News

Jim Callahan (above) says he was fired from the United Federation of Teachers for trying to unionize his writer colleagues.

The city's powerful teachers union fired a staffer Thursday for trying to organize his colleagues, the spurned worker said.

Longtime staffer Jim Callaghan, 63, who wrote speeches for UFT presidents and articles for the New York Teacher newspaper, was booted from headquarters Thursday afternoon.

And he's convinced his firing stems from his efforts to unionize fellow writers working for the union.

"[Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew]'s the most hypocritical person in the school system right now," Callaghan said. "He doesn't want us to have the same rights as teachers."

Union officials strenuously denied the firing was related to any unionization drive, saying Callaghan's dismissal was related to "serious behavior issues."

Callaghan isn't buying it, though, and intends to take his case to the National Labor Relations Board, as well as filing an age-discrimination suit, he said.

The UFT veteran, who said he'd been with the organization for 13 years, was fired at 1p.m. and told to get out, he said. After cops were called, he was later allowed to pack up his things, he said.

The NYPD confirmed that officers were called to the union's headquarters at 52Broadway at 1:03 p.m. to resolve a dispute. No one was arrested.

Callaghan gave the Daily News a copy of a June 7 letter from his lawyer to Mulgrew, which said Callaghan feared retaliation for his work encouraging fellow writers to join a union.

UFT spokesman Peter Kadushin rejected Callaghan's claims that organizing led to the firing.

"We responded to Mr. Callaghan's attorney citing Mr. Callaghan's failure to live up to professional standards in his office behavior," Kadushin said.

Kadushin also noted that "the overwhelming majority of people who work at the UFT are represented by unions, including Local 153 OPEIU, SEIU Local 32BJ, Local 94 Building Engineers and Local 1L Amalgamated Lithographers."

Callaghan called his ousting particularly hypocritical since Mulgrew recently blasted the firing of teachers who had been organizing at Merrick Academy Charter School in Queens.

rmonahan@nydailynews.com