Norm Scott and Shanker Inst Head Leo Casey - Inside the History and Politics of the UFT - First Decades - Talk Out of School -

How did the UFT get so old so fast? --- NYC Board of Ed official c. 1970

There were no fisticuffs or even enormous disagreements when Leo and I appeared on the Leonie Haimson WBAI show now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea of Educators of NYC. Daniel and Leonie are alternating programs and make a great team from a parent/comunity activist and current 25 year teacher and activist in the UFT point of view.

I was a guest on the Leonie Haimson WBAI radio program, now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea, this past Saturday along with a former sparring partner, Randi assistant and now head of the Shanker Institute Leo Casey. That was part 1 of a history of the UFT. Part 2 is in two weeks and I hope we can get our (the retiree healthcare) situation discussed as an outcome of lack of democracy in the UFT. We are hoping to get a well-known voice of opposition to Unity for decades but he'd kill me if I revealed his name because he hasn't agreed yet.

But I had a lot more to say about UFT history and the moves made to restrict democracy as Shanker took over in 1964. The leading quote above is a theme I wanted to flesh out further. How the UFT changed from a pretty democratic organization in its first years under the leadership if first president Charlie Cogan who was pretty conservative and non militant but believe in the will of the members - so he was opposed to the first strikes in 1960 and 1962 but the  militant Del Ass voted to strike and he supported them. Shanker began his power move in 1962 and Unity caucus became his instrument and he would have challenged Cogan in 1964 if Dave Seldin hadn't managed to convince Cogan to get out of the way. The late 60s disasters may be tied to the restricted democracy and one man rule under Shanker.

The other issue not explored was the Shanker support for the Vietnam War and the successful attempts to stifle opposition, which was considerable. Shanker didn't want to ruin is chances for advancement in the AFL and right wing mentor George Meany. Maybe in Part 2.

https://talk-out-of-school.simplecast.com/episodes/inside-uft-politics-and-history-part-1-how-the-nations-most-powerful-teachers-union-impacted-nyc-public-schools-x7yfuvOR

Episode Summary

Daniel Alicea was joined by two lifelong and beloved UFT union activists and leaders, Leo Casey and Norm Scott. They took us through a decade by decade overview of the significant developments within the United Federation of Teachers union and how these impacted public education of NYC schools, from 1960 to 1980. This is part 1 of a three part series entitled: Inside UFT politics and history: How The Nation’s Most Powerful Teachers Union Impacted NYC Public Schools Part 1 took us through the 1960s and 1970's. Parts 2 and 3 will likely be broadcast in August or in the fall. Leo Casey is the Assistant to the AFT president, Randi Weingarten. He is also the former executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute. Leo, is a lifelong educator whose career spans his tenure as a high school teacher to being a past UFT Vice-President. Casey has recently published a book called The Teacher Insurgency: A Strategic and Organizing Perspective. In this book, Leo Casey addresses how the unexpected wave of recent teacher strikes has had a dramatic impact on American public education, teacher unions, and the larger labor movement. Casey explains how this uprising was not only born out of opposition to government policies that underfunded public schools and deprofessionalized teaching, but was also rooted in deep-seated changes in the economic climate, social movements, and, most importantly, educational politics. Norm Scott, has been a dissident voice within the UFT, who served as an outspoking union activist, chapter leader, and delegate during his 35 year NYC elementary school teaching career and, even now, as a retiree. In 1997, he launched an independent publication, Education Notes, a newsletter for NYC teachers which he turned into the EdNotes blog, in 2006. He is a founding member of various UFT caucuses such as, Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), to the now defunct, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM).

Episode Notes

-------------------

Resources:

- UFT: 50 Years:  https://www.uft.org/files/attachments/uft-50-years-book.pdf

- The Teacher Rebellion by David Selden

https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Rebellion-David-Selden/dp/0882582356

- Schools Against Children: The Case for Community Control by Anne Rubenstein

https://www.amazon.com/Schools-Against-Children-Community-Control/dp/0853451621

- Blackboard Unions  by Marjorie Murphy

https://www.amazon.com/Blackboard-Unions-AFT-NEA-1900-1980/dp/0801423651/

- City Unions: Managing Discontent in New York City  by Mark Meir

https://www.amazon.com/City-Unions-Managing-Discontent-York/dp/0813512298

- Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy by Richard Kahlenberg

https://www.amazon.com/Tough-Liberal-Democracy-Columbia-Contemporary/dp/0231134975

- The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis by Jerald E. Podair

https://www.amazon.com/Strike-That-Changed-York-Hill-Brownsville/dp/0300109407

Here is James' report on ICE blog:

NORM SCOTT AND LEO CASEY DISCUSS UFT HISTORY ON THE RADIO

Daniel Alicea is a New York City middle school teacher. He has formed a UFT group called Educators of NYC. Daniel is now one of the hosts of WBAI's Talk out of School. He alternates weekly with Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters. The program is live on the radio every Saturday at 1:00 P.M. In addition, every show is archived and available as a podcast. 

Please take an hour out of your day and listen closely to Saturday's show as past UFT High School Vice President and now AFT leader Leo Casey discusses the history of the UFT with our own Norm Scott. They cover the 1960s and 70's. Believe it or not, there is a great deal of agreement between the two longtime activists, Casey from the inside and Norm as a dissident but there is real disagreement on the roots of the anti-democratic nature of the UFT.

Norm at ICE email:

I was a guest on the Leonie Haimson WBAI radio program, now co-hosted by Daniel Alicea, this past Saturday along with a former sparring partner, Randi assistant and now head of the Shanker Institute Leo Casey. That was part 1 of a history of the UFT. Part 2 is in two weeks and I hope we can get our (the retiree healthcare) situation discussed as an outcome of lack of democracy in the UFT. We are hoping to get a well-known voice of opposition to Unity for decades but he'd kill me if I revealed his name because he hasn't agreed yet.

I think I know who that person is (definitely not me) and if this individual does the show, it will be just as good if not better than the first one. I wonder who Unity puts up next, if anyone.

On another note, Thursday, July 22, ICEUFT will be meeting via Zoom at noon. More details will follow.

Revised With Vichy Notes - #AFT 14 Video - Leo Casey At the Bat - Don't Let Tea Party Seduce You From Supporting Wonderful Common Core

No one seems to care why progressives are against the Common Core.  ... Susan Ohanian

UPDATE: I'm reposting Leo's speech at the AFT where he brands common core opponents as tea party influenced after reading Susan Ohanian's comments on the Bobby Jindal/ John White battle in Louisiana. Leo comes down on the side of White, the ghoul of closing schools here in NYC under Joel Klein.

My posting of the Mulgrew "punch in the mouth" speech has caused a lot of comment, as much about the issue he chose to get "livid"" about. Certainly he is not angry about the numbers of discontinued teachers, or the political assault on teachers by principals who are members of the CSA, the UFT's pals.

One of the themes I have tried to prove over the years, even to most of my colleagues in the opposition movement, is that our union leaders are not on our side - that they are collaborators with a Vichy mentality - that they are in many ways hired hands - akin to agents - whose job is to manage the members and make sure the course of the union never veers towards the kind of militancy that might in any way threaten the power structure - a dirty deal for rank and file. And for those who say "sue them" for running their scams, I point out that the courts are part of that power structure, with judges coming from the same ranks.

Here are Susan's comments on the article in the AP, followed by my original post.

Dispute over Common Core gets personal
Ohanian Comment: Governor Jindal's opposition to the Common Core is likely based in his eying a Presidential run in 2016. Conservative opposition to the Common Core was fed by an overreach by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan when they equired states that wanted to apply for federal Race to the Top funds to either adopt the standards or adopt comparable ones that would be judged "college- and career-ready."
No one seems to care why progressives are against the Common Core.
by Melinda Deslatte, Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The clash over whether Louisiana's public schools should teach to the Common Core education standards has devolved into a bitter public feud that will have one-time political friends sitting on opposite sides of courtrooms.
Dueling lawsuits have been filed. An ethics complaint is in the works. Contracts are being audited. Accusations have been lodged of illegal behavior, ethical impropriety and political pandering.
And while the attacks grow more personal, major questions about the educational path of the state's public schools remain unanswered with students returning to classrooms in the next two weeks.
The upheaval started in June, when Gov. Bobby Jindal issued executive orders seeking to undermine use of Common Core and its associated testing.
The Common Core standards are grade-by-grade benchmarks of what students should learn in English and math. They have been adopted by more than 40 states and were once championed by Louisiana's Republican governor.
Supporters of the standards praise them as a better method for preparing students for college and careers after high school. Critics say the standards are untested, raise privacy concerns about data-sharing and damage state autonomy.
Jindal now opposes Common Core as a federal intrusion into local education, echoing the concerns raised by tea party groups around the nation.
But while the governor changed his mind on the standards, a majority of members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, still support Common Core, along with Jindal's hand-picked state education superintendent, John White.
State lawmakers also refused to jettison Louisiana's use of the standards earlier this year.
When Jindal suspended the testing contracts, he said the education department didn't follow state procurement law and needed to seek competitive bids for the work. But he also said the move would help to get "Louisiana out of the Common Core."
White and BESE President Chas Roemer said the governor overstepped his legal authority.
Roemer accused Jindal of trying to govern by executive fiat and of changing his position on Common Core to bolster his support from conservative organizations for a possible 2016 presidential bid.
Education groups and business organizations that once were allied with Jindal accused him of political gamesmanship and misuse of his oversight of state contracts. Jindal's Division of Administration accused White, his department and BESE of refusing to follow state contracting laws and a pattern of possible contracting improprieties.
Seventeen state lawmakers who oppose Common Core - but who couldn't persuade their colleagues to shelve the standards - filed a lawsuit alleging the state education board and the education department didn't follow state law in enacting the standards.
Parents, teachers and organizations who support Common Core filed a lawsuit of their own, claiming Jindal's violated the Louisiana Constitution by meddling in education policy that should be decided by the Legislature and implemented by BESE. The education board has joined in that lawsuit, with even two of Jindal's board appointees agreeing to sue the governor.
Hearings for both lawsuits are scheduled for mid-August.
Outside the actions in District Court, Common Core opponents also say they intend to file an ethics complaint against White and several BESE members, raising questions about conflicts of interest and ties to organizations that they say hold "undue influence" in education policy.
BESE member and Common Core critic Jane Smith, the only Jindal appointee to vote against suing the governor, posted a message on Facebook talking of planned audits and alleging ethics violations in the Department of Education.
White issued a letter a few days later, saying he felt he was being personally attacked with suggestions of "unfounded malfeasance" within his office. He defended his support of Common Core and testing aligned with the standards, outlined how he's reimbursed for travel expenses and speeches to outside groups and said he's notified the ethics board of each transaction.
The nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, a government watchdog organization, said the situation has reached a "crisis level" and blamed the governor for causing the educational chaos.
Whether the feud is rooted in education policy or politics, there doesn't appear to be a quick resolution on the horizon for those most affected by its consequences: Louisiana schoolchildren.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE: Melinda Deslatte covers the Louisiana Capitol for The Associated Press.
— Melinda Deslatte Associated Press
August 03, 2014

This may be worse than Mulgrew's speech. Immediately after his speech, Leo went right to the Mendacino vinyards to pick grapes.

#AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle Between Chicago/CORE and UFT/Unity

The great Sarah Chambers nails them to the wall opposing Common Core .....

Watch it live: bit.ly/1wbeSZG

Gloria in visitor's section just texted - Unity are positioning themselves now near mikes....  Common Core debate begins

[Common Core] will die no matter what the AFT does because, frankly, it doesn’t matter.... Ravitch

UFT throw heavy hitters Mulgrew, Barr - while CORE uses their rank and file -  who are more than capable of holding their own. This is not to say that others around the nation are on the Randi team. So far only Chicago people are opposing the AFT/UFT reso.

UPDATE: See Chicago - reasons to oppose common core.

Debate is beginning on common core. Randi is calling for extensive discussion so no one calls the question prematurely -- poor Unity people who are designated "call the questioners." Randi mentioned the jostling at the mics at the committee meeting, which we reported on (AFT Convention Update: Chicago CC Reso Goes Down O...Posted Fri 5PM),

I am taping off the screen. Leo Casey spoke before and to me he seemed to be branding the foes of CC as tea party people.

There's no way I can keep up in this space but this is the place where teachers can fight this battle out. No question Chicago will lose this one but will walk away with dignity.

Minneapolis teacher is backing Chicago. Attacking pro reso people for distorting debate as if opposed are against standards -- we are against corporate designed standards. You are not going to set our kids up.
Opponents are pinning CC to testing -- if you don't understand what is going on - SHAME ON YOU! Goes after Leroy Barr statement that children in California and NY should be learning the same thing. One of great speeches so far.

I'll do my best to get some video but you can find it online I'm sure. Don't miss this debate.

Gotta end this but with this..

Here is the Ravitch comment

As for Common Core, I agree with CTU. Teachers don’t need scripts. They don’t need “standards” written by a committee that included not a single classroom teacher. They need class sizes they can manage. Their schools need equitable funding. They need tenure to protect them from political reprisals. They need due process and speedy resolution of complaints. They need respect. Common Core does nothing to alleviate the poverty in which nearly one-quarter of our children live. It does nothing to restore the art teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors who have been laid off. It does nothing to address the root causes of poor academic performance: poverty and segregation. It will die no matter what the AFT does because, frankly, it doesn’t matter.

Ravitch Asks the Questions Leo Casey Avoids As He Finds Excuses to Align With Gates

Oh, sophistry, thy name is Leo Casey.

There is nothing like another missive from "AFT/UFT Excuse-maker in chief" Leo Casey to obfuscate an issue.

Last week he asked: Is There A ‘Corporate Education Reform’ Movement?”, using former Superintendent and policy maker Larry Cuban's case for there not being a corporate conspiracy as a jumping off point. Cuban closes with:

these “corporate reformers” have achieved some important and, to my way of thinking, worthwhile changes in the rhetoric and policy of school improvement. I take those changes up in Part 2.

Casey, in trying to justify the collaboration of the AFT/UFT with deformers, tries to distinguish...

two different senses of the term “corporate education reform” – the notion that there is a movement for education reform led by corporate elites and the idea that there is a movement for education reform that seeks to remake public education in the image and likeness of for-profit corporations in a competitive marketplace.

BloomKlein BAD Boys, Bill GOOD Boy

Then Casey jumps to the chase to make Bill Gates the good guy:

Consider the battle fought last year in New York over the publication of individual teacher evaluations in the news media. No less a figure than the billionaire mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, argued vociferously for the continued publication of individual evaluations, defending a practice that he and Joel Klein had initiated and pursued in the New York City public schools. Yet another billionaire reform advocate, Bill Gates, took to the op-ed pages of the New York Times to criticize the publications as counter-productive exercises in public ‘shaming.’ The passage of state legislation prohibiting future publication was attributable to many different factors, most especially public disapproval of this use of individual value-added scores and the political efforts of New York’s teacher unions, but there is no question that the willingness of a prominent member of the corporate elite to speak out on the wrong-headedness of this practice played a role.

No question that Gates helped turn the tide? Wow, now we can feel good about taking his money.

The upshot is that the AFT was right all along to align with Gates, though I remember reading somewhere where Casey actually said it was a mistake after one of Gates' anti-union rants.  Remember the days when Casey/Randi/Peter Goodman were lambasting Klein and painting Bloomberg as the good guy?

Behind this all was the attacks on Randi for writing a piece with Gates Foundation's Vicki Philips. Casey says,

I was reminded of Cuban’s essay and the importance of this distinction after reading some of the commentary in reaction to a recent essay on teacher evaluation written jointly by Vicki Phillips, director of K-12 education programs at the Gates Foundation, and AFT president Randi Weingarten (Full Disclosure: Weingarten is also the president of the Albert Shanker Institute.) From individual blog posts to some reader comments section on Diane Ravitch’s blog, what one found were not political analyses or reasoned objections to the particular points where Phillips and Weingarten were in agreement, but tests of moral purity, in which any discussion of common ground with Gates and the Gates Foundation was regarded as the violation of a pollution taboo

Well, we were clear as to why Randi brought Leo to DC and the Shanker blog, which, under Casey predecessor Matthew Di Carlo, was actually garnering some respect instead of being viewed solely as a mouthpiece to justify anything Randi does.

Now Casey goes after the so-called really bad guys who are not using the Gates subtle approach, ie. the Koch brothers, et al. America’s Union Suppression Movement (And Its Apologists), Part One)

Casey opens by referring to his previous piece and the

logic of forming strategic alliances on specific issues with those who are not natural allies, even those with whom you mostly disagree. This does not mean, however, that there aren’t those – some with enormous wealth and power – who are bent on undermining the American labor movement generally and teachers’ unions specifically. This is part one of a two-part post on this reality.

I love this comment:

The American union movement is, it must be said, embattled and beleaguered... Fueling these attacks is an underlying organic crisis that has greatly weakened the labor movement and its ability to defend itself. Union membership has fallen from a high point of 1 in 3 American workers at the end of WW II to a shade over 1 in 9 today.

Hey Leo, do you think the fact that the AFT/UFT is run in as undemocratic a fashion as feasible has something to do with it? What do you think the teachers at IS 292 where the UFT charter is pushing out programs think of the union?

Maybe your very collaboration on charter schools, testing, merit pay, evaluations is what has helped make us embattled and beleaguered?

Not in the world according to Casey.

With U.S. income inequality at the highest levels since just before the Great Depression, it appears that the nation’s corporate elite are intent on delivering a coup de grâce to what remains of the American labor movement.

In his entire piece, not one mention of Democratic party collaboration in this assault. Maybe in part 2.

But Diane Ravitch doesn't let him get away with it:

Leo Casey explores the context of the anti-union movement here. In state after state, legislatures have wiped out collective bargaining rights. That meant teachers would have no voice in the funding of public schools or their working conditions. Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions. The so-called reformers are closing public schools and turning the students over to private corporations. 90% of charters are non-union.

The questions that I keep asking are, where was Barack Obama as the efforts to destroy America's workers gained momentum? Why didn't he go to Madison in the spring of 2011? Why did he go instead at the very height of the Wisconsin protests to hail Jeb Bush in Miami as "a champion of education reform?"

Why did his Secretary of Education effusively praise some of the most anti-union, anti-teacher state commissioners of education in the nation, like John White in Louisiana and Hanna Skandera in New Mexico? Why have Secretary Duncan and President Obama said nothing in opposition to the attacks on teachers, the mass closure of public schools, and the growing for-profit sector in education? Why was the Democratic National Convention of 2012 held in North Carolina, a right-to-work state? When was the last time that the Democratic Party held its convention in a right to work state?

In the sophistic world of Leo Casey, Obama/Duncan GOOD!

Oh, and you Unity apologists? Feel free to jump in.

Exposing UFT/Charter Connections as UFT Supports Co-location

Union [UFT] officials said they would not object to Waronker’s school receiving public space if the building offered has enough room and the existing schools do not object to getting a new neighbor.

Aside from the issue of charter expansion and the potential of a contentious co-location battle, this seems to me to be more experimentation on poor kids in the name of "innovation." What parent and/or teacher wouldn't prefer to have their kid in a class of 15 -- a proven model for success -- rather than in a class of 60? Where is the evidence that this works at all? I encourage people to read this NYT article: New American Academy in Brooklyn Is an Experiment in Class Size - http://goo.gl/Fk7tD ----- Leonie Haimson

What kind of union helps an employer "work around the union contract?" I guess a union that only cares about keeping the dues money coming in, while the contract is gutted and public schools dismantled. Thank you, Randi Weingarten, for showing the world what employer-union collaboration really means. Absolutely, utterly, beyond disgraceful, and a clear demonstration of how the AFT/UFT leadership is captive to the premises and practice of ed deform. --- Michael Fiorillo

Waronker would leave the New American Academy for the charter school, where he would be headmaster, according to the plan, a move that would allow him potentially to earn more than he does as a district principal. 

Children First, of course. Don't get me wrong, I actually find some of Waronker's ideas appealing. So why doesn't he stay in one school and see them through?

But the bullet for me here is that the UFT actually comes out for colocation "if there's enough space" --- like who decides, the DOE scuzzballs --- or "if the school agrees". What exactly does that mean? The school is the principal who works for the DOE and if he/she doesn't agree - ZAPPO.

Can the UFT be any more hypocritical?

Gotham Schools has done a great job in this article of exposing the fault lines and semi-hidden agenda of the UFT and their pal Shimon Waronker, the famous Hassidic who gets more press than Moses. (New York Times columnist David Brooks praised the school in a piece this spring.)

What does it tell you that Waronker is praised by ed-idiot Brooks, the UFT and Joel Klein who said in 2008 “If I could clone Shimon Waronker, I would do that immediately."

First Waronker was a principal of MS 22. But that was not enough to stay in a school and build it as part of the community. Four years and out. And the latest news is not good:

M.S. 22 grew safer under Waronker’s watch, which lasted from 2004 to 2008, but performance continued to lag. This year, it wound up on the city’s list of schools to overhaul.)

Looks like Shimon got out before he could be branded a failed principal. Just like failed CEOs keep moving in front of the dust storm.

Of course he needs to run a school with a different idea so he gets one in Brooklyn. After only 2 years he needs another one despite the fact his

"school also does not have a track record of success yet. Last year, its oldest students were in second grade, so the school has no state test scores to boast." 

But why wait to find out if it works? Both he and the UFT want to replicate something that may be a total failure, as Leonie points out in this comment on the Gotham site:

Aside from the issue of charter expansion and the potential of a contentious co-location battle, this seems to me to be more experimentation on poor kids in the name of "innovation."  What parent and/or teacher wouldn't prefer to have their kid in a class of 15 -- a proven model for success -- rather than in a class of 60?  Where is the evidence that this works at all?  I encourage people to read this NYT article: New American Academy in Brooklyn Is an Experiment in Class Size - http://goo.gl/Fk7tD

He asks the DOE and since the UFT is a partner he is told to cool it. So he and his pals at the UFT do an end run.

Really, you have to read every word and every comment of this article. It is so good I may actually give Gotham a contribution tomorrow at their party (though I may eat and drink it all away.)

In a first, district school is aiming to expand as a charter school

Read it all but let me extract the juicy UFT parts:

Waronker’s application has the support of the United Federation of Teachers, which was involved in the New American Academy’s creation but has had a contentious relationship with the city’s charter sector. Leo Casey, a UFT official who is departing to lead a union-affiliated education research institute in Washington, D.C., is a founding board member. 

This paragraph says it all about what the UFT/AFT is all about:

The UFT was integral in paving the way for the New American Academy to open in the first place. It worked with the city to sign off on a special contract that allows teachers to have larger classes, work longer hours, and climb a career ladder that carries extra pay.

But union leaders have never lent themselves to charter schools’ boards, other than the two charter schools it operates and one that former UFT President Randi Weingarten supported because it was trying to pioneer a new model of charter-union collaboration, Casey said Waronker’s school has long impressed him. Its master teacher model, where high-paid, highly trained teachers serve as mentors to three others, is the best in any city school, he said.

You know, master teachers like E4E's Lori Wheal.

“At a time when everybody talks about innovation and falls back onto the most traditional modes of teaching, they really are doing it,” Casey said. “The school is based on the notion that you have to empower the teachers.”

Teachers are empowered to have larger class sizes, work longer hours and climb a career ladder (read: merit pay).

When the teachers union said it would help [Waronker] work around the union contract to set up some of the school’s special features, such as master teacher positions with salaries of $120,000 a year, and hour-and-a-half long blocks of early morning curriculum planning, he jumped at the opportunity.

But he said he is excited about the possibility of expanding as a charter school —and as one where the union will play an ongoing role. The school cannot open with its teachers unionized, but Waronker and Casey both said the expectation is that teachers will join the UFT quickly, a process that typically happens only after a fight.

As Michael said above:

What kind of union helps an employer "work around the union contract?"
I guess a union that only cares about keeping the dues money coming in, while the contract is gutted and public schools dismantled. Thank you, Randi Weingarten, for showing the world what employer-union collaboration really means.
Absolutely, utterly, beyond disgraceful, and a clear demonstration of how the AFT/UFT leadership is captive to the premises and practice of ed deform.

Here comes the fun part on co-location:

According to a letter of intent filed with the state, the two schools would not have any formal partnership beyond sending their teachers to the same training sessions during the summer and school year.

One piece of information the letter of intent left out was where exactly the school would be located. Waronker’s application asks for space in District 19, but it doesn’t say what kind of space he’s looking for. He said he would prefer to open in a district school building, in the kind of co-location arrangement that about two-thirds of city charter schools currently occupy, though he would figure out how to pay for private space if he had to.

The UFT’s own charter schools share space in public school buildings. But the union has opposed many co-locations and even sued to stop a number of them last year. Union officials said they would not object to Waronker’s school receiving public space if the building offered has enough room and the existing schools do not object to getting a new neighbor.

Ooooh, the UFT supports the Good Neighbor Policy.

John Elfrank-Dana Boils the Union Frog After SOS12 Experience

LAST UPDATED FRIDAY, AUG. 10, 12PM

Our teacher union members in NYC are like frogs in the pot on the stove with the flame on low. Union concessions on core rights constitute the rising water temperature in our frog pot. As we become aware of the situation ... that maybe we should consider jumping out (strike?) to save our selves (at least begin to prepare for one).

I had the audacity to suggest this weekend at the SOS convention that SOS exists mainly because of the failure of our teacher unions to protect the profession and quality public education. It was dismissed forthwith by the union committee there without any exploration,,, John Elfrank-Dana, Labor's Lessons

How can we move forward if we don't study the successes and failures of the past? Our problem is that the UFT/AFT leadership will not accept that they made ANY mistakes. As long as they distort history we will continue to sit in the boiling water. ---- Ed Notes

John, who worked with ICE and now with MORE, posted an excellent analysis at his Labor's Lessons blog about the state of the unions.

Jump in or jump off - whither the UFT

Does the fundamental lack of resistance of the teacher unions (until Chicago) make them bear ANY responsibility for the spread of ed deform? Not only lack of resistance but actual support for so much of the ed deform agenda, from supporting the closing of schools to opening up co-located charters here in NYC (oh, I can go on and on). So at the SOS conference I was wondering if this might come up, given the stark contrast between the actions in Chicago and so much of the rest of the nation, as one teacher union after another has compromised itself to the point of extinction. John's frog parable is oh so apt.

John is chapter leader at Murry Bergtraum HS, the last remaining big high school in Manhattan (and prime location real estate for future charters/condos) and his school has faced all the flack coming out of ed deform, including the imposition of "bonus baby" principals and now probably a new principal who will be a closer (Death Watch for Murry Bergtraum). He has also faced personal retaliation aimed at his family from a vindictive principal. So when John talks about the parable of the frog, the temperature in his pot is a few degrees higher.

I had to leave SOS early Sunday morning so didn't get to stay for the Labor and Professional Organizations Principle Writing Workshop as a follow-up to the labor session the day before (see full video here). John stayed for a while and reported support for the Chicago TU. But when he tried to raise the issue of the role unions have played he didn't get any traction. How can we move forward if we don't study the successes and failures of the past? Our problem is that the UFT/AFT leadership will not accept that they made ANY mistakes. As long as they distort history we will continue to sit in the boiling water.

I wouldn't expect, or want, SOS to in any formal way be critical of the actions of the AFT/UFT/NEA but I would hope the leaders would at least be willing to discuss the issue informally as a warning signal that going down the road to appeasement is dangerous. The teachers in Chicago were the frog in the boiling water under the old leadership for so long until about 2 years ago when CORE was elected and began a strategy of fierce resistance. That those beaten and demoralized teachers would vote 98% for a strike just 2 years into the leadership of CORE is a remarkable example of political leadership, something I truly believe we can never expect from the Unity Caucus which sets up charter schools that are co-located in public schools, agrees to being rated on value added etc.

While I agree with John that the ability to strike is what makes the ability of unions to fight for its members credible I also think there are steps in between.

John quotes Leo Casey,"If you draw a line in the sand you'd better be prepared to defend that ground to avoid a routing that could destroy you." And we both agree that Leo is right. But where do you draw a line in the sand? Has the UFT been willing to draw any lines in the sand? For instance, if it had refused to agree to ending seniority rights in the 2005 contract what would have been the result?

CORRECTION: I want to expand on the point Fred Klonsky below was making since some people are not aware of the background. Fred castgates unions leaders taking gas but trying to sell it as a victory instead of saying we were forced to take gas.

In retrospect I realize Fred was talking more about the Illinois state union which jumped on board SB7 -- the bill pushed through by Jonah Edelman's Stand for on Children  -- remember that video (Jonah Edelman Caught With His Pants Down that took away many of the bargaining rights but did give them the right to strike if they could get 75% of the membership to vote for it.  

Here is a video of Leo's statement and a response from Fred Klonsky who is critical of the current Chicago Illinois leadership (and maybe CTU too for initially signing on to SR7 SB7. As Xian Barrett points out, the internal democratic process in CORE and the CTU created a reaction that led to the CTU resistance.

Fred's critique can also be applied to so many aspects of AFT/UFT policy. On the surface I can agree with the "line in the sand" comment. But when Leo says "we can talk about what that line should be" I fault him for not allowing us in NYC to talk about that through the lack of democracy. If in fact we had open discussions about the implications of the 2005 contract or whether the UFT should open charter schools or support the closing of schools until late 2009 or support merit pay schemes, etc, etc, etc. we might be in a different place.

As you watch the video consider what the UFT would do if faced with the exact same demands the CTU are facing. Would Leo draw this line in the sand? Would/could the UFT get even a 50% strike authorization under the same conditions (take into account we have no right to strike while the CTU does even under severe restrictions -- did you know that Rahm got a law passed that forces the CTU to get individual permits for each school they want to picket at?)



I will put up a separate post comparing NYC and Chicago uaing Xian Barrett's wonderful presentation (also see Xian's article as posted on Gotham (An acclaimed Chicago teacher explains why extending the school day isn’t the solution (CNN)), which while militant also is conciliatory and looking for areas of compromise, things I feel I(we) can learn about how to work with others, even those you disagree with. Yes, even Leo at times. I feel the fact that we can have a reasonably cordial relationship is a positive thing. And the parting words I had with Mike Klonsky was that I do listen to criticism about my take no prisoners approach to the union and he said we would continue to have a dialogue.

Back to John's piece. Before the very idea of a strike enters anyone's mind a union must put up fierce resistance on many ed deform issues rather than trying to go half way. Having your union leadership back peddle and sell ed deform ideas (like we are afraid of being charged with unwillingness to be held accountable while I say "fuck your accountability that falls only on teachers and we won't budge until you hold yourselves to the same accountability) saps the spirit to such an extent that the very idea of a strike becomes a farce. Certainly here in NYC where even as the most severe attacks on teachers may be yet to come, it is hard to imagine the same willingness to resist outside of courts exists in the DNA of the UFT leadership.

The Parable of the Frog and the Fate of the Teacher Unions

All of this pondering of the demise of public education and teacher unions at the Save our Schools Convention (SOS) reminds me of the parable of the frog in a pot of water. It goes that if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump out to save itself. However, take that same frog and put it in room temperature water, but put the flame on low and it will be dead before it realizes the gradual change in temperature. More on this down below.

At the SOS Convention this weekend a stark warning from an recent former United Federation  of Teachers (UFT) executive now working at the American Federation of Teachers national office came to the delegates in the Teacher Unions committee- "If you draw a line in the sand you'd better be prepared to defend that ground to avoid a routing that could destroy you." In other words, a union had better be prepared to strike as a last resort and win that strike. That message is a prudent one; common sense taken at face value. But, to take it as sufficient reason to accept more concessions by the AFT in teacher evaluations based on test scores and giving back tenure is mistaken in my estimation.

Since, in my opinion, the UFT is nowhere close to being prepared to strike, the message my members (I am a chapter leader of one of the last large high schools in New York City), accept these concessions or face doom. A more cynical view has been that the UFT uses the threat of a strike and certain doom to scare members into accepting contract givebacks. I have seen this myself, when union brass visited our high school around the last two contracts- saying you'd better accept this or else! Since the leadership does nothing to prepare us for a strike, the threat works, "give up grieving a letter in the file, no seniority transfer? or else strike? Where do I sign?" That was the 2005 UFT contract, and along with UFT President Randi Weingarten support for Mayoral Control, that may have sealed our fate as a union.

Back to the frog parable: Our teacher union members in NYC are like frogs in the pot on the stove with the flame on low. Union concessions on core rights constitute the rising water temperature in our frog pot. As we become aware of the situation (we do have some capacity to be aware, unlike frogs) some of us stir that maybe we should consider jumping out (strike?) to save our selves (at least begin to prepare for one). Ah, but the union executive says, "If you jump out of this pot how do you know you won't fall all the way to the kitchen floor and go splat! Or, perhaps land of the flame of the burner next to this one?" He continues, "Hang in there! Our union president just negotiated a great victory. The DoE wants to turn the flame up another 10 degrees, but we got them down to an increase in only 5 degrees! (ironically working in the DoE's favor- for god forbid the other frogs wake up to what is happening)."

Without a credible threat of a strike, you have no union. All you have is a dues collection agency, a member benefits management office, an ombudsman's office of the DoE, a teacher public relations firm. To be clear it's a policy issue; most the staffers I find at the UFT offices are dedicated and willing to serve. But, you don't have a union without a strike. We can't rely only on court cases, or getting "our guy" in office to protect our rights. The ultimate weapon must be in the arsenal.

I don't take strikes lightly. I am aware of the Taylor Law penalties. I was a Teamster in college when I went out on strike the first time. I have been involved in two strikes and a lockout. I have seen people get their heads split open. Preparing for a strike requires digging in, years of building relations with the parents, polticos, press and most importantly your members. It's a capacity you have to have ready at all times.

I had the audacity to suggest this weekend at the SOS convention that SOS exists mainly because of the failure of our teacher unions to protect the profession and quality public education. It was dismissed forthwith by the union committee there without any exploration.

So, let's get behind our courageous brothers and sisters of the Chicago Teachers Union! They have built the credible threat of a strike. They can serve a model of courage and character for all of us. Those frogs have jumping legs! Take a close look at MORE and ICE in NYC for ideas about moving forward.

==============
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.

How Did Educators 4 Excellence Gain Access to Official DOE Teacher Emails?

There is but one conclusion that can be drawn from the NYC Department of Education’s last minute walk out of negotiations over a teacher evaluation system for 33 schools placed in the Transformation and Restart models: it was always Tweed’s intention to refuse to enter into an agreement for teacher evaluations.  -- Leo Casey at Edwize

I don't often read Edwize but Leo Casey has an excellent piece exposing the sham of Tweed's game-playing on evaluations and lays the blame right on them (though as always I never thought the UFT should have given even a wedge on teacher evaluations given we're dealing with snakes --- though I hate to insult the snakes).

Teachers at some of the 33 SIG schools have been getting emails from the 5th Columnists* at E4E at their official DOE email addresses. Reminds me of the handover of Tweed's handing over private parent info to Eva Moskowitz's Success Charter to help them recruit. It's almost funny how groups like GEM have warned people not to use DOE emails for political purposes since that would give the DOE an opportunity to go after them. I guess it's Katy bar the door now that E4E has broken the barrier of misuse of official DOE emails. So if you ever get hassled if you happen to blast out an email to colleagues here is your precedent.

I would go beyond and if you get such an email maybe lodge a complaint about misuse of DOE emails. Or better yet call E4E's Lauren Goldberg at 212-279-8510 ex. 18 to tell her what you think of this blatant political opportunism of making it look like the DOE was not responsible.

E4E which purports to have teacher interests at heart is exposed by this fact from Leo's post:

why is a 90% rate of principals recommending tenure, at the end of probation “a joke,” but a 99.5% rate of turning down U ratings appeal perfectly acceptable?

 Yes, we are the 99.5% that loses U-ratings appeals.

Funding cuts to John Dewey
______________________________

__
From: Lauren Goldberg [mailto:lgoldberg@educators4excellence.org]
Sent: Mon 1/9/2012 6:19 PM
To: [teacher at John Dewey HS]  (21K540)
Subject: Funding cuts to John Dewey

Dear ------ ,

I'm reaching out because I came across your name on a staff list from John Dewey. [trans- thanks Dennis for stopping by our office with the list]

I am reaching out to your staff because the School Improvement Grant funding from the state is in jeopardy. This is because the DOE and UFT cannot agree on teacher evaluations. Teachers at several of the 33 schools have written an open letter to Chancellor Walcott and President Mulgrew to urge them to come to an agreement [trans. but we won't criticize our meal tickets for walking out of negotiations] and allow the SIG funding to be restored. We are helping them to get the word out. [sure, we are helping THEM - as if THEM materialized out of nowhere].

You can read and sign the letter at www.restoresigfunding.com .

Please let me know if there is anyone else from John Dewey that I could reach out to.

Thank you for your daily work in the classroom, and for standing up for your students and your profession.

Best,

Lauren

Lgoldberg@educators4excellence.org, Outreach Director, Educators 4 Excellence, 212-279-8510 ex. 18

I'll close with this from Leo:

one conclusion is inescapable: Mayor Bloomberg decided that he had no intention of negotiating in good faith with the UFT over the subject of teacher evaluations. The plan was always to blow up the negotiations required by law, with a strategy of then trying to pressure Albany to change the teacher evaluation law and allow the DOE to continue its kangaroo court U rating appeal process. From the beginning of this process, he and his devotees at Tweed were acting in bad faith.

Read In Bad Faith at Edwize

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column

Charter School Leaders Love Quinn for Mayor - So Does the UFT

This article below by Anna Philips has to scare you. The big battle is coming over mayoral control and even though there will be lots of rhetoric from the UFT they will not take a stand against because to them the alternatives (local control) are not acceptable. Interesting in that one of the calls for local control include lots of teacher influence at the school level along with parents. The UFT doesn't trust teachers at the school level - the leadership wants all the power in their hands. I got this right from the horse's mouth when 12 years ago I posed to Randi Weingarten the idea of teachers taking over schools (I am for teachers electing principals - we would get the best principals that way). She began her response with, "How can we trust...." before realizing what she was about to say. Thus I got an early inkling of where she really stood.

Many of the advocates believe the charter school movement cannot survive without Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg‘s policy of having charter schools share space in public school buildings. Without this policy, the schools would have to seek out and pay for private space on their own, leaving some of them with fewer dollars to spend on students than traditional public schools.

Michael T. Duffy, a former city education official and now managing director of Victory Education Partners, figured that at the least, he would begin by putting all of these people in the same room with the candidate he is enthusiastic about, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.
On Wednesday night, members of the charter school world, as well as the technology start-up world, gathered in a honey-colored apartment on the Upper East Side to query Ms. Quinn, raising more than $15,000 for the candidate. Ms. Quinn’s remarks, her aides insisted, remain off the record. But the advocates in attendance spoke more openly on Thursday in interviews, expressing what is on their minds as they look ahead to 2014, when they will lose a mayor who has given them space in public school buildings at no cost and hardly questioned their raison d’être.

Charter School Leaders Hunt for Their Mayoral Candidate

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/12/16/charter-school-leaders-hunt-for-their-mayoral-candidate/?partner=rss&emc=rss

And I hope you noticed this on the ed notes side panel:

Regents agree to give NY student and teacher data to limited corporation run by Gates and operated by Murdoch's Wireless Gen
This work will be guided by participating states and informed by input from a panel of expert advisors, including Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers;

Teachers in the UFT have to wake up and take action - I don't mean blogging and leaving comments on blogs - your bodies are needed. If you don't see the connections here you are missing the boat. You should be doing everything you can to wake up the people you work with. The UFT is aiming to support Christine Quinn even though she is anti-LIFO (but I think our leadership is also against LIFO though they try to hide it).

Connect the dots by reading this post on Ed Notes from the other day: AFT/NEA: More Sellouts to Ed Deform. 
Note how slick the UFT, sending Leo out to make it appear they are opposing ed deform. Here is an excerpt from my post:

Leo Casey and Pedro Noguera are both hypocrites; talking out of both sides of their mouths. Supporting charter proliferation, and at the same time spouting progressive BS denouncing privatization etc.-----anon. email comment on below

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

Privatize, We’re Watching You: Fighting Privatization UFT VP Leo Casey, Ken Bernstein

  Watching who? The theme should be: We are watching you... And not really doing anything about it.

 Or: We're making it look like we're watching you but really working with you - but don't tell our members.

They (NEA) explicitly embraced the notion that teachers should be responsible for student learning. - Rick Hess

This was posted on the NYCEdNews Listserve:
AFT local to authorize Minn. charters, as supported by AFT innovation fund; NEA supports merit pay and end to seniority protections for teachers. Rick  Hess (and I’m sure Bill Gates etc. approves.) NEA: seniority should only be a factor in teacher retention or assignment when all other factors are equal…   “The need for tenure is replaced by a peer review program that provides opportunities for improvement or, when improvement is lacking, ensures due process throughout dismissal."

-------------------------
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 the right for important bits.

AFT/NEA: More Sellouts to Ed Deform

Leo Casey and Pedro Noguera are both hypocrites; talking out of both sides of their mouths. Supporting charter proliferation, and at the same time spouting progressive BS denouncing privatization etc.-----anon. email comment on below

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

Privatize, We’re Watching You: Fighting Privatization UFT VP Leo Casey, Ken Bernstein

 Watching who? The theme should be: We are watching you... And not really doing anything about it.

 Or: We're making it look like we're watching you but really working with you - but don't tell our members.

They (NEA) explicitly embraced the notion that teachers should be responsible for student learning. - Rick Hess

This was posted on the NYCEdNews Listserve:

AFT local to authorize Minn. charters, as supported by AFT innovation fund; NEA supports merit pay and end to seniority protections for teachers. Rick  Hess (and I’m sure Bill Gates etc. approves.) NEA: seniority should only be a factor in teacher retention or assignment when all other factors are equal…   “The need for tenure is replaced by a peer review program that provides opportunities for improvement or, when improvement is lacking, ensures due process throughout dismissal."

What else is there to say?
Note that these policies are not allowed to be vetted within undemocratically run locals like the UFT where if we had open discussions I'm betting the members would question these moves. But with in essence a one party system where every single one of the 89 seats on the UFT Ex Bd are endorsed by Unity Caucus, we have little opportunity to get member input as voices of opposition are shut out. Thus, I am often amused by some commentators on the NYCEDNEWS Listserve - Unity Caucus members who have been part of that process and supported it who rail against the DOE abuses but let the enablers in the UFT off the hook. I think I read while I was away in a post by a retired union official about Eric Nadelstern having PROMISED something and going back on his word. Oh, the outrage at that. But I have plenty of outrage at a union leadership that aided and abetted the very policies (see support for mayoral control for just one) that have undermined the public schools in this city - spending most of the past decade supporting the closing of schools. And a union leadership that vilified those who opposed and tried to raise issues at various venues. And plenty of outrage at the rank and file Unity people who know better go along - like the 800 Unity members that jeered the people who walked out on Bill Gates at the AFT convention in 2010. If we had a democratic union I'm sure the membership would reject this move by the AFT. But with Unity Caucus here in NYC still licking at Randi's boots and refusing to allow discussions over these policy moves from the top, there is little hope of change.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2011/12/im_skeptical_but_intrigued_by_aft_initiative_nea_report.html

I'm Skeptical But Intrigued By AFT Initiative, NEA Report

By Rick Hess on December 13, 2011 7:58 AM

Riveting Video: Jeff Kaufman Blows the Lid off Tenure Denial Scandal at Aspirations HS and UFT Bureaucrats' Attempt to Deflect Their Do-Nothing Policies by Blaming Kaufman

UFT Foils While Tenure Burns: A Case Study in DOE and UFT Perfidy

On July 12,  I interviewed Jeff Kaufman, one of the most knowledgeable union people I know. Whenever someone with a union problem contacts me I often send them to Jeff or James Eterno rather than the UFT. To say Jeff has a contentious relationship with the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership would be a gross underestimation. They despise him even more than they do me after his 3-year stint on the UFT Exec Board representing the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) where he regularly took apart the phony Randi Weingarten agenda.

In this riveting video Jeff takes us step by step through the process of how all 8 teachers at his school who were up for tenure had their time extended and now face the prospect of having to wait for a 5th year. The lies and perfidy of just resigned principal Matt Malloy (who often referred to these Teach for America young women as "Matt's Harem") and Superintendent Amy Horowitz who did zero supervision of Malloy while he did no observations and pushed almost all the administration burdens of running a new school onto these young and inexperienced teachers.

And then there are the UFT bureaucrats - VPHS Leo Casey and District Rep Charley Turner (one of the all time sleazeballs who even outranks Washington Sanchez in that category)  who instead of providing assistance to the teachers, attempted to use this as a way to undermine Jeff with his colleagues -a long-time tactic of Unity Caucus with people who oppose their policies.



Direct Vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/26575544

The video is mostly focused on the actions of the principal but it is a microcosm of not only what went on in so many schools but of the helpless reaction to this crisis by the UFT leadership. Jeff wrote a companion piece on the ICE blog July 16 focusing on the UFT and the tenure story.

UFT Fiddles While Large Numbers of Probationers Are Denied Tenure

Here is an excerpt but go read it all:

A note on tenure…

We have explained before, in this blog, what tenure is and what it isn't. Briefly stated the law defines tenure as that period of time, usually 3 years, where a teacher has performed satisfactorily. Tenure fundamentally changes the employment rights of a teacher from being an "at-will" employee while under probation and fired for any or no reason at all to one that is entitled to a due process hearing where the DOE must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the teacher should be fired before an arbitrator.

Education Law 3012 provides, in relevant part: "At the expiration of the probationary term…, the superintendent of schools shall make a written report to the board of education …recommending for appointment on tenure those persons who have been found competent, efficient and satisfactory, consistent with any applicable rules of the board of regents adopted pursuant to section three thousand twelve-b of this article. ...Each person who is not to be recommended for appointment on tenure, shall be so notified by the superintendent of schools in writing not later than sixty days immediately preceding the expiration of his probationary period."

The statute provides that tenure decisions must be made solely on a teacher's competence, efficiency and satisfactory service. The part of the statute which refers to State Regulations only refers to the new, 4 part, evaluation system, effective September 2011 which make no mention of probation or tenure at all.

So why is the UFT so conspicuously absent in the face of such a radical change in working conditions for so many teachers? Perhaps, their lawyers believe that since tenure is not a subject of bargaining there is legally little they can do. While, admittedly, legal avenues are limited although there are actions that can be brought if the Union knew or cared about its members.

Now, we must wait for a FOIL request to be filled (they can take months or even years) and teachers who have provided competent, efficient and satisfactory service must serve additional probation time or be terminated.

---------------------

Kaufman on E4E

I put up a separate excerpt of the video the other day where Jeff focused on the E4E people in his school and the contradiction between their support for that organization and what happened to them. In that short video Jeff points out how E4E is anti-union:  ICE's Jeff Kaufman Dissects Educators 4 Excellence and Judges Them "Antiunion" -

The Green Dot/UFT 80% Solution - to the Destruction of Public Education - Leo Casey Defends Green Dot Charter at Left Forum

“Randi and I and Mike Mulgrew and I — we don’t agree on everything. … How do you find the 80% we all agree on?”- Green Dot's Steve Barr

Maybe you've been seeing stories in the last few days about UFT/AFT charter school partner Green Dot charter, now to be known as Future is Now Schools. The UFT/Green Dot - or the new name FINS? -or whatever-  is part of some deal to close down 2 Bronx schools and hand them over to Green Dot. There's so much meat in this story, my cholesterol is shooting up just writing about it.

Now you know I am way out there even from some of my colleagues in the movement because I consider the UFT leadership - and I mean the very top, not the rank and file Unity people - collaborators - not labor dupes or just bureaucrats looking to make a buck. I mean full scale ideological collaborators with so much of the ed deform program - and beyond. But they have Leo Casey out there trying to cover this up by giving the union a "leftish" face. Ho, ho, ho.

Before I do any parsing, here is a Gotham item with links to 2 stories:

Under pressure, Steve Barr is leaving Green Dot, the charter school chain he started. (GS, Times)

OK, so if you did your homework you see Randi buddy Barr is being barred from Green Dot and he and the UFT partnership have to change names. Something about financial irregularities. But, hey, Barr is in it for the kids.

Leo Casey on tape defending Green Dot contract

Now if you are up to date on the story, check out this video selection I put up from Leo Casey's panel at the Left Forum - sorry, I'm choking at the very thought of Leo and Left in the same sentence - I started throwing the rope over the lights to hang myself when Leo used the expression, "we on the left" shortly after red-baiting people who oppose UFT policy by comparing their ideology to Leon Trotsky and Rosa Luzemberg. But I have the entire video and will be putting it all up. There's just so much good stuff I don't know where to start.

Emily Giles, a chapter leader from the Bronx whom I've worked with in GEM, made a very strong statement about the UFT support for charter schools (she does agree charter school teachers should be organized) and also raised the UFT role in mayoral control. Leo responds, followed by a comment by  Stanley Aronowitz on mayoral control. Watch the 6 minute segment first before continuing below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLMBIAl0r4




Had fun? There's lots more to come in future videos - wait till you see how Leo defines public education to fit UFT policy.

Gotham exclusive interview with Green Dot leaders

Now let me get to the Maura Walz (who is leaving to move to Atlanta - we'll miss you Maura) piece at Gotham with some delicious quotes from Barr and partner Gideon Stein, an anti-union guy "won" over by Weingarten and Mulgrew. “Randi and I and Mike Mulgrew and I — we don’t agree on everything. … How do you find the 80% we all agree on?”

What's there to win over when they agree on 80%? What's left to not disagree on? Now, read the following carefully:

[Stein] asked Barr how he could help Green Dot’s mission of re-making schools in partnership with labor. Now Stein is the president of Barr’s national organization, which changed its name today from Green Dot America to Future Is Now Schools. And he’s rejiggered his social calendar. “I’ve now had dinner and drinks with Randi 10 times in the last eight months,” he said, referring to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.


Future is Now, whose name is a play on President Barack Obama’s charge to “win the future,” aims to spread the principles that have governed Barr’s schools in California and New York around the country. Those principles include a simplified teachers contract that trades higher pay for tenure and sets only class size, the length of the school day and year, salary and benefits. Barr said that he also aims to transform the learning experience through technology.

Stein and Barr want to start by expanding in New York City, where they are working with the United Federation of Teachers and the Department of Education on a plan to take over two struggling Bronx schools starting next year. The plan would test a model that has not yet been tried here: removing the schools’ principals and half their teaching staffs.

You mean the model used at Locke HS in LA where Barr fired 70% of the staff and then got these results, which of course he is given a pass on, as I reported:

Union Role is Mediator, Not Advocate

Mar 09, 2011

The state test results released Tuesday for Locke High School weren't the sort of thing its new operator, Green Dot Public Schools, is accustomed to seeing: Not a single student scored as proficient in geometry, for example, ..

And again in Aug. 2009 based on work done by Leonie:

Diane Ravitch on charters in the LA Times
And another fine piece from last week along similar lines:
http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_12985055?source=rss
And here's the June Graduation section from the Time's "journal"-type series about Green Dot's takeover of Locke HS in LAUSD. Clearly, throughout the series, the writer is spinning for Locke the whole time, but has enough honesty (or carelessness) in this section to let some tellingly truthful details of actual student behavior slip out:

http://www.latimes.com/la-ed-locke25-2009jun25-test,0,2545367.story

Lackluster test results for Mayor Villaraigosa's high-profile schools and Locke High
The two highest-profile school-reform efforts in Los Angeles — the mayor’s schools and the conversion of Locke High into six charter schools — achieved lackluster results in state test scores released this morning.

Oh, you mean that model. Maura continues:

Organizing parents to support his efforts is also central to the expansion, Barr said. For the two turnaround projects in the Bronx, Barr has promised to knock on every door in the communities where he is taking over schools in an effort to build parent support. He’ll lean on a veteran community organizer he and Stein have hired away from the SEIU for the effort, Mike Dolan.

But it’s far from clear that Barr’s attempt to replace the principal and half the staff of two schools won’t provoke an outcry similar to that sparked when the city has closed schools. Questions linger about the sustainability of Barr’s model, which has proven to be expensive in California. And already critics have grumbled that Barr, the city, and the union are proceeding with their negotiations without identifying the schools they are targeting to their staffs and parents.

(In our interview, Barr and Stein indicated that they had a high school in mind but wouldn’t name it.)

Hey, are you surprised that the UFT and Barr are working together to replace 50% of the teachers in these unnamed chools? How much do you want to bet the average teachers salaries are on the high end - closing schools decisions are based on the economics, not education -compare the schools chosen with similar performing schools not being closed - or turned around - or reconstituted - or regurgitated. That grumbler - critics have grumbled - is Ed Notes, by the way. Maura continues:

Working Together

The city’s teachers union, however, says it is committed to working with the organization. The two groups, along with the DOE, are already working to find common ground in an area where the city and the union have been stalled for months — a new evaluation system for the schools’ teachers.

Formal negotiations on the evaluations began just this week, but the Barr and UFT Secretary Michael Mendel said that there has been progress, although a new evaluation plan has not yet been vetted by lawyers to ensure it conforms to state education law.

“There is absolutely a willingness on our part and on Green Dot’s part to do this,” Mendel said.

Barr and Stein described a close friendship that has formed between Barr and UFT President Michael Mulgrew — and also between Stein, Mendel, and Leo Casey, the union’s resident big thinker and vice president.

“We met for breakfast and we ended up almost going to lunch,” Barr said of his first meeting with Mulgrew three months ago. He said that he found Mulgrew to be extremely thoughtful about the future of the teaching profession. The two spoke about how to reconfigure schools for a changing workforce, he said.

“I think a lot of this is just the lost art of trust,” Barr said. “Randi and I and Mike Mulgrew and I — we don’t agree on everything. … How do you find the 80% we all agree on?”

OK - close schools, get rid of teachers and use technology to get rid of more teachers.
Looks like a plan.

After Burn
Leonie had this comment about the technology component of Barr's plan (read - replace teachers with on-line learning).

In the NYT, he says he wants to take over schools in middle class neighborhoods as well as poor ones, and both pieces highlight how Barr intends to focus on “hybrid” learning, which means a combination of online learning mixed in w/ actual teachers --- the newest craze with little research backing to support it.

And San Francisco activist parent Caroline Grannan said:

Luckily not everything Barr touches turns to gold (or his preference, green). He has been viewed as invincible since the New Yorker devoted a lot of space to a puff piece on him, but his efforts to win a foothold in D.C. didn't get far:

http://www.examiner.com/education-in-san-francisco/breaking-news-from-afar-ed-reform-darlings-rhee-barr-turn-on-each-other

And finally, Michael Fiorillo comments:

I'm so happy that Michael Mulgrew has found a pal who can give him (im)moral support while he goes about the hard work of selling out his members by teaming up to privatize schools, gut the contract (the Green Dot/UFT contract has no tenure or seniority provisions) and destroy the professional lives of the teachers who will be displaced at these schools.


And it's also heartwarming that Mulgrew could earn the affection of real estate developer and charter school funder Gideon Stein. Think of the effort involved in getting him to jilt Eva! But it's a leader's job to go the extra mile and make the tough decisions, and what could possibly be more important than keeping the dues machine going while public education is dismantled? Yes, like his mentor Weingarten, Mulgrew is striving to earn those pats on the head from the education privateers.


When Bloomberg wrote an editorial in the NY Times in February, saying that unions were important in helping him manage the workforce, it was the Weingartens, Mulgrews and Caseys of the world he had in mind. With the union functioning as an arm of the DOE's HR department, it's enough to make the people who've defended it ashamed.