Randi, Green Dot, the AFT

Jeff Kaufman's report on the UFT Ex. Bd. May 21st meeting at the ICE blog contained the following:
Randi decided to use her time reporting to the Executive Board to answer the "blog activity" about her recent trip to Los Angeles to visit Green Dot Charter Schools. She defended her attempts to partner with this company and tried to quell questions about the reported Green Dot's position against teacher tenure. "Green Dot is a pro-union Charter School," she proclaimed. She argued that the loss of tenure was actually good for the teachers in this Charter School as the standard for teacher dismissal, "just cause" was "actually better." We can only hope this does not signal a softening of the Union's position on tenure.

So why Randi's concern over "blog activity" on Green Dot charters? We won't go into the details (blogger jd2718 has put together a package of blogger posts on Green Dot) but point you to NYC Educators' posts on this issue based on the praise heaped on Randi by the LA Times which contrasted her cooperative nature with the truculence of the LA Teachers Union. When former Fed Secretary of Ed Rod Paige joins in with the praise for Randi from anti-union forces, it's "Houston (sorry Rod for this association with the big cheating scandal when you were Supt.) we've got a problem" time for Randi's move to the national stage with a goal of being seen as a tough union leader. Phew! The UFT PR machine has a lot of work to do.

So Randi put attack dog Leo Casey on the case and NYC has in his usual style shredded their arguments.

Randi's goal is way bigger than AFT Pres. A national merger with the NEA would put her in position to possibly head the massive combined union which would put her in position to head the entire AFL-CIO. So a lot is at stake when a nationally recognized blogger like NYC Educator shreds her image as a strong labor leader.

The changes announced on Monday in the UFT are indicative that Randi will not give up the UFT presidency when she becomes AFT Pres. following in the footsteps of her predecessors Feldman and Shanker. AFT Pres. has little real power but lots of prestige. Power resides in the locals and the UFT is the big enchilada in the AFT. To hand over her power base even to a hand-picked successor is a risk.

The recent UFT election was very important to Weingarten in that the lack of ability of the opposition to make a real dent gave her free reign to get away with holding both the AFT and UFT positions and I'm convinced she will run for UFT Pres. again in 2010 even while holding the AFT Pres. position which she should capture in July 2008 or if McElroy clings on, in 2010.

Elevating Michael Mendel to Executive Assistant to the President is a clear sign of her intentions. He is affable and well-liked by just about everyone, even by most of us in the opposition. (Besides, he is a NY Ranger fan.) But he is not someone who fits as president of the UFT. The betting has been that elementary school VP Michelle Bodden will replace Randi. Until Bodden is given a bigger role than elem VP and is asked to run Delegate Assemblies and Executives Board meetings that move will be on hold. Maybe one day. Michelle is also well liked, but like Michael, not considered hard-edged enough.

Enter attack dog Jeff Zahler as staff director to ride herd on the staff and on the opposition. Word is that Vocational HS VP Mike Mulgrew is up and coming. Combining charm (he was sent out to Staten Island to deal with the boys in the UTP after they ran Dist. Rep Charlie Friedman out of town) and the willingness to stab people in the back, he and Zahler will keep things in order, allowing Randi to fly in for DA meetings and to put out fires as they arise. But her lack of hands-on will have an impact. No matter what you think of her as a union leader, she is highly skilled at keeping the troops in line.

Both Shanker and Feldman had obvious lines of succession in place so they were able to give up the UFT Presidency at some point. For instance, as far back as the late 80's it was clear that Weingarten was going to take Feldman's place and they quickly moved to get her a teaching license and put her part-time in a safe school (where Leo Casey was Chapter Leader). When Feldman began to turn the DA over to Weingarten it was clear that a change was coming. Weingarten has not been as far-sighted.

Experienced observers of the UFT know all the signs that will point to a successor. And the successor is..... no less than Randi Weingarten herself.

May 9th DA: Surreality Part 2

Coming Soon

UFT Creates Task Force to Monitor Ed Notes

Responding to threats posed to their control of the UFT by the Ed Notes blog, the Unity Caucus war room has responded by putting together a task force to monitor Ed Notes Online full-time.

An entire team of printers will be ready to put out Unity Caucus leaflets to be distributed to the schools within minutes of any posting on the Ed Notes blog that threatens the pillar of democracy established by Unity and Ed Notes repeated violations of democracy, Unity style will be monitored and responded to.

A post in the Ed Notes blog regarding the Manhattan high school chapter leaders forced the task force to rush out a an extra special ( in addition to the regular leaflet) to the DA on May 9th to counter it. The Unity leaflet stated "the author of Ed. Notes, a retired teacher and one of the leaders of ICE/TJC (you remember the guys who always complain) was at it again." (Check the May 8th post on this blog to see what Unity is complaining about this time.)

The hundreds of retiree Unity delegates, joined by the hundreds of full and part time UFT staffers, joined by the hundreds of Unity chapter chair people who get to attend conventions on union dues – all of whom make up an overwhelming majority of the people who attend Delegate Assemblies, surrounded the Ed Notes editor during the meeting shouting lines from Randi Weingarten's hour and a half speech at the April special DA. (see Randi self-destruct in the April 24th post on this blog- Another Day of Surreality at the UFT).

Not being able to take it anymore, Ed Notes' editor broke down, screaming in agony, "YES, I am not democratic like you guys are. Next time Weingarten can talk for 3 hours and I won't complain." He was led away sobbing to the Friday's across the street where Unity spies released roaches near his table as he tried to recuperate with some sizzling fajitas. (Roaches sizzle too.)

When questioned by some Manhattan high school chapter leaders at a follow-up meeting on May 10, Weingarten said "the Unity leaflet was a response to Norm." Hearing that, Ed Notes' editor became so distraught at the trees he was responsible for killing, he went back to Fridays.

Weingarten had originally put UFT roaches - er - staffers - Leo Casey and Jeff Zahler in charge of the task force but the threat posed by the Ed Notes blog is so great, she will be running the task force herself. The UFT has added instant time internet monitoring equipment tuned solely to the blog to her 24/7 chauffeur driven car. In an extreme demonstration of dedication, she will not give up this position even when she takes on the AFT presidency. "This undemocratic stuff must be stopped at the source," said a UFT spokesperson.

Postscript: Yes, there was a special leaflet put out at the May 9th DA and yes Weingarten did say it was a response to Norm. The rest… Truth is stanger than fiction.

Sol Stern and Social Justice

"Admit it! You and Joel Klein are on the same side." Thus spat Sol Stern at me when we ran into each other at the radical math conference a few weeks ago. Sol is the Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow and contributing editor to the right leaning City Journal who writes on education, solidifying his reputation with critics of unions and advocates of vouchers - the idea of offering competition to the public schools. Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice.

In an interview with National Review Online in 2003, Stern said, "I started writing about education in 1994 when my kids were in the New York City public schools and I realized that the teachers' union contract was a big impediment to school improvement." His experience with his kids and the fact that the union contract allowed an incompetent math teacher to transfer into the top-level Stuyvesant from the low-performing Seward Park HS seemed to be enough for Sol to make a general assessment that the contract and it's allowance of a few hundred teachers each year to take seniority transfers was a major cause of the ills of the NYC school system. (Sol has accused me of making some of this up but I've heard him tell this story numerous times.)

One would expect a natural enmity towards Sol from the teachers unions and the UFT in particular. And in the early years of Randi Weingarten's tenure she did attack Sol at various UFT functions as our enemy. And there was some sniping from some of her minions at me for writing favorably about some of Sol's ideas, though I can't seem to remember any of them offhand at this time.

I got to know Sol years ago through Education Notes when asked to be added to my mailing list and we have had a number of battles (friendly) over the years arguing education policy. He is very sharp (and funny) makes one really defend their position and my understanding of my own point of view (that it is more correct that I thought) has benefited from these discussions. I also benefited from the invitation to Sol's book release at the Harvard Club where I got a yummy meal (why wasn't I surprised to find a UFT staffer like Joe Colletti there too?). I did get to ask him a question as to why he wasn't happy that the poor kids at Seward Park HS got to benefit when that math teacher went to Stuyvesant.

I know, I know. Everyone wants to get rid of bad teachers though I don't hear the same enormous outcry about bad doctors or cops, who can actually kill you instead of causing a slight disruption in your knowledge of calculus. And the argument that bad teachers cannot be gotten rid of is part of the principals propaganda machine where they claim that - poor babies - they actually have to document why they want to remove a tenured teacher instead of being able to fire them instantly for reasons like they don't like the color of their tie. Or because they don't bow and scrape before them.

Joel Klein has made many of the same arguments on seniority as Sol. Sadly, UFT president Randi Weingarten seems to agree as she joined Klein in gutting the entire seniority structure that has protected senior teachers.

Ah! Sol, Randi and Joel on the same page. A perfect alignment of the stars. But here it gets complicated. In a perfect ideological world one would expect it to be Joel and Sol vs. Randi. But it turns out to be Randi & Sol vs. Joel. On paper at least. As you know by now, Randi plays every side against the middle and I urge you to follow my golden rule -- watch what she does, not what she says.

It seems that Joel's move to use what Sol calls the progressive curriculum have made Sol and his allies like Diane Ravitch and columnist Andy Wolfe of the right leaning NY Sun big-time critics of Joel. There are other issues, of course, but the attacks on Joel by Sol have driven Randi and Sol into the same camp. Sol even got some nice space in the NY Teacher recently. Nice. Anyone but actual teachers like people in ICE and TJC who represent 20% of the working teachers should be able to get space in our paper.

Thus we come to Sol and the radical math conference. Sol has been writing about social justice in education as it relates to teachers' beliefs and to what extent they might be imposing them on their students. The recent controversy over the Beacon School student trip to Cuba has generated much press in the NY Post and the NY Sun. When a group of NYC teachers decided to hold a math conference (www.RadicalMath.org)
they got a tremendous response from all over the nation and over 400 people registered.

Sol Stern was one of them, obviously looking to upgrade his skills so he could do his own taxes. Knowing full well they were not exactly going to get a fair and balanced viewpoint, the organizers handled Sol with aplomb.

I went to the conference as a volunteer, not a participant. I was a left-leaning teacher and I was open about presenting what I thought on issues to my classes because I felt kids want to know where you stand as a teacher. (I did try to avoid issues of religion though because the kids were involved with churches and I was an atheist, though that didn't stop me from having great holiday decorations going on in my classroom). I also tried to give them both sides but in today's world how does a teacher who is vehemently anti-war give the kids a fair presentation of that idiot - er - I mean - President Bush point of view? I and other volunteers were there to show these teachers some support for their activities.

Sol attended the Powers to the People: Unit Projects for Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus workshop with Erica Litke, a teacher at Lower East Side prep.

In this interactive session, participants will explore mathematics projects from Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus that integrate the curricular objectives of upper level mathematics with real-life social justice themes. With a focus on mathematical modeling, projects will include topics such as linear inequalities, exponential functions and logarithms, and regression analysis of a set of data. Participants will work through the mathematics of the projects, examine student work and brainstorm projects for other topics in the Algebra 2 /Precalculus curriculum.

I spoke to Erica after her workshop and she said Sol asked a few questions. Probably about the logarithms. Or maybe regression analysis. And those linear inequalities - here is a clear case of a teacher using math to influence students, always raising the issue of inequalities.

I ran into Sol after Erica's workshop. That is where he accused me of being aligned with Klein. "Joel Klein has created more schools with social justice themes than any chancellor in history," Sol said. Finally, Joel has done something right. If only he hadn't ripped the school system apart by shoving all these schools into larger ones. Well, one out of two on this one.

Well, people are waiting to see what Sol writes about his experience. Will Erica be condemned for unduly trying to influence her students? Or will Sol decide that he would rather have Erica teaching his children than that teacher who transferred into Stuyvesant?

The right wing attacks on teachers who use social justice themes in their teaching to engage their kids will continue. Instead of being defensive, they are striking back. Sally Lee of Teacher's Unite starts with her letter to the NY Sun followed by a reprint of an article in City Limits about the conference. You can read some of them at my other blog, Norm's Notes.

Tim Johnson on Mayoral Control and More

Why is the UFT promoting BloomKlein's survey....

... while parent groups are urging a boycott...

Was a question asked by a middle school Chapter Leader who received this from the UFT hierarchy:

Dear Colleagues:

Today at a press conference the mayor and chancellor announced that School Learning Environment Surveys will be distributed this week to all teachers, to all parents and all secondary schools students.
According to the Department of Education, the surveys “are designed to reflect the experiences, attitudes and perceptions of members of our school communities and to provide information each school can use to improve its learning environment. Survey results will be reported to schools this summer and factored into the new school progress report in the fall.” The survey is anonymous and voluntary.

UFT President Randi Weingarten said these surveys “are an important first step in engaging parents, educators and students in the most important conversation we can have:
How to improve our children’s education. There was a good process for drafting the survey and we had a lot of good input., particularly in the area of protecting confidentiality.
“The information that will be gathered is extremely important – but it must be valued and addressed. Listening is good; we have to make sure our voices are heard.”

Therefore, we urge you to tell the teachers in your school that it is very important to take the time to complete the survey.

Michael Mendel
Director of Staff

A high school Chapter Leader just called upset that the survey is going to be used to gather negative information about schools to be used against them.

Remember Weingarten's own words about the Tweedledees:
"They are assholes not to be trusted." So why trust them and support them on this? Especially when parent groups have said that important questions like those related to class size were deliberately left off the survey. I have always questioned whether Weingarten's commitment to class size was true or just part of a PR blitz to be used for political advantage. Why? Because she ignored the issue when we raised it in Ed. Notes and at the DA until fairly recently. True commitment to class size would mean when it is left off the survey, you do not tell people to cooperate.

Another Day of Surreality at the UFT...

....Yakety Yak, Yakety Yak

Apr. 24, 2007

(For readers not in the NYC area, background of the deal Randi Weingarten made with Mayor Bloomberg and the cancellation of the May 9th demo is available in the post titled "What was gained, what was lost" at Norm's Notes. Guide to acronyms: ICE and TJC ran against Weingarten's Unity Caucus in the just completed UFT elections. She was supported by the former opposition, now sell-out, New Action. To read more about the results, go here.)

Well, where do we start? Today was the emergency DA to withdraw the May 9th demo passed at the DA 2 weeks ago, support the Deal of the Century the UFT made with BloomKlein, and pass a resolution to put the pubic - er - public - back in public education.

I finished getting the ICE leaflet printed then sat on the deck smoking a stogie and reading my current fave "Lincoln at Cooper Union," a follow-up to Dorris Kearn's Goodwin's book. Ah, the benefits of Tier 1 pensions. Naturally lost track of time and didn't get to the DA until a bit past 3:30.

Saw TJC's Nick Licari outside hanging out. Nick would have been on the Exec Bd if ICE-TJC had won the high schools and it's too bad we missed out on that show. You'll why see later.
I passed by the guy handing out what looked like the old Communist Party stuff "The Daily Something" except it is probably a weekly or monthly or yearly by now. Oh, yes, The World!

Derick Pearl was also outside with the Progressive Labor Party newspaper. Always great to see Derick's great cheeriness. Always better with a British accent. Derick will be the last person proud to be called a worker left standing.

Inside were the usual Unity retirees handing out the Unity Caucus lit, a peon of praise to Randi. Just more dead trees.

Lots of TJC people there with their leaflet, which says some very good stuff and works well with the stuff ICE is saying in our leaflet.

Unity's Dist.22 rep Fred Gross stops by to take a leaflet and offers to help me give them out. He takes one and crumples it. Very mature. He smirks, "nice job in election." I smirk back, "You lost more votes than we did. Nice work getting 22% to vote." He comes back with,"Only 40% came out to vote in the presidential election with that idiot Bush running." Okay. 40% seems a little better than the 22% that voted for your idiot. No, I don't mean that. ICE's Yelena Siwinski passes by. Fred is her Dist. Rep. and he starts telling her how I attacked him just after he became a DR. I said I just printed what a teacher in his district told me -- that he and the Dist. 22 UFT were sellouts to the Supt. John Comer. Fred just can't seem to get over it.

New Action has nothing to give out. Of course not. They would have had to take a position on the Deal of the Century Randi just made with Bloomberg. They are either relishing the idea of having 8 Ex. bd seats with only 9% of the vote of working members while ICE-TJC got 20% or hanging their heads in shame. I saw a few that wouldn't look me in the eye. They are all pathetic.

Speaking of ...
New Action leader Mike Shulman, who will take the position handed to him by Randi on the Exec. Bd on July 1 walks in with a sour look on his face.
I found out why a few minutes later when Licari walks in smiling. "Shulman was hanging out with his "friends" he said - Nick is talking about the guy with the Daily Something. "I asked Shulman if he was proud of himself. Shulman said he was. I called him a piece of shit," said Nick. I would have not used the word "piece."

Very surprising how many people come out for a Tues. emergency meeting. Must have been around 800 people. The number of people not taking lit gives you a sense of just how many Unity Caucus people there are. The old gang all want to read what we write but the newer ones are more revved up to ignore the opposition.

I stay downstairs giving out stuff till the crowd turns to a trickle. I mosey on up the stairs. Damn, no bananas or any fruit left. Not even ice coffee. The only entrance for non-delegates is the rear-right corner where there are seats for the few crazy non-delegates that come to these things -- Randi will go down in UFT lore for this major innovation.

Of course Randi is talking. And talking. And talking. Non-stop. Every single detail- minute by minute. And it's all about what she did, when she did it, why she did it. Well, she says "we" but "we" know what she means.

It is already about 5:15. People are restless. One woman says, "Does she every stop?"
Only after they bring out the Kool-aid.

Randi is saying some stuff about Klein and Bloomberg and their attempts to create a racial divide by going to black churches and calling their reorganization a civil rights struggle -- the new right-wing mantra -- and the union efforts as regressive. Hey, we know they are swine - one more reason we should have held the May 9th demo and run these guys out of town. But here Randi has done some good work in putting together a coalition to counter that, for the first time since the '68 strike.

Josh Heisler from Vanguard HS comes over and we dissect what Randi is saying. Peter Lamphere from TJC is also hanging out in the back. We find ourselves laughing. A lot. Some of this stuff is better than a comedy club. But the best is still to come.

Randi is explaining that some of the parent groups who were against the deal felt that the more chaos there was in the schools, the better it would be to fight BloomKlein and mayoral control. Then comes the kicker. "... the same idea that is echoed in the ICE and TJC leaflets."
HUH? I finished writing the ICE leaflet at 10am and must have written that point about chaos in invisible ink. There are hoots and shouts from ICE and TJC people: "Where does it say that?" At this point Nick Licari has had it. "Stop talking already," he shouts out. "It's an hour and 15 minutes already. We want to go home. Some of us worked all day, not like some of you." People start to laugh. Others pick up on Nick and the place begins to get rowdy.

But that doesn't stop Randi. Sometimes I wonder. She could say nothing and take a vote and it will be the same no matter what she says. But she thinks she has to rouse the troops. Or ego rules. She tries a few moves to turn the crowd against the opposition. "The election is over," she says. Moans and groans. She's trying to use that shit again. "I tried to reach out to the opposition," she sniffs. Her voice is rising and she looks like she might pull a crying fit. The place is getting rowdier." She practically screams, "I have never been treated so rudely."

Hey, at least Nick didn't call her a piece of shit.

That is the signal to the Unity troops. They begin to rise and applaud. Someone in Unity must be taking attendance. No one wants to lose their gig or free trip to the convention. Now you see the power of Unity as 3/4 of the room is up. Later I heard someone was going up and down the aisles drumming up business. One gets the feeling that love for Randi has to be squeezed out of her own gang like an almost empty toothepaste tube.

Randi is getting wild. Suddenly she starts to talk about St. Louis and New Orleans. Huh? Oh yes. ICE and Ed Notes has been talking about the national attack on public schools and our leaflet accused her of ignoring the national attack on public education. Her answer is the has actually heard of New Orleans and St. Louis and the role Alvarez and Marsal have played there - and New York, of course- which she apparently found out from reading the Ed Notes blog.) God forbid the UFT ever tried to do anything serious to fight against the travesty of the the corporate giveaway BloomKlein are engaging in.

Randi says she talks to AFT and NEA people all the time (aha, getting ready to move on to AFT pres in July 2008).

Now, she is practically ranting, looking to be on the verge of hysteria. Someone get oxygen. She finishes by invoking the ghost of Al Shanker and in the funniest line of the night, says, "Al Shanker told me on his death bed ....." What, not to hold the demo May 9th?

Okay, so that wasn't what he told her. That Randi was there to hear Shanker's last words is enough for the Unity faithful to begin to rise again. "He told me that he told people not to vote to strike in 1975 at the delegate assembly because the city had no money," (Oh boy, have we heard this one before - she did learn this from Al -- always use the "no money" argument as an excuse for not winning in contract negotiations) "and they didn't listen. And that was the only strike this union every lost," she screeches. The Unity faithful rises to cheer her. The Kool-aid has been served.

Of course, Randi got even this wrong. I was at that vote and also didn't listen to Al. And I was there when we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge Al said, "We won't go back 'till we all go back." But we went back with 15,000 less people, fewer preps, a shorter school day, etc. I'm proud to have been opposed to going back at that time. And did Randi really think we "won" the '68 strike when she has actually received accolades for putting together a coalition that for the first time actually heals some of the wounds that still exist from '68?

The rant is over. She is spent. She calms herself down and opens the debate. The great democrat will call on a speaker for each side. The Unity faithful from the speakers' bureau who have been prepped with their speaker points are ready.
(I may have the order of the speakers wrong.)
ICE's Lisa North starts out by talking about how the momentum for holding the May 9th demo has been built and holding it would hold the parent coalition together. Randi's answer is we can hold the demo another time (I suggest August 1st.) Unity's Dave Pecoraro CL from Beach Channel HS responds. "How come he always gets to speak," asks a woman. " "He's one of their trained parrots," I answer.

Carolyn Eubanks from ICE and PL takes the floor and as usual gets emotional about how the kids are being hurt by all this. I love Carolyn and understand where she is going but most people there don't and she doesn't help her cause with this type of presentation, especially with this crowd. There are hoots and hollers for her to sit down. Randi magnanimously quiets the crowd to let Carolyn speak. What can I say? I'm queasy about it. Some think Randi loves to call on PL people to paint the opposition a certain way.

She calls on a pro-speaker, Mark Egan, a district rep from the Bronx, who speaks with an Irish lilt and makes an excellent presentation (from Unity's point of view) comparing this to a 15 round boxing match and claims the UFT has won rounds one, two and three. Has he been in a school lately and seen the carnage?

Then comes ICE's Michael Fiorillo, CL of Newcomer's HS, who makes a similar case for the May 9th demo as Lisa did. He praises the coalition put together by the UFT and Randi takes the opportunity to thank him for the compliment. Jeez.

Now, Steve Quester, CL of PS 372K, an independent and one of my favorite DA people, makes the single strongest presentation of the day when he takes apart the funding plan compromise for what it was. He points out the funding formula we agreed to still has the incentive for principals to not hire higher salaried teachers after senior teachers leave or transfer because they can use the money any way they want to - -ie. hire 2 new teachers. Randi responds that the old formula that existed in Dec is dead and we were left with the new formula from Jan. She obviously begs the question that one of the goals of the entire movement/May 9th rally was to keep the old formula but she has given this idea up for the deal.

Her goal was to keep the funding for the school intact to "keep good schools working." Translation: to satisfy the white middle class parents. Senior teachers (anyone over 3 years in today's world) are dead. UFT complicity with the DOE all along on the attacks on higher salaried teachers will doom all those making over 60 grand to purgatory. Remember how private industry shakes out its workers when they reach a certain age and salary? We got it now. In spades.

Unity ideologue Leo Casey, (one of the major authors of red-baiting Unity lit and great Nazi hunter who sees United Farm Worker eagles as Nazi paraphernalia) rises, the only time I have seen him speak at the DA. Casey has been described as one of the most intellectually dishonest people around and he certainly fulfills his promise here. He makes a rousing speech, his voice almost reaching Randi's level of hysteria at times, about how we don't demonstrate for catharsis but to win politically. He was present at all stages of the deal and watched how Randi worked with each groups of the coalition and they all got something out of the deal. Hmmm. Maybe a pitch to be the next HS VP when Volpicella retires. But then he may not have the time to spend his days reading what the opposition blogs are saying or writing long-winded pieces for Edwize.

Phew! Unity's Greg Lundahl, CL of Washington Irving HS who is one of the Unity people who replaced the ICE-TJC reps on the Ex Bd., rises and in his deep mellifluous tones says, "I call the question." Greg has found his calling.

I know how this drama ends and exit left to go find a banana.

Breaking News: March 29, 2007

UFT vote count all day at Park Central Hotel, 7th Ave & 55th St. Election committee announced that mail received today will be counted. We may ask for Friday's mail also to be accepted. I will be there with Kit Wainer and Josh Kahn from TJC.

ICE meeting at Murray Bergtraum HS, Friday, March 30 at 4:15 to analyze election results, with a scavenger hunt to follow to find a restaurant in Chinatown.

When a question was raised at the DA yesterday about the red-baiting flyer Unity sent out, Randi as usual cried about how she has stood up to such terrible personal attacks -- like questions about her teaching credentials and said she lives as honest a life as anyone she knows. (Except for that statement on NY 1 she made not long ago claiming she taught 5 periods a day for 6 years.) Randi then gave Unity head Jeff Zahler the floor to engage in another round of red-baiting, saying he was proud to have sent that out and reading excerpts in an attack on Kit Wainer. He said accusations of McCarthyism are not true because in those times Kit would be thrown out of the union and not even have a job. He attacked Kit for criticizing Al Shanker for supporting American foreign policy (like the was in Vietnam, which apparently in retrospect Zahler must also support. When he started frothing at the mouth Randi signaled "enough" and he sat down like a good boy.

Kit tool a point of personal privilege but didn't go beyond referring to the TJC response on their web site. Many thought he should have gone on the attack the way NYC Educator did and said he was proud to be a socialist who is willing to fight for a strong union and if Randi was a socialist our people wouldn't be in such trouble.

By the way, not one New Action member said a word or tried to say a word. so ironic since Unity had always red-baited them. I had a brief confrontation with some New Action people before the meeting when I castigated them for lying down with snakes and for not standing up. They argued they had sent a strongly-worded protest to Weingarten and said something on their web site. Whoopdee-doo! They should have come to the DA and handed out a leaflet. No guts, no glory! They also said they objected to the counter red-baiting in TJC's response. Let's see what Zahler and his friends in New Action have to say when his Unity faithful finds out they have elected members of a certain leftist organization who ran on the Unity slate to the Executive Board. Call this counter red-baiting if you want. If you lie down with snakes, expect to get bitten.

Having been involved with people from the left in union politics for a long time, I always feel people should be open about their political affiliations, especially if they are associated with a party which can have such a major impact on their political stance. That goes for people in TJC and in New Action. The word "Independent" in ICE has a lot of meaning. There are a lot of left people in the group but they are truly independent, people not comfortable with left party ideology. At least the 3 Progressive Labor Party members in ICE are out front, though sometimes in an awkward way.

Speaking of which....

Ironically, Jonathan Lessuck from the Progressive Labor Party (and ICE) got up right after Kit on a point of order to make the annual PLP May Day motion because Randi had shunted the New Motion period to the end of the meeting as she usually manipulates that time. She began that with me back in 2000 when she didn't want one of my motions in front of the body and actually called me outside to apologize. She was fairly new, with a Unity party still loyal to Sandy and looking for allies - not nearly as arrogant as she has become. That was my first indication (ok, I was slow) of how manipulative she was.

Jonathan has proven very adept at handling himself in these sticky situations. I was almost hoping he would say what Kit wouldn't in a rigorous defense of left activism in the union but when Randi engaged in an attack on him for daring to upset the democratic process because there is a backlog of so many motions (due to her long reports, invitations to DA's to politicians and DOE officials, etc.) but as usual, she tried to blame Jonathan. But he turned the tables on her when he called her Dusty, followed by "oops! When under pressure I get mixed up with my repressive, dictatorial principal." The place rolled with laughter and even Weingarten had to laugh. Humor is the best way to work this crowd and unfortunately few use it. Kudos to Jonathan.

When his first sentence of the May Day resolution mentioned the word Communist I said "Uh, oh!" but he saved the day with a great case for celebrating May Day as a way to reinvigorate the labor movement. When the vote was taken even Randi said it was 70-30 against. 30% of the DA FOR the May Day motion? Holy Cow! We must be moving left. More kudos to Jonathan.

When people ask how it is to have PL people (Jonathan, Carolyn and Joan) working with ICE I answer that it has been a pleasure to have their viewpoint which is very pro-student, presented. (I know I'm simplifying - I object to them pinning every ill in the world on racism.) All to often, all you hear from teachers is the bad stuff about students. One of the reasons PL and ICE can work together is that we have always tried to deal with the rights of teachers and students (and parents.) Sometimes people, even in ICE arecritical, saying a caucus should only worry about teachers. My view is that is not a caucus I am interested in. Again, kudos to Jonathan.

I hung out in the back of the DA with Josh Heisler a teacher at Vanguard HS in the Julia Richman complex. Josh works with NYCORE (New York Collection of Radical Educators.) I met Josh through Sally Lee from NYCORE and Teachers Unite. Josh is doing work on anti-military recruitment. It was Josh's outrage at receiving the Unity red-baiting attack that spurred NYCORE, which usually doesn't get involved in UFT internal struggles, to endorse the ICE-TJC slate to their very large mailing list. I'm hoping we can get Josh to work with us in ICE.

The more I meet people like Josh and Sally, the more I appreciate the fact that there are still young leftists (Peter, Megan, Ellen from TJC) out there battling. Change in the UFT will only come from being spurred by the left and there is hope. I know there is a right-wing anti-Unity sentiment out there but it is not organized and frankly, I don't see that happening. If the right wants to get rid of Unity it will have create a caucus, join with the left, or sit on the sideline. Though I do not view myself as a leftist, I love meeting and working with them and there is a glimmer of a future for a movement.

Randi is outraged...

At this past Monday night's Executive Board meeting, Randi Weingarten attacked the opposition for supposedly not fully supporting the reduction in class size campaign with a snide comment, “Now that the elections are over, I hope you will join the campaign.” She claimed some of us have been too busy campaigning (guilty - like trying to race around schools trying to overcome the Unity monopoly on access to teachers)while she has been focused - probably one of the unintentionally funniest lines she has uttered in a long time.

Weingarten is trying to make it look like she invented class size reduction when in fact she tails after people who have led the fight.

Remember year after year of failed petitions drives that were thrown out of court and now a current drive to get CFE money to go to class size reduction, which by the way we do support, though god knows how many schools have to be built before this generation of teachers will ever get to see the benefit.

Leonie Haimson has been fighting for class size reduction for 10 years. And Ed Notes rarely put out an issue over 10 years that did not mention class size reduction as we often used the motto: (Class) Size Matters.

At every Delegate Assembly, when I and others put forth resolutions calling for class size reduction to be a major negotiating issue, Weingarten/Unity opposed all efforts from the time she became President to put the issue on the bargaining table. To force the issue before the UFT leadership the Ed Notes resolution calling on the NY Teacher to print a list of every class that is over the limit every year in the NY Teacher was passed in December, 2000. Somehow, Weingarten has forgotten to implement that for the past 5 years. Hey, what’s a little thing like ignoring a resolution passed by the DA even if it deals with class size reduction?

In fact ICE was founded on a basic principle of reducing class size through contract negotiations and has used the election campaign to put that idea in front of the members.

At the Executive Board meeting, Jeff Kaufman got up to challenge her and Weingarten said she was “outraged” by our actions.

There’s the whole thing in a nutshell. This is what outrages her (her usual phony show of outrage, by the way). Where’s her outrage at a teacher of 22 years with a perfect record being taken from a school in handcuffs by 5 cops? (See post below this. Weingarten has ignored multiple attempts on the part of the teacher to contact her.)


We hope now that the election campaign is over Weingarten will join the ICE campaign for reducing class size by placing the issue on the bargaining table.


NYC Educator, as usual, did a great job taking Weingarten's position apart:

UFT President Randi Weingarten, I'm told, is upset because in the middle of a contentious election season, the opposition did not abandon its campaign in order to jump on her class-size bandwagon. That's an odd accusation to make, as the opposition absolutely supports lower class sizes, and has demanded for years they be part of contract negotiations. Of course, they were voted down on a regular basis by the lockstep Unity patronage machine (which no doubt feels it ran a positive campaign).

The very first post on this blog was about class size.

And let's be very clear--our classes run up to 34 (often surpassing that), and Ms. Weingarten's machine has failed to do anything whatsoever about it for almost 40 years. Based on that record, I'd be loathe to criticize anyone. It's clear, having bought off her original opposition with patronage jobs, it would be quite convenient for Ms. Weingarten if her only genuine opposition pranced about singing her praises.

Politics aside, Ms. Weingarten's got many reasons to focus on class size, and a good many of them concern getting rank-and-file to stop thinking about the unconscionable givebacks of the 05 contract. Unity thinks if they ignore them long enough, people will simply forget where they came from (and they may be right, for all I know).

Yesterday, as I was walking the permanent hall patrol Ms. Weingarten negotiated for me, I had time to consider that contract. I was certainly thinking about it on the punishment days in August she'd thoughtfully negotiated for me. And I'm sure many of my colleagues think about it during their 37.5 minute classes, which Unity claims are not actually classes.

If Joel Klein's plan to have funding follow students becomes a reality, senior teachers will be pariahs, albatrosses around the necks of principals who need to fund their schools. Is there anyone who doesn't believe that Klein envisioned precisely this when he got Ms. Weingarten to agree to the worst contract in our history?

Joel Klein is by no means my favorite person. Still, he certainly knows what he's doing. Ms. Weingarten made the first step toward enabling Mr. Klein's vision it by supporting mayoral control. Another huge mistake was going to PERB and accepting the odious 05 contract, the implications of which seem to have utterly escaped her (and still do, for all I know). Perhaps Ms. Weingarten sees Mr. Klein's new funding proposals as mere coincidence, and not a direct result of her collaboration.

Regardless, as Ms. Weingarten eyes the AFT presidency, the dual AFT-UFT presidencies (following in the footsteps of both her Unity predecessors) or a position in Hillary's white house, she leaves the rest of us--students, parents, and teachers, to pay for her utter lack of foresight.

Unity Propaganda Machine Treads in Dangerous Territory

Considering the attack on ICE-TJC presidential candidate Kit Wainer as being old-century, the McCarthyite tactic of branding the opposition as "Reds" seems so old century. But this is an old tactic on the part of Unity Caucus. Ironically, they used this time and again against their current allies New Action, many of whose leaders have strong connections to socialist political parties and are themselves so-called red diaper babies, whose parents actually faced persecution by the real deal, Joe McCarthy himself and have a visceral response to "Red-baiting." Not the least of risks for Unity in taking this action is the potential is the negative reaction from some of New Action's core members who have gone along with the Unity/New Action deal out of loyalty.

Of course, there's the UFT legacy itself where most of the leaders are/were members of the Social Democrats, USA. And then there's the additional danger that the same right-wing audience Unity is trying to incite against ICE-TJC will come back to bite them. What if the right wing anti-Unity forces (of which there is a considerable number) start mud-slinging and get other areas, such as race-baiting or gay-bashing? Ultimately, a right-wing group, not comfortable with some of the politics of ICE or TJC will spring up. Unity may consider that a good thing, but when you get what you wish, sometimes there is a high price to pay. They ain't seen nothing yet.

Before I even knew about the mailing, calls of outrage started coming. Some thoughts expressed were, "Isn't it a slam dunk Unity will win? This smacks of the kind of desperation of someone who is losing a political campaign instead of expecting to win with a 90% vote. Why is it so important that a 70% majority is not enough? "

I agree sending out this to the homes of so many people appears desperate but desperation is in the eye of the beholder.

To Randi Weingarten/Unity/New Action there are a lot of balls in the air in this election.

The most common analysis I heard from people is that Weingarten is most interested in an overwhelming victory so she can sail into the sunset with a glorious victory and head off to the AFT in the summer of '08.

It is not that simple. For Weingarten, it is important to keep the ICE-TJC vote low as a way of margianalizing ICE-TJC, which if it starts attracting 25-30% if the vote, threatens to pass the vote totals New Action was getting when it was THE opposition. For Weingarten to leave an orderly union for her successor, she must reduce the threat ICE-TJC present and promote her home grown opposition New Action.

By getting more votes than the ICE-TJC upstarts New Action can claim, despite their alliance with Unity, they are still the main opposition, albeit totally tied to Unity's apron strings. They also have to prove to Weingarten that they are viable and that she still needs them. It should be pointed out that despite enormous inroads ICE and TJC made into the New Action support base 3 years ago, New Action with the addition of retiree votes actually outpolled either of the 2 groups.

For ICE and TJC, this election is about establishing a base of support and then building out from there. (ICE got less than 5% and TJC around 6-7% in 2004.) It takes a long time to establish a brand name and both groups are beginning to work themselves into people's consciousness as an alternative to both Unity and New Action. But legitimacy as an opposition will not truly come until they begin to reach into the 25-30% range.

As pointed out in a recent article in The Chief, the real battle is in the high schools where Weingarten is desperate to keep the ICE-TJC people off the Executive Board where they can raise questions about UFT policy. They would be especially dangerous when she is not around to keep things under control. A lot of issues are coming up with the expected UFT support for the current system of mayoral control (with just a few cosmetic tweaks) high on the agenda. No embarrassing questions, no answers.

Weingarten is so enamored of New Action's leader Michael Shulman because he has proven time and again he can control the troops. When she announced the purchase of the new buildings on Broadway in 2003 just as the alliance with New Action was in the earliest stages, some of the New Action members on the Ex. Bd at the time wanted to raise questions. Shulman, not a member of the Board, passed by each one and ordered them not to raise any questions. "Randi doesn't want this to become an issue, so don't say anything," Shulman said.

Now there's the kind of opposition Randi can be proud of.

Kit Wainer On the Non-Debate: Friday, March 2

Klein & Weingarten: Separated at birth?

Trained as corporate lawyers.

Reached the highest positions in their organizations through appointment by the largesse of a powerful person above them.

Entered education for reasons unrelated to developing a career as a teacher.

Taught full time for only 6 months.

Run autocratic, rigid top-down, patronnage-ridden organizations top heavy with people making six figure salaries a year where personal loyalty is more important than competence.

Believe appearance is more important than reality.

Have in-house public relations staffs at great cost and pay high sums to outside PR agencies. View public relations as primary over trying to solve real problems.

Make at least a quarter of a million dollars a year plus expenses.

UFT Election Notes - Feb. 14, 2007

Happy Valentines Day to all!

UFT election petitions were turned in this past Monday. Getting this organized is quite a task and thanks to Ira Goldfine, it all got done for ICE. Having TJC as a partner made the process so much easier. ICE and TJC have their own style of working and we haven't wasted a lot of time trying to coordinate the activities of both groups but have been able to easily work things out when we have to.

Getting involved in an election is not a simple thing and involves a major outlay of resources that small groups consisting of mostly working teachers don't always have to give. Many ICE'ers are very active in their schools as chapter leaders with a large membership to serve and others like John Lawhead at Tilden and Peter Bobrick at Lafayette are trying to keep their schools open. Some are active in groups like "UFT'ers to Stop the War." There was a certain reluctance, but once the petitions were out in January, the old election blood began to run. There was really no choice. Leave TJC out there to battle the New Action/Unity alliance alone?

Compared to the last election 3 years ago when ICE was just weeks old trying to form a group in the midst of an election campaign, getting people to run for key positions this time was a breeze. There is something to say for going through a previous experience to learn a few lessons. Having TJC come up with half the candidates made a big difference and coalition building was one of the lessons everyone learned last time. There's still a lot more to learn.

The petitioning process can be tedious but it also gives people an opportunity to engage in conversations with people in the schools. Core ICE'ers went out to their schools and as expected came through. But this time we sent out petitions to people who are not directly involved with ICE, many of them part of the Ed Notes network. The response was fantastic.

When we needed to hold mass signings, people in the schools responded. In some schools there were lots of people willing to give up their lunch hours to sign masses of petitions. Similar events took place at Port Richmond HS, home base of our friends from the UTP, Jamaica HS and PS 193K, where the incredibly popular chapter leader Yelena Siwinski, running on the ICE-TJC ticket for one of the top eleven officer positions, organized things. Seeing how colleagues in her school feel about her was affirmation that with people like Yelena on our side, whatever the outcome, we are making progress in building a progressive alternative to Unity.


Teachers from Francis Lewis HS hold a signing party.

I joined Arthur Goldstein, ICE-TJC candidate for Executive At-Large, at Francis Lewis HS and the response of people I met in the school to the campaign was wonderful. Their obvious respect and admiration for Arthur makes us proud to have him running with us.

With James Eterno as the popular chapter leader at Jamaica HS, there is no doubt as to the allegiance of the school. The announcement that they will be an Impact School seriously jeopardizes their future, but with James at the helm, the teachers there will have the very best representation they can get.

What can you say about the UTP gang at Port Richmond? They have been a breath of fresh air with their in your face attitude. Joe Mudgett who works with the UTP over there and also has his own point of view at ACT was a great help in getting things organized along with chapter leader Jeff Brace. We are proud to have both of them running for Ex. Bd at-large on the ICE-TJC ticket.

Petitions kept coming in and we went far over our limit. One school gave us 35 signatures and specifically asked us "Will you protect us from retaliation by the union?" It shows the fear there is out there as Unity has allowed the DOE to run rampant and people are frightened of both the DOE and Unity. Does Unity check the petitions to see which schools have helped us to see where opposition strength lies, then target them for special attention with extra visits from District Reps and other union officials to reinforce the Unity line? What do you think? We didn't turn in some petitions from certain schools that support us but want to lie in the weeds.

Not that more attention from the union is a bad thing. Remember — they are basically a PR machine that will dash off to fight what they perceive as a fire and schools that work with us often get better service. But people new to the political game do not know that. Weingarten takes disagreement with her as a personal insult but her response is to try to win people over rather than retaliate. Not necessarily a bad thing and it is what makes her so effective in managing the membership's anger. (Her skill will be hard to replace if she goes to the AFT in the summer of '08. Even if she doesn't give up the UFT Presidency, which is what I believe, she will not be here that often to race around from school to school.)

A perfect example was Ron Isaac, alias Redhog, who ran with ICE 3 years ago because he was so disenchanted with the union and got us most of the signatures for middle school. Soon after the election, he went over to the dark side (or maybe that was his plan all along) and was welcomed with open arms after he became a shill for the 2005 contract and began to worship Weingarten. He ended up with a job with the NY Teacher as Weingarten's personal reporter when she visits schools.

Was Isaac's defection a gain for Unity? Why am I smiling?

To be continued.

Ron Isaac stalking -- er-- covering Weingarten at the SOS Tilden rally on Feb. 6

Major New Contract Gain for UFT

The DOE and the UFT have renegotiated Article Two (“Fair Practices”). All teachers who meet the following criteria will be covered under this addendum:

Teachers who have been a lawyer AND are being groomed for the position of UFT President.

Such teachers will be able to pick the school at which they choose to work and such school shall be mandated to be no more than 10 minutes travel from where they reside.

The Chapter Leader of said school will completely insulate the teacher from reality. Said chapter leader shall be rewarded with a full-time union job upon the ascendancy to UFT President by said teacher.

This Addendum will assure that all teachers transitioning from a legal career to the Presidency of the UFT, in order to ensure that said teachers can demonstrate at least some teaching time to the membership, will teach two classes a day, one of which shall be a law class for the best students in the school. Other classes will be the best said school has to offer. All special ed and ELA students will be banned from said classes.

A compensatory time position will be available to the new teacher immediately, in lieu of further teaching, and said teacher will be given comp time for such activities as coaching the debate team.

Every six months of teaching will be counted as six years for the purpose of public relations with the members and may be used to accumulate pension credit. The UFT will continue to reimburse the DOE for the full salary of said teacher so said teacher can accrue city pension time in addition to the double pension from the UFT.

Furthermore, all teachers transitioning from a legal career to the Presidency of the UFT will be given special consideration towards accumulating the credits necessary to meet the criteria for maintaining a teaching certificate, including private special classes so said teacher does not have to face sitting through endless hours of boring ed courses elbow to elbow with said teacher's peers who are forced to attend grad school at exorbitant expense after a full day of working and might have a certain level of anger at their condition that may lead to detrimental contact with said teacher transitioning from a legal career to the Presidency of the UFT.

The UFT will form a functional chapter for all teachers meeting the criteria.
Modified from a post from the Unified Teachers Party

Schools in Danger of Riot Over ICE Literature

Just one of many schools in chaos after ICE literature is pulled from mail boxes for claiming Randi Weingarten doesn't look at her best when dressed in brown.

The Unity faithful were given carte blanche at a recent Unity Caucus meeting to pull opposition literature that they consider likely to incite insurrections. Included in that would be any information about Randi Weingarten that they deem a lie. For instance, if the question is raised as to exactly how long she taught full-time at Clara Barton HS -- 6 months or the 6 years she claimed recently on NY 1 (5 periods a day for 6 years) --- that would constitute material likely to incite a riot and the Unity faithful are urged to go to the principal and complain.

Speaking of riots, the New Action leaflet being circulated is inciting riotous laughter at the idea that a group claiming to be an opposition is running in the UFT elections and opposing nothing that Unity stands for -- oh, yes, they don't agree on democracy. But Randi has promised them to set up a committee. Sort of like the way the scarecrow got his brain. Or, maybe not.

Oh, Those UFT Commercials

It is always nice to see our money being shovelled into the hands of high priced consultants (Howard Wolfson's Grover Park, Hillary Clinton's people) who design commercials that have zero impact on the public for the benefit of teachers.

"Oh, please, please, please give teachers a voice. They (boo, hoo) work so hard. And by the way, reduce class size." That oughta do it. Convinced me. So why are we spending millions that could be used for things like, say, a dues rebate?

You just don't get it. This is not about the teachers. It is about the future of our maximum leader, also known on some blogs as Le Gran Fromage. That this commercial just appeared (along with the $750) during a UFT election period is not surprising. But with Le Gran assured of winning by big numbers we hear from Unity insiders that she considers anything less than 90% a defeat ("90% or Bust"). What a relief to ICE-TJC to know that all they need is 11% of the vote to win. Most leaders seem to be happy with numbers over 60% but even the 6 (out of 89) ICE-TJC members of the Ex Bd must be stamped out by the Unity rubber stamp, New Action.

I personally don't mind seeing all those millions being spent to promote the career of Le Gran Fromage. She has sacrificed so much for us all. Remember how BloomKlein supposedly sent people to look through her garbage? And all those supposed personal attacks by the likes of ---wait, that's me.

The New York stage is no longer big enough to contain her and besides, she is sick of having to deal with the Kaufmans and Eternos of this world. Imagine, one minute consulting with Hillary and an hour later dealing with Kaufman. Ugh!

We are paying teams of consultants to mull things over: run for office (first task-- learn Spanish -- bet we are paying for that too) or work for a future Democratic administration in Washington (even the Cabinet-- Labor Secty or Ed secty).

But the betting is that the next move is to AFT President in the summer of '08 at the usual Unity junket where 800 of our favorite people get to eat, drink and be merry. The only problem is that AFT Pres. is a ceremonial position with no real power, which resides on the locals, the biggest enchilada of which is Local 2, ye ole UFT. Can LGF control the UFT while AFT Pres. as Shanker did? Why not just keep both positions and leave Michael Mendel to clean up the mess? There really is no obvious successor to LGF (Feldman hand-picked and groomed LGF many years before she left to take her place) who can so consistently pull the wool over the eyes of the members so slickly as LGF. That there is no clear successor is an important sign. A strong successor would in itself be a threat. (Bring back Alan Lubin from exhile upsate in NYSUT --- Alan, who had a good rep even with the opposition, was thought by many to be a potential threat to Feldman's plans.)

And as LGF did to the old Shanker-Feldman machine, a strong successor might do unto LGF and undermine the UFT power base in the AFT. So it is not such a simple move to the AFT Presidency, which really requires a lot of schlepping around all over the country. Oh, the problems!

Let's think bigger for our LGF. How about targeting Pres. of the AFL-CIO after John Sweeney leaves? Now that idea makes the AFT Pres. as a way station an attractive idea. Sweeney might want to look into hiring a food taster.

Just don't count on LGF immediately disappearing from the NY UFT stage, too big a platform to just walk away from. Look to the Shanker model of control where the precedent of remaining Pres of both organizations will be used. Hey! Maybe we can pay for surveys of members to see how that will fly? Or better, let's pay to run commercials nationally so the entire country can get to know LGF.

I've given lots of reason to vote ICE-TJC. Keeping Kaufman-Eterno, to be joined by Bryant HS CL Sam Lazarus, a former cab driver and organizer in the taxi union, on the Exec. Bd. will cause complications for LGF who would have to explain why she cannot get 100% control of the Ex. Bd. Right now she has to miss all too many meetings and all that good food because of these louts. And think of the repercussions if LGF should get less total votes than three years ago. Oh, da pain!

Ed. Notes Has No (Great) Expectations

While rummaging through the Feb. '02 edition of Ed Notes I came across this article. The Exec Bd meeting referred to probably took place in Jan. '02 and Randi Weingarten was hinting that someone was leaking info from the meetings to the NY Post, looking at me while she said it. If anyone was leaking it was surely her people, if not she herself. This was a very short time after Bloomberg was elected and the honeymoon was still on, which by the way I still think never really ended no matter what has been said. A great cartoon if you just change the location and author. (Any photoshop experts out there who want to take a shot?)

At a recent Ex. Bd. meeting, Randi Weingarten made some comments regarding Ed. Notes. She seemed to feel that Ed. Notes was holding her to certain [unattainable?] standards. Or perhaps she assumed the laptop computer being used by the Ed. Notes reporter had a direct link to the NY Post.

Weingarten should be assured that Ed. Notes holds her to no standards.
We know that there will never be changes in the Taylor Law, no matter how many of our endorsed candidates get elected.
We have no expectations that she will deliver a contract with anything of substance other than money.
She will continue the tradition of her predecessors of promoting a contract that has been basically unchanged in over 30 years.
We don’t expect her to address the horrendous working conditions, the demoralization of teachers (Will a big raise really solve THAT problem?), the large class sizes, the negative impact of testing, etc., etc., etc.
We do not expect her to try to find long-term solutions to the many problems that teachers and schools face.
We do expect her to continue to put the bulk of our union’s energy into short term crisis management and into the political arena.
By the way: the Ed. Notes reporter was playing Solitaire on the laptop and wasn’t even listening. We’ve heard it all before.

Ed Notes Reprint Feb. 02