AFT Convention: CTU and UFT Compromise on School Closing Reso

Want to see why the CORE victory in the June Chicago Teachers Union election has national implications? The UFT dominated convention was faced with a much stronger resolution on closing schools from Chicago than they advocated. The UFT backed off and offered a deal to include the CTU language in the school closing reso. Follow the bouncing ball with this excerpt from a powerful article written by CTU delegate Jen Johnson for Substance.

On Friday, July 9th, UFT Vice President for Educational Issues Aminda Gentile approached CTU convention delegates Carol Caref (also CTU interim Staff Coordinator and CTU Area A Vice President) and Jen Johnson (also CTU Area B Vice President) to discuss possible ways for CTU and UFT to work together on the issue of school closings.

Vice President Gentile was in the Educational Issues Committee and witnessed the work of CTU delegates to have their concerns heard by the convention. That morning, CTU convention delegates Jen Johnson, Xian Barrett (also CTU interim Legislative Coordinator), and Carol Caref met with UFT Vice President of Academic High Schools Leo Casey, UFT Special Representative Janella Hinds and UFT Special Representative Amy Arundell to negotiate what amendments could be made to existing UFT resolutions based on the language of the CTU resolution.

The CTU and UFT representatives agree to add language to Resolution 8, which was the UFT’s main priority resolution and Resolution 58. The representatives also agreed to adding one from the CTU resolution resolving that AFT demand that RTTT funding being used equitably rather than competitively was also agreed to be added to Resolution 60, which was not made a priority in committee so the amendment never made it to the convention floor.

Because of disagreements between the CTU and UFT representatives over how charter schools should best be dealt with, the amendments to Resolution 58 did not include a call for a moratorium on new charters despite the CTU representatives’ desires for one. The CTU representatives made clear to the UFT representatives that CTU delegates would make the final decision as to the delegation’s support for the proposed amendments and that CTU delegates were free to speak their mind on the floor of the convention if they had disagreements, especially concerning their perspectives on charter schools.

Here is Jen Johnson's full report to Substance which includes the entire amazing resolution proposed by CORE/CTU.

AFT CONVENTION: Resolution on school closing, charters required hard work, some compromises

Jen Johnson made a passionate speech from the floor, followed by new CTU president Karen Lewis. They were preceded by Unity's Janella Hinds who also made a good speech, which we'll parse in our followup article.

See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhailiqr4uQ
(The video is also at the GEM blog and playing in the ed notes sidebar.)

By the way, if you haven't noticed, Karen Lewis got the 2nd highest vote total for AFT Ex Bd VP.

Let's remember that CORE has just come out of a grueling half year election campaign, took control of the CTU on July 1 - only 2 weeks after winning - and then left for Seattle on July 6. Most had little idea of how a convention operates especially one controlled by the UFT out of NYC. (Think: Block of 800 out of 3400 - almost 25% - and they control many other blocks - a lot of NY State which has 650,000 out of the 1.5 million AFT members. By the way, most of these 800 - Unity might have as many as 1500 or more members - also pack the Delegate Assemblies in NYC - in a room that only holds 850 people.

So, they get there and have to figure things out. And they start learning quickly. In every conversation I had with a CORE member I was impressed — by their knowledge, their passion, their commitment to public education. Remember - almost every one of them, including Karen Lewis, were in classrooms teaching just a few weeks ago. Quite a contrast to New York City.

CORE/CTU/Local 1 delegate Katie Hogan left this comment on Jen's article at Substance based on what happened at the committee meeting:

It's hard to understand, unless one was there, the total and complete orchestration of Local 2 - New York - of all committees and floor debate. I did get up in my committee (Organizing and Labor Issues) and try to add our original Resolved: "Resolved that the AFT and its state and local affiliates will march, petition, rally, hold media events, mobilize its members and utilize the help of supportive community partners and use all resources at its disposal to dispel the myths about the success of charter schools compared to traditional public schools, to expose the inequalities that exist within the funding and management of public education and to improve the public perception of public education" -- the amendment was voted on by voice -- and in audible surprise it was unable to determine to pass or vote down. You had obviously NY delegation voting against -- they had actually stacked the committee. It went to vote by hand and we were unfortunately defeated -- but not overwhelmingly. I also got to speak in that committee about WHY it's so important to add this particular resolved considering the national wave that is on its wave courtesy of Arne Duncan. This was a huge learning experience for everyone and I think when we go to Detroit and can write our own resolutions we will be much more prepared. However, we were fighting tooth and nail for anything we could get with our limited experience and resources. I was very proud to represent Local 1.

George Schmidt over at Substance has started posting these wonderful reports from inside the CORE caucus who sent 108 delegates to Seattle and came up against the massive 800 member Unity juggernaut, totally controlled and under caucus discipline. They listened, learned, fought back and compromised when they could and stood their ground when they couldn't.


Ed Note:
Look for the follow-up article later in the day that discusses UFT policy related to closing schools.

Add-on:
Good point by commenter Esteban who said: "Call me a cynic, but passing a resolution and actually following it are not the same thing" Esteban is so right. The Unity compromise was for PR purposes and will have zero impact on policy - unless there is an increasing national uprising, especially in New York.

"Rescued" Closing Schools Dying a Slow Death Due to Lack of Incoming Freshman

Many people cheered when the UFT/NAACP "won" the law suit over the 19 school closings a few months ago. While schools got a year extension to stay open, the DOE went ahead with plans to install new schools in their buildings, knowing full well the reality would be that the extra year would become an empty shell due to a lack of incoming freshman. James Eterno's post on the ICE blog brings home this reality.

PRESS DISCOVERS CLOSING SCHOOLS HAVE VIRTUALLY NO INCOMING NINTH GRADERS

A high school needs freshmen to keep going but the Department of Education has basically starved the closing Queens High Schools of new students. You can read all about it at these links. We are quoted extensively and are still fighting this injustice. Please help us if you can.

http://gothamschools.org/2010/06/16/saved-from-closure-a-queens-high-school-faces-phase-out/

http://gothamschools.org/2010/06/17/after-ruling-kept-schools-open-city-discouraged-enrollment/

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/few_kids_at_rescued_schools_vxSPjS8F8YGNBZHWITK5MM

http://www.queenstribune.com/deadline/Deadline_061710_SavedSchools.html

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100616/FREE/100619875

--------
Today at Norms Notes:

Boston Teachers Get a Dose of Ed Deform

Much Ado About Making Resolutions: ICE Reso at Ex Bd, Jan. 2007

With regard to closing schools:

The DOE is successfully implementing the Grover Norquist “Starve the Beast” policy and it must be stopped. Norquist recommends tax cuts and more tax cuts so that government won’t be able to function and then his people complain that the government is doing a terrible job and needs to be cut some more."
-----Jeff Kaufman, posted on the ICE blog, Jan. 2007

I find the NAC attack on ICE over the silly notion that presenting resolutions at UFT Executive Board meetings is the most important thing one can do extremely funny. Especially since that is all New Action does. ICE, you see, has been out there actually supporting people at closing schools over the years.

Today's court decision on the closing schools is a perfect example of how UFT resolutions mean little. There have been quite a few resos against closing schools over the years. Why did it take so long to go to court? As I read it, the complaint is over the way procedures were not followed. Tweed's arrogance ha been exposed. But expect them to do it more carefully next time. The UFT doesn't oppose the closing of schools - as long as the procedures are followed. But a good aspect it that Tweed will have to come up with some consistent "facts"- twisted of course - for why schools should be closed. Like, Eva needs more space.

While New Action makes empty resolutions in a sea of Unity clones, ICE people have been at closing school meetings and PEP meetings and charter invasion hearings speaking up in support.

Not that ICE never made a closing school reso when we were on the Executive Board. James Eterno reminded me today about this post on the ICE blog on Jan. 13, 2007 by Jeff Kaufman, currently ICE-TJC candidate for Assistant Treasurer. It exhibits the kind of work ICE did on the Exec. Board, with analysis of DOE policy behind school closings.

James Eterno, ICE's High School Rep, submitted a resolution calling for the UFT to get off the fence and call for a moratorium on the closing of schools before an independent evaluation can be concluded.

While hundreds of our members face excessing Weingarten showed how she can fiddle while Rome burns and substituted a watered down resolution which called for the DOE to "refrain" from closing schools.

Thanks, Randi. Way to stand up to BloomKlein who close schools for political reasons and to create large pools of excessed teachers. But what could we really expect, especially when you completed a sweetheart deal to continue the decimation of seniority, loss of grievance rights and other basic rights of our members? You showed your true colors when you "agreed" with the closing of Lafayette. The teachers and staff at Lafayette thank you as well.

The resolution follows:

January 2007 Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on Closing Schools

WHEREAS, the Department of Education (DOE) chronically mismanages schools, refuses to provide schools with adequate funding and then blames staff for failing results; and

WHEREAS, there is no valid evidence that proves the educational benefits of the DOE’s policy of closing schools, not admitting new students, displacing staff, and then reopening the same building as a different school or group of schools; and

WHEREAS, there is no clear standard for what constitutes a failing school yet the DOE in December announced the closing of five more schools; and

WHEREAS, the resulting period of uncertainty can have a deleterious impact on students in the effected schools as well as in neighboring schools that become severely overcrowded by accepting incoming students who would have gone to the schools being phased out; and

WHEREAS, new/redesigned schools do not have to accept special education and Limited English Proficiency students in their first two years of existence, thus creating fewer educational options for some of our students most in need, and concentrating disproportionate numbers of these students in other facilities, straining the resources of those schools too; and

WHEREAS, the 2005 UFT Contract eliminated Article 18G5, which gave staff in closing or phased out schools the “broadest possible placement choices available within the authority of the Board;” and

WHEREAS, the current Contract throws staff (experienced and new) from closing/phasing out schools en masse onto the “open market” where they must look for their own jobs or become Absent Teacher Reserves (day-to-day substitutes) thus discouraging UFT members from wanting to work in difficult schools; and

WHEREAS, many of the schools that replaced previously redesigned schools are now themselves failing and in danger of closing; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT call for an immediate moratorium on the closing down/ redesigning of schools by the Department of Education until independent studies are done to assess the effectiveness of the newly redesigned schools as well as the overall impact of closing/redesigning schools on students, staff and communities throughout the system; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT use part of its “Teachers Make a Difference” campaign to publicize the need for full funding of all schools, with particular attention paid to calling for extra funding for troubled schools in order to: lower class sizes, provide modern up to date facilities as well as safe and stable environments as an alternative to closing schools, displacing students and staff resulting in overcrowding of neighboring schools.

It’s time for the UFT to use its resources to stop allowing the Department of Education to get away with holding teachers and students accountable for their mismanagement.

The DOE is successfully implementing the Grover Norquist “Starve the Beast” policy and it must be stopped. Norquist recommends tax cuts and more tax cuts so that government won’t be able to function and then his people complain that the government is doing a terrible job and needs to be cut some more.

The DOE chronically under-funds schools. The courts have declared that the city doesn’t even give adequate funding for a sound basic education. The DOE adds to the problem by chronically mismanaging schools and then blaming us when schools don’t get everyone to be proficient.

Instead of thanking the teachers and other UFT members for performing educational miracles with so many students in situations that are virtually impossible, our schools are deemed failing by some criteria that nobody knows about. The schools are then closed down, we are displaced and have to apply for our jobs back in our own schools. Kids who would have gone to the school closing are directed to other schools which become more overcrowded and then they are deemed as failing. The new schools don’t have to take special education students or ESL students for two years so they look like they are succeeding but the success and extra funding later dry up and certain new schools have already been deemed as failures. This has been going on for years. This cycle must cease as nobody has shown any concrete evidence that any of this works for students

The UFT’s position on all of this has been to wait. In 2003 the Manhattan High School Chapter leaders came up with a resolution calling for a moratorium on the breakup and redesign of large high schools. I cosponsored the introduction of that resolution in this body and it was tabled. The UFT put together a small schools task force that called for among other things a study to be done on the effectiveness of small schools but it didn’t call for the DOE to stop closing schools until we have the data.

In 2006 the Parents Citywide Council on High Schools called the Chancellor to substantially delay the implementation of small high schools in part because of the issue of special ed and ESL students not being accepted in new schools. I asked last year at this body if the UFT supported that resolution and I was sent a copy of the small schools task force and later the UFT sponsored a resolution reaffirming the value of large high schools but not calling for the DOE to stop closing schools.

Now we need to go further. When the DOE brings in an outside agency to review schools and they find Tilden High School is proficient and then soon thereafter it is announced that Tilden will be closing, there is something that doesn’t smell right. Small schools versus big schools is not the issue. The issue is what constitutes a failing school? It’s not only large high schools that are in danger. Schools that have already been redesigned are in trouble. Many of us are being threatened with being closed because we exercise our contractual rights. I have been told that I better tone it down or Klein will come in and shut us down.

What this resolution asks is for the DOE to stop shutting down schools until we can get some fair, independent studies done to assess the effectiveness of newly redesigned schools including examining the impact on neighboring schools. This resolution also asks for the UFT to publicize the need for fully funding all schools but particularly schools that are in trouble so we get what we need to succeed and stop the madness of closing schools, displacing students and staff and then overcrowding other schools where they then are deemed as failing. That cycle must end now.

This is a powerful resolution, with an analysis of the motives behind school closings 3 years before the UFT woke up. And we're still not sure they have. Of course, Unity and New Action ignored what we were saying. If there is a point to making these resos, it is to use them to educate people on the issues. Without putting this up on the ICE blog, the reso is meaningless, since Unity waters them down or rejects them. A fundamental difference between New Action and ICE is that we believe the UFT/Unity machine has to be beat over the head to move, not have a nice chat with them over policy. When we have an army of thousands at our backs we will be able to force change. Otherwise, we are talking into space.

Metropolitan Corporate Academy Rally, January 14, 2010

Metropolitan Corporate Academy students, parents, educators, and alumni came together in powerful unity on Thursday, January 14, 2010, speaking passionately and courageously about their school.

While the building doesn't present itself as much from the outside, we instantly felt the sense of community and family upon entering the door. Testimonies focused on students and staff's love for their school, despite its many challenges. The school's debate team proudly held their first place trophies in front of John White and presented him with a large stack of student signed petitions. The video not only captures the passion and spirit of the Metropolitan Corporate Academy, but it clearly demonstrates how far off course the New York City Department of Education has gone.

Click below:

http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/2010/01/metropolitan-corporate-academy-high.html

Brooklyn College Professor in Passionate Defense of Maxwell

Dr. Wayne Reed talks about the remarkable collaboration between Brooklyn College and Maxwell HS and how closing it will destroy many years of work.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x-YlbUV8UY

School Closing Hearings Turning into Perfect Storm

We predicted back in the fall that a 3rd term for Bloomberg would turn out to be his disaster. Hubris will take the Tweedy gang down the road to oblivion.

It didn't take them long to do that thing. Closing 22 schools in one felt swoop and thinking that scheduling all the hearings right on top of each other would be a classic coup of disaster capitalism of the shock doctrine type. Instead it may be turning into a perfect storm of their own making.

The press has been racing around to cover all these events. The poor gals of Gotham are being run ragged. Maura has to schlep to Beach Channel ("you come to all of those meetings in the city from HERE? she asked) and to Jamaica last night. Yoav from the Post and Lindsey from NY 1 was at both events too. And poor Tweed PR Anne Forte too, who had to endure the slings and arrows as timekeeper at BCHS but was given a break last night by boss David Can't(or) who came along to try to manage the press. Even Dennis Walcott came by to watch the show at Jamaica.

And what a show it was. How interesting that local politicians who have been silent as the dOE closed so many schools are now coming out of the woodwork to condemn them. At both meetings I attended every Queens councilman supported keeping the schools open. Erich Ulrich, a Republican from Howard Beach and a Bloomberg admirer (he practically held up a cross to fend me off when I suggested he come to our demo at Bloomberg's house on Jan, 21) has surprisingly led the effort, getting every Queens councilperson to sign off on supporting the schools. Last night 3 of them told us they were Jamaica High grads.



Even one of my favorite whipping boys, Queens PEP member Dmytro Fedkowskyj, made a decent statement (too late for today's Wave column which goes after him again as a rubber stamp. I told him we will be looking for him to stand up for the Queens schools with his vote on Jan. 26. "Why can't you be more like Patrick Sullivan," I said? His answer is embargoed.

Now the best thing happening was the connection Jamaica chapter leader James Eterno and I made last night between BCHS student leader (see his video in the previous post) and Jamaica HS student leader Rachel Ali (I think) who met for the first time last night and within an hour formed a student union of closing schools and will attend every school closing hearing from now on to try to meet other student leaders. They will try to get many of them to come to the Jan, 21 rally, which Rachel promoted last night.

In the perfect storm brewing, this may turn out to be the biggest wave of all. Though one never knows how these student things turn out since the politicians are already trying to deflect it. Chris just called to say he is going to Ulrich's office for a meeting. How long before he and the others get a meeting with either Bloomberg or Klein or both? And will they accept anything less than keeping their schools open. By the way, both Chris and Rachel are 18 and seniors, so their stake in keeping the school open is coming from a perspective of students for whom the schools has worked.

Don't you just love it when the Tweedies use their "only 46% graduated" data? What about these 46% for which something worked? Sure, go ahead and take away the school that they feel nurtured them in the name of the nameless 54% who did not? When the alumni and current students get up to speak, watch people like John White and Kathleen Grimm, who would run screaming from a classroom, try to keep their eyes off their Blackberries while pretending to listen. It is all about children, not adults, right?

I thought of something last night about how these closings are an attack on the students, and not only the most struggling. They are an attack on that 46% who do succeed. Imagine those kids who are sophomores and have to spend the rest of their school careers in a dying and downsized school? They may be the biggest victims.

And then there is the fact that an alternative to closing a school is leadership change. Yea, like change the principal. One teacher on a video I put up from the Dec. PEP said that they have their third principal in 4 years and this guy is the first one who had real experience and knows what he's doing, so give him a chance.


Hey Norm-cannot believe that over 30 people got up to speak and NOT ONE made mention that the slimy ass principal was not in the room to go "down with his ship". Shows you how stupid and or chicken ass we all are. If someone had guts, they would have challenged him to step in the room to say something. What some of the teachers should have realized is that he was leaving them up the creek w/o a paddle. Knowing this, and it was evident, they should have suggested a change of leadership!! How dedicated can the man be if he is unwilling to step into the room to defend his staff?

In some schools, like Columbus, principals are standing up. But for those who won't and play the Tweedie game, here's what I'll put my money on. The students will be sent to overcrowded schools with long subway and bus rides, teachers will become ATRs and sent who knows where, but the school leadership will land on its feet, maybe even to take down another school? Or is that part of the plan all along?

And then there's the UFT, which last night tried to lay their "Tweed mismanagement line" on. I pointed out that this is not mismanagement but superb management of their intentions to end up having no responsibility for any public schools, because there will be none left.

Beach Channel HS Meeting, Jan. 6 2010

There is so much to write about and show you from the two hours of video I took at last night's meeting but I can only give a short report as I've been working in the video and have to leave to go to Jamaica HS hearing tonight. Some GEMers will be covering the Columbus meeting in the Bronx and we should be getting reports. up by the weekend.

The most remarkable thing about the BCHS even last night was the students- current and former who spoke eloquently and passionately about their school. Student leader Chris Petrillo did a 20 minute presentation over the initial objections of Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm after City Councilman Erich Ulrich asked. (He is turning out to be an interesting guy even though a Bloomberg admirer. He showed up with a petition signed by every Queens Council member urging that the schools not be closed.)

I have so much good video of Chris and am editing it in various ways to make what he had to say as effective as possible. The segment I am working on now was his response to Grimm's statement that students don't want to go to BCHS. Chris went through program after program cut by the DOE that would drive students away.

James Eterno, CL of Jamaica HS was there and he and Chris spoke. Chris expressed interest in going to their meeting tonight to link up with the activist kids from Jamaica. I spoke to his mom last night and she said it would be fine. Chris just called to ask if he can get a ride home with me if he goes and it looks like he will be there. He is also anxious to link up with other student activists at closing schools and Seung Ok from Maxwell is putting him in touch with a student there. Oh, and I met with a sophomore on Tuesday at the Academy of Environmental Science who had asked me for help making a video to defend his school (I put out a call and 3 filmmakers responded) and he is also interested in linking up. There are some amazing kids out there and meeting them makes so much of this worth while no matter what happens.

Check back tomorrow morning for some video of BCHS and this weekend for Jamaica HS.

In the meantime read Maura's report at Gotham.

Beach Channel supporters lay out their case against closure

Columbus HS: In Defense of Closing Schools, Victims of Charter Invasion - a Rally

There are lots of meetings coming up for closing schools. If you have more info or videos of your schools or need assistance in posting videos, contact me at normsco@gmail.com. See below for the list of schools (thanks to Seung OK for compiling the info. Excuse the formatting as I don't have the time to fiddle with the html.)

ALL CLOSING SCHOOLS- STUDENTS, TEACHERS, ALUMNI AND PARENTS
ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS INVADED BY CHARTERS
ALL ATRs
ALL RUBBER ROOM VICTIMS
ALL TEACHERS BESET BY INSANE PAPER WORK

NOTE THE DATE FOR AN UPCOMING PROTEST TO TELL BLOOMBERG WE'VE HAD ENOUGH:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 4-7PM.

EXACT LOCATION WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON. GEM, CAPE AND OTHERS ARE HELPING TO PLAN THIS PROTEST. COME TO THE JAN. 5 GEM MEETING TO GET INVOLVED.


Details of Columbus HS defense: Meeting Jan. 7, check time - 8pm seems late.

Reads Christine Rowland's piece in GS on Columbus HS here:

http://gothamschools.org/2009/12/11/christopher-columbus-high-school-a-context-for-accountability

And then joins the Facebook page to Save Columbus here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=223571430305&ref=search&sid=1000133.1825572327..1

Columbus student, teacher and principal defend their school in Ed Notes video of the Dec. '09 PEP meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfHgtknQb9

Date Time Closing hearings-rallies-conferences-meetings Forum location

5-Jan 6pm school for community research and learning hs 1980 lafayette ave, bronx
5-Jan 6pm academy of environmental science and Renaissance Charter 410 East 100 street, manhattan
5-Jan 4:30 PM GEM= joint planning meeting Rally 21st Cuny grad center
6-Jan 6pm Frederick Douglas Academy III (6 -8) 3630 3rd ave, bronx
6-Jan 6pm beach channel HS at Beach Channel HS
7-Jan 8pm Columbus HS 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 5pm global enterprise hs 925 Astor Ave, Bronx
7-Jan 6pm Paul Robeson hs 150 Albany Ave, Bklyn
7-Jan 6pm jamaica high school 16701 Gothic Drive, Queens
8-Jan 6pm choir academy of harlem hs 2005 madison ave, manhattan
11-Jan 6pm norman thomas hs 111 E 33st, manhattan
11-Jan 6pm Kappa II (6-8) 144-176 East 128 st, manh
11-Jan 6pm alfred e smith HS 333 East 151st, Bronx
12-Jan 6pm william h. maxwell vocation hs 145 pennsylvania ave, brooklyn
12-Jan 6pm business, computer applications and enetrepe hs 207-01 116 ave, Queens
13-Jan 6pm academy of collaborative education (6-8) 222 west 134 st, manhattan
13-Jan 6pm ps 332 (k-8) 51 christopher ave, bklyn
13-Jan 6pm School for academic and social excellence (6-8) 1224 park place, Brooklyn
13-Jan 5-7pm Forum: The challence of Charter Schools: by NYCORE Cuny GRAD Center
14-Jan 6pm New Day Academy Hs 800 Home St, Bronx
14-Jan 6pm metropolitan corporate academy 362 schermerhorn st, bklyn
16-Jan 10am Citywide parent conference: Leonie Haimson (Norm Siegel -guest spk) School of future- 127 E 22nd st, Manh
19-Jan 6pm Pave Charter invasion of PS 15 71 sullivan st, Bklyn
19-Jan 6pm monroe academy of business law HS 1300 boynton ave, bronx

26-Jan 6pm PEP meeting Brooklyn Tech High School
28-Jan 4:30pm-7pm Charter School Forum/Discussion Polytechnic Institute - Downtown Brooklyn

From James Eterno: ACTIVATE YOURSELF THIS WEEK TO SAVE JAMAICA!

James Eterno is running for President of the UFT on the ICE/TJC slate. But if you don't see him around doing much campaigning, he has other fish to fry. Like trying to save his school. His fighting spirit is one of the reasons so many people support him.

GO GET 'EM JAMES.

UFT
Jamaica Chapter News
December 14, 2009

ACTIVATE YOURSELF THIS WEEK TO SAVE JAMAICA!

PHONE BANK LATER TODAY TO BUILD FOR WED RALLY

Everyone must do their part this week if we are to have any chance of saving Jamaica High School. Today (Monday) we will be going to the UFT offices at 97-77 Queens Blvd at around 5:00 p.m. to use their phone banks to call every parent, UFT member who lives in this area and anyone else who might be able to help with our rally on Wednesday.

Please see me or a member of the Save Jamaica Committee as soon as possible today (Monday) so we know who is coming. The Committee is Maria Giamundo, Tanya McKetney, Debbie Saal, Julia Schlakman and a few others. We need as many people as possible tonight so that this job is something we can finish within a reasonable amount of time. Please help.

On Tuesday, four of us will be meeting with Assemblyman Rory Lancman and Council Member Jim Gennaro. We will make the case to save Jamaica to these politicians.

ALL HANDS ON DECK FOR WEDNESDAY’S RALLY & MEETING

`Wednesday, we need everyone to be here at 5:30 p.m. for a rally preceding the so called information meeting that will take place in the auditorium at 6:00 p.m. The rally and meeting are not optional in my opinion. While the UFT is not your employer and as such we cannot compel attendance at the rally and meeting, I would term it a moral obligation. This is our biggest challenge yet as a UFT Chapter and we need our biggest turnout. We have to show the DOE we really care about our school by rallying outside the school at 5:30 p.m. and then by filling as many seats in the auditorium as possible. Our power is collective and not individual. We can kiss Jamaica goodbye if all of us aren’t there: staff, also parents and students.


LOG ON & EMAIL THE PEP & STATE REGENTS

The Public comment period on the proposal to close Jamaica is now open. Every, UFT member, DC 37 colleague, parent, student or friend of Jamaica High School needs to go onto the site and email the Panel for Educational Policy with your opposition to the closing of Jamaica. Please students, no text message language; use proper language in the emails. The state regents are also meeting today and they should also be notified.


TELL THE CHANCELLOR HOW YOU FEEL ON THURSDAY

You can email Chancellor Joel Klein at any point but you can talk to him personally on Wednesday after our meeting here. He will be at PS/IS 266 on Wednesday. The location is 74-10 Commonwealth Blvd. in Bellerose (Glen Oaks/Frank Padavan Campus), Thursday, the Panel for Educational Policy will be meeting in the Bronx at 6:00 p.m. at New World High 921 East 228th Street.


I will be there and as many of you as possible should join me. The next big date will be January 7, 2010 when the public comment period will be held at Jamaica. Finally, the PEP will vote on our fate at a meeting on January 26, 2010 on Staten Island. We are attempting to have the meeting moved to a more central location. Go to sign the online petition.

Also on Thursday - rally at Norman Thomas HS in Manhattan there is a rally to save Norman Thomas HS. That’s at Park Avenue and 34th Street. We should support them.

[ED. NOTE: See more on protest in our post: Defend Your School]

James Eterno
UFT Chapter Leader,
Jamaica High School


Move Jan. 26 PEP Out of Staten Island to Central Location
Tell Joel Klein to move the Jan. 26 PEP meeting out of Staten Island.
Click the link above and copy and paste the letter and circulate or sign and send back to me.

Haimson on Paul Robeson Faze-Out: EIS of Paul Robeson HS; unbelievable!

This is even more incredible than the last EIS I read:

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/F0043783-8608-433C-855E-99228622A268/73549/17K625Robeson_EIS1.pdf

There are no other schools currently located in K625. The 2008-2009 target utilization rate of K625 was 102%. It has a capacity of 1,155…..

10/31/2009 ATS Active Register): 1,020

Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, Paul Robeson High School (17K625, “Robeson High School”), an existing school serving grades 9-12, will be phased-out of operation. Robeson High School is housed in school building K625 (hereinafter referred to as “K625”), located at 150 Albany Avenue, Brooklyn in Community School District 17 (“District 17”). There are no other schools currently located in K625. The 2008-2009 target utilization rate of K625 was 102%. It has a capacity of 1,155.

In the 2010-2011, Robeson High School will begin phasing out one grade per year. Grade 9 will be eliminated in 2010-2011, grade 10 will be eliminated in 2011-2012, and grade 11 will be eliminated in 2012-2013. Robeson High School will close in June 2013.

….. Due to the school’s failure to make significant progress, the DOE now proposes this phase-out and eventual closure. At this time there is no plan for the use of space made available by the phase-out and closure of Robeson High School.

Community Ramifications

Approximately 1,020 high school seats will be eliminated by the phase-out of Robeson High School. However, the majority of those seats will be recovered with the phase-in of new schools throughout the City and available seats in existing high schools….

Current Robeson High School students enrolled in grade 9 for the first time will have the opportunity to participate in the citywide high schools admissions process so that they can begin in a different school for grade 10 in September 2010 (pending satisfactory completion of promotion criteria and grade 10 seat availability). Current Robeson High School grade 10 students and students who are repeating grade 9 are encouraged to meet with their guidance counselors to explore their options for the 2010-2011 school year. There are sufficient high school seats in Brooklyn and Citywide to accommodate students that would have attended Robeson.

There are sufficient high school seats in Brooklyn and Citywide? As of last school year, 57% of our HS students attended overcrowded buildings at or over 100% utilization – 167,000 students, according to the DOE “blue book”, which most experts (and principals) believe underestimates the level of overcrowding at schools.

In Brooklyn, more than 50% of HS students attended overcrowded buildings -- nearly 44,000. Where are all these kids going to attend school? This is horrific and unbelievable.

And Look at this:

Personnel

All administrative staff and non-pedagogical positions at Robeson High School will be eliminated over the course of the phase-out and eventual closure.

All teaching positions at Robeson High School will be eliminated over the course of the phase-out. However, the elimination of these assignments will not necessarily result in an overall loss of teaching positions within the citywide system due to transfers to other existing assignments and the creation of additional pedagogical positions with the phase-in of new schools.

Never is it mentioned the huge cost to the system of putting all those teachers on ATR – on full salary but not assigned to regular classrooms anywhere. What could possibly be the purpose of this?

ED NOTE: Could the answer be an expectation that the ATR problem will be eliminated? My reading is that there will be no contract without some give on the ATRs. I'll get into more of this in an upcoming post.

Will Maxwell and Jamaica HS Announced Closings Lead to New UFT Policy?

Here is a link to a very effective piece at the NYC Parent blog exposing the failures of the BloomKlein administration:

Schools slated for closure -- resulting from the failure of the administration's policies

Interesting that some parents in NYC can be so much stronger, analytical and educational than the union supposedly defending educators.

The UFT/AFT, hungering for recognition as a "reformist" minded union over the last 25 years, has never taken a strong stand over the closing of schools. Oh you have heard stuff like "Let’s invest money and resources into our existing schools and make them better. It can be done." But it has all been lip service. No line in the sand demanding that things like reduced class size be attempted before closing schools and adding real support for kids who are struggling academically and personally.

The ATR situation (mostly created by closing schools), exacerbated by the UFT's abandonment of the seniority system and promotion of the Open Market System, along with the other attacks on teachers from all directions, has created an internal pressure cooker within the UFT.

The two most prominent school closing announcements this past week were those of Maxwell HS just a few blocks north of my alma mater, the now broken up Thomas Jefferson HS on Pennsylvania Ave in East NY and Jamaica HS in Queens, long in the news through the efforts of chapter leader James Eterno, who will be running against Mike Mulgrew for UFT president.

A few conspiracy theorists have linked the closing as a backroom deal between the UFT and the DOE to put Eterno in a position of having to defend his school instead of being out campaigning, but Eterno has consistently said that the UFT has been supportive in his efforts. I don't always agree with James on this point as I look for deeds more than words.

See Chaz School Daze post and comments on the closing of Jamaica, where he, a former teacher at Jamaica says:

when I left the school was already struggling to survive the inept Principals running the school into the ground and their bosses who found any excuse to attack the school.

Only, James Eterno stood in the way between the dismantling of Jamaica HS earlier. However, unless Michael Mulgrew puts the power of the UFT into this fight, I hold no hope for Tweed reversing their decision.

we need to get rid of Leo Casey as HS rep. Many CL's have more serious school issues to deal with than hear from a union lackey with his double pension that supported the 2005 contract disaster and insulted critics who were proven right about he damage that contract did to us.

We already know that James Eterno is as good a chapter leader as you could find and we in ICE will do what it takes to assist him in this battle, which takes priority at this time over the UFT elections.

Ed Notes has been a persistent critic over the last 15 years of UFT policy towards closing schools and the entire baggage that goes with is: using test data to punish and reward and evaluate teachers and schools. I don't think the UFT can suddenly change its stripes and fight back in an effective way unless it mobilizes in a vast and consistent (no one-shot candle light vigils for instance) manner on all levels, including politically.

The Maxwell HS situation, where the activist Seung OK from GEM and ICE teaches, is an interesting case in point. It is one of the few vocational schools left and we certainly need these more than ever. Maxwell is the home of UFT District Rep Charlie Turner, one of the most despicable hacks in the union. We'll come back to that later.

The UFT has decided to make a big deal out of Maxwell, as indicated in this letter I posted on Norms Notes from special rep Anthony Sclafani that went out to chapter leaders cancelling their meeting this Wednesday and urging them to go to a rally at Maxwell instead. There is an urgency in the letter that might lead some to believe this is a sea change in how the UFT will respond in the future. I'm not so sure.

It begins with:

"Wednesday’s Chapter Leader Meeting is cancelled. That’s right. You have to feed yourself on Wednesday, December 9th."

That's a pretty arrogant way to start, with a demo of union hack resentment over having to feed people to get them to a meeting. But let's give Tony the benefit of the doubt and call it a bad attempt at humor. He continues:

The three of us, [Brooklyn HS District reps Charley [Turner], Charlie [Friedman] and I are taking this very seriously, especially Charley Turner since this is his school We are concerned about many things and some of these will affect you and your schools.

Well, now, Charlie Turner never seemed too upset when Tilden and Canarsie HS, not far from Maxwell and whose extra kids ended up putting pressure on Maxwell that may be a factor in giving the DOE an excuse to close it. But Turner and so many other UFT hacks never see a picture bigger than their next check. A teacher at Tilden left this comment at the ICE blog:

the staff fought back against the Principal and the D.O.E. but like Carnarsie H.S. where they kicked Charlie Turner out of the building when he came over there to comfort the Carnarsie Staff by telling them that you're lucky all you ATRS have jobs. "So what if they move you to another school which you have no choice in going and that it is usually an undesirable school. So what that you are forced to teach out of your licenced area! So what if you have taught at Carnarsie and Tilden for over 20 years. You're lucky. Randi and I(Charlie Turner) and her unity pals signed a great contract in 2005 so you still have jobs as ATRS. Well Charles Turner regretted those words and never stepped foot at Canarsie or Tilden again!

But let's get back to Tony's letter, which actually has nuggets of stuff that's pretty decent.

He defends Maxwell:

...statistically, Maxwell has been on a steady road to improvement over the past three years. We can prove that.....the grading system that determined this is flawed, as everyone in education agrees.

Then Tony asks the magical question:

where will the overflow go? Jefferson Campus? Madison? Wingate Campus? Transit Tech? School for the Classics? Lane Campus? Wherever these students go, it will have an effect on these schools since there is no one being admitted into Maxwell.

Yes, where will the overflow go? That question has been asked time and again but has been basically ignored by the UFT as almost all the large high schools in central and southeast Brooklyn have been closed down and organized into much smaller schools that can't or won't take the overflow.

Next, Tony hits another magic button

I believe that this closing is for one reason and one reason only – SPACE. Where else do we put those new Charter Schools? Or better yet, where do we create empty space to justify new Charters somewhere down the road?

Whoa. Guess what two charter schools are within a stones throw of Maxwell? Both UFT charter schools, with the middle school based at George Gershwin (IS 166 - also my alma mata) possibly one day expanding to 9th grade and beyond. Could it, would it....nah, even in bizarro land we would never see a UFT charter occupying space in Maxwell.

Now Tony hits his stride with some really good stuff:

who’s next on the chopping block? Flawed data, fake reasons, a determined philosophy to close large comprehensive high schools at any cost – all these excuses can be used against anyone of you , even some of the smaller schools. Let’s invest money and resources into our existing schools and make them better. It can be done.

Yes, Tony, it can be done. But never without a union putting its full force behind the battle.

See the document Seung Ok put together to be used in the defense of Maxwell at the GEM blog. Download the pdf to share with your colleagues.

WH Maxwell VHS-Injustice of School Closures

Text posted at NYC Public School Parent blog:

The case for keeping Maxwell Vocational HS open

Postscript:
The actions of Unity Caucus hacks undermine the ability of the UFT to galvanize the support needed to fight these battles because without trust in the leadership to engage in a fair process, the most active members who are also critics tend to hold back their support.

Yes, democracy does count in building an effective union and until we see signs the internal battles will rage. Mulgrew has not only not shown signs of reigning in the hacks but there are indications he will go in the other direction. Let's see how dirty they get in the elections.

I'll write more about this soon because we see what seems like a seductive (to a few) New Action line that we all have to unite to battle the common enemy BloomKlein popping up. Many of us see the UFT/AFT more often lined up with that enemy than with the members. My simple response it to call on Mulgrew to begin a democratic reformation of the union in a show of faith. GEMers and ICEers will be holding discussions addressing the issue of what such a reform might look like in the next few months.

ATRs, Chicago, New Haven, and NY State Plan for Massive School Closings

That headline certainly is a mouthful. But there's a lot on the table in this post, so hang in.

Let's try to connect all the dots. (I put the entire series of links to articles mentioned here up on Norms Notes. Read them and weep.)

Let me start with this great quote from Leonie Haimson:

Why should any teacher be summarily be fired unless the decision is based on some objective criteria? Again, the stigma of being associated with a failing school is enough for the editors, which will provide a powerful disincentive for any experienced teacher to choose to move to a low-performing school. This is akin to blaming the workers at a GM factory for the conditions that led to the firm’s bankruptcy. Should they be barred from every being employed in the industry again if Toyota set up shop in the factory?


Think: close massive numbers of schools and create non-unionized charters.

Problem: that pesky UFT contract that guarantees ATRs created by closing schools and excessing will continue to be paid.

Solution: follow the Chicago and Washington DC model of giving ATRs one year to find a job or they're out. With the UFT contract expiring on Halloween, there is speculation the UFT will pull a sellout and give them what they want. (See Jennifer Medina's article - for which she interviewed me but I didn't make the cut- in today's Times).

Problem #2: This is the point I made to Jenny Medina. With an internal election coming this Jan/March, can the Unity/Mulgrew operation afford to give up the ATRs before then? Not that they expect to lose, but with almost every teacher in the system facing ATRdom, the fright factor might drive votes to the ICE/TJC slate and provide a sense of a growing and credible opposition.

Historically, the UFT/Unity machine comes in with a contract timed to the internal election, usually between November and January. So, there should be a contract signed soon after the mayoral election without any open attacks on ATRs, other than some definitive buyout offers, which is actually part of the 2005 contract. Now, there might be some hidden stuff in there. Like a "guarantee" for protection of ATRs that in reality will turn out to have no teeth.

Marjorie Stamberg comments on the Times article urging people to be vigilant:

Last year's demonstration at Tweed is a key reason why the DOE was forced to step back on its constant teacher-bashing and vilification of ATRs. Action by the ranks was important in getting UFT officialdom to try to deal with the problem they helped created in the first place by giving up seniority transfers and agreeing to principal control of hiring and the phony "open market" -- key elements of the corporate agenda for "education reform."

Make sure to watch the video I made of that crazy day - The Video the UFT Doesn't Want You To See: The ATR Rally


A Village Voice hit job on ATRs?

Gotham School gals Anna Philips and Phylissa Cramer wrote a disappointing piece on ATRs for the Village Voice (The City's Bid to Save Cash Leaves New Teachers Out in the Cold), that some teachers are viewing as part of the hit job on ATRs. The piece is all sympathetic for those poor new teachers (and most likely much more wonderful than any ATR) whose hopes about getting a job were dashed by the existence of those foul ATRs. There's not one quote from an ATR who's been screwed, but Ariel Sack's attack on the ATRs in her school is referenced. TILT!!

Here is one interesting point in the Philips/Cramer piece:

Much could depend on the outcome of the UFT's latest contract negotiations, which began last month. Teachers, city officials, and labor experts are speculating that the city will try to negotiate a time limit for how long teachers can remain in the ATR pool. The city says the reserve teachers—who are guaranteed a full salary—are costing the system millions of dollars that otherwise could be used to bring in new teachers who principals want to hire. Already, the DOE is pressuring ATRs harder than ever to find jobs, for the first time requiring them to interview at schools with openings in their field and to attend job fairs. Those who don't are subject to the department's disciplinary process. Chancellor Klein has said repeatedly that he would like to see a time limit placed on the hiring process, giving ATRs nine months to a year to find a new position before being terminated.

"The entire ATR situation is the result of a failed management strategy," says Dick Riley, a UFT spokesman. He insists the union is no happier about the ATR situation than the city is: "The DOE was aware that as it closed schools and cut back programs, veteran teachers would become available for new assignments, yet it continued to recruit new teachers. The result has been that some newcomers did not get the jobs they had been led to expect, and many veteran teachers are now working as substitutes."

NY State plans massive school closings

Then comes this NY Post reporter Yoav Gonen article (State charting new course for old HS's) that expands the idiocy, as the state wants to close a number of large high schools and create, not only thousands of ATRs, but thousands of high school kids floating around looking for new schools.


Here are a few choice tidbits from Yoav's piece:

State officials are seeking to dismantle as many as a dozen large city high schools and turn many of the newly created smaller schools that will occupy their buildings into charters, The Post has learned. Officials said they're also looking to partner with outside managers, such as CUNY and New Visions for Public Schools, to help run some of the newly formed schools. The controversial plan will be included in New York's application for a share of $4.3 billion in federal education aid, known as Race to the Top, which requires states to detail how they'll turn around their lowest-performing schools.

....this marks the first time that charter-school managers, who operate less than a handful of high schools in the city, have been asked to get involved in such restructuring.

sources said schools that are likely to make the list include Columbus and Gompers high schools in The Bronx, and Sheepshead Bay HS in Brooklyn -- although the principal at Sheepshead Bay denied her school would be on the list.

Schools on the state's annual list of failing schools -- including Boys and Girls HS in Brooklyn and even a number of middle schools -- are also likely contenders.

"There is not going to be a person in New York state who will be able to defend any of the schools that end up on our replacement list," state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said at a recent conference. "It's not going to be a controversial list."

Chicago/Duncan model of school of school closings shows fault lines of policy

Merryl Tisch ought to read the report about the failure of Duncan's school closing policies in Chicago Report Questions Duncan’s Policy of Closing Failing Schools. With the emphasis on charters, they need to get that charter cap lifted and the pressure to do so to get that stimulus Race to the top money will be intense. But be assured, after they close almost every large high school and the city is awash in ATRs and a floating band of kids with no schools to go to, we will be reading a similar report in a few years. Unless they cover it up.

This story about the failures of the Ed Deform policy in the urban area with the longest history of mayoral control and ed deform was almost buried in the NY Times yesterday exposing so much of the ed deform program of closing schools. I included the Ed Week article and some comments by Leonie Haimson in my post of the reports at Norms Notes.

But here are some excerpts:

“If the findings are correct­—for Chicago, at least—we have to question the value of closing schools and creating the dislocations that would attend those school closings for little or no constructive result,” said Daniel L. Duke, a professor of educational leadership at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.


Julie Woestehoff, the executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, a Chicago advocacy group often critical of Mr. Duncan’s initiatives as district chief, said the study’s findings are more evidence that the district’s reform strategies are not working. The group has called for the end of Renaissance 2010, a district program that closes low-performing schools and replaces them with charter and charterlike schools run by private groups.

“When Arne Duncan announced this program, he said it was going to lead to dramatically better education for the children. We were hoping that would be true,” Ms. Woestehoff said. “There hasn’t really been any payoff from all the money that has been spent and all the disruption that has been caused to communities and especially to students.”

Chicago’s school closings returned to the spotlight this fall after a high school student was brutally beaten and killed in a fight near a South Side high school. Local activists have contended that the school closings created a dangerous mixture of students from rival neighborhoods. Mr. Duncan said earlier this month that blaming school closings for the uptick in violence was “absolutely ridiculous.” ("Outcry Against Violence," Oct. 14, 2009.)

New Haven teacher contract
The lunacy continues with Thursday's editorial in the Times on the New Haven schools contract, where our old friend and Klein Klone Garth Harries, who was hired on the recommendation of Ed Notes (Garth Harries Leaves DOE as Ed Notes Helps Pass Klein Lemons) is doing his magic. As I reported based on my conversation with a New Haven official, Harries was hired specifically because his ties to the BloomKlein administration were thought to give the city a leg up on getting stimulus money. Note the praise for Randi's AFT/UFT:

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is right to push the nation’s schools to develop teacher evaluation systems that take student achievement into account. The teachers’ unions, which have long opposed the idea, are beginning to realize that they can either stand on the sidelines or help develop these systems. We hope they will get involved and play a constructive role.

The politically savvy American Federation of Teachers has decided that it is better to get in the game. In New Haven, the union has agreed in its new contract to develop an evaluation system in collaboration with the city. Secretary Duncan praised the agreement lavishly. But the accolades seem premature given that crucial details have yet to be worked out.

Leonie Haimson connects the dots between the school closings, New Haven, and Chicago stories

As ususal, Leonie Haimson puts it all together with these comments, which offer more of a defense of teachers rights than we ever hear coming from the UFT:

Today’s Times editorial delivers faint praise for the New Haven teacher union deal –because “administrators will be able to remove the entire staff at a failing school and require teachers to reapply for their jobs. This should allow the new principals to build stronger teams.”

(Teachers who are not rehired at these so-called turnaround schools will have the right to be placed elsewhere, at least until they are evaluated, which means that New Haven could still end up passing around teachers who should be ushered out of the system.)

Why should any teacher be summarily be fired unless the decision is based on some objective criteria? Again, the stigma of being associated with a failing school is enough for the editors, which will provide a powerful disincentive for any experienced teacher to choose to move to a low-performing school. This is akin to blaming the workers at a GM factory for the conditions that led to the firm’s bankruptcy. Should they be barred from every being employed in the industry again if Toyota set up shop in the factory?


The Times editors also criticize the deal for requiring that evaluations be made on multiple factors – with the factors weighted by a committee including teachers and administrators.

To be taken seriously, the evaluation system must be based on a clear formula in which the student achievement component carries the preponderance of the weight. It must also include a fine-grained analysis that tells teachers where they stand.

The Times, like Michelle Rhee, now implicitly equates “student achievement” with standardized test scores – without openly admitting that these words are being used as an euphemism because of the widespread unpopularity (and unreliability) of using test scores alone.

Indeed, there is no system that can reliably tie teacher performance overall to student test scores; there are too many uncontrolled variables and hidden factors. .

Meanwhile, Sam Dillon covers the report we posted yesterday, showing that most of the students who were transferred out of closing schools in Chicago did no better elsewhere, and the disruption in their lives caused their test scores to dip in the months following their transfer

Report Questions Duncan's Policy of Closing Failing Schools

… the report’s findings are likely to provoke new debate about Mr. Duncan’s efforts to encourage the use of Chicago’s turnaround strategy nationwide. He has set the goal of closing and overhauling 1,000 failing schools a year nationwide, for five years, and Congress appropriated $3 billion in the stimulus law to finance the effort.

Too bad the Times editors didn’t read this article first.

Now, it’s scary that, according to the NY Post, the model of closing schools and giving them over to charter schools and other management companies like New Visions is coming to NYC – as part of the state’s “Race to the top” application. No mention of the fact that the small schools that already exist and the charters enroll fewer low-performing students in order to get better results.

The difference between the school closure model and the “turn around” model is more semantics than anything else. In both cases, the strategy seems like a blunt instrument: focused on replacing teachers and students with a new crew, rather than actually improving conditions on the ground to allow them to become more successful. I predict that neither New Visions nor the charter schools will be willing to take the bait unless they are given substantial financial subsidies, and/or allowed to pick and choose the students they want, while discharging most of those already in the building to parts unknown.


For more, see State charting new course for old HS's at http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/state_charting_new_course_for_old_MC67S9He0EtCWO0GKj56JP

This is the kind of stuff that should be in the NY Teacher. If I weren't supporting James Eterno, I would shout from the rooftops "Leonie for UFT president."

Fix Schools don't close them - one Bronx school claims to have done it

This story is one of the best I've heard to counter the Obama/Duncan/Klein/EEP program that the problem is the teachers. PS 85 in the Bronx is an example of a school that has turned around without restructuring.

I heard this report on NYC early this morning. They put resources in the school, trained teachers and addressed the discipline issue (the principal didn't throw the DOE crap that there are only discipline problems because of bad lessons. It should be heard in every hall of edcuational policy.

Beth Fertig at (WNYC)

Poverty Pimp Eva Moskowitz Steals Another Public School

photoshopped by David B.

... and another batch of teachers as ATRs are created

Patrick Sullivan writes at the NYC Parent Blog:

Bloomberg & Klein Send the State Assembly A Message

Excerpt:

The Times also confirms the PS 241 in Manhattan's District 3 will be replaced with a branch of the Eva Moskowitz charter chain, Harlem Success Academy.

What's news here is not just a new charter school opening but that the Bloomberg administration will convert a public school to a charter school without a majority vote of the parent body as required by state law. The elimination of the school will also require the neighborhood to be rezoned to reassign children to other schools left by the gap created by 241's closure. The administration has signaled that it will not seek the approval for rezoning from Distirct 3's Community Education Council, also required by state education law.

Clearly there is a message here. It was only a few weeks ago that members of the Assembly heavily criticized both the style and substance of Klein's management of the schools at a Manhattan hearing. In fact, PS 241 sits in the district of Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, the Education Committee member who captivated the hearing audience with his incisive questioning and witty responses to the usual DOE deflections. By openly flouting the law, Bloomberg and Klein are making it clear they are above any law and will do precisely as they please.

PS 150K Update

Our correspondent reporting on the situation at PS 150K, a school slated to close, sends this follow-up to a previous report.

There was a union person sent to 150K today to talk to the teachers about their rights and what to do as the year closes. Well, she was unaware that the school was getting a charter school. She then had little to say to the staff. The only thing they were told was that the current principal could only select folks to stay in the phase out school based on grade level seniority. Most of the teachers in the 7th and 8th grades, which are staying, are not fully licensed and would have to be let go.

A woman from the neighborhood said several folks had heard from others outside the school neighborhood that a charter was set to go in there even before the school staff were informed.

Next week someone from the DOE is scheduled to visit and speak with the staff.

PS 150: The Real Game Behind Closing Schools

Everyone knows if you close a school and replace the teachers, nothing much will change. Except that the school with a newer crop of inexperienced teachers will be much more unruly. In 2006, PS 225 in Rockaway was reorganized and all teachers had to reapply for their jobs, with a small handful being retained. Now that school is being closed and we have been looking for the signs that they will attempt to claim success by somehow changing the school population, not an easy thing. NY State Senate leader Malcolm Smith runs a charter school about 2 miles away that is based in quonset huts. Maybe they'll figure out a way to move that school into PS 225. Who knows?

Parents and teachers know the key to showing the kind of results that can be used politically is to change the kids.

This story about another closing school just came in over the transom from a source:

PS 150 in Brownsville is one of the schools slated to close (phased out). When the first parent meeting was held the DOE could not (and would not) answer their questions about the transition. All they said was we don't know. Parents were upset, but did not do anything immediately. Monday, the school - parents and teachers - were told that the "new school" was going to be a charter school with all that it implies. It was a small group of parents, but they found out their children will not automatically move from 150 to the new school. NOW they are angry and are planning some type of demonstration. But I fear it is too late. The DOE has spoken. This is not happening in all the schools that are closing. But, I wonder how many are getting this treatment.

Here is one thing we know. The UFT will send someone in to tell the teachers it is a fait accompli and nothing can be done. And good luck as an ATR.

The Union Is Useless...

...was a comment I heard repeatedly today while handing out the ICE leaflet on ATRs at a school slated to close. When I mentioned the union, teachers just laughed.

What coulda/shoulda/woulda happened with a union that was not laughable? Concerted action at all schools simultaneously.

Instead, the union is part of the DOE ATR creating machine.

An ICE committee is reaching out to ATRs and putting their situation in the context of closing schools based on high stakes testing and the UFT sellout of seniority. The committee is meeting this Wed. Jan 7 at the Skylight Diner 34th St and 9th Ave at 5 pm. We will be preparing a leaflet and are open to input. Come on down.

Remember, Ich Bin Ein ATR

ICE Video on MS 399X Protest

ICE video on the "DEC 17 - MS399 Protest against closing/phase out designation by city" is posted.

Click to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqGPK_kK3MA&feature=channel_page

Teachers at Closing Bronx School Hold Protest....

...UFT will be there in ususal role of undermining militancy.

Oh, Randi, the enabler of closing schools, will be there to cry crocodile tears and commiserate. UFT officials will be there to tell teachers their "rights" - their rights to join the growing ATR pool from which they will have to race around the city applying for jobs with all the other ATRs and then be branded incompetent a year later if they are not hired and then with the help of the UFT be councelled on how to make a settlement with the DOE.

And sadly, the teachers at MS 399X, grasping at straws, will have no choice but to buy it.

Imagine if every school being closed held a protest on the same day all over the city? That will never happen with a UFT that plays the role of easing the closings for the DOE, not fighting them.

If one day there is a massively organized opposition to Unity, this is exactly what could happen. But that day is still far away.

When Schools Close

My column for the Dec. 12 edition of The Wave (www.rockawave.com)

The geniuses at the Tweed Courthouse (the HQ of the NYCDOE) have done it again. Joel Klein and Mike Bloomberg have been in charge of the NYC schools for seven years and they still don’t have a clue. But they have to make it look like they’re doing something, so they race around closing schools. Closing schools has been a failed policy. The mantra should be, “fix schools, don’t close them.” Like, have they ever tried the idea of drastically reducing class size?

Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters has written on the NYC Public School Parents blog:
The Institute for Education Studies has concluded that that class size reduction is one of only four, evidence-based reforms that through rigorous, randomized experiments have been proven to work – the "gold standard" of research. None of the strategies attempted by the NYC Department of Education under Joel Klein's leadership were cited.

But Joel Klein has always pooh-poohed class size reduction with the response that high quality teachers are more important. Our response has been that with smaller class sizes the overall quality of teaching will go up across the board.

The act of closing a school is a deflection of responsibility and an open admission by Klein that he has no answers. After all, he is in charge. He can change the administration of a school at any time. But that’s not the fish Klein wants to fry. His minions have put in these administrators to run most schools in the city and their continued problems can be laid directly at his door. So, it becomes “blame the teacher” time.

The most recent list of schools to be closed includes PS 225 on Beach 110th Street here in Rockaway. Howie Schwach’s front page story has a list of exactly how this plan will be implemented. Tweed arrives at these plans by tossing a bunch of post-it notes in the air and those that land inside a square are the ones implemented. More of that rearranging of deck chairs on a sinking ship.

They have a particular problem with PS 225. In Schwach’s article, a parent says, “This school was closed once before. They got rid of all the teachers, some of who were very good. They kept the administration and the kids, who are the real problems in the school. What good did it do?” Over two-thirds of the teachers had to find new jobs and the others had to reapply and be accepted by the administration.

In the world of the BloomKlein model of education reform, the lack of quality teaching is the problem with poor academic performance. So how did changing the teachers three years ago at PS 225 work out?

Now let’s get this straight. We know there have been some problems at PS 225. But Tweed doesn’t care about the problems parents and teachers worry about. They care about data. And the widgets (or idjits) at the DOE looked at some numbers and made the decision to close the school – again. Guess what? Watch them do it again in three years.

There’s been a lot of focus on the “D” grade the school received on the school report card, another bogus attempt to create a phony accountability system by Klein, where everyone is accountable but him. These grades are 85% test-driven and ignore so many other factors. Leonie Haimson suggested we focus less on the grade and explore the more reliable state accountability status of PS 225 and compare it to other schools that are not closing down. “We simply have no idea why DOE chooses certain schools to close and others to keep open,” she said. “If there is a problem with the principal the DOE can remove him and put another in place without closing the school.” People who want the school to stay open can do this and make their case to the public. But with a union that goes along and gets along, teachers are left to the wolves. Imagine if there was a real union out there that made a big issue of this! Nah, not in this universe.

The “new” plan for PS 225 now calls for two separate schools instead of the current K-8, which was supposedly forced down the throats of the school administration to relieve the pressure on the other middle schools in Rockaway. Beginning in September 2009, a Pre-K to 5th grade school will open, which will ultimately go up to 5th grade and a 6-8 middle school with a different administration will open. See, now we can have two high priced principals and sets of administrators and office staffs all fighting over the same space. Like, I said, geniuses. The “old” DOE policy seems to have been to form lots of K-8 and 6-12 schools. Is that policy now dead? Or will it be resurrected when the “new” policy become old. How about trying this? Form two separate schools with odd and even numbered grades. We can have a school with grades 1, 3, 5 and 7 and another with K, 2, 4, 6, and 8. Ok, I’m joking. But don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen.

The teachers at PS 225 now face the prospect of being added to the growing ATR (Absentee Teacher Reserve) list, where those that don’t get jobs (while brand new teachers do) will be relegated to substituting and doing scut work around the school or being sent off into the hinterland to other schools while many of whatever union rights they had left disappear. Oh, yes, there is always that Open Market System of job searching, so vaunted by the UFT (Unfortunate Federation of Teachers.)

I’ve been working with groups around the city to defend and rally around the ATR atrocity created by the disastrous 2005 contract agreed to by our wonderful UFT leaders, who have broken a Guinness record by selling more teachers down the river in the shortest amount time.

Teacher quality
Speaking of sell-outs, I’m really getting sick of the line being pushed that the single most important factor in student achievement is teacher quality, something the UFT unfortunately signs onto. That has lead to a focus on so-called accountability where teachers are being measured by the scores of their students (again, something agreed to by the UFT). Many teachers in NYC will be getting report cards supposedly based on the value added approach, which measures how much their students have grown (not height, unfortunately). But researchers have pointed out that the value added approach is an unproven commodity. And even if it was, we still question whether the narrow test score approach that leaves so much out about what teachers do is an adequate way to judge a teacher’s quality. There will never be a true measure. But here is what I know about judging whether someone is a good teacher: you know one when you see one.


Related: No evidence of improved outcomes at small schools