Take me home, West Virginia - How will Red for Ed respond as Extreme Voucher Law passed to decimate Public Ed?

I see some of my colleagues salivating over the state teacher strike in West Virginia. Don't hold you breath here in NY. Maybe when the conditions of teachers ... Ed Notes, 2018 -

March 29, 2021 by Norm Scott

There was much hope here in Mudville about a trigger of militancy in NYC -  but I pointed out teachers in West Virginia were eating pet food - don't forget  - it's the economy, stupid, not the ideology.

[ See Diane Ravitch comment:West Virginia Passes Sweeping Voucher Bill].

One of my fave warriors against ed deform, Jennifer Berkshire with her writing

partner Jack Schneider, authors of Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door were interviewed today with one of my fave podcasters, Sam Seder, on Majority Report - listen to the wide ranging discussion of how ed deform got into the door and where it intends to take us to the end of public ed  - (https://youtu.be/ZX05_S17u9M). But let me focus on just one aspect of the interview.

Jennifer (also check out their podcast - Have you Heard) pointed out that West Virginia legislature passed the most oppressive voucher law you can imagine which fundamentally can kill the entire WV public school system and turn the state into what happened in New Orleans. I've been worried since the pandemic began that this will be an opportunity to tie a noose around public school systems - and watch all the people who are screaming about how important it is for kids to be in school jump ship to virtual learning when it becomes convenient. Jennifer pointed out how fundamentally this is all about saving money and since labor is the major cost of education, de-unionizing and de-skilling teachers is the goal. Since teacher unions are one of the major bulwarks of the Dem Party, I see the threat of killing our unions as greater than the voter suppression movements by Republicans.

The West Virginia story also got mentioned in the libertatian anti-union publication of Mike Antonucci - with maybe a bit of glee with the snarky Remember West Virginia?  But you know I still like Mike's coverage because it takes me out of the bubble and also feeds my own libertarian and cynical streak.

I get the snark since the left made such a major deal about the Red for Ed movement that began in WV and spread to other red states - Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona. The teacher unions in these right to work states are fairly weak and without a grassroots movement spanning left and right, the ability to resist Republican moves to destroy the movement will be weak if there is an resistance.

My thoughts went back to how a red state which gave Trump his biggest per centage victory despite a long pro-labor history had a wildcat teacher strike that closed every school in the state. There are no charters in WV and at the time I thought the powers that be will never allow teachers to wield such power again. And the recent voucher law was retribution.  

The question is what will be the response and if there isn't one does that mean red for ed is wounded or dead?

The West Virginia teacher strike action three years ago (see wiki) and the New Yorker take) led to all kinds of speculation and inspired entire books, even from the Unity caucus resident leftist Leo Casey has a book  - and an interview with Randi - The Teacher Insurgency: A Conversation with Leo Casey and Randi Weingarten. but even more so from groups to the left of Leo - Labor Notes, Jacobin - see links at the bottom.

I covered the strike as did James on the ICE blog and started searching links on Ed Notes and google but there is so much out there I realized why I don't blog so much anymore - providing full context takes work. Do a full seach for West Virginia in the search box on top of the side panel and you will get loads of stuff but here a few quick hits:

West Virginia: Do-It-Yourself Class Struggle ... - Ed Notes Online

ednotesonline.blogspot.com › 2018/03 › west-virginia-do.

West Virginia: Do-It-Yourself Class Struggle - Jacobin. One lesson from the West Virginia teachers' strike is clear: nobody is coming to save us. We'll have to do it ...

West Virginia Mountain mamma, take me home ... - Ed Notes Online

And I wrote: I see some of my colleagues salivating over the state teacher strike in West Virginia. Don't hold you breath here in NY. Maybe when the conditions of teachers ... [fill in the blank  along the lines of SUCK AS BAD.

Given that many teachers in WV were probably Trump supporters, the strike made for some interesting analysis and we did hear that socialists and DSA played a role in the organizing efforts. Also interesting was the role the state and national unions from the AFT and NEA played both in the level of cooperation and cmpetition. I talked to some teachers at the time who told me some school had members of each and they do compete for members. But as usual, they were tailing behind the rank and file - both right and left and center wing in militancy, often urging caution. 

One of the outcomes of the strike was the formation of a statewide rank and file caucus - WV United Caucus - along the lines of other left DSA type caucuses like in Chicago, Los Angelos and MORE in the UFT. (I had intended to write about them when I first heard of them). They seem to have been somewhat quiet and we would expect some reaction to the voucher law.

Mike Antoucci also covered the red for ed strikes from the libertatian-right and here is his take today where he mentions that the caucus didn't win any positions in the state union elections but I imagine those elections are not very democratic. 

Here is his full piece today - with a bit of the usual cynicism.

https://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2021/03/29/remember-west-virginia/

Remember West Virginia?

We haven’t heard much from West Virginia since teachers there launched the 2018 strike that inspired the #RedforEd movement. It looks as though when the shouting stopped, there wasn’t anything to write about.

Most of the educators who ran for office in 2018 lost, and those that won were mostly incumbents. The group that organized the strike didn’t fare any better in internal union elections. The WV United Caucus has been silent for months.

The press moved on to other pastures, leaving Jayme Metzgar of The Federalist alone to report this:

Last week, with very little noise or fanfare, the West Virginia legislature passed the most expansive Education Savings Account program in America. While ESAs in most states are only open to a small percentage of children, the new West Virginia Hope Scholarship will be available to 90 percent of schoolchildren in the state. Every child currently enrolled in public school is eligible, plus those newly aging in.

“The unions don’t like the bill, but our phones aren’t ringing. We aren’t getting emails. It’s nothing like last time,” said the chair of the Senate Education Committee.

There has been little follow-up to the changes, or lack thereof, in the #RedforEd states. Is no news good news?

 And some links from the left:

The Myths and Realities of the Education Strike Wave - Jacobin

www.jacobinmag.com › 2019/04 › red-state-revolt-revi...

Apr 26, 2019 — Review of Red State Revolt, by Eric Blanc (Verso, 2019). There has been a tendency to mythologize West Virginia's nine-day education strike.

The Lessons of West Virginia - Jacobin

www.jacobinmag.com › 2018/03 › west-virginia-wildc...

Mar 9, 2018 — By: Eric Blanc. West Virginia's historic wildcat strike has the potential to change everything. West Virginia teachers, students, and supporters hold signs on a Morgantown street as they continue their strike on March 2, 2018 in ...

West Virginia's Political Strike Wins Big - Jacobin

jacobinmag.com › 2019/02 › west-virginia-teachers-pol...

Feb 20, 2019 — By: Eric Blanc. Within hours of going on strike, West Virginia educators defeated a dangerous education privatization bill. They've again ...

The Teacher Strikes Could Set Off a Private Sector Strike ...

inthesetimes.com › article › teacher-strikes-eric-blanc-re...

May 15, 2019 — In his new book Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and ... writer and former teacher Eric Blanc details the history of these teachers strikes while ... As rank-and-file West Virginia strike leader Emily Comer told Blanc, ...

The DSA's dishonest and self-serving account of the US ...

www.wsws.org › articles › 2019/08/08 › reds-a08

Aug 8, 2019 — A new book by Democratic Socialists of America member Eric Blanc reviewing the role of the DSA during the teacher strikes in West Virginia, ...

Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working ...

www.amazon.com › Red-State-Revolt-Teachers-Politics

55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia Teachers' Strike by Elizabeth Catte Paperback $19.18 ... “Eric Blanc's compelling new book, Red State Revolt, is a thoroughly ...

Randi and Lily Are Democratic Party Super Delegates

While much of the Democratic Party has savaged teachers and their unions on ed deform, the leadership of this unions is part of the structure of the party. We know where they stand on Hillary/Bernie and since a good chunk of the members are anti-Hillary from the right and the left, their stand is very divisive and diverts us from the major battle. Randi was traipsing around Iowa and New Hampshire and giving credence to Teach for America by showing up to speak at their conference last weekend.

Diane Ravitch is taking a neutral stance on Hillary/Bernie and explains why in a reply to a comment on her post Hillary Won More Delegates in New Hampshire than Bernie.

Now I find this an interesting post in that while talking about the super delegates she never mentions that the presidents of the 2 teacher unions with almost 4 million members are out and out Hillary supporters who will be overriding the popular vote if they can. Randi has been tweeting that Bernie and Hillary basically tied in New Hampshire among Democrats and it was the independent vote that gave him such a big margin. I guess independents who reject Hillary don't count in the general election. It is the typical stance that the Republican choice will be so awful, everyone will hold their noses and vote for Hillary anyway. Listen, I would probably do so myself.

Rob Rendo is disturbed enough to offer the following:

How rigged the system is:
Please review the following list for names that you recognize among the superdelegates.
You will see Lily Eskelsen Garcia and Randi Weingarten right there, undermining the one man one vote fundamental to our democracy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Party_superdelegates,_2016
Will you sign the petition to let voters decide?
http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/tell-the-democratic-superdel?source=s.fwd&r_by=4412807
Will you sign this petition to the DNC to end voter manipulation?
https://www.change.org/p/democratic-national-committee-dnc-destroy-and-dismantle-the-superdelegacy-end-election-manipulation
Please forward widely
Thank you

Randi undermining democracy? I'm shocked, just shocked. Any photoshoppers out there to take these cartoons and put Randi in them?

EIA, Antonucci on Union Hypocrisy on edTPA Partnership with Pearson

edTPA is a high-level collaboration between the education establishment and the poster child for corporate education reform. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on which side of the fence you occupy, but let’s not pretend it isn’t exactly what it appears to be.... EIA, The Continuing Saga of edTPA

Mike calls a spade a spade. The NEA and AFT are in up to their ears with the ed deformers no matter how they equivocate. Until we get union leaderships that refuse to cross the line, public education is behind the 8-ball.

What Mike doesn't do is spill the case against edTPA, which is about filtering certain people out of teaching, not improving the quality of teaching. The outrageous costs alone associated with teacher certification in edTPA leaves a certain class of economic people out -- you know that ed deform wants those Ivy League TFA types as the model, not people like those I taught.

The Continuing Saga of edTPA

Posted: 13 Oct 2015 10:27 AM PDT

Sympathy or schadenfreude – you can take your choice when it comes to the edTPA predicament in which the teachers’ unions find themselves.
edTPA is a performance assessment system for teacher candidates and it has all the education establishment pedigree you might want. It was developed by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and Linda Darling-Hammond. It is supported by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). NEA and AFT officers sit on its policy advisory board, and the assessment was “purposefully designed to reflect the teaching tasks that are represented in the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as it pertains to the skills and competencies attained as part of teacher preparation.” The unions have promoted national board certification since its inception.
Portfolios and video-taped lessons require a sophisticated scoring system and staff to operate it. The options for edTPA were limited, and why not choose the same folks who score submissions from national board candidates? Alas, those folks work at Pearson.
Pearson is part of the Axis of Education Evil, so a large group of union activists oppose edTPA, either not knowing or not caring how deeply involved their own organizations are in keeping it going. NEA has responded to this opposition with a number of contortions, and now the administrators of edTPA are in the unenviable position of trying to distance themselves from the people scoring their assessment.
edTPA just released its latest administrative report and came to the conclusion that edTPA is working great! It’s this kind of congratulatory self-assessment that led to the obsession with standardized tests in the first place.
But I’m not qualified to judge edTPA as an assessment system. I only want to read what they say about Pearson, and they come off pretty defensive about it.

SCALE is the sole developer of edTPA, and Stanford University is the exclusive owner of edTPA. The university has an agreement with Evaluation Systems, a unit of Pearson, to provide operational support for the national administration of edTPA.
…The design framework for edTPA and constructs assessed were established prior to the partnership with Evaluation Systems/Pearson and were informed by earlier work led by SCALE staff (National Board and PACT). Evaluation Systems was chosen as the operational partner to ensure that edTPA assessment development built by the profession and supported by foundation funds could be scaled up for national use. That is, the Evaluation Systems/Pearson group has no authority or decision-making role in the design and development of edTPA.

Translation: Our assessment is untainted by Pearson. Alternative translation: If you hate our assessment, you can’t blame Pearson. In any case, it is clear that Pearson is absolutely indispensable to edTPA:

Stanford University/SCALE engaged Evaluation Systems, a group of Pearson, as an operational partner in March 2011 to make edTPA available to a national educational audience. As the operational partner, Evaluation Systems provides the management system required for multistate use of edTPA, including the infrastructure that facilitates administration of the assessment for submission, scoring, and reporting of results from both national and regional scoring.
…Pearson (through edTPA.com – the candidate-facing program web site) provides operational assessment services associated with registration, scoring, and reporting of edTPA scores. Assessment services include use of the technology platform which registers the candidate, receives the portfolio, coordinates the logistics of scoring the portfolio, and reports the results to the candidate. Additionally, a faculty feedback feature is available through the Pearson Portfolio system, allowing candidates to request formative feedback from a designated faculty member based on SCALE’s guidelines of acceptable support. Assessment services also include the recruiting and management of qualified educators who serve as scorers, scoring supervisors, or trainers. Scorers are trained using a training curriculum developed by SCALE, specifically for use with edTPA rubrics. Scorers use standardized scoring procedures and are calibrated and monitored during scoring. Pearson also works with EPPs and state agencies to securely report candidate scores as appropriate. Through the ResultsAnalyzer tool, stakeholders are able to review and utilize their data sets as provided on each reporting date.
…Pearson uses a well-established and reliable software platform to screen submissions for originality of content.

edTPA is a high-level collaboration between the education establishment and the poster child for corporate education reform. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on which side of the fence you occupy, but let’s not pretend it isn’t exactly what it appears to be.

Can Unity Caucus Take Over the NEA? Over Their Dead Body - Plus - What Role for Stronger Together?

July 5, 2015, 9AM

Control of NYSUT could be even bigger than you think. It doesn't look likely to pass, but NEA will vote on a constitutional amendment that would give NYSUT (and the other merged affiliates) full representation at the NEA convention. Were that to happen, NYSUT could send twice as many delegates as California - and California wags the NEA dog on a lot of things currently. NYSUT would gain a huge amount of influence in NEA - which explains why they're low-keying their involvement in this and why there will be a big campaign to vote it down... Mike Antonucci in email to Ed Notes, June 21, 2015

Mike A will be reporting today or tomorrow on this AFT attempt to embed the NYC Unity machine in the NEA. Don't bet that the larger NEA will allow the smaller AFT shark to chew them up.

With the NEA convention wrapping up in New Orleans we hear words of the Lilly/Randi lovefest. Lilly spoke at the AFT convention last year and Randi did the same this year at the NEA. But don't look for a merger of the two national unions. Maybe more cooperation, but merger, no. Remember - Lilly is term-limited as all NEA presidents are. Randi is a monarchical system of NYC Unity Caucus controlling NY State Unity Caucus (over 650 thousand of the 1.5 million member AFT) which controls the national version of Unity, Progressive Caucus (unlike Unity NYC in that there is no loyalty oath - even I'm a member for $25.)

But the almost 100 year war between the NEA and AFT has underlying reasons and the NEA will never accept the AFT distorted version of democracy. Shanker's idea of merger at the state level as a way to force Unity troops into the NEA was thwarted by poison pill like restrictions on merged state unions. Thus the merged NYSUT cannot just pile in its 800 Unity NYC delegates to take control. There is a limited formula.

Apparently Randi and Mulgrew are trying another end run at the NEA convention to create the Unity machine there and it will fail once again.

The wrinkle Mike didn't report on was the revolt inside NYSUT by Stronger Together in 2014 with many small locals signing on to ST - many of them pre-merger NEA locals - the historic divide between the AFT big city vs the NEA smaller towns. None of the big city teacher unions in NY State have deserted state Unity - which was briefly known as Revive - or Revile as we prefer to call them.

Funny stories emerging from inside NYC Unity about how annoyed they are about ST and actually blame MORE for it - Mike Schirtzer was elected to the ST Exec Board as a MORE rep -- but the reality is that the people who began ST contacted MORE first in the fall of 2013 - and since then a strong alliance has grown. At Monday's ICE meeting we informed people of the backroom stuff we can't talk about in public - in fact I had to ask certain people to leave temporarily due to concerns about leaking to Unity.

I posted commentary on June 21 EIA's Mike Antonucci's piece The Growing National Teacher Union Militancy Movement (earlier today I posted sections of another piece he wrote at Ed Next Teacher Unions and The War Within.)

I emailed Mike because he didn't cover the Stronger Together and he wrote back.

I had actually written several paragraphs about the last NYSUT election, but I cut them before posting because it was too much of a tangent to explain about Iannuzzi and Mulgrew and Magee. It doesn't fit neatly into the box I created, though I think NYSUT is ripe for a similar contest between establishmentarians and militants.

The hurdle, as you well know, is UFT. It's hard to imagine anyone upending Unity under the rules in place. Probably would take a corruption scandal involving Mulgrew and his entourage to topple the structure.

Or maybe a Supreme Court decision abolishing the agency fees.

[See Arthur Goldstein July 4th special: Baby, Baby, Where Did Our Union Go?]

Revolt Brewing in NEA As Van Roekel Does a Randi, EIA on NEA Convention

The info coming from the NEA RA is nuts! They want teachers to pay 3 bucks to support the common core (!!??) and check out what D. Van R [NEA Pres] said about "Quality" vs collective bargaining here.  --- MORE member in an email

"There is growing internal discord over the direction of the union – or at least the perceived direction of the union – by those who oppose Common Core, Race to the Top, and a lot of other things going on in public education. They believe NEA is selling out to corporate reform." ... Mike Antonucci at EIA

With the NEA national convention beginning tomorrow (as it does every July 4th) in Atlanta, the national unions' caving in to ed deform is coming front and center in debates -- and in union elections (see recent Newark and Washington).

I extracted the DVR comments from Fred Klonsky's post. Read it and weep as DVR tries to out Randi Randi.

That with the defeat of collective bargaining in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, the NEA will focus less on those kind of issues and focus more on issues of teaching quality, particularly the implementation of the Common Core.
He was quite aggressive in his advocacy of the Common Core, throwing down the challenge to those on the Right and the Left who have been critical of it. DVR said that if you have nothing better to offer, step back.
Putting aside the content for a moment, I found his tone incredibly belligerent.

Posted on facebook:

Teachers Laugh

2:52pm Jul 1

Call the NEA at 202-833-4000. When you get through, press 6 to talk to a person . . http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/quality-control-at-the-nea-ra/ Tell Pres. Van Roekel this is not acceptable and to resign. "That with the defeat of collective bargaining in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, the NEA will focus less on those kind of issues and focus more on issues of teaching quality, particularly the implementation of the Common Core." - D. Van Roekel

See Raging Horse with a great piece on the NEA:

Raginghorseblog

Bill Gates Continues To Purchase Major Teacher Unions and At Discount Rates -
Below, as he often does, Mike Antonucci gets right to the core. He will be  reporting daily from Atlanta -- I've been reading his NEA reports for many years and they are really inside stuff with good analysis -- as long as you don't forget Mike is anti-union  -- but doesn't fudge facts.

Subscribe to EIA Intercepts if you want to get the daily updates on NEA doings.

Away to Atlanta

---

Away to Atlanta

Posted: 01 Jul 2013 09:28 AM PDT

Heading out today to attend the National Education Association Representative Assembly and will post my first item from Atlanta tomorrow evening.

There is growing internal discord over the direction of the union – or at least the perceived direction of the union – by those who oppose Common Core, Race to the Top, and a lot of other things going on in public education. They believe NEA is selling out to corporate reform.

They have evidence to support that position, but on the other hand I recall a pretty big speech last year about “social justice patriots,” which seemed to promise a new, Karen Lewis-style approach to union issues. So I’m a little confused about where NEA thinks it is going and am hoping for a little clarity this week.

These arguments inside the union aren’t new, of course, but in the fat years they were papered over. Now they have become crucial due to collective bargaining restrictions and falling membership. The Wisconsin Education Association Council provides an illustration.

Each state affiliate sends delegates to the NEA convention based on its membership numbers. Back in 2005, WEAC was proud to announce that it had sent more than 300 members to the convention as delegates. This year, WEAC announced it was sending about 175.

So the internal direction issue is further complicated by what effect it will have on membership numbers and member activism. What excites your cadres might turn off your rank-and-file. The debate itself could lead to more members participating in union matters, or it could neutralize them and make them unwilling to get involved in that can of worms.

Dennis Van Roekel is about to enter his final year as NEA president. This might also be a factor. Heir-apparent Lily Eskelsen Garcia is a much more dynamic and media-savvy individual and may have an entirely different approach when she accedes to the presidency in September 2014. There’s at least the possibility that whatever is decided this week will be relatively short-lived.

In the meantime, relax and enjoy this first week of July. I’ll certainly let you know if the NEA delegates decide to disband and form the world’s largest racing centipede at the Peachtree Road Race.
 

AFT Membership: Do the Numbers Add Up?

How does AFT report 1.5 million members to the public, and 873,454 members to the U.S. Department of Labor?  --- EIA

In the short term, the relative increase in AFT strength will have no effect. But if through policies or pure luck AFT were to hold its ground while NEA continued to experience large losses in membership, it could cause a sea change in relations between the two national teachers’ unions. -  EIA

If AFT is changing to "solution-driven unionism," what does that make the current unionism? --- EIA - http://www.eiaonline.com

When the National Education Association announced it had lost 118,186 members.
 it made headlines early last month. So when Randi Weingarten said during her speech at the AFT convention 2 weeks ago that the membership had held steady (though at the Progressive Caucus meeting she said it had gone up) she did it with a touch of gloating. I was sitting with Lee Sustar in the press section and we were wondering about the numbers -- how could the total number of votes which is listed at around 800+ thousand. How does that jive with a 1.5 million membership?

EIA's Mike Antonucci explores some interesting aspects on the AFT. Always read Mike with the caveat that he brings an anti-union bias but his facts can be trusted and analysis taken seriously. His point about the relations between the NEA and AFT is an important one. I know a lot of people think Randi is ambitious in the sense of having an eye on a cabinet post while I think her real ambition is to be the head of a merged union of almost 4 million members, something Al Shanker may have dreamed of but could never attain. I will refrain from making any snide remarks about either of them. What was clear at both the AFT and NEA conventions was that there are no merger talks on the national level but there are talks on the state levels, which I feel is the real strategy -- one state at a time. (Note Mike's comments on the state mergers.)

Questions About the AFT Convention. The American Federation of Teachers wrapped up its biannual convention in Detroit, and a few items have me wondering:

a) How did AFT get its New York Times columnist to show up when NEA couldn't?

b) If AFT is changing to "solution-driven unionism," what does that make the current unionism?

c) It's not surprising that Vice President Joe Biden delivered essentially the same speech as he did to NEA, but couldn't the delegates dream up a different chant?

d) How did the mainstream media fail to identify exactly who was protesting Biden's speech?

e) Is it a good thing that AFT members can get a 25% discount on something like this?

Could AFT Membership Really Be Up?

The American Federation of Teachers claims it currently has 1,536,684 total members. This is noteworthy because it constitutes an increase of 552 members since 2010 – a period during which the National Education Association lost 118,186 members.

Your first reaction was probably the same as mine: That can’t be right. But after allowing for the utter lack of independent confirmation, and the idiosyncracies of how NEA and AFT report their total membership numbers, an examination of the available figures indicates it is indeed possible.

Before I demonstrate, let’s begin with the unsolved mystery portion: How does AFT report 1.5 million members to the public, and 873,454 members to the U.S. Department of Labor? I don’t have the answer to that question. Other than the omission of retirees from the latter number – which can’t possibly total more than 660,000 – I have no explanation.

The second anomaly is easier to explain. Ever since the first NEA-AFT state affiliate merger in 1998, both national unions have included the total membership of merged affiliates in their numbers. Today, with four merged state affiliates, there are more than 650,000 union members who belong to both NEA and AFT.

But each of those members is not two people, and does not pay full dues to both NEA and AFT. Yet NEA counts the full 400,000 New York State United Teachers in its membership, and AFT also counts the full 400,000.

So, without any state-by-state numbers to look at, how can we evaluate AFT’s claims? By looking at NEA’s numbers for those merged affiliates – Florida, Minnesota, Montana and New York. Lo and behold, despite overall bad numbers for NEA, those four state affiliates showed a combined increase of 10,251 members in 2011. Since they also constitute more than 42% of AFT’s total membership, the gains by these affiliates probably offset losses in others – and could still have had some left over to compensate for losses everywhere in 2012.

In the short term, the relative increase in AFT strength will have no effect. But if through policies or pure luck AFT were to hold its ground while NEA continued to experience large losses in membership, it could cause a sea change in relations between the two national teachers’ unions.

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

UFT/AFT Sells Out on Common Core

collaborate: to cooperate, usually willingly, with an enemy nation, especially with an enemy occupying one's country--Dictionary.com 

I can't get behind AFT's resolution on Common Core Standards. To me it contradicts their resolution on testing. http://lockerz.com/s/223095221 --

Mike Klonsky ‏@mikeklonsky

Mike Klonsky's tweet hit the nail on the head on the tactics being used by Randi Weingarten on the national level at the AFT and her henchman Michael Mulgrew and the rest of Unity Caucus on the local level to divide and conquer opponents of their policy, a policy decided in the halls of power where the classroom teacher has no say.

Hold out the carrot of what appears to be on the surface, a strong resolution on testing while at the same time offering up slavish support for the Bill Gates/corporate deform common core, disguised as a sheep but really a testing wolf, with lots of money to be made by the testing/publishing (often one and the same) companies.

Given that Bloomberg/Walcott/Tweed back the Common Core 1000% as does the UFT, doesn't that give you some pause? I mean this is not about agreeing on some program to feed starving children -- unless we are talking about children starving from lack of testing.

A pic of the AFT CCS reso from Klonsky

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

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

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

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

Charter School Leaders Hunt for Their Mayoral Candidate

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

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

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

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

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

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

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

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

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

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

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

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

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

AFT/NEA: More Sellouts to Ed Deform

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

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

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

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

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

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

This was posted on the NYCEdNews Listserve:

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

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

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

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

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

Truly Sleepless in Seattle

July 7, 2010

Diane Ravitch, who received the NEA Friend of Education award, electrified the Representative Assembly Tuesday with an impassioned call for the defense of public education and the teaching profession. There is a video but it didn't run for me. http://www.nea.org/grants/40241.htm

The NEA strong stand on Obama/Duncan and RTTT will put pressure on the AFT this week. They passed some very good resos which I will link to later. Don't forget- Ravitch was at the NEA and won't be at the AFT. Not a rift but there may be some tension there. See NEA press release about Ravitch. Diane Ravitch receives NEA’s Friend of Education Award.

Here is my report from last night.

July 6, 2010

Jeez, this place is beginning to crawl with teachers. "What's going on," asked a pretty hip guy who runs an very interesting and eclectic bookstore on the lower level of the Pike Place Market? "Everyone who's been coming in here seems to be a teacher." I told him about the AFT convention. He went on to tell me how he hated school and most of his teachers were awful. "But you run a book store," I said. "Yeah, funny, my mom always says that it is strange given by history with school." We had a nice chat about the Seattle schools, most of which he seemed to have attended - unwillingly - at one time or another.

I intend to stop by a few times to browse and if you're in town give him the business instead of the big chains. Wait a minute, I am getting my Nora Ephron/Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks films mixed up. The battle of the small bookstore vs big chain didn't take place in Seattle while the sleepless houseboat thingy did. (By the way, if you are a fan of "The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo" read Ephron's wonderful takeoff in last week's New Yorker.)

I took an early morning flight out on Tuesday and we arrived an hour early at 10:30am local time. I saw a bunch of UFT people on the flight (I recognized Maureen Salter and Betty Zohar), along with retired John F. Kennedy teacher Carolyn Eubanks, here with a contingent from Progressive Labor. She experienced the wonderful Anthony Rotunno (A DOE Favored Principal Takes A Hit - Way too Late) at Kennedy so there was joy in her Mudville over his recent travails.

I had a little time to settle in, grab my new video camera and check out the scene - which meant eating my way through the city. I must have eaten 5 times yesterday. Lisa North (GEM/ICE) came in last night and Gloria Brandman is due tonight. George Schmidt and the Chicago crew are due today. Gloria, Lisa and I are staying at the Homewood Suites a short distance from the convention center and it is very impressive - a full kitchen and free breakfast and a dinner reception almost every night - I think I may be able to eat 10 times a day. I hope no one is sitting next to me on the way home on the Monday night red eye.

There will be some activity from the AFT Peace and Justice group which is where Lisa and Gloria will be putting their efforts.

Given the NEA "no confidence" vote in RTTT this past weekend I imagine the Randi rhetoric will fly showing just how tough she will be. I expect lots of people to break out in gales of laughter. Even some Unity people might have to hide their faces. This is going to be pretty funny considering how just about everyone you talk to in Unity trashes Randi as they gush, "Mulgrew is so different. He is a real teacher." Sure. A year ago they would be telling you how smart Randi was. If Jack the Ripper ran the union they would talk about how clean and shiny he keeps his knives.

One retired Unity person was throwing this at a friend who told her about the teacher evaluation based on test score agreement Mulgrew agreed to. "Terrible they would do that," she responded. By "they" she meant BloomKlein. Somehow Unity people have the ability to make their leader disappear from anything bad that they agree too. Or maybe they think BloomKlein are using water boarding.

By the way, we heard Arne Duncan will be in town on Friday afternoon for another event. Would Randi dare to bring him in to address convention? I am betting not as there is so much teacher anger out there his reception would not be pretty.





Here is one place you WON'T find me this week.

Weingarten delivers the goods: Tim Daly of NTP - A frequent critic praises the union head for backing bold reforms

UPDATED: Mon, July 5, 9:30pm

What else is there to say when both Michelle Rhee and Tim Daly praise Weingarten for delivering the goods. The "goods" are the heads of rank and file teachers on a platter.

David - if you read this deliver the goods - Randi's head on Salome receiving John the Baptist.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/07/05/2010-07-05_weingarten_delivers_the_goods.html#ixzz0sp41wnwP

Addendum:
Off to Seattle tomorrow morn to do battle with the forces of evil.

Contrast to the NEA- I was shocked when a close colleague over 40 years said yesterday- maybe there should be a movement away from the AFT towards the NEA. I'm not totally convinced but given the lock-down Unity holds over the AFT/UFT what's to lose?

The NEA Gets It from RBE at Perdido and

Another World from NYC Educator

NEA & AFT Compared

Ed Week blogger Vaishali Honawar had some comments on the differences between the NEA and AFT at her blog.

Compared with the NEA, the AFT's convention looks decidedly less education-focused...

A good number of the [AFT] delegates were from professions outside teaching...

Contrast that with the NEA, whose delegates, after protracted debate at this past convention, refused to admit private K-12 workers into their membership ranks, claiming it would cause the union to lose focus of its mission to improve public schools.

Here in NYC in the UFT, with the recent addition of home care workers and over 50,000 retirees, the percentage of working teachers is now in the minority.

The AFT/UFT is much more about things other than education. Which maybe explains the disaster that has hit NYC teachers.

NEA too big for its britches?

Here's an attack by Richard Whitmire on the NEA for "dissing" the mis-using of phony "accountability" to privatize the schools. Watch how the AFT under Weingarten will be distinguished from the NEA as being more reasonable and reform-minded as Randi reprises the Al Shanker role of the 80's and 90's. The NEA at the time,which had been holding fast for proper funding, blinked under the joint assault of business, politicians and the AFT. Let's hope for a firmer stand today- but don' t get your hopes up too far.

I understand the Broader, Bolder argument that schools can’t do it all. But some things, especially semifixable things, can’t be put off until poverty is “solved.” And as Core Knowledge, KIPP, Uncommon Schools, Green Dot and other schools have demonstrated, it is possible to make a difference by changing what can be changed.

By dissing successful charters and tough school accountability, the NEA has drifted so far leftward that even the Rev. Al Sharpton has drawn a line in the sand. Teaming up with reform school leaders such as New York’s Joel Klein, Sharpton’s Education Equality Project is calling out the teachers unions on issues such as protecting incompetent teachers and tolerating the widespread school failures among African-American boys.

The full piece is at:
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=093201A0-3048-5C12-006CF8EA735A1A70

NEA too big for its britches
By: Richard Whitmire
July 9, 2008

Schmidt on RICO Investigation of CTU and Substance Coverage of NEA

Substance is putting up reports from the NEA convention written by Jack Gerson of Oakland. Many people have met Jack over the years, and he needs no introduction from me. I think that for NEA there will be multiple sources of information, and that will be good for all of us.

So starting late tonight or early tomorrow, you'll be able to read Jack's reports from NEA at www.substancenews.net.

Then, beginning next Thursday, you can read our staff reports from AFT on the same site.

Thanks again to everyone who convinced AFT that it was a good idea to let Substance cover the AFT convention.

We just got work yesterday that the feds are conducting a RICO kind of investigation into the recent silliness inside the Chicago Teachers Union. While these factual realities make great grist for Antonucci, we've got to be careful how loudly we cheer. If AFT gets through the Chicago convention without some major blowup based on Chicago's local stupidities (that's a huge plural), it will be a miracle.

At least we got our press credentials for the Substance team coverage. Janet Bass asked that we try to be "complete" and "accurate" and I promised her that's what we intended from the beginning. Accuracy doesn't mean that we agree with what we're reporting, but merely that we will begin with the facts and double check the main ones. For example, that RICO fact I report in the first paragraph of this e-mail is well sourced. Anyone who cares about Randi and our strength as a union (factions aside) might let her know that's brewing here in the host city of the upcoming convention. She's going to have enough headaches running AFT without having to deal with Chicago's sandbox stupidities.

By tomorrow night, we should have out Web updates well in hand, testing he functions on our newly re-coded site (it should be about five times faster) the next couple of days with Jack Gerson's reports from Washington, D.C. and then providing daily coverage from July 10 through July 15 from and about AFT.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

Questions on NEA/AFT Merger Prospects

While many in NYC speculated Randi's support of Hillary was aimed at procuring a cabinet position, I never bought into it. Randi's real ambition I believe is to lead the labor movement. A precursor of that would be a merger of the 1.4 million member AFT with the 3.4 million member NEA.

But is there any way Randi could end up leading a merged organization when the AFT is so much smaller?

We know there are significant differences - the NEA has term limits while the AFT has had only 4 presidents in 35 years.

The AFT is tightly controlled and has little democracy, with the UFT's Unity Caucus in NYC exerting control over the entire AFT through the Progressive Caucus, the national version of Unity. The NEA/AFT merger in NY State (NYSUT) has created a 600,000 bloc in the AFT and potentially the NEA.

Though I often disagree with Educational Intelligence Agency's Mike Antonucci, I respect his knowledge and opinions. (We spent a couple of days chatting in the press section at the AFT convention in Washington in 2004 - Mike though based in California, is originally a Bushwick guy from Brooklyn.)

With the ascension of Randi Weingarten as AFT president due to take place next week, I was wondering how strategies towards an NEA/AFT merger will emerge, so I sent him these questions:

Mike
I'm looking forward to your coverage of the NEA. Are you doing the AFT too? I cannot make it (I'm going to a Zombies concert in NYC and would rather see those zombies than the Unity drones in Chicago.)
.
One of the issues of interest is how a merger will play out with Randi leading the AFT and I hope you might touch on some of these issues.

Can she emerge as the head of a merged union? Will she be at the NEA convention and play a prominent role?

We know that the AFT/UFT model has resistance in the NEA but can a Unity Caucus-like machine be implemented state by state?

What role does the 600,000 member NYSUT play? Is this a strategy to take the NEA from underneath? What about other merged states?

What role will the UTLA play - will their more militant/left political orientation emerge as a counter to Weingarten's collaborative model that has so set back the teacher union movement in NYC?

There are groups meeting in Chicago working on the peace and justice caucus and some people from ICE will be there.


Hi Norm:

I won't be in Chicago for a number of reasons, but I've noted your stories about George Schmidt and his struggles to get a credential. My getting one was never a slam dunk either, and would have been particularly difficult this time.

You ask a lot of good questions, but I can only definitively answer a few. First, yes, Randi could emerge as the head of a merged union, but only under term limits. Any merger would probably lead to a tacit agreement to alternate presidents - first Van Roekel, then Randi. But timing is everything. A merger attempt would have to get started almost immediately, because I guarantee Randi wouldn't stand a chance against Lily Eskelsen, who is much like Randi, only vastly more popular.

Also, I find it highly unlikely that a caucus system would ever catch on in NEA. Some states might try it and like it, but it would take ages for it to spread.

As for NYSUT and the merged states, the thing to watch for there is any attempt at NEA to change its representation rules for the merged affiliates. As you probably know, though NEA claims all the NYSUT members as NEA members, NYSUT only pays NEA dues and has voting representation rights for the former NEANY members. It's the same in Minnesota, Montana and Florida. But Minnesota, for example, has been merged for almost 10 years now. Eventually there could be a move for full representation. If that happens, the merged states would provide a huge voting bloc for national merger and could conceivably squeak it through.

We can all speculate, but that would be the trigger. Because I don't think NEA has any more votes for national merger today than it did in 1998.

Unless something amazing happens, there is only one thing to watch for at this NEA convention, and that's Van Roekel's acceptance speech on the last day. No one has any idea what he'll do as president, and he may not do anything. But if he has an agenda, we'll get the first hint of it then.

It's too bad you're not going to Chicago. I wanted you to say hi to Leo for me. : )

Regards,

Mike

Catch Mike's coverage of the NEA Convention starting today.