Showing posts with label teacher evaluation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teacher evaluation. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

UFT Leadership: Abusive Principals, Observations and Accountability for You, None for Us

 -- let's have UFT members observe the work of every special and district rep 4 times a year and write them up for public consumption.
Unity to we earthlings: Don't hold us accountable for our failure to reign in abusive principals running rampant -- we are working behind the scenes. But it's crucial that teachers be held accountable by these same slugs. So data proves the more observations the better off you are. The UFT leadership are like those baseball Sabermetrics people -- ignore the people and go with the stats.

A debate broke out at the Ex Bd meeting last night over teacher evaluations. And abusive principals. Let's try to tie that knot together because there is a connection, no matter how much the leadership wants to run away from it.


The debate was over the reso presented by MORE/NA calling for two observations like the rest of the state. It was a rich debate with Unity taking the same line as expected -- that MORE observations are better. When it was pointed out that so many principals are biased or abusive and threatening, the response was a so what --- this is bigger than that.

No it isn't --- if you guys can't make sure we have decent principals the house of cards falls. And when we call on your guys to be transparent in what you are doing to control these principals we got the equivalent of "we don't have to share that info." And when we name names of union people who do dumb things or screw people over they Unity leadership locks hands and defends even the worst of them.

One union leader told me -- we don't believe teachers should be left alone -- they need to be observed and counseled and supported. But there are so many principals who are clueless educators -- no matter.

I get it --- the UFT position is that teachers MUST be monitored and held accountable but union officials who shove bad policy or tell ATRs they are lucky to have a job do not have to be held accountable.

I have an idea -- let's have UFT members observe the work of every special and district rep 4 times a year and write them up for public consumption.

I never thought I'd say this but the UFT Ex Bd meetings are the most interesting thing going on in the union. That is due to the partnership between the 2 New Action and 4 MORE reps (the 5th has only shown up for 2 meetings -- that story another time). They hold an open meeting in the back of the lobby an hour before the meetings begin -- they coordinate with the rank and file who have called in for speaking time -- and then coordinate their questions and resolutions with them. That hour, which last night included 3 teachers working under an abusive principal at Tottenville HS in Staten Island, is the most productive and democratic hour you can spend in the UFT - and I include MORE meetings.

Arthur has a fascinating report on last night's Ex Bd meeting which I'm sure he will parse in a follow-up --- and I will do a follow-up on his follow-up in a day or two:

Exec. Board Oct. 30--Observations Now, Observations Forever, the More the Merrier. If You Have a Question for Leadership, Look Up the Answer in Chalkbeat.

James also has a report: MULGEW'S UNITY CAUCUS AGAIN VOTES DOWN RESOLUTION CALLING FOR TWO OBSERVATIONS PER YEAR FOR NYC TEACHERS

Here are the notes Arthur took on the over 3 year reign of terror of principal Joseph Scarmato --- we'll have more on this slug. When we called on UFT accountability they listed all the visits they made to the school but wouldn't share if there were positive outcomes. One UFT official told me -- there are 2 sides to every story-- which is astounding given the current chapter leader has been removed from the school and cannot even hold a union meeting. Translation -- we don't really like the chapter leader.
Penny Tuzio, retired, Tottenville HS—intolerable situation by principal JOSEPH SCARMATO. Have written multiple letters. Principal is vindictive. Used to be desirable school. Many teachers left, bullied persecuted. AP SS took mysterious leave for nervous breakdown. At least 5 lawsuits against him. People hired as personal favors do nothing. AP science out of building three days a week, has fake class as do others. Forces new teachers to email him messages of support. Forbids AP s to be friends with teachers. Most senior AP forbidden to observe without henchman of principal. Gives orders to teachers via email at all times. Abuses students. Parents afraid but can’t complain for vindictive nature. Impossible to fail students because test scores count only 25%. Said he admires Hitler for organization. Everyone scared to death. Made staff cry. I implore you investigate.

John McCabe, Tottenville HS—SS teacher, 19 years, never had to deal with principal so abusive. Wanted to change Tottenville. Has five year plan. Now year 4. Goes after teachers w 15 years or more. Observations done in pairs, w discussion. Discrepancies resolved by principal, even if not in class. Colleague observed, three days later went on Advance, all Effective. Four days later, official copy was completely different, replaced by Developing. Principal asked AP to do it. Teacher well respected. Many of us are outspoken and we are targeted. We are hit with trumped up 3020a charges. Numerous individuals retire or transfer, we think targeted at behest of principal. No HE ratings, even if teachers are. Recently in paper for plagiarism. He has to go, one way or another. How can union help us? Some of us have taken major brunt.

Jessica Peterson, Chapter Leader, Tottenville HS—Reassigned. Quotes Shakespeare about retaliation. Says prior to principal, few grievances were filed. Now, principal steadily declines in reviews. DOE refuses to hold him accountable. He slut shamed females, was in paper. Now targets seasoned vets over 40, mostly women. Has targeted other delegates and CL. I have been targeted and abused. I am wrongfully reassigned Paying for multiple lawyers. Filed PERB complaint. Waiting for right to sue letter.

Our school has been reported multiple times for failure to follow, have complained to various agencies, have not received assistance. My offense is being excellent CL and winning often. Principal was removed from last school and was rewarded. Plagiarism is academic dishonesty, a misdemeanor. Improper LIFs. Many arbitrations and settlements. Paperwork complaints, improper evaluations, many TIPS. Over 60 people have left. Teachers usually don’t leave. School used to be mirthful, now us v them, a war zone. Asks UFT helps get rid of disease.


Friday, June 20, 2014

NYSAPE Parents Outraged at Cuomo/NYSUT Eval Deal, NYC Parents Anger at UFT on Contract Schedule Changes

Look at the 2-year moratorium and when it expires. Right after the 2016 UFT elections. So Mulgrew has some cover before the shit hits the fan. Does anyone think the UFT played NO ROLE in this deal? NYSAPE appears to think so. Or is playing politics by trying not to offend the elephant in the room.
The deal reached today by Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature regarding minimizing the impact of Common Core test scores on teacher evaluations is a slap in the face to parents across the state who have implored them to reduce the amount of testing that children are subjected to and to improve the quality of these exams and the learning standards.  ... NYSAPE Press Release
No mention of the UFT/NYSUT. I know there will be some blow back on this post as I get "Norm, the UFT is NOT the enemy." Sure. Just like Vichy.

I am getting weary of parent groups that give cover to the UFT, or make excuses for them -- in essence, they are enabling the UFT to make these backroom deals and not be held accountable. I can't tell you how many emails I get from parents who want ME to expose the UFT hierarchy but don't want to go public because they have dealings with them. In essence they are playing the same "seat at the table" game the UFT plays. It will get them nowhere - as you can tell about these deals the UFT made on evals and in the contract that screw parents. Did the UFT consult ANY of their so-called parent partners on this? Hey -- where is CEJ (Coalition for Educational Justice)/Annenberg which goes silent when convenient?

The UFT uses the same tactics Bloomberg used to buy silence. [I remember when the so-called parent advocate, Moaning Mona Davids, was silent for a time when she was "working" with the UFT. I actually felt sorry for the UFT for even putting their foot in that cesspool. Someone should check LM-2 from c. 2010-12 to see if any money changed hands. Hey, Mona, how much would it cost to get you to support tenure? Well, we can't compete with the hedge funders - are they smart enough to not go there, given they have so many other places to go to kill tenure than Moaning with Mona?]

Isn't it funny how NYSAPE, a great group of parents, put the sole blame on Cuomo and the State Legislature but don't mention the responsibility of the UFT controlled NYSUT? Mulgrew was crowing about this deal. Just last week at the DA he was talking about how the Vergara decision makes it clear how much we have to work with parents and how proud he is of the work the UFT does with parents.

And gee, the AFT/UFT/NYSUT tandem has made whiny statements about how they are opposed to the testing regimen.

But you know the drill -- watch what do, not what they say.

By the way - look at the 2-year moratorium and when it expires. Right after the 2016 UFT elections. So Mulgrew has some cover before the shit hits the fan. Does anyone think the UFT played NO ROLE in this deal? NYSAPE appears to think so. Or is playing politics by trying not to offend the elephant in the room.

This follows on the outrage of parents in schools around the city over the contract that forces changes in school schedules, as I reported the other day: UFT Contract Toxic PD Spillover: Parents Unhappy -...

That post triggered this email from a parent.
6/19/14
Hi Norm,
    Just want to confirm what you said that the parents did not really understand what the new contract means for their school in terms of school hours.  NESTM had a 8:20-3:10 day.  Next year they are going to default 8:00-2:20 day.  The parents are enraged because this is a commuter school so the commutes need to get earlier and then the other problem is the very early dismissal.  The PTA is  calling all parents to go to the Parent Teacher meeting this morning and they sent out a survey about how many parents what this earlier schedule. I will keep you posted.  I am sure that this is not only happening at at our school.
The NY Times touched on this today: New Contract for Teachers Is Altering Schools’ Hours

There is a lot of commentary on the eval deal from teacher bloggers:

Eterno at ICE: COMMON CORE TESTS ALONE FOR GRADES 3-8 WON'T KILL TEACHERS FOR TWO YEARS -

RBE: New York State's Teacher Evaluation System - And Its Governor - Continue To Lose Credibility

Here is the complete NYSAPE Press Release:

Parents Outraged by APPR Albany Deal that Ignores the Children

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Evaluation Deal: The Enemy, King/Bloomberg/etc or UFT/AFT/NYSUT Leadership?

Despite the awful and fairy-dust based evaluation system, despite the fact that not one UFT member was allowed a vote on it, we have been almost five years without a raise and missed the 8% pattern raise the rest of our union brothers and sisters got. I have no problem telling the emperor how I feel about that.... NYC Educator on the June 12 rally
 
Bloomberg is irrelevant. The real emperors are the people running our unions at all levels. ... Me
Posted at Jersey Jazzman blog
Pssst, kid. Want some candy for a good evaluation?... NYC Teacher to 3rd grader.
Remember the great exclamations about Mulgrew being a hero last December for withstanding the pressure from Bloomberg to give up the sunset provision? Well that's gone anyway. Ignore the selling points that any changes have to be bargained collectively. In fact isn't this a new contract anyway given the major change in language and shouldn't the members have to vote? Jeez, in Chicago they might even go on strike over this.

I'm reading "Bunker Hill" about the American Revolution and what it took for the mentality of loyalty to the mother country to change into the movement for independence and accusations of being a traitor. The early adopters -- Sam Adams -- were considered lunatics at one point -- until the day came when the majority came to see that same point of view. I make this point with respect to how we view the UFT leadership.

I understand the ed deformers and why they do what they do. They are despicable but in many ways more honest than the people running our unions. 

June 12 and 8th rallies: who are we rooting for?
I understand that telling Bloomberg on June 12 how you feel means something. But in the context of this situation that becomes a win for the UFT leadership in their deflection of their actions onto Bloomberg. So people end up cheering when Mulgrew slams Bloomberg. And that weakens the movement to create change in the UFT by creating a divided loyalty concept.

RBE at Perdido seems to get it in his just posted piece:

Carol Burris: The VAM And SLO's Are Indefensible

A comment Carol Burris made at Gotham Schools:
This is my prediction...in the end, it will all result in lawsuits because VAM and the SLOs will be found to be indefensible as measures of teacher quality. This is the full employment act for school attorneys.
Unfortunately it does not seem the UFT will be joining the lawsuits because they're too busy spinning how this is a win for teachers. You can bet they are in major CYA mode at 52 Broadway and every critique of the system will get a response from the geniuses there. I wonder, will they bring back Lyin' Leo Casey to lead the pushback?
Remember how Leo vilified Carol Burris? I would take her as my union rep over Leo any day.

I would use the June 12 event to tell people exactly what the union leadership has done to them --- I know, I know, this would be considered a no-no, even by many of my colleagues in MORE. (I'm on the fringe there too.)

In fact Bloomberg is irrelevant. The real emperors are the people running our unions at all levels. DOENuts found the latest Leo Casey ("who famously 'set the record straight' a year ago") tweet: about teachers being fired at a charter school in Seattle.
Yep!!!!!!! That's my union guys. Just change the subject and talk about Charters! Gotta love it. "Hey, my idea just totally ske-ruuued you, but check out this cool graffiti artist!". Ah. Leo Casey! Ah, humanity!
No wonder Leo got out of town in time to avoid being pilloried.

I am ambivalent about the June 12 rally and the June 8 "anti-testing" rally in Albany when key organizers are the very people who have sold us out. I point you to comments made by Sean Ahern (one of the co-founders of ICE) about the role of the UFT leadership. Assaulting the Walls of Ed Deform, NYSUT June 8 ...May 28, 2013. One thing about current and former ICEers, the thinking is way harsher about the UFT leadership  --- probably given the long time experience in watching how they operate. Many younger MOREs just haven't reached that stage yet, wanting to offer a vision of "positive alternative leadership" whereas I would attack, attack, attack.

MORE is going all out in support of the June 12 rally. At this point I am not planning to go.

Following the trail to this evaluation story and the culpability of UFT/NYSUT/AFT leaders, how do we march in support of them? At some point we have to decide if they are friend or foe. There really is no middle. I know that I am often accused of being on the fringe over my comparison of them to the Vichy mentality but once you reach that point it becomes obvious that they are often no better than the enemy and then the next step is to act accordingly: organize in opposition to them. Why not use the rallies to do so?

Thus I would go on June 12 and June 8 with the idea of telling people exactly what the leadership has done. You would be accused of being disloyal -- let's all be united today, blah, blah, blah. Sort of like saying let's march together to support America in all its wars because we need unity. Loyalty to the union does not mean loyalty to the leadership that has coopted democracy in such a fundamental way. If there were bales of tea in front of 52 Broadway I would dump them in the harbor.

At Perdido, someone asked it the UFT leadership was stupid or criminal.

I vote "criminal/Vichy."

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking MulGarten are stupid. They do not function in our interests but as mediators between the powers that be and the rank and file. What to they get? Lots of life/prof perks and power. They really have no other choice. In order to fight them they would need to educate, organize and mobilize the members which would require a democratically run union -- see Karen Lewis in Chicago where they can get the same amount of support without buying off the opposition/New Action. 


In NYC democracy is a threat to the leadership so the only way they can function is in a partnership with the rulers, hoping for crumbs which they will get at times them to help keep the rank and file under control. Neither Unity nor Bloomberg want another Chicago here and will do what it takes to keep Unity in power. That was why the bigger the opposition grows the more the rulers will give to quiet it down. I believe if MORE had gotten say 40% of the vote we would have a much better chance to have a contract.

Here is the latest output (as of 9AM) from the great bloggers on our blogroll. I urge you to take a look at them.

James Eterno:
I tried to limit the commentary because we haven't seen the full decision yet, but the evaluation system looks as bad as we thought it was going to be.

Monday, January 28, 2013

How is Danielson Being Used at Your School? MORE Calls for Reports From the Field

Ah, that's it! Monkeys are using the framework. The monkeys in question are the Bloomberg-era administrators who have spent no more than three years in an actual classroom. A framework crafted by a non-educator to be used by non-educators in order to judge actual educators. This makes perfect sense in the crazyland that is the NYC DOE. This is part and parcel of the deskilling of education. Not only are teachers in danger of being deskilled by being subject to Danielson but principals now are being deskilled by mindlessly ticking off a checklist. It seems as if many administrators are embracing this deskilling. -- Assailed Teacher
And UFT and DOE agree on Danielson (see below).

More from Assailed Teacher:
And never forget who helped to bring Danielson into our schools. It was our union and their Unity leadership who allowed Danielson to be used in 33 "struggling schools". When administrators in other schools started using it, the union cried and complained. Why did they complain? When you open the window you shouldn't be annoyed when flies get in.
From the MORE Blog
Calling All Teachers!

Help us file our “Reports From the Field” on MORE’s blog next week!

How is Danielson being used at your school? On your colleagues? On you?
We are hearing alarming reports about how Danielson is being used against our colleagues all across the city. While we anticipated this occurring, we’re still very concerned with what we are hearing. We are interested in hearing from you about how you have experienced the Danielson Framework being used in your classroom or your school.

Send us you testimonials! Help us make your experiences as public as possible! Click here to send us your testimonial. It will only take a moment and the experience you share can help colleagues all across the city.
Here is one "testimonial" I just received.
Not only is Danielson being used against teachers, so is the faux reading and writing program from Teachers College. Elementary teachers are slaves to this HORRIBLE excuse for a reading and writing program that has left our students ILLITERATE. Then we are BLAMED when our students do not succeed.

I recently made a presentation. People were genuinely unaware of the horrors of what's been going on in our schools. I brought up how NYC public schools for the most part DO NOT have curricula for reading, writing and math. And completely unqualified admin have been hired who either didn't know or didn't care of the harm being inflicted

But the fact is that inept admins were hired in order to remove coherent curriculum from our schools, then USE Danielson and TC and even that awful Everyday Math program to target teachers. UFT has not exposed this. But THIS is at the heart of the matter in my opinion. UFT looking the other way while teachers are being stripped of their ability to teach effectively. A total set up for failure for both students and teachers.

Talk about this and I believe you will really reach all the teachers.

Teachers are tired of not being able to teach.

Most of us (above age 30) at elementary level are sick about this. These kids are not being educated!!!! No content is ever taught. Kids learn it on their own through independent reading or partner work.

Then you have a wretch like my principal claiming she "loves" the TC "philosophy". BULL SHIT - she loves that there are so many avenues she can use to target a teacher since it's so lacking.

The UFT and DOE has just come to a deal regarding the use of the Danielson framework for observations prior to an agreement over evaluations. There doesn't seem to be anything new here but the understanding between the two parties is a bit more formalized now. Of course, any deal on evaluations will supersede this. Before you read the email sent out by the UFT, note this comment from a MORE chapter leader which indicates what total bullshit the UFT tosses at people:

No 6 in the Stip [See jpg below]. says that no reference to Danielson is allowed in formal obs. YET, when an AP wrote up an post ob of a member of mine and gave her a U, the post ob included cut and paste sentences from the Danielson rubric. The UFT said they will NOT pursue my grievance for this member to Step 2. 


Why?
Why indeed? Good question to ask your (formerly) friendly District Reps when they visit.


Dear Colleagues,
 
Attached is a copy of an agreement between the UFT and the DOE concerning the use of the Danielson rubric for both pilot schools and non-pilot schools.
 
This stipulation was a result of an Improper Practices Charge brought to PERB against the DOE.
 
I will summarize:
 
      1. For all schools, pilot or not, Danielson ratings of Highly Effective, Effective, Developing or Ineffective (known as HEDI) cannot be used or linked to any official rating, tenure determination or disciplinary proceeding.
 
    2. No observation for pilot or non-pilot school can be placed in the official file using the HEDI rating scale.
 
    3. Classroom observations for the file cannot include any reference to Danielson's rubric or a HEDI Rating.
 
    4. For pilot schools, no observation using the Danielson rubric can be placed in a teachers official file.
 
    5. For non-pilot schools, observations reports cannot contain verbatim language of any Danielson rubric or the language of the Danielson's Framework for Teaching or any HEDI rating. (In other words, it shouldn't be used at all!)
The stipulation outlines a complaint process that is a little different than our regular grievance process.  [ISN'T THIS A CHANGE IN THE CONTRACT THAT SHOULD BE VOTED ON BY THE MEMBERS?] So, read it carefully and share this information with your members.

 

Please make sure that you bring this document to the attention of your principal, especially the ones that insist on seeing everything in writing.

Friday, January 18, 2013

MORE Rally Video and Photos at UFT DA, Jan. 17

Some Ed Deformers at actually pitting the militant MOREs vs the E4E slugs, claiming they are a majority.
even if it angers younger, more reform-minded teachers who are the majority of rank-and-file members and seek high-quality evaluations 
Count the numbers of younger MORE (real) reform-minded teachers in the video.

See full dumb statement below pics.



Posted at: http://youtu.be/-EmpYubKraQ

A few photos (thanks to Pat Dobosz)


More MORE Videos - Chants


On TV:

ABC: MORE Elem school VEEP Candidate Sam Coleman, PS 24K
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=8957466

CBS: MORE Elem Ex Bd candidate and CL Jia Lee with gang from Earth School
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8202344










Dropout Nation
the most-radical of traditionalists within the rank-and-file want a leader who resembles Mulgrew’s colleague in Chicago, the infamous Karen Lewis; blowing off a deal with the district appeals to both Baby Boomers (who may not want to be subjected to performance management under which objective student test score growth on Empire State tests account for between 20 percent and 40 percent of evaluations), and more-militant retirees (who made up 39 percent of the votes in the AFT local’s last election four years ago. The fact that Mulgrew gets to score a victory of sorts against the outgoing Big Apple mayor (even if it angers younger, more reform-minded teachers who are the majority of rank-and-file members and seek high-quality evaluations)

MORE Analysis of Non-Deal and Commentary on Yesterday

The future of school reform is here. It is the democratic voice of the true stakeholders in the education system...
Unfortunately, the same forces that have given rise to dictatorial mayoral control schemes around the country are also responsible for our own union’s lack of democracy. Since these education reform policies are wholly unpopular, and since our union leaders do not want to be seen as obstacles to “progress”, they have been forced to take a “conciliation” approach with “reformer” mayors who run school districts. In turn, they have been required to turn to increasingly un-democratic means to silence their members who understand that these reforms are harmful to our schools... Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE)
I didn't get home until 10:30 last night after a few hours at a bar with some MOREs where I had a pastrami rueben and beer - urp! - and then getting lost in the dark downtown -- which way is Broadway? --- and then B and Q train problems which was a problem since my car was at Newkirk and forced me to take a long walk after taking the IRT to Brooklyn College - something I haven't done since c. 1965 when I was still living in East NY and taking the New Lots train to Franklin Ave and change to the Flatbush line, a trip that made getting a driving license the single most important thing in my life when I was 18. Oh, did I digress?

I actually did some processing of video I took of the great MORE led rally outside the DA before falling asleep at the keyboard. So I had a lot of catching up to do this morning and in the midst of taking my daily trips to various Home Depots, working on electrifying part of my basement (I heard Mulgrew was putting sheet rock up in his home and he is welcome to stop buy and help) and maybe catching a movie at the Sheepshead (Django Unchained) and being home for my wife's return later this afternoon from her big mahjong gig at Mother Kelly's restaurant, I may actually do some work updating -- but the blogroll is full of stuff anyway.

Below is the MORE official statement, written by a chapter leader who was stuck in school and couldn't make the DA. This was being written on the fly as soon we heard the NO DEAL news while another MORE stuck at home with childcare handled the input from tweets and email, while other MORES did countless things yesterday, like the chapter leader in the Bronx who wrote up an instant leaflet taking into account the new info, to the MORE who took his cell phone to Staples down the block and started printing copies, to the MOREs who took concerted action at the DA in the most effective manner for any opposition group to Unity that I've seen (or heard in this case) since the 1970's.

I will blog more about how proud I was of MORE, which to me had its coming out party yesterday as people came from all over to join in the rally which was aimed originally at a VOTE NO and then managed to shift gears to urge opposition to the use of testing as part of the corporate agenda to privatize schools and destroy teacher unions.  People kept coming up to me to ask what we should do and I was so happy to be able to tell them that I am just a cog and a good soldier. What a relief! I don't have to be accountable for anything, unlike the position the teachers have been put in.

Here is the statement from MORE even though I disagree with applauding a UFT leadership that was ready to cave the night before, even willing to give Bloomberg an extra year more than other districts were doing and were saved by Bloomberg's idiocy, especially given that Ernie Logan has backed up the UFT and I will give Mulgrew credit for calling Bloomberg an out and out liar, which even the press is seeing is true.

But for Mulgrew to spend the entire meeting defending voodoo science outraged many non-Unity delegates. Mulgrew's stand should help solidify his standing in the election -- and for conspiracy theorists - really, would Bloomberg prefer a CORE-like group like MORE and having to deal with a real teacher like Julie Cavanagh or the current UFT leadership which until yesterday was the gift to ed deform that just kept giving?

Yes, there are some cultural differences within MORE between the older ICEers with years of battling the Unity machine --- see James Eterno at ICE --- MULGREW TELLS DELEGATES SCUTTLED NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM WOULD BE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD
and the newer MORE activists who have to go through this process themselves. 

One thing you should note -- the full-time UFT employee Unity trolls are out commenting on the blogs while getting their 150k plus salaries and double pensions to leave snarky comments. Lucky there are no teachers in trouble due to their policies of neglect to deflect them from their true occupation.

------------
From MORE - http://morecaucusnyc.org/

Post-Mortem: The Non-Deal Between the UFT and DOE

18 Jan The passing of the January 17 deadline for a new evaluation agreement is not an ending but a beginning. Now the DOE will work overtime to spin doctor the failure to reach an agreement on new teacher evaluations, mandated by New York State’s version of Race to the Top, as the fault of Michael Mulgrew and union leadership. This despite the fact that every indication shows it was Bloomberg who failed to negotiate in good faith.

While we applaud the UFT leadership for standing their ground, the MORE Caucus has no intention of giving up the fight to prevent our teachers and students from being given over to the standardized testing regime. We know there will be efforts in the future to convert our schools into low-level thinking factories and our teachers into low-skilled, low-paid bureaucratic functionaries.

So, why did the evaluation deal fall through? We believe there is no one particular reason. Instead, there were a variety of reasons all working in concert to torpedo this deal. Understanding these reasons will help us understand what the post-non-evaluation DOE will look like:

Reason #1: Race to the Top is Bad Policy
Probably the most fundamental reason why there was no deal is because Race to the Top is bad policy. This goes beyond anything the UFT, city or state did. This has to do with the Obama Administration’s embrace of standardized testing as a way to measure teacher effectiveness. Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, often describe themselves as leaders bent on rolling back the Bush-era No Child Left Behind system of testing. However, their RTTT program merely means more testing and, in many ways, an expansion of the NCLB system. Students, parents and teachers have been steadily crushed by high-stakes tests over the past 12 years that are turning education into a stultifying affair. Both NCLB and RTTT erode creativity, free-thinking and openness in our public schools. This fact leads into the second reason why the deal fell through:

Reason #2: A Growing Backlash against Education Reform
PBS recently ran an hour Frontline special on Michelle Rhee. Despite the fact that Frontline barely scratched the surface on criticizing Rhee’s tenure as D.C.’s school chancellor, the fact that a major national media outlet was critical of her to any degree is quite a development. We have come a long way from the days of when she graced the cover of Time Magazine as the hero education reformer.

At the start of the current school year, the Chicago Teacher’s Union went out on strike against Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s Obama-inspired school reform agenda. They took to the streets to call for a better school day for children and work day for staff. By all indications, the parents of Chicago stood on the side of the teachers and against Emmanuel’s leadership of the Chicago school system. Again, this represented a change in previous actions by the CTU, whose previous leadership stressed compromise and conciliation with so-called reformers like Emmanuel.

Most recently, the teachers of several Seattle schools opted out of that state’s MAP exam to protest the high-stakes testing regime that has rolled over every school system in the land. Just like the Frontline story and the CTU strike, any type of organized opt-out of an exam would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

People across the country are beginning to realize that the so-called education “reformers” are really the status quo. They have had their way for over a decade and the backlash seems to be afoot.

Reason #3: High-Handed and Un-Democratic School Leadership
Both Michael Mulgrew and Leo Casey have stated that the evaluation deal fell through because of Mayor Bloomberg’s “my way or the highway” approach. This is the type of approach Bloomberg used when he demolished the Board of Education which, for all of its faults, was at least subject to a democratic process. In place of the BOE, Bloomberg created a Panel for Educational Policy whose votes he largely controls. The PEP has been the body that has decided to close over 100 city schools at the behest of the mayor. They have done so over massive protests of parents and community leaders who know how devastating school closures can be to a community. When UFT leaders say the mayor has a “my way or the highway” approach at the negotiating table, we are inclined to believe them.

Unfortunately, the same forces that have given rise to dictatorial mayoral control schemes around the country are also responsible for our own union’s lack of democracy. Since these education reform policies are wholly unpopular, and since our union leaders do not want to be seen as obstacles to “progress”, they have been forced to take a “conciliation” approach with “reformer” mayors who run school districts. In turn, they have been required to turn to increasingly un-democratic means to silence their members who understand that these reforms are harmful to our schools.

Therefore, while we applaud and stick by our union leaders in their resistance to the RTTT evaluation deal, we also understand that most of the work lies ahead of us. This rejection of school “reform” is part and parcel of a wider nationwide backlash against what has passed as “improvement” in education over the past 10 years. This is a backlash that has taken place as a popular movement, not a top-down one.

MORE is on the frontlines of this popular backlash. Our goal is to appropriate the title of “reformer” from those that have it now: Rhee, Bloomberg, Duncan, Emmanuel. The people are beginning to see that these reformers are actually some of the most retrograde and centralizing forces in education today.

The future of school reform is here. It is the democratic voice of the true stakeholders in the education system.
=======
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.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

On Eval Deal, What Do UFT Leaders Fear Most: External or Internal Criticism?

Given the idea out there that Mulgrew is between a rock and a hard place, my thesis is that the hard place is not so hard while the deadline of the rock is. 
They do not want to get into this fight with Bloomberg for the rest of the school year. They will take their chances with the members who are upset and their proven ability to manage them.
They know that Bloomberg will take the lost money out of their hides by threatening layoffs and that will be tied to keeping the "effective" -- young, white, E4E types (can't you hear the wails) and getting rid of senior teachers and tenure. In fact this coming assault is one of the behind the scenes talking points by Unity. After all, the very essence of the evaluation deal is getting rid of tenure in a less messy way.

The Daily News which never cared very much about the excessive rises in class size suddenly is crying over the possibility.  Boo, hoo.
 
Thurs, Jan. 17, 10:30 AM.

Given we are hours away from the Delegate Assembly and the deadline for an agreement and the possible loss of $250 million in state aid, there is some speculation that it will be impossible to reach a deal in time for the delegates to read and absorb the details in time to make an intelligent decision. Then add to that the fact that they are supposedly casting a vote to represent the people who elected them, none of whom will get to see the details.

So how does this situation equate with reality?

Let me point you to some of this speculation before I delve into my analysis.

Philissa Cramer at  Gotham Schools has an extensive piece analyzing many of the options the mayor, the DOE and the UFT have pro and con.

Tim Clifford at Schoolbook goes deep.

Reality-Based Educator has a few posts on the approaching deadline, including a link to a Daily News editorial saying talks are dead in the water.
Last night:29 Hours And Counting: So far, no deal on APPR, followed by this morning:  No Evaluation Agreement Announcement Yet.

The press is going ape over the loss of the money if there is no deal.
At last night's PEP I raised the Francesco Portelos case (Protect Portelos)
to point out that not only does Walcott NOT to teach as just one example of the enormous waste in the DOE.

The Daily News which never cared very much about the excessive rises in class size suddenly is crying over the possibility. The UFT, which should not only be pointing out all the money the DOE wastes but also how if we do sign a deal not one cent will go towards reducing class size or directly into the classroom. That should have been their commercials, prepping the public for a rejection of the deal instead of crying (like E4E and Students First) that we need a deal.

And that is what makes me suspicious that this is all being scripted. Today, at 4:30, someone runs into the DA waving sheets of paper, saying we have a tentative deal which is then passed around to the delegates for a quick read while Mulgrew spends an hour explaining it, followed by a batch of Unity speakers defending it, with a few MOREs thrown in to oppose, and then a quick vote.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but I've seen this act before with other agreements where the leadership does a bums rush to get people to vote (especially since they know they have the house --- you can bet every Unity person was told to show, including as many of the 300 retiree delegates who are not in Florida).

Sounds almost impossible to believe this can happen, which is why some people think this DA can not feasibly be about a vote for a deal and leave the leadership with any credibility with the members and even segment of the public. And I can just see some of my pals in the press who have been around for a while (leave out the NY Times ed people who clearly do not have a clue) rolling their eyes.

RBE's experience, like mine, is that the UFT leadership has never resisted the pressures before so that makes a deal likely. But he does point to the pitfalls for Mulgrew and Unity Caucus in terms of member reaction. And if you read my posts from last night (UPDATE: MORE Statement on Rally)
you can see that some schools with an activist chapter leader explaining all the issues are turning against any deal. Unfortunately, not enough.

I do not believe the UFT leaders are really as worried about member reaction as some think and in fact as an external PR factory (poorly run at that) they put priority on their perception in the public eye over that of the members though their internal PR machine using brute force has much more effective. And that is what they are counting on if they put forth a deal today. My guess is that the DA will vote 70-30 for whatever they put forth and that will be hailed as a victory for democracy.

They have weathered these storms in the past. And in fact are very sure that can manage the members way more easily than they can the press and ed deformers. They have a lot of experience doing that, given they pretty much control all the means of communication within the UFT. Which is why the biggest long-term threat to them would be an alternative like MORE inside the UFT that would have the ability to counter their spin in every school in the city.

If you are looking for an 8 month old group like MORE to do that, you are missing the essentials of what it will take to build an organization to be able to manage that. Even CORE has 2 years to build in Chicago before being able to challenge seriously and they only had a third of the number of schools and geographical area to cover.

Given the idea out there that Mulgrew is between a rock and a hard place, my thesis is that the hard place is not so hard while the deadline of the rock is. They know that Bloomberg will take the lost money out of their hides by threatening layoffs and that will be tied to keeping the "effective" -- young, white, E4E types and getting rid of senior teachers and tenure. In fact this coming assault is one of the behind the scenes talking points by Unity. After all, the very essence of the evaluation deal is getting rid of tenure in a less messy way.

They do not want to get into this fight with Bloomberg for the rest of the school year. They will take their chances with the members who are upset. (Never forget how they controlled the reaction to the 2005 contract, which started us on this decline.)

First, back up the UFT elections just enough to give the entire horde of people working at UFT HQ and in the boroughs to inundate the schools to explain how good a deal this is before the election when MORE will not have access to the schools other than the ones where they have a live body to counter the UFT line.

Next, every single school would get a visit from a UFT honcho. After about 6 weeks of softening people up and attacking MORE for opposing the deal as being merely negative and obstructionist and really wanting to lead you all down the road to a strike and so on and so on.

Meanwhile, they get sort-of accolades from the critics, which is really what they care about.

Given the realities of the way the UFT elections is rigged, people are paying way too much attention to it. And don't forget Unity has New Action as the house opposition. Teachers not happy with Unity who have not heard of MORE, given 2 non-Unity choices on the ballot, may well vote New Action without realizing they are also voting for Mulgrew and a batch of other Unity people. So whatever vote NA gets also goes to pad Mulgrew's numbers.

In the UFT the real elections are the chapter leader elections every 3 years (next one is spring 2015) where the battle for control of the schools take place. Unity uses their training sessions for new chapter leaders to grab them into Unity, a black hole from which they never emerge given subtle and not so subtle offers of jobs and perks, hard to resist for many people who have not been active before.

For any alternative like MORE to get real traction, it must begin to capture these elections while trying to recruit as many current CLs who are independent -- and that is what part of today's events are about. Some people will be showing up who usually do not show and maybe something strikes them to get involves in opposing the Unity machine.

Now MORE is not taking a position today as an attack on the union leadership but as an attempt to pressure them to do the right thing.
The rally outside the DA is directed against the junk science teacher eval schemes that are being foisted upon us, and demands that the rank and file have a say in a ratification of any agreement. It calls for our union to end the self destructive "collaboration" with union hating corporate "reformers" and politicians in both political parties. It is our union even when it is wrong. The rally is not against the UFT leadership.
I for one do not think Unity generally does the right thing but the younger activists in MORE who have not been fighting the Unity machine for 43 years actually have some hope. So they are not viewing today's action as part of a the election campaign. As a good soldier, I am going along. Luckily MORE is a democratic organization where every person has the right to express their personal views without facing expulsion.


----------
Later if I get some time I will post some of the arguments the union is and will be using to soften up the members.

I will be there from around 3PM on with leaflets and will be working outside with whatever people who show and want to make their voices heard even if they can't go in.

After the DA some of us will gather outside the building for a brief huddle -- all are invited -- maybe with some comments from Julie Cavanagh and Jack -- and then a bunch will go off to a local bar to celebrate or drown our sorrows.  All are invited to join us.

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

Sunday, December 2, 2012

E4E Astroturf Rally Today to Pressure UFT to Cave on Ed Evaluation and Not Go Over the Ed Deform Cliff

I just got a call from E4E begging me to come…they said it’s their first rally."

I got this yesterday as one of those "thousands" of supporters E4E claims. Let's see how many come today. They only got 150 to come see Walcott the other day even with the offer of free drinks and snacks. And those included some of our pals who are being careful to not ID themselves since they will be tossed in the future if they do (E4E Bans People From Walcott Event Today.) Some of us are heading over to the rally to check it out -- free coffee at 2PM and maybe do a little education on VAM.  I really hope we go over the Cuomo induced evaluation cliff. (See Eterno and Kaufman today on the ICE blog).

And despite getting help from the DOE in gaining entry into schools to put their crap in mailboxes (later I'll publish the photo ID from Washington Irving campus -- I'll take pic today so we can get a positive id.)


E4E is desperate to get people to their first rally ever today.

Do you think DFER and their other funders will call in chips if E4E can't deliver?
We are the change makers. We are the ones that turn non-readers into lovers of books, a writer of simple sentences into an essayist. We can use those same skills to be a part of this conversation and policy-making.--- Kate Schuster. E4E
OK. Don't gag.

This will he the third rally set up by astroturf orgs like Students Last and some other phony group of students from Columbia, SFER --- (betcha Bloomberg slug Mikah Lasher is involved) who marched from the UFT to Tweedle Dee the other day (see below for that joke) who are worried the UFT may let us go over the ed deform cliff in January if they don't surrender to the Cuomo threat to take away state funding if they don't, as outrageous a demand as the Republican's are making over the fiscal cliff which actually would be a good thing, especially if they dump all the Race to the Top money.

A MORE member urged people to go to the rally today with the leaflet I made up:
It is a great way to promote and inform on this issue and we might even win some converts. E4E is very slimy and dishonest. I don’t think a lot of the people who they have been able to corral really know and fully understand what they’re about and armed with this info it really lays it plain and offers a way for people to get more info at the upcoming forum.

Those from MORE who are able to attend should wear our shirts so nobody thinks we are with E4E who tend to wear those lime green shirts. My gut says this will not be that well attended by their people though FAUX News might still cover it.  I don’t want anyone thinking the counter protest is part of their rally.
A blogger wrote about the recent E4E meeting with Walcott and left a link on my post. Interesting report:
http://commonal.tumblr.com/post/36809345728/educators-for-excellences-almost-quiet-war-for

Of course when it comes to making real change for their kids E4E is absent. Well one can't have too much fun. Why should I clean out my basement when I can get a free beanie that you say Kate wearing. Kate, you convinced me and some of my pals in Change the Stakes, which is fighting for real reform and will hand out a leaflet with the Carol Burris article (Carol Burris With a Lesson for E4E and the UFT) asking some fundamental questions of E4E:
  • ·      WHY DOES EDUCATORS 4 EXCELLENCE PUSH FOR A FAULTY EVALUATION SYSTEM THAT USES THE JUNK SCIENCE OF VALUE ADDED MEASURES TO MIS-JUDGE TEACHERS? 
  • ·      WHY DOES E4E IGNORE THE ADVICE OF TOP LEVEL EDUCATORS LIKE CAROL BURRIS? 
  • ·      SUPPORT THE 700 TEACHERS WHO HAVE SIGNED A PETITION CALLING FOR A DEMOCRATIC DISCUSSION AND VOTE IN THE UFT ON THE NEW EVALUATION SYSTEM: WWW.IPETITIONS.COM/PETITION/NEW-UFT-EVALUATION
 Well, here is Kate's missive. Love that beanie Kate.

My name is Kate Schuster, and I am an elementary ESL teacher at PS 38. Last Tuesday I attended an E4E event with over 150 teachers and Chancellor Walcott, to discuss evaluation. As a result of the event, and the urgency of the issue, I will be rallying tomorrow and I want YOU to join me. 
Here is a quote from my recent blog post about the event that explains why I am rallying:

“We are the change makers. We are the ones that turn non-readers into lovers of books, a writer of simple sentences into an essayist. We can use those same skills to be a part of this conversation and policy-making. This is why I am attending E4E’s “Move Beyond Satisfactory” rally this Sunday at City Hall. The rally is our chance to tell the DOE and the UFT that teachers want a better evaluation system administered by school leaders who are well trained to support our teaching.
Please stand with me on Sunday. The rally will be a ton of fun and it's incredibly easy to get to. Plus you’ll get one of the sweet beanies I’m wearing in the picture above!
You’ll find a map, including all nearby subways, and the details below.
Sunday, December 2nd at 2PM
City Hall Park
Swag and coffee: 2PM
Start: 2:30PM
Finished: 3:00PM 
Hope to see you there,
Kate


There are better reports on the faux Columbia student protest than this slanted one - I saw one but can't find it so if you do leave a comment with the link. Did DFER buy off the Columbia Spectator?

--------

Students lead protest of Department of Education’s inaction

Stalling on the part of the New York City Department of Education could cost the city’s schools system $300 million in federal funding.
By Sophie Gamez
Columbia Daily Spectator
Published November 30, 2012
Sophie Gamez for Spectator
Columbia students led a crowd of 75 in a march from the United Federation of Teachers building to City Hall on Thursday, calling on education officials to act quickly to increase funding for city schools.
The New York City Department of Education has not yet come to a consensus on how to evaluate its teachers, and if it does not by Jan. 17, the schools system will be out of contention for $300 million in federal funding.
The Columbia chapter of Students for Education Reform organized the protest, which hit home hard for a number of students.
“I have three sisters that are being put through public schools. I am a project of New York City public schools, and a well-funded public school system is what we need,” Floyd St. Bernard-Springer, CC ’14, said. “I’ve tutored in Harlem. I know what it looks like—really bad schools.”
“The students need the funding that is being held up in politics. I can see what more money would mean to the students, and politics just needs to get out of the way,” Sharene Hawthorne-Rene, CC ’14, said.
In New York, 60 percent of a teacher’s evaluation is based on administrator observations, 20 percent by students’ standardized tests scores, and 20 percent is left to districts to decide a method of evaluation. The city has not yet determined what that final 20 percent should be.
Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, said, “I don’t put stock in the likelihood that the money won’t get here. It is partly designed as pressure on the negotiations—while it is a lot of money, it is not a lot of money compared to the size of the overall budget.”
The $300 million would be a 4 percent increase in funding for the DOE.
SFER has been planning for the night for the last month—handing out fliers, making Facebook announcements, getting permits, and tabling in Lerner Hall—all in the name of putting pressure on the DOE to make Governor Andrew Cuomo’s January deadline.
President of Columbia’s SFER chapter Benji de la Piedra, CC ’14, said, “Planning this rally took up a lot more effort than I had initially expected. Just getting in those hours behind the keyboard and putting in all of our free time—and on the side going to classes.”
As the rally wound down, the club’s leaders said it was worth it.
“There was one child talking about how he needed money in his art class and it was something that manifested itself every day in his life and he knows that we can do better, and he was there with his own handmade sign—it was just beautiful,” Leah Metcalf, BC ’14 and SFER’s general body chair, said.
Across the street from the protest’s starting point at the UFT building in Lower Manhattan, members of Student Worker Solidarity began a counterprotest.
Club member George Joseph, CC ’16, said, “I am with a grassroots protest and we are protesting against this protest because it was an anti-union protest, saying we should give into Governor Cuomo’s extortion requests.”
George said he and his fellow protesters believe that making teacher evaluations more reliant on standardized testing could adversely affect teachers’ job security in low-income areas, where test scores are lower.
But the SFER protest far outnumbered the counterprotest.
With students’ schedules so busy at the end of the semester, de la Piedra said he was heartened by the turnout. “I think it’s awesome seeing Columbia students going out into the city and doing something and getting involved in local politics on that level, going on a march, literally making your voice heard. We go to Columbia University in the City of New York, so it’s nice to see that we go to school in this city.”
“I was at the caboose and it was so exciting when people joined that we hadn’t advertised to, people walked by and cheered, a car drove by and honked—it was really great to see how people responded to our message,” Metcalf said.
news@columbiaspectator.com

Randi Bar Exam Proposal Raises a Bar to People of Color

Weingarten continues her history of joining the "it must be the teachers' fault" parade with this proposal. Randi is so desperate to come up with an idea, any idea, that she can try to sell showing she is a willing participant in deform. Actually fighting back like the Chicago Teachers Union is not in her DNA.
Very smart, and insidious, of Weingarten: she's selling it as a way to blunt TFA.  Is there any question that "the best and brightest" will be able to pass such a test? They've been passing them all their lives. -- Michael Fiorillo
I remember how the Kahlenberg bio book says one of Al Shanker's proudest achievements (other than destroying trade unionism around the world) was the career ladder for paras which brought so many people of color into the system. This is the final nail in that coffin and in essence reinforces the TFA whitening of the teacher staff as this truly extends the bar to the people from poor communities who can be great teachers (I've seen many of them) though not great test takers. Ed Notes always took the position performance as a teacher should be a major determining factor rather than a high stakes test.

Union proposes ‘bar exam’ for teachers

Monday, October 29, 2012

A Perfect Storm: Ed Eval, a Contract and ATRs as Unity Shill Peter Goodman Floats (Sellout) Trial Balloon

Chancellor Tisch was optimistic, more than optimistic that a teacher evaluation plan agreement will be reached by the mid-January deadline. The Chancellor is either a glass half full type of person, has her ear at the door, or a little bit of both. If an agreement is not reached the city faces the loss of $300 million, and, the union the wraith wrath of that guy living in sin in the executive mansion in Albany. --- Peter Goodman, Ed in the Apple blog
Call the Goodman post a triple play. There's some red meat by hinting that the UFT won't walk away from the $300 million penalty for not agreeing to the ed eval in mid-January which according to some points of view (see below) by law must be tied to a contract which will be tied to an ATR agreement that both Bloomberg and the UFT leadership both so desperately want. You know, like the joint agreement to end the rubber rooms -- as long as you can't see them. Maybe they will come up with a salve to turn ATRs into invisible men and women.

Goodman (and the union) pushes the Bloomberg threat of layoffs which he used to get the union to agree to give up the ATRs to weekly rotations. And he believes the governor when he says there is no need to amend last in, first out, which we know is a target for ed deformers. They may not have to once ed eval is in the door.
The negotiating gulf is significant but not huge. I frequently hear cries – “Why do we have to agree at all? Let’s give up the money; the City Council will fill in the lost dollars.” Well, there is no guarantee and thousands of teachers would be laid off, and, let’s not forget the governor’s 70 plus percent approval rating. The governor has taken the position that there is no need to amend the seniority layoff laws (“last in, first out”) due to the teacher evaluation law which, in theory, will rid the system of incompetent teachers. No agreement, the “last in, first out” may be gone – including the ATR pool – it could mean excess = layoff. The union leadership must be nimble.
Goodman fiercely defends the UFT deal on evaluations being tied to test scores as being fairer than the current system. He points to the 90% loss rate by the UFT on U ratings. That is because the UFT is incapable and unwilling to provide teachers under attack any support until it is too late. Principals have no fear of the UFT in any way anymore and have been allowed to gut the contract.

Now look at how Goodman addresses the ATR situation -- that the solution is a separation agreement (forced or voluntary?) in which he calls an ATR mess --- while not mentioning that the UFT helped create this mess in the 2005 contract:
The ATR Mess: The city and the union have, once again, been discussing some sort of separation incentive, a lump sum payment to encourage retirement or irrevocable resignation. I know teachers ask why not a buy-out – allowing teachers to retire before they have accumulated sufficient years or age – that type of  settlement probably requires approval by an outside actuary and legislative action.
Oh, did I tell you that Goodman's son Drew is amongst a horde of ATR supervisors whose job it will be to set up the conditions for forced separation, especially if they are on the high end of the salary? Note how Goodman poo-poohs the retirement incentive option. And what about the coming horde of new and younger ATRs as more schools are closed? I see the Chicago situation in the tea leaves. Sure, defend a gutted LIFO for teachers who are not ATRS but put them in a separate category.

Finally, the long-lost contract. Goodman defends the UFT decision to go to fact-finding and almost thumps his chest at the fact that they did so. He uses scare tactics to soften us up. "These are perilous times for teachers and their unions." WHY? Because the suck-up sell-out union leaders have given up without a fight. (But watch how Mulgrew and Goodman sell the Chicago story as a "special case.")
The fact-finding process, very quietly, has begun. Months, many months, down the road, absent an agreement in the interim the panel will produce a fact-finding report which is not binding but in the past has provided a framework for contract settlements.
The cynics argue: don’t go to fact-finding, wait for the next mayor. Who is to say the next mayor will open the city coffers? Who is to say that by January of 2014 the nation is not in a “double-dip” recession? Or, a Romney presidency will sharply reduce dollars to education and to states driving the city to draconian cuts in funding and services?
Remember little things like health plans for active and retired members are negotiated separately from the contract and currently cost over a billion dollars a year. In other words, once again, the union leadership must be smart.
In Albany there is growing pressure to amend the Triborough Law, which requires that expired contracts remain in place until the successor agreement is in place.
These are perilous times for teachers and teacher unions.
Wait Peter. You mean the vaunted UFT political machine can't stop them from amending the Triborough Law? In essence Goodman is admitting that the UFT is toothless. If the scuzzball politicians the UFT supports actually do so, just watch Goodman defend the UFT leadership's failure with, "the union leadership must be smart." Or at the very least, Vichy.

James Eterno and Jeff Kaufman point to the state law:
James: 3012-c is the part of state law that talks about the Highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective ratings and the percentages used for each.  The clause below is down at the bottom of the section.  I think this little bit of the law gives the UFT leverage in contract talks but they don't talk much about it. 
Jeff:  the provisions don’t go into effect until there is a new agreement. This is because the law made the evaluation process a mandatory subject of bargaining. The DOE can’t alter the current arrangement unilaterally.
Here are the provisions:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation to the
contrary, all collective bargaining agreements applicable to classroom

teachers or building principals entered into after July first, two thousand
ten shall be consistent with requirements of this section. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to abrogate any conflicting provisions of any

collective bargaining agreement in effect on July first, two thousand ten
during the term of such agreement and until the entry into a successor
collective bargaining agreement, provided that notwithstanding any other

provision of law to the contrary, upon expiration of such term and the entry
into a successor collective bargaining agreement the provisions of this
section shall apply. Furthermore, nothing in this section or in any rule or

regulation promulgated hereunder shall in any way, alter, impair or diminish
the rights of a local collective bargaining representative to negotiate
evaluation procedures in accordance with article fourteen of the civil

service law with the school district or board of cooperative educational
services. 
----------- 
Goodman's entire post is below the break for those who don't want to make the extra click on their slow cell phones. 
http://mets2006.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/will-a-teacher-evaluation-agreement-be-reached-in-nyc-a-contract-an-atr-agreement/

Monday, April 30, 2012

Must See Video: Gary Rubinstein at GEM Teacher Evaluation Forum

There's supposed to be this evil union only about the adults but they really aren't doing a good job at that. --- Gary Rubinstein on UFT/NYSUT and teacher evaluation
In a brilliant presentation Stuyvesant HS teacher Gary Rubinstein uses statistics to punch holes in the high stakes testing standardized testing program. He also finds evidence in the stats that charter schools cream better students. Then he addresses the reason why Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee opposed the release of data scores --- they knew people like Gary would be able to show how irrelevant they really were. "It's like in trying to measure temperature, you count the number of people wearing hats."

Then he addresses the issue of why a union agreed to any of this, even 20% given that under the current system almost everyone potentially can be rated ineffective. He offered the union his help to salvage the other 20% but has not heard back yet. There's supposed to be this evil union only about the adults but they really aren't doing a good job at that.

GaryRubinstein's blog: garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/ 

Event sponsored by Grassroots Education Movement, Class Size Matters, Parents Across America. See videos of other speakers posted on the Grassroots Education Movement Vimeo channel.

GEM/PAA/CSM Teacher Evaluation Forum: Gary Rubinstein from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.
April 17, 2012




See all videos from the forum
Leonie Haimson: http://vimeo.com/40760269
Carol Burris: http://vimeo.com/40748945
Khalilah Brann: http://vimeo.com/40758701
Gary Rubinstein: http://vimeo.com/40754465
Arthur Goldstein: http://vimeo.com/40740344
Q and A: http://vimeo.com/40772352

Afterburn:
Michael Winerip takes on the stats in the school grading reports in today's NY Times.
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