Randi Goes to Portland As AFT Threatens Local Considering Disaffiliation

Members of local discuss disaffiliation, AFT responds with phony charges and will attempt to put them in trusteeship.

Unity Caucus hackism goes national. Why are we not surprised? Shades of Puerto Rico six years ago. (We did lots on that situation. Search the blog for FMPR.) Time for a national opposition movement in the AFT? I foresee road trips in my future, though Randi jokingly invited me to go to Oregon with her at the Ex Bd meeting the other day. My bags are packed, Randi.

July 10, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OFNHP Local 5017 Relations with AFT National

Portland OR--At 9am Tuesday July 7, approximately 20 representatives from American Federation of Teachers Healthcare national offices arrived at Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5017 and put the health care union under trusteeship, suspending the officers of the executive board including President Kathy Geroux.

Local 5017's three thousand members are part of AFT's Healthcare Division. In June, the Portland local's executive board began to discuss the possibility of Local 5017 disaffiliating from the national organization, an issue that has arisen more than once over the last fifteen years. A membership meeting was scheduled for the evening of July 7.

“The purpose of the membership meeting was to provide a democratic forum for discussion of whether we should refer the question of disaffiliation to our members for a vote,” said Theo Harper, Local 5017 executive board member. Instead, the meeting was led by the new trustees of the local and the agenda focused on the trusteeship.

AFT Healthcare National issued a statement that said the Executive Board misappropriated funds and violated the bylaws of the local constitution. The executive board members have not seen the formal charges. The board believes that the allegations refer to Local 5017 funds which were spent on expenses related to the July 7 membership meeting. Room rental and other meeting expenses were paid for out of a budget line item specifically for membership meetings. While membership meetings are not ordinarily scheduled in July, as specified in the local bylaws, the constitution also says that special meetings can be called.

The Executive Board is working on a resolution that is acceptable to both parties. AFT National President Randi Weingarten has committed to meeting with Local 5017 President Kathy Geroux in Portland on July 20.

“We believe that everyone on the executive board will be vindicated of all the charges made,” said Kathy Geroux. “We are looking forward to leading our local again after this misunderstanding is cleared up.”

CONTACT:

Kathy Geroux, RN

OFNHP Local 5017 Executive President

Email: Kathyg7170@gmail.com

Bing Wong

OFNHP Local 5017 Vice President of Legislation

Email: bswong33@msn.com

Obama Admin Hits New Low on Ed Deform as it Seeks to Gut NY State Tenure

UPDATE: Obama addresses NAACP in NYC at Hilton Thurs. at 7PM. There's some buzz about a protest outside over his education policies.

A must read article at Gotham.

"The Obama administration official in charge of an educational innovation fund yesterday issued a warning to a New York audience: Unless the state legislature revises a law now on the books about teacher tenure, the state could lose out on the $4.35 billion fund she controls."

The official is Joanne Weiss, "who worked at the New Schools Venture Fund before heading to Washington..." Think she has a dog in the race? Talk about rating teachers based on value added assessment when there is no system proved to work is like saying we should start mining the moon with a shovel. Gee, has anyone been working on systems rating doctors, lawyers and even politicians on value added systems?

"Weiss was in town to discuss The New Teacher Project’s report “The Widget Effect,” which was released last month and urged districts to overhaul their teacher performance evaluations."

Ho-ho-ho. The unbiased NTP being taken seriously by an Obama official. This country is in real trouble.

The Gotham article is linked here:

Obama official to New York: Change your tenure law or else

And make sure to read Pissed Off Teacher's and Ceolaf comments. But John Thompson's bears repeating:

Call her bluff.

If moderate reformers in the AFT don’t have the guts to stand firm on this, the backlash will be awful.

If a state as powerful as NY doesn’t have the guts to stand firm on this, others will crumble. OK, a “reformer” has had her say. Obama has bigger fish to fry, but there is a natural compromise that should be a no-brainer to him. The firewall on teacher indicators will be dropped when a firewall is created to keep test data from being used in evaluations. We could still move ahead with the Denver Plan and the Toledo Plan and similar approaches.

After all, it makes sense to use test scores when appropriate as in performance incentives. But it doesn’t make sense where it is not appropriate, as in evaluations where it could destroy the career of good and effective teachers.

I want the AFT to support Obama, regardless. But I’d like my union to be willing to announce the formation of a major litigation fund to destroy any schemes for using test scores for evaluation. I want districts to know that they will lose more in legal fees than they will gain in Race to the Top Funds if they go down that path.

Then when we drive a stake through the hearts of that mentality, I want my union to go back to being as moderate and willing to compromise as possible. If we want sustainable progress for kids, we can’t get punked on this.

If we lose this one, what self-respecting person would make a career teaching in high-poverty schools? We owe this to our profession.

Sorry, John. Don't expect the AFT to do much more than cheer lead. The attack on tenure by the Obama administration is just the cover the UFT and NYSUT need to duck out of the way as tenure law in NYS is gutted.

As a matter of fact, the dysfunctional state leg doesn't even have to be involved. Watch the upcoming UFT contract, which takes precedence over tenure law, as the UFT will trade money for what will appear to be minor modifications but over time turn out to be disaster.

UFT Exec Bd Nominates Mulgrew As Lone Candidate for Pres as ICE Attempt to Nominate Eterno is Rejected

Putin, Ahmadinejad, Kim Il Jong Jealous of Model of Undemocratic Precedure

Continuing a 25 year tradition, the UFT executive board again rubber stamped a hand-picked successor as the lone nominee to fill out a term of office. Given that Unity Caucus controls all the seats on the Board, Mulgrew is expected to win with 100% of the vote. Saddam Hussein is rolling over in his grave with consternation over how he could never figure out a way to get more than 98% of the vote. Even Ahmadinejad got only 2/3 of the vote. (The Mullahs are having the UFT Constitution translated into Farsi.)

A large group of ICEers, who have no seats on the Board, attended in the hope they would get an opportunity to speak and nominate James Eterno from the floor (read Anna Philips profile of James at Gotham). The vote on July 29 will still result in 100% for Mulgrew and having a 2nd candidate would only be symbolic, but ICE figured, why not try? Worse case scenario, get a few cookies and some fruit (that giant chocolate chip was fab).

James Eterno, a member of ICE, is running for president of the UFT. (Photo via GothamSchools' Flickr)

Figuring to use the EB rule giving any union member speaking time before the meeting as an opportunity to point out the lack of democratic procedure, I called ahead and asked for speaking time and was not told this was not allowed. I was recovering from my Bikram Yoga class, but I dropped my cigar and left the beach in Rockaway and schlepped over, but I was told by Michael Mendel that I would not be allowed to speak, as the speaking rule was suspended for these types of meetings. Former EB member (when she was with New Action) Ellen Fox of ICE also attempted to speak, but was turned away.

We were armed with the UFT Constitution, which has some of the more ambiguous language than credit default swap explanations. ICE's interpretation was that the Mulgew nomination was illegal, as the Constitution says an officer cannot run for another office unless he/she resigned as of July 1. It also says anyone can make a nomination without specifying that only applies to EB members. But if you read the Constitution backwardsor standing on your head, it is all legal.

I had the most fun watching the New Action EB crew, all elected with Unity support, sit there and blandly accept the situation without attempting to nominate anyone. Their fearless leader, Michael Shulman, even got up to ask why there was a need to hold the pro forma election on July 29 if there was one candidate and why not just put on the crown immediately? Mendel said the Constitution calls for two separate meetings. Hey Mike, nice to see the Constitution being followed at times. (Actually, Unity has made the Constitution ironclad undemocratic with few if any loopholes.)

New Action is praying Mulgrew will give them a quarter of the attention Weingarten gave them. ICE expects New Action to run another bogus slate in 2010, with a small group of candidates endorsed by Unity in an attempt to claim there is bipartisanship and to keep any ICE/TJC people off the board.

For the record, in the last election (2007) ICE/TJC received 5500 votes while New Action got 3500, yet NA got 8 seats and ICE/TJC got none. Ahhhh, that fresh air of democracy.

George Schmidt, editor of the widely read Chicago-based resistance newspaper and web site, Substance, joined ICE at the meeting as an observer. "At least you can attend EB meetings even though you are gagged," Schmidt said. "The Chicago TU EB meetings are closed." Ah, more fresh air of UFT democracy, with the reigning theme being, "You can attend, as long as you eat your cookies and fruit and shut up."

Related:
Eterno Comments on Mulgrew Nomination at the ICE blog
MULGREW CORONATION: MEET THE NEW BOSS SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Rally Fri July 10 as DOE Rules In Favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School taking over more space at PS 123!

URGENT!

Dictatorship - DOE Rules In Favor of Harlem Success Academy Charter School taking over more space at PS 123!

On the morning of July 10 movers, sent by the $370K - Eva Moskowitz, will arrive again to remove materials from PS 123 Teachers' classrooms as she invades more Public School Space for her charter school!

Emergency Protest

Friday, July 10

8:30 AM

PS 123

301 West 140th St.

(bet. Edgecombe & Frederick Douglas)

Stop this drive to privatize!

Defend our Public School Space!

Be there! Spread the word.

Angel Gonzalez

UPDATE: Man borough Pres Scott Stringer is expected and this "rally" may turn into a press conf.

UPDATE: PS 123 Harlem Parents Make Their Case Against Harlem Success

7/10/09
Two days after this rally, the DOE ruled Harlem Success could go in and take over a swath of PS 123. Another event was held this morning that drew Man. boro pres Scott Stringer and mayoral candidate Tony Avella.

Harlem parents make a powerful statement defending their public school against the invasion of public schools by charters, in this case Eva Moskowitz' Harlem Success. They talk about the space their kids are denied, the favoritism shown to charters by the NYCDOE, the creaming, where even in the same family, only the higher scoring kids get recruited. And it's happening all over the city. They go beyond to talk about how they feel about public education in general. One of the most eloquent statements parents have yet made as they refute the charge that only white upper class parents oppose Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.

Members of GEM and ICE were there to support them, as were reps from PS 15 in Red Hook who are undergoing a similar experience.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_aGF9n8sE8

The UFT Hundred Thousand Dollar Plus Club

And I stopped at the B's.
Have your own party with the rest of the alphabet with a look at the 2008 LM-2 report.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/rrlo/lmrda.htm
Send us what you dig up.

UFT file number is 063-924

B C

SUSAN AMLUNG COMMUNICATIONS N/A

$160,007

$0

$2,312

$200

$162,519

AMY ARUNDELL SPECIAL REP. N/A

$129,796

$0

$2,676

$0

$132,472

ROBERT ASTROWSKY SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$162,424

$0

$1,586

$0

$164,010

MARY ATKINSON SPECIAL REP. N/A

$138,623

$0

$5,498

$0

$144,121

JACQUELINE BENNETT SPECIAL REP. N/A

$133,866

$0

$4,464

$0

$138,330

MICHELLE BODDEN SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$129,502

$0

$0

$0

$129,502

KLAUS BORNEMANN SPECIAL REP. N/A

$129,796

$0

$6,863

$0

$136,659

THOMAS BROWN SPECIAL REP. N/A

$120,351

$0

$2,531

$0

$122,882

JACQUES BYCINTHE SPECIAL ASST. N/A

$97,896

$0

$5,869

$0

$103,765

Just one more note: Let's give special kudos to the husband/wife/son Goldman family for pulling a cool $350 G's.

A B C

ANNE GOLDMAN SPECIAL REP. NYSUT

$136,532

$0

$8,500

$0

$145,032

A B C

JEROME GOLDMAN BORO REP. NYSUT

$159,755

$0

$6,252

$0

$166,007

A B C

JASON GOLDMAN LEGISLATION N/A

$60,983

$0

$574

$0

$61,557

A Memorable Evening with General Bela Kiraly

I knew it had to happen at some point soon, but reading of the death of Bela Kiraly, my former history professor at Brooklyn College, in today's NY Times. was still a shock despite the fact Kiraly was 97. As the obit points out he was an historic figure in Hungary.

As a member of the Hungarian army, he was forced to fight with the Nazi collaborators in Hungry, thought the Times points out "he had tried to join the Russian side in the war rather than serve with Hungary’s fascist forces, but was unable to do so. During the war, Mr. Kiraly commanded a battalion of 400 Jewish slave laborers at the Ukrainian front. Disobeying orders from his superiors, as The Jerusalem Post wrote in 1993, he “put the 400 men under his command into Hungarian uniforms and treated them humanely.” For his actions, he was honored in 1993 as a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial authority in Jerusalem."

As a general, he was sentenced to a Stalinist death camp in 1951 for 5 years before being freed just as the Hungarian Revolution was breaking out in October, 1956. He was in a hospital room recuperating when he was asked to lead the forces opposing the Soviets, escaping to Vienna after the Soviet invasion.

He came to America, with some support from the CIA, which used the Hungarian ex-pat community to keep the resistance movement alive. He got his degree in history and started teaching at Brooklyn College in 1964, where I was a history major. He was one of the best college teachers I and many of others ever had.

Bringing an old world charm along with his military bearing, Kiraly made an instant mark on the students and other professors at Brooklyn College when he arrived. Not knowing anything about him, I registered for his 20th Century European history course and had my eyes opened to many new facets of history.

While one would expect Kiraly's experiences to make him a virulent anti-communist (he certainly was an anti-Stalinist), he allowed us to see all sides and make our own judgements. This approach was different from the American born teachers, also anti-communist, but didactic about it. Brooklyn College, which had been a hotbed of radicalism in the 30's was purged by the reactionary president Harry Gideonse. Kiraly brought a sense of balance to the issues.

Unfortunately, I never was able to take his legendary military history course, one of the big regrets of my academic life, but did take a research seminar with him in the spring of 1966. We used to meet every two weeks in his small apartment down the block from the campus. It was my final course before graduating and I produced an 80 page paper on the relationship between the Soviet Union and the Eastern European nations in the Soviet block.

I was teaching computer courses at Brooklyn College in the late 80's and early 90's and one of the history professors told me he had gone back for the first time since 1956 and was, surprisingly, elected to the new parliament.

My wife and I had a unique view of this history when we visited Budapest in October, 1956 a few days before the 50th anniversary of the revolution. With a big celebration with representatives from around the world expected, there were massive protests going on around Parliament, which sits on the Pest side of the Danube and is modeled on the British Parliament building in London.

I was curious about Kiraly but found no information on the computer in the hotel and had just about given up hope.

We were buying some pottery in a shop on the Danube on the Buda side where the owner, George Krall, spoke perfect English and had visited the states many times. I mentioned Kiraly and he said he knew of him and thought he was still alive. Just at that moment, an elderly gentleman was entering the building and George said he had served under Kiraly and called him over. He said that Kiraly was still alive and doing well and lived in Budapest. George began to call all the people named Bela Kiraly in the phone book and sure enough we reached him.

He didn't remember me but asked if I would like to come over to his house for a visit that evening. "Who is with you," he asked? "My wife," I said. "Bring the voman," he ordered. And bring the voman I did. And as you can see in the picture, he still had an eye for the ladies. He certainly charmed my wife.

The cab ride was about an hour on the outskirts of the city. We were ushered into the living room by Kiraly's nephew (I believe) and there he was standing, as straight as ever. The same charm, mesmerizing us, he proceeded to give us a two hour history lesson on every aspect of the Hungarian revolution, his time in the death camp, his escape and many of his experiences in the states. It would take pages to recall it all, but the most vivid was his accounts of the negotiations he engaged in with the Soviets, especially Yuri Anropov the Soviet ambassador who was the key to suppressing the revolution. Kiraly has one of the 12 hot line numbers and was privy to much information.

Kiraly's hero was Imre Nagy, the Hungarian leader, who was executed not long after the revolution, and his eyes misted just a bit when talking about Nagy. Kiraly swore he would not set foot in Hungary again until Nagy was given an honored place of burial and so it was done.

I asked him what he thought of the current demos, from what I read, expecting he might offer them some support since the party in power they were criticizing had communist influences. "They are right wing agitators," he said, "not trying to make the situation more democratic. Democracy is what is important." And that was the essence of Bela Kiraly. Neither pro or anti communist, but pro-democracy. (He should see the UFT.)

He was part of the committee settign up the 50th annivesay party and was going to play a major role in the celebration on

We could have listened all night, but at some point, feeling guilty we were taking up the time of this great man and concerned about keeping him up, I said something about leaving. "Am I boring you," he barked at me? The spell was broken. But he handed over a stack of books he had written, some of them autographed by him.

One of the most memorable evenings we ever had.

I'll post more photos from the trip at Facebook or Norms notes soon.

$4 Million: What the UFT Gave the Glover Park Group

Find out what your union spends its dues on.
Download the UFT LM-2 2008 report.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/rrlo/lmrda.htm

UFT file number is 063-924

Thanks to Jeff Kaufman. If you find more nuggets send them along. The Glover Park Group has people like Howard Wolfson, a major UFT consultant. Wolfson is a major player in the Bloomberg 3rd term campaign.

THE GLOVER PARK GROUP 3299 K STREET NW WASHINGTON DC 20007

Type or Classification (B)

CONSULTANT

Purpose (C)	Date (D)	Amount (E)
Total Itemized Transactions		$4,042,778
Total Non-Itemized Transactions		$7,823
Total of All Transactions		$4,050,601

Storming Tweed

July 6 rally photos by John Lawhead posted on Facebook.

Councilman Charles Barron at the gates of Tweed

Crowd surges up steps of Tweed as Barron urges people to take back "our" building since mayoral control has expired.

State Assemblywoman Inez Barron tells crowd she opposes mayoral control


Sam Coleman of GEM and NYCORE speaks eloquently about the impact of high stakes testing

Some guys never know when to take off their hat. ICE's Sean Ahern taking notes and Lisa North (in green shirt.)

Rally at Tweed Protests Mayoral Control

They came from all over. Black, white, Latino/a, old, young, teachers, parents, communuity activists, students, ICE, GEM, Parents Commission, ISO, independents. There were hundreds. On five days notice and people were away for vacation. It is only the beginning. I have video. More reports tomorrow before heading up to PS 123 for the 1 PM protest against that breaking and entering public school thief, Eva Moskowitz. (See the July 4 posting: Moskowitz B&E at 123: Rally on Tues July 7).

Diane Ravitch on "The Partnership for 19th Century Skills"

This one from Diane is just brilliant.

The Partnership for 19th Century Skills

Published by Diane Ravitch on July 6, 2009

I for one have heard quite enough about the 21^st century skills that are sweeping the nation. Now, for the first time, children will be taught to think critically (never heard a word about that in the 20^th century, did you?), to work in groups (I remember getting a grade on that very skill when I was in third grade a century ago), to solve problems (a brand new idea in education), and so on.

Let me suggest that it is time to have done with this unnecessary conflict about 21^st century skills. Let us agree that we need all those forenamed skills, plus lots others, in addition to a deep understanding of history, literature, the arts, geography, civics, the sciences, and foreign languages.

But allow me also to propose a new entity that will advance a different set of skills and understandings that are just as important as what are now called 21^st century skills. I propose a Partnership for 19^th Century Skills.

This partnership will advocate for such skills, values, and understandings as:

• The love of learning
• The pursuit of knowledge
• The ability to think for 20 oneself (individualism)
• The ability to stand alone against the crowd (courage)
• The ability to work persistently at a difficult task until it is finished (industriousness, self-discipline)
• The ability to think through the consequences of one’s actions on others (respect for others)
• The ability to consider the consequences of one’s actions on one’s well-being (self-respect)
• The recognition of higher ends than self-interest (honor)
• The ability to comport oneself appropriately in all situations (dignity)
• The recognition that civilized society requires certain kinds of behavior by individuals and groups (good manners, civility)
• The willingness to ask questions when puzzled (curiosity)
• The readiness to dream about other worlds, other ways of doing things (imagination)
• The ability to believe that one can improve one’s life and the lives of others (optimism)
• The ability to believe in principles larger than one’s own self-interest (idealism)
• The ability to speak well and write grammatically, using standard English

I invite readers to submit other 19^th century skills that we should cultivate assiduously among the rising generation, on the belief that doing so will lead to happier lives and a better world.

(Ed’s Note: Diane Ravitch wrote the above for the blog of Common Core, which advocates for comprehensive education in the liberal arts and sciences. She is the organization’s co-chair. It is published here as well, with her permission.)

REMINDER: PROTEST MAYORAL DICTATORSHIP IN OUR SCHOOLS! MONDAY JULY 6, 5PM

Didn’t the SUN SET on Mayoral Control?

DENOUNCE THE PHONY BOARD! NON EDUCATORS SELECTED

PROTEST MAYORAL

DICTATORSHIP IN OUR SCHOOLS!

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT PARENT AND STUDENT UNIONS

MONDAY, JULY 6, 2009

at 5 pm

TWEED - 52 Chambers Street

PUBLIC EDUCATION IS AT RISK

STOP THE NO BID CONTRACTS

STOP the SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPE LINE

We are calling all Registered Voters,Community Leaders, Politicians, Parents,

Teachers, Students and all Educational Professionals

to come out and Rally for Public Education!

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . ?

On July 1, Bloomberg-Klein created a bogus Department

of Education with his Deputy Mayor as its President.

1,000+ teachers are sitting in detention “Rubber Rooms”

daily doing absolutely nothing at an expense to taxpayers

in an amount over $100 million dollars per year.

Teachers who blow the Whistle on School Corruption get

“U” ratings & are subjected to a hostile work environment.

Standardized Test Score data on children from poor

neighborhoods are being used to feed the “School to

Prison Pipeline.”

No Bid Contracts are given to fortune 500 businesses that

are personally affiliated with the Mayor.

Special Education Students & English Language Learners

are not receiving a FREE and APPROPRIATE Education.

SCHOOLS MUST BE A MODEL OF AND – FOR – DEMOCRACY:

GIVE HS STUDENTS A REAL VOICE

Support Guidance Services, Career and

Youth Development Programs in our Public Schools!

COME OUT, RECLAIM & SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS!

For more info, Call: NYCNSC at (718) 857-1427 NEW YORK COALITION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL CONTROL

NY Times damns the entire Calif. school system -- and gets it dead wrong

Caroline Grannan slams NY Times at the Examiner as she goes after the current Sunday magazine article about the California gubernatorial race, which states:

"Test scores in (California) public schools are plummeting” – in the reporter’s voice, without attribution or elaboration.

Caroline says that all indications are that California test scores have been moving upward (not that we give any credence to any testing results in the age of testing steroids. She says:

It’s an ongoing issue to public education advocates who view ourselves as resisters against efforts to “run schools like a business” that the privatization faction insists on portraying our schools in a far worse light than they deserve. Why would the Times leap into that with a flat-out inaccuracy – stated in an authoritative tone implying that no backup is even needed for such an obvious truth?

Now I love this one:

And speaking of troubled institutions, does the Times staff not realize that its survival is as fragile as the California economy? Sorry to repeat myself, but here's my message, again, to my colleagues in the press: Your existence is fragile. Your credibility is what you have left. Please try to take care of it.

Sorry Caroline, I wouldn't expect much credibility from the paper of record on weapons of mass destruction and BloomKlein are wonderful.

The Taking of PS 123

Thanks for the idea to anonymous commenter at
UPDATE on Moskowitz B&E at 123: Rally on Tues July 7

Executed to perfection by David Bellel.

UPDATE on Moskowitz B&E at 123: Rally on Tues July 7

I am reposting this because of the updates below.

Eva Moskowitz should be arrested and charged with breaking and entering.
The staff of 123 should call the police.

NOTE DATE CORRECTION FOR RALLY AT 123:
Tues. July 7. But I have no contact info available yet so check the sidebar for the latest before you go over there. There may be people at the Monday rally at Tweed to talk to.

MORE NEWS: Moskowitz, PS 123 Principal and possibly some staff to meet at City Hall (The Red Room) on July 8 (that was the source of the confusion on the leaflet.) This is one meeting the press should check out.


Gonzalez just about says it all. Kudos to the teachers and parents at PS 123. Assume the DOE is lying. They wanted Moskowitz to wait till no one was there to catch them.

Graphic by David B.

Harlem Success Academy expands further into P.S. 123 in Harlem

Juan Gonzalez, Daily News

Friday, July 3rd 2009, 4:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/07/03/2009-07-03_charter_schools_bad_move_workers_break_into_classrooms_as_moskowitz_seeks_more_s.html

Simmons/News

Classrooms being packed up without teachers or principals knowledge at P.S. 123 in Harlem.

No one was expecting the moving men when they arrived Thursday morning at PS 123 in Harlem.

Not Principal Beverly Lewis, nor any of her staff, nor any of the school's parent leaders.

"These strangers suddenly appeared, went up to the third floor, removed the cylinder locks from a bunch of classroom doors and started moving out all the furniture and computers, and piling everything up in the gym," said one teacher who was conducting a summer school class when the men arrived.

The tense confrontation that followed reveals why Harlem has become Ground Zero in a growing neighborhood resistance to mayoral control of schools.

It is a wakeup call to the politicians in Albany not to give Mayor Bloomberg a blank check to run roughshod over parents and teachers.

The moving men claimed they had orders to empty and refurbish all the school's third-floor rooms to make way for an expansion of the Harlem Success Academy.

That's the charter school operation run by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz. The same one Schools Chancellor Joel Klein routinely praises as Exhibit A for educational reform. Moskowtiz's program currently uses a few third-floor rooms at the school.

The teachers at Public School 123 are no ordinary bunch. They and the parents have opposed the unilateral decision Klein made in May to turn over more of their valuable classroom space to Harlem Success.

Theirs is not a failing school and they were told talks were continuing over how to divide the space.

They saw the sudden arrival of the workmen Thursday as a signal that the discussion was over. So several of them rushed upstairs to confront the strangers, blocked the doorways and occupied the rooms.

"I told them, you're not taking my books and furniture out of here," said one teacher.

Police were called in. After an hour-long standoff, an official from school headquarters called to say that no one had authorized Moskowitz's movers to be in the school.

The workmen then vacated the building, leaving furniture and boxes strewn in the hallways and piled high in a corner of the gym.

Afterward, Harlem leaders labeled it a sneak attack.

"This is mayoral control run amok," said State Sen. Bill Perkins. "Eva Moskowitz has been treated with such privilege by the mayor and Joel Klein, she acts as if she doesn't need any authorization to do things."

"We had an agreement with DOE that no construction is to begin in the school until there is another meeting with all sides to work out space needs," said a spokeswoman for City Councilwoman Inez Dickens.

DOE officials conceded there was a "mistake in communications."

"As soon as we were made aware of the situation today, we told the charter school to stop," DOE spokeswoman Melody Meyer said.

Moskowitz denies impropriety.

"There is a space allocation agreement that the DOE has clearly, repeatedly, consistently and in writing said would become effective on July1," Moskowitz said.

The renovations of the new rooms for Harlem Success can't be delayed, she said, because classes at her school begin on Aug. 12 - weeks earlier than the regular public schools.

"Dr. Lewis and the [teachers' union] are deliberately taking steps to prevent us from renovating these rooms," Moskowitz said.

Lewis declined to comment.

Bloomberg recently made some bizarre remarks about possible "riots in the streets" if Albany doesn't renew mayoral control.

Well, the teachers and parents at PS 123 sent a very different message Thursday: In Harlem and all over this city, parents and teachers are getting fed up with mayoral dictatorship.

jgonzalez@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/07/03/2009-07-03_charter_schools_bad_move_workers_break_into_classrooms_as_moskowitz_seeks_more_s.html#ixzz0KCVUft4W&D

David (Bellel) Does Tony (Avella)

Our ICE/GEM spies at the mayoral candidate forum the other day came away pretty impressed with Tony Avella. Some guy named David (he is ubiquitous) did a tape. NY Times article here.

http://dbellel.blogspot.com/2009/07/tony-avella-on-education.html

Brooklyn Dreams: DOE Tries Again to Push a Charter into South/Central Brooklyn

PUBLIC HEARING JULY 16 at SHELL BANK MS
(NOTE CORRECTED DATE)

Where do they get these charter school names? Brooklyn Dreams?

Ed Notes covered the Battle of Marine Park (Norm in The Wave on Marine Park Protest Ramifications of The IS 278 Victory) where the IS 278 community brought out masses of people to defeat the DOE attempt to force the Hebrew Language Academy charter school, the brain child of another scion of a billionaire Bloomberg buddy (a BBB). Questions were raised as to how the IS 278 community would respond if an attempt was made to shove a charter into a different school in the neighborhood.

This massive email went out about a hearing on Thurs. July 16 at 7 PM. Should be interesting.

(Shell Bank MS is across the street from Sheepshead Bay HS, one of the few large comprehensive HS in that area of Brooklyn that has not been closed down.)

PLEASE ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT HEARING. IT SEEMS THE DOE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE TRYING TO FORCE A CHARTER SCHOOL INTO ONE OF OUR LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS!

Charter Applicant Hearing
I.S. 14 – Shell
Brooklyn, New York 11235
(Between Avenue Y & X) Accessible buses: B36, B44 & BM3 OR call MTA travel directions at 718-330-1234

A public hearing is open to anyone interested in learning about the proposed charter of:

Brooklyn Dreams

Speaker comment is welcomed. Written comments will also be collected on the day of the hearing and can be submitted via e-mail to: charterschools.nyc.gov

Included on the agenda will be time for public comment on a newly proposed charter school in New York City. The following schools will Pursuant to Education Law 2857(1), the New York City Department of Education is required to hold a public hearing to solicit comment from the
Community in connection with any proposal for a charter school.

Legally Questionable Meeting on July 1, 2009

To: All New York City Borough Presidents and the Public
From: Nicola DeMarco
Re: The Bogus meeting of “The New York City Board of Education” on July 1, 2009
Date: July 2, 2009

Legally Questionable Meeting on July 1, 2009 at 52 Chambers Street, New York
1. Who called the first “Board of Education” meeting today?
2. Under what legal authority was it called?
3. Since the Board of Education was originally created by the 1969 New York State law on school decentralization, and no similar state law was enacted on July 1, 2009, under what legal authority was a “Board of Education” created today?
4. Where are the minutes of the meeting?
5. Was it open to the public? Where was the meeting announced?
6. Did that announcement contain specific details as to the time, place and date of the meeting? Did that announcement contain a phone number, address and/or email for the public to contact for details?
7. Are all the members chosen to serve on the “Board of Education” residents of New York City?
8. A Deputy Mayor serving as President of the Board of Education is a conflict of interest, violates the separation of powers since the Board of education is no longer part of the executive/mayoral branch. Never before has a Deputy Mayor served on the Board of Education.
9. If the Mayor is angry that the State Senate is not meeting to vote, why isn't he angry that this bogus "Board of Education" is not meeting or doing any work until September 10, after school opens and only met yesterday for less than an hour? With over 1.1 million children depending on them, that is gross negligence.
11. Although the vast majority of children in our schools are Black and Latino, only 2 of the seven members of the bogus “Board of Education” are Black or Latino. How does this represent the needs of the students?
12. What is this teaching our children about democracy?

Nicola DeMarco

Seung Sings

As we reported, DOE PR chief David Cantor's accusing the people wanting to celebrate the expiration of mayoral control of "tribalism" led to many comments, including calls for his resignation on the NYC Ed listserve. Below, GEM's Seung Ok answers a critic of the critics with this marvelous response. (By the way, I didn't find Cantor's comment as offensive as some did and encourage him to comment more often as it gives us so much material.)

I would disagree with you first on your evaluation that schools were failing before the the conception of mayoral control. As you say, we need to look at the facts. It was a mere 50 years ago, that we had essentially apartheid in this country. Even with the ruling of Brown vs BOE, can we with a straight face state that school funding has ever been equal between suburban white areas and the inner city schools? Right now, as I'm writing this, each student on the island gets 1000 dollars more funding than NYC students. And the ridiculous claim by Kline that the teacher to student ratio is 1 to 16, is at best data manipulation and at worse a fraud. I have been teaching 12 years, and I have yet to see that ratio (34 is currently what I see at my school).

The only good thing that charter schools like Harlem success has shown, is that if you throw money at the problem, it does narrow the achievement gap as was noted in the NY Times recently. However, it's sad that equality has now come to mean "lottery" and that we as a society can not pledge to make that type of funding a reality to all public schools, not just charters begging for private funding.

So, here is the crux of it. Because Bloomberg and society doesn't have the political courage, monetary self sacrifice, and sincerity to fully fund public schools - we do the next best thing - play the blame game and dumb down the tests to pretend the achievement gap is closing. I teach in east new york, and let me tell you about the massive educational fraud happening under Bloomberg.

Lets talk about common sense, shall we. Remember when you were in school, if someone failed a class, what do they do? They attend summer school, and get that 1 credit. Well now, it's not a mere 1 credit you receive, it's 4, 5 , up to 16 credits. And often times there is no standard. The worse case of this in my school were holiday credits, where students came in and did 4 mornings of busy work handout sheets that were never graded, nor went over by a licensed teacher. And they got their credits. Isn't this just social promotion to the nth degree?

More common sense. The current raw score on the Algebra regents is 30 questions right out of 87. The current raw score on the Living Environment regents (an extremely watered down curriculum than the old biology course) is 39 correct out of 85 questions. This is an example of negligent fraud mayor Bloomberg has brought upon education. I know as adults we may disagree on many things, but can't we at least agree that 33% and 46% of knowledge acquisition equalling a "proficient" 65 is utterly negligent on our part.

The truth is, these practices negatively impact generations of black and brown students a lot more than white students. When we lower the minimum standards so much, and on top of that threaten teachers and schools for closure based upon these high stakes testing, in essence we are stifling the standards of education for a whole generation of minority students. This is certainly a race to the bottom.

Here's is a further statistic for you - from the US Census. In 1960 the average number of African Americans (aged 25 and over) completing 4 years in high school was 22 percent. In 2000 (before the mayor took over) African Americans average 79% compared to all races 84 %. So in spite of the years of underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, disparity of health care, and income, the gap has been narrowing. Unfortunately all of these real modest gains are now being undermined by the watering down of education that is the legacy of mayoral control.

What I would ask of you, is to think about the core issues at stake here and not to trivialize the extent to which race does come into play. This issue is not about political correctness, it goes at the heart of the injustice that is occurring now. When community members and parents see what is going on in their schools - and the lack of voice that exists, to hear that word "tribal" used in what supposed to be a sincere debate, is tinged with the history and current practice of inequality happening now.

Seung Ok

More from Seung:

There is a Seung saga based on his calling Randi out at the DA during her farewell address that is still being played out and we will be publishing a follow up soon.

Read the background:

UFT Delegate Assembly, Democracy NOT

Unity Hack Attack Part 2

Seung-Yong Ok of GEM spoke on Bernard Gassaway's CUNY Talk Show WHCR (90.3 FM for Bronx or Manhattan or vwww.whcr.org) on Friday, June 12 at 6:30PM to 7:15PM.

Topic: Mayoral Control and Ramifications.

SEE WHY SEUNG WAS SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THE EVILS OF MAYORAL CONTROL, HE CALLED OUT WHILE RANDI WAS LISTING HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

CAPE: Concerned Advocates for Public Education

Looks like some potential synergy with GEM.
Read all about it at Norms Notes.
CAPE: Concerned Advocates for Public Education

Educators and Parents Organize to Protect and Preserve Public Education

The Ed Notes Governance Plan: The Battle Just Begins

Soon after the riots ended, people started dancing in the streets at midnight. Ok, take off those dancing shoes. Nothing much in terms of the power structure really changes. The overwhelming majority of teachers and parents had little power before mayoral control. They had even less in the earlier round of mayoral control before 1967 and they will have little power in whatever will be coming.

Already the borough presidents are getting along, going along. Some groups were pushing governance plans that gave these useless clowns more of a role. Now they will see the fruits of that policy.

The suck-ass UFT is still the suck-ass UFT.

If there really is a reversion to elected community school boards, we will see the old local political machines which have been lurking in the background jump back in to take control.

A governance model that can really have a chance to work is to give the individual schools some level of autonomy.

What, you say? Didn't Joel Klein do that by destroying the districts and then the regions and creating autonomy zones? I actually liked Klein's concept of having power reside at the school level. But that is not what Klein really did.

First of all, he empowered principals in a limited way so they could spend the money with more freedom. But they were still fettered (is that a word?) to a narrow system of rewards and punishments based on standardized tests. Thus their empowerment existed in a straight jacket.

But the real point is that principals were totally empowered over teachers - with the assistance of the UFT, of course. Whatever checks and balances that existed at the school level between those schools where the UFT chapter was active (very few actually) or where individual teachers were willing to stand up, has been totally destroyed. Funny, how we never hear about restoring those checks and balances.

Thus, under BloomKlein, school communities as an entity, which include parents and teachers, were not empowered. In reality, by putting all the school-level power in the hands of one person, who often turned out to be incompetent or a monster, and backing that person to the hilt (until they assault someone) BloomKlein disempowered school communities.

Well, to be clear, as a teacher under that old system for 35 years, the principals were still mainly all powerful, especially the ones who knew how to manage and intimidate teachers and parents.

What has never been tried is to give teachers and parents real power by allowing them to choose the school leaders from a list of approved choices by the state.

What about the districts? Klein destroyed the geographical concept of districts by creating super networks. That just doesn't work. Even at the region level which consisted of contiguous districts, people spent a lot of time travelling.

Geography does count. The original 32 district plan was fairly decent size, but redrawing them might be a good idea. Maybe to match the Community Board zones.

What about a district school board and superintendent? The Ed Notes governance plan (with lots of input from the ICOPE concept that has been floating around) still has to figure that one out.

Should there be a school constituted by a member from each constituent school? Maybe a mixed board. One thing we should not see is a small board subject to manipulation by political machines. By putting power at the school level, those machines would have a hard time getting traction. I could live with a superintendent who monitors the schools and provides district level services to the schools. If these services are not delivered effectively, the schools need a way to take action or seek alternative sources.

What about high schools?
Remember that even under community control, the high schools were still centralized. I envision a mixed model but would need more input from people on this issue. High schools have been so separated from neighborhoods under BloomKlein. Bring back the concept of a zoned neighborhood high school with options to opt out. But keep it under local control. If the school is not functioning figure out why and fix it, not close it. If they decide at that level to have 4 small schools, that's fine. But Bill Gates would have to go there to sell his wares, not to one dictator.

That's enough on governance for now. My hair is starting to hurt.

Parent Commission response to the sunset of mayoral control

Mayoral control will sunset tonight at midnight. We predict that there will be no rioting in the streets, no chaos or confusion. Instead, many parents will celebrate the removal of an oppressive dictatorial system that has not served their children well. We look forward to working in the future with the Senate, the Assembly and the Governor, to install a new governance system, with adequate checks and balances and a real voice for parents, in which no one, no matter how wealthy and powerful, can make all the decisions when it comes to our children.The Parent Commission on School Governance and Mayoral Control

Leonie Haimson
leonie@att.net

Patricia Connelly
patricia.connelly@gmail.com

Ed Note Comment on the Parent Commission Report
(at great risk of life and limb)
The Parent Commission statement contains levels of ambiguity. Underlying it still seems to be a question of what kind of governance system. Will the PC support a system of mayoral control with checks and balances? Or will the PC be willing to look at the current system of governance - as of 12 midnight - which is the past system of governance - remember we revert- and look at ways to put checks and balances on they old/new system of community control, which to me makes more sense than finding ways to leave the mayor in control but curb his power. Also, is there anyone who doesn't feel it's time for Joel Klein to go on to ruin some other institution?

In case your feeling up about the sunset, read this in the Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/nyregion/01control.html?ref=nyregion

UPDATE: STRINGER BETRAYAL, EXPECT MORE POLITICIANS TO JOIN IN

Man. borough Pres Scott Stringer did not appoint Patrick Sullivan as his rep on the Board of Education – and says that along w/ the SI president, he will continue to support the Bloomberg/Klein policies, disappointing Manhattan parents, who believed that he was on their side.

Photo by David B: Stringer and Markowitz do Vichy

Lisa Donlon replies:
Moved to the other side? He was born and raised there!

Stringer was an Assembly member who voted FOR Mayoral control and despite a number of critical reports on CEC effectiveness, overcrowding, the lousy capital planning process, etc. he has not recanted his pro Mayoral control position. Removing Patrick, the only reasoned and critical voice in the wilderness (of Tweed), is a real blow to the parents of Manhattan and the whole city. Patrick, I guess even in that powerless and lonely position, you were effective enough to warrant NOT being appointed.

Wear that like a badge of honor and join your local school board instead- we need you for the long haul!

Lisa Donlan
CEC One

Report From PS 15 in Battle With PAVE Charter School

Ed Notes has been in touch with the PS 15 community over the issue of the PAVE charter school which was supposed to leave the school is not and is demanding more space.

PAVE is another example of the child of a billionaire who contributed to Bloomberg getting a school to play with at public expense. We previously reported on the Michael Steinhardt's (donor to NYU and Brooklyn Botanic Garden) daughter's (Sara Berman) involvement in the Hebrew Language Academy, which resulted in massive protests by the IS 278 community in Marine Park.

In this case it is the son of a billionaire, Spencer Robertson, who is behind PAVE in Red Hook.

Our first report was on June 13. Here is a follow-up:

There has been an article in the Daily News, which the CHARTER SCHOOL arranged for, so their side of the story could get out. In fact, they let the reporter in the building (which is a no-no, but since she was already there, our PTA president found her and spoke with her at length. We didn't realize the charter school directors were using the article to break the news about their request for an extension in our building. Furthermore, the article did NOT take our real concerns in consideration I guess we were lucky to get any quotes in, but it doesn't really help us. Here is a link: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/06/12/2009-06-12_charter_eyes_a_fair_share.html

After our PTA meeting we held in the library, we got an article in a free paper, the Carroll Gardens Cobble Hill Courier, which was, like most are,full of mistakes and misquotes making us (teachers/staff/parents) look hysterical and making the charter school directors look like reasonable calm people. This one made my blood boil!

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/06/19/carroll_gardens_-_cobble_hill_courier/news/carroll_gardens_-_cobble_hill_courier_newsboujwnv06192009.txt
(If is doesn't work, just go to www.yournabe.com and search this headline "A schoolhouse divided".)

One of the directors of the charter school found out about the meeting and confronted our principal, (who did NOT know about it) and basically told her to bring it...not in those words, though. Then the charter school directors brought in NONUNION construction people to consult for work they want done on the new rooms they get for next year! Our custodial staff had to let them know that was NOT going to happen in a union building!

Background articles from NYDailyNews.com (read with a grain of salt)

Charter eyes a fair share

A Red Hook charter school that had agreed to limit its stay in a public school building to two years has kicked up more controversy by asking for additional time.

Billionaire's son opens school, is he qualified?

The son of a billionaire who contributed more than $10 million to Mayor Bloomberg's school projects opened a new charter school this year, despite questions about his qualifications. Spencer Robertson founded the PAVE Academy.

PAL kayos Red Hook charter school bid

A bid by Red Hook public school parents to keep a charter school out of Public School 15 has apparently failed.

City charter school plan for PS 15 is put on hold

City officials have agreed - at least until meeting with neighborhood leaders next week - to hold off on the plan to house the PAVE Academy in PS 15's Sullivan St. building for the next two years.

Sunrise, Sunset...

I was told by more than a few people that the only fair thing to do is extend mayoral control before midnight for a month or more so Bloomberg can maintain control of the schools while the state legislature disusses the issue further.

The use of the term "fair" in relation to BloomKlein is meaningless. These guys have had 7 years to figure this crap out. Everyone knew the date of expiration. That we are down to the last hours is a sign that there are many people unhappy.

Why are we leaving this decision in the hands of the dysfunctional legislature?

Why not vote? Or draw lots? Or see who can piss further? Anything but the NY State legislature.

Let it sunset!