Black and Latino plaintiffs win back pay in Gulino v BOE

Before ed deform - or maybe an early stage of it - one of the first shots at teachers of color was the lifting of licenses from experienced teachers over a test - even if those teachers had excellent ratings.

One of them was in my school, an impeccable pre-k special ed teacher who had worked her way up from a para. My principal loved her. But she kept freezing every time she took the test. Sometimes she missed by a point. She failed it many times, finally giving up and losing her teaching license. My principal arranged for her to be a para in the same pre-k special ed classroom - now being taught by a first year teacher who was being mentored by the teacher who just lost her license to teach. After about 2 years she ventured back to the test with an attitude she had nothing to lose - and passed it with flying colors- the pressure was off I guess - and she was reinstated as a teacher. Without the support of my principal (full disclosure - as Chapter leader I fought with her for years) this teacher would have never survived in the system. So kudos to the principal and given the amount of slime in today's system, I would hug her today.

A new caucus called Progressive Action Caucus was formed in the late 90s, led by Marc Pessin, a superb organizer (there were other issues with Marc that I won't go into at this point). They held monthly meetings packed with teachers on the cusp - sometimes a hundred or more. Ed Notes was in its early days and I made a resolution at the DA calling for the UFT to find a way to protect these people. No dice. (Another reso I made in that period to curb the impact of high stakes test for children was also turned down.) The UFT leadership was just as test crazy as the deformers.

Eventually, thousands of licenses were lifted and these teachers lost their jobs. Pessin organized a law suit in federal court. I went to some of the hearings in front of famed black judge Constance Baker Motley - we felt this gave them a chance. No dice -- Motley ruled against them.

A decade passed and low and behold this email came into the MORE Discussion list from Sean Ahern.

Black and Latino educators in New York who took the LAST exam and  were denied employment, dismissed or demoted  as a consequence between 1995 -2004 are eligible for back pay and benefits.  The notice below was sent out to all those currently identified as eligible. It is estimated that between 8,000 -15,000 are eligible. The Gulino v BOE case was  dragged out for 20 years by the BOE/DOE.   If you know someone who might be eligible have them contact:

The Garden City Group, Inc. at:

Gulino v. Board of Education 

PO Box 9000 #6543

Merrick, NY 11566-9000

Mail E-mail

questions@gulinolitigation.com

Phone 

(844) 322-8233 

Website

www.gulinolitigation.com

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Saturday Jan. 25: Stop and Reverse the Disappearing of Black and Latino Educators in NYC

Sean Ahern has led the efforts to bring this issue to the fore almost since I met him when we helped form ICE 10 years ago. He has moved steadily forward by building coalitions with all the groups named below.

This Saturday the Ad Hoc committee for Teacher Diversity is sponsoring a meeting to address the issue.

If this were only happening in NYC we would be able to look at the local conditions alone. But this is going on nationwide in urban areas where ed deform has reared its ugly head. You know, those people claiming they are involved in the civil rights issue of our times while somehow reducing the numbers people of color who are teaching in the areas that need them the most. Today we saw Boston highlighted:

A decline in the number of black teachers in Boston public schools has put the city in violation of a federal court order, prompting officials to step up efforts to recruit and retain teachers of color.

Officials in Boston seeking black teachers More diversity is recruitment goal; imbalance could bring litigation

Stop and Reverse the Disappearing of Black and Latino Educators in NYC
 

Please come to this important event and distribute the flyer below: 

• Testimonials from those pushed out and shut out
• An update on Gulino vs BOE (lawsuit against the NYS LAST exam)
• What we can do now

Saturday, January 25, 2014

3-5 PM

The Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew’s Parish Hall

520 Clinton Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 (C train to Clinton/Washington)

A 42% decline in the number of new Black and Latino teachers hired to teach in NYC public schools since 2002 is movement in the wrong direction.

The DOE hires graduates from private universities over those from CUNY and SUNY.

A NYS teacher certification exam is not validated yet disproportionately excludes Black and Latino applicants.

Over 100 public schools have been closed in NYC’s Black and Latino communities.

Mayoral control over the DOE with its $25 billion yearly budget shuts out the voices and accountability to parents – over 80% of whom are Black, Latino and Asian.

Privately run charter schools are given a free ride to crowd existing public schools and to divide parents against parents.

The absence of DOE or mayoral oversight or direction to monitor and promote diversity in the teaching staff provides a cover for growing indifference and hostility to demands for equity.  “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

The undermining of teacher tenure, seniority and due process disproportionately impacts Black and Latino teachers, denigrates the teaching profession, inhibits student advocacy and contributes to chaos and demoralization in our public schools.

The disappearing of Black and Latino educators removes the most consistent advocates for a historically accurate, culturally relevant and inclusive curriculum.

Join with educators, parents and community leaders to stop and reverse the disappearing of Black and Latino educators.  Let’s organize for a real change at Tweed and City Hall.

Organized by the Ad Hoc committee for Teacher Diversity

Contact information: Peter Bronson (917) 453-3666, (718) 805-6341 Email:TeacherDiversity@gmail.com

Endorsers (list in formation) Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence, Coalition for Public Education, Movement of Rank and File Educators, National Black Education Agenda, New York Collective of Radical Educators, People Power, Progressive Action Caucus, Teacher’s Unite.

Stop and Reverse the Disappearing of Black and Latino Educators in NYC

Teacher Diversity Petition

MORE is helping sponsor this action of the work of the Teacher Diversity Committee, an independent group of teachers affiliated with MORE.

Anyone who has been around for a while knows that Sean Ahern (who was one of the founders - co-conspirators) of ICE) has been relentless in his pursuit of this issue over the past decade. I think we all learned a lesson when Sean took things to a new level by calling meetings around the issue and reaching out to all corners of the education landscape. Bit by bit the committee has attracted a diverse group of people who have been working with Sean. Below are some of the fruits of their labors. Please sign.

Increase Teacher Diversity in New York City

August 14, 2014 — Leave a comment

Sign the petition here

Petition by Teacher Diversity Committee

To be delivered to Carmen Fariña and The New York City Panel for Educational Policy

Since the 2001-2002 academic year, there has been a 57.4% decrease in the number of Black teachers hired by the New York City Department of Education, and a 22.9% increase for white teachers hired during this same period of time. We ask Chancellor Fariña and the Panel for Education Policy to:
• Make a policy statement that acknowledges the value of teacher diversity and the lack of such diversity in New York City public schools.
• Centrally monitor the racial demographic of hiring and firing in NYC public and charter schools. In public school data reports include the racial profile for the teachers and administrators in each school as is currently done for the students.
• Raise the percentage of Black and Latino teachers hired in the system overall, with a special focus on raising the percentage of male teachers in those groups.
• Raise the percentage of persons of color in the NYC Teaching Fellows program to more closely match the NYC student body demographic. Make public the number and racial demographic of NYC Teaching Fellows hired.
• Settle Gulino vs. Board of Education, in which a recent court ruling found that the NY State LAST certification exam was not validated yet was used in 2002 to dismiss thousands of NYC teachers who were disproportionately Black and Latino.
• Invest in a clear and distinct paraprofessional-to-teacher career path that offers qualified applicants provisional teaching licenses while completing graduate degree requirements and subsidizes both undergraduate and graduate tuition at CUNY and SUNY

PETITION BACKGROUND

In a school system that is 67.5% Black and Latino (as of 2012 – 13), the 34% combined percentage of Black and Latino teachers in the system is disappointing at best.
This lack of diversity reinforces already existing practices of segregation and leaves out diverse cultural perspectives that inform curriculum, pedagogy and practice. It also shortchanges our students by replicating and reinforcing false societal structures that devalue the contribution and perspectives of non-dominant racial and cultural groups.

Full Link and to sign http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/increase-teacher-diversity?source=c.tw&r_by=1921406

 

 

Democratic Committee of Richmond County Annouces Passing of Gene Prisco

Having been a fellow activist and friend for over 40 years, at this point I am not capable of commenting on Gene's passing. We saw him last Tuesday when we picked up Loretta to drive her back to Staten Island from her daughter's place in Villanover where Gene was in hospice care for the past month. There is the medical story, the political story, the friendship story to tell. Due to Loretta's being ill at this time, the wake and funeral are on hold. Any change and announcements will be sent out. Here is the announcement sent out this afternoon from the Priscos' Democratic Club -- yes Virginia, there are progressive Democrats in Staten Island.

I regret to inform you of the passing of Eugene Prisco, Democratic Congressional candidate in 1998 and a longtime party activist and community leader. Gene was one of the most passionate and articulate voices on behalf of the Democratic Party that I have ever known. He was a man of principle, a man of vision and a man with a deep and abiding love for his family, Staten Island and the Democratic Party. With Gene's passing, we have lost a champion for the values of the Democratic Party and it is a loss we all feel deeply. For those who have had the privilege of knowing Gene, I hope you'll carry his memory with you and I ask that you pray for his family and friends during this difficult time.

Services are still in the process of being arranged. When the details are finalized we will announce them.

Yours Truly,

John P. Gulino

Chairman.

 

Staten Island Advance: Gene Prisco, liberal lion of Staten Island, educator, and activist for the disenfranchised, dies at 70

Excellent obit on Gene. Though I knew this was coming for the past month - and probably longer than that, I'm still having trouble breathing. Just last January we all celebrated Gene and Loretta's 70th birthday - I have some really bad video and so sorry I didn't bring the good camera -- dumb, dumb, dumb. Glad the old crew got to see him a few times since things went downhill starting in August. What could go wrong, did go wrong. We will tell the entire medical story as we know it soon. Many lessons for all of us with the main one being: if you can stay out of a hospital, do so. And I swear, when I saw Gene last Tuesday he didn't look much worse than he looks in this great photo. Astounding that Gene's mom died about a year ago with him taking extraordinary care of her. I keep smacking myself in the head over the entire story.

One of the ironies is that if Gene were well there was going to be a push for him to be the Staten Island rep on the PEP. How much fun would that have been?

If I haven't made it clear to people, Gene and Loretta were part of our hard-core activist crew from the early 70s. He was a founding member of the Coalition of NYC School Workers and of ICE -- I think it was Gene at ICE's first meeting on Oct. 30, 2003 who got up and said we had to run in the 2004 UFT elections and we all cheered in affirmation. Always funny and sharp and with brilliant insights into general politics and the UFT. 

By Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance

November 27, 2013 at 6:28 PM, updated November 27, 2013 at 6:37 PM

http://www.silive.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2013/11/gene_prisco_liberal_lion_of_st.html

 
Members of the political, education and activist communities are mourning the loss of Randall Manor resident Gene Prisco, shown here in 2012. 
 

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Eugene (Gene) Vincent Prisco, 70, of Randall Manor, a liberal lion of Staten Island politics and a longtime educator who also aided immigrants and refugees through his work with the African Refuge organization, died of complications from surgery on Monday in the Villanova, Pa., home of his daughter and son-in-law.

Mr. Prisco, a stalwart Democrat who made runs for U.S. Congress and state Senate and also helped generations of Island students as a school guidance and substance abuse counselor, was born in Queens and raised in the Bronx.
He moved to Grymes Hill in 1967, to Sunnyside in 1971, and to Randall Manor in 1974.

Vexed that the Democrats had long endorsed GOP state Sen. John Marchi, Prisco in 1994 launched a primary against Marchi for the Democratic nomination. Marchi prevailed, but Prisco successfully aired the issue of cross-endorsements.

In 1998, Prisco ran against GOP Rep. Vito Fossella. Though Fossella won the election, Prisco was praised for raising the issues of gun control and campaign finance reform during the race.

A proud liberal known also for his larger-than-life personality and sense of humor, Mr. Prisco was a longtime member of the Staten Island Democratic Association and belonged to the party's county committee.

"Gene was one of the most passionate and articulate voices on behalf of the Democratic Party that I have ever known," said borough Democratic chairman John Gulino. "He was a man of principle, a man of vision and a man with a deep and abiding love for his family, Staten Island and the Democratic Party. With Gene's passing, we have lost a champion for the values of the Democratic Party and it is a loss we all feel deeply."

Members of the North Shore Democratic Club observed a moment of silence in Mr. Prisco's honor before their meeting on Tuesday.

Sadness at Mr. Prisco's passing crossed party lines.
"Our politics never jibed, but we always got along," said GOP Borough President-elect James Oddo. "We always appreciated each other's candor. He was very passionate about education and teaching. I'm sorry to hear of his loss."

Mr. Prisco spent 33 years in the city public school system, most of it at Morris Intermediate School, Brighton Heights, where he was a social studies teacher and guidance and substance abuse counselor. Mr. Prisco also ran a bereavement group for students at Morris.

He also taught 6th grade at PS 18, where he started a free breakfast program, and was a substance abuse and guidance counselor at numerous Island elementary schools.

Mr. Prisco retired in 1999, but served as a teaching mentor at the College of Staten Island and Pace University.

Mr. Prisco belonged to the Community School Board for five years, and was a United Federation of Teachers delegate.

He also belonged to the Staten Island Alliance for Responsible Education , the Independent Community of Educators, the Coalition of New York City School Workers, the Staten Island Teacher's Action Committee, and Communities United for Respect and Trust.

Mr. Prisco was a member of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

Mr. Prisco earned a bachelor's degree in history from Iona College. He received a master's degree in Asian Studies from St. John's University, Queens, and an All But Dissertation degree in Asian and Russian Studies from New York University.

Mr. Prisco was chairman of the board of directors of the African Refuge organization, which runs an after-school center in Clifton and numerous other programs.

Mr. Prisco's family said it was that work he was most proud of. He was honored by the group in May as part of the African Refuge's 10th anniversary celebration.

The Rev. Judy Brown, executive director of African Refuge, said Mr. Prisco was "an inspiration in my life."
"He was a source of hope for many communities here on Staten Island," she said. "Gene had a unique personality full of warmth and humor, was genuinely concerned about disenfranchised people, and worked for justice and equality for all humankind. African Refuge and many other organizations on Staten Island will greatly miss him."

Mr. Prisco was vice president Neighborhood Housing Services and worked tirelessly on behalf of group clients right up until the time of his death.

Mr. Prisco had a rich and fulfilling family life.

Mr. Prisco and his wife of 47 years, the former Loretta Gallo, also a public school teacher, were an inseparable pair.

"Ours was an almost 50-year love affair," she said. "We did everything as a team, from working together to advocacy to haircut appointments."

Mr. Prisco was a pioneer when in 1975 he took child-care leave in order to stay home and care for his daughter, Gabrielle Horowitz-Prisco.

Daughter Francesca Molinari remembered Mr. Prisco as a hands-on father at a time when many dads were typically less demonstrative.

He doted on his granddaughter, Isabelle Molinari, and the two frequently visited the Staten Island Zoo, West Brighton, to see the porcupines. They also enjoyed visiting The Corner Book Store in Manhattan.

Mr. Prisco loved to read, and would often quip that his two favorite things were naps and novels.

An exceptional cook, Mr. Prisco was known for his Italian dishes.

He had a deep love and encyclopedia knowledge of jazz music, and was a film buff, enjoying foreign films in particular. He regularly attended the Montreal Film Festival.

World travelers, the Priscos took many trips aboard old-school ocean liners with the Cunard Cruise Line.
Toward the end of his life, with friends and family gathered at his bedside, Mr. Prisco said, "What I have come to see is that at the core, it is about love; it is the most important thing. It is the only thing. Without love, there is nothing."

Mr. Prisco was also close to his children's spouses, Steven Molinari and Re Horowitz-Prisco.

In addition to his wife, Loretta; his daughters, Gabrielle and Francesca, and his granddaughter, Mr. Prisco is survived by a brother, Peter Prisco.

Funeral arrangements, which are pending, are being handled by the Harmon Home for Funerals in West Brighton.