Antonucci Still Predicting LA Teacher Strike Despite Getting Date Wrong

I Was Wrong About the LA Teacher Strike Date; Here’s Why

Posted: 10 Oct 2018 07:33 AM PDT

I’m happy to tell you when I’m right, so I should take my lumps when I’m wrong.
United Teachers Los Angeles won’t be going on strike this week, as I predicted it would back in August.
Head over to LA School Report for the details of where things stand now. 

Mike Antonucci | October 9, 2018

If you lost your ranch, I apologize.

Back on July 31, I predicted with confidence that United Teachers Los Angeles would strike in October — more specifically, the week of Oct. 8, this week. And while there are still a few days left in the week, and a few weeks left in October, it looks as though UTLA is committed to waiting out the entire impasse procedure before walking out.

“There is a legal process that we are respecting, meaning we don’t strike until after the fact-finding report,” wrote UTLA bargaining chair Arlene Inouye in response to a Facebook post.

UTLA and the district have had two mediation sessions so far, and a third is scheduled for Friday. There is no limit to how long mediation can last, but once the mediator decides it is fruitless to continue, and that fact-finding is appropriate, either side can request it, and then the clock starts.

Each side has a maximum of five days to select a representative to the fact-finding panel, and a maximum of five days after that the state Public Employment Relations Board selects a chairperson. The three-person panel then has a maximum of 30 days to submit a non-binding report. That completes the process. The district will then be free to impose its last offer, and the union will be free to strike.

Even if the fact-finding process commences immediately after Friday’s session, it might be Thanksgiving before a strike can be legally called. The latest rumors are that UTLA will wait until January before initiating the strike.

I thought I had accounted for the entire process when I made my prediction, but there were details of which I was ignorant.

State law says that after being appointed, the mediator “shall meet forthwith with the parties or their representatives.” If “forthwith” is a word you don’t use regularly, it is defined as “immediately; without delay.”

Clearly UTLA thought that’s what it means, because union officials have been complaining for weeks about the 56-day wait between the appointment of a mediator and the first mediation session. What I didn’t know, and still can’t find a basis for in state law or PERB regulations, is that the district was allowed to unilaterally choose the date of the first mediation session from a PERB list.

Mediation does not necessarily have to be a long, drawn-out process. In fact, the mediator is empowered to call for fact-finding as early as 15 days after his appointment, which would have been a date in mid-August.

But ignorance is no excuse. If I had checked, I would have noticed that PERB appointed a mediator in Oakland at the end of May, and the first mediation session didn’t occur until Aug. 31. The district and the Oakland Education Association are still in mediation, and have two more sessions scheduled for Wednesday and Oct. 23.

I am still confident that a Los Angeles teacher strike will occur, based on the obvious lack of positive movement toward a settlement. The district’s last “insulting” offer of a 3 percent increase and an additional 3 percent if financial conditions permit, is in line with the agreements it has made with its other unions. In January 2017, UTLA asked for a 7 percent raise retroactive to July 2016. Its last offer reduced that to 6.5 percent. That’s not much movement in almost two years, which suggests the union is not inclined to split the difference with the district.

I have examined 58 recently concluded teacher contract agreements in California, and in only six cases did the union receive a wage increase of 6.5 percent or more. Each of those covered a period of one to three years, and none was retroactive to 2016.

The bones of a deal are there. The district would have to remove the conditions on the second 3 percent, and punt on its three-year financial forecast, while the union would have to forget about raises retroactive prior to 2017. If the money issues are settled, the others will fall into place or be held over as fodder for the special school board election in March.

Short of a complete fold by LA Unified, the strike will come first. I won’t make a second prediction as to when, except to repeat that soon after payday, which is the fifth of each month, will maximize the amount of time teachers can remain out before feeling any financial pinch.

If a strike doesn’t happen, I’ll be as happy as anyone — happy enough to write another apology with a smile.

UFT Opposition Update: Not All Peace and Harmony as 2019 Elections Approach

Representatives of MORE and New Action met recently to discuss running in the UFT election and from what we hear the coalition would not include Solidarity Caucus.

With the disagreements between some people in ICEUFT and MORE many ICEers do not want to work with MORE/NA in the election.

And there is a faction of New Action that will ONLY be involved in the election if Solidarity is included. A crucial vote in New Action will take place at the beginning of November. Some members of New Action are threatening to leave the caucus if the anti-Solidarity faction prevails.

MORE doesn't meet until October 27 and there are people in MORE supposedly who do not want to run in the election. And further, Unity has been doing some recruiting among the people they see as disaffected from all the caucuses.

Are you confused? It is time for me to do a series of blog posts (or maybe a book) about the history of the opposition and the current state of opposition politics in the UFT and why I and others have basically given up on the idea that we can affect much of a change in a UFT dominated by the too big to fail Unity Caucus. 

Is it worth the enormous amount of time and energy it takes to even run in a UFT election just to possibly win 7 high school seats on a 100 member Executive Board? Is it worth the time and energy to print up leaflets and go to a Delegate Assembly just to make a point in a sea of Unity? If I saw something bubbling up in the schools, maybe it would be worth it.

I had hopes for MORE -- until a year ago. I'll get into why I no longer have faith that MORE can ever challenge Unity in follow-up blogs over the next few months as I report on UFT internal politics.

I had envisioned MORE as a big tent caucus that everyone in an interest in beating Unity could coalesce in. That is no longer true as MORE has morphed into a group that knows it cannot win but instead wants to use its organizational initiatives to push certain ideological positions on the UFT leadership --- a lobby/pressure group of sorts.

After 6 years of life what I see are still very few schools with real activity based on MORE initiatives. In fact, I think MORE has less schools now than it did 6 years ago. And yes Virginia, size does matter in terms of ability to influence the direction of the union.

James Eterno has an optimistic report on last Friday's ICEUFT meeting attended by people connected to the various grouplings within the UFT that would be termed "the opposition."

ICEUFT Blog ICEUFT MEETING BRINGS TOGETHER MEMBERS OF ALL UFT OPPOSITION GROUPS

James says:

.... the groups seem to have much more in common in wanting a powerful union than what divides us. The leaders of the various opposition groups might not always agree on the general direction for the movement but I learned at the ICEUFT meeting that there is plenty of common ground.

James is hoping there will be opportunities to work together in the upcoming contract ratification vote and in the UFT elections in 2019.

After almost 50 years of being part of opposition politics in the UFT, I'm not as hopeful. Being optimistic is not a bad thing - as long as we have a dose of reality tossed in.

James pointed out that

ICEUFT was joined by members from New Action UFT and Solidarity caucuses. Since some of the people in ICEUFT are still part of MORE (the Movement of Rank and File Educators, all of the opposition groups to Michael Mulgrew and Randi Weingarten's Unity Caucus within the UFT were represented at the ICEUFT meeting..... http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/iceuft-meeting-brings-together-members.html

Why are there so many grouplings and factions in the UFT?
In fact there was only a faction of New Action since there are some splits brewing over the UFT elections and who to run with. And there was only a faction of MORE present. I don't know enough about Solidarity.

When asked why the different caucuses and the non-aligned who oppose Unity Caucus in the UFT don't join together I answer with a question of my own:

Why is there a MORE, New Action, Solidarity, ICEUFT?
Given the relative small size of the number of activists, why is there more than one caucus? And not only that, why are there factions within caucuses? I guess the answer to the 2nd question explains the first. Unless a caucus - or any political group - understands that factions will exist and makes provisions for that, there will inevitably be splits and the formation of other caucuses. And when they are so weak they combine (see below for the 1995 NAC creation and the 2012 MORE creation as a result of mergers of sorts.)

And in the UFT where there is a dominant one party system of control under Unity, not having one opposition caucus under one tent spells ultimate doom for the opposition. That has proven true over the 50 years of opposition politics.

TAC
Since the first opposition caucus formed - Teachers Action Caucus (TAC) after the 1968 strike --- they were people who opposed the strike ---- there has never really been a time where there was just one big tent caucus in opposition to Unity. There were coalitions of caucuses that came together for UFT elections, but went their own way otherwise. In effect they were competing for the same few potential activists at the expense of the other caucuses.

New Directions merges with TAC
ND was a group that split off from the group I was in in the 70s -- Coalition of School Workers (CSW) which basically stopped functioning around 1981 but came back to life as ICE in 2003.

New Action came the closest to being the one opposition caucus in town when TAC merged with New Directions in 1995 after having had electoral success as a coalition of caucuses and independents in the 1991 election when they won 13 Ex Bd seats.

What is funny is that the current issues in NA run along the TAC people vs the ND people -- and ideology plays a role.  That's 23 years later and there are still latent issues.

NAC made their deal with Unity in 2003 in prep for the 2004 UFT election where they did not run a candidate for president against Randi Weingarten after she "guaranteed" them the 6 high school Ex Bd seats.


TJC and ICE
That led to the formation of two caucuses to fight against that deal --- Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) and Independent Community of Educators (ICE-UFT). TJC had already been around for a decade but not as a caucus. The 2004 election was their first foray. We formed ICE in late 2003 because many independents did not find TJC conducive to being a truly democratic caucus but under the control of a few sectarians with a definitive ideological position that left little room for dissenting opinions.

There was immediate friction between ICE and TJC that never went away even though we won the high school seats in 2004 and ran together in 2007 and 2010.

MORE and GEM
Both caucuses were withering away with no growth - actually they shrank. Some of us in ICE saw that and organized a non-caucus -- GEM in 2009 that was non-sectarian and looked beyond internal UFT politics. GEM attracted enough people who began to think that a non-sectarian open caucus was possible.

Thus was born MORE in 2011-12 where the members of TJC and ICE came together with others. But the political tensions that had existed between ICE and TJC since 2003 never went away. And the recent splits in MORE represent those tensions where the TJC faction over the past 6 months to a year gained ascendancy and has tried to push the ICE people out. Many have abandoned MORE over the ideological differences.

So when James points to MORE people being at the ICE meeting, it is actually the ICE people still involved in MORE but at as an inconsequential level of influence.

Factions in caucuses

Unity Caucus does not seem to have factions. It runs by democratic centralism -- where even if you disagree, you must support the will of the majority or be forced out. Now some people in Unity have been talking behind the scenes that there is a faction in Unity that wants changes as a way to recruit people aligned with the divided opposition. I heard that line from Randi and crew back in the late 90s. It is just blowing smoke.

I believe that recognizing factions and holding debates on where people are divided so as to forge some common agreements is a healthy thing for a caucus and a union.

At the organizing meetings for MORE In 2011, all factions were there and sent 2 reps to each meeting. I brought up numerous times that we should explore what divided ICE and TJC as a way to resolve future issues. I was told we should only focus on what unites us not divides us. I saw this as a way to fluff over and stifle opinions.

At the very first large MORE organizing meeting in February 2012 I warned about the factions among the founders of MORE and said they must be taken into account --- ie.  make sure there is diversity of opinions and have the factions represented. But whenever you have sectarians in an organization, they will move to control the group and shut out or purge dissident voices.

Sadly, MORE has moved in that direction. The direction Unity follows, where those who disagree with policies set by the dominant faction are invited to leave the caucus - there is no longer a steering committee or any clear lines as to who are making decisions in MORE -- top down leadership so eschewed by social justice caucuses ----

As one former MORE member who left in disgust said: If MORE is going to have Unity Caucus like loyalty oaths why not just go to Unity which at least has all the toys?

Is there a way forward for the opposition and more historical context coming in future posts.

Fred Smith:“Kids were stupified by these questions,” Fred Smith, a former test analyst for the city Department of Education, told The Post.

The UFT pendulum has now swung back to the middle, with President Mulgrew writing a Daily News Op-Ed last week, using words like "of little or no use"  "flawed" and affliction to describe the testing program.  But, then he never really offers to do the obvious: organize and join with parents to wage a successful campaign against the system.  In fact, he shamelessly says "Finally tens of thousands of parents pulled their children out of the process, joining teachers in rebelling against the test-and-punish regimen..."  That's not the order in which I remember it occurring.  With him, it's always about so-called leadership that values political leverage above truth or principle.  So the Union's decades of hedged positioning on important issues and raising false hopes leads us not to expect sincere support ..... Fred Smith

I'm leading with this comment on the UFT from Fred who dropped this through my transom after the Jets game --- Note for his final comment --- Fred works as a statistician for the NY Jets. Give him the credit for every victory and ignore the losses.

Norm, thanks for everything you do to stay ahead of the curve and inform your astute readers.

I hope you can use this from Sunday NY Post and link below it to study I did with Robin Jacobowitz, director of education projects at the Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives (SUNY New Paltz).

https://nypost.com/2018/10/06/many-nyc-students-are-bombing-the-writing-portion-of-state-exam/

https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/the-benjamin-center/db_20_tests_are_turning_our_kids_into_zeroes_a_focus_on_failing.pdf

That is, I hope you can use it to drop another shoe on the pernicious nature of an essentially covert testing program.  The work I did with Robin Jacobowitz at SUNY New Paltz should not go unnoticed for what it means to New York City.  We, in the City, for many reasons have been unable to mount a large opt-out movement.  Two of the reasons have been Mayor deBlasio and former Chancellor Farina.

Now we have a chancellor who seems to get it.  That remains to be seen.  But immediate investigation of the impact of the latest exams furnished by Questar, Inc. under a 5-year, $44 million contract with NYSED, is warranted and would be a good test (no pun intended) of where he stands.  We know the parents and guardians of 440,000 students in the citywide test population love their kids as much as any mothers or fathers outside of NYC.  But, down here, they have been kept in the dark, confused and fearful, by City Hall; too busy coping with the struggles they face each day to make testing resistance a priority; and thwarted from engaging in unified action by a insurmountable, dysfunctional school system that has an impenetrable structure.

Perhaps, the stars are aligning to challenge the testing status quo.  Who knows?  Chancellor Carranza has taken a strong stance against the value and influence of the Specialized High School Admissions Test.  He's not afraid of stirring the pot.  But when it came to questions about testing kids in grades 3 - 8, he was quick to characterize opting out as an "extreme reaction." Indeed, he would allow results on the 7th grade statewide tests to be entered into murky composites to somehow reach fairer admissions decisions.

But I digress.  If we truly believe that mass annual testing has poisoned education and caused harm to children, teachers, classrooms and schools--then as a vital first step toward recovery, I would urge parents and readers of Ed Notes and others to petition, in writing or in person (City Council Education Committee Members, in particular), to urgently seek data on how the 2017 and 2018 exams functioned.  This is a no-risk/high-reward step.  And even if we can't promptly rally our representatives to respond to the cause it remains a no-risk action for parents to pursue the information.

In a rational world, the information would be available for review to better understand how the Questar test material--reading passages and items--worked.  The focus would be on how the tests performed in practice, not on assurances that they were soundly developed and valid, the usual spin we get from Albany and City Hall about how good the tests looked on the drawing board. It's the actual evidence that we must no longer be denied--evidence that provides insight into the content of the test and quality of the questions in operation.

When we finally secured the data, uur study found that the Common Core-aligned tests, developed by Pearson and administered statewide under a five-year contract with SED (2012-2016 at a final cost of $38 million) had a crushing impact on our kids--particularly the youngest in grades 3 and 4, as well as on ELLs, students with special needs and minorities.  We can't afford to let the State and City pull the wool over our eyes again.  We have every right to the information without delay, and I believe it is our obligation to engage NYC parents in this matter.

But, I am not an organizer, Norm.  So, I'm hoping you will lend your cutting edge Ed Notes to those many discerning folks in your audience who are equally concerned about doing what's best for NYC's children, parents and schools.  Perhaps, we can set up a mechanism or forum to gain feedback and suggestions.  And I trust our collective judgment to come up with an effective course leading to the timely transparency that is needed. Whatever path we choose--Count me in!

Fred

(PS: The Jets won a laugher.  If that can happen, maybe there's hope for all of us.)

School Scope: Test Scores from Spring ’18 Released - Oct. 5

School Scope: Test Scores from Spring ’18 Released

By Norm Scott

In case the news passed you by, the New York State reading and math tests students took last April and May were released last week, tests that are no use to students, parents or teachers so long after the school year ended;  expensive tests that have distorted education at every level from pre-k through high schools are fundamentally useless. But they are used to rate part of teacher performance, also useless since that practice has also been discredited. They are also used to rate overall school performance and as an excuse to try to shut down public schools whose buildings are coveted by well-funded charter school chains.

Testing mania is not a new thing. I remember how standardized testing (as opposed to teacher or school-wide tests) was important in my elementary and middle schools in the 1950s and regents test-driven in high school in the early 60s. And as an elementary school teacher from the late 60s through the late 90s testing was a driving force. But it was used mainly to address the outcomes of children and we received the results before the school year ended, still too late to do much with them. (I advocated that tests be given in September so teachers could actually use the outcomes to assist their students.)

With the No Child Left Behind Law pushed by the Bush administration with the support of Democrats in the early part of this century, testing became a political cudgel used to attack entire school systems, close down schools, and punish teachers and students. The punishment put careers of educators and politicians on the line and that drove us to the present hysteria.

Along side that has grown a vast educational-industrial complex forming a testing industry that makes enormous profits from the tests and to ensure those profits there has sprung up a pro-testing lobby funneling money to politicians who control the state education departments. Our own NY State Education Department (NYSED) has pushed hard on tests and I suspect this is more about politics than education.

There has been a counter reaction against testing – the opt-out movement to have kids sit out the tests. Despite enormous attacks against opt-outers by educational bureaucrats in NY City, the opt out rate in NYC was slightly up to 4.4 percent, a .4 percentage point increase from last year. Statewide the numbers are still around 20%. The highest refusal rates have been in the wealthier/whiter districts with District 15 (Park Slope) leading the pack with 12% opt-out.

NYSED has tried to lure opt-outers back by making cosmetic changes in the test along with reducing some testing time. But this has not affected the many schools that focus on the tests with enormous test prep time that takes away from curriculum.

You  can read Fred Smith, a major critic of the testrocracy, who takes apart the tests on my blog: Fred Smith: Opt-out movement is viable and capable of growth in NYC - https://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2018/09/fred-smith-opt-out-movement-is-viable.html.

It’s all about politics

You may have noticed that I have focused more on politics than education recently. As you can see from the above we can’t isolate educational policy from the politics and politicians behind it. Both political parties are responsible for bad education policy – Obama’s Race To The Top funneled billions  to schools based on some of the worst policies we’ve ever seen. But what about local politics? Our local electeds and the political machines that back them say little or nothing about bad ed policies. It is time to hold them accountable.

Norm Races to the Bottom at ednotesonline.com.

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Is Questioning Why Teachers Don't Fight Blaming the Victim?

I rarely disagree with my friend Arthur at NYC Educator but there is something his recent post 

(NYC Educator Sit Back or Fight Back?) that is nagging at me.
I left this comment:

Arthur - Good advice - for your school with a not terrible admin and a great CL who knows how to use the levers of power. But this is rare.

The position of the leadership is-- that it's up to members to fight back. Blame the victim -- like asking why Dr. Ford didn't say anything for 35 years. How can we support her and not think there is trauma for teachers under attack?

It seems easy when you are in a school like yours. You left John Adams and missed the assaults by admins 15-20 years ago that created a climate of fear. One good teacher I know who did fight back was hounded and fired. Others too who contacted me to help.
UFT was helpless and in fact was complicit with the admin according to reports. When the Jim Callahan with the NY Teacher wrote a story going after the principal, the Queens HS Dist Rep threatened him and said he would hurt the principal's career and she went to Randi and the story was killed. So yes do fight back but you can't do it until the UFT/Unity people have made it clear the above won't happen which it still does all too often.

And while you say sit or fight back you ignore the 3rd option which the UFT often uses --- run to another school -- which is what you did many years ago.

When Peter Lamphere was CL at Bronx HS of Sci and that awful AP who ended up as princ Townshend the UFT parachuted him out of there, leaving the chapter at her mercy when an all out assault was needed -- thus allowing the DOE to put her in another school to ruin.

I will remind everyone that it wasn't the UFT that led the fight against her at Townshend but Peter L's op ed printed on this blog that exposed her and led the students to read it and lead the fight. The union joined in later as its in their DNA to not go head to head with principals until others lead the battle. That gives them political cover with the CSA. (Check out situations at Art and Design and Fashion Ind and complaints about the UFT support - even charging complicity with the principal).

Right now that is what I would advise anyone in a school with a weak chapter and awful principal who can escape - do so.

School Scope: Some Thoughts On Climate Change - Norm in The WAVE

Published Sept. 28, 2018 at www.rockawave.com

School Scope: Some Thoughts On Climate Change
By Norm Scott

I’ve been reading two books on climate change. “Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet” by Mark Lynas was written in 2008 and has a chapter for the kinds of changes the earth will see based on each degree rise in temperature. By the time I got to the final chapter on the impact of a 6 degree (centigrade) rise I was sweating bullets over the future of our species. And Lynas doesn’t predict a massive impact will all take a very long time. Basically he said our last chance to stop the runaway climate train would come around 2015. Uh-oh, I think that train has left the station. [See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T9IjSEqT74].

UFT Update: Three Meetings and a Rally - Why Do I Go?

I wish I had an easy answer for the title question, Why Did I Go?

Over a 5 day period I attended a UFT Chapter Leader, an UFT Ex Bd, and a MORE, with a rally at Union Square for Puerto Rico on the anniversary of the hurricane thrown in (I don't do rallies anymore but since it was right after the CL meeting this one was easy.)

Why did I shlep into the city on beautiful days in Rockaway? 

The other day I saw on FB a comment from a long-time ed activist  who wrote:

"If I'm honest, I'm not really interested in fighting anymore. At least not for a while. Disillusionment is real. I think movements need to think long & hard about what builds us up and what knocks us down. I'm knocked down."

I know some of the sources of her disillusionment through private communications, which I won't share. She is disillusioned by people who are supposedly on our side. I responded that I'm having similar feelings. In my case I'm no longer sure who we're fighting when we end up fighting with people who we thought were on the same side.

I still have to sort everything out given the battles we've been in with --- the UFT/Unity Caucus, the DOE, ed deform privateers who want to destroy public education.

Wait-- let me hit pause -- I'm fighting the DOE -- a public ed institution and the people who want to destroy it -  the UFT leadership  and conflicts within the supposed opposition to the UFT --- I mean at some point you have to ask exactly what is the point? Even my enthusiasm for doing this blog is running down, though the other day someone I didn't know approached me on the subway platform, asking, "Ed Notes?"

But then I have examples like Leonie Haimson who never stops fighting. And so many others too.

So while I figure all of this stuff out I still go to meetings so I don't lose touch completely and for the social interaction with people I feel I can work with.

Last Monday I was working on building a walk-way in my backyard and was not going to go to the Ex Bd meeting unless I finished what I was doing. Then I happened to see a post from a para in a teacher group on Facebook about the conditions teachers work under in she has seen in so many schools.

I thought about how all we hear when UFT officials report are happy stories and my blood began to boil. It's like they are blind to reality or if they are aware they just cover their eyes and ears and act like this is not going on.

So I finished up quickly and went in to meet with the crew from New Action, MORE and beyond before the meeting. I called Howie Schoor's office at around 5:15 when I got there to ask for speaking time even though I know it is a waste of energy. I've spoken numerous times over the past decade at open mic and it is always about abusive principals and the power the union has allowed principals to accrue without push back from the union. I had no notes but did read the comment from the para ---

Luckily, Arthur Goldstein reported on UFT Ex Bd meeting, Sept. 24): Open mic before meeting began -where since no other speakers were present I was given 5 minutes.

Norm Scott—Thanks God he’s retired. Was first speaker when Randi instituted process. Always about school conditions. Likes reports from districts, which are always positive. Good to know people are doing great stuff. Also things not going right. Please tell us, seems that’s avoided.

Facebook—para on chat list married to teacher, current environment teachers treated poorly, micromanagement, ludicrous demands, spiteful admin, teachers in fear. Not all schools this way. In Detroit they said UFT was strongest in country. Is it not that way anymore?

I feel these comments, coming from many places, are danger to union. You have to make show of force that you are there for teachers. You have to go into the schools and principals need to know someone is opposing them. Principals call lawyers, teachers don’t have that kind of support. Must inundate and counter this.

I tried to emphasize in my final point, that unlike my previous appearances where I attacked the shit out of them, this time I was there as kindly, friendly Uncle Norm urging the union to show more force -- to battle back against those 300 DOE lawyers the principals consult. The idea I was trying to put forth was that they are committing suicide of they remain tone death.

They looked at me blankly. Tone deaf. And Howie Schoor topped it off with this comment:

Schoor—Agree reports from districts have gotten better since 2016.

No Howie, they have not gotten better --- not when I hear district reps doing happy talk when I know full well there is mayhem going on in their districts. When I spoke last year I was hostile -- they need to hold themselves accountable just as they want teachers held accountable. The outcome then was that Leroy Barr defended the wonderful work of the district reps. So I tried nice this time. I should have stayed in Rockaway.

I guess that after almost 50 years it's in my DNA. (I just "celebrated" by 51st year as a UFT member). I just need to find more hobbies and alternate volunteer options.

I like the pre-meetings in the UFT lobby with New Action people, Mike S, Jonathan, Arthur, Ashraya from MORE and anyone else who shows up.

I no longer feel I have much to offer in terms of building an opposition to Unity Caucus -- in fact I no longer believe an effective opposition can be built. And in my many discussions with other long-time opposition activists in the UFT I see them beginning to come around to that point of view too.

Especially since the breaks within MORE over the past year shunned and shut down the point of view of many long-term UFT activists who were pushed out or left on their own volition because they did not think the MORE blueprint had long-term sustainability.

Yet we all keep clinging to the cliff with our fingertips because it is in our DNA.

Last Thursday (Sept. 20) I went to the CL meeting to hand out the ANOTHER VIEW leaflet I helped write because I felt it important to share that message with people even if they are not listening.

After the meeting my pals Gloria and Lisa were going to Union Square for the rally for Puerto Rico a year after the hurricane. I had a lot of fun talking to people seeing some heavy political celebrities rousing the crowd. After a group of about 10 of us went out to eat, including the first guy I met in the UFT who was an activist -- we were close for 5 years from 1970-75 until there was a political break -- it was good to reminisce again but also be reminded that there will always be political breaks among people who are passionate about their politics --- but also an endemic weakness on the left.

In fact I had a conversation at the rally with a well-known activist who told me he felt that the Democratic Socialists would suffer a split at some point due to a group of sectarians -- the same old song that has played out over 150 years of left politics.

Then on Saturday, Sept. 22,  I had mixed feelings about going to the MORE meeting since I play an inconsequential role in MORE -- (and yes there are sectarians in MORE). I'm much more of an observer now. The dislocations based on last spring's events and the push outs of people from ICEUFT wing of MORE has cemented MORE's morphing back to the programs pushed by the old Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) caucus which ICEUFT merged with, along with others, to form MORE. We in ICE always used to view TJC as a sectarian caucus. In fact that was one reason we formed and used the word Independent as a sign we would not be taken over by sectarians.

Seeing some old-time TJC people at the MORE meeting was a sign of that. TJC was barely functioning as a caucus and when MORE formed and it went defunct. Now MORE is under the control of people who were involved in TJC and pushing a similar message - I guess because they think that the teacher revolts make the time ripe -- my push back is that this is the world of the UFT/Unity, not West Virginia or even Los Angeles or Chicago where there is no Unity Caucus in power for 60 years.

In MORE I don't feel people would listen to me any more than UFT/Unity people do so I am trying not to try to offer views that make them uncomfortable ---- I have learned that even in so-called opposition caucus, just as in Unity/UFT, dissenting opinions are not welcome.

But who knows what is in store for us in the age of Janus? I'm keeping my toe in the water with an open mind. In fact at Friday's ICEUFT meeting we expect some people from New Action and Solidarity. Maybe there is something bigger out there than narrow viewed caucuses.

Arthur has reports of the UFT meetings

• UFT Chapter Leader Meeting September 20th, 2018
• UFT Exec. Board September 24--Norm Scott Holds Court and New Officers

James Eterno comments

http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/state-of-nyc-schools-and-uft-pretty.html.

Fred Smith: Opt-out movement is viable and capable of growth in NYC

I believe the opt-out movement is viable and capable of growth in NYC--even though we have a Mayor and chancellor who are advocates of mass testing in grades 3-8.

 

The Grade 6 ELA results for New York City are screwy.  They strike me as a weak link in Questar’s testing chain.  The percentage of students deemed proficient this year is 48.9%.  It was 32.3% last year.  That’s a 16.6 difference– or a shift of from nearly one-third to one-half of (65,000) sixth graders who are now “proficient.” In no other grade is it more than 8.0.

 

Surprisingly, differences of the same magnitude hold for all ethnic groups.

 

[I know we were warned not to compare the 2018 results directly with the 2017 results. Still that’s a singular difference since the same publisher, Questar, produced both tests under a $44 million, five-year contract with SED.]

 

NYC ELA Percent Proficient by Grade
Grade	2018	2017	Diff.
3	50.6%	42.6%	8.0%
4	49.3%	42.0%	7.3%
5	38.0%	36.1%	1.9%
6	48.9%	32.3%	16.6%
7	42.6%	43.3%	-0.7%
8	50.7%	47.5%	3.2%
3 - 8	46.6%	40.6%	6.0%
NYC Grade 6 ELA Percent Proficient x Race/Ethnicity
Group	2018	2017	Diff.
Asian	69.3%	55.0%	14.3%
White	70.3%	53.2%	17.1%
Black	35.0%	19.1%	15.9%
Hispanic	38.4%	21.4%	17.0%

 

And how does this useless testing program serve educators who are judged by such inexplicable data and who must design programs to meet the academic needs of students–based on such shaky (as in meaningless) information???

 

An outcome like this is an example of why we need to have timely information about how the items on the examination functioned.  Yet, SED and DOE have not provided data at their disposal that would shed light on the matter.  Instead, NYC parents are expected to march their children off to the deadening testing drumbeat for the next three years uninformed about the workings of the exams.

 

We must figure out a way to demand and obtain the information hidden behind the curtain of the test questions.*  If SED and the DOE are unwilling to disclose the facts, this would give impetus to a citywide campaign that builds on the reported four percent (4%) opt out rate and escalates it in 2019.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*The information consists of item-level statistics that SED and DOE routinely keeps.  It would allow multiple-choice items and constructed response questions to be studied to see how students answered them.  For M-C items, we should have classical item analysis data on the percentage of students selecting each option.  For CRQs, we should have the percentage of students receiving each score from trained raters.  Having both sets of information would give us a picture of the response and scoring distributions generated by students and lead us to evidence-based insights into the quality of the exams. Not only must SED and the City already have such overall data, they also have—or should be able to produce it by subgroup—i.e., for ELLs, students with disabilities and for students by race/ethnicity—that would give us further understanding.

 

(If you agree, please post and share the above with allies and potential allies in places I am incapable of reaching.)

 

Fred

Leonie Haimson on NYCDOE Pupil Transportation Scandal

Having worked for 35 years in Brooklyn Williamsburg's District 14 with its massive Hasidic population who block vote as told to, I am never surprised to see the special treatment they get from politicians that amount to payoffs. $8 million "disappeared" in the 1980s and no one went to jail despite an FBI invasion of the district. (The two dead Superintendents - who were guilty - but everyone else escaped.)

This story goes way beyond Pupil Transportation and if more digging goes on they would find the entire DOE is scandal ridden from top to bottom. And let me add that the fact the UFT turns its back on this instead of exposing what is going on borders on supporting it.

By the way, here is a comment from someone about our new chancellor on Leonie's thread:

"WHERE IS THE CHANCELLOR AND WHERE IS THE MAYOR????????"
I said here before after years of experience with Carranza as Supe in SF, this guy is a total scammer and phony. He gets people to support him as a SJW and that shouldn't be difficult in the NYC as in SF, but the fact remains he's an empty vessel. He left SFUSD in a sex scandal, then bailed quickly on Houston for a higher paying job. Carranza is all about Carranza and, like in SFUSD, if you are a parent who want honors classes for students who demonstrate ability, you will be personally labeled a racist by the scammer in chief. Welcome to his party in NYC and you are not invited. I wouldn't wish him on anyone.

Also on the thread is a discussion about how public students were denied busing while Yeshiva kids were OK'd.

Here is Leonie's report on the situation based on reporting by the NY Post's Sue Edelman.

Amazing story by Sue Edelman in today’s NY Post showing that 24 people at the scandal-plagued DOE Office of Pupil Transportation are given cars at city expense – including several who do little but drive it to and from the office each day. 

This includes a Rabbi , a “liaison to yeshivas” who gets both a car and a personal driver! 

UFT Citywide Chapter Leader Meeting - High Security is an Issue for Some

I was downstairs handing out ANOTHER VIEW at the chapter leader meeting on Thursday, which had been postponed from the previous week - we're guessing due to the primary the next day., which might explain the relatively poor attendance, around 600 is my guess, given that there are around 1800 schools and supposedly that many chapter leaders. But who's counting?

The lines to get in at times were enormous as chapter leaders had to exchange the cards they received in the mail for another one. An announcement was made that this meeting was ONLY for CLs - not even school elected delegates or those like us who have to sit in the visitor's section. So security was tight - with a bunch of people checking cards downstairs and upstairs. After all, we wouldn't want too much info to get out to UFT members.

Luckily Arthur Goldstein was there to report: UFT Chapter Leader Meeting September 20th, 2018

and James Eterno to write commentary at the ICE-UFT blog comments:
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/state-of-nyc-schools-and-uft-pretty.html

STATE OF NYC SCHOOLS AND UFT PRETTY GOOD ACCORDING TO MULGREW

I would think that the leadership would aim to be a bit more user friendly, especially to chapter leaders and other school wide electeds  in these times. The UFT needs to focus on a broader base of members than just the chapter leader who can easily get overloaded, suffer under enormous pressure if standing up to the principal or even end up succumbing to that pressure, which leaves the members in deep limbo and subject to entreaties that ask: What is the union doing to protect you from evil principals or dumb DOE officialdom work rules?