NYC Teacher David Garcia-Rosen Battles DOE for More Small Schools Sports Teams

The leadership of the DOE continues to believe offering me a job at the PSAL is the solution. They continue to defend the PSAL which is one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country. I can’t go work for the PSAL, when they continue to defend their current funding model at the very few meetings they grant me... David Garcia-Rosen, NYC teacher and founder of Small Schools Athletic League.

.....the city is spending more of its $23 million athletics budget on large, wealthy schools over smaller high schools in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. “The Department of Education can’t continue to fund world-class athletic programs at schools with white students, leaving the most segregated schools begging for teams year after year,” [Garcia-Rosen] said. The city added 84 new teams to 50 high schools with the lowest percentages of black and Latino students last year — and the 50 high schools with the largest amount of those students got 22 new teams, an SSAL analysis found.... NY Post

About 20 years ago, New York began dismantling many of the megafactory high schools with 4,000 or more students, which were not able to prepare their students for the world. The large schools that survived were doing well, and had larger populations of white students. The traditional way of providing sports programs — the P.S.A.L. system — did not keep up with the expanding number of small schools... NY Times

I ran into David Garcia-Rosen, who I met years ago at Teachers Unite meetings, at a UFT event at the Hilton recently where he was promoting the Small Schools Athletic League, which he founded at his school in 2011. We didn't have time to chat much so I emailed Teachers Unite director Sally Lee to tell her I met David - and she filled me in on the story. That David, a remarkable teacher who often raised issues around testing, had taken his brainchild to offer sports programs to the small schools being denied them to his principal who agreed to let him spearhead the program.

David's story is an indictment of the ed deform mantra of closing large schools and replacing them with small, under-financed small schools. Guess where the large high schools remain open? Where there are a higher percentage of white kids.

....principals at the small schools began to use their own in-house budgets to pay for the teams — hiring referees, getting equipment and so forth. Last year, the league got a one-time city grant of $250,000, which its members say is about one-fifth of what it needs.

 We have always maintained that while not opposing the idea of small schools, the way the DOE implemented the policy often cheated students of the benefits that large schools offer. Athletics is a key issue.

Kudos to David for trying to find a solution and for a while it looked like his concept would be a GO.

Garcia-Rosen acknowledged that the city had offered to incorporate the small-schools league as a division of the Public Schools Athletic League next year, and had offered him a job in the PSAL. (The small-schools league has been funded by principals in the past, though the department provided a $250,000 grant this January.) But he said the city offered few details about how the small-schools division would be supported or how he would fit into the hierarchy of the department.... Chalkbeat

Was the job offer a bribe and a way to bury him inside the bureacracy and hold him and his program hostage? It seems only the UFT/Unity leadership has any faith in the honesty of the DOE.

Currently, David is the dean at his school.So David, being a 16-year vet of the dysfunctionality at the DOE, has decided to pull the plug on the program and file a federal civil rights lawsuit (see below for his letter.)

Is there a better story exposing the bullshit still goes on at the DOE? Look at their response and to NY Times reporter Jim Dwyer for being the only member of the press to expose their hypocrisy.

Was the new league not filling a need? The Education Department replied that 90 percent of New York City students attend a school with access to P.S.A.L. programs. That is, if a school fields a team in a single sport, every student in the school is counted as having “access” to the official public school sports league. So the number is a statistical delusion.

Dwyer reports Farina's response at a City Council hearing about the small schools league. 

For many, she said, sports was “what brought them to school. We are committed to expanding this and making it work. It makes a difference in kids’ lives.”

 Except when it doesn't.

Here are links to the articles.

• Chalkbeat,
• Schoolbook,
• NY Daily News,
• NY Post,
• NY Times

His full letter is below (from Chalkbeat).

Good Morning Student-Athletes, Coaches, Administrators, and Allies,
 It is with great sadness that I report we have not been able to come to an agreement with the Department of Education to continue the Small Schools Athletic League next year.

Tomorrow morning, I will file a complaint with the United States Department of Education’s Office of  Civil Rights stating that the New York City Department of Education is in direct violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the way they fund high school sports.

The Department of Education can’t continue to fund world class athletic programs at schools with white students, leaving the most segregated schools begging for teams year after year. On the 60th anniversary of “Brown vs The Board of Education”, it is unbelievable that New York City continues to support one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country.

I built this league in September of 2011, because the Public School Athletic League said there was no way for them to bring interscholastic sports to small high schools. They told me to prove it could be done. We have done that with a league that currently has over 90 teams from 42 high schools with 1700 student-athletes.

I have been in the DOE for 16 years and it has never been about simply creating and running a league.
It is about every student in New York City having the right to play high school sports.

The leadership of the DOE continues to believe offering me a job at the PSAL is the solution. They continue to defend the PSAL which is one of the most “separate and unequal” high school sports systems in the country. I can’t go work for the PSAL, when they continue to defend their current funding model at the very few meetings they grant me.

Even after receiving my research in May of 2013, they went on to make the situation worse in 2014.
In Fiscal Year 2014, the 50 high schools with the least students of color got 84 new PSAL teams, even though they already had the most. The 277 high schools with the most students of color got the same amount. Not one team was granted to the high schools that are 100% students of color.

I will continue to fight not only for the student-athletes of the SSAL, but for all the student-athletes in New York City whose lives can be changed through the power of sports. I can assure you I will not stop fighting until every student in New York City has equal access to high school sports.
I hope to see many of you at the DOE Budget hearing tomorrow morning at City Hall, 9:45 AM. I will be there with SSAL student-athletes to deliver the thousands of signatures and letters we have collected over the past year.
Sincerely,
David Garcia-Rosen
Founder/Director Small Schools Athletic League

Leonie Haimson/Class Size Matters: Skinny Awards Dinner, June 9

I've been to every one of these events and for those fighting ed deform there is no better place to be on a June evening with a gaggle of like-minded folks. I've been to every one and am going again this year. The Skinny Award (a slam at the Broad award) is a major fundraiser for the amazing work Leonie does. She is honoring principals Carol Burris and Liz Phillips. And the great Patrick Sullivan. Past winners include MOREistas James Eterno and Julie Cavanagh. Arthur Goldstein and Gary Rubinstein were honored last year.

Dear friends,

Our annual Skinny Award Dinner is only three weeks away.  This year Class Size Matters will be honoring three terrific leaders in the fight to preserve and strengthen our public schools:  Liz Phillips, principal of PS 321 in Brooklyn, and Carol Burris, principal of South Side HS on Long Island, both of whom have spoken out publicly against the high-stakes and low quality of the NY State exams.  

We are also honoring our Board chair, Patrick Sullivan, former Manhattan representative to the Panel on Education Policy, who stood up for parents and challenged the DOE to justify their irrational policies during the Bloomberg years.

The dinner will be held on Monday, June 9 at 6:30 PM, at Bocca Di Bacco, 191 7th Ave (21st St).

Please join us for a rare opportunity to enjoy a four course dinner with wine and celebrate three heroes who have given us the real "skinny" on NYC schools.
We have a lot to celebrate this year, including our successful challenge of inBloom’s plans to collect and disclose the personal student information of millions of students to for-profit vendors, without parental notification or consent.  We led the battle for student privacy  here in NY, where last month legislation was passed to  prevent the State from participating in this project.  inBloom was funded with $100 million of Gates Foundation money, and had an operating system built by Rupert Murdoch’s Wireless/Amplify, run by Joel Klein.   

Even earlier, we had also reached out to other parents in the eight other inBloom states to inform them of this plan, and because of protests, every single state pulled out.  A few weeks ago, inBloom announced it was closing its doors. 

Please reserve your ticket now, or if you cannot attend, please make a tax-deductible donation to Class Size Matters, so we can continue our efforts to reduce class size, alleviate school overcrowding and protect student privacy. 

Thanks so much, Leonie   
PS Diane Ravitch who just had knee replacement surgery will hopefully be there as well!

 

Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters

124 Waverly Pl.

New York, NY 10011

212-674-7320

leonie@classsizematters.org

www.classsizematters.org

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com

Follow me on twitter @leoniehaimson

Rent for Eva's 3 charters to cost city $5.4 million a year-- without a whimper from UFT or de Blasio

If rent for three of Eva’s charter schools will cost $5.4 M per year, can you imagine the hundreds of millions of dollars in future costs to the city and state as every existing co-located, new or expanded charter can demand free facilities and/or rent?... Leonie Haimson

REPORT: IBO’s analysis of the Mayor’s Executive Budget for 2015 includes our latest economic forecast and tax revenue projections for the city as well as estimates of spending under the Mayor’s plan. We incorporate the revised financial plan, issued just yesterday afternoon by the de Blasio Administration, in presenting our estimates of budget gaps and surpluses. The report also includes our most current projections for local job growth: http://bit.ly/1kaP0v4. 

Excerpt: State funding for charter schools in New York City, which flows through the education department’s budget, is increasing by $77 million. Some of the additional city-generated funding is being used to expand arts education ($23million) and to pay the rental costs for three charter schools as required under new state legislation ($5.4 million). The new state charter school funding is a supplement to the city’s current share of spending for charter schools, which IBO estimates is $1.1 billion this year.

 

UFT Contract: Discrimination Against Women on Child Care Leave

Woman (and some men) on maternity leave -  unfairness and bias against mothers taking care of their children in this contract. No "signing bonus" and will not get retro, not only on leave, but will only get it in payments after return.... Comment from a MOREista with a young child

Yes, some men, but mostly women. From the early days of ed deform I was pointing to how the entire concept of making teachers work 12 hour days was anti-women with families. Their ideal teachers were childless without having to take days off to care for a sick child or race home for childcare.

The same charges came up in the 1995 contract rejection when the Unity Caucus leadership, in Randi's first contract negotiation screw-up, pushed maximum salary from 20 to 25 years - pretty outrageous. Women who took time off for childcare were a major factor in the rejection. When Randi (who was not president at that time) came back with 22 years 6 months later, people (even those in the opposition) took that as a win when in actuality it was a loss --- 2 more years to reach max than before. But so is the way of the Unity -- give ice water in winter and claim it's hot tea.

I have written before on this issue: UFT Contract: An Attack on Women.

MORE Lower Manhattan Happy Hour Friday, May 30, 4-6PM

REMINDER: If you teach in Manhattan join us.

DISTRICT 1 and 2 Happy Hour 

will be a place to discuss the proposed contract and other educational issues we face! 

Friday, May 30th (4-6)

LOCAL 138, 

138 Ludlow, between Rivington and Stanton

 (F, J, M to Delancey) 

Back room is reserved 

Feel free to spread the word and bring others.

UFT Contract Exit Polls Contradict NY Times Article on Contract

At my school, the xxxxxx, the chapter elected to conduct an "exit poll" to assess how we as a chapter voted on the contract proposal.

These are the unofficial results of the xxxx vote.

Total UFT members: ....45 

Total voting "YES" - ......16

Total voting "NO" - ........26

Abstentions: .....................3

---A MORE Chapter Leader

Interesting, given today's NY Times article by Al Baker (As Ballot Count Nears, City’s Teachers Debate Whether to Ratify Contract) indicating passing the contract would be pretty much a given. It is one of the better and more balanced pieces Baker has written -- Baker did seem to go out of his way to talk to people at some schools with MORE people in them - PS 261 (though he didn't seem to realize that) and Megan Moskop, our awesome dynamo:

Leaders of one caucus within the union, the Movement of Rank and File Educators, have decided to vote no on the contract and are hosting informal discussions to urge members to think critically before voting. “It seems misleading to me that our union is saying, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, your health care costs won’t go up,’ when that isn’t something they can promise,” said Megan Moskop, 27, a teacher at Middle School 324 in Washington Heights who is a caucus member.

PS 261 and MS 324 will both probably a number of NO votes against the contract. We reported the exit poll from Bertraum (UFT Contract: Murry Bergtraum Exit Poll - 71 No, ...).

What does this mean? Where there are MORE people and where independent voices like Roseanne McCosh.. are discussing the contract in an open and democratic manner, people by big numbers are voting NO. In places with Unity chapter leaders selling the contract -- which is different from presenting a fair view -- with the help of the union publicity machine and staffers -- the schools will vote overwhelmingly YES. The reason the contract will pass are that there are a lot of more schools in the latter category.

Unity has targeted schools with MORE people for extra leafleting and visits -- using our dues on the union dime.

We already voted, but somebody who said they were "from the UFT" came in and distributed these today... No identification as to who put them out.  If they are sending staffers around on union time to do this in my opinion that's a serious problem.  People in my school were really offended by how our DR and her flunky talked to them the other day and they are not happy about how their dues money is being used for this kind of campaigning... MORE Chapter Leader

Another MORE member responded:

I'll bet his name is Dermont Smyth. He is a special rep for Queens Borough Office. He came -uninvited- to my school today around 8 to specifically flier mailboxes. He treated my CL with... disdain. He also failed to follow the building security procedures of going to the main office after sign in and of wearing the guest name tag.  Instead,  he placed fliers in mailboxes and was at some point  seen roaming around the first floor by another teacher.

Why did I block out the name of the school? Since Unity targets schools with MOREistas or other critics for "special re-education" campaigns, why give them a helping hand?

UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh Responds to Unity Caucus Criticism

I am not going away and I am most certainly not alone in the fight....

So what do you call a union leadership that uses scare tactics, mischaracterizes people’s reasons and motives for disagreeing with them and who allows reps to lie to its members at workshops?  Norm calls them slugs.  I call them much worse.  I’ve also labeled Mulgrew as a coward because I believe that the only reason that there was no open debate on the contract was because Mulgrew was afraid to debate....

Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X

Roseanne addresses the comments made by Unity Caucus supporter Paula Washington on May 23^rd (UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X, Urges Colleagues to Vote NO).

There were other head-scratching comments from Unity, their supporters or their spouses. Check them out - Roseanne also responded there with a comment of her own.

Here is her response to Paula Washington:

Having a large number of members enrolled in the UFT does not automatically equal strength. We are not the strongest local of the strongest union in the country, we are simply the largest. A union that tries to scare its members into accepting the unacceptable is not a strong union. 

I also think that, like all people, Norm has the right to qualify what having dignity means to him. 

Those of us who have opposed this contract have been labeled as political MORE people whose only interest is in disparaging UNITY, as people who have recently drank “courage juice” but were timid under the “Billionaire Bully”, as ill-informed or as lunatics.  I find no dignity in that behavior.  And the fact is none of those labels fit my character at all.

When I told my colleagues that the UFT lies to its members, I provided evidence.  I directed them to speak with the SBST member in our school who was told at a UFT workshop that we were getting 5% interest on the money owed to us when the fact is we are getting 0%.  When I told my colleagues that I don’t believe the UFT when they say there will be no health care givebacks I provided facts.  The fact is that our contract calls for billions in savings but no written plan for how those billions will be saved. 

So what do you call a union leadership that uses scare tactics, mischaracterizes people’s reasons and motives for disagreeing with them and who allows reps to lie to its members at workshops?  Norm calls them slugs.  I call them much worse.  I’ve also labeled Mulgrew as a coward because I believe that the only reason that there was no open debate on the contract was because Mulgrew was afraid to debate.

As I have said before I am NOT the chapter leader of my school.  But I once was, and who knows…I may be again before I retire.  I resigned about 4 years ago and was replaced by someone I respect.   But even if I was still chapter leader, I still have the right to voice my opinion--- as I always have and will.  And the bottom line is if the membership in my school didn’t like how I had conducted myself, they could have voted me out each time I ran for re-election.  No one ever ran against me because the majority of teachers know that although I have strongly held beliefs---some of which not all may agree with---I will have their backs when the shit hits the fan.  When UNITY convinced two of my members to “take a plea” and pay a fine on a bullshit charge, I took up a collection to help them pay for some of the fine.  I handed over the amount of my UFT chapter leader check that year to help pay the fine of the teacher with the higher fine and threw in some more of my personal money for good measure. 

I guess it’s hard for people to believe that someone like me exists or that someone like Norm is perfectly sane and honorable.  And that’s a sad state of affairs, isn’t it? 

I am not the only strong NYC teacher out there.  We definitely exist! BloomKlein didn’t scare me and my own damn union doesn’t scare me either. My elderly father who is riddled with every illness imaginable still tells me, “Fight the bastards.  You fight them with your last dying breath.”    My dignity is grounded in the fact that I have no hidden agenda or aspirations to do anything other than always speak my mind and fight for what I believe in, and to teach for a few more years and retire.  And I think that’s what some people find so frustrating---how do you silence someone with nothing to gain and nothing to lose? How do you silence someone who can’t be bought off or scared off?   You can’t.  Accept it and move on because I am not going away and I am most certainly not alone in the fight.  

....Roseanne McCosh, PS 8x.

Let me say that I as far as I know I have never met Roseanne. We did have a phone conversation about a month ago. She has never been to a MORE event. She is one of the many people in the union who are non-affiliated with any caucus though I'm sure MORE would be honored to have her join us. Funny thing is that over the past 2 years there have been other non-affiliated or even former Unity supporters who have been pushed by events and the UFT's tepid response and internal bully tactics to come to see that a strong alternative with deep roots into the schools is the only chance of reversing the decline of the UFT -- even if that groups never gets to take power its very existence as more than a fringe constitutes a major check and balance. If MORE were stronger I believe the NO vote would win handily. So even though Unity is trying to claim that MORE is only promoting a NO vote to build MORE, the reality is that it is the Unity oppressive and arrogant response to the challenge that is pushing people in the direction of MORE (later I'll write about the 45 or 50 people who showed up to the MORE Park Slope contract/happy hour event Friday afternoon). Here's hoping that more people like Roseanne stand up.

Final Performance Tonight of RTC "Moon...

I saw the Rockaway Theatre Company Production of "Moon Over Buffalo" last night for the 4th time - and I still laughed at every line -- and there were so many. My column with some cool photos finally appeared in The Wave yesterday, a week late, which doesn't do anything for the box office. Not that my columns ever do anything for the box office.

The RTC company is full of current and retired NYC teachers. In "Moon..." Jodi Tampone, Kim Simek, and Steve Ryan (Leon Goldstein HS and MORE member) are current or retired teachers. Last night a large crew of Goldstein students came out to see Steve and they made for a delightful audience - though at times I could see some of the lines from a 1994 play set in 1952 may have gone over their heads. Like you would have to know that the major joke of confusing the plays "Private Lives" and "Cyranno" would have major comic repercussions.

I'm going back for the final performance tonight with my wife and I will tape it one more time before hanging out for the cast party. Monday we strike the set and begin building the set for Gypsy, opening July 18, which begins rehearsals on Tuesday. There's an ugly rumor there may be a tiny part in it for me. Since I had problems learning my  4 lines in "How to Succeed.." tiny works for me.

Here are some photos from last night.

Private Lives meets Cyranno

Jodi and Steve

Marelli and Bruhn Publish Story of PS 241 in Harlem, a School Undermined by Bloomberg's Ed Deform

In 2001, the year Michael Bloomberg took control of New York City's Public Schools, P.S. 241 had millions of dollars in private donations, a waiting list and enrollment of 900 students. Today, P.S. 241 has an enrollment of only 100 students and is struggling to survive.... American Classroom: Portraits from a Public School in Harlem by Darren Marelli and Mollie Bruhn

American Classroom is a must-read chronicle for anyone wishing to understand how the current status quo free-market education reform policies of charter co-locations, school choice and competition, and accountability have systematically undermined urban public education in America including Harlem’s once proud P.S. 241,The Family Academy. Marelli and Bruhn’s moving story amplifies the voices of P.S. 241’s dedicated teachers and staff as they do their best to serve the City’s most vulnerable students despite grinding poverty, know-nothing bureaucrats and strangled resources."

—Noah E. Gotbaum, member, former President of Harlem’s Community Education Council District 3

Darren and Mollie are the kind of people that make it so worthwhile for me to stay active. I met them early in the life of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) when we began to take on the charter school issue. Darren was at a school invaded by the Eva Moskowitz Success Academy monster and they both got involved. Not too much later Julie Cavanagh came to GEM and a year later when we decided to do a film responding to Waiting for Superman, we had the basics of our amazing team, later joined by Brian Jones (Green Party candidate for NY State Lt. Gov) and Lisa Donlan, parent activist supreme on the lower east side. So we are all so proud of this tribute to PS 241 and the people who worked so hard but have been undermined by Bloomberg's deforms.

My name is Darren Marelli and I've been a social worker with the NYC-DOE for the past 14 years. I am writing today to share a book that I am self-publishing with my wife, Mollie Bruhn, who is a Kindergarten teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Mollie and I worked together (with many other talented folks!) on the film The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. 

Our new book is titled, American Classroom: Portraits from a Public School in Harlem. In the spring of 2009, I photographed and interviewed the teachers at my school in Harlem. Months before, the New York City Department of Education had announced plans to close my school—P.S. 241, The Family Academy—claiming that the school and its teachers had failed. 

I had worked side-by-side with the teachers at P.S. 241 since 1999 and what I saw was far from failure. Every day I witnessed dedicated, courageous teachers working hard to serve a high-needs student body, while necessary support and resources dwindled away. I felt compelled to honor the people who chose this important work. 

American Classroom tells the 13-year story of what happened to the P.S. 241 school community and includes 54 portraits and quotes from staff members during the year that the DOE attempted to close the school. 

In 2001, the year Michael Bloomberg took control of New York City's Public Schools, P.S. 241 had millions of dollars in private donations, a waiting list and enrollment of 900 students. Today, P.S. 241 has an enrollment of only 100 students and is struggling to survive. The reasons for these changes are complex and troubling. I believe that the portraits of the Family Academy teachers and the story of our school are important to share. It is our hope that American Classroom will encourage readers to think critically and carefully about the current trends in education reform that impact our teachers, students and communities.

American Classroom's promotion is attached to this email. You can see a preview and order a hard copy or PDF of American Classroom here: http://blur.by/1levJ9v. The Ebook can be found here: http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/472692-american-classroom.

I hope that you enjoy our book and find it to be a useful example of what education "reform" really looks like in our public schools and local communities.

Please share our story!

Best,

Darren Marelli and Mollie Bruhn

Elfank-Dana: Video Formal Observations - Admins YES, Teachers No - Calls for UFT to Fix This

...my AP said today, “No video… It’s my call not yours and I don’t want this lesson videoed"

.... the video is a saving grace for the strong teacher that happens to be a “trouble maker” for the principal

....it is clear from the informal observations the APs look for the glass half-empty. You’d think I was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of a teacher comparing my formal with informal observation reports....

The UFT cannot let this stand. Video for the administrator to use, not the teacher?
John Elfrank-Dana, CL Murry Bergtraum

Of course an AP with a grudge doesn't want a lesson taped. Imagine this scenario: A teacher uses a hidden camera to tape a lesson. The AP gives him a U. The teacher uses the video as a defense. The teacher gets brought up on charges for taping (one of the ridiculous charges against Portelos).
My advice: buy a mini-camera and hide it.

I'll let John continue:

MORE UPdate - VOTE NO Then Attend a MORE Happy Hour Today

I'll be at Freddy's in Park Slope for the happy hour from 4-6 - just one of the many MORE happy hours around the city today -- see below.

Reasons to VOTE NO: PDFs you can print and distribute for your colleagues:

Tentative Agreement Fact Sheet
Vote No Flyer
Retro delayed is retro denied (Eterno)
Why the wait is not over (Cavanagh)
What happens if we vote it down? (Lamphere)

Inform yourself about the contract proposal

• How to win a better contract
• What happens if we vote this contract down?
• 50 Years of UFT stagnation on class size
• Send it back!

Join MORE Today! IMPORTANT EVENTS

Happy Hours
Friday, May 23
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Freddy's Backroom
627 5th Ave. 4-6pm

Kew Gardens, Queens
Austin's Ale House,
4:30-7pm

Next General Meeting
Saturday, June 7, 12-3pm
Location TBA

Steering Committee
steering@morecaucusnyc.org
Thursday, May 22, 5:30 pm
Skylight Diner (9th & 34th)

 

Vote NO! 

Like us - MORE info Follow us - Find out what's happening

Newark Update: NEW Caucus report on Student Takeover and Baraka Goes After Ed Deform

Talk of taking back the city’s schools is the rhetoric that won Ras Baraka the election.... With Baraka’s win, Bill de Blasio’s November victory in New York, and former Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty’s stinging loss in 2010, due in large part to school chancellor Michelle Rhee’s unpopularity, the local control movement is having a moment.... Dana Goldstein, Slate

This is an interesting story (see below). Poor Mark Zuckerman and his 100 mil, so much of which went to consultants for Cami.

We have tracked the Newark story through our contacts there. NEW Caucus puts out updates. NEW is the counterpart to MORE - they came within a few votes of winning the presidency and hold many Exec Bd seats. First here is their report, followed by the Slate piece.

As you all now know, after rallying with NEW Caucus against the One-Newark Plan, a group of students from the Newark Student Union took over Tuesday's Advisory Board Business Meeting and slept overnight in 2 Cedar Street.  Although their 4 demands were not entirely met, they did win a meeting with NJ Commissioner of Ed. David Hespe (still to be scheduled).  After holding a press conference, they left the building at about 11:30 Wednesday morning.  

BUT, the students got huge press coverage and drew a spotlight to the dictatorial methods and privatizing motives of the Governor and Superintendent.  They were covered Tuesday night by ABC 7 and News12, and on Wednesday morning by all the local news stations.  Below are 3 longer videos, one of the protest, another of the takeover itself, and the last of the morning press conference.  

http://laborpress.org/sectors/education/3731-newark-students-sit-in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBCi21i5tjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZKFCfilUx8&feature=youtu.be

Again, NEW Caucus stands with the Newark Student Union, OUR students.  Their fight is OUR fight.  

We hope that others, education workers in particular, begin to learn from our students and take inspiration from them!  Until we are willing to challenge power, we will not win the war being waged on us!

And, to follow up on the student action and BUILD on the momentum that they have helped generate, NEW Caucus joins the Newark Teachers Union in calling ALL education workers, students, parents and concerned community members to attend Tuesday's Advisory Board Meeting.  NEW Caucus members will speak.

More important, we must continue to publicly demonstrate our opposition to the One-Newark Plan,

to state control of Newark Public Schools, and to Cami Anderson.

Tuesday, May 27

6pm

Speedway Elementary School

701 South Orange Ave.

Newark, 07106

And Slate below the fold

UFT Contract: Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X, Urges Colleagues to Vote NO

Former Unity Caucus member slams UFT leadership and Unity.

Norm---
I wrote the below and it will go into teacher mailboxes. The majority in my school are voting NO and many of them will not attend the union meetings with UFT officials to hear bullshit.  The NO campaign at PS 8 was taken up by many teachers in my school.  It was good to hear people who don't normally voice their opinions talking to others about what a raw deal this is and sending me information and reasons to vote no.  Normally I'm the key person to disseminate information but this time many others jumped on board.  I'm giving my colleagues some final considerations before Unity arrives at our school.  We will vote on the contract on Friday....   Roseanne McCosh, PS8x

Unity slugs have tried to make it seem that only MORE is against the contract and is only taking that position as a cover to attack Unity. I can say that in fact MORE very early on was analyzing the contract and some of us warned not to take an automatic NO position but to hear where people in the schools were coming from. I never expected they would screw up on the money issue and in fact believed they would come up with a winning money package even if the rest of the contract sucked and they would get a slam dunk.

Boy was I wrong. I heard from people I had not heard from in years. MORE was inundated with people who from the first word were opposed -- not MOREistas but independents.  Roseanne was one of them.

Dear UFT Members:

     The UFT is sending a representative to our school today to convince us to vote YES.  This is the job of all who work for the UFT.  No one who works for the UFT is permitted to disagree with the union president.  Our union president (Michael Mulgrew) did not allow for an open debate on the contract at the delegate assembly.  Those of you who attended our last chapter meeting heard Lori (our delegate) speak to what she has witnessed at delegate assemblies—including the one during which the DA passed this contract on to us.  Mulgrew filibustered and did not allow anyone opposed to the contract to have equal time to speak to the audience.  I’ve already given many reasons why we should vote NO.  I will leave you with some final thoughts prior to their arrival:

     

Fear will be instilled as they try to convince us to vote YES.  But do you want to know who’s really afraid?  The UFT Leadership is afraid.  They are afraid that those of us in the trenches will wake up and demand better when they promised NYC that they could corral us in any direction they wanted.  Maybe they can corral the majority----maybe not. Time will tell.  But I’m not interested in being a member of the majority.  I am interested in being an individual who knows when I’m being steamrolled and screwed and who stands up and says, “HELL NO!”  

However, my NO vote isn't really about my personal circumstances at all.  With or without this contract my retirement timeline remains the same and I will retire with a livable income.  I can sincerely say that my short distance to retirement means that this vote means very little to me personally.  A YES vote means my pension will be higher.  I’ll see the same retro as those of you with much longer to go. I’ll just have to wait like everyone else.  I am treated well by our current administration and I have handled difficult administrations in the past without ever bending over for anyone.  My NO vote is a vote for your future--not mine.  

• Health Care: My NO vote is saying that I won’t accept changes to health care that will be made if this contract is approved. Until I see the health care plan to save the BILLIONS Mulgrew promised DeBlasio, I don’t want to hear that there are no givebacks.  I don’t want to HEAR anymore.  I want to SEE a written plan and know exactly how the UFT is planning on saving those billions of dollars.  (see HealthCare Savings section of  the contract which is pasted on the back of this page---BILLIONS in Savings but no details as to HOW). 
• Stronger Union: My NO vote is about the future of a labor union that has become weaker with each passing contract.  My NO vote is my way of saying that all teachers are entitled to due process hearings before their livelihoods are taken away from them.  By selling out the ATRs we are giving up our own job security in the future.  We will be helpless to an abusive principal.
• Playing us for fools: My NO vote is saying DON’T LIE TO US!  Ask [name redacted] from our SBST how she was lied to and was told at a UFT pension workshop that she would get 5% interest on our owed money when the fact is it’s 0%. They lied to all who attended.
• Appropriate Compensation: My NO vote is also saying that teachers should be rewarded for their patience in waiting for delayed increases and retro.  And that reward should be the elimination of extended time.  The last time we showed patience we got February break included in our contract.  This time we get 2 more evening PT conferences and speeches about how lucky we are to have a job and that Bloomberg left the cupboards bare.  Ask the Wall Street execs how their cupboards are doing these days.  The DOW has reached new highs and the rich of NYC are doing quite well.  It is always the working class that is asked to make sacrifices.     (CONTINUED ON BACK)

• Scare Tactics: My NO vote is saying that the UFT will not scare me into compliance.  Let NYPD and FDNY negotiate first if necessary.  They have already said they won’t accept this pattern of delays and retro on retro. The president of SBA (Sergeants Benevolent Assoc) has stated, “I think Mike Mulgrew is out of his mind for doing a deal like that.”   We will do better if we vote NO.  Don’t let the UFT convince you otherwise.  The UFT’s main goal is to not have egg on their face.  Their goal is to corral us as they promised NYC they would.  Enough with fear based decision making from a labor union leadership and membership….it’s embarrassing.   Male dominated unions are not afraid.  Why are we?

H. Healthcare Savings

a.  The UFT and the City/DOE agree the UFT will exercise its best efforts to have the MLC agree to the following:

 i. for fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015), there shall be $400 million in savings on a city- wide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

ii.  for fiscal year 2016 (July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016), there shall be $700 million in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

iii.  for fiscal year 2017 (July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017), there shall be $1 billion in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

iv.  for fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), there shall be $1.3 billion in savings on a citywide basis in health care costs in the NYC health care program.

v.  for every fiscal year thereafter, the savings on a citywide basis in health care costs shall continue on a recurring basis.

vi. The parties agree that the above savings to be achieved on a Citywide basis are a material term of this agreement.

vii.  In the event the MLC does not agree to the above citywide targets, the arbitrator shall determine the UFT’s proportional share of the savings tar get and, absent an agreement by these parties, shall implement the process for the satisfaction of these savings targets.

viii.  Stabilization Fund: (1) Effective July 1, 2014, the Stabilization Fund shall convey $1 billion to the City of New York to be used in support of the pro rata funding of this agreement.

(2) Commencing on July 1, 2014, $200 million from the Stabilization Fund shall be made available per year to pay for ongoing programs (such as $65 welfare fund contribution, PICA payments, budget relief). In the event the MLC does not agree to provide the funds specified in this paragraph, the arbitrator shall determine the UFT’s proportional share of the Stabilization Fund monies required to be paid under this paragraph.

AFTERBURN:

Roseanne was quite insulted when Unity slugs were leaving those comments that MORE was playing politics.

The NO campaign being run in my school is being run by teachers with no affiliation or allegiance to any caucus. We have defined our reasons for voting NO very clearly. It is a campaign against UNITY because Unity is trying to ram this shit down our throats. And rest assured the day MORE or ICE or anyone else wants to ram shit down our throats we will speak out against them as well. PS 8 is comprised of individuals who THINK and vote accordingly....and some of us may very well vote yes....but those of us voting NO have our reasons and our minds will not be changed by spin. Roseanne McCosh PS 8

Irony is that she is a former member of Unity -- and let us not give up on all of them -- she is an example that some will see the light. So I issue a call to Unity Caucus members ready to switch: MORE welcomes you. (We also welcomed New Action early this school year but they have another agenda.)

Protest Cuomo at Dem Convention as de Blasio Nominates Him Today

We just learned that de Blasio will nominate Cuomo today.
http://m.nydailynews.com/news/politics/blaz-set-nominate-cuomo-term-article-1.1799923

Eterno Reports on yesterday's rally which Cuomo tried to get our pals on Long Island to cancel:

(Rallies Scare Cuomo into Meeting with Stronger Together

May 09, 2014)

ICEUFT Blog

LONG ISLAND EDUCATORS PROTEST AGAINST CUOMO IN MELVILLE - 

 

There was a tremendous vibe outside the the State Democratic convention in Melville yesterday as Arthur Goldstein and I joined what looked like thousands of educators from Long Island for a very spirited rally.  Do you think Governor Cuomo is noticing?



Francis Lewis HS's Arthur Goldstein talking to Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association President Beth Dimino along with Rockville Center Principal Carol Burris and her husband (a retired UFT member)!

Unionism looks to be alive and well east of the city.  

Hundreds of Parents to Protest Governor Cuomo's Failed Education Record : Long Island Exchange
http://www.longislandexchange.com/press-releases/hundreds-of-parents-to-protest-governor-cuomos-failed-education-record/

 

 

Newark: Is Cami A Crook?

Sources within the union leadership said Anderson’s contract–up at the end of June–would not be renewed and she would leave in a way that suggested her departure was voluntary.  Those same sources indicated leadership could be passed over to a cooperative arrangement between a state official and a current high-ranking officer within the Newark Public Schools, with the most obvious candidate Roger Leon, currently an assistant schools superintendent.... Bob Braun's Ledger

The Newark story continues to fascinate. Yesterday we reported and posted a video of the student sit-in ( to our last post: Newark Student Union Conducts a Sit-in at The Newark Public Schools Board's Budget Meeting and Cami Walks Out Again!). Today the union leader is saying Supt Cami Anderson will be gone (Is Cami Anderson Out in Newark? ). Today mayor elect Ras Baraka met with Christie..... Hmmmm!

Our pal in Newark pawed through the report of Cami malfeasance (I'm hoping for a perp walk.) and sent in this dispatch:

Kristin Towkanuik President of the Newark Student Union led a sit in at 2  Cedar Street administrative home of the Newark Public Schools. The students demanded to meet with State District Superintendent Cami Anderson and Acting Education Commissioner David Hespe. In less than twenty-four hours, both luminaries have agreed to the demands. What is going on here? The secret is Mayor-elect Ras Baraka spreading his magic dust over the city. Cami and David decided to meet with the students before their chutzpah gets out of hand.

State Senator Ronald Rice sent a letter to Hespe on behalf of the Joint Committee on the Public Schools respectfully requesting an investigation of Anderson's "handling of the administrative and fiscal affairs of the Newark Public Schools." I have been studying this document for hours and I will try to give you a cheat sheet on the information I have gleaned.

The projected deficit for the Newark Public Schools is $53 million. Where did all that money go? Cami gave out generous raises to her BFFs also known as assistant superintendents. They are all making $175,000 per annum. The Chief Talent Officer is only earning $173,975, but the School Business Administrator brings home $189,817. It seems like a lot of dough for shuffling e-mails, but they may have other hidden responsibilities.

Another significant concern is the potential for conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts and the hiring of consultants. The crux of the matter is the sale of 18th Avenue School to the TEAM Charter Schools operated by KIPP Schools. Sir Walter Scott must have had a look at Cami's machinations when he penned, "Oh what a tangled web we weave."

Let it suffice for me to introduce a few key players. Former Education Commissioner Chris Cerf had previous professional business associations with Tim Carden who resurfaced as the President of Friends of TEAM Schools. The Friends are a 501(c)(3) that conveniently holds all the loans and leases for TEAM. Hannah Richman is the Director and Secretary for the Friends. In this capacity, she directs real estate, finance, acquisition and renovation for TEAM. The question as to Cami's previous professional relationships with this cast of characters is at the heart of the matter. To make matters worse, it is alleged that 18th Avenue School was sold at a below market price with an abbreviated bidding process.

If you guys have any further interest in the details of Cami's entanglements, I am prepared to spend a few more hours studying this document tomorrow night. I presume that it will take Hespe a substantial amount of time to sort through the data. Cami earned $247,500 and a bonus of $32,992 for this year so it is my guess she isn't going anywhere soon. Chris Christie and Tom Moran of The Star Ledger still love her even though she has managed to infuriate nearly everyone else.

A Newark Teacher

Upper Manhattan Parents Protest Space Giveaway to Success While Public School Kids Are Over Capacity

We call upon Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina to pull out of the deal to site the Success Academy charter school at the Mother Cabrini educational complex located in District 6.  We urge them to consult with the District 6 parent community and collaboratively determine how to use the Mother Cabrini space for current District 6 students.....

Cuomo and NY State legislature order de Blasio to find space for Eva but not for overcrowded public schools. A press conf was held Weds night.

By the way - the UFT was silent over the charter deal - why are they hiding?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Contact:           Tory Frye 

                                                                                                            Johanna Garcia

May 21, 2014

 District Six Public School Parents Advocate for Using the

Mother Cabrini Space for Current District Six Student Needs  

Press Conference

When: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 @6:30 PM

Where: Isabella Geriatric Center (515 Audubon Avenue at 191^st Street)

New York City – District 6 public school parents call attention to the inequity and injustice of the city paying the rent of a Success Academy charter school, to be located in the Mother Cabrini educational complex located in District 6, while current District 6 students are educated in trailers, substandard school facilities and overcrowded classrooms, and while numerous District 6 schools are over overcapacity and/or face imminent co-locations that will compromise students’ educations.  The Success Academy charter school in question was never approved for District 6; rather it was originally approved for District 1 and then moved to District 2.  There was no community engagement of any kind with the District 6 parent and neighborhood communities regarding locating a charter school in our district.  District 6 parents are distraught that their children’s needs and their schools’ needs, to improve, expand and flourish, continue to be ignored and hampered, while charter schools are fully supported in expanding and at great expense to the taxpayer.

Gale Brewer, the Manhattan Borough President, writes, “The siting of a Success Academy charter school at the former Mother Cabrini High School is taking place with zero transparency and no public input. For years, families in the community, CEC members from District 6, and education advocates have put in the necessary hours of dialogue to lay the groundwork for Mother Cabrini to successfully transition from a Catholic school to new and much needed public school in the district. Success Academy was never a partner in this effort and to be the recipient of this space is nothing short of a hostile takeover. This sort of opaque decision-making only breeds resentment and creates divisions. New York must do better.”

Evelyn Roman, public school parent and Parent Association President at District Six’s Mott Hall School says, “The Mott Hall School is the highest performing Title I School in District 6.   Despite this, it has been left to languish in a “temporary” building for 27 years.  This building has no cafeteria, using a makeshift one instead, no gym, no library, limited outdoor space (that is currently in violation of building codes), and tiny classrooms.  The current Mott Hall space was never intended for use as a school. Mott Hall parents have been advocating for new and adequate space for over a dozen years to no avail.  It is painful that well-equipped spaces, such as the Mother Cabrini space, have been offered to charter schools, funded by special interests, while our Mott Hall children are once again ignored and the hundreds of students who each year seek to attend Mott Hall are turned away due to lack of space.”

Miriam Aristy-Farer public school parent and President of District 6 Community Education Council (CEC6) notes, “As a District 6 parent and CEC6 president, it was troubling to learn about Success Academy coming to District 6 and Mother Cabrini via the local news, illustrating that there was no public engagement process of any kind. As a parent at a co-located District 6 school, given how quickly this decision was made after the state budget passed, I found myself depressed and asking if we New York City public school parents are actually now worse off than before.  This is very different from the future we envisioned after the Bloomberg era."

Johanna Garcia, a parent whose children attend PS/IS 187 and the Vice-President of the PTA, says, “Speaking on behalf of the PS/IS 187 community, the neighborhood school sitting just a block away from Mother Cabrini, we feel especially betrayed and disappointed in the utter lack of community input in the decision-making process.  In the past seven years, budget cuts to our school alone have exceeded $1.5 million, resulting in the loss of more than twelve teachers and three aides. Our school is bursting at the seams and grossly over capacity. So much so that two years ago, our popular universal pre-kindergarten program was squeezed out due to overcrowding.  The District 6 community deserves and, frankly, was expecting better from the new Administration.”

Yuderka Valdez, IS 52 parent and school leader says: "Earlier this year over 2,000 JHS 52 parents and District 6 community members signed a petition against the co-location of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) high school in the M052 building, when it was first proposed by the Bloomberg administration, because we knew that such a co-location would irreparably damage our children’s school and education.  Now we learn that city will spend tens of millions of dollars to house a charter school in a space that would be perfect for the incoming CTE high school, sparing our school and our students."

Finally, Kari Steeves, District 6 public school parent states, “The parents of Muscota New School, one of 3 progressive elementary schools in District 6, see many needs in our district that will go unaddressed and unfunded, because public money will be directed toward charter space, not public school space. Most urgently for our children, we have identified the need for a progressive middle school in the district to allow students to continue their education within the progressive model. We have expressed this need to our elected parent representatives on the CEC and the District Superintendent.  Rather than supporting this need and others identified by our fellow D6 parents, the city will now pay rent for and renovate space for a Success Academy charter school at the beautiful Mother Cabrini campus, even though there has been no movement within the D6 community to bring a Success Academy charter into the district. Parents at Muscota call on the state to repeal the amendment to the 2014 budget that guarantees publicly funded space to charter schools, which makes clear that the state neither trusts nor cares what local parents want for their children.”

We District Six parents, elected parent leaders, public education advocates, and the elected representatives who support us urge our state representatives to introduce legislation to undo this disastrous policy, which forces the city to house or pay rent for charter schools. We call upon Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Farina to pull out of the deal to site the Success Academy charter school at the Mother Cabrini educational complex located in District 6.  We urge them to consult with the District 6 parent community and collaboratively determine how to use the Mother Cabrini space for current District 6 students. We note that the District 6 Community Education Council recently passed a resolution in opposition to the state budget provisions, urging our state elected leaders to rescind them and calling on the Mayor to work with the community to address the urgent needs of District 6 students, in particular the use of the Mother Cabrini space. All are welcome to join us on Wednesday May 21, 2014, at 6:30 PM at the Isabella Geriatric Center (515 Audubon Avenue) to hear from District 6 public school families affected and support our District 6 public school parents, students, schools, families and communities.

                                 ###################################

Victoria (Tory) Frye
vicnyc@me.com