Running for Chapter Leader? (Updated)

*Navigating the Minefield of Internal School Politics*

Keeping chapter leaders in line is the key to control of the UFT. It makes sense since through the CL the leadership can reach out to every member. They use the District reps as the key overseers to make the CL dependent on the union and also to keep them isolated.

Chapter leader and school delegate elections take place every three years and we are now in the midst of the election season.

Many people think the important elections are the election for president and officers (coming next year). But Unity has so manipulated the process that there is no chance of overturning the power structure no matter what the opposition does. Thus, Unity is guaranteed control of the AdCom (officers) and Executive Board in perpetuity (I'll go into the details another time) – at least until there is enough pressure from the bottom to force changes.

Thus, the school elections are ultimately more important in terms of the ability to reach the membership. If the opposition had hundreds of chapter leaders, we would begin to see changes in the union.

Unity Caucus is not stupid and pays strict attention since the constitution of the delegate assembly for the next 3 years will be determined in the next few weeks. Most Unity Caucus members are expected to run for chapter leader or delegate. The rank and file in many schools doesn't even know their CL is in Unity and more beholden to the leadership than to the membership.

Aside from the many Unity candidates, they also coopt new chapter leaders through the union's training program, which often function as Unity recruiting operations. In the last cycle (2006) Unity added over 700 new members drawn from the pool of new chapter leaders and delegate, thus insuring absolute control over the delegate assembly.

Many novice (and even experienced) chapter leaders are concerned with the level of support they will receive from the UFT, especially if they voice criticism of the leadership. This fear is a powerful tool in the hands of Unity. Some join Unity out of this fear, but in most cases, new chapter leaders have no idea what Unity is and figure, "Why not?" Then there are the perks - the after school jobs (why work in the school with kids if you don't have to), the all expense paid trips to conventions, the double pensions. And the big enchilada - a full-time union job if you play ball.

People I talk to thinking of running who have expressed criticisms of the UFT leadership, are not aware of the extent to which Unity will go to keep them from winning. And they play dirty.

With a large turnover in chapter leaders expected this spring, I've been working with Sally Lee of Teachers Unite to set up a session for prospective chapter leaders (and delegates) to help them lay the groundwork for a run for chapter leader and a follow-up support group to help them strategize methods of dealing with the school admins and the central and district union structure. ICE and TJC members are involved.

We are holding a meeting on Monday, May 18 at 5 pm to cover a bunch of issues. We have invited Michael Fiorillo of ICE and Megan Behrent of TJC to join us. And maybe some other experienced union people to provide advice and encouragement. Can't make this meeting? We can also take the show on the road. Just let us know.

Teachers Unite has put out the following announcement:

-Should you run for UFT CL or Delegate?
-Are there risks to your career?
-How can you be part of building a more democratic UFT?
-What can you accomplish as a rank-and-file leader?
-What does any of this have to do with social justice activism?


If you're considering becoming a UFT representative at your school, join Teachers Unite, veteran and new teachers, and members of opposition caucuses in the UFT to discuss the process and significance of becoming a union leader. If elections already happened in your school, but you're interested in these questions, please feel free to join us.

Snacks provided

Please RSVP

Monday, May 18, 2009
Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: Brecht Forum
Street: 451 West St. New York, NY
Phone: 2126754790
Email: info@teachersunite.net
Description: A Teachers Unite program:

Directions:
A,C,E, or L to 14th St & 8th Ave., walk down 8th Ave to Bethune, turn right, walk west to
the River, turn left

1,2,3 or 9 to 14th St. & 7th Ave. Get off at south end of station, walk west on 12th St.
to 8th Ave. left to Bethune, turn right, walk west to the River, turn left.

Related:
Today, ICE meeting at Murray Bergtraum HS at 4:30
Pearl St right behind police plaza.

HONOR RAVITCH, EDUWONKETTE, BABAD

(I'll have a report of this fabulous event later.)

ED Notes Exclusive: Special appearance by BloomKlein popping out of a cake.

***Special Event: May 7

Announcing the first annual

Skinny Awards

When: Thursday May 7, at 6 PM

Where: Jerry's Café, 90 Chambers St (between Church and Broadway)

Please join us for a very special evening

Presenting awards to the three best education bloggers, who provide us with the real "skinny" on NYC schools:

Diane Ravitch, Lifetime Achievement Award

Jennifer Jennings (AKA Eduwonkette), the Shooting Star Award

Gary Babad, Humorist Supreme

Klein Gives Up the ATR Ghost

The bad economy has accomplished what rallies and UFT ineptness has not. The NY Times is reporting Joel Klein has ordered principals to hire ATRs before any new teachers. Thanks for listening Joel to the demands of the Grassroots Education Movement a week before our rally. Now it's time to restore teacher seniority rights. We'll send you a list of our other demands. Or just look outside your office next Thursday.

The rub in the Times report is this statement:

Anticipating significant budget cuts to New York City schools in the coming year, Chancellor Joel I. Klein ordered principals on Wednesday to stop hiring teachers from outside the system, a move that will force them to look internally at a pool that, according to an independent report, includes many subpar teachers.

The report, released last year by the New Teacher Project, which recruits and trains educators for school systems, estimated that the pool cost the city $81 million over two years.

Independent? The New Teacher Project is independent? What are people at the NY Times drinking? Have they looked at the funding sources of the New Teacher Project, founded incidentally by anti-union attack dog Michelle Rhee? Did the Times think to report on the amount of contracts the NTP gets from Klein to train new teachers, funding they may now lose if there are no new teachers to be hired? Is there just a tad of a conflict of interest with this "independent" report?

Timothy Daly, who runs the New Teacher Project, said he was worried that principals would no longer be able to find the best fits for their schools. “Schools are going to have great teachers who they would like to hire, who they won’t be able to hire,” Mr. Daly said. “It can’t be best for kids.”

Sniff, sniff. I'm weeping. Sure Tim. It's all about what's best for the kids.

Shame on reporter Javier Hernandez and the editors at the Times and for tainting 1100 ATRs. But we always knew they had a dog in this race.

Maybe GEM should march on to the NY Times after finishing up at Tweed on May 14.

UPDATE from Eduwonkette posted at Gotham Schools:

A point of clarification on this point from the New Teacher Project’s report that you cited, i.e. “By September 2007, unselected excessed teachers from 2006 were six times as likely to have received a prior “Unsatisfactory” rating as other New York City teachers.”

If you read the footnotes in their report, 81 percent of teachers in the ATR have never received an Unsatisfactory rating. Only 6 percent of all teachers in the ATR - about 14 teachers - have received an unsatisfactory rating more than once in their careers.

Beyond these facts, I have no idea to what extent this pool represents great or terrible teachers, and the important point to remember is that no one really knows. It’s not reasonable or fair to indict the entire group based on the very misleading “six times” TNTP sound bite. If someone else applied this kind of statistical discrimination to other groups - for example, by establishing the probability of an outcome like incarceration or welfare receipt by gender, class, or race and characterizing the entire group - we would all be up in arms.

Effective Outreach and Organizing

Session 3:

Saturday, May 9, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Description of Session 3:

Do you find that sending mass emails and putting flyers in teacher mailboxes isn?t really yielding the turnout you want? Whether it's organizing your colleagues around a school problem or a community concern, participants in this session will learn strategies and techniques for framing an issue, engaging others, and building support. If you have an idea for a particular issue you want to organize around, there will be opportunities to develop your organizing plan of action.

Saturday, May 9, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Location: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (betw. Bank and Bethune Streets)

I was there last Saturday and it was great. Going back again this week. The often young, new teacher participants belie the line that these teachers are anti-union or automatically aligned with the ed deformers. -Norm Scott

"The Teacher Activist Course sessions are powerful!
Very useful for organizing and strategizing."
-12th grade teacher, course participant


Session 4:
Who controls the public school system in New York City?: A brief history of the city's schools
Saturday, May 30th, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Breakfast and lunch is included in all sessions.

For full course descriptions and more information, go to:
http://www.teachersunite.net/register

Sliding scale registration fee per session for non-members: $25 - $75

To register, go to: http://www.teachersunite.net/register

Teachers Unite is a membership organization supporting the leadership of NYC public school teachers committed to social justice and activism. By leadership we mean: 1) a deep understanding of the problems faced by educators, students and public school communities,
2) skills to organize a community to build power and make change, and
3) a willingness to take action.

Coming Soon: national school-turnaround partnership between Green Dot and the AFT

UPDATED

This month, Barr expects to meet again with Weingarten and her staff and outline plans for Green Dot America, a national school-turnaround partnership between Green Dot and the AFT. Their first city would most likely be Washington, D. C. "If we're successful there, we'll get the attention of a lot of lawmakers," Barr said.

Get all the gory details over at Susan Ohanian.
http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=545


Perimeter Primate has a little more information to add.
http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2009/05/linda-darling-hammond-didnt-play.html

NY Times interest in Credit Recovery story

Javier Hernandez, of the NY Times, is looking to speak with teachers or individuals who have first hand knowledge about their school's Credit Recovery program. Your name will remain anonymous if you choose.

His number is 212 556-1599. Please call him if you have useful information that can expose abuses that are taking place.

A Night With Pete Seeger and 40 Friends and a Sense of Activism

The theme I got out of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration last Sunday was that activism is not dead. There is so much to write about, especially Springsteen's amazing speech capturing the essence of Seeger, that I can't really write about any of it. Suffice to say 4 hours with Arlo Guthrie, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco, Roger McGuinn, Emmylou Harris and Bruce Springsteen and so many others, makes for an amazing evening. I'm not much of a music person and my one regret was that we weren't sitting with our friends who have an in depth knowledge of music and could have guided us through the massive list of performers. It was only after the concert on the way home that we got so many interesting insights. Well, maybe for Pete's 100th.

The NY Times review is here. Naturally it deals only with the music, ignoring the political content. The review makes it seem it was about Obama, but a renewed spirit of activism is fueled as much by the reaction to George Bush as by Obama.

The Garden was filled with a sense of activism. The Seeger concert was the middle event in 3 days of activism, all of which I'll go into further details at other times.

On Saturday, I joined a dozen people at the 2nd session of Teachers Unite teacher activism course. Many of them were young teachers who are anxious to go beyond the classroom in helping create social change. It is good to see they understand the need to focus on making the 800 ground gorilla, the UFT, into a progressive force for change. They are seeing through Weingarten's phony rhetoric that she is a reformer because she supports charter schools and the modification of teacher rights. Some of them are considering running for chapter leader and we are holding an information session for them on May 18.

On Monday, the charter school conference at PACE sponsored by the newly formed Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) of which ICE and Ed Notes are part of, was a resounding success as a mix of experienced and newer teachers turned out to hear a panel discuss the issue of what is really driving the charter school movement. I took video, so more on this event in a few days.

Today Gem meets to take things to the next step- our march up lower Manhattan to Tweed on May 14. We are not concerned about numbers as we are building the movement and expect more events to take place. But if you are a teacher or parent in NYC, you should consider joining us. This is not the UFT type top-down rally, but truly from the grass roots. So 50 or a 100 or 300 people organizing and taking part has more long term consequences. If you can't join us on the march, go directly to Tweed where we expect to meet up at around 5-5:30. More details to come.

Pete Seeger is a model for all of us. The events I took part in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today, all relate to Pete's spirit. There can be no change if you stay on the sideline.

Is Hebrew Charter School in Brooklyn A Scam Religious School?

Remember the outcry about the Arab language and culture school in Brooklyn with charges it was a future terrorist mudrassa?

When another millionaire wanted to start a charter school focused on Hebrew language and culture, there was little outcry. What would be the reaction if someone charged it was a school designed to train future invaders of Iran? Probably cheer.

Of course they said would site the school in a building they would find. Now they are shoving it into a public school.

A parent in District 22 commented on the NYC Education News Listserve:

Is anyone aware that when this Charter School was suggested the DOE promised that there would be public advertising about the open lottery to go to this school. Well the school is becoming a reality and according to the parents in D-22 who have PReK and Kgn children no announcement was made about this lottery. Not in the local papers, not in the kings courier, not in postings around the neighborhood.

This is supposedly not a religious school trying to cater to one element of the population and in fact at the CDEC meeting re this school back in June 2008 I personally asked the DOE representative if it would be open to the students in our only failing school which was PS 269 and he said absolutely. what was their target population. In fact the lottery was held in the YMHA in Sheepshead Bay and even people who worked there were not aware of it. This must have been a very quiet, private solicitation, for a so called open charter school. So where was this advertised....

We also asked about them taking space in the public schools and were told that they would be finding their own private space and would not be going into any of our schools. The charter is now trying to push their way into a local junior high school with over 1100 students currently attending and 900 applicants for next year. Again more lies....

Updated: Let the Sunset...

... On Mayoral Control

Assemblywoman Inez Barron, wife of City Councilman Charles Barron, agrees over at Gotham.

So does NYC teacher Sean Ahern

Will you have your mayoral control with or without fries? Rare, medium or well done?

Excuse me, but is there anything else on the Legislative agenda besides the renewal of mayoral control?

The purpose of such forums as the one below is to shore up the support for the next phase of mayoral control which is more public school closings and charter school openings. I think the panel below is framed by the Chancellor and those who have been granted a seat at his table. They are vested in the privatization of public education and their menu is sorely limited to making the most of what they have created. They are not inclined to self criticism because this might lead to questioning of the very premises of mayoral control which might threaten the extension of the law which expires in June.

What did Bloomberg and Klein know about running a school system in 2002? They needed the experts more than the experts needed them. Now it has dawned on some experts that Bloomberg and Klein and Gates and the Broad Foundation have their own plans for public schools quite apart from the Orwellian slogan of "Put Children First". Some have been shaken from their slumber by the growing discontent from below. Others have enlisted or been summoned in the makeover and rebranding of the law on mayoral control which sunsets in June.

Phase II of mayoral control, a final solution for public schools and teacher tenure is a entrepaneurial feeding frenzy about to be set loose upon NYC schools on a much larger scale than we have seen thus far.The orwellian sloganeering like "Put Children First" is being set aside for objective even handed assesments where experts can quibble over this or that data set. By the time this charade fades, the Legislature will renew the law and Bloomberg will have bought another term as Mayor.

Imagine a thousand Eva Moscowitz' and Geoffrey Canada's, funded by Gates and Broad chomping away at the public sector like so many like pac man free market clones. Every school a charter school run by a CEO beholden to the shareholders, held accountable by a value added system of test scores and graduation data. If you think this is about putting children first then fine, go to the forum, but if you think its a fraud, better organize your own forums and raise some hell with the Legistature to let this law sunset.

Part of the difficulty faced by some experts is that it is difficult to admit they were wrong in the first place to buy into mayoral control, so they have a vested interest in not bringing forth the most critical issues at stake. The reluctance to admit error blocks a change of course and you end up collaborating with the wrong people and inadvertently enabling a scam. Others are just wedded at the hip to the oligarchy.

Bloomberg and Klein can do little without the cooperation of leading academics, education administrators, the leadership of the UFT, education entrepaneurs, non profits, and politicians. What is amazing is how much the so called experts ceded to the oligarchy in exchange for so little in return.

Who at this panel will say to the professionals and academics in attendance that we are not merely hired hands for the oligarchy, we have knowledge and skills that can be put to good use and we don't need mayoral control, we don't need oligarchy to do it. Is there anyone who will propose a new method of governance based on collaboration with the growing movement of parents, community groups, school based educators and independent politicians? Let the academics, the school based educators and parents run the schools. Let the law sunset. Have a wake instead of a makeover for mayoral control.

Peace,
Sean Ahern

Related: They can't even match the turnout of old school board elections, abolished in the mayoral control debacle.

From Leonie Haimson on the phony farce of parent involvement attempts by BloomKlein so they could claim they want parents involed during the upcoming dabete on whether to extend mayoral control.

The DOE failed to get the more than 5% participation they were looking for in the straw vote for CEC members – which they wanted so that it would exceed the turnout for the last Community School Board elections. Instead, they say they got 2.5%.

This despite an ad campaign, robocalls from Ed Koch, outreach by Councilmembers and borough presidents, and internet voting over three weeks– with the time period extended not once but two times.

Albany legislators set to pick up question of mayoral control of schools

BY Meredith Kolodner and Rachel Monahan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, May 5th 2009, 4:00 AM

As soon as Albany lawmakers agree on an MTA bailout, legislators will tackle yet another hot topic - mayoral control of city schools.

It's the Albany equivalent of a final exam for Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.

The 2002 law abolishing the Board of Education and giving the mayor power to appoint the chancellor will expire in June if legislators don't renew it.

While most favor some form of mayoral control, devilish details stand in the way.

"The mayoral-control debate has become the forum for parents to express their desire for more responsiveness to their individual needs," said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City.

Her group supports renewing the law as it stands, as does the Bloomberg administration, but many parents and advocacy groups want to see changes.

Learn NY, a nonprofit set up to fight for mayoral control, wants "more notice and clearly defined opportunities for parent input," spokeswoman Julie Wood said.

The latest city Department of Education effort to involve parents, offering all parents the chance to vote for parent leaders, isn't working, parent critics said.

Only about 2.5% of 980,000 eligible votes were cast citywide. Less than 1% of votes were cast for Brooklyn high school delegates.

"The vote was meaningless," said Citywide Council on High Schools member David Bloomfield.

Education Department spokesman Will Havemann defended the election, saying, "The vote will be influenced by 25,000 voices that have never before been considered."

mkolodner@nydailynews.com

Jay Mathews, Randi, DC Teachers Update

If you've been following the Washington DC story pointing to the sellout of teachers by Randi/Rhee, we have been chronicling (Randi and Rhee in DC, A Tale of Skulduggery as Unity Caucus Tactics Go National) we received some comments worth noting:

Jeff Canady said...

AFT is doing some very questionable things. It's not going unnoticed. Thank's for the head's up.

Paul Moore said...

You called it Norm. Terms of the sellout are nearly settled. They are ready to roll in DC. Nathan Saunders has been kneecapped and and dissident members of the WTU are being nuetralized. Weingarten is going to get in bed with Broad and Gates. See "Rare Alliance May Signal Ebb In Union's Charter Opposition" in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050301872.html?hpid=sec-education

For sheer entertainment value read the last paragraph and Jay Mathews feigned surprise at the Weingarten-Rhee Axis.

So I followed Paul's suggestion and checked out Mathews' piece. And for long-time Randi - dub us Randiologists - watchers, it was a howl. Feigned indeed, unless Mathews has been hiding in the cave with bin-Laden.

Here are some nuggets:

It isn't often you see a leading teachers union announce it is taking money from what many of its members consider the enemy: corporate billionaires who have been bankrolling the largely nonunion charter school movement.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, unveiled the first union-led, private foundation-supported effort to provide grants to AFT unions nationwide to develop and implement what she called "bold education innovations in public schools."

The news release gushed about all the research by teachers that the $2.8 million fund would support, but I was more interested in the sources of the money, particularly the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I would have been less surprised to see President Obama receive a campaign contribution from former vice president Richard B. Cheney.

Broad and Gates people have been friendly to D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, one of the few superintendents in the country who supports charters. Broad is thought to be one of the foundations promising to help fund Rhee's offer to give teachers big salary increases in return for surrendering tenure protections. Weingarten has much to say about how the D.C. teacher contract negotiations proceed, but she has given no sign of embracing Rhee's plan. So why is she accepting the foundations' money? Her friends and adversaries say she always thinks several moves ahead. When I asked why she was dealing with foundations whose support for charters is so unpopular with her members, she replied, "The ties that bind us are so much greater than the squabbles that divide us."

Younger teachers going into regular and charter schools, and into the AFT, appear more willing than older teachers to give up tenure for more pay and more impact on student achievement. Their friends working for Google and McKinsey and Goldman Sachs don't have tenure. Why should they?

Weingarten hears those voices. I think she wants to stay ahead of the generational shift. The GothamSchools Web site says she offered recently to stop using the word "tenure" if that will help win agreement on due process for teachers in trouble.

But is it so crazy to think that, eventually, Weingarten will join Rhee in giving D.C. teachers a new and innovative contract, just as she has joined with Rhee's foundation friends to create a new fund for teacher innovation?

Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay. Have you not learned anything? You must not be reading your Education Notes. Broad gave Randi's charter school $ 1 million and his foundation helped fund Richard Kahlenberg's Shanker book.

Paul is right. Mathews who is very clued in is playing games with his readers.

Does Jay have a clue when he thinks school teachers will look at their friends at Goldman Sachs who are making 3 times what they make and not dealing with daily teaching tasks and fending off idiot administrators and think, "Gee, they don't have tenure, why should I?" I should send Jay the emails I get from young teachers who are very worried about getting their tenure because until they do they fear telling their idiot administrators they are idiots.

I will give Jay credit for discerning some of Randi's motives in terms of what she perceives is the attitudes of the new generation of teachers. But she is wrong.

I saw plenty of young teachers at yesterday's Grassroots Movement Charter school conference at PACE U. (More on that later). Yes, Jay - and Randi- even young, idealistic teachers would like some job protection and a good health plan and actually getting paid real money - like their friends at Goldman Sachs, for all the time they put in.

Related:
Mike Antonucci at EIA and Intercepts naturally likes Mathews but is skeptical (News Flash: Al Shanker Is Dead) of Randi's motives, as usual, from the opposite direction of Ed Notes. Mike should come back to his old haunts in NYC one day and observe the state of the UFT in the schools and see then comment on whether Randi is really a sell-out or not.

Whistleblowers at PS 154X Get the Job Done

Over the past few months we've been pointing to the Tweed double standard where they send teachers to rubber rooms for breathing on a kid while protecting administrators no matter what they do. At PS 154 in the Bronx, whistle blowing teachers were sent to the rubber room by the admin to protect themselves. Apparently the charges were so flimsy, the teachers were released in fairly quick order.

The DOE was contacted repeatedly but did nothing.The press was contacted and Fox 5 found a parent of one of the children who was manhandled by an AP. Even after the reports surfaced, the AP remained in the school for almost a week before being removed.

Yesterday we got reports that PS 154 Principal Linda-Amil Irizzary spent her last day at the school yesterday. Her next assignment is at the Bronx ISC at Fordham Plaza.

That she abused teachers and allowed an AP to abuse children, I bet she will be Jolanta Rohloffed (an incompetent given a make up job at $150,000 a year). Irizzary is politically connected. She was Supt. of District 8 last year before she was asked to leave. Yolanda Torres, her good friend, is currently the Supt of District 7. A source said, "They are rumored to be well-connected to certain political entities."

Oh, by the way, the UFT played a zero role in this drama.

Related:
Student Abuse Ignored by DOE

The Rubber Room Reporter blog had a follow-up on Monday Feb. 24th,
Disarray at PS 154X in the South Bronx, Teachers There Report

Randi and Rhee in DC, A Tale of Skuldugery as Unity Caucus Tactics Go National

Did the AFT and Rhee conspire to remove a critic of a possible sell-out?

Follow the trail but don't forget where you left the crumbs.

NYC Educator posted a guest column from Candi Peterson, whose Washington Teacher blog has been providing us with information on the Michelle Rhee vs. DC teachers battle. Union General VP Nathan Saunders, who has raised questions about the role the AFT (and by association, Randi Weingarten) was playing in the DC/Rhee/union struggle, was sent packing back to the classroom after President George Parker refused to sign his paperwork certifying him as a union official. But we in NYC know all about these games. We can do seminars for the rest of the nation.

The refusal of Pres Parker to sign Saunder's paperwork is just a way if removing potential opposition to what is coming down between Randi and Rhee.

I'll get back to that in a minute.

I really had to laugh on the night of the famous UFT wine and cheese party November 25 to undercut the ATR rally (see the two-part video, The Video the UFT Doesn't Want You To See: The ATR Rally and James Eterno's account of the gag rule that resulted at the ICE blog.)

On the way up to Tweed, Randi approached me and said, "Norman, you should really give me that video. People are very upset." Of course "they" are upset. The video caught them red-handed. I said that I didn't take her tantrum directed at me at the wine and cheese fest personally and she should feel free to use me as a scapegoat anytime. "I won't be around that long," she said. "I have to deal with Michelle Rhee." I laughed. Out loud. Right, Randi. Just like you dealt with Joel.

We've been following the story since Randi got involved and I have to say, we've been right on the money. On December 4th, 2008 I posted this story after reading Candi's blog: Weingarten to Meet with Washington TU Exec Bd Tonight

In addition to dealing with Michelle Rhee, the Washington TU has internal issues with what looks like a top-down leadership that acts without input of the members. But the union does seem to have people on the Exec Bd who will raise issues with the leadership, something the UFT has made sure cannot occur in NYC.

Maybe that will be Randi's advice to WTU leader George Parker who has failed to hold a representative assembly meeting in September, October or November.

Keep up the good work. Now just get those people who criticize you off the Exec Bd and all will be well.

PAUSE RIGHT HERE AND REMEMBER THESE POINTS

Continuing with our Dec. 4th piece:

Randi will come on all militant at this meeting. Maybe even throw a few curse words around about Rhee. My message to the rank and file of the WTU is: make no mistake about it. The AFT is not your unequivocal advocate in the war with Rhee, who has so much support from politicians and the business community which Randi so much wants to court. So out and out support for the WTU will not be in the cards, though Randi's speeches internally will make it look that way. We have learned here in New York to watch what she does, not what she says.

The AFT, which is after all controlled by the UFT – Ed Notes has written extensively on this tail wagging the dog situation – wants to be viewed as "ed reform" friendly. Witness recent quotes from Leo Casey about not being wedded to ideology. They are "realists." Translated that means the winds of reform are calling for merit pay, measuring teacher quality by standardized tests, developing flexibility about tenure, having the union play a role in removing teachers, etc.

This mindset has existed since the early 80's when Al Shanker shifted the role of the union (without any internal discussion, of course) into this reform camp in exchange for a seat at the reform table even when "reform" has been narrowly defined by the enemies of teacher unions. So don't blame Randi for instituting this policy. In fact she is even better than Shanker at this stuff because she play the I feel your pain role so well.

And that is exactly what she will do at the WTU meeting. But behind the scenes she will urge a deal with Rhee in which teachers will lose half a loaf and then proclaim that a victory. That is what Rhee is after. She and Joel Klein put outrageous demands on the table and then Randi gives them part of what they want with lots of gaps left open for them to get the rest over time. What Randi will get is a bribe for teachers to give up their rights by getting them money, some of it for longer days and years. This is a good short term investment in the world of Rhee who full well knows with the absolute power to hire and fire, she can make sure few teachers will reach the higher salaries promised.

Only democratic elements within the WTU can put roadblocks in the way of the almost unstoppable events set in motion when your own union stops functioning as your advocate but shifts to the role of mediator between people like Rhee and Klein and the rank and file.

Fighting a frontal assault and a rear guard action from the likes of Randi Weingarten and justifiers like Leo Casey can easily turn into a lose-lose proposition.

It is not too soon to start to scream.

First Randi had to get Rhee to tone down her anti-teacher act. "Michelle, I can't hand you what you want as long as you come off so hostile-like." I could just see the UFT/AFT makeover of Rhee (Paul Moore on a "Kindler, Gentler" Rhee). Note how the toning down came as Randi got involved. Even the vicious Rhee knew a collaborating partner when she saw her.

Union VP Nathan Saunders left a comment on April 21 at ed notes after this about the choise of pro-privatizing mediator Kurt Schmoke:

Weingarten Agreement to Schmoke as Mediator Means DC Teachers About to be Screwed
(The choice of Kurt Schmoke as "mediator" which was accepted by Randi is a step towards a major sellout of DC teachers.)

Saunders wrote:

We got less than 1 hour to read a complicated document billed as the WTU contract proposal which is now the basis of a $750,0000 grant/loan from the AFT Executive Council which the WTU Executive board did not ask for in the first place. The WTU Executive Board questioned the checks only to be informed AFT is giving us the money so we should not worry about it. At a rescheduled meeting which I was not in attendance, the WTU Executive Board passed a motion after the fact but that was to a large extent- a rubber stamp. I am concerned that issues associated with our local are from our members and not from AFT central headquarters. I have cautioned our executive board about willy nilly agreeing to matters they don't fully understand. Some are so eager to please they say "yes I will do it" before they understand what rights and responsibilities they are forfeiting.

This document is the foundation for the "good for children fair for teachers" campaign. This story needs to be thoroughly investigated. Are you telling me that Randi did the same thing in NY and the members did not actually know what was in the contract until much later? Is that how you got involved in the mutual consent, ATR, rubber room fiasco? I am so disappointed.


Nathan A. Saunders
General Vice President
Washington Teachers' Union

nathansaunders.blogs.com

It looked like Saunders was getting the message of how Randi operated in NYC and could become a thorn in the side of a deal.

Gary Imhoff of DCWATCH reported the next act in the drama this week

Iris Toyer, below, writes about the situation of Nathan Saunders, the general vice president of the Washington Teachers Union. Saunders has been reassigned from his union duties back to classroom duties by Vice Chancellor Kaya Henderson because of what had been an unspecified problem with his papers applying for a routine leave of absence from DC Public Schools to serve as a union official. There has been much speculation about what that problem was, but the question has now been settled by Candi Peterson.

Tonight, Peterson has published on her blog, The Washington Teacher, an exchange of E-mails between Saunders and George Parker, the WTU's president (http://tinyurl.com/ck8rr9). It turns out that Parker, who has been feuding with Saunders, has discredited himself by refusing to sign Saunders' leave papers, giving his approval for the leave.

In his E-mail, Parker taunts Saunders by laughably claiming to be too busy to “research” the application, and by claiming that he has to consult with the union's attorney before signing. Kaya Henderson's actions, meanwhile, are just as disreputable as Parker's. DCPS knows full well that Saunders is a duly elected union official and is entitled to a routine leave of absence to serve in his union capacity.

There is no doubt about that, but Henderson is exploiting Parker's meanness and underhandedness in order to keep Saunders from serving the union. Henderson is acting in bad faith. Union members and newly named WTU-DCPS contract mediator Kurt Schmoke would be foolish if they believed that DCPS, which treats union officials with such disrespect, has any intention of negotiating with the union in good faith.

###############
DCPS Orders Nathan Saunders to Classroom So As Not to Perform Union Duties
Iris J. Toyer

A recent flurry of E-mails alerted many of us that Nathan Saunders, Vice President of the Washington Teachers Union, had been ordered back to the classroom or face termination. The dispute seems to stem from the submission or lack thereof of a request for a continued leave of absence while serving as a paid elected union official. I am neither a union member nor a teacher. I believe that how our government treats duly elected representatives of our workers sheds a bright light on how employees will be treated. How this particular dispute will be resolved is anyone's guess.

What readers of themail should know is that the Rhee administration has ordered the WTU Vice President back to the classroom. He is paid handsomely by the WTU to represent the membership.

There seemed to be questions as to whether or not WTU officials are in fact employees of DCPS. In speaking with Mr. Saunders, I learned that paid members of the WTU do not come off of DCPS' payroll. They continue to earn leave and years toward their service, and when their term is over they return to the classroom. If I remember correctly, they continue to collect their DCPS salary and WTU pays them the difference between what DCPS pays them and the higher WTU salary, and also reimburses DCPS (at least that is supposed to happen). It would be so much cleaner if WTU paid the entire salary in the beginning.

Nathan and one other WTU official did not collect their salaries from DCPS. His point is you cannot serve two masters.

Apparently the paperwork that is now being discussed by Kaya Henderson, Deputy Chancellor, is a new process. Formerly union employees used the same request for a leave of absence that an employee who is going on a sabbatical or on extended travel, etc., would use. I am not sure why Nathan was not informed of the change or who should have informed him.

The fact remains that he is a duly elected member of the WTU executive team and will continue to be so. This action interferes with that relationship, which might be the intended purpose. I think union members ought to ask themselves: if they do it to Saunders in the morning, what's to stop them from doing it to me in the evening?

Candi Peterson wrote:

While it pains me to post negative information about my union local, I am more pained about the inaction from the American Federation of Teachers especially given that our parent organization has a contract with us. Several members of the Washington Teachers’ Union recently appealed to AFT President Randi Weingarten for assistance in getting our general vice president back to work representing teachers. Several members even recommended that mediation was necessary in a series of emails. Randi did report that while she did inquire about what was happening with Saunders leave of absence, presently she is preoccupied dealing with cases involving the swine flu virus.

Swine flu? You figure out the swine angle as I remind you of my Dec. 4th post:

Maybe that will be Randi's advice to WTU leader George Parker who has failed to hold a representative assembly meeting in September, October or November.

Keep up the good work. Now just get those people who criticize you off the Exec Bd and all will be well.

Here is a challenge to Randi Weingarten and the AFT hit men and women who might take issue with this tale of conspiracy: demand Saunders' immediate reinstatement as a union official.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Related:
How Randi Sells Out DC Teachers: A Concrete ExampleWeingarten

Rotherham on Weingarten: Two Peas in a Pod

The Disappeared - Updated

Update: Check more links and read Tweed press chief David Cantor email to Leonie Haimson on the listserve.

How do you "lose" thousands of students? In the world of Tweedledee, if you want to get grad rates to appear to rise, put enough pressure on schools in what is known as "the accountability scam," students who might pull down grad rates tend to disappear.

Eduwonkette (Jennifer Jennings) returns to the fray with a study of the disappearing students between 9th and 12th grade released in a press conference on April 30. Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters sponsored the study.

Jennifer Medina in the NY Times wrote about it. Here are a few excerpts:

The report raises questions about why more than 20 percent of students from the class of 2007 were discharged — the term for students who leave the school system without graduating — but 17.5 percent from the class of 2000 were. Much of the increase has come from students who are discharged in the ninth grade, which has gone up to 7.5 percent for the class of 2007, but was 3.8 percent in 2000.

David Cantor, a spokesman for the City Education Department, said that while the increases were noteworthy, they reflected the fact that the student population often moves in and out of the city.

The report also finds that far more black and Hispanic students are discharged than white and Asian students, and far more boys than girls.

Sure David. Boys, black and Hispanics seem to move out of the city more than Asians or whites or girls. Must be the water.

Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, a senior adviser to the chancellor who oversees research, said department officials had noticed the increase in ninth-grade discharges and were trying to determine its cause.

Oh, Jennifer, life would be so simple if you just stop drinking the Kool-aid.

David Bellel taped the press conference. Here are the links.
1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn2E1q7k1Ws
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9c0y71cu90
3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryJhpQn3t5o
4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhbn04OiMfY
5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQxOYMZAXs

More links:
ABC's Art McFarland's interviews with young students at the Door, originally aired on Channel 7 news, recounts how they were encouraged to leave by their high schools, as well as his summary of the discharge report, which found rising rates and numbers of these students since 2000.

David Cantor writes:

Leonie:
Alleging that the DOE manipulated the cohort in order to raise the graduation rate is a serious charge. Is that what you're saying?

The spike in the 2005 discharge rate of students with disabilities was caused by a data processing error. We mistakenly included non-public school students who used DOE special education services in that year's cohort (these students should have been--but weren't--designated as part of District 88, our registry code for students who don't attend public schools). Because these students were enrolled in private or parochial schools the following September, rather than in public schools, they were classified as discharges from public schools.

David Cantor
Press Secretary

In response to this post:

Leonie Haimson wrote:

Check out on our blog:

• Interviews with discharged students
• April 30 press conference on rising discharge rate...
• Discharge rates still rising; especially for students in their first year of high school...

The above offers tantalizing evidence that the cohort figures may have had been manipulated for the class of 2005 – in ways that conveniently allowed it to appear that the graduation rate was rising.

Also, don’t forget Gary’s shocking discovery: The Case of the Missing Chancellor

Hey David, mistakes will be made. Lucky we have ARIS so mistakes like this can't occur again.

Don't Let Yourself Be Bullied,,,,

....but get those doctor notes for EVERY DAY YOU ARE ABSENT

Comment on post from April 23:
Jeff Kaufman Explains NYSUT/UFT/DOE Deal on Signing Away Tenure Rights

A friend of mine (whom Jeff helped a lot) was involved in one of these. Don't let yourself be bullied. The principal asked for a 30,000 fine. The arbitrator exacted a 3,000 fine -- a number designed to point out to the principal how over the top she was, I think.

In his notes, the arbitrator said that if my friend had notes for every day she was absent he might not have fined her at all. Her doctor did come to the hearing (we asked Jeff, he said to do this). His testimony was invaluable in particular because my friend's NYSUT lawyer was completely ineffective.

The doctor actually called the principal an outright liar when she claimed not to have received a note from him (which she had, in fact, complained was difficult to read. She could have called him for clarification.) So, bring anyone with you who can testify to why your absences were necessary.

All your NYSUT lawyer is going to do is to tell you to get notes for every day (which my friend made the mistake to think she didn't need since she was bringing the doctor himself.) These things are even more a done deal than the regular 3020a and the NYSUT lawyers have kind of got it down to a minimum of what they have to do to keep you alive.

THEY CAN'T FIRE YOU, though they can put a final warning into your decision that says, basically, another bad year and you're going the full 3020a. The arbitrator's notes were fair -- and he got to hear both sides because my friend brought her doctor (thanks to Jeff). The NYSUT lawyer didn't want the doctor there -- more work for him.

Fortunately, he was "allowed" to do nothing as her doctor was outraged enough and outside the system enough to speak his mind.

Teachers Unite Course: Organizing to Transform Public Education

I was away and didn't attend session one, but I hear it was a lively event with ICE's Michael Fiorillo and TJC's Kit Wainer as guest speakers. Megan Behrent from TJC and ISO facilitated. I'm going to try to make this tomorrow. There's still room. Check out the remaining sessions at Teachers Unite.

Session 2:
Organizing to Transform Public Education

What will it take to transform public education in NYC? Teachers will gain greater understanding of the root causes of the problems in education, with an understanding of the social/political and economic factors affecting these problems. Teachers will hear examples of education organizing work around NYC and learn what others are doing to help transform schools in their communities. Teachers will have an opportunity to begin exploring their own ideas for transforming public education.

Saturday, May 2, 2009, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Social Justice Leadership, 1916 Park Avenue (130th St.), Suite 305

Free childcare may be available during this session for those who request it by April 17th. For more info, please write sally@teachersunite.net

Facilitator: Angelica Otero

Catching Up: Update 1.5

I've got over a week's worth of stuff to go through. Here's the first update with more to come.
I've included a bit of text. Click on the links to read in full.

Columbia journalism student Kyla Calvert reported on the Harlem Education Fair in February.

...55 Harlem charter, parochial and traditional public schools were vying for their attention, many with full-color banners and professionally-printed brochures. The five traditional zoned public schools represented had a rough time getting noticed with only homemade displays to advertise their wares. "I agree with the philosophy that competition breeds excellence,” said Charles DeBerry, principal of P.S. 76, a school with about 370 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. “But color copies are expensive. One of these costs me $.25,” DeBerry said, holding up a simple brochure created by some of his staff members. “I look at the things the charter schools are sending out and there’s just no way I can compete with them.”
[A teacher] was frustrated about having to man a recruiting table instead of teaching in a classroom. “We are no longer in the business of educating students,” she said. “We are in the business of enrolling students.”
The business of enrolling students is a highly competitive one, and sometimes beyond the public schools’ budgets.

Now Kyla is doing a follow-up article and is tracking some verrrry interesting information about charter creaming. We'll post a link when it is published.


TAGNYC: DOE's Dirty Little Secret
(Click on the link above to read the flyer with RR facts and figures.}

The Temporary Reassignment Centers have been relegated to the back of the bus in the struggle to preserve public education and the careers of the NYC public school teacher. But we are critical to the plan to dismantle and discredit public education. The TRCs are in the front line "representing" as we do the repository of arbitrary power of principals as memorialized in the 2005 UFT contract; "representing" as we do tangible evidence of the incompetence and moral turpitude of the NYC teacher;"representing" as we do the best PR tool Bloomberg-Klein have to overthrow tenure' 'representing' as we do the face of a union too cowardly to defend its members while they are in the school; representing as we do the means by which Bloomberg-Klein chill all opposition within the schools- chapter chair leaders included. And lastly, providing the back door to the creation of more ATRs- and we know what is going to happen to the ATRs.

Also read Meredith Kolodner's Daily News article on the rubber rooms.


Jeff K posted this on the ICE blog:
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SLAMS DOE FOR REFUSING TO REMOVE “DISCIPLINARY “LETTER TO FILE

In a strongly worded decision Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam has criticized the DOE for its failure to remove a letter to the file and arguing, as it had before, the same legal argument that was rejected by the court last year. As we reported here before Justice Salaam was one of the Justices who forced the removal of disciplinary letters as no due process hearing was afforded the tenured teacher.

On NY1, Weingarten floats making the word “tenure” optional
On the supposed battle between Moskowitz on Weingarten on NY 1, who did you think would be the one to say "give"? Phylissa Kramer reports at Gotham Schools:

[Weingarten] said charter schools should be considered incubators for innovation, reiterating a statement she first made last week at an event hosted by the conservative Manhattan Institute. “Let’s make them great laboratories of labor relations as well,” she said. “I would love it if we could do some contracts in your schools,” Weingarten said to Moskowitz. Later, Weingarten said, “Eva, listen, let’s try to not continue a path of conflict. … In your schools, let’s find a way to do due process without the word tenure.”

she spoke with KIPP founder David Levin yesterday as the two prepared to testify in front of the House of Representatives education committee about creating a contract for his schools.

I'll be putting up a separate post on the DC teachers situation and how Weingarten is working to undermine them.

FORUM @ PACE U-- Charter Schools: The Solution to the Crisis in Public Education?

Charter Schools: The Solution to the Crisis in Public Education?

As charter schools profilerate in NYC and across the country, pushing out traditional public schools and neighborhood schools, join an important discussion to try to make sense of the charter school movement and its impact on communities, parents, students and teachers.

• 
  

• Do Charter Schools actually represent a genuine movement to re-establish community control, parent choice and equitable education for ALL students? Or are they part of a larger movement sweeping the country and turning the public sector of education over to hands of privately run organizations?

  
  

  Do charter schools provide adequate channels for the democratic input of staff and parents? What happens when charter schools deny educators union rights, pensions and benefits?

  
  

  At this forum, we invite teachers, parents, students and community members to consider the role that charter schools play in the larger national agenda to privatize education in the United States. We will discuss the validity of their popular claim to support civil rights by providing parents of “failing” schools other options. Please join us.

  
  

  Charter schools are opening while public schools are closing or being placed in smaller spaces that hinder the expansion of public schools. Charter schools also have stricter admission policies. With all these “at-risk” or “failing schools” closing, where are their students going to go? Who will accept them?

• 
  

Join a discussion on these important topics and more!

Read excellent articles by:
LA teacher Sarah Knopp. "Charter Schools and the Attack on Public Education": http://www.isreview.org/issues/62/feat-charterschools.shtml.

and NYC teacher Brian Jones
Using "civil rights" to sell charter schools
http://www.slepton.com/slepton/viewcontent.pl?id=2562


May 4 5:30 p.m.
Pace University Student Union 1 Pace Plaza (look for signs)
2/3 to Park Place, A/C to Broadway/Nassau, 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall

Sponsored by:
The Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) to Defend Public Education is a newly formed coalition of NYC groups (Independent Community of Educators – ASC-ICE/UFT, New York Collective of Radical Educators - NYCoRE, TAGNYC, Teachers for a Just Contract - TJC/UFT, Teachers Unite) and independent individuals.

We seek to educate, mobilize and organize educators, parents, students and our communities against the corporate and government policies which serve to underfund, undermine and privatize our public school system. GEM advocates, both within and outside the UFT, around issues dealing with the equality & quality of public educational services as well as the rights of school workers.

Co-Sponsored by (list in formation):
Project Pericles at Pace University, Center for Immigrant Families (CIF), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), the International Socialist Organization (ISO), Teachers Unite

contact: asc.ice.uft@gmail.com, 718-601-4901

Get involved in the next planning meeting:

Wednesday, May 6 - 4:30 p.m.
CUNY Grad Center – Rm 5414
34th Street and 5th Ave. Bring I.D.

London Blitzed...

...or, how I managed to gain weight on British food.

Just got back last night from a week in London. We went last year in March but in 5 days never got to see enough. There's lots more to see and do and we'll be back. And they actually speak English there, sort of, so navigating that aspect of traveling abroad is one thing off the table. And after last year's horrible dollar to pound 2 for 1 deal, the drop in the pound to about $1.50 made things much more reasonable.

And the food really was good and the beer was even cold - sometimes. We finished the week with a fish 'n chips dinner at Rock 'n Sole Plaice in the West End. (Our young Albanian waiter was not easy to understand, but he thinks it will be the next in place to go in a few years.) Despite miles of walking every day, I am a blimp. We didn't realize the London marathon was taking place on Sunday, the biggest marathon in the world. But as crazy gardeners and with rain expected the next few days, we opted for Kew Gardens on a beautiful day. But if I thought I could lose some blimpiness just by watching, I would have been there.

A rainy Monday was spent indoors, first at the Imperial War Museum and then at the Tate Britain. The Holocaust exhibit at the War Museum is spectacular. I almost hate to go there, but the films of Nazi propaganda and how effective they were in developing those tools, with the big lie as a major operative, I was reminded of certain things back home, like the BloomKlein mayoral control blitz. But I won't go there – for now.

A day trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury on a beautiful day, was fabulous. No one seems to know what Stonehenge was really all about. I think they were used to hold straw polls for school Community Education Councils.*

We loved the Oyster card for transit and The Tube puts NYC transit to shame. We used it many times a day and never waited more than 2-3 minutes for a train and even late in the evening, on the fringes of the city, the longest wait was 5 minutes. There's lots more to talk about, but that's for another time and another blog.

And yes, we caught another Zombies concert like we did in London last March and in NYC in July. One of their most famous songs, She's Not There, was clearly written with Randi Weingarten in mind. I discovered the original lyrics in a dusty Zombie archive in the British Museum.

Well, no one told me about her
The way she lied [about the 2005 contract]
Well, no one told me about her
How many people [ATRs, in the rubber room, and in Washington DC] cried
Well, it’s too late to say you’re sorry [for agreeing to merit pay, longer days and year, potty duty, etc.]
How would I know, why should I care [hell, I'm retired]
Please don’t bother trying to find her
She’s not there [and we don't mean physically]....

We'll post later about Randi missing in action in Washington DC as reported by Washington Teacher Candi Peterson. NYC Educator has a guest column today by Peterson, who closes with:

While it pains me to post negative information about my union local, I am more pained about the inaction from the American Federation of Teachers especially given that our parent organization has a contract with us. Several members of the Washington Teachers’ Union recently appealed to AFT President Randi Weingarten for assistance in getting our general vice president back to work representing teachers. Several members even recommended that mediation was necessary in a series of emails. Randi did report that while she did inquire about what was happening with Saunders leave of absence, presently she is preoccupied dealing with cases involving the swine flu virus.

Let's see now, there are exactly how many cases in NYC involving swine flu? Randi is probably working on a cure.

While in England, I never got to check out our anti-testing colleagues in Britain Chanting teachers welcome vote to boycott primary tests

I had a loaner Blackberry from Verizon so I could keep up with email but the Morgan Hotel (great location with reasonable price near the British Museum) computer barely crawled, so I couldn't do any updating on the blog. And there was so much to update. My inbox is loaded and the only way to get all of it out is to post the materials on Norms Notes over the next few days and put up links on Ed Notes.

Off to the gym to try to get less blimpy.

*Related:
Some NYC School Officials Are NOT Happy Campers

Nearly one-third of “grassroots” organizations for mayoral control received no-bid contracts

DOE Stealth Reorganization Has Impact

An old post on Gotham about another stealth DOE reorganization is still getting comments. The title is misleading, as it is not unions that are nervous but advocates for children and parents.

A DOE plan to personalize bureaucracy is making unions nervous".
http://gothamschools.org/2009/03/10/a-doe-plan-to-personalize-bureaucracy-is-making-unions-nervous/

Author: Mark

I dont know how this is not called a Reorganization. Half my ISC contacts were told they would be laid off. As i finally became comfortable with my ISC contacts now everything is being reshuffled again. The D.O.E will NEVER retain top talent . The poor staff (which we rely on so often)are constantly being thrown around not knowing if they will have a job. Granted there are some staff that are a waste the majority are very professional and helpful. One ISC rep told me she has been with the DOE 6 years and every year she had to worry about keeping her job, while top management just continues collecting there $180,000 a year. Obviously they are the ones not doing a good job if every change they made does not seem to work.

See all comments on this post here.

Ravitch and Meier on "What's Wrong With Merit Pay?"

Bridging Differences


Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch have found themselves at odds on policy over the years, but they share a passion for improving schools. Bridging Differences will offer their insights on what matters most in education.

--April 21, 2009
Dear Deborah,
Over time we have developed a very solid and smart community of readers who like to argue with us and with each other. That is as it should be. And of course we need to bridge differences—or disagree—with them, too, as we do with each other.
So the subject today is merit pay. This is an important topic because it has become clear that President Obama has decided to hang his hat on this idea. It has not yet been explained just what he means by merit pay. Does he mean that teachers should be paid more for teaching in what is euphemistically called “hard-to-staff” schools? Or paid more for teaching in areas where there are shortages, like certain kinds of special education or subjects such as math and science? Or paid more for mentoring other teachers? Or paid more for teaching longer days?

More at
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/

The NYC Teacher Pay-for-Performance Program

The closer educators get to the classroom, the more the reject the concept that merit pay improves education, but is merely a gimmick to pump up scores so politicians and school officials could look good. In fact it harms education. These preliminary results show little impact on even the scores, though expect the results to improve the more money is on the table.

April 2009
Manhattan Institute released a study

The NYC Teacher Pay-for-Performance Program: Early Evidence from a Randomized Trial

by Matthew G. Springer, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Vanderbilt University, Director, National Center on Performance Incentives and Marcus A. Winters, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

Executive Summary
Paying teachers varying amounts on the basis of how well their students perform is an idea that has been winning increasing support, both in the United States and abroad, and many school systems have adopted some version of it. Proponents claim that linking teacher pay to student performance is a powerful way to encourage talented and highly motivated people to enter the teaching profession and then to motivate them further inside the classroom. Critics, on the other hand, contend that an extrinsic incentive like bonus pay may have unfortunate consequences, including rivalry instead of cooperation among teachers and excessive focus on the one or two subjects used to measure academic progress.

In this paper, a researcher from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and another from the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University present evidence on the short-run impact of a group-level incentive pay program operating in the New York City Public School System. The School-Wide Performance Bonus Program (SPBP) is a pay-for-performance program that was implemented in approximately 200 K–12 public schools midway into the 2007–08 school year. Participating schools can earn bonus awards of up to $3,000 per full-time union member working at the school if the school meets performance targets defined by the city’s accountability progr am.

This study examines the impact of the SPBP on student outcomes and the school learning environment. More specifically, the study is designed to address three research questions.
Did students enrolled in schools eligible for the SPBP perform better on the high-stakes mathematics assessment than students enrolled in schools that were not eligible?
Did participating schools with disparate characteristics perform differently from one another? And did subgroups of students in these schools perform differently from one another?
Did the SPBP have an impact on students’, parents’, and teachers’ perceptions of the school learning environment or on the quality of a school’s instructional program?

Although a well-executed r andom-assignment study is the gold standard for the making of causal inferences, readers should be aware that the analyses reported in this paper can address only the short-run effects of the SPBP because the period between the inception of schools’ participation in the SPBP and the administration of New York State’s high-stakes math exam was less than three months. The purpose of this study is to establish a baseline for subsequent analyses of student outcomes, teacher behavior, and school environment.

The authors did not discern any impact on math =2 0 test scores of a school’s participation in the SPBP. The performance of students enrolled in schools participating in the SPBP did not differ statistically from the performance of students enrolled in schools assigned to the control group. The same holds true after adjusting estimates of student performance to account for whether an eligible school voted in favor of participating in the program, and thus actually enrolled in it.

The authors also investigated whether an effect of participation might be observable in particular =2 0 subgroups of students or schools, if not among students or schools overall. But we could not find evidence that two possible factors—students’ race/ethnicity and their level of proficiency at the beginning of the academic year—affected the impact of the SPBP to any extent.

The authors find some evidence that the math performance of students in smaller schools participating in the SPBP remained static, while the scores of students in participating schools with larger enrollments decreased. However, the relationship between school size and the impact of the SPBP warrants further study when data from year two of the SPBP become available.

The authors also examined the impact of the SPBP on students’, teachers’, and parents’ perceptions of the school learning environment, as well as an external evaluator’s assessment of a school’s instructional program. Once again, no significant differences between the outcomes of schools participating in the SPBP and those of schools that were assigned to the control group could be found.

Overall, the authors found that the SPBP had little to no impact on student proficien cy or school environment in its first year. However, the authors emphasize that the short-run results reported in this study provide only very limited evidence of the program’s true effectiveness. An evaluation of the program’s impact after two years should provide more meaningful information about the impact of the SPBP. The authors intend to perform such a study and release its results in the near future.

Some NYC School Officials Are NOT Happy Campers

This was sent out to a list of principals and assistant principals.

Please take a minute to go to the link listed below for the CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER SCHOOLS to send an email to our elected officials to bring back Parent Oversight of the Mayor... we need real parent involvement and oversight so that the Chancellor and Mayor can not continue to operate without regard to the Community's opinions. We have a say in what is going to be done and our parents have the right to be heard-

PLEASE share this with every member of your community and have your parents, your AP's your teachers and their families sign this petition TODAY!! The vote or School Governance will be coming up very soon. If you read the NY POST, Times and Daily News they are on a major campaign of bashing schools, principals and teachers (other than those in Charter Schools and graduates of the Leadership Academy) to hand Bloomberg continued unfettered control of the
entire school system- DESPITE his having overridden the expressed will of the people by overturning TERM LIMITS-

I don't know about you all- but I think the parents of the District have a lot more interest in their children's future than Joel and Mike.. Lets put them in charge of their children's education AS THEY ARE IN EVERY DISTRICT IN THE STATE!!! Why are there no charter schools in the suburbs? Because the parents would not stand for this nonsense. EVEN FORMER ASSEMBLYMAN STEVE SANDERS WHO WROTE THE MAYORAL CONTROL LAW HAS SAID BLOOMBERG HAS GONE TOO FAR!!!! THE STATE NEVER INTENDED FOR CEC's to be paper tigers with no real voice or authority.

Let's get our parents back into the game with all of the legal rights and statutory authority their District Councils are supposed to hold.

If you think Bloomberg/Klein have run things as they pleased up until now- wait til you see what they will do with a third term!!! Look at his internal cabinet:

Jim Liebman (Designer of the Accountability Initiative and Report Card that makes 60% of your grade based on growth, Eric Nadelstern who ran Empowerment -WHICH NONE OF US JOINED- and who has now been placed in charge of all SSO's despite our refusal to join his Network, and other non educators... Yes Marcia
will be there but no longer in charge of our SSO's-terrible and unacceptable.

Enough is enough- Participate in DEMOCRACY- he may get a third term (and maybe he deserves it)- but our schools should not be enslaved to data mills and number crunchers for another 4 years-

Just when I was ready to have a party for having survived the past 7 years- he went and changed the rules to make it another 4!!!! Ay ay ay and oy vey!!

NOW is the time to speak up!!!! Please get involved in this in a major way for our parents, children and community!!!


From inside schools
The NYC Parent Commission is sponsoring a petition drive calling for a public education governance partnership that includes parents, mayoral representatives, and politicians. See their petition about New York City governance <http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=850120722&msgid=4162033&act=U60R&c=5660&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ipetitions.com%2Fpetition%2Fnycgovernance%2F>
for more information.