Charter School Invasion Hearings, A Change in Charter School Tactics and UFT Ambivalence

Someone asked what the purpose of the UFT demos are given that the UFT charter schools have invaded schools themselves. If they are part of a building process, that's great. If only a photo-op for the NY Teacher than a waste of time.

PS15/PAVE charter school hearing: April 14, 2010

Last night was the third PS 15/PAVE charter school invasion hearing where the parents and teachers at the school was powerful. CEC15 President Jim Devore grilled the DOE reps intensely for a half hour and it was fun to watch the squirming. PS 15 teachers and parents are beginning to reach out directly to their counterparts at PAVE, with one intention being to invite the PAVE teachers, some of whom do not seem all too happy in the Spencer Robertson stable, to go union. That ought to be fun. In the meantime, some disgruntled PAVE parents and CAPE have been meeting. That ought to be just as much fun. We had a few GEMers there last night to support the PS 15 crew. CAPE's Julie Cavanaugh sent out this to the supportive community:

Tonight was a huge victory. PAVE was demoralized, we were united, strong, effective, researched and informed, passionate, and on point. You all amaze me and I am so proud to stand with all of you. Thank you everyone for your sacrifice, for your words, for your commitment...Onward and upward... PEP...HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next legal battle... bring it on!!!! My deepest love, gratitude and caped appreciation,
Julie

Julie is right. PAVE brought in an architect/consultant to talk about the new $40 million plus school (the DOE is putting up $26 million). She watched in horror as the passions flew. I told her she better break ground tomorrow. Boy, did the PAVE gang pick the wrong place to invade.

I have lots of video for future archiving - we may make a film at some point - but if I get a chance I will put up some of the great stuff that was said.

PS 123/Harlem Success hearing: April 12, 2010

I was at the rousing PS 123/Harlem Success invasion hearing on Monday April 12 and it's been wonderful to see this Harlem school community get themselves organized. The teachers and parents did an amazing job. They even had posters made up of the Klein/Moskowitz letters. GEM has been involved since the end of the last school year and was there with our banner this time too. I have about an hour of video and am working on a 10 minute segment which will be posted hopefully by tomorrow (today is wife appreciation day and a celebration of our tax refund).

A change in charter school strategy

The absence of charter school parents and teachers at both hearings was noticeable. This seems to mark a new strategy - charter schools around the city often work under a joint plan. They now seem to be keeping their parents away from these hearings. Why bother? They know these hearings have no impact. In addition, some of the charter school parents may have been affected - and infected- by the host schools' passionate defense.

The PEP to endorse the invasions will take place next Tuesday (Apr. 20 at 6pm) at Prospect Heights HS campus in Brooklyn. We know that the public schools will be out there. Will the charter schools feel it necessary to organize their troops (with buses and pizza and who knows what else) for the PEP when it is a fait accompi? (Repeat this 5 times and see if it has a beat.)

Is Moaning Mona turning into Magnificent Mona?

If you've been following the chronicles of charter school independent parent Mona Davids, who started out attacking teachers and declaring out and out support for any invasion, we have seen a recent change in direction as she has come out for more transparency and rights for parents in charter schools. Mona was at both the PS 123 and PS 15 hearings (we must stop meeting like this, Mona). Shifting alliances are in the works and though some people are still mistrustful, we have hope for Mona. I have some good video of her at Leonie's Class Size Matters parent workshops last Saturday. We are not totally converted yet, but how long will it be before we officially dub her "Magnificent Mona?"


Where is the UFT?
As far as I could tell there was no UFT presence to support the PS 123 community, but I left early. GEM, on the other hand, had a strong presence and has developed an excellent relationship with the 123 community and some other schools in Harlem. The Coalition for Public Education (CPE) also came out in support (GEM and the CPE are developing strong lines of communication.)

There was a bit of UFT presence with District 15 rep Bob Zuckerberg making a tepid statement that there should be a cap on the time PAVE could spend in the school. Not exactly an attack on the invasion. He brought along NY Teacher ace reporter Jim Callahan and a photographer. So look for a UFT spread on the event. I have video and will put something up when I get some time.

The ambivalent nature of the UFT response to charter school invasions is obvious, given that two UFT charter schools have invaded space in public schools (George Gershwin MS which I went to is one).

With Harlem being the epicenter of the invasions, there seems to be a stronger UFT response coming with this announcement from District 5 UFT rep Dwayne Clark. Is this the usual UFT holding action to give the impression of a response to keep GEM and the CPE from making inroads? Or is it a legitimate turn in direction regarding charter schools on the part of the UFT? Or are we seeing a local action on the part of Dwayne Clark who must clearly be perturbed at what is happening to the schools in District 5? (Last summer a retired UFT District Rep was at the rallies). Note the language used below borrows from GEM by calling it a "charter school invasion" instead of the DOE term "co-location" the UFT has been using.

Can GEM, the CPE and the UFT work together on these charter school issues? GEM member Antoine Bogard is the chapter leader at PS 197 and is supportive of this UFT initiative. While I don't think the leadership is changing direction (the UFT charters are like any other avaricious charter and looking to expand), I do think that we all can work locally together. The GEM ally CAPE group in PS 15 has maintained a good relationship with the UFT with the idea that they will take all the support they can get in their battle against Goliath.

I am curious why PS 241 and PS 30, which both have HSA Evil Mousekawitch schools in them, are not included.


UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS CHARTER SCHOOL INVASION PROTESTS

MONDAY APRIL 19, 2010

@ 7:15 A.M.

PS 197M SCHOOL ENTRANCE

Chapter Leaders of PS 175, PS 92, CAH, PS 194, PS 197, PS 123, and PS 133:

The UFT is engaging in an action on Monday, April 19th in the morning before school begins. We are asking that your school have at least 3 - 5 members leaflet outside your school because you have a Charter school in your building or geographically located near your school. This campaign does not involve the entire District but your school was selected. I will be providing you with flyers at Friday's Chapter Leaders meeting for Monday morning distribution. Please start speaking to your members to volunteer to leaflet outside your school. Your support in this endeavor is greatly appreciated. I will see you on Friday.

COME OUT AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Dwayne Clark, UFT District 5 Representative
52 Broadway- 10th floor
New York, NY 10004
212-598-6800- work
212-510-6424- fax

PS 197M: 2230 Fifth Ave/135th St; Train #2 to 135th St.

Ed Deformers Model Anti-Seniority Positions on Ant Behavior

Edward O. Wilson, an antologist (as opposed to an uncologist - yes, I can make up my own words and be as corny as I like) has written his first novel called "Anthill" which was reviewed in the Sunday Times book review section last week. Wilson is a major biologist and naturalist who has studied ants and other social insects and made comparisons to human society.

I was struck by this comment in the review:

His language achieves poetic transcendence when describing “the decency of ants,” whose disabled members “leave and trouble no more.” When the nest must be defended, its eldest residents — with the least long-term utility remaining to them — become the most suicidally aggressive, “obedient to a simple truth that separates our two species: Where humans send their young men to war, ants send their old ladies.”

Now I get it. The DOE and all the Ed Deformers are following this precept of ant society by trying to send senior teachers out to pasture. Maybe Sarah is right. Obama does have death panels.

Eduwonk says Randi Weingarten deserves a great deal of credit (for the Wash DC contract)

Andy is right - for a change. Hey, you 91% Mulgrew supporters - keep waiting for him to disagree with Randi. Here comes that iceberg.

when you actually read the new contract (pdf) you’ll see that Rhee didn’t compromise a lot away, she basically got everything she wanted - including tenure reform. If there is a lesson in the contact timeline and resolution it’s far less about compromise than about fortitude. Cuban says that the teachers got the raises they wanted. OK, sure. But Rhee wanted those, too!

The AFT’s Randi Weingarten deserves a great deal of credit (which so far she hasn’t gotten in the media in my view**) for signing a contract that effectively ends tenure and addresses layoffs in a respectful but cost-sustainable form, but the spin that this was a give and take deal evaporates when you actually read the document. It’s precedent setting in some key ways.*

*This includes big things like what happens to teachers who can’t find jobs (no more force placement or non-working reserve pools as in New York City), and smaller but important things about what aspects of performance evaluations can be grieved and appealed, where the city can act without the acquiescence of the unions, etc…in short, it addresses the general imbalance of power you see in these things.

http://www.eduwonk.com/2010/04/d-c-contract-previsionist-history.html

"Layoff One, Keep Two" Should be Mantra of Proposed Bill

One would expect a very strong response from the UFT to today's NY Times article on a proposed bill to lay off teachers without regards to seniority.

So far we have:

"Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said that in other cities that had eliminated seniority, like Washington, the rate of teacher turnover had increased, making the system less stable," and “I would like to see something more fruitful to figure out how to avoid the catastrophic cuts." - today's NY Times

It's economics, stupid, not about quality teachers
Sure, that is the reason to oppose the bill. To stop teacher turnover. Why not make the point that if they get rid of every single teacher who makes over 70,ooo they can keep lots more teachers? And why is the DOE still advertizing new jobs? It's time for the UFT to start calling a spade a spade. Call this the BloomKlein version of a "buyout." Just fire all the senior teachers and save a whole lot of money. The "fire one and keep two" plan.

I would hope we would hear something like a message that anyone who supports this bill is dead to us forever. Well, let's give Mulgrew some time, though my hopes are not high.

Leonie Haimson studied the bill and exposed all the evils contained within:

Interestingly, the bill only applies to NYC; not to the rest of the state. Apparently we’re the only school district that needs to choose between rising class sizes and keeping experienced teachers. I love that the DOE now proposes that committees including parents would be allowed to decide the Hobson’s choice of which teachers to fire.

We would essentially be forced into choosing between keeping experienced teachers and reasonably sized classes, given the DOE’s destructive “fair student formula” which requires schools pay for their own staffing out of their own budgets.

Now they want to give us some input, when they have denied us any say in any of the other policies imposed at our children’s schools? In the end, would it be determined by the principal anyway.

As I suspected, the principals will make all the decisions, “after considering the recommendations of a school-based committee” including parents. In other words, parents would have no power except to make recommendations. We know the drill. The Times got it wrong.

The law would also allow the chancellor to lay off all teachers on ATR and in the rubber rooms as well.

I don't think we will see this bill pass but it puts the train on the tracks. We have been saying all along that the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership does not have the militancy to stand up to these onslaughts over the long run and can only fight a holding action that allows some chipping away. We may not be Washington or Detroit yet, but we are heading that way.

We have been saying that the recent UFT elections resulted in electing a new captain of the Titanic with the iceberg 10 feet away. Now it is only 5 feet away and closing fast.

The NY Times article is here
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/education/13layoffs.html?ref=nyregion

The bill is here:

http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A10482%09%09&Summary=Y&Text=Y

I put both up on Norms Notes:
Drastic Bill Would Allow Teacher Layoffs Without Seniority

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial

Hi Scott,

I'm reaching out to ask if you would help spread the word by posting about the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial on Education Notes Online. This month of April marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. King and we are commemorating his life and work by creating a memorial in our nation's capital. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non violent social
change.

I've put together this micro-site to help get the message out - there are videos, photos, banners, and even a web toolbar that, when used, donates money to the creation of the memorial:

http://mlkmemorialnews.org

After many years of fund raising, the memorial is only $14 million away from its
$120 million goal. If you are able to post or tweet about this please let me
know so I can share it with the team. If you have any questions please pop me an
email. And if you are able to help, thank you so much.

Lowell

--
Lowell Dempsey,
BuildTheDream.org
Twitter @mlkmemorial
Facebook.com/MLKNationalMemorial


"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity"
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Busy Week of Action

Monday - PS 123 hearing on Evil Moskowitch invasion. 5pm for rally, 5:30 to sign up.

Then off to see former student perform at La Tea on Suffolk St. at 8pm where I will meet up with another former student from the same 4th grade class. How can these guys be pushing 40 when I am so young? Ernie was in one of the two top level classes I had. He was an above grade level reader and damn easy to teach. (Do I get merit pay?) In the world of BloomKlein that should have solved all his problems. But he had some journey.

See a review of one of Ernie's shows below.
He is also appearing on Wed and Thurs is the final show.


Tuesday - GEM meets 4:30, CUNY 5th ave and 34 st. Rm 5414 bring id

Wed. - PS 15/PAVE - one more time - at PS 15 in Red Hook 5:30 to sign up. See below for details.

Thurs - 12 noon- CPE wants to close the rubber room
GEM/CPE meeting of reps of each group to explore common issues and build an alliance. 6pm

Fri - ICE meets at 4:30 at Murray Bergtraum, Rubber room movie premiere at Puck building, 6pm

Sat - matinee of the play, "Enron."

Sun. Taping "The Rabbit Hole" at the Rockaway Theatre Co. Directed by my acting teacher Frank Caiati.


heavy like the weight of a flame

***Extended by Popular Demand!!!***

Featuring R. Ernie Silva
Written by James Gabriel and R. Ernie Silva


R. Ernie Silva just recently got nominated for Best Solo Performance by the LA Weekly!!

A Bushwick projects street kid +
domestic strife + deaths of close friends + overdose of an idolized older brother =
Pick up your guitar and hit the road

An autobiographical one man show about a kid who decides to run away for a better life on the road in America – Will he become a casualty of the “road” if he goes; a victim of the “street” if he stays? Maybe the road is just another street in Brooklyn.

Actor, guitarist, stand-up and sketch comedian, USC graduate, Ernie Silva tells his story; sometimes fun, other times harsh but always universally human. Ernie Silva comes back home to New York City to tell the story of the trip.

“The sheer strength of will that it took for Silva to outstrip such negative indoctrination is inspiring”
- LA TIMES
“Silva is a charismatic talent! I expect we’ll be seeing more of Mr. Silva and this is a good place to get acquainted”
- LA WEEKLY

R. Ernie Silva is a product of the Bushwick projects in Brooklyn New York where he grew up the youngest of 13 siblings. His creative career started at the age of 12 when one day while break dancing in the streets he and his crew Love Disco Style were discovered by radio station 98.7 KISS FM where Eddie Rivera chose them to be the station’s resident dancers. It was there Ernie got his first tastes of life in front of live audiences as they immediately began performing in shows with some of street music’s hottest acts across the city. As Ernie grew so did his taste for performing, but now with a more eclectic edge. He left breaking and became fascinated with performers like Flip Wilson, Freddie Prinze, and Richard Pryor. Consequently, the desire to make people laugh drew him back to the stage at places like the upper west side’s Stand Up New York, The Comic Strip in the upper east side, and the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village. At age 17 standup became his new voice. Eventually his musical side came calling to be recognized. It was then that the voices of people like Andres Segovia, John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia Son House, and Jimi Hendrix began to join all the other voices he loved. All these exploits and years of traveling around playing guitar, acting and doing comedy in stand up and sketch comedy forms eventually earned him a full scholarship to the newest Graduate Acting Program at the University of Southern California. Soon the world of one man shows moved into his sights. It was in this realm that Ernie would find the creative room for all of his individual abilities to coincide in harmony in whatever capacities he chose. There is where he has been ever since.

PS 15/PAVE

Hello All!
Hopefully some of you will be able to join us at our public hearing on Wednesday, April 14th @ 6:00 (sign ups to speak begin @ 5:30). If not, please consider leaving a message, and encouraging others to do so, at the proposal email or phone number (718-935-4390, D15proposals@schools.nyc.gov).
Thanks so much!
In Solidarity,



Our Position and Message:

1. We oppose the extended co-location of PAVE Academy beyond June 2010.

2. We reject this revised process and want the record to show we do not believe it complies with State Education Law.

3. The revised EIS still fails to address the negative impact on PS 15 and does not provide a proper analysis of the facts:

-Special education services, mandates, and testing accommodations are not accounted for in the utilization formula, the footprint, or the EIS. 15 rooms are needed for testing accommodations, which is already impossible this year. Second grade classes are being forced to leave the building on trips in order to have all of the needed space. Related service providers are traveling the building looking for space to serve or assess their students. At least four rooms are needed for related service providers, none are allocated.

- Enrichment and intervention services are not accounted for in DOE space policies. The EIS treats these needed services as luxuries. Our children are more than entitled to utilized space to have the programming and services schools in non-minority areas have such as science labs, computer rooms, art rooms, etc.

-Community partnership space is imperative to our community. The EIS inaccurately accounts for this space and leaves out the dental program and GED program, gives Beacon only one room when they use three and Lutheran only a 1/2 room.

- Claims PS 15's enrollment has not increased: increased in the last year by 10% and we have projections including K numbers, new classes, and magnet grant that tell us our enrollment will continue to increase. In addition, the city-wide enrollment ave is increasing, this year by 14,000 students. All trends point to our enrollment continuing to increase and this extension will stifle the growth of an AAA school successful serving the Red Hook Community.

-By 2012 the EIS states PS 15 will have 27 full size rooms and 4 half size rooms. This allocation would be insufficient for the basic needs of our building. If there is not growth, we would have 24 classrooms. That leaves three classrooms for clusters (which the footprint allocates us for three even though we need 4 to run the program). This would leave four half size rooms in the entire building for 9 related service providers, guidance, mandated counseling, parent coordinator, ELL, intervention, health and community services (beyond the one room allocated to Beacon and 1/2 room allocated to Lutheran), teacher cafe, PTA room, SETTS teacher, and DOE nurse. Not to mention testing accommodations, enrichment, and intervention services. Clearly this is NOT enough space.

-The EIS is based on PAVE having a new facility. Even if they went into contract on a building today (which they have been saying every few months since 2008 they are doing, even writing in the proposal for 26 million taxpayer dollars that they were in a contact on a building when they were not and still are not), there is no way a building will be completed in three years. Permits, the existing businesses in the proposed space, zoning approval, finances, and the actual construction once all of this is completed will certainly take more than three years. Even on the barest of utilization numbers, PS 15 would be over 100% capacity by this point. Is it the DOE's policy to intentionally overcrowd and undermine a successful community public school in a low-income-majority minority community?

4. Law allows charter schools in NYC access to public school space only when space is "unutilized". There is now and there has been NO unutilized space at PS 15. This co-location has only taken space, services, and programs AWAY from existing students and families who were utilizing and flourishing in those spaces. This policy is a direct attack on the PS 15 and Red Hook Community. The DOE has sought to divide and disenfranchise the families in our community and has undermined the quality education provided to the children of Red Hook. This policy has taken resources away from Red Hook students to benefit a school that serves more than 50% of students from outside of Red Hook, 20% of whom are even out of district (while we neighbor one of the most overcrowed neighborhoods, Sunset Park). This is a destructive policy that does not comply with basic logic let alone law. PAVE must be held to the two year co-location. With over $12,000 in per pupil funding and the private donations they absorb, PAVE board and founders can secure and pay for their own space, or perhaps the DOE can generously find them an alternative space, by this summer.

5. It should also be noted several parents, Red Hook and PAVE parents, have claimed that Spencer Robertson has stated directly to them that PS 15 is closing. Sara Gonzales' office is reporting, and we have heard from other policy makers, that Spencer Robertson is inundating them with phone calls and visits telling them that PS 15 parents and teacher are lying, there is no negative impact, and there is more than enough space in the building. Interestingly, Mona Davids now appears to be going against Mr. Robertson; when the ONLY person who got up and spoke on your behalf at the last PEP meeting is now publicly against you, it is pretty clear who the liar is.

Leonie Haimson on Why Class Size Matters

How dare she? Leonie Haimson calls for money used to build and support empty prisons to be shifted to building schools. Outrageous. Doesn't she know that by cutting education severely we can assure that these prisons will be filled eventually?

And then she has the nerve to talk about rising birth rates and how that will force a demand for new space for schools,mentioning along the way that BloomKlein have ignored this fact or shunned any responsibility for not addressing the issue. Doesn't she know "the plan" is to guarantee a drop in the birth rate by creating a massive multi- decade long depression?

What a nerve she has!

Jugheads like Rick Hesse and his ilk disparaged class size as a solution to fixing schools at the Manhattan Institute luncheon for Diane Ravitch's book a few weeks ago. Leonie Haimson was in the audience and I wanted to go up and grab the mic from him and turn it over to her. Here is part one of her excellent presentation at the Class Size Matters parent workshop this past Saturday, which included workshops for parents to fight back against the BloomKlein machine and an amazing panel session with charter school parents, including the former Moaning Mona Davids who if she keeps up these good deeds will be renamed the Magnificent Mona. But more of that video later.


NYC City Councilman Robert Jackson and State Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan were in attendance. See below the video for Leonie's report of the event.


Part 1




Part 2

Our parent conference on Saturday was terrific. Thanks to those of you who came. And thanks to Lisa Donlan of D1, Khem Irby of D 13, Monica Major of D 11, and Shino Tanikawa of D2, who helped put it together.

Cathy Nolan, chair of the Assembly Education committee, was our surprise guest in the morning and spoke briefly about school governance, the importance of parent involvement, and the state budget crunch. Robert Jackson, Chair of the City Council Education committee, talked about improving the capital plan to relieve overcrowding and reduce class size. All the panels and workshops were terrific.

The afternoon panel on building bridges with charter parents, with Mona Davids of the NY Charter Parents Association, Leslie-Ann Byfield, Achievement First charter school parent, Khem Irby of CEC District 13 and Dianne Johnson of CEC District 5, was especially moving and strong. I hope to have video of it soon, as we had two filmmakers in the audience.

Some of the presentations are available online, linked to from the agenda here; our consensus framework of shared principles with charter parents is here and below. The press release about our shared principles is here. My presentation on class size, school overcrowding and what can be done is here.

Though Chancellor Klein and the DOE would like to pit parent against parent, we find have much in common with charter school parents, who want the same things for their children’s schools that all parents do: a quality education with small classes and experienced teachers, more transparency and accountability, and real parent input in decision-making.

• Speaking of accountability, tomorrow, Monday April 14, at 9:30 AM, legal arguments will be held in our class size lawsuit against DOE’s failure to comply with state law before Justice John Barone, at Bronx County Courthouse; (Grand Concourse and 161st Street).

• Tuesday April 13 at 7 PM, I will be speaking at a community forum about the US Dept. of Education’s flawed priorities and their misguided blueprint for the reauthorization of NCLB, which if enacted would be devastating for NYC schools. The main speaker is Jo Comerford, Executive Director of National Priorities Project. (For a flyer, click here.)

The consensus document which we developed with the help of the NY Charter Parents Association, as well as other charter and district parents is below. If you have comments, are willing to sign onto it as is, please send me your name, school, and district, or other affiliations if any at classsizematters@gmail.com

Miami teachers are on the move against Senate Bill 6/HB7189

Teachers of Miami-Dade County Call:
Take a personal or sick day, Monday April 12th to oppose Senate Bill 6/ HB 7189
Meet at: Tropical Park, 7900 SW 40th Street, Miami, Florida
We need to show our power and force Governor Crist to veto the bill!
We need to meet and organize ourselves autonomously as teachers from the bottom up!
Why we should oppose Senate Bill 6/ HB 7189:

- It’s a Tallahassee takeover of education at the expense of local collective bargaining
- It will give administrators arbitrary firing power
- It will destroy education by forcing it to focus on test taking tips, strategies and memorization techniques; rather than critical thinking, learning and understanding which can’t be measured in standardized tests
- It will increase inequalities by incentivizing teachers to abandon students with less parental support, financial tutoring means and family educational background in favor of schools with students with these background supports
- It’s an unfunded mandate that will take more money from public schools and put it in the hands of standardized testing companies
- It will take more time away from our students education in requiring class time for the administration of these new standardized tests in every subject
- It eliminates salary funding from areas with proven indicators of quality teaching: years of experience and higher education degrees
- It eliminates incentives for involvement in the National Board Certification program
- It makes teachers financial planning unstable by cutting their salaries in half and then basing the other half of their pay on varying student test scores on one high stakes standardized test at the end of the year
- It opens the door for greater nepotism and unstable and biased working environments by granting administrators excessive and arbitrary firing power

Please forward this information as widely as possible to all teachers, parents, community members and everyone you know to spread the word and support the struggle of the teachers against this attack on teachers and public education!

Will DC Be Coming to NYC?

We've been posting links to the new contract proposal in Washington DC on the Ed Notes sidebar. Here is another link to a Labor Notes article, thanks to Michael Friedman. That merit pay will be privately funded and is a trap they are trying to lure teachers into. I mean, what is the vicious anti-union Waltons doing involved in a union contract? Naturally, Randi Weingarten is praising it. As she did the Detroit contract. Here is the caption for this photo:

Washington Teachers Union President George Parker and DC Schools Chief Michelle Rhee announced a tentative agreement this week. Flanked by Mayor Adrian Fenty and AFT President Randi Weingarten, the two lined up behind a deal that would institute a privately funded merit pay plan while continuing to whittle away at teacher job security.

With the DC union elections about to unfold and Randi and Rhee critic Nathan Saunders standing a chance to win, it was inevitable that they would team up to get a new contract to undermine Saunders. Labor Notes said, "The timing of the deal, and the teacher ratification vote, comes not a moment too soon for Parker, who hopes to seal an agreement before facing current Vice President Nathan Saunders—an outspoken critic of both Rhee and Parker —in May’s union election."

Don't expect the elections for George Parker to look like the massive sweep enjoyed by the UFT's Michael Mulgrew.

The use of private money tied to Rhee is a bribe to suck teachers into agreeing and they will surely have the rug pulled out from under them. It is basically the end of the union over the long term. Labor Notes says,

"Rhee retains a host of “plan b” powers that allow her to fire teachers, cut costs, and punish dissent—though Parker and Weingarten tout new “checks and balances” on her firing power in the would-be contract. Teachers are poring over the full contract, released today, before a ratification vote that will likely be a referendum on May’s union election."

Doesn't it remind you of the way the 2005 contract was sold by Unity Caucus?

I was recently chatting with a UFT Unity stalwart and DC and Detroit came up. He talked about the different conditions there from NYC. DC has different laws and Detroit is like NYC in '75 he said. But with economic conditions being what they are, who is to say NYC doesn't become DC or Detroit one day? Let's see now. Randi hand picks Mulgrew, who people will come to see will follow every major policy direction set by her. Just watch the just elected 800 Unity delegates in action in Seattle this July.

As one commenter on this blog said, the UFT just elected a new captain of the Titanic with the iceberg 10 feet away.


Here is more from the Labor Notes piece:

PRIVATE MONEY, PUBLIC SCHOOLS

After swapping counterproposals and bringing in former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke as mediator, Rhee and Parker’s newest iteration is not quite as “bold” as the schools chief had once hoped. But it still contains the same essence of her initial proposal.

There’s merit pay, but teachers won’t have to give up tenure, as such, to receive it. They will, however, be evaluated in order qualify for the merit pay program, on criteria that the tentative deal leaves for further negotiation. Teachers on the merit pay plan that face a job loss due to school program cuts or closings, would relinquish hiring options available to those who opt out of the merit pay program.

Non-merit pay teachers who lose their position are given choices if they can’t immediately find a new placement: a $25,000 buyout, early retirement (for teachers with 20 years of service), or another year to find work—before facing separation. But, importantly, teachers with low “performance” evaluations wouldn’t be afforded these options.

The actual decision to hire a teacher at a particular school would depend on a principal’s consent. And in making the placements, principals would now prioritize teacher "performance," as determined by Rhee’s new evaluation system, over years of experience. WTU President Parker touts a side agreement that would form a working group to review details of the evaluation system—which by law, teachers can’t negotiate over. Teachers haven’t yet had access to those side agreements before the vote.

Across-the-board raises of 20 percent over five years (retroactive to 2007) and the merit pay system are to be funded to the tune of $65 million in private money from the anti-union Walton and Broad Foundations—and others. The unprecedented move to let private donors underwrite merit pay is Rhee’s attempt to show that D.C. schools are serious about upping test scores and tying teacher evaluations to them—a key criterion for winning federal money in the Race to the Top competition.

Rhee is a good investment for the foundations’ corporate-style overhaul of education, which seeks to bust the unions, dismantle schools, and turn them over to private charter operators. And this deal could protect her job. Council President Gray’s mayoral bid is also a challenge to Rhee’s education plans. But all indications are that the foundation money would leave with her, forcing the new mayor to scramble to meet the financial obligations set up by this week’s deal—or concede that private forces will call the shots for public schools.

Rhee retains a host of “plan b” powers that allow her to fire teachers, cut costs, and punish dissent—though Parker and Weingarten tout new “checks and balances” on her firing power in the would-be contract. Teachers are poring over the full contract, released today, before a ratification vote that will likely be a referendum on May’s union election.

Additions:
Yesterday I was able to get back to some normal non-activist activities. Attended a meeting of the Active Aging cable TV show I work on where we feature people who have retired and are doing some very interesting things as the years go by - a 91 year old tango dancer and a retired tv producer who went into the Peace Corps in Africa when she was in her mid-60's are 2 of the stories I worked on.

Then off to my fiction writers group after a few months hiatus where one of the members is writing a fascinating ancient Rome novel about Livia, Augustus' wife. I was a real fan of both Robert Graves Claudius novels and the entire tv series, "I Claudius" where Livia was much maligned according to my novelist colleague. I think this is a very publishable book.

Coming soon:
A series of Ed Notes election analysis posts. If only events would slow down enough for me to have time to write them.

This coming week alone:
Today - Sat - Leonie's class size conf at School of the future
Monday - demo at PS 123 in Harlem against HSA at 5pm
Tues - GEM meeting at 4:30
Wed - Pave/PS 15 AGAIN.
Thurs- close the rubber rooms at 12pm, GEM/CPE meeting
Fri - ICE meeting, rubber room film

Gotta go to sleep and get up early to get into Manhattan to tape some of Leonie's event. A surprise guest may show up in late morning. I'm hoping it will be Megan Fox presenting her must see Hot for Teachers video but it will probably turn out to be someone like Scott Stringer.

Class Size Matters Citywide Parent Conference -Saturday April 10

School of the Future

127 E. 22 St. (betw. Park and Lexington)

9:30 AM: Registration

10-10:50 AM: The crisis in overcrowding, Kindergarten waitlists and what can be done; Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters; CM Robert Jackson, chair, Education Committee, NY City Council; Noah Gotbaum, CEC D3.

11-11:50 AM: Workshop sessions (pick one)

Rights and responsibilities of Community Education Councils, including how to do your own rezoning: Shino Tanikawa, CEC D2; Lisa Donlan, CEC D1; and Monica Major, CEC D11.

How to advocate for your school and reach out to the media: Jaime Estades, PS 84K; Julie Cavanagh C.A.P.E. (Concerned Advocates for Public Education); Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters.

Toxic schools: Dawn Philip, NY Lawyers for Public Interest and Susan Ryan, public school parent.

12 noon- 12:45 PM: break for lunch.

1:00-1:50 PM: Building bridges with charter school parents; Mona Davids, NY Charter Parents Association, Leslie-Ann Byfield, Achievement First parent, Khem Irby, CEC District 13, and Dianne Johnson, CEC District 5.

2:00-2:50 PM: Workshop sessions (pick one)

How to ensure your special education child receives the services s/he needs: Ellen McHugh, Parent to Parent NY State; Tara Foster, Queens Legal Services: Danielle Mowery, The International Dyslexia Association.

PTAs, School Leadership Teams, and the new Chancellor’s regulations: Lisa Donlan, CEC D1; Paola de Kock, former Stuyvesant PA president; Muba Yarofulani, D18 Presidents Council.

Title 1 and parent involvement: Khem Irby, CEC District 13.

Wrap-up

3-3:30 PM: Action agenda and report back from workshops

What Type of School Reform Do We Really Need? Diane Ravitch, Lois Weiner and Edward Fergus

Link to a video of an interesting forum:http://www.rfls.blip.tv/ held a few weeks ago.

Lois Weiner has been one of the leading critics of the neo-liberal agenda.

I believe Deb Meier was supposed to be there and Diane Ravitch subbed for her. Diane has not been know to address the neo-liberal agenda in the manner of others, in indeed, has often been accused of being part of the agenda in the past. So this video should be worth checking out.

I don't know of Fergus.

What Type of School Reform Do We Really Need?

A public discussion featuring Diane Ravitch, Lois Weiner, Edward Fergus

Diane Ravitch -- Author of over twenty books, former Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H. W. Bush, and currently research professor of education at New York University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. In her latest book she explains why she’s changed her mind and now views testing and choice as barriers to public education.

Lois Weiner -- Professor in the College of Education at New Jersey City University; Editorial Board member and education editor of 'New Politics' magazine; and former long time New York City high school teacher.

Edward Fergus -- Deputy Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University. A former high school teacher, he continues to provide technical assistance and analysis on education policy and research to school districts. He has published various articles on disproportionality in special education, race/ethnicity in schools, and author of 'Skin Color and Identity Formation: Perceptions of Opportunity and Academic Orientation among Mexican and Puerto Rican Youth'.

Support Teachers/Parents of PS 123, Harlem Against Eva Invasion; Monday, Apr. 12, 5pm

The parents, students, staff, educators, administrators, and community supporters at PS 123 were able to get Eva Moskowitz's HSA II to leave their building but now the privatizers are threatening to move Moskowitz's HSA V in. We all need to be at PS 123 on Monday April 12th to defend our sisters and brothers against this second threatened charter school invasion.

Please support our Sisters and Brothers at PS 123!!!

Attend the Public Hearing, Stand Up, Speak Out and Wear Red!

Monday April 12, 2010

Please arrive at 5pm so that you can speak.

Public School 123 (Mahalia Jackson School)

301 West 140th Street

Harlem, NY 10030

Trains: A,B,C to 135th Street Station; Buses: Bx19, M2, M3, M10

or use hopstop.com

Contact: Ernestine at (646) 262-9052 or email: queenteenie45@aol.com

Next GEM Meeting: Tuesday, April 13

Come to the GEM Meeting
to Discuss and Plan Next Steps For:

The fight Against School Closures and Co-locations
Setting up School-Based Committees
Literature Needed to Help Build our Movement

Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) is a group of mostly educators that has been fighting against the charter take overs, school closings, high stakes testing, mayoral control and all other forms of the attack on and public education and the push to privatize.

Where: CUNY grad center. 34/35th on 5th ave. N, R, D, F, Q, B, W, V, 6, 2/3 trains. Room: 5414

When: 4:30 - 7

We are meeting next Tuesday to talk about next steps in the fight against charter take overs, school closings and to find concrete ways for all those concerned with education to get involved in this growing nation wide fight back. One important aspect of our work will be to build school based committees to involve educators and families in the process of educating ourselves, building a collective vision of what we are fighting for and developing a strong base of active citizens that will hold our government and corporate entities accountable for this unprecedented attack on our work, our students and their families.

If you think you might be interested in getting involved with this work, if you are curious about what it will take to win this fight, or if you just want to listen, please come on Tuesday.

Hearing Teacher Voices? NOT!

At the Manhattan Institute luncheon for Diane Ravitch last week, I was raising my hand (in vain) as policy wonks and others were called on. It took Diane's intervention - let Norm Scott, a real teacher, ask a question - to for me to get the floor. I said I know how to fix so-called failing schools. Start with a drastic reduction of class size. You would have thought I dropped a stink bomb on the joint. Diane's antagonist, Rick Hesse, practically dripping venom, went off on how class size reduction has been proven not to work (a lie), studies this, studies that, blah, blah, blah. Almost the entire audience kept nodding in approval, while throwing darts at me. Leonie Haimson was in the audience but this was not a forum where she could get up and tear Hesse's head off with real facts.

The funny thing was that Hesse had previously talked about the 3 and a half million teachers in this country and how to reach them with good technology and lesson plans and more blah, blah, blah. I was tempted to call out, "Why don't you ask these millions of teacher what they think about class size? Then you wouldn't need no phony stinkin' research." But the dessert was pretty good and I wanted to be asked back.

Not so with my buddy and GEM colleague Antoine Bogard, a chapter leader in Harlem, who got up as they tried to end the meeting and insisted on asking a question. "I have the most important question," Antoine said. "Why are the voices of teachers, the MOST important voice, never heard?" Diane offered to take on that one. "They don't want to hear union voices," she said, a response I was very unhappy with and one of the major flaws in her book. Union voices were at the table for NCLB (Sandra Feldman and Randi Weingarten) and that is not what Antoine was asking. Union leaders are not the same as classroom teacher voices. In fact, quite different.

Many of us were not fooled about NCLB and its predecessors as Diane was. If instead of selling NCLB to their members and worse, keeping them in the dark as Sandy and Randi did, they had led a charge against it, we might not be in the position today. But Diane let's them off the hook.

There were two other teachers I knew at the MI Luncheon. Both are 20 plus year ATRs and we chatted as lot. What wonderful people and teachers (I am keeping them anonymous for obvious reasons.) These are the voices that should be heard but are not. By the ed deformers and by our union.

When teachers go to MI luncheons and identify themselves as a "real" teacher who is not a union hack, they are treated as a pet. Wow! Someone who actually spend 30 years teaching in the inner city. What an oddity to show up here!

When I checked out one of my fave bloggers, It's Not All Flowers and Sausages, I was pleased to see this relatively young teacher, the type of teacher the ed deform crowd holds up as the savior of the system, raise this same issue. Here are a few excerpts. Note how she trashes national standards, one of Diane Ravitch's pets.

I saw the following question, "Are educators' opinions factored into reforms?" and my immediate thought was, "NO. Duh." I know, my knee jerk reaction is to utter words of brilliance. It's a gift.

You see, I was reading this piece in EdWeek about how much or how little the opinions of real teachers factor into decisions made by policy makers. The article begins by saying that "...at no other time in the history of American education has there been more publicly available information about what teachers think about their profession, their students and the conditions under which they work."

Really? I mean, yeah, I guess we have blogs, and books (buy mine!), and surveys and things, but really? Who is looking at those? Other teachers? And who is listening? Because while I heart my readers, don't you feel like sometimes we're all just talking to a wall???? Just because we're saying it doesn't mean that the Powers That Be are listening, taking us seriously or think that we have anything intelligent to offer. I've worked at educational research organizations and more often than not, the concerns of Real Teachers are met by eye rolling. EYE ROLLING! By people who claim to care about education...

Later in the article, a few recently compiled teacher surveys are referenced. You know, like the one done by the Gates Foundation? But everyone who has a brain knows that you need to consider the source when reading reports of that nature..Can we just hear and listen to the voices of teachers? No surveys, no filtering, no compiling, no bubble sheets...just real, honest voices of the people doing the work that EVERYONE ELSE seems to have so many opinions about.

I mean, do we really even need to debrief on this whole situation where teachers get to weigh in and comment on the proposed National Standards? Does anyone else think that this feels a bit like flushing a twenty down the toilet? Like the proverbial tree in the forest? If a teacher posts a well thought out response to the National Standards but nobody listens, did she even make a noise?

How about we say enough with the surveys? How about we actually invite a REAL TEACHER (or better yet a WHOLE BUNCH OF TEACHERS) to the table when these policies and decisions are actually being made?!?!?

(insert jaw dropping on the part of policy makers everywhere)

(Close your mouths boys, you'll let all the flies in.)

I know that the article states that it is difficult to get teachers to donate their time to take a survey but maybe JUST MAYBE if someone offered to REALLY LISTEN and not just count our bubbles on a survey, I think the Powers That Be, who are so superficially concerned with the opinions of teachers, would find themselves with a line out the door.

Make sure to head on over and read her entire post:

Bitter and Cynical, Party of Two? Your Table Is Ready...

Additions:
I posted one of her wonderful pieces on the Rhode Island Central Falls Massacre where she said "You can't fire poverty." Diane Ravitch loved this line so much she linked to Flowers and Sausages in an article and used the line in her MI presentation.

Going to Court to Close the Rubber Rooms

Are Union Mines Safer?

This was the question asked on NPR's Diane Rehm show Weds. night in the light of the West Virginia mine accident, a non-union mine by the way with massive safety violations. The response was that union miners are extremely outspoken if they see safety problems while workers in non-union mines fear raising complaints. "You can't imagine how many anonymous calls I get from people in non-union mines who are afraid," said a guest. The protection the union affords miners automatically creates an environment where owners can't get away with violations as easily.

Which reminds me of tenure. Are school districts with tenure educationally safer environments for children because teachers can speak out more freely when an idiot principal or superintendent comes up with a stupid idea? What about the union in this case, you ask? Why do you need tenure if you have a union? Have you checked out conditions in the schools lately? Do UFT teachers dare complain when they don't have tenure? I can't tell you how many teachers say they are waiting for tenure before speaking out. And even then most of these people don't speak out anyway. Hmmm. Is the United Mine Workers looking to organize teachers?

Tweed and the Mob - Will Joel Klein End Up With a Horse Head in Bed?

We interrupt the vote reporting with a funny item from the NY Post which I posted on Norms Notes.

Tweed and the Mob - Will Joel Klein End Up With a Horse Head in Bed?

More from Leonie's list:

For some interesting historical reading (1990), go to: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/26/nyregion/school-buses-unions-mob-special-report-school-bus-pacts-go-companies-with-ties.html?scp=3&sq=dominic%20gatto&st=nyt&pagewanted=1

Pretty incredible! Dominic Gatto of Atlantic Bus Co., the man with the gun in the 2010 school bus and the mob story, is also in the 1990 school bus and the mob story Warren has forwarded. 20 years later and they are still talking to this guy.

There was a story in the nat'l. papers a while ago that the USDOE was purchasing heavy guns. Turns out it was for its Inspector General folks who do criminal investigations. I've suggested a bunch of them attend the NYC DOE's "negotiations" with these lovely people in the future to provide federal protection to them while they negotiate corrupt contracts with mobsters, using our tax dollars and endangering our children.

Ellen wrote: This makes for a great film....Bullets Over Long Island City? Gunfight at the OPT Corral?
John Houston, Raoul Walsh or John Ford would laugh out loud!

Blow by Blow: Preliminary UFT Election Returns- Updated

Update: Sat, Apr. 10, 9am

Gotham has the results posted here. Thanks to Anna Philips for all her hard work.

11PM

Elem
Total sent 36,907
Ret 10,292 28%
Unity 7761 75.4%
New Action 978 9.5%
ICE 703 6.8%

Non slate 712


Retirees
Ballots sent Returned %
53,560 24,978 46.6

Slate
Unity 20,744 83%
New Action 2,234 8.9%
ICE-TJC 1,037 4.2%

Non slate 867

2010 Prorated .72
Unity 14,934
New Action 1,608
ICE-TJC 746


7:30PM
The % is skewed because I am using the total returns and not subtracting the non-slate votes. Will recalculate another time.

Things have really slowed up. Here are functional totals:

Ballots sent out: 45,889
Ballots ret: 10,629 - 23.2% ret
Slate
ICE 708 6.7%
Unity 7337 69%
New Action 1175 11.1%

Non-slate: 1332


3PM
Middle School vote:

Total ballots-11,697
Returned -2,881 18.6%
Unity 1,981 68.8%
NA 421 14.6%
ICE-TJC 248 8.6%
Non-Slate - 207


1:45pm
High School vote:

Ballots sent: 19,931 Returned: 5203 26%
Slate:
Unity 2595 49.9%
ICE-TJC 1369 26.3%
New Action 774 14.9%
Non-slate: 424 to be tabulated by individual vote

Prelim anal:
Unity vote up around 300, ICE down about 200, New Action up around 200 from 2007.
Looks like big endorsement of Mulgrew.


It's 11am and all we have are percentage of returns. I'm a novice excel user and my formulas may be off so take heed. Totals seem to indicate that around 30% voted all together including retirees which is not much more than last time. But the in schools the vote went up from 22% return to around 27%.

Ballots sent Returned %

Elementary (up from 24% on 07)

36,907

10,292

0.28%

Middle Schools (Up from 18.6% in 07

2010

11,697

2,881

0.20

High Schools (Up by over 700 - from 23% in 07

2010

19,931

5,203

0.30

Functional (Dropped to 20% from 21.4%

2010

45,889

10,629

0.20

Retirees (50% up from 44.7% in 07)- Only 18,000 count so figure around .7 a ballot.

2010

53,560

24,978

0.5

Totals

2010

167,984

53,983

0.30

Totals Elem+MS+HS
68,535 18,376
0.27%

ICE-TJC Totals Will Affect UFT Reaction to RTTT

Did you see the NY Times story today about the NY State disaster in the Race to the Top competition?

Confusion, Chairs and Charters Helped Doom Bid for Grant

A review of the state's application for Race to the Top money, and of the judges' comments, reveals a number of ill-fated moves.

It illustrates an important point. David Steiner said the focus will be on union support. And there is no RTTT without the union agreeing to charters galore and teacher ratings based on test scores. The pressure on the UFT will be intense.

Today's UFT election vote will have an impact on how the union responds. If Mulgrew wins overwhelmingly - in the sense that there is little change from the last election or any signs that ICE-TJC has not gotten any traction - then there will be less reason for Mulgrew to resist this pressure. Think of the UFT leadership as a balloon being squeezed from two directions. The opposition vote is a counter force in that if the trend would be a threat to Unity control at the school level (they are much more insulated at the top due to the distorted election process) would force the leadership to take heed before caving in.

Early Returns - Some Young, Some Old

I got a call from one of my retired colleagues last night, an 80 year old. "I voted for your slate," she said. I would bet that even though I have been gone from my former school for well over a decade, the people still there who knew me voted ICE-TJC.

Earlier in the day, I was told by young woman in her early 20's that one of her teacher friends had told her she and her colleagues in a small school housed in a large closing school had voted for ICE-TJC, mainly because of the ICE member who is chapter leader at the large school.
So we got at least a few votes from the 20-somethings and the 80-somethings.

These stories illustrate an important point. Wherever we have active people, we get votes. Most of our candidates are highly respected for a number of reasons, not the least of which is they are good teachers. Our problem? Not enough active people in enough schools. But that is an issue for the future.

I have no way to predict results but I will say right now a few hours before results come in that based on previous numbers and my sense of how far we were able to reach out, the chance to win even the high school Executive Board seats is very slim. We would need to at least double our vote from 1550 last time to around 3000 to have a chance. In the last election Unity had around 2200 and New Action had 550. A key issue is whether their votes will rise at all this time. I think that there are enough people wanting to give Mulgrew a chance to get Unity/New Action over.

With the fragmentation of large high schools and our limited reach to the younger teachers who occupy the new schools (compare that to the UFT ability to flood every school with their lit and also UFT officials visiting so many schools) I am not expecting us to come close to reaching that number.

I find it pretty ironic that the best we can do is win 6 seats on the EB out of 89. That's the real joke of this election. The opposition will never win without some structural change in the UFT (and that will never take place until the number of active - and I stress this word - active - people there are standing up to Unity). But an explanation of why this is so and what has to be done to change it is also for another time.

Today's vote count is the culmination of the UFT election process, a process that started for some of us ICEers with a meeting with TJC where we decided to work together over a year ago. I hope to write a lot more about the process we went through as a guide for people in the future. But that's also for another time.

If you are interested in early returns through the day, email me at normsco@gmail.com. I don't tweet or whatever but I do burp.


By the way, did you know that the Wall Street Journal now has a NYC beat ed reporter? She contacted me yesterday and we may meet up for coffee later today. That coverage should be interesting to watch. Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out more fair and balanced than the NY Times? Shouldn't be all that much of a stretch.