Peoples Education Tribunal

An interesting idea from Sam Anderson:

In the not too distant future (Fall 2010?), I suggest that we NYC progressive educators, parents, students, community activists and our organizations need to COLLECTIVELY organize a Peoples Education Tribunal that lays out the crimes being committed in the name of public education by these privateers. This Peoples Education Tribunal would also outline viable solutions to help retain and enhance public education for all.

We would document this historic event and help publicize it throughout our neighborhoods and across the nation.

I know that this suggestion adds an extra layer of work tonnage upon all of us who are already overworked with our current Movement Multitasking. But, we need to show in popular ways that what is being passed as "advance education reform" is actually "criminal education deform." From the White House to City Hall, we are bombarded with daily dis-information/mis-information and outright lies about the education crisis and its solution to such an extent that for many folks dis-information/mis-information and outright lies become TRUTHS.

This education tribunal would be grounded in the foundation that "Education is a Human Right"... and would be structured in such a way that we would include national and international judges whose expertise in education and Human Rights Law would be renown.

In Struggle,

Sam Anderson

---------------------------------------
s. e. anderson is author of "The Black Holocaust for Beginners"
Social Activism is not a hobby: it's a Lifelong Commitment.
www.blackeducator.org

The UFT is now soliciting opinions on Teacher Eval Agreement....

...and chapter leader John Elfrank responds

1. NEGATIVE: It’s a foot in the door for using Standardized Tests and Merit Pay.


2. NEGATIVE: The new system claims to eliminate what the UFT describes as a totally subjective system. Yet, seven of the eight criteria are the same. The UFT says the addition of an eighth criterion (test scores) changes everything. Can’t we find less subjective criteria other than standardized test scores? It’s gonna count for 40%! The UFT says it “limits the influence of state tests on teacher performance evaluations”, it actually INTRODUCES state tests into teacher performance evaluation. Anything less than 100% is a “limit”.


3. NEGATIVE: Since there’s still much that has to be “negotiated” the agreement will only lose some of what appeal it does have. For example, 40 of the eval will be test scores% for starters.


4. NEGATIVE: There are no specifics about how peer review would work, how test scores will be used.


5. NEGATIVE: The contract is NOT enforced now regarding Art. 8, so why should we assume the UFT will enforce what is in our best interests regarding this agreement? For example, if the UFT doesn’t want a “gotcha” system, why doesn’t it challenge the informal observations put in our files and used to U rate us? Read Teaching for the 21st Century… You’d never know it was meant to apply to our members. It was supposed to eliminate the “gotcha” observation.


6. NEGATIVE: Lead Teacher wannabes will compete with their colleagues, not cooperate. After all, it’s who ranks at the top that will get the lead teacher gig.


7. POSITIVE: is that if negations fail the old system remains in place, as would be expected with a contract.


8. POSITIVE: Growth model assessment seems to be the best model if you have to go with standardized testing.


9. POSITIVE: Teacher improvement plan looks like it will be specific and transparent. Again, depending upon what is negotiated.


These negotiations need to take place in full view of the membership in order to invite member feedback. Secret negotiations are only meant to keep the membership in the dark .

BOTTOM LINE: Teaching to the test will take on a new urgency. Gone will be creative pedagogy. Close the Teacher Centers, they’ll be a waste of money. We will all be in the test prep business.


John Elfrank-Dana
UFT Chapter Leader
Murry Bergtraum High School

The Future of Teacher Unionism in the United States: Striving to be Like Mexico

Looking at the local and national picture I see the future of the UFT/AFT as a company union – like the national teachers union in Mexico which serves to control the members by deflecting militancy, attacking people within who oppose them and government policies and co-opting any movement that seeks to challenge their control. Of course there would be some dissident movements arising, with Oaxaca being the epicenter a few years ago.

In places like Mexico and Honduras, teacher activists are murdered (five teachers have been murdered since June 28.) In NYC we're far from there yet, but people like Chapter Leader Peter Lamphere at Bronx Science get U ratings - a career death. (See below for a piece from our DA report.*)

There has been some debate going on internally amongst progressive oppositionists in the UFT over whether the UFT is a company union.

There are 2 strands of thought.

One is that no matter how bad the leadership is, it is still our union and we have to function within it - at delegate assemblies and other union bodies to try to get the Unity leadership to move, even if a little. That we have to keep fighting to change the union. Teachers for a Just Contract and the International Socialist -ISO- though I hate to speak for them, seem to represent this point of view. ICE I would say is split on the issue.

The other POV is that the UFT functions like a company union and should be viewed as part of the enemy camp. They say a parallel union should be built within. Some even call for eventual desertification of the UFT and start anew. (I can't see how that is even possible. The anti-COPE - UNTIL WE GET A VOTE, SAY NO TO COPE!- scenario I published this weekend is indicative of that movement.) No matter how much the proud 9% dissenter vote grows, Unity will never give up power even if they have to use illegal means (as you will see below with the situation in DC).

Accountable Talk has a very potent diatribe - I Want Out. But where does that leave us standing? He calls for finding another union. But until we can grow an opposition to Unity beyond the 9 percenters, we have nothing to work with. Besides, what union in this country do you like? The NEA? Joe Hill's defiant "Don't mourn, organize," is still valid a century later. Nothing will happen until people start organizing. And it starts at the school level. The UFT says it wants to do that too, but they want to control and manage and channel these efforts where they want it to go. Like if the teachers in your school want to organize over the UFT sellout on teacher evals, that's a no-no. (See the previous post on the June 4th picket - significant in that it is organizing at the grassroots level and not controlled by the UFT, though expect some attempt to coopt.)

There is much more to say about these 2 positions (both of which I straddle) but right now I'll leave it there. We are in the early stages of planning a forum to discuss the role of the UFT/AFT vis a vis the ed deform movement (by the way, I'm taking official credit for coining the "ed deform" phrase during an interview I did on WBAI last year. Please out it on my tombstone,)

One reason I report so much on what is happening on the national scene (and international scene), and the role the AFT led by Randi Weingarten plays, is that there are so many implications for us here. (I can't get to it here but there has been a lot of action in Detroit and Cleveland.) With two local union leadership races going on right now in Chicago and Washington DC, watching how the AFT deals with these elections is instructive for us.

Candi Peterson reports from her blog on this astounding fact: the president of the Washington Teachers Union, George Parker, did not submit petitions to run for re-election, figuring he didn't have to follow the rules of his own union. I guess he figured Randi would bail him out. And so she will. Here is a section from Candi's report:

WTU rank and file members believe that AFT's national president Randi Weingarten will resort to illegal means to keep George Parker in power at any cost even if it means over ruling a WTU constitutional requirement that states that petitions for the election of union officers be submitted on the last working day in April. Even though Randi Weingarten stated in our May 10 meeting that she only wants to 'get in and out' in order to assist the WTU with the elections committee process, let's watch what Randi does in the days ahead. I believe Randi will do whatever it takes to undermine the ability of the other presidential candidates likelihood of success, particularly Nathan Saunders because she fears opposition from him to the WTU Tentative Agreement. With WTU George 'sell out' Parker at the helm, there is a greater probability that the WTU T.A. will be ratified.

Imagine if Randi didn't bail out Parker, who should not be allowed to run. Her deal with Rhee on the contract would be dead in the water. There were reports that Randi was even looking to stuff the contract vote ballot into the same envelope as the election ballot.

Here is a cogent comment from Lindsey on Candi's blog:

We have got to be able to sue the American Federation of Teachers if they try to get away with this scam. How dare them! How dare Ms. Weingarten, who rides in after negotiating a debacle in New York City, to help Parker carry his water at the WTU. If GP is allowed on the ballot, then what good are the rules? How is it that he is the only one who couldn't get his petitions in on time? Or is it that he couldn't get enough people to sign his candidate's petition or be on his slate after the mess he has created at the WTU. Let' just stop this craziness. GP, if you have an ounce of dignity left, why don't you recall yourself - before you sacrifice the rest of us at the slaughterhouse. I am ashamed of you and Ms. Weingarten.

The election in Chicago is Friday. George Schmidt's Substance has been covering the race. Not surprisingly, union president Marilyn Stewart was charged by former CTU president and current candidate Deborah Lynch:

Stewart colluded with the CBOE to ban campaigning in schools.

“Much to our amazement, in the board’s response they said they issued the ban at the demand of CTU leadership, and to support their response they included a whole bunch of e-mails congratulating the board for issuing the ban and ratting myself and other candidates out for going to schools trying to get petitions signed and literature passed out,” Lynch said. “That was appalling in itself.”

Stewart asked CPS officials to shut down e-mail in November because “some [union] members and former members are abusing the system with political garbage. Enough is enough,” she wrote in an email obtained by Lynch’s lawyers.

You see, they will try use any means necessary. Just watch where BloomKlein and even the NY Post comes down if an anti-Unity movement ever gets going that promises to be more militant.

Our friends in CORE are actively campaigning. There are 6 caucuses running. If CORE (or even Lynch) gets into the runoff against the Unity-like leadership, watch Randi and the AFT jump in to make sure they don't win because if they do it has national implications as a sign that after 15 years of mayoral control in Chicago teachers will have had it with sellout union leadership.

Gee, only 8 more years of BloomKlein-like policies and UFT sellouts and we might see a threat to Unity here. Imagine 700 charter schools by then and UFT membership cut by 40% and members having to pay $2000 a year in dues to keep the Unity machine well-oiled. My guess is the UFT will give away whatever is left of the store if they are allowed to organize true-company charter school unions as a way to keep up their membership and dues sources. You know, sending 800 Unity slugs to Seattle isn't cheap.

If we see a CORE-like movement start up here in NYC, Unity goons will be given the right to bear arms.


*Peter Lamphere, Bronx HS of Science Chapter leader spoke very effectively. "There is not one rubric my principal can't figure out how to get around." There was a hush in the room when Peter, one of the best math teachers there is (students and other teachers rave about him,) said he had gotten 2 U ratings. If there was one statement that put the whole thing in context, that was it. The UFT can't even protect their chapter leaders from the vicious attacks. Chapter leaders who are renowned teachers. In some unions, the orchestrated attack on shop stewards, the glue of the union, would be a strikeable offense. The Peter Lamphere context is what makes this agreement a joke, no matter what it says on paper. A good chunk of the rank and file is living in fear of principals from hell. And that is what will inform their reaction [to the teacher eval system] over time.

Informational pickets before or after school on Friday June 4th against budget cuts and layoffs

It started in one elementary school in Brooklyn. Teachers began meeting at lunch hour a few months ago to discuss issues educators were facing. They reached out to parents on some of the issues of concern to them. As the budget crisis grew, they began to zero in on that issue. They decided to hold an informational rally/picket before school on June 4.

Word spread though the GEM organizing committee. The key ingredient was that each June 4 event would be homegrown locally based on issues the school was facing, not centrally directed. Truly from the grass roots. Other schools began to pick up the theme.

There was no stress on numbers. Even if a few showed up that would be viewed in a positive manner. An important aspect was to chronicle the event with a follow-up report and some pictures/video to be posted on the GEM blog. And continue building school organizing committees for the future.

It has become increasingly clear. There will little left of a public school system or a functioning union unless people start taking action at the school level, with a long term goal of bringing it all together.

On Saturday, May 29, some of the schools will be gathering in Prospect Park from 1:30-4:30 for a sign making/picnic/unifying event. (Look for details on the Ed Notes and GEM blogs.)

Here is a blurb sent out by one school with a sample flier.

A number of schools have been organizing to have informational pickets before or after school on Friday June 4th against budget cuts and layoffs or any other issues they want to highlight. We encourage education workers to come out even if 3 or 4 people hand out leaflets in front of their schools. You can be as creative as you want to be in this process, namely, distributing buttons, bumper stickers, your school's brochure etc.

Do something on that day to express opposition to the budget cuts and layoffs. Budget cuts and layoffs are part and parcel of the attacks against public education and public school educators. It is an attempt by the powers-that-be to solve the financial crisis they created - by squandering the social wealth - on our backs. This is unacceptable.

In Unity, there is Strength.

Let us all stand up together to defend public education!

Here's an example that you may use to promote the June 4th action at your school; it was originally produced by the staff of a school in Brooklyn; you may be able to adapt it for your school to promote June 4th; share your own ideas with us too:

Parents and Concerned Community Members!

JUNE 4^th 7:30 am – 8:30 am

Join PS 24 Staff and Families for a Picket on 4^th ave (bet. 37^th/38th st.) to protest budget cuts and teacher layoffs!

Actions also planned at: PS 15K, PS 30M, PS 197M, Jamaica High School, Prospect Heights International High School and a growing list of school communities

Let your voice be heard!

Budget cuts from the city and state will directly affect our children!

The cuts will...

· Greatly increase already overcrowded classrooms by eliminating thousands of teacher jobs.

· Eliminate important programs from after-school to art.

· Impact the crucial support services your children receive.

· Reduce access to supplies like books and technology.

DON’T BE FOOLED!

The $700,000,000 grants being offered by the federal government

CANNOT BE USED TO COVER THE STATE or CITY BUDGET DEFICIT!

TAX WALL STREET BONUSES and a MILLIONAIRES TAX!

See www.fairsharereform.org

Parents, teachers and our communities did not create this financial crisis! Wall Street did! We bailed them out!

We want our money back for education!

UNTIL WE GET A VOTE, SAY NO TO COPE!

Updated 9pm

I've heard calls for people to start refusing to give to COPE for decades and have generally not gone along. Some people think that even if the Unity/UFT machine sucks, there is still a need for some political action mechanism even if they use it in a fucked up way. I of course don't agree and have never given to COPE (except for that quarter I flipped at my Unity chapter leader so he could get one of those funky awards they give out for 100% COPE contributions.

Besides. getting out of COPE is harder than pulling King Arthur's pulling Excalibur from the stone.

But maybe the time has come.

Elizabeth Green (where have you been?) posted the item below at Gotham. Very intriguing that she would help promote the withdrawal from COPE movement. The person who wrote the email says to contact him for the withdrawal form. By the time you get that processed by the UFT - they tend to lose these forms - we will have 92% of a teacher's rating be due to test scores. Numbnuts Klein's secret goal to top Mulgrew's vote total.

I have a better idea. Tell your local Unity hack you want to change how much you are giving to COPE. Then turn it in with a nickel listed. It will cost you about a buck a year and will have just as much an impact as total withdrawal. Though it will keep your Unity chapter leader eligible for the 100% contribution awards.

UPDATE from a correspondent.....

Change the nickel per pay period to one cent. That will make the year's contribution 24 cents. Not even enough for a phone call. For that you just need a BLANK cope card, not the pre-printed ones. If a thousand folks did that, it would result in a 10 buck per pay period gain in cope. a stinging message.



Posted at Gotham:

One educator’s trash, another’s treasure
by Elizabeth Green

Earlier this week, a source sent us the following e-mail, topped with the subject line “going around the school system.” Funny how one group says “THE END OF TEACHING AS WE KNOW IT!” and means crisis, while another says essentially the same thing and means progress.

Here’s the e-mail:

THE END OF TEACHING AS WE KNOW IT!

Michael Mulgrew (The Antichrist of teaching)

The following are two paragraphs directly from the UFT/NYSUT press release:

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “The current teacher evaluation system doesn’t work for teachers - it’s too subjective, lacks specific criteria, and is too dependent on the whims and prejudices of principals. We worked with the State Education Department to create a more objective system that would apply across the state, with strict limits on the role of standardized tests.”

Under the proposed system, teachers and principals would receive one of four ratings: “highly effective,” “effective,” “developing,” or “ineffective.” The evaluations would play a significant role in a wide array of employment decisions, including professional development, tenure determinations, selection for leadership opportunities, supplemental compensation based on a career ladder, and termination. The goal is to construct an evaluation system that can be customized to the professional development needs of every teacher.

It’s quite clear that this will lead to a “merit pay” system.

Now he’s agreed to end the Rubber Rooms(making it far easier and quicker for the DOE to fire teachers) and we will have a new evaluation system that will CLEARLY lead to “merit pay.”

What did we get for all of OUR giving? Nothing. We have no contract, no extra pay and we didn’t even vote on any of this…some union! Every other NYC union and even the MTA got 4% raises over the current 2-year period.

The only feasible way to fight this is to end your COPE payments. If you want the form see me.

UNTIL WE GET A VOTE, SAY NO TO COPE!

Follow-up comment from a vet Chapter Leader:

I would caution ANYONE to get the form from the cope office. For a number of reasons.
1. It spreads panic if there are a lot or a steady stream.
2. You get the authentic form ( I think it is the "B" card)
3. As it will take a bunch of pay periods to go into effect, there is less of a chance for screw ups. I always believe in going to the horse's mouth.

I cannot stress enough that the card should be gotten from the cope office.

Context

UPDATED: 2pm, May 14

That is what Michael Mulgrew and the Unity machine have left out. Context.

One of their main arguments was to point to the NY Post claims that Klein opposes the plan vehemently. "He's up in Albany right now trying to get it defeated," said one top union official. "If Joel Klein is against it, I am for it," said Michael Mendel. Peter Goodman is pushing the same line. Check out this very funny title of his blog post:

The Dynamic Duo: Tisch and Steiner Seize the Education Agenda, A New Teacher Evaluation System Created and Supported by Teacher Unions.

I found it hysterical when Mulgrew went over the top praising Meryl Tisch and David Steiner: It was wonderful working with these people at the state and so different from working with numbnuts- er - Klein. "These people really know education," he said. Sure, Meryl spent 30 minutes teaching kindergarten in a Hebrew school.

Does Mulgrew really expect us to fall for this? Tisch lives next door to Bloomberg (we were picketing her too in Jan.), is a major ed deformer and has numbnuts Klein at her Passover sedar.

Next time Joel asks the 4 Questions:

How is this sellout by the UFT different from all other sellouts?

The UFT knows it is being good-copped and bad-copped and tries to sell this crap to the members. You can only sell the same piece of cheap costume jewelry so many times.

Then they tell you that the teacher has some rights to deal with the principal. Oh sure, teachers will sit down with the principal. "They can't be forced to do anything they don't want to," they said. As I said to one of the top members of the leadership, "What world are you guys living in? Do you have a clue as to what is going on in the schools?" Ten minutes after the teacher tells the principal 'No thank you', whammo- verbal abuse charges. "You didn't tell that child how nice she looked. Rubber room. Oh, sorry, no more rubber room. We'll just fire you in 60 days."

The UFT has proved time and again they can't protect anyone. As I said, "Context."

If we trusted BloomKlein, or even the UFT leadership, the plan might even be a good one. But there is always context. On paper every football play works. In the reality of the NYC DOE, all balls are in the air.

They talk about a growth model for students. Meaning value-added, which has been much discredited. See Leonie Haimson's analysis I posted a few days ago (UFT Prepares Giant Vat of Kool Aid for Delegate Assembly). Interesting that a parent activist does the real work of presenting the issue honestly while the UFT sells their narrow self-interest to the members.

When the question was raised as to why this contract change is not going to the membership, Michael Mendel said: We didn’t go to the membership. We are the leaders of the union.

Of course they don't dare go to the membership as at this point there is major outrage. They need time to massage the members by sending out their troops to the schools. (By the way, that will be an indication of just how worried they are - a sudden appearance of every working stiff at 52 Broadway and from the borough offices and the district reps in the schools, the way they had to do it in the 2005 contract vote.)

The vote was overwhelming for the new teacher evaluation system at the Delegate Assembly on Wednesday. A slam dunk for Mulgrew and the Unity machine (see anon comment below on how Unity controls the DA). Even opposition people thought Mulgrew did an effective job of quelling the doubts even if they weren't convinced. But remember, the DA is a Unity body. That there were doubts in the first place withing the machine is indicative of some shakiness. But it is always easy for the leadership to calm the Unity gang. They have a vested interest in supporting all leadership positions.

What has to be understood is that it is very important for the leadership to make sure the caucus is on board because it is their job to sell it to the rank and file.

Some opposition people spoke. Peter Lamphere, Bronx HS of Science Chapter leader spoke very effectively. "There is not one rubric my principal can't figure out how to get around." There was a hush in the room when Peter, one of the best math teachers there is (students and other teachers rave about him, said he had gotten 2 U ratings.

If there was one statement that put the whole thing in context, that was it. The UFT can't even protect their chapter leaders from the vicious attacks. Chapter leaders who are renowned teachers. In some unions, the orchestrated attack on shop stewards, the glue of the union, would be a strikeable offense. Context.

The Peter Lamphere context is what makes this agreement a joke, no matter what it says on paper. A good chunk of the rank and file is living in fear of principals from hell. And that is what will inform their reaction to this deal over time.

So where does the mass of teachers out there in the schools stand? I think it will take the actual implementation horror story to play itself out over the next year before we get the full reaction. Will senior, higher payed teachers start disappearing - something the UFT will do its best to cover up?

I thought it interesting that I got two phone calls within 15 minutes yesterday from reporters from major top level publications asking about rank and file reaction. While I am usually a skeptic about the r&f because I have seen the Unity machine sell just about anything in the schools, these calls raised my antenna. These reporters must have been sniffing something out. I was asked whether I detected any negative reaction within the Unity machine itself. There are a few signs but not enough to create problems for Mulgrew. The real job of the school based Unity people will be to see how their members react. I have been polling some of the activist in schools with Unity chapter leaders to see how it is going for them. Something worth watching.


Other Reactions:

Jeff Kaufman
Not surprisingly the Q&A left out the expedited dismissal procedures of the new agreement. In fact their spin make the new agreement look so good it’s a wonder we didn’t agree to this years ago.

Philip Nobile
The low point of the DA was the highpoint of Unity arrogance and emptiness. Sounding like gangster union head Johnny Friendly in On the Waterfront, UFT Secretary Michael Mendel squashed skeptics bellowing: “Yes, we didn’t go to the membership [on the secret teacher evaluation deal]. We are the leaders of the union.” Translation: If you don’t like the deal, drop dead.

An anon CL
I was surprised at how the delegates accepted this evaluation thing. There were plenty of dissenters, myself included, but I didn't get a chance to ask a question. I also have issues with the way these things are run. They plant their special reps in the crowd to help move the mass along. I can't tell you how many times the crowd was absolutely silent and a Tool-in-a-suit would start clapping softly at one of Mulgrew's talking points. This soft clapping prompted clapping from the people around him and gave the impression that the people were more in favor of this all than they seemed to be. I hate the politics of the Union and makes me want to resign my CL-ship. I stick around for my members, but that's all I work for.

Another anon CL
Perhaps I should bring some Vaseline to the DA on Wednesday for the big screw. I feel ashamed today.


Add-ons
Other bloggers are on a rampage.

Perdido Street School has 3 posts, calling one union leader a "bald-headed pimp." (Hmmm. My principal used to call Randi a whore for selling out.)

Mr. A Talk: the Q and A fails to mention you're terminated 60 days after two unfavorable rating.

Chaz had a running battle on his blog with 58 comments:
Is This The Beginning Of The End For Seniority Protections? Is Teacher Tenure Next?


NYC Educator pin his post From the Folks Who Brought You the 2005 Contract

After having read voices like Diane Ravitch and Aaron Pallas on "value-added" measures of teacher effectiveness, I'm fairly convinced that there is no way to use it effectively. That's one reason I was wary to see the UFT get into bed with Bill Gates and his "Measures of Effective Teaching" program.

It appears the "teacher input" is restricted to those who control the union--the folks who brought us the 05 contract which was the best thing since sliced bread (which is highly overrated when you consider all those artisan breads you can bring home and cut yourself.) The best I can see is if we don't reach an agreement, the old arrangement stays in place. If we do reach an agreement, watch the eraser sales at Staples quadruple as teachers and administrators all over the state scramble to inflate scores.

And so it goes.

The UFT Q&A spinning straw into gold machine is at: http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/qa/teacher-evaluation/

Report on oral arguments -- school closings lawsuit -UFT vs DOE

Thurs. May 13, 2010

Reported by Richard Barr to the NYCEDNEWS listserve.

Oral arguments in the City's appeal of the State Supreme Court Decision by Judge Joan Lobis -- which blocked the DOE from its threatened closing of 19 schools -- were heard today in the State's Appellate Division, at 27 Madison ave., Manhattan.

The case is known as Mulgrew vs. Board of Ed.

An expanded version of the report that appeared in this space is now available on the NYC Parent blog.

Report from the UFT Delegate Assembly

John Elfrank-Dana, Chapter Leader
Murry Bergtraum High School

5/12/2010

I expected a rancorous evening and that’s what I got. With the news about the UFT agreeing to a teacher evaluation plan that includes student test scores I knew there would be a hard sell by Mulgrew to the independents present. Never a problem for the Unity Caucus faithful as they would be prepared to tow the line.

The report came out in the Times about the new scheme which describe a total test component of 40% of your evaluation (25% from state exams and 15% from local). Mulgrew went to work saying that was misleading ( I have attached the UFT’s summary of the agreement).

So, why the agreement? Mulgrew explained that Federal legislation was inevitable requiring districts to tie teacher evaluation with some form of testing in order to receive Title 1 and all the other forms of funding. He checked it out with his people in D.C. who confirmed there’s no stopping it. Since NYC depends heavily upon such finding we had to act. He stated that we are in a better climate now to discuss this rather than wait a year.

The attached summary was handed out and we were asked to vote on it. Objections came that we needed more time to review before making a decision. Also, that since this was done on Monday, why didn’t the UFT e-mail the chapter leaders the agreement so they’d have time to review? This is a common Unity practice of rushing things through so you don’t have time to think and ask the nuanced questions. It’s the old “The Sale Ends Today” approach, so you’d “better buy now”!

Nonetheless, Mulgrew claimed that the agreement meant only 20% of your assessment will come from tests while the rest from 8 other criteria (see in attached summary). Also, that it fixes a broken system of assessment which allowed principals to U-rate teachers based upon whim. Now they would have to produce more objective criteria. As expected, VP Michael Mendel and Grievance Director Howard Solomon spoke passionately in favor of it. For Mendel it was enough that the Chancellor was quoted in the press as unhappy with the agreement.

The agreement, Mulgrew went on, requires the DoE to negotiate the fine points with the UFT. This was another reason for supporting.

Concerns were raised. Bronx Science HS chapter leader urged caution, saying we need to get the right to grieve unfair letters in the file back. Also that he’s never seen a rubric (the new eval system has us graded by rubrics) that a principal couldn’t manipulate. He also said the details should be negotiated in public and not in secret. Marjorie Stamberg called the agreement “merit pay in drag” and a capitulation to the privatizers and union busters. This is because the agreement allows for special compensation for those of us who score high marks on our rubrics and student tests. Those special teachers may be given new titles (like Master Teacher) for which to anoint the higher pay. Therefore, according to Mulgrew, it’s not “merit pay” in the strict sense of the word.

I will mull over the summary and hope you do too. I have my reservations about all of this. I remember hearing the testing industry, which are the big winners in this, gave Obama a ton of money. This is probably payback. It’s a poisonous premise that we can measure student achievement via standardized test scores. Standardized tests were never developed for this but only to rank students. Plus, it starts out at 20% test scores. But, now that the foot is in the door, you can bet that percentage will only go up. Also, knowing firsthand how the UFT Grievance Department, and the corresponding boro grievance committees operate like health insurance companies, i.e. make it their business to deny service, I’m not confident this will end up a win for us. There will probably be a lack of enforcement of the provisions we do negotiate.

I had to leave early but David Gordon and Joel Puelle, your delegates were also there. You can ask them for their take. There was a conversation about budgets. I know we have to keep calling and demonstrating to avoid layoffs. More on that coming soon.

Remember, review the attachment and give me your thoughts.

John

--
John Elfrank-Dana
UFT Chapter Leader
Murry Bergtraum High School
www.Elfrank.com/UFT

ED NOTE: I have the pdf attachment but don't have time to process it. Email me if you need a copy.


Another report

I'm a chapter leader at the UFT DA right now and would like to report this anonymously:

The scene was surreal to start. The room was packed but the tone was hushed. It felt like the crowd had come to listen to Mulgrew explain himself and the recent overhaul of the evaluation system.


He began by going through what he called ''inaccurate'' reporting by the NY Times. He had prepared an FAQ sheet that answered some of the questions that members might have.


He mentioned that this new system only calls for 20 percent of overall score to come from tests. He also stated that there were parts that had yet to be negotiated by the Union-like the Value Added scores. He stated directly that this did not change the tenure system.


As he went on, you could feel the tide of the delegates turning - he was starting to bring comfort to those who were anxious about this deal.


There were good questions and voices of dissent from the crowd. Some asked why this had been brokered secretly without teacher input. According to Mulgrew they had done this to keep the DOE and Klein out of the negotiation. This was a deal with the state, he said

PS 241/Harlem Success- Klein Chooses Sides

Hello all-
I am reaching out to you after reaching some deeply troubling information.

This morning as I welcomed students into the building, one of my fourth grade students approached me with a look of anger on her face. She has been with us since she was in Pre-K and feels very strongly about our school and the community. Her brother is a first grader currently attending HSA 1. She has been outspoken that she believes he is not being properly educated- her words, not mine. She hears her family complain as well, and implores them to take him out and let him enjoy school with her, at PS 241- again her words- not mine.

She stated that she had attended a Harlem Success Academy event last night at the Apollo (THe Lottery?), during which Eva Moskowitz spoke. Eva stated that Joel Klein had told her that PS 241 students had failed their Gr. 8 ELA exams and he was going to shut down our school.

Scoring of ELA exams is still in process, the state has not yet received all manually-scored information- nor has it had time to determine final scores. How could Klein have this information? He can't- he must have lied- or Eva lied and is spreading misinformation- slandering our school (and others such as PS 194 and PS 123- according to my young, articulate source).

Klein and Moskowitz must be called to task on this- we must speak out against the lies, the slander, the coersion, the audacity of this kind of misinformation. Please stand together with us to defned our public schools. Make phone calls, send emails, what ever can be done to let the public know this outrage- this is sabotage and outright looting of our school buildings and communities!

All educators should be worried- your school could be next!
Please reach out to all you know.....

UFT Prepares Giant Vat of Kool Aid for Delegate Assembly

Vendors report that the UFT/Unity Caucus have ordered a massive vat of Kool Aid to serve the delegates at Wednesday's delegate assembly as they explain how the new agreement to rate teachers based on test scores is the best thing to happen to teachers since the 2005 contract.

Ed Notes has obtained an advanced copy of Mulgrew's speech at tomorrow's meeting. It opens with:

"Well, we beat numb nuts at his own game. He wanted a 100% of the teacher ratings to count for test scores and we kept it to 20%. Well, more like 40% but why quibble. Drink hearty. We are working on how to lift charter school caps, end the ATR mess and get rid of that pesky tenure. Numb Nuts - er- Joel, has promised us he will let us drop UFT fliers off at a few charter schools in exchange for our cooperation."

Since retirees are not covered under this provision - though my wife is now going to evaluate me as a husband based on my getting chores done, I'll let Marjorie Stamberg and others in schools do the venting.

Email from Marjorie Stamberg:

Bottom line: The education "deformers" got what they've been pushing for -- to tie teacher evals to student test scores, and Mulgrew and Unity Caucus have the gall to spin this as a victory!

I could have written Unity's script: "Well, the bad guys wanted to make the evals totally based on student test scores, but we fought and got it only 40 percent based on student test scores, and oh yeah, there's going to be yet another new test in addition to the old test; and an expedited firing process -- so this is a good thing not a bad thing!"

How about just saying no to the union-busters and privatizers? Even the New York Times article said it was a giant give-back for which the union got nothing!

It flows directly from every other sellout they've engineered in recent years, from the end of seniority transfers to refusal to fight the charter expansion head-on to merit pay (that they tried to shove down our throats with a new name -- so called "bonus pay."

Colleagues were justifiably suspicious when the Rubber Room agreement called for an expedited termination process. Now we see it is not being used just for the rubber room, but across the board.

This will be used to pit teacher against teacher. And like "merit pay," and all the rest of their privatizing schemes, it's bad for kids. Particularly students "at risk". If students with poor attendance, second language students, special needs students are going to "drive own" schools test scores, If teachers are going to be penalized by the "test performance" of the lowest-performing students, the tendency will be to "push" these students out of the system.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the direction of motion. This new system of teacher evals is yet another vehicle to push out higher paid teachers -- they can just get u-rated out the door.

This has to be fought down the line!

--Marjorie.

Sorry Marjorie. The 91 percenters have no fight in them and we 9% dissenters are too few to do much. Let New Action, the "opposition," do the fighting. Mulgrew could literally sign away every single right, accept a 50% pay cut for teachers, eliminate every single prep period and guess what? New Action will support him and every single Unity Caucus member will drink it all up - and convince the people in the schools he is a really good guy and he's not Randi.

Or is he?

Leonie posted these thoughts:

After year one, all teachers in all grades will be subject to these value-added assessments; implying that there will have to be new state tests as well as new local tests in all subjects and all grades.

o Year one: 20 percent student growth on state assessments or comparable measures for teachers in the common branch subjects or ELA and Math in grades four to eight only, and 20 percent other locally selected measures that are rigorous and comparable across classrooms;

o Subsequent years before Regents approval of a value-added model: 20 percent student growth on state assessments or comparable measures for all teachers, and 20 percent other locally selected measures that are rigorous and comparable across classrooms;

Art, music anyone?

I would expect that all these new tests, as well as teacher time (or State time) scoring them, in every grade and subject, will cost far more than the $700 million that is the maximum amount that NY State could get from RTTT.

I also love the following:

. The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be developed in consultation with an advisory committee consisting of representatives of teachers, principals, superintendents of schools, school boards, school district and board of cooperative educational services officials and other interested parties.

Once again, parents are omitted from being mentioned among the key stakeholder groups to have any voice in this system.

After all, it’s only our kids.

Wonder if charter schools will be subject to the same regime.

And these questions the UFT should have raised, but didn't:

The Times article does not say whether the test score component will be based upon one year or several years value-added.

One year’s increases or decreases in test scores are statistically meaningless at the school level; as shown by the volatility of the NYC school grading system; and they are even more unreliable at the classroom level.

Not to mention the complexities of attempting to control for all the demographic and school factors outside a teacher’s control, such as peer group factors, class size, overcrowding, special needs population, and the student’s pre-determined course of learning, based on all their previous years’ educational experiences. (As the class size research shows, smaller classes in the early grades lead not only to greater gains in those years, but a whole different trajectory of learning in future years.)

All of which explains why the National Academy of Sciences has said emphatically that basing teacher evaluations on value-added test scores is not ready for prime time.


What is clear from the article below is that NYC public school students will be subjected to yet an additional set of “local tests”; which will mean millions of dollars to develop these new tests, millions of student hours spent taking them, and millions of teacher hours in scoring them.

In addition, I predict that the DOE will want to give these new local tests both at the beginning of the school year and the end, to sharpen up their “value-added” per teacher component.

And most likely, more NY teachers will even more try to flee from classrooms and schools with high-needs students, the exact opposite of what the federal government, state and city say they are trying to achieve.

Wouldn’t you?

More testing, less learning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/nyregion/11teacher.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

UFT: Bleak House

"The unions did not gain any clear benefit from the deal, other than shielding themselves from criticism that they were hurting the state’s chances in Race to the Top."
- NY Times


We hate to tell you so, but we told you so. That the higher the percentage of the vote for Michael Mulgrew, the more likely it was that the Unity Caucus leadership would be freed to give up more without worrying about the reaction of the members. First it was the rubber room agreement, which even without seeing it and knowing the political landscape, we could predict would end up as a losing proposition for teachers.

Now comes the latest agreement by the union Agreement Will Alter Teacher Evaluations that will sink us to new depths - until the next time. Here's the skinny from the NY Times:

The State Education Department and New York’s teachers’ unions have reached a deal to overhaul teacher evaluations and tie them to student test scores, brokering a compromise on an issue the unions had bitterly opposed for years.

The agreement, reached in time for the state’s second bid at $700 million in federal education grants, would scrap the current system whereby teachers were rated simply satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Instead, annual evaluations would place teachers in one of four categories — highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective. While the deal would not have any immediate effect on teacher pay, it could make it easier for schools to fire teachers deemed subpar.

Teachers would be measured on a 100-point scale, with 20 percent points based on how much students improve on the standardized state exams. Another 20 percent would be based on local tests, which would have to be developed by each school system. After two years, 25 percent would be based on the state exams and 15 percent would come from the local tests.

The unions — the New York State United Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s union — did not gain any clear benefit from the deal, other than shielding themselves from criticism that they were hurting the state’s chances in Race to the Top. And union leaders who backed the plan could face significant backlash from members, particularly at a time when many districts are planning for layoffs.

The remainder of the evaluation will come from observations from principals and other teachers, and other measures. If teachers are rated ineffective for two consecutive years, they would face firing through an expedited hearing process that must conclude within 60 days. Currently hearings can drag on for several months.

The only inaccuracy here is that there will be little backlash or consequences from the members. The election is over and the rest of the union bodies are locked up by Unity and their New Action lackeys. Am I beginning to sound like "people are getting what they asked for"?

We told you that Mulgrew was more style than substance and would turn out to be Randi light. Check out how the AFT in Colorado and in New Jersey is caving on many issues while the NEA is putting up a semblance of a fight. I will say this time and again. Watch Mulgrew and the 800 Unity caucus members we are paying for in Seattle this summer cave into every sell-out policy.

Watch New Action Mulgrew supporter bloggers try to explain this one away - maybe by raising some questions in a disingenuous "who me" manner while remaining silent at Delegate Assemblies and Executive Board meetings.

I'm more proud than ever to be a 9 per cent dissenter rather than a 91% Mulgrew assenter.

Coming soon:
Merit pay based on the above - leading to total salary schedules being revamped.

And of course, lifting the charter school cap resulting in the UFT loss of another 3% of the members as they flail about helplessly trying to organize these teachers into the union - with a separate and unequal contract. Look for a dues increase to make up the shortfall so Unity can continue to live the life style they are accustomed to.

I'm off to the Pakter hearing. Reports later.

Envisioning the Urban School System of the Future

So, this is the future. A future which is not linear, but a circle back to the past.

With all the heavy-handed Wall St./hedge fund/Gates/Walmart/Broad money, how do the relative pipsqueak unions compete for public support? The unions are outspent and outflanked. The "choice" argument will win out, while suburban parents are free from choice as they get some say in determining what kind of schools their kids go to.

Another funded anti-public ed film is coming this fall.
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/waitingforsuperman/

When a trailer opens up with Michelle Rhee, you know what's coming.

The onslaught continues. With the teacher unions fighting a rearguard action and not confronting things head on, there are few forces to counter the propaganda.

What we are faced with is nationwide chains of charter schools with a cinder of a public school system left.

It will take a generation - at least - for the reality of what has been done to have an impact.
When there are no teacher unions left for them to blame. When they find that no matter how much they churn the teachers they will always have teachers who are not supermen and women. When student performance will be stagnant. When parents begin to see "choice" as bogus as their "choice" is limited to a few massive charter chains.

And we will have to start all over again in trying to rebuild a public education system with a semblance of public oversight.

Here is a picture of the urban school landscape of the future:

A few big charter chains, all increasingly controlled from national headquarters, thus totally removing local control of schools in any manner servicing Black and Latino/a students who will be trained in the testing culture to prepare them for jobs in the employ of the largest job creators in the nation - Walmart and McDonalds.

You see, what the parents of the "scholars" who charter schools are telling will all go to college are not being told is that only a quarter of future jobs are for college grads. They are also not assuring them of funding for their scholars to go to college.

Suburban white kids and parents have a totally different experience, actually preparing them for the college level jobs by offering a broader educational experience not grounded in test prep.

For example, KIPP will have a nationwide chain of charters where policy will be controlled from headquarters.

So will Harlem Success with their own policies.

Multiply this by all the competing chains. Imagine a neighborhood where parents will have a choice - of the different charter schools which will use the lottery to limit who gets in. Look for special education focused charters which will take the onus off these schools having to accept the most difficult students.

Small, independent charter schools will be gobbled up as the big chains compete for their teachers and students and funding sources. (One small scale Harlem charter school operator at the Perkins hearings was even lamenting the fact that he had to compete with the Harlem Success juggernaut.)

Of course there will be some public schools left to take the unwanted. Remember the old "600" schools that used to exist?

Remember the days when there was no union and teachers earned paltry salaries while having no rights?

We will be back to the beginning.

Add-on: Many charter school people don't think much of Eva
I was hanging out with a friend who left a public school to teach in a charter. We agree on so many things and I will explore these areas of agreement in the future. We could start with, "I would never work in a school controlled by Eva Moskowitz."

Extraordinary Interventions

This early morning's Hearing Voices on NPR had a wonderful presentation about a Washington DC student's journey and the extraordinary intervention it took to help him get to his destination.

Getting Out is the story of Jesse Jean whose father murdered his mother and committed suicide when Jesse was 2 years old - in front of him. Jesse tried to avoid all the "stuff" that happens to kids on the streets of Washington and luckily met these 2 ladies - Teri and Tony who I believe worked for some White House connected group - who took him under their wing. I mean seriously under their wing. Like it led to their becoming his legal guardian. A more down home version of The Blind Side. (I liked the movie, but want to read Michael Lewis' book.)

[You can hear an mp3 audio file of Getting Out.]

I post this story for 2 reasons. First because it indicates that even with this extraordinary intervention - including a partial scholarship to a boarding school that costs $28,000 a year - there were still some touch and go moments. Meaning - things like charter schools are merely a drop in the bucket as solutions relative to the overwhelming issues so many kids face.<

The second reason is that there were a few times when I was on the edge of temptation to take a similar extraordinary intervention path with a few kids over the years that I grew close to but just couldn't bite that bullet. One of the students ended up shot in the head 5 times while selling drugs in the wrong territory at the age of 18 - and that after serving 3 years in prison and fathering a child. I spent a lot of hard time thinking at his funeral. It was like I had seen a truck heading for a child in the middle of the street and was helpless to stop the accident from happening.

Some of the kids I worked with in that era of the late 80's to early 90's did experience an extraordinary intervention by a high school teacher in Williamsburg Brooklyn who took in loads of kids to live with her, her husband and a band of adopted kids from just about every nationality. They are some of the true heroes in this world. My particular student was a top-level basketball player and a very nice kid who avoided trouble when he could. Things basically turned out all right though they might have anyway. But even with that level of intervention, the academic problems never went away and college was not his thing.

I was peripherally involved with these kids - attending their basketball games, taking them to sporting events and having them out to my house - but learned a hell of a lot from the experience, understanding just how far I was willing and able to go as a teacher. In the world of today's ed deform that teacher who took kids in to live with her would have her effectiveness judged by her test scores.

When I hear these stories I often think of what it would take and would even echo Joel Klein in with my own call for No Excuses - but on whose part? If you listen to the program - a well spent 52 minutes, you have to ask about focusing only on academic "outcomes" without all that goes with it. What is needed is a lot of extraordinary interventions and this society only wants to take the cheap way out.


Hearing Voices from NPR® Getting Out: The Education of Jesse Jean
Host: Katie Davis of Neighborhood Stories
Airs week of: 2010-05-05 (Originally: 2009-06-03)

Audio will be posted here by 2010-05-12.

“Getting Out” (52:00) Katie Davis

Go to school, keep your grades up, go to college. That’s what we tell kids — over and over. What if just leaving your apartment, and walking up the block is risky? What if it feels safer to stay home, play video games, keep a low profile. When you do go out, head somewhere safe, like the teen center, the basketball court. That was the world of African American teenager, Jesse Jean.

Jesse lived a half a block from host Katie Davis in their Washington DC neighborhood. He was lucky enough to get a scholarship to a private boarding school and brave enough to take it. Katie kept in touch with Jesse, as he moved into this new world. We hear three stories covering seven years, starting in summer, 2001.

Jesse’s Stories on NPR: 2002 Turning the Corner (photos) | 2004 Beyond Myself (photos) | 2008 An Urban Teen Beats The Odds.

Add On
Last week, CBS Sunday Morning did a similar story about the lives of 2 guys living parallel lives in Baltimore at the same time- Same Name, Two Different Stories

One is a Johns Hopkins graduate and the other is serving life in prison. Both grew up in the same neighborhood and share the same name, Wes Moore. Russ Mitchell has the story of how their lives diverged so drastically.

There are a lot of nuances to this story. One Wes had his father die when he was 4. But his father was a journalist and don't lose sight of that very important point as to where this Wes was coming from. His mom just might have gotten into a charter school lottery while the other Wes probably would never have gone to a charter school or been tossed out.

Here is the roughly 10 minute video.

His story is similar to Jesse's and the Wes Moore who is not in prison has written a book called The Other Wes Moore. Here is his web site.

Rally/Hearing to stop the charter co-location of Clinton Middle School - Monday, May 10, 5:45PM, Followed by Public Hearing

Please Forward Widely!

MONDAY MAY 10th 4:45PM

Rally/ Hearing to stop the charter co-location of Clinton Middle School.

Last chance for public comment before co-location is put to a vote at the next PEP meeting on May 18th.

The American Sign Language School

223 East 23rd Street between 2 & 3rd Aves.

PS347/47 is the only dual language American Sign Language and English public school in the country. It is a school with a long history of servicing the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community. The school is broken up in 2 parts a High School (47) and a lower school for grades pre-k - 8 (347). In addition to these school the building currently houses PS138 a school for students with disabilities and is partly occupied by Quest to Learn, a small middle school of about 70 students, which will be vacating its spot this year.

The DOE is proposing that The Clinton Middle School for Writers and Artists, a school of about 300 students replace Quest to Learn. The proposal has The Clinton School occupying the science labs which would mean required Regents science classes could not be offered to students. This would also cause issues of safety as grades K through 8 would need to occupy the same floor and share a total of 3 toilets, increase congestion in the hallways, and have classroom size increase while classroom space would be decreased, since the proposal calls for small conference rooms to be made into classrooms.

The students, teachers and staff need the space to communicate. ASL is a visual language that requires movement through space. One needs to be able to see the speaker in order to understand and respond. This is not possible by sitting in rows. Why is the DOE making 4 schools suffer at the will of 1?

See Kolodner piece in the Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/05/09/2010-05-09_doe_deaf_to_needs_schools_hearingimpaired_students_losing_space_race.html


The Take Away
These attacks are continuing and GEM is fighting back.

What can you do?

GEM meeting of schools organizing Committee: Tuesday 5pm Cuny Grad. Center

WHAT: GEM school organizing Committee

WHEN: Tuesday May 11th, 5pm

Where: CUNY grad. center ROOM 5409 BET. 34/35th street on 5th ave. TRAINS: 6, R, N, F, D, Q, B, V

Folks, things are getting serious and we need to step up the pressure and the actions. Our union is not doing the organizing work a union should be doing so it is up to US!

GEM(grassroots education movement: http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com is working on organizing on the school level to fight back against the attacks on public education and to fight for a more just, equitable and community based education system in our city.

We are working with any teacher who wishes to start a fight back committee in their school, or just wants to get discussion going among staff and parents about issues affecting their schools.

GEM members are planning for a pre school picket early in June against budget cuts and are inviting others to take action the same day in a show of solidarity across the city. If you are interested in learning more about this action or about how to start conversations among your staff or just want to learn about what GEM is up to and how we can support you in your school please come on Tuesday. If you are interested but can't attend the meeting please respond by sending an email to gemnyc@gmail.com.

Final Days of Pakter Hearing- Monday and Tuesday

Ed Note:

For those who have not seen a 3020 hearing, here is your chance. This is a special case in that the hearing officer is Douglas Bantle who is fair minded and gives the defense a chance. There's a lot of back story here about DOE attempts to settle on certain conditions. It seems they know they have a good chance to lose this one. So they are pulling out every stop. I'm not sure what it is safe to write about, so I will be cautious at this point. An important note is that with all the backlog of cases and the need to resolve many of them under the new rubber room agreement with the corresponding need to hire many more hearing officers, Bantle is being "fired."

Note also that there are no penalties for DOE officials caught in lies.

As I have been warning people, start taping EVERYTHING. Pre and post observations and even your own lessons where you are being observed.

PLEASE POST - Reporters, Journalists and Bloggers - PLEASE POST
For Immediate Release

On Monday, May 10, at 10 AM --

For the first time in the history of NYC Dept of Education Teacher Trials, a State Hearing Officer has requested and will allow an accused NYC Teacher to play secret tapes in his possession to prove his innocence.


This is a ground breaking event and will prove beyond any doubt that former

'Teacher of the Year', David Pakter, was falsely accused of wrongdoing by the NYC DOE.

No member of the media, Legal community or anyone interested in Justice can afford to miss this unique, first ever milestone in the history of the long struggle by NYC Educators to receive fair treatment and "Due Process" at the hands of the 23 Billion Dollar New York City Dept of Education.

Where: 49 Chambers Street, Manhattan 6th Floor

When: 10 A.M.

Who: Hon. Douglas J. Bantle, Esq. - Presiding

Christopher M. Callagy, Esq. - for the Defense

Philip Oliveri, Esq. - Prosecuting for NYC



*************************

Note: New York City teachers have been removed from their classrooms and schools for decades based on the flimsiest heresay, fabricated allegations and bogus charges. Often the teacher is totally innocent of the accusations but is at the mercy of a system that makes proving one's innocence difficult if not impossible.

The NYC Dept of Education will present Witnesses who despite being under Sworn Oath, will lie with impunity and not hesitate to commit the most outrageous acts of Perjury knowing that there is virtually no price to be paid if caught.

On Monday, May 10, at 10 A.M.

for the first time in history, a courageous and independent Hearing Officer, sitting in Judgement to decide a highly Decorated Educator's fate, will allow David Pakter to have a fair shot at Justice.

The Honorable Douglas J. Bantle, Esq. will permit the accused to let the entire public learn the Truth by playing a tape recording proving "who" said "what" and "where" and "when".

The Hearing Officer and the Attorneys will all hear what those who accused Mr. Pakter said - or did not say- from their own lips.

The great French writer,Victor Hugo, once said:

"There is no force on Earth so powerful as an Idea whose time has come."

That time is 10 A.M. on Monday, May 10

at 49 Chambers Street, 6th Floor, Manhattan.

Be a Witness to History.

_______________________________________

Warning: the 6th Floor Receptionist has been known to falsely inform the Public there is NO Pakter Hearing scheduled.

Do Not Leave. Demand to speak to an Official. mily:Times New Roman;font-size:180%;" >"There is no force on Earth so powerful as an Idea whose time has come."

That time is 10 A.M. on Monday, May 10

at 49 Chambers Street, 6th Floor, Manhattan.

Be a Witness to History.

_______________________________________

Warning: the 6th Floor Receptionist has been known to falsely inform the Public there is NO Pakter Hearing scheduled.

Do Not Leave. Demand to speak to an Official.

*************************************

Juan Gonzalez: Big Banks Making a Bundle On New Construction as Schools Bear the Cost

“Wealthy investors and major banks have been making windfall profits by using a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction,” Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez write in the New York Daily News. “The program, the New Markets Tax Credit, is so lucrative that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years.”

See video at Democracy Now.

Reminder: Leonie Haimson gives Juan Gonzalez the Skinny Award on May 20. You are invited.(Support Class Size Matters with a $75 or $100 contribution.) Details here.

By the way, which newspaper in NYC has the most intrepid ed reporters - named Gonzalez, Kolodner and Monahan?