E4E Event: 2,840 did not show up - A Date with E4E and the UFT

The question is: which group was more unhappy to see me? We did a house count - only 140 of the supposed 3000 E4E supporters showed at the much publicized screening of "American Teacher." And GEM had 650 people at the premiere of TITBWFS.

Before filling you in on my visit to the UFT Queens ATR meeting and to the E4E free screening of "American Teacher" at the AMC on 42nd St where I handed out leaflets promoting the GEM Oct. 14 screening of the "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman," which so disturbed Sydney Morris that she called theater security to have me removed, I need to do a little catching up.

I took the last few days off from blogging to focus on my wrist and shoulder therapy, watch some baseball, enjoy the beautiful outdoor weather while reading and smoking a few stogies and fasting - not that I'm religious but I just love the annual break the fast party and what would be the point of a break the fast party if you didn't fast?

I have a massive number of things to write about - ATR updates, Rhambo anti-union campaign in Chicago losing traction, the hypocrisy of Pedro Noguera, charter school parents telling their horror stories, and the Wall Street Occupation and how teachers are getting involved - and I want to head down there today to work out arrangements for the showing of our film one day.

I also want to let everyone know about 2 major GEM events this week -

1. The GEM high stakes testing committee has partnered with other groups to move this issue which has been used to destabilize the entire education system in this nation.

It is Time to Change the Stakes!

Join us for an evening with Yong Zhao…
October 12, 2011
Location:  I.S. 89 201 Warren Street   New York, NY  10282
Time:  6:30-8:30 PM
Sponsored by:  Class Size Matters, Grassroots Education Movement, I.S. 89 PTA, Parents Across America, and Time-Out From Testing

Yong Zhao is a MAJOR voice and this is a rare chance for us to hear him speak. Julie Cavanagh is so excited we had to tie her down. The announcement is on the GEM blog.

Free Screening
2. Friday night Oct. 14 is a major GEM screening of our film with one of the lights of the movie "American Teacher" Jamie Fidler as a guest panelist. See the GEM announcement.
Even if you have seen the film, come spend a Friday evening with some of the dynamic activists in the NYC ed movement. Remember - in May we had 650 people at our premiere.

Here's the poster:

The surreal world of the UFT and E4E
Okay, back to business. Given how uncomfortable both the UFT massive corps of staffers who attended the Queens ATR meeting and the E4E leadership were with my presence at their events, I have to give the congeniality award to --- drum roll please ----

The UFT

There was absolutely no attempt to interfere with my distribution of the GEM ATR leaflet. I was only asked by Qns borough chief Rona Freiser to not speak which I honored because I didn't want to take any time from what looked like at least a hundred ATRs who had a lot on their minds. But in the hour I spent  there I often wanted to jump out of my skin. I will report on the general ATR situation and on what I thought were some rational things the UFT was saying and on the outrageous "who me? the union has your back - blame the incompetence of the DOE if things go wrong" attitude. I had bruises on my forehead from slapping myself silly. You can read some excellent reports on the Queens meeting by Chaz's School Daze: The UFT Tried To Make "Lemonade Out Of A Lemon" But To The ATRs It Still Tasted Sour) and other borough reports at  NYCATR.

On to E4E: After the disappointing turnout for Walcott how many would show for a free movie?


I left the UFT meeting at 5:30 to head over to the AMC 42nd St where E4E was sponsoring a showing show "American Teacher" so I could hand out fliers with the poster urging people who showed up to come to our screening. I had registered for a ticket - I thought - but it seems Sydney didn't have my name on her list. "We had so many people register the theater had to move us to a bigger space," Sydney said with a smug look on her face. Then she turned coy. "But if you sign our pledge, we can get you in." "Hmmm, I'll think about it for a while," I said and stood off to the side near the escalator to hand the leaflet to people as they got their tickets. At this point, Miss Congeniality turned ugly, clearly perturbed that people might get to know there was a Real Reform movie being shown on Oct. 14. So Sydney has security called to hassle me. I went through a song and dance with this guy for a while before deciding I might as well stand in front of the theater by the signs E4E had put up and just ask people if they were there for the event.

That turned out to be a better opportunity (thanks Sydney) and I had some nice conversations with people, including a few who had seen our movie and loved it. It became clear that many of the attendees had nothing to do with E4E but were teachers interested in saving $12 bucks on a movie about teachers. (How much did this event cost Bill Gates and DFER?) I even had a great chat with some cool Tweed youngish staffers who were Ed Notes readers. And an E4E person who has gotten some publicity took my card and said, "We have to talk." Hmmm. Waiting for the call.

Counting the house
A fellow GEMer had signed up for a ticket and I gave him some leaflets to take in with him for people I missed. He texted me with a final count of 140 - let's add 20 more who may have come late. So with all the pub and full and part-time staffers, with every event, E4E demonstrates its increasing weakness and isolation. No wonder they are trying to keep the Gates/DFER money flowing by starting a branch in LA as our pal at South Bronx School (Princess Sydney Morris Writes An Email To Los Angeles Teachers) with his impeccable sources inside E4E has been reporting.

Inviting E4E to our screening
I do want to say that most of my encounters with E4E staffers have been pleasant - they seem trained in the same type of non-confrontational strategies we see from the charter school gang - a passive/aggressive style. One new guy came out to chat - Evan ran out to check to make sure I wasn't indoctrinating him and I invited both of them and anyone they want to bring from E4E to our screening and to take part in the discussion. I even suggested they sponsor a screening of the GEM film - to much laughter on both our parts.
-------------------
Well, heading over to Occupy Wall Street to find teachers doing a grade-in and to ask people if they will vote for Obama if the election were today.
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

UFT ATR Empathy

Disbelief at Qns ATR meeting.
Issue is DOE mis-management. Just wait 'till new mayor. Gee- we've heard this since Giuliani. They must mean Quinn who came out against LIFO.
It's all about how hard the union is working for you. Didn't they defend Lifo? So being moved from school to school every week is cheap price to pay for no layoffs.
Here's an idea to create empathy:
UFT staffers to be moved to different borough every week. Will receive an email on Thursday telling them which office to report to on Monday.
Additional Empathy for HS teachers put in elementary or middle school and Elem put in middle schools.
Pension experts will be given U-rating covers. Grievance experts will handle pensions.

Educators 4 Excellence: Dying Embers

Losing Traction, Pleas for People to Come to Free Screening Tonight. Are Sydney and Evan about to abandon the NYC ship? Will Bill Gates and Joe Williams ask for their money back?

Ed Notes and our pal at South Bronx School (who has been relentless in his assault) have been pointing to the lack of traction E4E has been getting despite ed deform funding, enormous publicity and backing from the Department of Education. We pointed to the poor turnout at their Sept. 19 event when Walcott brought along his top deputies (Shael, Weiner and more) to try to pump some life into E4E. That Sept. 23 post - E4E: 3000 Members, 2900 Don't Show - Walcott And C... was one of the most popular.

But the ed deform attempts to undermine teacher unions from within has not been going well - see Mike Klonsky on Rhambo's failure in Chicago. (Thankfully, the CTU didn't take Zorn's advice).

We surmised that E4E's push to eliminate LIFO (last in first out) and make tenure very tough to get rebounded on them when many of their supporters were denied tenure or had their tenure extended while seeing the next crop of teachers coming into their schools to replace older teachers - you know, like the 26 year-olds. Seeing so many unfair denial of tenure for political instead of educational reasons - principals who want to demonstrate how tough they are - turned many E4E sympathizers on to the benefits of LIFO.

In addition, their initial crop of supporters, mainly from Teach for America, began to fulfill their 2-year term and are leaving. So they have to continually renew their organizing. Believe me, as someone trying to organize teachers for 40 years, we don't waste time worrying about the people likely to leave - focusing instead on career teachers, the very crew groups like E4E and TFA shun with their "abandon the children you claim you care so much about so you can go make and influence educational policy."

Of course the fact they can hire 3 or 4 organizers gives them a leg up - imagine if GEM could do that - we could actually break the UFT Administration (our new term for the people running the union) blackout of our movie.

E4E tried to pack the Education Nation forum - I even received an email a teacher in Kansas City making that point - every one of them made sure to mention E4E when they spoke - asking where was GEM? I responded, GEM are real teachers and have better things to do than waste a Sunday promoting themselves - though I made sure to mention GEM when I asked a question to challenge Michelle Rhee on her big DC cheating scandal at Monday's panel.

In their latest update, E4E is still offering free tickets to tonight's screening of American Teacher:

E4E is hosting a free screening of "American Teacher", a new documentary, TOMORROW, Thursday, October 6 at 7:00 PM. Matt Damon narrates the film, which is based on a book about teacher salaries by novelist Dave Eggers. After the screening, the director will join us for a discussion.  

• Where: AMC Empire 25, 243 W. 42nd Street near 8th Avenue
• When: Thursday, October 6 at 7:00 PM
• RSVP: Join us for a free screening of American Teacher!

How funny. GEM is holding a free screening of "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" on Oct. 14 and our guest speaker is the star of American Teacher, Jamie Fidler, a Real Reformer who has taught for almost a decade in elementary school in Brooklyn.

If you sign up, E4E insists not only on your signing the loyalty oath, but extracting every bit of info they can get out of you. Think the violation of privacy they demand is a put-off?

SBS has an inside source at E4E and his latest is revealing, claiming his source says S&E are thinking of relocating to Los Angeles:

According to our source deep inside E4E both Little Evan and Princess Sydney are disappointed not only with the lack of a groundswell supporting them and E4E, but the lack of headway they have made. Think about it, all the major initiatives they have proposed have all hit the ground with a tremendous thud. Nice way to spend all of Bill Gates' hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Read it all: Educators4Excellence 90210

SHOW ED DEFORMERS YOU SUPPORT A REAL REFORM MOVIE: 

OCT. 14 IS YOUR CHANCE. WE DON'T ASK FOR LOYALTY OATHS OR FOR YOU TO REVEAL EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION INCLUDING YOUR UNDERWEAR SIZE TO GET FREE ENTRY

Meet Jamie Fidler and other RRs. 

And if you'd like a copy of this to post in your school, email me at normsco@gmail.com

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

ATR Update: The Real Civil Rights Issue of Our Time - Reports from Brooklyn/Bronx UFT ATR Meetings

 UFT/DOE Sub Arrangement Makes No Sense - Unless you understand - which the UFT keeps denying  - that the entire arrangement is designed to turn ATRs - mostly older and many people of color - into weary day-to-day subs in schools where they don't know the kids with the hope they will get worn down and just plain retire or quit. I'll bet they have a computer program that calculates the furthest distance they can send a teacher legally.

The real civil rights issue of our time
Some civil rights organization ought to go and count the incredibly high percentage of African-American teachers in this pool. Even I was astounded at the Brooklyn meeting yesterday at the imbalance based on race.

I was there to give out the GEMATR Committee leaflet to advertise the October 20 meeting we are holding with the aim of solidifying an ATR support group capable of impacting on DOE and UFT policies. We think we already have begun to have an impact.

Let's start with this email from an older ATR who is only teaching under a decade in a hard to staff license area. The kind of license they are bringing people over from the Philippines to teach in. (How perfect to hold deportation over the head of teachers.) Getting a position should be a slam dunk. NOT!

This ATR makes so much sense you know there is something behind the curtain here and we know what it is.

Norm
Please read this carefully and seriously tell me what I am missing.  UFT claimed that much of the problem is that principals gamed the system that getting ATRs to work off budget.  So now only those placed in actual vacancies in their license in their districts will stay; others will rotate.  But if 10 of us are playing musical chairs as subs why not just keep the ATRs at the same school as subs and make the principal verify that the ATR was not doing a regular program?  What I see is the ATR covering a vacancy if there is one, but every week or two a new face appears who doesn't know the kids and probably doesn't know the culture or the subject and nothing will be learned.  Just like the last month where I have been covering and feebly attempting to teach living environment.  I refuse to believe that there aren't ATR science teachers in the Bronx who could do a better job than me.

I tried to check and could not find any openings in my district so I guess I'll be subbing somewhere else.  Now, based on how poorly so many students do on the Math Regents, making me a Math tutor or second teacher would seem sensible.  ATRs if not assigned to a vacancy in their license should be an extra resource in their license when not subbing. This is how it should be.

We have to focus on how the students are hurt, not about ourselves in order to get the public behind us.

Report from Brooklyn ATR Meeting (Tuesday, October 4)

UFT TO ATRS: INFORMATION YES, ORGANIZATION NO WAY IN HELL
By Philip Nobile

A crowd of one hundred, mostly over 40, listened to a 45-minute presentation by Special Rep Amy Arundell and Co-Staff Director LeRoy Barr and then asked lots and lots of questions about our absurd predicament for almost two hours. The presenters were incisive and sympathetic in the information department. Apparently, they had cooled off from their hot meeting in The Bronx on Monday.

“We know the DOE will screw things up and we’ll stay on top of this,” promised Barr who repeated the party line that ATRs should be happy rather than angry with their new deal. “It was not an ATR agreement, it was a no layoff agreement,” he emphasized. “The DOE said you didn’t work. They wanted to lay you off. We will not allow them to lay you off.” Nevertheless, Barr’s solidarity soon evaporated when he squelched the unanimous clamor for establishing borough chapters to represent our interests. “We’re not here to talk about that,” he said, adding with typical top-down arrogance, “that’s not what you want.”

The Information
Arundell, a former middle school Social Science teacher from The Bronx, is the UFT’s personnel person and now its designated ATR authority and apologist. She began with the mechanics of next week’s rotation and later addressed specific inquiries. Some highlights:

►Brooklyn high school teachers will be assigned to District 73 or District 76 (including, horrors, Staten Island). K-8 teachers will remain in the districts from which they were excessed. This is a contractual right.
►Principals cannot keep you in your current school unless they hire you to fill vacancy, budget you on Galaxy, and inform the DOE. No exceptions.
►Your file stays in school from which you were excessed and it’s unclear where files go if your school is closed.
►You can be observed anytime, even if you’re teaching out of license.
►Ratings are up in the air. No agreement yet with DOE, but UFT is opposed to evaluating teachers who spend only one week, even one month, in schools.
►If you’re absent, see the payroll secretary. For long term absence, contact Special Rep Debbie Poulos. For personal days, call your District Rep.
►If you don’t get a new assignment in DOE email by Friday, report to current school next Tuesday.

No Way In Hell Organization

Several attendees, including this correspondent, protested the UFT’s pretense of representation via strange and ever-changing Chapter Leaders and soon-to-be overwhelmed District reps as back-ups. Without chapters of our own, we are out of the normal union loop, unable to attend chapter meetings and forbidden access to Delegate Assemblies. Even our allegedly lesser brethren in rubber rooms of yore had elected liaisons and monthly meetings at 52 Broadway. Denying such basic union rights to ATRs is unconscionable.

Arundell pre-emptively defended the UFT’s third class representation of ATRs (i.e., after regular teachers and past rubber roomers). “I will respectfully disagree that Chapter Leaders are not capable of representing you,” she said, raising her voice. “YOU ARE REPRESENTED. YOU ARE NOT A DISTINCT CLASS.”

Nobody in the audience bought this poppycock. Cheers and clapping greeted the following dissents.

►Herb Michael, former Chapter Leader: “I’m not convinced I’m really represented. We’re in a special situation. That’s why there’s a special agreement including a committee to review compliance. I’d feel more comfortable if some ATRs looked at it. We need to meet on a regular basis. Why can’t we have a motion on the floor to elect a chapter leader?”
This when Barr claimed that he knew better, that we didn’t want chapters to rep us. Adopting Randi’s line against rubber room chapters, he said “You don’t want to be in a permanent class.” Such strained reasoning--as if chapter status would mean anything more than standard representation for us outcasts. At the least, Randi appeased reassigned teachers with monthly meetings in Manhattan. But ATRs in good standing are deprived of that small kindness.

►John Lawhead: “I’m amazed at the innocence of your assumptions. I’m in a school with no Chapter Leader. And now you’re telling us that District Leaders are going to make up the difference? What kind of union do you want to be, merely a service organization? You’ve got to use us in some way. We could be reps in schools.”
By this time, Barr was gone and Brooklyn Borough Rep Howie Schoor stood in at the podium. He was whispering in Arundell’s ear while Lawhead spoke and may have missed his larger point about the UFT’s soul. But puffing up, he said that he would make certain that District Reps did their jobs.

►Your correspondent, former Chapter Leader and three-year graduate of Brooklyn’s Chapel St. rubber room: “I wanted to thank LeRoy for telling us what we want. But I know what we want. (turning to the audience) How many of you want a chapter for ATRs? (the room erupted unanimously in favor and I turned back to Schoor). Will you explain why we can’t have a chapter and will you give us your sign-up list so that we can better organize?

Schoor and I have a complicated history. He is a nice fellow and has been generous with his time and assistance over the years. But just as often he has failed in nerve a` propos my quarrels with the UFT and DOE. For example, I sent him three emails prior to the meeting asking for permission to briefly organize ATRs on site before the start of his informational. No response. So I renewed my request on arrival. The answer was no. “It’s our meeting,” he said. I reminded him that his Special Rep Liz Perez, speaking for Barr, originally rejected my suggestion for an ATR gathering and that today’s meeting was just as much ours as the UFT’s. That got me nowhere, of course. Thereupon I entered the packed conference room and while people finished up their noshes, I defied Schoor by introducing myself and urging my colleagues to press our agenda as outlined in a Grassroots Education Movement broadsheet handed out by Norm Scott of ednotesonline. Schoor tried to shut me down almost immediately, but let me finish without interruption.

As for our demand for a chapter, ever the tone deaf bureaucrat, Schoor declared that Union policy was made by the Executive Committee and Delegate Assemblies blah, blah, blah. And no, he would not share the sign-up list. In retort, I jabbed, “Such is the democracy we work in!”
As the meeting wound down, two older female ATRs summed up our frustration with cris de coeur eliciting loud cheers. Said one: “Mulgrew doesn’t seem to care. Notice he’s not here and I bet he won’t be at the other meetings either.”

And the other: “It all about age and money. School aides are teaching classes in my school. Principals will not hire us. Where is the union in this? I want my dues back.”

Read Marjorie Stamberg at NYC ATR
Excerpts:

The UFT leadership people presiding were Amy Arundel (Special Representative), backed up by LeRoy Barr (Staff Director), who stepped in to try to cool things out when tempers started to rise, as they did frequently.  Arundel attempted to justify the June agreement on ATRs, which grew out of the deal on no layoffs of teachers. In exchange for that, it appears the ATR situation was used a bargaining chip.

the ATR teachers at the meeting spoke out and said that in this way things were made worse for them than before.

Regarding the weekly trek from school to school, Arundel said the UFT wanted this because the principals have been gaming the system, using an ATR like a full-time staffer without any rights and without paying for them. This, they ho

 Marjorie's letter is worth reading in full: Letter from the Bronx UFT meeting

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Time for action: Wednesday - Occupy Wall Street with GEM/NYCoRE/Teachers Unite

GEM/NYCORE/Teachers Unite Contingents 

MEET-UP AT TWEED AT 4:30

Joining the rally today

Today is the big day when many forces join together at #occupywallstreet as NYU students walk the walk (see below) and some of the unions join in. While the Transport Workers Union was quick to support last week, reports of UFT support came in slowly. But as usual, as the event heated up, the UFT tailing along, jumped in. At least the leadership. There hasn't seemed to be much organizing going on at the school level to bring people out. How amazing if a 100,000 people came out like they did in Israel this summer? Not without a big push from the UFT.

I got a message that Michael Mulgrew will be on MSNBC Lawrence O'Donell tonight to talk about the Wall Street action. Pretty funny that the tail jumps to the head. Mulgrew a spokesman for the occupation? - a bottom-up operation absolutely antithetical to the way the UFT and most unions and corporations and guvment seem to work. Funny, but someone left a comment that we should expand the occupation to 52 Broadway. [Follow my parallel stories on ATRs - got one coming later.]

Even before the events on Wall Street started capturing the imagination of the nation, we could see signs of far-reaching support as parents were bringing peanut butter sandwiches down [See report from Tory below] and people starting coming to NYC from far off places to join in in some way.

I see this report as a sign of what has been tapped:

Peanut Butter on Wall St. No Peter Lugers for these Wall Street Occupier: 
From a NYC Parent leader/activist, Friday Sept. 30

Hi All,
So what a week it has been!  Sandwiches in Solidarity was a success; we delivered about 70 sandwiches to the Occupy Wall Street folks on Friday. While we were there we were interviewed by Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes, Norwegian TV and Natasha Lennard (free lance NYTimes reporter, who was arrested the next day).  A number of families were there, making signs, delivering food and generally offering support.  The occupiers need a lot of supplies though; the bad weather means they need: blankets, waterproof boots, sleeping bags, laundry support, wool socks, etc.  If you can offer anything, please do.  You can also donate here: http://nycga.cc/donate/

It is now officially safe to enter the OWS water.  The big labor unions are joining in a solidarity march on Wednesday (see here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=282473051782707) and Nicholas Kristof and others are offering their support (see here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/kristof-the-bankers-and-the-revolutionaries.html?ref=todayspaper). (PS The Times' editing of the  OWS BB arrest story has famously gone viral - see here: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/01/new-york-times-blatantly-edits-article-about-occupy-wall-street-to-protect-police-image/)

I hope that you will consider joining us on Wednesday.  Our public schools are being destroyed by budget cuts (you enjoying generic education?); you are being hit with new bank fees; insurance premiums (and profits) are at an all-time high...even if you don't worry about the last two, you are parents of public school children and if the divestment hasn't hit you yet, it soon will!  So please please please consider coming out and supporting a movement to reduce the inequality that characterizes our society and hurts all of our children!

Thanks!
All best,
Tory

Press coverage
Note how Tory mentions the way the Saturday arrest story in the Times went from sympathetic to the marchers to pro-police in the blink of an eye.

The evolving press coverage has been interesting to watch as it moved from mocking to scared mocking. Just follow some of the articles in the business section. They always try to find some kook to interview so they can make twist it a bit. But as articulate spokespeople emerge that will change, though you can always find some people who are there to do self-promotion. I even found a guy with a puppet to interview.

SHAMELESS PLUG

Make sure to see the 3 vids I made from Friday night

http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c
http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk

Keep watching the press. They seem crazy over the fact that there is no leader they can zero in on. We know that drill - they turn the leaders into media stars and then separate them from the movement. So far this is not happening. But as an old grizzled skeptic, watch out for someone trying to seize the platform (remember the days of the Yuppies in the 60's) for fame and fortune. I bet you'll see some names of leaders emerge in the next week - but as long as they are in some way responsible to the mass that can be controlled - I would urge them to change people frequently. I should point out that Justin Wedes, who was pretty much the first person arrested the day after the occupation began has been involved at the top level from the beginning. [See that video: Justin Arrest in Wall St. Occupation/...]

Call me a process guy
The press also seems crazed over the broad and non-specific agenda so they can't zero in on things to pick apart. I just heard a guy on the Today show talk about how they have to come up with legislation and get involved in traditional politics to make a difference. Sure, that's what we need - let the political system suck a street movement into its jaws.

What the smart people I've heard from the movement - or the nascent movement say is the important thing is the process of building activism in a great mass of people who at some point will decide exactly it is what they want. Gee, democracy of some sorts. Drives them crazy that this doesn't have someone standing up and telling everyone what to do. In a world where results are all that seems to matter, the idea that the process takes precedence over results makes the people with the corporate mentality that is running the world nuts.

That seems to be what we've been trying to do in GEM. "What are your aims," is what I get all the time? I don't know. My aims are to get as many great people working together as possible and assume they will figure all this stuff out while I head out to pasture. [Just a side note - when we started ICE 8 years ago it was more specific - run in the 2004 UFT election - and the focus became much too much the UFT, which really became boring after a while. Thus the more generalized and broader work we're doing in GEM - and many core ICEers are involved - has allowed much more outreach and attracted people who don't really give a rat's ass about nitty gritty of the UFT.]

Yesterday after handing out ATR leaflets at the Brooklyn UFT ATR meeting [Ed Notes:GEMATR Committee Report: What Happens in the Bronx Doesn't Stay in the Bronx] I headed over to the DC37 rally at City Hall [Ed Notes:Wall Street Merger: DC37 School Aide Protest + #Occupy Wall St] just in time to hear Mona Davids speak. I got there at 5:30 and the event didn't look like much. I did see James Eterno and Sean Ahern. But people who had been there earlier estimated a few hundred people to start and that doubled when the OccupyWallStreet people marched up to join them.

Angel Gonzalez who has been working with the teacher union in Puerto Rico sent this along:

 Puerto Rico Educators send support: UPR Strike Leaders Solidarity with Wall St. Occupation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkklXJvOspI

Angel Gonzalez, FMPR Support Committee

 

NYU Students announcement

NYU Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

Wednesday, October 5th

4pm, Washington Square Park (by the fountain)

March to City Hall to join the Community/Labor March to Occupy Wall Street

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168561836560896

(Come at 3:30pm for poster-making, or bring your own!)

*NYU students and workers: Join us for the National Student Walkout in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street!

*Stop what you are doing/walk out of class/leave the library at 4pm on Wednesday, October 5th. 

*We will meet in the middle of Washington Square Park and march together to City Hall, where we'll join the Community/Labor March in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, endorsed by dozens of NYC unions and community groups including the United Federation of Teachers, SEIU 32BJ and SEIU 1199, the Transit Workers Union Local 100, Make the Road New York, New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts, the Alliance for Quality Education, and more!

We will also be joining students from around the city who are organizing walkouts against unforgivable student debt and soaring tuition rates

Join us to protest the arrest of 700 marchers on the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, while the banksters who wrecked the economy remain free. Join us to protest the horrific inequality that leaves 1 in 3 New York City children in poverty while Mayor Bloomberg sits on a $20 billion fortune. Join us to protest the foreclosure crisis that has driven millions from their homes, while bank profits soar. Join us because We Are the 99 Percent! Join us because a better world is possible!

If your group would like to endorse, please be in touch! 

Most importantly, spread the word by inviting ALL of your friends on Facebook, making announcements in your classes, and sharing this e-mail. 

Contact: owsnyu@gmail.com

I am not sure if I can make it down today as we have tickets to a Spiderman matinee - TDF half price of course - maybe a sign the show is waning in interest? I am bringing a net in case someone falls on me. I may have them hook me up to the harness and fly me down to meet the crew at Tweed at 4:30


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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for breaking news bits.

Wall Street Merger: DC37 School Aide Protest + #Occupy Wall St.

I hope you read my post the other day:

NYC Schools Use Child Labor to Replace School Aides

The NY Times talked about the impact of these layoffs of the lowest paid workers yesterday:

N.Y.C. Layoffs to Hit Poorest Schools Hardest :By FERNANDA SANTOS  - In a scattered pattern, some districts and Staten Island are skipped, but schools with many poor or struggling students are disproportionately affected.

All this while the DOE has let (and maybe encouraged) to let thieves steal them blind. See Patrick Sullivan's post at NYCParent Blog (click on title link to read it all).

Bloomberg Education Record Stained by More Corruption

Special Commissioner for Investigation Richard Condon has released a blockbuster report on the fraud perpetuated by favored DOE contractor FTA. (Report pdf is here.) The SCI points to fraud of at least $6.5 million. The worst part of this episode is that despite obvious warning signs, DOE pressed ahead with giving more business to the firm.

And this:

A new government probe has corroborated the disclosure of a major corruption
scandal within the New York City public school system. The Special
Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City Public School District
has confirmed that the firm Future Technology Associates has charged
taxpayers between $110 to $140 an hour for the wages of workers it was
actually paying ten times less. The workers were employed at dummy companies
based in India and Turkey. To date Future Technology Associates has received
$74 million in school system contracts. The scandal has led to the
resignation of one school official involved in the fraud and company owners
are expected to be indicted in the coming weeks. The report repeatedly cites
the work of Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily News correspondent
Juan Gonzalez, whose exposure of the fraud kick-started the investigation
two years ago.

  http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/3/headlines#13

Then came this great news:

Occupy Wall Street protesters are set to join in this afternoon’s school aid layoffs protest. Daily News

There's another angry rally planned for lower Manhattan Tuesday - this one focused on hundreds of city workers scheduled to be laid off at the end of the week.

Labor leaders, frustrated Department of Education employees and their supporters will vent their rage outside City Hall from 4p.m. to 6 p.m.

And now it looks like some of the Occupy Wall Street protesters will be heading over to join the crowd.

While I'm not sure if the Wall Street "zombies" will make a guest appearance, here's what we do know: More than 700 people who work in school support-staff positions are losing their jobs.

That includes school aides and parent and community coordinators who, in general, are some of the lowest-paid people in the city educational system.

More than 75% of the workers being laid off make less than $20,000 per year and work 20 hours per week, according to District Council 37, which represents the employees.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2011/10/04/2011-10-04_add_school_layoffs_to_agenda_downtown.html#ixzz1ZpZSnrX1

Hey, Wall Street is being occupied. Mergers are part of the game.

Follow Occupy Wall Street at: http://occupywallst.org/

Afterburn - hot diggity
In Solidarity With Occupy Wall Street, Transport Union sues to block using bus drivers to help arrest Protesters

========================================
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

GEMATR Committee Report: What Happens in the Bronx Doesn't Stay in the Bronx

I sent out this report to the GEMATR committee this morning with a report on the Bronx UFT ATR Meeting yesterday. Look for reports from the Brooklyn meeting today.

Welcome to new recruits to the GEMATR Committee. Our last updates were sent out on Sunday Oct. 2. If you signed up after that and want to receive it email gemnyc@gmail.com. Also - if you are planning on attending the meeting we are calling for Oct. 20 let us know so we have an idea of how many will be there.  Details: ATR Strategy and Information Meeting on October 20

Attached are the 2 leaflets we are sending out. The first is what you should share with other attendees. The 2nd is a signup sheet for people who are interested. [obviously not attached here but email me if you want a copy - to the right- to share with other ATRs or hand out at the other UFT ATR meetings.] Read the text of the leaflet at NYCATR: ATR = Absolutely Teaching Ready

Update on the blogs:

Gotham Schools has a report on the UFT Meetings: Union to detail ATR plan at meetings for position-less teachers

Go leave your comments. Philip Nobile said:

Your story on this week’s UFT/ATR meetings in borough offices is upside down. You make it seem as if the union is doing us ATRs a favor. In fact, the UFT originally brushed off our request for a sitdown and real union representation. Instead they offered us the crumb of tracking down strange chapter leaders as we trudged from school to school every week throughout the year. Clearly, Mulgrew does not want us to organize and will undoubtedly refuse our demand for chapter status. Three times I asked Brooklyn Borough Rep Howie Schoor to allow us ATRs to meet privately on site before the formal meeting and three times he dodged the question. Such is Unity’s undemocratic instinct.

Chaz says:

Presently, the UFT inaction has embarrassed their members and alienated the ATRs that they are supposed to represent.
Below is a report sent in by an attendee at Monday's ATR in the Bronx. If you attended, please send in your reports. Ed Notes and NYCATR will be publishing reports from all the UFT ATR Meetings this week and next. If you are going to a meeting, consider the goals - to get the UFT to act by building an ATR force. Instead of telling personal stories, push the demands in the leaflets.

Read his full post: http://chaz11.blogspot.com

Check the latest at the mouthpiece for ATRs: http://nycatr.blogspot.com

UFT ATR Meetings continue:
Today: Brooklyn
Tomorrow: SI
Thurs: Queens
Next Tuesday: Manhattan - if any of you would like to join us handing out leaflets at this event in front of 52 Broadway, please let us know.

The Bronx meeting from an ATR who attended:

Similar to the white shirts elsewhere in demo vs. the power conflicts --which shall be nameless,   the UFT had 3 white shirts in jackets on the sides and the front of the hall.
About an equal number of staff were along the left and rear walls of the hall.
Two staff or reps stood at the front of the hall.  One of these and one of the shirts in suits did most of the UFT chattering.
Refreshingly, they did not orchestrate too much.
One the reps chattered long with her answers.  I didn't have the guts to yell time or time check.
The hall seemed full.  I'd estimate about 120 attendees.  I was quite surprised.
The tone was overwhelmingly displeased.  A handful of them spoke with passion.
Alas, FARRRR too many arcane personal stories.
A lot of people seemed open to coming to the October 20 meeting.
The meeting's leader's mantras were:

"Be lucky you have a job"

"Bloomberg wanted to fire all of you."

"We're fighting really hard for you."

If we had said it's going to rain tomorrow, they would say these things.
If we had mentioned the Jets game, they would say these things.

===============
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

Randi Weingarten Holds Book Party for Steve Brill at Her DC Home

Who's the Trojan Horse? Randi or Brill?

Last Update: Tues, Oct. 4, 6:50 AM

I've been criticized even by some real reformers for declaring Randi Weingarten a collaborator with the ed deformers. "She's not a class enemy," some say "just because she makes errors in judgement." You decide if making Bill Gates the keynote speaker at the AFT convention or consistently taking positions counter to the interests of teachers she supposedly represents are "errors of judgment."


Tuesday night, Randi will be having Steve Brill over for a little ed deform celebration of his anti-teacher diatribe "Class(less) Warfare" – Just in case you don't have any doubts as to whose photo belongs on the Trojan Horse....


Will the Mighty Casey (Leo) come to the plate and take a big swing or a called third strike?

Mike Klonsky tweeted tonight:

"Guess which best-selling anti-union author will be at Randi's house tomorrow [Tues. Oct. 4] for her big party? My invite must be lost in the mail" 

followed by 

"Hint... He recommended her for NYC chancellor at the end of his book after bashing her and the AFT throughout the rest of it."

Actually Brill gave it away on Morning Joe on September 30 when we got this email:

Shocking Brill disclosure about Randi on Morning Joe: Brill said that Randi would be throwing book party for Class(less) Warfare in D.C.

Randi = Ed Deformer. Squared.
Regular readers here will not be surprised that Randi is throwing a classless party to honor the author of "Class Warfare" while teachers in New York City suffer the highest class sizes in decades. Randi is billed as a reformer by ed deformers. You know - if A=B and B=C than A=C. Simple math.

Randi betrays Ravitch
Take a look at Diane Ravitch interviewing the anti-teacher, anti-union (no matter what he says) Brill. Brill spends a lot of time crying that teaching is the only job where no one is accountable or paid for performance. I guess he missed story after story about how incompetent top-level corporate execs get paid fortunes for failure. Maybe Randi is throwing the party so she can give Brill this article:

Let’s Stop Rewarding Failed C.E.O.’s - Common Sense 

Far too often when chief executives are ousted for poor performance, their companies lavish them with millions in bonuses and other compensation as they depart. 

Or this: Outsize Severance Continues for Executives, Even After Failed Tenures

Eye-popping severance packages thrive in spite of the measures put in place in the wake of the financial crisis to crack down on excessive pay.

Poor Brill. He misses so much of what is going on in the real world of finance. Teachers are so much more accountable than these jokers.

Read Ravitch's devastating NY Review of Books review of Brill's book (Diane Ravitch dissects Steven Brill's Class Warfare).

Steven Brill’s Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools celebrates the improbable consensus among conservative Republicans, major foundations, Wall Street financiers, and the Obama administration about school reform. Brill, a journalist and entrepreneur, portrays the leaders of today’s reform movement as heroes.

Diane lists a batch of these heroes but doesn't mention that Brill included Randi Weingarten as a deformer worthy of praise. 

Brill’s book is actually not about education or education research. He seems to know or care little about either subject. His book is about politics and power, about how a small group of extremely wealthy men have captured national education policy and have gained control over education in states such as Colorado and Florida, and, with the help of the Obama administration, are expanding their dominance to many more states. Brill sees this as a wonderful development. Others might see it as a dangerous corruption of the democratic process. …

Class Warfare is not about a “classroom war,” but literally a “class war,” with a small group of rich and powerful people poised to take control of public education, which apparently has for too long been in the hands of people lacking the right credentials, resources, and connections.“

So the question is: is Randi letting Brill into her home as a Trojan Horse, just as she opened the door to Bill Gates at the AFT convention in Seattle? Or is the ed deformer Randi Weingarten the real Trojan Horse? Have any doubts? Check the state of conditions teachers all over the nation find themselves as the union leadership that ostensibly represents them lies down with the enemy.

Casey at the bat
Now on to poor UFT HS VP Leo Casey who now has to figure out a way to justify Randi's actions. Hmmm. Let me see. She really invited a guy named Steve Grill but the invitation went to Brill by mistake.

Leo had this little spat with Brill over his comments on Brill's book and got this little comment on Edwize from Brill.

When diatribes like this distort my book and distort the facts, I can usually take solace in the old PR cliche that “at least you spelled my name right.” But here in addition to everything else you even got that wrong.
Steven Brill

Here are a few of Casey's comments:

Class Warfare: that’s the title Steven Brill gave to his recent book on the state of American education.
With such a title, one might think that that Brill’s book would investigate how the deep class divisions between America’s wealthy class and our poor and working class, a gap that has grown immensely over the last four decades, has harmed our schools and our students. After all, educational research has shown that greatest challenge our schools face is the grinding effect of poverty on so many of the students we teach.
But Brill’s book embraces without question or qualification the diagnosis of the wealthy Wall Street hedge-fund managers who have driven much of the dominant ‘education reform’ agenda: in their view, the educational failures of schools and students are the fault of public school teachers and teacher unions. This Wall Street scapegoating of teachers and unions is a profoundly self-serving narrative: for if it is poverty that, above all other factors, has the greatest negative impact on educational achievement, then educational progress would require us to address why, in the words of New York Times reporter Michael Winerip, “people like [the Wall Street hedge fund managers] are allowed to make so much when others have so little.” Winerip posed this question to Brill, who replied that he had not seen the ‘class warfare’ in American education “as the rich versus the union guys, although now that you say it, I can see how you could draw that line.”
Brill demonstrates a special talent for ignoring the obvious in his book, but perhaps nowhere is his obliviousness more glaring than on the nature of the ‘class warfare’ that now afflicts American education.  ----read more at Edwize.

====================

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Wall Street Protests Capture Attention of the Nation

UPDATES:
As I put this together new info is constantly coming in. First, here is the latest video I put together.

I made 3 short videos from Friday night's protest at Police Plaza, 2 of which I posted. The first captures the marchers as they entered the Municipal Building underpass chanting, "We are the 99 percent" as they joined up with the smaller protest that began earlier with speeches - I have that for a follow-up video later on. -http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg

The second I titled "Why are you here?" where I randomly asked people that question and got some interesting responses. I really like the way this came out so check it out.
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c

Try this in your classroom
The 3rd video demonstrates the tactic of making a speech to a large crowd without sound equipment which requires a permit from the NYCPD and is often denied. So we hear the chant of "Mic Check" meaning be quiet there is a speech - the speaker uses short phrases which are then passed to the back in relay style - think of "telephone " - the game we used to play as kids where we whispered something that gets passed on and often mangled. But not here. Quite impressive with a thousand people, most sitting down to listen. If you want to show that you like what was said instead of applause, waggle your hand. It starts with chants of "Occupy everything."

Here's the you tube link - http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk



Michael Galinsky who did the great film "Battle for Brooklyn" about the Atlantic Yards corporate theft just sent this in: "http://vimeo.com/29953676 and we joined a collective film effort
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/egg/99-the-occupy-wall-street-collaborative-film."

Protests are spreading to other cities and more and more supporters are coming out here in NYC. Generally, relations between protesters and police are on the whole pretty good so don't let the pepper spray and arrests skewer things. Many people do a lot of talking to police who after all have families getting screwed too.

I just was listening to The Takeaway on NPR and they seem do exercised that they can't elicit a clear goal and demand from the protesters - until one guy said - "to build a social movement." I would say that when people ask me what our goals are in terms of the UFT and charters, etc. I would give the same answer - to activate people to the extent that they will decide in a democratic manner what the goals are. A few people making decisions is too easy to subvert by buying off the leaders. Even though Occupy Wall St. seems leaderless we all know that leaders emerge - as I've seen in the teacher movement here in NYC as new leaders are emerging but doing so in a collectivist manner.

Sunday teachers from NYCORE, Teachers Unite and GEM went down to do a Grade-In following the Chicago model we wrote about (Chicago Teachers Fight Back). In top photo GEM's Peter Lamphere of Bronx High School of Science double U-rated for union activity fame - he's the poster boy for why we need LIFO - grades paper.

Mark Naison wrote about the day -  The Wall Street Occupations and the Making of a Global Counter Culture:

Yesterday, I spent about an hour in Liberty Plaza sitting, walking around and talking to people before the event I had come for- a Grade In organized by teacher activists- finally began, and was stunned by how different the occupation was from any demonstration I had attended recently.

First of all, in contrast to the last two protests I had participated in – a Wisconsin Solidarity rally at City Hall, and the Save Our Schools March on Washinton-I saw few people my own age and no one I recognized- at least until the “Grade In” started. When I arrived, at 11 AM, most of the people in Liberty Plaza were the ones who had slept there overnight, and the vast majority were in their 20’s and 30’s- a half to a third my age. They were drumming, sweeping the sidewalk, talking to curious visitors- whom were still few in number- eating or chilling with one another and their relaxed demeanor blew me away given the tumultuous events of the day before when more than 700 protesters had been arrested by the NYPD after marching onto the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Mark and I are the same age and just relishing the rising up of the next generation. I am more focused on the people I work with in the GEM/NYCORE/TU axis and that is what keeps me involved though I am also very involved in some older gen support activities through the GEMATR committee - which I will post on later.

=========================
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

NYC Schools Use Child Labor to Replace School Aides

UPDATED: Monday, Oct. 3 - 11:30PM

With the DOE laying off 800 school aides from DC 37, there is still a need for the enormous amount of work they do still needs to be filled. And how are some schools filling the gap? Many are throwing the work onto teachers if they can get away with it - meaning, no strong chapter leader.

The other option is to use - er - misuse - students, often by pulling them from academic areas. Though I'm sure many of these students might relish the idea of doing grown-up work while getting out of class, in fact they are being used as slave labor.

ADDED COMMENT by Susan:

Sick, sick, sick is how I felt reading about the kids being pulled out of class to do clerical work formerly done by the school aids.  Even sicker when I remembered where I first heard about this.  Yes, it is the brainchild of Chris Whittle, who wrote about putting kids to work in their schools in his 2005 book Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education .  I can't believe the DOE is actually allowing it to be implemented.

Here is a description of his plans from Jim Horn's review of the book (full review at http://www.edrev.info/reviews/rev442.htm)--

" In this bravado new world of educational corporate welfare that Whittle projects out to the year 2030, the public school will remain public, in that public dollars pay the bills for personnel, transportation, food service, maintenance, and, of course, the contracting fee to Edison, Inc. or its MacSchool counterparts—yet private, in that education corporations organize, manage, hire principals who hire teachers, consult, assess, make merit pay recommendations based on those assessments, and, of course, get paid with public dollars that, in turn, make a 10% profit for the shareholders for the company. If this doesn’t sound good enough to get you to spend the $25 for this kind of visionary thinking, then add to this emerging educational utopia the need to increase class size, severely reduce the number of teachers, turn students into part-time clerical workers; and I am sure that you will agree that Whittle’s book will be required reading, at least by every reform industry lobbyist on K Street who is sure to get goose bumps at Whittles’ recurring focus on the 400 billion dollars that Americans spend on K-12 education every year."

Parents should strenuously object to their children being used in this way -- starting with the principal's office, then their CEC and city council members, and especially Christine Quinn.  I'm sure Mr. Whittle is not planning to put children to work in his "world class" Avenues private school.  Or maybe he his, the better to maximize shareholder returns on this "for-profit" school.

================
THE CORPORATE GRAVY TRAIN ROLLS ON

Danger: Corporate Sponsored Charters Coming
In this scam a corporation sets up a charter for its employees and gets 8 grand per child from public funding and supplements the rest.

==============================

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Walls Street Occupation Redux

I hope the educators out there who have been under attack are making the connections with what is going on with the protests, which are spreading to other cities. Yesterday's arrests reminds me of the scenes in Gary Shteyngart's futuristic (and not too far down the road it seems) novel, "Super, Sad, True, Love Story" about the total disintegration of society in the US where the 1%ers have pretty much everything while the rest are left to camp out in Central Park. Then the day comes when police and army helicopters start shooting and bombing the poor people camping out - not the poor you may be thinking of but the kinds of people occupying Wall St.

Really, how far are we away from that? If protests grow and possibly get out of hand - think a massive move on the streets of the financial district, we will see rubber bullets or worse - could be Egypt, could be Syria. And take a look at Syria where even while people are being shot down in the streets and tortured they keep coming.

How long before the Bloomberg/Obama people start labeling the Wall St. Occupiers "terrorists" and send the leaders - thank goodness they can't identify them though we know the cops have infiltrated - and maybe even try to be provocateurs to insight violence from some elements to discredit the movement. If you study history you know that is basic tactics 1.0.

I know there's a lot of action today and there will be a massive event on Weds. 

I'm really inspired by editing these videos from Friday night's event at Police Plaza. See the previous 3 minute video I posted last night as the Wall St. marchers joined with the smaller rally that started earlier. This video is over 7 minutes and is the next stage of the rally with slogans and short interviews I did with people asking them why they were there. (Use the direct you-tube link below if it plays slowly.)
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c 

Wall Street Occupation

There was lots of action today with a number of arrests at the Brooklyn Bridge. But the more aggressive the police the more the movement grows. Are we really in Egypt or Tunisia? Or Syria or Libya? Quadaffi for mayor? Or Assad to replace Bloomberg? At least we'd have a more responsive City Hall.

I was over at Police Plaza for Friday's rally and protest. Here are some pix and a piece of video. On Sunday teachers will be emulating Chicago with a Teach-In. See below. What are you waiting for?

Wall Street Occupation- Police Plaza Protest
A small rally at Police Plaza of union supporters was joined by the main contingent from the Wall Street Occupation which did a silent march to join the others to protest police brutality. Here they arrive and enter the plaza through the Municipal Building pathway.


Links to the 3 vids I made from Friday night

http://youtu.be/TwRu2Pxb6mg
http://youtu.be/IRcd0B7VX1c
http://youtu.be/Cc4X3arPZSk

Some more videos I didn't shoot.

Entering through the arch leading to police plaza:
http://youtu.be/U7MI3qV83Lk

This was the General Assembly in Police Plaza right in front of NYPD HQ:
http://youtu.be/ByEmdR_UUwU

I also have good footage of the General Assembly - a thousand people sitting in the plaza at a meeting. Wish the UFT Del Ass functioned as smoothly.

See Friday pix at the end of this post.

----------------

Weds Oct. 5 is big union support for the occupation.
Support grows for Oct. 5
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/29/unions-and-liberal-groups-to-join-occupy-wall-street-protest/

I'm going to the matinee of Spiderman on Weds so I probably won't make it.

Reuters: The UFT  declared their support for OWS. 
Maybe the UFT can let the occupiers use their bathrooms.

----------

This came in from a teacher Sat. afternoon

We are now marching to one police plaza where we believe they are bringing those arrested. Trapped hundreds of protestors on bridge in pouring rain and bringing in empty buses to arrest and cart people to police precinct. Please spread word to join us at one police plaza!

There is a heavy police presence here so teachers should stick together if you come down. Tweet, post, and email to help spread the world. 

Serve and protect, that's a lie!

--------

Join the October 2 Grade-In For Public Education
Public Schools and Universities Work Because We Do!

Education cuts to K-12 public schools and public Universities hurt
students by decreasing resources and decreasing the amount of time teachers,
graduate teaching fellows, and full time and part time faculty can dedicate to
their students due to an increased workload. To draw attention to the cuts
to public education, educators will grade papers to make visible the work of
teaching and call for increased public funding to make sure that students
receive a quality education.

What: Educators will lesson plan and grade papers and exams.
Bring your work and a folding chair (optional).

Who: K-12 Teachers, Graduate Teaching Fellows, Full Time and Part Time
Faculty

When: Sunday, October 2, noon-3pm
*rain date TBA* _RSVP on Facebook for updates_
(https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284224124938936)

Where: Liberty Plaza/Zuccotti Park, Manhattan
northwest side of the plaza near the #OccupyWallSt poster/art display
Cross streets: Trinity Place and Liberty St.
Trains: 4/5 (Wall St), R (Rector St.)
--------

Helping #OccupyWallStreet

Hey everyone,

A lot of people have been asking how they can help the camp if they can't come down. Here's one way:

A local art exhibit, right on Wall Street, is being devastated by over-policing, barricading and intimidation from NYPD and Homeland Security. The curator, Marika, is a strong supporter of Occupy Wall Street.

Info about the exhibit: http://www.nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=451:curated&id=577126:loft-in-the-red-zone-a-tribute-to-september-11th-

Kickstarter to help her recover lost funds: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loftintheredzone/loft-in-the-red-zone

I hope we can work together to help her continue to exist and share our beautiful work. We have volunteers working with her now, and there is even talk of featuring our artwork there!

-justin

======================

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

The Wave: Mis-Education Nation on NBC

Here is this week's column in The Wave printed Sept. 30.

Mis-Education Nation on NBC
by Norm Scott

I spent some time last Sunday and Monday covering NBC's Education Nation, which last year was a showcase for the education deformers when rank and file teacher and parent voices were mostly shut out.

Apparently NBC was embarrassed enough to offer a wider variety of opinions this year but stopped far short of succeeding in a balanced presentation. (Note: in my lexicon, I label the counter group to the Ed deformers who call themselves "reformers" as "Real Reformers." Pretty much you can tell an Ed deformer from a real reformer by how they view class size. The former disparage it while the latter put it front and center.)

There was a counter event to Education Nation dubbed Mis-Education Nation on September 27 with Real Reformers Diane Ravitch, Leonie Haimson (Class Size Matters), 4th grade teacher Brian Jones (one of the narrators of the film I did with the Grassroots Education Movement “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”) and Pedro Noguera (SUNY charter authorizer committee chair, who tries to have a foot in both the Ed deform and Real Reform camps). I’ll write about this another time.

A new star rose in the firmament at Education Nation as PS 261K teacher Jamie Fidler, one of the stars of the film "American Teacher" which premiered on Sunday September 25 at EN, went head to head with major ed deformer Jonathan Alter at the post screening panel. She was joined on the panel, moderated by Al Roker, by the three other teachers from the film and Parents Across America parent leader Helen Gym from Philadelphia.

The only logic for having Alter on this panel was that NBC had to make its sponsors happy by having a voice for Ed deform to counter what real teachers who are real reformers might say. The sponsors didn't get their monies' worth as Jamie and fellow teacher Rhena Jasey slammed the concept of Teach for America's short-term and shortsighted solutions to upgrading education after Alter brought it up.

Alter was put on the defensive and then went on to talk about the importance of extending the school day in Chicago, the current darling of ed deformers, where Mayor Rhambo Emanuel has made a longer school day, where kids can spend even more time doing test prep, out to be the most important innovation to education since the basal reader was implemented a century ago. Naturally, Rhambo wants to do this on the backs of the teachers by paying them less than the minimum wage for the extra time. The Chicago Teachers Union is being slammed for resisting.

Jamie jumped in to question the value of a longer day where children would have even less time to do the things that children should be doing that would turn them into well-rounded human beings. The Chicago Teaches Union has said it would be willing to talk about the longer day if the kids in Chicago were offered the same type of activities Rhambo's own kids were getting at the exclusive Lab School at the U of Chicago where Obama's kids also went. Ed deformers like Rhambo and Obama (and his education chief Arne Duncan, who ran the Chicago schools for 7 years and never pushed for a longer day as the golden solution) love to tell everyone else what is good for kids while their own kids get a very different kind of education than they are foisting on everyone else.

An offshoot group of Chicago teachers called “SaveOurSchools: Chicago” is running a campaign where teachers conduct Teach-Ins in public spaces with the slogan: “Teachers: come show Chicago how much work you really do! Bring Lessons to Plan, Essays to Grade, Teams to Coach, Students to Tutor, Clubs to Sponsor, and Parents to Conference.”

Why am I writing so much about Chicago? Because they are the precursor of what has been coming down on the rest of the nation since former mayor Daley was handed control of the schools in 1994. Bloomberg has had a decade of control over the schools and it has been a disaster – Arne Duncan ran those schools for 7 years. Mayoral control in NYC is coming up for renewal in 4 years and the battle to put a stake into its heart is already beginning.

I went back to Education Nation on Monday for a panel on teacher evaluation and accountability featuring Michelle Rhee the former Washington DC superintendent who was run out on a rail and now is trying to raise a billion dollars to use to undermine the nation’s public school systems. Rhee calls her organization, ahem, “Students First.” After Rhee left DC, a large cheating scandal emerged but much of it has been pushed under the rug. Another panel member had been on the school board in Atlanta, which has had a massive cheating scandal that was exposed when the state put a major team of investigators on the case. Beverly Hall, the Atlanta Superintendent had pulled down somewhere around 600 grand in bonuses for “raising” the scores. And she won’t have to give it back since she resigned while the teachers who were pressured into cheating will be fired.

NBC’s Rehema Eliis who was chairing the panel raised the Atlanta cheating issue twice with a sense of outrage while sitting right next to Rhee without bringing up her cheating scandal. So when I got to the microphone I asked why not bring up DC? Rhee, on the defensive, claimed it was only a few places (sure, without any real kind of Atlanta-like investigation) and said she welcomed an investigation, knowing full well that will never happen. The former Atlanta school board member challenged her by saying, “even if one child is affected it is an outrage” and pointed to all the good things in Atlanta being overwhelmed by the scandal, putting Rhee, glory be, further on the defensive. I’m glad I played my part.

How about cheating in NYC? Of course there’s mucho cheating here, but a cover up continues as Bloomberg stopped erasure analysis a major way to uncover cheating when he took over, claiming it was “too expensive.” Take moment to have a good laugh. Recently the state revealed they have been doing some selected erasure analysis behind the scenes, but the NY State Ed Department has been an unindicted co-conspirator on test inflation, by hook or crook.

I had a chance to do a WAVE one on one with NBC News chief Steve Capus, the major domo of Education Nation. I’ll let Huffington Post education reporter Joy Resmovits describe the encounter:

While some lauded the increased balance and depth at this year's Education Nation, retired New York City teacher and Grassroots Education Movement member Norm Scott gave Capus an earful on Tuesday. "People see an absence of the word 'class size' in these debates," he told Capus. "This notion that somehow we're skewed too close to the reformers, I just don't buy it and completely disagree," Capus responded. "How did a guy like Jonathan Alter end up as an expert on Sunday night's panel?" Scott asked. He was referring to the Bloomberg columnist and MSNBC contributor who has taken hard-line stances on charter schools and teacher evaluations. "We had Jonathan Alter and 300 teachers," Capus countered.

I have a funny feeling The Wave will not be invited back next year.

Norm gives everyone an earful every day at: http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Wall Street Occupation Gains Support: Join Transport Workers Today at 5:30

Growing labor union support for  Occupy Wall Street. Let's have an Educators Contingent on Friday.

Demonstration in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

                                   Fri, September 30, 5:30pm – 7:00pm, One Police Plaza

I hope you are rooting for the gang involved in the Wall St. occupation. Some are even comparing it to the Tea Party with a left twist. It is beginning to get mainstream media attention, a lot of due to FAIR - see the posting between the 2 events - one today and one Weds. - I can't go then because I'm going to the matinee of Spiderman.

Also - tonight Patrick Walsh - a UFT Chapter Leader in Harlem is doing a talk on the lower easr side:

Hello all,

On September 30, 2011, I will be speaking again as part of the Friday Night Meeting series of  The Catholic Worker in the Lower East Side.   My talk is titled The Intellectual and Spiritual Price of Corporate Education Reform, a subject of tremendous import not only for the future of education in America but for the survival of our already enfeebled democracy.   

Friday Night Meetings are held at Maryhouse located at 55 East Third Street between First and Second Ave very close to the 2^nd Ave F subway stop. ( 212 777 9617) The meeting will begin at 7:45 and will be followed by a question and answer period in which all are encouraged to participate. Please try to attend.

The corporate cancer that is devouring our country and insidiously extinguishing all forms of public life can only be stopped by the building of community, community awareness, community resilience and community resistance. 

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Here are 2 upcoming actions with a FAIR media watch posting in between. I'm heading to Wall St. to do some video.