More Mulgrew

Name a school where a sex act never took place and I'll show you a religious school. Wait, I take back that last part.

UPDATE: See update below with link to the NY Post article featuring Jeff Kaufman of ICE.

There has been all kinds of speculation and comment about the Mulgrew story. Did he or didn't he? Well if he didn't he has a hell of a libel suit. My basic take it that it will be a hill of beans – unless the custodian who supposedly caught them speaks, how can it be proved? And really do you care if Mulgrew had a relationship with someone in the school other than the fact she got a full-time union position? Do you know what they used to say about Shanker and Feldman? She only worked one year as a teacher before going to work for the union. Really, how quaint to think it wrong for union leaders to put their lovers on the payroll.

I don't think the court case will go anywhere and I totally disagree that there was any blackmail involved in getting the Unity Caucus leadership to sell us out. Selling out has been in their DNA since the early 70's --- you should see the materials we put out in those years. Like nothing changes. Why would a party like Unity with absolute power worry about actually fighting the ed deformers when there are loads of opportunities for a union hierarchy to jump on the gravy train. (Really, some ambitious reporter should look into the ways the union can make some money off things like Common Core, charter schools, testing, professional development, etc.)

Will the scnadal affect Unity/Mulgrew in the UFT elections next March? I doubt it. I can't see the people running against Unity/New Action making it an issue and New Action will endorse Mulgrew even if he is a serial killer in order to gain those precious 8 Exec Bd seats handed to them by Unity. But I would expect the issue of Unity patronage to be brought up by groups REALLY running against Mulgrew. We always have been bringing it up. But maybe this time the story will strike a chord with the rank and file.

Or not.

The story seems to have come out from more than one direction, not surprising given that there were a lot of people talking about it at Grady. While the Post "broke" it -- and there have been all sorts of charges as to why --- as some ed deform plot to discredit union leaders --- certainly true --- but in fact it was teachers/co-workers who leaked it.

As Michael Fiorillo commented on my earlier post on the Mulgrew Story

John Kenneth Galbreath said that all revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door, and we all know the UFT structure is rotten, despite the presence of decent, hard working people in the union. That's the destiny of every entrenched, single party state, and that's the potential significance of this story: at a certain point, the superstructure is so internally compromised that it can no longer support itself, and crumbles before a gust of wind.

Yes, the state of rot and sense of betrayal by the people running this union runs deeper and deeper. So people have talked. While I barely know or have much contact with Mulgrew, what I see when I go to a DA is someone who at first seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to Randi, has begun to rot like a house guest who stays too long. A wise guy who  thinks he's the cat's meow, making snide jokes and nasty little comments, even to his own people.

You know he stepped on some toes along the way and seems to have more than a few enemies he made at Grady. Or maybe –  you think Randi ratted him out to make herself look good?

Aside: I once wrote something along the lines that Mulgrew would be more popular than Randi and she actually said something to me like, "not true." So don't put anything past her.

I was called by some reporters today and I think I spoke on the record for some of it so you may see some quotes in the papers (I hope they are accurate and not out of context but if they are you will hear about it here.) And I did  speak to one reporter at the Post who I have some respect for. So did Jeff Kaufman. I'm not sure if Jeff and I totally agree on the ramifications but we do agree that the key is the misuse of a union job, though unless the allegations are proven true, how can we prove it? [UPDATE: Jeff's take is quoted below -- I don't totally agree but will comment separately].

I told the reporter that so many union jobs are political -- District reps, DUH. These 40 or more -- who's counting --- are the plantation overseers used to manage the chapter leaders so naturally Randi eliminated elections in 2002 just as I was retiring and considering running in District 14. Hope it's not my fault.

How about Ron Isaac at the NY Teacher, the notorious Redhog who was rewarded with a $62k job for humping the 2005 contract? Try to find something Isaac has written at the NY Teacher recently. He IS the invisible man.

And Betsy Combier for I think $55k -- I really don't recall if I or she wrote about that story but it is a good one where she FOILed the DOE for some info on a top UFT official and Randi panicked and offered her a job, despite telling people she despised her. In August 2010 Mulgrew fired Betsy around the same time he fired Jim Callaghan, 2/3 of the so-called SWAT ATR team (Isaac was the third). So I am sure that Mulgrew has some anger being tossed his way.

Here is one theory floated today by a core ICE member. Call it blackmail not by the DOE but by union powers that be.

• Mulgrew caught with Mendez at school.
• Principal, DOE, union, and newspapers cover up, despite fact that people at school knew.As Unity faithful Mulgrew could have just been transferred to a low profile union job but instead was placed in stepping stone position as union vice president.
• Cover up continues. Mulgrew goes through apprenticeship showing what a good fit he is to do Unity's bidding.
• Mulgrew handpicked by Weingarten and DOE to be union president not despite but because of his vulnerability.
• That's how they can control him.

and in a separate email by a GEM person :

Ponder this:

• How many times have folks asked/wondered where the hell Mulgrew came from and why the hell he is president?
• Could it be that Randi chose him because she had the perfect thumbscrew on him; she did him and his lover a huge favor and they have a secret to keep; what better way to have a figurehead that you can control? Straight out of the laws of power.

I didn't totally buy this analysis especially since the story was bound to come out and made this comment in response:

It was known by too many people. I knew years ago. So now it comes out, which it inevitably would, does Randi lose her control over Mulgrew? I think not. She is not stupid. She didn't pick someone who would screw her. (careful here).
One explanation is that Mulgrew was sent into teaching like Randi was and was tapped from day one-- he was the chosen one coming from some place like the carpenter's union ----a  farfetched idea but we did talk about how the machine just wouldn't hand over the union to a basic unknown. If Mulgrew was groomed as a possible successor earlier than we thought, then they would really have had to scramble to protect him and then all this might make sense. But I think not. Unity Caucus doesn't need to have anything on anyone to keep them in line. Anyone who became president would have been vetted to follow the line. Maybe Randi tossed Bodden because she couldn't be sure --- too much self respect on Bodden's part, perhaps.
Do they need something on Leo Casey for him to do what he does?
The important story is how they can use the patronage machine on our dues to put people in jobs. I believe that this makes it an election campaign issue -- no matter who they ran for president.

My friends replied:

[Randi] Having this kind of leverage over someone makes a huge difference in dynamics and decision-making and I don't think it should be taken as coincidence.

I think that having a leader who is known by those around him to have been corrupted and then moved may be part of the package. If people see that you can do all kinds of stuff and be caught and still move up this is a lesson in union politics for those close to the situation at the school and within the union. We know that across the board people in the union have learned that whistle-blowing gets the wrong people in trouble.

It reminds me of books by Greg Palast and John Perkins about the role of the US government agencies and corporate ambassadors in corrupting, bribing, entrapping, blackmailing, threatening, and if need be eliminating government leaders throughout the world. Not only does this control the leaders themselves, but also those around who see what the deal is.
I still would like to see someone get information about the history of the UFT and Mulgrew's father's Carpenters' union that was supposed to have some role in launching the UFT. But that just sets him up as a good candidate, someone with the right ideology. Making a mistake that puts him at the mercy of the higher ups is what insures that he will not stray. This is mafia politics.

-------
There were some questions raised as to why I never published the story. Here is some background.

I first heard I think in 2008 or 2009 with a call from someone who told me the story but gave me the name of someone to call who was closer to it. I really wasn't all that interested even though my contact was urging me to use it in the 2010 election. I laughed it off -- true or not true, name a school where a sex act never took place and I'll show you a religious school. Wait, I take back that last part.

After a few months of not doing anything I received a call from the other person who had all the dope - supposedly. I remember I was driving and couldn't talk. Her number was private and didn't show on my cell phone and I didn't pursue it any further because doesn't everyone have sex in school? I thought it was in the contract: Article SXd5.

(Some of my esteemed colleagues used to tell me which classrooms they did which sex act in, though not with whom. And we had a gym teacher at one time who had an office with a cot.... well, I won't go on. All I know is that I was left off that team, but wasted a hell of a lot of time trying to figure out who matched up with whom.)

There has even been some speculation about why if I knew I didn't publish the story. There was a hint that maybe I didn't know and am just making it up, though why I would do that makes no sense. In fact there were actually some conversations within ICE about the story in terms of the 2010 election. I don't remember if we heard about being caught in the act on school property -- we really didn't think it that important a story. What would we do --- engage in the kind of low-life actions as Unity would? (Remember the red baiting in the 2007 election). If we wanted to be like Unity we'd join them. I seem to remember possibly some reporter from the Post asking me about this not long ago and of course I wasn't giving that up, especially to the Post.

Here are some interesting comments on Perdido St School blog by Chaz who makes a great point.

ChazMay 20, 2012 7:34 PM

I agree with Ednotes that the Mulgrew-Camacho affair had nothing to do with the sellout 2005 contract. However, what annoys me more is how the top Unity leaders were silent on the vilification of 16 teachers, one being me, in the news media only a month ago and then complain that we should blindly support our union leaders without a full accounting of the story on how Emma Camacho-Mendez got her union job.

reality-based educatorMay 20, 2012 9:14 PM

Chaz, you're right.

They threw the Daily News 16 under a bus.

They did little to nothing to defend you.

But now they'll expect your undying devotion to Mulgrew.

It's hypocritical and shitty and the only satisfaction I get out of it is this: if it's an untrue allegation, now Mulgrew knows how it feels to be smeared as a "perv" in the press.


Afterburn
And then there is the lady who cuts my hair whose good friend was once married to Mulgrew. But that's another story for another time.

UPDATE: NY Post May 21
I don't know how much of what Jeff said was used in the story but the emphasis here on whether the UFT traded off givebacks to suppress the story is nowwhere I would go. Jeff told me he talked about the patronage system but that didn't make the story. I have been more involved with MORE than Jeff has and my sense is that they are not going to focus on this issue but will issue a statement soon that will clarify where MORE stands. Look for it on Ed Notes and the MORE web site.

‘Sex coverup’ with counselor should force UFT President Mulgrew out: foes

An outraged UFT chapter leader yesterday called on union boss Michael Mulgrew to step down if he traded away his members’ rights to school officials who hushed up his alleged classroom affair with a guidance counselor.
The startling accusations came in a federal lawsuit filed in Suffolk County that names Mulgrew, the United Federation of Teachers, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
Jeff Kaufman, a union chapter leader at Aspirations Diploma HS in Brooklyn, said he and other teachers “would expect him to resign’’ if he’s guilty.
Kaufman, an outspoken member of a faction that opposes Mulgrew, said, “We have an election next year, when a group of us will be mounting a battle to unseat him, and if we find there’s anything suggesting any proof to the allegations — that he gave up something to suppress the story — we’ll be all over him for it.
“The question is whether stories like that were suppressed and something was given for it.’’

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/uft_boss_is_under_fire_BP7z4Cl99Jj59iAr8oPC0H#ixzz1vYteXIq3

Sign the Open Letter from Teachers: We Support the Field Test Boycott

The Change the Stakes high stakes testing arm of GEM has been working on this for weeks, led by the always awesome 4th year teacher Liza Campbell (who, sniff, sniff, is leaving us and moving to Seattle where the people battling ed deform will be lucky to get her).

We started this committee almost a year ago and lots of parents have joined us along with some teachers. But too many teachers even though under the gun of HST which drives the ed deform movement aren't making all the connections, especially with the UFT/AFT being passive, with our ability to create a movement to challenge it. Note how much the failure of high stakes testing have been in the news, from the flawed teacher data reports to pineapplegate. Some of that has been due to the work of groups like Change the Stakes along with a new group based in Brooklyn called ParentVoices/NYC led by Michael Ravitch (Diane's son) and the venerable Time Out for Testing (TOFT) which has been doing this stuff for a long time. Lots more coming over the next few days.

One more thing. Some people objected to petitioning Walcott -- calling it "begging" or going around the UFT. There is a political point in doing this --- no one expects a result. It is about teachers, who are really helpless in many ways, showing support for our parent allies who will be doing the heavy lifting in boycotting both tests that "count" and these useless field tests. This is a political action, not a plea to Walcott.

One GEMer made these points

The idea that we should not "ask our oppressor" for anything is not something I would ever agree with... The act of "the asking" is not actually about "asking", its a way of publicizing and using our voice and educating-- "we have to do this against our will, but we don't want to, here is why and you shouldn't make us and if we had a stronger union, maybe we wouldn't  have to"-- there are numerous benefits to getting this message out there.  The beautiful letter Liza wrote was not about asking permission, it was making a point, educating others.

To sign, simply click the link at the bottom of the page which will take you to the MORE site where the letter is posted.

May 2012

Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers St
New York, NY 10007

Dear Chancellor Walcott and the New York City Department of Education,

We, the undersigned educators of the New York City schools, are writing to respectfully request that teachers across New York City not be required to participate in or proctor the Pearson stand-alone field tests that the New York State Education Department plans to administer in most schools this month and next. Our reasons for reaching out to you with this request are many-faceted, and while we will comply with any decision that is made, we would ask that you please consider our concerns with the field tests before coming to a decision.

To begin, many parents have become increasingly frustrated by the use, nature and abundance of standardized tests in our schools. We have seen this personally, in conversations with parents who express their concerns to us as their children’s teachers. And we have also seen it as a city-wide movement, which recently included a group of parents who refused to have their children sit for the New York State ELA and Math exams.  This effort by parents, organizing alongside concerned educators through the Grassroots Education Movement’s Change the Stakes committee, was supported by many more parents who said they would like to remove their children from the state exams but were concerned about the consequences. In explaining their reasons for choosing to boycott parents wrote that the increased focus on improving scores has forced teachers less time focussing on “inspiring a love of learning, fostering creativity, or encouraging critical and interdisciplinary thinking.”

Additionally, hundreds of parents organizing  with groups such as Time Out from Testing, Change the Stakes and ParentVoicesNY have now submitted letters to principals in schools across New York City stating that they “respectfully request that the school not give the [stand-alone field] tests at all, and that all students benefit from a day of instruction rather than waste yet another day on test-taking.” In the letter, parents cite concerns such as wasted instructional days and the use of their children as guinea pigs for the research purposes of “a for-profit corporation without [their] consent or permission.” We feel that as teachers it is our responsibility to be responsive to the concerns of the parents whose children we serve, and we would like to support this most recent parent effort around the stand-alone field tests.

Secondly, as teachers we agree with parents that excessive testing is damaging to our students. Indeed, the use of standardized tests to make high-stakes decisions about children, teachers and schools has been repeatedly documented by researchers to have negative consequences on children and on their education.  We have witnessed worrisome anxiety in the children we are charged with educating as the increased pressure to perform on the state exams affects them. We have seen – and in many cases been forced to comply with – a narrowing of the curriculum and the neglecting of non-tested subjects. We think that the use of time for test preparation as well as the number of days taken up by tests and practice tests is unconscionable. Considering all this, we cannot in good faith subject our students to additional testing days in May and June without at the very least requesting permission to recuse ourselves from this practice on moral grounds.

Finally, we feel that the form and use of the stand-alone field tests are inappropriate for their stated purpose, and we lament the intended long-term strategy of increased “accountability based on tests” of which these field tests are a part. The use of stand-alone field tests for the purpose of norming state exams has been repeatedly criticized by experts. In fact, the NYS Education Department itself blamed stand alone field-testing in part for the need to re-calibrate the cut scores on the 2009 state exams that moved thousands of students across the state from passing to failing.  We also know that the field tests are meant to pilot various questions for exams that will then be used as part of the new New York State teacher evaluation system. We feel that the use of test scores in any form to evaluate teachers is inappropriate. The Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences has warned that so-called “value added models” based on test scores cannot be considered fair or reliable enough to make operational decisions about teachers.  But even if such models were improved, the consequences of using tests to evaluate teachers will be damaging to students’ education for reasons mentioned previously, and will also have a negative effect on school culture. The money spent on contracts with Pearson and other for-profit companies to develop, field-test and administer these exams should instead be spent on increased resources for classrooms and on supporting the educational and non-educational needs of all children, in particular children living in poverty.

In conclusion, we would like to assert that our request is in no way intended to be insubordinate but instead to raise concerns about the field tests and to respectfully request that educators across New York City not be mandated to participate in tests to which we have moral objections. Teachers need to be empowered to stand up when we recognize injustices done to our students and ourselves, and we need unions that support teachers in taking on such challenges. Indeed, teacher protections and the ability to take collective action against injustice help us protect children. We hope that you will consider our request, and we thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Concerned teachers of the New York City Schools
Endorsed by Movement of Rank-and-file Educators, the social justice caucus of the UFT

http://morecaucusnyc.org/open-letter-from-teachers-we-support-the-field-test-boycott/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-2 

Ed Notes Sat on Mulgrew Story for Years

For those of us who are challenging his leadership for NOT battling the ed deformers and protecting teachers, this story is meaningless other than it exposes the level of Unity Caucus corruption and how they protect their own while leaving most teachers to hang.

--------UPDATED with comment from Michael Fiorillo

I agree with Norm that UFT collaboration with Bloomberg predates Mulgrew, and is predicated on much deeper corruption and deception, which also includes the self-deception of the leadership and its patronage recipients.

 If the UFT/AFT didn't already accept or agree with the outlines of the neoliberal project on education, would this (alleged) tawdry episode be enough to maintain it? Not likely.

On the other hand, John Kenneth Galbreath said that all revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door, and we all know the UFT structure is rotten, despite the presence of decent, hard working people in the union. That's the destiny of every entrenched, single party state, and that's the potential significance of this story: at a certain point, the superstructure is so internally compromised that it can no longer support itself, and crumbles before a gust of wind.

If this is that gust of wind (doubtful in my mind, but you never know), the question then becomes, who will benefit from the resulting crisis: an invigorated rank and file fed up with years of lies and abuse, or the Overclass, which seeks to use it for its own avaricious ends?

Michael Fiorillo

Additional comment
Yes, Michael is right. The real story is the rot within from a one party system controlled by Unity Caucus. And blame New Action for part of this by taking 8 useless exec bd seats given by Unity to basically shut them up. They abdicated their responsibilities as an opposition to expose the rot but instead became part of the structure. And New Action as a merger of 2 caucuses around 1990 had lots of infrastucre which has gone to waste. ICE and TJC tried to pick up the slack but Unity and New Action used their infrastrcture to beat us back, in particular going after ICE because we really hit them both very hard. Now let's hope MORE can take what ICE and TJC have built and expand and run with it.

Original post

Ed Notes had the story in 2008-9 when it was becoming clear that Mulgrew would replace Randi from someone who wanted ICE to use it in the election campaign of 2010. Everyone at Grady knew about it. Stories were coming our way about how the principal was running rampant on harassing teachers and we could have made that connection to the Mulgrew story. We felt it was too sleazy to use in an election campaign. And besides, the UFT was allowing all principals to run rampant. Interesting that the Ostrovsky law suit claims the DOE was blackmailing Mulgrew into putting up such a weak fight. I don't buy that since Randi also went along. Do you think Bloomberg had dirt on her?

See New York City Eye

Why Post-Scooped Mulgrew Sex Story has Political Relevance

I had inklings The Post had that story for a while but no one would talk on the record. I guess the lawsuit allowed them to pull the trigger. But given the Post, there are probably political reasons to discredit Mulgrew with the battles coming up.

For those of us who are challenging his leadership for NOT battling the ed deformers and protecting teachers, this story is meaningless other than it exposes the level of Unity Caucus corruption and how they protect their own while leaving most teachers to hang.

Notice how the union protects sell-out chapter leader Richard Candia while letting Francesco Portelos hang. (UFT/Unity Chapter Leader Richard Candia Attacks Staff While Backing Principal).

The scandal for union members is the patronage job and Randi coverup. Remember the Hewlett-Packard story Mark Hurd's Stumble May Also Trip Hewlett-Packard where the CEO had to resign for doing much less? How ironic to find more ethics in the corporate world than the union world. Maybe a good explanation why unions in this nation are in so much trouble.

Why Mulgrew's back aches

Remember those 2 women teachers at New Utrecht HS who came back to school tipsy for an evening event and were caught and disappeared into a rubber room?

If this were 15 years ago can't you see a Post story revealing a "scandal" involving Randi Weingarten's being gay?

But the real story here would be Randi's relationship with Hilary Rosen who is tied into the ed deformers. See Apr 13 Ed Notes: Randi and Hilary (Rosen) and Michelle Rhee and  Joel Klein.

Here is the full Post story below the jump:

GEM Response to Waiting for Superman Available Online Today

Date:  May 19, 2012     

Contact:

Lisa Donlan, Parent and President CEC1:  917-848-5873

Julie Cavanagh, Teacher PS 15, GEM/CAPE: 917-836-6465

Brian Jones, Teacher PS 30, GEM: 646-554-8592

Now online: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For "Superman"

One year ago, The Grassroots Education Movement premiered a new documentary, written and directed by New York City public school teachers and parents, created in response to Davis Guggenheim’s highly misleading film. Waiting for "Superman" would have audiences believe that free-market competition, standardized tests, destroying teacher unions, and the proliferation of charter schools are just what this country needs to create great public schools.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For "Superman" highlights the real-life experiences of public school parents, students and educators to show how these so-called reforms are actually hurting public education. The film discusses the kinds of real reform – inside schools and in our society as a whole  – that we urgently need to genuinely transform education in this country.

Harlem Premiere Featured Special Guest, Diane Ravitch

The film premiere was held May 19^th, 2011 at the Assembly Hall of The Riverside Church in Harlem and featured historian Diane Ravitch as the honored guest. Since then, we have offered the DVD free of charge and encouraged viewers to make their own copies to distribute. Today, an estimated 15,000 copies are in circulation. Requests have come in from all 50 states and 6 continents. Various unions, parent groups, college professors, public libraries and community members have organized screenings all around the country. We’ve also had news of screenings in India, Turkey, England, New Zealand and Australia. Demand has been so great that we are currently working on a Spanish language version of the film.

The full version of the film is now online at vimeo: https://vimeo.com/41994760

Today, on the first anniversary of the premiere, GEM and Real Reform Studios are making the film available online at https://vimeo.com/41994760. We invite everyone to hold screenings, download and burn copies of the movie.

For more information about the film, visit: 

www.waitingforsupermantruth.org

To order an “official” free dvd with the Real Reform Studio logo go to: http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/?page_id=343

UFT/Unity Chapter Leader Richard Candia Attacks Staff While Backing Principal

Is Staten Island UFT assisting in the sell-out of teachers at IS 49 SI due to a cozy relationship with abusive principal Linda Hill?

In order to leave the building the principal has to sign you out. So, a long line forms and 15 minutes after the day is over teachers are still on line. Does that happen in any other school? ---- conditions at IS 49 SI [WHERE IS THE UFT? - SEE BELOW]

I refuse to let him [Porteles] ruin what WE work so hard for each and everyday.

-----IS 49 (Staten Island) Chapter Leader Richard Candia to Principal Linda Hill who has been harassing teacher Francesco Portelos since he raised issues as to how school grant money was being spent.

They said like 3/4 of the staff is supportive of him and that they want him to be chapter leader.  It was reported to me that many were very supportive and very outspoken in their support of Portelos.  ---- Chapter Leader Richard Candia to principal Linda Hill, Jan. 2012

Linda Hill answered this plea for help from chapter leader Richard Candia afraid of losing his job because Francesco Porteles is running for chapter leader -- from the rubber room, where he has been sent on trumped up charges by Hill to get him out of the school before the election against chapter leader Richard Candia.

This letter alone should get the UFT to call a press conference and go to a judge asking for an immediate injunction to get Portelos back into the school. But it won't and will let Portelos languish in the RR forever. They were so threatened by Portelos they even had him removed from a Staten Island RR out to Ozone Park in Queens at the corrupt Network 211. Imagine the costs Portelos has been subjected to with the bridge and gas bills? What does the UFT do? "Look into it." Really pathetic.

We know many chapter leaders are more partners of the administration than of the teachers they supposedly represent. But this Candia guy takes the cake. In this communication to the principal he gives up 15 teachers who support Portelos. It is not often that they get their comeuppance but Candia looks like a deer in the headlights as he loses staff support.

That Richard Candia is a supposedly a member of Unity Caucus, the party that has ruled the UFT for 50 years, is a further indictment.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Candia To: Linda Hill
Date: Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 12:48 AM

A close friend in the building that doesn't get involved with absolutely any BS called me tonite after checking their email and said the buzz around the building was that I was totally wrong by not letting Portelos speak and that the staff has no voice in the building. I guess they feel that someone is effective if they are confrontational with the administration...not my style.  I'm so disappointed in so many staff members that I have spent countless hours talking to at night and helping each and every day.  This person is a true professional and never gets involved with anything negative and they are always totally honest with me.  They said like 3/4 of the staff is supportive of him and that they want him to be chapter leader.  It was reported to me that many were very supportive and very outspoken in their support of Portelos.  The Portelos supporters included [Candia NAMES 15 Teachers listing degree of support for Portelos].  They are clueless.  I tried to mediate this on Thursday and he went nuts so how was I going to let him discuss this in front of 60 people..not the forum.  I spoke to the staff..I took questions..Then when the meeting was just about over he stood up and went to the front of the room and started his BS..totally degrading Susanne in front of the whole staff when we had left the room.  I keep getting calls and texts from staff members as they receive this letter that he sent to the whole staff.  Im thoroughly embarrassed by these emails.  He is not going to stop harrassing people.  I am thoroughly committed to our school community and I refuse to let him ruin what WE work so hard for each and everyday.

See: http://www.protectportelos.org/

and Ed Notes - Portelos Story

Before I was tenured

Posted on April 13, 2012

Many have told me “Good thing you are tenured.” and also “You would never open your mouth if you weren’t tenured.” That last one is absolutely not true at all. I admit I was against tenure when I received it in 2010. I thought it got in the way of getting rid of ineffective teachers. I mean teachers who were not only poor at their job, but more importantly had no intention of improving and were able to stay in the system.
Of course now I am happy to be tenured,

Political Persecution of Teachers With U-Ratings and DOE Protection of Abusive and Incompetent Supervisors MUST Be a UFT Priority

Updated: 9PM - see ATR comments below.

I am not going to go through all the stuff flying around about Walcott's announcement today. Mulgrew's response is totally inadequate.

”While no one wants to protect teachers who are not doing the job, the more important issue is the thousands of good teachers who leave the system every year because of substandard pay, bad teaching conditions and lack of support from their superiors,” Mulgrew said.

I posted the Portelos Story this morning.

This just came in from a CL:ATR Horror Story:

My school had an ATR last week who told me she was observed at her previous assignment in a 2nd grade class after having been with this class for only 20 minutes. Needless to say, it did not go well.  The following week when she was in my school, she came to me practically in tears  and told me that the supervisor who had observed her (an ATR Principal, I believe) was at the school and was demanding that  the ATR  immediately sign the observation that she had just been given. I accompanied her to the office and told this supervisor that my member did not have to sign this observation now; she had two days to do so. She tried to bully me but eventually she walked out in a huff, with the observation. 20 minutes later she returned, gave the ATR the observation and returned in two days  for the signature and rebuttal that the member had attached to the report. Horrible!

 We know what this is about. They will try anything to harass ATRs out of the system so they can close more schools. Many of them are not eligible for a buyout and Walcott will spend a fortune to hire supervisors to observe teachers to give them U ratings.

More as this develops. The best defense teachers have is to throw out Unity chapter leaders and delegates who back Mulgrew and join MORE. The stronger an alternative to Unity grows the more we can box in the leadership. Will we win a general election where Unity takes all? Not right away. But we MUST build up the forces from the school level on where we can win right now. Make your voices heard in the elections. Already Unity has lost at Brooklyn Tech, the largest school in the city and at FDR. Keep the ball rolling.

ATRs follow-up emails to GEM ATR listserve

I just caught a news report in which our leader ignored the truth to vilify ATRs.  I and hundreds of other ATRs attended recruitment events where school recruiter tables were vacant, or staffed with people  with no decision making authority, and/or did not advertise openings in our license areas.  The city is out of compliance for providing services for ESL students, were are the open ESL teacher positions???
As an ATR I have been ignored by principals and assistant principals, used as a 'substitute' - "not a real teacher" according to students- out of my license area.  Ignored, insulted and cursed at by students simply because I asked them to sit in their seats, give their names so attendance could be taken and do the usually ineffective absent lesson left by their regular teacher.
I have observed that the mini high schools  I have been assigned  in Brooklyn have the same discipline problems and low performance as the students in the comprehensive school whose phase out left me an ATR.  They also all have at least 4 times the technology and a school culture that treats the students like infants.
 ------

Hiring Fairs were mandated for ATRs. I attended them all with resume in hand. At least half of the schools were no shows by looking at all the empty tables.
Just as important, the media will be destroying ATRs as losers that taxpayers will have to bail-out to get rid of....I just saw it on WNBC-TV at 5:20PM today. Try to find it later on their website. I hope Mulgrew and company have a media plan....can't wait to see the Daily News and Post headlines tomorrow. I'm sure they will turn the public against us. In terms of a buyout I think there would have to be an early retirement incentive for those close enough and a cash payout for others. This was hinted at in the Times when it said something like....each teacher would have to negotiate a deal....go figure!
------

The union handling of ATRs is a disgrace. They are so in bed with Bloomberg even though on the outside it doesn't look that way.
Are teachers still allowed to sign "under protest". And should be "attach" something or write the rebuttal under the signature? Do you really think this principal will not throw out the attachment.

See more:

 http://jd2718.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/tweed-finds-new-way-to-harm-teachers-flag-them-for-principals/

Catching Up: ATRs, Portelos Story, GEM Film Screens Today in Brooklyn

Dear Taxpayer,
I am very sorry, but apparently I am robbing you. It’s not on purpose though. You pay your taxes and in turn I should educate the students of New York City. I think I was doing a pretty good job for 4.5 years so your money was probably well spent. Today I still get paid with our tax dollars but instead of educating the children in the classroom, I am in the Rubber Room with other educators awaiting charges and an explanation of why we were removed. Most of us sit there for weeks or months without knowing why we are there. So imagine this….we are getting paid, the substitutes covering our classes are getting paid, the investigators investigating our cases are getting paid, the lawyers working against the teacher and for the teacher are getting paid, the arbitrators hearing the cases are getting paid and  all with your tax dollars! Each case may cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars. ----Francesco Portelos, rubber roomed teacher, IS 49 SI

UFT chapter leader Richard Candia, threatened by Portelos' run for chapter leader, sells him and rest of staff out.  --- ed notes, below

These comments finally got me off my duff (An Absence Note) though I'm officially declaring that I am on overload. Too many obligations and too little time. Yes, boys and girls, the older you get the more befuddled you become. I started going through the list of things I have gotten involved in and was frightened. I must be on 12 listserves and have 9000 emails in my inbox from just the past 2 months.

I'm so far behind I don't know what to post first. Still busy with lots of gardening, wife care, other obligations, but here are a few nuggets:

Screening of Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman today in Brooklyn
Date: May 17th
Time: 5-7:30pm
Location: 317 Hoyt Street, Brooklyn NY

I think this is being shown through some DOE network people. Strange. Funny if there are DOE people showing our film while the UFT boycotts.

By the way -- just got a $200 check from the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers Association. Check out their web site: www.ppta.org.nz. And we got $50 from Bank Street. The dough is rolling in as we just manage to balance our costs or producing the dvd and mailing it out. Look for our coming release online on the anniversary of our premiere on May 19.

You can contribute through pay pal if you'd like: http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/
Or send a check to Ed Notes Inc, 518 Beach 134 St, Rockaway Park, NY 11694

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Gotham posts link to Francesco Portelos Horror Story - but it gets worse as UFT chapter leader Richard Candia, threatened by Portelos' run for chapter leader, sells him and rest of staff out.

Dear Student, Parent, Taxpayer….I’m sorry but I’m trying.

The Francesco Porteles story hopefully will go viral. Read the above link in full to get the full flavor. Lurking behind all this is the perfidious behavior of IS 49 Chapter leader Richard Candia who, his cozy relationship with principal Linda Hill and the threat posed by Portelos' run for chapter leader, conspired to undermine Portelos and assist Hill in harassing his supporters. I will post Candia's shocking email to principal Hill in a special. Is Candia being protected by his Staten Island UFT buddies? There are reports he is a member of Unity Caucus. This is not the first time a person challenging Unity control has been sent to a rubber room with the cooperation of the Unity Caucus machine to keep a possible voice of opposition out of the school (it happened to an ICE member years ago which led to 6 months in the rubber room and the basic destruction of the teacher's career.)

Here is a short selection from Portelos' post and I'll tell you why below:

"On March 16, 2012 I returned to work after being out for 4 days for jury duty. I found my room a mess. My first period back Mrs. Joanne Aguirre and Ms. Sharon Mahabir of CFN 211 walked in with clipboards. Since I always received Satisfactory ratings (even up until December ’11 before budget talks) and students and parents loved my class, they had to try to get me really off guard. The special education students still learned about engineering principles despite the interruptions made by the observers. The 90 minute observation led to my first ever Unsatisfactory in 5 years of teaching. It was very poorly written and anything positive was strategically omitted by Ms. Aguirre.

The DOE henchpeople and the scum at CFN 211 should be investigated. How disappointed was I to see the name  of one of the persecutors, Sharon Mahabir, who like Portelos, was once a dedicated robotics coach who I knew from 10 years ago. So sad to see good people forced to engage in these actions. Sharon is good people who is doing PD for the network. Even Francesco says good things about her.

By every report, AP Joanne Aguirre is scum and should be investigated for her behavior. One thing is clear. They picked on the wrong guy this time. Despite having an 11 month old baby and another on the way, plus 7 years working as en engineer and the promise he can always have his job back, Portelos is ready to take this case to the extreme. We are developing a support network for him since the UFT does little or nothing or even is a minus. Did you know that Portelos was denied the right to go to the school to pick up his property and was told to "make a list." Instead of demanding he have the right to go to the school -- even after everyone is gone to get his property, the UFT Staten Island officials went right along and told him to make a list. If you were in a school for 5 years and told to make a list of your property sight unseen, could you do it?

---------

Marjorie Stamberg at the UFT Delegate Assembly challenges Mulgrew on ATRs

At last night's delegate assembly, I raised the issue of the union's cyncial "solution" to the UFT's disenfranchisment of ATRs in the union elections. Many ATRs had no place to vote in teh union elections as they trudge from school to school on a weekly basis, where they are treated as non-people until they move on the next week. This week-to-week trek was agreed upon by the union and the DOE last spring, as part of the deal that there be no teacher layoffs. Last fall, I and others put forward motions for the ATRs be accorded their full voting rights with their own chapter. We have been fighting for this for several years, and it has always been brushed off with the excuse that their situation is only "temporary."

Last week, the UFT leadership announced a "solution" -- with chapter elections upon us, they decided, ATRs would vote at the school where they are for the week the elections are held. This is outrageous -- how can ATR teachers effectively advocate for their needs when they are "here today, gone tomorrow," and the chapter representatives are not accountable to them.

Yesterday, when I raised this issue in the question period at the delegate assembly, Mulgrew refused to let me get a sentence out, interrupting me, harassing and yelling, "What's your question," "Make it a question," "That's not a question!" Following his lead, a passel of Unity delegates obediently picked up the jeer. Over the din, I was finally able to get out, "My question is, how do you justify this outrageous cynical disenfranchisement of the ATRs' right to vote?" and saying "the ATRs need their own chapter."

Mulgrew answered with a time-honored evasion: The union is in arbitration, he said, because the DOE has not kept to its commitment to place ATRs in open positions, and long-term vacancies. Until this arbitration is settled, the union is doing the "best it can" to give ATRs voting rights. He was silent on the fact that the weekly trek of ATRs is happening with the consent of the UFT leadership, which agreed to it as part of the deal on layoffs last spring.

Don't worry, I will keep on raising this issue. With more schools closing than ever, there will be a huge swelling of the ATR pool next fall. As we all know, "If you're not ATR, you could be soon." The fight for rights of ATR teachers is everyone's fight.

-----
Article on Philly destruction of public ed --- where is the union?
http://www.alternet.org/story/155416/the_remaking_of_philadelphia_public_schools%

3A_privatization_or_bust?page=entire

An Absence Note

Updated: Weds. May 16, 10 AM.

About 20 days ago the google counter, operating since July 2009 topped one million page views. Other counters from the early days of the blog in 2006 show different results based on numbers of "unique" visitors, a term that might indicate "weirdos."

Anyway, who's counting? One think I know it that when you don't post, readership drops. When I broke my wrist last July 14 and could only do minimal blogging for weeks, there was a major drop that lasted for months. I guess once unique weirdos get in the habit of going to certain blogs is lost it is easy to forget.

Well, this is probably the longest stretch of my non-blogging since I started in August 2006. Four days. Even during vacations, including New Zealand with little internet access, I managed to schedule something go up at least every two days. This time I even received some emails and phone calls of concern from some readers wondering if Unity Caucus or their sometimes cohort, WalBloom, had not bumped me off. But it seems the last 4 days have been either crammed with things to do or I've just been avoiding it. Maybe a sign of sorts that I should lay off more often before this becomes a chore rather than fun.

I guess one of the reasons for the reluctance to jump back in were the number of choices of issues to post about. Don't tell WalBloom and the ed deformers, but too many choices paralyze me. I've tried to keep up and often don't get to blogging because I am reading all the other great blogs and twitter feeds. There is so much information that I can't make up my mind what to share.

So instead of writing about all the enormous issues out there, I'll leave you to peruse the Daily Blogs on the blogroll. Instead I'll ignore them all and just give you facts, ma'am, just the facts.

Bernie at 5 weeks when she thought she was a he.

One of the shocks of the last 2 weeks was the discovery that Bernie the cat was really Bernice. Two independent vets had told us he was a boy but I kept telling my wife that at 7 months of age there were still no signs of the expected male flotsam and jetsam. Two weeks ago we finally took Bernie to the vet and confirmed the news and Bernie underwent a hysterectomy. I think he is handling her new status pretty well, though we are still adjusting.

I guess I feel a need to make this into an absence note of sorts. We have been busy with projects around the house with a focus on finding a contractor for redoing our 1960 era pink bathroom. Since my dad claims he is feeling so good at 94 due to the daily one hour hot baths he takes, one of my main goals is one of those air jet bathtubs where I can sit for hours blogging on a waterproof  ipad.

And then there is the intense gardening over the last two weeks starting with my annual stint at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens plant sale - I think I've been doing that for 30 years. There has been lots of work to do in the garden at my house and I'm amazed I can walk around upright after scratching around in the dirt after buying loads of plants at the sale and at a few visits to garden centers.

My wife keeps reminding me that I owe her for taking care of me when I smashed up my wrist last July (this week is 10 months and I am still not back to normal without some pain) so I have lots of chores. And a pretty large garden for a city plot. (I have some pics but an too lazy to go up and get the cable to hook up my phone.)

Last Friday afternoon there was an ICE meeting which started at 4:30 at the diner but for some reason I didn't get home until after 10:30. How did that happen? Well, we sat around talking for hours. ICE meetings never officially end. The conversation just keeps flowing until I'm the only one left, talking to myself. Oh, and I had to stop by my 94 year old dad's apartment on the way home to make sure he was doing his training for the triathlon.

Despite a short night's sleep I woke up early on Saturday intending to go to the teacher data report seminar where Leonie Haimson was on a panel at Bank Street College from 8:30-12, but just couldn't get that together, especially with a MORE Caucus meeting at noon which I did attend. I want to do a separate post on what has been going on with MORE. The meeting, unlike ICE meetings, actually ends on time so I was home before 5, in time to once again lament the passing of Pete Fornatale whose Mixed Bag ran between 4 and 8PM.

Sunday was a hot yoga morning, after which I feel like doing nothing -- mentally and physically but did do some gardening for the entire afternoon. I bought a large Knockout Rose with yellow/white flowers --- the only knockout that has fragrance. It was a bit of a chore planting that sucker. I only had time for a quick shower before we headed out to Long Island for take-out Chinese dinner at our best friends' house. Then back for Sunday night TV with The Killing and Madmen.

Monday was back to my dad where I spend a good part of the day fixing some lamps for him. We were supposed to go to the retina specialist for our twice a year visit but when I got there he wasn't feeling up to the trip. So it was home in the afternoon to work in a light drizzle on one of the planting boxes which was falling apart and I had to use a sawzall to cut some spike-like nails down to size before I could start fixing it up. A prize crape myrtle was planted in the box last year so I want to make this spot look as good as that baby, which last year bloomed for 2 months with white flowers on purple leaves. Nothing like working with power tools in the rain. I still have to go back and cut a 6x6 beam to size with the sawzall, one of the best tools ever. I can''t wait to turn that sucker loose on some thick branches. I think a Sawzall can cut Tweed down to size.

So, here we are on Tuesday. My wife had a minor medical procedure this morning and I am told I sill have a lot of ground to make up for her care during my wristology adventure. I have a whole lot of owing, so I may not be back for months. Honey, what is it you want? Sorry, gotta go.

Anti-Testing Movement Grows Locally and Nation-Wide - Except in the UFT/AFT

No Animal Left Behind

I attended the PS 321 forum on testing last night where Columbia Prof Aaron Pallas made a wonderful presentation along with a teacher from the school and a rep from Parent Voices, a new group opposing testing. Our own group, Change the Stakes, is working closely with them.

This came in from Leonie:

The anti-testing resolution has been passed by over 400 Texas school boards, including Houston where the damaging accountability movement began, two major school boards in Florida, and CEC 30, CEC 20 and CEC 14 in Queens and in Brooklyn.

The wording is here, adapted for NY, including rights of parents to opt out and also the public’s right to see the tests afterwards:

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/04/please-endorse-and-ask-your-cec-to.html

Spread the word!

Thanks,

Leonie Haimson

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Here is news from District 14 (my old district) from Brooke Dunn.

BREAKING NEWS:

I don't have anything online and it's too long to copy all the whereas's

The 1st Resolution: 1) Legislature must be changed so that all proposals to close, phase, truncate or co-late NYC public schools must be approved by the district CEC in which the school is housed. 2) Before taking a vote, the CEC shall solicit advice from affected SLTs, district Presidents Council, Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council, and the Citywide Council on SpEd and other community organizations. In the case of high schools, district CEC shall also consider the advice of the Citywide Council on High Schools as well. 3) NYC public school parents and community members shall have a voice again as to the fate of our children's public schools.

The 2nd Resolution: 1) asking that we have multiple forms of assessment rather than high stakes testing 2) let parents have the right to opt-out of high stakes testing 3) give the public the right to examine the state tests 4) ask that the US Congress and Administration overhaul No Child Left Behind.

WOO HOO! YAY CEC14!!!

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PAA Mecklenburg ACTS prominent protesters at ALEC meeting in Charlotte

Excerpt:

Prominent among the protesters Friday were leaders of Mecklenburg ACTS, which opposes reliance on standardized testing to evaluate students and teachers.

Passing out giant faux pencils and chanting "No more, no more, high-stakes testing," the group said testing companies that are part of ALEC are promoting their own profits by pushing states to use such exams.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/05/11/2518803/inside-the-american-legislative.html#storylink=cpy

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600 families opting out in Snohomish, Washington.  Drop them a line of support at their FB page :) https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Support-Schools-Snohomish/302417236448130

Peggy Robertson

Administrator for United Opt Out National

www.unitedoptout.com

www.pegwithpen.com

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    http://www.southernstandard.com/section/9/article/8169/

Parents rebel against standardized tests

	POSTED: May 9, 2012 10:20 p.m.
	By NAT HENTOFF Around the country, more parents are protesting -- and some even boycotting -- the standardized collective tests that grade the progress of entire classes and whole schools. In New York City and state, where I live -- and elsewhere -- the results can cause teachers to lose their jobs and can shut down whole schools. As for the kids, a parent, Coleen Mingo, describes the stress on her sixth-grade son, and on many other students nationally, in "A testing culture out of control," (NYDailyNews.com, May 2, 2012): "He worked hard on an unending slew of practice tests. He obsessed over each mistake as if it were proof he was doomed ..." The Daily News article notes that a 2011 report commissioned by Congress and conducted by the National Academy of Sciences Committee found that America's test-based accountability systems "have not increased student achievement." Moreover, an author of the report charged that "there is widespread teaching to the test and gaming of the systems that reflects a wasteful use of resources and leads to inaccurate or inflated measures of performance." And what of the many students who fail -- and whose individual problems and backgrounds are not at all known to the test-makers? As I've learned from some of them through the years, they get depressed, and, deciding that they're just plain dumb about this sort of thing, they drop out of school. In the April 29 letters section of The New York Times, there are two penetrating insights that further explain the growing rebellion against this mechanical collective testing. Walt Gardner, who writes for Education Week, states: "If one of the goals of schooling is to create lifelong learners, then high standardized test scores may be a Pyrrhic victory. That's because long after the subject matter is forgotten, attitudes remain." A vital attitude lost in the non-individualized tests is emphasized in a letter from a Los Angeles mother, Pamela Beere Briggs, explaining why she has joined the opposition to standardized tests: "A remark our 12-year-old daughter made in sixth grade -- 'There's a certain part about getting good at something that involves loving it' -- lighted a spark of resistance in me. I knew that she was right. We ended up home-schooling for the seventh and eighth grades. This way we had a chance to focus on real learning. No tests. No homework! Lots of reading. Lots of writing. Lots of conversation. What happened? Our daughter not only loves school, but also is good at lots of things." One of my daughters has home-schooled her daughter and two sons. I enjoy talking with them. They're full of ideas and questions about my views and ideas. And they read a range of books for pleasure. More educators are also liberating children from standardized schools whose regimen of tests and more tests, with no time for appreciation of the arts, such as music, that release individual creative imaginations and emotions. Dig this national movement from our sea to shining sea reported in Valerie Strauss' Washington Post education blog, "The Answer Sheet," on April 24: Strauss writes about a national resolution against high-stakes tests that focuses on standardized testing and involves "a coalition of national education, civil rights and parents groups, as well as educators who are trying to build a broad-based movement against the Obama administration's test-centric school reform program." I support the resolution, but I'm also not aware of any indication that a Republican administration's approach to school reform would not also significantly depend on standardized tests. According to the Washington Post, the forceful new resolution calls on "organizations and individuals to endorse (this) resolution, which asks officials in every state to 'reexamine public school accountability systems' and to 'develop a system based on multiple forms of assessment which does not require extensive standardized testing' and 'more accurately reflects the broad range of student learning.'" "We want our elected leaders to support real learning, not endless evaluation," says Pamela Grundy of Charlotte, N.C., who helped Parents Across America lead a revolt last year against standardized testing. Meanwhile, New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzales lets us share this grinding spring season of New York public school students: "Those dreaded state tests are here again. All third to eighth-graders in New York began Tuesday the first of three consecutive days of English language arts assessment, to be followed next week by three days of math tests. "And those state tests have never been longer... Many middle class families now spend thousands of dollars for tutors to prepare their children for these tests. Meanwhile, poor and minority families who can't afford tutors see their children fall farther behind." On the same page of that story: "Black and Latino students are nearly four times more likely than their white and Asian peers to be enrolled in the city's lowest-performing high schools, a new study revealed." New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delights in calling himself "The Education Mayor." He also never mentions that the New York City school system, as in many other big cities, is largely racially and ethnically segregated, not by law, but by differing residential choices." Nat Hentoff is a nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. He is a member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow.

MORE Meets Saturday, ICE Meeting Location Today Changed

Note that the ICE meeting today will be at the Skylight Diner 34th st and 9th Av at 4:30 today instead of Murry Bergtraum HS.

 

M.O.R.E - Movement of Rank and File Educators - Membership Meeting  

Join us at the open membership meeting for the new UFT caucus on Saturday, May 12 at Noon at the CUNY Graduate Center  - Room 5414 (New Location! 365 5th Ave @ 34th St, 6 to 33rd, B/D/F/M/N/R to Herald Square).   Please RSVP on Facebook, retweet and forward widely. Email more@morecaucusnyc.org for more info.

Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/MOREcaucusNYC - and follow @morecaucusnyc on Twitter.  

We want to know what you are thinking! Post on our Facebook wall to join in the conversation. Our new website will be coming soon...

Proposed Agenda for May 12th:

1. Introduction     12:00-12:20   
2. Name/slogan 12:20-12:35 
3. Committee reports 12:35-12:55   
4. Actions/DA 12:55-1:40   
5. Membership Drive: 1:40-2:10
6. Principles of Unity 2:10-2:40 
7. Wrap-up  2:40-2:45

Have Mercy - Norm in the Wave This Week

Published in print edition May 11, 2012

Have Mercy
By Norm Scott

Next week will mark a year since the premiere of “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman” which we at the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) produced as a response to the anti-union, anti-public school, pro charter “Waiting for Superman.” So far we estimate 10,000 copies are in circulation world-wide. I’ve been surprised at the amount of interest from college teachers of education and their students and we have been asked to speak at numerous venues. (Sorry I couldn’t make the ones in Hawaii or Turkey.)

The other day I went up to Mercy College in Yorktown Heights in Yonkers to speak to an interesting group of students. I had met the instructor, Alexandra Miletta, in Washington DC last summer at the Save Our Schools (SOS) 4-day event protesting Obama’s education, pro-privatization, pro charter policies, an event that attracted 8000 educators from around the nation, including Nancy Carlson-Paige, Matt Damon’s mom who brought her famous son to the party.

There was a mix of undergrads and grads in the class at Mercy, some student teachers, some current teachers going for a Masters and even some freshman and sophomores. As Alexandra went over the materials for the class I was impressed with the degree of rigor required in the training of teachers. I should point out that I never went through a standard teacher training program myself. I was one of those 6-week wonders trained in the summer of 1967 by a school system desperate for raw recruits. What I learned about teaching came on the job, mostly from more experienced colleagues. Sound familiar? That is pretty much what Teach for America is about. Both then and now an important question to raise is, “Why should children be guinea pigs in the training of new teachers?” We’ll deal with this another time, but let’s get back to the Mercy College class and to the point I want to make.

Until recently, most of the attacks in the privatization-driven agenda of the ed deformers have been against K-12 teachers and public schools. The idea is to destroy public confidence in publicly managed institutions. There is no little irony that the very people running the NYC public schools are totally lined up with the gang looking to destroy public education – the enemy within. After all, there is easily one trillion dollars up for grabs and more to come once they manage to lower the average salary of teachers nationwide (by undermining the unions) so they can shift the funds into profits. Now how do you do that? By de-skilling the profession, by making it easier to become a teacher, and by lowering standards and requirements. Call it the “anyone can be a teacher with little or no training” mantra. The lower the skill level, the less you have to pay. And if you can get most teachers to leave within five years, you never have to pay higher salaries or pensions. Really a win-win for the profiteers, a lose-lose for everyone else, especially the children.

Now we are beginning to see the early stages of an extension of the attack on teachers to the college level, especially as there are billions to be made by degrading the work of colleges that train future teachers. I’ll agree that there are some legitimate criticisms about some of the training, mostly about how it talks about methods of teaching without addressing the reality of so many classrooms. But that could be fixed. Instead the privatizers, as they are doing with K-12, want to throw out the baby with the bath water to maximize their profits.

As I listened to Alexandra talk about the extensive training her students were engaged in, including, horrors, student teaching, I was thinking about a NY Times article the day before by Michael Winerip on the outsourcing of the teacher licensing process by an increasing number of states to Pearson and Stanford University. Remember Pearson, a mega-giant raking in billions from every area of the education spectrum, from some of my recent columns? They are now famous for the pineapplegate story I wrote about in my last column about the confusing pineapple and the hare story on the 8th grade test. Pearson received a $32 million 5-year contract to create tests for the corrupt NY State Education Department (ask our own NY State Regent Geraldine Chapey who is supposed to have some oversight over NYSED about that scam). Since then every day there are more reports on exam errors, exams whose inaccurate results are used to rate teachers and schools with severe consequences like closing schools and firing teachers.

So now the tentacles of Pearson (which recently bought the entire GED program with increasing charges for test takers) reaching into the teacher licensing process. Pearson uses its lobbying clout to get states, including NY, to sign on. Winerip points out that people studying to be teachers will be evaluated by people being paid $75 per assessment with Pearson advertising work is “available seven days a week” for current or retired licensed teachers or administrators.

Will these people be visiting prospective teachers in a classroom? Not. Instead, prospective teachers will send in “two 10-minute videos of themselves teaching, as well as a 40-page take-home test, requirements of an assessment that will soon be necessary for licensure in several states” – judging your ability to be a teacher by remote control. And here an important point. Teachers will be required to pay $300 to engage in this farce, giving Pearson even more profits.

Winerip points out that, “In New York, Pearson will be able to test a teacher’s worth from start to finish. The company currently administers the test students must pass to be admitted to a teaching program and is developing the testing system that will be used to calculate each teacher’s annual performance score.” And Pearson also creates the tests students take that will end up judging the teachers. The circle closes.

Where oh where is the union in all this? Really, don’t ask. Well, actually you can ask. For a sign I’ll close with this quote from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Joel Klein: “He’s always had a reputation for integrity.”

Klein as Chancellor pushed contract after contract for on-line learning to an obscure Brooklyn-based ed tech company named “Wireless Generation” before leaving for a $4 million a year job working for that phone hacking criminal Rupert Murdoch, who a month after hiring Klein bought Wireless Generation. Integrity indeed. That’s like saying another Murdoch creation, FOX Faux Facts, has a reputation for being fair and balanced.

Hey, it’s teacher appreciation week. A good week to publish teacher data reports in the newspapers, rate them as unqualified, close their schools and fire them.
Norm blogs at ednotesonline.com.