Reports from the NEA by EIA

...the President [in his phone call to the NEA delegates] gave a hint as to how he will handle education issues in the campaign and deal with lingering dissatisfaction from a significant portion of the union.
The President emphasized the funding for teachers’ jobs in the stimulus bill, and the additional funding in the follow-on “edujobs” bill. He didn’t mention Race to the Top, Arne Duncan, charter schools, performance pay, or really any policy issue. And he took a swipe at Mitt Romney, saying, “My opponent mocks the idea that we need more teachers.”
As NEA campaigns for Obama, it will stick to the same emphasis: funding and the vulnerabilities of Romney. Addressing the other issues will wait until after the election… probably to no effect, but what else can NEA do?
The President signed off with “I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on the campaign trail.” To which NEA president Dennis Van Roekel responded, “We’re behind you all the way.” I think part of the frustration is that the union has been behind him, instead of in front of his face. ------Educational Intelligence Agency at the NEA.

Somehow I missed getting Mike Antonucci's reports from the NEA last week. Mike certainly nailed the Obama approach to teachers this year. Mike comes from the right with an anti-union bias but he does some excellent coverage. If you heard about the drastic drop in members of the NEA last week for the first time you would have known that a long time ago from reading EIA. I don't find many offensive items here but some people on the left get incensed when I post his stuff. I've been doing that even in the old pre-2006 print editions of Ed Notes and will continue to do so.

Mike focuses more on the NEA than the AFT. I sat with him in the press section at the 2004 AFT convention and we had some great conversations. (It was funny to see AFT officials sucking up to him.) That was the only time I met him. Here are the links to his reports.

Direct Links to All NEA Convention Blog Posts. In case you didn't follow along all last week with EIA's gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 2012 National Education Association Representative Assembly from Washington DC, here are the direct links to each post, in chronological order. Enjoy!

 

*  NEA Convention 2012: "We Have to Change." Seventy staffers cut and down $65 million, the delegates seem most worried about a virtual meeting for the resolutions committee.

*  NEA: "No Evidence" Teach for America Busts Unions. Judging by reader response, this was my biggest scoop of the week.

*  NEA Convention 2012: The Missing. Worst snub of the convention wasn't by President Obama.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Outside the Lines. Where once again I shirk my journalistic responsibility.

*  Biden: Romney Bad, Teachers Good. What else is there to say?

*  NEA Convention 2012: America's Greatest Education Governor Not So Great at Math. Minnesota governor's "real" numbers are imaginary.

*  Obama to Phone It In on Thursday. You know, they did have an Obama impersonator on hand. Hmmm...

*  More on Gov. Dayton's Math. Check your numbers... at the door.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Delegates to Take Up the Hot Issue of Hotel Cable Channel Selection, At least until peer pressure led to its withdrawal.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Social Justice Patriots. Demagoguing the 4th from the Left is no better than doing it from the Right.

*  NEA Convention 2012: NBI Smackdown. Delegates learn what life is like for California taxpayers.

*  NEA Convention 2012: Obama Coming In Garbled. Thank God for closed captioning.

*  A Financial Note for RA Delegates. Where those spending estimates come from.

# # #

The Education Intelligence Agency conducts public education research, analysis and investigations. E-Mail: mike@eiaonline.com

Parody of Ed Deform: Race to the Top Cake

A short time ago these Harvard students would have been jumping on the ed deform bandwagon. Now they are making fun of deformers. Are real reformers beginning to turn the tide with our little potshots against billionaires with atomic weapons? 

A blog by Harvard education school graduate students pokes fun at the reform moment. (HugsyFunnies). I picked up this great link at Gotham. 

Watch what happens when four HGSE students get down and dirty in the kitchen with School Reform. Props to Sam, Rachel, Hannah, and Jill (all IEP) for creating this masterpiece! “It’s a battle for who will win the Race to the Top Cake”

Here is part 1.



See the other parts at:

Top Ref

==========

Afterburn: Another signpost of the decline of ed deform

http://myednext.org/profiles/blogs/in-a-stunning-victory-for-america-s-public-schools-and-students

"The billionaire backed Students First shows horrendous data. See this link and refer to the 120 people talking about it and the slope downward of new likes. nearly to the base.https://www.facebook.com/StudentsFirstHQ/likes
  Hmmmm...consider the money, the PR, the political influence, and what do you have? Failure of epic proportions? A realization that Students First has much more to do with mining the public schools for profit and shortchanging the public school student while busting unions than the misleading title of the group? http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/20/1535065/a-reform-plan-a-lo...
 An amazing example of the minority overtaking the majority as  $$$First policies become law with so little support from the families of the 51million public school students?? An incident where taking a mouth taper and calling her Superman via Hollywood doesn't work? 

We Apologize

Easy to apologize now that they helped Jeffries win three to one.  Old riddle: How do Democrats organize a firing squad?   In a circle, of course ------JMB

  

Dear MoveOn member,

 

Last month, you received an email from MoveOn about Councilman Charles Barron, a candidate for Congress in your district. It was offensive and inflammatory—and we shouldn't have sent it.

 

On behalf of the MoveOn staff, I apologize to you and to the Brooklyn community.

The email was all too reminiscent of the kind of attacks that have been used by our opponents to divide progressives over and over again—white folks from African Americans, Jews from non-Jews, recent immigrants from descendants of immigrants, etc.

MoveOn is a community of 7 million of us from every corner of our country. There are MoveOn members of every race, religion, and color. We aspire to bring folks together to fight for racial and economic justice and democracy—with respect for everyone. This email did the opposite.

After the email was sent, we couldn't undo the harm it had done. But we wanted to do our best to avoid doing any more damage. So we didn't say anything further about Councilman Barron for the duration of the race, limiting our involvement to communicating the positive reasons that MoveOn members in the district chose to endorse Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries back in April.

We can't take back our actions. But we can do better going forward to make sure that we are uniting, not dividing, our shared communities.

 

Again, our sincerest apologies. And if you have any thoughts you'd like to share with us about the email or about how MoveOn can be a constructive force in local races and issues in the future, please don't hesitate to email me at justin_ruben@moveon.org.

Thank you for all you do.

Justin Ruben

Executive Director

MoveOn.org Political Action

 

No Worries, the End is Coming

I wake up thinking, "Good news, the world didn't end during the night. Let's see what happens tomorrow night."

How will Bloomberg fudge the grad rates? Credit recovery

Maybe that's why I often wear ear phones and listen to sports radio to put me to sleep -- so I won't be woken up by the end of the world. But really, why worry when we know that the end is coming eventually - either in billions of years when the sun blows up or tomorrow when some fool gets a hold of a nuclear weapon?

So I don't worry about it but do track how close to the end we may be getting. I want to make sure to wear clean underwear.

How about that global warming which I've been tracking since I moved near the ocean 33 years ago? I actually expected to be under water by now. I was beginning to think even if I live as long as my dad's 94 or Ernie Borgnine's 95, being 3 blocks from the ocean and half a block from the bay (which has a sea wall), I might just have a shot at staying dry (though I won't vouch for my basement). But then at a July 4 party someone told me that the rate of acceleration of Global Warming is much greater than expected. I started thinking about the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.  I just might end up with beachfront property yet.

I love Armageddon movies and books. In most scenarios the earth survives some catastrophe --- take your pick: nuclear war (The Road) or even more phantasmagorical - an earthquake off Japan sets of 4 nuclear reactors due to human error and they end up polluting and destroying most life on earth, but it takes 10 years for it all to happen.Then a small band of people fight off other people - or even zombies - to find a new civilization on a small patch of land -- and it's always such a good looking couple that survive. Truly the 1%.

A favorite book as a teen was the 1933 sci-fi book "When Worlds Collide" followed by the sequel "After Worlds Collide." (by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer -- see, I still remember). I found it in Miss Gouldsmith's library at Gershwin JHS (not to be closed).

Earth gets wiped out by another planet but that planet had a twin and some people were able to escape in a rocket and land there to continue civilization. Continue? We have civilization? If the world ends how will be be able to follow the Kardashians?

I wonder how Wylie and Balmer would have played out the story just a few years later with Hitler stalking the earth? Guess who would escape to start the new civilization? Imagine, Hitler and entourage land on new planet and find synagogues on every block. The ultimate Twilight Zone story.

In the book there is a first pass by the big planet and 8 months later it comes back and wipes out the earth and the smaller planet replaces it in orbit.

Tidal waves reach heights of hundreds of meters, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes take their deadly toll, and the weather runs wild for more than two days. As a token of things to come, Bronson Alpha's first pass takes out the Moon.

Oh, the casualties. Remember the George Carlin routine where waiting for disaster numbers to come in becomes a rooting game to beat the record? This was a wowser.

On the Twilight Zone July 4th marathon one story had the earth moving either closer to the sun or further away -- either way, bad news. And there was a recent story in the New Yorker where the earth rotation slows down and people go crazy over 48 hour days. Rahm Emmauel can expand the school day to 24 hours while offering teachers a dime. Maybe that's the next gambit of ed deformers. I laid out what Eva would do a few weeks ago as the world is crumbling around her ears. (Eva Moskowitz Deals With Armageddon).

Then there are the massive sunspot type stories that consume the earth. This concept looks like it could happen one day. I read an sci-fi novel not long ago where they had 2 years to prepare - how would that affect people waging war all over the place - bet it wouldn't  stop soem of them -- can't the see the Pentagon asking for another 10 billion dollar plane that will take 30 years to develop - just in case.

I won't go into the alien invasion scenarios because those type of stories don't interest me.

OK, so we are doomed. And there are movies around that deal with this. One just out is about a couple who meet cute - 3 weeks before the end. No worries about birth control there.

I was dying to see Lars Van Trier's "Melancholia" about a rogue planet wiping out the earth. And last night there is was on Netflix. Within the first 20 minutes of this 2 hour film I was rooting for the rogue planet to speed it up. But then again there was Kirsten Dunst, who I never much noticed before not only looking good but acting up a storm. Sometimes you just have to sacrifice. I tried vainly to hold on but fell asleep before the world ended. 

UFT/AFT Sells Out on Common Core

collaborate: to cooperate, usually willingly, with an enemy nation, especially with an enemy occupying one's country--Dictionary.com 

I can't get behind AFT's resolution on Common Core Standards. To me it contradicts their resolution on testing. http://lockerz.com/s/223095221 --

Mike Klonsky ‏@mikeklonsky

Mike Klonsky's tweet hit the nail on the head on the tactics being used by Randi Weingarten on the national level at the AFT and her henchman Michael Mulgrew and the rest of Unity Caucus on the local level to divide and conquer opponents of their policy, a policy decided in the halls of power where the classroom teacher has no say.

Hold out the carrot of what appears to be on the surface, a strong resolution on testing while at the same time offering up slavish support for the Bill Gates/corporate deform common core, disguised as a sheep but really a testing wolf, with lots of money to be made by the testing/publishing (often one and the same) companies.

Given that Bloomberg/Walcott/Tweed back the Common Core 1000% as does the UFT, doesn't that give you some pause? I mean this is not about agreeing on some program to feed starving children -- unless we are talking about children starving from lack of testing.

A pic of the AFT CCS reso from Klonsky

Susan Ohanian Reports

Here is another great compilation from Susan. So many links, so little time.
--------------------------

The Good News item is so good that I can't even describe it.

And Outrages pile up.

Having just suffered WORD's obstructive mechanism to prepare citations for a long paper and being married to someone who just survived citations for a book, this old New Yorker piece hits home.  I put this observation about WORD up in notable quotes on my site: 'When, in the old days, you hit the wrong key on your typewriter, you got one wrong character. Strike the wrong keys in Word and you are suddenly writing in Norwegian Bokmal (Bokmal?). And you have no idea how you got there; you can spend the rest of the night trying to get out.'

For more, read Louis Menand's hilarious 'The End Matter: The nightmare of citation' at http://nyr.kr/McQrGm

Once you've had a laugh, then you can visit the outrages below.

Susan

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself
Francine Prose
New York Times Book Review
2012-07-07
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=296

The loony Common Core prejudice against fiction pops up in a book review by Fancine Prose. She wonderfully refutes any claims that fiction isn't critical to our lives.

Support Con Ed Workers: Building Rank and File Bridges Between Public and Private Unions

GEM banner at Union Protest at Verizon, Aug. 2011

 Solidarity NOT Forever to Verizon Installer:  When I tried to make the connection between private and public worker unions to the Verizon union guy he balked. "That's a different story." In his view we have way too much and should be curbed.

Now new mommy Julie Cavanagh reps Rank and File Teachers at press conf (next to Patrick Sullivan)- Aug. 2011

There are some very good reasons for rank and file teachers to support other strikers even in the private realm. Which is why if you can make it (sorry I can't) Join MORE on the Con Ed picket lines: Sat, July 7th 12 noon union square.

I don't mean union leadership and their crew of people like Mulgrew and top union officials joining events (which they do) -- not union leadership to union leadership -- but real school workers working hand in hand with other workers. I wrote about the amazing reception the MORE teachers received on Thursday from Con Ed workers. MORE Members Support Con Ed Workers on Picket Line

That action was organized on very short notice and many MORE people are away. Expect more people to be there today.

I recently had Verizon Fios installed and the installer spent the entire day doing it. He is a union member and was on strike last year. He complained about the union leadership and how they still have no contract. "We never should have gone back. We were sold out," he said.

Sounds pretty militant, right? But he views public unions as a different story, as I described above.

I told him how last year GEM, ICE, NYCORE and Teachers Unite people had walked the picket lines with them and helped organize the protest outside the August 2011 PEP meeting. Many Verizon workers joined us inside after the rally and called for the PEP to reject an outrageous contract they were handing Verizon.

I'm sorry word of our support didn't reach this guy --- and I suspect it would not have changed his mind. He seemed right out of Faux FOX casting. He view helps explain Wisconsin.

Here are links to Ed Notes stories and videos on the actions with Verizon last August (2011) when my writing was still limited by my broken wrist.

 Press conference Tuesday to demand Verizon pay bac...

• Gotham Schools Involvement in Ed Deform Panel Cont...
• PEP POP III: Diary of a Mad Parent
• PEP POPS II
• PEP Pops I - Updated with video and links to cover...
• Patrick Sullivan to Verizon: When will you give ou...

AFTERBURN: Only one of the reasons for MORE

You'll notice that I had to mention multiple groups last year - GEM, ICE, TJC, NYCORE, Teachers Unite -- did I leave anyone out? MORE is an outgrowth of a two year attempt to bring some sense if unity and purpose to all the groups. While most of them still exist, they have moved some of their activities into the MORE sphere. MORE is really only months old and people are just getting to know each other, so the process moves in fits and starts. And the still-existing groups are feeling their way as to what makes sense for them to do in the evolving conditions. One thing I will say -- it gives all of us a lot more people who can get things done rather than duplicating the efforts in multiple groups. I still see ICE playing a role due to its experience and GEM focusing on charters, high stakes testing and making films.

Join MORE on the Con Ed picket lines: Sat, July 7th 12 noon union square

Forward far and wide!

As long as 8500 Con Ed workers are locked out. . .  educators will support them!

Even if the Unity leadership of the UFT won't actively support our union brothers and sisters from UAUW Local 1-2, The Movement of Rank and file Educators (MORE) is committed to mobilizing our members to show solidarity.       Same struggle, same fight. Meet-up in front of whole foods, across from Union Square at 12pm, this Saturday, July 7th. From a participant on Thursday when MORE members and supporters joined the picket line:

“They gave us a hero’s welcome. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity. On both sides there were picket lines… they all got so excited to see us chanting ‘teacher, teacher.’ Loud whistles, noise makers… the crowd went nuts. We got thumbs-up, high fives, people thanked us…. We all agreed that we have not felt so appreciated as educators in a long time.”

Future Opt-Outer Born

Note the same mohawk as daddy

Good news: Julie Cavanagh gave birth at 2 AM this morning to Jack (congrats to Glenn and Julie). She was 2 weeks late.

There's even better news for Jack's future:

"A study of city public school students found more time in the womb equaled higher test scores. (MSNBC)."

But we all know that Jack will be a test-opt outer.

Really, it's about time. She seems to have been pregnant for years. Julie promised pics soon. [Here it is].

Jack joins Ruben, Sam Coleman's son born last November, as the next generation of baby activists. That Julie and Sam, two of the leading young(er) activists in GEM (and MORE) have been involved with such important events in their lives has certainly been a factor in the overall movement's progress. And with always amazing Liza Campbell moving to Seattle (hopefully for only 2 years) the movement has certainly taken a hit.

But the joy everyone feels at these exciting events overcomes all. Gotta go buy some diapers.

DOE Hiring Lawyers

When I attended a recent 3020a hearing I had an insight into the behavior of the gotcha unit when they were coming up with the most ridiculous charges to build a case to fire the teacher (did she really fart in front of children?). It was clear that in order to justify their own jobs the lawyers had to come up with convictions. So even of the teacher deserves nothing more than a letter in the file the lawyers need to show firings.
Leonie came up with this info.

Note the first one (gotcha) and the last one ---- using TDAs to fire teachers.

Simply Hired - Daily job email alert

"department of Education" jobs in New York, NY (within 25 miles)

Title	Company	Location	Posted
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education Administrative Trials Unit	Nyc Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education - Special Education Unit	Nyc Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
Nyc Dept. of Education - Commercial Contracts Attorney (Information Technology)	New York City Department of Education	New York, NY	3 hours ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com
President/ceo, Department of Education	Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn	Brooklyn, NY	20 days ago
sponsored by Monster
Attorney - Nyc Dept. of Education Teacher Performance Unit	New York City Department of Education	New York, NY	29 days ago
sponsored by lawjobs.com

MORE Members Support Con Ed Workers on Picket Line

They gave us a hero's welcome. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity. On both sides there were picket lines, they all got so excited to see us chanting "teacher, teacher." Loud whistles, noise makers. the crowd went nuts.We got thumbs, high fives, people thanked us. We all agreed that we have not felt so appreciated as educators in a long time. --- -- Movement of Rank and File Educators on picket line supporting Con Ed workers.

MORE picket supporting Con Ed workers

Below is a compilation of reports from the 10 MORE members who attended today. They will return on Saturday at noon. Meet at Whole Foods, 4 Irving Place.

MORE folks showed up to the picket line today with hand made signs and were warmly received! When the picket captain saw us he rounded us up and marched us up Irving Place between the two picket lines on each sidewalk. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity.

We decided before leaving to congregate again this Saturday at noon (in front of Whole Foods again) and march over together, hopefully in bigger numbers! Come! These workers are risking so much, they just got their health care axed and they need our support...
-------

We walked from Whole Foods to 4 Irving Pl, Con Ed HQ- They gave us a hero's welcome. The UAUW Local 1-2 marshals who were organizing the lines (probably union delegate/reps) marched us on to streets. On both sides there were picket lines, they all got so excited to see us chanting teacher, teacher. Loud whistles, noise makers. the crowd went nuts.We got thumbs, high fives, people thanked us, we were actually embarrassed actually felt bad there were so few of us. Every press photographer came and took photos of us.

The most active labor organization in support of local 1-2 has been TWU Local 100.They showed up at the rallies, very active on Twitter to show up at the picket. They're led by former opposition groups.

Carol Burris on Relay Graduate School of Ed

This comment from a NYC teacher who works with Change the Stakes on the testing issues. She makes some wonderful points about the kinds of schools the idiots are running. She is as top level a teacher as you can get and was so disturbed by the principal and the rest of the admin she was ready to leave the system but was hired by a progressive principal at a dream school -- and yes the principal knew all about her activism because she put it on her resume. "I don't want to work for a principal who would be against my being active in opposing high stakes tests," she said.

This article is the first I've seen in mainstream media that addresses and criticizes RGSE.

I've had some firsthand experience with Relay's methods. The AP of my former school is an instructor at Relay, and she attempted to inflict its methodology onto our teaching staff. Videotaping our lessons, making "low-inference observations" (such as tally-marking the number of questions we ask or how many students raise their hands for each question), then putting the data onto a spreadsheet and pretending there were valid conclusions to be drawn. It was clear to a lot of us that the goal was to reduce our lessons down to a script, with "strategically" planned questions and predetermined amounts of "wait time" built in. One teacher was written up for latching onto a teachable moment during a formally-observed math lesson when a student unexpectedly connected lines of symmetry to the Batman villain Two-Face. This teacher was explicitly told that she was being rated Unsatisfactory for that observation because her lesson did not follow the script she had submitted during the pre-observation conference.

The end result was a mass exodus of strong teachers (including myself) from that school at the end of the school year. Before we left we were told to revise our old unit plans, in some cases writing up fully-developed plans for units we had never taught, so that the new teachers could hit the ground running in September. Of course we were told that all of this paperwork was for the benefit of "the children." (Or should I say, "the scholars"? Ugh)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/is-filling-the-pail-any-way-to-train-teachers/2012/07/04/gJQADViVOW_blog.html

ARTICLE IS BELOW

A Primer on Neoliberalism from Fiorillo

UPDATED: July 6, 8AM

There was a good debate at Gotham Schools the other day that led to this interchange on the issue of neoliberalism. The discussion came out of the Eric Nadelstern story which is worth reading -- I will comment on that in another blog.

Use of the word "liberal" confuses people who think it refers to classic American liberalism -- or the left. Claucius asked that very question of Michael Fiorillo who responded in a concise manner.


Michael Fiorillo (unregistered) wrote:

The consequences of Nadelstern's implementation of Bloomberg and Klein's policies - a power grab intended to shut out stakeholders, administrative dominance (increasingly wielded by people explicitly chosen for their minimal teaching experience), constant disruption and destabilization, undermining of teacher's professional autonomy, etc. -  have been anything but unintentional.  On the contrary, they are central to the neoliberal project to privatize the schools and turn them into profit centers. If he failed to see that, it was his opportunism that blinded him.Disruption, destabilization and creating a climate of fear and intimidation in the schools is the only thing these people are competent at. To re-phrase Tacitus, they create a desolation and call it learning.

 claudius (unregistered) wrote, in response to Michael Fiorillo (unregistered):

 Not sure why you call these policies "neoliberal". Privatization of state institutions, education as profit centers, and attacks on civil service employees and unions hardly seems liberal in any traditional sense of the term. Neo-conservative seems more appropriate to me.  But hey, I'm just a teacher and don't have time these days after lesson plans, teaching, and all the new time killers principals think up to keep teacher running to follow the new political terminology here. I am trying though and have learned that we need more "rigor" in my "failing school" so we can be more "accountable". So help me out Michael.

Link to comment

Michael Fiorillo (unregistered) wrote: Claudious, You're right, there's nothing "liberal" (in the mid-20th century sense of the term) about union busting and privatizing the common wealth of society, but that's exactly what Neoliberalism is about. Instead, you have to think about the word's earlier, 19th century meaning, which essentially meant laissez faire and absolute property rights. That old, New Deal-ish liberalism that Rush Limbaugh loves to bark about - pluralism, the common good, labor rights as a necessary brake on the built-in nastiness of unregulated business - was interred by Bill Clinton in the '90's, replaced by NAFTA and other trade agreements that undermine living and wage standards, elimination of social safety nets that have further lowered wages, economic domination by Finance at the expense of the broader economy (thus the omnipresence of Wall Street in every corner of so-called education reform) and the almost complete absorption of the Democrats into little more than a self-deluded and less visibly insane wing of The Money Party. Of course, Neoliberals trumpet their social liberalism - support for gay and abortion rights, which are good things - but that costs them nothing, and in the case of abortion, keeps their employees more productive (see Michael Bloomberg's feelings about this in testimony given at a sexual discrimination suit he faced: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/nyregion/a-testy-bloomberg-emerges..). Sure, they're big social liberals, but the minute someone wants a pay raise, or some say on the job, or simply wants to teach without being continually blamed for problems not of their  making and interfered with by arrogant know-nothings, out come the knives (for the good of the children, of course!). Here are two links that describe neoliberalism far better than I can: http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376 http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/610/1/21 The second link is to an article by the eminent geographer David Harvey, who lays it all out. Link to comment claudius Thanks for the clarification of "neo" liberalism. I was aware of the much older definition of liberalism, which goes back to the Whig party in Britain if I remember correctly. Before becoming a teacher, I worked on Wall St. where a lot of my colleagues were libertarians a la Ayn Rand, so I am aware of this socially "liberal" streak in the conservative movement. Still, neoliberalism seems a somewhat anachronistic use of the term liberal in today's context, at least to me. Additionally, as a teacher who automatically receives free copies of the NY Post every day, I am  aware of the relentless propaganda battle being waged in the press, so naturally I am suspicious of who is defining what terms for their own interest. Otherwise I am in much agreement with what you say and appreciate your many comments.

Join MORE On Picket Lines With Con Ed Workers Thurs 7/5 1pm

Movement of Rank & File Educators The social justice caucus of the UFT “Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions”

MORE

ACTION ALERT - 07.05.12

more@morecaucusnyc.org

Facebook: Facebook.com/MOREcaucusNYC 
Twitter: @morecaucusnyc

MORE’s website: MOREcaucusNYC.org

Forward, Blog, Email, FB, Tweet...

Join MORE On Picket Lines With Con Ed Worker's Thurs 7/5 1pm

Meet at 1:00 pm at The Whole Foods across from Union Square Park on E14th St off of Broadway. We will walk over to Picket Line together at 4 Irving Place New York, NY Con Edison Headquarters.

The new caucus of the UFT, Movement of Rank and File Educators MORE, will be joining the picket lines with locked-out Local 1-2 Utility Workers of Con Edison Thursday July 5th at 1:00pm. We picket with our union brothers and sisters because their fight is our fight. The Utility Workers are the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters of many of our own students. As teachers we must be active role models in the community defending the families of our students.  MORE teachers can not stand idly by while our friends continue to have their retirement and healthcare demolished. We can not and will not watch the attack on workers continue while board members and stock holders who contribute nothing continue to get wealthier on the backs of unions. We will refuse to allow union busting to continue, the loss of benefits and wages is further erosion of the living standards of the American worker which in turn is the eventual destruction of this great country.


Take a second to sign the NY State AFL Petition in support of the Con Ed workers as well...

Noah Gotbaum May Throw Hat Into Ring for Public Advocate

Woop woop!! Parents are not just getting involved in electoral politics, they're running too. Go Noah!!! ----- Mona Davids

Run, Noah, Run!!!!-- Karen Sprowal

I generally ignore political stuff but here is an interesting development. I've gotten to know Noah as a parent advocate from the upper west side over the years. He is in our movie and in fact his words close the main section. He was up in Albany with us  in Jan. 2011 as part of the group opposing the Cathie Black waiver. (Now that looks like a slam dunk but remember how most of the political forces ran for cover.)

He has taken a strong stand against Evil Moskowitz and her charter invasions. People have been telling me how impressed they were with the video at the SUNY Board hearing recently. Here it is again.


http://youtu.be/pWsWKaVSnsM





That was pretty powerful. Just watch the charter lobby and ed-industrial complex go wild to stop him. That alone is worth giving him our support. I just may contribute some bucks to my first political campaign in a long time.

I full well understand the realities of politics and that running for citywide office will require him to temper some of his positions, which is why I stay out of getting involved with politicians. But right now he looks like someone we should support.

Noah's dad Victor was a major labor leader and in the 70s fought with Al Shanker -- I have to look back in time to remember why -- I think it was over a Shanker attempt to incorporate Gotbaum union members like school aids and lunchroom workers. They made up. Noah used to sit at the table for meals with Al and Victor and one day we have to get Noah to tell us what they talked about. Noah's stepmom in Betsy, who was Public Advocate for 8 years. So, yes, he has close ties to the UFT and in fact the only chance he has is with UFT support.

http://www.cityandstateny.com/betsy-gotbaums-step-son-and-noah-gotbaums-son-mulling-nyc-public-advocate-run/

     

Via Facebook

Noah Gotbaum, a well-known Upper West Side education advocate who comes from a famous New York City political family, is seriously mulling a run for New York City public advocate.

Gotbaum, who is the son of legendary labor leader Victor Gotbaum and step-son of former New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, just registered a campaign committee for an undeclared public office — but said in a phone interview that he’s eying the city’s second ranking position.

“I am considering a public advocate run,” Gotbaum said. “I am exploring the options right now.”

Previously, Gotbaum had been thought by political insiders to be a likely candidate for New York City Council. But Gotbaum says he wants to lead a citywide push on behalf of public education issues — and to push against the Department of Education’s policies.

“There’s a million public school parents all over New York City, and we need an advocate for them,” Gotbaum said.

Gotbaum has served as president of Community Education Council District 3, and had a long career in the private sector beforehand. His wife also tragically died in 2007.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Letitia James is already in the public advocate’s race, as is former congressional candidate Reshma Saujani. Brooklyn State Sen. Daniel Squadron is also seriously considering a run. But Gotbaum is the only candidate so far from the vote-rich Upper West Side.

Of course, Gotbaum says (like every other potential candidate) that his decision will be predicated on current Public Advocate Bill de Blasio running for mayor in 2013.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

The Fingerprints of Randi: Cleveland AFT Local Signs on to Vicious Ed Deform

 How many more cities can we add to the Randi Sellout Tour since 2009?

So what kind of advice do you think Randi would give the teachers in Chicago if they would listen to her? Do you think she REALLY supports them striking given the deal below (and see Detroit, Hartford, Washington, NY, etc). You know I used to stand outside the DA handing out leaflets with the great David Bellel photoshop above calling out: ALL ABOARD THE RANDI NATIONAL SELL-OUT TOUR, COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU.  And I'd call out all the cities. How much fun to watch the Unity Caucus slugs scurry by as they full well knew they had supported whatever Randi wanted at the AFT convention -- and will do so again in Detroit in a couple of weeks.

From Mike Klonsky:

The new law overrides the union's contract and discards previous board-union agreements governing teacher pay and layoffs, does away with tenure, lengthens the school day and year without accompanying compensation, evaluates and pays teachers based largely on student test scores, and pushes the biggest move yet towards privately managed charter schools along the lines of the Philadelphia model. The new law is also an affront to parents, requiring them to attend meetings under penalty of law. It will take badly-needed funds away from neighborhood public schools and line the pockets of politically connected consultants.

The worst part of this mess is that it was supported by the Democrats and by the AFT and the Cleveland Teacher Union --not only supported, but hailed as "a model of collaboration" for the entire nation. The last time we heard that kind of talk from state union bureaucrats was here in Illinois after the passage of the anti-union SB-7 bill.

Cleveland's corporate reform bill signed by Kasich

Trouble in New Orleans Charter Paradise - Raza Consulting: All About the Adults

It is hard to keep up with Diane Ravitch, whose new baby is blogging -- about 10 times a day. So much good stuff but so are the comments on the NYC Ed Listserve. Keep an eye on the mostly privatized New Orleans school system as it comes down around the ears of the privatizers. But when it does we will still never see a regenerated public school system in NO. That horse has left the barn. That is why the battle to the death with charters must take place no matter how good a few of them are. But until the UFT/AFT/NEA use whatever power they have left to point out exactly what is happening, we are taking pea shots at Goliath. All we can do is slime and smear every charter transgression we can to paint them for what they ultimately are and will be --- in the very end there will be less choice than we have in public schools. Here is the opening of Diane's post followed by 2 NYC parent activists, Mona and Lisa.

Trouble in New Orleans Charter Paradise by dianerav Down in New Orleans, which corporate reformers treat as a model for the nation, there’s trouble. One of the charter groups, called the Algiers Charter Schools Association, is in hot water with parents. Algiers has eight charters, enrolling over 5,000 students. It recently lost its CEO and hired an interim chief academic officer, Aamir Raza, from New York City to implement changes. Raza is a management consultant (not an educator, needless to say) who had worked for the New York City Department of Education charter office. Read it all at: Trouble in New Orleans Charter Paradise

Lol- another DOE charter office lackey who jumped ship after Duffy left to start his own consulting business, Raza Consulting (http://razaconsultinggroup.com/) providing services to charters including the IKEA/Innovate charter school among others- that he pushed to be incubated in Tweed. I've had my run ins with him as has Lisa Donlan. This is so funny. He knows jack $hit and is now in New Orleans. Oh my head.
--- Mona Davids

The pipeline from the DoE Charter School Office  to privatized parasite of our ed-dollars  is at least as strong as the one from the DoE ed admin bureaucracy to the DoE CFN networks and the not for profit networks such as New Visions, etc.

What a racket! Cronyism, corruption and profiteering via privatization are the legacy of our education mayor and mayoral control.

How is this about kids and not the adults?

-----Lisa Donlan

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Before I do 10 more blogs I'm going outside to recover from this morning's colonoscopy -- video later.