The Nation: Charter School Violence Spiked at Double the Rate of Public Schools

The despicable Families for Excellent Schools is exposed in this Nation piece. FES must disparage public schools to counter the Eva bad pub. Elizabeth Green at Chalkbeat carries Eva's water in a more subtle way - Beyond the viral video: Inside educators’ emotional debate about ‘no excuses’ discipline - but I'll get to that another time.

And let me know if you see a link to this article at Chalkbeat.

 Why Has Charter School Violence Spiked at Double the Rate of Public Schools?

Meanwhile, charter advocates continue to criticize the safety of traditional public schools.

A few weeks after The New York Times released a controversial video of a Success Academy Charter School teacher lashing out at a student, New York City’s deep-pocketed charter school advocates are looking to shift the public narrative on who is committing violence in city schools.

Over the last few weeks, Families for Excellent Schools, a charter school lobbying and advocacy group with close ties to Success Academy, has placed TV ads, held a press conference, and taken to social media, claiming New York City public schools are in a violent “state of emergency.” The charter school campaign appears to be a response to the public backlash that Success Academy has received for its controversial disciplinary approach.
 Taking state data, which includes “violent” incidents not involving the police, Families for Excellent Schools asserts that between 2014 and 2015 schools suffered a 23 percent uptick in violence. The public action was meant to undermine New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently claimed school violence has gone down, thanks to his administration’s softer disciplinary approach.
A Nation analysis of the charter school group’s data, however, suggests the move may backfire, since the numbers also show that charter schools themselves reported a far higher spike in incidents of school violence, 54 percent, more than double that of the public school average between the 2014 and 2015 school years.

MORE at: http://www.thenation.com/article/why-has-charter-school-violence-spiked-at-double-the-rate-of-public-schools/

Can Teacher Unions Pull Out the Vote for Hillary? Maybe Not

The UFT pro-Bernie crowd might have lived with Hillary if there was a fair and open debate in the UFT about who do endorse. The lack of democracy in the UFT/AFT/NYSUT will come back to bite them.  As Mike Antonucci points out below, the NEA and AFT did not deliver for Hillary in Michigan. Can NY be far behind?

The overwhelming union commitment of staff, money and resources to Hillary’s campaign should be producing overwhelming margins for her in union households, and helping her margins with other demographics. How impressed can she be with the relevancy and value of NEA and AFT if they can’t even deliver their own members?... Mike Antonucci, Intercepts

Yes, Mike is a libertarian anti-union commentator. But he always uncovers such nuggets.

With things heating up around the upcoming NY State primary, the UFT will pull out all stops to prove it can deliver for Hillary.

Tom Murphy who is chapter leader of the UFT retired teacher chapter, which pretty much controls the UFT elections, sent this out:

Volunteer to help Hillary Clinton win

Please join us to volunteer at our phone banks for Hillary Clinton on Monday, March 28 through Primary Day on Tuesday, April 19 to make calls to our members and fellow union members.
Sign up to volunteer »

Murphy used the traditional scare tactics about Trump, etc. The fact that Bernie was never put on the table as an option for UFT members will come back to bite Unity Caucus in the primary and beyond. I wonder if it will affect the UFT elections too. I can't think of one MORE person who had declared for Hillary though there are some leaners based on fear. One of our officer candidates, Mindy Rosier, it very active in the Bernie campaign and is running for delegate. How great would it be to see Mindy at the convention?

What I am getting from teachers is that given Hillary's ed deform background and loyalty to corporations and Wall Street they cannot vote for Hillary. Some say they would rather vote for Trump - and these are not right wingers. Others say they will go for a 3rd party. I am predicting troubles for Hillary in the NY State primary from not only a segment of UFT members but from all union members. Of course Hillary will probably win due to the African American vote, though in Michigan younger black voters under 40 went for Bernie.

Here is Mike's complete post:

African-American Voters Doing For Hillary What Unions Cannot

Posted: 09 Mar 2016 10:19 AM PST

I can always tell what kind of night it was for Hillary Clinton by heading over to the NEA and AFT web sites and checking the press releases. If NEA has one about its “robust, targeted, and well-organized communications and field programs” or AFT has one with a headline containing “Union Members Pivotal…” it means she won. If there is nothing, then the affected state has been dropped down the memory hole.

If you remember way back to last October, when the NEA board of directors approved the Clinton endorsement, the union distributed talking points to its activists to explain the decision. Among the reasons given were:

* “Acting now allows us to pick our champion, and build credibility with the campaign, and that candidate, while demonstrating our value as a real player with substantial political power to bring to the table. We need to ensure that our views are part of the conversation on policies and priorities – not to concede that space by sitting on the sidelines. Acting now gives us a valuable voice in the room early, and often when it comes to working with the next administration.”

* “When we waited until the RA vote in 2008, we were one of the last organizations to endorse Obama. This left us, and our key issues in a position of little relevancy to the candidate and excluded us from being part of the team. We’ve learned that when we don’t act soon enough, campaigns go around us and organize our members without us. By the time they receive our official recommendation, their platforms are developed and they are well on their way to winning or losing.”

So the idea was to prove relevancy and value to Clinton by demonstrating political power. The problem is that even in the states Hillary won, she captured the union household vote by relatively small margins. Last night, Bernie Sanders won the union household vote – 49% to 47% – in Michigan, of all places.

The overwhelming union commitment of staff, money and resources to Hillary’s campaign should be producing overwhelming margins for her in union households, and helping her margins with other demographics. How impressed can she be with the relevancy and value of NEA and AFT if they can’t even deliver their own members?

If Clinton wins the nomination, she will owe it to African-American voters, who are voting for her in waves the unions can only dream of. They are not only rescuing Clinton’s campaign, they are saving the unions from an embarrassing loss of face and backlash from rank-and-file members.

NEA and AFT’s best-case scenario now is a Clinton presidency, but one in which she owes them no special debt of gratitude – sort of like an Obama presidency. It could be worse, but they had much higher hopes.

Bernie Michigan Win Bodes Ill For Hillary in General Election

MSNBC was shocked that Muslims in Dearborn would vote for a Jew (in my neighborhood in Queens, Muslims vote in large numbers for my gay Jewish city councilman), that African-Americans in the Northern cities vote differently than in the rural South, or that blue collar whites would vote for a socialist.
538 said Hillary had a 99% chance of winning Michigan, but careful! You know how those Greek tragedies go when people think they've defied the Oracle... Kevin Prosen, MORE

Despite the media bias against Bernie - The Washington Post Ran 16 Negative Stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 Hours - Bernie won Michigan. [See below for links to all these stories]. So funny how the two most attacked candidates by the pundits and liberal press are Bernie and Donald. Maybe they should run as a tag-team.


I was shocked last night as the results came in from Michigan. I saw them as doom for Hillary and her surrogates like Randi. Not doom in terms of getting the nomination. With the super delegates that is a foregone conclusion. But the reality behind Bernie's resilience is a giant thumbs down on Hillary.

Now what I hear in the media is: Bernie surprise in Michigan, Hillary wins big in Mississippi.  WTF! Are these 2 states even equivalent in any way in terms of the general election? Someone pointed out that the colleges in Michigan are on spring break and that Bernie would have won even more decisively.

Scare tactics only go so far. And fear of Cruz or Trump seems to be making the Democrats confident that they can get the Bernie supporters to go for Hillary in desperation. Don't count those chickens just yet.

Imagine if Bernie wins more elected delegates and loses the nomination to the super delegates like Randi? How about the teachers who support Bernie and never got a chance to advocate for him in deliberations for which candidate the union would support? I can tell you they are pissed. And maybe pissed to such an extent as to sit out the election. Or vote for Jill Stein. People who follow this stuff know full well Hillary is an ed deformer and has been for 35 years. They just won't vote for another deformer like Obama.

Last night made me think that Trump can beat Hillary. You might be saying Oy Vey but wait till you read my post later or tomorrow where I delve into the issue of whether Trump is more supportive of the working class than Hillary. Just see how many people - Democrats especially - are saying they could support Trump or Bernie - like mixing matter and anti-matter and getting a political explosion.

The assault against Bernie:

• March 6, 10:20 PM: Bernie Sanders Pledges the US Won’t Be No. 1 in Incarceration. He’ll Need to Release Lots of Criminals
• March 7, 12:39 AM: Clinton Is Running for President. Sanders Is Doing Something Else
• March 7, 4:04 AM: This Is Huge: Trump, Sanders Both Using Same Catchphrase
• March 7, 4:49 AM: Mental Health Patients to Bernie Sanders: Don’t Compare Us to the GOP Candidates
• March 7, 6:00 AM: ‘Excuse Me, I’m Talking’: Bernie Sanders Shuts Down Hillary Clinton, Repeatedly
• March 7, 9:24 AM:  Bernie Sanders’s Two Big Lies About the Global Economy
• March 7, 8:25 AM: Five Reasons Bernie Sanders Lost Last Night’s Democratic Debate
• March 7, 8:44 AM: An Awkward Reality for Bernie Sanders: A Strategy Focused on Whiter States
• March 7, 8:44 AM: Bernie Sanders Says White People Don’t Know What It’s Like to Live in a ‘Ghetto.’ About That…
• March 7, 11:49 AM: The NRA Just Praised Bernie Sanders — and Did Him No Favors in Doing So
• March 7, 12:55 PM: Even Bernie Sanders Can Beat Donald Trump
• March 7, 1:08 PM: What Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Get About Arguing With Hillary Clinton
• March 7, 1:44 PM: Why Obama Says Bank Reform Is a Success but Bernie Sanders Says It’s a Failure
• March 7,  2:16 PM: Here’s Something Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders Have in Common: And the Piece of the Argument That Bernie Doesn’t Get Quite Right.
• March 7, 3:31 PM: ‘Excuse Me!’: Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Know How to Talk About Black People
• March 7, 3:54 PM: And the Most Partisan Senator of 2015 Is … Bernie Sanders!

All of these posts paint his candidacy in a negative light, mainly by advancing the narrative that he’s a clueless white man incapable of winning over people of color or speaking to women. Even the one article about Sanders beating Trump implies this is somehow a surprise—despite the fact that Sanders consistently out-polls Hillary Clinton against the New York businessman.

And Bernie won Michigan. Just wait until New York when the UFT machine tries to get teachers to make calls for Hillary and gets slammed.

Unity Slug Declares: We ARE going to beat you (in the high schools)

You're mistaken, Norm. There is no pulling out stops. The vote is the vote. We're not sweating. We hope to beat you but it's hard to hate Eterno or Halabi. If we lose the seats life goes on. They're all good guys/gals. That said, we ARE going to beat you..... Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "#MORE2016: Introducing MORE High School VP and Exe...": 

Unity slug enjoying meal at Ex Bd

I love it when the slugs stop by. As I said in the post that led to the comment, I have mixed feelings about winning since I think it can be a distraction from doing blood and guts organizing. In fact that was what happened when ICE won 3 high school seats in the 2004 election. TJC won the other 3 seats. While TJC did not put a lot energy into the EX Bd, ICE people came out every 2 weeks to support Eterno, Jeff Kaufman and Barbara Kaplan-Alpert in their regular battle with Randi. The problem was we didn't use these battles as an organizing mechanism.

This time, fairly warned, our people say they will translate what they do on the Ex Bd into information that can be shared. The growth in social media would certainly help. My problem is that I can't seem to help myself and may well find myself attending more of these meetings than I should -- between 2004 and 2007 I gained 10 pounds just from the dinners - my old pal Gary Sprung, who was in charge of the food -and he only picked the best - used to take notice of my weight gain.

In some ways I would be amused to see Unity hold every single elected position in the UFT - Putin-like control - and given that we know that the vote will be close enough even if we lose, that says something - that even if 40% of the high school teachers vote against Unity, they get no voice. And this time Unity may win without a majority if Solidarity takes enough votes from MORE. In many unions there is a run-off when there is no majority.

Well, who can't say it wouldn't be fun to see Arthur Goldstein take them on? Jonathan Halabi has been on the board for almost a decade and he is a sharp guy and knows his way around the issues. I can't predict what issues Marcus McArthur, Ashraya Gupta and David Garcia-Rosen will take on but what I do know is that within the non-loyalty oath MORE, they will have the freedom to roam that Unity does not give its people.

As for Mike Schirtzer, oy vey, what a show we can expect. I pleaded with Mike not to run because his work is so essential to making MORE run and I feel being on the EB could be a distraction. After all, Mike is turning 40 this week and if he is to take my place in 30 years as a 70 year old still battling Unity we have to conserve his energy. 

But no worries. The Unity slug has declared they will win the high school seats without any sweat. And if they do, poor Schirtzer will owe me a Peter Luger steak.

Our old pal Roseanne McCosh has her own take on the Unity slug comment:

I define winning as being smart enough and ballsy enough to recognize and counter bullshit every time you hear it. I define losing as gulping down the Kool Aid. So by my definition Norm wins every time! Roseanne McCosh

Hey, I win every time Roseanne leaves a comment taking down the slugs.

L.A. Progressive: Wanting “More” from the United Federation of Teachers: A Profile of Jia Lee

In her bid to become UFT president, Lee says she represents a large, but mostly silent body of teachers who remain frustrated with the union for not challenging damaging education polices.

Another great piece on Jia Lee, this time from Yohuru Williams in the LA Progressive   Los Angeles.

https://www.laprogressive.com/jia-lee/https://www.laprogressive.com/jia-lee/

Wanting “More” from the United Federation of Teachers: A Profile of Jia Lee

By Yohuru Williams

For the first time, during the Democratic Presidential debates from Flint, Michigan, on Monday candidates Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders actually broached the subject of education and “fixing” the nation’s public schools a phrase that regrettably has become synonymous with the rhetoric of corporate education reform.

The lack of conversation by either candidate on education beyond cursory remarks around wanting “good teachers,” sounding like more double speak for the failing schools narrative, may be due in part to the early endorsement of Senator Clinton by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) back in July of 2015. Amidst great controversy, AFT president Randi Weingarten announced the union’s support of Clinton with little input from the union’s membership.

The rush to support raised serious concerns for some teachers. They questioned not only the benefit but also the process by which the union leadership decided to back Clinton. Rather than forcing candidates to work for teachers’ votes, the endorsement may have stifled debate as Sanders and others assumed unanimous teacher support for Clinton. It is an issue that is not only pertinent to national politics but local unions as well.

Interestingly, Weingarten, who engineered the boost for Clinton was once president of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York during Clinton’s tenure as senator there. As one of the largest of the AFT’s locals, UFT has also become a battleground on these larger issues during its own upcoming election for President.
This is due in part to the candidacy of New York City parent and Special Education Teacher Jia Lee who has challenged current UFT President Michael Mulgrew for the office. Her decision to run is due in large part to her desire to make the union leadership more accountable and to, in her words, “put the power back in the hands of the classroom educators who bare the brunt of hastily made education policies.”

In her bid to become UFT president, Lee says she represents a large, but mostly silent body of teachers who remain frustrated with the union for not challenging damaging education polices.

Although this is her first time running for Union president, Lee is certainly no stranger to activism. Despite considerable risk to her position, she has been at the forefront of several key battles including the fight to end high stakes testing, efforts to shift funding away from corporate charters like Success Academy and back to bona fide public schools, and the struggle to decouple teacher evaluations from testing. This is in addition to 8 years of service as a UFT Chapter Leader and one of the prime movers behind the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), a caucus within the UFT committed to the same core values of transparency and justice.

An impassioned advocate for sane education policies that protect rather than imperil students, Lee’s energy is infectious. Her ability to clearly articulate the concerns of parents and teachers, for instance, was on full display in January of 2015 when she testified before the United States Senate while it considered re-authorization of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.

In her bid to become UFT president, Lee says she represents a large, but mostly silent body of teachers who remain frustrated with the union for not challenging damaging education polices. “Our schools are in crisis, in large part,” she explained in an interview back in October, “because the current union leadership is complicit in bad policy and continues to tell us that this is the best they can do.” She continued, “it’s not the time for us to re-negotiate what has already proven to be disastrous, it’s time for teachers to come together with the community and chart a new course for our union…. We are going to take back our union and lead a fight for the schools our children deserve,” she concluded.

Lee’s supporters are used to such soaring rhetoric. Her candidacy, along with the national election, has brought renewed interest and excitement around the upcoming UFT election in which Lee will head a joint slate of teachers representing a united front of MORE and the New Action Caucus.

Lee was adamant that her candidacy was more than just a critique of Mulgrew, but an opportunity to share an alternate vision of union engagement that would place the UFT on the front lines of pushing back against the corrosive effects of corporate education reform. It is also, she maintains, about restoring real representation back to the union.

As Lee conceptualized the problem, less than a quarter of current educators participated in the last election leaving the contest in the hands of a significant block of retirees, many of who no longer reside in the city and are unaware of the current calamity facing public school educators. Rather than reaching out to the city’s teachers, Lee notes Union leaders like Mulgrew spent more time currying favor with this group, whose concerns are very different from those of active teachers. As a result, the union has pursued policies and actions that have further hurt rather than helped teachers.



Lee critically notes that increasing voter turnout will be vital in the upcoming election. MORE, for example, captured just 23% of the active teacher vote in the last election. If the Caucus hopes to win, they will to not only improve that number but also rally teachers around the idea that transformation is possible with a change in leadership. Working in conjunction with the New Action Caucus, Lee believes that MORE can not only increase voter participation but also revive the UFT as a body for contending not only for teacher’s rights but social justice.

Yohuru Williams

#MORE2016: Introducing MORE High School VP and Exec Board Slate

I'm way behind on sharing the list of MORE candidates for the upcoming UFT elections. The high school Executive Board slate below has a chance to win, though it is my belief that with Unity facing the prospect of dealing with a non-Unity endorsed group of people for the first time in a decade, they will pull out all stops to keep MORE/New Action from winning the high school seats. If that happened that would give Unity 100% of the Executive Board for the first time since 1994.

The candidates are:

• Ashraya Gupta, Arthur Goldstein, Marcus B. McArthur, David Garcia-Rosen, Mike Schirtzer are from MORE.
•  
• Jonathan Halabi and Kuljit Ahluwalia, are from New Action.

The breath of experienced and more recent teachers is well-ballanced, ranging from 6 to almost 30 years. If they get elected, their range of experience will well-represent all points of view.

James Eterno is running for

VICE-PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOLS CANDIDATE


James Eterno: 
UFT Delegate and Social Studies Teacher at Middle College High School, Queens. 18 year Chapter Leader at Jamaica High School, UFT Executive Board 1997-2007
Together, we can restore dignity to teaching. Every UFT member should join the fight to repeal horrific state laws that include rating teachers on cookie cutter 1-4 Danielson rubrics and student test scores, presuming teachers are guilty until proven innocent in termination hearings and replacing teachers without any due process in receiver schools.  Mulgrew thinks everything is just fine.

I've worked with James from the early years of Ed Notes through the founding of ICE and as one of the best chapter leaders ever, who led the battle to try to save Jamaica High School, you can't find a better candidate. Of course he won't win because all officers run at-large - every UFT member including retirees vote.The last time Unity had 100% of the Exec Bd in 1994 (they had lost the high schools and even the middle schools in the previous election) they pushed through a change in the constitution taking the divisional VPs out of the divisions and making them at-large.

Retirees do not vote for the high school executive board candidates which is why they have a chance to win.

But who knows what they will do this time if they have total control of the EB without opposition - find some excuse to make every Ex Bd position at large?

If people are over-confident that MORE/NA will win these 7 seats this time, they should not be.

Look at the high school numbers from 2013:

Unity: 1585, MORE: 1435, New Action: 450

That is out of 19000 ballots sent out to the high schools.
The low turnout is not an anomaly as we've seem roughly these numbers for a dozen years.

The New Action votes went to Unity in their cross endorsement deal in 2013. Let's not assume that what happened last time is a given this time.

People who have not had the experience I have in Unity dirty tricks may be making the mistake of extrapolating these numbers onto the 2016 election and thinking that if MORE/New Action put their 2013 totals together they will be close to 2000 votes.

I think they have to do better than that to win because I don't expect Unity to stay at 1585. They took things for granted and the fact that MORE was within 150 votes of their total shook them up.

I believe Unity is beating the bushes to get themselves a cushion. Unity has been using its control of the UFT to create various high school communications devices and send out employees to key schools to beat the bushes for high school votes. And this time they have Solidarity out there taking votes from MORE/New Action. While I don't believe that Unity is behind Solidarity the outcome will be the same. Unity can only be assisted in their goal of 100% control of the Ex Bd by every vote not going to MORE/New Action out of the high schools.

I actually have mixed feelings about winning these seats. I think asking an activist group of 7 people to sit in a room full of Unity slugs every 2 weeks at an Ex Bd meeting is problematical in terms of what can be accomplished there. Donald Trump is threatening to make attendance at these meetings as a replacement for water boarding as his torture of choice.

But our people seem enthusiastic about attending UFT EB meetings, so the more power to them.

I know some of the MORE/New Action candidates fairly well.

Arthur Goldstein is a colleague for over a decade and what a bonus having him on the EB it will be.

I have come to know Mike Schirtzer very well over the past 3 years and consider him my political son. Mike is a force of nature.

I've only become acquainted with Marcus McArthur recently and hearing him speak I thought that one day he could run for UFT President. I wrote about him last week: MORE HS Ex Bd Candidate Marcus McArthur.

Marcus Brandon McArthur is a New Jersey native and Brooklyn based writer, educator, and political activist whose work focuses on race, economic inequality, education and cultural politics.  He received his B.A. in History from Morehouse College in Atlanta where he focused on the shared historical plight of African descendants through studies in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, and Brazil.  Marcus received his M.A. in Latin American History from Penn State and M.S. in Special Education from LIU-Brooklyn.  He has published works with the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal and the MORE Caucus blog of the United Federation of Teachers.  He currently teaches English and Social Studies as a Special Education Teacher at City-As School.

Check him out on video at one of our opt-out rallies

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2015/05/more-teachers-silenced-nyc-public.html?m=1

I have also only recently become acquainted with Ashraya Gupta and every time I meet her I am more and more impressed.

David Garcia-Rosen I know for a long time, originally through Teachers Unite and more recently though his fight for the small school sports league which got him sent to the rubber room on the  direct orders of Carmen Farina. She was pissed that he turned down her bribe attempt job offer. She couldn't make anything stick and he's back in a school.

As for the New Action candidates, I have known Jonathan Halabi  for over a decade. We've not always been on the same page but I got to work with him on the petition campaign and we worked very well together. He knows a lot about everything and during the election process has seemed very comfortable working with the MOREs.

I do not know Kuljit Ahluwalia, who sas a chapter leader at Canarsie HS.

EXECUTIVE BOARD – HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION CANDIDATES

We need your support in order to win. It is time for a new, independent voice in UFT leadership that has different views from Mulgrew and his Unity caucus. You can help by distributing our literature, coming to our events, donating to our campaign, and urging people in your school to VOTE MORE/New Action!

As UFT members we are privileged to have the opportunity to be at the forefront of a monumental shift towards economic and social justice in America and around the globe. Through mass mobilization of our membership and our allies, we will steadfastly fight for teacher autonomy, student voice, and economic justice for the 99%.



Ashraya Gupta: 
UFT Delegate and Chemistry teacher at Harvest Collegiate High School, Manhattan.
We deserve a democratic union, representative of our members. For too long, teacher interests have been cast as oppositional to student interests. But our union should make it clear that our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Let’s be the union we wish to see.



Kuljit Ahluwalia: 
Science Teacher at Queens Academy H. S.  Chapter Leader at Canarsie High School, Brooklyn  2003-2009.
As a high school teacher for the last 28 years I have seen the slow erosion of teachers’ rights and a sense of frustration.  As a former teacher at a phase out school I have witnessed how unfairly ATR have been treated.  We need to have a union that will provide equal representation and voice the concerns of all its members.


David Garcia-Rosen: 
Restorative Dean and Athletic Director Bronx Academy of Letters, Lead Organizer NYCLetEmPlay
Our students and UFT members deserve a union that fights for every school to have equitable access to resources regardless of zip code. For five years the  NYCLetEmPlay students and teachers stood up to fight for civil rights. MORE stood by their side while Mulgrew/UNITY refused to offer any support. On the executive board we will fight for better learning conditions for our students, which  are the working conditions for our members.


Arthur Goldstein: 
UFT Chapter Leader  and ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School, Queens.
It’s time for high school teachers to have a voice and I want to give you that voice. Let’s initiate things that work for us and our students rather than counter-productive reformy nonsense.



Jonathan Halabi:
UFT Chapter Leader and Math teacher at HS of American Studies at Lehman College, Bronx. UFT Executive Board 2009 – present
Teaching is an honorable career. We help kids learn and grow. Their success is our reward. But not if we are mistreated. Not if our voices are ignored. Not if decisions that affect our schools are made out of incompetence and malice. We are running to ensure all our voices are heard in our union.



Marcus B. McArthur:  
Special Education Teacher at City-As School, Manhattan
As UFT members we are privileged to have the opportunity to be at the forefront of a monumental shift towards economic and social justice in America and around the globe.  Through mass mobilization of our membership and our allies, we will steadfastly fight for teacher autonomy, student voice, and economic justice for the 99%.



Mike Schirtzer: 
UFT Delegate and Social Studies teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School, Brooklyn:
“We Need New Leadership!”
Classroom teachers need a voice in our union and we will be that voice on the UFT Executive Board. Our leadership negotiated a poor contract, worse than other city unions. Micromanagement, Danielson, and 1% raises with delayed retro is not what teachers deserve.  

Chilling or Laughable? Is Opt Out Movement Being Viewed as Form of Terrorism?

Illinois launches investigation into opt out students and their teachers...http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-school-testing-season-met-20160306-story.html

This is almost funny. Almost. The greatest threat to the ed deform agenda is clearly the opt out movement.

Speaking of which, TODAY:

Monday Mar 7 @PS 84K - Williamsburg/Greenpoint District 14 Panel on NY State Testing/Opting Out

250 Berry St. - I'll be there.

For more information about Opting Out, visit: optoutnyc.com or nysape.org

In the latest twist on opting out, the state launched an investigation into why so many kids in certain districts skipped state exams last year. The so-called inquiry would include questioning school staff, community members, parents and "even students if appropriate," according to a Feb. 18 letter sent to districts from state schools Superintendent Tony Smith.
The state elaborated on those plans in a Feb. 19 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, saying that "ISBE will also publicize an email address to which individuals can anonymously report information relating to a school district not meeting the 95 percent participation rate." Federal law requires that at least 95 percent of students in schools and districts take both English language arts and math state exams.
ISBE also told the federal government that it would be looking at whether "school personnel improperly influenced a student to refuse to engage in a test," which could be considered unprofessional conduct and lead to disciplinary action against an educator's license. School districts as a whole also could be in trouble if they "chose to exclude or encouraged students not to take PARCC or engaged in other inappropriate conduct," the letter stated.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-school-testing-season-met-20160306-story.html

School Horror Stories Continue in DOE With UFT Support

This is UFT election petition turn-in week in preparation for handing in the petitions to the UFT in time for next week's March 10 due date. Every one of MORE/New Action's 300 candidates requires a petition with at least 100 signatures while the officer slate needs 900. More on the petitions in a follow-up but first I wanted to share some of the conversations I've had with some people dropping off.

A 5th year non-tenured high school teacher with Yet Another Shitty Principal - a YASP - and doesn't expect to get tenure this year either. The backup solution? An application to law school to become a labor lawyer. "I can't commit to the DOE under these circumstances," she said. When I suggested a transfer to a "better" school she said she purposely entered teaching to try to teach in a difficult school and work to change things. Not without tenure she won't.

I told her MORE could certainly use her legal services when she graduates.

Then yesterday afternoon after we finished collating the petitions I dropped by a bar with a friend who came to help. She was meeting up with old colleagues including 2 school secretaries she used to work with. In just a few moments of conversation they laid out the bleak situation for so many secretaries - the work overload, how they are expected to do so much of the work principal offload onto them. One of them retired 2 days ago, not being able to stand it anymore.

Of course in both stories, of which there are so many more, the UFT is complicit. As Emily Giles wrote in the piece I published yesterday:

Mulgrew bases the power of the union on the status of his partnership with de Blasio's administration, rather than on the ability to mobilize the rank and file. The priority of the union leadership, then, is to maintain that relationship at all costs, even when it means jeopardizing the interests of the membership....

ATR Field Supervisors

Coming soon: How one school teams up to support a harassed  ATR - until rotations removes the ATR to go to another school where who knows what will happen.

The teachers are writing letters of support to be used when and if the DOE files 3020a dismissal charges.

Emily Giles - Why was UFT left behind on parental leave?

Mulgrew bases the power of the union on the status of his partnership with de Blasio's administration, rather than on the ability to mobilize the rank and file. The priority of the union leadership, then, is to maintain that relationship at all costs, even when it means jeopardizing the interests of the membership....
......UFT members do not have paid maternity leave—they have the right to take their own sick days. Birth mothers can take six to eight weeks of post-partum leave depending on whether the birth is vaginal or by cesarean section. Those weeks of leave are only paid, though, if the mother has enough stored sick days. If she doesn't, she has to borrow from upcoming years...
....activists in the UFT see parental leave as a right that should be fought for....MORE sees the campaign as an opportunity to organize the rank and file, and build a fight for parental rights with no concessions or givebacks....
..... This is in contrast to UFT President Michael Mulgrew's approach to negotiation, summed up in his statement...
....While it is certainly true that the UFT leadership has tried for years to interest the city in expanding parental benefits, it hasn’t lifted a finger to actually organize a fight for those benefits. In fact, in recent member updates, Mulgrew has done the opposite--strategically lowering member expectations by laying out the number of givebacks that city workers accepted in exchange for their parental leave
.....MORE Candidate for Exec Board at Large,  Emily Giles, http://socialistworker.org/2016/02/22/uft-left-behind-on-parental-leave

Wasn't there a time when unions did not trade away give backs? I mean how did we win any contract when we had nothing to give back? Remember how Unity sold tried to tell us that asking for retro up front would bankrupt the city?

Harry Lirtzman reminds us:

The best jobs creation numbers in NYC history.  More evidence about how we were swindled by all the poor-mouthing during the contract negotiations and the complicity of our leadership.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160304/BLOGS01/160309937

Watch how Unity hacks leave comments that we should not look to the past but the future.

Emily Giles lays bare the bankrupt Unity Caucus strategy of low expectations and selling trade-offs as a negotiating tactic by focusing on the issue of parental leave, which should be a right as it is in every civilized nation, as an example.

Emily Giles, a new mom (among a gaggle of MORE new moms), did a wonderful presentation at last Sunday's MORE meeting summarizing the awful parental leave situation in this city and in the nation and especially how bad it is in our own teacher union. I tried to take some notes.

• Bargaining relationship between UFT and DOE. Give back for gain.
• Majority of teachers are women. Many are mothers.
• On one of most important issues to them they get nothing from union dues.
• Have a rally at the DOE with moms bringing babies.
• This is not just about mothers but parents. What about the fathers? What about being given enough space to actually be able to take care of new-born babies? What if the baby gets sick? How do parents deal with that with sick days used up?

Well, anyway, Emily's presentation was so deep I gave up and asked her if she has written about this. And so she has at the Socialist Worker. Emily is a member of the ISO and brings that organization's particular analysis of how our union operates to this piece.

Why was UFT left behind on parental leave?

Emily Giles, a New York City teacher and member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators in the teachers' union, reports on a campaign brewing among the base.

http://socialistworker.org/2016/02/22/uft-left-behind-on-parental-leave

February 22, 2016

 
Members of a New York City teachers' union rank-and-file caucus rally against testing (Movement of Rank and File Educators)
 
ON DECEMBER 22, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio granted paid parental leave to approximately 20,000 non-unionized city workers. The mayor's executive order covers six weeks of paid leave at 100 percent salary for parents who have or adopt a child or take one into foster care.

This left members of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)--the majority of whom are women--wondering why they don't have the same.

De Blasio's six weeks of paid leave for new parents is a step forward, though it is still paltry and illustrates the dismal state of what's on offer for working-class people in the U.S. But even this qualified victory did not cover the vast number of unionized city workers—transit, teachers, maintenance, postal workers and more.
The mayor made clear that the city is ready to re-open contracts and negotiate paid leave for unionized workers, leaving the ball in the court of unions.

In the case of the UFT, what the union leadership has done since exemplifies its approach to unionism. Rather than take advantage of a clear opening, organize the union’s base and push for parental leave for all UFT members, UFT leaders have taken a wait-and-see approach, cautioning members that any new benefits would inevitably mean concessions.

Activists on the ground have a different strategy. Rosie Frascella, a UFT member and soon-to-be parent, started a Change.org petition calling for the same rights granted to non-unionized workers to be extended to unionized workers. And, says the petition, parental rights should be granted with no givebacks and no concessions.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE CALL for parental leave immediately resonated with UFT members because the current benefit, if it can even be called that, is so deplorable. Within two weeks, the petition had almost 2,000 signatures.

UFT members do not have paid maternity leave—they have the right to take their own sick days. Birth mothers can take six to eight weeks of post-partum leave depending on whether the birth is vaginal or by cesarean section. Those weeks of leave are only paid, though, if the mother has enough stored sick days. If she doesn't, she has to borrow from upcoming years.

Borrowing days means that new mothers often return to work in the negative for sick time. For most union members, it takes years to accrue 30 or more saved sick days. UFT members in their first years of work are certain to need to borrow time against the future or take time off unpaid. And the many pregnant women who require time off before the birth of their child have to dip into their paid sick days before time with their baby even begins.

The UFT considers pregnancy, birth and post-partum recovery and bonding time as a sickness or medical emergency. This "benefit" of being allowed to take one's own sick days is extended only to birth mothers—fathers, partners, adoptive and foster parents are not included.

To add insult to injury, and despite a requirement in the Affordable Care Act for employers to cover breast pumps for new mothers, UFT members' insurance coverage does not include breast pumps or lactation consultation. Not only are new mothers sent back to work after only six weeks of bonding time with their newborns, they are not granted the simple benefit of a breast pump.

In a workforce that is overwhelmingly female and dedicated to caring for children by definition, these maternity "rights" are shameful and don't deserve the name.

The U.S. is one of only four nations in the world that fails to guarantee the right to paid maternity leave.

Private-sector companies like Google, Netflix and even New York's infamous Goldman Sachs bank have caught on and now offer employees parental leave almost on par with countries like Sweden. But sadly, the lack of parental rights for the vast majority of public-sector workers nationwide means that workers who need the benefit the most don't have it. New parents are put in a position of choosing between paying for basic life costs and taking time off to build essential bonds with their child.

New York City does have a recent example of a public-sector union that won parental rights. The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) represents professors, adjuncts, lecturers and other staff at CUNY schools. Under leadership of the New Caucus, the PSC won eight weeks of paid parental leave for all full-time instructional staff in their 2007 contract.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LIKE THOSE in the PSC, activists in the UFT see parental leave as a right that should be fought for. Frascella's online petition was the first step in what has become an organizing campaign for the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), a caucus within the UFT. MORE sees the campaign as an opportunity to organize the rank and file, and build a fight for parental rights with no concessions or givebacks.

This is in contrast to UFT President Michael Mulgrew's approach to negotiation, summed up in his statement, "We have been trying for years to interest various city administrations in expanding parental leave, and finally we have a willing partner on an issue that is very important to us. We look forward to negotiating with the administration for an appropriate way to extend and expand parental benefits for our members."

The quote makes clear that Mulgrew bases the power of the union on the status of his partnership with de Blasio's administration, rather than on the ability to mobilize the rank and file. The priority of the union leadership, then, is to maintain that relationship at all costs, even when it means jeopardizing the interests of the membership.

While it is certainly true that the UFT leadership has tried for years to interest the city in expanding parental benefits, it hasn’t lifted a finger to actually organize a fight for those benefits. In fact, in recent member updates, Mulgrew has done the opposite--strategically lowering member expectations by laying out the number of givebacks that city workers accepted in exchange for their parental leave.

The UFT may have dodged a bullet with the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, which likely headed off a conservative decision in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case that would have stripped public-sector unions of their legal ability to charge representation for non-members. In the long run, however, the service approach to unionism and backroom negotiation strategies will harm the UFT the most.

This strategy of bureaucratic unionism laid the groundwork for the Friedrichs case. Friedrichs is a threat only because an anti-labor ruling would lead to massive numbers of New York City teachers choosing not to pay dues to the UFT--the result of decades of a union model that has taught members that all the union does is provide services and negotiate contracts, and it doesn't do that very well.

The fact that a union that is majority female doesn't even have a semblance of maternity leave rights only serves to illustrate why the membership may not see the value of their union dues.
To stand a fighting chance, the UFT must rebuild its base and our power, one campaign at a time. The fight for paid parental leave represents the type of social justice demand that can do just that—helping to organize the rank and file around a right that affects our membership and the membership of all public-sector unions and our communities.

The hope of real change lies not with the UFT leadership, but with the ability of the rank and file to organize and push for change from the bottom up.

Where a Group of My Former Students Pass the Highest Stakes Test of All - Life

UPDATED WITH PHOTO OF CLASS OF 1979:
Sally Lee made the request and here it is. Your job is to match them up with their current photo. The only one not here is Luis who was moved to another class for the 6th grade - I assume because his scores went up enough to put him in the "one" class.

I can't think of a more fun day than I had on Sunday, getting together with a bunch of former students from my 5th and 6th grade class which graduated in 1979. This is one of the 2 classes I looped with and having most of them for 2 years made things so easy in the 2nd year.

We shared so many memories on Sunday and hearing how their lives turned out 37 years later is an amazing treat for a teacher. Given the poverty of the neighborhood and the dangers they faced and the stories of so many kids lost to the streets, it was heartwarming to see them with jobs and careers and families. And also rising above the poverty so many of them grew up with.

There were a whole bunch who couldn't make this and we are planning on doing it again in the spring or summer. Lavinia (center), whose face is exactly the same as it was in 1979, said she would host.

There is so much I want to say about these students, our 2 year journey together and what I learned about them on Sunday. I just need to think some of this through in more depth. I hadn't seen most of them since they graduated, other than the times they stopped by to see me when they graduated from junior high school or stopped by on open school night. I had some of their family members as well.

One thing that did occur to me ties into testing. I believe that 6th grade 1978-79 school year with these kids may have been one of the best I experienced. This past Sunday night I realized one of the reasons why. Around that time there was a coup d'etat in my school and the principal and assistant principal (who was a big support for me) were deposed by an assistant principal tied to the local political machine who became the principal. I was on her enemy list from the day she came into the school 4 years before and she divided the school into camps. But most important was that she was test-driven along the lines of the current ed deformers and viewed my teaching style as anathema to her total test prep all the time, leading to pressures on teachers that often creates tension with the kids. After that year even though I resisted that pressure as much as I could, I had to adjust for self-preservation and never again felt I had the freedom as a teacher that I had with these kids.

So these "kids" probably saw me in the last best light I had as a classroom teacher, though I did have a few years left through 1985 before I went on sabbatical and leave for 2 years before coming and the principal getting her way in pushing me out of the classroom and into a cluster.

Martina and Herbie.

Star and Martina, friends since they were 5. Star is a manager for Costco in Mass. Martina works in insurance.

Mary and Lavinia - I had Mary's 3 brothers in my classes - we have seen each other over the years. Her hubby and brothers work for the MTA. Mary does childcare. Lavinia works at NYU Medical and we're going to do sushi real soon for lunch.

Herbie was EMS and Luis works in medical field

Milly (on left) works at LIU library

This would not have happened if not for Facebook - grudging thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, who might have learned to be a better coder if he had me as his computer teacher (my 2nd life as a teacher starting in 1987).

Dennis Walcott to Head Queens Libraries - Burn Your Card

At City Council hearings about 6-7 years ago a student testified that, when she asked then-Chancellor Walcott why the library in her school was being shut down, he told her the students didn't need a library. I hope he doesn't feel the same way about the citizens of Queens..... a NYC Parent

This is one of those "How dare they" moments.

Queens residents burn library cards to protest Walcott appointment

Former NYC chancellor Dennis Walcott, who vociferously defended the appointment of Cathy Black who preceded him, had another gig. Running the library system I use on a regular basis. Walcott is your standard apparatchik, a man who will defend any policy no matter how harmful it is.

For 12 years he was Bloomberg's valet (there are other terms I could use but this is a family blog).

Yes, Bloomberg who savaged the library systems in this city with massive budget cuts that forced libraries to cancel Saturday hours, something which the Queens library system has been able to re-institute due to funding by Di Blasio.

I saw Walcott in action at school closings, PEP meetings and other events too many times and the very idea that this guy has anything to do with a service I use regularly will make me want to take a shower every time I take a book out of the library. But then again my wife says that is a good outcome of Walcott's appointment.

UPDATE:
Dennis Walcott, the former chancellor of New York City schools and a Queens native, is the new president and chief executive officer of the Queens Library. New York Times, NY1, DNAinfo

CONTACT
Sharon Lee, press@queensbp.orgpress@queensbp.org
> | 718.286.2640

BOROUGH PRESIDENT KATZ ON SELECTION OF NEW QUEENS LIBRARY PRESIDENT AND CEO

QUEENS, NY – Borough President Melinda Katz stated the following in response to questions about the Queens Library Board of Trustees’ selection of former NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott as the new President and CEO of the Queens Library:

“At its core, the Queens Library exists to serve its educational purpose as a community hub of learning, literacy and culture for millions of families. Queens is grateful to the Board of Trustees for their dedication in convening an extensive search and selection process for the new President and CEO. I have full faith in the direction and future of the Library, and look forward to the great things to come under Dennis’ leadership.”

Hotel Workers from Trump Las Vegas Head to Manhattan’s Trump HQ, Calling on Trump to Negotiate a Contract - March 3 9AM

PRESS ADVISORY FOR THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016

Media Contacts:  Annemarie Strassel, astrassel@unitehere.org, 312-617-0495

Diana Hussein, dhussein@unitehere.org, 313-460-3119

Amid Union Battle, Hotel Workers from Trump Las Vegas Head to Manhattan’s Trump HQ, Calling on Trump to Negotiate a Contract

Workers to Trump: “Make America Great Again – Negotiate a Contract with Us Like Your Company Did with Canadian Employees” 

                                                                                                                

WHAT: Trump International Hotel Las Vegas employees recently won a union election and are inviting Donald Trump to the bargaining table to negotiate a first contract. 

WHEN: Thursday, March 3, 2016, 9:00-10:00am  

WHERE: Trump Tower – 725 5^th Avenue, New York, NY 10022 

WHO: Trump Las Vegas employees, who are members of the Trump Hotel Negotiating Committee, joined by members of UNITE HERE, the union of hospitality workers.

WHY: In December 2015, hundreds of Trump Hotel employees in Las Vegas voted to form a union. Since that time, Trump’s company has refused to honor the results of that election and negotiate a first contract with its employees. 

Now, Trump Las Vegas employees are calling on the world-famous negotiator to make a deal. Last year, Trump’s company negotiated a first contract with hotel workers in Toronto after workers there won a union election. Las Vegas workers say to “Make America Great Again,” Trump should start by negotiating a fair deal with them just like his company did with its Canadian workers. 

In the hopes of catching his ear, Trump Las Vegas workers will follow him on the campaign trail with an appeal to negotiate. Members of the Trump Hotel Negotiating Committee will visit five cities across the U.S. during the March primaries.

VISUALS: Hotel workers in uniform. Signs: “Trump: Make America Great Again – Make a Deal with Us!” 

                                                                                           

Follow the tour online at: #TrumpDeal2016

UNITE HERE represents 270,000 women and men across North America who work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. Learn more at www.unitehere.org.

MORE HS Ex Bd Candidate Marcus McArthur - Mulgrew Gave de Blasio Apology Contract for Backing Wrong Horse in Mayoral Election

I had to leave Sunday's MORE event because I had to run to meet up with some former 5th/6th students from 1979, most of whom I hadn't seen in 35 years. (I'll write about this wonderful experience another time.)

I'm glad I got to hang out for the opening panel. I wish the 4 presentations had been filmed.

I'll discuss all the presentations in another blog post but today I want to paraphrase some of the points made by Marcus McArthur, a 6th year teacher and a relative newcomer to MORE.

MORE Panel: Emily Giles, Marcus McArthur, Lauren Cohen, moderator Dan Lupkin, Not seen, August Leppelmeier. Photo by Katie Lapham

Marcus made a particular impression with his comments. That may not be a name you've heard but if MORE/New Action wins the high school executive board seats the UFT leadership will be getting to know Marcus real well. And so will other UFT members.

I've seen Marcus, a teacher at City-As-Schools, at various happy hours but it wasn't until a few weeks ago at a downtown Manhattan happy hour attended by 25 people that I heard him speak and I was blown away by his presentation and crystallization of so much that is going on in so few words. I turned to someone and said, "He could run for UFT president one day."

So when I saw him on the panel at the MORE meeting yesterday I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say and was even more impressed by how he framed things so well.

First up Marcus, a 6-year teacher, talked about the horrors of his first 3 years working for an abusive principal who divided the school into camps - those who gave absolute fealty and those who didn't. As an untenured teacher he was in extreme jeopardy, as were others, some of whom got chopped. Marcus praised the more senior teachers at the school who shielded him and nurtured him. He finally escaped to a safer haven.

Sunday, Marcus presented an idea that I hadn't heard before. That the UFT in trying to be a partner with de Blasio after 12 years of being shut out by Bloomberg - trying to get back their seat/little stool at the table -- and after having bet on the wrong horse with Bill Thompson - without membership support -- offered de Blasio a home town discount on the contract that has turned out to be worse than any other union.

I remember handing out leaflets at the DA vote urging a NO VOTE and Unity people confronting me with "Do you want to bankrupt the city?" Yes, that was the main line we were hearing about why we had to take retro pay the way we did.

As we found out not long after the contract was signed the city had billions in surplus - thanks to our union in part.

Nice stool at the table.

MORE led the battle against the contract and with the new health care stuff coming down, we were ahead of the curve.

Many new people have come to MORE due to that contract.

They are helping fuel the current election campaign. Marcus McArthur is just one such person who has graced MORE with his activism.