#MORE2016: UFT Elections and Leaflet Distribution

The main reason I've been working for years to see a caucus built with enough of a level of organizational integrity and reach is so I can do less. One of the positive signs coming out of the #MORE2016 UFT election campaign is how much less work I have to do compared to the 2004, 07, 10, 13 campaigns.

When I think back to the work I did in GEM and ICE and with Ed Notes before that, and even the work over the past 4 years in seeing these groups morph into MORE I am on vacation now. In past elections a relatively few people in all the caucuses raced around the city stuffing mailboxes. In 2013 I did all 50 schools in District 27 among many others around the city - even venturing into the Bronx.  Crazy. And doing this once every 3 years is really counterproductive.

This year I am doing more drop-offs and stuff boxes in relatively few schools. That is part of a strategy not to go off half-cocked all over the place given the poor outcomes of doing this in the past.

For 3 years I've been badgering people in MORE to focus on setting up a smooth distribution network with the goal of reaching as many schools as possible through a direct contact in the school so we don't have to go in and stuff mailboxes on our own, something that we pretty much have seen yields few results. In addition, I've argued for some kind of regular production on an ongoing basis between elections.

So if you asked me what my main goal in this election has been - it is exactly that - trying to get lots of people to sign on to being a regular distributor in their own and if possible nearby schools -- both of hard copy and sending things out electronically to colleagues.

Call it a "stay local" campaign by focusing on your school and district and in the case of high schools the borough or one area of the borough. George Schmidt from Chicago told me how much harder organizing in NYC is compared to them - Chicago is the size of Brooklyn. So MORE has been evolving a more local strategy where local pockets are built and are free from centralized control to do their thing without centralized management - a sort of entrepreneurial spirit - and to use the central contact lists to reach out in addition to developing a local contact list.

The election though has to be centrally managed and since in the past ICE elections I was involved in every single aspect, I've been out of that loop this time with no role in writing and laying out leaflets and ads or a lot of other things. Like planning and running meetings. Various committees have been doing all this work and it is like a breath of fresh air. (Tomorrow's MORE meeting has been totally planned and organized by people new to MORE, including a first year teacher who is now on steering committee. People in their 20s. What a pleasure.)

Will this work translate into votes in the election? I never can tell. It might not. But I do know an organization is being built. Requests for leaflets from people we don't know in schools around the city is a sign at least that a distribution network is being formed with people taking responsibility for dropping off leaflets to their contacts. As one ICE veteran recently told me "there's a buzz in the air."

But if this network stops operating until the next election then MORE will be doing what all the other opposition groups have been doing - the Einstein def of insanity - the same thing over and expecting different results.

I have narrowed my efforts in MORE towards maintaining this network and urging MORE to produce hard copy that goes out to this network at least 4 times a year. After the election I'd like to make distribution trees so everyone has an idea of their own network responsibilities.

If MORE builds up its capacity in hundreds of schools election results will reflect that work. I view this election as a test of that capacity. If the results match 2013 that would indicate the network has been stagnant over the past 3 years and MORE would have to ask itself how it can address that issue.

The longtime goal is for MORE to be able to reach every working UFT member just as Unity does with the NY Teacher and through its district reps.That is the only way to ever contend for power. If the schools shift away from Unity, the pressure to curb the retiree impact on the UFT will intensify. But first things first.

#MORE2016: MORE Long Island Sister Union PJSTA Urges Support to Defeat Mulgrew

If such a thing as an education superhero exists that person is Jia Lee.  .... Clearly anyone who supports public education has a stake in this year’s UFT election.  Nobody can ignore it and think that it only impacts teachers in the five boroughs.  ... Beth Dimino

For Unity to pretend that the UFT election has nothing to do with every other local in the state and indeed the nation is pure bullshit. Yet that is what happened when PJSTA president Beth Dimino endorsed MORE/New Action.

Those two caucuses (MORE and New Action) are tired of seeing their union compromise and collaborate with reformers bent on destroying us.  They are ready to transform the UFT into a member driven union that represents the teachers in the classroom rather than the union “leaders” with personal agendas.  While that sort of transformation would certainly benefit New York City’s classroom teachers, it’s benefits would stretch far beyond that as well.  It would significantly alter the direction of our statewide union, NYSUT, and our national union, the AFT... Beth Dimino

A great post from Beth Dimino, president of the PJSTA and an official of the Stronger Together caucus in NYSUT opposing statewide Unity. Unity slugs jumped on Beth for "interfering" in another local's election.  Give me a break. The winner take all for all 750 delegates controls NYSUT and the AFT, allowing them to defeat members wishes on a number of grounds - ie - witness the Hillary endorsement which is turning to shit as Bernie rises and hordes of teachers jump on board.

Later I'll post some information on how unionists and teacher unionists in particular are not deserting the push for Hillary.

Contribute to Defeat Mulgrew

Posted on April 3, 2016 by thepjsta

https://thepjsta.org/2016/04/03/contribute-to-defeat-mulgrew/

 

I have written in great detail about the harm that Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus inflict not only upon their local union, the United Federation of Teachers, but upon unionized teachers across New York State and beyond.  Fortunately this is an election year for the UFT and Mulgrew has a very formidable challenger in noted public education activist Jia Lee.

Lee needs no introduction to most advocates of public education.  She has been on the front lines of the fight against high stakes testing, junk science teacher evaluations, and the struggle for more democratic unions at all levels.  In 2015 she travelled on her own dime to Washington DC and she quite eloquently represented public school teachers in the United States Senate.  PJSTA members will remember her as our keynote speaker at the PJSTA Conference Day last year.  She was one of the first conscientious objectors in New York State when she began refusing to administer the rigged New York State assessments in 2014 and she is one of the authors of the Teachers of Conscience Position Paper.  As someone who is fortunate enough to call Jia a friend, I can share that she is the real deal when it comes to public education advocacy.  She breathes activism.  In addition to the tireless efforts she has put into the opt-out campaigns and working for union democracy, Jia is a dynamic teacher at New York City’s Earth School and she has been a tremendous professional resource to me, sharing countless things from her classroom that my students have then been able to benefit from.  If such a thing as an education superhero exists that person is Jia Lee.  

You can click here to access one of Jia’s flyers to share widely with your public ed allies.

Beth Dimino, Jia Lee, Brian St. Pierre. Lee is running against Michael Mulgrew for UFT President.

This election is about more than just Jia, however.  Jia is simply running at the top of a slate of candidates being put forth by two UFT Caucuses.  Those two caucuses (MORE and New Action) are tired of seeing their union compromise and collaborate with reformers bent on destroying us.  They are ready to transform the UFT into a member driven union that represents the teachers in the classroom rather than the union “leaders” with personal agendas.  While that sort of transformation would certainly benefit New York City’s classroom teachers, it’s benefits would stretch far beyond that as well.  It would significantly alter the direction of our statewide union, NYSUT, and our national union, the AFT.  As the local that is by far the largest in the country (several times larger than the second biggest), the UFT’s leadership wields extraordinary power within the teacher union landscape.  They impact virtually every unionized teacher in the United States.  The leadership of the UFT is the largest reason why unions have supported the Common Core and test based teacher evaluations.  They were the ones urging state legislators to vote in favor of the Education Transformation Act last year!  As a matter of fact, much of Unity Caucus’ (the caucus representing the UFT leadership) campaign in this year’s election has even centered upon their support for the evaluation plan in which 50% is made up of test scores.

Clearly anyone who supports public education has a stake in this year’s UFT election.  Nobody can ignore it and think that it only impacts teachers in the five boroughs.  This election will impact every teacher, student, and parent across the state.  With that in mind I will ask that all of you head on over right now to make a donation to the MORE Caucus and their election fund.  Unseating the biggest bully on the public education landscape can’t be done by simply “liking” something on Facebook or retweeting a link on Twitter.  It will take money too.  So give what you can, even if it is only a small amount.  Finally, be sure to ask your friends who support public education to do the same.

Sam Smith on Ed Deform: Education reform was really about urban socio-econmic cleansing

...school test scores represent a symbol that the city is getting the poor under control or out of the way. It was not about educating the city's young but about marketing to the city's newcomers.

What has happened is as if we had tried to reach the moon with space vehicles designed by economists, lawyers and corporate buddies of the president... It has, in the end, a hopeless mush of sleaze, stupidity and statistical static, all having remarkably little to do with real education.... growing evidence that the assault on public education is part of an urban socio-economic cleansing that has long been underway as the upper classes attempt retrieve the cities they surrendered to the poor many decades ago....

 Sam Smith at Undernews wrote this in 2010 and republished it on April 1, 2016.

Today's simple term is "gentrification" but in this piece Sam takes us beyond that narrow term. I'm really impressed he did this piece 6 years ago.

....it was absolutely clear and absolutely unmentionable that the upper classes - both white and black, incidentally - wanted the city back again and were using a plethora of tactics to achieve this goal, especially after our energy consciousness increased and it became apparent that the suburbs were no longer the favored haven, but the ghettos of the future. Furthermore, it was clear that satisfying this goal was behind most of the major new city programs, ranging from the subway to the baseball stadium - only please always call it economic development rather than getting rid of the poor.  

I would not just say the upper classes, especially when it comes to black people - but to the rising black classes out of poverty who have been tempted by the charter offer of banishing the ultra poor. Sam touches on the charter issue:

Public education "reform" fit the plan in some ways. For example, although it was widely claimed that charter schools did not discriminate in their selection of students it was obvious that parents - a central factor in any child's ability to learn - differed drastically between those with enough ambition to apply for a charter school seat and those either indifferent or with too much else on their mind. The charter schools were in this way a subtle part of socio-economic cleansing as they helped to reduce the old public facilities to what were once called "pauper schools." Then there was the carefully crafted schemes for closing "failing" public schools. But there is far more to schools than aggregate test scores. They help define a community, anchor its loose pieces to common ground, and provide a place for children to meet and play in a decent and clean environment.

I saw this in action not long ago at a meeting in Arverne about schools related to the hot new development in Rockaway - Arverne By the Sea - who were promised an elementary charter school but are getting a middle school charter instead. It is a very mixed community and one black parent said it flat out. They don't want their kids to go to the local "project" school and want their own school. I tried to offer her an idea that if they went to the "project" school they would create an activist base of parents to turn that school into a place good for all. She wasn't hearing that idea and maybe I don't blame her. She wanted her charter. And she is getting it - Eva is moving a school into the area.

But as a Rockaway resident when we hear stories about shots being fired on a regular basis out of the projects can we blame them?
Too complicated for my aging brain, so I'll just let Sam Smith address the issue.

http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2016/04/education-reform-was-really-about-urban.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+prorevfeed+%28UNDERNEWS%29

Education reform was really about urban socio-econmic cleansing

From our overstocked archives

SAM SMITH, 2010

Unanswered in all the noise about "education reform" is why, over the past decade, America's establishment has become so obsessed with controlling public education, a complete reversal of two centuries of American faith in locally controlled schools.

There are answers that the op-eds will give you, such as the need to compete in the global marketplace, but this is pretty weak stuff and not the raw material for major presidential policy under two administrations.

There are answers that can be found in the general shift in government towards data as a worthy substitute, or delaying tactic, for action. As long as you're assessing something you don't actually have to do anything about it.

Then there's the milking of the cash cow of testing. For example, the Washington Post now gets the bulk of its profits from the Kaplan education division, profits bolstered by the paper's constant editorial boosting of the test tyrants. And Neil Bush started a company designed to help students pass the tests of his brother's No Child Left Behind policy.

Certainly there is precedent for this, such as the efforts to privatize Social Security and subsidize health insurance companies, all part of a three decades rip-off of public programs by private industry.

But how, for example, does one explain that this effort has been carried out with such an extraordinary absence of knowledgeable educators or skilled teachers? What has happened is as if we had tried to reach the moon with space vehicles designed by economists, lawyers and corporate buddies of the president.

It has, in the end, a hopeless mush of sleaze, stupidity and statistical static, all having remarkably little to do with real education.

There is, however, an even more disreputable matter lurking in the background that has not been exposed, debated or confronted - namely growing evidence that the assault on public education is part of an urban socio-economic cleansing that has long been underway as the upper classes attempt retrieve the cities they surrendered to the poor many decades ago.

For several decades, I followed this phenomenon as a journalist in my hometown of Washington, DC. It was a topic seldom mentioned in the corporate media and not polite to mention at all in the better parts of town.

In 2006 I wrote, "Part of the socio-economic cleansing of the capital city - still underway - included draconian measures to discourage the minority poor from staying in DC. Some of these were fiscal -- such as a tax break for predominately white first-time homeowners but no breaks for the lower income blacks pushed out by them. But they also included a variety of punitive measures including new restrictions on jury trials, increased lock-ups such as for trivial traffic offenses, stiffer sentencing, soaring marijuana arrests, a halving of the number of court-appointed defense attorneys, increased penalties for pot possession, and the shipping of inmates to distant prisons

And in 2007: "This is a 60% black city undergoing socio-economic cleansing. One suburban county has so many black former DC residents that it is known here as Ward 9. But it's no joke. Here are just a few of things that have happened: Huge budget cuts of which 60% of the burden fell on the poor; closing of four of the city's ten health clinics; slashing the number of public health workers; cutting the budget for libraries, city funded day care centers, welfare benefits, and homeless shelters; creation of a tax-subsidized private "charter" school system; dismantling the city's public university including a massive cut in faculty, destruction of the athletic program and elimination of normal university services; selling the city's public radio station to C-SPAN; transferring prisoners to private gulags hundreds of miles away; a dramatic increase in the number of lock-ups including for traffic stops; and the subjugating of the elected school board to an appointed board of trustee."

There were other signs: the destruction of public housing units, the removal of a homeless shelter from the center city, and even a blockade of a crime- hit black neighborhood - with entry permitted only for approved cause - not unlike apartheid South Africa or the Israelis in the West Bank - about which the liberal gentry class said nothing.

In other words, it was absolutely clear and absolutely unmentionable that the upper classes - both white and black, incidentally - wanted the city back again and were using a plethora of tactics to achieve this goal, especially after our energy consciousness increased and it became apparent that the suburbs were no longer the favored haven, but the ghettos of the future.

Furthermore, it was clear that satisfying this goal was behind most of the major new city programs, ranging from the subway to the baseball stadium - only please always call it economic development rather than getting rid of the poor.

Public education "reform" fit the plan in some ways. For example, although it was widely claimed that charter schools did not discriminate in their selection of students it was obvious that parents - a central factor in any child's ability to learn - differed drastically between those with enough ambition to apply for a charter school seat and those either indifferent or with too much else on their mind. The charter schools were in this way a subtle part of socio-economic cleansing as they helped to reduce the old public facilities to what were once called "pauper schools."

Then there was the carefully crafted schemes for closing "failing" public schools. But there is far more to schools than aggregate test scores. They help define a community, anchor its loose pieces to common ground, and provide a place for children to meet and play in a decent and clean environment.

Describing DC's plans to close eleven schools (mostly in order to build condos), DC Statehood Party activist Chris Otten argued a few years ago, "There are lots of ways we can use our publicly owned properties -- homeless services and shelters, child care, before- and after-school care, services for children with special needs, transitional housing and permanent affordable housing, health care, literacy programs, training for jobs and workforce readiness, senior services, gardening and green spaces, recreation. It's outrageous that Mayor Fenty would rather transfer them to his friends and other well-connected and powerful real estate and development interests."

But Fenty and other mayors were not only willing to get rid of such schools, they were willing to damage community in the process and force young residents to travel far away from their community and its values. It was not only bad educationally cruel it was mean to the communities as a whole.

But these schools were located on suddenly valuable ground and so the government stole from the children and their parents and gave to the developers.

And there was something more at work.

It took the recent DC mayoral election to make me realize that I had been putting too much emphasis on educational considerations in examining what was happening. What I had missed was that the war on schools was not designed to bring the upper classes into the education system but primarily as a a marketing tool to bring the upper classes and corporations back to the cities. The message was, as with crime sweeps, baseball stadiums and the subway. It was now safe, folks, to live here.

In DC, the battle peaked between incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty, who with his school chancellor Michelle Rhee was strongly committed to the Bush-Obama school model, and his opponent and strong critic, Vincent Gray.

Eddie Elfanbeen did a precinct by precinct analysis of the contest. Some 31 precincts gave Fenty 75% or more of the vote while 53 gave him 25% or less. All of the top Fenty precincts were heavily white while all the top Gray precincts were heavily black. But more significant perhaps was that the former were all upscale precincts while the latter were at the lower end of the income scale. .

This year Fenty got 80% of upscale white Ward 3 and 16% of far poorer and black Ward 8.

Now, here's the hooker. Only five percent of the public school system consists of white students. So why did it matter so much? For example, why did heavily gay precincts - with a constituency least likely to ever use the school system - give over 70% of their vote to Fenty?

It seems that it mattered because school test scores represent a symbol that the city is getting the poor under control or out of the way. It was not about educating the city's young but about marketing to the city's newcomers. Another poll, for example, found that Fenty won overwhelmingly the vote of those who had lived in DC less than ten years and Gray those who had lived there longer.

Thus, it was not unlike the crime war phenomena. Back in the nineties I noted that "Between 1985 and 1988, in the wake of the revived drug war, murders in Washington, DC soared from 145 a year to 369. During this period, the city's office of criminal justice planning did an unusually detailed analysis of homicides. The report illustrates [that] it was virtually impossible to be killed in Washington if you were a young white girl living in upscale Georgetown on an early Thursday morning in July. If, on the other hand, you were a young black 20-year-old male living in low-income Anacostia, dealing drugs on a Saturday night in June, your chances of being killed were far greater than the overall statistics would suggest. And if you were not buying or selling drugs at all, your chances of being killed in DC were about the same as in Copenhagen."

But being safe and feeling safe are two different things. And, as with crime, it was important for effective marketing to be seen as keeping the problem population under control.

Of DC, Leigh Dingerson wrote recently:

"There’s nothing remarkably visionary going on in Washington. The model of school reform that’s being implemented here is popping up around the country, heavily promoted by the same network of conservative think tanks and philanthropists like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and the Walton Family Foundation that has been driving the school reform debate for the past decade. It is reform based on the corporate practices of Wall Street, not on education research or theory. Indications so far are that, on top of the upheaval and distress Rhee leaves in her wake, the persistent racial gaps that plague D.C. student outcomes are only increasing. . . Despite glowing reports from the adoring media, D.C.’s education miracle is a chimera at best. . . "

But that, it turns out, was probably the point: to create a political illusion that would support the city's myth, sell real estate, and attract new residents and businesses. Just as it didn't matter that Washington's Metro was designed in a way that actually increased rather than reduced street traffic, it didn't matter that school reform didn't improve things. It only had to seem to change things.

Meanwhile the real city remained.

In 2008, one in five DC residents was poor, a higher rate than in any year since 1997-98. Since the late 1990s, some 27,000 more DC residents fell into poverty. Thirty-two percent of the District of Columbia's children live in poverty, nearly twice the national average. And in 2008 there were over 52,000 families on the waiting list for affordable housing.

But perhaps most important for the educational system, and discussion about it, is something hardly ever discussed: in the first decade of this century, employment among residents with a high school diploma fell to the lowest level in nearly 30 years. Just 51 percent of DC residents at this education level were working.

Every one in the system - parents, teachers, students - knew this reality and reacted accordingly. This, more than any other factor, defined public education in DC. But few wanted to face it.

After all, the poor don't balance your budget. Cutting their services and shoving them out into new suburban ghettos can. And they certainly don't attract tax paying residents and businesses. So you talk the talk of education reform but walk the walk of socio-economic cleansing. 

 

UFT Elections by the Numbers: 2013 Results Are Baseline for #MORE2016

One reason I am usually pessimistic about UFT election outcomes is that the numbers rarely change drastically from election to election. At times in the past we did expect change. Like after the 2005 contract we expected better outcomes in 2007 - they were better but not by all that much. But when the day comes that the numbers get shaken up by a serious percentage we will know something is shaking.

Why an opposition can't focus on retirees or functionals: lack of resources
52% of the returned votes in 2013 was by retirees. 

The participation results, listed by division:

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

Functional:         51,040                          7,704

Retirees:              58,357                          22,462

Some people tell us to go after retirees. I'm opposed to putting resources into retirees - there are 50 years of thousands of Unity Caucus retirees who are still alive and they would never switch. I think the recent retirees might vote for us. Last time between MORE and New Action we got about 3000 votes from retirees.

Here are the totals:
                                   2013                                      2010

Functional Division (non-teachers)

MORE                       951                                                 708 for ICE/TJC

New Action             754                                                  1,175

Unity                         5,167                                              7,337

Retiree Division

MORE                       1,490                                             1,037 for ICE/TJC

New Action              1,880                                            2,234

Unity                          18,155                                          20,744

Unity lost about 2000 but MORE and New Action made little gains - in fact New Action lost a lot of functional and retiree votes.

While we are running a full 19 member functional slate for Ex Bd with secretaries, paras, OTs, guidance, social workers etc we still need a critical mass in each of these units to make inroads. So we can't do very much inside the functional units unless we have people who work in those non-teaching areas to do some essential organizing. But most of them are scattered among many schools and a big change in the functionals can only be expected when we see their individual chapters captured from Unity iron-clad control.

Focus on non retiree vote areas of the union
So my strategy and focus is on the teaching portion of the union where retirees don't vote:  the 3 basics --  elem, ms, hs divisions where a total of 23 Executive Board seats can be won which would give the opposition close to 25% of the seats and and a real foothold.

Elementary schools are the long-term key to winning power in the UFT
The key to any opposition getting a serious hold in challenging for power in the UFT is in the elementary schools which have been death valley for opposition caucuses - forever.

Let's look at Unity Caucus total for 2010 and 2013 in Elementary School Division (11 EB seats)

   Mailed  ballots(2013)           Returned ballots

Elementary:         34,163                          7,331

                              2013                             2010

Unity                          5,111                                7,761

Unity dropped over 2500 votes in elem schools alone between 2010 and 2013. 34,000 elem ballots were sent out. The historic problem for the opposition has been a serious lack of penetration out in the far flung district schools where Unity gets many elem CLs into the caucus. The District Reps keep a hawk eye on them to make sure they don't stray into opposition territory.
And they still can only manage less 7300 returns.

Look at the MORE and New Action totals:

Elementary School Division

                                  2013                                                2010 

MORE                       1,140                                               703 for ICE/TJC

New Action                534                                                 978

Basically MORE picked up what New Action lost plus a few hundred. Total of about 1700 - a number that makes me so pessimistic about making big inroads into the Unity majority in the elem schools. I've also seen Unity recover from big drops and it is not impossible for them to bounce back up to 7700. There is no way to gauge because last time we were surprised at all the low totals. But you never know. Theoretically, if MORE/New Action doubled their vote to 3400 (and I have no indication this might happen) and Unity dropped again - well, I can dream.

Which is why all the elementary school ed notes readers can go into their schools on May 6 and take out an organization sheet and go around the school and ask people if they will vote for MORE - and then send those tallies to old Norm so he can get an idea of where things stand. Then you can do one better -- have them bring in the ballot  - everyone has to make sure to not screw up the ballot or it won't be counted. Ideally, since so few people use snail mail and don't even know how to find a mail box, make sure all the ballots get mailed that day.

Middle schools - a slim maybe
Now let's take a look at the middle schools which the opposition one once - in 1991.
                                  2013                                                        2010

Middle School Division

MORE                       398                                                  248 for ICE/TJC

New Action               161                                                    421

Unity                        1,185                                                 1,981

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

Middle School:   10,807                          1,879

Astoundingly low totals of return and votes for both Unity and MORE and New Action. Unity dropped 800 ms votes and MORE gained 150 while New Action lost 250. If they doubled their vote to 1000 this time and Unity lost 200, VIOLA!

High schools in play
Now when we get to the high schools things get interesting.

                               Mailed  ballots           Returned ballots

High School:      19,040                          3,808

The returned totals are sad and the Unity totals dropped by 1000 between 2010 and 2013 - but they picked up the 452 from the New Action cross endorsement.

High School Division

MORE                       1,430                                              1,369 for ICE/TJC

New Action              452                                                  774

Unity                         1,592                                              2,595

Now if you just assumed the same totals as 2010 the MORE plus New Action would outpoll Unity in the high schools. But never underestimate Unity and I don't assume they will not do what it takes to increase their votes to fend us off. What I would love to see one day is the MORE/New Action vote once again, as it did in the 90s, reach 3000 in the high schools. Pipe dream I know but to me that would be a break. I think with the closing of so many big high schools the large opposition vote totals of the past is something we may not see again.

The totals will be a reflection of the work MORE people are able and willing to do in their own schools to get out the vote. Too bad we can't track the individual school voting pattern - we could reward the MOREs whose schools did well with wine and song and punish those who didn't do well by withholding snacks at meetings.


This data was compiled by Peter Lamphere.

#whatmoredoes: MORE on NBC - Teachers Defy Schools Chancellor to Critique Common Core, Encourage Opt-Out

They are members of the UFT and vying for leadership positions.... Chris Glorioso, NBC

The new faces of the opposition in the UFT: Lauren Cohen, Kristin Taylor, Jia Lee

Video posted on MORE website: https://morecaucusnyc.org/2016/04/09/video-of-more-teachers-opt-out-on-nyc/

Our UFT Presidential Candidate Jia Lee on WNBC 4 “Parents should definitely opt out. Refuse. Boycott these tests because change will not happen with compliance.” Our VP of Elementary Schools candidate Lauren Cohen said ““I want to tell parents that I’m not going to get anything out of the test. Their kids aren’t getting anything out of the test,” and MORE’s Kristen Taylor added that the tests are “fundamentally harming the education system”.

The report is on NBC by investigative reporter Chris Glorioso
who will be getting a call from the PR department at the UFT/Unity HQ for daring to talk to people in the opposition.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/New-York-City-Teachers-Defy-Chancellor-Common-Core-Opt-Out-374821661.html

Some NYC Teachers Defy Schools Chancellor to Critique Common Core, Encourage Opt-Out

Despite a warning they could be disciplined for expressing opinions on standardized tests, a trio of New York City public school teachers sat down with NBC 4 New York recently to criticize this year’s Common Core exams.

“Parents should definitely opt out,” said Jia Lee, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at The Earth School in Manhattan. “Refuse. Boycott these tests because change will not happen with compliance.”

“I want to tell parents that I’m not going to get anything out of the test. Their kids aren’t getting anything out of the test,” said Lauren Cohen, a fifth-grade teacher at P.S. 321 in Brooklyn.

In an email to the I-Team, Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, said teachers are allowed to criticize standardized tests as long as they express opinions in their capacity as private citizens. But if teachers are speaking as representatives of the Department of Education, they should not advise parents to opt out of the state exams.

“If they do so as representatives of the DOE, they may be subject to discipline,” Kaye said.

But teachers who oppose the tests say the lines between their identities as educators and private citizens are often blurred.

“It’s hard to know whether I can say I’m a private citizen when I’ve already been identified as a teacher,” said Cohen.

Kristin Taylor, a third-grade teacher at P.S. 261, said she believes the Common Core tests are “fundamentally harming the education system,” but she’s worried she’ll damage her career if she tells parents directly that they should opt kids out of the exams.

“Out of concern over my position in the public school system, I don’t feel at liberty to say whether you should," she said.

In December, Anita Skop, the superintendent of Brooklyn’s District 15, said teachers have no right to tell parents they believe they should pull kids from standardized tests.

"A teacher cannot get up in the schoolyard and say to a parent, 'I think you should opt your child out,'" Skop said.

When contacted by the I-Team, Skop reiterated that position, but said she has not disciplined any teachers who defy that rule.

“I have never been instructed to discipline anybody and I don’t intend to,” she said.

According to the DOE, no teacher has been disciplined for telling parents to pull kids out of exams.

In the past, critics have opposed the exams on grounds that scores could be used in teacher evaluations and decisions about student promotion. This year, Farina said those critiques have been eliminated.

“We sent teachers to Albany to help review the test and look over the test,” Farina said. “We also are not using the test results to hold students back and we’re not using the test results for teacher evaluations.”

At a news conference on Monday, Farina suggested the decision to pull a child from the exams would be misguided.

“I don’t believe in opting out,” Farina said. “Honestly, you’re teaching kids that it is OK not to do the whole work. It really is important when you go to school to be accountable for what you’re doing.”

Michael Elliot, a parent in Park Slope who has pulled his child from three standardized exams, said it seems unfair that the chancellor should be able to advise parents to opt in when teachers are told they can’t tell parents to opt out.

“There's something that is very hypocritical about it, that you're allowed to speak in favor of the test. As long as you toe the line, political speech about the test is OK,” Elliot said.

According to the DOE, about 416,000 New York City public school students are taking the state’s standardized exam this week. Kaye said the DOE does not have a count of how many parents notified their schools that their children would be opting out of the test this year.

Published 43 minutes ago

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Follow Chris Glorioso

Opt-Out News: Rising Numbers of People of Color, Tales of Intimidation and Threats on Students and Parents

...my principal has been snide and sneaky with comments and giving opt out kids homework while testing kids don’t get any...

 

Unfortunately, getting multiple reports about bad behavior at PS x--a kid who brought in a letter today but was made to sit for the test. A kid who opted out but whose mother was contacted at 4pm and pressured to have the kid sit for days 2 and 3--this one makes NO sense to me!

----opt-out parents

The opt-out listserves were buzzing with news all day including emails from parents who were intimidated or in some cases where they sent an opt out letter that was ignored and their child forced to sit for the test.

The Farina blitz against opt-outs has with a target on the backs of schools with high numbers last year but with principals subject to pressure might be having an impact on keeping city numbers from jumping, though there are reports of some breakthroughs in communities of color.

Let's hope the activist parents decide to compile and go after the principals who are doing this stuff. Nothing like a little media attention.

Some more comments:

Castle Bridge is reporting 70 opt outs ‎out of 73 3rd and 4th graders.

Kate Taylor was at PS 261 this morning and interviewed me and a friend. Never now if anything will come of this but as of yesterday we had 203 out of 368 kids opting out. That's 55%. Down a bit from last year's 65% but still a large opt out. PS 261 is giving alternative assessments created by the teachers and graded by the teachers in place of the tests. I told this to Kate Taylor as well. We shall see what she actually reports... a parent

NOTE: Kate Taylor's article on the Times today was weak.

Belkis and Yoli  on CBS2:
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/show/cbs-new-york-videos/video-3382099-common-core-testing-to-begin/

Woo hoo!
Counting 3 MOREs in the news yesterday with the opt-out folks in Jackson Heights -

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/queens/news/2016/04/3/queens-councilman--parents---advocates-say--no--to-standardized-tests.html

NYSUT Ran $14million Deficit in 2014: EIA on NYSUT Finances

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2016/04/05/new-york-state-united-teachers-finances-2/

New York State United Teachers’ Finances

Written By: Mike Antonucci - Apr• 05•16

New York State United Teachers is the teacher union equivalent of “too big to fail.” In 2014 NYSUT increased revenues by $3.7 million and cut staff costs by $17 million and still ran a deficit of almost $14 million. Its gargantuan negative net worth is due to holding staff pension and post-retirement health care liabilities of an astronomical $400 million.

Total membership – 388,875, up 3,309 members
Total revenue – $137.4 million (88.4% came from member dues), up $3.7 million
Deficit – $13.8 million
Net assets – negative $313 million
Total staff – 562
Staff salaries and benefits – $101.6 million
Highest paid employee – Richard Iannuzzi, former president – $254,353 base salary
Highest paid contractor – Herbert L. Jamison & Co. – $635,825

In 1983 Clinton teamed with Walmart to attack public education - With UFT/AFT/NYSUT as Allies

John Beacham exposes some of the roots of Hillary links to ed deform and Ed Deformer in chief, Eli Broad but doesn't delve into the 3rd part of the triad - Albert Shanker and the AFT/UFT/NYSUT complex.

The Richard Kahlenberg Shanker bio has the full story of the Clinton/Shanker/Broad alliance. In fact, Eli Broad helped fund the Kahlenberg effort. Shanker even brought Hillary to the AFT convention in the mid-80s to promote the Arkansas ed deform movement and of course the entire Unity Caucus bought it and continues to buy into ed deform.

Yes - if you are running with Unity Caucus in this election or supporting them YOU are supporting Ed Deform and voting for the destruction of your own school.
More below

The WAVE: Success Charter Is Reason Suspension Program Moving to Beach Channel Campus

School Scope’s Norm Scott charges that Success Academt founder Eva Moskowitz is “a politically connected and aggressive charter school leader, who closes her schools and uses the kids, parents and teachers as a political tool.”
 
My April 1 column in The WAVE - page 4.

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-04-01/School_News/Success_Charter_Is_Reason_Suspension_Program_Movin.html

Success Charter Is Reason Suspension Program Moving to BCEC

School Scope

By Norm Scott

 
 

Both Rockaway papers had major stories last week about the move of a suspension program out of IS 53 into Beach Channel Campus. Neither paper pointed to the connection to the incoming politically connected Success Academy charter as the reason.

Former Wave editor Howie Schwach was on the case on his
OnRockaway website:

Program for troubled teens coming to Channel Campus; Goldfeder wants study: Coming soon to Rockaway’s Beach Channel Educational Campus a program that will bring 150 hard core students, suspended from their schools for such transgressions as setting fires, assaulting staff and other students, using a weapon on school grounds and the like. The program, now running at IS 53 will soon be moved because space in that school is needed for a new Eva Moskowitz Success Charter School.

My only complaint is that Howie didn’t call her Evil.

I had to laugh at the headline. Phil, who supports charter schools, wants a study when the answer is right in front of his face.
Moskowitz is a politically connected and aggressive charter school leader, who closes her schools and uses the kids, parents and teachers as a political tool, and always gets what she wants. She did not want her precious “scholars,” who have been known to pee in their pants in terror, to have to be in the same building with kids, in Schwach’s words “who have gone the school suspension route a number of times or who have committed offenses that fall in the high end of the city’s Discipline Code, level four or five offenses such as assault, bringing a weapon to school or setting a fire. Violations such as those go to a Superintendent’s Suspension, which can bring time out ranging from a month to a full year.”

There was no accident that the socalled “hearing” was held on St. Patrick’s Day. The DOE and Mayor Bill de Blasio live in fear of Eva and know full well that if they did not move the suspension program millions of dollars of ads might appear charging him with endangering her children.

How about Phil joining many others around the city in calling for a study of the disciplinary practices at Success Charters?

I did find all three reports in the Rockaway press seeming to feel moving the program to Beach Channel out of IS 53 and into Beach Channel is a bad thing. What about all the students at IS 53 which has been living with the program so far? What have been the outcomes there? And what about these troubled kids under suspension? Do we abandon them? What exactly is the solution? A site outside a school setting? Where?

Howie reports there are 38 sites with one in each district for the District 88 Alternative Learning Sites, so there are 38 schools with the same program. If these kids are dangerous no matter what school they are in requires proper security and more importantly, counseling services for these students.

Rockaway politicians must delve deeper into the issues affecting all students and not just jump on bandwagons.

Don’t forget. Sunshine Boys opens April 1 at the Rockaway Theatre Company at Fort Tilden.
Norm blogs at ednoteonline.org.

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UPDATE: The New Faces of Opt-Out as Movement Begins to Reach Parents of Color

The newest faces of opt out - this school went from 2% last year to 25% today.

Jamaal Bowman's school posted the highest increases on the  ELA and math exams. But, as these parents and their great principal know--It's not about the scores... Parent on Change the Stakes listserve 

Bronx News 12 did a video of parents speaking up at this
Bronx school headed by principal Jamaal Bowman - but it is behind a pay wall. The school had the largest rise in scores last year trumping the deformers when they try to claim opt out is a way to cover potential bad scores. If it comes down from the pay wall you will see non-white people talking opt out - a major nightmare for the deformers who have preyed on the communities with their testing and charter school agendas.

Here's the you tube link: http://youtu.be/xDWjuKK7dnQ

http://bronx.news12.com/news/parents-opt-children-out-of-standardized-testing-in-the-bronx-1.11651855?pts=87995

Last year I wrote about an early stage opt out movement wedging into the black middle class schools after Change the Stakes was asked by a PTA president to visit her school and talk to a PTA meeting. I filled in that morning and saw what was coming. And I bet so did the ed deform crowd running state and city education which is why they created their puny changes in the tests to try to undue the opt out momentum, which once it dies, they will pull another slam dunk.

Mark Naison comments on this issue on a panel in January 2016:

BK Nation Forum Defuses Stereotypes About Opt Out as a "White Movement"

Things are shakin' but we will see how far the deformers, including our own Unity Caucus leaders, will defuse things when the numbers begin to come in.

Also time to revist the Bald Piano Man opt out video from last year: https://youtu.be/D066lb9fbQA

He also did this funny video 

Pearson Rep DEFENDS The Tests - It's Stupid to Opt Out!! (DON'T WORRY - IT'S JUST A JOKE!!!)

#WhatMOREdoes: Supports Opt-Out Which Defends Teachers Against Ed Deform Onslaught

MORE was far ahead of the curve in linking the battle over high stakes, connecting opt-out to the assault on teachers while Unity Caucus plays footsie with Farina, Elia and a host of ed deformers.

One MORE reason to VOTE MORE:

One of the keys to building a powerful union is building strong alliances. Even pre-MORE, some founders, as members of ICE and GEM, helped start the opt-out movement through organizing with other teachers about the impact of testing and that began to attract parents who quickly took over the testing information program that then morphed into the opt-out movement through Change the Stakes, an offshoot of GEM. MORE teachers who are also parents played a dual role by opting their own children out of tests.

The film we made through GEM, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman,  is considered one of the first shots fired back against the ed deform movement.

Thus MORE which emerged out of GEM has its basic roots in the battle against high stakes testing and the formation of the opt-out movement.

MORE teachers realized was that high stakes testing was the major weapon of ed deform to attack teachers and close down their schools in favor of charters which leads to loss of jobs and the creation of the ATR crisis.

If you don't believe it just see the reactions of the ed deform supporting press and the astro-turf organizations like Students First which actually got an appearance yesterday on the Brian Lehrer show posing as a grassroots group of parents supporting the tests. Brian barely challenged her claims.

The link of test scores to teacher performance was a big wake-up call to the rank and file - and Unity Caucus is still selling that link as a better way to fight unfettered principal power which causes everyone to scratch their heads since Unity Caucus played a big role in handing over this power to principals in the first place.

Thus, the reality is that MORE was far ahead of the curve in linking the battle over high stakes, supporting opt-out to the assault on teachers while Unity Caucus plays footsie with Farina, Elia and a host of ed deformers.

Below is the MORE statement released this morning - and when asked "what does MORE do?" this is just one item in a list of many to come.

morecaucusnyc

MORE Supports Opt-Out

The members of the Movement and Rank and File Educators (MORE-UFT) stand in solidarity with and support the students, parents and fellow educators who are taking a stand against the tools being used to destroy public education.

By standing together against the interests of corporate driven education reforms, whose sole purpose is for profit, we are creating a vision for the kinds of schools our students deserve. The opt out movement is speaking loud and clear against the systematic ranking and sorting of our students, teachers and schools.

By denying the data, communities are standing up for educators to be able to teach to the whole child, to respect and attend to the rich diversity of student interests and ways of learning and to teach in culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate ways.
We are grateful to the principled actions of so many who are organizing and working to protect the professional autonomy of educators so that our students can thrive.

“To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin” (Bell Hooks 1994)

We are keenly aware of how our teaching conditions are inextricably linked to our students’ learning conditions. We will continue to work alongside our school communities to fight for the schools our children deserve.

On May 5th ballots for UFT officers will be sent to your house. MORE has supported educators who speak out against testing, refuse to administer these tests, and those that opt-out their own children. We have opposed Common Core from the moment it was forced upon teachers without our consent. UFT President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity caucus have not offered any support to educators and parents opting out of testing, refused to endorse resolutions calling for an end to high stakes testing, and have been staunch defenders of Common Core.

Our Presidential candidate Jia Lee, Chapter Leader of The Earth School was quoted in this article in the NY Post
‘Opt out:’ Teachers email parents to boycott Common Core tests

NY Post brands Jia Lee and Colleagues as "Renegades"

Earth School teacher Jia Lee, a union activist and opt out supporter, said she tells parents of her anti-testing position when asked... anti-union "reporter" Carl Camponile, NY Post.

When Carl called the MORE phone number I knew he had an agenda - to paint the opt out movement as being union led. He knows full well Mulgrew and crew don't support opt-out and I made it clear that Jia was running against Mulgrew. Note how Camponile frames Jia as being "a union activist and opt out supporter" to make it appear the UFT is connected to the opt out movement, a goal of ed deformers everywhere - to make that link.

The press black out of MORE continues.

If MORE ever reached the stage of seriously challenging Unity watch how fast the Post and rest of the press urges people to vote Unity.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/04/opt-out-teachers-want-parents-to-boycott-common-core-tests/

Chalkbeat Helps Lead Assault on Opt Out - As Predicted

Every single link in today's Rise and Shine is an assault on Opt-out.
My earlier post nailed Chalkbeat's funding sources.

Revealing Campbell Brown and "The Seventy Four" Bogus Ed Journalism Site, Funders Linked to Chalkbeat and Edweek

They feature at the very top, guess who?

Eva Moskowitz: Opt-out movement will leave students unprepared

“I really believe in the tests – I seem to be the only one left standing,” the Success Academy CEO said Friday afternoon, against the backdrop of thousands of children singing to pop songs whose lyrics were changed to extoll the virtues of learning and test preparation. Read more.
And follow up with these:

With state tests set to begin Tuesday, some are predicting that the opt-out movement will continue to grow, even though the consequences of those tests have diminished. Wall Street Journal
Plenty of New York City principals and parents still see the tests as a normal, and even helpful, part of a child's school experience. New York Times
Some teachers have gone further in encouraging students to opt out by sending anti-testing information home to parents. New York Post
The nonprofit High Achievement New York has launched a counter-campaign, with the tagline “Say Yes to the Test." New York Daily News
Al Sharpton says he opposes the opt-out movement because the test results help shine a light on educational inequality. New York Post, Politico New York
Upper West Side parents are still worried that opting out will hurt their children's chances of admission to a selective middle school. DNAinfo
Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz said Friday that she seems "to be the only one left standing” supporting state tests, just after thousands of her students gathered for a “slam the exam” pep rally. Chalkbeat
Three Success Academy charter schools didn't have copies of the tests last week, worrying school officials. New York Daily News
Editorial: Parents, you've been heard. Now have your kids take the damn tests. New York Daily News
Editorial: It's "pathetic" to see education leaders across the city and state pander to the opt-outers. New York Post

Revealing Campbell Brown and "The Seventy Four" Bogus Ed Journalism Site, Funders Linked to Chalkbeat and Edweek

The Seventy Four and the takeover of America's schools

“Our public education system is in crisis” warns the Seventy Four in its mission statement, echoing the refrain of billionaire school privatizers over the last decade plus. It’s evidence that Brown’s latest venture is dedicated to pushing what has become known as the “awfulizing narrative” that America’s schools are broken beyond repair; that teachers, unions and locally elected school boards are to blame; and that the only way to fix our education problem is by dumping one of America’s oldest democratic institutions—public schools—in favor of a market-driven system.

After Brown announced the Seventy Four was coming and the site’s backers were named, numerous education watchers wondered aloud whether an education news website underwritten by a collective that has poured billions into school privatization would even attempt to offer impartial journalism..... Kali Holloway http://www.alternet.org/education/campbell-brown-new-leader-propaganda-arm-school-privatization

A few weeks ago the morning Chalkbeat linked to 2 articles on the Campbell Brown run "The Seventy Four" without any disclaimer. I wrote about it: Chalkbeat Treats Campbell Brown Led Ed Deform Site as Legit News Source.  After reading that my old ICE pal Julie Woodward sent me the Alternet piece which mentions Chalkbeat as being funded by these same sources. Of course they will say Randi and the AFT also gives them money -- just a different version of ed deformer.

But why should those who read Chalkbeat's carefully calibrated coverage to give the impression of journalism be surprised?

Alternet's in-depth piece linking the ed deform funders to control of the press. Follow the money as one wise sage once said.

It’s not just Brown, though. A look at the back end of education media reveals plenty of outlets that are funded by those seeking to displace public schools in favor of a market-driven system. Media Bullpen, published by Walton grantee Center for Education Reform, bills itself as an education “media watchdog,” and receives funds from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Walton family and the Gates Foundation. (The Columbia Journalism Review notes a managing editor job ad explicitly sought a “passionate advocate for education reform.”)  Education Post, “a nonprofit, nonpartisan communications organization,” launched with promises to promote “an honest and civil [education] conversation,” as well as $12 million in startup funds provided in part by “the Broad Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies [and] the Walton Family Foundation.” (Per the Washington Post, the site’s three areas of focus are “K-12 academic standards, high-quality charter schools and how best to hold teachers and schools accountable for educating students,” the Holy Trinity of education reform.) Brown’s Seventy-Four, it turns out, is just another holding in the portfolio of the education reform lobby.

Not every group is so nakedly apparent in its goals. Well-respected education blogs including Chalkbeat and Education Week both receive funds from the Walton Family Foundation (in the latter case, specifically for “coverage of school choice and parent-empowerment issues,” a long-winded way of saying pro-charter pieces.) The 3,000-strong Education Writers Association receives money from Gates and Walton, while the L.A. Times—which maintains that it retains editorial control—receives funds from Broad for its Education Matters Digital initiative.

Even the so-called non-bought off press - like the tabloids and even the NY Times coming down on ed deform -finds all kinds of ways to support ed deform. See that awful April 2 Kate Taylor piece on opt out where she went to a school in Chinatown of all places to find the least likely parents to opt out - and include Eva quotes too (Kate making amends for being attacked by Eva for her devastating stories?). -- Despite Protests on State Testing, Some New York City Parents Are Happy to Opt In

The Alternet piece lists more funded ops:

As mentioned above, the Walton foundation provides money to an unexpected list of progressive entities. As Inside Philanthropy puts it “[i]t's heartening to see philanthropy coming to the rescue of journalism. But the trend is also problematic...Nowhere is the influence of private money over public life more pronounced than in K-12 education and yet, as it turns out, the specialized media most likely to raise questions about the trend are themselves supported by foundations.”
We haven’t even gotten to various other media campaigns guided by the invisible hand of school privatizers and built on a foundation of billionaire corporate reform stacks. Gates and Broad both underwrote the multi-year “Education Nation” broadcasting initiative, which brought education-focused programming to NBC staples “such as ‘Nightly News’ and ‘Today’ and on the MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo TV network.” The Walton Family Foundation reportedly provided the cash for Chicago Public Schools to purchase ad space for videos to spin the closures of 50 traditional public school even as charters increased in the city.

 The entire piece is below the fold or at: http://www.alternet.org/education/campbell-brown-new-leader-propaganda-arm-school-privatization