Dear Carmen: CEC2 On Fair Student Funding (Unfair Teacher Funding)

Despite the former Chancellor’s claims, a study by the Independent Budget Office in 2007 found that under the old school budgeting formula disparities in funding allocations among schools were due in large part to class sizes and pupil to teacher ratios.  Average teacher salaries accounted for 21% and 13% of funding disparities among elementary and middle schools respectively and were only secondary in importance[1].... Members of CEC2 letter to Farina

I haven't followed Fair Student Funding issues in detail and admit I didn't read the following carefully enough and am posting this as a service to readers interested in the issue.

My sense was that FSF was designed to push out veteran teachers by making their salaries prohibitive and any other issues are used to cover that fact up. Salaries should be in a separate category and should be centrally funded. Everything else should then be divided up equitably. To me "fair" student funding should be renamed "unfair teacher funding."

Shino Tanikawa has been a proactive parent leader on a number of issues, so anytime she and others associated with her take action I listen.

The Honorable Carmen Fariña

Chancellor

NYC Department of Education

52 Chambers Street

New York, NY 10007

 

April 18, 2016

 

Dear Chancellor Fariña,

 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Fair Student Funding. 

 

Given the fiscal constraints imposed by the State budget, we appreciate the Mayor’s efforts to bring all schools’ funding allocation to a minimum of 87% of the Fair Student Funding formula amount and to 100% for Renewal Schools.  However we are deeply concerned about the below-formula allocation year after year.  In fact, most of our schools across the city have never been funded at 100% of their FSF formula amount.  This persistent funding shortage has led to our schools needing to enroll students above the building’s capacity and/or at class sizes that compromise the educational quality (we consider the UFT contractual maximum class sizes to be unacceptably large). 

 

We understand the tax levy dollars alone cannot fund our schools fully and that we need the State funding.  We urge the Mayor and your department to take a more aggressive stance on securing the money owed to our children.  The State has continuously reneged on its legal obligation under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement to fund the City’s schools so that our children receive the same quality education as the students from the rest of the State. Reduced funding after the economic downturn in 2008 might have been justifiable.  However, we are no longer in recession and we cannot afford to lose another generation of our children to overcrowded and underfunded schools.  The Mayor was forceful and successful in securing additional funding for his PreK initiative two years ago.  We need the same level of commitment from the Mayor to hold the State accountable, so that we can ensure the Pre-Kindergarten students continue to receive high quality education once they move up to Kindergarten and beyond. 

 

With respect to the formula weights, we support the proposal to increase resources for English Language Learners and Students with Interrupted Formal Education.   However, we have no way of gauging whether the specific weights are adequate in providing the services needed for the various categories of students. For instance assigning the lowest grade base weight to elementary grades does not seem appropriate given the class size reduction planned under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (even if we do not seem to be implementing the Class Size Reduction Plan).  We would like to request a non-technical summary of how the DOE determines various weights, if possible, so that we can better understand the weight assignments.

 

At a broader scale, we urge the Department of Education to conduct a thorough review of FSF to evaluate whether 1) the formula has achieved the original intent (equity in school-based funding allocations and more equitable distribution of experienced teachers); 2) the formula, if funded at 100%, is adequate to provide a high quality education to all our students; and 3) there are any relationships between pupil based funding and class sizes or school overcrowding. 

 

Former Chancellor Klein introduced Fair Student Funding in 2006 in an effort to distribute tax levy dollars more equitably and make school budgeting more transparent.  We – the parents – were told that the old formula based on school enrollment and average teacher salaries tended to concentrate veteran teachers (i.e., higher salaries) in well-to-do schools leaving struggling schools with new teachers (i.e., lower salaries).  By changing budgeting to a student-based formula with different weights given to various different needs of students, funding was supposed to be distributed more equitably among the schools. 

 

Despite the former Chancellor’s claims, a study by the Independent Budget Office in 2007 found that under the old school budgeting formula disparities in funding allocations among schools were due in large part to class sizes and pupil to teacher ratios.  Average teacher salaries accounted for 21% and 13% of funding disparities among elementary and middle schools respectively and were only secondary in importance[1]. A later IBO study reviewing FSF found disparities still existed even after FSF was implemented, largely due to post-formula adjustments.  In early years of the FSF implementation, funding allocation levels ranged from 87% to 146% of the FSF formula amounts[2].   While the gap between the lowest and highest allocations has narrowed over the years, IBO attributes this shift to post-formula adjustments (e.g., hold harmless and incremental funding).  The same report points to the need to re-evaluate post-formula adjustments, which make the budget not only difficult to analyze properly but also less transparent. 

 

Unfortunately the 2013 IBO report did not analyze whether FSF has made the funding allocations more equitable or allowed struggling schools to hire veteran teachers – the pillars of the school budgeting reform as envisioned by the former Chancellor.  The report concludes that “the formula still has a ways to go,” and recommends securing more funding and ending the post-formula adjustments.  The report also recommends a further review, including an analysis of the formula weights and assumptions behind them. 

 

Finally from many conversations with principals in District 2 for the past several years, we have noticed a trend in many schools toward enrolling the maximum number of students in articulating grades (K and 6^th) despite the fact District 2 has added eight elementary schools and two middle schools since 2009. Principals routinely project and plan for 25 students in Kindergarten classes and 30 to 33 students in sixth grade classes.  These class sizes are partially driven by lack of seats (even with so many new schools) but also are exacerbated by the fact that register losses of even one student translate to real dollars lost from the school’s budget.  Schools no longer need to lose a class full of students to see the full impact on the budget.  FSF has certainly made capacity planning conversations more complicated because it is difficult to imagine Kindergarten and first grade classes with 20 students.  However, we firmly believe that capital planning must be based on the City’s Class Size Reduction Plan.  We also believe that school based funding formula must also be aligned with the Class Size Reduction Plan, even if schools cannot be funded the full formula amounts, as they are today. 

 

We sincerely hope DOE will work with either IBO or the Comptroller’s Office to take a critical look at FSF so that we can ensure a funding formula that is equitable and visionary.

 

Sincerely,

 

Shino Tanikawa, President, CECD2*

Robin Broshi, Vice President, CECD2*

Claude Arpels, CECD2*

Jonah Benton, CECD2*

Beth Cirone, CECD2*

John Keller, CECD2*

Carrie Solomon, CECD2*

 *for identification purposes only

---

[1] New York City Independent Budget Office.  Background Paper. (2007, October). Contributing Factors: Disparities In 2005 Classroom Spending. http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/FairStudentFunding1.pdf

[2] New York City Independent Budget Office. Schools Brief. (2013, April). Is It Getting Fairer? Examining Five Years of School Allocations Under Fair Student Funding.  http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/fsf2013.html

#NPE16 - Honey, I'm Back

Dinner with giants

I'm back from a very hectic 4 days at the NPE where I connected with so many people I knew and made many new contacts from around the nation.

It seemed every 5 minutes I was meeting someone - like at lunch yesterday a woman came over to say she liked what I said at one panel about how we have to not only fight the deformers but our own union leaders - something I will have a lot more to say about in followups - one of the reasons I went down there was to check the pulse of people in NPE on how they view Randi and Lilly and their respective AFT and NEA. But more on this in tonight's post. Back to the woman, a teacher in Albuquerque. We decided to have lunch together and I learned so much from her about a nascent caucus running against the leadership and we found we had someone we knew in common - someone I got to hang with at the UCORE conference in Newark last August - a great activist in New Mexico who was very active in promoting our film.

How can you go wrong getting to chat with Leonie Haimson, Carol Burris, Katie Lapham, Michael Elliot, Fred Smith and so many others I am blanking on. I hung out with Beth Dimino and through her got to hang with the amazing Long Island and Westechester NYSAPE/Opt-Out leaders like Terry Kalb, Lisa Rudley, Jeannette Deutermann and new friends like Leslie Rose and Marlene Natale, a great mixture of parents and teachers. Seeing former Brooklyn parent activist Khem Irby and meeting her husband Melvin, now active in North Carolina, on Friday night and over the weekend recalled the days of GEM activism. And I met BATS galore from Ohio, Virginia and got to chat with BAT leader Marla Kilfoyle.

Since BATs are not big here in the city I hadn't realized just how much of an impact they have had in certain states where teachers who felt isolated have found a home. I have to do a separate post on the growing BAT influence - I think I am now an official BAT - I have my BAT pin.

Saturday night dinner at Jimmy V's in the Sheraton - each table seemed to have power people. In one corner a big crew from Chicago. In another a bit BAT crowd. At our table, Carrol Burris and the big opt out crew mostly from Long Island.

Everyone seemed to feel so good to be in the company of friendly forces - in essence leaders and ground troops in the battle over public education. There were so many great conversations and insights and I want to get some of them down before they disappear from my brain. I was so busy I didn't have time to blog like I wanted to or even take video like I intended. The workshops and panel discussions were overloaded with too many good choices.

I got back last night at midnight after having left Raleigh at 2:30. I left while the closing session was still on because I didn't want to spend another night on the road. I'm glad I drove rather than fly - I just am not in the mood to go through the usual airport crap. Yes, it was a long drive but I enjoyed the solitude of the road and XM radio certainly helped.


Well, vacation over. I think I am scheduled to go to a school to speak about the elections one day this week and tomorrow I am picking up thousands of election leaflets and Wed is the DA and the PEP and Friday we have 25 people coming for Passover - and I have to be at the theater soon to help with construction of the set - and - and - and - jeez, I should spent a few more days in the car.

Roseanne Schools Unity Slug Who Defends UFT on Actions (or Lack of) at John Dewey

News flash... Stop the Presses... Norm Scott discovers the UFT to blame yet again.... Unity Caucus Slug

How culpable is the UFT in the exoneration of Kathleen Elvin? They have been pretty defensive about the outcome after taking so Shame on the CSA for Defending Elvin's Cheating at... where they defend the back door dealing and attack me for being inconsistent for defending MORE when it does things behind the scenes - as if a small caucus like MORE with ZERO elected positions in the UFT -- should somehow be compared with the Unity/UFT machine complex that owns every means of the UFT communications network and meets at the top levels regularly with Farina and her hench people. Call it a slight difference in access to power. Go read some of their comments at "Shame on the CSA for Defending Elvin's Cheating at...

I replied by making the point that their failure is what this slug is bragging about - their backdoor "nuanced" response, which I admit might be useful at times - but this is their way of operating. Hush hush, keeping people at the school level out of the loop other than the chapter leader - and who knows that what they are telling the CL is even accurate or the truth - I had my suspicions when I got reports. I on the other hand urged an open assault on Elvin both in and outside the school -- and guess what -- they used Ed Notes to engage in that assault -- but imagine if instead of a lowly blog the actually UFT had openly stood up for them and exposed the crap Elvin was doing all along? I know they had the hard info.

Our reliable responder Roseanne McCosh nails the Unity slug to the wall: A new comment on your post "Shame on the CSA for Defending Elvin's Cheating at...

Newsflash:

Anonymous poster accuses Norm of being a hater....but offers no evidence to prove that what Norm says is inaccurate. The only reason I know about Elvin, Blige and the rest of the admin losers in NYC is because of Norm's blog. I haven’t heard a peep about it from Unity. I too would like to know exactly what Unity did to expose Elvin and get rid of her. Farina's policies with respect to the treatment of teachers are the same as BloomKlein. I haven't heard a peep from Unity about that either. My school, PS 8X, has at least 6 teachers who transferred from abusive schools. The majority of whom have been with us for at least 5 years and

NEWSFLASH…

the admins they fled are still in their old schools. One of the admins, Maria Rosado, has been in the Riverdale Press lately. An old CL from that school (207X) used to complain about her at CL meetings back in my CL days 10 years ago.

NOTHING was done then and NOTHING is being done now. Farina is still backing her up and I haven’t heard about her from Unity yet.

Mulgrew cares more about DeBlasio and Farina than his abused membership. If that weren’t true he’d be exposing them as often and with as much tenacity as Norm and other bloggers do. None of the blogs that expose these people are aligned with Unity.

Unity working hard to get rid of abusive admins? You’re full of shit.

$100 to your favorite charity if you prove otherwise! Anyone want to take that bet? Roseanne McCosh 

Tell you what Unity slug, democratize the UFT - remove the retiree vote, give us proportional representation so we don't have winner take all and let's compete on a level playing field and then you can challenge MORE by what it does and what it doesn't do?

I'm willing to play the stealth game when necessary -- but when the people on the ground are included and make that decision -- just as we saw at CPE 1 where it wasn't MORE's decision to play a nuanced stealth game but theirs -- and their actions dictated when we would go public, not our needs to promote ourselves as some groups do or in your case to hide what you are doing so Uncle Ernie and Aunt Carmen don't get mad at you.

The Terrible Test and Its Impact

I was in a school last week on the final day of testing and the principal, proud that there were an unexpected 13 opt outs, told me the untimed test was even more child abuse.

Yes to my Unity hack friend. I blame the UFT. For not speaking out and standing up to these outrages being perpetrated on teachers, students and parents. You and your fellow Unity hacks are politically and morally bankrupt. Go off to the AFT convention with your 800 philistines this summer and sell out once again.

Here is just one of many powerful comments being posted on Change the Stakes.

So, one school had an opt out rate of 13% on day one of math . . . but another 100 students were absent from school. Students who did not officially refuse the test opted out by staying home, bringing the refusal rate closer to 25%. Of course, when they return on Monday they'll be brought down to the auditorium for make up testing.

Students who came to school and quit twenty minutes into the test, or didn't bother with it at all, were confined in testing rooms with nothing to do, except read if they wanted, for three hours a day for three days.

Some students will have lost TWELVE days of instruction due to testing--three days of ELA testing, or staying home, if they refused by absenting themselves from school. Then three days of make up ELA testing. Then three days of math testing, or absences, if they refused by staying home, then three more days of lost instruction due to make up testing.

Overall the school's attendance rate plummeted to about 85% over testing. Teachers opted out too--over a dozen called in sick on day three of testing, and many more who came to school in the AM on the last day took the afternoon off . . . leaving their students behind in a building that has insufficient subs so TAs, administrators etc were doing everything they could to cover classes.

For the most part no instruction took place during first period at all. Then there was three hours for "testing," then in the afternoon both kids AND TEACHERS were so burned out, so fatigued, and simultaneously so wired, little to no meaningful instruction took place in the afternoon either. Student discipline incidents exploded--pushing, shoving, fighting. One boy had an episode, nearly psychotic, in which he kicked a locker so hard he broke his own foot.

This is a Receivership school. AYP, student attendance, student discipline, teacher attendance and performance on the tests are improvement indicators. The pressure to test is huge. Robo calls to parents, letters to parents, when parents sent refusal letters in, phone calls placed back to them, meetings to persuade them to opt in, etc.

Threats made by administrators to students--if you don't show us what you know by taking the test, you'll be placed in remedial classes next year.

It's awful, just awful.

@NPE16NC - Friday, April 15 report

I don't want to get tracked into extensive reporting on the conference - it seems too much like work. I'm basically here to touch base with people from around the nation to see where people are coming from and also to hang out with old contacts and make some new ones.

Naturally there is some controversy over the decision to go on with the conference in NC. Some people are trying to call us out for not cancelling. My reaction was why didn't these same people call for boycotts in NC over the massive assault over the last few years on teachers and public schools? I am not generally in favor of boycotting. Springsteen by coming here would have been more effective in fighting the law by using his platform to talk to the people who live here.

Some bloggers have addressed the issue:

Russ on Reading echoes my thoughts:

North Carolina’s Race to the Bottom

I only wish that all these folks would gather up the same righteous indignation for what this same state administration has done to destroy the public schools of North Carolina. The NPE is meeting in Raleigh because we seek to fly into the eye of the storm. And the storm clouds have been gathering over North Carolina’s schools for years.... The governor and the legislature of North Carolina have made it clear to teachers: we don't want you here. Some North Carolina educators have already taken the hint and are searching for jobs elesewhere. Many more will likely follow them. In fact, The Charlotte Observer reports that schools in Texas are actively recruiting North Carolina teachers and are offering them hefty salary increases. So we gather in Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend to make sure these destroyers know that we will not be silent in the face of this unconscionable destruction.

The anti-discrimination laws are being discussed and there are probably few groups of people who are more attuned to that issue than the people who are here.

Diane Ravitch addressed the issue: North Carolina: We Are Exactly Where We Should Be

You don’t beat bullies by running away. We are all wearing “Repeal HB2” stickers. We have cards to hand out wherever we go, telling merchants that we oppose HB2 and won’t return until it is repealed.
We are not running away. We are here to stand by the good people of North Carolina and pray for the day when they are able to vote these hate mongers out of office. We are here because injustice is here. We are exactly where we should be. You don’t beat bullies by running away. We are all wearing “Repeal HB2” stickers. We have cards to hand out wherever we go, telling merchants that we oppose HB2 and won’t return until it is repealed. We are not running away. We are here to stand by the good people of North Carolina and pray for the day when they are able to vote these hate mongers out of office. We are here because injustice is here. We are exactly where we should be.

I had an interesting day
I got in Friday morning at about 10 AM after staying the night in Rocky Mount, about an hour away. The 500 mile drive down was easier than I thought it would be and I enjoyed the solitude of the
road. I left home on Thursday at 8:30 and arrived at 5. I left Rocky Mount at 9 and was in my hotel room in Raleigh by 10:30, went out exploring, got hungry (natch), found a popular chicken place called Beasley's Chicken and Honey, headed over to the natural history museum

which I enjoyed and picked up this tee - 

Registration was going on in the hotel lobby at 5:30 and I ran into Beth Domino and Terry Kalb and we connected with a Chicago activist parent and her equally activist daughter who is a high school senior, some Ohio and Virginia BATS and we all headed out to find a place to eat at a Mexican restaurant which turned out to be an interesting place given the climate in the state. We are all carrying notes to leave at places we eat and shop at. Look at the menu and the posters in the window of the restaurant.

There was a film night last night starting at 7 but we didn't get out until almost 8:30 but I made it in time to see our own Michael Elliot show some of the work he has done and is doing.

Then it was back to the hotel lobby which was jumping. Leonie Haimson came in last night and we got to see our parent activist Khem Irby who moved down here with her husband. So it was like old home week as we hung out in the bar talking about old and new times.

BATS from various states are a major presence and they have been effective. At dinner with some Ohio BATS I was impressed with their statewide network. One 17 year teacher echoed what I am hearing. She felt so isolated she was ready to leave teaching but the BATS saved her. We hear that coming from people in MORE too. I was surprised that people from other states are ed notes readers and also knew of the GEM film. Everyone seems to have heard of it.

I am telling people from other states about UCORE which is meeting down here in August. Forming these networks both local, regional and nationally is important work and the NPE conference this weekend is one more step in moving toward informing and activating educators and supporters.

I'm writing on Saturday at 10:30 at the keynote with Diane after the first morning session I attended which I will report on later or tomorrow.

Shame on the CSA for Defending Elvin's Cheating at John Dewey HS - And the UFT for its Role in the Saga

Massive screw up by DOE leading to judge to dismiss the case against Dewey HS principal Elvin -- who engaged in massive credit recovery schemes, according to voluminous evidence, to boost HS graduation rates.  This story was well-documented and reported on for months by the NYP, the Daily News, and Marcia Kramer of CBS News. Since DOE refused to invalidate the credits nor to provide any back up evidence of the charges, the judge threw the case out before it even came to trial. More evidence of incompetence on the part of OSI, which dragged its feet for months, DOE's internal audit Dept  (which apparently failed to find fault with the  credits of the fake courses) and the legal department at DOE. ... Leonie Haimson, NYCEdNews listserve

I know a lot about the Elvin/Dewey story (do a search for Elvin on Ed Notes and you will see pages of posts) since I had sources in the school and was updated regularly on the back story.

Elvin was a monster of a manipulator and brutalized teachers, especially young ones, including a vicious discontinue of a single mom army vet who had complained about some ridiculous school policy.

Elvin demanded that teachers grade and enter the grades of Do Nows every day - an insane amount of wasted work. When grievances were filed she back off tenured teachers but forced the nontenured to do them. She walked into one classroom and in front of the class demanded the teacher show her his Do Nows. Already having graded them and entered the grades he had tossed them in the trash. He nervously pointed to the trash can and Elvin, in front of the kids went rummaging through the trash to find them and slammed them on the desk. Surely a performance worthy of Captain Queeg and his missing strawberries.

According to the NY Times account of Elvin's exoneration, CSA head Ernie Logan, a UFT ally, who apparently sanctions this way of treating teachers

suggested that the original complaints were ginned up because Ms. Elvin was “a very proactive supervisor” who was trying to turn the school around. “We’ve found that, as a principal starts to push hard, sometimes the staff is not happy,” he said.

We know that the way so many teachers are treated poorly by so many of Logan's members is of no concern of his but we do give him more credit than the UFT in defending his members over anything they might do no matter how outrageous. Logan did charge the DOE with using tainted OSI investigators - we know many of these people are criminals themselves so on that we are not surprised.

What an outrage to blame teacher gripers who were reacting to the crimes being perpetrated by Elvin who was prevented from closing down Dewey and getting rid of the teachers she didn't like by the UFT lawsuit. So she found other ways.

Elvin created shadow classes that didn't really exist. The DOE knew all about this for a long time but chose to do nothing about it - until articles began appearing in the press and on blogs. People at Dewey were telling me that the posts on Ed Notes were having an impact and a source told me that Elvin was reading the comments that kept coming up and reacting. One retired Dewey teacher recently credited Ed Notes with playing a big role in Elvin's temporary downfall.

You can inform the DOE that a principal is cutting kids hands off but unless the mainstream press picks up a story they will do nothing.

students had received credit in the 2013-14 school year for courses in which they simply completed packets of work but received no instruction, in violation of department policy.

However, an audit of the courses, conducted in October by the new administration at Dewey and Education Department officials, contradicted the investigation’s findings, the arbitrator wrote in his ruling. It concluded that the courses had, in fact, met department guidelines and that the students had been properly credited.

Yes the DOE knew and in essence sanctioned what was going on and they are now hoisted on their own petard. If Elvin goes back to Dewey, I can't imagine the mayhem and the DOE will do whatever it can to avoid that outcome.

As to the role the UFT played at Dewey in retarding the kind of actions that could have buried Elvin, I will have a lot more to say in a follow-up.

Here is the Times article.

Brooklyn Principal Removed From Post Is Cleared of Charges

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/nyregion/brooklyn-principal-removed-by-city-is-cleared-of-grade-fixing-charges.html?_r=0

In a rebuke to the New York City Education Department and its investigative unit, an arbitrator has dismissed all charges against a high school principal who was removed from her post last July, after being accused of inflating the school’s graduation rate by giving makeup classes without content.

The arbitrator ruled that Kathleen Elvin, the former principal of John Dewey High School, in Brooklyn, should be immediately reinstated and that the department should pay her the wages and benefits that she lost as a result of her suspension.

An inquiry conducted last year by the department’s Office of Special Investigations found that students had received credit in the 2013-14 school year for courses in which they simply completed packets of work but received no instruction, in violation of department policy. Ms. Elvin was removed, and the department in September brought charges of misconduct and neglect of duty against her, in an attempt to fire her.

However, an audit of the courses, conducted in October by the new administration at Dewey and Education Department officials, contradicted the investigation’s findings, the arbitrator wrote in his ruling. It concluded that the courses had, in fact, met department guidelines and that the students had been properly credited.

In a decision released on Tuesday, the arbitrator, Jay Nadelbach, wrote that “the D.O.E. cannot effectively maintain both of two incompatible positions.”

He concluded that the department’s decision to certify the credits that the students earned validated “the sufficiency of the classroom instruction given.”

Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said, “We are disappointed with this decision, and we are continuing to review our options.”

At a news conference on Wednesday, the president of the principals’ union, Ernest Logan, celebrated the dismissal of the charges while accusing the department of “a pattern of reckless bullying” of administrators.

Document: Ruling to Dismiss Charges Against Principal

“There was a total rush to judgment,” he said.

In 2012, during Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, Ms. Elvin was brought into the school, which was struggling with rising violence and declining graduation rates. Her efforts produced an increase in the four-year graduation rate, to 79 percent in 2013-14 from 72 percent in 2011-12.

In 2014, six anonymous complaints about Ms. Elvin and other Dewey administrators were made to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the school district. A social studies teacher at the school, Alan Lerner, also made a complaint. Her accusers said, among other things, that Ms. Elvin was improperly allowing students to make up courses.

The Special Commissioner of Investigation referred the complaints to the department’s internal Office of Special Investigations.

Ms. Elvin, for her part, said she was “living evidence of what character assassination is.” As for whether she wanted to return to Dewey, she said that while she had never wanted to leave, she did not know if, given the turmoil, it would be possible to go back now.

Mr. Logan suggested that the original complaints were ginned up because Ms. Elvin was “a very proactive supervisor” who was trying to turn the school around. “We’ve found that, as a principal starts to push hard, sometimes the staff is not happy,” he said.

Mike Schirtzer - To Fellow Union Organizers and Activists

Mike Schirtzer does an excellent job of finding resources distinguishing between activism and organizing and activists and organizers, for they are often 2 separate things and some people can do one or the other well but not both. It can be easy to be an activist. Go to rallies and events. And go home feeling good. The hard work is getting names and emails and doing followup and building an organization capable of reaching a size where it can be influential enough to make a difference.

He begins with a quote from Teachers Unite handbook.

"Organizing means people are building organizational power to fight powerful institutions that directly impact them. Organizing is long-term relationship building, wherein a group of people see themselves as an interconnected collective – a family of sorts. Organizers do this by connecting events and people who share the same values and language. In addition, organizing is based on structures and systems that include roles for different people. These structures, systems, and roles work together to ensure that we are fighting institutions. Organizers think about the long term and the root causes of an issue"..... From Teachers Unite Handbook

MORE is running in the UFT election as part of a long term strategy.

The goals have been clear from the start

a. Win high school executive board seats in order to give voice to rank and file educators and expose the failed leadership within the UFT

b. Increase the voter turnout in our own chapters and beyond

c. Build MORE by organizing members in our chapters and a stronger caucus after the election

d. Develop a larger, better distribution network so we can oppose unity's propaganda and share the voice of rank and file members in many chapters throughout the boroughs

e. Strengthen and transform our union- More votes, more organizers, more engaged members, more active-organized schools, even without holding leadership, wecan change our union. Make no mistake- the work we have done over the last few years has forced Unity leadership to take positions they would have not otherwise taken. The UFT/NYSUT/AFT apparatus still holds sway in politics and beyond. The financial means and political influence. When we organize and mobilize the grassroots we force their hands. They have moved on common core, testing, charters, fighting incompetent administrators because of us.

We can't forget the important role we have in helping to build the statewide movement with ST caucus, national movement with UCORE, and solidarity with our friends in Puerto Rico.

This work began a month after the last election, when me, Peter Lamphere, Kit Wainer, Norm Scott, Harry Lirtzman, Julie Cavanagh, Gloria Brandam and Megan Behrent sat at a table offering analysis the 2013 campaign and developing a strategy to do MORE in the 2016 election. It has taken countless meetings, debates, growing pains, and strategy sessions to be where we are at. This is not by accident, rather by design. We wanted a democratic organization and that is messy. But this has been the nitty gritty of organizing.

It is far different than activism or a one-shot protest. We need to develop strategies that are collective, built on long term organizing and making allies.

The success of the Opt-out has had is the direct result of long time organizing. GEM morphed into MORE and Change the Stakes. Jia and Lauren who have proudly spoken for all of us,have come out of those groups. It has been a series of educational organizing: going to city and community meetings on educational policies, speaking with parents and teachers,PA meetings, SLTs, media, and social media strategies, reaching out to people one to one, as well as forming alliances. This has been hard work that did not achieve instant results, but it has stopped common core, test based teacher evals, and lowered stakes on testing. It has been collective. It has been organizing, not just activism.

As Matthew Smucker, from Occupy Wall Street, argues in a forthcoming book:

"Activism risk emphasizing the self over the collective. By contrast, organizing is cooperative by definition: it aims to bring others into the fold, to build and exercise shared power.

Today, anyone can be an activist, even someone who operates alone, accountable to no one—for example, relentlessly trying to raise awareness about an important issue.

Raising awareness—one of contemporary activism’s preferred aims—can be extremely valuable , but it is not organizing.

Organizing is long-term and often tedious work that entails creating infrastructure and institutions, finding points of vulnerability and leverage in the situation you want to transform, and convincing atomized individuals to recognize that they are on the same team (and to behave like it).

Successful organizers are difficult to shrug off, because they have built a base that acts strategically. The goal of any would-be world-changer should be to be part of something so organized, so formidable, and so shrewd that the powerful don’t scoff: they quake.

Thousands of people are flocking to auditoriums across America to hear Bernie Sanders condemn the “billionaire class.” With polls showing that a growing number of young people and the majority of Democratic primary voters have a positive view of socialism, we need good, smart organizing to back up this astonishing uptick in leftist sentiment and to productively channel people’s enthusiasm and energy beyond the limited frame of the presidential race and electoral politics. "

This is the written goal MORE set out for in summer 2015: 
"...to have a mobilized, active union that can effectively fight for our rights by giving all members a voice in the UFT... challenging the UFT leadership and transforming the union into one that can lead the fight in advocating for a fair and equitable education for all our children while ending the profit-driven testing policies that harms teachers, students, and schools. Public schools are under attack, that is why we need a new union leadership that will lead the fight back. 

Each educator experiences the attacks on our profession differently: for some, the testing frenzy has dramatically changed their work lives for the worse. For others, the new evaluation process and life under a weak contract are the main concerns. Many of our members work under horrific and abusive administrators and that reality overshadows everything else. A strong, member-driven union that stands together with our communities is the only way to have the public schools we all deserve."

This goal is what we need to stick to and if we change directions we should do so collectively while developing a corresponding strategy. Our organization is small and the challenges posed by a complicit union leadership is extremely difficult. We are also tasked with taking on multi-million dollar groups that seek to bust unions and privatize education. Organizing to have a strong, engaged, rank and file led union continues to be why we campaign for UFT elections.

 Smucker talks about thousands of people flocking to Bernie rallies. That is activism while the people organizing the rallies and working in the Bernie campaign are doing organizing. People like MORE's Mindy Rosier who has been putting a great deal of time into both activism and organizing. MORE is proud to have given Mindy one of her first tastes of both and she has branched out while still trying to find time to work within MORE. The people at the UFT in Unity have noticed Mindy's effectiveness and I wouldn't be shocked to see them doing a full court press to get her to shift loyalties to them as they have managed to do with others. I don't expect that to happen as long as MORE is a viable organization.

And it will remain so as long as there are enough people do to the hard work of organizing.

Parents at Central Park East 1 Issue Press Release Calling for Removal of Principal Monika Garg

....the petition has been signed by more than 58% of current families. More than 1,700 supporters have also signed, including educational experts, NY Senator Bill Perkins, former New York City Councilman and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, former NYC Councilman and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, education professor and activist Dr. William Ayers, and large numbers of former teachers, family members and students.... Parents of CPE1.

I am at a Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount NC, an hour out of Raleigh. I didn't think I could do all the driving in one day so I cancelled my reservation at the Marriott for tonight but in actuality found the drive pretty easy - just me alone blasting the music and singing along - if my wife were with me we would have seen road rage.
But I wanted to get readers caught up on the fast moving CPE 1 story which I posted this morning: 

#savecpe1 - Support Legendary Debbie Meier Founded Central Park East 1 in Battle to Remove Monika Garg, Abusive Principal
Things are heating up as the story is getting out. I have a lot more to write about this especially on how Garg pulled the race card as a way to divide parents, which unfortunately a few parents fell for. Attacking the school's diversity and claiming progressive education is not beneficial to children of color is just part of the attack - she should be fired for that alone as it is racist to say children of color are somehow not able to deal with a progressive education that the rich kids in private schools get.

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Kenya Dilday: kdilday@gmail.com

Kaliris Salas Ramirez: ksalasramirez@gmail.com

Jennifer Roesch: (917) 319-7008; jenroesch@gmail.com

More information at www.savecpe1.org

Parents at Central Park East 1 Launch a Website and Petition Drive to Defend Their School’s Progressive Practices and Remove Principal

The website and information about the petition can be found at www.savecpe1.org

East Harlem, NY. April 13, 2016---On April 8, a group of parents at Central Park East 1, a 41-year old elementary school that is the oldest progressive school in Harlem and the first formed by legendary educator, Deborah Meier, launched a website: SaveCPE1.org. The website — savecpe1.org — which has received nearly 8,800 page views since launch-- is part of an effort to defend the school’s core progressive practices and asks parents and supporters to sign a petition calling for the removal of the current principal, Monika Garg. Within four days, the petition has been signed by more than 58% of current families. More than 1,700 supporters have also signed, including educational experts, NY Senator Bill Perkins, former New York City Councilman and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, former NYC Councilman and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, education professor and activist Dr. William Ayers, and large numbers of former teachers, family members and students.

Parents cite several reasons that they believe Principal Garg is not a suitable leader at Central Park East 1:

• In March, Monika Garg, principal for nine months, interviewed several very young children as part of investigations of veteran teachers and staff. The parents of these children were not notified before or after these interviews. One parent discovered interviews had taken place when her child was found crying at night without explanation and subsequently revealed it. It is only through parents coming forward that other parents were able to know to ask and appropriately support their children. The school counselor was unaware of the interviews and thus unable to provide support. Principal Garg has failed to respond to several parents who have asked who was present during the interviews or for transcripts. Some of these investigations are based on charges that are two years old and involved interviewing 7-year old children about events that took place two years earlier. While parents understand that investigations are an unfortunate part of school life on occasion, they believe that the way these interviews were conducted and the subsequent lack of respect for parent concerns showed extremely poor judgment.
• Principal Garg has no experience in progressive education, no experience in early childhood education and minimal experience in elementary education. Central Park East 1 has a rich and well-documented history of progressive education and an approach based on individualized instruction and assessment. Principal Garg has consistently implied that the schools style of education is not suitable for “black children and poor children” as it is practiced at CPE1. This is contradicted by several quantitative and qualitative measures that have been well-documented and highlights of which are available on the website.
• Veteran teachers have described their working conditions as intolerable. Several have considered leaving. Since many members of the staff issued an open letter to the community detailing their concerns with the principal’s leadership, multiple investigations have been initiated against veteran teachers and several have had other disciplinary measures taken against them.

These are just some of the reasons that a majority of parents feel that the current principal must be removed in order for the school to move forward. This decision was not taken lightly and follows months of attempts to get answers from the Principal and District Superintendent Alexandra Estrella. Their has been a consistent pattern of lack of communication and disrespect for both parents and staff. Parents do not feel that the district has been responsive to their concerns and that is why their petition is addressed to the mayor and school chancellor.

The website, savecpe1.org, offers an extensive timeline detailing the pattern of administrative mistreatment over time. It also provides just a few samples of more than 20 testimonials from families about what a Central Park East 1 education has meant for them and their children. It explains Central Park East 1’s unique curriculum and pedagogy as well as its success - as measured by the Department of Education’s own metrics.

# # #

#MORE2016 - Pick up UFT Election leaflets for school distribution

Only a few weeks until ballots go out on May 5. Get the latest leaflet from MORE hot off the press. This is a 4 page booklet produced by MORE and New Action.

MORE and New Action have printed 60,000 copies of a beautiful foldover campaign leaflet (read it here!) - and we need your help to get it to rank and file teachers across the city.  Please reply to this email now and let us know your boro and school and how many copies you need.  

You can pick up leaflets at any of our 3 Friday Happy Hours around NYC.  Come meet MORE candidates, discuss the election and getting out the vote, and how we can build teacher power at our workplaces. The first round is on us!  Click below to RSVP

• Manhattan - 3pm - Murphy's Law - 417 E 70th St
• Bronx - 3pm - An Beal Bocht - 445 W 238th St. 
• Brooklyn - 3pm - Rustik Tavern - 471 De Kalb Ave

MORE-UFT
http://more.nationbuilder.com/

PS. You can also pick up leaflets at the April DA next week 4pm-6pm @ 52 Broadway, or at our exciting actions against school takeover under state receivership laws at the PEP right nearby at 6p at MS131 @ 100 Hester St.
 

#savecpe1 - Support Legendary Debbie Meier Founded Central Park East 1 in Battle to Remove Monika Garg, Abusive Principal

Sign the petition to save CPE1: http://www.savecpe1.org/petition/

I'm leaving soon to drive down to Raleigh, NC for the NPE conference over the weekend. But I wanted to get this out before I leave. I'm hoping to run into Debbie Meier at the conference since CPE was her brainchild so many years ago. I heard about that school when it opened and even thought about trying to teach there because the educational concepts fit my ideas and I was often like a fish out of water at my school.

I heard the entire story about the crap this principal, Monika Garg, has pulled and will report more details in a follow-up. Needless to say she is following the standard Principal Academy and DOE legal blueprint on how to undermine a school with veteran teachers.
The problem is that our union has no blueprint for teachers on how to respond and the teachers were overwhelmed by the constant assaults for half a year before they began to look at ways to fight back. MORE was contacted for advice and we met with some of them.

Why would so-called progressive educator Carmen Farina sanction an assault on Central Park East 1 (there is also a CPE2 under separate management) through the installation of abusive principal  Monika Garg last July who immediately set about undermining 40 years of progressive education at the school? Naturally the long-time teachers there were the first to come under attack, including bogus investigations. The UFT, district borough and central have been of little help.

Which is why some of us in MORE met with a batch of people from the school and have been offering some organizing advice over the past few weeks. We are helping publicize what they are doing. The important thing in situations like this is to assess the abilities of the people on the ground to build support from parents and community when calling for such a drastic action as the removal of Principal Monika Garg who was an AP at a high school with no experience in a progressive school like CPE1 or even in an elementary school.

As the links to the article in DNAinfo and the web site below indicate they have done quite a job in organizing. I'm not sure of exactly how much I can say at this point as to the plans but I will update as they unfold.

New Principal Ruining Legendary Progressive Public School, Parents Say

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160413/east-harlem/new-principal-ruining-legendary-progressive-public-school-parents-say

The web site with the full story:
http://www.savecpe1.org/

The petition which has almost 2000 signatures - which will be presented to Farina.
http://www.savecpe1.org/petition/

For 40 years, CPE1 has been a leader in progressive education. It was the first of the original progressive public elementary schools started in East Harlem by Debbie Meier. It has been studied and celebrated internationally and replicated across the country, but the current administration is undermining CPE1’s philosophy and purpose. CPE1 must be protected.

What will we lose if the current principal remains? 

• Our experienced teachers - the heart of our school
• Inquiry-based, child-centered education is being replaced with prepackaged curriculum
• Collaborative approach and cooperative projects  
• Individualized learning accounting for each child’s personal goals
• The understanding that art, movement and music are integral to children’s education  
• Valuable learning time lost to increased focus on “teaching to the test”
• Democratic decision-making 
• Small class sizes and small school community

The newly hired principal has no previous experience in progressive education. None. 

Why would a superintendent choose a principal with no progressive background and with limited elementary experience to lead NYC’s oldest progressive public school? 

Our veteran teachers have said that their working conditions are unbearable.  Many are considering leaving.   

Our long-time teachers are crucial to preserving CPE1.  

Administrators are interviewing our children without parents' knowledge or consent.

7-year-olds being asked to recall information on incidents occurring two years prior.  This was not the usual "calling a child into the principal's office;" interviewers included a deputy superintendent and an outside investigator.   Children were told to keep their interviews secret.

Administrators have launched investigations against our veteran teachers.

After senior teachers sent an open letter to the community expressing concerns about the principal’s actions, they have all been subjected to investigations.  Some are complaints re-opened from several years prior.  

Administrators routinely fail to answer parents' and teachers' questions. 

Parents asked the superintendent to a town hall in November to express their concerns. She said no. The principal remains silent about direct questions concerning her decisions.

---

An unprecedented number of leaders in progressive education stand ready with our community to recommend qualified individuals to the DOE and to support the success of a new principal. 

Please join us in saving our school and preserving progressive education at CPE1.

Fairtest - Opposition to testing spreads nationwide

Moving into the peak weeks of the 2016 standardized exam season, the assessment reform movement continues to notch more victories as test-opt outs and other forms of protest accelerate in many states.
*
Multiple States *Advocates Question Machine-Scoring of PARCC, SmarterBalanced Writing Samples
http://www.studentprivacymatters.org/our-letter-to-the-education-commissioners-in-the-parcc-and-sbac-states/
Multiple States FairTest Chronology of Computerized Testing Problems
Across the U.S.
<http://fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-chronology>http://fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-chronology

*Alaska *Cancels All K-12 Standardized Testing for the Year After
Computer Administration SNAFU
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/04/05/alaska-cancels-all-k-12-standardized-tests-for-the-year-citing-technical-problems/

*California *Parent Group Pushes for More Opt-Outs
http://www.dailybreeze.com/social-affairs/20160411/group-pushes-peninsula-parents-students-to-opt-out-of-test-aligned-with-common-core
*
Colorado *Legislature Rejects Civics Test Mandate
http://co.chalkbeat.org/2016/04/05/bill-to-require-high-school-civics-test-advances-on-senate-floor/
*
Connecticut *Smarter Balanced Test Wrong Answer for Students, Teachers
http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-cohen-smarter-balanced-tests-teacher-evaluations-0410-20160408-story.html
Connecticut Black and Latino Parents Discuss Opt-Out Strategies
https://blogcea.org/2016/04/07/why-we-opt-out-ct-black-latino-parents-discuss-sbac/
*
Florida *More Parents Join Opt-Out Movement
http://www.yourobserver.com/article/east-county-parents-sign-opt-out-movement
Florida Opt-Out Groups Push for Real Changes in Assessment
http://www.orangeobserver.com/article/opt-out-orlando-tackles-testing-pushes-change
Florida School Testing Scores High on Hypocrisy, Low on Integrity
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/romano-florida-scores-high-on-hypocrisy-and-low-on-integrity-in-school/2272582
*
Georgia *Movement to Opt More Students Out of Standardized Tests
Continued to Grow
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2016-04-07/movement-students-opt-out-standardized-tests-continues-grow*

Illinois *PARCC Test Disrupts Classroom Learning
http://www.livingindialogue.com/parcc-testing-disrupts-learning/
*
Indiana *Standardized Test Content Is Spreading Nationwide
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/editorials/Standardized-test-discontent-is-spreading-nationwide-12408673
*
Iowa *New Federal Education Law Eliminates Some NCLB Punishments for
Local Schools
http://www.nonpareilonline.com/news/local/new-federal-law-gives-flexibilty-c-b-schools-sought-from/article_04e2c932-0b39-5a2a-84a4-1b63cb4b569a.html
*
Maine *Survey Finds Teachers Blast New Standardized Tests
https://bangordailynews.com/2016/04/11/news/state/teachers-union-survey-blasts-maines-new-standardized-tests/
*
Maryland *Baltimore Algebra Project Students Rap Against Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8sWWRqGxYs&app=desktop
*
Massachusetts *"Take The Test" Event Exposes Elected Officials to the
Exam They Mandate
http://baystatebanner.com/news/2016/apr/06/officials-get-taste-mcas-parcc/
Massachusetts Hollow Threats Fail to Slow Opt-Out Growth
http://www.capecodtimes.com/opinion/20160407/opting-out-of-testing-comes-with-empty-threats
*
Michigan *Students Will Spend Less Time on State Testing This Year
http://www.sentinel-standard.com/article/20160410/NEWS/160419943
*
Minnesota *Hundreds of Minneapolis High School Students Opt Out of
Standardized Tests
http://www.startribune.com/hundreds-of-students-at-minneapolis-south-high-opt-not-to-take-standardized-exams/375203861/
*
New Jersey *Parents Protest Tying PARCC Test to Graduation
http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/parents-protest-tying-parcc-tests-to-graduation/#.VwWsOhHd3zY.email
New Jersey Many Reasons to Opt-Out of PARCC Exams
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/sparta/categories/letters-to-the-editor/articles/why-every-parent-should-consider-refusing-the-par
New Jersey PARCC Opt-Out Movement Is Not Just a White-Suburban Thing
http://patersontimes.com/2016/04/11/teague-parcc-opt-out-movement-isnt-just-a-white-suburban-thing/
*
New Mexico *Varying District Opt-Out Policies Confuse Parents
http://www.koat.com/news/parcc-opt-out-different-by-district-confuses-parents/38865750*
*New Mexico Current Use of PARCC Test Causes Damage
http://www.abqjournal.com/753378/opinion/current-use-of-parcc-testing-can-cause-damage.html
New Mexico Let's Opt for Something Better Than PARCC Tests
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/my-view-let-s-opt-for-something-better-than-parcc/article_00b068dc-bfe1-517f-a6f8-4831a3e8e40e.html
*
**New York *Anti-Common Core Testing Fury Rages as New Round of Exams Begin
https://www.longislandpress.com/2016/04/05/anti-common-core-fury-rages-as-latest-exams-administered-across-new-york/
New York Why the Opt-Out Movement Is Not Losing Steam
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2016/0406/Common-Core-tests-Why-the-opt-out-movement-isn-t-losing-steam
New York "Revised" 2016 State Tests No Better Than Ones They Replaced
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2016/04/so-was-testing-experience-for-kids-so.html

*North Dakota *Some Parents Opt Children Out of Standardized Tests
http://www.valleynewslive.com/home/headlines/Some-parents-opt-out-of-state-testing-375327821.html
*
Oregon *Why Parents Should Opt Their Children Out of Standardized Tests
http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/34248263-78/opt-out-of-smarter-balanced-tests.html.csp
*
Pennsylvania* Opt-Out Totals Rise
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/local/pssa-testing-opt-outs-on-the-rise-in-bucks-and/article_43728988-fda8-11e5-935c-4fdd790f01be.html
Pennsylvania How to Write an Opt-Out Letter
http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/columnists/parents-can-refuse-testing-without-a-religious-reason/article_0d6a353a-ff64-11e5-a2ed-b7c4e0c01e91.html
*
Tennessee* State Standardized Testing Time to Be Scaled Back for Next Year
http://clarksvillenow.com/local/tennessee-standardized-testing-to-be-scaled-back-next-year/
Tennessee Testing Takes Up Too Much Learning Times
http://www.knoxnews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/testing-takes-up-too-much-learning-time-2fe8ae50-f999-1e69-e053-0100007f7c31-374954271.html

*Texas *Computer Failures Erased Answers From 14,220 Tests
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/state-answers-were-erased-on-14220-staar-tests/nqzc6/
Texas Top 10% College Admissions Plan Increased Diversity, Academic Quality
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Top-10-percent-rule-isn-t-broken-7237584.php
Texas Testing Company Will Be Punished for Computer Administration Foul Up
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/education/article/Testing-company-will-be-penalized-over-glitch-ed-7232963.php
Texas Teachers Give STAAR Tests Failing Grades
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/letters/article/Wednesday-letters-Grading-STAAR-tests-7230228.php

*Washington* Parents and Local NAACP Press School Board to Address
Testing Concerns
http://www.king5.com/mb/news/local/parents-seattle-school-board-look-to-address-standardized-testing-concerns/123543932

*ACT/SAT* Rejected by Many Colleges, Test-makers Try to Move Into State
Markets as Common Core Exams
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/us/act-and-sat-find-a-profitable-market-as-common-core-tests.html
ACT/SAT Problems with Requiring College Admissions Tests for All High
School Students
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/opinion/standardized-tests.html
ACT/SAT Skidmore Adopts Test-Optional Policy
http://skidmorenews.com/new-blog/2016/4/6/going-test-optional-was-the-right-choice
ACT/SAT FairTest Directory of 860 Schools That Do Not Require All of
Many Applicants to Submit Scores
http://fairtest.org/university/optional

Teachers of the Year Say Test-Based Evaluations Cause Most Damage to
Profession
http://bit.ly/1UUGT8s

/Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director//
//FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing//
//office-   (239) 395-6773   fax-  (239) 395-6779//
//mobile- (239) 699-0468//
//web- http://www.fairtest.org//
//