Exposing The PARCC Test Goons

SWAT Teams Respond to PARCC Reveals

You know what kind of test needs this sort of heavy security? A crappy test... Peter Greene 

Ed bloggers have been asked to post this story of outrageous abuse of power.

What is PARCC Trying to Hide?

Fellow Bloggers

They will not silence us….

No Matter What!

As word spreads about the unbelievable attack by PARRC, Diane, Leonie, Peter  and numerous members of the Education Bloggers Network area speaking out and pushing back on the corporate education reform industry’s unprecedented attack on the fundamental concept of Freedom of the Press and Freedom of the Speech.

Thanks to the swift action of many bloggers, eyes are turning to PARCC and their betrayal of our Nation’s values, principles and the inalienable rights of our citizens to know the truth.

Please take a moment to read Diane’s latest post which can then use to trace back to the original blog article that sparked this wildfire.

And then do what you can to spread the word.

We are the front line in the battle to save our public schools and, quite frankly, our country and its future.

Jonathan

Celia Oyler’s Controversial PARCC Post, Redacted Under Legal Threat from PARCC (From Diane’s blog)

Celia Oyler, professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, posted a biting commentary by an anonymous teacher about the flaws of PARCC. She received a letter from PARCC threatening legal action unless she removed the post because it contained copyrighted material —and divulged the name of the author. 

Oyler left the post on her blog but removed anything that might be copyrighted. She has not given up the name of the author. Many people who posted a link to Oyler’s original post or tweeted it received an email warning that they should remove the link or expect legal action.

Peter Greene posted about the test, based on Oyler’s blog, and flew under the radar. He didn’t receive a threat from PARCC, and I feel badly for him.

He wrote, in his inimitable fashion:

“You know what kind of test needs this sort of heavy security? A crappy test.”

 As Leonie Haimson said in a tweet, it is crazy to give a test to millions of students and expect that no one would write about it or talk about it.

 There is something worse than disclosure of “secure” test items. There is loss of reputation. And that is what PARCC  is putting at risk with its heavy-handed tactics.

Here is the bridge to the original post:

NYC Public School Parents
Independent voices of New York City public school parents
Saturday, May 14, 2016

Read the blog post that PARCC doesn't want you to see -- and then share it on your blogs!

Here is the critique of the 4th grade PARCC exam  by an anonymous teacher, as it originally appeared on Celia Oyler's blog before she was threatened by PARCC and deleted key sections.

See also my post about my tweet that was deleted  after PARCC absurdly complained to Twitter that it infringed on their copyright!

As an act of collective disobedience to the reigning testocracy, I urge all other fellow bloggers to paste the below critique and copy it into their blogs as well.

As the teacher points out below, "we can use these three PARCC prompts to glimpse how the high stakes accountability system has deformed teaching and warped learning in many public schools across the United States. "

No high-stakes test that is used to judge students, teachers and schools should be allowed to be kept secret to escape accountability for the test-makers -- especially ones as flawed as these! 

If you do repost this, please let me know by emailing me at leoniehaimson@gmail.com thanks!



The PARCC Test: Exposed

Reposted in support of the anonymous teacher who brought this continuing travesty to light, in support of Professor Celia Oyler and in the name true educators and true education everywhere.

The author of this blog posting is a public school teacher who will remain anonymous.

I will not reveal my district or my role due to the intense legal ramifications for exercising my Constitutional First Amendment rights in a public forum. I was compelled to sign a security form that stated I would not be “Revealing or discussing passages or test items with anyone, including students and school staff, through verbal exchange, email, social media, or any other form of communication” as this would be considered a “Security Breach.” In response to this demand, I can only ask—whom are we protecting?

There are layers of not-so-subtle issues that need to be aired as a result of national and state testing policies that are dominating children’s lives in America. As any well prepared educator knows, curriculum planning and teaching requires knowing how you will assess your students and planning backwards from that knowledge.

If teachers are unable to examine and discuss the summative assessment for their students, how can they plan their instruction? Yet, that very question assumes that this test is something worth planning for. The fact is that schools that try to plan their curriculum exclusively to prepare students for this test are ignoring the body of educational research that tells us how children learn, and how to create developmentally appropriate activities to engage students in the act of learning. This article will attempt to provide evidence for these claims as a snapshot of what is happening as a result of current policies.

The PARCC test is developmentally inappropriate
In order to discuss the claim that the PARCC test is “developmentally inappropriate,” examine three of the most recent PARCC 4th grade items.

A book leveling system, designed by Fountas and Pinnell, was made “more rigorous” in order to match the Common Core State Standards. These newly updated benchmarks state that 4th Graders should be reading at a Level S by the end of the year in order to be considered reading “on grade level.” [Celia’s note: I do not endorse leveling books or readers, nor do I think it appropriate that all 9 year olds should be reading a Level S book to be thought of as making good progress.]

The PARCC, which is supposedly a test of the Common Core State Standards, appears to have taken liberties with regard to grade level texts. For example, on the Spring 2016 PARCC for 4th Graders, students were expected to read an excerpt from Shark Life: True Stories about Sharks and the Sea by Peter Benchley and Karen Wojtyla. According to Scholastic, this text is at an interest level for Grades 9-12, and at a 7th Grade reading level. The Lexile measure is 1020L, which is most often found in texts that are written for middle school, and according to Scholastic’s own conversion chart would be equivalent to a 6th grade benchmark around W, X, or Y (using the same Fountas and Pinnell scale).

Even by the reform movement’s own standards, according to MetaMetrics’ reference material on Text Complexity Grade Bands and Lexile Bands, the newly CCSS aligned “Stretch” lexile level of 1020 falls in the 6-8 grade range. This begs the question, what is the purpose of standardizing text complexity bands if testing companies do not have to adhere to them? Also, what is the purpose of a standardized test that surpasses agreed-upon lexile levels?

So, right out of the gate, 4th graders are being asked to read and respond to texts that are two grade levels above the recommended benchmark. After they struggle through difficult texts with advanced vocabulary and nuanced sentence structures, they then have to answer multiple choice questions that are, by design, intended to distract students with answers that appear to be correct except for some technicality.

Finally, students must synthesize two or three of these advanced texts and compose an original essay. The ELA portion of the PARCC takes three days, and each day includes a new essay prompt based on multiple texts. These are the prompts from the 2016 Spring PARCC exam for 4th Graders along with my analysis of why these prompts do not reflect the true intention of the Common Core State Standards.

ELA 4th Grade Prompt #1
Refer to the passage from “Emergency on the Mountain” and the poem “Mountains.” Then answer question 7.

Think about how the structural elements in the passage from “Emergency on the Mountain” differ from the structural elements in the poem “Mountains.”

Write an essay that explains the differences in the structural elements between the passage and the poem. Be sure to include specific examples from both texts to support your response.
The above prompt probably attempts to assess the Common Core standard RL.4.5: “Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.”

However, the Common Core State Standards for writing do not require students to write essays comparing the text structures of different genres. The Grade 4 CCSS for writing about reading demand that students write about characters, settings, and events in literature, or that they write about how authors support their points in informational texts. Nowhere in the standards are students asked to write comparative essays on the structures of writing. The reading standards ask students to “explain” structural elements, but not in writing. There is a huge developmental leap between explaining something and writing an analytical essay about it. [Celia’s note: The entire enterprise of analyzing text structures in elementary school – a 1940’s and 50’s college English approach called “New Criticism” — is ridiculous for 9 year olds anyway.]

The PARCC does not assess what it attempts to assess
ELA 4th Grade Prompt #2
Refer to the passages from “Great White Shark” and Face the Sharks. Then answer question 20.

Using details and images in the passages from “Great White Sharks” and Face to Face with Sharks, write an essay that describes the characteristics of white sharks.

It would be a stretch to say that this question assesses CCSS W.4.9.B: “Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.”

In fact, this prompt assesses a student’s ability to research a topic across sources and write a research-based essay that synthesizes facts from both articles. Even CCSS W.4.7, “Conduct research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic,” does not demand that students compile information from different sources to create an essay. The closest the standards come to demanding this sort of work is in the reading standards; CCSS RI.4.9 says: “Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.” Fine. One could argue that this PARCC prompt assesses CCSS RI.4.9.

However, the fact that the texts presented for students to “use” for the essay are at a middle school reading level automatically disqualifies this essay prompt from being able to assess what it attempts to assess. (It is like trying to assess children’s math computational skills by embedding them in a word problem with words that the child cannot read.)

ELA 4th Grade Prompt #3
25. In “Sadako’s Secret,” the narrator reveals Sadako’s thoughts and feelings while telling the story. The narrator also includes dialogue and actions between Sadako and her family. Using these details, write a story about what happens next year when Sadako tries out for the junior high track team. Include not only Sadako’s actions and feelings but also her family’s reaction and feelings in your story.

Nowhere, and I mean nowhere in the Common Core State Standards is there a demand for students to read a narrative and then use the details from that text to write a new story based on a prompt. That is a new pseudo-genre called “Prose Constructed Response” by the PARCC creators, and it is 100% not aligned to the CCSS. Not to mention, why are 4th Graders being asked to write about trying out for the junior high track team? This demand defies their experiences and asks them to imagine a scenario that is well beyond their scope.

Clearly, these questions are poorly designed assessments of 4th graders CCSS learning. (We are setting aside the disagreements we have with those standards in the first place, and simply assessing the PARCC on its utility for measuring what it was intended to measure.)

Rather than debate the CCSS we instead want to expose the tragic reality of the countless public schools organizing their entire instruction around trying to raise students’ PARCC scores.
Without naming any names, I can tell you that schools are disregarding research-proven methods of literacy learning. The “wisdom” coming “down the pipeline” is that children need to be exposed to more complex texts because that is what PARCC demands of them. So children are being denied independent and guided reading time with texts of high interest and potential access and instead are handed texts that are much too hard (frustration level) all year long without ever being given the chance to grow as readers in their Zone of Proximal Development (pardon my reference to those pesky educational researchers like Vygotsky.)

So not only are students who are reading “on grade level” going to be frustrated by these so-called “complex texts,” but newcomers to the U.S. and English Language Learners and any student reading below the proficiency line will never learn the foundational skills they need, will never know the enjoyment of reading and writing from intrinsic motivation, and will, sadly, be denied the opportunity to become a critical reader and writer of media. Critical literacies are foundational for active participation in a democracy.

We can look carefully at one sample to examine the health of the entire system– such as testing a drop of water to assess the ocean. So too, we can use these three PARCC prompts to glimpse how the high stakes accountability system has deformed teaching and warped learning in many public schools across the United States.
In this sample, the system is pathetically failing a generation of children who deserve better, and when they are adults, they may not have the skills needed to engage as citizens and problem-solvers. So it is up to us, those of us who remember a better way and can imagine a way out, to make the case for stopping standardized tests like PARCC from corrupting the educational opportunities of so many of our children.

What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS - 90% of UFT Members Probably Have not yet voted

Arthur Goldstein: cookie for Ballot

When MORE got only 1200 elementary school votes in the 2013 election Julie Cavanagh was incredulous. "Everyone voted in my school," she said. My response today would be - did you actually see their ballots? Did they send you a selfie of them putting the ballot in the mailbox? I would bet that at this point - halfway through the election that 90% of UFT members have not yet voted and only a small portion of these people will end up voting at all - except in schools where people go through a major GOTV effort. I would also bet that thousands of people did not get a ballot but because UFT election are so low on their radar they do not even know it -- unless there is someone to remind them. Or maybe, seeing URGENT which appears on so much junk mail, they just tossed it.

James Eterno writes about such an effort at ICE - where he goes door to door with an organization sheet checking off names and found loads of people without a ballot - our suggestion is to have the AAA number in your phone and call right there and have them ask for a ballot to be sent. Read about his effort: GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN THE UFT ELECTION.

As far as I know James is the only one who does this which he calls Pol Sci 101. GOTV is a face to face process. In big schools getting allies to carve up the school makes this feasible. I bet almost everyone in James' school will vote MORE because he has their admiration and respect. Same with former Jamaica HS UFTers who are now scattered all over the place. 

Unfortunately few MORE supporters do much more than vote themselves and maybe tell a few others to vote - and they never find out how many people in their schools did not get a ballot or if they did did not toss it as junk mail.

I got an education as to why vote totals in the UFT elections are so low. And especially why the opposition has done more poorly than they expected based on what people were telling them. After my visit to Francis Lewis HS on Thursday at the request of FLHS Chapter Leader Arthur Goldstein who blogs as NYC Educator I am more concerned than ever that not enough people in their schools are doing what Arthur did at Francis Lewis High School, where even with an extraordinary effort more than half the staff brought in their ballots with another 10% saying they already had mailed them or were going to. Arthur will not let up and will keep urging people to vote. By the end of the day I imagine that 80% of FLHS people will end up voting, hopefully most of them for MORE.

If you support MORE get an organization sheet and ask every UFT member if they voted.

I do want to point out that most ballots returned to us were already sealed, many of them with the entire booklet enclosed. Since most people vote slate and not for individuals I was curious why they didn't tear off the top sheet. The response was they voted slate but didn't realize they could tear off the sheet so they sent in the entire booklet.

Arthur put in an extraordinary effort to make this happen writing letters to the staff like this: Staff Letter 3. He put out instructions on voting and most of them will vote for MORE not because of the platform or because they love Jia Lee but because they love and trust Arthur - just spend some time with him and see how he interacts with people. He has enormous respect as a teacher, a chapter leader and as a person of integrity. MORE could put out blank pages and people will vote MORE because of Arthur.

Arthur sat there with his cell and had several people call the number. There were those who had crumpled their envelopes and had to go and retrieve them. There were two who had inadvertently tossed them and several who had never received them. These few represent many citywide. 

And that is a lesson. We could stuff mail boxes numerous times and it will barely make a dent -- what is needed are people on site who can advocate - now if a person is viewed as a lousy or lazy teacher or someone who is dishonest, people will not vote for MORE. The same with Unity - someone I know from the theater had no idea what MORE was but said she would not vote for any party her Unity CL was connected with. I informed her.

Given the low turnouts of 17% in UFT elections it is quite an achievement to get 60 or more % to vote but I am a perfectionist and hoped for even more, especially since this school has 250 UFT members, of which about 200 are teachers whose votes may be the deciding ones in winning the high school seats. Below I'll review some of the problems we found for those still doing GOTV campaigns - which I urge people to do right up to the last few days of the election - ballots must be in by May 25 (count is the next day).

• people didn't get ballots - we called AAA right there and gave them a cookie anyway.
• people threw away the outer envelope thinking all they had to do was drop the Secret ballot inner envelope in a ballot box.
• people were confused as to how to vote by the large booklet - not understanding the concept of checking the box to vote for an entire slate.
• many checked a box on the front but didn't tear off the front sheet, thus the entire booklet goes in -- not that consequential but doing so delays the counts as each booklet has to be torn apart and scanned.

We hung out in the teacher lunchroom from 9:30-12:30 to collect the ballots in exchange for a giant cookie baked by a teacher on the staff who has a bakery business based in Rockaway - which I didn't find out until reading about him in The Wave. When people told us

they had voted or would on their own we told them we wanted a selfie showing them putting the ballot in the mail box. But we gave them a cookie anyway.

I put the over 100 ballots in a bag and took them to the post office in Rockaway on my way home.

Having never participated in such a GOTV campaign I learned a lot about what doesn't work in the UFT election balloting process.

Arthur had worked diligently on this event - sending emails, putting instructions in mail boxes, etc. What became clear was that most people don't have the time or patience to read in depth, which made the "give me your sealed ballot and we'll mail it for you and you get a delicious cookie big enough for a meal."

The entire concept of a booklet and individual voting for up to 800 people for each slate is confusing to people and suppresses the vote. I don't have easy answers - here's one -- just vote for officers and Ex Bd and not for individuals for AFT/NYSUT and apportion to each caucus the percentage their caucus got. After the election they choose who their delegates will be. But that would actually make the election fair by breaking the Unity Caucus block and that is the last thing they will do - unless forced to by enough outrage coming from the rank and file.

Even though we know we can only win a few crumbs, the larger the vote for MORE/New Action the more pressure we can put on the UFT leadership.

So get out those organization sheets and go to work this week. I bet you will be surprised at how many people you work with did not get ballots or tossed them. And have that AAA number handy. 1-800-529-5218.

#MORE2016 HOW TO VOTE in 6 EASY STEPS Plus Election Events in Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan

People tell me that their school is voting MORE/NA but I don't believe it since this happens every time and our vote totals in the past would have been way larger if this were actually  true. What must happen is hand holding - an in school event to encourage people to vote because this is not just a priority for most people. when the votes are counted 2 weeks from today people will be shocked at how low they will be and that will lead them to question the legitimacy of the process but as I pointed out yesterday (UFT Elections, #MORE2016: How to Vote and Can Unity Steal the Vote?) I see no real way for them to cheat once the ballot is sent in to AAA. I hear all sorts of ideas to increase the vote count, including in school voting which to me is an open invitation to steal the election. And just watch - if we ever get close Unity will call for in school elections to "get the vote count up" - yes, their vote count. But until MORE gets closer there is no reason for Unity to cheat.

One of the reasons the vote for the opposition is not higher is that not enough of our people on the ground do an in school get out the vote event. They just assume that putting leaflets in the mail boxes is enough. What is needed it to take an organization sheet and go to every UFT member in your building and take a poll.

Also read:

Eterno at ICEL GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN THE UFT ELECTION

 and

Staff Letter 3

FROM ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN, UFT CHAPTER LEADER
VOTE MORE/ NEW ACTION 2016

Well, this election crap can't end soon enough for me. Two more weeks and I am free from my sense of obligation. Never again. I have gardening to do and I want to take drawing and painting classes and get to the gym and yoga more often.

Requests keep coming in from chapter leaders who we don't know asking for MORE lit so their members can see both sides. MORE doesn't have full-time employees who work for the UFT to deliver these leaflets so I get to do it. I should send the union a bill for a partial dues refund to cover my gas since they are delivering leaflets and lobbying on my dime.

This morning I'm heading over to a high school in Queens to assist the chapter leader with a Get Out the Vote Campaign where people will bring in a ballot to show they are voting and get some strudel or other goodie to eat - the real reason I am going. We hope they will vote for MORE but will not lobby for that unless someone asks our opinion. This is a big school and the votes there can be a deciding factor in the high school vote.

Then this afternoon I'm heading to a Bay Ridge for an election GOTV happy hour sponsored by MORE/New Action teachers at a nearby large high school. The Kettle Black is the bar at 8622 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209 in case you want to drop by from 4PM on.

I'll have all the trimmings

The votes at these 2 few remaining large high schools where MORE has a presence are probably the key to winning the high schools, especially since Unity has control of many of the other large high schools in Brooklyn and Queens and certainly Staten Island. We hit them with leaflets but don't have a strong counter in the buildings to the Unity line. My guess is Unity is working overtime to pull out their votes in their large high schools, which is why I am not sure about winning the high schools - but if we don't I get compensated with that Luger steak Schirtzer has to treat me to.

There is also an uptown Manhattan event:

Join MORE-UFT for Happy Hour at Harlem Tavern on Friday

Thanks so much for all you’ve already done to help MORE/NEW ACTION win this election! You’ve been spreading the word, ballots are out, and it’s time for us to get together for some collaboration and celebration!

We’ll come together at Harlem Tavern this Friday, May 13th, from 4-7 pm. It will be a great chance to meet other educators, enjoy Friday, and share ideas for last minute getting out the vote & movement-building. As always, we're happy to talk shop and strategize around issues in your school too. 

RSVP on facebook, or by responding to this e-mail, and spread the word by inviting your co-workers there and with this flier.

In the meantime, be sure your co-workers know how to vote- just by checking of the first page! You can share this video to help.

Thank You,
Megan, Peter, and your fellow uptown MORE-UFT activists

UFT Elections, #MORE2016: How to Vote and Can Unity Steal the Vote?

The breaking news yesterday included the Sheri Lederman decision, the Success Academy cheating scandal, the interesting article on Chalkbeat about the UFT elections and a lot of other stuff  (I'm too backed up to even include the links but check my blogroll) but I was busy leafleting my old district with David Dobosz and we did a sort of walking tour through Williamsburg till us old guys - both in our 70s got tuckered out.

Apparently some people, as reported by Peter Zucker at South Bronx School, believe that the AAA is not to be trusted in the vote count. I've been an observer in the past 4 elections and since ballots are sent to homes and returned directly to AAA and are opened in front of us I have not seen how this vote can be manipulated. Don't get me wrong. AAA is hired by the UFT which makes the basic decisions on the process and even during the vote count they to the Unity Caucus people to ask for directions. We often have a group of observers and are able to be there when some of these things are discussed and even ask for certain data. I did find that last time when I had to leave at around 7PM and didn't have some info they promised to get it to me but never did so this time I will not leave until I have all the info.

One point about the charges that AAA may have also manipulated the 2014 contract vote. While the same process was followed then the major difference was that people voted in the schools and the chapter leader had to seal the package and mail it to the AAA. As you may have seen I published a list of at least 220 chapter leaders running with Unity and there are many other Unity CLs who are not running this time. Was it possible they could have tampered with the ballots before sending them to AAA? Hell yes that some rabid Unity people just might have - but enough to end up with a 75-25 split? I observed the count then too and the AAA followed the same process as in UFT elections so on their end I believe they are clean. But at the May 26 count we will be vigilant. (And if you are interested in coming by to check it out for yourself come on down and head over to the MORE party afterwards).

Meanwhile - James Eterno called me last night and talked about how even people he knows seem confused about the voting and we need to pay more attention to the process. People don't get the slate thing very clearly and are confused by the non-slate part of the ballot listing over a thousand candidates.

Relatively few people don't check off one of the slates. Those that don't forces the AAA to tear apart the booklets and run them through special machines and that delays the outcome by hours. And the total numbers have zero impact on the outcome - to the point where when we publish results we discount these votes altogether. But if going through the motions floats your boat have fun.

There is a reason for the idea of a slate -- MORE vets people for top level positions and also attracts people of like mind. So even if one doesn't "know" people the idea is to think "slate" because in the UFT one individual doesn't mean much -- and can't even have a prayer of getting elected without an organization behind them. It is a matter of trust. Splitting the ballot - which I used to do - is practically a meaningless act and is in essence throwing away your vote - if you know people and trust them and they are running for top positions in MORE to me it makes sense to trust their judgement in running with MORE in the first place.

But the process still confuses people.

From MORE:

We are receiving questions about the elections and lost ballots.

This flier attached is extremely useful and could be handed out at any election parties you may have or put in mailboxes.

The MORE Blog has some excellent "how to vote" instructions and links to great videos that are shared on our social media featuring many of our candidates.

 Please visit https://morecaucusnyc.org/

How to Vote MORE-New Action Relay
From Eterno at the ICE blog:

Halabi got it from Lauren Cohen and Eterno got it from Halabi. Now I am tripling up by simply copying James' post on ICE.

LAUREN COHEN'S HOW TO VOTE MORE-NEW ACTION GUIDE MAKES GROUND GAME A LITTLE EASIER

This is the time when UFT members have their ballots at home and will either place them on a bottom of a pile of mail, throw them out or fill them out to vote in the UFT election.

Lots of votes are out there now that could possibly be won over. Please talk to everyone in school and get out the vote for MORE-NEW ACTION. In politics they call this the ground game.

I recommend using a staff list and having a personal conversation with every UFT member in your school and then tell your friends in other schools. If someone does not understand the voting process, MORE-NEW ACTION Elementary School Vice Presidential candidate Lauren Cohen put out this how to vote guide that Jonathan Halabi pilfered and now we are double pilfering.

Please spread the word in your schools in whatever way you are able to.

 

Unity Caucus AFT Convention Candidates L-Z: Note One Rhonda Weingarten and Alan Lubin

I began posting the Unity Caucus candidates Sunday night with A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running and then we turned out attention to 500+ non-classroom names which include many blasts from the past. The UFT gravy train never seem to end for many people.

This post finalizes  the list of 750 or 800 - look at your ballot's inside pages to see all the names.

Unity Caucus is the gift that just keeps giving. Not only are most of the UFT top level staff on the lists - district, boro reps, special reps, other hangers on. 

You may have thought they were long gone but we go on paying for their junkets. AFT President Randi is our delegate? NYSUT's Alan Lubin who has been gone from the UFT for 25 years?

My guess is this summer's convention is going to cost us $2 million bucks to make Randi feel like a queen. Assume Hillary will make an appearance. I wonder if any Bernie delegates will boo at some point.

I see many names of long-gone Unity caucus members who will "represent" you at AFT and NYSUT conventions in the next 2 years.

Jai-Lin	Lambert
Shirley	Laney
Eliu	Lara	DR
Sheila	Laval
Anthony	Lavecchio
Anne	Lee
Lester	Lehon
Jason	Leibowitz
Kristine	Leonardi
Mae	Leung-Tokar
Josephine	Levine
Robert	Levine
Katherine	Lewis
Rick	Lewis
Nancy	Lieber
Jessica	Lisowski
Janet	Lo
Charles	Lobello
Yolanda	Loder
Rosemarie	Lomonaco
James	Losey Jr
Dolores	Louzupone
Alan	Lubin
Laurie	Lubman
Cleo	Lucas
Gregory	Lundahl
Thomas	Madigan
David	Mahl
Ronald	Mailman
Jadzia	Malinowski
Angela	Maloney
Diane	Mammolito
Alphonse	Mancuso
Armando	Mandes
Donna	Manganello
Marilyn	Manley
Richard	Mantell	Off
Ledia	Mara Drita
Sandra	March
Todd	Marks
Maggie	Martin
Marva	Martin
Robert	Martinez
John	Marvul
Nancy	Mazzella
Diane	Mazzola
Michael	McCourt
Belinda	McCrea
Cynthia	McDaniel
Leslie	McDonnell
Kathryn	McGrath
Luke	Meginsky
Lisa	Mendel
Michael	Mendel
Teresa	Mercado
Alain	Metellus
Fran	Miller	PTRet
Tammie	Miller
Danielle	Minor
Brenna	Mintz
Jorge	Mitey
John	Monteforte	FT
Cynthia	Monteleone
Elsa	Moquete
Maria	Moreno
James	Morris
Paula	Morrison
Jennifer Jo	Moyer
Michael	Mulgrew	off
Iradies	Munet
Marilyn	Munet
Thomas	Murphy
Phyllis	Murray
Toni Ann	Murray
Millicent	Myers
Barbara	Mylite
Evelyn	Negron
Charisse	Nelson
Deborah	Nesmith
Thomas	Nimmo
Jason	Norman
Nicholas	Norman
Jeannie	O'Conner
Renee	O'Conner
Adriana	O'Hagan
Kathleen	O'Hagan
Alice	O'Neill	DR
Patricia	O'Reilly
Maura	O'Sullivan
Regina	Olff
Carlos	Olivieri
Darnese	Olivieri
Norma	Ortega
Justin	Osterman
Jennifer	Pakulniewicz
Andrew	Pallotta	x
Denise	Palmeri
Frank	Panebianco	FT
Rosemary	Parker
Christine	Paul
Linda	Pearson
Marisol	Pena
Debra	Penny	FT
Arthur	Pepper	FT
Candido	Perez
Elizabeth	Perez
Susan	Perez-Gonzalez	FT
Jacquelyn	Peters
Jeffrey	Piekarsky
John	Pierce
Rebecca	Pietromonaco
Vincent	Pilato
Jaclyn	Pitula
Alice	Platt
Carol	Plotkin
Martin	Plotkin
Jamie	Polzin	FT
Suzy	Poon Huie
Darlene	Post
Debra	Poulos	FT
Jeffrey	Povalitis	FT
Margaret	Premus
Vanessa	Pressley
Eudelia	Price
Nicole	Puglia
Doreen	Raftery
Natalie	Ramsey Dexter
Melissa	Reed
Rose	Reid
Brigit	Rein	FT
Marvin	Reiskin	Ret
Parniece	Richardson
Suzette	Robbins
Sterling	Roberson	Off
Elba	Rodriguez
Irma	Rodriguez
Ivonne	Rodriguez
Naomi	Rodriguez
Rita	Rodriguez
Sean	Rokowitz
Carmen	Roldan
Lorine	Romero
Nanette	Rosario-Sanchez	FT
Ann	Rosen	Ret
Martin	Rosenblum
Patricia	Ross-Spiller
Sharine	Rowe
Hector	Ruiz Jr	FT

Laurence	Sachs
Meredith	Saladis
Joycelyn	Sampson
Washington	Sanchez	FT
Howard	Sandau
Ruth	Santiago
Michael	Santos
Mayra	Santos Torres
Claire	Scesney-Lundahl
Doreen	Schafer
Tinamarie	Schneider
Howard	Schoor	Off
Michael	Schoor
Diane	Schreibman-Duberstein
Alicia	Schwartz
Joyce	Schwartz
Bernard	Schwimmer
Karen	Schyboll
Denise	Scott
Albania	Sepulveda
Pedro	Serrano
Penny	Setoute
John	Settle
Kathleen	Sharko
Chantel	Shealy
Barbara	Shiller
Joel	Shiller
Cora	Shillingford
Kris	Sieminski
Michael	Sill
Servia	Silva
Winston	Silvera
Barry	Smith
Celeste	Smith
Marla	Smith
Ualin	Smith
Dermot	Smyth
Gloria	Solla
Angela	Solomon
Howard	Solomon
Yvette	Solomon
Geofrey	Sorkin	FT
Stanley	Sorongon
Jory	Stark
Rita	Stein-Grollman
Penina	Steinberg
Ari	Steinfeld
Erica	Stewart
Lourdes	Suarez
Joseph	Surpris
Danita	Susi
Veronica	Sutton
Edward	Sweeney
Stephen	Swieceiki
Bruce	Swinton
Janice	Sydney Smith
Laura	Tamburo
Corey	Taylor
Marian	Thom
Ron	Thomas
Winnie	Thompson	FT
Juan	Tineo
Richard	Tokar
Nina	Tribble	Ret
Charles	Turner	Ret
Lourdes	Urbaez
Mary	Vaccaro	DR 26
Vincent	Vaccaro
Evelyn	Vargas
Jose	Vargas	FT
James	Vasquez
Wilma	Velazquez
Denise	Verde
Christopher	Verdone
Patti	Vitucci
Dawn Ann	Vitulli
Frank	Volpicella	ret
Mary	Wade	DR 13
Phyllis	Walker
Paula	Washington
Diana	Watson
Monique	Watts-Harouna
Raquel	Webb Geddes
Greg	Weber
Ilene	Weinerman
Rhonda	Weingarten	x
Allan	Weinstein	DR 19
Anna	White
Veronica	Wilensky
Peter	Wilhelm
Abdul-Akeel	Williams	FT
Andre	Williams
Charlayne	Williams
Heather	Williams
Lisa	Wilson
Vanecia	Wilson
Barbara	Wisdom
William	Woodruff	DR
Diane	Yodice
Mavis	Yon
Betsy	Youman
Gail	Zahler
Jeffrey	Zahler
Bruce	Zihal
Anita	Zuckerberg
Joshua	Zuckerberg
Robert	Zuckerberg

Lois Weiner on MORE and A May Day Message to Teachers - On the Front Lines of a War on Public Education

We need to transform the UFT so that it defends all kids' rights to a humane school environment, public education's democratic responsibilities, the dignity of teachers' work and our profession, democracy in our union. My vote is going to MORE.... Lois Weiner, New Politics

I've had this lingering for a few weeks so here is some reading on a rainy Sunday.

Good news from Lois Weiner on her support for MORE.
Lois made the remarks below at NYU recently on a panel with Randi Weingarten and Lily Eskelson Garcia. I bet steam was coming out of Randi's ears. Maybe Lily's too as all they had to offer in the battle for public ed was buying Pierson stock.

A few excerpts from Lois' remarks - there was video including Randi but it is not up yet:

My current research is with and about teacher activists who are building social movement unions, primarily by creating reform caucuses within the existing union structure. The caucuses are the embryos of a new kind of teacher unionism committed to social justice; mobilization of union members with community allies as respectful partners; and thorough-going union democracy, beginning at the school level. Collaborations between social justice activists, academics, and teachers unions are extraordinarily important today. When we say teachers are on the “front lines” we imply they are at war.  In my remarks I will try to clarify what the forces are in this war and what is at stake, posing three challenges for us.... 

While privatization is an aspect of the neoliberal project in education as many speakers have noted, in fact education is being transformed by policies that cannot be separated from a more fundamental drive: to make all human activity, including intellectual and artistic work, subject to what is called the discipline of the market, but is, in fact, the control of powerful elites who manage capitalism and are using the state to extract profit from what is viewed as an  untapped source....

We need to stand unequivocally against educational policies that give business access to services provided in public education, whether it is teacher evaluation, professional development, or school management. Moreover, the public sector has to be overseen through democratic means. Operationally this means protecting or creating elected local school authorities. It means insisting that capitalist elites and the politicians in their thrall do not have the right to dictate terms of educational policy to communities or nations as an ostensible quid pro quo for loans and financial assistance....

Feeling disempowered and alienated from vehicles for resistance, some teachers identify students and parents as their adversaries. This occurs especially in schools that are under-resourced and repressive, where students and parents lack formal education and are members of communities that have been historically oppressed. Teachers are human and are not immune to toxic social prejudices and bigotry. As we see all over the world, those who are economically oppressed often turn against those who are equally or more oppressed. Rage obscures the more distant political and economic forces that create and maintain economic dislocation...

There are areas where I disagree with Lois' analysis about growing an opposition and the role a social justice caucus - she often refers to this as an SJ Movement - plays out in this scenario. But I'll get to that another time.

Her Full piece at: 
http://newpol.org/content/may-day-message-teachers-front-lines-war-public-education