#MORE2016 - Ma Nishtona - UFT Elections: Why Is This Election Different? Or is it?

Is the 2016 UFT election really different? Well, in some ways it is and in some ways it isn't. Let's explore the similarities and differences.

May 24, 2016

With the UFT election vote count 2 days away, this is a good time to do some speculation. I'm not going to claim flat out that this election is different but there are a few interesting wrinkles out there that might move the needle one way or the other, though I don't expect the needle to move very much either way. Like suddenly MORE/NA numbers double, which would be a significant break. Flying seat of the pants, I don't see those signs.

Expectations in the opposition are always higher than they should be - I can't think of one election where I wasn't disappointed in the numbers. In 2013, not having moved the needle much at all, I felt the results for MORE, given the combination of groups coming together, were below expectations even though all totals were somewhat higher for MORE than they were for TJC/ICE in 2010 while being much lower for Unity and New Action.

But all that told me was that some people had switched votes toward MORE but not of a hell of a lot of people and  not a lot of people who hadn't voted before were voting.

The newer activists in MORE were excited and when I arrived at the 2013 "victory" party where 75 people were celebrating, I was not exuberant. One guy came over and pleaded with me to be "up" and so I used my method acting skills to show enthusiasm. Then had a few beers and happiness was easy to find.

This time I'm going to drink before the party so I don't have to do any acting. Come on down and help me drown my sorrows in my last election hurrah Thursday at the Dark Horse: morecaucusnyc: Celebrate With Us Thursday Night!

I will be celebrating the end of my final election campaign as I edge into retirement.

Here are some speculations on this election and what may be different this time.

The Jia Lee and opt-out factor
The growth of the opt out movement and Jia Lee's connection to it should be a factor. Jia is certainly somewhat better known in some quarters than Julie Cavanagh was in 2013 due to opt out. One Long Island resident who is a chapter leader stopped by at the DA to say that she has no idea who Jia is but she is an opt out supporter and opt out leader Jeannette Deutermann likes Jia and that was good enough for her. People come up to Jia on subways or in the streets, so there has been some imprint.

Question for me is just how many NYC teachers are in favor of opt out or see it as a threat? If votes go up consider the opt out issue as a factor.

The 2014 contract impact
20-25% voted NO with a batch of others voting YES under the gun - with Mulgrew telling them we would bankrupt the city. How many are aware that soon after the city announced a $2 billion surplus and other unions did better?

Do people who don't like the contract and the retro make that connection to this election?

Don't count any chickens because so many people don't make the connections. Should MORE have done a better job of telling people that?

Will high contract vote carry over to this election?
In school voting is very different from ballots coming to the home but I don't favor in school voting as long as there are so many embedded Unity chapter leaders in charge of the ballot in the school.

But since around 94% of the 108,000 DOE UFT members voted in the contract vote, over 20,000 people voted NO, 16000 teachers and 4000 support (functionals). (Retirees and non DOE people did not vote.) An opposition wet dream is having them all vote against Unity but expect only the usual low turnout which given the past would translate about 4-5000 of these votes into the opposition - many of them the same anti-Unity suspects from 2013. 6600 anti-Unity votes this time from classroom teachers (out of 66000 ballots sent out would give the opposition 10% of the working teachers.

Are people unhappy in schools?
That's what everyone is telling me. That morale is low. But do they blame the UFT or the DOE for that? The late Gene Prisco used to always say that the Unity leadership has a missile deflection shield. The opposition up to now has not been able to get deep penetration into enough schools to make the point that the Unity Caucus is complicit. Unless MORE has an active person in the school to tell people this most people don't make the connection because they do not know about the role of Randi and Mulgrew and the UFT in supporting so many aspects of ed deform.

Unity ran a lower key campaign than in 2013
They didn't really go after MORE/New Action in public though behind the scenes the Unity people did a lot of trash talk in their schools. No open attacks on MORE as being a fringe socialist group though I bet that is what Unity people tell people.

I also didn't see as much glossy literature as last time -- and the drop in their votes in 2013 from 2010 was significant so it didn't do any good.  One theory is that Unity in house surveys said that negative campaigning suppresses the vote and so they toned it down.

Will Unity vote totals go up or down?
The needle really moved down for Unity in 2013. But that happened in 2004 and then they rose back up in 2007.

I think the Unity totals will move up this year despite people telling me that everyone is so unhappy and this is the first election since the 2014 contract. One can argue that the 75% who voted for it will carry over for more Unity votes this time. Unity seems to be paying more attention to getting out their vote this time.

The MORE/New Action campaign
A major change was not having a confusing first page of the ballot like the past 6 elections where in addition to Unity there were 2 other groups with the confusion that a vote for New Action was also a vote for Unity. But people who are aware and support Solidarity can open the book and check off their 32 candidates. Not heavy lifting - if MORE/NA supporters wanted to do that they would have to track down 300 candidates.

It was certainly easier to have New Action on board this time. More money and more manpower so more schools may have been covered with leaflets. But I don't believe that stuffing 100,000 leaflets necessarily has much effect.

Social media
What was different was a more effective social media campaign run by Dan Lupkin - but we don't know how much difference that makes and will make for an interesting post election analysis.



Impact of Solidarity
As for Solidarity, which ran a big social media campaign, votes for their individual candidates, while coming from MORE/NA totals are still opposition to Unity and when we tabulate the vote we can say that by combining the MORE/New Action and Solidarity totals we can get a snapshot of how many people feel strongly enough to vote against Unity.

I'll make a stab at 25% total between MORE/NA and Solidarity which would match the contract opposition vote. Anything above 30% would put up a danger sign for Unity. And for those who keep whining that if only all the groups had gotten together they could have won the election, get a dose of reality. Unity won 80% in 2013 and closer to 90% of the retirees' 23,000 votes.

The 7 Ex Bd high school seats
MORE came within 150 votes of Unity in the high schools but the 440 New Action votes went to Unity. We'd win those seats if the numbers stayed the same this time. It is hard to believe the vote totals in high school for Unity can fall below the 1580 they got last time (out of 19,000 ballots). They have so many CLs in so many large high schools. I'm going to guess that their upside this time is 2200 but hope I am wrong. MORE and New Action together in 2013 had around 1900. Can they pump these numbers up this time? If they don't it says something about growth of influence of the opposition in the high schools. Let's say they also increase to around 2200 which makes things neck and neck - except --

But add this time the Solidarity wild card. Since they are not on the first page of the ballot as a caucus people have to vote for individual candidates. Watch the numbers for their high school people since every one is one less for MORE/New Action and if the election is close even a couple of hundred votes for Solidarity can give Unity the high schools and 100% control of the Exec Bd. Even if high school people wanted to vote for Portelos there is hope they realize the possible outcome if they vote for the Solidarity high school people. Chaz seemed to take that approach.

If we don't win the high schools I get my Peter Lugers dinner from Mike Schirtzer. If we win the high schools I will gladly cover his dinner and maybe even take a few other MOREs with us.

Middle Schools - 5 Ex Bd seats
Unity totals were very low last time - around 1150 out of almost 12000 sent out. But MORE and New Action MS votes together were - and have been over the past 4 election cycles a joke. Theoretically if Unity stayed the same and MORE/New Action doubled their vote they win these seats. But Solidarity voters might skim off enough to prevent that. However it is hard to imagine doubling a vote from last time so don't expect that to happen - though it would great to be wrong.

Elem schools
For me this is the bellwether as to whether things are breaking bad for Unity. Only when the opposition can show they have enough outreach to the almost 1000 elementary schools (k-8 school included), will Unity have to worry. Their vote totals dropped heavily in 2013 while MORE ticked up but not enough to get within shouting range. MORE and NA last time were less than 2000.

MORE/NA would have to double their votes here and Unity would have to stay the same before Unity has to worry. Since these are not winnable this year any votes for Solidarity does no harm and if we add the totals we can get a sense of whether opposition to Unity is growing in elem schools.

Functionals
While many people in the non-teaching chapters of the union are not happy, there has been too little outreach or connections to these chapters for MORE/NA to make much of a dent. I am not in touch enough to even dare to make a prediction.

Retirees
We know that these numbers are very high for Unity. I expect an  uptick for MORE/NA due to the anger of recent retirees over the past few years. Given 23,000 retiree votes, 3000 votes would knock Unity down to 85%. 4000 would be wonderful.

The Bernie-Hillary battle, the AFT endorsement and the Randi connection
This a unique situation taking place simultaneously with the UFT elections. There are a lot of people pissed off at Randi and also Hillary for both their stands on education and how they try to cover their ed deform tendencies. But will that translate into votes for MORE? For those who are aware, maybe.


Given the demographics of the primaries to they translate into the UFT elections where younger Bernie supporters vote for MORE? How about race? Do black teachers vote Unity the way they voted for Hillary? I would bet yes -- the heavy  districts with a lot of black teachers like Brooklyn's Dist 13, 16, 17 and Harlem's Dist. 5. There is also the factor that many of the CLs in these districts are black and also in Unity.  And many are older which fits the Hillary demographic. Younger black teachers may be Bernie supporters and might connect to MORE.

Well, that is it for this pre-election analysis. The count is at the AAA headquarters which is surprising as in the past they rented a hotel with lots of space. Leroy Barr is usually there repping Unity - which  is a conflict of interest since AAA reports to him and asks him for directions. Mulgrew won't be there but expect Portelos and Jia Lee -- hey maybe Portelos can finally get that debate.

Putting to rest the Unity Bogus Argument against Proportional rep at AFT/NYSUT conventions

What some refer to as clout appears to be the ability to stifle real discussion. That's not a good thing.... in terms of the presidential selection process (Democrats and Republicans) - most of the world recognizes "winner take all" as inherently unfair.... Jonathan, comment 

I've been posting some thoughts on reforming the UFT (Does the UFT/Unity Know if You Voted? Hell Yes!) with a focus on the 750 or 800 winner take all election of AFT/NYSUT delegates. I argue to not run individual candidates but apportion a number based on the percentage vote each caucus receives and the caucuses name their delegates AFTER the election.

Take the Democratic Party primaries which the UFT eagerly participates in -- most states are not winner take all - some have complex rules based on districts -- or a requirement to get a certain percentage of votes.

Then there are those super delegates -- in essence the UFT inserts its 750 into the AFT/NYSUT conventions in the same manner - as controlled by the top of the party to vote as one. Their version of super delegates to give exactly whom clout? UFT members or Randi and Mulgrew?

• Sidebar - read Fred Klonsky from Chicago (whose daughter is running with MORE): Randi Weingarten is no democrat.

What if every state were WTA -- the delegate map might look different. Think of the electoral college with each state winner take all - imagine if states were carved up into counties -- would make for a different type of presidential election.

Unity people have been arguing against this idea for the 46 years I have been involved in UFT internal politics with the outlandish response - well I'll let you read one.

As far as your suggestion to reduce the voting choices to just the slate, or just slate and officers and exec board, that might be do-able provided you dropped the proportional part of your plan. You may disagree, but it is a legitimate position that all delegates be part of a single voting bloc at the convention. If we go to AFT convention divided ideologically, the argument goes, then we diminish our clout. (I'm not arguing that position, I'm just mouthing it). 

Diminish your clout? What a bogus argument given that Unity sends at least 5 times the number of delegates than any other local - I think Chicago is number two with about 150 delegates.

And in NYSUT those 750 are an even bigger mass.

So this person disclaiming it is his or her position - really given the exact echo of the Unity line -- is telling us that say if MORE had 20% of the delegates then Unity would "only" have 600 delegates. Clout?

Think of the AFT - a hot issue - maybe using test scores as part of a teacher's rating. Unity is in favor (multiple measures) - but perhaps only 65% of the votes go Unity, and the UFT is divided 65 - 35. Under winner take all, 750 votes at the AFT convention go for rating teachers on test scores, and the rest of the country likely doesn't matter at all. Proportional? 500 for using tests, 250 against, and a real national discussion can take place..... Jonathan

Jonathan begins to get to the root of the issue. There is also the disenfranchisement of dues paying UFT members -- and a lot of dues goes to AFT and NYSUT -- who lose any chance of having a voice there. Thus given the top down orders from above nature of Unity where Randi/Mulgrew decides on how they all will vote --- the people who vote for MORE get no representation. I would got to court arguing for a refund of the portion of dues that goes to AFT and NYSUT as a way to challenge the winner-take-all rules. Might make for an interesting case.

Imagine if MORE one day won 49% of the vote and gets not one delegate? I can take this to the Exec Bd issue too - say MORE won 55% of the elem, ms, and hs divisions - but Unity won the functionals and retirees -- at most MORE would only get 23 out of 100 Ex Bd positions.

Democracy? In the UFT/NYSUT/AFT so-called "clout" trumps democracy and for some the calls to stop the undemocratic, dictatorial Trump calls for howls of laughter when coming from Randi.

Pre-K Trips BeGone: Thanks Mr. Mayor for taking away the opportunity to get our children and parents to venues around the City

Pat Dobosz, pre-k teacher, reports:

Our trips have essentially been eliminated! Our $1000 budget for trips was cut down to $500 which doesn't allow for more than one or two programs to be brought into a school. Seems this will continue next year. Thanks Mr. Mayor for taking away the opportunity to get our children and parents to venues around the City without a blink of an eye. They have been deprived for sure. The private buses are very expensive  and our inner city children do not generally have the car seats. We never had a problem with our four year olds on the school buses. Most teachers were not told of the change until January when we were ready to make trip arrangements. Going out for a neighborhood walk is NOT the same as going to the farm or Central Park zoo or seeing this humongous dinosaurs at the museum. What a shame for our children. Shame on NYSDOT and on the mayor. I guess if you have to have "rigor" to get children career and college ready, they don't need to see and experience  the outside world. They only have to conform to whatever the DOE at Engage NY says they should know. So sad. So maddening! So disrespectful of the minds of our young ones.

Pat

Transportation (From May 17 Principal's Weekly).

            Pre-K

When offering field trips that require transportation, pre-K programs in district schools and pre-K centers must meet the safety and procurement requirements that are outlined by the NYCDOE’s Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) and Chancellor’s Regulation A-670. In accordance with these requirements, all pre-K programs must use private buses, chartered through an approved pre-K vendor, for all pre-K field trips that require transportation. In addition, all students who are under the age of 5 or who weigh 50 pounds or less at the time of the field trip must ride in a child safety restraint system (a car seat). For additional enrichment opportunities for students, you are encouraged to support your students’ learning by providing neighborhood walks and push-in visitors. For more information on this policy, including guidance on using neighborhood walks and push-in visitors, see this Pre-K Field Trip Guidance memorandum.

For questions about buses or car seats, email pupiltransportationteam@schools.nyc.gov. For questions about pre-K instructional supports, email EarlyChildhood@schools.nyc.gov.

#MORE2016 Post Election: Jia and Julie on the Case - Two Giants - though they are short

MORE first post-election meeting June 11
I was on a conference call the other night to plan MORE's first post election meeting on June 11 (anyone can attend MORE meetings). And what a pleasure to hear words of wisdom from the only two MORE presidential candidates has had - Julie Cavanagh (2013) and Jia Lee (2016), 2 amazing ladies.

As Ed Notes readers know, Julie Cavanagh has focused on her work in her school and on raising her almost 3-year old son, who was about 3 weeks old when we came a-calling to ask her to run for UFT President in 2013.  So after the 2013 election Julie has been active only in the background. In that time Jia Lee has risen to play a major role in MORE.

So seeing Jia and Julie working together to help MORE figure out the next steps speaks well for the immediate future of MORE. Both have had a big influence on my thinking - and many others too - about a lot of issues. Both are superb leaders in a way that does not intrude on people.

The MORE June 11 meeting will spend the first hour analyzing the election results.

If we should happen to win the high school seats on the UFT Exec Board there will be a discussion on how to make use of those seats to work in the interests of all UFT members. I have mixed feelings about winning these seats since having some of our key people spending time in a sea of Unity slugs every 2 weeks just may not be very productive. If I had the chance I certainly would not have done it.

In fact many of our people just did not want to spend time doing that work and finding the 5 MORE people (New Action has 2) involved some deep discussions. That we came up with such a top-level list of people is what makes winning these seats an interesting proposition.

MORE analyzes election outcomes at June 11 meeting
MORE will also do some analysis of the election campaign itself. What seemed to work, what didn't. (Ie - how effective is it to stuff mail boxes with tens of thousands of leaflets?) Dan Lupkin will report on the outcomes of the social media campaign he ran - which I think was fantastic - and it will be interesting to see if that moved the needle. You know my feelings are that it takes face to face to move people -- even yesterday I met a guy at the mailboxes of a middle school who voted Unity because his chapter leader said they were the lesser of 2 evils - I guess MORE is more evil than Unity. We spoke for 10 minutes and I knew I moved his needle enough so that he would have considered MORE if we had met before he voted.

The June 11 meeting will also focus on the way forward for MORE - long-term and immediate. Coming up will be an exciting MORE summer series with some new twists - some book clubs and also some usual things dealing with contract and chapter leader training and also some UFT history.

In other news:
Monitoring the vote count

I and Jia and Ellen Fox and maybe a few others will be spending the day at the AAA on Thursday to monitor the count. I will ask why we can't get access to the same data Unity has in terms of who voted.

ICE meets May 27 to analyze election
ICE - yes we are still around - will be doing a longer and deeper election analysis on the day after the election - Friday May 27 - at 4PM in midtown Manhattan. We expect a small group of people, all of whom bring decades of experience to UFT politics. We will produce a report for the June 11 meeting. (If any ed notes readers are interested in joining us email me.)

Using DOE Email for Campaign Material
One unnamed caucus (not Unity or MORE) used the DOE email system to send out campaign material, a violation of DOE internet policy. Probably nothing will come of it - but if the DOE has people targeted it could be a weapon for DOE Legal to use if it wanted. Unity already has access to most teachers so in this situation MORE is more disadvantaged.


MORE/New Action Election Party  - all invited
And the best news of all is the MORE post-election party on Thursday May 26 starting even before all the results are in. I will hang out at the vote count until the bitter end so save a beer for me. But if it gets to 8PM - and we got pretty close last time -- I am out of there. Actually I expect more votes this time and also more booklets being sent in which means they have to take them apart and scan the entire booklet - which takes hours. I am only interested in the slate votes so I hope they do that last so I can leave.

MORE and New Action are co-hosting an election night party. We are getting together to share some drinks, food, laughs, and find

out who won. This is our time to celebrate! Bring your friends too! 

Please RSVP 

https://www.facebook.com/events/592069184283434/

Thursday 5/26

6:00-9:00pm

Dark Horse Pub

17 Murray St, Downtown NYC near City Hall

Petitioning, get out the vote, organizing, all our hard work-now it is time to have some much needed FUN! 

Please do your very best to come out-the MORE the merrier.

We have rented the bottom floor, it will be a cash bar and order your own food. Dinner and appetizers there are great!

Child Brings Loaded Gun to Charter School - They Bury the Story

Spike in weapons seized in schools, pro-charter group reports... Chalkbeat, March 18, 2016

Another slam from the slimeballs at Families for Excellent Schools (FES) given serious consideration by Chalkbeat, most likely funded by the same people. FES could make any claims and Chalkbeat will treat it as serious news.

So when I heard this interesting story yesterday from a friend of a charter school teacher my ears perked up.

A kid brings a loaded gun to a Brooklyn charter school - albeit it is missing some piece that is needed to fire it. He says he was bringing it for some other kid who wanted to shoot someone.

Kid is suspended for 2 weeks and then returned to class.

Teacher reports police not notified or any reports filed. Story buried.

It is not surprising that a charter would suppress this story.

If this happened in a public school it would be blasted all over the place.

Years ago a MORE person told me how a bag of cocaine was found on a desk in an office of a prominent well-connected charter school by one of the custodians - he left it there to go on with his work. When he returned later it was gone. Buried. 

We can just imagine what gets buried in charter schools --

Chaz reported: Thanks To De Blasio And Farina Schools Are Becoming More Unsafe.

New York Post's Susan Edelman has published another important article on the New York City Public Schools, this time its about weapons in the schools.  According to the article there has been a 26% increase in weapons confiscated for this school year compared to last.  Of the 1,751 weapons confiscated, 698 came from schools with metal detectors, yet the Mayor is under pressure to eliminate these safeguards.

We know the NY Post has an agenda - to make things look as bad for de Blasio as they can - just the opposite of their protection of Bloomberg. Do you think there is any interest from the pro-charter school Post in finding out about weapons in charter schools?

Does the UFT/Unity Know if You Voted? Hell Yes!

A chapter leader asked me why we can't find out who voted in the UFT elections the other day at the Delegate Assembly and I said we can't and he said why not since the names are on the back of the envelopes received and they must have their bar codes scanned.

My afternoon delight

And I hit myself in the head - of course - the AAA, which is hired by the UFT/Unity Caucus reports all that info to the union and of course they can track the voters and their schools -- and that is an immense advantage since they can identify pockets of opposition support and support for them. In fact they can check those 222 Unity CLs' schools to see what per centage voted and also the MORE schools. They can get district profiles to check on how well their district reps are promoting Unity.

MORE gets none of this info and I believe it is time to demand the same access as Unity gets. Now we know they will claim they don't get it or use it and then will say it is a privacy issue. No one is going to publish the names of who voted. In fact I don't care to know their names - what I would like to see is a school by school, division by divisions break down and that info should be published in the NY Teacher -- that might just spur people to vote in the future. But then again does Unity really want a massive turnout, which could very well go against them.

I think it would be a good check for people in MORE to see if the work they did in the election in their own schools actually bore fruit - and if it didn't figure out why.

We're also getting reports of missing ballots - people who even after contacting AAA do not get a ballot. Or wrong ballots sent to some people - like one of our key high school people got a middle school ballot instead -- interesting - he called AAA and got a corrected ballot. But I am wondering if some schools were not moved from a winnable category to a less winnable one.

Ok. So while I don't buy some of the conspiracy theories out there I never put anything past Unity, especially if things ever get close. Like if MORE were to ever get 40% of the vote in each of the 3 teaching divisions - elem, ms, and hs -- watch what would happen.

On another front, I was contacted by college teacher who has first year teachers in her class - one of them wasn't voting because the size of the booklet and number of candidates threw her.

I believe the candidates running should be limited to officers and exec board and the 800 AFT/NYSUT people should not appear on the ballot at all. Based on caucus votes there should be proportional rep and after the election each caucus chooses its share of delegates. This will never happen of course as long as Unity is in control..

My thinking is that at some point, the opposition must consider some legal action on a number of grounds.

Today and Monday are the last days to extract votes. I have a few hundred leaflets left and today I aim to hit a few Unity strongholds just to have some fun. Then I will sit in my garden and smoke that Cuban stogie Angel Gonzalez gave me the other day.

#MORE2016 - Lauren Cohen Did It - You Can too - Get Out Your Organization Sheets and GOTV - 3 days left

Lauren Cohen on FB: Norm Scott you’ll be proud to hear that I’ve been carrying the table of organization everywhere I go and pestering everyone I see---

I am proud of Lauren Cohen in every way. If I had a daughter ----- I may adopt her anyway.

Even in places with activists like Lauren pulling out the vote is a tough job. Even of we get 25% of the people to vote - up from 18% in 2013 - that means 75% or more of the people you work with have not yet voted -- even if they told you they were going to vote -- get them to send you a selfie of the ballot going into the mailbox. It is too late to get replacement ballots and ballots are due on Wed. May 25 by 5PM. So Monday would be the last day to mail them. By a box of Mallomars and offer people a taste of heaven for bringing in their ballot.

Look at that chart --- almost 60% of her school has voted and yet she continues to try to flush out every vote.

The fact is that most MORE votes will come from the schools where our people are trusted and respected. 

I believe that every MORE vote is a message to Mulgrew that the UFT cannot be allowed to continuing functioning as it has. I heard this from a few delegates yesterday at the DA who were upset at the manipulation of debate - something which doesn't seem to bother the Unity slugs who sit there like lemmings. And from CLs at schools with awful and vicious principals and how the UFT does nothing.

People don't care whether MORE is too social justice or not -- they care about people standing up for them and if the MORE person in the school is doing that they will vote blindly for MORE. The problem is that MORE doesn't yet have enough people who are advocates in the schools. They have people who say they are distributing leaflets but it stops at that -- they are far from doing what Lauren is doing and what Arthur did at FLHS:
What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS -

Now some people in every school will still vote Unity and in Unity led schools where the Unity person is working for them at the school level even if they are working against their interested by the very nature of their joining and running with Unity -- and we pointed to 220 Unity CLs who are running with them and count another 2-300 or more Unity people in the schools who are not running in the election -- see the lists of 750-800 Unity people running:

• Unity Caucus AFT Convention Candidates L-Z: Note O...
• Unity Caucus Candidates E-K: The 750 AFT Conventio...
• Unity Caucus Candidates A-D: The 750 AFT Conventio...
• A List of 222 School Level Chapter Leaders Running...

Today's schedule:
Dropped in at a high school where I found Eva had already occupied some prime real estate. I had to go up to 5, 7 and 8 floors. One school I ran into the CL who said someone had put them in the boxes - she didn't know who. I did another school and in the 3rd the secretary said the boxes were in the staff room and it was locked and that she would put it in for me so I passed.

I managed to get rid of a whole batch of leaflets at the DA - I had shlepped them around all day in Botanic Garden where I met Angel Gonzalez yesterday. But I still have some in my car and a few on hand - tomorrow will be it for me -- whatever I have will be going into schools. Will it do any good? Not very much - other than some branding of MORE and New Action.

8 Ds, 2Fs - NYC KidsPAC Ed Report Card on de Blasio - He May Have to Repeat a Grade or Two

Oy! The UFT's best friend ain't doing too well with NYC parents, many of whom have increasing disdain for the UFT leadership and either openly or secretly support Jia Lee and MORE in the current UFT election.

Make sure to download the pdf or go to the site to read the ugly details. Well, he did get an A- for Arts education.

As reported by Leonie at NYC Public School Parents

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

NYC KidsPAC Report Card for Mayor de Blasio

The report card is below and posted here. PDF:
http://nyckidspac.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/DeBlasios-Ed-Report-Card-2016-final.pdf

For immediate release: May 18, 2016

Contact: Shino Tanikawa, 917-770-8438, estuaryqueen@gmail.com

Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leoniehaimson@gmail.com

NYC Kids PAC Issue Education Report Card for Mayor de Blasio

Today, NYC Kids PAC released their second annual report card on Mayor de Blasio, grading him in several education categories based primarily on whether he has followed up on his campaign promises.   The report card is posted here: http://tinyurl.com/huu57xa

It has been more than two years since Bill de Blasio became Mayor, and Carmen Fariña was appointed Chancellor.  The good news is that the Mayor has restored the district structure, increased funding for the arts, rescinded the ban on cellphones, and imposed a moratorium on closing schools, though the moratorium has now ended.  He has also begun to reform school discipline, without providing sufficient resources or staff to ensure a positive school climate.  

The members of NYC Kids PAC include four sitting Presidents of Citywide and Community Education Councils, three past presidents of CECs, and one member of the Panel for Educational Policy.  Though these individuals would like to make it clear that they speak for themselves and not on behalf of their organizations, they have deep experience of how the current governance system and policies work, or do not work, for parents, students and schools.  

The report card exhibits particular disappointment with the lack of parent input at the school, district and citywide levels.  Citywide and Community Education Councils remain largely disempowered, with little or no say as to co-locations and space planning, and the DOE has argued in court that School Leadership Teams have only advisory powers, in an effort to keep their meetings closed to the public. School overcrowding and class size also continue to be major concerns.

Naila Rosario, President of the CEC in District 15 in Brooklyn, explained: “As a parent in one of the most overcrowded districts in the city, I am disappointed by the Mayor’s response. Our district, which is economically and culturally diverse, has experienced enormous growth as gentrification and immigration have expanded. Families are anxious as they wonder where their children will attend school, because enrollment is capped at their neighborhood schools.  Students are crammed into overcrowded classrooms year after year, and we have experienced the stress of losing space for specialists, interventions and even lunch. We urge this administration to show leadership and to press for expedited, responsible approval and construction of new schools.”

Gloria Corsino, President of the Citywide Council for District 75, says: "As a public school parent and committed advocate for all children and children with special needs, I remain hopeful that the campaign promises that Mayor De Blasio's made continue to move in the direction that they were stated.  I look forward to the growing relationships of CEC's and Citywide Councils with the DOE and becoming more than simply advisory boards, as parents are huge stakeholders in the education of their children.”
   

Eduardo Hernandez, President of the CEC in District 8 in the Bronx adds, “Although this new administration has taken some strides toward engaging parents and addressing their concerns, most of the time this engagement is simply done to fulfill regulations and mandates.  Parents are still dealing with some of the same issues that have been plaguing our school system for years,  like overcrowded classes, student enrollment,  and lack of diversity,  just to name a few."

“Parents are disappointed that specific promises de Blasio made during his campaign to reduce class size have not been fulfilled, especially considering that this is their top priority for their schools, according to DOE’s own surveys.  In addition, transparency and accountability in spending has not improved, and large contracts with vendors who have engaged in fraud and other questionable activities continue to be pushed through and approved by the Panel for Educational Policy,” points out Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters.

Shino Tanikawa, President of NYC Kids PAC as well as the CEC 2 in Manhattan and co-chair of the Blue Book Working Group concludes, “While we recognize Mayor de Blasio and his administration have made some improvements, we want to remind him of the unmet promises he made during his campaign.  We hope this report card will motivate him to review his campaign promises and implement more of them in the coming year.”

###

DeBlasio's Ed Report Card 2016 Final by Leonie Haimson

#MORE2016 - The school secretary leaned over and whispered the words I was eager to hear - I voted for you guys

As I stop by schools putting leaflets in mail boxes - trying to get a few more votes out of the 80% who still haven't voted -  I have some interesting reaction with people. Make sure to read the recent Eterno posts at the ICE blog on GOTV: ICEUFT Blog

MEMBERS REALLY DO PROVE TO ME THEY VOTED

How I spend my Days: Monday May 16

A chapter leader helps me stuff boxes
I was in a building that had a high school and  an elementary school. I usually have no problems but they wouldn't let me in - they rolled their eyes at the tight control the school administrations exhibit - they indicated some level of paranoia - so they called the chapter leader of the high school and he said he would come down. I expected trouble from a Unity slug - that is my nature - to expect a Unity slug. But he came over and shook my hand and said he would help me stuff the boxes. "I supported ICE and TJC," he said. He told me how less than useless his district rep was.

He had voted already but didn't expect most of his colleagues to vote - but even though I suggested it he did not seem committed running a big GOTV campaign other than to make a point at the upcoming union meeting. It's about a 100 staff member high school and even if he got 30 people to vote for us it would help.

A secretary says "YES"
Next I headed over to the elementary school - the guards warned me I would have an even tougher time there. The secretary came over to ask me what I had and the minute she saw she said she knew about it - she seemed to recognize Jia - and told me to go ahead - and then she leaned over and whispered - I voted for you.

Then it was off to meet up with Julie Woodward - we found ourselves at the Roosevelt Island tram and both of us took it for the first time and hung out at Roosevelt Island for a few hours.

Tuesday, May 17
I have to find a hardware story for some minor plumbing so I headed into Queens and figured I would get rid of a few more leaflets.

A principal's glee
I hit a few k-8 schoosl in Queens. At the first I had no problem but at the 2nd the secretary wouldn't let me do it without checking with the principal first - uh oh -- this is a notoriously Unity district with many chapter leaders being in Unity. The principal came over and I told her what I was there for - that we are running against Mulgrew. "Good" she said - it's a shame what he has done to the teachers. I was a teacher myself." She not only let me do it but she seemed to get a big kick out of it -- telling the secretary "she- meaning the CL who is probably a Mulgrew fan.

Then the principal says - if you have extras would you like to put them in the staff room? Sure- where is it - let me take you there, she says and escorts me there. Does she hate Mulgrew, the CL or both?

Another Secretary
Finally I head over to a small elementary school where I get into a chat with the secretaries. One of them voted already - she said if she didn't send in the ballot right away she would not have voted. She had no idea who we were so I assume she voted Unity - she is a year short of retirement. The CL stopped by and seemed a bit nervous - took down my name -- I don't seem many - if any - votes coming from that school but maybe the leaflet will spur a few people to dig up their ballot.

CPE1 Rally at Tweed

I was done for the day and got home at 3PM and saw an email from the parent leader of Central Park East 1 asking me to come to the 4:30 rally at Tweed because they had not arranged for taping. It was drizzling and I was tired and had my writing group meeting at 7 in Park Slope and wasn't going to go. But I had some coffee, grabbed the camera and was out of the house by 3:40 and at the rally before 5 - just in time to hear Jia Lee address the over 300 people on the steps of Tweed.

I was invigorated by the amazing CPE people and their supporters. Hey Hey Hey Ho - Principal Monika Garg has got to go.

Jia and I headed back to Brooklyn on the R train and I got to my writers group - now almost a decade old - by 7 where we talked about the novels I and a former school colleague are working on.
Home by 9:30 and started processing the video and then watched the end of the Mets game.

Today I am off to meet up with old pal Angel Gonzalez (Holy Batman - Lew Friedman and Angel Gonzalez, Two...) at Botanic Garden before stopping by the DA to support some MORE colleagues and then meeting my wife who is going to the Frank Langella matinee which addresses Alzheimers - no thank you - for dinner - if I can remember where I have to be.

Protest at Tweed Today: Parents, Teachers at Historic East Harlem School to Protest Principal’s Attack on Progressive Education

Chancellor Fariña has told the media she has instructed the superintendent and senior superintendent to meet with parents. None of the 65% who signed the petition have had the opportunity to do so. So [today] we are going to Tweed to make our voices heard....

There is not better example of the debilitating partnership between  deB/Farinia and the UFT/Unity leadership where a horror story of a principal is allowed to destroy 40 years of progressive education in almost an instant. But we know that Farina is all about top-down and anti-progressive education, which by its very nature is inclusive of teacher voices. But then again Unity/UFT itself precludes teacher voices.

The UFT district and borough reps have either been useless or lined up with the DOE when it comes to fighting principals.

Farina and the UFT continue to protect bad principals. We knew Farina was lying when she made that statement at the April PEP, which I videotaped: https://vimeo.com/164113948


CPE1 Calls for Principal Monika Garg Removal at PEP April from MORE-UFT/GEM on Vimeo.

CPE 1 Parents, Teachers to Rally at Tweed to Demand Principal's Removal

For Immediate Release: 

Contact:
Kenya Dilday
 Kaliris Salas Ramirez
 Jennifer Roesch

  More information at www.savecpe1.org

Parents, Teachers at Historic East Harlem School to Protest Principal’s Attack on Progressive Education 

Community to Demand Chancellor Remove Principal Who Said Progressive Education Doesn’t Work for Students of Color, Led Drive to Oust Longtime Teachers 

EAST HARLEM—Parents, teachers and students will rally outside DOE Headquarters Tuesday to demand Chancellor Carmen Fariña remove the principal of CPE 1, who has orchestrated a year-long attack on the East Harlem elementary school’s storied, progressive culture. 

The protesters will call on the chancellor to accede to the demands of an overwhelming majority of the school community and remove Principal Monica Garg, who has antagonized long-time teachers via investigations and other measures and told parents that progressive education doesn’t work for students of color, among other actions. 

Sixty-five percent of parents at CPE1 and more than 2,500 supporters, including the school’s founder, Deborah Meier, have requested that Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Chancellor Fariña: 

1. Remove the current principal, Monika Garg
2. Ensure the meaningful participation of the CPE1 community in choosing a strong, suitable principal.
3. Form an independent district to ensure relevant support of alternative schools 

The protest comes on the heels of a Panel on Educational Policy hearing last month at which parents delivered the petition to Chancellor Fariña and testified about the need for change at the school. Chancellor Fariña has told the media she has instructed the superintendent and senior superintendent to meet with parents. None of the 65% who signed the petition have had the opportunity to do so. So we are going to Tweed to make our voices heard. 

Who: Parents, teachers and students from CPE 1; East Harlem District Leader Johnny Rivera, United Federation of Teachers Candidate for President Jia Lee What: Protest to demand removal of school’s principal. Excellent visuals include young children with protest signs, street theater, and large crowd chanting and marching.
When: Tuesday, May 17 at 4:30 pm
Where: DOE Headquarters at Tweed Courthouse 52 Chambers Street 

We demand leadership change at CPE1. We demand that the city’s administration remove a principal who has demonstrated a lack of competence as an administrator, and most grievously, a shocking lack of concern for the welfare of the children the DOE and parents have placed in her charge. 

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 Memes

Our man Dan Lupkin - on the case.
Reminder - 80% of your colleagues did not and will not vote - unless they see GOTV. So do your thang.

The Wave: UFT Elections: Why Vote for MORE/New Action? and How to Get a Good Cookie

Here is my column from last Friday. That was the day after I went to Francis Lewis HS for the "Ballot for a Cookie" event (What I Learned at GOTV at Francis Lewis HS - 90% of UFT Members Probably Have not yet voted). 

And low and behold, the guy who baked the cookies for Arthur, John Pagano who is the school librarian, was featured in the same edition of The Wave - John is Rockaway based -- see the story below my column.

And as I head out to put my final batch of leaflets into school mail boxes, I want to remind you that most likely 80-85% of UFT members have not yet voted.

I was just called by a former ATR guidance counselor who told me an 8 year story of misery and horror -- we were on the phone for over an hour. When I asked her if she had her ballot she said yes but wasn't voting because she didn't know any of the names. This after a long discussion where the lack of union support for her was instrumental in her story. She just didn't make the connection between a vote against Unity and how the higher the vote totals the more the chance to force the union to act in our interests. I urged her to not worry about the names but just check MORE if just as an anti-Unity protest (she did not even know that Unity was the union leadership.)

Well, I'm off to meet the wizard - and also to meet up with Julie Woodward, my former partner in crime in the old war zone against Unity.

UFT Elections: Why Vote for MORE/New Action?

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-05-13/School_News

By Norm Scott

Norman Scott  

By now if you are a currently working or retired UFT member you have received one of the 189,469 ballots sent out, almost 63,000 to the retirees. In the 2013 election 52 percent of those who voted at all were retirees while only around 17 percent of the working teachers and other support personnel voted.
Full disclosure: I am one of the founders of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) which has allied with New Acton in opposing UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus, which has run the UFT with total domination and control over the past 55 years. Unity Caucus uses a number of undemocratic processes to maintain this control in mostly winner take all (Vladimir Putin studies their tactics and still can’t manage the level of dominance in Russia Unity Caucus has here in the largest union local in the United States.
I have been working for decades to establish a beachhead for democratic unionism that would empower the membership. MORE is the latest incarnation of groups inside the UFT that I have worked with and for a 14-year retiree it has been gratifying to see so many early and mid-career teachers waking up to the assault on educators and public education over the past 15 years that began with the advent of mayoral control that took away any semblance of influence from the local communities in this city. Admittedly some of those local communities did not always function in the interests of the schools they controlled but that system could have been fixed instead of throwing out the baby with the bath water. By handing power over to one person – whether Bloomberg or de Blasio, we have allowed the balkanization and privatization of swaths of the school system to take place. Even as I write now, you can see scandal after scandal emerging from both the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations of the schools.
The UFT/Unity Caucus leadership has supported mayoral control since its inception and continues to do so. The instrument used to impose a major shift in school culture both locally and nationally has been high stakes testing under the supposed “accountability” movement which has forced fed a testing and test prep culture that has so distorted education in almost every classroom in the nation except for the elite private schools the perpetrators of this outrage send their own children to, schools totally devoid of the testing culture. The corollary to high stakes testing has been the move to tie teacher competency to the outcomes of the tests, a concept actually supported by Mulgrew and UFT leadership as being superior to the old system. The other day a Long Island teacher whose lifetime ratings had been superior but had had a low rating based on test scores for her students won a major lawsuit over the use of these tests to rate teachers using the formulas in the Value Added Measures (VAM).
Parents throughout NY State have revolted against this system by opting their children out of the tests. Mulgrew does not support opt out while MORE with its presidential candidate Jia Lee opting her own child out of tests and even refusing to give certain tests to her own classes that she sees as abusing education does support opt out.
On the issue of principals who abuse their power, the UFT leadership due to its partnership with the DOE and the principal’s union, the CSA, has refused to stand up for teachers facing such abuse. Just think of the Marcella Sills case at PS 106 and the lack of union action. It took the NY Post to expose her and other abusive principals while the UFT sat on its hands. Recently I spoke at an elementary school in Queens which had been under the reign or well-connected to the UFT principal who did insane things and killed some teacher careers due to personal pique. Whenever the UFT Bigs came in – the district and the borough reps – the staff found them hugging and schmoozing with the principal as if she were an old pal (I believe her mom was connected to the UFT). These people I met with were still outraged three years after she resigned after pressure not from the UFT but from the parents and some politicians. When they asked me what MORE would do differently I said, “We won’t be going around hugging these people.”
Norm blogs at ednotesonline.org.

http://www.rockawave.com/news/2016-05-13/Community/The_Fat_Cardinal.html

The Fat Cardinal

By Mark C. Healey

 
Thomas Quinn, John Pagano, and Jim Otton are the gentlemen making the cookies at The Fat Cardinal Bakery. During our tour of the Taste of Rockaway, The Wave came across a trio of bakers nestled in the corner of Uncle Louie G’s on Rockaway Beach Boulevard. Thomas Quinn, John Pagano and Jim Otton make cookies.
Correction, they make ridiculously good cookies. So we know how The Fat Cardinal got that way.

Enlarge Map

“We at The Fat Cardinal Bakery, here in Arverne, pride ourselves on our unique takes on classic cookies,” the bakers told The Wave. “We pay close attention and take special care to detail when perfecting our recipes.” The bakers were excited to take part in this year’s Taste, as Rockaway is a vital part of who they are. Jim has been a Rockaway resident his entire life; John, a transplant, has lived here for 11 years; and Thomas, a Scholars’ Academy alum, couldn’t imagine starting their business in any other place but here.
This beautiful display was replenished for a time, but was soon empty, as the Cardinal – and everyone else – got a little bit fatter. For the time being, you may see them selling at Uncle Louie G’s, but they are still flying around looking for a permanent perch.
You can check out their selection of cookies at Fat- CardinalBakery.com.

Jacobin: Burying the White Working Class - Liberal condescension towards white workers is code for a broader anti-working class agenda

While the essence of the Clinton Democratic Party has been to take what social-democratic parties had traditionally pursued as rights — health care, education, housing, etc. — and return them to the market, another Democratic candidate is telling the working class that it doesn’t have to be satisfied with scraps.... Jacobin

Mike Fiorillo posted this interesting Jacobin piece on ICE-Mail. The piece points to the Bernie support from white working class (the Democratic version of the Trump vote) and shows how the liberal media try to brand this support as racist.

While the article doesn't touch on ed deform and the Democratic Party attack on teachers though privatization campaigns, read between the lines. Some of the same disaffection coming from white voters in the primaries also exist in the teaching corps.

This piece comes from the socialist left and thus doesn't touch on what I often detect coming from some segments of the left and their attitudes toward the white working class, particular male white working class.  Some people on the left divide the world into 2 segments: white privilege males and the rest.

I've pointed out in the past that I know a batch of Bernie supporters who will vote for Trump.

The article delves into the race issue as a dividing line between white working class and people of color.

 unlike with the white working class, many of the hardships workers of color face fit neatly within an acceptable liberal narrative about what’s wrong with our society: racism. And when racism can be blamed, capitalism can be exonerated.

More and more, liberals just point and scream: “racist.” Certainly, many members of the white working class reject the Obama/Clinton program of inclusion and meritocracy for reactionary reasons (and vote Republican), many more are pretty lukewarm about it. When polled, they support far more egalitarian policies like the kind associated with the Sanders campaign. But when it comes down to it, few of them show up on election day.
And frankly, it’s hard to blame them. There’s not much in it for them. There’s no political party looking out for their interests — only ones telling them to do more with less.

Read it in full at this link or below the break.

 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/white-workers-bernie-sanders-clinton-primary-racism/

Holy Batman - Lew Friedman and Angel Gonzalez, Two of My Mentors 40 Years Apart in One Photo

Lew Friedman and Angel Gonzalez, May 14, 2016

Angel Gonzalez is in town and posted a video of his wife Judy Gonzalez NYSNA Prez speaking at Stop the Bomb Trains, Albany, NY. And also a pic of him and Lew Friedman who was at the rally.

Both of them are lifetime activists and both had long-term influence on me politically, albeit almost 40 years apart.

I was introduced to Lew by my childhood pal Marty Needelman at the end of my 3rd year of teaching in 1970. Marty was a Vista community based lawyer assigned, ironically, to the neighborhood I was teaching in. Lew was involved in challenging the UFT leadership in the 1968 strike and he and others started an alternative newsletter out of his school, IS 318 - today known as the chess championship school. When I joined "Another  View" I was the first from outside IS 318 and after I brought others in and more people from other schools joined, we morphed from a school to a district newsletter - Another View in District 14 which became legendary in the district for many years and helped swawn a new caucus in the UFT, the Coalition of NYC School Workers in the 70s - one of the 3 parts of the original NAC - New Action Coalition preceding the current New Action which was founded in 1995.

Lew and I, later joined by the late Loretta Prisco, became the scourge of the local school board and the local district and UFT administration. I learned how to get up at school board meetings through Lew. How to hand out leaflets - which mortified me at first - I went to my first rally/demonstration ever with Lew and others on May 1, 1971 at UFT headquarters protesting their support for the Vietnam War. We didn't cross the custodial workers' picket lines and all kinds of other actions that often drove our local UFT and district machine batty.

I went to my first AFT conventions with Lew - 1974 in Toronto when the Shanker coup against Dave Selden took control of the AFT - and 1975 when we drove cross country to Oakland and flew to Hawaii with "The Case Against Shanker."

Without meeting Lew I don't know how active in the union I would have become or met the people I ended up meeting. There is a long list of things we did, including hitting the Jack LaLanne gym 3 times a week - the only time I lost serious weight. I shocked myself at what I became politically, so unlike what I was before.

In late 1975 we had political disagreements and we each moved on.

In 2007-8 I first met Angel Gonzalez over the Puerto Rico teacher strike when he approached ICE for assistance. He told me he would partner with me when he retired and I rolled my eyes. But sure enough he and I became a pair - turned out Angel had been doing political work for decades and for some reason I had never run into him. We didn't always agree but I learned so much about what it takes to be an organizer - to organize rallies, conferences, to brand your organization, etc. (I also found out I didn't have the will to be a major organizer like Angel but could be a good wingman - tell me what I have to do, etc.

We jumped into the ATR battle in late 2008 and out of that movement  we basically founded GEM and within a few months became the scourge of the charter schools, especially the Eva Moskowitz operation, going to every hearing and attracting support. In March 2009 Angel was the major force behind a conference around the ATR, testing and school closing issues -- that was before we were GEM. That attracted people to our group and we were able to build towards a May march from Battery Park, past the UFT and onto Tweed. Angel taught me how to get a police permit and when we would need one and when we would not. Angel also introduced me to the Skylight Diner on 34th st and 9th ave as a good meet up place for small groups and ICE has used that place every since.

Angel was a firm believer in bringing an organization labeled banner to every event you attend. No banner? Create one from an old sheet and some paint - which we did one day at his apartment in the Bronx. That banner went everywhere we went. And  later when we had a GEM banner you would see it all over the place.

GEM attracted people like Julie Cavanagh and parent supporters due to our charter school and anti-testing stance and grew in influence. Also ATRs. When schools were closing we went to many hearings and a massive list of ATRs grew. Angel and I went to hiring halls with leaflets announcing meetings. At one we attracted over 40 ATRs.

Angel was not a big believer in the move toward the founding of MORE for a complex set of reasons. And when GEM, ICE, TJC, NYCORE and others began to move in that direction he was no longer involved and shifted his attention to other issues.

We're getting together this Wednesday to reminisce and catch up. When he was suggesting places to meet one thing he made clear. Skylight Diner - NO. Instead we're meeting at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which is the place where we hung out the last time we met a bunch of years ago. Angel is a fellow gardener too.

When I saw that photo of Angel and Lew yesterday it brought back all these memories and more.

After I meet Angel on Weds.  I will head to Manhattan to stop by the Delegate Assembly for a short time before heading uptown to meet my wife who is seeing Frank Langella playing an aging man with the beginnings of Alzheimers - not something I want or need to see at this time of my life.

Remind me again who Lew and Angel are?