Will Janus Decision Be the End of the Democratic Party?

...a study....  finds that private-sector unions in right-to-work states tend to become less influential in national politics precisely because they must allocate scarce resources to internal organizing.

The political consequences of this shift can be dramatic. The authors estimated that right-to-work laws resulted in a 3.5 percent reduction in Democratic presidential vote totals per county. 

Four key midwestern and midwestern-adjacent states went right-to-work during the five years before the 2016 election, and all four — Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and West Virginia— went for Donald Trump. The president may therefore owe his victory to the same right-to-work movement that eagerly anticipates its likely victory in Janus.... Politico, https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/02/25/supreme-court-public-unions-2018-midterms-423436?__twitter_impression=true

There's some truth to these conclusions. The ties between the UFT/AFT/NYSUT complex and the Democratic Party goes deep. If the UFT loses 30% of its dues payers, it must cut staff and maybe cut salaries, though I doubt that. Those 6-figure salaries will have to be pried out of Unity's cold, dead hands. For the staff, which had as its highest priority to push

And when they say that dues doesn't go to political actions, well, maybe not technically. The arguments being used - check the next cases following Janus where a conservative teacher may feel the very act of collective bargaining violates his/her rights.

In fact Leroy Barr at the UFT Ex Bd yesterday said that the arguments in Janus yesterday did attack the collective bargaining rights like happened in Wisconsin. The West Virginia statewide strike is an interesting addition to the debate since WV is right to work but teachers still have bargaining power. How did they pull off closing every school? You know the answer to a strike this? Charters and privatization so there are no public schools left to strike. I believe the charter/privatization movement is a greater threat than Janus et al.

Here's a story in the NY Times yesterday about the conservative money coming in to attack teacher unions especially, punishing them for their marriage to the Democratic Party. Interesting is that the left wing in the unions has been very critical of this marriage for decades.

Behind a Key Anti-Labor Case, a Web of Conservative Donors - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/economy/labor-court-conservatives.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness&action=click&contentCollection=business&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Here is the complete Politico piece: https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/02/25/supreme-court-public-unions-2018-midterms-423436?__twitter_impression=true

Video: NAACP Stands Up for PS/MS 42Q

"It's criminal for you to come in here and speak about failures of the children...."
 
Strong words. Highlighting short and longtime impact of Sandy hurricane on PS42 community.



https://vimeo.com/257530030

Panel on Education Policy to vote on a proposal to close The Eubie Blake School, a successful small school in Bed Stuy - The Patch

The Patch uses Leonie's Haimson's fabulous blog post -- with a 15 page analysis of PS 25 -- click the link and see below.

PEP Votes on Proposal to Close P.S. 25 | Public Meeting Feb 28

The Panel on Education Policy to vote on a proposal to close The Eubie Blake School, a successful small school in Bed Stuy

By Leah Mullen, Patch Poster | Feb 26, 2018 7:56 am ET | Updated Feb 26, 2018 7:59 am ET

https://patch.com/new-york/bed-stuy/pep-votes-proposal-close-p-s-25-public-meeting-feb-28

The New York City Department of Education is proposing to close P.S. 25 (The Eubie Blake School), a small school in the Bedford Stuyvesant area. A public notice issued by the DOE states that the proposal is based on "persistently low enrollment and lack of demand from students and families."

A blog run by New York City public school parents says that the school should be commended not closed. Referring to a DOE analysis, the blog states that "PS 25 is the second best elementary school in Brooklyn and the fourth best elementary school in the entire city when the need level of its students is taken into account."
The DOE public notice acknowledges that P.S. 25 test scores have increased over the last three years, yet enrollment has declined by 43% during the same time frame. This is despite "multiple prior interventions, such as programmatic changes at the school, recruitment and re-branding support, and school re-design," states the DOE.

According to an article in Our Times Press, supporters of P.S. 25 have waged a campaign to save the school, which includes reaching out to elected officials and rallying the help of residents and neighbors.

The Panel on Education Policy (PEP) votes on the proposal to close P.S. 25 in a meeting open to the public this week. If PEP approves the proposal, P.S. 25 will close at the end of the 2017- 2018 school year.
Date, time and location of the PEP meeting at which this proposal will be voted on:
Date: February 28, 2018
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers, 411 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10038

It's worth republishing Leonie's blog:

Why PS 25 Eubie Blake should be celebrated rather than closed

Chancellor Farina has proposed closing many schools that don't deserve this fate, including the middle school at Wadleigh in Harlem and PS/IS 42 in Queens, whose communities have rallied to save them from extinction. 

Yet the most unfair of all these proposals involves the proposed closure of a small zoned elementary school called PS 25 Eubie Blake in District 16 in Brooklyn, which has gotten little attention so far in the media, save for a story in a small community paper.  Why?

Complete Hearing Videos: PS 42Q and PS 50M

This is the full monte for both school hearings. PS 42 comes in 2 parts. PS 50 in one. If you can't spending hours watching them all, pop into some of it and notice the similarities in the schools: gentrification. Behind both is some sense of denial of proper resources and rising property values.



https://vimeo.com/257425761




https://vimeo.com/257379612




https://vimeo.com/257418160

2nd Amendment Rights - The Right to Bear Nukes

I can't wait for those suitcase sized nukes -- maybe even smaller. The 2nd amendment guarantees my right to bear arms so why exclude nukes? Look for a Trump tweet on that issue.

Think how much safer schools will be if we put tactical nukes around the hallways like fire extinguishers. If no nukes how about hanging grenades in the hallways?

The Onion

I'm so sorry I'm retired. How great would it be to be able to pull my weapon on every kid who doesn't do homework.

I wonder what position the UFT will take on the bearing arms issue. Since some teachers may own guns wouldn't that be divisive? Can't wait to have them bring up that Vietnam War thingy as being the right decision.

PS 42 MS 53 Update - Queens Boro Pres Katz Joins PS 42 Battle, Pheffer-Amato battles for MS 53

Katz “requested the withdrawal of the proposal to close PS/MS 42 from the Panel For Educational Policy on Feb. 28.” Katz joined her colleagues in government—Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), state Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park), Assembly members Michele Titus (D-Far Rockaway) and Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica)—in their opposition to the closure... Queens Tribune

This is important in that Katz controls the PEP Queens vote. Now they only need 6 more votes. Stacey Amato Pheffer is also calling for the school to remain open - it is not in her district but IS 53 is and she issued a strong statement printed in The WAVE.


February 23, 2018
http://queenstribune.com/katz-joins-fight-ms-42-closure/

Katz Joins Fight Against MS 42 Closure

BY TRONE DOWD
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has come out in support of the faculty and parents of students at Arverne’s PS/MS 42 who are protesting the city’s proposed closure of the school.

In a letter obtained by sources familiar with the situation, Katz “requested the withdrawal of the proposal to close PS/MS 42 from the Panel For Educational Policy on Feb. 28.” Katz joined her colleagues in government—Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton), state Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park), Assembly members Michele Titus (D-Far Rockaway) and Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica)—in their opposition to the closure.

“This school has made great strides to improve as part of the renewal schools program, and I believe we should afford them further time and our support to succeed,” Katz said in the letter. “At minimum, the item should be held over until we can further evaluate the progress the school is making as indicated by this year’s assessment. This will allow stakeholders additional time to share their concerns with the Department of Education.”

As previously reported by the Queens Tribune, the Rockaway school was one of 14 Renewal School closures proposed by the DOE in December, citing low performance on citywide test scores, stagnant graduation rates and the lack of college readiness among students, despite capital investments from the city. However, several teachers have pointed out that PS/MS 42 was included on that list, despite its steady improvement across the board over the past four years. This includes reduction in student suspensions, near-perfect faculty attendance and increased test scores. In fact, PS/MS 42 saw the highest growth in both ELA and math test scores from 2014 to 2017 out of all 20 Renewal Schools.

“If the DOE’s intention to close PS/MS 42 was because of low test scores, it is unsupported by the facts,” the letter stated.

On Feb. 8, members of United Federation of Teachers (UFT) took to Queens Borough Hall to protest the school’s closing, hoping to bring the borough president on board in their opposition. UFT Chapter Chairman John Krattinger told the Queens Tribune that the DOE was “completely out of line” with its decision. Teachers and parents have since met with the borough president’s office as well as attended a public hearing with the DOE in Manhattan.


https://www.rockawave.com/articles/official-point-of-view-82/

Official Point Of View 

The DOE has got it all wrong

The Wave  | on February 22, 2018 

By New York State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato

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As some of you may know, the NYC Department of Education (DOE) announced in December that they plan on closing 14 schools- two of which are on the Rockaway Peninsula, PS/MS 42 and MS 53. Since becoming the assemblywoman for this community, I have been a strong advocate for education and have worked with the DOE on numerous issues, however not one included the potential closure of schools within my district. As a native of Far Rockaway, and a graduate of then IS 53, I am extremely disappointed in the DOE’s lack of communication with parents, students, and myself.

There has been tremendous community support against the closure of both schools. While my Assembly District only encompasses MS 53, many constituents (school staff and students) are also affected by the possible closure of PS/MS 42. My office has been inundated with phone calls from teachers, students, and parents alike requesting to stop the closure of these schools. In addition, hundreds attended the public hearings, myself included, to voice their concerns about the proposed closures. Sitting at the hearings and listening to the passion behind the students and teachers only affirms that the DOE has got it all wrong. The closure of a school places hardships on students that should never be a student’s concern. As a former PA president, I can attest that trying to solve the myriad challenges of education is hard enough on students, teachers and families, without the possibility of closing a school where they have learned and felt safe for years.

The fact is both schools have grown as renewal schools; they should have been compared to other focus schools in focused districts as opposed to the city as a whole. Specifically, MS 53 has met many of their bench marks and has had great success while still facing MANY obstacles of students who are: 67 percent economically disadvantaged, 20 percent English Language Learners (ELL), and 37 percent of students with learning disabilities. The DOE must continue to invest in our existing neighborhood schools to both ensure full growth in our students and our surrounding community. With the expected downtown Far Rockaway city investment we know we are going to grow-why close a school when we should be investing now? It’s obvious city agencies don’t communicate.

This past Friday I wrote to Chancellor Fariña and the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) requesting that the decision to close MS 53 is rescinded from the PEP meeting on Feb. 28, and is reevaluated. These are our children, and their education is worth fighting for.

As we are just beginning this year my goal is to not only continue to fight on behalf of our community, but to continue the relentless constituent service, legislative advocacy, and community problem-solving that myself and my team has strived for over the past year. This is an amazing community, like no other in the world. I am so lucky to be raising my children here with my husband. The diverse and beautiful peninsula we call home deserves all the hard work, energy and vision we can muster. Please let me know how I can help, what concerns you have, and what your ideas are for the future. I have a feeling we’re going to do great things together in 2018.

Video: PS 50M Plus Teacher Stories of Abuse by Principal and Supt Estrella

PS 50M Students Call on DOE to Really Support Them

This is a follow-up to my earlier School Scope column on PS 50 -- School Scope: Similarities in Proposed Closing of Local PS 42, PS 50M (East Harlem) Expose DOE Misinformatio.

Here is some video I processed from that hearing. A parent, a former student, as is his wife, pleads for his 3rd grader in the school and a teacher checks off how the DOE officialdom intionally destroyed PS 50 mainly by putting in a destructive principal, then replaced her less than a year ago with someone who seems competent but had the rug pulled out of her - she was not even given a chance to improve the school. We know this is about dumping teachers and most kids and making room for gentrification and charter invasion. The teacher points out how renewal money was wasted on school cosmetics. I include emails below from former staff.

For years we've known that some principals are put in as closers -- PS 50 is a prototype.



https://vimeo.com/256967332

========

Ps/Ms 50 got a new principal, Ester Quiñones, after being designated a renewal school. That first year, they got resources and upgrades to the school. Attendance went up. Kids did better on the tests — and then Ester started taking people out. Harassing and retaliating against teachers, withholding information from SLT, telling fams they would not enroll children in the school. Now, the schools is under enrolled and staff is mortified because they have had several teachers put through 3020a’s. 

The same week Monika Garg was taken out of CPE1, Ester was also reassigned — and Ellen Johnson was put in. Ellen came from the district office. Some people say that she is there to finish off the job, while others say she is just as frustrated as they are w Estrella and she feels like she was taken advantage of. They had a C30 but Estrella still has not appointed her. Supposedly HR is taking forever.. I don’t trust any of them!

=======

I attended a PA meeting with the PS/MS 50 families and all I say is that they are really hurt... hurt by the system... hurt by their community. I want to very clear that our support of their community has nothing to do with CPE2 and CPE2 acquiring their building. I would go hard for CPE2 to get a building where all of their families fit... but the question here is, who has access, where is the equity/opportunity, what process/protocol was followed, are these families receiving support and/or information to make this transition. My questions lies on how the DOE chooses and supports leaders that don't include the community. 

The CEC3 has the same questions when it comes to the closing of Wadleigh.

The CEC5 has the same questions when it comes to the charter take over and lack of choice for their families. 

We can't disappear because we won. We have to keep raising our voices when it comes to these educational injustices. 

I hope we can keep the momentum going and live up to our name.

=====
I  went to the Department of Education (DOE) and the United Federation (UFT) of Teachers asking them "whom/who do I go to in order to obtain a transfer from P.S./M.S. 50M?" Several persons at both places suggested my UFT District Representative. I do not feel safe under the supervision of the Principal (Ester Quinones) at P.S./M.S. 50 M. Ms. Quinones placed several distressing acts against me. My principal ignored and complained about my disabilities, Teaching Licenses and teaching abilities, She bullied, retaliated and humiliated me in front of students and faculty members. Finally she threatened my future employment as an appointed DOE employee. I am extremely uncomfortable with her unprofessional supervision. Please help me Ms. Silva in working in a less threatening atmosphere so I can teach my students in a peaceful  and safe environment.

------

I am a teacher at P.S/ M.S. 50, The Vito Marcantonio School, for seventeen years of excellent work with the children I service. I have been continuously being harassed by the principal, Ms. Ester Quinones, under the direction of the superintendent, Ms. Estrella Alexandra.  I've filed  grievances and harassment paper work which the superintendent declined to entertain.  I love the community I work in, however the administration is trying destroy my dignity and undermine my expertise. Please help me and others who are being intimidated in our school.


My experience at PS. 50

Good evening , I was a teacher at PS 50 from 2014 to 2015. My experience at  PS 50 was horrid.  I came into the school with lots of energy and enthusiastic ready to teach. Little that I know that I would have the worst experience as a new teacher at the Department of Education working under Quinones.

I left PS 50, because of the way she had treated me. She discredited me as a person I felt threatened and bullied.  Great  leaders don't  put people  down.  Great leaders  teach  so some day they can follow  their foot steps.

In Spring 2015 , she came into my classroom to observe me. At this point in the school year I understood what I thought she wanted to be seen in the classroom. However, I was wrong. She  called me in the office a couple of days after the observation.   I  stated to her "should I have my UFT representative with me. "   She replied  "should you?"  I sat down as she closed the door behind her and proceeded to chastise me about my hand written  lesson plan  She took my lesson  put  it towards my face back and forth and told me "you call this a lesson." She stated she showed my lesson plan to the superintendent.  She  said that the  superintendent wanted me out the building.   She also told me  to look for another  career  or go to the open market.

When she told me the superintendent wanted me out the building I didn't know how true that was.  When she dismissed me out of her office I immediately went to the UFT rep and complained about what she did to me.  Working at PS 50 was a living hell for me. I'm now suffering  from  anxiety.   I am working  building my self esteem.  Unfortunately, this was one of many incidents I had with Ms. Quinones.

Which I  thank God everyday that I was able to find another school that appreciates me and and realizes that I am a good teacher.      PS. 50  deserves a great leader, not a bully. 

-----

Good Morning Esteemed Council Members

My name is xxxxxxx and I am a licensed, special education teacher who has worked for the NYCDOE for 18 years. I have dedicated my whole life and career in teaching those who really need the extra assistance, only to have my complaints be ignored by the superintendent Alexandra Estrella.

I am at PS/MS 50 also known as Vito Marcantonio School which is a renewal school supervised under the same superintendent Alexandra Estrella. Ms. Cynthia Rochez was the principal when I arrived to PS/MS 50 and she was fired two weeks before Christmas in December of 2014. Ms. Estrella promised the staff that she would find a suitable principal in which she replaced Ms. Rochez with Ms. Ester Quinones. Enclosed please read the following attachments which outline the events that I have experienced by Principal Ester Quinones and how the superintendent is aware of them and has done not one thing to resolve any of these issues.

School Scope: Similarities in Proposed Closing of Local PS 42, PS 50M (East Harlem) Expose DOE Misinformation

I submitted this column for last week's WAVE but they already had 2 stories running on PS 42, so I hope it is in today's edition.

School Scope:  Similarities in Proposed Closing of Local PS 42, PS 50M (East Harlem) Expose DOE Misinformation

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 12PM

I’m heading over to the PS 42 hearing and NAACP press conference later today – look for coverage in this week’s paper, which last week featured a front page piece by Ralph Mancini on the MS 53 hearing: “Teachers say they aren’t buying rationale to close MS 53.” Hell, yes, no one should buy what they are selling when they close schools, for, behind it all is the goal of dumping often higher cost teachers and low-performing students and forcing parents to send their kids further away to school in the future. Behind many school closings is gentrification – the attempt to remake a local school to be more attractive to wealthier people moving into poor neighborhoods.

Last night [Monday Feb. 12] I went up to East 101^St just off the FDR Drive and overlooking the East River to tape the PS 50 hearing and also to speak up for them as a member of MORE-CASCADE --- Coalition Against School Closings, Colocations, and Displacement Everywhere –it’s a mouthful. We intend to attend the February 28 Panel for Educational Policy vote on 14 school closings at Murry Bergtraum HS in as much force as we can muster to try to get all the schools to stand up together and say NO.

If I swapped videos from PS 42 and PS 50 (District 4, East Harlem) you might not be able to tell the difference between the schools which are so far from each other geographically, but so close in terms of experience of the staff, poverty of the children, but also facing encroaching gentrification. Current and former students spoke passionately about losing their school. Teachers exposed the faux help they received, often consisting of outside consultants pushing useless professional development (PD) (how many years of experience do you need before they stop hocking you with PD up the kazoo?) instead of infusing real resources like more teachers to reduce class size and guidance counselors and social workers to address the learning issues connected to the socio-economic gap poor kids face that hinders their progress. And the point has been made in both PS 42 and PS 50 – why are test scores the end-all and be-all while not counting progress made in closing that social gap which is a pre-cursor to breaking the learning log-jam?

I will put links to a variety of videos from both the PS 50, PS 42 and the Feb. 28 PEP hearings online for those interested in seeing some of these dramas played out.

Those of us who have been involved in closing school stories for the past decade have seen a repeated pattern. School buildings are often coveted by charters. MS 53 is occupied by Eva Moskowitz’ Success Charter. A charter is going into PS 50, along with Central Park East 2, an elite k-8 school that is being moved from two current buildings it occupies. PS 50 was targeted for disruption by the DOE – the attack included not allowing new parents to register their kids so as to dump population and then claim no one wanted to go to the school, as insidious and dirty tactic one can imagine.

A side story is that the principal of CPE2, an elite much coveted school with a large waiting list – so they won’t accept the current kids at the school, sided with the District 4 Superintendent Alexandra Estrella in a major political dispute and is being rewarded for her loyalty by getting the building. Also, across the street from PS 50 is a massive building housing another Moskowitz school. And I also noticed scaffolding going up around PS 50 to make massive improvements for the wealthier future occupants. Teachers complained that money that should have gone to help the kids instead went to cosmetics like expensive paint jobs. Note that PS 42 not too long ago had a beautiful extension attached to the old school. Why waste improvements on poor kids?

While the attendance numbers at PS 50 are significantly better t(88%) han at PS 42, their numbers are worse. Yet in the first year they tripled their reading outcome from 5% to 16% but the next year fell back to 12%. The major difference I heard at PS 50 was that the principal installed  when the school became a renewal school, Esther Quinones, was a vicious terminator of teachers, attacked parents, openly lied to people, etc. – the often usual tactic used to rid the school of high priced teachers (younger, non-tenured are easy to remove – discontinue them). Imagine, in the midst of renewal and good outcomes the first year, the principal turned her guns on the staff, most likely on the orders of Superintendent Estrella, a known practitioner of that practice. At the hearing I read letters from teachers and parents talking about these policies.

One other interesting aspect about PS 50 is that its closing will eradicate one of the last memories of the man the school is named after: Vito Anthony Marcantonio (1902-1954) the most radical congressman in the 20^th century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Marcantonio) , an open communist who makes Bernie Sanders look like a right winger. Despite that, Marcantonio, who was always on the side of the poor and fought for social justice, was consistently elected to Congress by a mixed bag of Italian immigrants (and others) and the Puerto Ricans in the community of East Harlem. An interesting mix.  Marcantonio became a member of the American Labor Party in the late 30s. He was so popular, he often won the Democratic and Republican primaries, as well as the American Labor Party endorsement. He was finally defeated in 1950 due to the growing McCarthyism. (Also see: Rebel in the House: The Life and Times of Vito Marcantonio | John J ...

https://monthlyreview.org/.../rebel-in-the-house-the-life-and-times-of-vito-marcantoni.)

So the closing of PS 50 aside from all the other aspects, has this added wrinkle.

Read more Norm, if you can stand it, at ednotesonline.com.

Dear Blabby: A.I. and Me

If the evaluator cannot reliably tell the machine from... The Turing Test

 ...thanks to the rise of algorithms that can quickly learn tasks on their own, research in conversational computing is advancing.... NY Times

In a natural language computer class I took at the CUNY grad center in the summer of 1988, the project I chose was to create a program to emulate a love advice columnist. I called it "Dear Blabby," using the famous Eliza therapist program, written in the mid-60s, as a model.

The most famous script, DOCTOR, simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist and used rules, dictated in the script, to respond with non-directional questions to user inputs. As such, ELIZA was one of the first chatterbots, but was also regarded as one of the first programs capable of passing the Turing Test. [There is some question about this claim].

ELIZA's creator, Joseph Weizenbaum regarded the program as a method to show the superficiality of communication between man and machine, but was surprised by the number of individuals who attributed human-like feelings to the computer program, including Weizenbaum’s secretary. the human, the machine is said to have passed the test.... While ELIZA was capable of engaging in discourse, ELIZA could not converse with true understanding.[5] However, many early users were convinced of ELIZA’s intelligence and understanding, despite Weizenbaum’s insistence to the contrary.

If you want to know how Eliza did that I'll have to charge you-- though now I could code my way out of a paper bag -- I might have to check with Jeff Kaufman.

Anyway, in that summer of 1988 I did get some kind of conversation going in Dear Blabby, which was trying to converse like your bubba would, but didn't get as far as I hoped, spending long hours in the computer lab using the LISP language, which was a heavy load for the desktops we were using, which made for very slow going. [That summer my sabbatical year followed by a year off without pay was ending, so I may have been under some duress and needed a therapist program myself.]

Every time I see a story about artificial intelligence I want to write a piece on my own experiences with AI 30 years ago when I was going for my MA in computer science at Brooklyn College and CUNY. Many of the courses I chose were AI, which was looking like gold in the mid-late 80s before crashing in the late 90s. There were many sub-fields in AI in the 80s - natural language, artificial vision, machine learning, expert systems and more.

My final courses were pattern recognition (the basis of artificial vision) and one of the earliest classes in neural networks, which is the hottest thing going (I kept my textbooks but lost them in Super Sandy 5 years ago. If only I didn't go back to teaching in 1987 and stuck with it I may have been a contender.

Today's business section of the NY Times has an interesting piece,  To Give A.I. the Gift of Gab, Silicon Valley Needs to Offend You
which talks about chatbots - the hot rage on all your help lines.

These systems do not simply repeat what is said to them or respond with canned answers. They teach themselves to carry on a conversation by carefully analyzing reams of real human dialogue. At Microsoft, for instance, a new system learns to chat by analyzing thousands of online discussions pulled from services like Twitter and Reddit. When you send this bot a message, it chooses a response after generating dozens of possibilities and ranking each according to how well it mirrors those human conversations.

Alan Turing defined the border being breached between humans and computers in

The Turing Test - wikipedia

The Turing test, developed by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses.

Let me know when you can't tell the computer from a human (Where are you Hal?). It may not be long in coming. And then there are the robots coming which will replace us all as we head for Mars with Elon -- but that one another time.

And how about Arnold and his pals in the first Terminator movie where the aim is to wipe out the human race. Thank you very much. I think there's a good chance we won't need robots to do that.

West Virginia Mountain mamma, take me home Country roads

ICEUFT Blog

TEACHERS AND OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYEES STRIKE IN WEST VIRGINIA; COULD WE DO THAT IN NYC? -
I see some of my colleagues salivating over the state teacher strike in West Virginia. Don't hold you breath here in NY. Maybe when the conditions of teachers are back to what they were in the 1950s when desperation drove teachers to unionize and be willing to break the law (it was outlawed when they first struck) - I was a high school senior - and not long after I was a teacher 5 years later striking on my first days on the job, followed by 3 strikes the next year and another 7 years later. It's not just the Taylor Law, which also guarantees our old contracts stay in place until a new one is negotiated -- and dues checkoff is another bribe to unions not to strike. It's what people have to lose. Top salary will soon be reaching $118,000. That's like walking around with a target on your back and with so many leaving this current generation may mostly not make it that far.

Here are 2 articles on the strike - Diane Ravitch and background from Mike Antonucci on the right who actually feels teacher strikes should not be outlawed - the libertarian view -- and he gives us some good background on the relationships between the 3 unions involved. It is posted at the horrible 74.

I always find Mike's takes from the right interesting as they touch on my own libertarian tendencies. That the NEA and AFT affiliates have been fighting is interesting news, as is the story of the disaffiliation -- usually the AFT goes after the disaffiliated with guns blazing.

Just Say No to Teacher No-Strike Laws

Three unions representing public school employees in West Virginia announced a two-day walkout this Thursday and Friday to protest low pay and health insurance benefits.
Solidarity among the three is significant, given that they have been at one another’s throats for years. AFT West Virginia and the West Virginia Education Association continued to battle for members and influence long after National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers affiliates in other states called a cease-fire. And the independent West Virginia School Service Personnel Association once belonged to AFT but disaffiliated in 2015.
The unions stated that an “overwhelming” majority of school employees across the state authorized the job action, though it failed to release numbers on votes or turnout.
There are several issues and complications for all involved.

Click here to read the rest.
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West Virginia: Teachers Strike Across the State for Pay, Health Care

by dianeravitch

West Virginia teachers went out on strike across the state, closing down every public school.

“Teachers across West Virginia walked off the job Thursday amid a dispute over pay and benefits, causing more than 277,000 public school students to miss classes even as educators swarmed the state Capitol in Charleston to protest.

“All 55 counties in the state closed schools during Thursday’s work stoppage, Alyssa Keedy, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Education, said.
 “Work stoppages by public employees are not lawful in West Virginia and will have a negative impact on student instruction and classroom time,” West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Steven Paine said in a statement this week. “Families will be forced to seek out alternative safe locations for their children, and our many students who depend on schools for daily nutrition will face an additional burden. I encourage our educators to advocate for the benefits they deserve, but to seek courses of action that have the least possible disruption for our students.”

“Data from the National Education Association show that in 2016, West Virginia ranked 48th in average teacher salaries. Only Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Dakota sat below it in the rankings, which included 50 states and the District.

UPDATED: Rally Feb. 21 at Tweed at 11 AM, School Scope: Similarities in Proposed Closing of Local PS 42, PS 50M (East Harlem) Expose DOE Misinformation

Here are some photos of the rally from Gloria:

I wrote this column for the Feb. 16 edition of The WAVE but it didn't make it in. I expect it to be in the Feb. 23 edition.
Also note that there will be a rally against closing schools today at 11 AM at Tweed. Unfortunately I'm stuck at home waiting for a delivery so I can't make it.

School Scope: Similarities in Proposed Closing of Local PS 42, PS 50M (East Harlem) Expose DOE Misinformation

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 12PM

I’m heading over to the PS 42 hearing and NAACP press conference later today – look for coverage in this week’s paper, which last week featured a front page piece by Ralph Mancini on the MS 53 hearing: “Teachers say they aren’t buying rationale to close MS 53.” Hell, yes, no one should buy what they are selling when they close schools, for, behind it all is the goal of dumping often higher cost teachers and low-performing students and forcing parents to send their kids further away to school in the future. Behind many school closings is gentrification – the attempt to remake a local school to be more attractive to wealthier people moving into poor neighborhoods.

Last night I went up to East 101St just off the FDR Drive and overlooking the East River to tape the PS 50 hearing and also to speak up for them as a member of MORE-CASCADE --- Coalition Against School Closings, Colocations, and Displacement Everywhere –it’s a mouthful. We intend to attend the February 28 Panel for Educational Policy vote on 14 school closings at Murry Bergtraum HS in as much force as we can muster to try to get all the schools to stand up together and say NO.

If I swapped videos from PS 42 and PS 50 (District 4, East Harlem) you might not be able to tell the difference between the schools which are so far from each other geographically, but so close in terms of experience of the staff, poverty of the children, but also facing encroaching gentrification. Current and former students spoke passionately about losing their school. Teachers exposed the faux help they received, often consisting of outside consultants pushing useless professional development (PD) (how many years of experience do you need before they stop hocking you with PD up the kazoo?) instead of infusing real resources like more teachers to reduce class size and guidance counselors and social workers to address the learning issues connected to the socio-economic gap poor kids face that hinders their progress. And the point has been made in both PS 42 and PS 50 – why are test scores the end-all and be-all while not counting progress made in closing that social gap which is a pre-cursor to breaking the learning log-jam?

I will put links to a variety of videos from both the PS 50, PS 42 and the Feb. 28 PEP hearings online for those interested in seeing some of these dramas played out.

Those of us who have been involved in closing school stories for the past decade have seen a repeated pattern. School buildings are often coveted by charters. MS 53 is occupied by Eva Moskowitz’ Success Charter. A charter is going into PS 50, along with Central Park East 2, an elite k-8 school that is being moved from two current buildings it occupies. PS 50 was targeted for disruption by the DOE – the attack included not allowing new parents to register their kids so as to dump population and then claim no one wanted to go to the school, as insidious and dirty tactic one can imagine.

A side story is that the principal of CPE2, an elite much coveted school with a large waiting list – so they won’t accept the current kids at the school, sided with the District 4 Superintendent Alexandra Estrella in a major political dispute and is being rewarded for her loyalty by getting the building. Also, across the street from PS 50 is a massive building housing another Moskowitz school. And I also noticed scaffolding going up around PS 50 to make massive improvements for the wealthier future occupants. Teachers complained that money that should have gone to help the kids instead went to cosmetics like expensive paint jobs. Note that PS 42 not too long ago had a beautiful extension attached to the old school. Why waste improvements on poor kids?

While the attendance numbers at PS 50 are significantly better t(88%) han at PS 42, their numbers are worse. Yet in the first year they tripled their reading outcome from 5% to 16% but the next year fell back to 12%. The major difference I heard at PS 50 was that the principal installed when the school became a renewal school, Esther Quinones, was a vicious terminator of teachers, attacked parents, openly lied to people, etc. – the often usual tactic used to rid the school of high priced teachers (younger, non-tenured are easy to remove – discontinue them). Imagine, in the midst of renewal and good outcomes the first year, the principal turned her guns on the staff, most likely on the orders of Superintendent Estrella, a known practitioner of that practice. At the hearing I read letters from teachers and parents talking about these policies.

One other interesting aspect about PS 50 is that its closing will eradicate one of the last memories of the man the school is named after: Vito Anthony Marcantonio (1902-1954) the most radical congressman in the 20th century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Marcantonio) , an open communist who makes Bernie Sanders look like a right winger. Despite that, Marcantonio, who was always on the side of the poor and fought for social justice, was consistently elected to Congress by a mixed bag of Italian immigrants (and others) and the Puerto Ricans in the community of East Harlem. An interesting mix. Marcantonio became a member of the American Labor Party in the late 30s. He was so popular, he often won the Democratic and Republican primaries, as well as the American Labor Party endorsement. He was finally defeated in 1950 due to the growing McCarthyism. (Also see: Rebel in the House: The Life and Times of Vito Marcantonio | John J ...
https://monthlyreview.org/.../rebel-in-the-house-the-life-and-times-of-vito-marcantoni.)

So the closing of PS 50 aside from all the other aspects, has this added wrinkle.

Read more Norm, if you can stand it, at ednotesonline.com.

Video: PS 42 Chapter Leader Condemns Closing,Teachers Turn Backs on Dep Chanc Rose

They create new schools, only they're for other people's children. -------Paraphrasing speech by PS 42 Chapter Leader John Krattinger, who has exerted extraordinary leadership since the school closing was announced. John was a teacher at Rockaway's MS 180 over a decade ago when it was closed and replaced by the exclusive Scholars Academy where PS 42 kids would get not get accepted.

https://vimeo.com/256104242




https://vimeo.com/256107973

We’re Losing Our Schools - Rockaway Youth Task Force

“When school districts close schools, they are sending a message to low-income students of color, which is, ‘We’re going to give up on you, rather than support you.’ It is understandable that the DOE may assume that phasing out a school is actually improving the schools in the long term, but what about the current students?”

To many advocates, it is clear that our education system is fundamentally broken and requires a deep restructuring that paves the way for future students to achieve better educational outcomes. Despite these noble intentions, the upheaval of closing an existing school and replacing it with one or more new schools creates instability, uncertainty and a lack of steady resources for current students. In the movement to end educational inequity, we must seek solutions that support the success of all students, tomorrow and today. To accomplish this, we must shift our approach from relying on metrics and test scores as the exclusive measures of student success to a more holistic approach that accounts for the needs and experiences of each student. This means increased guidance counselors, college advisors, drug abuse counselors, and mental health resources. This requires a shift from harmful school policing practices and school suspensions to restorative justice and anti-bias initiatives. Although the Renewal School Program encompasses strategies for some of these goals, not all of them are given the investment our students deserve.

An article posted by the Rockaway Youth Task Force soon after the Rockaway school closings were announced in December.


We’re Losing Our Schools

http://rytf.org/were-losing-our-schools/

Albert Shanker, Image and Reality - Kit Wainer and Marian Swedlow

Kit and Marian, who were founders of Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) in 1992, a caucus that merged with ICE and others to form MORE in 2012. I posted this piece with some comments back in 2007 soon after Unity Caucus attacked ICE-TJC pres candidate Kit Wainer for being a socialist.

They wrote this 21 years ago when Shanker died. Sean Ahern posted the article on the MORE listserve. While I don't sign on to the entire analysis, most of it is pertinent, especially the UFT recent waffling on support for the MORE reso on Black Lives Matter and the argument that the Shanker led UFT made the right decision to not condemn the Vietnam war. I was a 2nd year teacher in 1968 and did not cross the picket line, though I was unaware of the deeper issues. I also was on strike in 1967 and 1975, when I was very active in the opposition to Shanker and opposed the settlement of that strike that led to the layoffs of 15,000 teachers.

Both issues, the UFT and race and the war are touched on in this essay, as are the connections of Shanker to ed deform in its earliest manifestation in the early 80s. Don't forget - Shanker created the concept of charter schools.

Check out the review Vera Pavone and I wrote for New Politics of the Shanker bio: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neo-Con where we showed the roots of union support for ed deform were sowed by Shanker and Randi was just following in his footsteps.

Sean was critical of our take: Sean Ahern: Shanker as NeoCon?
The NY Times obit: Albert Shanker, 68, Combative Leader

Albert Shanker, Image and Reality

— Mirian Swerdlow and Kit Adam Wainer

THE DEATH OF Albert Shanker on February 22, 1997 provoked a flurry of eulogistic praise both inside and outside the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Presidents, think tank experts and AFL-CIO leaders held in high regard the man who had presided over the national teachers’ union for twenty-three years.

Although the AFT is less than half the size of its rival, the National Education Association, Shanker had become the most widely known figure in teacher unionism.

Farina Goes to Rockaway to Sell Replacment School; Most Parents Boycott Visit

Farina outside PS 42 - where did everybody go?

"Fariña’s 12-minute speech was followed by a QandA session during which the chancellor’s team of experts replied to issues including whether or not the incoming teachers would not only be qualified to succeed in their roles, but if they could also “relate” to the student population.

DOE representative Melissa Harris responded that an “exhaustive” round of interviews would take place. Earlier in the gathering, Fariña also maintained that all current PS/MS 42 teachers would be invited to reapply and that some would be afforded priority status..... Ralph Mancini, The WAVE

Priority status my ass. We know what this closing is all about -- dump the teachers.

When Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Rose announced at the Feb. 13 public hearing that Farina would come to the school on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 4 PM as the school was closing down for the mid-winter break there was a bit of rolling of the eyes. Was she clueless or was this intentional to keep teachers away and avoid being questioned, knowing how quickly school evacuate on the eve of vacation?

I tipped the crew over at The WAVE that Farina was coming and that there won't be many, if any, parents there to hear her. Assistent Editor Ralph Mancini was in the building.

Sources say there was some pissed offtedness coming from her highness and her aides making some disparaging comments about parents not caring instead of facing the reality that they boycotted. If they didn't care, how come so many showed up at the hearing just 2 days before?

but then a two or three parents straggled in. Farina saw how small class sizes can be so convenient, as she was apparently able to sit at a table with the parents and explain her vision for the new schools replacing PS 42. That most parents did not show up indicates that they don't want their school to close and that they want to keep the teachers who their kids have gotten to know so well.

Did the strong UFT response at the hearing put pressure on Farina to drag her way to Rockaway on the eve of a vacation? (Video- PS 42 Hearing - UFT Puts Skin in the Game).

Lots more video to come.
Here is Ralph's story which appeared online. Also see his front-page piece on the Feb. 13 hearing - PS 42: “We Will Prevail! -The WAVE Front Page.

PS 42: “We Will Prevail! -The WAVE Front Page

Great story by WAVE Assistant Editor, Ralph Mancini. I'll be posting video footage as I process it.

A few previous Ed Notes posts on PS 42:
PS 42 Hearing - UFT Puts Skin in the Game
School Scope: PS/MS 42 Closing Drama –

“We Will Prevail!” 

School community refuses to give in on PS/MS 42 closure

Ralph Mancini  | on February 15, 2018

[Chapter Leader] John Krattinger led the charge against DOE forces that are looking to shut down PS/MS 42 at Tuesday night’s public hearing. Photo By Ralph Mancini

A green-shirted cavalcade of teachers, students, and other community members lobbied Department of Education officials to keep PS/MS 42 open during a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

United Federation of Teachers (UFT) chapter leader John Krattinger rallied the troops by charging the DOE of blatantly silencing people’s voices by failing to immediately notify elected officials of their decision to shutter the Arverne-based facility, also known as The Robert Vernam School.

“If elected officials weren’t notified, what makes you think they’re telling us the truth?” asked Krattinger in rhetorical fashion while also mentioning that NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña issued positive reviews of PS/MS 42 less than 12 months ago.

“The truth has reared its ugly head—gentrification has come to zip code 11692,” he exclaimed. “They want to take it away from our kids and give it to other kids,” Krattinger added, referring to what many have called the DOE’s agenda to see PS/MS 42 closed to clear the lane for two new incoming charter schools that will reportedly be zoned for new homeowners and apartment dwellers in the more affluent Arverne By The Sea community.

Those living in the poorer surrounding communities would be left out in the cold, according to Krattinger and several other teachers.

The school activist continued his rant by calling attention to the statistics that single out the Beach 66th Street location as the sole Renewal school among 20 others with a rating of “good.”

To that end, Krattinger and other faculty members mentioned that the numbers indicate that PS/MS 42 has shown 122 percent growth in English Language Arts (ELA) over the past school year and a 166 percent surge in math over the same stretch.

Undaunted by the DOE’s claims that the school’s level-one percentages among its student population in both ELA (50 percent) and math (60 percent) far exceeds borough-wide totals, Krattinger promised those in attendance that he and his fellow teachers “have moved mountains and will continue to do so.”

“Mark my words,” he declared, “we will prevail.”

Parents also weighed in, including Rhonda Williams, Lechelle Gulley and Millisa Lenihan, who felt as though their sons and daughters were being treated like second-class citizens.

Attendees at the PS/MS 42 meeting vociferously opposed the DOE’s decision to close their school by shouting, “Save 42” in unison. Photo By Ralph Mancini

Williams peppered the DOE panel with questions regarding the type of staff that will be slated to replace the current faculty staff.
She wondered why her school was on the list of sites that are slated to be replaced when data proves that PS/MS 42 is ahead of six other K-8 Renewal schools from an overall performance and progress perspective.

“How about giving us some help? How about giving us the proper education other schools are given? It’s ridiculous. Our children can learn. They’re not failures,” she insisted.

Fifth-graders Hasson Smith and Demetrius Weekes both professed their love for their environment and their teachers, as well as seventh-grader

Leilani Dyer, who felt her school wasn’t offered ample time to show real improvement.

Fellow seventh-grader Nigel Adu, however, elicited a hearty round of applause for relating how his teachers have guided him to persevere and overcome an assortment of obstacles he once had as a special education student.

“If this school wasn’t here, I don’t think I would be where I am right now,” he concluded at the end of his allotted time at the podium.

Community activist Queen Makkada lobbed a series of verbal attacks against Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña by calling her a “bully” and “law breaker” along with apprising the crowd that the DOE leader didn’t follow civil rights law in endorsing multiple school closures in Rockaway.

Toward the end of the meeting, Danielle McGuire, a PS/MS 42 teacher, expounded on the topic of time that was previously introduced by Dyer. She noted the site’s governing agency had promised to afford the school three years to grow and develop, but has now reversed course.

Less than 24 hours after Tuesday night’s hearing, The Wave learned that Fariña would be visiting PS/MS 42 Thursday afternoon to unveil her plans for a new facility slated to supplant the current school.

When Krattinger was contacted by The Wave to comment on the chancellor’s appearance, he reported that neither teachers nor parents would attend the presentation.

He further remarked that the DOE’s last-minute decision to schedule a meeting at 4 p.m. was another “dirty deal” on their part to keep faculty staff away as the school heads into its mid-winter break that same day.

An official verdict on the fate of PS/MS 42 and other Renewal schools takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Mary Bergtram High School, located at 411 Pearl St. in Manhattan. The event will kick off at 6 p.m.

PS 42 Hearing - UFT Puts Skin in the Game

https://vimeo.com/255732748

Leroy Barr at PS 42 hearing

What a remarkable hearing last night at PS 42. I have some amazing video. Deputy chancellor Elizabeth Rose was on the dais -- pretty remarkable - and Farina is supposed to come to the school this Thursday at 4PM to explain to parents about the new schools being opened. All apparently due to the firestorm the school community has created, which has led to an enormous presence of the UFT, especially from the Queens borough office, now led by Amy Arundel -- and I give her credit for the response. Almost the entire office staff were at the hearing last night.

What a pleasure to interact with some of these parents, some of whom I've gotten to know since I began covering the story.

Leroy Barr, who has been attacked - unfairly some believe (Mike Schirtzer on BLM Reso: A Plea for More Unity in Our Union)
- for his position on Black Lives Matter week, stood up strong for the black lives being ignored by the DOE at PS 42, which is 72% black. I'll note that many of Barr's critics have not turned up at one closing school hearing, where black lives matter is under attack by the DOE, as of this point. See -Virtue Signalling.
 
When Rose began to speak, the entire teaching staff put tape over their mouths and turned their backs to her.

Parent comments were spectacular comments. The UFT chapter leader said the new schools were not for our children.

Rose at the end for the first time seemed to guarantee every child in the school a seat but it was fuzzy if that was only for kids who are in the zone. Some parents from other zoned schools raised that point.

When someone shouted out about the teachers, Rose ignored them -- kids can stay but teachers not --- it is so clear what this closing is about -- parents brought up questions about new teachers coming into the neighborhood who don't know the children.

The NAACP made comments about going to court for civil rights violations. Rose squirmed a bit at that.

More videos to come over the weekend and I will post them as I process them, but off for a few days of Valentine Day celebration.

Virtue Signalling

The NY Times refereed to this term in the Feb. 12  F section where they listed the Alt-right vocabulary. The alt-right uses the term virtue-signal to mock liberals who conspicuously express left-wing values, primarily for the purposes of impressing other liberals.

Wikipedia defines V-S this way.
Virtue signalling is the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing standing within a social group.[1] The term was first used in signalling theory, to describe any behavior that could be used to signal virtue—especially piety among the religious. [2] In recent years, the term has become more commonly used as a pejorative characterization by commentators to criticize what they regard as empty, or superficial support of certain political views, and also used within groups to criticize their own members for valuing outward appearance over substantive action.

Oh boy, as an obseerver of the left, this strikes a chord. But then again I've been guilty of v-s myself.

Another alt-right term is snowflake -- a weak or overly sensitive liberal. This is especially prevalent in younger generations, who blanch at any hint of conflict or contentious debate. All  must be springtime and roses. Only optimism, never pessimism. Everything's comin' up roses. Some of the excuses or rationals when things go wrong are laugh out loud funny. But I have not been immune to snowflake behavior of my own.

I've heard baby boomer women in certain circles I will not name who roll their eyes at what they see are some of the excesses of the me-too movement.

I ain't touching that one.