The Top Labor Battles in West Virginia History

I've been so busy with the closing schools issues I haven't written much about the enormous teacher strike in West Virginia. (James has done a bunch of stuff on the ICE blog.)


Note how the so-called union leaders from the AF and NEA "settled" but rank and file were outraged and haven't gone back yet.
Mike Antonucci had an interesting piece on the different unions in West Virginia -- I can't find the link but will update later when I try to unravel some of the internal union yin-yang between leadership and rank and file.

Michael Fiorillo has been posting a batch of articles which I will post a few at a time.

Here is one today with Michael's comment about Maddow and the MSNBC neo-liberal crowd which ignores unions while focusing on Russia.

Fiorillo:

Some more info you won’t see on Rachel Maddow, and from the business press…
Well, at least Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have come out strongly for the West Virginia teachers

Oh, wait...

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/03/west-virginia-labor-history-teachers-strike

 The Top Labor Battles in West Virginia History

By

Branko Marcetic

West Virginia has been the site of mass labor militancy many times before. Here are some of the highlights.

West Virginia has been rocked over the past nine days by a massive teachers’ strike that has closed all 680 public schools in the state’s fifty-five counties. And it’s been contagious: energized by the West Virginian example, Oklahoma teachers are now planning a statewide strike of their own.

The ongoing strike is neither the first time the state has been a site of mass labor militancy, nor the first time a labor battle has spilled from the state’s borders and spread across the country. West Virginia’s history is littered with pitched labor battles, from unionization efforts put down by violence to agitation for better work conditions. The following are just a few of the most significant examples.

[Putting this one ahead of the others--]

The 1990 Teachers’ Strike

Almost exactly twenty-eight years before the current strike, thousands of West Virginia teachers and librarians began their first statewide strike, involving teachers from forty-seven of its fifty-five counties. Frustrated with the second-lowest teacher salaries in the country (only Mississippi was worse) — and rejecting the state’s offer of a 5 percent raise — teachers flouted the state law against collective bargaining for twelve days before reaching a settlement with the government. 

Teachers got a pay increase, as well as training and support programs and the establishment of faculty senates. But by 2016, the average salary for a West Virginia teacher was still the forty-eighth lowest in the country.

1

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Breaking: De Blasio Taps Jared Kushner to be Next Chancellor

My friend Joel Hamberger, who has deep roots at the DOE,  has informed me, from San Diego of  all places, that a reliable source told him that Kushner, while still working to solve the problems in the Middle East, has decided to tackle a problem considered even more intractable, running the NYC school system. Facing possible bankruptcy, the lure of 350K and a place to live has proven too tempting to turn down the offer.

Analysis: The Story Behind the PEP Rockaway Vote - It Came Down to One Guy Abstaining

In stunning rebuke, oversight board rejects two of de Blasio’s school closure plans... Chalkbeat

I don't agree with the hysteria of the Chalkbeat headline. The two Rockaway schools, PS/MS 42 and MS 53 slated for closing got a last minute reprieve at 2:30 AM Thursday morning when mayoral appointee and Queens resident Isaac Carmignani, who voted to close the other schools on the list*, abstained on the two Rockaway schools.

Why?

Let me try to make some sense of what occurred.

MORE was in the house with the CASCADE Crew

My guess, fueled by my sources, is that Carmignani is ambitious and rumored to be planning to run for office in Queens and didn't want to alienate Melinda Katz and the Rockaway politicians. As to the UFT, he would need them for a run, but given his vote to close other schools, how will the UFT view him?  Otherwise, his voting pattern to close all the other schools makes no sense. And don't forget, he didn't actually vote to keep the school open, but abstained. (I think of the Vince Lombardi comment that a tie is like kissing your sister.)

The Queens UFT was strong for the Rockaway schools and may have impacted, but my sense is that Borough Pres Katz was the key and the PS 42 rally outside her office a few weeks ago had an impact. When all 30 of us piled into a meeting upstairs it was impressive and we got to touch base with PEP member Deborah Dillingham, who led the charge at the PEP meeting.

The UFT didn't fight very hard for the other schools - other than possibly PS 92x (according to a UFT official I spoke to but not confirmed -- I didn't see any Bronx politicians standing up. As for PS 50, the Manhattan UFT did nothing with Dist Rep Servia Sliva, the Supt's buddy, making a tepid speech at their hearing. Man Borough Pres Gale Brewer made a speech and Manhattan pols spoke up for Health and Sciences.

[I'm including a reference to the voting put out by Leonie in case you get lost in this commentary: Leonie posts PEP Votes on Closures and Co-locations.

[*HS of Health and Sciences was given a postponement by unanimous vote after an appeal from one of the mayoral appointees.]

In my speech at the Feb. 28 (or early morning March 1) PEP, I pointed out that all it would take to change the lives of thousands of teachers, students and parents was for just 2 mayoral PEP people to stand up for what is right. There were much better speeches than mine and I will be putting some of them up, but as the videographer and editor, I'm taking some privilege.



https://vimeo.com/258283678

And  Isaac and Elzora Cleveland actually did it.

Leonie posts PEP Votes on Closures and Co-locations

Leonie has some good info.

My Notes:
I'm about to post an analysis but wanted to post this for reference before I do that. I'm trying to figure out why certain closures were unanimous and others had the support of all borough people (5 votes) and mayoral appointee Cleveland. There is a story behind each school. PS 92 was out there in force but got shut out.

 Felisa Rincon de Gautier - Harris Lirtzman taught at and the place is a disaster and he argues it should be closed. If the DOE puts in rotten admin after rotten admin, it is like the foundation of a building is removed and it just can't stand. So note the 13-0 vote to close. Same with  Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation - the school where one kid killed another. Same with Academy for Social Action, KAPPA IV, P.S. 50 Vito Marcantonio, School for Social Change, 

P.S. 25K Eubie Blake School was 8-5 for closure.

P.S. 92- 7-6

Urban Science Academy 7-6
 
From Leonie:

I’m  hearing questions and some confusion about the votes on closures etc. at Wed. Nights PEP meeting 

So I thought I’d share.

BP means borough president appointee, EC is Elzora 

Cleveland and IC is Isaac Carmignani both mayoral appointees

MK is Manhattan appointee Michael Kraft and MZA is mayoral appointee Miguelina Zorrilla-Aristy.

List of PEP members here http://schools.nyc.gov/AboutUs/leadership/PEP/members/default.htm

Including link to their Emails.

Rockaway Schools PS/MS 42 and MS 53: Stayin’ Alive! - The WAVE

More great work by Ralph Mancini who shlepped out from Rockaway to cover the story once again. He asked me to text him the outcome of the vote when he left about 11:30. I left just before 2 AM and had assumed both Rockaway schools were dead when a procedural vote to withdraw the schools made by Queens rep Deborah Dellingham appointed by Boro Pres Melinda Katz, went down by a vote of 7-5, with all mayoral appointees voting against and all borough reps for.

So I left. About 2:15 AM while I'm on the 4 train headed for Atlantic Ave my phone rings. I figure it's my wife to yell at me again (she had called at midnight). But instead it was Jaime from PS 42 telling me about the 6-6-1 vote. She had offered me a seat home on their bus but my car was in Brooklyn. I was so bummed I wasn't on that bus ride at 3 AM -- I bet the wheels never hit the road.

I still need to talk to Jaime, who is a hero in this epic struggle in the eyes of many, before writing my analysis of what may have happened. She is a force of nature.

The guy in the photo, Jack Angelou, is one fantastic guy, someone I would be proud to march with and go into battle anywhere. I want Jack in my foxhole, along with Jaime and John (Kattinger, CL - a Unity guy who I developed enormous respect for) and Sarah and Kevin - a most amazing parent (PS 42 Parents Speak Up for Teachers and Their Children).

Stayin’ Alive!

PEP vote deadlock keeps Rockaway schools open

Ralph Mancini | on March 01, 2018 
https://www.rockawave.com/articles/stayin-alive/

PS/MS 42 educator Jack Angelou lets the stats speak for themselves in making a case for the survival of his school. 

Photo By Ralph Mancini

Carvalho Turns Down Chancellor Job After Watching Feed of Last Night's Raucus, Packed PEP Meeting

Satire alert. But who knows? During the meeting we heard he was taking the job. After the meeting, which ended at 2:30 AM, he wasn't. I think the audience booing Farina after someone congratulated her on her career may have been the final straw. Why ruin a good reputation and enter this den?

In a tweet I compared him to Bill Belichik. Jet fans know what I mean.

School Scope: On Closing Schools, Janus, and West Virginia

For the March 2 edition www.rockawave.com which I submitted yesterday morning. I am working on a PEP posting - the meeting went till 2:30 AM - I ran out of batteries at 1:30 and left before 2. Rockaway schools saved for now. That will take some analysis.

School Scope: On Closing Schools, Janus, and West Virginia

Feb. 28, 9 AM

Tonight hundreds of people will be at the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting at Murry Bergtraum HS in Manhattan protesting the closing of thirteen schools, including Rockaway’s MS 53 and PS/MS 42. There will be a rally and press conference by the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) and MORE-CASCADE (the group I work with politically) at 5:30.

Media Advisory: Hundreds of parents, teachers, students and community members rally before the PEP Hearing, Asking that Panel votes NO on RENEWAL School Closures

-->

Media Advisory

Community of RENEWAL Schools                            
For Immediate Release

Contact: Angelica Otero                           February 28, 2018

Hundreds of parents, teachers, students and community members rally before the PEP Hearing, Asking that Panel votes NO on RENEWAL School Closures

Angry and frustrated with the Department of Education´s lack of response and support for RENEWAL Schools parents, teachers, students and community members across NYC turn to the Panel for Educational Policy to hold the DOE accountable and vote NO on the closure of RENEWAL schools. “Who is held accountable for school closures?  Why do our school communities have to pay for the poor leadership and lack of support form the department of education?” says Kaliris Salas Ramirez, a community resident in Harlem. 

The Department of Education has invested millions of dollars in the Community School model to transform RENEWAL schools.  But this model takes time and requires a real partnership with the community.  Neither of which the DOE is willing to invest in. “As a parent leader and father to 2 children, I can see first hand that our school is doing well and that we can continue to improve.  But improvement cannot continue if the school is closed, the way to improve is continued hard work addressing the areas where we are not meeting standard,” states Rosendo Mejia a parent at HS for Health Career and Sciences.

In addition turning a failing school around requires resources which the DOE is not providing say parents.  Many of the RENEWAL schools have a high number of English Language Learners, students that require Special Education, students that live in transitional housing and other needs.  “We have 103 ELL students at MS 325 and only 2 ENL teachers, how can we turn the school around if we are not provided the resources we need,” comments, Nancy PA President of MS 325.

Rather than an investment in the RENEWAL schools program, the community is witnessing how these schools are being closed to make room for charters schools in their buildings.  Now the community is turning to the Panel who has the power to hold the DOE accountable and ensure the welfare of city schools and its students to vote NO on the proposed closures and ensure justice for NYC public school students. 

WHAT:           Rally and Press Conference calling the Panel for Educational Policy to vote NO on RENEWAL School´s Closures

WHEN:           Wednesday, February 28^th at 5:30PM

WHERE:         In front of the Murray Bergtraum High School

                        411 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10038

WHO:             Parents, youth and community members from MS 325, PS 50, PS322, PS42, CS 92 & MS 53 and HS for Health and Sciences

##

Come to the PEP - Closing Schools/Privatization A Bigger Threat Than Janus

If any Ed Notes readers are free tonight -- come to the PEP - join the pre-PEP rally at 5:30. A chance to thumb your nose at Farina's final PEP.

I will keep shouting this from the rooftops endlessly: That the closing of schools is politically, not educationally motivated. And further, it dovetails with the privatization movement, which is more dangerous to unionism than the Janus case -- note that there are no schools open in West Virginia, which is a right to work state. Yet they just won a 5% pay increase, more than double what they were offered.

(I imagine the response ultimately will be fast and furious -- load the state up with non-union charters and remove collective bargaining rights of teachers in whatever public schools are left standing.)

At the PEP meeting you will see some of the UFT leadership but not a massive outpouring of outrage with hundreds of UFT members, other than those being organized by MORE and AQE, which are holding a pre-PEP rally and press conference. You will see some schools filing law suits but not with the help of the UFT. The leadership either doesn't get it or is willfully turning away. They are fighting some selective battles based on where schools resist instead of taking a stand against ANY closing schools -- and ignoring the fact that they are being emptied for charter occupation in some cases or for gentrification -- while teachers are a major target.

What is ironic is how much more attention the UFT - and many of my colleagues in MORE - pay to Janus than to closing schools and the general privatization movement which is a bigger threat to unions.

Eva Moskowitz' 46 schools (and counting) plus other charters have taken away as many union jobs as the amount of dues that will be lost to Janus.

And just think of those teachers in the 13 schools about to be ATRd -- I wonder how many will be staying in the union?

MORE put this out

Come to the PEP Meeting Wed. Feb. 28

by morecaucusnyc

Murry Bertraum HS at 411 Pearl St, New York, NY

in Lower Manhattan, adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall

This Wed., Feb. 28, the Panel of Educational Policy (PEP ) will vote on the proposals to close 13 community schools. It is very important for as many folks as possible to attend this meeting to show support for the school communities that would be adversely affected by these actions.

There will be a press conference and rally against school closings before the PEP  at 5:30 and you can sign up to speak at the PEP at that time as well.

MORE/CASCADE (Coalition Against School Closings and Displacement Everywhere) is fighting against the current round of school closings in NYC. We are against labeling any schools as "failing," against Renewal and Receivership School programs that don't help, against targeting these schools for Charter Co-locations, and against closures. We see the connection between school closures and the privatization of our education system as well as the anti-displacement movement.

The next meeting of CASCADE,  Campaign Against School Closures and Against Displacement Everywhere. Is on March 10, at 2:30 at the CUNY Graduate Center.  All are welcome to come and strategize about how to stop school closings.

Video: PS 42 Parents Speak Up for Teachers and Their Children

I was on a bus a few weeks ago chatting with this parent of two PS 42 children. What an interesting guy. He is from Seattle (his family had gone to Garfield HS though he went to another high school) and works for some social service agency with at risk youth. Just listen to his speech as he calls bullshit on the DOE if scores rise from 6% to 30% in two years. He talks about investing in education and renewal schools are an investment that must be nurtured over many years. He ends with a story about how his daughter didn't really want to come or speak but he convinced her to just come and watch and after watching she got up and spoke --

The other parent on the video speaks right from her heart -- that the DOE is branding the children as failures. She talks about how the children need these teachers who they know.

There were a lot more parents who spoke at the hearing, some with heavy accents that are hard to make out in the poor sound. I will look for others to post though I expect there will be a lot more at tomorrow's PEP meeting. see the full PS 42 hearing - the kids are here at the end of part1: https://vimeo.com/257425761. Adults in part 2, including the UFT people. https://vimeo.com/257379612



https://vimeo.com/257817656

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

Share

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!

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.