A unique opportunity has been missed

A unique opportunity has been missed
by Norman Scott
April 20

(Posted to nyceducationnews listserve)

The May 9th demo scared the hell out of Bloomberg and would have made a national splash and focused attention on so many of the awful policies as a result of his control of the school system.
In addition, it looks like the back of the coalition forming to stand up to him may have been broken. Divide and conquer, used to perfection. With the cooperation of the UFT.

But the major parties involved are only interested in short-term solutions. Bloomberg hopes he's heading for Washington and so does Weingarten. Probably Klein too.

Andy Wolfe's analysis makes some good points:
"The mayor is intent on neutralizing his opposition and may now have succeeded. Political aides to the mayor fear that the education issue could undermine his nascent presidential bid.
The turmoil over the mayor's education initiatives also has led to serious questions being raised by key leaders in the city's business and philanthropic communities, up to now the mayor's strongest supporters..... In trying to sell the agreement to the uncomfortable parent groups, speaking on a conference call, Ms. Weingarten termed officials of the Department of Education as "absolute and complete assholes" who "can't be trusted."

Just the usual Weingarten rhetoric, words without substance. In the last 10 years I've had the occasion to use this expression so many times: Et tu, Randi?

Wolfe's point is right on:
"many parent leaders believed "we've got them where we want them," wanting no concessions, and preferred holding out for the state Legislature to modify — or eliminate — mayoral control. To them the mission was not to protect the interests of senior teachers looking to retain their ability to move about the system, but to "put the public back in the public schools."

One can't say this enough times. A unique opportunity has been missed.

The NYTimes today says this on the funding plan "compromise":
"The change means that when a veteran teacher paid nearly $100,000 a year retires, a principal can hire a similar teacher or hire a rookie for about $50,000 and use the remaining $50,000 for other expenses."

If this is true, will a principal chose a senior teacher or take the 50 grand? This seems like little change in reality.

The agreement still affects teachers who want to transfer, as that issue is still in grievance, and if you look at the rate of grievance victories (low single digits) that has little chance. With so many teachers already forced into retirement, the transfer issue is just as important. To have left this to the grievance process is a capitulation. People will say, "well in negotiations, there is give and take."

There has never been any give from Tweed, only take. That they sat down at all is a sign of weakness. Instead of negotiations, there should have been take it or leave it demands. The May 9 demo was long overdue.

The basic idiocy of the reorganization plan is still in place (ok, gang, everyone compete, total power in the hands of principals (all too many power hungry and pathological) - except they need permission of the district Superintendents).

The fact that the continued idiocies that will result from mayoral control seem guaranteed to continue in perpetuity. Nothing has changed for the people in the school community who have suffered over the past the past 5 years.

On class size, I don't care what they say or what committees they form. They do not believe that reducing class size will have the same impact spending money on professional development will. That is their mantra, inherited from Anthony Alvarado. They will say one thing and do another. To put any trust in Tweed given their record is a mistake.

It is funny that Tweed can say they are going to do A,B,C,D horrible things and when they modify D, everyone cheers like it's a victory.

From the very beginning, the focus on the reorganization rather than the entire package of control of the schools by big city mayors and its impact on the schools has made a deal like this likely. And when the leader, the UFT, is always looking to make a deal, the entire movement seemed doomed from the beginning. The groups left out of the process were used and will be very reluctant to get involved in the future. An historic opportunity to bring forces together to become an educational force has been lost. But long-time observers of how the UFT operates are not surprised.

From day one of BloomKlein, the UFT wanted a seat at the table and seems to have gotten it. They also are and will continue to support mayoral control. Their candidate Spitzer confirmed it today.

The strength of any coalition is in the numbers they can bring to the table.

As pointed out, "CEJ is one of the many Community Involvement organizations financed by the Annenberg Institute of Social Reform at Brown University, headed up by Norm Fruchter, formerly of NYU."

How do they get to be considered representative of local parent groups while groups actually elected (and which had passed resolutions against the reorganizations, no small reason why they weren't at the table) are left out? Who does Fruchter, who has supported much of what Tweed has done, represent?

Where was the "transparency" in these negotiations so many people on this list have been calling on the DOE to show?

The proper way to go about the process would have been to get reps together of all groups to decide on a strategy. But the UFT is always looking to make a deal even at the expense of some of its allies.

A unique opportunity has been missed.

Or has it?

There still is a need to hold a demo at Tweed. People opposed to this agreement should go to Tweed on the afternoon of May 9th and hold a silent vigil.

Deal Announced on Reorganization: Did BloomKlein Blink?

The UFT Exec. Bd. will meet on Monday, April 23 to rubber stamp the just announced deal between BloomKleinGarten and various so-called parent reps, though those actually elected in various regions seem to have been left out of the process. A special Delegate Assembly has been called for April 25 to do the same. A memo was sent out by the UFT saying the May 9th demo is postponed. Read: Cancelled. The chance to finally give people an opportunity to vent their anger and frustration at Tweed seems to have gone up in smoke.

It was increasingly clear. The foment concerning the May 9th demo at Tweed involving leading parent groups and the UFT as a follow-up to the Feb. 28th rally was putting BloomKlein on the defensive. The alliance of parents and teachers and community elements had to be broken by them. BloomKlein will get a reprieve from what would have turned out to be a embarrassment that would force the national and local media to reevaluate their adulation of the BloomKlein "reforms." What a lost opportunity to take the fight against the corporate model to the next stage. If you read all the way through this , you will also see that BloomKleinGarten have also driven a wedge between what looked like a united front that was forming. Divide and conquer used to perfection.

That rally, which was billed as a means to fight the reorganization for the 3rd time in 5 years rather than an attack on the negative impact of control of the school system in the hands of this mayor or any future mayor, could have been used as a springboard to force BloomKlein into further concessions. There is nothing in the agreement described below that reverses any of the incompetent, self-serving, misdirected, cruel, etc. policies that have so damaged the school system and many of the people - parents, teachers, children - in the educational community.

Except for a few instances, the wording is full of the kind of promises to consult, recommend, participate but contains little or no elements that bind the very people at Tweed who have engendered such distrust in the past.

On the surface the agreement does look like a win on the funding formula that penalized schools with high salaried teachers, at least for the next few years. I might be wrong here, but I seem to remember Klein saying all along they would not implement it right away. But there are wrinkles.

The NYTimes says this on the funding plan "compromise":

"The change means that when a veteran teacher paid nearly $100,000 a year retires, a principal can hire a similar teacher or hire a rookie for about $50,000 and use the remaining $50,000 for other expenses."

If this is true, will a principal chose a senior teacher or take the 50 grand? This seems like little change in reality

Not trusting BloomKlein on anything, seems to force them to hold off. We think. Who knows what they will actually do and I recommend watchdogs keep a very close eye on them. On the other hand, I believe that many Kleinite principals won't hire senior teachers anyway for a lot of other reasons than just salary (look what has been going on in the schools for years with attacks on senior teachers who might actually want to see the contract, what is left of it, enforced.) They can get away with it because the UFT gave up so many seniority protections in the contract.

From Day One of BloomKlein, the UFT has been more miffed at the fact that they were not allowed to sit at the table like they had done with the old BOE than they were at the decimation of the union at the school level. When I hear people say BloomKlein want to kill the union they are wrong. They only want to kill the union at the bottom, which they have managed to do in so many places. They want and need the current UFT leadership at the top to do exactly what they have done in this case: kill a potential rise in militancy on May 9th and control and deflect any signs of militancy that might arise. So many people are angry at Tweed both among parents and teachers that this rally promised to be unique - possibly the first such joint action in a long time, if not in history.

The sentiment was rising against mayoral control. We have said all along that the UFT has always, and will continue to back mayoral control, albeit with minor modifications. A further sign was in the UFT supported Spitzer's comments in favor of mayoral control today, where he erroneously stated he would veto any attempt to kill it, deliberately misleading people as there doesn't have to be any law to kill it. It sunsets automatically and we revert to the old system unless the legislature renews it.

The basic idiocy of the reorganiztion plan is still in place. And the fact that the continued idiocies that will result from mayoral control seem guaranteed to continue in perpetuity. Nothing has changed for the people in the school community from the past 5 years. I don't care what they say or what committees they form. They do not believe that reducing class size will have the same impact spending money on professional development will. That is their mantra, inherited from Anthony Alvarado. They will say one thing and do another. To put any trust in Tweed given their record is a mistake. What I find funny is that they can say they are going to do A,B,C,D horrible things and they drop D and everyone cheers like it's a victory.

BloomKlein blinked, on the surface. But they showed a nimbleness in responding that none of their opponents have shown. The may have broken the parent coalition uniting against them with the UFT. The actions of the UFT are not surprising. It is a shame that there are so-called parent reps who scrambled for the crumbs dealt out by BloomKlein just to get a seat at the table. But who will be the real long-range losers? Bet on the rank and file teachers and parents, along with the students.

The statement below by Tim Johnson, who made such a strong statement against mayoral control at the Feb. 28th rally, indicates that non of the elected parents took part in this deal (unless behind closed doors, a violation of the very openness some of them have been calling for.) Following this statement are the DOE and then the UFT press releases.

See the follow-up interchange between Marge Colb and Martine Guerrier, a clear sign that BloomKlein has broken the parent united front that was forming by divide and conquer. That Martine would respond in this way -- attacking the elected CPACs instead of standing for their involvement is a clear sign of what we thought all along the role she might end up playing.

Statement released from Tim Johnson, CPAC (Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council)

Dear CPAC Members/Friends:

I released the following statement today in response to the Mayor's press conference announcing an agreement between the City, the UFT, & other organizations:

"This agreement provides no relief for disenfranchised parents, who were once again denied a seat at the table. Not one elected parent leader stood with the Mayor today. Our fight for full empowerment for public-school parents continues."

Tim Johnson, Chairman
Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC)

Marge Kolb email:

After reading about the agreement the city reached with teachers and parents regarding the reorg and fair funding, I emailed Martine Guerrier on Thursday night and had the following exchange with her:

Dear Martine:

I'm wondering why there is an announcement of an agreement between parties, including parents, on the reorganization and yet the Chair of CPAC, Tim Johnson, has posted the statement (above).

What parents were involved in the discussions among parties? I went to the CPAC meeting last Thursday and there was no announcement that parents were invited to discussions with the Mayor and/or Chancellor. I, as a CEC member, know of no invitation for CEC members or even
just CEC presidents to participate in talks.

Marge Kolb

Reply from Martine: The parent from CEJ may not have been featured highly enough.

Then Marge wrote: I don't know what CEJ is. And are you saying there was ONE parent involved in the discussion? And, why wasn't it the Chair of CPAC which is the CHANCELLOR'S PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL?

Martine replied:

NYC-CEJ (CEJ) is a coalition of PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS citywide who have been fighting to improve our schools alongside CPAC for our kids. They are just as valid in representing parents as you are and it is wrong to belittle the participation of any parent organization
representative. I believe it is a good thing to have many parent organizations involved and representing important issues, even if they are not CPAC. It is time to support the opening of doors to more parent representatives and voices. There is plenty of work to go around, so I am glad to see progress in recognizing parent leadership from other parent organizations.

You can disagree with me, but I believe it is about time that more parent leaders are recognized.

As an aside... ACORN, AQE, BEC (one of many organizations in CEJ), WFP, Small Class Size Coalition, UFT, and others who are part of the announced taskforce have been members of the parents rights movement for a long time. Please let me know: Is it your position or CPAC's
that these groups are not really valid representatives of the school community?

My final reply of the night:

Dear Martine:

My position is that the DOE and/or State Legislature have over the years insured parent involvement in the public school system by forming the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (pursuant to Chancellor's Regs) and the CECs (pursuant to state law) - both of which are made up of parents ELECTED to represent other parents citywide. Why then would the DOE fail to involve parents from either of these groups in very important discussions about the organization of the school system, especially since CPAC and a number of CEC's have raised concerns and questions (many of which remain UNANSWERED) about the reorg and the fair funding proposals?

Marge Kolb

DOE Press Release (with some comments by me in italics below some sections)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 117-07
April 19, 2007

MAYOR BLOOMBERG, CHANCELLOR KLEIN, UFT PRESIDENT WEINGARTEN, THE NEW YORK IMMIGRATION COALITION, ACORN AND OTHER PARENT AND STAKEHOLDER GROUPS ANNOUNCE RENEWED COMMITMENT TO WORK TOGETHER TO IMPROVE THE CITY'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Teachers Union Supports Department's Fair Student Funding Plan and English Language Learner Strategies

City Commits to Work with Teachers and other Stakeholders on Class Size, Parent Engagement, and Middle School Initiatives

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, and United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten today announced a renewed commitment to work together to strengthen and implement key reforms to bring greater accountability and equity to New York City's public schools. The Mayor was also joined by City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Council Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition Chung-Wha Hong, NY ACORN Executive Director Bertha Lewis, and Irania Sanchez representing the Coalition for Economic Justice and Make the Road by Walking. In particular, the
City and the Union announced agreement on a Fair Student Funding proposal that will correct historic inequities in school funding, while also ensuring continued stability for all schools. They also announced new collaboration on a range of other issues including teacher tenure, class size, parent engagement, and middle school improvement.

"I strongly believe in the need for mayoral control and a clear line of accountability running all the way up to the mayor," said Mayor Bloomberg. "But I also believe in bringing people together around a common goal. The Chancellor and I appreciate all the people who have come together today behind these initiatives. I think they will make a big difference for our schools and our students."

"After weeks of public discussion and debate, we have today a set of criteria that will strengthen our schools and provide a better educational experience for families and students. Working with the Mayor's office, teachers, advocates and the Council, we have put together a work plan to lower class size, support educators, protect English Language Learners and improve our middle schools, with the full engagement of parents and school communities," said Speaker
Christine C. Quinn.

"Since the mayor's State of the City address we have voiced areas on which we agree and disagree. I am pleased we have reached agreement on some of the major instructional and funding issues that affect our 1.1 million students and the more than 100,000 educators who serve them - and on the mechanics to continue the dialogue," said United
Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. "The bottom line is how we help kids. Listening to parents and teachers is the vehicle to accomplishing that."

In his January 2007 State of the City speech, Mayor Bloomberg promised to correct decades of inequity in school funding by adopting Fair Student Funding, which will fund schools based on the number and needs of students. Since then, the Chancellor, his staff, and Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott consulted with almost 6,000 people at more than 100 meetings throughout the City in order to gain feedback and refine the proposal. Based on these conversations, as well as those with the Union over the past week, a series of refinements have been made.
These adjustments include:

* A "hold harmless provision," which assures that successful schools will not be destabilized by reduction in funds. Schools will carry forward their hold harmless from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009.
(Hasn't Klein been saying they will have a few years of grace all along?)

* A commitment to fund schools so they can continue paying for existing faculty, even as their salaries increase in the future. This protection will be available to all faculty positions where it is currently available (i.e., "base teacher" positions).
We've seen "commitments" ignored so many times in the past our heads are spinning.

* Allowing schools to keep any "hold harmless" funding from the current year that is connected with teachers who choose to retire or leave a school. This provides schools with the financial ability to replace departing teachers with other senior teachers.

In addition, the Administration will invite the Union, as well as the New York Immigration Coalition, and the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, to become members of an advisory group that will analyze the impact of Fair Student Funding and recommend refinements over time. While the Administration and the Union agreed to work together to implement FSF, the UFT continues to believe that using "actual teacher salary" as a consideration in hiring decisions under the Open Market Transfer System is impermissible under the teachers' contract and has filed a grievance to that effect.

OTHER AGREEMENTS

Teacher Tenure
In his January State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the City would strengthen the criteria by which the Department of Education awards tenure to ensure that teachers who receive tenure deserve it. The Department is forming an internal committee to develop the criteria for which teacher tenure will be granted, and will invite the UFT to participate in this process.
What does 'participate" mean? What if there's no agreement? Does UFT have veto power? Bet not!

Class Size
After the New York State Education Department issues class size regulations, which are expected within weeks, the City's Education Department will work with the UFT and other stakeholders such as New Yorkers for Smaller Class Size to develop a joint set of recommendations on how best to implement the regulations.
If they are truly joint and not unilateral then this might be a win.

Parent Engagement
The DOE will create a committee next week to design improved processes for parent engagement. The committee, led by the department's Chief Family Engagement Officer, will encourage the City Council, ACORN, the Coalition for Educational Justice, and other appropriate stakeholders to participate. The committee will focus on recommending steps to improve parent engagement and ensure that all schools have a functioning School Leadership Team, comprised of teachers, parents, and other members of the school community.

Who decides on the "appropriate" stakeholders? Recommendations are just that. If they were to be trusted that migh be ok. But are they to be trusted?

English Language Learners
The Department of Education will significantly increase the weights for English Language Learners to reflect the specific challenges these students face. The Department will ensure that English Language Learners with low academic achievement will receive additional support.

Middle Schools
As part of the Department of Education's effort to improve middle school education and results, the department will consider the recommendations of Speaker Quinn's middle school task force. If the Chancellor accepts the recommendations, the DOE, in conjunction with the Center for Educational Justice, the City Council, and other
stakeholders, will work together to implement the proposals in at least 50 schools.

Consider? Trust?

Student Success Centers
Working with the Urban Youth Collaborative, the Department will explore the idea of developing Student Success Centers, designed to work with high school students to increase graduation rates and help prepare students for college and careers.

Again a word like explore, expect unilateralism.

UFT Press Release

Union, parents, city reach agreement on reorganization

New York City teachers, parents and students have finally been heard.

The UFT and our coalition partners have come to an agreement with the city on some of the most troubling issues in the DOE’s latest reorganization plan, including school funding, tenure, class size, parent engagement, ELL funding and a middle school strategy.

We believe the agreement, which was announced at a Thursday (April 19) afternoon press conference, will protect members and avert the destabilizing effect of the new funding formula on schools.

In addition, the agreement will give educators, parents and others a continuing voice in decision-making through several new central committees and revitalized School Leadership Teams.

UFT President Randi Weingarten said she still has qualms about some aspects of the reorganization. She said, "We believe in additional funds for the kids traditionally left behind, but not at the expense of schools that work. This agreement eliminates all the economic incentives to destabilize good schools."

In light of the agreement, we are calling for a special meeting of the Delegate Assembly on Tuesday, April 24, at 4:15 p.m. at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway to discuss the next steps in our work.

Please make every effort to attend. The details of the agreement will be discussed.

Filmmaker Arrested in Brooklyn Rubber Room

April 19, 2007

A filmmaker doing a documentary on the rubber room was arrested yesterday while trying to take footage in the Brooklyn rubber room on Chapel Street. He wasn't released until 1 am this morning. More details as they come in.

Principal Parrots Leadership Academy Lingo...

... but seems to be having a hard time getting it straight.

See Rafaela Espinal, principal of PS 147, say a few words of wisdom when she is not inciting parents to call the police on teachers. One of the things not included in the interview with Kathy Blythe in The Chief was the fact that when the parent came up to the AP's room to confront Kathy and had to be blocked by the security guard (who was herself bumped by the parent, who is not tiny), Espinal was right behind her outside the room and was seen grinning ear to ear.

Thanks to Dave B. for tracking this down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9wbBay5aYo

Message from Atlanta

April 11
Well, I've been up since 4am. The flight to Atlanta for the FIRST World Festival of robotics took off around 7 and I've been on the run since we landed. They have a giant airport with a train taking you from terminal to terminal. Best of all is the subway from the airport right into downtown. No flimsy billion dollar boondoggle like Airtran that we have to take you from Kennedy to - where? Remember how they found money for that? And did we ever hear a word from our union leaders about how they manage to come up with money for these things but not for class size -- you know, the old "if we ask for it in the contract it will have to come out of salaries- sniff, sniff." Enough of that. On to better things.

Kids, teachers and parents and anyone else who can come along started arriving this evening at the Georgia Dome and it's a magnificent site. I am working in the FLL area - the 9-14 year olds. There are 90+ teams from all over the world - 3 from China, including mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The best was a group of kids from Jordan. The had contacted me about coming to our NY event but the teacher couldn't get a visa in time. But they are here now. There's also a team from Israel in the high school division. There are teams from almost every state and our 2 NYC FLL teams from Staten Island and the Bronx checked in tonight. There are lots more NYC teams in the high school event (FRC) where the big robots do their thing.

I was put on a video project not as a camera person but as a liaison to the coaches and teams - sort of a scout to get some interesting stories. The film guy is from Boston and is fabulous-- we both have the same camera and I will pick is brains until he screams. He made a lot of his own equipment and I learned a hell of a lot in our meeting today.

This is one amazing group of people - hundreds of volunteers from all over. And the kids are the best. One of my favorite teams from Aviation HS is here and I'm wearing their shirt and hat and Donnie Swanson from IS 75 in SI is giving me one of their great tee-shirts. There are 2 teams from Bronx High and one from Brooklyn Tech and SI Tech- coach Mike Seigel drove a van down here with all the equipment while the kids flew. And of course, the shockign winners of the tournament at Javits a few weeks ago - Westinghouse wich upset Stuy and SI Tech.

NASA is simulcasting on the web so take a look. NASA has updated their web page to make finding the FIRST 2007 Championship competition fields easier to find for viewing.

Please go to http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/robotics/ and scroll down to the Einstein/Lego League field to view the FLL World Festival rounds (you may also want to catch some of the FRC and FVC rounds too!) Please note that FLL practice rounds are on Thursday and the competition rounds are on Friday (there are no rounds on Saturday.)

A public agenda of all the 2007 FIRST Championship program activities can be found at http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/Assets/Agenda_Final.pdf

I got pics and will post them and more on the robotics web site when I get a chance -- if they ever let me sleep. Got to be there at 7am tomorrow. Retirement really works. Later.

ICE Comments on UFT High Stakes Testing Task Force

Check the High Stakes on ICE blog.

Tales From the Rubber Room: The Kathy Blythe Story

This week's Chief has an article on Kathy Blythe, the teacher who was arrested (by 5-7 cops) and then released a few hours later after an investigation. I know Kathy for 20 years and taught across the hall from her for many years and have heard her riveting story as she told it to the reporter. She is a 22 year vet with no incidents on her record.
It is no small matter that the principal, Rafaela Espinal, is a Leadership Acad Grad and has had a great number of veteran teachers leave the school in the short time she has been there, with others looking to join them. Kathy has been outspoken in the school about Espinal's policies and ran for chapter leader last June, losing by 1 or 2 votes. Retaliation for union activism?

I was present for the entire riveting interview and videotaped part of it which will be made available at a future time.

I'll have more to say in about why this can happen in future posts.
Norm

Tales From the Rubber Room: Charge Has Teacher Dangling

By MEREDITH KOLODNER


'THEY ASSUME YOU'RE GUILTY': P.S. 147 Teacher Kathy Blythe says she has been falsely accused of roughing up a student, and as a result has been sitting in the Brooklyn 'rubber room' for the past two months.
When veteran Teacher Kathy Blythe escorted a 9-year-old girl to her seat after she tried to run out of her classroom at P.S. 147 in Brooklyn for the third time that day, she had no idea that just a few hours later police officers would be escorting her to a cell in the 90th Precinct.

Ms. Blythe has not yet been charged by the Department of Education, but she is accused of physically harming the child while preventing her from leaving the class Feb. 15.

The police investigated the accusations and released her without charges that same day. She has nonetheless spent most of her days in the DOE's Brooklyn temporary re-assignment center ever since.

'I Didn't Hurt Her'

"I did not harm that child," Ms. Blythe said on a warm March day after she and a union representative had been to a Manhattan office to answer questions as part of the DOE's investigation.

Principal Rafaela Espinal, who had recommended that Ms. Blythe be placed in the reassignment center, did not return phone calls requesting comment. Other school staff members said they had been instructed not to speak about the issue, although several of them said that they didn't believe the charges.

Ms. Blythe said that she was told that three other children in the class claimed that she was rough with the child when she restrained her from walking out of the room.

The little girl was not supposed to be in Ms. Blythe's class that day, since the school's support staff usually took her out for behavioral counseling. So when she began to act up in class, as the girl often did, Ms. Blythe called her parents to come to the school.

'Kept Me From Teaching'

STUCK IN THE 'RUBBER ROOM': Brooklyn's temporary re-assignment center holds more than 100 Teachers and administrators accused of violating Department of Education regulations or committing serious crimes. Some have been there for months and are still awaiting formal charges.

"I couldn't teach the rest of the class with her constantly getting out of her seat," said Ms. Blythe, who had never before been accused of harming a student.

The girl's father arrived and talked to her alone in the hallway twice during that Thursday morning class after Ms. Blythe had blocked her from leaving the class, according to the Teacher. It wasn't until the 22-year veteran Teacher was called out of her final period class, and saw several police officers standing in the hallway, that she was aware that there was a bigger problem.

Ms. Blythe had gone to the Assistant Principal's office earlier that day to talk about how to deal with the little girl's habit of running out of class, and she said the girl's mother had become enraged with her, to the point that a School Safety Agent was called to help Ms. Blythe get away from the parent and out of the office.

But just an hour or so later, it was she was walked into a police van, where she was handcuffed. It wasn't until she was being questioned at the precinct, with one cuff attached to a pole, that she learned that the little girl had alleged that Ms. Blythe had ripped the buttons on her shirt and scratched her while preventing her from running out the classroom door.

"I was taken out of my school by police officers with everyone watching," said Ms. Blythe. "It was horrible."

Job At Stake

The Office of Special Investigations will eventually determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence to charge Ms. Blythe with corporal punishment. If they do not, she will be allowed to return to her school. If they bring charges and find her guilty, she could lose her job and her teaching license.

The legal process when Teachers are accused of hurting students is often a long and arduous one.

Most educators accused of corporal punishment are not placed in re-assignment centers, or "rubber rooms" as they are commonly called, and most are found innocent.

The school Principal or administrator must believe that a school employee could put a child in danger for the employee to be re-assigned while awaiting charges, unless that person has serious criminal charges pending, such as a drug-related arrest.

Teachers like Ms. Blythe who are accused of violating a DOE regulation must have charges brought against them within six months. Others who have criminal charges pending can sit in the rubber room longer, sometimes for years. Teachers in the re-assignment centers are technically considered innocent until proven guilty, and therefore receive full pay and benefits while their cases play out.

A Grim Tableau

There is a rubber room in every borough, and on a late-March morning, the one in downtown Brooklyn was filled with more than 100 Teachers and administrators of every age and race. The window shades were pulled down in the long hallway of a room; fluorescent bulbs overhead brightened it. The backless benches that lined the tables held Teachers who were napping, working on personal laptops, and debating the latest developments in the Sean Bell police shooting case.

An Assistant Principal with 28 years in the system sat at one table. A few tables over, six Teachers from Automotive High School tried to occupy their time. Some said they missed the company of a Teacher who had been recently released with no charges after spending 26 months at the center.

"It's just depressing in here," said Ms. Blythe. "The good ones, we just want to get back to our schools."

A security guard sat at a desk near the front door where inhabitants punch their time cards, staying from 8:00 a.m. until 2:50 p.m. or 8:30 a.m. until 3:20 p.m. A DOE employee supervises the room, which is open the same days that school is in session.

Banished to Limbo

Most of the instructors say the experience is demoralizing and humiliating. "We are expendable," said a woman who has been a Social Worker for 27 years and has been in the Brooklyn center for about two months. "Once you go in, they forget about you."

Some educators said they felt as though the union had forgotten about them as well. Last month long-time Teacher Hipolito Colon asked the United Federation of Teachers to recognize the centers as separate chapters of the union in an effort to get more assistance.

The UFT's long-held position is that Teachers should be processed as quickly as possible.

One Teacher, who has been in the center since the fall of 2004 and began teaching special education in 1985, said he was going to retire in June. "It sucks," he said. "A lawyer told me I'm going to be fired, so I'm giving up." It is his third time in the rubber room, and he has spent 7-1/2 years out of the past decade there. In the late 1990s, he was sent to a re-assignment center on an accusation of corporal punishment.

Targeted by Principal?

Angry at what he sees as an endless series of injustices, he said his last tenure in the classroom came after a senior transfer to P.S. 131 in Brooklyn. He amassed 26 letters in his file in 14 months. He believes the Principal was out to get him from the time he arrived at the school.

A special education Teacher in the Brooklyn facility was there for the first time after 20 years of teaching. He was accused of a security breach for losing track of a student after classes with about 100 students were dismissed and the school's first-floor hallway became chaotic.

He said he didn't see one student run through a gate that had been left open. As a result, the child was left unsupervised in the playground. "We get punished for things that are not our fault," he said, "If I'm having difficulty, I need support, and it's a management issue as much as anything else." He said in his case, a new Principal sided with an Assistant Principal who had been looking to fire him.

A woman standing next to him wore a head band with bunny ears that stood up. When asked about her unusual choice of headwear, she said, "Why not? It's all a farce, everything that happens in here."

Ms. Blythe said she hoped her case would be cleared quickly, but she was worried that the process would get bogged down. "Sometimes it seems like people assume that because you're in here, you must be guilty," she said. "But I'm going to keep fighting it. They're not going to get rid of me like this."

Administrators I Have Known....

....was the heading of this email from a NYC teacher.

Any system putting too much power in the hands of one person - whether a chancellor or a principal or a union leader is dangerous. BloomKlein devotees eat the whole bag of cookies. And Unity Caucus? They buy out the store.

Richard Conniff says below, "Given power, even you and I would soon end up living large and acting like idiots."

One nation, indivisible, with checks and balances for all.

April 4, 2007

Op-Ed Contributor
The Rich Are More Oblivious Than You and Me

By RICHARD CONNIFF
Old Lyme, Conn.

THE other day at a Los Angeles race track, a comedian named Eddie Griffin took a meeting with a concrete barrier and left a borrowed bright-red $1.5 million Ferrari Enzo looking like bad origami. Just to be clear, this was a different bright-red $1.5 million Ferrari Enzo from the one a Swedish businessman crumpled up and threw away last year on the Pacific Coast Highway. I mention this only because it’s easy to get confused by the vast and highly repetitious category “Rich and Famous People Acting Like Total Idiots.” Mr. Griffin walked away uninjured, and everybody offered wise counsel about how this wasn’t really such a bad day after all.

So what exactly constitutes a bad day in this rarefied little world? Did the casino owner Steve Wynn cross the mark when he put his elbow through a Picasso he was about to sell for $139 million? Did Mel (“I Own Malibu”) Gibson sense bad-day emanations when he started on a bigoted tirade while seated drunk in the back of a sheriff’s car? And if dumb stuff like this comes so easy to these people, how is it that they’re the ones with all the money?

Modern science has the answer, with a little help from the poet Hilaire Belloc.

Let’s begin with what I call the “Cookie Monster Experiment,” devised to test the hypothesis that power makes people stupid and insensitive — or, as the scientists at the University of California at Berkeley put it, “disinhibited.”

Researchers led by the psychologist Dacher Keltner took groups of three ordinary volunteers and randomly put one of them in charge. Each trio had a half-hour to work through a boring social survey. Then a researcher came in and left a plateful of precisely five cookies. Care to guess which volunteer typically grabbed an extra cookie? The volunteer who had randomly been assigned the power role was also more likely to eat it with his mouth open, spew crumbs on partners and get cookie detritus on his face and on the table.

It reminded the researchers of powerful people they had known in real life. One of them, for instance, had attended meetings with a magazine mogul who ate raw onions and slugged vodka from the bottle, but failed to share these amuse-bouches with his guests. Another had been through an oral exam for his doctorate at which one faculty member not only picked his ear wax, but held it up to dandle lovingly in the light.

As stupid behaviors go, none of this is in a class with slamming somebody else’s Ferrari into a concrete wall. But science advances by tiny steps.

The researchers went on to theorize that getting power causes people to focus so keenly on the potential rewards, like money, sex, public acclaim or an extra chocolate-chip cookie — not necessarily in that order, or frankly, any order at all, but preferably all at once — that they become oblivious to the people around them.

Indeed, the people around them may abet this process, since they are often subordinates intent on keeping the boss happy. So for the boss, it starts to look like a world in which the traffic lights are always green (and damn the pedestrians). Professor Keltner and his fellow researchers describe it as an instance of “approach/inhibition theory” in action: As power increases, it fires up the behavioral approach system and shuts down behavioral inhibition.

And thus the Fast Forward Personality is born and put on the path to the concrete barrier.

The corollary is that as the rich and powerful increasingly focus on potential rewards, powerless types notice the likely costs and become more inhibited. I happen to know the feeling because I once had my own Los Angeles Ferrari experience. It was a bright-red F355 Spider (and with a mere $150,000 sticker price, not exactly top shelf), which I rented for a television documentary about rich people. It came with a $10,000 deductible, and the first time I drove it into a Bel-Air estate, the low-slung front end hit the apron of the driveway with a horrible grating sound that caused my soul to shrink. I proceeded up the driveway at five miles an hour, and everyone in sight turned away thinking, “Rental.”

The bottom line: Without power, people tend to play it safe. Given power, even you and I would soon end up living large and acting like idiots. So pity the rich — and protect yourself. This is where Hilaire Belloc comes in.

He once wrote a poem about a Lord Finchley, who “tried to mend the Electric Light/Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!” Belloc wasn’t tiresomely suggesting that the gentry all deserve a first-hand acquaintance with the third rail, as it were, but merely that they would be smart to depend on hired help. In social psychology terms, disinhibited Fast Forward types need ordinary cautious mortals to remind them that the traffic lights do in fact occasionally turn yellow or even, sometimes, red.

So, Eddie Griffin: next time you borrow a pal’s car, borrow his driver, too. The world will be a safer place for the rest of us.

Richard Conniff is the author of “The Natural History of the Rich.”

High Stakes Testing and Standards

Andrew Carlson, another ed "pundit" makes the case for privatization of schools with a twist, looking at schools from the perspective of market forces: a chicken/egg which came first story.

As the article points out, both national teacher unions the NEA and the AFT are jumping on board.

With the UFT set to vote this week on the report of the high stakes test task force, pay particular attention to what it says about standards. Expect it to dovetail with the AFT.

Rigid views on standards and high stakes testing go hand-in-hand.

One of our colleagues in ICE sent this view on standards:

High stakes tests have a negative rather than a positive impact on raising standards: By eliminating any curriculum that doesn’t appear on tests, “dumbing down” the actual exams, emphasizing tricks to get the right answer instead of mastering skills and knowledge, stifling creativity, fostering a cynical attitude toward learning, high stakes tests have the effect of providing an inferior education in both the short and the long run.

Read the full Carlson article at the High Stakes on ICE blog, which will be increasingly active as the debate on NCLB heats up.

http://highstakesonice.blogspot.com/

UFT Election Results 2004/07 Compared

Below is a spreadsheet comparing the 2004 and 2007 UFT elections.
Make sure to use both scrolling arrows to see all of it.

Note the following:
The high percentage of retirees (44%) voting, almost all of them for Unity with another 1600 from New Action thrown in for Weingarten. Over 21,000 of Weingarten's roughly 40,000 votes came from retirees. ICE/TJC got just 5%.

The incredibly low vote everyone got from working teachers in the 3 major divisions. Weingarten received less than 7,000 votes from elementary schools, a significant drop from 2004 of over 2000 votes, 1700 middle school votes, a drop of 1000 from 2004 and around 2700 in the high schools, a slight drop from 2004. When New Action votes are subtracted (assume some came from people who still thought they were still opposed to Unity) the results look even worse. Less than 12,000 votes out of a potential 70,000 for Weingarten in these 3 divisions. If you add the less than 7,000 functional chapter votes to this total, Weingarten's totals still come to less than 20,000 from working UFT members.

New Action was clearly replaced by ICE/TJC as the opposition/alternative to Unity despite the fact they were handed 8 Executive Board seats for their loyalty, a Pyrrhic victory. Even in the high schools, where they received 3 seats, they had no relevance in Unity's victory. Their future usefulness to Weingarten is in question and when she leaves for the AFT they may be done. However, we can expect an attempt to keep them around for at least one more election.

As for ICE/TJC, as expected, they did not win the high schools against the combined Unity/New Action totals and will have no seats on the UFT Executive Board, thus allowing the Board to meet for a few minutes, eat, and go home early. Weingarten won't even have to bother attending as she can be sure nothing embarrassing will be raised. On the other hand, ICE/TJC were the only ones whose percentages in all divisions except retirees rose.

It is clear that ICE and TJC, separate groups who came together for this election, have not developed enough outreach yet. Since ICE is only 3 years old and TJC is in the 4th year of its fairly new incarnation as a force in UFT elections - both groups spurred by the New Action sell-out which began in earnest in late 2003 - there is a sense of progress, albeit slowly. If they continue to organize between elections by reaching out to people in the schools, they efforts may pay off with a better showing next time. More important than votes right now is developing a strong cadre of organizers/distributors in the schools. The test of how well they do will be told in the next election in 2010.

Election results reflect UFT crisis

By Megan Behrent, UFT | April 6, 2007 |
Socialist Worker Online, Page 14


NEW YORK--Elections in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) ended with the re-election of the current president, Randi Weingarten, and her Unity caucus retained a strong majority.

Nonetheless, modest gains were made by Independent Community of Educators-Teachers for a Just Contract (ICE-TJC), the opposition caucuses in the UFT which formed a coalition to challenge the incumbents. The vote for the opposition, amid a record-low voter turnout, reflects increasing anger and disillusionment with the current leadership and direction of the UFT.

The total number of people voting was much lower than three years ago (which was already low, with only about 30 percent of the active membership voting). Thus, while over 160,000 ballots were sent out, only about 45,000 were returned. Of these, 22,000 were from retirees, which means that less than a quarter of the active membership of the union voted in this election.

This low turnout in part reflects the complete disillusionment with the union leadership and the UFT leadership’s failure to publicize the vote. Furthermore, the American Arbitration Association sent out faulty ballots that, while eventually corrected, created a great deal of confusion.

ICE-TJC ran a joint campaign, opposing givebacks in recent contracts that have led to a longer workday, longer work year and eroding rights in the workplace. The opposition argued instead for a strategy of militant rank-and-file organizing in the union.

Throughout the elections, the Unity caucus tried to attack ICE-TJC and its presidential candidate, Kit Wainer, through red baiting.

In a postcard sent to large sections of the membership, Unity accused TJC of being “stuck” in the 1930s and warned members against voting for a “militant socialist” who “advocates strikes and strike threats for political and ideological purposes.” Even though TJC is not a socialist formation, the caucus defended the role of socialists in the unions.

“Weingarten and Unity want to say that militant socialism is back in the ‘last century,’” a TJC flyer stated. “That's right: the century when the UFT itself organized through a series of militant strikes, when our union made real progress for members.”

Despite Unity’s dominance, its support declined, whereas ICE-TJC made gains. The opposition ICE-TJC got almost 20 percent of the votes from the active membership of the union (excluding retirees) and saw an increase in all divisions, gaining 20 percent of the Intermediate School vote, about 16 percent of the elementary school vote and 36 percent of the high school vote.

While ICE-TJC lost the six high school executive board seats they held for the past three years, this was expected. Since Unity did not run for these positions in the last election as part of a deal with the former opposition caucus, New Action, ICE-TJC was able to win.

For Teachers for a Just Contract, the election campaign was about organizing rank-and-file teachers in our union. While the outcome may seem disappointing to some rank-and-file members of the union, the gains demonstrate both the possibility and necessity for mobilizing the rank and file to fight back against the increasing attacks on our working conditions and our schools.

The process of rebuilding and reforming our union from below is part of a long-term process that will require us to build on the gains from this election to expand and train TJC's base of rank-and-file union members. The opposition needs to continue to push the leadership to fight for better working conditions and to stop the assault on schools from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.

The UFT leadership has begun to fight against the mayor's school reorganization plan, which includes privatization and an emphasis on testing. The UFT has a citywide demonstration May 9 to put the “public back in public education.” This is a good start, but the opposition will have an important role to play.

The challenge now is to push the UFT leadership to take on the mayor's assault on contractual tenure and seniority rights and to develop a strategy that can stop the overall assault on public education, and begin to make real gains in improving working conditions in our schools.

For more information, contact www.teachersforajustcontract.org.

UFT Election Results: The Graph

Thanks to Jeff Kaufman for preparing this graph. It works better as an attachment. If you want an emailed copy let me know.

A Retiree Comments on the Election

It is outrageous that we even vote in elections. I collect my tier 1 pension, after working in a system that, though not perfect, was at least humane. I worked under contracts that reduced class size, increased my preps from 1 in 1963 to 5 later in my career. I was able to respond to letters put in my file. in the last few years, i was out of the lunchroom and didn't do potty patrol. I didn't live under the constant threat of a u rating or the rubber room. in the last years of my career, there were many deficiencies, of course. but I did benefit over the years.

Now, I should have the right to vote for a leader that has sold out so many that continue to work under these contracts and those who will join the ranks? And those votes that come in barrels from florida - they wouldn't recognize a school if they walked into it today. The very contracts that we benefited from, struck for, have been demolished.

If I ran the zoo, I would go even further - any one sitting in a union office and working should not vote. They don't get letters in their files, do lunchroom or potty duty, have their good sense about how to teach threatened, forced to do test prep for hours on end smashing into their educational bones, etc. they are getting double pensions and higher salaries - a 4% of their salaries is a lot more than that of a beginning teacher.

Anti-Klein Demonstrations in Tajikistan

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, March 30 (GBN News):
Numerous protests erupted around the country of Tajikistan today over the report that outgoing NY City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein would shortly be assuming the presidency of that country. As reported yesterday by GBN News, the Tajik President, Emomali Rakhmon, will become Schools Chancellor in New York, while Mr. Klein takes over the position of Tajik strongman. While reaction in New York remained muted, the Tajik people were not hesitant to make their feelings known.

Read the rest at: NYC Parent blog.

(Another gem from the hand of Gary Babad.)

I'm Not a Fan of Stalin, but I am proud....

.... to be part of ICE where we can work with people in PLP and the UTP (see comment below from a UFT official.) We are open and democratic.

Unity just slithers out from under a rock.

I believe people should be open about their political affiliations, especially people associated with parties, since party membership on the left is not exactly like being a Democratic Party member but a serious commitment that informs much of their political activity. That goes for New Action or TJC or ICE.

I know this much about ICE - unless some people are hiding their affiliation, the only party people are PLP, who at least are honest about where they are coming from. If they believe in Stalin, sorry I do not agree, but support their right to have that belief and be part of ICE.

But the commenter below knows full well that there are people in New Action who agree with PL on that issue. Some of them may even be on the Exec. Bd. I support them all in their right to hold those beliefs. Everyone involved in union activities over the years knows full well the bulk of New Action support comes from the old left. Witness the 1600 retiree New Action votes out of party loyalty. Too bad they are not open. We actually had a few former retiree New Action old left supporters who ran with ICE after they finally grew sick of Shulman's collaboration. And they were long-time loyalists. We were proud to have them run with us.

ICE can handle old left, new left, independent left, democratic party, slightly left-of-center capitalists like me, and even a Republican or two. We are trying to build an open, democratic caucus, unlike Unity (and New Action, I might add, which even as far back as the late 90's I criticized for being run in the same top-down manner as Unity.

In fact, some of the caucus battles over the years can be traced to behind the scenes ideological battles between the right-wing Social Democrats, USA (Shanker, Feldman and possibly Weingarten- all old-time Unity people were in the party) and the Communist Party, USA which was reflected in the old Teachers' Union (TU) and its successor, the old opposition caucus TAC (60's - 80's), one of the groups that merged with New Directions in the early 90's to form New Action.

At the DA Unity leader (and slimebag) Jeff Zahler, castigated Kit Wainer for publicly condemning Albert Shanker's support for the VietNam War. Gee, Jeff, were you joining Abe Levine and, in fact, announcing your own support for that War in your condemnation of Kit?

See below for the comments on red-baiting.

Note the comment from the UFT Brooklyn Welfare fund at 10 am.

Anonymous said...

As long as you want to have an open discussion of your ICE comrades from Progressive Labor, Norman, why don't you share with us the fact that they are not exactly garden variety socialists, but ultra-Stalinists of the sort that think Stalin was a great leader of the international proletariat [http://www.plp.org/communist/stalinssuccesses.pdf] and that the problem with Mao Zedong was that he was not radical enough [http://www.plp.org/pl_magazine/rr3.html#RTFToC6]. Their view of the great crimes of 20th century Communism was that it did not leave enough corpses behind.

They make a perfect match for ICE's friends in UTP, with their quotes from Charles Lindbergh.

Of course, if UNITY really wanted to "red bait" ICE and TJC, it could have raised these issues. Instead, it quoted the published writings of your candidate for President, Kit Wainer, on union topics germane to whether or not he should lead the union.

Since in your book using Kit's own words is "red baiting," not only in print but also at the DA, then it would seem that Kit himself must be a red-baiter.

STOP ICE-TJC RED-BAITING!!!

10:10 AM, March 30, 2007


Anonymous said...

Ask your comrades in New Action how they feel about Stalin. Next time make sure to inform the people who vote for Unity exactly who they elected to the Ex. Bd. Ask them if the people in the Soviet bloc are better off now or before the fall of the Soviet Union.

10:26 AM, March 30, 2007

ed notes online said...

Source of anon. comment 10:10

Organization: United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund Brooklyn, NY

Aren't we paying you to do union work? Or are you on a prep?

UFT Election Preliminary Results

These are not final as they were counting ballots that came in yesterday -- 700 and not all were counted. These results also do not have the non-slate ballots which take a long time to count -- so individual totals for every candidate will vary.

My % numbers are based on rough estimates and lousy math.

The major story is the incredibly low turnout amongst working teachers. Maybe 22%. Weingarten's "overwhelming" victory should be looked at in that context. Of course that also applies to our votes.

Weingartens' 10,000 votes TOTAL (on Unity slate) from elem, middle and HS is numbing. Add around less than 1500 she got from New Action (a portion of whom did not know they were voting for her.) So she gets less than 12,000 votes out of the teaching staff of 70,000? More likely closer to 11,000 or less real support. I view this as an overwhelming rejection of her leadership. We just failed to capitalize.

An enormous bulk of votes coming from the Unity/New Action totals -- over 20,000 retiree votes. New Action got 1600 and we got 1061 - 5% of retirees.

Out of 50,000 retiree votes sent out around 22, 500 voted. Only 18,000 count as they will be pro-rated.

HS
Unity got 2183 HS votes total out of almost HS 20,000 ballots sent out. We got 1524 and New Action got 521. That means Unity would have won barely if we got all the New Action votes -- but we would have challenged the election results if we had. New Action gets 3 ex bd seats with 521 votes. Democracy Inaction. They also got the 5 at-large seats for a total of 8 with an incredibly low % of votes.

Middle school returns were almost a joke. Out of 13,000 ballots sent out 2384 returned. Here are the results:
ICE/TJC: 444 (almost 20%)
Unity: 1499
New Action: 273

Elementary: Out of 37,000 ballots, 8,904 returned.
ICE/TJC: 1337 (15%)
Unity 6252
New Action: 562

Functional: paras, secties, nurses, speech, attendance, etc
Out of 42,000 votes, 9000 returns
ICE/TJC: 1032
Unity: 6464
Nw Action: 548

Loooking at the teaching staff in the 3 divisions (rough numbers):
70,000 ballots sent out. 15,000 returns
Retirees. 50,000 sent out. 22,400 returns

Positive Trends:
ICE/TJC buried New Action in every division except retirees where New Action got the bulk of their votes (almost half). The goal of replacing New Action as the recognized opposition has been met.

ICE/TJC increased their vote in every division from last time not as much by total but by %.

Negative:
the campaign obviously did not reach the membership. TJC put out about 90,000 leaflets and we did about 50-60,000. The impact if any must be assessed. TJC did a mailing to every middle school teacher in the Bronx. With 444 total votes that impact was probably negligible.

Putting a lot of time and energy into Exec Bd and the DA looks like a waste. The results bear that out.

If an opposition/alternative is to grow (and the removal of New Action as a legit opposition despite their 8 seats is and continues to be a goal) direct, continuous activity to reach the teachers in the schools is necessary. Only a group of people who have the will to do this will make a difference.

Look at the high school results; 1524 total votes.
Think of the number of large high schools with people running with ICE/TJC-- many with 200 members.

Off the top of my head:
Jamaica, Hillcrest, Bryant, Aviation, Stuvesant, Bergtraum, Norman Thomas, FDR, Francis Lewis, Port Richmond, Bronx High. Did the bulk of our votes come from these few schools? Then the leafleting campaign had almost 0 impact.

For Unity it is even worse when you think of only 2183 votes after all the power they have? And New Action's 521 with their massive leafleting campaign? Unity would still have won without them. Interesting that their red-baiting campaign was a slap at new Action too.

(And by the way, New Action is trumpeting that their web site has an objection - tepid at that and that Shulman called Randi and she sort of apologized. New Action grows more pathetic by the minute.)

Frankly, it did not look like either New Action or Unity were happy. The ICE/TJC people at the count had the most fun all day. No spirit is bowed.

The issue: Is there a way to wake up the membership in the schools? What strategy would it take to do that? If the answer is that is not possible, people must decide if it is worth continuing. If the answer is there is a way, then people must have the will.

We Get Letters...

I am a veteran teacher of 27 years, and I had an excellent, unblemished record until my East Harlem Principal, PS 50, Renee Pollard retired a few years ago. Joel Klein plucked a 29 year old (2 years teaching kindergarten) teacher for his first year Principal's academy and she arrived at our school in 2004. She immediately went after tenured teachers and our wonderful AP of 20 years.....

Read the rest at Norm's Notes.

Breaking News: March 29, 2007

UFT vote count all day at Park Central Hotel, 7th Ave & 55th St. Election committee announced that mail received today will be counted. We may ask for Friday's mail also to be accepted. I will be there with Kit Wainer and Josh Kahn from TJC.

ICE meeting at Murray Bergtraum HS, Friday, March 30 at 4:15 to analyze election results, with a scavenger hunt to follow to find a restaurant in Chinatown.

When a question was raised at the DA yesterday about the red-baiting flyer Unity sent out, Randi as usual cried about how she has stood up to such terrible personal attacks -- like questions about her teaching credentials and said she lives as honest a life as anyone she knows. (Except for that statement on NY 1 she made not long ago claiming she taught 5 periods a day for 6 years.) Randi then gave Unity head Jeff Zahler the floor to engage in another round of red-baiting, saying he was proud to have sent that out and reading excerpts in an attack on Kit Wainer. He said accusations of McCarthyism are not true because in those times Kit would be thrown out of the union and not even have a job. He attacked Kit for criticizing Al Shanker for supporting American foreign policy (like the was in Vietnam, which apparently in retrospect Zahler must also support. When he started frothing at the mouth Randi signaled "enough" and he sat down like a good boy.

Kit tool a point of personal privilege but didn't go beyond referring to the TJC response on their web site. Many thought he should have gone on the attack the way NYC Educator did and said he was proud to be a socialist who is willing to fight for a strong union and if Randi was a socialist our people wouldn't be in such trouble.

By the way, not one New Action member said a word or tried to say a word. so ironic since Unity had always red-baited them. I had a brief confrontation with some New Action people before the meeting when I castigated them for lying down with snakes and for not standing up. They argued they had sent a strongly-worded protest to Weingarten and said something on their web site. Whoopdee-doo! They should have come to the DA and handed out a leaflet. No guts, no glory! They also said they objected to the counter red-baiting in TJC's response. Let's see what Zahler and his friends in New Action have to say when his Unity faithful finds out they have elected members of a certain leftist organization who ran on the Unity slate to the Executive Board. Call this counter red-baiting if you want. If you lie down with snakes, expect to get bitten.

Having been involved with people from the left in union politics for a long time, I always feel people should be open about their political affiliations, especially if they are associated with a party which can have such a major impact on their political stance. That goes for people in TJC and in New Action. The word "Independent" in ICE has a lot of meaning. There are a lot of left people in the group but they are truly independent, people not comfortable with left party ideology. At least the 3 Progressive Labor Party members in ICE are out front, though sometimes in an awkward way.

Speaking of which....

Ironically, Jonathan Lessuck from the Progressive Labor Party (and ICE) got up right after Kit on a point of order to make the annual PLP May Day motion because Randi had shunted the New Motion period to the end of the meeting as she usually manipulates that time. She began that with me back in 2000 when she didn't want one of my motions in front of the body and actually called me outside to apologize. She was fairly new, with a Unity party still loyal to Sandy and looking for allies - not nearly as arrogant as she has become. That was my first indication (ok, I was slow) of how manipulative she was.

Jonathan has proven very adept at handling himself in these sticky situations. I was almost hoping he would say what Kit wouldn't in a rigorous defense of left activism in the union but when Randi engaged in an attack on him for daring to upset the democratic process because there is a backlog of so many motions (due to her long reports, invitations to DA's to politicians and DOE officials, etc.) but as usual, she tried to blame Jonathan. But he turned the tables on her when he called her Dusty, followed by "oops! When under pressure I get mixed up with my repressive, dictatorial principal." The place rolled with laughter and even Weingarten had to laugh. Humor is the best way to work this crowd and unfortunately few use it. Kudos to Jonathan.

When his first sentence of the May Day resolution mentioned the word Communist I said "Uh, oh!" but he saved the day with a great case for celebrating May Day as a way to reinvigorate the labor movement. When the vote was taken even Randi said it was 70-30 against. 30% of the DA FOR the May Day motion? Holy Cow! We must be moving left. More kudos to Jonathan.

When people ask how it is to have PL people (Jonathan, Carolyn and Joan) working with ICE I answer that it has been a pleasure to have their viewpoint which is very pro-student, presented. (I know I'm simplifying - I object to them pinning every ill in the world on racism.) All to often, all you hear from teachers is the bad stuff about students. One of the reasons PL and ICE can work together is that we have always tried to deal with the rights of teachers and students (and parents.) Sometimes people, even in ICE arecritical, saying a caucus should only worry about teachers. My view is that is not a caucus I am interested in. Again, kudos to Jonathan.

I hung out in the back of the DA with Josh Heisler a teacher at Vanguard HS in the Julia Richman complex. Josh works with NYCORE (New York Collection of Radical Educators.) I met Josh through Sally Lee from NYCORE and Teachers Unite. Josh is doing work on anti-military recruitment. It was Josh's outrage at receiving the Unity red-baiting attack that spurred NYCORE, which usually doesn't get involved in UFT internal struggles, to endorse the ICE-TJC slate to their very large mailing list. I'm hoping we can get Josh to work with us in ICE.

The more I meet people like Josh and Sally, the more I appreciate the fact that there are still young leftists (Peter, Megan, Ellen from TJC) out there battling. Change in the UFT will only come from being spurred by the left and there is hope. I know there is a right-wing anti-Unity sentiment out there but it is not organized and frankly, I don't see that happening. If the right wants to get rid of Unity it will have create a caucus, join with the left, or sit on the sideline. Though I do not view myself as a leftist, I love meeting and working with them and there is a glimmer of a future for a movement.

Randi is outraged...

At this past Monday night's Executive Board meeting, Randi Weingarten attacked the opposition for supposedly not fully supporting the reduction in class size campaign with a snide comment, “Now that the elections are over, I hope you will join the campaign.” She claimed some of us have been too busy campaigning (guilty - like trying to race around schools trying to overcome the Unity monopoly on access to teachers)while she has been focused - probably one of the unintentionally funniest lines she has uttered in a long time.

Weingarten is trying to make it look like she invented class size reduction when in fact she tails after people who have led the fight.

Remember year after year of failed petitions drives that were thrown out of court and now a current drive to get CFE money to go to class size reduction, which by the way we do support, though god knows how many schools have to be built before this generation of teachers will ever get to see the benefit.

Leonie Haimson has been fighting for class size reduction for 10 years. And Ed Notes rarely put out an issue over 10 years that did not mention class size reduction as we often used the motto: (Class) Size Matters.

At every Delegate Assembly, when I and others put forth resolutions calling for class size reduction to be a major negotiating issue, Weingarten/Unity opposed all efforts from the time she became President to put the issue on the bargaining table. To force the issue before the UFT leadership the Ed Notes resolution calling on the NY Teacher to print a list of every class that is over the limit every year in the NY Teacher was passed in December, 2000. Somehow, Weingarten has forgotten to implement that for the past 5 years. Hey, what’s a little thing like ignoring a resolution passed by the DA even if it deals with class size reduction?

In fact ICE was founded on a basic principle of reducing class size through contract negotiations and has used the election campaign to put that idea in front of the members.

At the Executive Board meeting, Jeff Kaufman got up to challenge her and Weingarten said she was “outraged” by our actions.

There’s the whole thing in a nutshell. This is what outrages her (her usual phony show of outrage, by the way). Where’s her outrage at a teacher of 22 years with a perfect record being taken from a school in handcuffs by 5 cops? (See post below this. Weingarten has ignored multiple attempts on the part of the teacher to contact her.)


We hope now that the election campaign is over Weingarten will join the ICE campaign for reducing class size by placing the issue on the bargaining table.


NYC Educator, as usual, did a great job taking Weingarten's position apart:

UFT President Randi Weingarten, I'm told, is upset because in the middle of a contentious election season, the opposition did not abandon its campaign in order to jump on her class-size bandwagon. That's an odd accusation to make, as the opposition absolutely supports lower class sizes, and has demanded for years they be part of contract negotiations. Of course, they were voted down on a regular basis by the lockstep Unity patronage machine (which no doubt feels it ran a positive campaign).

The very first post on this blog was about class size.

And let's be very clear--our classes run up to 34 (often surpassing that), and Ms. Weingarten's machine has failed to do anything whatsoever about it for almost 40 years. Based on that record, I'd be loathe to criticize anyone. It's clear, having bought off her original opposition with patronage jobs, it would be quite convenient for Ms. Weingarten if her only genuine opposition pranced about singing her praises.

Politics aside, Ms. Weingarten's got many reasons to focus on class size, and a good many of them concern getting rank-and-file to stop thinking about the unconscionable givebacks of the 05 contract. Unity thinks if they ignore them long enough, people will simply forget where they came from (and they may be right, for all I know).

Yesterday, as I was walking the permanent hall patrol Ms. Weingarten negotiated for me, I had time to consider that contract. I was certainly thinking about it on the punishment days in August she'd thoughtfully negotiated for me. And I'm sure many of my colleagues think about it during their 37.5 minute classes, which Unity claims are not actually classes.

If Joel Klein's plan to have funding follow students becomes a reality, senior teachers will be pariahs, albatrosses around the necks of principals who need to fund their schools. Is there anyone who doesn't believe that Klein envisioned precisely this when he got Ms. Weingarten to agree to the worst contract in our history?

Joel Klein is by no means my favorite person. Still, he certainly knows what he's doing. Ms. Weingarten made the first step toward enabling Mr. Klein's vision it by supporting mayoral control. Another huge mistake was going to PERB and accepting the odious 05 contract, the implications of which seem to have utterly escaped her (and still do, for all I know). Perhaps Ms. Weingarten sees Mr. Klein's new funding proposals as mere coincidence, and not a direct result of her collaboration.

Regardless, as Ms. Weingarten eyes the AFT presidency, the dual AFT-UFT presidencies (following in the footsteps of both her Unity predecessors) or a position in Hillary's white house, she leaves the rest of us--students, parents, and teachers, to pay for her utter lack of foresight.

Where's the Outrage?

Monday night I spoke at the UFT Executive Board meeting, asking, “Where’s your sense of outrage?” as I brought up the incident of the teacher who was arrested, de-arrested and yet is still facing charges by the DOE. Instead of the union getting the information from the police that proves her innocence, she has to do it herself. I compared that to telling Julius Ceaser to reach back, pull out the knife and go carve the turkey for Thanksgiving. (OK, so I was reaching.)

Oh, the UFT will provide representation as they will have a rep with the teacher today as she is questioned by a DOE investigator. And I'm sure he will do a decent job. I'm about to head over to wait outside (as I'm not allowed in) in case the teacher needs some advice. I may also have a reporter with me to interview the teacher.

The assistance the UFT gives basically stops there. The teacher did get a call from Victim Support and she said that is not what she or the rest of the teachers in the school need. They need the union to expose a Leadership Academy principal who has gone after numerous people (supposedly, 7 U-ratings last year in a small elementary school.) Some of the best teachers in the school have left. But the only response of the union is to look at things on a case-by-case basis.

Basically, the UFT provides the least restrictive (for them) support instead of doing the maximum.

How do the teachers at the school feel after the person almost half of them voted for as chapter leader in the last election finds herself in this position? Did the UFT district rep rush over there? Or any other official? Someone came to talk about school safety (this exit or that exit) when the real safety issue is that of people's careers. One teacher told me of (his/her) outrage that when questioned, the UFT official basically urges silence. A militant union would have rushed to the school and give the teachers the support needed to fight back. The principal can get away with this and never have to pay a price.

BloomKlein have a strategy to break the union at the chapter level. The UFT has none other than to hire a bunch of New Action retirees to go into the schools and whistle in the wind.