Yesterday, those of who participated in the focus groups asked other parents to return the new parent survey, due to be distributed this week, with its questions crossed out and a suggested statement on the top saying “We want real parent input – as well as smaller classes, less testing, and new priorities at Tweed to deal with the real problems in our schools.” (You should of course feel free to substitute whatever sentence you like about what our schools really need to improve.)
In response, the Mayor said at his news conference yesterday that those of those of us who are calling for real parent input into our schools only want to “subvert the system and sit around and complain and not make it any better.”
I want to make it perfectly clear that none of us who participated in the focus groups were ever out to “subvert the system.” We volunteered in good faith and spent many hours over two days, to provide realistic and relevant suggestions so that this $25 million survey could be meaningful and useful. We were explicitly told that our suggestions would determine the questions asked. Instead, most of the issues we cared about were censored, for no apparent reason.
Moreover, those who signed our letter include members of CECs, President’s councils and other active, engaged parents who work hard every day, for no pay and little recognition to try to make this system work better for our kids. Not one of them can be called a slacker or a complainer. We were all extremely disappointed that our input was ignored – and that specific questions were omitted about class size, overcrowding, the amount of testing and test prep in our schools, the curriculum, the principal’s attitude towards parent input and involvement, and/or whether there is a functional School Leadership Team in the school.
Read Leonie's full report with links at:
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The Phonics Police Are Out in Force
In today's NY Sun Andy Wolf echoes Sol Stern and makes the phonics argument again while heaping praise on Region 5's Kathy Cashin, one of the 4 Regional Superintendents to survive the DOE reorganization. They must each peddle their wares to get schools to sign up and the rumor is that Cashin is not doing as well as the others.
Wolf wrote: "This Bush Education Reform Really Works, by Sol Stern, appeared in the Winter, 2007 issue of City Journal." Sol should ask the NY Teacher, the mouthpiece of the UFT leadership, to reprint his praise for Bush since they so generously gave him space in this week's issue.
I always believed in teaching phonics and did so with the materials at hand - a workbook
and some chalk and a few charts. I did not need Reading First to do it.
When I had the top 6th grade class where all kids could read there was no point and the administration left that to me to decide. Kids that can read at a certain level do not need phonics. Those who can't decipher words do. Teachers have always made those basic decisions. Just as Klein took the decision out of the hands of teachers, aren't Wolf and Stern doing the same thing?
When my school changed principals in 1979 she made us use the kind of traditional materials Wolf is talking about and it did not make all that much of a difference. One of the ironies is that she brought in a book salesperson to talk to us about some of these materials back in the early 80's at a scintillating monthly faculty conference. The saleswoman's name? Kathy Cashin.
The Manhattan Institute will be hosting a praisefest - er - luncheon for the Reading First success story, with Ed. Sect'y Margaret Spellings in New York on May 22. Now that would be a good place for a rally against idiocy. I haven't received my invitation yet. All I can say is, "phuque"!
You can find the complete article
Applying the LaGuardia Principle to our Schools
BY ANDREW WOLF
April 30, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/53492
Wolf wrote: "This Bush Education Reform Really Works, by Sol Stern, appeared in the Winter, 2007 issue of City Journal." Sol should ask the NY Teacher, the mouthpiece of the UFT leadership, to reprint his praise for Bush since they so generously gave him space in this week's issue.
I always believed in teaching phonics and did so with the materials at hand - a workbook
and some chalk and a few charts. I did not need Reading First to do it.When I had the top 6th grade class where all kids could read there was no point and the administration left that to me to decide. Kids that can read at a certain level do not need phonics. Those who can't decipher words do. Teachers have always made those basic decisions. Just as Klein took the decision out of the hands of teachers, aren't Wolf and Stern doing the same thing?
When my school changed principals in 1979 she made us use the kind of traditional materials Wolf is talking about and it did not make all that much of a difference. One of the ironies is that she brought in a book salesperson to talk to us about some of these materials back in the early 80's at a scintillating monthly faculty conference. The saleswoman's name? Kathy Cashin.
The Manhattan Institute will be hosting a praisefest - er - luncheon for the Reading First success story, with Ed. Sect'y Margaret Spellings in New York on May 22. Now that would be a good place for a rally against idiocy. I haven't received my invitation yet. All I can say is, "phuque"!
You can find the complete article
Applying the LaGuardia Principle to our Schools
BY ANDREW WOLF
April 30, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/53492
Why is the UFT promoting BloomKlein's survey....
... while parent groups are urging a boycott...
Was a question asked by a middle school Chapter Leader who received this from the UFT hierarchy:
Dear Colleagues:
Today at a press conference the mayor and chancellor announced that School Learning Environment Surveys will be distributed this week to all teachers, to all parents and all secondary schools students.
According to the Department of Education, the surveys “are designed to reflect the experiences, attitudes and perceptions of members of our school communities and to provide information each school can use to improve its learning environment. Survey results will be reported to schools this summer and factored into the new school progress report in the fall.” The survey is anonymous and voluntary.
UFT President Randi Weingarten said these surveys “are an important first step in engaging parents, educators and students in the most important conversation we can have:
How to improve our children’s education. There was a good process for drafting the survey and we had a lot of good input., particularly in the area of protecting confidentiality.
“The information that will be gathered is extremely important – but it must be valued and addressed. Listening is good; we have to make sure our voices are heard.”
Therefore, we urge you to tell the teachers in your school that it is very important to take the time to complete the survey.
Michael Mendel
Director of Staff
A high school Chapter Leader just called upset that the survey is going to be used to gather negative information about schools to be used against them.
Remember Weingarten's own words about the Tweedledees:
"They are assholes not to be trusted." So why trust them and support them on this? Especially when parent groups have said that important questions like those related to class size were deliberately left off the survey. I have always questioned whether Weingarten's commitment to class size was true or just part of a PR blitz to be used for political advantage. Why? Because she ignored the issue when we raised it in Ed. Notes and at the DA until fairly recently. True commitment to class size would mean when it is left off the survey, you do not tell people to cooperate.
Was a question asked by a middle school Chapter Leader who received this from the UFT hierarchy:
Dear Colleagues:
Today at a press conference the mayor and chancellor announced that School Learning Environment Surveys will be distributed this week to all teachers, to all parents and all secondary schools students.
According to the Department of Education, the surveys “are designed to reflect the experiences, attitudes and perceptions of members of our school communities and to provide information each school can use to improve its learning environment. Survey results will be reported to schools this summer and factored into the new school progress report in the fall.” The survey is anonymous and voluntary.
UFT President Randi Weingarten said these surveys “are an important first step in engaging parents, educators and students in the most important conversation we can have:
How to improve our children’s education. There was a good process for drafting the survey and we had a lot of good input., particularly in the area of protecting confidentiality.
“The information that will be gathered is extremely important – but it must be valued and addressed. Listening is good; we have to make sure our voices are heard.”
Therefore, we urge you to tell the teachers in your school that it is very important to take the time to complete the survey.
Michael Mendel
Director of Staff
A high school Chapter Leader just called upset that the survey is going to be used to gather negative information about schools to be used against them.
Remember Weingarten's own words about the Tweedledees:
"They are assholes not to be trusted." So why trust them and support them on this? Especially when parent groups have said that important questions like those related to class size were deliberately left off the survey. I have always questioned whether Weingarten's commitment to class size was true or just part of a PR blitz to be used for political advantage. Why? Because she ignored the issue when we raised it in Ed. Notes and at the DA until fairly recently. True commitment to class size would mean when it is left off the survey, you do not tell people to cooperate.
Monday, April 30, 2007
New BloomKlein speak...
One of the arguments Joel Klein made as part of the new organization when the issue of parent and teacher input was raised was that parents wouldeb surveyed to get a true picture of a school instead of measuring them just by test scores. More bullshit as usual, as witnessed by the following chain of events:
"When one parent speaks, the DOE refuses to listen; when many parents speak, we ask our expensive consultants to mount an empty PR offensive."
Thanks to Leonie Haimson for the reworking of the Tweed propaganda to reflect what it really is all about and the following post:
"When one parent speaks, the DOE refuses to listen; when many parents speak, we ask our expensive consultants to mount an empty PR offensive."
Thanks to Leonie Haimson for the reworking of the Tweed propaganda to reflect what it really is all about and the following post:
Today, the DoE will send home a survey for parents to fill out about their schools. Last week, parents who participated in the focus groups supposed to help design the survey sent a letter of protest to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, pointing out how their concerns were censored from the survey. (see below letter dated April 26 - reprinted at Norm's Notes.) Now, we call on parents to boycott the survey, cross out the questions listed, and before sending it back., write “We want real parent input – as well as smaller classes, less testing, and new priorities at
Sunday, April 29, 2007
UFT Committee on District Reps Meets Under Cone of Silence
Why would we expect anything different from the UFT. Look at the make-up of the committee - mostly UFT employees. The lone voices of the opposition are ICE's James Eterno (who has supported the election of DR's by chapter leaders) and ACT's Joe Mudgett (who supports the election of DR's by the members in the districts, which is where I stand). But their voices have been muzzled. There will probably be some compromise floated that will try to get them to sign on and then Unity can say how democracy is in force. Since it all is taking place behind closed doors, they will not be able to float proposals for public comment and we won't know or have any input into the process. Is this a way to conduct business? Should the opposition be part of this for fear of being accused by Unity of not taking part in the "democratic" process?
Some democratic process. I have been in a distinct minority in ICE in my position that we should not waste our time on these bogus UFT committees. Better to use the time to organize people. Want to force change in the way district reps are elected? Organize a mass petition campaign. If people in the schools don't give a shit then don't waste your time on committees. If they do give a shit, then Unity will be forced to take notice. But by any means do not get involved in the process under a cone of silence.
I say, "who cares what they say?" No one is listening out there as proven by the almost 80% of the people who did not vote in the election. I view Unity the way Weingarten views the people at Tweed: assholes who can't be trusted. Does the opposition play the same game as Weingarten who wants a seat at Tweed's table so desperately by hungering for the same thing- a seat at Unity's table?
The time for engaging in the "democratic process" of the UFT is coming to an end from my point of view. 8 members of the Ex Bd are from New Action with 9% of the vote of working teachers and 0 members of the Ex Bd come from ICE/TJC with 20% of the vote. What better illustrates the point? Read my account of the last DA. Weingarten has so subverted the process at the DA where even the "New Motion" period, the lone opportunity to take an action, has been played around with so as to make it practically unusable. In all the years of Shanker and Feldman this was one thing they never touched. But then again they weren't' afraid that something might come up they couldn't deal with. Unlike Weingarten who must control every aspect. Look how she came apart when Nick Licari (see my account in the April 26 post) started heckling her at the last DA? What Nick did should be more of a model for action. Let them vilify the opposition. No one is listening. And if they were, I bet a lot of rank and file teachers would be very happy to see some action being taken other than the same old thing.
Posted on the UTP blog:
Say It Ain't So, Joe!
The following has been lifted from Top Secret UFT files and memos, as well as the ACT site.
District Representative Selection Process Committee Convenes
The Committee to investigate the selection process for District Representatives, established by resolution of the Delegate Assembly on November 8, 2006, met for the first time on March 26, 2007. Considering that it took four months to convene the initial meeting, I don't expect any quick resolution to this important issue. Nonetheless, I will attempt the Herculean task of convincing my fellow committee members that a completely transparent democratic process, where members directly elect their representatives, is in the best interests of the union.
Why Herculean? Consider the makeup of the committee: chaired by President Weingarten (who has been appointing district reps since 2003), members include Secretary/Chief of Staff, Mike Mendel, Senior Assistant to the President, Jeff Zahler, a half dozen district reps, at least one borough representative, one or two other UFT officials, a gentleman from New Action, James Eterno from ICE, and myself, representing the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the viewpoint of the Unified Teachers Party.
Much as I would like to share the details of the deliberations with my readers, I cannot, since all committee members were asked to keep the proceedings in strictest confidence. But rest assured I will publish a complete report once the committee has completed its mission and the cone of silence is lifted.
2 Comments -
Anonymous said...
Gee, sounds like you and James are a bit outnumbered. Want to bet the results have already been decided?
4/25/2007 7:13 PM
NYC Educator said...
How is it working under that cone of silence? I've heard talk it's defective.
Some democratic process. I have been in a distinct minority in ICE in my position that we should not waste our time on these bogus UFT committees. Better to use the time to organize people. Want to force change in the way district reps are elected? Organize a mass petition campaign. If people in the schools don't give a shit then don't waste your time on committees. If they do give a shit, then Unity will be forced to take notice. But by any means do not get involved in the process under a cone of silence.
I say, "who cares what they say?" No one is listening out there as proven by the almost 80% of the people who did not vote in the election. I view Unity the way Weingarten views the people at Tweed: assholes who can't be trusted. Does the opposition play the same game as Weingarten who wants a seat at Tweed's table so desperately by hungering for the same thing- a seat at Unity's table?
The time for engaging in the "democratic process" of the UFT is coming to an end from my point of view. 8 members of the Ex Bd are from New Action with 9% of the vote of working teachers and 0 members of the Ex Bd come from ICE/TJC with 20% of the vote. What better illustrates the point? Read my account of the last DA. Weingarten has so subverted the process at the DA where even the "New Motion" period, the lone opportunity to take an action, has been played around with so as to make it practically unusable. In all the years of Shanker and Feldman this was one thing they never touched. But then again they weren't' afraid that something might come up they couldn't deal with. Unlike Weingarten who must control every aspect. Look how she came apart when Nick Licari (see my account in the April 26 post) started heckling her at the last DA? What Nick did should be more of a model for action. Let them vilify the opposition. No one is listening. And if they were, I bet a lot of rank and file teachers would be very happy to see some action being taken other than the same old thing.
Posted on the UTP blog:
Say It Ain't So, Joe!
The following has been lifted from Top Secret UFT files and memos, as well as the ACT site.
District Representative Selection Process Committee Convenes
The Committee to investigate the selection process for District Representatives, established by resolution of the Delegate Assembly on November 8, 2006, met for the first time on March 26, 2007. Considering that it took four months to convene the initial meeting, I don't expect any quick resolution to this important issue. Nonetheless, I will attempt the Herculean task of convincing my fellow committee members that a completely transparent democratic process, where members directly elect their representatives, is in the best interests of the union.
Why Herculean? Consider the makeup of the committee: chaired by President Weingarten (who has been appointing district reps since 2003), members include Secretary/Chief of Staff, Mike Mendel, Senior Assistant to the President, Jeff Zahler, a half dozen district reps, at least one borough representative, one or two other UFT officials, a gentleman from New Action, James Eterno from ICE, and myself, representing the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the viewpoint of the Unified Teachers Party.
Much as I would like to share the details of the deliberations with my readers, I cannot, since all committee members were asked to keep the proceedings in strictest confidence. But rest assured I will publish a complete report once the committee has completed its mission and the cone of silence is lifted.
2 Comments -
Anonymous said...
Gee, sounds like you and James are a bit outnumbered. Want to bet the results have already been decided?
4/25/2007 7:13 PM
NYC Educator said...
How is it working under that cone of silence? I've heard talk it's defective.
Ricky....
.... was in my 6th grade class in the late 70's. He was one of only 6 boys in the class - there were 18 girls - it made discipline issues so easy and I had a wonderful year. Ricky was enormously popular with the girls - good looking, charming beyond his years, liked by teachers even though he was not an angel, somewhat rambunctious. I had a great relationship with his mom. I haven't thought of Ricky in years but was reminded of him when today's NY Times had an article about a boy who died after some horseplay in the playground that led to his being in the head by another boy, one of his friends.
The summer after Ricky graduated, he was playing with his best friend, another student at my school. They were fixing up their bikes. One of them had a flat. They were using a knife to cut a patch. They started horsing around with the knife. Ricky started tossing it from hand to hand like they did in movies - remember West Side Story - saying something like "come on Chickie." His friend came at him, tripped over the bike and fell into the knife and died.
I heard this version from Ricky himself when he came back to school to visit the next year. It was considered an accident and Ricky as far as I know never had to face the criminal justice system. His family was a supportive one (thank goodness) and the other boy's family from what I heard did not call for Ricky's head and may have even forgiven him. Maybe it was Ricky's charm. Or maybe times were just different then.
The last time I saw Ricky he was in his late 20's and doing well in life. Still charming, the same old little boy smile. No obvious scars left from a few moments of foolish folly when he was 11 years old.
The summer after Ricky graduated, he was playing with his best friend, another student at my school. They were fixing up their bikes. One of them had a flat. They were using a knife to cut a patch. They started horsing around with the knife. Ricky started tossing it from hand to hand like they did in movies - remember West Side Story - saying something like "come on Chickie." His friend came at him, tripped over the bike and fell into the knife and died.
I heard this version from Ricky himself when he came back to school to visit the next year. It was considered an accident and Ricky as far as I know never had to face the criminal justice system. His family was a supportive one (thank goodness) and the other boy's family from what I heard did not call for Ricky's head and may have even forgiven him. Maybe it was Ricky's charm. Or maybe times were just different then.
The last time I saw Ricky he was in his late 20's and doing well in life. Still charming, the same old little boy smile. No obvious scars left from a few moments of foolish folly when he was 11 years old.
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Lucy Calkins/Teachers College plan....Weed 'em out
Leonie Haimson had a great post on her listserv that in many ways says it all about what has been going on for the past 5 years in NYC schools. Here is a section of the article that shows that if you don't go along as a teacher you get "weeded out." We've seen so many of these stories come along while the UFT remains blind, deaf and dumb. You can read the entire article at Norm's Notes.
Lucy and crew whack those weeds!
Leonie says:
Teachers College and its Reading and Writing Project, headed by Lucy Calkins, is one of the providers offered by some of the SSO’s. According to the principal’s guide, empowerment schools can separately contract out with this program, and the Community LSO (run by Marcia Lyles) and the ICO LSO (run by Judith Chin) will offer it at an additional price to schools who sign up with them. Here is an oped from the NY Sun by one parent who also runs an-arts program for children, about her experiences attending a Reading and Writing Project training session for literacy coaches.
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=53350&v=2021767711
Coach Class
BY BARBARA FEINBERG OP-ED NY Sun
April 27, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/53350
While trying to grasp all the involved steps that a coach has to implement, an audience member asked a question that seemed to be on everyone's lips: "How do you keep your methods from feeling offensive to teachers?"
The instructor replied by admitting that often teachers did tend to feel offended, and that it was a "perennial problem." But she quickly went on to say, "It's important for principals to tell their teachers that they have to comply; to say, ‘This is the culture of our school now; this is what we do.'" She went on to add a somewhat ominous comment, "a lot of teachers get weeded out," suggesting that those who don't conform are forced out. Although in what way this enforced expulsion occurs was left disturbingly vague.
Lucy and crew whack those weeds!
Leonie says:
Teachers College and its Reading and Writing Project, headed by Lucy Calkins, is one of the providers offered by some of the SSO’s. According to the principal’s guide, empowerment schools can separately contract out with this program, and the Community LSO (run by Marcia Lyles) and the ICO LSO (run by Judith Chin) will offer it at an additional price to schools who sign up with them. Here is an oped from the NY Sun by one parent who also runs an-arts program for children, about her experiences attending a Reading and Writing Project training session for literacy coaches.
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=53350&v=2021767711
Coach Class
BY BARBARA FEINBERG OP-ED NY Sun
April 27, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/53350
While trying to grasp all the involved steps that a coach has to implement, an audience member asked a question that seemed to be on everyone's lips: "How do you keep your methods from feeling offensive to teachers?"
The instructor replied by admitting that often teachers did tend to feel offended, and that it was a "perennial problem." But she quickly went on to say, "It's important for principals to tell their teachers that they have to comply; to say, ‘This is the culture of our school now; this is what we do.'" She went on to add a somewhat ominous comment, "a lot of teachers get weeded out," suggesting that those who don't conform are forced out. Although in what way this enforced expulsion occurs was left disturbingly vague.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Help a Teacher Escape the DOE
Soon after the new regions under BloomKlein started looking for scapegoats, a 3rd year teacher contacted ICE for help after being harassed. I knew the teacher who worked next door to her who said she was a fine teacher and the AP just had it in for her. The teacher weathered the storm, is still teaching and has emerged as the lead singer of the band Decembers Fall. She sent this along for tomorrow's appearance at Kenny's Castaways in the Village. It's pretty late for an old geezer like me but if I am still up for it after tomorrow's ICE meeting I might make it over there. Head on over if you are in the neighborhood and help her career so she can escape the clutches of the DOE.Come out to see our band Decembers Fall play live.
This Friday night, the 27th at Kennys Castaways -157 Bleeker St. between Thompson and Sullivan.
We go on at 11.
This is a really important show for us as we are headlining. Many more opportunities will come our way provided we have a good show and (pack the place---or at least try to )
We are a local band looking for some good LOCAL support!
Decembers Fall
Hear their music at: http://www.myspace.com/decfallnyc
CPAC press conference for elected parent leaders & their constituencies on Wed. May 9th
At this Friday's meeting, ICE will discuss the issue of urging teachers who do not support the agreement made between the UFT and the DOE for some kind of action on May 9. There is a tentative Del. Ass. planned for May 9 at 52 Broadway. What if a contingent of teachers demonstrated their refusal to accept these kinds of deals with the DOE and walk out at 4:45 and head over to City Hall or Tweed or both? Dear Education Council Members:
CPAC has decided to convene a press conference for elected parent leaders & their constituencies on Wed. May 9th @ 5:00 p.m. on the steps of City Hall. This event is to replace the City Hall rally that was postponed as a result of the agreement reached last Thursday between the UFT & other organizations & the Mayor.
The majority of our members (PA/PTA Presidents & Presidents' Council Presidents) believe that our core issue of empowering parents to participate in meaningful decision-making @ the school, district, regional, & citywide levels remains an area of great concern for NYC parents. We are seeking the long overdue respect that we have been systematically denied during this administration.
More information will follow shortly, but please SAVE THE DATE & plan to JOIN US in an united demonstration by the elected parent representatives of our 1.1 million children. It's critically important that every District send a contingent to this event. I hope that YOU will join us on the 9th.
Best regards,
Tim Johnson, Chairman
Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC)
From Tim Johnson, Chair of CPAC to CEC presidents and members:
CPAC has decided to convene a press conference for elected parent leaders & their constituencies on Wed. May 9th @ 5:00 p.m. on the steps of City Hall. This event is to replace the City Hall rally that was postponed as a result of the agreement reached last Thursday between the UFT & other organizations & the Mayor.
The majority of our members (PA/PTA Presidents & Presidents' Council Presidents) believe that our core issue of empowering parents to participate in meaningful decision-making @ the school, district, regional, & citywide levels remains an area of great concern for NYC parents. We are seeking the long overdue respect that we have been systematically denied during this administration.
More information will follow shortly, but please SAVE THE DATE & plan to JOIN US in an united demonstration by the elected parent representatives of our 1.1 million children. It's critically important that every District send a contingent to this event. I hope that YOU will join us on the 9th.
Best regards,
Tim Johnson, Chairman
Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council (CPAC)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
UFT District Rep "Election" Committee
Joe Mudgett from ACT has posted a report on the UTP blog regarding the District rep election committee. Guess who's chairing? Why Randi of course. Why would she trust the idgits surrounding her to be able to do anything without her? And of course there's the Unity Caucus head and red-baiter himself, Jeff Zahler. Better not tell him you are on the board of the NAACP, Joe. Take a look at the rest of the members, a typical UFT Committee stacked with people on the UFT payroll. Want to bet it's all been decided already and this is just a show? I would put my money on some bogus plan that has the appearance of democracy. Poor James and Joe.
Unity Caucus members of the committee on the way to the meeting.
Joe wrote:
"Consider the makeup of the committee: chaired by President Weingarten (who has been appointing district reps since 2003), members include Secretary/Chief of Staff, Mike Mendel, Senior Assistant to the President, Jeff Zahler, a half dozen district reps, at least one borough representative, one or two other UFT officials, a gentleman from New Action, James Eterno from ICE, and myself, representing the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the viewpoint of the Unified Teachers Party."
Unity Caucus members of the committee on the way to the meeting.
Joe wrote:
"Consider the makeup of the committee: chaired by President Weingarten (who has been appointing district reps since 2003), members include Secretary/Chief of Staff, Mike Mendel, Senior Assistant to the President, Jeff Zahler, a half dozen district reps, at least one borough representative, one or two other UFT officials, a gentleman from New Action, James Eterno from ICE, and myself, representing the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the viewpoint of the Unified Teachers Party."
Class Dismissed
Village Voice article on the rubber room at:
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0717,altman,76433,15.html/2
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0717,altman,76433,15.html/2
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
What Was gained, What was Lost
The text of ICE leaflet handed out at the DA today is available at:
Norm's Notes and on the ICE blog.
If you want copies for your school or would like a pdf to print some copies for your colleagues, let us know by email.
Norm's Notes and on the ICE blog.
If you want copies for your school or would like a pdf to print some copies for your colleagues, let us know by email.
Another Day of Surreality at the UFT...
....Yakety Yak, Yakety Yak
Apr. 24, 2007
(For readers not in the NYC area, background of the deal Randi Weingarten made with Mayor Bloomberg and the cancellation of the May 9th demo is available in the post titled "What was gained, what was lost" at Norm's Notes. Guide to acronyms: ICE and TJC ran against Weingarten's Unity Caucus in the just completed UFT elections. She was supported by the former opposition, now sell-out, New Action. To read more about the results, go here.)
Well, where do we start? Today was the emergency DA to withdraw the May 9th demo passed at the DA 2 weeks ago, support the Deal of the Century the UFT made with BloomKlein, and pass a resolution to put the pubic - er - public - back in public education.
I finished getting the ICE leaflet printed then sat on the deck smoking a stogie and reading my current fave "Lincoln at Cooper Union," a follow-up to Dorris Kearn's Goodwin's book. Ah, the benefits of Tier 1 pensions. Naturally lost track of time and didn't get to the DA until a bit past 3:30.
Saw TJC's Nick Licari outside hanging out. Nick would have been on the Exec Bd if ICE-TJC had won the high schools and it's too bad we missed out on that show. You'll why see later.
I passed by the guy handing out what looked like the old Communist Party stuff "The Daily Something" except it is probably a weekly or monthly or yearly by now. Oh, yes, The World!
Derick Pearl was also outside with the Progressive Labor Party newspaper. Always great to see Derick's great cheeriness. Always better with a British accent. Derick will be the last person proud to be called a worker left standing.
Inside were the usual Unity retirees handing out the Unity Caucus lit, a peon of praise to Randi. Just more dead trees.
Lots of TJC people there with their leaflet, which says some very good stuff and works well with the stuff ICE is saying in our leaflet.
Unity's Dist.22 rep Fred Gross stops by to take a leaflet and offers to help me give them out. He takes one and crumples it. Very mature. He smirks, "nice job in election." I smirk back, "You lost more votes than we did. Nice work getting 22% to vote." He comes back with,"Only 40% came out to vote in the presidential election with that idiot Bush running." Okay. 40% seems a little better than the 22% that voted for your idiot. No, I don't mean that. ICE's Yelena Siwinski passes by. Fred is her Dist. Rep. and he starts telling her how I attacked him just after he became a DR. I said I just printed what a teacher in his district told me -- that he and the Dist. 22 UFT were sellouts to the Supt. John Comer. Fred just can't seem to get over it.
New Action has nothing to give out. Of course not. They would have had to take a position on the Deal of the Century Randi just made with Bloomberg. They are either relishing the idea of having 8 Ex. bd seats with only 9% of the vote of working members while ICE-TJC got 20% or hanging their heads in shame. I saw a few that wouldn't look me in the eye. They are all pathetic.
Speaking of ...
New Action leader Mike Shulman, who will take the position handed to him by Randi on the Exec. Bd on July 1 walks in with a sour look on his face.
I found out why a few minutes later when Licari walks in smiling. "Shulman was hanging out with his "friends" he said - Nick is talking about the guy with the Daily Something. "I asked Shulman if he was proud of himself. Shulman said he was. I called him a piece of shit," said Nick. I would have not used the word "piece."
Very surprising how many people come out for a Tues. emergency meeting. Must have been around 800 people. The number of people not taking lit gives you a sense of just how many Unity Caucus people there are. The old gang all want to read what we write but the newer ones are more revved up to ignore the opposition.
I stay downstairs giving out stuff till the crowd turns to a trickle. I mosey on up the stairs. Damn, no bananas or any fruit left. Not even ice coffee. The only entrance for non-delegates is the rear-right corner where there are seats for the few crazy non-delegates that come to these things -- Randi will go down in UFT lore for this major innovation.
Of course Randi is talking. And talking. And talking. Non-stop. Every single detail- minute by minute. And it's all about what she did, when she did it, why she did it. Well, she says "we" but "we" know what she means.
It is already about 5:15. People are restless. One woman says, "Does she every stop?"
Only after they bring out the Kool-aid.
Randi is saying some stuff about Klein and Bloomberg and their attempts to create a racial divide by going to black churches and calling their reorganization a civil rights struggle -- the new right-wing mantra -- and the union efforts as regressive. Hey, we know they are swine - one more reason we should have held the May 9th demo and run these guys out of town. But here Randi has done some good work in putting together a coalition to counter that, for the first time since the '68 strike.
Josh Heisler from Vanguard HS comes over and we dissect what Randi is saying. Peter Lamphere from TJC is also hanging out in the back. We find ourselves laughing. A lot. Some of this stuff is better than a comedy club. But the best is still to come.
Randi is explaining that some of the parent groups who were against the deal felt that the more chaos there was in the schools, the better it would be to fight BloomKlein and mayoral control. Then comes the kicker. "... the same idea that is echoed in the ICE and TJC leaflets."
HUH? I finished writing the ICE leaflet at 10am and must have written that point about chaos in invisible ink. There are hoots and shouts from ICE and TJC people: "Where does it say that?" At this point Nick Licari has had it. "Stop talking already," he shouts out. "It's an hour and 15 minutes already. We want to go home. Some of us worked all day, not like some of you." People start to laugh. Others pick up on Nick and the place begins to get rowdy.
But that doesn't stop Randi. Sometimes I wonder. She could say nothing and take a vote and it will be the same no matter what she says. But she thinks she has to rouse the troops. Or ego rules. She tries a few moves to turn the crowd against the opposition. "The election is over," she says. Moans and groans. She's trying to use that shit again. "I tried to reach out to the opposition," she sniffs. Her voice is rising and she looks like she might pull a crying fit. The place is getting rowdier." She practically screams, "I have never been treated so rudely."
Hey, at least Nick didn't call her a piece of shit.
That is the signal to the Unity troops. They begin to rise and applaud. Someone in Unity must be taking attendance. No one wants to lose their gig or free trip to the convention. Now you see the power of Unity as 3/4 of the room is up. Later I heard someone was going up and down the aisles drumming up business. One gets the feeling that love for Randi has to be squeezed out of her own gang like an almost empty toothepaste tube.
Randi is getting wild. Suddenly she starts to talk about St. Louis and New Orleans. Huh? Oh yes. ICE and Ed Notes has been talking about the national attack on public schools and our leaflet accused her of ignoring the national attack on public education. Her answer is the has actually heard of New Orleans and St. Louis and the role Alvarez and Marsal have played there - and New York, of course- which she apparently found out from reading the Ed Notes blog.) God forbid the UFT ever tried to do anything serious to fight against the travesty of the the corporate giveaway BloomKlein are engaging in.
Randi says she talks to AFT and NEA people all the time (aha, getting ready to move on to AFT pres in July 2008).
Now, she is practically ranting, looking to be on the verge of hysteria. Someone get oxygen. She finishes by invoking the ghost of Al Shanker and in the funniest line of the night, says, "Al Shanker told me on his death bed ....." What, not to hold the demo May 9th?
Okay, so that wasn't what he told her. That Randi was there to hear Shanker's last words is enough for the Unity faithful to begin to rise again. "He told me that he told people not to vote to strike in 1975 at the delegate assembly because the city had no money," (Oh boy, have we heard this one before - she did learn this from Al -- always use the "no money" argument as an excuse for not winning in contract negotiations) "and they didn't listen. And that was the only strike this union every lost," she screeches. The Unity faithful rises to cheer her. The Kool-aid has been served.
Of course, Randi got even this wrong. I was at that vote and also didn't listen to Al. And I was there when we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge Al said, "We won't go back 'till we all go back." But we went back with 15,000 less people, fewer preps, a shorter school day, etc. I'm proud to have been opposed to going back at that time. And did Randi really think we "won" the '68 strike when she has actually received accolades for putting together a coalition that for the first time actually heals some of the wounds that still exist from '68?
The rant is over. She is spent. She calms herself down and opens the debate. The great democrat will call on a speaker for each side. The Unity faithful from the speakers' bureau who have been prepped with their speaker points are ready.
(I may have the order of the speakers wrong.)
ICE's Lisa North starts out by talking about how the momentum for holding the May 9th demo has been built and holding it would hold the parent coalition together. Randi's answer is we can hold the demo another time (I suggest August 1st.) Unity's Dave Pecoraro CL from Beach Channel HS responds. "How come he always gets to speak," asks a woman. " "He's one of their trained parrots," I answer.
Carolyn Eubanks from ICE and PL takes the floor and as usual gets emotional about how the kids are being hurt by all this. I love Carolyn and understand where she is going but most people there don't and she doesn't help her cause with this type of presentation, especially with this crowd. There are hoots and hollers for her to sit down. Randi magnanimously quiets the crowd to let Carolyn speak. What can I say? I'm queasy about it. Some think Randi loves to call on PL people to paint the opposition a certain way.
She calls on a pro-speaker, Mark Egan, a district rep from the Bronx, who speaks with an Irish lilt and makes an excellent presentation (from Unity's point of view) comparing this to a 15 round boxing match and claims the UFT has won rounds one, two and three. Has he been in a school lately and seen the carnage?
Then comes ICE's Michael Fiorillo, CL of Newcomer's HS, who makes a similar case for the May 9th demo as Lisa did. He praises the coalition put together by the UFT and Randi takes the opportunity to thank him for the compliment. Jeez.
Now, Steve Quester, CL of PS 372K, an independent and one of my favorite DA people, makes the single strongest presentation of the day when he takes apart the funding plan compromise for what it was. He points out the funding formula we agreed to still has the incentive for principals to not hire higher salaried teachers after senior teachers leave or transfer because they can use the money any way they want to - -ie. hire 2 new teachers. Randi responds that the old formula that existed in Dec is dead and we were left with the new formula from Jan. She obviously begs the question that one of the goals of the entire movement/May 9th rally was to keep the old formula but she has given this idea up for the deal.
Her goal was to keep the funding for the school intact to "keep good schools working." Translation: to satisfy the white middle class parents. Senior teachers (anyone over 3 years in today's world) are dead. UFT complicity with the DOE all along on the attacks on higher salaried teachers will doom all those making over 60 grand to purgatory. Remember how private industry shakes out its workers when they reach a certain age and salary? We got it now. In spades.
Unity ideologue Leo Casey, (one of the major authors of red-baiting Unity lit and great Nazi hunter who sees United Farm Worker eagles as Nazi paraphernalia) rises, the only time I have seen him speak at the DA. Casey has been described as one of the most intellectually dishonest people around and he certainly fulfills his promise here. He makes a rousing speech, his voice almost reaching Randi's level of hysteria at times, about how we don't demonstrate for catharsis but to win politically. He was present at all stages of the deal and watched how Randi worked with each groups of the coalition and they all got something out of the deal. Hmmm. Maybe a pitch to be the next HS VP when Volpicella retires. But then he may not have the time to spend his days reading what the opposition blogs are saying or writing long-winded pieces for Edwize.
Phew! Unity's Greg Lundahl, CL of Washington Irving HS who is one of the Unity people who replaced the ICE-TJC reps on the Ex Bd., rises and in his deep mellifluous tones says, "I call the question." Greg has found his calling.
I know how this drama ends and exit left to go find a banana.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tweed school budget plan is NOT about shifting quality teachers to struggling schools...
David Bloomfield, a parent, a Professor at Brooklyn College and President of the Citywide Council on High Schools, in a powerful summary of his opposition to the agreement between the Mayor and the UFT-led coalition, has one statement that I feel needs some elucidating. Read his full comment below my analysis.
When Bloomfield says....
"One of the best mayoral initiatives – equalizing school funding and the distribution of quality teachers – has been left in tatters" ...
.....I'm concerned he and others might be misled by the rhetoric coming out of Tweed and City Hall. The irony of the entire mayoral initiative on the school funding issue has been missed by many. While claiming to want distribute “quality” teachers - and I would take issue that a 20 year teacher is necessarily more adept than say a 5 or 7 year teacher - the reality has been that attempts to drive senior teachers from the system have taken place in many schools.
In fact, many of us saw the funding plan for what it was -- an attempt to create a system of “peace corps” teachers who stay no longer than 5 years by giving principals a further incentive to drive senior teachers out. Just think: low salaries, docile teachers who don’t know their union rights, few pensions, etc. The mantra is to teacher-proof the process in an assembly line manner and use professional development (often by non-public organizations - see the 9 whatever they call it groups) to train a constantly turning over staff.
The idea that they want to distribute “quality” teachers is a sham because they could have done so by offering incentives to teachers to teach in certain areas. (When I started teaching in the late 60’s they gave every teacher in Title 1 schools extra free time to prepare/recover.)
If you remove teacher salaries from the equation, what other areas has the DOE been able to point to for other inequalities in funding? And since Tweed has total control, what has stopped them from moving money around over the last 5 years to change this? The current reorganization has been unilateral until now and will be so again. This is all about politics, as usual, not education. But it was never about education in the first place."
Note: We hear the "teacher quality" argument used by Klein to argue against class size reductions,ironically today by Michael Rubel, a top Randi Weingarten ally. How come they never talk about "teacher quality" as it relates to teachers coming under attack in so many quarters and how quality is affected by the consequential resulting exodus that makes crossing the Red Sea look like a stroll in a stream?
Bloomfield's complete post to nyceducationnews list:
I think yesterday’s (Apr. 19) agreement allowed the Mayor to indulge in a classic divide and conquer strategy. Privatization and an extremely flawed accountability system, for example, were left unaddressed. Special education? The incoherent supervisory structure? The mayhem of principals disregarding their schools while they try to make sense of the restructuring and start the endless process of trolling for ESOs, LSOs, PSOs? One of the best mayoral initiatives – equalizing school funding and the distribution of quality teachers – has been left in tatters. Promises of consultation on class size, drop out prevention, and middle school reform seem little more than crumbs. Elected and statutory parent voices were abandoned. I am extremely disappointed, especially when many of us have stood side-by-side supporting our coalition colleagues, expecting reciprocity. The High School Council and others called for a broad public discussion of the interconnected pieces of the Mayor’s plan. Yesterday’s surprise announcement has done a great disservice to public school students by seeming to foreclose that comprehensive, transparent public review. But we should continue to fight for that debate and for constructive DOE responses to unresolved issues. While our bonds are strained, I hope they are not broken.
David Bloomfield
Professor, Brooklyn College
President, Citywide Council on High Schools
When Bloomfield says....
"One of the best mayoral initiatives – equalizing school funding and the distribution of quality teachers – has been left in tatters" ...
.....I'm concerned he and others might be misled by the rhetoric coming out of Tweed and City Hall. The irony of the entire mayoral initiative on the school funding issue has been missed by many. While claiming to want distribute “quality” teachers - and I would take issue that a 20 year teacher is necessarily more adept than say a 5 or 7 year teacher - the reality has been that attempts to drive senior teachers from the system have taken place in many schools.
In fact, many of us saw the funding plan for what it was -- an attempt to create a system of “peace corps” teachers who stay no longer than 5 years by giving principals a further incentive to drive senior teachers out. Just think: low salaries, docile teachers who don’t know their union rights, few pensions, etc. The mantra is to teacher-proof the process in an assembly line manner and use professional development (often by non-public organizations - see the 9 whatever they call it groups) to train a constantly turning over staff.
The idea that they want to distribute “quality” teachers is a sham because they could have done so by offering incentives to teachers to teach in certain areas. (When I started teaching in the late 60’s they gave every teacher in Title 1 schools extra free time to prepare/recover.)
If you remove teacher salaries from the equation, what other areas has the DOE been able to point to for other inequalities in funding? And since Tweed has total control, what has stopped them from moving money around over the last 5 years to change this? The current reorganization has been unilateral until now and will be so again. This is all about politics, as usual, not education. But it was never about education in the first place."
Note: We hear the "teacher quality" argument used by Klein to argue against class size reductions,ironically today by Michael Rubel, a top Randi Weingarten ally. How come they never talk about "teacher quality" as it relates to teachers coming under attack in so many quarters and how quality is affected by the consequential resulting exodus that makes crossing the Red Sea look like a stroll in a stream?
Bloomfield's complete post to nyceducationnews list:
I think yesterday’s (Apr. 19) agreement allowed the Mayor to indulge in a classic divide and conquer strategy. Privatization and an extremely flawed accountability system, for example, were left unaddressed. Special education? The incoherent supervisory structure? The mayhem of principals disregarding their schools while they try to make sense of the restructuring and start the endless process of trolling for ESOs, LSOs, PSOs? One of the best mayoral initiatives – equalizing school funding and the distribution of quality teachers – has been left in tatters. Promises of consultation on class size, drop out prevention, and middle school reform seem little more than crumbs. Elected and statutory parent voices were abandoned. I am extremely disappointed, especially when many of us have stood side-by-side supporting our coalition colleagues, expecting reciprocity. The High School Council and others called for a broad public discussion of the interconnected pieces of the Mayor’s plan. Yesterday’s surprise announcement has done a great disservice to public school students by seeming to foreclose that comprehensive, transparent public review. But we should continue to fight for that debate and for constructive DOE responses to unresolved issues. While our bonds are strained, I hope they are not broken.
David Bloomfield
Professor, Brooklyn College
President, Citywide Council on High Schools
Sunday, April 22, 2007
What if......
by a veteran teacher and chapter leader, unaffiliated with any political group in the UFT.
what if they gave a rally to replace the one now on the back burner, and
everybody came.
no, not the usual suspects.
no, not the union folks.
nor the coalition of political personalities that arrive in time for the
rally and then scurry away, back into the shadows.
what if they held a rally for the disenfranchised
the teachers,
the parents,
and the children that are never really part of the equation anyways.
what if the all came together from near and far
by train, by bus, by car, by feet
what if they came enmasse,
and their shouts echoed in the canyons of the city.
and said we don't accept the duplicity.
we don't accept the deals made in darkness.
we wont accept the use of our children as pawns in some elaborate power
driven chess game.
we reject the denigration of our lives, our hopes, and our dreams
we do not agree to the scorn heaped upon us by those we used to trust.
we want the cleansing action of sunlight, on a new day, on a new idea
we want to birth a new reality
what if....
what if they gave a rally to replace the one now on the back burner, and
everybody came.
no, not the usual suspects.
no, not the union folks.
nor the coalition of political personalities that arrive in time for the
rally and then scurry away, back into the shadows.
what if they held a rally for the disenfranchised
the teachers,
the parents,
and the children that are never really part of the equation anyways.
what if the all came together from near and far
by train, by bus, by car, by feet
what if they came enmasse,
and their shouts echoed in the canyons of the city.
and said we don't accept the duplicity.
we don't accept the deals made in darkness.
we wont accept the use of our children as pawns in some elaborate power
driven chess game.
we reject the denigration of our lives, our hopes, and our dreams
we do not agree to the scorn heaped upon us by those we used to trust.
we want the cleansing action of sunlight, on a new day, on a new idea
we want to birth a new reality
what if....
Parents speak out....
Emails from the NYCEducationNews List:
noel@aitools.org writes
The ironic thing is that neither Martine Guerrier, nor her employer the DoE, have, or ought to have, any say on who's included in that coalition. It does appear, though, that the majority of the coalition members ceded control of the makeup of the coalition to the DoE.
The "compromises" reached here are a collective failure by the DoE-aligned groups to adequately represent their constituents. Even to suggest that the immigration groups "got a lot" is probably wrong, since
the immigration constituency and the special ed constituency overlap with each other as much as with any other constituency.
It appears to me that the leaders of the larger groups are attempting to score symbolic points for political usage. The leaders of the smaller groups have been suckered into thinking they're going to advance their
causes with "a seat at the table". It's all very pathetic.
Fair Student Funding is fundamentally flawed. A renegotiation of weights for different needs groups doesn't address the core problem one bit.
The cogent and critical arguments against the impoverished brand of standardized test - based "accountability" have been cast aside; our students will continue to be trained as test takers.
The concessions on teacher salary do not address the essential problem that principals will still have an incentive to give unduly high priority to cost cutting.
There are no substantive gains on the issue of class size -- the DoE will work hard to water down the regulations currently awaited from the state, and has only committed to "develop[ing] a ... set of
recommendations on how best to implement the regulations" recommendation Frog has more teeth than that.
Members of the organizations who betrayed the coalition need to understand that their breach of trust will make forming the next coalition far more difficult. The way this was conducted is a gross insult to the people who showed up at rallies, who wrote letters and sent faxes, who campaigned personally and got the word out in communities, with the understanding that a broad coalition had our backs.
Richard Barr, VP of District 3 (PTA) Presidents Council writes:
Much has been written on these lists in the aftermath of the press conference earlier this week announcing an "agreement" among the administration, UFT and others about modifications to the planned reorganization of the school system.
noel@aitools.org writes
The ironic thing is that neither Martine Guerrier, nor her employer the DoE, have, or ought to have, any say on who's included in that coalition. It does appear, though, that the majority of the coalition members ceded control of the makeup of the coalition to the DoE.
The "compromises" reached here are a collective failure by the DoE-aligned groups to adequately represent their constituents. Even to suggest that the immigration groups "got a lot" is probably wrong, since
the immigration constituency and the special ed constituency overlap with each other as much as with any other constituency.
It appears to me that the leaders of the larger groups are attempting to score symbolic points for political usage. The leaders of the smaller groups have been suckered into thinking they're going to advance their
causes with "a seat at the table". It's all very pathetic.
Fair Student Funding is fundamentally flawed. A renegotiation of weights for different needs groups doesn't address the core problem one bit.
The cogent and critical arguments against the impoverished brand of standardized test - based "accountability" have been cast aside; our students will continue to be trained as test takers.
The concessions on teacher salary do not address the essential problem that principals will still have an incentive to give unduly high priority to cost cutting.
There are no substantive gains on the issue of class size -- the DoE will work hard to water down the regulations currently awaited from the state, and has only committed to "develop[ing] a ... set of
recommendations on how best to implement the regulations" recommendation Frog has more teeth than that.
Members of the organizations who betrayed the coalition need to understand that their breach of trust will make forming the next coalition far more difficult. The way this was conducted is a gross insult to the people who showed up at rallies, who wrote letters and sent faxes, who campaigned personally and got the word out in communities, with the understanding that a broad coalition had our backs.
Richard Barr, VP of District 3 (PTA) Presidents Council writes:
Much has been written on these lists in the aftermath of the press conference earlier this week announcing an "agreement" among the administration, UFT and others about modifications to the planned reorganization of the school system.
In my opinion, public school parents, who themselves don't always speak with one voice on schools issues, are sometimes on the same page with other entities, sometimes partially so, and sometimes not at all. So although gatherings, press conferences, demonstrations and "agreements" attract more attention when they bring together coalitions of forces, an event peopled primarily by parents and, perhaps, their schoolchildren is a more accurate rendition of what we really think and want to see happen (or not happen) with the school system.
I agree with others who have written that we should go ahead with the previously planned City Hall demo about putting the reorganization on hold, whether it's on May 9 or another day. Many of us have been passing resolutions in our schools and districts asking that the reorganization be placed on hold until it can be properly vetted. Instead, we were informed that it was the demo that had been put "on hold", by not-specifically-named others, and soon after, a press conference with the Mayor, Chancellor, other officials, the Union, and other groups convened to announce an "agreement" to modify parts of the reorganization and move forward.
No one was speaking specifically for, or was authorized to speak specifically for, the bulk of the parents at that press conference, although, again, it's near impossible to characterize precisely what the bulk of the parents want from issue to issue, or who can really speak for them.
So let's have an event where we speak for ourselves, even if that isn't in one neat voice. Mixed gatherings have previously been spun by the disgraceful right-wing tabloid editorialists, and the columnists, op-ed commentators, and think-tankers on the same page with them (as well as, lamentably, some of the elected and appointed officials who control the schools) as puppet shows where one entity (the Union) is pulling everyone else's strings.
If sympathetic public officials wish to stand with us, that would be nice, but we need to make clear that we, on our own, have real issues and that the idea wasn't just put into our heads by others with their own agendas. And we don't need to be co-opted, picked off one-by-one, or to have others claim to be speaking for us if they are primarily speaking for themselves.
So let's just do it, even if organizing it and getting attention paid to it will be more difficult without the weight of the P.R. apparatuses of others behind us.
Richard Barr
V.P., District 3 Presidents' Council
from Leonie Haimson:
oolparents.blogspot.com/
from Leonie Haimson:
People have asked me about the history of these negotiations – which I was only peripherally involved in. This is what I know:
A week ago last Friday, there were several hours of negotiations at City Hall between the City and the UFT, ACORN, and some other advocacy and parent groups in the loose association that had formed. I was not invited and did not participate. I found out about this only after the fact, on late Friday, when I was told that some sort of deal had been worked out, but was not told the details. I did learn that some sort of concession had been made on the part of the DOE that they would try to work with the UFT and our coalition, NYers for Smaller Classes, as well as other stakeholders, to draw up the city’s class size reduction plan. There were also concessions made to the various groups who were more directly involved in the negotiations. On Saturday morning, there was supposed to be a meeting at the UFT office to go over the details, w/ a possible press conference to follow.
Sat. morning before I left home, the whole deal was called off, apparently by the city.
Switch to Thursday afternoon. I participated along with many other groups, including CPAC, in a conference call, where elements of the agreement were discussed in more detail. It was clear that the city had agreed not to cut the budgets for any school for at least two years – a big concession as far as I was concerned. The Immigration Coalition had the city’s agreement to raise the weights of ELL students; there were also separate agreements that DOE would work w/ CEJ on middle school reform, the Urban Youth Collaborative on their
I felt then and feel now that the city made major concessions – and received few in return. The City agreed not to cut school budgets (which is a very big deal for my son’s school and many other schools throughout the city – which justly feared losing millions of dollars.) I also felt and still feel that in good conscience I could not reject the opportunity to talk directly to DOE and test their willingness to collaborate on their class size reduction plan – however this process turns out.
Among those at the press conference, standing behind the Mayor, next to Randi and the other groups who were there, were
I think that if parents want to hold the rally on their own on May 9 that’s great. We can help publicize it on the list servs and the blog and elsewhere. I also feel that the most important thing now is to continue working so that our schools can be fundamentally reformed, to make all the changes that our children really need. Clearly this agreement is only one modest step, to forestall some but not all the destructive aspects of the reorganization. The outcome of the process of talking directly w/ DOE is uncertain and there is so much work to be done. I know I will continue to fight for real change, and I hope others will be there too.
Leonie Haimson
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
212-674-7320
Teacher War Stories and Class Size
Posted to ICE-mail by Lisa North, chapter leader, PS 3. Lisa, a founding member of ICE, was the ICE/TJC candidate for elementary Vice President in the recent elections.
Two articles about Ric Klass’s book about teaching in a large Bronx HS, “Man Overboard: Confessions of a Novice Math Teacher in the Bronx.” Ric, a former aerospace engineer and investment banker, decided what he really wanted in life was to teach in the NYC public schools, but lasted only one year, largely because of the problems he faced in reaching all his students in huge classes:
See: http://www.ryerecord.com/html%20pages/aroundtownklass.htm
“He does hold out some hope for schools that spend their money on smaller class sizes. “Given the discipline issues, the teacher will only get their attention when there are about 15 students in the class. Small schools, such as those being promoted by the Gates Foundation, are not the answer; it's smaller class sizes.”
And today’s Education supplement of the NY Times features a review of several memoirs of teachers, including Ric’s and another by Dan Brown, a former filmmaker who was assigned to an elementary school in the Bronx, “The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle.” In both, the authors describe their unwieldy class sizes as their most insurmountable challenge. Both fled the public school system and are now teaching in elite NYC private schools where no classes are larger than 15 students.
Ric’s story, in particular, puts the lie to Klein’s claim that we cannot reduce class size because of the shortage of qualified math and science teachers. If we could provide them with smaller classes, more people like Ric – who had all the right credentials, including degrees from MIT and Harvard Business School -- would hang around longer and we’d have a more qualified and effective teaching force. It’s the attrition rate – not the lack of applicants –that doom so many of our students to less effective and experienced teachers.
See excerpt here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/education/edlife/books22.html
“In practically all the foxhole memoirs there is a common villain: standardized testing, which the authors agree has been so overemphasized that it is now an obstacle to the very education it was supposed to measure. And there is a common, if nearly impossible, remedy as well: smaller classes, more resources. Mr. Klass stumbles on this partly by accident when he is asked to take over a group of special ed students and discovers that they do much better than his other classes, simply because he can give them more time.”
Apparently, as in the reviewer’s case, even those who admit that reducing class size is the key to improving our schools believe is a remedy that is “nearly impossible” to achieve shows that the biggest challenge we face is changing people’s minds about what is possible.
Two articles about Ric Klass’s book about teaching in a large Bronx HS, “Man Overboard: Confessions of a Novice Math Teacher in the Bronx.” Ric, a former aerospace engineer and investment banker, decided what he really wanted in life was to teach in the NYC public schools, but lasted only one year, largely because of the problems he faced in reaching all his students in huge classes:
See: http://www.ryerecord.com/html%20pages/aroundtownklass.htm
“He does hold out some hope for schools that spend their money on smaller class sizes. “Given the discipline issues, the teacher will only get their attention when there are about 15 students in the class. Small schools, such as those being promoted by the Gates Foundation, are not the answer; it's smaller class sizes.”
And today’s Education supplement of the NY Times features a review of several memoirs of teachers, including Ric’s and another by Dan Brown, a former filmmaker who was assigned to an elementary school in the Bronx, “The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle.” In both, the authors describe their unwieldy class sizes as their most insurmountable challenge. Both fled the public school system and are now teaching in elite NYC private schools where no classes are larger than 15 students.
Ric’s story, in particular, puts the lie to Klein’s claim that we cannot reduce class size because of the shortage of qualified math and science teachers. If we could provide them with smaller classes, more people like Ric – who had all the right credentials, including degrees from MIT and Harvard Business School -- would hang around longer and we’d have a more qualified and effective teaching force. It’s the attrition rate – not the lack of applicants –that doom so many of our students to less effective and experienced teachers.
See excerpt here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/education/edlife/books22.html
“In practically all the foxhole memoirs there is a common villain: standardized testing, which the authors agree has been so overemphasized that it is now an obstacle to the very education it was supposed to measure. And there is a common, if nearly impossible, remedy as well: smaller classes, more resources. Mr. Klass stumbles on this partly by accident when he is asked to take over a group of special ed students and discovers that they do much better than his other classes, simply because he can give them more time.”
Apparently, as in the reviewer’s case, even those who admit that reducing class size is the key to improving our schools believe is a remedy that is “nearly impossible” to achieve shows that the biggest challenge we face is changing people’s minds about what is possible.
Woodie, the Rock Star
by Norman Scott
April 20, 2007(From The Wave, www.rockawave.com)
He is tall and lean, his thinning gray hair swept back in a long ponytail. His usual garb: jeans, sneakers and a dungaree jacket covered with names signed in multi-colored markers. He towers above the hordes of teenagers who often surround him waiting patiently for his autograph and the opportunity to find an open spot on his jacket to place their names (he has markers available for them to use.)
Another rock star from the ‘60’s on yet another comeback tour? No, he is Woodie Flowers, professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he is an international superstar in the worldwide robotics community.
Read an account of my wonderful visit to the World Robotic Festival, sponsored by FIRST, in Atlanta where thousands of kids from elementary, middle and high schools gathered from around the nation and the world. When the MC shouts Isaaaac, the kids shout back "Newton!"
http://normsrobotics.blogspot.com/
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Rubber Room, The Movie
Greetings all,
The last few months for us here at Five Boroughs Productions have been hectic but very productive. The production of our documentary has progressed well and, in addition, we have just finished updating our web-site.
http://www.rubberroommovie.com/
We hope that you find the new web-site more informative, dynamic, and comprehensive. Please feel free to contact us with any comments and check back periodically for updates and a sneak preview of our upcoming documentary "The Rubber Room".
Jeremy Garrett
Executive Producer
Five Boroughs Productions
www.rubberroommovie.com
The last few months for us here at Five Boroughs Productions have been hectic but very productive. The production of our documentary has progressed well and, in addition, we have just finished updating our web-site.
http://www.rubberroommovie.com/
We hope that you find the new web-site more informative, dynamic, and comprehensive. Please feel free to contact us with any comments and check back periodically for updates and a sneak preview of our upcoming documentary "The Rubber Room".
Jeremy Garrett
Executive Producer
Five Boroughs Productions
www.rubberroommovie.com
Friday, April 20, 2007
UFT Incorporated
Sean Ahern posts a lengthy analysis/critique of the UFT leadership and the opposition and poses suggestions for a new direction.
After four years NAC (pursuing the change from above) has pretty much disappeared into Unity without discernible effect on the mothership. ICE/TJC's challenge to Unity(change from below) may be likened to 'grabbing an elephant by the tail', not much in the way of a budding insurgency here.
I used to think the UFT was a labor organization ultimately subject to the expressed will of working teachers. I know there are dedicated Chapter Leaders on this list who have held the fort in their schools and kept members active and involved. I applaud such efforts at the school level, I just don't see how the positive change can go much beyond this.
Consider for a moment that the UFT is neither a teachers union, nor a company union, nor a corrupt union, nor a retiree association, but a management corporation, UFT Inc., with two large office buildings, a health insurance plan, the $40 billion TRS, The Teachers Center and other properties and investments, perks and privileges to maintain.
.......
Read the rest at Norm's Notes
After four years NAC (pursuing the change from above) has pretty much disappeared into Unity without discernible effect on the mothership. ICE/TJC's challenge to Unity(change from below) may be likened to 'grabbing an elephant by the tail', not much in the way of a budding insurgency here.
I used to think the UFT was a labor organization ultimately subject to the expressed will of working teachers. I know there are dedicated Chapter Leaders on this list who have held the fort in their schools and kept members active and involved. I applaud such efforts at the school level, I just don't see how the positive change can go much beyond this.
Consider for a moment that the UFT is neither a teachers union, nor a company union, nor a corrupt union, nor a retiree association, but a management corporation, UFT Inc., with two large office buildings, a health insurance plan, the $40 billion TRS, The Teachers Center and other properties and investments, perks and privileges to maintain.
.......
Read the rest at Norm's Notes
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