UFT Staff Changes: Mulgrew is the Boss

Mulgrew the big winner; Sprung, Engler rise

AFT Staffers beware. This is what you have to look forward to when you get your new boss next week.

A new structure in the UFT pretty much ensures that Randi Weingarten will stand for re-election in the 2010 UFT elections.

Mike Mulgrew will be the Chief Operating Officer and strong man of the UFT. This seems to be a newly created position that will enable him to function as Randi Weingarten's surrogate when she is out of town. Michael Mendel has been playing this role, and this seems to push him out of the way. Too bad. Many of us view him as the most capable person. (It looks like I win my $10 bet with Ellen Fox, who claimed he would be the next UFT Pres.)

People have predicted this for Mulgrew, the fast-rising power in the UFT, who just a few years ago was the chapter leader of Grady Vocational HS. We have predicted he would play the Tom Pappas role. But do not look for him to be UFT president in the near future. I'll give reasons why in future posts.

Here is one Mulgrew anecdote. After John Powers made his GHI/HIP resolution at the June DA, Mulgrew was telling people to vote against it. John called up to Randi telling her a UFT VP was trying to tell people how to vote.

The Staff Director, traditionally the seat to power in the UFT - it was held for a long time by Sandi Feldman who appointed Tom Pappas when she became UFT President and he continued in that job for years under Randi - will now be divided between Leroy Barr, Gary Sprung and Elie Engler.

After many years of stability, in the last 3 years we have had: Liz Languilli, Michael Mendel, Jeff Zahler, Leroy Barr, and now a troika. And of course we had the resignation of Michelle Bodden as elementary VP, a story we broke. We said at the time that Barr was a surprise appointment to create an African-American alternative to Bodden. Now, 6 months later, it seems Randi is not happy. By the way, the staff director job pays a lot of money. Will all 3 earn this high salary?

Elie Engler is fairly popular (ironically, an ICE founder has a long-time connection to her.) But Sprung, Pappas' hatchet man, is an old face. There has been no Unity Caucus member who seemed more despised by his fellow Unity Caucus brethren (they used to whisper in my ear) over the years, though he seems to have mellowed a bit - but reports do flow in as to how incredibly nasty and disrespectful he is still capable of being. (I saw him in action when he did that to a friend of mine at a DA who was helping me with ed notes - ironically, it is she who has the connection to Elie Engler.)

Sprung is extremely hard working and capable (he has made sure the Executive Board meetings are well stocked with great food.) Not a guy who seems comfortable up front, look for him to be the main force behind the scenes as staff director - a strong arm guy who doesn't care who he offends - excecpt Randi, of course.

Sprung and I almost got into a fight at a DA when he threw 500 copies of Ed Notes in the garbage can. Pappas came over and had us make up after I embarrassed them by raising a point of order at the beginning of the Delegate Assembly about 10 seconds after Randi began to speak (this was just after she became UFT President and I was able to push for rules that protected the distribution of critical literature, which has been eroded since the UFT moved into 52 Broadway.) Randi ordered them to give me my own table for Ed Notes.

Since then, Gary and I have gotten along - on and off. I used to list him as the real power behind Ed Notes, hoping some Unity hacks would take it seriously. Some actually gave him grief for talking and joking with me. We've shared a few laughs over the years as Gary doesn't mince words about his likes and dislikes. Too bad I can't share them.

Gary spends lots of time at a beach near me in Rockaway. If you hear of a drowning, I have an alibi.

Stories of the Day

Updated 7/4/08

Rubber rooms: UFT makes deal with DOE
Check out the ICE analysis of the deal which comes up smelling of public relations
One would ask why there had to be a deal to hire more arbitrators to speed cases as an alternative to letting people rot in rubber rooms when it seems it would be in the interest of the DOE to get these things done as quickly as possible. So why haven't they? Is it due to the numerous cases of people being railroaded by principals with vendettas? Has the DOE been using the rubber rooms as holding pens to support principals who wanted to keep political opponents or people who were "negative" when they tried to push programs that looked ridiculous to educators? Knowing full-well that many of these cases would not hold up, they chose to pay people. Maybe the political pressure grew too great.

By the way, when I made a suggestion to do this at an Executive Board meeting back in 2005, Randi Weingarten attacked me. And when Jeff Kaufman called on the UFT in June 2006 to hire people to do independent investigations, he was similarly attacked.

It was ICE people that consistently drove the UFT to take action on the rubber rooms, which they did not want to know about until we raised it and began bringing people to Executive Board meetings to speak out. What we ended up with was a useless UFT SWAT rubber room team where the infighting is worthy of Kabuki theater.

Michelle Rhee Targets Seniority, Tenure
Rhee wants to bribe people with high salaries to give up seniority and tenure and be willing to undergo a yearly review, based on the ability to raise test scores. People in it for the short term might take the deal, as might people near retirement (bet these people get reviewed out of the system in a heart beat.) Anyone looking for a teaching career in Washington DC better not be tempted.

And here's a good one because of some old friends:
Miami/Dade County Teachers locked in battle with district
They want to cancel promised raises due to budget cuts. So NYC teachers who expect automatic raises should be aware that this can happen. It did to us back in the 70's and 80's (I think.)

Former NYC Chancellor Rudy Crew (forced out by Giuliani) is the Miami superintendent and former long-time NYCDOE personal director Howie Tames is a labor consultant.

Labor consultant Howard Tames said the district hoped to reach a compromise with the teachers. ''It's the district's position that all employees are important and we want to give money to them,'' Tames said. "But by law, the budget gap has to be filled before we can give out the raises.''

Crew said he will not take his raise either. Crew and Tames still look like gold compared to the crew we got at Tweed.

Howie was a former chapter chairman Unity Caucus member in District 14 who rose quickly though the ranks at the DOE in the mid -70's to head the DOE personnel department, becoming a mainstay and dominant figure through multiple chancellors. Howie knew everyone and knew which buttons to push and he did a lot of favors for a lot of people. He didn't fit the corporate model and was purged under BloomKlein (though he will deny it.)

Howie is also one of my fraternity brothers. We went through some rough times in the 70's when the opposition group "Another View in District 14" (members were amongst the founders of ICE a generation later) battled the local political gang and city-wide Unity Caucus machine. Some of my colleagues still have resentments but Howie and I buried the hatchet a long time ago. Bet he has some fun Tweedle stories. Can't wait for him to write his memoirs.

Questions on NEA/AFT Merger Prospects

While many in NYC speculated Randi's support of Hillary was aimed at procuring a cabinet position, I never bought into it. Randi's real ambition I believe is to lead the labor movement. A precursor of that would be a merger of the 1.4 million member AFT with the 3.4 million member NEA.

But is there any way Randi could end up leading a merged organization when the AFT is so much smaller?

We know there are significant differences - the NEA has term limits while the AFT has had only 4 presidents in 35 years.

The AFT is tightly controlled and has little democracy, with the UFT's Unity Caucus in NYC exerting control over the entire AFT through the Progressive Caucus, the national version of Unity. The NEA/AFT merger in NY State (NYSUT) has created a 600,000 bloc in the AFT and potentially the NEA.

Though I often disagree with Educational Intelligence Agency's Mike Antonucci, I respect his knowledge and opinions. (We spent a couple of days chatting in the press section at the AFT convention in Washington in 2004 - Mike though based in California, is originally a Bushwick guy from Brooklyn.)

With the ascension of Randi Weingarten as AFT president due to take place next week, I was wondering how strategies towards an NEA/AFT merger will emerge, so I sent him these questions:

Mike
I'm looking forward to your coverage of the NEA. Are you doing the AFT too? I cannot make it (I'm going to a Zombies concert in NYC and would rather see those zombies than the Unity drones in Chicago.)
.
One of the issues of interest is how a merger will play out with Randi leading the AFT and I hope you might touch on some of these issues.

Can she emerge as the head of a merged union? Will she be at the NEA convention and play a prominent role?

We know that the AFT/UFT model has resistance in the NEA but can a Unity Caucus-like machine be implemented state by state?

What role does the 600,000 member NYSUT play? Is this a strategy to take the NEA from underneath? What about other merged states?

What role will the UTLA play - will their more militant/left political orientation emerge as a counter to Weingarten's collaborative model that has so set back the teacher union movement in NYC?

There are groups meeting in Chicago working on the peace and justice caucus and some people from ICE will be there.


Hi Norm:

I won't be in Chicago for a number of reasons, but I've noted your stories about George Schmidt and his struggles to get a credential. My getting one was never a slam dunk either, and would have been particularly difficult this time.

You ask a lot of good questions, but I can only definitively answer a few. First, yes, Randi could emerge as the head of a merged union, but only under term limits. Any merger would probably lead to a tacit agreement to alternate presidents - first Van Roekel, then Randi. But timing is everything. A merger attempt would have to get started almost immediately, because I guarantee Randi wouldn't stand a chance against Lily Eskelsen, who is much like Randi, only vastly more popular.

Also, I find it highly unlikely that a caucus system would ever catch on in NEA. Some states might try it and like it, but it would take ages for it to spread.

As for NYSUT and the merged states, the thing to watch for there is any attempt at NEA to change its representation rules for the merged affiliates. As you probably know, though NEA claims all the NYSUT members as NEA members, NYSUT only pays NEA dues and has voting representation rights for the former NEANY members. It's the same in Minnesota, Montana and Florida. But Minnesota, for example, has been merged for almost 10 years now. Eventually there could be a move for full representation. If that happens, the merged states would provide a huge voting bloc for national merger and could conceivably squeak it through.

We can all speculate, but that would be the trigger. Because I don't think NEA has any more votes for national merger today than it did in 1998.

Unless something amazing happens, there is only one thing to watch for at this NEA convention, and that's Van Roekel's acceptance speech on the last day. No one has any idea what he'll do as president, and he may not do anything. But if he has an agenda, we'll get the first hint of it then.

It's too bad you're not going to Chicago. I wanted you to say hi to Leo for me. : )

Regards,

Mike

Catch Mike's coverage of the NEA Convention starting today.

The Charlie (Rose) and Wendy (Kopp) Show

UPDATED:
I'm sure people will find their own favorite moment in her appearance but mine was when Rose asked her what percentage of Teach for America recruits are still teaching and her answer was 65% - are involved in education, some as lawyers doing some work connected to education.

I was waiting for his follow-up:
"I didn't ask you that. What percentage are still teaching kids?"

I'm still waiting.

Questions he could have asked, but didn't:

What would you say is the average time TFA's spend in the classroom - these committed people who have high expectations, which apparently is all you need? Why not look to see what it takes to keep these people in the classroom? Do they leave because of money? Burnout? Does Kopp think paying these people merit pay would make them better, or work harder, which is the mantra of the business community?

Why not put teachers who spend a decade or more in inner city classrooms on the show so we can talk about real ways of solving the problems instead of Kopp's smokes and mirrors?

As one who spent 3 decades, I agree with Kopp that we can really make a difference - I never entered a classroom thinking I couldn't. But I also learned that there was a lot more needed to have a long-term impact. It's not just about teaching, but about getting involved in the political struggles necessary to bring the same resources into classrooms as goes into wars.

Kopp just told anecdotes. I was thinking that in my 2nd year of teaching I also got kids to grow 2 years in one - and that happened to some kids numerous times.
Reforming the system is so not just about that.
She was right when she said all these gains disappear when they go to a lousy junior high - but it was her ad for her husband's KIPP.
When she talked about the difference in the way TFA's (high expectations, hard work) and traditional educators (kids motivations, parental involvement, etc.) see the way to solve the problems - note not one mention of class size reduction or other resources as a worthy goal.

Oh, if only all teachers could be TFA's- Rose was sort of trying to go there to see if that would work - but she slipped away.

It was like when I asked Chester Finn if we made every school a KIPP school, would we eliminate the achievement gap - and he slipped away on that one but did claim we would close it by half, an admission that it was not all about goals and low expectations.

Noel (a parent activist from Manhattan's lower east side)'s comment:

It was frightening to me how enthusiastic she was about the teachers being 100% "goal-oriented", doing "whatever it takes" to get those scores up. And I thought it was very telling that she simply could not, no matter how many times Charlie Rose asked her to, describe what in particular this fabulous teacher Gillette (?) had actually done to help kids. It all came down to sheer, monomaniacal focus on The Goal. Utterly sickening.

More of Noel's comments among others at this PBS site.
Add your own and demand that Rose have real teachers on to present the other side - which is reality.

Substance Gets AFT Credentials

George Schmidt left a message a few hours ago that the AFT has given Substance press credentials to cover the AFT convention July 9-14. Check the convention schedule here.

Maybe George will get some nice footage of our Unity Caucus brethren shopping and spending your dues on meals.

I can't tell you how many Unity members say they only join the Caucus for the freebie trip every 2 years - oh, and the 2 days off, all expense paid NYSUT convention in March. Did you know that even though Unity people live in the NYC, they get free hotel rooms at the Hilton. What a life.

By the way, ICE voted at its meeting today to make a counter offer (see picture.)

Mugabe Hires UFT as Consultant

UPDATED
Ed Notes News reports:
Robert Mugabe, suffering in the wake of bad publicity over his recent election where he was the only candidate, has hired the UFT/Unity Caucus publicty machine to clean up his image.

A Mugabe spokesperson said:

We were very impressed with their operation and how they almost pulled off running Randi Weingarten for President of the UFT in 2004 unopposed by offering New Action, the opposition party at the time, a deal where they would run a slate to give the appearance there was an opposition but leave the presidential spot open so Weingarten could run without opposition, just as Mugabe did, but with lousy PR.

It was a brilliant concept, that was only foiled when TJC decided to run and ICE came into existence to do the same. But did that stop them? In the 2007 election, they went even further by cross-endorsing candidates with New Action and though only 22% of the active teaching staff voted, they proclaimed it a great victory even though only 15% of the working teacher corps voted for Unity Caucus.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. We expect the UFT/Unity PR campaign to lead to Robert Mugabe being proclaimed one of the great democrats of our time.

His backup plan in case things go wrong is to become chancellor of the NYC school system.

Guess What? "Bonuses Are Us" Tweed/UFT Plan Lead to Cheating

...DOE alchemists turn a 4 into a 1.

Elizabeth Green's piece in the NY Sun on how South Bronx principal John Hughes got great scores by urging teachers to give a little bit of help, is more prevalent than is imagined. That was the modus operendi in my school for 25 years. Just as in this article, teachers at the school we fed into used to laugh themselves silly when they saw the scores. That the school just happens to be a bonus/merit pay school is gravy, but the bonuses are a new thing and will only exacerbate a problem that has existed for a long time.

The covert and overt cheating - and I look at the artificial pump of test prep as part of this - goes a long way to explaining how kids' scores drop dramatically from the 4th to the 8th grade.

Hughes tried to solve the problem by moving up from the feeder to the fed school - IS 301, where he immediately alienated teachers, including a TFA who refused to "help" the kids in the way Hughes wanted and was driven from the system while TFA supported the principal - naturally. TFA apparently believes in closing the achievement gap by hook or crook.

The big problem facing all the Regressive Ed Reformers is to figure out a way to get the same level of cheating in the 8th grade, where kids will blab more freely than younger kids.

If you want a reality check, have teams go into randomly selected schools in mid-September to give tests. Assume a summer loss drop but I bet it will go way beyond that.

The perfect example, as Green wrote:

"These kids didn't know how to write, they didn't know how to add," a math teacher at M.S. 201 who is leaving the school, Elizabeth Cano, said. "How could they be getting level 4?" Ms. Cano said the discrepancy would be clearest when the teachers gave pre-tests in the first week of school. "They used to all get a level 1," she said.

AFT Denies Press Credentials to the NY Teacher

Ed Notes News (ENN) is reporting that the AFT's Janet Blair, in charge of press credentials for the upcoming AFT convention in Chicago (July 9-14), has denied credentials to the UFT's house organ, the NY Teacher. Citing the fact that the paper slavishly parrots the policies of the UFT leadership and the Unity Caucus without allowing any dissent or opposing points of view, the AFT has classified the NY Teacher as illegitimate press.

The press pass on the right has been issued instead and the NY Teacher will be covering the convention from Algeria.

Tweedies Choose Leadership Academy in Competetive - ahem - Bidding

As the press releases from Tweed get more and more bizarre, this one announcing the Gestapo-inspired Leadership Academy as the winner of a $50 million 5 year contract to train principals is one of the best.

"The NYC Leadership Academy was selected from among multiple vendors through a competitive procurement process and will begin providing services to the Department of Education (DOE) on July 1, 2008."

The rejected bidders included the CIA - water boarding division and a consortium led by Osama bin Laden. "The didn't demonstrate the kinds of advanced techniques in the treatment of teachers we were looking for," said a Tweed spokesperson.

Leonie Haimson said:
This is perhaps the most absurd press release I've ever seen come out of the land of Tweed-- DOE's version of competitive bidding! Gary (Babad) are you sure you didn't take a job at Tweed after all?

Gary responds:
If you'll remember, GBN News has the sole distributorship rights to DOE
press releases. I don't know who these impostors are, but not to worry - if it doesn't say "GBN News" on the press release, it's not authentic.

Can School Administrators Be Accused of Murder...

....if a teacher dies and stress from harrassment can be shown to be a factor?

A guidance councellor who has been under severe attack by administrators at Bayard Rustin Educational Complex in Manhattan collapsed and died of a heart attack at the school's end term party. If you are going to go, what a way to go. Make some people think about rotting in hell.

A union with a bit of aggression would put together a portfolio of what has been done to her and charge adminstrators involved with homicide, if just to make a point.

WANTED!!!

Joel Klein Also Speaks Out of Both Sides...

On race: More segregation under Klein

On not treating teachers as "fungible" - survey says teachers feel more fungible* than ever.

On school choice: there's less

Dan Jacoby in The Daily Gotham.

*(esp. of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.

Weingarten Gives Credence to the BloomKlein Testing Myth

12PM UPDATE

Ed Notes has been pointing out for over 10 years that the UFT/AFT is for the testing craze and it extends back to Al Shanker's jumping on board the Nation At Risk Report in 1983. That is why they speak empty words about NCLB which they supported. Ed Notes brought resolutions to the Delegate Assembly and wrote extensively on this issue from 1996 on. At one DA I spoke about the evisceration of the curriculum in elementary schools, especially in science and social studies and the place broke into applause - and that was a year or more (my memory sucks) before BloomKlein came on the scene.

From the June 27 NY Times article on the teacher surveys:

Ms. Weingarten conceded that it had been “a good year in terms of academic success for kids.” Indeed, on Monday, she stood by the chancellor’s side to celebrate the striking gains the city’s students had posted on state math and reading exams. But on Thursday, Ms. Weingarten used the survey to suggest that climbing test scores were not enough. “Let’s focus on educating the whole child, not simply on test results,” she said.

Was Weingarten focused on educating the whole child when she supported and lobbied for a merit pay plan than does the exact opposite by funneling money to teachers based on test scores?

You do see the game she plays. Say one thing and do another. Stand next to Klein when he gets the bogus Broad prize or brags about phony test scores and try to claim some credit, but then turn around the next minute and say, "oh my, all those tests." Weingarten says one thing to teachers and parents - "too much testing, too much time practicing, it is the curriculum, "etc. but stands next to Klein to help legitimize the sham.

It's all about obfuscating the issues to confuse people.

Call this playing both sides against the middle - which is where the interests of teachers who see first hand the testing sham that is going on. Why didn't the UFT survey ask whether teachers believed the test scores were real? Did they think it was easy? Relaxed rubrics? Full-time practice that could pump up scores? How about giving a random sampling surprise test the 2nd week of September to check on what was retained?

Expect more of this obfuscation on the national level - she will use carefully parsed language to give the impression she agrees with you but then do something to totally contradict herself. Watch the role she plays and what she ultimately accepts when NCLB gets discussed again. As long-time Randi watchers, the Ed Notes crew can pretty much write the speech now.

What will never take place is a democratic discussion in any official body of the UFT as to what the position of the UFT/AFT should be.

Substance Response to AFT's Janet Bass

Previous posts on AFT censorship here and here.
Read Alexander Russo's take at the Chicago District299 blog.

Watch the sidebar where we will keep a running account of the story.

In a message dated 6/26/08 8:41:40 AM, jbass@aft.org writes:
AFT will not be able to give your organization press credentials. We only provide credentials to legitimate news organizations.

6/28/08

Janet:

The American Federation of Teachers has not been authorized to determine in the United States today what does or does not constitute "legitimate news organizations."

It's been more than two days since you sent me the silly and unprofessional response to my request for Substance press credentials quoted above.

I asked you to tell me how you (or AFT) determines what constitutes a "legitimate news organization" and to date I have not received your response.

Until you provide me with that information, I can't even begin to know how to respond to those two Orwellian sentences you e-mailed to me on June 26 at 8:41 AM. Please do so immediately, so that we can provide you with any information necessary to assuage your prejudices and assure that our staff can cover the upcoming AFT convention in Chicago with the same rights as all other members of the press.

My preference will be to have this matter resolved quickly, so that I could send you the list of the names of the people we will have covering the convention. However, if you have chosen an alternate route (as seems to be the case), we will have to discuss this further, in any number of contexts.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

My school applauded itself last week

A Brooklyn elementary school teacher writes:

My school applauded itself last week when we got back the ela and math scores. I even felt somewhat proud of one of my 5th grade SETSS kids who has an extreme math disability. For the first time in her school testing career, she received a Level 2 on the math test. Maybe all of her (and my) hard work paid off. Hours of practicing counting by 2's and 5's. Great Leaps for math facts, manipulative's for number work, mnemonics to remember when to regroup and how to round numbers to the nearest 10's and 100's, etc.etc.

So I asked her to do some review work and gave her a few subtraction problems. Guess what. She forgot when to regroup.Then she did some number rounding. She could do it after I reminded her how.

I still am proud of my student because she tried very hard and has learned a lot this year. She knows the importance of doing what you believe is right and not falling prey to peer pressure when it will have a negative outcome. She is beginning to think about what it means to "grow-up" from a little girl to a 'teenager". Her taste in reading has widened and she enjoys spending time with books more then ever before.

But she still can't subtract with regrouping even if she got a Level 2.

A Very Gneiss Blog

There's no blog out there that gives a better feel for how schools really function - the loves, the hatreds, the joys, the sorrows, the daily, hourly idiocies of the NYC school system than Have a Gneiss Day. A tough gal with a tender heart, Gneiss expresses all the frustrations and excitement of teaching. She's the kind of teacher most NYC principals look askance at because she sees through the bullshit. As a critic of BloomWeinKlein, she falls into the small camp of voices that see the world the way it really is. She would be called a status quoer by the Joel Kleins, Al Sharptons and their band of merry makers, but if I were going to start a school she would be at the top of my list. Actually, I would sit back, put my feet up and let her run it. No Ms. Wannabees here. Yesterday she said goodbye to her favorite kids.

Protest AFT Censorship: Tries to Exclude Substance

Is this how Randi Weingarten will allow her stewardship of the AFT to begin?
I'm betting she won't. But I'm not betting a large amount.

To Janet Bass, (jbass@aft.org) AFT:

I was informed of your attempt to keep Substance from covering the AFT convention, claiming it is not legitimate press. You seem to have shifting rules about what constitutes press coverage.

I find that ironic since I was issued press credentials in 2004 for my work for The Wave, a local paper in New York and Education Notes, which is similar to Substance. I sat next to Mike Antonucci from the Educational Intelligence Agency, which the AFT considers legitimate press.

Substance has covered education in Chicago - ask Mayor Daley and CTU chief Marilyn Stewart. Even the White House issued press credentials to Substance when George Bush came to Chicago.

How sad that the AFT is more restrictive than George Bush.

Substance will have a presence at the convention in some way and it will not serve the AFT in a positive manner if the question of how the AFT issues press credentials becomes an issue.

I am CC'ing Randi Weingarten, the next president of the AFT, who despite enormous disagreements with Education Notes, has always been open and supportive of my attempts to cover events in the UFT.

Norman Scott
Editor and Publisher
Education Notes
http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

Education Editor
The Wave
www.rockawave.com

If you agree that Substance should be given press credentials to the AFT convention, email Janet Bass (jbass@aft.org) and cc Randi Weingarten.

Read George Schmidt's full explanation and scads of examples on how Substance is legit press at Norms's Notes.

Here is George's email exchanges and more examples of the work Substance does.

Colleagues and Friends:

As I suspected, the bureaucracy of the American Federation of Teachers under president Ed McElroy is trying, again, to exclude Substance from the AFT convention. The last time they did this was at the New Orleans convention in 1999, when Sharon and I went to New Orleans only to be told by Mr. McElroy, personally, that we were not a "legitimate news organization." As I told you when we began working to get press credentials, I suspected they may try to exclude us again, and now they are doing so.

Below is my exchange with Janet Bass, who is handling media set up for the AFT convention (which convenes in Chicago in two weeks). Please protest yourself and utilize any contacts you have -- especially AFT members -- to protest on behalf of Substance as well.

By this morning, we had seven people who were going to be covering the AFT convention, and Danny was working so that we could provide daily Web updates on the convention during the convention. We will not let them get away with this (after all, I'm still carrying that "White House Press Pool" pass Joe, Jackson and I were issued in January; who is AFT to say what a "legitimate news organization" is?), but it would be useful if the outcry causes them to simply
correct this mistake before we have to go to court about it.

Those with a sense of humor might also contact CTU President Marilyn Stewart and ask her to confirm to AFT that we are a "legitimate news organization."

Thanks for taking your time to begin responding to this promptly. Please cc all materials you send to AFT (and any AFT responses) to me here at Substance.

Sincerely,

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

BELOW IS THE EMAIL EXCHANGE THAT IS TAKING PLACE THIS MORNING WITH AFT

In a message dated 6/26/08 8:41:40 AM, jbass@aft.org writes:

<<>>

June 26, 2008

To: Janet Bass, American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.

From: George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance

Re: AFT attempt to censor coverage of the 2008 AFT convention in Chicago by excluding Substance reporters and videographers.

Dear Ms. Bass:

Before this goes any further, please inform me what a "legitimate news organization" is according -- to the AFT definition. I'm afraid we've been down this road before, and it's time that AFT stopped trying to censor Substance. Now.

Although I had once had a discussion of this matter with Mr. McElroy (years ago, in New Orleans), I thought AFT had matured since then. If you can quickly correct the misinformation under which you are currently laboring, this matter
can be resolved quickly.

Hopefully, the following information will help you in your pursuit of the facts so that your policy and praxis in this matter improves, although my staff and I resent even having to discuss it with you.

Please note the following:

1. Our staff has covered professional events involving members of the teaching profession for decades. During the past five years, we have covered conference and conventions of educators including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the National Council for the Social Studies and others. We have also covered other major political events both for print and new media. For example, last summer I covered "Yearly Kos" here in Chicago and during that time we interviewed or questioned several of the (then) Democratic Party presidential candidates.

2. Locally here in Chicago, we regularly cover the news pertaining to education, including the monthly meetings of the Chicago Board of Education (one of which I covered yesterday). We have also covered labor union news on a regular
basis going back decades.

3. This summer, we will have reporters covering the major conventions, including the National Education Association. We intend to cover AFT in the same manner, albeit with more staff so that we can better serve our growing
readership, both in print and on line.

4. As I've noted to you, our publication appears in print monthly and has been publishing continuously for 33 years. You can locate PDFs of our back issues from 2002 onward at www.substancenews.net (or linked to
www.substancenews.com).

5. We regularly publish Web updates on the Web at www.substancenews.net. We are currently updating and enhancing our web site so that we can provide daily updates from the NEA and AFT conventions. Any attempt by you or others in power at AFT will cause us to suffer loss to our business and will certainly qualify as a violation of our First Amendment rights.

6. Our staff regularly blogs at www.district 299.com.

7. We have covered news in Chicago for more than 30 years (education primarily, also other) and all of our regular staff carry press passes issued by the Chicago Police Department, which issues such passes for those covering regular news and "spot news."

8. In January 2008, we were cleared to cover the White House visit of George W. Bush to celebrate the anniversary of "No Child Left Behind" here in Chicago. Although we were not part of the "Pool" (which only included the regular
traveling pool and four local reporters), we were part of the larger press corps that covered the activities of President George W. Bush during his Chicago visit. This included the landing of Air Force One at O'Hare Field, the external
coverage of the visit of the President to Chicago's Greeley Elementary School, and the President's speech on the economy at the Union League Club.

I could add to this list, but I hope this will suffice to clear up any ambiguity so that we don't have to discuss the misinformation that you are laboring under further. Please RSVP me satisfactorily on this matter so we can proceed
with the arrangements.

Since I have to continue making arrangements for both our coverage of AFT and for our Web presence at various events this summer, I will need to hear from you promptly once you have reconsidered this matter and resolved it to the satisfaction of the Bill of Rights and our mutual interests.

If you have further questions for me, please feel free to call me at 773-725-7502 so that we can resolve this before it goes much further. By your response you have forced me, as you can see, that I now have to take a few additional
steps in defense of our right to cover the news on our beat without censorship from the bureaucrats of AFT or any other entity. We have defended these rights in the past and, I promise you, we will continue to do so into the future.

Thanks for your kind consideration in this matter,

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

Congrats to NYC Teachers....

... on completing the longest school year in the history of the universe.

The last day of school, is one of the glorious days and one of the things I miss about teaching - the sense of completion, the free feeling that lasts until you wake up the next morning and say, "Damn, 65 days and I have to go back."

Enjoy!

The UFT Survey Says...

When Joel Klein was appointed as Chancellor and even though he had zero ed background, the UFT cheered instead of taking a stand and calling on the state Ed department not to grant a waiver (something ed notes, by the way, called on them to do.)

In the early years of BloomKlein, when it was clear these people had no clue about education, many of us called on the UFT to hold a vote of "no confidence" in Joel Klein as Chancellor. Nadaa!

The UFT wanted to continue to play nice. Now, with the sun about to set on BloomKlein, the UFT does a survey. Jeez!

The survey on Joel Klein and the Tweedles is out and guess what? Teachers are unhappy with the Klein administration.

I'm pretty disappointed about the only 80-something percent, as I thought it would be in the mid-90's, demonsrating that the CEO of the DOE has no support, a big would be a big no-no in the corporate world the Tweedles want to play in. Still. Klein's numbers rival George Bush's. How about Bush for next Chancellor? He was the "education" president?

The UFT took out a full-page ad in the Times (see below). But so what? Does the public really care if teachers are unhappy? They think it is a good thing and a sign Klein is doing a good job.

The UFT might as well dig a hole and throw the money in. The money wasted on PR. There will be a couple of short articles in the press for a day or two and it will all be forgotten. Jeez!

So is the survey just another public relations stunt with no real follow-up? The UFT dies at the chapter level as principals get stronger, using techniques they get from some kind of training. Their first priority is to make sure they do not have the "wrong" kind of chapter leader. Instead of organizing to defend their chapter leaders, the UFT worries more about having a Unity Caucus loyalist in these positions and uses its machinery to undermine chapter leaders who are critics.

Here is part of the UFT statement:
.....our attempt at 360-degree accountability that holds the DOE responsible for its role in student achievement and school improvement. An impressive 61,257 educators filled out the confidential evaluation. The key findings include:

• 85 percent of members do not believe that Chancellor Klein provides the supports and resources they need for success in the classroom
• 82 percent say that the chancellor and the Department of Education are not focused on educating the whole child and 85 percent say his emphasis on student testing has failed to improve education in their schools.
• 80 percent say that the chancellor is not doing enough to promote order and discipline in schools.
• 80 percent say the chancellor fails to prioritize the learning needs of all students, including English Language Learners and special needs students.

Go here to see the complete survey results.

Go here to read the full press release.

Go here to download the New York Times ad.

Michelle Bodden to Resign as UFT VP

Will run UFT Elementary Charter School

As reported in an ednotes online exclusive, Michelle Bodden, who many people were betting would be Randi Weingarten's successor as UFT President, will take over the UFT's troubled elementary charter school.

We raised the question as to whether a UFT VP for elementary schools could be in that position. Now we have been informed that she has sent a letter telling people she will be resigning her VP position. (Will she also be resigning from Unity Caucus?)

The signs have been there for a long time that Bodden was not in the running and I had to convince even people inside 52 Broadway that she would never head the UFT. Perhaps she was getting too popular. "She's really an educator," said one insider. "Not a politician like Randi. You can actually have a conversation with her about real things. Some people can't wait for Randi to be gone so we can start solving the real problems we face."

I won't go into the details, but long-time observers can tell a lot about the UFT by who stands where, what kinds of events people get to represent the UFT at, and other signs. The surprise appointment of Leroy Barr as UFT Staff Director in January made it clear that another African-American had superseded Michelle in the UFT hierarchy.

Aside from the UFT political mishegas, I think putting Michelle in charge of the school is a good move. I had some contact with her when Randi put me on a charter school committee headed by Michelle in the late 90's. We only met a few times until Randi abandoned the idea, but Michelle was very easy to work with.

Teacher Power
If I had to choose one principle that has driven Ed Notes, it is the empowerment of teachers, who have been viewed as just barely above the kids in terms of respect (in today's NYCDOE, it's probably even.) I was on the first UFT charter committee because at the time I was an advocate of charter schools and even had a resolution urging the UFT to set up an office of charter school support to enable teachers to begin running their own schools. My idea was not for the UFT to run a school, but to empower teachers who were sick of working for idiot supervisors. In my plan, teachers got to choose their supervisors, not the other way around. We would get the very best principals that way.

When I proposed the idea of the UFT helping teachers run schools, Randi's immediate reaction was some reluctance and it gave me an early insight into her wish to exercise control. It took me 3 or 4 years to get what she was really about.

But, though I am opposed to the very idea of a UFT charter school, I wish Michelle well in her new position.

As to who will replace her as elementary school VP, we can be sure of one thing. It will be the personal choice of Randi Weingarten and rubber stamped by the UFT Executive Board, not through any kind of democratic process.

Progressive Ed Reform: Why Have Grades?

The NY Times has an article (Holding Back Young Students: Is it a Gift or a Stigma?) that touches on the issue of holding kids back and then tracking the holdovers into a segregated class in order to close the gap. "Oh the stigma of tracking" say some parents and educators.

I spent my entire career in a tracked system and could make a case for it - if the classes in most need get lower class size and real services. Sometimes that happened, but not in a rational way that made a big difference.

On the other hand, the one somewhat heterogeneous class I taught did seem to push the bottom kids up, though they were just 1/4 of the class. If it were reversed, that wouldn't have happened.

The Times reports that in Spring Valley they are holding back first graders but keeping the holdovers together and giving them intensive services:

Iraida Hada, the principal of Hempstead Elementary, said that merely holding back students without a special program to address their needs would not have been as effective.“How are we going to make it work the second time around, if it didn’t work the first time?”

The numbers they report make is seem that it worked, though there's enough research to suggest that both tracking and holding kids over does not work.

What I have never understood pretty much since I started teaching was why the idea of putting kids in a grade is so important, especially in elementary school. I know all about the problems with abolishing this age-old system, but why not try it in some schools? Mix various grades together in a one room schoolhouse type system, but with multiple teachers and teaching assistants. In that way there's little consciousness of holdovers or tracking. Kids move on when they are ready.

Sorry, I forgot. This might cost some money and as we know the regressive ed reformers want to spend it all on merit pay (gee, how would you figure that out in this system?) and other phony reforms.

With total control of the school system, the kinds of reforms the BloomKlein team could have installed that would really impact in a positive way on kids and teachers, somehow fell through the crack.