ATR "Rally" Changed to Candlelight Vigil

UPDATED Nov. 12, 7AM

The UFT, following its "successful" Tweed candlelight vigil of a year ago for rubber room denizens (check to see how much good that did) has changed the call for a massive rally into, guess what? Another candlelight vigil.

Randi just loves candles.

John Powers and Marjorie Stamberg of the Ad Hoc ATR committee have sent a strong letter of protest to the UFT which is posted on the ICE blog. Here's an excerpt:

we were not consulted on this change, which was made without our knowledge, despite assurances from Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew that we would be included in the planning. The first we heard of this was in a changed rally leaflet we received this morning.

A candlelight vigil is a silent "protest at the suffering of some marginalized group of people, or in memory of lives lost to some disease, disaster, massacre or other tragedy."

We want to make precisely the opposite point -- that ATR teachers are not marginalized, that we stand by them, and the UFT will fight to ensure that they do not become "lost lives," a "massacre," a "disaster" or other "tragedy." We can "bear witness" all we want, but it won't stop Joel Klein from trying to drive out our colleagues. And it won't stop the likes of the New York Post from vilifying them and our union.

We will continue to plan for a mass citywide rally as "a show of our unity and strength" as the motion called for.

The latest Ad Hoc ATR Committee leaflet
(click to enlarge)

If you can print some copies, please share with the people in your schools. If you are a chapter leader or delegate, support them at the Delegate Assembly tomorrow (Wed. Nov. 12 starting at 3:30 in front of 52 Broadway.) Numbers count as the UFT leadership is always worried about the PR aspect.

Here are some important dates in an email sent by Marjorie.

Update on the ATR rally, and some important planning events. Please mark your calendars.

1. The News We just learned that the rally format has been changed to a "candlelight vigil." Groan, this toothless silent method of demonstrating is the opposite of the powerful show of strength and mobilization that we have been building. Moreover, we were NOT consulted on this. We found out about it when we saw a "corrected" version of the official UFT leaflet. John Powers and I sent off a letter to the Randi Wiengarten and the E-board vigorously objecting to this.

Page 2 of the leaflet (click to enlarge)

2. Wednesday, November 12 Delegate Assembly

We will have the new leaflet at the D.A. to hand out. Please come if you can, and gather outside to hand out leaflets for the rally, get names, etc. This is important--the presence of a number of ATRs, RTRs and supporters outside the last D.A. actually influenced the outcome.


3. Friday, November 14 Meeting of Ad Hoc Committee to Defend ATRs

This will be a really important meeting to make signs, have reports from the schools, planning further outreach. Everyone who has worked on this demo, or who wants to start working on it--we need you Friday. Place for meeting to be announced.

4. Panel on Education Policy--Monday, Nov. 17

This is the monthly meeting at Tweed Courthouse where Joel Klein comes and "deigns" to hear the concerns of the community. The date is probably Monday, November 17; will confirm tomorrow. We plan to go and sign up to speak there. It is a very good place to get press attention of the situation with ATRs. Again, we need people to come out and speak.

5. November 24 ---Rally date!

Starting time is 4:30, but we'll need people there at 4 pm sharp, we plan to have signs and will not be silent.

Marjorie

Postscript
Some people are extremely upset at what they call the UFT hijacking of the rally and morphing it into a candlelight vigil. ICE's Sean Ahern took a more positive view:

May I suggest that your language may be interpreted by your foes as intemperate and even provocative and could be used to discredit efforts on behalf of the ATRs in particular and the work of opposition caucuses and adhoc groups generally?

Expression of righteous indignation at policies of the Mayor and the UFT leadership should not even hint at the lighting of fires under anyone nor make references to funerals of those alive and well nor indulge in sarcasm or bitter recrimination. I think this diminishes the effect of your protest and may attract unwarrented attention.

Additionally, while I share your dismay at the lack of leadership, wouldn't you agree that it was a positive effort to organize the ATRs and seek out support from the DA? From what I hear there was a positive response from your sister and brother unionists who are not ATRs. That's solidarity, labor's credo, an injury to one is an injury to all.

Even as the leadership may seek to diminish or coopt the spirit of the resolves, new ground has been broken. The ATR brings to light fundamental longterm weaknesses in the UFT bargaining strategy that must be identified, understood so that an ever larger number of members may give serious consideration to alternative strategies going forward.

Whether you stand in place holding a candle or march around in cattle pens under the watchful eyes of our militarized police department matters less than what brings us together in the first place and what we say to eachother and the public while we are there. How will you use this effort to promote solidarity, to make more connections and build support for the ATRs? Be positive. It's a beginning not the end.

Peace,
Sean

Klein for Ed Secty? Yes, We Had an Impact

NY Times Reporter Elissa Gutman writes about it Klein’s Name Is Floated, and Bloggers Object in the NY Times City Room.

I've had some recent disagreements with Mike Klonsky but this is one hell of a post on the reasons Klein is the worst choice.

I'm glad Gootman found our buddy Woodlass' comment on the Obama web site:

On a blog attached to the Obama campaign’s official Web site, a poster with the handle Woodlass from New York, N.Y., pleaded with President-elect Obama to pass over Mr. Klein, writing:

He hasn’t made schools in this city any better than they had been, because it’s obvious students aren’t doing so well and neither are the teachers. He excluded parents and the rank-and-file from the decision-making process, poured millions into machines to crunch data for no practical purpose, and he neither respects or defends truth.

One of the important points in this outpouring of antagonism to Joel Klein is that so much of it comes from parents. When Klein spokesperson David Cantor said the complaints are from entrenched interests, one parent wrote:

Dear Mr. Cantor,

I am one of the signatories in a recent letter asking President-elect Obama to appoint an education secretary with real experience in education. I am a public school parent in New York City. I'd be interested in knowing what you consider my "entrenched interest in policies that have never worked." My entrenched interest in my child getting a good education?

Yours sincerely,
Ann Kjellberg

Believe me, we're just scratching the surface. Notice there is not one teacher or parent defending Klein. (Time for Bloomberg to get out his checkbook.) Since we focus on teachers, how does the business community view a leader who alienates the entire body expected to implement his policies? In the real corporate world, it is curtains. Maybe that is what happened to Klein in his last job before being pushed out at Bertelsman and into the Chancellor of the (gulp) NYC school system.

Here's the petition if you want to sign. It says educators but parents (as Leonie Haimson says, kids' first teachers) should sign too.
http://www.petitiononline.com/campd227/petition.html

Is the Honeymoon Over? Sniping at Obama from the Left (and Right)

While most people heard news reports that the Republicans were upset at the appointment of war hawk Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, the main gatekeeper to Obama, that's nothing to compare with what is beginning to come from the left. If Obama built his base on being against the war in Iraq how does he make a war hawk the most powerful man in the government?

Progressives are in for some big disappointments. People tell us that after 8 years of Bush, we at least can look forward to somewhat better judges and other appointees and hopefully a better managed government. But the higher the expectations, the bigger the fall. Making Rahm Emanuel the first appointment is not a good omen. (However, I'll soon be posting a positive view from a parent activist in Chicago of the Obama's roles in school reform.)

Stephen Zunes writes at Alternet: Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama's remarkable victory for a day or so before becoming cynical again. I really did.

And yet, less than 24 hours after the first polls closed, the president-elect chose as his chief of staff -- perhaps the most powerful single position in any administration -- Rahm Emanuel, one of the most conservative Democratic members of Congress.

More..

George Schmidt, an Emanuel constituent, passed this on:
11/10/08

To simplify Rahm Emmanuel as a war mongering right wing monster is to do him too much credit. I live in the guy's Congressional District (Illinois 5th). I have heard him brag that he got earmarks to expand Chicago's military high schools (Marine Military Academy dedication in Chicago last October, reported in the November 2007 Substance, available on line at www.substancenews.net). We have heard him try to justify his support of the Goldman Sachs "bailout" plan when every Chicago Congressman opposed it (first iteration).

And we watched him stand beside George W. Bush and Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago on January 7, 2007, as Bush delivered his "anniversary" speech on No Child Left Behind behind a wall of mounted police and snipers in Chicago (Greeley elementary school). Again, as we reported in Substance (January and February 2008, and on line).

What was unique about Emmanuel's contribution to the Bush agenda that day was that Rahm Emmanuel is one of several Chicago Congressmen, and that all of the black ones (Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Junior) and the Puerto Rican one (Luis Gutierrez) were snubbed by Bush and Daley that day so that Rahm could share the stage and limelight of No Child Left Behind with the two men (Daley; Bush) who most pushed the Business Roundtable corporate "school reform" agenda on the USA.

As people have noted, when Rahm Eammnuel left the Clinton administration, he spent a couple of years as an "investment banker" and supposedly "earned" about $16 million. Needless to say, Rahm Emmanuel has never had much in common with this diverse but mostly "middle class" Congressional District he was in. He bought the Congressional Seat by spending ten times more than his opponent (Nancy Kazak) in his first run, and ignored his constituents ever since. On the
Iraq War; on education; on the Goldman - Sachs "bailout", to cite a few examples. For all his resources, our congressman has never been able to generate a majority of his own constitutents to be in favor of the policies he's supported. So he simply ignores us. (Including a phone call and e-mail I sent him after the first "bailout" vote).

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

"Now I see what merit pay can do"

"Now I see what merit pay can do. I am ever so resentful to think that some of these people are getting merit pay for being rats. They do not work. BSA is a hired lunch duty man. That is his job, two lunch duties, three preps, and one gym class. What the fuck does he need a prep for?"

From a chapter leader who supported merit pay last year. The principal has tabbed someone to run against this chapter leader who stands up for the members. That someone barely teaches and is already spending the day campaigning for the elections in June. This chapter leader is fighting not just for the chapter leadership but for life as a teacher as you know what will happen if BSA wins. You know something? If BSA joins up with Unity Caucus, as I bet he will since people like him who know which side their bread is buttered, the UFT leadership will be perfectly happy to lose a thorn in their side even if that thorn is a vigorous defender of the members.

The entire rant is here: http://terry-proofoflife.blogspot.com/

Anti WASL Wins as Washington Education Superintendent

Juanita Doyon, a leader of the anti-high stakes testing movement in Washington State, founder of Mothers Against WASL (the state test), and author of Not with Our Kids You Don’t!: Ten Strategies to Save Our Schools, sent this good news:

We're celebrating here!! Big time!!!!!! Randy Dorn has been in touch throughout his campaign and is listening to our concerns. His speeches and debate responses were deja vu to my own campaign. He understands the pitfalls of high-stakes testing and the need for viable alternatives.

Juanita ran against Terry Bergeson, Dorn's opponent, a few years ago, so her celebration is well-deserved. I met Juanita at the ACT Now conference a bunch of test resisters from around the nation attended in Birmingham, AL back in March 2003. Juanita, whose buttons are featured on our side panel on the right, recently sent over 5000 anti testing buttons to the LA Teachers Union.

We Must Be a NUT (No Unnecessary Testing)

Almost every major issue facing teachers in NYC (and elsewhere) can be linked to the evils of high stakes testing. Closing schools based on tests leads to Teacher Reserves. Narrow curriculum. Bored students. More discipline problems as a result. Yet the UFT, while paying lip service to the concept there is too much testing, has gone along with most of the Bloomberg/Klein/market-based no nothing education engineers: merit pay, rating teachers based on tests, no opposition to closing schools, etc. The UFY clearly has a stake in the merit pay program as they ran workshops jointly with the DOE accountability people and when one of the Justice Not Just Tests reps tried to raise objections he was not exactly treated with courtesy by one of the UFT leaders, Michael Mendel. I've been working with the Justice Not Just Tests on a campaign to reach into the schools and get teachers to join us by creating such a massive movement in the UFT the leadership will be forced to notice.

Here is an excellent piece by Steven Krashen. Become a NUT in your school.


The Fundamental Principle: No Unnecessary Testing (NUT)
Stephen Krashen
The Colorado Communicator vol 32,1. Page 7, 2008

No Unnecessary Testing (NUT) is the principle that school should include only those tests and parts of tests that are necessary, that contribute to essential evaluation and learning. Every minute testing and doing “test preparation” (activities to boost scores on tests that do not involve genuine learning) is stolen from students’ lives, in addition to costing money that we cannot afford these days, with serious budget problems in American schools.

If we accept the NUT principle, it leads to this question: Do we need yearly standardized tests closely linked to the curriculum? Do they tell us more than teacher evaluation does? This issue must be looked at scientifically. If, for example, the current CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) test is shortened and/or given less frequently or abandoned, will student performance be affected? Would Colorado’s NAEP scores (already quite high) be affected?

My prediction is that teacher evaluation does a better job of evaluating students than standardized testing: The repeated judgments of professionals who are with children every day is probably more valid that a test created by distant strangers. Moreover, teacher evaluations are “multiple measures,” are closely aligned to the curriculum, and cover more than just math and reading.

There is some evidence supporting this view for high school students: Research by UC Berkeley scholars Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Saltelices shows that high school grades in college preparatory courses are a better predictor of achievement in college and four-year college graduation rates than are standardized tests (the SAT). Geiser and Saltelices found that adding SAT scores to grades did not provide much more information than grades alone, which suggests that we may not need standardized tests at all.

For those who argue that we need standardized tests in order to compare student achievement over time and to compare subgroups of students, we already have a good instrument for this, the NAEP. The NAEP is administered to small groups of children, who each take a portion of the test, every few years. Results are extrapolated to estimate how the larger groups would score. No test prep is done, as the tests are zero stakes: There are no (or should be no) consequences for low or high scores. If we are interested in a general picture of how children are doing, this is the way to do it. If we are interested in finding out about a patient’s health, we only need to look at a small sample of their blood, not all of it.

My predictions, however, need to be put to the empirical test. A conservative path is to start to cut back on standardized tests, both in length and frequency, and determine if this has any negative consequences. This is an essential move now, when funds are so scarce, and it is an essential exercise of our responsibility to students.

Geiser, S. and Santelices, M.V., 2007. Validity of high-school grades in predicting student success beyond the freshman year: High-school record vs. standardized tests as indicators of four-year college outcomes. Research and Occasional Papers Series: CSHE 6.07, University of California, Berkeley. http://cshe.berkeley.edu Thanks to Geoff for this.

Joel Klein's reign of destruction by Leonie Haimson

UPDATE:
David B has chipped in.
Maybe there should be a poster in every school.
Click to enlarge.

I posted this must read follow-up to our last De-Kleining America post at Norms Notes.

By the way, many of Leonie's comments on Joel Klein can also be applied to Michelle Rhee and all the other corporate non-educator public ed destroyers.

UPDATE:
David Bloomfield, Brooklyn College education professor (and lawyer) and NYC public school parent sent his thoughts to The Nation- I posted it in the comments section.

De-Kleining America- Updated

You know those scenes in movies where people put their hands over their eyes in horror at an accident that was about to happen?

That is how NYC educators and parents feel since the ugly rumor in the Huffington Post that NYC Chancellor Joel Klein is a possible choice for Education Secretary in the Obama administration. The Ed blogosphere in NYC has been hot and heavy with rumors.

Can you get worse than Margaret Spellings?

Hell Yes. We've been getting emails of this type:

Geez, talk about discouraging news! I just heard that Obama is considering Chan. Klein as Secretary of Education! Does anybody have a way to get the word to him about how most of us feel about the job Klein/Bloomberg have done here?

A Voice Cries Out says, "Ok, ok, stop screaming" and put this up on the advice Joel Klein would give to the nation. Here are a few delicious headings:

Numbers in the toilet? Fudge ‘Em!

Violent Incidents in Schools Getting You Down? Bury ‘Em!

[I especially like this one as it reminds me of a Frankenstein movie - Actually "Young Frankenstein" in honor of the numerous teen principals who have been "made" under Klein.]
Make Your Own Principals

Pack Kids in as Tightly as Possible

Oh the choices we have to make here in the big city. Wish for Klein to go to Washington so he can hang out with his buddy Michelle Rhee? Or do what we can to prevent the Kleining of America?

To me the choice is easy. Despite the UFT attempt to make it seem Mayor Bloomie and Klein are not joined at the hip, things might even get worse if Joel was to go to Washington. Mayor Mike could pick Rhee, who might want to get out of DC before they tar and feather her, to replace Klein. Klein could be US Ed Secty and run the DC schools Rhee has left standing further into the ground. With a financial crisis, think of the savings? But it gets worse.

George Schmidt thinks Obama will go in a different direction:

Here in Chicago, we're reading about how Obama is going to choose Arne Duncan
(Chicago's version of Klein).
Anyone want to bet that in D.C. they're reading about how Michelle Rhee has the inside track? One thing's sure. It's bad.

Obama plays basketball with Arne Duncan. Jeez. The teachers who supported Obama may be in for a shock.

How about real educators like Linda Darling-Hammond?

Or Diane Ravitch, who I disagree with on some fundamentals due to her long-time advocacy of the standards and testing movement, but has been one of the leaders of the De-Kleining battle here in NYC and has been having those wonderful conversations with one of my teaching heroines, Deborah Meier? Diane would represent some sense of rationality and compromise. Besides, many of us have grown very fond of her personally. It was great to see NY Times columnist David Brooks' mention Diane in this context today.

NYC teachers are willing to continue suffering and are taking the high road, starting campaigns to tell the Obama world all about the wonderful world of Klein. Under Assault (Keep Educating Obama) tried to

find a "Contact Us" link on the Obama website to tell him he should under no circumstances consider Joel Klein as his Secretary of Education. The site didn't have a such a link, but it did have something spectacular: an option to create your own blog right in the Obama internet heartland.

So here's the letter I wrote to him this morning via my new blog on my.barackobama.com: "Please don't choose Joel Klein for Sec'y of Education." (Don't choose Weingarten either, by the way.)
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/woodlassnyc/gGgzzN

And things are growing as The Nation is getting involved. NYU Education Professor Bree Picower sent this along to the NYCORE listserve:

Dear Supporters of Public Education,

Many of you have by now heard the rumor that NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein is being considered as Obama's pick for Secretary of Education.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/31/obamas-secretary-of-educa_n_139775.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110404573.html).

As people committed to public education, this strikes a hard and fast blow in the euphoria that we have felt since Tuesday. But it's not too late to make our voices heard once again. Let's build on the sense of representation and democracy we have just experienced to send a clear message to the Obama Administration to STOP THE DE-KLEIN of PUBLIC EDUCATION. Community organizations across the New York City and country are teaming up with The Nation to write a communal letter and petition to the Obama Administration on why Klein is a mistake for this position.

This is where we need your help!
Please submit to the Nation a bullet point of a few sentences of why you think Klein's appointment would be a mistake. This should be based on your experience in education as a student, teacher, parent, organizer, etc. If appropriate, include relevant data or citations. Also include your name and affiliation/role.

Particular themes that you could write about:
-issues of community voice and input
-corporate/private interest vs. public interest
-Issues of instruction and curriculum
-particular issues: high stakes testing, military recruitment, school safety policies, special ed, ELL...
-union representation/ treatment
-Issues around race, racism, and representation
-Issues of equity
-transparency and public decision making
-etc.

Please send your submissions to The Nation ASAP at habiba@thenation.com and cc: info@nycore.org
Please also post your submission to the Education Section of Obama's Website at http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/mypolicy.

This article is going online on Monday, so time is of the essence!

Here is what Bree wrote:

Rather than take the advice of educational experts, Chancellor Klein repeatedly championed and implemented policies that support corporate interests and Mayor Bloomberg. For example, in 2004, Bloomberg and Klein ignored the input of parents, teachers and educational experts in their attempt to push through a high stakes third grade testing policy. Despite testimonials from educational experts and community members against this plan, Bloomberg fired and replaced members of their advisory panel that were not going to vote to pass their bill. "Although Mr. Klein said they had resigned, the three panel members said in interviews that they had been tersely dismissed and had intended to vote against the mayor's plan (New York Times, 2004)”. Is this how we want federal education policy handled?
Bree Picower, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, New York University

Lisa North from ICE sent this along:

I am sorry to say that here in NYC you cannot link positive educational reform with the name Chancellor Klein. Dedicated arts moneys in school budgets have been removed and replaced with money for school data inquiry teams. There have been few effective new teaching and learning initiatives or programs since the beginning of Klein's term. Only a massive amount of testing as huge amounts of time and money have been spent on accountability via testing. Do we want large spikes in test scores from teaching to the test OR students educated to be productive members of society? Shouldn't educational reform be about teaching and learning?

Sean Ahern chimed in on ICE-mail:

I think the AFTUFT leadership would look forward to collaborating on the national level with Klein as they have locally for the past eight years.

The UFT/AFT leadership holds a charter membership in the corporate education reform going back to A Nation At Risk in 1982 when Obama was an undergrad and they show no signs of jumping ship now.

Parents and school based educators in NYC who do not share the perspective of the AFT leadership will have to speak out on our own behalf asking that Obama look at the facts not the spin on eight years of "Put Children First".

NYC schools have among the lowest graduation rates, are among the most segregated, have one of the highest rates of teacher turnover, and since 2001 there has been a 40% decline in the number of new Black and Latina educators hired. What about this picture merits a promotion? To the extent that some good things go on in city classrooms is a testament to the determination of the people in the trenches who carry on in spite of Tweed.

Obama said he would listen to the people so let the people speak. What do the Parents Associations, the CEC's, the SLTs, the students, the chapter leaders, the school based Administrators and teachers have to say? This is the time to speak up.

Klein is experienced but so is a used car. Obama should look under the hood before he buys otherwise he may be stuck with a lemon, Remember Bush's first Education Secretary ? How long was it before the truth about the Houston miracle came to light? Two years? I give even less time for the facts about "Put Children First" to emerge. They already have locally. Klein as Education Secretary? Not a change I can believe in .

Peace,
Sean Ahern

I just spoke to a buddy working out of the central beast at Tweed who wants Klein to be nominated.

"Oh, so you can get rid of him," I said?

"No. Because the spot light of a nomination will expose him for his failed policies - the phony grad rates and test scores and complete failures from messed up bus routes to the recent talented and gifted farce." And all the stuff in between.

How much would you give to see Diane Ravitch and Leonie Haimson testifying at a Klein nomination hearing?

Hmmmm! Hold the presses.

Teaching Fellow RTRs Rally at Tweed

Despite a driving drizzle a hardy band of NYC first year Teaching Fellows who have not yet been appointed and are threatened with being fired, losing their provisional teaching certification and being tossed from the Masters degree grad program, attempted to meet with DOE officials at Tweed yesterday afternoon. Marjorie Stamberg from the Ad Hoc ATR committee and Michael Fiorillo from ICE were there to show support. No one from UFT officialdom showed, But they only show if there might be press around. The RTRs do not seem to expect much help from the UFT in defending their jobs.

Kelly Vaughan from Gotham Schools was there to report. (Photo by Kelly)

According to DOE spokeswoman Ann Forte, 115 new Teaching Fellows are still without jobs, down from 139 in mid-October. Teachers tonight told me they are working as substitutes and assistants while they seek permanent positions

Read Kelly's full report here. I'm borrowing Kelly's excellent photo as I only had a video camera. I will put the interviews up if they came out ok.

Robert from ICE posted this on ICE mail:

Although the numbers were modest, the RTR rally today in the rain at Tweed was spirited. We had signs supporting the RTRs and ATRs. Several RTRs were there, including concerned relatives of the one of the RTRs. Members of the Ad Hoc Committee to support the ATRs were also there, as well as members of other groups. Passersby were engaged, and several stopped to talk and get more information. Dan, the coordinator of the RTR group, dressed in the prison suit of a condemned man, gave a speech on the steps movingly pleading the case for a reprieve of the RTRs. Then the entire body ascended the steps of Tweed in an effort to go inside and talk someone in Chancellor Klein's office. Although Tweed is a public building, it is managed by a city agency and Tweed is a tenant of this entity, and security personnel of the management barred the way. A DOE representative was fetched, however, and took material to bring to the Chancellor's office. A reporter for the Gotham Schools blog took interviews.

We must keep up the pressure on the DOE not to fire the RTRs and work to ensure a maximum turnout for the ATR rally on the behalf of the ATRs on November 24.

Robert

Lorri Hosts the Carnival at Examiner

The Road Not Taken, the 196th Edition is up and running.

Election Whoopee

For The Wave: Politically Unstable (column)

Election Whoopee
by Norman Scott

There's a lot to be said about the election. I know people are thinking about the race issue. Since so many people are touching on this issue with more eloquence, I'll leave that to others. I am thinking about other issues. A smart guy in charge (Clinton was too but seemed to have other things on his - er - mind.) A connection to the young people that reminds me of the way we felt in 1960 seeing the glorious John F. Kennedy replace Eisenhower. (We used to race home after school to see his press conferences.) An activated army who got involved in politics. Expect to see a new, inspired generation of people who hopefully won't get fooled again.

I haven't cared all that much about the politics as usual for quite a while, having voted 3rd party in all but one or two elections over the last 25 years. Yet last Sunday I got up early and drove to Allentown, PA to spend a few hours working for Obama. Witnessing the massive ground game as people from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other places poured into a basement Obama headquarters on the outskirts of town made it worth it. And made me feel just a little less dread about losing PA, which I felt was the key (stone) state. It did turn out that way (along with the Buckeye state and about 30 others.) And hanging with like-minded people, whom I had to look for under rocks in Rockaway. Some of the awful letters in The Wave didn’t help. Thank goodness for the good sense to endorse Obama.

The conversations I engaged in with people who came up with so many irrational reasons to vote against Obama had been discouraging. The emails came in daily disparaging Obama for being the next Hitler and looking to set up a police state and being a terrorist Manchurian candidate. His "associations." Remember how he was going to paint the White House black?

They always made sure to disavow that race was an issue. Yet they were so over the top on a candidate whose policies were not so far off John Kerry and Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Very talented, but a fairly traditional politician. An impeccable personal history. Exceedingly bright. Amazingly disciplined. Self-controlled. Calm. And logical and orderly in his thinking. Did I say exceedingly bright?

Growing up poor, both black and white, married to a working class gal. Both had used their smarts to rise to the top of society. How could all this not only be ignored, but be disparaged?

Some element of racism, latent or not, had to be in operation. I can just imagine what they were thinking as they saw people dancing in the streets in Harlem last night. Will they secede from like half the nation did when another candidate from Illinois was elected 7 score and 8 years ago?

I purposely watched Fox last night, which had done its share in scaring people. Suddenly commentators were talking about how Obama was really a centrist and was surrounding himself with Clinton era advisers. I mean Warren Buffet the terrorist? Duh!

Will Obama turn out to be a great president or a failure? An FDR or a Herbert Hoover, who had an even lower approval rating than W?

It could go either way. When you think of great presidents, they seem to emerge only in times of crisis. Think there are just a few lurking?

FDR ran for president with a very different agenda than he ended up enacting due to desperate times. He showed the kind of flexibility that was needed. Policies that had a major impact for generations.

The problem I have had with Republicans is that they are driven by a narrow ideology that has helped put us into this mess. Like if you breathe government action, you are a socialist. But when it takes forms of socialism to bail out millionaires, why go right ahead. It was this sort of thinking that led to handing over billions to banks that should have had the requirement to be used as loans to free up credit but instead is being held onto by banks to buy other banks. One day soon we will have only 3 or 4 banks in this country.

The only thing I have to fear is fear of Obama's dependence on the same old, same old Clinton people, who come out of places like Goldman Saks when we need some truly radical thinking. Bill Ayres, where are you when we need you?

It is worth hearing from the left on the election. Here is George Schmidt, who is based in Chicago, posting on ICE-mail, where some vituperative attacks on Obama have taken place by both the right and left.

One of the strangest things to watch the past couple of months was how the "left" deployed towards the finish line on Obama. We've reported, early and often, that he was one of the most brilliant politicians ever to come out of Chicago. Now everyone knows that who has been paying attention. What happened yesterday in places like Pasco County, Florida (where I spent some time long long ago living and working out at a gym in New Port Ritchey) and Southwest Ohio was simple:

Chicago precinct work linked to the Internet.

Once you have a very very very good candidate (and Obama was one of the best bourgeoise candidates we've ever seen come out of Chicago politics; Harold Washington was another), a lot of the job is what is called "the ground game." After the AFT convention, I was miffed (that Obama snubbed both AFT and NEA) and worried (that the snub would leave huge parts of white America without the infantry for the ground game the final weeks before the election).

Now it's back to work.

Most of us here think the world is a happier place this morning because of what those of us who voted in the USA did yesterday. A large number of our neighbors went down to Grant Park last night and haven't been seen since. As someone said, this is the world's biggest (Chicago style) block party.

To have helped smash white supremacy on the level it existed in the USA in one lifetime has been a wonderful moment. And we have, indeed, helped smash it with what has been done the past year, culminating in the past week.

I have three sons, one of whom is 19 and in college, and the other of whom are seven and four. All three, at their levels, understood that something very important was happening yesterday (and leading up to yesterday).

As to what's going to happen next (especially for K-12 education)?

The one thing we've learned from Barack Obama over the years (remember: some of us have known him since he was in the Illinois Senate) is that you can't predict the next policy thrust -- only that it will have been very carefully thought out and very well planned (example: the last six weeks of the campaign organization, from TV ads to precinct work across the entire country, from suburban Indiana to the vastness of Montana).

It's worth savoring today. Our children are very happy. Coming from a time when my father's best friends (all brave men who had fought to defeat Nazism on the ground in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria) referred to Jackie Robinson as "Black Jack" and use to cheer the Dodgers with a cheer of "Run N_____ Run!" I'm very glad my own sons are coming of age in a different world. My Mom and Dad were among the few people in Linden, New Jersey who explained to us why we shouldn't use the "N" word back in the 1950s, while also explaining that the people we knew who did use it were good people (and brave; these were men who had "served" in combat in World War II) but limited.

Today, even in the most segregated parts of the USA (and Chicago has some of the most intensely segregated parts of the USA) that Jackie Robinson era racism is simply out of fashion. And given what things look like now, it's unlikely it will make a comeback, despite all the exertions of Sarah Palin and those mobs she luridly fired up at the most base level.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance

www.substancenews.net

UPDATED: Eva Moskowitz Exposes Fault Lines of Charter Schools

UPDATED

Today's NY Times' article on Eva Moskowitz and her Harlem Success charter schools has a few nuggets exposing the charter school sham worth exploring.

High teacher turnover

With such rapid expansion, staffing is a critical challenge: As at most other city charters, Harlem Success teachers are not unionized, and work a longer school day and year than those at traditional public schools. Within the flagship school’s first few months, the assistant principal and two teachers were let go. Five of last year’s 20 primary classroom teachers did not return this year, and turnover has been high among the largely 20-something back-office staff.

Rich kids at Brearley and poor kids in Harlem are on an equal playing field and thei achievement gap can be explained by the low expectations thesis.

Since the first school opened in 2006, the curriculum has been a work in progress. Officials are rethinking how their students are taught writing, and Ms. Moskowitz was clearly exasperated while recently reviewing responses to a practice test, in which third graders were asked to read a passage about a family’s berry-picking expedition, then predict what might happen next.

“Some one stold there berries,” read one of the more inadequate answers — a testament to the learning that must still take place. Concerned that part of the problem was teachers’ and administrators’ low expectations, Ms. Moskowitz ordered a staff member to collect third-grade writing samples from the prestigious Brearley School.

All kids and parents are welcome

She demands a lot from Harlem Success parents: They must read their children six books a week, year round, and attend multiple school events, from soccer tournaments to Family Reading Nights. If children are repeatedly late, the parents must join them to do penance at Saturday Academy.

Nefertiti Washington, 28, whose son is a kindergartner, said some parents walked out of a springtime information session when Ms. Moskowitz made her expectations clear by saying, “If you know you cannot commit to all that we ask of you this year, this is not the place for you.”

Squeezing public schools they share space with

She has had particularly rocky relationships with some of the traditional public schools that house her charters. Last spring, she referred to the fight to house a Harlem Success school inside Public School 123 as a “Middle East war” (she later apologized).

Failure is due to bad teachers

The [Moskowitz] couple ruled out private school for financial and ideological reasons, she said, and were wary of traditional public schools because of their belief that the union contracts she railed against during her City Hall days allow mediocre teachers to remain in classrooms.

UPDATE FROM LEONIE HAIMSON:

Most telling excerpt from the Eva Moskowitz profile in today’s NY Times:

The day … ended at a cocktail party, where Ms. Moskowitz grilled Michael Thomas Duffy, Mr. Klein’s top aide for charter schools, over the city’s formula for allocating space to charters.

Mr. Duffy, in an interview, conceded that conversations with Ms. Moskowitz can run “hot”; he recounted his early days in the job, when what he thought would be a 45-minute get-to-know-you turned into a two-hour meeting dominated by her frustration at not being able to obtain potential students’ contact information. “She dispensed with the niceties pretty quickly,” he said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Duffy described the Harlem Success lottery this spring as a “watershed event,” saying “it seemed to crystallize an understanding of the permanency of charter schools in the city, that there’s no going back.”

This is the way that people get access to this administration – through the cocktail parties they attend. No involved public school parent or CEC member is likely to meet Michael Duffy at a cocktail party – where high-level networking goes on to obtain special advantages for the charter schools, including disproportionate allocation of public school space and/or funding. Many parents have suffered a brick wall when discussing these matters with Duffy, who seems to feel that it is his job to serve the charter schools at the expense of traditional public school students.

Even PTAs under this administration cannot get the contact information for the parents of students enrolled in their own schools – and yet Eva Moskowitz, no doubt, can get whatever she needs from the DOE in order to recruit students and obtain favorable advantage for her chain of charter schools.

The ATR rally is on, for Monday, November 24.

The ATR Ad Hoc Committee Reports:

The ATR rally is on, for Monday, November 24.

The UFT Executive Board tonight voted to set the date for the rally to support our colleagues in the Absent Teacher Reserve. The ad hoc committee to support ATRs had insisted that the rally be held between the elections and Thanksgiving in order to keep up the momentum, and make a strong show of union support. With a November 24 date, this will now be possible -- it's up to us and the whole union membership to make it real.

We need thousands to come out to say "no" to the teacher-bashers and union-busters.

Randi Weingarten introduced the motion, saying that the rally was voted by the Delegate Assembly on October 15, and we need to start building it. She added they will try to get as many UFTers there as possible. The rally would create pressure to get some action on the issue of the ATRs, she said, and the delegate assembly of November 12 can be helpful in building for the rally.

I spoke earlier at the E-Board, reading our statement and stressing that we needed a date now, that we "talked the talk" at the D.A., now we need a date to "walk the walk."

The union bureaucracy has been agonizingly slow in responding to the mounting crisis over the at least 1,400 teachers who have been removed from their positions. (Also, well over a hundred teaching fellows face 'termination" as of December 5, if they don't get permanent positions.) The stage was set by the 2005 UFT contract which gave up seniority transfers, which many of us opposed at the time. But now that it's clear that the DOE is using this to try to break teacher tenure, everyone can see the need for a powerful fightback.

Our amendment calling for the rally said that it calls on the DOE to "reduce class size and give assigned positions to all teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve who want assignments before any new teachers are hired." Let's act together to win this demand on behalf of teachers, and our students who are crammed in ever more crowded classrooms.

--Marjorie

NOTE: As far as I know, the RTR event at Tweed scheduled for this Wed. at 4:15

Election Yin and Yang

Just back from the gym. Ran into a UFT retiree. "Explain to me how the union could support a candidate who is against voting by secret ballot?" Huh? "What are you talking about? Where did you hear this?"

I know what's coming. Some kind of Obama trashing (the same thing happened last week with a retired fireman - why are they coming to me?)

"I was told by someone that he wants to take away the secret ballot." I begin turn 5 shades of green. "I don't want to talk about anything else. I just wanted to ask that question." "But McCain and Republicans view unions as enemies of big business."

I then started to explain that this position supports union attempts to organize.

"I don't want to get into it. But cry the beloved country." Oy!

Brilliant. Why get the real facts when all you need is an excuse to continue to bash Obama? My instinct is there's heavy racism acting here. The vehemence goes way beyond normal dislike of candidates. Like would this same conversation have taken place over Kerry or Gore given the same exact positions?

I also spoke to the gal who is having the Obama election night open house. She is from Canada and rethinking things if McCain wins. Or maybe just drink her way through tomorrow evening. Or the next 4 years.

On the other hand there's this from Five Thirty Eight's 3am polls:

Barack Obama's position has become somewhat stronger since our update this afternoon. We now have him with a 5.8 point lead in the national popular vote, and winning the election 96.3 percent of the time. Earlier today, those figures were 5.4 and 93.7, respectively.

I continue to find a hair's worth of tightening on balance in the state-by-state polls -- even as Obama's position in the national trackers seems to be roughly as strong as it has ever been. This, ironically, is the exact reverse of the position we saw earlier in the week, when the national polls seemed to be tightening even as the state polls weren't.

However, Obama's win percentage has ticked upward again for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he's gotten some relatively good numbers out of Pennsylvania since our last update, with PPP and Zogby giving him leads of 8 and 14 points, respectively, and Rasmussen showing his lead expanding to 6 points after having been at 4 before. (The Zogby poll is probably an outlier, but may serve to balance out outliers like Strategic Vision on the other side).

Secondly, McCain's clock has simply run out. While there is arguable evidence of a small tightening, there is no evidence of a dramatic tightening of the sort he would need to make Tuesday night interesting.

Related to this is the fact that there are now very, very few true undecideds left in this race.

MORE

Working for Obama in Allentown

I've always been a reluctant Obama supporter because his policies seem center or even right of center to me. But from what I can tell, I really like the guy and feel he will be a good president to the extent anyone can be a good president given these times. So I've become more involved as time has gone by. But not in the sense of actually working in the campaign. Until yesterday.

I'm not one of those people who think this election is a cinch. Far from it. I always expected McCain to win. And still think the Republicans will find a way to squeeze this out. Frankly, the numbers I hear scare me. Weren't Kerry and Gore ahead at this point too?

If it's close, I am giving the state to McCain. Bradley effect and all that stuff. Turnout? Young people? I'm still not convinced. Did they make sure to register in the same place they live or at the school they go to or like my recent college grad cousin who is from DC, went to school upstate and now lives here in the city, did she take care of business to make sure she can vote? Besides, she works late and, you know, lines, etc. Beside, people think it's a slam dunk for Obama and we know how that turns out.

We were out at in wine country on the east end of Long Island and a debate broke out between a lone Obama supporter and a group of McPalins in the parking lot. I had to jump into the fray, but I hear way too much of this stuff from too many people I know. I think I saw one Obama sign in my entire neighborhood with about 50 more McPalin signs. And we are 5 minutes from Brooklyn.

I believe Pennsylvania is the key to this entire election and McCain was derided for throwing so many resources into the state. I thought he was smart to do so and he has made some progress with polls showing a narrowing.

When I got that Move.on email saying I was needed in Allentown, PA, I headed over there on Sunday. If Obama loses PA by one vote, it won' t be my fault.

There were many cars streaming into the Obama HQ. They came from Jersey and lots from New York. All ages. Mostly white. While waiting on the bathroom line I found it interesting how confident they were despite the fact that most of the people who live near them (except the Manhattan and Park Slope people) were McCain people. I felt dread.

But I perked up from the enormous outpouring of people and the impressive way we were organized and trained. We were sent out in pairs. My partner was a young man from Manhattan by way of DC, having grown up in Virginia. He did some canvassing back home recently. "I don't think Obama will win Virginia," he said. Jeez. And he is running even in North Carolina, if not being behind. And Ohio? As the Fearless Forecaster on WFAN often says: A LOSS.

Did you get the idea I am a major pessimist?

The guy in charge is a lawyer from Long Island who has been there for a month. He grew up in Rockaway and wasn't surprised when I told him about some of the sentiments of all too many people.

But I perked up as more people kept showing up all day. And what a smooth operation. They have shifted from convincing people to vote Obama, to canvassing for Obama supporters to a Get Out The Vote operation. That was our job yesterday. To go to targeted addresses of people who said they were for Obama and to leave a door knob flyer as a reminder. We were not knocking on doors but if we saw someone we were to ask if they needed a ride to the polls on Tuesday.

Our trainer said that they can track every single person who did not vote by 6PM and they will call them to remind them. And do it again at 7PM. Impressive. I lost a few butterflies on hearing that. About 2.

We went out to an area that seemed to be the Allentown version of low income housing. Two story garden apartments. Mostly Hispanic, based on the names. Having taught in east Williamsburg, there was some similarity. Will they actually go out and vote? The 2 butterflies are back.

Look. PA is within margin of error. Hillary beat Obama badly. Florida and North Carolina and Virginia - it is really possible for McCain. More than possible. I would go back to Allentown on election day if I didn't have this robotic training thing I'm involved in. If things look worse tonight I may blow it off and head on back. Or at the very least start calling people from here. (The Obama organization even makes provision for that.) I don't much believe it does all that much good but doing nothing makes those

A neighbor is throwing an election night open house. I'm going with plenty of good stuff to drink. We will really know a lot by 8PM. At that point I expect to be drinking. Heavily.

Ad Hoc ATRs To Attend UFT Exec. Board Tonight

Statement to UFT E-Board by Ad Hoc Committee to Support the ATRs

We have been given to understand that the Executive Board/Action Committee is considering having the ATR rally, voted on at the October Delegate Assembly, some time in late November or early December. This is too late. The RTR first year teachers (Teaching Fellows) are scheduled to be “terminated” on December 5. Anything in the first week of December would be too late to mobilize on their behalf, and scheduling a rally after the Thanksgiving break will mean we lose momentum in building for it.

The ad hoc committee to support ATRs has repeatedly offered to co-ordinate our efforts with the Action Committee, but has received no concrete proposal. We have requested previously that the rally be scheduled outside the Department of Education headquarters at Tweed Courthouse between Election Day and Thanksgiving. In order to adequately build for it, we need a decision on a date NOW.

Ed Note: A reminder that the original motion presented by the Ad Hoc committee was rewritten by the UFT leadership to exclude the rally and the call for ATRs to be used immediately to reduce class size. It was passed by the Unity Caucus dominated E-Board on Oct. 14 These provisions were restored when John Powers' amendment was voted up at the Oct. 15 DA. Thus, the dragging of feet by the UFT is not surprising.

The large group of ATRs and RTRs in front of 52 Broadway with some press coverage had an impact as Randi could have easily set the Unity shock troops, who were waiting for her signal on how to vote, to turn Powers away. She waffled a bit but you could see the wheels turning as to how this would all play out. Knowing full well the UFT could control (and subvert?) the rally, the Emperor gave the "thumbs up" signal.

We reported on this in our Oct. 16 post.

Reminder: RTR Teaching Fellows will be meeting in front of Tweed Wed. Nov. 5 at 4:15. Many have given up on expecting help from the UFT, which has not made public any of the details of the grievance they supposedly filed for them. Teachers who wish to join them to show support.

The ICE Meeting this Friday (4:30) at Murray Bergtraum HS will discuss the ATR, RTR situation and other issues (see sidebar for agenda and details.) ICE meetings are open so come on down.

RTR Teaching Fellows to Gather at Tweed Nov. 5, Update on Mystery Grievance

These first year teachers hired under false pretences have had enough.

Gather November 5, 2008, 4:15 p.m.

The Tweed Courthouse Headquarters of the NYC Department of Education
52 Chambers Street, Manhattan

RTR Teaching Fellows threatened with firing on Dec. 5 gather at Tweed a month before that date to request a meeting to have basic questions answered.

How much was the New Teacher Project paid to train these people, only to see them fired?

Will these teachers be allowed to keep their certification or will they be barred from teaching after Dec. 5? Or to put it another way: How do you say they are qualified/certified on Dec. 5 but not on Dec. 6?

"We welcome anyone interested in hearing answers about the Teaching Fellows due to be terminated on December 5, 2008 and anyone who is interested in having the relationship between the DOE and the New Teacher Project clarified.

Most importantly we welcome anyone who wants to ask the DOE why it will attempt to circumvent the New York State Taylor Law to lay off teachers who it recently paid a good deal of money to an outside organization to train to teach in our public schools even when they are in dire need (and under state orders) of reducing class size.

Contact cohort16unity@gmail.com for more information.


UFT Commits to Holding Rally Before Dec. 5
Late November or Early December
ABSOLUTELY before December 5th (firing date for RTRs.)


Update on UFT Mystery Grievance -
The UFT hasn't provided any information on their alleged grievance on the behalf of the Teaching Fellows, though some have asked to see it. Either there isn't one or if there really is one, it was a rush job that they threw together at the last second.

SHOW THE FELLOWS A COPY OF THE GRIEVANCE!
TELL THEM WHAT THE TIMETABLE IS AND IF THERE IS ANY HOPE THEY CAN BE RETAINED ON DEC. 5 BASED ON A QUICK TURNAROUND OF THE GRIEVANCE.

The Fellows, after just a few months of exposure to the UFT, are skeptical.

"After repeated requests they still haven't given any information on Alternative Certification issues. We shouldn't have to fight with our union. After all, they should be working FOR us or at least with us (another paycheck yesterday and another $47.27 to them).

"Ask your UFT rep in school for a copy of the grievance. Let them see how many of us are together in fighting for our jobs."

ELL Students Deprived of Educational Opportunities in NYC Public Schools

Steve Koss writes to the NYC Education News listserve:

English Language Learner students, regardless of their non-English language talents, are virtually excluded from access to NYC's nine specialized high schools.

The number of ELL students attending Stuyvesant HS according to their October 15, 2008 DOE register is 1 (out of a total of 3,250 students), at Bronx Science 1 (out of 2,816), at Brooklyn Tech 2 (out of 4,677), at Staten Island Tech 1 (out of 958), at H.S. of Science, Math, and Engineering at City College 1 (out of 452), at Queens H.S. for the Sciences at York College 0 (out of 404), at LaGuardia H.S. 6 (out of 2,507), at the H.S. of American Studies at Lehman College 0 (out of 346), and at Brooklyn Latin School 0 (out of 183).

In total, that puts a total of 12 ELL students (half of them at LaGuardia HS) in the City's specialized high schools out of 15,593 students, thereby representing just 0.077% of the students in those schools. At the six specialized high schools focusing on math, science, and/or engineering, it's just 6 students out of 12,557, an even more depressing 0.048%.

Richard Mills Resigns

After hearing from an authoritative source, Ed Notes was out of the box 10 days ago with our report that NY State Ed Dept. head Richard Mills was going to resign. The story went public today that he will be leaving this June. Don't believe much of the newspaper crap about his achievements. He was awful. The contrast to his predecessor Thomas Sobol was striking.

Hot Rumor: Stick a Fork in Richard Mills?

Richard Mills, a contender for the most awful state ed commissioner one can find and certainly a horror for NY State which has one of the worst testing policies in the nation, may be on the way out. His is noted for such things as giving Joel Klein a waiver to be chancellor since he has no qualifications and for looking the other way as BloomKlein ran rampant over just about every state ed regulation and over the entire law giving the mayor power but not dictatorial power.

This Can NEVER Happen in the UFT

WTU Board of Trustee Candi Peterson reports on The Washington Teacher blog:

Washington Teachers Union Executive Board members in a statement of disapproval passed a motion to censure the Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker yesterday. The motion passed overwhelmingly 9 to 4. Board members expressed their disapproval of President Parker's failure to adhere to regularly scheduled board and delegate assembly meetings, fails to hold membership meetings, fails to adhere to motions passed by the board, and does not respond to members request for information.

Unity Caucus in the UFT has assured that there will never be dissent on the Executive Board by controlling every position. Even when ICE/TJC controlled 6 out of the 89 seats from 2004-2007, that was too much. So they made sure to endorse the former opposition New Action Caucus to replace them. With a majority of UFT members not being working teachers and manipulating the election process, Unity has assured their control in perpetuity.

Does this mean there is no hope in getting the leadership to respond? The actions of adhoc special interest lobby groups like ATRs and rubber room members has created some force from the rank and file to get some movement. There is such fear in Unity of a revolt from underneath demanding change, they will respond to deflect militancy.

Follow-up:
Read James Eterno's
UFT PSEUDO DEMOCRACY EXPLAINED
http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/