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Education Crossroads

Talking about mayoral control, the UFT, and other ed related topics.

Steaming at http://stream.wbai.org/

Exposing The “Rubber Room:” Bloomberg-Klein Hypocrisy and Teacher Injustice

Press Release

Contact: Sam Anderson- 212.252.2997

10 June 2009

Exposing The “Rubber Room:” Bloomberg-Klein Hypocrisy

and Teacher Injustice

Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE) is holding a press conference at 10AM Thursday 11 June at District 13 headquarters at Park Place & Underhill Ave in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn.

We will be there to reveal to the citizens of New York, the intolerable conditions thousands of educators endure annually when they face charges of ethical, behavioral or political misconduct. These educators languish in horrendous and demeaning administrative purgatory in eight Temporary Reassignment Centers (aka "administrative reassignment centers” ) found throughout the boroughs waiting for their hearing which may not occur for a year or more.

We are especially concerned about the disproportionate numbers of Black and Latino Educators found in the “Rubber Rooms.” Last year, Black and Latino educators made up 65% of all educators in these demeaning centers. Yet, Black & Latino educators comprise less that 30% of all NYC educators.

BNYEE will be joined by current public school educators, parents and concerned citizens who are outraged by these “Gitmo” styled conditions.

###

RELATED:

First cut of "The Rubber Room" Movie

Leonie Haimson: Class Size-Mologist

Does anyone do it better? This is an edited version. Click on the link below to read it all.

Leonie Haimson on mayoral control, inflated test scores, class size and criticism of Randi Weingarten on mayoral control:

I find it very disappointing. I don’t think she’s looking out for the real interests of the teachers, who overwhelmingly in surveys have expressed their dissatisfaction with Joel Klein and the current system. They are as concerned as parents with overcrowding, excessive class sizes and the fact that our schools are being turned into test-prep factories. This is really diminishing their ability to do their job effectively, and they have expressed that in many ways, in many forums.

Class Size-Mologist

http://www.cityhallnews.com/news/127/ARTICLE/1960/2009-06-08.html#

City Hall

Back and Forth: Leonie Haimson

Andrew J. Hawkins

June 8th, 2009

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, has more than a few things to say about mayoral control of schools. In fact, she and a dozen other critics of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s school governance system have just compiled their grievances into a new book, entitled NYC Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers, and Policymakers Need to Know, just in time for the looming reauthorization vote in the Legislature. She sat down with City Hall to discuss her distrust of test score data released by the Department of Education (DOE), her frustration with overcrowding and her opinion of the billionaire boys club pushing reauthorization.

What follows is an edited transcript.

City Hall: Hypothetically, if mayoral control is reauthorized and Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein retain of control over the system, what is the next step for you?

Leonie Haimson: It depends on what you mean by mayoral control. There’s a huge range of proposals out there. And even ours, you might say that the mayor would retain a good deal of control over the system. When we met with [Assembly Speaker] Shelly Silver, he said that the mayor’s always had control. And to some extent that’s true, because the mayor’s always been able to control the budget and had tremendous influence over the board of education in terms of persuasion and politics.

So there’s so many different varieties and options out there and different degrees of what people are calling mayoral control, I really think it’s not that simple even to define what it means.

But assuming that the system is not significantly changed to give more voice to parents, the way we want there to be more voice to parents and more checks and balances at every level of the system, I think we’re looking at irreversible and damaging changes to our public school system in the years to come. I really believe that much of what the mayor and the chancellor are doing has the effect of undermining the whole notion of neighborhood public schools and their connection to communities. So, I see real dangers out there—unless the system is significantly reformed—that we are going to not even recognize what our public school system looks like in the future.

CH: And yet they point to increasing test scores: we saw math scores have increased significantly, as proof that their experiment is working …

LH: I can tell you that nobody who’s looked at the state test scores believes them anymore. Even the [Board of] Regents don’t believe them. [Chancellor] Merryl Tisch was very skeptical; there are other Regents that will be even more skeptical if you talk to them because you don’t see increases like that unless the tests have gotten significantly easier over the years. I can tell you that there’s just no chance that those state test scores would ever be replicated by any independent assessment. And we know that in the past the big jumps in state test scores have not been replicated in the national assessments, called the NAEP. And we’ve just come out with a book about the Bloomberg/Klein record. We understand that there’s a terrific state test score inflation going on. And every independent assessment that’s been done has looked at these state tests and said they cannot be valid, they just cannot be valid. You don’t see increases like that in one or two years. And you know, you talk to Bob Tobias, who used to be head of testing for DOE, you talk to almost anybody, it doesn’t make any sense.

CH: Is there something that state policymakers can do in the reauthorization of mayoral control that would go toward addressing the class size issue for you?

LH: Well, already the state passed a law saying that New York City had to reduce class sizes, and what’s happened is class sizes instead have gone up. So, we’ve made it very clear to state legislators that New York City not only is not complying with the law—has no intention of complying with the law in this regard. And they should take that very seriously. And when we testified before the State Senate and Suzi Oppenheimer, who’s the chair of the Senate Education Committee, she kept on saying things like, “What makes them think they don’t have to comply with the law?” you know, and [Assembly Education Chair] Cathy Nolan asked them that as well during the Assembly hearing. So they have basically thumbed their nose at the state as it is, and Joel Klein has already announced that class sizes will go up further next year, and that if he had his way he would shrink the teaching force by 30 percent. So, I think they’ve made their intentions very clear. If we see the current system renewed, we will have to take some kind of action to see that state law is complied with. What that action is at this point I don’t know. We are going to get a new commissioner soon—hopefully he’ll be a little bit more serious about the law than this current commissioner is.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know what the next step is. I’m so focused on trying to win at least a partial battle by the end of June. I’m sure after this whole thing is over we will go back and regroup and try to figure out what the next steps are. But we’re also trying to fight a battle over the capital plan, which is also inadequate to meet the needs of New York City students. It’s only providing about one-third of the seats necessary to eliminate overcrowding and reduce class size to mandated state levels. And we’re seeing increased overcrowding, we’re seeing hundreds of kids on waiting lists for kindergarten and we’re seeing increased class sizes—and this capital plan will not deal with any of that, especially given the enrollment growth that’s expected throughout the city in the coming years.

CH: What do you make of UFT President Randi Weingarten’s change of heart about mayoral control?

LH: I find it very disappointing. I don’t think she’s looking out for the real interests of the teachers, who overwhelmingly in surveys have expressed their dissatisfaction with Joel Klein and the current system. They are as concerned as parents with overcrowding, excessive class sizes and the fact that our schools are being turned into test-prep factories. This is really diminishing their ability to do their job effectively, and they have expressed that in many ways, in many forums.

CH: What are you not seeing in the press coverage of mayoral control that you wish was being covered more?

LH: There is a critique out there that I think the reporters themselves know very well, that they understand that these test results are inflated, they understand that the picture put out by this administration is often very skewed and inaccurate, and to some degree they’re not allowed to report on that to the degree that they’re able to. You talk to reporters off the record, they don’t believe this stuff. It’s similar to the legislators and it’s similar to a lot of people in the city. If you look at the City Limits article that was published yesterday, a very critical article on mayoral control and this administration, and yet the number of people who wouldn’t talk on the record because of fear of repercussions—there was so many that they actually had to put a little appendix on the end of the article to explain that.

So I think everybody knows that the mayor is using his personal money and his city money and his power in every single way, either to get people to speak out on his behalf—when it comes to something like Learn NY, the Fund for Public Schools, the Education Equality Project and all the rest—or simply to keep their mouths shut, one or the other.

It’s not just top down. I hate to exaggerate, but it really is, you know, sometimes when you talk to people, it’s as though they’re afraid, you know, it’s almost as though we’re living in a Stalinist Russia or something. I mean it isn’t that way, because you know obviously he can’t put us in prison or I wouldn’t be speaking out if that were true.

--
ABOVE: photo by Andrew Schwartz

Fix Schools don't close them - one Bronx school claims to have done it

This story is one of the best I've heard to counter the Obama/Duncan/Klein/EEP program that the problem is the teachers. PS 85 in the Bronx is an example of a school that has turned around without restructuring.

I heard this report on NYC early this morning. They put resources in the school, trained teachers and addressed the discipline issue (the principal didn't throw the DOE crap that there are only discipline problems because of bad lessons. It should be heard in every hall of edcuational policy.

Beth Fertig at (WNYC)

Will the UFT Support Bill Thompson?

Many anti-Bloomberg teachers who are also skeptical of the UFT are assuming the UFT will stay neutral in a race dominated by Bloomberg money. I don't agree. I can't see Bill Thompson, who has a clear field for the Democratic nomination, running without some level of enouragement and support from the UFT.

The UFT has had a very long relationship with Thompson going back to his father and he has been their preferred candidate for mayor for many years. That is one of the reasons they supported mayoral control, expecting Thompson to be mayor one day. I've written about this relationship over the years. So it is hard to imagine them not endorsing him. Whether they will actually throw resources in is another question. If there is any sign he could win they will as they can control him whereas with Bloomberg he controls them.

Related:
Thompson's speech at the IS 278 rally in Marine Park, where he got a rousing reception from a mostly white audience. Will they remember in November?

More on Thompson and the UFT
Weingarten and Thompson Embarrassed

More Bitch Face, DO NADA, and Unity Defender

Recently we have been chronicling events at a Bronx elementary where chapter leader blogger Proof of Life fended off a multifaceted attack by the principal while the UFT sat silent in spite of the outrages, fueling suspicion there was some connection between the UFT and the principal, who has fondly become known in these parts as "Bitchface." This goes further than an election as BF and her agents attempted to trump up incidents that would land PoL in the rubber room. The UFT refused to get involved. Our first two posts

When a Chapter Leader Stands Up to the Principal...
Unity Hack Attack on Chapter Leader

led to comments from a UFT apologist, known in these parts as Unity Hack, which criticized Pol for calling the principal Bitchface on her blog.

This comment came in defending PoL:

You know you hit a nerve when a unity hack responds in that manner. Did you notice the telltale attempt at misdirection by faux concern over the principal's bitchface label as opposed to the real and documented harassment of a chapter leader? When will UFT start defending the CLs who are actually confronting principals?

PoL won the election by 30 votes but the UFT threw it out on the most extreme technicalities (if this was a Unity Caucus chapter leader this never would have been a redo), giving Bitchface and her disciples another shot at PoL, who won the 2nd time, though not by as large a margin. The attempt to break PoL's spirit has not worked and will not work.


Some of PoL's supporters at the school have been in touch.

I admire this CL. In fact, I am a former employee of POL's school and Bitch Face is a rather kind name for her! Way to go POL!

Another colleague talks about DO NADA, the principal's chief provocateur.

I'm a teacher at this school and I must say that POL is correct in what she writes. I understand that her use of language may be questionable but that is the purpose of a blog, to yell, scream, praise, pray, curse, love all through text.

Her frustrations are valid. The principal chooses each year people she places on a "shit list" as I call it (please excuse the language). The DO NADA lady I know from personal experience does not teach. She reads a newspaper during class, arrives up to two hours late to school and leaves up to an hour early almost every other day. She is never on the absent list even though she IS INDEED ABSENT. Sucks for people like me who have to be absent for a reason and calls in.

DO NADA actually pulled a stunt years ago where she caused the disruption of a training session to yell at me, in front of the principal, and the principal tells me to let it go. NO write ups, No reports. Our school is so CORRUPT with this principal and certain teachers she has working as an informant, it is absolutely out of control. You probably ask why no one notices this.

Maybe it's because the school is kept so clean, so presentable, the teachers are amazing and actually make up for lack of leadership. We make HER look good. She has given visitors tickets to Broadway shows as gifts, catering, etc...why would anyone who visits complain? We work so hard for the children, not her. That is why this school runs well. Most children believe the assistant principal is the principal.

Our CL is strong and determined to keep our staff united but the principal has [created] an unrepairable rift that has divided this once, close-knit family. It's a shame we have to see this happen. I pray for the day someone sees the cover-ups. The kids with knives in the schools who are not reported, attacks on teachers which again are not reported, the principal who buys everyone off in the region with her connections, especially with the aide of the teachers she uses for their political connections. It's disgusting. Please forgive the errors and language at times but I'm writing as a form of expressing my frustration, not a formal paper.

Related:
What is happening with the chapter election at New Utrecht HS in Brooklyn that has caused Unity Caucus people to call Ed Notes asking for assistance? Reports to follow soon.

Another Unity Caucus member under attack by the principal also called Ed Notes for help.

Some interesting results coming in from chapter leader and delegate elections. Unity better hustle people into the caucus before the rabbits start jumping out of the hat.

Note: There has been a lot of immature name calling on the original posts that has taken away from the discussion. The irrelevant comments on both sides will be deleted.

Garth Harries Leaves DOE as Ed Notes Helps Pass Klein Lemons

What do you do when you get a call from a top official at the New Haven school system, as I did two weeks ago, asking your opinion on the NYC ed reforms?

You let it fly.

At least until he reveals they are thinking of hiring Garth Harries, whose appointment as Deputy Superintendent in New Haven was announced on June 8. Harries is one of Joel Klein's chief non-educator/business characters. The New Haven official ran across my Education Notes blog and wanted to know what we thought of Harries. Asking the editor of a digital rag his opinion? I must be living in an alternative universe.

"Hmmm," I think, "Klein always talks about he urges principals to stop passing on teacher lemons to others. Here's an opportunity to pass along a Klein lemon."

Of course, there are Klein lemons spawning all over the place: Washington, Baltimore, Delaware and who knows where else? They're like the swine flu virus.

"Nice guy I hear," I say. "Very personable. Smooth. Doesn't know all that much. Doesn't think class size is important. Often uses the lame expression, ‘Research shows that teacher quality counts more than class size, but when challenged to cite the research, says, I'll get back to you with that.'" Sure, in another life.

"What he actually knows is not important," the official says. "We have a reform movement already that focuses on the classroom and he won't get to impact much on that, but there is thinking here that if we tie into the Joel Klein reform effort by hiring one of his top people, we'll have a better chance of getting some of that stimulus money. And Yale University, who we partner with, is very interested in that aspect."

“In that case, Garth Harries is the perfect guy for you. Great for public relations," I say.

If they wanted a DOE connected guy for PR, they could have done better with PR chief David Cantor for much less money.

Harries was recently put in charge of special ed in NYC despite knowing nothing about it. Nice time to leave in the midst of reorganization.


Related:
I referred the story to a parent activist who knows more about Harries than I do who said she would also help pass the Klein lemon by praising Harries to the sky.

Ed Notes had this story for 2 weeks but sat on it out of courtesy to the caller.

The New West Side Story

When you're in debt, you're in debt all the way...
I was greedy, oh so greedy...
My IRA, my IRA, it's giving me angina...

http://www.newsday.com/media/flash/2009-04/46217527.swf

Tip from Merry.

Unity Hack Attack on Chapter Leader

Even regular critics of Randi Weingarten and her Unity Caucus, which has run the UFT since its inception, often don't understand the full depth of the betrayal of teacher interests. It takes years of day to day combat with Unity hacks to provide the full flavor.

Oh, I can tell stories. Like the ICE candidate for chapter leader in a long-time Unity stronghold who was charged with corporal punishment and sent to the rubber room a week before the election. The dean in charge who "investigated" was buddies with the long-time Unity hack who was chapter leader, who went around bragging how he got rid of his opponent. The ICE guy still got almost 40% of the votes despite being banned from the school. The Unity CL ended up with a full-time job at the UFT.

Or the ICE CL who always fought for her members in a large high school but was constantly being undermined by her district rep who actively sought out and cultivated someone to run against her despite the fact this guy was a "cooperative" ally of the principal who violated so many union rules. When the ICE candidate won the election by 1 vote, Unity used a phony disputed ballot to throw out the election, announced the re-election on a day the ICE CL was out of the building, and held the election the next morning on the last day of the school. I was very involved in that case as we met with the borough and district rep the night before the election and it was clear what their agenda was. The ICEer lost by a few votes. I guarantee the teachers at that school are not better off.

I wrote about blogger Proof of Life the other day (When a Chapter Leader Stands Up to the Principal... ) and her battle against a principal and her hand-picked candidate - both of them seem to have connections to the UFT. POL has risked her career and her health to stand up for her members and it showed when she won by 30 votes. Of course the UFT made her do it again on a technicality. Hope always springs eternal. Naturally she won again.

The interesting part here is the comments on that post from a Unity hack, who was more concerned with the fact POL referred to her principal as Bitch Face (or BF for short) and used that as an excuse to attack ICE:

Leaving a very detailed description (ie. traceable) where someone is constantly being called "Bitch Face", we're supposed to believe that the author is incapable of committing verbal abuse? Seems like ICE has found another winner to champion.
I'm once again bewildered by the choice of individuals that ICE stands behind.
It would seem that ICE flushes "A Union of Professionals" right down the toilet yet again.

These comments pretty much put it all in a nutshell as to the Unity Caucus/UFT conception of professionalism. Play nice, capitulate like a gentleperson, sell out - and we will support you all the way as the teachers get flushed down the drain. As long as you get COPE contributions and support the union line. On the other hand, fight like hell for your members, but voice criticisms of the Unity machine, and we will do what it takes to undermine you.

Even though this is blog is run by Ed Notes and not ICE, I'm sure ICE would be proud to champion POL and indeed hope she runs with ICE in an election so Bitch Face and her Unity supporters are blasted all over the map. We're just waiting for our invitation to come speak to the staff at the school to demonstrate that there are unionists who mucho appreciate POL.

POL left her own comment: "I would laugh if it weren't prohibited!"

Related:
My favorite line in POL's post: I asked Bitch Face if it was "bring your husband to work day."

Fiorillo on the UFT and Mayoral Control, Caroline on Charters

Michael left a few comments at Gotham Schools that are worth featuring.

1. As a public school parent, UFT Chapter Leader and member of the union’s Governance Committee - who must admit that he had every expectation that Randi would pull exactly this move - I must follow up on Ellen McHugh’s statement that, not only has Randi Weingarten never opposed mayoral control, but that we would not have mayoral control if not for Randi Weingarten.

The UFT always had veto power with the legislature over this issue, and it was Randi who gave the go-ahead for mayoral dictatorship of the schools in 2002. In fact, a colleague of mine who spoke with Sheldon Silver at the time tells me that Silver had alternative legislation written that, while giving substantial power to the mayor, would have provided for some checks and balances (which I seem to recall from my US history classes, is supposed to be the American Way). Weingarten rejected this, and we now found ourselves where we are today, betrayed yet again by a so-called union leader who prefers the company and compliments of the oligarchs who are intent on privatizing the schools, de-professionalizing the job of teaching, and preparing students for the the stress, tedium, overwork and surveillance-filled electronic and service/retail sweatshop that is the 21st century workplace.

For those who work or have children in the schools, Randi’s rationale that Bloomberg has brought “stability, cohesion and responsibility” to the schools is a particular insult to our intelligence and experience. After all the intentional fragmentation, chaotic (intentionally so) re-organizations, and refusal to accept any responsibility for ongoing crises within the schools, Randi’s distortions and/or refusal to see reality rubs salt in our wounds, to say nothing of making it harder to try and make public education work for all students.

As president of the AFT, now taking her show on the road by prepping the sell out of teachers in DC and Detroit, Weingarten’s disgraceful legacy metastasizes nationally.

Someone was horrified that the union might exercise veto power in the state legislature.

2. Not to be too harsh, but I think people are being ingenues if they think that the UFT does not have a powerful voice on education issues in the legislature, particularly in the Assembly prior to the 2008 election. And that’s how it should be, since the teachers are both the most stable constituency for public education, as well as - I know this goes against the current conventional wisdom/propaganda about schools - the strongest voice for students. I’m aware this statement will not go over well among many readers of this site, but consider the following:

- It is the UFT contract, and ONLY the UFT contract that places any limits on class size. Without the class size caps in the contract, Bloomberg and Klein would put 50 students in each class. After all, they never tire of saying that class size is irrelevant and that only “teacher quality” matters. Of course, charter supporters will say that they’re classes are smaller, without the “inefficiencies” of a union contract, but the reality is that charters are private entities masquerading as public schools, siphoning off public funds and receiving substantial private subsidies. Comparing charters - with their actively or passively creamed student populations, their low or nonexistent ELL and Special Ed populations, their freedom to remove students for whom the school “is not a good fit” - with zoned public schools is an exercise in naivete or dishonesty.

- The union contract, and ONLY the union contract allows people to make teaching a career, where many teachers often spend their entire professional lives serving the children of a particular community. This is an inestimable social benefit that is often overlooked. Again, charter schools are all about work force transience and turnover (an explicit policy goal of Klein’s, and one reason he’s pushing charters so aggressively), making teaching a temporary missionary/Peace Corps gig. If this offends you, I suggest you look at the turnover rate in charter schools: it’s an unacknowledged scandal, and gives the lie to their claims that they are “all about the children.”

The issue should not be one of people being shocked, positively shocked that the union has a powerful voice in Albany (after all, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate certainly does, and had been unsuccessfully pushing for mayoral control for quite some time) but how well the union uses that power in the service of teachers and students. And by supporting mayoral control, and yes, being the gatekeeper in permitting it to occur, the UFT under Randi Weingarten has failed its members, students and parents.

Related:

San Francisco Ed Examiner Caroline Grannan commented on charter schools at Gotham Schools in a running battle with anonymous charter school defender Kitchen Sink, known to distort charter school critics' views on more than one occasion. I posted Caroline's comment on Norms Notes for easier access.

Duking it Out on Charter Schools

Before Talking to a Politician...

...Show You Can Organize a Crowd

I posted an article about the Los Angeles teacher union on Norms Notes but never got to comment on it here. Remi left a comment on "The Day My Union Died":

Danzinger is right to criticize the current UTLA Leadership for its failure to make an effective attack on the anti-public education policies that dominate our state. But he is wrong about the effectiveness of a one-day strike. Even if the proposed one-day strike had been legal it would not have "convinced" Cortines and the Board that UTLA opposes their lay-offs and negative budget; Ray already knew that. All a one-day strike would have done was cost every participating teacher 1/2 of one percent of their salary. The real problem is not in Los Angeles, it is with the ultimate school board in Sacramento. The current UTLA Leadership should have been pushing, for the past two years as economic strom clouds gathered, for a statewide strike led by the CTA and CFT, UTLA's two statewide affiliates. Current state policies are destroying not only the LAUSD, but K-12 education, and California's once great system of a low cost university education for all those who want one. California needs to modify Prop. 13, and re-establish a tax policy that will make it posssible for the state to pay for the public services our citizens demand.

Remi is responding to a post critical of the ULTA for backing down on the one day strike after the injunction. This commenter seems to be looking through the narrow lens of political action as lobbying and misses the importance of the impact of a militant union willing to take a 1/2 of one percent hit. I have these discussions all the time with people who put their eggs into addressing politicians with pleading and lobbying and private meetings. Or letters and petitions. As the Marine Park rally showed, first demonstrate the ability to bring people out in force on a consistent basis and then talk to the politicians. All too often people get bogged down in lobbying and never get to the organizing necessary to back it up.

Why Sell Out? - Updated

This is a question I get all the time about Randi. Here is one quick response:

After the brutal '68 strike Albert Shanker knew the UFT could never again win much more than salary increases for teachers, and at some point only those at the expense of selling out. Thus over the next 15 years was born the "new unionism" where the union no longer is an antagonist but a cooperative partner with management.

So Shanker's joining in with the business world in the somewhat discredited (Rothstein) "Nation at Risk" in 1983. Leading from that Shanker made alliances with Ronald Reagan and the Clintons (retesting teachers in Ark. with he was governor) and Goals 2000, the precursor of NCLB when Clinton was President.

Knowing there could be dissent at the bottom there was a need to make sure to maintain absolute control - the Unity caucus machine.

Remember, the prime directive is to remain in power.

To try to keep members happy they have to get raises even if they are not real as NYC has pointed out. And merit pay. And money for longer days which many are happy to take, in particular if they are younger.

Support for the small schools and charter schools? Breaks up potential strong large schools which might turn against Unity if an opposition springs up. The UFT has the resources to get to all the schools. So for them the more the merrier.

By supporting mayoral control they can make deals one on one without democratic vetting. Bloomberg is willing to give money for salaries in exchange for the UFT keeping the members under control, one of the main functions of the UFT. BloomKlein don't want the UFT to go away. It performs too many services for them.

Every once in a while the UFT does the dance like a law suit (often announced and not filed) or some raw words from Randi directed at Klein for effect. And Bloomberg or Klein attack Randi for show – Witness the UFT getting data reports for tenure outlawed but allowing enough loopholes to give them what they want. They all have a laugh with each other at the way they're fooling so many chumps.


This comment is worth featuring:
The sellout is before ’68. Shanker chose alienation rather than solidarity with community and other workers. Selling out the school system, the children, and the parents was part of the decision.

Despite the harm to teachers and students, Shanker’s policies were not mistakes, but reflected the carefully thought-out ideology of the political group SDUSA, which ran the UFT and dominated much of the labor movement. An ideology of protecting and promoting the economic and class status quo in this country and US economic and political hegemony abroad.

In the late 60s and 70s, in the midst of a growing movement of students, rank and file labor, black and Puerto Rican movements for social justice, social programs and against warfare, foreign interventions, and military spending, this group of labor bureaucrats was active politically driving wedges between working people and promoting corporate interests.

Getting a good contract was always portrayed as a battle between us (UFT) and other municipal unions. Getting higher pay was always posed against getting better working conditions. From the early 70’s on, we always heard there was no money. This went on for more than 30 years through all kinds of ups and downs in the economy. Cities and States never had enough money for schools and social services.

As the corporate and income tax rates on the wealthy plummeted and as the federal government shifted more and more financial burdens onto states and local government, Shanker, his allies in the AFL-CIO, and his anointed successors never saw fit to mobilize a labor movement to fight back. At the same time he began to lay the groundwork for a further way to divide the educational community itself—the standards movement, which promoted a rigidly hierarchical and eventually a corporate-controlled educational system, threatening students and teachers alike.

What about Randi Weingarten? Is her hard work and ambition motivated by a strong ideological underpinning? Or is it just a personal quest for power?

Does it matter?

While Weingarten’s political ideology is not as clear and consistent as Shanker’s was, she pushes the union in the same direction. Instead of openly opposing her critics she pretends to take them seriously, forming committees, sponsoring meetings and demonstrations, speaking and writing about how she feels the pain of the overly burdened teaching staff.

But as you always say, Norm, watch what she does, not what she says. Inevitably she betrays our interests and lands squarely on the side of the educrats, the high-stakes test establishment, the dictator-mayor and the well-connected vendors and contractors sucking the life-blood out of our school system. Going along with the blame game against teachers and “failing” schools, she diverts our attention from the real culprits and the policies and programs that should be put in place in order to put our school system on the right track.

She's an Angel...

Thus spoke a number of former colleagues. Hold onto your hats. I'm talking about a Leadership Academy Principal.

I was in Williamsburg Wednesday where I left my car on the way to Yankee Stadium and decided to pop into a few schools to see some friends. I started with the school where I spent most of my 35 years in the system.

Now I won't go into the full history. Only the abridged version. I'm saving the real goodies for my novel.

I arrived in 1970 (after 3 years at another school) just as a powerful traditional principal of the old school was leaving. He was replaced by a long-time AP and teacher at the school, with the assistance of an AP who also came up the traditional way.

These guys were pretty open to listening to teachers so we pretty much did as we wanted.

In 1975 someone politically connected with little teaching experience was inserted as an AP and we knew things would change. She immediately leaped over the long-time AP when in late 1978 the district pulled a coup d'etat that made her principal, dumping the long-time AP into another school and forcing the old principal to retire (they locked him in a room at the district office and didn't let him pee). Thus we got an early taste of a non-educator running a school, which she did for a quarter of a century.

She imposed a data driven, high stakes testing system and we saw the impact. The school scores rose, but the kids knew no more and their lives were impacted not at all. Thus an early lesson in achievement gap bullshit.

She was forced into retirement not long after the BloomKlein takeover when 4 districts with different cultures were made into one region. They sent a principal from district 16. Her first act upon the start of the year was to make every teacher change rooms - apparently an old D.16 tactic to show people who was boss. She left for an admin position after one year.

Then came the Leadership Academy principal from hell. Rubber rooms, attacks on teachers, irrational decisions. The school's scores rose to the top and she got A after A (her husband worked for Bloomberg). Lots of people left, including a core of excellent teachers, many of whom went to other schools in the district where tales of the Lead Acad horror story spread.

Last summer she went on to bring her light and cheer to some very lucky school in New Jersey. Call it passing the Klein lemons.

Lots of cheering for the wicked witch being gone. But---another Leadership Acad principal who looks all of 29 years old takes her place.

We've heard plenty of stories of these hot shots who come in and think they know everything and attack, attack, attack.

But reports immediately start filtering out this one is different. Nice. And open. And welcoming. A friend who had built a serious library out of nothing but left due to you know who, was invited back for the opening of a brand new library and was raving - about the library and the principal.

So I went to see for myself. As I ran into former colleagues almost all of them were smiling, as if they had been liberated from a prisoner of war camp. One said she was going to leave on the day she was eligible for retirement without telling anyone, but was now going to stay. She can do the work of 5 people if properly motivated. Sometimes a "please" or "thank you" is all it takes.

Another colleague told me that test scores were down, but they were more realistic and there was no hysteria. The school had been so divided and tense before. But now she felt people would all be pulling together.

I was escorted into the Principal's office. Maybe she was 29. I introduced myself as a 27 year school vet and said "I have been hearing nice things about you."

"Well, you can stop by anytime," she smiled as she shook my hand. (Her predecessor would not even acknowledge me when she saw me and rebuffed any effort to assist.)

We chatted for about 30 seconds and before I knew it I was volunteering to help out in some way. "Do you want to work F-status," she asked? "No, I'll just stick to volunteering," I said. I told her about FIRST LEGO League and she knew all about it.

Well, what is the moral of this tale? From the coup d'etat in 1978 until Sept. 2008 when this new principal took over, the school had never experienced complete peace. Though the gal who took over in '78 eventually calmed down a bit, it was always her way no matter how dumb and irrational her decisions were. So this may be the first time in 30 years with a somewhat humanist principal. I have no idea what she knows, but she seems to know at least how to treat people with respect.

I know things can turn, especially if the scores don't move. This school may be one of the few places where people will fight like hell to keep their principal.

When a Chapter Leader Stands Up to the Principal...

...don't expect the UFT to be on your side

Remember that ICE resolution to support chapter leaders at the last DA that Randi stole and rewrote? (Read our report here.) Just more foil dropped from the UFT PR operation to hide where the real bombs lie.

We've seen it time and again. How the UFT will support a principal flunky over a stand-up CL who doesn't suck at the Unity Caucus line. And when the PP's (principal pawns) are politically connected to Unity, it's no holds barred. Oh, and they all seem to end up with do-nothing jobs.
I been there, done that as my district was Unity controlled, with most of the principals being former Unity chapter leaders. Nothing like having the administration and the union gang up on you to train you in survival techniques. By the end of my career I could withstand Ebola virus.

I've been getting reports from chapter leader/blogger Proof of life on her reelection campaign. In the fall she was worried about winning against a principal flunky out to undermine her. I think strong, gutsy CLs often underestimate the level of support they have because people are often silently cheering them on. She won the first election by 30 votes 70% of the vote.

The principal and her gang complained on a really dumb technicality. The UFT made them do it again, despite the fact that such overhwelming victories make do-overs senseless. But when you have a dog in the race...

Not the first time the UFT has backed a principal and undermined a chapter leader (for fun, go back up and read Randi's tin foil DA reso protecting CLs.) POL won the second round, also by a wide margin, despite the principal calling people into her office telling them how to vote with over.

At times POL gets a bit down, but I want POL in the foxhole with me anytime. Drop by her blog and give her some love. Proof of life's report with some hilarious excerpts.

I won the second election which was conducted by the UFT. The bitch face principal had her pawns lined up against me. First, they say I cheated because I didn't put the yellow Notice of Elections in every one's mailbox. The form provided by the UFT states something to the effect, "you can use this or any other form". My form was to follow all instructions to the T except to use the yellow form. My form was to announce at least a dozen times I planned to run against PAWN 1.

Anyway, I am well aware the UFT is not my friend. They have direct personal ties to Pawn 1, and I am sure they encouraged him to continue his run. I won the first election 20 votes to 50. Pretty big margin.

When principal's pawns were able to convince the UFT in letters to the Borough office that my election was not on the "up and up " things began to turn from ugly to ridiculous to the surreal to the absurd.

Crazy DO NADA teacher spent hundreds of dollars on professional huge posters. I mean professional. I only put up four homemade signs with my name. It didn't matter because each time I put one of my humble fliers up it was ripped down. DO NADA has plenty of money, seeing how she "works" per session everyday, but no one knows what she does. As a matter of fact, she must have a very special job that allows her to work from home because she is never in the building.

A few weeks before the first election, DO NADA was taken to the hospital. According to her I had "super imposed" my body on hers. She also claimed I went up to her with clenched fists and an angry face and threatened her. She was whisked away in an ambulance because I gave her an anxiety attack. In reality I did pass DO NADA in the hall and said to her, " have a good weekend" ( kill them with kindness). Thus the first attempt to get me in the rubber room.

That investigation fell through as DO NADA had no witnesses and I had two teachers who said they saw me say something to do nada and then do nada started screaming. Who is the drama queen?? The UFT did try to intercede at this point. They requested a mediation between NADA and myself. This never came to pass as Bitch Face would not allow NADA to go to the UFT office.

The next move was really a hum -dinger. DO NADA's husband was allowed in the building to tail me. Yes, to shadow me around the building. He does not work for the DOE. Why was he allowed to do this?? HARASSMENT! YES, that's right. I asked Bitch Face if it was "bring your husband to work day." I was wondering if I could bring some of my motor cycle dudes from the old days.

Skip to tactic 104, random number for random acts of stupidity. DO NADA's hubby decides to use the the DOE email to send out propaganda against me. Although he put every ones name on a list serve he was stupid enough to have his email address at the top of the campaign flier.

I was labeled a buffoon who postures. Maybe this couple from hell took the same creative writing class. Needless to say, my friends in the building gave me the email and several went to the administration to complain. No one wanted that shit in their DOE email accounts. When I approached Bitch Face with the email she said she was unaware of it. Of course she was unaware of it. Only ten people went to her with the email. In one final last ditch attempt to get some help I wrote a letter to Randi.

I explained the entire situation to her. She was quick to write me back and tell me she would come to the school asap. This email was intercepted by the Bronx office and they assured Randi that they were on it. Funny, I didn't feel like they "were on it".

I was assigned a lawyer and OSI was called. It is not legal to use the DOE accounts for personal propaganda. This is where things get fuzzy because once again all has come to a complete stand still and DO NADA has a new tactic. OSI did come and did question staff members concerning the email. The staff was eager to speak although I warned them they were allowed to have UFT representation. I could not represent them because that would be a conflict of interest. My step two grievance against Bitch Face for interfering with UFT business was also halted when BF claimed she didn't receive the documentation. I have teacher witness statements from former teachers (at the school) which state she had told them on numerous occasions to stay away from me. Nice concept. Pay union dues, but do not reap the benefits of union assistance. The hearing officer adjourned the grievance until liar liar was able to attain the documents. The documents have thus been faxed to her and yet my grievance is at a stand still. No more OSI. NO more nada.

I happened to walk past DO NADA's CTT class. I went in and greeted the students as I often do when I walk into a class room. Force of habit I guess, because I am a teacher after all. I told newbie teacher the SLT meeting was over, and to expect Do Nada back. Normally Do NADA takes the entire day when she has a SLT meeting. After all it takes hours to type up the principals agenda. We call this democracy?? Little did I know the best was yet to come.

I continued on my merry way to coverage. Newbie runs into the room to report that DO NADA has taken the children to the guidance counselor after she has coached them to say I walked into the class and verbally abused them!! I walk to BF's office and who is there? None other than DO NADA. She walks out as I enter. I ask BF is she is aware that Do Nada has taken children to counselor to interrogate them. Of course she responds, " I am unaware of this I will check into it."

I ask BF "is it not enough you have divided the staff, now you are allowing the students to be used?" I called the UFT and told them what is going on. I asked for a follow up on my grievance. Does this BF have that much political power that she can stop the ball of justice from bouncing? Or is she so "in" with the leadership of the Bronx Borough UFT that I am without a doubt fighting a battle on all sides? Time to call in.

Proof Of Life plans to have me over to speak to the staff one day. Maybe the UFT can call for a thrid election before it's too late.

Weingarten Didn't Flip on Mayoral Control

UFT positioning is akin to planes spreading tin foil to try to fool radar.


Philissa Cramer's excellent piece, Randi Weingarten under fire for mayoral control position, at Gotham Schools today exposes the fault lines between the UFT leadership, rank and file teachers and parent activists openly opposing mayoral control. While I liked the piece, I have differences in nuance when Philissa writes:

A group of parent activists and union members is expressing anger with teachers union leader Randi Weingarten, telling her that she has dropped the ball in fighting for checks to the mayor’s power over schools. The frustration began with a May 21 New York Post column, in which Weingarten indicated that she is open to allowing the mayor to continue appointing a majority of members to the citywide school board.

The frustration only began on May 21 for those who haven't been paying attention to Randi's positions on mayoral control for the past 7 years. Ed Notes has consistently predicted she would support it - we even went to UFT Exec Board meetings over these years and guaranteed they would support mayoral control with the most minor of tweaks that would have zero impact no matter how much flack they put up to confuse and obfuscate.

We opposed the very idea of a phony UFT task force dominated by Unity Caucus that would give cover to Randi's doing what she intended to do anyway over the past 7 years. (I have been a lone voice in ICE urging boycotting these farce task forces.)

Indeed, Ed Notes went from a semi-Weingarten supporter (from 1996-2001) to open opposition based on her taking that position (really in May 2001, not 2002 as she claims) and the opposition caucus ICE was founded in Oct. 2003 with a foundation of opposing Randi because we knew what the ramifications of mayoral control would be for parents, students and teachers.

I spoke to Philissa yesterday and made the point that Randi's flipping on the constitution of the PEP panel is just flack covering Randi's consistent support for mayoral control. More egregious, I told her, is her modifying the report of the UFT task force that spent a year addressing the issue that was voted upon at a delegate assembly. One of the few good things the report recommended was taking away the mayor's ability to appoint a majority of the PEP. That is where Randi has flipped. The task force was c0-headed by UFT VP Carmen Alvarez, who has been racing around the city representing the UFT on panel discussions and trying to give the impression the UFT supports checks and balances. Tsk, tsk, Carmen.

Philissa spoke to Michael Fiorillo and Lisa North, ICE reps who served on the task force who helped write the ICE minority report which Randi's Unity party refused to allow to be presented to the DA. Democracy inaction, as usual.

“I do feel betrayed,” said Michael Fiorillo, another chapter leader who sat on the union’s task force. “I just wish I could say I felt surprised.” He said Weingarten has veered away from members’ consensus on other topics in the past, and so he had early doubts that she would hold firm on the task force’s recommendations. (Fiorillo ultimately voted against the recommendations, saying they weren’t aggressive enough curbs on mayoral control.) “My guess would be the sense of betrayal would be stronger among people outside the union,” Fiorillo said, noting that union members were accustomed to watching Weingarten change her mind.

Weingarten doesn't exactly change her mind. What she does is throw up lots of tin foil like those planes trying to foil radar detection do in manipulating public perception of where the UFT stands. It is necessary to see through the flack and keep one's eye on where the real plane with the bomb is.

Why does the UFT leadership love mayoral control? Because it allows them to negotiate in back rooms with one person instead of opening up the process to democratic scrutiny. Totalitarians behave that way. When Obama was talking in Cairo today about bringing the light of democracy to places of darkness he might has well been talking about mayoral control and the UFT.

Graphic by David

"You Mean He Would Tape a Meeting?" A Termination Hearing Experience

You hear an awful lot about how hard it is to terminate a tenured teacher and how much it costs. You only get the horror stories from the perspective of the anti-tenure crowd. What is often neglected is the issue of why a school system would choose to take a route to terminate in spite of the costs. The David Pakter case is a prime exhibit. I dropped in on David's 3020a hearing yesterday. You could write a book.

There were the lawyers - NYSUT for David and someone from the DOE. The arbitrator down from upstate. And the principal who had to be pulled from the school for two days. At least. Maybe more. And at least 12 days of trial. All to fire a teacher who has been in the system for 40 years. And not one word has ever been uttered negatively about his teaching.

What was yesterday all about? David had given watches from his watch company to students as an incentive for getting 90 averages on their report cards. Five watches. And one to a school aide for assisting him. That makes six.

David certainly knows how to get noticed. He started at the school on Oct. 18, 2006 upon release from slavery in the rubber room for years and was sent back on Nov. 25. Mostly over the watches. (There were more charges for which he was exonerated by the investigators.) That they are going forth with 3020a hearing sat extraordinary expenses to terminate him is bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.

When I left they hadn't even gotten to the large potted plants he brought as a donation to the school and placed in front of the auditorium. They deemed them a fire hazard and had them removed. Twenty lashes. The school puts on lots of shows. I bet they could have found some use for them. But I'll get more info later on this caper.

There was lots of discussion on the visit UFT's NY Teacher reporter Jim Calahan made to the school when he was writing an article on David. And David's offer of a $10,000 donation to the school. David is a well-known artist and owns watch companies and he is not doing any of this for the money.

The key questioning in a superb cross examination of the principal by the NYSUT attorney was about a meeting held on Nov. 3 to discuss the issue. The principal's memory was sketchy. But on direct examination she indicated that David was trying to market his watches in the classes he taught by giving out catalogues and his web site. On cross it came out that he was giving the kids a place to go to choose the watches they wanted. The arbitrator, one of the most respected I hear, perked up. Not marketing, but offering choices of watches. An ah-ha moment.

There was a lot of detail that I'd love to go into in the future as the process is very enlightening as to the thought process administrators go through. There came a point when after repeated questionning about the details of the things that were said at the Nov. 3 meeting were raised - things that David said there that would go a long way towards exonerating him– the principal said, "This seems like you are reading from a transcript."

The NYSUT attorney smiled and nodded. The principal issued a gasp. "He taped the meeting," she said incredulously? "Why would he tape an innocuous meeting called to discuss the issue," she asked in shock?

The NYSUT attorney smiled and said, "Well, we are at a 3020 hearing looking to terminate him."

The DOE attorney quickly asked for a few minutes to discuss the issue outside.

THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION: TEACHERS MISSING AT THE TOP

At City Limits

The New York City public school system has always been led by teachers. Until the chancellorship of Joel I. Klein.

A few subheadings:

• Product over process- check
• Teaching and learning downgraded- check
• 'Contempt for the profession'- check
• But businesses have gone bust- double check

An excellent article despite the numerous quotes from the ultimate hypocrite and intellectually dishonest UFT VP Leo Casey, who just might check out his boss' comments praising Bloomberg and mayoral control and giving them credit for the rise in test scores.

That former DOE cabinet member who is afraid of personal and professional retribution? I'll bet my union COPE contributions it is Carmen Farina, also one of the most hypocritical people on earth for remaining silent. A supposedly true educator (her silence weakens that argument), she was told by the Kleinites she didn't have the skill set for the job of Deputy Chancellor (they are on their 6th one).

Fear and Loathing in the NYC School System
The article ends with this Editor's Note:

In preparing this article, City Limits spoke with former and current DOE staffers and cabinet members, former and current school principals, academics, and critics on the left and right of the political spectrum, nearly all of whom requested anonymity out of concern for possible detrimental consequences for speaking candidly on the record on a sensitive issue. “The incredible concentration of political and financial power leaves no room f or dissent or difference,” said one person.

Many expressed worry that their schools might suffer or their programs might be jeopardized, given the depth and reach of Bloomberg-funded civic and philanthropic projects citywide. The mayor’s broad and deep connections across political, financial, social and philanthropic networks limit comments to those kept off the record – and, critics say, strongly influence largely favorable coverage in the mainstream media.

The DOE, despite prior verbal agreement to review and consider questions related to this article, declined comment, and would not address the near-universal desire for anonymity.

Come to a meeting of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) today, June 2!

After a successful rally against school closings and mayoral control and a successful forum on charter schools, take part in a discussion of what to do next to oppose privatization and mayoral control of our schools.

When: Tuesday, June 2 at 5 p.m.
Where: CUNY Grad Center Room 5414 (34th Street and 5th Avenue) Bring ID


* The Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) to Defend Public Education is a newly formed coalition of NYC groups (Independent Community of Educators – ASC-ICE/UFT, New York Collective of Radical Educators - NYCoRE, TAGNYC, Teachers for a Just Contract - TJC/UFT, Teachers Unite) and independent individuals. We seek to educate, mobilize and organize educators, parents, students and our communities against the corporate and government policies which serve to underfund, undermine and privatize our public school system. GEM advocates, both within and outside the UFT, around issues dealing with the equality & quality of public educational services as well as the rights of school workers.

The Teachers Voice

Andrés Castro has been attending the Teachers Unite Saturday workshops on activist teachers with me and about a dozen others. Here is a message from him.

Below is a very new section on our site that I would like to promote. I am especially looking for original or links to well written and researched articles (pro or con). Of course, I'm always looking for strong and high quality creative writing for our upcoming issues.

http://www.the-teachers-voice.org/waronpubliceducation.html

Peace,
Andrés Castro
Managing Ed.
The Teacher's Voice
P.O. Box 150384
Kew Gardens, NY 11415
http://www.the-teachers-voice.org/
editor@the-teachers-voice.org

Not Worth the Paper . . .

Jamaica HS teacher Mark Epstein tackles credit recovery and the drive by diploma mills.

New York’s public schools have replaced social promotion with universal promotion.

At the City Journal.