Ohanian Comment Triggers Memories

Susan Ohanian, one of the leading progressive educators in the nation, kindly mentioned me in a recent post on the trip we all took to The Woo in Birmingham, Al in an introduction to this post:

Another Comment on Believe Charter

In March 2003, about 30 people traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to pay tribute to Steve Orel and The World of Opportunity (The WOO), giving the WOO The Courage in Education award. That's where I met Norm Scott, who made a number of trips to The WOO, taking needed supplies. Those of us who traveled to The WOO formed bonds that will never break.

Susan is so right about bonds being formed amongst people meeting for the first and in some cases only time (the only time I met her). I can never stop thanking John Lawhead for taking me down there. Face to face still works in building relationships, though the web certainly helps you keep in touch.

Just think of it - Steve Orel, Susan Ohanian, Bill and Joanne Cala, Juanita Doyon, Kathy Emory and too many others to name were there. Bill Cala, who should be state ed commissioner, and I are still in touch. I remember we just found so much to laugh about and had a lot of fun thinking about running a make believe campaign against the former awful State Ed Comm Richard (Dickie Boy) Allen. (Actually, on a subsequent visit to NYC Bill asked me to attend a meeting where I met Ann Cook from Urban Academy and Time Out From Testing's Jane Hirschman for the first time.)

Bill ran the Fairport schools for many years before retiring and then was asked to run the Rochester schools briefly before they hired Kleinite John Claude Brizzard, sort of like going from Cinderella to Godzilla. Bill is one of the leaders of the fight to keep Mayor Duffy, now Cuomo's choice for Lt Gov, from taking over the schools.

Susan's post gives me an excuse to talk a bit about Steve Orel, who is one of the great heroes of education. We made one trip down with supplies and got to see Steve when he was still hanging in and still running The Woo - saw him once more when he visited NY for medical care. I actually get ill at times just thinking about him not being with us. And I only met him 3 times. I captured just a flavor of Steve in my Wave column:

I recently revisited the WOO when I hitched a ride with friends driving down south. We were on the highway following our sketchy Mapquest directions to the WOO, which is in a remote high poverty area on the edge of Birmingham across the street from a housing project (with buildings no more than two stories tall) when a van cut in front of us and the driver started gesturing to follow.

Not sure if this was a carjacking or someone with a barbecue restaurant looking for business (we had been doing our share of damage to our cholesterol counts), we hesitated until out popped a yellow piece of paper that said "The WOO" on it. The driver was Steve Orel who just happened to come across our van. "You think I couldn't recognize three Jews from New York?" Steve told us later. Steve is Jewish and a civil rights activist - which must go over real big in Birmingham -- he has had his house shot at.

Steve paid me one of the greatest compliments I had as a teacher. I was working with a student doing one on one tutoring for about 2 hours when we were at The Woo. Steve was rushing around all over the place and I never thought he noticed me. The next day he told me he could tell what kind of teacher I was by the way I interacted with the student - who was a 24 year old high school dropout. "You never saw me with an entire class," I told him. "One on one I easy." "I can tell," he said. Steve understood what teaching was all about - a relationship between student and teacher. He made me think of that angle in judging teachers. Not the outcome only crap they are throwing at people.

Of course, Steve's immense sense of humor was always there. I wish I had a video of Steve telling stories of Steve the Jew at southern revival meetings with his wife's family. My side hurts just thinking about how hard I laughed.

I am reminded of Steve because The Woo suffered greatly with his death but is still functioning.

Contributions would be welcome. Here is an email sent out by his wife Glenda Jo.

Dear WOO Friends:

It has been far too long since you have heard from the World of Opportunity, but we now have to turn to our friends to help sustain us. There have been many changes at the WOO in the last few years following the untimely death of our founder and guiding spirit, Steve Orel. Over the last few years, the students who come to see us are younger and younger and, today, we are seeing 15-year-olds pushed out of high school and referred by their schools to us. We have just learned that other agencies that get these referrals are paid for each student they receive, but we have never received such an offer, although we are now regularly receive funds from the City of Birmingham. We have moved to a new location and, even without a listed phone number, we are seeing dozens of new students monthly. We keep a constant number of 15 students in our Patient Care Assistant (PCA) program and we have over thirty names on the waiting list. Almost everyone who has completed our Patient Care Assistant (PCA) program has found employment.

In short, the WOO has been remarkably successful in its mission. Unfortunately (and you knew this was coming), we have been less successful in getting money for our work, which is why we are writing you. We have been working virtually without pay for months and, while we have grant proposals in the works, we cannot sustain ourselves without immediate funding. The good new is that we have a new web site at www.worldofopportunitywoo.com and the even better news is that if you go to it, you can donate directly to us through PayPal. If all of you on our email list donate as little as $10.00, and as much as you can, and forward this appeal to your friends who believe in education, we will be able to continue our work until our other funding requests come through. Regardless, the WOO has always sustained itself through the generosity of hundreds of our supporters across the country. Because of the crush of the work, we have neglected our friends and for that we apologize. We hope you will forgive us. If you do, we will not make that mistake again.

I thank you and, even more importantly, our wonderful students thank you for the keeping their world of opportunity open to them.

David Gespass on behalf of the WOO Board

Bloomberg Machine to Run City Until 2225- at the very least

Term limits? Don' need no stickin' term limits. Today's NY Times puff profile on Bloomberg's mate Diana Taylor is practically an announcement that she will run for mayor when his term is over. And when her term is over, Emma will be ready. Add the Unity Caucus lifetime control of the UFT with designated successors and, you see, we do live in a monarchy. Long live the king (and queen).

Reasons to do school pickets this morning and go to Tweed this afternoon to give out pink slips

People started calling yesterday asking if today's school pickets and visit to Tweed after school were off and I said HELL NO!

First, do you really believe there will be no layoffs for sure? Already this morning we are hearing a different tune from some newscasts and we also hear about big cuts to schools that may force excessing - that means big growth in ATRs since these teachers are not automatically placed. Is that the plan all along? Use the ATR situation and use the massive hedge fund money to create a witchhunt for ATRs as the cause of the mess?

Next are the stories circulating about the outrageous raises given to Tweedies in the midst of budget cuts to schools and layoff threats to teachers.

Department of Ed doles out $340K worth of raises to 45 people as city plans to freeze salaries

Also see this post from Leonie Haimson which nails them. The only thing I question is the issue of to what extent the UFT actually has to agree to anything. (See James Eterno discuss this at the ICE blog.)

Many of you have probably heard by now that the mayor has decided to cancel teacher raises in order to prevent layoffs.

There are a few problems however. First, the UFT has not agreed to this deal. Second, the mayor still plans substantial budget cuts to schools, leading to the elimination of 2,000 teaching positions, which will cause big increases in class size – as well as the loss of core programs.

School budgets have already been slashed to the bone in recent years, by 12% since 2007, according to the Daily News. Since 2001, the headcount at Tweed has expanded from 1,749 to 2,267. The Chancellor’s staff not only received big raises recently, but he also added four new Deputies at an expense of half a million dollars.

All this is to say that the battle is not yet won.

Participate in your school’s protest today; join us at Tweed at 4:30 PM to protest Chancellor’s determination to sacrifice our kids in favor of high-paid administrators, and then come to the UFT on Saturday from 1-4 PM, to ask your State Senator to support our schools.

Where: 52 Broadway, 2^nd floor. (2/3/4/5 to Wall St ; 1/R/W to Fulton , or J/M/Z to Broad.)

And don’t be fooled by the young staffers hired by the hedge fund operators at Education Reform Now, who are using this crisis to try to persuade PTAs to back their campaign to eliminate seniority protections from teachers.

There are only two observable, quantifiable factors that have been shown through research to lead to more effective teaching, over and over again: experience and smaller classes.

Parents whose children attend private school or public schools in the suburbs don’t have to choose between these two critical factors; and we shouldn’t have to either.

Ohanian on Brooklyn Charter School Thug

Susan Ohanian has received a bunch of comments from a Brooklyn charter school operator. I have a few myself. Some anonymous person from the charter has been asking us to do anything we can to publicize the situation.

Here's a reprise from the greatest hits from a few years ago: Teacher Says Charter School Fired Her for Organizing to Improve Pay Scale

Susan had a post a few says ago on the situation:

Another Comment on Believe Charter

In March 2003, about 30 people traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to pay tribute to Steve Orel and The World of Opportunity (The WOO), giving the WOO The Courage in Education award. That's where I met Norm Scott, who made a number of trips to The WOO, taking needed supplies [Ed Note - only one trip]. Those of us who traveled to The WOO formed bonds that will never break. So when I received threatening messages from a New York City charter school thug, I knew who to talk to. So now Norm gets nasty messages too. I just keep thinking about what it must be like to work in such a place. This all started because I was outraged by the denial of public school access to the library which had been lovingly renovated by the librarian and volunteers she solicited. Take a look at the video. If you care about kids and about libraries, it will break your heart.

One of the funny comments at the NY Times Cityroom Blog

What can I say about Williamsburg Charter High School that hasn’t already been said about Iraq?

It has been named the “Believe” Network. Who came up with this name? Belief in what? By whom? At best it is an arbitrary title rooted in the presumption that the students are inherently unable to perform. As a result, success is dependent on faith. This is yet another example of framing the problem as a deficiency in these poor black and brown kids and not the irresponsible adults entrusted with their development (achievement gap, anyone? How about addressing the administration gap?).

The school mascot is the Wolverines. Why? No one knows. No one cares. There aren’t even any wolverines in Brooklyn. The closest wolverine is in Canada. How about a relevant mascot? Let’s go Williamsburg Animal Shaped Rubberbands!

Ultimate charity fund-raising event: A roast of Eddie Calderon-Melendez. Charge $50 a plate and invite current and former employees (mostly former). We’ll make enough to cure cancer.

Williamsburg Charter High School has been unfairly compared to the mob in these comments. The mob has consistent leadership.

Believe Network Definitions:

Irony: The network offices have glass walls yet are the least transparent part of the organization.

Sadism: the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on other people’s children (e.g. mismanaging a charter school network).

Masochism: the tendency to derive pleasure from one’s own pain or humiliation (e.g. sending your children to your own mismanaged charter school network).

ALL OUT FOR JUNE 4TH! STILL!!!! We stand united in saying no layoffs, not now, not ever.

I know, they are saying there will be no layoffs. Bloggers like Accountable Talk predicted it, knowing full well BloomKlein couldn't stand to let the newer teachers go. But first they tried to pull their anti-seniority ploy. I still think that is coming next year when as closing schools swell (after the one year moratorium) so will the ATR pool and major costs to the city.

As one commenter on ICE mail said, in 1995 Giuliani and the UFT agreed on a 2 year freeze due to massive threatened layoffs. The next year the city had a billion dollar surplus. As The Who said, "We WILL get fooled again!"
This was no brilliant move today, but planned all along. They tried to drag Mulgrew into it and first reports had the union complicit but they cleared that up. What difference in reality whether the union agreed or not? They have no power to do anything about it. And for all we know, who can tell what backroom deals there are. Could BloomKlein and the UFT be playing good cop, bad cop? You know me, I'm always suspicious.

Or maybe they just got scared by our 20 and growing school demo on Friday.

Here is the point. These are little actions at the school level. But overall they have a bigger impact in that people will be taking action. That has been missing so far. A sense of resistance. Now, I am getting calls from people about stuff their principals are doing and they are not sure what to do about it. They are acting as individuals and leaving themselves at risk. But if the chapter was really organized they would have a mechanism to fight.

So this June 4th thing (and they may do it again on June 11) is not just about budget cuts and info picketing or giving out "pink hearts instead of pink slips" like the AFT/UFT wants with no sense of how that plugs into building a long-term union spirit at the school level. But look at it beyond the school level. Schools are excited that other schools are doing it too. People want to talk to each other, something the UFT never tries to promote - they want each school isolated and forced to deal through the district reps, some of whom try to keep the CLs from sharing school info with each other at district meetings. That is why people are gathering at Tweed on Friday afternoon for a rally/party meet each other - similar to the great rally at Bloomberg's in January. Starting to end school level isolation and building school to school relationships is an important component in these events.

The entire June 4th toolkit is available at the GEM blog - well actually the links to the scribd pdfs are available. Click the link of the doc you want and when you get there look for the green download button. If you are taking part and want to post pictures and video we are working on it. Send along links to you tube and pics.

Here are a few posts from Wed night, starting with the June 4 coalition press advisory, followed by PS 24's Sam Coleman email and an analysis by Marjorie Stamberg.

Press Advisory -June 4th Coalition

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Contact:

Sam Coleman: 646-354-9362, Teacher PS 24, NYCORE/GEM

Parents, Students, and Teachers Rally to Demand Mayor Bloomberg Prioritize Public Education Spending and Withdraw Proposed School-Based Budget Cuts and Teacher Layoffs

When: Friday, June 4th, Morning Pickets and Day-Long Actions (times and events vary by school community)

Friday, June 4th, 4:30 PM @ TWEED

Where: School Communities @ PS 24K, PS 15K, PS 30M, PS 197M, Jamaica High School, PS 123M, PS 193K, PS 41M, PS 84K, The Brooklyn New School, Prospect Heights International High School, PS 202K, PS 3K, PS 307K, IS 218, PS 89K, PS 321, PS 197M, The Earth School, Banana Kelley, Fredrick Douglass Academy 5, Benjamin Banneker High School, East Flatbush Community Research School, Humanities Prep and many other school communities city-wide.

On Friday, June 4th, Parents, Students, and Teachers will participate in a city-wide day of protest to demand Mayor Bloomberg prioritize public school spending and withdraw his intention to further slash school-based budgets as well as his initial plan to fire over 6,000 teachers. These cuts and proposed layoffs, will siphon approximately 400 million dollars from New York City public school children, this as the IBO projects a city-wide budget surplus in 2010 and 2011 and other government agencies under the Mayor’s control are projected to face no cuts at all. In addition, the education system in New York City has already experienced drastic cuts: approximately $546 million since June 2009's adopted budget, according to the Independent Budget Office. Of this, $261 million came out of classroom funding. These further cuts will increase class size, increase teacher student ratios, services and programs will be cut including after school, remediation, and enrichment; the entire public school system will be destabilized and weakened. As for the layoffs, the Mayor rescinded the proposal this week, and it must be clear we stand united in saying not now, not ever.

This grassroots day of actions grew out from a community public school in Sunset Park, Brooklyn where parents and teachers have been organizing around disastrous public education policies including the issue of testing. Sam Coleman, one of the lead organizers of the event, a teacher from PS 24 said, “The staff at PS 24 decided we could not sit idly by while our students’ education and our livelihoods were being threatened. We realized the only voice that will ever be heard is that of the whole school community; parents, students, and staff. We want to show the public and politicians that we are willing to take action in order to force a change in political priorities. The whole PS 24 community demands fully and equitably funded public education for all New York City children.”

Various school communities across the city will be taking differentiated actions in a unified protest of the Mayor’s education spending priorities. Individual schools will be holding pickets, signing petitions, and form letters, and will disseminate educational materials to spread awareness about the destructive educational policies and decision-making of Mayor Bloomberg and his Chancellor, Joel Klein. The day will end with a group protest at Tweed, where concerned citizens will join in solidarity and make their voices heard after taking community-based actions throughout the day.

Additional Contacts:

Lydia Bellahcene: lillytigre@yahoo.com, 347-463-9809, Parent PS 15, CAPE

Mark Torres: harlem120@msn.com, 212-348-5732, Co-Chair, CPE/CEP

Julie Cavanagh: juliereed15@hotmail.com, 917-836-6465, Teacher PS 15, CAPE/GEM


SAM WRITES
Over 20 schools are planing actions on June 4th before or after school!

We are rallying at Tweed at 4:30 to let the mayor and the DOE know that budget cuts and salary freezes are not an acceptable solution!

Today the mayor announced that he and the UFT made a deal to avoid the layoffs. This is a lie! Our union has not agreed to a salary freeze.
Nor should they. The mayor is playing dirty politics (even for him!). We cannot let him get away with this!

Now more than ever, our voices are needed on Friday. Our union needs to know that we are mobilized and ready to fight for a fair contract regardless of an underhanded mayor baiting us in the press. The families and communities at our schools need to know we are still fighting for our student's education.

- There will STILL be 2000 positions lost due to attrition which will mean bigger classes and more teachers forced into the ATR pool.

- The budget cuts to schools will STILL mean loss of after-school programs, art, summer school and other "non-essential" services to our students.

- With a hiring freeze, and salary freeze, they are STILL spending $5 million on recruiting new teachers.

- Teachers are STILL paying for Wall Street's greed.

We say thanks Mike, but no thanks. We STILL did not make this mess, we will not be forced to clean it up. Tax those in our city who can afford to pay more, ESPECIALLY THOSE ON WALL STREET WHO WALKED AWAY WITH 9 BILLION IN BONUSES COURTESY OF AMERICAN TAX PAYERS!

You cannot negotiate with our union in the press! We will not allow it! No budget cuts, no layoffs, no pay cuts, not now, not ever!

email: sam@nycore.org for questions or to let us know that you are with us.


Marjorie Stamberg writes:
It is crunch time in the UFT and Friday is the first of several important demonstrations where we need colleagues to come out and support the teachers and the students.

The situation is changing daily. Today the mayor declared there will be no teacher layoffs, but there will also be no raises for teachers in the next two years. Oh really? Bloomberg can't decide what raises there will and not be -- this is a contract issue. We have to keep on struggling to make sure the city doesn't try to make teachers pay for the economic crisis that we didn't cause.

Bloomberg's announcement was interesting -- it is clear the city could not afford to take the political hit on the layoffs. Particularly since it would have hit the teachers in many of the new small schools Bloomberg-Klein set up, and which are staffed with first year teachers. The layoffs would have virtually wiped out the teaching staff at these schools.

It is very important that we defend the jobs of ALL teachers and build the union's strength by supporting veteran and new teachers.

Here are upcoming protests, there may be others as well:

---Friday June 4, protest at Tweed-DOE headquarters, 4 pm, a protest called by two teacher groups, the Grassroots Education Movement NYCORE--New York Coalition of Radical Teachers. Directions: any train to Chambers St or City Hal).

This demo is calling for no teacher layoffs and no budget cuts. They are going to give out "pink slips" to the DOE top brass--the guys in the suits getting the 5 and 6 figure salaries while everything else is getting cut. The protest is culminating many local school-based activities and leafleting on that day.

June 10 is a picket protest outside Bloomberg's house on the upper east side to support the embattled teachers at Bronx HS of Science. Peter Lamphere, the chapter leader is facing major harassment as are all the math teachers at Bronx Science -- who were all U rated two years ago! The case went to arbitration but there are still many issues and we need everyone to come out and support Peter and the teachers at Bronx Science.

On June 16, the UFT is having a mega demonstration at City Hall with the other NYC Municipal Labor Committee public unions. You know, where they bring up the jumbo-trons and the rat and the whole nine-yards. This will be a big labor turnout--a gathering of a big chunk of the city labor movement. I am critical that the Delegate Assembly was called off for this demo -- that was an important place for teachers and their delegates to speak their piece about any proposed settlement. Still, it is important that everyone who possibly can, come out.

That's it for now -- I'll keep you posted with my "take" on rapidly changing events.

Marjorie

Memories of Klein's Twists on Seniority

I was asked to write an article on seniority for The Indypendent by John Tarleton. My brain is semi-mush and I went off on a hundred tangents in trying to explain the entire mess. Thanks to John's brilliant editing, the article actually makes sense. It should be out in a day or two. In my original draft version I touched on some of the issues brought up here by Leonie, Lisa and myself below but there was no room for a full explanation. So this back and forth below fills in some of the gaps if you happen to read the article. (How interesting that two parent leaders are so adept at addressing this issue while you know which org doesn't even try or does it ineptly when they do try.)

On the NYCEdNews Listserve (where info flies like UFOs)

Leonie Haimson writes:

Does anyone besides me remember how Joel Klein used to complain that seniority transfers led to a dearth of experienced, accomplished and properly licensed teachers in low-performing, high poverty schools, because it allows those teachers to transfer out into high-performing schools? And that he needed to be able to perform“involuntary transfers” to move experienced teachers into high needs schools?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/nyregion/klein-assails-job-protection-for-teachers.html
On the matter of seniority, he criticized the system whereby new teachers are generally placed in the lowest-performing schools, while senior teachers have the option to transfer into better schools, calling it ''so profoundly unfair to our children and to our youngest teachers.'' And now he has been complaining, endlessly, that seniority protections in the contract means that some schools would have to lay off their new, enthusiastic and energetic teachers, in order to accept more experienced ones?

I (Norm, in case you forgot) followed up:

I remember - it was bait and switch. Klein twisted the seniority issue every way into a knot. He also made the claim that schools with senior, higher priced teachers were getting unfair higher funding which he twisted into the fair funding formula that led to schools being charged for teacher salaries and principals wanting to dump salary. All part of a plan. The 2005 contract was the key that opened the door. In the business model, assume that any difference in skill between a 10 year and 23 year teacher is not worth the large difference in salary. Why keep anyone over 10 years? Like some twilight zone episode where the planet was so crowded the day you turned 30 you were put to death. Ideally for the ed deformers, the day you reach your 10th anniversary as a teacher - you are gone. The long term future of the teaching "profession."

Lisa Donlan added

Yes- this was the justification for inventing the so called Fair Student Funding Formula- which DoE said would finally stop the inequities among schools w/ unequal quality staffs. Quality teachers at that time were defined as the more "experienced" teachers and those trained in math and science.

Shortly thereafter the Tweedies began repeating that research showed that the best way to achieve academic progress- as defined by rising student test scores- was to hire high quality teachers - as defined by those that raise student test scores.

This tautology made it apparent that the last "accountability" mirage re-org strategy was to actually make the tests the curriculum, deprofessionalize teaching, reducing NYC schools to test prep factories w/ temporary workers.

Then they realized charters could do it all for them, and all they'd have to do is run the accountability data collection/measuring part.

Voila- no more pesky education to be bothered with at all anymore.

If we lose Race to the Top do we get our rights back? UFT Also Gave Away Public Schools to Privatization in Teacher Eval Agreement

As usual, Jeff Kaufman did a yeoman job slogging through the agreement and posting a deep analysis on the ICE blog, a must read for enlightened wonks. NYC Educator commented:
"Thanks for keeping a critical eye on things and having the patience and determination to sit and read that agreement."

My favorite quote: Measurement of student data is not only a slippery slope it is the entrance to a cesspool.

Jeff highlights this point:

An Additional Tidbit (Where Did This Come From?)

Although nowhere mentioned in the media the new legislation includes a provision to permit private, profit and non-profit, organizations to take over the role of superintendent over failing schools. The new law allows the school district to enter into 5 year contracts to allow these organizations to turn around failing schools. While there are minimal protections to teachers in these failing schools (the collective bargaining agreement is still in effect and the teachers still work for the school district) it is unclear what these outside organizations will do to the schools and their staff to turn them around.

Yes, let's hand over more public schools to private interests who will make sure to make a buck. Has anyone noticed that just about any private school management org has failed (can you spell EDESEN?) As Jeff asks

See The New Classroom Teacher (and Principal) Evaluation Scheme: What Was Our Union Thinking?

Add-on
As more schools are privatized, I can forsee the day when the UFT membership of working teachers will dwindle to such an extent that the UFT HQ will be at 51 1/2 Broadway but members will be paying $2000 a year to enable Unity to send 800 people to AFT conventions to places like Seattle - I am checking plane tickets and WOWIE - 600 bucks or more. I may have to drive - and leave tomorrow to make it in time for July 7 (I'm old and drive sloooowly). But won't the Unity crowd love to see me and my video camera catching them in the act.

Corrective Action

Last week I posted an item, since removed, about a GEM meeting attended by someone who works for the UFT. I assumed that person was sent by the UFT and made some dumb comments about her turning in a chit for per session work. Within hours I came under fire from people I know and respect - friendly and not so friendly fire - for maligning that UFT employee who apparently was not at the GEM meeting at the behest of the UFT but came because these people, some of whom I am pretty close to, had told her about GEM and she wanted to check it out. Ooooooops! Double Ooooooops!!

As one very trusted advisor told me, after slapping me around - verbally - my 40 years of dealing with Unity Caucus has made me very sensitive to signs of UFT infiltration. "Turn down the toxicity," was her advice. That will be very tough for someone who gets emails and phone calls every day detailing the horror stories the UFT has allowed to be perpetrated, but I will try. Are there any shrinks out there that specialize in UFT-itis?

Note: I am not repeating the mistake by naming that person again (for purposes of de-googling her), who by the way, my friends tell me is a wonderful young activist and is working for the UFT in a very good cause. So I send my apologies to all the offended - which by now numbers in the millions.

June 4th Stickers

Download from the GEM blog: http://grassrootseducationmovement.blogspot.com/
along with the entire June 4th toolkit: Leaflet, petition, form letter to Bloomberg and more. Coming tomorrow: press advisory.

Join students, school staff, parents,
and community members
at Tweed at 4:30 this Friday
for a protest where we will be
GIVING PINK SLIPS BACK TO TWEED!

Where?
The Steps Tweed Courthouse
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007

When?
Friday, June 4th
4:30 to 6:00 PM

Join the June 4th Movement

The June 4th movement began at one school in Sunset Park when the teachers, who had been holding lunch-time meetings to discuss some of the crucial issues we are facing in education, decided to do something about the proposed budget cuts by holding an informational picket for parents and community members on Friday June 4th.

At another school in the Midwood section, after the chapter leader received one of those pro-charter/anti union ads she decided she'd had enough. She went to school and called a meeting where the teachers decided to do in information picket every Wednesday. When they heard about the June 4th date they decided to join in.

Other schools around the city began to pick up the refrain. Calls began to come in from schools wanting to join. (See below for list of schools I know about so far - email me if you are joining.)

The idea was that each school can shape their message the way they want. While some focus on budget cuts, others are looking at the teacher evaluation system or kindergarten testing.

NYCORE sponsored a picnic/sign making event in Prospect Park this past Saturday. About 40 people showed up - teachers, parents, students, young kids. We brought laptops. Some worked on a leaflet to hand out on the 4th. Others wrote up a petition and a press release. No matter how much frustration, taking action, even if small seemed to energize people. That schools are joining together instead of doing something in isolation seemed to multiply the energy and excitement.

The June 4th Toolkit
Out of all this has come a toolkit schools can use with a press release, petition, a June 4th leaflet that you can modify for your school conditions, etc. Some will be posted online or email me.

Giving Pink Slips to Tweedies, June 4 at 4:30
One activist came up with the idea of going to Tweed and handing out pink slips to the bloated bureaucratic bureaucrats as they come out. The plan is to gather at Tweed after school on June 4 at around 4:30 and hand out these pink slips. Some are talking about going back every week.

This is pretty ironic since the UFT is supposedly urging people to join the AFT "Pink hearts, not pink slips" campaign on June 4th. Think it a coincidence to try to pacify members to counteract a more militant grassroots movement?

Now don't get me wrong, these are not many schools, but the movement is starting at the school level and there is talk of doing it again on June 11th. No one shot deals like a certain 800 pound gorilla we all know. That gorilla has targeted June 16th for a mass rally (which we are all supporting) but has not done much organizing around yet. Like we don't know where it is but we expect to be out there in force on that date - hope they are holding it at Yankee Stadium.

So if it is too late to get on board for the 4th, think about the 11th.

The movement will continue. The GEM meeting on June 22 will focus on assisting schools in their organizing efforts to fight the budget cuts and layoffs. Check the GEM blog and back here for details.

A Message From Sam
This was sent out by Sam Coleman from PS 24 where the June 4th movement got started:

PINK SLIPS ARE COMING OUT THIS WEEK FOR TEACHERS! THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

More and more schools are taking actions this Friday, June 4th at their schools. Attached you will find a petition, fliers, a form letter (stickers coming soon) that you can use at your school to protest the budget cuts (translations coming soon too). There are fliers in English and Spanish both to mobilize people to come to a protest at your school on the 4th (in word format and that have have spots to fill in your school's info, very easy) and some to give out on the day of. Feel free to change whatever you need to.

This mobilization needs to involve all members of our school communities. Parents, students and staff.

Even if your school is not ready for a picket, get teachers and parents to sign petitions, give out stickers. . . and then join us at Tweed at 4:30 this Friday for a protest where we will be GIVING PINK SLIPS BACK TO TWEED!

These actions will continue next week as well, so if you are not ready for this Friday, but think you can mobilize for the 11th please get started now!

Also, start mobilizing your staff and families for the UFT rally on June 16th. We need to show our union that we can mobilize.

Where the people lead. . . .the leaders will follow.

This is our chance to begin a true grassroots movement for educational justice. We cannot wait for our union or the politicians. We need to make this happen ourselves.

Email: sam@nycore.org for questions or to let us know you are on board for the 4th.

These actions are being supported by: NYCoRE (www.nycore.org), GEM (http://grassrootsed ucationmovement. blogspot. com/) and CPE-CEP (http://forpubliced.blogspot.com/)

LIST OF SCHOOLS SO FAR -Email Normsco@gmail.com to have your school added

PS 24K, PS 15K, PS 30M, Prospect Heights International High School, PS 123M, PS 193K, PS 41M, PS 84K, The Brooklyn New School, Banana Kelly, PS 3K, PS 202K, Fredrick Douglass Academy 5, Benjamin Banneker High School, East Flatbush Community Research School, PS 307K

Will Paras Be Laid Off?

...a question came in from a para and I put out the call for answers. Below are the responses: so far. If you have something to add leave a comment or email me and I'll put it in the comment section.
norm

Nothing has been mentioned about Para lay-offs at any of the meetings I've attended. It seems that they are focused more so on teachers. As a chapter leader I did receive a district seniority list last year, but I'm not sure if there was one for this school year.

------

No mention of paras - it is all about teachers and school aides right now. The UFT is "carefully"reviewing seniority lists. They will send to Chapter Leaders when they are sure everything is correct. Seems DOE sent Principals lists that were way, way off!

However, when I had paras in my school they had a list also. She/he can call the UFT District Rep and get this information.

Hope all is well...

--------
While it's impossible to know for sure what's going to happen, the best guess is that Bloomberg and Co. won't go for para layoffs, because so many of the para positions in the DOE are IEP-mandated.

This para's payroll secretary or UFT borough office can provide a para seniority list. Paras now have seniority citywide, no longer by district. If the seniority on the list is not correct, the borough office has an inquiry form she/he can fill out along with documentation of service

------------
from a para
there is a district wide list. it is given out once a year, usually it is compiled as of january / february.
it is given out about now.

when i was chapter leader, the district rep would give out the list at the monthly meeting.
each para is to get one at the school level. it is seniority based -years, terms, months, days

however, some principals have been known to try an end run around the list. so it is up to the para to be vigilant.

bi-lingual and special talents paras can and do skip the seniority list legally.

--------

I know the para seniority list city-wide is seriously innacurate; as
told to me by the UFT and my own school experience; had a para shorted
7 years.


-------

To the extent the layoff threat is real I don't see how paras would

exempt unless federal mandates for their services would protect them.

i certainly would tell the para to call the district rep and uft's para office at 52 broadway for clarification.

most likely the layoffs will be with dc 37 people

hope it helps
---------

As Mulgrew Attempts to Spin Horse Manure Into Gold...

Under Assault Asks:

What's the helmsman doing?

This absolutely glorious Sunday morning has been nearly ruined for me by a UFT post I just read that the charter school legislation passed by Albany this week addresses "most of the UFT's key concerns."

I kid you not. That's the title of the UFT post:

Albany passes charter school legislation that addresses most of UFT's key concerns

What Mulgrew seems to be happy about is this: "We changed the conversation about charter schools." Changing the conversation, though, isn't what I thought we've been paying for the union to do.

Read Full post

Ed Note:
A couple of things. First, no matter what the law says we all know they will violate it and beat it to death. Parent input? GIVE ME A BREAK! What this means is another hundred non-unionized charters. The union will tell you they are going to organize teachers at these charters. Sure an inept union for its current members will attract teachers from charters who will find that the UFT can't protect them any more from evil employers that they can current UFT members. But they will be very adept at collecting dues. What these hundred schools mean is that they will take kids from public schools which will mean increasing layoffs over time. And when the quota is filled they will come back for another lifting of the cap.

No more non-profits? Watch them morph into something that can make a profit. By the way, Eva is a non-profit. $370,000 a year for running 4 schools, multiplied by 40 when she gets her wish. Call it what you want- maybe personal profit- which there is plenty of room for.

This comment on the NY Times about Believe Charter Schools which we exposed last week with a photo of a Wanted Poster with a hundred dollar bounty for recruiting new students, shows outrageously high salaries:

As a former employee, I can honestly say that I cannot BELIEVE (no pun intended) that there is not enough oversight from the Chancellor to expose the atrocities that are happening on an almost hourly basis at all there of these schools. Principals/”Superintendents” are fired and escorted out of the building midday, months after being publicly hailed and showered with praise by the CEO Melendez. There have been three different principals in the last two years, and the recklessness and haphazard manner with which decisions are being made about how many is spent, and who assumes positions of leadership make it seem as if ideas were drunkenly drawn from a baseball cap. There are people in that building making six-figure salaries who have not made a single contribution to the students or organization at large in their three years. What a great way to make a quarter of a million dollars! The majority of leadership positions are held by people in with less than one, or even zero teaching experience which has led to a major disconnect between themselves, the rest of the staff, and the kids. Don’t trash all charter schools…trash this one and all the others like it. Stop giving 5 years extensions to places like this and then walking away for long periods of time only to do one day “state visits” which consist of student and staff file checks and cursory classroom observation which are hardly enough to unveil the corruption that exist just below those surfaces.

Boy, do I have emails from Eddie Melendez over the last 6 months - nasty, gangster-like stuff - after he tried to harass Susan Ohanian, one of the top educators in this country. Eddie is a classic POS (Piece of Sh-- for those not familiar with the term). Semi-literate ramblings.

Read all the comments about the Believe horror story at the NY Times CityRoom blog.

Defeat for Weingarten in DC? And Pittsburgh Too?

We've been chronicling the various stages of revolt by teachers in many urban centers over the sellout policies of the AFT/UFT. For those new to this blog, we team the AFT and UFT up because the massive numbers of members in NYC-based UFT controls the 650 thousand member NY State United Teachers which dominates the 1.6 million member AFT – a classic tail wagging the dog story. There is no separating the AFT/UFT though many teachers in NYC unfortunately thought that Michael Mulgrew would be in some way different that Randi Weingarten, only to find out since his 91% victory in the recent election that his difference is more style over substance. Did anyone think that when Shanker gave up leading the UFT in 1985 to Sandy Feldman that Shanker wasn't still in charge.

We've seen teacher unrest in AFT bastions Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and throughout the state of Florida and NEA dominated cities like Los Angeles and Oakland.

Now, I've been saying all along the autocratic AFT, which has had 3 former UFT leaders, all hand-picked by their predecessors (they do that in monarchies) running it since 1974, will do everything in its power to damp down this movement, including manipulating elections (see Washington DC and Detroit and Chicago if they can. For instance see: Why AFT President Weingarten stole my elected union job! from a Washington teacher.

Here is some good news from our buddy Candi Peterson and maybe a glimmer into where things stand in DC Saunders/Peterson Slate For WTU Elections Committee Wins Overwhelmingly !

Some of us have maintained that when threatened, the AFT/UFT would use every means, legal and illegal, to hold onto power. That's the way dictatorships operate. (See AFT Hack Attack on Portland Local 5017, Randi Goes to Portland As AFT Threatens ...).

How Unity Tried to Steal an Election
A great example occurred back in 1985 when NAC (a predecessor to New Action) won an officer position for VPHS - as a matter of fact it was NA leader Michael Shulman who defeated George Altomare by less than a hundred votes. The Unity controlled Ex Bd refused to certify the results and wouldn't seat Shulman claiming the very election they had run had irregularities. Unity controlled the election committee. Chutzpa in spades.

NAC was forced to submit to an arbitrator who ruled a new election which didn't take place until Jan. 1986, leaving the high school VP seat vacant for 6 momths. Shulman won this time with about 60% of the vote as the high school teachers revolted against Unity. Unity then did everything it could to undermine Shulman over the remaining 18 months of his term. The AdCom even held secret meetings without Shulman.

In 1991 NAC barely lost the high schools and junior high school officer positions but did win 13 HS and MS Exec Bd seats, the high water mark for the opposition.

Feeling the threat, in 1994 Unity pushed through a constitutional change taking away the right of high school teachers to elect their own VP (elem and middle schools too) by making them at-large (so everyone in the union including retirees vote for VPs) so the opposition would never again win an officer position. It was pushed through the DA at a meeting held on day there was a snow storm and never went to a general vote of the membership.

Rift develops in city teachers union
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The fallout from an election of four new executive board members of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers this week highlights what some teachers say is a growing schism between the union's leadership and its 2,700 members.

Their election to the board marks the first time that challengers defeated incumbent officers in a union election in at least 30 years.

The four who won the seats -- teachers at Pittsburgh Carrick High School - - contend their victory in Monday's election shows how dissatisfied their ranks are with union leaders.

The group won four of the 16 positions open on the 32-member board.

Two days after their victory, however, the teachers said they were shocked to receive a note from union President John Tarka notifying them that Mr. Moss and Mr. McManus will not assume their positions as staff members at union headquarters on the South Side on July 1, the start of their four-year terms. Instead, they said, Mr. Tarka told them that Mr. Moss and Mr. McManus will remain in their teaching positions at Carrick, while Mr. Gensure and Ms. Wilson -- whom they defeated-- would keep their jobs as union staff members at district headquarters.
Read full story at Norms Notes.

Yes, in NYC all this is a long, long way from happening again, but if it ever did - watch out.
In the meantime, some of us may head to Seattle for the AFT convention to find out why this city is different from all the others.

A Union Takes Action: Don't Get Caught in a Bad Hotel

A flashmob infiltrates the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco and performs an adaptation of Lady Gaga's song "Bad Romance." The event was organized to draw attention to a boycott called by the workers of the hotel who are fighting to win a fair contract and affordable healthcare. Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer activists put the song and dance together as a creative way to tell the hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people from all over the country coming to San Francsico in June for Pride to stay out of the boycotted hotels.

To learn more about how to honor the boycott and support the workers visit:
http://www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org
http://www.hotelworkersrising.org/Hot...

WSJ, More Elegant Than the NY Post, Same Bias

Leonie send this along:

WSJ, now also owned by Rupert Murdoch, gives Perkins’ opponent more publicity; while revealing that the pro-charter parent organization called Parent Power Now is funded by DFER, the hedge fund group.

So is Smikle, of course, who is running against Perkins. Though the headline says, “School Key in Harlem Election,” as clearly they are, considering the pro-privatization agenda of Smikle’s financial backers, the article mentions in passing that when the reporter observed Smikle talking to voters, he was “hardly ever mentioning charter schools.”

More disinformation and subterfuge, of course, like the pro-Craig Johnson flyers financed by DFER, that don’t even mention charter schools.

MAY 29, 2010

Schools Key in Harlem Election

Charter-Education Programs Have Taken Center Stage in the Race for a State Senate Seat

By BARBARA MARTINEZ

Basil Smikle Jr. has a lot of ideas about how to address Harlem's most vexing problems, from crime to housing to underemployment, but his biggest asset as he runs for state Senate against Bill Perkins may be that he supports charter schools.

Mr. Perkins, a two-term legislator from Harlem, has outraged the charter-school community with his vocal opposition of the schools.

Full story at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704026204575266683412747168.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

Munich, 2010

UPDATED:

The dominoes keep falling as the UFT keeps appeasing and retreating.

We said that once the election was over the cataclysm would come and that the bigger the pro-Mulgrew vote, the worse it would be (how are things looking, New Action?). Rubber rooms, teacher evaluation systems based on test scores, the charter school cap - which will mean 460 mostly non-union schools.

OOPS: Only 214 schools in NYC, up from 100. So let me redo the math:

There are 1500+ schools so that comes to 1/8 of the system.
But we know when they will ask for another doubling when all these slots are filled we eventually get to 400 in NYC and then my numbers below work. Remember, Eva Moskowitz wants 40 schools so she can earn - let's see now, 370,000 for 4 schools - hmmmm, turning into a nice piece of change.

Watch public schools get drained of students and teachers. Coming layoffs in public schools will not only be due to a budget crisis. Imagine the staggering numbers. Chicago lost over 6000 teachers out of about 34,000 due to charter schools. Are we looking at a loss of 12-15,000 teachers here in NYC? What would seniority mean then when 400 charter schools are filled with first and second year teachers while public school teachers with goodness knows how many years go looking for jobs?

And by the way, as we know from history, the hits will not stop until the ed deformers get the entire arm: next they are coming for seniority and tenure protections. Do you think the NY State legislature will withstand those attacks, especially with pro-charter anti-teacher Cuomo as governor?

I know it looks bleak, but out of the ashes a real teacher movement can rise, allied with parents and students. Over the last year some very tentative alliances have been being built - fragile seeds that need nurturing or they could be stamped out at any moment. If you are one of those teachers who say, "Why should a union be worried about building alliances with students and parents, but should focus only on our needs?" - you better wake up. Until true community based alliances are built that are capable of putting up resistance that can battle the billions lined up against us, the ed deformers will get their way.

And then there is Chicago where if CORE wins the union election on June 11, the ball game begins anew.

Oh, and LA too:

LA teachers union won't sign state's grant app
The Associated Press
Posted: 05/28/2010

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles teachers union is refusing to sign the state's application for a federal school reform grant. United Teachers Los Angeles president A.J. Duffy said Friday that the grant might require the state to follow policies that would cost more in the long run than the one-time grants. The federal government is offering up to $700 million to states that propose specific and aggressive plans to improve schools. Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines says the Race to the Top grant would help pay for reforms that the district is already pursuing, like revamping teacher evaluations, using data to improve instruction and turning around struggling schools. Duffy says the federal money requires teacher evaluations to be tied to standardized test scores and the union believes that's not effective.

Add-ons:

Leonie Haimson Raises Questions on Charter School Cap Lift

UFT's Jackie Bennett on Charter Attrition Rates (at Edwize, remember them?)

(I know I bash the UFT a lot but Jackie so often put out quality work.)

Gary B. does it again:
Charter CAP Law Drives Mob to Go Non-Profit

May 29, 2010 (GBN News): In an unprecedented step, five major Mafia crime families in New York have joined forces to register with the Federal Government as a 501(c) non-profit corporation, GBN News has learned. The surprise move was reportedly precipitated by yesterday’s NY State Legislature vote raising the charter school cap. The new law doubles the number of charter schools allowed in the state, but precludes any for-profit organizations from running them. Without pursuing non-profit status, the Mafia would have had to abandon plans to move into the lucrative charter school market. Click to read it all

1975

Updated, Sat. May 29, 8am

Questions have been flying about layoffs and in what order. In 1975 we suffered massive layoffs. People were so upset it was the first time that Albert Shanker lost control of the union - briefly. There was such a demand from the members, even the district reps, who were elected by chapter leaders at the time but were still all Unity Caucus, were for drastic action. The pressure from below forced Shanker to call a strike and we were out for a week. He went to jail and looked like a big hero but we were dubious over whether he would sell us out - the opposition was sure he would. Later, Randi Weingarten used to say that Shanker told her that strike was his biggest mistake.


Shanker leads march across the Brooklyn Bridge shortly after declaring "We won't go back 'till we all go back." Except those 15,000 laid off people of course that he forgot about


I was part of a group called the Coalition of NYC School Workers at the time (some of the same people who helped found ICE in 2004.) We were out in force along with other groups in the opposition calling for the UFT not to give in to 15,000 cuts, a cut of an hour and a half in the school day and the loss of two preps amongst other things which I can't remember. My fairly small elementary school alone had 13 people excessed - down to people who started teaching in 1968. A massive membership meeting filled Madison Square Garden where we handed out thousands of leaflets urging them to vote down the agreement. To no avail, especially with the focus of the cuts being on elementary schools, the least militant division of the union. [The next year in 1976, the secondary schools got chopped in the classic case of divide and conquer.

Naturally, this is not the official union position, so here a link to a recent piece they did.

Ira G on ICE mail talked about 1975 earlier today:

In 1975, when the last round of massive layoffs took place, the districts were the ones that bore the brunt of the process. After excessing was done in each school the district started placing teachers in other schools in the district based on seniority. The remaining teachers were then placed in the citywide excessing pool to be placed in other districts if they had sufficient seniority to bump. One of the ironies of the process was that in districts where people didn't want to leave like District 31 on Staten Island people who were to be excessed out of the district voluntarily took layoffs instead of bumping to another district so that they could protect their right of return to the original district (once people were hired back - in some license areas that took many, many years) which they would have lost by accepting placement elsewhere. The records in those days weren't even computerized they were on index cards at the BOE - the inaccuracies took many years and I am sure many legal battles to eventually straighten out. What will happen now with Bloomberg looking to destroy what little is left of seniority - who knows what they will do?

Ira mentions those index cards. I heard this story at one of my fraternity reunions.

One of my frat brothers who also taught in District 14, Williamsburg (many of us ended up there because a whole bunch of the frat bros grew up in the 'burg) was plugged into the local UFT dominated political machine that controlled the district (and boy are there stories). Through that machine he got a mid-level job at Central HQ at 110 Livingston St.

When the layoff calls were to begin there was panic at 110 Livingston St. because those index cards were dumped all over the place. There was such disorder, figuring out a rational way to lay off and recall people seemed Herculean. On a Friday, he put out a call to the District 14 crew that he needed them for the entire weekend and most everyone in the D. 14 machine turned up to work sorting the cards. At least a hundred people I believe. Some stayed the entire weekend, sleeping over.

By that Monday, the cards had been arranged in the proper order and layoff and recall lists were prepared. he was declared a hero and began a rise that led to his becoming the chief of personnel at the DOE for many years - right up through Klein, who didn't seem to like his wheeler/dealer style. He left to go to Miami with Rudy Crew.

June 10th: Justice for The Bronx Science Twenty

Stop Harassment of Teachers -
Justice for The Bronx Science Twenty

Picket at Mayor Bloomberg's house
- June 10th, 4:30pm -
79th St. and 5th Ave., SW Corner

Bring signs and noisemakers, and wear Bronx Science gold and green!

The United Federation of Teacher's Chapter at the Bronx High School of Science invites you to join us for a picket of Mayor Bloomberg. We are appealing to Mr. Bloomberg for relief from administrative harassment at our school. Two years ago, twenty math teachers at our school filed a complaint against the harrassment and abuse at the hands of their supervisor. Their claim has been upheld by a neutral arbitrator in a recent fact-finding decision, but the schools chancellor Joel Klein has outrageously decided to ignore the fact-finder's report and take no action.

The Department of Education's disregard of the fact-finding decision will only lead to increasing tension at the school, further demoralization of teachers, and a worsening learning environment for our children. We have no choice but to take our case to the Mr. Klein's boss, Mr. Bloomberg.

Please join us to show solidarity in the face of harassment of newer teachers, veteran educators, and union activists. The DOE and the national media would like to have the public believe that teachers are only disciplined in order to improve educational outcomes, but this fact-finder's report exposes that good teachers have fallen victim to supervisors who abused their power.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120458467992815


Ed Note: For more on Bronx High School of Science search this blog.

The Hits Keep Comin' by Norm Scott in The Wave

May 28, 2010

[Ed Note: Headline links not active]

Peruse the newspapers, listserves, blogs and other internet sources and not an hour goes by without some new piece of education related news (mostly awful). I've got to get some sleep. Here are just a few headlines and my comments:

Charter Schools’ Big Success? Accounting Tricks, Shady Land Deals, and Skimming Off the Top

What else do you expect? One thing I know, State Senator Malcolm Smith's scandalous Peninsula Prep charter, along with all his other scandals, has smoked him out and into social service work. Vying for the Nobel Peace Prize, he is personally going around pulling up the pants of gang bangers.

Charter School Scandals

A blog chronicling the daily influx of skullduggery from Oakland parent activist Sharon Higgins. Sharon is kept very busy these days. http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com

Big profit in building charter schools

Gee, do you see all those expensive ads running attacking the teachers union for calling for some greater oversight over charters? They smack of the kind of desperate spending of people who fear they will be stopped from making a lot of money if they don't get the cap lifted.

District 1: Choice, confusion & charter schools/Red Hook parents push to toss PAVE charter school

Yes, parents are confused but some are pushing back

Rochester looks to N.Y.C. for mayoral control lesson

Mayor Duffy wants to be Bloomie and be a dictator over the schools, with lots of parents and teachers fighting him tooth and nail. But now he can be Cuomo's boy Friday as Lt. Governor. And we know what happened with the last Lt. Governor. With so many governors vaporizing and Cuomo's arrogance, practice saying, "Governor Duffy."

Are ELL Students Underrepresented in NYC Charter Schools?

Is the earth round?

Why the Charter Cap Bill Should Not Become Law by Leonie Haimson and Mona Davids

Leonie and Magnificent Mona. The good guys ride to the rescue

Sol Stern Calls for End of Cash Bonuses Based on Test Scores to Reduce Layoffs

Sol suggests why not try to save $35 million and apply it to reducing layoffs? Because at Tweed it's all about market-based ideology, not education.

Just Say No to the Race to the Top

Diane Ravitch says, "It might better be called the Race to Nowhere, or as some have dubbed it, the Race to the Trough or the Dash to the Cash."

Teacher Evaluation Deal Sparks Ire

Another sweetheart deal to get teachers judged based on student test scores made by the UFT to make life wonderful for teachers. The UFT claims a great victory. "They wanted to judge by 50%. We cut it to 40%." Wowy.

New Teacher Evaluation Passes Assembly

One NYC teacher blogger said: A sad day for education; 40% of teacher evaluations are now tied to test scores; Welcome to all test prep all the time; The new normal for public education; Public education will look like the Gulf of Mexico when they got done with it.

AFT Claims NYT Mag Included Made Up Quote

Did you read Steve Brill's hatchet job on teachers in the Sunday Times, a wholly owned subsidiary of BloomKlein, Ltd? AFT President Randi Weingarten, the great enabler, is crying about something Brill said she said she says she didn't say. Who cares?

City Gets $5 Million To Hire New Teachers...even as they get ready to lay off 6,400 teachers:

Yep, makes sense in Bloomtown. Bloomberg's rubber stamp PEP passed it last week with only 3 votes against, including our own Queens rep Dmytro Fedkowskyj. Way to go, Dmytro!

UFT at PEP Meeting: Oh The Irony

The UFT leadership cried about the lack of democracy on the PEP, which ignores what the public has to say. Come to a few UFT delegate assemblies and executive board meetings to see the model for ignoring what people have to say.

1,983 teachers received layoff notices while Teach for America returns to Detroit schools

When Arne Duncan asked Diane Ravitch, "What are we going to do about Detroit?" she responded with, "Give it to KIPP [the charter school chain.] He laughed. Hey, it's Detroit. You can't give it away.

More Scrutiny for Charter Schools in Debate Over Expansion

Finally, the NY Times has jumped into the fray. The NY State Ed Department is the monitor for charter schools. Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.

Here is a piece about NYSED I put up on my blog:

Some parents have been chronicling the corrupt NY State Department of Education and its ugly parent the NY State Board of Regents too, headed by Bloomberg friend and neighbor Meryl Tisch, who also has Joel Klein over for Passover to ask the 4 questions, one of which is always: Why is this reorganization different from all the other reorganizations that came before it? UFT Pres Michael Mulgrew loves Meryl and spent a good chunk of time at the last Delegate Assembly singing her praises because she "knows education," which makes sense since she spent 10 minutes teaching pre-k at an exclusive Hebrew school about a hundred years ago.

Recruitment Poster for Charter School: Hey Kid, Wanna Make a Hundred Bucks?

A photo of a poster on a 3rd floor wall at a charter based at IS 126 in Williamsburg/Greenpoint was being passed around by parents and community groups as outrage grows. The Believe charter group is offering a $100 bounty to any student who can recruit someone for the school who will stay for one term. Can you BELIEVE this? They make the poor kid who recruits some sucker wait an entire semester before collecting his 100 bucks. They must have electronic force fields keeping them in. (I know more than a few parents who have been there, done that and left.) What happened to all those waiting lists to get into charters that they are so desperate they have to bribe kids with a hundred bucks to get recruits? For a hundred bucks I'll enroll there myself.

A Busy Day: A Reporter, Old Friends, GEM Meets

Updated

Given the schlep from Rockaway, I try to schedule multiple events when I go into the city. Yesterday (Wednesday) turned out to be a busy day indeed.

Meet a reporter at Starbucks
First up was a meeting with a reporter from a major paper. I love it when reporters ask the right questions and are willing to probe. It could be phony but there seemed to be genuine enthusiasm as I told tales of the ATR wine and cheese rally (reporter wanted to see my videos) and other stories. Not that I expect any article from the press to reflect the depth of the discussion (we very rarely get to see what lies underneath in these articles), but at least I got a sense that the reporter "gets it." I figured it would take about 15 minutes for boredom to set in but we did 45 minutes and I was asked to meet again. If an article appears I'll talk more about it.

Lunch (my favorite thing)
Then it was off to Bar Pitti to meet old UFT war horses Merry Tucker and Bruce Markens. Bruce has always been a hero to people in the opposition because he was the only non-Unity district rep who consistently stood up to his Unity hack bosses – for over a decade. Of course that was the days when district reps were elected (by the chapter leaders in the district, mostly Unity anyway, but at least a semblance of democracy). Randi finally pulled the plug on DR elections in 2002 - and Bruce's consistently getting elected through the 90's as Manhattan HS DR was a major reason. Full disclosure: I had announced my candidacy for DR in my District in the spring of 2002. In my interview with Tom Pappas, Bob Astrowsky and Michelle Bodden I said I wouldn't retire - that caused almost as big a laugh as when I pulled out copies of Ed Notes as an example of my work as a union activist. The guy they chose used to brag how he pulled Ed Notes out of mailboxes. He's still there. Ask teachers in the District if they feel represented. Actually, in the long run, having a DR responsible to the leadership instead of the members works against the leaders, but that's a story for another time.

You can imagine that the DR story gave the reporter quite a kick.

But back to lunch. Delightful. Merry (who used to schlep around the Bronx with me distributing Ed Notes) and Bruce have done some travelling and it is always fun to catch up. After lunch, Merry was off to see her mom, a well-known activist who was married to Steve Zelluck). Barbara Zelluck, who I don't know, is seriously ill. We wish her well. I am forever thankful to Merry for introducing me to Lisa North and Gloria Brandman, amazing ICE and GEM activists.

Bruce and I walked uptown to CUNY where the GEM meeting was taking place talking union politics. (We are major wonks.) He has so many great stories and so much knowledge and history, I keep bugging him to do a debriefing on camera to leave a record of Unity perfidy.

GEM meeting
I went up to the air conditioned GEM meeting (what a great crew) which was very vigorous with lots of great reports from schools and news of the picnic at Prospect Park this Saturday to make posters for the schoolwide informational pickets on June 4. We also had some good discussions, especially on the new teacher evaluation system. Tilden Chapter Leader John Lawhead gave a mesmerizing analysis of the agreement, which I thankfully taped and will put it up in a day or two. Wonderful stuff.

We also had a good and heated discussion as to whether we work to get the UFT to act or give up on them. I'm in the latter group and pushed my Vichy analogy, but there are other points of view, which we will explore in some forums on the UFT, maybe this summer.